06/20/2003

PAUL VICTOR FRASER, PE, LT. COL, USAF RETIRED BURLINGTON — Paul Victor Fraser, PE, Lt. Col, USAF, Ret., of Hildred Drive died Wednesday, June 18, 2003, as a result of a stroke he suffered on Father's Day. Lt. Col. Fraser, a member of America's Greatest Generation, was born on March 27, 1924, in Montpelier, the son of J. Victor and Beatrice (Bouchard) Fraser. He graduated from St. Michael's High School in Montpelier in 1941, and attended UVM until February 1943, when he was called into the Army Air Corps. He graduated from pilot training at Lawrenceville Army Air Field in Illinois. After further training, he went to England in December 1944, where he flew 32 missions over Germany as a B-17 pilot. (20 of them before he turned 21 years old.) In September 1945, Lt. Col. Fraser returned to UVM and graduated with a civil engineering degree in 1947. He then was recalled to the Army and went for meteorology training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Subsequently, he had various meteorological positions in Japan, Hawaii, Kwajelin Atoll, Washington, D.C., Alaska and Greece. When he retired from the USAF in September 1966, (following his first stroke), he was the Commander of Air Weather, PACAF, and was responsible for all the USAF weather installations in the Pacific Region. After retiring from the USAF, he was employed by WebsterMartin Inc. as a highway design engineer. He retired from Webster-Martin in 1982. Lt. Col. Fraser's affiliations included: The Retired Officers Association, of which he was past president of the Green Mountain Chapter; the DAV; the Colchester Lions Club, (past president); the Air Force Association; the Fr. Joy Council of the Knights of Columbus; and the Camp Holy Cross Board of Directors. He was formerly a Selectman for the Town of Colchester, and he spent several years on the Board of Directors for Camp Tara. He was a communicant of Holy Cross Church in Colchester and served on the Parish Council. In 1944, he married the former Elizabeth Moore of Burlington, in Panama City, Fla. She predeceased him in 1990. In 1992, he married the former Cecile (Gamache) Beede of Portsmouth, N.H. Lt. Col. Fraser is survived by his wife, Cecile; by three sons, Paul, of Jamaica, Vt.; Philip and his wife, Catherine, of Colchester; Christopher and his wife, Joanne, of Ijamsville, Md.; by a daughter, Mary and her husband, Don Tarinelli, of Jamaica; by four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; one stepdaughter, Sharon Whitney of Stratham, N.H.; a stepson, Everett Beede and his wife, Tracie, of North Hampton, N.H.; three stepgrandsons; and several nieces and nephews. He is also survived by two brothers, Loren of Moretown, and Roger of Waterbury; and two sisters, Phyllis Downey of Kensington, Md., and Janet Koval of Montpelier. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, June 21, at 11 a.m. in Holy Cross Church in Colchester, with interment to follow in the Holy Cross Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Visiting Nurse Association, 1110 Prim Road, Colchester, Vt. 05446, or Our Lady of Ephesus House of Prayer, 35 Fawn Ledge Lane, Jamaica, Vt. 05343. Visiting hours will be held on Friday, June 20, 2003, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. in the Ready Funeral Home South Chapel, 261 Shelburne Road, Burlington. The Fraser family would like to extend our gratitude to the Professional Nurses Service Inc., 94 West Canal, St., Winooski, Vt., for all the dedicated assistance they provided our family during Lt. Col. Fraser's illness.