Rita Hepp Hawley (April 26, 1929 to August 8, 2021)

Rita Hepp Hawley passed away on Monday, August 8 of this year at the age of 92. She is pre-deceased by her second husband, Frank "Ted" Hawley, with whom she left California to settle in Meadow Ridge Senior Living in Redding for 16 memorable years. Having played tennis throughout her life, Rita enjoyed retirement community fame as Meadow Ridge's 2017 Croquet Champion.

Rita Defebb was born to immigrant parents Cesare DeFebbo and Matilda DeSantis, both from the Abruzzi region of Italy and who, despite living in neighboring towns, experienced the American miracle of meeting and falling in love after their arrival in the United States. The youngest of three children, Rita graduated from Collingswood High School in New Jersey and was escorted to the senior prom on the arm of the captain of the varsity swim team. But Rita always felt her life truly began in 1951 when she was hired by Trans World Airlines to join its exclusive cadre of what were then called "stewardesses." Thanks to her knowledge of Italian, Rita was assigned to TWA's trans-Atlantic and trans-continental flight routes. Among the memories she shared at annual "Clipped Wings" conventions of former TWA flight attendants was serving as hostess to Frank Sinatra and Eva Gardner on their honeymoon trip from Los Angeles to Cuba (Eva was cordial, but Frank was disagreeable throughout the trip).

Rita's first marriage to TWA pilot Frank "Bud" Hepp produced two children, Chris and Charles (called Chuck). She also became mother to two step-children, Mary-Helen and Sandra, from Bud's previous marriage. During the mostly happy years they spent in West Islip (NY), Mary-Helen tragically lost her life to a drunk driver, while Bud succumbed to lung cancer in 1967. When Chris started his freshman year at U.C.L.A., Rita saw the opportunity to move with younger son Chuck to the city of her dreams: San Francisco. There she became a much sought-after executive office manager before meeting and marrying New Mexico-born Frank "Ted" Hawley, a mechanical engineer who rose through the Federal government ranks to become U.S. Department of Transportation Chief Regional Administrator for California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa. A tall man of easy-going manners and the good looks of actor Gene Hackman, Ted and Rita spent the next 30 years together in the Bay Area sharing a passion for the city of San Francisco and the culture of Northern California as well as a common love for international travel (joining one of the earliest Lindblad Tours to China in 1980), Barbara Streisand, Hawaii, tennis and each other.

Soon after their move to Connecticut, Rita was diagnosed with breast cancer. Few people knew that she was a fifteen-year cancer survivor whose quality of life was maintained thanks to the outstanding care of the doctors and staff at Danbury Hospital and her own formidable courage and determination. She was a "poster patient" for the evolution of cancer treatment: first, as one of the early recipients of the life-saving drug Herceptin (coincidentally brought to market by San Francisco-based Genentech) that obviated the need for surgery, and then making the miraculous transition from intravenous drug delivery to a simple, daily pill. Ted saw her through the early debilitating weeks and months of treatment that finally gave way to years of memorable, new experiences of travel, friends, and family. Ted passed away in 2015 under the tender care of Meadow Ridge Assisted Living and Rita lived her last years alone, but always keeping a spotlessly beautiful apartment.

Rita was a devout Catholic throughout her life and attended Sacred Heart Church in Georgetown. She attributed her hard-working nature to a childhood of farm-work and school-work. She learned to drive at age 12 and loved to tell the story of barely seeing over the steering wheel in order to drive her grandmother to the dentist whose office was located directly across the street from the local police station. She loved New Jersey tomatoes and California Cioppino, read incessantly both fiction and non-fiction books, knitted occasionally and beautifully, and maintained her aural comprehension of the Italian language. She counted among simple pleasures her weekly drive to Dunkin' Donuts for a decaf mocha latte or to Caraluzzi's for clam chowder. Above all, she valued her independence and took greatest pride in living long enough to see Sandra, Chris, and Chuck happily married and raising her four grandchildren to adulthood: Sandra's sons David and Mark, Chris's daughter Mikaela, and Chuck's daughter Virginia. One of Rita's fondest experiences was touring the TWA Museum in Kansas City with Chris and daughter-in-law Anne in 2019; the museum was located in the same hangar that had been her TWA training headquarters 68 years before. Rita's life came full circle this past July when Chuck, daughter-in-law Jane, and Virginia took Rita to Hershey Gardens in Pennsylvania for what would be her last vacation journey, just two hours away from her hometown of Collingswood, New Jersey.

After Sandra passed away in 2005, Rita established an endowed scholarship at Sandra's alma mater James Madison University. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made online through this hyperlink for the Sandra Hepp Eagle Scholarship Endowmen t . Donations may also be made by check for the "JMU Foundation-Eagle Scholarship" and mailed to: James Madison University, 1031 Harrison Street, MSC 3603, Harrisonburg, VA 22807.