Loretta A. LaGrotta

Put the coffee on! Make the sauce! Boil the ravioli!  The crew is finally together again! 

Loretta DeThomas LaGrotta, 87, joined her husband of 67 years, Francis, her brother, Michael and her sister-in-law, Jean, in Heaven’s kitchen. 

No more wheelchairs. No more Hoyer lifts. No more slings or syringes.  And, just like Jesus promised, No More Pain. Best of all, Michael and Loretta are walking again. After a 13-year battle with dementia, Loretta passed peacefully and pain-free on October 8, 2023. Her son, Frank, with whom she resided, was with her. 

A 1954 graduate of Lincoln High School, Loretta set the standard as a wife, mother, doting grandmother and great-grandmother. She ran her house, her family, her kitchen and her son’s 11 political campaigns the same way: HER way! 

Along with her husband, brother and sister-in-law, Loretta was met in Heaven by her mother, Mary (Corvo), her father, Nick Ditommaso, and her sister, Anna Marie Dattilo, who arrived before her to get things ready. 

In addition to her son, she leaves behind her daughter and casino companion, Ann Marie Bartolomeo, her granddaughter Alissa Overholt, both of Wilmington, NC and grandson Frankie Lemmon of Atlanta, GA, both of whom she adored (and spoiled rotten), Alissa’s husband, Darrin, two great-grandsons, Lucas and Andrew, and Frankie’s partner, Leili Kasraie. She also leaves her nephews Nick (Diane) Ditommaso, Mike (Sue) Ditommaso and Debby Ritter. 

Friends will be received on Thursday, October 12th from 3 pm until 6 pm at the Joseph A. Tomon, Jr. Funeral Home & Crematory, 97 Grim Avenue, Ellport. 

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday at 11 AM in Holy Redeemer Church. 

It would make Loretta smile if you made any donation on her behalf to a person or family you know who’s in need, or to a charity that cares for children.  St. Jude’s Hospital for kids with cancer was a special cause for Loretta and Fran. 

She also would tell you to hug your family members and tell them how much they mean to you. 

Loretta’s family would like to thank Anova hospice and Dr. Sharon Dawso for their compassionate care down the home stretch, as well as the late Drs. Aaron and Milton Caplan and Dr. Mary Ann DiBiagio for many years of care. A shout-out to the crew at Nico Luciano’s for cooking her Sunday dinners. They were almost as good as she used to make. Finally, a thousand (million) hugs to Crystal Burns and Tara Houk, her caregivers and adopted daughters, for loving and spoiling her like she was their own mother – oh, and also for tolerating Frank’s nervousness and craziness all these years.  

(If you know Frank, well, you get it.) 

They are proof that not all angels have wings. 

Finally, for one last time, Crystal and Tara can answer the question Frank asked them a million times a day: “Yes, Frank. Your mom’s okay.”