The former manager of Good Scents in Provincetown, Raymond Trevino Jr. died in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on April 1, 2022 after a brief illness. He was 65.
Raymond was born in Port Arthur, Texas on Nov. 9, 1956. He grew up there, graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1975. An accomplished oboe player, he studied at St. Thomas College in Houston before finishing his degree in music at the University of Texas at Austin in 1979. Well versed in both Latin and classical music, he especially enjoyed playing baroque music.
Raymond moved from Texas to Boston in 1980 to work with George Howell at the Coffee Connection. He became a specialty coffee entrepreneur, opening and managing several stores. In the late ’90s, Raymond moved to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he managed the King’s Caribbean Coffee Company.
Raymond travelled the world with his knowledge of Spanish and French. He always flew first class, and he seemed to be able to pass as a native anywhere. Once, in Myanmar, he was thought to be a very tall Burmese.
He was comfortable in an East Texas honky-tonk or sporting a tux on the Queen Mary. At Harrod’s in London, he thoroughly enjoyed high tea, undeterred by the $125 price.
In the past three years, he took cruises to Mexico and Central America and around the Mediterranean, and crossed the U.S. three times in a private Amtrak berth.
With a long affection for Provincetown, Raymond moved here permanently in 2000. For the next two decades he managed the Good Scents store on Commercial Street. He retired in 2019.
Raymond loved to perform. He had an affection for theater and costume and a flair for impromptu dialogue and song. His stage names included Porche Divan and Aurora Borealis.
An aficionado of fine crystal, Raymond collected Lalique and showered his friends with crystal gifts.
He returned to Port Arthur several times a year to keep up with family and had scores of friends he treated like family, many times traveling to nurse a friend through an illness or after an operation or difficult life transition.
He made his friends laugh and feel loved. There was simply no one like him, they often said.
He is survived by his sister, Cecilia Esqueda and husband Tony of Goves, Texas; nieces Dana Wiltz and Cassie Guy of Nederland, Texas; grandnieces Sierra and Ava Wiltz and Anslee Guy; grandnephew Kaisen Guy; and friends too numerous to name.
Raymond was predeceased by his parents, Raymond and Anita Trevino, and by his longtime partner, Dr. John Graves, who died in 2003.
Donations in Raymond Trevino’s honor can be made to Outer Cape Health Services (outercape.org), the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (paam.org), or the Handel and Hayden Society handelandhaydn.org.
A celebration of Raymond’s life will be planned for later this year in Provincetown. Email [email protected] for more information.
