Obituary of Grace Fraser

“Be the things you loved most about the people who are gone.”

 

Memories of our mother, Alice “Grace” Fraser (nee Coburn), 1924 -2021, who passed at “The Mount” in Charlottetown on March 25, 2021.

 

The youngest child of Fred and Julia Coburn, Mom grew up in Keswick Ridge, New Brunswick, a community rich in social spirit that molded the values of family, hard work, and compassion by which she lived. She attended Keswick Ridge Superior School and later the Saint John Regional Hospital School of Nursing, where she obtained her RN designation in 1946.

 

Mom worked as a stewardess with Trans Canada Airlines (TCA) until 1950, when she married our Dad, Robert Joseph Fraser, who was a civil engineer with CP Rail. They raised us, their twin daughters, Julie and Judi, following Daddy’s career throughout eastern Canada. She worked as an RN in Fredericton, Etobicoke, Sudbury, London and Moncton, where the family finally settled in 1966.

 

After Daddy died in 1975, she retired from nursing to pursue her passion: watercolour painting, at which she excelled. She winterized her cottage at “the Bluff” at Parlee Beach, where she lived year round until 1993. At the young age of sixty nine, she moved to Charlottetown, immediately buying a new summer cottage at Stanhope. She thrived on her cottage life, cherishing once again her peace with solitude and the natural world. She was inspired to paint the landscapes that surrounded her: the apple orchards of Keswick Ridge, the lighthouses of Parlee Beach and the dunes of Prince Edward Island.

 

At ninety one years of age, she was still driving her own car, much to the surprise of her family. She drove herself to The Mount in Charlottetown on the day she became a resident there, in independent living care.  

 

She is survived by twin daughters, Julie Prest (Wade) of Mooseland, NS, and Judith O’Hanley (Gerald) of Charlottetown, PEI.  She is also survived by five grandchildren and her great-grand children: Laura Norcott (Lance Henry) and children Grace and Oliver of Rothesay, NB; Alec O’Hanley (Molly Rankin) of Toronto; Carolyn Prest (Andrew Henley) and children Rio and Layla of Pleasant Harbour, NS; Patrick O’Hanley (Caitlin Power) of Charlottetown; and Dale Prest (Makyla Walerickton) of Musquodoboit Harbour, NS; and several nieces and nephews.

 

Mom was last member of her immediate family, predeceased by her brother, Donald Coburn, and sisters Elizabeth Rodriguez and Jessica Robinson. An era has passed….

 

The family thanks the staff of The Mount for their exemplary care and kindness over the past six years. Due to Covid restrictions, a family celebration of her life will be held later. Cremation has taken place under the care of Hillsboro Funeral Home, Stratford PEI. Donations may be made to The Mount Resident Council (The Mount Resident Activity Fund).

 

“The death of a loved parent is an incalculable lasting blow. Because no one ever loves you like that again.” Brenda Ueland