Meron, Raya

Raya Meron was born July 08, 1935 in Tel-Aviv, Israel. She joined the Israeli Defense Force after completing her education. Following rigorous boot camp training, she was assigned to the Mixed Armistice Commission. After her military service, Meron worked as Secretary at the Foreign Office where she met her first husband who was an Israeli diplomat at the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey and shortly after her marriage, she moved to Istanbul.

After Meron and her first husband divorced, she left Israel to pursue a show-business career and immigrated to Canada in 1960 and became an airline hostess for Trans-Canada Airlines. In 1961, she went to New York City, New York and Las Vegas, Nevada where she became a showgirl at the Tropicana Hotel “Folies Bergere” show in 1962, the Dunes Hotel “Casino des Paris” show in 1963, the New Frontier Hotel “Minsky Follies” show in 1964, and the “Vive les Girls” Road show in 1965. Meron left Las Vegas in 1967 and returned to New York City to study business administration.

On completion of her studies, she worked as secretary and administrative assistant for a paper conglomerate in New York City. From 1970 to 1972, Meron worked for the European Space Research Organization in the Netherlands, where she also did some photo modeling. She returned to Canada in 1973 and studied to become a law clerk. Meron worked for numerous legal firms and taught law clerks at an evening school. In 1990, she moved to Geneva, Switzerland where she worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She spent a year in Cambodia repatriating Cambodian refugees after the signing of the Cambodian peace agreement. Meron retired in 1997 and spent much of her time in Cambodia writing.