Josh Imhof | features editor

Renee Klawon, Duquesne alumna and former Delta Zeta sorority member, said that her friend and sorority adviser, Rita Warfield, could be best described by two lines in the organization’s creed:

“To those whom my life may touch in slight measure, may I give graciously of what is mine … to my friends, understanding and appreciation; to those closer ones, love that is ever steadfast.”

“She had a love for everyone that was so steadfast and was never unwavering,” Klawon said.

On Jan. 27, Warfield died from complications of diabetes. She was 68.

Warfield retired on Jan. 5 after celebrating 50 years at Duquesne, a career that began on Nov. 6, 1975 in the Budget Control Office.

At 18 years old, she started as a key punch operator. In 1983, she was named supervisor of budget control. Eventually, budget control was renamed Computer Services, where Warfield stepped into her final role as manager of financial information systems in 2014.

In addition to her roles as a university employee, Warfield also served as the adviser of the Delta Zeta sorority.

“She did a lot of things where it wasn’t even really her job, but she helped out people. If she could, she would teach the person how to do it,” said David Warfield, Rita’s husband.

Bill Christy, university chaplain and director of Spiritan campus ministry, described Warfield as an expert of Duquesne’s financial system.

“She had that encyclopedic knowledge,” Christy said. “She was the person that you went to because many times she didn’t even have to look up anything.”

John Rago, Duquesne alumnus and former Student Government Association president, first met Warfield when he was a student. He said she was always willing to help him and his fellow SGA members with budget questions, even when school was not in session.

After graduating, Rago later returned to Duquesne to serve as assistant dean of the law school and was happily surprised that Warfield still worked there.

“You have friends like that in the world where you can go 15 years without seeing somebody, and they walk into a room and it’s like you finish the sentence that you had been working on 15 years ago,” Rago said. “She was that kind of a friend.”

Outside of Duquesne, Warfield spent most of her time with her family.

Julie Powell, Warfield’s niece, grew up in Florida but would spend summers in Pittsburgh living with her. During the week, Powell, who was 6 years old at the time, would call Warfield on the phone while she was at work.

“Squawk, budget control,” Warfield would answer, imitating a parrot.

“When I would go in, I’d be like ‘Where’s the parrot?’” Powell said. “She would say ‘union rules, he’s on a break right now.’ She was a jokester.”

Warfield met her husband online in the 1990s. The two stayed in touch until their first date when they went to Ohiopyle and came back to the city to take a ride on the Gateway Clipper.

“Sometimes things are difficult when you first meet someone, and they weren’t. They were just very easy,” Warfield said about his late wife.

The two got married in 1997 and enjoyed gardening, going on drives, visiting her family cabin, playing with their dogs and watching Pirates games.

“We were always enthusiastic, even though we knew they were gonna lose,” he said.

Warfield said one of the things he liked most about his wife was how important her family was to her.

He saw this firsthand when the couple moved back into Warfield’s childhood home so she could take care of her mother.

So did her sister, Lorraine Roeper.

“We all got married and went our separate ways, but she stayed in the same house she was born in,” Roeper said.

This care wasn’t just limited to blood relatives. Warfield would often go the extra mile for those around her, especially in the Delta Zeta sorority, said Klawon.

During her senior year in October 1988, Klawon’s mother suffered a brain aneurysm at her home in Buffalo, New York.

With no way to get home, Klawon said Warfield picked her up at her dorm to drive her to the airport.

When it came time for the funeral, Warfield drove Klawon’s Delta Zeta sisters three and a half hours to Buffalo to support their friend.

“To have her bring some of my sorority sisters so that they could come and comfort me during my time of greatest loss, it was really just incredible and it helped me so much to get through that time,” Klawon said.

In another instance, Warfield drove Fayanne Hooning, Duquesne alumna and former Delta Zeta member, to Philadelphia so she could attend her brother’s 10th birthday party.

“For us early sorority girls, she was like a big sister,” Hooning said.

Members of Delta Zeta would often visit Warfield in Rockwell Hall, which Klawon said kept her busy.

“We wondered how she ever got any work done. Someone was always in her office,” she said.

After graduating, Warfield stayed in touch with Klawon and Hooning and played a role in their families’ lives.

Warfield became godmother to Klawon’s son, Scott, and Hooning’s children would call her “Aunt Rit.”

Even as her health declined, Warfield remained at Duquesne virtually until her retirement in January.

“She just loved the place,” her husband said.

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu