Caroline Reid Frye, who was born March 16, 1925, died Dec. 2, at the age of 96.
Born to Joseph and Edith Reid in Brooklyn, New York, Caroline Frye led an adventurous life, full of travel, family, friends, and a commitment to the public good. She grew up at naval postings in Alaska, the Philippines, and China, and, when her family returned to live in the U.S., attended six high schools, graduating from Pensacola High School in Washington, D.C.
At the age of 19, she graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park, and began her working life as an editor for the Department of Scientific Research and Development. While at Maryland, she met Bruce Frye, then stationed at Fort Mead. They were married September 8, 1945. Following the war, the couple moved to Eugene, Ore., and eventually to Palo Alto, Calif., as Bruce pursued degrees in history culminating in a Ph.D. at Stanford, while Caroline worked at the Office of Veterans Affairs.
In 1953, Bruce and Caroline drove across country to Colorado A&M, as it was then known, where Bruce became a professor of history. Caroline had three children, Susan, Thomas, and Bradford. As Fort Collins and her children grew, and the university became known as Colorado State, Caroline Frye helped establish the League of Women Voters in Fort Collins, was a committed member of the Democratic Party, and volunteered for many years on the United Way Board of Directors. For decades, she was proud to volunteer as an election judge. In 1970, she began working for CSU’s Office of Conferences and Institutes, and continued as a much-recognized staff member there until her retirement in the late 1980s, having served as both director and conference coordinator.
She and Bruce spent a happy retirement traveling in Europe and Mexico, as well as camping throughout the west in their VW camper, golfing and visiting friends and family along the way. They celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary with a multi-day family camping trip in the Saw Tooth Mountains of Idaho.
After Bruce Frye’s death in 2002, Caroline Frye remained an avid golfer, a tenacious fan of the CSU Rams, Oregon Ducks, Stanford Crimson, Maryland Terrapins, the Denver Broncos, and the Colorado Rockies. She enjoyed the visual arts, opera, and the symphony, and also loved to play bridge and poker. She was also a non-stop supporter of her children, grandchildren, and other family members and friends.
In addition to her children, Susan Frye and partner Fred Synnestvedt, Thomas and Laura Frye, and Bradford and Diane Lucas Frye, Caroline Frye leaves seven cherished grandchildren: Kelly, Jessica, Russell, Jacob, Sarah, Niko, and Elizabeth; as well as six beloved great-grandchildren: Emily, Seraph, Aspen, Octavian, Remi, and Gabriel.
Caroline Frye’s sister, Joan Neumann, died in 2000, but Caroline is survived by sister-in-law Lydia Reid, widow of her brother, Joseph. Her nieces and nephews include Colleen Frye, widow of nephew Dennis Frye; Bette Perman, widow of wife Barbara Frye; Carolyn and Alfred Hainisch, Leslie Reid Voytoski, Joseph Reid and Dana Shea, Jonathan Reid and Steven Schoser, Gail and Kenneth Voigt, Nancy Bruce, and Douglas Neumann. Their children include Jennifer Foltz, Mary Ann Takashima, Debra and Thomas Hainisch, Linzy Voytoski, Kyle Reid, Todd Voigt, Hannah and Robert Bruce.
The family thanks Pathways Hospice and the Caregivers of Columbine at Centre Avenue for their compassionate care. Memorial donations to Pathways Hospice may be given at https://pathways-care.org/ or to CSU history department scholarships at https://history.colostate.edu/scholarships/.
The family plans to hold a summer memorial service in celebration of Caroline Frye’s life.
