Fred Olds ’47 … With deepest sadness, (from Skip Chelesdine ’50 ) I report the death of Fred Olds, OWU 1947, on April 24, Gutherie, OK.Born in Warsaw, IN, Fred attended the University of Indiana before enlisting in the Army Air Corp in 1941. He served in combat overseas for 4 years as a bombardier/gunner in a B-26 medium bomber squadron through North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Germany.
Already a Beta, Fred enrolled at OWU in September of 1945 and was elected President of Theta Chapter. Fred’s strong leadership, experience and maturity and that of other returning Beta Brother veterans, saved many a younger Brother who might easily have strayed into very deep waters. During summer months Fred, Skip Cheseldine ’50, Bugs Clemmer ’49 worked as counselors in boys camps, 1947-1953, in ME and the Adirondack Mountains of up-state New York.
Through Skip’s father, Fred was hired to teach art and coach at Port Washington, NY where he married Flora Anne Olds in 1949, the same year he received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University. Fred moved his family to OK in the 1950’s where he taught art and coached in several public schools and Southwestern State University where he helped set up the very popular College Rodeo program.
Fred painted every day of his life. His artwork depicted his love of horses, cowboys and Indians and the West. He was a Foundation Breeder of Longhorn cattle and won four national championships with his Appaloosa horses. In 1972, Fred moved to Gutherie where he was engaged to rehabilitate the Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library. He served as director there for 14 years. A highly regarded and celebrated painter and sculpture, his works are exhibited world-wide in museums, churches, universities, on public grounds and in private collections of neighbors, statesmen and public figures.
Fred painted more than 100 pictures of the Oklahoma Land Runs. In 1966 his widely acclaimed “Horses From The Sea” was unveiled in the Oklahoma Red Earth Indian Center. Fred wrote poems describing most of his paintings and in 1999 he earned the Western International Poets Award for his volume, “A Drop in the Bucket”.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Flora Anne Connors, 4 children, Kathleen, Laura, Erich and Cindy, eleven grandchildren, six great grandchildren and a sister, Janet.
Honorary pallbearers included OWU Betas Skip Cheseldine, Morry Hollenbaugh, Ned Speasmaker, Norm Slenker, Evan Roderick, Bill Wright, Ned Myers and Ed Dobson, also Sigma Chis Norve Mathie and Jim Lynsky.
Fred was one of kind – a
great Theta Beta.
-Kai- Skip
Flora Anne Old’s address
is:1622 Canyon Bluff Road
Gutherie, OK 73044
6/10/05
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