Elizabeth M. Baluta, of Londonderry, NH, passed away on May 7, 2008 of ovarian cancer. She was born in Manhattan, NY, on April 19, 1948, the only daughter of the late Milton Blackmore Mangiaracina and Francese Moriarty Mangiaracina. Educated at The Hewitt’s School, Cathedral H.S. and Hunter College, she helped develop one of the early curriculums in Comparative Religion for primary grades at The Ethical Culture Private School in New York City. In 1976, she was the first woman hired as a Foreign Exchange Analyst by the Discount House of London for their Wall Street office. She also worked for the Association for International Development, a US Government Agency.
The Arts were a major part of her life; she studied Art with Evelyn Dickenson and Music with Jewel Bethany Hughes in New York City. At twelve, she was recipient of a three-year music scholarship to the Summer Master Class of the late Dr. Edwin Hughes, Music Pedagogue and former Assistant to Theodore Leschertisky. She especially enjoyed voice and sang with the Hunter College Choir, The Nashua Choral Society and the Interfaith Choir in Derry, NH.
A lifelong volunteer, she worked for the following organizations: The Brooklyn VFW, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Casa Columbia, Lenox Hill Hospital Association, Lexington School for the Deaf, New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra Guild, Project Seek, Rockingham Hospice, St. Luke’s Hospital and Southern NH Community School of the Arts. At the time of her passing, she was a member of the Amoskeag Mills Chapter of Quester’s International. In 1990, she was honorored as Volunteer of the Year by Rockingham Hospice.
She is survived by her husband, Dr. Alphonse J. Baluta of Londonderry, her daughter, Emily Baluta of Boston, MA and her son, Edward Baluta of Nashua, NH.
Memorial calling hours were held on Sunday, May 11th, from 12 – 3:00pm in the Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium, 290 Mammoth Rd., Londonderry. Memorial masses will be held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in New York, NY, St. Marks Church in Londonderry, and the Jesuit Infirmary in Pickering, Ontario. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to, The Interfaith Choir, Nashua Choral Society, Mass General Hospital (specify ovarian cancer research), or The Jesuit Infirmary.