John B. Frazer, Jr. Addresses Genealogy Society

Mrs. Marilyn Rowell visits with Mr. John Frazer at the Genealogy meeting.

John B. Frazer, Jr., owner of Frazer's funeral Home of Warren was the guest speaker for the November 26th meeting of the Bradley County Genealogy Society.  He gave the historical chronology of the preservation of human remains going back to the time of the Egyptians, during the time of Jesus, during the American Civil War and leading up to the 21st century.  He told about his fathers entrance into the funeral business and how the development of modern medicine lead to the development of modern procedures for preserving bodies.   He also discussed the progression of funeral procedures from keeping the bodies at home for several days, to visitation at the funeral home.  He stated that the ease of travel for relatives has substantially changed the time frame for holding funerals.  He talked about the fact that at one time most embalming was done at the residence of the deceased and how that changed to the preparation work being conducted at the funeral home. 

Mr. Frazer's father ended up working for Mr. Hugh Moseley, Sr. in the furniture and funeral business.  Mr. Frazer, Sr. bought the funeral portion of the business and located at 305 S. Main Street.  He later bought the Wheeler Home on S. Main Street , the current location of the Funeral Home in 1931.  After Mr. Frazer, Jr. returned home to enter the business in 1962, the new and current funeral home was constructed.

Members of the Genealogy Society gather around memorabilia brought to the
meeting by Mr. John Frazer.

Mr. Frazer stated he remembers helping with his first funeral in 1949 at age 10.  He assisted with delivering the body of Herman Hines to Gravel Ridge.  Mr. Hines was killed in action during WWII and his remains were sent home.  He also discussed the 1949 tornado and the funeral home having to deal with over 50 deaths at one time.  He stated that state prisoners were sent to Warren to help dig graves.  There was no state or federal disaster assistance in those days.  He compared that to1975 when a tornado killed seven but there was state and federal assistance to the community and families in need.

During his presentation, Mr. Frazer showed a number of pictures and other memorabilia associated with the funeral home, his family and the City of Warren.  ( Editors note: John B. Frazer, Jr. served as Mayor of Warren from 1975 through 1986, including the time of the 1975 tornado )  He indicated that most of his father's family were in some way involved with the funeral business.  He had two aunts that operated a  floral company adjacent to the funeral home on S. Main.

He went on to tell the audience that he choose to stay in Warren and continue the family business his father started, due to his desire to live in Warren and serve the people of the community.  He talked about the history of several of the families the funeral home has served throughout it's history.

After Mr. Frazer's remarks, those in attendance spent time looking over the items he brought and several scrap books.