Clear, 53° F
Rita Malone passed peaceably in her sleep at 5 a.m. Monday, March 30, 2026, age 71.
Rita Sandoval was born in Hondo, Texas on July 9, 1954 to Juan Jose Sandoval, Sr. and Ignacia (Rios) and baptized Rita Veronica Sandoval before her family moved to Wyoming.
In Wyoming, Rita lived in Park County (Heart Mountain area, Meeteetse and Powell), Riverton and Buffalo. She also lived in Brownsville, Texas where she did missionary work and in Galveston, Texas. She would often watch the live Galveston beach cams on YouTube after she moved away from the beach.
Rita served as a Girl Scout troop leader before she graduated high school.
She married in 1973 and divorced in 1976. She had three boys (James Andrew, Dana R, and Michael C). Rita dedicated a majority of her life to helping struggling families and children. She unofficially fostered many children and shared her home with more than one family while living in Powell. While her children were growing up, she worked in the elementary and middle schools, leading many of those kids to get into minor trouble for calling her mama Rita instead of miss Rita.
She pursued and acquired a ministry license and ultimately a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. In her youth she worked with her family for many Park County farmers. In her 20s and 30s she served as a missionary and as a special education teachers assistant, in her 40s, 50s, and 60s she worked as a child care provider, administrator, and small business owner as a substitute teacher with the migrants’ summer education program, with the headstart program, and her own child care facility.
When her developing dementia Alzheimer’s disease became too much for her to safely live on her own, she moved to Pennsylvania with her eldest son, then to the Masonic Villages.
She is survived by her elder brother Juan Jose Sandoval, Jr. and elder sister Petra (Peggy) Sandoval, two of her sons (James Andrew and Dana R), a niece (Ena), their children and grandchildren. She is loved as Grandma Rita by many who grew up under her care.
In lieu of flowers donations can be sent to Masonic Village Lafayette Hill, 801 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill, PA 19444 and memo: in memory of Rita Malone
