Doris Tietze

1929 - 2024

Our beloved mother and friend, Doris Tietze, passed away peacefully at her home in Fremont, CA, on Monday, December 23, 2024, at the age of 95. Doris' character can be summarized in two words: family and hospitality. She was a devoted wife, daughter, and mother, whose loving touch healed every sore, both physical and spiritual. The numerous visitors and guests who came to the house were welcomed with joyful open arms, showered with attention, care, and delicious food. Doris' contagious laughter brightened every social gathering.

Born in 1929 in Cologne (Köln), Germany, Doris endured many hardships early in life – most significantly staying in motion in Germany during the ravages of World War II – ending as a refugee in her own country. She told stories about the struggle to end up on the "right side" of the post-war German systems – almost being trapped in what became East Germany with her mother. Being resourceful, she worked as a translator for US military soldiers. Always fashion-conscious and stylish, she created gorgeous, warm jackets out of military blankets that she traded, among other things, for translation services.

Doris was a promising student with an interest in chemistry. For some time, she worked in the department store Kaufhaus. It was in Cologne, while attending school after the war, that Doris met her future husband, Armin. They married in 1952 and remained married for the next sixty-eight years until his passing in 2020.

As children came along, Doris left her studies to become a wife, mother, care-taking daughter, and housewife with five children: Lothar, Christoph, Thomas, Michael, and Claudia and also took care of her mother. She imbued each of her children with a love of reading, music, lifelong learning, travel and adventure, and an ability to find joy and laughter in the darkest places. She taught her children to have kind hearts, adopt stray people and animals, and to be generous of spirit.

Through Armin's work at IBM, the young family, and Doris' mother Katharina, moved from Sindelfingen, Germany, to San Jose in 1970. After Armin's retirement, the couple traveled the world together and had many adventures – including seeing the Great Wall of China, traveling the Amazon and escaping a sinking ship in Santorini. As they aged, Doris and Armin moved to the Oakmont retirement community in Santa Rosa – enjoying the beautiful scenery, nearby wineries, Sonoma cuisine, local German club, and dance events. The two were often found ballroom dancing, laughing, and sharing good meals and wine with friends and family.

After Armin's death in 2020, Doris moved to Fremont. There she enjoyed musical performances, the local park, bird spotting out her window, and created strong friendships with other residents and her primary caregiver, Elvira Velasco.

Doris is sorely missed by her five children and their spouses, ten grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, her sister-in-law Maria Guse and husband, Peter, close relatives and her many, many friends – including the Hunch Bunch.

A funeral Mass will be held on Monday, January 13, 2024 at 11:00 am, at Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA, with a private family committal service at Cedar Lawn Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests supporting Doris' favorite charity. Each year she purchased a heater for a family in need through the St Joseph's Indian School PO Box 326, Chamberlain, SD 57326, 800-341-2235, stjo.org/staywarm , and she supported Native American Rights Fund, P.O. Box 992, Boulder, CO 80306-0992, phone: 303-447-8760, www.narf.org.