Obituary of Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick

Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick, 51, unexpectedly passed away on July 24, 2021, while river rafting with his family and friends in Buena Vista, Colorado. He was born May 15, 1970 to Thomas and Genie Fitzpatrick in Denver, Colorado. A graduate of Westminster High School. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Technical Journalism with a minor in Computer Science from Colorado State University in 1992. Brian started his career as a technical writer at Information Handling Services, where he worked with developing software manuals. He started at Neon as a technical writer, but his true passion was programming. Brian continued his education to pursue coding and software development and was promoted to a staff software engineer for 2 years. When Neon was bought by Sybase, he continued on as a software engineer for 11 years. Over the past 10 years, he continued to write and code as a senior software engineer for Red Hat, Inc. He was a Colorado native. One of his favorite places was Taylor Park, Colorado. Brian had many memories growing up and spending time at the cabin. He loved fishing with his dad and sister, or just sitting by the lake with a pole and reading a book. Taylor was a peaceful place to just sit and listen to hummingbirds and watch the afternoon storms roll in. Brian enjoyed bringing his family out to Taylor, and sharing part of his childhood with his family. From fishing at the lake, ATV rides to Tincup, singing with his guitar, or just sitting outside watching a meteor shower, he loved being there with his family. Brian loved music and books. Good writers brought him to tears. He could devour a great book in a day. And he loved to share his passion and recommend a good book or series to anyone he thought had similar interests. He would write reviews of some books online, he would blog about a great book, he was awed when his genuine words actually received praise from the authors themselves. His passion extended to music as well. Brian loved live music. He loved to sing and "tinker" on his guitar. He loved listening to music, feeling the movement of the notes and enjoying the meaning of a lyric. He loved listening to his daughter, Mykayla sing. He was so proud of the talented vocalist she was becoming. He was an avid role playing gamer. Brian loved to play, he loved to DM, and he loved to write new systems. He gamed with his college roommates. While still at CSU, he started to write with his best friend, Sean Bindel. They developed a rough outline back in the late �90s. Sadly in 2000, Sean passed away, and his RPG writing was put on hiatus. But upon moving back to Colorado Springs, and because his wife made fun of some RPG soccer players, he met an amazing group that re-ignited his passion for RPG game playing, and writing again. In 2013 he started back writing for a small publishing company that develops materials for role-playing games. His inner geek thrived and he started writing small titles and then published several books, including Aliens & Asteroids and Tattered Magicks. To his delight, he has friends willing to play-test his games, AND that truly is when the magic happened. He still had his long-standing weekend game day with the Fugate boys and Mark, but now he had a Tuesday night group of players, AND a Thursday night group of players. His love for RPG gaming, the scenarios he could dream up, and the pure joy of people enjoying his work made him so happy.Brian loved his Crossfit family. He may not have loved the workout, he may not have finished. But he needed and loved to be with his Continuum family. It was his home away from home, his safe spot to move, get a good workout, and clear out some things in his head for the rest of the day. He would go home and write a beautiful post about something as mundane as a workout. He knew a little something about every person he ever spoke to in the box. Foremost, Brian loved his family. He loved and supported his wife, Evelyn, for over twenty years. He loved her chaos to his order, her manic to his calm. He was proud of the amazing women his children were developing into. His oldest daughter, Mickey, with her amazing voice. And his youngest, AJ, the strong, talented, driven soccer player she was becoming. He loved watching Mickey perform and AJ play in the goal. Brian was never the "life" of the party, he was the "soul". He never talked to a person, he genuinely conversed with you, he listened to your words, he internalized them, and then he shared his thoughts and wisdom. His precious words now forever missed. Made of story I live and breathe To recall my tales Some adventures To be sure But lesson learned Each story changes Through new lenses Trained by context Honed by life A few may stay Bathed in rose colors Never changing But they are few And truly too they change --BTF 3/21/21Visitation, 5:00PM-8:00PM, Saturday, July 31, 2021, The Springs Funeral Services - North, 6575 Oakwood Boulevard, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80923.Remembrance Gathering, 2:30PM, Sunday, August 1, 2021, The Springs Funeral Services - North. Events Visitation Saturday, July 31, 2021 5:00PM - 8:00PM The Springs Funeral Services - North 6575 Oakwood Blvd. Colorado Springs, CO 80923 Phone: 719-207-8611 Remembrance Gathering Sunday, August 1, 2021 2:30PM The Springs Funeral Services - North 6575 Oakwood Blvd. Colorado Springs, CO 80923 Phone: 719-207-8611