Submitted by: Dan Rich
Aug. 16, 1915 - June 29, 2008
South Bend Tribune 7/2/2008
SOUTH BEND - Rita Eileen Conyers, 92, died Sunday, June
29th, in Hospice House, South Bend. Rita was born August 16,
1915, to James A. and Anna Estelle (Jesse) Boyle on
Chicago's South Side. They preceded her in death as did her
husband, a daughter, Carolyn C. Dunmore, and her siblings,
Sr. Rita Cecile Boyle, OP, Sr. M. Ellenita, OP,
Blossom Boyle, Anita Jess Boyle, Celeste O'Brien and James
A. Boyle. She taught at several Catholic schools in Illinois,
including Our Lady of Good Counsel, Chicago, Santa Maria del
Popolo, Mundelien, and Saint Joseph Grade School, Round Lake. For
many years she created the costumes for operettas produced at
Round Lake High School. Proud of her Irish heritage, she shared
her skills at tatting, crochet, macramé, canning and candy
making with her grandchildren.
On August 5, 1939, she married Richard H.
Conyers in Chicago, and raised their four children in Round Lake,
Illinois, Carolyn C. (Ron) Dunmore, Rev. Richard J.
Conyers, CSC, Colette (Joe) Chambers and William
(Linda) Conyers Sr. Celebrating her life are her 14
grandchildren, often affectionately called "George":
Linda Rae Beja, Raymond Ernest (Joyce) Beja, Ronald Joseph
(Miriam) Dunmore, Carrie Ann Dunmore, Erin Kathleen Dunmore,
Michael (Gara) Dunmore, Thomas Aquinas Dunmore, Meghan Colleen
(Frank) Olszewski, Kathleen Colette (Tom) Resig,
William J. Conyers Jr., Timothy Sean Conyers, Colette Catherine
(William) Holper, Jennifer Diane (John) Hayden and
Amy Lynn Conyers. She also had 12 great-grandchildren: Alan
Joseph and Ronald Andrew Dunmore, Mark and Regan Resig, Seth
Richard Martin, Isabelle Cecile Olszewski, Josephine Rose
and Julianne Kathleen Dunmore, Ethan Day and Jackson Lee Holper,
Owen William and Avery Conyers; and many nieces and nephews. Also
surviving are her sister, Regina McCarthy of Lamont,
Illinois, as well as her longtime friend, Patricia Malone,
known in our family as "Great-Patty."
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11
a.m. Thursday, July 3, in Christ the King Catholic Church (933
North at Darden Road), with Fr. Rev. Richard J. Conyers, CSC,
officiating. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. today, July 2nd,
in the HICKEY Funeral Home, 17131 Cleveland Road, South Bend, IN
46635, and one hour prior to the service Thursday in the church.
Interment will follow at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park in
Granger. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials
be made to YMCA Camp Eberhart, 10481 Camp Eberhart Road, Three
Rivers, MI 49093; to Sanctuary at Trinity Tower, 316 S. St.
Joseph St., South Bend, IN 46601; or to Notre Dame High School
for Boys, 7655 W. Dempster, Niles, IL 60714.