By: Kirk Fredrickson, Paul’s Son
Paul Fredrickson, a long-time member of the Puget Soundkeeper family, passed away in Seattle on January 13, 2020 after a brief illness.
Paul was born in Hancock, Michigan on September 23, 1935. The son of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tugboat captain on the Great Lakes, Paul moved often and grew up in several lakeside cities. One was Duluth, Minnesota, where in grade school in 1944, he met his future wife of 50 years, Adine Hopkins Fredrickson, who preceded Paul’s passing in 2010.
Paul joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1954 and served at duty stations including New Jersey, Wisconsin, Hawaii, the South Pacific and the Arctic. After leaving the Coast Guard in 1958, Paul went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Industrial Design from the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, Paul married Adine and later had children Jan, Krisa, and Kirk.
Paul worked as a creative and successful manager and marketing director in the housing and design industry in Wisconsin, Idaho, British Columbia and Washington State. Upon his retirement in 1999, Paul joined Puget Soundkeeper, first as a volunteer and then as an employee. At Puget Soundkeeper, Paul helped with fundraising and outreach activities and skippered research and educational boats for an organization that matched his love of the water and connected his soul to something so elementally important to his, and all of our lives.
The family has requested those wishing to express condolences please donate to a charity of your choice in Paul’s honor. People can also submit photos or comments at https://memories.net/timeline/paul-fredrickson-32796.