Denise (Fitzpatrick) Kirkpatrick was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 25, 1970. On October 8, 1970, she was adopted by John Fitzpatrick and lived in Green Township in Summit County. When Denise was 5, John met and married a beautiful lady named Sandy who had two children, Michael and Amy, and the family of five soon became six when Megan was born.

At St. Augustine School in Barberton, Denise became close friends with several girls in her class, and they formed a friendship that exists to this day, nearly 50 years later. This same group added more friends in college and that “whole crazy gang” still gets together regularly.

Denise graduated from Doylestown High School, Class of ’88 and the University of Akron.

Professionally, Denise was a mortgage broker and took great pride in being of service to many homebuyers in northeast Ohio, especially those acquiring their first home. But the highlight of her career occurred about 12 years ago when she assisted a prospective homebuyer by the name of Ken Kirkpatrick. The reason it was the “highlight” is that, following completion of his mortgage financing and home purchase, Denise and Ken began dating and a little over nine years ago became husband and wife.

Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick have spent 9 beautiful years building memories, enjoying the friendships of each other’s friends, especially Denis’s “gang” and their husbands. They enjoyed their expanded families and appreciating the blessings of having completed each other.

Denise is predeceased by her brother, Michael and is survived by her husband, Kenneth Kirkpatrick; her parents: John and Sandra Fitzpatrick; her sisters: Amy (Tim) Darlington and Megan (Burke) Rawson; her nieces, Samantha Johnson; her nephews: Charles “CJ” Fitzpatrick and Joshua Rawson. She is also survived by Evelyn Kirkpatrick, Tom and Jennifer Kirkpatrick, Alex and Katie, Tammy and Mark Bush, Emily and Josh, and Stephanie and Mark Geiser.

The families will receive friends on Friday, September 19, 2025, at the Cox-McNulty Funeral Home, 1376 High Street, Wadsworth, Ohio, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Funeral Mass will be at Prince of Peace Parish, 1263 Shannon Avenue, Barberton, Ohio, on Saturday, September 20, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. A luncheon in the parish hall will follow the services.