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Roderick (Rod) Miller Fraser

Roderick (Rod) Miller Fraser

Roderick (Rod) Miller Fraser

Rod Fraser passed away suddenly in Calgary, Alberta, on March 31, 2018, at 85 years young.
He was enjoying a family outing with his daughter Tania, and grandson Jason, smiling and having fun.
His passing was unexpected, but we’re grateful he was surrounded by loving family at the end.

Dad was born in in 1932 in New Glasgow to John R. and Mabel Fraser; his two brothers, Johnny (Georgie) and Angus (Thea), and sister Elsie pre-deceased him.
His sister Linda Brine lives in Westville, Nova Scotia, and kept in touch constantly over the years.

Dad was an RCMP Officer in the early 50’s, but became a Town Constable when he moved to Truro, Nova Scotia.
He met his wife Gladys, while she was working in The Snack Bar, a coffee shop on Prince Street, so many years ago.
Mom was a crazy hard worker and she loved to laugh! She met her match in Dad.
They were married for 57 wonderful years, and had 3 children, Rod, Dwaine (deceased in 2010), and Tania.
For many years our family lived at the County Jail on Queen Street; Mom did the cooking, and Dad was the jailer.

Holidays were awesome! At Christmas Dad would always beautifully wrap a “gag” gift for us.
One year it was a gallon can of ketchup for Roddie (remember that?); another year it was an old used pair of socks for Dwaine. We laughed!
At Easter Mom would dress us up in our new Sunday best outfits for church; afterwards there were Easter baskets full of goodies and delicious homecooked meals!
And summers. Roddie and I were remembering the cottage, and the wonderful times we had at the beach every summer.
Family, cousins, aunts and uncles, good friends, we had so much fun.

Dad loved horses; to earn extra money he worked at the race track late at night after harness races were done for the day.
He got Midnight, my first horse, through his contacts at the track. Midnight was followed by Scooter, then Eddie.
Dad loved coming to the horse shows to watch. So many good memories.

He and Mom owned Fletcher’s Restaurant as well, until they sold it and moved out west, settling in Calgary in 1978.
He worked for Calgary Transit for 13 years while they lived in Calgary. Mom worked at Shell for many years.
When they retired in 1992 they lived in a motorhome for 10 years, travelling across Mexico, the US and Canada, before finally settling in Stony Plain, Alberta, to be near their grandchildren.
They loved playing cards, and going to the casino. Every time I visited them I lost money because I didn’t have the “lucky touch” with the slots that they did!
Mom passed away in 2013, and he missed her every day after.

Dad loved travelling; in 2014 we went to Italy and the Netherlands together. He couldn’t understand why anyone would drink coffee from a thimble (espresso). Ha!
He especially loved Mexico; the people, the weather, the country. He lived there for a couple of years on his own before his health forced him back to Canada.
Oh the stories!! He certainly enjoyed life in Mexico!
The past few years he spent in Calgary. Staff at his place in Calgary would call him “Hola”, because he spoke Spanish to anyone who would listen. They loved his smiles and his easy going ways.

Dad was known for his quirky sense of humour too, he loved a good joke or to pull one over on you.
He was still doing it!
Last year Lyle Carter, a dear friend from Nova Scotia visited Dad. who was in the hospital at the time.
Dad pretended he didn’t know who Lyle was.
He strung Lyle along for a while before finally letting him off the hook. Lyle thought that was so funny. So did Dad.

Dad has several grandchildren he loved and thought of often.
Rod and Pauline’s children Matt, Jon and Catherine.
Dwaine and Diane’s children Jason (Lindsay) and Ryan (Wendy).
And 4 wonderful great-grandchildren. Robert and Clara (Ryan and Wendy).
And Hannah and Jaime (Jason and Lindsay); Dad really enjoyed their visits.

He will be deeply missed; his smile, his laugh, his kindness.
He could find the positive in almost anything. He was a wonderful man.

A Memorial Service will be held in Nova Scotia in late summer of 2019.
His wish was to be buried at The Falls, with Gladys and Dwaine.
If family and friends want to honour his memory, tell some “Roddie and Gladys” stories, and have a good laugh. They would love that.
I expect he and Mom are together again, happy, walking hand in hand along the beaches in Mexico.
They are both missed dearly.

 

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