my 2018 candidate profile

I’ve lived in Fountain with my wife, Elizabeth, and our son, Silas, since 2001. In May 2018, I retired after 37 years of teaching in ECU’s English department. Elizabeth and I operate Fountain General Store in downtown Fountain. I’m in my third term as a Fountain Town Commissioner, my first as mayor pro tem.

I was born in 1951 and raised in Graham. My father, James A. Albright, served on the Graham City Council for 12 years and my brother, James M. Albright, on that council for 8 years. From Mebane, Dad met and married Ruth Buckner before joining the U.S. Navy after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. My older sister is a retired computer programmer and younger one a recently retired (from University of Nevada, Reno) women’s basketball coach.

I was student body president during the first year of complete integration at Graham High School, where I was also an all-conference tennis player and honorable mention all-conference basketball player, a top-ten senior, and a Morehead Scholarship finalist.

Elizabeth grew up in Chapel Hill. Her dad, a Wayne County farmer’s son, met her mother while they were students at Guilford College in the 1930s. Elizabeth has a degree in wildlife management from Wayne Community College and she graduated cum laude with a B.S in business from ECU. She works in student affairs at Brody School of Medicine.

Church
Elizabeth, Silas, and I are members of Fountain Presbyterian Church, where I also serve as an elder and chair of our building and grounds committee.

Political experience
• 2009 – 2018: Town of Fountain Board of Commissioners
• 2017 – 2018: Mayor pro tem.
I was also Recreation Commissioner and co-Library Commissioner.

Education
1969 Graham High School graduate
1972 UNC-CH, AB in English/journalism
1975 UNC-G, MFA in Creative Writing

Work history
1973
writer and editor for Henry Thorpe & Associates, Rocky Mount

1974−1980
Bookstore clerk and manager in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Gastonia, and Athens, Ga.

1980
US Census field supervisor, Greensboro office

1980−1981
Public school teacher of English & U.S. History at Chalmette High School, in a suburb of New Orleans.

1981−2018
English, journalism, and creative writing teacher in the English Department, East Carolina University. Retired as associate professor.

Business background
2004−present
With Elizabeth and sometimes Silas we operate Fountain General Store, in the only two-story building in historic downtown Fountain. Our business hosts occasional music, history, and cultural events and from it we also operate a brick & mortar store, an e.store, a small publishing company, and a book distributorship.