Kathleen Ann Rabie

(Kathleen) Ann Rabie (nee Brownlow), of St. Paul, MN died in the early hours of February 25, 2025 in her home, surrounded by her husband and four children.  Ann was born on the family farm in Wild Rose, Wisconsin December 21, 1934. She attended Wild Rose High School and graduated St. Olaf College in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She completed her Master of Education at the University of Minnesota.  She was called to serve as a missionary nurse with the American Lutheran Church and spent nine months in Paris learning French anticipating a commission to Cameroon, but ultimately was deployed to South Africa where she served for 20 years.  She served as a nursing educator at Hlabisa Lutheran Mission Hospital where she met and married her husband, Sieg.  They had four children together. She later completed a program in nurse midwifery at Addington hospital in Durban, South Africa where she earned a gold medal for top marks in the Natal Province and a gold watch for top clinical skills in her midwifery program. When she returned to the USA with her family in 1981, she worked as a labor and delivery nurse while pursuing her USA nurse midwifery credentials, and then worked as a nurse midwife at Hennepin County Medical Center until she retired. Ann was active in St Anthony Park Lutheran Church in the Parish Nurse Ministry, Care Team Ministry (including the over-seventies worship services), and the Pastoral Care Committee. Ann was honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award from St. Olaf college in 1994. She was a skilled knitter and took a blue ribbon for each of the several knitting projects she submitted at the Minnesota State Fair.  Ann loved traveling and achieved her goal of visiting all fifty states and all seven continents; she leaves behind bookshelves full of photo albums from her travels.  She was an avid birder and maintained a life list until she left South Africa.  More than any of that, Ann was known for her warmth and her unforgettable laugh.  She developed deep and strong connections in every group she joined, including the Order of the Ewe knitters group in St. Paul, the Golden Girls group of retired Hennepin County Medical Center nurse midwives, the swimming group at the YMCA, St Olaf Nursing alumni and others. Ann was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Leland (Lee) George Brownlow. She is survived by her husband, Siegfried Paul Antoni Rabie, Sister Ruth (Tom) Cerull, Sister-in-law Barbara Brownlow, children Lisa (Charles) Clark, Kari (James Dungan) Rabie, Sara Rabie, and Paul (Samantha Weatherston) Rabie, and seven grandchildren.  The memorial service will be at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church at 3PM on Saturday March 1.  Light refreshments to follow.  Memorial gifts preferred to Global Health Ministries.