Lenore Ruth Beck Frimoth

Lenore Ruth Beck Frimoth is the heroine for many persons beginning with her immediate family: daughter Margaret Ruth, sons Christen Beck and Todd Rytter, along with her husband of fifty-five years, Elmer “Bud” Frimoth.

The daughter of a Presbyterian pastor, Lenore grew up in many places because he moved often. Parishes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. Lenore’s formal education came in bits and pieces with each move. During this time, she suffered several physical problems including being hit by a car when she was a child and later being confined to her home with a form of polio.

However, this red headed child grew into a wonderful, caring, concerned adult. Her formal advanced education included a BA from Oklahoma City University and a master’s in Christian Education from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California. It was there that she met Bud. They married August 19, 1951 in Clinton, Oklahoma.

Lenore birthed four children, the second, Martha, was three and a half when a cancerous Wilms tumor took her young life. From the experience Lenore wrote an account of what the family endured and from which it rose. Little Ones to Him Belong was published by John Knox Press in 1969. Thousands of families found it helpful, particularly with the death or serious illness of a child. The national Presbyterian Women’s organization used it as a study one year. 

A prolific writer, she penned children’s curriculum materials for the Presbyterian Church as well as for interdenominational devotional magazines. Church newsletters had her “Door to Candy” observations on life from the church manse where she and her family lived.   

Daughter Margaret had this view of her mother: “My mother was a great teacher! She was also what we call in my home, ‘a Process Queen.’ She would think and muse and persist and ruminate, then recognize and realize the essence of truth in any one situation.”

In the late 1970s she continued her ruminations to bring hope. She became the Sponsor Developer for SOAR (Sponsors Organized to Assist Refugees) a part of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. During her thirteen years of work she directly found sponsorships for over 6,500 refugees from all over the world. Indirectly she was responsible for finding sponsorship for over 20,000 in Oregon, Idaho, and southern Washington. When she retired she was given a special citation of excellence by Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.

During the late 1970s she discovered another surprising calling—nonverbal clowning. She shared this in churches, parades, schools, retirement centers, and care centers where she had also had worked. For over ten years, along with her husband Bud, she was “Wrinkles the Clown” at Providence Portland Hospital and Child Center. Her gentle caring lifted the spirits of those in hospital beds, their families, and hospital staff. The Child Center presented her with the Calbreath Award for her excellent volunteer work.

Since son Todd taught in many countries, Wrinkles also journeyed there to bring encouragement to students, churches, and people on the street. Pictures of her placing a red clown dot on the cheek of a Saudi child is one of hundreds of memorable pictures. The twinkle in her eyes brought smiles and acceptance no matter where in the world she found herself.

Perhaps most memorable was her work with refugees. As a child she had wanted to be a missionary to China. As an adult, as she worked with SOAR, the world came to her from places she’d hardly heard of. She even arranged for her own family to sponsor a refugee family from Cambodia and to assist Westminster Presbyterian Church, where she was a ruling elder, to sponsor a number of families from different parts of the world. After retiring she also helped with an immersion program with students from Japan who spent time in Portland. The world again came to her.

Although in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, she helped with a liturgical clowning service with Bud just two months before a sudden massive brain hemorrhage quickly took her life. She had recommended that she and Bud share this clown service even knowing her own limitations. Her efforts were in good clown tradition.

Her son Todd wrote these descriptive words at her memorial service: “Fingerprints—I guess that’s the metaphor I think of for my mother. Fingerprints that are invisible, and hard to detect when looking for them in dark places. Fingerprints—often understated and leaves what looks like a slight impression. But like light through a window, suddenly they’re there—clear as the day and hard to remove. Each line a contour that is like no other. That was mom—like no other.” His brother Chris set those words to music.

Her legacy continues with the memory of her winsome smile whether as Mom, Lenore, or Wrinkles.

Written by Bud Frimoth with help from our children, Margaret, Christen, and Todd