Farewell tribute to Debbie Blache
Deborah, since you joined the Lafayette community as a human resources assistant on Feb. 17, 1997, you have set an aspirational standard for the difference members of our community can make for their colleagues. Your effectiveness in supporting Lafayette in managing the benefits that we offer our employees motivated the vice president of our Human Resources Department to appoint you as our benefits assistant in 2003. After several years of success in serving in this position, you were promoted to become Lafayette’s human resources benefits administrator in 2018.
Throughout your tenure at Lafayette, your efforts enabled the College to offer extraordinarily beneficial benefits to our workforce. As you aided Lafayette in supporting the health and financial well-being of our employees, you not only were a champion for our faculty, staff, and administrators, but you also were an instrument for helping us to recruit and retain outstanding faculty, staff, and administrators.
Because of your dedication and your effective efforts, Lafayette’s employees received the insights and resources that they needed to protect their health and the health of their family members. The signature of your service to the Lafayette community was the empathetic way in which you conveyed the health insurance coverage to our employees and supported them in understanding and accessing the benefits that the College offered them.
Your steadfast focus on building the understanding of our employees ensured that they received the answers to their questions and that they connected to the appropriate health care benefit. Everyone at the College trusted your instincts. We knew that you would always give us an answer on which we could depend. Through the compassion that you demonstrated to your colleagues, you personified what it means to be a caring member of our community. Our employees believe that you are incredibly discreet and trustworthy, which is why they frequently confided in you about their issues.
You were the driving force behind the highly valued on-campus wellness initiatives, during which our employees gained insights about the resources that we offer them. Rest assured that the logo for the Lafayette Employee Wellness Program, which you created, will continue to highlight this beneficial program that we offer our employees and will perpetually remind us of the wonderful impact that you had on the Lafayette community.
A valued collaborator and extraordinary well-organized professional, you always did the job right for your Human Resources colleagues. They enjoyed partnering with you because they could always depend on you to follow through until the effort was successfully concluded. Symbolic of the way your efforts were valued, we recognized you twice with Lafayette’s Leopard Award, which celebrates staff members who have made an exceptional contribution to the College.
Deborah, you are missed at Lafayette. We feel very fortunate to have had you as our colleague. During your tenure, you set a highly impactful standard for the way that we offer benefits to our Lafayette College community.