Rita Louise Monaco made her entrance into the world on her mother's twenty-second birthday, May 25, 1921. She was the third child of a family of six children; three brothers and two sisters. Her parents, Philomena DeMichele and Anthony DeMichele made their home in Youngstown, Ohio. Rita attended South High School and graduated in 1939. In 1941 she met Joseph Herman Monaco and they were married a year later on August 6, 1942. She and Joseph had three children. Janis, the eldest, lives in Heron, Montana with her husband, Bruce Clark. Jerry, the middle child, passed away in 1988 at the age of thirty-seven, and Jeff, the youngest is retired and lives with his wife Jill in Irvine, California.

The Monaco's made their home in Los Angeles and lived there from 1947 to 1983 when they moved to Irvine, which became their home for seventeen years. Rita lived her subsequent years in both Coeur d'Alene Idaho and Visalia, California. Joseph passed away on September 2, 1998 after fifty-six years of marriage. Rita loved to knit and sew, but her main passion was writing, having written three novels, one of which was published. After her dedicated years as a homemaker, she worked at St. Joan of Arc Church in Los Angeles as their secretary and bookkeeper. She enjoyed working with the priests and nuns who taught at St. Joan of Arc School.

She leaves behind her granddaughter, Alana McClellan of Pocatello, Idaho and her grandson, Calvin Turnbull of Comptche, California. Rita also had two great granddaughters, Rita Weaver and Macenzie McClellan, along with two great-great grandchildren, Logan and Lincoln Weaver, all of Pocatello, Idaho. She also had two other grandchildren, Paul Jertberg of Las Vegas, Nevada and Tricia Luyben of Mission Viejo, California, along with three great grandchildren, Josie Jertberg and Blaise and Brynlie Luyben. She leaves one surviving sister, Gloria Karas, of Youngstown, Ohio.

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