header 1
header 2
header 3

In Memory

Donna Fazio (Fritts)

 
go to bottom 
  Post Comment

05/20/13 10:29 AM #1    

Jean Rodger (Preis)

Donna and I corresponded for a time after Northfield. I remember that she married Stewart Fritts, a park ranger at North Cascades National Park. She wrote to me once that she had spent a week, backpacking solo, in the North Cascades, which impressed me greatly. In the early 1970's she and Stew moved to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and after that we lost touch with each other.

In early November 2004, my husband and I spent 5 days at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon with an Elderhostel (now Road Scholar) group. One day, our group met with a park ranger who spoke to us about the history of the Grand Canyon National Park, and then took us around to several places along the rim, including a cemetery (he had been with the NP Service for many years, and knew where all the bodies were buried, figuratively and literally).

He was Stewart Fitts, and as soon as I heard his name I knew he was Donna's husband.

Later, I was able to talk with him privately, and I learned that Donna had attended Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. in NJ for a year, then transferred to college in Oregon. She later returned to NJ., where she and Stew met (they both worked on the Recreation Staff at Greystone State Hospital).  

Donna was also a National Park Ranger, and was a member of the first female trail crew. The crew had a lot to prove  to the male trail crews, which they did by hiking 14 miles to their work site (the men had to hike only 3 1/2 miles to their site). Not a single member of the female crew quit. There were comments made about their crew - for example, some men thought they were a chain gang from a penitentiary - but the men grew to admire the women for their hard work, and because their camp was neater, and their food was better than the mens'.

I also met a woman named Trina, Donna's longtime friend, who told me more about her. After Trina's husband, a Park Ranger at Casa Grande, AZ, was shot and killed by a "crazed man", Trina and Donna decided to take the Park Ranger Law Enforcement training. Donna qualified with the 2nd highest score in pistol shooting (never having shot before the training), and placed 1st in high-speed police car driving. 

Sadly, Donna died of lung cancer, December 3, 2001, caused, according to Stew, by loose asbestos on the pipe insulation in her NP office. Her ashes rest in the cemetery at Grand Canyon National Park.

Jean Rodger Preis, 5/20/13

 


05/21/13 03:40 PM #2    

Jacqueline Ballou (Sullivan)

WOW!!! This is an Amazing tribute to a TRUE pioneer feminist who is part of our Northfield family.  She is a shining example to generations that are  coming after  that women are strong and  determined and can make their way in some of the wildest places on earth.    Her burial place is on sacred ground as well.     Thank you -  Jean for this amazing and well written and most touching memory of Donna. 


05/21/13 08:54 PM #3    

Susan Freund (Borden)

Hi Jean, what a wonderful story you wrote about Donna, your memories of her and her various accomplishments. I'm sure she would be pleased you took the time to do so.  Dee Freund (W.G.)


08/06/23 08:26 AM #4    

Holt Anderson

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31828024/donna-fritts


go to top 
  Post Comment