OBITUARY

Rita R. Kubal

Rita R. Kubal, age 43—wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend—entered the everlasting peace of her Father near Scotland, SD.

Mass of Christian Burial was Monday, April 9, 2012 at the Bishop Marty Chapel on the Mount Marty College Campus, Yankton, SD with Rev. Dan Smith and Msgr. Carlton Hermann officiating. Burial was in the Polish Catholic Cemetery, rural Lesterville, SD overlooking the family farm.

On December 14, 1968, Rita Jackson was born to Darrel and Mary Ann (Bradley) Jackson of Wessington Springs, SD.

She was the tenth of eleven vibrant children. Running amuck with her five brothers and sisters, Rita grew to a love of nature and all its animals—a love that never faded in Rita’s adult life, many of her family and friends being gifted with the stray cats and dogs she often found. Basketball player, cheerleader, homecoming queen, and Miss Holiday are a few of the titles she donned in her time as a Wessington Springs Spartan, not the least of these titles being “friend”.

Rita attended Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD, before transferring to Mount Marty College in Yankton, SD. There, amidst her studies, she served the sisters at St. Joseph Care Center as a Nurse’s Assistant and earned early admittance to the University of North Dakota where she completed a degree in physical therapy.

On May 17th, 1993, she was married to Dan Kubal of rural Lesterville, SD, and the couple was soon graced, with their first child Dana. The Kubal farmhouse was blessed with four additional children, Elizabeth, Kohl, John, and Kaleb. In these children, Rita had found her calling—the call to be a mother. These five were the apple in her ever-bright eye.

Rita was also drawn to her service as a physical therapist, providing compassionate care and a listening ear. She worked at the Menno nursing home, the Freeman hospital, the Tyndall Hospital, the Yankton Care Center, and Sacred Heart Hospital throughout the years. Among her most enriching experiences was her time spent serving the Sioux people at Indian Health Services in Wagner, SD. There, Rita encountered a rich Sioux spirituality that resonated with her innate sense of prayer and her devotion to the Supreme Being. It is said that Rita is the only physical therapist with 100 percent of her Sioux patients to return for follow-up sessions.

A few words about Rita: horse lover, eagle watcher, photographer, hiker, rosary connoisseur, reader, writer, and a shoulder to lean on. Yet, above all, Rita was a woman of love, a love infused by faith, a faith that drew her to offer all things to her Savior, Jesus Christ.

Rita was preceded in death by her father, Darrel Jackson, brother, Mark Edward Jackson, niece, Jennifer Reed, and grandparents.

She is survived by husband, Dan Kubal, her children, Dana, Elizabeth, Kohl, John, and Kaleb, all from rural Lesterville, SD, her mother, Mary Jackson of Lane, SD, and her ten siblings and siblings’ spouses, Steve, John, and Kelly Jackson, all from Lane, SD, Tim and Laura Jackson of Woonsocket, SD, Travis and Karen Jackson of Lane, SD, Mary and Bill Reed of Gillette, WY, Sandy and Michael Neth of Scotland, SD, Lori and Bob Schleich of Mitchell, SD, Tim and Linda Foos of Milbank, SD, and Michele and Jeff Bigelow of Mitchell, SD.

She is also survived by in-laws Gladys and Michael Kubal of Lesterville, SD, Judy and Pat Carroll of Tabor, SD, Laurie and Mike Becvar of Mission Hill, SD, and Nancy and Bob Pechous of Tabor, SD.

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