June Marguerite (Stebbins) Rietz

June Marguerite (Stebbins) Rietz

June Rietz was unusually strong in body, mind, and spirit, which allowed her to live with a failing heart for over ten years. But at age 94, surrounded by family and in the home that she loved, she died on Monday, August 22, 2022.

June Marguerite Stebbins was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 30, 1928, to Carlos E. and Gertrude S. (Lusson) Stebbins, but most of her young life was lived in and around Chicago, Illinois. An apt student, she was the first in her family to earn a college degree, a BA in English from Mundelein College in Chicago. She married Leslie C. Rietz in Blue Island, Illinois, on August 12, 1950, and a month later began teaching elementary school. She set aside her career while she raised her seven children but returned to it after her youngest entered first grade, this time tutoring children with learning disabilities in the Akron Public Schools. She was a lifelong Catholic and a parishioner at Saint Paul's Church in Firestone Park since the family moved to Akron in 1955, and she finished her teaching career there, tutoring children at Saint Paul's School. She really loved children and referred to her students as "little guppies."

The family lived in a large house (the former convent, directly across the street from Saint Paul's), and she always welcomed her children's friends into her busy house, where she allowed any kind of play that was safe. At the same time, she kept an orderly home and was practical enough to raise seven children on a social worker's salary.

As busy as she was, June made time to help people who were disadvantaged physically, financially, or socially. In recent years, she devoted her time to the Peter Maurin Center and the South Street Ministries, and through her church she was very active in social justice outreach. At Saint Paul's, she was also a lector and eucharistic minister, sang in the choir, participated in Cursillo and Parish Renewal, led high school students in Search, and was a catechist to children with developmental disabilities. After retiring (and inspired by their own grief over the death of their son), she and Les began a ministry for people in mourning, which met for 27 years. In short, she was a champion of the downtrodden and the suffering.

She was preceded in death by her husband Leslie, her brother James Stebbins, her sisters Norma Jean Laurence and Susan Tysiak, her son Joseph Rietz, and her daughter Sandra (Drexler) Fair. She leaves behind her children Christopher (Debora Huxtable), Mary Edith ("Mimi") McDonald, Paul (Kay), John (Rachel Thompson), and Mary Clare (Michael Marcotte); her grandchildren Maya Zahira, Marie (Eckman) Weese, Joseph Eckman, John Paul (Katelyn Jones) Rietz, Laura (Christopher Meyer) Rietz, Francesca Marcotte Rietz, Justice (Hannah) Fair, Claudia June Rietz, and Samuel Rietz; and great-grandchildren India Weese and Sophia Fair.

The family will receive friends Friday, August 26, 2022, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 4019 Manchester Rd., Akron, OH 44319, where a Prayer Vigil will begin at 7:00 PM. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, August 27, 2022, at 11:00 AM at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church. Interment at Holy Cross Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Peter Maurin Center: P.O. Box 1105, Hudson, OH 44236 - Donate Button is on website: www.petermaurincenter.org/donate or to South Street Ministries, 130 West South Street, Akron, OH 44311.