Please remember Bert Kreps, RN. He passed away from COVID on December 6, 2020, in Mission, Texas. He spent his life as an exceptional trauma and critical care nurse. Bert’s father worked at NNMC for 30 years as a Public Health Nurse. Bert remembered growing up in Shiprock before they moved to Farmington. He was one of the first students and male nurses of San Juan College. He began his career at SJRMC and then worked at UNM in the Trauma unit for several years before becoming a Critical Care travel nurse, working in Alaska, Florida, and Missouri. Bert’s wife Judy, also an RN, worked in Seattle at the beginning of the pandemic for four months as a critical care nurse caring for Covid patients. They are both heroes. Bert will forever be missed by all his family and friends. Mary Nott, RN
*****
Albert Lord Kreps was born May 12, 1956 in Farmington, New Mexico to Robert and Hulda Kreps. Albert’s parents both worked at Indian Health Services Hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico so he was cared for by Navajo nannies. This care would be how Albert learned to speak fluent Navajo language, history, including most, if not all, of the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II. Albert moved to Farmington, New Mexico at three years of age where he attended all his years of school K-12 , and he lived in only one home. His childhood summers were spent golfing, swimming, and alternating summer vacations in New Jersey and Mississippi. These vacations were times to see family and visit places of history, such as battlefields or museums. Albert’s first venture into business was to deliver newspapers, for which he had to purchase his own bicycle via a loan from his parents which had to be repaid. By high school, Albert worked in a photography and stereo equipment shop where he learned to develop his own prints.
Albert graduated with an Associate Degree of Nursing in 1980. He was one of the first male students to graduate. Albert’s first nursing job was at San Juan Regional Medical Center, caring for women with newborns. He later attended the University of New Mexico Albuquerque, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Business. While attending college, he worked at the University of New Mexico Medical Center, learning to be a trauma ICU nurse and becoming trauma and critical care certified. In 1999, Albert became a traveling nurse taking contracts all over the United States of America, including Florida, Oregon, and Wisconsin before meeting Judy, his wife, in 2002.
Albert and Judy traveled together as nurses to Alaska, New Mexico, South Carolina, Minnesota, and Missouri before taking a staff job at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for the next 10 years. As a travel nurse, Albert would often say he was an “employed professional tourist.”
Judy and Albert married in May of 2004, on a day filled with fun, laughter, music, and family. Albert had no biological children, but lots of nieces and nephews. Being an only child, Albert had adopted the philosophy that his friends and their children were his family. After marrying Judy, the family grew to include most of Lewis County, Missouri, where Judy was born and raised.
Married life came to include travel, motorcycle rides, concerts, volunteering at KDHX radio, family events, and caring for his mother, Hulda, and her dog, Sassy.
Albert loved music so much that he collected every genre, amassing a collection of first albums/ vinyl records, then CDs, before learning about online music.
Bert had an accident & some medical problems in his early 60s, making him unable to continue as a nurse. While unable to work, he was very proud of his wife, who continued working as a nurse even during COVID in Seattle in the spring of 2020. The two traveled in their RV during the summer of 2020, pretending to be retired despite COVID, sheltering in it, and taking in the scenery. Albert succumbed in the end to Covid on his way back to Mission, TX, on 12/6/20, the anniversary of their discussion of going on a first date back in 2002.
How Judy Picked Celestis!
Bert read a book as a child called You Will Go to the Moon by Mae and Ira Freeman. Many conversations ensued about space and how Albert believed by 2000 there would be flights to take to the Moon, like getting on an airplane, for a vacation. When apart, Judy and Albert would say to each other, “Did you see that moon?” or “Look at the moon!” as a reminder of their love for each other. Judy was left with explicit instructions from Albert to honor his life’s wish to go to the Moon by getting some of his ashes to space, as well as the significant places throughout his life in New Mexico, Missouri, Mississippi, and New Orleans. After research help from friends, Judy decided upon Celestis to achieve Bert’s wish, as she liked the name Celestis, and the fact that it has some flights out of Bert’s home in New Mexico.
