An Italian immigrant, believed to be born on July 24, 1925. Albert was orphaned at the age of three, taken into the care of Etcle & Raffaela Spinelli and their beloved family. This family in Pittsburgh PA, made up of eleven brothers and sisters, loved Albert as one of their own. He learned and loved to play football with his family. This is where Albert earned the nickname "Buff Spinelli."
When World War II broke out, my dad decided to join the navy. He signed on and became a signal-man, first-class, as well as an underwater demolition specialist. Toward the end of the war, his ship went down in the Pacific Ocean. He survived three days in the shark infested waters. His legs were burned and had shrapnel embedded into them, the fighter emerges once again. After the war my father came home to Pittsburgh in 1946. In 1946, his older brother Michael talked my dad into coming to Chicago to get a new start on life. This is where a match made in heaven took place, Al met Shirley. They married on March 8, 1947, and had eight children together. My father worked for the railroad for ten years, he then chose his lifelong career, he spent the next 26 working for the post office.
Fifteen years ago he survived another war, heart bypass surgery, he made it--What a fighter! Then four years ago my dad fought the hardest war of them all, God took his wife, my mother Shirley, in an unexpecte stroke. He never really survived that one. After my mother's death, my father had another stroke, then again--he came back and made it through. Yeah, he was a big fighter. A few weeks before Christmas of 1995, the grim reaper came back, another fight took place. He took Albert a few times, but my dad was a struggling and winning fighter, some complications, but dad wins again. The next two weeks my dad spent on life support with one of the biggest battles of his life. The prayers from family and friends pulled him through and God let him live with us once again.
Before I come to the end of this great fighter's story of an orphaned immigrant, my dad started his own army of great fighters: eight children, 24 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. With all of our prayers to God and my father survived the next six months, which he looked and felt stronger than he has in his last few years. On June 14th, 1996, dad endured the biggest fight of his life, and his heart could not take it. It came fast, but believe this:
Albert "Spinelli" Augustine left behind a legacy of 43 children, grand and great-grand with more to come. He will always be talked about and remembered as The Great Italian Fighter.
We will love and remember him always and forever.
by Russel Augustine (my younger brother)
