The Brilliant Booman Bunch
Melodies of Inspiration
story a ERIN WALLACE photos by JENNY PHILLIPS
Beaufort is a lot of things to a lot of people. As vague as that sounds, the common denominator of all these things is the people. It’s the people every time because a community is what makes a town thrive. If you look up the word community, you’ll find nary a definition that omits fellowship, sharing, or living in harmony. These definitions cannot be more spot on because of the known fellowship Beaufortonians experience all throughout the Lowcountry with one another. They share a commonality of spirit where they intentionally make Beaufort a better place for all those who step foot in it. On top of that, within the town’s community, you will find mini communities who are doing everything in their power to bring positive change in a world where negativity so often seems the consistent tune.
One specific mini community that sings this tune in our beloved town is Holy Trinity Classical Christian School (HTCCS); to know the school is to love the school, and if you’ve ever heard any mention of Holy Trinity, this name was probably one of the first you heard: the Booman family. The Boomans are a family of four women, a loving mother and her three adoring daughters who have been at HTCCS since the very beginning. All four ladies play their individual parts in the school and also consolidate their talents through leading the school’s Drama department. The mother Ruth Booman is the first-grade lead teacher who received her Bachelor of Arts in English at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. Anna, the oldest daughter, is the fine arts teacher at the grammar school as well as the music teacher for the preschool; Anna received her bachelor’s degree of Music in Vocal Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, NY. Then there is Elizabeth Booman, who is right next door to her mother as the second-grade teacher and is also head of the Drama department. Liz received her Bachelor of Arts at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Lastly, Christa Booman is the junior high science teacher, who studied at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, receiving a Bachelor of Science in Recreation Management with a minor in Environmental Science. Christa also has the distinguished honor of being the 2011 Division III All-Around National Champion in collegiate gymnastics!
Not only are these ladies well-learned teachers, but they are incredibly musically gifted. For as long as they can remember, they grew up with melodies infusing their everyday life. Each of them started playing piano at the age of six, on top of taking voice lessons and regularly basking in the sonorous song of their mother’s deft flute playing. It should then come as no surprise that Anna embraced melodies so much that she earned her Kodaly certification from Chenaniah Music Institute in Moscow, Idaho, to add on to her already impressive resume of musical higher education. Don’t think it ends there because Anna, Liz, and Christa have enjoyed participating in musicals together at USCB Center for the Arts for quite some time. You might have seen them perform on stage at some point recently because they’ve been in the Sound of Music and Oklahoma! over the past two summers. You may have also seen Christa participate in ballroom dance if you’ve ever visited Revolution Ballroom.
Additionally, Anna has directed several children’s productions with Beaufort Children’s Theater at USCB Center of the Arts including, Frozen Jr, Shrek Jr, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Moreover, Liz has become a legend in her own right in the HTCCS community for creating multiple original plays and musicals (complete with original songs, arranged for the piano by her sister, Anna) every single year ─ over 30 productions in all!
However, the beautiful Booman family haven’t always lived in Beaufort, though you would never guess from how immersed they are in the community. The four are originally from what we in the sunny south would consider the freezing tundra of the northern Midwest. Growing up in the wilds of rural Minnesota was foundational to the Boomans’ development as creative, artistic, and musical teachers. Their childhood home was that of a log house that sat on fifty wooded acres which included a native goat prairie, a dry creek bed full of mysterious rocks, and even a cave! Imagine that, their own Hunting Island right in their backyard!
All this being said, with such wealth on the Booman family’s doorstep, the girls had extensive opportunities for nature study, exploration, and play. Moreover, with this rich diversity of woodland sights, smells, and sound – the explosive drumming of the ruffed grouse, the call signifying the return of the whippoorwill in spring, and the squeaking of bats in the eaves, there was also silence. Silence to dream, to sketch, to think of stories to write. How blessed is HTCCS to inherit the Booman women’s great wealth as they teach from a place that encapsulates their childhood. Their upbringing sets them apart as they inspire the next generation to dream big and think outside the box, whether they’re holding a pencil, paintbrush, novel, or music sheet.
Now it’s not just all ladies in the Booman bunch, there is also an important member of their family, David Booman. David, their brother, is the reason the Booman ladies all landed on the Carolina coast. David was the first to move down to Charleston, where he began his priesthood in the Anglican Church. The timing was unreal for David to join the parish when he did because it was 2012 at the time, and this is when HTCCS first opened their doors. Liz and Anna followed the South Carolina warmth and found themselves in Beaufort, beginning the start-up of this small Christian school. Then Ruth and Christa found their way to the marsh next, a few years later. Their dedication to the school has been unmatched, as it has been 12 years, and the Boomans are stronger than ever in their commitment to teach at a school that is distinctly classical and distinctively Christian.
Ruth’s daughters credit their mom for why they love what they do. The Boomans were homeschooled for their entire education until college, all under their mom’s guidance and teaching. Their passion for academics grew in intensity as they saw school not as a way to get good grades but as a means to be set up for life as lifelong learners. A good example of this is that once a year, Ruth would take the girls to Barnes and Noble, and each daughter was allowed to fill up a big box with books to take home and devour. When the Booman sisters talked about the library at their childhood home, they said they had hundreds upon hundreds of books. That is certainly a home filled with eager-to-learn bookworms! If you ever get a chance to sit down with the Boomans, you will surely see the deep love they have for one another as a family. You will also see their deep-rooted passion for HTCCS; these brilliant women delight in igniting the love for learning in younger scholars, and they have been impressively impacting future generations here for over 12 years! It is an exceptional community that holds extra exceptional people like the Booman family.
