Sadly we lost our dear member Fred in 2016, but his wonderful life story is a joy to read!
 
Fred, who has been a member of the Centerville Rotary for 23 years, said he was born in his parent's farm house on Kemp Road in Dayton. His mother was a nurse. He was the first of three children. He has a younger brother and then six years later his younger sister was born. He went to Kemp School in East Dayton, being held back a year before he could go and then attended school in Beavercreek from third grade through eighth grade before going to Wilbur Wright High School, where he graduated in 1949. 
 
 
Fred, who has been a member of the Centerville Rotary for 23 years, said he was born in his parent's farm house on Kemp Road in Dayton. His mother was a nurse. He was the first of three children. He has a younger brother and then six years later his younger sister was born. He went to Kemp School in East Dayton, being held back a year before he could go and then attended school in Beavercreek from third grade through eighth grade before going to Wilbur Wright High School, where he graduated in 1949. 
 
He attended Miami University for one and a half years before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, as the Korean War was underway. He served three years and then entered his grandfather's lumber business. It had started as the Kuntz-Johnson Lumber Yard and his grandfather had bought out Peter Kuntz's interest. His grandfather and his brother also had a wallboard company and Fred moved to Buffalo, New York to run the company but that didn't work out for him so he moved back to the area and started a building business in Tipp City, where he met his wife Celia on a blind date. They met at Easter time, he said, and were married by September. They have six children, three boys and three girls, and 10 grandchildren.'
 
He started his own building business  in 1975 and worked it until 2008, he said.
 
He said in his earlier years he worked with the Centerville Co-eds keeping all their props in shape over the years. He would go to all the practices...there were 60 girls who could really kick high..he said, and if a prop was missing something he would repair or replace it.
 
Brad noted that Fred has been a part of practically every project the club has helped build, from gazebos in the parks to the recent staircase project at The Castle, and the building of a large chicken coop in Honduras a number of years ago. 
 
Fred said he has lived in 40 different locations in six different states  over the years, improving houses.  
 
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