Frederick Robert Reeve (generally known as Fred) was born in Chelmsford, but the family moved to Eastbourne when he was very small, and he spent his childhood and teenage years in the town. He taken at an early age to St Saviour’s Church, so the latter book-ended his life as it became his spiritual home for his last twenty years, notwithstanding his move to King’s Lynn to be close to Walsingham, another pillar of his faith. Fred’s funeral was held at St Saviour’s on 13th April, just 14 weeks after that of his second wife Janet. This obituary is mainly drawn from memories shared at his funeral by two of Fred’s children, Emma and Tom, by his long-standing Old Grammarian friend James Hazelden and by another friend, Terry Brookes.

Emma noted that, as an infant, her dad had been blown out of his pushchair and had hit his head during a V2 attack on Eastbourne; he was wont to say that he had been a little strange ever afterwards and blamed all sorts of things on that rocket!

Fred started working life in local government before moving into public health and then to NHS management in London during the 1980s, working for the Bloomsbury Health Authority, one of the largest health districts at that time which covered several large, historic hospitals including teaching hospitals. He was involved with the post-war regeneration of the NHS Health Centre model, seen today in the form of NHS Hubs. During this time Fred was married to Pam; the marriage lasted fifteen years and saw the birth of Fred’s three children – Emma, Matthew and Tom. Fred then had a radical career change, moving to work for British Rail where he remained for many years; he had inter-railed extensively across Europe in his youth and was also a keen trainspotter.

Within the family, Fred was known for his storytelling and sense of humour – often self-deprecating – and his ability to find humour in every situation, even in the darkest of times: this was a talent that his children were pleased that he passed on.

Fred was very interested in local history and was known to be very knowledgeable about Eastbourne – he often had people contact him for information and always took time to help others. Among other subjects that he studied throughout his life were Ancient Greek, theology, social and public policy and modern humanities; Fred was arguably a polymath. He had a huge collection of books and was very interested in languages: he could speak some French, German and Dutch and a little Russian. Emma recalled her dad’s efforts to teach her some Russian but failing miserably and that he could not get to grips with Spanish but had been proud that Tom lived and worked in Spain and could speak the language. Fred was very proud of his children’s respective career paths and was the inspiration for their chosen fields of study and work – politics, hospitality and travel, and the non-profit sector. Fred also had a strong belief in life-long learning, the importance of which he instilled into his children.

Another long and enduring passion of Fred was for optical equipment; he was an avid collector of cameras and lenses and was known in various circles for his encyclopaedic knowledge on the subject. He had been quite ecstatic to learn that his soon-to-be son-in-law was the grandson of a famous professor of optics.

(John Morhall, a contemporary of Fred at Eastbourne Grammar School who now lives in Western Australia, has shared through the Old Grammarians Association memories of his debt to Fred for stimulating a life-long interest in photography – or learning “to paint with light” – by selling him a Dacora Digna camera at the end of a school trip to Belgium; John also enjoyed catching up with Fred (and latterly with Janet) on annual trips to the UK and particularly remembered being one of those at a meal at Veeraswamy’s restaurant in London when Fred was celebrating a significant birthday.)

In his last twenty years Fred had come back to the Church for support and guidance. He volunteered to arrange pilgrimages with an emphasis on making them accessible for people with disabilities. It was on a pilgrimage that he reconnected with Janet, who he had known in his youth; they married in 2013 and travelled and volunteered extensively with the church until Covid and health problems hit. Fred also researched, photographed, and published a short history of St Saviour’s and was an active member of the Eastbourne Old Grammarians Association, serving on the Executive for more than ten years.

Fred was remembered by his children as a man of MANY words – perhaps too many on occasion! He was friendly to all, non-judgmental and always treated people with dignity and respect and gracious even in the face of hostility. He taught his children not to discriminate and not to judge but to treat everyone with compassion. “There but for the grace of God go I” was a favoured phrase. He could talk about any subject – cats, trains, cameras, philosophy, history and V2 rockets – and he would address it with equal respect and passion. Fred’s children agreed that he would be honoured that so many people whose lives he had touched in various ways were in attendance at his funeral.

Terry Brookes, in his eulogy, also recalled that Fred could talk authoritatively about almost any subject and was always willing to use his gift of knowledge to help others; through his friendship, Fred had been a nurturer and had facilitated opportunities to do things that were beyond Terry’s experience and expectations: a very genuine and caring man whom Terry said he was very privileged to be able to call his friend. He also knew how proud was of his family.

James Hazelden said that he and Fred had both started at Eastbourne Grammar School – James in the prep department while Fred was at EGS proper – in 1954. Though they were in different years, James recalled two memories of Fred from the mid-1950s: in CCF uniform and, something of a contradiction, perhaps, as the first boy in the school to sport tapered trousers – which would have been viewed as aberrant behaviour at that time!

In later years, their paths had crossed again while attending Old Grammarians Association events. In due course, both were elected to serve on the EOGA Executive and had taken shared pleasure in contributing to arrangement of the Organisation’s annual and one-off events as joint Hon Secretaries. Later the roles were split, with Fred becoming Hon Secretary & Administrator and James the Hon Treasurer. Another contribution which Fred made was the design of a commemorative tie for the Association’s centenary in 2012.

Janet supported Fred in his EOGA activities, attending events and outings with other Old Grammarians and alumnae from the Eastbourne Girls High School; these included visits to Scotland, North Wales, the Walsingham shrines, Krakow, Austria, the Oberammergau Passion Play in Bavaria and Great War locations in France and Belgium; shared interests in ecclesiastical and historical matters were at the heart of these occasions.

Latterly, having stood down from his long and commendable service on the Executive, Fred had been involved in researching and assembling the Association’s archives, a task to which he was eminently suited. At the AGM in November 2022, members agreed that, in recognition of his contribution, the archive should be designated The Fred Reeve Archive.

James concluded his eulogy by summarising Fred as a stalwart in matters pertaining to the Old Grammarians who had become a close and steadfast friend. Fred would be much missed by members of the Association, by his family and by everyone else with whom he was involved at St Saviour’s and elsewhere.