Arlen Westbrook

Arlen Runzler Westbrook, born on November 17, 2028, died on September 3, 2026 at the age of 97. Those who knew and loved her appreciated her independence, strength of character and compelling personality. A take-charge woman, she drafted her own obituary. It reads (with some minor edits) as follows:

“Having escaped the major illnesses that ‘carry one off’, one might say, Arlen died of ‘old age.’” The only child born to Helen and Arthur Runzler, a Milwaukee architect, her mother died when she was five years old. Her father and the gift of two nurturing aunts and a cousin were extremely important to her during her childhood.

At the recommendation of her father, Arlen attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1950 after four wonderful years. She received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology that prepared her for no gainful employment. There, she also met and soon married Kendall Birr, a graduate student in History. Thereafter, she achieved a master’s degree in Sociology that also prepared her for no gainful employment.

Kendall began his career teaching at what was then known as Albany Teacher’s College and the couple settled in Delmar, New York. A one-year appointment at Amherst College took them away from Delmar temporarily. While in Amherst, they rented and shared their house with Arlen’s dear friend Dr. Jim Cunningham and his family. Jim’s wife, Margaret and Arlen kept journals of the experience, became lifelong friends and, 50 years later, they published a book titled “Integrating Delmar 1957, The Story of a Friendship.”

During this period of her life, Arlen developed interests in social work, working for peace and justice, photography and writing. After a time, the couple grew apart and divorced.

 Arlen subsequently met and married Perry Westbrook, an English Professor at the State University of Albany. The couple raised his three adolescent children, Anne, Emily and Paul while Arlen earned a second master’s degree in social work. The couple spent a year living in India while Dr. Westbrook took a sabbatical and taught in an Indian college. Arlen also co-authored a book with Dr. Westbrook titled “Writing Women of New England.”

Returning home to the Albany area, the Westbrooks adopted Tempa, age 10, a Tibetan war refugee, and the next year they adopted Joyce, age 5, a Chippewa. They bought a summer cottage at Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vinyard and a lake cottage nearby in Galway, New York for day trips and short stays. To the end, Arlen read the Vineyard Gazette and was current on all things relating to the Vineyard.

Employed as a social worker at an agency that provided speech therapy, Arlen with three others founded a speech clinic in Albany. She also served on the board of residences for the disabled for many years.

Dr. Westbrook died while vacationing in Bermuda in 1998. Two years later, a friend and former professor from the University of Wisconsin, Marshall Clinard, also recently widowed and living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, invited Arlen for a short vacation. She accepted and, one thing led to another. They married and had nine years together, living mostly in New Mexico. Arlen helped Marshall write an updated forward to his still timely book, “Corporate Crime” first published 25 years earlier. With Marshall, she shared interests in archaeology, sociology, photography and travel. Together they traveled to 13 countries and toured the USA. They also bought a cottage on Sanibel Island, Florida. Marshall’s children, Marsha and Stephen, and their families became an integral part of her life.

When Marshall died in 2010, Arlen chose to return home to Albany to enjoy her long-time friends, preferring the culture and landscapes of New York and New England to those of New Mexico.

Arlen was a member of the Quakers, that provided a spiritual home, and the Unitarian Universalists, that provided a community. At the Unitarian bridge group, she met Alan Spencer, a man of her age, a handball player, singer and a person dedicated to helping the less fortunate. Their friendship grew as they discovered they had many common interests and they shared many good years together in companionship.

Throughout her life, Arlen followed her interests in archaeology, gourmet cooking, nature, travel (40 countries), politics, hiking and photography (10 shows locally) and her Siamese cats.”

In accordance with Arlen’s instructions, there will be no memorial service.

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