Cecile Marie Rush

Cecile Marie Rush, 94, passed away at the hospital in Bellevue, Nebraska, surrounded by family on July 30, 2022.

She was born to Gaston and Marie Parsy on February 16, 1928 in Brussels, Belgium. Cecile grew up in Belgium where she learned French, Flemish, German, and English. As a teenager during WWII, she witnessed the invasion, occupation, and liberation of Brussels firsthand. She often helped provide for her family and neighbors by taking trips to the countryside to secure root vegetables and catching pigeons from the house roof. It was here that her faith, her generosity, and her unselfish approach to life developed. After the war, there was a significant US Air Force presence in France, Belgium, and Germany. It was in 1955 when she met a young Air Force avionics mechanic and her future husband, John David Rush.

On August 30, 1956 Cecile and John were married in France and they would spend almost 14 years together. They established themselves in Bellevue with the purchase of their first home in 1963. Following John’s tragic and accidental passing in 1968 and while stationed in Illinois, Cecile packed up the family returned to that first house in Bellevue. There she devotedly raised her seven children as a single parent. She worked many jobs, but her career was in the Omaha Public School system in Nutrition Services, working at all levels of the school system. Her daily interaction with students and staff helped to establish her legacy in South Omaha/Bellevue. After her retirement from the public school system, she wanted to keep busy, so she volunteered at the Offutt AFB Thrift Store and worked for Sheraton Hotels well into her 80s.

Cecile loved good food, conversation, playing cards, and old movies. Cecile was well known for her cooking, courage, charity, and quick wit. Cecile was predeceased by her husband, her parents, and her brother, Albert Parsy. She is survived by seven children, Stephen Ludwig, Christopher Ludwig, John Rush, George Rush, Sameta Rush, Gerald Rush, and Anne Thompson; 14 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, and her sister Marie Louise Minakian.