Previous Bio

 

After leaving NCHS I graduated from North Central College, and then went on for a graduate degree in organic chemistry at Michigan State University.

Just before I started my first “real job” with Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY I married Susan Shiffler, NCHS class of ’62. Our daughter and son were born while we lived in Rochester.

Kodak was large and diverse enough to allow several job changes within the company, from synthetic chemistry into engineering, marketing and sales, and that included moves to Minneapolis, back to Rochester and eventually out to the San Francisco Bay area. After being with Kodak for 20 years we parted ways and I continued to work for other companies, including DuPont, in the high tech environment of Silicon Valley, primarily in technical and marketing roles with specialty products that are used in the processes for making computer memory and silicon semiconductor devices. One of the interesting aspects of that was the opportunity for international travel, especially in Asia.

It wasn’t all work, and along the way I have enjoyed sailing boats large and small, hiking, including a couple of trips down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, kayaking in San Francisco Bay and out into the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate, and many vacations in Northern Minnesota with special friends.

We eased out of the fast lane in August 2006 and left California for Southern Illinois, where we are close to our daughter’s family and centrally located to other family scattered around the country. Our son’s family is in our former home in CA, so we have a good reason to go back there often. We have three young granddaughters. The university nearby provides a lot of cultural and intellectual opportunity and many of the fun things can still be practiced here, in the beautiful hills and lakes of the area. We have made great new friends and we are enjoying life!

Don Frey

1610 Morning Dew Court

Carterville, IL 62918

618-985-8982

Class of '59 Reunion Questionnaire Response – Don Frey

Personal

I will be traveling about 335 miles, by MapQuest's fastest route, from Southern Illinois to attend the reunion. I just learned that Terry Anthoney and I are living within about four miles of each other. He may be traveling very slightly farther, unless he goes for the shortest distance option.

We have three granddaughters, one near us in Carbondale, IL and two in Pleasanton, CA. They are five and four and two, respectively.

Although I have retired, giving up annual reviews and regular hours in August of 2006, 1 still seem to be plenty busy, but it's more on my agenda, and with many fewer meetings.

After living and working in the Midwest and Western New York for a long time, I never expected to become a Californian, and then we took advantage of an opportunity and had 22 great years in the San Francisco Bay area. I grew fabulous oranges and lemons there! Our daughter-in-law re-supplies us regularly.

Athleticism has never been my long suit, but a couple of hiking trips to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and sea kayaking around Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay and through the Golden Gate qualify as highlights.

There was a fair amount of travel associated with my work, and I found Japan to be the most interesting and enjoyable

destination, the people, the culture, and especially the food. Many others were good, but my time was usually too limited to really get into them in the same way. We are planning more travel for pleasure in the near future.

Staying true to my inner geek, my publications have been limited to technical papers and a couple of patents.

When I attended my wife's class reunion at the end of July I discovered that I still knew most of the school song. Whether I can sing it is another issue.

The talent I usually keep hidden, especially from kids, is that I can talk like Donald Duck.

By my definition(s) happiness comes in many ways. Among the best are good times with family and dear friends, and in being fully steeped in the beauty of the natural world and beyond.

I left Naperville after graduating from North Central College, and have returned several times to visit my wife's family. Our family house, which had some historical significance but insufficient historic district interest to protect it at the time, was demolished to allow commercial development on Water Street.

Memories
During our high school years the regular standby for something to eat or a special treat had to be Prince Castle. It was close to home, too.
Sundays always began with church but a lot of afternoons included messing around by, in or on the river, because it was right across the street from home. That may have been the beginning of my long term obsession with small boats. The river is much more civilized and up-scale now, with the development of the Riverwalk.
No cafeteria meal memories, I was a brown-bagger. I do remember combining leftovers with others at the table to make some disturbing concoctions, and a bet, once, as to who would eat the results. It was surprising who put it all down, including the paper napkin!
My recollections of graduation are pretty hazy and incomplete, except for some event in which the class was arranged by progression of height, and I was bothered by the fact that there were only two or three people in the entire class, including the girls, that were shorter than I was. I grew later and even seemed to be quite tall when I started to travel to Japan.
I had a number of part time jobs during school, the most memorable of which was at Tasty Bakery on Jefferson Street, doing clean-up and some prep work for the next day. There were all the day-old donuts and other goodies I could want. The skinny kid put on some weight. I lost it after I quit and didn't weigh that much again until after I was married and off my own cooking. There's more about "real jobs" on the page linked to the Senior Roll Call on the Class of '59 website.
To me, the quarry that is now a part of the Riverwalk was an intriguing but forbidden place back in the high school days, with a reputation of being too dangerous to venture near. High fences and lots of tall weeds added to the creepiness. Now it seems much smaller and more benign. Perhaps nothing does that quite as effectively as paddleboats.
The most enjoyable part of the summer in Naperville was time at Centennial Park Beach. One year my older brother and I painted the house in the mornings and, if we made sufficient progress (there was a lot of other goofing around going on, too) we could hit the beach in the afternoons and have fun with friends. There were lots of good times there.