Rita Pearl Mayer

Rita P. Mayer passed quietly in the presence of loving family on Tuesday, June 4, 2019. Born in Chicago at the height of the Depression, she always made much of little and appreciated all of God’s gifts. Starting as a city girl, she would talk about the highlights of spending her teenage years with her parents on a farm in southern Illinois. She loved animals throughout her life. Moving back to Chicago after graduation, Rita met her husband of 40 years, Christian Mayer, making a wonderful life first in Chicago and then in the Northwest Suburbs. There they raised two sons, Mike and Steve.

When Chris retired in 1976, he and Rita retired to Green Valley, AZ, where Rita lived the next 40 years. Rita always loved the ocean and the beach, but with California prices, Arizona is as close as she could get. Lots of sand, just no ocean. Still they made frequent trips to San Diego.

Rita loved to travel and see the beauty of the West. She was a gifted artist, as a painter and working in clay, with evidence of those gifts throughout her home. For many years she was an instructor in clay art at the community centers in Green Valley, where she showed her students there was more to clay than just throwing a pot. She always wanted to produce a book to leave a legacy but did not get that far.

Rita moved to Rio Rancho in 2018, to be near her son, Michael and daughter-in-law, Zoraida, who retired and moved there as well. For the brief time she was here she was able to see some of the local sites, the Rio Grande in fall, the Sandias, balloons aplenty, five of her grandchildren, and Christmas at El Pinto.

Rita succumbed to a brief but ultimately devastating illness, despite the attentive care of the wonderful team at the UNMH Neurosciences ICU. She was preceded in her heavenly reward by her parents, Warren and Lucy; and her brother, Ray. She is survived by her sons, Mike and Steve, and their wives, Zoraida and Deborah (respectively), along with grandchildren, Victoria (Mayer) Nuanes and husband, Johnny (great-grandchildren, Beckett, Grayson, and Evelyn), Amanda (Mayer) Schmidt and husband, Eric (great-grandchildren, Torin and Raegan), Christopher Mayer and wife, Caitlin (great-grandchildren, Adelaide and Landon), and Jennifer (Mayer) Bier and husband, Doug. Last but not least she is survived by her beloved Chihuahua, Chiquita, the alpha in the household.

Rita always wanted to leave a legacy. She was a loving and devoted wife, even to caring for her husband when he could no longer care for himself. She was a loving mother who inspired exploration and intellectual curiosity (including “encouraging” us to do our homework when we resisted). She was a lover of music and art, and all things beautiful, and she inspired her sons and her students to love these too. Rita was loved by her neighbors and even by some of those caring for her at the end of her days. There can be no legacy greater than the life she lived.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 And now it is time for Rita to be united in love with Jesus and reunited with her husband, Chris, forever Amen.

A Memorial visitation will be held Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 6:00 p.m., FRENCH - Westside.