Woman was 1 of 5 teachers in family

3/2/2005

ADRIAN -Alice J. Raymond, a longtime special education teacher in Sand Creek Community Schools, died from possible heart failure at Lynwood Manor Nursing Home on Sunday, a family member said. She was 88.

Mrs. Raymond loved learning and enjoyed sharing what she had learned with others, said Kathy Morse, a niece.

"She looked forward to working with her students until they understood and [she] worked tirelessly to make sure they did," Ms. Morse said. "She liked seeing that light come on in their heads when they got it."

She was born at the family farm in Fairfield Township, near Adrian, the daughter of Frank and Anne Belle Morse. She married Claude C. Raymond in 1945 and the couple was married for over 50 years until his death in 1999, Ms. Morse said.

"She was one of 10 children and they were a family of jokesters," Ms. Morse said. "They were on a farm so they got a lot of work done, but they had a lot of fun with each other too."

Mrs. Raymond earned her first degree from Blissfield County Normal School in 1935. She received her teaching certificate from Adrian College, her master's from Michigan State University, and a specialist degree in art and reading from Eastern Michigan University.

She taught at Modern School in Riga Township before working 43 years for the Sand Creek Community Schools.

"I always said she was gifted because she worked with special education students," Ms. Morse said. "She went from the one-room school house to the age of the computer in the classroom. She would say how much more students needed to know today than back then and didn't know how they learned it all."

She was one of five teachers in the family. "Somewhere along the line, they must have discovered the love of education," Ms. Morse said. "[Mrs. Raymond] loved to travel so she could learn about the places she was going and the people there."

Surviving are two brothers, Marian and Clair Morse. Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at Braun Everiss Wagley Funeral Home. The family suggests tributes to the Alzheimer's Association.