In Loving Memory
of
Rita Eva (Steen) Watkins
95 years
Friday, April 29th, 2016 at Health Sciences North.

Rita entered this world September 15, 1920, the second daughter and second oldest child of Dawson Arden Steen and Demerice Blackburn in Chapleau, ON.

Rita had a rich but strict childhood, being schooled in French by nuns in the Roman Catholic Church. After graduating from High School she moved to Sudbury to train as a hairdresser and soon met John (Jack) Watkins. They married on January 6, 1941, “…one of the happiest days of her life.”

Nine months later she gave birth to her first child (John) and three years later, to her second child Elizabeth (Betty). Having children was another “of her happiest times.” Rita raised her children, worked outside of the home periodically and later in life became the skip of the Northern Ontario Senior Women’s curling champion team that went on to play in the Provincial curling bonspiel. She was always an accomplished athlete and also a lifelong learner, having gone to school for various courses until she was 75. Her hand-carved duck decoy is still an impressive and prized family treasure.

Christmas season was always a special time for Rita and she passed this enjoyment on to her children. She was a voracious reader and stayed aware of the world around her. Her intelligence and self-deprecating wit always made her easy to be around.

Her family was Rita’s life and in her memoirs she advises, “…be as much of a loving family as you can. This is the most important thing.”

Rita, (“Ritz”) to her husband, passed away after a short illness on the 29 day of April, 2016 while a resident at the Walford Retirement Home in Sudbury. She was 95 years old.

Predeceased by her husband John, daughter Elizabeth (Betty) and her sister Daisy.
Beloved mother of John (Lucy), and grandmother of Kristen (Troy), Carolyn (John) and Erin (Joe) and beloved great grandmother of Piper, Scout, Samuel, Sadie, Tanner and Callan. She is survived also by her sisters, Lily and Evelyn and her brother Joseph (Dorothy). As well she is survived by many nieces and nephews.


Funeral Service in the
Lougheed Funeral Home
252 Regent Street at Hazel Street, Sudbury
Wednesday, May 4th, 2016 at 11:30am
(Friends may gather after 10:30am Wednesday).
Cremation at the Park Lawn Crematorium.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to The Canadian Diabetes Society.