Gordon Joseph Frazer

Gordon J. Frazer, 87, of Wyomissing, passed away peacefully on March 3, 2015, in Reading Hospital.

He was the devoted husband of Dolores C. (Smith) Frazer with whom he celebrated 42 joyous years in 2014.

Mr. Frazer was a long-time member of St. John's Ev. Lutheran Church in Hamburg where he and Dolores were married on May 10, 1973, by the Rev. Morris F. Houck, Jr.

Born in Milwaukee, WI, on Sept. 9, 1927, Gordon was the son of the late Joseph and Esther Elizabeth Frazer.

As a teenager, Gordon joined the U.S. Sea Scouts in 1942, working as a chief cabin boy and then coxswain at the U.S. Navy Recruiting Station in Milwaukee in order to receive sea training on the Great Lakes.

Because he was under 18 years of age in 1943, his mother reluctantly consented to his first jobs as a bell boy aboard the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper and as a deckhand on the S.S. Sierra.

A year later, he joined the United States Maritime Service and received boat training at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y. and radio training at Hoffman Island, N.Y.

Ultimately, as a radio electronics officer, "Lt. JG Gordon J. Frazer served aboard oceangoing merchant ships in service to the United States during World War II, The Korean War and The Vietnam War, 1943-1970."

In that capacity, he circumnavigated the globe many times traversing the Suez Canal and Panama Canal Zone in tanker ships carrying various types of fuel and making numerous stops in ports as far away as Australia, China and Japan.

Close calls at sea included being aboard a burning tanker carrying fuel and explosives for two days before making port in Sidney, Australia, and a damaging collision with a larger ship in heavy fog outside the port of New York.

Mr. Frazer also was the successful owner and operator of Onyx Cave off routes 61 and 662 for 12 years until the nation's Bicentennial in 1976.

Then, because he loved flying, Gordon became a flight and glider instructor for Kutztown Aviation. He also piloted new single-engine aircraft from their points of manufacture in the Midwest to Kutztown.

His many Masonic memberships include serving as: Master of Vaux Blue Lodge No. 406 in Hamburg, which he joined in 1949; Commander of Knights Templar, Reading Commandery No. 9 (1973); and High Priest of Excelsior Royal Arch Chapter No. 237 in West Reading. He was also a member of the Rajah Shrine.

Gordon's extensive volunteer experience included 20-plus years with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and assisting with the Wyomissing Crime Watch.

He enjoyed sailing on Lake Wallenpaupack with his wife during the summer months while living in a cottage there.

And, for many years, he and Dolores, along with their loving and opinionated parrot Jimmy, traveled out west in their motor home to visit relatives and friends in Michigan and Wisconsin.

In addition to his wife, Gordon is survived by good friend Val, husband of Darlene Lacis, in Wyomissing.

A memorial service will be held Monday, March 9, at 2 p.m. at the Edward J. Kuhn Home, Inc., West Reading.

A viewing will be held a half hour prior at the funeral home. Entombment will be at Laureldale Cemetery mausoleum.

Online condolences may be recorded at www.kuhnfuneralhome.com.