Dottie May Frazier (July 15, 1922 – February 8, 2022) was an American diver, designer, and dive shop owner. Her life is chronicled in her autobiography, ''Trailblazer: The Extraordinary Life of Diving Pioneer, Dottie Frazier''. She was the first female scuba instructor and the first female dive shop owner.

Early life

Dorothy Adele Reider was born on July 15, 1922, in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, to parents Francis and Laura Davis Reider. She was injured in the

1933 Long Beach earthquake The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 , and ...

. She graduated from

Long Beach Polytechnic High School Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...

in 1939.

Career

Frazier began teaching

freediving Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breat ...

in the 1940s. During World War II she worked for

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and military, defense company based in Southern California. Founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr., it merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell D ...

. In 1955, Frazier became a certified scuba instructor and was the first woman in the United States to do so. She also created some of the first

wetsuit A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on the water. ...

patterns for women. The suits were developed under the name Penguin Suits in conjunction with Frazier's dive shop, Penguin Dive Shop. Penguin was the first female-owned dive shop. After the birth of her third son, Frazier founded Aqua Families, a club of divers who dove with their children.

Personal life and death

Frazier had four sons and was married three times. She died in Long Beach on February 8, 2022, at the age of 99.

Awards

Frazier was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2019, Frazier was awarded the Historical Diving Society's Diving Pioneer Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frazier, Dottie 1922 births 2022 deaths American freedivers People from Long Beach, California Underwater diving pioneers Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni Women Divers Hall of Fame