Rita Applegate Memorial
by Dr. Tommy Cairns
We are gathered here today, in remembrance and celebration of the life of Rita Applegate, united not only in our grief, but also in our desire to pay our respects to Rita, combined with the compelling motivation to declare it so. Today is our chance to say thank you Rita for the way you have brightened all our lives for many years.
Rita was the youngest of four children born in1924 in Worcester, MA to immigrant parents, Lena and John Kaides from Lithuania. She grew up in San Francisco and worked all her adult life as an office manager and bookkeeper in Mesa, California, well known for her diligence in keeping everything shipshape and in control.
Supporting fully her husband, Coe Applegate, who passed away several years ago, together they spanned a wonderful 50+ years of happily married life, many as top rose exhibitors in the ARS Pacific Southwest District. Their passion for growing floribundas and hybrid teas often translated into many winning entries at rose shows, locally, district and nationally. I often recollect that wonderful day in 2002 when Coe and Rita won the coveted “Queen of Show” at Rose Hills with the rose ‘Thriller’ enjoying the thrill of victory by taking home the gigantic silver punch bowl. Little did Coe and Rita know that 2002 was to be their silver year for they were honored by the ARS Pacific Southwest District receiving the Silver Honor Medal.
Dedication to the cause of volunteer service was second nature to Rita, never failing to offer whatever help she could, under whatever circumstances. For Rita Applegate the act of volunteer service was seemingly reward enough - a rare attribute within the modern world today. The San Diego Rose Society, the East County Rose Society and the rose community at large have lost one of their greatly admired supporters and loyal patrons. Her bible study class and the Seniors Club here at Santa Sophia Catholic Church have also lost a most devoted friend and superb organizer.
This is not the time to recount the infinite services of this glorious and gracious lady for the list would be as inexhaustible as her energies. From the very first day you met Rita Applegate, you instantly recognized she was a woman of high integrity with a deep respect for shared values and lasting friendships. There has been no one who has not been touched by her gentle, sometimes admittedly persuasive, manner and kind words as she meticulously wove the love and passion for roses into the fabric of her private life to bring the joy of roses much closer as well as its shining reward of camaraderie.
In essence, she had rewarded each of her friends by opening personal accounts in the Bank of Humanity & Compassion, permitting each of us to withdraw when in need, for she was always there to offer help and assistance. Eleanor Roosevelt once remarked “that many people walk in and out of our lives, but few leave footprints in our heart”. Rita always left large footprints! She rekindled faith in ourselves. Now that she is gone, the legacy of her lifetime will do no less. How much she has done – how much still unchronicled! We dare not try to tabulate the lives she touched, the problems - known and unrecorded - she solved, the afflicted she comforted, the people she gave radiance to, by her manner and attention. What better measure is there of the impact of anyone’s life? What we have lost in Rita Applegate is not her life. She lived that out to the very full. What we have lost, what we wish to recall to ourselves, to remember, is what she was herself.!
No eulogy can do full justice to a lady of this high caliber, for her character and achievements are extensive indeed - a quiet wife with her heart and soul devoted to her family and roses and her cats. We are all left with fond memories of a great lady and a true rose champion! Life cannot remain the same without dear Rita. Remembrance of who and what she stood for may be the guiding beacon of light by which others will continue to emulate her gentle character and manner thereby celebrating the life of a great lady by their example.
Albert Schweitzer wrote, "No ray of sunlight is ever lost. But the green which it wakes needs time to sprout. And it is not always granted to the sewer to live to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith." We pray that Rita has found peace, and her glimpse of sunset. While Rita will no longer share our daily lives, we offer our combined affectionate sympathies to her surviving daughter, Denise, her Sister Mary Ann, and three nephews and a niece, who must manage life without Rita, a most loving and devoted mother. The following prayer must surely express our combined grief and wishes:
“May the Lord God lift up his countenance to shine upon thee, Rita as he reunites you with your loving husband, Coe, in Heaven"
