top of page
unnamed.jpg

In Memoriam
PAULA GRYMES BOOHER

We have some sad news to pass along. Paula Booher died earlier this month and all of us at the Chester Art Centre grieve her passing.

 

A long-time resident of Chester and a graduate of the New England School of Design, she painted, hooked rugs and bred Corgis when she wasn’t sailing or travelling or designing homes for family and friends. (You can read more about her amazing life here.)

 

She was also one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Chester Art Centre. Paula was one of the CAC’s ‘founding mothers’, a dedicated group of artists (nicknamed The Coven by a cheeky husband) who were determined to create a space for art exhibition and education in downtown Chester. Ideas came and went over cheese and crackers and adult beverages, but finally, in the summer of 2006, Paula, along with Beverly McInnes, Trudi Curley, Willa Creighton and Doreen Valverde, convinced municipal authorities to close Pleasant St. to vehicles for a day and open it up to local artists so they could exhibit and sell their works.

 

Armed with a $500 grant from VOCTADA and aided by dozens of volunteers, Paula made sure the street fair was a resounding success. That success caught the attention of her friend Sir Christopher Ondaatje, who generously donated a house he owned at 60 Queen St. to be the new home of the nascent Chester Art Centre Association. As others stepped up to help with fundraising and organization-building, Paula and friends focussed on programming – the classes, exhibitions and art talks that are the raison d’être of the Art Centre.

 

Paula spent years on the Centre’s board of directors where she was a veritable font of ideas and energy. Even after she left the board, Paula volunteered – be it setting up tables and easels for classes, hanging exhibitions or slinging drinks at the annual fundraising gala, she was always there to help. And no matter what the task was, she brought her designer’s eye to it – always tweaking, rearranging and making things look better.


She was a remarkable woman, full of ideas, energy, enthusiasm and wisdom. We’ll miss her.

IMG_1366.jpg

Paula (seated, centre)

IMG_1087.jpg

Acrylic painting by Paula of the view of Back Harbour from her home.

IMG_1091.jpg

Watercolour painting by Paula of a volcano in Sicily

image1 (4).jpeg

Paula (second from left)

bottom of page