Memorials
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Memorial In Honor of Louis Rahall and Lila Mickel Fischer
Provided by Mike Abraham on Sunday, September 3, 2017
85th Kfeirian Reunion
Labor Day Weekend
September 2017
“Well Done, Good and Faithful Servants”
It’s been 23 years since I was privileged to be elected president of the Kfeirian Reunion for the first time and it was a great honor. However, to speak to you at this time is one of the highlights of my time in serving you and our Foundation, but also the most difficult.
A wheels strength comes from its spokes. Your Kfeirian Reunion is like that. You all out there, the folks up here, those who aren’t able to attend every year, all our people are the spokes of our great organization. The strength of our Reunion has been and always will be - its people.
Tonight, we want to honor two who provided strength and leadership for the Kfeirian Reunion Foundation for most of their adult lives, Louis Rahall and Lila Mickel Fischer.
We each have a story to tell. Our lives are chapters in our book of life and the Kfeirian Reunion has been blessed to be part of several chapters in the lives of Louis and Lila - and equally blessed to have had Louis’s wife Elaine and Lila’s husband Chuck to be at their side each step of the way.
Though this will be way to brief and through my own shortcomings, not sufficient enough. Please allow me to touch on the lives of Lila and Louis.
Lila was the daughter of Kemel and Nazek Mickel. Born here in Charleston, West Virginia. She was the first of that family to be born in America.
The name Lila, to no one’s surprise is Arabic in origin, meaning dark and seductive. A visual image comes to mind of those big beautiful dark brown eyes along with her loving smile. It was my experience Lila would instantly seduce anyone in a conversation leaving them beaming and with a warm memory, or they would at least know what she was thinking. I found she didn’t mince words.
Lila served and supported your Kfeirian Reunion Foundation throughout her life as a board member, Reunion Site co-chairwomen and had been its secretary of the Foundations Executive Committee.
Allow me to tell reveal a couple of stories on Lila Mickel Fischer that I was privileged to witness:
When she found out a Kfeirian Family was in financial trouble due to a serious illness, she didn’t hesitate to make sure she and Chuck made a sizeable donation to the family for simple the reason that it was the right thing to do. Because, that’s just who she was.
Many years after her retirement, I saw her heart break when we saw a women that was older than her working a check out because in her mind she told me, that lady wasn’t as fortunate as her to be able to retire. Again, no other reason, because that’s just who she was.
When you speak of Lila, you have to include the love she had for her cousin, Diane Michael. They weren’t just cousins, but true life friends. Together they organized the successful 1996 62nd Kfeirian Reunion in Orlando, FL. It was the first ever Reunion outside the Tri-State area of West Virginia, Kentucky or Ohio and the forerunner of our continued energies to California, Las Vegas and most recently Myrtle Beach.
Lila was true to her heritage her whole life. Her love for the Kfeirian Reunion was only outdone by the love for her family. Chuck, Charlie, Melanie and her grandchildren Anna Grace and Matthew.
A life well lived good and faithful servant.
Louis Rahall, was the son of Asaff and Jamelia Thabet Rahall, His name has French origins that reflect the influence from the French Mandate of Syria. The meaning will come as no surprise here either, famous warrior, leader. Louis’s life reflected this, a warrior for those and what he loved and a leader in how he lived his life.
Louis served and supported your Kfeirian Reunion Foundation throughout his life. He was on its board of directors; he was a past president and a reunion site co-chairman.
Besides his great love for his family and his heritage, Louis loved his community of Fayetteville, West Virginia and just like he did to our Kfeirian Reunion, he gave back, boy did he ever give back. Shortly after his marriage to Elaine in 1955, they opened a Ben Franklin Hardware store in downtown Fayetteville that’s still there today.
He was the last surviving founding member of the Fayetteville Lions Club, where he had been honored with the Leonard Jarrett and Melvin Jones Fellowship Awards. The Leonard Jarrett Award is West Virginias Lions Club highest honor, given to a worthy person that has serviced the sight and hearing needs of others. The Melvin Jones Fellowship Award is a nationwide award given by his fellow Lions for setting a standard of exemplary service to his club and the community which for which he served.
Louis also served as president of the Fayette County National Bank Holding Company.
Whether you’ve been on it, over it or under it, one of the most iconic images of West Virginia is the world famous New River Gorge Bridge, in no other place than Fayetteville, West Virginia. One of the biggest events in the area, if not the state, is the annual bridge day. This is the only day of the year that traffic is shut down and spectators walk across the country’s longest single arch bridge and is also one of the largest extreme sports events in the world where you can BASE Jump off the bridge, Rappel and Highline. This year approximately 100,000 people will visit this site on the annual bridge day.
Whose idea was this 40 years ago? No surprise here, Louis Rahall.
Another life well lived, good and faithful servant.
Though they are no longer with us here on earth, let’s not forget their joy and their laughter in being with their cousins each Labor Day Weekend and the contributions they made to the Kfeirian Reunion. Their expressions will always be with us; their memories will have a way of finding us just when we need them the most and like all good friendships, their voices will never die.
Through their love for their heritage and the Kfeirian Reunion, these two lives, these two families were and will always be intertwined.
Chuck – Elaine and to each of these families, thank you for sharing Lila and Louis with us for so many years, though, it still wasn’t long enough.
__________________________________________________________
INTRODUCE GEORGE HANNA TO SHARE HIS MEMORIES
___________________________________________________________
CLOSING AFTER GEORGE HANNA COMMENTS
___________________________________________________________
In our memories comes the laughter of lives well lived.
The Bible mentions the words comfort and comforted 102 times.
May our God grant His special blessings of comfort and peace to Elaine and Chuck and to their families.
Though I knew Lila and Louis for almost 40 years, my biggest regret is that I didn’t know them better.
Helen Keller said, “What we have once enjoyed and deeply loved, we can never lose, for all we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
God’s peace Louis and Lila, thank you for your service to the Kfeirian Reunion, thank you to your commitment to your heritage and thank you for your friendship.
Provided by Mike Abraham on Sunday, September 3, 2017
85th Kfeirian Reunion
Labor Day Weekend
September 2017
“Well Done, Good and Faithful Servants”
It’s been 23 years since I was privileged to be elected president of the Kfeirian Reunion for the first time and it was a great honor. However, to speak to you at this time is one of the highlights of my time in serving you and our Foundation, but also the most difficult.
A wheels strength comes from its spokes. Your Kfeirian Reunion is like that. You all out there, the folks up here, those who aren’t able to attend every year, all our people are the spokes of our great organization. The strength of our Reunion has been and always will be - its people.
Tonight, we want to honor two who provided strength and leadership for the Kfeirian Reunion Foundation for most of their adult lives, Louis Rahall and Lila Mickel Fischer.
We each have a story to tell. Our lives are chapters in our book of life and the Kfeirian Reunion has been blessed to be part of several chapters in the lives of Louis and Lila - and equally blessed to have had Louis’s wife Elaine and Lila’s husband Chuck to be at their side each step of the way.
Though this will be way to brief and through my own shortcomings, not sufficient enough. Please allow me to touch on the lives of Lila and Louis.
Lila was the daughter of Kemel and Nazek Mickel. Born here in Charleston, West Virginia. She was the first of that family to be born in America.
The name Lila, to no one’s surprise is Arabic in origin, meaning dark and seductive. A visual image comes to mind of those big beautiful dark brown eyes along with her loving smile. It was my experience Lila would instantly seduce anyone in a conversation leaving them beaming and with a warm memory, or they would at least know what she was thinking. I found she didn’t mince words.
Lila served and supported your Kfeirian Reunion Foundation throughout her life as a board member, Reunion Site co-chairwomen and had been its secretary of the Foundations Executive Committee.
Allow me to tell reveal a couple of stories on Lila Mickel Fischer that I was privileged to witness:
When she found out a Kfeirian Family was in financial trouble due to a serious illness, she didn’t hesitate to make sure she and Chuck made a sizeable donation to the family for simple the reason that it was the right thing to do. Because, that’s just who she was.
Many years after her retirement, I saw her heart break when we saw a women that was older than her working a check out because in her mind she told me, that lady wasn’t as fortunate as her to be able to retire. Again, no other reason, because that’s just who she was.
When you speak of Lila, you have to include the love she had for her cousin, Diane Michael. They weren’t just cousins, but true life friends. Together they organized the successful 1996 62nd Kfeirian Reunion in Orlando, FL. It was the first ever Reunion outside the Tri-State area of West Virginia, Kentucky or Ohio and the forerunner of our continued energies to California, Las Vegas and most recently Myrtle Beach.
Lila was true to her heritage her whole life. Her love for the Kfeirian Reunion was only outdone by the love for her family. Chuck, Charlie, Melanie and her grandchildren Anna Grace and Matthew.
A life well lived good and faithful servant.
Louis Rahall, was the son of Asaff and Jamelia Thabet Rahall, His name has French origins that reflect the influence from the French Mandate of Syria. The meaning will come as no surprise here either, famous warrior, leader. Louis’s life reflected this, a warrior for those and what he loved and a leader in how he lived his life.
Louis served and supported your Kfeirian Reunion Foundation throughout his life. He was on its board of directors; he was a past president and a reunion site co-chairman.
Besides his great love for his family and his heritage, Louis loved his community of Fayetteville, West Virginia and just like he did to our Kfeirian Reunion, he gave back, boy did he ever give back. Shortly after his marriage to Elaine in 1955, they opened a Ben Franklin Hardware store in downtown Fayetteville that’s still there today.
He was the last surviving founding member of the Fayetteville Lions Club, where he had been honored with the Leonard Jarrett and Melvin Jones Fellowship Awards. The Leonard Jarrett Award is West Virginias Lions Club highest honor, given to a worthy person that has serviced the sight and hearing needs of others. The Melvin Jones Fellowship Award is a nationwide award given by his fellow Lions for setting a standard of exemplary service to his club and the community which for which he served.
Louis also served as president of the Fayette County National Bank Holding Company.
Whether you’ve been on it, over it or under it, one of the most iconic images of West Virginia is the world famous New River Gorge Bridge, in no other place than Fayetteville, West Virginia. One of the biggest events in the area, if not the state, is the annual bridge day. This is the only day of the year that traffic is shut down and spectators walk across the country’s longest single arch bridge and is also one of the largest extreme sports events in the world where you can BASE Jump off the bridge, Rappel and Highline. This year approximately 100,000 people will visit this site on the annual bridge day.
Whose idea was this 40 years ago? No surprise here, Louis Rahall.
Another life well lived, good and faithful servant.
Though they are no longer with us here on earth, let’s not forget their joy and their laughter in being with their cousins each Labor Day Weekend and the contributions they made to the Kfeirian Reunion. Their expressions will always be with us; their memories will have a way of finding us just when we need them the most and like all good friendships, their voices will never die.
Through their love for their heritage and the Kfeirian Reunion, these two lives, these two families were and will always be intertwined.
Chuck – Elaine and to each of these families, thank you for sharing Lila and Louis with us for so many years, though, it still wasn’t long enough.
__________________________________________________________
INTRODUCE GEORGE HANNA TO SHARE HIS MEMORIES
___________________________________________________________
CLOSING AFTER GEORGE HANNA COMMENTS
___________________________________________________________
In our memories comes the laughter of lives well lived.
The Bible mentions the words comfort and comforted 102 times.
May our God grant His special blessings of comfort and peace to Elaine and Chuck and to their families.
Though I knew Lila and Louis for almost 40 years, my biggest regret is that I didn’t know them better.
Helen Keller said, “What we have once enjoyed and deeply loved, we can never lose, for all we love deeply becomes a part of us.”
God’s peace Louis and Lila, thank you for your service to the Kfeirian Reunion, thank you to your commitment to your heritage and thank you for your friendship.