Gina Zarletti

Service Details

A celebration of Gina’s life will be held on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at the Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Sunset Ridge Memorial Park. A visitation for Gina will be held on Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

You may witness the service via livestream by clicking on the link below on Wednesday at 10:00 am.

She was born into this world on March 3, 1976, as a beautiful gift to her parents Charles and Nancy Zarletti. A delightful respite from their two rambunctious and destructive sons, Brian and Kevin.   For their part, Brian and Kevin did not know how to do anything with precious or fragile things except break them. It wasn’t too long, though, before they realized that she was neither precious nor fragile but actually one of them- Ready to make mischief, brawl, celebrate, play, and compete. Thus began the forging of Gina’s personality. Faced with the sheer force of two older and stronger brothers, She became a potent force herself, capable of staring down and destroying her unsympathetic siblings. Those years spent in Virginia Beach were dominated by backyard and driveway sports and games between the three.

By the time she was ready for club sports, girls her age stood no chance. After a failed attempt by her parents to get her engaged in figure skating, She began dominating boys in a travel hockey league.  She was also recruited to play on a boys select travel soccer club where she flourished for years, until the Zarletti family moved back to Kenosha, WI.

Gina attended Lincoln Middle School and graduated from Tremper High School in 1994. While playing high school soccer, she was recruited to play college soccer at Heidelberg University in Tiffin,OH. At Heidelberg, Gina continued to excel at soccer and scholastic endeavors. Chuck and Nancy drove to many games throughout Ohio and the greater midwest to watch and support the team. During her time the Heidelberg Woman’s Soccer team won two regular season conference titles (‘94 and ‘95), three conference tournament titles (“94,’95, and ‘97), and two NCAA appearances (‘95 and ‘96). The 1995 season saw the team reach number 11 in the nation. This remains the highest ranking for an Ohio Athletic Association Women’s Soccer team.

As great as the on field accomplishments were, the most enduring and profound impact Gina had on Heidelberg and Heidelberg had on Gina was the cultivation of lifelong friendships. A group of 14 loving, supportive, accepting, and devoted sisters remain present and engaged in each other’s lives. From their early collegiate years until present, they remain hard partying, always fun, rock and roll bad-asses. To say Gina was the ringleader of mischief, the instigator of fun, the initiator of skinny dipping, the queen of the dance party, would be only stating the obvious.

After graduating in 1999 (D.J., cue the Prince song) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education, she began a career in teaching. She taught at McKinley middle school and Fratt elementary, both in Racine, WI. Because of her youthful nature, exuberant personality and passion for helping children, she was able to make strong connections and help her students thrive. She was always a favorite of the student body, fellow teachers, staff, and administrators. She began coaching soccer soon after and shared her passion and love for the game with a new generation. She garnered so much respect by her players, their parents, and fellow coaches that she was asked to coach boys high school soccer. With a heavy heart, she retired from coaching when her workload teaching school and going back to school for her Master’s Degree became too heavy. In 2011 she completed her Master’s Degree in School Counseling from Concordia University. She was then able to further refine her true calling- to help guide children through emotional and stressful times. Interacting with and helping children was a driving force for her. She has had an indelible positive impact on a great many young people.

On November 26, 2014 Gina married Julia Beals.  They had a loving devoted marriage and cared deeply for one another throughout the course of their relationship.  While they didn’t have children of their own, Gina was a fun, engaging, cool aunt to all of her nieces and nephews.  (Kaitlyn Smith, Anthony Zarletti, Francesca Zarletti, Adelina Zarletti, Milo Steinseifer, Max Steinseifer,  Modi Steinseifer)  Gina’s real “child” for many years, was her dog Niles.  After Niles, she poured herself into donating her time at the Humane Society.

For the last 7 years, Gina has fought incredibly hard and diligently, as she battled ovarian cancer.  She never lost her enthusiasm for life.  She never stopped dancing.  She remained the life of the party, energizing any room she walked into, be it a pool party or a chemotherapy center.  She was surrounded by family and her best friends until the bitter end.  On October 10th, 2021 Gina passed away peacefully.

Loving and loved wife of Julia (nee: Gemig) Zarletti; Cherished daughter of Nancy C. (nee: Peil) and the late Charles “Chuck” Zarletti. “Favorite’ sister of Brian (Anita) Zarletti and Kevin Zarletti; Special aunt to Kaitlyn, Anthony, Francesca, and Adelina Zarletti.  Further survived by her Heidelberg family, so many former students, friends, and many relatives.

A celebration of Gina’s life will be held on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at the Draeger-Langendorf Funeral Home. Interment will follow in Sunset Ridge Memorial Park. A visitation for Gina will be held on Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.