Albert Henry Lank, distinguished Miltonian
Albert Henry Lank, 92, of Milton passed away peacefully Friday, April 1, 2016, at Christiana Hospital after a short illness.
Mr. Lank was a lifelong Milton resident, a farmer, and a rural mail carrier. He attended the now-defunct one-room Broadkill School on Broadkill Road, the Lewes School, and the Milton Consolidated School, where he graduated with the class of 1940. Following graduation, Mr. Lank did wartime service with aircraft manufacturer Glenn L. Martin Co. in Baltimore, Md., as a raw stores clerk. In 1943 he married Betty May Stevenson, also of Milton, and began working on his father’s dairy farm along Route 1.
Mr. Lank was a lifelong member of Zion United Methodist Church, where he also served as a trustee, chair of administrative council, and lay leader. Always active in the community, he was a member of the Milton School Board from 1959-61, and ran for a seat on the Sussex County Council in 1976. He served longest as a 37-year member and director of the Delaware Electric Cooperative from 1963-2000 as well as a member of the Virginia, Maryland, Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. In 1995, he received the Community Service Award from the Milton Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Lank delivered Christmas meals for the CHEER Meals on Wheels program of Sussex County, and was active in the Gideons International, a society for the distribution of Bibles around the world.
Mr. Lank became a rural letter carrier for the Milton area in 1976 and in 1999 became a minority shareholder in the Rookery Golf Course, built on the family’s land after the dairy cows had been sold and the farm dissolved. In 2000, after the death of his first wife, Albert was married to Eloise Price Shaffer of Harrington until her death in 2010. He was an avid traveler, setting foot in all 50 U.S. states and on all seven continents before his death.
He is pre-deceased by his parents, Raymond and Laura Lank; his first and second wives as well as a sister, Eleanor Lank Warrington. Mr. Lank is survived by a devoted and loving family, including children Christopher (Nancy) Lank, Janet Lank and Sharon Owens, all of Milton; grandchildren Timothy (Suzanne) Lank, Susan (Philip) Tolbert, Kimberly Owens, Keri (Michael) Rapa, Thomas Albert (Gretchen) Lank, and Katie (Eric) Joseph; and 11 great-grandchildren: Abigail and Matthew Tolbert, Magdalene and Santiago Lank, Edith and Alice Lank, Dylan, Jenna and Jace Henry Rapa, and Cora and Callie Joseph. He is also survived by a very special friend, Marlene Jarrell.
There will be a viewing for friends and family in the chapel of Short Funeral Services, 416 Federal St., Milton Friday, April 8, from 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, April 9, from 1 to 2 p.m., at Long Neck United Methodist Church, 32051 Long Neck Road, Millsboro. Services are scheduled to follow at 2 p.m. After the service, Mr. Lank will be interred at Zion U.M. Church Cemetery, Broadkill Road, Milton. Memorial gifts in lieu of flowers can be made to Zion UMC, c/o Bonnie Walstead, 707 Atlantic Ave., Milton, DE 19968, or Long Neck UM Church, 32051 Long Neck Road, Millsboro, DE 19966.
