 Raymond was born in New Rochelle , New York , the son of Beatrice <unk> ( née Crossley ) and Alexander Gillespie Raymond . Alex was Roman Catholic . His father was a civil engineer and road builder who encouraged his son 's love of drawing from an early age , even " covering one wall of his office in the Woolworth Building " with his young son 's work . After the death of his father when he was 12 , he felt that perhaps there was not as viable a future in art as he had hoped and attended Iona Prep on an athletic scholarship . 
