Cecile Rich

Cecile (Gagnon) Rich, passed away June 9, 2004. She was born on April 26, 1920 in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Canada. She was married at 16, in an arranged marriage, to Adelard Alain and had three sons and two daughters over the next 10 years. At the end of her first marriage, she took a job in a nightclub as a cigarette girl, where she met her future husband Paul Rich, who performed magic under the name of "Ali the Fakir". He recruited her to be his magician's assistant, costume designer, and wife in 1957. They traveled the east coast together performing in nightclubs from Montreal to New Orleans, and settled in Las Vegas in 1960. They had one daughter together, and Cecile gave up perfoming to become a homemaker. She utilized her retirement years as a caregiver to her two Las Vegas grandchildren. Cecile had seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren throughout the U.S. and Canada. She was preceded in death by her sole brother, and eight of her nine sisters. She is survived by her husband of 47 years, Paul Rich; and children, Gisele Dodson, Marcel Alain, Celine Gagnon, Jean Clement Laperrierre, and Pierrette McCord. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19, at Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home, 6200 S. Eastern Ave.