Jo Frazier-Meyer was a vibrant, joyful, talkative and social person. A graduate of Southwestern Adventist College and Academy (now known as Southwestern Adventist University) in Keene, Tex., Frazier-Meyer studied to become a social worker.
“Working in the nursing home and as a social worker were really her cup of tea,” her sister, Zela Padon-Denny, shared. “She liked it; she was good at it.” Frazier-Meyer worked many years as a social worker, helping others in Arlington and Fort Worth until her retirement.
A person of strong faith, she would often underline or write in her Bible. One such text was “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust,” Psalm 16:1 KJV. Having been divorced decades prior, she also highlighted Genesis 2:18 KJV, “And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.’” She wrote beside it, “You said it, Lord. You do it.” About four years later, she added, “He did.”
She and her new husband, Richard “Dick” Meyer, volunteered at the Gainesville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Gainesville, Tex. “She would sing and play the piano,” Padon-Denny recalled. “He was quiet; she was a talker. They loved their church family.”
Desiring to give even more to the church, the Meyers started buying, remodeling, renting and selling properties. “That buying and selling allowed them both to give more to charity,” Padon-Denny shared. They were married for 25 years before Meyer’s death in 2019.
Frazier-Meyer joined many mission trips to Rwanda as an evangelistic speaker.
Wanting to continue supporting church work after her death, Frazier-Meyer set up a Last Will and Testament and a Charitable Trust with the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. This allowed her to support the ministries she valued the most.
Padon-Denny and her husband, Walter Denny, were present when a check was presented on behalf of Jo Frazier-Meyer during the Adventist Community Services Open House in Keene, Texas, on Sept. 1, 2022. In addition to supporting Lake Whitney Ranch in Clifton, Tex., Frazier-Meyer’s charitable bequests also supported evangelism and church-building projects in the Rwanda Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists.
Thank you, “Sister Jo,” for your life of service. Eternity alone will tell of the impact you had on earth and for eternity.
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Uzziel Maldonado is an associate director for Planned Giving & Trust Services/Stewardship for the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Alvarado, Tex.
A version of this article appeared in the January/February 2023 issue of the Southwestern Union Record. You can find the online issues here.
