We were saddened to learn of the passing of Cecil Rahe, age 98, on August 24, 2025.

Cecil was married to long time CAHSLA member  Emily Rahe for 66 years.  Emily was a 30-year librarian at Merrill Dow, a pharmaceutical company with research labs in Reading, Ohio.  Emily passed away in 2018 at the age of 90.

Cecil was a veteran of World War II who used the GI Bill to pursue an MBA at Xavier University.  For most of his career, Cecil was an industrial engineer.  Among the jobs he held, Cecil worked for 17 years at the U.S. Department of Energy facility, Fernald, in Ross, Ohio.

At first, Cecil attended the CAHSLA social events with Emily, but then began to regularly attend all of our meetings. He was made a lifetime member of CAHSLA alongside Emily in 1997/1998.

You could not have met a nicer person. He always had a greeting and a smile for everyone. If you have ever heard someone described as “having a twinkle in their eye”, Cecil fit that description.  

From his obituary we learned that Cecil stayed active in his church and many other organizations, including being a poll worker on election days,  after his retirement.  I would occasionally see Cecil at Playhouse in the Park in recent years. 

Submitted by Lisa McCormick