Update: Former Faculty & Staff
In Memoriam: Patti Blauvelt
The wife of former Business Manager Dick Blauvelt reminds us of the grace with which family can be blended into a boarding school community—and the many ways in which that community is enriched when it can happen.
S
HE WAS AN OFFICIAL
employee of
wife, mother, grandmother, and neigh-
Holderness School for only a few
bor,” said her obituary. “To her grand-
years—in the late 1970s, when she
children, she was Mamie; to the neigh-
served in the Admissions Office
borhood children, she was Mrs. B. All
headed by Steve Christakos, and
found her home a favorite place to visit
then later as a typing teacher—but in her
for a story, homemade cookies, and a
unofficial capacity as many students’ surro-
warm smile.”
gate mother, Patti Lee Blauvelt was as impor-
Holderness students benefited not
tant as any faculty member in the
only from those visits themselves, but—
Schoolhouse.
in the days before word processing and
Her husband Dick was the school’s
electronic printers—her skills as a typist,
Business Manager from 1974 to 1992, and
and her generosity with those skills. “She
the couple had two sons who attended
must have typed literally hundreds of
Holderness, Brian Woodilla ’83 and Tad
essays and term papers and college appli-
Woodilla ’86. “Patti was a warm and outgo-
cations for students,” Paul Elkins says.
ing woman who could also really bake and
“And she wasn’t paid. She didn’t do it
cook,” recalls former chemistry teacher Paul
for pay. She did it just to help.”
Elkins, now Associate Dean of Students at
Marty Elkins—formerly a dean, his-
the New Hampton School. “She welcomed
tory teacher, and field hockey coach at
anybody and everybody into her house in
Holderness, now Director of College
Campton—boarders and day students alike—
Counseling at New Hampton—remem-
and made them feel like they were home
bers the fall of 1998, when her field
“She must have typed literally hundreds of essays and term papers and college applications for students. And she wasn’t paid. She didn’t do it for pay. She did it just to help.” —Paul Elkins
hockey team won the first of several NEPSAC championships. Dick and Patti’s granddaughter Kathleen Blauvelt Kime ’99 was a member of that team, and the Bauvelts attended every home game (as well as many away contests), and hosted two team dinners at their home. Then at the end of the season they presented each Holderness player and her parents with a pewter key chain. “It had a proud Holderness ‘H’ on one side, surrounded by the words ‘Holderness Field Hockey Revenge Tour ’98,’” says Marty. “Then ‘New England Prep School Champions’ was on the reverse. The ‘revenge tour’ captured our desire to beat the only squad who gave us a season loss, KUA—which we did in the 1-0 championship victory. Only a few lucky people have ever seen these pewter gifts.”
again. I ran into Chris Hopkins ’83 once recently [Chris is now headmaster of the Maine Central Institute], and he said to me,
“Devotion and loyalty were Patti’s hallmarks,” Marty adds. “Small school communities rely heavily on their primary play-
‘Please tell the Blauvelts how important they both were to me as
ers—faculty, students, etc. But sometimes it’s the quiet understat-
friends when I was going through a tough time at Holderness.’”
ed presence of people like Patti Blauvelt—like so many spouses
Of course Patti was a good friend to the whole community
who don’t teach but who are present in the community—that pro-
during the nearly two decades that she and Dick came regularly to
vide the steady, guiding, and nurturing force that makes a huge
family-style dinners in Weld Hall. She grew up in Maine, where
difference in the lives of so many students.”
she was a three-sport athlete (all-state in field hockey) and captain
After a long battle with brain cancer, Patti died at the age of
of the cheerleaders in high school. She went on to Becker College
67 at home on March 23, 2011, in the early morning after Dick’s
in Massachusetts, and then to work at John Hancock in Boston,
birthday—and only six weeks before the expected birth of her
and at both Plymouth State University and Holderness.
first great-grandchild to Kathleen.
Finally she became a substitute teacher and active volunteer
“Boarding school life can be wonderful, and it can also be
at such area schools as Plymouth Elementary, Moultonborough
hard sometimes,” says Elk. “It became a lot easier for generations
Central, and Barrington Elementary. “At home, she was a beloved
of Holderness students thanks to Patti.”
Holderness School Today
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