Rena Mae LaRussa

LaRUSSA, Rena Mae Rotello, age 96, died Tuesday, August 31, after a short battle with the COVID virus. She was a lifelong Dallas resident, born on July 4, 1925. She was always teased about being a “real firecracker.” She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1941, at the age of 16, after being double promoted two times due to her high intellect. She was a founding member of the St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church and has been a member there ever since. She was also a member of the Altar Society, the Little Flower Missionary Group, the Catholic Daughters, the Notre Dame Circle, and her treasured prayer group “Our Lord’s Circle of Love.” She was active in these groups for as long as she was able. She was truly a devout Catholic, who said the Rosary every day.

She met and married Thomas Camille LaRussa in 1948, and they had three daughters. They were married 48 years, until his death in 1996. She always said that her happiest moments in life were marrying her husband and having her 3 daughters. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, sister, and friend, who always loved to entertain and loved to dance. She was raised taking dance classes at a young age, and at the age of 6 she won the title of "Little Miss Dallas" in a contest sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Felix and Lucille Rotello, and her brother Tom D. Rotello. She is survived by daughters Renee Lange and her husband Eddie, Judge Jeanine Howard, and Lynette Weel and her husband Jim. She is also survived by 7 grandchildren, 2 step-grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren, with one on the way, and many special nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held at the Chapel at Calvary Hill cemetery on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m., Rosary at 11:00 a.m., followed by a Mass at 11:30 a.m. If desired, friends may make memorial contributions to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, specified as a donation for Masses for Rena Mae LaRussa.

She was loved by everyone who knew her and will be greatly missed.