Albin was born 1 November 1903 in Switzerland in the town of Altdorf, which centuries earlier was the birth place of William Tell. And like William Tell, Albin loved freedom. He was also proud of his Swiss heritage and loved Switzerland. He also loved his adopted country, the United States.
Albin was born in the home of his parents late at night. It was an extremely cold November night. The midwife was unable to deliver Albin and the doctor had to be called. Albin was born with part of his crown open and he was bleeding all around the neck. The doctor gave him only twenty four hours to live. If the doctor had not come both Albin and his mother would have died. Albin turned out to be the healthiest of all the children.
When Albin was a child the Canton of Uri still had its own militia. They had their own uniforms. The uniform included a helmet with a yellow and black pompon on it. Yellow and black are the colors of Uri. Albin would sometimes watch the militia on parade. As a small child he often wore a dress instead of pants, as was the custom at the time. He always could remember his first pair of pants.
Sometimes Albin would brag to his mother about something he had done, such as weeding the garden. He remembers her commenting back to him, "If we didn't have you and nothing to eat we would be in a fix".
Through much of Albin's youth he had throat problems. His mother told him to tell her when his throat did not hurt. One Friday morning when he was ten years old his throat did not hurt and he told his mother. She gave him ten franks of Swiss money and told him to go to the doctors office. He walked to the doctor's office and then waited in the waiting room as one by one the patients went in. Finally it was his turn. The doctor took him into a room with all sorts of gadgets and lights, and stood him in a corner. The doctor told him to open his mouth wide. He then took a pair of scissors, reached in, and cut of Albin's tonsils. The doctor kept all of the ten franks, which Albin thought was a lot for a few minutes of work. Albin spit blood all the way as he walked home. When he got home he got mad at his mother because the Friday noon meal was always an especially prepared one with good food that was not served except at the Friday noon meal. Albin was mad because he could not eat it and thought his mom should have sent him to the doctor some other day.
As a boy Albin learned to be a fast eater. There were the children and also some of the help from the store at the meal table. If you did not eat fast every thing would be gone by the time you were ready for seconds. So Albin ate as fast as he could so that he could have seconds.
Albin's parents had an artificial Christmas tree made of wire with paper fringes on it. On Christmas Eve they would put candles on it. The candles would only be lit for about half an hour each evening. The ornaments were all edible, mostly wrapped candy and some fruit. They were allowed to eat two or three ornaments a day. When all the ornaments were eaten the tree would be taken down. Albin remembers one Christmas when his only present was two red apples.
One of the things that impressed Albin as a child was the tremendous thunder and lightning. His mother was scared of the lightning, but he and his father would enjoy watching it. Albin remembered seeing a steel girder of an electrical pole burn like a torch after being hit by lightning. He believed it was probably the paint on it that was burning. Another of his boyhood memories was watching the laying of the street car tracks in front of his house. The tracks have since been removed.
Albin, like all Swiss young men, was in the Swiss army. He obtained the rank of corporal. He attended corporal school for twelve weeks, which was mostly physical training and shooting. Then he took new recruits through recruit school. While in the army Albin learned to ski very, very well and skied in some extremely dangerous places in the high Alps.
Albin went to Ecole Superieure de Commerce college in Neuchatel in the French part of Switzerland for four and a half years and received a diploma in business. There he learned business principles that he would successfully use for the rest of his life. Among his classmates were students from South America, India, and other foreign countries. Their stories of their home lands and travels helped give Albin a desire to travel. He was always very proud of having graduated from business college. Albin received his Certificate d'Etude on July 14, 1922 and his diploma on July 14, 1923.
While at college Albin had the opportunity to visit the astronomy observatory on Mt. Claumont. He became interested in astronomy and kept this interest throughout his life.
After graduating Albin returned home to Altdorf. His Dad owned a shoe store in Altdorf. Albin remodeled the shoe store for his Dad, making it more efficient. But his Dad was used to the store the way it had been and did not like the changes. This disagreement was one of the factors in Albin's decision to immigrate to America. Also Albin and his Dad could not agree on what Albin's salary would be. If he had stayed in Altdorf he probably would have owned the shoe store someday.
Their home had running water in it when Albin's Dad bought it. Most homes did not and they had to get the water from a public fountain that was about three houses away from Albin's. The house had three stories and a pipe came to each of them. When Albin returned from college the family was using a small kitchen on the first floor and not using a larger one on the third floor. Albin made them use the kitchen and dining area on the third floor and he converted the down stairs kitchen into more storage space for the shoe store.
Albin's mother had worked in France as a governess when she was young. There she developed a dislike for the French because of some of the things she saw. One such thing was a rich French farmer who had a son the was extremely ill. When the doctor came he found the sick boy laying on hay in the barn. The doctor told the farmer that the boy must be immediately moved into the house. The farmer replied, "We can't do that. The house has only one bed, and that is for my wife and me." As she told this story, and others, to her children, Albin developed a dislike for the French, which stayed with him for the rest of his life.
Soon after graduating Albin took the challenge to come to America, showing a trait that was to stay with him the rest of his life, the courage to do something new. Albin immigrated to the United States in April 1926 when he was 23 years of age. He paid for a first class ticket so that he would not have to go through the immigration station on Ellis Island in New York. After arriving in the United States Albin went directly to his Uncle's ranch in Hopland, California. But Albin decided that he did not want to be a farmer, so he went to San Francisco. Albin's first job was as a waiter at one of the large hotels on Nob Hill in San Francisco, the St. Francis. He worked as a waiter even though did not speak any English. However, he did speak German, French, and Italian. Later Albin often applied the things he learned about the restaurant business as he and Lillian hosted many large and successful dinner parties, such as Lillian's father's 75th birthday party, where they had about 75 people at their home for a sit down dinner.
Later Albin started the first of several businesses he was to own, the California Redwood Novelty Company. He ran this business from 1934 to 1944. This first business was the manufacture of wood boxes for use in the California fruit industry and for cigars. It was here that Albin started using his artistic talents as he created designs and stenciled or silk screened them onto the box lids. This first business eventually expanded into working with Redwood burl, creating beautiful gift items from it. He also made wood plaques and other wood items, sometimes sand blasting a design onto the wood, then painting it. Albin developed severe asthma problems because of all the sawdust and paint fumes. This was one of the reasons they quit this business. Another reason was that the war took away most of the workers they had.
When Albin's sister-in-law, Madelaine Lanz, got married to Leo Helfenberger. They honey mooned in the Southwest. In Tucson they bought a wooden souvenir plaque. When the got back to San Francisco they showed the souvenir to Albin and Lillian. They all had a good laugh as Albin told Leo that Albin had made the souvenir.
Albin was naturalized a United States citizen on June 5, 1933 in the District Court in San Francisco. The certificate number is 3703146. It describes Albin as age 29, fair complexion, brown eyes, brown hair, height 5 feet 7 inches, weight 150 pounds, and no distinctive marks. His address was 1660 Sacramento St., San Francisco, Cal. Switzerland and the united States have a dual citizenship treaty so he was able to retain his Swiss citizenship and thus was now a citizen of two countries. This dual citizenship he passed to his children. And his son Albin has in turn passed the dual citizenship to his wife and children.
Albin always stayed affiliated with the local Swiss organizations and he always loved to dance. So it is not surprising that he met his future bride at a Swiss dance. They met on January 21, 1939. (Exactly 39 years later, on January 21, 1978, their son Albin Leo would meet his future wife, Ada Grover). Albin and Lillian were married September 23, 1939 in San Francisco in St. Patrick's Catholic church. After the wedding they had a beautiful dinner for family and relatives at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. They went to Southern California and Tijuana, Mexico on their honeymoon.
Albin and Lillian had a good life together. They worked together and made their dreams come true. Lillian was always supportive of Albin. It was Lillian that helped them get started in their next business. While taking her son Albin to a routine doctor's visit she found a vacant store for rent in China Town. They looked at it together and decides to rent it. They named it the Redwood Gift Bowl. They owned and ran the store for nine years, from 1944 to 1952. In the entrance way to the store they had a carved wooden bear. It stood about three or four feet tall. For three years Albin and Lillian worked seven days a week to eleven at night each night to make the store successful.
Each year the home and garden show was held in Oakland across the bay from San Francisco. During some of the years they owned the gift shop they participated in the home and garden show by having a booth in which they sold Swiss bone jewelry and related items which they also sold in the store. The show ran for several days.
Albin and Lillian went on a trip to Southern California with their good friends Wayne and Helen Brawley. On the trip they all went deep sea fishing. Albin got sick and lost his teeth over the ship rail into the ocean. Lillian also got sick and asked Helen if that was what it felt like to be pregnant. At the time she was pregnant with Regina, though she did not know it.
Chess was Albin's favorite game, and he was very good at it. He and Wayne Brawley enjoyed playing together and were so evenly matched that the first of the two to lose a piece would usually lose the game.
Albin was a very heavy cigarette smoker, which was affecting his health. Finally his doctor told him, "If you do not stop smoking you will not live for another year." Albin decided to stop smoking and never had another cigarette from then on.
Lillian's parents owned a cabin on the Russian River between Gurneville and Rio Nido. When the cabin next to it became vacant Albin and Lillian decided to buy it to fix up and sell. They raised the house up and put a basement under it. They built steps down to the river. And they remodeled the house. When it was finished they decided to sell the original house next door and keep the fixed up one, as it was now in better condition. Lillian and Albin hosted many parties at this cabin. Their children enjoyed spending most of their summers there swimming, fishing, and enjoying nature. Lillian's parents would often take the children to the river, as Lillian and Albin had the business to run.
Lillian's parents had a cockoo clock hanging on a wall in their original cabin on the river. The clock did not run correctly in that the cuckoo cuckooed incorrectly. This irritated Albin. Finally he got so mad at the clock that he took a shot gun and shot the cuckoo.
On a family outing, on Lillian's birthday, to Marin County North of San Francisco they decided to look at some land in Tiburon. They fell in love with a hill top half acre with a beautiful view of San Francisco, the bay, and the hills. They decided to buy it and build their dream home on it. They bought the half acre on Nov. 4, 1951. For the next year Lillian and Albin worked together, side by side, building their home. And beautiful it was. Once again Albin showed that he could tackle a difficult job and do a good job of it. Their son always remember that house as home. Around the entire half acre they built a rock wall with cement and rocks from the surrounding hills. They landscaped the home beautifully, using succulents, cactus, two redwood trees, and flowering plants such as azaleas.
Albin, with Lillian, designed the house. On the down hill side, facing the beautiful view, the house was two stories, the bottom story being a basement and office area. Upstairs the house was shaped in a "U" shape. One arm of the "U" was the kitchen area, the other the family living room. There was a fire place on one wall of the living room. The opposite wall contained a floor to ceiling book case and a five foot high painting of a redwood forest scene that was set into the wall like a picture window. The base of the "U" was three bedrooms and two baths, with an extremely wide hall in front of them which we called the 'lanai'. The inside of the "U" was a patio, which was later covered over. The lanai was large enough for a dance floor or large dining area.
They named the home "Dittli's Alp". The family moved into the home on December 7, 1953. The electricity was not connected until three days after they moved in, so those first days were very cold and hard.
Lillian and Albin owned a small apartment house on Masonic St. in San Francisco. It had about four apartments in it. Every once in a while they would go to the apartment house and trim the garden and do other necessary maintenance.
The next business they started was the shell business, called Dittli Imports. They started it in 1954 and called it Dittli Imports. It became a true family business as the children helped make items for the business after they got home from school. At first the business was operated out of the house, but in July 1959 they bought a building in San Francisco at 35 Stillman St. and moved the business there. They stayed with the shell business until they retired. In the business they imported shell, coral and novelties from the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and Europe. They also imported carvings from Switzerland and Italy. These they sold to stores and museums throughout the western United States.
In the shell business, like the others he was a success. They sold the business on April 1, 1969 to their two daughters and their husbands.
On a trip to Southern California they discovered Laguna Hills Leisure World. Lillian and Albin decided to make it their final home. And they did, moving into it October 20, 1969. They lived their years there enjoying life together. Albin created his cactus garden which became one of the most photographed gardens in Laguna Hills, and which won several prizes. He found time for painting, and painted many excellent pictures, which now grace his home and the homes of his children. Once he and his paintings were featured on a local television program about prominent local artists. They loved to dance and went to many dances, often three or four a week. They loved to travel and took many trips together. They took trips to the South Pacific Islands, Europe, and Mexico. They especially liked Hawaii.
Albin and Lillian were always lovers of classical music. Albin was an avid amateur astronomer much of his life. While at Laguna Hills he developed this hobby more, developing a slide presentation on astronomy, which he gave several times to various local groups.
Albin taught his children the principles of hard work. He also taught them the principles of a family working and playing together. And he showed by example how a couple should love and cherish each other, support each other, and honor each other, and work and play together, and share all together. It would be hard to find a couple who had a deeper love for each other then Lillian and Albin had for each other.
Albin returned back to his first home, with Heavenly Father and Christ, on Saturday, June 18, 1988. On Friday evening, the night before he died, he told his wife that he wanted to go out to a restaurant for dinner. Lillian could see that he was not in condition for them to go out, so she said no. Early Saturday morning Albin went into a coma. Lillian called the paramedics, who took Albin to the hospital. He never came out of the coma and died about 2:00 PM. The primary cause of death was cancer.
The funeral was held June 22, 1988 at Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach, Orange County, California. His three children, Regina, Lillian, and Albin, all came to be with Lillian at this time, and stayed about a week each. At the funeral service Rev. Bruce Kurrle, a Lutheran minister, spoke first. Then Albin's son in law Bob Glaeser spoke about Albin's love for animals and related it to St. Francis of Assisi. Then Albin's son Albin gave the eulogy. His wife's mother, Madelaine Hasler, is also interned there, and his wife has a crept reserved right next to his.
Albin is a good man. I am sure that he is accepting this new adventure with the same excitement that he accepted new adventures in life.
Note: This biography was originally written by Albin L. Dittli for Albin's eulogy. It has since had some additional material added.
Most of the information was provided to me by my father, Albin, and my uncle, Joseph Dittli, and from personel knowledge.