Anita Marie Whitmore

Anita Marie (Ullo) Whitmore, 86, left her birthplace of Niagara Falls, N.Y., to join her sister in San Bernardino, California, in 1952 and never looked back.

A 66-year San Bernardino resident, Whitmore passed away on January 23, 2019, from Alzheimer’s disease, following a long career as a dental assistant and as a perennial charity volunteer.

Whitmore worked for San Bernardino dentist Dr. Neal Bowen for 41 years serving as a dental assistant, office manager, and dental assistant instructor. She often told her family and friends how much she loved her job. She enjoyed chatting with the patients and keeping up with their lives.

Occasionally those patients were famous -- like the day one of the brothers who started the McDonald’s restaurant chain in San Bernardino showed her and others in the office the check he had just received from Ray Kroc to buy the franchise.

Once Dr. Bowen retired, she continued for a few years in dentistry and then switched to part-time office work at Norton Air Force base before fully retiring.

According to a profile that appeared in the Inland Empire Community Newspaper in 2011, Whitmore found her second avocation when she joined the American Business Women’s Association in 1981. There she enjoyed the monthly informational lectures that boosted the business savvy of local women. For decades, she organized annual trips to Palm Springs for the group to see “The Follies.” And she served as a model and part-time comedienne, playing a female parody of Zorro she named Zarita for annual ABWA fashion shows.

Whitmore also dedicated many years of service to the City of Hope, San Bernardino chapter, raising money for cancer research and scholarships and serving as the group’s president.

She received the Citizen of Achievement Award from the San Bernardino chapter of the League of Women Voters in 1996.

Fashion was her third passion. At just over five-foot tall she counted on a treasured collection of four-to-six-inch stilettos to both round out her always stylish outfits and to view the world from a slightly higher perspective. She continued to wear those stilettos (though with slightly lower heels) into her mid-80s. She considered stilettos essential even for trips to Stater Brothers for groceries.

Whitmore will be remembered for her tireless efforts to improve and support the San Bernardino community. She did that in part by being a loyal fan of the Sun. She regularly advertised charity events in the paper’s calendar. To return the favor, whenever she traveled — even if just next door to Lake Arrowhead— she would invariably have her photo taken holding a copy of her beloved Sun.

She was born in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on September 9, 1932, to Francesca (Insana) Ullo and Salvatore “Peter” Ullo. Her only sibling, Vincenette Gloria (Ullo) Lupton died in 2015.

Whitmore is survived by three nieces and their eleven children and grandchildren.

Private burial will be held at a later date at the Montecito Memorial Park, in Colton, California.