Albert J. Starr, O.S.A.

1888 – 1918 (October 15)

Albert Joseph Webb Starr was born in Grand Junction, Colorado, on August 16, 1888 of non-Catholic parents, Reuben Starr and Alice Dickenson. He attended local public schools and was engaged in the printing trade. He attended Villanova Preparatory School for three years, was converted to the Catholic faith from Methodism, and was baptized on May 2, 1908, at St. Joseph Church in Grand Junction. He received confirmation from Bishop Edmund Prendergast at Villanova on June 3, 1910, and entered the novitiate at Villanova in 1912. He professed simple vows on June 20, 1913, and solemn vows on June 23, 1916. He was ordained to the diaconate on May 16, 1918 at the Church of the Passionists by Bishop John J. O’Connor of Newark, New Jersey.

Albert died on October 15, 1918, at the age of 30, a victim of the influenza epidemic that fatally struck three scholastics of the province within less than a week, and affected many others as well less severely.

Albert Starr was buried in the Community Cemetery at Villanova on October 18, 1918.