Fall 2018 Deerfield Magazine

DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E FA L L 2 0 1 8

K I P P - S T E P / A D VA N C E M E N T R E P O R T / M R S . B O Y D E N

volume 76/1

14

report from admission 8

4

Athletics complex + tennis pavilion

new faculty

10

show your work

16

behind the bench: Mark acton

18

34

KIPP STEP: dwelling in possibility

common room

22

86

in memoriam

28

84

worthy of...

first person: Thomas vail ’44

advancement report

"AGA Chi! AGA CHA!"

Fall Deerfield Days...

Sometimes one photo instantly stands out from all the others.

This was the case a few weeks ago when I happened to walk by Design and Art Director Brent Hale’s desk as he was mocking up several possibilities for the cover of this issue of Deerfield Magazine—the bright green and white, the clean lines, the iconic words from the “Evensong”—it was perfect.

Contextually—in case you can’t quite place where this hallway is on campus—it’s the new “bridge” to the right of the East Gym and the recently renamed West Gym—now the Hale Family Gymnasium in honor of the generosity of Karen and Rob Hale ’84 P’15, ’17, ’18. In addition to the “Evensong,” this corridor features the practical wisdom of longtime football Coach Jim Smith: Winning isn’t a sometime thing, it’s an everyday thing.

That’s how you win, you do it every day the right way; a pithy observation from Norm Therien: The Big Green is bigger than the names on the roster. It’s all of us, together; and an admonishment from Dr. Curtis: Don’t just look to the hills; climb them—before reaching the new Athletics Complex—a truly spectacular facility that was dedicated in late October. The Jay and Mimi Morsman Tennis Pavilion was also dedicated this fall (see page six), and these special events only added to an overall outstanding start to the ’18 – ’19 school year.

In this issue of Deerfield Magazine there are also several stories that feature some summer events and projects—such as the extraordinary work of three current students who received grants from the Academy’s Center for Service and Global Citizenship (page 10 )—and a reflection by longtime English teacher Mark Scandling, who for over a decade has devoted part of his summer to the KIPP STEP program Deerfield hosts (page 18). The Office of Advancement is happy to share a final report of last year’s fundraising efforts, and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Chip Davis shares the “facts and figures” related to recent Admission efforts as well as some of his musings on the “multivariables” of the process.

And while current days of glory are usually our focus, in this issue we feature the Boydens, too: “Worthy Of . . .”, beginning on page 28, is the result of senior Orlee Marini-Rapoport’s summer research efforts. Orlee spent hours in the Academy Archives as well as interviewing many of Mrs. Boyden’s former students. Some of what she’s written may sound familiar to you, but there may be a surprise or two, as well. The “Common Room” usually concludes with a “First Person” reflection written by an alumnus, and this issue is no exception: Thomas Vail, Class of 1944, gave us permission to reprint the essay he wrote about Mr. Boyden in his book Nine Legends. It complements Orlee’s article in every way.

By the time you receive this issue, current students will have embarked on the winter term, and we will be working on our winter issue. I hope you enjoy this opportunity catch up on recent events— for the latest news and information, please keep an eye out for the “From Albany Road” e-newsletter and visit our website, deerfield.edu.

And if Deerfield Magazine brings to mind your days of glory, please let us know by sending an email or class note—we’re always happy to hear from you. //

Director of Communications

Director of Communications

Multimedia Specialist

Production Manager

Design & Art Director

Archivist

Social Media & Email Manager

Jessica Day

Jacklyn Bunch

Cara Cusson

Brent M. Hale

Anne Lozier

Jess Wissemann

Produced by the Deerfield Academy Communications Office: Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA 01342. Telephone: 413-774-1860 communications@deerfield.edu Publication Office: Cummings Printing, Hooksett, NH. Third class postage paid at Deerfield, Massachusetts, and additional mailing office.

Deerfield Magazine is published in the fall, winter, and spring.

Deerfield Academy does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, age, disability, status as a veteran or being a member of the Reserves or National Guard, or any other classification protected under state or federal law. Copyright © The Trustees of Deerfield Academy (all rights reserved)

2 | VOLUME 76, NUMBER 1

Cover + inside spread: Brent M. Hale

With the Band...

This photo from pages 40 and 41 in the Spring 2018 issue of Deerfield Magazine inspired a delightful series of emails, beginning with one from Ned Hall ’59 who thought he recognized some familiar faces. Judith Solberg, daughter of John M. Forbush ’60 then wrote to request a copy of the photo because a relative had mentioned seeing it and recognized Judith’s dad. The very next day Academy Archivist Anne Lozier received an email from Ms. Solberg’s mother (widow of John Forbush), excerpts of which appear below. With Mrs. Forbush’s permission, Anne subsequently shared her correspondence with Ned and Warner North ’58, who also had some comments about the photo.

Finally, Ned’s own brother Eric ’61 provided additional insight. Ned's request was for more “identification games” in future issues of Deerfield Magazine. Thank you to one and all for taking the time to write!—JD

Dear Ms. Lozier, This is Kate Forbush, widow of John M. Forbush ’60, and mother of Judith Solberg.

It was Judith who wrote you about the photograph in the most recent Deerfield Magazine of my late husband and the jazz band in—I’m guessing—1959, possibly at a Commencement event . . .

I can tell you that the pianist is Mike Moran, probably also Class of 1960.

John admired Mike’s musicianship and we followed his career with interest. At some point Mike was playing New York clubs, I believe, and he married a recognized singer who still performs as Kitt Moran.

They have retired together to Florida, where they are remain active performers as The Kitt Moran Trio. Mike doesn’t use his own name on the header, which puzzled me, given his level of talent, until Internet sleuthing revealed a noted musician in the UK also named Mike Moran, also a jazz pianist, which may be the reason.

John himself remained an active musician, both as flutist and singer, until his final illness and death from renal complications of diabetes in 2011.

He was pre-deceased by his father, Walter A. Forbush (I think a PG, not sure of the year) and his brother N. William (Bill) Forbush ’64. Brother Robert B. Forbush ’57, is living, retired to Jupiter, Florida . . .

I moved recently, and have not yet located John’s issues of the Pocumtuck; I believe that these contained pictures of the Jazz Band which may have identified the musicians. It is possible that one other member of the group, at least part of the time, may have been Chuck Dauchy (Charles H. Dauchy Jr.), another 1960 classmate. John and I encountered Chuck

and his new bride, Joyce, at the Boston Symphony shortly after they were married.

I seem to remember that Joyce was singing with the New England Conservatory Chorus in a performance of The Creation, and I think that Chuck was introduced to me as someone who’d also played with the jazz band at Deerfield . . .

Finally, I wondered if the photographer was another student at the time, William Duncan, who was a year or so younger than John, perhaps in the class of 1961 or 1962. William Duncan was an avid camera enthusiast even in his teens. He encountered one of my college roommates, Susan Richardson, when they were both students at Columbia Law School. I met Bill at our own wedding, and he and Susan were married about a year later. John had a photo of the Jazz Band, taken at Deerfield, which we have always treasured, and at a 2014 Wellesley mini-reunion I learned that it was Bill Duncan who had taken the photo. This morning I sent Bill copies of the two photos you sent and asked if he’d taken them as well. He said that he hadn’t, but forwarded scans from the yearbooks of the larger Dance Band, with names, from 1959 and 1960. From what I can see in these attachments, Chuck Dauchy was quite probably the percussionist in the Dance Band, and the drummer for the smaller jazz group.

Cordially, Kate Forbush

In a later email, Mrs. Forbush added: John loved his time at Deerfield, which was fairly late in the Boyden era. I did visit the campus with him once and

was introduced to Mrs. Boyden—Mr. Boyden was away with the varsity soccer team that day, I believe—who inquired where I’d gone to college. When I told her ‘Wellesley,’ she shook her head sadly and said, ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’ I had forgotten that I was addressing one of Smith’s most eminent alumnae! She went on to tell me that one of her granddaughters had been so misguided as to consider an undergraduate career at Wellesley, but had been shown the error of her ways and was presently happily ensconced at Smith.

The incident gave John much amusement.

John also loved to tell how she would take attendance in her science classes at the beginning of the school year, and when she heard a familiar name, she would instruct the boy to sit in a particular seat. ‘That’s where your father/brother/ uncle sat,’ she’d say. She never missed a name once a boy had been placed in his ‘family seat.’ I’m sure if we’d had sons John would have liked them to go to Deerfield.

We had three daughters, though, in the era before Deerfield began to accept girls, so there were no more Forbushes in our line at Deerfield.—KF I can’t be sure the guitarist to the right of the pianist is me, but it certainly is a close resemblance to what I looked like about 1958, the year of my graduation from Deerfield . . .

I think you will find pictures of me in the Pocumtuck of 1957 and 1958 with the Dance Band. I don’t have my copies handy, and I can’t compare to see if any of the others in the Vol. 75 No 2 photo might match up with people from the classes of 1957 or 1958.

Ed Esty ’57 was the pianist I remember working with, but Mike Moran might well be the pianist in the Vol. 75 No 2 photo.

(John Moran was in my ’58 class. Perhaps there is a relationship.)

I would like to think it is me in this picture, and that it was taken in 1958, or possibly 1957. But maybe there was someone in the classes of ’59, ’60, or ’61 that played the guitar and looked very much like me, and the picture was taken in 1959 or later.

It is certainly possible that the picture was taken in the spring of 1958 when I was a senior and Mike Moran and John Forbush were sophomores.

—Warner North ’58 Hi Anne...My Brother Eric, '61 has an addition and separate guesses. Also, could you, in further magazines, put in a picture that is of interest but names are unknown to you and ask readers to write you and provide names, as the Forbush family has done here?

We all agree on Mike Moran, and I love that Kate Forbush has told us of his musical exploits after Deerfield.

Many thanks, —Ned Hall ’59 Ms. Lozier, Without question Dave Donnelley is the drummer. Confirm Fitzhugh at left.

I was baffled about North's picture keying on 1959. It must have been '58.

Was baffled by Forbush as well.

I guess you've learned an amusing lesson: Put uncaptioned pictures of Deerfield boys in the magazine and the action starts!

—Eric Hall ’61

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ALBANY ROAD

COMPLEX COMPLETE Deerfield's new Athletics Complex was officially dedicated on October 26. Keynote speakers Katie Guay '01, USA Hockey's director of philanthropy, and former president of the Seattle Seahawks Peter McLoughlin '75 addressed students, employees, and special guests. Self-guided tours, demonstrations, and a fun "family skate" in the Class of 1993 Rink rounded out the event.

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SEE MORE AT: DEERFIELD.EDU/Athletics

Photography by Matthew Arielly + Brent M. Hale

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THE PAVILION T H E J AY A N D M I M I M O R S M A N T E N N I S P AV I L I O N

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Photography by Matthew Arielly + Stephanie Craig

l to r: Mimi Morsman P'89, Jay Morsman '55 P'89, Head of School Margarita O'Byrne Curtis, Todd Martin

Todd Martin, CEO of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum, was the keynote speaker at the September 29 dedication of the Jay and Mimi Morsman Tennis Pavilion. Thanks to the generosity of key donors, this long-awaited facility—which features heat and lights that will allow for year-round play—is an exciting addition to campus. The Morsmans, their children and grandchildren, special guests, alumni, employees, and current students enjoyed refreshments and a game or two to officially open the pavilion. Jay Morsman taught and coached at Deerfield for 53 years; Mimi served as a dorm parent, director of the Academy's Bicentennial celebrations, and then as director of Alumni Relations for 15 years.

What's the deal with the orange hat? Mr. Morsman received this hat from his daughter, Laura Thorsen, years ago.

He subsequently wore it to every practice and every match he coached. Wearing this hat to the pavilion dedication provided a fun remembrance for Mr. Morsman's former players, and it sure made it easy for people to find him in the crowd!

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NEW FACULTY

ALBANY ROAD

Sixteen new faculty members were welcomed to Deerfield this fall. Some are familiar with boarding school life, and others have backgrounds that include Broadway credits, graduating first in class and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, and three Pulitzer Prize nominations. They hail from the East Coast, the Midwest, Thailand, and elsewhere. Four hold doctorate degrees, four are Penn Teaching Fellows, and one holds this year’s Wallace Wilson Visiting Scholar’s Chair, in which distinguished educators from a variety of disciplines come to Deerfield to teach, involve themselves in the life of the school, and complete scholarly projects of their own. After new faculty orientation at the end of August, they were all ready to hit the ground running, and they really haven’t stopped since!

PRUDENCE

PRUDENCE MUNKITTRICK / History Teacher Comes to Deerfield from Carolina Day School in Asheville, NC. Prudence has traveled abroad extensively, and lived in Senegal while she completed her field work for her undergraduate thesis on Mauritania’s role in the war on terrorism.

ELIZA

ELIZA MOTT / English Teaching Fellow Graduated with highest honors from Princeton University in 2016, where she was editor-in-chief of the Nassau Weekly, a docent at the Princeton University Art Museum, and a leader of a consent activism group: SpeakOut. GARY MARX / English and History Teacher / Wilson Fellow Gary is an investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune and a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, most recently in 2015 for a series that documented how hundreds of Illinois youth were assaulted, raped, and prostituted at state-funded residential treatment centers.

G A RY

PARKER LAWLOR / Computer Science Teaching Fellow Graduated in 2018 from Middlebury College as a computer science and geography joint major.

Parker was also a member of the varsity lacrosse team at Middlebury and a Green Dot Ambassador: a bystander intervention program designed to prevent situations of power-based violence.

PA R K E R

BROOKE FERNANDEZ / Associate Athletic Director Served as assistant women’s hockey coach at Middlebury College for two years. A graduate of St. Lawrence University, Brooke was a four-year defensive standout for the Saints women’s hockey team; she was a four-year member of the ECAC All-Academic team and a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year in 2013.

BROOKE

LORI

GABRIELLA BISCOTTINI / Assistant Athletic Trainer While completing her master’s degree, Gabi worked at Deerfield as a Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer, and has now joined the staff full-time. A native of New Jersey, she moved to Massachusetts in 2011 to pursue a degree in Athletic Training and Business Management at Springfield College.

GABRIELLA

B E N JA M I N

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LORI HOLMES CLARK / Theater Teacher Lori, a graduate of New York University, “loves to make new work.” She has choreographed for numerous greats including Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, and Bernadette Peters, creating performances that raised millions of dollars for children battling blood diseases and cancer. Some of her Broadway credits include Wicked, Taboo, and Footloose.

BENJAMIN GRIMM / Philosophy and Religion Teaching Fellow Comes to Deerfield directly from Harvard University, where he graduated summa cum laude with highest honors in the Comparative Study of Religion with a language citation in Swedish, first in his class, and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His senior thesis, “Being Muslim, Becoming Swedish: Swedish Muslim Identity and the Challenge to Secular Nationalism” was awarded the Hoopes Prize.

BRADLEY MOSER / Science Teacher Fell in love with teaching as a graduate student earning his PhD in physics at the University of Connecticut. His scholarly interests include physics education research and teaching physics for the life sciences. He also enjoys contemplating the “tiny world” of quantum mechanics and the vast dimensions of cosmology.

BRADLEY

MOLLY NICKERSON / Science Teacher Comes to Deerfield after three years at the Hotchkiss School, where she was a UPenn Teaching Fellow and then a full-time member of the Hotchkiss faculty. Molly graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 2015 with a degree in biology.

PANNAPA HERABAT / Math Teacher A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, Pannapa holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, she was awarded the distinguished King’s Scholarship and attended Tabor Academy. Pannapa was an assistant professor and associate dean at the School of Civil Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand for eight years before her move back to the US.

M O L LY

PA N N A PA

MELISSA DICKEY / English Teacher Melissa is a poet and writer. Her first book, The Lily Will, was published in 2011, and her second book of poems, Dragons, was published in 2016. A native of New Orleans, Melissa earned a BA in English with a concentration in writing from the University of Washington.

JEFFREY CROSBY / Science Teacher Jeff is a veteran of independent schools having been on the faculty at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH, for twelve years. Prior to that he taught at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, for nine years. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology.

MELISSA

JEFFREY

NINA OTTERSON / Math Teacher Nina graduated from Columbia University with a PhD in chemical engineering. She has worked in boarding schools, including Exeter, Lawrenceville, Peddie School, and Hotchkiss, for 18 years teaching math and coaching girls’ lacrosse and basketball.

MARGARET BROWN / Health Educator Margaret earned a master’s degree in Public Health in 2005 and her doctorate in Community Health Education in 2018. In addition to teaching over the years, Margaret developed curriculum for middle and upper school health courses and served as an interim history and social sciences department chair.

MARISSA CORNELIUS / History Teaching Fellow Marissa attended the University of Alabama as an undergraduate with a “full-ride” academic scholarship, and as part of the Honors College graduated summa cum laude. She majored in secondary education and history and minored in political science. In addition to being a teaching fellow at Deerfield, Marissa has been a teaching fellow for the charter network Uncommon Schools.

NINA

MARGARET

MARISSA

Photographs by Brent M. Hale

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SHOW YOUR WORK

THE OPPORTUNITY: Center for Service and Global Citizenship Grants THE STUDENTS: 17 Students Received ~ $15,000 in Grants in 2017-18 THE ADVISORS: CSGC Director David Miller and Dean of Spiritual and Ethical Life Jan Flaska

THE PROGRAM: Deerfield Academy’s Center for Service and Global Citizenship (CSGC) provides current students with grants during the summer and over March (spring) break to work on improving their communities or the environment or on numerous other civic-minded projects. These grants “invite Deerfield Academy students to serve others,” and they are offered through the generosity of the Cost, Earle, Mendillo, and Workman families.

AS FOR THE GIRLS, THEIR ENTHUSIASM AND DRIVE TO LEARN IS UNPARALLELED, EVEN COMPARED TO DEERFIELD STUDENTS.

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During and after their service projects, as part of each grant award, students are asked to write reflections and participate in the CSGC Summer Grant Showcase in the fall.

Informative, heartfelt, and genuine, these essays are strong examples of Deerfield students being “worthy of their heritage” as the Academy prepares them for leadership in a rapidly changing world. //

Courtesy of Elven Shum

EDUCATION TO BUILD THE FUTURE: CAMBODIA ELVEN SHUM ’20 According to a study by the Education Management Information System (EMIS), in Cambodia, only 33 percent of girls are enrolled in lower secondary school and 11 percent at upper secondary school.

At my previous school, I connected with a Cambodian teacher who brought me to schools around her home country to teach classes in mathematics and English. The most prominent facility was the Program Advancing Girls’ Education (PAGE) in Siem Reap.

The non-profit organization provides meals, housing, and schooling to 36 girls; without PAGE, they would never have had the chance for higher education. The girls live in one facility where they attend high school in the morning and additional classes in the evening.

This past summer, I traveled to Cambodia primarily to teach English; these girls, like many young Cambodians, believe English plays a key role in their future success. Each day, for three uninterrupted hours, I taught English. The girls could read and write at an introductory level; however, their speaking and listening skills tend to be poor, so I designed my classes to emphasize the latter skills.

For them to understand my instructions, I spoke slowly and used basic vocabulary. The language barrier was challenging, but we managed to make do, although I was often stranded at the board, gesturing frantically. Once some of the girls understood, they translated for their friends.

Topics I covered included: verb tense, asking and giving directions, and contractions. To my amazement, through three hours of class, their attention was transfixed to the board. I once attempted to give a five-minute break: they used the time to review their notes.

On weekdays, after dinner, I dropped by another non-profit school near Angkor Wat to teach primary school students. Like the PAGE girls, they share similar deficiencies in their ability to speak and listen to English. While I was gone, the PAGE girls ventured into the city for extra courses, biking home in the dark.

PAGE is run completely off of donations. This means that they often lack basic school supplies such as whiteboard markers, pencil cases, and notebooks. With help from my CSGC Workman Grant, I bought many of these necessary supplies, along with several bikes to help the girls travel.

As for the girls, their enthusiasm and drive to learn is unparalleled, even compared to Deerfield students. Despite, or perhaps because of, their circumstances, they leap at every chance to educate themselves and to provide themselves with a future. //

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hiphoparchive.org/

SHOW YOUR WORK

This past summer I received a CSGC Grant for housing fees while I worked as a research assistant at the Hiphop Archive and Research Institute (HARI) for six weeks.

A part of Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, HARI’s website states: “[HARI] has been committed to supporting and establishing a new type of research and scholarship devoted to the knowledge, art, culture, materials, organizations, movements and institutions of hiphop… HARI serves to organize and develop collections, initiate and participate in research activities, sponsor events and acquire material associated with hiphop in the US and throughout the world.”

As a research assistant, I helped HARI curate and organize canons of hiphop albums. I collected and analyzed recordings, interviews, essays, reviews, academic papers and publications, and additional multimedia. Another central mission of HARI is to understand works of art in a historical context, which entails thorough research of the events that influenced the political, economic, and social landscapes of the years in which key albums were released. In particular, I was assigned to the year 2001, when I was born!

My work was incredibly enriching. HARI emphasizes the importance of understanding both the cultural and aesthetic merits of great hiphop works— it is impossible to ignore either. Since its inception hiphop has served as a vehicle for frank but necessary and truthful narratives about the experience of African Americans. At the same time, it is also a fascinating art form; “Rap” literally means “Rhythm and Poetry.” We investigate the clever wordplay, astonishingly complex rhyme schemes, punchlines, humor and irony, and how rappers choose to rap their words in relation to the beat (flow).

Not only does this work further my own knowledge, but through our work on the HARI website (hiphoparchive.org), anyone who visits the website can gain knowledge on this fascinating and incredibly important topic that enriches both American popular culture and social activists at all levels.

Many students at Deerfield are already immersed or interested in hiphop culture and rap music. Genuine understanding and appreciation for hiphop culture can be incredibly valuable for forging deep relationships in our community; after all, Deerfield is described as a “vibrant, ethical community that embraces diversity.” My goal is to continue hosting various workshops about cultural competency and inclusion at Deerfield using my experience working at HARI. I also hope to communicate what I learned to the CSGC and Office of Inclusion and Community Life to expand ways to promote inclusion and genuine appreciation of cultures that are not our own. //

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Nadia and 9th Wonder / courtesy of Nadia Jo

HIPHOP RESEARCH: PROMOTING CULTURAL COMPETENCY AT DEERFIELD, IN BOSTON, AND ONLINE NADIA JO ’19

I DEDICATED A DREAM PLAYROOM FOR YOUNG PATIENTS TO ENJOY— A POSITIVE PLACE TO COME AND LONG AFTER MY DEPARTURE.

BUILDING A PLAYROOM IN MOROCCO RYAN SAFIRY ’19 This summer, I received a generous grant from the CSGC to contribute to my project of creating a playroom in the Oncology Department of the CHU Hospital in Marrakesh, Morocco, for children suffering from cancer. Cancer awareness has been my focus since last summer, when I volunteered in this hospital and conducted a workshop. I realized that the children who were being treated mainly stayed in their rooms for hours on end, staring at the wall in boredom. The rooms in the pediatric department were cold and empty; children had no means of entertainment or a place for fun interaction with one another. I thought that a playroom in the hospital could have a life-changing impact for these sick children, and I was honored to have the director of the hospital, Dr. Nejmi, accept my proposal and offer me the opportunity to set up a room.

Courtesy of Ryan Safiry

HAVE FUN—(THAT WILL CONTINUE)

My initial plan was to paint the walls of the room, but because of the poor conditions, first I needed to overlay them with plaster to smooth out existing damage. I had chosen yellow for the room, but I had never painted before. I spent the entire second day learning how to paint, and then covered all four walls in the room; it took a lot of work and patience to do it effectively, but in the end, I was proud of the final product: three beautifully coated walls in yellow, and one in white.

I also brought in two homemade wooden benches that I designed, and painted them in burgundy.

Afterward, I had to clean up the mess. The floors were incredibly dirty and the windows had to be fixed. I spent my third day of work progressing towards solving these issues. It took a fair amount of work to find replacement windows in the correct dimensions and install them with the help of workers from the hospital.

Once the room was tidied up, I focused on furnishing it. I placed small play tables and chairs, as well as play-mats, in the room. In Marrakesh, temperatures easily surpass 100 degrees on a daily basis; leading to even hotter rooms when there is a lack of air conditioning. After sweating in the room for several days, I decided to work with the hospital to install air conditioning promptly.

I then placed play boxes that would be able to be filled with toys in various areas in the room. At this point, I was ready to begin turning it into a real playroom.

I returned to Mr. Bricolage (a department store) and was able to find more playroom mats, small tables and chairs, and other appliances. I also visited some local toy stores and bought a mini bowling set, a ring toss game, toy balls, and more.

With toys came the need for a playful setting.

I decorated the painted walls with decals of characters from Super Mario, Pokémon, and Frozen, and also hung up paintings of animals and other child-friendly images that I purchased in the United States.

When I opened the door to the new playroom, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I realized how a little act of kindness can make a positive impact in children’s lives.

Since leaving the hospital, “Le Jardin des Anges” (The Garden of Angels) playroom continues to be a source of happiness for children in the CHU‘s Oncology Department. Creating positive experiences for those less fortunate motivates me to continue to dedicate my life to service for others and improve the world around me. //

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by Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Chip Davis

Here are some factors candidates likely consider when comparing Deerfield to other boarding schools or secondary education options: school size, culture, stability, strength of program(s), reputation, location, college placement, selectivity, dress code, food, schedule, access, and their own gut.

My Dad spent his career in the food business. Before focusing on fish and blueberries in later years, he honed his craft as a produce manager for grocery chains Star Market and Stop & Shop. This required going to the docks in East Boston on many mornings to inspect and select fruit and vegetables coming off the ships. I remember asking him how he could tell the cargo was good just from eyeing a few samples.

I later came to learn my father was evaluating the vendor more than the freight itself. Have you ever stood pensively over a bin of cantaloupes or avocados and questioned if you were picking a winner?

Do you have a trusted set of techniques in selection? Do you recalibrate your selection bias when you misfire?

Admission practices are high profile in the news these days.

Everyone in my line of work is paying close attention, asking questions and examining current practices. Editorials are attempting to expose the “arcane” and scrutinize the “scoring” methods in student composition.

Bias, often implicit, along with metrics, are uneasy dance partners in the taxonomy of student selection. We are self-reflecting at DA, too, in an effort to recognize our own limitations in the application of subjectivity, and in building mindfulness in order to grow.

Here are some factors candidates likely consider when comparing Deerfield to other boarding schools or secondary education options: school size, culture, stability, strength of program(s), reputation, location, college placement, selectivity, dress code, food, schedule, access, and their own gut. Everyone, in myriad ways, sorts these into weighted levels of influence and exercises their preferences in choosing a school. Our challenge on the leading edge is in message dexterity—that balancing act of appealing to many without traversing onto message diffusion.

These are the factors inherent in our evaluation process: demonstrated intellectual ability, talent (demonstrated or anticipated), breadth and depth of interest, intellectual promise, self-motivation, character, social intelligence, service and leadership qualities,

14 | ALBANY ROAD

and markers of identity. In a process with many sources of input and evaluation, we sort, affirm, question, extrapolate, converse, evaluate, and ultimately choose based on the privilege to be selective.

On a more objective level, we look at writing, testing, transcripts, recommendations, achievements, interest within the school community, and interview assessment. There is no finite rubric for the allocation of variables. That is what makes the work a good exercise in civil discourse and philosophy.

It is reasonably accepted that diversity of thought and experience is a noteworthy objective for any outcome in student body composition.

Writing a blueprint to produce that outcome is hard work and even debatable. Over the last five years, Deerfield has renovated or built significant new spaces for academics, arts, and athletics—the “triple A” of the school. We are stating conspicuously that program matters with these beautiful and purposeful spaces, and the pressure to populate them is felt. We laud the value in process and achievement in outcome. In the aggregate, program is the tangible face of the school. Emphases on particular priorities in admission tend to be short-lived and cyclical, and can respond to perceived weakness more than known strength, so program can ebb and flow.

Deerfield’s place in its cohort as a “big school that feels much smaller on most days” is attributable to people, not program. Quality of dorm life, peer to peer teamwork and support, and teaching through scholarship and mentorship design-build any discernible path towards excellence. It may be increasingly countercultural and difficult to measure and assess the personals (professional jargon) for each applicant, but Deerfield has always treated this variable as mission critical. Are you curious, kind, a team player or a team builder? Imagine the inverse if there was no admission inquiry at all in these areas. It is what we try to solve for in the Deerfield Academy equation amidst a cacophony of produce; our algebra in a calculus world. //

Anna Denisova

Multivariable: An Admission Reflection

AV E R AG E C L A S S S I Z E : 1 2

3 41 B OYS

319 GIRLS 1 2 % F O R E I G N N AT I O N A L S

38 S TAT E S

PLUS THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

660

38

STUDENTS

COUNTRIES

32% US STUDENTS OF COLOR (S E LF R E P O R TE D)

5 % U S N AT I O N A L S LIVING OUTSIDE OF THE US

17.7%

85

A D M I T R AT E

D AY

10.8M

1,845

$

IN FINANCIAL AID

APPLICANTS

575

215

BOAR DING

NEW STUDENTS

* Statistics as of September 2018

THE D -TA I L S

15

Mark Acton

Varsity Volleyball “FIGURE IT OUT!” Mark Acton says that growing up, he was the kind of kid who would look at a problem or situation and just have to find a solution. Now, as a physics teacher, chair of the Science Department at Deerfield, and coach to the varsity volleyball team, he says it’s a vital part of his job to instill in his students and players the ability to become, as he describes it, “problem solvers.”

“I can remember always trying to break a problem down to see how simple I could make it, then figuring out what I needed to do to solve it, and that’s why I fell in love with physics—I love solving problems.”

“I’ve basically taken the same approach to coaching volleyball that I have to teaching physics,” explains Acton, who earned a PhD in the subject from the University of Michigan in 2008.

“And why not? When you think about it, both are really quite similar; both involve movement, energy, speed, and angles.”

From day one as coach Acton turned to problem solving. First, he broke down the roster to see what he knew: number of returning players, positions played, and how they performed in those positions. Then, he concentrated on unknowns: who his new players were and the positions they would best be suited to play. From there, Acton began the process of building the team with the goal of helping his players improve while maintaining and growing confidence.

Volleyball also figured in the classroom when early on in the year a sport-related question appeared on a test in AP Physics.

9-9 SEASON RECORD

16 | ALBANY ROAD

BEHIND THE BENCH

b y B o b Yo r k

deerfield.edu/athletics M O R E S C O R E S / S TAT S / S T O R I E S

Brent M. Hale

“I had them think about a jump serve,” explains Acton, “and I wanted them to calculate the minimum speed they would need to hit the ball to make it over the net. Plus, I wanted them to figure out the maximum speed they would need to ensure the ball would land in the court. It’s a good straightforward physics question and it also gets non-volleyball players to realize the precision with which you have to hit the ball to be successful.

“For the way I set up the question, the correct answer is that you need to serve the ball at approximately 45 miles per hour to make it over the net, but no faster than 48 miles per hour to keep it in the court,” says Acton. “Other assumptions or a different setup for the question would give you different answers.”

In other words: It’s complicated.

Although this was Acton’s coaching debut with Big Green volleyball, he’s no stranger to the sport, and with an early 6-1 showing under its belt, he helped guide the program to one of its best starts in school annals. (The team ended the season nine and nine.) Acton played the game at Montgomery Blair High School near Washington, DC, for three years and helped lift the Blazers to a county championship his senior year, “Which,” Acton comments, “was no small feat—the county has 27 high schools. Around here, that would be the equivalent of winning a Western Mass championship.”

That title run concluded Acton’s brief playing career, however, as the standout middle hitter moved on to Williams College, which has no men’s volleyball program. Instead, he opted to participate in rowing while at Williams and in 2000 graduated with a BA in physics. From there, he joined the Peace Corp for a year before returning to Montgomery Blair to teach physics and coach volleyball.

“It’s amazing what you can learn about someone if you just ask the right question,” says Deerfield Athletic Director Bob Howe. “Last spring I asked Mark why he wasn’t involved in coaching—as someone who’s as awesome with kids as he is, I figured he should be. Then I asked him if he might be interested in taking over the volleyball program.

“That’s when I learned that he had played the game, coached the game, and loved the game,” adds Howe, “and that he was excited for an opportunity to coach it again. Since taking over, Mark has shown great enthusiasm and commitment to the kids, and it has really allowed the program to click.”

I had them think about a jump serve, and I wanted them to calculate the minimum speed they would need to hit the ball to make it over the net.

“Getting involved in volleyball again was just the greatest feeling in the world,” says Acton, who is no rookie in the Deerfield coaching ranks, either. During an earlier tour of duty at the Academy—from 2007 to 2011—he helped coach cross country and rowing.

“The only drawback was it proved to be a real challenge for me to stay off the court,” quips Acton, whose second time around with Deerfield began in 2015. “I just wanted to get out there on the court and play. Obviously I couldn’t then, but now I can on occasion.”

“Dr. Acton loves to take part in practices,” says team Captain Abby Bracken ’19, who also happens to be a student in Acton’s AP Physics class. “One of the things that impresses me the most about him is that he makes both physics and volleyball fun; physics gets a lot of hype as being scary,” adds Bracken, who hopes to major in some form of science in college, “but Dr. Action makes sure that you learn something and have fun!

“Just the other day for one of our physics projects we shot off some rockets,” says Bracken. “We could have gotten the same information from a text book, but Dr. Acton had us go outside where we had the opportunity to get some hands-on experience. As far as I’m concerned, that makes all the difference in the world.” //

17

DWELLING IN POSSIBILITY:

BY MARK SCANDLING

18

LAUNCHES STUDENTS & TEACHERS

JERMANI, STANDING POOLSIDE, LOOKS STRAIGHT INTO THE CAMERA, EXTENDS HER RIGHT ARM, POINTS HER FINGER, SMILES, AND WITH A THUMBS UP DECLARES IN HER LILTING NEW ORLEANS’ ACCENT, “BEFORE I CAME TO KIPP STEP, I COULDN’T DO THIS!” Then she leaps into the deep end, almost touches the pool’s bottom, bobs to the surface, and begins to swim toward me.

Around us, her peers, some treading water, some floating on noodles, and some aided by aqua belts, cheer her courage and commitment in having learned to swim over the previous two weeks.

Like almost 550 other rising eighth graders who have attended Deerfield’s KIPP STEP summer sessions over the past eleven years, Jermani literally and metaphorically embraced the opportunity to learn in the “deep end,” trusting in herself, her classmates from schools across the country and the Pioneer Valley, and her teachers drawn from KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter schools and the Academy.

These students, whether dissecting a sheep’s heart in the biology lab, applying their physics knowledge in fashioning power-generating windmills, insightfully discussing the parallels between The Odyssey and Suzan-Lori Parks’ drama Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 and 3, or working through the fifth or sixth exacting revision of a 200-word description based on a painting from Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, rise to the challenges, often exploring intellectual and imaginative reserves they perhaps had not been called upon to tap previously.

Eager to live out KIPP’s credo that every child can “climb the mountain to college and beyond,” the youngsters, regardless of their school, fearlessly look for more depth in themselves and in their educations as they raise their hopes for the future.

However, as I look back over my eleven summers teaching English and helping some students learn to swim, I recognize that I can echo Jermani’s claim about valuing new, richly rewarding experiences at KIPP STEP. Having earlier worked for two summers for Prep for Prep, a successful New York program that prepares talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds for placement in the city’s independent schools and boarding schools elsewhere, I had some experience working with middle school students and jumped at the chance in 2008 to join Andy Harcourt and Dennis Cullinane, two long-time Deerfield science teachers, in helping Jeff Armes, one of the Academy’s directors of admission, bring the program he envisioned to life.

Aside from sharing Deerfield’s resources —especially the science labs in the then-new Koch Center—with eager youngsters already eyeing their high school years, we believed the program would allow Deerfield and KIPP teachers to benefit from a mutual exchange of ideas and experiences. And with the intention of striving to fulfill Head of School Margarita O’Byrne Curtis’ hope that the Academy could be a “private school with a public purpose,” we worked to blend left: Deerfield KIPP’s ideals and science teacher practices with Deerfield’s Khaleh Thomas traditions and values.

We welcomed KIPP teachers to our classrooms and traveled to conferences to lead WE BELIEVED THE PROGRAM workshops as equal WOULD ALLOW DEERFIELD members of the KIPP STEP team. At those AND KIPP TEACHERS TO gatherings, we often BENEFIT FROM A MUTUAL met young Deerfield EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND graduates who were teaching at or leading EXPERIENCES. AND WITH KIPP schools. above: Eaglebrook School THE INTENTION OF STRIVING These essential physics teacher Dan Murphy TO FULFILL HEAD OF SCHOOL collaborations stand today as the aspect of teaching I had not MARGARITA O’BYRNE CURTIS’ regularly encountered before KIPP STEP. HOPE THAT THE ACADEMY During the school year, the doors to our COULD BE A “PRIVATE SCHOOL Deerfield classrooms often remain closed, the teachers secure in their own realms.

WITH A PUBLIC PURPOSE,” During the summer program, those doors WE WORKED TO BLEND remain open, with teachers ever alert to the KIPP’S IDEALS AND moments of inspired sharing that may arise.

I am proud to count a number of dedicated PRACTICES WITH KIPP teachers from schools in California, DEERFIELD’S TRADITIONS Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, AND VALUES. Oklahoma, and Texas as professional

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JESS WISSEMANN & BRENT HALE

19

JERMANI, JUST AS SO MANY OTHER YOUNGSTERS HAD BEFORE HER, FOUND SHE COULD ACHIEVE MORE THAN SHE IMAGINED BY LETTING GO OF THE WALL, STEPPING OUT OF THE SHALLOWS, BELIEVING THAT NO ONE WOULD LET HER SINK, AND, FINALLY, TRUSTING IN HER OWN POWER.

20

colleagues. And I hope my Deerfield students, be they ninth or twelfth graders, have gained from techniques I developed with my summer peers from the revelatory observations and lingering conversations around the Arms Building, in Koch Center nooks, and under the trees on the John Louis quad.

Our public discoveries and shared insights have traveled well beyond the campus, thanks especially to Jay Gowen and Stephanie Hinton, both veterans of KIPP middle schools and multiple Deerfield summers and recipients of KIPP’s prestigious Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award. I recall how often Jay reminded us to value the students’ emotional lives in our discussions of Shakespeare’s plays as much as we gave imaginative weight to the lives of Romeo and Juliet, or the Macbeths.

And I can still see Stephanie’s painstakingly crafted lesson plans, ones designed narrowly to guide her next discussion but, more importantly, to have a longer life in New Orleans, where she could share them with other young ELA (English Language Arts) teachers whom she mentored. I cannot help but think that Jay, now the achievement specialist for KIPP Houston High Schools, and Stephanie, now the instructional coach at KIPP Renaissance High School in New Orleans, might track some of their best practices back to their KIPP STEP experiences at Deerfield.

This past summer, I had the pleasure to teach alongside two Deerfield graduates: Jack Kinder ’05, who first sat in my classroom as a ninth-grader in 2001 and now teaches English at Sidwell Friends in Washington, DC, and Anna Gonzales ’12, who currently teaches English at Deerfield.

As my earlier KIPP colleagues and I had done, the three of us placed chairs just inside the doors of our rooms in the Arms Building, a signal that observers could enter, sit, and watch as long as they desired.

Our students surely noted in moving through the rooms that any number of ideas were floating from blackboard to blackboard, and discussion to discussion. The benefits of those migrations became clear one day

in the third week as we discussed a complicated love triangle in Parks’ play. My class first noticed a difference in the way two embraces were described. Early in the first part, Hero and Penny, two slaves on a farm “in the middle of nowhere Texas,” hold a deep embrace, and then in the third part after Hero returns from the Civil War with a new name and outlook, the two share a layered embrace.

The students eagerly explained their views on the implications of the adjectives and emotions—one boy in Anna’s class inventively comparing the complicated relationship to the textures in a dish of lasagna. Jack’s class then added flavor to the discussion by detailing the way the lines spoken around the embrace were almost identical, save for one punctuation mark. Suddenly, the difference between the exclamation point and the period became a weighty clue to consider in making a judgment. Separately, the three teachers may have missed the mark; together, moving into and out of those inviting chairs, we discovered new possibilities.

For me, each KIPP STEP session opens an opportunity for my students, my colleagues, and I to, as Emily Dickinson tried, “dwell in possibility.” Those possibilities abound, and I’m thankful that so many younger colleagues have inspired me to keep searching for them.

Jermani, just as so many other youngsters had before her, found she could achieve more than she imagined by letting go of the wall, stepping out of the shallows, believing that no one would let her sink, and, finally, trusting in her own power.

For me, even after eleven years of helping kids learn to swim, I can’t say my swimming is much better. But my teaching: I’m so much further along. //

The KIPP STEP summer program at Deerfield is fully funded from private donations.

It provides a unique opportunity for selected rising eighth graders (current seventh graders) from three local middle schools in the Pioneer Valley and dozens of KIPP middle schools around the nation to experience the academic rigor and lifestyle of a top boarding school.

The program’s emphasis on science and ELA develops students’ skills in research, writing, presentation, discussion, studying, time management, and critical thinking— skills necessary to find success in the most challenging academic environments.

The program also aims to spark a passion for science in students through an intensive physics and biology focus.

Students benefit from the low student to teacher ratio, small class size, and close nature of the three-week residential program. The program is intentionally designed for academically strong, intellectually curious students who exhibit character, personal responsibility, independence, leadership, teamwork, and a strong and sincere interest in attending a boarding school.

In partnership, KIPP and Deerfield Academy teachers design the curriculum and deliver instruction during the program. Students engage in four 70-minute academic periods per day with additional time devoted to independent study, advisor meetings, sports, the arts, field trips and fun. Living on the Deerfield Academy campus in dormitories with adult supervision, students experience the “structured independence” associated with boarding school life.

21

17 18

A GAME-CHANGING YEAR

by Julia Elliott

DEERFIELD ACADEMY ADVANCEMENT REPORT OCTOBER, 2018

FISCAL YR / MILLIONS RAISED

2017/18 $29m 16/17 $27m IMAGINE DEERFIELD CAMPAIGN

15/16 $24m 14/15 $35m 13/14 $29m 12/13 $27m 11/12 $21m 10/11 $25m 09/10 $20m 08/09 $15m

22 | REPORT 2018

Third highest cash total of the past ten years!

When visitors step inside Deerfield’s new Athletics Complex, the invariable response is, “Well, this is a game changer!” Indeed, the 130,000 square foot building, with its soaring new field house and hockey rink, rivals most collegiate athletic facilities. The Athletics Complex, along with the new Morsman Tennis Pavilion and the Health and Wellness Center—now under construction—form a trio of projects that will greatly enhance Deerfield’s campus and community. They have also inspired incredible generosity. “We’ve had terrific alumni and parent support for all three projects,” says Chief Advancement Officer Ann Romberger. “People have really stepped forward, which is exciting.”

Fiscal Year 2017-18 was a ringing success for the Academy: It was a year in which $29 million was raised. The school also raised $37 million in new gifts and pledges, an amount that exceeds FY ’16 by 40 percent. It was, Ann sums up, “a strong finish to the year.”

While these dollar amounts are thrilling, the number that really matters to the Office of Advancement is 47.7 percent. That number represents the percentage of alumni who made donations last year to Deerfield. It is up from 47.3 percent and, for the second time in three years, it puts Deerfield first among the Eight Schools Association for alumni giving. The fact that giving at Deerfield remains so high is especially remarkable in an era when most schools have seen a decline in participation, as overall trust in institutions continues to drop nationally. In fact, one of Deerfield’s peer schools has stopped concentrating on participation numbers altogether. “That is clearly not our position,” says Noah Blake, Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving.

the number that really matters to the Office of Advancement is 47.7 percent ... for the second time in three years, it puts Deerfield first among the Eight Schools Association for alumni giving.

The fact that giving at Deerfield remains so high is especially remarkable in an era when most schools have seen a decline in participation . . .

47.7

%

% of alumni who made donations to Deerfield

1

# Equally important, perhaps, is the fact that a huge number of Annual Fund gifts—68 percent, to be precise—were donations of $250 or less. For Noah, this is proof that “when everybody is pitching in, giving what they can, great things are possible.” Because it is factored into Deerfield’s operating budget, a gift to the Annual Fund, says Ann, “is helping us preserve the endowment for future generations of students.” In other words, a robust Annual Fund means that the school does not have to draw down the endowment, making a gift of any size is in Ann’s view, “a gift [that] helps Deerfield in perpetuity.”

Noah points to several initiatives that were instrumental in getting Deerfield to that 47.7 percent figure. The recently-created Heritage Society, which recognizes consecutive years of giving, has played a big part. Currently, the Heritage Society counts in its membership approximately 600 people at Heritage Gold level (twenty-five consecutive years of giving), 900 at Heritage Silver (ten years), and 1,100 at Heritage Bronze (five years). A whopping 3,400 people have given to Deerfield for two years in a row and are on their way to achieving Bronze status. “In all those cases,” explains Noah, “the amount of the gift is irrelevant. The act of consistently giving a gift every year is what determines membership.”

In addition to the Heritage Society, Deerfield ran three highly successful challenges in 2017-18 that gave alumni opportunities to maximize the impact of their gifts. Stick With Deerfield, which took place over a week in November of 2017, was a crowd-funding campaign targeted to young alumni that gave them the opportunity to choose from a menu of projects to support: cutting-edge science equipment, a service project in Tanzania, athletics livestreaming, theater trips, and student feeds. Perhaps not surprisingly, student feeds got the most support. “I’m sure on the corridors of the various dorms that was much appreciated,” says Noah. What the Office of Advancement most appreciated was that the young alums’ enthusiastic participation got the 2017-18 fiscal year off to a strong start. The challenge was repeated with new opportunities to support Deerfield this November.

AMONG THE EIGHT SCHOOL ASSOCIATION

68% % of donations <$250

37m

$

new gifts + pledges

23

Another record-smashing new challenge was One Deerfield: A Day of Giving. This inaugural event took place

2019 Day of Giving: Feb. 28!

24-HOUR PERIOD:

1,057 No. of participants

$403,183 raised

24 | REPORT 2018

on March 1, the date in 1797 when Governor Samuel Adams, the famous patriot and beerbrewing master, signed a charter founding Deerfield Academy. On this day in 2018, the Office of Advancement asked the entire Deerfield constituency to pitch in and make a donation.

Noah recalls sitting at his desk at two o’clock in the morning on March 2, watching a steady trickle of gifts come in online (he might have been watching a little Netflix, too) as the challenge headed toward its 9:00 am finish line. He even corresponded at that late hour with an alumnus who was checking to make sure that One Deerfield was truly a twenty-four hour event. “Deerfield people really care about Deerfield, even at two o’clock in the morning,” Noah observes. And, indeed, a historic 1,057 participants showed their love for Deerfield on that day—more people than had ever given to the school —Noah Blake in a single twenty-four hour period. A gift even came in from an alumnus from the Class of 1937, an online donation that Advancement thought for sure must be a typo, until they checked the database and confirmed that it represented a gift from the oldest participant in the challenge.

One Deerfield was successful in large part thanks to a generous commitment from Karen and Rob Hale ’84 P’15,’17,’18, who offered to match new Annual Fund donations (gifts from donors who had not yet made a donation during the fiscal year) of any size. The end result was $403,183 raised on that single day.

Due to its great success, Advancement plans to repeat the challenge this year: Deerfield’s 2019 day of giving will take place on February 28.

The third challenge, in June, was made possible by a gift from Trustee Rudi Wachsman ’53. His generous offer was that, for every gift to the Annual Fund from a person who had not yet donated that year, he would match their donation with $1000. His offer, dubbed “A Grand Challenge,” proved to be tremendously successful in terms of pushing Deerfield up to that 47.7 percent participation number.

Unlike many other institutions, Deerfield tends to thank donors for their gifts and then not solicit them again until the following year, but one trend the Office of Advancement has noted is the tendency for alumni—particularly younger ones—to make multiple gifts throughout the year “without being solicited and to participate in the general spirit of these challenges,” says Noah. “Obviously,” he adds, “we are so appreciative of that. It speaks much more to their character and their desire to help Deerfield than anything we are doing from here.”

Deerfield people really care about Deerfield, even at two o’clock in the morning.

2017-18 ALUMNI PARTICIPATION Class years 1933-2017

In Fiscal Year 2017-18, 40 alumnae joined the 1797 Society, including 24 renewals and 16 new members. In addition, alumnae, even if they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make a 1797-level gift, increased their overall giving to the Annual Fund.

This initiative has not just been about soliciting donations, but about engaging alumnae with Deerfield as volunteers, trustees, speakers, and at on-campus and off-campus events.

The results have been encouraging.

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OPERATING REVENUE

BY PERCENTAGE / FY 2018

TUITION & FEES 53.3%

OTHER SOURCES 3.7%

ANNUAL & DIRECTED ANNUAL GIFTS 10%

ENDOWMENT INCOME 33%

Additionally, in FY18 we utilized $15.2 million of capital gifts to support capital projects

DISTRIBUTION OF GIFTS

Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2018

Annual Giving $6,171,385 21.22% Faculty Renewal, Faculty Expansion, Financial Aid

Endowment Gifts $7,946,428 27.33% Faculty Expansion & Renewal, Financial Aid and Student Support, TBD

Deferred Giving $376,010 1.29% Gifts to Deerfield in exchange for Charitable Gift Annuities, and other planned gifts

Plant & Building Gifts $14,586,576 50.16% Infrastructure and Buildings Renovation, New Community Spaces

Total $29,080,398 100.00% Revenue, total dollars, not including multi-year pledges, received in 2017-2018

26 | REPORT 2018

Alumni participation is not simply about dollars, but also about forging connections.

Advancement has seen a tremendous response to the creation of its online networking and mentoring platform, DA Connect (deerfield.edu/daconnect), which launched in the fall of 2016. In just two years, DA Connect boasts 741 alumni mentors (668 of whom are live on the platform), 499 alumni mentees, and a total of 65 completed career consultations. In the first month after the platform went live, an alumnus from the Class of ’91 wrote to say that DA Connect had immediately provided him with a contact and an insightful career conversation. “Overall, the experience reminded me of how fortunate I am to be a part of the Deerfield network. #WeBleedGreen,” he wrote.

The platform has been so successful that the Office of Advancement has taken it out into the “real world.” Last year, they held one well-attended career networking event in Boston, leading to six DA Connect events in five cities planned for this fall, with more on the way. “What has been really exciting to me,” says Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement Jenny Hammond P’15 “is the continual desire to grow and connect” on the part of Deerfield alumni.

Finally, 2017-18 was a game changer in terms of alumnae participation. Previously, female graduates had been underrepresented in terms of giving at the leadership level. A look at giving to the Annual Fund revealed that, in Fiscal Year ’17, only 27 alumnae were part of the 1797 Society, which recognizes young alumni (those who graduated less than 15 years ago) gifts to Deerfield of $1,797 or more, as well as gifts of $5,000 or more for those in their 15th Reunion year and beyond. It was, as Betsey Dickson ’94 and Director of the Annual Fund explains, a wakeup call that “we needed to start more strategically engaging our alumnae.” As part of that effort, the Office of Advancement set a goal to increase 1797 Society membership to fifty alumnae by Fiscal Year 2019.

As a first step toward that aim, alumnae on Deerfield’s Board of Trustees wrote letters soliciting leadership gifts from other alumnae. The Office of Advancement also held all-alumnae events and dinners for potential alumnae donors. Around the table at the first dinner party “eyes were opened” when the women in attendance heard that, proportionally, they were not giving in the same numbers as their male counterparts. “It was like, ‘Wow, I did not know these stats,’” Betsey says, “and, ‘Yes! I want to help increase the visibility of women throughout Deerfield, including giving.’”

Clearly, the targeted campaign was a success: in Fiscal Year 2017-18, 40 alumnae joined the 1797 Society, including 24 renewals and 16 new members. In addition, alumnae increased their overall giving to the Annual Fund even if they didn’t make a 1797-level gift.

This initiative has not just been about soliciting donations, but about engaging alumnae with Deerfield as volunteers, trustees, speakers, and at on-campus and off-campus events. The results have been encouraging. Jenny Hammond describes witnessing a conversation among alumnae of various ages at an event in Washington, DC, where “what was great was to see the connections made by these women in different stages in their careers and their lives.” For Ann Romberger this broad alumnae effort is part of her office’s responsibility “to find folks that haven’t

741 499 alumni mentors

alumni mentees

below: DACONNECT event at PRIMARY, Financial District, NYC

Overall, the experience reminded me of how fortunate I am to be a part of the Deerfield network. #WeBleedGreen —An alumnus from the Class of ’91 wrote to say that DA Connect had immediately provided him with a contact and an insightful career conversation.

previously been engaged with the Academy,” to connect them with Deerfield and with each other, and to be as inclusive as possible.

The Office of Advancement recognizes that their successes—in overall dollars raised but especially in terms of participation—are enviable. They are quick to deflect praise, however. “We are successful because this institution, and most specifically the faculty and staff, have been creating quality student experiences for decades,” says Noah Blake. “We are so grateful to those who have come before us for providing those kinds of experiences. Deerfield people really love Deerfield, and that is something that persists from year to year and allows these successes to occur.” // 27

Worthy of...

Helen Childs Boyden

by Orlee Marini-Rapoport â&#x20AC;&#x2122;19

Senior Orlee Marini-Rapoport was selected as one of two inaugural Montague Grant recipients this past spring. Inspired by a quote from Bill Guthrie â&#x20AC;&#x2122;43, she pursued answers to her research question in the Academy Archives:

What role did Helen Childs Boyden have within the Deerfield Academy community, and how did she influence the broader landscape of independent school education?

28

29

Deerfield Academy Archives

Helen Childs Boyden was before her time in many ways.

She helped to make complex decisions at a then male-dominated institution; her passion and fearlessness, combined with her willingness to rise to the expectations of a headmaster’s wife, allowed her a unique amount of influence at a small New England boarding school that became a leader in secondary education. Her honorary Doctorate from Smith College says it all: She, “with some slight assistance from her husband, created in Deerfield Academy one of the truly great schools of the country,” bearing witness to the fact that Mrs. Boyden poured her life into teaching and shaping Deerfield Academy into what it is today.

Born on September 20, 1883, Helen Childs grew up in the Town of Deerfield alongside several siblings. She attended the Academy, which was at that time the town’s public high school, and as such, a coeducational institution. But after her sophomore year, her father, a well-known dairy farmer in the area, decided that she should transfer to Greenfield (MA) High School if she was to gain admittance to nearby Smith College in Northampton.

After two years at Greenfield High, Helen Childs was indeed accepted into and attended Smith, graduating in 1904. She then headed to Stamford, Connecticut, that same year to teach at the Catherine Aiken School.

Above: Mrs. Boyden and her son Ted in Egypt in the 1960s Left: 1912: Mr. and Mrs. Boyden (left and right), their son John, and an unidentified woman (center).

30

Deerfield Academy Archives

Not far away, Frank Boyden had graduated from Amherst College and begun his remarkable tenure as headmaster of Deerfield Academy in 1902. In 1905 he asked Helen Childs to take on a one-year teaching position at his school. He didn’t want to hire her—he thought her lack of experience was problematic—but less than three years later, on June 27, 1907, she and Mr. Boyden were married in the Brick Church on Main Street.

They had three children: John Cary Boyden, Theodore Childs Boyden, and Elizabeth Boyden. Mrs. Boyden took several years off from teaching to raise their children, but in 1913, at the encouragement of Mr. Boyden, she returned to the classroom as the Head of the Chemistry Department, and continued to teach until her retirement on June 30, 1968.

Deerfield was a very different place when the Boydens were first married, alumni note.

Deerfield students led a constrained life even though there was no official “rule book” for the school. They generally didn’t leave campus, did not have bicycles or cars, and had no access to radio. Students were required to check in with adults at each of several meetings per day, and they attended

Mrs. Boyden enriched the lives of Deerfield boys for decades. Some alumni point to her as the person who changed their lives forever. church on Sundays. In addition, as Mr. Boyden began taking on male boarding students to rescue the school financially, the male-to-female ratio changed and eventually, in 1948, Deerfield became an all-boys institution. Mrs. Boyden was one of only a few women on campus; most teachers, and all students, were male.

Deerfield alumni remember that knowing Mrs. Boyden was one of the defining experiences of their time in high school.

Mrs. Boyden enriched the lives of Deerfield boys for decades, and many remember their relationship to her fondly. Some alumni point to her as the person who changed their lives forever. While many recall that she was more “behind-the-scenes” than Mr. Boyden,

she also made an impression on her students, encouraging them to be curious chemists who did not fear complicated material. At the same time, she acted as a sort of stand-in mother or grandmother, comforting “her boys” and ensuring that each one was treated as an individual.

She took on a myriad of responsibilities at Deerfield. She was the “headmaster’s wife” as she was expected to be, opening their house to faculty every night for coffee and, on Sunday nights, for dinners, but she was also a quintessential member of the faculty. Some years, she taught more classes than any other teacher at Deerfield while scoring baseball games, reading a book or more a week, keeping up on current

Above: a 1958 certificate of “honorary membership” from the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers Left: Mrs. Boyden’s Deerfield Medal— the Academy’s highest honor— awarded to her in 1962.

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Above: the bronze plaque that accompanied the gift of Mrs. Boyden’s greenhouse, which was attached to Ephraim Williams, the Boydens’ residence from 1926 until their retirement in 1968 / Right: Mrs. Boyden’s alma mater, Smith College, presented her with a Doctor of Humane Letters in 1934.

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Forgiving and kind, Mrs. Boyden was also an exacting teacher who emphasized learning and intellectual curiosity. In the mid-1960s, she pushed for an expansion of the Deerfield curriculum: While Mr. Boyden believed that standard classes were sufficient, Mrs. Boyden urged him to introduce AP classes. She later joked that she had to use her “ultimate weapon”— tears—to finally convince him.

Beyond her commitment to academics and nurturing the whole student, what made Mrs. Boyden so successful was her complete sincerity. Many of “her boys” spoke of her so fondly because she truly delighted in teaching and interacting with them. On October 27, 1973, the Deerfield Scroll quoted Mrs. Boyden as saying, “When I die and go to heaven, I hope there is a blackboard, a piece

of chalk, and a lot of little boy angels who want to be taught. Then I shall be happy.”

And she meant it. She taught her students both inside and outside of the classroom: She had a seemingly endless amount of advice for them, which she isolated in aphorisms that many of her former students remember to this day. These included: “Science is the search for pure knowledge, not for application”; “The difficult we do immediately— the impossible will take a little longer”; “Choose high failure rather than low success”; and, “You always have to sacrifice something little for something big.” And despite the absence of an official Deerfield rule book, Mrs. Boyden’s gentle reminder that “the trouble you don’t get into, you won’t have to get out of” instilled in students a desire to stay within the boundaries of the institution.

According to alumni, Mrs. Boyden was someone you just didn’t want to disappoint. Former students of hers admit to working harder in her class than in others because she had earned their deep respect through innovative and engaging teaching practices.

Deerfield Academy Archives

events, and traveling extensively during school breaks. She also maintained a garden next to Ephraim Williams House for many years—a gift from the mothers of the boys attending Deerfield in 1952.

Mrs. Boyden had some quirks, which former students remember warmly. She would arrive at Deerfield swim meets an hour before the start time and sit in the grandstand knitting; she didn’t want to arrive after all the seats were taken and have a student offer to give his seat up for her.

She loved the sentence “Possunt quia posse videntur” from Book V of Virgil’s Aeneid, loosely translated as: “They can because they think they can.”

According to alumni, Mrs. Boyden was someone you just didn’t want to disappoint.

Former students of hers admit to working harder in her class than in others because she had earned their deep respect through innovative and engaging teaching practices.

As she stated during a dinner to mark Mr. Boyden’s 50th anniversary at Deerfield (on April 29, 1952), Mrs. Boyden believed that “...the object of science is to teach you to search for the truth—to search for the truth by weighing all the facts.” She constantly asked students to view chemistry through this lens, while at the same time making a notoriously complex subject accessible through various analogies to relationships between boys and girls—an approach she likely believed would be particularly memorable to teens at an all-boys school.

One memorable day during a chemistry class, Mrs. Boyden snapped at Victor Butterfield, Class of 1922, who later became president of Wesleyan University, “Victor, when are you going to stop trying to remember and start trying to think?” That piece of advice, hidden in her question, stuck with the entire class. Years later, Mr. Butterfield would say, “I count Mrs. Boyden among the few great teachers I have ever had… She embodies, as do very few, the total wealth of qualities which make cultivated living an inspiring thing... She gives the life of the mind a dignity, a depth, and a range which command the respect of all.”

Peter Atkinson ’62 was a student in Mrs. Boyden’s math class as a junior. He later became close to her as both a family friend and colleague upon returning to Deerfield after college to teach. He describes her as “the sweetest, kindest, most generous human ever,” someone with a “super soft heart” yet “good standards.” He would not describe himself as mathematical, but found Mrs. Boyden to be a “brilliant teacher” who had an “instinct to feel for ways to make things memorable” while “being a wonderful person in the process.”

“She is a model of what a teacher ought to be,” Mr. Atkinson said, but he stressed that Mrs. Boyden “wasn’t doing a job” but was instead “being herself.” She was innately generous and warm with an “adventurous mind,” and teaching and being a Headmaster’s wife came easily to her.

He also noted that she was “sort of a grandmother to me and everybody” and remembers that Mrs. Boyden “was famous for having a soft spot for the little freshmen.” When she judged the annual “Fresh-Soph Debate,” he believes that she always voted for the freshmen.

Mr. Atkinson also remembers that Mrs. Boyden “genuinely loved” opening her house every evening to faculty, where she would serve coffee from a giant silver urn and chat with others. She would also host a Sunday evening dinner, which Mr. Atkinson first attended as a student after being elected a Senior Class Officer. There he saw her “from a completely different angle” —talking with fellow faculty members and students in an unguarded way.

Mrs. Boyden had her share of challenges as well. She began to go blind during her last years as a teacher at Deerfield. (Many of her former students guess that she was suffering from then-undiagnosed cataracts.)

And she struggled to continue managing her classroom herself, but persisted; she was fierce and unwilling to quit teaching, but also wise. She assigned each student a seat in the classroom for the entire year—former students of hers can still remember where they sat—and relied on the sound of each boy’s voice to determine his identity during class discussions. A teaching assistant helped with grading papers and with any assigned readings or textbook material.

She herself knew the material so well that she taught from memory.

She also continued scoring baseball games despite her blindness. To compensate, she had a student sit next to her and give her a play-by-play of the game, and then she recorded the details to the best of her ability.

Mr. and Mrs. Boyden had decided to announce that they would be retiring, effective in June of 1968, to the Deerfield student body, but while Mrs. Boyden was away on a trip, the press got word of their impending announcement and planned to publish stories about it the next day.

Mr. Boyden was heartbroken but had no choice but to call a School Meeting to announce their retirement on his own.

It was a testament to their relationship— they had developed and bettered the school together, and they had wanted to be together when they announced their retirement.

This reflected what alumni describe as their relationship over time. Theirs was an unusual but harmonious relationship through the years: They were very different people, yet complemented each other. Both were considered down-to-earth and direct in their approach to the world, yet they were also highly intellectual. Mr. Atkinson refers to both of them as “wholesome.”

And through it all, they worked as a team.

Even after their retirement, the Boydens never went far, living in the Manse right at the edge of campus. Incoming Headmaster David Pynchon struggled at first to take over a school whose legacy had been so drastically shaped, and continued to be shaped, by the nearby Boydens. Mr. Boyden died in 1972, but Mrs. Boyden continued to be a part of the school community until her death on October 19, 1973 at 90 years of age.

She was remembered by Deerfield alumni and current students from around the world; letters poured into Deerfield, and the Deerfield Scroll devoted an entire spread in its next issue to her life and legacy. And even after her death, she continued to influence her former students. Bill Guthrie ’43 wrote, “ . . . I can remember puzzling over the school motto and wondering what it meant.

‘Be worthy of your heritage.’ Somehow the word heritage seemed strangely remote and abstract. I was never sure what it was.

So I changed it in my mind to ‘Be worthy of Mrs. Boyden.’ And that was the motto I tried to live up to. And I’m still trying.” //

Special thanks to members of the Class of 1958: Brian Rosborough, David Knight, Dave Halsted, Chip Atwood, Jerry Gibson, Peter Sieglaff, George Carmany, Jeff Urstadt, Peter Clark, Porter Wheeler, David Willis, Otto Doering, and so many additional alumni who shared their personal stories about Mrs. Boyden.

And special thanks to Jim Banner ’53, Julia Rivellino-Lyons, Jessica Day, and Margarita O’Byrne Curtis for their guidance and support throughout the writing and editing process. The Montague Grant for Research and Writing on the History and Purpose of Deerfield Academy is funded by the generosity of Richard W. Montague ’52.

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1 9 3 4 1 9 3 5 1 9 3 6 1 9 3 7 1 9 3 8 1 9 3 9 1 9 4 0 1 9 4 1 1 9 4 2 1 9 4 3 1 9 4 4 1 9 4 5 1 9 4 6 1 9 47 1 9 4 8 1 9 4 9 1 9 5 0 1 9 5 1 1 9 52 1 9 5 3 1 9 5 4 1 9 5 5 1 9 5 6 1 9 57 1 9 5 8 1 9 5 9 1 9 6 0 1 9 6 1 1 9 62 1 9 6 3 1 9 6 4 1 9 6 5 1 9 6 6 1 9 6 7 1 9 6 8 1 9 6 9 1 9 70 1 9 7 1 1 9 72 1 973 1 974 1 975 1 976 1 97 7 1 978 1 97 9 1 9 8 0 1 9 8 1 1 9 82 1 9 8 3 1 9 8 4 1 9 8 5 1 9 8 6 1 9 8 7 1 9 8 8 1 9 8 9 1 9 9 0 1 9 9 1 1 9 92 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 97 1 9 9 8 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 02 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 4 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 6 2 0 0 7 2 0 0 8 2 0 0 9 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 3 2 0 1 4 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 2 0 1 7 2 0 1 8 * 2 0 1 9 Re u n i o n Ye a r s

19 71 FROM THE ARCHIVES

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1948 “Bob Clapp ’48 was featured in the Virginia Beach Friends Meeting July 2018 newsletter; he was interviewed by fellow Friend Dave French: Bob Clapp was born July 20, 1929 (yep, he’s 89 years old) and grew up in Massachusetts. He attended Weston public schools, Deerfield Academy, and the University of Mass (Amherst), and concluded with a Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard Graduate School of Education on the GI bill. After his junior year in college, Bob joined the US Marines from 1952-54. Following boot camp at Paris Island, he trained as an historian instead of studying electronics. Bob became a sergeant, went to Korea and Japan on an aircraft carrier and supervised guys fixing aircraft radios. That’s where he learned to cut hair, and has trimmed his own ever since. Bob originally thought that he would be a Unitarian minister, but changed his mind and pursued landscape architecture. An offer to teach brought him to Virginia Beach. The schools in Norfolk were being closed to avoid desegregating, but he took a teaching offer at Little Creek elementary sixth grade.

Next, he became director of the Therapy Department at A.R.E., where massage is a prominent offering. He became a certified massage therapist. Bob started his own ‘Massage from Bob’ where he’s worked for the past 31 years. Soon after arriving in Virginia Beach, Bob met Ann in a parking lot at A.R.E.. Ann was a music teacher and taught piano. They dated about four years before marrying. The wedding was in our Meeting House. Ann died in 2016. Bob and Ann had two children—Gwen and Linda. Bob’s mother had a biography of Edgar Cayce (There is a River) that he read as a student.

It inspired Bob in Asian religions and metaphysics. Reincarnation and learning about ‘near death’ experiences are important to him. He and Ann started the Virginia Beach folk dancing club at the A.R.E. and went to summer dance camps all over the East Coast. Bob took organ lessons as a kid, and sang in the Unitarian church choir (all males). Bob always loved classical music. His mother got him season tickets to the Boston Symphony, which he loved. He is also an opera buff. Bob did volunteer work as an usher at Virginia Symphony Orchestra concerts at Chrysler Hall and now is a frequent attender at Symphonicity concerts in Virginia Beach.

Soon after moving to Virginia Beach, Bob began meeting with Bob and Louise Wilson at their home before our Meeting House was constructed. He has always been active in our Meeting, serving on various committees including building and grounds and F&P revision.

He’s been a trustee, elder, and overseer, and even the clerk briefly.

Now Bob likes to help out with whatever is needed instead of being assigned to a committee. You’ll often find him in the kitchen helping clean up after meetings. Simplicity is one of Bob’s testimonies; he has lived in his same house for over 50 years. Bob likes the queries— especially the one about overindulgence in tobacco or alcohol.

Another testimony Bob approves of is ‘Speaking truth to power or people who need to hear it.’ Bob was part of the Meeting when they decided to establish Friendship Village—a new residence area for people displaced during the construction of the Virginia Beach

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’48 convention center. He helped establish the Village, was a cheerleader for the project, and helped find funding. The Funeral Consumer Alliance of Tidewater is another important testimony; Bob is treasurer, and has been involved for many years. Bob has also a keen interest in Native American causes, and keeps track of several tribes. Another more recent testimony is Feeding America. This group is able to provide large amounts of food to places that feed the hungry people among us, and donations to Feeding America provide vastly more food than if we individually bought it ourselves. Bob has organized publicity and donations at Meeting each year recently. When Bob moved here he was shocked to find segregation practices, and worked to help end them by doing some door-to-door canvassing. I asked Bob what is his least favorite chore: He said he doesn’t mind doing chores, but the flood of mail is annoying. After looking the ‘junk mail’ over, it becomes a starter for his wood stove. Bob likes cooking, and tries to use organic foods, avoids sugar, and otherwise eats healthfully.”

—Shared by fellow Deerfield alumnus Daniel Read ’70

MORE CLASS NOTES AND PHOTOS: DEERFIELD.EDU/COMMONRO OM

Three stalwart members of the Class of 1948 returned to Deerfield for their 70th Reunion this past June. l to r: BOB “BINSY” BINSWANGER, Pat Rosenwald (wife of John Rosenwald), PAT (MCNERNEY) KELLEHER, and JOHN ROSENWALD

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’67

RICHARD “PETE” VARNEY JR

Pete Varney and his teammates gathered this fall to reminisce—just as they do every year when Harvard hosts “The Game.” This being the 50th anniversary of the infamous 1968 Harvard-Yale tied-score battle, however, the band of brothers also stood up and took a bow during pregame ceremonies at Fenway Park on November 17.

There’s an iconic photo from ’68 of Pete Varney: he’s leaping up in the Harvard end zone, arms raised high above his head, a football clenched in his right hand for all the world to see. In front of Varney, a referee, arms raised as well, is signaling a successful conversion attempt while Yale defensive back Ed Franklin is grabbing Varney from behind in a futile attempt to break up the play.

The image was taken just moments after Varney grabbed a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Frank Champi to cap a miraculous run of 16 unanswered points over the final 42 seconds of the game. The catch, which came with no time remaining on the clock, helped the Crimson overcome what had appeared—less than a minute before—to be an insurmountable 29-13 deficit to salvage a tie. The late surge enabled Harvard to enjoy a “moral victory” that would lead the Harvard Crimson to print its renowned headline: “Harvard beats Yale, 29-29.”

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b y B o b Yo r k

“We had all the momentum, I wish we could have played overtime like they do today . . .

I feel certain we would have won that game,” said Varney, who tuned up for his Harvard exploits with a postgraduate year at Deerfield. “Just to have finished in a tie was really something, though,” added the former Big Green three-sport standout. “When you think about it, everything had to go more than perfectly for us over those final 42 seconds to do what we did.”

Miscues on Yale’s part helped open the comeback trail for the Crimson, as the hosts took advantage of a fumble, a pair of crucial penalties—including an interference call on a pass intended for Varney—plus the successful recovery of an on-side kick to secure the deadlock.

In reminiscing about what is considered by many to be the most thrilling tie in college football annals, Varney, who starred in football, basketball, and baseball at Deerfield, and who later played professional baseball with the Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves following his graduation from Harvard, still remembers his all-or-nothing twopoint conversion vividly.

Getty Images / Sports Illustrated / Jerry Cooke

When Harvard Beat Yale: 29-29

“I knew coming out of the huddle that there was a pretty good chance I’d be the primary receiver on the play,” said Varney, who finished his gridiron career at Harvard with 50 catches for 696 yards and five touchdowns. “Although I was a tight end, I was split out on the play.

I ran a buttonhook pattern . . . running straight into the end zone about two or three yards, then stopped and took a couple of quick steps back toward Champi, who got the ball to me before the Yale defender could recover.

“I caught the ball in my midsection, then quickly held it up over my head as a way of celebrating,” remembers Varney. “The funny thing is, when people saw that picture of me holding the ball over my head, they thought that was a picture of me catching the ball . . . but it wasn’t.”

Looking back on the play, Varney believes there was a little more to making that catch than talent and skill: “I think there was a little luck involved, too,” he admits. “A pass interference penalty was called on the prior conversion attempt, and I think that call influenced Yale’s secondary; I think they were leery about drawing another penalty because it seemed as though they played off a bit on that play and that allowed me an extra second or so to position myself between him and the ball and prevented him from breaking up the pass.”

Harvard’s historic comeback began with just 3:34 remaining in the game and Yale up, 29-13.

That’s when Harvard recovered a Yale fumble on Yale’s 14-yard line. Five plays later, Champi hit Bruce Freeman for a TD strike and it was 29-19 with 42 seconds showing. On the conversion try, Champi missed Varney, but pass interference gave Harvard the ball on the 1, from where Gus Crim bulled over to make it a 29-21 count.

The Crimson then kept the dream alive by recovering an on-side kick at mid-field while a 14-yard scamper by Champi and a 15-yard facemask penalty put Harvard on the Yale 20 with 32 seconds showing. A pair of incomplete passes left the hosts with just 20 ticks on the clock, before Crim battled 14 yards to the Yale 6 with 14 seconds remaining in the game. Champi was sacked, and a timeout gave Harvard just three seconds and one play to finish up strong.

As the clock expired, Champi hit Vic Gatto for the TD, making it 29-27. The rest was in Varney’s hands—literally.

During his year at Deerfield, Varney made an impact during all three seasons. In football, he played fullback, where he was the Big Green’s second-leading rusher during a 4-2-1 season.

Defensively, he played linebacker and was a leading tackler.

“Pete was an outstanding two-way football player,” recalls former Deerfield football Coach Jim Smith. “He was a big, strong kid who caught a lot of passes for us coming out of the backfield and he was a terrific blocker; Harvard obviously took advantage of those traits by moving him to tight end.”

On the basketball court, Varney was one of Deerfield’s leading scorers and rebounders during a 13-1 campaign. As for baseball, this future major leaguer left his mark by clouting one of the longest home runs ever recorded at the school. In Varney’s day, Deerfield’s baseball diamond was located near today’s Harold Smith dormitory, with home plate in proximity to where Headmaster’s Field’s right-field foul pole is situated. From there, Varney launched a shot over Barton: a distance of 470 feet.

Baseball would ultimately become Varney’s lifelong passion. Following a Harvard career that saw him post a .370 batting average and earn Division I All-American honors, he spent the next six years playing professional ball. In 1981 he began a 34-year run coaching at Brandeis University.

Prior to his retirement in 2015, Varney posted a 705-528-6 record at Brandeis and was inducted into the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Hall of Fame just this past spring.

“I’m very grateful to Deerfield,” said Varney. “My year there was a wonderful experience and looking back, it really prepared me for life.

“I owe Coach Smith an awful lot, too,” he added. “I adored the man . . . playing football for him was an unbelievable experience. He had a way of getting the best out of each and every player and if it hadn’t been for him, I doubt I’d have ever gotten involved in coaching.” //

THE GAME: HARVARD, YALE, AND AMERICA IN 1968

GEORGE HOWE COLT Scribner / 2018

Published in October, The Game, by bestselling author and past Deerfield parent George Howe Colt is much more than a replay of that November 23, 1968 season-ending clash between Harvard and Yale; it’s an examination of a watershed year in the United States—a year that included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, inner-city riots, turmoil on college campuses, and omnipresent, the Vietnam War—through the lens of a game, a team, and the individual stories of the young men who took to the field that day.

Pete Varney’s teammates included a player who had recently returned to Harvard after a tour of duty in Vietnam; two members of the radical antiwar group SDS; future Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones; sons of affluence and sons of blue-collar workers. “They came from every class and background, but played side by side and, together, forged a moment of startling grace in the midst of the storm,” observes Colt.

Colt was there in person for the ’68 game: the son of a Harvard alumnus who worked in the college’s fundraising office, he lived a self-described “Harvard-saturated childhood.” Decorating his bedroom with Harvard pennants and nearly wearing out his father’s album of Harvard fight songs, Colt was a devotee of the Crimson’s sports page, and on fall Saturdays he and his brothers followed their parents up the concrete steps of Harvard Stadium. In 1968 Colt was fourteen and no longer quite so devoted to Harvard athletics; “I still enjoyed Harvard football games, even if I now looked forward to the halftime show, in which the band made fun of LBJ, the Pentagon, and everyone over thirty, almost as much as the game itself.

And in mid-November when my father asked me whether I wanted to go to the Yale game, I said of course.” The rest is history.

George Howe Colt is the bestselling author of The Big House, which was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Brothers; and November of the Soul. He lives not too far from Deerfield with his wife, the writer Anne Fadiman. Their daughter Susannah is a member of the Class of 2007.

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1950 The Friends of the Anne Arundel County Trails reported on Edgar “Ed” Parker in an August 2018 article entitled “The Unsung Hero of the Broadneck Peninsula Trail:” You won’t find a more active supporter of the Broadneck Peninsula Trail than Edgar “Ed” Parker.

A 1956 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Ed has served on the board of the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails for 16 years.

He worked with former Councilman Cliff Roop, encouraging him to include in the county budget design monies for its development.

Furthermore, he lobbied former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest who found federal funds for Phase I located near the Broadneck Library in the Segree Rest Area. Ed donated his personal funds to help build it, including a picnic table, bike rack, bench, dog water dish, water fountain, and lovely plantings. He’s also purchased two benches along Phase I for weary travelers, one for his late wife Jean, and one for Councilman Roop. But Ed isn’t stopping there. He’s funding another rest area for Phase II of the trail. The site has not yet been located but will feature amenities similar to the Segree Rest Area. The second will feature a bronze plaque honoring Ed and Jean for the thoughtful gift. Ed has also been active with the ever-ready Trail Blazers, a group of volunteers who patrol the county trails offering assistance to hikers and bikers who need information and medical assistance.

He is also currently active as a facilitator for an Alzheimer’s Care Giver Support Group, serves as a member of the Eastern District Police Relations Council, and has served on the Ann Arundel County Library Foundation. The Friends of Anne Areundel County Trails salutes and thanks you, Ed, for your devotion and contribution to the enhancement of this much awaited trail.

1955 “Terry Fuller, Michael Mayor, and Erik Esselystyn enjoyed a ‘delightful’ three day mini-reunion in May. Erik was the event planner for the get-together in New Haven with their wives, Sharon, Lili, and Celina. The Mayors are happily ‘nestled into Hanover’s CCRC and are pleased to actively continue with her art and my science there.’ Erik and Celina maintain their farm in Plainfield, VT, and the Fullers continue to enjoy living in Greenwich, CT. The young in spirit threesome finds it ‘hard to believe’ that the next Reunion will be our 65th!

We wish we could have joined them, so let’s all plan to join hands again at Deerfield in June 2020.

In the May 27, 2017 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, there was an interesting article about surveys conducted by several New England boarding schools that was captioned “State of the Academy.” According to the article, it stated that ‘kids in highly-achieving schools are more at risk of depression and anxiety and substance abuse.’ Dr. Suniya

’55

Michael ’55 and Ilse Godfrey enjoy spending time at one of their favorite places: Mt. Bachelor, outside of Bend, OR.

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’55 Class of ’55 Mini-Reunion, l to r front row: Lili and Michael Mayor, Celina Moore standing: Erik Esselstyn, Sharon and Terry Fuller

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Luther reported, understandably, that students’ anxieties are mostly caused by pressure to get into a prestigious college. She relates that ‘big-name colleges do not guarantee enjoyable experiences.’ Dr. Luther advised the students to ‘pull back’ from their self-imposed pressure and that ‘you’ll get into some college’ having gone to Delhi University in India herself as an undergraduate. I’m reminded of the ‘brilliance and magic’ of Mr. Boyden’s years before that was related in a letter to the Deerfield alumni by Sheila Dennis: A senior, who when asked where he wanted to attend college answered, ‘Mr. Boyden, I’d like to go to Harvard.’ The Headmaster’s response? ‘Well, I can get you into Harvard, but you won’t have any fun there. You won’t play sports and all you’ll do is study. I think you should consider Colby.’

‘So I went to Colby,’ the now octogenarian continues, ‘and he was right. I played varsity soccer and hockey and I loved it.’

It was good to hear from Michael Godfrey again. He and Ilse have chosen to live in London. He continues to stay active in statistics and related fields. They continue to spend much of their time away from home. He writes: ‘Ilse and I spent quite a long while at Stanford, where I was in the Information Systems Lab. In 2014 we moved to Cold Spring, NY. The main reason for this move was that it was halfway to London. In 2016 we completed the move to London. This is home. I continue to do work in statistics, information, and some related fields. While in Cold Spring I spent a few days at Deerfield mainly talking with the math and science folks. I hope that I did not bore them too much about some more modern topics in the age of computation and information. Anyhow, it was fun and the teaching and teachers seemed excellent. I am tempted to speculate what would be taught if Helen Boyden were still available! Also, in this period we have gotten back to skiing at Mad River and on the West Coast at one of our favorite places, Mt. Bachelor, which is outside Bend, Oregon.

More work to do in that area.”

Kathy and Pete Clapp are fortunately able to say that ‘We’re above most of that at 2600 feet,’ regarding the ‘Vog’ that the Kilauea Volcano eruption has spewed out. They live a safe distance from the volcano in the Kailua-Kona area on the Big Island of Hawaii. He and Kathy are ‘not happy’ though, when they go down the hill to Costco: The air quality is not good there nowadays. He says that it’ll take a while for the volcanic activity to subside but it will happen when a good lava tube gets flowing to the ocean.

Betsy and Mike Grant visited with Meg and William (Moose) Morton who live in Boston, MA. While visiting with them they admired two of Bob Merriam’s paintings hanging on their wall. Meg was able to find a couple more of them and now the Grants also display Bobby’s art on their walls. When Mike was a prospective student stopping by to take a look at the campus Mr. Merriam was the first person he met on the Deerfield campus; he was so young looking that Mike and his parents thought he was also a student! Nowadays, Mike enjoys playing golf a couple of times a week. The Grants four children amazingly reside within ten miles of them in Connecticut Wanda and Terry Blanchard have moved into a senior retirement community just a few miles north of Newburyport, MA.” —Tom L’Esperance

KATHY AND PETE CLAPP ARE FORTUNATELY ABLE TO SAY THAT ‘WE’RE ABOVE MOST OF THAT AT 2600 FEET,’ REGARDING THE ‘VOG’ THAT THE KILAUEA VOLCANO ERUPTION HAS SPEWED OUT. THEY LIVE A SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE VOLCANO IN THE KAILUA-KONA AREA ON THE BIG ISLAND OF HAWAII. The Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii, May 2018

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A PA RT O F T H E L E G AC Y :

A.C. Starkey ’69 Remembering his Deerfield days, A.C. Starkey ’69 conjures up roast beef feasts, swimming in the River, and waiting on tables for the Boydens and their guests before Sunday Sing. He recalls the “fabulous teachers” who inspired him, including Red Sullivan: “crusty and authoritarian” in the Dining Hall, but in the classroom “the most kind, caring, and encouraging” teacher. “He would take us one by one to the blackboard and do a ‘chalk talk’ individually, all in a supportive way with his shirttails flapping and his face red as can be!”

Deerfield made a difference in A.C.’s life. “Critical thinking, independence, the maturity gained from living away from home. . .” All these skills and more were instilled at Deerfield.

A.C. has supported Deerfield annually since he graduated, and in honor of his 50th Reunion he included the Academy in his will. “I look at my charitable giving in a holistic way: a blend of annual gifts and an estate gift to achieve a balance that works, both in total amounts and in timing.” As a member of the 50th Reunion Committee, A.C. was especially pleased to receive 50th Reunion gift credit for his bequest intention.

Now retired after a 35-year career in banking, A.C. and his wife Ann enjoy traveling: Saint Bart’s or Florida in the winter; Madagascar, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Patagonia, Egypt, and western Europe at other times. He has served on the boards of the New Jersey State Museum, the Princeton Area Community Foundation, and the Princeton University Art Museum, among others.

Lest his life sound too staid, A.C. hastens to reveal that—to the surprise of friends and family— he and Ann became dedicated fans, in fact one might even say groupies, of the late David Bowie, travelling to ten shows during Bowie’s final concert tour in 2004! A.C.’s colleagues recognized this fact when they presented him with silver knee-high platform boots upon his retirement. “I wear them on special occasions,” A.C. jokes. Perhaps the Class of ’69’s reunion will be one such occasion . . .

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Deerfield made a difference in A.C.’s life. “Critical thinking, independence, the maturity gained from living away from home . . .”

To learn more about Charitable Gift Annuities and the Boyden Society, please contact Director of Gift Planning Rachel Moore: 413-774-1872 or rmoore@deerfield.edu

’60

1961 “When I worked on Albany Road, I got to know Andy Harcourt. In addition to being an excellent teacher and coach, Andy is one of the nicest, most pleasant fellows I have ever met. He would do anything for anybody, and I consider that the greatest compliment a Christian can give. Well done, lad! I have now been in Nashville for ten years.

I play a couple of gigs a month. (You can hear a little ditty I wrote and uploaded; I am trying to save $1000 to get my first CD, already recorded, manufactured.) I sell the occasional photograph (mostly flowers) for a couple hundred bucks—see photo—(a view from my apartment), and do a little acting in commercials. (I am typecast as the scrawny old fart in healthcare commercials.) However, last month I did a music video with Three Doors Down and Collective Soul. I played the comic relief role, Kryptonite Man, the geeky superhero. You can find it on YouTube if curious what a scrawny member of the Great Class of 1961 (highest SATs, Best Varsity Record, Highest GPA, Highest Attendance at 25th, 30th, and 40th Reunions, Most Dollars Raised at a 40th Reunion, Highest Percentage Participation Rate EVER in Annual Support: 99%, most consecutive years in first place=12. I had a great team; I made a positive contribution to none of those except the fundraising). I volunteer playing music at an amazing hospice: Alive Hospice, I drive the old ladies from my

left: There was a “mini reunion” in the Napa Valley this past July: All Class of 1960 from l to r: CHRIS BALDENHOFER ’60, ANDY KIRMSE ’60, Christie Kirmse, Phyllis Baldenhofer, and DICK LEWISOHN ’60 dining at Market Restaurant, St. Helena, CA, July 21, 2018. right: DICK LEWISOHN ’60 and DICK SINCERBEAUX ’60 enjoyed an afternoon at the Creek Club on July 18, 2018.

continued on page 49

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45

R E C E N T LY PUBLISHED

A HUNDRED FIRES IN CUBA

JOHN THORNDIKE ’60 Beck & Branch Publishers / 2018 In the spring of 1956, a young American photographer falls in love with a Cuban line cook at New York’s Waldorf Astoria. They have a ten-week affair that ends when Immigration arrests and deports him, and by then Clare Miller is pregnant.

Few Americans know the name Camilo Cienfuegos. All Cubans do. In real life he was the most charismatic of Fidel Castro’s commanders—until his small plane vanished only months after Castro came to power.

In A Hundred Fires in Cuba, Clare must choose between the stable Cuban businessman she has married and her first love, Camilo.

A starred Kirkus review stated: “Thorndike is a talented, experienced writer, and Clare and Camilo especially are fully developed, attractive characters . . . A highly recommended rendering of a love affair and mysterious slice of Cuban history.”

A Hundred Fires in Cuba his John’s third novel; he has also written two memoirs: Another Way Home, about his wife’s schizophrenia and his life as a single parent, and The Last of His Mind, which chronicles his father’s yearlong descent into Alzheimer’s. John is currently working on a half-fictional story of his mother’s life.

46 | THE COMMON ROOM

THE TOXIC BOSS SURVIVAL GUIDE— TACTIC FOR NAVIGATING THE WILDERNESS AT WORK

WEALTH, ACTUALLY— INTELLIGENT DECISION-MAKING FOR THE 1%

BILL ADAMS ’77 / CRAIG CHAPPELOW / PETER RONAYNE

Lioncrest Publishing / 2018

Center for Creative Leadership / 2018 Bill Adams inscribed a copy of The Toxic Boss Survival Guide to his Deerfield readers: “I hope that you never need this book!” If you should find yourself in a toxic work situation, however, this witty and immensely practical guide can help.

Bill and his co-authors are “toxic boss survivors” who lived to tell their tales, “but we lacked some critical survival knowledge and tactics that would have helped us immeasurably.” In their work at the Center for Creative Leadership, they have met and worked with thousands of leaders and managers from around the world and from all kinds of companies, government organizations, nonprofits, and educational institutions. And along the way, they heard many, many tales of workplace woe.

As noted in the preface to The Toxic Boss Survival Guide: The objective for any guide like this one, whether written for the business world, the military, worst-case scenarios, or even a zombie apocalypse, is to help you face your challenge realistically, identify the tools available to you, and deal with the problem.

Our aim is to help you analyze your immediate situation, create a workable survival plan that fits your situation, and carry it out (including abandoning the situation, if that is what it takes to survive).

FRAZER RICE ’91 They say a fool and his money are soon parted, and according to Frazer Rice, for the 1 percent, this is especially true. The more wealth one has, the more risks to their financial security.

But with the right knowledge, planning, and guidance, the affluent can not only preserve their assets but enjoy them as well.

Wealth, Actually is meant to ignite discussion between clients and their advisors, Frazer says.

“I want to raise clients’ level of decision-making.

I want clients to think strategically about their new lot in life and help them to use you (the advisor/practitioner) better—challenge you, listen to you, and ultimately implement your advice. This book is not meant to be a reference book or technical road map for advisors. I don’t want the reader to be bogged down in acronyms and jargon, and I purposely kept the math to a minimum . . . I would rather the wealthy think about what they want to do with their good fortune. What are their goals?

What do they want their legacy to be? Once those questions are answered, the good practitioners and advisors can do what they do best: execute for the client.”

Frazer Rice is a leading private wealth manager with fifteen years’ experience advising millionaire and billionaire families on finances, including fiduciary and estate matters. Frazer is a member of the New York State Bar and a graduate of Duke University and Emory University Law School. Wealth, Actually is his first book.

WATER—COLLECTED POEMS BY TIMOTHY F. CROWLEY

TIMOTHY CROWLEY ’60 Chapel Hill Press / 2007 / 2017 A self-professed “primitive but professional poet,” Water is Timothy Crowley’s third collection of poetry.

Born from an abundance of verse—“a rhyme, a thought, a burst of energy all ‘force’ me, encourage me to take writing instrument in hand to paper napkins, notebooks, shards of birch bark or cloth in order to cleanse the soul of its endless bit of poetic energy,” says Timothy, the title of this collection is symbolic for many reasons. “While nations fight for oil and energy, and issues along with other self-serving resources, water—its contamination and incorrect availability, and its necessary protection—must remind us it is our final source for survival.

There are messages within the lines. There’s also a pattern of personal empowerment.

Poetry, as we know it today, has endured many changes. It will continue to change and flow as it has since the beginning.”

Timothy’s previously published anthologies are Poets for Peace and Immigration, Emigration, Diversity, which was co-published with fellow poet Jaki Shelton Green.

“Roundabout” A recently acquired expression for an ancient direction of a simple circle.

And so we did...

Pointed by his energy which in order to believe you must concede to the concept of chemical energy and quantum physics Each moves seemingly without focus guided by a common vision of three who came after Him. And the need to eat, to drink, to seek mindfulness.

So to connect with a particular place.

Finding this place was not an accident Roundabout—a recently acquired expression of an ancient direction of a simple circle.

WILDFLOWERS— A SCHO OL SUPERINTENDENT’S CHALLENGE TO AMERICA

JONATHAN P. RAYMOND ’78 SF Press / 2018 Wildflowers is part memoir, part manifesto; it is a journey into the Sacramento, CA, school system that brings readers into the heart of an educational crisis and offers an accessible roadmap for transforming public schools into thriving centers of excellence.

Jonathan believes that every child is as exceptional and unique as a wildflower—able to adapt and grow even in the face of adverse conditions. As superintendent of an urban school district beset by budget cuts and neglect, Jonathan spearheaded changes that raised test scores and graduation rates and helped “failing” schools succeed. From organic gardening to adult education to leadership training with Navy SEALs, Jonathan mobilized students, teachers, parents, and community leaders around the “Whole Child” philosophy, putting students at the center of education policy.

Currently an author, storyteller, and education practice and policy advisor, Jonathan was a labor law attorney and non-profit leader before he became a school superintendent; he most recently served as president of the Stuart Foundation—a California-based private foundation focused on systemic and sustained change within public education. His favorite question is: “How are the children?”

WILD BAHAMAS— AN ILLUSTRATED ECOLOGY OF THE BAHAMAS: SUN, SAND, AND SEA FROM A-Z

AUTHOR LEIGH SCHMITT ’90 / ILLUSTRATIONS BY LISA SCHMITT Media Enterprises Ltd / 2017 Leigh Schmitt and his wife Lisa have created a book that is as beautiful as it is informative.

Featuring more than 50 aquatic and terrestrial organisms of the Bahamian archipelago, Wild Bahamas is “a book for kids and their grown-ups.”

Gentle watercolor images accompany detailed descriptions of plants and wildlife alongside common and scientific names and “fun facts.” Wild Bahamas is an encyclopedia that also draws attention to critical ecological principles such as invasive species, habitat loss, and extinction, while educating readers about the beauty and biodiversity of the Bahamas in an accessible way.

Leigh, who holds degrees in Plant and Soil Sciences and Conservation Biology, has taught science and math for over 20 years. For the past five years, he and Lisa (who works as the director of arts for the Cape Eleuthera Island School) have taught and lived on the small Family Island of Eleuthera. Much of Leigh’s work and research focuses on food security, human ecology, and place-based education.

The Schmitts dedicated their book to their family, the Island School, and the Bahamas National Trust. “May we all serve to preserve and protect those beloved wild spaces—and change the world one book, one page, one letter at a time.”

R E C E N T LY PUBLISHED CONTINUED

47

R E C E N T LY PUBLISHED CONTINUED

STUDENT ACTIVISM AND CIVIL RIGHTS IN MISSISSIPPI—PROTEST POLITICS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR RACIAL JUSTICE, 1960-1965

JAMES P. MARSHALL ’61 / (WITH A FOREWARD BY STAUGHTON LYND)

“As we prepare students for leadership in a rapidly changing world, it is essential that they gain the ability to lead balanced, healthy, mindful lives.

The new Health and Wellness Center promotes these skills and dispositions— and demonstrates this vital priority to our community.”

—Margarita O’Byrne Curtis, Head of School

Louisiana State University Press / 2013 James Marshall is an independent scholar, a former non-resident fellow at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, and a former civil rights activist. His book, Student Activism and Civil Rights in Mississippi, draws upon a variety of sources, including James’ own memories, to build an extraordinary account of student protestors and local activists who risked their lives fighting against southern resistance and federal inaction during the early 1960s.

Extraordinarily detailed and providing in-depth analysis of critical events on the local and national level, James is able to clearly lay out how their efforts (and the horrific violence inflicted on protestors) helped push many non-southerners and the federal government into action, culminating in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Ultimately, James contends, it was student activism in Mississippi that helped to forge a consensus by reminding the American public of its forgotten promises and by educating the nation to the fact that African Americans in the South deserved to live as free and equal citizens.

In April of 2018, also from LSU Press, James published what is in many ways a companion book to Student Activism and Civil Rights in Mississippi titled: The Mississippi Civil Rights Movement and the Kennedy Administration 1960-1964. Using primary documents from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and excerpts from his own 1960s interviews with leading figures from the Civil Rights movement, James tracks early forms of resistance to racial parity, explores decisions about voter registration drives and freedom rides, and investigates formal efforts by the Kennedy administration to exert pressure on Mississippi to end segregation. As one reviewer commented, “Teachers may rejoice; the book is a clear outline of how to use primary and secondary sources.”

48 | THE COMMON ROOM

deerfield.edu/give

continued from page 45 retirement home to their medical appointments, and renovate apartments. I am poor as poor can be, but have never been happier—coming from a family that embraced service as the means to satisfaction. I have the time now and it is most rewarding. In Nashville, the first person stops to let you out of a parking lot in rush hour. We are so hot that we are growing exponentially. I can see thirteen cranes from my 16th floor window. Everyone in town is hiring, so if you have a kid who needs work, send them here (no income tax, and modest property taxes).—Douglas Gortner

MORE CLASS NOTES AND PHOTOS: DEERFIELD.EDU/COMMONRO OM

’61 Doug Gortner ’61 says,

“I sell the occasional photograph,” such as this one, which features a view from his apartment.

49

FUN FA C T

Former faculty member Philip “Flip” Charron (right) wrote the words to the Deerfield Cheering Song.

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CIRCA

19 84

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51

Barbara and I visited Mongolia in July because our small San Diego neighborhood of Switzer Highland enjoys a cultural, educational, and business partnership with the Bayanzurkh District of 300,000 people in Ulaanbaatar, the capital. We attended the Naadam Festival and our luggage arrived by camel at our Gobi Desert ger. Our neighborhood has additional partnerships with Azerbaijan and Latvia; will soon be in Botswana and is exploring partnerships in Poland, Canada, Chile, Morocco, UAE, Australia and Uzbekistan.”— MARTIN KRUMING

’61

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1965 “In June, I received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bright Star Secondary Charter Academy located in Los Angeles. I also continue to coach track and cross-country, while using the old Mo Hunt means of transportation—the bike. However, I’ve had to adapt to using parking garages for hill work rather than the Rock.”—Buck Ehrgood

’61

“Our classmate Nels Martin, effective July 1, 2018, retired from teaching at Wenatchee Valley College. He is now retired (Army) retired (teaching).”—Andy Steele

1968 “It is the Fourth of July and I have just finished reading John Meacham’s The Soul of America—The Battle for our Better Angels. It is a book for people who don’t like the reality show we are living through. Meacham tells why he wrote it: ‘This book is a portrait of hours in which the politics of fear were prevalent—a reminder that periods of public dispiritedness are not new and a reassurance that they are survivable . . . In darker times, if a particular president fails to advance the national story—or worse, moves us backward—then those who witness, protest, and resist must stand fast, in hope, working toward a better day.’ I wish to share a paragraph with my classmates that encapsulates our time: ‘The watershed of 1968 was that kind of year: one of surprises and reversals, of blasted hopes and rising fears, of scuttled plans and unexpected new realities. The year began with Tet and cascaded into chaos: the deaths of King and of Robert Kennedy, the riots that engulfed many American cities, the calamitous Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and finally, wearily, the election of Richard Nixon as the nation’s thirty-seventh president.

More than half a million US troops were in Vietnam, and combat deaths occurred at a rate of about 46 US troops a day, for a total of 16,899 that year. It was a period of disorienting violence, of disorder, of loss, of pervasive tragedy.”—David Sisson

MARTIN ’61 (p 52) and Barbara Kruming visited Mongolia this past summer.

Some of Martin’s notes from the trip included: 1. Colorful outfits were part of the Naadam Festival. 2. New York Yankees caps were the most popular in Mongolia while, 3. Boston caps were rare. 4. Camels delivered luggage to the gers.

JEP DOLEY, ERNIE OARE, and TOM FLEMING, all Class of 1961,

enjoyed a seafood lunch at Merroir in Topping, VA, August 8, 2018.

“Lots of memories and promises to be at our 60th,” Ernie says.

JOHN WALBRIDGE ’68 reports that he and CHICK HANCOCK ’68

are still in festive moods after their 50th Reunion at Deerfield.

’68 53

’91

JULIE WOLF DEFFENSE

The Cake Artist /

by Lynn Horowitch

To call a wedding cake created by Julie Deffense a “cake” is like calling Versailles a “house”–standard nouns are not enough. Julie is the founder and owner of Julie Deffense Artistry— Luxury Cake Design. Based in Cascais, Portugal, and now expanding to Sarasota, Florida, Julie designs, bakes, and decorates one-of-a-kind cakes for weddings and other celebrations.

54 | THE COMMON ROOM

Courtesy of Julie Wolf Deffense

First, she meets with the bride and groom, and often with their wedding planner as well, to get a sense of their personal style. As she said in a recent Instagram post, “There’s a whole process of designing a cake, and you only really get the design when you get the people.” For each cake, Julie then creates custom stencils or incorporates family crests or designs monograms for the bride and groom.

She conceives every detail and sees the cake as part of a couple’s love story.

Julie didn’t set out to be in the luxury cake business. At Deerfield, she was inspired by her art classes with David Dickinson and majored in Fine Arts at Hamilton College. After graduating, she found herself envious of classmates who were on a professional track. “All of my friends were doctors, lawyers, or going into investment banking and consulting,” Julie recalls.

“It was tough being an art major.”

She found a position as a graphic designer at The Yellow Pages and then began working as a technical illustrator. Things changed forever when she was offered an opportunity to move to Portugal to be a web designer for three months.

Having studied architecture in Florence for a semester of college, Julie was up for a “crazy adventure.” She didn’t speak the language and would go through the supermarket with her English-Portuguese dictionary in hand. About a month into her stay, she met Jacques Deffense, her future husband, and decided to stay in Portugal. She had a ten-year stint in publishing, first working for and then buying a magazine focused on commercial real estate. She subsequently sold it and started her own home renovation magazine.

It was during this time that Julie took a baking course and began to create cakes. By 2010 she was earning more from her baking than from publishing, so she made the leap to starting her own business.

While she has helpers for the non-technical, physically demanding tasks—rolling fondant and transporting finished cakes, for example— Julie does all of the baking and decorative work herself. She admits to being “a little OCD,” and shares that one sugar dahlia takes her eight hours to construct.

Julie’s business has expanded. She has written and published three cookbooks in Portuguese and one (still to be published) in English. She offers cake decorating classes and insists that anyone can learn how to execute her less intricate designs. She would like to expand her business and is exploring several different avenues. Her role models in this process include Martha Stewart, Ina Garten, and Sylvia Weinstock, who has been called “the Leonardo DaVinci of cakes.”

Julie plans to write more baking and cake decorating and lifestyle books, including one for the American market showcasing 15 of her most elaborate cakes and exploring how Portugal inspires her approach. She has also shot a pilot video and would consider branching into television, naming the Netflix series Chef’s Table as a favorite. And she has ideas for creating a tabletop line of linens and ceramics.

For a wedding in Portugal this past summer, Julie created her most elaborate design ever. After a conversation with the bride and her wedding planner, Julie’s imagination was sparked. She says, “I had a vision in my head.

I saw what the bride needed— even though she didn’t know.”

Creating the nine-foot cake took seven weeks. The finished work consisted of 35 tiers and 2,000 sugar flowers.

Julie created all of them, sometimes working 14-hour days leading up to the wedding. Then, it took nine days to affix every sugar pearl and bead with a pair of tweezers to create an “embroidered” section. The cake was transported to the wedding venue in a rented van in two parts: a 605-pound base and a 320-pound topper. It took four men to move the sections into position.

Concealed behind a screen until a 1:00 am reveal, the bride and groom cut the cake with a sword that belonged to Julie’s husband’s family. And at this particular the wedding there was only one speech: when the bride thanked Julie. “I was able to transmit some part of who they are,” says Julie. “There’s something very special about creating something that no one has ever seen before and that no one else will ever have.” //

55

’75 DWIGHT HILSON ’75, P’09, Mindy Hilson P’09, author Jess Walter, and C.C. CONRAD BERNSTEIN ’07 at Le Sirenuse, Positano, Italy for the

2018 Sirenland Writer’s Conference (note the DA vest and cap swag!).

1975 “I attended the 2018 Sirenland Writer’s Conference last March in Positano, Italy, where C.C. Conrad Bernstein ’07 was a fellow member of our weeklong workshop with the incomparable New York Times bestselling author, Jess Walter.”

—Dwight Hilson

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1976 “Sad news: David Dodge passed away on April 18, 2018 after a long illness. While at Deerfield he was well known for his kayaking skills and flying his hang glider off the Rock and landing on the sports fields. A favorite memory was rafting down the CT river to Long Island Sound (some kind of school project?). He led a spirited, adventurous life and left a great group of friends, his sister Debbie and brother Jonathan, a nephew, and three nieces. I was fortunate to reconnect with David when I returned to Boston in the 90s and we remained friends. A celebration of his life was held on July 5 at the Mountain View Grand Hotel, Whitefield, NH. There was a mid-morning hike up a favorite trail with a dinner hosted by Dave’s family in the evening.—Andrew Freedman

Sample

Deerfield

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Flavors: Current 6 , 7 , & 8th grade students th

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Choose:

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Sizes:

2 weeks

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Special: Financial Aid available when you

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learn more!

deerfield.edu/experimentory

THE CLASS OF ’83’s “Saturday

at 1:00 pm” photo from their 35th Reunion this past June.

’83

1983 “You may remember that Ben Patton helps veterans work through their PTSD by telling their stories through film. You may also remember that Spence Brown helps celebrities (and others) get their stories out via radio and podcast. Ben explains the photo: ‘Spencer and I reconnected in New York after three decades of not being in touch, when we discovered some important things in common. We both share a love of history and desire to support our veterans. This spring, Spencer generously offered to feature my org, the Patton Veterans Project, and some of the vets we work with on a podcast taped for his new digital audio platform, Cadence 13. We hope to roll it out on iTunes shortly, and if enough ’83-ers can help spread the word, maybe it will be the first of many. Great to be reconnected with Spencer, do some good and create some positive memories together.’ Can’t ask for more than that!”

—John Knight

1986 “Recently met up with old Deerfield roommate Frank Bond in London. Family’s doing well. Also had chance to see Peter Kirby, which reminded me to get connected back to my old Deerfield friends.

If you’re ever in London, look me up. Otherwise, I’ll see the Class of ’86 at the next reunion.

—Wes Himes

58 | THE COMMON ROOM

SPENCE BROWN ’83 (left) and BEN PATTON ’83

in New York City. The classmates reconnected after decades of not being in touch when they discovered some important things in common (see class note).

’86

“Album number two (Tense Present) dropped this past fall. Getting a little bit of critical love.

Indescribably grateful to be living one of my dreams,” says Russ Carrick ’86.

59

1988 “My fellow classmates! After spending a bit more than half of the time since 1992 overseas, three years ago I came back to the States, most likely for good. Three stints in Russia (private sector, not with secret decoder rings) taught me an incredible amount. My wife, Irina, and ten-year-old son, Marc (no, no, no, I did not want a junior but my wife loves my name, so I caved in) came back with me in April 2015. Marc’s English was zilch when he got here, now he’s speaking like a pro. His American genes show through in his love of pizza, burgers, and root beer (my wife thinks root beer tastes like cologne). His favorite is Shake Shack, and he feels sorry for third-world countries that don’t have it. Fascinated by how closed North Korea is, and thinks that Shake Shack might be the bridge to understanding. He’s quirky, but a very sweet kid. My wife (not son) has been to New York, loves it.

However, they have not seen New England yet. Bucket list. Anyone, everyone – feel free to hook up with me on LinkedIn. Would love to hang out with anyone coming through DC!”—Marc Hackel

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’88 above: On August 20, 2018, Commodore JAMIE SANDS ’88 concluded his command of Naval Special Warfare Group Two and received new orders to take a senior position at Joint Special Operations Command. Attending the ceremony and witnessing the accolades directed at Commodore Sands were l to r: Lt. Col ED HARVEY ’88 P’18, BURKE KOONCE ’88, KEN MONROE ’88, Commodore Sands, and GUS LIPMAN ’89.

1989 “On a recent trip to Spain, my wife Margaret and I were able to connect with Pelayo Herrero and his wife Almudena. Pelayo and I were good friends at DA, but we haven’t seen each other since senior party 1989—29 years ago. We met his first day on campus in 1986 on Pocumtuck II East—the old classic horseshoe full of sophomores.

We had a wonderful visit. Deerfield relationships last a lifetime.”—Derek Hutton

’89

DEREK HUTTON ’89 and his wife Margaret connected with PELAYO HERRERO ’89 and

his wife, Almudena on a visit to Spain. l to r: Pelayo, Almudena, Margaret, and Derek

MORE CLASS NOTES AND PHOTOS: DEERFIELD.EDU/COMMONRO OM

61

Luca Basile ’17

Bubba Fairman ’17

Holy Cross (Men’s Rowing)

Maryland (Men’s Lacrosse)

> Competed in nine races in

>2 018 NCAA DI Men’s Lacrosse

the varsity eight boat and one

Semifinalist.

race in the varsity four boat.

>S tarted all 18 games at midfield, totaling 35 points on 26 goals

Victoria Castellano-Wood ’17 Cornell (Women’s Rowing)

and nine assists . . . 26 goals

> Rowed in the varsity eight

tied 9th in Maryland program history for a freshman.

in her sophomore season.

Jackson Caputo ’17 Brown (Men’s Lacrosse) > Scored first collegiate goal and registered an assist in Brown’s win over Princeton.

Rich Caputo ’14 Brown (Men’s Rowing) > IRA All-Academic team and rowed the fifth seat in the second varsity boat. > Won the petite final at the IRA Championship and earned bronze

ALUMNI ATHLETE

HIGHLIGHTS Deerfield grads scored big* on the water, on the fairways, on the track,

Princeton (Women’s Open Rowing)

>R owed in the seventh seat of the fifth varsity boat that finished

our collegiate athletes and

fifth at Eastern Sprints.

current Deerfield students:

deerfield.edu/athletics

Jonathan Donville ’17 > Played in all 18 games in the midfield,

Luke Crimmins ’17 Princeton (Men’s Lacrosse) > Played in seven games, scoring eight goals with two assists . . . eight goals came on 17 shots.

Carl Grant ’17

All-American Lacrosse team,

> First-team All-Ivy selection.

placed fifth overall in the NCAA

World Championships.

>N amed to the 2018 USILA/Nike earning honorable mention honors.

Cornell (Men’s Lacrosse)

>W on bronze in U23

Phil Goss ’16 Brown (Men’s Lacrosse)

the Ivy League Championship and

with a record of 12-1 (7-0 IVY).

Caleb Friends ’16

to all our scholar-athletes!

Academic All-Ivy League honoree.

>F inished the regular season

second at the Green Monster races.

For stories about some of

Team All-Ivy League honoree, and

Championships grand final.

Dartmouth (Women’s Rowing) >R owed in the B boat that placed

Brown (Men’s Rowing)

> CRCA First-Team All-America, First-

>R owed in the first boat that won

Lily Fauver ’17

and on the turf. Congratulations

at Eastern Sprints.

Claire Collins ’15

> Big Ten Freshmen of the week (4/17/18).

finishing the season ranked third on the team in assists (19) and fifth overall in goals (18) and points (35), including eight multi-point games. > Named Ivy League Rookie of the Week twice (4/9/18 and 4/16/18). > 2018 Ivy League Tournament Champion. > 2018 NCAA DI Men’s Lacrosse Championship Quarterfinalist.

Zeke Emerson ’16

Tufts (Men’s Tennis)

Middlebury (Men’s Lacrosse)

> Appeared in 17 matches as a freshman,

>P layed in nine games, registering

collecting seven singles victories

five ground balls and five caused

and won nine doubles matches.

turnovers during the season.

>R anked second nationally with 13.13 saves per game; 15th in the nation and second in the Ivy League in save percentage. > 2018 Ivy League Tournament Semifinalist in the team’s fourth straight Ivy League Tournament berth.

Tommy Hale ’17 Brown (Men’s Lacrosse) >S cored first collegiate goal vs. Yale in his rookie season.

Meghan Halloran ’17 Williams (Women’s Lacrosse) >P layed in 15 games, totaling 17 points on six goals and 11 assists.

*during the 2018 spring season

Freddie Johnson ’17

Courtney Morgan ’16

Jared Strauss ’17

Harvard (Men’s Lightweight Rowing)

Connecticut College (Men’s Lacrosse)

Williams (Men’s Lacrosse)

> Rowed fourth and sixth seat in

> Played in 16 games, tallying three

>P layed in 17 games, totaling 31 points

the second varsity eight boats

points on one goal and two assists,

during his freshman campaign.

collecting 38 ground balls and

> Finished sixth at the Eastern Sprints Championship in the fourth seat of the varsity eight boat and the

causing 18 turnovers during the season.

Felecia Renelus ’17

lightweight team placed fourth

Brown (Women’s Track & Field)

in the Jobe Cup at Eastern Sprints.

>P laced sixth in the triple jump

Gordon Johnson ’17

at the Ivy League Championship.

Princeton (Men’s Heavyweight Rowing)

Eileen Russell ’15

>R owed majority of rookie season in

Williams (Women’s Rowing)

the second varsity boat that went

>E phs finished sixth at the

10-0 on the season, capturing gold in the second varsity boat at the Eastern Sprints. >F inished sixth at the IRA Championships in the grand final.

Katie Livingston ’15

NCAA Rowing Championships. >N amed First Team All-NESCAC for the second consecutive year.

Henry Sanford ’15 Dartmouth (Men’s Heavyweight Rowing) >R owed in the third varsity boat

Wellesley (Women’s Rowing)

that finished fifth in the petit final

> NEWMAC Rowing Boat of the Week

at the Eastern Sprints Regatta.

(4/17/18). > Earned NCAA DIII silver medal in the second varsity 8+ boat. > In the final NCAA standings, finished second in the country, which extended the team’s streak of finishing in the top-four at NCAAs to the fourth consecutive year. > Finished second overall at the NERC.

Joey Manown ’16 Duke (Men’s Lacrosse) > Played in all 18 games on attack, led all rookies in scoring with 29 goals and eight assists for 37 points. > Received ACC Academic Honor Roll. > 2018 NCAA DI Men’s Lacrosse Championship Finalist. > 2018 ACC Tournament Semifinalist.

>F inished in second place in the petit final at the IRA Regatta.

Will Sanford ’17 Dartmouth (Men’s Heavyweight Rowing) >R owed in the second varsity boat that finished sixth at the Eastern Sprints Regatta in the grand final. >F inished fourth in the petit final at the IRA Regatta in the second varsity boat.

Reid Shilling ’17

on 18 goals and 13 assists.

Chris Sullivan ’16 Denver (Men’s Lacrosse) >2 018 NCAA DI Men’s Lacrosse Quarterfinalist. >P layed in five games, including Big East contests vs. Villanova, St. John’s, & Providence.

Ted Sullivan ’17 Denver (Men’s Lacrosse) >2 018 NCAA DI Men’s Lacrosse Quarterfinalist. >P layed in 13 games, starting the final nine in the midfield . . . scored eight goals and added five assists for 13 points. >B ig East Freshmen of the Week (4/9/18 & 4/23/18).

Hannah Swinerton ’17 Rhodes College (Women’s Lacrosse) >O n defense, played in 18 games and started four, registering a goal in her rookie season. > Advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2018 NCAA DIII Women’s Lacrosse Championship and it was the team’s fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

Griffin Thomas ’17

Amherst (Men’s Lacrosse)

Yale (Men’s Lacrosse)

> Played in 16 games on defense

> 2018 NCAA DI Men’s Lacrosse Champion.

and tallied an assist and collected 21 ground balls in his rookie season. > 2018 NESCAC Tournament Semifinalist. >A dvanced to the third round of the 2018 NCAA DIII Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

Brandon Wu ’15 Stanford (Men’s Golf) > Named PING All-Region, All-Pac-12 First Team, Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention & Srixon/ Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar. > Averaged 70.61 scoring. > Finished second at the NCAA Pacific Regional event.

63

FROM THE ARCHIVES

THE LOWER LEVEL

64 | THE COMMON ROOM

65

’01

’96

’97

clockwise from top left: “Elin Byrnes Craven Clark, born June 1—it’s a girl party!” says MAJA CLARK ’96. / On April 6, 2018, SARA OTTO ’01, Charles, and Otto von Althann welcomed a new member to their family: Michael Edward del Valle von Althann. Edward (Teddy) is pleased to share a birthday with REBECCA BLUMENKOPF ’01 and ALEXANDRA TRABER ’02. Photo 1: Sara (Mills) von Althann ’02, Otto, and Teddy Photo 2: Teddy von Althann / WIN SMITH ’67, chair of the National Ski Areas Association and president of Sugarbush Resort, and MEEGAN MOSZYNSKI ’97, executive director of the National Ski Patrol, met at the national NSAA conference in Marco Island, FL, in May. “How fun to make the Deerfield connection and meet each other in person!” Meegan commented.

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“THE GIRLS OF 2004 HAD A WONDERFUL TIME IN CT AT A BABY SHOWER IN HONOR OF JANE McDONALD. CAN’T WAIT TO MEET THE FUTURE DA GRAD!” L TO R: SARAH ALVAREZ, BARKLEY HICKOX, JANE (SHIVERICK) McDONALD, CAROLYN (ROMNEY) ASHBY, AND MARGARET McSPADDEN

’04

67

A Mammoth on the Pitch / b y B o b Yo r k

With one click Justin Serpone can sit in his office at Amherst College and shrink the world.

He’s not a member of the geology department, but he is looking for hidden gems as the Mammoths men’s soccer coach.

“The world’s a big place,” says Serpone, who searched from country to continent and uncovered enough talent to earn Amherst a spot amongst the premier Division III soccer programs in the US. “It’s really amazing just how accessible it all becomes when you sit in front of a computer and watch the hundreds of YouTube videos aspiring high school soccer players post; I can scour the world with just the touch of a button.”

That was Deerfield alumnus Fikayo Ajayi’s modus operandi four years ago when, as an up-and-coming high school soccer player living in London, England, he posted a highlight video of his career at London’s Charlton Athletic Academy. Serpone—and who knows how many other collegiate coaches—liked what he saw, and reached out to Ajayi.

There was one speed bump in Ajayi’s trek across the Pond, however. “We found out about him too late in the year to enroll him here in time for the 2015 season,” said Serpone. So, the Amherst coach tried for Plan B. “I reached out to Jan Flaska,” he explained.

“We’re good friends, and I asked him if Deerfield might be interested in a talented postgraduate for the school.” Good fortune and talent combined, and Ajayi was able to join the Class of 2015 that fall.

68 | THE COMMON ROOM

FIKAYO AJAYI

’15

Geoffrey Bolte / Clarus Studios

Ajayi, whose older brother Semi competes in the world-renowned English Premier Soccer League and was recently invited to play for the Nigerian National Team, has made his family proud over his years in the Pioneer Valley. At Deerfield he was one of the Big Green’s leading scorers with eight goals and seven assists and was named to the Western New England Prep School Soccer Association and New England Prep School Athletic Council all-star teams.

Since graduating from Deerfield and moving on to the collegiate level, Ajayi, who is a political science major at Amherst, hasn’t missed a beat, joining what was already considered a highly successful program. The Mammoths have chalked up a 47-6-7 record during Ajayi’s three years on campus, including capturing a national championship his freshman season.

Fikayo’s one of the better soccer players we’ve ever had here at Deerfield, he was an outstanding goal scorer and playmaker but he had the versatility to play anywhere on the field. He’s continued his success on the collegiate level, and to be perfectly honest, IT WOULDN’T SURPRISE ME A BIT IF SOMEDAY HE ENDS UP BACK IN ENGLAND PLAYING IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE—HE’S THAT GOOD.

“Fikayo’s one of the better soccer players we’ve ever had here at Deerfield,” said Flaska, who coached the Big Green soccer program for a decade before stepping down after the 2015 season. “He was an outstanding goal scorer and playmaker; we used him primarily as a center midfielder, but he had the versatility to play anywhere on the field. He’s continued his success on the collegiate level, and to be perfectly honest, it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if someday he ends up back in England playing along side his brother in the Premier League—he’s that good.”

Looking back on his time at Deerfield, Ajayi summed up the experience in a single word: “Challenging.” He went on to explain, “It was the first time I’d ever been away from home and the first time I’d ever been in the United States, so I was pretty much starting from scratch over here,” said Ajayi. “In addition to my school work, I also had a lot to learn about a new home—a new country—and I owe Mr. (Andy) Stallings a great deal for helping me make that transition. He was the faculty member in charge of my corridor, and any time I had a question about anything, he always had the answer.

“Even the brand of soccer they play in the United States was different than the game I grew up playing in England,” added Ajayi. “The game here is much more physical than in England—there’s much more contact over here. In England, the game is more technical, and it involves more running and passing.

“It was a fun season, though,” he continued. “I remember we won seven of our first eight games and then we ran into a rash of injuries and finished up something like 10-7. . . It was all good though!”

“Even during our highly successful run Fikayo’s freshman season, he stepped right in and played a key role for us,” said Serpone, who owns a 155-18-26 mark in 11 years at Amherst. “He didn’t start many games (six) as a freshman but he played in 16 of 21 games that season and did a great job for us.”

Following an injury-plagued sophomore season, Ajayi tied for the team lead in goals last fall with five and was second on the squad in points with 11. That may not sound like much, but the Mammoths’ offense—which helped produce a 12-4-3 record and made it to the third round of the NCAA Div. III Tournament—scored just 38 goals in 19 games.

Defensively, however, Amherst allowed less than one goal a game.

“Fikayo’s been an outstanding player and an outstanding leader for us and that’s why his peers elected him team captain this season,” said Serpone. “He’s the kind of kid who leads by example. This past season, due mainly to injuries, he played every position on the field except goalie. Not many kids could do that, but Fikayo did; he’s one of the most versatile players I’ve ever coached.

“Not many kids would want to play every position, either,” added Serpone. “They wouldn’t want to give up playing in their comfort zone for the good of the team. Fikayo did, though, because he’s also one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever coached.

“I’m sure, if Fikayo had remained at his midfield position all season, he would have scored a bunch more goals and in all likelihood earned an all-league selection,” said Serpone. “I’m hoping this season, we can remain healthy, keep Fikayo at his midfield post, and get him some of that notoriety he so richly deserves.”

As of press time, Amherst (and Fikayo) were gearing up to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division III Championship, with the Mammoths welcoming Bridgewater State (No. 8), Saint Joseph’s, and Middlebury for regional competition. //

69

’06

’05 top: SARA HUTCHINS ’05 and her dad, JOHN HUTCHINS ’71, enjoyed the view from Rooster Comb in the Adirondacks. right: Deerfield classmates ELINOR FLYNN ’06 and CRISTINA LIEBOLT ’06 and PETE FLYNN ’07 spent five days together backpacking through the Wind River Range in Wyoming. At night, they shared favorite readings around the campfire, one of which was 10 Trial Street, a graduation gift from Frank Henry ’69!

70 | THE COMMON ROOM

2009 “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our classmate, Vietor Evans. On March 1, 2018, after a year-long battle with cancer, he passed away surrounded by his loved ones. A caring and loyal friend, Vietor shared his spirit of adventure, cheerfulness, and charisma with everyone he met, and he will be missed by all he touched during his Deerfield Days and beyond. After graduating from Deerfield, Vietor attended Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he majored in history, graduating in 2013, and went on to work for JP Morgan in their High Net Worth Wealth Management group in New York City. Following his time at JP Morgan, he went on to be one of the first employees at a startup venture capital firm, Moonrise Capital, where he helped grow the business from the ground up.

Looking back on our time together, Vietor had a knack for brightening each situation he encountered, and his genuine, fun-loving spirit made the many hours we spent floating down the Deerfield River fly by all too quickly. In addition to his gregarious personality, he had incredible taste in music, and seemed to have a perfect song for every occasion. From the relaxed vibe he set while we cooked Wegmans steaks out by the paddle courts, to the techno playlists that transformed our dorms into rave dance floors, he had a way with music that made us feel like there wasn’t anything more important than liv-

ing in the moment. Beyond his compassion for others, Vietor was a man of character, integrity, and depth, and taught those around him (myself especially) a great deal about ‘keeping it classy.’

From his passion for history and the classics, to his expertise in mixology, he never failed to have something interesting to say, regardless of the topic at hand. Furthermore, his passion for cooking took his culinary creations to new heights, and I’ll never forget tasting the first bite of his famous Texan Chili that involved three days of preparation and hours of roasting peppers over an open flame (in his fireplace at home). Prior to his passing, Vietor married Grace Preston and the two celebrated the love and joy that characterized their life together with their family and friends.

The accompanying picture is of Vietor on his wedding day with his wife Grace Preston Evans, and Deerfield alumni: Carter Kahle Slattery ’02, Wiggs Civitillo ’09, Page Kahle ’07, Oz Osborn ’09, Grace Preston Evans, Vietor Evans ’09, Walker Kahle ’04, James Slattery ’02, Mike McKenna ’09, Taylor Coe ’09, and Kent Kahle ’70. Vietor will forever be remembered for his warmth and encouragement, authenticity and wisdom, and sophisticated yet fun-loving personality. The genuine kindness that he shared with all of us will live on in our hearts. Let us remember Vietor Evans as a man that truly lived life to the fullest.”—Wiggs Civitillo

’09

71

Scoring Like an Eagle /

This may come as a bit of a shock to those who remember watching Lucy Lytle chalk up a pair of New England Prep School Athletic Council All-Star Team berths while playing field hockey at Deerfield, but her debut in the sport didn’t exactly portend of future successes. It might also surprise those who watched her move on to Boston College and earn back-to-back nominations for the National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Northeast Region Team that this was a far cry from the way she broke into the sport back in middle school in Lake Forest, IL, but the facts of the matter remain the same.

Lytle, who was voted a tri-captain of this fall’s BC squad, confessed, “I probably missed about three practices a week that first year, and my coach’s philosophy was that if you miss practice, you don’t play, which was understandable.”

Being missing in action during her middle school days was easy to explain: Lucy’s favorite sport back then was ice hockey—not field hockey—and her commitment to practicing, playing, and traveling with a club team during the fall made for a tight schedule. But even at an entry level, Lytle maintained a degree of competitiveness that has never wavered—no matter which sport she was playing.

“I enjoyed playing field hockey; I didn’t enjoy sitting on the bench during games, though,” admitted Lytle. “Fortunately, the coach and I came up with a solution: she needed a goalie, and although I’d never played goalie before, I volunteered for the position just to be able to get in the game.”

72 | THE COMMON ROOM

b y B o b Yo r k

LUCY LYTLE ’15 As far as how she did as her team’s last line of defense...let’s just say Lucy’s been much better at putting balls into the net during her career than keeping them out. Lytle, who has occupied either attack or midfield positions since her middle school days, produced 40 goals and 16 assists as a four-year starter at Deerfield; she has posted 21 goals and 16 assists through her first three years at BC. One of the primary characteristics BC field hockey Coach Kelly Doton noticed when Lytle first showed up at the Heights was her high level of competitiveness. “Lucy wants to improve every time she steps on the field,” said Doton.

“She always wants to be the best she can be, and she works tremendously hard to accomplish that. Over the past three years, she’s continuously elevated her game to where she’s become a 60-minute player for us; she hardly ever comes off the field.”

With the increase in playing time, Lucy’s production has surged as well. In Lytle’s case, a 12-point output during her junior campaign ranked her third on the team in scoring, while her five goals represented the Eagles’ second best effort in that category. As a sophomore, she posted a team-high 12 goals and finished second in scoring with 24 points.

While playing a key role in BC’s success over the past three years, and Lytle’s contribution hasn’t been limited to just her accomplishments on the field.

“She’s great to coach; she wants to learn as much about the game as she possibly can and what she learns, sticks,” said Doton, noting that Lytle was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Academic Team the past two years.

“Also, people gravitate to her personality. She’s very outgoing and constantly supports her teammates.”

LYTLE, WHO HAS OCCUPIED EITHER ATTACK OR MIDFIELD POSITIONS SINCE HER MIDDLE SCHOOL DAYS, PRODUCED 40 GOALS AND 16 ASSISTS AS A FOUR-YEAR STARTER AT DEERFIELD; SHE HAS POSTED 21 GOALS AND 16 ASSISTS THROUGH HER FIRST THREE YEARS AT BC.

John Quackenbos

Coach McVaugh—like all my teachers and coaches at Deerfield—set me up for success, and for that I’ll always be grateful.

When the need arises, however, Doton implied that Lytle’s competitive side will take over, “and she’ll let you know that you’re not working up to expectations,” said the Eagle mentor. “I’m very excited about her captaincy; it’s well deserved.”

At Deerfield Lucy was a three-sport standout in field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse. She was elected captain in field hockey and ice hockey her senior year.

“I’m so happy that Lucy has met with so much success on the collegiate level,” said Kristen McVaugh, Lytle’s Deerfield field hockey coach, “and I’m not surprised at that success, either. She’s an outstanding athlete and a tremendous leader who has a fantastic work ethic and a constant drive to become better.”

Lytle’s athletic prowess at Deerfield was well-rewarded: In addition to twice being named a NEPSAC All-Star in field hockey, she earned a pair of All-Tournament Team berths and was voted the Big Green’s MVP her senior year. In ice hockey, she was presented with the team’s Seventh Player Award as a senior as well as the Deerfield Lacrosse Coaches’ Award. And at graduation, Lucy was named recipient of the Robert McDermott Award, given annually to Deerfield’s outstanding senior female student-athlete.

“I feel so fortunate to have attended Deerfield because the school really prepared me for what awaited on the collegiate level—scholastically and athletically—and for that, I’m indebted,” said Lytle.

One of the biggest assets Lytle admits to mastering while at DA was time management. “It’s imperative in college, especially if you’re a student-athlete,” she said. “I remember showing up at BC my freshman year and feeling as though I was ahead of the game as far as knowing how and when to get things done.

Believe me, it takes a lot of pressure off and allows you to fully concentrate on your athletic responsibilities whenever they become the priority.”

Among those Lucy tipped her cap to were her advisor “and probably my biggest backer” Becca Melvoin and art teacher David Dickinson. “He showed me how to prioritize and to do what’s important first.”

On the athletic side of things, McVaugh topped Lytle’s thank-you list because, “she really prepared me to play Division I field hockey. She explained the different strategies and concepts that I would inevitably see, so when I did, I was ready.”

Even so, Lytle said, “It was shocking how the level of competition went up in college! Everyone you play with and against was the super star of their high school teams. Coach McVaugh—like all my teachers and coaches at Deerfield—set me up for success, and for that I’ll always be grateful.” //

73

’08

MAX GETZ ’08 married Eliza Kontulis on a beautiful summer evening in Grosse Pointe, MI. It was a perfect wedding weekend for the Class of ’08’s Captain Deerfield which featured a surprise

appearance from 2010’s Captain Deerfield, who thundered into the rehearsal dinner shouting: “Aga-chi, aga-cha!” Most in the room were speechless/clueless, but one proud table of Deerfield alums stood up without hesitation, gleaming with pride, and chanted at the top of their lungs, remembering the Days of Glory. Pictured l to r with Max and Eliza in front/center: ALEX BERTLES ’08, ROBB SCOTT ’09, SAM HILL ’08, CHIP DAUGHERTY ’08, GARY WONG ’08, BEN WEINBERG ’08, MARGARET ELDRED ’08, MAGGIE HINES CALLAHAN ’08, ANNE SMITH ’08, SARAH SNODDON ’08, CAROLINE WITMER GORMLEY ’08, PETER PROCIDA ’08, ALEX KILLORN ’08, and JOHN GRAY ’08. Not pictured: DECLAN KAVANAGH ’03, BEN DENNIS ’08, CHRIS RAZOOK ’08, DAVID ROLD ’08, KENNY SHERESKY ’08, KENZIE TSANG-LEE ’08, and ALBERT FORD ’10.

74 | THE COMMON ROOM

“I have been working for a number of years now as a producer for documentary filmmaker Ric Burns at Steeplechase Films in NYC. We just released a film on the PBS American Experience series called “The Chinese Exclusion Act” last week that has gotten a bit of buzz. I worked as a co-producer on the project. We have a film coming out (likely in the fall) about the late neurologist Oliver Sacks that I believe is going to prove to be well received! We are all very excited about it; I’m producing the film with two other colleagues.”

—Kathryn Clinard

2011 “Alfonso and I were roommates in Doubleday during our first year at Deerfield and we instantly became best friends. We had very similar interests and perspectives of the world that helped us forge a strong bond at DA. After graduating, despite going to different colleges and living in different corners of the globe once we started our professional careers, we have remained very close. We have strolled through the streets of Madrid and Sevilla, gone to the Grand Prix race in Montreal, enjoyed the infamous Prohibition Punch at the original Campbell Apartment in Grand Central, and most recently I visited him in London. While we were only roommates for one year, our passion to explore different countries, shared intellectual curiosity, and eagerness to discover any city’s new rooftops have strengthened our friendship since our Days of Glory.—Sergio Morales

CAROLINE WITMER ’08 and Mark Gormley were married on June 22, 2018 with a large Deerfield contingent in attendance: TATE HUFFARD ’05, CAROLINE ASHFORD ’14, TED ASHFORD ’82, TUCKER HOLLAND ’84, JOSEPH HUDSON (FOURIE) ’72, JEANNIE WITMER ’10, CAROLINE WITMER ’08, LILLY NOLAN ’10, MADDY KEESHAN ’10, FINN LESLIE ’10, NATHALIE WEISS ’08, MATT RHONE ’07, MAGGIE HINES ’08, SARAH SNODDON ’08, PETER PROCIDA ’08, BETSEY DIBONAVENTURA ’08, ASHLEY SHARP ’08, MOLLY GOODMAN ’08, KATHERINE MORIARTY ’08, MARGARET ELDRED ’08, ANNEKE BARAN ’08, ANNIE SMITH ’08, KENZIE TSANG-LEE ’08, SARAH MICHLER ’08, BEN WEINBERG ’08, CHIP DAUGHERTY ’08, CHRIS RAZOOK ’08, SAM HILL ’08, DAVID ROLD ’08, GARY WONG ’08, MARIA BOURDEAU ’08, TOMMY MELLY ’07, and MIKE MORRIS ’09.

’08

MORE CLASS NOTES AND PHOTOS: DEERFIELD.EDU/COMMONRO OM

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20 18 76 | THE COMMON ROOM

19 96 FLICKR.COM/DEERFIELDACADEMY

INSTAGRAM.COM/DEERFIELDACADEMY

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EVENTS

1797 Reception / NYC

FOUR HEADS OF SCHOOL l to r: Robert Kaufmann (1980-1994), Eric Widmer (1994-2006), Margarita Curtis (2006-2019), John Austin (2019â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

S E E EV E N M O R E F R I E N D LY FAC E S !

flickr.com/deerfieldalumni

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L O O K FO R U P C O M I N G EV E N TS :

deerfield.edu/events

Day of Service / NYC

Day of Service / DC

College Dinners / Georgetown

P rovidence

Williams

Day of Service / ATL

Chicago Reception

’09 EMILY GALINDO ’09 and ALEX KENYON ’06 met at Deerfield during the

spring of 2006 in a ceramics class. Alex proposed at the Rock in 2017, and they were married on July 28, 2018. Deerfield alumni in attendance were JACKIE BARAJAS ’09, CECELELA TOMI ’09, KELLEY NEIL ’08, KEVIN O’NEIL ’06, OKEOMA NWAKANMA ’09, SHAUN LEONARD ’06, NADIA PURVIS ’09, and JESS LAPORTE ’09.

80 | THE COMMON ROOM

2016 “I had the opportunity to catch up with Foreign Service Officer Don Sheehan ’74 before his move to Texas to become a foreign policy advisor (POLAD) to US Northern Command during my summer internship at the Department of State. Don generously provided valuable insights on his career as a diplomat as well as US foreign policy over the summer. I returned to Cornell this fall for my junior year and look forward to continuing my academic studies and playing on the men’s squash team.”

—James Paolella

20 00 81

1946 1949 1950 1951 1951 1952 1952 1953 1954 1954 1955 1956 1958 1961 1961 1962 1963 1963 1964 1964 1965 1966 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1972 1972 1973 1973 1973 1975 1975 1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978

Gerald Lauderdale Harvey Battell Loomis R. Warren Breckenridge Sherwood L. Anderson John B. Bell John Robin Allen Richard F. Boyden Hugh R. Smith Philip R. Chase Gordon R. Knight Michael D. Grant Joseph B. Twichell Bruce D. Grinnell Jon W. Barker Thomas M. Poor Dwight E. Zeller Peter A. Acly Stuart S. Orrick Neal S. Garonzik Robert S. Lyle Andrew R. Steele David H. Bradley Peter P. Drake Douglas F. Allen John W. Walbridge Douglas W. Squires G. Kent Kahle K. C. Ramsay Bradford Warren Agry Michael C. Perry Robert Dell Vuyosevich Lawrence C. Jerome Samuel A. Wardwell Thomas K. Whitehurst Dwight R. Hilson Peter M. Schulte Marshall F. Campbell David R. DeCamp James Paul MacPherson J. H. Tucker Smith Wayne W. Wall Paul J. S. Haigney Stephen R. Quazzo

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Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain

1979 1979 1979 1979 1980 1980 1981 1982 1983 1983 1984 1984 1985 1986 1986 1987 1987 1988 1989 1989 1989 1990 1991 1991 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1992

John J. Dinneen Marcus B. Dowd Arthur Ryan Dwight Daniel F. Goss John B. Mattes Paul M. Nowak Kurt F. Ostergaard Frank H. Reichel John G. Knight J. Douglas Schmidt B. Barrett Hinckley David A. Rancourt Sydney M. Williams Henri R. Cattier Michael W. Chorske John D. Amorosi Andrew P. Bonanno Oscar K. Anderson Gustave K. Lipman Edward S. Williams Edward S. Williams Jeb S. Armstrong J. Nathaniel Arata Andrew W. Lodge Timothy B. Weymouth Elizabeth B. Cooper Kristina I. Hess Jeffrey Morrison McDowell Raymond Laurence Walker Hardy Grumman Watts

Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Captain Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain

1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1993 1994 1994 1994 1994 1995 1995 1996 1997 1997 1998 1999 1999 1999 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2001 2002 2002 2002 2003 2003

Kimberly Ann Capello Christopher T. DeRosa Garrett P. James Charlotte York Matthews Shantel C. Moses Sarah D. Weihman Marjorie Gibbons Widener Eleanor A. Bueno Sherlock V. Grigsby Kristen Currier Hintze Adam Brian Sichol Paula Taryn Edgar Daniel D. Meyer Leslie W. Yeransian Amy Sodha Harsch Margot M. Pfohl Ashley Muldoon Lavin Amory Bradley Barnes Diana Torres Hawken Alexander Hooker Mejia Reed Weeden Minor Christopher Colin Wallace Michael P. Weissman Emily Battle Lisa Rosemary Craig Adam Joseph Sureau Dorothy Elizabeth Decarlo William Malcolm Dorson Terrence Paul Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Toole Eric David Grossman Tara Ann Tersigni

4s& 9s

Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain

2004 2004 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005 2006 2007 2007 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2014 2014 2015 2016 2017 2017

Nicholas Zachary Hammerschlag Alexander Mark Kleiner Carolyn Redfield Romney Caroline C. Whitton H. Jett Fein Anne R. Gibbons Bentley J. Rubinstein Davis A. Rosborough Elizabeth Conover Cowan Jennifer Ross Rowland William Joseph Civitillo Kathryn Moir Clinard Samantha Jan Hilson Yongju Jason Jung Matthew Nicholas Lu Elizabeth Winifred Olchowski Elizabeth Utley Schieffelin Nicholas W. Squires Sterling Wardwell Emily Fox Blau West Dauphinot Hubbard Emilie Ottaway Murphy Sergio Arturo Morales Carley George Porter Madeline Elena McGraw Sidney Elizabeth Hulburd Michael Robert Lively Xavier Zak Salvador Margaret Stediford Shilling Margaret Emma McGraw Charles Folks Carpenter Mary Glass deLisser Anshi Jeffrey Sun

Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Reunion Chair Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain Class Captain

CLASS CAPTAINS & REUNION CHAIRS

REUNIONS / JUNE 6-9 DEERFIELD.EDU/REUNIONS

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Over his 42-year career in the newspaper business, including 28 years as the publisher and editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, Thomas Vail ’44 met world leaders, heads of state (including nine American presidents), and many other notable figures.

His book, Nine Legends, is a collection of essays about some of those outstanding people, among them Margaret Thatcher, Yousuf Karsh, and Frank L. Boyden.

Mr. Vail commented: “Much has been written about whether people shape events or whether events shape people.

Admitting the importance of the environment in which human beings operate, it is difficult to avoid the observation that remarkable individuals have indeed altered the course of history, some more than others.

Although assessing the historic significance of these individuals is outside my reach, I can say this about my subjects: Leaders and geniuses have some things in common.

These unusual and remarkable types all have strong vision.

They see desirable objectives and possibilities to strive for beyond the ordinary reaction to existing situations.

Armed with their vision, leaders and geniuses assert themselves tirelessly, always focused on the objective of creating something better.”

The following is a condensed version of Mr. Vail’s essay that features Mr. Boyden.

FIRST PERSON:

Frank L. Boyden / Headmaster

by Thomas Vail ’44

84 | THE COMMON ROOM

A genius I encountered early in my life was the universally admired headmaster of Deerfield Academy, Dr. Frank L. Boyden.

I attended Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in my teens, graduating in 1944. Dr. Boyden was Deerfield’s headmaster from 1902 to 1968. He had a great effect on every person who ever came in contact with him. John McPhee (Class of ’49) profiled him in a series of articles in The New Yorker that were later made into a book called The Headmaster.

Frank Boyden became headmaster of Deerfield Academy at the age of 22.

It was then a public school with seven students, and most locals thought it would soon close. No person other than Dr. Boyden wanted the position. By the time of his death in 1972 at the age of 92, he had built Deerfield Academy into an acclaimed private school of 500 students . . .

Dr. Boyden, whom everyone called ‘The Head,’ knew more about young boys and how to inculcate in them solid principles than any other person I have ever known.

This assessment is not mine alone and is shared by every other person to whom I have ever talked who knew and was influenced by Dr. Boyden.

It is difficult to summarize the genius, the high morality and splendid principles of Frank Boyden.

Some light can be shed on the subject by Dr. Boyden himself. As he told author McPhee, ‘The object of the school should be the development of character, to help each pupil to do that for which he is best suited.

This can be done in the country because the comparatively small numbers make it possible to do much personal work and the relationship between pupil and teacher becomes more intimate.’

A letter written by Dr. Boyden that McPhee reproduces in his book adds the further explanation that ‘. . . in my work I have just gone ahead from day to day without any particular theory or any particular policy except a real personal interest in the boys, in their work , and in their activities.’

Amazingly, Dr. Boyden knew and understood every one of the 500 or so boys who attended Deerfield Academy in my day. His office in the Main School Building was a desk in an open area where he could observe his students changing classes all day long.

There was no demerit system at Deerfield.

When boys got in trouble they were talked to by the headmaster, who told them in so many ways that what they had been doing was ‘just not the right thing to do.’ After such a talk with the headmaster, no one ever felt like acting up again.

I remember in particular one of the times Dr. Boyden visited our dorm. To my astonishment he told me that one of his former students (whom I knew from my hometown of Cleveland) ‘did not at first know how to study.’ I could not believe that the headmaster of 500 students could possibly have discerned a detail like that.

One of the foundations of a Deerfield education was a seemingly endless vocabulary test. We were required to look up long lists of words in the dictionary and memorize their meanings. What an awful task, seemingly so boring at the time. But it stood us in such good stead afterwards.

As Winston Churchill often remarked, a most important thing is to learn your own language.

Dr. Boyden believed in athletics and team play. But his belief in sports did not translate solely into having the best high school or prep school teams. He created an intramural system for all ages and all abilities. He thought that team play and an effort on the athletic field would serve us well in our future endeavors, regardless of our athletic ability.

No one who ever attended Deerfield Academy had anything but the highest respect for Frank Boyden. He knew us, he talked to us, and he instilled in us his morals, integrity and standards of excellence.

Frank L. Boyden was a rather small man, no more than 5’4” who always wore a dark blue double-breasted suit and thick glasses.

He was in evidence everywhere. He attended sport events, visited dormitories, organized religious services and counseled his students in every possible way. He was never severe or demanding, never lost his temper, and was always ‘full of humanity and understanding.’

And he had a very talented and accomplished wife. Helen Boyden taught chemistry and encouraged everyone in the pursuit of high standards, not only in academics but in the development of their characters as well.

I went to Deerfield because my parents had previously selected it for my brother, who had been struggling academically and needed one year more of high school

before he went to college. Deerfield was one of the few prep schools that would accept one-year students. I suspect Dr. Boyden accepted such students precisely so that he could help them achieve more in college.

Seeing how everything worked out so well for my brother, my parents were so impressed by Dr. Boyden that they thought the experience at Deerfield would be good for me, too. I am sure the education I received at the academy eventually helped me to graduate with honors from Princeton University.

Frank Boyden has been written into history as one of the finest educators who ever lived.

In addition, he occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of every one of his students.

He was a genius in the truest sense of the word.

McPhee’s book says it all: ‘His school evolved naturally, gradually, and surprisingly.

He had no plan and no theory, but he proved himself to be an educator by intuition.

College professors and college presidents became aware of his work and sent their sons to him. Others did the same. By the late 1930s, it had become clear that he was one of the greatest headmasters in history, and for many years he stood alone as, in all probability, the last man of his kind.’

Frank L. Boyden was remarkable and uplifting. He made of so many the best they could possibly be.

To unravel the mystique of this legendary educator, we might remember a simple message from the Bible that has echoed down the centuries. It comes from 1 Corinthians: ‘. . . faith, hope, and love . . . and the greatest of these is love.’

Frank Boyden loved us—and we loved him.

Let this be his epitaph. //

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IN MEMORIAM

86 | THE COMMON ROOM

* Boyden Society Member In Memoriam as of October 12, 2018.

Please go to deerfield.edu/commonroom for the most up-to-date information on classmates, including obituaries.

1934

1947

1955

1970

Ellen Barbara Thompson Crevier

Henry Cartan Clarke

Alexander Neave

Douglas Karr Campbell

March 9, 2000

August 29, 2018

September 24, 2018

April 10, 2018

1935

Lawrence Brown Woolson *

1956

Henry Morgenthau, III July 11, 2018

1939

Dr. George Goodwin, Jr. October 20, 2018

Frederick Arthur Jacobi April 1, 2018

1940

June 19, 2018

1948

John Chadwick Rockwell

June 1, 2018

July 25, 2018

Paul Hollister Jordan, Jr. *

1958

June 22, 2018

1949

Ruth Eileen Manix Brush January 3, 2018

November 14, 2015

Rt. Rev. Thomas Keating (FKA: Parker Kirlin Keating)

Scribner L. Fauver

Elisabeth Clapp Needham June 22, 2013

1943

Richard A. Foster July 12, 2007

John Wesley Hanes, Jr. June 9, 2018

Mary Evelyn Boyden Rogers June 10, 2012

1944

Ronald Alexander McLean, Jr.* January 31, 2018

Burdette Crawford Poland April 1, 2018

1945

John Creighton Armstrong August 28, 2018

Charles Wilson Schmidt*

April 18, 2018

Victor Howard Carpenter

Harold Granville Terence Payne Doyne-Ditmas

October 25, 2018

Getchell Brewster Cole

June 6, 2018

Thomas Sheridan Gale * February 22, 2017

Theodore Dwight Sheldon January 8, 2017

Charles Wilbur Ufford, Jr. * August 17, 2018

1950

James Meeson Price September 29, 2018

John Eugene Stauffer July 23, 2018

1951

John Elliott Carpenter* May 26, 2018

Michael Frank Rosenblum June 4, 2017

William Theodore Schwendler, Jr.* May 1, 2018

1972

1973

Stirlin Harris

Grady Edwin Lake

April 30, 2018

August 13, 2018

1960

1976

Capt. Brian Paul Klinker*

David Sweeney Dodge

August 22, 2018

April 18, 2018

Douglas Ross McPherson*

Hilbert van Nydeck Schenck, II

December 11, 2016

June 28, 2018

1961

1977

David Michael May*

Thomas Wentworth Morss

October 3, 2018

July 11, 2018

1963

1978

William Francis McCarthy

Capt. William Riggs Dawson, USN (Ret.)

April 17, 2018

1965

Larry Colker

April 30, 2018

1966

Nathaniel Pryor Reed*

George Folk Vary* June 22, 2018

Andrew Frank Winning March 11, 2018

Henry Grady Weaver, Jr.

June 20, 2018

1969

August 19, 2018

September 14, 2017

1959

April 24, 2018

1953

Henry Taylor Johnson

Richard King Hamlen, Jr.

September 17, 2018

February 22, 2018

Thomas Francis Driscoll

March 3, 2017

Bernard Albert Stern, Jr.

John Klingenstein

1971

John Roffo Oishei, II

1952

1946

Steven K. Panesis April 18, 2016

Stephen Henry Sneyd

September 25, 2018

January 23, 2018

Frank Ellis McKenzie, Jr. 2016

June 13, 2018

Earl Fain, III

July 11, 2018

Mark D. Forman July 21, 2015

August 25, 2018

1987

John Edward McGovern, III July 13, 2018

1990

Alvin Sydney Lino, Jr. June 2, 2018

1993

Alison Courtney Buck October 12, 2018

2009

Trevor Vietor Evans March 5, 2018

John Hancock Plunkett, Sr. July 14, 2018

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D E E R F I E L D M AG AZ I N E ’S WO R D S E A RC H P UZZ L E

KEY WORDS

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Communications Office, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342, and you’ll be entered to win a genuine LOGOFIT FAUX-FUR CAP & DA GLOVES! (The winner will be chosen at random from all correct answers received by January 2, 2019. *Tips: Circle only the key words listed below, and do not circle backwards words.

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Fill in the blanks to reveal the hidden phrase: “ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ ’_ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ , _ _ _ / _ _ _ ’ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ .”

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88 | THE COMMON ROOM

More gear at: store.deerfield.edu

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top), will reveal a famous saying. Send the lines to

OBJECT LESSON ACA D E M Y S C H O O L B E L L

Deerfield Academy Archives

This bell hung in the tower of the Deerfield Academy-Dickinson High School building from its construction in 1878 until 1930 when the building was demolished to make way for the Main School Building.

Today, the bell has a new life in the Athletics Complex’s Class of 1993 Rink—where it’s expected to ring in many goals and Deerfield wins!

89

DE E RF I E LD M A G A Z I N E

Deerfield Academy | PO Box 87 | Deerfield, MA | 01342 Change Service Requested

Matthew Arielly