She was admitted to Seacoast in the early hours of Dec. 25 after Horry County Fire Rescue took her to the Emergency Department from her home in Lightkeepers.
Rita was born Aug. 24, 1940, in Mount Vernon, Illinois, the daughter of Earl and Irene Brake. As a little girl, she listened with her daddy to radio broadcasts of St. Louis Cardinals baseball games and her interest in the Cards continued. She was avid fan of University of Illinois sports, especially basketball, and was delighted with the Fighting Illini recent win against the University of Missouri in the annual rivalry game in St. Louis.
She was a graduate of Mount Vernon High School and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She also received a master’s degree at SIUC.
Rita taught as a graduate assistant in the Business Education Department of SIUC, then at Eisenhower High School, Blue Island, Illinois, and DuQuoin High School. She later worked in banking in Alton and Waukegan, and in real estate sales in Lake County.
Rita and D.G. resided in the Illinois communities of Lyons, Carbondale, Champaign, Godfrey and Grayslake prior to moving to Little River in 1998.
Rita and D.G. were married 57 years. Rita also leaves son Scott, Maineville, Ohio; son and daughter-in-law Todd and Theresa Schumacher of Broomfield, Colo., three grandchildren, Gracie, Celia and Henry; and a brother, Neal R. Brake of Las Vegas.
A celebration of life will be at Lee Funeral Home and Crematory, Little River, on Thursday, Dec. 30, with visitation from 1 – 2 p.m. followed by the service.
