by Shea Chancey, news editor
 

South Plains College lost another member of its’ family recently, with the passing of one of its’ mothers – longtime dorm mom Rachel Graf.

 
Graf passed away after a brief illness on Oct. 3 at Covenant Medical Center in Lubbock at the age of 76. Her funeral was held Oct. 6 in Levelland.
 

Graf had been working at South Plains College since Feb. 16, 1988, as a dorm mother to thousands of the college’s male residents. She was last working at Lamar Hall, home of 87 college men.
 

Graf was born March 27, 1928 in Decatur, Wise County. She became a resident in Levelland in the 1950’s, moving from Pettit, where she graduated from Pettit High School. On March 27, 1950, she married Westin B. Graf in Clovis, NM. He preceded her in death in 2002. She had worked as a clerk for Bob’s Shoe Store for approximately 28 years, before serving as a dorm mother at Frazier Hall and at Lamar Hall.
 

Graf is survived by: her son, Dave Graf and his wife Helen from Levelland; daughter, Diane Wallace and husband Glenn of Leander; a brother, Billy Lambert from Hobbs, N.M.; a sister, Avis Leavelle from Levelland; four grandchildren: Kristi Wallace, Kimberly Wallace, Amber Steaples, and Patrick Graf; along with five great-grandchildren: Dakota, Taylor, Mikala, and Haylie Steaples, and Kaelan Atkinson.
 

Devin Goettsch, a sophomore at SPC from Farwell who served as a pallbearer at the funeral, worked closely with Graf as a wing advisor at Lamar hall this year.
Goettsch explained that Graf was “ well respected, even though she wasn’t always well liked. In the time I was fortunate to know Rachel Graf, she instilled leadership and moral values in each person she came into contact with.”
 

Graf was known as “Momma Rachel,” “Mother Rachel” or “Mom” to many residents of Lamar during her tenure at SPC.
 

“ Some of them call me some things other than that,” Graf said joking with the Plainsman Press in March 2004. “ No, I’ve got a real nice bunch guys.”
Graf had loved her boys, adding, “I like my boys, and I don’t want nobody mistreating them.”
 

Graf stayed busy with her dorm duties, yet she found a little time to relax and read. However, she liked to spend most of her time hanging out with the guys.

“Entering Lamar Hall as a freshman was both exciting and scary at the same time. Mrs. Rachel was able to relieve some of the stress by befriend me as well as last years entering freshman, as she has done for 16 years. Thou she was a stickler for the rules she loved to talk to us and enjoyed having conversations just about anything. Even though, in her last few weeks as the dorm director, she would do anything she could in order to help out and always had a positive out look on life,” Goettsch shared.
Graf had changed a dorm into a home for thousands of young men. She was a great person to talk to when things were not great and would listen to anyone.
 

“She’s one of a kind,” said David Jones, vice president of student services. “She was a unique individual, as you would have to be in order to work in a college men’s residence. She was very active, and she knew what was going on and she cared for those guys a great deal, especially when they were doing everything right. She would do everything in the world for them. But if they did something wrong, she wasn’t scared to address that issue as well. She was fully in charge,” said Jones.
 

One of Graf’s favorite quotes was “ How the cow ate the cabbage,” and that is exactly what she lived by.
 

David Conner, dean of students, has known Graf since he was the assistant men’s basketball coach, prior to his current position. Some of his basketball players lived at Lamar Hall.
 

“Rachel was our mainstay,” Conner said. “Lamar was the only dorm that hadn’t been redone until this summer. She ran a tight ship and took a lot of pride in her facility.”
The family suggests memorials to the South Plains College Foundation, 1401 S. College, and Levelland, Texas 79336.