Elaine Fraser

Abstract

I’m Elaine Fraser. I’m retired from the University of Massachusetts. I worked for 20 years as a medical and clinical social worker. As part of that job, I did problem pregnancy counseling.

Elaine Rae Fraser was raised in Detroit and received her B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College and her Master’s in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass). She and her husband Duncan Fraser owned and published The Niantic News in Niantic, Connecticut, between 1954 and 1967. She first joined the United Christian Foundation (UCF) in Amherst as a secretary in 1968 and was soon trained as that organizations first female problem pregnancy counselor. She worked with UCF’s Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion (CCS) until 1973, when she became a clinical social worker at the UMass Health Services. She retired from the Health Services in 1993 and from then on volunteered as a patient ombudswoman at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. She passed away in August 2001 at the age of 73. She had a daughter and two grandchildren.

Elaine Rae Fraser was interviewed by Judi Fonsh on October 17, 1999.