Joan Manning Fitzpatrick

Joan Manning FitzPatrick returned home to her Maker on January 27, 2020 just a few months shy of her 95th birthday. Joan passed away peacefully by the shores of her beloved Lake Champlain, just a few blocks from where she had lived as a child, and very close to the house where the love of her life and husband of 40 years, James Anthony (Jim) FitzPatrick, had grown up. All of this was a blessing.

Joan was born in Albany, NY on May 30, 1925 to William James Henry Manning and Marguerite Toole Manning. Her father was a safety engineer for the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, as was his father before him, and the family soon moved to Plattsburgh when her father was assigned to the D&H Railroad Depot on Bridge Street. She celebrated her first birthday in Plattsburgh. Joan graduated from St. John’s High School, the Edgewood Park School and Katherine Gibbs and worked as a secretary at Plattsburgh National Bank & Trust Co. on the corner of Margaret and Brinkerhoff Streets.

The Mannings and FitzPatricks were social friends and Joan met Jim at Indian Bay shortly after the young Navy Lieutenant Commander returned from the war. They were married at St. John’s Church on June 16, 1948 and raised five children on Beekman Street and Bluff Point, accompanied by a St. Bernard and two Newfoundland dogs in succession. They had a very happy life.

Joan was predeceased by her parents, husband and two sons-in-law, Donald K. Wilks and Kevin S. Duffy. She is survived by her sister, Patricia Manning Muller, and brother, William J.H. (Bill) Manning, Jr., her children James Anthony (Tony) FitzPatrick, Jr. and his wife Julie (Charlton), J. Maureen FitzPatrick, Cynthia (Tia) FitzPatrick Duffy, Daniel Manning FitzPatrick and his wife Helen (Ix), and Susan (Suzy) FitzPatrick Pellerin and her husband, Bruce, together with twelve grandchildren and one great-grandchild: Devan FitzPatrick, Meredith FitzPatrick Kalbacker (Will), James A FitzPatrick III; Patrick Wilks; Connor Duffy (Kate) and daughter June, Garrett Duffy (Chrissy); Whitney, Caroline and John FitzPatrick; and Jared, Chase and Will Pellerin.

Calling hours will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2020, from 11:00AM to 12:30PM at the Brown Funeral Home in Plattsburgh (www.brownfuneralhomeinc.com). A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated shortly thereafter at 1:00PM at St. John’s Church in Plattsburgh (www.broadstreetcatholics.org). Burial will be later in the year at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Plattsburgh. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. John’s Church, Seton Catholic School (http://www.setonknights.org) and the CVPH FitzPatrick Cancer Center (https://www.cvph.org/Departments-and-Programs/Cancer-Center/).