March 6, 1931 - August 11, 2022
Lillian Mary Rainey, 91, passed away August 11, 2022 from a pulmonary embolism. She was peaceful throughout her hospice experience. Her faith sustained her and served as an inspiration for many.
Lillian was born March 6, 1931, in St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada, the sixth child of James and Helena Bates. After her father passed away when she was only 1 year old, her mother relocated the family to her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Faith and education were the family’s values. Four of Lillian’s siblings went into religious life: Al and Gerard Bates as priests, James Bates as a teaching brother, Romaine Bates as a nun.
Lillian graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mount Saint Vincent College in 1951 and obtained a teaching diploma from the same college one year later. Lillian and her sister, Helen, married brothers and relocated to the Washington, DC area for their husbands’ jobs.
Lillian married Donald W. Rainey in 1953 and was married for 44 years until he passed away in 1997. She is survived by their four children and their spouses: Ann Catherine (George Ladner), Colleen Mary (William Bradley), Donald James (Bridget Rainey) and Elizabeth Marie (Bruce Riedel) as well as by 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
With such a faith-filled family, a vocation to serve our Lord was in her lifeblood. Lillian was an active parishioner at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church for 55 years from 1965 through 2020. She served as a teacher at OLGC school, a catechist, a pastoral council member, a RCIA program team member, a treasurer for The Women of OLGC, a funeral minister, a sacristan, a Eucharistic minister, and a minister to the sick. She was also a graduate of Trinity College’s Education for Parish Service Program in 1989. She received recognition as the “Most Outstanding Woman of the Parish” for OLGC from the Arlington Diocesan Council of Catholic Women in 2006.
Lillian’s life will be celebrated at a funeral Mass on August 30, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, 8601 Wolftrap Road, Vienna, VA 22182. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network): Old Leeds Road, Irondale, AL 35210; EWTN.com; 1-800-447-3986.
