Fitzpatrick Family Party

I haven't posted anything on this blog in a while, why I'm not sure. The holiday season was very very busy with parties and family activities. It was really a wonderful time and a busy time. I can't count how many parties I was at! Or how much food and drink I consumed! Other than that, I don't have any excuses for my writer's block.

The day after Christmas, the Cleveland Fitzpatrick's had a family party at a condo party room in Highland Heights (eastern suburb of Cleveland). The party organizers were the children of Uncle Skip (Fenton Sr.) Fitzpatrick and Aunt Mary (nee Allen), two of the most wonderful people who have ever walked the earth. Skip and Mary had 9 children, about 25 grandchildren, and now, about 25 great grandchildren. Luckily they invited the Coughlin's, Brock's, and Langer's, and other Fitzpatrick relatives. At first I thought I would be an interloper there, but I was greeted with open-arms by my cousins and their spouses. As I talked to folks at the party, ate their food and drank their beer, I started thinking: Hey, I'm as much a Fitzpatrick as anyone here! My mother was the daughter of Margaret Ann Sullivan Fitzpatrick and Jack Fitzpatrick. The other guests were children, grandchildren, great grandchildren of Fenton Fitzpatrick (Sr.) and Mary Allen, and Fenton Sr. was the son of Margaret Ann Sullivan Fitzpatrick. So I belonged there--and was treated as if I belonged.

I can't remember everyone at the party, but I do recall seeing cousins Tim, Eddie, Dick, Mike, Joe, Chris, and Suzanne Fitzpatrick. Fenton Jr. and Mary Joan were not able to attend, making their homes in Florida and Texas. Also at the party were the wives and husbands of my cousins, and I love the spouses of my Fitzpatrick cousins as much as the cousins themselves: Queenie, Pat (born in Westport, County Mayo), Gary, Pattie, Karen, Nancy, Tom, Linda.

This family all came from our grandfather Jack Fitzpatrick, born January 3rd, 1880 in the now-gone quarry village of Bluestone, in Euclid Township, and Margaret Ann Sullivan, born 1885 in the quarry township of Brownhelm, near the city of Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio. Jack became a yard conductor for the New York Central Railroad in the Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland, and Margaret was a housewife, raising her children, Al, Julia (named after her grandmother, Julia Broughan Fitzpatrick), Skip (formally, Fenton, named after his grandfather who emigrated from Ireland), identical twins Dick and Don, and the baby of the family, my mother, Margaret Ann.

This was a blue-collar family: Al was a railroad engineer; Julia was a housewife (and held other jobs); Skip was a machinist/welder for New York Central Railroad; Don worked for Republic Steel in quality control; Dick did all sorts of things--and at times did no paying work--I remember when he worked in the Euclid sewer system; my Mom spent her life as a housewife.

The children of the above had the last names Fitzpatrick, Brock, Langer, and Coughlin (I am one of those children). We have a tremendous range of professions: Fenton, Eddie, and Mike worked for the railroad; Tim worked for AT&T; Dick was an accountant; Joe a telephone worker; Chris, who has Downs Syndrome, has worked off an on (there are some funny stories there!); I think that Mary Joan and Suzanne have spent much of their lives as housewives--a position of honor in our families, let there be no doubt. The Brock children have had all sorts of interesting jobs: Maggie made a great career as a radio personality on major stations in Chicago and in the Phoenix area. Susie is a Ph.D. psychologist; Luke, I think, is a carpenter and cabinet maker; Bill is a computer specialist for Cleveland State University.

The children of Al Fitzpatrick and Catherine (nee Pellerin) Fitzpatrick have known a lot of tragedy: Tommy was killed in Vietnam at age 21 (in April 1969); Jack was murdered in Cleveland (in an astonishing scenario that I have described elsewhere in this blog) December 21, 1971; Jerry lives in Florida and I think her worked for the telephone company; Sheila married Big Eddie Langer, and though now divorced, has wonderful children and grandchildren.

The Coughlin part of the Fitzpatrick clan has also done well: Bob a college teacher; Denny a car mechanic in San Diego; Mary Ellen a school secretary in Medina County; Kev a foreman in a roofing company in Willoughby; and Jimmy maintains and repairs printing presses. There are lots of Coughlin children, with Denny and Mary Ellen having grandchildren.

This Fitzpatrick-Brock-Langer-Coughlin clan has really been something, has maintained closeness and a great love of family, and has made much progress educationally and economically.

(I realize that I have said very little about the spouses of the clan! I hope I can get to it some day soon!).