Marguerite “Rita” Jean (Rusk) Christianson

Live Streaming Link for Rita's Funeral Service

https://www.facebook.com/dedicatedtothoseweserve/videos/1321514754719947/

Rita Christianson, beloved wife of Glen, passed away on Friday, April 17, 2020. She was 83 years of age.

A Family Funeral will be on Sunday, April 26, 2020 with Pastor Hein Bertram of St. John Lutheran Church officiating. 

The interment will follow in St. John Lutheran Cemetery, Preeceville, SK.

Memorial donations may be made to the Horizon College and Seminary (1303 Jackson Ave. Saskatoon, SK S7H 2M9) as gifts of remembrance.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Preeceville Funeral Home.

Marguerite (Rita) Jean Christianson (Rusk) was born September 19, 1936, in Prince Albert to Donald and Flora Rusk. Her family moved to the Welland, Ontario area, where Rita attended public and high school. She later attended secretarial school and worked for the government in the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa. 
Rita ventured off on her own to Saskatchewan to study theology at Horizon College and Seminary in Saskatoon, where she met her future husband, Glen. After her first year of college, she worked for a short time in Saskatoon before going to work at Fort San, which by then had been converted to a children’s home in Fort Qu’appelle. She loved her job looking after babies in the nursery. 
Glen and Rita were married in Fort Erie, Ontario, on December 29, 1956. Immediately, she stepped into the role of a pastor’s wife in the community of Carrot River, Saskatchewan. It was there that their first child Kenneth was born. A short while later, Glen took a job in Prince Albert, where their next two children, Mark and Carla, were born. They enjoyed many happy times together in Prince Albert with Glen’s sister Stella and her husband, Arvin. As one who loved to laugh, Rita enjoyed Arvin’s keen sense of humour.
Glen and Rita next moved to Watson for a short time and then to Naicam, where they built a new home. Their family was completed when Paul was born. Glen and Rita and their young family enjoyed many camping trips to the mountains in both Canada and the U.S.A. Before long, they began building the lakefront cabin at Marean Lake. The family has many happy memories of spending most of every summer there. Glen and Rita also invited many friends and extended family members to enjoy summertime with them at the cabin. 
Their next move was to the farm in Spalding. Rita spent her time gardening and canning, baking the most delicious buns and bread, even mowing acres of grass, and all the while keeping up the tidiest, cleanest house. She loved a clean house! Rita also enjoyed needlepoint and knitting, often spending hours making needlepoint art to be framed or afghans to be shared. 
After all four children left home, Glen and Rita started their next adventure. They bought a piece of land in the Preeceville area and began building a house where they enjoyed the beauty of the forest around them. From the farm, they retired to Yorkton, then to Moose Jaw, and recently returned to Preeceville. 
Rita’s deep faith in God was evident in the way she raised and cared for her family. Although she was a very private person, Glen would often come home, stand at the door unbeknown to Rita, and listen to her playing the piano and singing at the top of her lungs in private worship to the Lord. 
Selflessly, Rita gave of herself to be a church secretary, crusader girls leader, hostess for many visiting ministers, and manager of the family business for 32 years. She spent countless hours sitting on the piano bench, patiently helping her children and grandchildren learn to play. Rita also enjoyed snuggles with her arms wrapped around her grandchildren, knitting needles in their little hands, her hands over theirs, patiently teaching them to knit. She loved playing games with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, always preferring their company over that of the grown-ups nearby. 
To her family, she was a friend, helpmate, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, listener, teacher, mentor, and an inspiring example. 
Rita is predeceased by her parents, Flora and Donald Rusk, brother Earl Rusk and grandson Jesse Christianson. 
She will always be lovingly remembered by her husband Glen Christianson, son Ken (Marilyn), son Mark (Ladonna), daughter Carla Simpkins (Mike), son Paul (Leanne), eleven grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren and special sister Maribeth Armitage, and by nieces and nephews, extended family members, and friends. 
Mom, enter into your well-deserved rest!