In Loving Memory of Fausta Deterling, Co-Founder of PWSA | USA

Fausta Margaret Deterling (née Healy) passed away gracefully in her sleep, on a Sunday morning, November 23rd. She lived to be ninety-four. She was equally graceful throughout her long life in bringing strength and joy to her family and in contending with the unique challenges they faced. Her life was altered forever by the arrival of her youngest son, Curtis, born having a then-obscure condition known as Prader-Willi Syndrome. Curtis was one of the first to be diagnosed in infancy and Fausta rose to the challenge, not only as a mother raising an emotionally restive child with special needs, but also in leveraging her professional skills to co-found the Prader Willi Syndrome Association with her husband, Gene. The organization grew into an international beacon of hope, advice and facility for thousands of similar families. When diagnosed, Curtis was given a life expectancy of twenty-five years. Last March, he turned fifty-four, in very good health and living a relatively normal, even prosperous existence. This is the remarkable center of Fausta’s legacy: as a tireless woman with an inexhaustible reserve of love and determination. 

Fausta was born on October 17th, 1931 into a family of Irish and English descent, growing up in a large house with her five siblings on the corner of Gordon Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts. Her father, Thomas, worked in management at the Checker Taxi company, while her mother, Alice (née Condry), was the vibrant family matriarch. The house lay in the long shadow of Harvard University, where her brother Howard graduated in 1939 alongside John F. Kennedy and Leonard Bernstein. Inspired by Howard, Fausta gravitated toward knowledge, thoughtful reflection and graceful refinement. Her more jovial brother, Bob, had a long career with State Street Bank, passing away at the age of ninety-five. Her older sister, Betty, raised a family and served as a librarian in her later years. Her younger brother Paul married and raised three children. The family was further enlarged by the arrival of her adoptive cousin Barbara after her parents perished in an automobile accident.

During her childhood, the family also kept a series of cottages by the sea. One of these, in Scituate, Massachusetts, a mere stroll away from the seashore, was built by her brother, Bob. Many treasured childhood memories were rooted there amidst the rolling surf and quaint New England surroundings, and many more still during summer escapes with her future family.  

In an age where fewer women pursued higher education, Fausta took classes at Harvard University when it finally became open to female students. She also attended the Boston School of Fine Arts, Radcliffe College and the Katherine Gibbs School in New York, where she became proficient in shorthand and secretarial skills. These skills secured her a position at the American Cyanamid Company where she was a cover profile in their monthly corporate magazine as an exemplary employee alongside a tour of Boston’s historical sites. 

Always active, she took up an interest in the nascent sport of skiing in the mid 1950’s, joining a fledgling outfit in western Massachusetts called the Prospectors Ski Club. This is where she met her future husband, Gene, and they bonded immediately. Over the following years, the Prospectors migrated to a large former inn they purchased in North Conway, New Hampshire, where they shared a vibrant, communal spirit, and this became the locus of family weekends and vacations for years to come. Fausta developed into an avid skier and tennis player, the latter of which she played regularly well into her senior years.  

She and Gene married on July 20th, 1959, a marriage that endured fifty-nine years until his passing in 2018. Gene was an electrical engineer and former Air Force Captain who worked for the Honeywell Corporation until his retirement. They raised three children, Sara, Evan and Curtis. In the summer of 1976, Gene was relocated to the corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, which represented a jarring shift for the family. Gone were the mountains and ski weekends and seaside vacations and a great distance was opened up from her relatives. However Fausta, ever stalwart and optimistic, adapted gracefully and thrived in the new pastoral setting of Orono, Minnesota. She adored the range of wildlife cohabiting the property and became legend amongst the local deer, whom she seemed able to charm with her calming presence. They will certainly miss her benevolent figure appearing on the edge of the woods.  

Throughout her life, Fausta travelled abroad on occasion, touring Europe twice and as a regular snowbird to the Mexican rivieras, but, although quite glamorous in her youth, she was never drawn to a glamorous life. Her heart was warmest at home, as a mother. Her greatest gift to her family was the home she made for them, the values she instilled in them by her equable presence and wisdom, her patient ear and the grace she exemplified for them. For this, we owe her our best selves and it is there where she will always live on.

Fausta is survived by her daughter, Sara (and her husband Larry), her sons, Evan and Curtis, her four grandchildren, Sondra, Amy, Sean and Emily, and her two great-grandchildren, Pylot and Harlequin. A memorial service is being planned for after the holiday travel disruptions, with further information to come.   

In lieu of flowers, memorials preferred to the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association at https://www.pwsausa.org/.