LeBrun Hope Frye

LeBrun Hope Frye
August 16, 1944 — July 21, 2025

LeBrun Frye died at CarePartners Hospice Solace Center in Asheville, NC, on July 21, 2025. She was 80.

LeBrun was the second child of Argyle and Alice Lautzenhiser. (She was named after the female French Neoclassical painter.) One of six children, she spent the majority of her childhood in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. She graduated high school at 16 and, craving independence, enrolled in stenography school in Boston. She worked as a court reporter for decades, becoming recognized as one of the top in the country. In the mid-1990s she transitioned to doing closed captioning for TV. From her home, she captioned live TV for programs across the country, including many late-night hours of QVC. As a captioner for the Cleveland evening news, she began following the career of LeBron James, then a star high school player. She continued to be an ardent fan of LeBron, her near twin in name, in the decades to come.

LeBrun met her husband Dana Frye at a bar in Boston’s Back Bay in 1969 when he was visiting on business. They eloped months later and she moved to Appleton, Wis., where Dana lived. They raised their daughter Carrie as part of a tight-knit circle of family friends in Appleton, a period of LeBrun’s life marked by her love of theater-going, music, extravagant parties, travel, and general irrepressible-ness. She and Dana moved to Asheville, NC, in 1990, and at the time of Dana’s death, in 2009, had been married for forty years.

In 2013, LeBrun moved to Auburn, Ind., where she got to re-knit her life to her siblings’, a life chapter she found deeply meaningful. In her time in Auburn she also made many fast friends, another development that delighted her. In April 2025, she returned to Asheville to live near Carrie and her son-in-law Lowell.

In Appleton, LeBrun served as the president of the Fox Valley Symphony League and, with Dana, as resident “parents” for the ABC House. After retirement and her move to Auburn, she became a fiendish bridge player, belonging to the Thursday Bridge Group at the Heimach Center, the Womens’ Monthly Duplicate Bridge Club, and the Auburn Associate Tri Kappa BRIDGE-A-RAMA Club, earning masters points. She was a dedicated member of the Ladies Literary Club of Auburn, a book club founded in 1884, serving in a number of roles, including president.

LeBrun was a person of tremendous spirit, will, and intelligence. She was a patron saint of unruly teens and young adults, and a queen of the generous impulse put into action. She loved beauty and creativity, knitting and needlepoint, Rachmaninoff and Willie Nelson. She was a passionate reader and an ardent dog lover. She also adored talking to her best friend Diana Flannery (a friend of more than 50 years) about everything under the sun. In her later years, she set a tremendous example of meeting challenges with hope and love.

LeBrun is survived by her daughter Carrie (and husband Lowell Allen); her stepchildren with Dana, Meri Wagner (and partner Tom Kremens), Thomas, and Rick Frye; her five siblings, Ted Lautzenhiser; Renee Lautzenhiser, Jan Matthew Lautzenhiser (and wife Penny); Shelley Parson (and husband Mike); and Frans Lautzenhiser (and wife Lynne); and ten nieces and nephews. She was a grandmother and great-grandmother many times over through her stepchildren and enjoyed being able to trace Dana’s features in the younger generations; she was also a grandmother to Lowell’s children, Sarah Nabors (and husband Tyler) and Dan Allen (and wife Devon).

The family will be celebrating LeBrun’s life in a private gathering. They request that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Save the Children or the Eckhart Public Library in Auburn, Indiana.

Groce Funeral Home on Tunnel Rd. is assisting the family.