top of page

Rita Mae Cunz Tollefson

January 8, 1928-November 22, 2024


Rita entered into the Kingdom of Heaven at age 96 on November 22, 2024, with her oldest daughter, Karen, holding her hand.

Rita was born Rita Mae Johnson at home, January 8, 1929 in Newport, Wash. to Ellen Corine and Amos Johnson. Her mother was from County Claire, Ireland, and father from Sweden. At an early age her family moved to Spokane where she attended St. Aloysius grade school and later St. Joseph’s where she met Richard “Dick” Cunz. She attended Marycliff High School where she was proficient in volleyball, archery and golf. Rita was also an accomplished soloist as a singer. She married Dick Cunz in 1949, and the couple became parents to Karen, Patricia, Sandra and Richard. Rita was employed at Washington Water Power in management development. After the family moved to Seattle she was employed by Virginia Mason Clinic where she was awarded “The Pride of the Clinic” award in her positions as customer service, Medicare advisor and physician’s liaison. Dick passed away in 1997 and years later she married Skip Tollefsen. Rita and Skip were snowbirds and lived in Yuma, Ariz. and Palm Springs, Calif. Rita had many friends and traveled all over Europe, including many Viking cruises. Following Skip’s death, Rita moved to Spokane to be near her daughter, Karen who would become her caregiver. Prior to this Rita lived in the San Souci West community where she made many friends and was involved in many functions. Rita loved animals, especially dogs. She always had a dog and the pets of her children in her home. She was predeceased by Dick Cunz, Skip Tollefsen, two infant grandchildren, her brother Ray Johnson, many relatives and friends. Rita is survived by her children Karen Kearney, Patricia Oakland (Scott), Sandy Sand (Leon), Dick (Sandy), nephews Paul Delaney (Melanie) and Bill Cunz (Pam), three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.


 Her mass of Christian burial will be held Thursday, Dec. 5 at St. Charles Catholic Church at 4515 N. Alberta at 11 a.m. with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery.

 

Special thanks to Providence St. Joseph’s Care Center and the staff including nurses Aura and Omar who became family to us.

Comentarios


obituaries for spokane and the inland northwest

obituary listings

Return to the full obituary listings page.

home page

Click below to return to home page.

helpful resources and planning tools

DEALING WITH GRIEF

Information, encouragement, and tools for dealing the emotions of losing a loved one.

CREATE A FUNERAL PLAN

Discover the importance and benefits of creating your funeral or memorial plan.

FREE PRE-PLANNING GUIDE

Its never too late to start thinking about creating your plan.  Our free guide will get you started.

visit a location near you

PNW Cremation & Funeral is a Spokane funeral and cremation provider with three Spokane area locations. 

Each of our stores are open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, but are available 24/7 for emergencies.

It is our desire to make every visitor feel welcome and comfortable. For that reason, we intentionally designed our each location to be a casual environment with superior professional and caring services from our staff.

 

Additionally, you will be able to browse a number of memorial options, ranging from a diverse selection of urns, cremation jewelry, keepsakes in addition to casket and marker options for traditional body burial.  

For directions, staff info and more info, click the image at right.

 

bottom of page