Sarah Elizabeth Dwyer Rafaleowski

Sarah Elizabeth Dwyer Rafaleowski passed away peacefully at her home with her husband, mother, father, and sister by her side on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, at the age of 35. She was a beloved wife, daughter, coach, mentor, and friend who will be missed by all who knew her. Her strong faith carried her through life and hardships, and she thoroughly believed in the motto faith over fear. Her genuine love and empathy for others was felt by all who met her. Sarah was thoughtful, sincere, intuitive, creative, and hardworking. She had a passion for all things sports and outdoors including competing, spectating, and coaching. Sarah loved the game of softball. Sarah was very competitive and began at the age of seven. She played for recreation leagues in the town of Brusly, for the Brusly Middle School Softball Team, for the Patriots traveling tournament team out of Central Baton Rouge, for the Stingers traveling tournament team out of Watson, and of course for her alma mater Brusly High School. Sarah spent most of her game time on the pitcher's mound, loved to compete with girls much older than her, and loved to be right in the middle of the action. Over the past 5 years Sarah served alongside Andrew as a volunteer coach for Healing Place Athletics. Sarah served as an umpire when she wasn't coaching on Saturdays at Healing Place. Together they coach Gracie and Gunner's softball, baseball, soccer teams and then would eventually pickup another softball team with girls from St. George Catholic School. Sarah was instrumental because of her years of pitching in the development of all the girls who aimed to become pitchers. Sarah's passion for sharing her experiences and skills made her such a wonderful role model. She cared deeply for every player and wanted them to succeed on and off the field. What many were unaware of is that for the last 2.5 years Sarah had been courageously fighting to win her own health battle. Regardless of how she felt after treatments Sarah would be there for practices and on gameday. She spent countless hours teaching Gracie Rafaleowski how to pitch in the backyard, hitting flyballs to both Gracie and Gunner and she could be easily convinced to partake in a wiffle ball game with the neighborhood children who loved to come over and visit with her and see what she was working on. Sarah and Andrew threw the baseball together numerous times during the week in the backyard and would hit off the tee together on the back deck for hours. They would frequent D-Bat of Baton Rouge together to hit in the batting cages. Sarah could absolutely "Rake". Sarah and Andrew participated in a co-ed softball league where she quickly showed that she still could play with the best of them. Sarah was the best teammate she was Andrew's teammate in life. Sarah was an avid hunter spending many hours in the woods during hunting season with her bow or rifle. She loved being around the members of the Arcole Hunting Club and spending time with Andrew doing something they both loved. The camp members welcomed her and loved spending time with her. They were some of her biggest supporters throughout this journey. Sarah could clean, debone and process deer and other types of game animals and refused to pay for someone else to do it. Many nights we spent together grinding meat from the weekend harvest. Sarah loved running and exercising daily. She enjoyed cooking, baking bread, designing and crafting specialty themed birthday cakes for the children of her close friends. Sarah enjoyed expressing herself creatively through woodworking, furniture refurbishing, weaving, knitting, and painting. She loved all her animals, which included quail, chickens, rabbits, dogs, and cats. Sarah loved to share her knowledge and experience with raising animals with Gracie, Gunner and the neighborhood children. She would teach the children how to love and care for them. It was so special to witness the lessons she was teaching and the impact she was making on their young lives. Many times, you could look out the kitchen window and see Sarah leading the way from each pet station with a kid hot on her heels. Sarah loved to work in her flower and vegetable garden and was always ready to take a trip to Home Depot with Andrew. She enjoyed shopping for antiques, going to estate sales, and thrift stores as often as possible. Andrew called her his Superwoman-Pioneer Lady. Sarah was a graduate of Louisiana State University, became licensed by the Louisiana State Board of Professional Engineers for Civil Engineering, worked for many engineering consulting firms in the Baton Rouge area, including her most recent employment at Roston Consulting Services in Baton Rouge. She was a resident of Baton Rouge and native of West Baton Rouge Parish, LA. Visitation will be held at Wilbert Funeral Home in Plaquemine on Friday, September 20, 2024, from 10am until religious services at 2pm, conducted by Pastors Andy and Marla Stroup. Interment will follow at Grace Memorial Park, Plaquemine. Sarah is survived by her husband, Andrew Rafaleowski; stepchildren, Gracie and Gunner Rafaleowski; parents, George Jr. and Debra Hidalgo Dwyer; siblings Jessica Dwyer Titone and husband Jason, and Ryan Dwyer and wife Jessica; nieces and nephews, Wesley, Isabel, Claire, Ryan Jr. and Nolan; grandfather, George Dwyer Sr.; mother-in-law, Brenda Bonfanti; sister and brothers-in-law, Cody Rafaleowski, Stephanie Crawford, John Crawford, and Ron Clayton. Preceded in death by her grandparents, Charles and Olivia Hidalgo, and Della Dwyer. Pallbearers will be Whit Harvey, John Stone Cambell, Christian Bonds, Jason Titone, Jordan Montgomery, Wes Hotard, John Crawford and Kevin Hidalgo. Honorary pallbearers will be Spencer Fontenot, Landon Parker, Andre Roques, Drew Blanchard, Kyle Jones, Matt Duplechain, Cody Rafaleowski, and members of the Irish Men's Baseball Team from the Deep South Adult Baseball League. All of her family and friends would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to all the doctors and staff at MD Anderson and Audubon Hospice for giving her the best treatment and love possible. Also, to all of the sports teams, Healing Place Church and St. George School for showing an overwhelming of love and support to our family, especially Sarah.