Submitted Photo Darlene Forsythe is pictured with her husband, known to many simply as Capt. Fred. The two established Fishing with Heroes, a program that provided fishing trips to injured veterans.

Darlene Forsythe remembers seeing her husband “glued to the TV,” immersed with the around-the-clock coverage of the Iraq War.

A man of faith and family, she said her husband, Fred, remained constantly worried for his son, Jacob, who was serving in Iraq.

“During that time that Jake was gone, I had a different husband,” Darlene Forsythe said. “I didn’t have my husband, and he was just totally consumed with worrying about Jake and praying for Jake.”

She added, “He was glued to the TV and would watch all the war news and everything, and I just couldn’t do that. I said it’s just too much for me so I came upstairs and got away from the TV. But I never got my husband really back until Jake came home.”

While serving in Iraq from late 2003 to early 2005, Jacob Forsythe was injured by an improvised explosive device and spent time recovering.

“He is in very good health now and I’m very thankful — we’re thankful for that,” Darlene said.

After seeing his son experience post traumatic stress disorder, and wanting to help other veterans injured in combat, Fred turned to a hobby he knew well: fishing. So, he and his wife began what would become “Fishing with Heroes,” an annual fishing event out of Barcelona Harbor in Westfield to benefit U.S. combat injured Purple Heart veterans.

Each summer through 2016, a handful of veterans would come to Chautauqua County for a stress-free day on the lake. The fishing trips largely occurred on Lake Erie, though sometimes the weather forced the groups to head over to Chautauqua Lake.

Fishing with Heroes became Fred’s way of giving back to service members.

“He said, ‘I want to do something to help out the veterans. I want to do something. They’ve gone through so much,'” Darlene said of her husband. “And he saw Jake come home with PTSD and he had issues with that and had a lot of difficulties.”

With the help of numerous volunteers, organizations and sponsors, the injured soldiers were given nearby lodging and provided a meal at a banquet prior to the fishing excursion the following day. When certain veterans couldn’t make it to Chautauqua County for the group fishing trip, Fred would take them out individually, making sure to give each vet the same experience.

Capt. Fred, who in addition to helping dozens of veterans find peace on the water also owned and operated a charter fishing business, died July 7, 2022, in a boating accident during an outing with a group on Lake Erie. He was 70 years old.

PASSION FOR THE OUTDOORS

Darlene and Fred married in 1985. She said her husband — born in Saint Marys, Pa., in 1952 — was always an outdoors person who enjoyed hunting and fishing.

She said the family has pictures of Fred and his mother hunting together. “She was great at going out,” Darlene said, “and he had another friend, several friends, in the area that he would go out hunting with.”

While dating, Darlene said it was apparent Fred could become absorbed with fishing.

She recalls one spring out on the water with her soon-to-be husband bundled up in winter clothing. The pair hadn’t caught a single fish by 4 p.m. that day when Fred began to pull his lines out of the water.

“I thought, OK good, we’re probably gonna go in now,” she said. “It’s cold. It’s getting toward dark. He said, ‘Well, let’s go over to the other part and let’s try over there,’ and I just lost it. I just started crying. He says, ‘What?’ and I said, ‘I’m just so cold and we aren’t catching anything.’ I said, ‘Just take me back to the truck. I’ll sit in the truck with the heater. You go ahead and finish. I’ll be fine.’

“Yeah, he always had a passion for what he did,” she added. “He poured himself into it and he loved it.”

That passion was evident to those who took part in Fishing with Heroes.

Gheorghe Banaduc Jr. was involved with the inaugural fishing excursion organized by the Forsythes. In subsequent years, he helped direct soldiers to the program. He said Fred helped him get through a “dark spot in my life” following an injury during training and four surgeries afterward.

“Fred was very influential in reaching the people at a low point in their life, and I was at a pretty low point,” said Banaduc, currently an instructor with the U.S. Army Advanced Airborne School.

“The first day I met Darlene, who brought breakfast, and then I spent the day with Fred because I was lucky enough to be on his boat,” he said. “He was a quiet man, but when he did speak, his words, they impacted you in a way you didn’t expect.”

Banaduc noted that Fred offered his services and helped organize the fishing trips while never expecting anything in return. He added that he was sad to see the program end when it did.

Over the years, Banaduc said he became friends with Fred and the two stayed in contact. Fred and Darlene even drove down to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to visit Banaduc.

A FONDNESS FOR CHAUTAUQUA

For more than 20 years, Fred worked at Dresser-Rand in Wellsville, an hour drive each way. He used his vacation time to go fishing.

A Pennsylvania native, Fred began coming to Chautauqua County to fish on both Lake Erie and Chautauqua Lake. He enjoyed the area so much, he eventually started a fishing charter business, Cast Away Charters, operating out of Barcelona Harbor.

As Darlene noted, becoming a charter fishing captain was not easy, or cheap. Fred had to get a license, take safety courses and file paperwork to start a business.

But all the work was worth it, Darlene said.

“He’d like to teach people when they were out. He said, ‘I’m not just taking you for a boat ride — we’re going to go and catch fish and learn something from all the different steps,'” she said.

Venturing out on the water didn’t always guarantee everyone would catch a fish. Fred would sometimes extend the excursions “if the fish weren’t biting,” Darlene said, to give people more time to reel in a catch.

“He even would reschedule some of their trips if that happened,” she said, “not always, but more times than I could count.”

It was during one of those trips on July 7 of this year when Fred fell into the lake while attempting to bring a fish into the boat. The incident occurred about a half-mile from the shore and resulted in a two-week, wide ranging search until his body was found July 22 near the town of Evans.

Darlene said her husband’s life jacket was likely still on his captain’s seat when he went into the water.

She said it was evident how much her husband meant to other people by how many attended his memorial service.

“He always was helping people,” she said. “It wasn’t just with the fishing. If somebody needed help, even in the community, he would help. … He was a man of prayer and he was a man of faith. When you see 450 people come to a service, you know.”

Banaduc was among those who spoke at the service. He recalled meeting Fred for the first time and discussed their friendship that began afterward.

“That time on the water turned into a relationship and admiration for his kindness, his gentleness and his encouraging words,” he said.

Fred is survived by his wife, two sons, five grandchildren, a sister, an aunt, four nephews and numerous cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters.