Art is at the center of couple's quality time

Iris and Alban Forster will have been married 54 years in May. And they still have no trouble finding stuff to talk about and do together.

Iris has been an art lover and creator of art much of her life. She does oil paintings, scratchboard, ceramics and particularly enjoys portraits.

"I don't know why," Iris said. "I just started doing them."

The hallway of the Forster home is decorated with faces: people Iris knew and didn't know, captured in oil with a palate knife or on scratchboard -- expressions frozen in time.

Alban contends whatever Iris is involved in, he's around to help.

"I'm handy to have around, I guess," Alban said.

"He's very inventive," Iris added.

The couple has taken on the project of helping with stage sets for the annual Senior Follies production. From Old West wagons to the Manhattan skyline, creativity is a premium when it comes to their work.

"We made three wagons for the show two years ago," Alban said. "The first one was made in the bedroom. It took the longest, but we were trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. That was one project we really enjoyed."

Iris also created a Statue of Liberty costume worn by June McIntyre for last year's Senior Follies. Resembling the oxidized copper color of the statue, the soft green gown flowed over McIntrye's body.

"She looked great," Iris said.

Alban, now 76, worked as an electrician in California before retiring. Iris, also 76 -- their birthdays are one day apart -- performed secretarial duties at a bank for many years and for Lockheed in Southern California.

Alban said a hobby he enjoyed doing was tile work. He tiled the entry hall of their home.

"He started and just kept going," Iris said. "He was a tiling fool."

"I have no real hobbies I guess," Alban said. "I liked to play softball, swim, ice skate -- but not as much recently with my surgeries."

For Iris, a second interest is genealogy. She traced her relatives to 1266, from Wales. One controversial fellow along the years is relative Gen. Isaac Booth, who was famous in the War of 1812.

"He never took a wife," Iris said. "He called 'the woman' his friend, and mother of his children. Much of the family doesn't recognize him."

The Forsters have one son, Craig Alan, who lives in Carson City. They were foster parents to three children while they raised their son.

Rounding out the couple's time is volunteer work. After moving to Carson City in 1987, Iris and Alban began volunteering just a couple months later at the Carson City Senior Citizens Center. They put in several years of volunteering working at the Public Employees Retirement System, then returned to the senior center.

"We still go to the center for lunch a couple days a week," Alban said.

"And we have a large group of friends we spend time with," Iris said. "We're always doing something with or for somebody."