Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin | Spring '14 by Choate Rosemary Hall

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

NEW HAVEN, CT PERMIT #1090

333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT 06492-3800

BULLETIN THE MAG A ZINE OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL

SPRING ’14

WHAT’S THE

Change Service Requested

i.d.Lab at Choate For more information about the new St. John Hall and the development of Choate's i.d.Lab curriculum visit www.choate.edu/academics/st-john-hall. Features include a construction site camera, building renderings, and course descriptions.

BIG ii.d. d EA? Choate's New i.d.Lab Sets the Stage for Design-Driven Thinking

The Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin is printed using vegetable-based inks on FSC-certified, 100% post consumer recycled paper. This issue saved 101 trees, 42,000 gallons of wastewater, 291 lbs of waterborne waste, and 9,300 lbs of greenhouse gases from being emitted.

In this issue:

A PASSION FOR THE LIFE OF THE MIND

THREE-PEAT: ALUMNAE OLYMPIC FEAT

THE UNSUNG ELEMENT

A countdown to the finish…

Science teacher and photographer Ian Morris captures the “Snow Moon” which coincided with Valentine’s Day this year. The February full moon is known as the Snow Moon because the heaviest North American snows fall during this time of year. Winter Storm Pax left almost two feet of wet, heavy snow on campus.

…and

BULLETIN THE MAG A ZINE OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL

SPRING ’14

Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin is published fall, winter, and spring for alumni, students and their parents, and friends of the School. Please send change of address to Alumni Records and all other correspondence to the Communications Office, 333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT 06492-3800. Choate Rosemary Hall does not discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, athletics, other school-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices on the basis of age, gender, race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or non-job-related handicap. Printed in U.S.A. 1314-119/17 M

Editorial Offices T: (203) 697-2252 F: (203) 697-2380 E-mail: alumline@choate.edu Website: www.choate.edu Director of Strategic Planning & Communications Alison J. Cady Editor Lorraine S. Connelly Design and Production David C. Nesdale

Contributors Mary F. Cushman Ellen Q. Devine Benjamin Firke ’08 Courtney Jaser Katharine H. Jewett G. Jeffrey MacDonald ’87 Michelle Judd Rittler ’98 Sandi Shelton Eric Stahura John Steinbreder ’74 Elizabeth S. Walbridge ’07 Shelly Welch Lindsay Whalen ’01

Class Notes Editor Henry McNulty ’65 Communications Assistant Britney G. Cullinan Photography Nancie Battaglia Donald R. Bennett Deron Chang John Giammatteo ’77 Ian Morris

the courage and confidence to lead. Whether coaching the varsity eight to victory, representing the United States at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, or pitching a screenplay of professional standard to peers, Choate Rosemary Hall students build the foundation for who they will become and how they will navigate the many opportunities that lie ahead.

It all begins at Choate Rosemary Hall. But it can’t happen without your support. Please give generously.

Send your donation to the Annual Fund at Choate Rosemary Hall, 333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Give us a call at (203) 697-2389 or go to www.choate.edu/donate to make your gift online.

Contents | Spring 2014 f e a t u r e s

d e p a r t m e n t s

4 26 30

What's the BIG i.d.ea? The first in a series of articles on 21st century teaching and learning

Three-peat: An Alumnae Feat on Olympic Ice

A Passion for the Life of the Mind: Alumni look back at their school years before becoming Heads of School

Nostalgia: The Unsung Element

A reflection by faculty spouse Mary F. Cushman

On Christian & Elm News about the School Alumni Association News

Classnotes Q&A with Broadway and Hollywood screenwriter Douglas McGrath ’76 and profiles of entrepreneur Miles Spencer ’81, novelist Joanna Hershon ’90, and portraiture artist Lucy Davis Phillips ’01

In Memoriam Remembering Those We Have Lost

Scoreboard Winter Sports Wrap-up

Bookshelf Reviews of works by Betsy Ross Horn ’59, John Steinbreder ’74, Kate Manning ’75, Michael Mullin ’85, and Amy Talkington ’88

End Note Voices From the Past by G. Jeffrey MacDonald ’87

Choate Rosemary Hall Board of Trustees 2013-2014 Samuel P. Bartlett ’91 Michael J. Carr ’76 George F. Colony ’72 Alex D. Curtis Thompson Dean David R. Foster ’72 Robert B. Goergen, Jr. ’89 John F. Green ’77 Linda J. Hodge ’73 Christopher M. Hodgson ’78 Brett M. Johnson ’88 Vanessa Kong-Kerzner Cecelia M. Kurzman ’87

Edward O. Lanphier ’74 Gretchen Cooper Leach ’57 James A. Lebovitz ’75 Kewsong Lee ’82 Robert A. Minicucci ’71 Marshall S. Ruben Henry K. Snyder ’85 Jeanette Sublett Thomas M. Viertel ’59

Life Trustee Charles F. Dey Bruce S. Gelb ’45 Edwin A. Goodman ’58 Herbert V. Kohler, Jr. ’57 Cary L. Neiman ’64 Stephen J. Schulte ’56 Edward J. Shanahan William G. Spears ’56

Editorial Advisory Board Christopher Hodgson ’78 Judy Donald ’66 Howard R. Greene Dorothy Heyl ’71 Henry McNulty ’65 Michelle Judd Rittler ’98 John Steinbreder ’74 Monica St. James Francesca Vietor ’82 Heather Zavod

Watch us! www.youtube.com/gochoate Share! instagram.com/gochoate Pin! pinterest.com/choaterosemary

Remarks From The Headmaster

Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends of the School, We have returned from vacation break refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to embrace spring term and its ultimate culmination for the Class of 2014: Commencement. This year’s graduating class has spent the past two years of their high school careers in an iPad program, honing their skills in a technology-rich learning environment. With the Kohler Environmental Center as inspiration, our students there learned to be active, collaborative learners and all the while, fully participatory in decision-making about the rules they wish to live by, while meeting sustainability goals. And now before our very eyes they are witnessing the rise of the new St. John Hall, future home to our mathematics, computer science, and robotics program, and our first i.d.Lab. In winter term, as the framing for the new building went up, our sixth formers were invited to write their names on the beams, leaving their own symbolic Kilroy Was Here for future generations. Our hope for the new facility, and the i.d.Lab in particular, is beautifully articulated by Bulletin contributor Katie Jewett, Director of Curricular Initiatives, when she says, “more than a name for a space, it is an iconic way to capture the unique learning environment at Choate, a school signature that stands for flexibility and versatility, for project-based learning and practical application, for teachers and students collaborating to catalyze discovery and the best kinds of learning possible.” The Choate Rosemary Hall educational experience continues to evolve by integrating our traditional strengths with innovative thinking; the result of which is collaborative learning in a technologyrich academic space that will produce learners who are confident, adaptable, independent, and inspired to learn.

Of course, living in and learning from a dedicated community of learners has always been a mainstay of the Choate experience. In this issue, as alumni reflect on their school years before becoming Heads of School, they see their lives spent at school as crucial shapers of their future careers. Looking back on his experience, Ned Parsons ’84, new Head of the Rivers School, says, “Choate did great things to excite in me a passion for the life of the mind. I was energized in the presence of a community of learners.” This past winter, Cody Harrington ’73, digital effects artist at Pixar Animation Studios, came back to campus as the Ambassador S. Davis Phillips ’61 Lecture Fellow, and shared his own experience of having his imagination ignited at school. Before the evening lecture, he visited art and computer science classes, and fielded questions regarding his extensive background in film production, broadcast television, and interactive multimedia. Harrington cited the mentoring of Choate astronomy teacher Bill Ayres as an important early influence. He also proposed a “Saturday morning theory” for any creative endeavor. Harrington emphasized, self-knowledge is key. He also urged students to nuture their passions – whether it be music, photography, or hiking. As alumni across the decades can attest, providing an environment where students can nurture their passions is a hallmark of this great school. As we go forward – with a backward glance – it is heartening to know that what our founders embraced as “the latest ideas of modern education” more than a century ago is still a key element of the transformative experience that is a Choate Rosemary Hall education today. With all best wishes from campus,

Alex D. Curtis Headmaster

Bulletin | spring 2014 3

Letters

Congratulations!

You’re a Choate graduate?

Your magazine frequently appears in Issuu near our magazine … so whenever I see a new issue of the Bulletin I give it a read. I just read your latest issue and must send a note of congratulations to you and your team on the redesign. It’s beautiful (I’m particularly a fan of the illustrations) and really has a great sense of the character of your community. Having just done a redesign on our magazine, I know the hard work that goes into it (coupled with writing a feature article during the redesign process … how brave!). Congratulations to you, and your wonderful “in-house resources.” You’ve got fans in China.

The Tom Yankus ’52 article in the fall issue of the Bulletin is special. He describes the Choate I attended. I wanted to share a photograph of me with President Kennedy on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. In February 1963, I completed the Navy Officer Candidate School program in Newport, R.I., and was assigned to a destroyer home ported in San Diego. A week following my arrival, we received news that the President would be watching plane guarding maneuvers from the bridge of the carrier. In connection with his visit, the President asked to meet an officer from each of the participating ships. Because I had just arrived and knew absolutely nothing about the operation of our destroyer, the Captain selected me to represent our ship. Two hours later, I was lifted off the fantail by a helicopter and delivered to the flight deck of the Kitty Hawk where I immediately fell into line to meet the President. I was the last officer in that line, which may be why the President decided to chat. He asked how I had received my commission and then I asked the President if it would be all right for me to extend his best wishes to Seymour St. John ’31. “You’re a Choate graduate,” he observed and then we stood there talking about Choate while the two Admirals (shown in the photograph) were wondering who the hell is this Ensign who appears to have friends in common with the President? I received the photograph from the carrier and sent it to my father, who forwarded it to a friend who was able to have it signed. The signed photograph reached my father two days after the President’s assassination.

Zachary Young Shanghai American School

Moved to tears The picture of Ralph Metcalfe not giving the German salute at the 1936 Olympics, which was in the fall issue of the Bulletin, moved me to tears. It is a picture that every Choate student needs to see and to understand. It is not on the “playing fields of Eton” that character is molded, but in action like Metcalfe’s. Sports do not build character; rather, they reveal it. A sidebar to that picture was the decision by Avery Brundage, head of the U.S. delegation, to replace two Jewish sprinters, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, with Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, so that Adolf Hitler would not have to recognize the fact that they were Jewish when the U.S. sprinters won the 4x 100 meter relay. The U.S. won by 30 meters. Both Owens and Metcalfe objected, but the violently anti-Semitic Brundage, would not budge. Two years later Brundage’s firm received the contract to construct the German Embassy in Washington, D C. Metcalfe belongs in the Pantheon of Heroes. Woody Laikind ’53 New York, New York

Ian Y. Bennett ’58 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

on CHRISTIAN & ELM | On Campus

Construction began on the new St. John Hall on October 7, 2013 . Since the fall, foundations and the steel

frame of the 34,305 square-foot building designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, New Haven Conn., are now completed. Backfilling around foundations and the waterproofing of foundations and installation of foot drains are now underway. The exterior wall and roof construction began the first week in April. The new facility for mathematics, computer science, and robotics will feature Choate’s first purpose-built i.d.Lab (see article on page 10), a computer room, lecture hall, café, common room, faculty offices, small group meeting rooms, lecture hall, and a classroom with video conferencing capabilities. The new facility is scheduled to open in spring 2015.

photography by john giammatteo ’77

Bulletin | spring 2014 5

on CHRISTIAN & ELM | Newsworthy

2014 Commencement Speaker ABC’s John Quiñones

Cody Harrington ’73 fields student questions at the Ambassador S. Davis Phillips ’61 International Lecture on January 28.

PIXAR’S CODY HARRINGTON ’73 GIVES PHILLIPS LECTURE Cody Harrington ’73, digital effects artist at Pixar Animation Studios, was the guest speaker at an all-school special program on January 28. His multimedia presentation included clips from his early work with director James Cameron to his work on Toy Story 3 (2009) and Cars2 (2010). For Sony Pictures Imageworks, he created the 3D volumetric atmospheric and elemental effects (clouds, tornadoes, hurricanes, avalanches, snow, dust, rain, and fire), as seen in such feature films as: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (2009). Harrington touched on a number of topics, including the experience of coming to Choate for the first time, leaving Texas; the influence on his career of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” a poem studied in his Choate English class, (“It has become an engine in my life”); and the mentoring of astronomy teacher Bill Ayres. Harrington’s “Saturday morning theory” resonated most with students: “What do you like to do on Saturday mornings when nothing else is structuring your time? Nurture this passion.” His parting words of wisdom for his audience were, “Happiness thrives in discovery and adaptability is key.”

Emmy and Peabody award-winning broadcaster John Quiñones will deliver Commencement remarks to the Class of 2014 on June 8. Quiñones was a featured speaker at the 2014 National Association of Independent Schools annual meeting held in Orlando, Fla., from Feb. 26-28. His talk was entitled, “The Power of Education.” Growing up in San, Antonio, Texas, the son of migrant Mexican workers, Quiñones overcame limited circumstances and dared to dream, eventually becoming ABC’s first Latino correspondent. He has won seven national Emmy Awards for his work on “Primetime Live,” “Burning Questions,” and “20/20” and is the sole anchor of “What Would You Do?” – a newsmagazine series that tests ethics and human behavior with aid of a hidden camera. He joined ABC News in June 1982 as a general assignment correspondent based in Miami. Prior to joining ABC News he was a reporter with WBBM-TV in Chicago. There, he won two Emmy Awards for his 1980 reporting on the plight of illegal immigrants from Mexico. He received a bachelor of arts in speech communications from St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas and a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Said Alex Curtis, Headmaster, “John’s message at NAIS was inspiring when he spoke about his life story and the impact of his teachers; he reminded us about the critical responsibility educators have to support and nurture their students in and out of the classroom. He urged us to always maintain the human connection and never to pass up the opportunity to be a positive role model. This is exactly the message that will resound with our students and their families at Commencement.”

Bulletin | spring 2014 7

ROBOTICS TEAM HEADS TO U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

WALLINGFORD HUBCAP OPENS

The Choate Robotics Team has been competing in the VEX Robotics Competitions, a series of world-wide tournaments. In its first competition last December at Masuk High School, Choate’s team was a finalist. In their second competition in January at Manchester High School the team qualified for the U.S. Open Championship to be held in Omaha this spring. The team won the “Build Award” for overall quality of their robot. Team members are Max Fine ’17 of Washington, D.C.; Katrina Gonzalez ’17 of Greenwood, S.C.; Ausar Mundra ’17 of Detroit, Mich.; Adam Guo ’14 and Jacky Xu ’15 of Shenzhen, China; Nick Chobor ’15 of Madison., Conn.; Adham Meguid ’16 of Avon, Conn.; and Ian Wolterstorff ’17 of New Haven, Conn.

National Merit Scholarship Competition Fourteen sixth formers have been named finalists in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship competition. They are winner: Dylan Farrell of Wallingford, Conn.; and finalists: Margaret Guzulescu of West Hartford, Conn.; Kevan Ip of Guilford, Conn.; Junie Khang of McLean, Va.; Ju Seung Lee of Seoul, S. Korea; Richard May of Guilford, Conn.; Bong-Gi Min of Dublin, Calif.; James Ortiz of Union City, N.J.; Courtney Pal of New Canaan, Conn.; Robert Petrocelli of Westerly, R.I.; Sneha Saha of Avon, Conn.; Ian Silvers of West Hartford, Conn.; Ye Eun Sim of El Paso, Tex.; and Elizabeth Stanley of Wallingford, Conn. Thirty-six students were named Commended Students in the 2014 National Merit Program. In addition, Calvin Nickelson of Atlanta, Ga., is a winner in the 2014 National Achievement Scholarship Program, an academic competition established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding black American high school students, and James Ortiz of Union City, N.J. and Jordan Santiago of Durham, Conn., have been named Scholars in the 2014 National Hispanic Recognition Program.

Headmaster Alex D. Curtis gave remarks at the opening of the Wallingford Hubcap business center in February. He joined Wallingford residents, town officials, members of the Wallingford Board of Education, and others to celebrate this community initiative at its new Center Street location. The Wallingford Hubcap is seeking to drive innovation in the community. It is a hybrid-business incubator whose goal is “to provide a unique opportunity for collaboration between businesses and the local school district to provide an authentic learning experience.” Says Headmaster Curtis, “We were delighted to be able to collaborate with Dr. Sal Menzo, Wallingford Superintendent of Schools, on the Hubcap business center which is a truly innovative project and supports the educational mission of the town.” Choate is one of several local firms and organizations that donated funds to convert the storefront space into affordable offices for technology start-ups and other fledgling businesses. The School has also partnered with a number of community initiatives including the Wallingford Public Schools’ 21st Century Innovation Team project as well as the ongoing renovation of Mark T. Sheehan High School’s Mahan Planetarium.

SERVICE HERO On March 7, Michael Solazzo ’16 of Fairfield, Conn., was recognized by the Red Cross at a breakfast in Hartford, Conn., for his work in Youth Services. Each year, the Red Cross accepts nominations from the public for recognition of people who go above and beyond in service to others, exemplifying the spirit of our own mission. These heroes are honored in recognition of their good works. Michael is chapter president of the American Red Cross at Choate.

Sixth Former Named Intel Semifinalist Seongwoo Hong ’14 of Seoul, S. Korea, has been named a semifinalist in the 73rd annual Science Talent Search. Choate is one of 185 schools from which an Intel STS semifinalist was named this year. Each Intel SFS is awarded $1,000. In addition, the semifinalist’s school receives $1,000 to further support excellence in science, math, or engineering education.

FPO

Top Debaters Head To Lithuania At the Loomis Invitational Debate in January, Kyra Ward ’14 of Aspen, Colo., and Tanay Chheda ’14 of Mumbai, India, took first and second places, respectively, in the advanced speaker division. Kyra, from an earlier win at the Andover tournament in November, and Tanay have qualified to represent the U.S. team at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship in Lithuania this spring. The last time Choate sent two students to the World Championships was in 2012.

on CHRISTIAN & ELM | In the Arts

MEtaMorphoses Student Production While the opening

ceremony of Sochi Olympics offered a spectacle of water and ice, students in Choate’s theater department presented their own version of razzle dazzle in the winter production of Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Metamorphoses from February 13–15. A series of pools added a logistical challenge to the set design – the cast was not able to use the stage until a week prior to the performance due to prolonged construction. The glowing waterproof LED light-up balls added an ethereal aspect to an already spectacular performance.

Bulletin | spring 2014 9

whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the

BIG

illustrations shaw nielsen

Bulletin | spring 2014 11

Feature

Design Thinking Students Taking Education in Hand by elizabeth walbridge ’07

↘

Why is the dining hall at Choate Rosemary Hall so congested at lunchtime, and what can be done about it? Could a backpack be designed that would better suit the needs of Choate students? Might the classroom space itself be reimagined to accommodate new types of learning? These are the sort of real-world problems that Choate students will address in a new course called “Design Thinking” taught in the i.d.Lab in the brand-new St. John Hall, now under construction next to Archbold. Design Thinking describes a unique form of problem-solving which recognizes that good solutions come from both the creative and the analytical parts of the brain. Students who take the new course will be active drivers of their own learning experiences. The hands-on, problem-centered nature of the course melds organically into the student-centered learning currently being facilitated by an increasing number of Choate teachers. As one example, Deron Chang’s changed classroom practices (see Fall 2013 Bulletin) catalyzed by the iPad have

been part of a natural progression in Choate’s pedagogy toward real-life illustrations of concepts that might otherwise seem abstract. In Design Thinking a student herself will be able to identify situations in her daily life that she believes need to be addressed. Once such a situation is identified as a challenge, she and her fellow students will work together to articulate the essence of the problem. Then, in the solution phase, the students will continue to collaborate on developing multiple solutions. It’s quite a different process from the old “I teach, you learn” model. With design thinking, prototyping and testing are essential, as are reflection and re-evaluation. Students are constantly asked to evaluate their work, their ability to communicate, and their commitment to the project. But as unusual as this course will be, in one way it will be no different from the traditional curriculum: Students will reap their greatest benefits when they put forth their best efforts. During my own student days at Boston University, while my roommates spent much of their time poring over textbooks and memorizing facts to be retrieved at a later date,

what’s the

BIG In many ways, the i.d.Lab allows the Choate curriculum to be defined only by the limits of our students' (and faculty's) creativity and curiosity.

I, as a theater design and production major, spent many evenings troubleshooting electrical problems, calculating amperage and building circuits in my imagination as quickly as I could in order to make sure that, quite literally, the show would go on. The hands-on experience of solving realworld problems was a valuable part of my education. As an English teacher now at Choate, I have found a new forum for continued growth through experiential, projectbased learning. The much-anticipated i.d.Lab will be a venue for some exciting opportunities. It is a place where we can explore completely new realms, as with our new Visual Mathematics course, in which students will create art – such as mandalas, friezes, and tessellations – based on mathematical concepts. Or where students learn about how things work – literally – in our Reverse Engineering class. In many ways the i.d.Lab allows the Choate curriculum to be defined only by the limits of our students’ (and faculty’s) creativity and curiosity. If you are a young person interested in both chemistry and philosophy, for example, the i.d.Lab will be a space where you can plan, test, and explore connections of your own invention between these two courses. The name of the i.d.Lab itself emerged from a rich synergy within a small group of faculty, from an exercise of trial and error, of collaboration, and play. That is the spirit that we hope will define the i.d.Lab and the i.d. spaces that spread to the dorms and other areas of campus. In order to prepare the campus for this new initiative, a committee has been meeting regularly to discuss the role that the i.d.Lab and other spaces like it will play in learning at Choate and perhaps even in our overall school identity. Some of us traveled to California’s Silicon Valley last summer, visiting notable alumni and friends of the School. We toured

some incredible facilities at Oracle, Pixar, Twitter, Google, Nueva School, and the Institute of Design at Stanford. Common among most of these work environments were themes of collaboration, communication, creativity, and fearlessness – just what we hope to have in Choate’s course in Design Thinking. Also common were flexible workspaces: white-board walls were easily movable, with supplies for rendering by hand and crafting models quickly; tables and stools all had casters, and were easily moved into configurations conducive to the task at hand. More importantly, everyone worked together to maintain these lab spaces so that they would be easily accessible by any group at any time. Our group quickly learned about the value of a well-designed common space for creative problem solving across many disciplines. As I eagerly anticipate the new St. John Hall and all the possibilities that lie within its walls, I wonder, too, at the promise that lies in the spaces presently unoccupied by our current curriculum. I hope that the excitement of Design Thinking and other project-based learning continues to infuse our community with a sense of renewed purpose and possibility as we offer support to the next generation of problem solvers and risk takers. We will teach them to embrace challenges, to bounce back from failure, and to consider themselves part of a team capable of tackling even the most daunting and compelling tasks. Elizabeth Walbridge ’07 is an English teacher who will be piloting the first Design Thinking course offered in Choate Summer Programs this summer.

Bulletin | spring 2014 13

i.d.Lab [ What’s in a name? ] When our team of six Choate faculty headed to Silicon Valley last summer, we knew we were on a mission not only to see innovative schools and meet with alumni industry experts, but also to continue the process of naming a new space in St. John Hall. For lack of a better term, we had been calling this interdisciplinary laboratory space the STEAM lab, which represented an insertion of art and aesthetics ("A") into the traditional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) acronym. However, our group sensed the space's potential as a catalyst for advances in teaching and learning across the School and wanted a name that expressed Choate's innovation. The "STEAM lab" name didn't feel right for two very important reasons: First, it excluded the study of language, humanities and social sciences, whereas the ethos of this new space begged extension to Choate as a whole, even beyond the academic realm. In addition, the STEAM acronym was already feeling a bit old and overused in common educational parlance. We wanted to ensure that the designation we chose evoked an element of play, learning by doing, and having the freedom to fail – but including words like "trial and error" or "try again" in the name felt more than a little underwhelming.

b y k a t h a r i n e h . j e w e t t, p hd

creativity and problem-solving they demand. Most importantly, they teach students so much about themselves. On a grease-stained paper napkin, we played with words like "signature," "autograph," "initials," and "identification." At first, nothing seemed to fit. We had visited the Institute of Design at Stanford, known locally as the “d School,” so we considered “d Lab.” That seemed insufficient to describe the self-knowledge we expect students to gain from the creativity, trial and error, exploration, discovery, innovation and collaboration that they'll undertake in our lab, and in its peer spaces across campus. Suddenly the name "i.d.Lab" was there before us, and it had staying power. Just as a “laboratory” implies a way of approaching a problem as much as it does a room, “i.d.” also has layered meanings. Investigate and design. Imagine and dare. Invent and dream. Like the new educational experiences we envision, it is both flexible and ever-evolving. Indeed "i.d.Lab" is more than a name for a space – it is an iconic way to capture the unique learning environment at Choate, a school signature that stands for flexibility and versatility, for projectbased learning and practical application, for teachers and students collaborating to catalyze discovery and the best kinds of learning possible.

Just as a “laboratory” implies a way of approaching a problem as much as it does a room, “i.d.” also has layered meanings. Investigate and design. Imagine and dare. Invent and dream. Like the new educational experiences we envision, it is both flexible and ever-evolving.

Hungry and at a loss for the right words, we stopped for pizza one evening. Recharged by the food and the setting, our creative juices started flowing once again. One of us reminded the others that Choate's Signature Programs, from the Science Research Program to Arts Concentration to Study Abroad, already accomplish what we want students to do in St. John Hall and elsewhere. These programs are distinctive for the real world learning,

Most importantly, the i.d.Lab spaces in St. John Hall and throughout our campus will help students to know themselves as well as we the faculty know them. This process of self-definition and self-identification through risk-taking and trial and error in a supportive environment is a key element of the transformative experience that is a Choate Rosemary Hall education.

Katharine H. Jewett, PhD, is Director of Curricular Initiatives and a French teacher.

At the closing ceremony of the Sochi Games, four-time Olympian and team captain Julie Chu â&#x20AC;&#x2122;01 carried the U.S. flag.

Credit: Getty Images

Bulletin | spring 2014 15

Feature

three-peat

an alumnae feat on olympic ice

2006 / 2010 / 2014

Since 2006, Women’s Hockey Team USA has included three Choate alums at the Olympic Games. What an extraordinary feat! At the 2006 Turin Games, Angela Ruggiero ’98 (whose team won the only U.S. gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Games) teamed up with Kim Insalaco ’99 and Julie Chu ’01 to bring home the bronze. At the 2010 Vancouver Games, the trio of Ruggiero, Chu and Hilary Knight ’07 brought home the silver. And at the 2014 Sochi Games, Chu, Knight, and Harvard defenseman Josephine Pucci ’09, who made her Olympic debut, brought home the silver for a three-peat. In an exciting and nerve-wracking final game against arch rival Canada, the U.S. team, faced sudden-death overtime after Team Canada scored two goals in the last few minutes of regulation. The final score was 3-2. We are proud of Julie Chu (#13), Josephine Pucci (#24), and Hilary Knight (#21), along with the rest of this spectacular team! Congratulations to Yale freshman Phoebe Staenz ’13 (#88), who won a bronze medal as a member of the Swiss Women’s Hockey Team. They beat the team from Sweden 4-3.

Bulletin | spring 2014 17

photography by Nancie Battaglia

Former Headmaster Seymour St. John ’31, and his wife, Peggy, meet with students on the terrace of Curtis House. Robert Leonhardt ’61, the recently retired Head of the French-American School of New York, recalls Seymour’s patience, even-handedness, and kindness, adding, "providing a hesitant youngster with the support that restores his self-confidence is often the most valuable contribution a school or teacher can make."

Bulletin | spring 2014 19

Feature

A Passion for the Life of the Mind Alumni Look Back on Their School Years Before Becoming Heads of School s to r y by h e n r y m c n u lt y ’ 6 5

Returning to one’s roots? Following in the footsteps of a mentor? Wanting to give back to the community? Dozens of alumni have gone on to become the Heads of independent schools. Each person’s story is unique, but there are common threads, chief among which seems to be that hardly any of the former students actively entertained the thought of becoming a headmaster when they were at School; quite the opposite, in fact.

Charles A. Tierney III ’81 was recently named Head, The Tatnall School, Greenville, Del.

“While I was at Choate as a student, I never imagined I would return to independent schools as a career,” says Charlie Tierney ’81, who this year was named Head of the Tatnall School in Greenville, Del. “It was probably the farthest thing from my mind,” says Robert M. Leonhardt ’61, the recently retired Head of the French-American School of New York. Others concur: L. Laird Davis ’65, Head of three private schools before retiring, says “during my four years at Choate, I never thought I would work in education.” Adds Drew Casertano ’74, Head of Millbrook School in Millbrook, N.Y., “while at Choate, I had no interest in pursuing this career. In fact, as a student, I distinctly remember talking with David Oppenheim ’73 about why our teachers would be crazy enough to want to live among adolescents in boarding school.” One exception is Choate Rosemary Hall Trustee John Green ’77, the recently retired Head of Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J. The son of former Choate history teacher John Green, he spent four years as a faculty child, and when he came back as a student, “saw a strong possibility” in becoming a teacher or administrator. After Choate, his father was Head of The Rectory School in Pomfret, Conn; John’s two brothers are also educators. “It’s in the blood – this is what we do,” he laughs.

Looking back on their teenage years, many school Heads see their lives at School as crucial shapers of their careers. “It didn’t really occur to me until I had finished graduate school to go into teaching,” says Thomas C. Hudnut ’65, the recently retired President (Head of School) of Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, Calif., but “I certainly never would have made it were it not for the four years I spent at Choate. It’s hard to imagine that someone who had neither enjoyed his adolescence nor liked his own schooling would want to go into teaching. I loved my four years at Choate, and enjoyed my teenage years immensely.” Charlie Tierney agrees. “I fully savored my days at School,” he says, “and wholeheartedly embraced the engagement and learning, the energy, the relationships, the activities, and the community.” Says David Beecher ’76, Head of Hillside School in Marlborough, Mass.: “I am fairly certain I would not be a Headmaster at all if I had not experienced Choate.” Penny Bach Evins ’90, Head of School at St. Paul’s School for Girls in Brooklandville, Md., remembers that when she was at Choate Rosemary Hall, “I was surrounded by adults and students who were usually better than I at every endeavor. This was a life experience that shaped me and my drive. Without a doubt, living with and learning from my teachers catapulted me into the arms of excellence.” Edward “Ned” Parsons ’84, now Dean of Faculty at Loomis Chaffee School but soon to be Head at the Rivers School in Weston, Mass., remembers, “I left Choate with very little sense of what I would end up doing with my life. Looking back, I can say that my year at Choate did great things to excite in me a passion for the life of the mind; I was energized in the presence of a community of learners.” Bob Leonhardt: “As I matured, I came to understand more and more that with a couple of notable exceptions, my greatest, most formative experiences with teachers had taken place at Choate. I eventually became a teacher of secondary students … largely, I think, because a lot in my Choate experience had convinced me of the difference I could make if I worked with adolescents.”

“I fully savored my days at School, and wholeheartedly embraced the engagement and learning, the energy, the relationships, the activities, and the community. –Charlie Tierney ’81

Bulletin | spring 2014 21

This was a life experience that shaped me and my drive. Without a doubt,

living with and learning from my teachers catapulted me into the arms of excellence. –penny bach Evins ’90 Says John Green: “Boarding for two years made a difference. The opportunity to interact with a great range of people in a 24-hour setting was extraordinary. I came to see the value of residential education.” For future Heads of School, seeing other Heads in action was also important, they say. “I got to observe [former Choate Headmaster] Seymour St. John ’31 when I was a Student Council and Honor Committee member,” says Jere Packard ’55, the retired Head of Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Penn. “I also saw the complementary interplay between Seymour and George Steele as the two top administrators. Seymour and ‘Stainless’ Steele were certainly influences on me.” When he was thinking about becoming a Head of School, Laird Davis visited the then-retired St. John. “He told me that young people spend more of their waking hours with teachers than with any other person, including their parents, so the influence of a school on these young people was unequaled,” Davis remembers. “He told me he thought I had the inclination and the tools to do the job, but suggested that I get my master’s degree in education first. The next year, I got that education degree from Harvard, and the year after that, I was Headmaster of Tampa Prep School.” According to Leonhardt, one particular encounter with St. John was memorable. “I remember the patience, even-handedness, and kindness he demonstrated when I was a third former in a conflict with a master to whose table I had been assigned,” he says. “Looking back, I think today that it was ludicrously trivial, but I took it seriously, and the teacher wasn’t a great deal more objective than I. However, Seymour St. John found a solution that enabled both the master and me to save face, and helped me turn the page so that I could concentrate on growing up.”

Leonhardt notes, “Providing a hesitant youngster with the support that restores his self-confidence is often the most valuable contribution a school or teacher can make. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used that story in speaking to faculty.” Pamela Jones Clarke ’62, current Head of Trevor Day School in New York City, says that when she was a teenager, “my real inspiration was [Headmistress] Alice McBee,” who later hired Clarke for her first teaching job. And she’s grateful for that: “God bless the Headmistress who hires a rookie!” This summer Clarke will become Head of the Doane Stuart School in Rensselear, N.Y. David Beecher notes that he learned from now retired President and Principal Charles Dey. “Following a legend is a monumental task,” he says. “Charley succeeded by being himself, and I respected him greatly for his honesty and compassion.”

David Beecher ’76, Head, Hillside School, Marlborough, Mass.

Pamela Jones Clarke ’62 was recently named Head, The Doane Stuart School, Rensselear, N.Y.

I knew I was in the presence of someone who could take me places my high school experience prior to Choate could not have offered me. –Ned parsons ’84

Drew Casertano ’74, Head, The Millbrook School, Millbrook, N.Y. Penny Bach Evins ’90, Head of School, St. Paul’s School for Girls, Brooklandville, Md.

Heads of schools also remember with fondness and appreciation the teachers who inspired them. Among the dozens mentioned: “Tom Generous, the living legend, was my history teacher,” says Penny Bach Evins. “He crafted a relationship with me, and thus I wanted to perform. I was engaged in his class; therefore, I achieved, failed, brushed myself off, and tried again. I became resilient.” John Green and Ned Parsons also name Generous as a major influence. “I remember sitting in Tom Generous’ class amazed that he was teaching at the high school level,” Parsons says. “I knew I was in the presence of someone who could take me places my high school experience prior to Choate could not have offered me.” Tierney recalls that “one profound opportunity in my educational career was to be mentored by Benjamin F. Sylvester, Jr., during both my student days and during my return as a teacher and coach.” Charlie taught history at Choate from 1988 to 1996. Jere Packard got a double dose of faculty influence from his parents, Hubert and Anita Packard, both of whom taught French at Choate. Another administrator who grew up at Choate is Bob Schroeder ’64, retired Director of the Upper and Middle Schools at Hamden Hall in Hamden, Conn. His father, Milton Schroeder, was a Choate administrator and coached baseball. “I had the best role models imaginable,” Bob Schroeder says. “Burge Ayres, Tom Yankus, Ben Sylvester, my dad … individuals who saw their profession more as a calling and a way of life than just a job.” Ayres, Schroeder says, “probably did more to propel me into administration than anyone else. As Headmaster of The Gunnery, Burge hired me for my first teaching job in 1971, and soon promoted me to Dean of Students.”

Bulletin | spring 2014 23

This is a partial list of alumni who have gone on to be Heads of School, or heads of school divisions, now or in the past: Jessie Hewitt 1902: Ethel Walker School Margaret Augur 1903: Kingswood School (Michigan) Ned Parsons ’84 was recently named Head, the Rivers School, Weston, Mass.

Eugenia Baker Jessup 1910: Rosemary Hall George (“Jim”) St. John Jr. ’28: Moses Brown School Seymour St. John ’31: Choate School Francis St. John ’34: Barlow School C. Burgess Ayres ’38: Shattuck School, The Gunnery William St. John ’46: Brimmer & May

It wasn’t only in the classroom that teachers inspired. Tom Hudnut says that “from Jack McCune’s house as a third former to David Rice’s in the fourth and sixth forms, I lived with happy, well-adjusted families who doubtless served as subtle role models for my unintended future.” David Beecher remembers “Tom Yankus, my baseball coach and mentor. Tom was intelligent, funny, and athletic – there’s a triple threat for you!” and “Bill Pudvah, my adviser and hockey coach, who had grown up at Choate and spent his entire adult life there. His love of all things blue and gold gave me an appreciation for school spirit.” Ned Parsons also mentions Yankus. “Tom’s wisdom and calm demeanor in the face of what must have been one of the most difficult years imaginable for Choate administrators [1984-85] kept the School – from my limited perspective at the time – together when it could have gone a different way,” he says. “I’ve come to know Tom since then … he served as an inspiration to me in my younger days of administrative work.” For his part, Casertano recalls that when he pursued a Master’s of Education at Harvard, “Laird Davis was a classmate. We took several classes together, became even closer friends, and Laird continued to have a positive influence on me.” Evins notes that when she was installed as Head of School at St. Paul’s School for Girls, former Choate Dean Lolly Hand and Paul Tines, former director of the Paul Mellon Arts Center, were in attendance. “No doubt, their presence pushes me to be my best,” she says. “Choate really is everywhere!

Peter Sturtevant ’48: Maret School David Fowler ’53: Proctor Academy H. Jeremy Packard ’55: Ridley School, Wyoming Seminary T. Lee Gaillard ’56: Hockaday School Malcolm Manson ’57: Cathedral School for Boys,

Oregon Episcopal School, Marin County Day School,

Bay School of San Francisco

W. Lee Pierson ’57: Athens College, Collegiate School,

Francis Parker School, Rye Country Day School

Peter Sipple ’57: Moravian Academy J. Gardiner Dodd ’58: King School Hawley Rogers ’58: Oldfields School Robert Clements ’60: Morristown-Beard School Robert Leonhardt ’61: French-American School of New York Burgess Ayres ’62: Wardlaw-Hartridge School, Gulliver School Pamela Jones Clarke ’62: Masters School, St. Paul Academy,

Summit School, Trevor Day School

John Lathrop ’64: Powhatan School Robert Schroeder ’64: Hamden Hall Country Day School Upper

and Middle schools

L. Laird Davis ’65: Tampa Prep, Baylor School,

Morristown-Beard School

Thomas Hudnut ’65: Norwood School, Branson School,

and Harvard-Westlake School

Meredith Machen ’66: Santa Fe Preparatory School Hugh Riddleburger ’66: Sheridan School Andrew Berry ’68: Fessenden School Robert Boyd ’69: Cheshire Academy Middle School Drew Casertano ’74: Millbrook School Donald Austin ’75: Newark Academy David Beecher ’76: Hillside School John Green ’77: Peddie School Charles A. Tierney III ’81: The Tatnall School Edward V. Parsons ’84: The Rivers School Penny Bach Evins ’90: Isidore Newman School,

St. Paul’s School for Girls

Kirsten Haakonsen Rosolen ’92: Head of Middle School

at New Canaan Country Day.

 ˜  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ˜ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ˜ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  the ˜ unsung  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ˜ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ˜ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫  ˜  ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ ∏ ∫ 24

nostalgia } from the Archives

element B y M a r y F. C u s h m a n

Bulletin | spring 2014 25

when my husband and i started to live at the choate school, as it was called when I arrived in 1951, I felt a little out of my element. Arriving as an August bride, having had no brothers, fresh out of college, I was definitely in a male-oriented institution. Seymour St. John had become Headmaster just four years before, following his father, and was beginning to develop his own style of leadership. My new husband, George T. Cushman, was one of Seymour’s first hires. There were very few married masters at Choate at that time, and there was only one female instructor. Of the entire faculty, Anita Packard had the only doctorate, received from Harvard, where her father had been a prominent professor. She was a brilliant woman who was hired as needed for individual classes because her husband was a master and she conveniently lived on campus. I don’t think she was paid much. When I arrived, of the few women there, there was only one other spouse without children, Merle Phyfe. This was Duncan’s first wife, and she had yet to have her twins. The lack of married men was very obvious when the annual masters baseball game was played each spring – married against single. The single

The 1960s and ’70s were difficult times at School, and Seymour weathered them. It was hard for many to make the adjustments. Living at the School from 1951-1980 as a faculty wife, I remember the early days of Saturday evening dinners while the school orchestra played for us in the balcony. We sat at the dining room tables with the master at the head of the table serving, and the wives (or, in many cases, another single master) at the opposite end serving dessert. Boys waited on the tables, taking turns replenishing the food when needed. Boys also set and cleared tables, and were assigned new tables every two weeks with different masters who had their regular assigned tables. I baked many birthday cakes, one for each boy in my dorm. In Logan Munroe, we had 36 students. My girls would come home from school, smell what was happening in the kitchen, and say, “Another birthday? When are you going to make a cake for us?” I was a house parent for 19 years until we moved out of a dormitory. I poured coffee or tea in the library on Sundays for years – and I served the infamous “bug juice” at the Winter Ex almost every Saturday, for years, after sports events.

opposite page Faculty

wives, 1963-64. Standing, from left, Edith Atmore, Kathy Ayres, Rene Ayres, Louise Clements, Doris Fowler, Joan Crandall, Sally Eglise. Seated, from left, Lorraine Foster, Ariadne Forbes, Mo Ayres, author Mary Cushman, Doris Butler, Bertha Gray.

I poured coffee or tea in the library on Sundays for years – and I served the infamous "bug juice" at the Winter Ex – now the Johnson Athletic Center – almost every Saturday, for years, after sports events. men would have to play some of the “married” positions, because there weren’t enough married men to make a team. In due time, I produced two daughters. This was poor planning, as only sons could go to Choate (for free). Daughters had to go somewhere else and, if it was a private school, be paid for. However, my younger daughter, Wendy, was fortunate. As Choate began to consider coordinate education, we realized she might have a chance to be enrolled. In 1970, Wendy attended Rosemary Hall as a boarder, its last year in Greenwich. The following year, 1971, she was in Wallingford as one of the first entering class of girls; two years later, she graduated in the first class which had boys and girls.

I remember so much, and I’m sure that many former students remember those days too. We faculty wives were the “silent element.” There were many funny, wonderful times, and there were the times with pathos and sensitivity. We were, and are, a strong yet unsung part of the campus. Yes, things have changed, but the essence of those early days remains, and Choate Rosemary Hall is stronger because of the changes. The present school with new ideas is still maintaining the quality of education and devotion to students while continuing to develop the leadership needed for the world of tomorrow.

Mary F. Cushman PhD, received her doctorate in Environmental & Curriculum Education Development and Administration from UConn. Her husband was George Cushman, who taught French and Spanish and coached lacrosse from 1948 to 1980. Mary now lives in Loudon, Tennessee.

Alumni Association | News & Events choate rosemary hall alumni association mission To create, perpetuate, and enhance relationships among Choate Rosemary Hall alumni, current and prospective students, faculty, staff, and friends in order to foster loyalty, interest, and support for the School and for one another, and to build pride, spirit, and community.

OFFICERS Chris Hodgson ’78 President Ed McCormick ’78 Patrick McCurdy ’98 Vice Presidents STANDING COMMITTEES Admission Colm Rafferty ’94 Chair Annual Fund Chris Vlasto ’84 David Hang ’94 Co-Chairs Campus Programming Ed Keating ’83 Chair Communications Michelle Judd Rittler ’98 Chair Nominating/Prize Susan Barclay ’85 Chair Regional Clubs John Smyth ’83 Chair Parisa Jaffer ’89 Carolyn Kim ’96 Vice-Chairs Student Relations Mike Furgueson ’80 Chair Shantell Richardson ’99 Vice-Chair ADDITIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS Dan Courcey ’86 Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations Mari Jones Director of Development and Alumni Relations Monica St. James Director of Alumni Relations Leigh Dingwall ’84 Faculty Representative

REGIONAL CLUB LEADERSHIP Boston Larry Morin ’58 Pat Clendenen ’84 Connecticut David Aversa ’91 Kate Vitali Childs ’95 London Kate Aquila ’92 Los Angeles Tom Nieman ’88 Stan Savage ’92 New York Jason Kasper ’05 Eliza Buddenhagen ’06 Rosemary Hall Alice Chaffee Freeman ’63 San Francisco John Smyth ’83 Washington, D.C. Anna Lindel ’03 Patrick Holley ’’90 Beijing David Barrutia ’94 Gunther Hamm ’98 Hong Kong Ronna Chao Heffner ’85 P. Jamie O’Donnell ’80 Seoul Ryan Hong ’89 Thailand Sunpitt Sethpornpong ’84 Chali Sophonpanich ’79 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PAST PRESIDENTS Woody Laikind ’53 Susan Barclay ’85

EverTrue Introduced to NYC Alums The third annual After-Work Happy Hour proved that this late-winter festivity is a worthy tradition. More than 70 young alumni joined us at NYC’s Turnmill, where they were able to stay warm by catching up with old friends and classmates. As an added bonus, members of Choate’s Alumni Relations Office were on hand all evening to introduce EverTrue to those in attendance. EverTrue is a powerful mobile app that puts the ability to make meaningful connections at your fingertips. With EverTrue, you can find friends, classmates, and other alumni who are nearby – and do the same while you’re out exploring the world. Haven’t joined yet? Just follow these simple steps: 1. Download EverTrue from the App Store. 2. Select Choate as your Community. 3. EverTrue will ask you to verify your email address. 4. Once you’ve been verified, use EverTrue to locate alumni using the Directory or the Alumni Nearby feature.

Brunch with Broadway’s Doug McGrath ’76 On a February morning, nearly 50 alumni convened for brunch at New York’s storied Algonquin Hotel to toast Doug McGrath ’76 on his most recent project, writing the book for the Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Among McGrath’s other impressive credits is writing the Academy Award–nominated screenplay for Bullets Over Broadway. After an entertaining brunch that featured a Q&A session along with a lively conversation between Doug and Ed Maddox, many of the attendees made a day of it by catching the matinee performance of Beautiful. (See Q&A on p. 36).

Start Up//Choate In Action Current Choate Rosemary Hall student Samson Donick ’14 wasn’t relaxing this spring break, Instead, he completed a two-week internship with Enterprise Futures Network. This internship was arranged by alum and active Start Up// Choate committee member Wayne Larocque ’71. Wayne sent along a photograph taken at the entrance to Stanford Business School, where he and Samson recently met up and discussed not only the internship but future (paid) possibilities for Samson. Looking for an internship? Visit the Start Up//Choate LinkedIn page! Start Up// Choate was the brainchild of Miles Spencer ’81. (See profile on p. 38.)

Can’t make our next event? EverTrue will help you keep in touch with other Choate Rosemary Hall alumni, wherever they are, making it even easier to stay true to gold and blue.

Bulletin | spring 2014 27

1 2 4 3

Holiday Parties & Winterfests The Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni Association, in conjunction with its Regional Clubs, hosted holiday parties on both coasts in December. Starting things off was the always-popular New York City event, held this year at No. 8, thanks to John Meadow’s ’98 LDV Hospitality. More than 250 alums attended! The holiday cheer continued the next day across the country at the Shangri-La Hotel in Los Angeles. A more intimate gathering but just as lively, the LA group included Witches of East End star Dan di Tomasso ’02 and Alex Bautista ’06, a NYC native on vacation out west. The Alumni Clubs of Connecticut, Boston, and Washington, D.C., decided to hold their Winterfest celebrations in January this year. Each occasion provided alumni with the opportunity to stave off the winter doldrums, catch up with friends, make new acquaintances, and generally start the new year off on the right foot! A hearty thanks to Patrick Holley ’90 for hosting the Choaties in D.C.

1 Boston Wintefest:

Kathryn Walsh McDonough ’97 and Lovey Roundtree Oliff ’97

2 NY happy hour:

Kathrin Schwesinger ’02 and Dave Pimentel ’97 3 Boston Winterfest:

Dave Ekelund ’92 and Pat Clendenen ’84 4 NY happy hour: Drew

Yeager ’08, Steve Haskins ’00, and Gerard McGeary ’00 5 NY happy hour: Max

Sinsteden ’05, Vanessa Sergeon ’06, Kendall Dacey ’06, Sacha Wagle ’05, and Christian Tookes ’05 6 LA Winterfest: Conor Meehan ’07, Alex Bautista ’06, Mike Mackie ’07, and Alex Wiske ‘07

Alumni Association | News & Events

Calendar of Events April

4/17 – Sixth Form Transition Dinner – Campus* 4/17 – Fifth Form Dinner with Young Alumni – Campus*

4/23 – Houston Happy Hour – Heights Lodge 4/23 – Alumni Award Presentation – Campus 4/27 – Annual Brunch at the Gilmore Adobe – Los Angeles

2014 Alumni Award Recipients Announced Geoff Cowan ’60 and Amy Lehman ’91 are the recipients of the 2014 Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni Awards, which will be presented during an all-School meeting on Wednesday, April 23. Geoff is being honored for his distinguished career promoting the greater good through communications, including his influence in the fields of law and public policy, broadcasting and journalism, and the humanities and higher education. Amy, founder of the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic, is being honored for her tremendous work with the LTFHC, the mission of which is to address the problem of health care access for the millions who live in the Lake Tanganyika Basin/Great Lakes region of Central Africa.

May

5/16–5/18 – Reunion Weekend – Campus 5/17 – 1890 Society Reception – Campus 5/18 – Ayres-Yankus Baseball Field Dedication – Campus

June

6/8 – Commencement – Campus 6/11 – San Francisco Giants Vs. Washington Nationals

– San Francisco 6/12 – Manhattan Harbor Sail – New York 6/16 – Start Up//Choate – Boston – Speaker: George Colony '72, Forrester Research TBD – Start Up//Choate – San Francisco

July

top/bottom Geoff Cowan ’60 and Amy Lehman ’91

7/29 – Boston Red Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays – Boston TBD – Seattle Mariners Game – Seattle

September

9/4 – New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox – NY 9/13 – Harriman Cup Polo Match – Long Island, NY 9/16 – Goldman Sachs Choate Alumni Gathering – NY TBD – DC Nationals Game

*Alumni: If you have an interest in taking part in the Sixth Form Transition Dinner as an alumni guest, please contact Monica St. James at mstjames@choate.edu. Call to Action – Career Mentors wanted Three career-oriented alumni/student Sunday brunches

will be hosted by the Alumni Association in the 20142015 academic year during scheduled Community Weekends. The dates are as follows: Sunday, October 12, 2014 - Topic: Working in Non-Profits; Sunday, January 11, 2015 - Topic: Working in the Arts; Sunday, May 24, 2015 – Topic: Working in Education. Brunches will be held in the Sally Hart Lodge or Ruutz-Rees Commons from 12:00 -1:30 p.m. If you are interested in signing up as an alumni career mentor for one of these brunches, please contact Director of Alumni Relations, Monica St. James, at mstjames@choate.edu

2014 Choate Rosemary Hall Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony The newest inductees to the Choate Rosemary Hall Athletic Hall of Fame will be Linda B. Trimble ’54, Adam Bianchi II ’57, Gail Hearn Capelovitch ’77, Mathieu Darche ’96, the 1963-1964 Boys Varsity Soccer Team, the 1989 Girls Varsity Basketball Team, and coaches Russ Ayres, Sr., and James Davidson. The ceremony will take place during Reunion Weekend on Friday, May 16.

2014

Bulletin | spring 2014 29

May 16-18 Reunion 2014 Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss it. Reunion Weekend wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be the same without you! Make plans to reconnect and celebrate with your classmates, teachers, and teammates. Watch your mail and inbox for schedule updates, events, places to stay, and the incredible programs planned for you.

We look forward to seeing you soon! Call: (203) 697-2228 Visit: www.choate.edu/reunion Email: alumnirelations@choate.edu

2009

2004 1999 1994 1989 1984 1979 1974 1969 Honor Guard (classes celebrating post-50th Reunions)

1964

Classnotes | News from our Alumni

Send Us Your Notes! We welcome your submission of classnotes or photos electronically in a .jpg format to alumline@choate.edu. When submitting photos, please make sure the resolution is high enough for print publication â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 300 dpi preferred. If your note or photograph does not appear in this issue, it may appear in a subsequent issue, or be posted online to Alumni News on www.choate.edu. To update your alumni records, email: alumnirelations@choate.edu or contact Christine Bennett at (203) 697-2228.

Study break under the Rosemary Tree. Greenwich, Connecticut, circa 1960s.

Bulletin | spring 2014 31

1940s ’42 c Herman F. Froeb writes, “What keeps me busy and occupied? It is a full-time job to keep an 89-year-old car on the road. This driver has had good vibes from writing his autobiography. Very stimulating for the ego, and brings back all the great moments at Princeton, medical school, the MASH Hospital in Korea, and finally coming to a good garage in California two hundred yards from the ocean.” ’44 c Charlie Kuyk, Jr. and Charlie Kuyk III ’69 shared the sad news that Charlie Jr.’s wife, Joyce, died January 24, 2014. She was an early “Choate girl,” in that she lived at Choate with Charlie III and her two daughters while Charlie Jr. was an Air Force pilot and squadron commander in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. As a nomadic career military officer, Charlie had no “home base” for his family during that period and asked Headmaster Seymour St. John ’31 for help. Seymour graciously agreed to have Joyce and the kids live at Choate for a year during Charlie’s tour. They lived on Elm Street near what is now Bernhard House. The family feels deeply indebted to Seymour and Choate for this helping hand. Joyce had the privilege of hosting Air Force dinners for many dignitaries including Senator Barry Goldwater and Senator Joe Biden. (Now that’s bi-partisanship!) Charlie Jr. is now retired from the USAF and Boeing and is hiking, gardening, and enjoying his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren in Leavenworth, Washington. Charlie III is a forensic accountant and is an avid tennis player and gardener near Chicago.

left Charlie Kuyk ’44 family gathering last July in

Leavenworth, Wash. Charlie and his wife, Joyce, are seated. Charlie III ’69 is standing at left with his wife, Merri Ellen. Joyce Kuyk passed away in January 2014.

’46 c

Cliff Cowles writes, “I’m selling my home in Sun City West, Ariz., and have moved into a Life Care Community in Peoria, Ariz., called Sierra Winds.”

’47 c

Arthur Rouner returned in January from a month of healing/forgiveness ministry in conflict countries of Africa. Arthur and wife, Molly, and The Pilgrim Center for Reconciliation (PCR) have been doing this work in western Kenya, northern Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda for most of the 20 years since the Rwanda genocide. A granddaughter, Anna Rouner Jeide, accompanied him as part of the PCR team on their January trip. They worked with warriors of the tribes in Western Kenya, with pastors in Burundi, with university students in Rwanda, and with former child soldier boys and girls of Joseph Kony’s “Lord’s Resistance Army” in Lira, Uganda.

1950s ’51 C

Hedrick Smith was recently invited to speak to the student body at Exeter and to meet with classes to talk about civic activism, Martin Luther King, Jr., and his latest best-selling book, Who Stole the American Dream?, which recently went into its 10th printing and is now in paperback. In January, he was in nearby Portsmouth, N. H., to deliver the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Lecture at The Pearl, a former black church that served as an endpoint of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War era. As a young reporter for the New York Times, Hedrick covered King and the Civil Rights Movement in such battlegrounds as Birmingham, Alabama, and Albany, Georgia, as well as the March on Washington in August 1963.

right 1953 Classmates Bob Lindeman (seated), Arne Carlson (right), and Woody Laikind (left) had a minireunion at Bob's new home in Sarasota, Fla.

’52 c Miguel Suarez writes, “Next November, I join the 50-year clan of the Florida Bar. I keep busy doing light legal work, writing books, traveling to Europe and to Lake Placid, N.Y., taking digital pictures, publishing travel photo books (www.lulu.com) and caring for my family (especially Carlos, my 2-year-old grandson).” ’53 C Woody Laikind reports the following: Dave Fowler is retired and living in New Mexico. He has written several novels, which are available on Amazon. They are mysteries, but great fun to read. Charlie Ard is doing well in California, and Bill Crosby now lives in Vancouver, B.C., and would welcome any visitors. Bruce Hilton spends his time between Charlotte, N.C. and Barcelona, Spain, where he and Carmen have an apartment. Sadly, as some of you know, we lost Joe Bartram and Larry Trabulsi within the last few months. ’53 RH Jean Hilditch Wilson says, “2013 was my first year of full retirement. It was amazing how fast you can fill up each day. Babysat 48-72 hours per week for my grandchildren, Evan, age 6, and Avery, age 4. In the winter the rest of the days were spent skiing, snowshoeing, reading, knitting, etc. In the summer, I did lots of hiking (2-3 times per week), gardening, swimming, and babysitting. I took off seven weeks in the fall. I went to Spain and walked 540 miles in 37 days on the French Camino de Santiago. Fabulous!”

’54 c

Bob McIntyre was recently elected to membership in Stanford Associates, a Stanford University honorary organization established “to recognize exceptional and sustained volunteer service to the University.” From 2005–2011 Bob was a member of the Board and the Finance Committee Chair of the Stanford University Historical Society, and he has continued to serve on its Membership Committee. Currently he serves in volunteer positions on the Board (and as Treasurer) of Commonweal Conservancy, Santa Fe, N.M., a nonprofit conservationbased community development organization; is on the Audit Committee of Foundation for Youth Investment, San Francisco, a nonprofit organization created to help connect underserved youth to the outdoors; and is on the Audit Committee and Advisory Board of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, Palo Alto, Calif., a nonprofit open space protection and preservation land trust serving San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Before retiring in 2003 after 30 years, he was a Senior VP and CFO of the Trust for Public Land, San Francisco, Calif., a national nonprofit open space preservation and park creation organization with offices throughout the country. After graduating from Stanford in 1959, Bob spent three years in the U.S. Navy as a Radio Division Officer on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific and then earned a Harvard MBA in 1964. He has five children and seven grandchildren, all from his first marriage, and is currently married to Myung Sook Son, a retired dentist.

32 classnotes

’56 c Clyde Buck writes, “Our family has been going to Jackson Hole, Wyo., for several years at the suggestion of our two children, David ’86 and Susan ’89. Every year we have a great time with our children and grandchildren.” Oliver T. Cook writes, “I maintain a private practice of law with, hopefully, a 50th anniversary coming this November. My wife, Sharon Love Cook, recently released her second Granite Cove Mystery. We live north of Boston in Beverly Farms and have celebrated 45 years of marriage. I am actively involved in the local St. John’s Episcopal Church and recently concluded my vestry term as secretary of the parish. I continue my involvement in golf as the General Chairman of the last three USGA national championships at Salem Country Club. However, for the past 20 or 30 years my passion has been the game of handball. I play five days a week with an early morning group. Likewise I participated in the 2000 World Handball Championship in Chicago and the 2009 World Championship in Portland, Oregon.” Robert Gaines writes, “Had lunch with Bill Caldwell, Sam Beach, and Pete Prezzano in Vero at the end of February, almost an annual event, at the almost legendary Bobby’s Restaurant. We see other Choaties including Skip Moss ’55, Skip Villerot ’55, Clyde Buck on occasion and Chan Everett, who visits John’s Island and sings in the Trinity Church choir there. Peter and his wife usually go to Europe each year, but for some reason missed last year so are going twice this year. Some of our classmates have expressed interest in going back for Reunion Weekend this year as sort of an interim before our 60th Reunion in 2016. The School treats all those who have passed their 50th very well with dinner at the Lodge and special events. Did you see the article in the Choate Bulletin about David Nichol’s son, Charlie ’07, who is setting up solar irrigation pumps in Africa? Many of us passed the three-quarter century mark this past year. How did you celebrate your 75th birthday? Drop me an email at rgaines379@gmail.com.” Bob Graham writes, “I finally really have retired (sort of). I will be cutting back my part-time commitment at the Anglican Cathedral here in Ottawa, Canada. What prompts this is that my wife, Joan, is also retiring (not sort of), and she wants to travel. Our children and six grandchildren (now all of university age) are spread across a number of countries in Europe, the U.S., and Canada. It’s time to reconnect with them. I also look forward to reading the dozens of books that I have already bought and to attending the Class of ’56’s next big reunion, two years from now.”

’58 c Rob Harrison writes, “After retiring from teaching, counseling, and coaching at Iolani School in Hawaii since 1967, Choate mates have asked me what I’ve been doing with myself besides enjoying my four kids and eight grandkids. My sons introduced me to paddling Hawaiian canoes, six-man and one-man. Prior to this experience, my recreation was rugby for 20 years, and tennis. After retiring I suffered from the illusion that I was needed somewhere so I got involved in repairing canoes, kayaks, paddles, and surf boards. I have learned to do something with my hands at a moderate level of ability. I have a new life as the “fix-it” guy at the Hui Nalu Canoe Club, one of the largest in the state. There is a standing invitation to any Choaties who might wander through the islands and would like to paddle in a six-man canoe or try the one-man.” Rob can be contacted at robertharrison39@gmail.com. Chap Barnes writes, “A new documentary film, based on my history of Watch Hill, R.I., Watch Hill Through Time, aired on Rhode Island PBS last month as part of the station’s late winter/early spring membership promotion telethon. Both the book and the film are the property of the Watch Hill Conservancy, which I served for a dozen years as part-time Executive Director. DVDs of the film are available from the website of the Conservancy, www.thewatchhillconservancy.org. At the time of my retirement, in October of 2013, the conservancy honored me by designating a 60-acre portion of Watch Hill’s most important natural area, the barrier beach known as Napatree Point, the Chaplin B. Barnes Napatree Point Conservation Area. The area is protected by a conservation easement, long a priority of mine, and held by the Conservancy.”

’58 My sons introduced me to paddling Hawaiian canoes. There is a standing invitation to any Choaties who might wander through the islands and would like to paddle in a six-man or oneman canoe. –Rob Harrison

left Rob Harrison ’58, fore-

ground, in his carbon fiber oneman canoe. In the background, the Hokule'a, a rendition of the ancient Polynesian canoe that carried the Islanders throughout the Pacific.

Bulletin | spring 2014 33

Peter Goldmark writes, “I now serve as an independent consultant (and troublemaker), also write a biweekly Sunday column for Newsday.” Ian Bennett is CEO of Harvest Protection Network (www.HarvestProtectionNetwork.com). He writes, “I had been living in Senegal off and on since 1972. In 2009, then President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, asked me to meet him in NYC to address the issue of how to protect harvested crops from spoilage. Members of his farming community were losing 25% of their annual harvest due to inadequate storage facilities. The biggest challenge doing business in Africa is financing. You have to bring project funding with you to demonstrate that you have confidence in whatever it is you are offering. My company has been fortunate to realize the support of the U.S. ExportImport Bank under their Credit Guarantee Facility (CGF) program.”

1960s ’61 c

’58 rh Marty Straton writes, “I won the Nettie Finkle Award, the United Way’s award for volunteerism, last summer. It was presented to me by the Mayor of Palm Beach at the Breakers Hotel. The United Way gave $2,000 to Opportunity, Inc., now a pre-school and the oldest charity in Palm Beach, on my behalf. I had been on the Board of Opportunity, Inc. and Head of their Annual Appeal for Early Childhood Education for many years (as well as working with the homeless, helping evicted families get back on their feet, helping the elderly, etc.) Opportunity Inc., is the oldest charity in Palm Beach, and we are celebrating our 75th anniversary this year. In the past, ladies from Bethesda-by-the-Sea Church in Palm Beach taught poor people to make beautiful shell flower arrangements, put them in Chinese bowls, and sell them to support their families. They became so popular that they ended up with two stores on Worth Avenue, and the Garden Club of America in Palm Beach used their lovely arrangements as centerpieces for their luncheon at the Everglades Club. During World War II, we ran 12 nursery schools (6 weeks old to 5 years), two orphanages, and two Boys and Girls Clubs to care for children after school.”

Members of ’61 will celebrate their 53rd reunion this year during Reunion Weekend. Don Ballou, Penn Berens, Terry Hannock, Dick Hull, and Bill Mohan have had a hand in the organizing and promised excellent attendance. Ten classmates have already stated they’ll be there: Russ Ayres, Don Ballou, Penn Berens, Seth Hoyt, Terry Hannock, Dick Hull, Kip Koons, Bill Mohan, Ken Phillips, and Paul Wachtler, while strong possibles include Clip Kniffin, Dean Peckham, and Dave Phillips. Seth Hoyt writes, “Tom Rogers and his lady friend, Nancy, were in Phoenix in February for a meeting. Nancy (Hoyt, that is) and I invited Tom and Nancy to lunch in Wickenburg, Ariz., where we spend time each winter. Lots of catch-up ensued as we enjoyed the atmosphere and service of Los Caballeros Golf Club. Los Cab, by the way, is part of Rancho de los Caballeros, the world-class dude ranch resort owned and operated by Rusty Gant ’65.” Hardy Jones writes, “BlueVoice, the nonprofit I direct, has been working in Peru for the past three years, first on a mass mortality event where hundreds of dolphins died, and then on a directed kill of dolphins for use as shark bait. We sent a documentary crew out who brought back the damning evidence. On a happier note, I’ve found that painting is a joy. I only wish I had taken it up earlier in life. I remember the wonderful art history class M. Cosnard taught. Thought I would hate it but was spellbound.” Bill Mohan writes, “Since retiring in 2001 I have has been filling my ‘bucket list’ by being a Travelers Aid Volunteer at Dulles International Airport and teaching English to foreign adults at the Montgomery County Literacy Council. In addition, I will be traveling to Honduras for the third time this May as Spanish translator for the Friends of Barnabas Foundation mountain medical team. The team of 15 medical professionals travels into small mountain villages to provide medical examinations to families and deworming medicines and vitamins to children, as well as dental extraction and vision examination services.”

’59 c

’61 RH Ann Gardner Alexander is a Prescott, Az.-

Alfred M Andersson writes, “Four children (nurse, journalist, physician, pilot) and 11 grandchildren make it difficult to keep up. My wife, Zosha, and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in July. Spending more time in Vermont now and less in the Cotswolds and Savannah.”

based artist who has crafted hand-made paper for the past dozen years. As an homage to its origins, she often includes flowers and other organic matter in her paper. Annie recently hired a video production company to film her latest art installation of handmade paper tableaux in the form of a hanging forest which people can walk or dance through to experience the amazing qualities of handmade paper: light, texture, nature, and motion. Check out the video, “Ineffable Joy,” on YouTube. www.youtube.com/ watch?v=szzVL_VDhQk

top Bill Mohan ’61 is a

Spanish translator for the Friends of Barnabas Foundation mountain medical team in Honduras. middle Pam and Terry Hannock visit with Baba and Boz Bosworth. They had a great time and left with a promise from Boz and Baba to visit the South Carolina Low Country! bottom Hardy Jones ’61 and his wife, Deborah, at Giverny, the home of Claude Monet.

34 classnotes

’63 RH Margo Heun Bradford is on the board of The Friends of the Clinical Center (National Institutes of Health), which helps patient families in financial distress while on a medical protocol at NIH. Having transferred to Madeira after her junior year at Rosemary, Margo will be celebrating her 50th Madeira reunion this spring. We’re glad she chose to celebrate her 50th RH reunion with us last spring as well! Lorna Tighe DeZengotita became a grandmother last summer when her daughter Kate had a baby boy. Penny Griffith Dix is a new docent at the New Britain Museum of American Art where she is able combine her love of art with her skill at teaching. Her tours vary from elementary school kids to octogenarians. Penny is about to scratch one item off her “bucket list” – a trip to China and Tibet! Mary Ford emailed this news: “Bill Schadt and Mary Ford are pleased to inform you of their marriage on December 15, 2013. They will reside in Webster, N.C. Mailing address: P.O. Box 225, Webster, N.C. 28788.” Her e-mail is still marsfarm2000@yahoo.com. Jean McBee Knox works out at the gym every day and feels terrific. She is completely recovered from last year’s heart attack. Angela Treat Lyon had an open studio show and sale of her artwork in January. View her work at angelatreatlyonart.com. Vicki de Fere McInerney lost her courageous battle with an incurable progressive lung disease on January 18, 2014. She is survived by her husband of almost 48 years, John, and by her twin sons, John and Paul. Contributions in her memory can be made to the Vermont Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Cindy Skiff Shealor traveled in New Zealand and Australia earlier this year, taking what she called the “easy way” via a cruise. Betsy O’Hara Stiefvater and husband, Jürgen, are both retired, though she is still doing a bit of English teaching. In October/November she visited her daughter and son-in-law, Penelope and Dan, and her granddaughter Lucille (18 months) in Brooklyn, then progressed down to Miami Beach to visit her other daughter, Ella, and twin granddaughters, Maxine and Vivienne (12). Jürgen and Betsy spent February in Tenerife (Canary Islands). Reeve Lindbergh Tripp is writing and gathering together another collection of personal essays. ’64 RH Linda Holch Gordon writes, “Looking forward to our 50th reunion in May. My husband and I still live in Burlington N.C. We welcomed our fourth grandchild in September. I enjoy painting and am represented at a gallery on Bald Head Island, N.C. We enjoy traveling and recently visited with Tina (Johnson) Lewis at her new home in Newport, R.I. Our family continues to get together in Nantucket in the summer.”

’65 RH Sarah Kernochan writes, “I’ve been enjoying Facebook for all these glimpses at the daily doings of my classmates. It’s surprisingly easy to picture everyone exactly as they were back in the 60s, so they must reside in a part of my brain untouched by decrepitude. As for my news, it’s been an unexpectedly hectic year. A script I wrote eight years ago called Learning to Drive was made into a movie here in New York over the summer, starring Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson. I spend a lot of time in Martha’s Vineyard, where we managed to buy my late parents’ beach house. This puts me in range of Boston, where I reune whenever possible with my “bops”: fellow Rosemarians Debbiebop Choate, Margotbop Botsford, Lisabop De Lima, Anniebop Woodhull, and, on occasion, even Glenniebop Close. For me this is right up there with satori.” Susan Hall Mygatt has taken two trips to China in the past year, the most recent of which was with Global Volunteers. She and three other volunteers spent two weeks teaching English conversation to 31 Chinese primary and middle school teachers of English, and she tried to improve her limited Mandarin skills when not teaching English! Susan reports that the Global Volunteers experience is a wonderful way to visit a foreign country and make a difference at the same time. Ann Mason Sears writes, “Save the date for a gathering next August (Thursday, August 21, 2014) at Ann Sears’ mid-coast home in Maine. The 50th reunion dates for our class are May 15-17, 2015. The plan is to have activities Friday and Saturday at the Choate Rosemary Hall campus and have a visit to the Greenwich RH campus Sunday, followed by a luncheon. This was done during last May’s Reunion Weekend and was very successful. We welcome any suggestions for a successful reunion.” Wesley Cullen Davidson writes, “My husband, Sandy, and I had a wonderful seven-day vacation last September aboard the Seabourn cruise ship. We sailed from Athens to Venice, making stops at Gythion and Katakolon, Greece; Dubrovnik, Le Hvar in Croatia; and Ravenna, Italy, ending in Venice. The ship was small and luxurious with great service.” In other news, Wesley will receive the Cosgrave Lifetime Achievement Award, which is presented annually to a Finch College alumna who has made a "significant contribution to public life, arts, business or volunteer work in the community or throughout the world." ’66 C John Arthur left the Bakersfield Californian, where he was editor, and is back in Santa Monica, Calif., pondering his next move. Peter Hovey writes, “My daughter Katharine Hovey married Scott Hornsby on February 15 in Central Park in NYC. The groom’s uncle musician Bruce Hornsby (The Grateful Dead) was there. We took over the entire Central Park Boathouse amidst the onslaught of snow storms the entire week and throughout the wedding celebration. The setting could not have been more beautiful.”

1 2

3 4

1 Members of the Rosemary Hall Class of 1965, from

left, Jancie Olson, Sarah Hudson, Durinda Fischer, and Ann Sears at a second mini-gathering of RH ’65 in Christmas Cove, Maine, during the summer of 2013. 2 Noel Hynd ’66, Phil Nel ’88, and Patricia White Hynd ’88 at Comic-Con International San Diego 2013. 3 Jeff Wieler ’69 was re-elected to the Piedmont (Calif.) City Council and also elected as the city’s vice mayor. 4 Linda Hodge ’73, right, and Kathy Kohnstamm Piven ’71, left, had a chance meeting in Buenos Aires.

Bulletin | Winter 2014 35

Noel Hynd and wife, Patricia White Hynd ’88, have founded Red Cat Tales, an electronic and paperback publishing imprint based in Los Angeles. Red Cat Tales specializes in genre fiction and graphic novels, both European in translation and original. The new imprint has been awarded a Small Press Table (Location Q5) at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2014 from July 24 through July 27. Alums are invited to come by and say hello. Patricia is also the co-creator and author of Yakuza Rising!, a Japanese gangster comic that will have its official release at CCSD 2014. Jamie Kirkpatrick, who has served as the Director of College Counseling at Landon for 21 years, will step down from that position at the end of this school year. “I’m the longest serving Director of College Counseling at independent schools in the Washington, DC, area,” he said. “I think it was time for a change both personally and institutionally. It’s someone else’s turn to bring new vision and leadership to the role.” “Jamie knows the ins and outs of an increasingly competitive college application process and has helped so many boys and their families find the right fit following life at Landon,” said Headmaster David M. Armstrong. “Jamie has served the community brilliantly over the years.” Jamie not only guided hundreds of students through their college selection process but he also taught a history seminar entitled “Critical Issues in the Middle East” for 22 years at Landon and served as co-chair of the school’s Gender Equity Committee. He has coached varsity, junior varsity, and middle school baseball, served as the official “bagpiper” at school events, announced football games, and dressed up as Santa Claus at the annual children’s holiday party. Jamie, who has lived on campus for 15 years, also is well-known for his photography of Landon and school events. That love of photography has led him to create his own business with a new website for the sale of his Landon landscapes and candids, as well as other photos he has taken over the years. After more than two decades, Jamie says there isn’t one memory that stands out above all others. “It’s collectively the individual stories of all these boys getting into their schools that have changed their lives,” he said. “It’s all the wonderful colleagues both in the counseling office and all over campus that have made Landon a great place to work.”

’66 RH Gusty Lange writes “My son, Dylan (23), rode his bike solo this past summer from the Atlantic Ocean to the Golden Gate Bridge! My daughter is a freshman at Oberlin. My husband, Steve, and I are working on an apartment in Brooklyn. I’m in my 29th year of teaching Visual Perception at Pratt in the Graduate Communications Design Department and in my 65th (or would it now be 66th) year of life!”

’67 c

Rick Rosenthal’s new film, Drones, is coming to theaters in June. The military thriller explores the complex and moral issues of drone warfare. Cast members include Eloise Mumford and Matt O’Leary. Rick was interviewed about his latest directorial project by the Huffington Post. Jeff Yates retired from the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America at the end of February, after a 39-year tenure. He and his wife, Lauran, are living in Bozeman, Mont., where they are enjoying exploring the west. Their three children, Chris, Matt, and Alison, are living in Colorado, Maryland, and California respectively.

’67 RH Mary Lou Lange reports, “Hard to believe that I am in my 28th year as associate psychologist at Rockland Psychiatric Center out-patient clinic in Nyack, N.Y. I very much enjoy the challenges with the patients; the paperwork is something else. I love spending time with my orange and white Australian Shepard, Lola, and travel when I can. Love working around my house and keeping in shape. I cherish the times and gifts that Rosemary Hall gave to me.”

’69 c Miller Williams writes, “I have retired a second time after spending three years in Bermuda as COO of Link, the leading international data center and telecom company. Constance, my wife of 25 years, and I are living in Asheville, N.C. Constance is an encaustic painter. I am serving on Boards and playing golf. Looking forward to seeing old friends at our 45th reunion.” Jeff Wieler writes, “I’m proud to report that in February, I was re-elected to the Piedmont (Calif.) City Council and also elected the city’s vice mayor.”

1970s ’72 c Byron Haskins has corresponded with former Principal and Head Charley Dey about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the A Better Chance (ABC) program. Byron also reports that he has selfpublished five Kindle eBooks of poetry available on Amazon. Check them out. Geoff Houser lost his wife, Anne, in Fredrickssund, Denmark, on January 30, 2014, after a long illness. ’73 RH Linda Hodge writes, “We were in Buenos Aires at the end of our winter journey through South America, when we saw an American couple at a museum, said ‘hi’ and kept going. We ran into the wife later that afternoon while shopping near our hotel and started talking. I mentioned that my son, Chase, attended Choate, so did her son, so did she, and so did I. Her name is Kathy Kohnstamm Piven ’71. It’s a really small world.”

’67

’74 c Ed Kelly writes, “After 25 years, 14 as CEO, I am retiring from American Express Publishing. What a journey it’s been. The opportunity to travel the globe, meet extraordinary people along the way, and make the world more accessible to millions of brand advocates of Travel+Leisure, Food & Wine, and Departures. What’s next? An extended road trip across the U.S., of course. Always more to see and do!” ’74 RH Anne Ayres Mosychuk writes, “Looking forward to our 40th this May and also the dedication of the Ayres-Yankus baseball field on Sunday of Reunion Weekend. My oldest son is in Buffalo, N.Y., working as an attorney. I have visited him there and it is a very beautiful city with lots of big old houses and parkways and boulevards. Before law school, he worked for the Choate alumni department with Dan Courcey and others during his summer vacations from UF (Go, Gators!). My father would have loved that. My youngest graduated from the other university in Florida, Florida State, and was accepted into Officer Candidate School with the Navy. He is now an ensign based in Norfolk, Va., and will soon be coming off his first deployment. So proud of both my boys. I am still in the financial world, working at Wells Fargo Advisors in Ponte Vedra. Can’t believe I live in Florida still. Have been down here now since 1994. This winter has been cold but nothing like other areas of the country. And that’s why I am still here.”

Classnotes | Profile

broadway’s doug mcgrath ’76 with

by benjamin firke ’08

Manhattan’s Algonquin Hotel played host to a meeting of theatrical and literary minds on February 8, as playwright, screenwriter, and director Douglas McGrath ’76 spoke about his career with Choate legend Ed Maddox and an audience of alumni. Ed engaged Doug in a free-flowing discussion that began with Doug’s self-deprecating account of writing for Saturday Night Live during what Doug called “the worst season in the show’s history.” However, he emphasized that writing for SNL was an invaluable gift as a writer and a director. “At SNL, the writer really produces his own sketch,” Doug told the Bulletin. “You tell the costumers what clothes you want, you tell the set designers how you see the set. You talk to the actors about the characters. You really direct the sketch in every way except camera placement. This was ideal training for me when I eventually became a director, because directing was just an extension of that work.” Doug also regaled the audience with his story of how he began to collaborate with Woody Allen on several projects, most notably the Oscar-nominated Bullets Over Broadway. With a spot-on impression of the famed director, Doug spoke fondly of his collaborations with Allen, saying “he thought about the audience in the right way: from [their] perspective and not the studio’s.” I caught up with Doug afterward to learn more about his Choate experiences and his new Broadway musical, Beautiful, featuring the music and life story of singer-songwriter Carole King.

Ben firke: Ed Maddox mentioned you played

Snoopy in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown while a Choate student. Any memories stick out from that period? Did you do the “Suppertime” tap dance? Douglas McGath: We worked really hard, and had lots of fun. That seems contradictory, that work and fun are the same thing, but if it’s work you love – one of the greatest blessings of life – they are the same. Even better, it led to lifelong friendships for all of us. My main memory is how hard we laughed and how much we all loved our director, George Moredock, who pushed us hard and made us feel good about the effort. Yes, I tap danced in my own idiosyncratic, not-actually-really-tap-dancing way. BF: What drew you to Beautiful? How did it challenge you as an author? What moments in the show are you proud of? DM: The thing I loved about Carole King’s story is that it is two things. Of course it’s a musical for boomers who want to hear the songs that were such an important part of their youth. But what really appealed to me about it was that it is a girl-empowerment story. She is 16 when the story starts, and young for a lot of it. What it says to young people is this: Success takes not just talent but hard work. If you work hard, sometimes really, really hard, you can achieve something amazing. Even better, her story says that you can fall in love with someone you love more than anyone you’ve ever loved, but then it can all go wrong and your heart gets broken. You think it’s all over, that you will never find that joy again, and out of that heartbreak, you can find an even bigger success and a different kind of joy.

For me, I like the moments that subvert the audiences’ expectations. On the one hand, there is the humor in the show. Most people don’t expect the show to be funny. On the other hand, I always like it when we can move the audience. This is not a typical jukebox musical where we just raid somebody’s catalogue for a quick nostalgic thrill. I wanted people to really feel and be moved by her struggles. BF: What advice would you have for current Choate students interested in going into the arts? DM: Follow what you love, work hard at it, then work harder. Study all areas of the arts, especially literature, even if you don’t plan to be a novelist or even a writer. Classics teach about everything: society, language, philosophy, human behavior. Even if you want to do Adam Sandler comedies, it only helps for you to be as smart as you can. The Simpsons is full of low humor, and is still as smart as can be.

Ben Firke ’08 is an aspiring playwright living in New York City.

Bulletin | spring 2014 37

’76 rh Sue Barrows writes, “After 30 years of practicing small and exotic animal medicine, and owning my own veterinary business in Montana for 22 years, I have retired. I am enjoying spending more time with my family including my two grandchildren, ages 1 and 5 years. I look forward to more opportunities this year to ride and pack our horses in the mountains, troutfish and travel.” ’77 RH Shannon Gilligan writes, “My husband, Ray Montgomery, and I are spending the winter in Ojai, Calif., writing and running our publishing company remotely. Based on the weather in the rest of the country, especially back home in Warren, Vt., this has turned out to be an inspired choice. We recently licensed Ray’s children’s series, Choose Your Own Adventure (which we also now publish), to Fox Films. The script is being written by the same team who wrote the Night at the Museum movies. They are also the creators of Reno 9-1-1 and are very funny guys and fun to work with. I hope to get together with Ileana Patrichi Wachtel ’78 soon for lunch. Otherwise we are not getting into Los Angeles as much as we thought we might. Ojai is too nice to leave.” Carrie McCully Brown has joined the faculty at Hollins University as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Creative Writing. Her sixth book and fifth novel, The Last First Day, was published by Pantheon in the fall of 2013, and a new novel, The Stargazer’s Sister, a historical novel about the relationship between William and Caroline Herschel, 19th century astronomers and brother and sister, will be published in 2015. She continues to remain involved at Sweet Briar College, where her husband, the novelist John Gregory Brown, directs the creative writing program, and where the University of Virginia’s Young Writers Workshop has recently established a summer residency. Jean Tabin just became a grandmother! Anderson DeMarchis Lamont was born on February 20, 2014.

’78

Joan Bigwood King writes, “What a hoot the 35th was! Fancy being serenaded by Mr. Generous on the ukulele. Times, they are a-changin’. Back home in Palo Alto, my ‘laugh-out-loud’ novel, Co-opted, just made the leap to Kindle. CRH Facebook friends already know this, but hopefully some old guy from the class of 1970 has nothing better to do than read our class column and decide on the strength of my news to buy the movie rights. Oh, that was the other killer moment of Reunion 2013: hearing from Dean Georgaris ’88, the producer of Life of Pi, and Geoffrey Fletcher ’88, the creator of Precious. And then there’s Doug McGrath ’76 … but I digress into self-loathing. Also, Anne Levine continues to kill the sound waves and livestream with The Anne Levine Show (where I have been a guest blatherskite). I had the great pleasure of seeing Anne on the Cape and Lucy Russell in my own backyard this summer. Our baby girl, Carly,

is off to Wesleyan in the fall and her little brother, Peter, starts high school. I am birthing a couple of new projects and one very, very old one.”

’79 Polly Ingraham, former faculty member and wife of Rob Hirschfeld, has been getting a big kick out of the fact that their daughter, Cora Hirschfeld, plays two sports at Bates College with Alex Briody, daughter of Tom Briody. They are both sophomores at Bates and have become good friends through both Club Ice Hockey and Varsity Lacrosse. Nicholas Lundy has been working as a production designer for television and film in New York (currently on NBC’s The Blacklist). He has two children, 16 and 6, and is married to Kathy Ciric, who is a television producer. He notes, “it all started at Choate!”

1980s ’81

Tom Colt writes, “I’ve been living in Pittsburgh for the past six years with my wife, Megan. We moved into a new house very close to the downtown area last year. I work as a college counselor at Shady Side Academy and work part-time as a narrator for Just Ducky tours. It’s a great city! My wife and I have been able to travel a fair amount: we’ve been to Cuba, Iceland, and Panama in the past few years, and we are currently gearing up to go to Peru this summer to visit Machu Picchu.” Steven B. Fabrizio recently changed jobs, from a partner in the law firm of Jenner & Block LLP (co-chair of Content, Media & Entertainment practice group), to Senior Executive Vice President & Global General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America, the trade association representing all the major motion pictures in the U.S. He remains based in Washington, D.C., but travels frequently to Los Angeles for work. Leslie Gallagher McMahon is the president of Two Hands Four Paws, Los Angeles’ premier canine rehabilitation center. Her work helping companion animals recover from surgeries, manage the effects of degenerative diseases such as arthritis and dysplasia, and deal with obesity has garnered her worldwide attention. A 2013 video of her rescue and rehabilitation of Kenny, a paralyzed Doberman Pinscher, went viral and has now been seen by more than 200,000 people. After founding her business in a garage, in 2011 she moved her team of veterinarians, physical therapists, and veterinary technicians to a 6,000 sq. ft. facility (the largest rehab facility west of the Rockies), complete with an indoor pool, water and land treadmills, lasers, and other treatment equipment. She is a regular presenter at local vet hospitals and a frequent guest on English- and Spanish-language television. Stories about her and her work have appeared in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and recently, the Middle East. You can learn more about Leslie and her mission at www.twohandsfourpaws.com.

top Sue Barrows ’76 has retired as

owner of her own veterinary business in Montana after 22 years. center Cora Hirschfeld, daughter of Rob Hirschfeld ’79 and Alex Briody, daughter of Tom Briody ’79, are sophomores at Bates College. bottom Leslie Gallagher McMahon ’81 is the president of Two Hands Four Paws, Los Angeles’ premier canine rehabilitation center.

Classnotes | Profile

’81 Miles Spencer

Connecting the Best and Brightest

story by john steinbreder ’74 John Steinbreder ’74 is an author and award-winning journalist. He is a senior writer for Global Golf Post, the digital weekly, and a special contributor to Masters.com, the official website of the Masters Tournament.

Miles Spencer never earned an MBA, or even an undergraduate degree, for that matter. In fact, he barely went to college after finishing his studies at Choate Rosemary Hall in 1981, dropping out of Washington & Lee after only a year. But it wasn’t academic ennui that caused the highly successful entrepreneur and angel investor to leave that Lexington, Va., school where he lettered as a freshman in baseball, returned punts on the football team, and generally enjoyed himself. Rather, it was a chance to acquire an education in the real world and pursue a calling to become an entrepreneur, where, arguably, he never quit learning. It was the summer after his freshman year when Miles bought and then began to run an automotive parts and tools company in Long Island City, N.Y. He was only 19. Later, he took a job as an investment banker in Manhattan, where he helped to take a couple of companies public. He then joined the private equity firm Capital Express, which realized hundreds of millions of dollars of gains from backing for emerging dot-coms. While doing that, he co-founded and co-hosted a public television reality show called MoneyHunt, where enterprising businessmen and women pitched their ideas to a panel of experts. In addition to becoming a commercial and critical hit, it evolved into a powerful marketing vehicle for Capital Express, and a way for Miles to identify potential investment opportunities. Eventually, he founded his own investment company, called Vaux les Ventures (he gets his love of French from his term abroad with the Jannots); its primary function is to provide financing to start-ups, mostly in the consumer products, digital media, and mobile arenas. Over the past five years, the firm has raised some $106 million in capital for the winners.

A look at his career arc demonstrates that Miles has fared well, despite not finishing college. But he has done more than simply bank the proceeds from a succession of sage investments. Along the way, he has also sought to share what he has learned as a financier and entrepreneur with those also looking to get into that game. The creation of MoneyHunt is one example, and so is the career networking series he recently helped create, Start Up//Choate. The idea behind this initiative is to bring together the best and the brightest in the start-up world, connecting big thinkers and risk takers with people like Miles, who not only know how to succeed as an entrepreneur but also have access to capital – or at the very least, know angel investors, including himself, who can help get new enterprises off the ground. “We began as a LinkedIn group, where members could use that forum to exchange ideas, look for help in getting everything from lawyers to office furniture, identify and then solve problems, and also target angel investors,” says Miles, who grew up in a small town north of Pittsburgh and played football for four years at Choate. “And we set this up so that it was available to anyone connected with the School – students, parents, teachers, and alums.” Start Up//Choate came online in 2013, and it has already built a strong following. A recent check on the LinkedIn site showed there were dozens of active strings among group members. Standing room-only events were staged in New York last year, as well as in San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles, complete with presentations, live chats, panels of successful Choate Rosemary Hall graduates, and question-and-answer sessions. Several similar gatherings are being planned for this year. “The energy of the people involved in this has been really strong, and it is becoming a go-to place for entrepreneurs and angel investors,” says Miles, who now lives in Greenwich, Conn., with wife Melissa, and is the father of two young children, Grayson and Chloe. “I like it because that is the world I have operated in as an entrepreneur and investor over the years. And I enjoy how it allows me to give back to Choate and the people who went there.”

Bulletin | spring 2014 39

’87

1 3

4 1 Ellen Davie Hirs ’83 cheered on her

2 Jerry Farrell, Jr., ’86 was greeted by

3 John Lee ’87 and his brother, David ’88,

daughter Liz, pictured at right, at the Awty International School Swimmers State Championships. Liz broke two Awty school records for the 50- and 100-yard swims.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan at a mid-December Mass in celebration of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus.

enjoyed a great day on the river with limits on Chinook salmon! 4 Andrew Borrok ’89 and his wife, Tanya, welcomed a daughter, Katherine Charlotte ("Charlie") on January 28, 2014.

’82 Liz Alford Hogan spent two great weeks over Christmas and New Year’s connecting with Laurie Abel while skiing in Big Sky, Montana. It looks like it will be a tradition. Anyone interested for next year? Looking forward to our 50th birthday gathering! Barry Sheridan writes, “My family, which includes our daughter Nina, who is currently a senior at Choate, spent a week this winter in Palm Springs, and we were joined by our youngest daughter’s godfather, Dave McWhirter.” ’84

Ninfa Z. Bito writes from Makati City, Philippines, “I was recently appointed as Country Director for All Hands Volunteers in the Philippines. All Hands is a U.S.-based non-profit disaster response organization mobilizing volunteers to assist disaster-stricken communities. Our organization’s first response was in 2004 in Thailand in the wake of the tsunami, and since then it has deployed an international volunteer corps to Haiti, Peru, Japan, and the Philippines. In the U.S. it has deployed to help communities damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Presently, All Hands is in the Philippines assisting communities in the earthquake-damaged areas of Bohol and in the Haiyan-damaged areas of Leyte. Check us out at hands.org as we transition from early response toward recovery and rebuild projects for transitional schools and shelters.”

’86

Jerry Farrell, Jr., his wife, Natalie Campisi, and his parents, Gerald and Mary Ann Farrell, attended events in mid-December in New York City in connection with the Ordine degli Santi Maurizio e Lazaro (the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus), in which Farrell was knighted by Prince Victor Emmanuel, the head of the Italian royal family. The events included the Ballo di Savoia at New York’s Metropolitan Club as well as Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral celebrated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Cardinal Dolan greeted Farrell and the members of the Order following the Mass. Leah Guggenheimer is now COO of Tiger Bay Advisors (www.tigerbayadvisors.com), a professional services company that enhances the ability of investment managers to compete in a crowded market by upgrading their key non-investment functions. Don MacKinnon writes, “I’m close to launching my new venture, Milq, a site and app dedicated to creating a better way for us to discover and share culture (music, film, sports, fashion, etc.) with each other. Recently, I launched an iPad app I developed with Ken Burns to bring his films together in a new way. As part of it, I worked with Ken to create playlists around themes that recur throughout U.S. history: race, innovation, politics, etc. Kind of like mixed tapes about America.”

Jon Bornstein writes, “Three boys, ages 10, 8, and 4. Moved back to the North Shore of Boston from North Carolina several years ago so the kids can experience the never-ending snow in Red Sox Nation!” Christina Cook writes, “My family and I recently relocated from Hanover, N.H., where I was working as the senior writer for the president of Dartmouth, to Philadelphia, where I’m now working as a writer for the president’s office and communications office at the University of Pennsylvania. I also recently had a book of poems published, titled Lake Effect.” Kevin Kassover has transplanted from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He’s heading up the Aesthetics division of California Skin Institute (CSI), the largest privately owned dermatology practice in the state. He supervises four areas of business: plastic surgery, lasers, injectables, and skincare products. He welcomes hearing from any Choaties in the Bay Area: kevin@kassover.com. So far he’s spent time with Joe McAndrew, Courtney O’Connell ’86, Jamie White, Cornelia de Schepper ’66, Nicole Ryan, Sherry Daniel ’86 and Jennifer Weltzien, among others. Kate McNulty joined the board of the Northern California Planned Giving Council. Robin Sparkman left her job as the editorin-chief of The American Lawyer to become the CEO of StoryCorps, the national oral history project. She’d love to hear more from alums in the nonprofit world.

’88 Amy Talkington worked closely with her editor (and classmate) Daniel Ehrenhaft while writing her first novel, Liv, Forever, published in March by Soho Teen (See review on p. 57). They’ve traveled to various conferences with the book and got to see Lisa Zeitz in Philadelphia and convened with Lacey Terrell, Sunday Stevens, Mike Stein ’87, and Reeve Stein when Dan visited Los Angeles. ’89 Andrea Miralia writes, “My other half, James Butler, and I welcomed Lucian Miralia Butler into the world on December 5, 2013, in Maryland. We’re hoping to bring Lucian to Reunion in May, but right now, we’re just enjoying the smiles and trying to get some sleep.” David Wood recently gave the keynote address for the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor’s “Early Modern Colloquium,” promoting his most recent book, Recovering Disability in Early Modern England (Ohio State University Press, 2013). David continues to serve as Honors Program Director and Associate Professor of English at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, where he lives with his wife, Vicki, and their children, Maddie (9), Henry (7), and Nate (5).

40 classnotes

John Newman has been selected as an E. E. Ford Fellow for the National Association of Independent Schools Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads.

1990s ’91

John Newman has been selected as an E. E. Ford Fellow for the National Association of Independent Schools Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads. The prestigious year-long fellowship is offered to support the professional development of exceptional and qualified individuals in independent schools who demonstrate excellence in leadership, a passion for their work, and the aspiration to become a head of school. John is currently Director of Business Operations for Idyllwild Arts Foundation in California.

’92 Tom Abrams writes that he and his wife, Amy, became the proud parents of Allison Leigh on October 16, 2013. “We currently live in the Boston area where I am an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.” Kristen Fiedler Kittscher says, “I was recently chosen as the 2014 James Thurber House Children’sWriter-in-Residence and will be spending a month this summer living in Thurber’s childhood home in Columbus, Ohio, while I work on the next book in my mystery series for kids and teach writing workshops to 4th and 5th graders. If there are any Choaties in the area, I’d love to see them.”

left Brad Mak ’96, left, and wife Brigitta

Herzfeld ’96, right, visited Juri Henley-Cohn ’96 in Pittsfield, Mass., where Juri was appearing in the Barrington Stage’s American premiere of Bashir Lazhar.

Amy Romano writes, “My husband, Mike, was named 2014 Super Lawyer and 2013 & 2014 Best Lawyer. He is a trial attorney in private practice in Clarksburg, W.V. He is also running for the West Virginia State Senate. I am currently working as the Director of Marketing & Social Media at the law firm and also for his campaign. Additionally, I have become certified as a First Responder and Community Emergency Responder and serve as a trainer and coordinator for the city of Bridgeport, W.V., where we reside with our children, Emma (11) and Michael (7).”

’93

Shane K. Bennett welcomed a daughter, Parker Addison Bennett, on January 25, 2013.

’94 Simone Lee Balch and her daughter performed in a community musical production of The Apple Tree recently, putting to work training from Messrs. Ortwein and Valentine. Also, Simone and her family relocated to Baltimore last year and would love to see Choaties in the mid-Atlantic region.

right Juri Henley-Cohn ’96 and his wife, Lana, welcomed a son, Bodhi, on New Year’s Eve.

’95

Maeve Ryan writes, “I’m currently the Director of Marketing & Communications at Suffield Academy in Suffield, Conn. My sister, Meg Ryan ’93, got married in August to Connor Finegan and my brother Dan and his wife just had a baby boy named Jake Ryan in November.”

’96 J. Kendal Wolf and fiancée, Colleen Oakes, live in Suva, Fiji, where Kendal continues to expand his business as a consultant to international organizations and Pacific governments. He wrote several published reports on governance in the Pacific during the past year. Juri Henley-Cohn writes, “My wife (Lana) and I were thrilled to welcome our first child into the world on New Year’s Eve. Our son, Bodhi, arrived at a whopping 9 lbs., 9 oz. Bodhi joins us and his two canine siblings, Magnum PI and Betsy, in Brooklyn, N.Y. This spring, I can be seen on NBC’s Believe playing the character of Hayden. I have a great role that starts out small, gets a little bigger, then gets small again! If you still have cable, please check it out. And lastly, I wanted to mention how great it’s been to cross paths with so many fellow Choaties both here and abroad. I’m constantly touched by the support and fellowship of friends from way back when. In the past year and a half, my wife and I were fortunate to be given the royal treatment in Bangkok by Tomtor Varutbangkul, who graciously showed us many of her favorite spots in the city; we were given the rock star, velvet rope treatment by Adam Tsou at two of his uber-trendy Paris hotspots, Glass and Candelaria, which made us feel far cooler than we are; I was so touched to see Brad Mak and Brigitta Herzfeld, as well as Jen Caine and her husband, Nick Russell, in Pittsfield, Mass., where they came to see me in Barrington Stage’s American Premiere of Bashir Lazhar. And, in NYC, I got to be there for the baptism of Christian Cheney’s three amazing kids. I really hope the years to come offer even more opportunities to hang with such great and interesting people.”

Bulletin | spring 2014 41

’90

Joanna Hershon

Lessons of a Writing Life

story by lindsay whalen ’01 Lindsay Whalen ’01 is a Truman Capote Fellow in the Brooklyn College MFA Program.

Escaping the cold of a New York winter, writer Joanna Hershon ’90 leads a lunchtime writing workshop at the East Village bistro Calliope. It is a moment when delicious food, exciting company, and good conversation come together – something the Spanish call sobremesa. From her place at the head of the table, Joanna greets each student, and easy chatter begins between the guests, a diverse group of 15 that includes two published novelists, a French model, and book publicist Gretchen Crary ’88, as they tuck into plates of fresh scones, clotted cream, and jam. “I begin with character,” she says. “When I’m trying to find plot, I start by asking what each character wants, and often find that the drama that I’m looking for comes from the tension between conflicting desires.” It’s an approach she believes can be instructive for all writers as they try to find their way into a story. Joanna is the author of four novels, the most recent of which, Dual Inheritance, is to be published in paperback this spring.

Her ambitions as a writer began in a Choate classroom. Studying with Melinda Talkington ignited her imagination and deepened her love of the novel. As sixth former, she wrote a novella as part of an independent study with Watson Lowery. But theater held an equal place in her heart, and as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan she explored both passions. Graduation brought her to New York, where she went on auditions while teaching as an ESL instructor. She continued to write, and in 1997 took the leap to make fiction her primary focus as a student in Columbia’s MFA program. It was at Columbia, where she studied with mentors Michael Cunningham and Helen Schulman, that she began the manuscript that would become her first novel, Swimming. Research has also become central to Joanna’s process, allowing her to travel beyond the borders of her own experience. “I really see fiction as a way of exploring different lives,” Joanna says. Her third novel, The German Bride, is the story of a young Jewish immigrant’s arrival in 1860s Santa Fe. The idea for the novel began with a chance conversation with a friend whose ancestors were Jewish cowboys. Joanna was fascinated, and spent the next three years reading everything she could to better understand the Jewish experience of the American West. The narrative voice remained distant until she discovered a trove of primary documents at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York. It was here that Eva Frank, the central character, came to life. With her newest book, A Dual Inheritance, reviewed in the Fall 2013 Bulletin, Joanna entered new territory. The novel begins in the 1960s, when two Harvard students form an unlikely friendship, and follows their connection into the present. To better understand Cambridge of the period, she spoke at length with the Harvard and Radcliffe graduates who knew that world best. Anthropology also plays a critical role in the narrative, and Joanna immersed herself in the subject. Asked about the widening scope of her fiction, Joanna says, “You’re following your interests and your anxieties. I love to have something concrete to learn about.” For Joanna, writing is a continuing education, and her role as student continues even now that she is a teacher herself. A thesis advisor and frequent instructor for Columbia’s MFA program, Joanna sees her classroom work as a rewarding exchange. One of the lessons she tries to impart on her students is “how to pay attention as a writer.” This means reading with a focus on craft, as well as “listening to the rhythms of language, both in literature and everyday conversation,” she says. Perhaps equally important is Joanna’s unique generosity of spirit. As for those at Calliope, her openness and encouragement seem to be what the group needed. “This was so much fun for me. Joanna’s exercise was spot on,” says fellow Choatie Gretchen Crary. “I feel energized to get back to my novel ASAP.”

42 classnotes

2 1

1 Mark Anderson ’97 and his

5 Megan Clarke ’98 and

wife, Sarah, welcomed twin boys on September 28, James (Jamie) and Duke Anderson. 2 Chuck Elwell ’97 and his wife, Britt, welcomed daughter Caroline Gray Elwell into their family on November 18, 2013. Caroline joins big sister, Ansley. 3 Jennifer Shipp ’97 and her husband, Jaron, welcomed their second son, Bennett (Ben) Elijah Shipp. 4 Simone Lee Balch ‘94 and her daughter performed in a community musical production of The Apple Tree recently, putting to work training from Messrs. Ortwein and Valentine.

husband, Mike, welcomed their second daughter, Catherine Anne Archambault, in April of 2013. Cate is pictured her with big sister, Lucy (2). 6 Marc Wein ’98 and his wife, Sara Schoenfeld, welcomed a daughter, Emma Jane Wein, born on December 24, 2013. 7 Hillary Comb ’99 visited classmates Courtney Collins ’99 and her husband Ricardo Behrens ’99 who are living in Tokyo. 8 Nachel Mathoda ’99 married Morgan Ashcom on September 29, 2012, in Connecticut. Celebrating with them were classmates Jason Rahal, Tracy Zupancis Rahal, Liz Wendell, and Tadd Spering.

7 8 ’97 Mark Anderson and wife, Sarah, welcomed twin boys on September 28, James (Jamie) and Duke Anderson. Their paternal grandparents are Former Trustee Carl ’67 and Betsy Anderson, and their aunt is Neville Anderson ’93, Mark’s sister. Rachel Anderson N’Diaye and husband, Oumar, welcomed a daughter, Jenna Sira N’Diaye, on June 16, 2013. Jenna joins big brother Idris. Emily Cole moved to NYC after 11 years in London where she earned her M.S. in Child Development and Ph.D. in Psychology. Jennifer Shipp writes, “I graduated from UC Berkeley with a Master of Public Policy in May 2013 and began working with the Children, Families, and Communities Program at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation through a philanthropy fellowship program. Then, in November, my husband and I welcomed a second son to our family, Bennett (Ben) Elijah Shipp. Our first, Theo, is super excited to be a big brother.” ’98

Noah Charney, a professor of art history specializing in art crime, is working on his next two books: an illustrated history of forgery that will

be published by Phaidon and another book to be published by Norton. He also writes a lot of articles for Esquire, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and more. He writes a popular weekly column in the The Daily Beast called “How I Write,” in which he interviews fellow famous authors about the writing life – this will also become a book. He appears in TV documentaries, including a recent BBC documentary on art theft that he helped produce, and a National Geographic documentary tie-in to the Monuments Men film (the film borrows heavily from his book Stealing the Mystic Lamb). To learn more about his work, please visit his new website, www.noahcharney.com. Noah lives between Italy and Slovenia, and recently had his first child, Eleonora. Gene Nogi writes, “Ali and I welcomed Brett Olivia Nogi (7 lbs., 12 oz.) to the world at 9:28 p.m. on January 1.”

’99

Amy Phillips works as a criminal defense attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. She graduated from Georgetown Law in 2013 and lives in Washington, D.C.

Emily Cole is one of the founders of Admittedly, an online college advisory platform that matches high school students to colleges based on their personality and provides the tools they need to improve their applications and chances of acceptance.

’97

Bulletin | spring 2014 43

’01 An Artist’s Journey

story by s a n d i s h e lto n Sandi Shelton is a freelance writer and author. Her new novel, The Opposite of Maybe (written under the pen name Maddie Dawson) is being released in April.

Lucy Davis Phillips

Lucy Davis Phillips ’01 knew from childhood that she could calm herself down by drawing pictures. But it wasn’t until she was at Choate that she learned that the wild and unpredictable emotions she held inside could actually be transformed into art, and that, in fact, drawing pictures was the love of her life. “Becoming an artist isn’t a logical choice; it’s very emotional,” she says. “I was constantly drawing people’s faces. On the train, I’d ask people to model for me. I was building characters, finding something in their images that I could accentuate.” Choate was a nurturing place for this aspiring artist. Teachers supported her passion for art and helped her get into the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she received a BFA in painting in 2006. Like many in creative professions, Lucy had to work to convince her family that this was a good, safe career choice for her. “My family was against it when I was at Choate and trying to go to art school,” she says. “It took years for them to see me grow, although they now accept that I’m an artist. It can enhance your calling when you have to fight for it. You have to listen to yourself on that one.” Today, as a full-time artist living in New York, she is known for her compelling portraits of ordinary people, and her work has been on exhibit in galleries in New York City, North Carolina, and Baltimore – and most recently, at Choate, where her onewoman show, “Patterns in a Lonely Crowd,” was on display from January through March. She’s also studied in Paris and Lucca, Italy, taught art in an elementary school, and has worked in various galleries and museums, including an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and at the National Portrait Gallery, part of the Smithsonian, in Washington, D.C.

Dorothy Moss, the associate curator of painting and sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery, says she admires Lucy’s dedication and skill and adds, “Lucy pushes herself to find new ways of representing community through the genre of portraiture.” Lucy says she is drawn to creating portraits because “it’s like studying human psychology, but visually.” She adds, “I try to make portraits that are classically rendered, are very expressive, and highlight particular qualities within the person.” Although she started out doing traditional portraiture, she sees each new piece opening doors toward new adventures. “I’ve slowly moved toward doing community portraits, and I am now starting to use digital technology for what I call motion portraits,” she says. Her community portraits show a variety of people, each placed in a grid or square, together and yet not creating a tension between individuality and community. Lucy describes herself as a “raging optimist” and says many of her portraits strive to show how we’re all linked together and part of a wider community, all with shared experiences. Some of her newer work is concerned with making a statement about society’s saturation with the haze of technology. In one recent motion piece, “Digital Coma,” twelve ordinary individuals in the grid have the tops of their heads replaced with a circle of constantly moving static. “Technology is a powerful tool that has enabled us to grow in so many ways,” she says of this painting, “but it can also have the potential to be a dulling, trance-inducing drug.” Lucy will spend the summer as a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. “I think it’s important for any artist to be constantly learning,” she says. “I try to challenge myself by learning new mediums and new techniques. I’m very excited to be going.” Visit Lucy’s website at www.lucydavisphillips.com

44 classnotes

Jane Mosbacher Morris is launching a social enterprise called To the Market | Survivor-made Goods, which focuses on the promotion of goods made by and stories told by survivors of abuse, conflict, and disease.

1 3

’04

4 5 6 7 1 Lena Gayraud ’06 ran her first

3 Christopher Miller ’01 and

5 Choate 2007 graduates

marathon, the Philadelphia Marathon, in fall 2013. Molly West ’06 ran the second half with Lena, and they finished hand-in-hand! 2 Kate Peters Kiraly ’02 and her husband, Drew, welcomed their first child, Madeline Katherine Kiraly, on July 1, 2013.

his wife welcomed a daughter, Luciana Maria Miller, on November 17, 2013. 4 Kelly Dormandy ’04, center, a strength and conditioning coach at USC, celebrates with the women's basketball team that made history by being the first PAC-12 team to win 4 games in 4 days, clinching the 2013 PAC-12 Tournament Championship. The team advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 8 years.

Ariana Branchini and Alice Bearn were hiking this past January in Malibu, Calif. at Zuma Point. 6 Betsy Lippitt ’05 married Raul Sigmund Julia on August 31, 2013, at the Julia Farm in the Catskills. Choate theater teacher Tracy Ginder-Delventhal acted as the Master of Ceremonies. Other classmates in attendance, from left: Caroline Bourdeau, Jill Russo, Courtney Clark, Vanessa Dube, Kati Vaughn, Daniel Sobol, and Emily Reid. The couple,

both actors, met each other in 2009 at the Flea Theater in TriBeCa. Their story was featured in the Vows column of The New York Times. 7 Choate 2008 classmates celebrated New Year’s Eve together. Seated from left are, Eloise True, Cordelia Blanchard, Victoria Steffes, Jin Ha, and Nathaniel Moore. In front, Ben Firke in repose.

Bulletin | spring 2014 45

2000s ’00

Otessa Ghadar, who founded new media company 20/20 Productions in D.C., was recently interviewed by the Huffington Post, and the article was featured on the site’s front page. During the interview, she talks about her viral web series, Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden; her recently published textbook, The Wild West of Film; the influences of two cherished high school teachers; and more. Nate Stanglein, a Colby College and UPenn Veterinary School grad, is now associated with Stanglein Veterinary Practice in Northampton, Pa., and finding time to play men’s hockey with leagues in the Bethlehem and Philadelphia areas. Khari Stephenson was named one of the top five Division III players to make an impact on Major League Soccer, by mlssoccer.com.

’01 Paul Cebulak writes, “After launching and running BD and partner relations for Yelp Australia since 2011, I accepted a promotion and in February relocated from Melbourne to San Francisco. I’m keen to (re-)connect with Choate grads who are in northern California and who work in tech!” ’02

Kristopher Morlot is finishing up his MBA at the Yale School of Management and will head out west to work in the oil and gas industry. He is also engaged to be married next spring in Austin, Texas. Kate Peters Kiraly and her husband, Drew, welcomed their first child, Madeline Katherine Kiraly, on July 1, 2013, at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center, where Drew is a resident. Maddie is doing wonderfully and enjoys terrifying her parents by climbing on everything in the apartment.

’03 Amanda Esten writes, “I was accepted into the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis and earned a partial scholarship, too. I will be starting veterinary school this fall and will graduate spring of 2018. This July I will marry my long-time fiancé, Malcolm Brown, whom I met while doing Teach For America in Los Angeles.” Austin Igleheart started new job as a Technical Consultant for Schlumberger in Saudi Arabia. Spending the past five years in Houston designing a drilling tool specifically for Saudi Aramco, Austin is now splitting his time between his home in Atlanta and the Middle East, supporting the team and tool, which is being used to increase production and prolong the life of old gas wells. The tool has successfully drilled two wells and completed a number of “firsts” for technology of this type.

’04 Grant Carpenter writes, “I’m the General Counsel for Cyber2Media, a web development and advertising company, and XYZ, the company bringing the new domain extensions .xyz, .College and .Now to the Internet. I’ve been living in LA since 2005.” JB Cholnoky says, “I was hired as the varsity assistant coach of Brown Mens Crew last fall while completing an MA in American History. I recently had lunch in D.C., with three guys I used to coach at Choate (currently rowing at Gtown/GW): Mike Davidson ’11, Gabe Knisely ’13, and Devin Hisarli ’13.” Alessandra Echeverria is still happily working for Teach For America. She recently competed in her first CrossFit competition, Frostbite 2014. Her team came in 9th out of 21 teams in the scaled division. She also completed her fourth 50K race, coming in 2nd in her age division. Alessandra is excited to see her classmates at their 10th reunion this spring. Vanessa K. Goldstein recently moved back to NYC from LA, where she worked in the film and entertainment business for just shy of five years straight after college. Once she realized the entertainment industry was shifting significantly to new media (and LA was no longer the industry’s nucleus), she took a position at YouTube and returned to her favorite city in the world, New York. There, she continues to pursue her passions in creating and curating film and television while having the opportunity to educate and inspire the most influential communities on YouTube. She would love to reconnect with her former classmates in New York and can be reached at vanessa.goldstein@gmail.com. Chris Mazur, a member of the New York Rumble Ultimate Frisbee team, was voted 2013 MLU Eastern Conference MVP. For being voted MVP, Mazur will be awarded $500 as well as an additional $500 by the league to donate to the charity or youth Ultimate program of his choice. Chris has decided to donate his money to the Ultimate program at Choate. Chris says, “During my one year of teaching at the school in 2010-2011, I was fortunate to be around when a few dedicated students, Ed Speyer ’12, Matt Fasano ’12, and Jeff Spivack ’12, got the first varsity Ultimate team started. The program has blossomed over the past 3 years, and has held numerous events for youth Ultimate in the state of Connecticut, including charity events, tournaments, and the Connecticut high school all-star game.” Jane Mosbacher Morris is currently launching a social enterprise called To the Market | Survivormade Goods. To the Market focuses on the promotion of goods made by and stories told by survivors of abuse, conflict, and disease. Many Choate alumni continue to provide valuable feedback, including Liz Mustin Davis and LeAnne Armstead.

’06

Lexi Bohonnon writes, “I returned from the Sochi Olympics where I had an incredible time watching my brother, Mac, compete as the only male for the US in Freestyle Aerial Skiing. He finished 5th, just off the medal round. At only 18, he definitely has a big career ahead of him. My family had a great time catching up with the family of Hilary Knight ’07 at the P&G Family Home while there. So proud of all of the Choate representation in Sochi!” Michael Cecchi received an MBA in Investment Management from Pace University’s Lubin School of Business. He began a career as a consultant at FactSet Research Systems in February 2014. Kari Cholnoky writes, “I’m finishing up my MFA in Painting at Cranbrook Academy of Art. I had two paintings in a show at the Detroit Artist Market opening in February, and my thesis exhibition will open at the Cranbrook Art Museum on April 19.” Rebecca Maddox just joined the Democratic Staff in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee for Oversight and Government Reform as a legal fellow for a year.

’08 Victoria Steffes writes, “After graduating from Barnard College in 2012, I interned at The Molecular Foundry at Berkeley National Lab. I decided to stay in sunny California and am working toward a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Santa Barbara.” ’11 Rand Monaghan will be working this summer as an analyst for the Citi Investment Banking division in the Healthcare industry group. He will be working in their Manhattan offices. Brandon Sherrod, a junior on the Yale basketball team, was accepted as a member of Yale's renowned singing group, the Whiffenpoofs. Brandon told The Yale Daily News, “Not many people get this chance [to join the Whiffenpoofs]. I’m nervous for a new chapter in my life, but excited at the same time.” Singing is not new for Brandon. He was vocalizing long before he was shooting baskets. Growing up in Bridgeport, he was a member of a church choir and was a soloist in a children’s chorus at the age of nine.

IN MEMORIAM | Remembering Those We Have Lost Alumni and Alumnae

’30 RH Alma Wilson Wheeler, 101, active in community life, died October 28, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Born in New York City, Alma, known to friends as “Peter,” came to Rosemary Hall in 1927; she earned eight bars on the Committee, was chair of the Chapel Committee, was Editor-in-Chief of the Answer Book, lettered in basketball and track (javelin), won a School mathematics prize, and was voted “Most Capable.” After graduating from Wellesley, Peter lived in Washington most of her life, where she was on the boards of Friendship House and St. John’s Child Development Center, and was a guide at the National Portrait Gallery. She leaves three daughters, including Sue Mason ’58, 7307 Broxburn Court, Bethesda, MD 20817, and Laurie Brown ’62; four grandchildren; and six greatgrandchildren. ’33 RH Jane Alton Walker, 97, a retired bookkeeper, died April 18, 2013, in Old Lyme, Conn. Born in Hartford, Conn., Jane was at Rosemary Hall for one year; she was in the Current Events Club and was a Boundary Captain. After attending Goucher College, she was a bookkeeper for Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. (now Cigna) for more than 30 years. She was fond of nature, and especially enjoyed living on Long Island Sound. She leaves two sons, including John Walker, 331 Shore Rd., Old Lyme, CT 06371; six grandsons; and a great-granddaughter.

’33 C Carl I. Carlson, Jr., 98, the retired president of a real estate firm, died May 20, 2013. Born in Greensboro, N.C., Carl was at Choate for one year; he lettered in wrestling and tennis. After graduating from Davidson, he attended Harvard Business School and served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he headed the Carlson Farms Development Co. in Greensboro. He also started a summer camp and a country club there. Carl, involved in many Greensboro-area community projects, was a deacon and elder of the First Presbyterian Church. He leaves his wife, Anne D. Carlson, P.O. Box 20124, Greensboro, NC 27420; four children; 11 grandchildren; and four greatgrandchildren.

Richard S. Lee, 98, a retired business executive, died November 15, 2013, in Rochester, N.Y. Born in Rochester, Dick came to Choate in 1930 and was on the board of the News. After graduating from the University of Rochester, he was a stage manager with several theatrical shows and from 1943 to 1946 served with the Navy in the Pacific. Dick then was an executive with the Case-Hoyt Corp., a Rochester printing firm, and with the Wolff Associates advertising agency there. He leaves a daughter, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. ’34 C

Seymour Parsons, 96, a retired executive of an aerospace company, died May 1, 2013. Born in Hartford, Conn., Seymour, who was a cousin of former Choate Headmaster Seymour St. John, came to Choate in 1930. He managed the Varsity hockey team, was Assistant Managing Editor of the News, and was in the Chess Club. Seymour graduated from Yale and spent four years in the Navy during World War II. After the war, he was an analytical engineer for the Hamilton Standard division of United Technologies, and was later a design consultant. He belonged to several professional organizations, including the Yale Engineering Association and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He leaves two children, including Julie Parsons Stein, 83 Greenville Rd., West Townsend, MA 01474; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

’36 C

Harold Hartshorne, Jr., 95, a retired farmer, died October 28, 2013. Born in New York City, Harry came to Choate in 1932. He played piano in the Golden Blues, was President of the Glee Club, and was in Le Cercle Français. He was one of those voted “Best Voice” by his classmates. After graduation from Princeton, he worked briefly on Wall Street before joining the Army Air Corps. Fluent in French, during World War II he trained French cadets how to fly, and later was made an honorary member of the French Air Force; a set of French wings was presented to him by Charles DeGaulle. After the war, he was a farmer in Wisconsin, raising chickens, sheep, and cattle, as well as field crops. He was also involved with

a real estate company, Burroughs and Chapin, founded to develop Myrtle Beach, Fla. Harry was active with the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Lake Geneva (Wis.) Library, and the YMCA. He leaves no known relatives.

’37 C Robert A. Low, 94, a retired attorney and politician, died January 3, 2014, in San Francisco. Born in Scarsdale, N.Y., Bob came to Choate in 1933. He was in the French Club and St. Andrew’s Cabinet, was Managing Editor of the News, and was on the Student Council. Captain of varsity tennis, he also lettered in cross-country, won a School prize for excellence in history, and was one of those voted “Class Politician” by his classmates. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford, where he also was captain of tennis, he entered the Navy and served on destroyers in the Pacific, winning nine battle stars and becoming one of the youngest Lieutenant Commanders in Navy history. After the war, he

Mayor of New York City in 1969, and in 1980, he left public life and started a small private law practice. He enjoyed fine food, was a critic and editor for the Gault et Millau restaurant guides, and hosted a radio show on food and wine. He leaves two sons, including Roger M. Low, 125 Edgewood Ave., San Francisco, CA 94117; six grandchildren; and a brother, Stuart Low ’35.

’41 RH Joan Harris Kelso, 89, died January 21, 2014, in Galveston, Texas. Born in Charlottesville, Va., Joan was at Rosemary Hall one year, and later attended Saint Mary’s Hall in San Antonio, Texas, and Newcomb College in New Orleans. She enjoyed fishing, crabbing, water skiing and vacationing with family at their home in Colorado. She also enjoyed opera and sports. She leaves two sons, including John Kelso, 6801 Broadway St., Galveston, TX 77554; six grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; and a sister.

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford, he entered the Navy and served on destroyers in the Pacific, winning nine battle stars and becoming one of the youngest Lieutenant Commanders in Navy history. – Robert A. Low ’37 worked as advertising manager for The Saturday Review magazine while earning a law degree from George Washington University. He then handled congressional relations for the State Department before moving to New York City to become an assistant to then-Mayor Robert Wagner. He served two terms on the New York City Council, writing a landmark antipollution law; in the 1970s he was named the city’s Environmental Administrator, working for the Environmental Protection Agency. Bob ran unsuccessfully for

’41 C

Bruce D. Alexander, 91, a retired bank president, died February 1, 2014. Born in Denver, Col., Bruce came to Choate in 1937. He lettered in track, was in the Cum Laude Society, and was on the Library Committee. After graduating from Williams, he served in the Army Air Corps as a B-17 navigator. After the war, he was a banker – the fourth generation of his family in Colorado banking – and rose to be President of the First National Bank of Denver and the First National Bancorporation. Retiring in 1981, he

Bulletin | spring 2014 47

was active in the community, serving as Executive Director of the Denver Botanic Gardens, and later as Director of Parks and Recreation and Deputy Mayor of Denver. He also served on the boards of Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Colorado Women’s College, Central City Opera, and the Denver Symphony. An outdoorsman, he enjoyed fly fishing and golfing. He leaves two sons, Bruce Alexander ’71, 1000 East Tufts Ave., Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113; and Paul Alexander ’74; and six grandchildren. Another son, Kirk Alexander ’68, died in October 2013 (please see p. 49). A brother, the late Philip K. Alexander Jr. ’36, also attended Choate. William H. Wilson, 89, an executive of a staffing firm, died of cancer January 24, 2013 in Dallas. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Bill was at Choate for one year; he played football and hockey, and rowed crew. After graduation from Williams, he served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, receiving a Purple Heart. For many years, Bill ran the Dallas office of Manpower, the temporary staffing company, and was President of the local chapter of the American Management Association. He leaves four children and three grandchildren.

44 C

John W. “Jay” Olander Jr., 87, a retired investment banker, died February 14, 2014 in Linwood, Kan. Born in Kansas City, Mo., Jay was at Choate for one year. He lettered in basketball, track, and football; was Assignment Editor of the Press Club; and was President of the Western Club. After spending two years in the Navy, he went to Yale, graduating in 1951. Jay had a 45-year career as an investment banker, starting with Stern Bros. & Co. and retiring from United Missouri Bank. Active with the Boy Scouts, he was Scoutmaster for the 14th World Jamboree in Norway in 1975. He was also a trustee of the Barstow School in Kansas City, Mo. He leaves his wife, Martha Sue Olander, 12413 158th St., Linwood, KS 66052; three children; nine grandchildren; and a sister.

’45 C Robert S. Conant, 85, a classical musician specializing in the harpsichord, died December 27, 2013, in Greenfield Center, N.Y. Born in Passaic, N.J., Bob came to Choate

in 1942. He lettered as a coxswain in varsity crew, was on the Student Council, was in the Cum Laude Society, was Business Manager of the Literary Magazine and President of the Glee Club and Choral Club, and took school prizes in piano, Latin, and penmanship. He later said he fell in love with the harpsichord on a Choate trip to New York City to hear the famed musician Wanda Landowska. After earning two degrees from Yale, Bob taught music there and was curator of the Yale Instrument Collection; he later taught at the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and created the Foundation for Baroque Music. Bob performed and recorded widely with many classical ensembles. The Festival of Baroque Music in New York State, which he began in 1959, was held for 52 years. He leaves his wife, Nancy J. Conant, 163 Wilton Rd., Greenfield Center, NY 12833; two children; and a grandson. Rowland D. H. Keith, 85, a retired sports car driver and automobile dealer, died February 21, 2014 in Gilford, N. H. Born in New Haven, Conn., Rowland came to Choate in 1941, where he was a Campus Cop, was on the skeet team, and played soccer, hockey, and tennis. After graduating from Yale, he spent two years in the Army. He then became a sports car driver, racing in the United States and Canada; his specialty was British sports cars, and he won several trophies, including the Queen Catherine’s Cup in Watkins Glen, N.Y. He was the Formula III national champion for 1956. He enjoyed world travel, and in 1950, toured Europe by motorcycle. In the mid-1950s he and a partner opened one of the first American Volkswagen dealerships; originally in Holderness, N.H., it later moved to Gilford and expanded to include several other makes. Retiring from the automobile business in 1981, he ran a real estate company. He was also active in community life, serving as a Selectman and school board member in Gilford, and as a board member of the New Hampshire Council for Better Schools. He leaves his wife, Linda Keith, 10 Weeks Rd., Gilford NH 03249; six children; three stepdaughters; eight grandchildren; a great-grandchild; and a sister.

’48 C Hans Peter Fayé, 83, the retired president of a farm management company, died January 25, 2014. Born in Woodland, Calif., Peter was brought up in Hawaii and came to Choate in 1945, where he lettered in track and was in the History Club, the Ski Club, and the Western Club. After graduating from Stanford, he served in the Air Force, attaining the rank of Captain. He then earned a master’s degree in business from Stanford and joined his family’s farming operation near Knights Landing, Calif., eventually becoming President of Fayé Properties Inc. Active in the Rotary Club and the Boy Scouts, he had earned the rank of Eagle Scout in Hawaii. Peter also served on the Agricultural Council of California for more than 25 years and was a trustee of the Woodland Memorial Hospital Foundation and the Knights Landing Community Center. He enjoyed travel, hiking, art, music, and drawing. He leaves his wife, Marilyn Fayé, Route 1, Box 118, Knights Landing, CA 95645; two children, including Pete Fayé ’74; four grandchildren; a brother, Marc Fayé ’50; and a sister. His father, the late Eyvind Fayé ’23, also attended Choate. Peter B. Flickinger, 85, a retired market researcher for retail stores, died January 23, 2014, in Buffalo, N.Y. Born in Buffalo, Peter came to Choate in 1946; he was in the History Club, played tennis and hockey, and rowed crew. After graduation from Middlebury, he worked for a food distribution business, S. M. Flickinger Co., that had been founded by his grandfather. He specialized in market research and real estate, planning and supervising the construction of stores and supermarkets, retiring in 1984. An avid world traveler, Peter was an art collector specializing in modern works who served as a trustee of Buffalo’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery. He liked to garden and to tinker with mechanical devices. He leaves his wife, Genevieve Flickinger, 115 Nottingham Terrace, Buffalo, NY 14216; three children; two stepdaughters; three grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren. Paul Ryan Jr., 83, a retired financial analyst, died January 19, 2014, in Arroyo Seco, N.M. Born in St. Louis, Mo., Paul came to Choate in 1946; he rowed varsity crew, was a Campus Cop, and was in the weather bureau and

the French club. He earned degrees from Yale and Harvard Business School, and served three years in the Marine Corps. He worked for Gulf Oil Corp. in New York, Pittsburgh, and Houston, and then at International Telephone and Telegraph in New York, before becoming an independent investor and consultant in Houston, retiring in 1983. Paul was a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and enjoyed sailing. He leaves his wife, Grace Ryan, P.O. Box 219, Arroyo Seco, NM 87514, four sons, three stepchildren, a sister and two brothers, including Thomas Ryan ’50.

’50 RH Louise M. “Winkie” O’Keeffe, 81, a horsewoman, died January 2, 2014, in Pendleton, Ky. Winkie came to Rosemary Hall in 1944; she was a Marshal and was captain of the riding team. She then graduated from Bennett Junior College in Millbrook, N.Y. An avid horse owner and fox hunter, she lived most of her adult life at Windswept Farm in Millbrook. She participated in many fox hunts, both in the United States and in Ireland, and was a member of the National Steeplechase Association. Winkie was also committed to land conservation, supporting the Dutchess Land Conservatory in New York State and placing a conservation easement on her own farm. She leaves two daughters, including Lynn O. Egan, 6315 Organ Creek Rd., Pendleton, KY 40055; two stepchildren; and two granddaughters. Her mother, the late Louise L. Adams ’22, had attended Rosemary Hall, as had a half-sister, Mary Metcalf Kinney ’48, and three aunts. Two half-brothers attended Choate: the late Jesse Metcalf ’42 and the late Rowe Metcalf ’43. ’50 C

Robert F. Fehlhaber, 81, a retired executive of a construction company, died February 13, 2014. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Bob came to Choate in 1947; he was in the Automobile Club and was a Campus Cop. After graduating from Penn’s Wharton School, he worked for the family construction business, Fehlhaber Corp., in New York City, overseeing projects in New York and Philadelphia. He then moved to Florida and was a yacht broker for Bertram and Fedship before starting his own brokerage. Bob always enjoyed boating,

48 In Memoriam

traveling widely, and belonging to the Lauderdale Yacht Club and the Ocean Reef Club. He leaves his companion, Virginia Bass; two daughters; and five grandchildren.

’51 C

Marvin L. DeBaise, 80, a retired financial advisor, died January 27, 2014, in South Windsor, Conn. Born in New Britain, Conn., Marvin was the son of longtime Choate employee Dominic “Skipper” DeBaise. He came to Choate as a first former in 1945; while at School he played football and baseball, and wrestled. After Choate, he became a broker with Esterbrook & Co. even before graduating from Boston University. He served in the Army during the Korean War, then worked for 52 years as a financial advisor with Esterbrook, Tucker Anthony, Legg Mason, and Wells Fargo Advisors. Marvin was a dedicated sports fan, especially favoring the (then) Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Red Sox, and UConn women’s basketball. He leaves his wife, Jean DeBaise, 99 Deepwood Dr., South Windsor, CT 06074; a son; and two grandchildren. Robert D. Woolverton, 80, an architect, died January 9, 2014, in Jacksonville, Fla. Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., Bob came to Choate in 1948; he ran track and was in the Southern Club. He earned degrees from Princeton and Georgia Tech and spent two years in the Air Force. He was an architect and designer, strongly influenced by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. A longtime member of the American Institute of Architects, he was active in the Jacksonville area, working for the Downtown Development Authority, the Riverside Avondale Preservation Association, and other agencies. Bob was Chairman of the Board of the Jacksonville Art Museum and the Arts Council. He also supported the Nature Conservancy and the Wilderness Society. He leaves his wife, Blair Woolverton, 4332 Longfellow St., Jacksonville, FL 32210; four daughters; and two brothers, including William C. Woolverton ’55.

’52 C

David L. Kerr, 79, the retired chairman of a textile company, died December 27, 2013, in Bay Head, N.J. Born in Montclair, N.J., Dave came to Choate in 1950. He was in the Automobile Club, was a Campus Cop, and played varsity tennis, winning the Stillman Trophy. He then earned degrees from Dartmouth, where he was captain of the tennis team, and Penn. He spent his entire career in the textile industry, mostly as chairman and CEO of Brodnax Mills in Virginia and North Carolina, retiring in 1998. Dave was a former president of the American Yarn Spinners Association and a trustee of First Congregational Church in Montclair. He was an avid athlete, playing not only tennis but squash and platform tennis, and he enjoyed skiing, bicycling, and boating. He leaves his wife, Gail Kerr, Clayton, Bay Head, NJ 08742; three children; three grandchildren; and a sister. Dave was a member of the Choate Society, those alumni and alumnae who have left a bequest to the School.

’53 C

Joseph Burr Bartram Jr., 79, a yacht broker, died December 24, 2013, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Born in New York City, Joe came to Choate in 1949. He rowed crew, played soccer and squash, and was in the Rifle Club and the Weather Bureau. After Choate, he served in the Navy for two years. Joe started his yacht brokerage career with Northrup and Johnson in New York, and was later the vice president and general manager of the firm’s Stamford, Conn., office. In 1967, with a partner, he started the firm Bartram & Brakenhoff in Greenwich, Conn., afterward opening a second office in Newport, R.I. His knowledge of yachts led Joe to advise many prominent people about boating, including former President Richard Nixon, whose presidential yacht was in need of repairs in 1972. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club and was active in several America’s Cup syndicates. He leaves his wife, Barbara Bartram, 1520 SW 15th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312; and a sister. Lawrence N. Trabulsi, 79, an executive with architectural furniture companies, died Dec. 4, 2013. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Larry came to Choate in 1950. He was in the Rifle Club, the Chess Club, the Press Club, and the Altar

Guild. After graduating from Lafayette College, he worked in New York for many years in the furniture business, with Isabel Scott Fabrics and Knoll Associates. He retired in 1995. Larry enjoyed opera, animals, reading, and history. He leaves his wife, Lorraine M. Hope, 117 Monument Rd., Orleans, MA 02653; two stepchildren; a sister; and a brother.

’54 RH Alison Noller “Dee” Owens, 77, a retired technical editor, died January 26, 2014. Born in Greenwich, Conn., Dee came to Rosemary Hall in 1950, where she was a Marshal, was on the Grounds Committee, sang with Philomel, and was treasurer of the Library Committee. She later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound. She was a technical editor for the architectural firm Rosenblatt & Co. of Bremerton, Wash., and also worked for the Social Security Administration. She enjoyed painting, especially in watercolors, and was a volunteer mentor at Vaughn Elementary School in Gig Harbor, Wash. She leaves her husband, Jarvis Owens, 11514 State Route 302 NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335; two children; four grandchildren; and a sister. ’54 C

Jose B. “Pepe” Carrión Jr., 76, a retired insurance broker, died December 25, 2013, of heart failure in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Born in San Juan, Pepe came to Choate in 1950. He was on the Board of the Brief, was in the Camera Club, was a Campus Cop, and played baseball. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, he returned to Puerto Rico, where he was a pioneer in the insurance and banking industries. In 1972, when Pepe was President of Barros & Carrión, Inc., he was kidnapped and brought to Cuba, but was eventually returned to San Juan. He was a director of several corporations in Puerto Rico. He enjoyed music, baseball, and being with his family. He leaves his wife, Helena Christiansen, Excelsior Tower, Apt. 602, 805 Avenue Ponce de Leon, San Juan, PR 00907; four children, including Maria-Antonia Carrión ’78, Maria-Elena Carrión ’82, and Georgie C. Christiansen ’84; and three grandchildren.

’55 C Harry W. Falconer, 75, the retired president of an insurance firm, died November 2, 2013, in Vero Beach, Fla. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Harry came to Choate in 1952. He was Literary Editor of the Literary Magazine, on the Board of the News, in the Choral Club, ran varsity track, and was co-captain of the cross country team, tying a school record for the cross country short course. After Choate, he graduated from Cornell, served in the Army and earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan. Harry then returned to Toledo and joined Picton Cavanaugh, one of the largest property and casualty agencies in Ohio; he was elected its president in 1981. He was a former trustee of the Toledo Association of Insurance Agents and the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, and served on the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. He enjoyed fly fishing, duck hunting, and in his younger days, playing competitive backgammon. He leaves two children. ’57 C George N. Chandler II, 75, a retired executive of iron ore companies, died December 28, 2013, in Vero Beach, Fla. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, George came to Choate in 1952. He lettered in basketball and hockey, was secretary-treasurer of the Camera Club and St. Andrew’s Cabinet, and was on the Dance Committee. After graduating from Washington and Lee, he served in the Army, then joined the Pickands Mather ore company in Cleveland, eventually becoming its president. Until his retirement in 2000, George had commercial and operating responsibility for mines in Tasmania, Australia. Active in the community, he served on the Cleveland Council on Foreign Relations and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs; he was also a past president of the Union Club, the Tavern Club, and the Kirtland Country Club, all in Cleveland. He enjoyed duck hunting and golf, and was a member of the United States Seniors Golf Association. He was very loyal to Choate, serving as Class Agent for more than 50 years. He leaves his wife, Sara Chandler, 108 Sandpointe Dr., Vero Beach, FL 32963-2660; four children; two stepdaughters; nine grandchildren; a sister; and a brother.

Bulletin | spring 2014 49

’58 C John T. M. Pryke, 73, a retired executive of a computer company, died December 22, 2013, in Orleans, Mass. Born in New York City, John came to Choate in 1955. He was in the Art Club and on the chess team, was on the Art Board of the Literary Magazine and the Sixth Form Tutoring Committee, won a School prize in public speaking, and was President of the Model Railroad Club. He then earned degrees from MIT and Northeastern University and worked for computer firms. He was a marketing manager for Digital Equipment Corp. for more than 15 years, retiring to Cape Cod. John enjoyed railroads and was a founding member of the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association and a member of the Nauset Model Railroad Club. He also enjoyed surfcasting. He leaves his wife, Sandra C. Pryke, 16 Freedom Trail, Orleans, MA 02653; two children; and four grandchildren. ’63 RH Victoria de Fere McInerney, 68, active in community life, died January 18, 2014, in Rupert, Vt. Born in New York City, Vicki came to Rosemary Hall in 1960. She was Captain of the lacrosse team, played first-team hockey, was a Marshal, and was in the Fire Squad and Gold Key. After Rosemary Hall, she graduated from Pine Manor Junior College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Vicki was a lover of all forms of nature, especially birds, and was chair of the Finance Committee at Merck Forest and Farmland Center. She leaves her husband, John McInerney, 1188 Suncrest Rd., Pawlet, VT 05761; two sons; and a sister, Paulette de Fere Van Vranken ’59. ’64 RH Marilyn Cobb Patterson, 67, a real estate executive, died January 9, 2014, from complications of pneumonia. Born in Middletown, Conn., Lynnie came to Rosemary Hall in 1959, temporarily leaving School when her family moved to St. Paul, Minn., but returning for her last two years. She was a Marshal and a cheerleader, was in the French Club and Gold Key, was on the debate team, and played basketball. After graduating from Simmons College, she was in the real estate business for 30 years. Lynnie was an avid Scrabble player and enjoyed sports. She leaves her husband, William M. Patterson Jr.,

50 Daffodil Lane, Verona, PA 15147; a daughter; three stepchildren; two grandsons; a sister, Cynthia C. Ingram ’60; and a brother, George L. Cobb ’62.

he was in the Automobile Club, the Computer Club, and the Altar Guild, the Sixth Form Tutoring Committee, and the Cum Laude Society. After earning

He was the author of Amsterdamse Grachtengids, which has been called a definitive guide to the city’s four principal canals. His archive of photographs, hand-drawn graphics and study materials is a continuing resource for Amsterdam’s architects and historians. –Timothy s. Killiam C ’66 ’66 C

Timothy S. Killiam, 66, an architectural artist, died February 5, 2014, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Born in New York City, Tim came to Choate in 1963. He lettered in wrestling, was manager of varsity cross country, was in the Altar Guild, the Glee Club, Gold Key, and the Ski Club, and won a prize for designing the cover of the alumni Bulletin. After earning a degree in architecture from Carnegie Mellon, he spent a year in Sweden on a Fulbright Scholarship. On a visit to Amsterdam, he fell in love with the city and spent the rest of his life there. He was the author of Amsterdamse Grachtengids, which has been called a definitive guide to the city’s four principal canals. His archive of photographs, hand-drawn graphics, and study materials is a continuing resource for Amsterdam’s architects and historians. He leaves two brothers, including Ted Killiam ’69, 185 Denison Dr., Guilford, CT 06437; and a sister.

bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Princeton, he worked there from 1975 to 2003, leading various educational technology projects. Much of his work involved the humanities, especially art history, including developing some of the first computer models of Gothic cathedrals. He led Princeton’s Interactive Computer Graphics Library in the 1980s. In 2003, he moved to the University of California in Davis and became the technology lead for UC online education. Kirk enjoyed the outdoors, not only hiking, biking, skiing, and kayaking but also studying the stars. He was a member of the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society and worked with the Davis Schools Foundation. He leaves his wife, Joan Ogden; two daughters; and two brothers, Bruce Alexander ’71, 1000 East Tufts Ave., Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113; and Paul Alexander ’74. His father, the late Bruce Alexander ’41, died in January 2014. (Please see p. 46.)

’68 C Kirk Alexander, 63, a developer of educational technology, died October 1, 2013, in Davis, Calif. Born in Denver, Kirk came to Choate in 1966, where

’69 C

Raymond S. Geremia, 62, a retired mathematics professor, died March 4, 2014, in Wallingford after a long illness. Born in Meriden, Conn.,

Ray came to Choate in 1966; he was on the Board of the News and on the Sixth Form Tutoring Committee, and won a School award for proficiency in German. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a doctorate in mathematics from Georgetown, and joined the faculty there. He later was a math professor at Goucher College. Ray leaves his mother, Marie Geremia, and a sister.

’83

Elizabeth “Lisa” Jarvis, 48, an executive of a machine tool company, died of cancer February 1, 2014, in Hartford, Conn. Born in Hartford, Lisa came to Choate Rosemary Hall in 1979. She was Editor of the Brief, a writer for the News, in the Cum Laude Society, and co-captain of women’s crew in her fifth form and sixth form years. In 1983, when the team went undefeated, she won a school award for excellence in crew. She also was awarded the School Seal Prize, the highest honor given a student. After Choate, she spent a year traveling, then earned a degree in economics from Yale. She joined the family business, Jarvis Products Corp., where she was a vice president and director of the company’s parent corporation. Lisa enjoyed many sports, including golf, snow and water skiing, and fishing. She also was skilled at landscaping. She leaves her father, Penfield Jarvis ’57, 195 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford, CT 06117; a brother, and a stepsister.

’86

Jennifer Christy MacNeill, 46, a former coach at St. Mark’s School, died of cancer February 13, 2014, in Framingham, Mass. Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Jen came to Choate Rosemary Hall in 1983, where she lettered in field hockey, lacrosse, and skiing, and was in the Outing and Archery clubs. She then graduated from Boston University. After coaching lacrosse and field hockey at St. Mark’s, Jen was a store manager in Wellesley and Sudbury, Mass. She enjoyed quilting, gardening, animals, and long walks with her husband. She leaves her husband, Malcolm H. MacNeill, 457 Edmands Rd., Framingham, MA 01701; three daughters; her mother; and a brother.

50 In Memoriam

’88

Brady Bonito, 43, an executive of a wire company, died January 18, 2014, in Southington, Conn. Born in Middletown, Conn., Brady was a day student who played tennis and hockey. He was in the management of Ulbricht Shaped Wire of North Haven, Conn. Brady was also an enthusiastic musician, playing bass in Connecticut bands such as CFI and Vises Like Vipers. He leaves his wife, Melissa Bonito, two children, and his parents, Ronald and Debra Bonito, 334 S. Orchard St., Wallingford, CT 06492-4550.

Trustees, Faculty, and Spouses Joseph D. Devlin, a Jesuit priest who taught English and was Director of Campus Ministry at Choate Rosemary Hall for almost five years, died February 28, 2014, in Weston, Mass. He was 79. Born in Boston, Joe earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston College. He then taught at several schools in New England, including Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, Boston College High, and St. Mark’s. He later earned a master of divinity degree from Weston College. Ordained in 1966, he was the campus minister at Dartmouth and later worked in various pastoral ministries at M.I.T., Smith, and the University of Connecticut. Joe came to Choate in 1992, teaching English and heading campus ministries until May 1996, when he suffered a heart attack. After he recovered, he spent nearly a year more at School, but retired in February 1997. “We will miss his infectious laughter, his irreverent humor, and his constant care and support of each and every one of us,” said Dean of Faculty Ed Maddox at Joe’s retirement. Gwenith Heuss-Severance, former Director of the Spears Endowment, recently recalled, “He was much beloved by students and faculty and families, a great pastor, and famous for his Christmas homily honoring Doris Fowler. His unique laugh and high-pitched drawn-out compliment of ‘Preeeetttttyyy!’ probably still linger in the hallways of Squire Stanley, where we had our offices.” He leaves three sisters, including Gertrude Devlin, 50 Guernsey St., Roslindale, MA 02131-2315; and a brother.

Donald M. Elliman ’30, a former Choate Trustee, died February 26, 2013. He was 100. Born in New York, Don came to Choate in 1923; he was Captain of Varsity Crew, a cheerleader, and on the Executive Committee of the Athletic Association. He was also among those voted “Best Looking” by his classmates. After graduating from Yale, he spent four years in the Navy, serving in the Pacific and attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He spent many years in banking, starting on the staff of New York’s Corn Exchange Bank; he joined the Bank of New York in 1956, eventually being named its President, and retired from Marine Midland Bank. Don held several directorships, including on the United Hospital Fund of New York; he was also a trustee of the Dime Savings Bank and a member of the New York Yacht Club and the Wall Street Club. He was a Choate Trustee from 1957 to 1962. Don enjoyed crew all his life, rowing a single shell into his 99th year. He leaves his wife, Yvonne Elliman; two children, including Donald Elliman Jr. ’63, 3625 South Verbena St., Denver, CO 80237; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. William A. Maillet, who taught English at Choate for more than 20 years, died October 21, 2012, in Zephyrhills, Fla. He was 84. Born in Lewiston, Maine, Bill graduated cum laude from Bowdoin. After serving in the Navy in World War II and Korea, he taught at Kent and at Williston Academy before coming to Choate in 1961. Here, he taught English and coached soccer and basketball, and enjoyed building chess sets in his spare time. In 1970, he earned a master’s degree in liberal studies at Wesleyan. When he left School in 1983 to pursue a graduate fellowship in English at the University of South Florida, Dean of Faculty Chas Twichell called Bill “a mature and dedicated teacher.” He added: “His skill in teaching reading, writing, and literature [is] always his first priority. Prompt, demanding, interesting, and learned, he teaches students for their benefit, not his. Many an alumnus over the past 20 years owes his choice of a writing career to Bill Maillet’s encouraging influence and instruction.” He especially admired the work of British author Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), at one point

hosting Burgess for a talk at Choate; he later published a book about Burgess, A Window in the Womb of Time. In Florida, he hosted a classical music radio program on the University of South Florida station. In retirement, he traveled extensively, often in Europe. He leaves no immediate family. Margareth A. van Straalen, a School librarian and wife of the late Choate teacher Johannes van Straalen, died December 29, 2013, in Summerville, S.C. She was 88. Born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Margareth studied business in London before returning to Switzerland to work in a teachers’ library. She first met Johannes in 1946, when he was studying in Zurich; they married in 1952, and shortly thereafter emmigrated to America, where they worked briefly in banking. In 1957 they came to Choate, where Johannes established the Russian Studies Center. For years, Margareth worked in the Andrew Mellon Library, primarily restoring damaged books; Library Director Dianne Langlois said she “lost track of the number of volumes Margareth has returned to the shelves in usable condition, or the amount of money she has saved the library because books could be repaired, rather than replaced or rebound.” She also was a key manager in the Russian Studies Center, organizing its resources and helping generations of students find the material they need. Johannes died in 1999. Margareth leaves two daughters, including Catherine Marshall ’76, 109 Forest Glen Court, Summerville, SC 29485; two grandchildren; and a sister

Our condolences to the following: Stuart Low ’35, whose brother, Robert Low ’37, died in January 2014. Charlie Kuyk ’44, whose wife died in January. Marc Fayé ’50, whose brother, H. Peter Fayé ’48, died in January 2014. Thomas Ryan ’50, whose brother, Paul Ryan, Jr. ’48, died in January 2014. Pen Jarvis ’57, whose daughter, Lisa Jarvis ’83, died in February 2014.

Sue Mason ’58, and sister, Laurie Brown ’62, whose mother, Alma Wilson Wheeler ’30, died in October 2013. Paulette de Fere Van Vracken ’59, whose sister, Victoria de Fere McInerney ’63, died in January 2014. Cynthia Cobb Ingram ’60 and brother, George Cobb ’62, whose sister, Marilyn Cobb Patterson ’64, died in January 2014. Don Elliman ’63, whose father, former Trustee Donald Elliman ’30, died in February 2013. Ted Killiam ’69, whose brother, Tim Killiam ’66, died in February 2014. Bruce Alexander ’71 and brother, Paul Alexander ’74, whose brother, Kirk Alexander ’68, died in October 2013, and whose father, Bruce Alexander ’41, died in February 2014. Geoff Houser ’72, whose wife died in January 2014. Pete Fayé ’73, whose father, H. Peter Fayé ’48, died in January 2014. Catherine V. Marshall ’76, whose mother, former faculty wife Margareth van Straalen, died in December 2013. Maria-Antonia Carrión ’78, Maria-Elena Carrión ’82, Georgie Christiansen ’84, whose father, Jose Carrión ’54, died in December 2013. Vanessa Sergeon ’06, whose father died in April 2013.

Bulletin | spring 2014 51

Summer choate rosemary hall NEW FOR 2014!

The Kohler Environmental Center Summer Institute

Engage in ecological studies as well as work in the Center’s gardens.

Design Thinking Learn about the design process and the

principles of project-based learning.

Study Abroad Join one of our programs in China, France,

Jordan, Spain, or new this summer – Dingle, Ireland.

Middle School Math/Science Institute for Girls

Hone your investigative, analytical, and problem -solving skills – and unlock your potential!

June 29–August 1, 2014 learn more and apply online at: www.choate.edu/summer

Scoreboard | Sports Wrap-up

Olivia Bishop ’14

Ben Birney ’15

Charis Freiman-Mendel ’15

The Wild Boars distinguished themselves in several championships. Boys varsity basketball was undefeated in league play, earning them the #1 seed in the playoffs. Girls varsity basketball finished second in the Eight Schools Championships. Boys varsity ice hockey won the holiday tournament at Lawrenceville in double OT. Girls varsity ice hockey won the Taft holiday tournament, finishing the season in the #5 spot in the league. Varsity wrestling took second in the Class “A” Tournament. Girls varsity squash placed second at the Division 2 National High School Championships. Boys varsity swimming placed second in the Founders League Championships with girls varsity swimming placing first. ARCHERY Varsity Season Record: 8-1 Captains: Joan D. Leary ’14, Beum Jun Park ’14, & Ju Seung Lee’ 14 Highlights: Archery had a strong season, only suffering one loss. BASKETBALL Boys Varsity Season Record: 18-3 Captains: Colin A. Richey ’14 & Benjamin T. Engvall ’14 Highlights: Founders League Champions; Undefeated in Class "A" league play Girls Varsity Season Record: 14-10 Captains: Emma S. Cook ’14, Jennifer L. Sherwill ’14, & Amelia K. Schneider ’14 Highlights: Eight Schools Tournament Finalists

ICE HOCKEY Boys Varsity Season Record: 17-8-3 Captains: Owen L. Powers ’14 & Maximilian I. Daigle ’14 Highlights: Won Lawrenceville Tournament in Double OT; N.E. Large Schools Tournament Semifinalists; Joey Caffrey '14 earned Prep All-New England honors Girls Varsity Season Record: 16-6-2 Captain: Caroline L. Buckholtz ’14 Highlights: Won Taft Tournament; Lost to Tabor in New England Quarterfinals

SQUASH Boys Varsity Season Record: 7-10 Captains: James H. Graham ’14 & Alexander J. Newhouse ’14 Highlights: Ended season strong Girls Varsity Season Record: 10-6 Captains: Rhea Badal ’14 & Charis D. Freiman-Mendel ’15 Highlights: Finished 2nd at Division 2 National H.S. Championships SWIMMING Boys Varsity Season Record: 3-3 Captains: John V. Pescatore ’14 & Grant R. Bullis ’14 Highlights: 2nd place in Founders League; 6th place in New England Championships; Co-captain Grant Bullis ’14 won the 100-yard breaststroke and broke the Founders League record

Girls Varsity Season Record: 4-2 Captains: Michelle J. Wu ’14 & Megan J. Belliveau ’14 Highlights: 1st place in Founders League; 5th place in New England Championships WRESTLING Varsity Season Record: 15-4 Captains: Connor J. Dintino ’14, Christopher M. Cuomo ’14, Richard C. Jackson ’14, & Justin Choi ’14 Highlights: 2nd in Class "A" tournament; 6th in New England Championships; Co-captain Connor Dintino ’14 & Chris Simmons '14 earned AllAmerican honors

Bulletin | spring 2014 53

Danielle Etzel ’15

Megan Belliveau ’14

Cam Neubauer ’14

Go Choate! At the New England Diving Championships, Simon Bellemare ’14 (right) and Andreas Piepenburg ’15 (left) secured top honors. This is the first time in recent history that a single school has taken the top two spots in New England.

bookshelf

In this issue, an alumni author presents tips from the greatest golf instructors; young adult authors delve into the worlds of fairy tales and the paranormal; a novelist explores the ethical and moral dilemmas of a 19th-century women’s reproductive health advocate; and a cancer survivor shares her candid and private journey from diagnosis to wellness.

TaleSpins By Michael Mullin ’85 | Reviewed by Courtney Jaser

talespins Author: Michael Mullin ’85 Publisher: Gemiknight Studios LLC About the Reviewer: Courtney Jaser is a librarian at the Andrew Mellon Library. Courtney received her B.A. in International Development and Social Change from Clark University, an M.A. in Human Rights from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute.

Michael Mullin ’85 has written a trilogy of clever fairy tale renditions in TaleSpins. The three stories are written in verse. Retelling fairy tales can be challenging, as it can be difficult to relate back to original themes while also adding something unique. Mullin pulls it off by adding humorous and modern twists to the stories, creating relevance for today’s young readers. The first story, “8: The Previously Untold Story of the Previously Unknown 8th Dwarf,” is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and is the most comical of the three. The Eighth Dwarf, named Creepy, is confined to the basement by the others after he crosses the line and eats a spider. The story brings the reader playfully though Creepy’s attempt to save Snow White from the evil witch although he is not taken seriously. He ends up being the “hero” of the story, but not in the traditional princely sense. The second and longest fairy tale is “The Plight and Plot of Princess Penny,” a modern twist on another Grimm Brothers tale, The Frog Prince. Princess Penny is a modern-day Goth teenager who is being bullied by classmate Darcy; she enters the wood in search of a witch who she hopes can help her exact revenge. The witch’s potions have unintended consequences on Penny, leaving her in an even more precarious situation. Jink, a troll, helps her navigate through the chaos that she has created for herself, ending the story with a pleasant surprise. This modern rendition reiterates the original theme of not judging people by their appearance, but, rather by their character. It’s a tale that today’s children can relate to, with themes of bullying and teen angst mixed in.

The final story, “Jack’d,” is a modern twist on Jack and the Beanstalk. This is the darkest tale in the trilogy, while containing the most depth. “Jack’d” alternates between the voices of the thief, Jack, and a wealthy doctor whose home is the entire top floor of a luxury high-rise. Jack, a boy who lives at home with his ill mother, steals from the doctor, trading the stolen goods on the black market for magic beans. The doctor catches up with him after following a trail of clues left by an “elf” graffiti artist, learns more about Jack’s situation, and has an unfortunate run-in with a man named Death. The story suggests that readers should ask questions before coming to conclusions, as Mullin changes the character the reader is intended to pity from the original fairy tale. Tale Spins is a fun, entertaining read for children and adults alike. Mullin succeeds in writing the stories in his own style, providing readers with a fresh retelling of the classic fairy tales that we know so well.

Bulletin | spring 2014 55

18 Ways to Play A Better 18 Holes By John Steinbreder ’74 | Reviewed by Eric Stahura

18 ways to play a better 18 holes Author: John Steinbreder ’74 Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing About the Reviewer: Eric Stahura is a faculty member in Choate’s College Counseling Office, an accomplished amateur golfer, and the Head Coach of the Boys’ Varsity Golf Team. Over the years, he has built an extensive library of golf books and has been fortunate to tee it up on many of the world’s most famous and historical links, including The Old Course at St Andrews, Pine Valley, and The Country Club of Brookline.

According to the National Golf Foundation, more than 29 million Americans – roughly 10 percent of us – play golf. Rest assured, nearly every one of these golfers is perplexed by a “game” that appears so simple in its design: whack a little white ball into a hole, cut 4 and one-quarter inches in diameter, some hundreds of yards away. With 18 Ways to Play a Better 18 Holes, awardwinning journalist and author John Steinbreder ’74 has broken down the complexity of golf into a tightly written, clear and concise anthology. A passionate amateur golfer himself, it is evident that John lives and breathes the nuances of this charmed sport. More than just “whacking the little white ball,” golf requires a multitude of talents and emotions, the least of which is simply swinging a golf club. Unlike many of his previous literary expositions (including Golf Rules and Etiquette for Dummies), this latest work is more than just a “how to” book. Calling upon a volume of the greatest golf instructors within the vast PGA professional teaching library, 18 Ways is a thorough compilation of essays that investigates all angles of playing better golf. From the basics to the profound, the essays produce one cohesive instructional manual. There is an essay about driving the golf ball (by notable teaching pro Scott Davenport of Quail Hollow) and another about putting (by Mike Shannon at Sea Island Golf Club), and Oakmont’s famed Bob Ford unearths the mystery of bunker play. In each chapter, the guest contributor balances his or her words of wisdom through thoughtful prose, focusing mainly on a theoretical approach to golf instruction. For instance, Ford surmises that the oft-feared bunker shot “may be the easiest in golf because it is the only one you make where you do not actually have to hit the ball. You just have to hit the sand behind it.” Simple enough! Of course, there’s more to be surveyed when hitting from a sand trap!

My favorite chapter is by local (Farmington, Conn.) legend Suzy Whaley, a longtime PGA teaching professional who qualified and played with the men on the PGA tour in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open. Her piece on how to take an efficient lesson with a teaching professional is poignant, especially aimed at the golfer who invests in lessons in order to improve scores on the course – which is, yup, every golfer! Perhaps the most interesting chapter of the book is its concluding one, the appendix 19th chapter, in which John dissects the importance of the “19th hole.” The vast majority of us play a game far different than those who grace Augusta National in April; we play a sport we love for its beauty, its camaraderie and competition, and for the fact that it always has us coming back for more. The 19th hole is synonymous with the companionship of the sport and for instilling memories of each shot played of every round. Ultimately, golf is an analogy of life. How we deal with the bad “lies” is a testament to our gumption and courage. How we dedicate ourselves to preparation on the driving range and practice green is a reflection of our character – our willingness to accept our faults and work to improve upon them. And, sometimes, we have to take a shot at something special, whether that is going for the green in two on a reachable par 5 or facing courageous situations (or adversity) in our own lives: golf is a game of calculated risk, much like life.

A Little Touch of Cancer and How It Made Me Well By Betsy Ross Horn ’59 | Reviewed by Shelly Welch

A Little Touch of Cancer and How It Made Me Well Author: Betsy Ross Horn ’59 Publisher: Serenity Publications About the Author: Betsy Horn is cancer survivor and holistic health advocate and blogger. A Vero Beach, Fla. resident, Betsy was crowned Ms. Senior America 2013. View her website at www.betsyhorn.com About the Reviewer: Shelly Welch is a former faculty member at Choate Rosemary Hall. She currently resides in Meriden, Conn., and is employed at Bristol Myers-Squibb as a Program Manager for the Center for Health and Fitness.

Being diagnosed with cancer in and of itself is a lifealtering experience for anyone, but when it comes with the additional difficulties of detection and the challenges of treatment, the name “ovarian” takes on an entirely new sense of ugly. As I immersed myself in Betsy Horn’s A Little Touch of Cancer and How it Made Me Well: One Woman’s Travels Through Ovarian Cancer, I was helplessly transported back to that particular day for me just over 20 years ago when I was diagnosed. As someone who shares not only a similar health history as the author, but the same gynecologic oncologist (Dr. Peter Schwartz of Yale-New Haven Hospital), this book affected me deeply and personally. What I can tell you today, but did not have a deep understanding of then, was that while it is the 11th most common cancer among women, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death among women. On January 1, 2013, in the United States alone, some 186,138 women were alive who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer (including those who had been cured of the disease). According to the data, the mortality rates for ovarian cancer have not improved in the 40 years since the “War on Cancer” was declared. Other cancers have shown a marked reduction in mortality, due to the availability of early detection tests and improved treatments – but not ovarian cancer, which is still the deadliest of all gynecologic cancers. Betsy’s story brings to life these often unfathomable cancer statistics. For any woman who may gain strength from hearing the stories of a cancer survivor or who may always live with the ambiguity of remission, Betsy provides us with a candid and private journey from diagnosis to wellness. The book is well-organized and has anecdotes that help make each topic both real and personal. She puts particular emphasis on the concept of survivorship, or living life well in the face of daunting uncertainties. She stresses the importance of self-determination: the right of each patient to be informed, involved, and in control of her care.

A Little Touch of Cancer provides the reader with up-to-date information on diagnosis and treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, pain management, and alternative therapies. But the author’s sharing of her specific clinical experience showed me, a fellow survivor, that she truly understands what women worry and care about and how they address these issues with true compassion. By stressing quality of life, self-determination, and living life to the fullest, this extraordinary book speaks to women – with and without ovarian cancer – everywhere. From diagnosis through recovery, from trials and tribulations to a rich and transformed life, A Little Touch of Cancer is a frank, no-holds-barred look into the world of Betsy Horn and her candid account of a battle with a debilitating illness. Approaching every obstacle with optimism, humor, and grace, she has written a story that celebrates life and the ultimate triumph of a passionate, determined, and courageous woman.

Bulletin | spring 2014 57

Liv, Forever By Amy Talkington ’88 | Reviewed by Michelle Judd Rittler ’98

Liv, Forever Author: Amy Talkington ’88 Publisher: Soho Teen, an imprint of Soho Press Reviewer: Michelle Judd Rittler ’98 is a freelance writer based in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. She’s also the voice behind the food blog Taste As You Go.

Given her background as an award-winning screenwriter and director, it comes as no great surprise that Amy Talkington ‘88 first imagined the story of Liv, Forever as a screenplay, or that her debut novel is already being adapted for film. The main character, Olivia (Liv) Bloom, receives an art scholarship to attend Wickham Hall, a prestigious boarding school located deep in the woods of northern New Hampshire with an impressive list of notable alumni that includes “two of the most illustrious Presidents of the United States”. Upon her arrival at Wickham Hall, Liv must immediately adjust to her new life living and studying side-by-side with her fellow “Wickies,” which means becoming accustomed to the school’s numerous traditions and rituals. Yet, fitting in and proving herself to the other students doesn’t interest her. All she wants to do is spend time in the Arts Center, which was, “according to the website, [the] only modern building” on campus. She unexpectedly finds herself drawn to Malcolm Astor, a multi-generation legacy student who runs with the popular crowd and, as is later revealed, sits as the president of the Victors, the school’s most secret of secret societies. Once it becomes apparent that Malcolm also has feelings for her, Liv is viciously murdered and everything changes. In her death, Liv makes the gruesome discovery that she’s the latest victim of a dark conspiracy that spans 150 years, dating back to the earliest days of the school. With the help of Gabe Nichols, a fellow scholarship student who possesses the unfortunate ability to see the ghosts who have been lingering in between realms on Wickham Hall’s campus, as well as that of Malcolm, Liv works to expose the identity of her killer before more lives are lost.

Perhaps because the character development left something to be desired, Talkington’s novel moves along at a quick pace, making some of the events feel somewhat unrealistic to this 30-something-year-old brain. But when you consider that the novel is targeted to a young adult audience, for whom life is often lived in extremes, the seemingly sudden establishment of Liv and Malcolm’s romance is right on point. Liv, Forever may be a tough read for adults who are well-removed from the confusing and angst-ridden years of adolescence, but the novel is highly appropriate for readers age 14 and up, especially those with an interest in the paranormal. While I didn’t connect on any intimate level with her characters, I did appreciate the numerous allusions to Choate in Talkington’s creation of the fictional Wickham Hall, including her mention of the “boar,” “the Tuck,” and the “Headmaster’s Holiday,” among others.

My Notorious Life By Kate Manning ’75 | Reviewed by Ellen Devine

My Notorious Life Author: Kate Manning ’75 Publisher: Scribner Reviewer: Ellen Devine is head of Choate’s English Department. Ellen holds a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.A. from the University of Connecticut.

In her newest novel, My Notorious Life, Kate Manning ’75 portrays the life of Ann "Axie" Muldoon, a character inspired by the real-life Ann Lohman, a 19th century midwife who practiced abortions, became known as "the wickedest woman in New York," amassed a fortune, and eventually committed suicide before she was tried in court. In this rich and textured novel, Manning resurrects the spirit of Lohman in the charismatic, keen, and courageous form of Axie Muldoon. In the first chapter of this novel-cast-as-memoir, we meet Axie, an orphaned Irish immigrant, years after she has earned her infamous title thanks to her well-established, and highly profitable, midwifery practice. Before dawn on the day of her trial, an unexpected family tragedy suddenly gives her a potential way to evade the legal system altogether. This moment of opportunity derived from profound loss is just the first of many such instances in the narrative of Axie's life, and it works to frame and ground the wide-sweeping tale of poverty, loss, perseverance, love, and politics that follows. Throughout the novel, in vivid and raw scenes, Manning paints the bleak scenes of destitution, overcrowding, and desperation that ruled Manhattan's tenements. With a dead father and a horribly wounded mother, Axie finds herself the primary caretaker of her proud and closely bonded family. Despite the efforts of young Axie, her mother ultimately gives up the three children to an aid organization that transports the young Muldoons, and dozens of others, to the Midwest for adoption. The tale of Axie's childhood not only provides personal context and details of her life story but it also exemplifies the contradictions and hypocrisy that dominated notions of reproductive health and family planning at the time. Contraception barely existed, abortion was illegal, but tearing povertystricken families apart by giving their children away to strangers was considered an act of charity and grace.

The Wild West of Film Author: Otessa Ghadar ’00 Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

In the house of a practicing midwife, Axie's mother and new sibling pass away, and Axie's future is born. Acutely aware of the medical community's shortcomings, Axie devotes herself to becoming an expert in women's health. Under the pseudonym Madame de Beausacq, Axie, with the help of her husband, does just that – and acquires great wealth along the way. From manufacturing and selling fertility enhancers, contraceptives, and abortifacients to composing instructional pamphlets about sexual intercourse and creating a lying-in hospital in which women could give birth under the supervision of a midwife, we watch Axie Muldoon commit her life to helping women throughout pregnancy and childbirth, despite constant harassment, persecution, and condemnation. Though the historical context and ethical dilemmas that play an intrinsic role in this novel are intriguing, engaging, and provocative, these issues would not be nearly as powerful if they were not delivered through the vivacious, charismatic, and steely character of Axie herself. Manning has created a heroine who delights through her many contradictions. She is fierce but compassionate, strong but sensitive, rough but refined. In Manning's skillful hands, Axie's binary characteristics complement rather than contradict one another, which makes her so immensely likeable and real. With My Notorious Life, Kate Manning manages to balance her own binaries with grace and talent. It is a novel, and it is a memoir; it is historical, and it is fictional; it is political, and it is personal. From the many tragedies and triumphs of Axie Muldoon's fictional life comes the real-life opportunity to read a compelling novel.

The strenuous life of Harry Anderson Author: Roger Vaughan ’55 Publisher: Mystic Seaport Publishing

Bulletin | spring 2014 59

Has your Appreciation Grown?

One of the most tax-efficient ways to show your appreciation is with a gift of appreciated securities.

When you make a gift of appreciated securities held for longer than one year, you can deduct their full fair market value, regardless of what you originally paid for them. You also avoid paying capital gains tax. Transferring appreciated securities into a Charitable Gift Annuity guarantees yourself, your spouse, or a loved one a fixed income for life, while still capitalizing on tax benefits. To explore ways that you can impact the future of Choate Rosemary Hall in the most sensible and advantageous way for you and your family, please contact the Planned Giving Office. Our team will work with you and your financial advisor to create a gift plan for your unique situation so that your appreciation for Choate Rosemary Hall will never stop growing.

Keep Your Appreciation Growing. CONSIDER CHOATE IN YOUR PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE.

Rick Henderson Director of Planned Giving rhenderson@choate.edu (203) 697-2117

end note |

Voices from the Past Why did Rosemary Hall start in Wallingford, then leave for Greenwich, only to return to Wallingford 71 years later? How did Choate’s campus evolve from a few houses to the site of world-class facilities over a fast, two-decade stretch that spanned the grueling times of World War I and the Great Depression? G. Jeffrey MacDonald ’87 looks to answer these questions – and more – in preparation of our School’s 125th Celebration.

Arriving at Choate 30 years ago (!) as a new fourth former, I quickly gained appreciation for the name “Ruutz-Rees.” It referred to an upper campus dining hall that attracted fourth formers like honey with its pancake brunches and awkward-but-fun dances – a pleasant association, to be sure. The name “St. John” meant something to me, too. It was the building where one arrives in a collared shirt before 8 a.m., ready to speak for nearly an hour in Spanish, or else Señor Lopez will scowl at you. Eventually I learned these building names referred to real people: Caroline Ruutz-Rees, the first headmistress of Rosemary Hall who led the school for 48 years, and George St. John, headmaster of The Choate School for four decades. But only recently did I learn how these two individuals literally took ownership of their respective schools in early days, incurred hefty risk and transformed them into top-tier institutions by dedicating the bulk of their long lives to this work. These amazing stories and many others are finally on my radar because the time has come to fill in the gaps. Choate Rosemary Hall will be celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2015. In honor of this milestone, I’ll be writing five articles on Choate Rosemary Hall history in upcoming editions of the Bulletin. This gives me the perfect excuse to spend hours sifting through records and piecing together a puzzle that tells how the Choate of today came to be. In this history lie clues to what distinguishes Choate from prep schools that have struggled mightily to adapt to changing times. A Choate Rosemary Hall education is grounded in the classics, from Plato and Homer to Shakespeare and da Vinci, yet has since early days also embraced innovations suited to a world that doesn’t stand still.

Rosemary Hall and The Choate School arguably didn’t break with their overarching traditions when they merged in 1974. Nor did the School take an entirely new tack by launching an interdisciplinary environmental program, or by breaking ground on a purpose-built i.d.Lab, where science and artistic design will meet as soon as 2015. It seems these seeds were sown before 1900, when a Greenwich Graphic reporter noted how Rosemary Hall was pioneering selfgovernment and athletic training for girls. Such practices bore witness, the Graphic reported, to Ruutz-Rees’ embrace even then of “the latest ideas of modern education.” I’ll have my work cut out for me with this project. It won’t be a comprehensive new history of the School in a mere 10,000 words. Rather, it’s apt to be a re-telling of the history through attention to key turning points, which eyewitnesses have recalled and prior researchers have analyzed. As Mark Twain used to remind his editors, a short report takes longer to write than a long one, so I’ll likely be busy figuring out what to keep and what must be left out. Since my trade is journalism, my approach will be to tap the best sources I can find. Fortunately, the School has an extensive collection of letters, speeches, yearbooks, recollections and periodicals under the care of Archivist Judy Donald ’66. I love the idea that voices from the past, full of light to shed on questions of institutional tradition and identity, will for a brief time be liberated from dusty boxes on shelves and speak directly to the Choate Rosemary Hall diaspora. Soon we’ll hear those voices describing what mattered most to them as they navigated high-stakes dilemmas and boldly re-interpreted the dreams of the founders. I’m as eager as anyone to hear what they have to tell us.

G. Jeffrey MacDonald ’87 is a journalist whose stories have appeared in TIME magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe and The Christian Science Monitor among many other national outlets. He is the author of Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul.

A countdown to the finish…

…and

BULLETIN THE MAG A ZINE OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL

SPRING ’14

Class Notes Editor Henry McNulty ’65 Communications Assistant Britney G. Cullinan Photography Nancie Battaglia Donald R. Bennett Deron Chang John Giammatteo ’77 Ian Morris

It all begins at Choate Rosemary Hall. But it can’t happen without your support. Please give generously.

Send your donation to the Annual Fund at Choate Rosemary Hall, 333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Give us a call at (203) 697-2389 or go to www.choate.edu/donate to make your gift online.

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

New Haven, CT Permit #1090

333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT 06492-3800

BULLETIN THE MAG A ZINE OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL

SPRING â&#x20AC;&#x2122;14

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The

Change Service Requested

BIG ii.d. d EA? Choate's New i.d.Lab Sets the Stage for Design-Driven Thinking

In this issue:

A passion for the life of the mind

Three-Peat: alumnae olympic feat

The Unsung element