Date of Birth:
Tuesday, August 24, 1937
Date of Death:
Monday, July 21, 2025
Age:
87 years old

Frederick “Fred” Herman Crossfield

Frederick H Crossfield (1937 – 2025)

Frederick Herman Crossfield (aka, Fritz, Fred, Rex, Santa), 87, passed away on Monday, July 21, surrounded by his daughters and granddaughter.  Fred was born on August 24, 1937 in Park Rapids, MN to Irma (Miller) and Herman Crossfield.  Fred was the oldest of 3 children.  When he was 4 his father passed away and his mother moved her 3 small children to live with family in Lewiston, MN. He was confirmed at St Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1956. He and his brother, Charles, joined the Naval reserve in 1955 and following high school they went into active duty.  Both served on the same ship, the USS Gearing, until honorably discharged from service in 1958. Following his discharge, he married his high-school sweetheart, Marilyn Prigge, and they were wed on August 16, 1958 at Silo Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lewiston, MN.

Since the age of 13, Fred was a meat cutter.  He and his wife lived in Lewiston where he worked at the local locker plant in Lewiston, MN and then at Randall’s grocery store in Winona, MN.  In 1963, they moved their family to Rochester where Fred worked at the Kahler Hotel as the butcher.   His career then took him to work on the assembly line at IBM (building the AS/400), then to Rochester Meats and French’s Produce.  Fred was always sought out to butcher during deer season, as well as by local farmers for their butchering needs.  During his many careers, he made lots of friends, including Mike Undeberg who remained a true friend until the end.

One of his favorite past times was playing Santa for many of his friends’ families and even his own.  He enjoyed bringing joy to children and adults.  He and his wife also spent many years camping, while making more friends along the way.  They also enjoyed taking motorcycle trips on his Honda Goldwing, car trips to Florida and South Carolina with friends, and visiting their son and his family while they were stationed in Hawaii, Georgia, Texas, and Germany.  He also enjoyed visits with his nieces and nephews.

Fred loved watching sports, especially football.  You could always count on him to check in with you during half-time or even before the game would start to remind you which channel the game was on.  He also enjoyed many years of annual deer hunting, a few that included his grandsons with the driving parties.  These events created long-lasting memories. Fred was also known as the ‘horseradish guy’, sharing jars of his own processed and grinded wild horseradish and even sharing it with his doctors.  Fred could always be counted on to help with transporting his grandchildren to/from school or attending games that his grandchildren were participating in.  Fishing was a favorite past time, especially the fish frys after a good day of catching.  But all in all, he loved food of all kinds.

He was active in his church (Redeemer Lutheran Church) serving as the Saturday night usher for many, many years.  When his health prevented him from attending, he would watch the weekly services on line.

As his health took a turn in 2019, he would spend time playing solitar, playing games on his tablet and calling to check in on folks, including the weekly calls letting everyone know where the best meat sales were taking place.  He loved car rides – especially if you could roll the windows down; it made him feel like he was back on his motorcycle.  He was a good patient always joking with doctors and nurses, and had to be reminded by his daughters not to joke too much when they would ask if he knew where he was and he’d respond with a different city or hospital.  When he was given PT exercises, he would do them religiously – he pushed through even if there was pain.  He lived with the mantra “No pain, no gain”, but his family knew very well that patience was not his strong suit!  Fred was most proud of receiving his “Quilt of Valor” just 19 days before his passing.

Fred is preceded in death by his parents Herman and Irma, his brother Charles Crossfield (who passed away in March), and his nephew Paul Hoffmann (who passed away in May), his sister-in-law, Linda Crossfield and both of his brothers-in-law:  Vernon Zander and Rev. Wilmer Hoffman.

He is survived by his wife Marilyn (Prigge); his children Debra Adams, Peggy (Dave) Bruns, Rebecca Kruetzfeldt (all from Rochester) and Scott (Lawna) Crossfield from Toledo, WA; 11 grandchildren:  Garrett (Sara) Johnson, Grant (Ali) Bazinet, Heather Christopherson, Nick (Bridget) Bruns, Elizabeth Bruns, Eric Bruns, Promise (Jon) Campbell,  Josiah and Shawn Crossfield, Kenyatta Kruetzfeldt and Keondre Bryant, 17 great grandchildren, 1 great-great grandchild, one sister Adele Zander from Lewiston, MN, sister-in-law Faye Hoffmann from Milwaukee, WI, and his nieces and nephews that he was very close to (Carol, Karl, John, Jim, Chris, Brenda and Renee).

Visitation will be on Friday, August 1, 2025, at Redeemer Lutheran Church from 9 – 11am and the memorial service at 11am.  Interment will be a private family gathering at Lewiston Public Cemetery.  Arrangements are being made by Macken Funeral Home (mackenfuneralhome.com).