Esther Louise Holt Obituary (1913 - 2006)

East Vassalboro Esther Louise Holt, 93, passed away July 4 at Oak Grove Rehab and Living Center in Waterville. She was born in East Dedham, MA., Mar. 23, 1913 the daughter of Dean and Arethusa Pike Holt. She attended schools in MA and N.H., graduating from Bay Path Institute in Springfield, MA in 1932. She worked for several years as secretary to a firm of book manufacturers in Greenfield, MA. After WWII Esther was a medical secretary for the Medical College at the University of Denver, CO and in 1967 at the newly established Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tasmania, Australia. She was a member of the Colorado Mountain Club and served on many of it's committees and on their State Board of Directors. She also worked as a volunteer with the Curator of Botony at the Colorado Museum of Natural History. She especially loved to visit the Rachel Carson Salt Pond Reserve in CO from 1948 to 1967. Shortly after arriving in Tasmania, she was invited to join the Hobart Walking Club, the largest organization of its kind in Australia and the Tasmanian Field Naturalists. At age 60 the mandatory retirement age for women at the University, she found work as an audio-typist with the Industrial relations Div. of the State of Tasmania. After five years there she worked as secretary to the founder of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Research Trust. In 1961 she went to Nepal, collecting herbarium specimens and bulbs for the Denver Botanic Gardens On return to New England in 1981 she was graciously assisted to settle in East Vassalboro by members of the Religious Society of Friends. She had been librarian for Friends at the small library in their Meetinghouse and she also recored all activities with her camera at her side to keep her scrapbook up to date. She hiked and camped extensively and wrote of her travels to many foreign countries. She was at home in the mountains and at the seashore, camping at the stream photographing flowers and birds and sleeping under the stars She was a volunteer at the Vassalboro Public Library, the Historical Society and the library of the Quaker Meeting House. She treasured the memories of those whom she had come to know in her lifetime and still kept an active world wide correspondence. We are left with her letters, pictures, published articles and maps from her full and rich life. She was sister to the late Alden Lyman Holt of Holyoke, MA and the late Alice Dorman Holt Mellon of Cranston, RI. Esther will be sadly missed by family, extended family and many of her friends. She is also survived by a sister-in-law, Dorothy Bishop Holt of Holyoke, MA; nephews, Richard A. Mellon and Edward R. Holt; nieces, Nancy Holt Musick and Patricia Mellon Massey; 10 great nephews and nieces; several great-great nephews and nieces. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Sat., July 22, 2006 at East Vassalboro Grange Hall, Rt. 32. A pot luck luncheon will follow the service. Arrangements are with the Gallant Funeral Home, 10 Elm St., Waterville. Condolences may be expressed at www.gallantfh.com