Thursday, January 2, 2025
Fred will be greatly missed. Him and my mother Darlene met 9-ish years ago. They originally meet on a Cub Scout trip to Myrtle Beach, no one put a second thought into them eventually getting married. I was a delivery driver for Elgin Dominoes at this time, I got back from a delivery one night and my manager said “I have a special delivery for you take, the person asked for you specifically to bring his food”, so I did. I get there and it was Fred’s house, he took the pizza and paid, then handed me a note and said, “I don’t even like Dominos food, but can you give this to your mom?”. Fred did not like Dominos pizza at all, lol. It was a note with his phone number on it to my mom. And that’s how we all became family. He was rough around the edges, but he had a heart of hold and we’re all going to miss him greatly!
My son Jason was 5 months old when Fred came into our lives, he took him and my other 3 boys in as his own grandchildren. Something he didn’t have to do but he did it because behind that hard exterior he had a soft spot on the inside, ❤️. The older 3 boys were at the ages they did their own things, but Jason quickly was attached to Fred and once he was able to learn to talk he started to call him Papa, Fred did everything with that kid, had him driving at 10 months old, lol, took him bowling, took him to Fort Jason, etc.
My daughter McKenzie, and Fred have been the closest out of all my children. Papa (Fred) was her whole world!! He did everything, I mean everything with her, he even played Barbies with her and her Barbie house he got her Christmas of 2023. Took her everywhere also, her favorite places to go with Papa and Yayah (my mom, Darlene) were Sam’s Club, Dollar General (DG), Commasary (Fort Jackson, and Food Lion, she was always so afraid of something happening to them that she wanted to be with them all the time. She loved her Papa more than anything in the Universe (yes, more than mommy & daddy, lol) and he loved her so much, they were the center of each others worlds.
Me and my children have been so very blessed to have Fred in our lives, as we are sad that he is gone from our lives, I know he’ll always be in our hearts. He was a great man, a family man, he lived a full life and made every day count even when he felt bad. We love and miss you so much down here Fred, Rest Easy now.