Karen M. Fritz

Karen Marie Fritz, 83, of 119 S. Fifth St., Mifflinburg, since 1974, entered into rest at 9:36 p.m., Sunday, January 4, 2026, at Wellspan Evangelical Hospital, Lewisburg.

She was born April 6, 1942, in New Martinsville, West Virginia, a daughter of the late Edward Glenn and Mary Catherine (Gamble) Haught, and grew up in the small community of Kent, West Virginia. On November 27, 1971, in Vienna, Ohio, she married Dennis I. Fritz, who survives, and whom she met on an airline flight from Chicago to Tucson.

In her youth, Karen attended a one-room schoolhouse through the 8th grade, was a graduate of Moundsville High School, earned a Bachelor’s Degree from West Liberty University near Wheeling, West Virginia, and earned a Master’s Degree from University of Arizona.

She was employed as an elementary school teacher for 39 years between Ohio, Arizona, and at Mifflinburg Area School District. She had a special connection with Native American schools in southern Arizona from her teaching experience and continued charitable gifting to Native American organizations to date.

Karen was a member of Preservation Mifflinburg, Inc., and was on the Mifflinburg Christkindl Market Committee. She attended the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mifflinburg.

She enjoyed domestic and international traveling, philanthropy, reading, teaching her students about rocks and geology, and spending time with her grandchildren. As a young adult and later throughout adulthood, she enjoyed travel to Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, and several countries throughout Europe and the UK. She spent time in India and Nepal while her brother, Marvin, and family were living in Calcutta.

Surviving in addition to her beloved husband of 54 years, are one son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Daphine Fritz of Mifflinburg; two grandchildren, Jonathan Fritz and Sarah Fritz; and two brothers and sisters-in-law, Marvin and Elaine Haught of Akron, Ohio, and Robert “Bruce” and Sherry Haught of Gloucester, Virginia. She was very close with her brothers and kept in regular contact.

She was preceded in death by one brother, Roland “Butch” Haught. She will be deeply missed by her family, friends, and community.

Family and friends are welcome to a visitation from 10 to 11 a.m., Monday, January 12, at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 404 Market Street, Mifflinburg, where the funeral will be conducted at 11, with Rev. Curt Wingert and Rev. John Yost, officiating.

Burial will be in the Mifflinburg Cemetery.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Central PA Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, or the American Indian College Fund.

Arrangements are by Roupp Funeral Home, Inc., 8594 Old Turnpike Road, Mifflinburg.

Please leave your condolences online at www.rouppfuneralhome.com.