Lorraine C. Lidoff

Lorraine Lidoff, born May 26, 1946, in Washington D.C., passed on November 18, 2023 in the presence of her dearest friend, Sandra Sawyer. Having always been in excellent health, Lorraine was diagnosed with a fast-growing cancer that in a short period of time took her life.

Lorraine, “Rainie,” lived a rich and meaningful life. She worked hard and loved deeply. She had years of joy with her life partner, Brina Melemed, and cared for her throughout Brina’s final heroic battle with pancreatic cancer.

Rainie was a brilliant student, always at the top of her class through grade school, college, and graduate school. She was a voracious lifelong reader and left behind a well curated library. If you knew a book she had not read, she was probably reading it!

After college, Rainie lived in France for a year translating and riding her bike around the country. Only a few women rode “racing bikes” at that time which turned out to be a great opportunity for discussions with the people she met en route, and she was openly welcomed in towns and villages. She loved studying the cathedrals and museums of France, learning how different people thought and lived. Upon returning from France, she attended Columbia for graduate school while working in the Universities Art History Department. After graduation, Rainie explored the country, travels that included spending time milking cows and plowing fields on a dairy farm in central Massachusetts.

Through her work as the vice president of the National Council on Aging and later as program educator for the Lighthouse for the Blind, Lorraine reached many others and made a real and meaningful impact on their lives. She worked on developing programs for older people and their families and improving Medicare coverage for vision rehabilitation. At one point in her career, Rainie became one of the first people in the country to work “remotely.”

Rainie’s family said she was a chip off the old block, with her father’s intelligence and steadfastness and her mother’s kindness and soft touch. Rainie loved reading, riding her bike, walking in the wild places of the Cape, and taking care of her beautiful rescue poodles whom she lovingly referred to as ‘your cousins’ when talking to her niece and nephew. Rainie was a gifted writer, and even quick emails sent later in life from her iPad were a joy to read, her clear voice coming through in each message.

Later in her final decade of life, she reconnected with her love of art, becoming a dedicated student and collector of Native American art. Through this art, she enriched her life and the lives of Native American artists and their families, who became her allies and friends. She loved meeting them in New Mexico at the Great Indian Market until the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible for her to travel. She never stopped reading, learning, and exploring throughout her life, always connecting with new people and new ideas.

Rainie is predeceased by her mother, Evelyn, her father, Herb, her sister, Joan, her foster mother, Marguerite, and her partner, Brina.

She is survived by her beloved brother, Ken, her niece, Genevieve, and her nephew, Daniel. She was loved by her family, her friends locally and across the country, and her neighbors in Eastham. She will be deeply missed.