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Obituary : Michelle Fitzpatrick |
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Michelle Kay Fitzpatrick
Aug. 17, 1946- Jan. 23, 2012
Resident of Soquel
Michelle died peacefully at home in Soquel, California on January 23, 2012 holding the hand of her husband Michael Fitzpatrick. She had bravely fought a ferocious battle against an incurable form of cancer for over 8 years.
Michelle was born in Newcastle, California on August 17, 1946, the youngest child of Lou and Kay Fitzgerald. The family moved to Cupertino when she was young, and she grew up there among the orchards. When she was 19 she married Joseph Spencer, a Hungarian immigrant, with whom she later made a number of trips to Austria, Eastern European Soviet bloc countries, Greece, and Turkey in the 1960's. They moved to Santa Cruz County and eventually divorced in the mid 1970's, but remained friends and shared custody of their daughter Tina who was born on June 15, 1971.
She met her future husband Michael at work, and they lived together for a number of years in Felton and Scott's Valley before marrying in 1984. That year Michael adopted Tina after her biological father died unexpectedly. In 1986 Michelle was diagnosed with advanced stage Hodgkin's disease and endured a brutal year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Her oncologist Jonathan Schechter saved her life, but only after prophetically warning her that the radiation treatments might cause her to develop new cancer several decades in the future.
Michelle and Michael loved to travel together and drove all over the western United States, Hawaii, Canada and Alaska. Nothing like a road trip! They enjoyed trips to Ireland, England and Indonesia. They also developed a fascination with Mayan and other Mesoamerican civilizations, and travelled extensively driving thousands of miles around Mexico and much of Central America visiting ruins both famous and obscure. Michelle was a great travel partner, rarely complaining, game for everything and anything, and perpetually curious. She loved her home, her gardens, her animals, and she treasured weekend walks on the beach with Michael and her dogs. She was smart, funny, loyal and fiercely protective of those she loved.
Until the last year of her life when she resigned because she was too weak to continue, she worked for several years as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels bringing food to the needy. While she grew very fond of them, she never let any of her clients or co-workers know of her illness, because she wanted to give and not receive care. It wasn't about her, but about them.
She is survived by her husband Michael, daughter Tina McDevitt and her husband John, and her adored grandsons Tyler and Stephen. She also leaves behind her siblings Michael Fitzgerald, Ellie Perez and Chuck Beltz and their families, many cousins, beloved brothers and sisters in-law, and all of their great kids, her nieces and nephews. She also left behind her two best girlfriends, and de facto sisters, Cheryl Laupmanis and Mary Bassano, who supported her through so many trials and who had such fun with her over the decades.
Her family would like to thank her doctors Michael Alexander, Noel Fishman, Bill Loo, and Randal Rea and their colleagues and staff for the extraordinary care she received. She also was given loving assistance at home by Chris Brown, Merrilee Gonzales and Marissa Alvarez, among others.
Michelle did not want a burial service, but a private memorial party is contemplated for sometime this spring. If folks want to contribute to a charity in her name, she was always supportive of http://www.lungusa.org/donate/and received wonderful care from http://www.hospicesantacruz.org/. Or you could just slip $20 to someone obviously in need in remembrance of her. She liked to do that herself.
Bon Voyage, Michelle. We will always remember you and miss you terribly.
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