Fairchild, Frederick Dean | University of Illinois Archives

Name: Fairchild, Frederick Dean

Variant Name: Fred Fairchild

Historical Note: Frederick "Fred" Dean Fairchild grew up in Berwyn, Illinois. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald A. Fairchild, ae attended Morton High School and Morton Junior College before coming to the University of Illinois. He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in music education at Illinois in 1963 and 1965, respectively. As a student, Fairchild performed percussion in both the concert band, under Hindsley, and the symphony orchestra. Following his time at the University of Illinois, Fairchild joined the Navy, performing with the Annapolis Staff Band as a Petty Officer at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Following his service, Fairchild joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1969, co-directing the Percussion Ensemble with Tom Siwe. He married Constance "Connie" Ashmore in 1974. Fairchild served on the ISYM percussion faculty from 1970 until 1997, serving as the Advanced Percussion Camp Headmaster with ISYM from 1984 to 1997. In the 1980s, Fairchild served as the historian of the Percussive Arts Society. He retired from the University in 1997. Fairchild has played percussion with the Parkland Band since then. Sometime after his retirement, Fairchild and his wife purchased a home that was previously owned by University of Illinois Band Director Harry Begian. In 2017, Fairchild developed a set of instruments for the Parkland Band's performance of Don Quixote at the Krannert Center.

Sources:

Newsletter of the University of Illinois Library School Association, 1974, 10.

Parkland College Band, The First Fifty Years: 1970-2020.

The Illio, 1963, 530.

"Glen Daniel Fairchild Weds Susan N. Glover of Roselle" Berwyn Life (July 24, 1968), 10.

Note Author: Nolan Vallier