Big personality thrived on relationships, music
James (Jim) Fraser Born: April 23, 1943 in Waterloo Died: March 11, 2024, of complications from vascular disease
Whether you encountered him as a Waterloo Regional Police officer, musician or showman, once you met Jim Fraser you’d be unlikely to forget his big personality.
“If you ever went to a fest hall where Tiroler Brass was performing, you would witness Jim motivating and energizing the crowd to get into the Oktoberfest spirit,” said friend and fellow musician Karen Tomlin. “He was a natural entertainer; so positive and friendly with everyone.”
Jim might have been well known for his musical talents but his community spirit meant he was involved in many organizations including Cambridge Highland Games, K-W Oktoberfest, St. Francis church, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 50 and the K-W Naval Association.
Jim was the region’s most enthusiastic cheerleader.
“He was fiercely proud of us (his children), of his community, his career,” said son Jim Fraser Jr., one of three children including Beth Corbeil and Ann-Marie Snider.
Friend Neil Aitchison added Jim was “a proud copper who thrived on relationships and music.”
He also noted that his friend was particularly well known for performing the “Last Post” at Remembrance Day services, regardless of the weather, the haunting sounds of his trumpet reverberating around the cenotaph.
Since 1958, Jim had honoured the fallen and once told a reporter, “We should be thankful for what they did. Without their sacrifice, what we have today would certainly be a lot different.”
He’d been too young to fight for Canada during the Second World War so performing during Remembrance Day was his way of serving the country.
His grandfather, a First World War veteran, had a profound influence on young Jim.
“Until the day he died, they were picking shrapnel out of his body,” he’d told a reporter.
Jim was born April 23, 1943, in Kitchener, one of two sons of Jean and Alex Fraser, a tool and die maker.
His brother, John, was six years older and adored by his little brother. The family tells stories of Jim escaping the family home to seek his brother in class at MacGregor Public School.
“He’d climb the fire escape to peak in the window,” said Snider. “He was very attached.”
Staff at the school were less impressed and sent the boy home, though it didn’t stop him from future escapes.
Growing up on Ezra Street in Waterloo, Jim was exposed to street parties. For decades, Ezra was a place for university students to gather and have a good time. Jim’s family wonders if that early influence is where he drew his enthusiasm for fun by enlivening every event he attended, particularly with music.
Jim was eight when he first walked into Waterloo Music on Regina Street, where students would be taught for free and given instruments. It was the beginning of his musical career and he’d play brass instruments with air cadets, scouts, high school and 48th Field Engineering Squadron bands.
As a young teenager, Jim joined the Preston Scout House Band despite living in Waterloo, quite a distance in the 1950s when there wasn’t public transportation between the cities.
“He used to hitchhike to band practice, he was really devoted,” said Jim’s wife, Carol Fraser.
In fact, it was through the band that she met Jim and asked if he’d accompany her to a wedding. They were engaged within three months and married in 1965, a few months after meeting.
Jim had joined the Waterloo Regional Police just before he turned 18, retiring as a sergeant in 1997. One of his proudest accomplishments with the police was bringing 911 to the region in 1976.
That was only two years after London became the first city in Canada to adopt 911.
Jim was a trailblazer in public safety.
The work he did moved Jim into a different line of policing: teaching communication to dispatchers at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer. He also trained officers communication skills in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Despite his hectic schedule, Jim was always there for his family, showing up at all their sports games as both a spectator and even performing on his trumpet in the arenas at his kids’ and grandkids’ games.
His daughter, Beth Corbeil, said “We never felt he wasn’t around, he’d travel all over Ontario to watch us.”
Snider noted, her father was able to accomplish so much because Carol was the anchor at home, the one who made it all possible.
“She was instrumental to his success,” said Snider.
The family describe Jim as easy going, patient, kind and generous. He would help people in need of money and always supported his family.
Jim died March 11 at age 80. Corbeil said “If he was here, he’d say ‘I was healthy until the day I died.’”