Gerald Frazee

Born September 4th, 1931, Gerald (Jerry) William Frazee, was the son of Mose Frazee, a Lebanese immigrant, and Stella (Gazell) Frazee, a Lebanese American from Chicago, who planted roots in the Wild West. Jerry and his older sister Hazel were raised in a little house in the mining town of Helper, Utah around a tight-knit Lebanese community. It was during those years that Mose befriended and worked with another Lebanese immigrant, Widey Kallel, who eventually would settle in Los Angeles, marry Fedwa, and have a daughter named Nancy. When the LA-based Kallel family came to visit the Frazees in Utah, the two toddlers were photographed kissing on a hillside, and an epic love story between Jerry and Nancy was set in motion.

The Frazee family moved to Salt Lake City where Jerry attended school. Mose passed away when Jerry was just 19 years old. His mother, a true force of nature, kept her family fiercely bonded through her 95th birthday. After a stint at the University of Utah where Jerry was a member of the Sigma Pi fraternity, he moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Nancy. Jerry and Nancy hoped to attend college together, but USC’s long registration lines and the fact they would not accept his University of Utah credits, sent Jerry driving to Westwood and an interstate romance turned into a crosstown rivalry. He left UCLA in 1952 when he was drafted into the Army, serving proudly as a radio operator and cryptographer in Korea. When he returned to the LA area, he proposed to Nancy in a car overlooking the Pacific Ocean and they were married in 1955.

Working as a butcher in Reedley with his brother-in-law Charlie Shamoon, Jerry started a family with Nancy. The couple had three children, Mark, Marla, and Janel. Selling insurance, Jerry and the family moved around Southern California from LA, to Santa Ana, to Encino. In 1967 Jerry and his best friend Norman Barakat started a successful garment business in Old Town Pasadena. Jerry continued working in the garment business, retired, and then in 1984 decided to finish his business degree that was cut short by the war through the University of San Francisco.

In 1971 Jerry and Nancy bought a home in the Glendale foothills. On this property he would watch his family grow again, with eight grandchildren often found splashing in the pool, picking mulberries and loquats, and enjoying impromptu barbecues. Most memorably, Jerry and Nancy gathered their family for annual week-long beach trips to either Oxnard or Maui for 25 years, building beautiful memories. Jerry and Nancy, in love as ever, centered their lives around family.

A lifelong entrepreneur, he sold printing parts with his son-in-law Sam for 30 years. A guy who knew a guy, Jerry loved making deals and forging connections.

Jerry was playful, mischievous, and flirtatious, aware of the power of his blue-eyed gaze. He was incredibly proud of his family and loved each and every member unconditionally. He enjoyed golf, board games, cigars and most of all being there for the people he loved, who he would have done anything for. With Nancy he traveled the world, built a family, and cherished life, all within a 91 year romance.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Nancy; his children, Mark (Anne), Marla, and Janel (Sam); his eight grandchildren, Michael, Andy (Ellie), Amy, Graham (Maria), Reed (Stephanie), James (Zach), Jena (Daman), and Harper (Laura); his three great-grandchildren, Arthur, Lewis and Stella; and his nieces and nephews. Jerry’s memory lives on through each of them, and through all who had the honor to call Jerry their friend.

Arrangements are under the care of Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA.