This was truly a remarkable lady - She used to come to every single Senior Citizens Luncheon and still drove her own car. She missed the last one a couple weeks ago and Shirley DePaul told us she had taken a fall - What a wonderful lady:
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Elaine DeLorme and Rita Hanley at our Christmas Party
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RITA T. HANLEY
ESSEX CENTER - Rita Theresa (Root) Hanley, of Essex Center, died on Thursday, July 28, 2011, in the Starr Farm Rehab Center with her family by her side after a short illness. Rita was born Nov. 19, 1917, in Burlington, to the late Edward Clifford Root and Rose Alma (Perras) Root. She married Smith F. Hanley on April 28, 1941, in Burlington. Rita left school after seventh grade to work in the cotton mills of Burlington. She continued to work in the cotton mills after her marriage. When the children arrived she worked at home selling Stanley Home Products, Sarah Coventry, and sewing stuffed toys. After moving to Essex Center she worked for the Essex Center Hot Lunch Program, retiring as the head cook. After her marriage to Smith, they lived in a house her husband helped build on West Rd. in Burlington. In 1965 they moved to Essex Center to a home they built together. After the house was finished they found the joy of traveling out west with a camper trailer towed behind their car. In later years they used a motorhome, with all the driving done by Rita. They were charter members of the "Good Sam Club" for campers. These trips out west included visiting friends who had moved away and they made a lot of new friends. The most special of these were Rufus and Celina Goodstriker of the Blood Indians of Cardstone, Alberta, Canada. Two great women who helped Rita after Smith's death were Beverly Bessette and Shirley Depaul. Rita is survived by two sons, Frank (Francis) Hanley and his wife, Nancy, of Leesburg, Fla., and Peter Hanley and his former wife, Katy Varney, of Underhill; her two grandsons, David Hanley, and James Hanley and his wife, Dusty, all of Underhill. She was predeceased by her husband, Smith Hanley in 2003; a daughter, Linda (Hanley) Chase in 1989; and son-in-law, Nelson Paul Chase in 2003. Besides her family her other love was for her cocker spaniels she had over the years, Lady, Andy, Dusty, and Charlie. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday, Aug. 1, 2011, at 11 a.m. at St. Pius X, Route 15, Essex Center. Visiting hours will be at the Corbin & Palmer Funeral Home, 9 Pleasant St., Essex Jct., on Sunday, July 31, 2011, from 5 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Humane Society of Chittenden County, 142 Kindness Court, So. Burlington, VT 05403, or to the Vermont Association of Diabetes, 77 Hegeman Ave., Colchester, VT 05446.