by John Sucansky
Thisweek Newspapers

Friends and patients will remember Dr. Stephen Frey as a man who enjoyed life and his work as a doctor.

Frey, 50, of New Market, died Nov. 27, 2004, in a roll-over crash on I-35 near the overpass of 195th Street in Lakeville.

Mark Rieb, friend and fellow doctor said Frey was his best friend and very much like a brother to him. "It's like losing a brother,î he said.

Frey and Rieb became friends when they served together from 1984-1986 on Guam in the U.S. Navy as family physicians. Already an active scuba diver and sailor, Frey taught Rieb his hobbies and the two shared many adventures together.

Since they left the Navy, the two maintained a good friendship and Rieb said the two would always try to convince each other to move and partner together in a practice.

"I won out and Steve moved here three years ago,î said Rieb.

Frey partnered with Rieb at the Fairview Cedar Ridge Clinic in Apple Valley where they both specialized in combining Eastern and Western medicine.

Frey was a valedictorian graduate at Cedaredge High School in Colorado and graduated magna cum laude from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and later medical school at the University of Colorado in Denver. He did his family practice residency at the University of Wyoming in Capser and then spent the next three years on active duty on Guam.

Frey practiced as a family physician for six years in Morton, Wash., nine years in Ruidoso, N.M., and for the past three and a half years in Apple Valley.

Rieb said he had hoped Frey would join him in the new practice he just started in Lakeville, but now that won't happen.

According to Sgt. Jim Puncochar with the Lakeville Police Department, Frey died in an accident about 11 p.m. Nov. 27.

At the time, the road conditions were patchy with ice. The vehicle Frey was in was driven by his son, Nathan, 17. The vehicle left the southbound roadway of I-35 and entered the median ditch were it rolled, struck a guardrail and stopped in the northbound lane of I-35.

Puncochar said officers from the LPD were the first on the scene and assisted the State Patrol by controlling traffic. Also involved in the rescue were ALF Ambulance, Lakeville Fire and Rescue and Lifelink helicopter.

The northbound lanes were shut down approximately two hours while the family was extricated from the vehicle. The five people in the car were Frey, his wife, Patty; his daughter Aven; and her fiance, Thomas Alexander, of Texas.

Alexander was also killed in the accident.

One of the victims was transported by Lifelink and two by ALF Ambulance. They were all taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul where both Patty and Aven still remain. Nathan was released Nov. 30, according to Rieb. Frey and Nathan were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Puncochar.

Frey was preceded in death by his grandparents; his father, Charles Teissier Frey, M.D., and his daughter, Aven's fiance, Thomas Alexander of Texas. He is survived by Patty, his wife of 26 years; his three children, Aven, 21, Elsa, 19, and Nathan, 17; his three brothers, Larry of Boulder, Colo., Rob of Harwood, Md., and Will of Aurora, Colo.; and his mother, Louise Ireland-Frey of Durango, Colo.

Frey was a healer and he loved animals. He collected jokes and medieval weapons. He was a wine aficionado and spoke four languages. He loved music and sang in the choir at Grace United Methodist Church and the Elizabethan Singers at the Renaissance Festival. The family said Frey was dearly loved by family, friends, colleagues, and patients and will be missed by all who knew him.

A visitation will be held Monday, Dec. 6 at the White Funeral Home (14560 Pennock Ave.), Apple Valley, from 4-8 p.m., and one hour prior to services at church. Due to construction at Grace United Methodist Church in Burnsville, a funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Crossroads United Methodist Church, 17671 Glacier Way, Lakeville. Memorials will be donated to Habitat for Humanity and Save the Children Foundation.

John Sucansky is at roselake.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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