Fred Burns

When Fred’s parents sent him from his native Glenwood to St. Boniface with its teaching nuns and discipline, he pleaded with them to be allowed to go to Glenwood elementary. The cloakroom that divided the boys’ from the girls’ classrooms was the one place where students could let loose though even that the nuns often raided. The cloakroom was also the solitary punishment cell where miscreants served time. (See Mary Ann Vanek’s bio.) In retrospect Fred says, “It was a great education.”

Transferring to Sea Cliff in 9th grade offered great freedom. Fred’s favorite teachers were the easy-going Coach Ray Conlin and the relaxed John Henderson in social studies who would sit on his desk, tie held in place with a paper clip. The tall, elderly and craggy Dorothy Comfort who taught Spanish was a mixture—stern disciplinarian who would give him detention, then give him and others a ride home because their bus had departed.

As soon as he had his driver’s license Fred acquired the first of his three high school cars, the most famous being his yellow Ford convertible. He ran his own transportation service, driving Carole Brown and Nancy Samuelson to school every morning. After school and weekends he often worked at the elite at Piping Rock Country Club as a uniformed doorman and later in the office. As doorman Fred often worked debutante parties ushering in the kids from wealthy families in their cummerbunds and formal wear to dance to the music of Lester Lanin’s Band of Reknown. Brian O’Toole (’58) worked there as a busboy and would often sneak out champagne for other employees. After working all night parties, Fred sometimes found himself in assistant principal A. Stanley Goodwin’s office being lectured on the destructive effects of such work.

Fred didn’t go to the Air Force as his yearbook note predicted, but to Mohawk Valley Technical Institute in Utica, NY with Ned McAdams. The two year school emphasized hands-on education and field trips to business and industry. Fred soon decided he would join the Army. “I told my parents I quit college and I joined the army and they flipped out.” He spent the next three years mostly in Germany. When he returned home he took a job with New York Telephone. He also accepted a blind date arranged by Charlie Davies (’58) girlfriend. He and Pat Barry married in 1964. Their son Michael was born in ’65 and daughter Laurie in ’68.

For some 32 years Fred worked for New York Telephone as it reshaped itself under several different names before becoming the present day Verizon. He started as a technician, then took on a variety of jobs and challenges, including teaching courses throughout the Bell system and becoming a supervisor for New York City and Long Island with a large staff. His last post was was Director of Technical Services where he worked with government committees to establish the uniform technical standards that allow the many service providers, cell phones and high speed Internet connections to work compatibly.

When his wife Pat died in 1996 he also retired. Except he did not retire. He was given the advice, “Retire and you don’t have any money problems you do what you want to do.” He sold his home in Nesconset and moved to a condo in East Hampton and became a New York State Park Ranger on Montauk Point during the summers. “This is probably the most interesting job I have had,” he says, “outside all the time in a great environment on the east end of Long Island.”

For the winters Fred enjoys his condo in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He is also an enthusiastic traveler. He cruised Russia’s Volga River and watched as Russia’s revamped military paraded its might in celebration of their victory over Nazi Germany. He was interested to find that university students he talked to knew little of Soviet times. “It seems like a block in their minds.” In November 2008 he visited Beijing, Xiang, and Shanghai in China.