This notice from Julie Isen Sackman:

I am saddened to report that my old friend and our classmate Pat Warner died on October 22, 2021 in Oakland, CA. Like many of us, she had already turned the big you-know-what earlier this year and, to those of us who still feel in our prime, 70 is way too young an age to go.

I've known Pat since she came to Beverly Vista in 5th grade. Probably in her early 40's, she changed last name from "Warner", her estranged father's surname, to "Cohn", her mother's family name. A few years later, she changed her first name to "Rafaela" and called herself "Raffie" for short. Inflexible as I am, it was difficult for me to adjust and so, for the longest time and much to her irritation, I called her "Raffie Pat".

Eventually, my brain and mouth made the switch and I was able to drop the "Pat". So, in honor of her wishes, I am writing here about Raffie.

Raffie's parents were Holocaust survivors from Germany. The United States wouldn't let them in and so her parents immigrated first to Cuba and only later to the United States. She was an only child and her parents divorced when Raffie was around six years old. In all the years I knew Raffie, I only met her father a few times. She also did not see him regularly.

Raffie's mother, Ruth, had the foresight to move to Beverly Hills so Raffie would get a good education. They lived in various one bedroom apartments south of the tracks. One of their apartments was on Robbins Drive, right near the high school. Toni Goldenberg (DeeDee Lancet) and Kathy Miller lived in the same apartment complex and the three of them became perhaps unlikely friends. Raffie's mother worked hard as a bookkeeper and Raffie also began earning money at a young age to help out. Later, Raffie's mother remarried, which required another adjustment on Raffie's part. So hers was a life very different from most of ours in Beverly Hills.

Raffie graduated from UC Berkeley and later went to law school but lawyering was not up her alley. She worked as an organizational trainer and developer, trying to help small businesses improve their internal workings.

Raffie felt social injustices and both her own and other people's plights very strongly. The causes that spoke to her became her passion and she spent countless hours organizing and working with the community and groups on these issues so close to her heart. Raffie never married or had children and so these comrades in arms were her family.

Raffie was intelligent but what distinguished her even more was her talent at expressing herself. Moved by music, dance, drama, and strong feelings and thoughts that she did not shy away from but instead delved into, she was insightful and able to put those feelings and thoughts into incredible (but often too wordy) prose and poetry. Writing was Raffie's therapy.

Raffie and I kiddingly called each other Toody and Muldoon from the TV show "Car 54, Where Are You?" because she was so short and I was so tall. We were also opposites in other ways, but I always admired the way she felt so deeply. I'm sad that she is no longer with us.