Memorial service to be held for Green Valley couple Friday

A memorial service for Ned and Shirley Railing will be held Friday, March 2, at 10 a.m. at St. Francis-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, 600 S. La Canada Dr.

The public is welcome to attend.

In lieu of flowers, Shirley requested before she passed away that any donations be made to St. Francis Church.

Ned, 89, passed away Jan. 12, after a long illness. Shirley, 91, died Feb. 12, also after a long period of illness. Both were residents at La Hacienda at La Posada.

A longtime Green Valley mover-and-shaker, Ned was born July 5, 1917, in Baltimore, Md., the son of Wilfred Franklin Railing and Mary Jane ‘Daisy” Craig Railing.

Ned was educated in the Baltimore Public Schools and graduated from Baltimore City College (high school) in 1933. He later attended Johns Hopkins University where he majored in chemistry and earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1937 and a master of arts degree in chemistry in 1938.

He then took employment in 1938 with the E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. as a chemist in the Jackson Laboratory in Wilmington, Del.

Manhattan Project

During World War II, Ned was part of the crew involved in The Manhattan Project in Illinois to develop the first nuclear weapons by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

It was during this time that Ned met Shirley Sackett. They were married June 5, 1943, in Morris, Ill.

After the war, DuPont assigned Ned to its chambers works in Penns Grove, N.J., where he was subsequently promoted to the position of division head of chemical manufacturing.

The Railings’ daughter and only child, Sharon Ann Railing, was born Sept. 13, 1951. Sharon, a systems analyst for Delaware Power until her (disability) retirement in 1997, tragically passed away from complications of sarcoidosis on Nov. 9, 2000, at the age of 49.

Ned retired in 1977 and in 1979, the Railings moved to Green Valley, where Ned immediately became involved in the community.

Charity work

Ned submerged himself in charity work most of his adult life and was one of the founders of the United Way in Salem County, N.J.

He was an active Rotarian for more than 60 years and past president of the Rotary Club of Penns Grove, N.J. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Green Valley for 26 years when he died. Ned’s role as Rotarian chairman for the committee to raise money for PoliPlus, a Rotary International program whose mission is to immunize the children of the world against polio, raised approximately $43,000 for the cause. Ned was honored for his work as a Rotarian of the Year in the late 1980s.

He served as vice president of the Men’s Club of the Country Club of Green Valley; precinct committeeman for Republican Party for more than 10 years; Neighborhood Watch block captain for Fairways I community for 10 years; Computer Club instructor and Oral History Society board member.

He served as a Green Valley Recreation volunteer board member for six years, GVR president for three years and vice president for a year. So committed was Ned to GVR, he wrote the history of the organization, adding to it periodically after he left office. GVR’s executive director now assumes Ned’s editorial duties.

A devout Episcopalian, Railing served as a lay reader and chalice bearer for St. Francis-in-the- Valley Episcopal Church in Green Valley for 20 years.

Photographer, astronomer

He was an avid photographer and amateur astronomer. He enjoyed playing golf in his younger days, ballroom dancing and telling jokes to friends.

Making his home at La Posada’s assisted living suites with Shirley until their illness took them into La Hacienda, Ned was also active in La Posada’s community of activities, frequently performing in the drama group to entertain fellow residents.

Shirley was the daughter of Zita Hoge and the late William L. Sackett, a publisher and newspaper owner of the what is today the Morris Daily Herald, owned by the Morris Publishing Co., a subsidiary of B.F. Shaw Printing Co. William remarried after Hoge passed away and Shirley was raised by her step-mother, Laura Wiswell.

Also a college graduate with a four-year degree, Shirley enjoyed bridge, good books and loved fashionable clothes and handbags, always dressing for the occasion.

Shirley and Ned were both history buffs and were fans of the History Channel. Shirley was a descendent of the Mayflower and her relatives were members and are listed in the “Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Illinois,” a privately published book by the Rogers Printing Co.

Ned and Shirley are survived by son-in-law Bruce Balogh of Wilmington, Del.; Ned’s younger brother, William F. Railing and his sister-in-law, Jennifer M. Railing of Gettysburg, Pa.; and Ned’s cousin, Roberta Kauss of Tucson.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740