Spring 2020 Bulletin

bulletin Spring 2020

Etelle Higonnet ’96: Saving the Earth, One Daring Project at a Time

Inside this issue:

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BB&N COVID-19 Response

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Philip Cody ’10: Ultra Racer Takes the Scenic Route

20 Daniela Lamas ’99: Writing Scrips and Scripts

bulletin Events Calendar While the nation responds to the COVID-19 pandemic via physical distancing, BB&N will continue to monitor the safety of our community and the practicality of hosting group events. To keep current with the status of BB&N’s calendar of alumni/ae events, please visit bbns.org/events.

May - Tent ati ve Friday, May 15-Sunday, May 17 Strawberry Night & Reunion Weekend 2020

J une - Tent a ti ve Wednesday, June 17 BB&N in Boston Summer Reception

Spring 2020

Letter from the Head of School Dr. Jennifer Price

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Community News 4 MLK Jr. Luncheon, Upper School Musical,

Patriots Players Visit Lower School, Middle School Media Lunch, and more

Features

Higonnet ’96: Saving 14 Etelle Earth One Project at a Time

Cody ’10: Takes the Scenic 18 Philip Route with Ultra Racing

Through her role at the nonprofit Mighty Earth, class of ’96 alumna is an eco-warrior blazing an impressive trail.

Running 100 miles through wilderness for four days is a slice of happiness.

20 Daniela Lamas ’99: Writing

Scrips and Scripts

Physician fosters a symbiotic partnership between TV writing and her medical career.

22 Dedication of Upper School

Theater Honors Faculty Legends

Parents of former BB&N students: Please help us stay in touch with your child! Update contact information online at bbns.org/updateinfo, email changes to alumni_programs@bbns.org, or send a note to Alumni/ae Programs, BB&N, 80 Gerry’s Landing Road, Cambridge, MA 02138

Dr. Price updates the BB&N community on BB&N’s response to COVID-19

Former faculty members Mark Lindberg and George Serries honored.

24 Former Faculty Profile:

Gene Pool Advancing Our Mission 26 The Results Are in from BB&N’s Feasibility

Study, Knights’ Circle Thank You, and 100 Knights to Graduation

Alumni/ae News & Notes 28 Alumni/ae News and Notes

43 BB&N on the Road and at Home 48 BB&N in San Francisco 50 BB&N in Los Angeles 52 Former Faculty News

Director of Communications Joe Clifford, Editor Associate Director of Communications Andrew Fletcher, Senior Editor Communications and Website Coordinator Hadley Kyle, Editor Contributing Writers Graeme Blackman Joe Clifford Cecily Craighill Davis Peter DeMarco Andrew Fletcher Sharon Krauss Rob Leith Dr. Jennifer Price Janet Rosen Kim Ablon Whitney ’91 Kristi O’Connor Contributing Editors Cecily Craighill Davis Janet Rosen Tracy Rosette Brianna Smith ’10 Alumni/ae News & Notes Cecily Craighill Davis Tracy Rosette Brianna Smith ’10 Design & Production Nanci Booth www.nancibooth.com 781-301-1733 Photography/Artwork/Design Parrish Dobson Andrew Fletcher Eric Nordberg ’88 Shawn Read Adam Richins Stu Rosner Candie Sanderson Joshua Touster Vaughn Winchell

Board of Trustees, 2019-20 Officers Charles A. Brizius, Chair Erica Gervais Pappendick, Vice Chair/Secretary Jason Hafler ’00, Vice Chair Bob Higgins, Vice Chair/Treasurer Members Leslie Ahlstrand ’08 Jake Anderson-Bialis ’98 Carmen Arce-Bowen Pam Baker Jimmy Berylson ’00 Margaret Boasberg Tim Cohen Alexandra Epee-Bounya Christine Gross-Loh Rachel Kroner Hanselman ’89 Jeff Hawkins Freddie Jacobs Ken Lang Peter Levitt ’84 Marjorie Lichtenberger Bridget Long Tristin Mannion Shep Perkins Leslie Riedel Emma Sagan ’10 Jesse Sarzana ’93 Ilah Shah Becky Velander Fan Wu ’98 Adam Zalisk ’03 Head of School Dr. Jennifer Price Correspondence may be sent to: Office of Alumni/ae Programs (alumni_programs@bbns.org or 617-800-2721) or the Office of Communications (communications@bbns.org or 617-800-2403), 80 Gerry’s Landing Road Cambridge, MA 02138-5512 Cover photo: Etelle Higonnet ’96 enjoying some of the nature she fights so hard to protect.

(Photo courtesy of Etelle Higonnet ’96)

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Milestones

: FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT : www.bbns.org

Letter from Head of School Dr. Jennifer Price As we transition to Online Learning for our students, our unwavering commitment to excellence in teaching and learning means that we are fully embracing the unlimited opportunities of this new environment.

OUR PHILOSOPHY United in spirit, while temporarily apart Knowing we are all in this together!

Needing more than ever to connect and communicate Inspired by the kindness, honor, and scholarship of our students, staff, and families Grateful for our strong school community Have patience!

Together, supporting one another Energized by the power and promise of online learning Dedicated to the well-being of our students, staff, and their families!

Dear BB&N Community, I write this during the second week of our Spring Break, a very unsettled time worldwide, and for us here at BB&N. As things stand right now, we will be transitioning next week to an Online Learning environment for our students B-12 until at least May 4th. This is a daunting task, and I am extremely proud of the work that our faculty and staff have already done to prepare for this challenge.

As we concentrate on shifting our academic paradigm, we have also been focusing on how all members of our community are faring in these difficult times. Specifically, we have asked our families, faculty, and staff to reach out to us if they are struggling in any way due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have created a team to support members of our community who might be experiencing food insecurity, lacking appropriate access to technology, or struggling with an inability to leave their homes due to an underlying medical condition. To support these efforts, we have launched the uKnighted Community Fund, as part of The BB&N Fund. Gifts designated to this new fund will provide resources for BB&N to allocate as needs arise within our family, faculty, and staff community. If anyone is interested in contributing to the fund, it can be accessed at bbns.org/uknighted.

A key part of our mission is to “prepare students to lead lives of principled engagement in their communities and the world.� I think now more than ever, we all (faculty, staff, parents, alumni/ae, and students) should commit to lead lives of principled engagement. In fact, BB&N the institution should model this ideal of principled engagement. It is times like these that underscore the importance of our school and our community as we commit to this goal, both individually and collectively.

By the time this magazine reaches you a few weeks from now, it is my great hope that our world feels very different, and we are back to some semblance of normalcy. If, however, that is not the case, I am confident that our BB&N community will have risen to the challenge of educating our students, supporting our larger BB&N family, and principally engaging in our community. In the meantime, I hope that you and your families are all staying safe, sane, and well.

Best,

Dr. Jennifer Price Head of School

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Community News Esteemed Civil Rights Activist Visits BB&N

Lower School Composers Reach International Audience

Lower and Middle School students were honored to welcome Reverend Henry “Hank” Elkins to their campuses this winter to reflect on the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

When grades B-2 music teacher Sara Zur began recording students’ songs with her iPad, she envisioned a fun project that would allow Lower Schoolers to listen to each other’s music. Two years later, Zur has created “BB&N Radio.”

Elkins was a key contributor during an early phase of the civil rights movement in America, having the great fortune to serve as assistant pastor for Dr. Martin Luther King in 1962 in Atlanta where he lived with the King family. Elkins’ direct experience has given him a personal perspective on the civil rights movement and the life of Dr. King.

In separate visits to both the Lower and Middle School, Elkins spoke about his experiences and answered questions from students. On the Lower School, several thoughtful inquiries from students set the tone for impactful discussion. “Was it challenging being a white person who supported Dr. King?” asked one student.

“Being a white supporter and friend of Dr. King’s had its challenges,” Elkins recalled. “Most people didn’t like what I was doing, only my parents really supported me.” Elkins recounted having to help buy food when Dr. King and his associates couldn’t gain access to certain stores and restaurants, and he described a scary incident of having dinner at Dr. King’s house one evening when fire bombs were thrown at the house.

“When Dr. King died, I lost a great friend, but the country lost a great leader,” Elkins said. “He stood for so many good things. Not just equal rights...if he were alive today, I know he would be fighting for a green planet and against climate change as well. In a sense, I pretend that Dr. King is still with us today.”

Elkins closed his visit by leading students in soulful rendition of “We Shall Overcome.” With eyes closed and head raised, his steady voice echoed around the Lower School community room, leaving students to ponder his words.

Elkins’ visit was organized through his son, Brent Elkins, the father of Jake ’20 and Andy Elkins ’19.

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Together, we set up a shared Google album to collect songs, and a shared document where we could record comments. It was fun to read what Ea-Ling’s students felt about the young BB&N students’ compositions.

I continue to integrate the “Radio Project” into my own curriculum. Sometimes groups of students will find me and say, “Sara! We have a song to sing! When can we put it on the radio?” Looking forward, I hope to use these songs to teach students about song structure and song-writing skills, and I also plan to present this project at the International Seminar of Music Education in Finland this coming July.

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BB&N Robotics Team Excels in New England Tournament

The BB&N community celebrated the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. this winter with the school’s annual MLK Luncheon. Now in its 36th year, the event allows for reflection on the impact of Dr. King’s legacy through speakers, musical performances, and thoughtful discussion.

The uplifting event also featured student speakers Aanika Patel ’21, Jude-Michel Poisson ’24, and Alexandra Kluzak ’24, along with a violin performance by Gerson and Jayden Personnat ’21.

Once I started collecting BB&N students’ songs, I began to imagine collaborating with an international school. Not only would the songs reach a wider audience, but it would be interesting to see a collaboration across two cultures. Karina Baum, our Director of Global Education, helped me set up an invitation and Ea-Ling Seun, a first and second grade music teacher at the Bayview Independent School in Toronto, responded.

x 1 x Kindergartner Arjun Rao takes in some tunes at a BB&N Radio listening station. x 2 x Maya Hayes ’30, strikes a pose while she sings her original song.

BB&N Commemorates the Legacy of Dr. King with Annual MLK Luncheon

This year’s gathering featured keynote speaker Rahsaan Hall, Executive Director of ACLU Civil Rights Program. In addition to hearing Hall’s thoughtful remarks, attendees also were honored to welcome Reverend Hank Elkins. Elkins had the great fortune to serve as assistant pastor for Dr. King in 1962 in Atlanta and lived with the King family.

In October 2018, I stood on the playground with a microphone attached to my iPad and a sign that said “BB&N Radio.” I explained to students that they could sing a song, and I would record it for our “Radio.” They could invent something on the spot or practice a song first, but it had to be an original creation. Little by little, students (ages 4-8) came up to the mic to sing. In May 2019, I created a “Listening Station” which allowed our campus to listen to the songs; students loved it!

This February, the BB&N robotics team traveled to the University of New Haven to compete in the annual Vex Robotics Competition.

Sixty organizations attended from all over New England to put their robots to the test. The competition asks that the robots collect plastic blocks and either stack them on top of one another or deposit them in elevated cups.

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One of the team leaders, Stephen Fanning ’20, highlighted, “The best part of this competition was probably our 4th game, where we were facing two solid teams, and our partner’s robot completely shut off, but we still managed to win the contest with a score of 36-33.” Out of the 60 teams, BB&N made it to the quarterfinal round in the team competition and finished 5th in the skill contest.

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PICTURED x 1 x Gerson Personnat ’21 and Jayden Personnat ’21 perform at the MLK luncheon. x 2 x Jude-Michel Poisson ’24 and Alexandra Kluzak ’24 address the audience at the annual MLK luncheon.

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Community News New England Patriots Players Make Surprise Visit to Lower School Lower School students were thrilled this February when brothers Devin and Jason McCourty stopped by BB&N for a surprise visit. Every bit as polished as their Super Bowl rings from 2019, the twin defensive backs for the New England Patriots brought humor and sound advice to an assembly that held students in rapt attention.

During their presentation, the McCourtys championed their charitable work in the fight against sickle cell anemia, a disease that has affected members of their family and has become a passion of theirs. The brothers also touched on a variety of general topics based off of questions from fourth grader Henry Carroll, whose mother Bronwen helped arrange the visit through her work in sickle cell research.

Citing their work with sickle cell, both Devin and Jason stressed the importance of “using your voice” to make the world better. “You don’t have to be famous, and it doesn’t have to be a giant cause,” Devin explained to students. “It can be something as small as telling a friend to do the right thing, or pointing out when someone is doing something they shouldn’t be doing.”

Annual Integration Bee Continues Fun Upper School Tradition Twenty-two students participated in BB&N’s 7th Annual Integration Bee on a warm March afternoon this spring. It took two hours of intense—and fun—competition to crown the 2020 BB&N Grand Integrator. “It was very exciting with a ton of talent, skill, and ingenuity on display,” noted Upper School Math Chair Chip Rollinson, who presided over the event.

Most of the students competing hailed from AP Calculus BC classes; some participants, having completed that class, were in Multivariable Calculus or beyond. Rollinson had the idea to start the Bee after attending a similar MIT event. “It was a lot of fun so we’ve had one each year since,” he said.

The winner of the Bee was Andrew Zhao ’21. Second place went to Philip Tabor ’21, third to Karthik Padmanabhan ’21. The top placing women were Cecilia Johnson ’20 in fourth and Julia Shephard ’22 in fifth. Zhao was awarded the yellow “Grand Integrator” hat, which is a reproduction of what the MIT winner receives. The top three finishers also received gift cards to Ben & Jerry’s.

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Playing off of that topic, Jason talked about the importance of learning from mistakes and taking time to make the right decisions in life. “The popular thing is not always right, stay true to yourself and take the time to make the right decision for you.” He even joked that this was something he may or may not have learned when he signed with the Cleveland Browns and endured a season in which the team lost every game. “I told Jason not to do that, but he didn’t listen!” joked Devin.

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Both McCourtys went to great lengths to relate to students on their own terms, acknowledging that becoming a football player requires some skills and attributes that you need to be born with, but stressing how they aren’t that different from BB&N students. “Remember, when you guys are sitting in your classrooms, we are doing the exact same thing...going to meetings, studying game plans and opposing teams. We work really hard to have that fun game on Sunday.”

They also noted how important studying and listening are in achieving your goals. “If we didn’t get As or Bs in school, our mother wouldn’t let us play sports or video games,” noted Devin. “And eating right and playing, any sort of physical activity, is so important to being healthy.”

When asked what advice they would give kids growing up today, neither Jason nor Devin hesitated in their answer, one they both agreed on: “Get to know yourself and learn what makes you happy. Talk to your parents and friends about how you’re feeling, what’s going well, and what’s not going well...that’s how you learn about yourself and start to realize what goals you want to achieve.”

The brothers closed their visit with a few classrooms stops to partake in some learning activities and answer more questions. If most BB&N Lower Schooler’s weren’t already fans of the Patriots, they certainly are now—or at least fans of the McCourty brothers!

PICTURED x 1 x Henry ’28 and Harper Carroll ’31 meet New England Patriots Devin and Jason McCourty. x 2 x Devin and Jason McCourty stop by a fourth-grade classroom to answer questions.

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PICTURED x 1 x Andrew Zhao ’21, Philip Tabor ’21, and Karthik Padmanabhan ’22 display their first, second, and third place Integration Bee certificates. x 2 x Upper School math chair Chip Rollinson runs the show at the Integration Bee.

Media Lunch a Hit at Middle School When Middle School librarian Christina Dominique-Pierre pitched the idea of hosting a “Media Lunch” once a week in the Middle School learning commons, she wasn’t certain how students would respond, but she was hopeful.

“The idea was to create an opportunity for students to take in media—short films, podcasts, TED Talks—and digest not just the content, but understand how media affects us and shapes our opinions.

When Dominique-Pierre prepared for the first lunch, in November, she aired the Oscarnominated short film Hair Love, and about five students showed up. Flash forward to the most recent Media Lunch, and the scene is decidedly different; more than 25 seventh and eighth graders vie excitedly for seats around the table as Dominique-Pierre queues up the Oscar-winning film by Kobe Bryant, Dear Basketball.

Conversation touches on why the animation style is so effective before delving into the deeper meaning of the short film. Dominique-Pierre also uses the film as a segue into Black History Month, noting that Kobe Bryant chose his jersey number, 24, as an homage to Jackie Robinson’s number 42.

Beyond the content of the media, discussions also center on how media is being used, how it can be used properly, and the impact it will have on society moving forward.

“This media is how our students digest culture and current events,” Dominique-Pierre says. “If they have a better understanding of how it works, it will serve then well as both consumers and users.”

Middle School librarian Christina Dominique-Pierre is all smiles at a recent Media Lunch.

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Community News Biotti ‘21 Wins U18 Women’s World Hockey Championship On January 2 , Mia Biotti ’21 stepped into the Vlado Dzurilla Ice Rink to represent the United States of America in the U18 Women’s World Championship game. The tournament was held over two weeks in December and January and took place in Bratislava, Slovakia. The U18 team had previously lost to Canada in the championship game in 2018, but the group was committed to seeing a different result take place in 2019/20. nd

Biotti and her teammates had cruised to a 3-0 win over Russia in the semifinal but knew that the match up with Canada would not be as easy. It did not come as a surprise that the championship game that had ended in overtime the year prior would not be decided in regular time. Team USA took a 1-0 lead in the first period, but with 5:38 left in the third period, Canada tied it up, forcing overtime. However, team USA was up for the task, and with 3:08 left in the first overtime, USA forced a turnover at the U.S. blue line and went on to score the game-winning goal.

The girls varsity hockey team at BB&N held a watch party at the NAC to support Biotti and team USA. When the gamewinning-goal was scored, the excitement and cheers in the Stonestreet Lounge could have been heard in Bratislava.

Mia Biotti ’21 (left) celebrates the U.S. overtime victory over Canada in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Students Exhibit Art Work in MFA Collaboration BB&N students were in some esteemed company this winter when their work was exhibited in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Sharing the same roof with artwork from legends such as Paul Cezanne, El Greco, Paul Gauguin, and Rembrandt, students from all three campuses participated in the exciting collaboration with the MFA. BB&N’s Community Outreach and Engagement Specialist Candie Sanderson was thrilled at the opportunity: “This is a community event that puts student voices at the center of our partnership with the museum. We were so excited to have this opportunity to showcase our students’ art pieces beyond the walls of BB&N.” The event was another chapter in the longstanding partnership between the museum and BB&N, mirroring a similar annual event that took place for many years.

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Upper School Mary Poppins’ Cast Visits Lower School In a “practically perfect” start to the school day, the Upper School cast of Mary Poppins surprised Lower School students with performances at both the Buckingham gate and the Morse Building music room during drop-off on Wednesday morning this March. The troupe of 24 Upper School actors performed an array of songs from the classic musical, including “Jolly Holiday,” “Tuppence a Bag,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” for the enraptured Lower School students.

Middle School Students Broadcast on Live Radio Sitting in front of a Behringer B-1 microphone in the front studio of Boston Free Radio (BFR) in Somerville, MA, Julio Martinez ’24 is anxious.

out to me about wanting to do a project for her class,” Sanderson says. “I did some digging around locally, then connected her to Boston Free Radio, through my advisee Simru Sonmez-Erbil ‘20.”

“How do you do this every day?” he asks BFR manager Heather McCormack, “I’m like so scared.” Martinez’s BB&N eighth grade classmates Nic Matosic and Thomas Angelone are in similar states— you can tell by the way they nervously adjust their microphones and fiddle with the studio headphones perched atop their heads.

Simru, a BB&N senior, hosts a weekly show at Boston Free Radio, the radio arm of Somerville Media Center. Thinking it would be a fun, interactive way to engage in a medium that shaped rock ‘n’ roll and American culture, Gellar reached out to Heather McCormack, the manager at BFR, to set up the visit.

In 30 seconds, these three members of Middle School music teacher Kathi Gellar’s “History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” class will be DJing their own music program, broadcasting it live into Somerville, Boston, and beyond.

“Heather presented some radio history and spoke about how radio helped to spread rock around the country, influence culture, and create an industry avenue for musicians. We then set up a project where the kids could create their own 10-to-15-minute radio shows to broadcast live,” says Gellar.

The exciting (and nerve-wracking!) experience was part of a field trip to the Somerville Media Center, a non-profit broadcast studio that produces community cable shows, podcasts, internet radio, and many other media ventures.

The idea came to Gellar through Candie Sanderson, BB&N’s Community Outreach and Engagement Specialist. “Kathi had reached

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Working both solo and in groups, the seven members of Gellar’s class built out three different shows to broadcast during their visit.

Whether eagerly planning set lists, choosing DJ names, or learning about the significance of radio as a medium, the work felt more like fun—and the project was such a success that Gellar has future trips planned.

x 1 x Costas Labrinos ’22 stands alongside his (and other students’) photos at the MFA exhibit. x 2 x Lower School lamp projects on display. x 3 x Dinero Jelley ’25 shows off her ceramic “coil pot based on a song.”

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x 1 x Antrias Kahvejian ’24, Rhys Polcari ’24, and Graham Lee ’24 x 2 x Thomas Angelone ’24, Julio Martinez ’24, and Nic Matosic ’24 get ready to go live on the air.

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Community News Upper School Musical Tackles Favorite Mary Poppins Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was really the only word to describe the recent Upper School musical production of Mary Poppins. Based on the P. L. Travers’ books, the classic tale of a magical nanny who changes the lives of a dysfunctional family came to life in The Lindberg – Serries Theater this March. Directed by Upper School theater teacher Ross MacDonald, and featuring a student band, wonderful acting, and beautiful set design, the fan favorite delighted audiences and showcased the school’s theater program.

Fifth Graders Crack the Case of Humpty Dumpty in Spring Play

The tale centered on a team of private investigators tasked with cracking the case of who pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall, and featured an assortment of fairy tale favorites melded into the mystery as potential suspects. The witty dialogue, some of it written by students, left parents and other classes in stitches throughout the well-acted performance.

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Donning colorful costumes, and against a backdrop of beautiful scenery (fabricated in part by their own hands!), BB&N fifth graders thrilled audiences with a spring production of Humpty Dumpty is Missing!

Zach Kesselheim ’27 (as the handsome prince) regales Jamie Hagerty ’27

MS Delights with Music Man Performance Middle School theater students dialed up their usual magic in the school’s annual winter musical last semester. Tackling Broadway favorite The Music Man, students, tech crews, and director Christa Crewdson brought the classic tale to life through delightful acting and song.

The production told the tale of Harold Hill, a con man who sells instruments and band uniforms to the denizens of a small mid-western town with promises of leading and organizing a glorious band. But before Hill can skip town with his money, life unleashes a redemptive curveball, spinning with love, empathy, and a chance to right Hill’s ship with a moral compass.

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3 PICTURED x 1 x Tina Kulow ’20 as Mary Poppins x 2 x Charlie Druker ’22, Myles Nadeau-Davis ’20, and Tess Bierly ’22 work on their kite flying skills. x 3 x Students belt out a musical number during the play. x 4 x Nicky Tao ’21 and Jayanth Uppaluri ’20 take center stage during a chimney sweep dance scene. x 5 x Julie Klingenstein ’20 and Nicholas Kolbas ’20 as Winifred and George Banks

PICTURED x 1 x (L to R): Rose Fahy ’24, Valentina

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Ramirez ’24, Jude-Michel Poisson ’24, Enrica Parmigiani ’24, and Leila Boesch Powers ’24 x 2 x Leila Boesch Powers ’24 and Adam Murray ’24

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Community News 1

BB&N Winter Sports

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BB&N athletes filled the season with excitement as usual this winter. See below for the highlights.

x 1 x Alex Mitchell ’21 sneaks by two defenders on a drive to the hoop. x 2 x The girls fencing team on the medal stand for their bronze finish at the Massachusetts High School League Fencing Squad Championships x 3 x Ines Levy ’21 gains control over her opponent in a match. x 4 x Daniel Addonizio ’20 unleashes a shot. x 5 x Ja’Niya Ellcock-Crayton ’23 looks to start the offense. x 6 x Molly Griffin ’20 makes a move on fast break. x 7 x The girls squash team following their first-place finish at the Division 6 High School Team Squash Championships.

Girls Hockey (Record: 22-6-1) ISL League MVP: Mia Biotti ’21 All League: Mia Biotti ’21, Molly Griffin ’20, and Maya Mangiafico ’20 Honorable Mention: Danielle Bernstein ’20 and Victoria Kennedy ’20 Cup Winners: Molly Griffin ’20 and Maya Mangiafico ’20

Co-Ed Fencing (Girls Record: 7-5; Boys Record: 3-8) Cup Winners: Bear Gruzen ’20 and Lena Rhie ’20

Wrestling (Record: 6-13) Cup Winner: Cole Grevelink ’20

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Girls Basketball (Record: 13-8) All League: Sharon Pongnon ’20 Honorable Mention: Samantha Bernstein ’21 Cup Winner: Sharon Pongnon ’20

Boys Basketball (Record: 8-17) Honorable Mention: Julius Nagin ’20 Cup Winner: Ryan Stewart ’21

Boys Hockey (Record: 1-26) Honorable Mention: Matt Bulman ’20 and Nick Wang ’20 Cup Winner: Nick Wang ’20

Co-Ed Squash Cup Winners: Vivien Keravuori ’20 and Julian Li ’20

Season Highlights: • Girls Varsity Hockey recorded another excellent season, earning the third seed in the NEPSAC Elite 8 tournament and finishing as tournament quarterfinalists.

• Girls Varsity Basketball earned the sixth seed in the NEPSAC Class “A” tournament and finished as tournament quarterfinalists.

• Ines Levy ’21 placed fourth at the girls Wrestling Prep Nationals and earned All-American honors.

• Fencing closed out a strong season with a bronze-winning finish at the Massachusetts High School League Fencing Squad Championships.

• Girls Varsity Squash took out all opponents as the thrilling winners of the United States Division 6 High School Team Squash Championships.

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Mia Biotti ’21 earned ISL MVP honors and also helped lead the United States U18 top division women’s hockey team to a championship in the Women’s World Championship Tournament in Bratislava, Slovakia.

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Aimée Seppenwolde ’21 played hockey for the Netherlands in the U18 B division of the Women’s World Championship Tournament, helping to secure the silver for her squad.

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Etelle Higonnet ’96: Saving Earth’s Forests, Animals, and its People

By Peter DeMarco The bulldozers arrived in 2012, knocking down miles of Gabon’s rich, African rainforest to make way for rows of palm trees and their valuable plant oil. And it looked to be just the beginning: thanks to questionable land grants, Gabon was in danger of seeing a swath of rainforest the size of Rhode Island cut to the ground to feed the needs of a single, palm-oil exporter.

world’s largest cocoa producers from destroying multiple West African rainforests to supply chocolate to Nestle, Godiva, Haagen-Das and the like. Higonnet helmed Mighty Earth’s attack on the world’s largest rubber producer to save rainforests in Cameroon, too.

And those are just Higonnet’s most-recent battles.

Gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants, and hundreds of species of exotic birds and wild orchids were in danger of losing their homes. Air pollution from fires endemic to chopped forests stood to threaten the health of rural villagers. In the fight against global warming, destruction of so much fauna would be further devastating.

All seemed lost until Mighty Earth, a Washington, D.C. non-profit aimed at saving the environment, stepped in.

After months of investigation the organization published an explosive report blasting the world’s largest farming company, Singaporean-based Olam, for allowing its palm-oil suppliers to destroy Gabon’s rainforests. Under public scrutiny the company capitulated, its CEO flying to Washington to inform Mighty Earth’s executive director, Glenn Hurowitz, that Gabon’s rainforests would be spared.

“We don’t know how you did it,” Gabon’s local leaders told Hurowitz when he visited a palm-oil plantation soon after to deliver the good news. “We’ve been struggling to stop Olam and the government from deforesting for years, but weren’t able to have any influence. And here you are in Washington, D.C. pressuring them, and suddenly they stop.”

Well, Hurowitz told them, they didn’t have Mighty Earth’s secret weapon.

They didn’t have Etelle Higonnet.

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Etelle Higonnet ’96 astride a camel in Morocco

Higonnet, BB&N Class of 1996, spearheaded the Gabon campaign against Olam, authoring the report that forced the company’s hand. She was the locomotive behind “Chocolate’s Dark Secret,” the Mighty Earth campaign that stopped the

She’s reported on human rights abuses in Iraq; brought cases of rape and sexual violence against women to the forefront in war-torn Ivory Coast; and helped Guatemalans who had fled their country’s 1980s genocide resettle back home. A graduate of Yale Law School, Higonnet is helping Greenpeace mount a lawsuit that could hold Filipino fossil-fuel companies liable for their contribution to climate change.

In a few months, she’ll be in Paris to present a landmark legal argument against French soybean producers who’ve turned a blind eye to human rights violations and deforestation in Latin America and Brazil. Paris is where she’ll also soon travel to receive one of France’s highest awards, its National Order of Merit, recently bestowed upon Higonnet, who was born in Boston but has dual citizenship, by French President Emmanuel Macron for all she’s done to protect the world.

“Etelle has the deepest commitment to making the world better of anybody I’ve ever met, and I say that as somebody who’s worked in the environmental and social change movement my whole life,” said Hurowitz. “She’s willing to work to the ends of her abilities and take any risk if it will protect the environment or human rights. She is a true heroine.”

Higonnet says she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t passionate about saving Earth’s forests, animals, and people.

At age five she declared to her parents that she was going to join Doctors Without Borders. A few years later, during a family trip to Honduras, she saw children living in poverty for the first time and demanded that her parents tell the police, reasoning that it had to be a crime for children to go without shoes. When they refused, she got angry.

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“I told them, ‘Well, it’s your fault then! You have to take responsibility for these kids!’” Higonnet recalls.

Her passion for justice would only grow from there. As an undergrad at Yale she volunteered to help Guatemalan refugees, seeing first-hand how unfair their lives had been. From that point on, she knew she wanted to dedicate her life to helping those in need.

She attended law school in order to become a war-crimes prosecutor, but found herself drawn more to field work.

Soon, she was crossing the planet in the name of Amnesty International, UNICEF, Greenpeace, and other activist groups, investigating and reporting on abuses and injustices of just about every kind.

Sent to West Africa’s Ivory Coast by the nonprofit Human Rights Watch, Higonnet interviewed hundreds of women who had been abused and raped during insurgent uprisings, discovering that soldiers on both sides of the fight were using sexual violence as

consumers angry at them. But that’s not the only path, right?

You can also mobilize their investors, their banks, their shareholders,” Higonnet says. “You might think that cocoa in the Ivory Coast or palm oil in Indonesia seem far away.

But actually, the companies that are buying that stuff are headquartered often right here in the United States, backed by people who went to schools like BB&N who are making products that we buy every day. We’re so interconnected.”

It’s a truism Higonnet, 41, has learned many times in her career. When Greenpeace sent her to Bangkok to combat illegal fishing practices, Higonnet roomed with a journalist who was writing about indentured servitude aboard fishing boats known as “seafood slavery.” Higonnet soon realized that the same international companies that were buying illegal fish were, as a byproduct, fostering slavery within their supply chain.

“Even though I might not be working for a human rights organization right now, when I go and document

people whose heart is in the right place,” she says. “Part of the problem is that they are working in companies where every penny you bring in or spend is kind of wrapped up for or against you. And if you come up with a way to dramatically reduce the packaging of the sneaker company that you work for and save millions of trees, you might actually get fired because you’ve just done something that nobody asked you to do and which conceivably could make the company look bad, because people might ask, ‘Why didn’t they do it before?’”

report to chocolate buyers and consumers alike. Her worldliness— Higonnet is either fluent or conversational in nine languages. And, of course, her immense drive, even in the face of personal danger.

Just because Higonnet understands such challenges, however, doesn’t make her any less demanding when change is imperative. “Palm Oil’s Black Box,” Mighty Earth’s report exposing Olam’s deforestation of Gabon rainforests, for instance, is utterly damming, packed with undercover photos of violations, interviews with illegal suppliers, stark beforeand-after satellite maps showing deforested areas, and direct attacks on Olam CEO Sunny Verghese.

“She sees a problem, and she just goes after it,” says Corrine Dufka, who mentored Higonnet when she was starting out at Human Rights Watch. “She’s just a force of nature in terms of the energy that she generates to confront a task.”

In the Ivory Coast, she was held at gunpoint by bands of soldiers, and trapped inside a building for days until firefighting subsided.

In Cameroon, she walked the same streets as Al-Qaida and Boko Haram followers. Working for a time in Cambodia, home to human trafficking and false imprisonments, there was the constant risk that she herself could disappear.

There are, unfortunately, still many more tasks for Higonnet to confront, she says. Women are still victims of violence, children are still forced to work, companies still break their promises to save the trees. The United States has not returned to the Paris

“The good news is that everything can change. You just have to be patient and persistent and not give up.” a weapon of war. Higonnet’s published report brought those women’s horrific, personal stories to light, leading war chiefs and religious leaders to speak out against further abuse. “I think it created kind of a cultural sea change,” Higonnet says.

As part of her quest to stop chocolate suppliers from ruining West African national rainforests, Higonnet embedded herself in their network, tracking raw, illegal cocoa from its harvest all the way to its point of sale to major Western corporations.

Higonnet’s team brought their findings not only to big buyers, but also to average consumers, publishing an annual “Easter Chocolate Shopping Guide” ranking just how committed companies such as Lindt, Hersey’s, and Starbucks are to ending deforestation and promoting sustainable farming.

“Every month or two I’m either doing or helping my colleagues with a massive petition against a company that’s all about getting 16

deforestation for cocoa in protected areas, I find the worst kinds of child labor,” she says. “Kids with machetes, kids spreading toxic pesticides that are really harmful for them.

Kids bearing heavy loads. Often one solution can help clean up both the human rights and the environmental problem.”

“He frequently flies around the world to deliver eloquent, thoughtful panegyrics to Mother Earth in front of the global elite,” the report says. “Meanwhile, Verghese’s bulldozers are razing the Congo rainforest, and his traders are covertly buying palm oil from unnamed third-party suppliers.

Unlike that 9-year-old who grew furious at her parents, Higonnet has learned that stopping an injustice takes time, nuance, diplomacy, politeness, and even a degree of empathy for those she opposes. When not traveling the world, Higonnet, in her role as senior campaign director, spends her days meeting and talking with corporate players and activists alike to understand their vantage points and strike mutually common goals.

“It is time for Olam to live up to its green rhetoric by taking meaningful action to end its deforestation across its global operations and supply chain.”

“I actually think that a lot of people inside most of the companies that I campaign against are absolutely loving

Agreement, and global warming is almost to the point where we won’t be able to stop it.

But Higonnet, without a doubt, will keep on trying.

“It always feels like there’s this huge, gaping void between reality and how much you want things to get better,” she says. “The good news is that everything can change. You just have to be patient and persistent and not give up.” u

Shamed by Higonnet’s report, Verghese did just that.

Few succeed to the degree Higonnet has in convincing some of the world’s mightiest corporations to change their ways, her contemporaries say. They cite her creativity—Higonnet’s idea to use satellite imaging to show rainforest deforestation in cocoa-producing areas helped instantly sell Mighty Earth’s

Far left: Higonnet ’96 and her husband, Alexandre da Costa, on a paragliding adventure.

This page: Higonnet ’96 (right) with her sister and fellow alumna Anne Higonnet ’76 on a snowshoeing expedition.

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BY KIM ABLON WHITNEY ’91

PHILIP CODY ’10 Takes the Scenic Route with his Ultra Racing

Picture this: You’re running a three-day race on a mountain, traveling a total distance of 75 miles with 15,500 feet of elevation gain. On the second day a branch along the route shifts, obscuring a piece of fluorescent tape marking a turn. Suddenly you find yourself unsure whether you’re on the correct trail.

This is exactly the scenario Philip Cody ’10 was in during the Ragged 75 Ultra Marathon on Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire. He kept going, hoping to see another marker, but after a mile, he had to turn around and backtrack.

Cody finished the approximately 25 miles of Day 2 of the race. On Day 3, he found himself at his lowest point physically and emotionally. “I couldn’t get my stomach to sit right. I was moving fast enough but never hitting my stride until mile 26 when I hit an aid station and they had all my favorites—Mountain Dew, watermelon, and Oreos,” he said. “I crammed my mouth full like a chipmunk, filled my pouches with more, and hopped away feeling all of a sudden wonderful. The last ten miles were some of the easiest and most enjoyable I’ve ever run.” Despite a difficult Day 2, Cody finished first for Day 3, and second overall in the Ragged.

This kind of emotional turbulence is not unusual for ultra marathons.

THE RISE OF ULTRAS First off, what is an ultra-marathon? Simply put, it’s any race over 26.2 miles. The most common distances are 50 km (31.069 miles), 100 km (62.137 miles), or 160.9344 km (100 miles). Many “ultras” are on trails and span multiple days (stage races).

Ultras take place all over the world, some in exotic locations. If you haven’t heard 18

about ultras, you will soon. According to Runners World, more and more people are competing in ultras, pushing them into mainstream.

Cody was a wrestler at BB&N. He also ran cross-country to train for the wrestling season. In high school, he got into “adventure racing,” where competitors race over an unmarked wilderness course and must use their navigation skills, in addition to their athleticism. It was then that Cody got his first taste of how selfdoubt is a principal part of the experience.

“It’s basically a really long orienteering race and the whole point is to get lost in the woods and find your way out,” he explained. “There are all those dark moments where you’re lost and you think it’s all over and you can’t go on. You have to remember to find that glimmer of hope that keeps you going.”

After college, Cody hiked the Appalachian Trail. He met people from all walks of life and enjoyed both the mental and physical challenges of months of hiking.

Cody remained close with many friends from BB&N, including Sam Wallis ’10 and former Upper School history and philosophy teacher, Brian Stavely. Stavely introduced Cody to adventure racing and then to ultras. “I started running ultras, and because Philip never turns down an adventure, he signed on too,” shared Stavely. “The first one we did together he beat me by three or four minutes. And then it was all over. Now I’m regularly an hour or more behind him.”

Cody has run half-marathons but he has found the challenge not as appealing. “A road marathon is not an adventure,” he

said. “Ultras are not a linear mile-by-mile race. You can’t just tell yourself, ‘if I keep up this pace I’ll be done in an hour.’ For all you know, you could be out there for another five hours.” Cody believes that running marathons is actually physically harder than running ultras because competitors in marathons are typically running on pavement and because competitors in ultras can walk parts of the trail and still place well.

ONE DIFFICULT THING EVERY WEEKEND That first ultra Stavely and Cody did together was not just any old ultra. It was the Ultra Tour Monte Rosa (UTMR), a 100 mile stage race in the Swiss Alps. A quarter of the starters end up as “DNFs” (did not finish). “Every day I wasn’t sure I could do it,” Cody explained of the UTMR. “I felt so broken after Day 1, but I ended up doing really well and placing 27th.” Cody credits his experience at BB&N with helping him pull through tough competitions like the UTMR. “Everything after wrestling and handling the academics at BB&N was really easy,” he said. “After BB&N, I’m not really afraid of any challenges.”

Cody has done several ultras locally, and he hopes to travel to do more. “It’s a great excuse to travel to other parts of the world,” he said. “I hope to explore more of the world that way—off the beaten path, running from village to village, meeting cool folks along the way.” It is worth noting here that Cody speaks four languages and spent a semester in China.

Typically Cody aims for about one ultra a month. “I’m still figuring it out,” he said of his schedule. “My main thing is to do one

PICTURED 1: Philip Cody ’10 at the finish line of the four-day Ultra Tour Monte Rosa, a 105 mile stage race across the Swiss and Italian Alps.

2: Cody ’10 and former BB&N Upper School history and philosophy teacher Brian Stavely

difficult thing every weekend—whether that’s an ultra or running the whole day in the woods.” In terms of training and nutrition, Cody definitely does not follow the TB12 method or anything similar. “I’m not a health nut and my system is kind of unorthodox,” he shared. When he’s not running on mountains to train, he lifts weights, rock-climbs, and cross-country skis.

Cody moved to Maine last year and works as a carpenter. He plans to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, the west coast equivalent of the Appalachian Trail. In addition, he is looking to purchase land on which he and his girlfriend will farm hops, a commodity Cody says is relatively easy to grow and in high demand.

If a marathon is a festival, then an ultra is Burning Man. A MYSTICAL JOURNEY His girlfriend has gotten into doing ultras too, and Cody now has a “gang that pushes each other,” which includes Wallis and Stavely. While he regularly places in the top of ultras, how he finishes is not the end goal.

“When he wins, he’s happy. When he loses—and he and I have blown up spectacularly in some adventure races together—he’s still having fun with the adventure and companionship,” said Stavely. “He’s out there as much for the views, the challenge, and the camaraderie as he is to throw down the fastest time.”

Running ultras is somewhat of a holistic, mystical experience. It can’t be broken down into just one or two pieces. It’s certainly a physical test but more often, according to Cody, it’s an emotional expedition in a way unlike a marathon or a triathlon. If a marathon is a festival, then an ultra is Burning Man. “You’re often alone out there with your thoughts, your pain, wondering what the hell you’re even doing out there,” Cody said. “It’s all about overcoming adversity, and relishing that journey.” u

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DANIELA LAMAS ’99:

WRITING is the best medicine

by Sharon Krauss (photo by Stu Rosner)

Daniela Lamas ’99 holds dual citizenship these days in the worlds of fact and fiction, thanks to an inspiring juxtaposition of careers that she finds is just what the doctor ordered.

A pulmonary and critical-care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as a medical journalist and, most recently, a staff writer on the Fox-TV medical drama The Resident, Lamas has a firm foothold in both a Boston ICU and a LA writers’ room. While medicine is their shared focus, at the heart of both endeavors for Lamas is the power of people’s stories. And it’s her goal to tell those tales.

The realization that someone could write scripts as well as scrips, if you will, came to Lamas as early as eleventh grade at BB&N when working on her Junior Profile about Perri Klass, a pediatrician who also wrote about her life in medicine. But Lamas didn’t immediately envision that binary path for herself. Coming from a family replete with doctors, she always assumed that she, too, would join their ranks, but there was no denying she'd been bitten by the writing bug.

“The Vanguard was really my home in high school—I mean, that was high school to me,” Lamas says of BB&N’s student newspaper.

“I loved working with my colleagues on something that we all cared about, that was so powerful and important, that brought us outside our daily student lives.” Inspired by that experience, she went on to be managing editor, in charge of the news division, of The Harvard Crimson. During a fraught decision-making, postcollege year spent working at the Miami Herald, Lamas applied to med schools; she ended up attending Columbia, where she also did her internal medicine residency.

“I loved writing, but I was worried, at age 22, that I wasn’t brave enough, that I’d be in the same cubicle at 35. Little did I know…. I still don’t have an office with a door,” Lamas says, chuckling. “But at that point, I wasn’t comfortable entering a career that didn’t have a clear meritocracy—you put your head down and you plug and you succeed.”

Instead, Lamas heeded what drew her to being a doctor: “medicine, pattern recognition, being willing to listen to people 20

and think hard about them—those things appealed.” Listen and think hard she did. A compassionate person who interacts intensely with other humans when at their most vulnerable, she processes her experiences by writing about them, distilling not only her patients’ and their families’ experiences, but also her own inevitable feelings of uncertainty and self-questioning that accompany ICU decisions, often made in seconds. As much as she is drawn to the demands of her work, she admits, “The ICU is exhausting—not just physically, but emotionally, intellectually.

I think you need some way to do something with all that.” While a lot of doctors do research to address questions and challenges, “that’s not me,” says Lamas. “It’s not necessarily where my heart is.”

But telling stories is. “We see so many narratives in the hospital,” Lamas notes, “so many ways that people express love in this ICU. It’s kind of cool to be witness to those.” Among the many moments that stay with her, she mentions smuggling in a beer to a dying patient, nurses getting a young guy who’d been in the hospital for five months up to the helipad so that he could feel the outdoors one more time before he died, and a burly, gruff, heavily tattooed man who didn’t want to be in the room when his uncle died but was seen praying in the hospital’s chapel, the uncle’s prosthetic leg, anchored by its bright white sneaker, keeping vigil beside him.

Treasuring these glimpses of life’s beauty even at its breaking points, she began writing unsolicited essays, later building on some of those pieces that appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Atlantic in her book, You Can Stop Humming Now: A Doctor’s Stories of Life, Death, and In Between, published by Little, Brown in 2018.

Keenly feeling the value in these stories, Lamas wanted to reach a broader audience, though, than her book and articles provided.

Hoping to inform people about the nuances of medical decisions and perhaps prompt them to question their own assumptions if they were in those situations, she acknowledges a developing desire also to entertain, “to bring people to these stories in a way that is more fun.” A long-time fan of medical television shows, Lamas read an article about their medical consultants and then began emailing

people in the biz—to no avail, until the creator and executive producer of The Resident did respond. After providing details and accuracy as a consultant for a little while last year, Lamas flew out to LA for six weeks, zooming back to the Brigham for occasional ICU stints, for a trial run as a writer on the show. Asked to write a tryout pilot script, she read a couple as models and bought scriptformatting software to make hers look official. “It wasn’t very good,” says Lamas with a laugh, “but it was sufficient for a first go, and I guess it showed that I was willing to try.” Invited onboard for this year’s full season as a staff writer, she is currently the only practicing doctor in the group.

Although she came to the TV show feeling strongly that it needed to depict medical situations as they have happened in her experience, not wanting to mislead audience members perhaps making similar medical decisions, Lamas began to see the merits of telling stories with endings that might be more satisfying to viewers. “It could have ended the other way; just because it didn’t, in my experience, doesn’t mean we’re telling a lie,” she says. “I began to see the desirability of that—you can make multiple stories, you can imagine it happening another way.” Because something is not real doesn’t make it less true.

Many of this season’s medical stories stem from Lamas’s patients at the Brigham or her training at Columbia. Even one of her cardiologist father’s clinic stories has made it into a script. Details and identities change to the point of unrecognizability, according to HIPAA regulations, “but these stories that existed only in a room, in the ICU, or in my head now have this other life, and they go on,” says Lamas. “There’s something neat about that.”

Recounting a recent conversation with her co-writers, the show’s head, and some Fox execs, Lamas says they discussed which of two fictional patients to kill off. The fatal decision made, “I wrote in her death, and that was that,” she says. “And then I go to the real hospital, where obviously things are real, and I can’t change the outcome in post-production. Here, whatever you do, it’s final.” The weight of that reality sits visibly on her shoulders.

“But I feel lucky to be in both of these worlds—fact and fiction—

and I take them both seriously,” she continues. “To have these conversations that matter so much with patients’ families, to worry about my decisions—that’s where I am, always—and then to go create alternate realities—it’s such a lucky juxtaposition. I get to have this life at the hospital, where I try to do good, and then turn it into entertainment, which also serves a purpose—and is really fun.”

Not so enjoyable has been the geographical inconvenience of bicoastal workplaces. “I’m not in either place as much as anyone would want,” she says, noting that disappointing others is not easy for her, but these are difficulties she’s willing to take on. Looking back, Lamas credits her BB&N education with developing her desire for new challenges in her ever-evolving career. “There was this idea there that you could do anything with your learning, a feeling of limitless possibility—and real excitement around that,” she says. “I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic by saying that BB&N taught me to love to learn and to be curious.”

Pausing for a moment, she adds, “You dream something, and then you do it.”

Now, having achieved yet another dream, Lamas believes her TV-writing gig will make her a better writer—thanks to all that snappy dialogue and spare, new language—and she hopes that her work in both arenas will make her a more effective communicator with patients and their families. She thinks a lot, in particular, about delivering bad news—what words to use, how much people can tolerate hearing—and envisions a cycle of influence from her actual conversations with patients to authentic-sounding fictional dialogue and back again to her mindful, real-life exchanges.

“I want to be a very good doctor who helps people in these very acute times of need,” Lamas says. “I do love being a doctor, but I don’t think it could be my 100% at this point.” She hopes that her adjunct to clinical work will be to continue telling compelling stories in various forms—journalism, creative nonfiction, fiction for television. It’s probably a good thing she doesn’t have an office door, always open to possibilities as she is. b 21

DEDICATION OF UPPER SCHOOL THEATER HONORS FACULTY LEGENDS

Mark Lindberg

&

George Serries

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“I feel like we’re christening a ship—we should have a bottle of champagne to smash on the stage! [Mr. Lindberg: ‘Good idea!’]”

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LEWIS WHEELER ’87

Nearly 125 adoring fans of Upper School drama teachers Mark Lindberg and George Serries gathered on BB&N’s Gerry’s Landing campus on Monday, December 9, to celebrate the naming of The Lindberg – Serries Theater in honor of two faculty legends and a 55-year legacy of theater excellence at Browne & Nichols and BB&N. The naming recognizes extremely generous gifts from two anonymous donors to BB&N’s Opening Minds Campaign, who wanted to use their gifts to honor these faculty legends but agreed to defer the naming until Mark Lindberg’s retirement last June. (George Serries taught theater, English, and French at B&N and BB&N from 1964 to 1982, turning over the reins of the theater department to Mark Lindberg who led the program from 1982 until 2019.)

“Throughout the event, alumni/ae, current and former faculty and staff, current and past parents, and current students shared memories of Lindberg and Serries on a large chalkboard wall outside the theater, and attendess heard tributes to the two from Lydia Vagts ’81, Lewis Wheeler ’87, and Dean of Students Rory Morton ’81. Sharing his own memories of Serries and his teaching career at BB&N, and expressing deep gratitude to the school and the donors for this honor, Lindberg joined Head of School Dr. Jennifer Price to unveil the plaque that has since been installed outside the theater.

It was clear from the moving and humorous tributes that both of these faculty “giants” had been transformational in the lives of their students and colleagues, while directing exceptionally high quality and challenging performances for students and audiences over more than five decades.

----"The trust I had developed in Mr. Serries as a person and a director allowed me to confront one of my most primal fears…. I have always suffered from a pretty severe fear of heights. It is a real testament to my confidence in George Serries, and to the confidence that he gave me, that I was able to overcome my fear.

"George Serries [also] taught me how to overcome my fear of speaking in public. I make lots of presentations and teach classes, and I credit Mr. Serries with teaching me how to do that with confidence. There aren’t many things I learned at BB&N that I can say are still vitally important to my professional life but this is absolutely one of them, and for 22

that I am very grateful to George Serries." LYDIA VAGTS ’81 ----“Mark was a mentor to me, and to so many of us. He had boundless energy and enthusiasm, even at the end of a long tech rehearsal on a weekend. He was always filled with a joyous, contagious energy for the work. He also had this special, magical ability to harness all of our disparate talents and energies—and often our bad behavior—helping us focus on the work at hand, always bringing out the best in us. And he encouraged our best as an ensemble, as a collaborative group, as a team. Like with an athletic team, Mark was the ‘coach’ who had to bring together all of our individual talents to collaborate as a successful group.

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4 5

“Mark created a safe place, where collaboration and exploration and respect were always the priority. Here in the theater, everyone was welcome. Those of us on the fringes of the social structure, who didn’t quite fit in, who were still uncomfortable with who we were, found a safe harbor.

And Mark was our harbormaster, protecting this safe space, helping us navigate those challenging years to become young adults.” LEWIS WHEELER ’87 ----“This is a marvelous way to acknowledge your work and its impact on a grateful community. I am lucky because like so many others in this room I have had the luxury of watching you from up close and seeing first hand your passion and dedication for your craft, and the students in your charge.

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8

“Ironically, even though your name will forever be linked to this place, the memories that come to mind for me whenever I enter this theater won’t really be about you specifically or the many wonderful productions you were responsible for. Instead it will be of the many students whose lives you managed to impact in such a positive and transformative fashion.

“I will [also] be mindful of the different challenges we as educators face every day working with young people and the incredible things that can happen for them and us, if we put forth the type of commitment and passion for our work that you consistently exhibited over the course of your career.

“Congratulations, Mark! I cannot think of anyone more deserving of such an honor.”

RORY MORTON ’81, DEAN OF STUDENTS

7 1: Faculty Emerita Parrish Dobson P’90, ’07, Faculty Emerita Sharon Hamilton P’87, ’93, ’98, and English faculty member Althea Cranston. 2: Lydia Vagts ’81, P’21, ’26 and Kate Champion Murphy ’81, P’15, ’20. 3: Head of School Jennifer Price P’23 and honoree Mark Lindberg P’01, ’02, ’15. 4: Kate Lindberg Quinn ’02, Mark Lindberg, Aline Gery P’15, James Lindberg ’15, and Matthew Lindberg ’01. 5: Laurie Small Key ’92, Susan Cahaly ’92, and honoree Mark Lindberg P’01, ’02, ’15. 6: Lewis Wheeler ’87 pays tribute to Mark Lindberg. 7: Jane Minasian ’83, P’94, ’09, Grant Monahon P’94, ’09, Omar Khudari ’78, and Head of School Jennifer Price P’23. 8: Faculty Emeritus Mark Lindberg P’01, ’02, ’15, Deborah Cohen Strod ’82, and Angela DeVecchi ’81.

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F O R M E R FAC U LT Y P R O F I L E b y Ro b L e i t h , Fa c u l t y E m e r i t u s

Gene Pool Using Writing and Ar t to Make the World a Better Plac e PICTURED: 1 | Gene Pool with his new book

Every morning at 5:00 Gene Pool sits down to write for three or four hours. His dedication to writing and the disciplined practice of his craft led to the publication in January of his Heroic Women of the Art World, a handsome 271-page volume that tells the stories of 16 individual women (and one group of women) who made, and in some cases continue to make, important contributions to the art world. Gene’s desire to use his retirement to “do something for the world” is expressed through the book’s stated goal of highlighting the importance of art, exposing his readers to the variety of careers available in the arts, and showcasing the rich role models of his heroes.

2 | Pool at B&N in 1966

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1 The chapters cover some relatively well-known figures like Berthe Morisot and Maya Lin; others like Artemisia Gentileschi who were celebrated in their lifetimes only to be neglected after their deaths and have only recently received overdue recognition; and many more whose names will be unfamiliar to the vast majority of readers. They include not only artists but also former Jeu de Paume curator Rose Valland and Mireille Ballestrazzi, whom Gene describes as “the top art cop in the world.” They are “heroic” because they devoted their lives, as the book’s subtitle declares, to “risking it all for art.”

Gene narrowed the scope of his project by focusing on women with particularly interesting lives.

A prime example is Rosa Bonheur, whom he calls a “badass.” In early adolescence she was thrown out of boarding school, as an artist she visited slaughterhouses to study animal anatomy, she dressed flamboyantly and enjoyed a lesbian relationship with her lifelong best friend, and at age 37 she used the enormous prices her work

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commanded to purchase a chateau to which she added a large personal zoo.

company about writing a book on art and technology.

The book is the outgrowth of a different project, a traveler’s guide to European art, that Gene began after leaving BB&N, during which he kept “stumbling across artists with interesting lives, lots of them women.”

When that project could not find a publisher, he used the research to create the present work. Gene takes particular pride in the fact that it contains what he believes to be the widest range of any book on women artists in historical, geographical, and racial/ethnic terms.

Heroic Women contains a web of BB&N connections, beginning with the book’s dedication to Gene’s wife, Parrish Dobson, who retired from teaching English and Photography for 33 years at BB&N in 2018, and to Miranda Pool, Gene and Parrish’s daughter, who graduated from BB&N in 2007. Gene credits them in his acknowledgments as “the two most important women in my life, each a fine writer and artist in her own right.” Two of Gene’s former students provided important support with content and presentation. And the book’s 100 illustrations were funded by a Kickstarter campaign that was supported by a number of former colleagues and students.

Heroic Women, the fifth book he has published, is aimed at a Young Adult (YA) audience. His previous books include both fiction and non-fiction and have been written for MG (Middle Grade, ages 8-12), YA, and adult readers. Gene recently completed a long MG novel, which he describes as “a fantasy thriller set in the Louvre.”

That has now gone out to agents, and he is currently talking with a publishing

Few teachers played as great a role in shaping BB&N as Gene. He began teaching in 1964 at the then Browne & Nichols School but briefly interrupted his career in 1971 to write poetry.

During the 32 years spanned by his work at BB&N, Gene assumed an almost

inconceivable variety of roles: coach at various times of JV football and ice hockey and of varsity cross-country and tennis; head of the English Department for several years; Senior Class Dean and later Dean of Students; college counselor; and, with Al Rossiter, coeditor of this publication, the BB&N Bulletin. He taught BB&N’s History of Art class for many years, and he originated the Sophomore Debates, now one of the school’s foundational experiences.

When he left BB&N in 1997, he began a second career as a full-time writer, completing The 100-Year Secret: Britain’s Hidden World War II Massacre as well as several as-yet unpublished works and dozens of articles for a variety of different publications. But writing required “too much alone time,” as he puts it, so Gene embarked on a third career, teaching at the Winsor School, where he soon became English Department Head, spoke at the school’s Prize Day just two years after his arrival, and earned a Yearbook dedication and the Outstanding Teacher award.

Gene’s heroic women are, as he writes in the Introduction, “poor and rich, persecuted and privileged, famous one moment and forgotten the next, gay, bi, and straight, but always powerful arts women.” His interest in raising awareness about the lives of women and in empowering potential readers reflects his lifelong commitment to diversity. While he was Dean of Students, Gene invited the first openly gay individual to speak to the faculty and to the student body, a controversial decision at the time.

He was recognized with the Minority Students’ Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award for promoting diversity, and he was instrumental in pushing the English Department to adopt a curriculum more inclusive of female and minority voices.

Looking back at his long BB&N career, Gene is at first hesitant to cite specific highlights at the risk of overlooking so many important individuals and experiences. He expresses thanks for his relationships with colleagues and students, and praises the school’s

overall educational atmosphere and the support given and independence entrusted to faculty. After further prompting, however, he allows that the collaborative class novels that his ninth graders composed and his art history classes rank among his fondest memories.

The face of running during much of his tenure at BB&N, Gene ran eight Boston marathons, and starting in his sixties he began competing in triathlons, participating in about a dozen of them. Last summer he finally gave up running, but after he finishes his daily writing, he goes for long walks and swims, maintaining both an active mind and an active body.

Anyone interested in learning more about Gene’s books can access information at his elegant website: http://www.ehpool.com/, and his last two books can be purchased at Amazon.com, where, at the time of writing, Heroic Women ranked in the top 20 sellers in two categories.

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Advancing Our Mission

A Note about BB&N’s Campaign Planning Study and our Path Forward In fall 2019, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School (BB&N) studied the feasibility of a comprehensive campaign to grow the endowment that supports faculty and students, to invest in facilities, and to maintain and increase support for programs through gifts to The BB&N Fund.

Much has changed since this study was completed. In this unprecedented time of COVID-19, we are reminded that nurturing and supporting our community of students, faculty, staff and their families is our highest priority. Therefore, we have evaluated and revised our next steps, and are proceeding with the critical planning activities that will eventually support a campaign to secure our vision for the future.

The Path Forward—Next Steps • Continue to provide steady communication with the community on the measures taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, staff and their families, and shift our focus to the immediate needs of our community during the crisis.

• Maintain momentum to prepare for future campaign efforts by building a strong case for support and recruiting volunteers to work with us to help achieve our vision of a comprehensive campaign.

Planning Study Results by the Numbers: We are grateful to the members of our community who participated in the planning study. In addition to 83 study interviews our fundraising consultant CCS conducted, we also heard from more than 2,100 members of our community through an e-mail survey that was distributed this winter. The study tested reactions to BB&N’s plans and sought to learn more about: • General perceptions of BB&N, including strengths and challenges • Reactions to the messaging and priorities summarized in the draft background statement • Personal willingness to engage in a campaign as a volunteer and/or donor

Anticipated Campaign Priorities

OVERALL PERCEPTIONS OF BB&N

87%

of respondents had a “very positive” or “positive” overall perception of BB&N

REACTION TO PROPOSED PLANS

83%

of respondents had a “very positive” or “positive” response to the proposed priorities

VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP

76%

of participants indicated a willingness to play a volunteer role in the effort

l Facilities ($65M)

65%

15% 20%

PHILANTHROPIC PRIORITY

l Endowment ($15M)

68%

of interviewees expressed their support of BB&N by ranking the organization as their highest or high philanthropic priority

l Programs & BB&N Fund ($20M)

DID YOU KNOW? 870 alumni/ae, parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, and friends were recognized last year as members of the Knights’ Circle, BB&N’s loyalty giving society for five or more years of consecutive giving.

We greatly appreciate Knights’ Circle donors who help us to provide an outstanding academic and extracurricular experience, year after year.

Thank you!

26

27

F O R M E R FAC U LT Y N E W S b y Ro b L e i t h , Fa c u l t y E m e r i t u s

Peter Tower (US History and Economics, 1980-2000) “Greetings to all whom I have had the pleasure of knowing from my nineteen years at BB&N! We are appreciating our time in Wellesley with frequent visits to and from our family including Jonathan ’92, his wife Melinda and our two grandchildren, and Erika ’94. Starting in June, they all congregate at our summer cottage in Pocasset, Cape Cod. Jon and his wife are teachers, so they have the summer to enjoy the swimming, sailing, and sun of the Cape. Ann and I have various activities and responsibilities.

My favorites are two glee clubs, language class, Rivers School basketball, studying investments, reading history and economics, golf in season, and working out. Most of us retired teachers miss the vitality and freshness of the classroom, but have found numerous other services and pleasures to pursue. Best wishes to all!”

Lee Behnke (US Latin, 1983-1997) “Future news you might be interested in: We five “Shakespeare Ladies” travel annually in August to the Berkshires and feast on the productions at Shakespeare & Co, more an orgy than a feast. The Shakespeare Ladies are all current or former teachers at BB&N: current include Althea Cranston, Sharon Krauss, Beth McNamara; former include Sharon Hamilton, and myself. We watch as many plays as we can in 48 hours, and spend most meals intensely analyzing everything. A moveable seminar!"

Daniel Kramer (MS English, 2001-2005) “Still teaching, as Professor of Theatre at Smith College. Also Producing Artistic Director of Chester Theatre Company, a professional summer theatre in the foothills of the Berkshires.

Former students and colleagues are welcome to come join me at the theatre this summer!”

Tom Fennell (US Spanish and French, 2002-2004) “I’m alive and well in Los Angeles, California. I retired several years ago but still continue to teach part time. This year I am teaching Latin II and Latin III honors. I do keep in touch on Facebook with a lot of students I taught. Greetings to all who might remember me, especially Leigh Hogan.”

Gene Pool (English and Art History, 1964-1996) “My new book, Heroic Women of the Art World, came out in January. Available on Amazon and at local bookstores, it profiles sixteen women who risked everything, including their lives, for art. They are painters, sculptors, photographers, and architects, but also curators, conservators, activists, even a spy and a police detective. Gay, bisexual, and straight, they represent the widest range of cultures, countries, races, historical eras, and art roles of any book on women in the arts. Kirkus Reviews said: The artists' personal and professional lives are seamlessly entwined. Well52

chosen and well-told, these artists’ stories will inspire artists and non-artists alike.”

Antonio Balson (US Spanish, 2011-2012) “Tired of the stress of the crazy American rat race, I have returned home to Madrid, where I teach Spanish at a small university and I have started a tour company where I am the tour guide!”

Stephen Holmes ‘55 (Athletics and Science, 1963-1966) “Good ol’ BB&N! My BB&N roots go back to 1917 when my Dad enrolled at B&N. He went on to MIT then Harvard Medical School followed by a distinguished career at The Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

His specialty was Maximo-facial plastic surgery.

My brother Ed, graduated in 1951, went on to Bates College, then to BU Medical School. Ed was an orthopedist in Rutland, Vermont for several years and sadly succumbed to cancer in 2016.

I’m the youngest family member to graduate from B&N in 1955!

After graduating from my mentor Jack Etter’s Springfield College in 1959, I obtained an MHA from VCU and in 1963 began my teaching career at B&N! Now, in 2020, I’m an adjunct faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire where I coach indoor and outdoor track and field. This is my 58th consecutive year in education and I am inspired daily working with amazing students from all over the world. I was honored this year as a segment in a book authored by Elizabeth Fiedler, of the Sloan Institute, as ‘An Older Man Still Employed!’ I still compete in Masters Track and Field and play my trombone and sing in a church choir! Without hesitation, my B&N experience prepared me well for my chosen profession in education and I don’t plan to retire any time soon!”

Lenore Lipworth (LS Grade 1, 1967-1987) “I have been living at Newbridge on the Charles (a retirement community in Dedham) for the past ten years. I am so glad that I made the move as I have made many interesting and wonderful friends there. The community is a vibrant one, with stimulating lectures and programs, an excellent physical education department, and also the opportunities for volunteering in various social agencies. For several years I volunteered in first grade at the Rashi School and then worked with the reading specialist. I still spend part of the winter in Naples, Florida. Two of my grandchildren have followed in my footsteps and teach young children. The third is an assistant DA. My many years of teaching first grade at BB&N were among the happiest of times.

The faculty, children and parents were a joy to know.”

Rebecca Geary (LS Administrator and Admission, 2007-2014) “I left in May 2014 to lead the Farm & Wilderness Foundation in Plymouth, Vermont, as the Executive Director. My daughters were at the BB&N Lower School (Sabine Geary, a freshman at Wesleyan Univ.) and Middle School (Simone Geary, junior at Dickinson College.) I am happy to announce that I have been selected to lead the Green Acres School in North Bethesda, Maryland. Green Acres is a pre-K through eighth grade progressive school of just over 200 students, whose values are

Jay Rogers (MS Music, 1975-1985) “Still alive and kicking in North Cambridge.”

Amy Bernon (MS Music, 1993-1995) “I’m delighted to re-connect with BB&N students and faculty, and I hope this new decade finds you happy and healthy. The school was a beehive of energy and activity, and I loved the atmosphere when I taught at BB&N. Many of the students I taught were blossoming musicians who filled the beautiful parlor/music room with song.

“How awesome to see, many years later, Karoun Demirjian’s political writings and television appearances; Daniela Lamas’s sensitively-written articles on medicine; to discover the complex international work of Tarek Khanachet; to know that Joe Kennedy is helping to shape our country ’s future. You’re amazing!

After my wedding to Jonathan Bernon in 1995, I moved back to CT and resumed teaching at Taft, the boarding school where we met. Several years later, I committed myself fully to composing and have published many choral pieces to date. I love what I do.”

3

Ruth McDonough (US Arabic, 2009-2013) “Greetings to my colleagues and former students! Currently in my sixth year building the Arabic language and cultures program at the American School in London, yet I still hold fond memories of my years teaching at BB&N. I am particularly grateful to the students and faculty who welcomed me into the community of SHADES and the Upper School Diversity Committee. The time we had together continues to influence my personal journey and professional work to this day. Much love to all.”

Paula Plum (MS Drama, 1978-1984) “I was performing in The Children at SpeakEasy Stage in March and continue my private coaching business for student and professional actors. I still enjoy close friendships with Jay Rogers, Morgan Mead, and Libby MacLaren, and am so proud that Lewis Wheeler, a former BB&N Middle School student, is now a major presence in the Boston theatre scene!”

very much in line with my current organization, F&W. My work at Green Acres School begins officially on July 1, 2020.”

2 PICTURED

1

x 1 x Eugene Pool P’90, ’07 Faculty Emeritus x 2 x Tom Fennell, former Upper School Spanish and French teacher x 3 x Antonio Balson, former Upper School Spanish teacher

53

Milestones If you would like to request a BB&N banner for a wedding photo, please email alumni_programs@bbns.org and provide the wedding date and best mailing address.

If you would like a BB&N baby t-shirt for a photo, please send us your birth announcement!

Alumni/ae Programs looks forward to including the images in this section.

Weddings & Commitments

1

2003

Kristen Cahill & Andrew Benson September 14, 2019

2008

Leah Kaplow & Jared Webber November 9, 2019

2009

Louise Brinkerhoff & Brian Knapp June 15, 2019

Births & Adoptions

2003

Kristen Cahill & Andrew Benson Blaire Marie Benson July 2, 2019 Katherine Mackey & Kiernan Schmitt Charles Greenwood Schmitt September 25, 2019

2

3

PICTURED Weddings & Commitments: x 1 x (l. to r.) Leslie Ahlstrand ’08, Jennifer Xia Spradling, Pamela Ban, Leah Kaplow ’08, Irene Kaplow and Jennifer Poorvu Gutbezahl ’08 help celebrate Leah’s marriage to Jared Webber. x 2 x Louise Brinkerhoff Knapp ’09 celebrates her wedding day with her father Garrett Brinkerhoff ’69

Birth & Adoptions: x 3 x Charles Schmitt, son of Katherine Mackey ’03

54

55

Milestones

In Memoriam Benjamin Tappan Wright ’40, age 97, of Lexington, MA, passed away peacefully on November 30, 2019.

Born August 24, 1922 in Berkeley, CA to Austin Tappan and Margaret Stone Wright, he would go on to graduate from Harvard College in the Class of 1944 and served as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army during WWII in the Pacific theater. After the war, Ben served in the Army Reserve achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He earned his juris doctor from Boston University School of Law in 1950. He spent his career as general counsel for The Badger Company, a subsidiary of The Raytheon Company, retiring in 1987.

His deep love for figure skating led to a long and illustrious career as a skating referee, judge, and historian.

He served as a referee at six Winter Olympic Games and as a referee or judge at 23 World Championships and 25 National Championships. He was the President of the US Figure Skating Association from 1973-1976, and was inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1997.

Throughout his distinguished life, Ben cherished most his personal relationship with friends, colleagues, and loved ones, which stand as his lasting legacy. He was preceded in death by the love of his life, Mary Louise (Premer) Wright, after 52 years of marriage. He was also predeceased by his sisters Sylvia Wright Mitarachi ’34 and Phyllis Wright King ’37.

Susan Goodale Hay ’42, age 95, of Bedford, MA, died on January 26, 2020 at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA in the company of family after a brief illness. She was born Susan Bainbridge Goodale in Boston on September 12, 1924, the 56

daughter of Dr. Robert L. Goodale and Susan Bainbridge (Sturgis) Goodale. She grew up in Cambridge and spent her summers in Ipswich at the family’s historic 1669 home. She attended Buckingham School and Vassar College, Class of 1945, where she majored in Child Studies.

Sue is survived by her three sons, their spouses, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren, and by her sister.

Her husband Duncan predeceased her in 1989.

Theodore G. Rand ’42, of Bedford, formerly of Weston and New Hampton, NH, died peacefully, surrounded by family on October 1, 2019, at age 95. Ted was born in Newton on October 3, 1923, one of three children of the late Charles Rand, former Browne & Nichols faculty, and Thrina (Bredesen) Rand. He attended B&N and graduated from Newton High School in 1942. He then went to work for the engineering department of the Waltham Watch Company before he enlisted in the U.S. Army’s 10 th Mountain Division (Ski Troops) to train in the Colorado Rockies. During the war he engaged in heavy combat in the Northern Apennine Mountains of Italy.

Meadowbrook School on every Friday before leaving for the weekend. When students lined up at the door, he would say goodbye to each with a firm handshake and a look in their eyes. He had a great sense of humor, and was loving, patient, kind and generous.

His beloved wife Lucy died in 2014. He is survived by his children Amy Rand MacDonald, Jonathan C. Rand ’74, and Faith Rand; his grandchildren Jennifer, Nicholas, Charles, Liam, and Maggie; his great-grandchild Fox; his sister-in-law Laura Richardson Payson ’47 and by several nieces, nephews, and their families. He was also the brother of the late Stuart Charles Rand ’37 and Gladys ‘Randy’ Marshall.

William “Bill” Arthur Silverman ’42 passed away peacefully on November 30, 2019 in his Hanover, NH home at age 95. He and his wife of 71 years, Edna Cynthia Morrison, who predeceased Bill in 2017, had been part of the Upper Valley community for 40 years. He was born in Boston, MA on November 8, 1924 to Nettie Rose and Isadore Jacob Silverman, grew up in Newton Centre, and was educated at Browne & Nichols and Harvard College in Cambridge, MA. After his studies, Bill married Edna and they had four children, Norman, Nancy, Mark, and Michael.

After the war, he returned home and while waiting to enroll at Bowdoin College he joined the faculty of the Middlesex School in Concord. It was during this time that he met Lucy Richardson ’39 who was teaching in the preschool program at Tenacre School in Wellesley. They were married on June 6, 1948 and lived in Brunswick, ME until Ted’s graduation from Bowdoin in 1951. They moved to Needham, where Ted joined the faculty of the Dexter School in Brookline and they began raising a family. During this time period, Ted became the owner and director of The Hemlocks Camp for Boys in New Hampton, NH. He and Lucy ran the camp for 18 summers. In 1955 they moved to Weston and in the summer of 1968, Ted was appointed Headmaster at the Meadowbrook School in Weston.

As a young husband and father, Bill held an eclectic range of employment including reporter for the Boston Post, frozen food purveyor and commercial real estate broker.

In his thirties, he switched to corporate executive positions with Schrafft’s Candy Company in Charlestown, MA, culminating in its presidency. In his early 40’s, Bill retooled his entrepreneurial skills by founding and expanding with his wife and son, Michael, two retail clothing chains, The Cambridge Shop and The Lodge at Harvard Square. After selling these stores, Bill and Edna moved full time to their Hanover home on School Street, where they were local fixtures, perambulating the community. Both delighted in providing ski vacations for all their grandchildren and onsite year-round support for those who attended Dartmouth College.

Ted’s calling in life was certainly teaching, mentoring, and shaping the lives of children he taught throughout his career. He began a tradition at the

Bill felt strongly that his greatest legacy was his four children, Norman Silverman ’64, Mark Silverman ’70, Nancy Silverman Schatzberg, and Michael Silverman,

as well as his eight grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Betty Levin.

Mary Lyman Coit Drury ’47—sister, aunt, cousin, mother, grandmother, greatgrandmother—Maer Maer died September 24, 2019, at her home in Bar Harbor, Maine.

She was 89. Mary was a teacher, a pillar of her community, and the heart of her family. Born to Robert Sumner Coit and Amy Grannis Coit, and raised in Cambridge, she attended the Buckingham School and Vassar College, where she graduated with a degree in economics in 1951. For many years she taught students with special needs at Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor, where she settled with family in 1975. Mary loved learning, almost as much as Green Island and chocolate ice cream, and always had a book at hand. She traveled as widely as she read, including expeditions to Europe, China, and Bylot Island in the Arctic Circle. Civically minded, Mary followed politics all her life. She also loved music, especially Bach, and delighted in singing with the Acadia Choral Society and the Bar Harbor Congregational Church choir.

She was married to William Holland Drury, professor at the College of the Atlantic, who passed away in 1992. She also loved and lost her brother, Bobby, and her son, William. Maer Maer is dearly missed by her sons, Timothy, Peter, and John, her two sisters, Katherine Coit ’49 and Sandy Coit Stephens, four daughters-in-law, six grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and friends too many to count.

John Lowell Stebbins ’48, age 91, peacefully passed in the loving presence of his family at Cape Cod Hospital on January 18, 2020.

John was a quiet man who enjoyed his home and family, reading history books, and tinkering with anything mechanical. He loved the Crimson Tide football team and pursued a lifetime model railroad hobby.

He was born in Chestnut Hill, MA to Helen and John Lowell Stebbins. He graduated from Browne & Nichols and attended Boston University before entering the U.S. Army and seeing action in the Korean War. Upon returning from Korea, he worked for the Tetley Tea Company is sales and later

joined MA Blue Cross/Blue Shield as a senior representative until his retirement.

He and his wife Patricia (Ryan) Stebbins moved to Sandwich and became active members of Corpus Christi Parish. He served as an usher and sacristan and was a member of the Knights of Columbus.

He was also a member of the Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts Club, the Sandwich Republican Town Committee and for years was a regular, early morning walker at the Cape Cod Mall, enjoying coffee and friendship with many of his fellow walkers.

He leaves his beloved wife Pat and treasured children Michael, Joseph, and Cynthia Stebbins Hall, with whom he shared a special father-daughter bond, as well as grandchildren Marcus Stebbins, Aric Walker, and eight greatgrandchildren. He was predeceased by son Mark on January 26, 2019.

James Wellington Currie ’50, age 86, of Falmouth and formerly of Belmont, MA, passed away on March 20, 2019 at Atria Woodbriar in Falmouth. He was the beloved husband of Barbara (Chase) Currie for 63 years. His life embodied family, faith, civic duty, and philanthropy (with a soft spot for children, veterans and hospitals).

As a young man, Jim served in the U.S. Navy as a Link Instructor at NAS Squantum in South Weymouth. He then graduated with distinction from Babson Institute in Wellesley with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Jim enjoyed a 40-year partnership with his best friend, launching and managing the Cooke & Currie Insurance Agency together. He served his community as a Special Auxiliary Police Officer for the town of Belmont. Jim was proud to be a Mason for 65 years and was Past Master & Treasurer for Belmont Beaver Lodge before joining the Marine Lodge in Falmouth when he retired. Carrying on a legacy of service learned from his father, he devoted his time and keen business sense in service to others as: President of the Baptist Home of Massachusetts; President, Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors and Christian Works Committee for the Boston Baptist Social 57

Milestones

Union; a Corporator at New England Baptist Hospital, and a consultant to the Boston Christian Counseling Center. Jim was a Life Deacon and Trustee at Tremont Temple Baptist Church and served as a Trustee for the West Falmouth United Methodist Church. He enjoyed delivering meals for the Falmouth Meals on Wheels program and many summers boating with family and friends on the “Jim-n-Me”.

In addition to his beloved wife, he is survived by his children and their spouses: Donna Currie and John Kennedy of Littleton, MA, Sandra and Peter Carpenter of Peoria, AZ, and James, Jr. and Donna Currie of Hudson, MA; his five grandchildren and four great grandchildren, and many extended family and friends.

Sheila Malone King ’50, a near-lifelong resident of Cambridge, passed away peacefully at age 87 on January 13, 2020.

Her life was enriched by her passion for reading, writing, liberal politics, travel, nature, family, and most of all, her beloved husband, Bill.

The daughter of J.B, and Catherine B. “Totty” Malone, Sheila was born at Mount Auburn Hospital on July 15, 1932. She graduated in a class of 12 girls from Buckingham in 1950. That same year, with her mother’s marriage to Louis Lyons, then curator of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard, she gained a loving father figure and four siblings, a gift to the only child of a single mother. She attended Radcliffe College as a scholarship student, graduating in 1954. On a blind date in the spring of her freshman year, she met Harvard classmate William B. King and married him in July 1955.

Sheila spent only three years living outside of Cambridge: one year immediately following college at a small NYC publishing firm, the next as a young Navy wife in San Diego, and this last year at the North Hill nursing facility in Needham 58

as her health declined. Upon returning to Cambridge in 1956, she joined the Buckingham faculty, teaching 5th and 6th grades. Her career path changed in 1960 when her son Stephen was born, followed by the arrivals of Rachel in 1963 and Christopher in 1965.

She juggled full-time motherhood with a variety of part-time responsibilities, including working as an editorial assistant for the American Journal of Child Psychiatry and as a busy community volunteer. In addition to being active in her children’s schools, Sheila volunteered for the “good government” political organization Cambridge Civic Association and several other Cambridge nonprofits. She served as a Buckingham Trustee and as president of the Alumnae Association. On the occasion of her 55th reunion from Radcliffe, Sheila was presented with the Radcliffe Institute Distinguished Service Award. In the 1980s, following 11 consecutive years as a parent volunteer at her son’s school, Roxbury Latin, she became the second woman and the first mother ever to serve as a Trustee since the school’s founding in 1645.

In 1974 Sheila and Bill acquired a 1905 cottage, which she called her ‘wooden tent,’ and 30 acres of land in Phillipston, MA, which became their weekend and summer getaway for decades. Even as they travelled around the world in retirement, an oasis where Sheila designed and nurtured flower and herb gardens, studied birds and wildlife, and read countess books.

She is survived by her husband Bill, her children and their spouses Stephen King and Mindy Aldridge, Rachel King and Mark Mansoor, and Christopher and Tara King, seven grandchildren, and two stepgrandchildren. She was predeceased by her step-siblings Rachel Lyons, Margaret Lyons, and Thomas Lyons.

D. Bradford Wetherell, Jr. ’50 of Cambridge died December 27, 2019. Born in 1931, Brad attended B&N in grades 10-12 and upon graduation joined a number of classmates at Harvard, from which he graduated in 1941 with a BA in Fine Arts.

He enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the Army Security Agency. He was sent

to learn Russian at the Army Language School and then voice intercept at Fort Devens. He was posted in West Germany at its East German border, monitoring Soviet Communication systems. Two years later, Brad left the military and then, harkening back to his college major, enjoyed a series of interesting positions at museums and historical societies, including the Peabody Museum and the Canton Historical Society, and served as Director of the Penobscot Marine Museum at Seaport, ME. Along the way, in 1961, he married Frances (Smith) Wetherell ’51, whom he had met at the Shady Hill School before entering B&N. During their later years, he and Frances enjoyed summers on a Maine island, tending a large vegetable garden and potato field at their home, and cruising about on their Boston Whaler.

In late 2007, he was afflicted with Past Polio Syndrome, the adult effects of Poliomyelitis which he had suffered as a child. Gradually the awful disease took hold, at first just slightly impacting his mobility but ultimately causing him to be totally bedridden the last few years.

Frances will continue to live in her Mt. Auburn Street condo not far from BB&N. Allan H. Seigal ’51, of Mashpee, MA, died peacefully on November 26, 2019 at the age of 85. He was a graduate of Browne & Nichols, Tufts University, and Temple University School of Dentistry. His dental practice in Framingham spanned 34 years.

His greatest passions included softball, his dogs, and the Chatham Chorale. He was predeceased by his first wife, Loretta B. Seigal. He is survived by his wife, Naomi Marks Cohan, son Roger Seigal and wife Lynne Seigal, daughter Leslie SeigalBergum and husband Erik Bergum, son Peter Seigal and wife Nancy Seigal, and step-daughter Deborah J. Cohan, plus grandchildren Carlie, David, Shannon, and Lauren.

Charles Bruce Bentley ’52, age 86, of Sherborn, died peacefully on January 5, 2020, with his family by his side.

Bruce grew up in Needham and was a graduate of Browne & Nichols and Cornell University. He had many interests, including playing and coaching ice hockey,

showing wire fox terriers, woodworking, gardening, traveling, reading, attending concerts, ballet and spending time with his family. He is survived by his wife Linda (Sargon) Bentley and his children, Jonathan and Joy, and grandchildren Beckham, Marley, Bentley, Eliana, Sophie, and Rose. He is also survived by two sons and two granddaughters from a previous marriage. He was predeceased by his parents C. Kenneth and Martha (Soch) Bentley and his sister Martha Ann Small.

Ann Lee Smith Bugbee ’54, age 83, died at Christiana Hospital in Christiana, DE on November 17, 2019 after a brief hospitalization. She was born in Boston to the Reverend Dr. Charles W.F. Smith and Ivy Rose Constance Watkins Smith.

As a child she lived in Exeter, NH, Washington, DC, and Wellesley, MA, where she attended the Tenacre School of Dana Hall. After moving to Cambridge, MA, she attended and graduated from Buckingham. She received a BA in history from Wellesley College, which led to her life interest, work, and study in that area.

Ann Lee was a museum guide par excellence. She first volunteered with the Wilmington, DE Junior League as a tour guide at Winterthur Museum, where she began her life-long love and study of the decorative arts. After moving to the Harrisburg area, she was on the staff of the John Harris Mansion and treasurer of the Dauphin County Historical Society. Upon returning to Wilmington, she became curator of Old Swedes Church for five years, where she guided tours, started the gift store for Advent, and researched genealogies. She began then a nearly 35year tenure at Winterthur Museum, first as an apprentice guide and rising to senior guide specializing in furniture, clocks, and rugs. She organized and led several trips for guides and visits to the major NYC auction houses and mentored new guides.

She spoke to Elder Hostel groups and was an avid member of the Decorative Arts Trust. She was also an active alumna member of the Delaware Wellesley Club, serving a term as president.

With two English parents, Ann Lee became a true Anglophile. Starting with royalty

coloring books and stories and National Velvet (her first movie), she embraced British culture and traditions, including the British fashion of wearing hats. She traveled to England as often as she was able, twice in her early years, then as a college graduate, and twice for Attingham summer schools: the English Country House and the Royal Collection. At one point, she was thrilled to see the Queen up close at Windsor Castle.

On the several times that her husband went with her, he was amazed at the breadth and depth of her knowledge. She also loved New England. It was where she was raised and returned as often as possible.

She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Dick Bugbee, and her daughters Elizabeth Abrahams and Sally Keidel, son-in-law Phil Keidel, and grandchildren Nathaniel, Benjamin, Charlie, and Maggie. She is also survived by her sisters Ivy Smith MacMahon ’58 and Victoria Smith Schilling ’63. She was predeceased by sister Ellen Smith Giblin ’56 in 2016.

Russell desCognets II ’77 died suddenly in Golden, CO on July 10, 2019 due to a massive stroke. He graduated from Marietta College and spent many years as an oil and gas professional. Rus was a member of the BB&N crew that competed at the Henley Regatta in 1977 with Coach Dowse – a highlight of his BB&N crew days!

Friends of BB&N Roy J. Glauber December 26, 2018 Father of Jeffrey M. Glauber ’82

Ralph P. Hoagland III January 17, 2020 Husband of Molly Hoagland P’82, ’88, GP’27 Father of Larry Hoagland ’82 and Eric Hoagland ’88 Grandfather of Sally Hoagland ’27

Philip Leder February 2, 2020 Father of Benjamin Leder ‘85, P’16, ‘19 Grandfather of Jacob Leder ‘16 and Sarah Leder ‘19

Genevieve (Ginette) de Bidart Merrill December 20, 2019 Wife of Edward Merrill, Former Trustee Mother of Anne Deb Merrill ’74 and Francis D. Merrill ’77

Elizabeth Chadwick Nill August 23, 2019 Mother of Elizabeth Nill Pearsons ’01 and Louisa Nill ’06

George W. Weinert August 18, 2019 Husband of Jo Ann Weinert P’90 Father of Christopher W. Weinert ’90 Grandfather of Isla V. Weinert ’21

Alexandros Ilias Souris ’10 was born on March 29, 1992 and passed away on December 9, 2019 in New York City at the age of 27 due to illness. A South African citizen who spent his senior year at BB&N, he graduated from Georgetown University with a BA in Economics and received a law degree from the University of Michigan in 2018. He was a bright, brave young man who was full of love and left us much too soon.

59

MARGARET LOSS ’64

FROM THE

ARCHIVES

USING PHIL ANTHROPY TO EXPRESS GR ATITUDE FOR HER BUCKINGHAM EDUCATION

BB&N Houses Newly Discovered Work by Famous Artist Cyrus E. Dallin

Margaret Loss, Buckingham ’64, recently shared memories from her time as a student at Buckingham and its impact on her academic and professional career.

Until this February, employees and trustees of the Cyrus Dallin museum in Arlington, Massachusetts were aware of 263 pieces completed by the famous Arlington sculptor. Now, thanks to a lead from faculty emeritus and former English and art history teacher Rob Leith, the museum is aware of one more. Hanging nondescriptly in a hallway of the Nicholas Athletic Center sits “The Torch” (a.k.a. the Browne & Nichols Seal), the newly authenticated 264th known Dallin sculpture.

“I returned to Cambridge in 2008 after living and practicing law in Manhattan for 40 years. One of the first things I did to reconnect with people in Cambridge was to visit BB&N. It worked, of course.

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“When I was doing research on the school to update and expand the BB&N Wikipedia page, which contained almost nothing about the school’s fascinating and distinguished history, I read about the seal in Tom Eliot’s Two Schools in Cambridge,” Leith says. “As someone interested in local artists and in art history in general, I felt this was a detail that deserved to be better known. When a former student, Molly Harper ’94, contacted me about her current involvement with the Dallin Museum, I mentioned this to her, thinking she would be interested. Molly was one of my Vanguard editors, and I was pleased that she was so excited by the discovery.”

The 15.5 inch-wide, round, bronze seal depicts a child’s outstretched hand, palm up, reaching toward an adult hand that grasps an emblazoned torch. The piece was bestowed upon the school by Dallin in either 1911 or 1913 while his sons, Bertram Dallin (B&N Class of 1911) and Arthur Dallin (B&N Class of 1916) were attending the school.

According to an official press release by the Dallin museum: “Two different sources confirmed the sculpture’s provenance. First, the following passage from Two Schools in Cambridge: The Story of Browne & Nichols and Buckingham by Thomas Eliot: ‘[B&N] yearbooks, beginning in 1950, were called The Torch, this name referring to the school’s seal, designed by Cyrus E. Dallin in 1913. The seal showed the torch of learning being handed on from one generation to another.”

Next, Museum Board of Trustees Chair Sarah Burks sourced a June 24, 1911 article from the Cambridge Chronicle that describes the 1911 Browne & Nichols graduation ceremony, in which the fifteen graduates received sheepskin parchments featuring the ‘new school seal by Cyrus E. Dallin.’ The article also noted that the sculpture itself was unveiled in the school hall as part of the ceremony. That Dallin would create such a piece for his sons’ school is consistent with his life as a teacher and loving father who engaged his sons with his art.”

Dallin, who passed in 1944 at age 82, was a celebrated artist in his time and beyond, mingling with other prominent artists of his day, including John Singer Sargent with whom he maintained a close friendship. Dallin’s works grace the grounds of many museums and prominent institutions including the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the White House oval office during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and, of course, BB&N.

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“I have been on campus many times since then—to reunions, to Golden Alumni/ae Luncheons, to former Head of School Rebecca Upham’s farewell reception, and, memorably, to BB&N’s new Head of School Jennifer Price’s listening tour—and I have also hosted our Buckingham reunion dinner.

“The Buckingham I attended for high school was loosely associated with Browne & Nichols. I used to ride my bicycle from Sparks

2 1 | Dallin at work on a study of the Paul Revere statue that sits in Boston’s North End. (Photo by Leslie Jones, courtesy of the Boston Public Library) 2 | BB&N’s Cyrus E. Dallin sculpture “The Torch”

“It is remarkable for our school to have such a meaningful connection to an artist with the worldwide esteem of Cyrus Dallin,” notes Head of School Dr. Jennifer Price. “You can imagine he must have sensed as a parent what was so special about a Browne & Nichols education. I am especially struck by how relevant this seal, which he created more than a century ago, remains to the BB&N of today. Looking at it, you can see the connection, the engagement, and the striving for excellence that still defines our school to this day.”

Street to Gerry’s Landing Road several times a week after class for studio art, especially ceramics, with Mrs. Sproull.

Some concerts and plays were joint with B&N students; I especially remember singing in Carmina Burana and playing the wife in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. (My French was much better than my acting.) I have also often remembered Rowland Sturgis, whose excellent training helped me succeed as a member of the Radcliffe Choral Society and later as a lifelong choral singer.

“Our French maîtresses, and Roberta Biery’s Latin classes contributed to a lifelong interest in Romance languages; Linguistics and Romance Languages was my concentration at Radcliffe and even helped me as a law student. My first class at the Yale Law School included texts in Anglo-Norman, the language of William the Conqueror. I was the only one (including the professor) who could translate them.

“I have made annual contributions to BB&N for many years. So that support continues, BB&N is also in my estate plan. I believe in giving back to institutions that have greatly helped and influenced me; they include Buckingham.”

For further information about BB&N’s gift planning program, visit www.bbns.org/giftplanning or contact Roger Fussa at rfussa@bbns.org or 617-800-2722.

Buckingham Browne & Nichols School 80 Gerry’s Landing Road Cambridge, MA 02138-5512 www.bbns.org

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