Mayor pays tribute to Fred Holdridge
Mayor Michael B. Coleman issued a statement Thursday paying tribute to Fred Holdridge, the German Village icon and pioneer who passed away that morning at age 86. Tomorrow would have been Fred's 87th birthday.
Sorry we didn't get a chance to include the mayor's words in Michael Grossberg's story from Friday's paper. Here's what Coleman had to say:
"Fred Holdridge was part of the fabric of German Village, every bit as much as Schiller Park and Lindey's restaurant and the brick on Mohawk Street. He lived life with joy and purpose and was beloved by everyone he knew. He was an institution in Columbus.
"Fred and his partner, Howard, were the embodiment of family values in Columbus."
From Friday:
Pioneer's legacy is German Village
'Mayor' supported neighborhood, arts
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The unofficial mayor of German Village died yesterday morning after decades of service to his neighborhood and the central Ohio arts scene.
Fred Holdridge, 86, died at home.
With his life partner - Howard Burns, who died in 2001 - Holdridge operated Hausfrau Haven, a landmark German Village shop at 769 S. 3rd St., until 1996.
Fred and Howard, champions of the village, were so well-known that locals referred to them by their first names only.
"Fred's real legacy was that he molded a lot of people to be good citizens of this community," said David Schooler, a close friend and president of Town & Country Travel.
Holdridge, a Lima native, served in the Army in France during World War II. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1950, arriving in Columbus with Burns in 1959.
Holdridge and Burns were major patrons of several arts groups - most notably, CATCO (formerly Contemporary American Theatre Company), which developed into the region's leading professional Equity theater company. Both served as CATCO board presidents.
"Fred was down-to-earth, funny and one of the most generous souls I know," said Geoffrey Nelson, who co-founded CATCO in 1985.
"It wasn't just that they gave money to various causes," Nelson said. "Both Fred and Howard were so personally supportive of the arts and of people. That made a great deal of difference."
Holdridge and Burns established an endowment fund for CATCO in 1994; and, in 2003, when the company faced financial crisis, they offered a $100,000 line of credit, a loan that Holdridge later forgave, said Bruce Harkey, executive director of the Franklin Park Conservatory and also a former CATCO board president.
"They were visionary in recognizing the importance of professional theater in contributing to a vibrant quality of life in central Ohio," Harkey said.
In 2008, the Village Singers honored Holdridge as a champion of German Village with an original musical revue, What's Poppin'? The Life and Times of Fred Holdridge.
"German Village residents feel such an admiration and appreciation for Fred," Wayne Owens, a co-founder of the Village Singers, said that year.
Holdridge and Burns spent the 1970s, '80s and '90s as community activists, newspaper columnists, radio movie critics and world travelers.
During their decades running Hausfrau Haven, they presided over the cluttered store as a pair of bon vivants and philosophers.
Signs in the store read: "Unattended children will be sold!" and "We will not be taken over by The Limited."
They sponsored an annual international mail-in postcard art show and a national photographic competition for cemetery art.
In 2001, Holdridge and Burns were asked to be guests of honor in the 20th anniversary Gay Pride Parade but declined. Four months later, on their 50th anniversary as a couple, the pair spoke openly in a Dispatch interview about the challenges they'd faced as gay men.
"We've always had the feeling that you don't flaunt it," Holdridge said. "You're part of the community, and you should be accepted for who you are, not what you are."
Holdridge is survived by a niece in St. Paul, Minn.; a nephew in the Detroit area; and a nephew in Colorado.
Visitation hours will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Schoedinger Midtown Chapel, 229 E. State St. The funeral service will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the German Village Meeting Haus, 588 S. 3rd St.
mgrossberg@dispatch.com
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