Debra K Fritz-Pontarolo

On April 22nd, Debra Fritz-Pontarolo, 61, of Pacific Grove, CA died peacefully at home after a five-year battle with brain cancer. Debra is survived by her loving husband, Michael, and her two sons, Samuel and Thomas, as well as her sisters, Diane and Donna and her brother, Roger. She is predeceased by her parents, William and Mary Lou Fritz, and her brother Larry.

Debra was born on December 6th 1961 in Columbus, NE to William and Mary Lou. She graduated High School in 1981. She graduated in 1983 from the National College of Business in Rapid City, SD. Debra moved out to Chico, CA to stay with her brother Roger shortly after to work as a travel agent, where she would go on to meet her husband Mike. She married Michael on May 27th, 1989.

Her children remember her as a loving mother who encouraged them to pursue their goals and follow their dreams. She was actively involved in activities with the Boy Scouts, Football and Lacrosse teams, and throughout the Pacific Grove Unified School District. She regularly attended mass at the St. Angela Merici in Pacific Grove, and often volunteered throughout the community. She was a longtime Pharmacy Technician at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

A celebration of life will be held at the Pacific Grove Community Center (515 Junipero Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950), on Friday, May 12th from 5-7pm. All are welcome to attend and celebrate Debie’s life. In lieu of flowers, you can bring a potluck dish to share or make a donation to your favorite charity in her name.

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says:

“There, she is gone!”

“Gone Where?

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!”, there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:

“Here she comes!”

And that is dying…

A 19th Century Funeral Sermon -

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