Obituary of Sr. Marlene Fritz
Sister Marlene Klara Fritz, age 89, died peacefully on July 13, 2023, at McAuley Hall Health Care Center, Watchung. Sister Marlene grew up in Sayreville with her sister, Katherine Boehm, and credited the roots of her vocation to her devoted parents, Carl and Klara Fritz. She attended Our Lady of Victories School, Sayreville, where she met the Sisters of Mercy, who were her teachers. She graduated in 1951 from the now-closed St. Mary High School, South Amboy, where the religious sisters were again her instructors.
After entering the Novitiate in 1953, she attended Georgian Court College (now University), Lakewood, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in German studies. A lifelong lover of the German language and culture, Sister Marlene was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel to Germany when she received a Fulbright summer scholarship and lived in Munich, Ansbach, and Osnabruck.
Upon her return to the United States, she attended Middlebury German School in Vermont, where she earned a master’s degree after graduating from its rigorous German immersion program. Sister Marlene then taught in several New Jersey High Schools: St. John School, Collingswood, Camden Catholic High School, Camden (and then Cherry Hill), and Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville.
She had the joy of returning to Germany to teach English at an all-boys school in Dortmund for one year and then returned to the States to resume her German teaching career at St. Mary High School, South Amboy, Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung, and Union Catholic High School, Scotch Plains.
In 1983, Sister Marlene took courses in school administration at the University of Texas and taught German at an all-girls school while living in San Antonio.
Upon her return to New Jersey, Sister Marlene served as assistant directress at Mount Saint Mary Academy, Watchung, and assistant principal at Marylawn of the Oranges Academy, South Orange.
Following her career in education, Sister Marlene served as a clinical supervisor at Seton Hall University, South Orange, and then associate director for the New Jersey Office of Development of the Mid-Atlantic Community of the Sisters of Mercy. She also volunteered for the Somerset County Library system as a teacher of German for adults.
In 2021, Sister Marlene became a permanent resident of McAuley Hall Health Care Center, Watchung, NJ, where she resided until her death.
Sister Marlene is survived by her sister Katherine Boehm, her nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews, as well as the Sisters of Mercy who loved her so much!
Donations in memory of Sister Marlene may be made to the Sisters of Mercy, 1645 US Highway 22, Watchung, NJ 07069.
Visitation will take place on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, at Immaculate Conception Chapel at Mount Saint Mary, 1645 US Highway 22, Watchung, NJ 07069, Watchung:
Wake: 9:00 a.m.
Welcome Home Prayer Service: 9:30 a.m.
Funeral Mass: 10:30 a.m.
Burial will be at Holy Redeemer Cemetery, South Plainfield, NJ
