Thursday, March 28, 2024

Susan Holt Fritz, 81

WILMINGTON — Susan Holt Fritz, born July 11, 1941 in Brooklyn, New York – Susu, as she was dearly called by her family and their close friends – passed peacefully on October 2, 2022, at home surrounded by her daughters, eldest granddaughter, and loving husband.

Susan graduated from Scotch Plains – Fanwood High School in 1959 where she played the double bass in the high school orchestra and dance band. She also earned the honor to play for the New Jersey’s All-State Orchestra. During her busy life, Susan was an active community member in Scotch Plains and Fair Lawn, New Jersey; Waverly and Mountain Top, Pennsylvania; and Barcelona, Spain. She enjoyed second homes in Barnegat Light, New Jersey and Kingsland, Texas. She lived the last 25 years of her life in the beloved Tides community in Wilmington, North Carolina, where she hosted and attended many Fridays at Five and progressive New Year’s Eve parties and competed in the Ladies’ Fishing Tournament. Together with her husband, Douglas, they welcomed countless visits from their friends and family in their Tides home.

In her young adult years, Susan served as chair of the Philharmonic League for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. She also volunteered for WVIA-TV, the public television station, in Northeastern Pennsylvania. At the station, she was renowned for raising over $135,000 dollars, ten times the previous years’ amount, for the famous “Action Auction 44.”

She later donated her time to the Barnegat Light Volunteer Fire Co. No 1. Susan served as president of the Women’s Auxiliary and led her team with yearly auctions, parades, and community outreach programs that raised enough funds to purchase a new Ford / S&S Pumper, which remains the company’s “first out truck” today.

Her affiliations included memberships in the Junior League of Wilkes-Barre, Junior League of Wilmington, and Epsilon Sigma Alpha chapters in Kingsland and Wilmington. She helped to create five cookbooks, joining together beloved family recipes for the organizations to raise funds and share within their communities.

To honor her parents, she created beautiful trees to support Lower Cape Fear LifeCare (previously Lower Cape Fear Hospice) through The Cape Fear Festival of Trees. For her dad, Maurice, she made a gorgeous nautical-themed tree, and for her mother, Harriet, she made an angel tree. All ornaments were handmade and original to each tree. Never forgetting her beloved pets, she created a third tree for pets and raised additional funds for hospice by allowing individuals to purchase and name ornaments in honor of their own lost pets.

Susan was an avid quilter and made many beautiful quilts for family and friends. She enjoyed her yearly quilting trips to Paducah, Kentucky. For her own creations, she spent hours choosing colorful fabrics, design templates, and notions. She passed peacefully wrapped in one of her first quilts created for the love of her life, Douglas. Her quilts will be a forever remembrance of Susan’s artistic abilities and precision – she squared the tidiest block and sewed the tightest prairie points. Her use of color and pattern in her quilts made each one a special tribute to the lucky recipient.

Susan thrived on competition and enjoyed playing bridge. She cherished many years of tournament play and bridge clubs and, in her later years, online bridge with family and newfound friends all over the world. She also loved crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and Jumble and spent many hours on her porch leafing through various newspapers looking for more. Her competitive nature also led her to running. As a member of the Wilmington running club, she won many races in her age group running over bridges and through the streets of downtown.

Susan grew up learning to ski and shared love of powder with her family and friends. After a nice snow in Mountain Top, she would take her daughters out of school to play hooky for a day at Big Boulder. She also relished ski adventures in Colorado, hitting the slopes in Steamboat Springs, Winter Park, and Vail.

Susan was a fabulous chef and was renowned for her blueberry cheesecake, a regular blue-ribbon winner. She made the best scratch Boston cream puffs, and never was a box cake found in her home. She enjoyed baking cookoffs and preparing and serving meals for her family and friends. Throughout her years of travel, she cultivated a large collection of cookbooks to match. Despite her impeccable taste, her love of the peanut-butter, banana, and mayonnaise sandwich is a family enigma that will continue to be a source of joy and laughter for years to come.

During her summers in Barnegat Light, Susan had quite the green thumb, as gardening was a pastime passed down by her father and shared with her brother. Her vegetable garden and window boxes were as colorful as she was (or perhaps off-color, depending on how you knew her). The family enjoyed fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, and herbs in many of her home-cooked meals. Her zinnias were adored by the neighborhood and family, alike.

Susan loved the water. In her younger years, she would sail with her father in Pine Beach, New Jersey. She also enjoyed cruising with her mother, sister, husband, extended family, and friends. The family fondly remembers her love of the Stampede slot machine. She found great joy when the machine bounced around full of cows running feverishly when she hit. With a huge smile, she would turn to you and say, “I hit a Stampede.” She also enjoyed the daily trivia games onboard, her teams often including four generations of family members. Her love of sea travel took her to many far-off locations. She cruised throughout the Caribbean and Mediterranean; made the trans-Atlantic journey on the Queen Elizabeth 2; thrice traversed the Panama Canal; crossed the equator and kissed the fish; went around Cape Horn of South America and ate fresh king crab in the Antarctic gateway city of Ushuaia, Argentina; and sailed to Bermuda and Hawaii. Like her favorite cruise line, she was a true Celebrity.

Along with her radiant and infectious smile, Susan’s distinctive sense of humor, straightforwardness, creativity, love of family, and eagerness to help others made her shine.

Susan found many dear friends and faith at the All Saints Anglican Parish and was thankful for their guidance and support. The family is thankful to Bishop David Haines for his love and home visits, as Susan enjoyed this special time with him in connection with her faith.

The family would also like to thank all those who cared for her in the last years and months of her life, including Francisca, Erica, Dr. Karras, and the compassionate team of caregivers at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare: Mary, Rebecca, and Teresa.

Susan is survived by her husband of 61 years, Douglas; two daughters, Serenna Linnell (David Priestley) of Greensboro, North Carolina, and Jennifer Fritz (Paul Chenevert) of Austin, Texas, and two others whom she considered her own children, her eldest granddaughter Jillian Gibson Crone (Damon) of Greensboro and her “darling baby boy” Arnau Llopart (Marta Vidal) of Barcelona, Spain; her grandson Kyle Chenevert of Baltimore, Maryland; youngest granddaughter Nicole Chenevert of Charlotte, North Carolina; and great-grandson Kent Crone and great-granddaugher, Winston Crone, both of Greensboro. She is also survived by her sister Meredith Holt (David Nadas), of Hobe Sound, Florida; her brother Richard Holt (Kristine), of Saint James, North Carolina; her niece Sarah Holt Power (Andrew) of San Francisco, California; and her nephew Timothy Holt (Jennifer) of Gainesville, Virginia. She was preceded in death by her parents Maurice Samuel and Harriet Horton Holt.

A Celebration of Life and interment will be held on November 19 at 11 a.m. at All Saints Anglican Parish, 2623 N. College Road, Wilmington, North Carolina 28401. The family will receive visitors at the church immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial gift to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or Lower Cape Fear LifeCare.

Please leave memories and condolences for the Fritz family by signing the Tribute Wall.

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