The Frey Family Story
Our son, Andrew Paul Frey, passed away on October 6th 2007. Andrew was born with ADHD as well as an Auditory Processing Disorder. Life for Andrew was not easy but he always wore a smile and treated people with great kindness. In the 25 years that Andrew lived we never heard him say that he disliked anyone. If you met Andrew once, you were his friend for life. There were so many times that Andrew put himself last, for instance, one day on his way to work he saw and older man with a flat tire along the side of the road. He stopped to offer help and took the man back to town 10 miles away, helped him get a new tire put it on his car.
During High School Andrew's happiest days were spent as a football student manager. He loved making sure that all the football players had what they needed. He took such pride in making sure there was enough water and medical supplies for them so that they could win their games and have a great time. It didn't matter to him that all the glory with to the players and the coaches, he was happy because he was helping the team. There were so many little acts of kindness that filled Andrews's world. Kindness and caring came so naturally to him. When one of our neighbors needed help moving a center pivot he came and asked Andrew to give him a hand. Even though it was a long dirty job, Andrew enjoyed sitting on the back of the system with dirt blowing in his face and smiling and waving to everyone that went by.
He was the first person to call on your birthday, or just out of the blue because he wanted to say hi, and tell you he was thinking of you. The night of Andrews's accident he touched so many people's lives. The doctors told us that he took the time to thank them for trying to help him. He was always thinking of others.
The day that Andrew came home with his new driver's license he was so excited. Not only because he was a new driver, but because they asked him if he wanted to be an Organ Donor. When he told me about his decision to be an Organ Donor I explained that in order to be a donor, that it would mean he would have to die, and we would make his decision a reality. He simply looked at me and said "Mom, it's not like I would need anything where I would be going." He has such a look on his face, I could see that he understood his decision and chose it because of the goodness that was in his heart. Helping others, even after his death, is what Andrew's life was all about.
We believe that Andrew lived to teach people what true kindness was. Even though he lived with criticism and met people that didn't understand his goodness, he never let that get in his way of being a good, caring and loving person. If you ever met Andrew, you were truly thought of as his friend, and a blessing from God.
The Frey Family set up a memorial fund in Andrew's name. The family generously donated the funds to Nebraska Organ Recovery. The funds were used to purchase an educational kiosk that was placed on the Chadron State College Campus in Andrew's memory.
Written by Kathy Frey, mother of Andrew Frey