Fritz’ great grandfather, James with Fritz' grandfather, Fred in 1866
Song: “An Old-fashion Home in N. H. (with a light in the window for me...)” available on LINKS page
Fred Minot Wetherbee II “Fritz”
Nine books, five Emmys, two honorary Doctorates, Governor’s Arts Award, and a Fisher Cat bobble-head doll
Photographer, windsurfer, lifeguard, house-painter, tree-climber, stone-mason, soldier, artist-painter, poet, copywriter, cinematographer, film editor, television commentator/producer/videographer, Avid editor, newspaper/radio/television-news reporter, college instructor, advertising-agency creative director, author, historian, disc-jockey, bus driver.
Born
July 3,1936, Memorial Hospital, Nashua, NH. First child of Frederick Minot and Mary Catherine (nee Butler) Wetherbee of Milford, NH.
One of five siblings (four boys, one girl).
Ninth generation Yankee (John Wetherbee arrive in Boston 1765).
Named for his Grandfather, Fred Minot Wetherbee I.
Resides
Acworth, NH (population 900).
One son Caleb Addison, born 1962, St. Josephs Hospital, Nashua, NH. Two granddaughters, Sophia and Anna,
Marital status “committed” (sorry, Paris).
Vitae
US Army Special Services 1958-1960
All-Army Entertainment Contest 1959-1960 placed third of 44,000 acts
Ed Sullivan Show 1959-1960 Appeared with other soldiers
Monadnock Ledger Reporter/Photographer 1962-1968
Nathaniel Hawthorn College Theater Production Instructor, 1963
Filmmaker/Cinematographer NHPTV 1969-1975
WSLE-WSCV radio General Manager, news director 1976-1984
Keene State College Media Instructor, 1980, 1984
All Things Considered, Public Radio Contributing reporter 1976-1984
Ten O'clock News, WGBH-TV, Reporter, 1986-1994
Chronicle Contributing Talent WCVB-TV, Boston 1990
Pitteway and Partners Advertising Creative Director, 1984-1986
NH-Crossroads NHPTV Host/producer/writer/editor. 1986-2000
NH Chronicle Storyteller/historian WMUR TV, 2000-Present
Audio
Speak N'Hampsha Like a Native An comic audio recording. Hundreds of copies sold since 1986
Voice-over (and/or hosting) for:
Ken Burns' Baseball, "The Making of Baseball". Program #1 of the set
The Works of Robert Frost (won New England Emmy in 1995)
Sony audio/video tapes Voice of national radio campaign 1984
White Mountain Enterprises (Region Association)
Franconia Notch Visitor’s Center
Mt Washington Observatory Center
Monadnock Region Association
Winnipesaukee Lake Association
NH Film Board
Hoosac Tunnel Visitor Center, North Adams, MA
Producer and Writer
Just Up The Road Nine specials, NHPTV*
NH Remembered, parts I, II, III, NHPTV
Secrets of the Mt Washington Hotel NHPTB
Covered Bridges of New England PBS (shown nationally)
Josie Langmaid, The Murdered Maiden Student NHPTV
University of New Hampshire Centennial History NHP
A Light on the Mountain Funded by “Olin Foundation”
Grace Metalious and Peyton Place NHPTV (shown nationally)
Styron, Plimpton, Updike at MacDowell WGBH
Francis Ouimet Story WGBH
Grover Cleveland NHPTV
MacDowell, an American Artists' Colony NHPTV (shown nationally)
Soul of a Woman, the story of Mary Baker Eddy NHPTV
Furniture Makers of NH companion to Currier Art Museum Show
(*Wrote, produced and edited most of his NHPTV segments and specials)
Honors
New England Emmy Producer, Public Affairs 1995
New England Emmy Hosting 1996
New England Emmy On-camera talent 2004
New England Emmy Producer, Outstanding historical program 2006
New England Emmy Commentary/editorial 2008
Nominations Ten New England Emmy nominations
Golden Mike Five awards NH Association of Broadcasters
Bobble-head Doll “Fritz Wetherbee Day” NH Fisher Cats Baseball 2006
Valley Forge Freedom Medal 1970
National Endowment for the Arts grant 1971
Citizen of the Year, Monadnock Jaycees 1985
NH Historic Preservation Award 1993
The Museum of Modern Art presented his film:
“James B. Conant: NH, Harvard, and the A-Bomb” 1996.
Media Award, Molly Stark Chapter DAR 2004
History Recognition Award, Souhegan Valley C of Commerce 2007
Community Builder Award, Masonic Lodge #7,Milford, NH 2007
Granite State Award, Plymouth State University 2009
Doctor of Humane Letters “honoris causa” Rivier College 2009
Doctor of Humane Letters “honoris cause” New England College 2013
BINKY SEARS AND THE DOG
My friend Binky Sears was driving home from the Bucka-Burger-Dollah-dog the other day. He was in his old Chrysler New Yorker and he was coming down Mica Mountain when right there, out on Frost Pond he saw a little black spot appear and disappear.
A dog, a black lab mix, had fallen through the ice.
Well it was getting on to dark. Binky didn’t have his cell phone with him and he was all alone.
What to do? All alone he couldn’t save the dog. It he went for help that would take time and besides it would be dark before anyone could get back. The nearest house was Miss Peeslee’s rented cottage, which was about a half a mile away.
Miss Peeslee, by the way, owned a black lab mix, “Rufus.”
Oh jeez, Binky thought. That’s Rufus, sure enough. Binky also didn’t hesitate.
He pulled the New Yorker to the side of Dump Road and started across the field.
Rufus was bobbing and whining and trying to get his paws up on the ice. When he saw Binky he got more excited and howled a little bit.
Well Binky knew from his Boy Scout days and also from his training in the Sawyer Volunteer Fire Department, that the only way to navigate thin ice was to crawl out fully prone. Even crawling on hands and knees was dangerous.
Binky was talking very calmly to Rufus. “You wait, boy,” he said. “Old Binky’ll get you out. “ All this time Binky was hoping someone would come up the road and see his New Yorker parked there and come and give him some backup. But, so far there was no traffic.
Binky was now soaked from the melted water on top of the ice but he was getting out there. The old dog was a distance out in the pond.
Pretty soon Binky got to the edge of the ice and then didn’t have a plan on how the dog would get on the ice. But Binky needn’t have worried for the solution happened at once.
There was this big crunching sound and Binky, still in the prone position, went right through the ice… and he put his feet down.
The water was only about three feet deep and Binky could stand. Which he did. And he picked up Rufus and tossed him onto the ice and watched as the dog hightailed it off to Miss Peeslee’s for some love and kibble.
And Binky, all alone, trudged back to his car, soaked to the core. And cold. And tired, And dirty…. But feeling better about the work and himself than he had in a long time.
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