During his lifetime, Albert K. Axelsen Jr. had an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time.

His son, Mark Axelsen of Portland, said Sunday that he knew of at least three instances in which his father rescued people from possible death or serious injury.

Mr. Axelsen died Wednesday at the Maine Veterans’ Home in Scarborough surrounded by his family. The longtime Portland resident was 73.

The most dramatic rescue occurred in the late 1960s when Mark Axelsen was just a boy. He was riding with his dad in a car on Congress Street, near Maine Medical Center, when they saw an apartment building on fire.

Mr. Axelsen jumped out of his car, ran into the burning building and up to the third floor, where he rescued a child, his son said.

“He saved the child’s life,” his son recalled. “But, honest to God, he didn’t say anything. He left the child (with firefighters). I was like ‘Wow, what just happened?’ My father was so amazing,” Axelsen said.

Mr. Axelsen grew up in Portland’s Libbytown neighborhood and attended Portland schools, but he left Portland High at age 17 to join the U.S. Air Force. He served as a firefighter in the Air Force’s crash-and-rescue unit during the Korean War.

His son said his father’s unit responded to plane crashes. He can remember looking at the photographs from one crash where his father had to crawl into a burning plane to rescue a crew member. He was able pull the victim out, but the airman died.

While on leave from the military in 1956, Mr. Axelsen met the love of his life. After a two-week courtship, he married Pierina DiPietro. They were married for more than 46 years, until her death in 2002.

After his tour in the military ended, Mr. Axelsen began working as a pipefitter. He worked on projects such as the construction of the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant in Wiscasset and the new Fairchild Semiconductor plant in South Portland.

After working as a pipefitter, he retired to become a school bus driver for the city of Portland.

“He loved driving buses,” his son said. “That was his calling. He really enjoyed being with the kids.”

Mr. Axelsen would sing songs to the children while driving the bus, and at Christmas he’d have another of his sons, Richie J. Axelsen, dress up as a Santa Claus. Richie would come onto the bus and hand out gifts to the schoolchildren.

The children referred to Mr. Axelsen as “Big Al.”

His generosity, kindness and commitment to driving a school bus earned him the key to the city, an award that was presented to him by Portland’s mayor during a City Council meeting, his son said.

Mark Axelsen said he remembers an incident when a little girl got run over by a car in front of his parents’ Sheridan Street home.

The girl was stuck under the car, but Mr. Axelsen rushed to the street and lifted the car off the girl. She is still alive today and is in her 50s, Mark Axelsen said.

After that, “whenever she met my father she would hug and kiss him,” he said.

Axelsen said his father was incredibly strong and fit. He remembers his dad doing 200 or 300 pushups in the living room while (his children) were on his back.

In another amazing rescue, which happened about 10 years ago, his father walked down an embankment in Rockland and pulled three nuns to safety after their car went off the road.

“He just happened to be there,” his son said.

Axelsen said both of his parents were incredibly generous.

They would often cook meals for people in their neighborhood who were without food. And they’d frequently visit the Preble Street soup kitchen, where they sometimes handed out $5 bills to the homeless.

“My mother just had a big heart. Her biggest fear was that people would go hungry,” her son said.

Mr. Axelsen will be buried with military honors at the New Calvary Cemetery in South Portland.

The family is asking that donations be made in his memory to the Preble Street soup kitchen.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com

 

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