Rita Frayser
Frayser Rita Helen Richardson Frayser went home to God on Tuesday July 16, 2024, a month shy of 77 years here with us. Born in Abilene, Texas to T.C. And Beulah King Richardson, she started school in Snyder, Texas. She had fond memories of Snyder, Courtney, and Big Spring, Texas schools. Rita earned an Associate of Arts at Howard County Junior College in Big Spring, a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in English Education at the University of Texas at Austin, and was awarded a graduate fellowship in English for the Disadvantaged. She married Clark Frayser in South Dakota and moved with him to Oklahoma, where she lived the rest of her life. Rita taught at Bluejacket and Commerce, Oklahoma schools and helped edit and prepare the Eastern Shawnee play “The Panther and the Swan” before beginning a career as a Social Worker with the Department of Human Services, from which she retired in 2002 after also helping to conduct workshops for coworkers and local hospital staff on heat and cold stress and on areas covered by state medical assistance.
Rita was also instrumental in the founding of a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Task Force and in the ongoing operation of its programs for approximately ten years, helped organize and teach Parenting classes with local tribal social workers, was on the board of the local youth center, assistant leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout troupe, active with her church youth group when her sons were teenagers, volunteered with the local literacy council, and, during her marriage, active in Miami Little Theatre. She maintained an Oklahoma secondary certificate to teach English, Social Studies, and French and had a permanent Texas teaching certificate. Discontented with retirement, she taught remedial writing at EOC Tech and was a VISTA Volunteer at Telstar Elementary School in the Oklahoma City Public School District, and for the Red Earth Museum.
Rita was a caring person concerned with youth in her work and her volunteerism. She donated to many non-profits including Doctors without Borders, which she greatly admired, and the LEAD Agency. Even in high school, she served in Rainbows, and Vacation Bible Schools.
Rita loved to craft from embroidery to painting. She also enjoyed gaming on the internet with her sister Claudia in Norway. She was an avid gardener who loved Irises and Day Lillies, and her Irises can still be found in Nicoma Park. Cats loved her as much as she loved them and her last one, Evie, was a daily joy.
Rita is survived by her sisters Claudia (Thorstein) Vikse and Janet (Eddie) Akin; sons Robert (Barbara) and Colin (Keely), and daughter Mary (Aaron) Moon; grandchildren Lindsey (Zac) Jennings, Carter and Chloe Frayser, and Weston Moon; and great-grandchildren Aaliah, Dansby and Greyson Jennings; as well as many cousins and friends.
Rita always considered herself a Texan, and would have preferred to attend A&M had they accepted women at the time. Her remains will return to the Texas ranch country from whence they came in the Fall.