Earl C. Fralick

Earl C. Fralick passed away Friday, April 2, 2010 at the age of 99. The eldest of the nine children of John and Lena (Stroman) Fralick, Earl was born on December 21, 1910 in LaGrange, Indiana. After spending his early childhood in Michigan, Montana and then Eastern Washington, his family settled on a 5-acre farm above Lake Whatcom on the outskirts of Bellingham in 1921. He married his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Wilkinson on February 15, 1934. After many happy years together, she passed away in November of 1975. The following year he married long-time friend, Evelyn (Pence) Pearson. They just celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary March 14th. In his earlier years he was active in Garden Street Methodist Church and many community organizations including Active Club, Elks and Lions Club. He also served as Council President for the Camp Fire Girls and Chairman of the Boy Scouts. A hard worker his whole life, Earl was hired out to milk the neighbor's 30 cows every morning and evening when he was just 12 years old. At 14 he joined the National Guard and began working graveyard shift at Bloedel-Donovan sawmill. For the next three years he attended Fairhaven high school during the day and worked at the mill at nights. In his "spare time" he was Captain of his high school track team and, to this day, holds the city record for the once-annual Cross-City Run. After graduation he was employed by Lind Gravel and later CV Wilder until he left to start his own business, Earl's Cabinet Shop, in 1944. He retired from the custom cabinet business in 1972 and within a few years moved to Yuma, Arizona to live for 9 months a year until he and Evelyn returned to Bellingham full-time in 2006. In addition to his wife, Earl is survived by his two daughters, Naoma (Glenn) Eastwood of Bellingham and Patricia (Howard) Davidson of Auburn; three stepsons, Curt (Joanna) Pearson of Florida, Doug (Judy) and Eric (Mary) Pearson of Texas, and one sister, Lena Tooker, also of Bellingham. He will also be greatly missed by his six grandchildren and their spouses: Janet (Bruce) Wheeler, Patricia Eastwood, Nancy (John) Clark, John (Cheryl) Davidson; Keith (Sherry) Davidson; and Joyce (Buddy) Rebman; eight great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren; 7 step-grandchildren; 7 step-great-grandchildren; 1 step-great-great-grandchild and numerous nieces and nephews. A celebration of Earl's life will be held at Westford Funeral Home on Thursday, April 8th at 1:00 pm with a reception following. Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association or a charity of your choice. You may share memories with the family at www.westfordfuneralhome.com Westford Family Funeral Home & Cremation Broadway at Eldridge