HOLDEN – During her 30 years on the Holbrook School faculty, Patricia Moores of Eddington has played many roles.

She has been a classroom teacher and a mentor to her less experienced colleagues.

She was student council adviser, kept tabs on points students earned toward school letters and honor roll recognition, and was the school’s first girls’ basketball and softball coach.

These are some reasons two current teachers approached Superintendent Ray Hart last summer with the notion of naming the school’s latest addition in Moores’ honor, a suggestion the school board adopted in

September.

Though she retired in 1994 after a career spanning three decades, Moores continues to serve the students and staff at the Holden middle school by pitching in with paperwork, creating bulletin boards and lending a hand with special projects. She also helps cultivate new teachers by assisting with provisional certification.

On Wednesday, the community gathered to celebrate the completion of the new wing, to recognize those who made it possible, and to dedicate the addition in honor of Moores, who was touched by the gesture.

“It is awesome that a teacher has been chosen from the trenches [as the dedication subject],” she said. “It’s a very unusual step. I truly appreciate being honored in this manner.”

When the time came to dedicate the new wing, Gerald Bailey, an eighth-grade teacher who had taught out of a portable classroom for seven years before the addition was completed, did the honors.

Bailey said he considered Moores not only his former colleague, but also a friend and mentor. Dedicated, kind, competent, compassionate, sincere and professional were some of the adjectives he used to describe the woman known for her leadership and practical advice.

“The impact of her teaching in this community will be felt for years,” he said. “She is truly a teacher who made a difference.”

Principal Ralph Russell, who served as master of ceremonies, recognized some of the project’s key players. They included Claude Berthiaume, chairman of the SAD 63 operations committee, Jake Morgan, who oversaw construction, SAD 63 school committee Chairman Doug Bosse and Arthur Morgan, who chaired the building committee. He also applauded the SAD 63 taxpayers of Holden, Clifton and Eddington, who supported the project at referendum.

According to Superintendent Hart, the construction of the new wing was desperately needed, despite an expansion in 1995. It provided adequate space for staff, students and programs for the first time in Holbrook’s 33-year history.

“We at long last have enough room,” said Hart, noting that the project met many needs. Before it was completed, one teacher worked out of a portable classroom, another migrated from classroom to classroom for lack of her own, and three special education classes competed for space in one classroom. One special education class was moved to the library due to overcrowding, and nine central staff members shared space in three converted storage closets.

The wing houses six classrooms and several offices and has a separate entrance and restrooms. Construction was completed two weeks ahead of schedule, Hart said. Staff, students and administrators began moving into the new wing on Dec. 7, the day the certificate of occupancy was issued.