DOROTHY FRUDD

October 3, 1919 - March 17, 2013 NORMAN Dorothy J. Frudd passed away on March 17, 2013 in Norman Oklahoma. Dorothy was born in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada on October 3, 1919, to Harvey Murray (deceased prior to her birth) and Genneth Smith. Dorothy left school early to bring in family income, never finishing high school. In 1941 Dorothy met and fell in love with Francis (Frank) W. Frudd, a RCAF Officer training in Trenton, Ontario. They were married on December 23, 1941, just prior to Frank's departure for England. Frank was from Detroit, Michigan, a child of English immigrants, who had joined the RCAF prior to the US entrance into WWII because of deep concerns of an impending German invasion of England. During the war years, Dorothy worked assembling early radar devices for the Allied cause, while keeping up a constant flow of letters and packages to her beloved Frank. Frank's bomber was shot down on the night of July 3-4, 1943 while coming back from a bombing run on Cologne, Germany(33rd mission). Dorothy received the dreaded MIA telegram from Bomber Command, followed by a "captured" telegram a couple of months later. Frank was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III, a German Air Force POW Camp involved in the famed "Great Escape", and played an active role in tunnel construction and logistics with unwitting support from his young wife Dorothy. Dorothy (among others) sent thousands of cigarettes and many pounds of tobacco and chocolate via the Red Cross to Frank, which were used to bribe German guards for civilian clothing, train schedules, dyes, travel documents, etc. facilitating the escape. After WWII, the couple made Detroit their home, Frank becoming a welding supply salesman. In 1952, the couple decided to chase the American dream by opening a welding supply store of their own, Best Welding Supply. They operated this business until 1970, when they decided to semi-retire to southeastern Oklahoma, where friends from Ohio had moved. In 1971, the couple obtained an Otasco franchise and opened a small Otasco Store in Clayton, Oklahoma. They operated this business until Frank passed in 1976. Dorothy always considered herself a strong right wing Republican, with fundamentalist Christian beliefs and values. Frank and Dorothy were early members of the John Birch Society and had strong anti-communist beliefs, fueled by Frank's encounters with the Russian Communist troops at the end of WWII, when they were "liberating" Eastern Europe. Dorothy was preceded in death by her loving mother, Genneth Smith Murray; father, Harvey Murray; sisters, Margaret Brooker and Helen Hume; loving husband, Frank and all his siblings, Edith, Tom, George, Herbert, Alexander and Edna. Dorothy is survived by four children, Frank D., Dorothy and husband Joe, Steven and John and his fiancee Catherine; grandchildren, Corey and Wendy, Chris and Bethany; and a host of great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, at AL Stephens Cemetery in Clayton Oklahoma. All are invited. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Primrose Funeral Service, www.primrosefuneralservice.com