Mrs. Mary Ritrivi-Tatlow

Mary Carmen Ritrivi-Tatlow, 86, of Marriottsville, MD, passed from this life on March 4, 2019. Mary was born Marija Carmen Cilia on the Mediterranean island of Malta to parents Anthony and Paulina on May 26, 1932. Her childhood experiences during World War II and the loss of her mother at an early age steeled her strength of character, love of family, and deep faith in God. Mary emigrated to the United States in 1948. She met Charles Frank Ritrivi in New York in 1953. They were married on April 16, 1955 after his return from service in Korea. They moved to Maryland in 1958, where Charles later worked for the National Security Administration (NSA). After Charles’s passing from cancer in 1976, Mary finished raising their two sons and two daughters, seeing all of them graduate from college and begin their own lives. In 1984, Mary wed Richard Tatlow. They were together nearly thirty years until his death in 2014. They traveled the world together, including several trips back to Malta. Mary was a loving wife, mother and mother-in-law, grandmother of five, and great-grandmother of one. She loved her home, gardening, cooking, sewing, art, ceramics, and traveling. She was a phenomenal cook, baker and seamstress, able to sketch designs of expensive clothing and draperies and recreate them from scratch for a fraction of the cost. Mary was a Cub Scout den mother and a sorority member, helping to raise funds for charity. Over her life, she worked for Hattie Carnegie fashions, Sealtest Ice Cream, Baltimore County Public Schools, and Dorothy Cobb Photography Studio in Randallstown. Faith was at the center of her life. As a child in Malta she was involved in Catholic Action. Mary attended mass regularly at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Eldersburg and was an active part of her church community. Mary was involved with making lunches for Our Daily Bread, sewing baptismal outfits and prayer shawls, cooked for and served the poor, made rosaries for U.S troops, assisted ailing parishioners at their homes and participated in perpetual adoration, among many other expressions of her abiding love for God. When she survived cancer in 1997, her doctor remarked that it was her faith and selfless attitude that led to her full recovery. All of these things are reflections of Mary’s kind and thoughtful nature. Mary is survived by sons Charles Ritrivi and Tony Ritrivi, daughters Michele Pitts and Lisa Kelly, son-in-law John Kelly; grandchildren Erika Husich and Patrick Cannon, Ashley and Geoff Ostrega, David Kelly, Michael Husich and Kara Schneider, and Celia Kelly; and great-granddaughter Parker Bear Cannon; as well as many nieces and cousins in Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, and in her childhood home of Malta. Visitation will be Friday, March 15, 2019 from 2:00 to 4:00 & 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Haight Funeral Home, 6416 Sykesville Road, Sykesville, MD 21784. Funeral mass will be offered on Saturday, March 16, 2019 at 10:30 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 915 Liberty Road, Sykesville, with interment at Mountain View Cemetery, Mount View Road, Marriottsville, immediately following. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, 1850 York Rd., Suite D., Timonium, MD 21093, in Marija's name would be greatly appreciated.

Mrs. Mary Ritrivi-Tatlow

May 26, 1932 - March 4, 2019