We at MMEG are delighted and proud when donors honor friends and relatives who have passed, by contributing to underwriting the 30-some grants we make each year. For many years, Vittoria Winterton, has been contributing to MMEG in the memory of her sister, Loretta Viola Fioretti. We asked Vittoria to tell us about her sister…
“Loretta wanted to study dentistry but our “old fashioned” southern Italian father insisted only men were dentists, so she selected the next best thing, dental hygiene…Our father’s belief (again, very old fashioned) was that once a girl got married, she became a housewife, who had little time for anything else except raising children and looking after her family! Therefore, investing money in an education for a girl who was certain to get married, was a waste. You will agree that things have certainly changed since the 1950’s! Still, she persisted and after working 1-2 years at the World Bank (in IFC), Loretta, supported by two Italian male family friends and dentists who were recent graduates of Georgetown Dental School, convinced our father to allow her to attend the Dental Hygiene program at Temple University in Philadelphia. In convincing my father, she offered to pay for half of her tuition and board, which he then accepted.”
Vittoria adds “My sister, Loretta, was one-of-a-kind. Everywhere she went, she made contact with dentists and asked to view their equipment and practices. In East Africa, specifically Kenya, she provided assistance to so many...She took pride in teaching young children how to brush their teeth when toothpaste was not available, and how to brush the teeth of ambulatory patients. It really was amazing how she could make a terminally ill patient feel so much better, and her touch was ever-so-gentle while getting the job done. For many years, she travelled with a dentist one day a week, nearly 2 hours each way, to a depressed area of southern Maryland, where two chairs were set up to provide free dental care to so many people who would queue up for hours to get someone to care for them.”
“Loretta’s six years working together with a female dentist in northern Italy provided hands-on experience in areas of dental care she never would have been allowed to handle as a hygienist in the USA because of its stringent regulations at that time. Unbeknownst to most, Loretta was forefront in battling the laws associated with a hygienist’s inability to practice without the presence of a dentist…she succumbed to lung cancer too early in her life to see that most states now allow this practice under certain conditions.”
“Loretta was very close in age to me, and was my best friend. Except for when I lived abroad, she phoned me daily to check in after she returned from work. She always had something interesting to say and was extremely supportive of anything I did. She would always say how talented I was, but it was really she who had so many talents...a quick wit, a fabulous personality, congeniality, wonderful memory, a good cook, and someone who was truly kind. Loretta died in January 2008. The year before her death, Loretta accompanied me to my son’s wedding in Barbados, where his wife is from. Even in Barbados, Loretta managed to pay a visit to a dental office/clinic where she enjoyed viewing their equipment and chatting with the local dentists about their practices/patients.”
“It is with much sadness that we lost her so early in life, but we continue to remember her in many ways...one way is by my contributions to MMEG where women in her profession can be eligible for assistance in furthering their education in her field of oral health, and I am happy to do this.”
“One has to believe that there is something better awaiting us once we’ve served our time on this earth, especially if we are able to leave something good behind that we have accomplished, like my sister did.”
