As the secretary of the Port Townsend High School Alumni Association, I was typing the minutes during our Feb. 28, 2024, board meeting when someone mentioned, “I think Bruce Blevins’s name is gone from the gym.”

“Gone?” The thought stayed with me all evening. How could I find out for sure? The plaque near the entry doors was still there, but had his name ever been displayed in large letters on the gym? A bit of detective work was in order!

I put on my Nancy Drew hat and got to work.

My first stop was Justin Gray, the facilities director and a PTHS 1993 graduate. He didn’t recall ever seeing Blevins’s name in large letters on the gym’s exterior. Next, I turned to the best historical resource I could think of — the high school yearbooks, known as the WaWa. Over the next couple of weeks, I pored over year after year of annuals, searching for photos of the gym’s front entrance.

Early in my search, I was thrilled to find a photo in the 1960 yearbook of Bruce Blevins being presented with the plaque that named the gym in his honor — a ceremony conducted by none other than the PTHS Alumni Association! Encouraged, I continued compiling screenshots of every gym photo I found.

I noticed no significant changes until 2010. That year was the first to show “Gymnasium” displayed prominently on the building — part of a broader effort to add names to all the school buildings. Having worked in the main PTHS building for 33 years, I remembered a time before these signs existed. Back then, when giving directions, I’d simply say, “My office is in the main building — it’s the three-story one by the parking lot.”

With this timeline in mind, I concluded that Blevins’s name had never been removed — it had just never been added in the first place. I reached out to the superintendent, principal, and facilities director, explaining my findings and including the 1960 yearbook photo. They all agreed: Bruce Blevins’s name belonged on the gym.

In 2025, at least 15 years after the school began naming its buildings, it will finally happen.

I’m especially excited that Blevins’s grandson, Brian Blevins (PTHS Class of 2001), who will attend the Hall of Fame ceremony and the rededication of the gym with his family. Now a principal of a K-8 school in Oxnard, CA, he will witness his grandfather’s long-overdue recognition. What can be better than that?

Case closed.

Jan Boutilier is PTHS Alumni Hall of Fame Chair and co-founder of the Nancy Drew Book Club.