Memorial page -|- Sierra Nevada Unit home page

In Memory of Frederick Hersey

Fred passed away June 6, 2021. He was 91years old. Fred and Ann last visited the SNU at our rally April 2016 at Fort Churchill. A lot of the information in this document is from interviewing Fred and Ann in 2016 for the 40^th Anniversary of the SNU. It also includes personal recollections from Diane Leipper.

Photo gallery of Fred and Ann’s Airstreaming adventures

Fred and Ann bought their Airstream in 1998. Although memory is a little fuzzy, they probably heard about the SNU when Fred spotted another Airstreamer and stopped to talk with him. The first rally they remember participating in was at Washoe Lake in 1999.

Fred became President of the SNU at a time of transition. He brought new ideas and new energy to the Unit. Through his efforts the SNU began a new period in it’s history with a focus on the original ideas of an Airstream club and a new view towards the needs of the members. Before he became President, Fred did the newsletter. He designed the format for the header and the address block which was used until 2008 when the SNU transitioned to using the web and email for all newsletter distribution and dropping postal mail. Fred & Ann also used extra copies of the newsletter to give to Airstream owners they noticed in driving around the area. Fred and Ann both wrote a lot of the material for the newsletters in the early 2000’s. Ann served as secretary, treasurer and membership for the SNU. She also took on the primary duty of getting public service announcements about SNU rallies printed in the majority of local newspapers and weeklies. Ann’s efforts paid off in several new members, increased awareness of the SNU, an editorial column in the primary Carson City Newspaper and a feature article in the primary Reno newspaper. Fred and Ann hosted an SNU holiday luncheon at their home in December 2004

Although it was disguised as a gopher, it was Fred and Ann who brought the first pink flamingo to an SNU rally. That was at Davis Creek 2004. The relationship between gophers and pink flamingos is explained on the pink flamingo page of sierranevadaairstreams.org. For several years they provided lots of pink flamingos to the SNU, most of which they had found at garage sales. Some still decorate SNU rallies to this day.

F red and Ann put together Airstream photo albums. They would take pictures of Airstreams they came across, both near their home and on their travels. Those photo albums are still in the SNU archives. Many of the pictures from those albums can be found in the Show_n_Tell section of the website.

Fred and Ann retired from Airstreaming about 2004 but not from exploring. In particular, they have pursued their passion for finding petroglyph sites. They have put together some excellent notebooks with photos and information from their visits to various sites. Maybe one of these days we can get Fred and Ann to come to a rally and share their notebooks with us.

The SNU celebrated it’s 40^th Anniversary in 2016 in large part due to the efforts and contributions of Fred and Ann. Fred and Ann say they have great memories of the Airstream group and that the “SNU family has always been such fun. From taking our 4 legged pets to sharing the morning coffee.” Ann says that it would have been so easy to give up during the tough times but she is happy to see that we didn't and that the SNU is still growing. Their enthusiasm and enjoyment of being Airstreamers and helping to create the kinds of rallies that make the SNU special deserve a very special Thank You!

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