Upon immigrating to the United States, she served in the U.S. Army Service before continuing her education and work in the field of english.

She died May 3, 2009, in Appleton, Wisconsin, and was buried near family at The Eternal Home Cemetery, Block 1540, Row A, Space 6, in Colma California.

Fehl's friends and family recognized her delightful smile, beauty, and knowledge as extraordinary and memorable.

Jennifer Montagu, chair, Gombrich Archive, Warburg Institute noted, "the way she sacrificed so much of her own time and talent to further [her husband's] work, both while he was alive, and after his death; she was an absolute model of devotion.

Her joy in learning is epitomized in the story told by her colleague, Paul Olson, who fondly remembers her driving him to work with a Greek dictionary on the steering wheel.

From her birth, she fought many physical battles, starting with contracting and surviving smallpox in the center where she was born.

She served in the U.S. Army Service the next year, until 1946, where she was involved as a Psychiatric Social Worker in the U.S. War Department.

When her daughters were young, she often helped them fall asleep by telling them stories of a pretty little lady mouse who wore white gloves and managed to keep them perfectly clean even when taking railroad trips.

Years later while working on the Cicognara Project at the Vatican Library, Raina Fehl began writing the Mikki Stories.

After her death, Raina's daughters discovered an ordinary bound school notebook with the words "Don't Lose Me" written on the cover in her handwriting.