Nita Marie Allman Rebeck

Dr. Nita Marie Allman Rebeck passed away on June 19, 2023 at the age of 87. The morning previous she woke up in her own house in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, ate a full breakfast, read the newspaper, and debated the latest issues of the day with her son-in-law. Soon after, she unexpectedly slipped into unconsciousness. Despite the immediate and outstanding efforts of the Miraleste Fire Station’s paramedics and the physicians and medical teams at Torrance Memorial Hospital, Nita passed away in hospital the next evening. At the time of her death her adult daughter was there with her holding her hand.

In 1935 Nita was born on a farm in rural Minnesota to Charles F. Allman and Louise A. Bartsch Allman. She was their third child and second daughter. Her paternal grandparents, parents, siblings, and herself all worked the farm. Nita’s earliest memories were of milking cows, fishing to feed barn cats, and reading books. By the age of five Nita was performing minor surgeries on chickens that had consumed too many pebbles. Impressed, her grandmother said she should become a physician. So she did. Nita went on to graduate valedictorian from her parochial high school in Lead, SD, attend college on full scholarship to Clarke University in Dubuque, IA, and graduate Medical School from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

After her medical internship year in Minneapolis, MN, Nita moved to Southern California and became a Kaiser Permanente Medical Group physician at the age of 28. She met her young attorney husband at a beach party in Manhattan Beach, CA that was given by the Catholic Alumni Association. He asked her out after she won the limbo contest. A week later they were engaged and three months later they were married. In 1970 they moved into their ocean view house in Rancho Palos Verdes. That same year, their daughter, Ramona, was born.

While Nita’s husband went on to be the Presiding Judge of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board in Long Beach, Nita became Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. For many years she was Head Physician at Kaiser Permanente Medical Clinics in Huntington Park and Cudahy alongside Office Manager Frankie Stewart. The two women also became lifelong friends. Nita retired from Kaiser Permanente after being a full partner for fifty years. She has been recognized as the longest serving Kaiser Permanente physician.

Nita was preceded in death by her husband and love of her life, The Honorable Joseph P. Rebeck. At the time of his death they had been married for 59 years. Six months after his death, Nita followed. Dr. Nita M. Rebeck is survived by her daughter Ramona Rebeck, her son-in-law, Richard Gottschalk, and her grandson and apple of her eye, Ian Joseph Gottschalk.

Nita’s funeral mass and celebration of life will be held on Friday July 28, 2023 at 10:00A.M. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Pedro, CA at 1292 W. Santa Cruz Street. In lieu of flowers, the family asks Nita be honored as a breast cancer survivor by giving in her memory to an organization that raises money for cancer research and treatment. In Memory notices can be sent to Ramona Rebeck at 3203 Seaclaire Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275.