August 13, 1923 - July 7, 2020
Frederick Eugene Weybret, owner of the Lodi News-Sentinel from 1959 to 2015, died in his home in Lodi Tuesday, July 7 at the age of 96. He was born August 13, 1923 to former newspaper publisher and State Senator Frederick and Ethel Weybret of Salinas, Ca. An only child who suffered chronic bronchitis in his early years, he was sent to boarding school at the Palo Alto Military Academy beginning in second grade.
His early life was greatly influenced by his family's two-year world trip from 1933 to 1935, during which they visited East Asia, North Africa and Europe. Fred returned to California as a seventh grader speaking German and Spanish. He lived briefly with his parents outside Salinas at a small ranch on the Arroyo Seco River, his favorite childhood home. He graduated high school from San Rafael Military Academy and received a bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University in 1943.
He was a Navy officer in the Pacific during World War II, and saw combat on Okinawa. His duty was Engineering Officer aboard an LST, a sort of freighter capable of landing equipment and soldiers during a beach invasion. LST meant Landing Ship Tank according to official Navy parlance, but Fred's crew knew they sailed to war in a "Large Slow-moving Target."
In 1950, Fred met Alcyon Carlson, a reporter for the Salinas Index-Tribune, his father's former newspaper. They were wed that year in Del Monte, Ca. and moved to La Grande, Ore. where he and his father owned the La Grande Evening Observer and where Fred and Alcyon's sons were born. For a while he owned the Paso Robles (Ca.) Daily Press before purchasing the Lodi News-Sentinel and moving to Lodi in 1959.
During his time leading the News-Sentinel, he saw the newspaper adopt computerized typesetting and purchased the newspaper's offset press. He built the present newspaper building at the corner of Church and Locust Streets. The News-Sentinel won numerous awards for reporting from the California Newspaper Publishers Association including General Excellence twice during Fred's tenure.
Fred threw himself into community and newspaper industry service during his career in Lodi.
He was a founding director and former president of the Lodi Boys and Girls Club in the 1960s. He served many years on the Lodi District Chamber of Commerce board of directors and was president in 1967. He served on the board of the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District from 1976 to 2009. He was a longtime member of the Lodi Rotary Club and was president in 1976-77. He was a director on the San Joaquin Delta College Scholarship Foundation from 1975 to 1991. He served on the board of United Way of San Joaquin for more than two decades and many years on the board of the San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum.
Fred also served on the board of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, and many years on the board of the California Press Association and the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He was CNPA president in 1973. Fred was named Lodi Outstanding Citizen in 1974 and California Press Association Publisher of the Year in 1985.
He was an avid fisherman and skier who kept at the sport until age 86. He was a "super senior" at the ticket booth. He loved to lead horse pack trips into the Sierra and Fred and Alcyon loved to travel. They made extended trips to South America, China, Mexico, Canada, Europe and throughout the United States.
In 1964, Fred, Alcyon and their friend Chet Hacke of Walnut Creek took their sons on a three-week driving trip from Lodi to the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, traversing the 1,000 miles of unpaved road from Ensenada to La Paz. In the years before hotels were built in Cabo San Lucas, they carried 50-gallon drums of gasoline and water in order to travel between towns in the sparsely inhabited desert.
Fred loved to play cards, especially cribbage, an obsession that began in his Navy days. It ended with a ten-year tournament with his son Marty. The final score was 1,107 to 1,107 - honest. Alcyon and Fred were married for 62 years until she died in October 2013.
He is survived by his sons, James and Martin Weybret, and Marty's wife Christi Kennedy Weybret; all live in Lodi. He is also survived by his grandchildren Robert Weybret of Lodi and his wife Donna; Kate Weybret of London, England; Michael Weybret of Carlsbad, Ca.; and Juliet Weybret of Nashville, Tenn.; and one great-grandchild, Charles Frederick Weybret.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the family plans a small, private service. Arrangements are being handled by Cherokee Memorial Park & Funeral Home.
Donors wishing to remember Fred are encouraged to support the San Joaquin County Historical Society & Museum, P. O. Box 30, Lodi 95241; Lodi House, 801 S. Washington St., Lodi 95240; or the Lodi Boys & Girls Club, P.O. Box 244, Lodi 95241.
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Cherokee Memorial is honored to serve the Weybret family.