A Celebration of Life will be held for Fredric Lee Hoogland, 88, of Ruston, at 3 PM on Friday, April 26, 2024, in the Chapel at Temple Baptist Church under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Home with the Rev. Dale Oden officiating.   Visitation will be prior to the service from 2 PM to the time of service.

Fred was born on February 18, 1936, and passed away peacefully on April 22, 2024, following a lengthy illness.   He lived most of his life in Ruston and said he never wanted to live anywhere else.  He was a graduate of Ruston High School and graduated in Horticulture at Louisiana Tech University.

Fred was a dynamic force in our community. His entrepreneurial spirit, vision, and leadership profoundly impacted those around him. As a business owner in the nursery and landscaping trade, Fred’s innovative ideas and dedication propelled his ventures to great success. His tireless efforts and time spent training others in the nursery and landscape field enriched the lives of countless individuals through employment and career opportunities.

Fred was a true leader in every sense of the word.  He owned and operated Hoogland’s Nursery and Landscape, Inc. and was very active in the Louisiana Association of Nurserymen, earning his way to being president of that association.   He served in the Ruston Jaycees as president and was later named Outstanding Young Man of the Year in Ruston. Fred was on the Lincoln Parish Police Jury for sixteen years, serving as president of the jury for his last eight years.  He was active in many other civic organizations including the Ruston Kiwanis, the Farm Bureau, and served on the Lincoln General Hospital Board (currently Northeast Louisiana Medical Center).

Beyond his many professional accomplishments, Fred was deeply committed to the betterment of our community. He generously contributed his time, resources, and expertise to various charitable causes, leaving a legacy of compassion and service. Fred’s lifelong passion, dating back to his junior high school days, was his vision for Lincoln Parish Park.  As Ruston’s Glen Harris appropriately wrote in June of 2018, “If there ever was a visionary, a person who could look at something and imagine what it could become, it was Ruston’s Fredric Hoogland.” Fredric was one of those men that if he could dream it, he could build it.  Whether inventing a means to streamline an operation at his nursery and landscape business or using his backhoe to build a ten-acre pond, dam, and spillway, or the thousands of yards he landscaped, Fred’s talents and unwavering work ethic were unmatched.

As for our community, Fred’s lifelong quest for the land acquisition and development for the Lincoln Parish Park was his crowning achievement. Over several years Fred spent countless hours and days walking the woods of Lincoln Parish in an effort to find the perfect location for the Parish Park.  He succeeded. Fred oversaw the construction of our Lincoln Parish Park and turned a patch of woods on the Farmerville highway into the jewel it is today. Upon the opening of the park, Fred served as the first Lincoln Parish Park administrator overseeing and building pavilions, beaches, campgrounds, roads, playgrounds and much more. Fred’s attention to detail ranging from the flower beds, to the park entrance, to the location of the BBQ pits in the campground was amazing.

Fred was most active in the lives of his two boys Mike and David.  He built camps in the woods with catwalks running between the trees, rope swings for entertainment, and took the boys and their friends on many hunting and camping trips. His home on Highway 80 East was the place to be.  The Hoogland’s hosted huge July 4^th cookouts with the famous washer-pitching tournament. From the camps he built in the woods to the involvement in Mike’s and David’s sports careers, Fred was involved in everything.  He was a very caring man.

Later in life, Fred married the love of his life, Margaret Sims Dunn Hoogland.  At their home on Ashland Street in Ruston, he turned a swampy cypress tree-bottom into a showplace with beautiful ponds, woods, and grounds.

Fred’s magnetic personality and charisma drew people to him. His presence lit up any room he entered. While exuding confidence and strength, he also had a genuine warmth and generosity that endeared him to many.

Fred was preceded in death by his parents, John and Winifred Hoogland, his brother Richard Hoogland, his daughter Cynthia Lee Hoogland, his son, Michael John Hoogland, and great granddaughter, Holly Diane Hoogland.

Fred was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend.  His survivors include his wife of 22 years, Margaret; his son David and wife Kellye and their children Jay and Will (Madison); his daughter-in-law Valerie and children John (Carlyle), Caroline (fiancé Brendan Lind), and Hunter (Olivia); Margaret’s children Sonia Beatty, Susan Hermes and husband Randal, Tucson Dunn and wife Natalie, and their children and grandchildren. He is survived by great-grandchildren Wrenly Blaise Hoogland, Hays Holt Hoogland, and Marshall John Hoogland, two brothers Donald and Jimmy (wife Dorothy Etta) and one sister Jane McDermott (husband Tom).

Special recognition and gratitude to Fred’s groundskeeper/friend D’Wesley Mardis for his three decades of hard work and loyalty and for making the grounds on Ashland Street look so beautiful.  Also, a huge thank you to Rachelle Lathan of Rachelle Lathan and Friends Caregiving Service for taking such personal and loving care of Fred over the last 6 years.

Memorials may be made to Lincoln Parish Park – 211 Parish Road – Ruston, LA  71270

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.kilpatrickfuneralhomes.com.

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