BERKSHIRE B U L L E T I N Spring/Summer 2014
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“ Is there anything to be won either for yourselves or for the rest of humanity by lamenting the malignancy of the times? A spirit that rejoices in life may be quicker to heal its neighbor’s misery. This is not the first century in which the world has lived with calamity; over students in the Middle Ages, the skies hung dark indeed. Theirs was an uncertain fate, but still they made songs and sang them, songs whose gaiety has survived all their unhappiness, and one such song has survived to this day: Gaudeamus! Let us be joyful!” – Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57, from his 1995 commencement address
Photo by Chip Riegel
Spring/Summer 2014
24 Our Mission Rooted in an inspiring natural setting, Berkshire School instills the highest standards of character and citizenship and a commitment to academic, artistic, and athletic excellence. Our community fosters diversity, a dedication to environmental stewardship, and an enduring love for learning.
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Alice Ehrenclou Cole ’76 CHAIR, Board of Trustees
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Pieter M. Mulder Head of School
William C. Bullock III Director of Development
Editor: Lucia Q. Mulder Director of MEDIA RELATIONS
Features
Departments
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On Display
2 Seen Around
Director of Alumni Relations
24 Darkroom to Digital
4 Reflection
C. Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57
30 Opening Shots
6 Campus News
Design: Hammill Design
32 Engineering the Ethereal:
17 Bears at Play
Printing: Quality Printing Company
Pedro S. de Movellán ’85
36 Enveloping the Art World:
Kristin Baker ’93
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Commencement 2014
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Remembering a Master: Dr. Barbara Kenefick
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Class Notes
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In Memoriam
Berkshire Archives Berkshire School admits students of any race, color, religious affiliation, national and ethnic origin and qualified handicapped students to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students. We do not discriminate in violation of any law or statute in the administration of our educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.
Class Notes Editor: Kristina Thaute Miller ’97
Archivist
Photography: Gregory Cherin, Anne Day Photography, James Harris, Michael Hayes, Highpoint Pictures, Chip Riegel Photography, Risley Sports Photography, the Berkshire Archives Class notes: classnotes@berkshireschool.org All other alumni matters: alumni@berkshireschool.org Published by Berkshire School’s Communications and Marketing Office & Alumni and Development Office for alumni, parents and friends of the School.
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SEEN AROUND
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1. Students in Kurt Schleunes’s Multivariable Calculus class built this bridge from a 3D printer. “It’s kind of cool what you can do with a 3D printer and some really motivated kids,” he said. 2. The snow was lacking, but the spirit was in full force! The boys of de Windt Dormitory are seen here leading the pack in the perennial Winter Carnival favorite: Human Dogsled Races! 3. This spring, Pratima Singh ’14 introduced Berkshire to its first-ever Holi celebration, also known as the festival of colors, an ancient Hindu religious festival celebrated at the approach of the vernal equinox. 4. Are you ready for some football?! The fifth-form girls certainly were as they got fired up to take on the sixth formers in another seasonal tradition: springtime Powder Puff.
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/ Reflection /
Aerial view of campus from the 1955 Trail
Of Godman, Eipper, Stevens, Chase... and Salinger Reflecting on the Berkshire of Holden Caulfield’s Day By David W. Sauer ’54
Most of this year’s 60th Reunion class arrived at the foot of Mt. Everett in the fall of 1951 as sophomores. As we drove the long driveway toward Berkshire Hall, we saw more green fields and far fewer buildings than exist today. But today the magnificence of the view of the campus captured in the mountain’s strong embrace still remains unchallenged. What a perfect setting to begin unravelling the angst afflicting all teenagers of any generation! What a privilege! I’ve often thought that Holden Caulfield’s teenage years would have been far less rocky had Salinger enrolled him at Berkshire instead of Pencey Prep. In fact, he had the chance. The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951. And what made Berkshire different from Pencey Prep, then and now, is Berkshire’s strong, positive academic and moral atmosphere. Berkshire was, and hopefully will continue to be, guided by its motto Pro Vita Non Pro Schola Discimus.
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/ Reflection /
Impressed by my first views of campus, I was equally impressed by Headmaster John Godman, who happened to be the first individual who greeted me and my family upon arrival in Allen House. A broad smile capped his tall, athletic figure as he politely took my hand in welcome. (It was later that I discovered he had played football for Yale.) Somewhat aloof, but always friendly, in the months and years ahead, he grew into an imaginative Abraham Lincoln figure for me. He often offered thoughtful advice, not unlike the quality of wisdom he provided the entire student body in evening chapel. In Lincoln-esque fashion, he would predictably recite an Aesop’s fable containing a moral truth meaningful to struggling teenagers. David Eipper, Junior Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard Class of 1908, taught advanced math and physics. Anyone lucky enough to be in one of his classes would be guaranteed advanced placement in college. That was common knowledge. But his personal life was a mystery to all. A bachelor, he lived alone in a house on campus into which nobody was ever invited. He was a gentleman of exquisite precision. Every afternoon at exactly 3:00 p.m., he rolled his bicycle out his front door and rode to the U.S. Post Office in Sheffield to pick up school mail. In less than one hour he would return in rain or snow. He was conscious of health, advocating that all food be chewed at least 30-40 times before being swallowed, a routine he impressed upon all who sat at his table in the dining hall. All acknowledged he was correct, though few followed his example. In an age when cigarettes and cigars were more acceptable, he early recognized and proclaimed the dangers of inhaled smoke. He protested to no avail during faculty meetings when those in attendance would light up, that is, until one bitterly cold day in mid-winter when temperatures were near zero. He walked into the crowded faculty room carrying a winter coat and duffel bag. He sat near a window. With the lighting of the first cigarette, he immediately put on his heavy winter parka, fit on a gas mask, which had been stuffed in his duffel bag, and opened the window. Papers flew everywhere. To my knowledge,
that was the last faculty meeting in which anyone dared smoke. Latin was once considered a critical component of the liberal education. Over a half century ago, few of us realized how very important our ability to translate Latin would be as we began our studies of Julius Caesar, Cicero, Virgil and Ovid under the very, very critical eye of Frank Stevens. He was tough and intolerant of mistakes. But we did learn Latin, declensions and all! To understand our enthusiasm for Latin, one must remember at that time Berkshire was an isolated boy’s school teeming with restless adolescents curious about life. There were no computers, let alone those “banned” websites now so readily available, and Playboy magazine didn’t hit the newsstands until late in 1953. Often in the cold darkness of early morning, while most were still sleeping, a few of us would steal away undetected to the main reference library, then located on the second floor of Berkshire Hall. There, Latin dictionaries in hand, we would find and plunge into the translation of well-thumbed volumes of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria or Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars (especially the section describing Tiberius). Had he been there, I like to imagine even Hugh Heffner would have blushed. Although not done for academic reasons, these early morning translations were a spur to academic excellence! They undoubtedly helped boost our pre-college Latin Achievement Test scores. Arthur Chase, assistant headmaster and head of the English Department, was leader of the Trail Squad. After class, he often could be seen hauling oversized logs with members of the Trail Squad as they cleared paths in the mountain forests above the School. When needed, he would skillfully drive the antique dump truck necessary for maple sap collection for the sugar bush. On one occasion the student body witnessed him fearlessly saddle, climb aboard and ride off on a lost horse that had found its way onto the lower athletic fields. A day later that same gentleman might walk into your classroom with a copy of Shakespeare or poems by Emily Dickinson under his arm. With talents cultivated at Harvard, where he was president of the Glee Club
and on the board of the Lampoon, at Yale, where he had earned an advanced degree in English, and later, with a character shaped by several years spent in the West, he presented a figure which was, as they say, “bigger than life.” During English class with Mr. Chase, there were the no-nonsense questions of our interpretations of Hamlet or King Lear or of a poignant poem by the Amherst Bard. But best of all, if we were lucky, Mr. Chase might read selected sections of Shakespeare. (I remember in particular his reading of the report of Ophelia’s death by drowning in Hamlet and King Lear’s agonized lines as he enters on stage carrying his dead daughter, Cordelia.) His deep, sonorous voice would choke with emotion as we sat silent, with rapt attention. The opportunity to experience Mr. Chase as a teacher, or to know him outside the classroom, provided an important lesson for teenagers, proud of their blossoming masculinity. We realized it is not shameful to feel and express worthy emotion. I am convinced that Holden Caulfield would have handled his teenage angst far better had he attended Berkshire. But then, Salinger might not have written his masterpiece, The Catcher in the Rye. And those of us lucky enough to learn the lessons Berkshire has to offer might not realize how lucky we have been by comparison.
David W. Sauer was contacted by Lucia Perkins ’14, as part of her Boarding School Literature class. When asked to relay some Berkshire memories, Dr. Sauer thought it better to answer the request in writing. Sauer, a retired ophthalmologist, now lives in Tryon, North Carolina, with his wife, Mary Thompson.
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ITS OWN SWEET TIME Sugaring Season’s Late Arrival Does Not Disappoint
Mr. Dalton passes on a Berkshire tradition in the Arthur C. Chase Sugar House.
Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program Director Mike Dalton, along with fellow teachers Rob Lloyd and Jesús Ibáñez, and students in the RKMP crew, collected over 400 gallons of fresh sap this season. Winter was slow to loosen her icy grip in Sheffield this year, delaying the start of the sugaring season under the Mountain. Mike Dalton provides a report from the Sugar House, at right:
“The first boil of the season was on March 12—the latest start that I can remember—and we were making syrup a month later, on April 14, which is also quite late. Early runs produced a light, sweet syrup that was probably between a light amber and a medium amber. End-of-season runs produced a darker syrup, but it still had excellent flavor. Often, late-run syrup will have a distinct ‘buddy’ flavor, but we ended with really flavorful syrup.
One pleasant surprise this season was the lack of ‘niter’ in the syrup. Niter, also called sugar sands, is the build-up of solids that precipitate out in the syrup pan and foul the bottom of the pans. When niter builds in the pans you need to scrub vigorously to get it off between boils. Despite of the fact that we had to wait a while to get favorable weather (cold nights and warm days), the final count was 53.5 gallons of liquid gold.”
In dark of sugar house—the pans seething, alive. I stand with head in clouds of steam Whipped by the west wind through the open wall. Steam flows through me, sweet on the lips And sticky in the hair. It’s the first run And every tank is full. –From Arthur Chase’s classic poem Sugar Weather Mr. Chase, aka the Bear, for whom the Arthur C. Chase Sugar House is named, and also our current mascot’s namesake. Go Bears!
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New Associate Head of School Named This spring, Berkshire named Jean Woodward Maher its new associate head of school. Jean has served Berkshire since 2004 as senior associate director of admission and Spanish teacher. A dedicated advisor and role model for students and faculty alike, Jean brings over 25 years of experience in independent schools to this senior leadership role. “Jean’s talent, dedication and experience across her distinguished career in schools are without peer,” said Head of School Pieter Mulder. “She has earned the deep respect of all members of our community, with relationships rooted in trust, a willingness to hear all voices and her distinctive ability to mentor and inspire. Jean has a keen, strategic understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead of us, and she will advance Berkshire in powerful ways going forward.” Jean has served Berkshire on campus-wide committees to enhance the academic and cultural life of the School, including the Global Initiatives, All-School Read and Scheduling Committees. She was responsible for the revitalization of Berkshire’s signature Pro Vita winter session program and integral to its launch in 2009. Jean has also served as the head coach of girls’ varsity lacrosse and has coached the program’s junior varsity team. “It is a thrill and an honor to serve the School in this way,” said Jean about her new role. “I’m very excited to work closely with the great faculty, staff and senior leadership team at Berkshire.” Before coming to Berkshire, Jean spent 17 years at The Taft School in Watertown, Conn., where she taught Spanish and worked in the Admission Office. Jean earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from Mount Holyoke College and her Master’s in Spanish Literature from NYU at the University of Salamanca.
The Sabin Prize-winning team, Campus Pizza, with the judges. From left: Jeffrey Meeker, Kevin Kang, Kalani Rosell, Vernon F. Taylor III, Jonathan Sabin, Regan Haas, Dr. Rosemary Fitzgerald
Battle of the Plans Advanced Econ Students Compete for the Sabin Prize This April marked the third annual Sabin Entrepreneurial Prize competition at Berkshire. The Sabin Prize is an initiative created with the generous support of the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation to educate and expose students enrolled in Advanced Economics to entrepreneurship and sustainability. The Sabin Prize is awarded to the best business plan for a product, service, project or program that not only could be financially feasible, but could contribute to living in more sustainable communities. Additionally, the prize competition, modeled on a similar program at Yale, provides valuable feedback from professionals, collaboration with the Yale Center for Business and the Environment and opportunities for participants to meet with guest speakers from the business and environmental worlds. Students presented their proposals in the Crawford Family Lecture Hall for the panel of judges, who included Dr. Rosemary Fitzgerald ’82, Kalani Rosell, Jonathan Sabin and Vernon F. Taylor III ’66. This year’s winners were sixth formers Regan Haas ’14, Kevin Kang ’14 and Jeffrey Meeker ’14 for their idea for Campus Pizza, an on-campus pizza truck for the Berkshire community. The goal was to create a sustainable pizza source at a competitive price while keeping significant dollars on campus that would eventually funnel back into the community to support student activities. It’s an initiative the whole campus—and the judges—could get behind! Mr. Sabin’s expedition to Papua, New Guinea, resulted in the discovery of a new species of frog that is named for him, Aphantophryne sabini, also the foundation’s logo.
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Changing of the Guard Berkshire Announces First Female Board Chair In January, Berkshire School named its next chair of the Board of Trustees, Alice Ehrenclou Cole, a member of Berkshire’s Class of 1976. Ms. Cole will serve as the first woman to lead the board in Berkshire’s 107-year history. She joined Berkshire’s board in 2000 after serving as vice chair and as a member of the Executive, Endowment, Finance, Human Resources and Nominating & Governance Committees. Ms. Cole is the managing partner and chief investment officer for Essex Asset Management, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm that she co-founded. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Champlain National Bank and sits on the Environmental Learning Center Foundation Board. Prior to Essex Asset Management, Alice was a vice president and senior portfolio manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management. Earlier, she managed investments for the trust
department at Marine Bank and Trust Company and was a trust officer at Fleet Trust and Investment Services Company. Ms. Cole earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and political science from Occidental College, where she graduated with honors. While at Occidental, she captained the women’s soccer team for two years and went on to coach the team after graduation. A native of New York City, Alice resides in Vero Beach, Florida, and Willsboro, New York, with her husband, Wallace H. Cole, III, a graduate of Claremont McKenna College. They have two grown sons. In her spare time, Alice enjoys tennis, golf, hiking, skiing and working in her gardens. “I am honored to serve as the next chair of the Berkshire Board of Trustees,” said Cole after the announcement. “I look forward to building on Berkshire’s firm foundation of excellence in education,
community values and leadership.” Cole’s predecessor, Stephen P. Norman ’60, said Cole was an excellent choice to lead Berkshire forward. “As a long-standing board member and chair since 2010,” he said, “I have experienced firsthand the extraordinary commitment that Alice has shown to the Berkshire community.”
Thank you, Mr. Norman
Berkshire School is grateful for the dedicated leadership of Stephen P. Norman ’60, who has served the School as the chair of the Board of Trustees since 2010. During his tenure as chair, Berkshire saw the completion of the Bellas/Dixon Math and Science Center and the transformation of Berkshire Hall’s Science Wing into the new Fine Arts Center, showcasing Berkshire’s deep commitment to both math and science and the arts under his leadership. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Mr. Norman served in Vietnam as a member of the Army’s 25th Infantry Division and earned a Bronze Star. He then enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a secretary and officer of the American Express Company. Mr. Norman has always led by example, giving of his time generously. He has been a loyal supporter of Berkshire causes dear
to him, including the Thomas Chaffee Endowed Chair of English and the James C. Kellogg Alumni Center. Mr. Norman joined Berkshire’s board in 1995, after being named that year’s winner of the Kellogg Volunteer of the Year Award for his “uncommon level of commitment.” A decade later, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Mr. Norman credits the likes of Twiggs Myers, David Eipper, Frank Stevens, Arthur Chase and Frank Beattie with helping shape his mind, his habits and ultimately, his life. “Steve’s record of willingness to do whatever it takes to further the mission and values of Berkshire School is longstanding, well-documented and remarkable,” said longtime Berkshire board member and former board Chair Hans Carstensen ’66. He continued, “And one for which this Board of Trustees will always be grateful.”
Hans Carstensen, left, and Head of School Pieter Mulder, right, toasting outgoing Chair Steve Norman’s longstanding commitment to Berkshire.
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Alice Ehrenclou Cole ’76
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Bears in Times Square ArtsReach Goes to Broadway
By Alyssa Cass ’15
“Berkshire has a long tradition of bringing students to Broadway, and then bringing a little Broadway flair back up to the Allen stage. The ArtsReach club formalizes that experience and allows kids to take charge of their arts adventures.” – Susie Norris ’79 Curtain call: from left, Sharon Rowland (sister of Amy Rowland), Amy Rowland ’15, Lucia Liencres ’17, Katie Soper ’15, Alyssa Cass ’15, Henry Thomas ’16, Andrea Cass ’17, Zuzana Drazdova ’15, Susie Norris ’79
The ArtsReach club allows people to support the arts at Berkshire and to discover the arts outside of Berkshire. The club was launched by Susie Norris ’79, an alumna who also works in the Alumni and Development Office. As president, my job was to boost membership this year and organize our events. We met to plan different trips and organize events on campus. We figured out who could usher or make baked goods to sell at intermission for plays and concerts. We also discussed plays or exhibits off campus that the group was interested in and then voted on our favorites. Next year, our goal is to expand the program to invite the entire Berkshire community to go on these trips. On April 13, the ArtsReach club went to see Pippin on Broadway. The day began with exploring the city, and for some it was a first trip to New York. We walked from Grand Central Station to Times Square and the theatre district and then had lunch at Guy’s American Kitchen. Some of us hit the M&M store, while others went shopping. Then, we all gathered together for the matinée show at the Music Box Theatre. “Berkshire has a long tradition of bringing students to Broadway, and then bringing a little Broadway flair back up to the Allen stage,” said Ms. Norris. She continued, “The ArtsReach club formalizes that experience and allows kids to take charge of their arts adventures.” We really enjoyed Pippin. The amazing circus stunts and the incredible acting and singing talent blew us away. There was so much to look at with all the different tricks. The ending took us all by surprise, but after reading up on it we understood it much better, and it made us appreciate the show more as a whole. The experience of seeing a Broadway show was very exciting for us. It was a great day to visit the city and see Pippin.
And Brooklyn Comes to Berkshire Playwrights Joe Rowland ’87 and Emily DeVoti ’89 with Bebe Clark Bullock ’86 (center). Joe and Emily, who split their time between Sheffield and Brooklyn, spoke to Bebe’s creative writing class about their own experiences as writers. The class had been studying Emily’s play and attended a dramatic reading of it in nearby Sharon, Conn.
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At the center of these engaging experiences was a simple message:
What can we do together? First-ever All-School Read Makes Big Impact By Stuart Miller ’97
Last fall, Berkshire kicked off the year with the inaugural All-School Read. Over the summer, students, faculty, alumni and parents were asked to join in reading Tracey Kidder’s Strength in What Remains, the incredible story of a young man who grew up in the mountains of Burundi, Africa, and his extraordinary will to survive civil war, genocide and homelessness and begin a new life serving others. Built around Kidder’s book was a comprehensive program, including a student blog, essay and art contest as well as classroom visits and a keynote address from Deogratias “Deo” Niyizonkiza, the subject of Kidder’s book. The program was capped off by an evening panel discussion open to the public, with Deo, Education Development Center Curriculum Developer Elizabeth Miller-Pittman and bio-ethicist Dr. Sean Philpott-Jones, moderated by our own Dr. April Burch and webstreamed live. At the center of these engaging experiences was a simple message: What can we do together? This message was captured early in the program by student contest entries, ranging from artwork to traditional essays. But it was fifth-former Sarah Kinney’s winning entry, an inspiring 10
Berkshire Bulletin
stop-motion short film, which best showed the moving nature of helping one another. Deo, moved himself by the film, amplified the importance of helping others during his visit. His talk to students and faculty challenged the audience to take advantage of the privileges Berkshire offers and to make a difference in someone else’s life. The message continued through the evening
panel discussion where local guests, alumni, students and faculty heard the unwavering dedication of each panelist whose life’s work includes helping those in need throughout Africa. It was, perhaps, the unscripted time Deo spent with the community when we truly felt the depth of his passion. Class visits and time spent over meals allowed students a unique opportunity
Deo Niyizonkiza, the subject of Tracey Kidder’s powerful book chosen as last year’s All-School Read, connects with students and faculty.
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Bears on Board for VHW
Students were very excited to support Village Health Works (VHW) and felt a strong connection to Deo even all these months after his visit. Our students are learning that their support has a direct and lasting impact on a community of hardworking people who, not unlike the people of our own small community, value generosity, health and the power of education. Every time I put on my VHW bracelet, I am reminded of the struggles and the triumphs of the people of Burundi. I believe our students feel that same powerful connection, and we are all very proud to support Village Health Works. –Jackie O’Rourke, Philanthropy Society Advisor
to speak informally with Deo about his journey and the organization he founded, Village Health Works, a medical care facility delivering clinical programs with community development initiatives in his childhood home of Kigutu, Burundi. Conversations with students were wide-ranging. They explored the power of faith in spite of terrible adversity and the impact one person can make. Panel moderator April Burch observed an incredible and immediate connection that Deo made with students. She said, “Deo was a teenager during Strength in What Remains, and that aspect of his story spoke to the students; they could truly empathize with him. His visit to Berkshire gave students the opportunity to meet a true, real life hero—a bold, resourceful, strong, young person like they all aspire to be. I think Berkshire is forever changed because of his visit.” In a letter to the school community sent after his visit, Deo wrote: “Berkshire is educating a very special community of young people who are going to change the world. I have no shadow of doubt about this. I know the entire faculty of Berkshire School, the students and their parents have a lot on their plates but I know that
The Philanthropy Society sold hand-woven grass bracelets and hand-sewn belts and bags from the Village Health Works last spring. All of the proceeds went back to the organization to help improve life in Burundi through medicine, agriculture, sustainable economics and education. Student-initiated projects raised over $2,700 for VHW.
you will not forget about us and Village Health Works. When I mentioned to a few friends and community members in Burundi about the film, paintings and everything I saw and my conversation with the students during my time at Berkshire School, everyone was moved. You see, your community has already become another source of inspiration and happiness for my Kigutu community and myself.” As we head toward another year— and another All-School Read—we will certainly keep Deo and Village Health Works in our thoughts and his message in our hearts.
SEPT Stuart Miller is the chair of Berkshire’s All-School Read Committee, responsible for selecting each year’s book and devising the accompanying program. He also serves as chair of the English Department and coaches thirds boys’ soccer and JV boys’ tennis. He and his wife, Director of Alumni Relations Kristina Thaute Miller ’97, live in Buck Dormitory with their children Andrew, Erik and Ingrid.
See Sarah Kinney’s film, the winning contest entry inspired by Deo and Strength in What Remains.
Please join the Berkshire School community in our next All-School Read, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb. The program will include a keynote address by Shiza Shahid, co-founder and CEO of the Malala Fund and named to both Forbes and Time magazine’s “30 under 30” lists of notable social entrepreneurs. Spring/Summer 2014
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Board Identity Five new recruits join the Board of Trustees
Anthony DeChellis
Scott Amero with Xander ’17 (left) and Luke ’16
Scott Amero Scott Amero is the former vice chairman and global chief investment officer for fixed income of BlackRock, the largest investment management firm in the world. Prior to joining BlackRock, he was a vice president in fixed income research at The First Boston Corporation, where he authored numerous publications on fixed income securities. Scott graduated from Phillips Academy in 1981, earned a BA degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard in 1985, and an MBA degree in finance from New York University in 1991. Having grown up in Maine, Scott has a strong interest in the outdoors and conservation. Scott is on the Board of Trustees of Rare Conservation. Scott and his wife Karen have four children, Berkshire students Luke ’16 and Xander ’17, and Janie and Zachary. The family lives in New Canaan, Conn., and spends time in Bozeman, Montana, whenever possible.
New England, where he owns Bullrock Corporation. Gregg and his wife Beth live on a large working farm in Charlotte, Vermont. In 2000, Beth and Gregg developed The Lodge Senior Living Communities, a nationally recognized leader in senior living care and innovation. Gregg and Beth share a deep love for the Mountain, proudly sending their son Geordie ’11 and daughter Sydney ’14, to Berkshire. A 1979 Berkshire alum who went on to graduate from the University of Vermont, Gregg is committed to referring Vermont applicants to Berkshire, especially those with a lacrosse background. The Beldock family is very active in outdoor pursuits, and Gregg is an avid fly fisherman and wing shooter.
Gregg Beldock ’79 Gregg Beldock has been in real estate development, syndication, finance and operations for 25 years. Since 1984, he has focused on being a construction manager, entrepreneur and real estate developer in the New York area and northern
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Gregg and Beth Beldock with Sydney at Commencement 2014, and brothers Amory (left) and Geordie ’11
Anthony DeChellis took over the role as head of Private Banking Americas at Credit Suisse in 2006, at the same time becoming a member of the Private Banking Management Committee. He has since focused on building domestic businesses in the United States, Brazil and Mexico, as well as evolving Credit Suisse’s international business with a focus on ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. His previous work experience includes 16 years at Merrill Lynch where he led the European private client business and then the firm’s Family Office, Private Planning, market strategy and development in the U.S. Anthony earned his BA in economics from Rollins College in Florida and his MBA from the University of Chicago. Now he enjoys spending time with his four children, including Alex ’15 and Tara ’17, and being involved in their sports and activities. Anthony also enjoys golf, scuba and deep sea fishing.
Roney Eford ’91 Roney Eford is the founder and executive director of Pinnacle for Youth, an organization dedicated to helping youth achieve exceptional academic and athletic goals. He is also the director of diversity and the athletic director at Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn, NY, where he is leading the school’s effort to become a truly multicultural and inclusive community. Eford played basketball at Marquette University and played professionally in Asia and Europe, as well as at home in the CBA and USBL from 1996 until 2003. He then became
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LASTING LEGACIES A record number of students are enrolled at Berkshire whose parents or siblings are graduates: 66 and counting! general manager and head coach for the Philadelphia Squires, the New Jersey Flyers and the Brooklyn Wonders. Eford earned a BA in communications from Marquette and then received a Masters of Science in sport management from Cardinal Stritch University. He is now a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee where he is pursuing his doctorate in education and sociology.
Casey Herman ’82 with, from left, Reis, 14, Gillian, 6, wife Leigh Ann, and Michael, 16
Michael (Casey) Herman ’82 Casey Herman is a CPA and assurance partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. He currently leads PwC’s US Power & Utilities Industry practice and has spent his 27-year career with PwC, both in New Orleans, and for the last 12 years, in Chicago. As the U.S. Power & Utilities Industry Leader, he is responsible for PwC’s services across all three of the firm’s businesses: assurance, tax and advisory. Casey graduated from Berkshire in 1982 and earned his MBA from Tulane University in 1986. For many years he’s led PwC’s recruiting efforts at Tulane. Casey is engaged in several hunger relief causes, serving for the last eight years as a board member for Feeding America, the nation’s network of over 200 food banks. He is also a board member of his local food pantry, Lakeview Pantry. He and his wife Leigh Ann, an attorney, live in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago with their three children.
Front row, from left: Matt Licata ’15 (brothers Michael ’12, Chris ’13), Liam Bullock ’17 (mother Bebe Clark Bullock ’86), Tanner Boyle ’17 (mother Megan McDonnell Boyle ’86), James Funderburg ’15 (father Rob Funderburg ’80), Nick Beaver ’16 (brother Jackson ’12), Gerry Gimenez-Valdez ’15 (brother Andres ’13), Samone DeFreese ’16 (sister Samantha ’12), Zach Buteux ’16 (brother Zander ’08), Jared Renzi ’16 (brother Matt ’13), Neeka Daemi ’17 (sisters Arianna ’10, Roya ’12) Kenny Sperl ’17 (sisters Sue ’06, Cyndi ’10), Another Kushaina ’15 (brother User ’10), Kufre Udoh ’17 (sister Unyime ’13), Jack Weeden ’17 (father Don Weeden ’70) Second row, from left: Mark Driscoll ’17 (sister Anna ’13), Christopher Kreke ’15 (sisters Katharina ’12, Karolin ’13), Jay Allen ’15 (brother Michael ’13), Pedro Escobar ’15 (brother Juan ’13), Hadley Laskowski ’14 (sister Kristina McElhinney ’98, brother Alex ’99), Jay Bolton ’16 (sister Haley ’13), Hunter Borwick ’16 (father John Borwick ’81, mother Ingrid van Zon Borwick ’83, brother Jackson ’13), Lindsy Dario (mother Lara Gutsch Dario ’86), Alea Laigle ’17 (sister Chloe ’12), Carrie Babigian ’16 (sister Elise ’08, brother Max ’11), Jack Scarafoni ’17 (father Matt Scarafoni ’89), Ivey Mueller ’16 (mother Hilary Ivey Mueller ’93), Jim Streett ’16 (mother Carolyn Balch Streett ’83, grandfather Jim Balch ’51) Third row, from left: Logan Bigall ’17 (mother Jodi Behr Bigall ’80), Jordan Greco ’15 (brother Nick ’13), Gavin Bigall ’17 (mother Jodi Behr Bigall ’80), Cody Lucey ’16 (brother Hunter ’12), Peter Hoover ’14 (brother Hank ’12), Sam Merritt ’14 (brother Eli ’12), T.J. Stewart ’16 (father Titus Stewart ’89), Allison Toffolon ’14 (sister Ashley ’11), Serena Menges ’14 (mother Devon Maguire Menges ’90), Addie Bullock ’14 (mother Bebe Clark Bullock ’86), Sydney Beldock ’14 (father Gregg Beldock ’79, brother Geordie ’11), Lucia Perkins ’14 (father Chip Perkins ’73), Paige Raab ’16 (sister Kyla ’13), Melody Barros ’15 (sister Ashley Glenn ’09), Jamie Ernst ’15 (brother Tim ’13), Mary Corcoran ’16 (brother Henry ’12), Georgia McLanahan ’16 (mother Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86) Andie McGraw ’17 (father Robin McGraw ’70), Jake McLanahan ’16 (mother Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86) Back row, from left: Dan Driscoll ’15 (sister Anna ’13), Bryce Laigle ’15 (sister Chloe ’12), Dillon Cunningham ’15 (father Sutton Cunningham ’80), Brendan Moloy ’15 (brother Danny ’12), Johnny Grogan ’14 (sister Jenny ’12), Matty Wieczorek ’14 (mother Lynette Prescott ’81), Ben Harff ’15 (sister Kayla ’11), Charlie Corcoran ’14 (brother Henry ’12), Sam Hahn ’14 (brother Jesse ’13), Nate Summers ’14 (brother Ryan ’13), Sam Perkins ’14 (father Chip Perkins ’73), Henry Manley ’15 (father Trip Manley ’85), George Fowlkes ’14 (sister Lucy ’12), Eloise Morrow ’14 (sister Olivia ’12) Allie McErlean ’14 (brother Tim ’10) Not pictured: Margaret Butler ’16 (sister Liz ’12), Peter Giordano ’15 (brother Alex ’11), Charlie Kellogg ’16 (father Kirk Kellogg ’87, grandfather Peter Kellogg ’61), Craig Puffer ’14 (brother Steve ’11), Corey Wieczorek ’16 (mother Lynette Prescott ’81)
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/ Campus News /
INTEL-IGENCE QUOTIENT Jimmy Chung Named Intel Semifinalist
For the fifth time in as many years, Berkshire School is proud to boast one of the nation’s Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists. In January, Hyun Suk “Jimmy” Chung ’14 from Seoul, South Korea, was named for his work with the CryoEM structure of MacK, a novel Mycophage isolated here at Berkshire through the Advanced Math/Science Research (AMSR) program led by Dr. April Burch. Students from all over the U.S. and abroad submit applications that include a 20-page journal-format research paper, several short answer essays on topics such as the next big discovery in science and a statement of the attributes that make them a good scientist or engineer. “It was a complete surprise when I heard from Dr. Burch that I became a semifinalist. I was thrilled!” said Jimmy of learning the good news. He continued, “I did not expect to become a semifinalist because I knew that there were other competitors across the country with strong talents, ideas and research papers. I am thankful and happy to have had this meaningful experience!” And thanks, in turn, to Jimmy’s hard work. Both he and Berkshire’s AMSR program receive a $1,000 prize, which should come in especially handy for Jimmy at the University of Pennsylvania next fall.
Hyun Suk “Jimmy” Chung
“Jimmy’s original project was a great idea, and it embodies how science works: it is interdisciplinary and it is collaborative.” Dr. Burch describes Jimmy’s Intel project: “With the remote guidance of Dr. Susan Hafenstein from Penn State College of Medicine, Jimmy was able to learn Cryo-EM 3D reconstruction, a method used to determine the structure of a macromolecule. Jimmy used several sophisticated computer programs to solve the near atomic structure of a virus that was isolated from the herb garden soil behind the gym by another AMSR student in our Phage Hunters program. Structural data obtained from the purified virus was collected at Penn State and sent to Jimmy in the mail. He worked on the computers in the Project Exploration room in the Bellas/ Dixon Math and Science Center to perform the reconstruction.”
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/ Campus News /
Intel 2014 by the Numbers 1,794 entrants 12 from Massachusetts 489 high schools with entrants 45 states represented 7 schools abroad with submissions 6 New England independent schools with semifinalists (Andover, Belmont Hill, Berkshire, Choate, Exeter, and Loomis Chaffee)
Badge of Honor
Representing at Revisit: AMSR students Chung, Kesaf and Mary Gao ’15 answer questions about the program at one of our April Revisit Days when admitted students come back to campus.
A testament to the on-site infrastructure in the AMSR program, students may now conduct nationally-competitive research projects on campus without ever traveling to see an off-site mentor. In fact, this year two students were named Intel Scientific Research Paper Badge winners: Elif Kesaf ’14 from Yenişehir, Turkey, and Jimmy Chung. Research Paper Badges are awarded to entrants who submit a well-written, college-level, journal-style research report based upon their own independent science research. Of the 1,794 entrants, only 248, or 13.8%, were selected for excellence in research reports. Elif Kesaf performed all of the experiments related to her project in the AMSR laboratory under the supervision of Dr.
Insta-Green Insta-Gray Instagram
Burch and email support from Dr. Sunny Shin at the University of Pennsylvania. Elif aspired to discover a virus of the pathogen the causative agent of Legionnaire’s Disease. Elif screened countless soil and water samples from as close as Twiggs Myers’ pond to water from hot springs in Pamukkale, Turkey. Finally, she isolated Blackrock virus from soil obtained from an airport in Florida. The name Blackrock is a testament to the black color of the charcoal plates needed to culture Legionella and to the “Blackrock” schist formation behind Berkshire. Not only does this virus possess therapeutic and decontamination potential, Blackrock could be developed as a molecular tool for genetic manipulation of Legionella and is, thus, patentable.
instagram.com/berkshireschool
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/ Campus News /
ON S TA G E
Life Lessons From Broadway
Tony Award-winner Joanna Gleason with the cast and crew of Into the Woods
In February, Berkshire’s Theater Department presented Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. The musical takes a collection of familiar children’s fairy tales and blends them all together into a story that is funny, scary, moving and relevant in a modern context. Director Jesse Howard likes to look for ways to honor the original material while shedding a little light on something unique. In that spirit, the Berkshire production was set in an eight-year-old girl’s bedroom. The fairy tales emanate from the girl’s imagination, based on the stories told to her by her father. And she, of course, becomes a participant. This
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approach allowed the team to design scenery and stage scenes without the constraints of a strictly literal interpretation. “Sondheim and Lapine give us this great sandbox to play in, so we decided to take the cue and really play,” said Howard. He continued, “In fact, this might be the most fun I’ve had working on a show at Berkshire.” In addition to all the fun, the cast and crew of this production had a visit from actress Joanna Gleason, whose memorable portrayal of the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods on Broadway earned her a Tony Award for Best Actress. “Nothing regenerates me more than getting back that purity of effort that
these kids bring when they get a piece of material for the first time,” Gleason said of working with the Berkshire cast. She continued, “The great thrill for me is to see how willing, how respectful, how tender and how collaborative these kids are—how much respect they have for the material. That makes my job so easy because they’re willing to go wherever I take them.” “She gave us sound advice on how to portray our characters and how to function as a really good cast,” said Christiena Auguste ’14, a sixth-former from Mesa, Arizona. “Also,” she said, “how to balance theater and everything else in life.”
/ Bears at Play /
From Sheffield to Sochi and Back Again
Credit: Getty Images
Coyne (center) and Bellamy (left), who also had a message for the Class of 2014: “Going to Berkshire was the best decision of my life. The lessons I learned there I take with me every day. Make new friends in college and stay in contact with the old ones because the relationships we make in life are the most important.”
It was a tremendous year for two Berkshire alumnae hockey players. Kacey Bellamy ’05 and Kendall Coyne ’11 proudly wore the Team USA jersey in this winter’s Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. On campus, we watched our Bears represent their country (and their alma mater!) with tenacity and grace. We gathered and cheered in the Great Room in Berkshire Hall as the fine women’s team earned silver in the final match-up against Canada. This spring, Kendall Coyne took a break from her summer work with the Chicago Blackhawks to address the Class of 2014 at its Senior Dinner. Kendall made an indelible mark on Berkshire during her time here. She not only contributed positively to the culture of Godman Dorm, but her leadership on the girls hockey team, both on and off the ice, instilled a powerful work ethic in all around her. continued on next page
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/ Bears at Play /
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Kendall Coyne and Kacey Bellamy
Kendall brought along the hardware for show and tell: flanking the silver are Head of School Pieter Mulder and Girls Varsity Hockey Coach Sylvia Gappa.
Kendall continued to make her mark, shattering records as a Husky at Northeastern and earning numerous accolades including New England’s Division 1 All-Star, the 2013 Beanpot Most Valuable Player and the league record for conference points in one season. This fall, Kendall will be a junior at Northeastern, working towards a degree in communications. She enjoys working with NHL youth teams and may find herself as such a liaison upon graduation from Northeastern, that is, once she’s won gold in South Korea in 2018! Below are some of her thoughtful remarks. “Ever since leaving Berkshire, I have realized how blessed I was to experience this school with the amazing people that make Berkshire what it is. I haven’t been back as much as I would like since graduation, but I have come to realize that Berkshire comes to you, too! My journey to the 2014 Olympic Games was extremely special. It wasn’t special because it was the Olympics, and everyone is watching you, and you’re getting so many Twitter followers and friend requests, and people all over the world want to talk to you. It was special because of the support of my family, friends and especially the Berkshire community.
When we landed in Sochi, social media was going nuts because the team arrived in wonderful Russia. I noticed I was tagged in a post from Mrs. (Sylvia) Gappa. The post was a photo of the banners hanging in the rink for Kacey and me. In my excitement, I sprinted to Kacey’s room in the village like a kid on Christmas morning. As soon as I walked into the room she said, ‘I know... Berkshire... Amazing!’ As I end with you tonight, I want to share with you how special this place really is:
Berkshire Bulletin
Three months into the Olympic residency process, I received an email from someone named Kate Nichols. It said: ‘Hi Kendall, my dad and I both went to Berkshire. He graduated in 1958, and I did in 1985… I loved it there and am still in touch with most classmates. I don’t think we appreciated how nice it was when we were there!’ Little did I know, Kate and her dad, Sam Nichols, lived one mile down the road from me in Concord, Mass. I went to meet them at Sam’s house. We all spoke passionately for hours about our Berkshire experiences. I left Sam with a signed stick of mine, and he showed me the hockey skates he wore at Berkshire. Sam became one of my biggest fans throughout the Olympic journey as he fought his battle with cancer. Sadly, Sam lost his battle on February 22nd, 2014. I know deep in my heart that Sam continued his fight until February 20th to see two Bears compete for gold at the Olympic Winter Games. That is how powerful the bond is that you have here at Berkshire.” To read more about Sam Nichols ’58, see page 75.
The Three Bears: Kate Nichols Olney, Kendall and Sam Nichols at Sam’s house in Concord, Mass. last fall
/ Bears at Play /
Alumni Winter Games Former Bears came out of hibernation last winter to hit the courts and ice with fellow alumni.
Front row, from left: Victor Hurtuk ’91, Richie Pallai ’09, Chris Buonomo ’08, Seth Beamer ’02, Rich Ferroni ’02, CJ Gamble ’00, Robin McGraw ’70 Back row: Matt Spurling ’09, Whitney Watts ’98, Jeff Pietrasiak ’02, Jamie Carroll ’02, Tommy Carroll ’05, Chris Carboneau ’98, Chris Reichart ’98, John Shaker ’71, Devon O’Rourke ’02, Alex Watts ’02
From left: A.J. Kohlhepp, Elizabeth Benedict ’12, James Butler ’04, Jerry Weil ’73, Alec Wyeth ’73, John Diebold ’07, Bill Bullock. Not pictured: Bebe Clark Bullock ’86
From left: Jay Cronze ’09, Javier Winnik ’96, Bobby Moran ’87, Titus Stewart ’89, Chris Gaynor ’13, J.J. Jemison ’09
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/ Bears at Play /
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For more information on all our teams, go to www.berkshireschool.org/athletics and don’t forget to follow @BerkshireBears on Twitter for up-to-the minute news and highlights as they happen. #GoBears!
01 The Boys Soccer team was the Class A New England Champion and No. 1-ranked Prep Soccer Program in the U.S., both for the second year in a row. Jon Moodey, who has led the program for nine years, was selected to serve as a coach in the 2014 High School All-American Game, which will be held in December. 02 Sarah Kinney ’15 (left) and Julia Slyer ’14 edge out their opponents. Amazingly, brand new to the sport of cross country last fall, Sarah finished in front of over 100 other young women to win the New England Division II Cross Country Championship race. 03 A season to remember for these Bears, the first-ever regular season, undefeated softball team!
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Fall 2013
Winter 2013-14
Cross Country / Sarah Kinney ’15: New England Division II Champion
Boys Basketball / Coach Peter Kinne has retired from coaching basketball after 32 years, handing off the boys head coach position to Dempsey Quinn.
Field Hockey / New England Championship Class B Quarterfinalists. Olivia Good ’15 named to NEPSFHA All-Tournament Team. Sophie Perekslis ’14 and Ronnie Lortie ’14 named WNEPSFHA All-Stars. Football / TJ Adams ’14 named All New England/All League. Lavante Wiggins ’14 named All League. Boys Soccer / New England Class A Prep School Champions. New England Prep School Soccer Association All-Stars: Tanner Tomasi ’14, Nate Summers ’14, Jack Harrison ’15 and Justin Donawa ’15; Mutaya Mwape ’16: College Soccer News Top 150 Recruits and #4 overall in the U.S. Girls Soccer / Playing next fall in college: Camryn Biasin ’14 (Smith), Hannah Cooke ’14 (Bowdoin), and Keunna Dill ’14 (Drexel). Dill and Ana Alvarenga ’15 selected as WNEPSA All-Stars. Volleyball / New England Class B Semifinalists with an 11-6 overall record.
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Girls Basketball / New England Championship Semifinalists. Reached the semis for the second time in three years, before losing by 2 points. New England Prep School All-Stars: Hannah Cooke ’14, Kristalyn Baisden ’15 and Samone DeFreese ’16. Boys Hockey / Finished a 19-7-3 campaign and earned the #3 seed in the New England Elite Eight tourney, bowing out in the semifinals to Gunnery. Girls Hockey / Third place finish at the E. G. Watkins tournament with a come-frombehind victory in OT vs. Winchendon. Strong finish to the season with a 3-1-2 record over the last six games. Boys Squash / Sam Lewis ’14 placed second in the #1 Division of the NEISCA C Division tournament, after upsetting the Salisbury #1 in three. Jack Harrison ’15 took home 1st place in the #3 flight.
/ Bears at Play /
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Girls Squash / 3-1 record for 5th place at the U.S. High School Championships. Boys Skiing / Winners of the Brigham Ski League Championship for the fourth year in a row with another undefeated season. Girls Skiing / 2nd Overall in New England Class A Girls Team Championships. Claimed 3rd Overall in the Brigham Ski League, pitted against their own boys team and other co-ed teams.
SPRING 2014 Baseball / WNEPBL finalists. With a 12-3 regular season record, Berkshire earned a spot in the tournament for the second year in a row, losing in the final match-up against Salisbury. Girls Crew / Arwen Neski ’15 has been invited to Selection Camp for the US Junior Women’s National Team this summer.
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Boys Crew / Competed in the Head of the Fish Regatta, bringing fall head racing back to the school for the first time in years. Largest spring team in recent history with 35 rowers and coxswains for seven full boats. Will Dyer Kloman ’17 earned invite to USRowing Junior National Team Summer Development Camp. Rowing at the collegiate level next year are: Dylan O’Connor ’14 and Nick Asaro ’14 (Bucknell) and Roy Faigenbaum ’14 (Trinity). Golf / For the first time ever, the team shot under 400 (a 395) in an 18-hole match at Wyantenuck. A .500 finish with some nice individual play by Edeline Loh ’14, Henry Manley ’15, George Blinick ’14 and Troy Bernier ’14. Boys Lacrosse / With a season record of 9-8, the Bears will see five students going on to play at the college level: Mitchell Andres ’14 (Dickinson), Cooper Fersen ’14 (UVA), Sam Hahn ’14 (Bucknell), Regan Haas ’14 (Bates), Joe Pezza ’14 (Cabrini College).
04 A great season for our Berkshire skiers, shown here at the 2014 New England Class A Championships. 05 Representing Berkshire and the Young Division at the Underclassmen All-Star Game for the WNEPBL are, from left: Stephen DePietto ’15, Loondy Lopez ’15, Jackson Aldam ’14, Spencer Cookson ’15 and Brian Rodriguez ’16. 06 Coach Kinne with his last basketball season MIP TJ Stewart ’16 (left) and MVP Troy Pierre-Louis ’14. “I coached the girls for years and won the 1993 New Englands with them. I was in two finals with the boys team along with several other semifinals. It was a fun run, and I spent lots of time with some great young men and women.” –Peter Kinne on his basketball coaching career 07 The golf program visited the storied Baltusrol Golf Club, home of the 2016 PGA Championship, with alumni Peter Kellogg ’61, Kirk Kellogg ’87 and John Koeniger ’66.
Girls Lacrosse / Sandra Stephan ’15, Molly Crabtree ’15 and Sabrina Tattersfield ’16 were selected to play in the National Tournament representing Lower New England. Boys Tennis / NEPSAC Class B Quarterfinalists. Undefeated in Class B with a winning percentage above .700 for the 5th straight year, and 4 of the 6 top singles players were undefeated in Class B. Girls Tennis / New England Class B Finalists. Regular season record of 10-1. Softball / New England Class B Semifinalists. Softball’s first-ever undefeated regular season, with a team batting average above .500 and an on-base percentage above .600. Track & Field / Winner of the Berkshire-Taft Trophy, dedicated to Twiggs Myers and John Small of Taft. Another Kushaina ’15 set a Berkshire record on his way to winning the 400M in the New England Class B Championship with a time of 48.94 seconds.
Bears in the News Kacey Bellamy ’05 and Kendall Coyne ’11 earned silver medals in women’s hockey in the 2014 Olympic Games. n Kevan Miller ’07 earned a spot on the roster of the Stanley Cup playoff team, the Boston Bruins. n Kelsey Markiewicz ’10 was named NCAA Division III All-America First Team in women’s lacrosse. n Chris McCarthy ’10 signed as a free agent with the NY Rangers. n Kevin Sullivan ’10 was a member of the Union College 2014 NCAA National Championship men’s hockey team. n Ali Vakos ’10 played for Plattsburgh State’s Division III National Championship women’s hockey team. n Justin Donawa ’15 was named Bermuda Sports Awards’ Junior Male Athlete of the Year. n Jack Harrison ’15 was named Gatorade Massachusetts Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Spring/Summer 2014
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on display New Gallery Sheds Light on the Visual Arts
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In November, Berkshire exhibited “Boxed In: Constructions by Roger McKee,” featuring work by the local artist from Salisbury, Conn. The mixed media assemblages incorporate found objects, handmade sculptural elements, painting, collage and more.
Open since last September, The Gallery in the new Fine Arts Center has been a centerpiece for the visual arts at Berkshire. The Gallery has shown student and alumni work as well as an exhibit by an outside artist, and it will continue serving as a space for both student and professional work well into the future. “Berkshire School is very lucky to have a facility like this,” said Art Department Chair Paul Banevicius. He continued, “This gallery really is like a shrine for celebrating art. Art classes use it to talk about the work on display. Creative writing classes use it to be inspired by the pieces. The space is open to the public, and we encourage everyone to enjoy it.” Berkshire presented five shows during the 20132014 school year. Banevicius, who’s been teaching at Berkshire since 2000, curated The Gallery’s inaugural show, “From Darkroom to Digital,” a survey of Berkshire photography over the past decade, which mixed film photography with digital work. In November, the School showcased work by the artist Roger McKee from Salisbury, Conn. The exhibit, “Boxed In: Constructions by Roger McKee,” represented 30 years of the artist’s mixed media sculptures and assemblages. During Pro Vita week, students created an installation in the gallery inspired by the Winter Musical, Into the Woods. And in April, students who submitted portfolios as part of their AP coursework proudly displayed their culminating projects in the AP Art Show. The show by alumni artists Kristen Baker ’93 and Pedro S. de Movellán ’85, which opened May 9th, put an exclamation point on a remarkable year for the visual arts at Berkshire. “We really see The Gallery as a teaching tool, as well as a way to celebrate art,” explained Banevicius. “It’s also a way of showing the greater community how important art is to our mission at the School.” AP students celebrated their culminating works in the AP Art Show.
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DARKROOM TO DIGITAL
a conversation with alumni artists
To accompany The Gallery’s inaugural show, we asked alumni whose work was on display to record themselves talking about the pieces selected for a video that became part of the show. We also filmed Art Department Chair Paul Banevicius (PB) introducing each piece before the alumna/us segment. Following are excerpts of these “conversations.”
To see these in their entirety, go to www.berkshireschool.org/thegallery or scan this QR code.
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Tucker Walsh ’08
PB: Tucker had this really wonderful eye and that ability to zero in on small things… the eccentric little person in the corner, the close-up of somebody’s hands. He went on a lot of trips with his family to interesting locations, and those trips just did something to make him have a really creative vision. That was his great gift. TW: Mr. Banevicius allowed me to create my own path. He really understood that sometimes, especially in the arts, the journey is more important than the destination and that experimenting and exploring, and following your gut, will lead to the best work. I’m so grateful for my time at Berkshire and for my classmates who produced some amazing work and inspired me every week.
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jon wienner ’08
PB: Jon was so excited about this picture because it wasn’t a formal shot; it wasn’t a portrait; it wasn’t a traditional landscape; but he discovered that ‘Wow, I can take interesting pictures.’ This picture was life-changing for him as an artist. It opened up a whole avenue of subject matter, and he was able to define his own vision as an artist. JW: This picture was taken on an art department field trip to New York City. This guy was walking between pedestrian traffic, and in between cabs and cars, and he just sort of had a cool air to him, this aura of not really caring. I snapped the picture quickly, not even putting my eye to the viewfinder. It was one of the first pictures that I was really confident about.
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theo friedman ’11 PB: One of the things I Ioved about Theo’s work was the way he was willing to experiment with a lot of different techniques digitally and a lot of different subject matter. Here, he is playing with multiple exposures and bringing in lighting from outdoors in the middle of the night. He would always go above and beyond in terms of trying to get the shot. TF: Four years in the photography program at Berkshire completely changed the way I look at the world. It opened up a whole new artistic side of me, and I’ve begun to pursue the arts in many different mediums. Culinary arts are now my main passion and focus, and there’s a lot that translates from my time at Berkshire.
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Unyime Udoh ’13
PB: Unyime had a lot of intellectual and artistic interests. Her work tended to be very edgy, often dramatically cropped. This one won a silver medal from the National Scholastic Art Awards. It really captures her sense of creativity and her ability to think outside the box when looking for subject matter. UU: When I came to Berkshire I took my first focused art class in photography. I love the act of making something that I think is beautiful and that other people might think is beautiful, too. And now I’m studying architecture because I want to build and I want to make things, and Berkshire definitely helped me discover that.
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Samantha Levitan ’05 PB: Sam was doing photography when we were working exclusively in the darkroom, which can be a real challenge because so much is dependent on the quality of the print. One of the really cool things about Sam’s photography is that she had a real ability to get beautiful lights and darks and grays, and lines and shapes, and whites and blacks, and diagonals. It’s a real pleasure to look at her work technically. SL: Throughout my career I have often credited my success to the strong fundamental base I built for myself in Berkshire’s darkroom. My favorite genre of photography is portraiture, but I often find myself looking back on this architectural piece. To me, it is a bit of a portrait in a way. A portrait of a building. A portrait from a unique view. But what makes this photo stand out in my opinion is the light: the highs, lows and every level in between. It makes it strong, vulnerable and ever changing—the same traits I like to capture in my portraiture subjects.
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opening shots
Celebrating The Gallery with Alumni Artwork The Berkshire community celebrated the opening of the show, “Kristin Baker: Paintings & Pedro S. de Movellán: Kinetic Sculptures,” at The Gallery in the new Fine Arts Center on May 9th. In remarks to the crowd of over 150 guests, Head of School Pieter Mulder expressed his deep gratitude to our alumni artists, Baker and de Movellán, who loaned their extraordinary work to the show. He also thanked trustee and current parent Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86, a gallery owner and art entrepreneur whose expertise and vision helped launch the event. “The new Fine Arts Center,” Mulder explained, “has lifted our arts classrooms, literally and figuratively, from the basements across campus and returned them to Berkshire Hall.” Doing so, he continued, “has elevated the arts at Berkshire to even greater heights and serves as a daily reminder about our commitment to artistic excellence, as our students explore, embrace, pursue and celebrate the arts in all forms.”
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/ 09 01 de Movellán’s Cumulus (Wall), powder coated aluminum and brass, stainless steel 02 Tessa de Movellán Wohl ’87, Joanna Walsh, Thomas Walsh 03 Renee Hicks, Pedro S. de Movellán ’85, Pieter Mulder 04 Penny Hudnut, Ed Hunt ’61, John Beebe ’06, Karin Beebe, Peter Kellogg ’61 05 de Movellán’s Angel, aluminum and stainless steel, with three of four Minums by Baker 06 Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86 and Susie Norris ’79 07 Keith Reed ’68 and Tom Dixon 08 From left: Alice Cole ’76, Chip Perkins ’73, John Watkins ’73, Bob and Iona Brigham 09 Roney Eford ’91 and Bebe Clark Bullock ’86
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engineering the ethereal Pedro S. de Movellán ’85 When standing in front of a piece of art by Pedro S. de Movellán, don’t expect to be unmoved. The word mesmerizing comes to mind, and some have described it as “chill.” It’s impossible not to react to the twirling, spinning work because its inherent movement—de Movellán’s work is called kinetic sculpture, after all—demands it. Many of his recent works are made of aluminum and carbon fiber. They are precisely crafted and meticulously designed yet have an ethereal quality when set in motion. With a gentle tap or the steady breeze from a nearby fan, the works dip and dive in arcs, gently swooping around a
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base. They are, in the truest sense of the word, a delight to take in. de Movellán graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1991 with a Bachelor’s Degree in fine arts in sculpture. His thesis show featured kinetic sculpture combining wood and metal, with arcs and angles inspired by a summer apprenticeship in wooden boat building in Rockport, Maine. After college, de Movellán began taking classes in industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Industrial design and its combination of applied art and science, used to improve the look and functionality of products,
seemed like a perfect match for de Movellán’s sense of aesthetics and engineering. The career options available to an industrial designer also appealed to the artist’s practical side. It turned out, however, that industrial design just didn’t feel right to de Movellán. “The design process seemed akin to refining something over and over, until anything fresh about it was gone,” he explained. “Classes were engaging and thought-provoking, yet something was missing. The spontaneity of creating sculptures that had no real practical purpose other than to stimulate some type of visceral reaction through
“I joke sometimes that yes, it’s art, but it exists in this twilight zone between engineering and art.” de Movellán’s 24-foot tall Equinox, commissioned by a company in Ohio in 2012
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The de Movellán family in February 2014: Monica, Pedro, Lily (9) and Remy (5)
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their movement was not there.” It was around this time in 1992 that de Movellán’s aunt, the painter Carol Anthony, sent a video of his work to her art dealer, Maxwell Davidson, hoping the dealer would provide some guidance to the young artist. Davidson had been representing several kinetic artists in his New York gallery since 1968, among them the sculptor George Rickey, whose work was a major source of inspiration to de Movellán. Davidson encouraged de Movellán to keep working, gave him a deadline and told him that if he kept at it, they would have a show of his work at the gallery. “While Pedro’s work wasn’t totally polished, it was kinetic sculpture that was trying to achieve something that was totally new in that field,” said Maxwell Davidson IV, the current gallery director and son of the president and founder of the gallery of the same name. Davidson continued, “Pedro was able to show that real innovation and that creativity even in his early work.” “Davidson tilted the balance scale in my head and heart to get serious about doing this work in a disciplined way,” said de Movellán. He continued, “In other words, to be a practicing artist,
something I never thought I would be.” With this encouragement, de Movellán rented a space in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, in a spacious old textile mill where many RISD graduates—painters, printmakers, industrial designers—had set up studios. “It was almost like being in college and maybe even better,” said de Movellán. “Like earning your master’s without paying tuition!” In this creative mecca, de Movellán started working more with machine tools. He discovered milling machines and lathes which provided even more precision than the woodworking equipment he became familiar with during his boat building apprenticeship. He credits this apprenticeship as the potential genesis of some of his work, “where the wood-metal combo really started coming together.” After three years spent doing random jobs to pay the bills and creating work for the show, in 1996 Pedro S. de Movellán had his first solo exhibition called “New Kinetic Sculpture” at the Maxwell Davidson Gallery. The artist really hasn’t slowed down since. Since his first solo show, he has had eight additional exhibitions at the Maxwell Davidson Gallery, along with several group shows. He has also exhibited his work in art fairs as far afield as Berlin, Germany, and Basel, Switzerland, and in U.S. cities including Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Palm Beach and of course, New York. In addition, his work can be found in private collections in the U.S., Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the U.K. About his success, de Movellán says, “I’ve been very fortunate, and I work hard at it.” With a smile he adds, “Sometimes I have to pinch myself though.” de Movellán’s work often features multiple complex movements within the overall design, with several “elements,” as he calls them, attached
“There’s the engineering side of it—that it actually works. There’s the aesthetic side. And then there’s that X factor which is what makes it good or not.”
to a beam at a 30-degree angle. “You have the elements spin around up top and around the base, so you get a huge amount of movement in a small space,” de Movellán said. “I joke sometimes that yes, it’s art, but it exists in this twilight zone between engineering and art. For a lot of people, it introduces other ways of looking at things—and the beauty in engineering.” His very first inspiration, however, was much simpler. “It all started when I took a piece of wood and just balanced it on another stick, just a simple balance.” He continued, “There’s something about putting a weight on one end. I love how this little bit of movement would change things here and there. It brought together these different parts of my psyche: designing something, making it, seeing if you could make something so involved actually work.” Aluminum is usually used for the core of his work because of the structural framework it provides. All of the pieces are fastened mechanically as opposed to being welded, which provides more flexibility and opens up possibilities in the design. The nature of the process can feel constricting at times because of the exactness required to get the desired movements. “There’s the engineering side of it—that it actually works. There’s the aesthetic side. And then there’s that X factor which is what makes it good or not,” de Movellán said. “Sometimes you just nail it, and sometimes you’re slogging away for months trying to make the next masterpiece, and it never pulls together.” It’s not a huge surprise that de Movellán chose a career in the arts since an affinity for aesthetics was in the genes: his father was an architect born in San Sebastian, Spain, to an American mother and Spanish father; his mother was a painter born in New York City who grew up in Connecticut. His parents met at Rhode Island
School of Design and the family lived in Providence until de Movellán was three years old. At that time, his father received a job offer from a firm in downtown Mexico City, and the family lived just north of the city until de Movellán was 15. When it was time for high school, de Movellán’s parents, both boarding school graduates, felt strongly that their son should experience life at a boarding school as well. Having come from a different culture in a vastly different climate, there was a lot to get used to during his sophomore year, but he chose Berkshire over other schools because it “just felt the best,” he said. “What I loved about Berkshire is how it was so much more than just the classroom,” de Movellán explained. “It was the whole idea of the mountain and the outdoors and all of it tying together. And a very broad array of kids that I thought was really special. Those are the things that really stick with me.” And many of the teachers stuck, too. de Movellán credits Berkshire with helping him grow and come out of his shell. He remembers going on the mountain with Peter Kinne in ecology class. And he quickly adds Les Clifford, his advisor. “He was a wonderful teacher and a friend,” de Movellán said. “Someone who poured everything into what he did.” de Movellán, it seems, has taken after his advisor in that regard. He has poured so much into what he does, that in 2013, when he was only 46, his gallery held a retrospective show in his honor. Along with the retrospective came the book, Pedro S. de Movellán: Complete Works, 1990-2012. There were 15 pieces of work in the show, ranging from the artist’s earliest explorations with wood to his most recent works of carbon fiber, weighing only ounces. The show wrapped up in February of this year, and while it was gratifying to see so much of his work in one place, de
Movellán explained “for me, I’m always focusing on what’s next, what’s ahead.” Some of his upcoming projects include a show at the Vero Beach Museum of Art in Vero Beach, Florida; creating outdoor work for Maxwell Davidson’s new gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York; and a large outdoor piece commissioned by a client for a property in Stockbridge, Mass., just south of his home and studio in Lenox. “I think Pedro contemporized the movement,” Davidson explains. “He’s taken kinetic sculpture—a field that has largely been [Alexander] Calder and Rickey over the last 100 years— and brought it from modern art into contemporary art. Calder and Rickey only dreamed of using the materials that Pedro does. They were always married to one medium, whereas Pedro is using everything he can to make things move.” “There’s this push-pull of being an artist who derives their livelihood from their work, and lately I’ve been struggling a bit with the creative part,” de Movellán said. “Now that I have a family, the breadwinner role falls in my lap, and it’s shifted how I look at making art. I think ultimately it’s a good thing; it pushes me.” This tension seems to be one of the things motivating de Movellán to explore a variety of ideas, including incorporating things like robotics, smart technology, LED and solar energy into his work. “I’m just about to embark on this idea of exploring new areas to break new ground with my work,” said de Movellán. “Right now the focus is on the process as opposed to the final outcome.” While the process is bound to be intricate, meticulous and exacting, we can all look forward to its mesmerizing outcome.
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Baker’s massive 80 x 100 x 12-inch painting, Tabloid Slipstream, acrylic on acrylic with powder coated aluminum frame
Enveloping the art world Kristin Baker ’93 By Megan Tady
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“I love painting large. It’s just a lot more fun to conquer.” Kristin Baker ’93 has been called “one of the most convincing abstract painters of her generation.” Her work is lauded around the world, with collectors vying for her often massivein-size, deeply colorful, jump-off-thewall paintings. “I love painting large,” Baker told Vogue in 2008. “It’s just a lot more fun to conquer. I want the paintings to create an environment that envelopes you.” In her efforts, Baker has created paintings that have enveloped the art world since her first show catapulted her onto the scene in 2004. Her arresting work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, the PS1 Contemporary Art Centre in New York, The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Royal Academy in London. Her work is now featured in the Saatchi Collection. Her most recent show: The Gallery at Berkshire School. In May, Baker loaned eight paintings to the School to celebrate the opening of the new gallery on campus: four mid-size pieces, roughly 20 inches wide each, and a group of four Minums, which are smaller works at 12 x 10 inches each. “I was very pleased to learn that Berkshire has been working so hard to intensify the arts program and honored that they thought of me for this celebration,” Baker said. Baker says seeing art up-close and in person in a dedicated space is important. “To know and learn from art, you need a space to give it space,” Baker said. “As insightful as it can be to see art being made in a studio or in reproductions, experiencing it first hand in an environment where you can see it clearly on its own terms is crucial in understanding visual vocabulary.”
While a few of her paintings wound their way to Sheffield, Baker wields the tools of her trade in an expansive studio in Brooklyn. Rather than paintbrushes, she prefers metal spatulas, squeegees and blue masking tape, which she uses to layer acrylic paint on plastic PVC panels instead of canvas. Her process is as unique as her tools: she uses outlines of torn tape to make the shapes in her paintings, fills in the silhouettes with paint, and then pulls the tape away to reveal a mark or stroke. Deitch Projects, Baker’s former representative, said on its website: “These shapes are layered together to make forms and landscapes or scraped away to reveal the colors underneath.” Although Baker’s work has enjoyed a quick rise in prominence, her love of painting was a slow burn. She took her first painting class at Bennington College during the summer before her senior year. But her obsession with painting really began while she was earning her BFA through a joint program from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Tufts University. “Painting is not what you think it is,” Baker told Vogue. “There’s a slowness and a stillness in it, and I enjoy this fight to make it full of motion and something else.” Baker’s early paintings were indeed full of motion. During her childhood in Stamford and Litchfield County, Conn., racing was a family activity of spectatorship and participation. The television was always tuned to Formula One or Nascar, and on the weekends her father raced at Lime Rock Park. For inspiration, Baker drew on the blur of the racetrack, the dazzling speed and the spectacular and devastating crashes that she witnessed. “When I was young, my parents were really into racing,” she told Vogue.
We’d go to races and watch races on TV. It was a really big part of our environment.” Over the years, her work has morphed from race car renderings to more abstract paintings that play with light, motion, space and, as always, huge swathes of color. In 2010, she debuted four new large-scale paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Of the paintings, Baker told ArtDaily: “They explore different types of light: artificial, natural, processed, and a combination of the three.” Jen Mergel, who curated Baker’s exhibition, praised Baker’s new direction in ArtDaily. “Her inspired new works incorporate marks of subtler control and bolder risk to create more abstract, almost paradoxical effects—like folded light, dense space, or floating matter—in the way only a painting can.” Mergel is the MFA’s Robert L. Beal, Enid L. Beal and Bruce A. Beal Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. Four years later, Baker continues to distort light and color to the delight of her fans. In March 2014, her book, Kristin Baker: Illume-Mine, was published, which features her newest paintings of rectangles floating “like prisms through which red turns to purple, white fans out and tangerine comes in and out of focus.” This spring, Baker’s paintings have enveloped Berkshire. As Baker offered her work for display, she also offered a word of advice for students pursuing the arts: “Art is an all encompassing and lifelong pursuit,” she said. “It is upheld by rigorous dedication to one’s vision and implementation. Practice and work on it as much as possible, and in your free time look at art and study it.”
Megan Tady is a freelance writer from Easthampton, Mass. Read her work at: www. word-lift.com.
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CLASS of 2014
Excerpts from the 107th
Commencement Address By Chip Perkins ’73, P’14, P’14
Above left: T.J. Adams and family; above center: Clementina Davila Tejeida with her parents, Jose Antonio and Balem
Savor the friendships you made here at Berkshire. Stay in touch. Stay balanced. Stay connected. Give back. Don’t be a jerk. Opposite, from left: Kennedy Alvarez, Francesca Ghi, Jake Grant, Devon Kessler, Bryn Kenny, Sassy Cosman-Connery
Every one of you is a leader in your own way. Every one of you is in charge of your own empire and can be a leader in whatever you choose to do. Right: Nguyen Nguyen and family
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One of the most important things I have learned is that sometimes the curveball… the unexpected setback… the kick in the rear… is the thing that changes your life forever… in the best possible way. Below: Keunna Dill with her parents Kevin and Shirlene
Live life every day, stay in the present, maintain your integrity and have some fun along the way.
Right: Entrepreneur Chip Perkins ’73 has served on Berkshire’s Board of Trustees for over a decade. He is the very proud parent of graduates Lucia and Sam, both in the Class of 2014.
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CLASS of 2014
Miracle Milestone By Addie Bullock ’14
When I was thinking of what to say today, one thing kept coming to mind— don’t laugh—the movie, Miracle. I’ve seen it probably 300 times. I’ve watched it on buses to games, on lazy Sunday afternoons and when I was homesick for Berkshire during my semester in South Africa. Miracle is a Berkshire movie and not because of the hockey. I’m definitely not a hockey player; I can barely even skate. It’s because it’s about people who, over time and shared experience, learn to depend on each other and celebrate each other’s victories. This is our story at Berkshire, too. In Miracle, Coach Herb Brooks says, “I’m not looking for the best players, Craig. I’m looking for the right ones.” We are the right ones. The Class of 2014 is the funniest, kindest, most honest, loyal, hard working, dedicated and courageous group of people I’ve ever had the honor to know. Being part of this group of students has changed me in ways that I’m sure I don’t even know yet. What I do know is that I’m a better person for having been one of you. Life’s not about perfect grades or awards; it’s about the moments we remember and the people whose lives become intertwined with our own. Remember last year’s Prize Night? When the band started singing, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and everyone ran outside to dance in the pouring rain? In that moment, I looked around at my friends and classmates and thought, “This couldn’t happen anywhere but here.” I’m in no position to be handing out advice, but I’d like to leave you with one request. Don’t lose this: All those late-night conversations, Mountain Day afternoons, music and s’mores by the fire pit, stumbling our way through the school hymn on early Monday mornings, closing down the dining hall at dinner, beating Taft or Deerfield or TP, hiking to Black Rock, dancing in the gym, and singing “Let it Go” on the bus ride home. These moments together make this a home and all of us a family. We, 112 people under a mountain, lived it together, and that will stay with us forever. Miracle was our movie, and dancing in the rain on Prize Night is our legacy. I’ll leave you with this: My mom [Bebe Clark Bullock ’86], who loves Berkshire almost as much as I do, once told me that Mr. Buck explained why he built Berkshire Hall right under the Mountain, instead of looking up at it like everyone thought he should: “I built Berkshire Hall,” he said, “so that when the students stood on the front steps, they felt like they were going out into the world with the school behind them to support them.” We go out into the world today knowing that we’re not alone, understanding that friends are family and recognizing that being part of this class and this school has been one of life’s great gifts. God bless the Class of 2014, and All Hail to Berkshire.
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“ Life’s not about perfect grades or awards; it’s about the moments we remember and the people whose lives become intertwined with our own.”
Addie Bullock is the winner of the Weil Family Prize for Public Speaking. For more grad photos, scan this QR code.
For Prize Night and Commencement prize winners and college matriculations, go to: www.berkshireschool.org/Commencement2014
“I built Berkshire Hall so that when the students stood on the front steps, they felt like they were going out into the world with the school behind them to support them.” – Seaver Buck Spring/Summer 2014
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REMEMBERING A MASTER Dr. Barbara Kenefick, 1929-2013
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Berkshire and its extended community of countless students, families, colleagues and friends lost a dear friend and a decorated educator last year when Dr. Barbara Kenefick passed away on December 13. Dr. Kenefick stood as a champion of education and of young people. She will be remembered daily at Berkshire thanks to the program that bears her name. Head of School Pieter Mulder said in a letter to the community after Dr. Kenefick’s passing, “Her legacy at Berkshire will continue to endure through our Kenefick Center for Learning and through all the great work in support of students that is centered there.”
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“I’m getting old, but sharing that world with kids keeps me young. Isn’t it fun to be surprised by a child? That’s the completion of a day.” – Barbara Kenefick, 2003
Dr. Kenefick and her grandson Daniel on an adventure together at Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska.
Saddened by the loss, we remember a woman who, in her position as director of the Academic Support Program from 1992 through 2008, marshalled her resources to work for all of Berkshire’s students. In 2003, that program was renamed the Kenefick Center for Learning, to honor her enduring work. Her history is illustrious and varied— after a bout with rheumatic fever in her youth, which kept her at home for most of her second through eleventh grades, she chose to focus on learning everything she could. “Everything I wanted to do was taken away from me—sports, the piano. All I could do was live in the mind. The mind is your own world,” she told James Harris for a 2003 Berkshire Bulletin article. Her take on high school, as a result, was understandably off-beat: “I always wanted
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to do things in a different way, to learn in a different way.” After graduating, Kenefick attended Northwestern, studying psychology. “I always wanted to be a psychologist,” she said later, “from the time I first heard the word.” She then attended the Sorbonne, as a Fulbright Scholar, where she studied under famed psychologist Jean Piaget. She finished her schooling at Harvard and Clark University and practiced at Boston Children’s before meeting Donald Kenefick, to whom she was married until his death in 1986. During his lifetime, among other achievements, he founded the Law and Medicine Institute at Harvard and Boston University. She went on to help establish the Norfolk County Guidance Center
for adolescents and assisted others, including Noam Chomsky, in creating the guidelines for the school that would later become Landmark School in Prides Crossing, Mass. Later, she was instrumental in founding Vermont’s Landmark College, as well. After a second Ph.D., this time in linguistics and psychology, she gravitated to children who she knew needed her help in Father Panik Village, in Bridgeport, Conn., and then to Albany, where she finished her time with the Bureau of Adolescent and Community Services. She was still doing this job when Berkshire’s then-Head of School Richard Unsworth contacted her as an advisor, quickly offering her a job running the new learning differences program. Accepting that job was, “the only impulsive thing
I’ve done since undergraduate school,” Kenefick once admitted. Constantly on the move, she traveled every summer to far-away places such as India, China, Alaska or the Arctic and spoke many languages, including Spanish, Chinese, French and Hindi. One of her great interests was the Inuit language. “Now that I can travel,” she said, “I’m finally doing it.” As for being at home, she once said that it was “always full—I never know who’s going to be there.” True to her nature, Dr. Kenefick spent her days at Berkshire School, then her evenings
reading. “I can’t imagine a day without reading, so I’ve trained myself to sleep in two-hour periods.” In 2008, two weeks before she was scheduled to deliver Berkshire’s commencement address, and just prior to her scheduled retirement, Dr. Kenefick suffered a heart attack, then a stroke that left her mute. In characteristic Kenefick style, she wrote the speech anyway, and handed it to her son Tim for delivery. Below is an excerpt from her parting words for Berkshire, as relevant now as they were for the Class of 2008 on that spring day.
Of Trust, Commitment and Character
It was John D. Rockefeller, the great robber baron and philanthropist and perhaps not always a man to be trusted in business, who said: “I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession a duty.” In other words, rights, opportunities and possessions are not entitlements; they are commitments. They imply a relationship. Between the grantor and the holder there is a compact or contract that implies a commitment by both parties. The relationship is bi-directional. Each party, and the group as a whole, makes a commitment to adhere to the compact, and each individual trusts that all parties will honor it… The students, as all students must, eventually become alumni, and they, by contrast, will want their alma mater to stay unchanging and steadfast in their memories. As an institution ages, the contribution of every person becomes a smaller and smaller fraction of its history. Yet when people remember their individual experiences, they think of bricks and mortar, which may stand unaltered through the decades as a reminder of the relationships they enjoyed and the challenges they were offered and mastered. Every alum is comforted by the thought of his or her school standing changeless through the ages. Teachers focus on change, and graduates embrace constancy. The Class of 2008 will soon be alumni of Berkshire School. What will your legacy be? You will find that a chance at immortality lies not in your wealth, not in your faith, not even in your as yet unborn children who will carry your DNA into the future. Rather, it lies in your character. Your character is built on the foundation of commitments made and honored and trust engendered and trust freely bestowed. Will you be a person who can be trusted? Will you honor your commitments? For instance, your commitment to Berkshire will not
In the spring of 2008, Dr. Kenefick suffered a heart attack and a stroke that left her unable to speak just weeks before she was slated to give the commencement address. In a show of unrelenting will, she wrote the speech for her son Tim to deliver.
Excerpted from Dr. Kenefick’s 2008 commencement address
end when you receive your diploma; it is merely transformed. Soon you will be presented with the high and singular honor traditionally bestowed on all alumni: you will be asked for money. More than that, however, Berkshire will ask you to keep faith with what you have learned for life and to keep faith with the school. Someday, it may ask you to trust it with your brothers and sisters and your sons and daughters. If you attain a certain station in life through achievement, philanthropy or longevity, you might even find yourself here, giving the address at the 125th or 150th commencement. Will you honor those future commitments? There is no higher purpose for a human being. You may think that some challenges are beyond your abilities. Changes in circumstances may make commitments harder to keep, but the harder the commitment, the more important it is to keep and the more value it adds to your character. You may need to change tactics, you may need to work harder, you may need to make sacrifices, you may even need to ask for help. If you are a trusted person of character, you will receive it. Commitment is the essential first ingredient of character. Say, for example, you have made a commitment to make a speech and before it is written you are taken with an illness that robs you of language and makes it difficult to speak. Anyone and everyone would understand if you walked away from your promise, but, on the other hand, with the help of family and friends, the compassion of your colleagues and the patience and understanding of your audience, you can still speak, even if you have to use another voice. I thank my kids for all they have given me, and I trust that you will enjoy every success in the years to come. Congratulations to the Class of 2008.
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In Memoriam: Dr. Kenefick
Kara Ashley, former Academic Support
Phillip Jarvis, former Director of Admission
Program Coordinator
and Interim Head of School
Barbara was an inspiring person who taught me everything I know about how to work with and advocate for the hundreds of students we shared; she never gave up on a child. There were also the wry smiles, trivia nights, gifts brought from across the world, and the truly absurd moments like the time she insisted I come over from my house right away (lifting my sleeping baby from her crib to do so), to help her locate a file that had been on her desk the whole time. Babs was a friend, mom, mystic, confidante, ass kicker and exceptional human being. I will miss her deeply.
Barbara was that most elusive of mortals—a brilliant academic with a deep, empathetic heart. So many young people owe their futures to Barbara. Alexei Nabarro ’01, who I had the privilege to enroll and who was so close to Barbara, came back to Berkshire to speak at the dedication and opening of the Barbara Kenefick Center for Learning. She was so proud that day, both of the Center in her name, and in seeing one of her own speak so wonderfully of her impact on his life.
Hollis Davenport ’01
Barbara, a dynamic and gifted educator, brought to the Berkshire faculty a much needed awareness and understanding of the different ways of learning, and she helped us be better teachers to all of our students. What I remember most is that she encouraged and gave teachers permission to give their students the “Gift of Time.” This simple gift is one which all teachers can give and which benefits all students regardless of their learning style. I am ever grateful to Barbara for this and so many other gifts.
Anna Romano, faculty
Dr. K gave me the opportunity to complete the rest of my secondary education. She was a great advocate for students with similar learning challenges. Her support and encouragement enabled me to achieve further academic and professional goals beyond Berkshire. John Dullaghan ’96
My most vivid memories of Dr. Kenefick are of time spent away from campus at her home in Chatham, NY. Above the subject matter a real message was sent: dedication will lead towards success no matter how you learn. In her strong yet gentle style, Dr. Kenefick always had patience for the times I decided to give up on myself. She would reinforce that I was smart enough and she wasn’t going anywhere until I believed it.
Hilary Russell, former faculty
In 1992, Berkshire’s new learning specialist had to speak the faculty’s language, meet us on our home ground and convince us to adapt new teaching methods. Barbara was an informed advocate who lent a certain credibility and authenticity not only to who we can help, but how we can help them.
Frances Gaston ’06
I came from a school where I was completely lost and unnoticed. There was nobody who talked, listened and went to bat for me the way Dr. Kenefick did. She was an extraordinary woman who rooted for the underdog, winked at mischief and was never too busy to listen. She did not just touch my life, she changed it forever. Helen Goldstein ’07
If I could say one more thing to Dr. K it would be, “Thank you for how my life turned out.” She had a unique set of skills that made her the perfect educator for students whose needs didn’t fit the “normal” learning mold. She used creativity, empathy and an infectiously fierce passion for learning to help give us the tools we needed to succeed—not just in school, but in life.
Kristina Splawn, Director of the Kenefick Center for Learning
Dr. Kenefick worked relentlessly on behalf of the individual students she served. More, she was a teacher first and foremost, and she devoted herself to teaching all of us, students and faculty alike, to understand, appreciate and celebrate difference. Whether we learned in a different way or not, her commitment to that cause, and her tireless advocacy for it, made her a champion for all of us. It is that lasting legacy that has helped forever enhance our Berkshire community.
Remembrances of Barbara Kenefick were gathered by Hilary Russell.
She was a woman of great integrity and the strongest of wills, a great advocate for children and teacher to all. We will miss her spirit and willingness to speak up for those who needed her. But, at Berkshire, she will not be forgotten, as her work and dedication reverberate still.
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/ Class Notes /
Reunion 2015 will take place June 5-7, welcoming back ‘0s and ‘5s!
39 Bob Kieve writes: “I’m lucky. Ninety two years old. In good health. Go to work daily. In the 75 years since graduating from Berkshire, so many of my classmates have passed away, most recently Jay Rossbach. I’m saddened. And I wonder whether any 1939s have survived. If you have, I wonder whether you share my memories of some of our teachers. The lessons I learned from them have helped me in many of my endeavors–doing propaganda work in Spain during World War II, writing at CBS headquarters in New York, writing on President Eisenhower’s White House staff and, for the past 55 years running radio stations, first in Rochester, NY, and now in San Jose, CA. Albert Keep ’24 taught me how to organize information, which got me through Harvard, despite my spending most of my time at the Harvard radio station. And David Dudley not only taught me a lot about writing, but also provided wonderful encouragement; I had dinner with him, here in California, when he was on a trip some 20 years ago. It was a happy and emotional experience.”
43 Bob Riche writes: “News from here is I have published a new novel, entitled The Flautist. The novel is a tragedy, a new twist on gay culture, though it is much more than that, having to do with the human heart and love’s confusions. My website is robertriche.com and the novel is available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.”
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Philip W. Goodspeed pwgoodspeed@comcast.net
46 Gerald O’Connor Barnard.oconnor@gmail.com
A hearty crew from the Class of ‘49 came back to campus for some pre-reunion planning! From left, Roald Schopp, Moe England, Head of School Pieter Mulder and Robert Doyle.
48 George Church III Gc3@nycap.rr.com
Tom Gopsill writes: “Miles Blakeslee was a close friend of mine at Berkshire. We played varsity football together; we played varsity baseball together; we double dated at the annual Yale-Harvard football game together; we sang in the Berkshire Glee Club together. (He, a natural musician, much better than me). We talked and laughed and lied to each other as teenagers are known to do, and we certainly got into trouble together (me more than him). At the end of my freshman year at Hobart, I was surprised and delighted to learn that Miles was to be a member of the class of 1953. I had recommended my fraternity, Sigma Phi rush Miles and pursue him they did. However, he was not to be swayed and instead, he joined Kappa Sigma. Although we drifted apart at Hobart, whenever we would get together at the Student Union for a cup of coffee, it was like old timeslaugh, giggle, and lie to each other a lot. After graduation, we went our separate ways, both in the Army, but thousands of miles apart. When I learned of his passing, I could not help but wonder why two old, in every sense, friends could not find the time or opportunity to get together one more time. But, was not to be. And so, my
friend of old, a long farewell and in the words of Joseph Addison: ‘The Lord my pasture shall prepare and feed me with a Shepard’s care his presence shall my wants supply and guard me with a watchful eye.’” Read more about Miles Blakeslee on page 70.
49
Robert W. Doyle, Sr. robertwdoylw@hotmail.com
John Gardner writes: “I continue to divide my time between Cleveland in the winter and Martha’s Vineyard in the summer. Some people think I’m crazy to enjoy Cleveland winters, but my daughters are here and there is a great deal of wonderful music to appreciate [Thank you, Mr. Frank Beattie]. I am planning to go in September with my daughter, Helen, on a Harvard trip to Provence and up the Rhône, then on to Paris [Thank you, Mr. Stevens] and finally through the Chunnel to London and my cousin in Wiltshire [Thank you, Mr. Stearns]. The only member of the class of 1949 with whom I have kept in touch is Bill Lafferty, especially when he was living on Cape Cod. Vision and mobility are somewhat limited, but I still get around quite adequately.”
50
65th
Charles K. Elliott, Jr. chazel303@aol.com Spring/Summer 2014
47
/ Class Notes /
51 John B. Hull III (413) 528-1528
53 John G. Cluett jcluett@aol.com
James McCurrach writes: “I am still teaching albeit at a somewhat reduced rate. Two full days working with Title 1 kids in need of assistance in improving their reading skills. I also tutor individual students for another 6 hours a week. All told, I have more than enough to keep me properly busy. My latest book (a novel) was published last month. For those interested in reading it, the title is Reflections through a Jaundiced Eye and it is available through Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble. I hope to get news of other classmates.”
54 David W. Sauer stillpoint@windstream.net
Dick Davis writes: “This ’54 class member is saddened by the death of Don Harvey. I remember him as a quiet, no-nonsense guy who understood what was going on. His stellar career certainly bore that out.”
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60th
Stephen V.R. Spaulding III rensf@yahoo.com
W. Kendall Jones writes: “Living in semi-retirement is good, living on a small farm in Beaver, PA outside Pittsburgh. After more than 45 years operating my own businesses in the event planning and trade show industry, I find it very calm, quiet and peaceful. Sometimes, it gets a little too quiet, and my wife Barb and I will decide to get active with our dogs. Our kennel houses 5 Labradors, 1 German Shorthair Pointer, and 1 Sussex Spaniel and we have bred, shown, trained and celebrated their successes when we knew our days of competition were behind us. The joy of owning a home48
Berkshire Bulletin
bred Best of Breed winner has been repeated a number of times, and it never gets old. My family has scattered over the past ten or fifteen years or more, and are far away. My youngest, Brandyne, is married with child, living in Fort Worth, TX. My nieces and nephew moved south to Knoxville, Ashville, and Greenville, SC where my sister Margie manages the Davis clan. It pleases me to get news from under the Mountain. To me, Berkshire was The Green and Gray. The Bears is a newer identity today and that will stick with more recent alums. Pride still boils up when faculty and students and alumni all achieve outstanding results in their lifelong endeavors. It is nice to hear about classmates who made a mark after school. I can look back and say I knew Rennie Spaulding back when, and Stephen Smith, Terry Twitchell and Rodney Agar. We were small but a good class in 1955. Thank you, John Godman. You made us. Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 with Frank Beattie ran spring track and field. Oh, the memories! I hope one day to return to campus and meet some of today’s students with classmates from years ago.”
57 Walter S. Henrion walthenrion@gmail.com
Walt Henrion writes: “Your Class Agent appreciates that six classmates responded to my call for news, worthy or unworthy. You should all have received from me the revised Class of 1957 Faculty Award, which will now be given annually to two faculty members, one to a junior faculty member (less than six years) and one to a senior faculty member. The Award is currently $6,000 each, for Excellence in Teaching. Top of the news hit parade: Denny Engelman and his gorgeous wife have committed to attending our 60th Reunion. They are living in Las Vegas. Spike Billings reports that he could only get in 97 rounds of golf last year because of a hip replacement. He is hoping for 200 rounds this year. Ted Shrady sent a long and interesting email. He spent 30 years, including
the last l0 years at Harvard, in the audio-visual field. But his real passion is the history of passenger railroading, including six books and over 50 published articles. Ted has retired to Cape Cod. I hope he will make it to our 60th. Charlie Fatum, who left Berkshire after his sophomore year for financial reasons, was back for our 55th Reunion and was awarded an Honorary Diploma at our class gala dinner at Penny Hudnut’s home. Interesting, he was in the Navy and stationed in Honolulu in the early 60s. I started work for the Bank of Hawaii in 1961, but our paths did not cross. Gail and Paul Tompkins are already signed up for the 60th. Paul reports that they now have 8 grandchildren. They spend 8-10 weeks in Puerto Vallarta. “I hope you all saw in the Berkshire Bulletin and were proud of the fact that our class was #3 in percentage giving, 67% to the Alumni Fund in 2012-2013. Hopefully, we will move up to #2 this year.” Mac Odell writes: “After a fascinating two days at Berkshire for Pro Vita, where I was asked to speak on my international development career, I headed to Bangkok and then on to Cairo to conduct training programs for USAID staff. By the time this appears in print, I hope I will have been to New Zealand for the wedding of a daughter of good family friends who we helped steer to international careers in Foreign Service. The parents are now in Rome, son in Indonesia, daughter in New Zealand--a new veterinarian for whom we arranged an internship in Nepal with an elephant vet some years back. Downer is that the beautifully restored 1937 Ford that I drove away from my graduation in ’57, and back to our 55th reunion, is back in the shop for another engine overhaul. Fingers crossed that I’ll be driving it back to our next reunion.” Skip Wood writes: “This has certainly been a hectic way to end up 2013. Fay and I bought a 1903 house right in the village of Saugerties. We spent six months from the end of September on rebuilding, refinishing floors, and converting the whole second floor into a new studio. Also in September we put Clove Church Studio, four acres of gardens, and the barns and storage up for
/ Class Notes /
sale, figuring “it won’t sell until spring,” we can take our time moving! We are now moved in and settled by The Magnolia on Market St, after 21 years no longer living in the Clove Church. Stop in at Reunion time.”
58
Charles A. DuCharme writes: “My newest grandchild is Edward Charles Elwell. I have two other grandsons by my son Charlie DuCharme ’93, Charles H. and Cameron X. DuCharme.” Matt Mansfield writes: “I have just completed a vagabond odyssey in marketing and advertising, spending the last 20 years working with various lotteries (New York Director of Marketing/Advertising) and lottery suppliers (GTECH Director of Product Development). I had a lot of fun participating writing various tag lines like “Hey, You Never Know” and “All You Need is A Dollar and Dream;” helping with some memorable TV ad campaigns such as singing cats for Meow Mix, Connolly leather scent strips for Rolls Royce motor cars in Architectural Digest, Perry Ellis men’s fragrances, Alka Seltzer TV spots “Try it, You’ll Like It” and “I Can’t Believe I Ate the Whole Thing” and a long time ago, an Ajax Laundry Detergent “white knight” who was stronger than dirt (for those who remember;) I recently designed the New York Lottery, Georgia Lottery and Mega Millions multi-state lottery logos. Now I am busy writing book reviews for Amazon (just published ones for The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch; 1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham and War By Timetable by AJP Taylor on the Amazon website. And chasing after grandchildren ranging from 13 to 1 year —from New York City to Upstate New York where Mary’s and my three sons have scattered. One final note: I tried the DNA testing available through ancestry.com and other sites like 23andMe.com to find out pretty much what I already knew: predominantly Celtic ancestry (Irish, English, some Scotch and Welsh) and other Western European breeds. Clearly, my parents got it wrong when they named me. It should have been “Mutt” Mansfield.”
59 Richard H. Elias mardic68@hotmail.com
Dick Elias writes: “All is well at 39 Manfield Avenue in Merrick, NY. Top of the list is our newest grandson Samuel Philip Fisher. He is a month and a half old. Weighed in at 9 lbs. and 15 ozs. Growing nicely and very healthy. He is our 5th grandson. Marge and I are enjoying all five of the boys: Avery is 15 years old, Colin just shy of 10, his brother Aidan is 5, Brady 2 1/2 and then Samuel. The best to the Class of 1959 as we celebrate our 55th.”
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55th
H. Todd Spofford tspofford@charter.net Stephen P. Norman steve@spnorman.com
61 Peter R. Kellogg pkellogg@iatre.com
Don Goodrich returned to campus in May to help Berkshire introduce next year’s All-School Read book, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. He spoke to the students about his and Sally’s experiences in Afghanistan since 2001 and talked about the region’s history and culture to provide context for the book.
highly, and the school is a great place to stop and take a rest. I trip across Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 upon occasion. This February, I attended the Berkshire Ski Day at Stratton hosted by current parents Robert and Deborah Brandt. I met a classmate of Tommy Storrs ’53 and Bob Law ’55, friends from my days living at Sugarbush during the 60’s and 70’s, swapped war stories of our time at Berkshire. I had a chance to ski with Bill Bullock and his son in the morning, and then Valerie Long and her daughters (pocket rockets) in the afternoon. I look forward to visiting again during this year’s bike rides. Hope all is well with my classmates. Berkshire looks great! They are doing a bang-up job surviving our latest recession.”
63 Ray H. Garrison rgarrison40@comcast.net
Hawley T. Chester III writes: “I finished 10th at the Sports Car Club of America’s 50th Annual National Championships in the Sports 2000 class at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI last September in my first year at the Runoffs.”
62 Andrew S. Berkman aberkman@cpny.com
Don Myers writes: “I seem to have been around Berkshire a lot this year. In the fall, I attended the semi-final soccer game against Hotchkiss on a cold fall day. Before I attended the game I rode my bike up to Mt. Everett, and then down the long trail to the Elbow Trail back to school; challenging, but lots of fun. Some of the old ski trails, and the rope tow line are still visible. During the summer, I’ve done a number of road bike rides past Berkshire. If you’re into biking, I can’t recommend that area too
Hawley T. Chester III ’63 at the SCCA National Championships last fall.
64 John R. Hendrie JRHendrie@aol.com
Peter Tobin writes: “I was sworn in as US Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio at a ceremony on March 12th in Washington, DC.”
Spring/Summer 2014
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/ Class Notes /
Bears vs. Bearcats: Robin McGraw ’70 and Andie McGraw ’17 with Greyson Schopp (a freshman at Hotchkiss) and her dad Mike Schopp ‘78 after the JV girls game that ended 3-2 in Berkshire’s favor. Andie scored 2 goals and had 2 assists to lead Berkshire to a 4-1 victory over Hotchkiss. From left: Allan Eustis, Rusty Mathews and former French teacher Dick Hall sport their new B caps at a monthly DC lunch outing started up by the ‘66ers. Please join them if you’re in the area!
65
50th
James T. McKinley jim@jtmckinley.com
L. Keith Reed lkreed@eclipse.net
Nick Wallner writes: “I am looking forward to our class reunion in 2015, for the Class of 1965. I am starting my 30th year of refereeing soccer games at age 67!”
Rob Hessler writes: “I recently earned my Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coach Federation (ICF).” Keith Reed writes: “Six to seven guys are already starting to discuss returning for our 50th reunion in 2018 and we ask everyone to send an email to me or to Berkshire so we have your current email and address information.”
66 Harlan J. Swift timswifty@gmail.com
67 F. Woodson Hancock III whancock3@aol.com
Chris Eddings writes: “It seems that as one gets older, good things happen. Last August, after 17 years with the company, I was promoted to Vice President of the Business Information Division of The Dolan Company, supervising all information and information technology units nationwide in more than 20 markets. Shortly afterwards, I became only the second recipient in ten years of the Walter Sondheim Leadership Award recognizing civic leadership in the Baltimore region. And last week, it was announced that I will be awarded the Distinguished Service award by the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association. Now if I could just regain my youth.” 50
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Berkshire Bulletin
69 Kent S. Clow Ksc3@msn.com
Doug Martin writes: “I have retired out here to the elbow of Cape Cod wandering the beach—if anybody finds themselves out here in need of a cocktail, holler!” John Weeks writes: “I just retired after 30 years of private practice and teaching medical students. At the moment, I am enjoying running my sawmill and doing some timber framing. I am looking forward to doing some traveling when my wife retires in June from Vassar. I will try and make it back for the 45th.”
Barrie Fisher ’78, Hilary Huntington ’77, Stuart Hungerford ‘70, and Robin McGraw ’70 gather for a mini Berkshire reunion in Palm Beach, FL.
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45th
Robin L. W. McGraw blackrockfarm@hotmail.com
Recently Robin McGraw and Stuart Hungerford were seen at the posh Chesterfield Hotel in Palm Beach, FL. Robin was in town as a director of his family foundation that generously assists nonprofit organizations in several markets. Both were discussing Hungerford’s company, Litchfield International, and its international launch of a new product line that is made in CT and MA. www.hangerlok.com. Later that week they met with Barrie Fisher ’78 and Hilary Huntington ’77 who winter in Palm Beach. Bill Shepard writes: “All is well here in VT. My elder son chose Taft over Berkshire. Ugh. We came out of the Great Winter of ’14 with record breaking cold weather. Upside, it was a banner year for pond hockey. Now on to the summer gardening season. Toured the terrific new Bellas/Dixon Math and Science building last fall. Nice job Berkshire! Go ’70’s.”
/ Class Notes /
72 John Y. G. Walker III jwalker2353@gmail.com
73 Leon Jerome Weil jerryweil.tennis@gmail.com Whit Foote ’70 (center) ran into Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86 and some current Bears at our Stratton Mountain Day. From left: Alden Boldt ’14, Georgia McLanahan ’16, Whit, Maggie Mori ’16, Jake McLanahan ’16 and Lara.
Rex Morgan writes: “Super class agent Jerry Weil and I compiled some notes for the Class of 1973: Chris Groves is crafting great and beautiful things in his Lexington, MA woodshop these days: tables, beds, desks, segmented bowls, you name it, and it’s all for sale! If you’re looking for that special piece to spruce up your house, contact Chris at christopherlgroves@gmail.com. See his clever walnut table with self-storing leaves by searching “Chris Groves Woodworking” on YouTube.
Fred and Winky King ’70 seen summering in the Hamptons. Fred has launched the Wing as a division of his Dog Watch Company. Now an avid saltwater angler, the two spend the winters in the Bahamas chasing blue marlin.
Chris Groves ‘73 with a queen-sized bed made from curly maple.
Linda and Ed Hayes ’70 stopped on campus last summer on their way home to Wisconsin.
71
Jon Shaker ‘71 receiving the Peter Taylor ‘69 Player of the Game Award at the Berkshire Alumni Hockey game in January.
If you attended Super Bowl XLVIII in New Jersey this year, you may have noticed the polite and well-informed volunteers who were stationed at train stations, bus stops, and other places in the NY/NJ area. And that’s thanks in part to our own Paula Pevzner, who created and produced a series of training videos for the volunteers showing them the do’s, don’ts and you-be-nice-now’s. On a mission affiliated with the Mamaroneck United Methodist Church, podiatrist Charles Morelli traveled to Nicaragua this winter along with a fellow podiatrist, two students from Temple University, and two surgicallytrained residents from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School. Together, the team performed over 34 foot surgeries
Charles Morelli ’73 (center, sunglasses) with his surgical team in Nicaragua.
in just four days. Charlie reports that he was especially pleased with the treatment they were able to provide to a six year old girl with tibial pseudarthrosis. Keeping his passport handy, Charlie traveled to South Africa in April to visit his daughter Caitlin, a Northeastern student doing an internship with Heart Capital in the country.” Tim Schieffelin checks in from his home in Greenwich, CT: “Life is good! Working and playing hard. Blessed with a great wife and four terrific daughters (payback!), two college grads both employed with good jobs, including one living in China, and two still in college. Sorry to have missed our 40th. ‘Tempus fugit!’ as Mr. Brunel and Mr. Earle would say!” Nancy LaGalbo happily reports that she is hanging up the chalk and erasers after a 30-year teaching career in Binghamton, New York. Nancy plans to travel, substitute teach, and continue her good work with “Meals on Wheels,” an activity she began on behalf of a friend who battled ALS. Bill Drake is bullish about his latest project: a screenplay he wrote called “Toro Bravo,” an action-packed drama romance about an American rodeo clown making his mark as a matador in Spain. He’s shopping it around to film festivals and has a Kickstarter page to raise seed money. Harold Clayton writes: “All’s good here in Dallas, TX. Carving away. Glad Spring has arrived; it was not a fun winter, as everyone knows far too well. [On page 52] is a sculpture I installed last fall at Hitzelberger Park in Dallas, ‘Parental Embrace,’ carved from Indiana Limestone, 6’ - 7 1/2” tall. Check out my website when you have time.”
Spring/Summer 2014
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/ Class Notes /
An after party connected to Berkshire’s New York City Holiday Party 2013 was organized by the class of ‘73. It included 3 generations of Berkshire alumni.
“Parental Embrace” by Harold Clayton ‘73
treat to see Don Perry of Greenwich who none of us had seen since graduation in ’73. Don was a star football, basketball and baseball player during our era. Mark Richardson also dropped by and Marianne Stein Hubert, our former teacher, called in from Brussels to say hello. [Former faculty] Jim Mabie has been CFO at Greenwich Country Day the past 20 years.”
74
Holland Holder Blake, grandaughter of Web Walker ’73 and daughter of Jane Walker Blake ’03
Web Walker writes: “On Thursday, March 20th at 3:15pm, I became a grandfather for the first time and can’t wait to actually meet her (Holland Holder Blake). She is the first grandchild in the family and the first daughter of Jane Walker Blake ’03 and Tommy Blake (Westminster grad) and both mother and daughter are doing just fine. The proud parents will be calling her Hollis, but as for me, well, HoHo or Tiny Overlord might just be the ticket. Just kidding about the Tiny Overlord crack, but that is another story for another day.” Berkshire friends gathered at the new home of Jerry Weil in Greenwich, Conn. to celebrate some birthdays: Rex Morgan’s 60th, Paula Pevzner’s 59th and Jerry’s 59th. Jerry wrote, “It was a 52
Berkshire Bulletin
76 Stephen H. Hassett stevenhass@aol.com
Louise A. Clement luluinsfl2005@yahoo.com
75
Located just south of St. Petersburg and Tampa, we are surrounded by water with the bay on one side of the island and the Manatee River on the other and they both spill into the Gulf of Mexico. (My sister Heidi ’79 lives in Palmetto, too). Though I live near my classmate Wayne Andrews, we have yet to meet up except at Berkshire reunions, but I know we both enjoy the Tampa Bay area because of our love of the water, boating, fishing and being outside. The beaches here are lovely, with fine white sand. The seafood is abundant. Spring break brings a lot of vacationers here during this time of year and I can’t say that I blame them for choosing this spot. I resigned from my job at Manatee County Girls Club (in July,) and I am pretending that I am a vacationer this week, doing tourist activities like going to the parks, playing tennis and hanging by the pool. Wish you were here, hquillian@live.com”
40th
Joseph M. Fusco joe@techworkers.com
Holly Hall Quilland writes: “Hello and best wishes to fellow students, friends and faculty! My home is still on Snead Island in Palmetto, Florida, with my husband Millard, and my dog, Hova.
Steve Hassett writes: “Jean Pichey Fontaine and I are busy raising twin 11 year old girls, Margot and Phoebe, in Philadelphia, PA. The girls are in the fifth grade at JR Masterman public school. Jean is an art teacher in the Philadelphia School District and I recently completed a graduate certificate at Stanford University - Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies. We look forward to the class reunions and for us a visit to Berkshire always includes a
The Class of ‘73 celebrating birthdays, from left to right: Fred Walsh ‘72, Margot & Jim Mabie, both former faculty, Ken Gordon, Rex Morgan, Tom Mullany, Jerry Weil, Don Perry, Paula Pevzner, Alec Wyeth and Bill Drake.
/ Class Notes /
mandatory hike to Black Rock!” Kevin Jones released a new book, Due Unto: Denmark Vesey’s Story. Kim Wilson writes: “I am still living in Helena, MT practicing consumer rights and environmental law with the newly configured firm of Morrison, Sherwood, Wilson and Deola. I spend my free time in the mountains skiing, mountain biking or hiking. My daughter Charlotte is a senior at Trinity College (graduation trip east in May!) and my younger daughter Mairin is a freshman at Middlebury. If any of my ’76 classmates are traveling in or through Montana, I’m a good tour guide to the National Parks and the hidden gems in between!”
77 David W. C. Riatti riattid@gmail.com
78 Birney B. Boehland birney@birneysfoods.com
Andy Baseman writes: “I just finished up work on Season 2 on The Americans, and just had an interview published in Esquire which helps explain my design process. Another recent project I worked on is The Normal Heart, a film directed by Ryan Murphy
Marianne Hubert, Berkshire faculty from 1965-77, with Andy Baseman ‘78 in Waterloo, Belgium on March 31, 2014. Berkshire bag courtesy of Jerry Weil ‘73.
and starring Julia Roberts, which will be shown on HBO in the spring. But my most exciting news is that I got married in NYC this past October to Mark Randall. We had been together for over 18 years so it was about time!” Lily Leonard Goodale writes: “I am currently Head Teacher primary classroom at Cornerspring Montessori School. JV Women’s Lacrosse coach at Camden Hills Regional High School, and Kundalini Yoga Instructor. I have two daughters ages 14 and 16, who both attend Camden Hills Regional High School and play lacrosse. My husband, Nathaniel Goodale, is selling his first novel Vacationland on Amazon. We are moving to Jupiter, FL this July. Relocating to be closer to Cuenca, Ecuador where my husband has built us a farm
Ludlow North ‘78 visited with Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 in Sheffield after running the Boston Marathon in Twiggs’s honor. Ludlow explained, “I owe it all to Twiggs, he has done so much for me.”
to retire on. We will live in Jupiter until our daughters graduate from high school. My step son, Abe Goodale, is walking across South America for a year interviewing Shamans and photographing and painting them for a show in 2015 in Chile and NYC. Check him out on Abegoodale stepping beyond.” Bill Harvey writes: “Birney Boehland and I have now officially launched a new vodka called “Carolina’s Summer Hummer,” a lemon/lime flavored vodka which is now being sold in South Carolina by B & B Spirits. It’s very, very good.”
79 Robert D. Thomas bthomas@wwsg.com
On a recent trip to Round Lake, NY, stern schoolmaster Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 was framed by former charges Kim North Hoffman ‘77 and Sheldon Hoffman ‘77. At Berkshire, Mr. Myers was Sheldon’s teacher, advisor, dorm head, and coach.
Steve Conney writes: “I am still chasing powder in the winter with rapid growth of www.powderchasers. com. My full-time job is with Masimo Corporation where I sell lifesaving equipment to Fire/EMS in the Rockies. My motto is “Enjoy what you are doing and chase your passions.” Joe Duddy wites: “All is well at the Jersey Shore. We recently sold our home and are in the process of a slight downsize, and building a new home in Sea Girt, NJ. Our oldest daughter, Abigail, will be graduating high school Spring/Summer 2014
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80
35th
Steven P. Veronesi sveronesi@cox.net
81 Sue Ann Stanton sasroyale@yahoo.com Annie R. Clyne clyne@optonline.net
Susie Norris ‘79, Bob Thomas ‘79 and Jay Overbye ‘82 enjoy the view from Black Rock after Advisory Board Weekend in April.
this June, and will be attending Lehigh University in the fall, where she was recruited to play tennis. She finished her high school tennis career 78-191, playing #1 all four years, ending up in the top 8 in NJ. Our youngest, Madison, is a freshman at Red Bank Catholic, following a career in the performing arts. She recently participated in the musical, Grease, and is also the only freshman in the Elite Chamber Choir at RBC, which performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City this past Thanksgiving. I just completed my 26th year in Dentistry, and celebrated the 5th year anniversary of the opening of my second dental practice. This June, I will celebrate 25 years of marriage to the love of my life, Jennifer. It is hard to believe graduation was 35 years ago!” Bayard Fox works in the wine business in Napa, CA. He has supplied Berkshire with award-winning wines from his “Renard” label, based in Napa, CA. Guests at the opening of Berkshire’s new Fine Arts Center and The Gallery enjoyed the fruits of Bayard’s labor. Another Californian, Ben Dossett, works in the film industry in Malibu. Ron Payne is an Imagineer (theme park engineer and way more) for Disney in Japan. Check in with the Alumni and Development office if you’d like to get in touch with Ron or any farflung classmates.
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Berkshire Bulletin
Allen (Max) Maxwell writes: “The Maxwell family continues to trudge along in Utah. I am volunteering at Snowbird for the fourth season and looking forward to many more. The real job (building web technologies) is impeding the ability to ski as much as I’d like but I’m shooting for 40+ days on the hill this year. My daughter is about to graduate from high school and my son began his first year at the University of Utah where he’s playing lacrosse, too (starting freshman LSM). My wife, Cathy, is still putting up with me (miracle) and we couldn’t be happier. We still have quite a zoo (3 dogs, 2 cats, and a pond full of koi) and are getting along well. I hope the other members of the class of 1981 are doing great – healthy and happy! If you’re out here in Utah please give us a ring! 801790-4500. We’d love to hear from you!” Steve Weiss writes: “I hope my fellow classmates are doing well. After living in Pittsburgh, PA for nine years, we made the trek back to Minneapolis, MN in 2012. The weather has been challenging, but we have enjoyed being back. My wife is from Minnesota and enjoys being closer to her family and friends. Our two boys, ages five and nine, have acclimated well to the move, school and have made some nice friends. In the “it’s a small world” category, Berkshire alum Justin Prisendorf ’86 is my neighbor. I would love to hear from classmates and can be reached at sweiss@emweiss.com.”
Billy Grace ’82 and family
82 Anthony P. Addison Anthony_addison@ml.com Thomas B. Fahy Bfahy44@gmail.com
Rose Fitzgerald writes: “I just recently launched a new mobile technology business, BerkAppGroup with fellow alum, Bruce Hull ’81. Already, our first client solutions are launched for two event companies, a smart game business and also two business-to-business operations. The Berkshire School Alum vibes are working well for this fledgling company and the success of its proprietary technology.”
83 Karen Schnurr Secrist karensecrist6@comcast.net
Serge “Nicky” McKhann writes: “After many years in the mortgage industry, and now that my youngest is graduating from college (Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA), I decided it was time for a career change, so I started up City Running Tours – Rhode Island. If you’re ever in Providence or Newport, come join us for a run!”
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Steve Sanders writes: “On Friday, November 22, 2013, I received a Federal Law Enforcement Foundation “Prosecutor of the Year Award” for participating in the prosecution and conviction of former prosecutor and defense attorney Paul Bergrin on
/ Class Notes /
various charges including Racketeering and Murder. This case required two successful government appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (both of which I argued) before culminating in a verdict.” Brian Sells writes: “I have been living in Denver, CO since 1984. Married, no kids, just playing golf and working at Peak Financial Advisors as the Chief Investment Officer. Any alums in Denver wanting to play golf should look me up; I’m a member at Bear Creek Golf Club and Cherry Creek Country Club. I’m going to try to make it for our reunion. If Werner Kehl happens to read this, email me at BTS@peakfinancial.net. I would love to hear from him, as I will be in Germany this summer.”
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30th
Lionel A. Shaw Lionel_shaw@yahoo.com
Andrew Herrick was named CEO of Intense, an upscale “boutique” bike manufacturer. Steve Kaczmarek writes: “After a short retirement, I started The Fatbike Company. Operating in Colorado Springs, CO and selling worldwide, The Fatbike Company produces the lightest and most technically advanced Fatbike in the world. Fatbikes are designed for year-round use and will travel over snow, sand, mud or almost anything that gets in your way. Our brand name is Borealis Bikes. We won Best Start Up of the Year in Colorado Springs
The ‘86ers with kids who started at Berkshire last fall, from left: Lindsy Dario ’16, Lara Gutsch Dario ’86, Georgia McLanahan ’16, Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86 , Megan McDonnell Boyle ’86 , Tanner Boyle ’17, Bebe Clark Bullock ’86, Liam Bullock ’17
and have been nominated as a 2014 Colorado Company to Watch. If you are interested in a bike, please give me a call and I’ll set you up with the Berkshire discount. If you are in Colorado, please come down to the Springs, and I’ll set you up with a bike for you and your family to use during your stay in Colorado!” Greg Moore is finishing a 15-month contract with a health-benefits provider in King of Prussia, PA and starting a new contract with an employer in Fort Edward, NY. Given the first contract was originally 4 months, he’s quite
happy with that. Both contracts allow him to work from home, which permits him to spend more time with his family. Meanwhile he’s still working to get his next big idea, QuiCR (www.quicr. net) off the ground and hoping to find a great, tech-savvy salesperson in the next few months. Lionel Shaw is working in San Francisco, CA as Principal at Summit Financial Group, and had breakfast with Bill Bullock and Murray Bodine ’81 with the new Head of School, Pieter Mulder, in February.
86 Rhonda M. Bentley-Lewis rbentleylewis@partners.org Lara Schefler McLanahan lsmcl@optonline.net
The Class of 1985 in the Berkshires in the summer of 2013.
Matt Ahern was honored to meet USA Hockey representatives and distinguished Berkshire alumnae, Kacey Bellamy ’05 and Kendall Coyne ’11 at a fundraising event in Concord, MA. It was an interesting connection to share that we all had Bill Gulotta as a teacher and coach! Go USA! David Weiner writes: “Time flies: I’ve been living in Los Angeles, CA for Spring/Summer 2014
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The growing Class of ‘86: Jim Haskel, Annie Zimmerli-Haskel, Elizabeth Marx-Swatfigure, Ron Swatfigure and their kids in Steamboat, CO last March.
24 years; 13 years working at Entertainment Tonight; six years married; and our son Ford is now two years old. It’s been too long since I’ve been back to Berkshire, and I’m looking forward to seeing all the new campus improvements as well as introducing my West Coast family to the perfect Autumn Day. If any Berkshire Bears find themselves in L.A., please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can follow my various exploits on Facebook/flyingjava and Twitter @TikiAmbassador”
87 Lisa Arkfeld writes: “After 16 years enjoying super-mild winters here in the Quad Cities, this snow and cold season I was reminded of Berkshire winters a time or two. I’ve become Co-Coordinator for the non-profit advocacy organization NAMIs “In Our Own Voice” program and have snazzy new business cards. We work at local, state and national levels, educating people about hope and recovery for persons living with a mental health diagnosis, as well as their family, friends, coworkers, and medical staff across the board. I’ve begun working towards certification as a CRSS (Certified Recovery Support Specialist) to work in recovery settings – Illinois has the strongest requirements so I could work anywhere in the USA. Last fall I led a therapeutic arts program for four months, with good turnout. And 56
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I’m getting back into working with horses, assisting the disabled in therapeutic riding programs. Living quietly, dating an amazing guy, and have a nice garden planned again this summer!” Marion Stock Erdtracht writes: “We are fine, living in the City of Cologne again (close to my parents’ house) and generally speaking enjoying life. We have two wonderful daughters. Jannah is 15 and Nora 10 years old. Bernard and I have not become older, so I do not need to tell you our ages. High school in Germany has been shortened one year, so that it has become less convenient to send the children in a foreign country for one year: they have to leave when they are younger and might lose a year. Therefore, we developed the idea of going to the United States as a whole family for 3-6 months. Bernard and I would very much enjoy the “time off” to reflect on our life and our perspectives and our girls would grow in their personality by living in a
Former roomies Marx-Swatfigure & Zimmerli-Haskel
Silas Warner ‘87 with his son on Opening Day of fishing 2014 in Salisbury, Conn. Silas wrote, “Little Si is proudly sporting the Big B while trying to land the big one.”
foreign country and visiting an American school. I would love to send Jannah to Berkshire School, but decided that it is very important for us to stay in a warmer area close to the sea. Now, I am searching for good schools and it is quite difficult, but I am very positive that we will find a good solution for everybody. All this is very exciting!”
88 Walter D. Long, Jr. walterdlong@gmail.com
Nora and Jannah, daughters of Marion Stock Erdtracht ’87
Jeff Batten was recently selected as the Hawley Middle School Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014.
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Ian Litmans ’89 and Katie Olsen Smith ’89 (not pictured) reunited with Coach Bob Brigham at the SARA U10-U14 Alpine Championships at Sugar Mountain in North Carolina.
89 Andrew D. Allen andrewdrexelallen@gmail.com David H. Wanamaker davewanamaker@yahoo.com
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25th
Natalie Bradley Clarke ninabclarke@gmail.com Natalie Dillon O’Kane natdillon@gmail.com
Nina Bradley Clarke writes: “Maggie Ross Meiners and Jen Tost Masterson and I took a much-needed girls weekend away in February 2014 to Charleston, SC together. What an incredible city to explore and enjoy for the weekend. We shared many laughs and many great memories of our wonderful time together under the Mountain at Berkshire! Hope to see
Deirdre McGaffey Schwein ’90 and husband Chad in Las Vegas last year
everyone back on campus for our 25th reunion in 2015!” Dee McGaffey Schwein writes: “Chad and I have made the move back to California and are once again enjoying the weather in the San Francisco Bay Area and the closeness of Las Vegas, one of our favorite US vacation destinations. I’m playing regularly with the Northern California Women’s Hockey League and absolutely adore stonewalling shooters from my net. I often wonder if I’d still love it as much if I’d been at Berkshire just one year later and had tried hockey way back then. Watching our alumnae Kacey Bellamy ’05 and Kendall Coyne ’11 in the Olympics this year is something I’ll not soon forget. I’m very much looking forward to 2015 and our 25th reunion. We’ll be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary just a short time before the reunion so it’ll be an exciting spring. I’m on Facebook/ deirdrebeth, looking forward to catching up with many of you!”
Briggs Davidson ’91 and Jon Cohen ’91 have spent the last two years working together at Grey Advertising in NYC.
Laura Wanamaker Chamaret ‘91 and her daughter Ella
91 John K. Fretz jfretz@bmedtech.com
Laura Wanamaker Chamaret writes: “Ella Sullivan Chamaret was born July 17, 2013. She was 19 ½” long, born at 10:25 a.m. and weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz.”
92 Abram W. Duryee III bduryee@clearpoint.com
Nina Bradley Clarke ‘90, Maggie Ross Meiners ‘90 and Jen Tost Masterson ‘90 on a girls’ weekend!
Donnelly Claire, daughter of Whitley Bouma Herbert ‘92
Whitley Bouma Herbert writes: “My husband and I welcomed a baby girl, Donnelly Claire, on April 5, 2013 and our son Lawson is now 4.5 years old. The PR firm I co-founded (CO-OPPR) celebrated its two-year anniversary in February. My business partner is the sister of Maggie Ross Meiners ’90 and Spring/Summer 2014
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them Berkshire for the first time. I have seen Chris McMahon a few times. He is living in Rome, NY where he is a middle school history teacher. He is married with twin 7-year-old girls. I have spoken with Matt Skinner who is in Syracuse, NY and doing well and chat once in a while with Chris Bruyere who is in Boston.” Josh Person writes: “I will be in the Super Bowl of cancer research fundraising, the Pan Mass Challenge. This year marks the 10th anniversary of both my mother, Barbara’s, passing from cancer and my first PMC ride. Please contact me if you are interested in making a donation.” Charlie and Jack, sons of Clark Reed ‘92
I see Maggie often. We represent retail clients like J. Crew and Ferragamo and design clients out of Chicago.” Clark Reed writes: “I have settled down in the small town of Hopewell outside of Princeton, NJ. I purchased several commercial buildings upon moving back from San Francisco, CA in hopes that this little town would grow up and oh boy has it! Two and a half years ago I opened ‘Da’s Kitchen’ Thai Cuisine while partnered with my chef, and Zagat just voted us the best Thai food in the state! Next door I also opened an ice cream shop named after my two sons ‘Jack & Charlie’s 23’. If anyone is ever in the Princeton area please swing by and say hello!”
94 Francis A. Blair francis.blair@gmail.com
Wendy Walker writes: “After many years of collegiate coaching, I decided on a career shift to delve deeper into my passion for health and wellness. I went back to school at 35, to pursue a degree in Nursing and to begin a life with my partner Elizabeth and our two dogs, Arthur and Seneca. I passed my boards in February and am working on a medical surgical floor that treats all kinds of disease and illness, as well as
Geoff Chait ’95 with his growing family: Colton, 2 1/2 and Lawton, 6 months.
sees community oncology and pediatric patients at Saratoga Hospital in Saratoga Springs, NY. My intended plan is to continue with school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner with a focus in Integrative Medicine. “
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Bradley P. Hunt Bradley_hunt1313@hotmail.com
Robynn Fortner writes: “Not much is going on here. I did return to my old company and accepted a role as the Director of Communications. I start
93 Hilary A. Mueller Haivey22@hotmail.com Tenley E. Reed Tenley@mac.com
John Forbes writes: “Hi to everyone. I think about Berkshire often and was sorry not to be able to come to reunion last year. I am living in New Hartford, NY working in Development for Utica College. I am married to Allie Forbes and have two kids: Wyatt 6 1/2 and Delilah 4. Things are busy, but life is good. I am hoping to be on campus this summer with my family showing 58
Berkshire Bulletin
Tim Renyi ‘96 was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis, a rare blood cancer that affects bone marrow, two years ago. Barring any medical breakthroughs, most likely Tim will need to have a bone marrow transplant (BMT) in the fall. If a bone marrow match can be found, a BMT can bring a complete cure. To register on a national registry called Be the Match and potentially help Tim and so many others, go to BeTheMatch.org. To read a letter from Tim, go to www.berkshireschool.org/TimRenyi.
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15th. He is 20 months younger than his big brother Maxwell.”
98 Malinda L. Lareau mllarnie@yahoo.com Lauren A. Levin Lauren98@aol.com
Christa Consolini Logue ’96 and her husband, Joe, welcomed Canaan Joseph Logue on December 16, 2013.
classes for my MBA in the fall and am excited about that. My daughter is finally a teenager (so that’s scary) and will be applying to prep schools! I haven’t heard any exciting news from anyone, but I stay in touch with the regular friends I had while I was in school. I hope to visit this summer!”
96
Jason C. Rano jayrano@gmail.com
Kristina Thaute Miller ’97 and Stuart Miller ’97 welcomed their third child together on November 4, 2013. Big brothers Andrew (5) and Erik (3) are thrilled with the addition of their baby sister, Ingrid Elizabeth.
Chicagoan Lauren Levin writes: “I caught up with former English faculty member Heather Forrest while she was in town with her daughter Eva to watch a concert at the Civic Opera House early this April. It was so good to see her!”
Julie A. Lemire juleslemire@hotmail.com Katherine C. Mahan katiecking@yahoo.com Tatum Smigelski tvittengl@yahoo.com
Javier Winnik writes: “I’ve officially launched my Kickstarter for the children’s book I came to Berkshire during Pro Vita to talk about. I loved my time teaching Pro Vita and hope to do it again. The project received two backers in less than an hour of launching so I am extremely excited. Go Berkshire!”
Amanda Soper Henning ’97 with her family at Red Rocks in November 2013 Lauren Levin ‘98 and Heather Forrest, former faculty
97
99
Gordon Kellam gordonkellam@yahoo.com
Julie Rubinstein Bronder writes: “I’m still living in Chicago, so if you’re ever passing through, please get in touch. It would be great to catch up.” Gordon Kellam writes: “I have opened the first BB&T Scott & Stringfellow office in Southwest Florida. A 120-year-old full service broker dealer and wealth management firm headquartered in Richmond, VA. My role is Complex Manager as well as Financial Advisor. My wife and I also welcomed Oliver Kellam into the world on March
Michael Gutenplan michaelgutenplan@aol.com George Scoville gscovillempp@gmail.com
Diana Eckstein Viens ’97 welcomed Hazel Mary Viens on November 12, 2013.
Todd Ballaban and his wife welcomed Keegan James Ballaban, born on November 21, 2013. Born with a hockey stick and golf club in his hand! Scott Gordon writes: “I am now Dr. Scott Gordon, a Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Old Town Psychoanalytic in Washington, DC. In addition to my day job, I am a member of the Board of Spring/Summer 2014
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Pictured are future Berkshire Bears, Poppy Elizabeth Mulholland born September 19, 2013 to Kevin and Anne Workman Mulholland ’99 and Cole Jansen Kantor born February 9, 2014 to Scott Kantor ‘99 and his wife Jenny. New Yorkers Brian Weinberg ‘01 and Louisa Ryan ‘01 got together for a mini-reunion this past September.
Liz Mattes Marrian ’99 writes: “Jason Marrian ’96 and I got married over the summer in Islesboro, ME in August 2013; it’s a little island off mid-coast Maine. In attendance at the wedding were me and Jason, his sister Keaton ’99, my brother Dylan ’96, Annie Corrao Allardyce ’99, Nick Corrao ’97, Patrick Fisher ’96, Jeremy Miller ’96, Zach Haberman ’96, and Eve Bruneau ’00. We all had a great time. Most people took a whole week off and used the wedding as a vacation. I wish we could do it again! Jason and I both work at Samaki Inc. We are a smokehouse and produce smoked salmon and other smoked fish. Jason’s dad started the company and now Jason and his dad own it together.”
Keegan Ballaban, son of Todd Ballaban ‘99
Directors at The 296 Project, a 501(c)3, Tax Exempt Veteran Service Organization. I remain happily married to my wife of 7 years, Jennie, and am a doting father to my 3 1/2 year old daughter, Elinore.” Michael Gutenplan writes: “Hello all! I’m enjoying life in sunny Los Angeles, CA. I’m busy making reality TV as the new Manager of Development at 25/7 Productions. I’m also still performing magic around the world! I can’t wait for Reunion Weekend!” George Scoville writes: “I got engaged to my longtime girlfriend Emily Passini just before Christmas last year. We’re going to be married in September this year on a 9-acre farm just west of my native Nashville, TN to which I just returned after over four years in Washington, DC. I know my parents and sister Elizabeth Scoville ’02 are excited! Second, last October I profiled Jeff Winchester ’00 and his pro hockey career in the minors for OntheForecheck.com, an SB Nation site covering the Nashville Predators specifically, and hockey in the south more generally. 60
Berkshire Bulletin
Winchester played his college years at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, which has a fan base in Nashville, TN. The article received lots of attention in the hockey world, and topped SB Nation’s NHL vertical for the better part of two days.
00
15th
Brooke T. Noble brookbeebe@gmail.com
Ryan Ascenzo writes: “My wife Katie and I welcomed our first baby boy, Grant Alexander on August 19, 2013. Everybody is doing very well. We are hoping to make a trip up to the Mountain to catch a football game soon. You can never start too early right? Hope everyone else is doing well.”
Sarah Scheinman ‘00 and Leslie Williamson ‘99 got together on March 28, 2014 in South Lake Tahoe for a mini Berkshire reunion.
Tiphani Ives Ballington writes: “I moved to South Carolina in 2005 and graduated with an associate in radio graphic technology, got married in 2013 and had my first child, Ethan, in January 2014. Ethan Thomas Ballington was born January 10, 2014 at 9:10 pm weighing 7.1 lbs. and 19 1/2 inches long.” Gaetan Bucher works for the Organization of American States. He finished his Master’s Degree in Project Management from GWU in May and just had his first child. Max Bucher is the General Manager at his family business in Brazil. He completed his Masters in 2010. Ryan Brewer writes: “I got a dog and grew up and bought a house.”
Future Berkshire Bear! Grayson with daddy, Bryan Houseman ‘00
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Eve Bruneau writes: “I am finishing up my second year of General Surgery residency. I hope to move up to Maine when I am done and enjoy the ocean and mountains. In the meantime I am having fun in Philadelphia, PA.” JC Duryee moved to Denver, CO in April, where he will spend time with Tony Stack and Will Elliot. Elizabeth Ross writes: “I have started my own company, called Senior Financial Services by Ross. I am a Medicare insurance agent, and Long Term Care planning specialist.” Kempe Scanlan writes: “I graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Master’s in Designed Objects. I founded a company this past summer that creates prosthetic wearables for the transgender community. I also completed my first Ironman in the fall of 2013 and am now training for Tahoe 2015.” Jess Smith writes: “I finished my degree in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2011. Currently I am working in Savannah, GA at International Paper as the Reliability Maintenance Supervisor. In addition to my role at IP I purchased some land and a 100-year-old camp house on the Ogeechee River, about an hour from Savannah which I have been remodeling since September 2012. I run Ogeechee River Guides out of my home on the weekends — teaching fly fishing, hunter’s education and guiding river trips as often as I can. I have 3 amazing dogs, 12 years, 7 years and 6 months, who are my best buds! I have been learning to train retrievers with a local duck dog guru and have entered my 6-month-old lab, Boone, into local field trials. Life is good in the South!” Forrest Stuart writes: “After receiving my PhD from UCLA in 2012, I moved to Chicago, where I am now an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago.”
Caren Coffin ’01 married Chris Buscovich on September 14, 2013 at Big Wolf Lake in the Adirondacks. They currently live in San Francisco, CA with their dog Stella.
we are expecting our first child due in August. We are certainly excited about our future Bear!” Adam Morley is “all out of bubble gum.”
02 Matthew P. Sposito Matthew.sposito@gmail.com
Lilly Becker is still playing ice hockey for fun, mostly on ponds this past winter, as well as continuing to compete in the equestrian eventing, hunter pace, and dressage world. She continues to train and instruct, and four of her students received scholarships from the Lendon Gray (Olympic Dressage Ride) for 2014. Recently, Lilly has joined the
Emily Bean Livezey ’02 married Rawson Livezey, a Kent School graduate from the class of 2002, on September 28, 2013 on family land in Georgia. They live in Atlanta, GA, where her women’s boutique w.port resides.
01 Shannon M. Flynn flynnshannonm@gmail.com
Richard Gates writes: “Leah Gates and I would like to announce that
Lilly Becker ’02 had dinner with Tony Leber ‘02 while visiting family in Dallas, TX.
Jaclyn Brander Marshall ’02 got married on Thanksgiving Day to Steve Marshall in an intimate family-only wedding. They live in San Francisco, CA.
ranks of consulting in the entertainment world with her father. Andy Kiriakedes was recently named an assistant baseball coach at William and Mary (DI) which plays in the competitive Colonial Athletic Association. After graduating and playing at Marist, Kiriakedes spent seven seasons as the assistant coach at Vassar College (DIII) in Poughkeepsie, NY. He landed the job at William and Mary this January and has been assigned to work with the infielders and hitters this spring, just like Spring/Summer 2014
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he did at Vassar. Devon O’Rourke writes: “Everyone who’s watched the comedy Tommy Boy knows the scene between Chris Farley’s bumbling character, Tommy, and his acerbic companion in David Spade: “Lots of people go to college for seven years,” claims Tommy. “Yeah, they’re called doctors.” If there was ever a postgraduation quote to use, this would be the one for a couple of reasons, but namely as it begs to ask why anyone would stay in one place for so long. The answer is simple: Berkshire continues to provide an excellent place to live, to work, to learn. I’ve spent seven years at Berkshire— two as a student and five as a teacher— and the attraction to a way of life that is both caring and challenging has been strong. Leaving a place where you’ve spent so much time, invested so much energy and value so highly, brings up feelings similar to what we shared at graduation over a decade ago: you’re sad to leave but extremely proud of your heritage. And if you haven’t been back to campus in a long while, you really need to visit. It’s astonishing both in terms of physical growth but more so given the tremendous capabilities of our student body. The most consistent refrain among long-tenured faculty is that kids make working here a joy because of the quality of their character. While we seem to raise the bar every year with regard to admis-
sion, we’ve never forgotten our core values. If anything, it seems like the collection of people working on campus edges closer and closer to the mission of the school in creating an environment where you do actually get to learn for something more than just school. Berkshire has been an endless resource of human compassion, professional growth, enduring relationships to kids and adults alike, and a turning point in my life on several occasions. While I’ll be attending UNH next fall to begin a doctoral program in microbiology, my wife, Jackie O’Rourke (who taught here for five years also) will be working at Tilton Academy in much the same capacity that she fulfilled at Berkshire. We will both think fondly of Berkshire as our first true home together, and I can’t imagine a better place to have a chance to return.”
Nat Ridder ’03 and his wife Sarah
Brooke, daughter of Hilary Day Callton ’03
Hilary Day Calton writes: “Things here in Colorado are great! My daughter Brooke turned 6 this past December. She loves kindergarten and just tested 80th percentile in reading nationally and 90th percentile for math. I also remarried this past November to Bill Calton. He is a senior level executive for Comcast.” Nat Ridder writes: “Life is good out here in Denver, CO. I am currently teaching 8th grade history and working towards obtaining another Master’s, this time in School Administration. I recently married my beautiful wife Sarah and we are expecting our first little Ridder in August.” Samantha Shaw writes: “I just completed my MBA from the Bordeaux School of Management with a background in Wine and Spirits. This June, I accepted a job from Hourglass Winery in Napa Valley, CA, but will be based in
03 Jane Walker Blake janewblake@gmail.com
Emily Eisen-Berkeley Wenner ‘03 and children Rosalynd, Lilly and Logan
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Julio Arata and his wife recently had a baby. Jane Walker Blake writes: “My husband, Tommy, and I welcomed our daughter, Holland Holder Blake into the world on March 20, 2014. Hollis, as we call her, is also the first grandchild of my father, Web Walker ’73.”
Carter Stern ‘04 and wife Beth Taylor
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parents’ ranch in Cat Spring, TX. Berkshire alums Levi Wade and Jacob Nagy made it out and even got to ride a long horn before the ceremony. We spent our honeymoon in Mexico.”
05
10th
Matthew G. Crowson Matthew.g.crowson@gmail.com Ryan Farrell mryanfarrell@gmail.com
Featuring members of the class of 2004, from left, Charlotte Ronveaux, Katie Morrison Bellows, Tim Dancey, Emily Flake, Faye Abrams Klein, Bridget King, Rob Jacobs, and Jill Bowron at the wedding of Faye Abrams Klein and Evan Klein on September 7, 2013 at Le Chateau in South Salem, NY.
NYC as the East Coast Sales Director and will be living in Brooklyn, NY. I can’t wait to get back to Berkshire this spring!” Emily Wenner writes: “Rosalynd Jane Wenner was born on November 27, 2013. Alex (Wenner) and I call her Rosie. Our house renovation is complete and we welcome visitors to our brownstone in Brooklyn, NY!”
04 William C. Stern cstern@johnsontrent.com
planning to apply for MBA-programs in the U.S. After my PhD, I will first apply to leading organizations in order to get professional experience.” Carter Stern writes: “In September of 2013 I took a position with the law firm of Johnson, Trent, West & Taylor. My case load includes handling complex construction litigation as well as a portion of the firm’s duties as national counsel for a major tire manufacturer. Beth Taylor and I were married on March 1, 2013 on her
Katie Johnson Bauckman writes: “Over the last year, I took a fantastic new job opportunity outside Chicago, got married, and am expecting my first child.” Kacey Bellamy represented Team USA for women’s hockey in the Sochi, Russia Olympic Games in February. The team earned a silver medal in the finals. Kat Kollmer Gaudin writes: “I married Andrew Gaudin, from Melbourne, Australia, July of last year. My Maid of Honor was Courtney Kollmer ’06 and bridesmaids were Sukey Mullany, Nicole Unis-Juengst, Caroline Kellogg (sister of Charlie Kellogg ’16) and, of course, groomsman Dillon Kollmer ’10.” Others from Berkshire in attendance: Ori Goldman, Jarrett Mathis, the Kolhkins family, David Rondeau ’78 and Chip Perkins ’73.
Kraig D. Strong kskraigstrong@gmail.com
Max Apel writes: “As an alumnus from Germany, I’m proud to be part of the Berkshire community. I was privileged to spend a year (2002-2003) under the Mountain. Looking back, it has been an extremely enriching experience. I’m still friends with some of my classmates, and I was delighted to come back for a reunion in 2008. I plan on becoming an active member of the alumni network, and I’m hungry to achieve something. After receiving my high school diploma in Germany, I went to the best law school in Germany (Bucerius) and the University of Hong Kong. I finished in the top 10% of my law school class. I’m
From left, Caroline Kellogg, Kirk Kellogg ’87, Kat Kollmer Gaudin ’05, Andrew Gaudin, Peter Kellogg ’61, and Cynnie Kellogg at the wedding of Kat Kollmer Gaudin and Andrew Gaudin in July 2013.
Spring/Summer 2014
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Jon Krakower writes: “Every so often I check to see what’s going on under the Mountain, and I am glad I did. The new athletic facility looks amazing. Thank you for keeping us all connected.” Ellie Rines writes: “I recently opened a storefront gallery space, 55 Gansevoort. The space is open 24 hours a day and all exhibitions are fully visible from the street by looking through the windowed doors. All Berkshire alumni are encouraged to walk by and come in 55 Gansevoort (between Greenwich and Washington Streets) the next time you are in New York’s Meatpacking District.” Johanna Becker ’05 and Courtney Miller ’05 both live in the Boston area and hang out often. They are pictured here at Thionet Cranberry Bogs. Courtney is married to Jamie, whom she met when she lived in Chile.
06 Courtney J. Kollmer courtney.j.kollmer@us.pwc.com Emily K. Lichtenberg Emily.k.lichtenberg@gmail.com Stephen Piatelli steve.piatelli@gmail.com
Tim Coleman writes: “I am Player Agent/Family Advisor and Director of Player Development at MCA Sports & Entertainment.”
07 Casey A. Larkins casey.larkins@gmail.com Allison Letourneau letourneau.allison@gmail.com
The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA) wrote about Ryan Foss in the January 22, 2014 paper: “Foss is an up-and-coming musician from Great Barrington who attended Berkshire School and Gettysburg College, and is now working with producers Taylor Barefoot of Taylor Barefoot Productions and Nate Christy of Karmic Music to make his first EP recording. Locally, he’s played the Troubadour Series at The Guthrie Center, served as an opening act at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield and played last night in the window at Mission Bar & Tapas. Friday will be his first time performing at Dewey Hall, though he’s previously
recorded a demo with host Todd Mack. Foss describes his sound as “indiefolk-rock Americana with a West Coast influence,” which he’s also hoping to bring beyond the Berkshires to the Brooklyn market later this year. “Playing in the Berkshires is kind of perfect because I latched on to folk, and this is a nice area to make that kind of music,” he said.” Allison Letourneau has been named Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Oldfields School. Kevan Miller is now a Boston Bruins defenseman. Travis Vayda writes: “As of March 7, 2014 I became a fully qualified A-10 fighter pilot at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ. After graduating college from USAFA in 2011, I started pilot training November of that year and have been in training ever since for this moment. That is over two years of training, almost 300 hours of flying, roughly 100 each in the T-6, an 1100 horsepower turboprop fully aerobatic trainer, the T-38, a twin-engine supersonic capable fighter/bomber trainer, and then the A-10, a close air support, combat search and rescue and air interdiction aircraft specializing in ground attack and its ability to destroy tanks and employ weapons in “danger close” proximity to friendly forces. I am now currently a member of the 354th Fighter Squadron, The Bulldogs, at Davis-Monthan flying as a wingman and loving every second of it.”
08 Christopher Buonomo cjbuonomo@gmail.com Melissa M. Fogarty Mmfoga08@gmail.com Erica Ginsberg eginzie@gmail.com Abigail I. Tufts Abigail.tufts@gmail.com
John Beebe ’06 has moved out of NYC back to Great Barrington, MA and has begun to take over the 600acre grain farm from his father George Beebe ’61. He submitted papers to the Town Hall of Great Barrington to run in the election for Town Selectman this spring, but lost in a close race.
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Ryan Foss ‘07
Emily Harrigan and Sasa Zelenovic were engaged on February 11, 2014. Abby Tufts writes: “After two years with the Philadelphia Phillies, I moved back to New York City in December 2013 to join the New York Mets
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Steph Miller ’08 and her dog, Mayday, the proud owners of a new home in Nashville, TN.
Media Relations Department in their front offices at Citi Field. Some of my responsibilities include contributing to the Media Guide, updating daily game notes, writing post-game notes, assisting with press conferences, media and VIP credentials, press releases and press box operations.” Margaret Turrentine writes: “I’ve moved to Bangkok and am teaching English to high school students. I plan on doing this for at least a year, and I’m having a great time traveling around Southeast Asia in my free time!”
09 Gregory Piatelli gpiatelli@gmail.com
boys. It has been an amazing experience so far. Shortly after graduation, I married a fellow St. Lawrence alum Adam Bendyn on July 6th. We had a small ceremony in my home town, Saratoga Springs, NY. I cannot say that I have changed much since our days at Berkshire but I cannot wait to catch up and see all of you again at our reunion in June. I cannot believe that it has almost been five years!” Mika Nakashige writes: “I graduated last year from Williams with a BA in chemistry, and I’m now living in Hanover, NH and attending Dartmouth as a graduate student, still studying chemistry and researching. A paper of mine will be
published later on this spring, examining the use of titanium metallocene chemistry in natural products synthesis. Exciting stuff! I played varsity volleyball while at Williams as well as ultimate Frisbee, and I think I’ll continue to play ultimate Frisbee while here at Dartmouth. I hope everyone is well!” Chris Rinaldi writes: “I graduated from Lehigh University in May of this past year with a BA in Political Science and a minor in Business. I was a member of the Men’s Lacrosse team where we ended up winning two consecutive Patriot League Championships in my junior and senior years and were ranked as high as #4 in the country. We also participated in the Division 1 NCAA tournament each of those years for the first time in school history, and in my junior year we hosted the first round game against the eventual national runner-up, Maryland. I now live in Manhattan and have been employed at the publishing company, Penguin Random House, for the past 6 months as a Sales Analyst. After I graduated I had a brief stint at the hedge fund, SAC Capital, and I quickly knew that I wanted to do something different, but I never thought that I would end up in publishing. I have utilized my foundation and background to perform a variety of research, analytical, consulting functions in an industry that does not have much precedent for this kind of work. I couldn’t be happier about my decision to come here, and if anybody
Molly L. Ryan MOLLYRYAN1024@yahoo.com
Kelly Brennan Bendyn writes: “I ended up at St. Lawrence University with many other Berkshire alumni and had an amazing experience. I graduated in May with a degree in Government, and shortly after graduation I accepted a job offer at The Ross School, a boarding school in East Hampton, NY. Let me tell you, it’s very different being on the other side. I teach history and environmental science, coach volleyball and softball and am a house parent to middle school and high school
Kelly Brennan Bendyn ’09 married Adam Bendyn on July 6, 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY
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/ Class Notes /
lives in Seattle, WA or Nashville, TN, please let me know, as I fly there twice a month to visit my clients, Amazon, Ingram, and Costco. I can’t believe the time has flown by like it has, and I am excited to see everybody again at the upcoming 5 year reunion!” Kristin Wolf writes: “I will be graduating from St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick in May with a major in Criminology and minors in Psychology and Gender Studies. I am in the process of joining the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I just finished my hockey career here at St. Thomas. We hosted nationals and finished 6th. I received the MVP award for my team as well as the honor of making the AUS conference 1st All-Star Team. In the summer I will be Head Supervisor of a day camp back in Nova Scotia and by Christmas I will hopefully be at Depot in Saskatchewan for RCMP training. From there I could be posted anywhere in Canada! I look forward to seeing all of my classmates and friends at our upcoming 5 year reunion!”
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5th
Christopher Landry landrycb@gmail.com Shannon Nelson senelson@wesleyan.edu
Emily Bastarache writes: “I will be graduating from Cornell University this May with a major in Human Development. In the Fall of 2014, I will be moving to Chicago to pursue my PhD in Psychology at Northwestern University!” Sadie St. Germain, a Communications Design major at Syracuse University, participated in the 2014 ‘Cuse Road Warrior Competition. The annual competition held by Chevy asks participants to show their school spirit in a car design for the Chevy Sonic. Sadie won the grand prize with 5,287 votes. “My Berkshire Bear alums and current faculty helped me in the win, so I wanted to extend my thanks!” she said.
in what was the highest-scoring Division III women’s hockey final ever. Plattsburgh State finished the season 28-1-1.
11 Kristy M. Barnes barneskd@bc.edu Mary Connell connellm@lafayette.edu
UVM Captain Chris McCarthy ’10 signed a deal to play for the New York Rangers in March. The Rangers’ news website, Blueshirt Banter, stated in their announcement of the deal, “McCarthy is a steady two-way player who can be effective at either end of the ice. His production saw a steady increase over his four full seasons, and his 18 goals and 24 assists this year were both career highs.”
Kevin Sullivan competed in the NCAA Frozen Four in April. Chris McCarthy played for the University of Vermont and Sullivan played for Union College, which won the championship! Ali Vakos helped the Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team defeat the Norwich Cadets 9-2 in the Division III national championship on March 22. Vakos scored 13 goals for the Cardinals this season, including the team’s final goal
Kendall Coyne represented Team USA for women’s hockey in the Sochi, Russia Olympic Games in February. The team earned a silver medal in the finals. Trevor Mingoia competed in the Frozen Four in April representing Providence College. Billy Sullivan placed first in the US National Aerobatic Championships (Primary Sequence) in Texas representing the University of North Dakota
Georgia Johnston ’11 is in Brazil teaching English at a private school near a small town called Praia do Forte, in the region of Bahia. She will be there for five months then it’s back to Ireland. Georgia is having a great time exploring, teaching and trying her best to learn Portuguese!
Sadie St. Germain ’10 with her winning design for the 2014 ‘Cuse Sonic Road Warrior competition
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/ Class Notes /
zil. I’ve also traveled to France, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Morocco, as well as Thailand. I financed all of my trips out of my own pocket, working different jobs in-between trips, and now my friend, brother and I are running The Freeride Cafe-Bar (https://www.facebook.com/ freeridecafebar) in Tirol, Austria.
Bears got together at the College of Charleston. From left: Henry Corcoran ‘12, Lucy Fowlkes ‘12, Ali Malecka ‘14, John Irving ‘11, Scott McLinden ‘12, and Serena Menges ‘14
Team. This is a huge accomplishment in the aviation world, Billy’s first piloting experience came as a student in Berkshire’s Aviation Science program just a few short years ago.
Jake Kulevich ’12 with actor Ashton Kutcher and his Colgate teammate
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Steven H. Halperin shhalpe@umich.edu
Juliet E. Shatkin Jes714@nyu.edu
Three members of the Class of 2012 competed in the Frozen Four in April; Pat Feeley for the University of Vermont, Jake Kulevich for Colgate University and Kevin Rooney for Providence College. Kienan Brownrigg writes: “I have had an amazing two years studying at the University of Richmond, and have decided to start a new adventure where I will be studying abroad for my junior year. I will be spending my first semester in Cape Town, South Africa and my second semester in New Zealand. I am beyond excited for this new chapter of my life and can hardly wait for all the fun to begin! No doubt I will miss home, so if anyone is passing through either of those places, definitely let me know!” Lasse Elias Krause writes: “Since graduating from Berkshire, I’ve spent my time traveling and working all over the world. First, a friend and I road tripped across the United States, from Miami (great seeing the Escobars) to Phoenix (so good to see you, Alex English), LA and San Francisco. Then I flew down to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Bra-
Charles G. Yorke Cgy2@mac.com
Casey Lyons ’12 is playing Division I lacrosse at the University of Delaware.
Bryan Bohaty writes: “At the end of January my family and I moved from Hartford, CT to Key West, FL!”
Back to... Berkshire Reunion 2014 is behind us but the recap still lies ahead! Look for a full report of the weekend and photos galore in the Fall/Winter 2015 issue. Reunion 2015 will take place June 5-7. Hope to see you there!
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Former Faculty
Dana and Baker Currier, former faculty, with their son Ben Franke.
Dana Currier writes: “My husband Baker Franke, and I welcomed a son, Ben Franke, who was born on March 18. My connections to Berkshire are many and varied: I taught English and worked with James Harris from 20022004, while Baker taught computer science from 2002-2005. Also, my father was Class of ’62 and my brother was Class of ’01. My dad in particular loved Berkshire and served on the Advisory Board for several years. He passed away in 2007 but his birthday was March 26, so I have been thinking about Berkshire a lot lately.” After a forty-year career in education, which included teaching at Berkshire from September 1978 to June 1992, Liz and Les Clifford retired in June 2014. As the reality of their retirement settled in, they both have reflected, with gratitude, on the rewards of a very fulfilling lifetime spent teaching English and Math to so many students. Additionally, Les looks back on his time spent coaching basketball and baseball at Berkshire – working with Bill Duryee and Tom Young – as having been important parts of his career, while Liz, who founded Berkshire’s first Writing 68
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Center, counts many experiences with her literary magazine and yearbook staffs among her positive memories. They will continue to reside in their current home at 140 Partridge Road, Pittsfield, MA. Their only specific plans to date are to remove the alarm clock from their bedroom and go on a vacation for the middle two weeks of September. Bart Elsbach writes: “The Great Barrington Fairgrounds has an exciting
couple of projects this year including: rebuilding the long building at the entrance as a beautiful timber framed barn, building a dog park, bringing the circus to town, and building a gazebo by the river. There are interesting ways for Berkshire and its students to be involved, and we look forward to working with you again this year.” Norman Rioux, faculty from 1954 to 1958, and founder of what is now known as Sterling College retired from an Adjunct Professorship at Norwich University in December 2013. He has returned to his home town of Newport, VT for retirement years and would be pleased to hear from any former students in his Berkshire days, Nerioux@aol.com The Tatnall School Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Charles A. Tierney III as the new Head of School, beginning on July 1, 2014. Tatnall is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school in Greenville, DE, enrolling students from age 3 through grade 12. Tierney is currently the assistant head of school at Northfield Mount Hermon in Mount Hermon, MA. During his 16-year tenure, he has been responsible for curriculum development, fundraising initiatives, faculty oversight, and management of a STEM building task force. In addition, he recently served as Interim Head of School.
Marianne Stein Hubert is shown here with the turret of a U.S. WW2 B-17 that was safely crash-landed in a pasture near her native village in the south of Belgium in 1944. After 69 years in a chicken coop, the turret was returned to the United States and presented to the family of James Dimel, the U.S. pilot who saved his crew and the villagers.
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Into the Woods: Russell Returns to Thoreau House Hilary Russell, head of Berkshire’s English Department for many years and one of the teachers who helped a group of Berkshire students build the Thoreau House replica behind Berkshire Hall in 2005, introduced the house to a new generation of students this winter. Sue Garcia’s 4th grade class at Undermountain Elementary in Sheffield planned a trip to the Thoreau House to try their own hand at living deliberately and reached out to local resident Russell for his expertise. The fourth graders set off on snowshoes for the half-mile trek through the woods from the base of the Elbow Trail. Along the way, they analyzed animal tracks, identified native trees they had studied and took snow samples to test for water purity. Once the group reached Thoreau House, they sat on the nearby benches and heard tales about Thoreau’s life as a young teacher and writer as told
by Russell. “The students knew much more about Thoreau than I thought they would thanks to Sue’s work and their interest,” said Russell. “I think it’s important for children to spend time in nature with adults who love and are informed about the natural world,” he said. Once inside the house, which consists of just one small room, Russell talked about the furnishings: the tiny table, the writing desk, the simple bed, and the three chairs—“one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society,” as Thoreau said. As the young group absorbed their surroundings, they sipped hot chocolate and huddled together for warmth. “I hope the students will remember the morning,” said Russell. “The cabin in the snowy woods, the sparsely furnished little room with its fire, the perfect winter day.” It’s a safe bet that they’ll remember Mr. Russell, too.
Longtime English Department Chair Hilary Russell leads the intrepid, snow-shoed fourth graders from Undermountain Elementary.
Russell with Hannah Barrett, former English faculty and mother of an Undermountain fourth grader
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/ In Memoriam /
The Berkshire School community extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of the below alumni and former faculty and staff.
Douglas H. Thomson, Jr. ’34 March 27, 2014 Doug Thomson served in the U.S. Army during WWII, reaching the rank of Major. Doug captained various manufacturing companies, including Connecticut International, which supplied runway lights to airports worldwide. He was a proud and humble member of the Profound Thinkers Club of Farmington, CT. He had a lifelong passion for electric vehicles, inventions of any kind, bowties, tennis and ice cream. Jay H. Rossbach, Jr. ’39
February 15, 2014 A Brown graduate, Jay Rossbach served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1943-1946. In 1976, he retired from Saks Fifth Avenue in NY after 30 years as Senior Vice President. He was active in many charities and became the chairman of the Palm Beach, FL chapter of the American Red Cross. He was a member of the U.S. Croquette Association and truly loved the sport. It was chess on grass for him.
Henry H. Bard, Jr. ’41
January 3, 2014 After Berkshire, Dr. Bard graduated from Princeton and Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. He served in the Army during WWII and later as a Navy Medical Officer during the Korean War. He spent his career as a general surgeon at the Glen Cove Hospital in NY. He found pleasure in gardening, reading, croquet, bridge, walking his dog Rufus and many cruises to far-away places.
Weston J. Gourley ’44A
May 12, 2014 A graduate of the University of Hartford, Wes had served as a control tower operator in the U.S. Navy during WWII and continued as chief controller at Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, CT and at that time joined Hartford Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. Wes retired from the engineering department of the Travelers Insurance Company in 1986. Wes had a great interest and love of boating and cruising.
Samuel S. Sheffield, Jr. ’47 March 12, 2014 Samuel Sheffield was a veteran of the U.S. Navy in WWII and served on The Floyds Bay, a sea plane tender in the Pacific Ocean. Sam was a wood-turner, photographer, artist and art teacher. He taught art at Doherty School of the Seven Hills School. In 1970, the school honored him for his excellence in mentoring his students in art classes and starting the school’s Outdoor Program. Miles G. Blakeslee, Jr. ’48 March 15, 2014 Miles Blakeslee graduated from Hobart College and served in the U.S. Army in Germany. He was Vice President at the C.W. Blakeslee & Sons Construction Co. and great grandson of the founder Charles Wells Blakeslee. Miles and Joyce travelled
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extensively throughout their 60 years of marriage. He was a fun loving, tender and generous man who loved his family, golf, traveling and gardening. His son, David Blakeslee, is in the Class of 1974.
Jacob Wahl ’48
January 21, 2014 Jacob Wahl was a resident of Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
Jack R. Ackerman ’49 May 27, 2014 A graduate of Harvard and Harvard Business School, Jack worked as an investment banker before starting Bondreview. A dedicated trustee of the Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Service and the Jewish Foundation for the Education for Women, he was happiest while skiing and playing tennis in his “old men’s” game. Time spent in his garden brought him the greatest pleasure. W. John Friedlander ’50
September 17, 2013 John Friedlander graduated from Bowdoin where he lettered in football, basketball and tennis. In addition to teaching at his alma mater Berkshire, he taught at the former Viewpoint School in Amenia, NY, Peddie and St. George’s. He went to Lake Placid’s Northwood School in 1965 and was appointed headmaster the following year until his retirement in 1996.
H. Donald Harvey, Jr. ’54 February 9, 2014 H. Donald Harvey Jr. graduated from the Wharton School in 1958. Mr. Harvey, who had been in Navy ROTC at Penn, served in the Navy before beginning a business career in New York City. His passions were golf, paddle tennis, recreational and competitive sailing and singing in the choir at St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley. He was a volunteer at a clinic for the medically uninsured. Clayton S. Parsons, Jr. ’54 October 11, 2013 Jack Parsons earned his bachelor’s degree from Colgate University. He joined his father working in the industrial diamond business after which he opened his own businesses, Parsons Diamond Enterprises, American Sawing & Drilling and PMAC., Inc. A devoted husband and father, Jack was also the Treasurer of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House for many years. John R. Brandeis, Jr. ’58 January 24, 2014 John Brandeis graduated from Colgate University and the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. He was commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade, serving on the USS Wasp aircraft carrier. Following his military service, he joined Hallmark Cards, Inc., where he owned two franchises.
/ In Memoriam /
John Leroy Cox ’71
April 25, 2014 Roy Cox attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and Fairleigh Dickinson where he studied geology. He was employed at Refractron Technologies, Newark. He was a member of the Lyons Rod & Gun Club. He was an independent contractor for companies including Seals Eastern in Red Bank, NJ, and Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, CA.
Douglas J. York ’79 September 28, 2013 Cory D. Gilmartin ’99 January 24, 2014 Cory Gilmartin was born in Falmouth, Mass. He worked with his father in plumbing and heating after high school as an apprentice and was working toward his Journeyman’s License. An avid snowboarder and chess player, he was also a Wampanoag Tribal Member. Kelsey C. Hogarth ’07 November 22, 2013 Kelsey Hogarth passed away at her family home in Syracuse, NY. She is survived by her mother Tracy Hogarth-Mosier; her stepfather, Brett Mosier; and her father, Gabriel Clesca; brother, Jon Lerner; grandparents, Marion Hogarth, Allan Mosier, and Erta Clesca; aunts, uncles and cousins. Michelle Banach March 23, 2014 Michelle Banach was a native of Berkshire County. She worked in Berkshire’s Admission Office from 2011-2013. Michelle also served as a volunteer for Relay for Life. She enjoyed tennis and was secretary for the Berkshire Tennis Association. James Albert Johndrow April 25, 2014 James “Al” Johndrow proudly served his country during World War II with the U.S. Army 29th Division. He started working in 1944 as a 2nd cook under L.G. Treadway Corp and in 1962 became Chef Manager at Berkshire until 1992 where he joined the Maintenance Department until his retirement in 2002. He had been a member of the James A. Modolo Post #8348 since 1965. David Terpenning August 26, 2013 Dr. Terpenning taught mathematics at Berkshire from 19771983. He was the JV girls soccer coach and the head timer for the track team. An avid book collector, he had a love for Anglo-Saxon and Old Icelandic literature. “He enjoyed being at Berkshire as much as I did,” wrote his granddaughter Courtney Miller ’05, who told us of the news.
Kelsey Hogarth and Octavia Ocean
Octavia D. Ocean ’07 February 6, 2014 A letter from Mr. Mulder to the Class of 2007: This has been a sad winter for so many of us in the extended Berkshire family. As many of you know, Octavia’s passing comes soon after the passing of her dear friend and fellow 2007 classmate, Kelsey Hogarth. For me personally, and for Mrs. Mulder and our family, these tragic losses strike very close to home as both Kelsey and Octavia were advisees of mine during their time at Berkshire. I’m left cherishing our own family’s blessings, just as I’m reminded of how fortunate all of our Berkshire students, past and present, are to have grown up under the Mountain and within such a caring, compassionate, and supportive community of students and adults. This may well be our school’s greatest gift to our graduates as you all move forward onto your personal and professional lives: to know the power of community in a way that few people ever do. I had just reconnected with Octavia and other friends at Kelsey’s memorial service earlier this winter. Octavia had flown up from Charlotte, NC and battled some wintry Syracuse, NY weather to be there for Kelsey. It was wonderful to hear her talk about her life after Berkshire and to see what a tremendous young woman and leader she had become. No surprise there for anyone who knew Octavia well! Towards the end of Kelsey’s service, Octavia stood before the gathered community of family and friends and delivered a stunning, eloquent, and wrenching tribute to Kelsey, to their friendship, and to their shared love and fondness for Berkshire. It was Octavia as you all remember her best…proud, passionate, principled, and poised in the most difficult of moments. I was filled with such admiration, and I found her immediately after the service to share just this. She smiled, that radiant, endless Octavia Ocean smile, and said, “Ah you know, Mr. Mulder. I was just speaking from the heart, and Berkshire is always in our hearts.”
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/ In Memoriam /
C. Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 Beloved Teacher
SHEFFIELD—Charles Twiggs Myers, 83, a legendary history teacher and coach at Berkshire School for over four decades, died at Berkshire Medical Center on June 14 as a result of injuries suffered in a fall at home. Insatiably curious, Mr. Myers had interests ranging from clocks to railroad trains, from trees and flowers to anything written by May Sarton and Walter Pritchard Eaton, from the Philadelphia Phillies to the back roads of the Berkshires and the Adirondacks, where he spent his summers. Twiggs Myers was born on August 2, 1930, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children of Charles Myers, a Philadelphia attorney, and the former Gertrude James Hearne. He was the namesake of his great-great grandfather, David Emmanuel Twiggs, a hero of the Mexican War and later commander of the Department of Texas for the United States Army. When the War Between the States broke out, Brevet Major Twiggs, a Georgian, promptly turned the department over to the Confederacy, which commissioned him a Major General. Born in 1790, he was the oldest Confederate general in the Civil War. As a child in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Twiggs Myers went to elementary school in nearby Radnor and from fourth through twelfth grades attended the private Haverford School. During his childhood, he raised homing pigeons kept in a loft attached to the family garage. Every summer, a baggage master on the Pennsylvania Railroad would take pigeons belonging to the young Twiggs and other local members of the International Federation of American Homing Pigeon Fanciers to as far away as Columbus, Ohio, or even Indianapolis, one thousand miles distant, and then release them. (Years later, Mr. Myers would raise chickens at his home on Berkshire School Road in Sheffield, which he delighted in calling Laywell Farm. He also owned several dogs, among them Wags, a terrier from Twiggs’s childhood;
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Minnie AKA Minnie the Mooch, a Golden Retriever; Sassy, a Czech mutt named after the singer Sarah Vaughan; and Cricket, a Pomeranian-Corgi mix.) In 1948, he entered Princeton University, where his father had graduated in 1909, when Woodrow Wilson was its president. In his oral history of Berkshire School, Mr. Myers readily admitted that his academic progress was, in his words, “frequently hindered by the many social distractions of college life.” Among other members of Princeton’s Class of 1952 were Dick Kazmaier, a tailback on Princeton’s football team and the last Ivy Leaguer
to win the Heisman Trophy, and James A. Baker, Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush. Twiggs Myers graduated from Princeton in 1952 with a degree in history and, he said, no idea of what he wanted to do. He drifted into Harvard Law School and soon discovered he did not want to be a lawyer. “I found the whole business of the law distasteful,” he says, “and I had a very miserable year in Cambridge.” But he knew that he loved history. He wryly noted that he also had “an unrealistic view of the romance of teaching at a
/ In Memoriam /
boarding school.” So, following his year at Harvard, Twiggs Myers headed west to the Berkshires, where he found his direction, his calling and his home. At Berkshire School, Mr. Myers was among the last of a breed: the bachelor schoolmaster whose institution is his love and whose students are his children. With a passion for the Civil War and a reverence for Lincoln and Lee, he taught history at Berkshire from 1953 to 1995, when he was named the school’s Senior Master Emeritus. In 1974, he built his home on Berkshire School Road, where his immediate neighbor to the east was his Berkshire School mentor and friend, Arthur Chase. Mr. Myers coached track and field his entire career and, in 1966, founded the School’s cross country running program, whose teams racked up 200 victories while he was coach. After retiring, Mr. Myers served as the School’s archivist and continued to take meals with the students and faculty. A popular figure at alumni celebrations, he remained especially close with members of his first graduating class, which, at its 25th reunion, named him an honorary member of the Class of 1957. In 1995 Mr. Myers was named Honorary Distinguished Alumnus, and in 2001 he joined Berkshire’s board of trustees. At the end of every academic year, awards in his name are given for teaching, excellence in history, and achievement in cross country running. In the spring of 2012, a sports car whisked Mr. Myers through a phalanx of cheering students, faculty, and friends en route to the dedication of the Myers Lobby in Berkshire Hall, the School’s main academic building. Mr. Myers was an inveterate storyteller with a quick, often irreverent, wit—among the staples in his repartee was Adlai Stevenson’s quip, “I find Norman Vincent Peale appalling and St. Paul appealing.” Every August, as he reluctantly left his camp on Lake Champlain to return to the classroom, he pronounced, “The curtain of
seriousness is descending.” In a 1995 commencement address at Berkshire, Mr. Myers, ever the optimist, urged graduates to share that optimism. “Is there anything to be won either for yourselves or for the rest of humanity by lamenting the malignancy of the times?” he asked them. “A spirit that rejoices in life may be quicker to heal its neighbor’s misery. This is not the first century in which the world has lived with calamity; over students in the Middle Ages, the skies hung dark indeed. Theirs was an uncertain fate, but still they made songs and sang them, songs whose gaiety has survived all their unhappiness, and one such song has survived to this day: Gaudeamus! Let us be joyful!” Twiggs Myers was predeceased by his sister, Gertrude Ten Broeck, with whom he is interred at St. John’s Church in Essex, N.Y. In addition to his countless former
students, Mr. Myers’s survivors include his sister, Eliza Miller; nieces Diane Hulburt, Katje McIntyre, Wendy Miller, and Susan Curtin; nephews Hunter Ten Broeck and Mark Miller; 12 grand-nephews and nieces; and 5 great-grandnephews and nieces. A memorial service at Christ Church in Sheffield, followed by a reception at Berkshire School, was held on July 12. Gifts in memory of Twiggs Myers may be made to Berkshire School or to the Sheffield Land Trust in care of Birches Roy Funeral Home, 33 South Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230. – James Harris
A full tribute to Twiggs Myers’s life and legacy will appear in the Fall/Winter issue of the Bulletin. We invite you to share your memories and photos at www.berkshireschool.org/twiggsmyers.
Mr. Myers (left) with Walt Henrion ‘57 and Mr. Beattie, representing Berkshire at the Tri-State Pentagonal Meet in the spring of 1957
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/ In Memoriam /
The Class of 2001 Remembers Patrick Joyce
Joy with Richard Unsworth, head of Berkshire School from 1991-1996
Joy Merritt Unsworth March 31, 2014 Joy Merritt graduated from the Northfield School for Girls in 1945. There at a concert, she met her future husband Richard, a student at Mt. Hermon School for Boys. Joy went on to Wheaton College, where she was president of her graduating class of 1949. Richard and Joy were married later that year, August 20, and embarked together upon lifetime careers in education. Early on, Joy worked as a teacher of English and social studies at the Day School in New Haven, while Richard pursued a master of divinity at Yale. Joy earned a master of social work in 1959 at Smith College, where Richard served as chaplain and professor of theology. She was an instructor at Smith College’s Department of Education and Child Development, and in 1968, was hired by the Northampton public schools as a special education tutor. In 1972, she was named educational diagnostician and learning disabilities specialist for the school district. Just three years later, Joy became the first public school psychologist in the state of Massachusetts. In 1980, Joy and Richard relocated to the wooded hills where they first met, when Richard was named headmaster at Northfield Mt. Hermon School. Soon thereafter, Joy was appointed director of special education for the Greenfield public schools, a position she held until she retired in 1989. Source: Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.)
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With the bench dedicated in memory of Patrick Joyce are, from left: Jeff Kleinops ’01, Hilary Russell, Jay Batra ’01, Will Sargent ’01, Pieter Mulder, Suzanne Katz ’03, Joe Seigle ’01, Peter Quilty, Alex Barrett ’01, Nancy Duryee-Aas, Peter Kinne, Adam Lichtenberg ’02. Front: Louisa Ryan ’01 The plaque is inscribed with words from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Last September, Joe Seigle, Jay Batra, Louisa Ryan and Will Sargent came together to organize a tribute for their fallen classmate, Patrick Joyce. A beautiful wooden bench was placed next to the Russell Shelter, a short hike up the Mountain from Berkshire Hall, and fellow classmates were invited to gather on the Mountain in Patrick’s memory. The four friends hoped the bench would be “a place of sanctuary for students, a place of relief from whatever life below may be inflicting, a place that Patrick would have wanted to go.” Patrick B. Joyce grew up in Riverdale, New York. He was a friendly, outgoing classmate that everyone knew and everyone loved spending time with. He had a BIG personality and an even bigger sense of humor and heart. Funny, witty, spontaneous, outspoken and loyal are all words that describe him. Patrick loved the fall and spring at Berkshire and enjoyed the solitude that the Mountain brought—it was one of his favorite places to spend free time. Patrick was very close to Hilary Russell, Nancy Duryee and Peter Kinne who were all very important to him. Our class is so happy that the bench in Patrick’s name can be next to the Russell Shelter since Hilary was such a special person to Patrick. Patrick studied physiology at Northeastern and graduated in 2006 after which he moved back to New York City. Patrick was an amazing businessman and had a remarkable knack for finding value in things that were considered undesirable, then turning them into revenue-generating entities. He was in the Carpenters Union, a general contractor with a full-time team revamping apartments all over the city. He was engaged to a beautiful girl and in love with his dog, Saki. He was always interested in travel, the arts and meeting new people and had a deep affection for the city of New Orleans. – Will Sargent ’01 and Louise Ryan ’01
/ In Memoriam /
Sam Quincy Nichols ’58 Loving Father, Hockey Player, Wordsmith Samuel Nichols graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1962. He served in the U.S. Army from 19621964. In 1965, he married the former Katherine Bertholf and they settled in Yarmouth, Maine. Sam worked for many years for the S.D. Warren Paper Company, now known as SAPPI. Besides his work in commercial paper sales, he enjoyed his brisk early morning walks through Concord, pond hockey, competing and winning in any sport and working in his yard. His favorite place was North Haven, Maine where he went as a child and through the summer of 2013. He loved nothing more than a nice sail on Penobscot Bay with friends and family, cooking lobster next to the Scout House and enjoying the view of the Camden Hills.
Sam’s daughter, Jen Nichols Reed ’87, remembers her father: Long before Kate (Nichols Olney ’85) and I attended Berkshire, we were privy to numerous stories, tales of teachers, coaches and mischievous adventures that Dad experienced throughout his five years under the Mountain. (He was in the last eighth grade class.) Jack Stewart and Twiggs Myers were an integral part of his growing up both on and off the field and ice. His gratitude for having attended and graduated from Berkshire made him constantly proud. His classmates, teammates and role models were ever present throughout Dad’s life. Berkshire shaped him into the wonderful person, husband, father and friend that he was. Dad passed away on February 22. He was 74. He was surrounded by his family and a few favorite hockey sticks. Sam Nichols and Jack Stewart
From Bill Mayher ’60 Sam Nichols was one of the last great hockey players of the wire-boards-set-up-on-the-football-field era. He was a heady player, a strong skater with a knack for setting up interesting scoring combinations, and a captain who pushed teammates to disregard the vicissitudes of snow, sleet, gloom of night (or whatever else came our way) and play harder than any of us imagined possible. Back then we shoveled a lot of snow and skated through a lot of slush, if not actual puddles. On rare days when the ice was perfect, we got so excited roaring around on a quick, predictably smooth surface, we probably could have beaten the Bruins, at least for a couple of minutes. No one showed up earlier or was better prepared to meet challenges than Sam. And he didn’t give a whit about who you were or where you came from, as long as you gave things your best shot.
“I will be home again in Maine for the winter to take up the writer’s life, to work on my boats and in the woods cutting logs for the local paper mill, to spend time with my grandchildren, and to play hockey when the local mill pond freezes over and once more my quirky pals gather like gulls along the pond’s edge, and we lace up our skates for another go at it.” – Sam Nichols, from a tribute written for his 50th Reunion
To read about Sam’s connection to 2011 alumna and ice hockey Olympian Kendall Coyne, see page 17. Spring/Summer 2014
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/ In Memoriam /
Dr. Kenefick at the dedication of the Barbara Kenefick Center for Learning in 2004 with her son, Dr. Timothy Kenefick
Becoming Infinite Tim Kenefick shared many colorful stories and anecdotes at Dr. Kenefick’s memorial service. “Those of us in medicine know that as a heart fails it enlarges. As its strength diminishes, its size grows and its walls thin as it stretches to vainly pump a little bit more blood. Over the last five years my mother’s poor battered, tattered and much-repaired heart failed. I like to think that it just kept growing, pouring out love to those around her, stretching and stretching until instead of bursting, it just became infinite.” He also shared some life lessons taught by his mother, below.
You can lose everything you possess, and choose to be grateful. You can be weak of heart and frail of limb, and choose to be strong. No matter how much or how little you have, you can choose to be generous. If you want to help someone grow, choose to listen. If you want people to listen to you, choose to speak softly. As wisdom and experience grow, choose humility. No matter what hardship you face, choose to experience God’s grace. If you want to love your pets, choose cats.
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Berkshire Bulletin
/ Berkshire School Archives / C. Twiggs Myers, Proprietor
Bear-ly Admissible Herewith is Mr. Myers’s final Myers Mystery selection. As you might imagine, Twiggs loved unearthing a great photo with an intriguing back story (see below), but the time spent with him pouring over pictures in the Archives was the real treasure. To answer Mr. Myers’s closing conundrum, email: bulletin@berkshireschool.org or write to: Myers Mystery Contest, Berkshire School, 245 North Undermountain Road, Sheffield, MA 01257
Congratulations to Joe Fusco ’75 of Los Altos, California, winner of the previous Myers Mystery. Though there were several correct responses submitted (L. Hayden Cadwallader ’75, Howard Pitts ’75, Forrest Hull ’77, Dave West ’77 and Brinton Thomas ’76), Joe’s was the earliest one, with the most detail. He wrote: “That was Peace Press correspondent Frank Kirschner ’75 interviewing Officer McGarry of the Sheffield Police, during his investigation of the Great Study Hall Clock Demolition. In the winter of 1975, a small group of students (Frank was not one of them) decided they were sick of school. The symbol of their oppression was the big study hall clock in Berkshire Hall, looming above everyone consigned to evening study hall, ticking out the long hours during classroom periods. It seemed to them to be the very heartbeat of The Establishment. So, one night they snuck into Berkshire Hall and planted something—plastic explosives?—neatly behind the clock, which was about 15 feet up on the eastern wall. The Dictator Clock was blown right off the wall and scattered throughout the room.
The perpetrators hoped that dispatching the clock would bring the school to a standstill—which it did, for a very short while. The local police felt compelled to respond, and it created a press sensation! Frank Kirschner spotted an opportunity to scoop all the local newspapers, donning a ‘Peace Press’ outfit to interview Mr. McGarry. The policeman’s relaxed demeanor in the photograph suggests it was a non-confrontational affair despite the exotic nature of the crime. This incident was recalled years later, when Mr. McGarry, as a security administrator at Berkshire, met with the proprietor of a professional fireworks company to plan a display for Alumni Weekend. The fireworks man was none other than Jamie Widmann ‘76, one of the ‘Berkshire Bombers!’ I’m sure the two had a good laugh over old times… and the Alumni Weekend fireworks display was a big success.”
245 North Undermountain Road Sheffield, Massachusetts 01257-9672 Address Service Requested
For Parents of Alumni: If this magazine is addressed to a son or daughter who no longer lives at home, kindly call us with the correct address: 413-229-1225
C. Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 1930 – 2014 Berkshire lost a legendary educator and a link to its history right before this magazine went to press. The news of Mr. Myers’s passing stunned us all, and the campus feels even emptier this summer without him. Within minutes after the email announcing this sad news was sent, remembrances and photos from alumni of all eras started streaming in to our website. In a bit of irony for a man who eschewed even email, the news exploded on social media connecting the literal thousands of those whose lives he touched, and providing a forum for a shared time of mourning throughout our extended community. Knowing Twiggs was an honor, and we all knew him in different roles: teacher, coach, advisor, mentor, colleague, archivist, friend. As per Twiggs’s wishes, we will gather to remember him formally at Reunion Weekend in June 2015. A full tribute to his life and legacy will appear in the Fall/Winter issue of the Bulletin.
We invite you to share your memories and photos at www.berkshireschool.org/twiggsmyers.