Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
HOUGHTON
Deborah Jean (Fraki) Usitalo, 53, a resident of Coles Creek, Houghton, passed away October 20, 2017, at UP Health System-Marquette.
Debbie was born on January 23, 1964, in Bremerton, Washington, and attended South Kitsap and Houghton High Schools, Suomi College and Northern Michigan University.
Debbie worked for Fraki Enterprise and MSHDA, BHK Head Start and later as a pre-elementary teacher in Houghton.
She enjoyed her family, especially her two daughters; numerous nieces and nephews; and her brothers. She really missed her brother, Dean, and her father, George, who both passed away in 2016.
Debbie enjoyed outdoor sports, running, swimming, skiing, snowmobiling and taking road trip adventures, and sightseeing with her girls. She also enjoyed her little dog, Jasper.
Deborah is survived by her two daughters, Eva Joy and Arianna Marie Usitalo; her husband, Peter Usitalo; her mother, Dorothy A. Fraki; her brother, Michael Roy Fraki and his children, Brandon and Cole; her nieces and nephews, Elizabeth (Matthew) Miller and their children, Samuel and Sophia Miller; Rebekah Wernicke and her children, William and Hailey Wernicke, Joshua Fraki, Hannah (Benjamin) Jaehnig, and Ryan Fraki; her aunts, Nancy Wernicke and children, Grace Kutzke and children; an uncle, Larry Hagwell; her grandfather, Lawrence Hagwell; and several friends. Besides her father and brother, Debbie was also preceded in death by her maternal grandmother, Dorothy Hagwell; and her paternal grandparents, Emma and Roy Fraki.
A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 26, 2017, at the Jukuri-Antila Funeral Home in Hancock, with Pastor Jon Kangas to officiate. Visitation will be 1 hour prior to the service on Thursday at the funeral home. Interment will be in the Atlantic Mine Cemetery. Online condolences may be expressed to the family at antilafuneral.com.
