RaNae Lynette Bakel

RaNae Lynette Bakel passed peacefully on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 surrounded by many who loved her dearly. Born September 7, 1955 to Leo and Patricia Bakel, RaNae frequently pondered throughout her life how she was so lucky to be born to two such loving, fun people who gave her two older brothers, Randy Bakel and Ron Bakel.

RaNae grew up as a farm girl, first in Longmont, Colorado and later in Loveland, Colorado. The entire family helped with the sugar beet harvest and RaNae told stories of driving a truck loaded with sugar beets to the scales for weighing and then tipping. She loved riding her horse, Hondo, raising farm animals including steers that she would feed and groom for the Larimer County Fair. Her love of animals and the willingness of her dear Uncle Don Craig, a veterinarian, to take her on vet calls in Boulder County, led her to seek an associate’s degree as a veterinary technician at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

After completing her studies in Glenwood Springs, RaNae moved to Estes Park, Colorado where she worked on the ski patrol at Hidden Valley Ski Area. It was here that she met and eventually married Paul Gibson. RaNae took a job as a veterinary technician in Estes Park and RaNae and Paul welcomed Kimberly Jean Gibson into the world as their first daughter.

In 1985, RaNae and Paul moved to Durango, Colorado where RaNae continued her work as a veterinary technician at Durango Animal Hospital. In 1989, they welcomed their second daughter, Dana Marie Gibson. Although the marriage did not last, the love and commitment they shared for their daughters, Kimberly and Dana, meant that they co-parented their two beautiful daughters, raising them to be strong, independent individuals.

RaNae returned to school to study mathematics at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado and complete requirements for her State of Colorado teaching license. She then taught middle school and high school mathematics in Bloomfield, New Mexico, Bayfield, Colorado and in Durango, Colorado. It was during this period of life that RaNae met her partner of 26 years, Tara Haller.

In September of 2001, RaNae accepted a position with the City of Durango managing and supervising the finances at Durango Parks and Recreation Center. She took much pride in keeping impeccably organized records and making sure everything balanced to the penny. Even more importantly, she loved her co-workers and the working environment at the Rec Center. She retired from this position in June of 2021.

Throughout life, RaNae was an athlete and a competitor. She loved tennis, ping pong, volleyball, softball, basketball, racquetball, and PICKLEBALL!!! In her spare time, you would likely find her in a game with friends. A fierce competitor, RaNae always played to win, but also dearly loved the time with friends, the strategic thinking that each game required, and the stories to tell after the game of a quick save or a savvy shot made by someone in the game. In every activity in her life, she was continually looking for ways to improve her knowledge and performance. In the last ten to fifteen years of her life, PICKLEBALL became her most passionate endeavor. With Brian Blanchard and Patti Embree, RaNae started the Southwest Pickleball Association and became a voice for the game. She attended several meetings to advocate for outdoor pickleball courts in Durango – leading to the construction of outdoor courts at Schneider Park. Competitively, she worked on her own game daily – ultimately leading to a trip to Nationals in December, 2021. She and her women’s doubles partner, Linda Waggoner Arnold, placed third in this competition. She and Linda qualified for Nationals again in 2022, but RaNae would not finish this pickleball season competitively due to frontotemporal dementia that robbed her of executive functioning skills, including the ability to plan and to attend pickleball games with friends.

RaNae’s other passion was being outdoors, especially in the Southwest. She took many river trips, including trips with her very young children. She and her partner, Tara, spent many, many weekends, spring breaks, and summer vacations, hiking canyons and mountains, skiing, snowshoeing, biking, and spending time at lakes and rivers. It was in these serene environments that RaNae found God and spirituality. She would often twist Tara’s arm to get away into the outdoors by saying, “Let’s go to church.”

Above all else, RaNae’s love for her family and friends: daughters Dana and Kimberly; her grandchildren, Baylee, Caleb, and Ripley; her parents; her siblings and their spouses; lots of cousins and nieces and nephews stands paramount. She loved family gatherings and made a point to “show up” every time she possibly could. RaNae stayed connected to family and friends locally and far away through phone calls, cards and visits.

The pathways that she wore deep throughout life carried her through a disease that robbed her of so much. These pathways exist as: a ready smile for everyone she met, a love of competition and sport, a love of the outdoors, and her deep, deep love of friends and family. When she could no longer play pickleball, she welcomed guests to our home for a game of ping pong. She almost always accepted an invitation to walk outdoors or take a drive to see scenery. Above all else, she did not forget the people most important in her life, and the most important message she wanted to share with them: “I love you.”

RaNae was preceded in death by her parents Leo and Patricia Bakel. She is survived by her partner, Tara Haller, daughters Kimberly Gibson (Clinton Holnback) and Dana Fabiano (John Fabiano), grandchildren Baylee Fabiano, Caleb Fabiano, and Ripley Holnback, brothers Randy Bakel (Janet) and Ron Bakel (Diane), numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews, and a beautiful collection of dear friends.

We will celebrate RaNae’s life on Wednesday, May 28 at 2 p.m. at the River Bend Ranch in Durango, Colorado. Participants are invited to bring a photo and/or a story to share that highlights something special they knew of RaNae Bakel.

Contributions can be made in RaNae’s honor to: Durango Dementia Coalition, https://sites.google.com/view/durangodementiacoalition/donate