Raine Rawlins Obituary

Raine Michaelyan Hall Rawlins died May 8, 2025 at home in the arms of both her loving husband Alan Rawlins and her dear friend Shelley Gill after a courageous six year battle with colon cancer. Always known affectionately as Raine Day, she was born Fe'an (aka Fayanne) Marie Michaelyan on February 10, 1954 in New Rochelle, NY to Fred Michaelyan and Coralice (aka Coree) Potter. Her family moved to Great Barrington, MA shortly after her birth. She attended local schools and Windsor Mountain in Lenox for high school. She enjoyed riding horses, movies and music. As a teenager she learned to cook from none other than Alice Brock of Alice's restaurant. Alice, Arlo Guthrie, Rick Robbins, Benno Friedman, Jim Jacobs and Bill Russell took a teenaged Raine under their wing and they remained devoted friends through out her life. Raine first went to Alaska when she was 17 to work for a season as a cook on a fishing boat. In 1976 she married James Hall of Alford, MA, and moved to Alaska lock, stock, & barrel. She became involved in the Iditarod dog sled race and started The Iditarod Runner, which was a newsletter that she wrote, edited, published, and distributed. Raine played a major role in bringing The Iditarod to a mass audience by getting national television coverage through her enthusiasm, connections, and sheer force of will. She climbed Denali with some friends from the Lower 48, stopping just short of the summit, agreeing with her rope team that they "had gotten high enough". In her early 30's Raine studied acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York City but found her true calling scouting and managing locations and doing "real people casting" for commercials and films. Raine could parachute into remote communities, make friends, and find the perfect locations to shoot. She named her business Extreme Locations. If you needed snow in the middle of summer Raine, would travel to the hemisphere where it could be found and line things up. Even though she looked eerily like a young Elizabeth Taylor, she eschewed Hollywood and instead moved from Alaska to Moose, Wyoming because she could not be far from the mountains. She met key grip Alan Rawlins filming Planet of the Apes by Tim Burton, and they fell in love on the set of Burton's Big Fish. Alan and Raine worked together on Last Holiday with Queen Latifah and with Marvel on several projects including Black Widow and End Game. They married in Alaska on July 20, 2013 and constructed an off grid log cabin where she and Alan lived for the past several years in a state she loved for its beauty and wildness. She was very devoted to her beloved mother, and purchased the house Coree was renting so that she could remain in her happy place until she died. Raine brought a fierce determination, and an appetite for adventure, to everything she did.

She leaves her beloved husband, Alan Rawlins, and stepson Kerry Rawlins (wife Kasey) and Chis Rawlings (wife Renee) and their families, her brother Brian Michaelan of Provincetown, MA. her nephew's Patrick (Deborah) Michealan of Walton NY and Kevin (Andra) Michealan and his sons Blake and Teddy of Naples FL, her cousin "MooMoo" Muriel Lee Costantini and her daughter Sabrina Costantiani of Venice Italy, her first husband, James Hall of Alford, MA, her "Aunty" Jane Green, and, of course, hundreds of friends who will miss her terribly. At her request there will be no memorial in Alaska. Raine's ashes will be spread in her gardens in Homer, Alaska. Her friends in the Berkshires will no doubt gather, share stories and raise a martini glass in her honor.

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Published by The Berkshire Eagle on Jun. 5, 2025.

Memories and Condolences
for Raine Rawlins

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2 Entries

Polly Kahl

June 9, 2025

Raine, Brian, and their mom Coree stayed with our family in our big house on Hurlburt Rd for two years while we were in grade school. Raine was lots of fun and always had original and progressive ideas. That she had so many big adventures in her too-short life was no surprise. We reconnected and became friends again as adults and she was still the same Raine she'd always been. Dear Raine, I hope you're at a place of "peace and love," as you signed your cards and letters since you were a child. Thank you, Alan, for taking such beautiful care of her at the end. There will always only be one Raine and she will be missed by many.

Jamie Mullen

June 6, 2025

I went all through Bryant Elementary school in Great Barrington Massachusetts with Raine (Feàn) and although I never saw her again after the eighth grade, I still remember her vividly. Also our families lived in the same neighborhood in Great Barrington. Her family ran a carpet business as well.
I remember well when Feàn announced in 7th grade she would heretofor wanted to be known as Rainy. It was at this time she was enamored with Cher and began dressing and wearing her long dark hair to emulate her. As our culture was in rapid change Raine seemed to embrace the excitement and possibilities of the zeitgeist before any of her contemporaries with boldness and determination. Clearly characteristics of the accomplished woman she became.
A memory that evokes some levity was the tremendous difficulty the occasional substitute teachers had with her name. How they all fumbled with both her first and last names. Also I recall how soft her voice was and how the teachers were constantly telling her to speak up.
Although her life was cut much too short, Raine lived her life boldly. Traits she displayed as a thirteen year old.
To her family please accept my sincere sympathies. Peace to all.
Jamie Mullen

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