~ IN MEMORY ~
Joan C. Fraser, wife of PAA/DL Capt. Robert “Bob”
Fraser
January 17, 1936 ~ February 13, 2023
Notice of passing….Joan C. Fraser, wife of
retired Pan Am/Delta Air Lines pilot Captain Robert A. Fraser. Joan is survived by her husband Bob and by her
three children.
To view the obituary and share memories
online please visit
https://www.buffalohillfh.com/obituary/Joan-Fraser
Obituary : Joan Bartlett Fraser was born
January 17th, 1936, to G. Donald Bartlett and Teresa (Shea) Bartlett in
Willimantic, Connecticut. Joan completed primary school in Willimantic and
later Windham High School, graduating in 1953. The friendships she acquired while
in her years of early education and later in upper class studies at Willimantic
State Teachers College were always dear to her. Even when she lived in the
Western part of the U.S. she always managed to travel “back home” for various
reunions and other occasions.
One of Joan’s early forays into gainful
employment was as a junior member of the sports department and proofreader at
the Willimantic Daily Chronicle Newspaper. It was here that she acquired a
lifelong affinity for all sports, both men’s and women’s, and especially the
University of Connecticut girls’ basketball team. One of her colleagues at the
newspaper was sportswriter Wells Twombly who went on to bigger things with the
Houston Oilers and finally the sportswriter for the San Francisco Chronicle. In
later years when Joan’s husband worked in the San Francisco area they renewed
the friendship with Wells and his wife and on occasion they would enjoy the San
Francisco nightlife after the Chronical went to press. She was somewhat of an
undocumented authority on sports history. She always seemed to mention, when in
discussion about sports, that the Willimantic football coach had played
football at Fordham University with renowned NFL Coach Vince Lombardi. One of
Joan’s fondest moments was an invitation to a sports banquet and sitting at the
head table with Green Bay’s former quarterback Bart Starr.
Joan’s adult life included three wonderful
children, Kathleen, Shaun and Denise, and her husband Bob. Joan met her
husband, Bob Fraser, in the 1950s after he returned from duty in the United
States Marine Corps as a fighter pilot. It was back to college so Bob could
finish his degree and then in 1961 they
moved to Seattle, Washington where Bob was employed with the Boeing Aircraft
Company. The family settled in the small fishing village of Gig Harbor on Puget
Sound and the children attended school in the local schools until venturing on
to higher studies in various Universities.
In 1965 Bob left Boeing and joined Pan
American World Airways as a pilot which started Joan’s life as a “vagabond
“world traveler. As a young girl, in Willimantic, Joan dreamed of traveling the
world and she sent for and read every travel magazine she could. With PAN AM
now at her fingertips she managed to do just that. Early on, when the children
were away in college, Joan traveled to most of the countries in the Far East in
addition to the South Pacific islands.
Joan was particularly fond of the islands of the South Pacific and spent
time in places like Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji, and The Kingdom of Tonga on her way to
New Zealand and Australia. In 1980, after the children had left home to begin
their lives, Joan and her husband transferred to Berlin, West Germany where PAN
AM had a small base in the Western part of the occupied city. At that time, the
city of Berlin was still occupied by the Allies (Great Britten, France, U.S.,
and Russia) since the end of WW II.
Berlin, however, was located about 120 miles inside the Russian zone due
to a geographical error in 1945. The safest way for West Germans to travel to
and from Berlin to the West was to fly. Pan Am flew from West Berlin to all
major cities in both East Bloc and West Bloc countries.
The original plan was to stay in Europe for
just a year or two but at Joan’s urging they stayed in Berlin for almost 10
years. Joan lived every minute of those years. She became interested in
European history and had the opportunity to visit the actual areas she was
studying at the moment. After studying early European history Joan settled on
the Second World War as her passion and she traveled to both the East Bloc and
the West as part of her studies. She had a future book in mind while she
re-lived the horrors and hardships of war but that never took place. Joan was
privileged to be able to travel behind the “Iron Curtain” on a minute’s notice
because her passport listed her as a resident of Berlin. Consequently, whenever
the opportunity presented itself, she could travel to cities like Budapest,
Warsaw, Belgrade, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, and other such cities.
Upon returning to the United States and
after almost 30 years with PAN AM, Joan and Bob sold their home on Puget Sound
and returned to Montana, where Bob was raised. They built a retirement home on
Flathead Lake near Glacier National Park in Northwest Montana and there they
settled in for about 25 years until moving into Buffalo Hills Terrace assisted
living in Kalispell Montana for their remaining years.
Joan was preceded in death by her parents
and her older sister, Lucy Bartlett Crosbie, and her husband Arthur (Bud)
Crosbie. Joan is survived by husband Bob,
Kathleen, Shaun and Denise. There have been good and not so good years,
but one should only remember the good years. There was even a time when Joan
and Bob owned part of a dude ranch on the perimeter of a large wilderness area
in Montana that produced memories that will last a lifetime – and so they have.
At Joan’s request there will be no services.
It is her further request that her ashes be sprinkled over her favorite spot in
the middle of the Bob Marshal Wilderness – Big Prairie Airport.
It is the family’s request that any
donations sent in Joan’s name be to charities of your choice or to the Alert
Helicopter Unit at Kalispell Regional Hospital in Kalispell, MT.
