August Member Highlight

MAS Member Highlight: Rita Hendershott

“What you do for love” is the way Rita begins to tell about her life. She was born Rita Garcia, in Kansas, Missouri. She had 2 older brothers, and 9 years later her younger brother was born. It was Rick, Rob, Rita and Ron. Her father was a musician, a mariachi who played guitar, violin, mandolin and base. Rita loved going with her father, listening to him play. He ad come to the states when he was 7 years old and learned English. Her mother from an Irish culture, was shunned by her family and struggled to blend with other cultures.

Rita was happy, fun, and high-spirited. She lived in Kansas City until she graduated High School. At the age of 20, wondering what to do, she felt the pull to work for a credit company as a file clerk. After 3 years, she moved to California with 2 of her older brothers. There she met a naval man in Long Beach. She worked as a temp, teaching herself 10-key and landed a fill time job. She had fallen in love with numbers as they are provable, and she became a bookkeeper.

Rita had a friend in real estate who asked if she could help with her book keeping. Rita took it on and realized, “I can do this!” She took the test which she passed with ease, and became a Buyer’s Agent. “I loved opening closets as I could see the family growing there.”

Rita’s son married a woman with 4 children. “Now I am a great gran, mine by choice!” In 2010, Rita met her husband through his daughter and they were married. Just 10 months later, he was

diagnosed with lung cancer. They had only been married 2 years when he passed. His plan was to come to Silverton, Oregon. Rita wanted to continue his journey, so she in fact moved to Silverton. She moved into and Air B&B down the street from her “sister” with whom she shared everything. She learned from her mother, “you do what you HAVE to do.” Another one of her Mother’s mottos was, “if you want to live life, then LIVE IT!”

“I’ve learned to listen to my heart in what I feel and learned along the way.” She came to the

Molalla Adult Center as a “roadie” for a group of ukulele players, and fell in love with the place. “There is a heartbeat here. People reach out and ask if they can help you. I knew I had to be in Molalla.”

“I am not done yet, as I have more to learn and to teach. I trusted myself from Kansas to Long Beach, to

Silverton and Molalla. You must trust yourself and then act upon it. Life is ternal and we should treat it as such. Life is to live”

“I am my best source of entertainment. I laugh at myself sometimes. We have to fill our buket so we can help others. If you can still breathe, you have a purpose. Taste something new every day.” Molalla, Home of the Buckeroo, is blessed to soon be the home to Rita.

Written for MAS by Carma Puffer