Frieda Derrer

Frieda Marie Derrer, 92 of Port Orchard, Washington died at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Washington on November 21, 2006. She was born December 12, 1913 in Fulton County, Ohio to Howard & Elma (Schmucker) Taylor. She was the first born and had 2 brothers, Ralph & Paul, and a sister Grace. The family lived on a farm near Wauseon, Ohio. Frieda began grade school in 1919 in a small country school with eight grades and began junior high in 1925. Then it was time for Frieda to go on to high school. But, it was going to cost her parents $2.50 a week for transportation to town. They couldn't afford that, so Frieda decided, at age 14, to work for her room and board for a family with four children as their nanny and housekeeper, so she could afford to go to high school in the little town of Wauseon, Ohio. She graduated in 1929 just at the beginning of the Great Depression. Frieda did not want to go back to the farm - she longed to become a Registered Nurse. So, she stayed on at the home in Wauseon and worked for four more years, saving all her money for nursing school. In 1933 Frieda realized her dream and enrolled at St. Vincent's School of Nursing in Toledo, Ohio. The Gray Nuns Sisters of Charity ran the nursing school and they were very strict. Frieda graduated from nurses training in 1937 and immediately started working at St. Vincent's Hospital as a scrub nurse in surgery. Also at that time she put her sister Grace through nursing school. After completing and passing her boards, she became the Surgical Nursing Supervisor until 1941. In 1941, Frieda was offered a job in a busy doctor's office in Toledo, and met her husband Ferdinand Derrer - an Industrial Engineer for Owens Illinois. They both worked in the same office building - she on the 5th floor and he on the 22nd. They fell in love and were married on September 1, 1943. Ferdinand & Frieda were blessed with three children - Frederick born June 1, 1946, Julie on April 3, 1947, and David on May 5, 1950. Frieda's husband was transferred in 1949 to Santa Clara, California where she worked at night as a Pediatric Nurse at Oconnor Hospital and eventually became night supervisor of the nursing staff. In 1958, the family went back to Ohio and settled in a little town called Perrysburg. She got a nursing job again at St. Vincent's Hospital in Toledo, and eventually ended up working in her brother-in-law's busy Periodontists office assisting him in dental surgery. She retired from there in 1975. However, Frieda missed nursing and so in 1978, even though her knees were giving out, she became the Night Supervisor in a nursing home until 1982 when it was a must that she have both knees replaced. In 1983, she moved back to the west coast that she had grown to love and enjoyed gardening. Frieda was a delight to her family and friends. Her love of people and zest for life made her a special Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma, and friend. She will be greatly missed. Surviving are son David (Sue) Derrer of Port Orchard & Palm Desert, California; daughter Julie Ann (Omar) Anderson of Port Orchard; brother Paul (Joy) Taylor of Burnet, Texas; grandchildren Mechelle Yeager, Kristinn Tyson, Sara Thompson, and Lara Anderson; and great-granddaughter Haley Marie Tyson. She was preceded in death by husband Ferdinand Clarence Derrer, son Frederick Byer Derrer, brother Ralph Taylor, and sister Grace May Robinson. Memorial service will be at 11:00 am on Monday, November 27, 2006 at First Lutheran Church of Port Orchard, located on Mitchell Avenue.