HARTSELLE, AL- Carolyn McLean Frazier, age 65, passed away peacefully at the home of her son Alex on April 2, 2017 after courageously battling health issues. As per Carolyn’s wishes, there will be no calling hours. A celebration of life is tentatively scheduled for October with internment at Massena Center Cemetery.

Ms. Frazier was born at the Old Hospital Barracks on February 26, 1952, in Massena, NY. She was the oldest of four children of Donald (Red) McLean and Martha Rickard McLean.

Carolyn is survived by her sons, Anthony (Alysia) Frazier, Wellington, Colorado and Alexander Frazier, Hartselle, Alabama, and her grandson Maximus Kessell Frazier, Wellington, Colorado. She is also survived by her mother, Martha McLean, two sisters, Catherine (Mark) McDonald and Suzanne (Bill Ward) McLean and a brother Keith (Judy) McLean, all of Massena. She is also survived by her aunt E. Jane (Matt) Layo, Waddington and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, and cousins.

Carolyn attended Lincoln Elementary School, J. William Leary Jr. High and Massena Central School graduating in 1970. During high school, she worked as a car hop and waitress at Guy’s Diner. In 1971, she graduated from Grace Downs Airline and Secretarial School in Glen Cove, Long Island. Securing a position with Henry J. Dobies, M.D. she worked for 3 years as an Executive Secretary before marrying Second Lt. Douglas Frazier and entering the nomadic life of a military family living in Georgia, Germany, and Missouri.

She worked for American Express on military paydays and volunteered for several on post activities. She was elected the youngest president of the Gelnhausen, Germany, Officers Wives Club and secretary of the Ft. Leonard Wood Officers Wives Club.

After the family left the military life, Carolyn lived in Louisiana and California working as an Office Manager for a dental practice, a Financial Loan Officer for a secretarial school and a Foreclosure Clerk for a bank. After a divorce in 1984, she moved back to Massena and worked as an Executive Secretary for the Norwood Paper Mill and later in the alumni office at Clarkson University and SUNY Potsdam. She also worked part time in the family business (McLean’s Nursery & Garden Shop).

At the age of 40, she went to college graduating with top honors from Mater Dei College (AAS in Childhood Development and Teacher Assistant) and SUNY Potsdam (BA in History and Elementary Education, minor in Women’s History). She then finished her education with a Masters in Education while working in the Career Planning and Placement Office.

Ms. Frazier spent the next 18 years teaching sixth graders in the Massena Central School District earning a nomination in two separate years for Who’s Who Among American Teachers. Carolyn impressed many young lives where she tailored her teaching to meet individual needs of every student before retiring on disability on December 31, 2015.

Ms. Frazier joined the Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Club in 1984 and worked her way through several committees, district leadership and served in 2002-2003 as BPW New York State President. From there she went on to sit on the National Board of Directors for BPW/USA as the Virginia Allen Young Careerist Chair and the Individual Development Program Chair. In 2014, she was selected BPW/VT State President and introduced the Women’s History Project. She has been recognized by Addie Russell New York Assembly receiving recognition for Lifetime Achievement in May 2016. Ms. Frazier was also a 20 year member of the Board of Directors for the NYS Grace LeGendre Endowment Fund, a fellowship program for women continuing their education.

Carolyn loved spending time with her family especially her sons and grandson. She would often be found helping others and was always giving of herself. She enjoyed gardening, crafts, painting, geocaching, reading, genealogy and collecting angels.

As per Carolyn’s wishes, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to the Grace LeGendre Endowment Fund, Inc., 124 Gateway Drive, Staten Island, NY 10304.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Carolyn M. Frazier (McLean), please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.