In Memoriam

Cecilia ‘Ceci’ Ratke Homan
Class of '64

Ceci Ratke Homan, a hospice nurse, died April 3, 2008 of peritoneal cancer at her home in Garnet Valley, PA. She was 65. A native of Williamsport, PA, Ceci earned a degree in nursing at SJC in 1964 and then worked at Children’s Hospital and in public health nursing in Philadelphia.

Her twin sister, Mimi Ratke Cochran, is also a member of the Class of 1964, and a younger sister, Anne Ratke Donough, a member of the Class of 1968. Their mother, the late Cecilia McIntyre Ratke, who served for many years on the SJC Alumnae Board and as its president, was a member of the Class of 1937. Her father, Henry Ratke, M.D, also predeceased Ceci.

In 1967 Ceci married Paul Homan, whom she met on a blind date. While raising their family, she was a hospice volunteer at Pennsylvania Hospital and became interested in the concept of compassionate care for the dying. When her children were in school, she worked for the Visiting Nurse Association of Delaware County.

In the early 1980s she helped initiate the hospice program at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. She was a hospice nurse there until 2004 when she became ill. Her disease went into remission after she had surgery, chemotherapy and stem cell therapy, Paul said. The cancer returned in August 2007. One of the hospice nurses Ceci had trained cared for her in her final days and considered it an honor, Paul said.

Ceci was active for many years at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Springfield. She and Paul founded the parish pre-Cana program, and Ceci was a Eucharistic minister. She had been helping to organize a parish volunteer nursing program to assist neighbors with health problems and to run preventive-medicine health fairs.

In addition to her husband, and two sisters, sons Christopher and Mark; daughter Marcie Heil; two other sisters, Margaret Ratke and Barbara Zawistowski; brothers Henry Jr., Michael and Joseph Ratke; and eight grandchildren survive Ceci.

The family suggested memorial contributions to DCMH Hospice, 5030 State Rd, Drexel Hill, PA 19026, or CityTeam Ministries, 634 Sproul Road, Chester, PA 19013.

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