Published: August 22, 2009 01:02 am      

FISH co-founder remembered fondly

“We can allow fear of the future to freeze us into a fetal position or we can grasp the hand of God and learn to walk where He leads, for He will never lead into a desert and let go of our hand. Who knows, we may even learn to walk on the troubled waters of the future? But first we gotta get out of the boat.”
Mary Ellen Rauch — May 13, 1981.

Mary Ellen Rauch spent a lot of time out of that boat during her 78 years.

Rauch, who died Aug. 3 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, is remembered as a person who cared for her fellow man, no matter how unpopular it was to care for who she was caring for.

“She raised 12 children, but she always found time to help others,” said daughter Amy Schumacher, the seventh of those 12. “She didn’t really care what other people thought.”

Schumacher said the family often hosted racial minorities at their Teutopolis home during a period of time when that wasn’t always socially acceptable.

“Dad (Wilfred, an Illinois state trooper) was always bringing in families off the interstate,” Schumacher said. “It didn’t matter if you were black, white, red or brown, or Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran or whatever.

“I never heard her talk badly about anybody.”

As time went on, Rauch expanded her willingness to help others by founding the Effingham County FISH organization with friend Nancy Deters in 1970.

“There will never be another person like her,” Deters said. “I just can’t say enough good stuff about her.”

Deters said her friend was ahead of her time in so many ways.

“There was one time these black men from St. Louis came to look for horses,” Deters said. “She couldn’t find them any horses, but they stayed in her home — and this was not exactly Martin Luther King country.”

Deters said Rauch’s kindness extended to strangers and friends alike.

“She came out to my house once while I was on vacation and planted a nice little flower garden for me,” she said. “She was the kindest, just the best person.”

Perhaps one of the most telling tributes to Rauch is the fact that FISH continues to thrive almost 40 years after its founding.

Mary Elanora Geier grew up in rural Jasper County, not far from Ingraham. Soon after high school, she married Wilfred Rauch and they began having babies. By the time of her death, they would have 12 children, 38 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren.

The Rauchs started married life as farmers, first in rural Jasper County, and then near Jewett. But a bad drought in 1957 caused “Wil” to take a job with the Illinois State Police and the family moved into Teutopolis — though they kept the farm.

As the kids grew, Mary Ellen began to spread her wings — first with FISH and other charitable organizations — then as a writer.

“It was always her goal to become a writer,” Schumacher said. “She didn’t start writing until the late 70s, but she was eventually able to get much of her work published in magazines.”

Rauch also published numerous pieces in the Teutopolis Press.

Rauch remained active until she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1994. By the time Wil died in 2001, she was unable to dress herself and moved in with daughter Amy before entering a nursing home, where she lived her final years.

But one of her last conscious decisions showed what type of person she was.

“She always said when she died that she wanted to donate her body because she wouldn’t need it anymore,” Schumacher said.

As a result of those wishes, Rauch’s brain was donated for Alzheimer’s research.

Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com