St. Rita was known as the saint of impossible dreams, the saint of courage, bravery, valor and mettle. Rita Madden Thiel was not named after St. Rita, but she surely could have. She had all the attributes. I watched with sadness as she buried two children and a grandchild. No parent or grandparent should ever have to inter their progeny. She dealt with it all with a stiff upper lip, the same way the prodigious women of the Greatest Generation always faced tragedy, calamity, misfortune and heartbreak. For over two years, I was a witness to her hands-on, around-the-clock care to comfort ...