Paula Boze was known for going the extra mile for her students at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School.
“This was not only when they were her students, but way beyond that,” said Frederick “Rick” Betts, the school’s associate headmaster. “She went to band concerts, ball games, recitals. She supported them long after they left her classroom. She’s even been to weddings of her former students.”
Betts said Boze’s attachment wasn’t just to her students, but to the school as well. She taught second and fifth grade at the school for 15 years. After she retired, she returned to Holy Innocents’ to work in the admissions office and as a substitute teacher.
“She was a vital part of this school,” he said. “Her sense of humor and caring nature were both enjoyed by faculty, staff and students.”
Paula Lancit Boze, of Atlanta, died Monday at her home from complications of cancer. She was 62. A service was held Tuesday at Temple Sinai, Atlanta, followed by burial at Arlington Memorial Park. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care was in charge of arrangements.
Boze was born in Newark, N.J., but spent most of her youth in Miami. She knew she wanted to teach before she graduated from the University of Florida. While in college, she met Edward Boze on a blind date, and the two married soon after they both graduated in 1972. The couple moved to Atlanta that same year and eventually raised a son together.
Though she loved being a teacher, she might have loved being a grandmother more, her son said. After he and his wife had their children, Scott Boze said, his mother helped take care of the youngsters. She even saw to it that they went to Holy Innocents’ for school.
“She knew the teachers there, and the teachers knew and loved her,” Boze said of his mother.
Eileen V. Thurmond, who currently teaches eighth-grade English, said working with Paula Boze “was always fun, because she had a wicked sense of humor.”
Quick one-liners and witty repartee were Boze’s specialties, Thurmond said.
“She was a genuine person, a steadfast friend and a great teacher,” Thurmond said. “I’ve heard parents of kids she taught say how good she was with their kids. She was good with adults too!”
She became “friend of the family to so many families at the school,” Betts said. “Because of that she has a very large extended family here at Holy Innocents’.”
In addition to her husband of more than 40 years and her son, Paula Boze is survived by her brother, Laurence Lancit of Naples, Fla.; and two grandchildren.
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