Raymond Lieberman, a.k.a., Big Raymond, English Teacher, Raywan Liberwax, Rx, The Great Wordsman. No matter what you called him, he will always remain one of the most influencial people in my life.
As a child he taught me how to stand up for myself and as a young adult-how remain calm under pressure. He could always come up with snappy comebacks-that you wished you had been clever enough to have thought of in the first place.
Raymond shared millions of words of wisdom through the years and taught us many inventive ways to use words like: schlep, kvetch and blivet. Oy!
As a true wordsmith, he was never a man to mince them. I remember the time I came home from college thinking that smoking cigarettes seemed like a good idea. I lit one up on the porch in front of him-trying to look cool. He looked at me, calmly watched me puff on it, and then yelled--for all the neighbors to hear, "Are you out of your f_cking mind?!" No one else could be that blunt and to the point. Right?
Raymond was my third parent and my closest confidante. What mattered to me-mattered to him. That's what you call a true friend. He always knew what to say when you had a problem; were feeling down, or just needed a good laugh. And let's face it, there was no one who enjoyed a joke or good story more than Rx. If the Aldrich family put their heads together right now, we could probably come up with 1,000 classic jokes, limericks and stories that were told and retold with zeal and relish, by Mr. Lieberman. I miss hearing his laugh so much.
What about the wide net he cast that allowed you to meet and get to know some of the most interesting and talented people in the world? Without Raymond, we never would have met and fallen in love with Terry & Chuck, Marianne, Mickey & Edith, Louise and Caroline, Fred & Patricia and sweet Shelia. His friends became your friends. What a gift!
There will never be another man like Raymond Lieberman. I consider myself one of the luckiest people on the planet to have known him, vacationed with him, laughed with him, chowed-down with him, watched movies with him, debated with him, got ticked off with him and loved him for 54 incredible years.
I miss him so much...and always will.
"Good-night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
~Horatio
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