Frederick Hyland King,
was a 58+ year barbershopper. He died on Monday, September 1, 2008, of complications from diabetes at Gilchrist Hospice Care, at the age of 77.
Fred was the long time director of the Dundalk Chorus of the Chesapeake men's chorus, and the Dundalk Sweet Adelines' chapter.
He was Baltimore born & bred, and he graduated in 1954 from Forest Park High School.
A life-time member of the Barbershop Harmony Society, Freddie was a member of the Barbershop Hall of Fame.
He was also a music educator with the Baltimore County school district.
He started singing barbershop in High School with three other guys. They became the Oriole Four.
He joined the Navy after high school and after a few more interrum jobs, he started a carrier in 1960 with the
Baltimore County school system and worked as a music teacher at Parkville Junior High School.
He earned a bachelor's degree in music in 1972, and a master's in education in 1977 from Towson University, at which time
he became the music department chairman at Pine Grove Elementary School until 1980.
His last job was with the Overlea High School music department as chairman and choirmaster until retiring in 1990.
In 1959, he began directing a Sweet Adelines chorus from Dundalk and continued until his retirement in the 1990's.
He also directed the award winning, Dundalk, MD chapter, The Chorus of the Chesapeake.
With Fred at the helm, the Dundalk men's chorus won the international chorus competition in New Orleans in 1971.
He retired from directing Dundalk in 1996.
In addition to being a chorus director, Freddie was also a Judge, an MC, a composer, an arranger (with over 500 arrangements),
a story-teller with Vaudvillian-type jokes,
and most notably, a quartet man. He started singing baritone when it was decided that his friend, Jim Grant,
could sing higher, and would therefore sing the lead part.
His quartets include the Oriole Four (international quartet champs, 1970 in Atlantic City)
the Pro's-N-Con's, The Entertainers, The Untouchables, Premiere, Kings Contrivance and (most recently) SAGE.
He was married for 50 years to Pat King, who died in 2005.
In his final months, Fred was tended to by his good friend & caregiver, Judy Hassan (with the Pride Of Baltimore chorus).
I am sure all of his family will be forever grateful to Judy for her loving care and support.
Mr. King was a member of Perry Hall United Methodist Church, 9515 Belair Road, where services were held at 10 a.m. Sept 6, 2008.
Surviving family members are son, Kevin; daughter, Kerry Lee Vance of Parkville; brothers, Ed and James Pugh of Parkville;
a sister, Merle Burgess of Yorktown, Va.; four grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
A 'celebration of life' was hosted by the Dundalk chapter on
Saturday, Sept 6th at Noon at:
Tall Cedars
2502 Putty Hill Ave
Parkville, MD
The family has requested that memorials be sent to the
Harmony Foundation International, Inc.
110 Seventh Ave. N.
Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203.
HarmonyFoundation.org
Once $1000.00 is received in memory of Fred, his name will be engraved on a plaque and will
appear on the "Keep a Melody Ringing" wall at the international office.
Here are some YouTube links of Freddie:
with Kevin, Joe & Alan
with The Entertainers
|
