Paul A. Fitzenrider

Dearest family and friends, it is with joy and sorrow that we share with you that our father passed away on November 24th following a brief illness. You may know that he was one of 12 children born to his parents, Cula Betts and Henry Fitzenrider. As Dad would tell it, he grew up in the second poorest family in Stryker, Ohio. Dad was welcomed by Evelyn (Barron), Ernie, Robert, Harry and Clinton. Then he helped to welcome (Sylvan) James, Mary (Marks), Thelma (Bowers), Dick, Denver and Joan (Miller). His youngest sister still survives. They were poor but they were lucky because they had a farm and could grow their own food. They always had chickens and eventually some dairy cows and horses that would provide them with a foal to sell each year. After school and the chores were done there were usually enough Fitzenrider’s to play baseball and if they were lucky the neighbors would come down and bring a real baseball. 
When he was born on January 24, 1927, his family did not have electricity, an indoor bathroom and of course, no refrigerator or central heating. These things were slowly added as they became available in rural Ohio and as his family could afford it. When they got electricity in the home he would tell the story that the Fitzenrider kids got off the school bus and ran throughout, turning on and off the light switches. He shared a bedroom with his brother, Clinton, and said that in the winter it wasn’t uncommon to wake up and have snow on their bedroom floor. A few years ago he confided to us that story, and when he and Mom bought their home he would remember those cold rooms and the wet, snow covered floors of his childhood and thank God for his warm home and remember that he was lucky.
He attended Stryker Schools thru the eighth grade, while attending first grade twice because he wouldn’t talk to his teacher. School was always a little hard for Dad but in the sixth grade he was lucky and had a teacher who gave him TLC and taught him the rule “Can’t died and didn’t leave any heirs.” He used that rule throughout his life. After graduating the eighth grade he quit school and began working at a gas station in Stryker and paying for his own needs. He was fourteen and a half.
In 1937, when Dad was ten, his home burned down. The kids were home with their mother when the large, wooden home burned with the family losing everything but the dishes in the dish pan and a gasoline Maytag washer that was purchased the past fall. The neighbors took parts and pieces of the large family into their homes and fed them. A week after the fire, Grandpa Fitzenrider and his boys began building a new chicken coop where the whole family slept until the new house was built. They cleaned up the ashes and salvaged bricks from the old basement. They cleaned them up and used them to repair the basement walls for the new house. And Dad would say, “just like always we were living off the land” using their German work heritage and the phrase the teacher taught, “Can’t died and left no heirs”. They went to the sandbar and hauled back sand to use for mortar when Grandpa laid the bricks. This new house was wired for electricity and they were careful to keep the cost to 40kw, or $4 a month. They were lucky that the old house had some insurance money, their neighbors took them in, they had the skills to live off the land and a big family to work together. 
In March 1945 eighteen year old Paul Fitzenrider became Paul A Fitzenrider. He was drafted into the Army, where they gave him a middle name (“A”) and he received infantry and advanced infantry training. He was waiting in California aboard a personnel ship with 5,000 other young men and heading toward Japan. They were told that very few would be returning because the Japanese would fight to the death. The short stay in the California port became a longer stay as Harry Truman ordered the bombing of Japan. Just before the second bomb was sent, their ship left the port. When they got to the surrendered country, 4,000 troops were let off and about 1,000 headed toward an unknown island called Korea. Dad was transferred to the 1182 Refrigeration Detachment, which is where he got his start in HVAC. Last year one of his grandkids asked him if he ever had to shoot anyone, or did anyone shoot at him. “No, I was lucky” He did have some frightening moments and saw some horrible acts in Korea and he never forgot the password, ‘Veronica Lake’ he would give to sentries during the dark nights. Dad returned home to Stryker in 1946 and after a few weeks of working winter nights outside for the railroad, he decided to use the GI Bill and attend the Industrial Training Institute in Chicago. There, he had a blind date and met our mother, Ruth Vinson, who had also moved to Chicago to work after graduating from high school. 
Skip ahead and Dad was back in Stryker getting a job for Coca Cola as a service cooler man, though earning less than he made in Chicago working in a restaurant. He remembered “Can’t died and left no heirs,” saved his money and was able to buy a new 1947 Ford for $1,735.40 from a dealer that put veterans at the top of the list. He called it his courting car. It was 1948 and with his new job he proposed, she said yes, and they had five children, later 12 grandchildren and the bonus of all bonuses, 13 great grandchildren. When Mom died in 2022, they were just a couple months shy of their 75th wedding anniversary. One year a granddaughter and her friend were visiting Mom and Dad in Florida during their Spring Break from college. At a Tiger’s preseason game, her friend, Alison, asked “Grandpa, why didn’t you ever get a divorce?” They said he chomped his popcorn a while and told them divorce is too expensive. After 
Mom died, he told us they had made an agreement early on that they would have one day to complain about something the other did, and after that it was over. It worked for them. They were lucky.
In 1955, Dad decided to start his own HVAC company with $50 in their checking account, two kids and a $50 house payment. They were lucky Defiance was a good town that supported small businesses and he had many wonderful employees that worked for him throughout the years. He and Mom owned Fitzenrider, Incorporated for 42 years and though it is no longer owned by the family, the business is still in Defiance and will be 70 years old next year. 
When Dad was born, his parents owned his grandparents buggy. He couldn’t remember a horse hooked up to it but he remembers riding in a wagon into town to sell corn and buy groceries. Skip ahead about 16 years to when he was working at the Stryker gas station and they would service a three-season car. The vehicle had one peddle that controlled the acceleration, braking and idle. This past year, 80 years later, Dad got lucky again and got to ride in a Tesla and the driver, Matt, never touched the pedals or the steering wheel. He marveled at the computer’s ability to adjust speed and braking to the posted speed limit and the other vehicles. He loved telling that story.
Paul’s Granddaughter, Megan is a second grade teacher at Stryker Schools where Paul attended. He visited last week for Veteran’s Day and passed by some other grandpas coming to see their student grandchildren. He was wearing his WWII hat and they all stopped to shake his hand and thank him for his service. Dad always gets embarrassed by this and nodded at them and shook a couple hands and started to walk away but then he stopped. He looked back at a Vietnam War Vet and said, “If I had been born six month earlier I probably wouldn’t be here, or any of my family. But, I’ve always been lucky.” 
Dad and Mom were able to travel to many countries. He always enjoyed history and would be saddened by the horrors people could inflict on one another but also through his people watching decided we have much in common. While in sitting in a department store in England, waiting for Mom, he watched a Saudi Prince picking out dresses for his three wives, (he always shook his head in amazement about that feat). The prince would present a different dress to each wife and the wife would nod yes or no. They weren’t all yeses, so he would shop some more and try again. One wife, three wives, most of us are attempting to make a home with someone we love, raise some children, work hard, make our parents and family proud, and pray for God’s continued blessing on those we leave behind. During his final days Dad shared about many people and events from his life. We sat with him and quoted the “Paul-isms” we have learned in our years together. I was leaving the Hospice Center on Tuesday night and one of the nurses asked to speak with me. She said that others guests were wondering who it was in Dad’s room. They thought he must be someone famous to have so many visitors. I told her, “No, he’s not famous. He’s lucky.” 
If you are free and would like to join us to share some stories we are going to have Dad’s visitation at Schaffer Funeral Home in Defiance on Friday November 29th from 3-7pm. We will have the service on Saturday November 30th at Mom and Dad’s church they joined 76 years ago when they moved to Defiance. We will receive guests from 10-10:50am at the First Presbyterian Church with the service at 11:00. We will then go to Riverview Memory Gardens where Dad, along with Mom’s ashes, will be laid to rest. 
If you would like to contribute a gift in his honor, he has set up an account for Lifewise through The Defiance Area Foundation. Dad was always quiet about his faith, but he kept a bible next to his bed all his life. John 16:22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take joy from you. 
Fly High Dad, 
Dave Fitzenrider (deceased); Josh Fitzenrider and Zach Fitzenrider, Chuck Fitzenrider; Liesl, Nichole, Willa and Thomas Fitzenrider. Gretchen, Steve and Henry Clark. Phil and Barb Fitzenrider; Rose, Clara and Iris Hollo. Allison Fitzenrider and Halley Fitzenrider. Patrick Fitzenrider (deceased) Jane (Fitzenrider) and Jeff Barber; 
Peter, Karen, Faith and Joy Barber. Meredith, Andrew, Eleanor, Evelyn and William Paul Mickey. Margaret, Jeremy, Morgan, Lauren and Hannah Smith. Megan Barber and Grant Phillips. Maureen and Nick Killion.
Online condolences can be given at www.Schafferfh.com

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