Our family and the community sadly lost a very special person on September 19, 2022, when Rita Kay Woolsey, of Mountain View, Missouri, went to be with the Lord, with her family by her side at her daughter’s house in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 69. She was born in Teresita, Missouri, on June 7, 1953, to Ruel and Hazel (Spangler) Smith.
She was united in marriage to the love of her life, Gene Woolsey, and to this union, two daughters and one son were born.
Rita is preceded in death by her parents, Ruel and Hazel Smith; one brother, Lelande Smith; one sister and brother-in-law, Lillie and Bruce Hawkins; one sister-in-law, Karen Smith; and one granddaughter, Ella Woolsey.
Survivors include her husband, Gene Woolsey; two daughters, Amy (Paul) Black of Springfield, MO, and Melissa (Doug) Graupman of Stoutsville, MO; one son, Jarrod (Erika) Woolsey of Mountain View, MO; three granddaughters, Kaylee Brown, Meagan Brown, and Emma Wilson; two grandsons, Owen Woolsey and Kai Woolsey; and two great-grandchildren, Rhett Pease and Kodie Clark.
After graduating from high school, Rita attended cosmetology school. She then started working at Angelica Corporation in Mountain View for several years, and later after thirty-three years, she retired in 2019 as the Personnel Manager at Walmart in Mountain View.
Rita was a member of First Baptist Church in Mountain View for many years. Her love for children was evident as she taught third and fourth grade Sunday School for twenty-three years and was a member of the Mother’s Club.
