In Loving (and slightly irreverent) Memory of Anita Fetsch

11/7/1943 - 4/23/2025

If you were lucky enough to know Anita Fetsch, you knew this: she didn’t suffer fools, always brought the hot dish, and could pull a pull tab quicker than anyone in a three-state area.

Born in Riga, Latvia, on November 7, 1943, Anita made her way to Ellis Island as a child, armed with nothing but courage, curiosity, and zero knowledge of the English language. (That last part didn’t slow her down one bit.) She eventually landed in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she married Thomas Lydon Fetsch. Together, they owned and operated the legendary Paisano’s Pizza while raising three daughters: Jenny, Eve, and Sara — who inherited their mother’s outspokenness, warmth, and slightly alarming ability to deploy a Kroger coupon.

Anita was the matriarch of a lively clan that grew to include seven grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and more pets than anyone could count — all of whom dined like humans, thanks to her soft heart and sneakiness. No dog under her roof ever tasted kibble if there was a pot roast within reach.

She worked for many years in retail — and while the customer may have always been right, they were also never going to get away with bad manners. In her off hours, she was a Yahtzee shark, a video game wizard, and a fearless patron of local casinos, where her mere presence could turn a losing streak around. If Anita was near your slot machine, lady luck was too.

She had an ironclad belief in three things:

Never scratch a scratch-off with anything but a dime

The Marlboro Rewards Catalog was a legitimate source of home good

Survivor is still the greatest show on television

Anita loved Adam Lambert (and SpongeBob SquarePants) with the full force of a teenage fangirl, taught her grandkids how to work a Keno machine before they could legally drive, and was a Candy Crush savant of mythic skill. Seriously, no one knows how she reached levels that high without ever spending a dime.

Above all, she was the heart of her family — generous, funny, blunt in the best way, and endlessly devoted. She gave warmth, wisdom, and grief in equal measure. Her legacy lives on at every family gathering, every shared meal, every game night, and every time someone finds a 40% off coupon and hears her voice saying, “Well, you can’t not use it.”

We’ll miss her fiercely. But she’s probably up there right now — cocktail in hand, cigarette smoldering, slot machine spinning, and telling the angels, “You look tired.”

Anita was preceded in death by her daughter Jenny. She is survived by her daughters Eve Vawter (David) and Sara Hirschfeld (John); grandchildren Christopher Fetsch (Celia Jones), Hunter Rings, Francesco Vawter, Spencer Vawter, Veronika Vawter, Logan Reinertson, and Lydon Hirschfeld; great-granddaughter Everleigh Rings-Sill; and a 55” high-definition TV she refused to accept last Christmas because “it got the worst reviews ever.”