Mildred L. (Millie) Rahn

August 5, 1951 – April 9, 2024

Mildred L. (Millie) Rahn, (age 72), of Belmont, Massachusetts, passed away due to cancer on April 9, 2024 in West Friendship, Maryland.

Millie was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania to Herman F. and Clara I. Rahn (nee Hauer) on

August 5, 1951. She graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (BA,

American Studies) and Memorial University of Newfoundland (MA, Folklore). Millie was Boston-based working as a folklorist and ethnographer using her skills in foodways, oral histories, university teaching and public programs; also, a writer and reviewer on many topics related to folklife and traditional music. Millie taught classes most recently for Boston University and Lasell Village in Newton, Massachusetts. For many years, she directed the Foodways stage for the Lowell Folk Festival in Lowell, Massachusetts. Millie also was active in preserving the history of Club 47, a folk music coffeehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts and performed fieldwork for the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History, University of Maine.

Millie, while living miles away from her family in Maryland, was very close to her sisters. She instituted the sisters’ Sunday night Zoom call that began in March, 2020 at the start of the pandemic and it continued until mid-March, 2024. Millie loved that time of everyone sharing life events, family news and information, recipes, family history and many other topics.

Millie was a resident of her beloved Boston for 50 years, living in Watertown and Belmont. After a fire displaced her from her apartment in June 2023, her friends and family rallied around her and supported her. In late 2023 she decided to move to Maryland to be near family. Always the planner, she prepared a list for her "Farewell Tour" that included multiple friend groups, places, museums and even her frequent pilgrimage sites at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Millie accomplished this goal and arrived in Maryland at the end of March, as scheduled.

Millie is preceded in death by her mother and father.

Millie is survived by sisters Phyllis Wilson (Harold), Doris Walsh (Gerald) and Kathleen

Ahrens (Gary). Also survived by nephews and nieces Benjamin Walsh, Hillary Walsh, Lauren Grotte (Benjamin), Christopher Ahrens (Jill) and Mark Ahrens (Gabrielle) and great nephews and nieces Jacob Grotte, Ella Grotte, Jackson Grotte, and Andrew Ahrens. Millie also leaves behind her dear cat Aurora.

Funeral services will be at a later date. Burial will be private. If desired, donations may be made to a charity of one’s choice, in memory of Millie Rahn. The family would like to thank Gilchrist Hospice for their support during what became Millie’s final days.