Many of us who bike and/or advocate for people outside of cars have been
following this story. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of
Christina Holt.
https://www.pressherald.com/2022/05/04/family-says-cyclist-who-died-in-portland-crash-thought-all-people-worthy-of-love-and-attention/
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Zack Barowitz <zbarowitz@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, May 4, 2022 at 11:10 PM
Subject: [PBPAC] PPH Story of cyclist death
To: Portland Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee <PBPAC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Family says cyclist who died in Portland crash thought all people ‘worthy
of love and attention’
Christina Holt worked for 17 years at Portland's Shalom House, doing
overnights at group homes run by the agency and connecting clients to
community-based mental health services.
BY EMILY ALLEN <https://www.pressherald.com/author/emily-allen>STAFF WRITER
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Siblings of Christina Holt gather at Otto’s in South Portland. Holt died
Saturday afternoon after her bicycle collided with a car in Portland. From
left, A.J. Holt, Laura Holt-Haslam, Mary Holt-Wilson and Jordan Holt. *Derek
Davis/Staff Photographer*
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/30311438_20220504_christina.holt_7-1024x698.jpg>
Christina Holt was always on her bike.
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/30311438_20220504_christina.holt_7-1024x698.jpg>
The 44-year-old Portland woman, who didn’t have a car or driver’s license,
biked almost every day from her apartment on Congress Street in downtown
Portland to work as a residential support specialist for Shalom
House, which connects people with severe mental illness to community-based
mental health services and housing.
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/30311438_20220504_christina.holt_7-1024x698.jpg>
She would stop at the Trader Joe’s on Marginal Way for coffee in the
morning and sometimes again in the afternoon. Staff and shoppers recognized
her as a regular.
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/30311438_20220504_christina.holt_7-1024x698.jpg>
Christina Holt *Photo courtesy of Mary Holt-Wilson*
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/ChristinaHolt1A-1024x876.jpg>
On her days off, she’d bike to visit friends across town, or to her
family’s place in Cape Elizabeth.
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/ChristinaHolt1A-1024x876.jpg>
“She would visit people 20 miles away,” said Holt’s sister Mary Holt-Wilson.
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/ChristinaHolt1A-1024x876.jpg>
On Saturday, shortly after 2:30 p.m., Holt was on her bike when she
<https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/ChristinaHolt1A-1024x876.jpg>
crashed
<https://www.pressherald.com/2022/05/01/cyclist-dies-after-crash-with-vehicle-in-portland/>
into
a Subaru at the intersection of Mellen Street and Park Avenue, near Deering
Oaks park. She was transported to Maine Medical Center, where she died from
her injuries.
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Portland Police announced Tuesday
<https://www.pressherald.com/2022/05/03/no-charges-will-be-filed-in-crash-that-killed-cyclist-police-say/>
they
would not be pressing charges against the driver. The crash report said
that the bike hit the car, not the other way around.
Holt’s siblings said they were shocked and horrified by the news of their
sister’s death. They know it wasn’t the driver’s fault. They see it as a
tragedy all around. But Holt’s life for 44 years was “really a success
story,” they said.
RELATEDCyclist dies after crash with vehicle in Portland
<https://www.pressherald.com/2022/05/01/cyclist-dies-after-crash-with-vehicle-in-portland/>
“This is a girl who didn’t have it that easy. And she fought,” Holt-Wilson
said as she sat at Otto’s Pizza in South Portland with her three remaining
siblings, who had come from around New England and from Florida to discuss
funeral arrangements. “She fought for her life and she pulled it together.”
Christina joined the Holt family as a foster child when she was 2 years
old. Sisters Holt-Wilson and Laura Holt-Haslam remembered seeing her at the
local church before they began fostering her, when she was living with
another foster family. Being seven and 10 years older than Holt,
respectively, they were often her babysitters.
She was a “lovable hellion,” said Holt-Wilson, “defiant and strong-willed.”
“She drove me crazy growing up,” said her brother Jordan Holt.
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The children’s parents, Dr. William Holt and Mary Jean Holt, formally
adopted Christina and another brother, A.J., a few years later. Dr. Holt
was an ophthalmologist. Christina grew up in Cape Elizabeth with her four
siblings, save for a few years at boarding school. She graduated from the
Winchendon School in Massachusetts and got a degree in criminology from the
University of Southern Maine in 2003.
A.J. Holt of Sarasota, FL and Laura Holt-Haslam of Saco share stories with
their siblings about their sister Christina Holt on Wednesday. *Derek
Davis/Staff Photographer*
As a young adult, Holt was briefly homeless. With support from her family,
she found housing and eventually the job she would have for 17 years at
Shalom House. Her experience informed her compassion for the people she
helped at Shalom, her family said.
Holt worked overnights at one of Shalom House’s group homes, where clients
have on-site support and access to community-based mental health services.
Holt cooked meals, helped with medication and “was really a part of the
household” to clients, said Human Resources Director Maria Gagnon.
“Many employees and clients are heartbroken,” Gagnon said Wednesday
evening. “She really had this spark to her. … She made the clients laugh,
but took the job very seriously.”
Her siblings said she would bring friends, some of whom were homeless, to
Thanksgivings in Cape Elizabeth.
“It was important to her that people were viewed as worthy of love and
attention,” said Holt-Haslam.
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Holt had several cats over the years, some of which she got through the
Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. She also had several nieces and
nephews – and was the type of aunt, said Holt-Haslam, who told the kids “a
little more information than their parents would care for them to know,”
sneaking them treats and sitting with them at the holiday kids’ table.
Holt leaves behind a large family and friends she met through her work,
living in downtown Portland and at school.
“Her hope would be that people aren’t hurting and sad, that they just enjoy
life,” A.J. Holt said.
According to the crash report, the 31-year-old woman driving the car Holt
collided with was going east down Park Avenue at about 30 mph, toward
Mellen Street, when Holt turned left from Mellen Street onto Park Avenue
and hit the car.
A witness told police that Holt failed to stop at a red light on Mellen
Street before making her turn and was cycling against the flow of traffic.
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