Julie Ditchy Fitzpatrick

She was born in Detroit, Michigan, the youngest daughter of architect Clair W. Ditchy and Berenice Bookmyer Ditchy. She grew up in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, with her sisters Lanie and Diane.

After earning a degree in English from Rosemont College in Philadelphia, she was hired to be an editor at Ladies Home Journal. Her sister Lanie joined her in Philadelphia where they rented a typical hundred-year-old townhouse in the center of the city and began their careers. Julie met her future husband Paul Crum while he was studying at University of Pennsylvania Medical School. They married in 1960. Paul chose to do his internship in the Navy and was assigned to St. Albans Hospital in New York. By this time, Julie was expecting her first child and resigned from Ladies Home Journal to move with him. A series of orders from the Navy started a family life of periodic moves to places such as a return to Philadelphia for residency, followed by a submarine base in Groton, CT, and on to Washington, DC, Portsmouth, VA and Jacksonville, FL.

The Crums had three children: Dr. Amy Crum Vander Woude (Doug) of Grand Rapids, MI, Dr. Paul Crum, Jr. (Angela) of Jacksonville, FL, and Catherine Crum (Bo Pham) of Washington, DC, and eventually, nine grandchildren.

Julie continued her journalism career as a feature story writer for the Jacksonville Times Union (Clay County correspondent) and later as the Diocese of St. Augustine’s editor of the Community Page, sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine in the Times Union and Gainesville Sun. Being active in her parish was always important to Julie, and she was an active member of St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Orange Park.

Several years after her divorce from Dr. Crum, Julie reconnected with Dick “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick, a friend from her college days who was working on Wall Street in New York City. Dick moved from New York City to St. Johns, Florida and they were married in 2001 at San Juan del Rio Parish. Dick had a heart attack on New Year’s Day in 2004 and died four days later at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Jacksonville.

A memorial mass for Julie will be celebrated at San Juan del Rio Catholic Church on Monday, November 11th at 10 a.m. (1718 State Road 13, Saint Johns, FL 32259). For those considering donations, they may be made to Rosemont College in Philadelphia or San Juan del Rio Catholic Church in Jacksonville.

In addition to her three children and their spouses and nine grandchildren, Julie is survived by a sister, Lanie Ditchy Tobin, of Bloomfield, Michigan.