Rita Slowey

What a long and happy life Rita (Nemetz) Slowey lived! Born a Depression baby on April 16, 1930, in Scranton, PA, to Caroline and John Nemetz, she described her childhood as fun and full, with stories like waiting for the ice truck to come down the street, playing cards with her grandma who lived next door, and the daily shenanigans that occurred being the oldest daughter of five siblings. She adored Paul, Jack, Carolyn, and Frank. She was a dancer from a young age, as anyone who ever saw her jitterbug later would easily guess! Nana would sew Rita’s costumes and fix her baloney curls to mimic Shirley Temple. She has fond memories of her teenage years at church dances at Weston Field; at the lake in the summer; and as the head majorette for the Tech High School Red Raiders where she didn’t immediately give her eye to that football player she would later marry. Something about the circus coming to town and it being a “circus ever since” is how us children have heard the love story of our mom and dad. If she didn’t get in the car on a double date and sit next to my dad by mistake and leave her sister and our later to be uncle in the back, we might be writing a different story! What a love they shared! Jim Slowey and Rita were married shy of 56 years and ended conversations with “Still” and “Me too.” It is hard to tell the story of one without the other. As was common in the 50’s, after Dad returned from post-war Korea, mom raised the children, and Dad rose up the corporate ladder which caused many moves within Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Karen, Susan, and Jim Jr. were the new kids in many a school in the process. By the time Geraldine came to be, they mostly hung at the Y, rode bikes, and came home when it was dark in Elizabeth and Cranford, NJ. Relationships were central to mom’s life. She was always close with her parents and siblings even when it was long-distance and we would hand her the cordless phone in the tub. We grew up with holidays among cousins on both sides where the adults would be laughing full blast in one room and us kids would just find our own fun in another. From her grade school friends; to her high school reunions at least until their 50th ; to her lifelong friends in Elizabeth, Cranford, Brick; and finally at her assisted living home in Florida, mom made connections! She welcomed her children’s spouses with spaghetti and meatball dinners and card games. Even her children’s and her grandchildren’s friends knew Mrs. Slowey, Rita, Nanny! Her Catholic faith was central to her positive attitude. From St. Ann’s with the discipline of pre-Vatican II; to sending her kids to Catholic school; to her draw to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Rita gained peace and strength through God. Sharing at RENEW, or with her brothers, or her children’s weddings, grandchildren’s sacraments, or even at her assisted living home where she blessed each person as she walked by their door on her way to her own at night, she believed, “Jesus, I trust in you.” Through Card Club (just a made-up social group among neighbors), bowling leagues, tennis, golf, work conventions of my dad’s, and a few cruises, our parents enjoyed the cocktail generation life while providing us with family dinner every night and love yous and hugs all around as we went to bed. If only Mom and Dad had bought the first little bungalow rental in Long Beach Island where we went every summer from 1971 on. Shore songs, no tv (by the request of us kids), puzzles, and into the next generation, we had ourselves some fun in the sun. At 50, mom became a Nanny to Sarah, then Kristin, then Michael, then Danielle, then Luke, and then Stephi. Her and my dad’s social life then became babysitting and following after the grandkids’ games and activities well into all of their graduations in NJ, NY, and VT. She had a reprise in her late 60’s as she then became Nanny to David and Joseph. We saw our mom go from the one who made us not splash in the pool because of her “hairdo” to the one flatheaded on a boogie board with the grandkids! We are not sure if she watched any of our games as kids, but she was on the sidelines of football, soccer, swimming, dancing, t-ball, golf, and even learned to play Nintendo for her grandkids! Joey, Charlotte, Aria, Matthew (Mav), Michael Jr, Penn, Winston, Amelia, Rory, Livvy, and even newborn Giovanni (Gio) who are Rita’s 11 great grandchildren will all have a birthday candle until they are 21 to burn each year from their Nanny (Gigi). We know it is “so good, so good” in heaven now for her after her brief hospital stay and few days on Hospice care. Her spirit will be with us when we gather in love; when we trust in God; when we wear that perfect outfit: when we find that just right gift for someone; and when we linger over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine (with ice) with a loved one. We are so grateful, so grateful. After a Catholic Mass of Burial on December 5th at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, Rita will be interred at South Florida National Cemetery, next to our dad, on December 10, 2024. In lieu of flowers, if you are so inclined, please send a donation to her church: https://notredamecc.com.