Nita L. Fitzgerald

Nita Lussier Fitzgerald, 83, of Rock Hall, MD, died peacefully at home, February 17, 2007. She was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, on May 8, 1923. She was the daughter of the late Emile J. and Vera Fleming Lussier. She was the wife of William T. Fitzgerald, who preceded her in death in 1997. They were married for 50 years. She is survived by her three sisters, three children, five grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Her sisters are Jane Strong of Rock Hall, MD, Betty Lussier of Pacific Palisades, CA, and Suzanne Lussier Jones of Parsonsburg, MD. Her children are Diane Fitzgerald-Painter and her husband David of Rock Hall and Salem, OR, William T. Fitzgerald, Jr. of Cockeysville, MD, and Brian W. Fitzgerald and his wife Caroline of Middleburg, VA. Nita was a 1940 graduate of Rock Hall High School. She started college at the University of Maryland, but dropped out midway through her sophomore year to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. After a year, she resigned and joined the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and was stationed in England and France as one of the original members of the OSS where she met her husband to be, who was also serving in the OSS at the time. After the war they were married and moved to Baltimore, MD, where they raised their family. Her husband’s career as an executive in the trucking industry caused several moves, and when her youngest son was completing high school, she completed her undergraduate work at Indiana State University. She later earned a Masters Degree in Psychiatric Social Work from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County She worked for almost twenty years at the Springfield State Hospital in Sykesville, MD, as a Social Worker. In her retirement years, she was able to pursue her life-long interests in gardening, birding, care of the Earth and helping people in need. She always had cats and a dog, usually a big lab. She loved her children and grandchildren and all of her extended family. After her husband’s death in 1997, she returned to Rock Hall, a familiar place filled with family, old friends, and quiet beauty and peace. She was a member of the American Legion Post #228 in Rock Hall. She will be missed by many. Services will be held on Saturday, February 24, 2007, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, in Chestertown, Maryland. Relatives and friends may call Wednesday, February 21, 2007, between the hours of 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. at Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, 130 Speer Road, Chestertown, Maryland. The family suggests contributions in her memory be made to the Rock Hall Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, P.O. Box 577, Rock Hall, MD 21661.