Longtime local farmer Fred W. Enke Sr. dies at 89

Longtime Maricopa farmer and former NFL player Fred W. Enke Sr., 89, passed away Sunday morning at his home in Casa Grande with his family at his side.

Smith-Enke Road in Maricopa was named by Enke Sr. and his farming partner and friend, John Smith, said his son Fred W. Enke Jr. The elder Enke and Smith built the road as a way to get to the cotton farm they owned.

Although Enke was retired by the time Maricopa was incorporated in 2003, he farmed in what would become Maricopa from 1954-1983, according to the family.

“We were out there when there was nothing but one grocery store and the Mexican food restaurant Headquarters,” said Denise Enke Latimer, one of Enke Sr.’s daughters.

Latimer said her father sold his farm to the University of Arizona, where the Maricopa Agricultural Center now is located. She said she wrote a poem about her father and surrounded it with photos and it hangs in the center.

After selling his portion of his farm, he grew grapes in Hidden Valley until about 2000.

He lettered in three sports at the University of Arizona, the family said. He earned a bachelor degree in education and a master’s in administrative education.

In 1952, he married his wife, Marjorie. Enke is survived by his children Debbie Gundry, Diana Keller, Denise Enke Latimer, Freddie W. Enke Jr., and eight grandchildren.

“(My father) was a great athlete and an outstanding father to the four of us,” Enke Jr. said Thursday. “I never heard him say a bad word about anybody.”

A Celebration of Life will be 11 a.m. on May 10 at the First Presbyterian Church, 702 E. Cottonwood Lane, in Casa Grande. A reception will follow.