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Elva Frederking
Elva
was born in Edmonton, AB, Canada on August 5. 1925. Her parents were Magnus and
Elizabeth Pearson who had immigrated from Sweden in 1911. She grew up somewhat
of a tomboy who loved sports such as softball and speed-skating, at which she
excelled.. Her education was all at Edmonton Schools where she soon developed
her life-long love of the arts and painting. She was also proud of having won
the IODE award for English during High School. After completing High School and
a year at the University of Alberta she decided to go to Art School, attending
Banff School of fine Art and Vancouver followed by classes at the University of
San Francisco where for the first time she was exposed to abstract art which she
tended to prefer for the rest of her career.
Now it was time to go out on her own and make a living so in 1948 she went to
work for an advertising firm in Beverly Hills, CA doing fashion drawings many of
which appeared in the Hollywood Citizen, the Los Angeles Times and several
national magazines of that time. On April 9, 1949 she married Ren Frederking who
was doing graduate work in Economics at the University of Southern California.
He was also originally from Edmonton. Three children William "Rick", Gregory
"Greg" and Ronald "Larry" were born to them. For some years they lived in Orange
County during which time Elva produced many oil paintings on canvas most of
which were sold privately.
From 1960 until 1975 the family attended Tustin Presbyterian Church where Elva
created the mosaic. (Of interest to those technically inclined, the mosaic is
made up of hundreds of tiny tiles of various colors that Elva ordered from
Italy. Many had to be cut into the shapes required for the design.)
Elva is also well-remembered in Orange County for her work with several
charitable organizations particularly March of Dimes on whose behalf she gave
talks and slide presentations on Birth Defects to all the High Schools. A
high-light in her life was the summers spent at the "Sunnyside" the family
retreat in the mountains of Northern California, away from her busy schedule,
where she could relax without the intrusion of TV and telephone. Her easel was
always set up and here she painted over 40 water-colors of wild flowers
indigenous to the region. The three boys were involved in this project by
gathering the flowers as they came into season and bringing them to the cabin
fresh for Elva to paint.
Elva's major achievement undoubtedly is the "Empty Cross" commissioned in 1957
by St. Paul's United Church of Edmonton, Canada. This painting, located on the
wall behind the chancel of the church, is an oil-on-canvas 8 ft wide by 25 ft
high and was produced in a short concentrated period of seven weeks. She also
considered this inspired religious work as her most significant contribution to
the field of art. After 45 years the painting is still in perfect condition. It
has been said that more weddings are performed at St. Paul's, with the painting
as a backgound, than any other church in this city of almost a million
inhabitants.
In 1978 Elva and Ren moved to Grass Valley, in the lovely foothills of Northern
California, where the family has timber and mining interests. There, Elva spent
her last days. She died of cancer on September 6, 1987, leaving to survive her,
husband Ren, sons Rick, Greg and Larry, and a host of friends.
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