Obituary of Charles Froeb

Charles H. Froeb, retired attorney, died Wednesday, November 8. He was 83. The son of Edith Field Froeb and Herman Froeb, he was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 18, 1922 and raised in Forest Hills, New York. He received his high school education at The Choate School and entered Princeton University in the fall of 1941. He joined the United States Air Corps in 1943 and served three years in the China, Burma, India theater supporting aircraft flying supplies over the Hump into China. On discharge from the military in 1946, he transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he received his BA and LLB degrees. Charlie served in the legal department of Cities Service Oil Company from 1950 to 1954 in Bartlesville and Chicago. In 1952 he married Jeanne Riney of Bartlesville and the couple moved to Chicago. They returned to Tulsa in 1954 when Charlie became an assistant United States attorney. Hayden Crawford was the district attorney at the time, and Charlie's other colleagues were John Morley and Robert S. Rizley. In 1960 Charlie entered the private practice of law. He retired from practice in 1987. His passions were sailing and music. He was a founder of Windycrest Sailing Club on Lake Keystone and served as its second Commodore. Prior to the building of Lake Keystone he, along with the other founders, walked the perimeter of the proposed lake to select the site for the sailing club. He also started Tulsa Corinthian Yacht Club and served as its Commodore. He founded the Central States Sailing Association and was instrumental in bringing sailboat racing to not only Oklahoma, but the Midwest portion of the U.S.. He raced his scows across the United States from Minnesota to Florida to Nantucket. Charlie studied classical piano as a child and teenager. He learned to play by ear at Princeton and throughout his life played for family, friends, and many groups and organizations. He sang in choral groups, had his own Dixieland jazz band, and was involved in Tulsa Opera. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, Southern Hills Country Club, the Princeton Club of Tulsa and the Tulsa Men's Forum. Charlie is survived by his wife Jeanne, daughter Janet Froeb, daughter and son-in-law Julie and Douglas Phillips and daughter and son-in-law Edith and George Coen. He is also survived by three grandchildren, Kathleen Koch, Myles Coen and Grace Coen, as well as two brothers, Cornelius Field Froeb and his wife, Catherine, of Annapolis, MD, and Dr. Herman Field Froeb and his wife, Helen, of La Jolla, CA, and sister-in law Joanne Bennett and her husband, Richard, of Bartlesville. He is also survived by fourteen nieces and nephews and several grand-nieces and grand-nephews. The family expresses its thanks to Stevie Shipley and the staff of St. Francis Hospice, and to two special neighbors, Charles Fitzpatrick and Joel Conway. A memorial service will be held at St. John's Episcopal Church of Tulsa on Saturday at 11am. Interment will be in the family plot at the Mt. Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County, New York. The family suggests that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Foundation Fighting Blindness, P.O. Box 17279, Baltimore, MD 21203-7279, the Junior Sailing Program at Windycrest Sailing Club, PO. Box 4731, Tulsa, OK 74159-0731, or Tulsa Opera, 1610 S. Boulder, Tulsa, OK 74119.