Paulette Heldner Holahan

Paulette Louise Heldner Holahan died peacefully Thursday, March 11, 2021, in Mandeville, La. She was 86. She was born at home, across the street from Preservation Hall, in New Orleans, on May 25, 1934. She was the daughter of the late Colette Pope Heldner and Knute Heldner (Sven August Knute Heldner). She was married for 52 years to her late husband, John M. Holahan (Jack) until his death in 2007.

Survivors include: her children Shawn Louise Holahan, John Michael Holahan, Jr. (Pam), Paulette Reasonover (Kirk), Gregory Heldner Holahan, Odile Holahan Million (Troy) and Meghan Holahan Roddy (Troy); 12 grandchildren: Ernest Knute, Bridget Elisabeth (Adam Kever) and Charlotte Raquel Svenson; Shannen Nichole, Riley Michelle, Erin Marie and Kelly Anne Holahan; Colette Mary Reasonover; Eric Paul (Katie) and Amelie Odile Million; and Irene Catherine Roddy and Heldner Paul Roddy; and her brother Franz Louis Heldner (Nancy) and her nieces Gretchen Louise Heldner and Elizabeth Malia Justine Aanensen Phillips.

A child of two working artists, she and her brother grew up in the French Quarter in the 30’s and 40’s, and she often accompanied her parents in the field sketching and painting their iconic Louisiana swamp scenes and other vistas of Southern life. Her parents’ daily social milieu were artists, writers, and musicians, such as Enrique Alférez, Tennessee Williams, Norman Treigle, Alberta Kinsey, and William Spratling. Paulette’s life was filled with the art community and she was very proud of her parents’ accomplishments. This provided her a unique perspective that would influence her future life.

She attended St. Louis Cathedral grammar school, followed by St. Scholastica Academy as a boarder in Covington, Louisiana, both of which laid the foundation of her life-long devout Catholic faith and her appreciation of the nuns who taught and guided her.

Upon marriage, she moved from the French Quarter to Lakeview where she raised six children. Rarely missing her children’s school functions and sporting events, she was always a cheerleader for their various teams. She was her children’s confidant and took pride in them. She did everything that she could to help them succeed. However, motherhood did not stop her involvement in her community.

She was active in politics, an excellent match for her sharp intellect. A tour de force, she ran many campaigns - local, judicial, mayoral and U.S. Senate. She also led political groups such as the Independent Women’s Organization and served as its president. After politics ran their course, she joined the Supreme Court of Louisiana as its Deputy Judicial Administrator for Public Information. In that capacity, she was the editor of the court’s yearly Annual Report, a speech writer, the public information officer, and the creator of task forces relative to cameras in the court room and gender bias in the courts. When she retired, the void she left was filled with six who assumed the tasks that she did on her own.

A voracious reader, Paulette was never without a book in her purse. Throughout her life, libraries were her refuge, beginning as a child at the Royal Street library. In later years, she served on Louisiana State Library Board of Commissioners; was a member of the New Orleans Public Library board and served as its chair; served on the executive board of the national Urban Libraries Council; elected to the first White House Conference on Libraries; and then served under two U.S. presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, on the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. She also served on state legislative committees which marshalled through, for the first time, funding for Louisiana public libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) cited her as an outstanding trustee, ultimately naming her as one of its seven library advocates of the twentieth century.

Her most important role was as a loving wife, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother and friend to many. She will be missed by all who knew her. Our brother, Gregory, provided selfless, loving, and dedicated care to our mother for the last years of her well-lived life, and for that, we are forever grateful.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass to be held at St. Pius X Catholic Church, 6666 Spanish Fort Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70124 on Friday, March 19, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. Visitation at church will begin at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow the Mass in Metairie Cemetery. All in attendance are kindly required to wear facemasks.

The family invites you to express your fond thoughts and condolences online at lakelawnmetairie.com.