OBITUARY -- Frederick H. Booth

    Frederick H. Booth was born on October 5, 1921, in Southold, Long Island. He was a 13-pound baby, and he remained larger than life until his death in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 13, 2012.
   After high school in Southold, he attended Middlebury College in Vermont, where he met his first wife, Marion Thompson. His education was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Army Air Corps as a staff sergeant, leading recruits in physical training. He was studying to be a radioman when the war ended.  After the war, he returned to school to Springfield College in Massachusetts, from which he graduated and attained his master's degree in Physical Education. He taught P.E. at Trinity College in Connecticut for six years, coaching football, basketball and baseball. The family then moved to Maplewood, New Jersey, in 1954. Fred taught P.E. at Columbia High School for 34 years, coaching basketball and football, and umpiring high school and college baseball games. He demonstrated and taught platform diving at the Maplewood Community Pool, fearlessly performing his signature hand-stand dive for the final time at the age of 65.
    Fred married his second wife, Faith Crowley, in 1982. Upon retiring in 1988, they moved to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where Fred could live near and swim in his beloved ocean.  He was known and admired by many people, and he was good at every sport he ever tried. He was a happy man, full of fun, daring to attempt anything he set his mind to. Fred was a very loving father, grandfather, and husband and was deeply loved by all his family.
    He is survived by his wife Faith of Kitty Hawk; his children Barbara, Doug and his wife Victoria, and Jim of Washington State; and his precious and beloved grandchildren Lily, Magnolia, and Keely of Washington State. He is also survived by his stepchildren Grace of Seattle, Andrea of Connecticut, Patti of Colorado, and Mike of Charlotte, and step-grandchildren Jack, Clare, and Finn of Connecticut, and Chloe and Sophie of Colorado. Fred is to be inducted into the Columbia High School Hall of Fame in May 2012.
     Memorials in Fred's honor may be sent to: Fred Booth Athletic Scholarship Fund, Columbia High School, 17 Parker Avenue Maplewood, NJ 07040
A memorial service will be held in Kitty Hawk at the Methodist Church on March 30 at 2:00 P.M. An event in Fred's honor will take place in Maplewood, N.J., in May.