The hardreading staff has had its differences with Boston Herald columnist Joe Fitzgerald over the years, but we have only sadness over the loss of his beloved wife, Carol.

From Jessica Heslam’s lovely tribute in today’s Herald:

‘I can’t imagine a better marriage’

For Herald columnist Joe Fitzgerald, she “swept” him off his feet.

She was home from college for the summer, working at a hamburger joint, when he first laid eyes on her in St. Johnsbury, Vt. — where he’d landed his first newspaper job at the Caledonian-Record.

“I can still remember now, the first time I saw her,” Fitzgerald recalled yesterday. “I was watching her from a little distance but just the way she smiled and her easygoing way — I thought, ‘Wow. This is one classy lady.’ ”

Carol Fitzgerald remained classy throughout the rest of her life . . .

Read the rest at IGTLTDT.