Theodore (Ted) D. Fraker was a Vice Presiden/Controler in Hartman Electric Company.
2 Theodore D. Fraker died Thursday, October 14th, 2004, from cancer. He was 83 years old.
"Ted" Fraker was born at home in Pataskala, Ohio,, on April 4, 1921, to Burt Fraker and Verna Werder Fraker. Burt owned and ran a local general store in Pataskala and Verna was an avid sportsperson and sharpshooter. In 1928, Burt sold the general store to purchase a greenhouse. After the stock market crash of 1929, the greenhouse business failed and the family lost everything, including their home. Several years later, when Ted was only 13, Verna died after a long illness from complications of hypertension. Probably embittered by the loss of his wife, his business, and his home, Burt largely abandoned his only son. Ted spent his teenage years fending for himself, often going for days or even weeks at a time without speaking to his father. The two shared a rented home supporting themselves with odd jobs. They struggled to pay the rent of one dollar a week and often had only beans and rice for sustenance. Despite the circumstances, Ted did well in school and was senior class president. His high school chum was Chalmers P. Wylie, the longtime Congressional Representative from Columbus.
In 1939, two days after graduating from high school, Ted hitchhiked to Washington, DC, with $18 in his pocket. He stayed two weeks, fascinated by the political processes of government. Since his father had been an ardent Democrat, he became a Republican. In the fall he enrolled at the Ohio State University, living in the "Tower Club" in Ohio Stadium. He worked over 40 hours per week as an elevator operator and delivery boy and his grades suffered. He dropped out in the spring of 1940. That summer he met Mary Collier on a blind date. For the next 64 years, there was no one more important to him.
In January of 1942, one month after Pearl Harbor, Ted enlisted in the Army Air Corp. He eventually became an army chef, feeding thousands of servicemen at Patterson Field in Dayton. He and Mary were married in June of 1943 shortly before he was shipped out to Seattle en route to the Pacific Theater. He was fortunate; for reasons that he never understood, his overseas assignment was cancelled and he returned to the Midwest before being transferred to Washington, DC, to help feed servicemen returning from Europe. By the end of the war, Ted and Mary had paid off all of the loans and gifts they had received. They had nothing but they owed no one.
After the war, Ted attended Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, on the GI Bill. He graduated in 1947 with a major in accounting. He worked for U.S. Steel in Lorain, then moved to Mansfield in 1957 to work for Borg Warner. In 1961, he took a three month leave of absence from Borg Warner to work for the Republican National Committee raising money in rural Kansas for a little known Congressman named Bob Dole. He was elected to Mansfield City Council and remained interested in politics for many years. He was hired by Hartman Electric Corp. in 1966 and spent the next twenty years there, retiring in 1986 as vice president and controller. He then spent the next five years as a consultant for Figgie International, the parent corporation for Hartman Electric.
Ted was totally devoted to his wife of 61 years, Mary. Those who knew them best never heard either raise a voice in anger toward the other. While he loved and supported his children and grandchildren, Mary was the love of his life. Ted loved to tell jokes and in another life he might have been a standup comedian. He had a lifelong fascination with trains, especially steam locomotives, and he and Mary traveled across the country to take train tours. He was also an avid model railroader amassing a huge collection of locomotives and diesel engines. In his last years, he helped to found the Acorn Railroad at Oakleaf Village, the retirement community in which he had found many new friends.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Collier Fraker; son, Theodore D. Fraker Jr., MD; daughter-in-law, Betsy Fraker, all from Toledo, and daughter, Mary Ann Strickling from Tampa, Florida. He is also survived by five grandchildren, Teigen Fraker and Trevor Fraker, both from Venice, California, Tysen Fraker, a junior at Ohio State University, Brian Ranshaw from Mansfield, Ohio, and Erin Jones from Tampa, Florida.
The family wishes to thank the following individuals who assisted Ted and Mary through numerous health problems over the past six years, Carol Hansen, Jessica Aldrich, Collette Huff, Dr. Mark Burket, and Dr. Chris Lynn. The staff at Oakleaf Village were tireless in their support and assistance. The physicians and staff at the Medical College of Ohio provided outstanding care that was state-of-the-art yet compassionate and personal.
A Memorial reception will be held at Oakleaf Village, 4220 North Holland-Sylvania Rd. at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 24th. The family requests that no flowers be sent. Contributions can be made in the name of Theodore D. Fraker to the Medical College of Ohio Foundation.
Arrangements are handled by the H. H. Birkenkamp Funeral Home, 3219 Tremainsville Rd., Toledo, Ohio, 419-473-1301.
3 He was educated in Ohio Wesleyan College, Delaware, Ohio, in 1947 Accounting.
2