Rita Kay Bigony

Rita Kay Bigony of North Barrington, Illinois passed away peacefully on Mar 24, 2020.

A kind and loving lady of grace, creativity and adventure, Rita was born May 6, 1942 in Minot, ND. She is survived by her husband of 55 years Robert “Bob” Bigony and their daughter Heather Kay (Peter) Rivera. She is preceded in death by her parents, Esther Cecilia (Hanlon) Keefer and Harmon “Bud” Keefer.

She and her husband shared a corporate career that spanned thirty-six years and involved 17 moves including those to Australia and the United Kingdom. Rita was the ultimate homemaker! No matter where the move she turned each location into a loving home. The last move was to her dream home which she named “Fourwinds”. A love of the arts & crafts movement serving as inspiration, she meticulously designed an arts & crafts style home, where she and Bob enjoyed living for the last twenty years. In her earlier life, Rita was a display designer working for the Goldwater’s department store in Scottsdale, AZ. Rita loved red cars and always enjoyed driving and being on the move. While living overseas, she had an uncanny ability to quickly master driving on the left side of the road and excelled at it.

Rita had a passion for genealogy and spent many years researching her family ancestry from Ireland and Germany. Her love of history motivated her leadership of several quester’s study groups in AZ and IL. Rita so appreciated the historical and artistic talents of the Navajo and Hopi artists and relished every opportunity she had to explore their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.

The family would like to extend its sincere appreciation to all the staff at JourneyCare Barrington for their love and kindness to Rita.

Rita’s life will be celebrated with her cherished friends at their “Fourwinds” home at a future date.

Any memorial donation is appreciated and can be made in Rita’s name to: St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Mundelein, IL, the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org and the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org .