Holly Elaine Drake was born in Philadelphia, PA on June 21, 1956 to Richard Otto Endres and Mildred Elaine Endres. Holly was the second child in the family after her brother Richard Harold Endres, who was born in 1954. During most of her growing years, the family lived in Moorestown, NJ, as her father built a computer electronic business based on his early training with RCA Laboratories in Princeton and his experience developing the earliest transistors for Bell Labs. Holly finished high school at Moorestown High and entered studies at Purdue University in 1974. She graduated from Purdue with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education in 1978. That same year she married Jason Drake, and they started their life together in Pensacola, FL while Jason completed his training as a pilot in the United States Marine Corps. Following his graduation, they were transferred to a squadron in Orange County, CA, where Holly began teaching elementary school in the city of Tustin. Over the following 20 years, they lived in Orange County and raised four sons: Brian Andrew, Jonathan Andrew, Jordan Richard, and Justin Paul.
Holly taught each of them as an early adopter of the home school movement, using curriculum she often developed herself. She was a creative innovator with a focused goal to develop students as whole people, not just to give them an academic replacement for the public school classroom.
In 1999, Holly, her husband Jason, and her three sons Jonathan, Jordan, and Justin moved to Boone, North Carolina, as Jason began his work with Samaritan’s Purse International Relief organization. In 2007, Holly began her studies in herbalism and herbal medicine. In 2010, she shifted her focus to the study of wild edible plants, with an emphasis on cooking and the nutritional value of naturally harvested food. She soon started the business she named Wild Blessings and began offering classes to promote botanical knowledge of plants and their benefits in both medicinal and nutritional applications.
In 2020, she launched the Wild Blessings YouTube channel, offering classes for students who were not local to the Western North Carolina region. The channel amassed 1,300 subscribers and 40,000 views of her teaching content. Her Facebook group, Wild Blessings with Holly Drake, was an active platform for her to continue teaching those committed to learning, and it grew to over 1,200 members. Throughout her efforts to promote learning about the natural world, Holly never wavered from her focus on giving God the credit He deserves as the Creator. She used the Wild Blessings platform to introduce students to the intricate details of God’s character found in plants, and how He had created them for our benefit.
In 2023, Holly began teaching women in a minimum security prison in California through Redeemed 2020 Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping inmates transition back into society. Holly’s classes focused on health, and she used live internet streaming to reach her audience. The impact she made on all the students she taught was unique — in her approach to how to learn, how to apply what was studied, and in her love of the natural world.
She was a very giving person and was known for coming to the aid of all those who had emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. She even made care packages filled with special items that would encourage and enlighten, and would ship them to anyone, no matter the distance. Her love for others was stronger than her love of nature, and she demonstrated it even during her last days of life.
Holly went to be with the Lord on July 10, and is survived by her husband Jason; her sons Jonathan, Jordan, and Justin; her brother Rick; her four grandchildren, Norah, Olivia, Brian, and Damien; and her dog Max.