Published August 6, 2020
JOHN FRIBERG (left) with his son Jay at the 2014 Relay for Life. (Transcript File Photo)
The sports section of the North Reading Transcript is inviting all to send in their memories of John Friberg, Hornet sports photographer and NRHS Hornet Hall-of-Famer.
As can be seen in editor Maureen Doherty’s featured story this week, the Transcript has already received many notes, memories and stories of John to share with the community. We are encouraging anyone to send in a letter, a story, or some other form of remembrance to be run in the sports section. If you have any favorite photos of John’s please send those in as well, via email to: sports@wakefielditem.com.
Like so many in North Reading, those of us at the Transcript were honored to know John as a friend and technically a coworker.
On a personal note, John really inspired me. I knew him and his family growing up in town as simply good people. When I was moving into my dorm room at the University of Maryland and without the necessary furnishings to describe it as even humble, John’s daughter Alison and the Friberg family gave me extra furniture, silverware and anything else I might need to help ease the transition. I don’t remember much from that time except the blur of a college move and a meal at a local diner with the Fribergs, and frankly it was a personally difficult and challenging time in a place that wasn’t right for me.
There have been times that feeling returns, (usually when it’s pouring rain and I’m trying to take notes and photographs at a football game) times I wonder if working as a local sports editor throughout three towns is the right place for me. John helped me realize it is. I used to wonder why even after relocating to New Hampshire, John would come back to not only North Reading but various other locations the Hornets were playing to take photos. I learned it’s because he loved it and knew what it meant to people – that really helped me and continues to inspire me.
I admire so much what John means to this community. He helped me realize that providing memories for families to keep and cherish is a really noble thing.
Thank you, John.
Sincerely, Dan Pawlowski
