Obituary of Shirley G. Buhrmaster Fitzgerald

Shirley G. Buhrmaster Fitzgerald, 82, formerly of Fort Hunter, resident of Lincoln Avenue, Amsterdam, died Thursday morning at the Lake Placid Uihlein Mercy Center after a long, courageous battle with breast cancer. Born in Amsterdam, New York, July 24, 1923, she was the daughter of the late Fay and Doris Turner Buhrmaster. She was a lifelong area resident. Shirley was employed as a clerk for the Life Savers Company in Canajoharie until retiring in 1981. She loved to raise flowers, garden and spend time with her dog, Toby. She was a member of the St. Luke?s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amsterdam and the church council, the Port Jackson Seniors and the Iroquois Seniors in Tribes Hill. She was married to William Fitzgerald who died in 1984. Survivors include her loving family: two daughters, Faye Whitford and her husband, Richard, of Lake Clear, New York and Patricia Barrows and her husband, Jon, of Warren, New Hampshire; a sister, Jean Brown and her husband, Edward, of Amsterdam; two grandchildren, Shane Whitford and Darla Frey; a niece, Kathleen Gorrell Brown, and two nephews, Kevin Brown and Michael Brown. Funeral services will be held on Sunday afternoon at 4:00pm at the Betz, Rossi & Bellinger Family Funeral Home, 171 Guy Park Avenue, Amsterdam with the Rev. John Califano officiating. Interment will take place in the spring in the Chuctanunda Cemetery in Minaville, New York. The family will receive relatives and friends on Sunday from 2 to 4pm at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made in Shirley?s memory to the High Peaks Hospice, P.O. Box 840, Saranac Lake, New York, 12983.