Dorotha "Dottie" Irene Hill Fitz Obituary (1925

Mrs. Dorotha "Dottie" Irene Fitz, age 100, 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 1930s, she moved with her parents and her older sisters, Ruth and Waldene, to Philo, Ohio, where 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 their home for the next 62 years. My mother worked for 20 years at the Jefferson Proving Ground, a 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 couples league and belonged to a couples 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, from thriftiness, stubbornness to 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. GRAVESIDE SERVICE A graveside service will be held on Saturday, July 18, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Grandview Memorial Gardens, 9306 North US 421 Madison, Indiana. To send a flower arrangement in memory of Dorotha "Dottie" Irene Hill Fitz, please click here to visit our sympathy store.