Obituary of Barbara Fitzgerald

Services for Barbara June Davis Fitzgerald will be held at The Elizabeth, 306 Wapping Street, at 1:00 pm Saturday, September 26th with Pastor Drew Fitzgerald officiating. The family will receive friends from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Burial will be in Frankfort Cemetery at a later date. Barbara passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, September 20, 2020 after a long illness with ovarian cancer. She was born in Houston, TX on Easter Sunday and April Fools Day, April 1, 1956. She was married to Tom Fitzgerald for 42 years and was a graduate of the University of Kentucky and Georgetown College. Barbara was preceded in death by her mother Sara Wooten “Betty” Davis of Munford TN. She is survived by her spouse Tom Fitzgerald; children Brian Fitzgerald (Lindsey) of Frankfort, Beth Fitzgerald Lodmell (David) of Frankfort, Maj. Daniel Fitzgerald USMC (Kimberly) of Fort Leavenworth, KS, and Kate Fitzgerald of Denver, CO; grandchildren Anna, Sarah, Lauren, John and Abby Lodmell; Brody and Declan Fitzgerald; Addison, Lauren, and Kendall Baker; and Andrew Fitzgerald; father Emory Davis (Carol) of Goshen, KY; brother Bob Davis (Rebecca) of Houston, TX; and sister Liz Davis (Jeff Irish) of Louisville, KY. She is also survived by special cousins who were like extra sisters, Cindy Foster Winn (Boyd) of Baton Rouge, LA, Meg Gordon McGill (Sherman) of Munford, TN, and Ann Harbin Carr (Gary) of San Antonio, TX, as well as numerous other cousins she spent summer vacations and Christmases with during childhood and later at annual family reunions. Growing up, Barbara’s family moved frequently as her father received work promotions. During her lifetime, she lived in 8 states and 28 houses. All of this moving made her a believer that family is home. She enjoyed time with family and especially enjoyed being a cross-country, track & field, cheerleading, football and soccer mom. Family birthdays at Casa Fiesta were a favorite and she always enjoyed a good steak. She was a teacher at Good Shepherd School in 1980s, '90s, and 2000s. In her personal journal she wrote that she loved every minute of teaching, saying it was “challenging, joyful, and enlightening”. When people sometimes said that she only had to work 9 months of the year, they didn’t know that she worked hours equal to 12 months of 40-hour work weeks during that 9-month school year. She loved seeing former students and learning of the adults they turned out to be. Barbara had a love for singing and music, which she attributed to her father Emory. She sang in choirs from her teen years into adulthood. In the early 1970s, she performed and soloed with Sing Out Louisville and was Music Director for Delta Gamma Sorority at the University of KY. She also sang with choirs at First Presbyterian Church and Good Shepherd Church, saying she enjoyed praying to God through song. Later she sang with the Southeast Christian Church choir at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. She treasured those times and the friendships made, especially one with Good Shepherd choir director Kevin O’Neil. From her mother and grandmothers, Barbara developed a lifelong interest in crafts and cooking. In retirement she enjoyed rug hooking as a hobby, but loved the numerous dear friends, travels and memories of it even more. She said her rug hooking friends were an important source of strength during her struggles with cancer. Barbara asked to be remembered as a mom, a teacher and a rug hooker. In her journal, she wrote, “Please remember me by the good people I have left behind. They helped make me the person I am and hopefully I helped them all in some small way too.” In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Barbara’s memory to the Granulosa Cell Tumor Research Foundation at gctrf.org/donate/ or to Bluegrass Care Navigators (Hospice) at bgcarenav.org/more-about-us/donate.