Tina Fabiano, a much-beloved resident of Ketchum, died on Monday, Dec. 19, 2009, at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls, surrounded by her family, after she suffered cardiac arrest en route to Jackson Hole. She was 63.
Tina was born Bettina Levy on May 18, 1946, in New York City. The youngest of five siblings, she grew up in Bedford Village, N.Y. She graduated from the Westover School in Middlebury, Conn., in 1964 and from Briarcliffe College in New York in 1966. Tina was working at the Parks Department of New York City during the Lindsay administration when she came to Sun Valley on a ski holiday. She has lived here ever since. In 1973, Tina married Rich Fabiano, and they were married for 28 years. They have two daughters, Gina, 34, and Anna, 29. Gina graduated from Wood River High School and from Lewis & Clark College in 1998 and is currently matriculating at the Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder. Anna went to The Community School, graduated from Colgate University in 2002 and the University of San Francisco Law School in 2009. She passed the California Bar in November and is working for Low, Ball and Lynch in San Francisco.
From 1981 to 1989, Tina owned and ran Duck Soup, a children's shop. She then worked at Chapter One Bookstore until 2001 and soon after went to Antiques and Country Pine. Her superior salesmanship, aesthetics and decorating skills—along with her beloved and omnipresent dog, George—made her an invaluable asset to the shop. She and Elizabeth Lucas were a top-notch team. Tina was an all-out worker, and despite her ballet flats, covered a wide span of territory. But she was never too busy to stop and chat, listen or go to someone in need. A proud member of AA, she would have celebrated her 25th birthday in 2010.
In addition to Gina and Anna, Tina is survived by two brothers, Barge Levy of Ketchum and Toby Levy of Princeton, NJ; a sister, Penny Peet, of New York City; and numerous nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews, including a namesake, Lucy Bettina Gerber, daughter of her niece Alisa Peet.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that remembrances be sent to the Bettina Fabiano scholarship at the Sage School.
