Marietta L. Murphy's Obituary
Marietta L Murphy 4/21/1927 to 4/4/2020
Marietta (Rita) Lucille Riggle was born on a farm in Waukee, Iowa in 1927. She was the only child of Myrtle Lee and Ovel Conner Riggle. Marietta’s earliest memories were visiting her family and staying with relatives as times were tough. She recalled on many occasions attending a one room schoolhouse for her grade school years. When she got to school, she would place her potato in an empty tin can and set it on the pot-bellied stove where it would bake in time for a hot lunch. Her parents divorced when she was 14 years old, a scandal in those days. Her father Ovel remarried Elberta (Birdie) and she gained a wonderful stepsister and stepbrother, Arlene and Gerald Barnes. She graduated from Lincoln High in Des Moines, and her first job was scooping ice cream at the five and dime. She made 20 cents an hour in 1941.
Just three days before her sweet 16 birthday in 1943, she met Walter Melville Brainerd through mutual friends Norma and Fred Romans. She worked as a bookkeeper for 7up, while Walter received greetings from Uncle Sam and went to serve in the US Navy through 1945. Upon returning from service, he proposed to Rita and they were married in August 1946. They had their first baby – Barbara Ann in 1957 and Susan Lynn 1959. Rita was mostly a stay-at-home mom with a small part-time job as a bookkeeper. Walt worked for Remington Rand in various positions from National Sales Trainer to Regional Sales Manager on Sixth Street in downtown Los Angeles. In 1975 Rita and Walt found themselves proud owners of the former Remington Rand Santa Ana Office. Rita found herself widowed at the tender of 53, losing Walt to cancer after a two -year battle in 1981.
Rita turned to the Crystal Cathedral widowers’ group to support a new chapter in her Life. Rita met Thomas Murphy in 1982 on the dance floor. They married in 1988 with homes in Yorba Linda and eventually Ocean Hills, Oceanside. They enjoyed 17 years of extensive world travel mainly on cruises and always dancing. You could say that Rita danced her way gracefully through life. She left us just 3 weeks shy of her 94th Birthday. We are grateful for all who attended her 90th Birthday Life Celebration.
Rita is survived by her daughters Barbara Ann Rice and Susan Lynn Brewer, four grandsons, two great grandsons and her great granddaughter born days before Rita passed.
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