Valparaiso woman leaves $2.9 million to fight loneliness

VALPARAISO, Ind. -- A woman who considered loneliness a curse left $2.9 million to several agencies that serve the elderly, including $725,000 each to a day center and a Meals on Wheels program.\nLifelong Valparaiso resident Dorothy Risto, who died March 19, 2004, at age 78, told her attorney and longtime friend James Bozik she wanted her money to be used to expand opportunities and assistance for local senior citizens.\n"Dorothy said, 'I want my peers to enjoy this,'" said Bozik, who is the executor of her estate.\nBozik said he began distributing the money six months after Risto's death and kept giving out the funds through last month. He said it took awhile because he wanted to make sure it was used for the types of programs Risto desired.\n"She wanted to use the money to make life interesting for people who are over 60 who are retired," he said.\nRisto's family had owned and operated the former Greyhound Post House restaurant on U.S. 30 near Valparaiso University in the city about 20 miles east of Gary. The eatery provided meals to passengers of the well-known bus service, Bozik said.\nBarbara Kubiszak, director of the St. Agnes Adult Day Service Center, said the donation came as a surprise because as far she can tell, Risto never set foot in the center.\nThe same was true for Meals on Wheels, said Laura Harting, executive director of the Visiting Nurse Association, which runs the program.\n"It was very unexpected," Kubiszak said. "What a wonderful legacy this woman has left."\nRisto also left gifts to the Porter County Cancer Society, the Porter County Council on Aging and Valparaiso Parks and Recreation Department.