Travis R. Frazier

KEARNEYSVILLE – Christina Durham said she is doing everything she can to help the family of 14-year-old Travis R. Frazier, who died after being struck by a train last week.

Frazier was a student at Shepherdstown Middle School.

Durham is a family friend who also lost a son several years ago, and she set up a fund this week that will help pay for Frazier’s funeral expenses and help his family cope with his tragic death.

“Currently we have borrowed money in order to be able to do the funeral,” Durham said. “I was just trying to help any way I can.”

Frazier is survived by his mother, Dawn; his older brother Thomas Staub; his 15-year-old sister, Ashlee; and other relatives. His father Timothy just passed away in May, and his mother lost her job just before her husband died.

The family has been struggling financially, and the mother did not have life insurance for her son, said Durham, who is a neighbor in Leetown.

“The mom isn’t really coping too well, she’s still pretty shaken up about everything,” Durham said. “They are all having a really hard time with the tragedy, but everyone deals with it in a different way.”

Frazier was struck by a MARC commuter train at approximately 7:30 p.m. June 19, while he and a friend were riding bikes near a railroad crossing in the 1000 block of Van Clevesville Road near the Sycamore Village Subdivision.

He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Durham is asking people to donate to the fund “basically to help a family that’s in great need and doesn’t have the means to do this themselves.”

Anyone who would like to donate can make checks payable to the Travis R. Frazier Care Fund. They can be dropped off at any Bank of Charles Town location or mailed to 5480 Charles Town Road, P.O. Box 579, Kearneysville, WV 25430.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Brown Funeral Home, and family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.