Rita Royce Reed

Rita Royce Reed, oldest daughter of Roy and Essie Cunningham was born June 23, 1928 in Forgan, Oklahoma.  She grew up during the Dust Bowl Era and attended grade school in Forgan. The family moved to Beaver Oklahoma in 1942 where Rita attended high school and graduated In 1946.  After graduation she entered St Francis School of Nursing in Wichita, Kansas. After completing the three-year training, she took the Oklahoma State Board Exam for Nurses.  She passed and became a Registered Nurse in 1949.  She returned to Beaver, where she married George Junior Reed and had triplet children, Wayne Gene, Marcia Jane and Dwayne Dean in October 1950.  As well as being a full-time home maker she started her Nursing career in Beaver County Memorial Hospital.  She later worked at Southwest Memorial Hospital in Liberal Kansas.  She and Junior moved to Chandler and later to Shawnee. She joined the local First Christian Church in Shawnee and was a very active member.  She worked at the Shawnee Memorial Hospital retiring in 1993.  After retirement, she and Junior moved to Sulphur to be near the lake.  She returned to Shawnee after the death of her husband In 1996.  To fill her time after returning she worked part time as a nurse at North Rockcreek School and volunteered at the Free Clinic in Shawnee.  She continued to be actively involved with the church until the replacement of a hip in 2017 forced her to cut back on those activities. She was proceeded in death by her parents (Roy and Essie) three brothers (Willis and Jessie, and Lowell) sister Lois, husband Junior, daughter Jane, grandson Michael and granddaughter Lori. She is survived by son Gene and wife Karen, son Dean and wife Christine, numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.