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Obituary for Earl "Jack" Frazee
1924 - 2012
First Presbyterian Church in Coffeyville
Earl M. “Jack” Frazee was born on July 8, 1924, to Ruby Morton Frazee and Earl H. Frazee in Pittsburg, Kansas. He moved to Coffeyville at the age of 8. Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941 and Jack graduated from Field Kindly High School the next year. Jack enlisted in the Marines in June, 1943; he went overseas in January, 1944 and participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. He returned to the United States the following December. Jack’s father passed away in 1948 and, upon graduation from Coffeyville Junior College, Jack took over as owner-manager of Frazee’s Firestone and the Texas Oil Company, a distributor of Texaco products.
In 1950, Jack met his wife Jolyn Allen, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe C. Allen, at The Barn, which had been the Coffeyville officers’ club during the War. Over the following four years, they welcomed two sons, John Allen and William Earl, into the world and built a home on their farm in rural Coffeyville.
Jack was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the honorary 40 & Eight Society, a 32nd Degree Mason and a member of the Mirza Shrine.An avid sportsman throughout his life, Jack shot trap and skeet competitively with his father and played football and tennis. He also enjoyed fishing and bird hunting. He was a long-time member of the Money Sunk investment club.
In 1972, urban renewal came to Coffeyville, condemning the Frazee’s Firestone building built in the 1890s, ostensibly to straighten Ninth Street. Frazee’s Firestone is gone but the street is still crooked. Jack had been a board member of the First National Bank so he was a natural fit at the Condon Bank where he became vice president and agricultural representative, and a member of the board of directors.
After he retired from the Condon Bank in 1992, Jack continued to tend his cattle, hunt and fish as well as travel with his wife, friends and family. He enjoyed playing practical jokes, but the sparkle in his eyes was brightest when spending time with his beloved grandchildren Laura Ann and Stephen William Frazee. Jack often repeated the motto by which he lived, "Treat others as you would want to be treated." He passed away at home, surrounded by his family, on August 5, 2012.
Jack is survived by his wife Jolyn, grandchildren Laura and Stephen, Stephen’s wife Kimberly Holten Frazee, his sons John and Bill, their wives Gloria Maroti Frazee and Jen Stacey, and brother-in-law Tom Allen and his wife Helen.
Services are scheduled for 2:00 PM, Saturday, September 1, at the First Presbyterian Church in Coffeyville. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the First Presbyterian Church, 402 West 8th Street, Coffeyville, KS 67337.