Frederick G. Berckmann, Jr., 78, passed away on Friday, May 10, 2013.
Fred was born in Hartford on 1/6/1935 to the late Frederick and Mary Godfrey
Berckman. He lived most of his life at the family home on Madison Ave. in Hartford,
moving to West Hartford in 1994. As a young man, Fred attended school at the LaSalette Seminary in Bloomfield. He served in the United States Air Force for 3 years, as an airman 2nd class, stationed in Japan. He was honorably discharged in 1960.
Fred graduated with a BS from CCSU in 1971, and worked for the United States
Post Office for 35 years. Fred's passion was music, and he was an accomplished singer and musician. He played the piano and the violin, and performed most of his life. He was a tenor in the symphonic chorus of The Hartford Chorale, and he was a member of the Insurance City Chorus Barbershop Quartet, SPEBSQSA for many years. Fred was actively involved in the promotion of Irish culture and traditional Irish music, and made several trips to Ireland where his mother was born. He was a lifetime
member of the Irish American Home Society in Glastonbury, the Ancient Order of
Hibernians, and the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Erieann. He sang and played his fiddle at all
family gatherings, often accompanied on the accordion by his brother-in-law Tom
Walsh. Fred was a devoted son to his mother, and a generous and caring brother to his sisters. Fred was pre-deceased by his sister, Fredrica Walsh, and his brothers-in-
law Tom Walsh and John Lineen. His sisters Catherine Berckman, and Eileen
Lineen survive him. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews Eileen Sampl
and her husband Dick, Mary Gibbs and her husband Steve, Theresa Grover and her
husband Scott, Frederica Lineen, Tom Lineen, Teresa Dorsey and her husband Ray,
Colleen Cunningham and her husband Tim, Tom Walsh, Jr. and his wife Darcy, and
12 grand nieces and nephews. His cousins, Kathleen Hollman and her husband
Bob, and Peggy Egan and her husband Jack, and his lifelong friend, Fr. Ron Gagne,
MS, also survive him. The funeral will Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 9:15 a.m. from The Dillon-Baxter Funeral Home, 1276 Berlin Tpke. Wethersfield, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial 10 a.m. in Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 79 New Park Ave. Hartford, with the Rev. Ron Gagne officiating. Burial with military honors will be in Mt. St. Benedict Cemetery. Friends may call at Dillon-Baxter Funeral Home Tuesday, 5-8 p.m. There will be a Wake Service at 7 p.m. Contributions in his memory may be made to: Alzheimer's Assoc. 2075 Silas Deane Hwy Suite 100, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. To share a memory with the family, please visit, www.dillonbaxter.com