Bev and Bill Frier

Bill Frier moved to Naperville in 1952 due to a transfer by General Motors to GM's Electro-Motive Division in LaGrange. Bill was later divorced from his wife, Jane. He had three children, Bruce, Craig, and Kathy.

Bruce is a law and classics professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Craig is with Service Master and has a wife, Annette, a son, Mark, and a daughter Sarah. Kathy is a clinical psychologist in Phoenix.

Bev moved to Naperville in 1962. Her husband, Don Patterson, worked for Sears & Roebuck and was transferred to Chicago from Milwaukee. They had two children, Cynthia and Erik. Don died in 1967 of cancer of the lungs.

Cynthia has two daughters, Ariah and Javonne. Cynthia is on the staff at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Mich. Bev's son Erik lives in Parker, Colorado with his three sons, Tyler, Zachary, and Wyatt. Erik is a sales representative for Lennox Heating and Air Conditioning.

Bill and Bev were married on February 4, 1973. Bev owned piano and organ retail stores in Naperville, Fox Valley Mall, Addison, and Woodfield Mall. She also owned a fabric store in Naperville, The Fabric Inn, and later moved it to Elgin. The city fathers of Naperville were very kind to Bev and her business endeavors: Harold White, editor of the Sun taught her advertising; Dutch Beidelman was her landlord and checked on her nearly every day; Harold Cromer, of Cromer Ford taught her trade-ins; Dean DeGeeter of Deans Men's Store taught her turn-over of inventory.

We designed and built our home on Donwood Drive in 1974. We also own a winter home in Naples, Florida. Bev had taken 6 flying lessons when she met Bill. So Bill started lessons too, and that was how we courted. After we were married we received our private flying license and later our instrument rating on the same day. We fly our plane quite a lot, including back and forth to our home in Florida. We have flown to the Bahamas, Mexico, and Canada. We also enjoy traveling and have seen most of the world.

We have watched Naperville grow, in a positive way, from a little country town into a big city. It was a small town in the right place, at the right time, with the right people. We are so grateful to have been a resident of Naperville for so long. It has been very good to us.