Mary Margaret Fitzgerald

Mary Margaret Maher Fitzgerald died peacefully on Saturday, March 30, 2013, at her home, surrounded by family. She died of congestive heart failure following several months of illness. Gracious, smart, and strong, she was 89 years old.

A lifelong Iowan, Mary was born on January 1, 1924, north of Colfax in the home of her parents, Patrick William Maher and Margaret Bridget Maloney Maher. Mary grew up on the family farm near Greencastle. She began high school in Mingo, transferring to St. Joseph’s Academy in Des Moines. She graduated from SJA in 1941, and attended Marycrest College in Davenport.

On March 4, 1943, Mary married Joseph W. “Joe” Fitzgerald at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Colfax. Together, they built a farming and purebred Hereford cattle business in the 1940s and ‘50s. They first farmed west of Gilman, then near Baxter. In 1949, the Fitzgeralds bought a farm near Mitchellville, where they raised their ten children. After Joe died on February 6, 2005, Mary continued to live on the farm. She often said there was nowhere else she wanted to live.

The Fitzgeralds made a great team, encouraging their children to excel in whatever they pursued – education, work, music, sports, or community activism. They were longtime members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Des Moines, and founding members of Saints John & Paul Parish in Altoona. While Joe tended to the farm, Mary managed the household. She was a longtime volunteer at her children’s schools and in the community. Later in life, she took classes at Drake University and the Des Moines Art Center.

Mary loved language and was a voracious reader. She took pride in being 100 percent Irish and a devout Democrat. She relished recounting dances at the Tromar and Val Air ballrooms, Labor Day picnics in her parents’ timber, and significant events in her life and others’. She embraced travel, and welcomed foreign students into her home. She excelled at Hearts and Scrabble, and loathed losing. She presided over gatherings on her front porch. She savored fine chocolate. She reveled in the changing seasons and fresh flowers. She lived to learn and taught by example. She loved life and did not fear death.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and her brother, John Patrick Maher, and his wife, Betty. Surviving are her children: Mary Jeanne Fitzgerald and her husband, John Slattery of Arlington Heights, Ill.; Eileen Fitzgerald of Alexandria, Va.; Fr. Tim Fitzgerald of Des Moines; Margaret Fitzgerald of White Bear Lake, Minn.; John Fitzgerald and his wife, Theresa, of Omaha, Neb., and their daughters, Meaghan Walls and her husband, Peter, and Kathleen Fitzgerald and her fiance, Matthew Folkerts; Anne Fitzgerald and her husband, Chuck Fuson, of Bondurant; Michael Fitzgerald and his wife, Elizabeth, of Lincoln, Neb., and their children, Keegan and his wife, Madelaine, and their children, Aedan, Cole, and Bailey, Kevin Fitzgerald and his wife, Sarah, and Maureen, Bridget, and Fiona; Joseph Fitzgerald and his wife, Ane, of Glencoe, Minn., and their children, Matthew and Beret; Maureen Fitzgerald and her husband, Casey Hughes, of Austin, Texas, and their son, Conor; and Sheila Fitzgerald and her husband, Eric Johnson, of Lake Lotawana, Mo. Also surviving are two sisters-in-law, Avalee Fitzgerald of Madison, Wis., and Rita Lindberg of Torrance, Calif., as well as many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Sunday, April 7, at Saints John & Paul in Altoona, with a vigil service at 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m., Monday, April 8, at the church, with burial to follow at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines. Hamilton’s Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

The family wishes to thank Drs. Joseph Schupp, Thomas Brown, and Atul Chawla, as well as the nurses and staff members of Iowa Heart Center, Mercy Medical Center, and Mercy Hospice, for their care of Mary.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Saints John & Paul Catholic Church in Altoona, the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Dubuque, or Mercy Hospice in Des Moines.

Condolences may be expressed at:
www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com

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