Obituary

Lisbeth Mae Fritzberg (also known as Lisbeth Hadden Fritzberg)

1946 – 2025

With full hearts, we announce the passing of Lisbeth Mae Fritzberg on February 6th, 2025, at the age of 78. Born in Edgerton, Wisconsin, on July 27, 1946, Lisbeth grew up in a time of post-war promise and jubilation. An avid reader from a young age, she spent many days in the local library and excelled at school, graduating as a Salutatorian of her class. After high school, she moved to Madison to study nursing, following in the footsteps of her mother, aunt and sister. It was there in Madison that Lisbeth met Alan, a grad student in chemistry from another small town, Everson, in Washington State. Their first trip to visit Alan’s family in 1967, left an indelible impression on Lisbeth, seeing mountains for the first time and glistening island shores.

The young couple were married in Edgerton in 1968 and shortly after, moved to Middletown, Connecticut, following a move by Alan’s PhD supervisor. From there, they lived in many places with Lisbeth working as a nurse and Alan continuing his studies. Highlights included a year abroad in Europe in Munich in 1972, stints in Bellingham and Vancouver, Salt Lake City, and finally Denver, where the desire to start a family didn’t go as planned. For many years, Lisbeth and Alan faced fertility challenges, eventually adopting a 5.5 month old baby boy from South Korea in 1982. Nicholas’s airport arrival drew a crowd of family and friends and was captured on video. This beginning of motherhood for Lisbeth is a magnetic moment in time and remains a treasured family story.

Not long after Nicholas’s arrival, Lisbeth miraculously discovered she was pregnant. The young family moved back to Washington where Alan had an opportunity to start a biotech company and in November of 1984, William was born. Having supported Alan’s academic career, Lisbeth transitioned into a full-time mother, an experience she had been looking forward to for a long time. Lisbeth shined in this new role, actively engaging in her kids’ lives and still finding her nursing skills in demand as the boys took the world by storm. In addition to family life, Lisbeth was actively involved in parent committees and church groups, led workshops and retreats, taught Sunday school, co-led a virtues education project, and played an instrumental role in helping Bosnian refugee families resettle in the Edmonds area.

In 1987, Lisbeth and Alan bought a vacation home on Buck Bay on Orcas Island, a place Alan had spent summers as a kid. Echoing back to Lisbeth’s first trip out to Washington, she loved spending time on Orcas, corralling the family into their ‘92 Ford Explorer and spending countless hours on ferries, in ferry lines and all the places in between. Eventually this love of place led the Fritzbergs to move out to Orcas full-time in 1996, and to experience a unique way of life. Over the next 8 years, Lisbeth and the family embraced the adventures of island living, cultivated close friendships and became actively involved in the tight-knit coastal community.

Parallel to Alan’s academic career, Lisbeth never stopped learning. While in their early years together, she completed both her bachelors and a nurse practitioner degree. As Lisbeth found more time for introspection on Orcas, she grew her poetry and spirituality practice, joining many writing groups and travelling solo to take part in unique trainings. During these years, she visited magical places like Amorgos and Mallorca in the Mediterranean Sea, and Cortez Island, in British Columbia, where she studied under spirituality guide, Thomas Atum O’Kane. After Nick and Will graduated from Orcas Island High School, Lisbeth and Alan moved to the mainland to be closer to the boys in Seattle and Vancouver. With an empty nest, Lisbeth started a masters in theology at Seattle University at the age of 60, formalizing a lifetime of spiritual study. As Nick and Will found partners and got married, Lisbeth and Alan now had time for other things.

In her last years, Lisbeth and Alan’s travels took them to far reaching corners of the globe, witnessing mountain gorillas in Rwanda, the vibrant wildlife of the Galapagos, the mysteries of Easter Island, and penguins in the remote Falkland Islands. They also completed a book project together, Anna Evelina, documenting Alan’s mother’s family story of immigration from Sweden. When not out experiencing the world, Lisbeth cherished simple joys: early morning solitude, a good book, coffee, benches and clotheslines.

In her final years, she battled Alzheimers and other complications, and despite many difficult days, remained loving, silly and full of light through it all.

Lisbeth was predeceased by her mother, Ruth, father, Kenneth, brother, Jack, sisters, Cindy and Ruth Anne. Lisbeth is survived by her sister Darlene, husband, Alan and sons, Nicholas and William.