Albert J Grennan

Albert Grennan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on December 14, 1928. He was the middle son in a family of seven. HIs parents were Mildred and Lawrence Grennan of Irish and German descent. Al was four when his family moved to Muskegon, Michigan after his father, a machinist, got a job at a factory. Al described the rural and forested area as a boy’s dream. Aside being caretaker for the family’s chickens and other chores, He learned to hunt, fish, and trap and, being poor, the family ate everything he brought home.

As a young boy, Al had (in his words) the “customary” interactions, that is, fights, with other kids. He was also mischievous. At a Centennial Fair, Al got caught trying to sneak into an exhibition tent by crawling under a side flap. The ring master grabbed him by the neck and made him carry a chicken out to the center of the arena and drop it. What Al didn’t know was that there was also a Boa Constrictor waiting in the ring. All he could hear above the noise of the crowd was his mother yelling “Run, Albert, run!” Which he did.

When he was fourteen, Al and a friend decided to take a train ride to the “end of the line.” They planned to find another freight to take them back to Muskegon. Unfortunately, the train they jumped was going to Chicago. The boys ended up hitchhiking the long way back.

Al was a good student in high school but somewhat lazy. Every June, before the school year ended, students were allowed to choose their courses for the next year. Each year he would fill his schedule with wood shop, metal shop and other fun courses. And each fall he was dismayed to find himself signed up for courses like Latin and algebra. He eventually learned that a teacher who recognized his potential was secretly making the changes for college prep.

After graduating from high school, Al worked for about a year on a farm and later in a factory. He said of himself, “I was sort of a lost soul.” In 1949, Al joined the Navy to “See the World,” and he did just that. After boot camp at Great Lakes, and Sonar School in Florida, Al was assigned to the USS Hambleton, a destroyer-mine sweeper with a distinguished WWII record in both theaters. Al and his shipmates embarked on a multinational deployment to locate and detonate mines still active from WWII. As part of this cruise he made port calls all over the Mediterranean—Italy, Greece, Africa, and Scandinavia.

It wasn’t all fun and games however; Al witnessed an English Ship hit a mine, which caused complete devastation and loss of the entire crew.

Al said that after that incident he never had to wait in line for food—or anything else. As the mine detector, he was the most popular guy on the ship.


Sometime around 2010 Al discovered the internet and learned that the Hambleton was scrapped in 1972. Al got very nostalgic and said he felt a great sense of loss because that ship had been his home. Al also said his four years in the Navy were a very big part of his life.

Some of Al’s notable achievements were that he advanced to the rank of Petty Officer Second Class and was also chosen and photographed for a recruiting poster. Immediately after bootcamp Al was selected to take a college preparatory course for the Naval Academy, which was established to backfill Academy student dropped-outs. Al completed the months-long course, but attended the University of Michigan where he graduated with degrees in chemistry and biology. Al also played hockey on the practice squad while he was there. Al said the team was created to get beat up by the Varsity team. Al was as loyal a Michigan sports fan as any human being could be throughout his life. Although he didn’t have time for organized sports in high school, he was an avid swimmer, surfer, and hockey player. Later, as an adult, he took up deep-sea diving and judo. (He had a blackbelt in judo, won in west-coast competition.)

Al married and was recruited to teach science at Marston Jr. High School in San Diego. His teaching took him to Madison High School and eventually Mesa College where he taught biology and botany. His career lasted over 40 years and the bulk of which was at Mesa. Al continued his education, even as a single parent raising three children, and received a Master’s in Science Degree from the University of Michigan, and entered a Ph.D. program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

While teaching at Mesa, Al initiated a class project which resulted in the Tecolote Canyon Nature Trail which is still there today. He also instituted an annual weekend nature trek to Joshua Tree National Monument which was initially attended by his students, then other faculty, and finally, just about everyone.

Al wrote seven books, all in the form of guides on California Native Plants. For several years I was honored to go with him on desert excursions where he would gather fresh samples. Al was working on a book about the San Diego River vegetation up until a few years ago when his illness began to overtake him.

After about 30 years in San Diego, Al became a neighbor to Amos and Emma Radcliffe, two senior-citizen newly weds. Emma took Al and his three children under her wing and Al and Amos began playing music together one night a week. Al played guitar and Amos, the ukulele. Sensing that Emma was feeling left out, Al constructed a gut-bucket bass. He then had his son paint it and write “Emma’s Gutbucket Band” on it in big colorful letters. Emma was pleased, learned to play it, and the band not only survived, but flourished.

News of the band traveled by word of mouth, and it soon became the place to be on Sundays and later Wednesday nights. Hundreds of people from near and far have jammed at “Emma’s” over the years. A few years after it started, the group began weekly performances at schools, rest homes, and other senior groups. It continues today, catering in particular to lower rent rest homes where the audiences wait for the band to arrive and know the musicians by name. For many years Al ran the show from behind the band with his steady bass playing and song list.

I first met Al at the Sunday night jams. Generally the good musicians took the center of the room and newer people trying to perfect their skills or learn blue grass were on the periphery. Al and I were in the farthest corner. Al played claw hammer banjo. His signature songs were Flop-Eared Mule, Banjolina, and Mississippi Sawyer. I had no signature songs.

Al met Myra at Mesa College as a fellow faculty member. Myra flatly rejected Al’s first date invitation, which was to have breakfast together. She couldn’t understand why anyone would meet at 7:30 on a Saturday morning just to eat breakfast. Three months later, Al tried again. They went out for dinner and a play—the rest is history. We later learned that Al planned to take his fishing gear with him on the breakfast date ... just in case things didn’t go well. He didn’t want to waste a good fishing day.

It was a very interesting matchup of two people who seem quite different. Myra is organized and takes action only after careful consideration. Al was spontaneous, for example: Al announced at a party that he and Myra were engaged without ever talking to Myra first about getting engaged. After a course of pre-nuptial marriage counseling (which Myra said was a condition of getting married), they were married August 10, 1985.

Myra and Al were a loving couple. They traveled the world together. They enjoyed the arts, nature, and exploring other cultures.

The Gut-Bucket Band that Al started has played for thousands of shut-ins and still does today. The Tecolote Nature Trail is still there and well-traveled, and I suspect there still is an annual Trek to Joshua Tree to absorb the nature he loved so well.

As a teacher, a musician, author, sailor, parent and husband, Al genuinely influenced thousands of people. Few people can make that claim.

Al left his mark on the world and made it a better place.

He was a great friend. We will always miss his smiling face.

Hank Hiskes

A video of the Memorial Service can be watched by going here:
https://youtu.be/OooslalM8CE