Paul’s Obit, for any who did not see it.
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Monthly Archives: May 2007
Paul RAYMOND Co-founder, The Northwest School Paul Doney Raymond was born on January 3, 1932, and grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. An historian and educator, he had a profound influence on students over his 50-year high school teaching career in California and Washington. His extensive life experience, including his formative years during the Depression, his Korean War service, and his participation in the civil rights movement, informed his teaching and brought history to life for his students. He died on May 10, 2007, of complications from congestive heart failure, which were triggered by a sudden infection. Paul Raymond received his master’s degree in history and East Asian studies at the University of Oregon. He was offered a fellowship from Stanford University to pursue his doctorate but declined it because he needed to support a growing family. He started his teaching career at Midland School, a boys’ boarding school in Los Olivos, California. During his ten years at the school, he worked for Martin Luther King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which inspired him to create Project Open Future (1965-1969), one of the country’s first college-preparatory summer programs for inner city youth. Most of the 500 boys recruited from Watts and East Los Angeles to study at Los Angeles area private schools continued on to four-year colleges (many the first in their families to do so), and distinguished careers. He continued his teaching career at Oakwood School and Newbridge School in California and Overlake School, Redmond, WA. In 1978, Paul joined colleagues Mark Terry and Ellen Taussig to found The Northwest School in Seattle, a college-preparatory school for grades 6 -12, which opened its doors in 1980. As its first director, Paul recruited other talented teachers who were equally inspired to create innovative programs, including an integrated humanities curriculum, an inquiry-based science approach, the integration of the arts, environmental stewardship, and the practice of “courtesy and common sense” in daily interactions. His vision and inspiration lives on and makes The Northwest School one of Seattle’s leading college-preparatory schools and a living monument to his commitment to both education and social justice. In addition to education, Paul Raymond was passionately devoted to issues of social justice, especially racial equality, equal opportunity, and peace. Among other activities, he led student trips to El Salvador to observe elections and to introduce students to countries in which people struggled for a better life. A Memorial Celebration of Paul’s Life will be held June 10, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Town Hall. Paul Raymond is survived by Ellen Taussig, his loving wife of 28 years; his children, John, David, and Ani Raymond, Charles Raymond Katz, and Margaret Raymond Bailey; his grandchildren, Katie and Beckie Bailey, Sidney and Sam Katz; and a sister, Elizabeth Raymond Yapp. Those who wish to may honor Paul Raymond by making a donation to the Paul Raymond Endowed Financial Aid Fund at The Northwest School, 1415 Summit Avenue, Seattle, 98122, or to the School of the Americas Watch, PO Box 4566, Washington, D.C., 20017.Rest In Peace/Activism Paul
A teacher of mine from my HS passed away a few days ago – and here’s his obit from the Seattle P-I. He was an amazing man.
Last updated May 11, 2007 8:26 p.m. PT
Paul Raymond, 1932-2007: Activist co-founded Seattle’s Northwest School
Social justice was also his passion
Paul Raymond, whose belief in “courtesy and common sense” in education became the touchstone principle of the Northwest School — a Seattle institution he co-founded nearly 30 years ago — died Thursday after a brief illness. He was 75.
Raymond had taught in the humanities department of the school until February.
A fierce activist and well-loved educator, Raymond started the school along with Ellen Taussig, who is his wife and current head of the Capitol Hill school, and Mark Terry, a fellow teacher who now runs the science department. The three met while teaching together in California and hatched the idea of a school run by teachers who would provide a foundation for young people to go out and change the world.
“He had a dream for starting a school even then,” said Terry. “Ellen and I had heads full of ideas, but Paul had some business know-how,” he said. “We never would have gotten off the ground without Paul.”
They started working on the concept in 1978 and launched the school in 1980.
Raymond, who had been a history teacher, wanted to build a learning institute that would weave five elements of society — political, social, economic, religious and artistic-intellectual — into a forward-looking curriculum that included the sciences.
Today, the hallmarks of the non-profit, independent Northwest School, which includes grades seven through 12, are its vibrant international outlook, its interdisciplinary approach to teaching subjects and its emphasis on tapping student creativity.
The small school with its big ideas has grown to 460 students, including 70 international students, and remains true to Raymond’s initial vision.
“To his credit, the school is in very solid shape, and it’s a vision that will perpetuate beyond his death,” said Alan Braun, acting head of the school while Taussig is on leave. “What will be missed is his moral barometer. He was a loud voice of good sense.”
Raymond developed his conscience and voice early on. Born in the Great Depression in Manhattan, Kan., he grew up Dust Bowl-poor and started working the wheat harvest at age 12.
He served in the Army during the Korean War, and it was there that some of his early passion for the civil rights movement crystallized, said those who knew him.
One of his closest friends during the war was an African American soldier, and Raymond was incensed that the two would return to very different worlds — if they survived.
Raymond did. His friend did not, and Raymond later dedicated his life to erasing racial divisions in society. He worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to register voters in the South, built programs for inner-city children and served more than one stint in jail for his activism through the years.
One student recalled the annual sharing of what they all did during summer vacation that culminated in his mentioning he’d spent his in jail, something he recommended for the learning opportunity it afforded. Raymond impressed on his students the need to “speak truth to power.”
If social justice was his passion, it went hand in hand with his love of teaching, something he passed along to his six children. Three of them are now educators themselves, said Terry.
Raymond turned to teaching to support his young family, which included five children by his first wife. That meant abandoning early dreams of becoming a Chinese studies scholar at Stanford University, Terry said.
One of Raymond’s students — Joseph Esherick — later became that scholar, a “closing of the circle” that was a fitting tribute to Raymond’s teaching, Terry said.
“He had a gift for education,” Terry added.
MORE ONLINE
If you have a Facebook.com account, you can see tributes from former students by going to: facebook.com/group.php?gid=2397977022
For more information about the Northwest School: northwestschool.org
P-I reporter Carol Smith can be reached at 206-448-8070 or carolsmith@seattlepi.com.