We’ve been friends for around 30 years.
I first met RaNae in the late 80’s through church sports. She would come play softball with us when we had organized stake sports. She was good at every sport she played. She was a great team player, never upset with us when we made mistakes, but encouraging us to become better.
Anne Faber (RaNae’s visiting teacher) was instrumental in getting RaNae to volunteer to work at the temple open house. Claudia Warner was Relief Society President at the time, I never heard the story from RaNae, but Anne had told me the the temple open house was the spark that led RaNae back to activity in the church. When RaNae went through the temple to receive her endowment, Alan and I were the witness couple for that session. It was a memorable day.
RaNae continued to participate in church sports and even spoke at one of our Sports Banquets. It was then I learned of her love of the Olympics and also her country. About this time, JoyLynn Lee and I organized a volleyball team to play in a city league. We played down in Balboa Park for several years. Other team members included Nancy Collins, Tricia Sutherland, Erin Morris, Carla McMullin, and Sue Lockhart. We enjoyed playing together and even played in a Rancho Bernardo league for a couple of years too.
RaNae was involved in girls camp for many years, I believe it was Claudia Warner who got RaNae involved. RaNae planned a lot of fun team building activities for the girls to participate in. Her last year helping with camp, she cross stitched bookmarks with the camp theme for all the girls and leaders (I’m guessing there may have been close to 200 people there.)
I served in a Primary Presidency twice with RaNae. She loved serving in Primary. She loved the children, they brought a smile to her face! RaNae told me once that Primary was her favorite calling.
Once RaNae retired, she became a regular at Wednesday and Friday morning volleyball. She would open the building and set up the net when I was out of town. Once, she surprised us all with matching t-shirts, we had about 20 women playing at that time. During several summers, she ran youth volleyball. She taught skills, ran drills and then the youth would play “King of the Court.” She was the Stake Women’s/Young Women’s Sports Director for several years. In addition to volleyball, she introduced us to some new sports including volley tennis, badminton and pickle ball. RaNae was always generous with her time and talents.
It’s been a privilege to know her, she taught me many things about sports and life in general. She made an impact in my life and the lives of many others.
Melanie Bird