Rita Ann McMichael

Rita Hooper McMichael,75, of Sylva passed away Friday, November 21,2025.

Rita was a native of Jackson County and the daughter of the late Duane Hooper and Billie Rae Carver Hooper both from the Big Ridge Community in Glenville,NC .

Rita graduated from Brevard High School class of 1968. She received a full nursing scholarship to N.C. Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem,N.C. She was a devoted nurse and provided excellent patient care her entire career. Rita retired from Cherokee Indian Hospital in 2017.

She is survived by her husband, Jerry Lee McMichael Sr. of Sylva; her two daughters, Heather Mercer of Sylva and Kelly Payne of Huntsville,Alabama; four grandchildren, Leanne Keeney and Jamie Mercer of Wilmington,N.C., Mackenzie Payne and Carter Ealey of Huntsville, Alabama.

A memorial service is planned to be held on December 13,2025 at the Bryson City Seventh-Day Adventist Church.