Obituary of Frederick E. Carlson

Frederick E. Carlson, of Horseheads, NY, died on Sunday, August 22, 2021. He was 96 years old. Carlson was pre-deceased by his sister, Mona (James) Laughlin, of Frewsburg, NY, and by his brother, John Carlson, of Tucson, Arizona. He is survived by his wife of 75 years, Ina Carlson, of Horseheads, NY; his brother David Carlson, of Holly Springs, North Carolina; his daughter Melissa Carlson (Frank) Allmaier, of Beaver Dams, NY; his daughter Hilde (Michael) Tingey, of Vestal, NY; his grandson Jonathan Frederick (Maria Walker) Allmaier, of Bronx, NY; his granddaughter Alexis Allmaier (Matthew) Seltzer, of Chappaqua, NY; his grandson Michael Tingey, of Wappingers Falls, NY; his grandson Russell (Melissa) Tingey, of Vestal, NY; and his great-grandson Clyfford Allmaier, of Bronx, NY. Frederick Eugene Carlson was born on September 23, 1924, in Jamestown, NY, to Lloyd and Florence Carlson. He graduated from Jamestown High School, where he earned the yearbook caption of “frequent vacations” for his habit of skipping school on Fridays to pilot small aircraft, especially a beloved Piper Cub, with his cousin at a local airfield. After graduating high school, Fred worked for the Jamestown Municipal Airport as an Airport Service Man. He was then drafted into the US Army, entering active service on March 1, 1943, and missing the D-Day invasion due to a flu infection. He served, first as a Private, then as a Private First Class Cannoneer, then as a Corporal Scout, and finally as a Corporal Section Chief in the European Theater of World War II, including combat in the Battle of the Bulge. As a Corporal Section Chief, he had the command of a 9-man 155mm Howitzer gun crew in the 21st Field Artillery Battalion. After his honorable discharge from the Army, he returned home and married Ina Anderson, also of Jamestown, NY, on July 14, 1946. After a stint working as a mail carrier for the United States Postal Service, Fred attended Alfred University with support from the GI Bill, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Political Science, cum laude, in 1950. He earned his Master of Science degree in Education the following year from the same institution. While living in Alfred Station, he and his wife, Ina, took his three much-younger siblings into their home, after their father’s death had forced the three children into straitened circumstances. Fred also maintained a small farm in Alfred Station, raising some livestock and growing much of the food consumed by his family. In the early 1950s, Fred and Ina moved to Webb Mills, NY, where he had found work as a life-insurance salesman. A few years later, after settling in Horseheads, NY, Fred fulfilled his dream of becoming a high school history teacher, teaching both World History and American History at Southside High School until his retirement in 1986. He also served, for several years, as President of the Elmira Teachers Association. Fred was a man of strong and varied interests. He was an avid sailboat racer, and a longtime member of the Ithaca Yacht Club, where he raced his Ranger-26 and, later, his J-24. He had taken up downhill skiing during his service in Europe during the war, and he continued this pursuit well into his 80s, visiting ski mountains in Colorado for that purpose. He kept a very large vegetable garden, including a cornfield; he took a justified pride in his application of evidence-based agricultural methods, which he enjoyed researching. He also enjoyed cooking, and he cooked dinner for his family nearly every evening of his life, until he was finally too infirm to do so. Late in life, motivated in part by a love of Italian cuisine, he took up a study of the Italian language—he had heard Italian spoken often as a child in Jamestown, although his own family was of Swedish extraction. He traveled to Sweden and to Italy with his family in 2006, fulfilling a life-long wish. Fred lived a long and full life, largely because he loved life so deeply, and possessed a gift for recognizing and appreciating the simple joys of home, family, outdoorsmanship, and learning. He will be remembered as a loving and inspiring husband, brother, father, grandfather, and teacher. Family and friends are invited to visit Barber Funeral Home, 413 So. Main St., Horseheads on Friday, August 27th from 11 am to 12 noon. His memorial service will be held at 12 noon. Committal prayers and interment, with military honors, will follow in Montour Cemetery, Montour Falls. His family wishes to acknowledge Bethany Home Care at Appleridge for their kindness and compassion, and CareFirst for their support.