Rita D. Pepe passed away October 13, 2013.
She was the loving wife of the late Frederick J. Pepe, to whom she was married for more than 50 years.
She is survived by her three children, Gregory Pepe, and his wife Ann Baker Pepe, of Hamden, Candice Kostka, and her husband Raymond Kostka, of Oxford, and Maria VanDerLaan, and her husband John VanDerLaan, of Southbury, and two sisters, Elizabeth Micci of Woodbridge, and Evelyn Dalia of Madison. She is also survived by her grandchildren whom she dearly loved, Samuel, Leah and Clayton Pepe, Clare, Christian, Lauren and James Kostka, and John, Michael and Julia VanDerLaan.
She worked for many years as an RN after receiving her nursing degree at St. Vincent’s School of Nursing, first in practice with physicians, then at Griffin Hospital. She was most proud of the fact that she was one of the first home health nurses for Connecticut Hospice when it began its mission in Connecticut. The people for whom she cared became her extended family, and she attended to them with the care and compassion that has become the hallmark for Connecticut Hospice today.
Rita and Fred were able to realize one of their life’s dreams when they bought a house in Brewster on Cape Cod. They hosted many friends there, made new friends among those they met, and started the family tradition of July fourth on the Cape with their children and grandchildren. A voracious reader, Rita volunteered at libraries in Seymour, Southbury and Brewster. Her Catholic faith also called her to serve as a Eucharistic Minister at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Seymour and St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Oxford, and with Fred, as a host for the church’s Marriage Encounter program.
A Memorial mass of Christian Burial to remember her life will be held at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 733 Oxford Road, Oxford, CT on Friday October 18, 2013 at 11:00 in the morning. Memorial contributions may be made in her name to Connecticut Hospice, 100 Double Beach Road, Branford, Connecticut, 06405.
The Ralph E. Hull Funeral Home, 161 W. Church St., Seymour is entrusted with the arrangements. To share a memory online please only go to www.hullfh.com
