Remembrance of the Life of Rita Vigil CoL

Loretto Co-member Rita Vigil died Jan. 20, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. She would have turned 89 Feb. 5.

Rita became a Co-member May 8, 2004. She was received into Loretto as a vowed member May 24, 1955, taking the name Sister Ann Denise, and was released from vowed membership April 21, 1970. She was a gifted and dedicated artist and teacher who lived for many years with Sister Carolyn Mary Tighe in Colorado Springs.

Below is Rita’s obituary, courtesy of Shrine of Remembrance in Colorado Springs:

“Rita Johanne Vigil passed into eternity and saw the smiling face of her Savior, Jesus Christ on Jan. 20, 2025, at age 88 just shy of her 89th birthday in February.

“Born in Walsenburg, Colo. she was preceded in death by her father, John B. (Johannes Baptiste) Vigil, her mother, Annette Marie Pique Vigil, and sister, Barbara Laverne Vigil Hudson.

“Rita was a talented actress, pianist and a musician accomplished at many instruments.

“She was also a gifted and dedicated artist and teacher, her primary vocation serving in the Order of the Sisters of Loretto for decades, as well as teaching as a lay practitioner for many years.  

“Rita will be remembered by all whose lives she touched with her unique personality and dedication to excellence. She leaves behind a grieving sister, Dollie Hodge, of Missouri.  

“Dollie always credits her sister, Rita, with providing the encouragement she needed for her success as an artist, teacher and entertainer based in the arts.  Rita credited Dollie with the same encouragement for her.”

Rita was to have been inurned in the Shrine of Remembrance Mausoleum, America the Beautiful Columbarium, in Colorado Springs. Please keep Rita, her family and all her loved ones in your prayers. May she rest in peace.