"Endured to the End."
Rita Curtis Lee age 88, born May 26th in Vernal, Utah, the 3rd and youngest child of Martin Weston Curtis and Marguerite Wardle, passed away peacefully in her sleep on December 29, 2020, from natural causes.
Rita grew up in Vernal and graduated from Uintah High School where she enjoyed theater and drama and was a member of the Thespian Club. She later moved to Salt Lake City to attend LDS Business College and became a secretary for the state of Utah. She was sealed to Boyd Harmon Lee in the Salt Lake Temple June 7, 1951 by his uncle, Pres. Harold B. Lee, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
They were blessed with 4 children: Terryl (Suzanne), Kayleen (Craig) Houskeeper, Erin (Rhett) Spencer, and Ryan (Susan). They loved taking bus tours with friends and family and traveled all across the U.S. They took their family on many fun vacations every summer.
Rita maintained a strong testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and taught the gospel to her children. As an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints she served in many ward and stake callings including Stake Extraction Coordinator and Indexing Coordinator where she and Boyd served passionately. Rita and Boyd served as veil workers at the Jordan River Temple for 9 years; her almost weekly visits allowed her to perform enormous amounts of temple work. She immersed herself in genealogy work for nearly 50 years. Her legacy is in the genealogy work she did on her own family lines as well as helping others.
Proceeded in death by her husband Boyd, her parents, brother Clayton (Vonda Lee), sister Betty (L.Wayne Horrocks), daughter-in-law Sheri (Terryl), daughter Erin, granddaughter Rebecca, and great-great-granddaughter Mariah. She is survived by 15 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren.
The family wishes to express special thanks to Sunridge Assisted Living, all of her aides, and Hospice services, all who provided tender loving care. We are grateful for and thank Larkin Sunset Gardens for their assistance.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday January 6, 2021 at 11:00 AM at the Hillcrest 9th Ward LDS meetinghouse located at 915 E. Peach Blossom Drive (9045 South), Sandy, Utah. A Zoom link will be made available of the Funeral Services for those unable to attend and to adhere to Utah’s maximum gathering restrictions.
Viewings will be held Tuesday evening from 6:00 - 8:00 pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East Dimple Dell Road (10600 South) in Sandy and Wednesday morning from 9:30 -10:30 am prior to the services at the church.
Interment will be at Larkin Sunset Gardens.
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7).
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86747704309?pwd=VzNjTms5NXBhd2RDV0xmRHRqU01qUT09
Meeting ID: 867 4770 4309
Passcode: 125802
Link to ZOOM for services on Wednesday.
Rita was such a sweet lady with a fun personality. I have missed her in our ward. Prayers to her family for comfort at this difficult time.
I love Aunt Rita!! She is/was an amazing woman. We were penpals for a little bit while she was at Sunridge. I am so grateful for her wisdom and love that she freely gave. I'm glad she has returned to see her sweetheart. She will always have a special place in my heart. We will miss you but we will fondly remember how you influenced our lives.
Love always,
Stephanie and kids
Memories of Rita centers in a large part on genealogy.
She was a tireless, dedicated extraction worker and I
was one of her teammembers. Rita spent countless hours
working in the East chapel in the extraction room.
Glad that she is maybe not aware, that that building has
now been decommisioned.
We loved "Mrs. Rita" so much! She was always so kind to my family, especially my boys. She gave them a book titled "How does sleep come?" and whenever we read it we think of her. We lived across the street from her in Sandy and got to look out the window at her beautiful trees and yard each day. My boys remember seeing all of her Nutcrackers at Christmas time and we loved getting a plate of homemade candy from her too. In the summer we delivered cherry tomatoes to her from our garden because they were her favorite. We feel very blessed to have had Rita in our lives and will cherish the memories we have of her.
Rita has been in my thoughts lately, now I know why. She was my Beehive teacher and was always so kind to us crazy teens.We all loved her. She was mom's visiting teacher many years ago. I had some health problems in my youth and missed a lot of school. It was a hilight when she and sis.Pullen came to see mom. They always had entertaining stories to tell and everyone always laughed a lot. She will be missed here but oh so welcome where she is now. Love and prayers to the family.