Richarda Witikko

"Art is literacy of the heart," wrote Eliot Eisner. One of God's finest "teachers of the heart" was just called home.

Richarda Laura Wakefield Witikko, age 61 of Duluth, passed away on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 in her home. She was born to the late Waltraut (Terry) Wakefield and Robert J. Wakefield on December 11, 1954.

Richarda attended school in Duluth and graduated Cathedral High School in 1973. She attended college in Helena, Montana before earning her art degree from the College of St. Catherine in 1978. Although Richarda worked in interior design briefly in her early professional years, her love was teaching art, which she did for 38 years, in St. Paul, Florida, and the Duluth area. However, no teaching was more important to her than her 11 years as an art teacher at St. James Catholic School in Duluth. And her students there were the lucky ones. For years after, whenever and wherever they saw her, she would be welcomed by smiles and big hugs.

Richarda married Neil Witikko in 1991, and they had three children: Niila (22), Veronica (20), and Xavier (17). Richarda was a devoted mother, and nothing in life made her happier than her children. She even sacrificed teaching positions before her children were school-aged so that she could be home to raise them with wild spirits and an appreciation for art and the outdoors. Her kids almost looked forward to getting sick because of the famous "velvet pillow treatment" she would give them as she nursed them back to health. Richarda loved to camp and spent night after night on the shore of Lake Superior under a moonlit Split Rock Lighthouse. Politically, no one had more "fire" than Richarda, and she proudly displayed a personal letter she received from her hero, Ronald Reagan, when, as 11 year old, she encouraged him to run for President of the United States. Richarda was an avid gardener and a passionate artist, spending years creating beautiful glass mosaics that now hang in homes throughout the northland. And Richarda loved God with all her heart, and at no point was that clearer than during the Christmas season. Richarda dearly loved the story of the nativity and proudly displayed no fewer than 25 nativity scenes throughout her home.

One of Richarda's favorite artists, Edgar Degas, wrote, "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." Richarda took this to heart and made everyone she came in contact with see the beauty of God's creation. She will be sadly missed.

Richarda is survived by her daughters Niila and Veronica, her son Xavier, her sister Rosemarie Winters (Eustice, FL), and her sister Stefanie Wakefield (Sturgeon Lake).

Visitation will be on Wednesday from 5-7 p.m. at the Dougherty Funeral Home. Visitation will continue Thursday from 9:30am to the 10:30 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church, 325 E 3rd St. Duluth. Burial at Calvary Cemetery. Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral Home, 600 E 2nd St. Duluth, (218) 727-3555.

Visitation begins at 9:30 until the Mass of Christian Burial