Rita E. Paris

Rita Elaine Paris, 77, of Oak Grove, Missouri, passed away on Saturday, July 2, 2022.  Funeral services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 7th at Royer Funeral Home, Oak Grove; burial in Oak Grove Cemetery.  The family will receive friends from 11:00 a.m. until service time at the funeral home.

Rita was born in Kansas City, MO, in 1945 to Dwane H. and Geneva E.  (Cretcher) Jones.  She grew up in Kansas City for the first couple of years when the family moved to Lafayette County near Bates City, MO where she attended elementary, junior high, and high school in Oak Grove, MO, graduating in 1965.  Rita was mother to five children: Richard Harms, Gary Lavern Harms, Teresa Culp (Koon), Nick Paris, and Nicole Paris.  Rita’s working career was in the retail, trucking, and plastics fields, and she also acted as general contractor on three of the homes she and her husband, Howard, built.

Rita loved flowers, perfume, dancing, food, numbers/math, sewing, and jewelry. She reeeeally loved jewelry.  She loved making Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner for her family using recipes from her grandmother.  She also loved her lifelong friends and friends from the Y and was an active member in Parents without Partners for many years.

Rita was preceded in death by her husband, Howard Paris; her children, Teresa Culp and Gary Lavern Harms; a stepson, Stephen Paris; her parents, Dwane Jones and Geneva Jones; two sisters, Lillian Clampitt and Sandra Wolfe.

Rita is survived by her children: Richard Harms, Nick Paris, and Nicole Paris; stepchildren: Cheri Paris, Craig Paris, JoEllen DeWiert, and Susan Griffin; fourteen grandchildren; eleven step-grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; her brother, Tom Jones; brother-in-law, Paul Clampitt; several nieces and nephews; and many lifelong friends.

Arrangements:  Royer Funeral Home, Oak Grove, MO   816-690-4441

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Pat Arth Bittel

    7 Jul 2022 Reply

    Dear Richie and all the family, Sadly, I will not be able to attend services for my dear friend, Rita. Doctors orders to stay away from events with more than a couple of family members prevents me from attending. I was hospitalized once for Covid for 42 days, and cannot risk another episode of this virus. Please know that I also cherished our friendship. I used to call her the Earth Mother for she was always bringing home and caring for other people as well as animals. Rita had a big heart, a good heart ❤️, and she always managed to think on the positive side of things. Rita and you all are in my prayers. God bless….Pat Arth Bittel
    PS Hank and Judy send their sympathy.

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