Alda was born in Indianapolis, IN.  She was the middle child of five siblings and one of two girls.  She was a woman before her time.  She grew up very poor.  Her dad broke his back on a job so in order to eat, the kids helped gather the vegetables from the neighbor's gardens and in turn, they received food to take home for their supper.  When she was 8 years old, they had moved west of Indinapolis to a farm.  She began helping raise her baby sister.  She was always finding ways to make money.  She would go around to the local dairy farmers and purchase their bull calves for a dollar.  She "bucket" fed them until they were old enough and fat enough to go to market.

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At the age of 19 she had purchased a seven acre lot from  her dad, drove to TN to buy some lumber, came back and with her dad's help, built a house on the seven acres.  By the time she was 24 years old she had paid off the land and the house.  The only problem was that her dad had a mortgage out on the farm and he was killed suddenly in an accident.  She worked three jobs to pay off the mortgage on the farm so she wouldn't lose the land and house.  She was a determined woman!