Dr. Raymond Lee Paine Jr.

A celebration of life service will be held at 3pm on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at Berry Highland Memorial Funeral Home: 5315 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919.

Raymond was a board-certified psychiatrist and board-certified psychoanalyst who helped scores of people over his 60 years of medical practice. His keen intellect, incisive analytical skills, curiosity about others, empathy, and tireless work ethic made him a natural fit for the practice of psychiatry, which was the animating force of his life. Raymond was also a fervent Michigan football fan, a tennis and golf aficionado, and a loving husband, father, and grandfather. His family dearly misses him.

Raymond was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 8, 1937 to Ruby Agnes Lovegrove and Dr. Raymond Lee Paine Sr. He was raised in Negaunee, Michigan and graduated from Negaunee High School in 1954, where among other activities and accomplishments, he played football, basketball, and baseball and sang in the school choir. During this time, Raymond also met his high school sweetheart, Sally Christine Palomaki, a student at nearby Ishpeming High School. The two would continue to date throughout their time in college. While Sally studied at the Detroit School of Nursing, Raymond attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1958. Raymond and Sally finally wed in 1959. The two remained deeply devoted life partners from then onward.

Raymond’s parents were both medical professionals: his mother, a nurse; his father, one of only two doctors in Raymond’s hometown. After completing his undergraduate education, Raymond followed in their footsteps and enrolled at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he discovered a passion for the practice of psychiatry that would shape the rest of his life. Raymond, Sally, and their children moved several times over the ensuing decades as Raymond embarked on his medical career.

In 1964, Raymond graduated from medical school and interned at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa. In 1965, Raymond and his family relocated to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Raymond continued his psychiatric training as a resident physician at University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital.

After finishing his specialty training in 1968, Raymond served two years active duty in the U.S. Navy as staff psychiatrist at the U.S. Naval Hospital Camp LeJeune. While on active duty, he held the rank of Lieutenant Commander. During his tour of duty, Raymond also provided part-time service to the civilian community as Clinical Director of the Onslow County Mental Health Clinic in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Upon being honorably discharged in 1970, Raymond returned to Chapel Hill to work as an attending physician at University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital and became a board-certified psychiatrist. That year, he also joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. Between 1970 and 1979, Raymond split his time between patient care and teaching, while also furthering his own education. In 1972, Raymond was named the Medical Director of the 54-bed Psychiatric Adult Inpatient Service at University of North Carolina Memorial Hospital. In 1977, Raymond completed the University of North Carolina-Duke University Psychoanalytic Training Program. He later became a board-certified psychoanalyst in 1979. Raymond’s remarkable ability to connect with patients, colleagues, and students alike was recognized when he was named Teacher of the Year by the University of North Carolina Psychiatry Residents Organization in 1978. He subsequently received the Outstanding Educator Award from the same body in 1979.

In 1979, Raymond and his family relocated to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he established his private psychiatric practice and where he would reside for the rest of his life. As Raymond continued to build his psychiatric practice, he simultaneously served as the Chief of Psychiatry at both St. Mary’s Medical Center and Park West Hospital throughout the 1980s and 1990s. During his many years in Knoxville, Raymond additionally worked on an ongoing basis as an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, periodically taught at the University of Tennessee, and continued to present and lecture on matters of mental health throughout the state. Amid these and other professional activities and accomplishments, Raymond remained deeply dedicated to his patients, many of whom he cared for over multiple decades. Raymond continued his medical practice until only a few months before his death.

Raymond was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Sally Christine Paine; his parents, Ruby Agnes and Raymond Lee Paine Sr.; and his brother, Peter Jeffrey Paine. Raymond is survived by his children, Peter Lee Paine (Lisa), Jennifer Lynn Bernard (John), and Michael Thomas Paine (Stacey); grandchildren, Ryan Lee Paine, Matthew Stephen Bernard (Alex), Emma Lyn Paine Vo (Jeremi), Lauren Sally Bernard (Rohan), and Connor Thomas Paine; great-grandchildren, Reese Brooke Bernard and Briar Eloise Bernard; and cherished nieces; nephews; great nieces; and great nephews.

The family would like to express their gratitude to Raymond’s faithful friends Tom and Jill Gilbertson and Dan and Diane Kaschak. The family is also grateful to Raymond’s friend and longtime office manager Janice Reagan for her generosity and loyal support.

Raymond was a voracious reader, a lifelong learner, and an ardent proponent of higher education. In lieu of flowers, please direct any memorial contributions to the University of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Student Scholarship Fund or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Psychiatry Resident’s Annual Fund, or buy a book for a child in your life.

You are invited to share condolences at www.berryhighlandmemorial.com