Fred Pittman Ellison

Fred Pittman Ellison was born January 11, 1922, in Denton, Texas, the son of Lee Monroe Ellison and Hixie Pittman Ellison and brother of the late Edith Lanier Ellison. Early on he pursued an interest in foreign languages, starting with Latin, Spanish, and French in high school and continuing with German and Portuguese, principally at the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation with a bachelor's degree in Spanish in 1941, he went to New York to work for the FBI as a translator and later as a special agent with foreign language specialization until 1944. To be part of America's effort in World War II, he joined the U.S. Navy as an ensign, serving two years as a communications officer. After World War II he earned his master's and Ph.D. degrees in romance languages and literatures from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1952.

While stationed in California during his time in the Navy, Fred met his future wife, Adeline Story, a fellow officer in the Navy. Family lore has it that Fred's marriage proposal was greatly influenced by the fact that Ad owned a set of The Great Books, she outranked him, and as a payroll officer, she toted a side arm—a special kind of woman, indeed. They were married for 65 happy years.

Though primarily involved in literary studies, Fred also worked to develop, with others, methods and materials for the teaching of foreign languages. He received awards from his professional organization, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) in recognition of 30 years of pioneering work in the field of Portuguese. As an assistant professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, he taught experimental classes in Spanish at both elementary and high school levels in a research project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. In 1962, on arriving at the University of Texas, he initiated the teaching of Portuguese in Austin, at Saint Edward's High School and was coordinator, with a Brazilian colleague, of a major project involving four other writers that eventuated in Modern Portuguese, an influential textbook used in U.S. universities for many years. In the sixties he founded the Portuguese Language Development Group of the AATSP, a nationwide group that continues to meet every year.

Throughout his career Fred was especially drawn to Brazil, its people and its literature, a little-studied area which he had begun to explore in his dissertation on the Brazilian novel. As a way to make that country's novelists and poets better known in the English-speaking world, he contributed translations of contemporary Brazilian works such as The Three Marias by Rachel de Queiroz and Memories of Lazarus by Adonias Filho, as well as books and articles on literary history and criticism. In 1964 he was invited to the White House by President Lyndon B. Johnson to attend a luncheon honoring the president of Brazil. He was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1982. After his retirement in 1991, the Brazilian government decreed him a special distinction accorded non-Brazilian honorees, membership in the Order of Rio Branco, with the rank of Commander. This honor was conferred upon him in a ceremony at the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

With all of the accomplishments of our "Commander of Letters," the Ellison clan would argue that his most prestigious achievement is the unconditional love he had for his family and the people around him, always concerned about the wellbeing of others over his own even in his final days.

Fred will be greatly missed by his friends and family who appreciated his love of the arts, valued his wise counsel, and treasured his unwavering support. He was a life-long Democrat whose sense of social justice was shaped when, as a young boy, he witnessed violence against and unfair treatment of African Americans in his community. His love of poetry was legendary in our family. The highlight of Easter and Thanksgiving meals was Fred reading a poem he had created especially for the occasion. His poems at base were about the love he had for his dear wife, setting for all of us an example of strength in family, love, and marriage.

Professor Ellison was preceded in death by his wife, Adeline Story Ellison. Survivors include their five children, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren: daughter Carol Lanier Ellison and her partner Clark Boykin of Austin; son, Thomas F. Ellison, his wife Pat, their two daughters, Paige Ellison Lasley, her husband Toby, and their children, Ellison Lauren and Thomas Michael of Austin, and Taylor Ellison, also of Austin; Jamie Ellison Krieg and her husband Gregory of Richardson, Texas, and their four children, Amanda Krieg Voith, husband Patrick, and their daughter, Kennedy Claire, Daniel Ellison Krieg, Kaylynn Emily Krieg, and Meryl MacKenzie Krieg, all of Richardson; Cynthia Lee Ellison of Austin; and son John Story Ellison and his wife Debbie, of Colleyville, Texas.

A memorial service for Fred will be held on Thursday, October 30, 2014, at 2 p.m. in the Garden Room of the Summit at West Lake where Fred has resided for the past four years. Donations may be made in Fred and Ad's name to the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin or the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin.