Fred

 

 Today I found out my friend Fred died.

Fred and I have been letter friends for 52 years.  I was 16 and he was 19 years old when we first started to write to each other.  He lived in California and I live in Michigan.  I was always looking for an excuse to write something down and he was too.  I'm not sure who matched us up as pen pals, either my mother or my aunt. But that part doesn't even matter anymore.  We started to write to each other and over the years the time flew by.

Fred held me up through my high school years.  Those weren't the best years of my life.  I was always grateful that at the end of the day I could pick up a pen or sit at a typewriter and tell him about it.  He was always there and he always responded on my side and always made me feel better.  Sometimes you just need someone to listen, right?  Sometimes you just need to be the one who gets to talk.  Fred was always, always, always there for me.  Always with open ears and open heart. 

  I remember a childhood visit his family made to Michigan.  Fred's dad and my uncle Jim were brothers so we both had the same Uncle Jim but Fred and I weren't related.  That visit was so long ago I vaguely remember it happening but I do remember it did. There was a trip I made with a friend after high school.  I made an insane trip to California for just a weekend when I was maybe 20 years old and we met.  There was another trip he planned to come to Michigan a couple of years later but by then I met PH and I wasn't very welcoming so his trip here was cancelled.  You know how those things can go.  It meant we didn't writespeak for about three years.  Then I heard Fred found Lyn and I was so happy for him I wrote to him.  And we sharpened our pencils once again.

Fred loved his family, his beautiful wife and two children and now a daughter-in-law and grandson. He loved his dogs. He loved baseball, the New York Yankees specifically,  music, concerts, history, reading, writing poetry.  He documented his life experiences and memories in his poems and his family is lucky to have those now on paper.  But how else would Fred have left a trail but on paper?

Fred was a teacher and he loved it.  He was completely invested in his students and often shared with me when former students would come up to him in stores or on outings to tell him how much he meant to them.  What teacher could ask for more than that?  

Fred has been sick for a couple of years.  A year ago PH and I planned a trip to Arizona and I asked if, since we would be close geographically, could we make a visit to Fred?  He was sick and I wanted to see him.  So we did.  I am so glad we did.

I'm sitting here trying to process that a huge part of my life is gone.   One of my first thoughts was, "Who will listen to me now?"  I do have his words.  I've saved every letter and email from Fred for 52 years and I know he saved mine.  Maybe someday when that box is found at his house I will get the chance to combine them together into the life of a friendship.  

Rest, Fred.  You will be greatly missed.