Living History: Local Lansdale resident Marian Fraga offers inspiring wisdom to the youth of today through her own life experiences. (Credit: Alex Kim/The Knight Crier)
A feature from the North Penn High School student newspaper, "The Knight Crier"
Everyone knows a good underdog story, the type where a tree grows from concrete or something equally impressive. But sometimes the best underdog stories are the ones that take place right next door.
Obstacles have been thrown at humanity since the beginning of time, but for just as long, people have learned to conquer them. Marian Fraga, a local resident at Brittany Point, is living proof that the human spirit transcends all generations.
Fraga was born in upstate Pennsylvania to an immigrant mother and an American father. Her mother had travelled to the United States only six years prior, at only 15 years old, from Czechoslovakia, which had been occupied by Germany during WWII. Fraga’s mother had a difficult life herself, but pushed past abuse from German soldiers, endured prolonged separation from her parents and firstborn child overseas, and overcame the death of her husband to make a life for Fraga and her siblings in the United States.
“I think I had a wonderful childhood and a wonderful mom,” Fraga explained. “She had to raise us by herself… so it was not an easy thing for her, but she never complained.”
So when Fraga decided that she wanted to become a nurse, the first person she talked to was her mother.
“When I was in high school, it was time to think of what I’m going to do with the rest of my life. And I always felt I wanted to be a nurse. Well, I told my mom, and she said ‘Honey, I would love [for you] to be a nurse, but I can’t afford it,” Fraga recounted.
By this time Fraga’s father was very sick with a lung condition, only made worse by his job spraypainting refrigerators in Philadelphia where they had moved, and when she graduated from high school, she went to take care of him.
“[My father] died on my shift,” she said, “but at least I was there with him.”
Fraga’s father had been in and out of hospitals all through her life. She said that it was one reason nursing called to her, so she could help people like her father. The other reasons were much less wholesome.
“Well, back then, in our generation, [women] were either a nurse, a secretary, or a teacher… You know, it’s not like now where you have women who are CEOs of companies,” Fraga reflected. “They were the three big opportunities [women] had.”
Fraga never saw herself going to college to become a nurse, not with her mother’s limited income, but she ended up going to an Ivy League school on a full scholarship.
“[My sister] got this wonderful job with the doctor, [who was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania]. She asked if he could get me a scholarship,” explained Fraga. “He did. He got me a full scholarship. He even gave me the name of the women’s group that would provide uniforms and books for me.”
She ended up graduating and working at the university for about three years, reaching the title of Head Nurse of the VIP ward, nursing for high-end patients and even royalty.
“I remember a prince from Africa,” Fraga recalled. “He used to like to talk to me because, you know, I could speak a little bit of French [and that was his native language].”
At 25, Fraga married her husband, George Fraga, and at 27 she was pregnant with her first child, Mark. Soon after, they moved to Lansdale, chasing another job opportunity for George. Their daughter Debbie and their second son Christopher came after in quick succession.
Marian was a stay at home mother until her kids went into junior high school here in the North Penn School District, then she went back into part-time nursing. She claims that the successes of her children are owed to her mother and her ancestors immigrating into America.
“I really felt bad for my mom having to work so hard,” Fraga said. “As far as having a hard life, she had a long life. And, you know, everybody loved her.”
I asked Marian if she had the opportunity to every change anything, would she choose to be a nurse, a secretary, or a teacher?
“No. I always wanted to be a nurse. I guess I just wanted to help people,” she said.
Marian dedicated her life to helping others. Now living at Brittany Pointe Estates, she is a living representation of our history and experiences being a part of who you become. With a hardworking, kind woman as her mother, and a diligent, persistent man as her father, it only made sense for her to become someone they would be proud of. And also Mrs. Fraga serves as a reminder: that no matter where you come from, there is always a future full of potential waiting for you.
