Josephine Lynn Fritz

Jodie “Jo Jo” Fritz

July 27, 1976 – August 26, 2026

A life of faith, family, love, adventure, and hope.

Jodie “Jo Jo” Fritz, beloved wife of Thomas Matthew “Fritz” Fritz, passed away peacefully on August 26, 2026, at 12:53 p.m. She was 50 years old.

In her final moments, Jo Jo was holding her husband’s hand and was surrounded by those she loved most—her mother, her children, and all of her siblings. She left this life wrapped in the love of the family that had meant everything to her.

Jo Jo was born July 27, 1976, in Pensacola, Florida, to John D. Adams and Betty Adams.

She was preceded in death by her father, John D. Adams; her grandparents, Francis and Cleveland Raybon of Pensacola and Addie and Thaddeus Adams of Crestview, Florida; and her nephew, Heath Adams.

Jo Jo leaves behind her husband, Thomas Matthew “Fritz” Fritz, and their family, who will carry her love and memory with them always.

Her children are Aaron Flowers, Jasmine Nichole Fritz, Erika Bare (Ryan), and Jesse Fritz (Hannah). Her grandchildren are Caiden Flowers, Eliza “ELFie” Fritz, Weston McGinty, and Attikus Flowers.

She is also survived by her mother, Betty Adams of Pensacola, and her siblings: David Adams; Bobby Adams (Carrie); Billy Adams (Melissa); Shannon Adams; James Adams (Heather), all of Pensacola; Jenny Mehta (Kumar) of California; Gale Hamrac (JD); and Marie Aman of Perry, Florida, as well as many nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

A Life Filled With Adventure

Jo Jo loved her family deeply. She loved tubing down the river, skydiving, traveling, and—perhaps most of all—going along with whatever new adventure her husband dreamed up next.

One of the biggest of those adventures began with a pink school bus.

When Fritz made a 23-hour trip to Ohio to bring home the bus, Jo Jo knew he was serious.

What began as a wild idea became “Where’s Jo Jo – The Pink Bus,” a plan to take Jo Jo on a 31-day journey to Breast Cancer Awareness events through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, ultimately returning to her hometown of Pensacola.

As the trip grew closer, so did Jo Jo’s excitement.

She began preparing 500 gift bags to give away along the journey. She spent the $1,500 she received for her birthday from family, friends, and new friends ordering items for those bags—not for herself, but for people she hoped to encourage along the way.

Packages kept arriving. The plans kept growing. And Jo Jo became more excited with each passing day.

The Pink Bus was becoming more than a trip.

It was becoming her message.

Her Faith Was Her Strength

Jo Jo was a believer in Jesus Christ. Her faith was personal and quiet, but it was strong.

When she was diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 breast cancer, she faced a reality that would have overwhelmed many people. Yet Jo Jo refused to allow cancer to define the life she had left to live.

She never seemed consumed by fear of dying.

Instead, she treated cancer as a new reality of living.

She faced treatments, uncertainty, difficult days, and an unimaginable diagnosis with remarkable grace, strength, faith, and courage, supported every step of the way by her husband, children, mother, siblings, family, and friends.

And then Jo Jo did something that did not come naturally to her.

She stepped out of her comfort zone.

She appeared on television. She went on the radio. She participated in Facebook videos. She even threw out the first pitch at a minor league baseball game. She allowed people into one of the most personal and difficult chapters of her life because she believed her story might help save someone else’s.

Her message was simple and urgent:

Early detection matters. Get checked. Don’t wait.

She wanted people to hear her story. She wanted women and families to understand the importance of early detection. And she wanted someone else to have the chance that she wished she had been given.

Jo Jo did not get to make the 31-day journey she had been so excitedly preparing for.

But her journey did not end on August 26.

The Pink Bus now carries something even greater than the trip Jo Jo and Fritz originally planned.

It carries her memory.

It carries her faith.

It carries her love.

It carries her message of early detection.

And it carries the story of a woman who faced Stage 4 breast cancer without allowing cancer to take away who she was.

The bus will travel on in her honor.

At every stop, every Breast Cancer Awareness event, every conversation, and every gift bag handed to a stranger, a little piece of Jo Jo will be there.

Her family will miss her laughter, her strength, her quiet faith, her willingness to join the next crazy adventure, and most of all, simply having her beside them.

For Fritz, she was more than his wife.

She was his best friend, his partner in adventure, and the love of his life.

Cancer may have changed their plans.

It may have changed the destination.

But it could never change their love.

And so “Where’s Jo Jo?” now has a different answer.

She is in every mile.Every story.Every person encouraged to get checked.Every life her message may help save.Every adventure.And forever in the hearts of the people who loved her.

The Pink Bus rolls on in memory of Jo Jo.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the Where’s Jo Jo - The Pink Bus Journey. See below:

Gofundme

https://gofund.me/316d34f8e

Cashapp

https://cash.app/$WheresJoJoThePinkBus

Venmo

https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2485689362939904819