Danny Fisher's engaging smile lights up a room and the concert stage as well. Submitted photo.

Oh I believe there are angels among us. Sent down to us from somewhere up above. They come to you and me in our darkest hours. To show us how to live, to teach us how to give. To guide us with a light of love.

--Alabama, Angels Among Us

Growing up in Hilton, Danny Frasier had the words of his favorite song imbedded in his mind. "Angels Among Us," had a double meaning for Frazier and all those who knew the boy who had no legs, but enough courage to still stand tall.

For those who spent time with the adopted son of long-time Hilton residents Rod and Sandi Frasier, Danny was an inspiration and sometimes even more than that - an angel.

Frasier was afflicted with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which rendered him legless and caused many health problems. In spite of his disease, Danny made a name for himself in the Hilton area with his outgoing personality and largely through his musical performances with local country singer Josie Waverly. Even though hearing impaired, Danny has always excelled musically. He sings and plays guitar, drums and the keyboard.

When Danny moved south with his family in 1999, he left a great void in the village of Hilton and in the hearts of many. Today, however, the miraculous Mr. Frasier continues to impress those around him - recently releasing a CD titled "Positively Danny," and he will soon hit the circuit as a motivational speaker, talking about a book recently written about him "Has Anybody Seen My Shoes?" In the last few years, Danny has gotten the chance to play with Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary and with the group that brought him his signature song, Alabama.

When his mom Sandi speaks about Danny's most noteworthy accomplishments, she has to stop to praise God and thank the kind people of Hilton who cared enough to make a difference. Sandi gets emotional when she thinks about the impact that people in her old hometown made on Danny. While Sandi admits she is glad to get away from the cold weather, thoughts of her friends in Hilton still warm her heart.

"It is amazing what God does for you when you just pay attention," said Sandi. The miracle, according to Sandi, began at school. Danny benefitted from services provided by BOCES, which prepared him to enter kindergarten as a mainstreamed student. There Danny benefitted from the wisdom of veteran teacher Maryann O'Brien who knew just how to make him fit in with all of his classmates.

"He didn't stay a novelty very long," said Sandi. "Because of Mrs. O'Brien's intuition he became just one of the children." Danny went from O'Brien's classrooms into the capable hands of Lorraine Marianetti, who was another "right teacher at the right time."

While at the Quest School, Danny received a lot of individual instruction from retired teacher Jack Frowley, who helped out as a teacher's aide. He worked with Danny, teaching him guitar and teaching him many Peter Paul and Mary songs, which later earned Danny the chance to play alongside Yarrow.

It was while Danny was a student at Quest that he met Josie Waverly. Sandi took Danny with his six siblings to an outdoor concert Waverly was performing at Hilton East to commemorate the home's 25th anniversary. During one of the songs Waverly asked all of the children in the audience to come up to the front, so she could teach them how to line dance. Not detecting his mom's nervous expression, Danny went up to the front with all of the other kids. Waverly was pairing the kids shoulder to shoulder and when she got to Danny she put him up on stage. He danced and grooved to the music just as enthusiastically as any of his two-legged counterparts.
As Sandi put her children in the family van after the show, Waverly came over to say goodbye. When she got to the van Danny asked her if she could sing "God Bless the USA" at her next concert. When she asked Danny about the song he began belting out the words and gave Waverly a rendition that left her in tears.

Danny continued to follow the country singer from concert to concert. At many of her shows Waverly would pull Danny up on stage to perform. One night when she did this Danny surprised her with a new song for him, "Angels Among Us." That night Sandi received an emotional call from Waverly. She explained that the concert Danny had come to was intended to be her last professional appearance. Life as a professional singer had worn Waverly down, but with Danny's voice still ringing in her ears, she vowed to continue. It was soon after that Waverly released a new CD in which she wrote seven of the 11 songs herself. After that, Danny became a regular part of her show.

Waverly said Danny remains one of her biggest inspirations.

"When people look at Danny they get this poor boy attitude," said Waverly. "They have no idea how full of life Danny really is."

Sandi said Waverly has no idea how much she has done for Danny. "For as much as she had going on in her professional life it was impressive that she would take the time to mentor Danny," said Sandi. "I think she gave Danny the confidence he needed to do all the things he's done."

Sandi said it is amazing to look at everything her son has accomplished, and to realize that it can all be traced back to a kind gesture from one of their friends in Hilton. It was either a teacher going the extra mile, Waverly's special bond with Danny, Ruth and Dick Allen who used to take Danny to their church, St. Paul Lutheran, or help from Hilton Olympian Cathy Turner.

While living in Hilton, Danny competed in the Empire State Games held at SUNY Brockport. He was able to capture many medals thanks to his friend with the golden touch. Danny, who followed Turner's Olympic run closely with the rest of his family, met her at a rally held in Turner's honor. Turner was gracious with her time and helped Danny train at the gym she owned in the village.

It was with this support that Danny began his new life down south. It didn't take long for Danny to begin to make his mark at his new home. Soon after beginning high school, he came home with a surprise for his mother.

He told Sandi he want to join the band. "I told him, 'of course dear' he had already played in a band back in Hilton and loved music," said Sandi. "Then he told me 'No mom, I'm going to be in a marching band."

And march he did. He even marched his way onto the 6 o'clock news a few times.

Today Danny is 18 and working hard to finish up high school. His CD, in which many of the songs are written by former Hilton neighbor Don Blad, is selling quite well and he recently launched his own website with the help of some of his friends at church, www.dannyfrasier.faithweb.com. He is performing at local festivals and area nursing homes and even plans to come back to Hilton soon to perform again with Waverly.

Danny sees his life as blessed.

"I am a lucky kid for sure, I have a wonderful family and God has blessed me many times," said Danny. "I would like the people in Hilton to know that I will always remember the kindness and acceptance of friends, teachers and neighbors. I've had so many great experiences that have helped me along my way."

Danny doesn't take any of his experiences for granted.

"Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined the things I have done so far," said Danny. "Someone told me, it's not what you don't have, it's what you do with what you've got. I'll always remember that."