Belle Vernon woman was 1st female X-ray technician in hometown

Eula Tintori was a woman ahead of her time.

Her daughter said the Traverse City, Mich., native became the first female X-ray technician in her hometown hospital when officials there realized the young woman they had hired to assist in the X-ray lab showed great promise. At the time mammography was becoming common, but all of the X-ray technicians were men.

“The hospital realized it would be more appropriate for a woman to do mammograms,” said her daughter, Jan Ellen Tintori Rosenau. “So she trained and passed all of the tests. She was the only woman in the class, and she had to learn to speak out for herself. After that, she would always let you know what she thought.”

Mrs. Tintori worked as a registered radiology technician and was an active member of the American Registry of X-ray Technicians and American Society of X-ray Technicians, even after the birth of her daughter. She retired from UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh in 1980.

“I was the only one in elementary school who had a mother who worked,” Mrs. Rosenau said. “My dad was a steelworker and my mother knew they went on strike. She said she didn’t want them to lose their home if that happened. So, she worked.”

Eula Mae Dietrich Tintori died in her Belle Vernon home Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019. She was 91.

A daughter of the late Mathias James Dietrich and Ella Genevieve Cady Dietrich, she was born May 19, 1928, at Bear Lake, Mich.

She met her late husband, Robert Lee Tintori, when he was stationed near Traverse City in the Air Force and came to the hospital to donate blood.

“A week or so later, he was in a speakeasy, recognized her and decided to come up and talk to her,” Mrs. Rosenau said.

After their marriage, the couple settled in Belle Vernon.

Mrs. Tintori attended the Church of the Nazarene.

After retirement, the Tintoris, both avid golfers, spent their winters in Destin, Fla., to take advantage of the golf courses along the Florida Panhandle.

Mrs.Tintori also loved reading, playing bridge and gardening.

Rosenau and her husband, Matthew David Rosenau, traveled from their Upper Marlboro, Md. home to visit shortly before her mother died.

“By some miracle, we arrived Wednesday. We had a great time. We had a good conversation and we took her shopping. My youngest son is getting married, and she bought a dress for his wedding. She did a fashion show for my husband when we got back. The next morning, I found her in her chair. She died in her sleep.

“She was a strong woman. People said she had grace and style. She was a classy lady,” Rosenau said.

Mrs. Tintori was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years on Feb. 28, 2017.

In addition to her daughter and son-in-law, she is survived by two grandsons, Justin C. Rosenau, of Upper Marlboro, Md., and Capt. Tyler M. Rosenau, USMC, of Pensacola, Fla.

Friends will be received Sunday in the Ferguson Funeral Home and Crematory Inc., 700 Broad Ave., Belle Vernon. Services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday in the funeral home with Jean Ferguson officiating. Interment will be in Belle Vernon Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be directed to Westmoreland County Meals on Wheels.