Wilmette resident Tom Fredricksen was preparing to take his son’s guitar in for some musical maintenance last month, but he was glad to stop and chat with Pioneer Press about travel, good movies and why he doesn’t walk out of bad ones.
Q: Tell us where you’re originally from?
A: I came from Clinton, IA.
Q: Do you like to travel? If so, where would you like to go next?
A: I do like to travel with my wife, but my most recent trips have been on college tours. We went out to DeKalb to Northern Illinois University, and then down to Normal for a tour of Illinois State University. But traveling for other reasons? I’d say it would have been nice to go to San Diego. It’s got a world-class zoo.
Q: Do you have a cause or charity that you’d like people to be aware of?
A: Both my sons have done missionary work on Edisto Island, South Carolina, through the First Congregational Church of Wilmette. The school there really needs any help that it can get. If people are interested, they can find out more at the church website.
Q: What would you consider your favorite comfort food?
A: There are a lot of foods I like, but if I had to choose something, I suppose that would be prime rib.
Q: Have you ever disliked a movie so much that you walked out of the theater?
A: I’m of Danish stock. If you’re Danish, you don’t walk out of a movie, even if you hate it, because you paid to see it. I think the closest I ever got was when my wife and I, early in our marriage, went to see “Midnight Express.” We were looking for a date night movie. That wasn’t it!
Q: Since we’re talking about movies, how about recommending some good ones you’ve seen?
A: There are several movies I could recommend. Recently, I think “Spotlight” is a good one. And from maybe a few years ago, “Argo” was a good movie, so those are a couple that it would be easy for me to recommend.
–Kathy Routliffe, Pioneer Press
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Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
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