Harold 'Hal' Frazier, noted Hawai'i engineer, dead at 91

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

Harold Victor "Hal" Frazier, a noted engineer whose dredging crews provided assistance in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, died March 15. He was 91.

Frazier, of Lihu'e, was working with a consortium of engineering and construction firms making improvements to the harbor when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941.

"He was not at the center of the attack — they were dredging in West Loch — but he didn't come home for 48 hours. The dredging crew worked around the clock trying to help people, trying to save people's lives and to collect bodies," said his wife, Frances Frazier, an author and translator of Hawaiian documents.

Seldom was his work as exciting as it was that day, but the public-works projects on which he worked were important ones for the Islands.

Frazier specialized as an engineer on dredging and tunnel projects. He drilled water tunnels around O'ahu for the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. He oversaw the construction of the Moloka'i water tunnel that pierces the island from Kaunakakai on the south shore to Waikolu on the north. After the 1946 tsunami, he oversaw the reconstruction of the Nawiliwili Bay breakwater, and he built the original small boat harbor at Port Allen.

Frazier spent much of his career with Hawaiian Dredging, but in later years worked independently. He did river dredging work in what is now Bangladesh, and worked on harbor projects in Japan, Java and Taiwan.

He was born in Honolulu, the son of a U.S. Army engineer.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Stephanie Frazier; hanai daughter Kathy Valier; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

No funeral is planned. A celebration of his life will be held on his birthday, July 29, in Lihu'e.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.