Raymond Lucien Lebel
1923 – 2009
PORTLAND — Dr. Raymond Lucien Lebel, 86, died Wednesday, Sept. 16, after a long illness.
He was born in Lewiston, April 22, 1923, the son of Lucien Joseph and Victorine Bourgoin Lebel.
He was raised in Lewiston and left to become a Navy fighter pilot in World War II. Because his favorite uncle was an oral surgeon, Ray went to Tufts Dental School and established a long-time oral surgery practice in Portland.
His parents started him playing golf at age 10. He won his first club championship at Martindale Country Club in Auburn at age 14.
In 1940 when he was 17 and a senior in high school, he won the Triple Crown. It included the interscholastic championship, the junior championship, and then the state championship. He was golfer at heart, winning seven Maine State Amateur Championships, 47 club championships, and many seniors’ titles. He’s been inducted into the Maine Golf Hall of Fame and the Maine Sports Hall of Fame and was a member of the tri-state golf team for 50 years.
When he could no longer play golf, he reignited his passion for playing jazz trumpet, which he inherited from his dad. At Lewiston High School and Bowdoin College, he played in bands.
In his final days, he loved puttering in his woodworking shop and framing pictures for friends and family.
He had many memories of people and experiences he never forgot, but his life as an oral surgeon, his wife of 61 years, and his seven children were what kept him going. His constant positive attitude and his will to try new things made his life and golf accomplishments so rewarding.
He is survived by his wife, Jeanne Albert Lebel of Falmouth; his sister, Anita Buckley of Cumberland; his seven children, his daughters, Susan Young of Falmouth, Ann Lebel of Yarmouth and Vicki Koshliek of Cumberland; his sons, Mark Lebel of Falmouth, Michael Lebel of Cumberland, David Lebel of Cumberland and Paul Lebel of Westbrook; 14 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.