Frederick Donald Ferris
Born: November 30, 1922 in Chicago, IL
Died: June 12, 2021 in Oswego, IL
Frederick Donald Ferris, 98, died June 12 in Oswego, Illinois. A longtime resident of La Grange Park, he was born at St. Anthony Hospital in Chicago on November 30, 1922 to Frederick Elliott Ferris and Mary Ethel Miles Ferris. He grew up in Downers Grove, where he attended St. Joseph School. After graduation from St. Leo College Preparatory School in St. Leo, Florida, he worked on a Great Lakes freighter carrying taconite iron ore from the Iron Range down to the industrial centers of the lower Great Lakes. After the US entered World War II he enlisted in the US Maritime Service, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant while transporting personnel and equipment through the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.
After the war he became a carpenter in the Chicago area. Over the course of his career, he helped build iconic structures around the region, including the John Hancock Building, Sears Tower, O'Hare Airport, McCormick Place, Standard Oil building, Water Tower Place, and the Deep Tunnel.
Mr. Ferris married Lura Mae Holland and together they raised six sons: William Frederick, James Vincent, Joseph Elliott, John Michael, Gregory Allen, and David Christopher. He is survived by his sister Shirley Andre; sons Jim, Joe (Terri), John (Carie), Greg, and David; sixteen grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; and dozens of cousins, nephews and nieces. He was preceded in death by Lura Mae and Bill.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 25, at St. Joseph Church, Downers Grove. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to Helping Hand Center (https://www.hhcenter.org/donate/).