BROOKLYN PARK, MN – Frederick J. Flathers, 87, a longtime resident of Chicopee and a former resident of Keystone Commons in Ludlow, was Called Safely Home on Sunday, February 24, 2013. He passed into Eternal Life at Saint Therese at Oxbow Lake in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He was born in Ilion, New York on May 23, 1925, a beloved son of the late Samuel E. and Anna (Greany) Flathers. At a young age, his parents moved to Springfield where he was raised and graduated from the former Springfield Technical High School. He served his country during World War II in the United States Army Air Corps as an Aerial Gunner with the 866th Bombardment Squadron and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. He served in the Air Offensive Japan, the Eastern Mandates, the Western Pacific, the Southern Philippines, Luzon and Ryukyus. He received the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with Bronze Service Stars, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon, the American Theater Campaign Ribbon, the Air Medal with One Oak Leaf Cluster and the World War II Victory Medal. Following his military service, he returned to Springfield and was employed as a machinist and tool designer at the former Springfield Armory. He later relocated and was employed at the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Illinois. He ended his career and retired in 1986 as a tool designer and engineer at the Picatinny Arsenal in Andover, New Jersey. Following his retirement, he moved to Chicopee, where he lived for many years. In 2010, he moved to Keystone Commons in Ludlow and relocated to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota in January of 2013. He was a longtime communicant of Saint Mary Church in East Springfield, which is now Mary, Mother of Hope Church. He was predeceased by his beloved wife and best friend, Anita J. (Blette) Flathers, who was Called Home on November 23, 2012. They were married on May 14, 1949 at the former Saint Joseph Church in Springfield and were blessed with over 63 years of happiness together. He leaves: his three loving children, Richard J. Flathers and his wife, Vicki, of Pawleys Island, SC, Timothy J. Flathers and his wife, Julia, of Bemidji, MN and Theresa F. Maurer and her husband, Mitch, of Brooklyn Park, MN; his four cherished grandchildren, Christopher Flathers and his wife, Kristina, Kari Flathers and her partner, Joe Kazer, Kristen Parsons and her husband, Sam, and Alex Maurer; his three cherished great-grandchildren, Henry Flathers, Eva Parsons and Elspeth Parsons; his dear sister-in-law, Jeannette Maslak of Chicopee; and his many dear nephews and nieces. His funeral will be held on Saturday morning, March 2, 2013, beginning at the St. Pierre – Phaneuf Springfield Chapels, (413-737-1177), 7 Chapin Terrace, Springfield, MA 01107, (funeral home will open at 8:30 a.m.), followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in Mary, Mother of Hope Church, 840 Page Boulevard, East Springfield, MA 01104. His burial with Military Honors will follow the Mass at Saint Michael Cemetery, 1601 State Street, Springfield, MA 01109. His family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday, March 1, 2013, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. His family has requested that memorial donations be made in his memory to the American Diabetes Association, 2080 Silas Deane Highway, 2nd Floor, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. For more details, please visit:www.stpierrephaneuf.com