\t\t\tJudith Kristina (Ditchkus) Omerza \t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tOBITUARY\t\t<\/p>\n
Judith Kristina (Ditchkus) Omerza, 61, of Wilkes-Barre, died peacefully at home Tuesday, January 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
\nThe wife of Richard Omerza, she was preceded in death by her parents Albert Raymond and Dorothy Teresa Ditchkus, of Scranton.<\/p>\n
\nShe is survived by sisters: Karen Brown (Kurt), Lititz, PA, and Susanne Gudaitis (Chuck) Scranton; nieces Elyse Thomas (Ryan) of Lititz, and Lauren Brown (Oren) of Brownstown, PA, as well as great-nieces Daphne Thomas of Lititz, Elizabeth Ormianer of Brownstown, and great-nephew Clark Thomas of Lititz.<\/p>\n
\nShe is also survived by an aunt, Barbara Miley and cousin Stephen Miley, Vineland, NJ, and aunt, Kathy Ditchkus of Round Hill, VA, and a great-aunt, Ann Bartsch of Wilkes-Barre along with several other cousins and nephews. She was preceded in death by cousins Fran and Christine Miley of Vineland.<\/p>\n
\nBorn in Scranton, she was a 1982 graduate of Scranton Central High School and a 1986 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice. She also earned a master\u2019s degree in social work from Marywood University.<\/p>\n
\nShe was employed as a case worker at Geisinger Hospital, Wilkes-Barre and as a therapist at Mountain Top Counseling. Prior employment was with Geisinger Danville in the cardiac department, and with Children and Youth of Luzerne County.<\/p>\n
\nDuring the past several years she was an active participant in the International Chili Society and the CASI organization where she competed in and judged chili cook-offs throughout much of the eastern and midwest states. She won various awards for her red, green and white chilis and salsa. She also participated in the Chili Cook-Off World Championship in Texas where she won awards in various categories.<\/p>\n
\nShe also loved to travel throughout Europe and the United States, especially staying at New England historic bed & breakfast inns.<\/p>\n
\nAn avid pet lover, she is survived by her four beloved cats.<\/p>\n
\nMass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday, January 17 at 10:00 am at Mary, Mother of God Church, 316 William St., in North Scranton. Inurnment will take place at Cathedral Cemetery, West Scranton at a future date.<\/p>\n
\nJudith Kristina (Ditchkus) Omerza<\/p>\n
\nJanuary 6, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Judith Kristina (Ditchkus) Omerza OBITUARY Judith Kristina (Ditchkus) Omerza, 61, of Wilkes-Barre, died peacefully at home Tuesday, January…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-88070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}