Viola T. (Balas) Ritz

Viola T. Ritz, 89, of West Hazleton, passed away early Friday morning at her home surrounded by her loving family.

Born in Eckley, July 15, 1927, she was the daughter of the late Matthew and Anna (Wasowicz) Balas, and spent the past 56 years in West Hazleton, in the home she and her husband built, after moving from Eckley.

Viola was a 1945 graduate of Foster Township High School and had briefly worked at Tung-Sol, Hazleton in the 1940’s. For most of her life she was a homemaker.  She was a member of Good Shepherd RC Church, Drums, where she sang with the choir.  She was a member of the Hazleton and Hazle Township Senior Citizens and the Hazleton Area Center for Slavic Studies.  She loved spending time with her family and she enjoyed gardening, flea marketing, and yard sales.

She was preceded in death, in addition to her parents, by her husband Joseph Ritz, who passed away in 1995; five brothers Bruno, Joseph, Bernard, Leo and Frankie Balas; and a sister Sophie Hudak.

Surviving are seven children Mark and his wife Jacqueline, Sugarloaf; Alan and his wife Rachel, Allentown; Annette Gunderman and her husband Louis, White Haven; Carol Matrone, Las Vegas; Michele Ali and her husband Askia, Mechanicsburg; David and his wife Janice, Wernersville; and Lynne DeMatt and her husband Michael, Harrisburg; 16 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

Her funeral will be held Monday at 9:30 am from Harman Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc. (East) 669 W. Butler Drive, Drums followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 am in Good Shepherd RC Church, 87 S. Hunter Hwy., Drums.  Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Drums.  Friends may call at the funeral home Sunday evening from 6-8 pm.  A Christian Wake Service will be held Sunday evening.

Memorial donations to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Central PA, 2405 Park Drive, Suite 100, Harrisburg, PA 17110 or My Team Triumph-Light of Las Vegas, 339 Azar Swan Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89183, would be appreciated by the family.  Online condolences can be entered and more information is available at www.harmanfuneral.com.

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