Darrell Frederick: A life of full service
Darrell Frederick lived in an era of full service gas stations -- and full service lives.
He loved Du Quoin completely.
He was a "very good man, a thoughtful man. He knew everyone's situations," according to Ray Pyron, his confidant and mechanic for 18 or more years. There were many over the years.
"I started for him in 1965," remembers Pyron. He was every part of the same mindset. Service was everything--running out to someone's house to jump-start a car on a cold morning, staying after the station closed to rebuild a starter or alternator so someone's wife had a car for in the morning.
Checking oil. Checking anti-freeze. Warning about a worn fan belt. Racks of motor oil alongside the Standard Oil pumps with their signature porcelain crowns on top before they changed the name to Amoco.
Clean windshields. A better crimp in the wire to the defroster to restore a connection. And, the most traveled air hose and tire hand jack in Southern Illinois. There weren't many "check engine" lights back then.
All part of that thing we knew as "full service" and certainly a life well-lived.
Darrell Frederick died Thursday at Fair Acres Rehabilitation Center. He was 99. His funeral was at 10:30 a.m. today at the First Baptist Church in Du Quoin with he burial in Sunset Memorial Park. Searby Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.
To understand his life, you had to understand the man and how he was raised.
Darrell was born in Martinsville, Ill.. Sept. 21, 1914. He passed away six months short of his 100th birthday.
He was one of seven children-- six brothers and one sister.
His father was a railroad mail clerk on the CBQ Railroad. He was retired and living in Tamaroa at the time of his death in 1956. They were members of the Christian Church in Tamaroa. His mother lived a long life, as well.
Darrell graduated from the Du Quoin High School n 1933, in the height of the Depression. He was a star basketball player under Coach Steve Cole.
He married Esto Reeves on April 19, 1936 in the Tamaroa Christian Church. She was one of six children--three sisters and two brothers.
Darrell was a World War II veteran, serving 2 1/2 years in the U.S. Army Engineers in the South Pacific New Guinea Leyte and Luzon. He was discharged on Dec. 26, 1945.
After the war, Darrell began as parts manage at Sims Motor Sales in Du Quoin, a Ford dealership, for seven years. It was later that he owned and operated Frederick's Battery Station for 32 years, before his retirement in 1985 when the business was sold to Steve King. They attended the Baptist Church.
To their marriage was born a son, Charles Clay Frederick, who played basketball and baseball and went on to receive his Master's degree in Recreation and Park Administration from the U of I. He served two years in the military, as well.
He is survived by his son Charlie Frederick and wife Diana of Boynton Beach, Fla., grandsons- Matthew Frederick and wife Jessica and her daughter Mia of Jupiter, Fla. and Benjamin Frederick and wife Shannon and two great grandsons- Clay James Frederick and Brady Matthew Frederick all of Boynton Beach, Fla., and his loving sister- Iris Montgomery of Du Quoin, several nieces and nephews.
It is the picture that of Darrell Frederick and his soft, infectious smile helping a kid from the nearby Ward School pull a glass bottle out of the "Coke" machine and asking him to "drink it here" so he could get credit for the bottles we remember.
And, it's the picture of a man who let you "charge" a starter repair with the promise of coming in to pay when you got your next paycheck.
And, its the man who didn't care if the starter came out of an 8N Ford tractor or a 1963 Oldsmobile Ninety-eight. He could repair it and you knew it would start every time.
It was the way gas stations used to be.
And, we made it just fine back then.