
{"id":3926,"date":"2008-11-13T08:28:13","date_gmt":"2008-11-13T16:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3926"},"modified":"2008-11-13T08:28:13","modified_gmt":"2008-11-13T16:28:13","slug":"mel-rashkis-remembered-for-his-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/11\/13\/mel-rashkis-remembered-for-his-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Rashkis remembered for his service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Kirk Ross<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A few years back, some students from Rashkis Elementary School compiled the oral histories of some of this community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leading lights. One of those recordings became a little more precious last weekend. Mel Rashkis died Saturday at UNC Hospitals. He was 90.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nYears from now when people wonder about the couple for whom Rashkis Elementary is named, when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re curious about the origin of Zora Rashkis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 doll collection on display at the school, there will be Mel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recording to guide them.<\/p>\n<p>At his funeral service on Monday at the Judea Reform Cemetery on Jones Ferry Road, more than 100 people turned out to honor Rashkis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 life, work and dedication to his community, including Congressman David Price, former educator Lillian Lee and Rashkis Elementary Principal Deshera Mack.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult, if not impossible, to talk about Mel without talking about Zora,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kim Hoke, executive director of the Public School Foundation. The two were a powerful force in the community \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he an enterprising real estate entrepreneur and she an English teacher with a passion for education.<\/p>\n<p>Hoke said there was so much energy and commitment in the two, it was hard to believe they were at an age when so many people start to take it easy. Among their many accomplishments together was the endowment of a teaching grant with the foundation for middle school language arts. And after the school shootings in Columbine, Colorado, Mel Rashkis stepped up to forge the Community Alliance for Student Success \u00e2\u20ac\u201d an effort to better connect families and schools. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He was deeply disturbed by Columbine and wanted to find ways to prevent that happening here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Hoke.<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just one example of Mel Rashkis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 energy and drive.<\/p>\n<p>Writer Valarie Schwartz, who interviewed the couple many times and often lunched with them, said Mel Rashkis was driven by a genuine interest in understanding the lives of others.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He just really deeply cared about people. He reached out to people in all walks of life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everyone he crossed paths with felt special and carried a new smile after he passed by.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nThe Rashkis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Coker Hills home was an open, welcoming place almost from the time they first arrived in the community.<\/p>\n<p>The school that bears the family name was a special place of pride as well. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mel would take everybody to the school,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Schwartz said. After the couple moved to The Cedars, there were new folks to get to know. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mel treated everyone equally \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he knew the housekeepers at The Cedars by name and treated them with the same regard as the retirees, some of whom had known fabulous careers. He had to know every server by name and was interested in what they did when they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t working and the aspirations they held.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kirk Ross Staff Writer A few years back, some students from Rashkis Elementary School compiled the oral histories of some of this community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leading lights. One of those recordings became a little more precious last weekend. Mel Rashkis died Saturday at UNC Hospitals. He was 90.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3935,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926\/revisions\/3935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}