Rita June Huff Cawthron Schoenhals

A True Blue Fan of “The Dallas Cowboys”

Rita June Schoenhals, 93, passed away Sunday, July 26, 2026. Funeral services will be held at 11am on Friday, August 7, 2026, at the Fritch Church of Christ. Burial will be held at 4:30pm on Friday at Eastview Cemetery in Vernon, Texas. The family will receive guests from 5-7pm Thursday, August 6, 2026, at the funeral home and services are under the direction of Minton Chatwell Funeral Directors of Fritch. Rita had requested that everyone who attended her funeral please wear their Dallas Cowboys attire. In lieu of flowers her memory may be honored with a gift to Fritch Meals on Wheels, PO Box 366, Fritch, Texas 79036, to Fritch Church of Christ, PO Box 298, Fritch, Texas 79036, or to Faith Baptist Church, PO Box 1051, Fritch, Texas 79036.

Rita was born in Vernon, Texas on January 12, 1933, to John Philip Huff and Ila Aline Frazier Huff. She was the baby of the family and nine years younger than her other siblings, so she was just a little bit spoiled. Rita grew up in Rock Crossing near Grayback, Texas, attended school for three years in Harrold, Texas and then graduated from Oklaunion, Texas in 1951.

Rita was a member of Rock Crossing Baptist Church and was baptized at the age of fourteen in the year of 1947. Rita married Billy Leon Cawthron on May 21, 1951, and had two children, Terry Lee and Rhonda Gail. She worked as a nurse in Vernon, Texas, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Brownfield, Texas, Fort Stockton, Texas, and Big Lake, Texas, while moving around with Billy. Rita worked as a secretary for SIC in Carlsbad, New Mexico for four years and then transferred to Hobbs, New Mexico for three years.

Billy passed away on December 24, 1966, in Hobbs, New Mexico and Rita then moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1967 to be closer to her parents and brother S.D. She worked at Credit Thrift of America for two years and then had enough of the city, so she and the kids packed up and moved to Sanford, Texas across the street from her other brother J.C.

Sanford, Texas was where she would meet and fall in love with Melvin, an Oklahoma boy, even though she swore she would never date anyone from Oklahoma. On June 12, 1970, Rita married Melvin Floyd Schoenhals in Keeler Baptist Church by Brother John Denton. Melvin had three children, Dallas Ray, Vickie Renee and Wade Leslie. She didn’t like the term ‘stepchild’ and instead called them her bonus children, and she truly loved them as if she had birthed them herself.

Melvin and Rita adopted a granddaughter, Veronica Lea in 1983. Veronica became the sixth child Rita had always wanted, just like her sister, Joyce. Being a mother was one of her best qualities. She had a knack for taking care of others and at some point or another half a dozen kids lived with her that were not her children. She gained even more bonus kids that she considered her own. Melvin and Rita lived in Sanford, Texas for twenty-one years, then moved to Fritch, Texas in June of 1990.

Rita went to work for Sanford-Fritch school district in December of 1984 as a bus driver and monitor for thirty-six years. Rita loved her bus kids and thought so much of them. She loved getting them gifts and just being with them every day and in a way, they were what kept her young at heart for so long. Rita touched so many lives at SISD and truly made a difference. She was still driving a school bus just a few months shy of her 90th birthday and only stopped because she broke her hip. Her love for her family and school kids was strong, but her love for the Dallas Cowboys was right up there too. She was a diehard Cowboys fan from day one when they established in 1960. She religiously watched year after year, and we would always joke that they needed to be her pallbearers so they could let her down one last time.

She was a member of the Faith Baptist Church in Fritch, Texas and a Sunday school teacher for twenty years. Looking through her Bible is something special. It’s filled with highlighted scriptures and dates in the columns of the many services she attended throughout her years. She most recently attended the Fritch Church of Christ with her daughter and son-in-law.

Over the last few years, Facebook became her lifeline to all her family, friends and school kids and she loved reconnecting and sending encouraging messages to everyone. They all knew she loved them and she would let them know often. If asked what the secret to a long life was, I’m sure she’d tell you onions and diet cokes. She also loved her sweet dogs Opie and Sox who were always found on her lap. Opie recently passed away, but we’re sure he’s riding with her on the bus in Heaven.

Rita was so strong, a firecracker, ornery, spoke her mind, and loved her people well. She has been through her fair share of heartache in this life, but nothing ever wavered her spirit. We can only imagine her welcoming party at the gates of heaven and if we are lucky maybe she will send a sign or two. If you’re not so lucky, she might haunt you. We are so thankful for the time we had with her, but when you love someone so much it’s hard to ever let them go. Until we see you again Rita, Rita June, Mother, Grandma, Great-Grandma, Aunt June, we love you and already miss you!

Rita is preceded in death by her first husband, Billy, her second husband, Melvin, her parents, John Philip and Ila Aline, her grandparents, the Huffs and Fraziers, sister, Joyce Mankins, brothers, J.C. Huff and S.D. Huff, son, Wade, nieces, Pat McLain and Pam Adams, grandson, J.T. Lantelme, and granddaughter, Hope Adams.

Rita is survived by her children and their spouses, Terry and Lora Cawthron, Dallas and Connie Schoenhals, Vickie and Gerald Cornelius, Rhonda and Dean Lantelme, and Veronica and Jeremiah Adams, twenty grandchildren, thirty-six great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren; four special nephews, six nieces, and her precious dog Sox.