TIM HRENCHIR

TOPEKA, Kan. - Fifty-eight years after he died in the line of duty, Topeka firefighters Tuesday honored Lt. William R. "Billy" Frazier with a memorial ceremony and the dedication of a new headstone at his final resting place, which previously was marked only by a small bronze plaque.

The featured speaker for the event held in Topeka Cemetery was Joe Douglas Jr., who served under Frazier from 1950 to 1952 and went on to become Topeka's first black fire chief.

"It's just a warm, warm feeling that I have knowing that his grave has a stone now and that there are people who really cared about his existence," Douglas told those on hand.

Douglas said he met Frazier nearly 60 years ago on Oct. 16, 1950, Douglas' first day with the fire department.

"He was really one of my mentors," Douglas said.

Frazier, who was black, served with the department at a time when its black and white firefighters were segregated. He and Douglas - who went on to serve as fire chief from 1983 until he retired in 1989 - worked out of Fire Station No. 3.

Frazier, 72, had been with the fire department for 43 years when he died Feb. 29, 1952, after suffering a fractured skull. He fell through a fire pole hole at Station No. 3 after being awakened at 12:15 a.m. by an alarm signalling firefighters to respond to a call. Frazier dashed to the second-floor fire pole to lower himself to the first floor but missed his grip and fell 15 feet.

While researching the Topeka Fire Department's history last year, Capt. Ty Christian determined Frazier was among six Topeka firefighters who have died in the line of duty.

Christian and Investigator James "Rusty" Vollintine subsequently went to Frazier's gravesite, where they dug about a foot into the ground and found a small bronze plaque bearing his name and indicating he lived from 1879 to 1952. The department was assisted in its research by retired fire department Capt. Oren Sharp, Christian said.

He said Lardner's Monument donated the headstone dedicated at Tuesday's ceremony. Firefighters have been trying unsuccessfully to locate any surviving relatives of Frazier.

Douglas spoke of how Frazier helped him become "much more sensitive and alert to the condition of the people we were there to help."

Afterward, Douglas told reporters he remembered Frazier as being a teacher and a leader who took his job very seriously.

Douglas said it was deeply touching to be able to help honor Frazier, who ran the truck company on which Douglas served. Truck companies perform duties that include search and rescue and providing lights and ventilation, while engine companies carry water tanks and hoses to fight fires.

Douglas said Frazier instilled in him an appreciation for the work truck companies do. He said they always sought to be the first to reach a fire scene and stayed on hand after the fire had been put out to do what they could to make fire-damaged houses habitable.

Douglas said Frazier - like many Topeka firefighters of his time - continued working into his 70s because retirement would have reduced his income by 50 percent or more.

"The fellas stayed as long as they could," Douglas said.

He said that despite his age, Frazier typically tried to "go up ladders and stuff" while their company was on calls.

"We'd pull him away and give him something else that was meaningful to do," Douglas said.

He said black firefighters in the 1950s were typically treated as being inferior to their white counterparts, "but we knew that we were not inferior. We knew that we had learned our lessons well."

Douglas said he thinks Frazier would be "totally surprised" to see the strides that have been made to achieve racial equality at the fire department, which was desegregated in 1962. Douglas said he personally would have been surprised by those changes if he hadn't lived through them.

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