Carl Alan Fretts

Born in Pittsburgh, PA. July 8, 1932, Carl grew up in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Theodore Roosevelt H. S. in June 1950. He served as a tank gunner in the 64th Tank Battalion in Korea during the closing months of the Korean War. He returned from the service and in 1958 graduated from the University of Maryland under the G. I. Bill with a major in Accounting.

In 1958 Carl began his professional career with the Ford Motor Company in with the General Auditor’s Office in Dearborn, Michigan. He traveled to Ford plants all over the United States and Canada performing broad management and accounting audits. He always said it was one of the best jobs and learning experiences he ever had.

In 1959 Carl met Susan Thayer on a blind date in Arlington, VA. He was on vacation from Ford. She was a George Washington University graduate and was teaching English at W & L High school in Arlington. They were introduced by Carl’s father’s secretary who was Sue’s sorority sister. For the next six months Carl traveled every weekend from his various Ford audit locations to date Sue. Carl and Sue were married on February 20, 1960. Sue joined Carl on his auditing travels for Ford. The company paid for their expenses in lovely furnished apartment hotels with maid service.

Sue and Carl wanted to have a family which was not possible moving every eight to ten weeks to a new city for Ford audit assignments. The computer industry was in its early beginnings and Carl wanted to learn the business applications of the new technology. Carl accepted a position as an EDP Methods Programmer and Systems Analyst with Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in Washington, D.C. Carl learned to do basic programming using COBOL and participated in the systems analysis of Navy Department computer applications.

After settling down in Maryland and later in Virginia, Sue and Carl were blessed with three beautiful children Chris (1962) Mary (1964) and Bruce (1966). Chris graduated from William and Mary and is the Technical Director for the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis, IN. His wife Claire is the Charge Scenic Artist at the same theatre. Mary graduated from the University of Virginia and teaches chemistry at W &L High School in Arlington, VA. Her husband Jack retired from the aerospace industry and teaches technology in Fairfax, Va. Mary and Jack have two daughters Madelyn and Emma. Bruce graduated from the University of Virginia and was a writer for Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide and other show business and sports publications. Bruce and his wife Megan both died of different illnesses in 2020. They have a son Jed and a daughter Olive.

In 1961 Carl was recruited as a Senior Cost and Price Analyst at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. This was the beginning of the space race against the Russians. GSFC was setting up a new Office of Cost and Price Analysis and was recruiting the top recent accounting graduates from the University of Maryland. The work involved negotiating Government contracts with the largest American space contractors. Carl enjoyed being pitted against senior contractor management negotiators twice his age and ten times his salary. He told stories about negotiation tricks which contractors used.

In 1962 Carl passed the C.P.A. exam on his first attempt.

In 1963 Carl moved to the Smithsonian Institution (SI) to be the Contracting Officer for large contracts that the SI had with NASA, NSF, DOD and commercial contractors and subcontractors. He was hired to help the SI establish proper management and cost control procedures to come into compliance with Federal procurement laws and regulations.

In 1965 Carl moved to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health as the Special Assistant for Business Administration working with the Director for Cancer Chemotherapy. This involved responsibility for all business aspects of a large targeted contract R&D anti-cancer drug program involving colleges, universities, profit and non- profit organizations. Carl loved working with the dedicated biomedical research scientists at the NCI

In July 1965 Carl and Sue purchased their first house. The house was across the street from where Sue had grown up. It cost $26,500 on a G. I. Veteran Loan.

In 1970 Carl was recruited by the U.S. Surgeon General to become the Executive Officer of the Public Health Service of the Department of Health Education and Welfare. He assisted the Surgeon General and the Assistant Secretary of Health and key staff in planning and developing national health programs, policies and procedures with specific responsibility for administrative management implications.

In 1971 Carl moved to the National Science Foundation (NSF) as the Director of the Management and Cost Analysis Staff. He was responsible for creating a new executive level management analysis staff with responsibility for execution of specific high–level projects for the development of solutions to problems in in NSF grant and contract awards. For example he performed a complex cost analysis of NSF’s Antarctic Research Program. The total program involved the NSF, Air force, Navy and Coast Guard.

In 1972 Carl was recruited back to the National Cancer Institute as the Director of Contracts responsible for all R&D negotiated contracting functions for a nation- wide program of more than 1300 contracts that were launched under President Nixon’s major new “War on Cancer”. In this role Carl was the Contracting officer for the largest contract ever awarded by the NIH. The contract involved conversion of the Army’s Fort Detrick, MD. Biological warfare center to NCI cancer research.

In 1974 Carl moved up to a Senior Executive Service (SES) position of Director of Contracts and Grants for all National Institutes of Health Bureaus, Institutes and Divisions. He regularly interacted with senior management levels at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration, etc.

In 1993 Carl retired from the National Institutes of Health and began a new career as an independent Government Contract Consultant advising both public and private sector organizations. For the next 23 years, he provided advice and counsel to colleges, small and large businesses, non-profits, etc. regarding all aspects of Federal Government Contracting.

In 2012 Sue died at home at the age of 75 after a two year struggle with Parkinson’s disease. In 2016 Carl terminated his consultant business. He continued to live at their original house in Arlington. He enjoyed watching TV sports and drama shows, visits with his children and grandchildren, lunches with former business colleagues and spending hours every day reading about history, business and politics.

Carl had a full and happy life. He was loved by all those he met throughout his life. He served his country in Korea. He participated in the birth of computer technology. He participated in the space program at its inception. He participated in ground breaking biomedical research at the NIH. Most of all he had the support of a loving wife and family through each and every new adventure.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Carl’s name to the Children’s Inn at NIH https://childrensinn.org/ or the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) www.aclu.org