Rita Maye Kirby – Watts passed away on Labor Day, September 6, 2021 in Flower Mound, Texas. She will be remembered as a loving mother and grandmother to her family and by many as a leader in the multi-family property management industry.
Rita was born in Dalhart, Texas and when she was three the family moved to Borger, Texas, where she grew up. She and her two sisters Ruth and Ruby, adored their parents Luby and Jonnie Knowles and Rita got her strong work ethic from them. Jonnie did alterations at Newell-Ardis dress shop and Luby was manager of Myer’s Music Mart. There was always a piano in the house and much of Rita’s early life revolved around music. She was the church pianist at Calvary Baptist Church for several years and was active in the Borger High School choir and music club as well as singing or playing piano for events around town and for funerals at Minton’s Funeral Home.
In May of 1961 Rita married Jerry Kirby. In 1964 Rita and Jerry moved to Dallas with a two-year-old child and a hundred dollars. Jerry worked part-time and pursued a college degree, eventually building a career in banking. Rita found a job as an apartment manager with one goal…free rent! Rita and Jerry had two sons, Michael Cameron Kirby and Daniel Andrew Kirby and always put them first in their lives, even after the marriage ended.
In 1983, Rita married Carlton B. Watts and remained married to Carl until his death in January of 2018. He was her “rock”. Rita and Carl spent many happy summers at his camp in the Adirondack Mountains and later at their cabin in Cloud Croft, New Mexico. Together they traveled across the U.S. and to many parts of the world. In their later years, they moved to Sun City in Georgetown, Texas where they enjoyed a wonderful community of friends and neighbors.
Rita’s career in the apartment industry spanned forty years. She started as an apartment manager in 1964 and in 1980 became the owner and CEO of a property management company in Dallas. Rita was a pioneer in the business. She was the first senior management employee of First Property Company which later became Equity Residential, the first woman to own a management firm in Dallas, the first woman to become president of the Dallas Apartment Association and the first woman to serve on the National Apartment Association Board of Directors. After selling her company in 1991, she started a consulting and technical writing company. She wrote procedure manuals, consulted for some of the largest management companies in the U.S., and published six books for the apartment industry. The coveted Rita Kirby Regional Property Manager of the Year award is still given out annually by the Texas Apartment Association.
Rita is survived by son Michael Kirby and wife Carol of Flower Mound, TX and their children Jonah and wife Callie of Carrollton, TX and Taylor and husband Jessie Lit of Richardson, TX as well as her son Daniel and wife Tabatha of Flower Mound, TX and their daughter Cameron, stepson Steven Watts and wife Debbie of Flower Mound, TX and son Brian Watts of Dallas, TX, stepson Carl Watts of Wewoka, OK, and stepdaughter Deborah Guhin and husband Jimmy of Mesa, AZ, stepson Bill Watts of St. Petersburg, FL, stepson Kenny Watts of St. Petersburg, FL, and stepdaughter Barbara Watts of Las Vegas, NV.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be made in Rita’s honor at www.liveoakfamily.com.
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