Rachel was born to Ernesto and Cruz Munoz on December 1, 1964 in Foot Hood, Tx. In 1965, she moved to Germany where she spent her young life traveling with her family to places like Spain, Italy and Amsterdam where she was able to see some of the world’s most beautiful castles.
At the age of 5, she returned back to her birth place of Fort Hood where she and her family lived with her grandmother until her father returned from his tour of duty. She attended her early education at St. Joseph Catholic School and Pershing Park School during her time in Fort Hood. In 1975, Rachel moved to Laredo TX. During her time here, she continued her schooling at Mary Help of Christians under the schooling of Sister Carmen Martinez.
In 1980, at the age of sixteen, Rachel took a trip to Montana with her half-brother Juan. While there, she was introduced to Harold “Jr” Hafemann. Although neither of them realized it at the time, Rachel and Jr would meet again and eventually spend many happy years loving each other.
Rachel found herself back in Montana in 1981 when she moved in with her girlfriends’ parents, Ralph and Barb. She once again met Jr while in Sidney and the pair became inseparable. She spent her high school years at United High School and eventually Savage High School where she graduated with the class of 1984.
On June 11, 1983 Rachel and Jr were married at the Assembly of God church in Sidney, MT. She and Jr resided on the farm west of Savage. During the time on the farm, Rachel spent many hours in her garden. She would plant, water and weed only to look out the window and finding the cows getting the best of it. She finally decided she had enough of it. She was tired of looking out the window and seeing cows and rabbits. She grew up in a city and loved to people watch. She also felt that it would be much better for the education of three children Cruz, Lee and Enrique to live in town. In 1996, the family moved to Savage. Rachel was once again able to garden, but this time she had to keep Jr and the kids from raiding it.
During her life, Rachel had the most vibrant, outgoing personality and spent much of her time caring for others. She spent much time caring for the elderly in her neighborhood as well as the community children, her friends and of course, her most important treasures, her family. She was a huge animal lover and always had them around. Rachel raised dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, mice, cow, fish and even hermit crab. She loved gardening and always had a large garden and flower beds. She enjoyed garage and rummage sales as often as she could. She was a collector antiques and was always looking to add to her collection of bottles, small things, die cast cars, little people and small cars. She especially loved collecting the same item in a mini version as well as an extra-large version.
Rachel is survived by: Her husband and soul mate Jr; daughter Cruz; sons Lee and Enrique; grandchildren Torey, Kimi and Max; brothers Daniel and David (Karen) Munoz and half-brother Juan (Christina) Gueterez.
Rachel was preceded in death by: her parents, uncle and aunts.
Rachel died on Monday, February 13, 2017 at Sidney Health Care in Sidney, MT
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