{"id":5465,"date":"2026-10-26T15:09:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T20:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/?p=5465"},"modified":"2026-10-26T15:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T20:09:24","slug":"krystal-underwood-fitzgerald-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/2026\/10\/26\/krystal-underwood-fitzgerald-85\/","title":{"rendered":"Krystal (Underwood) Fitzgerald ’85"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Krystal M. Fitzgerald, age 58, passed away peacefully at Mass General Hospital on Oct 22, 2026. She was born in Northampton MA, daughter of Robert O. and Florence L. (Hearn) Underwood, and she grew up on Underwood Farm in Easthampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krystal attended public and private schools in Easthampton. She graduated as class valedictorian from Williston Northampton School in 1985. Krystal continued her education and received her B.A. from Smith College, a Masters degree in Music Theory from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Masters degree in Education from Westfield State University. In 2023, she was ordained with Joan Hunter Ministries in Tomball, TX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finishing her degrees, one of her greatest joys was teaching fourth grade at Valley Christian School in Northampton. She was subsequently employed by Pearson, Measured Progress, and Prometric. Krystal was most recently employed by the Institute of Management Accountants (MA) as an assessment designer. If you’ve ever obtained a professional designation, chances are that Krystal was involved in writing the test questions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Krystal enjoyed baking, knitting, singing, playing and teaching the piano, gardening, and laughing. She was an active member of the congregation at Christ Community Church, singing in the choir, knitting baby blankets for new mothers, and participating in additional ministries. She loved watching her sons figure skate for the past 18 years, and she became a member of the board of directors at the Skating Club of Amherst. Over the past few years, Krystal challenged herself with virtual Zumba, Strong Nation, and ballet lessons. She was a lifelong enthusiast of all things Snoopy and Peanuts. She loved cats and had many throughout her lifetime, for whom she would knit toys filled with catnip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is survived by her twin sons Samuel and Josiah from Amherst and their cats Peaches, Toph, and Fauna; brother Bob from Reno, NV; brother Warren and his wife Toni from Cobleskill, NY; sister Sarah and her husband John from Feeding Hills; sister-in-law Sanu Chori from McAllen, TX; Patti from Holyoke; Beth from Henderson, NV; nephews David, Dennis, Nick, and Tony; and nieces Carol Lee, Alyssa, and their families. She was predeceased by her husband Marc, parents Robert and Florence, brother Benjamin, and sister Elizabeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family will hold a Celebration of Life on Friday, October 30, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. at Christ Community Church, 1255 Federal Street, Belchertown, followed by a luncheon at the church. A private burial will be held at the convenience of the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Krystal’s memory may be made to Christ Community Church to support their music ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Krystal M. Fitzgerald, age 58, passed away peacefully at Mass General Hospital on Oct 22, 2026. She was born in Northampton MA, daughter of Robert O. and Florence L. (Hearn) Underwood, and she grew up on Underwood Farm in Easthampton. Krystal attended public and private schools in Easthampton. She graduated as class valedictorian from Williston … Continue reading Krystal (Underwood) Fitzgerald ’85<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[779,283],"class_list":["post-5465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1980s","tag-class-of-1985","tag-williston-northampton-school"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5465"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5465"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5469,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5465\/revisions\/5469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willistonblogs.com\/obituaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}