code: public static Properties fetchProperties(final File propFile) {
          final Properties properties = new Properties();
          try {
              FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(propFile);
              try {
                  properties.load(fis);
              } finally {
                  if(null!=fis){
                      fis.close();
                  }
              }
          } catch (IOException e) {
              throw new PropertyLookupException("failed loading properties from file: " + propFile, e);
          }
          return properties;
      }
docs: given a file reads in its properties
  
  @param propFile File to read
  @return a Properties object with data filled from propFile
  @throws PropertyLookupException thrown if error loading property file