Stephanie Devine Rath

Stephanie Devine Rath, 49, passed away on April 7, 2018. She was born in Winston Salem, North Carolina on January 26, 1969 to Robin Watts Devine and the late Billy Burke Devine.

Stephanie graduated from Speedway High School in 1987 where she served as President of her class. She went on to get her BS in Accounting from Purdue University where she was President of her pledge class and an active member of he Alpha Xi Delta sorority.

At Purdue, Stephanie met the love of her life Randy Rath. After graduation, she moved to the Chicago area to be near Randy, but ultimately had to quit her job and move back to her hometown of Indianapolis to focus on her health and healing.  Randy eventually joined her there and the two were married in 1997 and bought a home in Brownsburg, Indiana.

When she first got back to Indy, Stephanie was the company accountant for her family’s business Watts Medical. Then she went to Katz, Sapper & Miller for a couple of years before moving to Ernst and Young in 2002 where she served as a CPA/Tax Manager. She also served as accountant and bookkeeper for PCB Design Pro, LLC.

Stephanie’s determination of will and love for life was like none other.  Her positive attitude and resilience brought her through multiple health challenges over the years from Cystic Fibrosis to cancer to a double lung transplant, kidney failure, and more. Always the fighter, she met each new challenge with amazing grace and the can do spirit that made Stephanie who she was.

Stephanie loved to volunteer despite not having much free time due to her health challenges. She took her dog into nursing homes as a therapy dog for residents and used her personal experience living with the CF to inspire others whenever possible, including consulting with actress Shailene Woodley about what it was like being short of breath and on oxygen when she was preparing for the role of a young woman living with lung cancer in the movie The Fault in Our Stars.

Stephanie was a tireless advocate for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She served as the chairperson for the Indiana chapter’s annual FestiveAle Beer tasting fundraiser for 15 years and helped organize their Guys & Dolls auction.  She was also elected treasurer for the United States Adult Cystic Fibrosis Association (USACFA), which produces the CF Roundtable newsletter.

Stephanie was an inner and outer adventurer. She attended Burning Man, numerous music festivals, and Jam Cruise, which she and Randy attended for 14 years in a row. She also developed a deep love for yoga and went on to be certified as a yoga teacher.

Stephanie’s motto when she was on the transplant list waiting for the lungs that would add almost five action packed years to her life was, “If pigs have wings, away they’d fly.” What a joy it was to watch Stephanie soar as we celebrated the arrival of those wings.  And now, as much as it hurts, we come back together to celebrate Stephanie’s life well lived, now that our beloved pink pig has taken her wings and flown away.

In addition to her maternal grandparents Tim and Betsy Watts, Stephanie is preceded in death by her paternal grandparents and father Billy Burke Devine and her uncle Jim Watts

Stephanie is survived by husband Randy Rath and mother Robin Watts Devine.

Visitation will be on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at Flanner Buchanan-Zionsville, 105 W Pine St, from 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Memorial contributions can be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.