NIELSEN, Frederick D.
Frederick D. Nielsen passed away peacefully, with a few of his many friends and family around him, on June 29, 2024.
Although Fred was born on October 6, 1937 in Creston, IA, and raised in the similarly-small town of Cherryvale, in southeastern KS; that origin belied the man-of-the-world he would become. After graduating from Kansas State College in Pittsburg, he taught and coached in the area for seven years before traveling the world, doing the same in the Philippines, Germany, Turkey and northern Italy. He met his wife, then-neighbor Kay Fowler of Chapel Hill, NC, at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines and they married in 1970. Together the two taught in Europe before moving to Cobb County, GA, in 1979. Fred spent the last 16 years of his academic career as the assistant principal of Dickerson Middle School in East Cobb.
Fred began coaching track and field and basketball in KS during the golden years of the area's athletics, peaking with Jim Ryun's breaking the four-minute mile barrier as a high-schooler in 1964. He coached and taught with a mild manner and a ready wit that in turn magnified the impact of his instruction. Fred's nonchalant track admonition "double your distance and you'll halve your competition," for instance, served as a life lesson on persistence.
Fred and Kay's time overseas fueled passions for skiing, antiques, carpets (particularly Turkish rugs), food (he was mean on the grill) and especially wine. These all served him well in Atlanta, where Fred and Kay settled seamlessly on Monterey Dr. in Marietta, behind rival high school Wheeler (Dickerson fed Walton HS). Fred coached informally where he taught and formally at Northside Youth Organization with the same mild yet forceful manner that drove home his lessons. Surrounded by excellent athletes in Kansas, he seemed particularly hard to impress in Atlanta, which in turn made those that worked with him try that much harder.
While not aggressively outgoing, Fred made friends in all parts of his life, in no small part due to his keen sense of humor. His overseas friends are scattered around Europe and he's known throughout Cobb County by ex-colleagues, neighbors, former students and their parents. Although he lacked an extended family of his own - his father died when Fred was young and he moved in with his cousin's family, aged 12 - he built a deep network of acquaintances that became friends, including his Dunkin' group. While he was the recipient of favors from many a good buddy, he was more often providing for others. He enjoyed estate sales, finding furniture, sporting goods and anything that he could in turn give to others. It seemed any item a friend might need, Fred had in his garage. Similarly, he not infrequently raided the Dickerson lost and found for unclaimed clothes that he knew others would put to good use.
As to sports, and apart from coaching, Fred was all in on college and pro basketball, football and track and field. He could talk endlessly about strategy around these and immediately and accurately evaluate the potential of young athletes. He took to UNC basketball by virtue of his frequent visits to Chapel Hill to be with Kay's family (and aided by the connection to his fellow Kansan Roy Williams). He frequented the Cremins-era Yellow Jackets games, moving quickly in-and-out from his secret parking space beside highway 85, and the '96 Atlanta Olympics.
Fred leaves fond memories for Kay, his wife of 54 years; multitudes of ex-colleagues, students and parents thereof; his morning coffee crew; and a lucky few that consider him a second father. He will be missed.
A celebration of Fred's life will take place on Friday, July 19, 2 PM at Park Springs Retirement Community, 500 Springhouse Circle, Stone Mountain, GA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
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