Rita Rae Cunningham Goss

Rita Rae (Cunningham) Goss, of West Fork, died Monday August, 24th at the Circle of Life Hospice in Springdale. Rita had spent the last 9 months in assisted living after being severely injured in a fall at her farm. She was born July 19th, 1936 in Vassar, Kansas, to Fenton A. Cunningham and Cecile E. (Rubeling) Cunningham. Rita spent her early years in SW Missouri and SE Kansas, as the daughter of a lumber yard manager, finally moving to Chanute, Kansas, in 1953 to attend her senior year of high school. There she met her future husband, John H. Goss of Iola, Kansas. After marriage, the couple moved to Emporia, Kansas, where Rita studied communications at Emporia State College, and owned a record shop on main street. The couple next moved to Alva, Oklahoma, where they had received an FCC license to build radio station KALV, which was put on the air in 1956. Rita hosted one of the first women-oriented, radio talk shows in the country called "It's a Woman's World", which was broadcast at noon each day and distributed on reel-to-reel tape to other stations in a four-state region. In 1963, Rita sold the radio station and moved her family to Strickler, Arkansas, to "farm in the Ozarks" and lead a simpler life, where she could raise animals, which was one of her passions. That didn't last long, however, and she next utilized her communication skills to help coordinate the documentation process for the Atomic Energy Commission, in the Program & Analysis Group of SEFOR, a nuclear research reactor south of West Fork. Through contacts that she developed there, Rita next became the 4th Judicial District Circuit Court Reporter for The Honorable Judge Maupin Cummings, and later, The Honorable Judge Mahlon Gibson. Rita worked as a Certified Verbatim Reporter from 1971 until 2008 in Washington County and Madison County, and was known by many area judges and attorneys for her verbatim-reporting skills that documented courtroom and other legal procedures. In addition to her official court reporting duties, Rita also was co-owner and operator of Goss & Payton Reporters of Fayetteville for almost 30 years. After retiring from court reporting, Rita worked full time as a special needs assistant for Arkansas Support Network. Since 1997, Rita lived on her small farm in the mountains east of West Fork, where she raised Dwarf Nigerian Goats and geese, and helped raise her three grandchildren. Rita was preceded in death by both of her parents, and her husband, John. She is survived by a sister, Elda Lea Hawley of Livermore, California. She is also survived by her son, J. Randall (Nick) Goss and his wife, Kelly S. Isaac-Goss of West Fork, her two grandchildren, Jacob G. Goss and Katherine S. Goss, and is survived by her daughter, Lesa E. Goss of Fayetteville, and grandson, John Mason Goss. Memorials can be made to Circle of Life Hospice or the Fayetteville Animal Shelter in her name. Since Rita did not wish to have a memorial service, the family invites you to share your fond thoughts and memories of Rita, via her online memorial at www.mooresfuneralchapel.com.