Loretta Lee Fry

Fry, Loretta Lee, age 80, went home to be with the Lord on August 22, 2015. Loretta was the beloved wife of Bill Fry for 55 years. She was the loving mother of Stacey (Matt) Studnicki and Billy Fry Jr. She was the proud grandma of Matthew, Chelsea and Christopher. She was preceded in death by son Steven Fry, mother Rev. Marjorie Lee and grandmother Rev. Olive M. Bevier, both pastors and founders of The Star of Hope Tabernacle. Loretta was born on December 10, 1934, in River Rouge, Michigan, the only child of Marjorie (Bevier) Lee. Loretta was an accomplished pianist and singer, having played piano in her grandparents' church, The Star of Hope Tabernacle, from the age of seven. She recorded an album of Christian music in 1965 and was a Christian radio personality in the Metro Detroit area in the late 1960's. In 1968, she gathered 500,000 signatures through her radio broadcast in a petition drive to support the Apollo 8 Astronauts' reading of Genesis 1:1 as they orbited the moon. She presented the petitions to the director of NASA, Dr. Thomas Paine, in March 1969, in Houston, Texas. Loretta graduated with honors from Wayne State University in 1980 with a Master's Degree in Social Work and founded the Area Counseling Center where she worked as a Counselor until her recent retirement. She was also an Ordained Minister who presided over hundreds of weddings and funerals. Loretta touched many lives through the years with her fearless spirit and compassion for others, and leaves behind many friends.