“At one point the Republicans tried to recruit Fred to run for congress” prompting a phone call to his friend Kennedy who encouraged him to run, said Barringer “but he didn’t...he had a lot of obligations and the family” that precluded the demands of the office.The “upbeat and enthusiastic” Fred also felt a deep obligation to Santa Paula.“He was a driving force behind the creation of Santa Paula Memorial Hospital,” said Barringer, “a huge booster of the project” that drew many others to create the facility. “On the school board he insisted” that landscaping at Barbara Webster School be done and was active in the effort to create the Sespe Creek Dam.“He was all for farming and was a community booster who did what he had to do to benefit Santa Paula,” Barringer added.Widowed in 1989, Fred married Evelyn Samways, who preceded him in death in 2003.His youngest son, Doug, died in 1963, leading Fred and Theda to establish the Doug Stewart Award at Isbell Middle School where Doug had been a student said Barringer.The 23rd President of the Rotary Club, Fred had been an active member since 1948 until recent years.“Fred was one of the first to be named a Paul Harris Fellow, in 1977, and received his second award in 2003,” said Rueckert. “In Rotary, Fred’s most significant and long lasting achievement, I believe, was starting Career Day at the high school” later evolving to a mentorship program and “to the scholarship banquet we still have today.”His son Chuck Stewart also became a Rotarian and served as Club President.“In my opinion Fred was an outstanding dynamic Rotary President” who in the club and the community “made things happen” said Barringer. “Fred really cared about people, his family, his community...he was special.”His daughter, Pat Vanderploeg-Sullivan and husband Larry; son, Dr. Chuck Stewart and wife Brenda; stepchildren Sally and Rick Cook, Ron Cowden and Nancy and Steve Barnett; numerous grandchildren and other extended family survive Fred.His oldest grandson, Ali Vanderploeg, died in 2003.Graveside services for Fred will be held Saturday, June 16, 2007 at 1 p.m. at Santa Paula Cemetery with a celebration of his life following at the Stewart Ranch.Donations in his memory can be made to the Santa Clara Valley Wellness Foundation, PO Box 348, Santa Paula, CA 93061.
Fred Stewart: Community booster, respected business leader dies at 89
June 15, 2007
Santa Paula News
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By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesThere was something about the demeanor of Fred M. Stewart Jr. that garnered instant respect, that mix of quiet dignity and self-assured body language that was strongly evident but never off-putting.Indeed, Fred had led a PT boat crew during World War II, led companies, was offered the opportunity to lead in politics, led his service club and was a farmer on the leading edge of issues affecting the industry.But all paths for Fred led home to Santa Paula where his family and his community remained his top priorities.Fred passed away peacefully at home on June 11, 2007 after a long battle with congestive heart disease. He was 89.“We have sadly lost a significant longtime member of Rotary, of the farming community, of our Santa Paula community, with the passing of Fred Stewart,” said Nils Rueckert, a Past Rotary President and club Historian.Born July 28, 1917 in Van Nuys, he moved to Santa Paula with his family in 1934, the year before he graduated from Santa Paula Union High School in 1935 where he was an outstanding athlete.“He played on the same football team with Roy Wilson Jr., a championship team” that forged a lifelong friendship between the two said his longtime friend and neighbor Carl Barringer. “Fred was a very unusual man...”Fred met his future wife, Theda Call, at SPUHS but first attended Ventura College and graduated from USC in 1940 with a degree in business administration before they married.During his years at USC “Fred got on the streetcar and would go to the Pontiac plant where he worked the night shift down in the pit,” said Barringer. “He got his sleep on the streetcar...that’s how he got through USC.”He joined the Navy when WWII broke out, training as a PT boat Captain under John F. Kennedy, and the future President and Fred became friends.After discharge - Fred served in the Philippine Islands - at the war’s end, Fred returned to Santa Paula and started Agri Serv - which he ran for 33 years - and California Molded Products while growing on his Fred M. Stewart Ranch lemons, avocados and other crops.Fred was always involved in business and community organizations: President of Rotary and Chamber of Commerce, state Tomato Growers Assoc., service to the state Human Resources Advisory Board, among others.He was a Director for United Water Conservation District, county Economic Development Association, Ventura County Community College District and Ventura County Fair.A member of the Ventura Grand Jury, Governor’s Manpower Policy Task Force, Moorpark College and state Department of Education Ag Advisory boards and the SPESD Board.“Fred was a mover and a shaker in the community and known for speaking his piece and not mincing words when expressing his opinions,” said Rueckert. “I personally knew him as a man of the highest integrity and a hard worker well into his senior years. I treasure a letter I received from Fred near the end of my year as Rotary president and I treasure his memory.”
