Martha Sleepack Frederick

Published 3:30 pm Thursday, April 27, 2017

Martha Sleepack Frederick, 201 East Howard St., Tryon, N.C., died April 12, 2017 in Forest City, N.C.

Martha was born in Duluth, Minn., the eldest daughter of Henry F. Sleepack and Harriet F. Shannon Sleepack. She is preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Kenneth Linn Frederick, a son, Donald Thomas Currier, stepson, David A. Frederick who was killed in Vietnam, and stepson Kenneth L. Frederick, Jr.

Surviving is her son, Peter L. Frederick and his wife, Patricia of Sarasota, Fla., five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Martha graduated from Duluth Central High School in 1934 and Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. in 1936. She was employed as a secretary in several of the locations where she and Kenneth were located, and volunteered as a docent at the Columbus Museum of Art in the 1960s and 1970s.

After retiring to Tryon, N.C. in 1976, Martha was active in the Congregational Church of Christ. She volunteered in the Nature Division of Foothills Equestrian Nature Center presenting bird programs to children and adults. She was a member of the Tryon Country Club Ladies’ Bridge Club and the Foothills Duplicate Bridge Club.

Martha was an avid birder who traveled throughout the United States and foreign locations in pursuit of bird species found in a variety of habitats. Her interest in birds and nature began in the woods of Duluth, Minn. where she learned to appreciate the north woods topography, trees, and birds. Her Birder’s Life List includes nearly 600 species.

Memorials may be made to SECU Hospice House, PO Box 336, Forest City, NC 28043.

Online condolences at crowemortuary.com.

Crowe’s Mortuary & Chapel

Rutherfordton, N.C.