0015 - 01NOV2012 - "Freddie"

Freddie… We first met Fred and Theresa Crosno in April 1992, when they moved to their brand new house, next door to ours, in Sawgrass Estates North, Sunrise Florida… They were newlyweds, full of fun and life, in their mid 20s, ready to take on the world… Although Jan and I had two kids and two part-timers, that did not preclude us from getting to know them well, for them to become a fixed feature in all the parties we had, and for Freddie to become more important to Alex (then 3) and Leah (then 2) than Barney, the purple dinosaur… We used to have the meanest volleyball games in their backyard and then cool off in our pool; we also used to have the best slip-n-slide parties, and then warm up in our whirlpool… Freddie was always smiling, always low key, letting Theresa be the ‘mouth’ and he in the background, easy going, observing… However, there was serious determination behind that smile; I would have chosen Freddie to be in my team whether we were going frog-hunting in the Everglades (his favorite red-neck sport), or to build a house, or to bring somebody in-line; Freddie was the man… A Mechanical Engineer by training with natural ‘tinkering’ abilities, he could fix or rig anything, from a mini-scooter to an air-boat… He was renown in our neighborhood for his creations putting together haunted houses every Halloween… He also played piano and a mean bass guitar… Having been an offensive lineman in High School football, Freddie tipped the scales at about 250ish but could do cartwheels better than anybody (even all suited up coming home from work!)… Years passed and they had three boys (now 17,15,10); we saw them grow from a young couple to an established family… Also went through (and partied through) several storms together, from Andrew in 1992, to Wilma in 2007… We moved to Tennessee in 2009, after 17 years of living next-door to each other, and continued to regard them as highly as always; they came to visit once and to take a look at the Hawks Bluff lot they had bought after we bought ours… Freddie died yesterday, November 30th at 47, of a heart attack. If I ever had someone I considered a little brother, whom I saw grow and prosper, on whom I could count for everything, it was Freddie. His life was cut too short; he was taken too soon; somebody goofed this up! This one hurts!