Raeburne Seeley HeimbeckSeptember 25, 1930 - February 9, 2016Rae was a modern day Renaissance Man: Scholar -Philosopher - Teacher; Athlete - Yogi - Traveler - Adventurer; Patron of the Arts - Supporter of endowments and multiple charities -Sponsor of foreign exchange students.He was born on September 25, 1930 to Harold and Dulce Heimbeck in Rock Island, Illinois, the second of two children and their only son. His parents ran an antique store, but in 1936, when the hardships of the Depression became too significant, they shuttered their store and moved to Santa Monica, with their two young children, in search of their fortune in the nascent Southern California environment. Rae grew up in Santa Monica at a time when it was just a village next to the ocean. His father was a skilled carpenter and he taught his son the skill. Rae worked summers during high school on construction sites and carried this skill forward well into his adult life turning old, run-down houses into homes or building tree houses, retaining walls, or fences with his sons.Rae was an athlete from his early years until his last days. He learned to play golf by sneaking onto the back 9 of the golf course across the street from their home and spent many hours at the beach playing volleyball and body surfing. He played football and basketball at Santa Monica High School and started on their conference championship football team as a tight end.Rae also excelled in studies and was accepted at Stanford University where he earned a BA in Philosophy and Mediaeval History (with distinction). He then returned to Southern California to attend Fuller Seminary and to marry Joye Marcoe, his high school sweetheart. He earned a Masters of Divinity (Cum Laude) at Fuller Seminary before pursuing his PhD at Stanford in Philosophy and Humanities.While in graduate school, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in Wellington, New Zealand. He and Joye then completed that year abroad with a trip around the world visiting Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Burma, India, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Holland. He and Joye returned to Europe in 1963 where he studied in Zurich, this time taking their two young sons with them. They rented a house high in the Alps above Ebnat Kappel about an hour outside of Zurich. They spent a good portion of that winter snowed in with the locals taking bets on how long the young American family would last in a particularly heavy winter. That summer they travelled extensively in Italy, Greece, and Yugoslavia before returning to the US where Rae took a job in Austin, Texas, at the Seminary of the Southwest.Rae and the family moved to Ellensburg in 1967 where he took a position at Central Washington State College (later Central Washington University) as the Director of the Honors Program. He taught several years, on and off, as a visiting professor at Stanford University before settling for good at Central and, together with Dr. Jay Bachrach, started the Religious Studies Program within the Philosophy Department. Asian Thought became his fascination and he worked hard to build a rich course offering. He was a leader both at the University and in the community, in the field of Yoga. In addition to the practice of Yoga, he taught courses both on and off the campus in the history and philosophy of Yoga. He was a devoted practitioner of Yoga and meditation until the end of his life.Rae loved teaching. He lectured extensively for the William O. Douglas Honors Program in addition to his own course offerings. He fought retirement, teaching part-time on phased retirement for eight years - the maximum allowed. He then solicited the university to re-hire him as an adjunct professor so that he could continue to teach well into his late 70's. He completed his career at Central with a yearlong lecture series on the history of thought in the world.The Heimbecks spent the 60's and 70's traveling each summer back to Southern California to visit family and to enjoy the ocean beaches for body surfing and rocky inlets for abalone diving. Catalina Island was a favorite destination in those years.The 80's opened up opportunities to teach in China and Rae secured one of the first positions at Anhui University (AnDa) as a guest professor. He used his position at AnDa as a staging point for travel through out China including trips to the far western areas of China and several visits to Tibet. Rae set and achieved a goal of summiting most of the sacred mountains of China. He also took advantage of the time in Asia and the school schedule to spend extended time at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India, as well as visits to Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. He visited the ashram on each of his five tenures teaching in China and used these trips to further his study of Asian religions and philosophies. Rae met Cindy Krieble in 1994 and they were married in 1996. She was the love of his life and he enjoyed immensely traveling with her to China, India, and elsewhere around the world.Vacations often involved a combination of Rae's love of the sea and desire to see new and exotic locations. He vacationed with his wife Cindy and sons and grandsons in Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, the British Virgin Islands, Belize, and the Grenadines. He was an avid reader of academic scholarship amassing a library of over a thousand scholarly books. He was also a published author with two books in print, Theology and Meaning and Asian Philosophy, and a third to be published posthumously.Rae was also an avid moviegoer and patron of all forms of art offered on the Central Washington University campus. He was a regular at the Tower Theater in the Round and at all concert presentations on campus. He particularly loved Jazz in the Valley.Rae was a life-long athlete. He was an avid volleyball player. He swam, ran, cycled, and competed as an Iron-Man in the local Whiskey Dick marathon. His final workout was only three weeks before he passed.Above all else Rae was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. He is survived by his wife Cindy, sons Bryn and Reid, Bryn's wife Yoko, sister Dandelyn O'Connor and nephews Craig and Blake O'Connor, grandchildren Morgan, Devyn, Nicholas, Alexander, Chiara, Ben, and Sera, and great grandchildren, Keira and Theo.He passed away peacefully and consciously on February 9, 2016 after a sudden and significant battle with pneumonia and staph. He chose to embrace his own passing stating that he had "come to realize that he had reached the stage in life known as 'death', and that he would embrace it as he had embraced all of the other stages of a life that he had found wonderful and precious". There will be a Celebration of Life on April 23rd at Gallery One at 4:00 PM for all that would like to attend.Gifts in memory of Rae may be made to either Cottage in the Meadow c/o Memorial Fund, 2701 Tieton Drive, Yakima WA 98902; or Philosophy and Religious Studies Founding Faculty Scholarship Fund, Central Washington University Foundation, 400 East University Way, MS 7508, Ellensburg, WA 98926; or CARE, www.care.org