Mrs. Keye Hollister

Keye Hollister, Atty., Active in the Community Pauline Keyburn “Keye” Hollister, 84, of Pittsfield, passed away on Friday, September 22, 2023. Keye was returning from her mother-in-law’s 100th Birthday Celebration in Pennsylvania, when she became ill suddenly and was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital in Honesdale, PA where she was confirmed to have died. The cause of death was heart failure. Born in Pittsfield, MA, on March 31, 1939, the daughter of the late Norman and Rose Pender Hollister, she graduated from Miss Hall’s School in 1956, attended the Sorbonne University in Paris, France and Newton College of the Sacred Heart in Newton, Ma before graduating from University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1974. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Western New England College School of Law, Springfield, Ma in 1978. Keye and her late husband, John, whom she met in law school in 1974, practiced together as Gobel and Hollister law partners on Wendell Ave in Pittsfield. She served as Pittsfield City Solicitor for three years from 1979-1983 and was elected president of the Berkshire Bar Association, where she became Berkshire County representative to the Massachusetts Bar Association Board of Trustees. She was a United States Bankruptcy Trustee for Berkshire County from 1980 to 1987. Following a forty-year law career Keye retired in 2018. When Keye returned from Paris in 1959 she found her brother Barry had taken up skiing and he wanted her to join him at Bousquet Ski Area. First, she went to work running the Marsten's Ski Den at Bousquet’s before joining Court McDermott’s ski school. It was Court who arranged for his instructors to go to Mt. Tremblant in Quebec, Canada where she and Barry passed two levels of the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance Certification. Her brother Jim also passed the CSIA Certification and at one time all four siblings, Keye, Barry, JoAnn and Jim taught at Bousquet. Before gaining her law degree, Keye was a flight attendant for Seaboard World Airlines for 15 years from 1963-1978, where she also served as a union representative. Based at JFK Airport in New York, she flew exclusively on international flights to several European cities before transferring to San Francisco in 1965 where she flew military personnel to Viet Nam, Thailand, Guam and other ports in Southeast Asia. She returned to New York and continued to fly from JFK while completing her law degree. Keye was an active community member in Pittsfield and Berkshire County. She was a tireless advocate and served in many volunteer roles. She a Massachusetts Justice Project Board Member and was on the Supreme Judicial Court Committee from 2005-2010. She was a member of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, Board of Trustees from 2002-2008. She served on the Berkshire IOLTA Committee for 10 years, 5 years as chair and was a member of the Massachusetts IOLTA committee from its founding, serving three years as chair. She was a member of the Berkshire Community College Board of Trustees from 1986-1994. She was a past board member of the Pittsfield YMCA, Business Women’s Development Council, Governors Executive Office, The Colonial Theatre, Berkshire County Committee on Women in Crisis, Committee on Homeless Persons, City of Pittsfield, Women’s Service Center, The Helen Berube Teen Parent Program, Displaced Homemaker Program Advisory Board and a Zonta of Berkshire County member from 2005 until her passing. Keye was an intelligent, empathetic woman who loved to socialize. She always had a book nearby, but would drop it at the first chance to converse with family or friends. She reveled in the success of her younger family members and loved to talk about how they were doing in life. As an aunt to dozens, she was always a favorite. Her joy derived from the continual visits she made with over 40 nieces, nephews and a world of friends. Following her years of international flying with Seaboard, Keye and John made annual trips to Europe, the Caribbean or Asia. They made yearly treks to the Rocky Mountains, skiing frequently in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The couple owned a rustic cottage on Saquish Beach in Plymouth, MA where they would retreat for long vacations every summer and entertain family and friends. She is survived by her brother James P. “Jim” Hollister of Wellesley, MA, the last of four siblings, having been pre-deceased by her brother Joseph B. “Barry” Hollister of Pittsfield and JoAnn Hollister Emerson of Palm Beach, Florida. Funeral Notice: Funeral services will be Saturday, September 30, 2023, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 10 am at Sacred Heart Church, celebrated by the Rev. Steven Montesanti, Pastor. To view a livestream of this service, please visit https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony/?c=137749a0-7a8d-46ab-af12-929df4880102 . Burial will be at a later date. Calling hours will be Friday, September 29, 2023, from 4 pm to 6 pm at the Dwyer Funeral Home, 776 North Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201. In lieu of flowers, donations in Keye’s memory can be made to the Berkshire Community College Scholarship Fund.

Mrs. Keye Hollister

March 31, 1939 - September 22, 2023