Vin Femia
Fred was, to put it as directly as possible, one of the absolutely nicest people you would ever want to meet, and a terrific person to have as a friend. We met thanks to baseball, one of Fred’s favorites, and our sons playing on the same town team. It was a perfect match of what would become life-long friends.
Fred was very much a college basketball fan. He always enjoyed going to NCAA Tournament games. It is nice and very fitting that his last college basketball memory would be his beloved alma mater, Villanova, winning the national championship this year.
Margie and I have had the good fortune to spend a lot of time with Fred and Pat over the years, sharing trips, days at the beach, concerts, classrooms, museums, historic buildings, and all kinds of events, playing games – so many games – and often just sitting and talking and sharing our lives. How often we saw Fred make his “who knows” kind of gesture when we would be talking about who would win some upcoming baseball or football game, or throw his head back laughing when one of us made a joke and said something funny. He was just a joy to be with.
When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer about 10 years ago, Fred, who had also had the same problem, almost immediately called me and asked if we could get together so that he could talk about his experience and answer any question that I had. A perfectly gracious move by an absolutely gracious man. For this and many other reasons I only wish that I was even half as helpful to Fred in his life as he was in mine.
Fred, we all love you. We will all miss you. We’re sorry to have lost you so soon and especially so suddenly. But it was our privilege to have known you for so long, and to have been given so many happy memories.
Now, please rest in peace, my very, very good friend.
Monday September 12, 2016 at 9:09 pm
