Al was born on November 1, 1924, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and died on February 17, 2026, at age 101, at his residence, Cardinal View Senior Living, in Middleton, Wisconsin. He graduated from Riverside High School in Milwaukee. His family survived the great depression, but that experience shaped Al’s worldview for his lifetime, and he was always careful with a dollar, a value he instilled in all his children.

Al was drafted into the Army and served in WWII in the 3rd Engineer Special Brigade, 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, Company A of the Boat Battalion. Al was a coxswain and one of a four-man crew on LCM 112 (Landing Craft Mechanized) and served in New Guinea, New Britain, Northern and Southern Philippines, and Japan. While enlisted, he earned numerous medals and ribbons but was most proud of his Bronze Star Medal earned on the Mindanao River in the Philippine Islands in May 1945 when he and his crew were able to free other ships stuck on a sandbar, thus saving the crews and ships from being attacked by the enemy. Al was one of several servicemen in Hiroshima shortly after the bomb fell in 1945, and his pictures of that trip were featured in a Wisconsin State Journal newspaper story in 1995. He was discharged on December 31, 1945, as a Technician Sergeant Fourth Grade.

He returned to his family home in Milwaukee and used the GI Bill to attend Milwaukee State Teachers College. At college, he met Beatrice Noble, who would become his wife in 1950. Al’s first teaching job was in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, followed by a job teaching 4th and 5th grade combined at Dudgeon School on Monroe Street in Madison. He was promoted to principal in just two years, becoming the youngest principal in the Madison Public School District at that time. Years later, when the district closed Dudgeon, he was transferred to be the principal at Shorewood Hills Elementary in Madison.

Al and Beaty raised four children in the Westmorland neighborhood of Madison. They were foster parents to many children who ranged in age from newborn to teens. Al fondly remembered many family trips to Lauderdale Lakes, Wisconsin, and to Florida to visit Beaty’s parents, as well as trips to Milwaukee to visit his family. Al served on the Westmorland Neighborhood Association, was a charter member of the Madison West Kiwanis Club, and ushered at Midvale Community Lutheran Church for over 50 years. He loved cars his entire life, ice cream, and enjoyed sitting in the sunshine even at age 101.

Al is survived by his wife Beatrice Anderson, to whom he was married for over 75 years, his children, Thomas, Kristine (Lehman), and Robert, daughter-in-law Dawn Anderson, grandchildren, step-grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son David (2013), his parents Martha and Alonzo H. Anderson, brother Leslie Anderson, and sisters Marion Anderson, Carol (Bjork), and Althea Anderson, and numerous relatives from Beaty’s side of the family.

A private family service will be held.  

The family would like to thank the staff at both Cardinal View Senior Living, Middleton, and Agrace Hospice for the outstanding care and attention Dad received.

"May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand". Old Irish Blessing

Cress Funeral & Cremation Services

3610 Speedway Rd      Madison

608-238-3434