Jody Fraser sits Friday behind a replica of St. Mary’s Residences she made with gingerbread, icing and hard candy. The former pastry chef and recent resident of the apartment building at 100 Campus Ave. in Lewiston spent more than week on the project. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
LEWISTON — Jody Fraser moved into St. Mary’s Residences on Campus Avenue a couple months ago and it didn’t take her long to get the lay of the land.
She has already made a replica of the building she lives in — out of gingerbread.
The former pastry chef spent just over a week measuring molds, baking and spreading icing to make a 4-foot wide replica of the home she shares with her parents and 131 other residents.
Fraser was born across the street at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1982.
She joined the United States Marine Corps in 1984 and during her time in the military she started baking cakes. She moved to Lewiston from Florida two months ago to live closer to her parents.
Fraser lives on the back side of the independent senior apartment building while her parents, Joel and Kathy Fraser, live on the top floor next to a porch.
St. Mary’s Residences at 100 Campus Ave. in Lewiston, seen Friday, has 128 apartments and is home to 134 residents. Jody Fraser, who made a replica of the building out of gingerbread, moved in recently to live closer to her parents. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Fraser’s creation has 550 windows, the same as St. Mary’s Residences. Thirty six of them and one main entrance are made from Jolly Rancher hard candy.
“I wanted a challenge and a way to give back to the residents,” Fraser said of her decision to build the replica.
She said the first thing people do when they see the gingerbread home is find the window of their apartment.
Fraser said if she were to do it again, she would add holiday decorations and lights to the inside so the windows would shine bright.
“I might do it again,” she said. “It’s a labor of love.”
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