William Rauch
April 23, 1947 – Aug. 27, 2026
William (Bill) Allen Rauch, 79, passed peacefully late in the evening on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, after enjoying the lunar eclipse and with a sudoku book and pen in hand, literally.
Born April 23, 1947 in Longview, Wash., he was one of six children. He is survived by his five older siblings, with the oldest now a vibrant 95-year-old. His parents John and Edith celebrated their 71st anniversary before passing.
He first met the love of his life, Beth Rauch, when she moved from Vernonia to Rainier, Wash., when she was in fourth grade and he was in fifth. Beth noticed him for several years and they began dating her sophomore and his junior year.
Bill graduated from Rainier Union High school in 1965, where he was lead trumpet in band, played on the varsity tennis and basketball teams, was prom king, and he served as vice-president of the student body.
He attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, where he graduated with a degree in accounting in 1969.
Bill and Beth married on June 1, 1968. While in college he belonged to the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, and spent his first months in Japan, traveling there by ship.
After college he worked at Touche, Ross, Bailey and Smart, a national CPA firm in Portland for a year, before being drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. He worked as an accountant for the military at Fort Lewis in Washington.
While at Fort Lewis Bill and Beth had their first child, Adam, in 1970. Luke, their second son, was born in 1974 and in 1975 the family moved to Lebanon, where he joined in the firm that became Sundberg, Rauch & Benneth CPAs, but included many other names over the years.
Fawn was born in 1979 and Alex in 1984, and Bill’s community engagement grew as he joined the Optimist, Rotary, Elks, American Legion and more.
Over the years he also served as president of the Lebanon Community Hospital Foundation, as a member of the COMP-Northwest & Western University of Health Sciences Oregon Advisory Board, Consumers Power Inc. Board of Directors and more.
He and a group of friends opened the Lebanon Racquetball Club in the late ‘70s.
He was selected as Lebanon’s Man of Year in 2004, and Senior First Citizen in 2023.
In 2019 he received the Optimist Bill Rauch Unsung Hero award, named after him.
He played a large role in bringing the Japanese gardens to Lebanon through his friendship with Hoichi Kurisu and helped with bringing the gazebos to both Ralston Park and Academy Square. Watch where you sit, for you’ll find at least three benches in town with his name on them. We’re sure he’d be happy for you to sit down and chat anytime.
Anyone interested in donating in Bill’s name, in lieu of flowers, is asked to direct donations either to Build Lebanon Trails at https://buildlebanontrails.com or the Healing Garden Endowment at the Lebanon Samaritan Community Hospital samhealth.org/giving/our-foundations/healing-gardens-in-lebanon/#Giving.
A Celebration of Life for Bill will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at the River Center, 3000 S. Santiam Hwy., in Lebanon.