Rita Faye Wuehrmann

Rita Faye Wuehrmann of Prescott passed peacefully from our lives on May 7, 2026, surrounded during her final days by myriad family and friends, and much love, laughter and music; exactly as she desired. She has rejoined the many who passed before that she has dearly missed – her Grandma Grace, an incredible artist and gardener; her Mom, Mary Louise, who passed far too young; her father, Ira, from whom she inherited her ability to make friends and her sense of adventure; her beloved son, Darren, a master carpenter and ultimate free spirit; her two best friends in all the world, Pam Bouchard and Joan Woerner; and many others too numerous to name – except her last and most amazing of many cats, Rowdy, who was her shadow for 18 years.

Rita was born in Phoenix on July 21, 1946, to Ira Kelley and Mary Louise Catron. She had deep Arizona roots – her mother came to Prescott in 1923 as an infant with her parents, Clyde and Grace Catron, and grew up here. Her father came as a teenager in 1930 when his parents, Zack & Pearl Kelley, homesteaded a place east of Yarnell and still four miles from the nearest road, known as the Pack-in Place. Her parents met at a dance in Octave, Arizona, now a ghost town. Her older brother, Frank, was born at the old Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Prescott in 1939.

Rita grew up in a Phoenix filled with citrus groves, cotton fields and vegetable farms. She and her friends and siblings ran barefoot around the neighborhood, grazing on fresh fruit and vegetables and splashing in irrigation ditches. With her mom as assistant, they adopted many stray and orphaned creatures, including at one point even a monkey (this animal loving penchant led to Rita raising dogs, cats, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, guinea hens and a problematic peacock later in life). When her dad and Uncle Lewis were out-of-town driving logging trucks together, she spent one summer in a wooden shack at Peach Springs, and another at Dos Cabezos camping out on an abandoned ranch. She spent another summer on the flanks of Mt. Shasta, again camping out, while her dad eradicated gooseberries for the Forest Service.

The same year Rita graduated from Washington High School in Phoenix, 1964, she married Herb DeTienne, a marriage that didn’t last. In 1969 she married Richard Lunbery; this marriage blessed her with a son, Darren. In 1979, Rita married Chris Wuehrmann, with whom she shared her life for 47 years, and with whom she experienced countless adventures and raised their two children, Lewis and Sara. Starting in 2009, Rita published a blog in which she chronicled her many travels and experiences in hundreds of posts: https://ritasjourneys.blogspot.com. Sadly, as the brain tumor that ended her life took hold, she was unable to post about her last few trips, which included hiking in the Painted Desert with son Lewis (and finding fossil dinosaur eggshells), a wonderful week hiking and exploring in Death Valley, two hiking trips in Agua Fria National Monument, and a trip to Southeast Arizona to hike in the Dragoon Mountains and see the Sandhill Cranes.

Rita grew up in a family that didn’t particularly value formal education. Her niece, Mary Kerlee, was the first family member to ever acquire a college degree. However, this never held Rita back. After running Ladybug Landscaping with friend Marianne Bell (they also assisted each other with their home-birth babies), she became the founding owner, publisher and editor of the Chino Valley Review and won numerous awards for her reporting and writing. She also wrote and edited for several other publications in the area. Later she became the first full-time administrator of Yavapai College’s OLLI program, retiring from that position in 2006. And she was a Reiki Master.

One of Rita’s great loves was genealogy. She got started back in the 1980s and her genealogy database currently has over 37,000 people in it. Many of her travel experiences involved hours in old courthouses and days wandering old cemeteries, adventures which Chris and the kids cheerfully shared. She loved finding distant kinfolk and getting to know them. Rita also did professional genealogy research for others after her retirement.

Another great love of Rita’s was gardening. During 37 years living in Chino Valley her combination flower and vegetable gardens were legendary. Even after moving to Prescott in 2013, and downsizing from five acres to a fifth of an acre, Rita managed to remake her backyard into a Shangri-la, filled with flowers and birds. And music… Rita loved music. She always enjoyed music on the square in Prescott, attended most of Chris’ many local performances, and especially loved Bluegrass and Celtic music and old English Country Dance. She hosted many music jams at her home in Prescott.

Most of all, Rita loved her friends and family. While her children were growing up in Chino Valley, her home was a magnet for their friends – a haven with no television; where adults had conversations with kids; and where home-cooked meals were eaten together around the dining room table. Rita had lunch groups, book clubs, domino and Mahjong groups, spiritual discussion groups, English dance groups, a wine club, and more. She would do anything she could for friend or family, even shaving her own head in solidarity when a friend was going through chemotherapy.

Rita is survived by her husband Chris of Prescott, her children Lewis of Joseph City and Sara (Terry) of Gresham, Oregon, grandson Tristian Jackson, sisters Vicky Whited of Phoenix and Christie Vickers of Prescott, brother David Kelley of Phoenix, stepbrother Mike Faulkner of Phoenix, stepsister Judy Jenkins of Oregon, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in passing by her parents, Ira and Mary Louise Kelley, her stepmom Pat (Faulkner) Kelley, her brother Frank Kelley, her stepbrother Patrick Faulker, and, most sadly to her, son Darren Lunbery.

After searching for years, Rita found her spiritual home at Unity of Prescott, where for over twenty years she was active, serving as a chaplain, on the pastoral care team, and coordinating the Sacred Healing Meditation team. In lieu of flowers (you could never compete with her garden) donations may be made to Unity of Prescott. The family thanks the many friends who shared their love with her during her final days and Maggie’s Hospice who was absolutely amazing. A celebration of life will be held at 1:00 pm, June 12, at Unity of Prescott - 145 S. Arizona St.