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May 23, 2009
Services
Funeral services will be held 9 AM on Friday, May 29, 2009 from the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne where a 10 AM Funeral Mass will be offered.
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, May 28, 2009 from 2-4 and 7-9 PM at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Paterson.
Frederick Richard Vlamynck
Born in Paterson, NJ February 15, 1957
Fred was raised in Elmwood Park, NJ, when the town was known as East Paterson. He attended St. Leo’s Catholic School, Gantner Ave. Elementary School, East Paterson Jr.-Sr. High School, and Saddle River Country Day School. He went on to a three year program for electronics at Metropolitan Technical School.
Fred enjoyed the company of others and thrived on being social, although he also liked being a private person. He was very attentive and helpful to his parents, who live locally. He cherished his three sisters. He was affectionate with his niece and two nephews. He was kind and generous to his friends. He was committed to helping others in any way he could.
Many of Fred’s interests developed from a young age. His engineering talents became apparent when he broke out of his playpen as a baby by unscrewing a wooden slat. Then, in reaching too far for a light switch, he fell out of his crib and broke his back. The resiliency of his full body cast became part of his constitution as he healed. He followed with the pursuits of many young boys - toy trucks, making models, fishing, Boy Scouts.
His insatiable curiosity led him to take things apart and put them back together just to see how they worked. He developed a workshop in his parent’s basement where he performed these technical dissections, learning about electronics, mechanics, and the physics behind the tools he began using. He made spy equipment to use on his sisters in his early electronic stages.
Fred’s grandfather began a wholesale florist business, Octave Vlamynck & Co. in 1919. This family business, located in East Paterson, surrounded his home, and Fred easily transitioned his skills to larger projects. Fred’s father nurtured both the plants he grew and Fred’s growing mechanical abilities. Plumbing, building, wiring, excavating, welding, engine work – there were opportunities too numerous to mention that Fred got experience with, and led to his future endeavors. Meanwhile, for fun, Fred began his own business installing security alarm systems in homes and small businesses. He toyed with transistor and CB radio systems, and joined a public service REACT team that helped in emergencies. He traveled extensively with his family, both abroad and in the country. He continued his interests in gemstones and mineralogy, a hobby he first began when he was too young to attend rockhound meetings by himself. Fortunately for him, his mother encouraged his interests, picked up a rock pick herself and joined the meetings with him!
Fred continued with alarm systems and lock-smithing, but his interests were too broad to be confined to those small occupations. He had appropriate business cards made up, “Entrepreneur and Jack-of-all-Trades.” He expanded his contacts, knowledge base and skills with each new project he worked on, accumulating an inventory of excavating machines and tools along the way. He worked as an independent contractor, and, by being the sole owner and employee of his business, “Rock Systems, Inc.,” he was able to work on many large union jobs. He worked in places as varied as Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports, the Newark School System, and the New Jersey Public Water Supply System. Everywhere he went, people knew him to be quick with a joke and a laugh, yet as far as any technical problem to be faced, highly competent, capable and cautious. It seemed that Fred had a huge bag of tricks from which he could pluck an answer for anything.
Fred loved to collect stuff - animal, mineral or vegetable (well, maybe not vegetable.) He took great pleasure in the hunt for valuables. He loved his collections for the potential he could see in them. He could look at something and see a plan for what to do with it. Fred was uniquely gifted in his ability to size things up; he had great skills as an estimator. He could give a quick look and come up with size, price, time required – whatever the value in question. But unlike most of us, he saw past what there was to what it could be. We would just see the things, but they weren’t things to him. They were ideas and feelings and experiences waiting to happen. He could not get enough of all that life offered him.
Fred liked hard puzzles - rock hard puzzles. What others saw as problems were but an intriguing situation to figure out. Bedrock in the way of new construction? No problem, he’d devise a way to break the rock. Motorhome won’t move? No problem, He’d jury rig the electrical system to get it going. House needs to be moved? No problem, he’d invent a way to saw through the foundation and have the house trucked to a new spot. He was fascinated by the way locks worked. I think they were like the metal puzzles he enjoyed, although there was never a puzzle difficult enough to keep him entertained for long. The real puzzles for him were his contracting jobs. So many factors –estimating, figuring out the complicated logistics, considering which equipment and mechanical means to get the job done – all the pieces had to mesh together just right (like the insides of a lock) for the solution to be unlocked. And he figured everything in his head, no computers, no other people, just creatively devising his own way, just as he’d done with everything in his life. His humor, compassion, curiosity, love – all that was Fred will so very much be missed.
Frederick was the proprietor of Rock Systems Inc., West Milford.
He is the beloved son of Frederick and Ruth Vlamynck of Wayne; loving brother of Patricia Vlamynck of Hartland, VT, Jean Vlamynck of Santa Cruz, CA and Susan Polansky and her husband Hari of Dedham, MA; much loved uncle of Daniel, Allison and Zachary Polansky.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Funeral services will be held 9 AM on Friday, May 29, 2009 from the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne where a 10 AM Funeral Mass will be offered.
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, May 28, 2009 from 2-4 and 7-9 PM at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Paterson.
May 23, 2009
Services
Funeral services will be held 9 AM on Friday, May 29, 2009 from the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne then to Our Lady of Consolation RC Church, Wayne where a 10 AM Funeral Mass will be offered.
Friends may visit with the family on Thursday, May 28, 2009 from 2-4 and 7-9 PM at the funeral home.
Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Paterson.
Frederick Richard Vlamynck
Born in Paterson, NJ February 15, 1957
Fred was raised in Elmwood Park, NJ, when the town was known as East Paterson. He attended St. Leo’s Catholic School, Gantner Ave. Elementary School, East Paterson Jr.-Sr. High School, and Saddle River Country Day School. He went on to a three year program for electronics at Metropolitan Technical School.
Fred enjoyed the company of others and thrived on being social, although he also liked being a private person. He was very attentive and helpful to his parents, who live locally. He cherished his three sisters. He was affectionate with his niece and two nephews. He was kind and generous to his friends. He was committed to helping others in any way he could.
Many of Fred’s interests developed from a young age. His engineering talents became apparent when he broke out of his playpen as a baby by unscrewing a wooden slat. Then, in reaching too far for a light switch, he fell out of his crib and broke his back. The resiliency of his full body cast became part of his constitution as he healed. He followed with the pursuits of many young boys - toy trucks, making models, fishing, Boy Scouts.
His insatiable curiosity led him to take things apart and put them back together just to see how they worked. He developed a workshop in his parent’s basement where he performed these technical dissections, learning about electronics, mechanics, and the physics behind the tools he began using. He made spy equipment to use on his sisters in his early electronic stages.
Fred’s grandfather began a wholesale florist business, Octave Vlamynck & Co. in 1919. This family business, located in East Paterson, surrounded his home, and Fred easily transitioned his skills to larger projects. Fred’s father nurtured both the plants he grew and Fred’s growing mechanical abilities. Plumbing, building, wiring, excavating, welding, engine work – there were opportunities too numerous to mention that Fred got experience with, and led to his future endeavors. Meanwhile, for fun, Fred began his own business installing security alarm systems in homes and small businesses. He toyed with transistor and CB radio systems, and joined a public service REACT team that helped in emergencies. He traveled extensively with his family, both abroad and in the country. He continued his interests in gemstones and mineralogy, a hobby he first began when he was too young to attend rockhound meetings by himself. Fortunately for him, his mother encouraged his interests, picked up a rock pick herself and joined the meetings with him!
Fred continued with alarm systems and lock-smithing, but his interests were too broad to be confined to those small occupations. He had appropriate business cards made up, “Entrepreneur and Jack-of-all-Trades.” He expanded his contacts, knowledge base and skills with each new project he worked on, accumulating an inventory of excavating machines and tools along the way. He worked as an independent contractor, and, by being the sole owner and employee of his business, “Rock Systems, Inc.,” he was able to work on many large union jobs. He worked in places as varied as Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports, the Newark School System, and the New Jersey Public Water Supply System. Everywhere he went, people knew him to be quick with a joke and a laugh, yet as far as any technical problem to be faced, highly competent, capable and cautious. It seemed that Fred had a huge bag of tricks from which he could pluck an answer for anything.
Fred loved to collect stuff - animal, mineral or vegetable (well, maybe not vegetable.) He took great pleasure in the hunt for valuables. He loved his collections for the potential he could see in them. He could look at something and see a plan for what to do with it. Fred was uniquely gifted in his ability to size things up; he had great skills as an estimator. He could give a quick look and come up with size, price, time required – whatever the value in question. But unlike most of us, he saw past what there was to what it could be. We would just see the things, but they weren’t things to him. They were ideas and feelings and experiences waiting to happen. He could not get enough of all that life offered him.
Fred liked hard puzzles - rock hard puzzles. What others saw as problems were but an intriguing situation to figure out. Bedrock in the way of new construction? No problem, he’d devise a way to break the rock. Motorhome won’t move? No problem, He’d jury rig the electrical system to get it going. House needs to be moved? No problem, he’d invent a way to saw through the foundation and have the house trucked to a new spot. He was fascinated by the way locks worked. I think they were like the metal puzzles he enjoyed, although there was never a puzzle difficult enough to keep him entertained for long. The real puzzles for him were his contracting jobs. So many factors –estimating, figuring out the complicated logistics, considering which equipment and mechanical means to get the job done – all the pieces had to mesh together just right (like the insides of a lock) for the solution to be unlocked. And he figured everything in his head, no computers, no other people, just creatively devising his own way, just as he’d done with everything in his life. His humor, compassion, curiosity, love – all that was Fred will so very much be missed.
Frederick was the proprietor of Rock Systems Inc., West Milford.
He is the beloved son of Frederick and Ruth Vlamynck of Wayne; loving brother of Patricia Vlamynck of Hartland, VT, Jean Vlamynck of Santa Cruz, CA and Susan Polansky and her husband Hari of Dedham, MA; much loved uncle of Daniel, Allison and Zachary Polansky.
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