Judith Fues

Judy was born August 4, 1940 in Chicago to Philip and Lois Kirchberg. She passed away peacefully Saturday, September 19, 2015 in Woodstock, surrounded by her loving family.

She was the daughter of a Chicago jeweler, with the family business dating back to 1867. At the age of 2, her family moved to Crystal Lake where she grew up in the Village of Lakewood, along the south shore of the lake. She attended St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School followed by Crystal Lake High School.

Judy married her high school sweetheart Barry Fues in 1962 and then moved to Milwaukee, WI for his job. They moved back to Illinois in 1964 and spent the next 14 years in Barrington before returning to Crystal Lake in 1978 with their three children.

Although Judy resided 2 blocks from her childhood home in Crystal Lake for the past 37 years, every year of her life was also spent in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the birthplace and family lineage of her mother Lois DeRosier Kirchberg. Her children and grandchildren have continued that tradition today, spending their summers with Judy in the same northern woods, beaches and Lake Michigan water she did for 75 years.

Judy dedicated her life to her husband, children and grandchildren. She was a pillar of strength and resolve, with soft blue eyes and a contagious smile. She was the grandmother who attended, volunteered for, and was present at each and every sporting event, school function and extracurricular activity of her grandchildren even through the last week of her life. She would throw a baseball, hit a tennis ball, ride on an inner tube, or allow herself to be pushed off a pier into the water – all in her love and devotion to her grandchildren.

Her other loves were gardening and the Catholic Church. When she wasn’t attending the weekly school mass of her granddaughters in the Western suburbs, or the daily mass in her own St. Thomas the Apostle parish, she was weeding her garden and enjoying her flowers.

Judy is survived by her husband of 53 years, Barry; children, Amy Odom, Barry (Carri) Fues, and Jason (Maria) Fues; grandchildren, Joseph, Kathleen, Maribella, and Gabriela; and brother Philip (Gail) Kirchberg. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Visitation will be 4-8pm, Thursday, September 24 at Davenport Family Funeral Home, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave (Route176), Crystal Lake.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 11am, Friday, September 25, at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 451 W. Terra Cotta Ave (Route 176), Crystal Lake.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to any of the following:
JourneyCare Hospice Foundation, 405 Lake Zurich Road, Barrington, IL 60010, St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School “Fair Ability” tuition assistance foundation, 272 King Street, Crystal Lake, IL 60014, or Rush University Medical Center – Memorial Gift foundation, 1700 W. Van Buren Street, Suite 250, Chicago, IL 60612.

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