Graveside services will be at 9:30 a. m. Thursday at St Paul Lutheran Cemetery located six miles east of Canyon on Texas Highway 217, the road to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Memorial Services will be at 11 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Amarillo with the Reverends Brian Hesse and David Schatte officiating. A reception will follow. Fred was born in Clarendon on January 25, 1929, the only child of Frederick W. Rathjen, Sr. and Mary (McGee) Rathjen. He and his parents moved to Corpus Christi when he was 11. After earning a B. A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1950 he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving during the Korean War. While in the Navy, he married Elizabeth (Betty) Schweikert on June 28, 1953 in Corpus Christi. Upon completion of his M.A. degree in history in 1956 at the University of Texas, he accepted a position as Instructor in History and Government at what is today West Texas A&M University in Canyon. Periodically he returned to Austin to continue his education and was awarded a Ph.D. in history in 1970. He was an active member of the WT faculty for more than three decades, serving on numerous committees and boards. Remembered by his students as "challenging but fair" he retired from WTAMU in 1990 and two years later was appointed professor emeritus of history. His major teaching and research fields were Texas History and the Trans-Mississippi West. His book on the early history of the Texas Panhandle, The Texas Panhandle Frontier, first published in 1973 and reprinted in 1998, received the Rupert N. Richardson Award in 2000 as the best book on West Texas history from the West Texas Historical Association. In 1986 he joined with B. Byron Price to author The Golden Spread: An Illustrated History of Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle. Most recently he collaborated with Peter L. Petersen to write a centennial history of Lutheranism in the Texas Panhandle. In addition to his books, Fred published several articles and scores of book reviews in a variety of historical journals. He also served as editor of The Panhandle Plains Historical Review from 1991 to 2000 and as Advisory Editor and Contributor to The New Handbook of Texas. Highly respected by his peers, Rathjen was named a Fellow by the Texas State Historical Association in 2007. Two years later he received a similar honor from the West Texas Historical Association. He served on the Board of Directors of the Texas State Historical Association from 2001 to 2005 and as President of both the West Texas Historical Association and the Panhandle Plains Historical Society. He was also active in a local Corral of Westerners International. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and hiking, particularly in his later years at the family ranch near Cotulla, although often he did his shooting with a camera. His interest in the outdoors led to an active role in the leadership of Partners in Palo Duro, including a board presidency, and consultation on the development of Wild Cat Bluff. But he was also a fan of classical music and performed on several occasions with Amarillo Opera. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and hiking, particularly in his later years at the family ranch near Cotulla, although often he did his shooting with a camera. His interest in the outdoors led to an active role in the leadership of Partners in Palo Duro, including a board presidency, and consultation on the development of Wild Cat Bluff. But he was also a fan of classical music and performed on several occasions with Amarillo Opera. Survivors include Betty, his wife of fifty-six years, and two sons, Eric Rathjen and his wife, Bette, of Arlington and Kurt Rathjen of Alvin, his sister-in-law, Marie Hoyer, of Houston, and several cousins. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be directed to the "Forman/Rathjen History Scholarship" in care of the WT Foundation/