Alice Raphael

Alice Maile York Raphael

April 7, 1932 - November 8, 2017

"It is a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved by many friends." -Euripides

Maile Raphael, age 85, died after a long illness on Wednesday, November 8th, 2017 in Oakland, California.

Maile was loved by many friends and family members. She was an exceptional athlete and among a diverse collection of interests, loved playing piano. Ragtime classics on a full upright piano were a favorite, which she played from memory as recently as 2016.
Throughout Maile's adult life, she would say that she did her 'level best to be gemütlich' (warm, kind and friendly). Maile's 'level best' was exceptional.
Here are a few examples:

Maile ascended Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the continental US, at age 64, with the 'Wildberries', a small group of Monterey County senior women who had many outdoor adventures together. Their ascent was interrupted by a blizzard that forced the group to bivouac overnight at 1000 feet below the summit.

An avid tennis player, Maile won many tennis tournaments until she was in her 50s, when she had to stop playing due to the wear and tear that comes to each of us as we age. She especially enjoyed playing in doubles tournaments, both with partner Wen Chow at the Berkeley Tennis Club and with partner Dagne at the West Hills Club in Portland, Oregon.

As a volunteer, ready to give her time, wit and kindness to many public benefit organizations, including the Junior League, the School Resource Volunteers (Berkeley's Willard Jr. High), KQED, and the Carmel Foundation where she taught computer skills to other seniors in the 1990s.

As a friend to fellow mothers in Berkeley where she raised three sons with her husband, David H Raphael.

As a summa cum laude alumnae of Anna Head School in Berkeley where she played basketball and tennis.

As an alumnae of Smith College, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. At Stanford, Maile would meet her life long friend, Jane Mayer, and both of them would transfer to Smith College to complete their BA degrees with honors in 1953. Jane was Maile's maid of honor at her marriage to David Raphael. Later Jane would marry Eric Eisner, raising three children as well. The two couples, Maile and David, and Jane and Eric would enjoy socializing together in New York as well as San Francisco with the children in tow.

As a camping mom in the 1960s in Yellowstone National Park with the Siler Family, where she would rescue a neighboring family from the approach of a black bear - she evicted the bear by banging pans together. The Silers (Nelse and Granny with children Tracy, Kelly, Jimmy, Megan, and Tara) and the Raphaels would spend several summer vacations together, often at Tahoe Meadows.

Maile is survived by her three sons, John (Oakland), Miles (San Rafael), and James David (Reno), her niece, Alison York Barnes (Fairbanks), four grandchildren (Katherine, Brian, Francesca and Alicia), and cousins Janice York and Phyllis York.
A private memorial service for Maile will be held in Berkeley on Tuesday, 20th February 2018 for invited friends and family.
If you would like to make a memorial gift, the family asks that you specify a gift in memory of Alice York Raphael, '53 to Smith College. By mail to
Smith College, Gift Accounting , 23 Elm Street, Northampton MA 01063
or online at https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/giving