Fred was born on our Swedish Grandpa's Fred Anderson's birthday, the 4th of February. Mom got out of the hospital right before Valentine's Day so she told Sandy and I that Fred was our 'little Valentine.'
We had many special memories. Early on, I remember mom making pancakes for breakfast and Fred eating them as fast as she could make them. As kids, we talked about the delicious ice-cream we would get from Elmer's Grocery on Broadway.
Growing up, Fred had his neighborhood buddies that he hung around with that liked to cause mischief. He and a friend were lighting matches and set fire to our cranky next door neighbor's bushes. Mother had to make amends with them. There was one nice neighbor next door, a Mrs. Peterson, who would give cookies to Fred when he knocked on her door.
On Halloween, there was a big parade on Broadway and prizes were given for the best costumes. Mother had dressed Sandy in an antique baby gown and she won a prize. The next year, Fred thought he would get a prize and put on the gown. Well, that didn't go so well. He told the story that a group of boys chased him through an alley with sticks. Then a dog chased after him. The gown was dirty and torn when he finally got home.
Fred confessed some teenage escapades that he had been drag racing with dad's prized white Ford. Our Uncle Dutchie had remarked to Dad, "Harry, I thought I saw Fred driving your car on Mulford Rd." Fred innocently said, "Oh, there are many cars that look like dad's Ford."
When Fred got out of the service, Dad, Mom, I, little Joni and baby Jean went to O'Hare airport to meet him. We waited and waited and no Fred. Dad and I went up the escalator looking for our Air Force Fred in his blue uniform. No Fred. We went back to where Mom was and there was Fred in civilian clothes, grinning from ear to ear. He had come down the escalator on the other side and had seen us looking for him. How happy we were to see him again.
Fred and I had many chats during his illness. We talked about the coyotes and fox sightings we have both had in our yards. Fred had a gruesome fox story, he would always tell many times. I would act like it was the first time I heard it.
My married last name is Macdonald which is a revered Scottish name in Canada. (My husband is Canadian.) I would answer our phone and there would be a voice singing "Old Macdonald had a farm", with E-I-E-I-O. Guess who, our Fred.
My neighbor friend's husband had passed away several years ago and I went to his church service. While we were outside talking with her son, a butterfly kept fluttering around him and then trying to land on his shoulder. He kept trying to brush it away. It was strange. Later, my friend told the story of her being on a lake where they were going to disperse her husband's ashes, and a butterfly appeared. "Butterflies shouldn't be that far from land, she said." Was it her husband's spirit?
Several weeks before Fred passed away, I found a beautiful birthday card he had sent me a couple of years before about hummingbirds. It was so touching. I didn't see many of them at my feeders this year, maybe I wasn't looking at the right time. My feeders were down and right after Fred left us, I looked out and there was a hummingbird getting nectar from some of my plants. The next day, Janet said she also saw a hummingbird in her yard for the first time and there are no plants there to attract them. I would like to think that could be Fred's spirit.
These are some of the memories from our life and I will share one more. When we were young and went to visit our Grandparents in Pittsville, Wisconsin, our Grandma had us three kids sing a song we had learned in our Sunday School for her church. It was "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine." My brother Fred did let his light shine and his light made a lot of people in his life smile. I will miss him always, forever.
With love,
Shirley