Brenda Joy (McInnis) Fraser
GORHAM- On October 2, 2021, Brenda Joy (McInnis) Fraser of Gorham succumbed to cancer while at home with family by her side.
Born in Bangor, ME, on July 26, 1950, to Frederick Maurice and Ruby Emma (Searles) McInnis, Brenda and her family soon moved to Augusta where she attended St. Mary’s Elementary School and graduated from Cony High School in 1968. For college she attended the Gorham Teachers College/University of Maine at Portland-Gorham, graduating in 1972 with a dual degree in Theatre/Speech and English. In 1970 while at UMPG, Brenda received the talent award for her modern dance interpretation of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” as she competed in and was crowned the twelfth Miss Gorham State College Queen. Also during college, Brenda entered the Miss Maine Pageant, coming in second. During these years on the UMPG campus, Brenda was active in theatre with the Russell Hall Players and with the Treehouse Players, participating in a 1971 USO tour of Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland, and Iceland.
Brenda later became a teacher and librarian at Sumner High School in Sullivan, ME, and for a short time Brenda ran a dance studio in Sullivan, teaching children to dance. From 1979 – 1983, Brenda enlisted in the Maine Army National Guard as a transportation officer where she achieved the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. In 1980, Brenda started a twenty-five-year teaching career at Massabesic High School in Waterboro, ME, teaching high school English. She was also a class advisor for the Class of 1996 and was the yearbook advisor for many years, long before computers assisted with this task. Her teacher “ladies group” still meets today.
In the later years of her life, Brenda held a variety of positions that allowed her to continue helping and teaching others. She worked for Partners for Peace when she lived in Monson, ME, helping victims of domestic violence. She worked as a medical transcriptionist and substitute teacher, and she was a tour guide at Castle in the Clouds. During the 2020 pandemic, Brenda even worked part-time for Hannaford Supermarket because Brenda did not like to be idle. In the hours she was not working, she was often found painting, sewing, or knitting. Crafting brought great joy to Brenda’s life, and she enjoyed the art of giving. She was always making quilts, hats, puppets and earrings for her friends and grandchildren.
Brenda is survived by her children and grandchildren: Abraham Mills and his wife, Kaitlin of Natick, MA and their daughters Everly, Acadia, and Isla; Gregory Fraser of Baldwin, ME and Jeffrey Fraser and his partner Amanda Larochelle Gorham, ME, and their daughters Violet and Fiona. She is also survived by her older sister Sherry McInnis Nielsen of Springvale, ME; nieces Heather Welling and Kelsi Nielsen of Indianapolis, IN, and many, many friends.
Brenda was a lover of history and spent time researching her family tree from Nova Scotia. She marveled at how her family descended from the potato farmers of the great north, and how they survived with nothing. “We have it all,” she would say, “and we don’t even realize it. Everything we need we have right here.”
If so moved, donations may be made in memory of Brenda Joy Fraser to Hospice of Southern Maine at 390 US Route One, Scarborough, ME 04074, or given online at www.hospiceofsouthernmaine.org/give.