PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Jeannine Raymond, 71, passed away on Dec. 27, 2007, after a long and valiant fight against cancer. Although her life was not long enough, it was full. Indeed, she lived more than most people could live in 10 lifetimes.

She often said “life is not a dress rehearsal.”

She was born in Lewiston on July 14, 1936, and lived there until she attended Mary Washington College in Virginia, from which she graduated in 1958.

She was a great beauty throughout her life. She was the runnerup to Miss Maine and was the 1955 Cherry Blossom Festival Queen. But her looks could fool you – she was more gunpowder than powder-puff.

She was an international TWA stewardess – featured in their promotional materials; in fact her picture hung in the Paris ticket office until it closed – again those amazing looks and great personality. She raised two children and kept busy with volunteer and charity work while living in New York.

She was not afraid to reinvent herself. In the late 1970s she moved to Florida, and became a luxury yacht interior designer and transatlantic sailor. She again reinvented herself when she moved to Palm Springs in 2001, bought the Villa Rosa and became a boutique hotelier. All who met her in that role know that she was the consummate hostess and a one-woman show. Perhaps her favorite, though sadly shortest, role was as “Grammy” to her adored grandson Jonathan.

She is also survived by her son, Jay Gustafson; and daughter, Gail Gustafson.