This website was the brainchild of Arlen Planting. He poured hundreds of hours into development of its structure and inner workings. Then, due to a desire to resume his formal education, he turned his part of the website development over to his brother, Gregory Planting.
Gregory first served as a sounding-board and consultant to Arlen on many aspects of the website design and implementation. He has now assumed full responsibility for programming of this website. His programming insights have been indispensible; without him this new website would not exist. Gregory has given up 1 week of his 3 weeks annual vacation for the past 3 years to "burn the midnight oil" with me to make this website possible. All Fretwells owe him a great debt of gratitude. The best part of this effort, for me, has been getting to know Gregory better. I consider him a true friend.
The autobiographies of all the grandchildren of William and Fannie Fretwell were the idea of Marvin Fretwell. He coaxed and cajoled his cousins to write their autobiographies. About half have responded so far. Marvin assembled all of the genealogy and historic website content, but most of it was acquired from other genealogists. Most notable of these other genealogists are Laurence Fretwell, Marion Fretwell, Shela Fretwell, Louise Fretwell, Mitch Ryder, Stretch Fretwell, Hazel Johnson, and Rita Konzal.
Our thanks to all the grandchildren of William and Fannie Fretwell who took the time to write their autobiographies, which are shared under the "login" part of the website. Without these "starters," the idea for this website would never have come to be. Their willingness to share their lives with us has greatly enriched the website.
Marion Fretwell wrote his memories of his parents, William and Fannie Fretwell, and of each of their children (his brothers and sisters). These memories are included in the "Biographies" section (login access only).
Marion Fretwell wrote several memories of his childhood in Parma, Idaho. They are included in the section "Family Memories" (login access only); He also wrote his memories of his Uncle Grover, brother to William Fretwell.
Marion Fretwell spent over 20 years developing the genealogy of our family.
Thanks in advance to all the younger generations of Fretwells who will continue to populate this website with their information and memories.
Finally, we thank the makers of the open-source genealogy program, GRAMPS, for their fine website building capability. See more comments about this fine program in the "Links" tab.