Loretta E. Abramaitis

Born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on Sept. 17, 1953, she was the daughter of Joseph Abramaitis and Helen Sosnowski Abramaitis. Her mother was the owner/manager of a multi-generational restaurant business; her father later divorced the family when Loretta was just 7 years old. While living in Brooklyn, Loretta and her family would vacation in the Catskill Mountains and visit the numerous theme parks in the Adirondacks, inspiring her lifelong love for the mountains.

Loretta was obliged to leave her home and her family at 17 to live her truth, eventually meeting Donna Difara, on Saturday, Feb. 16, 1980, in a woman’s bar in Greenwich Village, New York City. They had an immediate connection and moved in together in the Borough of Queens, first in Bellerose, than Astoria, Woodside and finally in Sunnyside, before moving permanently to Saranac Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains.

An avid through hiker, her trail name was “wind surfer.” She hiked “The Northville-Lake Placid Trail” in upstate New York, the “Presidential Traverse” in New Hampshire, “The Green Mountain Trail” in Vermont and the north end of “The Appalachian Trail” in Maine to the top of Mt. Katahdin, as well as numerous other challenging hikes in the North East. Loretta loved the outdoors in every season and became an expert at cross-county skiing and winter camping.

A woman of many talents, Loretta did fashion modeling in her 20s, became a self-taught legal librarian working at some of the top private law libraries in New York City, and eventually joined an architectural firm in 1990 where architect Donna Difara was a partner.

As a result of the great recession (2007-2009), Loretta retired from the architecture business in 2007, and moved into her log home in Saranac Lake, managing properties and enjoying the seasons, hiking, mountain biking, paddling and cross-country skiing, spending time with the many friends she made living here in the North Country.

Loretta was dedicated in her pursuit of animal rights, she was a strict vegan for over 30 years and would create wonderful culinary dishes in her kitchen made entirely from plants.

Loretta is survived by her lifelong companion of 45 years, Donna Difara of Saranac Lake. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Funeral arrangements are in care of the Fortune-Keough Funeral Home in Saranac Lake. At Loretta’s request, funeral services will take place at the convenience of the family.

Friends wishing to remember Loretta E. Abramaitis may make memorial contributions to Tri-Lakes Humane Society in care of the funeral home.