Obituary
Funeral services for Max Fraze, 83, of Portales, will be held at 2:00 PM, Thurs., Feb. 16, 2023 at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Portales, with Steve Friskup officiating, assisted by Arkie Kiehne. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Tom MacKechnie, Jared Fraze, Carl Lane Johnson, Danny Berry, Tommy Pearson, Arkie Kiehne, Roy Lee Criswell, and Sylvester Mayfield serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be Clade Pearson, Jarred Johnson, Justin Johnson, James Sours, Bill Medlin, John Gentry, Chuck Stran, Bill Gardner and Jerry Cryer.
Max Bryant Fraze was born Oct. 2, 1939 at the family home in Dora, to the home of Zillah Florene (Ragland) and Ralph Benjamin Fraze, and died at his home at the edge of Portales, surrounded by his family on the evening of Feb. 11, 2023. Max grew up in Dora, and graduated from high school in 1958. While in school, he played basketball, baseball and ran track. He also was a member of FFA, showing steers, judging and doing a little bit of rodeoing. Max attended Eastern New Mexico University for a year, but decided that was not the route he wanted to go. For a time, he worked as a house mover in Albuquerque before being drafted into the US Army.
At his basic training, he was rated “Expert” on the rifle range during the coldest winter on record at Ft. Carson, Colorado. Max served in Germany during his time of service, and because he was one of the few men able to type, he was assigned as a court reporter. Following his discharge, he returned to Portales, and on June 6, 1965, he was married to Sharen Savage.
He worked for New Mexico Gas Co. until 1969, when he went to work as a feed salesman for Moorman’s Livestock Feed Co. In 1971, they moved to the Clovis area and then when he was promoted to District Sales Manager in 1973, they moved to Grape Creek, TX. He was promoted again in 1976 to the position of State Sales Manager, and at that time they moved to Roswell. His district covered all of New Mexico, as well as part of Texas and Oklahoma, so in 1983, they moved to Clovis to be more centrally located. Max left Moorman’s in the early 1990’s and went to work for Postive Feed as a salesman. In addition, he ran wheat cattle and worked for a time for his son, Wesley, on his son’s dairy. Shortly after the death of his wife in 2008, he stopped working in sales, and devoted his time to breeding and selling race horses. As a matter of providence, one of the colts he bred, won a race on the very day that Max died.
On May 16, 2015, he was married to Marjorie Powers. Max was a lifelong member of the Baptist church, and for the past several years had attended the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Portales. He was a member of the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association, the American Quarter Horse Association, and the Elks Club in Clovis.
He is survived by his wife, Marjorie of their home; two sons and daughters-in-law, Wade and Julie Fraze of Portales and Wes and Wende Fraze of Hico, TX; four grandchildren, Tayler Fraze, Toree (Payton) Williams, Braden (Leah) Fraze and Kelly (Zach) Shank and two great-grandchildren expected later this spring; his sister, Wilma Buzard of Portales; and his wife’s children, Bryce (Courtney) Powers of Amarillo, TX, Jo Lynn Powers of Portales, and Marla (Scott) Schumacher of Manassas, VA. He was preceded in death by both of his parents, a brother, Gene Fraze, and by Sharen Fraze, his wife of almost 43 years, who died Feb. 29, 2008.
