Raine Arlyn de Keczer

Raine Arlyn de Keczer, passed away near her home in Saratoga, California, surrounded by her children and loved ones.

Those who knew Raine often describe her with the same words: kind, caring, loving, and giving. She was someone who genuinely cared about how others were doing. She would take the time to sit with you, listen to what was on your mind, and offer advice or encouragement when you needed it. Her door was always open to someone who needed a place to go, and somehow there was always room for another person at her table.

More than anything, Raine's greatest love was her family.

For 55 years, she shared her life with her loving husband, Steve de Keczer. Together they built a family and a home that became a gathering place for far more people than those who simply lived there. She was a devoted mother to her daughters, Amara, Rana, and Stephanie, and her sons, Devin and Daryl, and a loving grandmother to Genesis, Finnley, and Xander. She also shared a special bond with cousins Zoltan, Tamås, and Géza, whom she loved and cared for as though they were her own.

To Raine, family was never defined only by blood. If she loved you, you were family, and if you needed her, she was there.

Caring for others was simply part of who Raine was. She was a devoted daughter who cared for her mother throughout her life. After graduating nursing school, she worked as a hospice nurse, providing care and comfort to people and their families during some of the most difficult and vulnerable moments of their lives. It was fitting work for someone with such a natural ability to care for others.

As her family grew, Raine eventually left nursing after four years to become a full-time homemaker, devoting herself to caring for the people under her own roof. Her’s, however, was rarely an empty house.

At one point, 12 people were living in Raine's home at the same time. What might have felt crowded to someone else was simply family to her. She cooked, cleaned, listened, worried, gave advice, helped where she could, and made sure everyone was taken care of. She had a habit of putting the needs of the people she loved ahead of her own. She didn't do it for recognition or because anyone expected her to. It was simply her way.

Her compassion did not stop with people.

Raine had an extraordinary tenderness toward animals, particularly those that were lost, vulnerable, or simply happened to find their way into her life. Over the years, her home became a refuge for an unlikely collection of visitors and adopted family members, from stray cats, family member’s dogs, to baby possums, to large toads, snakes, and even a family of skunks living in a tree. If a creature was hungry, Raine wanted it fed. If it needed shelter, she wanted it safe. An example is the frog she nurtured: the frog’s average life expectancy was 7 years. It lived 15 years when Raine cared for him or her or it.

That little story says a lot about who she was.

If something needed help and Raine could provide it, she did.

Her generosity extended well beyond her own home. Throughout her life, she donated to many charitable causes, particularly those helping children, education, and animals. Whether she was caring for hospice patients, looking after her family, opening her home to someone who needed a place to stay, feeding an animal that wandered into her life, or quietly helping someone she would never meet, Raine spent much of her life taking care of others.

It is difficult to fit an entire life into a few paragraphs, especially a life that touched so many others. Raine's legacy is found not only in the family she leaves behind, but in all the smaller moments that made her who she was.

It is in the meals she prepared, the conversations she had, the advice she gave, the people she comforted, the animals she fed, and the many times she made room for someone when her house was already full.

It is in knowing that when someone needed her, Raine would do her best to be there.

In the final days of her life, there was something especially meaningful in seeing that care returned to her. The woman who had spent so many years looking after everyone else was surrounded by her children and loved ones near her home. They were there beside her, surrounding her with the same love and comfort that she had spent a lifetime giving so freely to them.

Raine will be deeply missed by her husband of 55 years, Steve; her children, Amara, Rana, Stephanie, Devin, and Daryl; her grandchildren, Finnley, Genesis, and Xander; Zoltan, Tamås, and Géza; her extended family; and the many friends and people whose lives she touched along the way.

Her home may be quieter now, but the love Raine gave throughout her life did not leave with her.

It remains in her children and grandchildren. It remains in the family she cared for, the people she comforted, and the countless memories that will continue to be shared. It remains in all those little stories that make a person unforgettable.

Raine spent her life making room for others in her home, at her table, and most importantly, in her heart. She impacted people who came in contact with her, profoundly, often altering their life trajectories for a better version of themselves.

She took care of people. She took care of animals. She took care of her family.

That was simply who Raine was.

She was deeply loved, she will be deeply missed, and the love she gave so freely will remain with her family always.