Rita Roberta "Robey" Rader

January 18, 1934 - August 16, 2019

Rita Roberta “Robey” Rader, loving daughter of LeRoy Anthony Rader and Anna Rita (Burns) Rader, passed away after a long illness at age 85 on Friday morning, August 16, 2019, in Storm Lake, Iowa. Funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Storm Lake. Burial will be in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service at the CHURCH. The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements. Robey was born on January 18, 1934 in Des Moines, Iowa and graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Storm Lake in May 1952. After high school graduation, she attended Duchesne College of the Sacred Heart in Omaha, Nebraska and pursued French language and cultural studies at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake. A lifelong member of St. Mary’s Parish Church in Storm Lake, she was active in church activities as well as participating in various national, state and local political campaigns. Robey had a great love for all animals, and especially “Herky the Hawk” of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. She was a Hawkeye fan through and through, never missing their football games either in person in her younger years or on television during later in life. On more than one occasion, she was known to slyly move a Herky tree ornament to the front of the Scott family Christmas tree, while the Herbie Husker ornament disappeared to some unseen location on the back of the tree! An avid card player, Robey excelled at bridge, poker, and a wide assortment of other card games and could often be found at the Storm Lake Amvets Club practicing her skills on the “uninitiated.” Robey resided her entire life in Storm Lake, most recently at the Methodist Manor Bayside View skilled care nursing home. Robey is predeceased by her parents, and older brothers William LeRoy Rader and Roger Francis Rader. She is survived by her nephews William Larrabee Rader of Austin, Texas, Charles LeRoy Rader of Saratoga, California (wife, Lorraine, and children Teresa Rader and Kyle Rader), and Ingrid Maria Rader of Virginia Beach, Virginia (husband, Robert Bullinger, daughter Kirstin Crabtree, and granddaughter Audrey Crabtree). She is fondly remembered with love by her godson Dan Scott (wife, Teri, and children), and sisters Kelly DenHartog (husband, Roger, and children), Julie Ann Erps (husband, Don, and children), and Karen Scott (husband, Cory Hawkins, and children).