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Fred Berringer ca1980
Died:. August/1986 at the age of 35 ( Complictions With Cancer ) Wish We Could Have Parted Ways In A Better Light
In the beginning of our business relationship, Fred and I got along very well. I was the one that had all the trade smarts and Fred had money smarts and charm for the clients. Fred was not very skilled at carpentry and or painting for that matter in the beginning but he was willing to learn. We had landed a large contract ( for our business anyway ) to renovate a halfway house in Halifax south end and we started on the project in earnest. One day we were notified that a contingent of bigwigs were coming to the house for an inspection. Rocky ( a former Halifax boxer ) was one of the management team at the house and was the one to be escorting them around. All the management at the halfway house knew that Fred and I were gay but that was never an issue ( we were there to work ). We had been told previously that we all had to be wearing had hats ( especially when the bigwigs showed ). On the bright sunny day at about noon, a black cadillac pulls up, Fred and I and our crew were working on the roof. When we saw the car pull up, Fred and I quickly passed out hard hats that we had spray painted with bright " PINK " flourecent paint to all the crew. Rocky was the first out of the car and when he looked up, he had to take a second look and I thought he was going to bust a gut holding his laughter back. The bigwigs either never caught on or just never gave it any thought, but the staff and the tenants at the house had a huge belly laugh.
Fred was a big butch man and he liked to give that image off at all times. I never gave it much thought about all the rings that he wore on his fingers because I guess you become accustomed to the way someone carries themselves. When Fred would stand with his hands clasped over the top of a shovel or a rake, all you could see was diamonds and gold. A few of the clients noticed this and just had to come to me and ask if Fred was " GAY ". In our roundabout way most of our clients were told ( when they asked ) and we never had a problem from any of them and some were more relaxed when they found out.
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