As a child, Charlie Frith was known for bringing home snakes and lizards. He also raised rabbits and cared for a goat.
"My grandfather is there. He has a farm and grows tobacco," said Fries, who grew up in Berea, a small town in central Kentucky. "I helped him a lot on that farm. I think when I was 12 I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian."
Fries completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, then went to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, where he received a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1964.
He met his wife Charlotte in Auburn and got married the same year he graduated. He had just entered the Air Force, and she joined him for three years in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The main functions of veterinarians in the Air Force involve public health and food inspection.
"The idea I went to veterinary school was that I would pursue veterinary medicine," Fries said. “Veterinarians serving in the United States can’t actually practice, but in Japan they let us do it. I do have a small animal veterinary clinic that only has a few mornings a week.”
Fries said he met some lovely soldiers there-pet owners. After he was discharged from the hospital, a couple begged him to move to nearby Colorado — even offered to build a clinic for him — hoping that he could continue to take care of their sick dachshund.
However, other people had unrealistic demands on his time and the minimum fees charged relative to him, and the whole adventure made him feel frustrated with this profession.
"I like working with animals, but I don't really like working with animal owners," he said.
After returning to the United States, Frith pursued a PhD in Veterinary Pathology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.
In January 1972, he worked in the Pathology Department of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine.
"I am mainly involved in consulting pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceutical companies about the drugs they are trying to obtain approval for use in humans," he said. "They will do a study, I will process the tissue, and then say, yes, this drug or chemical will not cause anything, or it will cause liver cancer or bladder cancer or anything else."
His work involves contract work with the Jefferson National Research Center for Toxicology.
"I like veterinary pathology," he said. "At the time they were considering whether saccharin would cause bladder cancer in rats. They were worried about humans."
In the early 1980s, he founded his own company, Toxicology Pathology Associates, as an independent contractor to do pathology for pharmaceutical companies.
He retired in 2000, but continued to work in the veterans management hospital for several years.
Speech pathologist Charlotte Frith retired from Arkansas Children's Hospital in 2002.
"She worked mainly with children who had cochlear implants for the last 10 years there," he said. "She is famous and respected. We all have had a good career."
After Fries retired, his life passed quickly.
"I like volunteer organizations," he said. "I told my wife that we now have less free time than when we work full-time."
He has taught computer and technology courses through LifeQuest in Arkansas for many years. For a while, he used the laboratory in the UAMS Institute on Aging to teach courses to retired Arkansas through Senior Net.
"I started using pure computers, but then we switched to iPhone and iPad and other things," he said.
He also provides voluntary services for Vera Lloyd Presbyterian Family Services, which provides residential life, therapeutic group homes, respite care and emergency shelters for children and families, and Stewpot that provides hot food for those in need.
"We went to Westover Hills Presbyterian Church, and we are closely related to the church," he said. "I have done a lot of work in technology and computers."
Their son Adam-born in Japan-lives in Little Rock, and their daughter Alison Otzler-born in Colorado-lives in Dallas.
"Our son has a daughter, and our daughter has a son, so we have two grandchildren," Frith said.
He and his wife travel a lot.
"When I work, we travel overseas. I went to Japan a few times, I went to France, and I went to the UK. She usually goes with me, and we will work out our previous vacation days or after the meeting together," He said. "Since we retired, we have traveled more in the United States."
Frith has kept a sailboat on Lake Maumelle for 25 years. When they lived in Colorado, he liked hunting. In Arkansas, he started trout fishing and photography.
"I may have 25,000 photos on my computer. I like landscape photography-sunsets, sunrises, mountains, streams-of course I also take a lot of our grandchildren," Fries said.
However, these photos only tell part of his life.
"I will be 83 in February," he said. "If I die tomorrow, I won't complain. I just live a good life."
If you know an interesting story about people aged 70 or older in Arkansas, please call (501) 425-7228 or send an email:
Print heading: Professional development of veterinarians to pathology
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