Information from Leo P. Gallagher & Son Funeral Home
Rachael Lauersdorf, 45, died January 30, 2017, after a decades-long battle with addiction. Rachael was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on November 22, 1971, the daughter of Otto and Helen M. Lauersdorf.
Rachael graduated from Greenwich High School and the Connecticut Institute of Art. She was a generous, passionate, free spirit with a smile and personality that could brighten any room. She was a gymnast in her younger days, then later a model, a graphic designer, and an artist. She had more talent in her little finger than most people have practicing their entire lives. She enjoyed music, the outdoors, and loved animals, especially her dogs and ferrets. Rachael truly lived life to the fullest; hers was a brilliant light that was extinguished much too soon.
Rachael was first prescribed opioids for back pain. From there, it spiraled out like so many other stories you see on the news or read about in the papers. She was a good kid with a big heart, who did dumb things. The family tried everything to help her: top-notched rehab facilities, group and family therapy – you name it. She’d be clean for a while, and then the demons would call her back. In anger and desperation she once said “It’s my life therefore I will live it how I want and not how you think I should. Play in your own garden. Stop pickin’ at my flowers.”
She is survived by her father Otto Lauersdorf of Greenwich; her brother Otto Joseph and her best friend and beloved sister Leokadia Lauersdorf, of Greenwich; and her sister Jackelyn Lauersdorf Van Ostenbridge and her husband Brian, of Naugatuck, CT; and her dog Zoe; as well as a number of extended relatives and close friends. Rachael was predeceased by her mother, Helen, and her grandmother, Eda Holod.
The family will receive friends from 4-8 pm on Monday, February 6th at Leo P. Gallagher & Son Funeral Home at 31 Arch Street, Greenwich, CT. The funeral will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations to Adopt-A-Dog (www.adopt-a-dog.org) are greatly appreciated. To send expressions of Love and Sympathy, please visit: leopgallaghergreenwich.com.
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