Career
Greeley was a second cousin of Charles Greeley Abbot. After graduating from a high school in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1916, Greeley joined up with the United States Army. His career as a soldier lasted only a few months and ended when the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918.
The Smithsonian had established a network of high-altitude stations around the globe - Mount Montezuma (9,500 ft) near Calama in Antofagasta Province, Chile (later shut down because of air pollution by surrounding mines), Mount Harqua Hala (5,800 ft) in Arizona (later moved to Table Mountain at Swartout, California), and lastly Mount Brukkaros in South West Africa, a site selected by Charles Greeley Abbot, and later moved to Mount Saint Katherine, highest mountain on the Sinai Peninsula.
Greeley"s tours of duty as station director included all these stations as well as one at sea-level in Miami, Florida. Frederick Greeley retired from the SAO on 1 December 1956, after 36 years of service.
After retirement he lived in Redlands, California between 1957-1970, and Laguna Hills, California from 1970 to his death in 1980.