Dorotha Irene Fitz died on April 22, 2026, following a short illness, at McMahon Tomlinson Nursing Center in Lawton. She lived a long, productive life, and I am grateful for every year we shared.

Dottie, to family and friends-was born July 16, 1925, in Parkersburg, West Virginia, to Lucille
Gilbert Hill and Harry Truman Hill. In the 1930's, she moved with her parents and her older
sisters, Ruth and Waldene, to Philo, Ohio. There she attended Philo High School, home of the
"Electrics," with a lightning bolt as the high school mascot representing the nearby power plant.

While growing up in Philo, she met my father, Kenny Fitz. They were married during the World War II years, when my father served as a member of a B-17 crew in the European Theater. My mother carried the weight of those years with quiet strength and faith. After the war, they lived for a few years in Zanesville, Ohio, where I was born, before moving to Madison, Indiana, in 1955. Madison remained at their home for the next 62 years.

My mother worked for twenty years at the Jefferson Proving Ground, U.S. Army munitions testing facility, in the ballistics photography lab. She retired in 1987, proud of her work and her service.

After retirement, my parents traveled extensively, visiting Hawaii, Australia, Alaska, the
Caribbean, Las Vegas, and many destinations reached by long road trips across the country. Their home in Madison was filled with activity and friendship, centered on the large screened-in porch, where poker games, euchre nights, bridge gatherings, and dinner parties were common. Many of my friends were welcomed into those evenings and became part of the circle.

Mom was seldom wasteful of her time. She was a voracious reader, made several beautiful
quilts, knitted, did needlepoint, mowed the grass, painted the interior of the house more times
than I can remember and still found time to find projects for dad.

She and my father bowled together in a couple's league and belonged to a couple's bridge club (She continued to play bridge weekly until last year.). My mother was also active at North United Methodist Church in Madison. She helped prepare food for post-funeral bereavement meals-her potato salad and deviled eggs were well known-made donuts at the church booth during the county fair and participated in annual church clean-up days. She served quietly, without seeking recognition.

My mother's Christian faith was firm and deeply held. She lived by its principles without
hesitation or complaint. If there were a few words to sum up some of her core convictions they would include moderation in all things, thriftiness, stubbornness, and the willingness and ability to endure whatever life threw her way to wit.

At age 95, she packed up the home she had lived in for 65 years and moved, along with her cat, to Lawton, Oklahoma, to be near me and my wife, Lynn. That decision reflected her
independence, her courage, and her love of family.

She is survived by me and my wife, Lynn, of Lawton; my children and their families: Grant Fitz
and his wife, Sarah, of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, and their children Landen, Parker, Olivia,
Alexa, and Jenna; Lindsay Fitz of Nashville, Tennessee; and Evan Fitz and his wife, Emily, of
Indianapolis, Indiana, and their children Hugh, James, Cora, John, Phoebe, and Elenore.

As the last remaining member of "The Greatest Generation" in my extended family, she will be remembered as an inspiration for steadfastness, strength, faith, and unwavering love in meeting all life's challenges.