Raeann Kilman

July 24, 1947 – July 14, 2026

Some people spend their lives collecting accomplishments. Raeann Ginsberg Kilman spent hers collecting people. Friends became family. Strangers became lifelong friends. Her home became a gathering place. Her grandchildren became her greatest joy. By the end of her life, the measure of Raeann’s success could not be found in awards or titles, but in the countless people whose lives were brighter simply because they had known her.

Raeann Ginsberg Kilman passed away peacefully on July 14, 2026, surrounded by the love of her family after a courageous twelve-year battle with cancer.

She is survived by her devoted husband of fifty-five years, Stanley Kilman; her sons, Jonathan Kilman and his wife, Jessica Hoppe, and Mark Kilman and his wife, Daniela Sardo de Kilman; and her seven beloved grandchildren, Maxwell, Isabel, Liev, Blake, Felix, Agnes, and Samuel. She was predeceased by her parents, Morris and Lillian Ginsberg, her sister, Madeline, and is lovingly reunited with them, along with her cherished parents-in-law, Sydney and Blanch Kilman.

Raeann was born on July 24, 1947, in Paterson, New Jersey, where she grew up surrounded by a close-knit family and the values that would shape every chapter of her life. She shared a special lifelong bond with her beloved sister, Madeline, and treasured the traditions, holidays, and family gatherings that became the foundation of her own home years later.

Raeann was introduced to a young man named Stanley Kilman by Stan’s cousin. Their first date was at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. They saw a movie, fell in love, and hardly spent a day apart over the next fifty-seven years, fifty-five of them as husband and wife.

Friends often described Stanley and Raeann as the model marriage. Their sons simply believed that was what marriage was supposed to look like.

Together they built a remarkable life, first in New Jersey before moving their family to South Florida in 1988, where they raised Jonathan and Mark and later found their greatest happiness as grandparents. Whenever Stanley’s work with FEMA took him across the country, Raeann went with him. Together they spent extended time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Charleston, South Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Warwick, Rhode Island; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; and nearly a year in Puerto Rico. No matter where life brought them, Raeann immediately built another circle of friends. She possessed the rare gift of making every place feel like home because she made every person she met feel welcome.

Stanley and Raeann hardly missed sharing dinner together throughout nearly six decades. They traveled together, laughed together, danced together, and remained one another’s favorite companion through every season of life. Their marriage was not defined by grand gestures but by thousands of ordinary days spent choosing each other, again and again.

If there was one defining characteristic of Raeann, it was the way she loved people. She spent her life thinking about others—family members, lifelong friends, neighbors, and often complete strangers. She possessed an extraordinary gift for connecting with people. Whether sitting beside someone in a restaurant, striking up a conversation in a hotel lobby, or meeting someone while traveling, Raeann had a way of making people feel comfortable almost immediately. Conversations became friendships, and friendships often lasted a lifetime.

She judged no one. She accepted people exactly as they were, making everyone feel seen, valued, and welcome. It was impossible to spend time with Raeann without feeling that you mattered.

Her memory for people was legendary. Decades after meeting someone, she could tell you exactly where they met, what they talked about, and how their friendship began. To Raeann, relationships were treasures to be cared for and celebrated.

She had a joy for life that was immediately apparent to everyone around her. She laughed easily and often pretended she didn’t appreciate Stanley’s wonderfully corny dad jokes, though everyone who knew them knew she secretly loved every one of them. She loved dancing and rarely accepted “no” when inviting Stanley or her sons onto the dance floor. She enjoyed watching HGTV, delighted in seeing families find their dream homes, and genuinely celebrated the happiness of others.

Raeann believed a home should always be ready to welcome family and friends. She kept hers warm, organized, and open, hoping people would stop by. She loved making some of her family’s favorite meals, especially her chicken cacciatore, and looked forward to cooking holiday dinners alongside her mother, Lillian, and her sister, Madeline. Those holiday traditions became some of the family’s most treasured memories.

Nothing brought Raeann greater happiness than becoming a grandmother. Whether they called her “Grandma” or “Yaya,” hearing either name filled her with joy. She treasured every moment spent with Maxwell, Isabel, Liev, Blake, Felix, Agnes, and Samuel, celebrating each milestone and finding endless happiness simply in being together.

Her love was often expressed through her hands. When Jonathan and Mark were young, Raeann lovingly knitted clothing for each of them. Years later, she repeated that labor of love for every one of her seven grandchildren. Every sweater, blanket, and garment represented hours spent thinking about the child who would someday wear it. Knitting was one of her greatest passions and one of the countless ways she expressed her love.

Although cancer became part of Raeann’s story for the last twelve years of her life, it never became the story of her life.

Friends often described her as a fighter, though few would have guessed it from her petite frame. Through every treatment and every challenge, she continued thinking first of others. Even while facing her own illness, Raeann devoted her time to raising awareness and resources for cancer research through the American Cancer Society and The Pap Corps, Champions for Cancer Research. She believed deeply that helping others facing similar battles was simply the right thing to do.

Raeann leaves behind far more than memories. She leaves behind a marriage that taught her children what lifelong devotion looks like. She leaves behind a family whose traditions will continue because she created them. She leaves behind friendships spanning more than seven decades because she never forgot the people who mattered to her. She leaves behind seven grandchildren who will forever know they were deeply loved. Most of all, she leaves behind a world made gentler by her kindness.

Those fortunate enough to know Raeann will remember her warmth, her generosity, her infectious laughter, her remarkable memory, her optimism, and her extraordinary ability to make every person she encountered feel like family.

The Kilman family extends its deepest gratitude to the physicians, nurses, therapists, caregivers, friends, and loved ones whose extraordinary compassion, prayers, visits, meals, and unwavering support carried them throughout Raeann’s courageous journey.

Funeral services will be held at Star of David Memorial Chapel and Cemetery in North Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 11:45 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made in Raeann’s memory to The Pap Corps, Champions for Cancer Research, or the American Cancer Society, so that others may benefit from the same hope, compassion, and generosity that defined her life.