KO Magazine, Winter 2012

WINTER 2012

KO magaz ine New Structure, New Energy, New Era Plan Includes Three Administrative Teams Humanities and Sciences Deans Center for Teaching and Learning

KingswoodOxford

1

letter from the head of school

16 advancement

2 administrative restructuring

18 reunion 2012

5 center for teaching and learning

22 military spotlight

6 new academic deans

23 from the archives

7 new jobs, new faces

26 class notes

8 leading by example

46 in memoriam

12 alumni hall restoration

48 planned giving

14 varsity spring sports ‘12

49 tallwood warriors scholarship

TABLE OF CONTENTS about the cover

Veteran KO English teacher Asha Appel (far right), the new Director of Teaching and Learning, meets in the new Center for Teaching and Learning with (from left) teachers David Baker ‘04, Kathy Lynch, Chastity Rodriguez ‘91, David Arnstein, and Meg Kasprak. Located in Sorensen, the CTL -- a major part of KO’s administrative restructuring -is meant to help teachers remain lifelong learners (see story on p. 5).

Photo: Chris Troianello

contact information

Kingswood Oxford School, 170 Kingswood Road, West Hartford, CT 06119; 860-233-9631 www.kingswoodoxford.org Please direct inquiries or general comments to Michelle M. Murphy, Director of Communications & Marketing (murphy.m@k-o.org); Class Notes or obituary information to Meghan Kurtich, Advancement Associate (kurtich.m@k-o.org); and address changes to Patricia Laros, Director of Advancement Services (laros.p@k-o.org).

Editor: Michelle M. Murphy, Director of Communications & Marketing Contributors: Nicole Kimball, Meghan Kurtich, Rob Kyff, Molly Miller ‘13 Graphic Design: Ford Folios Inc. Photo Credits: Rebecca Benavides, Thea Dodds/Authentic Eye, Chris Kasprak ‘08, Low Tide Photography, Garrett Meccariello ‘13, Clay Miles, Michelle M. Murphy, Sean Peragine, Quinn Productions, Samuel Stuart, Chris Troianello

Notice of Nondiscriminatory Policy As to Students Kingswood Oxford School admits students of any race, color, or national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School.

It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

KO Magazine is published by Kingswood Oxford School. © 2012 by Kingswood Oxford School Inc. All rights reserved.

letter from the head of school

KingswoodO xford H o n o ri n g

th e pa st . Sh ap in g th e fu tu re .

Dennis Bisgaard

A Fresh Loo k at KO: Honoring th e Past, Shap ing the Futu re

Very few inst itutions last and remain are places th important fo at have the r more than ability to mas 100 years. T true to their ter both the hose that do core values an m o m en t an d mission, b d th e fu found sense ture by remai y striving for of communit ning excellence, an y – but with d b new demand y creating a pro an eye on the h s. KO has al orizon and a ways been su willingness to history, and ch a place, lo ad national tren ap o t king around to ds, respondin the corner o landscape. g to opportu f education, nities presen ted by an ev er-changing Sometimes a school need s a significan observe, a n t jolt of ener ew paradigm gy, a new fram th at permits fu ework throu unique. Wh rther growth gh which to at may initia , and a fresh ll y se em look at what like chaos –� represent trem makes KO or a messy co endous possib nstruction si ilities. te – can actu ally The ongoing implementa tion of our st caliber, exper rategic plan ienced educa and the addit to rs ion of several fr o m leadership te other parts o higham and me to f the country cr o eate a uniqu r the world en on the academ e an ab d led the robust admin ic, student, an istrative stru d business li cture focusin ves of the sc g hool.

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New Structure, New Energy, New Era

by Rob Kyff

“ It’s a creative and novel way to reorganize the administration and support

In midsummer 2012, Kingswood Oxford’s front circle was something of an obstacle course, filled with mounds of dirt, piles of stone, and oversized construction vehicles.

But it was all for good reason: Under the careful direction of Director of Facilities Jim Michaud, the cracked and uneven roadway was being dug up, turned over, regraded, and repaved to create a smooth, safe, properly draining entry.

To the fresh eyes of Natalie Demers, just beginning work as the newly appointed Assistant Head of School for Academic Life, the renovation of the circle was a metaphor for what was going on inside KO, as well. In her opening-of-school letter to her colleagues, she wrote: “As I walked onto KO’s campus for my first day of my new job, the circle was filled with cranes, rollers, excavators, and bulldozers all huffing and puffing and rumbling around in seeming disarray – yet it was clear

the school.”

Avery Rockefeller III, Board of Trustees Chair

they were working in concert to dig up, dig deep, flatten, and move dirt around to create a new system for drainage and a new foundation for paving. I couldn’t help but think that faculty might feel like KO’s human infrastructure was not unlike that front circle – under construction!”

Blueprint for a New (Human) Foundation Inspired by the 2009 Strategic Plan and conceived by Head of School Dennis Bisgaard, the blueprint for this human reconstruction – that is, a new administrative structure – was formalized a year or so ago and endorsed by the Board of Trustees in the spring of 2012.

In a nutshell, the new structure is based on a division of labor among three “teams” – the Academic Life Team, the Business Life Team, and the Student Life Team – sharing the same goal: the enhancement of the student experience at Kingswood Oxford School and the upward trajectory of the institution for generations to come.

Each team comprises a critical combination of institutional memory and fresh perspective.

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“The newcomers ask questions about why we do things the way we do,” said Director of Studies Dennis Sullivan. “Having fresh eyes to look at a system is always a good thing.”

Some of the newcomers are filling newly created or newly reinvented positions, while others are assuming existing roles (see sidebars for profiles).

Middle School Director Jane Repp praised the search committees that recruited, interviewed and selected the new leaders. “They did an incredible job,” she said. “They were trying to move the school to another plane, and that’s exciting. They were looking for people who would listen, people who could make decisions.”

“The combination of insiders and newcomers has added tremendous capacity, experience and versatility,” added Bisgaard.

Three Teams, One Goal Though they share the same overarching goal, the three teams also have distinct roles and missions: • The Academic Life Team concentrates on students’ intellectual development and creative experience; it is led by Demers as Assistant Head of School for Academic Life (a newly created position) and includes two other newly created roles: Academic Dean of Humanities (responsible for English, history, modern language, creative arts and classical language) and Academic Dean of Science, Math, and Technology (overseeing the math and science departments and the robotics program).

This three-pronged approach is a distinct departure from KO’s management structure of the past 40 years, when 17 administrators – ranging from the Director of Athletics to the Director of College Advising – each reported directly to the Head of School and met together as the Executive Committee.

“The old structure was unwieldy,” said Sullivan. “Much of what was discussed was irrelevant to many of the other members of the Executive Committee.”

new administrative structure

• The Student Life Team, led by veteran administrator Carolyn KEY: McKee in a new position called Assistant Head of School for Student Life, concentrates on life outside the classroom, Executive Administrative ensuring that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, Leadership Team and challenged.

Senior Administrative

• The Business Life Team, led by Business Manager Colleen Leadership Team Woerlen, concentrates on the fiscal and institutional support needed to provide the best possible educational Large experience Administrative Leadership Team Think Tank for students.

Director of Technology

Supporting these three new teams are three other new groups: the Executive Leadership Team, the Senior Administrative Leadership Team, and the Large Administrative Think Tank.

Made up of members of the three “Life” teams as well as other key administrators, these groups meet regularly to engage in conversation about larger, cross-disciplinary ideas and projects – which in turn augments and enriches the perspective of the Academic Life, Business Life, and Student Life teams.

Key: Business Life Team Colleen Woerlen Alan Comrie Phil Dietrich Debby Hyde Mary King Michelle Murphy Jim O’Donnell

Strategic Advisor, Director of Financial Aid, Controller

Director of Middle School

Large Administrative Leadership Team Think Tank

Executive Assistant to the Head of School

Assistant Head of School for Academic Life

Head of School Board of Trustees

Director of Communications & Marketing

Director of Athletics Director of Enrollment Management

Assistant Head of School for Student Life Director of Institutional Advancement

Associate Director of Middle School

ko winter 2012

Senior Administrative Leadership Team

Business Manager

Academic Dean of Science, Math and Technology

Academic Life Team Natalie Demers Asha Appel David Arnstein Jane Repp Pat Rosoff Dennis Sullivan

Executive Administrative Leadership Team

Student Life Team Carolyn McKee Jeanne Auerbach Sue Cabot Laura Doyle Kathy Dunn Joan Edwards Chastity Rodriguez Jackie Rubin Amy Swords

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“This organizational transformation is a much more collaborative and circular structure, with intersecting goals for each of the teams,” said Marilyn Glover, a member of KO’s Board of Trustees who also served on the committee that wrote the 2009 Strategic Plan. “It leaves behind the old business hierarchy.”

The overall concept is that, by working on teams, administrators will be able to delve more deeply and thoroughly into issues of common concern than they could do while sitting on a large Executive Committee.

“The meetings give us the opportunity to think about the big picture – for example, about the kinds of skills we want kids to have in their ‘toolbelts’ when they graduate from KO,” said Demers. “These are the real 21st-century skills – things like problem solving, digital fluency, critical thinking, creativity, adaptability, and flexibility … and being confident and courageous enough to speak up in a college class, take a challenging course, or become an entrepreneur.”

According to Bisgaard, now in his seventh year at KO, the approach is a way of making sure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing, all throughout the campus. “The team meetings provide a framework for ongoing conversations, and ensure that all the information we have is processed and disseminated to all the right people,” he said.

How Do Students Benefit?

But how exactly will this new structure at the top improve the experience for those “on the ground” at Kingswood Oxford – namely, the students and teachers?

For one thing, it will emphasize and reinforce the notion of KO as one school with seven grades. Previously, there was no chief academic officer who coordinated the curriculum, teaching methods, and classroom resources for both the Middle and Upper Schools. Now, Demers and the Academic Life Team will synchronize the vertical integration of the academic program from Upper Prep through Form 6.

“We’ll collaborate in a way that makes it one school,” said Repp.

“For years we’ve been very protective about preserving our Middle School culture. Now we’ll be more of a whole school, rather than two separate divisions.”

Likewise, in the past no one person managed all programs affecting student life outside the classroom for both the Middle and Upper Schools; now, McKee and the Student Life Team will ensure that advising, athletics, counseling, health, diversity awareness, community service and other extracurricular programs are in

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alignment throughout all seven grades.

“Our goal is to produce well-rounded, healthy kids, and we have conversations about all kinds of issues that affect student life,” said McKee, who’s in her 11th year at KO. “Are kids genuinely interested and involved in school life? Are they overburdened?”

The whole-school approach will be reinforced by the new Deans of Humanities and Sciences, who will ensure that departmental objectives, curriculum, course sequencing and teaching methods at the Middle and Upper Schools are coordinated.

“There’s always been this divide between the Middle and Upper School curricula,” Repp said. “Now there are two people who will be examining the 6-12 curriculum in science and humanities. The fact that they’re doing so across disciplines will provide a broader, more thematic approach to our academic program.”

The result? KO students will ideally have a consistent, coherent, and sequential educational experience. Skills, knowledge, talents and passions that are kindled at the Middle School will be cultivated, nurtured and developed at the Upper School in a logical, natural, and well-planned progression.

Furthermore, the two Academic Deans – KO veteran Patricia Rosoff, in Humanities, and newcomer David Arnstein, in Sciences – will provide the kind of interdisciplinary exploration and coordination that is essential for 21st-century learners (see p. 6).

Until this year, the academic program had been partitioned into eight traditional departments, each with its own chair. Now, Rosoff and Arnstein will oversee several departments each, which should foster communication, collaboration and interdisciplinary enterprises among them. Moreover, the Deans will work closely to promote learning that bridges the divide between the humanities and sciences.

“For years, KO has been operating with territorial departments in silos,” said Rosoff, in her 39th year at KO. “We all have to come out of our silos and gather around the campfire. We’re looking to forge some synthesis, to think about education as a whole and not in parts.”

For his part, Arnstein wants to forge connections across disciplines in terms of teaching methods, as well. “I’m excited about creating project-based learning – making videos, building websites, designing and building machines and equipment, fabricating, labs,” he said.

“I’m visiting classes to look for opportunities across the math, science and technology departments. I’m interested in having kids be creators, not consumers, and in engaging students to create and connect across the disciplines.”

So Teachers Can (Still) Learn KO Establishes the Center for Teaching and Learning No matter how you look at it, the new Center for Teaching and Learning – aimed at enriching the quality of teaching at KO – is a remarkable place.

For one thing, it is innovative; indeed, National Association of Independent Schools President Pat Bassett called it a “huge” component of KO’s new administrative structure.

“KO is breaking relatively new ground with this,” he said. “It’s a return to what we are supposed to be doing in our schools – thinking about teaching and learning. Thinking about how the brain works. How to integrate technology. How to give formative assessments. Encouraging our teachers to experiment, to grow, to try new things. It’s a very big initiative.”

Then there is the physical space itself. Located in the Sorensen Room on the ground floor of Seaverns, the walls of the CTL are a welcoming blue, accented with the school’s mission statement.

Shelves burst with journals and books about best teaching practices, while inspirational quotes and notices about professional conferences fill the bulletin boards. Couches and comfortable chairs encourage reading and conversation.

It feels at once like a soothing oasis and a stimulating incubator – a place where teachers can come to relax and decompress and get inspired and excited, all in the same room. It is very clearly a reflection of its director, veteran KO English teacher Asha Appel.

“I want it to be a place of respite and rejuvenation,” said Appel, now in her eighth year at KO. “Teachers are hungry to communicate with one another, and they are energized and refreshed when they’re learning, just as their students are.”

And it’s impossible to ignore its radiating energy: Though the CTL is just a few months old, it already seems like part of KO’s fabric, thanks to several of Appel’s initiatives:

• “Lunch Bunch” – Each week, a different teacher coordinates a lunchtime discussion in the CTL on a teaching approach, strategy or issue. For instance, Math Department Chair Reeves Livesay led a session on “How Do Introverts Participate?,” while Science Department Chair Fritz Goodman spoke about “Coach as Teacher and Teacher as Coach: Symbiosis Between the Field and Classroom.” A dozen or so teachers routinely gather for this physical and intellectual sustenance.

• “Talk Amongst Ourselves” – Appel fills this weekly e-newsletter for faculty and staff with links to web sites, webcasts, journal articles, YouTube videos, TEDtalks, and podcasts that she finds especially insightful or relevant. Recent topics have included preparing students to be innovative; defining successful learning; making parent conferences more meaningful; and building character in the classroom.

• “On-Call List” – This list of teachers willing to cover for colleagues engaged in off-campus professional development conferences is intended to encourage more teachers to take advantage of these important opportunities.

The CTL will also now be responsible for supervising two longstanding teacher-development resources at KO: the “Project Year Teacher” program, through which colleagues offer observations and feedback after sitting in on one another’s classes, and the “Mentor Program,” through which veteran teachers guide and support colleagues who are new to the school.

In essence, Appel wants the CTL to remind and encourage teachers that they are learners, too. “My challenge is to create a culture in which we are all teaching together but also all learning together,” she said. “That way, the gifted teachers we recruit will want to stay here because they’re continually rejuvenated by the work we do together.” KO

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… And What About Teachers?

But it won’t be just the students who are learning in new ways at KO; their teachers will be, as well, thanks to the new Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).

Dedicated to developing, improving, and enriching the quality of teaching at Kingswood Oxford, the CTL is a huge component of Bisgaard’s vision for KO and, according to national experts, is a significant innovation (see p. 5).

To Trustee Marilyn Glover, the CTL is critical to KO’s goal of breaking down interdisciplinary barriers and inculcating 21st century skills in its graduates. “It not only encourages different ways of learning for students, but it also develops different ways of teaching for teachers,” she said. “It supports faculty and their desire for innovation and the ability to integrate subjects and methods.”’

The Foundation Is In Place Bisgaard’s visionary new administrative structure was endorsed wholeheartedly by the Board of Trustees. “It’s a creative and novel way to reorganize the administration and support the school,” said Board Chair Avery Rockefeller, “and it aligns very well with the major pillars of the strategic plan. It breaks down barriers between traditional academic departments and has people who are making sure everyone is talking to one another.”

What’s more, he said, the reorganization was achieved with little extra expense, since many of the new administrators are also teachers. “With the addition of only one and a half full-time equivalents, Dennis has assembled a team of capable educators with energy and capacity,” said Rockefeller. ”We’re thrilled with the individuals he’s chosen to lead the school into the 21st century.”

Upheaval, while understandably unsettling, can in the end be a good thing for a driveway – or an institution, as Natalie Demers concluded in her opening letter: Change can sometimes feel very dramatic and chaotic, but the hope is that the new and improved version of things will make that uncertainty seem ‘worth it.’ The drainage, which we don’t always think about until it isn’t working, will be much improved, and the upheaval caused by its needed repair will most likely be quickly forgotten. The circle itself will look the same, though perhaps newer, a little more ‘shiny.’

“My hope is that we will all feel that way about all the changes at KO this year,” she concluded. “They promise incredible benefits for our students.” KO

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New Academic Deans Embody Best of Both Worlds KO’s new administrative structure is designed to leverage both the strength of its history and the promise of new perspectives. That dual approach may be best embodied in the people tapped to fill two important new positions: Patricia Rosoff, Academic Dean of Humanities, and David Arnstein, Academic Dean of Science, Math and Technology.

Rosoff, of course, might well be considered the “face” of the Creative Arts at Kingswood Oxford. A professional artist and art reviewer, she has worked here since 1975, teaching primarily studio art and art history, as well as stints with English and freshman history. Chair of the former Visual Arts Department for two decades, she was named Chair of the Creative Arts Department in 2008, a position she held until being tapped as Academic Dean this year.

In her new position, she’ll oversee five academic departments: English, history, modern languages, classical languages and creative arts. She sees her new role as a rich opportunity to foster cross-pollination among disciplines and to uncover and cultivate the larger educational commonalities among humanities teachers.

“If each department widened its perspective to encompass the bigger picture of humanities as a whole,” she said, “we will come closer to realizing what an education that moves freely among disciplines feels like, not only for its teachers, but also for its students. In some ways, this happens already, but my role is to find ways to stimulate our collective intentionality. This is a prospect of real and wonderful potential.”

Such connections best grow naturally from collegial conversations across departments. “I came to education from a farm in California,” she said. “My sense is that you kind of have to rake things and see what comes up. Let’s find the organic empathies that produce the interdisciplinary constructs that make education so rewarding.”

New Jobs, New Faces David Arnstein, on the other hand, has been at KO just since July 2012. Most recently the Director of Technology at Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C., he teaches two science courses and oversees the FIRST robotics program.

He earned a B.S.E. from Princeton University and an M.Ed. from Antioch College, and studied toward an MBA at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business. During his career, he also served as Dean of Students, Science Department Chair, and network administrator at The Putney School in VT and as a Science and Math teacher at The Bryn Mawr School in MD. Like Rosoff, Arnstein is also keen to forge connections across disciplines – not only in curriculum, but also in teaching methods.

“I’m interested in finding connections within our math and science curriculum, and also in looking at a student’s experience as they grow through the Forms at KO,” he said.

“Our students need to be able draw from diverse experiences and skills if they hope to work toward addressing the many challenges presented by a fast-changing world. Rapidly developing technologies have an enormous impact in math and science pedagogy and practice; our students must use these tools to collaborate, create, investigate, analyze, and present their developing understanding of the world.

“Ideally, by the time a student graduates from KO, he or she will have already carried out original research, or worked on a solution to a real world problem, or contributed to an ongoing project in mathematics and science,” he concluded. KO

Just as Head of School Dennis Bisgaard was unveiling plans for his new administrative structure in March 2012, several veteran staff members – including Athletic Director Garth Adams, Communications Director Sonya Adams, and Technology Director Russ Birchall – coincidentally opted to leave KO for various reasons. Others remained at KO but in different capacities; for instance, former Upper School Director Ron Monroe decided to return to the classroom full time. Here are brief profiles of the people who succeeded them.

Assistant Head of School for Academic Life Natalie Demers joins KO from the Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, MA, where she served in several administrative roles, most recently Academic Dean. Though she is often perceived as the “new Upper School Director,” her position is actually somewhat different in that it incorporates responsibility for the educational program of both the Middle and Upper Schools.

“KO has incredible educators,” said Demers, who also serves as head of the Academic Life Team, “but they have not always had the opportunity to engage in extended communication. I want to poke and prod people to think differently and seek opportunities to collaborate.”

A graduate of Colgate University with a Master’s degree from Bryn Mawr, Demers grew up in South Africa, is fluent in Norwegian, and has also studied Zulu, Afrikaans, and Italian. She has worked at the University of Pennsylvania, Learning by Grace, Indian Mountain School, and TASIS (in England), and she has extensive curricular development experience in the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate educational systems.

Director of Athletics Sue Cabot comes to KO from the Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ, where she worked for 26 years – the last 15 as Athletic Director.

In addition to managing a $38-million renovation of Peddie’s athletic facilities, Cabot also served as a coach, athletic trainer and a teacher of health, fitness and physical education. She holds a B.S.Ed. from Slippery Rock University and an M.Ed. in Health Education from The College of New Jersey. (continued on page 9)

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Leading By Example

KO Hosts First-Ever Leadership Institute for Educators of Color

By Molly Miller ‘13 It’s a startling statistic: Out of the 1,400 independent schools that belong to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), only 4% – or 50 schools – are led by a person of color. The percentage of female Heads is not quite as small, but is still surprisingly low – especially at the high school level.

“ This is a very generous initiative on Dennis’s part and on KO’s part.”

Pat Bassett, President, National Association of Independent Schools.

“In this day and age, how come that’s true?” wondered KO Head of School Dennis Bisgaard.

Though there are many plausible explanations – a lack of industry connections, for instance, or the fact that administrative search teams are often themselves homogeneous – Bisgaard decided to do something to address this imbalance.

Last spring, encouraged by NAIS President Pat Bassett, CAIS Executive Director Doug Lyons, Columbia University’s Dr. Pearl Rock Kane, and other independent school educators, Bisgaard conceived the idea of the Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color. The first of its kind in the nation, the Institute’s mission is to help educators of color explore, prepare for, and position themselves for passageways into leadership roles at independent schools.

“This is a very generous initiative on Dennis’s part and on KO’s part,” said Bassett. “He feels strongly

about helping women and people of color navigate the strange terrain of our schools, and it is unusual and incredibly generous of him to reach out to other schools to include them in this opportunity.

As a school Head, Dennis is definitely one of our leaders nationally.”

The response to Bisgaard’s idea was quick and positive – and thus the inaugural Leadership Institute was born.

From June 14-16, 2012, a lively and very impressive group of about 30 people – including KO administrators, Heads of School of color, and key national experts – gathered on KO’s campus to explore pathways to leadership, professional development plans, and networking opportunities.

Others, including Bassett and Gene Batiste, NAIS’s vice president of school field services and equity and justice initiatives, participated via Skype.

Many of the sessions focused on ways to bring underrepresented groups into positions of power in independent schools. “There’s still a sense of isolation for some [people of color],” said Bisgaard.

“Some people seem to be tapped on the shoulder for leadership very quickly, while others need to work harder for it. The participants got a really good taste for what leadership entails. We told them, ‘Here are the paths you can take.’”

Other discussions and seminars were applicable to all educators and administrators – not only those of color. “People may think it is all about diversity,” said Bisgaard, “but much of it was very practical information about leadership.”

For more information about the second annual KO Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, which will be held on campus from June 16-19, 2013, visit www.kingswoodoxford.org/POCKOleadershipinstitute.

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New Jobs, New Faces Joan Edwards, KO’s Senior Associate Director of Admissions, said the KO Institute reinforced to her “the sheer value of networking.”

She learned that everyone who wants to be a leader needs a mentor to give feedback and a sponsor to provide connections. She said she also learned about the importance of centering oneself. “No matter how busy you are, always find time to center yourself while leading,” she said. “You also really need to inform yourself about the community in which you work.”

In addition to the normal array of discussions and breakout sessions, the Institute included one other leadershipdevelopment activity: Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga.

A seasoned practitioner, Bisgaard noted that Bikram can be a struggle for newcomers. “It’s 105-degree heat, it’s too hot, and too uncomfortable,” he acknowledged, “but once you get used to the heat, it’s all about breathing, keeping focused, and keeping calm.”

It is an apt metaphor for the struggles of leadership, he said: “If you can breathe and stay calm, even ‘in the heat of the moment’ or a crisis, you can accomplish what you need to accomplish.”

Furthermore, the Bikram session can help to remind educators how it feels to be a student in unfamiliar territory: “We’re always trying to bring kids out of their comfort zones, but we adults tend to stick to an area we’re comfortable with.” As with Bikram, where participation and sheer endurance equal success, students should feel at least some success simply from being in a classroom and participating, he said.

Though the KO Leadership Institute for Educators of Color is the first of its kind, Bisgaard said it was inspired by the

Sue Cabot, continued A member of the Student Life Team, she says she’ll assess and evaluate the school’s athletic program to ensure it enriches the lives of the 21st-century student. “We’ve had the same model for a long time,” she said. “I’m looking at the whole program to see how it fits into the educational experience of our students. So much that happens in the athletic arena is involved with how kids see themselves and how they relate to the school.”

Director of Communications & Marketing Michelle M. Murphy worked most recently across town at Northwest Catholic High School, where she was the Director of Communications for the past five years. Before that, she was the Director of Development and Admissions at St. Thomas the Apostle School, also in West Hartford. A graduate of Georgetown University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she also has 25 years of experience as a reporter and editor in Washington, DC, New York, and Connecticut.

At KO, Murphy will oversee the overall marketing strategy, as well as day-to-day operation of the recently relaunched web site, all external and internal communications, social media, and KO Magazine. A member of the Business Life Team, she applauds Bisgaard’s vision for the expanded Communications & Marketing Department. To be able to help all other departments succeed, she said, “the communicator has to be at the table.”

Director of Technology Phil Dietrich came to KO from the International School of Budapest, where he was IT Director for the past three years; he has also managed technology in independent schools in North Carolina and Tennessee. Here, his focus will be on shoring up and expanding KO’s technology infrastructure.

Dietrich holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Ohio State University, and he believes firmly that technology at a school should focus on enriching, expanding and supporting the students in their collaboration, problem solving and learning. “It’s not about the devices,” he said. “It’s about the students having as much success as possible in their academic endeavors…KO has a history and an identity, and that is never going to be replaced by something that plugs into a wall.”

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Leading By Example, continued Collegiate School Teaching Institute in New York City, which he founded in 1995. That two-week program was designed to introduce new teachers of color to the culture of independent schools, and provide them with skills to become successful teachers. Many of the teachers who participated in the Collegiate Institute are now administrators, he said.

The enthusiastic response to the new Institute is itself testimony to the value of cultivating professional connections. A longtime participant at the annual NAIS conference, Bisgaard will attend the NAIS People of Color Conference (POCC) this year for the 20th time (out of its 25-year existence). “I have a good network to work with,” he said.

Indeed, he and Mrs. Edwards were invited to present about the Institute at the POCC in December 2012. And, plans are now in the works for the second annual Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, which will be held from June 16-19, 2013. Bisgaard said he expects to attract people from a much larger geographical area, although the Institute itself will remain deliberately small. “Probably 40 people at the most,” he said, “because that’s the size that’s most conducive to in-depth discussion and making genuine and lasting connections.”

Ultimately, he said, he would like the Institute to spin off other versions of itself elsewhere. “I’m going to encourage others to replicate the ideas and content of the program across the U.S.,” he concluded. KO

KO Welcomes Four New Trustees to Board Pedro Sainz de Baranda P ‘14, ‘16, ’19 ’19, President of Otis Elevator Company since February 2012, has been working for United Technologies Corporation (UTC) since 1993. He began his career as a research engineer at the UTC Research Center in Madrid, and joined Otis Engineering Center in Farmington, CT in 1997 as principal engineer.

Over the ensuing dozen years, Sainz de Baranda held positions of increasing importance in Otis offices in Mexico, Portugal, and Spain. In January 2009, he was named President of Otis South Europe and Middle East Area, a position he held until his most recent appointment. In 2000, Sainz de Baranda was among a team of Otis engineers who earned the George Mead Medal – the highest engineering honor given by UTC – for the concept of using a coated steel belt in the Gen2® elevator system. Sainz de Baranda earned a Bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from the University of Oviedo in Spain, a Ph.D. in engineering from Rutgers University, and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He and his wife, Silvia Portela, have three children: Pedro Sainz de Baranda ‘14, Manuel Sainz de Baranda ’16, and Margarita Sainz de Baranda ’19.

OTHER NEW FACES ON THE FACULTY AND STAFF Dan Bateson is KO’s new Network Administrator and Computer Support Specialist.

A former Mac Genius, he is also an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician and has MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) certification.

Most recently, Bateson was Engineering Workforce Director at the American Society of Civil Engineers in Reston, VA. He earned a BSBA degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH.

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Jonathan Briggs will teach French, advise in Form 3, and coach two seasons. Briggs earned his BA in French from Bucknell and his MA and PhD at UNC–Chapel Hill, where he majored in French and minored in Spanish. He has extensive experience as a French and Spanish teacher; a swimming and soccer coach; an advisor; and a literary magazine and yearbook advisor.

Briggs joins us from Canterbury School in Fort Myers, FL.

Katherine Grossweiner joins the Modern Language department and will also coach in the Upper School. A graduate of Connecticut College, where she majored in Chinese Language and Literature, Grossweiner recently spent eight months in Beijing, China, where she studied Chinese and tutored other Chinese language learners. She also taught in a Chinese enrichment program in New London, CT.

Sarah Lamb will teach in the Science department. Lamb earned a B.S. in Physics from the University of Connecticut and has done postgraduate work at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

She has had a range of experience in the sciences, including serving as the Assistant Summer Robotics Program Director and the Upper School Physics teacher at Worcester Academy to being a licensed U. S. Cycling Race Mechanic.

Paul Lewis P ’05 is the President and Owner of Dittman & Greer, Inc., a leading supplier of technology-based automation, sensing and motion control products for a wide range of industrial process applications. It was founded in 1950.

Lewis is a member of the Association for High Technology Distribution, where he served on the Executive Committee from 1999-2007, including one term as Treasurer and one term as Vice President. He was a Trustee of Renbrook School from 1999-2006, where he served on the Finance Committee and as Chairman of the Property Committee and the Library Feasibility Committee. Lewis also served on the Board of Directors of the Hartford Golf Club from 2005-08 and has been a Corporator of Hartford Hospital since 2009. He and his wife, Janet Lewis, have two daughters: Christina Lewis and Caroline Lewis ’05.

Alexander T. Nguyen ‘95 is a federal prosecutor in Alexandria, VA. Previously, he was Assistant Counsel to the Office of the White House Counsel in the first Obama Administration.

A graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, he also worked for the international law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago and Washington, D.C. , and has served as the Executive Director of the Asian American Action Fund, a political action committee with grass-roots programming, and on the Board of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Asian Educational Fund. Nguyen also wrote for the

Jennifer Ng joins the Advancement Office as the new Director of Parent Programs and Young Alumni Giving. She is a graduate of Miss Porter’s School and Trinity College, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in women’s studies with a concentration in law and public policy. For the past five years, Ng has been the Manager of Annual Giving at Miss Porter’s. She lives in West Hartford with her husband, Wesley.

KO WINTER 2012

Chastity Rodriguez ’91 is the new school counselor.

Rodriguez earned her undergraduate degree from Columbia University, a Master’s of Elementary Education from the University of New Haven, and a Master’s of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from Central Connecticut State University. She has previous experience working in a school environment.

political magazines The New Republic and the American Prospect, and has been published in many other places, including The Hartford Courant and The Washington Monthly. He won the 2000 National Award for Education Reporting and co-founded In the Fray, an on-line magazine dedicated to issues of diversity, identity, and community. At KO, Nguyen was speaker of the student government, associate editor of the KO News, and President of the Forensic Union.

Mark Wolman P ’14, ’16, ’19 ’19, Principal and Director of the Waterford Group, the developer of Hartford’s Adriaen’s Landing District, has more than 30 years of experience in development, construction, and asset management. Waterford develops and operates hotel, gaming and venue properties nationally and holds an ownership interest in many hotels, including the Marriott Hartford Downtown, Hilton Hartford, and Sheraton Hartford Hotel at Bradley Airport.

Wolman has received numerous state and national awards, and he has been named Connecticut Builder of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Connecticut. He has served on the Boards of many non-profits and associations, including Waterford Country School, Solomon Schechter Academy, and The Williams School in New London. A native of South Africa, Wolman holds a B.S. degree in Agriculture and an MBA from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He and his wife, Julie Wolman, have three children: Natasha N. Wolman ’14, Gabriel J. Wolman ’16, and Lian R. Wolman ’19. KO

Tricia Watson will teach geography, advise in Upper Prep, and coach soccer and lacrosse.

Watson earned a BA in Psychology from Fordham University and an MA in Interdisciplinary Education from Santa Clara University, and has experience in public and independent schools – most recently, Cary Academy in NC. She returns to teaching after devoting her energies full time to her three children for the past few years.

Richard Worsman will teach Chinese at both the Middle and Upper School, will serve as a Form 1 advisor, and will assist in coaching at the Middle School. A graduate of Connecticut College with a double major in Chinese Language and Literature and History (Asian concentration), Worsman has a wide range of experience: He taught English to Chinese students in Anhui Province, China; conducted Chinese enrichment classes in New London; and worked as a student teacher in Norwich, CT. 11

A Beacon Once Again

Beginning of steeple repair, broken Wyvern weathervane

Deterioration and damage to the steeple base and louvers

Rotted wood at the base of the steeple

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It seems appropriate, in this Year of Renovation, that one of KO’s most iconic landmarks would get a facelift too.

The restoration and reillumination of the Alumni Hall cupola was inspired partly by Kathy Hoffman, who noticed that it was in disrepair and mentioned it to her husband, Board of Trustees Vice Chair Brad Hoffman ’78.

He, in turn, mentioned it to school administrators – who coincidentally already had the project on the maintenance list for the summer of 2012.

To make sure it was done right, Jim Michaud, Director of Facilities, hired Stevenson Services, a nationally known tower-restoration firm that happens to be located in Bristol, CT. Throughout the summer, as the front circle was being reconstructed down below, the steeple high above was being restored to its original grandeur. Rotted wood was replaced; the copper Wyvern weathervane was repaired and then weathered; and the louvers on the steeple were scraped and painted a distinguished Hunter Green, versus the white they had been previously.

“I have a picture of that building dating from 1926,” said KO Science Department Chair Fritz Goodman. “At that time, the color was green. Jim Michaud has restored the steeple to its original colors.”

Now lit from 6pm-6am every day, the classically beautiful top of the iconic KO building is an (energy-efficient) beacon throughout the neighborhood once again.

KO WINTER 2012

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From the Desk of Sue Cabot

Sue Cabot (cabot.s@k-o.org)

I am happy to introduce myself to you as KO’s new Director of Athletics. It’s an honor to inherit the reins of a proud athletic tradition that I know means so much to generations of Wyverns.

I firmly believe that the playing fields, the courts, and other areas of athletic competition are extensions of our classrooms, and I can already tell that our student-athletes are dedicated and motivated role models who recognize the privilege of being part of something larger than themselves: Wyvern Nation.

Now more than ever, as we try to prepare students for a future we cannot predict, sports are a critical component of a KO education. Being on a team teaches students how to work collaboratively, physically, mentally, and emotionally; how to depend on other people and to be responsible to them; and how to compete, to struggle, to endure, to succeed, to lose, and to win with dignity and grace.

I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months and years.

In the meantime, please feel free to be in touch with me. Go Wyverns!

VARSITY SPRING SPORTS ‘12

BASEBALL

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Coaches: Steve Cannata, Andy Carr Captains: Austin Bronson ‘12, Marcus Pugliese ‘12 Seniors: Ty Adams, Nat Bedford, Austin Bronson, Scott Levine, Marcus Pugliese Record: 2-13 MVP: Marcus Pugliese ‘12 Most Improved: Reid Collins ‘14 Captains next season: Shane Carroll ‘13, Reid Collins ‘14, Mike Turro ‘13

SOFTBALL Coaches: Cathy Schieffelin, Julie Kindl Captains: Emma Brennan ‘12, Allison Mendola ‘12, Kim Spring ‘12 Seniors: Emma Brennan, Allison Mendola, Kim Spring Record: 5-8 MVP: Kim Spring ‘12 Most Improved: Brenda Winn ‘13 Captains next season: Taryn Braz ‘14, Marissa Landino ‘13

GIRLS’ LACROSSE Coaches: Tim Allerton, Gillian Ritter ‘05 Captains: Kaleigh Cannon ‘12, Katie Morgan ‘12 Seniors: Kaleigh Cannon, Jackie Dunn, Flinn Esselstyn, Emily Ford, Katie Morgan, Michele Ruffee, Nicole Wetsman Record: 3-12 New England All-Stars: Taylor Brady ‘13, Nicole Wetsman ‘12 MVP: Nicole Wetsman Most Improved: Corinne Florian ‘15 Captains next season: TBA

BOYS’ TENNIS Coaches: Andy Krugman ‘86, Christian Hyde ‘02 Captains: Hunter Morgan ‘12, Mark Toubman ‘13 Seniors: Dmitri Adamidis, Todd Fichman, Varun Khattar, Hunter Morgan Record: 12-5 total 3rd place in K.I.T. 3rd place in S.N.E.T.L. Quarterfinalist in New England Class B Tournament Boys’ Tennis Award: Morgan ‘12, Toubman ‘13 Most Improved: Todd Fichman ‘12 Captains next season: TBA

BOYS’ LACROSSE Coaches: John Gormley, Glen Damboise, Brian Damboise Captains: Jordan Barlow ’12, Chris Macca ’12, Taylor Waybright ‘12 Seniors: Jordan Barlow, Colby Halter, Seth Lieberman, Chris Macca, Ben Miller, Jason Pavlik, Ben Shoham, Rohan Singh, Schuyler Stockman, Taylor Waybright, Alec Zimmerman Record: 11-6 overall, 6-1 in Fairchester League Fairchester League Co-Champions; Fairchester League Tournament Champions 1st Team All-League: Jordan Barlow ‘12, Anthony Giordano ‘13, Chris Macca ‘12, Taylor Waybright ‘12, Alec Zimmerman ‘12 Honorable Mention: Tim O’Sullivan ‘13, Kent Byrd ‘13 MVPs: Jordan Barlow ’12, Taylor Waybright ‘12 Most Improved: Jake Pavlik ‘12 Assistant Coaches of the Year: Glen and Brian Damboise Captains next season: Anthony Giordano ‘13, Tim O’Sullivan ‘13, Kent Byrd ‘13, Jake Waskowitz ‘13

BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD Coaches: Alex Kraus, David Baker ‘04, Will Gilyard, Joe Johnson, Jeff Perlis, Elizabeth Tredeau Captains: Brandon Best ‘12, Sam McKeown ‘12 Seniors: Brandon Best, Lucien Konan, Sam McKeown, Matt Mulkern, Nick Rezuke, Colin Sonstrom, Ben Washburn Record: 5-8 MVP: Brandon Best ’12 Most Improved: Lucien Konan ‘12 Captains next season: Rudy DeBerry ’13, Jack Farrell ’13, Ned Meade ‘13

GIRLS’ TENNIS

Coaches: Ronald Garcia, Chris Grace GOLF Captains: Catherine Boyle ’12, Dayna Lord ’13, Coach: Scott Dunbar Zarah Mohamed ‘12 Captains: none Seniors: Catherine Boyle, Rosie Gluck, Zarah Seniors: Alex Roth Mohamed, Xochil Rivera, Zoe Waldman Record: 16-5 Record: 12-3 Founders League Repeat Champions; Keyes Plate Champions Founder’s League Co-Champions, KIT: 7th of 23, Patrick Hallisey ’14, 3rd of 115, DeVillafranca Champions, Conner Beakey ‘13, medalist Class A New England Semifinalists Mark Dixon Award: Patrick Hallisey ‘14 Girls’ Tennis Award: Dayna Lord ‘13, Melissa Lord ‘15, Captains next season: TBA Zarah Mohamed ‘12, Shelby Smith ‘13 Most Improved: Rosie Gluck ‘12, Xochil Rivera ‘12 Captains next season: Brooke Hayes ‘13, Dayna Lord ‘13, Shelby Smith ‘13

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD Coaches: Alex Kraus, David Baker ‘04, Will Gilyard, Joe Johnson, Jeff Perlis, Elizabeth Tredeau Captains: Kelly Lessard ‘12, Carolyn Marcello ‘12 Seniors: Lindsay Bailey, Eshani Bhalla, Denae Cousins, Arielle Dufour, Casey LaTorre, Kelly Lessard, Carolyn Marcello, Carolyn Mitchell, Maleeha Naqvi, Chiamaka Ndibe, Gabby Wolinsky Record: 10-3 MVP: Carolyn Marcello ‘12; Most Improved: Gabby Wolinsky ‘12 Captains next season: Samantha Pinkes ’14, Eva Stys ’13, Brittany Vose ‘13

KO WINTER 2012

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A D V A N C New to KO: Alumni Family Fun Day! The weather was picture-perfect for KO’s first-ever Alumni Family Fun Day on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 23, 2012, when more than 100 members of the KO community – including a number of young alumni families – were treated to food, arts and crafts, games, and a bounce house on the senior green and fields. It was hard to tell who was having more fun: the returning guests or the current students, who served as the spirited guides for the day. This popular event is sure to be repeated! KO

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Jennifer Grady Mik ‘92 and her daughters Jordyn and Leah

Tanica Walcott Thompson ’96 Sarah Hewes ’96 and Alison Zinn Bush ’96 with future Wyverns

Reilly Callahan ’15 and Samya Kanwar, daughter of Rahul Kanwar ’94

Durelle Brown ’97 and his daughter Adelina

Ann Coolidge Randall ‘73, P ‘13 and Ron Randall P ‘13 with KO KO

C E M E N T The Governor Hosts Some Wyverns – and Celebrates Best-Ever Year for KO Fund There was an unusual creature welcoming guests to the Governor’s Mansion on Sept. 20, 2012 – KO KO, the much-loved Wyvern, who helped to set a festive tone for this year’s Leadership Reception.

Tom and Bonnie Giardini P ‘10, ‘12 and Ann Serow

Held to honor and thank a few hundred of Kingswood Oxford’s most generous benefactors during the 2011-2012 fundraising year, the reception featured another special guest – Gov. Dannel Malloy, who stopped in to congratulate Head of School Dennis Bisgaard on the remarkable success of the KO Fund. Donations totaled $1,193,145 last year, the highest amount ever, and $43,145 over goal.

Remarks from two young alums – John Ware ’07 and Kacie Gent ’08 – were another highlight of the evening. Both spoke about the transformative role that Kingswood Oxford had played in their lives (although John’s remarks were delivered by his parents, because he had just begun doctoral studies at the University of Michigan).

“Support from our constituents is the lifeblood of our institution,” said Bisgaard. “We are indebted to those who always give so generously of themselves to help provide the kind of education in which we all so firmly believe.” KO

“

At great schools, the faculty and staff do their jobs very well. At KO, they do what is not their job … That’s more than you could ask for, and that’s the point.

– John Ware ’07, Amherst ’11; PhD candidate at the University of Michigan

KO Fund donations hit $1,193,145 in 2011-2012 – the highest amount in school history.

KO WINTER 2012

Elizabeth Atwood GP ‘17, Dennis Bisgaard P ‘16, Geo Estes ‘67, P ‘98

” Joan Guerrera P ‘10, ‘15 and Sherri Mittelman P ‘13, ‘15, ‘19 17

Chuck DeBerry ’76, P ’11, ’13 and Laura LeBlanc ’79

REUNION 2012

Eamon Dworkin ’08 with his parents, Sheila and Paul Dworkin P ’02, ’08

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Tyler Polk ’99 and David Peck ’92

James and Marie Jenkins Guindon ’92 and Lud Baldwin P ’00, ’02, ’05

Reception at Reopened Landmark Kicks Off Two-Day Reunion Celebration Reunion Weekend got off to a great start this year with a lively all-class reception at The Russian Lady, the iconic Hartford bar that reopened in October 2011 after a 14-year absence.

With a three-story-tall Wyvern illuminating the side of the building, there was no doubt about what school was rocking The Russian Lady’s second floor on Friday night, June 8. More than 200 members of the KO community – including faculty and parents of alums who graduated in the past five years – reunited at a fun party that created momentum for the next day’s festivities.

Back on campus on Saturday, June 9, Head of School Dennis Bisgaard led an enthusiastic KO “welcome home” to classes ending in 2s and 7s. Alumni and their families enjoyed a day of reconnecting with friends and faculty, catching up on one another’s professional and personal lives, and taking lots of pictures.

Save the Date!

Reunion ’13 to Include Hall of Fame Induction Reunion 2013 – celebrating classes ending in 3s and 8s – will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2013, and will once again include the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. (The timing of the most recent Hall of Fame Induction was shifted from the spring to the fall, to coincide with the Centennial Celebration in 2009.) The Hall of Fame induction will be at 11am on June 8, followed by a barbecue under a tent on campus.

For more info, visit kingswoodoxford.org/reunion

Two alums – Lucy Eaton Holcombe ’42 and Wilbert “Bill” McClellan ’37 – were honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for their remarkable commitment to the KO community.

Bill was unable to attend the event in person, and regrettably passed away just a few months later, on Sept. 6, 2012 (see sidebar below). KO

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In Memoriam: Wilbert “Bill” McClellan, Jr. ‘37 Bill McClellan – a.k.a. “Mr. Kingswood” – passed away on Sept. 6, 2012, at Duncaster in Bloomfield, just three months after being honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award at Reunion. He was 94 years old.

Born at his grandparents’ home at 1040 Prospect Avenue in Hartford, Bill was the son of the late Dr. Wilbert E. McClellan and Helen Pease McClellan. A 1936 graduate of the Asheville School in Asheville, NC, Bill did a postgraduate year at Kingswood – but that one year left an indelible impression on him and on the KO community. Often seen wearing red and black, he returned often for athletic events, and also supported the school through the KO Fund, the Nicholson Martin Society, and as a member of the Head’s Leadership Circle.

Bill graduated from Yale and served his country as a fighter pilot during World War II, earning the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, and two battle stars in the Asiatic Pacific Theater. Back home, he spent his career at Veeder Root in Hartford, the E. I. DuPont Company in Wilmington, DE, and Electric Boat in Groton. A phenomenal athlete, Bill played on Kingswood’s undefeated football team in 1936, and caught three touchdown passes in the very first Loomis-Kingswood game. At the age of 80, he was the #3-ranked Seniors tennis player in New England, and at the age of 90, he had his third hole in one.

Bill is survived by his niece, Susan Smith Rubin, and nephew Charles Claiborne Smith and their families. “Bill was a true character, and will be missed by many friends at KO and elsewhere,” said his friend James B. Lyon ’48. ko winter 2012

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REUNION 2012 20

KO Class of 2007

Oxford Class of 1972

KO Class of 2002

KO Class of 1982

The Oxford Tea

KO Class of 1987

Distinguished Alumni Award Winner Lucy Eaton Holcombe ’42 (second from right) with her family members, Tally Holcombe ’19, Anne Holcombe ’67, Shep Holcombe ’39, and Emily Holcombe ’70

Kingswood ’62 classmates Bob Murphy, Jim Steane and Lance Knox

KO WINTER 2012

KO Class of 1992

Alumni Lacrosse Game Players

Kingswood Class of 1962

Oxford Class of 1967

Kingswood Class of 1947

Oxford Class of 1952

Oxford Class of 1962

Kingswood Class of 1972

KO Class of 1977

Heather Harden ’07, Natalie Kotkin ’07, Meg Kasprak P ’04, ’04, ’08 and Caroline Chiappetti ’07

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A Conversation with

Michael DeFrino ’83 Where did you go after Kingswood Oxford School?

Emory University, in Atlanta What did you do after college, and what are you currently doing?

After Emory I joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Atlanta as a management trainee.

I spent eight years with Ritz, moving around the country and learning the business. Now I am the Senior VP of Hotel Operations for Kimpton Hotels. I oversee around 60 hotels in the United States.

What was the most satisfying moment in your professional life?

My first General Manager assignment – at The Alexis Hotel in Seattle – was a pivotal moment for my career. I was 32.

What was the most satisfying moment in your personal life?

The birth of my first daughter, which coincidentally occurred just as I accepted the GM job in Seattle. We moved from Washington, DC, to Seattle with a 2-week-old baby.

What is your next goal in life?

I think the time is right for me to get into Ultimate Fighting.

What is the most important lesson in life?

Work hard, have fun.

(continued on page 24)

Military Spotlight: Commander William Perkins ’90 Takes on New Assignment in Japan In December 2012, Naval Commander William Perkins ’90 will begin a new phase in his military career: He will become the Navigator assigned to the USS George Washington, stationed in Yokosuka, Japan.

For the past two years, he has been stationed at Tactical Air Control (TACRON) 11, in San Diego, CA – first as Executive Officer, and most recently as Commanding Officer. During this time, he spent more than 15 months at sea, supporting combat operations in the Middle East aboard the USS Boxer and in the Exercise Rim of the Pacific aboard the USS Essex.

Under his leadership, TACRON 11 detachments were awarded two Meritorious Unit Citations, more than any Tactical Air Control squadron has received since Operation Desert Storm. Perkins himself received both the Meritorious Service Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medals while he was stationed here.

Throughout his career, Perkins has received many other personal awards, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal (four times), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (four times), and numerous unit citations.

In the past, he has completed multiple flying tours as a Weapons/Tactics Instructor and Mission Commander in the P-3 Orion aircraft with Patrol Squadron 4, and served as Operations Officer, Tactical Support Center, Sigonella, Italy; Assistant Operations Officer on the USS John F. Kennedy; and most recently, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Joint Task Force for Global Network Operations (now US Cyber Command) in Washington, DC, where he was selected as the Field Grade Officer of the Year in 2008.

Married to the former Melissa Sedlak of Stafford Springs, Perkins is a 1994 graduate of the Maine Maritime Academy. In 2008, he completed training at the Joint Forces Staff College, and in 2012, he earned a Master’s in Strategic Foresight from Regent University in Norfolk, VA. KO

Mike DeFrino and his three daughters – Maddie, 15; Grace, 13; and Charlotte, 8 – and their dog, Rocko.

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KO seeks to collect a comprehensive listing of alums who have served in any branch of the military, at any time.

Please submit information via the on-line form at www.kingswoodoxford.org/militaryservice.

A KO Tradition: Chips Off the Old Block

From the Archives . . .

In one of KO’s favorite back-to-school rituals, new KO students and their legacy relatives gathered for a light breakfast and photo op with Head of School Dennis Bisgaard on Sept. 12, 2012.

Kingswood Oxford has an amazing archives filled with artifacts from both schools – thousands of news clippings, photos, jerseys, sports equipment, and awards – painstakingly catalogued and maintained in Roberts by Spanish teacher (and now archivist) Brenda Semmelrock.

Tell Us More!

She is following in the footsteps of history teacher Roy White, who collected and stored whatever he could in boxes until his retirement in 1997. Flo Hare, assistant to former Head of School Lee Levison, picked up where White left off, sorting and organizing until 2006, when Pat Corrow, a professional archivist, began working part time strictly to establish an Archive Room. When Corrow left KO in March 2012, Semmelrock took over.

From left, in the first two rows: Georgia Kraus ‘19, and her mother Bonnie Kraus Scranton ’88; Elise Namnoum ‘19, and her father Ken Namnoum ’77; Nell Schwartz ‘19, and her father Adam Schwartz ’85; Ananya Alleyne ‘19, and her father Richard Alleyne ’87; William Appleton ‘18 and Jacob Appleton ‘16, with their father Peter Appleton ’81; Tally Holcombe ’19, with her mother, Emily Holcombe ’70 and grandfather Shepherd Holcombe ’39. From left, in the back row: Arthur Wasserman ’47, with his grandchildren Ellen Goddard ‘18 and Sam Goddard ‘13; and Head of School Dennis Bisgaard.

Now, she needs your help. Can you help her understand the significance of the pictured items? How popular was the Riding Club at Oxford, and was Keney Park the “home” stable? How did Kingswood boys acquire these charms and medals – and how did they wear or display them?

Please send information to Brenda Semmelrock at semmelrock.b@k-o.org, and we will share it in the next issue of the magazine. She would also love to hear from alums who may have historical items to donate to the archives.

The Annual Report for 2011-2012 is available on-line at kingswoodoxford.org/annualreport.

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Michael DeFrino, continued Who influenced you the most?

My wife Laura, who is committed and driven in everything she does.

What do you look forward to most in life?

Watching my three daughters grow up and become better texters.

What’s the last book you read?

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand What is your favorite song, or who is your favorite artist right now?

My new favorite band is The Hold Steady.

Who would you want to play you in a film version of your life?

Probably Will Smith. We have a lot in common.

What’s your favorite KO memory?

New Policy Aims at Streamlining Fundraising Efforts In the fall of 2012, KO instituted a new policy to help ensure that all fundraising is conducted in a way that supports the School’s strategic, programmatic, and capital needs. The Head of School, through the Office of Institutional Advancement, assumes responsibility for authorizing and overseeing all fundraising activities conducted at KO. Before undertaking any kind of fundraising initiative, students, parents, and faculty and staff are now asked to complete a one-page fundraising application available on the school website (www.kingswoodoxford.org/fundraisingpolicy).

That form must be submitted to the Director of Institutional Advancement and the Director of Athletics (if applicable), and ultimately to the Head of School for approval.

This new procedure will ensure the strength and uniformity of KO’s commitment to excellence in education. For a hard copy of the fundraising policy and application, please contact Jennifer Ng, Director of Parent Programs and Young Alumni Giving, at ng.j@k-o.org or 860-727-5012.

The cohesive sense of community that existed among the students, the teachers and the coaches always felt like total alignment to me.

What is your favorite spot on campus?

The area outside the lobby of the Roberts Center.

What KO teachers had the greatest influence on you?

Mr. Stiehler, Mr. Van Dyke, Mr. Roberts.

How have you changed since graduation?

I think now I listen more than I talk, but most people who have known me a while tell me I haven’t changed very much. I’m not sure how to take that?

What message do you have for the KO community?

Thanks for the memories – and the great education, too.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to current KO students?

Nobody likes a know-it-all.

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KO On the Road Head of School Dennis Bisgaard will be visiting alumni in a number of U.S. cities this year, holding receptions in Kimpton Hotels with assistance from Michael DeFrino ’83, Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations. Please contact Director of Alumni and Constituent Relations Nicole Kimball (Kimball.n@k-o.org) if you are new to a city and want to make sure you receive an invite with more details.

San Francisco

Feb. 5, 2013

Los Angeles

Feb. 7, 2013

Vero Beach

Apr. 4, 2013

Boston

Apr. 17, 2013

REMINDER: Potential tax law changes that

From the Archives . . .

are scheduled to take effect at the end of 2012 may impact charitable giving for 2013. Thus, it is more important than ever to make a gift to the KO Fund before the end of the calendar year!

Tell Us More!

Can you help us understand the significance of the pictured items?

LEAVE A LEGACY AT KINGSWOOD OXFORD SCHOOL Naming Kingswood Oxford School in your will or trust is an easy way to make a difference.

It doesn’t affect your current cash flow or assets, and it’s easy to revise if your circumstances change. It also may save you estate taxes later.

Best of all, you have the satisfaction of knowing your gift will live on and make a difference in the lives of future generations.

For more information about KO’s planned giving society, the Nicholson Martin Circle, please contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at 860-727-5011 or talk with your attorney.

Please send information to Brenda Semmelrock at semmelrock.b@k-o.org, and we will share it in the next issue of the magazine. She would also love to hear from alums who may have historical items to donate to the archives.

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OXFORD 1928 During a visit to Washington, D.C. in spring 2012, Head of School Dennis Bisgaard visited with Dorothy Church Zaring ’28 and her husband, Joe, at their retirement home. Dorothy and Joe both had long careers with the CIA. Dorothy is now 102 years old, but sadly lost her husband in September 2012.

OXFORD 1941 Marguerite Steane Kelland Class Correspondent

CLASS NOTES

It is with extreme regret that we report the deaths of Betty Vernlund Goodwin and Betty Guiney ’40, the sister of Mary Guiney. We send our sincere sympathy to Betty’s family and to Mary and her family.

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Bill and Julie Anne Keeney Walton spent a weekend at the Cape celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in June.

(Congratulations!) They plan to be in Florida for three months after the holidays, so they send best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year to all now.

Margaret Stedman Doherty celebrated her 89th birthday with son Dexter and family on Block Island, and in September she and daughter Sara visited her son Tod in Maine, where he had a successful blueberry season.

Her son Amory has purchased a smaller home in Oregon. Dexter is still busily cleaning up trees from last year’s storm. Sara and family are fine; her daughter has transferred from McGill to the University of Maine.

Ginny Wells Andersen is proud to share that her grandson, who enlisted in the National Guard when he graduated from high school, is now headed for Afghanistan as a military policeman. He is also engaged to a young lady with the last name of Wells – coincidence, but no relation! Happily, the three kids who have “babysat” for his pet python in the past will care for it again while he’s away.

Judy Stoughton Wawro is happily enjoying the ease of living at Duncaster, where there’s plenty of room for her visiting family. As usual, Judy has been on the road again – to her home in Stratton, VT; to visit her sons and daughters-in-law in Upstate NY and Fullerton, CA; and most recently, to a dude ranch, where she spent a fun week with son Geoffrey and grandsons Winslow and Matias (she did not ride). Judy recently welcomed her fourth great-grandchild, Anabelle – the daughter of her grandson Marc and the granddaughter of Robin, Judy’s daughter who has passed away.

Anne DeRonge Lowry is busily and happily involved in her

retirement community. To mark its 10th anniversary, the theater association staged a fun skit in which “Schnick” and six other women dressed up as 11-year-old girls in black skirts, white blouses, and red bows and kicked up their heels with puns and laughter. The event included celebratory ribbons and a delicious cake. Anne’s son Brad visited from Norway, and she’s been playing a bit of bridge.

We are sorry to report that Bob McDowell, husband of Alison Hastings MacDowell, passed away in May 2012; if anyone has a current address for Alison, could you please let us know?

Eunice Powell Grover reports that, after 40-plus years of winters in Florida and summers in Vermont, she and Joe are really “tucked into” Pennwood Village, a continuing care retirement community in Newtown, PA, where they have been off-and-on residents for almost 22 years.

They find that Pennwood Village provides all the intellectual stimuli, entertainment and good food they could want, plus plenty of excellent medical care. Their son Doug and his wife Adrienne live in Chappaqua, NY; Doug is a financial consultant in White Plains, and Adrienne is a lawyer in NYC. Eunice and Joe’s daughter Liz and her husband Phil are retired, after the takeover of her bank and his engineering company. They left Vermont and are now happily settled in Ashland, OR. Thank you all for sending your news. This summer, I spent a wonderful month at our CT shore cottage, enjoying family, friends, swimming, reading, and just being

lazy. I also traveled to Maine for a family memorial service, which was lovely. Judy, Ginny, and I also attended Betty’s memorial service at the Harwinton Congregational Church on July 6 – a beautiful, fitting tribute to our classmate.

We shall all miss this special friend. Cheerio, “Gite”

KINGSWOOD 1947 From Honolulu, John McDermott writes: “My recently published book, People and Cultures of Hawaii: The Evolution of Culture and Ethnicity, sounds a little heavy – but it really isn’t.”

OXFORD 1951 Sara Barr Palmer Class Correspondent Pat Mooney Sutton and Vivian Hathaway Crouse got together with Pem Donegan Schultz, Frannie Steane Baldwin and Ann Carter Peck Zadig on the Cape last summer for “continuing conversations begun in 1945 or so,” as Vivian puts it. For Viv, it was part of a trip around New England, starting in VT for her granddaughter’s high school graduation and going on to visit family and friends. She described the Oxford group as “physically and mentally active women, still seeking to grow, to enrich not only their lives but also those of their families and communities.”

Sadly, Pemmie’s daughter Frances is now in hospice care.

This was not the only class mini-reunion. Carter also hosted a luncheon at her home in, very appropriately, Oxford, MA, attended by Frannie, Gara Van Schaack and Barby Gowdy Tongue. The Zadigs’ house is ko winter 2012

next door to Al’s church. Frannie describes Oxford as “a charming town a bit south of Boston” and added that everyone looked well.

The highlight of the Palmers’ summer was having the carpets cleaned and installing a new toilet. We had a new pool cage built in February, and when Hurricane Isaac showed up, we thought, “Well, we were just asking for that, weren’t we?” But we dodged the bullet once again, and the cage remains unscathed.

We’re traveling to England for a Royal Navy reunion this fall and then flying to India for two weeks. We spent a week on the tourist trail and a week visiting old friends we knew in the Middle East.

Maud Cary Schultz writes that she often thinks of her Oxford days. She’s undergoing health problems, and I know she would appreciate hearing from classmates. Her address is: 1208 San Pablo Drive, San Marcos, CA 92078, tel: 1-760-744-0206.

OXFORD 1952 Mary Jeanne Jones Class Correspondent Our 60th Reunion was wonderful fun; it was great to catch up with OLD friends. We had an elegant dinner at the Town and County Club Friday night, cocktails at Gail Hamblett and Ken’s home Saturday, followed by dinner at KO, then brunch at my house Sunday morning. In between there was plenty of time to SCHMOOZ. I wish that you all could have been there to celebrate with Gilda Shecketoff Brock, Ann Baldwin Chapell, Helen Vosburgh Dixon,

Joan McCance Warner, Ann Tillinghast Herbruck, Norma Scafarello Hattings, Linda Bland Sonnenblick, Cynthia Korper Porter and me. At the last moment Janice Pike Wasserman canceled because of illness, but she is back home now. Hope to see you all at our 65th.

Ann Baldwin Chapell wrote just recently that her dear brother, Hank, passed away in CA in September. Our thoughts and love are with you, Ann. On the happier side, she has a new “step” great-grandson, bringing the total to two greats, two grands, four sons and one daughter, if I am counting correctly. Ann Tillinghast Herbruck recently returned from a trip to Chatauqua Institution for a week of lectures on the presidents – past, present and future. Isn’t lifelong learning the best?!

At our reunion I heard that the KO logo was intentionally designed to equalize the “K” and “O” – no preference for the “K.” I would love to get news and e-mail addresses from Joanne Muter Bairstow, Cathe Larabee Carpenter, Mary Jane Adams Chute, Janet Olson Larson, Emily Hall Phillips, Gretchen Jaeger Swisher and Helen Dillon Walker.

The Class of 1952 contributed $2,650 toward this year’s KO Fund – a 60% participation rate, up from 50% the year before.

This is so important! Cynny did a great job, but now is resigning.

Would anyone else volunteer to be class fund agent?

OXFORD 1953 Vitaline O’Connell O’Toole Class Correspondent Faith Learned Pepe writes, “My big thrill of the summer was a July trip to France with my younger sister, Jay Goodwin Pott, to celebrate the 80th birthday of my older sister, Barry Learned Sable. Some of you may remember her from the few years she spent at Oxford before she went off to Shipley School.

She is a complete francophile, having spent most of her life in France, mostly in Normandy.

She almost never returns to the U.S. but – quelle surprise! – actually remembers how to speak English. She lives near Alencon, a town famous for making lace.

Had a quick trip to see Vitty in Madison in August, which made me nostalgic for all those lovely coastal towns between Mystic and New Haven. So many wonderful memories of Oxford days and adventures with friends down there! P.S. My new address is P.O. Box 845, Putney, VT 05346.

I’d love to hear from any of you!”

Betsey Fisher Amador writes, “I paint; I play bridge. We’re still in reasonably good health, though they don’t tell you about all the small irritations of getting old. My eyes really are failing (macular degeneration), but I hope to continue to do both for quite a while. And read! The new e-readers are wonderful! I’m usually at Groton Long Point for July, as I share the cottage my parents built after the war with my sister-in-law. I’d love to have classmates visit. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling in the last few years, with my husband or my sister-in-law.

27

CLASS NOTES

I went to Japan with our oldest son and his family some years ago; since then we have been to Turkey, Peru and Southeast Asia.

My husband and I are going to Morocco a month from now. We always go on a small group tour, generally Odysseys Unlimited. We have two grandkids in college and two more coming along. I am now a great-great-aunt – aargh! We are very lucky to live here in Palos Verdes (and to have bought here when we did, 1972). We’d love to have visitors. It’s been the hottest summer I ever remember both here and in Connecticut. All the best to everybody.”

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Nancy Faust Sizer writes, “My house at the end of a long dirt road in the country is on the market, and I have already rented an apartment from friends in Cambridge. DownSIZERing is hard work. This will make my part-time work coaching new teachers in urban settings much easier, and it will help me get out more to lectures, plays and movies. I am trying to get up my nerve to do some adult education and am working to make new friends and see more of the ones I already have. My big black dog ensures a considerable exercise regimen. The family is still fine, and high points of my summer were a mountain climb we took to honor Ted’s 80th birthday and a canoe trip that I took with my five youngest grandchildren – and no one from the generation in between! We had an eighthour thunderstorm and made some rookie mistakes, but we still had fun.”

Eleanor Clark Taylor writes, “Dick and I are going with the

Friends from the Class of ’53 enjoyed lunch in Old Lyme in September (from left) Vitty O’Connell O’Toole, Kay Johnson Brigham, Barbara Unsworth Washburn, June Heard Wadsworth, Molly Davis DePatie, and Barbara Star McBride Christie.

The Oxford Class of ’53 had a remarkable outpouring of news this time, spurred by the unique entreaty from Class Correspondent Vitty O’Toole, who agreed to let us share the note she sent to her classmates: Hello, longtime readers of THE LATEST OF ‘53, hot column of the Oxford Press! This is your editor speaking: No copy, no column. By Sept. 10, TENTH, I would like you to commune with my email: vittyot@yahoo. com. Even our classmates who have been reluctant to come online have now joined the forces for goodness and light and the Oxford notes! In the interest of full disclosure, when you send me your notes by 9/10, I will weave them into a smooth piece. I cannot work with submissions that begin “I’m still...”, so please resist that temptation. Tell us WHERE you live. You read, you attend concerts, art shows, plays, the flix, you travel, you take courses, etc. Let’s share what we are DOING. Do you live alone/with George Clooney (like I do), in house/apt/boat/in a community? I think it appropriate in the 2012 political climate to NOT GET INTO POLITICS. I urge all to VOTE, however. Did you go to reunion?

Ever/never? Are you close to college mates/yes/never have been. OK – enough hints. First, think, then write to me. Please – no notes, no column. And you know what ‘52 and ‘54 will think if CLASS OF ‘53 is followed by blank space. Of course, I could make it all about MEEEE...

Since when has this group ever been speechless? Love, with hopes high, – Vitty Ormond Art Museum to Cuba in October on an art and cultural trip of the old country. We just mailed our visa applications this morning.

Our six grandchildren all live near us in Orlando, which keeps us very

busy with soccer, tennis, volleyball and theater. We’re playing lots of golf and croquet and bridge. We have the world-renowned Rollins College Bach Festival in Winter Park in February, a must for music

lovers. Come to Florida in the spring of 2013! We have a condo on the ocean in New Smyrna Beach, and let’s have a reunion there.”

Loulie Hyde Sutro writes, “I guess the newest thing in my activity list is that I have taken golf back up after 50 years!

Tennis scares me after rotator cuff surgery, so I have a few senior-type beginner ladies, and we are taking a clinic together.

My kids gave me a set of clubs for my birthday in July, so now I must put my money where my mouth is. So far my favorite golf buddy is my eldest grandson, John Sutro, age 13. He loves golf and has given me the best pointers so far – and he takes out and puts my clubs back into the bag for me, rakes my footprints in the sand trap, lifts my bag in and out of the car trunk, etc. Son Steve says this is one arrangement he never thought he would see! Jack and I are going to Vietnam and Cambodia for three weeks in mid-October, and will be going down the Mekong River on a Viking River cruise with friends. We have been to China twice and to Tibet, but I understand that Vietnam is a little more user-friendly – and I am ready for that! Marin Villages (we have added an ‘s’ to the name) chugs along, taking a huge chunk of my time and worry department, but we are growing and there is great demand – just very few funds. What else is new for a non-profit? Trying to stay in our 1918 house, where we have lived for 45 years, is a job in itself. This summer we have had workmen and handymen here nonstop, fixing every little ko winter 2012

thing (I hope), and we’re still not done. I’m sure many of you relate.

Jack’s 101-year-old mother died last month after only five days of acute illness, having been mentally alert until then. She leaves 81 descendants! She was a huge family presence for all of us, and it is going to be difficult getting used to having her gone.

Tripp Hyde ’99, son of my brother Hobey Hyde ’58, has moved to San Francisco and is working in Silicon Valley, having earned a double Master’s from Duke in environmental engineering and business. It’s such fun to have another blood-related Hyde here!

He is slowly getting to know the huge crowd of Sutro “cousins,” and he brings back memories to me of when I arrived here as a single working girl at age 26.

Where has the time flown? Love to all you wonderful Oxford ’53ers. We are the best!”

Bland Dew Maloney writes, “Ed and I live in a condo on Prospect Avenue and love it. I seem to be attached to our old stomping ground, as we have had three houses on Prospect. Sally and I are the only classmates who still live here. Actually, as a child, I lived so far away that West Hartford was an adventure.

I pass by many of your childhood houses frequently and have many memories of past fun. We also have a house at the Cape near Sarah and Wally. We had a great Dew family reunion there this summer with Nanny Co, Letty, me and all our children and grandchildren. At this point our travels are restricted to Maine, Ethiopia (where Libet lives), and the Cape, including some side trips to visit family in Virginia

and South Dakota. In our leisure time we (or I, as Ed is hearing impaired), go to movies, plays and the symphony. We play bridge, go to high-definition opera with Sarah and Wally, and have many dinners with friends. I am still shrinking, which keeps me on my toes. Best of all, we adopted a rescue, a 4-year-old Cairn terrier named Alice who gives us great joy and keeps Ed company.

Our children and grands are all prospering, so what more could we ask for? Love to all.”

Molly Davis DePatie writes, “Dick and I are still in New Canaan, where we have been for almost 30 years. Having moved seven times, I’m glad this one stuck. In fact, I’m active in an organization called ‘Staying Put in New Canaan’ to help seniors stay in their homes by assisting them with chores and advising on matters of health care or transportation needs, and coordinating social events.

It functions with energy from volunteers with many talents and skills. We are both active in our church, St. Mark’s, where Dick is the administrator. I’m on altar guild and volunteer at our book store, among other things. Our health is quite good, so we can pursue our interests – one being travel. The best trip recently was to Vancouver, Banff and Lake Louise. I still play tennis twice a week (more in the summer at Quonochontaug, where we continue to enjoy the beach). I am in two bridge groups, so am still learning the intricacies of the game and love it. Another weekly meeting I attend is Group C of The New Canaan Sewing Group.

We knit baby sweaters that

are sold for the benefit of local agencies. Whenever there’s an election, I’m busy as a moderator at the polls. It’s a grueling, long day, opening the polls and staying until the numbers are tabulated.

Therefore, it’s early to bed on Nov. 5. Our sons John and Dan are involved with their careers and are not married, so we have no grandchildren to brag about. I look forward to hearing news of our other classmates.”

Sabra Grant Kennington writes, “Thanks to my son Eric who lives in Annapolis, MD, I was able to attend my 50th reunion at Connecticut College.

He drove me all the way up to Connecticut – and all over the area, as well – Mystic, Stonington, Groton Long Point, which now looks like New York City. We still enjoy sailing here in Annapolis, and I enjoy its proximity to The U.S. Naval Academy, where I attend the Sunday chapel and all the student plays. The weather here is pretty. I usually walk two boxers (they belong to Eric’s friends), but they are easy to care for and so athletic! I belong to the Annapolis Watercolor Club and enjoy their meetings and exhibitions. Also, my sons and friends participated in ‘The Governor’s Cup,’ a sailboat race to Baltimore. I saw Joan in Vermont when we went skiing a few years ago, and I also talked to Beverly, who lives up in that area. Sadly, in our last conversation, she said: ‘Sabe, it’s not a good time.’ She died that weekend.”

Barbara Star McBride Christie writes, “I’m still in 29

CLASS NOTES

Brattleboro and love it – plays, book groups, singing groups, plus friends, rivers, woods and fields and my vegetable garden. But I do miss my kids, who live afar, and I miss seeing all my Oxford friends on a regular basis. My brother, John McBride, and I get together quite often, as do my Davis boys and their families. Good reads lately: The Postmistress, Traveling with Pomegranates, and The Great Gatsby, which was wonderful … my memory of it was dim and all wrong. All are welcome to visit.”

30

Carole Goldenthal Aronson writes, “After 46 years of living in the same home on a tranquil acre in Needham, MA, Phil and I are moving to a condominium in Chestnut Hill surrounded by tremendous redevelopment – Wegmans Super Market, a new medical office building, restaurants, the Chestnut Hill Mall and lots of traffic. Actually, we are looking forward to urban living at this time in our lives – less driving and an exciting environment. The condo has had to be completely redone, so we plan to move there in October. Needless to say, I‘ve little time to read, but I did enjoy Defending Jacob. Love to know what anyone else is reading.

Since Phil has Parkinson’s, we don’t really travel anymore except for an occasional trip to see our children and grandchildren in Westfield, NJ, and Minneapolis.

We do manage one or two trips to Florida. I don’t play much golf anymore but still play tennis two to three times a week in the winter. In the Boston area, there is an abundance of offerings, including symphony, theater, learning in retirement and lectures in which we participate as much

as possible. All in all, this is a wonderful place to live.”

June Heard Wadsworth writes, “Frank, Ranger (2-year-old Havanese) and I are in the same house in Old Lyme we’ve been in since 1987, but we think it’s time to at least consider downsizing.

Where and to what? That is the question. The answer is not easy, but we’re working on it.

Some of you who have already downsized may have some advice, and we’d greatly appreciate any suggestions. In the meantime, we spend time in Old Lyme, Block Island in the summer, and the Bahamas during the coldest part of the winter. We love the Bahamas, but we are thinking about curtailing those visits. Also, having Ranger does make longdistance travel a bit trickier. Frank plays tennis a few times a week in the winter. In Block Island, we sail our 19-ft. Flying Scot, fish on occasion, and kayak around the Great Salt Pond and Cormorant Cove. Our sons, their wives, grandchildren and their friends join us, off and on, during the summer. Even the grandchildren who are out of college and have ‘real’ jobs come to visit and bring friends. Block Island is and always will be a very seductive place – lucky for us. For those looking for a good nonfiction read, try Mary’s Mosaic by Peter Janney.

Published in 2012, it’s about the JFK assassination and the years surrounding it. It’s well researched and provides an interesting insight into the inner workings of our government at that time.”

Sandy Gladstein Morrison writes, “I retired from real estate

about 10 years ago. Julian, my husband, died in November 1995 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Mother died in 1997 and dad in 2004. Both were in their 90s, and dad was a few weeks away from 100! I live alone in the only house we’ve ever had. I have a wonderful gentleman friend five minutes away, and we are together most of the time. We travel a lot. I have taken several cruises to Europe, Alaska and the Caribbean, and in the winter we spend three months in Palm Springs, CA. Liz is in San Diego and visits often. Andrew comes for 10 days every year. Neither child is married, so I have no grandchildren, but Mel has many, and we visit them often. We are always attending concerts, lectures, theater, etc. I still play tennis four times a week and also swim when I have time. I play duplicate bridge and walk. I’m grateful to be in good health, and life is great. I remember my Oxford friends and great memories.”

Sarah Taylor Morrison writes, “Right now I am sitting on the edge of Squam Lake with Pagie reminiscing about old times and watching a glorious sunset.

Her husband, Bob, died in April, so there is definitely a big empty chair (no, Clint, not your kind!), and we are missing his wonderful sense of humor and good conversation! But Page is in good spirits and is surrounded by the family of her daughter Emily, who keep her busy and happy. In an effort to not use ‘still’ I will just say Wally is doing great on his Parkinson’s meds, although life is a little more restricted.

But he’s not doing badly for an 85-year-old. We are happy that

Blannie and Edward continue to bless us with their visits to Truro, even though Blannie now has to do the long drive by herself.

In case she doesn’t tell you, she has an adorable new rescue Cairn terrier named Alice, after Edward’s grandmother! Roz and Mal spent a night with us at the end of August; we treated them to dinner in Provincetown on opening night of Carnival Week – an event Roz may never recover from. Oh well, we loved seeing them anyway. Wally and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary in Woodstock, NY, at the wedding of our middle son, James, and his new bride, Wendy. There couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate.

We now have another fabulous daughter-in-law. We are so happy and lucky!”

Page Phelps Coulter writes, “Sarah says she gave you all my news but here is my version.

Sarah and Wally just spent a few days with me here on Squam.

The weather turned fall-like, but it was fun anyway. Sarah and Wally gave me a white pine to remember Bob by, which we planted where I can watch it grow and dream of watching great-grandchildren swing from its branches. My children and I had a very nice burial service for Bob at a sweet, woodsy cemetery here in Sandwich this August. I’m moving forward day by day and plan to do some traveling soon.”

Roz Miner MacKinnon writes, “We moved three years ago to a smaller condo in Arlington, VA, with an elevator – our last move, we hope! We have traveled with two other Naval Academy ko winter 2012

couples through Burgundy, Brittany and Normandy, cruised in Russia and up the Rhine. This summer we took granddaughters, ages 9 and 12, to Sedona, Grand Canyon, and San Francisco for a visit with Loulie and Jack.

Three days into the trip Gracie, 12, fainted and was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes. Her parents came out from Washington.

Gracie was a wonderful patient and has come to accept her ‘new normal.’ Always the entrepreneur, she hopes to open a diabetic bakery. Mal and I plan to volunteer for Juvenile Diabetes.

We lead an active life: volunteer activities, book clubs, bridge, golf and theater. Our two sons and granddaughters are nearby to love and spoil, in that order. We congratulate Loulie for starting Marin Villages, helping seniors stay in their homes. The project has grown to five villages in two years. I recommend The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer.”

Ann Mirabil Lees writes, “This is my first submission to Oxford ’53 news! This summer, Antrim House Books published a chapbook of my poems called Night Spirit. It’s available at antrimhousebooks.com/lees. html.”

Vitaline O’Connell O’Toole writes, “I am gratified that you’ve given me chance No. 2 at this task. I live in Madison, CT, my childhood summer sandbox, when I wasn’t at Our Lady of Lourdes Camp, a Catholic camp in the heart of the Catskills. In eighth-grade oral English, Miss Bresnahan asked us to recount tales of summer, and some of you actually laughed when I

mentioned that name. I have risen above that. I majored in history of art at Wellesley, and I find my enthusiasms run in that vein. We resurrected a group, Madison Cultural Arts, which sponsors several concerts on the Green, most notably for the Fourth of July and at holiday time. We have had a successful lecture series. As a wannabe actress, I follow the New York Times avidly and try to keep up with live theater, which has become a $$$ avocation. I’m trying to increase my operatic knowledge by attending all the Met performances offered at “The Kate” in Old Saybrook (Katharine Hepburn Cultural Center, near her beloved Fenwick). Last season we enjoyed all of Wagner’s Ring and especially the film of that name, which shows how those performances were created.

I’m glad I traveled in the past and enjoyed the pleasures of the table. After radiation and a prosthetic jaw, my gustatory menu is too limited to allow me to “wing it,” as one is apt to do on the road. I appreciate that I am able to be active with friends and community. I attended a fabulous 55th Wellesley reunion in June, where I visited with Nancy and Ann, and we fondly remembered Sheila, our 4th Wellesley classmate. I had missed No. 50.

We have sing-alongs and attend classes and discussion groups on one of the most beautiful pieces of land I’ve seen. It’s by lucky chance that our class color is green, because our group has taken a leadership role in pushing the college toward energy-saving goals. Students in the gym are producing energy as they pedal;

vending machines turn off their lights when not in use; buildings keep track of energy they use and take measures to curtail it; we have solar panels. I have four adult children (oxymoron, but you understand); they live in San Diego, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and northwestern Connecticut. I have five grands.

I had them together at Laguna Beach, CA, in June. Thanks to all who responded quickly and with such interesting remarks.

It makes my job easy.”

KINGSWOOD 1955 Donald Pearsall reports that he moved permanently to Hudson, FL, last year.

OXFORD 1957 Melinda Murphy Richardson writes from Morristown, NJ: “We now have five grandchildren.

Our 17-year-old grandson and 14-year-old granddaughter live in Glastonbury, CT; our two-anda-half-year-old twin girls live near us; and our nine-month-old grandson lives in New York City.

Busy, busy!”

OXFORD 1958 Sue Mather Dabanian Class Correspondent Our class was very saddened to learn of the death of Toni Carvalho Slifer, soon after the passing of her sister, Sue. Our hearts go out to the family. One of our Kingswood counterparts, Tommy Senf, also died recently.

Keep healthy, girls!

Sarah Duffield reported that daughter Emily is now the art and physical education teacher at Audrey and Julian’s school, 31

and they are very proud that their mother teaches at their school.

Daughter Caitlin is almost through with her stint in Ghana and will receive her Ph.D. from London University. Sarah is happy that Caitlin will be back in the U.S. for good!

Linda Isaacson French said they had a beautiful summer in Maine,

neighbors here in California ran into Betsy at a church sale. Small world: “Where are you from?

Oh, do you happen to know…”

You know the drill. Betsy had successful cataract surgery in May and needs glasses only to read.

Anne Van Winkle reports that her daughter Katherine and family are moving from Colorado Springs

OXFORD 1958 Blair Smyth Lang, shown here with her granddaughter Brooke, enjoyed a recent cruise through the Panama Canal. It is so narrow that pilot boats guide ships and a specially trained captain comes on board to navigate through the canal. It will be much less harrowing when the expansion of the canal is complete!

days into our trip, and I did such a number on my knee that I could barely walk and couldn’t go in the water (only a tame pool or spa) for the rest of the trip! BUMMER! Daughter Julie and her family were there for part of the time, so that was fun. We spent one week on Maui (my favorite island) and a week on Kauai. On the beach on Kauai we met a man from Orleans, MA – where we were headed in September! Small world. I’m looking forward to my lobster and clams! We will also spend a few days in Maine this time. The family is doing well. My oldest grandchild started college, and the others are close behind.

As usual, I’m always happy to hear from my classmates at sdabanian@gmail.com.

OXFORD 1959

CLASS NOTES

including 75 people for a July 4 picnic. This is the 103rd year of the annual picnic, which started with the four original families in the village!

32

From Maine, surrounded by screaming gulls and six grandkids in the water, Carol McCrann Proom wrote “I do love the sounds of summer.” She made a few trips to the Vineyard to see Gay Moore Nelson, Gay’s sister Mart, and Penny Hoffman McConnel, which is always fun.

Betsy Swinehart Riel has moved to Southern California. She will stay with oldest daughter, Katie, while looking for a place to rent, and her furniture will be in storage. Bets had the “yard sale of all yard sales” this past summer with help from Katie and 14-year-old granddaughter Claire.

As a matter of fact, one of my

to Poulsbo, WA, a Norwegianinspired town of 9,000 across the bay from Seattle. Greg and I were in Poulsbo several years ago – very cute town. Katherine, a real Zumba fan, has taken training and hopes to teach in Poulsbo.

Her hubby will now be a full-time priest (instead of working as priest and teacher). Please let Annie know of special places to eat, things to do, etc., in the area.

As for yours truly, Palm Springs was way too hot this year so we won’t be going there next year. In June, we spent a delightful two weeks in Hawaii – up to a point.

So I found a boogie board in the closet of our condo and thought I would catch a few waves, just as I did on the Cape when I was a teenager. Well, one of them caught ME, and I was tumbled around like laundry in a washing machine. This happened only four

Zélie Calvocoressi Tourais Class Correspondent Debbie Mahoney Swenson writes about “summers in Chatham with lots of tennis, biking, birding and gardening, and many winter weekends, with snowshoeing and cross country if there’s snow. Otherwise, we’re in Boston, with occasional courses, lectures, book club, and bridge. I am on several non-profit boards and committees in both places.

Still run every day, most often with my Wheaten Terrier. Planning a hiking adventure in South Utah next spring – Bryce, Zion, Canyonlands and more. Grateful for good health, good friends, and family.”

OXFORD 1960

Prilla Smith Brackett and Pıtircik Acar Uler Reunite After 42 Years

When Oxford’s first foreign student, Pıtırcık Acar, arrived from Ankara, Turkey, she lived with Prilla Smith’s family for a year. This past May, at the beginning of their Turkish vacation, Prilla Smith Brackett and her husband George spent six days with Pıtırcık and her husband on Cyprus. The last time the women saw one another was in 1970, when the Bracketts visited Istanbul and Ankara. Here is Prilla’s account of their visit.

“After our 50th reunion, I googled Pıtırcık and Yildirim and found them on the law faculty of Near Eastern University in Nicosia in northern Cyprus. Her first words when we phoned with Skype were: ‘When are you coming?’

“Pıtırcık and Yilderim arrived in northern Cyprus 12 years ago. Yilderim was offered the deanship of the law school at Near Eastern University, and Pıtırcık was also hired even though she had never written her law Ph.D. thesis. They like living in northern Cyprus with its Mediterranean climate. Girne is on the coast and their flat overlooks the sea. They live in the old part of Girne, with its narrow streets, very near the small, picturesque harbor and castle.

“They met in the fall of 1960, before Pıtırcık went to Moscow to study violin, and they married in October 1963. Pıtırcık abandoned the violin, much to her mother’s sorrow. Pıtırcık worked for 12 years as a civil servant before beginning to teach law. They spent three years in London in the late 1970s and early 1980s because she had a good civil service job there. Otherwise, before moving to northern Cyprus they lived in Ankara for about 30 years.

“They are very proud of Asli, who is now one of the top five employees (out of 500) at Credit Suisse in Geneva. They were worried when she divorced with two young sons. Pıtırcık and Yildirim spent a year in Geneva when the second, Sinon, was born so that Pıtırcık could help take care of him. They are proud of how well Asli raised her children and that she was also able to buy a house and have a successful career. She remarried this July in Paris, with a reception in August in Istanbul. Pıtırcık and Yildirim attended both events, even though traveling is difficult for Pıtırcık because she fears flying. She goes by boat and train.

“Renan, their older grandson, has been living with Pıtırcık and Yildirim in Girne for the past two years. He has completed his first year of architecture and lives in a flat they own that’s adjacent to theirs. We spent a little time with him and found him to be a fine young man.

“While we were in Girne, Pıtırcık and Yildirim introduced us to many wonderful Turkish dishes and desserts. We took many excursions with them, getting to both the eastern and western ends of northern Cyprus. It is a beautiful country. We spent lots of time in cafes, enjoying wonderful conversations, remembering our shared past, talking about the current concerns in our lives and exploring political issues. Pıtırcık is very concerned about the gradual efforts to make Turkey a Muslim country. She hates seeing more and more women reporters, anchors, and speakers on TV wearing headscarves. She estimates that now only about 30% of Turks want a secular state. She and her mother both grew up under the secular conditions brought about by Ataturk’s bold reforms.

“Pıtırcık and I had enormous pleasure in reconnecting after 42 years. Our visit was special, and I feel blessed to have had this opportunity.” ko winter 2012

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OXFORD 1960 Jane Anderson Innerd Class Correspondent

CLASS NOTES

This year when I sent out a request for news I told everyone that there would be a report from Prilla Smith Brackett about her visit with Pıtırcık Acar Uler on Cyprus (see box feature). Several people, including Jennifer Ripple Ackridge and Mary Lew Stearns Kelly wrote to say that they looked forward to hearing about Pıtırcık and sent their best wishes to Prilla. During the Bracketts’ visit, Prilla arranged for Pıtırcık and me to talk via Skype. It was amazing. Pıtırcık has the same facial expressions that she had 52 years ago! She and her husband are not “technical.”

They do not own a computer and therefore do not email, so it was quite an experience all round.

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Meanwhile, Scotty Dwyer Benson spent a weekend in West Hartford and saw Sue Lowe Redfield. They and two other friends have gotten together for an enjoyable weekend in August for nine years. Scotty and her husband, Daniel, plan to visit Charleston and Savannah in late October with a group from their church.

Retirement has been very busy for Mary Lew Stearns Kelly and Bill. They have been visiting family and babysitting for their daughter Bridget’s children – including the newest child, their fifth, who was born on Dec. 26, 2011. Bridget’s family moved back East about a year ago, and Mary Lew and Bill are thrilled to have all of their kids – including 11 grandchildren, ages 8 months to 20 years – on the East

coast. And they are still very busy tending their 14 gardens.

Paris is still beautiful and exciting, Barbara Hamilton Tucker reports. The presidential election and several U.S. Senate campaigns in which she is involved keep her busy, along with her work making sure that American citizens abroad have requested their absentee ballots.

She also works with a group called The Experts Council, which assists in foreign elections and with media relations.

After 12 years of drought in Australia, Ginnie Lee Luxton is now unable to garden because it is so wet! With a tremendous amount of rain recently, the dams are close to full. But before this rain arrived, the last state government spent billions of dollars on a desalination plant, resulting in exorbitant water bills for the population. Ginnie enjoys watching her three grandchildren grow up. As for turning 70 this year (like the rest of us), she says that she pushes on as if nothing happened and does not look too closely in the mirror!

Cynthia Baird Roberts’ daughter Cathy is a full-time mom with two children: Porter, now 13, and Eliza, 10. Cindy’s husband is very busy as the head of the board of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

In June we had a family reunion here in Windsor. Our daughter Jane Eleanor, her husband, and our two grandsons (5 and 3) were here from St. Louis; our daughter Charlotte came from Waterloo; and our son Andrew came from

Vancouver. My brother and his wife also joined us from eastern Pennsylvania. Our grandsons are most energetic and kept everyone busy. In August, after teaching a summer course for the University, Wilf and I spent a week in Stratford, Ontario, attending theater at the Shakespeare Festival. This is the fourth year we have shared this week with Prilla and George. Stratford is a delightful small city, and we had wonderful weather. I wish everyone a healthy autumn and winter.

OXFORD 1961 Lois Williams Arnold Class Correspondent Maris Humphreys writes from Portsmouth, RI: “Today, June 12, up at six to play tennis, then to work as special collections cataloguer at Redwood Library in Newport. A glossy ibis headed toward the Sakonnet River – sport birds, rare books. Family beautiful!”

Tia Streeter Smith writes, “My business still putts along with great emphasis on the Christmas season. I am taking a watercolor class, so that when I am 120 I have a shot a being a decent artist. My volunteer work includes High Hopes Therapeutic Riding, Readers Aloud, the Essex Garden Club (my forte is civic cleanup, not gardening per se), the Essex Land Trust and a soup kitchen in Old Lyme.” Tia and her husband love traveling by car and exploring places like the West coast of Florida, the Adirondacks, Ottawa, Vermont, Maine and Cape Cod – this year alone. Thanks to the

OXFORD 1961 Having been bitten by the travel bug, Jane Anderson Lentz traveled to Hawaii in February 2012, where she had a wonderful visit with Joan Morgan Bring.

And not a moment too soon! In June, Joan and her husband Norman, both now retired, moved back to New England to Weekapaug, RI. During a trip to OH for Norman’s high school reunion, they visited a modular house factory in Scranton, PA, and decided to invest in one.

The house arrived on Sept. 4, and with family and the factory crew they started to build on Sept. 6. It was put together on Sept. 8!

Though there is still much work to do on the inside, they hoped to be in it by Thanksgiving. She looks forward to now being able to attend KO reunions. great weather this summer, they also hosted many friends for dinner on their boat.

Lois Williams Arnold I’m making the final touches on my “new” little house with the addition of a garage. In my next life I’m coming back as a builder! I love seeing things get constructed and figuring out why builders do certain things the way they do. I continue to travel, but am spending more time visiting the grandkids, now that there are two, and less on business. I haven’t retired yet, and still carry a full-time teaching position with Healthy Children Project as well as being on the maternal child KO WINTER 2012

health faculty of Union Institute and University, teaching courses in biomedical ethics; foundations in maternal and child health; and the use of human milk in neonatal intensive care, using my own textbook Human Milk in the NICU: Policy into Practice.

OXFORD 1962 Carly Nichols Detwiller of Sudbury, MA, wrote last spring, “I’m looking forward to my 50th Reunion!”

OXFORD 1963 In September, Rena Koopman returned to the former Hartford home of her grandmother, Beatrice Fox Auerbach, legendary

president of G. Fox who died in 1968; the home on Prospect Avenue is now owned by Diane Adinolfi Gent ’72 and her husband Chris. Rena was among 75 guests who gathered there for “Cheers to History,” a fundraiser marking the 100th anniversary of the stately Georgian Revival home in Hartford’s West End, benefitting the Connecticut Historical Society. As reported in The Hartford Courant, the party “included tours of the house and grounds, as well as a display of G. Fox artifacts including preserved clothing from the store, shoes with the G. Fox label, china, and the brass floor-level indicator from the elevator at the downtown landmark.”

Rena said she and the other Auerbach grandchildren would visit the home every Sunday for lunch. “I can’t even talk, I am so emotional right now,” Rena told the Courant.

KINGSWOOD 1963 Brewster Boyd Class Correspondent Classmates: We already have 50% of our class expecting to attend our 50th reunion on June 7-8, 2013: Barlow, Batterson, Boyd, Brown, Butler, Cohen, Hedges, Hillier, Hine, Janus, Litter, Mason, Moses, Peters, Prestley, Randall, Rapaport, Talcott, and Wilde. Don’t miss this chance to celebrate the golden anniversary of the year we walked down the Green together.

If you plan to attend, please let me know so I can add your name to the list; if you’d like to help with plans, please join Nick, John M., Ted and me.

Brewster (303) 388-3713

OXFORD 1967 Lory Hervey Pearson Class Correspondent Kate Trafford Smith writes from Bloomfield, CT: “When I was asked to be our class agent for our 45th reunion year, I decided to give it a go. I’m proud that we had 30% participation, as we remembered Barb Rider and Marcia Kraszweski in our giving. But the Reunion weekend itself was so much more than that. We reconnected and discovered what a varied experience high school was for each of us and the journey since then. I’d call it a huge therapy session – and I think most of us were better for it. So much was unsaid and undone back then.

So if you couldn’t make it, but want to be on our e-mail list contact me at kate48smith@ comcast.net. As for me, I retired from working as a school library media specialist in 1999 and have spent most of my time since then fundraising for non-profits, running two to three times a week, gardening and birding, plus tennis twice a week. (I want a rematch, Dana Hubbard!)”

From Newport, RI, Terry Cavalier Trapani writes: “As a teenager there were so many issues, and the four years at Oxford were challenging. At the Reunion I learned that most of us shared those same feelings, and I wasn’t so different. Since then, I have thought about all of us and the fun we had reminiscing and catching up (45 years – amazing), and we all look fabulous! For me, the highlight was seeing Allyson Holtz again; we spent 35

OXFORD 1967

CLASS NOTES

“Star and Sea,” a sculpture by Allyson Holtz, is in the permanent collection at the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, CT. Allyson has been a practicing painter and sculptor since her late 20s, and is very involved with community art projects. A Pittsburgh resident, she’s most recently been working with regional community leaders to establish Operation Valor Arts: A Veterans’ Initiative, which helps vets with education, career training, and job placement while they create public art to honor those who served. About her 45th Reunion, Allyson writes: “It was so exciting to see everybody. Over the past few years I had reconnected with Mary Kelly Bradley, Judy Schlomberg Rosenzweig and Terry Cavalier Trapani, and we were looking forward to catching up with other classmates. For the past 17 years, my husband, Brian Koski, and I have been living in Pittsburgh (recently voted as a top-10 cities in which to retire and also cited by National Geographic Travel as a top-20 worldwide travel stop for 2012). This is the longest I have lived in a single house!”

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time together after Reunion and now keep in touch by phone. We picked up right where we left off in 1967. In a week I’ll be visiting her in Pittsburgh. A big thank you to Chrissie for opening her home to us Saturday night; I have never outgrown my love of ‘pajama parties.’ My daughter, her husband and my grandchildren are still in West Hartford, and my son and wife live in Amherst, MA. So I am frequently in the area and hope it won’t be another 45 years before I see all of you again.”

Janeska (Janey) Broadfoot Ahmed writes from Australia, “I know I spent only one year with you guys, but I just loved being with you all for senior year and have so many happy memories.

My wonderful American sister, Morgan Shannon, and I have been in touch over the intervening years. She and the Shannon family thoroughly spoiled me. I was so lucky. My life has been interesting. I studied nursing and spent three more months with the Shannons in early 1972. I went on to London where I married an Egyptian dentist, and we had two daughters, Amani, 38, and Saneia, 37, who are so beautiful, both inside and out. After living briefly in Cairo, we moved to Sydney.

We parted after 16 years, when it became clear that our worldviews were untenably incompatible. It was a very sad time because we still cared for each other. I am currently single and rent a tiny place by the sea. I work full-time as a practice manager at a skin cancer clinic and really enjoy my work. Both of my daughters are happily married, and Amani has two sons: Rhys, nearly 5, and Hamish, nearly 2. Financially I’m poor, but I feel rich in every other way with good health and fantastic family and friends.”

Margaret Calvert Avery writes from Maryland, “To bring you up to date on my life: I married young, before finishing college.

My husband, Bruce, won the draft lottery with No. 47 out of 365, so he received greetings from the president in the first week of 1971.

Forty-three years of marriage later, we are still together. We truly enjoyed those years in the Army

community, mostly because Bruce was stationed in the JAG Corps in safe locations, including Georgia, Kentucky, Japan, Maryland, Korea and Germany. Meanwhile, I mostly stayed home and took care of our two lovely daughters.

I was a college sophomore for 14 years, finally transferring into Georgetown University in 1980, the oldest in the Class of ’83.

As we traveled, I mostly edited (Miss Jarrett and Miss Wuori made that a piece of cake) and taught English to adults, and when we returned to Maryland, I got a government job in editing and electronic typesetting. I took medical retirement five years ago due to Lupus. My daughter Sarah teaches; she has a Ph.D. in English, a husband, and two sons, 4 and 2, and lives in New Jersey. My daughter Prudence is an attorney, practicing family law and collaborative law with my husband in Rockville, MD. Pru lost her husband to cancer a year and a half ago, and she and her two daughters, ages 7 and 4, moved in with us. Our very quiet and fairly small house has been expanded to accommodate all five of us and four dogs. It is no longer quiet here, but it’s a joy to watch the girls as they grow and learn.

Between chauffeuring gigs, I quilt, knit, crochet, read and cook. Every summer I take my weary lungs to the Adirondacks and enjoy a month or so of tranquility and cool temperatures (rare here in the D.C. suburbs). Once I unwind from the eight- to 10-hour trip, I can just sit and listen to the birds and the river. Those weeks stock my reserves till I can go back.”

Bela (Nancy) Breslau writes from Deerfield, MA, “While I did not go to the Reunion, I did go to the wonderful dinner at Chrissie’s house. That was a great Reunion in itself. The awkwardness of the high school years at Oxford had melted away, and all of the women were a delight to see again. So, gulp! Here is a bit about me. After high school I went off to college, graduating from William Smith. I spent two years in the Boston area, the last working for the Boston Legal Assistance Project. I dutifully went off to UConn School of Law. I fled to California and worked briefly in legal services and then in miscellaneous business jobs.

I got very involved in a Japanese body movement called Shintaido.

I am now a senior instructor and have been practicing for more than 35 years. During my early years in California, I married Ito, the main Shintaido instructor from Japan. We divorced but are still great friends. In my early 40s, I married my husband, Stephen Billias, who is also a Shintaido practitioner and teacher. After 28 years in the San Francisco area, I moved to Deerfield, MA, in 2004 with Stephen and our daughter Sophia. Stephen and I are both still very involved in Shintaido and have built a place we call The Shintaido Farm – a place for Shintaido and workshops of all types. Stephen is a writer, and his day job is working for Health New England in communications.

I was doing real estate, but when the market slowed I got a job working for a small nonprofit – The Pioneer Valley Symphony.

Sophia is 18 and just left for the University of Vermont! Well, that’s me in a nutshell. If anyone ko winter 2012

is in the Deerfield, MA, area, look me up!”

Alison Burnham Tyson Arrouet of West Falmouth, MA, writes: “ALIVE AND KICKING. Hmmm, the last 45 years . . .

Briefly, I graduated with a major in art history from Finch College in Manhattan, a glamorous school for international and wealthy girls that went the way of Briarcliff, etc. I worked at Marlborough Gallery for two years and met my first husband.

Although our marriage was brief, it was filled with fascinating people, design and lots of world travel. Enter reality and Wall Street. I then spent the next 11 years on Wall Street in sales and trading in Manhattan. Whew, exhausting! I was remarried in 1988, to my terrific husband, Marcel Jean Arrouet, a graduate of Taft and Penn from Redding, CT. He has always been my best friend. We lived in Short Hills, NJ, for 11 years. We then bought our home here on the Cape and restored our home and grounds.

And yes, Lyn Simmer, I worked on it for years myself! We have two acres of grounds, and I tend to all the gardening. So there you have it. These days I grow and exhibit orchids, garden, cook, and invest in the stock market. Don’t forget to ‘Read the King’s English’!”

Morgan Shannon Butler writes from Winchester, MA, “My first Reunion! It seemed as if we just picked up where we left off, minus the high school drama. I recommend Reunion!

Hope more of you will come to the next one! Lunch on the KO campus was fun, but the gathering at Chrissie’s was the

best. We chatted, ate, swam and chatted some more … and heard lots of updates on classmates’ lives. I have had a lucky life: I taught kindergarten for many years, then stayed home when our two sons were born. I did some substitute teaching when they went to high school, and now enjoy retirement with my husband. We live in Winchester, MA, but spend summers in Groton Long Point, CT.” Sylvia Birnbaum Yasner writes from Fairfield, CT, “The Oxford Reunion was delightful.

It was interesting to see the different paths people have taken in their lives. I have been very fortunate in the years that followed Oxford. Although I found the academic and social expectations a challenge, I will always remember ‘grace under pressure’! Oxford gave me an excellent foundation. After Oxford I went to Wheelock College (along with Morgan) and then to Boston College for graduate school. I lived in Boston for five years, teaching in Melrose, MA, and then met my husband, Bob. We got married in 1976, moved to Baltimore for his residency program, and I did substitute teaching. We then settled in Fairfield, CT, where we have been for 30-plus years. I was home with my children for many years and then returned to work as a library media specialist at Fairfield Country Day School.

My children, ages 33 and 30, are both teachers. I look forward to another reunion in a few years. Thank you, Allyson, for suggesting that I go. It really was fun!”

Kathryn Saige Behart (Sally Stearns) writes from Bloomfield, CT, “I wasn’t able to attend the Reunion or go to Chrissie’s, but here’s a recap of personal news I shared. After one semester at Conn College, I dropped out and went to Oregon to join other hippies and live an alternative life style. When I realized I didn’t need to be a hippie to live a responsible life, I dropped back in and went to business school at University of Oregon.

In 1985 I changed my name from ‘Sally Stearns’ to ‘Kathryn Saige Behart’ to better express who I am. When I came back to Connecticut in the late 80s, I eventually wound up working at Cigna as a project manager.

After 11 years of corporate life, I decided to finish off my career as an independent contractor, which has been fulfilling for the past eight years. Recently I discovered that I’m an artist – I work in glass and beads and can’t wait to do it full time when I retire (no plans yet). I’ve never been happier, remained single without regret, and enjoy pretty good health. It’s been wonderful hearing about so many Oxford classmates all of the sudden. It makes me think the next Reunion will be something great to plan for.”

Jenny (Janet) Goldberg writes from Taos, NM, “I’m writing from my small adobe house on a windy mesa overlooking Taos.

After graduating, I moved to NYC, worked and sent myself through New York University Institute of Film and TV. I then moved to San Francisco and was a broadcast engineer (camerawoman, videotape editor) at KQED-TV, the PBS station in San Francisco. I 37

OXFORD 1967

CLASS NOTES

From left, Judy Shlomberg Rosenzweig, Allyson Holtz, Kate Trafford Smith, Terry Cavalier Trapani, Sylvia Birnbaum Yasner, Lory Hervey Pearson, Mary Kelley Bradley, Anne Holcombe, Morgan Shannon Butler

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married Daniel, whose increasing involvement with a cult/spiritual movement made it a little easier to leave my marriage just as my allergies and asthma became so bad that doctors urged me to move to a drier place. It was hard to leave my profession, my friends and the city I loved so much. As Janeska expressed, here I am financially poor, but rich in other ways, surrounded by nature and a family of friends, two-legged and four-legged (my companion dogs). I have what’s called MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities) or Environmental Illness (serious asthma). So, unable to work, I started writing poetry (a tip of the hat to Mrs. Forbes, my favorite teacher at Oxford). After being published in several journals, I decided to write a book – a story told in poems about my first two years in New Mexico, living alone in a tiny mountain village north of here. Thanks for all your efforts, photos and emails; I’ve loved

reading about you. Find me on Facebook or if you come to Taos!”

Lyn Patton Simmer writes from Syracuse, NY, “Like others, I always check the ‘News of the Classes’ and end up with a vague feeling of disappointment and then guilt. If I don’t send anything in, why should I expect anyone else to? But let’s celebrate our collective absence with the idea that, after 45 years, we have perspective on what has been important in life.

The most constant feature of my life is change. I have had a whole series of lives, like a cat, and keep discovering new things to learn about myself and the larger world.

I have worked jobs in retail; have been a fine artist (culminating in a one-woman show at the Nation Woman’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY); a researcher for a local TV news broadcast; a home-

health aide specializing in caring for people with Alzheimer’s; a professional gardener for the past 14 years; and a visiting professor, teaching drawing in the Landscape Architecture Department of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry since 2007.

I’ve lived in Syracuse since 1972, when I moved here with my first husband. That marriage, which produced one fabulous daughter who now lives in Philadelphia, ended in 1985. (I kept my daughter’s last name). After 15 years of singlehood, I met a great guy who’s patient enough to put up with my many foibles.

We married in 2006 and are in the process of living happily ever after (most of the time). Syracuse is midway between Albany and Buffalo on the New York State Thruway, or what used to be the Erie Canal. It is a great small city and has felt like home for a very long time. I have been a part of the revitalization of a section of its distressed downtown, and active in Democratic politics (never as a candidate!). We live in a 1920s Craftsman bungalow that was owned by the same family for 45 years and hadn’t been touched since the 80s. It was pretty much a gut job with a blank slate for a yard. It is now a little gem in the middle of a garden that was recently a stop on a charity garden tour. The house and garden have been the repositories of most my creative juices for the last four years, as I have done most of the renovation myself – just contracting out things like electrical and plumbing so that we neither drown nor burn up. Although I could not attend the Reunion, I managed a visit

to Allyson Holtz in Pittsburgh, and look forward to the next opportunity to see many of you in person. I have never doubted that we would all end up with fascinating stories to tell.”

Chrissie Brown Ripple of West Hartford writes, “Our 45th (yikes, HOW can that be?) Reunion was quite an event. Although our professional and personal lives have taken us all in different directions, our memories of time spent at Oxford was the bond that made that 24 hours in June so special. Ezra and I have been married for 43 years and have spent most of that time in the Hartford area. Our two sons are married to two wonderful women and they each have two Perfect Children! They live much too far away – San Francisco and Bali – but I visit often and feel as if I have a second home in each place. For the past 12 years I’ve had a small retail business, and I’m one of those professional board members who can’t say no when asked to help out. But my career and passion and what has made living in Hartford so fulfilling has been my involvement with our world-class theater, Hartford Stage. I’ve never been a rah-rah Oxford alum and certainly never an advocate of reunions, but I DO look forward to seeing the group, and more, in five years. In the meantime, if anyone has a hankering for another skinnydip at 1 am, the pool’s open!”

Judy Shlomberg Rosenzweig writes from Highland Beach, FL, “My first Reunion did not disappoint. I was afraid that I wouldn’t recognize people, but KO WINTER 2012

I did (especially after looking at the name tags). ;) I hadn’t seen anyone from school in 45 years, except for Allyson Holtz, and it was fun to reconnect.

We realized that, although school wasn’t always the best experience, being with our friends definitely was. I’ve had so many experiences in the past 45 years, but to highlight: I was in and out of colleges, road my bicycle across the country with a guy and my Siamese cat, worked as a chef on a sailboat in Europe and Scandinavia and worked for American Airlines.

I’ve been married to Bruce for 34 years, have a son, Eric, and a daughter, Brooke (both married to wonderful people!) and am impatiently waiting for grandchildren. I’ve been teaching lyengar yoga for 18 years and opened an antique and vintage jewelry and accessory business three years ago. We live by the beach in sunny South Florida, where we’ve been for 33 years.

I paint watercolor paintings and love to knit. Come visit!”

Deni Garabedian (Bettyann Denton) writes from Sagamore Beach, MA, “Like several others in our class, I, too, changed my name; perhaps that indicates how much we searched for ourselves in those years with Miss Hall, Mr. Ruby, Mrs. Forbes, Ms. Wuori, etc. We learned a lot at Oxford, yet seem to have found our identities later in life.

I was so pleased to hear about the volunteerism, the artistic endeavors, the achievements of our classmates in the letters you’ve posted online. I attended Russell Sage College (along with Sue Haines). I earned my

degree and began to teach, but when I moved to Florida, I got my Master’s in library science.

I moved to Massachusetts in 1976, and worked as a school librarian for the Weymouth Public School system for the rest of my career. It was truly something I enjoyed. I feel lucky that I could earn a living in a profession that rewarded me with such positive emotions. Days were never dull!

The kids were never predictable!

On a personal note, I met my first husband in undergraduate days, later on was a happily single gal for a decade, then met my current ‘better half.’ He and I flew to St. Thomas to get married in 1988.

My stepdaughter now works as director of events for the Rhode Island Special Olympics – wonderful work. Last year, Cas and I retired and moved to Sagamore Beach, right next to the Cape Cod Canal. I still love to read, so I belong to two different book clubs and go to every author talk/book signing I can. We also enjoy a walking club and exploring this lovely part of the world. When I was in high school, I coveted the material things I could not afford; now that I might have more ‘things,’ I realize what is truly valuable: family, friendships, health. Thanks to Kate for getting us to re-connect after all this time. I was sorry to miss the Reunion, but hope to attend the 50th! I hope all of you will stay well and continue to enjoy your lives until we meet again. :-)” Lory Hervey Pearson writes from Norwich, VT, “It was very wonderful to see classmates I last saw 20 years ago at Oxford on Prospect Street or

at graduation 45 years ago. I remembered where we sat in seventh grade, in our history, English and Latin classrooms, and the big study hall on the second floor. I remembered the Oxford Fairs and the Christmas pageants and Robbie Wyper’s cocker spaniel from seventh grade. For two days the flood of memories crowded out all the rest of life’s big and little events. I was so very glad to see everyone, really as if not a day had passed, full of stories and laughter and life – the same smiles, everyone so like themselves. My life in a nutshell: After college, I studied

OXFORD 1970 Debbie Beebe has been busy – and an inspiration to all. Here, she’s representing her employer, ICF International (a technology, policy and management consultancy) as a model in “Cure by Design,” a fashion show that raised money for the American Cancer Society. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: She also took a Sierra Club trip to the Canadian Rockies, visited Great Britain with her Australian cousin, Jennie; and won “Best Student Full Bronze Level” at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio.

“I’m glad to say I’m cancer free (breast cancer) after one year!” she writes. “How’s that for my 60th year?!”

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CLASS NOTES

public health, then spent 11 years in Vienna (my mother’s birthplace) working for international organizations. I returned to the U.S. in 1986 to marry Michael Pearson, an American I met in Austria, and starting working as a study coordinator on medical research projects at Dartmouth in 1987. That’s where I can be found to this very day. We have two wonderful sons, Jeff, 22, and Ben, 20, who have a revolving-door policy toward home and teach their elderly parents about popular culture. My stepchildren live in Pelham, MA, and Brooklyn, NY, and each has a lovely child. My home is in Norwich, VT, (halfway up the eastern border of the state) where I enjoy walking with friends and dogs, reading, swimming, babies, children, little mammals of every ilk and biking on flat roads.”

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Anne Holcombe writes from Marlborough, CT, “It was great to see everyone, such wonderful women, at Reunion and Chrissie’s.

I was sorry to miss the pool party! Very briefly: three years at Penn, then off to the Finger Lakes of New York, where I finished my courses at Cornell.

I spent several summers hiking in the West, loving the rocks

and snow and mountain views. I stayed in the Ithaca area for 20 years, except for a year in central Massachusetts and another year plus in New Mexico. I’ve been back in Connecticut for 20-plus years and am enjoying my current work in a gardening business.

Not so secretly, I really prefer wilderness. I spend time with my dad, who’s doing great, and with my sister Emily (three years behind us at Oxford) and niece Tally, who just started sixth grade at KO. I’m looking forward to our 50th!”

Mary Kelley Bradley of Newington, CT, joined us for the Reunion lunch on campus. She is the newest grandmother of us all! We loved her book of pictures of her new granddaughter, and wish her much joy in watching her grow. How lucky to have an expanding family so close.

OXFORD 1970 Betsy Booth Class Correspondent Saralee Howard writes, “My husband Jim Schultz and I are flying East on Sept. 20 for the opening of the exhibit of the International Society of Experimental Artists in Gloucester,

MA, which will include one of my paintings, “Pilgrimage/Psalm 84.”

It’s one of my first juried acceptances, and I’m pretty excited. On the same day, my piece ‘Think of Death’ will be included in the opening of ArtPrize, a citywide art show in Grand Rapids, MI. We’re celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary, and so the trip is a perfect storm of love, art and fall in New England. As I write this, our son Graham Filler, an assistant attorney general in Michigan, is at the National Republican Convention, and our daughter Emily Filler is finishing her doctorate in religious studies at UVa. I still direct a non-profit pregnancy center, and Jim still teaches at Central Michigan University. I’m completing another Master’s in counseling and have begun counseling in areas other than crisis pregnancy. Life is good and yet moving a trifle too fast … I admit to loving an occasional evening with simply quiet, reading and a bit of cutthroat Scrabble.”

OXFORD 1972 Diane Adinolfi Gent Class Correspondent It’s very hard to believe that we’ve just had our 40th Reunion!

OXFORD 1972 Like mother, like daughter: Lisa Woods Johnson, shown here with her 16-year-old daughter, Hannah, lives in Evergreen, CO, but escapes the winters with a few excursions to Arizona. “I gave up skiing . . . never did like the cold, even in Connecticut.” Lisa took up golf a few years ago and says progress has been slow, but she enjoys it anyway.

Her mom, Beth Woods, who served as front office secretary until our senior year, passed away in August 2012 at age 97. We send our sympathies to Lisa and her family. Lisa looks forward to seeing everyone at our 45th Reunion and regrets that she didn’t make the 40th – she heard it was a blast!

OXFORD 1972 Linda Davis McElderry and her husband, Jack, live in Nantucket and Sarasota, FL. She plays lots of golf and sells real estate in both locations. She was planning a three-week trip to Washington and Oregon this fall. Linda keeps in touch with Diane Adinolfi Gent, Mindy Rosow, Diane RisCassi McAndrews and Cathy Langdon Russell. She says she “is sorry to have missed the 40th but will be at the 45th for sure!”

Although it makes me sound old to say it, where have the years gone?!? Most of the time it really does seem like yesterday!

It was wonderful to see all those who were able to attend the weekend-long festivities in June, culminating with dinner under the tent on campus and an after party that went late into the night! Once again, Teko Imori Gardener wins the prize for traveling the farthest – from Edmonton, Canada. I hope to see even more of you at our 45th!

Now for the news: Katie Newell Chiodo writes, “What a true pleasure it was to see and visit with all of our classmates who attended.”

Molly McAdams Hampton reports that she and her husband, Bruce, are still living in Lander, WY. They have two adopted daughters (from Korea and China): one is 24 and living in Virginia and the other a 15-yearold high school sophomore. Molly is the director of philanthropy at The Nature Conservancy. She loves her job, but dreams of cutting back on work one of these years. Her husband is a website designer who would rather be retired, fishing and woodcarving.

She tries to stay in shape by hiking, biking, going to the gym and running. She invites you to visit!

Teko Imori Gardener and her husband, Van, have three children. Their son Joseph and his fiancé Kasey are getting married in August 2013. Daughter Leia will spend two months in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand this fall, and daughter Nike will visit London and Scotland with a possibility of going to graduate school in Edinburgh. Such world travelers!

Druscie Wood Kadel writes, “I’m still in St. Louis and working as a nurse case manager for Coventry Worker’s Comp Services. Aetna just bought us, so maybe a business trip to Hartford in my future? My son, Christopher, and his wife, Emily, moved back to the St. Louis area a little over a year ago, and it’s wonderful having family back in town. I have a 2-year-old granddaughter, Lorelei, who is

KO WINTER 2012

amazing – I spend as much time with her as possible! No. 2 is arriving in February. Christopher has his own software consulting company with branches in Chicago and now St. Louis. I was back in Connecticut about a year ago and got to visit with the Dimmocks (Pam ’70 and Stan ’73). We took a schooner cruise originating in Essex!”

Libby Bassette Lennox is a System Architect at Advent Intermodal Solutions in New Providence, NJ, a software development firm specializing in intermodal transportation (containers). In January 2012, she spent three-plus weeks in Sydney, Australia, for business and saw the Southern Cross for the first time, watched the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean, toured the Sydney Opera House and did a lot of white-knuckle driving on the other side of the

street. Her husband, Dean, also makes his living via computers, but his heart is in one-design sailboat racing. He currently sails an A-class catamaran on Lake Hopatcong in NJ. They plan to head to the 2012 A Cat Worlds in Islamorada, FL. Their oldest child, Scott, was married this past April in Brooklyn, NY, to Sarafina Mugavero. Libby writes, “The bride and groom asked me to officiate, so now I am a registered officiant in New York City, and can perform weddings just about anywhere.

So if anyone has the need . . .” Both Scott and Sarafina are teachers at a public international high school in NYC. They’ve also launched an oyster farming operation called Forty North Oyster Farms. Libby says, “Like them on Facebook; maybe I’ll bring oysters to our next KO gathering!” Middle child, Jack, moved to San Diego in May. He

OXFORD 1972 In July 2012, Katie Newell Chiodo hosted a mini-reunion at her home on the CT shoreline for Oxford classmates (from left) Diane RisCassi McAndrews, Eloise Biscoe, Sabine Kraschutzki Scholmeritch and Libby Bassette Lennox. “What an amazing experience to be together 40 years later!” said Eloise. “We all seem to value these old friendships even more as we make our way through middle age.”

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OXFORD 1972

CLASS NOTES

(From left) Diane RisCassi McAndrews, Katie Newell Chiodo, Eloise Biscoe, Diane Adinolfi Gent, Teko Imori Gardener, Libby Bassette Lennox, Sue Malliet Herrmann, Cathy Langdon Russell, Cindy Filer, Sara Sachner Elsden and Mindy Rosow

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works for a big boat brokerage and loves it. She’s heard that once you live in Southern California, you never leave – “not what this mother wants to hear!” And youngest child, Annie, works for Share Our Strength in Manhattan, a non-profit organization that puts on the NYC Wine and Food Festival. In August, Libby and Vicki Wallins had a wonderful but too-short dinner in NYC’s Chelsea area. Vicki also attended a pre-reunion get together in June at Katie Newell Chiodo’s house in Groton Long Point. She says, “It was great to reconnect with Sabine, along with Eloise and Diane McAndrews.”

Diane RisCassi McAndrews lives with her husband, Mike, in West Hartford, and they have two children. Julianne, 22, graduated from the University of Maryland this past May and now works in Maryland. Their son, Joe, attends the University of Michigan, majoring in engineering, and is participating in the Navy ROTC program there. Diane volunteers regularly for the Malta House of Care Mobile Medical Clinic.

Sabine Kraschutzki Scholmeritch lives in Erftstadt, Germany, with her husband, a forest official. They have two daughters, 27 and 25, one a psychologist and the other a medical student. She has been teaching English, Spanish and French for 30 years and now also teaches yoga for kids. Still in close contact with Eloise, Sabine spent a few weeks with her this summer. She is happy to welcome any classmate in Germany any time. “Do not hesitate!” she says.

As for my own news, my husband, Chris, and I moved to the old Beatrice Fox Auerbach home on Prospect Avenue in Hartford a few years back. As you can imagine, it is almost a full-time job to keep up with a 100-year-old house. Chris has his own financial planning business called West Hartford Wealth Management, and I volunteer for several organizations, including KO, Easter Seals and Ron’s Run for the Roses (a local non-profit event that raises funds for the early detection and cure of pancreatic cancer). Our son Christopher ’03 graduated from Union College and works in

Boston. Kacie ’08 graduated from Connecticut College this past May and now attends UConn Law School. I love helping to plan our Reunions every five years, and being in touch with everyone for KO Magazine news!

OXFORD 1973 Melinda Walsh writes from Westerly, RI, “Daughter Sophie 12, the same age we all were when we first met! Some things the same, some different. Sam is 8, loves Godzilla. Husband Mark, age uncertain, nature conservation.

Me, age you all know, social work.”

KO 1978 Internationally acclaimed violinist Peter Winograd, first violinist with the American String Quartet, returned to Hartford Sept. 23 to perform at the University of Hartford. Joined by pianist David Westfall, cellist Wolfram Koessel and two members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Peter performed works by Debussy, Brahms and Dvorak.

Proceeds from the concert benefited the Arthur and Betty Winograd Fund of the University

of Hartford’s Hartt Community Division, which supports scholarships and financial aid to encourage, nurture and develop the talents of pre-college musicians. The day before the concert, Peter also led a free Master class for pre-college and college chamber groups.

KO 1980 Hiram Maxim lives with his wife and 9-year-old daughter in Atlanta, where he is an associate professor of German studies at Emory University.

Terrell (Terri) Taylor Walton writes, “Life as a custom shoemaker, serving the country from our home in Vermont, is a wonderful adventure. I founded Deer Ridge Custom Shoes several years ago, and we specialize in custom walking shoes (www. connecticutorthopedicsshoes. com). Our focus is on health and well-being with custom footwear that allows for increased mobility.

I live in Vermont with my husband of 25 years, Steven, and we have two beautiful girls – Hillary, a University of Vermont senior majoring in Mandarin with a focus on rural Chinese economic and social struggles, and Gabbi,

a 13-year-old, sing-your-heart-out ray of sunshine. I’d love to hear from you at walton@svcable.net!”

KO 1986 Becky Wheeler writes, “I just completed my Ph.D. at Emory University, where my research focused on workforce issues in nursing. I am president-elect of the Georgia Nurses Association, and I still teach (part time – some Spanish classes, anatomy and physiology) at a high school just like KO. I am looking forward to life as a non-student!”

KO 1989 Carrie Fitzgerald Cain Class Correspondent I am raising my four children, three boys and a little girl (ages 3-8) in Concord, MA. I try to participate in their lives where I can (and while they’re still young enough to let me). I feel lucky that their pre-school and elementary schools encourage a good deal of parent involvement, especially in the classroom. I find it incredibly exciting to watch them discover who they are and what they are passionate about, and seeing their self-esteem blossom in the process. In 2010,

I started to pursue my passion for architecture and enrolled in the Master’s of architecture program at Boston Architectural College. As it is for every parent, it is a juggling act – but very fulfilling at the same time. I recently had a fun dinner with Maureen Murphy; she nicely took the train out from Boston to meet me in Concord. We had a great night catching up after so many years. She shared the happy news that her sister, Kelly Murphy Mulderry, just welcomed her fourth child, Robert, who is named after her father, Kingswood ’62 and her grandfather, Kingswood ’32.

isn’t just a teacher – for the students who need him, he’s a mentor, or even a friend you can talk out a problem with.”

KO 1994

KO 1997

Fletcher Thomson has been named assistant general counsel for litigation at Textron Inc. in Providence, RI; he and his family now live in Barrington, RI. The Class of 2012 at Nanuet (NY) High School dedicated their yearbook to English teacher Mark Salerno. The dedication read, in part, “Mr. Salerno has that rare ability to inspire, to bring out the best in students who hadn’t realized what they themselves were capable of. But Mr. Salerno

OXFORD 1978 Heidi Jones Siegfried and her husband, Steve, were relocated to Stuart, FL, a year ago. “What a fabulous move it has been for us,” Heidi said. “The weather is gorgeous, and the vegetation is over the top. I could live without the snakes and alligators, but I am ever vigilant.” Daughter Emily, 23, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington a year ago and now lives in Redding, CT, and works for Tracylocke. Daughter Alexandra is a senior at Tulane and loves New Orleans. Heidi and Steve were planning to New Orleans and the Grand Canyon this fall. “I’ve never been and am very excited to see ‘The Big Hole,’” she said. “Best to all.”

KO WINTER 2012

KO 2000 Aviva Cadenza Reisner was born on May 16, 2012, to Mariah Klaneski ’00 and Sam Reisner.

Rosa Lee Klaneski has published her first novel, the crime thriller 5, 6, 7 ($14.95; www.567novel.com). Rosa, who attended Amherst College and holds a Master’s degree in public policy analysis from Trinity College, is a writer, entrepreneur and poker player who was the Foxwoods Poker Classic Ladies No Limit Hold-Em Champion in 2009. A member of MENSA, she also wrote Why Feminists Are Wrong and The Letter F: The Process of Civilly Changing Sex.

KO 1998 Beth Carasso married Sam Spector in New York City on Sept.

2, 2012.

KO 2000 Sara Chase married Elliot Stieglitz on June 24, 2012, at her parents’ home in West Hartford.

Sara has had supporting roles in the films “The Other Guys,” “Arthur,” and most recently, “Hello, I Must Be Going.” She graduated 43

KO 2004 Alexander Botwick (left) and Scott Leopold graduated from UCONN on the same day last May. Alex graduated from the School of Dental Medicine and is now in a general practice residency at Morristown (NJ) Memorial Hospital.

Scott graduated from the School of Medicine and is now in a pediatrics residency at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH.

from Boston University. Elliot is a fellow in pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, Benioff Children’s Hospital. He graduated from Yeshiva University and earned a medical degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

KO 2001

While in school, he’s been a global intern with the Carnegie Endowment’s Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.

Previously, Mike earned a Master’s in secondary education from Teachers College at Columbia University and taught high school history in New York City for four years. He’s looking forward to his 10th reunion!

Erica Marrero writes from Arlington, VA, “I just got back from Brussels, where I was working as a press officer for the U.S. mission to NATO. I’m back at the State Department in DC and looking forward to visiting Connecticut.”

KO 2004 Joseph Schneiderman, who graduated from New York Law School in May 2012, had an op-ed appear in The Hartford Courant on June 19. In the piece, “Malloy’s Chance to Shape Supreme Court,” Joe urged Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to emulate Gov. Lowell Weicker Jr. in selecting “outstanding jurists” to fill the three vacancies that will open on the CT Supreme Court

CLASS NOTES

KO 2002

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Christian Woodcock writes, “I started my own company – United Credit Solutions – in Manhattan in March 2012. We have 10 employees and are off to a great start.”

Anna Littauer Carrington and her husband, Wes, welcomed their first child, Everett Wilson, on June 7, 2012. They live in Arlington, VA.

KO 2003 Michael Gladstone is studying for a Master’s in international law and global security at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

KO 2004 KO History teacher David Baker ’04 and KO Science Teacher Kata Franczyk tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in the chapel of Kata’s alma mater, Williston Northampton School, on Aug. 4, 2012. A reception followed at the Northampton Center for the Arts in Northampton, MA. KO Faculty members Peter Jones, Clay Miles, Alex Kraus, Nancy Solomon, and KO faculty alums Joe Saphire, Elizabeth Tredeau and Casey McCullion were all there to help celebrate. After a honeymoon in St. Lucia, the Bakers have settled in West Hartford.

during the next 16 months.

David Sherfinski, who covers Virginia state government for the Washington Times, covered this year’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL.

KO 2005 Brent Speed earned a law degree from Harvard in May 2012 and is clerking for the Hon. Sandra Lynch of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Todd Goldman has been working for about two years for Keybridge Research, a small economic and policy consulting and research firm in Washington, D.C. He also recently enlisted in the Army National Guard and is in Officer Candidate School, and he’s applying to graduate school.

KO 2006 Erin Osborn completed her post-baccalaureate medical work at the University of Pennsylvania and is now pursuing a degree in health and society at UCONN.

KO 2008

amazing what these kids learn in a second language. I don’t think that I could have mastered the finesse of debate in my second language that early in life. Best regards to the Class of ‘16! Gosh, I feel old…”

Brett Lerner is at the University of Maine, studying for a Master’s in Global Policy focusing on International Security & U.S. Foreign Policy.

Share Your News!

We’d love to receive your wedding photos, new baby pics, and any other news you’d like to share with your fellow Wyverns. Please write to Advancement Associate Meghan Kurtich (kurtich.m@k-o.org). We would love to send a bib to every future Wyvern we hear about!

James Dowling-Healey is also at The University of Maine, in his first year of law school; he graduated from Bates College.

BIB BABY Mason Robert Benavides is the happy new son of Rebecca Benavides, KO’s Senior Associate Director of Admissions, and her husband Rob. Born on March 15, 2012, Mason was welcomed home by big sister Taylor, age 4.

KO 2010 Trey Smith, a junior in the Daniels School Business at the University of Denver, will study in Barcelona for a semester next year.

Michael Clarke, a U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC, has graduated from the U.S. Marines’ amphibious reconnaissance training school, jump school and radio school.

John Clarke graduated magna cum laude in May 2012 from the Endicott College Scholars Program.

Correction Yuri Min writes, “I work at Chungdahm Institute in Gimpo, South Korea, just west of the capital city of Seoul. I graduated from Colby College only four months ago, but I feel like it’s a lifetime ago. I’m working as an English teacher at a private academy with kids age 9-17, teaching English reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. It’s

KO WINTER 2012

In the Summer 2012 issue, we reported that Elisabeth Salner Bolton ’07 was teaching in Madrid, Spain. Her correct name is Elisabeth Salner. The photo on p. 54 depicts her sister, Emily Salner Bolton ’02, on her honeymoon in Greece.

We apologize for the error.

KO TEACHER MARRIES KO Spanish teacher Catherine Pallin married Jack Reigeluth, an English teacher at Westminster, on June 16, 2012, at her parents’ home on Pachaug Pond in Griswold, CT. Graduates of Hamilton College, Kate also earned a Master’s degree from Middlebury College School in Spain, while Jack earned a Master’s from Columbia University’s Teachers College. They spent the summer traveling up the coast of California, and now live in West Hartford.

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IN MEMORIAM

Kingswood Oxford extends condolences to the families of those who passed away between April 1 and September 30, 2012 or whose death we learned of during that period. To ensure accuracy, we require that In Memoriam notices be accompanied by a newspaper obituary. Please notify Michelle Murphy, Director of Communications & Marketing, of any errors or omissions (murphy.m@k-o.org).

Joan Elbaum Abelove ’53 December 23, 2010 Sister of Jerome Elbaum ’57 and aunt of Steven Elbaum ’82, Richard Elbaum ’84 and Patricia Elbaum Fox ’87 John Sanderson Bean ’61 April 21, 2012 Henry S. Beers Jr. ’44 February 29, 2012 Lorinda Jennings Bigler May 30, 2012 Stepmother of William Bigler ’80 and grandmother of Christopher Bigler ’05, Harrison Bigler ’09 and Owen Bigler ’13 Judith Lee Bleiler ’57 July 20, 2011 Alicia Walker Champion ’59 September 3, 2011 Thomas Patrick Finley ’49 April 28, 2012 Eleanor Slimmon Gadd ’39 December 16, 2011 Aunt of Andrew Slimmon ’82 Zelda Sheketoff Gersten September 5, 2012 Mother of Elizabeth Gersten Osla ’72 and Richard Gersten ’77, sister of Gilda Sheketoff Brock ’52 and aunt of A. C. Sheketoff ’73 Anne Rose Goldfield September 9, 2012 Mother of H. P. Goldfield ’69

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Elizabeth Vernlund Goodwin ’41 June 17, 2012 Virginia Tuttle Grant ‘35 May 13, 2012 Wife of Ellsworth Grant ’35, mother of Carolyn Means ’59, Virginia Means Giddens ’62 and Frances Means ’63, and stepmother of Clayton Spencer ’55, John Grant ’57 and Katharine Grant Houghton ’61 Betty Lenore Guiney ’40 June 26, 2012 Sister of Mary Guiney ’41 and aunt of Samuel Benton Guiney ’79 Andrew Lyon Kohn ’71 May 28, 2012 William Alvin Leone ’62 Son of Rosemary Pallotti Leone ’36, brother of Bryan Leone ’64 and Frank Leone ’67, and father of Christina Leone ’88, Melissa Leone Delaney ’90 and Valerie Leone Calciano ’93 Norman Lewis Levin May 18, 2012 Grandfather of Emma Levin ’09 and Dana Levin ’12 Norma Kathleen Logsdon June 10, 2012 Grandmother of Patrick Rockefeller ’00 and Sara Rockefeller ’02 and mother-in-law of Avery Rockefeller, Chair of KO’s Board of Trustees

Robert C. MacDowell May 22, 2012 Husband of Alison Hastings MacDowell ‘41 Doris P. Malinconico March 20, 2012 Mother of Scott Malinconico ’72 and Christine Malinconico Rhodes ’77

Eivind Olav Sohoel September 3, 2011 Father of Deborah Lamson Sohoel-Goldberg ’81 and Robert Lamson ’83 Dorothy M. Sullivan October 8, 2010 Wife of Robert W. Sullivan ’62

Wilbert E. McClellan, Jr. ’37 September 6, 2012

Georgeanne Taylor October 30, 2011 Wife of Charles Taylor ’56

Francis L. Merola July 12, 2012 Father of Brenna Merola ’11

Beth Weinstein January 29, 2012 Mother of Rachel Podolosky ’96

William Moore Morcom ’39 May 31, 2012 Husband of Betty Messenger Morcom ’42, father of Gwyn Morcom Charles ’70 and William Morcom ’73 and uncle of Richard Morcom ’70

Sarkis Yirigian July 22, 2012 Father-in-law of Beverly Ravalese Yirigian ’80 and grandfather of Rachel Yirigian ’14 and Robert Yirigian ’16

Rosanna M. Pastor April 22, 2012 Grandmother of Catherine Pastor ’07 and Andrew Pastor ’10

Correction

Gordon M. Quick September 2, 2012 Father of David Quick ’92 and husband of Linda Quick, former KO staff member

The In Memoriam listing for Douglas “Fritz” Swinehart ’62 in the Summer 2012 issue was incomplete and inaccurate. It should have read:

Ruth Grier Robinson ’49 February 14, 2012 Sister of Nancy Grier Hamilton ’46

Douglas “Fritz” Swinehart ’62 Jan. 1, 2012 Brother of Betsy Swinehart Riel ’58

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

TRUSTEES EMERITI

HEAD’S ADVISORY COUNCIL

Katherine Keegan Antle ’96 Dennis Bisgaard P ’16, Head of School Jessica Hild Collins ’91, Head’s Advisory Council President Laura Estes P ’98 Christopher G. Gent P ’03, ’08 Marilyn Glover P ’05, ’07, ’11, Secretary Cheryl Grisé P ’99, ’02 Stephen B. Hazard P ’89, ’92 I. Bradley Hoffman ’78, Vice Chair Paul A. Lewis P ’05 Baxter H. Maffett ’68, P ’02, ’06, Vice Chair Bruce A. Mandell ’82 Alexander T. Nguyen ’95 Mark Paley P ’07, ’09, ’11, ’14 Michael J. Reilly P ’04, ’08 Avery Rockefeller III P ’00, ’02, Chair Paul F. Romano P ’06, ’08, ’11 Pedro Sainz de Baranda P ’14, ’16, ’19 Marc T. Shafer ’75, P ’08, ’15, ’17 Alden Y. Warner III ’76, Treasurer R. Ashley Washburn P ’08, ’10, ’12, ’15 Paula Whitney P ’02, ’04, ’06, ’07 Mark Wolman P ’14, ’16, ’19 Beverly R. Yirigian ’80, P ’14, ‘16, President of the Parent Association

Sherry Banks-Cohn ’54, P ’78, ’82 Thomas J. Collamore ’77 Allen V. Collins P ’75, ’79, ’82, ’88 Richard S. Cuda P ’79, ’80 George L. Estes III ’67, P ’98 Robert M. Furek P ’96, ’99 Karen K. Gifford ’62 William H. Goldfarb ’64 J. Gregory Hickey Sr. ’47, P ’73, ’75, GP ’04 Alyce F. Hild P ’80, ’82, ’91, GP ’07, ’11, ’14 Lance L. Knox ’62 Eileen S. Kraus P ’84, ’95 Thomas D. Lips P ’93 James B. Lyon, Esq. ’48 E. Merritt McDonough ’51, P ’79, ’81 Agnes S. Peelle P ’01, ’03 Anne Rudder P ’68 Peter G. Russell ’44, P ’77, ’80, ’82 G. William Seawright ’59 John A.T. Wilson ’56, P ’84, ’86 Martin Wolman P ’80, ’82, ’84, ’88 Joan S. Wright ’53

Jessica Hild Collins ’91, President John J. Alissi ’89 Jeffrey Azia ’89 Eric D. Batchelder ’89 William C. Bigler ’80, P ’05, ’09, ’13 Jay M. Botwick ’76, P ’04 Brewster B. Boyd ’63 John M. Budds ’56 Andrew M. Chapman ’73 Lynn Mather Charette ’82, P ’14, P’18 James W. Eatherton ’79, P ’11, ’14 Eric D. Eddy ’93 Robert M. Elliott II ’91 Scott C. Farrell ’91 Lee A. Gold ’90 James Goldberg ’76 Gregory A. Hayes ’80 Charna Bortman Kaufman ’85, P ’14, ’17 Gilbert E. Keegan III ’88 Laurie Maulucci P ’03, ’05 Caroline Nguyen ’96 Tyler B. Polk ’99 Ann Coolidge Randall ’73, P ’13 Alison Rosenthal ’94 Mary Pallotti Russell ’73, P ’06, ’09 Robert S. Sarkasian ’84 Andrew G. Satell ’79 Glenn M. Shafer ’85 Stacey L. Silver ’91 Nancy Silvers P ’10, ’11 Saeed O. Singletary ’92 Harold A. Smullen Jr. P ’10 William J. Stack Jr. ’72, P ’07, ’11, ’12 Faith McGauley Whitman ’86 F. Scott Wilson P ’06, ’09 Keith J. Wolff ’91 Carla Do Nascimento Zahner ’97

KO WINTER 2012

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Reminder: Please support KO before the end of the calendar/tax year with a gift to the KO Fund!

With the end of 2012 in sight, we hope you will consider supporting KO with a gift to the KO Fund for 2012-2013. These gifts support the most important priorities of the School – faculty recruitment and retention, financial aid, teaching initiatives, athletics, arts, library and computer resources, and facilities maintenance. Your generous gift will help our deserving students cultivate their intellectual curiosity in a learning environment filled with passion and determination, ensuring a successful future this year and far beyond.

Gifts of stock are most welcome and may be made directly to KO by following the School’s transfer instructions: Merrill Lynch, DTC No. 5198, Acct. No. 6JA-02096, 29 S. Main St., Suite 221, West Hartford, CT 06107. For more information, please contact Nicole Baldovi of Merrill Lynch toll free at 877-541-7788.

To make a secure, on-line gift by Visa, MasterCard, or Discover, go to www.kingswoodoxford.org/giving. Recurring gifts can now be made via credit card and provide you with the opportunity to support KO in monthly installments by automatically transferring payments from your credit/debit card. This offers the opportunity to make a larger commitment and space out the payments while providing continuous support to KO.

Questions?

Please contact Kim O’Brien Green, Director of Annual Giving and Operations, at 860-727-5015 or green.k@k-o.org.

Thank you for your generosity toward Kingswood Oxford School!

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TallwoodWarriors s c

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a rs h

ip

First in the Nation Two days before Veterans Day 2012, KO unveiled the Tallwood Warriors Scholarship, a unique new scholarship for the children of U.S. service personnel who are entering KO’s middle school. It is believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation.

“Our anonymous benefactor, Tallwood, believes strongly that there is no better gift for those who have served our country than a first-class education for their children at Kingswood Oxford School,” said Head of School Dennis Bisgaard. “The donor also hopes this will inspire other people to honor the sacrifices of the Warriors in their own lives by contributing to the fund – which would then allow even more military children to have the chance to attend KO.” Intended for the children of active or retired military who are applying to the sixth grade at KO, the scholarship amount is equivalent to a year’s tuition – currently $33,675. Depending on the number of applicants who meet the criteria, the total amount could be divided among several students.

“This is an extraordinary gesture on the part of the donor and the school to demonstrate solidarity with these families who have sacrificed so much, and a very interesting way to encourage others to support the same families,” said Patrick Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools in Washington, DC. “It will add another element of diversity to a school that’s already committed to diversity.”

The Tallwood Warriors Scholars will be chosen from a pool of applicants who are otherwise qualified for admission to KO’s sixth grade and are dependent children of military families. They will be selected on the basis of financial need, academic record, demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities, a statement of goals, and unusual personal or family circumstances. Preference will be given to children of service personnel killed or injured during active duty, including those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

“Our benefactor said that the timing of the scholarship announcement was very poignant – not just because of Veterans Day, but also for personal reasons,” said Debra Coleman Hyde ’68, KO’s Director of Institutional Advancement. “That week they celebrated the birthday of a deceased family member who would have entered the sixth grade at KO and whose dad served in the military.

“Tallwood said he is so pleased he has been blessed with the ability to do this and to truly make a difference in the lives of the children of those who have given so much to our country,” she added. “He hopes others will be so inspired.”

To honor or commemorate a hero in your own life, make a secure, on-line gift at www.kingswoodoxford.org/tallwood and see the scrolling names of those who have been honored and remembered.

For information about applying to receive a Tallwood Warriors Scholarship to attend KO, please visit www.kingswoodoxford.org/admissions.

Prst First Class US Postage PAID Permit 1754 Hartford CT

KingswoodOxford Honoring the past. Shaping the future.

KO Magazine 170 Kingswood Road, West Hartford, CT 06119-1430 Change Service Requested If this magazine is being delivered to a child who no longer lives in your home, please send an updated address to Patricia Laros, Director of Advancement Services, at laros.p@k-o.org. Thank you!

A Beacon Once Again The front circle wasn’t the only thing renovated this summer.

The majestic white cupola of Alumni Hall, which had begun to show real signs of age, has been painstakingly restored with historical accuracy – the louvers are now painted a distinguished Hunter Green, for instance, which is the traditional color for steeple louvers (and a return to the color they were originally on Alumni Hall).

It’s green in another way, too. The cupola is now spotlighted with eight 18-watt bulbs, versus the eight 500-watt bulbs that were used in the past – a savings of 3,856 watts!

Illuminated from 6pm-6am every day, Alumni Hall is once again a beckoning beacon throughout the KO neighborhood. For before and after photos of the restoration, see pages 12-13.

Printed on 10% post-consumer waste recycled paper.