Later Years
On New Year's Eve, 1983, Jeffrey married Kathryn Noel Bennett and informally adopted her children. Shortly after, Jeffrey and Kathryn acquired the infamous Dayton, Nevada saloon, The End Of The Trail. Owning the bar allowed Jeffrey to perform regularly while maintaining a stable family life. The Fredericks eventually wearied of running a bar and Jeffrey returned to playing gigs, shuttling between Nevada and Portland. He was recording a new album with his Nevada band when he received a nearly fatal head injury in 1986. After a prolonged recuperation, he returned to writing and playing music as well as working a variety of jobs to help support his new family.
In 1996, the Fredericks moved back to Portland, Oregon. Jeffrey reformed the Clams and began working with old colleagues and new musicians such as Turtle Vandemarr (Freak Mountain Ramblers, Christmas Jug Band, previously with Dan Hicks), Kevin "Bingo" Richey (Bingo Dream Band), and Jim Boyer (Freak Mountain Ramblers). Highly charismatic and an inveterate prankster, Jeffrey once again achieved near-legendary status both within and without the musical community. When he succumbed to liver failure (related to treatment for his head injury) in March 1997, Jeffrey's memorial service was attended by hundreds of mourners, including Portland's mayor, and the local PBS television station, WOPB, played videotapes of his performances continuously all day. He was survived by his wife, Kathryn, her children Robyn and Paul Bennett, his son, Jake Ray, his sister, Eileen Gilander, and his parents. Jeffrey's surviving band members, protégés and admirers are currently recording a series of tribute albums highlighting his songwriting, the first of which was released by Frederick Productions in Fall, 2008.
"To Jeffrey it wasn't a successful show unless he 'made 'em dance' and he always had us dancing." Kathryn Frederick.
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Famous quotes containing the word years:
“A few years later, I would have answered, “I never repeat anything.” That is the ritual phrase of society people, by which the gossip is reassured every time.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“At thirty years a woman asks her lover to give her back the esteem she has forfeited for his sake; she lives only for him, her thoughts are full of his future, he must have a great career, she bids him make it glorious; she can obey, entreat, command, humble herself, or rise in pride; times without number she brings comfort when a young girl can only make moan.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)