Rita Nordin Kenyon, born August 30, 1954, in Jacksonville, Florida, died December 19, 2019, surrounded by her family. She was the middle child of ten, but always pointed out that though she was in the middle, she was the big sister to her youngest four brothers, which equipped her for parenting and loving her own three children and her five grandchildren so fiercely. She was totally immersed in her life as mother, grandmother, and wife of 39 years to Matt Kenyon and to the challenge of supporting him and his life’s work building the Dana B. Kenyon company. As she did that – and made it look so easy – she was also what we all think of as a free-spirited artist-of-life: sprinkling joy and laughter, cartwheels, and adventures for all to follow. She, with Matt, were the pied-pipers of celebrating and living life to its fullest.
Rita Babe was her nickname for obvious reasons. She was beautiful – people of all ages and stripes were captivated by her. Anyone who knew her will remember her dancing – first out on the floor, and most fun to watch - especially when she was dancing with Matt. Did you ever see a dream walking? That was Rita. She was one of those ethereal, fluid, willowy beauties but also feisty, strong, and determined. And, she always managed to do it her way. Her motto was to try whatever came along. An example: She’s sitting in a tiki-bar and hears there’s going to be a bikini contest. She enters. She wins. She thinks it was because she looked like she was having so much fun. And she was. But we all know that wasn’t really it, any more than it was why she made the cheerleading squad or was chosen by Matt. There was just something about her – our radiant “it” girl that everyone wanted to play with, everyone wanted to laugh with… everyone wanted to be with.
Rita was a natural artist in everything she did – whether designing and decorating her comfortable, welcoming homes; her cooking (that girl could cook); her outfits (that girl could dress); and especially her art. Her paintings radiate movement and joy and the celebration of the water and sunshine of her beloved Florida. She graduated UNF with a BFA, summa cum laude. She also studied art in Italy, and was one of those one-in-a-million artists who was successful in her lifetime. Yes, that means her art sold – but that isn’t all. She had numerous solo exhibitions, displayed in dozens of group exhibitions, and her paintings are featured in regional and national collections, institutions, and private homes across the country. It is said, her paintings are like potato chips, no one can buy just one. You get addicted. See for yourself: ritakenyon.com
Her paintings
That was also true of Rita. People of all ages and stripes were captivated by her. She was the consummate entertainer – cook, music director, host – and playmate. She was the center of huge extended-family parties – holiday, birthday, shower, and wedding gatherings – always making it look effortless and always having the most fun – jumping highest on the trampoline and dancing till everyone else dropped. All the while looking the most beautiful.
Rita’s free spirit had another distinct side: loving, caring, and serious. We polled her friends and got many versions of the following: kind, expressive, generous, creative, disarming, and a leader in the practice of unconditional love, forgiveness, and acceptance.
She also had an uncanny ability to see things from the other side, see the back side of the moon – suggesting what none of us had thought of which we’d then immediately put into practice. For the rest of our lives, we’ll be asking ourselves, “What would Rita say?”
Rita was also very tender and compassionate. She cared deeply about the environment and painted what she called her river and her marshes, trees, moss, and ocean. She was extremely pleased and proud of the land-conservancy she and Matt made of a beautiful pine forest, the largest such grant ever to the North Florida Land Trust.
Rita is survived by her husband, Matt Kenyon; her children: Marisa, Dana, and Matthew Kenyon (Keena); grandchildren: Max, Maggie, Kenyon, Carter, and Matt III; her sisters: Diane Sollee and Lori Sipka (Lou); her brothers: Lonnie, Neal (Amorette), Joe, Bill, Bob (Denise), and John; her mother-in-law, Anne Kenyon; her sister-in-law, Dawn Kenyon; her brother-in-law, Andy Kenyon; and dozens of nieces and nephews.
The family invites you to a celebration of Rita’s life at 10:30am, Friday, January 17, 2020, at the Mandarin Presbyterian Church.
In lieu of flowers, Rita would encourage you to donate to the North Florida Land Trust, www.NFLT.org or St. John’s Riverkeeper, www.StJohnRiverkeeper.org.
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