Rachel Frances Prale

April 18th, 2025

Phil and Maureen, I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. Rachel’s spirit was evident in the stories you shared of her, to the point I almost felt like I had met her. My deepest condolences.

~Nadia Seniuta
~Friend of Phil & Maureen, Germany

April 15th, 2025

As the sunset over Santiago on the 1st April I thought of the woman I wished I had met.
Lynne

~Lynne Wallace
~Fellow Traveller, Scotland

April 15th, 2025

Dearest Prale family….our hearts are broken to hear your devastating loss. Remembering your beautiful family and home, filled with music, love and laughter. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
Kathe, Rose, Belle and Oli

~Katherine Whited
~Lincolnwood friends, Phoenix, AZ

April 15th, 2025

Rachel was one of those friends that could make me red in the face and dizzy with laughter. I feel truly lucky to have been graced with her intellect, wit, and perspective. I’m so proud of her for living such a true and full life. I will love her always!

I remember when she came to support me at a performance of mine. The memory remains crystal clear because of how distinctly happy I felt to be seen by someone as bright and shining as Rachel.

You’ll live on with me, Rachel,

Maddy Joss

~Maddy Joss
~Friend and Coworker from The Dawson in Chicago, Brooklyn

April 15th, 2025

Phil & Maureen,
I am so sorry for your loss. I never knew Rachel but I can imagine what a bright lite she was. Especially having great parents as you are . May her memory be a blessing for all

Randi Roth

~Randi Roth
~, Chicago

April 15th, 2025

Such a bright spirit. Brought so much love.
“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”—Thornton Wilder

~Barbara Radner
~Friend, Chicago, IL

April 14th, 2025

My most sincere condolences. My here memories be blessing.

~Barbara Kenning
~, Skokie,Il

April 14th, 2025

I am so sad and shocked to hear that Rachel is no longer with us. She was such a delight to sing with. She had a beautiful voice and lots of musicality. She was generous with her time, attention and skills. I appreciated her kindness and her genuine interest in engaging with folks, regardless of their identity or age. May her spirit live on in those who knew and loved her.

~Kathy Garrett
~Choir member, Portland, OR

April 14th, 2025

I am so happy to have met and shared with Rachel. We met in New Zealand and life brought us together in Oregon. Her contagious laughter, her humor, her dances will always be etched in my memory. Always beautiful Rachel
My condolences to the family

~Ethel perdiguero
~Friend from Chile, New Zealand

April 13th, 2025

Sending love, thoughts and prayers to you and your family during this difficult time. May her memory be a blessing.

~Elie , Karen Youmaran
~Family friends, Lincolnwood, IL

April 13th, 2025

I’m not even sure where to start. Rachel and I were really close for a minute during the formative years of our lives. I couldn’t tell you exactly when or how we met, or even why we connected the way we did. She had this way of seeing you—not for who you were but rather, who you believed you could be. It was this sibylline clairvoyance she seemed to possess, an inheritance bequeathed to a soul that traveled infinite lifetimes to get to this one where she met you. Anyone who spent even just one minute in her presence could tell you you left the conversation simply exalted. It’s hard writing about her in the past tense. I suppose I had hoped for the better part of the last decade that one day we’d reconnect, as if my relationship with her rests in this gentle, tender future tense; like all this love I still had for her and the memories of the time we spent doing high school theatre together gravitated in this great big ball of potential energy still waiting to burst into something magnificent.

It still might—after all, if her soul could meet me in this lifetime, whose to say mine won’t quest to return the favor? So when I do meet her again, I’ll be sure to bring up the moments so essential I can’t not believe they’ll transcend the boundaries of space, time, and memory: our 2am phone calls on school nights where we bared our souls to each other; Kate’s bathroom sink with the waterfall faucet that absolutely gagged the both of us; the surprising discovery in the theatre hallway that the back of her knee was extraordinarily ticklish; the daily walk and talk we shared between the 8th and 9th passing period—or was it 7th and 8th?; the one performance of Chicago where during the Act 1 finale we accidentally froze in a tableau with my hand resting on her shoulder in a way that hadn’t ever happened before, with locked eye contact so wide, fighting desperately to not make each other break onstage; the last time I remember seeing her in person and I told her about a really terrible breakup that still had me reeling, and her response being so deftly acerbic I still laugh at her delivery to this day.

What are human beings but a collection of memories? When you think of those precious core memories, what stands out? Who was there for you? Why, despite the years and years do some moments remain over others? When someone like Rachel becomes an integral part of your history through these memories, they become inextricable with your identity. I believe Rachel lives on in each person lucky enough to share a memory as valuable as the ones she made with me. She will always walk in stride beside me—or more accurately, set a pace I’ll have no choice but to keep up with.

This last week I diligently collected almost every photo of Rachel I had access to. Someone recently commented to me how they remember her being so camera shy—I was incredibly fortunate to have gotten a handful of posed photos with her (some might’ve been a bit more candid/papparazzi shots, I was a bit of a menace early high school.) I’ve shared them to a Google Drive for the Prale family. Many of these photos are production photos courtesy of Niles West Theatre. I will be frank, the plays ‘The House of Blue Leaves’ and ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ have less than stellar treatment of the female roles she played in those shows (specifically scenes of what can be adequately described as physical abuse and emotional abuse of a female character.) While I remember Rachel embracing the challenge of navigating the messiness of these male-written texts in the pursuit of developing her craft, I have chosen to omit certain production photos that excessively highlight these moments.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17UBRSco8qOwX1xBKL86NuaG9aDPc-nlN?usp=sharing

~Dan Bedoya
~Old Friend, Niles

April 11th, 2025

My deepest sympathies for your loss. May Rachel’s memory be eternal. Kathy

~Kathy Tsilimigras
~friend- OPRFHS, Skokie, IL

April 11th, 2025

Dear Phil, Maureen, Naomi, Paul, and Isabel,
We were heartbroken and devastated to hear the news of Rachel’s death. We will always remember her through the years of her childhood and her exceptional acting talent, artistry, and free spirit. May you all gather strength from your memories of your beautiful daughter and sister. Please let us know if there’s anything at all that we can do to help in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Love, Frank, Janis, Lia, and Jesse Sacks

~Sacks Family
~Family friends, Lincolnwood, IL

April 11th, 2025

I got to hang out with Rachel at an outdoor soccer tournament for the Lavendar League, a queer soccer association, here in Portland. There are a ton of PLC members who play and those of us that don’t came out to support. We sat under a tree, me, Rhiver, Rachel and Bo, and just got to know each other a little better. I’m grateful I got that time in the shade, just being with our community.

~Mitch
~Choir member, Portland, Oregon

April 11th, 2025

My condolences

~Michael Byars
~Friend, Oak Park, IL

April 10th, 2025

Phil and Maureen, as the trope goes: “There are no words.”Please accept my warmest and most sincere condolences.
Thinking of you and your family,
Maura

~Maura Shapiro
~Friend of Phil, Henderson, NV

April 10th, 2025

I’m so sorry for your loss thinking of you all at this very difficult time

~Maria Bielecki
~Friend, Evanston

April 9th, 2025

Great person, very passionate about wine, very committed in her duties, sensitive, funny and wierd.
We were her last family in a way,(viñedos de alcohuaz) working, eating, drinking, laughing, karaoke, dancing.
I can speak on behalf of all the team, and she was a big part of this harvest spirit. She will be miss a lot. Im glad that i have the chance to meet her, and to be part of her journey in chile. Let her spirit be free!

~Rosario Fillol
~Friend, Chile

April 9th, 2025

Like the morning star, you shone before everyone’s eyes!
Like the sun, you radiated your joyful energy…
Like a shooting star, you faded quickly, leaving us barely enough time to remember…and make a wish!!!

~Anthony charpentier
~Collègue de vendanges, France

April 9th, 2025

While I never met Maureen daughter my heart breaks for such a young spirit leaving so soon . I cant imagine what Maureen and the family are going through. Prayers to the whole family. My most heart felt condolences

~Andrea Calderon
~Coworker of Mauren Prale, Chicago,IL