Dr. Whitman Fraser
Whitman Fraser was born in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1926. He married another Texan, Mary Lou Snead, on March 23, 1951. They had three children: Sherry Lynn (1955), Mary Gwynn (1957) and Clint Whitman (1959). After receiving his medical degree from Rice University in Texas, Dr. Whit, as he soon became known, decided to open his medical practice in Hinesville, Georgia in 1958 because he wished to avoid being identified as "Little Whit" by his nearest and dearest Texan family and friends. Dr. Fraser chose Hinesville because it was the birth place of his grandfather and there were cousins still living in Hinesville in 1958. Having lost his father to a heart attack when Whit was five, he had a need to explore his father's roots. Dr. Fraser was promised a hospital within two years if he would open his medical practice in Hinesville. He built an office on Fraser Drive and started treating patients. He treated more than their physical ailments; he listened attentively to their emotional pain, as well, and often prayed with his patients. He made house calls (something unheard of in this day and age). If his patients did not have the resources to pay for their medical care, he treated them at no cost. So they brought him what they did have to express their appreciation: shrimp, fish, fruit, vegetables, handmade furniture, just to name a few. Whit was very active in the First Presbyterian Church and the spiritual community at large. Some folks introduced him as the "Reverend" Doctor Fraser because he was often invited to speak at various churches and spiritual functions in Liberty County. He was not a politician, but he was involved in most of what concerned Hinesville and its citizens. Dr. Fraser's laugh was distinctive and humor was an important ingredient in his medical care. Nurses and patients have been heard to say with relief:" Dr. Fraser's in the hospital, I just heard him laugh." After serving Hinesville for 22 years, the City Council of Hinesville voted to set aside a week in May of 1980 to honor their "Beloved Physician." Dr. Fraser retired from his medical practice five years later in 1985 (All totaled: he served Hinesville with his medical practice 27 years.
Dr. Fraser and his wife, Mary Lou, dreamed together about providing a Christian Counseling Center in Hinesville, GA. Lou died in 1985 at the young age of 53 before their dream could be realized. Dr Fraser spent the following year making their dream a reality. He set up the Mary Lou Fraser Foundation for Families in her memory and opened the Life Ministry Center one year after her death in Sept. of 1986. In keeping with his firm belief that you must provide for the whole person in order to improve their well being…. Body, mind and spirit, he created a second foundation in 1990 entitled: The Mary Lou Fraser Community Support Foundation. This Foundation would provide funds for two state of the art facilities next door to each other: An indoor pool and recreation facility for the YMCA and a new Counseling Center that the board members at the time insisted bear the Fraser name. Unfortunately, Dr Fraser did not live to see the buildings completed, but the dream of Dr. Whitman and Mary Lou Fraser lives well within both structures.
