Fruitticher remembered with artificial reef
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Submitted photo A boat unloads an artificial, memorial reef for Susan Fruitticher.

Sometimes the unseen reminders can leave the greatest impact. A local marine enthusiast will be remembered with an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico. Deep below the gulf waters so loved by a Susan Fruitticher, a quite memorial reef will stand forever in her memory, creating life where only sand stood.

Fruitticher, 42, passed away in 2005 from ovarian cancer. Fruitticher had been lifelong friends with Robert Turpin, who serves as Escambia County's Chief of Marine resources. Shortly before her passing, Turpin presented Fruitticher with the idea of a memorial reef. Fruitticher liked the idea, and the Susan K. Fruitticher Memorial Reef was deployed last week and is now open to the public.

"It made her happy to know that there would be a spot underwater named after her," said Julie Schroeder, Fruitticher's sister. Schroeder added that her sister was always very fond of the area's aquatic resources and even earned a bachelor's in water resource management.

"She loved native plants," Schroeder explained. "She was big into the environment and doing things naturally. She loved the water, maps and Pensacola Beach."

The $8,000 reef, paid for by donations from family and friends, was placed in the Large Area Artificial Reef Site (LAARS) located in the Gulf of Mexico. LAARS is roughly 16 miles southeast of Pensacola Pass.