Dr. Raymond Lucien Lebel ’49, a long-time Portland oral surgeon, died on September 16, 2009, in Falmouth, Maine, after a long illness.
He was born in Lewiston on April 22, 1923, and graduated from Lewiston High School in 1940. He attended Bliss Business College and worked for a year at Manufacturer’s National Bank before joining the Navy in 1942. He served as a fighter pilot, flying Hell Cats in World War II, and was awarded two Distinguished Navy Crosses. He attained the rank of ensign. After the war, he attended Bowdoin for one year as a member of Chi Psi fraternity. He went on to graduate from Tufts Dental School in 1951, and maintained an oral surgery practice in Portland for many years. Golf was his passion. He started playing at age 10, won his first club championship at 14, and as a 17-year-old high school senior won the Triple Crown: the interscholastic championship, the junior championship, and then the state championship. He won seven Maine State Amateur Championships, 47 club championships, and many seniors’ titles. He was 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. He also was an enthusiastic jazz trumpeter, and at the end of his life loved puttering in his woodworking shop. He is survived by Jeanne Albert Lebel, his wife of 61 years; a sister, Anita Buckley; three daughters, Susan Young, Ann Lebel, and Vicki Koshliek; four sons, Mark Lebel, Michael Lebel, David Lebel, and Paul Lebel; 14 grandchildren; and seven great- grandchildren. He was predeceased by a brother, Paul Lebel.