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Regina Adelman

Regina M. Adelman (Gina) passed away on September 4, 2023, from metastatic breast cancer. Gina was 80 years old.

Gina was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 12,1943. To the delight of her Polish family, she learned to play the accordion to accompany her father’s singing at family events. After graduation from the Institute of Notre Dame in Baltimore, she married and began her family and career.

Gina met Rodney in Alexandria, VA, in early 2002 and married in 2004. In mid-2005, they both retired and in late 2005, moved to the “active adult community”, PebbleCreek, in Goodyear, Arizona. Gina became a member of the Wine Club, the Lady Tigers PC Women’s Softball team, and the Pickleball Club at their founding. She assisted new Pickleball Club members in understanding and playing the game.

Gina was a true competitor. Didn’t matter if it was board games with family (Scrabble “champion” of the family), family fantasy football leagues (where she spent hours each week studying statistics and reviews before selecting her starters), cheering on her beloved Maryland Terrapins (besides the major sports, she became an avid lacrosse fan). After covid, cruising became her #1 pastime, with sailings in the Sea of Cortez, the Inside Passage with an Alaska Railroad trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks, a trans-Atlantic crossing including several stops in Iceland, and a South America/Antarctica voyage.

Gina loved art and music. She enjoyed listening to a variety of popular music and Motown from the 50s through the 70s, classical, and opera (especially The Three Tenors and in particular, Andrea Bocelli). As a teenager, she landed one of the coveted spots as a Committee Member (dancer) on The Buddy Deane Show (the Baltimore equivalent of the Dick Clark show) at the close of the 1950s. Her favorite song was “Truly” by Lionel Richie.

A caring and compassionate person, she cared for her ailing mother for eight years until her passing in 2020. And nothing could prevent her from spending the holidays with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Gina was preceded in death by her parents, James and Regina Gregorek (Odachowski), and son, Kurt James Tesch. She is survived by her husband, Rodney Adelman; daughter, Tara Tesch Forsburg (Gerald); stepdaughter, Valerie Adelman Collier (Tony and sons Aiden, Camden, and Weston); granddaughter, Ashley Zwillman Withey (Justin); grandson, S. Mitchell Forsburg; and great-grandchildren, Judah and Esme Withey.

A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 am on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 13720 W Thomas Rd, Avondale, AZ, with inurnment at St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Baltimore, MD, at a later date. Donations in Gina’s memory may be made to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.