Irene M. Fitzpatrick, Topeka
1913 - 2008
The Mass of Christian Burial for Irene M. Fitzpatrick, formerly of Olpe and Emporia, will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Burial will be in Sacred Heart Cemetery, after which the family will meet friends at Sacred Heart Parish Hall, where there will be a lunch. The rosary will be recited at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the church led by her daughter, Sister Angela Marie Fitzpatrick, O.S.U.
Memorial contributions to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church or school endowment, St. Joseph Catholic Church in Olpe or endowment, St. Matthew Catholic Church in Topeka or Midland Hospice in Topeka may be sent in care of the Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home, P.O. Box 175, Emporia, KS 66801.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick died Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008, at her daughter’s home in Topeka. She was 94.
She was a homemaker.
The daughter of John M. and Mary A. Haag Sterbenz, she was born March 19, 1913, on a farm north of Olpe. She grew up in Olpe and attended St. Joseph Catholic School and St. Joseph Catholic Church.
She married Michael J. Fitzpatrick on June 18, 1935, at St. Joseph Catholic Church. They lived in Emporia and were members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He died Dec. 20, 1983.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick attended St. Matthew Catholic Church in Topeka. In Emporia, she was a member of the Secular Franciscans Fraternity and the Sacred Heart Altar Society. She raised flowers and decorated Sacred Heart Church for many years. She was an active volunteer at the church and Sacred Heart School.
She is survived by two sons, Edward J. Fitzpatrick and John R. Fitzpatrick, both of Topeka; five daughters, Kathleen P. Wilkerson of Emporia, Mary A. Bechtold and Ellen L. “Fritz” Koester, both of Topeka, Angela of Roeland Park and Marjorie Levell of Overland Park; a brother, Victor Sterbenz of Emporia; 15 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Two sons died earlier. Michael J. Fitzpatrick died Oct. 3, 2001. Thomas L. Fitzpatrick died Aug. 16, 2007.
A grandson, Craig Lee Wilkerson, died Nov. 13, 1985. Four brothers, Alphonse Sterbenz, Louis Sterbenz, Leo Sterbenz and Edward Sterbenz; and four sisters, Ida Schmidt, Laura Wendling, Genevieve Klumpe and Clara Sterbenz, also died earlier.