Frederica had a very unusual childhood, growing up on her parents’ small zoo in the Adirondacks where, as a small child, she was responsible for feeding animals like ‘Bucky’ their reindeer as well as her father’s pack of Eskimo huskies. Another family tradition was that daughters ‘Came Out’. This meant attending the Baltimore Debutante upper-class Ball with their fathers, which she did – obviously during a time when ‘coming out’ had a very different meaning from the one now so familiar.

After attending Bennington College in Vermont as a fine art major – where she did ‘come out’ – she moved to NYC and was hired by the American Museum of Natural History as a member of the Exhibition Department. Based on her art expertise and childhood animal experience she ultimately became the Senior Preparator working on such projects as painting a 25′ cast of a life-size Florida python,  fixing the teeth of a model of a crocodile for the Hall of Reptiles (reported in the August 1981 issue of the Natural History magazine), air-brush painting 400 replicas of fish for the Hall of Ocean Life, and doing murals, frescoes, and complex interlocking designs for the then new Hall of Asian Peoples … to name a few of her many creative accomplishments. She was also elected twice as the President of Local 1559, District Council 37, Municipal Employees Union, working to get the always underpaid Museum employees a decent salary.

In her personal and political life, Frederica made a number of important (and fun) contributions to the recognition and acceptance of the lesbian community…from elegant lesbian costume parties at her NYC brownstone to fund raisers with her then partner, Jean Millar, at their home on the South Shore. Trying to counteract the noxious influence of the notoriously anti-gay Anita Bryant, she sponsored a huge fundraiser which helped finance the establishment of EEGO, the East End Gay Organization. And much later in the 1990’s with her life partner, Judy Daniels, she also organized and held a fund-raiser for Astrea at their Shelter Island home.

Creativity was at the core of her long life. She designed and had built two homes, one in Sagaponack and the other in Shelter Island. Gardening was also a passion, at one point actually going into a small landscaping business with Judy. Their Shelter Island garden was selected to be included as one of America’s Best Private Gardens in the 2005 and 2006 issues of the Open Days Directory, published by The Garden Conservancy. She continued painting well into her 80s, completing a self-portrait as well as a large five-foot painting of her father and his dog based on an old photo of them as WWI message couriers!

As age and illness took its toll, she and Judy moved to a cottage in Peconic Landing where easy access to the outdoors softened the necessary transition. Generously, Frederica had made arrangements to donate her property to the Nature Conservancy. They took ownership on her death in June 2024.

Frederica’s vibrant spirit and honest approach to her life can be experienced first-hand by clicking here to see an interview of her.