Donald “Don” Irwin Frasier passed away peacefully at the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center at Homelake, in Monte Vista, Colorado on October 20, 2026. He was born in Alamosa, Colorado on May 3, 1947, as the first of eight children of Russell and Lois (Swain) Frasier.

Don grew up in the San Louis Valley of Colorado with his large family. In the summer of 1966, Don married Laurell Weir. In 1967, he joined the Airforce and subsequently moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, Don would become a father. In 1973, he received orders to go overseas to Thailand in support of the Airforce’s military operations in Vietnam. Don dutifully dropped off his in-labor wife at the hospital and boarded a plane headed overseas. It would be a full year before he saw his new-born daughter. Don would go on to serve for eight years in the Airforce as an airplane mechanic.

After leaving the Airforce, Don and his family moved to Capulin, New Mexico, where Don worked as an auto mechanic at the Texaco service station. Don and Laurell later divorced. Don continued working as a mechanic after moving to Des Moines, New Mexico, and ultimately relocating back to the San Louis Valley where he took up residence in Monte Vista. A mechanic for most of his adult life, Don worked on planes, trucks, cars, tractors, fire trucks, potato diggers, and almost anything with an engine. He enjoyed his work and found it gratifying to be able to find and fix mechanical problems (wiring problems not so much), even if that meant improvising or inventing a special tool in the process. He had a knack for being able to figure out how to fix most anything mechanical, a trait that has been passed down.

Don was known throughout his life to be kind-hearted, giving and self-reliant. He rarely asked anything for himself while being generous of his time helping others. He was known to frequently help stranded motorists whether he was working or not. Don’s self-giving and kind-heartedness were exemplified in a variety of circumstances. While living in Capulin during the 1970s, there were frequent blizzards that struck the area for days at a time. Concerned for stranded motorists and their families, Don would strike out during the storms in whiteout conditions to find and coax motorists to leave their vehicles and come to his warm house. The family recalls several times over those years opening their home to complete strangers in need of warmth while snowstorms raged outside.

Don did not have many hobbies as he spent much of his time working on one thing or another in his garage. He did enjoy watching westerns. As a young man, Don collected a few guns and became adept at reloading his own ammunition. Later in life he would spend time reading western novels by famous writers such as Louis Lamour. He was also quite attached to his dog, Skipper, who was his consummate companion before he moved into Homelake.

Don was preceded in death by his father Russell; his mother Lois; and his brothers Kenneth and Richard “Dick”. He is survived by his son, Daniel, and his wife Nelda, and their children, Bitney and Justin; his daughter, Delynn Bird, and her husband Rob, and their daughters Alison and Ashley (Philip) Grubisic and great-granddaughter Hazel; and his daughter, Julie Robinson, her husband Ben, and their sons Cole and Cale. He also leaves behind his brothers Robert (Rhoda), David (Barbara), Henry, Bruce (Sherry) and his sister Lorie Blea and many nieces and nephews.

His family owes a special debt of gratitude to Don’ care team at Homelake. Their care honored his military service while allowing Don to live his last few years in the place he called home, the San Luis Valley. Having a view of the familiar mountain ranges always made him feel at home. The family will be forever grateful to Homelake’s staff for the kind, compassionate, and respectful care provided to Don over the last four plus years.