Sandra J. (Luskin) Fitzgerald

Waltham – It's been said that "a smile is the shortest distance between two hearts" . . . and if that's true then Sandra Fitzgerald was close to a lot of hearts. Possessed of the sweetest smile and beautiful blue eyes she made family feel special and strangers feel welcome.

To her husband and soulmate of twenty-seven years, Rob, she was his world . . . strength in times of uncertainty . . . courage in times of doubt . . . love without condition.

Her boys, Justin and Ryan and Matthew were the reason she got out of bed every morning and went to the ice rink with a smile on her face . . . with encouragement from her lips . . . and with more love without condition.

She and her mother Joan shared a special bond that went beyond mother and daughter; they were best friends too. Just seventeen when her own father, a wonderful guy named John Luskin died, Sandy and her mom depended on one another to get through the hard days that followed.

So when the word came Saturday morning that Sandy had died it was the 'sudden take your breath away' kind of news that your ears hear but your brain can't comprehend.

Sandra J. (Luskin) Fitzgerald was a month past her forty-sixth birthday when she died Saturday, April 16, 2016 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Her legacy will be the testimony of family, friends and community of her gentle spirit and her kind soul.

Nobody that lived in her neighborhood needed a calendar to tell them what holiday was coming up next . . . she had one of the most beautifully decorated homes in Waltham at Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and sometimes just for random Tuesdays. Her gardening skills were beyond comparison and her beautiful flowers were just a small outward sign of the beautiful home and heart she kept inside for her husband and her boys.

She graduated from Waltham High School in 1989 and after that went to Blaine Hair School and embarked on a lifelong career as a stylist . . . most recently at Hair's Evelyn on Main Street. When she wasn't working Sandy loved to shop and could always find a good bargain.

For years the Luskin family and later the Fitzgeralds would spend two weeks in August vacationing at Lake George, New York, . . . a place where Sandy always found great peace, light, joy and refreshment. Her Lake George friends will miss her terribly but knowing how much she loved the place will help her family to smile through their tears on the next visit.

It really was however to her husband and to her boys that she reserved her deepest love, affection and devotion. There's not anything Sandy wouldn't do for them . . . she loved being a really good wife and mother and it showed. Sandy has been one of the regular 'Hockey Moms' in Waltham since anyone can remember and was equally devoted to attending all the games in other sports that her boys played.

She leaves her husband, Robert M. Fitzgerald; her sons, Justin R., Ryan M. and Matthew J. Fitzgerald; her mother, Joan K. (Murphy) Luskin; her brother, John "Mike" Luskin and his wife, Marie, of Waltham; her father and mother-in-law, Robert M. and Cheryl A. Fitzgerald of Waltham; her sister and brother-in-law, Robyn Fitzgerald Reddick and her husband, Bryant, of Shrewsbury and her nieces and nephews, Michael Luskin and his wife, Elizabeth, of Billerica, Lauren Luskin and Robert Iannacci of Burlington and Hannah and Alayna Reddick of Shrewsbury.

Family and friends will honor and remember Sandra's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Wednesday, April 20th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning before leaving in procession to Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted Church, 880 Trapelo Road, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Mount Feake Cemetery, Waltham.

Consider honoring Sandys' memory by supporting a cause close to her heart . . . Waltham Youth Hockey Benevolent Fund, P.O. Box 540654, Waltham, MA 02454.