Frederick Henry (Fritz) Ameluxen

2/14/25 – 9/20/14

Born in Albany, New York, Fritz moved to St. Paul with his brother and father following the death of Fritz’s mother.

The WW II draft allowed him to

graduate from St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota before he was inducted into the army. As a member of the 28th Division he was held back from the D Day invasion by the tragedy at Slapton Sands. After being deployed to France he witnessed the aftermath of the Falais Gap, then followed the retreating German army across France and on August 26th, 1944 was in Paris to march down the Champs Elysee with his Division. Fritz survived the battle of Hurtgen Forest, received a battlefield commission to Sergeant, and was part of the first division to reach the Rhine. Following the Battle of the Bulge he received a Bronze Star, and at some time in his military duty received the Combat Rifleman’s medal. He was reluctant to talk about the war.

Fritz returned to enroll at Dartmouth College and graduated in 1949. He came west to study architecture at the University of Oregon and was working in Mill Valley California when he was hired by Paul Thiry to be one of the “young architects” for Century 21 in Seattle. He moved to Vashon Island in 1963 and was part of the UW sponsored Operation Jigsaw that explored future planning for the Island. He was a member of the King County Planning Commission in 1969.

Fritz was an early member of Vashon Allied Arts. The Arts and especially theater were important to him. He headed or was part of the design team for a number of sets for Drama Dock plays and musicals on Vashon.

Fritz practiced architecture until retirement in 2000 and always said that the many projects he designed on the Island would be his memorial.

An athlete, he skiied with the Dartmouth ski team and enjoyed sailing and tennis. More recently his game was croquet and as a player he gave no quarter.

Fritz rarely complained and managed to live life mostly on his own terms. His first love was his family, his second was architecture, and the third was France where he and Jean were able to journey over many years.

Fritz survived eight major cancers due to the caring expertise of Dr. Henry Kaplan and the staff of the Swedish Cancer Institute. He was a carrier of the Lynch gene. He was able to die at home because of the care provided by Hospice.

He is survived by his wife Jean, and by his daughter Marci Ameluxen Coleman, her husband Ed, and by Jean’s daughter Elizebeth Rutherford, her husband Eric, and Jean’s son David Ameluxen. He loved all of them, as he loved his grandchildren Evan and Brendan Coleman, and Katherine and Margaret Rutherford.

At his request any remembrances should be sent to the Vashon Allied Arts performing arts center building fund.

If there is an afterlife Jean expects to find Fritz waiting for her at a small sidewalk café in the south of France.

Please visit our online guestbook at: www.islandfuneral.com

Paid Obituary.