WENDY MARCUS RAYMONT

1938 - 2019

Wendy Marcus Raymont (Age 80) Died on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 under the mountains, stars and night sky of Tepoztlán, Mexico, a village she loved deeply, where she and her husband, Henry Raymont, have lived for two years. A few hours after her death a shooting star lit up the night, heading south. Wendy died from complications of Alzheimer's disease, her family said. She'd been diagnosed with the disease in 2015. Wendy Raymont was born Wendy Marcus in Dallas, Texas on October 2, 1938, daughter of Neiman Marcus President Stanley Marcus and Billie Marcus. She was the younger sister to Jerrie Marcus Smith of Dallas and Camden, Maine, and the slightly older twin sister to Richard Marcus, of Austin, Texas. Wendy is survived by her husband, Henry Raymont, of Mexico; her children, Daniel Raymont (Bonnie), of New York, Adam Raymont (Katrin), of Berlin, Sarah Raymont (Alex), of New York; three granddaughters, Lulu, Minnie and Linden, and grandson Theodore Eugene, born in Berlin the week before her death. Wendy loved the Dallas she grew up in. She attended the Hockaday School, and did her homework with the radio beside her head so she could follow The Dallas Eagles baseball games. She went on to Smith College, where she majored in Government and graduated summa cum laude. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 1963, one of a handful of pioneering women in the law. She remembered one class where the professor designated a random day a month where he'd call only on women. She and the other female law students had to be extra prepared "every day," because they never knew when that day would come. Wendy met journalist Henry Raymont of Koenigsbourg, Germany at the White House, where she worked. It was the first Black Tie and Boots party hosted by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Henry noticed her dancing with a naval officer and made his move, impersonating the nephew of impresario Sol Hurok. Replete with a thick Russian accent, he offered her tickets to the touring Bolshoi Ballet. Wendy liked to tell people that, as she worked in the White House, it was perfectly easy to obtain her own seats to the ballet, and she politely declined his invitation. Nevertheless, she was charmed by the newspaperman, and they courted next at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, where Wendy was accompanying the First Lady, and Henry was on hand, ready to show them the best of San Juan. They were married in the library of the St. Regis Hotel in New York in 1966. Friends of his gave the marriage a month. Friends of her father tried to steer the ship elsewhere. They were married for 53 years. Wendy Raymont began her career in Washington clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas. She moved to the White House and worked as assistant to Lady Bird Johnson. She then worked for the law firm Coudert Brothers in Paris, and Time Magazine in New York. She returned to Washington to work as legal counsel to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Commerce Department. She valued volunteering or serving on such boards as The National Center for Therapeutic Riding in Washington DC and the Arena Stage. She left the government after training to become a mediator and used this training to work for immigrant rights in Boston, against corruption at Transparency International in Berlin, and the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) in Washington. Wendy inspired many young women in her life to pursue careers outside the home. She encouraged them to be strong, independent thinkers and envision what they could do in their lives. She valued intellect, social responsibility, justice and empathy. To hear her laugh was to feel better about your life in this world. Her laughter was a hug. She loved embarrassing her children with noisy demonstrations of how "marvelous" life was, and really, it was she who was marvelous: she had a profound faith in life and those who knew her, learned it. Wendy believed in transparency and conversation, and never gave up her optimism for the United States and its potential for justice for all. Services scheduled for a later date. Memorials may be made to: Smith College, Raices, or the Alzheimer's Association. A good way to remember Wendy would be to engage someone you don't see eye to eye with, or, take a walk with someone younger. Show them the trees, that growing up in this world is a wonder, too.