Leonard Fredrick "Fred" Tagge

Leonard Fredrick Tagge, known as Fred to everyone, age 74, of Pass Christian, passed away Thursday, January 22, 2026, at St. Joseph’s Hospice in Gulfport.

Fred was born on October 15, 1951, in Enid, OK to James Fredrick Tagge and Elizabeth Mae Stieg Tagge. He attended school in Enid, OK from elementary all the way though high school. After graduating he went on to attend both Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, MO and Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL earning a Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering.

Fred had quite a range of jobs from trapping muskrats for the city of Enid; short order cook at Howard Johnson’s and Ranch House; Construction Site Security Guard; Engineer for a company in Florida with some job related scuba diving; Mechanical Engineer at Tex-Tube in Houston; Engineer at a Consulting Firm in Houston; Engineer at Computer Sciences Corporation that had the National Data Buoy contracts at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi; Engineer for CSC at Andros Island, Bahamas; Engineer for Digicourse, Input/Output, IO in New Orleans – helped move the offices from Jefferson Parish to Houston, TX after Katrina and then back again; Retired from paid work at 64 years old, 10 years ago.

Fred was an avid scuba diver and enjoyed sharing his pastime with his family and friends. He was certified in 1968 before leaving Oklahoma. In Boca Raton, FL he became extremely proficient with a spear gun. He considered the reef his grocery store. Since he didn’t like to eat fish much, he would trade them for hamburger and baked goods. Fred was well known for hunting and catching lobsters. He wouldn’t use a spear or net, as it was a matter of honor that the lobsters were expertly “tickled” out of their hiding places and apprehended with all legs and antenna intact. These made for some wonderful dinners he enjoyed with friends and family. Jeanne became one of his main dive buddies from 1972 onwards. Both children, James and Coral, also became scuba divers and the family went on various trips to the Bahamas. The oil rigs off Louisiana became another of his favorite hunting grounds. He would come back with massive cobia, barracuda, grouper, and snapper. He continued his love of sharing his catch with others. Jeanne would clean and bag up his bounty and he would pass them out grinning ear to ear. Fred took immense pleasure in taking pictures of what he saw underwater, it was his way of sharing the ocean’s majesties with those on land. He started using film he would roll himself, in order to get more pictures than the regular commercial roll provided. Later, digital pictures and GoPro movies were his passion, especially if the areas he was diving in did not allow spear fishing. He could still “capture” the underwater beauty. His last trip was to Grand Cayman in August 2025 where he dove with Jeanne and daughter Coral, and he was already planning a 2026 spring trip.

Skeet and target shooting were another of his talents. He was a member of the Gun Club and Range Master for a while at Stennis Space Center and was instrumental in designing the skeet range. He would take Boy Scouts out to the range to teach them gun safety and to show them that when you hit a watermelon with a shot gun shell or a bullet, the watermelon exploded and did not magically knit back together as on cartoons or later video games.

He was well known as the “Pumpkin Guy” for the Trinity Episcopal Church Pumpkin Patch. Thanks to his electrical and engineering knowledge they had lights and power for inflatables, he would meticulously lay out and mark the rows for the pumpkins, the placement of the tent, trailer, and banners. He was the one who filled in blank spaces in the shifts, made copies of handouts, built a platform for the chairs so we did not sink into the ground and made a mat to stand on to keep our feet dry when it rained. During the unloading of the trucks, he was there to help direct the placement of the truck, to assist with passing pumpkins, act as safety, run for supplies, or answer questions, even on his birthday which happened several times over the last 33 years. He may have grumbled a bit, but was always there, ready and willing to help. He was instrumental in cutting up and cooking pumpkin in his big Cajun pots, separating the peel from the pumpkin, and processing puree in 5-gallon buckets with his special “kitchen use only” drill and paint stirrer. In November 2024, he assisted in processing 110 gallons of pumpkin puree for the baby animals at Woodside Wildlife Rescue which was shared with other rehabbers. And some of that puree was used for Pumpkin Pie Sunday at Trinity Church after the 2025 season.

He spent many years helping with or directing the Mardi Gras Parking Ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church. Again, diligently marking parking spaces on the lots, organizing the fencing of the property, and storage after the parade, placing garbage cans, port-a-pottys, talking to the people who came to buy tickets, showing them where the parking spot was, and ready to answer any questions that might come up. He carried on with in-person tickets but also figured out how to use the square and send invoices to those who were not able to come by the church or wanted to pay with a credit card.

After he retired in 2015, he became a beekeeper/mentor. He was a member of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Beekeepers Association. He loved sharing his knowledge with anyone who would listen. He was an instructor for the Beekeeping 101 Course and would mentor novice beekeepers. He would go to schools, activities at the Aquarium, and other venues to promote beekeeping. He was also on the list to call when people would report a swarm that might need to be removed.

He became a chicken daddy and designed them a run and built 3 coops over the years. He enjoyed sitting outside on a pleasant day watching and communing with the chickens. He loved his dogs and grand-dogs—so many over the 74 years, even though he was “slightly” allergic to them. His current dogs, Marlee, 15 ½ year old mutt and Dotty, 4-year-old 7 ½ lb. chihuahua, are still waiting for him to walk through the door. Dotty would sit on his lap for hours and now both pups are getting extra loving from Jeanne.

The only animals he was very allergic to were cats. He would often quip that the only cats he was not allergic to were big cats like lions and tigers. You might ask, “how would he know that?” Well, the answer is that he belonged to the Exotic Animal Club in Houston and met several of them up close and personal. His exotic animals were boa constrictors and pythons. He has always loved nature and snakes. His mom once called him home from Elementary School to remove the black snake which was coiled up in the backyard at their home in Enid. Another time he went to his dad’s office (who was a doctor) complaining of a stomachache and the nurse calmly stated that it could have something to do with the snake wrapped around his waist. He said he was just trying to keep it warm.

Once on a family trip to Oklahoma, he took what the kids named a Grassland Tour. He showed them the plant that had a worm in it that was good for fish bait, the Glass Mountains, miles and miles and miles of prairie, a sod house, and all the while keeping up a narrative of what we were seeing and why it was important. But it was mostly grass…

He enjoyed watching the grandsons play T-ball and progressing to baseball and was always sitting in the stands with peanuts in hand. He always did his best to know the rules of the game, so he could answer questions or make comments on the plays. Game nights with the family were always fun especially playing Farkle, a Tagge tradition played often in times of celebration and holidays. And it goes without saying he always played to win.

Water exercise at the Energy Club in Long Beach became a favorite daily activity and he was always delighting the people in the deep end with his stories. In fact, Jeanne would hear them say how much they learned about a multitude of topics. He would talk and explain anything that anyone had a question about. At his engineering position in New Orleans his coworkers would ask Fred before Google, hence Froogle became a well-earned nickname.

He was always kind and helpful. Ready to lend a hand if a job needed doing or to help someone with car, computer, or construction questions. His wife and children learned how to repair cars and do all sorts of hands-on activities. Often his fixes would include a master lesson in whatever he was working on. He taught them to research whatever needed doing, and to “use the right tools for the job.”

Fred was predeceased by his father, James Fredrick Tagge; his mother, Elizabeth Mae Steig Tagge; and his brother, Bruce William Tagge.

He is survived by his spouse, Jeanne Marie Harkin Tagge; his children, James Fredrick Tagge (Partner: Kimberly Miller), Coral Ann Tagge Farrell (JR Farrell); his grandchildren, Silas Bruce Farrell, Corbin Anthony Farrell, Murphy Regan Farrell, Alexander Blake Fred Tagge, Marcus James Tagge; his siblings, Carol Elese Tagge Adams, Dale James Tagge; and his pets, Marlee – 15 ½ years old, Dotty – 4 years old.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Pass Christian, with a visitation after the 11 a.m. service. All are invited to Trinity Hall to visit and partake in Brunch.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Woodside Wildlife Rescue, donations can be made either by mail to, Woodside Wildlife Rescue, P. O. Box 43, Pass Christian, MS 39571, or electronically at, woodsidewildliferescue.org.

Donations can also be made to Camp Able electronically at Campable.org.

Or you can donate to the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence, either by mail to, 213 Porter Avenue, Biloxi, MS 39530, over the phone, 228-436-3809, or electronically at gccfn.org.

Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport is honored to serve the family of Leonard Fredrick “Fred” Tagge.