Obituary Catherine 'Suse' Fitz

A funeral for Catherine "Suse" Fitz, 93, will be at 1 p.m. Monday at the Smith Family Funeral Home in Fallon.

Mrs. Fitz died April 9, 2002 at a Carson City care center. She was born April 8, 1909, in Lockport, N.Y., to William and Elizabeth Scott Lerch.

She married Harold E. Fitz in 1928 in Los Angeles. At the time of his death in 2001, they had been married 72 years and were the longest-married couple in Churchill County.

They came to Fallon in 1929 and farmed in the Stillwater district for many years. She and her husband traveled the world and visited every continent except Antarctica.

Mrs. Fitz was an avid gardener, an excellent seamstress, a 4-H leader and she was active in local and state Democratic politics. Former governor Grant Sawyer appointed her to The Governor's Institutional Committee, on which she served several years. She was active in The Daughters of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the Nile, the PEO Sisterhood in which she served as president seven times and an active volunteer for the hospital auxiliary. She was also a member of the Stillwater Friendly Club, the Artemesia Club, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Fallon Garden Club and also two bridge clubs.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by an infant son and two granddaughters Catherine Ann Pintar and Karen Elizabeth Fitz and a brother Robert Lerch.

Among her survivors are her daughter and son-in-law Ruth and Mike Pintar; son and daughter-in-law Robert and Laurie Fitz; granddaughters Susan Pintar-Kop, Nancy Yamamoto and Ann Erwin, all of Carson City; granddaughter Jeannette Page and grandson Michael Pintar, both of Reno and granddaughter Mary Mills of Wichita, Kan.; and 15 great-grandchildren.

Burial will be in the Fallon Churchill Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Catherine "Suse" Fitz Scholarship Fund, c/o Western Nevada Community College, 160 Campus Way, Fallon, NV 89406 or to The Laura Mills Park Rose Garden Fund, c/o Fallon City Hall (attention Beverly), 55 W. Williams Ave., Fallon, NV 89406.

Smith Family Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements.