Rita Annette Carroll

June 16, 1928 - February 23, 2022

Rita had a great arc of a life that she heartily engaged in entirely on her own terms. Born an only child to a French family with musical and performance roots, she had dramatic bit parts as a child actress in several movies and was gifted with a voice that “could lift the roof off a building”. A “dramatic soprano”, her operatic talents pushed her to Italy where she won singing competitions in Milan and performed in various opera’s during the late 1940s and early 1950’s with many of the great singers of the day including sopranos Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi and some of her favorite tenors including Andrea Soto. It is at times hard to square all that with a California mother of 4 and grandmother of 9 in her 94th year. Born Rita Bossé, she was the only child of Joseph Amedeé Bossé and Marguerite Clare Bossé both of whom had emigrated from France and settled in the French enclave called Belvedere in East Los Angeles. Her father Amedeé was a Jesuit seminary graduate who owned and operated a grocery store at 3rd and Rowan throughout the depression. Her mother Marguerite was a singer, the youngest of a large family that emigrated from France prior to World War 1. Her Grandfather Joseph Henri Bonnet was an accomplished barrister who purchased land and developed farms in Saskatchewan for his sons and retired to Belvedere to grow Zinfandel grapes in the family compound during prohibition. Late in life he had a Hollywood career as a bit actor in at least a dozen movies including “Private Lives” (1931). Rita spoke 5 languages and grew up in a highly educated and thoroughly European environment. Her European tastes were reflected in the clothes she wore, the food she ate, the wine and champagne she drank and the civilized and respectful manner in which she carried herself. As a young child, Rita performed bit parts in several movies including the Shirley Temple movie “Rebecca of Stonybrook Farm” (1938). She graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes elementary school in 1941 and later Ramona Convent in 1945. Gifted with a distinctive dramatic soprano voice she received a music degree from LA City College, and while attending USC travelled to Italy where she won singing competitions at the University of Milan and launched a career performing at the great Italian opera houses (including La Scala). Rita was always understated, but admitted her most notable performances were singing the main role in Madame Butterfly. Later in life she admitted that her greatest wish was for her grandkids to understand the feeling of performing your best when every eye in the house is upon you. That strength and grit served her well throughout her life. Rita had many suitors in Europe, but none of them had the intellect or blue eyes of John D. Carroll. Like magnets – they were opposites in many respects- John D. a left brain calculator, thinker with an American “can do” attitude, and Rita – a right brain dominant dramatic soprano with European tastes. They were introduced through Rita’s best friend Leda Mark, fell in love, married in 1956 and settled in Redondo Beach, California where they had four children: John J., Marguerite, Christine and Patricia Susan. John D. and Rita were founding Parishioners for St. Lawrence the Martyr parish where Rita sang with the Parish choir and the children attended elementary school. In 1971, Hughes Aircraft promoted and transferred John D. to Canoga Park and the Carroll clan uprooted from the comfy Hollywood Riviera to the hotter climes of Woodland Hills, California. Rita’s condition for the move was a swimming pool and a house in close proximity to St. Bernardine of Siena, and her children all graduated elementary school there and later graduated from Crespi Carmelite and Louisville High Schools. John D. built the swimming pool and back yard and the Carroll’s thrived there through the hot summers and earthquakes for 29 years. Rita built up a large collection of friends, and hosted memorable St. Patrick’s Day gatherings consuming large quantities of scotch, corned beef and entertained by harps, Irish fiddles and Jack Mckeever’s long winded jokes well into the morning light. Upon John D.’s retirement, they travelled quite a bit, including re visiting Rita’s haunts in Italy, and visiting hundreds of Rita’s cousins in France and throughout Canada. Her favorite spot though was Kauai. She loved the beach, she loved negotiating with the vendors (often repeated over days), and she loved the seafood. Few things in life can compare to the experience of having witnessed Rita savor and devour a fully cooked lobster. It was a messy and elaborate spectacle often taking hours, with no meat left to waste. John D. passed away in early 2000, and just prior had moved Rita to Laguna Woods, California. Rita thrived while living alone, she painted, had a garden and roses to tend to, 9 grandchildren to adore: (Jaclynn, Nicolle and Gregory Landowski, Katie, Kelsey and Jack Carroll, Benjamin and Ellie Rutkin and Jonathan Sakakuchi), and a new parish (St. Nicholas). Fiercely independent, Rita knew what she wanted, and at the tender age of 81 ordered up another Cadillac – the only car she was comfortable with. She always knew how to manipulate the gas pedal and she drove up until 2019 when she was diagnosed with severe mitral valve regurgitation in her heart. Otherwise extremely healthy, she fought a long and noble battle through two years of Covid isolation, endured numerous procedures and pursued every option available to her. In January she contracted Covid and although she somehow found a way to survive that, it took its toll on her and she passed away peacefully at Freedom Village. Rita demonstrated both grit, determination and maintained her wit until the very end. She was one of a kind. “To go away is to die a little, it is to die to that which one loves, everywhere and always, one leaves behind a part of oneself” Edmond Haraucourt The Family would like to thank the nurses, nursing assistants and care givers at both the Skilled Nursing Facility and Assisted Living Facility at Freedom Village in Lake Forest for their care of Rita over the past six months. The Family also requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent in Rita’s name to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: https://www.stjude.org/