Monday, March 07, 2005 - LONG BEACH - Jennifer Choppin Fitzgerald was all heart. It was her heart that guided her in her ambitious career, her wide-reaching philanthropy and her fierce, unwavering love for her family and friends. And it the end, it was her heart that failed her.

Jennifer, known by friends as Jenn, was a community activist who co-founded Children Today, a Long Beach non-profit group dedicated to helping homeless children.

She died Friday of a heart attack on her way back from a ski trip in Mammoth with her family. She was 38.

Afflicted with congenital heart problems, Jenn endured four open-heart surgeries — the first at nine months old, and the last at Christmastime.

Her best friend Debbie Faris remembers Jenn saying at age 10 that she wanted to be a "pediatric cardiologist" when she grew up, long before anyone in the schoolyard knew what that meant.

"So I could take care of all those kids," Faris recalls her saying.

Though she never pursued medicine, she did devote her life to caring for children, both her own — 11-year-old Katy and 9-year-old Jackson — and others.

"She always had a child sitting on her lap," said her mother, Kathryn Choppin. "It's difficult to find a picture without a child hanging from her. ... Her daughter is just the same way, she sees a baby and that's the end of her. They love it. It's what nourishes their souls and makes them happy."

Friends praise Jenn for her strength, conviction and warmth. She had an adventurous spirit, an indomitable will and an infectious laugh that would often send her and others into fits of hysterical giggles. She had a weakness for shoe shopping and a soft spot for sushi, Pinot Noir and holidays. Despite her heart problems, and at times against doctor's orders, she was also a great athlete, friends say.

She was angry "because it was holding her back," said her husband, Brian. "It's sad when somebody wants to do something and they can't, especially when others who don't want to could."

But her true love was her family.

She woke her children every morning to a home-cooked breakfast and never missed a sports game or school event.

"She would do anything for family," her husband said. "She'd do anything for me and I'd do anything for her. She loved her kids. For every occasion, every birthday, Valentine's Day ... she'd have treats for the kids and treats for me, she'd never forget anything. She's my best friend."

Fortuitous flat

Jenn met Brian when she was 25. He owned a tire store on Anaheim Street; she had just gotten a flat. That night, two of the four new tires went flat again. She dropped off the car the next morning with a terse note attached to the windshield: "Fix it." "I introduced myself and told her I owed her a dinner," he said.

Ironically, on their first date Fitzgerald got a flat himself, while driving in the pouring rain. "She was laughing, cause it was payback time," he said.

Jenn was born on March 15, 1966 in Long Beach. She was the second of four sisters in a tightly knit, devoutly Catholic family. Friends remarked on the family's closeness and warmth.

"Her mother was everything to her," Faris said. "She would always ask for her opinion about everything."

Her late father, Mike Choppin, a prominent Long Beach developer, was also a strong influence. His company IDM developed the towering World Trade Center and Hilton hotel, both Downtown.

"Her father was a very strong man and she was exactly like her father," Farris said, meaning driven, determined and extremely family-oriented.

After studying child development at Cal State Long Beach, Jenn founded a corporate child-care program in 1988 called Growing Years, based in the World Trade Center.

In 1997, she sold the center and started Children Today.

The idea for Children Today began to take shape in Jenn's mind during an early morning drive through West Long Beach. Jenn, then the mother of a 1-year old son and 2-year-old daughter, saw a toddler walking down the street alone. She turned around to help, but by the time she returned to the spot, the child had disappeared. Haunted by that image and bolstered by her experience in child-care and program management, Jenn and her friend, Theresa Bixby, crafted plans for a program that would provide support for homeless children and their families.

At first, the women were met with roadblocks. Money had to be raised, permits acquired and trust gained.

"I would be so frustrated and angry and she would be so calm," Bixby said. "She would always make me believe we could get over the next hurdle."

Since then, the board has grown from three members to 12 and expanded to include a huge base of volunteers. Fund-raising has skyrocketed from $10,000 the first year to about $400,000 in 2004. And the group's child care center, the Play House, 1301 West 12th St., recently expanded its facility to care for more children.

"She is just really, really calm with children," Bixby said. "She just believes in their rights as people even when they're little, teeny guys running around and kids sense that. They sense that she takes them seriously, that she's there to listen."

Jenn was also a member of the Leadership Long Beach Class of 1999 and was so enthusiastic about the experience that she hosted a one-year reunion at her home in March 2000, said Jane Roeder, executive director.

"Jennifer led from her heart," Roeder said. "She was so passionate about children in our community and did so much to serve them."

Charging through life

Bixby recalls flying with Jenn in a small plane into Mammoth during a storm. The plane, she said, was bouncing 20 feet into the air and passengers were gasping and clenching armrests with their fists.

"I was scared to death and I looked back and Jenn had the biggest grin on her face," Bixby said. "That's how she charged through life. She was fearless. She wouldn't take no for an answer."

Despite having weathered four open-heart surgeries, Jenn rarely spoke about her health problems. She didn't want pity and she didn't want anything to get in the way of her goals, Faris said.

"I think she had an internal sense that her life wouldn't be as long as most of the people she knew," her mother said. "Rather than making her life actions and choices be all about herself, she chose to use what time she had helping and doing for others. She was a wonderful example for young women in the community. And she was a devoted mother and wife and the best kind of sister. She was a touchstone."

Fitzgerald is also survived by her three sisters, Christine Lorenzetti, Heather and Elizabeth Choppin.

A rosary will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday at St. Joseph's Church, 6180 E. East Willow St. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph's.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Fitzgerald Children Education Fund, care of Dave Sakamato, Union Bank, 400 Oceangate, Long Beach, 90802 or to Children Today at PO Box 16004, Long Beach 90806.

Sent By: 66.116.65.38