Billy "Bill" Floyd Fitzpatrick

Billy (Bill) Floyd Fitzpatrick 1932 -2015 Billy “Bill” Floyd Fitzpatrick, 83, passed away peacefully on June 18, 2015 surrounded by his family and friends. He is preceded in death by Carolyn “Faye” (Brown) Fitzpatrick, his first wife of 55 years and sisters, Allene Harris and Ruthy Cooke. He is survived by his loving wife of 5 years, Betty Jo (Castleberry) (Hyatt) Fitzpatrick. He is also survived by his eldest daughter, Barbara Faye Holt, (Gary) their children, Samantha, Joanna and Miranda; by his son, David William Fitzpatrick, Sr., (Diane) their children, Erika Burkett, (Anthony), Kristina, Carolyn and David, Jr.; by his youngest daughter, Laura “Beth” Davis, (Thomas) their children, Laura Kiker, (Hunter) and Andrew; and three great-grandchildren, Lila Faith Kiker, Millee Grayce and Gabriel Anthony Burkett. He is also survived by Betty’s children, Claudia Simmons, (Tommy) their children, Kent and Neil; Charlotte Peacock, (Lloyd) their children, Cassie and Beau; Lynn Dieterich, (Russ) Lynn‘s daughter, Tasha Thaxton; Catherine Stevens and her daughter Hannah Jo; and Joel Hyatt. Bill was born in Lorena, Texas on February 6, 1932 to Della “Laura” Lee (Grier) and Floyd Arnold Fitzpatrick. He studied accounting and finance at Baylor University. At 19 years old, he joined the Navy flight training program in Pensacola, Florida where he met his first wife, Faye, on a blind date. They were married on March 25, 1955. He graduated in 1958 with a Bachelors of Arts degree from the Florida State University’s School of Business. He began his accounting career at Chemstrand/Monsanto. Then he worked for Pierre Brown, P.A. where he studied and passed the C.P.A. exam. Brown, Fitzpatrick and Brown, C.P.A., P.A. was formed and he worked there about 10 years. Bill then worked as the comptroller at Instrument Control Service, Inc. for a short time. In 1979, he started Bill F. Fitzpatrick, C.P.A., P.A. and retired in 1999. Bill was blessed to be born into a loving Christian family and continued his Christian faith throughout his life. He also accomplished the art of being a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Being a believer in Christ as his savior from an early age, he was an active worker in the churches he attended throughout his life. Bill was known to all as an honest, kind, patient, generous and compassionate gentleman. His outward faith in God was highly visible to everyone that knew him. Family was also very important to Bill and he considered himself blessed to have all his children living close by. He enjoyed participating in all his children’s and grandchildren’s activities such as camping, church softball, bowling and fishing. He had a blast watching his family grow up right in front of him. His children gave him nine grandchildren that he referred to as his “sweet little lumps of love.” His only wish was to grow old gracefully and enjoy every minute of it with his family. In 2010, he was joined in marriage to Betty Jo Hyatt whom he loved dearly and enjoyed spending his last five years with her. Pallbearers will be Anthony Burkett, Andrew Davis, David Fitzpatrick, Jr., Hunter Kiker, Greg English and Gordon Gunn. Honorary pallbearers will be the Caring and Sharing Sunday School Class of St. Luke United Methodist Church and the Cantonment Rotary Club. Viewing and visiting of family and friends will be from 5 pm to 7 pm on Thursday, June 25, 2015 at Faith Chapel Funeral Home North on Highway 29, Cantonment, Florida. Funeral Service will be held at 1 pm on Friday, June 26, 2015 at St. Luke United Methodist Church on Nine Mile Road. Bill’s interment will be at Lathram Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery, 2690 Jacks Branch Road, Cantonment, Florida. Services will be directed by Reverend Larry Anderson and assisted by Reverend Johnny Webb and Reverend Rual Morris. In lieu of flowers, Bill requested that memorials be made to St. Luke United Methodist Church. "The following biography was written by Bill's second oldest granddaughter, Laura Elizabeth Davis, when she was in the seventh grade (1999)." Granddaddy His mother always said he was such a fine little boy. He never gave her a minute’s trouble. Even as a teenager, he helped his parents by giving them enough money to make the down payment on their first brand new car with his own money he saved for years doing his paper route. As a father with a family of his own, he opened his home to his widowed mother to take care of her. It was early in the morning on February 6, 1932 in the small town of Lorena, Texas when Della “Laura” Lee Fitzpatrick was more than ready to deliver her third child. Her husband, Floyd Arnold, had to ride off on their horse to bring the doctor to the little white two story house where they lived. Their two daughters, Allene and Ruthy, and Laura’s sister, Johnny (the midwife), were there anxiously waiting for their father and the doctor to arrive. Finally they make it back, and before they knew it, their first and only son had been born. Billie Floyd Fitzpatrick was a healthy, big baby boy weighing in at 9 pounds 11 ounces. This was only the beginning of his extraordinary future to come. Billie’s earliest memory was at the age of four. Billie and his dog, Rex had been chasing a rat all day long. Finally, the rat ran in to a wood pile giving them a chance to catch it. Billie leaped into the wood pile after the rat and he came up empty handed. Instead of catching the rat, Billie had caught something sharp and cut a deep gash in his forehead. When Billie was in the first grade, he could run faster than all of the boys in his class. There was also a girl in his class who could run faster than all of the other girls. One day, she chased him around the playground until she tackled him and gave him his first big kiss. Billie never got in trouble in school. He knew if he did his mother would “Wear his tail out.” He got promoted from first grade to third grade because he was so smart. They lived only half a mile from his school. His mother and father were both the janitors at the school and Billie would stay after school to help them all of the time. His father also drove a school bus. On Billie’s sixth birthday his mother gave him a birthday party for all of the boys in his class. All the boys walked in a line from the school to his house where they had his party. They moved to Waco, Texas in 1941. His father started to work as a nurse in a veteran’s hospital. His mother made bombs and clothes for the men fighting in World War II. Thank goodness his father was too old to be in the war. Billie got a dog he named Monk when he was nine years old. His mother did not like the dog to sleep in the house. She would let him out every night but Billie would open his window so Monk would come back in. Monk slept with Billie almost every night. When Billie was twelve years old, he changed the “ie” in Billie to a “y”. He now felt more comfortable with his name because he thought Billie was a girl’s name. He started his own paper route also at the age of twelve. Monk rode with him on his bike with his two front paws on the handle bars while Billy delivered his papers. Billy worked his paper route until he was nineteen years old. He saved enough money to put the down payment on a brand new car for his parents when he was seventeen. Billy’s favorite activities growing up were playing softball and basketball with his church friends, working on his paper route, and boxing. He boxed in a golden gloves tournament in Waco. Out of twenty-seven fights, he lost only three. Billy’s scariest moment in his young life was when he got hit by a car. He was on a motorbike pulling his friend on a bike tied to a rope. When they crossed the street, a car was coming. The car hit the rope that was in between them. Billy flew off of the motorbike and landed straddled on a fire hydrant. (Oooouuuch!!) He said, “I was bruised for about two weeks, but I got over it.” Nobody could have made a better impression on Billy than his mother. He felt very blessed to be born into such a loving Christian family. She always encouraged him to mind her and to be his very best. Although his mother had only a fourth grade education, he felt that she was an outgoing, smart and strong-willed person. She worked hard doing jobs most men would do like picking cotton and chopping wood. After Billy graduated from high school, he went to a business college for about two years and received a certificate in business. Then he went to Baylor University to continue his education. For two years, he studied accounting and finance. In 1951, when Billy was nineteen, he decided to join the Navy. It was then that his Navy buddies started calling him Bill. He had to leave Texas to go to Pensacola, Florida for two years of flight training. One day while training, he was flying a SNJ training airplane. There were five trainers and an instructor each in their own airplane. The leader accidentally led all the trainers into the direction of the sun. One of the trainers was blinded by the light and crashed into Bill’s airplane tearing off the backend. When he looked behind him, all he could see was the sky. His plane started spinning down to the earth nose first. In less than five seconds Bill had bailed out of the airplane and pulled the ripcord. His parachute almost hit some power lines, but he said, “I was graciously saved by the winds and the pine trees.” His parachute got caught in the top of a small pine tree that bent to bring him down to the ground softly. He was so nervous that he took out two cigarettes and smoked them at the same time. While down in Pensacola he met a girl almost by accident. He and a friend were waiting for a ride to go back to Whiting Field to the barracks for the night. A lady named Pat Bonifay picked them up and his friend asked her out for a date. His friend also asked if she could line up a date for Bill. So she set up a blind date for Bill with a school teacher named Faye Brown. They dated a lot in the summer time while he was stationed at Saufley Field. When Bill finished his training at Saufley Field, he went back to Boston, Massachusetts to go aboard the USS Leyte aircraft carrier. While he was there an explosion happened on the other side of the carrier killing about one hundred servicemen. The aircraft carrier was damaged so badly that it almost sank in the Boston Harbor. They repaired the carrier and then they had to go back out to sea. Bill wrote many letters to Faye while he was on the aircraft carrier. Eventually, in 1954, he wrote a letter to Faye asking her to marry him and she said yes. It wasn’t long after that, that he had completed his time to serve in the Navy, and was honorably discharged. After his Navy discharge, he and a friend hitchhiked from Norfolk, Virginia all the way to Boston, Massachusetts. As soon as they got to Boston, they had a huge celebration that lasted for two to three days. When the celebration was over, he and his friend hitchhiked all the way back to Waco, Texas. It took them about fifteen rides to get there. They were about five miles from home when he called his mother to come pick them up. She could hardly believe it. In the fall of 1954, Faye went to Texas to meet Bill’s entire family including his aunts and uncles. She traveled by train from Pensacola to Houston. Then Bill picked her up to take her to Waco. Bill decided to pack up all of his stuff and move to Pensacola so that he could be with Faye. They planned to be married in March. Bill rented an apartment for himself and started a job with Chemstrand (Monsanto) working in the property accounting department. Bill and Faye were married eight months later on March 25, 1955. At their wedding, Faye wore a blue dress with large white polka dots. Bill said, “She was a very pretty blue-eyed bride.” The wedding was very small with only a few close relatives present. Their honeymoon turned out to be a disaster. Bill and Faye drove all the way to Panama City. All of the hotels were packed because of a school band trip. They had to drive all the way back to Pensacola. Faye was not very happy! They stayed the night there, but in the morning, they drove to Mobile, Alabama. In the summer of 1956, Bill and Faye decided to move to Tallahassee so Bill could complete his college education at FSU. He took every accounting class possible. They were there for two years doing a lot of studying and watching a lot of football games. Faye taught fourth graders at elementary school. In June of 1958, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the School of Business. They moved back to Pensacola and lived in a house that was right next to Faye’s parents’ house. Faye was now eight months pregnant with their first child. He went back to work at Chemstrand (Monsanto) and worked there for several years. While he was there, they offered him a job transfer to a company in northern Alabama. Bill and Faye decided they did not want to go. In a little over three years, Bill and Faye were the proud parents of three healthy beautiful babies. Barbara, their firstborn was born on July 26, 1958. Their son, David, was born in April 14, 1960. And their last child, Beth (my mom), was born on September 7, 1961. The children were very young when Bill was offered a job in Luxembourg in Europe. He and Faye talked it over and decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea for the family. So, Bill left Monsanto, and went to work with an accounting firm. He began to study accounting so that he could take the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) Exam. On his seventh attempt, he finally passed all four parts and became a CPA. Bill went to work as a partner with Brown, Fitzpatrick, and Brown CPA firm in Pensacola. He continued to work there for about ten years until he decided to leave and go to work for Instrument Control Service, Inc. (ICS) as their controller. The children were in high school at that time. Bill and Faye were very busy raising their children. As a close family, they had lots of fun and shared lots of activities together. Every Sunday they went to Sunday School and church unless someone was sick. Every other Saturday they would have a family night where they voted what to do; most of the time they went bowling, played goofy golf, or saw a movie. They also enjoyed going to the beach on weekends. They played lots of church softball together. Most every summer vacation they went to Waco to visit his parents for two weeks. Once, they went to Connecticut and New York. On other vacations they visited Walt Disney World, Six Flags over Georgia, and Six Flags over Texas. Bill worked hard every day five days a week putting food on the table and a little bit of money in the bank. Through all these years there were a few ups and downs. David was always the one getting hurt sending them to the hospital. One time he was seriously hurt from third degree burns on his chest from playing with matches at a friend’s house. Another time he broke his leg sliding into second base during a church softball game. It was a very sad phone call in 1977, when Bill’s dad suddenly fell dead of a heart attack in his backyard in Waco, Texas. He had to fly to Texas immediately to help his mother with all the funeral arrangements. They lived in Pine Forest Estates when all three of their children graduated from Tate High School. Bill was able to afford a car for each child when they were seniors in high school. In 1979, Bill started his own private accounting firm. He needed help, so he asked his youngest daughter Beth (my mom) to help him. She had just graduated from high school. She chose to go to college in town and was able to work for him part time while in school. When she graduated from UWF with a bachelor’s degree in computers, she continued working for her dad until he retired. My mom remembers when her dad had to move his mother to Pensacola to live with them. Bill was very concerned that his mother was not taking good care of herself because she was getting old. His sisters who lived near their mother did not have the time nor the health to help her. Bill and Faye both agreed to bring her in their home. She lived with them until her Alzheimer’s disease got so bad he had to put her in a nursing home. He visited her as often as he could. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make and it troubled him for many years until the day she died. Bill was able to put all three of his children through the college of their choice. His oldest daughter, Barbara, became a P.E. teacher. His son, David, became a Professional Engineer. And Beth became a computer analyst and accountant. All of Bill and Faye’s children married after they graduated from college. In 1986, their first granddaughter was born. After she was born, it seemed like there were kids everywhere. All three of their children had kids, nine in all. His grandchildren’s names are Erika, Laura, Samantha, Kristina, Andrew, Carolyn, Joanna, David Jr., and Miranda. He said, “I have nine little grandkids, my sweet little lumps of love.” Every birthday, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July their house was full of family, fun and laughter. In January 1998, Bill sold his accounting firm to E. L. Roche’, but he continued to work there for one more year. He was then semi-retired. In 1999, they transferred their church membership to St. Luke United Methodist Church. All three of their children’s families changed their memberships also. Eight months after Bill retired, the doctors found an aortic aneurysm in his lower abdomen while checking his kidneys. He had to have his first major surgery of his whole life. The surgeon cut his stomach open, put a tube inside his aorta, and then stapled him back up. Bill said, “His belly was so sore for six to eight weeks he couldn’t hardly touch it.” But he finally did recover. Bill’s children owned campers and loved to go camping. They begged their mom and dad to get a camper of their own to join the fun. After recovering from his surgery, Bill and Faye bought a motorhome. They enjoyed camping with their children about once a month together as part of his retirement. Bill admitted that he is had a blast watching his family grow up right in front of him. Every morning Bill and Faye woke up at 7:00 or 8:00 and ate breakfast together. After breakfast, their youngest daughter, Beth, came to their house as often as she could to walk with them about three miles around the neighborhood. After their walk, he relaxed and enjoyed life. Every Tuesday Bill had a standing lunch date with his son, David. He talked on the phone with his oldest daughter, Barbara, almost daily. In the future, Bill had hopes of writing a novel about a young boy like himself using some adventures from his own life. He enjoyed working with wood and wanted to make more toys for his grandchildren. He wanted to grow old gracefully and enjoy every minute of it with his family. A lot of people saw Bill as a very honest, kind, patient, generous and compassionate gentleman. His family was always first. His outward faith in God was highly visible to everyone that knew him. He was a man with many accomplishments. He felt like he was the luckiest man on earth to have such a close family. But in reality, we were the lucky ones to have him. I love you Granddaddy

Tributes

Billy "Bill" Floyd Fitzpatrick

February 6, 1932 - June 18, 2015