Orietta Vita Kohn died on April 10, 2021 at the age of 99. She was born in Torino, Italy on September 11, 1921. Her father Faustino Vita was an accountant, and her mother Clara Vita was a homemaker. Her brother Alberto was 6 years older, and they were not very close as children. That changed during the war years, and she remained close to Alberto over many decades until he died in 2009. She also had a sister Luciana, who was 2 years older; sadly, Luciana died of meningitis at the age of 9.
The war years transformed Orietta's life, as they did the lives of all Italian Jews. When Mussolini's "racial laws" made schooling unavailable, she learned and got a high school equivalency credential through the British Institute. Then she and Alberto maintained a small farm in the hills north of Milano until 1943, when Germany invaded northern Italy and Jews began to be deported. Orietta and her family were hidden and otherwise helped by a sequence of courageous Italians. They eventually managed to escape to Switzerland in April, 1944.
She returned to Italy after the war, settling with her family in Milano. Orietta worked for a couple of years for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an organization that helped survivors of the concentration camps find their way to places that welcomed them, such as Palestine. The Director of JDC nominated her for a fellowship to study in the US. It was this fellowship that brought Orietta to Cleveland, Ohio in 1948, where she got a Master of Social Work degree from Western Reserve University in 1950.
Orietta met a young lawyer, Howard Kohn, relatively soon after her arrival in Cleveland. However they were just acquaintances until spring 1950 -- the final few months of her social work program -- when a relationship blossomed. They got married in August, and were very happy together for nearly 59 years, until Howard died in March 2009.
Orietta and Howard settled in Shaker Heights, Ohio. They had three children: Norman, who is now a psychoanalyst in Chicago; Bob, a professor of mathematics at New York University; and Luci, a biology professor at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Orietta formed many strong friendships during her decades in Cleveland, and she also remained very close to her family in Italy. She was a loving partner to Howard, an outstanding mother to her children, and a remarkably capable homemaker in the broadest sense of the word. Eventually she also returned to social work, in a variety of part-time roles that served inner-city, disabled, or elderly populations.
Orietta and Howard moved to Sarasota, Florida in the early 90's, after Howard retired. They had many friends as well as each others' full-time companionship in Sarasota -- it was a very happy period.
They moved to the St Louis area in 2006 to be near Luci, recognizing that as they aged they would need more help. Orietta cherished the opportunity to spend more time with Luci, her husband Kurt, and their daughters Rosa and Anna. After Howard died, having the support of Luci and her family was especially important. Orietta spent most of the St Louis years living at the Gatesworth, an independent living facility which she liked very much. In 2017 she moved to Stillwater Senior Living, an assisted living facility where she found just the right blend of independence and assistance.
In addition to her three children (listed above), Orietta is survived by her four grandchildren (Isaac Kohn, Russell Kohn, Rosa Schulz, and Anna Schulz) and her two great-grandchildren (Michael Kohn and Susanna Kohn) -- plus many cousins with whom she remained close over the years, and many friends whom she considered part of her extended family.
For donations in Orietta's memory, the family suggests JDC, Doctors Without Borders, or the charity of your choice.
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