Fred Clark Tucker, 74, husband of Sandra Fike Tucker, died Wednesday, June 21, 2017, at his home.
Born Dec. 14, 1942, in Dayton, Tennessee, he was a son of the late Clark Mose Tucker and Mary Allon Tucker. He graduated from Stivers High School in Dayton, Ohio, and received a bachelor of science degree in biology from Miami of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio. Fred volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1964, and he served as first lieutenant in charge of an Armored Calvary Unit in the highlands of Vietnam in 1968, arriving in-country at the start of the Tet Offensive. Fred was wounded in action and was returned stateside to recover at Valley Forge Army Hospital in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Fred returned to Ohio and completed a master’s degree with a double major in education and psychology. Fred taught junior high school science in Daytona, Florida, worked as a family counselor for the state of Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, continued his military career in the Pennsylvania National Guard and then as an Army Reserve Officer, where he taught several general staff and command classes in tactics. He worked for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, served as the assistant director of Human Resources for West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and ended his career as Director of human resources for Cheyney University in Cheyney, Pennsylvania. Fred retired in 1997 and moved to Manning, where he fished and found an outlet for his true love of computers. Fred was one of the early adopters of computers and kept his first computer, a Radio Shack TRS80 (with an external tape drive), operational to this day. Fred’s favorite retirement activity was working on computers, spending hours, or even days, deciphering and correcting problems with computers, printers, televisions, phones and just about anything else his customers needed.
Survivors besides his wife of 32 years include two sons, Dean Cummings (Christina) of Jacksonville, Florida, and Douglas Cummings (Angelia) of Glenmoore, Pennsylvania; and two grandsons, Alexander and Andrew Cummings, both of Jacksonville; and a sister, Sylvia Cates (Kenneth) of Round Rock, Texas.
A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 24, 2017, in the chapel of Stephens Funeral Home with the Rev. Patrick Goodwin officiating.
Visitation will be held an hour prior to services at Stephens Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Veterans Administration in Fred’s name at: www.volunteer.va.gov/apps/VolunteerNow.
Stephens Funeral Home Crematory, 304 N. Church St. in Manning, is in charge of arrangements, (803) 435-2179.
