Charles Harrison Frazier Meade died peacefully on Oct. 11, 2025 in his home in Newcastle surrounded by loving family.
Born in 1928 in Charlottesville, Va. to Mary Frazier and Richard Hardaway Meade, Frazier earned a B.A. in history from Harvard University. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he completed a master’s in foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. He later received an M.S. in oceanography from the University of Rhode Island. He spent his childhood years in Miquon, Pa. and Crozet, Va. His accomplished career as a foreign service officer spanned four decades, and his passion for sailing was topped only by his extraordinary devotion to Susan, his wife of 70 years.
Frazier’s overseas assignments included Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; London, United Kingdom; Cebu, Philippines; Manila, Philippines; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Before leaving for the Philippines he completed a one-year course at the University of Michigan to prepare him for a foreign service post in Southeast Asia.
One of his joys during his time in Manila was the daily commute from his home to the U.S. Embassy, which he conducted via bicycle. It was a source of solace, of independence, and of exercise. So committed was he to his bicycle that he almost never resorted to any other means of transportation, even in the days following the powerful typhoons that would periodically rip through the greater Manila area. And so he would regale family and friends with stories of wading through 4 feet pools of water, bicycle held above his head!
He subsequently served in the Pentagon and at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. on the Philippines desk and the Thailand and Myanmar desk. He took a sabbatical in 1972 to study oceanography and underwater photography, the latter of which under the tutelage of renowned underwater photographer pioneer Cathy Church in the Cayman Islands. Frazier retired from the Department of State in 1986.
The greatest joys from his time abroad included getting to know and interact with the people he met, in all walks of life, wherever he lived. His ability to gently relate touched so many, many people. He was both fascinated by and fond of nature, and was especially devoted to his cats, Calico, Torte, and Jennyanydots. He loved the ocean, and especially relished snorkeling and scuba diving in the Philippines and Haiti. A favorite of these experiences involved being dropped off by boat at an isolated island beach with food, water, and camping supplies, where he would spend a happy weekend relishing the ocean and the company of his family.
Frazier’s first love was sailing, a lifelong passion dating back to early childhood days spent at his grandfather’s cottage on North Haven. A dream of his came true during his last overseas post in Haiti, where he got a good deal on a beached, 38-foot sloop called Fortuna. At the end of his post, he embarked on a great adventure: an 11-day sail with friends and family through the Bahamas to Florida. The journey saw him surfing “wing and wing” down huge seas in the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba, sitting out a hurricane tied up to a dock in the Bahamas, and even experiencing a drug bust on a neighboring vessel. He sailed the boat to Chesapeake Bay via the inland waterway and later to Penobscot Bay off of Rockland.
He was happiest at the helm of the Fortuna, where he loved to share with friends and family his expansive knowledge and knowhow of the ocean and its winds and currents. A typical, happy day in the spring, or the summer, or the fall would find him ensconced at the boat for hours on end, painting or scraping, installing and figuring out some new gadget, or laying down coat after coat of varnish to protect the beautiful wood surfaces from sun and sea.
His dedication to his wife was unparalleled. He was unfailingly loving to and supremely supportive of her throughout their 70 years of marriage and then especially gentle and caring later in life. Overseas posts saw her at his side not only during seemingly endless evening social events, sometimes as many as three in one night, but in play as well, whether it was tennis or ping pong; bridge, mahjong, Parcheesi or cribbage; charades or a game of telephone at the dining room table surrounded by children of all ages. They were inseparable, so fully enjoying one another’s company.
Frazier would do anything for Susan, which included standing side by side with her in the organization they created in 1998 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church called the Haiti Fund, where together they conducted fundraising Haitian art sales throughout Maine in order to support a school in the mountain village of Figaro, a suburb of Gros Morne, Haiti, with books, school uniforms, and teacher salaries. Following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, they expanded their work to create the Lincoln County Ecumenical Committee for Haiti, which collaborated with numerous churches and businesses to conduct an annual fundraising dinner to raise funds to benefit the most needy in Gros Morne.
Frazier and Susan lived briefly after retirement in Georgetown, S.C. and Richmond, Va. before moving and buying their current home in Newcastle, in 1993. In addition to sailing and the Haiti Fund, he took up writing mystery novels with a nautical theme and became a dedicated driver for Lincoln County Friends in Service Helping, or FISH, an all-volunteer organization in Damariscotta that offers free rides to people who need transportation. He also tutored at Nobleboro Central School. A fluent speaker of French, he religiously scheduled an hour of online language instruction before lunchtime every day. He adored spending time and sharing wisdom with his grandchildren and great-grandchild.
Frazier was predeceased by his brothers, Richard Hardaway Meade and David Everard Meade.
Frazier is survived by his brother, James Gardiner Meade; daughter, Jennifer Meade; two sons, Andrew Meade and his wife, Lila Metres Meade, and Billy Meade; four grandchildren: Andrew’s daughters, Kristen and Lily; Billy’s daughter, Elizabeth and son, Nathaniel and his wife, Katelynn; and one great-grandchild, Nathaniel’s and Katelynn’s son, Evren.
We are hugely grateful to the services of Comfort Keepers; to the entire team at CHANS Hospice, and to his longtime cleaner. Through their extraordinary professionalism, humanity, and love, they collectively helped to make Frazier’s final weeks and days as comfortable and pain and anxiety free as possible.
A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 11 Glidden St., Newcastle, ME 04553. In lieu of flowers, donations in Frazier’s memory may be made to Lincoln County FISH. Checks for FISH should be made out to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, (with both his name and FISH in the memo line) and sent to LCFISH, c/o St. Andrew’s Episcopal, P.O. Box 234, Newcastle, ME 04553.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences and messages for her family may be expressed by visiting stronghancock.com.
