Rita Elisa Cousins

Rita Loyens Cousins, 81, of Eagle, Idaho passed away on July 18, 2026. She was born on Christmas Day of 1944 in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge to her tireless mother, Anna Kellens.

Rita attended a music conservatory and became an accomplished pianist. After meeting missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a teenager, she joined the church and served her own mission to France. She then moved to the United States, where she first worked in the Family History Department in Salt Lake before moving to Texas to teach French for the Peace Corps. Her sister, Maria, and her mother had also moved to the United States where Rita joined them in Connecticut with her two sons, David and Danny. Connecticut became her home for 40 years and is where she met her husband Donald Cousins, who brought his own son Steven to the marriage. The family soon grew with the birth of their beautiful daughter, Donna.

Rita was highly intelligent and earned a master's degree later in life at Fairfield University, where she excelled. She had a natural love of languages, having grown up fluent in both Flemish and French, and then mastering English without an accent. In order to better serve in the church, she also later became fluent in Spanish. Outside of time spent with family, especially helping raise multiple grandchildren, Rita's greatest passion was genealogy. She was a master researcher, traveling to her homeland many times to collect historical records. Her entire office was dedicated to this endeavor, including drawers of microfilm. She felt a deep connection and obligation to her ancestors, generating a family tree of around 25,000 individuals. She also loved attending the temple with her friends.

After Don retired from his successful law practice, Rita thought that they had settled in Florida. But Donna's family convinced her to come build a house next door to them in Eagle, Idaho, where she continued to help raise grandchildren the last 20 years. This also brought her closer to other grandchildren who had settled in Utah. Rita's house was the center of family get-togethers where she loved getting everyone involved in games, singing, and swimming.

She also opened her home for family to live in during transition periods in their lives, including three different grandchildren and even the family of her son-in-law's sister.

Rita is survived by her two sons, Steven Cousins and Daniel Loyens, two sisters, Maria Murphy and Madeleine Muniken, 13 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by her caring husband, Donald, her son David Loyens, daughter Donna Palmer, and grandson Jack Loyens.

Rita will be remembered for her tenacity, playfulness, and commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was a friend to all and wanted everyone, including grandchildren, to just call her "Rita."