This year marked the passing of Kathryn Albertson, the 93-year-old widow of our late founder, Joe Albertson. Kathryn served on our Board of Directors from its inception in 1958, and was appointed Director Emeritus in 1999. She was instrumental in the development of our company, beginning with the $7,500 she borrowed from her aunt to help Joe open the first Albertsons store in 1939. Known to many at Albertsons as "Mrs. A," she stood by her husband for more than 60 years of marriage until his death in 1993. A quiet and unassuming woman, Mrs. Albertson had a big heart and her generosity was evidenced in many ways.

She first met Joe in Caldwell at the College of Idaho. Both were forced to withdraw as a result of the Great Depression in 1930, but later in life they made up for it many times over by dedicating the bulk of their considerable philanthropic efforts to supporting educational programs statewide. The effort began with the formation of the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation in 1966 as a catalyst for educational reform and improvement in Idaho. In 1997, Mrs. Albertson donated $660 million in Albertsons stock to the foundation, which propelled its giving level from approximately $2.5 million a year to more than $35 million. That year Fortune magazine named her the second-most-generous person in the United States, after media mogul Ted Turner. Kathryn shunned the spotlight, preferring to work quietly behind the scenes and insisting that her gifts not be subjects of fanfare.

Several years after the Albertsons donated a large tract of land to the city of Boise, Idaho, officials there conspired with her husband Joe to name it Kathryn Albertson Park. Mrs. A could see the park from the family home on the Boise Bench rim. Kathryn will be remembered everywhere as a friend to Idaho's children and through her legacy with all of us here as the embodiment of the Albertsons spirit.