Saturday, July 7, 2007

Education

Even from an early age, Frieda valued the importance of education. According to this Certificate of Award presented to her by Superintendent W. B. Krupton on May 31, 1939, she was neither tardy nor absent all year long.

Frieda received a similar award for perfect attendance in the fourth grade from Principal Stella L. Potschner at the Betty Jane School on June 12, 1942.

Family Matters


Family was always very important to Frieda. She adored her father and admired him for how hard he worked, despite the fact that he only had one hand. (He lost one of his hands in an accident.) In the picture on the left, which was taken on July 7, 1946, Frieda (pictured with the scarf) is seen enjoying an afternoon of fun in the sun with her father, Fred, her two brothers, Fred, Jr. and Sam, and her sisters Catherine and Eleanora.


In the photograph above, taken on May 31, 1948, Frieda was only sixteen years old. Here she is pictured with her sisters: Myra, Catherine, and Eleanora, and with Cat's first husband, Leroy.


The photo on the left was taken on Thursday, November 25, 1948, Thanksgiving Day. Here Frieda, having turned seventeen only twelve days before, is pictured with two of her beloved pets. Little did she know that she would become a bride in less than a year.









The photo on the right was taken the same day. here Frieda is pictured with her sister, Catherine Anne Ullrich Moyers (18 years old) and Catherine's six month old daughter Rebecca Lyn Moyers.




After Frieda was married, she oftentimes took her children back to Ohio to visit her family. In this picture (left) which was taken on one such trip in 1956, she is pictured with her parents, Anna and Fred Ullrich, and her children, Patrick, Michael, Dianna, and Deborah.


In 1961, Frieda would again visit her family. In the photo above, she is pictured with her brother Sam, sister Cat, her mother Anna, and her father, Fred, who died only a year after this photo was taken.

Friday, July 6, 2007

A Life Well Lived

TEXARKANA, Tex. - Frieda Mae Fink, 75, of Texarkana, Texas, died at her home Thursday, July 5, 2007.

Mrs. Fink was born on November 13, 1931 in Stow, Ohio. Although she grew up in the midst of the depression, Frieda fondly remembered her childhood. Mrs. Fink said, "I never saw my family as being needy."

When Mrs. Fink was 17, her mother accompanied her to a dance. There she met the man who would become her husband, Don R. Fink. "He asked my mother to dance first," Mrs. Fink said, "It was his way of getting girls to dance with him. He seemed like a gentleman."

Although Mrs. Fink's mother declined the invitation, she suggested that her daughter dance with him. The couple eloped a week later in Kentucky.

In 1950, Mrs. Fink gave birth to the first of the couple's eight children, Michael.

A year later, she gave birth to twins, Patrick and Dianna. After Patrick was born, it quickly became apparent that a second child was on the way. "Diana was born three minutes later," Mrs. Fink said. "Don had only brought things for one baby. He had to go find extra clothes."

With five young children, the Finks eventually moved the family from Ohio to Needles, Cal. where they lived for a time with her husband's uncle, George Champ. Their new home was little more than a shed behind a body shop where he worked.

Within months, however, the family relocated to La Puente, Cal. where they purchased a home and their next two children were born. Mrs. Fink said they frequently took family picnics and played baseball in the park every Saturday.

In addition to her children, Mrs. Fink also had a love for animals. She remembered that all of her children had their own favorite pets over the years, including pigeons, dogs, rabbits and even two ponies.

In 1975, Mr. and Mrs. Fink moved the family to Texarkana, Ark. "We wanted to get away from the smog and we liked the area," Mrs. Fink said. Shortly after the move, their eighth child, Rachael, was born.

Later, Mr. and Mrs. Fink would become the managers of Texarkana's historic Grim Hotel.

Because Mrs. Fink had eloped at an early age, she had dropped out of high school during the eleventh grade. "I always wanted to go back [to school], but I had always been so busy."

In 1990, at the age of 58, she fulfilled her dream and not only received her GED, but continued her education by enrolling in the nursing program at Texarkana Community College. She worked as a nurse at Wadley Hospital and then at Medical Arts Hospital until she could no longer handle her duties due to a decline in health.

Mrs. Fink was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a year later. As her disease progressively worsened, she looked to her family for support. In addition to the constant support of her husband and children, she was also cared for by her nephew, Chris Christall, his wife Andrea and their daughter Candace, of Texarkana, Ark.

Regardless, Mrs. Fink was optimistic about life. "I think I'm pretty fortunate," Mrs. Fink said. "You could die tomorrow or you could live till you're a hundred. But the main reason I don't think about death is because we have the hope of everlasting life." This belief was a result of her 47 years as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Bible's teaching of a resurrection to eternal life in a paradise earth.

In 1991 she had reflected on her life during an interview with her grandson, Jathan Fink. Mrs. Fink then said, "There were probably a lot of times when I made mistakes, but what you try to do is do better and not live in the past."

Mrs. Fink was preceded in death by her parents, Frederick Frank Ullrich and Anna Edna Kelly Ullrich; one son, Dennis Fink; one daughter, Dianna Pillow; and one granddaughter, Dianna Ray Pillow.

Survivors include her husband, Don R. Fink of Texarkana, Tex.; three sons, Michael Fink of Mountain Home, Idaho, Patrick Fink of Texarkana, and David Fink of Ethridge, Tenn., three daughters, Deborah Fisher of Jacksonville, Ark., Pamela Austin of Texarkana, and Rachael Jones of Fort Smith, Ark., five brothers and sisters, Fred Ullrich and Samuel Ullrich of Barberton, Ohio, Myra Kelly Ullrich of Orlando, Florida, and Catherine Whitecraft and Eleanor Conklin of Akron, Ohio; 12 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; and a number of other relatives.

Services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, Nash, Texas with Stevon Gamble officiating.

Relatives will be at the home of Pamela and James Austin, 9101 N. Kings Hwy., Texarkana, Tex., 75503.