Al Lee Bolt

Our
beloved father and husband passed away on March 18, 2024, while visiting
Charleston, South
Carolina, from complications due to a stroke he suffered eleven days before.
He
was born and raised in Willis, Virginia, in Floyd County, and was a southern
gentleman through and through. His curiosity about the world around him led him
to study world languages at Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia. Upon
graduation, he was hired by Fairfax County Public Schools as a World Language
Teacher at W.T. Woodson High School. After two years he took a sabbatical from
teaching to serve as a volunteer for the United States Peace Corps. In 1965, he
was sent to Valle Bajo, Bolivia, a small, rural farming town, with the mission
of teaching agricultural practices to the local farmers. However, he saw a more
urgent need for this town. He initiated, and carried out, a clean water project
that brought cleaner, safer water to a central location for the residents of
this town. From that point on he was known as "the man who brought us water".
During this time, he also met and married Sonia, who
lived in Samaipata, a nearby town. After two years in Bolivia, in 1967, he and
his new bride returned to the United States to resume his teaching career and
to start a family.
He
was a respected and admired teacher at W.T. Woodson High School and Lake Braddock
Secondary School for 31 years where he taught Spanish, French, and German. As a
teacher, and as a father, his integrity never wavered. He was happiest
traveling to any place in the world, camping at the beach, socializing with
friends, and spending time with his family.
He
and Sonia raised three children, María, Jon, and Mark. Our memories are filled
with Volkswagen vans full of camping gear, meals around picnic tables, summer
birthday parties, laughter, Thanksgivings in Willis, and mass every Sunday.
In
addition to his wife and three children, he leaves behind his grandchildren,
Alex, Ben, Marek, Jesse, Addison, and Scout, his daughters- and son-in-law
Karen, Mary Anne, and Edo, and his sister Helen. We will all do our best to
live up to the example he set for us.
Sonia
and family ask for donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in lieu
of flowers. You can share in honor of Al at the Al Lee Bolt St. Jude Memorial Fund.