RITA PUSKARICH

Rita Rae (Counce) Puskarich’s loving and generous heart ceased beating as she passed peacefully on the afternoon of December 22, 2019 at the end of her final journey through Vascular Dementia. Born on May 13, 1934 in Julesburg, CO, to the delight of her parents, Loren and Esther Counce, she spent her early years through first grade in Rushville, NE, grew up in several towns and communities across Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota following her father’s work assignments which instilled in her a traveling spirit. After graduation from high school in Sidney, Montana, her sense of adventure led her, at the age of eighteen to enroll in airline school in Chicago and upon graduation, the travel industry. She was working at her first job in Chicago with Delta Airlines as a reservation agent when she met and fell in love with her lifelong travel companion, John Puskarich and met her closest lifelong friends. Rita and John married on April 16, 1955, and their journey together took them to 5 airlines, 8 cities (with one repeat) and one detour into selfemployment, owning and operating a small market outside Fresno. Delta (Chicago), Bonanza (Apple Valley, Provo, Las Vegas), Air West (Las Vegas, Phoenix, Pacifica) with John working his way up from supervisor to an executive. After their detour, John accepted a position as VP of Industrial Relations with World Airways once again working with his airline family and best friends. They made their last move in 1983 to join their friends and airline family who with their combined expertise helped Larry Decker fulfill his dream to start an airline they named SunWorld Airways with its hub in Las Vegas until John’s retirement. They were joined in Las Vegas by Rita’s uncle, Floyd Myers, and reunited with her mother and sister Karen. Rita’s twin girls eventually moved to Las Vegas as well. Always the family caregiver she helped care for John’s mother Mary, his sister, Maggie, Rita’s sister, Karen and her mother, Esther, as well as her Uncle Floyd. Pioneering along with other women, Rita raised her portion of this country’s first generation of latchkey kids successfully juggling the responsibilities of marriage, home, parenting their twin girls, and a successful career as a teacher at the community college then a commercial travel agent. She, unlike a lot of women at the time, got a lot of help from her husband. She and John faced everything together as equal partners with shared responsibility. Facing struggles and fortune, joy and sorrow, adventures and adversity together successfully until their retirement and their final journey together through John’s Alzheimer’s. After his passing, in 2002, her sole journey began and was filled with adventure and industriousness. Combining her talents and interests, she worked part-time for a couple of friends watching dogs and cleaning house while using her sewing skills and her love of design and dance to make and market folkloric dance costumes for Barbie Dolls and her love of dogs to make and market custom tailored harnesses for dogs at local pet shops, groomers, and the dogs in her community. She also helped her community by volunteering for the board of her HOA to help her neighbors accomplish common goals until her Vascular Dementia curtailed her activities. She was admired and much loved by her community, her animal friends and her family. She will be remembered as thoughtful, bright, and entertaining, full of ideas and energy. She was predeceased by her parents, Loren W. and Esther Counce, her sister, Karen Counce Vollet, her niece, Leslie Counce Ballard, and her nephew, Loren Brown. She is survived by her brother, Loren, Jr. and his wife, Betty; her sister Karen’s children Gregory Brown and Laura Brown Cole; Rita’s cousin and lifelong friend, Sandra Stava Loosevelt; Rita’s two daughters, (Jill) Dawn Puskarich Davis and her 3 children, son, Matthew Coggins and his fiancée, Kelsey and their son, Jaxson, her daughter, Rachel Davis and her fiancé, Jarrett and her son Jacob Davis and his fiancé, Yashmeeta, and Rita’s daughter, Janet Puskarich Martin and her two daughters, Sarah Martin and Heather Martin Bhatnagar and her husband, Luv and their two children, Krishna and Maya, six nieces and 10 nephews, as well as a large circle of friends. Rita’s brother, Loren, Jr. recalls that, in every conversation with her, over the last months of her dementia, Rita was obsessed with imaginary trips she had taken looking for John. She finally found him…just in time for Christmas. Services will be held at the Veter an’s Cemetery in Boulder City at the chapel on January 21, 2020 at 1;20 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association.