Marion Pfitzer

Marion A. Pfitzer, 1922-2010 Marion Anne Pfitzer, a retired school teacher and painter who lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and Cattaraugus, New York, and for the past five years at Saucon Valley Manor in Hellertown, died Dec. 3 at the Manor. Marion was born April 20,1922, to the late Carl and Anna Schuessler Deisig, in Buffalo, New York. Her father, a World War I veteran of the U.S. Army, owned a pharmacy. After her mother died in 1924, Marion was raised by her father and her stepmother, the late Clara Deisig. In 1943, Marion graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in political science. In December 1944, she was married to the late Karl F. Pfitzer, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy who served in the Pacific theater of World War II. Marion taught elementary school in Buffalo and then for 26 years in Phoenix, from 1956 until 1982, when she retired to pursue her lifelong love of painting. Over the next two decades, she produced more than 200 works of art, including oils and watercolors. She won numerous prizes for her paintings in Arizona and New York, and she was invited to hold one-woman exhibits in both states. Well-known for her still lifes, landscapes and cityscapes, she also produced many paintings of the houses of family members. She took pride in her painting of the storefront of Cattaraugus. Marion also loved to travel and visited Sweden, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, the British Isles, Hong Kong and Australia. She was especially fond of Mexico, where she spent a summer studying art and art history at the University of the Americas in Puebla. Marion is survived by her four children, Karl Pfitzer and his wife, Vickie, of Paradise Valley, Ariz.; Marcy Pfitzer, of Prescott Valley, Ariz.; Kurt Pfitzer and his wife, Joyce T. Mann, of Quakertown, Pa.; and Brian Pfitzer, of Concord, N.H.; six grandchildren, Adrian Pfitzer of Tucson, Ariz.; Ursula Pfitzer of Seattle, Wash; Erik Petterson of Glendale, Ariz.; Kristin Petterson of Peoria, Ariz.; Troy Clark of Phoenix, and Korie Vacanti of Phoenix; five great-grandchildren; her brother, Carl Deisig Jr. of Buffalo; her sister in-law, June Deisig of Buffalo; her brother in-law, Bernard Kaplan of Syracuse, N.Y., and two nephews and three nieces. She was predeceased by her sister, Joanne Rice, of Syracuse. Also surviving is her long-time companion, John Salamanchuk, of Cattaraugus, with whom Marion spent 20 years. Her family and friends will remember Marion for her warmth and her kindness, her confidence and optimism, and for an unfailing courage and cheer that sustained her through adversity. She retained her radiant smile to her final days thanks in no small part to the loving care she received from the staff of Saucon Valley Manor and Heartland Hospice. A memorial service will be held at the Manor, at 1050 Main Street in Hellertown, at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 7.