On January 25, 2009, Marlene Gatto, a devoted wife, mother and a grandmother, who was also a former President and Executive Director of the Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce, lost her six-year battle with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer. She fought this disease until the very end and faced every new challenge with the class, dignity and humor for which she was known.
We are happy to announce that we have created the Marlene Gatto Foundation, a 501 (c)3 organization. The purpose of the Marlene Gatto Foundation is to not only pay tribute to Marlene, but also to assist in supporting individuals and families who are coping with cancer. We also hope to raise cancer awareness and help fund programs that deal with this terrible illness. It is with great hope that the money raised will help to improve patients’ lives and eventually lead to finding a cure for this dreaded disease.
Our foundation is operated strictly by volunteers who selflessly give their time and effort to our cause.
Marlene Gatto, a longtime banker and former president of the Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce, was also a devoted grandmother who kept busy cooking gourmet meals and beautifying her home.
Mrs. Gatto died January 25 at her home after a five-year battle with breast cancer. She was 66.
The longtime Oak Forest resident was a branch manager and one of the first female vice presidents of AJ Smith Federal Savings and Loan in Orland Park, during the 1980s.
After leaving the bank, she became a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in Tinley Park.
Mrs. Gatto also was the chamber of commerce's president in the mid-1990s and later served as its executive director. She was involved in charities including the American Heart Association and fund-raising for area high schools.
"She was special," said Mrs. Gatto's sister, Rosemary Homer. "She was a real lady of grace, and it just showed in her style, the way she dressed, how she helped the community and how she arranged her home."
"She was a wonderful person," said the chamber of commerce's executive director, Keloryn Putnam. "She was the most upbeat person I've ever seen, always looking on the bright side, always positive, never negative about anything. Dealing with the chamber is a lot to do, and she did a fine job. Whatever she did, she put herheart and soul into it. She was just a very classy lady."
That spirited outlook extended to her fight with cancer, which she called a journey rather than a battle, her daughter Jessica Thomas said.
"I was taken aback by her calling it that, but that was her gift," Thomas said. "Anywhere that woman turned, it was toward the positive."
Mrs. Gatto's inviting character was noticeable even at a young age. As a student at Our Mother of Sorrows High School in Blue Island, the girl with the contagious laugh and ever-present smile made an impression on the school's nuns, playing lighthearted pranks, her family said.
Born on May 12, 1942, Mrs. Gatto was the second of four children and was raised in St. John Fisher Parish in Chicago's Beverly community. She attended Marycrest College in Iowa after graduating from Sorrow.
Mrs. Gatto began her professional career in the loan processing department of the Dovenmuehle Mortgage Co. in Chicago from 1960 to 1972.
After marrying her husband, Frank, in June 1966 and settling in Oak Forest, Mrs. Gatto became a homemaker to care for the couple's two children before returning to the work force.
In addition to her husband, daughter and sister, Mrs. Gatto is survived by a son, Frank, brothers James and John Lynch and two grandchildren.