VIOLET BARRETO

Violet Barreto, age 84, of Geneva passed away peacefully on August 15, 2022.

Violet was born in Astoria, New York after her parents relocated from Hungary to the United States on October 6, 1937.

Violet grew up dancing around the streets of Astoria, New York. She attempted many forms of dance beginning at 27 months old with the Hungarian Folk Dance Group. At the young age of 5, she found her true calling performing with Metropolitan Ballet. A short year later, Violet was on stage for the opera with The Children’s Ballet. Young Violet enjoyed performing more than anything and at the age of 15 she joined a dance trio who performed at small nightclubs.

Through all the dancing, Violet excelled in school, graduating from Astoria High School with the class of 1955. Shortly after high school, Violet decided to run away with the circus. Quite literally. At 18, she decided to respond to Ringling Brothers’ call for chorus girl dancers. After performing a couple of times, she realized there was more hanging and spinning on ropes involved than dancing. Violet would perform in two shows on weekdays, and three shows on weekends. Occasionally she would ride Ruth, The Elephant. In today’s money, Violet would make close to $900 a week performing for the circus. In addition, she got the pleasure of visiting and sightseeing countless cities around the country; from Virginia to Canada and all the places in between. Violet said the only downfall was that she lived out of a suitcase for a whole year and was in a constant state of wrinkle. Following her resignation from the circus, Violet worked many jobs before finding her home away from home which was being a material supply coordinator for Elmhurst Hospital in New York in 1962. She worked there for 11 years and brought her two children into the world while she was working at the hospital.

After the year with the circus, Violet came back to live in Astoria with her parents. A mutual friend at the time, set Violet up with her friend, Michael, on a blind date. It was love at first sight and the two knew that they were destined to live their lives side by side. In August of 1975, Violet and Michael and their 3 children moved on from New York to Lake Havasu, Arizona. Violet had 2 children from a previous marriage, John and Dee, who were happily adopted into the Barreto family. She also was gladly blessed with a 3^rd child from this marriage with Michael, Doug Barreto. Violet and Michael were happily married on an Indian reservation in Parker, Arizona, in September of 1975. In 1984, the loving couple decided to move with their family to Mesa, Arizona. In 2002, after the children had moved to Illinois, Violet and Michael decided to follow them and found themselves in Huntley. Finally settling down at Greenfields in Geneva, in 2011. Violet and Michael were happily married for 47 years.

After she met Michael, and the family moved to Arizona, she worked for Citizens Utility in Lake Havasu which worked with power and phones. She ended her working career with the Mesa School District in Arizona.

In Lake Havasu, she was very active and a proud member of the Lake Havasu City Women’s Club.

Violet and Michael enjoyed traveling, especially when their children left the nest. They visited exciting places like Spain, Hungary, Washington D.C. and an exponential number of other states and countries. Most of all, Violet enjoyed the cruises that she went on with Michael. The first trip that they went on was through the Panama Canal. Once the two realized that they loved life on the ship, they went on to cruise to Alaska, the Mediterranean Sea, and their last voyage was on the Mississippi River. Violet’s favorite trip of all time was when they went on the Mediterranean cruise. The last stop on the cruise was Greece, and she couldn’t explain how beautiful it was. Her amazement was immeasurable. While on these trips it was impossible for Violet to go home empty handed. She would always get a souvenir that would help her remember the astonishing time that she had experienced while on the vacation. There would be times that she would just want to take the grandchildren to Disney World and have an enjoyable time with her family. Once the vacations slowed down, Violet came to realize that she liked to play Bingo, and if you didn’t see her in the Bingo Hall, you would find her in her room reading a book or doing a puzzle book to keep her mind sharp. She was very fond of sudoku and would finish a whole puzzle book in less than a month. Violet would finish them so quickly, that her daughter would have a hard time finding new books for her before she would complete them.

She was an extremely proud mother, and grandmother. Violet was a genuine social butterfly, and everybody at Greenfields loved her. She and Michael were one of the first couples at Greenfields in Geneva, so being the residents there for so long, she got to greet many of the people that came to Greenfields. She was involved in many different committees within the retirement community when she was able to do so. She was very proud of her Hungarian culture. Violet was constantly soothed by the voice of Elvis and Frank Sinatra. She found peace when listening to all types of music, but those were her favorites. Most of all, Violet and Michael loved spending time together and anytime they were away from each other the time couldn’t pass quickly enough before they were together again.

She is survived by her husband, Michael Barreto; her children: John Barreto and Dee Withey; one stepson, Doug Barreto; her two grandchildren: Michael Withey and Morgan (Jacob) Sheehan; in addition to many cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents; Frank Markoly and Iboly Varodi.

Following cremation, the family will have a private memorial to celebrate Violet’s life at a later date.  

Contributions may be made to the National Breast Cancer foundation ( nationalbreastcancer.org )  or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society ( lls.org ). Tributes may also be posted on the Conley Funeral Home Facebook Page, or at www.conleycare.com.