Donald L. Fritzler, 64, of Oklahoma City; husband of Mary Anne; parent of Lee Anne Fennell and Bryan Fritzler; grandparent of Allyson Lee Fritzler; was an architect at Fritzler & Associates. Mary Anne was a retired schoolteacher who managed the Fritzler business. The couple was at the Social Security office to check on retirement benefits for Don when the bomb exploded.
“They were just the kind of people you wished everybody could be like,” said Mike Bass, a Fritzler family friend and business associate.
Don and Mary Anne Fritzler were people of integrity. “It was always clear [as a child] that the best thing was to go ahead and fess up right away . . . and be honest about it,” recalled Bryan Fritzler, a chemical engineer for DuPont. “Things always went a lot easier for you than if you tried to cover it up.” Their parents also taught them to believe in themselves and to always do their best, said Bryan’s sister Lee Anne.
Don was a well-known church architect who worked in the Southwest. “I really can’t go anywhere in Oklahoma or Texas that I don’t see a memorial to Don,” said Mike Bass of his friend’s work. Indeed, architecture was Don’s job and his hobby.” A lot of us show up in the morning and put in our eight hours and go home,” son Bryan said. “I don’t think it was like that for (my dad). It was so much fun and he enjoyed the whole process.”
The Fritzlers were members of Quail Springs Baptist Church, a church Don designed and at which Mary Anne taught Sunday school.
Just weeks before the bombing, the couple learned they were expecting their first grandchild.
Official Record of the Oklahoma City Bombing, Oklahoma Today