Robert "Gus" J. Fredrickson

Robert “Gus” J Fredrickson, age 93, of Roca, Nebraska, previously of Lincoln, passed away on Friday, August 2, 2024. Gus was born December 22, 1930, to Robert O. and Edna Heller Fredrickson in Lincoln.

He attended elementary school and junior high in Lincoln plus one year at Lincoln High School. His family then moved to farms near Gresham, Nebraska, where he completed high school. After graduation, he moved back to Lincoln to work for International Harvester and then joined the US Army to serve during the Korean War. He was stationed in Yokohama, Japan, where he repaired radar sets. While flying home in 1953, a fellow soldier encouraged him to earn a college degree, and he took to that idea. With the help of the GI Bill and work-study jobs, he first attended Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, and then the University of Nebraska in Lincoln to complete his civil engineering degree. He then spent his entire career with the USDA Soil Conservation Service, involved in the designing and constructing of earthen flood control dams on many watersheds in Nebraska.

At Doane, he met fellow student Jane Herzog, who was studying to become a teacher, and they were married in Omaha at Florence Presbyterian Church on June 20, 1959. Daughter Linnea was born in Lincoln and son Karl in Beatrice.

In addition to being a professional engineer, Gus was also a woodworker who made everything from turned bowls, plates, and lamps to headboards, bedroom sets, side tables, cradles, and benches as well as beautiful black walnut gunstocks. With his many skills, he was able to help family, friends, and neighbors with home and machinery repairs and maintenance of all sorts, and he really enjoyed doing this. All his life, he loved to hunt (especially deer), fish (especially big northern pike), garden (vegetables), watch the weather, and just be outdoors. He and Jane lived many years on acreages frequented by wild birds, deer, and other wildlife. Summertime for many years meant a trip to northern Minnesota, either to a lake cabin or for a canoe trip with family and friends in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park. Recently, he shared stories with a chaplain, who said, “Gus, it sounds like you’ve had a pretty good life.” He smiled and agreed: “Yes, I have.”

Gus is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jane Fredrickson, children Linnea Fredrickson and Karl (Lou) Fredrickson, grandchildren Melanie (Jeff) Mueller and Stephanie (Mike) Bradley, and great-grandchildren Logan, Gabby, Kaiden, and Alexis, and many other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Joan Nienkamp.

His church and conservation were important to him, so memorials are suggested to Westminster Presbyterian Church or Wachiska Audubon Society, both in Lincoln.

A memorial celebration of life for Gus will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday, August 12, 2024, at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 6800 S 14th St, Lincoln, NE 68512.