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Constance Fraser Kiely will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. (Photo courtesy Kiely family) |
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Your columnists meet the extended Kiely family. Connie is fifth from left. (Photo provided by Al Ring, 2003) |
Column No. 60
Bob Ring, Al Ring, Tallia Pfrimmer Cahoon
This is another special column, sadly once again due the passing of someone of
critical importance to our past columns, indeed to our entire research and
writing efforts over the past four years. Constance Fraser Kiely, 86, died of
natural causes on January 4, 2006 at her home in Apache Junction, a few miles
east of Phoenix.
In newspaper vernacular, Connie was our “deep throat,” providing us with an
amazing amount of detailed information about her family. Connie, the fourth
child of Ines and Jack Fraser, was born just three months before her father was
brutally murdered by two Mexican bandits on February 27, 1920 in the general
store of the mining camp called Ruby.
Al first contacted Connie on October 15, 2002. And the path to that contact was
not easy. After years of trying to trace Fraser family relatives, without much
success, the breakthrough was finding an obscure newspaper obituary notice for
Daphne Fraser, the first of Ines and Jack Fraser’s children, who died in 1981 of
cancer. That obituary notice listed surviving relatives including Connie and her
son, Bruce Kiely. Al tracked down Bruce on the east coast, confirmed that Connie
was the Connie Fraser we were looking for, and received Bruce’s enthusiastic
permission to talk to Connie herself about her family history.
So later that same day, Al called Connie in Apache Junction and thus began a
truly delightful, and certainly fruitful for us, relationship with a wonderful
lady. Just one week later, we made the first of several trips to Apache Junction
to talk with Connie. She was interested in our research and writing plans and
eager to help.
And what a treasure trove of family history records she had – an example for all
us! She showed us scores of old letters, photos, records of all kinds – and she
willingly shared these with us.
We visited her a handful of times in the next few years, picking up new records
she’d found, returning records that she’s let us borrow, or just to chat. She
also agreed to a taped oral history interview. And all the while, Connie
couldn’t have been nicer.
On April 18, 2003, the three of us had the pleasure of meeting with the extended
Kiely family, including Connie and her son Bruce and his wife Claudia, at the El
Conquistador Resort. Clinton Ring, Bob and Al’s dad also attended, to talk about
his father and mother’s friendship with Connie’s mother and father. Now that’s
the way to do research!
Constance Fraser was born in San Diego, California on November 19, 1919. After
her mother Ines settled Connie’s murdered father’s affairs in southern Arizona,
she returned to San Diego to raise the four children. Connie never knew her
father, of course.
After graduating from Herbert Hoover High School in San Diego, Connie traveled
to Boston on a birthday trip from her older sister Daphne. Connie remained in
Boston to work at a law firm.
Quoting from Connie’s obituary, written by the Kiely family:
“… in 1942 [Connie] married Air Force pilot George A. Kiely. Connie and George
lived the military life for 25 years, with stints in such diverse places as
Arizona, England, California, Virginia, Japan, and Texas. In 1956, George
purchased 5 acres in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains near Apache
Junction. Following retirement in 1966, the Kielys settled in the Mesa area, and
in 1973 constructed their dream house on their Superstition foothills estate.
After George passed away in 1979, Connie continued to nurture and enjoy her
desert residence until her passing.
“Connie was a remarkable athlete and dancer, with remarkable achievements in
both her younger years (with dancing and diving performances in seaside San
Diego) and older years. For several years in the 1990s, Connie was the Arizona
state Senior Olympics gold medal winner in the 50 and 100-meter running sprints
and in tennis singles and doubles. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was star soloist
and ensemble dancer with the Forever Young Dancers of Scottsdale. Connie and the
dancers shared their jazz and tap dancing routines with audiences in the Valley
and across America and the world, including performances in Nashville, Russia,
China, Spain, and Australia. Connie’s last performance (and standing ovation)
was in her 82nd year.
“Connie is survived by her three sons, as well as 5 grandchildren and 7
great-grandchildren.”
Let us close this column by noting that, in our book, Ruby, Arizona – Mining,
Mayhem, and Murder, and in our columns, when we identify a source as “Fraser
family records,” those many citations can now be rightfully interpreted as,
“from Connie Fraser Kiely.” For years, because of her age and frailty, we
protected the name and location of our primary source of information on the
Fraser family. It seems appropriate now to gratefully acknowledge Connie’s help
and especially her friendship. Godspeed, Connie.
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Constance Fraser Kiely will be fondly remembered and sorely missed. (Photo courtesy Kiely family) |
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Your columnists meet the extended Kiely family. Connie is fifth from left. (Photo provided by Al Ring, 2003) |
(Sources: Fraser family records … oops, Constance Fraser Kiely; Arizona Republic, January 8, 2006)
