Frederick, Arden Hill
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Arden Hill Frederick, age 90 passed away peacefully
August 4, 2021 in Balmoral Care Center of Lake Forest Place, Lake Forest IL. Arden was an avid reader partial to detective/mysteries and especially history (fiction and non-fiction). Fascinated by the challenges of leadership and management, she had a
deep knowledge of American Presidents and their Presidencies and the British Monarchy. Ask a question on either and Arden could be relied on for the answer.
Born in Delaware Ohio in 1931 Arden was the eldest child of Winston (Flit) and Charlotte (Lottie) Hill. With her father in the Navy during World War II, Arden spent her younger years living in Virginia and Washington state. After the war, the family settled in Washington Courthouse, Ohio where Arden attended Washington High School and went on to graduate Cum Laude in 1952 from Ohio State University with a degree in Education. Arden participated fully in school service programs and community life often assuming leadership positions in these organizations.
While attending Ohio State, a blind date introduced Arden to Earl “Lefty” Frederick in her sophomore year and they were married in June 1953. When Earl took his first job at the Cleveland Clinic, Arden taught eighth grade English in Shaker Heights Ohio before they moved to New York in 1956 where Earl had accepted a management consulting position in a newly formed health practice.
In 1957 Arden and Earl welcomed their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth (Beth) followed by their son Robert Winston in 1959. They bought their first home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, moving in 5 months after Robert was born. Given the nature of consulting Earl would need to spend periods of time travelling for work. They made a good partnership with Arden ably managing activities at home while Earl was out of town. During her almost 20 years living in Westchester County, New York, Arden was a member of the League of Women Voters. In the early 1960’s, she organized a program to orient new public school teachers to available services and the neighborhoods of Hastings-on-Hudson. Arden served as Voter Services chairperson disseminating information on local village government registration and voting procedures and was a presence in get out the vote efforts. Her children remember nights spent stuffing envelopes and having the opportunity to observe “the count” when voting machines were opened after the polls closed. Arden also supported her community in other ways; volunteering for Family Services of Westchester, the Westchester Chapter of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children (Westchester AHRC) and Hudson River Easter Seals. She was a member of the Junior League of Westchester, taught Sunday school and was an alter guild member at Grace Episcopal Church in Hastings on Hudson.
According to the Hastings News, Arden was a “One Woman Library Service” transporting senior residents of the Andrus Home to Hastings Library on Friday mornings. Growing up Arden’s children remember the frequent trips to the public library to indulge her passion for reading and knowing that “I’ll be just a minute”…. could be more accurately stated as “I’ll be back in 20 minutes to an hour”. When the children were a little bit older, Arden went back to school commuting from Hastings-onHudson to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn to complete a Masters Degree in Library Science that was awarded in 1970.
In 1969 the family with Beth and Robert now 12 and 10 years of age respectively, moved further up-river from Hastings-on-Hudson to Irvington -on-Hudson, New York. Arden worked as a part time librarian at The Masters School which overlapped with the time when her daughter attended high school there. Arden also volunteered as a librarian at Lyndhurst, the former Jay Gould estate, part of the National Historic Trust, on the banks of the Hudson River. In August 1974, the Frederick family moved to Wilmette a suburb north of Chicago, Illinois. Earl had accepted a position as Chief Executive Officer for Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, one of his previous clients working as a consultant. Arden made her way in Chicago serving as Secretary on the Woman’s Board at the Field Museum and volunteering in their library. She also worked at the library of North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, Illinois. With the children transitioning from high school to college then out on their own, Arden had more time for volunteer pursuits and was very committed to their church, Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Kenilworth, IL serving on the alter guild there. Both Arden and Earl continued to participate in the sport of curling to which they were introduced while living in New York. Arden played golf with the Indian Hill Club nine hole woman’s group and was a member of the Winnetka Garden Club. Arden and Earl moved to Lake Forest Place, Senior Living Community, in 2000 where Arden actively participated on resident committees, the Play Readers theatre group and was very committed to her work with The Mary Barrow Scholarship Program, supporting the educational goals of Lake Forest Place employees. Arden is survived by Earl, her husband of 68 years, daughter Beth Hasenauer, her son Robert and two grandchildren, Nicole and Andrew Frederick.
Services will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday September 11, 2021 at Church of the Holy Comforter, 222 Kenilworth Avenue, Kenilworth, IL. 60043. Reception to follow at Indian Hill Club.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Earl J and Arden H Frederick University Scholarship Fund, The Ohio State University Foundation, 1480 W. Lane Avenue, Columbus, OH 43221 or Geneva Foundation of the Presbyterian Homes, 8707 Skokie Boulevard, Suite 400, Skokie, IL, 60077. Please note in the memo line that the memorial donation is for the Mary Barrow New Hope Scholarship Program. Info: donnellanfuneral.com or 847-675-1990.