Larita Brandenburg Culver

"Until We Were We, There Was No Me" — Ron Culver
The notorious chocoholic La Rita Brandenburg, who always believed in having a place for everything and everything in its place, was born June 27th, 1943 in Lamar, Missouri. Her mother, Juanita, did not give her a middle name because she thought "Brandenburg" alone was enough name for a little girl to handle.
La Rita's father had already been called up to WWII but had not yet gone overseas; therefore, when she was born, he received a short leave to go home to meet his daughter. He spent his entire leave carrying and holding La Rita. When he returned to the service, it wasn't long before La Rita began to cry. Her mother just knew something was wrong, so she took her to see the doctor, who exclaimed, "Well, this child is just spoiled!"
When La Rita was three months old, she and her mother left Missouri and moved to California to live with her aunt in Vallejo. The family lived in Vallejo until 1957, when they moved to Belmont, California. Moving to Belmont, La Rita left behind her best friend, Joyce Michelson. They continued to stay in touch all through high school, taking bus trips between Belmont and Vallejo to spend time together.
In 1961, La Rita entered the College of San Mateo, studying to become a teacher, and later transferred to San Francisco State College. In 1964 she met a young Army soldier recently returned from Germany, and after agreeing with La Rita's parents that she would definitely finish college, Ron Culver married the love of his life on August 22nd, 1964, whereupon the torch of spoiling La Rita passed from her father to Ron, and La Rita changed her name to La Rita Brandenburg Culver.
La Rita did finish college, and earned her teaching credential. In 1966, Ron and La Rita moved to Sacramento where La Rita was hired by the Rio Linda Union School District. While she worked, Ron went back to school to earn his degree in art. Finding that one of the chief benefits of teaching was that he could spend even more time with La Rita, Ron became a teacher, too.
On April 1, 1969, Eric was born, and he had a fantastic mother! And on May 2, 1973, the family was completed when Colleen joined us.
La Rita taught until 2001, when she retired due to concerns with her father's failing health. Ron followed her into retirement in 2002 (he'd follow her anywhere, after all!) and together they entered their travel years. Together, La Rita and Ron took numerous cruises, hitched up a trailer and traveled much of the continental United States with their friends Wayne and Lynda, visited Hawaii and Alaska, and then set off across the world to visit Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, China, Russia, Tanzania, Denmark, Germany, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Mexico, the Panama Canal, numerous Caribbean islands, the Czech Republic, Aruba, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and probably a few others here and there along the way.
In 2017, La Rita and Ron sold their home of 44 years and moved in with Colleen and John. Their goal was to build a new generational house where they would reside in Granite Bay. She was so excited by this new adventure that they felt no remorse or pangs at leaving their home. They were both extremely excited and happy.
Everything changed on December 7th when La Rita was taken from us far too soon, but La Rita's plan will still come to fruition.
La Rita is survived by her loving husband, Ron, her sister Cheryl and brother Bill, her son Eric and daughter-in-law Rodean, her daughter Colleen and son-in-law John, and her grandchildren Grace, Tatijane, Catherine, Quintin, Laura, Robert, Elaine Marie, and Andrew, and Squeaky the Cat.