Rita Cox Mullins

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our treasured mother, Rita Stephanie Cox Mullins, on December 10th, 2020 at the age of 96. COVID-19 proved to be just a little too difficult an obstacle for her to overcome. Mom remained interested in the goings-on in the world until the very end. She was generous and welcoming. There was always room for one more at the family table.

Rita loved theatre, Broadway musicals, and to reflect on the words of Shakespeare: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. She embraced the seven stages of life described in As You Like It, and she went with the flow.

Born and raised in the Irish enclave of Pointe-Saint-Charles, she was a natural born actor and singer, and enjoyed her moments of glory on the stage in the 1940s just as the second world war was coming to an end. But performance was not to be her claim to fame. It was the family that she built with our father, Frank Ireneus Mullins (who died 1977) that made her beam with pride. Later in life, Rita would rekindle her passion for performance as a member of the Wellesley Acting Club, run by the seniors’ residence where she spent her final years among friends.

In addition to her late husband, Rita was predeceased by her sisters, Margaret and Catherine, and her brother, Johnny. She leaves to mourn her six children: Stephen (the late Helen Dominic), Catherine, Eloise (Doug Tardif), Anne Marie (George Viglas), Patrick (Shelley Smith), and Ryan. She was blessed with eight grandchildren of whom she was so proud: Timothy, Sean (Jennifer Lukasiewicz), Matthew, Melanie, Meghan (Shannon Ross), Michael (Francesca Giovannoni), Alexandra (Christopher McCluskey), and Alisha. She lived long enough to meet four great-grandchildren: Brodie, Charlize, Maverick, and Emmett. We will all miss her terribly. In keeping with Rita’s wishes, cremation has taken place and a service will be held in when it is safe for the family to come together.