Valerie Anne Rithamel (Malin)

Valerie Anne Rithamel (Malin) born 7/6/1966 – passed 7/29/2026

Faithful daughter, loving protective mother, selfless sister, giving friend

Valerie Anne went to be with Jesus after a two-and-a-half year battle with Stage 4 esophageal cancer. Sweet Valerie never smoked nor drank, and the aggressive cancer was random and rare. She fought hard until the very end and didn’t want to leave her friends and family even though her body was weakened and exhausted. Valerie tried her best to hide her pain from everyone because she didn’t want people to feel sorry for her or to be a burden to anyone. She was always focused on others’ needs. Private and humble her whole life, she continuously worried about and helped others regardless of how well she knew them or how she was feeling because of her compassionate heart. No one was a stranger, and everyone who met her loved her dearly.

Valerie loved gardening, her black kitty Lili 2, watching silly Hallmark romance movies and HGTV, and going to craft fairs. She also enjoyed going to the county fairs with her dad Stan and took being a big sister to her younger sister Natalie Line Malin and baby sister Brigitte Lee Mandrell (Malin) very seriously. She is the eldest child of Stanley Raymond Malin and Claudine Alice Madeline Malin (Ferrari) and mother to Derek Richard Rithamel and Ryan Scott Rithamel. Valerie is preceded in death by her gentle maternal grandmother Josephine “Lina” Ferrari and her husband Cesar Marc Ferrari, aunt Lili Depres (Ferrari) and her husband Jean Claude Depres, paternal grandfather Charles Malin and his wife Annie Malin (Trussoni), uncle Chuck Malin, aunt Dorothy Maxwell (Malin) and aunt Loretta Morton (Malin), cousin Thierry Ferarri, and uncle Richard Chilton.

Although Valerie loved being office manager at Salem Vision Center for 30 years, her dream was to be an emergency room nurse, and she was working toward her nursing degree at Gateway Technical College in Elkhorn. In lieu of flowers her family asks that you contribute to a scholarship fund in memory of her for others pursuing nursing at GTC. Please mail checks to Gateway Technical College Foundation, 3520 30th Avenue, Kenosha, Wis. 53144. You can also donate by clicking on this Nursing Launchpad Grant link or by calling GTC Foundation Executive Director Jennifer Charpentier at #262-564-2866. Please be sure to enter Valerie’s name and nursing if prompted. Her family is deeply grateful for all who have shown her love and support over the years and anyone able to help keep her memory alive. She will never be forgotten. The Haase-Lockwood & Associates Funeral Home and Crematory of Twin Lakes, WI is honored to serve the Rithamel family.