Darlene (Welle) Fritz, of Union, IL. ended her long battle with CHF & diabetes on Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

Darlene was the daughter of Daniel & Anne (Witte) Welle, born on September 12, 1931.  She married the love of her life, Donald Fritz, on May 20,1950 and left the city life in Crystal Lake to live on a dairy farm in Union, where they raised two children, John Fritz and Linda Kuhn (Paul).

She never really left the farm, just built her "dream house" in the pasture when the farm was "developed". She became
a member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Union in 1950 where she was a member of the choir, teacher in Sunday
School, member of the Ladies Aid and LWML Darlene loved to bake and made cakes, pies and cookies for family,
friends and church activities.

She was the manager of Cadieux Bakery in Marengo where she became known as the "crazy bakery lady" by many of the high school students because she almost always had an additional donut or cookie to put in their bag. She also worked in the kitchen of the former St. Joseph Hospital in Belvidere making salads and desserts for the patients and employees.

She loved to travel and she visited every state in the lower 48 with her husband before 1956. Two favorite vacations were a trip to Disney World with Linda, Becky & Brian and a trip to Paris with her friend, Shirley Burns when she turned 70. In her spare time she enjoyed making cross stitch pictures, playing board games and putting puzzles together, and helping with transportation of the grandkids from school to after school

church activities and sport practices and just watching the grandchildren and great grandchildren grow.

She will be missed by her children, John Fritz and Linda Kuhn (Paul), 5 grandchildren, Rebecca (Becky) Voss-
Vehrs (Herb), Brian Voss (Megan), Kristin Cassan, Jake Fritz, and Molly Fritz, and 6 great-grandchildren, Emily, Allison,
Katie and Jimmy Cassan and her two "littlest men" 2 year old Herbie Wyatt Vehrs and 7 month old Boyd Voss.

Preceding her in death are her husband, Donald Fritz, her sister Shirley Cristy and her brother Charles (Chuck) Welle.

Visitation will be held Sunday, Feb. 9th  from 3:00 - 6:00 pm at St. John's Lutheran Church, 6821 Main Street in Union.

Her Funeral service will be at St. John's Lutheran Church in Union on Monday, Feb. 10th, starting at 11:00 am with visitation prior to the service, from 9:30 - 11:00 am at the Church.  Burial will be at the Union Cemetery.

Memorials can be made for the St. John's Lutheran Church, 6821 Main St., Union, IL. 60180.  Arrangements were  completed by the Slater-Butala Funeral Home of Genoa, IL.

To sign the online guest book, or share a special memory, go to www.ButalaFuneralHomes.com