Neil Fraser

a short Autobiography

Neil's mother was Alice Cran, youngest daughter of Dr. James Cran, an MD from Aberdeen, Scotland who came to Belize in the late 1800s. Dr. Cran married Adelia Biddle, daughter of a sea captain from Spain named Juan Vidal.

Vidal settled in Belize shortly after the American Civil War and Anglicized his name to Biddle. His family started Biddle's Store. Dr. Cran's older daughter, Kathleen, married Horace Stansbury, General Manager of Brodie's Store.

Neil attended both Wesley College and St.Michael's College through completion of his Senior Cambridge Exam in 1946. In 1947 he went to the United States for a year of preparatory school at Georgia Military Academy. The following year he entered college at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He completed his college education six years later at Georgia State University with a major in Business.

Settling in Atlanta, Georgia, Neil found employment in advertising, starting his career with a major distributor of General Electric appliances. From there he joined an Atlanta advertising agency, then formed his own company, Fraser Advertising, in 1963.

During his advertising career, Neil became an internationally known expert on cooperative advertising, one of the major sources of marketing funds for the retail business. He has written and spoken extensively on this subject.

In addition, he has written a number of historic articles for the magazine Belize First. His other writing interest is poetry, and his poems have been widely published in literary magazines. At the end of 1995 he closed down his business and retired. In addition to volunteer projects for the American Cancer Society, he spends his time writing, painting and working at the computer.

He is in the process of cataloging and distributing his extensive collection of historic photographs of Belize dating from to his grandfather's days at the turn of the century to his last Belize visit in 1961.

In 1960 Neil married Barbara Ann Biggs of Knoxville, Tennessee. They have two sons, Bruce and Stephen, and a grandson Adam. Two other members of the Fraser family also reside in Atlanta. The oldest, Roy Fraser, is a Civil Engineer. Joyce Fraser is married to Dr. Donald Bickers, a retired Atlanta neurosurgeon. The fourth family member, John Fraser, lived in New Orleans and was deceased four years ago after a long career in the insurance industry.