Richard Anthony Frederick

Rick Frederick left this world on March 20, 2010, after a brief, severe illness. Richard Anthony Frederick was born on Dec. 30, 1944, in Rockford, Ill., to Victor and Anna Sue Frederick. He was recently stunned and intrigued to learn that his last name possibly should have been Christoph rather than Frederick. His great-grandfather came to the United States from Prussia and was conscripted in St. Louis, Mo., into the Union Army. The discharge papers show that "Fredrich Christoph" was released from duty at age 17 on Sept. 3, 1862, and a second document shows that "Christopher Frederick" became a U.S. citizen in 1868. Rick enjoyed telling his friends that they could now call him "Tony Christoph." Soon after Rick was born, his family returned to St. Louis, where he grew up. He entered Texas A&M University in 1962 at his father's behest, without fully realizing (according to Rick) that it was a military school, but he never again lived anywhere but Texas. After two years studying architecture while fully immersed in the Corps, he transferred to The University of Texas at Austin to study Fine Arts including painting. One impetus for the transfer was a less-than-stellar grade in an architecture class project in which he designed a bus station that the professor deemed aesthetically pleasing, but problematic in that the bus wouldn't fit. At UT, Rick felt fortunate to be able to study photography under, and be inspired by, Russell Lee. After graduation with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art, he had a varied career. While employed by the Institute of Texan Cultures, he prepared a photographic historical perspective of various Texan cultures for a HemisFair exhibit for the 1968 World's Fair in San Antonio. In the 1970s, as homes of several significant Texans, such as Sam Rayburn, were being turned into museums, he and an associate photographed the contents and homes for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. He worked for the Austin State School, the Town Lake YMCA, and, finally, the IRS, from which he retired in 2004. He was always a sly devil whom you never knew when to take seriously. At one time or another, and always in fun and with some good reason of his own, Rick adopted many alter egos: Teddy Bunder, Ed Norwegian, Kid Tough, Eddy Iowa, Mr. Pegleg. He also collected many things: hats (which he liberally distributed to friends at Christmas), shot glasses and other bar glassware (to sell in a store he planned to open in Arkansas), all things nautical and street objects he accumulated on the six-mile walks he took daily until a year ago. A high point of his collecting endeavors was participating in the Capitol 10, 000 completely garbed in clothing he had found on his walks. Through the decades, Rick ran thousands of miles around Lady Bird Lake with friends. He ran marathons; he biked across Europe and New Zealand; and he hosted great parties. He gave readings of seriously bad original poetry, and he was known for cooking a great pot of dried beans. He painted large abstract paintings, many of which grace the walls of his friends' homes. He used a large-format camera to produce haunting and unique photographs. For the last few years, he enjoyed the art studio that he designed and had built for his second home in the woods on a bluff near Jasper, Ark. Rick had a wide circle of longtime friends from his art-school days, his long residence on one-block long 9-1/2 St. in Old West Austin, and other disparate parts of his life. His friends deem it fortunate timing that the volleyball team from the old days, the "9th-1/2 Street Bombers," had a reunion last year. He married relatively late in life and became an instant family man as stepfather to a teenage daughter and a young adult son. Rick handled that as successfully as he did everything else in life, with a light touch, great humor and wisdom and empathy. Rick is survived by his wife, Judy Frederick; stepdaughter, Jane Irvin; stepson, Richard Irvin and wife Lisa and daughters, Morgan, Emma and Helen; his sister, Sue FitzGerald of Ballwin, Mo.; and several nieces and nephews and their children. He will be sorely missed by the many people who loved him. A memorial service for Rick will be held April 17, 2010, at a time and place to be determined. Should one care to make a donation in Rick's memory, the following organizations are suggested: Central Texas Area Special Olympics, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas and Salvation Army of Austin.