Lucia Patritto

Iron County Family Living Educator

In Memoriam

Lucia worked as the Family Living Educator for Iron County, and later the western region of the Upper Peninsula. She was a Master Gardener and loved to share her knowledge and passion for gardening, especially with young people. She taught all ages how to safely preserve and process food from their gardens and taught teens about nutrition.

She was key in creating the Friends Helping Friends 4-H Program in Iron County. This group formed in 1997 to address concerns about the incidence of suicide. Along with UW-Extension 4-H Agent Gloria Fauerbach, Lucia advised and trained a core group of 12 students as they designed learning activities for teens and served as successful program presenters. Lucia was a major reason for the success of the reintroduction of face-to-face judging at the Iron County Fair. She believed in the communication skills that kids were learning by talking through their projects with the judge.

Lucia had a personality that was fun to be around. She made kids feel safe and at ease when they were around her.