Freddy Lee Austin was born on January 5, 1949. He was the first born child of his parents, George and Tressie Austin, and they lived at 7330 Pellet Street in Downey, California. George was a general contractor and Tressie was a nurse and homemaker. Fred became a big brother at age 3 when his sister, Judy, was born. The family attended First Christian Church and First Baptist Church of Downey. The family enjoyed lots of gardening and home projects as well as short trips to visit extended family in Visalia.
Fred was a curious and brave boy who liked pushing limits and experimenting. He figured, if you’re going to launch a rocket, why not attach it to a balloon filled with hydrogen so it launches up high in the air and then causes an explosion? And he taught himself how to use his dad’s table saw. Thankfully his thumb got sewn back on just fine!
Fred attended Warren High School where he was involved with the Science Club. Outside of school, he started a Volkswagen Club with some friends. His VW bus was featured in magazines to show off the many modifications Fred made, including shag carpet and a disco ball. Two significant events in this time of Fred’s life were finding out he was ineligible for the draft because of a minor heart defect and the loss of his father to a heart attack when Fred was only 20 years old. For college, Fred attended Cerritos College and Cal State Fullerton and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics in 1972. He was always grateful for his mom’s hard work and willingness to work a second job to help him get through college.
Some of Fred’s early jobs included working for a gas station, being a bagger at a grocery store, and working in the morgue at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey. His career in Aerospace began during college with him working on the Apollo Space Program in 1967 with North American Rockwell. One of his contributions to the company was his patented invention of the frictionless bearing.
After college, he taught physics at Cal State Fullerton full time from 1972-1979. He continued teaching on a part time basis when he moved into engineering work. He took a job at Hughes Aircraft, which later became Raytheon. He worked as an Engineering Fellow and retired from Thales Raytheon after 35 years as a Senior Principle Systems Engineer. Some of his projects included IADS (Iceland Air Defense System), a number of radar systems, stealth technology, WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), and other projects with the Ground Systems Group. He was awarded a patent for a three-dimensional visual CRT display in 1982.
He worked on a number of classified programs, so there were many aspects of his work that he couldn’t share with us. But we’ve pieced together that he worked on programs for stealth technology like the Sea Shadow stealth boat and also battlefield technology- this tech was used to fool adversarial armies into thinking the U.S. and allies had thousands of troops distributed across a desert when actually it was only a few radio transmitters sending fake broadcasts. (Even his work was a prank!) Another project he worked on was live translation software that would facilitate multi-national negotiations face to face between leaders of different countries speaking different languages. Quite a feat for sometime in the mid-80s! He traveled a lot for work, particularly in the 80s and 90s. Some of his work travel included trips to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Egypt, Canada, Iceland, China, England, Germany, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Pakistan, Israel, Italy, Japan, and Switzerland. Fred’s colleagues say that he was always willing to help people and was great with customers, he was a natural problem solver, and they appreciated his friendly face and demeanor.
In 1978, Fred’s secretary at Cal State Fullerton, Chickie, called to invite him to come to her house for dinner because she wanted to introduce him to someone. Turns out it was Chickie’s niece, Denise Hubert, who brought along her 3 year-old daughter, Brandi. Fred brought a stuffed Snoopy dog for Brandi and quickly won them both over. They married in August of 1979. That was a happy, yet hectic month for Fred with the wedding, starting his new job at Hughes, and trying to sell a house he’d bought when he was single. Fred joked that during that three week period he lost all his hair!
Fred and Denise purchased a home in Anaheim Hills and started their family. Travis was born in April of 1982 and Tyler came along in February of 1985. Fred and Denise moved to their house at 17851 Caballo Drive in Yorba Linda early in 1987, and Cassidy completed the family later that same year in November. Brandi would like to note that if Dad hadn’t liked her and been willing to be her dad, then none of the other kids would be here. And she says, “You’re welcome”.
Fred’s fatherly care continued to extend to others over the years and the Austin family grew in more ways than one. He and Denise loved and cared for their niece, Michelle, and her daughter, Bella, like their own. New additions to the family included Stephen Terry (Brandi’s husband), Nikki Austin (Tyler’s wife), Laura Austin (Travis’s wife), Jerred Berg (Cassidy’s boyfriend), and Clayton Hulme (Michelle’s boyfriend). And then there are the grandkids! One of Fred’s greatest joys was being Grandpa to Meaghan, Ethan and Mason, and Savannah, Cade, and Wes. Whether we called him Dad, Grandpa, Uncle Fred, Grandpa Puppy, or Fred, anyone in Fred’s family felt well cared for and loved.
The Austin family enjoyed a full and busy life together with the kids in school, Fred working and traveling, and Denise operating her cross-stitch pillow company that Fred named “The Pillow Case”. They attended Community Christian Church in Anaheim where Denise was the church secretary and Fred was the head usher for a time. A lot of family memories occurred on their big RV trips to Oklahoma to see Fred’s extended family and then down to Texas to see Denise’s side of the family. There was also lots of treasure hunting for antiques as they drove across the country. Fred willingly supported Denise’s “Shopinator” title, and even had to buy a trailer to bring home their finds one year!
Sadly, Denise was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. Fred was by her side and her greatest support and cheerleader through many years of treatment. She was called home on May 13, 2012. Fred and Denise were married for 33 years.
Throughout his life, Fred always had a project going. Some were lifelong interests, while others were short-term deep dives. Gardening, more gardening, woodworking, RC cars, slot cars, hot rods, air brushing, building and piloting ultralights, fixing up his cabin or house, real estate, cooking, and restoring older cars. When the kids were young, he was active in Travis and Tyler’s boy scout troops and Ham radio clubs. He loved going to garage sales and antique stores to look for treasures, and he passed this hobby down to his grandchildren. His home is filled with fascinating gadgets, vintage items and furniture, and lots of really cool stuff! And the best part about all of the projects and all of the things is that he wanted to share them with others. He loved to chat and teach and show you the newest thing he was into.
Fred was a man who was equal parts brilliant and mischievous. He was our very own Mr. Wizard, always the one who could explain how the world worked or fix what was broken with a bit of magic and a lot of know-how. He was a legendary prankster who lived for a well-timed joke and that sparkle in his eye when he knew he’d finally caught you off guard. One of his favorite little tricks was to take something from an unsuspecting restaurant. We’d like to formally apologize to Lucille’s, the Macaroni Grill, and Spaghetti Factory for the damages Fred incurred over his lifetime of petty crime.
While working at Raytheon, Kathy Embler was Fred’s boss (though she would say no one was ever Fred Austin’s boss- ha!). Though she began as a respected colleague and friend of the family, in Fred’s final seven years of life, Kathy became the love of his later years. It was sweet to see how much mutual joy and companionship they shared. They enjoyed traveling, square dancing, and spending time with their respective kids and grandkids together.
Fred often said that like a cat has multiple lives, so did he. Through a series of hair-raising close calls at various points in his life, he’d already used up quite a few and he never knew how many more he had. In the mid-90s, Fred was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and his prognosis was a 50% chance of living two more years. But, with his stubbornness to live, the help of his cardiologists, Dr. Borsari and Dr. Tucker, and various medications and heart devices, God graciously gave him 30 more years (!), and we give Him thanks for each one. Fred was full of life and young at heart up until his final days, though his body had grown weaker with each passing year. On March 11th, an irregular heartbeat and shocks from his pacemaker sent him to the hospital, and though he was stable for a time, he quickly deteriorated. God called him home at 9:23 AM on Friday, March 13th (yes, Friday the 13th- one last little joke from Fred).
To know Fred Austin was to love him. And now to miss him. May we carry on his legacy of joy, fun, wisdom, generosity, service, and abiding faith so that we may see him again soon.
I thank my God every time I remember you.
Philippians 1:3