Fred Anthony, 84, passed away quietly and peacefully in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, at home on his beloved Okanogan River property, which he had loved and where he had lived for 40 years.
     Fred was born in Spokane (Hillyard), Wash., July 25, 1928, at his grandmother’s house. He was the fifth child of 10 born to James Fredrick Anthony and Jamima Ann Hodgen. Fred was a happy addition to the family and was readily accepted by his older brother and sisters.
     Fred’s early days were spent on the “old homestead” in Kartar, Wash., riding horses, working in the garden, and sometimes just being a nuisance. He was the one who always livened up the party. Fred truly loved Kartar and in his later years could be heard bragging he was “raised in Kartar.” And the way Fred felt about it, there was no place better in the world than Kartar Valley.      
     Early on, the family moved to Nespelem so older kids could attend school.
     Fred attended elementary, junior high and high school in Nespelem, where he graduated in 1947.
     The following September, finding that he had nothing to do, Fred walked into Nespelem School on the first day of September and started another year of high school. His brother George, called it “Fred’s post-graduate year of high school.” He was on the football and basketball teams, plus took part in the plays and dramas during his high school years. As could be imagined, he was the “star.”
     In 1948, he joined the U.S. Army and served almost four years, making several voyages to Turkey in ships loaded with horses and mules for the Turkish army. Fred was one of 1,500 troops who were provided only a rain coat and sun glasses on the sands of the island of the atoll Enewetok during the testing of two atom bombs.
     After four years in the service, Fred returned to the Coulee Dam area, where he worked in the timber industry as well as a farmhand on the Roy Kunz Ranch and the Raymond Green Ranch.
     Those jobs generated a lifestyle and friendships for life, and the Greens became family to him. Fred was driving a school bus in Nespelem when Julie arrived in 1971 to be a kindergarten teacher. At age 46, after living what many people would call a full life already, Fred married Julie on Aug. 3, 1974.
     Two years later, son, Fredrick Scott, was born and Ryan Craig followed a year-and-a-half later. Fred became a “Mr. Mom” long before it was fashionable. During those years, Fred and his two blond-haired boys milked cows, fed calves, chased chickens, went to the Livestock Market and swam the Okanogan River as Fred taught them life lessons and passed on to them his love of land and animals.
     In fact, he was such a “master teacher” both boys stayed out of school for an extra year to learn all that Fred had to teach them.
     After they finally started school, Fred became a bus driver for Omak School District. He loved his bus No. 13, the kids he hauled to and from school each day, the friendships he formed in the bus garage, school district and with families of his “riders.”
     He was named “Bus Driver of the Year” in about 1986. He retired after having a heart attack in 1990. He spent the remaining years on his beloved property hobby farming, raising pheasants and exotic birds, and enjoying his family.
     Fred is survived by his wife, Julie; his two sons, Scott of Omak and Ryan ( Carrie) of Ritzville; beloved 9-year-old grandson, Brett Ryan Anthony; and step-grandsons, Dylan Stanley and Caleb Stanley also of Ritzville. He is also survived by his remaining brother, George (Joan) of Ramah, N.M. He was preceded in death by his parents, James and Jamima Anthony; and his siblings, Albert, Loren, Eleanor Graves, Myrtle Rinker, Marjorie, Lila Eunice Johansen, William, and Jay.
     Check Legacy Memorial website for service information; at office@legacymemorial@info.com or call 509-826-5232.
     Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.legacymemorial.info
     Legacy Memorial Funeral Home has been entrusted arrangements.