On Friday, July 1, 2016, there was an end — or at least a significant interruption — to one of the most distinguished careers in public service that this state has known. After 23 years of tireless, passionate and skilled dedication to the citizens of Maine, Holly B. Stover of Boothbay ceased to be employed by the state of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the career of one of Midcoast Maine’s most effective and illustrious public servants.

A graduate of Boothbay High School and Nasson College where she received her undergraduate degree in psychology and human services, Holly has continued graduate studies at the University of Maine, Muskie School of Public Service in Health Policy Management as well as having attended the Senior Executive Program in State and Local Government at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her hunger to continuously seek to broaden and deepen her knowledge and skills is not an academic craving. It is born of a passion to better serve the people in her community – whether locally in Boothbay or throughout the State of Maine – and serve she has!

Her early career found her in Bangor serving homeless youth as a consultant to Shaw House. She expanded on that work in the Bangor community by becoming the Executive Director of Project Atrium – serving an even broader group of adolescents in both residential and non-residential services. She then honed her skills becoming responsible for the community based residential care system for children exiting care at Acadia Hospital – a psychiatric care facility. The Midcoast would get to reclaim Holly when her outstanding efficacy in working with children and the community drew the attention of the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services and she was appointed director of the Bath Children’s Home – run under their auspices.

She was then promoted by the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services to become the Region II Mental Health Team Leader – overseeing adult community mental health services provided by the state as well as assisting in assuring compliance with the AMHI Consent Decree. Soon she was promoted to assistant to the associate commissioner of the Department of BDS where her legendary skills for overcoming barriers and inefficiencies of sometimes siloed services made her a life line for consumers, patients and providers alike. Her success led to further advancement.

For 12 years, Holly became the Region II Director for the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services (ultimately DHHS) providing overall leadership for the community service systems for adult and children’s behavioral health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse for the middle nine counties of Maine. Holly has since assumed many leadership roles within DHHS including serving as the lead for the Commissioner’s Office on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, serving as the lead for food security issues with the USDA, working with Maine Community Action Agencies, serving as acting director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and most recently serving as the director of the Office of Violence Prevention from October 2010 until Friday, July 1, 2016.

Many of us simply know Holly as Holly – a dear friend – an amazing neighbor – a woman who loves her community whether defined as Boothbay, the Midcoast or the entire state of Maine – and, perhaps we have not known the specifics of her tireless service to the most vulnerable people of our beloved state.