Dad's funeral

Dad's funeral was beautiful. All of us kids and spouses participated. We had a viewing beforehand and made up a table of his life interests and pictures and then had a slideshow of pictures of his life.

LaDonna gave the eulogy, Renetta gave a talk what is a dad, Rich talked about dad's example in life, Michael sung while I played. Brad Richardson, the Stake President and lifelong friend was the final speaker. Dad served as the ward clerk for Brad when he was Bishop (Dad was 85-90 at the time). Brad surprised us with a recording of his father singing mom and dad's favorite song The Holy City. His father was was wonderful tenor voice and listening to that brought back a lot of emotion.

Bishop Hitchcock was wonderful working with the family.

I loved the top of the vault for dad's coffin. It had the angel Moronion it. Their headstone has the Salt Lake Temple on it and they are buried in an LDS section of the cemetery with a beautiful mural of the temple.


Grandson's or granddaughter spouses and one great grandson were the pall bearers.

Mom and Dad have a beautiful spot under a tree. It's on a hill and you can see all over the Willamette Valley.

Here is a picture of the grandchildren and spouses who attended the funeral.

Then we added in great grandchildren. They called dad "Grandpa Great."

Finally, here is a family picture at the cemetery.

I took a pine cone from the tree to place with the pine cone I took when we visited mom's grave several year's ago. Rest in peace Mom and Dad until the resurrection!

My father's Obituary

Howard Newton Frederick, age 95, died December 17, 2010 at Orchard Heights in Salem, Oregon. He was born to John and Bess Frederick the 21st of January, 1915 in Marion County, Missouri, near the small community of Warren. He is preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Estelle Rice Frederick whom he married on December 21, 1935. They were married for 60 years. They moved to Forest Grove, Oregon in 1946. He worked for the US Postal Service in Forest Grove for 28 years. He was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was the first Bishop of the original Hillsboro Ward. He served in various capacities in the Forest Grove 2 Ward until he was 90. Howard loved researching family history, sports and traveling across our great nation.

He and his wife had four children, LaDonna (Guy) Richardson of Crestwood, Kentucky, Richard (Renetta) Frederick of Monmouth, Oregon, Mick (Mary) Frederick of Hillsboro, Oregon and Linda (Michael) Harper of Duncan, South Carolina. He is also survived by 17 grandchildren, and 39 great grandchildren. He is preceded him in death by two grandsons, Michael and Scott.

Services will be held at the Forest Grove Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 2700 Leon Drive in Forest Grove at 10:00 am presided by Pres. Brad Richardson and conducted by Bishop Darren Hitchcock. There will be a viewing one hour before the services. Internment will be at the Sunset Cemetery following the service.

Dad's 95th party

Last Thursday was dad's big day for his birthday. We took him up to Forest Grove for his party. Doesn't he look good. I doubt if I even live that long, that I will look that good. I think we had about 45 people come to see him. He just loved seeing long-term friends and knew everyone.

Dad's short-term memory may be 2-3 minutes but he does know his family and friends, which is a blessing. When LaDonna and I walked in he didn't act surprised at having us there but Renetta takes such great care of him that he knows our love through him.

Rich and Renetta have done wonderful with dad and Renetta loves to tease back and forth with him and get him to tell stories from his past.

Dad has a quirk about going to dinner and bringing back sugar packets. He doesn't remember doing it and so he keeps doing it. I was surprised to see sugar packets in his medicine cabinet. . .

or in his kitchen cabinets. He does have a sweet tooth and Renetta keeps him supplied with goodies.

We were lucky to be able to meet Mick and Mary for lunch on Saturday. Our two hour lunch was really enjoyable and relaxing.

After days and days of rain we had two great days and one morning we walked and even saw Mt. Hood! I do love seeing my mountains so it was great to get a peak.

Dad is 95!

I flew out to Oregon yesterday for my dad's 95th birthday. Physically he's in great shape. Mentally his short-term memory is gone and his long-term memory is fading. He does know who we are so that's great and he can tell us some wonderful stories.

We're having a big party for him today and have invited a lot of his friends from the past. He will enjoy it while he has it!

Father's day with dad

Dad had a great father's day. He seems to be so happy to be where he is even though he's not always sure where that is. We had a fun day with him. We were able to get him cleaned up and a hair cut and shaved and then took these pictures after church!

Dad's Moving Day and New Scooter

Michael and I just got back from a week in Oregon. We moved my 94 year old father to Monmouth, OR last week from the retirement center where he lived in Forest Grove, OR to be closer to my brother Richard and Renetta, who are his primary care takers. He did pretty good. Friday morning of the move, he got nervous and a little scared but after calming him down he did very well. We drilled him all week about where he was and his apartment number and how close Rich and Renetta are to where he lives and I think he's got that!

When I shut off his phone, the lady asked me how long he had it. I told her it was the same number I had as a child. She said she could tell it was pre-1965! I don't think we will ever have him learn a new phone number.

To lighten his day, we got him a cute yellow scooter! He loves it and can get outside and go for walks with Rich and Renetta. He got confused and thinks he has his car though! The only down side, is the day after I got home, Rich told him we were back to SC safely and he said, They came to Oregon and didn't come and see me! Oh well. . . he seems very happy with things and is eating well so I won't complain!

I have a video below with pictures of his new apartment and a video with him on his scooter.