Rebecca Littell

Rebecca “Becky” Mott Littell passed away peacefully on July 8, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. Her 95 years were full of love for family and friends. To her late husband Harry Littell, she was the love of his life. She gave her four children Bill, Bob, Tom and Liz “roots” with a well-grounded upbringing, then gave them the wings to seek their own destinies, all the while keeping the door – and her heart – open in case they needed to return for a while. Becky was a proud Hoosier who never ran out of stories of growing up in her small hometown of Warren, Indiana where her father “Doc” Mott was the town dentist and her mother Bessie McMillan kept Becky and her two older brothers “in line” most of the time. Throughout her life, Becky remained close to her brothers and their families and had the good fortune to attend several Mott family reunions in the last dozen years.

Becky graduated from Warren HS in 1940 and Indiana University in 1944. While at IU she pledged to Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority and remained a lifelong member. She was also a member the Women’s Auxiliary Training Corps (WATS) and was pictured in her uniform in both Mademoiselle magazine and the Chicago Tribune in 1942. More important it was at IU that she met her future husband, the late Harry B. Littell also an IU graduate.

Becky and Harry married on July 6, 1943 and enjoyed fifty-three years of wedded life. When Harry accepted a job with the U.S. Senate after graduating from IU law school, the couple moved to Arlington, VA in 1948. Becky was a resident of Arlington for the next sixty-six years, sixty years in her home on Potomac St. She moved to Tampa in 2014 to live with her daughter. She was also one of the original parishioners of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Arlington which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Becky was not just a devoted wife and mother, she was a talented homemaker and seamstress. She belonged to a homemaker’s club which was active for many years and remained a club of friends supporting charities long after their active crafting days. The highlight of her sewing endeavors occurred in the 1970s when, after Harry was appointed as the Legislative Counsel of the United States Senate, they were invited to the White House on several occasions. On each one, Becky made her own formal gown. She was also noted for her cooking and her family favorite recipes had been collected in “The Littell Family Cookbook.”

Although Becky seldom worked outside the home, for a number of years in the late 1970s she was a teacher’s aide to a special needs class at Ashlawn Elementary School and took great joy in nurturing the abilities of those students. She taught the same life lessons of love and acceptance to everyone in her family. She is survived by three sons and their wives, Charles W. Littell and his wife Gwyn, Robert W. Littell and his wife Kaki, and Thomas H. Littell and his wife Kathy, one daughter Elizabeth A. Littell-Lamb, eleven grandchildren, and two great grandsons.

Visitation will be at Murphy Funeral Home, 4510 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA on Wednesday August 2 from 3 to 5 pm. A mass will be celebrated in the chapel at St. Ann’s Catholic Church 5300 N. 10th St. on Thursday August 3 at 10:30 am. Internment immediately following at Oakwood Cemetery on 401 N. Roosevelt St. in Falls Church. A reception at the church hall is planned for 12:30.