Gerald Fitches

Gerald Ernest Fitches, 90, of Layton, Utah died January 31, 2020.  Gerald (Jerry) was the son of Edward Ingleby and Rose Udine (Toronto) Fitches, Born in SLC, Utah, and the loving husband to Janet Louise (Taylor) Fitches, who was the love of his life, who died on December 25, 2004.  They met at a dance and married September 5, 1952.  They had two children, son Mark Alan Fitches and daughter Gail Lynn Fitches.  Gerald was a fighter to live to enjoy his family.  Gerald worked 30 years federal service, was in the US Air Force for 3 years, sold life insurance, and other jobs.  Gerald was a member of the LDS Church, in which he expressed how much he loved his church.

Gerald loved dancing.  As a child his father would take him to tap dancing lessons with his brother.  He won some tap dancing contests in his younger years, and while in the Air Force, he tapped danced professionally in night clubs.  Gerald was a very creative person.  He loved writing lyrics to songs, which many of them were very romantic to his wife, some were funny, and others were spiritual.  He managed his son Mark’s musical band, the Heights of Dawn, and was always there at all the places they played.  He created a Years of the Month Calendar Guide, to go forward and backgrounds in time, before computers came up with a program.  He landscaped the yard, and created a play area for his Grandson Jared, where he built a fence in the basement in the winter, and then put up the heavy wooden fence himself, had tons of sand brought in, that summer.  He always put his family first and was a very loving and caring husband, father, brother, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great- grandfather.  His daughter Gail and grandson Jared took care of him from 2007 to 2020, after he got an infection that caused damage to the electrical part of his heart.  One of his favorite things to do was to go to Water Physical Therapy, where everyone had a good time visiting and laughing, while doing their exercises.  He will be greatly missed by his family and friends and anyone who knew him.  Gerald was a veteran, and the SLC VA Hospital was very good to him over the years.  Also, Caregiver Support, his Home Health Care Agency was very good to him, and he always looked forward to them coming over.

Preceded in death by his wife Janet L. Fitches, his parents Edward and Rose Udine Fitches, his brother Edward Toronto Fitches, and his sister Rosalie Day.

He is survived by his sister Gloria U. Young-Anderson, children Mark (Michele) and Gail Fitches, and Grandchildren Angela, Michael, and Jared Fitches, and great-grandchildren Ashley and Vinney Pacheco, Antonio and RitaMarie Torres, and great-great-grandson Jonah Holderness, and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Road. Friends may visit family Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary.  Interment, Lindquist’s Memorial Park at Layton, 1867 No. Fairfield Road.

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