In Memoriam: Lucille Rader, May 1, 1923 - October 20, 2015

Lucille Rader was born Margaret Lucille Keating on May 1, 1923 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, the second daughter of Agnes Walsh Keating and Edward Keating. Her family later moved to Los Angeles, California, where Lucille attended Catholic schools through graduation from Los Angeles Catholic Girls High School, Bishop Conaty Memorial (currently Bishop Conaty -- Our Lady of Loretto High School), graduating in 1941. Upon graduation from high school, Lucille joined the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a California-based religious community that focused on education. Lucille took the religious name Sister Mary Matthew.

While teaching in the Los Angeles diocese's elementary and high schools for many years, Lucille also continued her own education, ultimately earning the PhD degree in French from Laval University in Montreal, Canada.

In 1970, when the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order disbanded after disagreements with the local and worldwide church hierarchy, Lucille continued her teaching career in the Los Angeles Unified School District and at Los Angeles Catholic high schools.

In 1972, Lucille married Paul Rader, and taught French and English as a Second Language at Hollywood High and Belmont Adult Schools for several years. She then moved on to teach at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a magnet school. In 1988, she returned to teaching, primarily at Immaculate Heart High School, as well as leading a French interest group on several tours of France, volunteering at Corpus Christi, her parish church in the Pacific Palisades, playing tennis, attending classes at UCLA, and enjoying art and orchestral performances throughout the Los Angeles area. Lucille officially retired in 1998 at the age of 75, yet she remained in touch with so many students whose lives she had touched.

Lucille's dedication to quality education, particularly of young women, and her interest in team sports led her to found the Lucille Rader Education Foundation in 2000. This Foundation provides college scholarships for young Catholic women who have attended Catholic high schools in the Los Angeles archdiocese and who have participated in team sports during their high school years. Dozens of Los Angeles' young women have benefitted from these scholarships.

Mrs. Rader unfortunately suffered from Alzheimer's Disease in her final years, and she passed away at the age of 92 on October 20th, 2015.