Obituaries - MacLean Funeral Home Swan Chapel

Beryl Clairmont Fraser nee DeBlois

October 15, 1923 - September 29, 2021

Service Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Service Time: 2:30 p.m. from St. Paul's Anglican Church (pre-registration required) or via live-stream on the church's Facebook page
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Our mother died on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at the age of 97 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Beryl was born on October 15 1923, the second of four children born to the late Noel Hamlyn DeBlois and Gerda Clairmont Taylor. Born and raised on Water Street in Charlottetown, Beryl attended West Kent Elementary School and then spent three happy years at Netherwood School for Girls in Rothesay, New Brunswick. Following graduation in 1940 she enrolled at Prince of Wales College back on the Island. Beryl played an excellent tennis game and was a regular in the Eastern Canadian tennis tournaments. Mum excelled at badminton and horseback riding, too; as sister Audrey commented while admiring a photo of her astride a horse at Netherwood, “Beryl sits a horse well!” She interrupted her studies to join the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (the “Wrens”) in 1943 and was stationed in Greenock, Scotland, during the last two years of World War II. Demobilized in 1946, Beryl attended McGill University in Montreal, played on the McGill Varsity tennis team, and graduated with a degree in Commerce in 1949.

Beryl married F. Clarke Fraser in December 1948, and had four children with him: Norah, Noel (Pat), Alan, and Scott (Tasha). She was proud grandmother to their seven children: Trevor (Marcelle), Emmett (Justine), Gillian, Masha, Alexander, and Ogden; and four great-grandchildren: Eliot, Cohen, Finnegan, and Kipling. Survived by sisters Audrey Volesky and Norah Henry. She was predeceased by brother Thomas D. DeBlois (Mary), daughter-in-law Jelena, granddaughter Megan, and brothers-in-law Jan Volesky and Dr. John Henry.

After their divorce in 1973, Beryl returned to her alma mater this time as an administrative coordinator in McGill’s Dentistry School where she worked until retiring in 1989. She was a regular at the Shawbridge Ski Club and the Montreal West Tennis Club, and served many years on the executive of the Montreal Field Naturalists Club. Beryl was an excellent seamstress, sewing many of her and her children’s clothes, and knitted sweaters and mittens for all the kids. She served on the Women’s Auxiliary of the Montreal Children’s Hospital (and held the Treasurer’s position for some years), the WA of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in Montreal, and was a Brown Owl (the adult leader) for the Montreal West Brownies. An avid reader, birder and cross-country skier, Beryl also excelled at bridge and mah-jong. She came home to the Island for good in 2001 and eventually moved to Andrews of Stratford (2008 – 2016) and then to Whisperwood Villa Nursing Home.

Beryl was a true Islander and came home for summers at Keppoch just about every year she lived on the mainland. She brought her children and grandchildren and their families to Keppoch too, and they still feel connected to the Island and are part of the Keppoch community. The cottage at Cherry Corner was that “home away from home” she especially enjoyed in her later years when hosting family and friends from away.

The family is deeply grateful to the staff at Whisperwood Villa, where Beryl received excellent, loving care throughout her stay but especially over the past 19 months of the pandemic.

Resting at MacLean Funeral Home Swan Chapel. Funeral Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. from St. Paul’s Anglican Church - as per current restrictions, those wishing to attend the service are asked to pre-register at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a-celebration-of-life-for-beryl-fraser-tickets-182066234007 For those wishing to attend virtually, the service will be live-streamed on the church’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/stpaulschurchinpei). Visiting hours Monday from 2-5 p.m. (by invitation only – please contact the Fraser family to pre-register). In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to St. Paul’s Anglican Church or Island Nature Trust. Online condolences may be made at www.macleanfh.com