February 20, 1964 - November 19, 2005
The Regent Community grieves the loss of Jude Fredricsen (MCS’00) of
Auckland, New Zealand, who died in her sleep on November 19, 2005. She was
41. The autopsy ultimately concluded the cause of death due to some very slight
changes in her heart muscle (most likely secondary to high blood pressure)
which in turn probably caused a stroke. Her passing came as a great shock
to her family and friends since, to all appearances, she was well and happy.
Jude's funeral was held in Auckland, and there was also a memorial service
at Regent, where friends gathered to share their recollections of Jude. One
of these was Jude's good friend Liz Fraser (DipCS Cand.) from New Zealand
who had "just happened" to plan this trip to Vancouver months before
Jude's death, so it was particularly timely. Another example of God's timing
was that Rosie Perera (MCS'04) had just returned from a trip to New Zealand
and had visited Jude the weekend before her death, giving her greetings from
the Regent community.
Jude had been working as a freelance editor since graduating from Regent.
She had just recently returned, energized, from the Australasian Editing Conference,
realising that she was footing it with her fellow professionals as a sucessful
and competent editor. She had also recently launched her own business (Page
One Productions), writing up people's life stories. In her volunteer time,
Jude was a "puppy walker," taking in and training puppies who would
be future guide dogs for Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind. She had
been living for the past two years in the suburb of Greenhithe, where she
enjoyed cooking for friends and neighbors, and gardening.
Jude was multi-lingual, speaking about seven different languages fluently.
Before coming to Regent, Jude had served for Operation Mobilisation (OM) for
about 10 years. She joined OM in 1987, serving on board Logos until it ran
aground in January 1988. She features in 'The Logos Story', having broken
her leg in the previous port. The evacuation was quite a challenge with a
leg in plaster! Jude then joined the Doulos, serving first in the pantry and
then in the line-up department. She had written on her personnel data form,
"When the ship gets into the USSR I wanna be there!" She got to
fulfill her dream, becoming the sole Russian-speaker on the line-up team for
the first ever ship visit to the USSR. In the early nineties, Jude moved to
Greater Europe and was involved in literature distribution before moving on
to pioneer and lead OM's work in Bulgaria.
Jude came to Regent in the fall of 1996. She lived in a famous Regent community
house known as "The Trees." She was the Summer School Activities
Coordinator for two summers. Together with Jo White, she helped design the
Regent prayer garden. Jude will be fondly remembered for her creativity and
hospitality, and her cherished smile, which often came through "a sheen
of tears" in the midst of difficult times.
Jude is survived by her parents, Bill & Margaret Fredricsen (38 Sunnynook
Rd, Sunnynook, Auckland, NZ), a brother, and two sisters. Donations in lieu
of flowers have been requested for the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the
Blind Guide Dog Services (http://www.rnzfb.org.nz).
