Dorothy Belle Frazier

POCATELLO - Dorothy Belle Felix Frazier, 93, Pocatello, died of probable pneumonia following a December brain hemorrhage, Tuesday, March 24, 2009, around dinnertime.

She was born June 17, 1915, in Fairfield, IL, to Walter David Felix and his wife, Hattie May Hooper Felix. She married Ivan Gray Frazier on June 12, 1938, near Berthoud, Colorado. They settled in Pocatello in 1946, where they raised three children. She was widowed in 1982.

She graduated from Johnstown High School (Colorado) as valedictorian, received a teaching degree from the Colorado State College of Education in Greeley, and received her Masters and Education Specialist degrees from I.S.U. She taught in Colorado for seven years. In Pocatello, she was a teacher at Washington and Jefferson elementary schools for twelve years; then she served as Principal at Roosevelt for seven years and Greenacres for ten years.

Dorothy was member of P.E.O. (a philanthropic educational society), Ruth Chapter Order of Eastern Star, the Social Order of Beauceant, and the First United Methodist Church. She was past president of the local and district Retired Teachers Association, Alpha Delta Kappa (national teachers' sorority), and past Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She volunteered over the years at Fort Hall Replica as a guide to local school groups, the Bannock Regional Medical Center auxiliary, and every organization she ever belonged to. She was still helping with church funeral dinners at 90.

Dorothy loved to travel. She started small with trips to visit family in Colorado, and expanded to Canada, the east coast, and Mexico. She jumped oceans to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Spain, China, Egypt, Portugal, Malta, Crete, Rhodes, Morocco, Turkey, and Thailand.

A child of the depression, she was stingy with pennies, but generous with hundreds. She towed her grandchildren one by one on great adventures overseas and set a love of travel and family in each of them. She liked holding the high hand at Bridge but would play the low one with determination. She loved a bargain and loved to bargain. She passed out plastic Idaho potato pins to children all over Europe and tried to teach them where Idaho was with hand signals. She wore necklaces with big pendants that babies couldn't resist reaching for. She faced the trials of her life with courage and determination and had near miraculous powers of recuperation.

She was a relentless genealogist. She took her entire family on trips to the Oregon coast, to Majorca, to England to stay in a manor house, so her grandchildren, half on each coast, would know each other better. She'd hike mountains all day to pick a measly quart of huckleberries and then stretch what she got for pie enough to feed us all at Christmas. She loved Christmas.

She is survived by two daughters, Anne (John) Walradt, Margaret (James) Birkemeier; a son, Bill Frazier; grandchildren Daniel Walradt, Michael Walradt, James Walradt, Elizabeth Walradt, Anneka Birkemeier (Jon) Millbrooke, Mary Clair Birkemeier, Isaac Frazier, Rebecca Frazier (Tom) Avila, and Anna Frazier; four great-grandchildren; her sisters Ruth (Delbert) Bevan and Lois (Jack) Willis, and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be at the Wilks Funeral Home, 211 W. Chubbuck Road, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. The funeral will follow at the First United Methodist Church at 5 p.m. with the Reverend Michelle Gowin presiding. Ritualistic Eastern Star services will be conducted by Ruth Chapter. A light repast will follow at the church. Burial will be in the family plot in Mountainview Cemetery, Longmont, Colorado.

Education was central to her life, both learning and teaching. The child anywhere, but especially one of poverty, called up in her a need to teach and to protect. In lieu of flowers, please send a contribution to the Idaho Youth Ranch, the PEO Educational Loan Fund, or The Heifer Project.