Associated Press

HOOPLE - A group is restoring the grave marker of Lynn Frazier, North Dakota's 12th governor and the only one to be recalled.

Jerry Olson of Hoople said the work began after he saw that the grave of Frazier, a Hoople resident, had been neglected. He said the name was obscured and the marker had settled.

"It was like most gravesites that haven't been taken care of because there are no people around, no family around this area," Olson said.

"We thought that it was very unusual and unfortunate - that a man like Lynn Frazier and all of the things that he's done for the Hoople community and the state of North Dakota and farmers in general, as well as women, women's suffrage."

Frazier, who was North Dakota's governor from 1917 to 1921, signed legislation in 1918 that gave women the right to vote in North Dakota. He was thrown out of office midway into his third, two-year term, along with North Dakota's attorney general and agriculture commissioner, at a time of low farm prices, failing banks and opposition to a state-owned bank and mill.

The following year, North Dakotans elected Frazier to the U.S. Senate, where he served for 18 years.

Olson said the Frazier family collected money to raise the grave stone and develop a brass plaque that will be unveiled in the Hoople cemetery Sept. 5. He said he hopes North Dakota's living former governors, current Gov. John Hoeven, and students from area schools can attend.

Olson, a former University of North Dakota football coach, said Frazier was captain of the UND football team in the early 1900s. He said he and others are learning more about Frazier.

"We're very proud, and I think the community should be very proud, to have had Lynn Frazier in our community, or in our county, or in our area, period, because he was a very religious and a very community-minded person," Olson said.