Helen Wahlberg Fritz

After a lifetime of service to country and community, Helen Wahlberg Fritz died in Chestertown, MD, on June 22, 2014, from complications following a recent stroke. She was 97. During World War II, she was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, one of its first women officers. During her 25-plus years as a resident of Chestertown, she was a member of the Kent County Historical Society, serving as its secretary for many years, the Questers, and the Marine Corps League in Centreville. She also regularly participated in events sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center, Washington College, and other local organizations. Helen Ruth Wahlberg was born on February 2, 1917 in Largo, FL. She was raised on a citrus farm, owned by her parents, Emil and Irene Gagner Wahlberg, who had emigrated from Sweden a few years before. She was a 1938 graduate of the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Home Economics. After teaching school for several years, she was employed by the Hotpoint Division of General Electric in Chicago as an engineering home economist to work on and improve kitchen appliances. By the spring of 1943, “World War II was paramount,” she wrote recently, recalling that period. “The company became completely involved with military orders, as the nation’s economy was on a war footing. Our department, which produced goods for home use, became non-existent.” She decided to enlist in the Marines. She was 26 years old. In June 1943, she joined a troop train of newly enlisted women in Chicago, bound for Camp LeJeune, NC, for boot camp training. By fall, she had completed Officer Candidate School at Camp LeJeune and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. She was assigned as Mess Officer for the approximately 1500 women there, who as part of the permanent staff, performed the secretarial, transport, and clerical work that helped, “Free a Man to Fight,” as urged by the posters that were everywhere. Second Lt. Wahlberg saw room for improvement. “In time, we were able to change our menu from the standard one by serving a light breakfast, light lunch, and dinner to satisfy the caloric needs of our patrons as compared with that of the men who required more food. This was done using the same “stores,” as required by headquarters and keeping well below cost allowance.” Toward the end of the war, she was assigned to the air station in Santa Barbara, California as Mess Supervisor. “Handling food at an air station was completely different from a line base. Weather and other conditions were huge factors.” “When the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, we all knew the long war was over.” She was discharged on December 31, 1945 and was “happy to return to peacetime and my old job in Chicago.” In 1947, she moved to New York City where she worked as an assistant editor for the Ladies Home Journal for several years. In 1948, she married Laurens H. Fritz and relocated to suburban Philadelphia, where in 1955, she and her husband formed Fritz Creative Services. For over 30 years the company specialized in food photography, recipe development, and publicity for national clients. While a partner in this home-based enterprise, she raised five children. All five children gathered in Chestertown to be with her during her final days. She was preceded in death by her husband, Larry, and her sister, Irene Wolf. She is survived by her son, Karl Fritz; stepdaughter Karen Ashley, both of Chestertown, MD; daughters, Linda Bell of N. Palm Beach, FL; Lenore Budd of Hinesburg, VT; Barbara Schaff of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA; twelve grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on July 15 at 1 p.m. at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home in Chestertown. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to The Kent County Historical Society, P.O. Box 665, Chestertown, MD 21620 or the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, c/o Women’s Memorial Foundation, Dept. 560, Washington, DC 20042-0560.

Helen Wahlberg Fritz

February 2, 1917 - June 22, 2014