Neil W. Rabens, age 90, died peacefully in his own home on the morning of May 18, 2020. His wife Darlene was close by his side.
Neil was born on June 27, 1929 in St. Paul, Minnesota to Fred and Sigrid (Rennerfeldt) Rabens. During his teenage years, Neil worked at Hackner's grocery and a local movie theater in St. Paul. He graduated from Harding High School in 1947, and then was drafted into the Korean War where he served as a medic in an evacuation hospital. He developed a drinking problem during the war. Upon his return to the States Neil attended the Minneapolis School of Art under the G.I. bill. He also was searching for life's meaning, and went on a spiritual journey of sorts, reading books from many different faiths. With help from AA he conquered his liquor problem. He took a job in the orderly's office at Anker Hospital (now Regions) in St. Paul and worked as an ambulance attendant for Ramsey County. It was at Anker Hospital that he met an LPN, Darlene Mae Adams, and fell in love. He married Darlene on April 21, 1959 in Northwood, Iowa. Unfortunately, their first child, Charlie, passed away at only 2 weeks of a congenital heart condition. They welcomed a healthy son, Michael John, born in 1962.
They moved to New Richmond, WI in 1963, where Neil was employed at Doughboy Industries. He created artwork and designs for children's swimming pools and inflatable toys. A daughter, Marcie Theresa, was born there in 1964. Neil's next job brought them back to St. Paul, where he worked for Guyer Company as an artist and designer of toys and games. While at Guyer Co., Neil invented the spinner/colored mat game Twister with his partner Charles Foley. Game industries giant Milton Bradley snatched up the game, and when Twister went on the market it soon became a national best seller! Twister is an American classic, still popular today.
In 1966, the Rabens family moved to Burnsville, MN, where another boy, Martin Lee, was born in May of 1967. Not long after this Neil and Charles Foley left Guyer Co. to start their own toy and game firm along with a backer named Charles McCarthy. They named the new company Research and Development, or R & D for short. The company was initially successful, bringing several new toys and designs to market, and life was pleasant for a long stretch. In the early 1970's, Neil & Darlene responded to the call of God and became Christians. God gave Neil victory over a 25-year smoking habit when he stood up during an altar call at a 1973 Halle Crowson evangelistic crusade in Minneapolis. Neil's new-found faith was tested, however, when R & D folded during the 70's energy crisis - which hit the toy & game industry hard. Neil was forced to find a new way to make a living, so he tried selling Christian books from door to door. His assigned sales territory was farther north in Minnesota, so the family sold their Burnsville home and moved to the Mora area in 1976. Providence led them to become foster parents, and one little red-haired girl named Eva they fostered from the time she was 13 months until she was 3. Eva bonded to Neil and Darlene, and they adopted Eva Sigrid on her 3rd birthday -- August 11, 1981.
After working at a golf course and Braham Monument Company designing tombstones, Neil won a contest in 1982 and was asked to paint the Centennial Celebration mural on the side of the old Ward's building. While up on the scaffold painting the mural, many passers-by stopped to ask him if he painted signs also. It gave him an idea. Shortly thereafter CETA sponsored Neil to drive to night classes in St. Paul to learn sign painting techniques. Neil then started his own area business called "Neil's Signs & Designs", for which he painted custom signs and created cartoon logos and murals. A lot of his work is still visible in the town of Mora and surrounding areas, including the 38-year-old Centennial history mural, and numerous signs on shops and businesses.
Neil was also an accomplished author and a musician. He wrote and illustrated 7 children's books, which were sold through Standard Publishing. He wrote a handful of songs as well, that Neil and Darlene sang together while Neil played his guitar. Later in life, Neil learned how to play the banjo too, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Neil worked at the Kanabec History Center for 14 years, before he finally retired.
Neil was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Sigrid Rabens; his brother, Fritz; and his sisters, Georgene, Helen, and Vivian. He is survived by his wife Darlene of Mora, MN, his son Michael (Amy) Rabens of Kuwait City, Kuwait; daughter Marcie (David) Maddox of Sartell, MN; son Martin with partner Kearston of Wallingford, CT; daughter Eva of North Branch, MN and fiancee Kyle, along with many loving in-laws, nieces, nephews, and friends.
Neil was funny, gentle and creative – a kid at heart. He enjoyed joking with people, letting them know he cared through his own unique style of teasing. He was a man of God, faithfully attending the Cambridge Seventh-day Adventist Church where he served as a deacon, helped in the children's class and sometimes taught the Sabbath School lesson. He also enjoyed attending Camp meeting in Hutchinson every summer- until the last phase of his life when he was too frail. Neil never had a lot of money, but always helped people in need if he could – both Neil and Darlene opened their home countless times to folks needing a place to stay over the years. They served as Kanabec County foster parents for a ten-year span, caring for 37 children from diverse backgrounds.

Neil and Darlene volunteered together in many capacities in the Mora and Cambridge areas over the years. Some of their endeavors included helping out at Soup for the Soul, volunteering at Fairview School (Neil shared his talents with the art department), assisting with a hospice program and providing safe housing for the Refuge for battered women needing temporary lodging. One of their last volunteering gigs involved entertaining residents at Eastwood Senior Living Center weekly for over a year. Darlene read true animal stories up front while Neil would illustrate the story live, sitting at his art easel sketching as Darlene spoke. The funny thing is, most of the senior audience members were actually younger than Neil and Darlene! Once Neil's eyesight grew worse due to macular degeneration and he could no longer draw (which was a great sadness to him), they had to give up that volunteering activity.
Neil loved sitting on lake shores to see water move, and he liked watching the sky with all its "moods" (clouds lazily drifting, moon shining, rainbows, stars). He loved his many nieces and nephews. He is considered "dad" or "Grandpa" by many foster children. He loved his own children and two granddaughters dearly, and especially his beloved wife Darlene, whom he fondly called "the wifelady" in his funny Facebook posts.

Anyone who ever got to know Neil realized they had encountered someone truly genuine and special.

A Memorial Service will be held on Monday, July 19 at 2:00PM at the Dresser-Methven Funeral Chapel in Mora, Minnesota.  Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service.

Arrangements by Dresser Methven Funeral and Cremation Services