Alethia “Rita” George was born on October 3, 1926 in Lynchburg, South Carolina, as one of four children. She grew up with one sister and two brothers. She lived most of her young adult life in South Carolina then headed to North Carolina’s Barber Scotia College, where she studied English for a major and French for a minor. She graduated in four years, returned to South Carolina (Columbia) and there took a position as a high-school English teacher.
Some years later, she married the Reverend Samuel Williams George, also of South Carolina. They had two children, one son and one daughter, and they enjoyed playing games together, singing, and doing puzzles, though Rita continued with her teaching career. Church was also always a big part of their lives, as her husband was a young pastor.
They eventually left South Carolina, moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and eventually settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh, Mr. George became the minister of Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church and Rita was a church elder who taught Sunday school and directed the youth activities.
Rita’s great love and respect for her husband inspired her in her later years to write a book about him. The book, entitled “His Cross Never Burns: The Life of the Reverend Samuel Williams George,” is both a biography and a family memoir. Rita said she arrived at the title by watching her husband’s persistence and success as a minister. “He never gave up,” Rita said. The book, originally published in 2006, is available online.
Rita and her husband were married for 57 years when Mr. George passed away in 2009, yet his memory lives on in her book and in her heart. She speaks of him often and their happy life together, and is glad to have been Mrs. Samuel George!
