Memorial Frederick L. Hoyt Jr. ’49

Fred graduated from Pontiac High School in 1938 and joined the Michigan National Guard the following year. After Pearl Harbor, Fred was sent to the South Pacific, where he spent three years and fought in the battles of New Guinea, Netherlands East Indies, Leyte, and Luzon. He received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

 

After the war, he attended Princeton on the GI Bill — which he highly valued — and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English. Fred received a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and worked on a Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis.

 

Fred had a long career as professor of English at Sacramento City College, from which he retired in 1990. He also taught English at the University of Minnesota, University of California, Davis, and Sacramento State University. Fred loved teaching English, particularly Shakespeare, and felt privileged to teach at Sacramento City College, which is known for its dedicated faculty.

 

He is survived by his beloved wife of 55 years, Betty Jean “B.J.” Hoyt; his sisters, Dorothy Jean Selman and Patricia JoAnn Alberda; brother Rodger Edward Hoyt; and his sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Wilma and Don Enger.