Rachel A. Sobran

Gone too soon, gone and leaving a huge hole in our lives, in our hearts, in our home. Rachel Anastasia Sobran, beloved daughter of Evan Sobran and Leigh Trout Sobran passed away suddenly on February 6, 2024. Rachel did a lot in her twenty short years on this planet. She was superbly unique, super smart, creative, funny, very, very, very loving, and unbelievably complicated. Passionate about math and science, and a great writer. A huge hugger, she made friends everywhere she went. She volunteered in an equine therapy program and loved riding horses. She loved her dog Russell and our family dog Ringo so much.
She was born with a multitude of challenges that she worked valiantly to overcome. She had a knot in her umbilical cord at birth, and we wondered if that caused or affected her and her autism, and led to the epileptic seizures she could suffer from.
So yes, Rachel was born with some challenges, but also with some incredible gifts. She was precocious, and had a broad and strong grasp on the English language. She was fearless, scampering up a tree and breaking her arm when she fell but wearing her cast as a badge of honor. She was brilliant, as we learned from numerous tests done as we struggled to help her through the years. And she reveled in handing us our hats in a multitude of games: Monopoly, Words with Friends, Cribbage, Wordle, and so forth. She loved finding and pointing out typos, so we're going to proof this obituary carefully.
Some people are said to be young at heart - she was old at heart, loving cribbage, rocking chairs, knitting, Jeopardy!, Scrabble, porch swings, bucket hats, and quilts. She was best friends with her octogenarian grandmother.
Rachel loved animals, she loved her two dogs Ringo and Russell, she volunteered at Briggs Stable in Hanover where she helped special needs kids enjoy horses with Rachel as their assistant. It brought her great satisfaction. Unconditional love, given and received.
Rachel was also for a good amount of time a real handful. And that is putting it mildly. We can't sugarcoat it and it was part of her story. Her illnesses and delayed growth in certain social/emotional human capabilities caused her at times to be volatile, rash and often very difficult, but the Duxbury School system Special Education department - so many good people worked tirelessly and compassionately to provide for her through her school years. Their care and dedication was exemplary - she was very lucky, and we appreciate them all. She loved going to school and would have gone seven days a week if possible.
Her compassion knew no bounds. While she compared herself negatively to others, she never begrudged anyone their happiness, she was always genuinely delighted for whatever brought anyone joy. She was very kind to the homeless, once kneeling down before a homeless man and giving him money and a big hug - he said it was the first time anyone had touched him in a long time. She encountered a lot of homeless people in her trips to and from Quincy College, at the train station. She bought gloves for a homeless person there, gave the coat off her back to another (always cold, she was wearing two), and gave her phone number to yet another homeless person.
A fashion plate, Rachel was always impeccably dressed and accessorized, with outfits planned out in advance (and multi-layered for warmth, and multi-pocketed for all she liked to carry). She loved watching Project Runway and its spin-offs, and could strike gold at Savers, her favorite place to shop. She was also creative throughout her life, with origami, knitting, and writing, both fiction and nonfiction. She taught herself to play the ukulele, and had the guts to perform in public and at school.
It was a long painful journey for Rachel. Autism robs many from their ability to understand and interpret even simple human interaction, much less the complex ones that teens are apt to go through. She just couldn't read people.
Rachel rose to accomplish many things. She was able to attend Quincy College where she studied and excelled in biology, biotechnology, microbiology, biochemistry (all the bios - could never keep them straight) and genetics, and was a favorite of her professors, always raising her hand to provide answers in class, and delighted to volunteer in the lab even on her days off. The day she died she had just heard that she had been accepted to the UMASS Boston Biology program. We planned on visiting the campus again later that week.
Her life was on an upward trajectory – she would have had an Associates degree this spring in Biotechnology and Good Manufacturing Practice from Quincy College, and started at UMass Boston in their Biology program in the fall – she had wanted a career using genetic engineering to help people with depression. She was becoming increasingly witty (she loved John Mullaney), and had only recently discovered the joy of dancing freely. She was really coming into herself.
She struggled against depression and dark thoughts most of her life, and on Tuesday, February 6th she lost that battle. In an impulsive act, she succumbed to her suicidal impulses. We struggle to understand, and can only hope she's at peace and no longer in pain. Rachel deserved peace. We hope she watches over us.
Rachel is survived by her mother Leigh and father Evan, her brother Adam and her twin sister Hannah, her grandmother Sheila Trout and grandfathers Joe Rines and James Trout, her cousins Mia Trout,Shannon Trout, Jack Sobran, Lauren Sobran, Alexander Sobran, Mary Sobran and William Sobran. She is also survived by so many other people who loved her, looked out for her, appreciated her, and really went out of their way to scaffold her. We appreciate every one of them who showed her such kindness.
Services will be at The Pilgrim Church, 40 Washington Street, Duxbury, Saturday, February 24 at 11 am. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Briggs Stable Therapeutic Riding Program a 501c3 charity located in Hanover, MA