Loretta Bero died peacefully March 3, 2021, at her daughter Diana’s Rye home where she had resided since 2015. She was 90 years old.
Born Wladysawa Dabek in Giedlarowa, Poland, on May 13, 1930, she came to the United States with her parents, Mary and John Dabek, in 1938. She grew up in Ozone Park, N.Y.
After graduating from John Adams High School in Queens, she volunteered in the Women’s Civilian Army and was stationed in Yokohama, Japan, where she spent two years serving our country.
In 1958, she met her future husband Charles (“Chuck”) Bero in 1958 and they lived in Flushing.
An avid sports fan, she became a New York Giants season ticket holder the year she got married. She attended every home game and traveled to watch her Giants win three Super Bowls.
Mrs. Beto spent her working career of 40 years at Lamorte Burns & Co Inc. as the secretary for the President of a large maritime insurance firm. After she retired in 1995, she went on to a full-time job as a grandmother. She babysat and watched scary movies with her four grandchildren and chauffeured them and their friends to numerous sports games and practices.
In Rye, everyone knew her as “Babci,” which is Polish for grandma. For her grandchildren she attended every swim meet, tennis match, Little League baseball game, CYO basketball game and lacrosse game. But most will remember her in the stands at Rye High School and Eastern FC soccer games and at the various rinks at Rye High School, Rye Rangers, and Westchester Vipers hockey games. She was a “soccer/hockey grandma” and their number one fan.
Her love for her grandchildren could only be matched by her love for Coda, her grandchildren’s chocolate Lab that many saw her walking along Boston Post Road.
A a two-time cancer survivor, she will be remembered for her strength. But for those who loved her, she will be missed most for her opinionated nature and determination to always “say it like it is.” She was not one to mince words and felt that with age, one earned the right to be honest about their feelings. She was a true force of nature.
She was predeceased by her husband Chuck Bero in 1980. She is survived by her two daughters, Diana Benincasa and Valerie Bero; four loving grandchildren, Christina, Michael, Amanda, and Matthew; and her sister, Helen LaSalle of Ozone Park.
A Celebration of Life was held at her daughter’s home in Rye March 13. Her family is thankful for the many people that came to pay their respects.
