Francis Rayne Motheral

June 7, 1926 – March 12, 2019

Rayne was born June 7, 1926, to LT Ricks and Edward Albert Motheral in Yuba City, California. Lt raised Rayne and his brother, Gail, with whom he was very close, in the San Joaquin Valley. Upon graduating from Caruthers High School, Gail went into the Coast Guard, while Rayne joined the Marines.  His tour of duty consisted of mop up operations in Guam and Hiroshima at the close of WWII.

Using the GI bill, Rayne entered UC Berkeley, and graduated with a degree in biology. While at Cal, he became a founding member of the UC hiking club and participated with members climbing in Yosemite. At that time, gear was basic, consisting of tennis shoes and hemp ropes with real nuts and bolts for protection.  Up until recently, early members of the UC Hiking club held reunions every year in a wilderness area- sixty plus years of sustained friendship!  Climbing stuck with Rayne, and he submitted many peaks, including Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro twice, and Mt. McKinley with the Canyon Explorers club.  A less successful climb was an attempt of Peak Communism where his team aborted in order to assist another expedition in trouble.   

Rayne met Shirley Lewis in the hiking club. they were married June 9, 1951.  He hoped to utilize his biology degree in the forest service, but jobs were unavailable.  Seeing a recruitment poster for firefighters in Los Angeles, Rayne jumped at the opportunity; he and Shirley moved from Berkeley to LA where they raised their children, Margaret, Bob, and David. He was a family man and good provider.  Rayne worked his way up the ranks of the LA city firefighters from rookie to battalion chief, retiring in 1988.  

At this point in his life, he started leading safaris to Kenya.  Sadly. Shirley became ill on one of those trips and passed a few months later.  I had met Rayne climbing Denali and joined him on that safari.  We subsequently married.  We had a lot in common: similar political and religious views, graduation from Cal, mountaineering, reading, and travel, which we enjoyed extensively throughout our thirty one years of marriage.  

Rayne had a great sense of humor and equanimity which undoubtedly served him well in fire department management positions and made him popular with friends.  he passed March 12, 2019, due to pneumonia.  

Besides me, Rayne is survived by Margaret, her daughters Angela and Jordana Berliner, Bob; Dave, his wife Sharon and their kids, Sara Allen, Jamie, and Daniel; Sara's husband Jason, and Rayne's great grandkids, Sierra and James Allen. 

- Mary Motheral