Tag: Albany Hill

Albany Hill’s modern history, and the story of the Friends of Albany Hill, cannot be told without the history of Carole Kay Fitzgerald.  Carole was a founder of Citizens to Protect Albany Hill in the late 1980s, and reactivated Friends of Albany Hill (FOAH) in 1992, becoming its animating force for decades. She served as its president until her death.  FOAH mourns Carole’s passing on May 2, 2025, just one week shy of her 86th birthday. A passionate advocate for Albany Hill, she happily shared her love of this “island in an urban sea.” Above all, Carole knew how to inspire others to treasure and care for the hill. If anyone could be called a Friend of Albany Hill, it was Carole.

Carole was born on May 9, 1939, in Wall, South Dakota.  She attended Cathedral High School, Rapid City, South Dakota and then earned a B.S. in Education from Black Hills Teachers College, Spearfish, South Dakota in 1961.  Later, she earned a B.A. in Fine Arts from San Francisco State University in 2005. Her career as an educator spanned several states and even took her abroad to Japan. She continued her teaching career in the Bay Area, while always a student herself, attending classes in art, dance, and nutrition. Carole was dedicated to her students at City College of San Francisco where, for decades, she guided artists with developmental disabilities to create, exhibit, and sell their art.


Throughout her career, Carole was also an accomplished artist, known especially for her watercolor paintings. Her work, including the notable “Indian Paintbrush,” is displayed at Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver.  She completed public art commissions for the cities of San Pablo and Albany and inspired a wider understanding of ecology through several shows featuring her art at the local library. She also contributed murals to the cities of San Francisco
and Albany.
 
Carole was a fervent advocate for ecology, most notably in her efforts to preserve Albany Hill.  The hill is a rare piece of the natural world in Albany’s backyard.  It is home to native and endemic flora and is a crucial site in the monarch butterfly migration.  It also is important for nesting, wintering and migrating birds.

Carole lived for some fifty years just a few blocks from Albany Hill, and she knew the hill well from frequent walks and rambles.  Her advocacy for the hill began in the 1990s, when she fought to preserve its open space from development.   Subsequently, she worked to educate community members about the hill’s natural and cultural significance.  She offered walks on Albany Hill, and organized an annual Day on Albany Hill in December.  She enlisted experts like Dr. Barbara Ertter, botanist at U.C. Berkeley, not only to guide walks but also to speak at community meetings.  For bird walks on the hill, she recruited expert birders, including Professor Richard Beidelman, an ecologist, who compiled the first bird list for Albany Hill in 1994, and Ralph Pericoli, a master birder certified by the California Academy of Sciences, who has led bird walks on the hill for many years, and continues to do so.   

The migrating monarch butterflies became a special focus of Carole’s attention and care.  Monarchs have been overwintering on Albany Hill for a long time and locals awaited and celebrated their return.  When scientists began tracking the numbers of monarchs roosting through the winter and their favored tree use, they let interested neighbors know the importance of this site. Carole listened carefully to the butterfly experts, and she was motivated to make sure the Albany Hill monarchs were protected and publicized.  For this, Carole brought to the hill the monarch expertise of Mia Monroe, a retired National Park Service ranger and longtime volunteer with the Xerces Society’s Western Monarch Count.

A lasting gift from Carole to the community is the Jackson Street mural.  The mural depicts the butterflies of Albany Hill and the plants on which they depend.  Each section of the mural shows one butterfly species, accompanied by the host plant on which its caterpillar feeds. Carole conceived and designed the mural, after researching the butterfly collection at the U.C.’s Essig Museum of Entomology.  She made sketches for each section, paying close attention to the biological details of both plants and insects.  She then enlisted residents of Albany to prep the wall and paint the mural, whether they were artists or not.  Carole provided the sketches, paints, brushes, and rags, as well as her gentle instruction.  The “citizen artists” gathered at their canvas-the white retaining wall outside the Children’s Center on Jackson Street.   For hours at a time, a line of novice muralists could be seen standing or sitting or squatting in front of the wall, each person intently focused on creating one particular butterfly, caterpillar and plant.   Although the atmosphere was quiet, new acquaintances were made and a warm community spirit developed.  The participants treasured the chance to be part of a public art project. 

Carole herself painted the last section of the mural, usually in peaceful solitude after the crew of citizen artists had finished for the day.  There, she lovingly created a beautiful portrait of Albany Hill’s monarchs fluttering among the eucalyptus trees.   The choice of monarchs was significant.  The theme of the mural was native plants and insects, but monarch butterflies and eucalyptus trees are not native to the hill.  Nevertheless, Carole decided they had to be included because they are so important to the community and so emblematic of Albany Hill.  Carole was, after all, the monarchs’ advocate.

After the mural was completed, Carole arranged for the mural artists to visit the Essig Museum of Entomology at UC Berkeley, home of the Albany Hill butterfly-and-moth collection that had inspired her design of the mural.  As special guests of the museum, they were delighted to learn how, in the 1990s, two scientists affiliated with the museum had spent several seasons exploring the various habitats of our own Albany Hill, documenting all the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) they could find. 

Carole’s passion for the environment was reflected in both her artistic themes and her personal hobbies. She enjoyed hiking, traveling, photography, and reading, interests that kept her curious and continuously exploring the world around her.  She was a member of Lakeside Temple in Oakland.

Carole’s life was celebrated by her nieces Kathleen Novello, Mary Frances Agrusa, Suzanne Fazio, Kathryn Fitzgerald, Deborah Roos, and nephews Kevin and Riley Fitzgerald, along with numerous friends and colleagues. She was predeceased by her parents, Clarence and Lottie Fitzgerald, and her siblings Dennis, Edward, Michael, and Beverly Fitzgerald.

Having devoted her life to education, art, and the environment, Carole Fitzgerald unquestionably touched many lives with her passion and creativity.  Friends of Albany Hill is but one part of the legacy Carole leaves behind. We are grateful to her and will deeply miss her.