error unless I include a dummy Sub

[leonmcd]

I have a working VBA program that I decided to clean up.
I rearranged some Subs and Functions and got an error.
Error 91 Object variable or With block variable not set.
The error is on the fr Range variable in a Sub farther down in the code

After much trial and error I discovered that I could eliminate the problem by adding a dummy sub at the start of the code

code looks like ...

Sub dummy()
    ' code will not work without  this dummy routine
    ' don't know why
End Sub

Dim fr As Range

Sub getNewBadChecks() ...

If I comment out the dummy Sub I get the error.

Every seen anything like this ? What's the fix?