January 2020
Beware the Ice Man cometh. How come Al Seery has such a warm heart but such cold hands? Read on and you will know.
Al Seery was born in Albuquerque then moved to Belen. I asked why he moved to Belen thinking I would get a story. Al said, “I was a baby and Dad and Mom moved to Belen so I didn’t have much choice!” Al also said his dad grew up in Belen. Al went through his junior year of high school in Belen. Then a friend was going to New Mexico Military and Al decided to join him. “Whew” he says, “that was a rough year.”
After high school he went to a community college in Roswell then finished his degree at University of New Mexico. He earned a bachelor in Archeology. He now sees that as useless for getting a job and earning a living. However, ever resourceful and with several summers experience he went to full time at the ice plant in Belen. He notes it was a train stop where the refrigerator cars were loaded to keep the produce cool. He then migrated to Albuquerque and spent 42 years with Ready Ice. Hence the cold hands. Al explained to me the ice making process using cold ammonia to freeze water in a long tube and then using heated ammonia to slightly melt the ice which slid out of the tubes and was then mechanically broken into appropriate size pieces. He says he was lucky because he stayed safe all those years and ammonia isn’t ‘nice stuff’.
Al says he has been playing with cars forever. His fist adventure was with a 1935 Ford coupe, then he built a T-bucket with an aluminum Buick V8, then a 1934 4 door sedan, and a 1932 fiberglass Ford, and a 1950 Mercury. Many of his past cars are still around in Belen or Albuquerque. Al built a 1932 Phaeton and painted it red and installed a Chevy V8. He and Jo went all over the country in that car, including a trip to the Father’s Day show somewhere when Jo wanted to see Memphis and Nashville. They put 3000 miles on that trip alone. In 2003 Al went to a show in Louisville, Kentucky. He noticed a fluid leak in the power steering and had been wanting an upgrade so he bought a new unit for $600. He and a friend decided to install it before returning to Albuquerque but it did not fit. And, the seller enforced his no return policy. So, if any of you need a 17-year-old brand new power steering set up Al has one for sale. He got his original PS fixed for only the cost of a couple O-rings. Al says he wasn’t a founding member of the Tumbleweed V8 club “but I was close, joining about a week after it formed.”
