RACHEL MELCHIOR HENDERSON FALLS ’90

RACHEL MELCHIOR HENDERSON FALLS, the national hotline director for the National Abortion Federation in Washington, D.C., died of brain cancer Aug. 24, 2008, at age 40. She received an MFA from the University of Iowa, worked as a stage manager, lighting designer, and dramaturg, and taught in the theater departments at the University of Iowa and the International School in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Diagnosed with brain cancer in 1989, she was an inspiration to many through public speaking and counseling for brain cancer patients and their families. Several awards have been created in her honor. She is survived by her husband, William Falls, whom she married in 2001, her mother, three sisters, including Mary Hannah Henderson ’95, her stepmother, three nieces and nephews, and her cousin, Wesleyan Professor of English, Emerita, Gertrude R. Hughes.