Honoring a legacy by supporting students’ academic endeavors
In late 2024, Joelle Bolton lost her husband and life partner of 30 years, Keith Bolton, and though his passing is still difficult for her to this day, her love for him inspired her to create something that will not only keep his memory alive but also benefit the next generation of Pahrump, Beatty and Amargosa students as they pursue their educational goals.
Partnering with Great Basin College (GBC) and utilizing her business The Wine Down, Joelle established the Keith Bolton Memorial Scholarship. The very first scholarship, a $1,000 award, was presented to Amargosa resident Clara Raetz, who graduated from Beatty High School with the Class of 2026, where she was honored as class valedictorian. Raetz was chosen from a pool of applicants by a committee at GBC and both Bolton and GBC Student Recruiter Tiffany Ross said they don’t think a better fit could have been found.
“Joelle created this scholarship in honor of her husband, who used to work in the vineyards around Amargosa Valley. And we don’t get a lot of scholarship applicants from that area but we really wanted to try to give it to someone who was a part of the families that Keith worked with,” Ross told the Pahrump Valley Times during an interview with Raetz and Joelle. “But bonus – Clara is an excellent student as well, so it just worked out perfectly.”
The partnership between The Wine Down and GBC came about as a result of conversations between Joelle and Ross, who was encouraging her to start a scholarship in Keith’s name.
“I had thought that scholarships were something that only really wealthy people do but she helped me realize that no, I could totally do it,” Joelle said. “So, we did a great fundraiser, Paris in Pahrump, and it was a blast. We were able to raise some money from that and when a bunch of our customers heard about the scholarship who weren’t at the event, they wrote us donation checks anyway!”
As to Raetz’s plans for the future, she told the Times that the reality of having finally graduated high school has been somewhat slow to set in but she feels ready to take on the next step in her life. She already has some familiarity with college courses, too, having completed dual-credit classes while in high school. She will use her scholarships, including the Keith Bolton Memorial Scholarship, to help cover the cost to begin her journey of obtaining her associates degree at GBC. Once her general education courses are finished, she is eyeing a future career as an architect.
“I’m going to use my GBC associates degree to transfer probably to UNLV or another school somewhat nearby, for an architecture program,” Raetz explained. “I’ve always really loved art and math and they coincide with the geometry and shapes of buildings. I’d like to do a little bit of everything along the way and eventually, I’d like to be an entrepreneur and have my own architect firm.”
She already has a good foundation toward her career goal, too.
“We had a teacher a couple of years ago who taught design drafting, so I’ve learned some actual on-paper, by-hand drafting, with the proper measurements and the proper labels on real draftsman’s paper. And we also did an AutoCAD program on the computer, which was really cool,” Raetz detailed.
Joelle was obviously delighted with Raetz and excited to keep in touch with the young woman so she can watch as she journeys through life. And when it comes to the impact that the scholarship will have, she said she can’t wait to see that, either.
“Keith had an amazing college experience. He went to Ohio University, he lived in the dorms, he was in a fraternity, the whole shebang. I never really had that college experience,” Joelle remarked. “So, after we lost him, we just wanted to honor him in some way that would continue on. We didn’t want it to be a one-time thing. The ripple effect is a huge part of our family’s lives – one act of kindness, one tiny scholarship, whatever it is, it’s going to ripple and it’s going to affect our community. And we really wanted to make it so that his memory is going to live on. So, we’re excited, we hope it grows and we’ll see where the ripples take us.”
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
