Irene Rahder

Irene Rahder, a Naperville legend, passed away in hospice on December 3, 2023, two days after her 96th birthday. Her passing was gentle, and she went in peace.

Born Edith Irene Snodgrass in Austin, Texas on December 1, 1927 to Margaret Bernice ("Bedie") and Elijah Robert Erroll Snodgrass, Irene remained a Texas girl throughout her life, returning to Texas often and keeping the Lone Star State always in her heart. When she was in grade school, she moved with her parents to Wimberley, Texas after her father was hired as a mail carrier for a rural route. They lived just off Wimberley Square in a stone house overlooking Cypress Creek.

Irene often said that she had an idyllic childhood - she and her brother Norwood went swimming in Cypress Creek and Blue Hole whenever they chose. She would often tell stories of how their house was a gathering place where plays were performed by neighbors, and they would listen to the radio which was powered by her father's car battery.

When she was twelve, Irene would drive to school in nearby San Marcos. (That was before Texas bothered enforcing drivers' licenses.) At the age of 15, she was the youngest person to be admitted to Southwest Texas State Teachers College, today known as Texas State University. She double-majored in education and art, and was very active in theatre and set design. The college was also a training center for airmen in WWII, and it was there that she met her future husband, Robert (Bob) Rahder, at that time a young Army second lieutenant.

After graduating from college in 1947, she began teaching, and was married to Bob in 1949 in Grand Lake, Colorado. Irene continued to teach in Denver while Bob attended the University of Colorado on the GI Bill. Over the years they also lived in Wyoming, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where their children were born. In 1962, they finally settled in Naperville.

Irene taught for over three decades at Elmwood Elementary School, where she was well-known for ignoring lesson plans and teaching her third- and fourth-graders to play chess. In 1997, Elmwood held an "Irene Rahder Day" to commemorate her 50 years in education. As she told the Chicago Sun-Times, "I don't think school should teach you to get a job. I think school should teach you to get a life, to enjoy living."

She retired in 2004.

Other passions included history and the etymology of words and phrases. You couldn't have a conversation with Irene without learning something. She was also a talented artist and portraitist. She was intensely interested in culture, and frequented events at the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, and held season tickets to the Goodman Theatre.

Irene travelled extensively to destinations such as China, Costa Rica, Turkey, and Sicily, and pored over books on art and ancient archeology. She was fascinated by biographies, politics, and fiction (and was a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America), and set the tone for a unique household that welcomed scores of friends from all over the world. Every morning into her 90's, she stood at the kitchen counter scouring the newspapers before starting her day.

Irene is survived by her son Karl (Naperville, IL), daughter Lisa (Naperville, IL), son Max, daughter-in-law Debe, and grandsons Joe and Sam (all of Madison, WI).

She was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her mother Bernice Snodgrass, her father Elijah Robert Erroll Snodgrass, her older brother Norwood, and her younger brother Claude (Pepper) Snodgrass.

A celebration of Irene's life will be held in Naperville in the spring of 2024.

In lieu of gifts or flowers, the family would suggest a donation to the Jeanine Nicarico Memorial Fund for Literacy, www.nicaricoliteracyfund.org, 203 W. Hillside Rd., Naperville, IL 60540.