Dr. Anita Remerowski passed away in Olympia, Wash., on Thursday, Aug. 31,2023, with her husband at her side. She left her kindness, concern for the poor and less fortunate, sense of humor, and unwavering opinions on the state of the government, religion, and legal and medical issues across the central and western United States. A more committed Democrat and progressive there never was.
Anita was born to Frank and Margaret Remerowski in Philipsburg, Mont., on Sept. 27, 1947. In the 1950’s Margaret, a teacher, moved with her two small daughters to Central California, where she taught migrant workers. Anita attended various elementary schools, then St. Mary’s Catholic Girls School in the Bay Area. In 1969 she graduated from UC Berkeley Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Anita went on to get a law degree from Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley.
In 1972 she and her young son Eric moved to Alaska, where she worked first for a private law firm and then for the Alaska State School System, flying in small planes to schools all over Alaska.
An adventurer, she lived with Eric in Boston and Rapid City, South Dakota, before moving to Mission. She met Terry Pechota at her interview for a job with South Dakota Legal Services. She got the job and Terry got a wife. The two were married in 1976 at St. Francis.
Anita worked for South Dakota Legal Services as a staff attorney and eventually became its director in 1978. As she told her friends, it was the best time of her professional and personal life. She undertook and directed litigation that was significant if not monumental, including cases in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals establishing a United States trust responsibility for Indian health care in Indian County and the right of people in South Dakota’s unorganized counties to vote for those who governed them in attached organized counties. In her first case in the South Dakota Supreme Court she clarified the right of women to have their maiden name returned in divorce actions.
Their son Dominic was born in 1978 and son Alec in 1979. Mother Margaret moved from California to Mission to help her raise her sons. Anita made lifelong friends in her professional and private life during her time at Mission including Bill Janklow, Charlie and Vi Colombe, Lionel and Barbara Bordeaux, Father Harry Eglasar, Tom and Judy Tobin, Ryan White Feather, Frank Pommersheim, Phil Baird, Marvin Amiotte, Julie Valandra, and a host of others. In 1980 the family moved to Boulder, Colo., where she went to work for the Native American Rights Fund providing litigation services and other support for Indian Legal Services Programs across the United States.
Anita’s personal mission in life was to help people. In 1984, believing she could help more people as a doctor, she changed career and life paths. She took the necessary prerequisite courses at the South Dakota School of Mines, then enrolled in medical school at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Eric, Dominic, and Alec went with her. Many plane trips between South Dakota and Illinois took place during these years.
She became board certified in internal medicine and practiced in Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Arizona, Washington, and Texas.
In San Antonio, Texas, Anita found immense satisfaction volunteering and administering at Each One Teach One, helping migrants learn English and employment skills. She made many dear friends in San Antonio and elsewhere, including Colleen Walker-Vamos, Diane Warren,
Lea Ream, and Rebecca Stokes who along with her family loved and cared for her.
Anita is survived by her husband, Terry L. Pechota, Rapid City, South Dakota; sister Mary, San Francisco, Calif.; sons, Eric Remerowski, Amarillo, Texas; Dominic Pechota(Heidi), Decorah, Iowa; Alec Pechota (Annie), Boise, Idaho; stepson, Todd Pechota (Shelly),Custer, South Dakota; and grandchildren, Samantha, Will, Bridget, Harper, Jalyn, Tate, Collin, and Lucy Leona. Anita will be laid to rest in Philipsburg, Mont., alongside her dear mother whom Anita had cared for until she died.
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