9/14/1931 – 6/19/2024
Lawrence
Martin Robert Reiber was sent to Innsbruck in 1908 to study theology in preparation for the priesthood, but luckily for his progeny, decided to instead pursue medicine and Marie (“Mary”) Alouise Pfisterer, from Schwaz, Austria. Frank (“Fritz”) Martin Reiber, their eighth and last child, was born September 14, 1931, in Buffalo NY, just days before the family shipped out to Panama due to their father’s position as a colonel and doctor with the U.S. Army Medical Corps.
Fritz spent his formative years on or near army posts, including Fort Benning GA, Denver CO, Fort Worden WA, Fort Omaha NB, and Fort Sheridan IL, before his father retired and moved the family to Bradenton FL, to a two-story clapboard house on the banks of the Manatee River. At Manatee High School, Fritz excelled in basketball, and though he made the winning score in a high-stakes game qualifying for tournament, he severed his ACL and was unable to play again. His winningest score, however, was asking his high-school sweetheart, Joan Lenzen, to be his wife. They married on his 21st birthday, September 14, 1952, while they were both students at Florida State University. Their marriage lasted 71 years, until his recent death at age 92.
After graduating in 1953 from FSU with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, Fritz found employment in Chattanooga with the US Army division of the Tennessee Valley Authority, where he worked as a cartographer drawing top-secret maps of Indochina (which would later erupt with the Vietnam War) and of Poland in case of Russian invasion. Not top secret was the birth of their first child, Beth.
Deciding that he hadn’t gone to college to be a cartographer, Fritz soon moved his small family to Panama City FL, where over the next three years they were joined by Mitch in 1955 and Durand in 1956. Working for the U.S. Navy Mine Defense Laboratory, tasked with researching and developing underwater mine warfare and countermeasures, Fritz’s job as a technical illustrator was to take information from writers and scientists to produce graphics and illustrations for booklets used by Navy personnel. Again, his work was classified.
To be close to friends and family (and babysitters), Fritz and Joan moved back to Bradenton, where Fritz had what he described as a “sweet deal”: doing design work for a print shop in exchange for free office space, allowing him to freelance part-time for advertisement agencies in the surrounding area.
But after five years, and with Kristin added to the family in 1962, Fritz decided that he wanted a master’s from FSU in Tallahassee so he could teach. Joan wasn’t too pleased about the move and loss of family support, but over the next two years she completed her bachelor’s in social work. To support his family, Fritz worked at Rose Printing Company, where he got what he described as the biggest job he had ever had to that point: designing a water atlas of Florida, charting rivers, lakes, and tributaries.
In 1964, Fritz got a job as professor of commercial art (now called graphic design) at the University of Kansas’ design department. He promised Joan they would be in Lawrence only two years, but we all know how that turned out. Luckily, Joan discovered she had a cousin in town, Kenneth Lenzen, who, together with his wife Evelyn and daughter Karen, celebrated family holidays with the Reibers for many years to come. The family expanded with the addition of Gretchen in 1966.
Over 29 years of teaching, Fritz was most proud of helping to implement the graphic design program at KU with his colleague Jerry Moore. To supplement his income, Fritz also designed books for more than 20 years with the University Press of Kansas, a job he enjoyed immensely. Fritz and Joan, who served as director of Hilltop Child Development Center for 18 years, both retired in 1993.
Joan and Fritz crisscrossed the country many times visiting family and friends, including numerous trips back to Florida and to see our country’s great National Parks. Over the years they visited England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Trinidad/Tobago, Canada, and Cuba, and took cruises to the Panama Canal and Alaska.
But camping and sailing were Fritz’s main loves. He perfected van camping, spending many days in Colorado and beyond, as well as at Perry and Clinton lakes. Other than marrying Joan, Fritz thought that buying his 22-foot Reinell sailboat was the best thing he ever did for himself. Although he didn’t know anything about sailing, he thought he knew the principles from reading books and took it from there. Other than jaunts in Chesapeake Bay and Punta Gorda FL, he kept his boat at Perry Lake, where many happy hours were spent alone and with family.
Fritz died peacefully June 19, 2024, at Presbyterian Manor, family by his side. A special thanks goes to CNA Izaiah Norman at Presbyterian Manor for his companionship and care during Fritz’s final weeks. He is survived by his wife Joan of the home; children Beth Reiber, Mitch Reiber (Rachel), Durand Reiber (Martin Moore), Kristin von Zweck, and Gretchen Eckerle (Chris); 11 grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
A celebration of Fritz’s life will be held at Warren-McElwain Mortuary on August 16 from 5 to 7:30, beginning with a short program at 5 in which friends and family are encouraged to share memories, followed by a visitation. Memorial contributions can be made in Fritz’s name directly to the National Parks Service or in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th St., Lawrence KS 66044. To post a condolence go to warrenmcelwain.com.
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