Rita Sonia Weber

Oct. 28, 1931 – April 17, 2021

Rita Sonia Weber passed away peacefully in her home with family by her side April 17, 2021.

Rita was born Oct. 28, 1931 in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1959, at the age of 28, she left Switzerland and traveled with her husband, Gus, and two young daughters and moved to Homer, Alaska.

Rita worked at various jobs over the years, including waiting tables at the Porpoise Room Restaurant and Waterfront Bar, to being the kitchen manager at East Homer Elementary, where she was well known for her famous cinnamon rolls. She was part owner of Sew & Reap, and before she retired, she worked at the Pratt Museum, educating many about the area sea life at the touch tanks. After retirement, she worked at the voting booth and enjoyed seeing so many of her friends in one day.

Rita had a love of the arts. She dabbled in everything from acting, ceramics, cooking, knitting, painting, embroidery, gardening and had an absolute love of quilting and fishing. Rita was meticulous, paying attention to every detail. She made and gave many quilts away; it would be impossible to count them all.

Gus and Rita’s garden fed their family and many friends over the years. It was nothing to have a potato the size of a child’s head or a zucchini the length of your arm. Rita wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. There wasn’t a job she wouldn’t do, from processing moose and chickens to filleting a giant halibut ans one of Gus’s kings. They enjoyed snow machining together out to the caribou hills. They spent a lot of time on the Anchor River camping and fishing with their family and friends. She loved fishing with her grandkids. You would see her in the middle of a snowstorm on Caribou Lake or elbow to elbow at the fishing hole. Rita was always learning and was an avid reader, easily reading a novel in a day or two. She loved word games the challenge of looking up the spelling and meaning of these new words.

Rita is preceded in death by her husband, Gus Weber; daughter Barbara Hrenchir; grandson Lucas Hrenchir; parents, Hermann and Hulda Bichsel; and sister Erna Bichsel, of Switzerland. She is survived by her son Mark Weber, wife Frankie, and their children AJ and Andrea of Homer; daughter Claudia Johnson, husband Craig, and their children Maya, Travis and Kyle of Soldotna. Son-in-law Michael Hrenchir; granddaughter Casey Stewart, numerous great grandchildren and her remaining family in Switzerland.

Gus and Rita did many things together, and the family decided to have a gathering of family and close friends to honor the life they shared together.