Mary Alice (Braymen) Fitz (1930-2018)
FITZ, BRAYMEN, WINFREY, LOZOVOY, CLARK, HIGGINS, SLAYMAKER, BERRY, DUKE, BORUP
Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 2/4/2018 at 09:07:32
Obituary From Adams Soderstrum Funeral Home, Story County, Iowa.
Mary Alice Fitz was born July 7, 1930, the fourth of what would become the ten children of Bert Braymen and Helen (Winfrey) Braymen. They lived at Lone Rock Farm outside of Shenandoah, Iowa. Whether it was the economy or just plain common sense, the Braymen family never let anything go to waste, planning carefully and reusing whenever possible… a trait that Mary practiced for her entire life.
She may have been a farmer’s daughter but she has never milked a cow. The boys did that chore and the girls cleaned the separator. Mary attended Lone Rock School, a one room school across the road from the family farm house.
She graduated from Shenandoah High School and continued her studies in Mathematics at Iowa State until a striking young Ames boy spotted her at the college youth group meeting at the First Christian Church and swept her off her feet. Their faith and the First Christian Church became central to their lives from that point on. Mary and E. Robert (Bob) Fitz were married in the living room at Lone Rock Farm on July 7, 1950.
Mary and Bob settled in Ames and Mary threw herself into raising up their four children. She was a Camp Fire Girl and Cub Scout leader, Indian Guide supporter, story reader, craft maker, and homework helper. She enjoyed the outdoors and organized family camping trips until her kids had been to every State Park within an 80 mile radius of Ames.
As if her own kids weren’t enough of a handful, Mary reached out with both hands to help others in the community: bringing children from the children’s home to church each week, helping adult non-readers to read, and helping foreign students at Iowa State practice their English as a second language skills.
And there was more. When the kids set off on careers of their own, Mary went to work for the City of Ames as a meter reader, that is, electric and water meters, never parking meters. She retired after 15 years of traipsing through nearly every yard in Ames. Then she started on the next generation, providing child care for some of her grandchildren.
Mary was volunteer extraordinaire. It was very important to her that no one should go hungry so she handed out food stuffs at the Bethesda Food Shelf. Mary also volunteered at the Iowa Games and Special Olympics until the t-shirt drawer was overflowing. Along with others, she helped coordinate the funeral lunches and weddings receptions at First Christian Church. As some events became too strenuous she moved on to serving lunches at the Heartland Senior Center every day for many more years.
Mary passed away peacefully after a short stay as a guest of Northcrest Healthcare Unit on Friday, January 19, 2018, surrounded by her family.
Mary is survived by her husband of 68 years, Edwin Robert (Bob) Fitz; their children, Diane (George) Lozovoy, David (Jeannie) Fitz, Roger (Judy) Fitz and Suzanne (Doug) Clark; seven grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; two brothers, Ralph (Judy) Braymen and Donald Braymen; and one sister, Anna Higgins (Roger Borup).
Mary was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Paul Braymen and Allan Braymen; and four sisters, Catherine Slaymaker, Grace Berry, Ruth Duke and Pat Borup.
In lieu of flowers, please send monetary donations in memory of Mary Fitz to: First Christian Church, Bethesda Community Food Pantry, or Heartland Senior Services. All three are located in Ames.
Funeral Service
Wednesday 24 Jan 2:00 PM
First Christian Church
611 Clark Avenue
Ames, Iowa 50010Wednesday 24 Jan 3:00 PM
Ames Municipal Cemetery
310 E 9th St.
Ames, IA IA 5001
http://www.adamssoderstrum.com/
Story Obituaries maintained by Mark Christian.
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