Fred was placed in charge of the family greenhouse, owned by his father August and his uncle William Mangelsdorf, in Atchison, Kansas. The Mangelsdorf greenhouse had the typical greenhouse structure of glass.

He was put in charge of the greenhouse because he had just returned from St. Louis, Missouri, where he had spent the greater part of a three year period training in horticulture at St. Louis's renowned Forest Park. Here he had worked with rare and delicate flowers and plants as well as working in landscaping. While in St. Louis, he occasionally attended the opera. The remaining part of his three year stay was in a town in Illinois where he learned the art of floral design.

Fred Scamell, whose daughter was Blanche Eola, moved his family to the brick cottage adjacent to the Mangelsdorf greenhouse. When Fred Mangelsdorf saw Blanche pass by on her way to classes at the high school, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. After becoming acquainted with her, he asked her to accompany him to the opera at the Price Opera in Atchison, and she accepted. They went to the opera often. They decided to marry as soon as possible after Blanche graduated from high school.

Fred married Blanche Eola Scamell on June 10, 1903, at the First Christian Church, Atchison, KS. He provided the floral decorations for the church as well as the bride's bouquet and his lapel flower.

Fred had a lifelong love of flowers , particularly German Iris. His home at 617 Parallel, Atchison, KS, was full of them. He bought, donated, and planted thousands of German Iris which he himself planted in Jackson Park in Atchison and are still blooming there today. At his home at 617 Parallel, he planted and maintained a large vegetable garden & various fruit trees, bushes, and vines, the lattices for which he constructed
with the help of his son Eugene.

By The Star's Own Service (The Kansas City Star - Kansas City, Missouri) Bemidjii, Minn.

Fred. W. Mangelsdorf, a vice-president and director of the Mangelsdorf Seed Company, Atchison, KS, before he retired, and a former Atchison mayor died Saturday at a nursing home in Bemidjii, MN.

Mr. Mangelsdorf served on the Atchison City Commission from 1921 to 1931 and was mayor from 1921-1923 and 1929-1931.

He was a Lutheran.

Fred is survived by his second wife, Dr. Ruth Mangelsdorf of Bemidji, MN; two sons, Eugene Mangelsdorf, Kansas City, KS, and Arthur Mangelsdorf, Prairie Village, KS; three daughters, Mrs. Mildred Bell of Atchison, KS, Mrs. Blanche Menze, St. Paul, MN, and Frances Seeber, Prairie Village,KS; four brothers, Dr. Albert Mangelsdorf, Honolulu, HI, Dr. Paul Mangelsdorf, Chapel Hill, NC, Theodore Mangelsdorf, New Kent, VA, and Harold Mangelsdorf, Short Hills, NJ; five sisters, Mrs. Charlotte Neve and Mrs. Dorothy Paulsen of Long Valley, NJ; Mrs. Caroline Collins, Forth Worth, TX; Mrs. Louise Stauffer, Maryville, MO, and Mrs. Helen Porter, Naples, FL; 15 grandchildren, and 21 great - grandchildren.

Services will be at 2:30 p.m. at the Stanton Chapel, Atchison, KS; burial in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Atchison, KS. The family suggests contributions to the Fred W. Mangelsdorf Fund in care of the chapel.

Eulogy:

Fred W. Mangelsdorf had a long and distinguished life - a life that was characterized by devotion: devotion to his familu, to his relatives, to his friends, to his civic responsibilities, and to the ideals in which he believed sincerely. He was a kind man, a gentle man, and a gentleman in every respect. He was a genuine humanitarian - a man who felt sympathy and showed it to his fellow human beings in all walks of life. He was a man of dignity, but also of compassion. No one who has known him is unaware of these qualities.

He was deeply sensitive to beauty in every form: in music, in arts, and particularly in nature; and in Jackson Park he has left a monument to his love of nature for all to share.

It is this heritage which he has left us.

(Written by Ed Menze with suggestions by Dolly & Fran. Delivered at the funeral by Ed Menze.)

Fred was predeceased by his first wife, Blanche Eola Scamell Mangelsdorf, and seven other brothers and sisters.

Fred and Blanche moved to Shenandoah, Iowa, after he accepted a job offered him by Earl May of Earl May Seed Company of Shenandoah. Fred shared his extensive horticultural knowledge with Earl May staff members.

Earl May bought three hours time each Saturday morning, at which time Fred answered horticultural questions called in by listeners of the local radio station in Shenandoah, Iowa.