90 Plus: The Fredericks’ married for 71 years
There’s a lovely couple in Kaplan. He’s 94-years-old and she’s 90. All told, they have 15 grandkids.
Norris Frederick and his wife, Helen Rose Meaux-Frederick, have been married for an incredible 71 years! “We’re mighty close to heaven the way that we’re living. It can’t be much better than this,” Norris said.
Norris and Helen met while Norris was home on leave from the Navy. He was at Helen’s school for a function. “Our eyes stayed together until I got to where he was standing. I think my heart went down to my foot and came back up,” Helen added.
It is a true love story straight out of a novel appropriately entitled Love at First Sight. “So, it was two years before I got out of the service. Once I was out of the service we got married,” he explained.
Helen says the proposal was more of ‘we’re going to get married.’ “I thought if asked she would say no. Luckily, she didn’t refuse.”
She’s from Kaplan and he’s from Abbeville. “You see who runs the show. I had to move to Kaplan,” Norris noted. “No, the reason why we moved my father gave us a lot free of charge so naturally,” she explained.
Norris worked and retired from mobile oil. He remembers the day he got the job. They explained and he responded. “He says we hire a lot of young guys and as soon as it gets rough, they quit on me. I said ‘Man’ you can put a drum in that Gulf, and I will ride it for you.”
After the kids went off to school, Helen went to work at a retail company’s ordering office. She and her life partner are parents to six children. “We have 20 great-grandkids and one great-great grandson. We’ve been blessed many times.”
Helen dabbles in a weekly play of cards called hand and foot. “There are four ladies who play every Tuesday. I think that kind of keeps your mind working a little bit.”
Norris is a member of several veteran organizations, including Heroes Hunt, which takes veterans out into the field as a form of therapy. “They were in a nursing home. They were all older than me but this year they beat me. A guy from Delcambre, I really enjoyed talking with him he’s 98 years old. Man, if I could be like he is in four years that would make me feel good”
The Fredericks’ secret to love, marriage and happiness? Be good to each other. “If she likes to be the boss, let her be the boss. Be good to each other,” Norris stated.
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