In Remembrance: Adrienne Rotta Oct. 17, 1939 - May 28, 2007

Adrienne Rotta: Remembering Adrienne's Way

Adrienne Rotta always had a way about her. It was sometimes fanciful, sometimes delicate, often fun, but always caring.

Choosing an appropriate profession as a nurse, Adrienne cared for others. That was her way. She wanted to heal the wounds of others while it possibly comforted her own.

Her patients loved her and eventually many would come to worry for her. They couldn't help but relate to the hard-working woman, she just had that way about her.

Her physical beauty would draw them in, but Adrienne's personality is what kept all interested. The petite, well-groomed lady had sensitivity unmatched by most.

And Adrienne was just irresistible - Irresistible by the opposite gender and envied by her own. Adrienne had a way about her.

While liking to make an entrance, she still wanted to cater to those who were in the room even if she wasn't the hostess. She presented her hostess qualities at every event, family gatherings, her son's graduation parties and just a visit from friends beside the pool. The mother of three boys would wait on those around her, and she wanted to be enjoyed to. That was her way.

She took pride in her qualities of taking care of others. Her cooking was superb, her house immaculate, and your drinking glass was never empty when attending a get together at Adrienne's house. She did it all with grace and style. Though she may have slaved over a stove to prepare for a meal, Adrienne was physically flawless when greeting her family or guests.

Her ways of understanding that she needed to care for others and be admired for it came early. She and her sister helped provide for their household. Their family had endured many hardships, and often the daughters were the ones who had to pick up the pieces.

And these roots she honored through her life. She was attracted to those in need and sometimes to the chaos that surrounded them. She wanted to be the martyr and save the suffering, the broken and in turn she wanted to be saved through their respect and appreciation.

Adrienne will always be remembered for her cooking, cleaning and impeccable style, but mostly for her caring ways.

She just had a way about her.

Written by her niece and namesake, Adrienne Sims Wallace, and posted originally on ObitsOhio.com on May 11, 2009.

Adrienne Rotta, 67: Nurse, tavern owner, teacher’s aide, Amherst resident

Adrienne Rotta, 67, had worked as a nurse, co-owned a tavern and served as a teacher’s aide in Amherst, Ohio, before moving to DeLand, Fla., in the 1980s.

The mother of three returned to northeast Ohio in 2006 to be near family. She died May 28, 2007, at her home in Amherst after a long illness.

She was born Carol Adrienne Miltak in New Eagle, Pa., the second of Stephen and Catherine Miltak's three daughters.

After graduating from Monongahela (Pa.) High School in 1957, Adrienne became the first female shop biller in the engineering department of the Levinson Steel Co. in Pittsburgh.

She married her high school sweetheart, Donald Rotta, in Rome, Italy, in the late 1950s. The couple moved to northeast Ohio in the early 1960s because of Don’s work as an air traffic controller. Although they divorced in the 1980s, they remained lifelong friends.

Adrienne worked as a teacher's aide at Powers Elementary School in Amherst before becoming a licensed practical nurse in the 1970s. At one time, she co-owned an Amherst tavern with her husband and another couple. She worked at Amherst, Lorain’s St. Joseph and Lorain Community hospitals before moving to DeLand at the end of 1983.

She continued her nursing career at the Lutheran Retirement Center in DeLand until taking a disability retirement.

Adrienne had belonged to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Amherst and First United Methodist Church in DeLand. She enjoyed painting landscapes, interior decorating, making ceramics and dancing.

She was survived by her sons, Christopher, Stephen and Jeffrey; four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Rosalie Sims and Alana Baranick. (Her sister, Rosalie, followed her in death on May 16, 2008.)

Cremation was handled by the Garland-Misencik Funeral Home of Amherst. Burial was at Monongahela (Pa.) Cemetery.

This obituary was written by the family and posted originally as a featured obit on ObitsOhio.com on May 11, 2009.

The Dash Between: The Meaning of the Dash Between

Obituaries, like tombstones, almost always include a person’s date of birth and date of death. The two milestones serve as bookends for what really matters: The dash between those dates. The life the person lived.

In this recurring column, we’ll talk about the dashes – from cradle to crypt – of specific individuals, of certain groups of people and of Ohioans in general. We’ll share what we’ve learned from those lives about various cultures, religions and lifestyles.

We’ll also spotlight issues affecting our lives, matters related to death and things you should know about Ohio and its people. The column will provide information about agencies, events and individuals that can help our readers or benefit from our readers’ support.

“The Dash Between” also will serve as a platform for guest columnists, including funeral directors, journalists, historians, teachers, business people, religious leaders and public officials, to get out their own messages about all sorts of things that can help us in doing the dash – in living our lives.

Most of all, we hope this column – along with the lives that are chronicled on ObitsOhio.com – will inspire the living to be good to their neighbors, strive for success and keep hope alive.

- Alana Baranick.

(Alana Baranick wrote obituaries for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for more than 16 years, founded ObitsOhio.com to recognize the life and passing of every Ohioan and created “The Dash Between” to share what she’s learned about life from writing about the dead.)

This post originally appeared on ObitsOhio.com on May 10, 2009.

Welcome to the new version of ObitsOhio.com

ObitsOhio.com, a website that features obituaries for Ohioans and former Ohioans and essays that are obits- and/or Ohio-related, will cease to exist in May 2010, only a year after the website's birth.

But its mission will continue.

Many of the featured obits, "Dash Between" columns and "In Remembrances" will be moved to this new ObitsOhio blog -- www.ObitsOhio.blogspot.com -- between now and ObitsOhio.com's demise.

Obits and essays written between now and May 1, 2010, will be posted on ObitsOhio.com and later moved to this blog, so the entries are maintained in chronological order.

We hope you will visit this blog often.