Herb Rauh

Herb Rauh

SPRINGVALE, Maine - Herb Rauh - a creative force, inventive mind, and beloved man - died Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014, at The Lodges in Springvale, Maine, just minutes from the home he crafted with his wife, Lorraine, in West Newfield.

He was born Herbert Douglas Rauh on Oct. 8, 1930, to Robert Rauh and Gwendolyn Newcomb Rauh. His mother passed when he was a boy, and his grandparents, George Rauh and Margaret Rauh, had a strong influence on his childhood, as did his stepmother, Agnes, and brother David.

He attended the School at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In 1957, he married Lorraine Ann Rice, adopted her sons, George and Nick, and together they had daughters Tami and Tracey.

As a boy he relished summers at the family camp at Square Pond in Shapleigh, Maine, so much so that when he and Lorraine - who he called Larry - sold their home in Epping, after the children grew up, they moved back to that area. Together they built the shingled house in West Newfield, where he hand-carved the beams and stairs.

For 30 years the family lived in the 1734 Colonial he and Lorraine restored. The old red house and barn sat on the banks of the Lamprey River and the children swam and frolicked on the waterfall, as well as exploring the 262 acres surrounding the property. Herb was a competitive and athletic man, deeply committed to sports and fitness. He created an 18-hole golf course in the woods and a weightlifting gym in a shed, long before fitness was all the rage. He also was a movie trivia buff and acted in musicals with the Epping Community Players and Upstairs Downstairs Theatre.

As he aged, he would always say that the years in Epping were the best of his life.

Herb was an artist and primarily worked from his studio at home. He was most interested in watercolors, but also did oil paintings, clay sculpture, woodworking and clock-making. He and Lorraine sold his work at shows in New England and Florida. His unique style spanned from Downeast humor to realism to the whimsical. He most loved to capture the character of people.

He was a private man, forever young at heart, and he will be missed here on Earth but welcomed by Larry for his next adventure.

He is predeceased by Lorraine and survived by his sons George and Nick, Nick's wife, Anna, his daughter Tami and her husband, Richard, and his daughter Tracey. He is also survived by his brother, David and his wife, Roberta, his grandchildren Jaden, Miles, Bobby, Elizabeth, Mitchell, Eva, Taylor and Owen, and his great-grandchildren Ilyana, Isaac and Violet.

A service will be held at the American Legion, 551 Foundry St., Rollinsford, N.H., at 1 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 17. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, www.smfa.edu/support-smfa.

Visit www.fosters.com/obits for an online guest book.