Dunn School Alumni Newsletter - May 2022

Connor McMorrow ‘11’s Regenerative Roots

Ten years post-graduation, Connor McMorrow has been in a transformative state

Connor McMorrow ’11 spent six formative years at Dunn School as a Middle and Upper School Day student. In his 10th year since graduating, 2021 was a time of change and new beginnings for Connor.

Connor spent the start of his career diving into Silicon Valley’s tech scene where he helped scale two early-stage startups, one pre-revenue to over $5M in ARR and the other to acquisition. He loved the thrill of to apply his experience to purpose-driven companies.

practices. Each product begins by identifying an ecological need that can be addressed through regenerative agriculture, and ends as nutrient-dense and delicious foods that can restore our bodies, communities, and ecosystems,” Connor said.

“It’s incredible to think of the potential that regenerative agriculture principles have on positively impacting social, economic, and ecological health… and their place in future business.”

“those trips continued to show me the connection we as humans have to the land

”

So in 2021, Connor left his high-paying tech career to return to his roots. Having grown up working on his grandmother’s ranch in Santa Ynez, he wanted to support his uncle’s nontheir innovative food brand, Figure Ate.

Lyndsey McMorrow, a passionate advocate for regenerative and develop systems of regenerative agriculture for local, regional, and global impact.

can we make a bigger impact in the community and spread the word locally and beyond about regenerative practices?’”

food brand, Figure Ate.

“Figure Ate is focused on introducing restorative foods that are sourced from farmers and ranchers using regenerative

Connor said his decision to change gears professionally stems from his childhood raising cattle with his dad and brother as well as his experiences on the annual Dunn outdoor education trips. He said “those trips continued to show me the connection we as humans have to the land and all the beauty it provides to us. In the tech scene, I felt like I could make a lot of money, but I wasn’t making a positive impact on what is happening to our planet.”

2022 has continued to inspire and motivate more change for Connor

leap of faith and this time in himself. He’s started his newest venture running his own consulting and coaching business, Connor McMorrow Consulting. Connor blends his experiences across social entrepreneurship, growth strategy, commerce, brand building, leadership coaching, and community development with his passion and commitment to making an impact against climate change. He seeks to inspire positive and outcome-oriented change for leaders and their organizations.

Remembering ...

Bruce “Doc” Macomber

Beloved and revered former faculty member and Dunn School historian, Doc Macomber, left this earth for the big yellow school bus in the sky on April 27, 2021, at the age of 90. Doc passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones, including his wife, Jeanne. For decades,

he taught math and science, talked daily of the weather forecast, and drove many an unruly teen on Dunn’s yellow school bus.

Over his decades-long tenure at Dunn School, Doc deeply touched the lives of innumerable faculty, students, and their families. Doc’s son, Dunn alumnus, Dan Macomber, perhaps summed their memories of Doc best when he described him as “a father, a teacher, and a spiritual mentor for his students,” noting that, “Doc always treated people with kindness and viewed every moment in life as a time to teach and learn.”

In his later years after retiring, Doc spent much of his free time researching and documenting the entire history of Dunn School in the library archives. We are forever grateful to him for this gift he left behind on Dunn’s campus. We encourage alumni and anyone interested in taking a trip down memory lane in Doc’s honor to visit the Dunn School archives and experience for themselves Doc’s hard work and legacy on campus.

Neil Muller ’04

Dunn alumnus and former faculty member Neil Muller passed away unexpectedly of a previously undetected heart condition on December 12, 2020 in Sisters, Ore. He was 35 years old. He is survived by his wife Sara Swaner, his sons Mason and Ryan, his parents Kris and Bob, his brother Jon, and extended family.

Neil was known by all at Dunn School and beyond as a man who “never met a stranger.” He is remembered by all for his passion for just about everything, especially baseball. After graduating from Dunn, Neil played for the University of the Redlands Bulldog baseball team for four years. He then returned to Dunn to work in the Alumni

In April 2022, a gathering of friends, family, and former faculty and classmates attended a memorial barbecue and Dunn baseball game where Neil’s No. 24 jersey was

next to the retired jersey of Aaron Dorlarque, Neil’s former coach, mentor, and friend.

who stood 6 feet, 7 inches tall was a folklorist and co-

after winning the Condor League Championship in 1961 included the horn ring from Jim’s car’s steering wheel

soccer games.

Jim is survived by his wife of 86 years, son David and two grandchildren.

Diblee Hoyt ’70

Diblee died at his home on the Amoles Ranch at Rancho San Julian. He had been bedridden for approximately 10 years with MS. Diblee was elected to the Los Alamos Society in 2001 and was a fourth-generation member and

Diblee was one of a kind. One of his greatest passions was photography, which he taught at Allan Hancock College. In May 2021 Diblee said, “I learned to develop and print my images in a bomb shelter darkroom in high school, and while in college studied journalism and graphics.” In the 90’s Diblee rode his motorcycle across Russia with his motorcycle club.

of humor and love of photography.

Alumni Updates

Class of 1963

Jim Claire:

Mankind,” a collection of statements on the Golden Rule and commentary thereon. I’m planning another paper on selfreading Proverbs. I’ve got a lot of writing projects to keep me busy, including three books — “Short Poems for RestRoom Walls,” “Culinary Alchemy: Care and Feeding of the Body/

Approximations,” my collected poems.

Class of 1979

: Hi everyone! Stephen and I are will be SOLD! and we’ll be on a tropical island somewhere, scuba diving and working on our tans. I still plan to keep busy with Equine Mobile Digital Radiography and Granite Bay Equine. We live in El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Class of 1980

Bill DuBois: My family and I are on the move again, this time to Utah — headed for snowy slopes and proximity to Wyoming, my ultimate retirement goal. I’ve enjoyed several years on and last year, my wife worked at Dunn, and my son graduated from DMS — experiences for which we are grateful.

Class of 1982

: You may remember

the 1978-79 school year and played varsity basketball as a freshman. Sophomore year, quite abruptly, his mother arrived unannounced to take him back home to Oxnard, and just like that he was gone. I’ve spent much of my career as a

newspaperman, and locating Donald wasn’t easy. But after was surprised, but our friendship of long ago has warmed up again, and it’s become an enriching reunion. He is doing well,

complete his high school education. Now in our late 50s, we realize the excellent education we had access to and realize

Class of 1988

Maggie Houtz: creative life! After being a DJ for 17 years, advocating for a lesser-known genre known as downtempo electronica, I was invited to produce a compilation that was released in June, called “Matters of the Heart” and recently launched a record label — Over the Moon Music — with a dear friend who is wellestablished in my music circuit. And all of this on top of my

Class of 1990

Stephane deBord: I am still living in San Francisco with my wife Kimberly. My son Paul is a junior at Dunn and loving it. My stepson, Collin, graduated last June from Dunn and

stepdaughter, Natalie, who is a sophomore in high school in SF, and my daughter, also Natalie, is a sophomore at NYU. I get down to Dunn fairly frequently, and it’s great to see how the school keeps evolving. I encourage all of you to go down and

great guy and I think will do wonders for the school.

Class of 2006

Last year, my husband and I moved from San Francisco, where we’d been for over 7 years, and bought our