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Holmes

Norfolk Academy mourns the passing of Katherine M. Holmes, who taught at our school for almost a half-century and whose legacy extends well beyond that time and around the world.

Frau Holmes, as she was well known, taught German at NA from 1967-2016, inspiring countless students. In 2007, the Academy was one of only three schools in the entire nation to receive an honor for its success on the German Advanced Placement exam. In addition, Holmes chaired the Foreign Languages Department throughout much of her tenure, and, in 1973, founded our exchange program with Copernicus-Gymnasium in Löningen, Germany; that friendship is now 52 years strong, the longest-running secondary school foreign exchange program in U.S. history.

Holmes' teaching knew no bounds. She coached softball early in her career and taught art history as well. She had a talent for knowing students and making them laugh while also expecting and developing brilliance; she believed in full immersion throughout the school year and would speak only German in German class from the first day till the last.

At her retirement, Jacob Gusentine ‘16, said, “Our lives are measured in the lives they touch. If this sentiment rings true, Katherine Holmes will outlive us all.”

A memorial service will be held at a later date. Please read more about Frau Holmes: https://www.pilotonline.com/obituaries/katherine-m-holmes-hanover-md/


Copernicus-Gymnasium Head of School Ralf Göken wrote a letter to the NA community sharing his school's appreciation for Holmes and the exchange she helped build:

When we heard of Katherine Holmes' passing, we were shocked and saddened. Katherine taught German at Norfolk Academy for nearly half a century, and more than that, as head of the German department, she has left behind something unique and lasting, namely the student exchange between the Norfolk Academy and the Copernicus-Gymnasium in Löningen, together with Jürgen Wiehe, the later long-time principal of the then still young grammar school.

Following an appeal from the European Exchange Service in Frankfurt and the American Council on International Educational Exchange in New York, both became active. What Katherine Holmes later described as a "wonderful stroke of luck", began in late autumn of 1973, 28 years after the end of the Second World War, in the midst of the Cold War. It was a telephone conversation that established the school partnership and from which many friendships grew between pupils from the district of Löningen on the one hand and from the Norfolk region on the other. In the years that followed, a rock-solid relationship developed between these "founding parents," on whose shoulders we stand today.

Since the first exchange actually took place, over a thousand students and families on both sides have benefited from this relationship, year after year, decade after decade, exchange after exchange. This relationship quickly became a friendship, the schools, different in nature yet so similar, have built a lifelong relationship characterized by deep respect and affection. Even at an advanced age, Katherine remained deeply engaged, sending a heartfelt video message to the festive congregation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. Her message conveyed her unwavering dedication to this remarkable friendship between the schools and the students.

Katherine Holmes will always have a special place in our school`s heart. She was a remarkable teacher, colleague, inspiration and so much more - above all, she was and is the rock on which the longest-existing student exchange between an American and a German school is built.

We will always cherish her memory in our hearts and are forever indebted to her.

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