Raisa and Yakov visited Victoria, B.C. some years back, a time of laughter and camaraderie that remains with us. Rob and I treasure that brief time and wish Yakov the solace of loving memories. We are so sorry for your loss, and grateful to have had the grace of meeting you both.

Raisa was so close to me in the years at Southeastern, almost like a mom. Always helping with something and very supportive when in need. This is very sad news. She will be missed 🙏🙏🙏

J.P. and I had the honor and privilege of meeting you both 30 years ago.  We are sad, but will cherish our  times together and the beautiful
and delicious food she prepared for us on many occasions.

  I always wished to have her teach me to play the piano.  However, we agreed I had toes for fingers and piano was not in my future. 

We love you Yakov.  We look forward to seeing you "out west" soon.

Love,
Sandy

My sincere condolences 💐 to Mrs. Raisa Voldman.  She was one of the best piano accompanist ever!  She played for the concert choir the time I attend Southeastern Louisiana University (1999-2003).  I can remember when the choir performed at a venue out of town she was asked to sight-read a very difficult piece for a performance.   She performed it with ease and excellence. She will be greatly missed.

Also, I wanted to say, Anya and I planned on coming today but last night I realized I had contracted covid from my son.

We wish the Voldman family our deepest sympathy. Thank you for sharing her with us. 

Our dear Raisa, you have impacted so many lives! We miss you and will always love you ❣️

Raisa was a great teacher and friend to me; my first lesson with her was telling me that my playing was pretty bad and could use a lot of improvement.  That got me hooked; lessons were great and insightful.  A great mentor to me:)

She is a great person; short story, best wishes to Yakov.

After Raisa let us know she'd no longer be able to teach piano we started a thank you card. Each attempt seemed painfully inadequate to express my gratitude for how wonderful she was for Anya. We started and stopped until it was too late, and I'll always regret this. 

Instead I'll share this with her family and friends. 

Thank you Raisa for teaching Anya more than just piano. Through Raisa's lessons Anya learned confidence. She began to look people in the eye and answer unequivocally. She did not wilt away from challenge, and instead embraced it. She reached Anya in a way that a mother of an almost teen is no longer able to, and I'll  be forever grateful. 

Raisa taught me more than just piano lessons, she taught me about life. I still use her ways of articulating phrasing to people and fondly tell stories of some of the more entertaining lessons. She was there when I received my acceptance letter to college. She was there to teach me piano again after college (until I couldn't physically sit at a piano). I wasn't the easiest student to deal with, I know, but I always felt she believed in me. She's already missed. My condolences to Yakov and the rest of the family.

Raisa and Yakov took Katia in immediately as if they new each other from birth

After feeding them gators in on of the LA swamps

Raisa was my first and favorite piano teacher. She took me under her protective and loving wing at 5 years old all the way until high school. She was the teacher that made me completely understand how to express myself through music. She made it click in my head one day and from that day forward, I found my love and passion through my music. She was a fierce woman and had a giant heart for so many. I knew if I ever needed a safe place to go I was always welcome in her home. My heart goes to her family, especially Yakov who loved her deeply. Thank you for all you both have taught me and all the endless love you gave to me and my family. 

Dear Yasha and Zorik!  We are crying with you today, but the memories of the years we spent with you in Indianapolis bring a different feelings. I will never forget the first time I met you in Cleveland. Rayechka was so hospitable, that I had a feeling that I new her and all your family my whole life.
She had this energy and inner fire in her that was on 24/7.  The friend of my friend becomes my friend. That is exactly what happened. You became our close friend. 
We celebrated our birthdays and the birthdays of our children together and we will never forget how Rayechka cooked a mamaliga one day. Her teaching talent is beyond any description. It was given to her by God!  Let her soul rest in peace. 
Vladimir and Sofia Krakovich 

It is so painful to talk about Rayechka in the past tense. It is so hard to accept her passing. Vibrant, beautiful, smart, kind and generous Raya is no longer with us. She was an artist in the best sense of this word. Her intelligence and sensibility made her very special music professional  one can only be honored to know, to listen to, to be taught by. And she was all that - piano guru, an excellent teacher and a remarkable musician. She was also a painter, and her colors, her images, the fragments of life she choose to paint on her canvases speak for themselves. She was a great wife and a lifelong friend to Yasha, her husband, terrific mother to her son, and a very dear friend to us.  We are going to miss her terribly - her wit, her sense of humor, her hospitality, her kindness, her heartfelt care. We will have to learn to live with memories of Rayechka. She will live in our hearts forever. 
Sofia and Michael Kukuy.

Dear Mrs. Raisa,
I will never forget our last meeting, the walk,  the lovely dinner, and the great advice that you gave me. Thanks for the sincere  compassion and warm care for my boy.  You were an Angel here on earth and now you are an Angel in the sky. Please, look after him in Heaven, find my Grozdan. We will meet one day and we will talk so much…
Love
Vanya

Dear Yashenka, Zorrik and Isabella,
Out deepest condolences to all of you!
Raechka was a wonderful wife, dedicated mother, kind mother-in-law, and just simply a beautiful, warm, hospitable individual and a great friend!
We will miss her!
Love,
Alla and Edik ❤️


We are so sorry for your loss. Raisa has been such a great teacher and Yuchen (Eason) learned so much from her. She will be missed, we would like to express our sorrow and condolences to you and your family.

Xiao Li and Yuchen (Eason) Li.

Dear Yasha & Zorik,
It is impossible to comprehend that dearest, beloved Raechka is not here anymore. 
She is and always will be with us in our hearts, our souls, our memories. 
Her love for life, always positive, energetic attitude, her sparkling sense of humor were not just contagious but electrifying everybody around. 
Although we were not together often but even the short time together or telephone conversations were enough to remember for the rest of our lives as a very joyful and happy time. 
She has not left and will stay with us spiritually as long as we are around. 
Dear Yasha and Zorik, her love, her attitude will always be with you.
We love you and feel your pain.
Fira, Lonya

Raisa was and will always be one of the most beautiful women I’ve known. She had a quiet fire that was so inspiring to me as a young musician at Southeastern. I’m so sorry for your loss, but so glad you got to be her lifelong partner. 
Love,
Jacqui Brecheen


Sending peace and comfort to Yakov and family, and all of Raisa’s students and friends. 

We have more in common so we can discuss a lot of things. You could understand the struggles we had as an immigration family and always cheers us up. You taught kids a lot about piano and they also learnt to work hard to make you proud. I remember how excited after performed their 1st multi-piano festival. During pandemic, you encourage us to continue the lesson remotely so kids still practice instead of having gap and give up. Every time kids played music “Moldau”, I can always remember your instruction, enjoy the beautiful river with flow of the music. It is important to appreciate life as it flows like a river.

Now as you depart to a better place, we feel extremely lucky and grateful to get to know you and Yakov as mentors of our kids, and also as friends to my family. We still remember your lovely paintings at your place and wonderful food you cooked for us when you were at your house for dinner. These little memories will always be part of our lives even when you are not with us. We will miss you very much.  

From the Pei Family: Seb, Shawna, Ling and Hongyan

Dear Raisa:

We were trying to find a piano teacher though lessons.com and you were the 1st one replied on 1/12/2018. You generously provided us a complimentary class before we made decision. To be honest with you, I didn’t want to take lesson by that time because it was a big driving commitment every week (15miles from our home and total driving time was 22 min). However your kindness and amazing piano skills just shocked us and we immediately committed to have you as our piano teacher regardless of the distance. You’re very patient and kind with kids and in those 5 years, I can tell kids piano skills really advanced from one level to another. Do you know you’re also the 1st teacher to introduce my daughter (2nd-grader by that time) to fraction. With slicing of a lot of apples, she understood a quarter and one eighth. That is a bonus math class on top of piano! Of course, we enjoyed the fruits you gave after the class always. 

Our parent-teacher relationship changed after we found out my father had stage VI cancer. You were the biggest supporter for us during this difficult time. As a first-generation immigrant like us, you understand and cared about our situation. Every week you cheered us by music and most importantly with all kinds of information about fighting cancer you could gather from your friends and family in different states, all the inspiring stories you told us. 

From Pei-family (Due to limit characters, part 2 will start in next post)

OBITUARY

Raisa Voldman

February 3, 1950 – August 29, 2022

Crist Mortuary & Cremation and Mountain View Memorial Park

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