I had to buy chocolate.
 I had 3 Anthony Thomas Chocolate Bars . Almond. Peanut Butter. Caramel. I had to test all 3 to see which one was the best.. Almond won. 
I have a book picked out that I will spend time reading . The last time I was with you .. we went to the little library in your building and picked a book and I read to you . 90
minutes in Heaven . 
I know you loved me .. but I loved you more❤️ And the fond memory of you pretending you did not know how to play Shuffle Board !! 

Rita,
I just missed getting to meet you, but I can see and read and recognize you and your spirit as it shines through your daughter Anne. Anne is a dear friend filled with kindness, wit, a sense of adventure, and curiosity. I treasure our time together. And I am very grateful for that. 
Rest well,
Jeanne

Rita never said an ill word about anyone – “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” was her motto. If she was in the presence of someone gossiping, she would surreptitiously walk away and simply say, “well….” She had an uncanny ability to be brief and precise in her words, often leaving us reflecting on what she said and realizing the wisdom of her words.

Many remember Rita and her unique use of new words and phrases.  Her kids often would have to translate for friends and neighbors when growing up.  If Mom was “frischimmeled” – she was unorganized.  If she was “fit to be tied,” she was angry.  On her 80th birthday, her kids and grandchildren recited more than 40 different words and sayings including favorites such as  – “Rats!” “That’s a fine how do you do” “A man on a galloping horse won’t see it. "You could wear a brown paper bag and still look good.” Rita made it a point to be present, curious, and compliment someone each day.  She just made life more fun. 

A holiday did not go by without her celebrating in some way – wearing flag pins for Memorial Day, all red for Valentine’s Day, a large St. Paddy’s day hat for St. Patrick’s Day, birthday hats and silly Halloween costumes. Christmas for Rita was a very special holiday. In addition to the religious celebration, she would decorate extensively, frantically shop for friends and family and make Christmas magical for all. We have wonderful memories of Christmas morning and her special handwritten note from Santa, never realizing it was her handwriting. Rita enjoyed playing with the toys as much as her children and grandchildren.

When Anne finished up her working stint in Japan, Rita and Anne bought two around the world tickets and backpacked together for 2 ½ months throughout Asia and Europe. They had many adventures, especially as they mapped out where they would next go only days ahead of time (and before cell phones)! Rita always went with the flow, was voraciously curious, enjoyed meeting locals and tried all kinds of food.  She was known to browse bookstores in every country she visited.

Despite her green thumb and enjoyment of being outdoors, Rita was somewhat afraid of animals.  She once called Mike to report a bird loose in the house.  When Mike got there, Rita had barricaded herself in the kitchen with the door tightly closed.  After investigating, Mike coaxed Rita out of her fort to show her the bird, which turned out to be a chirping smoke detector with a low battery.

Rita’s love of being in the moment would sometimes catch up with her when balancing Vince’s need to be on time. Vince often decided that taking two cars to church and leaving some of the kids behind to prod her along would be the best approach.  All family members would tease Rita that her sense of time was not the same as others. This coupled with her sense of direction often brought us to tears when reminiscing together regularly at holidays.  One Thanksgiving Rita was late, and everyone was wondering where she was.  Vince said, “she’ll be here in about 5 minutes.”  Everyone was stunned, “how could you know that?”  “Well, she just drove by the house.”  Or Rita was known to say “I can see Newark airport but I can’t get to it.” Her mother used to say when starting on a trip with Rita driving, "Do you have a full tank of gas and did you pack a lunch?" Rita had a great sense of humor and never minded laughing at herself along with us.

Rita was very creative and especially loved concocting fun activities and birthday parties for the kids and their friends  (and she too would participate) – forts made of sheets where she would serve dinner and eat together with the kids on the floor; Susie’s diner where she would ask what we wanted only to let us know “she was out of everything” except the menu item of the evening;  balancing an egg on a spoon relay races and water balloon tosses; and the gathering place for the kids in the neighborhood and a highlight at birthday parties – the multi-colored monkey bars.  Rita and Vince also had many parties and without their parents/grandparents nearby, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners included neighbors and others who were on their own.