10:20 pm Eastern Time. Rita was 63 years old. She is survived by her brother Jim, her
brother Bob, and her sister Clare Marie. She will be laid to rest on Monday, May 24,
2020 at Fairfax Memorial Park next to her parents Anthony V. Anzalone and Clare M.
Anzalone.
Rita developed early-onset dementia. She began exhibiting symptoms several years
ago. It progressed quickly. She was finally overcome with pneumonia. The final days
were fast, a blessing for sure.
Those who knew Rita understand how she was the spark that ignited a room full of
people into laughter as she loved a good joke, but mostly, and not surprisingly, she
made sure she got a hug (and if you were lucky a high-five) from everyone in the room.
Clare and Anthony made sure Rita was included in EVERYTHING. If you were invited
into the Anzalone house, and EVERYONE was invited into the Anzalone house, you
were invited as Rita’s friend, too. On any given Sunday, there could be a dozen friends
enjoying Mama Anzalone’s pasta. And Rita was there in the middle of it, making sure
everyone got pasta.
Rita worked at Service Source for over thirty years. She loved her jobs and because of
her work ethic she was advanced to a “manager” of other Special Needs adults.
Service Source assigned her to the mail room at the Environmental Protection Agency
where she worked from 1981 through 2004. She joyfully sorted mail and occasionally
would deliver it. As she dropped a bundle of mail in someone’s inbox, she was known
to have said “You’ve got mail” and then giggle. She enjoyed watching “Sleepless in
Seattle” and thought Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were too cute for words.
She had a boyfriend named Samir who she would discuss with her brothers and sister,
imploring us not to tell Mom and giving us the shush sign.
She was adept with the American Sign Language and would become frustrated when
her siblings could not seem to get the hang of it. She would roll her eyes like only Rita
could roll eyes and shake her head in disbelief.
She loved to dance and sing. She was not shy around a microphone at all. She
especially enjoyed the annual weekend trips to Atlantic City as she was a successful
“one-armed bandit” player.
She played hard and she worked hard. Well, until the end of her EPA career. She
showed up at work on time every workday, sat down did her job, and at quitin’ time
she’d gather her things and catch her bus back to her group home. She would toss a
hand wave over her shoulder and say “See you tomorrow” … until what she had
decided was her last day. On that day, she waved and said, “Bye-bye. Done!”.
Her co-workers said, “OK, Rita, bye-bye … see you tomorrow”
Stopping long enough to say, “No. Done! ALL DONE!” And that was her last day at
EPA. No persuasion was enough to get her back. She simply decided she wanted a
different job and to get that different job she had to let EPA work out how to get mail
delivered all on its own.
She went on to work at George Mason University and on special assignments with
Service Source.
RIP Rita Louise Anzalone …. You will be missed.
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