Louise Catherine Pfister Fritsche

Louise Catherine Pfister grew up in Carrolltown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Anthony Pfister and Anna Stich Pfister, tenant farmers for the Benedictine monks in the area. Louise was born on October 9, 1908. She became an osteopathic nurse and worked for Dr. Oliver in Johnstown after attending nursing school at Mercy Hospital in Johnstown (now Conemaugh Valley Hospital). She met her future husband, Joseph Vincent Fritsche, Jr., when they were in the same sanitarium after they both contracted TB. They were married in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1939 after nine years of engagement. The couple moved to Pittsburg when Joseph was transferred to the area by his employer, the Quaker Oats Company. In Pittsburgh she became a school nurse at St. Bonaventure Elementary School in Glenshaw.