kate parthemos: queen of the cougar shop
Even under the best of circumstances, the opening of school can be crazy. Kate Parthemos knows. For 15 years, she’s managed the Cougar Shop, the hub of frenetic activity during the week that our 1,500-plus students arrive.
Helps, though, that she’s organized and unflappable. Helps that she has a system. For example, she places her orders for supplies each May and for textbooks, clothing, and a host of other items emblazoned with the Collegiate logo by mid-June. Those tasks completed, she takes some well-deserved down time but still checks in occasionally, simply for the peace of mind that she hasn’t overlooked even the minutest detail.
After July 1, the 18-wheelers begin to arrive, and she customarily spends a couple of hours a day checking deliveries so the task never becomes too onerous. In early August, the heavy lifting, sorting, and moving begin. Boxes of books weighing as much as 50-pounds must be delivered to locations around campus and prepared for distribution.
Everything must be in its place on the shelves and racks of the Cougar Shop. Book and supply lists must be accurate. She and her crew must be on deck to handle the barrage of activity that visits them at crunch time and reaches its peak on orientation day.
Of course, everything under Kate’s purview went smoothly once again this year. This time, however, the project was much tougher than usual. You see, on July 23, an early morning electrical fire forced the Parthemos family from its Stratford Hills home and could have been tragic without the quick actions of Kate and her husband Stel.
Around 1 a.m., they awoke smelling smoke, and the alarms went off as their feet hit the floor. Kate immediately dialed 9-1-1. Stel raced toward the in-law suite to roust his elderly parents.
Unable to fight through the thick, acrid smoke in the furnace room where the fire originated, he headed outside and around the house and, moments later, led them to safety. Then, for 10 minutes, they searched frantically for their son Chris, a 2006 Collegiate graduate and sophomore at James Madison University who had been relaxing in the Florida room.
“I was terrified,” Kate recalled. “I didn’t know if my heart was beating or not. I was in momma bear mode, and my cub was missing.”
Chris, though, was safe and on a mission of his own. It was a pleasant night, and he had the outside door open as he talked to his girlfriend on his cell phone. Sensing danger, Dakota, the family’s 14-year-old Dalmatian, dashed past him into the yard, climbed the fence, and hurtled into the night. Phone in hand, Chris set out after him.
As Richmond firefighters from five stations battled the flames and smoke, Kate dialed his number as a last resort.
“He answered,” she said. “I almost collapsed. Everybody was out of the house. That’s all that mattered.”
Later, one of the firemen told Kate and Stel that as soon as they turned onto their street, they could smell smoke and feel the heat. They also told them that they were certain they had a search-and-rescue mission before them.
For the last seven weeks, Kate and her family have been living in a furnished, two-story contemporary in Bon Air just five minutes away from home. They’ve received food, words of encouragement, cards, and offers of help from the Collegiate community, their families, and their neighborhood and church friends.
With Kate running the show, they’ve salvaged what they can, discarded what they can’t, replaced what was destroyed, and remained patient and philosophical as workmen clean, sanitize, and rebuild their home. They expect the project to take six months.
“Once I knew everybody was safe,” Kate said, “everything else was just stuff. “Yes, it’s been a hassle, but it’s only a hassle. Knowing it could have been so much worse makes everything very doable.”
