By Shirley Engel

The Lieberman family and my family were part of the Adrian, Michigan, small Jewish community. My family moved to Los Angeles in 1941;the Liebermans came after WWII. Since Raymond was seven years older than I, I really did not know him as a child, but after his family came to LA, we became fast friends.

Raymond had started USC where he majored in International Relations. I was a student at UCLA. The world was emerging from the horrors of the war, and the future was bright and exciting. We were going to change the world with our innocence of youth and new ideas. I had never met anyone quite like Raymond. He was an iconoclast who shared my views. We could talk about anything. Always witty, always direct, he would sometimes say the most outrageous things. We would see each other often. He loved movies, and introduced me to the art of watching them. Of course, we always went dutch, but we were just students.

Raymond wanted to see the world. He had year at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. We exchanged letters often. When he returned to LA, we resumed our old activities until he left to live in France. We still kept in contact, but our lives changed. I married my husband, and our contact ended. I have not seen Raymond for almost 60 years when I saw his obituary in the LA Times. I remember him vividly with pleasure. He was an experience I will not forget. He was an important part of my life.