Frederica Jennie “Freddie” Friday passed away peacefully on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, at the age of 98, having lived a full and beautiful life. Born in Hancock, New York on May 16, 1921, she was the daughter of William R. Churchill and Laura W. Wheeler. Freddie cherished fond memories of growing up in the Catskill Mountains, swimming and playing alongside the Delaware River with her beloved sister, Teddy, fishing with her father, and reading beside her mother.
She received a BA in English, Social Studies, and French (1943), BS in Library Science (1944), and MS in English and Education (1945) at the State University of New York at Albany. She also completed coursework at SUNY Geneseo, Columbia, and New York University.
Freddie developed a lifelong love of reading and was attracted to the organization of knowledge, which was highly evident by her educational and professional commitments throughout her life. She held a variety of library positions – cataloguer, library assistant, circulation librarian, audiovisual coordinator, and librarian – throughout New York (SUNY Cobleskill and Dobbs Ferry), Michigan (Michigan State), and Indiana (Purdue University). A portion of her professional career was devoted to raising her family, but she remained active in her community during these years as well.
In 1951, she met and married her husband, the late William H. “Bill” Friday III, a WWII veteran and later longtime associate professor of agricultural engineering at Purdue University. The couple traveled widely, often camping on their way to academic conferences. Freddie had a fondness for adventure and a romance for the natural world.
Raised Methodist and Presbyterian, Freddie converted to Roman Catholicism as an adult and was an active member of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in West Lafayette, where she and her husband lived for more than 50 years.
Her family will cherish many memories and remember Freddie for tea parties, sporting events, baseball, puzzles, reading, hiking, wittiness, and much more.
Freddie is survived by her daughter Leora of Minnesota, sons Joseph (Debbie) of South Carolina and Daniel (Ceola) of Indiana, and nephew Frederick Scruton (Cheryl) of Pennsylvania. Also surviving are eight grandchildren, Andrew (Anne), Jana and Eric Murray, Erin (Brian) Welch, Tanja, Maria, Emma and Laura Friday and four great-grandchildren Andrew III, Catherine, Conner, and Cody. She was preceded in death by her eldest son, William IV, her sister, Theodora Scruton, and her husband, William III.
Freddie moved to Marion in 2009 to be close to family and resided at Northwood Manor. She later moved into the home of her son, Daniel, and daughter-in-law, Ceola, and was lovingly cared for by her entire family.
Please join us in celebrating her life Saturday afternoon, September 28, 2019, visitation from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., funeral Mass at 1:00 p.m., at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, 2224 Sacramento Dr, West Lafayette. Burial will follow at Grand View Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, and in honor of some of her favorite things, donations may be made to the Marion-Grant County Humane Society, National Park Service, Purdue Women’s Club, or your local library.