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Mr. Davis visited our Church in September 2022, when we Unveiled a Plaque to honor the memory of Britt-Marie Boman, a church member who died during the pandemic.
His late wife Birgitta was a close friend of Britt-Marie. When he received an inheritance from Britt-Marie’s estate he felt compelled to secure a donation of $100,000 to our church for our outreach.
He returned the following year to give a lecture on Court Skills which was the name of his consulting firm. In 1991 he was contracted by the Department of Justice, State of California to train technical witnesses in testifying in court. Raymond’s professional experience includes testifying in over 1600 criminal, civil and military court martial cases.
His grandfather had immigrated to SF after the massacre on Armenians in Eastern Turkey. When Raymond was drafted for Vietnam his grandfather told him to get baptized, he took it seriously and it became a blessing in his life.
One evening when he is having dinner in the Marina district, he happened to be seated close to two Swedish women, both with an entrepreneurial mindset. Both were members of SWEA and Church of Sweden, where they used to serve coffee. Birgitta, the youngest was a cancer research technician from Karolinska. When the lab team moved to Seattle, she was invited to move with them. The rest is history!
Tell us about your Armenian family and why you got baptized
My grandparents were ethnic Armenians born in eastern Turkey. They emigrated
to America because of the genocide of the Armenian people in 1915. They fled
their homes, traveled to Aleppo, Syria and then onto Boston. Eventually, they
made their way to San Francisco. Despite their initial poverty, my grandparents
became very successful, operating several restaurants in San Francisco, and
also getting involved in restoring old apartment buildings. When my grandmother
died in 1993, her estate was valued at 1.25 million dollars. My grandfather was a
master chef and a master baker. He spoke six languages and read his King
James Bible every day. I still have his very old and well-worn Bible to this day.
And it was his recommendation that I become baptized when I had been drafted
into the Army during the Viet Nam war. He was concerned that I might die
without having the blessing of baptism. He was a remarkable man and I was
honored to know him.
How did you become a forensic scientist
I received a degree in Chemistry from California State University at Sacramento in
1972 and heard about opportunities in forensic science. I arranged a meeting with
the lab director at the State of California Crime Laboratory in Sacramento. I took a
tour of the laboratory and later he invited me to his office. He informed me that the
State had received a grant to open 11 smaller crime labs throughout California and
they were going to hire 30 people with no experience. He asked if I was interested. I
didn’t hesitate to reply with a thunderous, YES! I had a remarkable 32-year career as
a forensic scientist, 12 years in private practice. It was one of the best decisions I
ever made in my career.
Where did you meet Birgitta and Britt-Marie the first time?
At the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco, June 1974. She sat down next to me and
we just started talking to one another over Irish Coffees. After several hours of
wonderful conversation, I asked them if I could drive them home and they agreed.
That’s when I learned that they lived in the same apartment building on Franklin
Street two block off Lombard Street in the Marina District. Two years later, Birgitta
and I got married in Sweden, on 9/11.
Why did Birgitta move to Seattle when she was working as a technician in the cancer research laboratory at Karolinska, working with Drs Karl-Erik and Ingegerd Hellstrom at Karolinska at Stockholm? Did the whole department move to Seattle?
Birgitta was one of three laboratory technicians who came to Seattle, WA along
with the Hellstroms who had received an invitation to continue their work on
monoclonal antibodies at the University of Washington. After two years, she
decided to return to Sweden but not before visiting San Francisco. She fell in
love with the City and got many job offers at local hospitals because of her
association with the Hellstroms. She worked as a cardio-pulmonary function
technologist at Children’s Hospital on California Street.
At a SWEA conference in Washington DC one year, I think in 2008, she met another Swede on a bus tour who worked for a laboratory in South Africa. Coincidentally, that lady’s
responsibility was to send biological specimens called Burkett’s Tumors to the
University of Washington where Birgitta was responsible for picking them up.
Talk about a small world!!!! Birgitta also worked at the world-famous Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle where she performed lung
function testing on cancer patients prior to their bone marrow transplants. She
loved her work and she loved her patients.
Tell us about Britt-Marie Boman and her business and then long friendship with
your wife. Birgitta was younger?
There was a 16-year age difference between Britt-Marie and my wife. Britt-Marie
worked for a very successful property manager in San Francisco. Her boss had a
lovely office gazebo in his front yard where Britt-Marie worked for many years.
One day, Birgitta approached a bus stop on California Street and asked the lady
waiting there when the next bus was due. Britt-Marie said, “It should be here very
soon.” Hearing an accent, Birgitta asked, “Är du Svensk?” And that was the
beginning of a very long and wonderful friendship. Eventually, Birgitta moved into
Britt-Marie’s apartment building taking the apartment across the hall from her.
Tell us more about your life with your wife
Birgitta and I moved to Bainbridge Island, WA to start my own private practice in forensic science and Birgitta with the local hospitals. We joined Bethany Lutheran Church on the Island, and I had the privilege of serving as president of the church council.
How is life after retirement?
I knew that it would be very important to stay busy after retiring. When I retired at
59, I kept active in my profession helping the younger members, I took up long
distance running (marathons), traveled with Birgitta, took cruises, and I published
three novels based on cases that I had worked on during my career. Birgitta
passed away after a four-year battle with (AML) leukemia. After selling our home
in Eagle, Idaho, I moved into a very active retirement community and I’m
enjoying my life. I turned 80 last April but stay as active as possible. I meet with
a small group of professional men twice a week for coffee and conversation. I
give a one-hour Forensic Lecture at my community each month, I play poker
(poorly) with my male friends here, join the folks here for continental breakfasts
and participate in our monthly Book Club.
My final Words; Jag sakna min älskade fru, Inga Birgitta Scott varje dag. Hon var
den bäste som finns. Jag vet att vi ska träffas varandra igen.