Rita Jean Brown

Dear, sweet, beautiful wife of 62 years passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of February 8, 2023. Rita had been living at the Grand Living memory unit since last May, and was a victim of Parkinson's Disease and Lewy Body dementia. Rita was born in Chicago, IL in 1938 and was 84 years young. She graduated from St. Bernard's School of Nursing in 1960, and married Richard (Dick) Brown the same year in August. They moved to Champaign, IL where Dick completed his work on a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Illinois. During the years in graduate school, Rita gave birth to three beautiful boys – Mark (1961), Kevin (1962) and Eric (1964). And at the same time, Rita worked evenings and weekends as a registered nurse in several local hospitals. It was exciting and tiring, but still a wonderful time of our lives

In 1966, Dick graduated and took a job with Texas Instruments in Dallas. Rita really blossomed as a mother and parent raising our three small boys. She taught them to swim, run, and play sports. At the same time, she resumed her nursing career, working in O.B., Gyn and L&D. And then she worked in a Burn Rehab Unit. This led to what would become the major focus of her career – Psychiatry. In the years to come, she worked as head Nurse in a Hospital-Based Psychiatric Unit, and then helped organize and open a new unit in a for-profit setting – in which she became Head Nurse.

In 1969, we leased a piece of land on the shoreline of Lake Texoma, and Rita and her husband single-handedly built a 800 square-foot Lake Cabin – up on stilts overlooking the lake. For the next 15 years, the entire family (including cats and dogs) spent vacations and over 40 weekends per year at the cabin, swimming, boating, water skiing and fishing. The boys literally grew up with the freedom of the wilderness, land and water at their footsteps.

In 1990, Rita earned a B.S. in Gerontology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (Dallas) and went to work for the Medical school as part of a Depression research study team.

When Dick retired in 1995, they moved to a new self-designed home on Richland – Chambers reservoir (~100 miles from Dallas), and Rita worked as Head Nurse in a Hospital Psychiatric unit, and then in a position in Home Health Care.

Rita began running in 1978. It turned out she was a great athlete! She ran a multitude of marathons (26.2 mi) – including qualifying and running the Boston Marathon in 1981, 1882, and 1984. She ran in the Jackson 50 ( a 50 mile race) in Dallas in 1984 and won it! She was the first female in a time of seven hours and 17 minutes We have a whole house of trophies, because she almost always won first place in her age group. What an incredible woman!

We moved to Georgetown and Sun City in 1999. And a whole new life opened up for us. Rita became a very active volunteer in her church (St. Helen’s) and in many other charitable organizations including Wesleyan Nursing Home, where she worked as a volunteer for several years conducting “reminiscence” groups for memory-care residents. She also taught sittercise exercise classes, and brought crafts and oldies music to their sessions. She then began what would become a five-year stint as a volunteer at the Caring Place retail store. She loved creating displays of jewelry and other fine items to “help to move the merchandise”

In 2001, Rita joined Dick in founding the Sun City Hiking Club. The couple nursed this little group (only 11 at first) thru the first two years before we managed to turn it over to others. (The club now has over 600 members). Hiking – and then back-packing became an important part of our lives. We took several multi-day (7-10 days) overnight trips in the Colorado Rockies , and three trips down into the Grand Canyon. It was an incredible experience to just leave all the sounds and lights of the world behind and just be alone in the wilderness.

In 2007, we decided to devote our activities toward each other, and resigned all our volunteer leadership roles. We had been RVing since 1998, and had traveled all over the United States 4 or 5 months a year. But in 2007, we bought a small lot in Colorado that we used as a home-base and continued our RV travels all over the western United States – including a 2 ½ month, 10,000 mile trip to western Canada and Alaska.

The last 20 years of our lives have cemented our love for each other, and we have never been happier. A big part of this is because of Rita’s sunny disposition. Everyone who has ever met her remarks on how she is always smiling and laughing. She surely was the sweetest, kindest, most loving person I have ever known, and I will miss her greatly.

Rita is survived by her loving husband, Dick and by three wonderful sons – Mark and wife Kathy of McKinney; Kevin and wife Susi of Katy, and Eric and wife Laura of Superior, Colorado; and also by five grandchildren, Stephen and Bryan; Reid and Elise; and Kaitlyn; and by one Great grandson, Sean. She is also survived by her two loving sisters Rosalie of Edmond, Oklahoma, and Margie of Orland Park, Illinois.

We are all blessed that she graced us with her time amongst us.

Donations may be made in Rita’s name to the SPCA, or to a non-profit organization of your choosing.

Rita will be buried after a Funeral Mass at St Helen’s Catholic Church in Georgetown, at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 6, 2023. Immediately after the service, she will be interred at Our Lady of The Rosary Cemetery (about two miles east of the church on Hwy 29). A joyful, memorial luncheon for friends and family will be held at 4 p.m. at a local restaurant.

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