In Memory

Deanna Kay Rahn (Mason) - Class Of 1966 VIEW PROFILE

Deanna Kay Rahn (Mason)

Feb 28, 1948 - Nov 1, 2001


Former longtime Irvine resident Deanna Kay Mason of Des Moines, Iowa, died Nov. 1 at the Mayo Clinic Center. She died of a rare blood disease, myelofibrosis. She was 53. True to her giving nature, she loved being a part of medical research at the center and hoped she would be part of finding the cure for the disease, according to her daughter, Maggie Beemer. 

Mrs. Mason still had many friends in Orange County where she was active in issues involving children and women. She was on the board of the Children's Home Society and was instrumental in founding the infant childcare program at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Irvine. She also ran a day care business in her home for many years. A memorial service will be held Saturday, Nov. 10, at 10 a.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 4400 Barranca in Woodbridge.  

Mrs. Mason was born Feb. 28, 1948, in Upland. She grew up in Upland and Claremont and graduated from Claremont High School in 1966.  

She married Stanley Ivan Mason in May 1969 in Stuttgart, Germany, where Mr. Mason was in the U.S. Army. They lived in Germany until late 1971 when they returned to Southern California. They made their home in Claremont and she worked at Simco, where she developed and tested recipes for microwave ovens. Mr. Mason had a career as a real estate appraiser. 


They moved to Irvine in 1977. They lived in the Irvine Groves. After leaving her job at Simco in 1979, she started a child care business in her home so she could be at home with her two daughters. She loved working with children. 
Her daughter remembered her mother as an outgoing, friendly person who was always concerned about making other people comfortable. She was especially interested in issues that involved children and women. She was involved in women's ministry at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, where she was a member since 1980. She also helped take Communion to people who were confined to their homes. Her daughter recalled going with her mother on several occasions to feed and visit homeless people in a Laguna Beach program. 

In 1994, Mrs. Mason became a financial planner. 

In 1997 her husband died suddenly of an aneurysm when he was 53. Mrs. Mason decided to move to Des Moines to live in a more rural area and to try something new. She had established her own small home complete with a yellow Labrador puppy named Madison. 

"She was full of life. She was always a cup-half-full kind of person, rarely a cup-half-empty person. When she wasn’t she would realize it and bounce right back," said her daughter.
 
Mrs. Mason is survived by her daughters and their husbands, Heather and Michael Masonjones of Tampa, Fla., and Margaret and Andrew Beemer of Des Moines; her parents, David E. and Mona L. Rahn of Upland; her sister, Donna McClure of Victorville; and her grandchildren, Sawyer, Kellerin and Graelyn Masonjones and Samuel and Jonathan Beemer.
 
 





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