This story is an excerpt from a column in the November 2016 issue of the American Philatelist, Our Story by Scott English titled New and Old Friends, and Meeting a Legend.

In 2010, the American Philatelic Society established the Charles J. Peterson Philatelic Lifetime Achievement Award to honor two-time Luff Award winner Charles Peterson. The award recognizes a lifetime commitment to research and education. The 2016 Peterson Award recipient is Charles A. Fricke, an APS member since 1954. Charles acquired his first stamp in 1929, a 2-cent stamp featuring George Rogers Clark (Scott 651) — and that stamp is still one of his prized possessions today. He estimates he has written more than 1,000 published articles and 200 articles accepted, but not yet published. His works have appeared in more than 35 philatelic journals and publications and five newspapers.

Charles Fricke's early philatelic life, framed.

Charles has conducted research and authored seminal works on the first postal card issues of the United States, culminating in the publication of his book, 1973 Centennial Handbook of the First Issue United States Postal Card 1873–1875, in two volumes. In 1974, Fricke authored a similar study on the international postal card, The United States International Single Postal Cards of 1879 to 1897–1898, Volume 1: Plating. His impressive body of work earned him the prestigious Luff Award in 1981 for Distinguished Philatelic Research. A picture of Charles signing the Luff scroll is another memory hanging on his wall today.

Charles Fricke signs the Luff Scroll in 1981 as the honoree in the area of Distinguished Philatelic Research.

On a personal note, Charles served in the U.S Navy receiving training in radar and radio before being deployed to the Pacific in 1945, just a month before the end of the war. He was honorably discharged in 1946 and moved to the private sector. He and his wife of 69 years, Nettie, are the proud parents of three sons. Proof that the apple did not fall far from the tree, their son, David, went on to have a remarkable career as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine.

Charles was unable to join us in Portland for the awards ceremony. Longtime friend, Alan Warren, a fellow Luff and Peterson Award recipient, read a statement from Charles, which I share here:

"To put it mildly I am overwhelmed at being named at this time the recipient of such a prestigious award.
"It would take a long time to thank everyone who had a part in my hobby of writing articles for the many philatelic publications and journals over the past 50 years.
"However, a special and personal thank you is extended to the editors, both past and present, who labored over the editing of many hundreds of articles and prepared them for publication. You did a great job!
"So again, Thank You all."

Mark Schwartz (left) and Alan Warren present Charles Fricke with the

Charles J. Peterson Philatelic Lifetime Achievement Award. 

I was able to visit with Charles and Nettie in suburban Philadelphia, where they reside, to join Alan and APS Director-at-Large Mark Schwartz in presenting Charles with the Peterson Award. Surrounded by pictures and reminders of his two loves: his family and his hobby, Charles shared amazing stories about the hobby, travels, and a life well-lived. He shared that he called every editor he has worked with over the years that is still with us and thanked them personally for their role in his achievements. It speaks volumes about the man and his accomplishments that he would generously share the credit.

More importantly, Charles was kind enough to provide all of his papers and original manuscripts to the APRL so that researchers and future generations can benefit from the lifetime of work he gave to the hobby.

Thank you, Charles.