Lorraine Dalla-Longa discusses plans for the Spectrum festival in this May 2013 file photo. Dalla Longa died on July 17, according to firends of the downtown business operator. -- NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Downtown booster and businesswoman Lorraine Dalla Longa has died, the News has confirmed.
That comes quickly after she spoke with the media late last week to answer questions about why the Medicine Hat Retirement Villa would transition to a long-stay hotel rather than continue to offer health and living supports to seniors.
She said that was in part to her own health situation and decision to retire as resident manager, but did not give any indication of how serious the situation was.
Friends of Dalla Longa told the News on Monday that a diagnosis of breast cancer had been found to have spread rapidly in the last month.
She was in her sixties.
Dalla Longa was at times a key organizer with the Medicine Hat Spectrum Sunshine Festival event and more recently a promoter with her companion, Ray Tone, of the Alive After 5 downtown weekly events.
She was also a chair of the City Centre Development Agency in the early 2010s, during which time she helped found the Friends of the Monarch Theatre Society.
In private business, she operated Dance Connection “Everybody’s Fitness” promoted belly dancing, and later managed several buildings in the city centre.
As a shareholder, Dalla Longa helped redevelop the Medicine Hat Inn as a seniors apartment facility with laundry and meal service after her spouse, News columnist Angus Henderson, was left with physical limitations after a stroke in 2011.
He passed away in 2016.
