Long-time educator, cafeteria director retiring from Judge Memorial Catholic High School

Friday, Jun. 11, 2021

SALT LAKE CITY – After 27 years, Art Holder is retiring from teaching at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. During that time, he taught World Languages, AP Human Geography, Human Geography and English Language for International Studies. From 1995 to 2015, he led an exchange program with a high school in Chemnitz, Germany. Judge students would host German students in their homes for three weeks one year and they would travel to Chemnitz to stay with those students the following year.

“It was a great opportunity for Judge students to experience German culture firsthand,” he said. “It also made them realize, ‘Hey everybody doesn’t speak English.’”

Although the exchange program has ended, Holder retains some great memories of that time, he said.

Another achievement he points to at Judge is that 11 years ago, he developed the school’s human geography program with his colleague Ron Hill.

“I’m proud of that program; I hope to see it continue,” he said.

Prior to coming to Utah, Holder received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in German from the University of Texas at Austin. He also received a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University. He received several awards, including the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City’s 25 Years of Service Award, Duden German Teacher of the Year and Utah Foreign Language Association Teacher Vitality Award.

Originally from Louisiana, Holder needed some time to adjust to Utah and Salt Lake City, but he found a true home at the high school, he said.

“One thing that kept me here over those years was the community at Judge,” he said. “I’ve never been in a school that had such a great feel of community, especially among the teachers.  From my first day, not just in my department, there were always people willing to help you. It’s been that way consistently over 27 years.”

In retirement, Holder plans to take more long walks at Red Butte Gardens, one of his favorite places, and to “catch up on the stack of books I’ve bought over the years and never read,” he said. Once the pandemic is over, he also hopes to travel, especially to Louisiana to see his family.

Principal Patrick Lambert said Holder will be missed at the school.

“Art took great pride in opening the language of German to his many students,” he said.  “He saw a true importance in keeping the language alive at Judge Memorial. It is one of the few high schools that have a German program. He created a wonderful partnership with sister cities in Germany, which in turn created a strong exchange program.”

Cafeteria Student Services Director Cindy Mauss is also retiring after 37 years at Judge. Mauss was first hired by Father Thomas McNamara to convert the school’s lunch program from a government to a private program. In Mauss’ early years, the student body was close to 1,000 students and she supervised seven lunch workers. These days, with fewer students, there are four people in the lunchroom.

Among Mauss’ fondest memories are those of Lambert, then a Judge student, and his friends shaking the candy machines in an attempt to get free candy, she said.

“Now here he is the principal of Judge and my boss,” she said. “I tell him all the time, ‘You were 3 years old, Patrick, when I started here.’”

“I love the students,” she said. “One of my favorite things is watching them come in as freshmen – and they’re so confused and so little and so innocent – and then watching these adults graduate; watching for four years how they’ve grown. I’m grateful for all the faculty and students that I’ve gotten to meet throughout the years and there has been a lot of them.”

Mauss is retiring so that she can spend more time with her husband, Jon, and her mother, she said.

“Cindy has been in charge of our school cafeteria for nearly four decades,” Lambert said. “She has fed thousands of students and made each student feel cared for throughout.  She made us laugh on a daily basis.  One of my favorite memories of her was when she dressed as the lunch lady from the SNL skit ‘Lunch Lady Land.’  She will be missed.”