June 8th, 1948 – February 13th, 2025
Fred was born on June 8, 1948, in Toronto to Joyce Betty (nee Martin) and Frederick McNeely, both from Toronto. Fred grew up in Toronto with his mother, father and brother, Doug, in the Weston and Junction area, close to Weston Road and Keel Street at 8 Cayuga Avenue. Fred’s father lost his sight to polio before Fred was born and ran a newspaper stand sponsored by the CNIB. Fred’s mother was a billing typist for a trucking company. Fred’s brother Doug was born May 6, 1951. When he was young, Fred liked to watch the trains roll in at the Junction Stock Yards to unload cattle and pigs to be processed at the neighboring plant – a Swifts Canada Packers. Fred would help his dad in the business, selling newspapers. Fred also attended school and a workshop in Toronto.
Every summer from 1956 to 1963, the family would take trips to different provincial parks, including Algonquin, Restoule, Mikisew and Champlain Parks. His dad worked in logging camps in the Golden Valley and Loring Area in the 1920s. Even though he was blind, he never forgot the North, so in 1964 he moved his family to an existing 20-acre strawberry and raspberry farm in Armor Township. The farm was on Highway 11 just south of Katrine and north of Emsdale. Fred was 16 at the time. Fred helped weed and picked strawberries and raspberries. Fred would pedal his bike all over Katrine and Emsdale. He made friends all over the area and played goalie with the kids at the ball hockey rink. Fred attended the “Educational School” in Novar.
Fred’s father passed away in September 1966. In 1967, Fred’s mom Joyce, received her real estate license and was the FIRST woman to sell real estate in this area. In 1969, Fred’s brother Doug moved out, leaving just Fred and his mom to look after the property. Fred would cut the grass, shovel snow and pile wood. In 1994 the house was sold, and they moved to Sundridge. They lived there until 1998.
Then Fred and his mom moved to their home on Hill Crest Drive in Huntsville. This is where Fred met Carol. Carol lived across the road and in true Fred style, he came to know Carol while walking every day. This became one of the most important friendships Fred would have in his life. Fred also connected with his good friend Kelly at this time.
After moving to Huntsville, Fred joined the Community Living Huntsville VAP Program. Fred made friends, of whom Fred remained close with Jerry Wallace and Linda McEachran (who preceded Fred in late 2021). In 2010, Fred’s mom moved into long term care. Fred couldn’t be supported in the family home or in an apartment, so in 2012 Fred came to live at the Upstairs Williamsport group home. Fred loved dump trucks. Going for drives, he would count how many he would see. He would ask staff when they came in how many they saw as well.
Leah came to work with Fred in July 2014 as his lead staff. It became a special connection that remained until the end. Fred would visit his mom every Sunday and even sometimes through the week if he wanted an extra visit. Sadly, Fred lost his mom on February 17, 2015.
Fred would share stories of his past including those about things he did in Toronto and some of the people he remembered. He loved the street cars and would ride them just for fun. He also shared stories about shoveling gravel for a company and being a watchman sometimes.
He shared about the things he hoped to do. Fred had a great sense of humor. His hockey team was the Montreal Canadians. Fred had a great memory and loved hearing the weather. In fact, his thing as “the weather man” was to call people and regularly update them on the weather. He stayed in touch with his brother Doug, calling him once a week, as well as his friend Carol. Fred loved food. He was fortunate that Leah loved to cook, and he was able to enjoy healthy home cooked meals.
Fred also got his first pet bird, George, for Christmas 2014, who was a great match for Fred. Fred loved music and playing his records all day every day helped George become a great singer. He was great company for Fred.
During this time, Fred also reconnected with his friends. Fred enjoyed getting together with his friends, having many BBQ’s, picnics, shopping and fishing trips, and having them over for holiday get-togethers.
In September 2015, Fred got a job putting together flyers and papers for a small paper route in Huntsville. He loved picking up the flyers on Mondays and would spend his evenings putting them together then delivering them to people’s driveways on his in-town paper route on Thursdays. He loved his job.
Sadly, Fred lost his bird George in the middle of July 2019. Fred missed him so much that at the end of October 2019 Fred and his friend Kelly went to Barrie on a day trip to find a new bird. Fred wanted an orange-coloured bird. He picked out his new bird and called him Frankie. Frankie became a great singer as well.
Fred was passionate about the holidays, decorating the house and being a smart dressed man. Christmas was his favorite celebration time. He would save Christmas records all year and then play them on and off again through December until Christmas. Fred liked shopping for little Christmas gifts that he could give his family and friends. He also loved dressing in a costume for Halloween.
Fred also loved taking trips, whether it was going to do activities in town or to visit somewhere farther away. He enjoyed bowling, going to his Men’s Group on Wednesday mornings, watching hockey in town, and shopping at the ReStore, Salvation Army Thrift Store, and garage sales. He loved lunches out and taking day trips for picnics or fishing outings. He started saving money for bigger day trips and overnight trips that he would plan for and take once a year. Fred was able to go to Honey Harbor, and he went camping in a trailer at Lake Bernard Park Sundridge and in Arrowhead Park. He took trips to North Bay and Barrie, and he visited the Elmvale Zoo (Fred fed a giraffe which he never forgot). He also visited his home down of Toronto, including the Toronto Islands and Toronto Aquarium, and he rode the train from Uxbridge to Stouffville and back. On another big trip, he visited Ottawa and saw things like Parliament, and he also went to Niagara Falls, where he visited Marine Land, the Bird Sanctuary, and the Skylon Tower Revolving Restaurant looking over the Falls. Fred also visited Milton, where he went to the Halton County Railway Museum and saw one of the street cars that he used to ride in Toronto. Every year, Fred looked forward to his annual day trip to Perry Sound in August with his permanent part-time staff. When things opened after COVID, Fred couldn’t wait to go on his overnight trip to Kingston that he had to wait to do for over 2 years. He finally went on Sept 19, 2022, and that was his last big trip.
On October 31, 2024, Fred moved to the Muskoka Landing Retirement Lodge and Leah promised to look after Frankie for him thereafter. Unfortunately, Fred passed away due to complications on February 13, 2025, at the age of 76.
Fred is deeply missed.
Invitation to Fred McNeely’s Celebration of Life
We welcome you to join us to celebrate Fred and the wonderful life he had. This is a drop-in celebration on Fred’s birthday – Sunday, June 8, 2025, at Carol’s home – 155 Brunel Road, Huntsville, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm rain or shine. It will be held outside unless it rains, in which case it will be held in an indoor space.
It will be a BBQ (as Fred was hoping to have on his birthday). There will be hamburgers, hotdogs, potato and macaroni salad and coleslaw (Fred’s favorites) as well as, cookies, veggies, chips, pop, coffee and tea. If anyone would like to bring a food item to share, that would be awesome.
Come celebrate the wonderful spirit of Fred with us!
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I first met Fred at the Mens Coffee House and Drop In, and we became fast friends, Fred.would call me every day and tell me about his day and update me with the weather. Over the years I came.to love Fred like a brother and looked forward to his calls every day.
Fred touched the lives of everyone he was involved with, including mine. I am proud to have known Fred and honored that he called me friend.