Rita Dorothy Kelly

RITA DOROTHY KELLY

May 18, 1925 – November 22, 2021

Rita Dorothy Kelly, a long-time resident of Huntington Beach, California, died on Monday, November 22, 2021 at the age of 96.  She was born Rita Dorothy Rizzo on May 18, 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of eight children of James Vincent Rizzo and Marie Josephine D’Ambrosio Rizzo.

After graduating from high school in 1943, Rita worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City and the United States Navy at Floyd Bennett Naval Air Field to help support the war effort.  She was always very proud of her service during the war and often reminisced about doing her part to help keep our countries planes in the air. It was during this time that she met a young Naval serviceman, Francis John Kelly.

Frank and Rita were married in 1947 and started building what would become a fifty-four year marriage and a large, loving family.  They lived in Yonkers, New York and then Long Island where they raised their children: Rose Anne, Kathleen, and Michael.  In 1965 they moved to the Los Angeles area and watched their family grow and thrive. During their retirement years, Rita and Frank traveled the world on many vacations and loved watching their grandchildren at sporting events, recitals, and their backyard pool in Burbank.  In 1997, they moved to the Landmark Adult Community in Huntington Beach where Rita became a very active member of the Ceramics Club.

Rita was preceded in death by her husband Frank (2001) and daughter Rose Anne Houver (2020).  Rita is survived by her children Kathleen Brannan (Jim) and Michael Kelly (Deveney), grandchildren Jennifer Stevens (Andy), Ryan Brannan (Jessica), Amanda Barber (Chris), Christopher Brannan and Ian Kelly, great grand children, Jessica Stevens, Nathaniel Stevens, Logan Brannan, Hayden Brannan, Jennifer Barber and Kaitlyn Barber, and great great grandchildren Brandon Stevens and Emma Van Nugteren, and many other beloved family members and friends.

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