Be like Rita

Marcie’s Meanderings
I lost a good friend last week, as did many from the area, when Rita Roberts of Lime Springs passed away on Sunday, Jan. 17.
I’ve thought a lot about her over the past week. And I’ve thought a lot about the term “good friend.” She always made me feel like I was the most important person to her when we chatted. She laughed at the right times, and geuniunly cared. I want to be like Rita.
I called her my good friend earlier. But in reality, we weren’t really that close. 
We didn’t get together every week to chat, shop or play cards. We didn’t go on weekend get-aways together. We didn’t call each other on the phone when something interesting was going on in our lives. We didn’t work together. We weren’t involved in all the same organizations. 
I knew she like to fish, but I didn’t realize how much until a colleague told me the two would text photos of themselves fishing while the other was stuck at work.
I might not have known some intimancies about her, but I did see her eyes light up and a big smile come on her face when we would randomly see each other. We would brag about our kids and ask how each other’s families were doing. We had some pretty intense conversations over the years, which I treasure. But we also shared a lot of laughs. 
We attended the same fund-raisers around Lime Springs.  I saw Rita and Tony sitting in the church pew during a couple of my family funerals. Gary and I sat in a pew and watched their son, Tommy, get married a year-and-a-half ago.
No. We weren’t besties. But we were friends. And I’m going to say good friends again. 
There have been many tributes to her on social media, about how much she touched lives. Most of them mention her ready smile and the wonderful hugs she gave. Those will both be missed.
But Rita did so much more. It might not have been big projects, although she was involved with those as well. Many times, the lives she touched were young, old or in-between in a personal and not organized way.
She was very involved in Tommy’s life, as she helped with Cub and Boy Scouts, CCD teacher, Lime Springs Junior Community Club, Vacation Bible School and Lime Springs Children’s Theatre Troupe.
Gary and I were also involved with the Junior Club. We would take the cans collected in Lime Springs to the Can House. Every once in a while, we would be ready to take the trailer over, and it was already emptied . . . by Tony and Rita. At that time, Tommy was no longer a member of the club, but they still helped out. What a nice surprise.
She was co-director of the children’s theatre. Trying to get 20 kids to behave and listen can be a challenge, even for Rita. Sometimes she would bark at the kids, but the unconditional love she gave them always won them over again.
She may have had just one son, but all the children she came in contact were special to her as well. And that definitely included her nieces and nephews. She made sure they had a special day with her, usually around their birthdays each year of high school. The boys got to go fishing with her and Tony. The girls had a day of shopping and one-on-one time. With one of her nieces, they both grew their hair out and donated to Locks of Love.
In addition, she was a mentor through My Club and read books to students at Notre Dame and Crestwood Elementary Schools. But she also read to some residents at nursing homes up until COVID-19 shut that down.
In Tommy’s younger years, he and his mom would dress up as Santa (beard and all!) and her elf to visit local nursing homes at Christmas.
Rita was a member of Lime Springs Firemen’s Auxiliary and helped in any way she could. In that capacity, she was on the fund-raising committee for the fire station/community center in Lime Springs. It was she and Tony who came up with the brick fund-raiser.
She was secretary for Forest City Township and a lector at Notre Dame Catholic Church. She shared her lovely voice at church and through Cresco Community Theatre.
She was a friend and mother figure to everyone she met, including those she met at her job as dispatcher for Howard County Sheriff’s Department. Her motto was to treat everyone as you would want to be treated and that included the inmates. She would jokingly scold overnight guests, and most would greet her fondly if they saw her at the grocery store or other places around the area. At least one thanked her for helping him get on the right path several years after he was a guest of the county.
That was Rita . . . treat everyone with respect.
She touched many lives in her too-short lifetime. She has inspired me to try to be a better person. I know others feel the same.
Be like Rita. Be a good friend and kind to everyone.
[See the entire obituary for Rita Roberts on page A13.]

Cresco Times

Phone: 563-547-3601
Fax: 563-547-4602

Address:
Cresco TPD
214 N. Elm Street
Cresco, IA 52136

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