Dolores Jones Fritzsche

Dolores Jones Fritzsche, 91

August 28, 1931 – December 27, 2022

Dolores Jones Fritzsche, a long-time resident of Pacific Palisades, died at home surrounded by family on December 27. She was 91. 

Dolores was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo., the daughter of Vincent and Elizabeth (Hennessy) Jones. Her mother was from Arizona, the daughter of a rancher, and every summer Dolores would take the train to Arizona with her mother and siblings to visit her grandparents. It was the western connection that when it came time to choose a college, Dolores made the fateful decision to attend Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. 

During her sophomore year, she met Bill Fritzsche, a junior at Loyola (now Loyola-Marymount University) at a Mary’s Hour planning session for Catholic college students. It was an appropriate beginning for a marriage sustained by their strong Catholic faith. She graduated college with a degree in history. She and Bill were married on Halloween 1953, the only weekend Bill, then in the Army, could get leave.

They lived briefly in Chicago while Bill finished his Army service then moved back to Los Angeles, settling in Pacific Palisades in 1956, where their family grew to seven children. Dolores loved her adopted California and the Palisades in particular. She walked to town and to church. During the years when there were more drivers than cars at home, she could be seen pulling a little red wagon up to the market for groceries. 

Dolores was unassuming, steadfast, kind, and loving. She told excellent jokes. Family always came first. She was her childrens’ biggest cheerleader and loved hearing of their adventures, whether it was how the day went at school or how the waves were at the beach. She rejoiced in nightly family dinners in the dining room. She baked cakes from scratch. 

Over her long life, Dolores participated in many volunteer endeavors, among them the Sisters of Social Service and Meals on Wheels. She also served as a Cub Scout den mother, an election worker and poll supervisor in the 1980s and ‘90s, and as a religious education instructor for children. She was a member of the Legion of Mary and the Rotary Anns, where she served as president. 

Dolores was a daily communicant for most of her life, starting as a teenager. Her life was guided by her faith, with a strong reliance on the Holy Spirit and a devotion to the Blessed Mother. 

She is survived by her seven children who loved her very much, Bill (Jenny), Jim (Alison), Caroline (Paul) Dooley, Elizabeth (Neal) McNamara, Maria (David) Molloy, Tom (Faye), and Vincent (Jennifer); 17 grandchildren, Adam Fritzsche; Jon (Alicia) and Jimmy Fritzsche and Spencer Timmons; Michael and Kathleen Dooley; Catherine, Aidan, and James McNamara; Alexander, Emma, William, Henry, and George Molloy; Dolores and Martin Fritzsche; and Vincent Fritzsche, and as well as many beloved nieces and nephews. 

She was predeceased by her parents; her husband, William, to whom she was married for 56 years; her sister Elizabeth and brothers Vincent and Jim. 

The family owes a debt of gratitude to the Corpus Christi Parish family and to the immediate neighborhood for providing love and life to Dolores after Bill died. Dolores’s children were so glad to be able to support their mother as their father would have wanted, especially when the Molloy family moved in seven years ago, enabling Dolores to stay in the community she loved so well. Thanks, too, to Vitas Healthcare, for their support in Dolores’s final two years. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, January 6, at 10 a.m. at Corpus Christi Church, 760 Toyopa Drive, Pacific Palisades. 

The family requests any donations in honor of Dolores be made to https://stjosephctr.org/. 

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