Loretta K. Amato

Loretta K Amato was born Loretta Marie Knudson in Portland, Oregon on April 24, 1927 to Stephen and Maude (Arbes) Knudson. She was the last of six children. She attended Oregon City High School but left before graduating in 1944. She began her working career in 1946 at US National Bank and continued at several banks in various positions. She relocated to California in 1954 and eventually became an assistant manager at a bank there. In the late 1940s, Loretta married Paul Smith. They later divorced. In 1959, she married Cliff Amato and they purchased a home in Walnut Creek, California where she lived for 30 years. Together, they welcomed Bradley J. Amato into their lives in May of 1965. They took him home from the hospital when he was 2 days old. She was then a stay-at-home Mom and homemaker until 1980. Around this time, when Loretta was in her forties, it became very important to her to finish her high school education. She found out what was needed and completed the necessary work to finally earn her diploma. She was very proud of that accomplishment. She then became a caregiver at a retirement home and also worked on a care management team for John Muir Hospital in California. In 1984, she was an in-home, night time caregiver for a 90 year old woman and continued in that role until 1989 when she retired and moved back to Oregon. More than once she said her dream job would be to work with babies or the elderly. Upon returning to Oregon, she lived briefly in Milwaukie and attended Tri-City Baptist Church. Eventually she settled in Tigard, Oregon when she bought her condo in “The Highlands” retirement community. She became very involved in the Clubhouse activities such as art fairs and craft fairs. She also served as an emergency contact for the other residents of her building. In retirement, she filled her time by nurturing her creative energies. She enjoyed painting, both watercolors and oils. She also wrote poetry and dabbled in photography. She was always the one taking pictures at family gatherings. One of her special projects was growing pansies, drying and pressing them and then arranging them into pictures. She photographed the pictures and had cards and bookmarks made from the photos. Many friends and family members have received these cards and bookmarks as gifts. She also sold some to make a little extra money and had cards made from some of her other paintings, as well. Another activity she enjoyed was making stretch bracelets using different kinds of stones, pearls, crystals, beads and spacers. She sold some of these at craft fairs and also gave them as gifts. Her favorite color was blue. She loved violets, chocolate, french fries, fish and chips, hummingbirds, angels, licorice and shopping at Costco. When Loretta found out that her health insurance provided an exercise benefit, she joined Curves in Tigard. She loyally went to Curves 3 times a week and was a member long enough to achieve the milestone of 1000 visits. She made many friends at Curves and enjoyed her workouts there and was sad when she had to give up her exercise routines. Loretta was a woman of faith and accepted Jesus as her Savior in October of 1968. From that time on, she hungered for God’s Word and felt called to give her testimony to everyone she met. She participated in many Bible studies and took advantage of every opportunity to deepen her relationship with Jesus. One of her stated reasons for returning to Oregon was to witness to family members. She wanted all of us to experience Jesus as she did and her mission was to bring us all into Heaven. Throughout her latest battle with cancer and advanced dementia, she never forgot God. She continued to pray for Brad, family and friends and her caregivers. She trusted in God and longed to “go Home”. It was her way of saying going to Heaven, where she would have a new body, free from pain and all the other infirmities that come with advanced age. She finally got to “go Home” on December 12, 2018. She is survived by her son, Brad Amato of Portland, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers and sisters: Florence, Ed, Virginia, Meg and Dick.