ALFRED ROSS

Al was a good man as a fellow member of Fairlington UMC.

I've just discovered that Al passed away a few months ago. What sad, sad news. I took his classes at NOVA Woodbridge in the early 90s and was hooked on his method of teaching history "from the bottom up." For my entire school life in England, history had been taught from the top down: what a nightmare trying to memorize all the dates of all those monarchs. Such a pointless exercise. Al would just have hated that! His lectures gave life to history and meaning to the past and I'm fortunate to...

What fun we all had performing plays at Elkin First United Methodist church. Al was a wonderful actor. Such good memories. Give my love to our good friend Dick Atkinson. Look forward to being together again. Daphne

My memories go back to mid-sixties, when Al’s Dad, Courtney, was our minister at First UMC in Elkin, NC. Al was at Duke as an undergrad and helped with our Junior MYF (Later known as UMY), during my middle school years. What a perfect personality for a youth leader- from trips to the nearby Blue Ridge Pkwy, to movies, campfires, and plays, Al led it all with infectious enthusiasm, while pulling out religion lessons along the way. I wanted to soak up his vast knowledge of all things! I would...