On Sunday, August 23rd, our family lost Ian Frye, a husband with endless love in his heart for his wife, a father of four strong, beautiful children, and, just days earlier, a first-time grandfather.

Ian was kind, patient, good natured, effortlessly funny, and, above all, a deeply talented man. While he excelled at many things, he was most passionate about music, which he discovered at a young age after a bad fall from a horse. To help restore function to his badly injured hand, his doctors recommended he take up piano. Ian took to the instrument immediately, and he never really put it down. He studied music composition at Trinity University, earned a master's in music education at Montana State, and spent more than twenty-five years teaching in classrooms and living rooms, performing on his own and with bands, and sharing what he knew with whoever wanted to learn. In 2024 he finally opened a studio of his own, Heathens Music Lab, and built the room he had always wanted to give people. A place to sit down, make a sound, and find out what they were capable of. He knew what it was to be handed an instrument at a hard moment, and he spent the rest of his life handing them to other people. That is the Ian we will never forget and are all missing so terribly right now.

Early Sunday morning, while driving home from a recording session, Ian's life was taken suddenly and senselessly when his car was struck by a driver traveling over 110 miles per hour while fleeing police. In a single moment, four children lost their father, a wife lost her husband, and a grandson, Grayson Ian Frye, lost the chance to grow up knowing the grandfather he was named for.

We are raising funds to help Ian's family through what comes next, covering funeral and memorial costs, and helping Shelby build a steady future for their children and grandson. Nothing can replace Ian, but easing the financial weight is something we can do for them together, and it will give his family the space to grieve, remember, and take care of one another.

If you are able to give, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you are not, please share this page, or simply hold Ian's family close in your thoughts. Every bit of it reaches them, and every bit of it tells them how many people loved him.

Thank you for helping us carry Shelby, Madison, Abbey, Bay, Julian, and baby Grayson through this.

With love and gratitude,

Joanna and Andrew Rechnitz, on behalf of the Frye family