Antonia Fritz, age 95, of Cambridge and formerly of Crystal, died October 14, 2012 at GracePointe Crossing Gables West. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, October 20th at Strike Funeral Home – Cambridge Chapel with Rev. David Franzmeier officiating. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Interment will be in St. John Lutheran Cemetery in rural North Branch.
Antonia was born February 27, 1917 in Minsk, Belarus to Karl and Olga Stolbert. In 1937 she married Edward Pawlutz and they had two children. At the start of the war Antonia fled to Germany with two infant daughters and later her husband Edward was declared missing in action. She also lost several other family members in the war. In 1945 Antonia married Reinhold Fritz and they had two children. In 1955 their family came to the United States and settled in Minneapolis. They were sponsored by St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church of Edina. In 1959 they moved to Crystal where they made their home before moving to Cambridge for nursing home care. Antonia was a member of Faith Lilac Way Lutheran Church in Crystal since 1959. She faithfully attended the church as long as she was able and loved her Lord Jesus Christ. Antonia was known for her hospitality, nobody ever left her house hungry after visiting. She loved gardening, sewing and especially just loved people. Antonia became known to many staff at GracePoint as “Grandma”.
Antonia is survived by four children, Larissa (Wolfgang) Wolf-Hechtl of Duluth, Renja Sigurdson of North Branch, Raymond Fritz of New Hope, and Fredi (Dale) Ketchum of Ramsey; 10 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and by other relatives and friends. Besides her parents she was preceded in death by two husbands, Edward and Reinhold, and by 10 siblings.