1934 – 2016

AUBURN — Frederick Goldrup, 82, a five-year resident of Clover Manor, died Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Hospice House of Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice.

Fred was born April 28, 1934, in Brunswick, to Clifton M. and Ruth Butt Goldrup. The family moved from South Freeport to Lisbon Falls in the spring of 1943, where Fred received his education, graduating from Lisbon High School in 1952. In 1954, he completed a three-year business administration course at Bliss Business College in Lewiston.

He taught computer literacy in the Auburn Adult Education program for five years. He was a radio DJ (Fred the Collector) on WRXV in Auburn and WCOU in Lewiston in the early 1980s, educating his listeners to the lore and music of the American West. He loved the authentic music of Hawaii which he also aired. His extensive record collection included cylinders to CDs.

He was a member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club and maintained a section of the trail in Monson. In 1980, he created the MATC Newsletter (The MAINEtainer) serving as editor for 20 years.

He was a lifetime member of the Maine Country Music Association and the Down East Country Music Association. In 2013, he was inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1976, he helped write Maine’s Anti-Piracy Law to protect Maine songwriters and artists. He was directly responsible for the law establishing Moxie as Maine’s Official Soft Drink in 2005, earning a lifetime member status with the New England Moxie Congress. In early 2013, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Maine Health Care Association.

Fred was a fourth-generation member of the Knights of Pythias, and enjoyed serving as prelate in the St. George Lodge No. 37 in Brunswick.

Creating his alter-ego (Taurus, the Magical Clown) in 1953, Fred entertained residents of nursing homes throughout New England with feats of magic, ventriloquism and comedy for well over half a century. Taurus was a regular in the Moxie Festival Parade in Lisbon Falls, never missing a parade, rain or shine.

Fred served for eight years on the Advisory Council to the Maine Division of Deafness. He retired from work with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Court Records Section, in Augusta in early 2005.

Fred loved genealogy. He found his family migrated from the village of Guldrupe on the island of Gotland, off the coast of Sweden in the 1400s.

He was an elder in the Auburn ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1966, he married the former Patricia Snow in the Salt Lake Temple, and fathered three sons, Darrell (of Waldoboro), John (who predeceased him in 1996), and Jason Sr. (of Gardiner). Besides his surviving sons, he leaves eight grandchildren; a sister, Phyllis Greim; a niece, a nephew, two grandnieces and one great-grandnephew.

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