forest hill 
In Memoriam
Michael Fraser
It's with great sadness that we mark the passing of Michael Fraser, who died on Saturday July 2, 2022.
Michael grew up in Montreal. When he moved to Toronto, he worked at the Metropolitan United Church, where Rev. Steve was minister in the 1990's. Shortly after Rev. Steve came to Forest Hill, Michael moved into this neighbourhood and sought him out. He volunteered to clean our Sanctuary. For him it was a spiritual exercise; for us it was the beginning of an 18 year relationship with this church -- its building and its people. It was during his time at Forest Hill that Michael met Ann, the love of his life, and they were married in our Sanctuary. The picture in this announcement was taken on their wedding day.
Over the years Michael continued to clean for us until his failing health made this impossible. He has served on the Official Board as the Chair of our Property Committee, and on Presbytery as one of our representatives. While serving on Presbytery he took on the role of Chair of their Property and Environment Commission where he oversaw the purchase, sale and renovation of several neighbouring church buildings. Michael challenged us to take our congregation's carbon footprint seriously, and helped to found the church agency that is now giving grants to congregations like ours for this purpose. The grant we recently received to help with the cost of insulating our Sanctuary roof grows out of the work that he and others began 15 years ago. Together with his wife Ann, Michael also led our youth programming for many years; lots of our teenagers remember him fondly!
Michael passed away peacefully on Saturday afternoon, surrounded by Ann, by Linda and Stephen Fetter, and by Dorothy Hollingsworth.
A funeral will be held for Michael on Saturday afternoon July 9, at 3pm. His ashes will be scattered in the Peace Garden, and the UCW will host a reception at the church immediately following the service.
The worship service will be livestreamed to Zoom and YouTube for those who cannot join us in person.
A number of members of the church have asked Rev. Steve how they might contribute to the funeral costs. Unfortunately CRA regulations make it complicated to consider these contributions to be eligible for a charitable tax receipt. Since Rev. Steve is an Executor to Michael's Estate, we've determined that the easiest way to contribute is to send monies directly to him. He will pay the funeral home and the church and UCW expenses, and the balance of the contributions will go to Ann. You can send monies by Interac e-transfer to his personal email address: