Patterson Cemetery District, Stanislaus County, CA 

Submitted by Gale Stroud and Burta Herger 26 Aug 2007

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Harrison Frederick S 550317 p1
Final Rites Today for F. S. Harrison, 46� Year Resident; Private funeral server will be conducted this morning at 10:30 at
Evans Funeral Chapel for Frederick Swift Harrison, 75, who died early Tuesday morning in Del Puerto Hospital after a
lengthy illness. The Rev. A. Robert Chidwick of St. Paul s Episcopal Church, Modesto, will officiate.  Cremation will
follow at the Park View Crematorium In French Camp, San Joaquin County. During the past year Harrison had
undergone two major operations in San Francisco and had been hospitalized here for the past couple weeks. It would be
an understatement to call him a long-time resident of Patterson because he came here in April, 1909, before the city was
incorporated, and he has been a leading figure throughout all those years He was twice postmaster. serving from 1910
until 1922 and from 1942 until July 1949.  From 1929 until May 1942 he served as city councilman and was mayor
during the last four years.  He resigned in 1942 to become postmaster for the second time. During the past four years he
has been city clerk, secretary of the city planning commission and secretary of the chamber of commerce.  In addition, he
has been chairman of the Stanislaus County Selective Service Board the last three years and he has served on that board
since 1938. He was Patterson s Civil Defense coordinator as well as chairman of the joint county-city Civil Defense
planning board. Fritz, as he was more familiarly known throughout the county was born in Cartersville, Va.  At the age of
18, while attending Virginia Military Institute, he joined the Army s Light Infantry Blues to serve in the Spanish-
American War. He later went with the 4th Virginia Company to Cuba and then served with the 27th Infantry Division in
the Philippines. In 1909 he came to Patterson and was employed until December, 1936, as manager of the Patterson
Ranch Company. Fritz was active in count politics and was a former member of the county Democratic  central
committee. Among his verbal sparring partners, he was recognized as a leading exponent of the proper word for the
proper occasion.   He took delight in using anything but the common words, and his letters and descriptions often
contained grandiose wordage.  His large vocabulary was developed through many hours of reading leading periodicals
and books.  During his most recent illness he enjoyed reading "Don Quizote" for the sixth or seventh time. Irrigator files
show that he was the final remaining charter subscriber to the newspaper.  He is survived by his widow, Roberta, whom
he married 44 years ago; a daughter, Mrs.  May Wreden of San Francisco; two sons, sons, Robert of Patterson, and Carter
of Modesto; four sisters, Mrs. Alice Werth, Mrs. Eloise Edmunds, Mrs. Mary Byrd Tucker and Isabelle Harrison, all of
Virginia; and three grandchildren.