Andrew Joseph Frick helped to rescue Ronald E. Sheriff from burning, Lawrence, Kansas, April 21, 1970. A tractor-trailer driven by Sheriff, 23, truckdriver, was involved in an accident and moved from the highway onto grass-covered terrain, where the detached cab of the rig landed upright on the ground alongside the trailer. Escaping fuel caught fire, and flames burned on the trailer and one side of the cab. Frick, 23, sales engineer, ran to the other side of the cab, where another man was trying without success to open the door. Flames increased as the two men then managed to lower the window. Frick reached into the cab, to which flames had spread. He grasped Sheriff and pulled him partially through the window opening. The other man then also took hold of Sheriff, who had suffered extensive burns. Together, Frick and the other man drew Sheriff out of the cab and moved him away from it. About a minute later the flames increased when a fuel tank exploded. Sheriff and Frick recovered from burns they had sustained.
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Obituary
Andrew “Joe” Frick was born on April 4, 1947, to Carl Leighton Frick and Alice Bauer Frick in Louisville, KY and grew up within earshot of Churchill Downs.
He attended St. Francis Xavier High School where he was a top-notch baseball player. He graduated from Purdue University with a BS in a program of study combining Engineering and Management.
Of note, Joe was designated a Carnegie Hero by Carnegie Mellon Institute for risking his own life to save a driver trapped in a vehicle that burst into flames mere seconds later.
Joe was the owner of a Carrier air conditioning business in Kansas City: thus, his lifelong love of the Royals and the Chiefs. He then took on a new challenge by relocating to the metro NYC area and starting Frick & Frick, Inc. with his wife, Patricia Venditto Frick. He designed and installed cooling systems specific to the needs of churches within a 150-mile radius of NYC.
The lowcountry of SC was discovered quite by happenstance, but the love was immediate. When the decision was made to retire, it was an easy conversion to full time living in Georgetown County. The Frick’s were “Pawleys Island Boykins” and their love of breeding the LBD provided many a family with wonderful companions and the Frick’s with lasting friends!
Enough cannot be said about the kindness of those who crossed the line from friends to become “family”. To mention them by name would risk leaving someone out.
After a long effort fighting a combination of life-threatening illnesses, Joe passed on to his every lasting reward in the arms of Our Lord on August 27, 2024.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia, a very special daughter Daniela Mitu, his loving grandchildren Nick Hopkins, Angela Hopkins, and Raysa Mitu, as well as nephew and niece Matt and Nancy Piedmonte.