Michael proved persistent, and three years later they were married. Wedding took place in the Student, the money for a new suit and dress Michael earned summer, working on the combine on virgin soil. After graduating from the University, the couple moved to Stavropol Gorbachev, the home of Michael, who was engaged in social work there and soon was appointed first secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol.
In 1978, Gorbachev were back in Moscow, where Mikhail was appointed Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee on Agriculture. Raisa life changed dramatically after Michael became head of state. She did not know how to behave - to her from social life and meetings with other heads of state wives worked for the most part Valentina Tereshkova.
They say that this state of affairs did not suit Raisa Maksimovna: the focus should only be the president's wife. But the Soviet people thought that the first lady attracts too much attention: looks spotless, tastefully dressed and often change clothes, persistently "climbs into the frame" and has an unusual passion to teach all didactic tone.
Raisa had a hand in the creation of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, which supported the famous museums and contributed to the restoration of churches and monuments. First Lady participated in the work of the "Help the Children of Chernobyl" and oversaw the main pediatric hospital in Moscow.
She was interested in the foreign press, which noted that the first Soviet lady dressed with this Parisian chic and surprisingly everything weighs much less than her husband. In 1988, Raisa Gorbachev awarded the "Women of the World", and in 1991 - Award "Lady of the Year".
Raisa around always supported her husband. In Foros after the events she suffered a stroke, which caused paralysis of the arm and the side of the face. Following the resignation of Gorbachev wrote six books edited Raisa. In Russia, they do not come out wide circulation, but in the West have become quite popular.
In 1999, the first lady of the USSR discovered leukemia. Treatment was carried out in Germany, in the clinic at the University of Westphalia, but expected no improvement, and 20 September 1999 Raisa Gorbachev died without regaining consciousness.
Who knows what would have been the life of Mikhail Gorbachev, if next to him was a woman with another character. Raisa attitude to the world, her outlook on life was influenced not only by the first President of the USSR - they affected the life of the whole country.
Not just the First Lady, but the first woman, who was not all the same. Before his death, Raisa began working on a book of his memoirs, the working title of which was "What hurts the heart." Unfinished book about the life of women with vulnerable and sensitive heart.