Anita Jurevics' Obituary
Anita Jurevics, a native of Latvia, was born on Dec 19th, 1936 to Alice Reinberg Anderson and Paul Gottlieb Anderson. She eloped with Vitauts “Vito” Jurevics shortly after meeting him in Dallas in 1957 and spent the next 61 years as his partner in life. Anita was diligent and was a data processing manager for a few Dallas insurance companies culminating in a 20 year career at Combined American Life Insurance. One of her favorite things to do was travel. She and Vito made a special attempt to vacation every year, even in the early days when funds were tight. Usually that meant taking the family to Lake Texhoma camping for a week and later advancing to Galveston and then on to Padre Island. The kids remember fondly their best vacation as a family into Mexico by train to Mazatlan which was then referred to as “the poor mans” Acapulco. (Fresh coconut ice cream with a drizzle of Kahlua!) Anita and Vito loved to cruise and once took a two month cruise south from California, to the tip of South America and back up to Florida, stopping at spectacular ports along the way. They traveled to Baltimore, San Diego and in between visiting family and friends. Their travels included Latvia, Hawaii, Alaska and a few return visits to Germany where she spent much of her childhood. In later years when her ability to travel diminished, she had to fulfill her wanderlust by reading travel magazines and watching Rick Steves Europe on PBS. Her other more favorite thing was being a grandmother. She would say to her daughter often “I’m ready to be a grandmother” …and the reply was “can I please be a wife first?” When her wish finally came true, she spent nearly every single Saturday morning in Coppell. First with Spencer and then 15 months later when Travis was born. Everyone knew her as Omi, even the neighborhood kids. As they grew, she practically never missed a soccer game, baseball game or later hockey and lacrosse. She was a shutterbug, taking a roll of pictures every week and printing duplicates so everyone could have a copy. Anita and Vitauts remained in the local Latvian community throughout the years. Their involvement in the Dallas/Riga Sister City Society meant hosting many of the traveling dignitaries and attending all of the various functions. As Latvians, we celebrated St. John’s Day on June 23rd by making wreaths worn on our heads, dancing, eating and drinking. A more somber celebration each year was on November 18th, which represented Latvia’s independence from Russia. The opera was one of her passions and so it was that they had season tickets for more than 20 years. In her quiet time, she loved to read and do the New York Times crossword puzzles. She departed this life on February 14, 2018 at the age of 81 and is survived by her, Vitauts Jurevics, their daughter Rita Morrison and her husband Bryan Morrison; their son Paul Jurevics; grandsons Spencer Morrison and his wife Jayci Morrison, and Travis Morrison; her sister Marlis Jordan of Austin; her brother in law Juris Jurevics; and her cousins Ursula Tremmel and Horst Kohlberger of Germany. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Services to be held in the Wildwood Chapel at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas on March 7th at 3:00 pm. In lieu of flowers please donate to the American Latvian Association, 400 Hurley Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850-3121 in her honor.
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