LOUISE BARNHOUSE FITZGERALD, 89

EAST LIVERPOOL – Louise Barnhouse Fitzgerald, 89, passed away Monday morning, August 28, 2017, at the Valley Oaks Care Center at 1:20 a.m. following a lengthy illness.

Born in East Palestine on July 21, 1928, Louise was a daughter of the late Howard P. and Alice Barker Barnhouse and was a lifetime area resident.

She was a 1947 graduate of East Liverpool High School, and had worked at Ohio Power as a telephone operator until starting her family with her husband Earl W. Fitzgerald, whom she married on September 11, 1949.

Louise was a loyal and active member of the First United Methodist Church, where she belonged to the Esther Bible Club, the United Methodist Women’s Conference, and was for many years the head of the church kitchen committee and the Masonic Temple kitchen committee. Louise will forever be remembered for her homemade pies and other baked goods which she lovingly prepared for countless church and Masonic friends and family members.

She was a member of the East Liverpool Assembly #71 Social Order of Beauceant, and the Crystal Chapter #18 Order of the Eastern Star, of which she was a past Worthy Matron.

In addition to her husband, who survives at home, Louise leaves behind her four children: Colleen van Leeuwen, and her husband Joachim, of East Liverpool; Dennis Fitzgerald, and his wife Cindy, of Tuscon, AZ; Michael Fitzgerald, and his wife Beverly Jones; of Coolidge, AZ; and Brian Fitzgerald of East Liverpool.

There are eight grandchildren, Dennis Fitzgerald, Jr., Denise Fitzgerald, Alissa van Leeuwen Reinhardt, Allison Lopez, Aaron van Leeuwen, Jonathan Fitzgerald, Matthew Fitzgerald and Sean Fitzgerald, five step-grandchildren, Michael Cornett, Lucas Allison, Alec Allison, Darcey Allison and Courtney Sweatlick, and nine great-grandchildren, Kayla Fitzgerald, Dennis Fitzgerald, III, Sara Allison, Zoe Allison, Kyla van Leeuwen, Madilyn van Leeuwen, Logan Reinhardt, Sydney Lopez and Presley Lopez.

Also surviving is a sister, Gertrude Borgen of Galion, Ohio, and a brother, Howard C. Barnhouse “Barney” of East Liverpool.

In addition to her parents, Louise was preceded by a sister, Martha Mitcheson.

An Eastern Star service will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Friends and family may visit at the Dawson Funeral Home from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Pastor Larry Hukill of the church will conduct a funeral service at 11 a.m. on Thursday at the First United Methodist Church, 200 West Fifth Street, East Liverpool.

Burial will take place at Riverview Cemetery, followed by a continued time of fellowship and luncheon at the Dawson Family Center.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to: Northern Panhandle Shrine Club, 1221 Rice Blvd., Weirton, WV 26062, for the children’s hospitals in Cincinnati and Erie, PA.