Fred
Hooper was born Freddie Calvin Hooper on July 12,
1927 in a small town in Texas called Spur. Spur was
founded about 1909 and was a stop for the railroad.
It is located in Dickens County and situated near
the Texas panhandle about 5 hours west and a little
north of Dallas and about 1-1/2 hours east of
Lubbock. As of the 2000 Census there were 1088
people there, a small town for sure. Fred was
delivered by Dr. Grace at his grandparent’s house,
referred to as the Old Miller House. His birth was
never recorded and for a long time had no birth
certificate until the State of Texas issued a
Delayed Certificate of Birth after providing several
documents that recorded the date of his birth. Fred
lived in Spur until the age of 9, and on August
29th, 1936, he, his sister, and mother moved to San
Diego, California. He moved back with his
grandparents to Spur in the Fall of 1937, and then
on to Lingo, New Mexico on March 3, 1938. He
alternated between his mother’s home in San Diego
and his grandparents farm in Lingo until he joined
the Army in September 1945. Fred’s parents were
Thelma Birdinia Bilbrey and Preston Jackson Hooper.
He had one older sister, Dorothy Mae. Fred had a
large family on his mother’s side and lots of
cousins he grew up with and remained in contact with
his whole life. With all of Fred’s moves, he
attended about 9 different schools from elementary
to high school. At the end of his regular schooling,
he started an apprenticeship to become a machinist.
He attended San Diego Vocational School for nearly
two years up to the point when he was drafted in to
the Army. Fred served in the US Army from the Fall
of 1945 until the Fall of 1948 and received an
honorable discharge. He worked as a military
policeman during the cleanup in Germany and Austria
after the war ended. His rank at the time of
discharge was Sergeant. He subsequently enlisted as
a US Marine Corp reservist with rank of Sergeant,
and was discharged in February 1949. Following his
service in the military in Post-War Germany and
Austria, Fred returned to California, but this time
up north in Turlock where his family had moved while
he was in Europe. Although he planned to visit with
the family and then go on to San Diego to attend San
Diego State, he decided to stay in Turlock and
attend Modesto Junior College for two years and then
later on transfer to State. While in Turlock he
attended church at the First Baptist Church and met
several girls most of whom he dated. One was
Marjorie Zender. One day he and Marjorie
double-dated with her friend Shirley Riley and some
guy. It turned out that he liked what he saw and
managed to get a date with Shirley. That was about
September 1949. Shirley May Riley and Fred were
married December 18, 1949. Fred always claimed she
really was a fast worker. It was a double-wedding at
the First Baptist Church of Turlock. The couple
remained in Turlock until January 1951 when they
decided to move to San Diego so Fred could continue
his education. Once in San Diego, Fred and Shirley
realized that they were to become parents. Fred quit
school after only a month or so and found work at
Rohr Aircraft in preparation for their first child,
a son. Richard Preston was born June 3, 1951 at 4:59
AM in San Diego, California. Shortly after that the
couple settled in Chula Vista, California. And, on
January 10, 1954 at 4:23 AM, their daughter, Lori
Ann was born. And from that beginning, Fred and
Shirley’s family grew to four grandchildren and four
great grandchildren. Richard and his wife at the
time had two children: daughter Jacquelyn Nicole and
son Douglas Ryan. Lori and her husband at the time
also had two children: daughters Jami Lynn and
Jennifer Ann. The birth order of these grandchildren
is Jami, Jacquelyn, Jennifer, then Doug. Now grown,
Jami and her husband, Derric, have two daughters,
Jennifer and Jordan. And, Jacquelyn and her husband,
Jim, have a son Vincent and a daughter Vanessa. Fred
began his career as a tool, die and jig builder at
Rohr Aircraft in 1951, and stayed in manufacturing
all of his life. He held various executive
leadership positions while at Rohr and was
instrumental in bringing in the first numerically
controlled manufacturing machinery onto the Rohr
manufacturing floor. These were used in the
production of aircraft components such as the large
thrust reversers that today still help land jets as
they approach the runway. He was responsible for the
manufacture of a number of products including the
Bay Area Rapid Transit cars in San Francisco, the
Flxible bus line, and others. At the time he retired
as Vice President of Manufacturing he had an
organization of about 600 people. During his work
years, Fred had little time for outside hobbies, but
over the years he did enjoy some things that he was
able to spend more time when he retired. As a
machinist early in his career, he was accustomed to
working with tools and machines, so he picked up a
woodworking hobby which resulted in some beautiful
projects. He also did coin collecting for years and
encouraged his grandchildren to take an interest in
coins. He has always been a bit of a photographer.
And he has golfed off and on over the years as well.
He liked gardening and grew roses among other
flowers. And finally, he devoted a lot of his time
in retirement to genealogy. He always enjoyed
sharing what he was doing with his family. At the
end of a long, happy, and active life, on Friday,
April 18th, 2014, Fred was out on the golf course,
playing with his usual buddies. He fell back and
injured his neck. The following Thursday he had
surgery to protect and repair his neck from further
injury. Friday morning, he suffered from a
post-surgery heart attack, after an angiogram the
doctor felt the blockages were so extensive that
surgical intervention was not recommended. We
prepared for his passing. He was able to see many of
his loved ones before passing away Sunday morning,
April 27th, 2014 at 7:39am. Fred was an amazing man,
his knowledge, wisdom and love were a huge influence
on his family, friends, and everyone that knew him.
