Ikels first retired from serving as the HUPD sergeant who oversaw operations on Harvard’s Longwood campus in the early 1970s.
However, as his daughter explained, “he found that retirement did not suit him,” and after a couple of years he returned to the University as a security guard at Adams House. He retired for good in 1984.
Ikels was always educationally-oriented, family members said. His house had books in every room—even the kitchen—and he delighted in building his collection and sharing it with others.
“You couldn’t leave his house without a book in your hand,” his grandson joked yesterday.
Evident in Ikels’ book collection was his love of history, which spanned his entire life—as a senior at the Rindge he won the Abraham Lincoln Medal for history—but became more pronounced after his military service in World War II.
During the war, he took a brief hiatus from the University to enlist, joining the 1258th Engineer Combat Battalion in General George Patton’s Third Army, where he saw action in England, France, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.
His grandson said that he treasures the many hours they spent together watching shows and movies about World War II on the History Channel.
Frederick Ikels joked that his father had also lived a lot of history—he was the only person who remembered the Cambridge Fire Department’s horse-drawn fire apparatus from the early 1900s, he said.
“I admired him for being a police officer. I admired him for his service during the war, but I admired him most for being an outstanding grandfather,” Frederick Ikels said.
His family also recalled his love of games and the his enduring passion for the Red Sox.
He is survived by his daughter, grandson, six nieces and three nephews. His wife, Gertrude M. (O’Brien) Ikels, a long-time employee of Harvard University Dining Services, passed away in 1998 at age 79, and his son, Frederick P. Ikels, a Cambridge firefighter, died unexpectedly in 2001 at age 49.
A testament to his devotion to Harvard and his emphasis on education, his body, like that of his older brother’s, was donated to Harvard Medical School for teaching purposes.
—Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.