Both parents were well educated; her father in visual arts and her mother in classical piano.

Together they authored a book about stained glass in Chicago, which was published by Loyola University Press in 1983.

[3] Their two successive homes in Highland Park were designed by architects Crombie Taylor and Robert Bruce Tague.

[2] She was Professor Emerita of Art History at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she served from 1990 to 2006.

[2] Frueh died in Tucson, Arizona, on February 20, 2020, due to complications from breast cancer.