Doris was one of 12 children born to James Fiddmont and Lucy Barnett Fiddmont. The couple moved to the St. Louis area from Arkansas in 1926. They bought a house in the Maplewood area and, for 32 years, James served as a minister at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Richmond Heights. Four of Doris’ brothers also became ministers.

During her high school years also is when Doris met Clifford H Frazier Sr. At that time, Lincoln University in Jefferson City was a destination for high school track and choir events. Clifford drove his younger sisters, who went to school with Doris, to those events, which ultimately led to Doris meeting Clifford.

Doris had worked with musical director Kenneth Billups to learn “Pace, Pace Mio Dio” in Italian for a music contest at Berea Presbyterian Church. Clifford ended up taking her to the event due to a streetcar strike.

“I started dating Cliff, and I would come out here [to Westland Acres] to help out with the music,” Doris said. “I always loved music.” She majored in it at Lincoln University.

In 1950, Doris and Cliff were married.

“I told him I wouldn’t move out here unless he built me a house,” Doris said. “So he built me a house.”

She described moving from Maplewood to the more rural Westland Acres community as “night and day.”

“The only thing we had was electricity,” Doris said. “We didn’t have anything else, in the form of gas or water. It wasn’t really that far, but it seemed like it was because, back then, there wasn’t really a highway.

“Highway 40 was only two lanes. I remember my mother and father saying, ‘You’re going to go out where?’… It was like the country. We didn’t have transportation; we didn’t have bus service. In fact, all the kids went to one school. Even the mail didn’t come here. But one thing I realized is there is such a oneness among all the families [here]. That oneness, it still remains today.”

After spending some time working for a human development corporation in St. Louis County, Doris began using her experience to further develop the growing community of Westland Acres, including the expansion of the one-room schoolhouse.

In the 1970s, Doris and her siblings formed a professional singing group known as “Doris Frazier & The Fiddmont Singers.” The band toured across the U.S. and recorded four gospel albums that have since been uploaded to video sites, including YouTube. Doris also appeared on a television show called “Let My People Sing” through KNLC.

Before and during her time in Westland Acres, Doris taught piano, sometimes with as many as 35 students. She also played piano and directed choirs for multiple Baptist churches across West County, including in Creve Coeur and Chesterfield. To this day, she writes some of her own songs.