October 27, 2002 Hutchinson News Hutchinson, Kansas Colleen Mae Fitzwater PROTECTION - Colleen Mae Fitzwater, 76, died Oct. 25, 2002, at Protection Valley Manor, Protection. She was born June 1, 1926, at Shields, the daughter of Robert and Alma Reed Graeff. She was a retired cook at Ashland Nursing Home, Ashland, and owned and operated Little Chef Restaurant, Dodge City. A longtime resident of Southwest Kansas, she moved to Ashland in 1969 from Dodge City, and to Protection in 1983. She graduated from Dighton High School, Dighton. On Nov. 11, 1983, she married Garland Fitzwater at Protection. He survives. Other survivors include: six sons, Dawson Romesburg, Fort Smith, Ark., Paul and Rex Romesburg, both of Dodge City, Fred Romesburg, Hutchinson, Jim Romesburg, Garden City, and Kirby Romesburg, Wichita; four daughters, Beatrice Mae Goddard, Lakewood, Colo., Linda Diane Amato, San Antonio, Tammy Ford, Ashland, and Gail Cox, Dodge City; a stepmother, Ethel Graeff, Shields; two stepsons, John Fitzwater, Olathe, and Jack Fitzwater, Des Moines, Iowa; five stepdaughters, Carol Petty, Pryor, Okla., Betty Jo Maris, Protection, Shirley Sue Mathews, Dodge City, Sandy Hoffman, Coldwater, and Nona Fitzwater, Olathe; three brothers, Fred Graeff, Wichita, Duane Graeff, Utica, and Delbert West, Greeley, Colo.; two sisters, Betty Whitehurst, Garden City, and Susan Moore, Hutchinson; 31 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren; 18 step-grandchildren; 29 step-great-grandchildren; and a step-great-great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Clifford Lyle Romesburg; her second husband, Lee Solomon; two sons, Larry and Lyle Romesburg; two grandchildren, Sonya Lynn Hernandez and Jennifer Lynn Jones; two brothers, Darrel and Dexter Graeff; a stepson, Bill Fitzwater; and a step-grandson, Sheldon Hoffman. Funeral will be at 3 p.m. Monday at United Methodist Church, Protection, with the Rev. Dennis Carter presiding. Visitation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. today and 9 to 11 a.m. Monday at Hatfield-Prusa Funeral Home, Coldwater. Memorials may be sent to the Alzheimer's Association, the Breast Cancer Foundation or Southwind Hospice, all in care of the funeral home.