Maxine Charlotte Fraser

Notes:

[LesanRCexp.FTW]

!RESOURCES:
Peggy Rufner's Memories.
!NOTES:

My sister, Maxine Charlotte Fraser, was the first born child of Anna Cheseldine and Charles T. Fraser. She was an attractive, popular girl. She played the piano by ear, but learned to read music under the tutelage of Mrs. Lewis. She was a good student in school. After high School Graduation,she went to nursing school at Miami Valley Hospital. She became a nurse to please her grandmother Cheseldine who was a practical nurse, but she didn't really like being a nurse.

She graduated from the Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing. Dayton, Ohio in 1933. After graduation she went to New York City and worked at Gotham Hospital. She frequented a local bar where she played the piano for the customers. It was here that she met Robert Carlton Lesan (Sonny) and married him. After their marriage they came home for awhile and then went to live in a small apartment in Detroit. A year or so later they were back in Lebanon where they rented an apartment, Sonny got a job with Western and Southern Life Insurance Co. and their first child, Tom, was born.

They moved to the third floor of the University Apartment across from the Warren County Court House. Both of their other children were born while they lived there. The children were 2 1/2 years apart. Grandma Fraser loved this family, and she and her daughter Mabel helped the young family a great deal. Max worked a lot for Dr. Ralph Young, but not on a perminent basis.

Max and Sonny bought a small house on Highland Ave. in Lebanon. We were excited for them. The boys had the upstairs to themselves and Nan had her own bedroom. Everyone was happy until one night in 1951 when Sonny fell off the fire escape at the Elks. He died two days later from a fractured skull. This was a crucial blow to Max. One from which she never fully recovered.

Max had to go to work. She got a job as a public health nurse in Warren Co. Not long after she took the job, Dr. Harvey offered her a job in his office. I took the Public Health Nurse job so she could work for Dr. Harvey. It was difficult for Max to work and raise her children at the same time. She was always tired, so she began to take uppers to get through the day and sleeping pills to make her sleep at night. She often mixed alcoholic beverages with the drugs. They didn't mix. This was prior to age of drugs in this country.
Through all of Max's problems due to the use of drugs, her kids never deserted her which is a wonderful thing. Despite all of the problems she raised three fine kids with help from no one, other than the kids themselves. As long as Dr. Harvey practiced, Max worked for him. By the time he retired she could no longer work. She sold her house and moved in the apartment upstairs at Nan and Herbs home. She lived there a long time.

Max went to live at Otterbein Home in about 1975 where she was happy living in her own room. She suffered from emphysema. but never admitted to being unable to breathe. She would get together with the family whenever they met. She finally gave in to using a walker. At Christmas 1994 her kids gave her a top of the line walker. She loved it, and once again flew around Otterbein. In 1995 she began to show symptoms of congestive heart failure and had pnuemonia several times. During the summer of 1996 she began to show other syptoms of organ shut down. Max who was ill so much of her life, lived to a a ripe old age of 84. Considering her many illnesses, and her poor state of health for so many years, it wasn't surprising to get a call on 16 Jan 1997 telling me that she had
quietly passed away away after eating her lunch.

I grew up with Max as my idol. I never had a chance of being much like her. She had the looks and the figure that I could never match. She was much loved by all her friends and family. It was unbelievable how many people came to the funeral home to pay their respects. There were so many people that she had helped when she was Dr. Harvey's nurse, and none of them forgot her for a moment.[LesanRC2.FTW]

!RESOURCES:
Peggy Rufner's Memories.
!NOTES:

My sister, Maxine Charlotte Fraser, was the first born child of Anna Cheseldine and Charles T. Fraser. She was an attractive, popular girl. She played the piano by ear, but learned to read music under the tutelage of Mrs. Lewis. She was a good student in school. After high School Graduation,she went to nursing school at Miami Valley Hospital. She became a nurse to please her grandmother Cheseldine who was a practical nurse, but she didn't really like being a nurse.

She graduated from the Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing. Dayton, Ohio in 1933. After graduation she went to New York City and worked at Gotham Hospital. She frequented a local bar where she played the piano for the customers. It was here that she met Robert Carlton Lesan (Sonny) and married him. After their marriage they came home for awhile and then went to live in a small apartment in Detroit. A year or so later they were back in Lebanon where they rented an apartment, Sonny got a job with Western and Southern Life Insurance Co. and their first child, Tom, was born.

They moved to the third floor of the University Apartment across from the Warren County Court House. Both of their other children were born while they lived there. The children were 2 1/2 years apart. Grandma Fraser loved this family, and she and her daughter Mabel helped the young family a great deal. Max worked a lot for Dr. Ralph Young, but not on a perminent basis.

Max and Sonny bought a small house on Highland Ave. in Lebanon. We were excited for them. The boys had the upstairs to themselves and Nan had her own bedroom. Everyone was happy until one night in 1951 when Sonny fell off the fire escape at the Elks. He died two days later from a fractured skull. This was a crucial blow to Max. One from which she never fully recovered.

Max had to go to work. She got a job as a public health nurse in Warren Co. Not long after she took the job, Dr. Harvey offered her a job in his office. I took the Public Health Nurse job so she could work for Dr. Harvey. It was difficult for Max to work and raise her children at the same time. She was always tired, so she began to take uppers to get through the day and sleeping pills to make her sleep at night. She often mixed alcoholic beverages with the drugs. They didn't mix. This was prior to age of drugs in this country.
Through all of Max's problems due to the use of drugs, her kids never deserted her which is a wonderful thing. Despite all of the problems she raised three fine kids with help from no one, other than the kids themselves. As long as Dr. Harvey practiced, Max worked for him. By the time he retired she could no longer work. She sold her house and moved in the apartment upstairs at Nan and Herbs home. She lived there a long time.

Max went to live at Otterbein Home in about 1975 where she was happy living in her own room. She suffered from emphysema. but never admitted to being unable to breathe. She would get together with the family whenever they met. She finally gave in to using a walker. At Christmas 1994 her kids gave her a top of the line walker. She loved it, and once again flew around Otterbein. In 1995 she began to show symptoms of congestive heart failure and had pnuemonia several times. During the summer of 1996 she began to show other syptoms of organ shut down. Max who was ill so much of her life, lived to a a ripe old age of 84. Considering her many illnesses, and her poor state of health for so many years, it wasn't surprising to get a call on 16 Jan 1997 telling me that she had
quietly passed away away after eating her lunch.

I grew up with Max as my idol. I never had a chance of being much like her. She had the looks and the figure that I could never match. She was much loved by all her friends and family. It was unbelievable how many people came to the funeral home to pay their respects. There were so many people that she had helped when she was Dr. Harvey's nurse, and none of them forgot her for a moment.

Maxine married Robert Carlton Lesan about 1937 in New York, United States. Robert (son of Harry Edmund Lesan and Rosina Locke) was born on 22 Jan 1908 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States; died in Feb 1952 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States; was buried in Feb 1952 in Lebanon, Warren, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thomas Charles Lesan
2. Nan Lesan
3. Jr. Robert Carlton Lesan

Maxine married about 1937 in New York, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Nan Lesan
2. Jr. Robert Carlton Lesan
3. Thomas Charles Lesan