Loretta Marie Ritondaro

Wasilla resident Loretta Marie Ritondaro, 78, died Jan. 30, 2012, surrounded by her loving family at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center in Palmer.

A celebration of Loretta's life will be held at a later date. Her ashes will be laid to rest at All Saints Cemetery in Ohio at a later date.

Loretta was born Nov. 23, 1933, to Frederick and Helen (Kirchner) Nimberger in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was raised. She moved to San Diego with her second husband and daughter, where she lived for about 30 years.

Loretta started drawing and painting at the San Diego Zoo with a group of students and teachers in 1988. She learned various techniques on watercolor, pastels, colored pencils, oil painting and learned how to do tole painting, ceramics and plaster craft. Loretta also taught herself how to paint on gold pans while using oil paints. She joined the Chula Vista Art Guild Society in San Diego, winning several awards for oil paintings. She also sold various oil paintings she had done on canvases.

Loretta and her husband had taken cruises to Mexico, Spain, Rome, Italy, Vienna, Austria, Germany and the Prague, Czech Republic. She moved to Alaska in 2007, where she fell in love with the beauty and surroundings. What inspired her most to draw and paint was all of her travels. Loretta entered her first gold pan at the Alaska State Fair titled "Alaska @50" of an Iditarod musher where she won second place. She was an active member of the Wasilla Senior Center, participating in painting, exercise and visiting with friends.

Loretta was preceded in death by her husband, Charles M. Ritondaro; and her son, James P. Kanuch. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Michael P. and LaVerne Kanuch of Twinsburg, Ohio; daughter and son-in-law, Patricia L. and Terry Tomaschefsky of Wasilla; grandchildren, Jesse Lee and Stephanie Marie Kanuch of Twinsburg, Ohio; and sister, Delores Costa of California.

Arrangements were cared for by the Valley Funeral Home and Crematory, alaskanfuneral.com.