Gerald G. Frick

Gerald George Frick, 97, a resident of Fergus Falls, died suddenly Monday, February 3, 2014, at his apartment in Park Gardens.

He was born December 9, 1916, in Gettysburg, SD, the son of Henry and Sybil (Magub) Frick. After graduating from Gettysburg High School, he attended South Dakota State College in Brookings, where he was a member of ROTC and graduated with a B.S. in electrical engineering in 1938. He was employed by Minnesota Utilities Company of Wheaton, MN, American Utilities Service Corporation of Savanna, IL, and then worked as an electrical engineer in the test program of General Electric Company of Schenectady, NY. He was drafted into the Army of the United States on August 11, 1941 where he worked in the Ordnance Department as a fire control instrument repair officer in stints that alternated between the Aberdeen Proving Ground (MD) and the Kankakee Ordnance Plant (IL). He was sent to the Frankfort Arsenal (PA), and then worked as an armory maintenance and repair officer in the Fort Knox (KY) armored division, at Fort Wayne (IN), and at Camp Campbell (TN). He was then sent back via Philadelphia to Eastman Kodak’s Hawkeye Campus in Rochester, NY, from which he was sent to Mt. Rainier Ordnance Depot in Tacoma, WA where he attained the rank of Captain and received commendation. It was there that he met Nanette Catherine Bergen from New Jersey who was a Second Lieutenant serving in the Women’s Army Corps. Gerald Frick and Nanette Bergen were married in Tacoma, WA, on February 25, 1946, the day that he was released from active duty.

Nanette and Gerald settled in Battle Lake in 1946, and he took a job in May of that year at Otter Tail Power Company in Fergus Falls, commuting until they moved to Fergus Falls in 1955. Initially he worked as a lineman’s helper and walked the lines. He became a dispatcher in 1948 and assistant chief dispatcher in 1955. His family knew that a phone call during a thunderstorm meant he was being summoned to work. In 1965 he became supervisor of system protection, then coordinator of system planning and in 1972, the manager of system operations. At Otter Tail Power he became involved with early computers. Computer systems and programming were to become a lifelong passion for him. Gerald retired from Otter Tail Power Company in December 1978. In August 1979, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department of South Dakota State University as a professor, retiring in 1980. After retirement, Gerald and Nanette spent many winters in Port Aransas, TX. It was there that he discovered his talent for pen and ink drawing.

Gerald had a brilliant mind and a wide range of hobbies and interests. He was a ham radio operator and a member of the ham radio club in Fergus Falls; his call letters were W0GF. He built his own computer, purchased others, and enjoyed programming and tinkering with operating systems until the day he died. He was a master carpenter, who built furniture, most notably the trestle-style dining room table that was the centerpiece of family gatherings. When their four children were growing up, Nanette and Gerald enjoyed camping, and often spent weekends at their property on Ottertail Lake. He was a member of the Fergus Falls Elks Club.
After Nanette died in 1997, Gerald took up cooking and perfecting recipes, referring to himself as the “haphazard gourmet.” His long life may have been partly due to his exercise regime; he enjoyed riding his recumbent bicycle on Minnesota’s trail system. He would often drive many miles to bike a stretch of trail and eventually biked the entirety of several of the trails. Until he was 95 years old, Gerald could be seen almost daily on the stretch of the Heartland Trail between Fergus Falls and Dalton, putting in well over 1,000 miles per summer on his bicycle. In the winter he rode his stationary bike and was still doing 9 miles a day at the age of 97.
Gerald was a voracious reader and made good use of the Fergus Falls Public Library’s mystery book section. He enjoyed puzzles – both word puzzles and mathematical puzzles – crosswords, sudoku, and did his daily cryptogram puzzle. When given a peg-jumping game, he wrote a computer program to solve it.

In his later years, he was often described as “amazing.” He was honest, disciplined and played everything by the book, a true member of the Greatest Generation. His was a life well lived.
Gerald was a member of St. James Episcopal Church.

Preceding him in death were his parents, a son, Daniel Henry, and his wife, Nanette.

He leaves behind two daughters, Anne Frick and Susan Eaton, one son, Gerald George Frick Jr., and three grandchildren, Maxwell Eaton III, Alexander Eaton, and Katelyn Frick.

Memorials may be made to the Fergus Falls Public Library, St. James Episcopal Church, or the charity of your choice.

Visitation: One hour prior to the service at the church
Service: Saturday, February 8, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church, Fergus Falls
Clergy: Rev. Rod Spidahl
Military Participation: Fergus Falls V. F.W Post 612 and American Legion #30
Interment: Oak Grove Cemetery, Fergus Falls