OLD ORCHARD BEACH — As graduating senior Mackenzie Rague walks down the aisle at Sunday’s graduation, her mother will be missing in the audience, but she won’t be missing in Rague’s thoughts.

Raugue, now 18, was a sophomore when her mother, Cheryl Komola, died at the age of 49. Komola had been diagnosed with the auto-immune disease scleroderma four years earlier.

Komola was well-known in town, having served on the Town Council, School Board and as a volunteer to the schools. She also worked for seven years as an educational technician in Old Orchard Beach schools.

“There were times when I thought I’d never be able to deal with her passing,” said Rague. She said she can’t thank her community enough for the support she has received. Rague’s baskeball team dedicated a game to her mother a few days after her death. She said many teachers wrote her letters at the time of her mother’s death, and have continued to check in on her throughout her time at high school.

“It’s amazing how caring the teachers are here,” she said.

Rague said she likes the small school atmosphere of Old Orchard Beach High School, and she knows all the faculty, even those who weren’t her teachers.

Rague will be attending St. Joseph College in the fall, where she will play field hockey. Sports has kept Rague grounded. During high school, she participated in field hockey, baseball and track.

Rauge said her father, who was separated from her mother, moved back into the family home after her mother died, and he and her sister attend all her games.

Rague will be studying nursing in the fall and is interested in home health care. She said she was inspired to enter this field to help others after caring for her mother and talking with home health nurses who came to her house to help her mother.

Rague said her mother’s death has changed the way she looks at life.

“I’ll never take life for granted,” she said. “She fought really hard and lived life as positively as she could.”

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.