|
| |
Rita Diel Brown passed away November 30, 2019, at the Alliance Hospital in Ponca City, Oklahoma. She was born March 6, 1932, in Burlington, Oklahoma, and baptized in the Burlington Christian Church in 1942.
Rita graduated from Burlington High School where she played basketball and was valedictorian of her graduating class. She attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma, and graduated with a master's in counseling and guidance in 1966.
Rita married Oliver Diel in 1951. They adopted Curtis and Rosemary and then in 1964 had a son, Isaac.
Rita taught grade school and middle school in the Oklahoma communities of Byron, Amorita and Newkirk for 29 years. In 1971 Oliver died and Rita moved to Newkirk, Oklahoma, where she continued to teach until her retirement in 1989. Rita was married twice more during her lifetime to Morris Hornaday and Harold Brown who passed away in 2002.
During her retirement Rita enjoyed traveling with friends and family, visiting the local and not so local casinos and working as a member or director of many civic organizations in the area. She was a board member of the Ponca City Community Concert, a member of Friends of the Library in Newkirk, a board member and tutor with the Literary Council and worked at the Kay County Election Board (absentee voting). Rita was also very active in her church (First Christian Church-Disciples of Christ) in Newkirk.
There, she was at various times a deacon, elder, song leader, service chairman and trustee. In recent years she was heavily involved in the Meals on Wheels program through the church.
She is survived by Isaac Lee Diel and his wife Jennifer of Shawnee, Kansas, as well as their children Haley, Jackson and Olivia; Rosemary Diel of Prescott, Arizona, and her children Richard Proctor, Spencer Proctor and Todd Proctor; and Curtis Diel and his wife Sue of Manford, Oklahoma, and Curtis's children Sayra and Kevin.
Rita was a tough, loving, engaged woman who will be sorely missed by those who had the good fortune to know her. In one man's humble opinion she was the best cook in the state of Oklahoma.
This site may be freely linked, but not duplicated in any way without consent.
All rights reserved! Commercial use of material within this site is prohibited!
© 2000-2024 Oklahoma CemeteriesThe information on this site is provided free for the purpose of researching your genealogy. This material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, for your own research, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The information contained in this site may not be copied to any other site without written "snail-mail" permission. If you wish to have a copy of a donor's material, you must have their permission. All information found on these pages is under copyright of Oklahoma Cemeteries. This is to protect any and all information donated. The original submitter or source of the information will retain their copyright. Unless otherwise stated, any donated material is given to Oklahoma Cemeteries to make it available online. This material will always be available at no cost, it will always remain free to the researcher.