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Margaret Oliva
Margaret “Peggy” Dianne (Ritterbusch) Oliva died on February 18, 2019, under hospice care. Born in New Jersey on October 31, 1939, she spent the majority of her life on Long Island, living in the Town of Southampton for four decades. She was 79 and spent her final years at her home in Concord, New Hampshire, near her daughter, Christina.
Ms. Oliva attended SUNY at Albany’s College for Teachers and completed degrees at C.W. Post, earning a master’s degree in English. She was a lover of books, poetry, history and art. She traveled the world honoring literary persons and places as she went. Shakespeare and Dickens were two of her great loves. Survivors describe her as a beautiful, charming and vivacious adventurer, a true “people person.”
Professionally, she spent a few years as a librarian in New York and at the University of Austin Texas before committing herself to teaching English in both the Glen Cove Middle and High School, until her retirement in 1996. She also taught summer school at Southampton High School in the early 1980s. She was loved dearly by her students and colleagues alike. She was a great teacher who was interested in cultivating a love of reading and writing both for pleasure and as a life skill, survivors said.
Ms. Oliva struggled for the last 30 years with various debilitating auto-immune diseases that slowly and insidiously limited her ability to enjoy life in the way she wanted. Throughout, she maintained an active mind and a determination to leave a positive mark. While confined to a bed and wheelchair, she made deep and lasting familial relationships with her numerous caregivers and their families. Celebrating special occasions, exchanging gifts and sharing love until the end of her life. Bevon Delva, Sandra Naranjo, Miriam Grisales, Patricia and Sarah Kremer, Joanie Zeledon and more were friends, sisters and daughters to her—their families her family and visa versa.
She was a generous and caring daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and a faithful friend to so many, survivors said. She fiercely loved her circle of friends she grew up with: Judy Whitmire, Patricia Fischer, Lillian Witte, Joyce Olsen and Barbara Palumbo. They were always on her mind and in her heart and always will be. Survivors said, she was grateful for the many people she befriended through her circle of teachers and church community at First Presbyterian Church in Southampton, and she felt blessed to make new friends with her family of in-laws, especially Linda and Jack Rodolico, who cared for her and helped ease the challenges of the last few months of her life with laughter, soup, cookies and much more.
Her mind was sharp until the end, still nearly photogenic. She will be remembered for unending generosity, unsolicited grammatical corrections, her love of learning, party planning, animals and “General Hospital.” She loved sitting on her back porch in the sun, watching the flowers grow and the animals roam. She loved and was loved dearly.
Ms. Oliva was predeceased by her husband, Pat Oliva; and her parents, Edward and Christine Ritterbusch. She is survived by her daughter, Christina Oliva, and son-in-law, Jack Rodolico, and their son, Giacomo; her stepson, Dan Oliva; stepdaughter Patrice Oliva Guadagni; and her grandchildren, Mitchell and Lindsey Guadagni; numerous dearly loved cousins; her brother, Roderick Ritterbusch and wife Kathy Ritterbusch; and her nephew, Edward Ritterbusch and wife Julia Ritterbusch; niece Christine Barth and husband David Barth, and their children, Benjamin, David, Katherine, Lauren and William.
on Mar 6, 2019