Rita LeHere

Mar. 6, 1922-Oct. 15. 2012

Rita R. LeHere, 90, of Fort Myers, died Oct. 15 at Health Park Medical Center after a brief illness.

Mrs. LeHere was born in Grafton, W. Va. on Mar. 6, 1922 to John M. Riffee Sr. and Rosemary Flanery Riffee. She was a proud graduate of West Virginia University College of Education, and was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority. She taught high school and adult education courses in both the Ohio and W. Va. public and parochial schools over several years, pausing only to raise her children. She was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, the international women educators’ honorary, and the American Association of University Women. Mrs. LeHere retired to Fort Myers in 1988, where she served as a volunteer at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall and in the Lee Memorial Health System.

Mrs. LeHere was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Jean Riffee, and by her husband, Paul W. LeHere, who died in 1963.

She is survived by her children, Michael D. LeHere, of Wadsworth, Ohio and his wife Susan, Patrick S. LeHere, of Punta Gorda, Fla., and his wife Cynthia, and Shannon Fioravanti and her husband Paul, of Wilmington, Del. Additional survivors include her brother, John M. Riffee, Jr. and his wife Virginia of Gainesville, grandchildren Michael P. LeHere of Medina, Ohio, Phillip Anderson of Columbus, Ohio, Francesca Fioravanti of Wilmington, Del., Gina Fioravanti of Baltimore, and Paul Fioravanti III of Newark, Del., as well as several nieces, nephews, a great-niece and two great-nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. at St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Fort Myers. Interment will take place in Grafton, W. Va. at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations to a teaching scholarship at West Virginia University that has been established in Mrs. LeHere’s honor. Donations can be sent to WVU Foundation, Riffee LeHere Scholarship, P.O. Box 1650 Morgantown, WV 26507.

The family wishes to express its deepest gratitude to Mrs. LeHere’s extraordinary caregivers Debbie Hayes and Wanda Thompson, the dining and nursing staff at Myerlee Manor, physicians James Penuel and Joseph Howard, the ICU nurses at Health Park Medical Center, especially Jen, Mimma, and Anna, and Mrs. LeHere’s beloved nurse Mallory at First Care Medical Center.