Pierre Nino Baratelli

Pierre Nino Baratelli, former Governor Dummer Academy (GDA, now The Governor's Academy) French teacher and language Department Chair; member of the GDA community for 30 years (1967-1997) and husband of retired faculty member Elizabeth Cates Baratelli, who died on January 22, 2014, was born in 1935 to Swiss and Italian immigrant parents in New York City. Following WW II, the family relocated to Colorado Springs, CO. High school at Cheyenne Mountain H.S. included membership on the dance team which toured the West during school breaks, as well as learning waitering at the Broadmoor Hotel. The college years at Colorado University (CU) Boulder as a French major, also included afternoon and weekend work at a student restaurant, occasional calls as a leader of a volunteer fire fighting squad, and a six-year stint in an Army Reserve Intelligence Unit. Graduating in 1956 with a B.A., he stayed on at CU as a teaching assistant and began work on his M.A. This was interrupted by his receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in France at the Universite de Dijon. He returned to CU in Boulder and received his M.A. in 1959. He spent four years (1959-1963) at North Texas State University (now U of NT). He was an active advisor for students in the Civil Rights group, organizing and participating in sit-ins to break racial barriers in restaurants and in local movie theaters. Then after a year at University of Texas, Austin, he taught for three years at Colorado State University (CSU) before moving to Massachusetts to join the GDA faculty. He also served as a visiting professor (17th and 20th century drama) in the summer graduate program at Assumption College (now Assumption University), in Worcester, MA. With the encouragement of Headmaster Val Wilke, he created and ran the Humanities Program, which consisted of weekly trips to Boston in order to take advantage of its many cultural offerings. He was a board member of the Theater of Newburyport, and was a founding member of the Committee Against Racism in Newburyport. Upon retirement in 1997 as a faculty Emeritus, Elizabeth and he moved to Florida where both were docents at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. In 2010, there was a final relocation back to Colorado where he volunteered at the Denver Art Museum. He found happiness being surrounded by his books, art works, large collection of American Indian pottery, and music – he did so love his divas from Maria Callas to Billie Holiday! Pierre died on March 8, 2021 in Denver, CO. He is survived by his children LaDonna, Norman, LaTonda and Ben; one grandchild, and two great-grandchildren.Pierre donated to many charities and should you want to donate in his name, here are a few of the many he believed in and was loyal to: American Indian College Fund – www.collegefund.org NAACP – www.naacp.org/empowerment-programs Planned Parenthood – www.plannedparenthood.org