Dr. Fraser, Orthodontics Pioneer With High Expectations For Himself

Dr. Emery James Fraser, who pioneered orthodontics in Washington state, was a natural.

He loved medical science. He enjoyed doing detail work with his hands. And he liked helping people.

That he was a happy man with high expectations for himself and others merely added to the respect he garnered in 40 years of practice.

"He grew up on a homestead in Waterville, Douglas County," said his daughter Lee Mullin of Seattle. "He was around animals and became interested in their care early on."

Dr. Fraser, who died Tuesday at 92, graduated from Northwestern University School of Dentistry.

In the 1920s he returned to Spokane to practice dentistry and orthodontics - then in its infancy.

He moved to Seattle in 1929, then Bellevue in 1950, where he practiced until the late 1970s.

Beginning in 1948 he taught clinical orthodontics part time at the University of Washington at the behest of the new School of Orthodontics' director, Alton Moore.

"He had very high standards," said Moore, "and he helped establish standards for not only the state but nationwide."

In his spare hours, Dr. Fraser enjoyed fly fishing and golf.

His son-in-law Shan Mullin said Dr. Fraser was good with children:

"He was very gentle, always happy. Yet he could be a disciplinarian. If they weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing between visits, he'd tell them."

Other survivors include his daughters, Ann Weber of Seattle and Susan Rulifson, Bainbridge Island; his brother, Bethel Fraser, Yuma, Ariz.; nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His wife Evelyn died in 1989.

Services are at 3 p.m. tomorrow at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.

Remembrances may be made to Dept. of Orthodontics Memorial Fund, c/o UW School of Dentistry, D-569, Health Sciences Building SM 46, Seattle, WA 98195; to St. Stephen's Church Endowment Fund, 4805 N.E. 45th St., Seattle, WA 98105, or to Spring Meadow Specialized Home, 19507 21st Pl. S., Seattle, WA 98177.