News From Friends | Spring 2017

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NEWS FROM FRIENDS | SPRING 2017

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Alonsa, 2015, oil on canvas

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s p ot l i g h t o n a lu m n i a rt

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Rachel Sard '08 is a New York artist who earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from The New York Academy of Art (NYAA). She received NYAA’s Portraits Inc. Award in 2016, the Acquavella Portrait Scholarship and the Gamblin Paint Award in 2015. Before attending NYAA, Rachel completed residencies and fellowships at the Brooklyn Art Space, the School of Visual Arts and the Vermont Studio Center. She graduated with a BFA degree in painting and a minor in writing from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Rachel was awarded the Hazel H. Huntsinger Memorial Prize in Painting by Washington University in 2011 and 2012. Rachel also studied at the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence in 2010. Rachel's work has been exhibited in numerous venues, including Sotheby’s, The Brooklyn Museum, Trestle Gallery in New York, Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, and ArtDimensions Gallery and Des Lee Gallery in St. Louis. Her work has been highlighted in Vogue and can be found in online and print publications including the The Artist's Magazine, Creative Quarterly and Manifest Press. A commissioned portrait hangs in the public collection of The New York County Lawyers' Association. View more of Rachel's work at www.rachelsard.com.


f e at u r e s

d e pa r t m e n t s

7 | A Quaker Scholar Visits Friends

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| Mission Statement

9 | The Informal and the Formal

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| A Message from the Principal

12 | Commencement 2016

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| Opening Shots

15 | Refining and Reaffirming Our Commitment

10 | Notes on Silence

17 | On Friends 29 | This is Our Moment 33 | Friends in Far Places

43 | Class Notes 65 | In Memoriam 71 | Back in the Day

37 | Reunion

Editor John Galayda

Principal Robert “Bo” Lauder

Graphic Design Anna Pipes

Director of Institutional Advancement Katherine Precht

Contributors Sy Bean Joe Foti '12

Director of Alumni Relations Amanda Goodman Director of Communications John Galayda

Nick Golebiewski

Communications Manager Bryan Hogan

Kim Moser '84

Communications Associate Collin Kather

Johnathon Henninger Rachel Sard '08

News from Friends is published by the Communications Office at Friends Seminary for alumni, parents, grandparents and friends of the School. The mission of News from Friends is to feature the accomplishments of alumni, while capturing the School’s remarkable history, values and culture. Each issue will have an underlying theme, such as (but not limited to) the sciences, the arts, athletics, history, literature and service. Additionally, the magazine gives insight into recent events at Friends Seminary.


Our Mission Friends Seminary educates students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, adhering to the values of the Religious Society of Friends. We strive to build a diverse school where students exercise their curiosity and imagination as they develop as scholars, artists and athletes. In a community that cultivates the practices of keen observation, unhurried reflection, critical thinking, and coherent expression, we listen for the single voice as we seek unity. The disciplines of silence, study, and service provide the matrix for growth: silence opens us to change; study helps us to know the world; service challenges us to put our values into practice. At Friends Seminary, education is rooted in the Quaker belief in the Inner Light – that of God in every person. Guided by the testimonies of integrity, peace, equality, and simplicity, we prepare students to engage in the world that is and to help bring about a world that ought to be. Adopted December 2015

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a m e s s a g e f r o m t h e p r i n c i pa l

Dear Friends, Words matter. The words we choose in formal communication as well as casual conversation carry with them so much more than dictionary definitions. As we navigate through this complicated time in our nation, punctuated with vitriolic political discourse, it is imperative as members of this special Friends Seminary community that we pause to acknowledge the power of language and the responsibility we each have to hold ourselves and each other to the highest of standards. Let us continue to strive for better listening, more compassion and deeper understanding of one another. And so we take a moment with this issue of News from Friends to reaffirm our commitment to Quaker education and our core values of service, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship. In these pages you will find testimonials from several members of our Community — young and old — reflecting on their experience with Quaker education at Friends Seminary. You will also find a detailed explanation of the recent changes to our Mission Statement, provided by faculty member Maria Fahey. In October, Friends welcomed distinguished Quaker academic, Arthur Larrabee as our 2016-2017 Visiting Scholar. In his talk, “Illuminating the Heart of a Quaker School: Stories from a Quaker Life,” he reminded us of the importance of listening and the power of unity. He assured us that the Quaker heart of Friends Seminary is strong. As we embrace our new destiny as a school separately incorporated from the New York Quarterly Meeting, we declare our commitment to keep that Quaker heart beating strongly. As I reflect on the many changes happening at Friends this year, I’ve been trying to think of a better word than “exciting” to describe this time in our history. After all, words matter. “Electrifying” is enticing, but lacks the emotional weight necessary to convey the significance of our separate incorporation. “Overwhelming” seems true at times, but carries with it a negative connotation inappropriate for the progress happening with our Campus Redevelopment Project. And so I return to “exciting,” for this truly is an exciting time to be a part of this community. As we chart our new course forward with expanded and refreshed physical spaces, we arrive at the realization that the more we change, the more we stay the same. I hope you enjoy this look at our past, present and future as a leading force in Quaker education. Best wishes to all,

Robert "Bo" Lauder Principal

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Principal Bo Lauder and students cut a ribbon atop Hunter Hall on January 31, 2017 during a ceremony celebrating the opening of the building's new fifth and sixth floors. To learn more about the Campus Redevelopment Project, visit www.Light-the-Future.org. 3 | nff


o p e n i n g s h ots

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Students, parents, faculty and staff attended the Women's March in New York City and Washington D.C. on January 21. We asked those who participated to share their images via Instagram with the hashtag #FriendsMarch. Here is a selection of images from our community. 5 | nff


opening shots

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A QUAKER SCHOLAR VISITS FRIENDS Arthur Larrabee Leads Discussions on Campus with Students, Faculty and Parents

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n late October 2016, Friends Seminary welcomed Quaker leader, Arthur Larrabee, as its 2016-2017 Visiting Scholar. Arthur is a consultant and workshop leader in the field of Quaker decision-making and clerking. As part of his three-day visit, Arthur led a series of stimulating classroom discussions, insightful clerking workshops and passionate lectures. In the classroom, he was interviewed by Grade 4 students about what it means to be a Quaker, commented on the nature of civil discourse in the most recent election season with Grade 7, and discussed Quakerism’s connection to social justice with Grade 12 history students. Between class visits, Arthur hosted four clerking workshops for faculty, staff and students. He also led a discussion with new Friends parents about Quakerism.

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During his interactions with the Friends community, Arthur recognized “an eagerness to incorporate Quaker ideas and testimonies into the life of the School, and an eagerness to learn about Quakerism.” He also left with “a sense that many people in the school think that Quakerism has a lot to offer, and that there are a lot of good ideas that come to us through Quakerism that support a liberal, progressive approach to education.” On the evening of October 27, 2016, Friends invited Arthur to make a public address as part of his residency. In his talk, Illuminating the Quaker Heart of a Friends School: Stories from a Quaker Life, Arthur outlined what comprises the School’s “Quaker Heart.” In addition to the central place of Meeting for Worship, the testimony of integrity and spiritled decision-making, he spoke about an appreciation for the spiritual dimension of life.


"At the heart of Quakerism is the belief that there is a spiritual dimension to life which is worth paying attention to. It is the experience of Quakers that when we open ourselves to it, Spirit can deepen and enrich our lives, lead us into desirable outcomes, make us better human beings, and make the world a better place," Arthur said. "In a Friends school, this spiritual dimension is not defined by what I would call traditional, mainstream, religious thinking or traditional religious silos. It is non-sectarian. It is non-denominational. It is non-creedal. It is non-dogmatic. It doesn’t proselytize. It welcomes everyone and excludes no one." Maintaining a strong Quaker identity is not easy, Arthur noted, especially when most of the students, families, faculty and staff are not Quakers. He also noted that Friends Seminary “recognizes that there is something of value that comes through the Quaker lens. The School is eager to harvest what comes through the Quaker experience as something that is important and meaningful.” In the end, Arthur said, “I had a really positive experience. I left feeling high on the spirit of the School.” Friends is grateful to Arthur for his generosity of spirit and his thoughtful engagement with our community. In his introduction of Arthur before the lecture, Academic Dean Will Hopkins said of Arthur, “Through continued sharing of wisdom, his work as a Quaker leader has helped many school communities become better versions of themselves.” Friends Seminary is fortunate to count ourselves among those communities touched by Arthur’s wisdom.

Queries From Arthur's Public Address in the Meetinghouse •

Do you have a sense of the spiritual dimension of life? And if so, how do you open yourself to it in such a way that it might make a difference in your life and in the life of the Friends Seminary community?

Do we make the time, and take the opportunity, whether during the school day or at other times in our lives, to welcome opportunities for reflection and spiritual growth?

In your life — both at Friends Seminary and outside of Friends Seminary — where are you most challenged to live with integrity? And in these challenging situations, where do you get support for making the choices that you recognize to be the right ones?

How can we make a difference in the life of the Friends Seminary community by refocusing our attention away from, “What do I want,” to asking, “What do we need? What does the bigger picture require?”

About Arthur Arthur recently retired as General Secretary of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. For 23 years, he practiced law in Philadelphia where he was the founding partner of the law firm, Larrabee, Cunningham and McGowan. He has served on a number of boards including Westtown School Friends Fiduciary Corporation and the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as a board member of Pendle Hill. Arthur volunteered with the American Friends Service Committee doing rural communitydevelopment work in Tanzania. A life-long Friend, Arthur has been a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting since 1970.

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THE INFORMAL AND THE FORMAL An Excerpt from English Teacher Joshua Goren's Speech to the Class of 2016 Illustrations by Joseph Foti '12

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am an informal person. I wear casual clothing, and I like to joke around. I am wary of formality. I am skeptical of rituals; I worry that someone else is doing my thinking for me. When talking with other people, I don't like the feeling that we're reading from a script, that we're not being authentic. When it comes to language, conversations and stories, I often feel like the rules get in the way of authenticity and truth. To be informal, or to be formal, that is a question I have often struggled with. I invite you to consider this question on this day, this formal day of your graduation. Here's a story: Twenty years ago, Rachel and I moved from Iowa to New York and started talking about getting married. We talked and talked. Sometimes we joked, and sometimes we argued. We went to a couples therapist and talked, joked and argued some more. In one of the strangest moments of my life, the therapist, whose name was Phyllis, addressed Rachel, "If Josh were to ask you to marry him, what would you say?" Rachel said she would say, "Yes." Phyllis then turned to me, "If Rachel were to ask you to marry her, what would you say?" I said I would say, "Yes." Phyllis took us to the brink of the form

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of a marriage proposal and parked us at the precipice. We'd said the words and had the feelings, but we weren't engaged. More weeks passed. Nothing happened. I wanted to marry Rachel but was incapable of acting. This was the time to be formal, to read the script, to follow the stage directions, to get down on one knee. "Rachel, will you marry me?" Ultimately, she proposed to me. The gender role reversal amused our friends and overshadowed a truth that has since become more clear to me: I'd been defeated by my own aversion to form, my fear that to read from a script would somehow make my proposal insincere. If I could go back, I would make that proposal and make it formally. My understanding of this story comes from telling and analyzing it along with other personal stories during talk therapy. I tell the stories, and my therapist asks me questions. He singles out specific words. He notices patterns and contradictions. Sometimes we learn something and sometimes we don't. Sometimes I'm too tired to do this well. Sometimes I'm not open to what the story might be suggesting. In these ways, talk therapy is similar to... English class.


English class and therapy are formal structures that facilitate the search for truth through the careful analysis of narrative and language. These structures can lead participants to a deeper understanding than one person could have achieved alone. Neither therapy nor the deep study of literature can be successful if there is no vulnerability, no genuine danger, no risk of exposure. Neither can be scripted because both rely on who, specifically is in the room. Part of what makes our school a Quaker school is our wariness of over-scripting the class, our belief that class discussion must be sufficiently open because the truth might emerge from anyone. As a teacher, I have to leave the space for each of you to say whatever you’re going say, or we cannot succeed. Still, both English class and talk therapy employ structures that protect individuals during what can be a dangerous process. When we engaged in formal discussions of Huck Finn—his racism, the limits of his freedom, the glimpses of his self-reliance, his love for Jim, his mistreatment of Jim, his horrifying capitulation to Tom Sawyer—it was dangerous. The conversation was safer because we were talking about the words on the page; we were talking about Huck and not explicitly about ourselves, our own racism, our own weakness in the face of authority. But the discussions succeeded because we were open and vulnerable; the interrogation of Huck's story must also be a self-interrogation. English class is an empty exercise if we don't allow ourselves to feel implicated by the questions we're asking about Huck.

Another of my favorite forms is the Passover Seder, the commemoration of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. Like therapy and English class, the Seder is a ritual storytelling that allows a participant to be both formal and informal. Sometimes seder-goers just read the script, but because the script contains questions and complex symbol-filled stories, even the scripted seder offers opportunity for reflection. For me, the best moments are those when the seder script breaks open and discussion takes over. At my Seders the formal often gives way to the informal at the moment when we discuss the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The question of whether it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart or Pharaoh who hardened his own heart, refusing to free the

slaves, is a profound one—the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart leads to evil and suffering. It matters. The discussion of this question leads me to ask how and when my heart is hardened and what or who is responsible for this. Why does my heart sometimes become formalized, callous, unfeeling, bereft of sympathy? Can I soften? Can I open myself up? The form of the Seder, both strict and open, has the power to lead us to these questions.

Another story: Every year, my wife and I argue about our Seder. Every year one of us says, "Let's just call it off!" or, "We'll never do this again!" She carefully prepares for the Seder and thinks I don't do enough preparation. These disagreements are painful and sometimes lead to tears. But we always have another Seder. She's right that it would be better if I did more planning, but I'm also right that my informality is an important part of what makes our Seders meaningful. Just to be present, to read the script, to make one's self vulnerable to the story, is to succeed. The Seder, like our marriage, connects us to our past and to our community. It also connects us to our future and to each other. This is the weird moment in the speech when it seems like I'm trying to tell you to get married; I'm really not. Marriage isn't everyone's form. What I am telling you is to find your own form, to be formal and also to be informal. Read the script, but let the script open you to the world and to others and be willing to subvert or resist the scripts and forms when that is necessary. Be a part of something, and be your authentic self when you're a part of it. Meeting for Worship is our school's ritual, our form. Like the Seder, its structure opens up a space for introspection and storytelling. We come to a set place at a set time. We don't prepare for Meeting for Worship; we just show up. Sometimes we sit in unbroken silence, and that has its own opportunities for self-exploration and communal connection, but for me the best meetings are those in which stories lead to stories and those lead to more stories. I like it when the chain of stories opens us up as individuals and as a community. One person's choice to be vulnerable affects us all. When I'm my best self, sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 1 0


I'm most open to the stories that come from within me and those shared by others. There are stories that some of you have told that have become a part of how I understand the world and myself.

One more story. On May 29, 2007, in Central Park, I met Philip Roth, the writer whose books have been most important to me. I know it was May 29, because it was the night before my third son, Judah, was born. In 2007, I was a frustrated, unpublished novelist. I was a bit lost. My life felt formless. I was in the park because I was saying yes to my son, Abram, who wanted me to play soccer with him. Abram was on the cusp of becoming a middle child. I'm not much of a ball-playing dad, but I said yes. Roth was just sitting on a park bench wearing sunglasses, legs outstretched, hands in his lap, doing nothing. "Go talk to him," Rachel encouraged on my cell phone. What followed could have been the most formal of interactions, a ten second exchange, a fan's polite thank you to his favorite author. But I made myself vulnerable; I asked him for help. I told him about my frustration, my struggle to write and to get my manuscripts published. I told him about my two sons and my third's imminent arrival. Roth listened. By this time Abram was bouncing his soccer ball off the back of my head—he didn’t care that the old man I was talking to was Philip Roth. Roth turned to me, looked at Abram and back at me. He lowered his sunglasses, and said, "You've got it wrong. You already have it all. Your family, your sons, that's what's important." It means something when Philip Roth—not exactly known as a family man—tells you that family is important. It was a life-changing moment for me, one that eventually led me to teaching, to this school, to this Meetinghouse and to this moment. Roth gave me a blessing, a permission to be myself, and it was my vulnerability and openness that enabled me to receive it. Your graduation ceremony is a ritual. A truly informal person, knowing that he would graduate without this ceremony, might not show up today. But it is important that we are here together in this room. We're performing the same rituals 11 | n f f

performed by last year's seniors and next year's seniors. The form that is high school kept you here from September to June across the past however many years. You followed the script or most of it. You showed up. With varying degrees of resistance and energy, you conceded to the form by waking up at the right time, raising your hands, turning in the papers and taking the tests. In your classrooms you got what is called “a formal education.” I believe that within Friends Seminary, there was also space for you to be your authentic self and that you made your education personal, idiomatic, informal and genuine. Quakerism encourages a blend of the formal and informal; Quaker education is unceremonious, simple, non-hierarchical, unpretentious but also anchored by community rituals. Think of the intertwining of formal and informal in the way we shake hands and look each other in the eye at the end of each meeting. I know there were many moments in these last years when you let yourself be vulnerable and open. I witnessed some of them and enjoyed those moments with a full and unhardened heart. I learned from you during those moments, and I thank you for this teaching. I believe that if you can find a balance between formality and informality in your lives, one that allows you to show yourself to the world, to be open and vulnerable, but also to protect yourself from the chaos, to take advantage of the ways that rituals and other forms connect us to each other and to history...if you can find that balance, you have a solid chance at a satisfying, meaningful life. May you find the forms and structures that allow you to be yourself and to be open to the world.


COMMENCEMENT 2016 June 13, 2016 | Fifteenth Street Meetinghouse

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2016 COLLEGE DESTINATIONS 73 seniors applied to college...

89

ď‚€

student is attending a men’s college

% headed off to college with at least one Friends peer to

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Where in the world did they go?

different colleges accepted them

13 25 stayed in New York State

attended college in the Mid Atlantic

ď‚

5

students are attending a women's college

15

11

went to headed New to the England West Coast

12

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attended went went college in down outside the Mid- South the U.S. West

40

% of the class received merit scholarships ranging from $500 to total cost of attendance

% were admitted to their first, second or third choice college

1

56

116

3

students are pursuing majors in engineering

4 students are

pursuing degrees in the performing and visual arts (including architecture)

5

students are pursuing majors in business/ management

Barnard College (2), Bates College (2), Bryn Mawr (2), Bucknell University (2), University of Chicago (3), Cornell University (2), Dickinson College (2), Duke University (2), Macalester College (3), Oberlin College (3), New York University (3), Northwestern University (2), Occidental College (2), University of Pennsylvania (2), Reed College (2), Vassar College (2), and Yale University (3)


Acierno, Jane Allen, Elijah Bactat, Catherine Benderly, Natalie Bernstein, Anya Bhotia, Tsejin Birnbaum, Fredrick Boreham-Wing, Olivia Brittenham, Michael Brunstad, Matthew Cook, Liam Creed, Ewan Cunningham, Reid Cuthrell-Tuttleman, Willa Donnelly, Miles Edelman, Sabrina Edison, Samuel

Heller, Charlotte Higgins, Emma Hooton, Giovanna Jensen, Alexander Jensen, Thomas Kass, Ainsley Lanzi, Jack Larkin, Anne Lee, Anna Leff, Scott

Macalester College Morehouse College Bryn Mawr College Duke University Vassar College Bucknell University Tufts University New York University Oberlin College Pitzer College Dickinson College Bard College University of Vermont Barnard College University of Chicago Brown University Washington University in St. Louis Reed College Skidmore College Yale University University of Miami Davidson College Colby College Yale University Maryland Institute College of Art Vassar College Macalester College University of Chicago King's College, London Swarthmore College Wesleyan University University of Pennsylvania Reed College Cornell University Connecticut College

Lemmon, Giles Liberman, Evan

Trinity College Tulane University

Elings Haynie, Altana Fillion-Raff, Camille Finley, Rebecca Franco, Dana Freundlich, Caleb Gottsegen, Holly Grob, Samuel Grunder, Soren

Liebmann, Jason Lobel, Emily Mace, Olivia Madan, Akhil Markus, Nicholas McLane, Hudson Mehta, Sahana Michael, Laura Milling, Sophie Moore, Victoria

University of Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr College Colorado College Northwestern University Cornell University Occidental College Scripps College Yale University Bucknell University Dickinson College

Mortenson, Richard Nino, Santiago OssĂŠ, Chi Paluszek, Olivia Parker, Felix Pearson, Nell Peck-Sanders, Chloe Peck-Sanders, Samantha Peltier, William Petterson, Brock Robson, Charlotte Rose, Emma Schwabsky, Willa Settleman, Andrew Singh, Gabriella Tecotzky, Julia Wakefield, Atticus

Duke University Babson College Chapman University New York University Johns Hopkins University Bates College Loyola Marymount University Occidental College Brandeis University Lewis & Clark College McGill University Oberlin College University of Chicago Vanderbilt University Barnard College Oberlin College University of California, Los Angeles State University of New York at Albany

Walsh, Scarlett Warshaw, Jack Warshaw, Luke Weisman, Joseph White, Nicholas Williams, Malik Wise, Shannon Wong, Benjamin Woolmington, India

Northwestern University Hamilton College Macalester College Wake Forest University University of Richmond New York University Bowdoin College Bates College

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Refining and Reaffirming Our Commitment to a World That Ought to Be By English Teacher Maria Fahey, Member of the Mission Statement Working Group When in October 2015 our school’s mission statement was presented to the faculty and staff for their comments and suggestions, a lively discussion ensued about what the statement captured well

we presented a revised statement at a full faculty and staff meeting, a statement that was then forwarded to the Friends Seminary School Committee, who, after amending the first sentence, adopted the new

and what needed rethinking and rewording. Friends Seminary was undergoing the self-study required for our NYSAIS reevaluation, and reviewing the mission statement was a key task. Since it was clear that there was work to do, the administration appointed a Mission Statement Working Group— Claire Brennan '09, Ben Frisch, Ben Horner, Rachelle Scolari, and me. Our charge was to retain the essence of the mission statement while trying to address the concerns we heard in the initial meeting and those we heard in subsequent meetings with the faculty, administration, and Friends Seminary School Committee (since renamed the Board of Trustees). The Mission Statement Working Group met at least once weekly until mid-December when

statement. The Working Group was moved by the energy and care with which our colleagues considered our mission. We were honored to have the opportunity to find unity in the various suggestions as we poured over the significance of each word. What you see below is the mission statement adopted by the Friends Seminary School Committee in December 2015 along with the 2006 statement that was our starting point. Although it is impossible to capture the complexity of the discussions and deliberation (there were 18 versions!), we hope these brief notes on the adjacent page offer a glimpse of the process that led to the final statement.

O U R M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T Friends Seminary educates students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, adhering to the values of the Religious Society of Friends. We strive to build a diverse school where students exercise their curiosity and imagination as they develop as scholars, artists, and athletes. In a community that cultivates the practices of keen observation, unhurried reflection, critical thinking, and coherent expression, we listen for the single voice as we seek unity. The disciplines of silence, study, and service provide the matrix for growth: silence opens us to change; study helps us to know the world; service challenges us to put our values into practice. At Friends Seminary, education is rooted in the Quaker belief in the Inner Light—that of God in every person. Guided by the testimonies of integrity, peace, equality, and simplicity, we prepare students to engage in the world that is and to help bring about a world that ought to be. (Adopted December 2015)

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Notes on How Our Current Mission Statement Came to Be  This phrase was revised by the Friends Seminary Committee to express a relationship between the School and the Religious Society of Friends at large.

OUR PREVIOUS MISSION STATEMENT (adopted 2006) Friends Seminary educates students

 We discovered that the “through instruction and example” phrase was failing to convey its intended idea that students learn, in part, because teachers provide an example by continuing their own study and practice. We decided that the revised sentence that begins, “In a community that cultivates the practices of” speaks for the community and work of teachers and students.  We heard from many who felt the word “reflection” was missing, so we added “unhurried reflection,” a practice fundamental to Quaker education.  After much discussion of the words “consensus” and “unity,” we chose the Quaker term “unity.” We were drawn to the Quaker notion of “unity—not uniformity” as well as to the following meanings of unity: “Concord or harmony between several people, groups, institutions, or states; ...The quality or fact of being one body or whole, esp. as made up of two or more parts; an undivided whole, as distinct from its parts” (Oxford English Dictionary 4 & 6). We also tried to convey that listening to the single voice is an inherent part of the process of seeking unity, thus, “we listen for the single voice as we seek unity.”

from kindergarten through twelfth grade, under the care of the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Through instruction and example students follow their curiosity and exercise their imaginations as they develop as scholars, artists and athletes. In a community that cultivates the intellect through keen observation, critical thinking and coherent expression, we strive to respond to one another, valuing the single voice as well as the effort to reach consensus. The disciplines of silence, study and service provide the matrix for growth: silence opens us to change; study helps us to know the world; service challenges us to put our values into practice. At Friends Seminary, education occurs within the context of  the Quaker

 We replaced “within the context of” with “rooted in,” a phrase that echoes other terms, including “cultivates” and “matrix,” whose etymologies express growth. (“Matrix” is derived from the Latin word for womb. )  Many members of the community found the final sentence problematic: some found it arrogant; others found the idea too narrow that there is “the” world that ought to be. We revised the final sentence with several goals: that it not subordinate the “world that is” to any future world; that it describe our students acting in the world—not on it; and that it express the possibility that there could be more than one version of the world that “ought to be,” even as that world is guided by Quaker testimonies. Since the 1974 Faith and Practice is not the sole source of the phrase “world that ought to be” and since the phrase is not quoted exactly, we removed the citation and the quotation marks.

belief in the Inner Light — that of God in every person. “Guided by the ideals of integrity, peace, equality and simplicity, and by our commitment to diversity, we do more than prepare students for the world that is: we help them bring about the world that ought to be.”* * This last sentence is adapted from Faith and Practice: The Book of Discipline of the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (1974).

 We heard from many who thought that the articulation of our “commitment to diversity” sounded tacked on to the list of Quaker testimonies. Instead of mentioning “diversity” at the statement’s end, we articulated our commitment to building a “diverse school” when the school is first mentioned. We understood “school” to mean both our community and our program.

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ON FRIENDS Reflections on Time Spent on 16th Street Drawings by Nick Golebiewski

Responding to the queries below, eight members of the Friends community shared some of their experiences during their time as students, teachers, and parents.  Friends Seminary has been a leader in Quaker Education for the past 231 years. What impact has this community had on you?  How has your experience of Quaker values and traditions through your time at Friends affected your daily life?  What testimonies resonate with you most strongly, and why? sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 1 8


ON FRIENDS Coming from a diverse background and entering the Friends community at such a young age, I think it took me longer to develop a specific appreciation for the testimony of equality. Accepting others regardless of their background is such an intrinsic part of a Friends Seminary education, and so deeply woven into the culture, that it was almost invisible to me. Some of the most special parts of being a part of this community are our values of mutual respect and tolerance.

Jada Jameson ’17 The impact of my education here at Friends begins with the Quaker testimonies that have guided my educational and personal journey throughout my 12 years as a part of this community. Equality, community and integrity have been the most influential testimonies in my development as a student and growth as an adolescent.

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The community of Friends Seminary is unlike any other in its amalgamation of fiercely intelligent, funny and kind human beings, and the testimony of community is one of the leading forces that has kept me at Friends for 12 years. Meeting for Worship, whether I have experienced it once a week or twice an eight-day cycle, has changed the way I connect with the world. The tradition of community-centered mindfulness, especially as I have grown older, has become a sacred part of my Friends experience. When I discuss Meeting for Worship on admission tours or with people who are unfamiliar with Quakerism, I always mention how special it is every year to experience silence with a specific group of people that will most likely never gather together again after the school year ends. There is a special symbiosis that occurs between the cyclical nature of education and the bonding influence of the Quaker community. A Friends education teaches you not only nto grow as an academic, but also how to grow as an honest and ethical member of society, and so the testimony of integrity has also played a large role in my daily life. As I learned to ask “how” and “why” questions in Upper School, I started to ask them in my own life. I have been taught the important and rewarding nature of hard work as well as the personal pride that can stem from being able to actively contribute to important conversations. Through humanities classes, lunch discussions and countless Meetings for Worship, Friends Seminary has taught me to think critically in the pursuit of truth and, in turn, always to seek the promotion of justice.


Jonathan Holtzman ’74 Having attended Friends and then Haverford College, a Quaker college, I have long been fascinated by consensus decision-making. Quakers do not vote in meetings; all major decisions are made by consensus. That does not mean that everyone in the room must completely agree. It does mean that no one is willing to block consensus. Fourteen years ago, I started a law firm representing California cities, counties and non-profits. The partnership of the firm operates on the Quaker approach to consensus. Major decisions such as attorney hiring, partnership, salaries and large expenditures are made by consensus. I believe that using consensus for firm decision-making has been one of the keys to the firm’s success. We have very little turnover in the firm, and consensus decision making prevents the formation of “factions.” For example, some partners may have doubts about a particular decision. However, if they ultimately agree to proceed, they consent to the decision, become part of the consensus, and cannot later say, “I told you so.” We are jointly responsible for our decisions. I think the ability to block consensus is the ultimate expression of equality. Regardless of the power or importance of those in the majority, the least senior person in the room can block consensus. Consensus decision-making allowed our firm to include many strong (and headstrong) partners because each effectively holds the power to veto decisions. It forces partners with disparate views to work together. This was particularly important in the firm’s early days, when the strains of being a start-up were greatest. As the firm has grown (we now have 65 attorneys, consultants and staff ), it seems much of the early discord has faded, and decisions come more easily

with more resources. However, we found that the interest in nimble decision-making has meant that we cannot have all decisions made by consensus of all the partners. In response to this challenge, the firm has created an executive committee that makes many day-to-day decisions by consensus. As many commentators have observed, consensus decision-making does appear to work best in smaller groups. More critically, the importance of consensus decision-making is greatest when approaching contentious or difficult issues. During my time at Friends and Haverford, I was impressed by the great personalities who forged consensus on difficult issues. The 1970s were a time of great social change, and meetings often included some unruly behavior. Driving to consensus requires an array of persuasive techniques far beyond what it takes to reach a majority. It requires more even than facts and arguments. It requires truly understanding all sides of an issue, reasoning with others, brainstorming and even resorting to broader ethical principles. It has been said that Quakers who are skilled at consensus decision-making are better than the most skillful politician. While Quakers generally bristle at this suggestion—after all, in Quakerism, consensus is a manifestation of God’s will—bringing diverse personalities and interests together is exactly what we wish our politicians would achieve. sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 2 0


ON FRIENDS

Oliver Rothschild ’98 The impact of my Friends education started with community. During my seventh grade year I demonstrated a real aptitude for annoying my teachers. My advisor, Phil Schwartz, got in the habit of stopping me in the hallway to ask “who did you tick off today?” But I remember, no matter what my answer was, Mr. Schwartz stuck by me, with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. Because I felt supported in the Friends community even during my most difficult and rebellious moments, the value of integrity was easier to live out, and the lessons of YSOP (Youth Service Opportunities Project) and community service during high school sunk in more deeply. This support and sense of community gave me the confidence to trust my sense of what was right and who I was. I remember speaking out of the silence in Quaker Meeting for the first time when I couldn’t understand the Gulf War as a nine-year-old. And the spirit of staying true to what I believe has carried forward into my career. I’ve spent most of my life doing my best to address some of the frustrating inequality I see in access to healthcare and education across the world. I’m now three months into life as a new father, and I’ve been thinking recently about how to instill the right values in my son. My memories of Mr. Schwartz in the hallway are a good start. By creating the kind of community and supportive environment Friends did for me, I hope I can help him find his voice and his values. No matter who he ticks off.

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ON FRIENDS Nine years ago, as we were applying to—and falling in love with—Friends Seminary, could I have ever imagined that this school would become such an important part of our lives? Or that Quaker practices would become so integrated into and important to my daily existence? Absolutely not. I knew from our visits that it would be the perfect place for our son, but I underestimated the impact that the Friends community would have on me.

Peter Rahbar Parent of Zack ’21 and Sadie ’24; Trustee

I could not think of a more relevant and meaningful time to write about the importance of Friends Seminary and the Quaker Testimonies to my family and me. As I write this, we are all witnessing our country go through a period of incredible change, debate and uncertainty. Our institutions are experiencing volatility that many of us have not seen and could not ever imagine. The national dialogue is incredibly pointed, divisive, and unfortunately very angry. Through all of this, we have the privilege to share and experience the stability, caring and civility of our 231-yearold institution. Most importantly to me, I have drawn inspiration from the Quaker Testimonies of community and equality to guide me through my daily life.

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As we all endure the pressures of work, politics, protests, and the relentless forces of social media, Quaker values have guided me to pause, reflect, work to help protect others, and seek out the light in what may seem to be an otherwise dark time. I know that I can walk into Friends on any given day and speak to a member of the student body, staff, faculty or administration who can provide an inspiring anecdote from that day, or provide a thoughtful, articulate perspective on a challenging or divisive issue in our society. I can also draw inspiration from our community’s collective efforts to work for greater equality at our school and in our society, including a recent PA diversity and inclusion subcommittee meeting that was attended by more than thirty parents. Most importantly, I have the comfort of knowing that my children are so lucky to have this same uplifting and enriching experience every single day they spend at Friends. But the power of the Friends community and Quaker values are not limited to my experience within the walls of the institution. Fellow members of our community have provided our family with support, happiness and valuable friendship. When we recently moved to Williamsburg, Friends families in our new neighborhood were the first to reach out to us and provide valuable advice and support during our transition. At my son’s Bar Mitzvah in September, we were surrounded by numerous families from the Friends community, sharing the joy of this important milestone in his life. I feel incredibly lucky to be part of this community and cannot fully express the important role that Friends occupies in my life. More than ever, I feel that it is my obligation to share these practices and beliefs with others outside of our community, while continuing to serve our school community as we plan for the future of our enduring institution.


Tsejin Bhotia ’16 Excerpt of 2016 Graduation Speech

Educated in public school until eighth grade, I had preconceived ideas of what private school would be like. A naive thirteen-year-old, I thought that life at an independent school meant wearing fancy clothes every day, getting manicures after school, and drinking lattes during frees. Soon into my freshman year at Friends, I realized that that was not the EXACT reality of life at this Quaker school. However, I still felt self-conscious about my background—my race, culture, and socio-economic status. Friends was not as racially diverse as my middle school, which was a big part of the challenge. Less than 20% of the class is made up of students of color. I recall being acutely aware of how different this environment was from the one I had been in at my public school. Self-acceptance is a lifelong process, and Friends has become a critical part of my development. Over the years I have felt increasingly welcomed and supported by our community. As I took steps to open up to others, they opened up to me. So many people in this school have readily embraced my background. Students and faculty alike have encouraged me to see my own story as valuable, to understand that my culture is worthy of celebration. At Friends I have discovered the beauty of being part of a community of diverse stories.

I want to take a moment to thank my parents for all of their sacrifices and steadfast love of me, our family, and our Tibet. My parents have always thought about others before themselves; they have always made sure that my brothers and I felt comfortable before they themselves felt so. My gratitude towards them is beyond comprehension. Yet daily I pay homage to them, to all struggles for human dignity, and to this Quaker education that has empowered me to speak truth to power. The mission of the School, my parents’ lives, and Jason’s classes have all combined to inspire me to be an activist for social justice. I have found my voice, both as a minority in this community and as an individual in this world.

One person in particular, Jason Craige Harris, has opened my eyes to things I would never have been able to learn about on my own. This year was about embracing myself regardless of doubters and negative forces. Jason’s classes in Religion and Social Justice, and Poverty in the U.S. have allowed me to connect my own life with these topics, and share them with students in my class and beyond. His openness about himself and his struggles in life genuinely inspire me to embrace myself.

Having become aware of the value and power of my own voice, I have sought to amplify Tibetan voices, which are so brutally suppressed that self-immolation as protest has become an awful last resort for more than 150 Tibetans since 2009. Nobody, not you, not I, nor any human being, should have to put their lives in danger, to suffer, because their voices are not being heard. I recognize the earnest longing of aTibet free from oppression, and I identify with that longing for a world that ought to be.

Embracing myself fully has meant embracing my family’s story—its beauty and its pain. My parents escaped Tibet in 1959, when there was a failed uprising against the Chinese regime. They fled to India with almost nothing from their motherland. With their faith, commitment to family, and sheer hard work and persistence, my parents brought themselves from a life of poverty in India to one of opportunity in the U.S.

I embrace the idea of radical self-acceptance and reject all forces that would require the rejection of myself. It took a while, maybe half my time here at Friends, to come to this place, but I am so proud to be able to say, “I love who I am, and I am proud of the person I have become,” and I think everybody here should be able to say that, especially in a community like Friends.

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ON FRIENDS In the years that I attended Friends Seminary, 1939-1952, it did not seem overtly Quaker, except for the two periods of silence in the Meetinghouse each week. However the atmosphere was totally egalitarian. No one, as far as I could tell, was looked down upon or ridiculed for who he was or what he did. No one was categorized, except as a boy or girl, and that mainly in sports. Each person was valued for his or her abilities, no matter how off-beat. We had no awareness of anyone’s background or provenance, rich or poor, scholarship or not, nor anyone’s family’s affiliations, religious or political, except as emerged in discussions. When I graduated and went to a super feminist college, I could not understand why women felt they had to band together and struggle to be noticed. It never occurred to me, as a woman, that I could not do whatever I chose to do, albeit with the caveat that no one could do everything as well as one might wish. It seemed obvious that a highpowered executive with heavy responsibilities and long work hours might not be able to give her children as much time and attention as a stay-at-home mother might. Compromise was expected.

Martha Manheim Green ’52

When I was in Kindergarten or First Grade, I made the mistake of saying “damn” in the Meetinghouse, after the third repeat of filing in and out as practice for the forthcoming Christmas Pageant. Somebody overheard me, and I was sent to the principal—a tall, august, distinguished white haired gentleman named Mr. Smith. I thought he must be God, as much as I understood God at 5 or 6 years old. He asked me if I had said “damn,” and I lied and said, “No”. Looking back seven and a half decades, I realize I should have said, “Yes, is there something wrong with that?” My parents said “damn” at home when frustrated, and I knew nothing of sacred space nor defamation. But Mr. Smith believed me, or pretended to, and apologized for his mistake. He may even have asked for my forgiveness. I’ve never forgotten the effect of an authority figure of such eminence taking a lying child seriously. I would call that Quakerism in action.

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Matt Cashin Lower School Learning Specialist

I have often wondered why the Friends did not simply disappear into the mists of history like many of the other groups that emerged during the English Revolution. This tumultuous period saw the dissolution of Parliament, the beheading of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the regicide of Charles I and the various depredations and radical remaking of government by Oliver Cromwell during and after the Civil War. Ranters, Levelers, True Levelers, Fifth Monarchists, Seekers and the Friends were but some of the wild assortment of voices who arose to question the existence of every institution in England. Into this anarchic period emerges George Fox and the Quakers, who will go on to suffer tremendous persecution during the Restoration, but who persist to this day where others simply disappeared or merged into the mainstream. Is it their radical notion of equality between all and for all, their early opposition to slavery or perhaps their insistence on right practice (orthopraxy) over right belief (orthodoxy)? Or is it something more profound, a deeper and stiller water that revitalizes from age to age and generation to generation? Demographically they hang by a thread, but that may be the wrong data to consider. The American Friends Service Committee publishes a pamphlet introducing many of the testimonies that guide Friends in their actions and their faith. Leafing through these testimonies one sees the interconnectedness of each. How can simplicity and integrity not be an offspring of peace or stewardship and not naturally complement community? They are each given their due and properly extolled as virtues to eagerly attain. Yet, it is in the back of this brief booklet under the title “Other Relevant Quaker Practices” that I find the heading that seems to ground all others in its simple call: Silent Reflection. It is this practice, this calling, that has proven to me to be the most enduringly attractive, especially as expressed in Meeting for Worship at our School.

The communal gathering of the School in silence seems to me to constitute the beating heart of the institution. It is the touchstone that allows the School to utter its own name with a mixture of hope and purpose. It is in Meeting that I perceive that we are grounded in something greater than ourselves. It binds us together beyond ritual or words and beckons us to some richer experience. It brings to mind the words of the poet Rumi: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” On the days when I am most agitated and storm-tossed, and in my distractedness peruse the Meeting for fellow travelers and care to note the various dispositions on display, I am often amused by the variety of experiences I witness. The incredibly bored student experiencing this awkward and forced interlude and awaiting its merciful cessation sits next to its antipode—the transported and collected soul. Everything that fits between these poles I recognize as my own experience. In those moments when I fear I have lost my peace of soul, I now know through experience that I have only lost my awareness of it. I am thankful that Meeting for Worship has granted me that wisdom.

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ON FRIENDS

colonial-dressed man on their canister packaging. (Actually, more than 100 years ago, that cereal company chose the name and image because Quakers projected the values of honesty, integrity, and wholesomeness, all qualities they wanted associated with their brand.) When someone asks me what it’s like raising children at a Quaker school, this is what I tell them: first and foremost, it is not really about “religion” in the traditional sense of the word—it’s about seeing each of ourselves as spiritual beings, yet not confined by religious indoctrination; it is about raising children who care about the world around them and being a part of something bigger than themselves. Then I brag about the ability of several hundred individuals, most of whom are between the ages of 5 and 10, coming together weekly to sit in silence and contemplation, and how that culminates with the children singing about the importance of silence. I am keenly aware that someday I will miss the privilege of hearing that sweet song. I’ve never really been a part of a community like the one at Friends Seminary. Here, I find fellow parents, teachers and faculty to be fascinating and true, and who, by and large, share similar values to our family.

Christina Burns Parent of Jade '25 and Miles '28

My husband Isaac is a bona fide Quaker—he comes from a long line of practicing Quakers and received the majority of his formal education at several Quaker schools. For Isaac and his parents, it was always their hope that our two children would go to Friends Seminary. Ten years ago, I was pregnant with our daughter, Jade, when we first viewed what would become our home, and when we told my husband’s parents about the property, my father-in-law’s first observation was that it was within walking distance to Friends Seminary (indeed we are a mere five blocks away). I wasn’t aware what a Quaker was or meant until I met Isaac. Since then I’ve had to field the usual inquiries from people who confuse Quakers with Shakers or the Amish, and more often than not, make an association with Quaker Oats cereal and the

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This was most acutely felt on the Wednesday morning after the election. That Meeting for Worship was particularly well attended by parents and caregivers. While adults sat stunned and weeping, John Evans, Head of Lower School, led us with a beautiful and eloquent speech, and in the ensuing silence, a mother felt compelled to share her thoughts aloud: that despite feeling devastated by the election results, being in our Meetinghouse, surrounded by our community was exactly the comfort she needed at that moment. I couldn’t have agreed with her more. I turned my thoughts to how fortunate I was to be surrounded by others who see the world as I do, or at least respect how I feel. Yes, the School is a place where our family feels like we belong. As parents, Isaac and I have found ways we most enjoy being involved. I love to chaperone field trips so I can see the social dynamics of the children in their classroom environments. And I volunteer to be on various school committees, including those for pure fun like the Halloween Party and Spring Fair, and the one dearest to my heart, The Friends Shelter, which I am very proud that our school supports. Our presence at their school gives Jade and our son, Miles, a stronger connection to Friends Seminary and a sense of pride that we are all a part of this community together.


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This is Our Moment to Light the Future B U I L D I N G S PAC E S · E X PA N D I N G C U R R I C U LU M · S T R E N GT H E N I N G CO M M U N I T Y

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ince its founding in 1786, Friends has educated girls and boys together—a revolutionary concept in revolutionary times. Throughout history, the School has continued to set the pace in educational innovation. Today, Friends has never been stronger—in the extraordinary demand for admissions, in the breadth and quality of its academic program, in the expertise of its faculty, in the embracing warmth of its community, and in the countless ways students grow in skill, compassion and good citizenship. We now have the opportunity to ensure the vibrancy of our mission for current and future generations of students. It is a time of excitement and promise. As the School celebrates its 231st anniversary, we now embark on an even more ambitious campaign, Light the Future, which will raise funds for our Campus Redevelopment Project and the School’s endowment.

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The Redevelopment Project, a vital step in maintaining Friends Seminary’s commitment to academic excellence, is the final initiative of the 2004 Master Plan, which mandated improved spaces for 21st century teaching and learning. The first phase was completed in 2010 with the Lift Every Voice Campaign and provided the Library, the updated Kindergarten classrooms, the Academic Center and art rooms. The Campus Redevelopment Project is the second phase of the 2004 Master Plan, which will be completed in 2019 through the Light the Future Campaign. “By dramatically expanding and reconfiguring our campus, we are not only increasing the size of our facilities,” Principal Bo Lauder said, “we are providing the home for 21st century learning, a stronger community and a facility which addresses the physical needs of all of our community.” As of April 2017, two floors have been added to Hunter Hall and students, and teachers are already benefitting from the new space. Construction crews are now working to connect the row of three townhouses to Hunter Hall, which will maximize space and create a campus that will be 100% ADA accessible. This is vital in allowing the School to enroll students and hire faculty with a range of physical abilities, reflecting the School’s commitment to the Quaker testimony of equality. New academic spaces will include flexible classrooms, the Center for Peace, Equity and Justice, a greenhouse and rooftop garden, a Great Room, an Upper School Commons and Terrace, a makerspace, science labs, enhanced athletic and fitness spaces, an expanded Lower School Library, a dedicated Upper School entrance, an archive room, and collaborative alcoves.


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A R C H I T EC T I L LU S T R AT I O N S

1 The Great Room 2 Southeast view of Hunter Hall and the Townhouses 3 Layout of the Fifth Floor 4 A large, flexible classroom on the Sixth Floor

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WHAT WE WILL GAIN • In all, the Campus Redevelopment Project will impact 83,230 sq ft of space. • There 40,120 sq ft of new, purpose-built academic space of which 20,260 sq feet is additional space.

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• We are improving 6,470 sq ft of outdoor space, of which 1,140 sq ft is additional outdoor space.

RENDERINGS

• The campus will be fully wheelchair accessible site with a new elevator.

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Makerspace Classroom

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The Great Room

• Improved infrastructure will feature Cat 6 wiring throughout the campus.

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Fitness Room

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Stairway and Alcove

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Northeast view the backside of Hunter Hall and the Townhouses (terrace of the Upper School Commons is visible)

10 The Center for Peace, Equity and Justice

• The renovated campus and new building will be more energy efficient and contribute to a more sustainable environment. • The average size of a Friends Seminary classroom will increase by 50 square feet. • Expanded and sophisticated technology throughout the buildings to accommodate new teaching strategies, blended learning and interactions with students anywhere in the world. • The phasing of construction means that all students can be accommodated on campus during the building project. • As responsible stewards of the environment and as good neighbors on a landmarked block, the School will restore the historic facades of the townhouses so that the character of the neighborhood is preserved.

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TIMELINE Summer 2016 Renovate existing Hunter Hall classrooms with upgraded technology, sinks, and sprinkling system

Winter 2017 Complete construction of Hunter Hall

Spring 2017 Occupy completed new Hunter Hall floors, Begin demolition of the townhouses, Â

Summer 2019 Complete construction of Townhouses Â

Fall 2019 Occupy new Townhouse building.

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To learn more about Light the Future, the Campus Redevelopment Project and what these new spaces will mean for our students and our teachers, visit Light-The-Future.org.

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From the RED CITY to ATLAS MOUNTAINS S T U D E N TS E X P LO R E M O R O CCO DU R I N G S P R I N G B R E A K 2 01 7

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ourteen Upper School students and two faculty members traveled to Morocco during Spring Break in March 2017. Friends Arabic teacher and trip leader Nadim Bawalsa reflects on the global education trip:

that faces its own challenges but perseveres nonetheless. They heard inspiring stories about courage and hard work, and learned to understand the world through the eyes of individuals who identify as Muslim Moroccan women.

Each day, we were captivated by the colorful landscapes, the layers of history, and the delicious flavors we explored. But mostly, we were humbled by the deep kindness of everyone we met. We felt this most in our home-stays and during our different activities with local volunteer groups and cooperatives. Allow me to offer some highlights that speak to these experiences.

In Boulaouane, a tiny Amazigh (the preferred local term for Berber) village in the Atlas Mountains, we learned the ancient ways of the Amazigh, including collecting water from the village well, preparing Tajeen, baking bread, and making tea. We had meaningful conversations about colonialism, nationalism, language, and the preservation of Amazigh culture. To appreciate all of these experiences, we took time to worship in silence under olive trees and peach blossoms with the Atlas Mountains as our foreground. Truly, these moments were unforgettable.

Our final dinner in Rabat included a musical performance where the students got to celebrate with their host parents and siblings in song and dance wearing the traditional dresses and robes that their hosts gifted them. I had never seen them so excited, so rhythmic! The next day, bidding Rabat farewell, the students and their families hugged one another tightly, showered each other with kisses on each cheek, and shed bittersweet tears. We were so thrilled the home-stay experience was so enriching and heartfelt. In Sale, Rabat's sister city, we met with volunteers from the Beladi NGO, dedicated to serving economically disadvantaged communities with a range of services. Despite the language barriers, it was truly moving to see the students instantly make friends with these youth using Arabic and French, but mostly, using kind smiles and gestures. They put on hilarious skits that had us all laughing for days. Watching these interactions warms the heart. In Aghmat, a village outside Marrakesh with a women's cooperative dedicated to empowering local women, the students learned about a different kind of feminism 33 | n f f

In addition to these special moments with Moroccans, we continued to explore the rich history and diverse culture of the country. In Rabat, the students took a calligraphy workshop where they wrote their names and the opening words of the Quran on wooden boards using traditional inks and tools. We simulated a madrasa (an Islamic school) and sang gentle prayers. We couldn't imagine a more meaningful way to put into practice the Arabic language. We visited Fe, an ancient city built into a valley in the Middle Atlas Mountains with some of the world's oldest markets and crafts, including dying leather, weaving and pottery making. In Fes, we also caught an incredible sunset atop a mountain that overlooks the city. The students were so moved, they spontaneously ran up a hill to take it all in. This moment was one of our most memorable. We visited Marrakesh, the "Red City" and "Gate to the Sahara" that sits at the edge of the majestic, snow-covered


Students visit one of the world's oldest madrasas in Fes and spend time deciphering the calligraphy on the walls; Students learn how to make Moroccan khobz (bread) at an Amazigh culture center in the Middle Atlas Mountains; Students learn a style of Arabic calligraphy during a simulation of a madrasa (Islamic school) in Rabat; The group visits the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and the Tower of Hassan in Rabat. clockwise from top left

Atlas Mountains. Walking through its red alleyways, sitting in its palatial gardens, and squeezing our way through its bustling Jemaa el-Fnaa market, we imagined that we were merchants from far off places embarking on a caravan journey through the Sahara. The kids were thrilled to be able to navigate this city and to purchase gifts including fabrics, argon oils, indigenous spices, Moroccan teas and more from a variety of markets. My colleague Joseph and I were so ecstatic to see the kids engage daily with everything the country and its people had to offer. Pushing through to the very end despite feeling tired and at times homesick, the students made the

most of every minute of our trip. It was nothing short of inspiring. To recognize this, during our closing ceremony in Casablanca, Joseph and I spoke about each student's unique contributions to our collective experience and then gifted each of them a personalized bookmark with an image from Morocco. The students were so moved, each of them got up to hug us and each another. Friends, we are so grateful to have been able to be with our students in an Arabic-speaking context. We are confident that the students have gained tremendously from this experience, both linguistically and as global citizens.

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From BOGOTÁ to the SACRED LAKES S T U D E N TS E X P LO R E CO LO M B I A DU R I N G S P R I N G B R E A K 2 01 7

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leven Upper School students and two faculty members traveled to Colombia during Spring Break in March 2017. Friends teachers Deanna Yurchuk and Jesse Pasca reflect on the global education trip:

in her studio for a sneak peak of one of the most amazing works of art ever made—we don’t think that’s an exaggeration. The piece is called Palimpsest and will be installed on October 5 at the Crystal Palace in Madrid. Ms. Salcedo has been working on the piece full-time for almost six years. Her complex installation will cover the 11,840 square feet of the space and will have 212 panels raised to 7-8 inches off the ground. Visitors will walk on the panels which have been engineered to have a layer of sand/gravel that reveals names of individuals who perished in the Mediterranean Sea traveling as refugees to Europe. A system of hydraulics that course through the floor panels will push water through precisely engineered grains of sand to float on top of the surface to reveal the names of recent refugees who have perished. Watching workers apply grains of sand with tweezers and tiny needle instruments, we were blown away by the precision required to make this vision a reality. Ms. Salcedo spoke to us about the necessity to mourn all beings and to give them life in this world, though they have perished. She selected names of victims especially ignored by the press. She believes that our collective understanding of who is considered worthy and human needs to be stretched. We received from her a deeper understanding of art that brings about change.

Our student trip to Colombia this spring allowed students to unlock learning possibilities from art, places and people. Trips to galleries, meetings with artists, hikes in nature, collaborations with peer students, and opportunities to work through difficulties as a group made our work seeking a better world and social justice all the more real. The following highlights of the trips provided us with enriching takeaways. We will never forget these experiences as well as the great generosity of spirit we encountered from those we met and worked with along the way.

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A Graffiti tour on our first day in Bogotá allowed us to contemplate the dichotomy of graffiti as a semi-legal art medium. In Colombia, it is a successful vehicle for self-expression and is both transgressive and communitybuilding. It was a unique entryway into the culture we would get to uncover over the course of our trip.

A meeting with Diana Rodriguez Gomez, a scholar whose educational research has led her to examine border communities in Colombia where factions in conflict often coexist and shift allegiances, left us with a better understanding of the nuances of conflict. Diana shared rich perspectives on the potential for restorative justice through peace education as well as the obstacles and difficulties left for Colombians to sort through. She left us with a heightened awareness of the shared trauma that to this day pervades Colombian daily life.

Visits to the lovely and warm artist residence spaces Gallery Sextante with Flora showed us the power of art in a community. We left wanting to build our own collective for creating and celebrating art.

A true gem on our journey was visiting Doris Salcedo

Collaborations with students from Gimnasio La Montaña and Colegio Didascalio allowed us to make connections with our peers and to learn about the adolescent perspective in Colombian culture. We had a chance to work on projects together, through which we identified our similarities and differences. Through these interactions we acquired new knowledge and friendships, which we will always cherish.

A meeting with Simón Hossie gave us a unique appreciation for anthropology and space. Mr. Hossie took us through the elaborate architectural and anthropological process he uses to create meaningful spaces for communities. He explained in detail how he designed a library for an Andean village in Western


Jordyn '19 takes in the view of Bogotá from the rooftop garden of FLORA, an arts residency; The Friends group pose for a photo in the studio of Gallery Sextante; Art teacher Jesse Pasca explains the silk screening process to a student at Gallery Sextante; Yunari '20 views street art from the group's graffiti tour in Bogotá. clockwise from top left

Colombia that made him the youngest architect, at 29, to win Colombia’s National Architecture Prize. His approach of not designing for the village, rather becoming a part of the village, led the library to become central to the life of the community. Mr. Hossie also created paintings of local people to redefine the logic of culture that emanates from place. •

Our hikes to the sacred lakes of Guatavita and Iguaque allowed students to develop a deep appreciation for natural beauty; to redefine their comfort levels and experience hiking in the rainy season. The breathtaking views were a reward for the hard work. A visit to an artisan’s workshop in Raquira for Esparto and

Torno workshops at Villa Terra-cotta led to conversations about the value of art, local and global economies and the intersection of social justice issues and issues of economic viability. •

Our travels ended in the beautiful colonial-era vacation town Villa de Leyva, where we had a chance to get to know the local community through a wonderful scavenger hunt which had us wandering to every corner of the town boundary. We interacted with storekeepers, tourism board members and passers-by to learn as much as we could about this wonderful place.

Our journey was unforgettable. We are grateful to all who were a part of it and to Friends Seminary for the opportunity. sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 3 6


reunion

REUNION!

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[1] Principal Bo Lauder and Ed Carroll '56 [2] Ed Carroll '56, Stephen Chinlund '51 and Gretchen Dumler '56 with students [3] Class of 1971: (from left) Andrew Listfield, Richard Horwitz, David Medine, Susan Strauss Hurwitz, Laura Ward, John Tolleris and former faculty member Paul Supton Mendl's Tea Salon

[4] Members of the Class of 1986 [5] 40th Reunion Reception at Lady

[6] Members of the Class of 2006 [7] Class of 1976: (from left) Capers Rubin Kuhnert, Sonia Mawby

Didriksson, David Oppenheimer, Scott Sklar, and Chris Hymans

[8] Fred Buse '59 and David Leidesdorf '59 [9] Alumni

Reception at Brother Jimmy's

[10] Left to right: Sarah Vogelman '09, Nicki Zenker '09, Travis Bogosian '09, Taku Ito '09,

Neo Sora '09, Gabbi Ansah '09

[11] Members of the Class of 2006 [12] Warren Salandy and alumni

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50 Years for the Class of 1966! 1

The Class of 1966 celebrated their 50th Reunion on May 13, 2016. After a private luncheon in the Alumni Room, they met their Grade 4 Pen Pals, with whom they had been corresponding by letter during the spring. Students showed alumni their favorite spaces at Friends and learned about what the school and New York City were like fifty years ago. After a campus tour, the Class of 1966 was joined by members of the Class of 2016 for a roundtable discussion. That evening, the Class of 1966 celebrated at the National Arts Club.

[1] Class of 1966: (back row from left)

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Richard Glaubach, Patricia Rosenfield, Alan Dubrow (front row) Susan Whitney Poole, Anne Shapiro Adler, Judy Anderson

[2] Class of 1966 at the National Arts Club [3] Anne Shapiro Adler '66 with students [4] Principal Bo Lauder and Patricia Rosenfield '66

[5] Patricia Rosenfield '66 with students

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[6] Andy Lowry '66, and Buddy Wolf '66

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Faculty Emerita

Minutes of Appreciation

Marie Louise Carman Friends Seminary is deeply appreciative of the many contributions Marie Louise Carman made during her tenure as a teacher of French at the School. Madame Carman, as she was respectfully referred to by both students and colleagues, was a graduate of Friends Seminary’s Class of 1914. Her father, Eugene Carman, was a French teacher at the School, and Madame Carman came to succeed him in this role until her retirement in 1967. Known for her traditional approach to instruction, Madame Carman’s classroom was predictable and her teaching effective. Her pupils, seated in neat and quiet rows, studied from The New Chardenal as well as a text of French idioms. They were rigorously drilled, frequently quizzed and always expected to arrive prepared for their lessons. This often resulted in surreptitious studying during Meeting for Worship. Grammar was Madame Carman’s priority. She routinely invited students to write sentences on the blackboard and used repetition as a tool to cement

conjugations, spelling and vocabulary into the minds of her students. As a result, they became strong readers of French and enjoyed the lasting effects of her instruction, often to their surprise and delight, throughout their lives. Dignified in spirit and appearance, Madame Carman wore her hair neatly pinned in a chignon and always dressed in dark-colored dresses. With a serene disposition and gentle smile, Madame Carman fostered a welcoming and encouraging classroom environment. She modeled the Quaker value of integrity for her students, with whom she was ever-patient, never raising her voice or demonstrating frustration. When a student erred, she would lovingly utter, “tête de bois.” Madame Carman took an interest in her pupils outside of the classroom, often chaperoning dances or lending advice as they navigated their social lives. Her students both respected and felt great affection for her. Madame Carman’s devotion to her teaching, her students and Friends Seminary was deep and sincere; she remains, today, a pillar of the School. We express heartfelt gratitude for the breadth and depth of service Madame Marie Louise Carman has given to Friends Seminary and are proud to honor her, posthumously, as Faculty Emerita.

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Faculty Emerita

Minutes of Appreciation

Jessica Hull Friends Seminary is deeply appreciative of the many contributions Jessica Hull has made during her 27 years at the School. Jessica joined Friends Seminary in 1989 as Principal Joyce McCray’s assistant. She continued her service under Principal Richard Eldridge, eventually transitioning to a teaching role in the Lower School where she taught nearly 500 students during her tenure. Jessica’s approach to education is holistic and has been influenced by her travel and varied work experiences— particularly in the theater—before she joined Friends. She is known for crafting lessons without boundaries, drawing on all disciplines, and for her intense passion for subject matter. Social studies and the natural world are often at the heart of her curriculum.

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Over the years, Jessica’s students have learned about water conservation through song (“River”) on their “Walk for Water” to Union Square, explored forest and ocean life by creating large scale murals and used performance as a means of reinforcing and sharing what they have learned with their Lower School peers. The importance of social studies as an anchor in the curriculum led to the, now annual, Grade 2 field trip to Philipsburg Manor. Jessica has drawn on the greater Friends Seminary community to enrich her lessons, inviting experts in her classroom, like oceanographer Peter Rona ’52, and routinely collaborating with colleagues. Jessica’s love for the natural world and deep appreciation for the Quaker value of community has inspired colleagues and students alike. She has modeled respect for all living things and is known for bringing class pets to Stuyvesant Park during fire drills. She once took the stage in the role of the Princess in “The Princess Frog,” a musical written by Principal Emeritus, Rich Eldridge. Jessica is admired for her boundless energy and creativity. We express heartfelt gratitude for the breadth and depth of service Jessica has given to Friends Seminary and are proud to honor her as Faculty Emerita.


Parent Makes a Win-Win Gift! In 2016, Stefanie Steel was able to make a larger impact at Friends by increasing her support for the Fund for Friends through a gift from her IRA. Stefanie explains, “Being older has benefits. The IRA Rollover enabled me to make a bigger gift to Friends. My son Eric's education at Friends was transformative, and it gives me great satisfaction to support the School.” When you reach the age of 70, you are required to take an annual distribution from your IRA, known as the Required from right

Minimum Distribution (RMD). These funds are subject to income tax. However, if

Stefanie Steel with her son,

you “rollover” these funds directly from your IRA to a recognized charity, such as Friends Seminary, these funds are tax exempt. Stefanie adds, “It’s a win-win for me

Eric Obenzinger ’03, and her mother, Ruth Steel

and for the School!” To learn more about how to make gifts of assets, please contact the Director of Major Gifts and Planned Gifts, Rebecca Holmes at rholmes@friendsseminary.org or (646)-979-5058.

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CLASS NOTES

teaching. I’ve been blessed with good health and have kept a schedule of five weekdays of tennis and/or golf, and I’ve allowed almost nothing to interrupt them for the past 30 years. I quit competitive tennis my first year into the ’85’s; having beaten the world #1 in two of the four national events, I thought it the perfect time for retirement. Weekly volunteering at various library shelves keeps me from an all-sports regimen.”

1947 1944

As reported by Hope Ligori: “I spoke to Norman Rich and found out that Joan Hitchcok passed away in August 2016. He has happy memories of playing basketball with her in the old gym. Spoke to Arline Cinamon Mirantz and found out that she and Jean Haney Hoagland are in the same residence in Schenectady. They discovered each other at the same table for meals. Janet Davidson lives with her daughter. She was in touch with Tim Foote via email a number of times before he passed away. Mary Ann Willson (Logue) has had two hip replacements and uses a walker. Adele Kostellow-Morrill still lives on Greene Street in Manhattan. She has hearing problems, so I spoke to her husband."

1945

As reported by Stuart Robinson ’46: “Officially FS ’45, Paul Coleman reunited with the Class of ’46 in 2011 and has kept in touch with Roberta and me. I’m pleased and proud to report that Paul’s research group just re-located from University of Rochester to ASU. At their request, Paul and his team will be able to continue research into the intricacies of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. 43 | n f f

1946

As reported by Stuart Robinson: “Fifi Booth continues living in Los Angeles. I left a message on her cell and perhaps will hear back; I know Roberta speaks with her occasionally. Joan (LaPrade) Cannon moved a few years ago from Morgantown, NC to Salisbury, CT. Joan, in her quiet, unassuming way, has been a published author for many years and in varied genres: short stories, novels and poetry. Her last publication is the novel, Second Growth. (Yes, it is available at Amazon.com.) Roberta Goldring Coles has been my go-to source for particular classmate information for many years. She continues her medical work; from my experience trying to contact her, she hasn’t missed a day at the office for the past many decades. Lia (Felicia Langford) Collins moved from Lexington, MA to Fernandina Beach, FL several years ago. I had the pleasure of talking with her; despite the obviously more temperate seasons (located at the northeast top of the state), Lia misses Lexington and her psychotherapy practice. She sounded fine. Robert DeMaine has been in Chapel Hill, NC, for many years as an architect/educator. The last I heard—and just before my computer went askew—he continues

As reported by Jean Taylor Kroeber: “I was hoping to hear from a number of classmates after I sent out a note informing them of the death of Chris Putnam (see In Memoriam), but I fear our numbers are dwindling. I did receive a call from Jones Harris, who sounded very much his old self. Also a note from Joy von der Goltz Sabella announcing that she and her husband planned to vote for Trump and assuming that would scandalize Friends Seminary. I don’t know what the appropriate Quaker response to that is. As for myself, I am still in my house in Brooklyn, spending summers upstate on the overgrown cow pasture, with a view of the Green Mountains in Vermont, that my husband and I acquired 45 years ago. There, I managed this summer to carve yet another piece of marble that is in the Annual Open Exhibition of the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club this December at the National Arts Club. Everything goes slowly, but I manage to keep functioning.”

1951

Stephen Chinlund writes, “My big news is that my musical Brush Stroke is headed for the York Theater in January! It is all cast, and we have a director, but with that world, there is many a slip possible! Hoping for the best.”


1952

Tony Taussig writes, “Joanne and I are really lucky to have retired in Del Mar, 20 miles north of San Diego, CA. I walk to the beach every morning and drink a cup of coffee. Other than that, I keep busy volunteering as a computer tutor at the senior center and doing their taxes during tax season. We truly appreciate the great weather and our good health.” Susan Hall’s mother, Ruth Carol, passed away in 2013. In Susan’s words: “My mom taught elementary school in New York. She really loved it. She met my dad, Emil Peter Patrk, at church and they married in 1961. They had two kids—my sister, Debbie and me—both of us named after my mom’s favorite students! She quit teaching to be a full-time mom. Dad worked for Mobil Oil and we moved from New York to Milwaukee and stayed there for four years. In 1973, dad got transferred to Dallas, Texas. It took mom a while to get used to Dallas and she never did lose her New York accent. Everyone loved Ruth Carol (I guess she went by “Carol” as a kid?) and she made friends everywhere she went (including the grocery store line!) She was very much a ‘people person’ and spent much of her time volunteering. Debbie and her husband live in Tulsa but my family of five lived walking distance to mom and dad. We had so much fun living close to them. When my kids were young, we had a weekly ‘Grandma/Grandpa’ day where we would go to Target together or run errands (which was a huge help for me especially having three kids under the age of 5!). Mom passed away from congestive heart failure in April of 2013. She was 79. Her brother, Bruce, passed away six months after mom. A real shock to us all since he seemed to be in such good health. He died from a heart attack.”

Debby White Anderson '52 and family

Peggy Segalas writes, “Same old activities: keeping everything going with homes in Vero Beach and Nantucket, playing golf and bridge, enjoying two book clubs (lots of reading), and participating in two organizations— Colonial Dames and Garden Club of America groups. Having a fine ‘old age’ with Herc, who is in good health, as am I. A big accomplishment was to write with Herc a memoir of our life together. The memoir is for our family only. It is pretty good, with photos and many stories, memories, musings. Descendants will know who we are (were) and what our lives and times were like. The title is A Celebration of our Life Together. We did it without an editor. It was fun to write and I actually miss doing the rewriting and tweaking. It was published just in time to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary in September!” Jeffery Barach writes, “Barb and I are doing fine, given our age. I don’t do all that much besides loving life. I sing in

my choir, sail my little schooner fairly regularly. My son and grandchildren are well, as are Barb’s.” Debbie White Anderson writes, “Hurricane Matthew in October was a big event for us. With the rest of the Island we were forced to evacuate. We left our community for Augusta, GA, where we stayed for eight days in a Ramada Inn. There our staff fed and entertained us. When we returned we found our Island devastated with fallen trees across roads and homes. Even now the sides of the roads and public places are piled high with storm debris waiting to be trucked away. It may be a year before it is all cleared.”

1954

As reported by Connie Black Engle and Judie Owen Lopez: “Happy 80th Birthdays to us! We’ve probably all reached that milestone by this time of year. Hope you have had festive occasions to celebrate. Connie Black sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 4 4


celebration, with hors d’oeuvres and several courses.

Class of '55 reunion in 2016

and Earl Engle enjoyed their annual trip to NYC in May for the book award at Bank Street College and celebrated the 80th birthdays of Connie and classmates of the Class of 1950 at City & Country School, some of whom they had not seen for many years. Connie and Earl spent a week in their Roadtrek in October following son Douglas on his CrossNC bicycle trip, 400 miles from the mountains to the coast. On the last two mornings the cyclists had to wait for an OK to proceed, due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Matthew. The last leg of the trip out to the beach was cancelled. Great way to see North Carolina! The annual dinner gathering at Gay Sourian Cropper’s was wonderful, as usual, with Gay and Dick Sallick and a couple of other friends. In January, Harry Moses begins teaching a course in broadcast news and documentary filmmaking to journalism majors at NYU. He is still raising money for a four-part documentary series on Race in America to air on PBS in 2018. And he hopes to 45 | n f f

finish a memoir on his life at ‘60 Minutes’ and elsewhere—he estimates about three months to completion. Harry celebrated his (ugh) 80th in September. A bothersome torn meniscus has not kept him from playing tennis. He and his wife Randy got a four-month-old minigoldendoodle in October—adorable, but much more work than either of them imagined. Dick Sallick closed his office in June and spent the summer in Maine—and wonders why he hung in so long! He is enjoying the leisure time, getting organized, catching up and having time to read anything he pleases. He and Lucy enjoy belonging to a reading group, and Dick is on a town commission with another year to serve. He reports kids and grandkids doing okay and looks forward to being with them at the holidays. Dick attended an 80th birthday party for Dick Roberts in early November, hosted by Yara and Dick at Gay’s home. Yara’s daughter, grandson and granddaughter visited from Vancouver. It was a wonderful

Lydia Jordan Heinemann spent a day with Leslie Hulme Heyboer and her daughter, Judy, who teaches nearby, as does Lydia’s daughter Rachel. Mary Elizabeth (Diddy) Spoerer '55 came to Monterey from Sonoma with her daughter, Brigid Herron, so they had a great series of mother/daughter colloquies. Riley Lopez treated his parents Judie Owen Bates and Pedro Lopez to a month in Spain in October to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They had a great time visiting friends and family. The whole DeForest family had a Thanksgiving trip to Maui to celebrate their 55th anniversary. The threebedroom condo accommodated five adults and four grandchildren (Owen, 1; Caleb, 3; Natalie, 16; and Charlie, 18, who is in his freshman year at UCLA). They enjoyed the Grand Wailea Resort’s beach and pools. There was luau, horseback riding (and a gallop by Ginnie at 80!), plus surfing and snorkeling. Ginnie and Win relaxed for few days in the Kihei area after the family left.”

1955

Jackson Bryer writes, “What I remember most about our Quaker education were the silent meetings. As someone who was brought up in a blatantly non-religious home and who has, in subsequent years, maintained that stance, the Quaker silent meeting has always seemed to me the most sensible approach to religious observance, one that has only become increasingly needed in our current noisefilled environment.” Arthur Goldschmidt writes, “My memory is, of course, selective, but it seems to me that the nearest Friends Seminary came to offering a ‘Quakerly education’ in 1951–55 came in (1)


our meetings for worship and (2) the kindness among the students. My memory of the faculty is that most of them taught us well—I owe much to the men and women who taught us, and often speak highly of what I learned—but their methods of handling students were patronizing and at times cruel. They tended to belittle individual students, women, racial out-groups, etc. right in class. Even Dr. Hunter wasn’t always above mocking a student with whom he disagreed, though I think we usually understood that he meant no harm. Mme. Carmen probably came closest to following Quaker principles in her teaching methods, and it’s interesting that she was the only teacher we knew who had graduated from the School. I remember her listening patiently to students’ problems and being unusually supportive in classroom situations. What seems remarkable, in retrospect, is that most of us students, although competitive, treated each other kindly most of the time.” John Miller writes, “As someone who was not Quaker (I was of Jewish background and am now Jewish), I am intensely grateful for the education I received at Friends. This is one alumnus who hopes the Quaker influence remains strong at our high school, including a formal connection with the Society. Over the years, I have come to realize that no small group has had such a positive influence on America as the Quakers. Whether it was religious freedom, the abolition of slavery, or the respect for entrepreneurship, the Quakers have been at the forefront. No, I did not meditate all through the silent meetings, but I do believe that the Quakers, through their educational institutions such as Friends, were and are a powerful force for developing me and others to be solid citizens."

Peter Schrag writes, “I never said a word at a meeting when I was at Friends and I thought for years that I was not greatly affected by the Quaker influence. More recently I realize that may not be so at all. I have spared some people with whom I fought in my professional life, fought not necessarily because of any personal hatred but because of difficult, highly competitive environments in which the politics got nasty. I learned that when I have power over someone, even someone I dislike because of unkindness done to me, I still should not assert all the forces at my disposal in an effort to destroy them. Some people I have encountered equate professional competition to a gladiatorial contest, a fight to the professional death of one of the two adversaries. I am not in that camp and preferred to relocate rather than destroy. So I have behaved well to people and protected people, including some I have not liked. That I am kinder than I thought I was and that I have been able to refrain from using excessive force has been a surprise to me. I think the four years at Friends had an effect.” Responding to questions about changes and future direction during an interview for an FS oral history project in 2008, our late classmate Joe Sweeney said: “The School has grown most in diversity . . . change really came from the students and the families who pushed for greater representation in the school . . . [T]he school is more ‘Quakerly’ than it was . . . [A] larger school may serve us well and introduce a healthy dose of competition to the students to prepare students for the real world a bit better . . . [Yet my] previous single sex boarding schools . . .were very rough and riddled with competition . . . Friends provided the type of environment that allowed [me] to thrive.”

Ellen Friendly Simon writes, “I don’t remember being formally taught about Quakerism at Friends, but I felt Quaker values were in the air. Some 61 years later, the idea of keeping one’s life simple is something I try to adhere to. Being constantly bombarded by materialism, it is very easy to get drawn into that world, but thanks to my years at Friends, it’s something I try to resist. I also have a distaste for anything that requires winners and losers, and I suppose that is also a reflection of the Quaker influence early on my life. I am grateful for having been exposed to these two guiding principles.” Gail Richards Tirana writes, “Arthur’s memories do reveal that whatever Quaker principles might have been stitched somewhere, the School lived in its context, and the 1950s had a lot of discriminatory assumptions. Yet more influential were all the other things mentioned above, to which I would add the gentleness of the spaces and location and school size. Also, didn’t we have a contrarian attitude about many things, some questioning, even mockery, about cultural assumptions and habits? (Why was that?) And whatever contradictions there were, so many of us name kindness, simplicity, stillness as key and Quaker values. And friendship. I, too, am very grateful. Nan Krulewich Socolow’s book was just published! Invasive Procedures: Earthquakes, Calamities, & Poems from the Midst of Life (available at www.pisgahpress.com).

1957

As reported by John Schwartz: “Sandy and I represented the class at the memorial service at the New Haven Friends Meetinghouse for Ross Harrison, who died October 26, 2016. It was a truly moving experience to share stories about Ross from all stages of sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 4 6


his life with his family, his non-Friends childhood friends, and his more recent fans from New Haven, who attended in force. The Quaker Meeting format of the service was perfect for giving everyone who wanted to talk a chance, and it was great to know that the personality and the music that made Ross so important to our school days continued throughout his life. Sandy and I and Merrill Cates were able to visit him at the New Haven Veterans Hospital a few weeks before he died, for what Ross described as ‘a party.’ Meanwhile, although we’ve all reached the age when health issues occupy a fair amount of our time, some of us keep working at being productive. Merrill has resumed her ballet classes after a break of more than half a century. John is still handling lawsuits at the New York Attorney General’s Office, including quite a few involving election law, a subject that has gotten more than its share of attention this year. Suzy Dry Boynton and Charlie are enjoying Colorado, now their legal residence, although they retain their home in New Jersey as well, since two of their four children and two grandchildren live in the east. Suzy is continuing to create art works and Charlie continues to provide financial advice to clients in the U.S., although he’s given up clients in Europe. Steve Rostand, in retirement from the medical faculty at the University of Alabama, published two research papers this year. Mickey Spett and his wife Lynn, who recently celebrated the 39th anniversary of their first date, are still initiating projects in their field of psychology, while Betsy Gummey Pemberton and her husband, Ian McPhee, are still doing archaeological work every year in Corinth, Greece, a very long trip from their home in Australia. Joanie Wheeler Morgan, visiting Virginia from her home in California, saw Peter Krulewitch '58, 47 | n f f

who was as witty and entertaining as ever. There are two tributes for members of our class in this issue.”

1959

“Tony Antolini is semi-retired from Bowdoin, but continues to direct the Bowdoin Chorus, Down East Singers in Rockport, ME; the Lincoln Festival Chorus in Boothbay Harbor, ME; and the Rachmaninoff Choir. Tony was delighted to be included in the recent on-line edition of News from Friends ‘Schoolhouse Rock: Stories of Our Alumni Musicians’ (https:// friendsseminary.myschoolapp.com/ page/Alums-in-Music), and his choral music editions are published by E.C. Schirmer and Paraclete Press. Also in Maine, John Chase has retired in Belfast, where he enjoys singing, rowing gigs, and dining at his brother Addison’s restaurant, Chase’s Daily. Pam Winters Dorrance and Sturges Dorrance moved this past year from their house in Seattle to their second home on the Washington coast just north of the Columbia River. Their four daughters and six grandchildren all live in the Pacific Northwest. Pam and Sturges celebrated their 53rd anniversary in September. Pam continues her ten-year struggle with rheumatoid arthritis, cause of the nearly two dozen major surgeries she has endured. Abigail Calkin has focused her recent literary writing on the lives of military families. Her most recent publication was The Soul of My Soldier in 2015. She has had readings, talks, and signings in bookstores and at military exchanges and is working on a second book in the genre—stories from spouses, children and parents of those in the military. In Alaska, winter has set in and the area is white, the days short, and the nights long—good for writing and analyzing research, and more peaceable than a day in Manhattan.

Connie Green Raymond retired from Moses Brown in 2011 after being there for 37 years—22 years as head of lower school, bookended by three in the classroom beginning in 1974 and 12 returning to the classroom. George and Connie moved to a condominium in a refurbished mill building right in Providence, and they are able to walk everywhere. They enjoy a great deal of family time with two children and six grandchildren, all on the East Coast, but also have done a considerable amount of traveling throughout the United States and Canada. Rick Casten retired (from teaching and local committees) as the D. Allan Bromley Professor of Physics at Yale in June 2015. The last course he taught was ‘Physics in the world around us’ for non-science majors. Rick still holds a research position at Yale and continues work in sub-atomic physics, mostly in Berkeley, Koln, Istanbul, Bucharest, Geneva, Tokyo and Michigan State, and he serves on a bunch of committees in Europe, Japan and Korea. Rick and Jo Ann travel a great deal (Mt. Everest Boot Camp, Antarctica, Alaska) but are able to spend three–four months a year in Hilton Head, SC, where they can watch the local dolphins from their window, and play a great deal of tennis and golf. Rick has recently been named a member of the Friends Alumni Council. Keith Boyer joined members of his 1966 graduating class at Union Seminary (Richmond, VA) for the 50th reunion in May, and on July 10. He observed the 50th anniversary of his ordination by leading worship at his church in Barrie, Ontario. August marked the 50th year of his emigration to Canada. Keith and Carolyn live in an apartment by beautiful Lake Simcoe, just an hour north of Toronto, and would welcome visits by class members who would like to experience ‘the true north strong and free’ (words of the national anthem). Elizabeth Wolf continues


to split her time between New York City and her weekend home in Rye. When in the city, Liz enjoys concerts at the Philharmonic with friends and attending productions of the Manhattan Theater Group. Helen Davis Chaitman has achieved renown as the leading advocate for justice and recompense for the investors swindled by Bernard Madoff, and has testified and written widely on the issue. Helen is a nationally recognized litigator in the field of lender liability and bank fraud, among other fields of law, and opened her own law firm, www.chaitmanlllp.com. Bob Filene is still in Cambridge, where he continues doing real estate with Coldwell Banker; last year he sold Ed Seldin's (Class of 1960) amazing, unique, house in Cambridge. (http://elmstreetironworks. com.) Bob continues to perform and learn magic (‘Bob The Magic Guy’) and is active with the Society of American Magicians and The Brotherhood of American Magicians. Sue has cut down on her psychiatry practice and is doing a great deal of gardening. Bob and Sue frequently go to Florida to help out with grandkids, and have just returned from visiting seven cities in Spain in ten days. Margot Winger Larrabee and Bill have retired to Portland, Oregon. Margot worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the UW Medical Center in Seattle. Margot and Bill have two children and four grandchildren, living along the West Coast between San Francisco and the Canadian border. Margot and Bill have a goal to see as many national parks as possible and have now visited 35! Julie Mendlow Conger continues to serve as a Superior Court Judge in the courts of northern California and also as a Commissioner on the California Commission on Aging. Bruce and Julie live on the southeastern slope of Sonoma Mountain (north of San Francisco) and have a hobby vineyard

of Syrah and Cabernet grapes, making a barrel of wine each year. Visitors from Friends would always be welcome! Julie’s love of Portuguese Water Dogs has led to breeding and showing these dogs; currently her dog Manly is one of the top Porties in the country, and there are over 130 Chien d’Eau puppies in homes around the United States (www. joaquinthedog.com).”

1960

As reported by Cathie Munnell-Smith: “Those of you on Facebook already may have deduced from photos of wedding bouquets and wedding cakes that Bonnie Cunningham and Bob Booth, whom you met at our last reunion dinner, have married. Bonnie writes, ‘I did indeed marry on April 7 in Sanibel, Florida, after being single for over 30 years. We celebrated with a big party at our home in Marion, MA. Honeymoon in Tahiti and Bora Bora. Just purchased a condo in Sanibel, where we will spend about five months. Any classmates near Captiva in February, join me to celebrate another big birthday on the beach.’ Neil Mitchell writes that he has retired from Fulbrook. Derek Van Hoorn and his wife celebrated their 50th anniversary in November 2016. They took their kids and grandkids to Kauai and Maui in the summer. He says that some of you knew his wife before he did, and would have known her as Judy Lieberman at Gibbys. Sabrina (aka Andrea) Loomis is still working on her entrepreneurial projects and also has purchased a cabin in Pennsylvania. As for me, Cathie, my husband Ras and I and our house came through Hurricane Matthew unscathed, although the evacuation process was not fun. We are in New York about once a month to visit our son and his family. Finally, Peter Valente ’58 and his wife, Judy, were in Charleston recently for an annual convention of Trust and Estate

Bronwen Cunningham ’60 with sons Mark and Scott

Attorneys and came to dinner at our house. My brother Tom and his wife, Eizie, came as well. We had a really pleasant, very amusing evening, filled with Peter’s, Tom’s and my memories of Friends Seminary all the way back to Kindergarten.

1964

As reported by Barbara Carey: “Arthur Fink writes that he is still living on Peaks Island, a commuter island about 20 minutes off the coast of Portland, Maine, and dividing his time between consulting for non-profits on mission, process, conflict and communication; doing some strategic consulting to profit-making businesses; coaching creatives on ‘creative block’ and other issues; and photographing dance, along with weddings, divorces, elopements, and any other events that come his way. He is also involved in a group creating events to foster inter-religious dialogue, serves on the boards of Creative Portland Corporation (set up by the city to nurture its creative economy) and of Pecha Kucha Portland (running events sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 4 8


where each speaker has 20 slides, each of which shows for exactly 20 seconds). Jonathan Nareff tells us that he and his wife ‘retired’ and moved to Maine a few years ago. She is working half-time and he’s been doing contract work for much of the time. Real retirement will come soon, he says. He writes, ‘Being in Maine, I have joined Addison Chase, John Foss, and Arthur Fink, so we are well populated with ’64. If any of you come up to Maine, please let me know and we can have a cup of coffee or snack or something—I’d love to see you.’ He reports that back in the late summer, he was sitting in a park when Arthur walked by. He adds, ‘It was great to see him and shows that I guess we all do live in a small world.’ Christine Hehmeyer Rosso reports that she and family spent the summer in Chicago, hosting two of David’s granddaughters. She writes, ‘One is a junior at DePauw—Katie, who had an internship in Chicago; the other has just graduated from the University of Wisconsin. She snagged a job with Kimberly Clark and wanted to get the lay of the land before renting her own apartment (which she found—it’s two blocks from our house). It was a lively summer! Our daughter, Christine, who is still practicing law, got married last year to an Irishman (who works for Accenture and is based in Chicago— she is not moving to Ireland). They bought an apartment six blocks from us. Our son Mark, who is still managing a hedge fund, got engaged this year. They bought an apartment about a mile from us. I am currently packing up for our annual trek to our house in Florida at Sailfish Point to escape the Chicago winter. Thank goodness Hurricane Matthew took a slight curve around the barrier islands (where our house is). I am keeping busy with my board work for the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation. I am also active with various Sailfish Point 49 | n f f

committees, including being chairman of the Architectural Review Committee, which reviews all exterior work owners want to do on their homes—learning something about architecture as well as Floridian plants and trees (there are a lot of different kinds of palm trees!), and much about human nature.’ Sorry that she hasn’t made it to New York in the past couple of years, she explains that her aging golden retriever has difficulty getting around, as well as some medical issues, and it’s hard to find a pet sitter. But, she notes, ‘of course, to us he is worth it.’ Louise Walsh sends greetings to all from France: ‘Just back to Paris from Lourmarin, a tiny village in the Luberon where Peter Mayle wrote A Year in Provence. Mme Carman would be so proud.’ Lizi Eames Roebling has moved back to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. I’ll send out her new address and phone number to classmates with a class list update. Alan Goldberg writes, ‘Hi, all, I’m now basically happily retired after spending 40 years writing and producing non-fiction television in and out of Public TV. My last job was as a Senior Producer at ABC-NEWS, overseeing programs for Biography, Discovery, National Geographic, etc. Among my favorite programs over the years was a history of epidemic disease with a wonderful Nobel Prize-winner— Baruch Blumberg—and a series on the environment with Richard Leakey. I’m currently working on a humor quarterly— in print!—that I started with two friends. It’s called The American Bystander, and it’s a smorgasbord of written pieces and cartoons. Though it’s only in its third issue, it’s received lovely reviews in the Times and Newsweek. Our goal is not only to publish very smart humor, but to give as much of the small profits we make back to our contributors while letting them retain all rights to their work. Beyond that, I volunteer with Amnesty

International and my wife, Karen, and I travel as much as we can. She’s still working but I’m doing my best to discourage that.’ Barbara Carey writes, ‘Tim and I spent a few days in August on John Foss’s schooner American Eagle, which was a wonderful time. We had a great time talking with John and gazing out at the beautiful views in Penobscot Bay. It was the most relaxing time I have had in ages. I’m also so glad to have continued to expand and renew my friendship with John. On shore we visited Addison Chase’s restaurant and produce store, which is very big and has the most gorgeous vegetables I ever saw. The food was also delicious. But we didn’t see Addison. Maybe next time. Our daughter, Allie, is in her last year of medical school. She managed to have most of her rotations in New York, so she is now actually living in the city with her husband. I am doing more poetry, actually working on putting a book together with the help of a group at the 92nd Street Y. We’ll see if it develops. I can’t seem to get Tim to retire, which is driving me crazy. As to the election, I am appalled that so many Americans voted for Trump, and also that about two million of us were in effect disenfranchised by the Electoral College. It comforts me to think that Trump did not win the popular vote, but it makes me very angry that, in this case, despite what we were taught in school, the majority did not win.’"

1967

Alan Antopol writes, "My daughter Jessica is graduating from college in three weeks. I continue to train in martial arts. I will probably test for my second degree klutz belt soon. Have continued to scuba dive. Have about 80 dives, but am in no way Jacques Cousteau le trosieme. Jessica’s gotten certified, too.’ Ken Dodge and Maureen Moo-Dodge


just became grandparents to a grandson, Tye. Emily Saur Gallo has just published her third novel, Kate & Ruby. Pierre Lehu welcomed his second grandson, Rhys, this past year, and is currently working on his 27th published book, along with a myriad of other projects, including trying to launch a career in photography.”

1971

As reported by Laura Ward: “It was wonderful to see John Crawford, Mindy Fisher, William Fisk, Richard Horowitz, Talara Hoss, Susan Strauss Hurwitz, Andrew Listfield, David Medine, Steven Nellisson, Katherine Schoonover, Deborah Hauer Schwartz, Nikki Schwartz, John Tollaris, Richard Barry White, Ellen Worthheimer and Paul Supton at our 45th reunion. Everybody looked fantastic. Kimberly Hunter writes that she has been living in Washington, DC since 1978. Although Stephanie Stark was unable to make it east for the reunion, she recently was in New York and stayed with Mindy Fisher. Stephanie also visited Kate Johns and Jason Shaw ’70. Mindy Fisher’s son, Daniel, is a junior at Yale and thriving. Deborah Hauer Schwartz’s first novel is entitled Woman on Top. She is working on a second book. David Medine is now a consultant to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) on privacy and consumer protection issues. CGAP is a global partnership, housed at the World Bank, whose mission is to increase access to the financial services for the poor in developing countries in an effort to improve their lives. It is with sorrow that I report the passing of Jack Arning’s wife of eleven years, Doretha. They met at work when they were both personal trainers and dated for a few years before marrying. According to Jack, Doretha was very fit, athletic and a vegetarian. They were both shocked with her

diagnosis of heart failure in December 2015, but thought that Doreatha could manage the illness with medications. Doretha was admitted in May 2015 to the ICU at NYU Langone, where she was diagnosed with cardiac amlyoidosis, caused by multiple myeloma. There was no treatment for this condition. Jack writes that he continues to feel a closeness with Doretha that defies logic and reason. My sister, Carolyn Ward ’74, and I went to Allentown, Pennsylvania on October 1, 2016 to attend a memorial service for Paul Reeder, on what would have been Paul’s 88th birthday. (See In Memoriam section of this issue.) I am sorry Paul is no longer here, especially now. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts on the current state of American politics. On that note, there has been a flurry of email traffic among your classmates regarding the Presidential election. If you have not received any emails, that means we do not have your email address. Please take a moment to send your updated contact information to Friends Seminary. Your classmates miss you.”

1973

Dan Greenbaum writes, “My daughter, Abigail is a senior at Oberlin. She is majoring in English and Film. This past summer she directed a film from a script she wrote. I continue to work in real estate, recently doing a major upgrade to my buildings. I am also learning karate and samurai sword. Currently I am a brown belt in both arts. I would like to figure out how to finish my Ph.D. in history. Not an easy task.” Peter Schulberg writes, “I live in LA (have now for 22 years). Came out to make it as a writer in the film biz. Had just enough success to keep following the carrot. Needless to say, no longer a fan of that vegetable. I started a green-

themed art gallery, Eco-LogicalArt (ecola.org). We did some nice things—mostly creating art on recycled billboards. Great shows/poverty . . . have moved on to restoring old houses. As some of you may know, I was a deeply untalented attendee of Cooper Union, Architecture. But in dotage, am back to it, somewhat. Mostly have done 100-year-old Craftmans. On the personal front, I have two kids, Laura and Bennett. Laura recently graduated from USC, Film, and Bennett from Berkeley. Neither seems to have learned from their father that the film business is to be avoided, at all costs. He works at Anonymous Content, which is producing The Alienist! Okay, so not all of it is to be avoided.” Dan Schoonover writes, “I’ve been a Special Education teacher in two local public schools for the last 29 years, and am planning to retire in June 2017. I have to say, in the last couple of years I’ve felt less connected with the kids’ interests and all the technology. I ultimately hope to settle in the old family home in the town of Westport in the Adirondacks, which I now visit while living closer to work in Valatie, NY. Still searching for the simple life. I have a son, Jack, who lives in Hudson about 10 miles from here. He’s the kind of guy who’s volunteered to come help me rake leaves tomorrow! After which, I hope we’ll have an Oktoberfest or two.” Lisa Ernest writes, “I did remarry this past June, to my longtime business partner, Frank Contey. We were married by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in the gardens of his Montclair home. Jeh and his wife Susan are longtime friends and clients, and we were fortunate to have landed a perfect summer day for the event. Lyn Perlmuth attended. My daughter, Emma, is now 23 and works/lives nearby. She just sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 5 0


moved into her own apartment and I’m happy to see her stepping into financial independence. Whew! And I have added a wonderful stepson, Alex, a 16-year-old elite hockey goaltender who plays for Yale Junior team and Kent, where he attends boarding school. Carol Cataldo writes, “I live in the small seaside town of Rockport, MA (next to Gloucester, of The Perfect Storm fame). My three children are grown and living away from home. My son, Simon, is married and lives in Mclean VA, working as a lawyer for the Department of Justice in D.C. He is still growing his nonprofit lacrosse program (Harlem Lacrosse) for middle school and high school girls and boys in inner city schools in NYC, Baltimore, Boston, and soon Philly and LA. Eva is also married and is busy with medical school at Mt. Sinai in NYC. Anna is a punk musician in Cambridge MA, and is learning coding and managing a collaborative office space. They are all great. (whew!) I was a social worker for many years, but left that a while ago to make mosaics and work part-time in a tile store, which I still do. I also volunteer with various local social service nonprofits, and am involved in the very rich art world here on Cape Ann. I run, cycle, kayak, ski a bit, swim in the ocean and quarries here in the summer and listen to live music a lot. I do go back to NYC every couple of months to see my sister, Ruth, and my daughter and her husband. My mother died last year, after several whirlwind years involving much back and forth. I’m sure many of you know what that is like. Glad to be on the other side of that.” Barbara Michaelson writes, “Although I left FS for the last few years of high school, the nine years I spent there made their deep mark, and I kept an additional connection through my mother (Mary 51 | n f f

Keane) while she was still teaching, until MS made that impossible. (For those of you who knew her, she died in 2015.) I went to Yale to study painting, and from there returned to NYC, where I worked on my art when not making the rent money with long shifts, mostly at night, at the Figaro Cafe on Bleecker St. Restless and a bit stymied, in 1978 I took a job as a draftsman on an archaeological dig in the Peruvian Andes, where I lived for a year, and became interested in anthropology. But art is a calling that’s hard to leave just like that, and so on returning to NYC, I took my old job in the cafe back, while attending a few courses in anthropology at Columbia by day to see what that was about. Finally, I took the plunge in 1981 and started graduate school at the University of Chicago, where I trained in both cultural and linguistic anthropology. It was love at first sight, and with 20/20 hindsight, I wonder that it took me so long to discover this was what I should be doing, a perfect combination of adventure and nerdiness. I did two years of fieldwork on the remote Indonesian island of Sumba, got my degree and took my first academic job at Penn in 1991. Meanwhile, I had become involved with Adela Pinch, a wonderful scholar of English literature—during those two years of fieldwork we had carried on an epistolary romance with those little blue aerogrammes—and we married that same year. She was teaching at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and it was only after years of commuting that I managed to end up there as well and we could get rid of the second toaster, blender, and so forth, in 1997. With good timing as well, as our daughter, Clara, was born that year. Clara is currently on a gap year working for CityYear as a teacher’s aid in an inner city school in San Antonio, Texas—she’s a serious social justice person—and will

start Occidental College in the fall. So now my life is a flurry of teaching, writing, giving talks all over the place and brief fieldtrips in interesting places from Laos to Turkey. In Ann Arbor, I see my UM colleague Fred Conrad from time to time—someone who the years seem to have left unscathed! My warm regards to one and all!” Bruce Bailey writes, “I have settled in the Boulder, Colorado, and I love the mountains. Skiing has always been a love of mine, so having the Rockies in my backyard is really a dream come true. I am settling into my second marriage (Sherri) and am glad to say this one is for keeps. Sherri and I have settled into our new home and have set up a wonderful loving home with spectacular views of the Rockies. My daughter, Genevieve, is just finishing law school in Portland, Oregon. I just bought a Sea Ray boat to get my water fix. It is pretty dry this far west, but even a few days on the water makes me feel at home. I do stay at the Penington Residence every once in a while, and it’s fun to hear the kids playing basketball in the courtyard at Friends.” Tony Cahan writes, “I am in my 30th year as a breast cancer surgeon, currently practicing and living in Northern Westchester. My last of seven children (yes, seven) is in his freshman year at Pace in the city. Finally empty nesters! My wonderful wife, Carina, and I live in an antique farmhouse with our dog. Here I pursue my passions of fly fishing, amateur physics/electronics and gardening. I had to give up ice hockey a few years back, but I still play soccer weekly, albeit slowly.” David Wertheimer writes, “I came back to NYC in 1984 after graduate school (MS.W., and M.Div.), and ended up running the NYC Gay and Lesbian Anti-


Violence Project, (now the NYC AntiViolence Project). I totally fried my brain and emotions doing that gig as the AIDS epidemic hit the city and wiped out 75% of the men that I knew and worked with. I went out to Seattle on vacation in 1989 to recharge my batteries, and never really left. After a seven-month “recovery job” as an office temp, I ended up managing human services in County Government out here, and stayed at that gig for almost 10 years. I also worked evenings as a psychotherapist, with a focus on LGBT issues and PTSD. After my work at the county, I became a consultant in my own firm, working mostly with states, counties and cities on the integration of human service systems for individuals and families facing complex challenges (mental health, addiction, homelessness, criminal justice system involvement, etc.). One of my clients on and off over the years was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; I took up an invitation to join the staff there in 2006, and am now the Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning & Management for our Pacific Northwest Programs. But now to the good stuff: As a gay man, I never would have imagined that I would be married and living a (typical 21st century) family life. My husband of 25 years, Paul, and I, together with two of our best friends (a lesbian couple that live nearby), now have three kids—a 16-year-old and two 13-yearolds (twins). The beautiful thing about lesbian and gay families is that there’s no such thing as unplanned or unwanted kids—you really have to work at it! Paul is also happily engaged in work at the Wilburforce Foundation, which works to protect wildlife habitats in the North American West. We divide our time between Seattle and Guemes Island—a small island with 600 people about 80 miles north of the city. Next June, I’ll be retiring from the foundation to focus on volunteer activities and island life.”

Mark Vamos writes, “After some 25 years as a magazine writer and editor in New York, I apparently lost my marbles and decided to become a college professor in Texas. So for the last 10 years I’ve been at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. We like to pretend that SMU is like the Holy Roman Empire—y’know, neither Southern, nor Methodist, nor much of a university. But it is pretty Southern. I teach magazine writing, business journalism and—yes!—food writing. That last subject has become a passion in recent years; I review restaurants for The Dallas Morning News and write food features. And bike a couple thousand miles a year to make up for the eating. Dallas is . . . still strange. My wife, Leslie, who is also a journalist (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, now claims to be something important at The Dallas Morning News), and I always thought we’d do a stint in a foreign bureau for one of our employers, but the timing never worked. And since they say Texas is a whole other country (dear New Yorkers, you have no idea), this is our foreign posting. We are fortunate in that we live not in one of Dallas’s zombie exurbs, but in a historic neighborhood near downtown filled with century-old Prairie-style houses. And we kept our old farm in upstate New York, where— such are the pleasures of the academic calendar—I get to escape the appalling Dallas summers. And we are beginning to make vague gestures in the direction of retiring there. We have a fabulous daughter, Elizabeth, who is in her senior year at Vassar.” Miranda Winthrop-Ellis writes, “Life has been good, a lot has happened. I went to England and all around Europe for a while before going to Sarah Lawrence. I studied writing under Dale Harris, who sadly passed away. I have written a few short stories and some articles for the

local newspaper. I have four kids and two amazing grandsons and I live on a big family farm in Ipswich, Mass. Have to say big family farm because I couldn’t afford all this land on my own. I have always worked in the equestrian world and I am now the barn manager for Harvard Polo. My children—Angela, Rosemary, Lily and Whit—all work in film/arts/ advertising/gardening/baking/music/ construction etc. They have all been all over the world for work, school, sports or fun but, amazingly, they have all recently moved back to Massachusetts, which is so wonderful for me. My grandsons Stormy and Rocco live near me on the farm, so I am the luckiest grandparent in the world because I get to see them all the time. They take me back to when I was a kid climbing trees and making forts in Pittsburgh before we moved to the West Village. There is so much to say and so much to think about and reflect on these days.

1975

The class of 1975 mourns the untimely loss of our good friend, Cella Irvine. (Please see the In Memoriam section of this issue.) Fran Bruno writes, “I was so grateful to have been able to see Cella when she returned home with hospice care. She was herself—smiling, chatting, and giving wonderfully strong hugs to those who visited with her. I was also grateful to have seen so many of our classmates who came to say their goodbyes to Cella. Our class was enriched by Cella’s presence, and her loss will be greatly felt. Those who wish to, may make donations in Cella’s memory to Friends Seminary, 222 East 16th Street New York, NY 10003, attention Katherine Precht.”

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work in residential real estate in southern Fairfield County.”

Richard Fisher ‘75 and family during Thanksgiving 2016.

Barbara Gittleman Hainline ’76 and Jennie Davis Hall ’76 in Santa Fe

Delice (Donchian) Bolotin writes, “We (David, Regan and me) are heading off to Chile tomorrow where our younger daughter, Madison, has been studying this semester. We will do a nine-day tour of Patagonia and then spend a couple more days in the Vina del Mar/Valpraiso area before heading home. Regan graduated last spring and is working at a hedge fund in Stamford, so it’s really nice having her here. David’s business, Just Cats, is doing really well and he has great staff, which allows him to go on vacation. If anyone is driving on I95 through Stamford, you can see his building on the north side of the highway between exits eight and nine. I am continuing to 53 | n f f

Richard Fisher writes, "Not too much that I would consider newsworthy. Everyone is doing well. My wife, Catherine, is Membership Director at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, the largest (and only) reform synagogue in Philadelphia. My son, David, graduated from Harvard Medical School in May and is now in his internship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. After this year, he will be doing his residency in Neurology at a combined Brigham and Mass General Hospital program. He recently got engaged to his longtime girlfriend; the wedding is in June. My daughter, Sarah, is Assistant Director of Admission at Vassar College, and met both Cella’s and Katie’s daughters while recruiting at Friends Seminary. Our dog, Samson, is a two-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the cutest and cuddliest lap dog you could ever have. I am still at Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ, where I have been working for the past 27 years. I am Division Head of Maternal Fetal Medicine (high-risk Obstetrics) and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. In my spare time, I play tennis three days a week, and act in various community theater productions when the role is right. My highlight was playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof a few years ago, for which I grew a large (and, unfortunately, gray) beard. My big afro is all but a memory now.

1976

As reported by Suzanne Telsey: “Last May (in those halcyon days before the world shifted on its post-election axis), the Class of ’76 had a very successful and raucous 40th (gulp) reunion. Classmates descended on NY from numerous states

and countries, including Germany, California, England, Massachusetts, Virginia, DC and all areas around NYC. We had appearances from: Lindie Bosniak, Sonia Mawby Didriks, Jon Fabricant, Chris Gibbs, Barbara Gittleman Hainline, Michael Hirst, Emily Hubley, Chris Hyams Hart, Michael Kimmelman, Capers Rubin Kuhnert, Lynn Usoskin Mandeau , David Oppenheimer, Nate Ranger, Scott Robbins, Scott Sklar, David Vigliano, Frances Walton, Bill Webb, Cary Weil Barnett, Jane Weinman, Tina Wilkinson and Nanci McCarter Worthington. And we had guest appearances from classes both above and below ’76, including: Jessica Amelar ’73, Alvin Mack ’78, Lisa Marcus ’77, Ruth Pomerance ’77, Heidi Reavis ’77, and beloved former faculty Ann Sullivan and Paul Supton. Forty years may seem like an eternity, but at least we hadn’t completely forgotten some very funny memories of Friends in the 70s that we got to share (over lots of wine). A few additional notes postreunion from some classmates: Nanci McCarter Worthington writes, ‘After 32 years as a massage therapist, as well as 17 years teaching people how to do rehab work for performance horses using bodywork and choreographed pattern work, I finally finished my M.FA.- I.A. at Goddard College, combining art and ecology. Somehow this turned into being accepted into the Antioch New England Environmental Studies Ph.D. program as an artist and healer, and I’m planning to start in 2017. Not exactly known for being a stellar student; it is all rather astonishing!’ Barbara Gittleman Hainline writes, ‘All is well with the Gittleman-Hainline family. All four of us are employed, although two members of the family are applying to graduate school and a third is making retirement noises. As for me, I’m still very happy at


NIH. My husband, Mark, and I went to New Mexico to visit Jennie Davis Hall in October and had a wonderful visit. I’ve attached a photo of us in Santa Fe.’ Lynn Usoskin Mandel writes, ‘Two years ago I embarked on a spiritual journey when I joined the Adult B’nai Mitzvah class at our temple. It is quite a different experience studying, learning Hebrew and chanting from the Torah as an adult when you also have to contend with the demands of work and family, but it was well worth it. Besides our inspirational Rabbis and Cantors, my class, which was made up of an amazing group of eight women and two men, was so supportive and inclusive and had such a sense of camaraderie that it made learning and working together incredibly special. So two weeks before our milestone 40th reunion, I reached another milestone, becoming a Bat Mitzvah. It is an accomplishment I am very proud of and a journey that I plan to continue.’ Frances Walton reports, ‘Since retiring from Roosevelt Island Operating Corp and Empire State Development, I have been involved in a number of interesting ventures. One is a new version of Wonderama (remember the show from the 60s/70s?). It begins airing on Tribune (Channel 11) in this region on Christmas day! My other major venture is Plum Alley Investments, which just completed its first full year this fall with 200 plus members, four investments totaling $1.5 million in ventures founded and/or led by women entrepreneurs. See Forbes (November 2016) for an article on Plum Alley.’ I (Suzanne Telsey) am still living in NYC and going on my 17th year as Associate General Counsel at McGrawHill Education, and still loving my work (surprisingly, for a lawyer). My husband, Steve Bennett, and I actually celebrated our 30th (!) anniversary in July. Steve left Jones Day after 20 years to join former colleagues in their own litigation

Members of the Class of 1976 and 1977

boutique, Park, Jensen, Bennett in NYC. My older daughter, Dani Bennett, graduated Friends in 2011 and Tufts in 2015 and is working at Burson Marstellar in NYC, and my younger daughter, Nicki Bennett, Friends ’13, is currently a senior at Skidmore College, majoring in business and Spanish.

1978

Colin Wightman sadly passed away. He went to the school from kindergarten to 10th grade.

1980

As reported by Michael Golden: “Hi Class of ’80. There was a small gathering of the class in DC. Sarah Edmunds Goodwin recently moved there, and with John Wolf, Raphiel Hampton, and Robin Tunnicliff living in the area, Peter Brandt and Michael Golden headed to DC for a weekend get-together. Lots of good stories and laughs were shared! Jeff Upton has been busy in the

Boston Area. He writes, ‘I finally took the plunge in January and left Big Law to start my own firm—The Upton Law Group (Uptonslaw.com). My office is a block from my home in Milton, MA, above the oldest continuously operating bakery in the country. I no longer have to spend two hours a day commuting back and forth to Boston, or countless hours in partner meetings, and my office always smells of fresh bread and cookies. More importantly, I’m now only working for clients that I like and doing work I enjoy. I’m primarily representing privately held middlemarket companies and individuals in litigation, transactional and employment matters, and spending a lot more time with my family. I also reactivated my Screen Actors Guild membership, and over the past year I’ve been in a half-dozen movies. I'm in Patriots Day, which opens next month, playing an FBI agent in a scene in the Red Sox dugout shaking David Ortiz’s hand, and I also sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 5 4


his older brother, who will be working on a film in Cleveland for six months. My wife, Claudia, and I will have an empty nest for about six hours!’

1983

Class of 1980: David Berkowitz, Adam Isaacs and Karen Gross Fittinghoff

got to be Kevin Bacon’s photo double, so I’m now only separated by one degree. We’ve started touring colleges with my 16-year-old daughter, which is terrifying, and my wife, Lauren, is homeschooling our 12-year-old son, who will probably enroll in community college next year, as he’s pretty much done with the high school curriculum.’ Robin Tunnicliff writes, ‘I started working as a writing coach of sorts for the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. I help auditors write their reports on all the programs the U.S. government has in that poor country. In between depressing audits, I have gotten to see Jenny and Pam Raymond, MB Davis, Sarah Laidler '79, Sarah Goodwin, John Wolf, Peter Brandt, Raphiel Hampton, and Michael Golden! Also have taken up riding again, thanks to a dear friend who has sweet, patient horses.’ Nan Gaines sends her best and shares some exciting news: ‘It was a treat to see so many classmates last year at our pre-reunion get-together. What an interesting, curious-minded, and kind group of people! I think of you all often 55 | n f f

and am grateful for Facebook to keep in touch since I live in California. I am now a health coach. After reversing lupus, arthritis, osteoporosis and pre-diabetes through lifestyle changes, I published my first book this year—Gutsy: The Food-Mood Method to Revitalize Your Health Beyond Conventional Medicine. It’s available on Amazon.’ Nina Wolff’s Someday You Will Understand: My Father’s Private WWII was selected by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme and the Department of Public Information’s Publications Department for an event on International Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27. The bookstore will host an author talk and book signing, and will feature the title at their shop. After the main ceremony, there will be a panel discussion with a UN official and a scholar or journalist at the UN bookstore in the main building. Paul Weathered sends his best to everyone, and writes, ‘I am looking forward to my last child graduating from the Evergreen State College in June. Just in time to replace

Martha Ehrenfeld writes, “I got to Friends in 7th grade, so I missed the class on Quakerism that was taught in 6th grade. I learned most about the religion by going to meeting, what teachers said and what my experienced classmates already knew. When I got married, I knew I wanted time for silent reflection and to let people speak (ideally about nice things about friendship and relationships!). I asked my classmates to respond to the following questions: How and what did you learn about Quakerism at Friends? How has it affected your life?” Matthew Annenberg writes, “My biggest takeaway from being a kid at Friends was the premium we put on really listening to each others’ points of view. Not sure if the emphasis came from Quakerism, from our teachers or both. But the ideal has stayed with me. I don’t always manage it, and admittedly find myself less tolerant of differing perspectives as of late. But I’m conscious of how important it is to hear and respect others—and I definitely owe that to Friends.” Christina Green Gerry muses, “Well I was only at Friends for my senior year! While I have been remiss in remaining in contact with the School or the community, I have wonderful memories of that year and the friends I made, the East Village and yes, the Quaker spin on life which I found very refreshing in early 1980s NYC as well as my own tumultuous teen years. Today I am raising two sons, Finn (15) and Balin (13), in the city. I have a business staging apartments


here in NY called Making Home (making-home.com).” A quick sound bite from Brett Miller: “I am running Gucci.com for North America and getting ready for another trip to Italy next week. Still doing some artwork from time to time. Our son, Hudson, is 14 and goes to Friends. Amanda is doing well.” Emily Bickford Lansbury remembers, “I came in tenth grade and had missed any formal Quaker education, so, like you, Martha, I learned about Quakerism from meetings as well as from Barclay and Joyce’s philosophical talks and occasional ramblings. I remember sadly the day John Lennon was shot and we had meeting most of the day and people poured their hearts out in songs and poems—to me that was a great example of how a Quaker community responds to a tragic event. I also learned about a Quaker worldview from teachers like Charlie Blank, who took many opportunities to weave Quaker philosophy into his social studies curriculum; I especially remember the class he called Peace, as well as Model United Nations and an independent study in which I took care of the elderly and the very young. It was just infused in everything we did—even the outdoor education program, which was pretty radical back then. When you asked me to think about it, I realized that more than any other philosophy, Quakerism has had a lasting impact on my life, as a parent, in my 25-year marriage and in my professional, creative and volunteer work. One funny memory is that I often felt like I had something I wanted to share in silent meeting, but the idea of speaking in public totally terrified me. But sometimes as I sat in silence, keeping my thoughts all bottled up, I worried that, like a can of seltzer exploding, some inappropriate expletive was just going

Susannah Friedman Vickers ’88 catches a lift from Kim Azzarelli ’88 and her pilot husband Mattia Filliaci from West Hampton to Block Island

to come flying out of my mouth. I don’t think I ever did ‘share’ in meeting, but I eventually learned to be at ease with the silence, which I believe is the whole point. I think I will make a New Year’s resolution to learn to meditate.” Keith Smith updates us based on my Quakerism prompt: “Like you, Martha, we had a Quaker-style wedding, sitting in silence with our families and guests and letting people speak as they were inspired. It was magical. And because I liked Friends so much, we sent our daughter to the local Quaker school— Cambridge Friends School. There I learned that there are all sorts of things I didn’t know about Quakerism. Did anyone else learn about the six Quaker testimonies, also known as the ‘SPICES’? The ideas were completely familiar but I don’t remember ever hearing Quakerism defined that way— despite taking the Quaker Studies class in 6th grade! CFS ended at 8th grade. But our daughter missed the community of a Quaker school so much that it

became an important criterion in her college search. She is now in her first year at Bryn Mawr College and loving it! Not much else is new. I had dinner and drinks with Jim Infantino a couple weeks ago and commiserated about the election.” Susan Bronzaft Santoro writes, “I definitely came in after the Quakerism class. Although I didn’t appreciate meeting, I could certainly use that time each morning to collect my thoughts. Nothing new and exciting, except my daughter is getting ready to go to college and my son is in middle school.” Susan Lowen Maniatis writes, “I am doing well with my family in the DC suburbs. My daughter, Daphne, is in 10th grade at Sidwell Friends and is on her way to becoming a ‘lifer.’ It is interesting to hear her talk about the Quaker parts of the school—mainly Meeting for Worship in much the same way we all did when we were in high school and I wonder if her attitude will sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 5 6


Martha Ehrenfeld concludes: Thank you all for your reflections and updates. We all appreciate hearing news from near and far. Now it is time to turn to your neighbor and shake their hand.

1988

Cara Cibener '92

Nicholas Morehead '92 and family on Halloween

Daughters of Vanessa Primack '92: Susannah, Alexis and Lauren.

change when she looks back once she graduates...so soon! I am so grateful that she is a part of this caring and nurturing school community. I am in my third year serving on the Sidwell Friends Board of Trustees. It is challenging and engaging and encourages me to think about what is involved in Quaker education, what sets a Quaker school apart from other 57 | n f f

independent schools and what is our mission as a Quaker school? My family and I have been spending time with some new arrivals to the area—Susan Carmody, her husband, Borys, and their son, Cole, moved to Virginia this summer and it’s been lovely to have them nearby. Susan and I just met for lunch in DC last Thursday!”

Wyeth McAdam writes, “I’m living in the Bay Area, advising administrative law judges on disability claims for the Social Security Administration. I used to be a public defender, legal aid lawyer, Indian law attorney and attorney advisor to California State civil judges. My current job lets me telework three days a week from home, which I love. I’m married to Michael, who makes teddy bears. Well, he manages a bunch of stores where kids make their own stuffed animals. My kidlets are Ella, age 8, and Grayson, age 6. We are enjoying a good public elementary school in our area that offers social and emotional development as well as music, art and no homework. The days are long, the years short, and I don't get home to New York often enough. Recent special alum sighting: published poet and professor Willie Perdomo ’85 doing a reading in my town’s bookstore. We laughed remembering the house parties of the 80s (the home of Jocelyn Anker ’87, in particular). I think I convinced his students who were there that he is an amazing dancer. We intermittently attend Strawberry Creek Quaker meeting in Berkeley and that silence is peaceful and restorative. No meeting will compare to those I attended with you and those other 250 kids daily. Those meetings were full, rich, settling, and revitalizing, right? Best wishes.”

1990

As reported by Nico Marcellino: “Maisha Yearwood has left the country and will not be returning for a while. By the time this goes to press, she will


have travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa, to show some of her 9 GRAMS documentary, which she is in the process of filming. The documentary is based on her experience while incarcerated in Istanbul, Turkey, in the summer of 2009. The 9 GRAMS play, directed by Law & Order star S. Epatha Merkerson, is set to premiere in New York City in the winter of 2017. A book will also follow. You can keep track of all of these developments at 9grams.com. In addition, Maisha will be moving to Cape Town in January 2017 to work at the University of Cape Town. Anybody wishing to holler at Maisha can do so at WhatsApp!!! Bon voyage, Mai! Nicole Davis will not have left the country but, for all intents and purposes, is moving to another planet, a.k.a. New Jersey. We wish her and her family well in their new home!”

Friends alumni played in the Annual Alumni Soccer Game at East River Park on November 26, 2016.

1992

As reported by Jessica Wapner: “Daisy and her family—including their new addition, Balthazar, born on December 24, 2015—have expanded their museum treasure hunting business from the Louvre & Musee d’Orsay to the British Museum. THATLou (for Louvre) is now THATMuse (for museum) and based in London. During travels this past summer, Daisy caught up with Jess Rovello (recently on the cover of Inc. magazine), Jon Jacoby and his family (his twin sons, Max and Sam, share the same birthday, a year apart, with Daisy’s older son, nickname Storsh), Lexy Zissu, who is now living in New Paltz, and me. Lexy writes: ‘We moved a few years ago to the Hudson Valley to be closer to the farms that feed us, among other reasons. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we’re all loving it (though I am still perhaps not the best driver). By the time this prints, my daughters will be 11 and 4. The older one still feels like a New Yorker, but the younger one is a country bumpkin.

More than 40 alumni returned to the hardwood at Friends to participate in the Annual Alumni Basketball Game. They’re in a school that reminds me a lot of Friends back in the day—small and progressive. On cold weather Fridays they even have a bonfire on their campus and roast local potatoes. Cue the Portlandia jokes, but it’s fantastic. We’re in the city not infrequently to see grandparents (some, sadly, ailing) and friends, and for work meetings. I’m still writing and editing with a focus on all things environmental and environmental health. We were delighted Daisy trekked upstate to see us on our country road when she was on her America Tour this past summer. If anyone is up our way apple picking or whatever, stop by!

Hoping to see you all at our 25th reunion in May.’ Jon Jacoby has been working as an attorney with boutique litigation firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg. He says his twins, Max and Sam, are still adorable ‘most of the time,’ and they enjoyed their Washington Square Park picnic with Storsh. He saw Ben Levitzky last March at the naming ceremony for Michael Bachrach’s daughter, Eve. He recently took Max and Sam for lunch at Joe Jr.’s and was very surprised to discover that all the booths have been replaced by tables and chairs. Nicholas Morehead is still living on Shelter Island and captaining the boat at the South Ferry Company. sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 5 8


several years as a graphic designer. Her husband, Joel, works as a broadcast engineer at CBS. I (Jessica Wapner) am living in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn with my family and am continuing to write about science and medicine, keep the house clean and fall asleep while reading. I recently enjoyed a Manhattan-to-Brooklyn car ride with Noah Gaynin after running into him at a reunion for the camp our sons both attend.”

1994

Jodyann Blagrove '94 took an amazing trip toThailand where she caught up with Katherine Kiviat '94 in Bangkok.

He completed his M.B.A. at Stony Brook University last summer. His son, Cayman, recently turned seven, and his daughter, Larkin, is three years old. ‘They are a handful to say the least, but the most fun ever,’ he writes. He saw Eric Lane and his daughter, Ailey, this past summer, and sends a warm invitation to all ’92ers to visit, should you find yourselves out east. Vanessa Primack was very happy to be contacted for an update, until she was reminded about our upcoming 25th reunion. ‘Has it really been that long?” she writes, voicing a thought many of us share, no doubt. Vanessa has three daughters—Alexis (almost 9), Susannah (almost 6) and Lauren (3 and a half). ‘My days are happily filled with them and volunteering in the community,’ she says. She sends best wishes to her classmates for a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. Amy Taylor is working at an immigrant rights organization called Make the Road New York, which works with immigrant communities across 59 | n f f

NYC and NY state to build power and improve laws and policies that impact Latino and working class families. Her family, which includes Oscar (11), Marlow (8) and Ruby (5), lives in Brooklyn. She recently bumped into Zach Roth, who she hadn’t seen since high school, and she hopes to make it to next summer’s reunion. Cara Cibener was married in autumn 2015 at a ceremony attended by Aundrea Fares, Lisa Solomon and Lila Margulies. Gillian Reinhard has three children (Hazel, 3; Ellis, 5; and Miles, 9) and is currently living in NYC, though she was in the midst of considering a move when she wrote. Ellis just started kindergarten at Friends and his teacher is Judy Anderson '66, who was also Gillian’s teacher. ‘It is super fun to be back at Friends on a regular basis, sitting in the Meetinghouse, helping my son find his way around,’ she writes. ‘He is shocked I know what the fish stairs are.’ Gillian is working part-time as a relationship and parenting coach after

Samantha Liebman Elbaum writes, “I was nominated for a third Emmy this past spring for my coverage of the unsealing of indictments in the Bridgegate case— and last year made the move from TV to radio, working as a freelance reporter at 1010 WINS, where I’ve still gotten to do some on-camera work, most recently interviewing Matthew Perry about his reboot of The Odd Couple for the 1010 WINS Facebook page.” Kelly Kent writes, “I was just in NY celebrating my husband’s 50th! It was fabulous! I miss that darn town so much! I was elected to the Culver City School Board in November of 2015. So I’m now a governing member on the Board of Education. I have two consulting companies. One that gives brain-based professional development to K-12 teachers is called adaptED. Another that helps corporate environments develop creative cultures is called The Right Brain Project. My daughter, Audrey, is 9 and is in the fourth grade. My son, Bruce (named after The Boss, of course), is 5 and is in Kindergarten. They both attend school in the district in which I serve as board member. Sara Garlick Lundberg writes, “I had a beautiful baby girl in 2015. Earlier this year, my hubby and I joined many Brooklyn families in the move to Maplewood, and we are loving it. I


recently(ish) bumped into Katherine Kiviat, who was in the city with her family, and I often see Dorothy (Sandler) Meyer, who is a teacher and lives on the upper west side with her husband and two gorgeous girls.”

degree in management of technology at NYU.

Jodyann Blagrove writes, “I recently took an amazing trip to Thailand where I caught up with Katherine Kiviat in Bangkok.

2013

1997

Jessie Chaffee writes, “My debut novel, Florence in Ecstasy, will be published in May 2017. Thank you to my writing mentors at Friends, Christina Moustakis and John Byrne, whose support inspired me to pursue writing and whose inspiration has remained with me in the many years since!”

1999

Monika and Adam Honig welcomed their third child with the arrival of Wesley Theodore Honig on November 16, 2016.

2000

Matico Josephson and his wife Michelle Cheng are pleased to announce the birth of Emilia Josephson in April 2016. Fred Isquith is happy to announce is marriage to Anglea Spivak this past October 2016. Elizabeth Martin welcomes the birth of her son, Robert (Robbie) Taylor Brelsford, born June 2016. He is a happy and good-natured baby and she couldn’t be happier. She also finished her master’s degree in organizational dynamics at Penn in December 2015 and recently started working as assistant to the director at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. Morgan Kaschak completed his master’s

2004

Legacy Russell’s father, Ernest Russell, passed away July 31, 2016.

Emery Andrew writes, “In my past year I was elected as the president of my fraternity, the Xi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. We are in our 159th consecutive year, which is the second most continuous of over 140 chapters across North America. Along with this, I plan to graduate in the spring and am looking for any positive computer science connections that Friends alumni may have.” Quinn Batten writes, “I’m a senior at Carleton. This summer, I worked on growth and strategy for a small startup. Next term, I’ll be developing a tool for a world-class luthier to evaluate the fitness of wood samples for his work.” Olivia Creamer writes, “I will be graduating from NYU Gallatin this coming May. At Gallatin I have created my own concentration (major) called ‘Queering the Straight Gaze.’ This past summer I worked for Rooftop Films, an independent film festival, for the third year in a row as an assistant venue manager, and I have continued my internship with the film blog Who Cares About Actresses that I started Summer 2015. I have no plans after graduation as of yet, but I’m definitely excited!” Audrey Engelman writes, “I am a senior strategic communications major at Elon University. I am currently the executive producer of ELN Morning, our campus news organization’s 30-minute live morning show, and part of the

Florence in Ecstasy by Jessie Chaffee '97

branding team for Elon’s studentrun communications firm, Live Oak Communications. I also work as an engagement intern with Hillel planning events and getting communications students more involved with Hillel. I am excited to graduate in May and to hopefully work in television in a communications/marketing capacity!” Ian Garland spent the first half of 2016 down under in Australia. He got up on a surfboard and quickly fell off. The coffee, weather and cultural landscape were all great, but the casual use of offensive language, colonial history and mining economy weren’t. Abroad felt like one big ExEd trip, “and every Australian reminded me of Jack Phelan.” Ian is excited for the future but confused about how college went even faster than high school. Next steps include learning how open source systems (and the democratizing of data) can improve the lives of others, breaking down the industrial-food complex and kicking it with his grandparents. sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 6 0


Samuel Edison was a part of Washington University’s mock trial team, which placed fifth in nationals recently. Emily Lobel recently completed her first mainstage college production, Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl. Miles Donnelley recently completed a one-movement symphony protesting climate change, called “Symphony for a Dying Forest.”

In December 2016, Matteo Zules ’18, Hugo Torres-Fetsco ’11 and Juliett Kay ’06, along with several other young alumni, participated in a Homecoming Career Panel discussing life after Friends. Rosa Shipley is enjoying her last year at Kenyon, engaging her double-major in English and American studies as well as teaching French. After graduation, she hopes to explore the intersection of podcasting and sustainable food justice. Dyulani Thomas writes, “I’m a senior biochem resident here at Case with minors in Spanish and chemistry. I’m looking to switch over to pharmacy school post-graduation. I’ve continued my work as an RA and now serve as a senior RA. I serve as co-president of the African Students Association and I tutor math, science and reading comprehension at an all boys school in East Cleveland.

2015

Chuma Ossé has been making great music under the name, IDKHIM. His music can be found on his soundcloud: soundcloud.com/Chuma-Osse. His music focuses on alternative and ambient

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Hip Hop. He has had many cool events and has been featured on Washington Post photography’s Instagram. Jonah Philips has been managing Chuma, and he is also in the process of starting an independent record label at Northwestern in the startup accelerator. They are working together and collaborating but also creating their own separate projects. Nick Resnicow has been the designer for IDKHIM, creating t-shirts, posters, and album art.

2016

Cal Freundlich walked on to Davidson’s Division I basketball team. Julia Tecotzky is taking a gap year and currently volunteering in a kindergarten in Ecuador (South Quito) with an NGO called UBECI, which provides children who work in the city’s markets with educational, social and health-related programming.

Tsejin Khando spent two months this summer in India (near Dharmsala) at a program sponsored by Sarah Lawrence College in which she could intensively study Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist Philosophy and Tibetan (language) reading, writing and speaking. Jack Lanzi joined a Formula One SAE electric racing team, Penn Electric Racing, which builds and competes internationally in competitions. They made a car, REV 2, which can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. This happens to be a U.S. record for acceleration! Jack had the opportunity to be in the car when collecting the record-shattering data as well.


CLASS REPS CS = Class Secretary collects Class Notes—send your news to this rep! CA = Class Agent fundraises for the Annual Fund

1938 Alexander Watson (CS) ampwwatson@comcast.net 1941 Barbara Herne (CS) 212-249-0410 1942 Margaret McCormick (CA) mdmtjm@comcast.net Richard Scully (CS) 202-337-0508 1943 Eugenie Laidler (CS) 203-557-3208 1944 Hope Ligori (CS) 718-886-0240

Judith Lopez (CS) jlopez787@satx.rr.com 1955 Jackson Bryer (CA) jbryer@umd.edu Gail Tirana (CS) gtirana@gmail.com 1957 Stephen Rostand (CA) srostand@uab.edu John Schwartz (CS) john.schwartz@ag.ny.gov 1958 Thomas Munnell (CS) tmunnell@cwdowner.com Nicholas Etcheverry (CS) braamore466@aol.com

1945 Marion Pauck (CS) pauckmarionhausner88@gmail.com

1959 Frederic Buse (CA) fbuse@shggroup.com

1946 Stuart Robinson (CS) trauts2new@gmail.com

Helen Chaitman (CS) hchaitman@chaitmanllp.com

1947 Jean Kroeber (CS) jeantkroeber@gmail.com 1948 Anne Tonachel (CS) ahtonachel@gmail.com

1960 Catherine Munnell-Smith (CA) smith7cm@gmail.com Elizabeth Stone (CS) stone.elizabeth@sbcglobal.net Derek Van Hoorn (CS) dvanhoorn24@yahoo.com

1951 Stephen Chinlund (CS) stephenchinlund@verizon.net

1961 Barbara Burr (CS) wburr6@verizon.net

1953 Nora Jackson (CS) mom.nanny20@gmail.com

1962 Stephen Lipmann (CA) shlipmann@gmail.com

1954 Constance Engle (CS) connie.engle@gmail.com

1963 David Lowry (CS) davilowry@gmail.com

1964 Barbara Carey (CS) careybarbaraj@gmail.com 1965 Scott Garren (CS) scott@garrenshay.com 1967 Peter Michaelson (CA) pa1104@gonavis.com Pierre Lehu (CS) pierre@pierrelehu.com 1968 Blair Fensterstock (CA) bfensterstock@fensterstock.com Barbara Kates-Garnick (CA) bkatesgarnick@gmail.com Penny Craven (CS) penny@cravenfilms.com 1969 Michael Beckerman (CS) michael.beckerman@nyu.edu 1971 Laura Ward (CS) lward@nycourts.gov 1972 Pamela Perkins (CS) pamelaperkins@gmail.com Emily Medine (CS) emilymedine@aol.com 1973 Barbara Michelson (CS) highlylikely@gmail.com Lisa Mierop (CS) ljmierop@gmail.com 1974 Ivy Sherman (CS) ivybaer@vintagezine.com sp r in g 2 0 1 7 | 6 2


Kenneth Grossman (CS) kensgrossman@gmail.com

Keith Smith (CS) keith.smith@aya.yale.edu

1975 Francesca Bruno (CS) Franbruno1017@icloud.com

Martha Ehrenfeld (CS) MarMac@aol.com

Nicolo Marcellino (CS) nico@adlubow.com

Delice Bolotin (CS) deliceb@optonline.net

1984 Amanda Miller (CA) amandammiller2002@yahoo.com

1976 Suzanne Telsey (CS) suzanne.telsey@mheducation.com

Suzanne Calleja (CS) sgottlieb2001@yahoo.com

William Webb (CS) bill@billwebb.net

Alexandra Levinsohn (CS) adl@core.com

1977 Peter Moulton (CS) petermoulton@prodigy.net

1985 Anne Kner (CS) annekner@gmail.com

David Greenbaum (CS) dag@berkeley.edu

Robert Longley (CS) Roblongley1@gmail.com

1978 Antonia Torres-Ramos (CS) tonietal@yahoo.com

1986 Schuyler Allen-Kalb (CS) skylarock68@gmail.com

1979 Darcy Flanders (CS) darcy@baselinedesign.com

Rachel Axinn (CA) rachelaxinn@att.net

Victoria Pierce (CS) victoria.pierce@jpmorgan.com

1987 Ellen Diamond (CS) ellen_diamond@me.com

1980 Karen Fittinghoff (CS) karenfittinghoff@gmail.com

Robin Markus (CS) robinjmarkus@gmail.com

Bonnie Morris (CS) bbucknell@hotmail.com

Sarah Goodwin (CS) scegoodwin8@gmail.com

Leslie Rottenberg (CS) LesRotten@gmail.com

Benjamin Ensminger-Law (CS) ben77el@gmail.com

Michael Golden (CS) mgolden65@comcast.net

1988 Cory Diamond (CA) corydiamond@gmail.com

Sarah Menaul (CS) sarahgreenbaum@hotmail.com

1981 Rachel Jones (CS) drrachel@sbcglobal.net

Alexandra Tart (CA) alexandratart@icloud.com

1991 Nicholas Testa (CS) nicholas.testa@gmail.com 1992 Alexandra Zissu (CS) az@alexandrazissu.com Jessica Wapner (CS) jwapner@gmail.com 1993 Sandra Plouffe (CS) sandra.jelin.plouffe@gmail.com 1994 Stephanie Hazelkorn (CA) shazelkorn@gmail.com Jodyann Blagrove (CS) jodyb30@gmail.com 1995 Seth Goldberger (CA) goldberger@gmail.com Evan Pazner (CA) epazner@gmail.com

1996 Sarah Cox (CS) sarilc@hotmail.com

1982 Marc Rachman (CA) marc.rachman@gmail.com

Alexander Kriney (CS) akriney@gmail.com

1997 Brian Davis (CS) brian.davis25@gmail.com

Elizabeth Baer (CS) lizajane@gmail.com

Wyeth McAdam (CS) wyethmc@gmail.com

Janelle Garrett (CS) janellegarrett@yahoo.com

Sarah Finn (CS) sarahfinn@earthlink.net

1989 Bess Abrahams (CS) bessabrahams@mac.com

1998 Robin McKinney (CA) robin.mckinney@gmail.com

Indira Wiegand (CS) indinyc222@verizon.net

Gavin Steinberg (CA) gavinsteinberg@gmail.com

1983 Jason Ablin (CA) jablin45@gmail.com 63 | n f f

1990 Belkis Talarico (CS) beltala@hotmail.com


2006 Nailah Cummings (CA) nai.cummings@gmail.com

2013 Christian Hoyos (CA) hoyos.christian.hoyos@gmail.com

Juliet Kaye (CA) jkaye3@gmail.com

Shivanii Manglani (CA) shivanii.manglani@gmail.com

Andrew Laird (CS) andrewmlaird@gmail.com

Cory Lopez (CS) cory.levine.lopez@gmail.com

Dyulani Thomas (CA) akolebi@gmail.com

2000 Fred Isquith (CS) freddy.isquith@gmail.com

2007 Rachel Colberg-Parseghian (CS) cprachel88@gmail.com

Audrey Engelman (CS) audreyrengelman@gmail.com

2001 Ashley Herriman (CS) aherriman@gmail.com

2008 Lena Bell (CA) lenafbell@gmail.com

Joanna Shapiro (CS) joanna.shapiro@gmail.com

Evan Olonoff (CA) eolonoff@gmail.com

2002 Richard Barbieri (CA) richard13@aol.com

Max Willner (CA) max.a.willner@gmail.com

Lee Rothchild (CS) leerothchild@gmail.com 1999 Adam Honig (CS) adam.honig@gmail.com

Joanna August (CS) joanna.h.august@gmail.com Nicolaas van der Meer (CS) nic.vandermeer@gmail.com

Jackson Sinder (CS) jacksonsinder@gmail.com Alexander Winter (CS) awinter@forosgroup.com

Jordan Kasarjian (CS) Jkasarjian1@gmail.com 2014 Matthew Winter (CS) mwinter@bates.edu Amanda Shepherd (CS) ais40@georgetown.edu 2015 Scout Eisenberg (CA) scouteisenberg1996@gmail.com Samuel Harris (CA) scharris@wesleyan.edu

2009 Victoria Brewster (CA) vcbrewster@gmail.com

Luke Fairbairn (CS) lukefairbairn@btinternet.com

Claire Brennan (CS) cbren3591@gmail.com

Julia Rosenbaum (CS) julia.rosenbaum@gmail.com

Daniel Willner (CS) dawillner@gmail.com

2010 Alexander Shepherd (CS) xander.shepherd@redscout.com

2016 India Woolmington (CA) iwoolmin@bates.edu

2004 Jennifer Conrad (CS) jennyconrad1@gmail.com

2011 Andrew Hinkle (CA) fillion.andrew@me.com

Giovanna Hooton (CS) ghooton@uchicago.edu

Legacy Russell (CS) LegacyRussell@gmail.com

Hugo Fausto Torres-Fetsco (CA) htorresfetsco@gmail.com

James Sumers (CS) james.sumers@gmail.com

Alison Weiss (CS) alisonjweiss@gmail.com

2005 Cole Blumstein (CS) coleblumstein@gmail.com

Myles Davis (CS) mylesodavis@gmail.com

Nusrat Khan (CS) nuspurple@aol.com

2012 Tamar Davis (CA) tamar.sarai@gmail.com

Sam Rabinowitz (CS) samuel.rabinowitz@gmail.com

Patrick Smith (CS) psmith1284@gmail.com

2003 Daniel Satterwhite (CA) dls@houstonstreetcapital.com Hallie Davison (CS) hallie.davison@gmail.com

Akhil Madan (CS) anm2020@northwestern.edu

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IN MEMORIAM Kate Belcher Webster '41 passed away on February 24, 2017 in Seattle, W.A. She was born on April 2, 1924 to Dr. Harold S. and Dr. Anne S. Belcher in New York City. She was raised in the Gramercy Park neighborhood until her seventh grade year, when they moved to the Upper East Side. Kate attended Friends Seminary and Brearley School. She attended Smith College where she had an unparalleled educational experience and met some of her lifelong friends. After graduating from college, she moved to San Francisco. Shortly thereafter, at the wedding of her college roommate to her cousin, she met Holt Webster, a family friend of her roommate. After six dates over the course of four months, the two got engaged and married on May 27, 1947. They welcomed their first child, named Kate (Kelly for short) in 1948, followed by Craig in 1950, and Anne in 1952. They made their home on Capitol Hill’s Newton Street, where many lifelong friends lived and gathered. Though Kate did not maintain a traditional career, she proudly dubbed herself a “professional volunteer.” New to Seattle during its post-war growth, she first became involved with the Junior League, and would go on to serve on the boards of more than 30 educational, health, and religious organizations. She and Holt received countless recognitions in appreciation of their service. In 1972, Kate and Holt moved permanently to Bainbridge Island, where their home continued to be host to many parties, weddings, and fundraisers. Following Holt’s sudden death in 1992, Kate expanded her service work. Called a “towering leader” at the time of her death, Kate was most importantly the matriarch of a very proud family. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Holt and son Craig. She is survived by her sister Suzanne

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Bunzel, daughters Kelly Webster and Anne (Jon) Fox, her grandchildren Alex (Jinny) Scribner, Sarah (Jim) Hopper, Jennifer Scribner, Peter Webster, Ben and Katherine Fox. She leaves the great-grandchildren whom she dearly loved, Nicolas, Oscar, Chase, Stella, and MaryKate. She also leaves behind her adored caregivers Ted Avery and Suzie Oens.

Polly Amrein '44 passed away on July 13, 2016 at Lake Park Retirement in Oakland, her home of 11 years. Born in New York, she attended Connecticut College, Teachers College Columbia University and San Francisco State which prepared her for a life in education. She taught kindergarten in Long Beach and San Bruno and worked with blind children and their families at the Blind Babies Foundation and the California School for the Blind. She also taught for five years at the Women's Teachers College in Kabba, Nigeria and for four years at Shenyang Teachers College in China. After retirement she enjoyed traveling to different parts of the world and was a member of the League of Women Voters in Berkeley and Oakland.

John Christopher Putnam '47 died peacefully on September 21, 2016, with his wife by his side, after a long illness. To those of us who knew him at Friends he was Chris, always the chivalrous gentleman, referred to in our Yearbook as The Professor. In 1951 he married Penelope (Penny), and in 1954 they moved to Connecticut with their two children. Chris worked at Aetna Insurance Group for many years, until his retirement in 1990. He and Penny eventually had four children, all of whom survive him, along with nine grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. The family lived for 37 years in an old farmhouse in Colebrook, CT. In the last few years Chris and Penny lived at McLean Village in Simsbury, CT. To the end he enjoyed movies, reading history, and having a good debate.


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Kate Belcher Webster '41, Polly Amrein '44, John Christopher Putnam '47, Jonathan Rinehart '48

Jonathan Rinehart '48, a pioneer in the field of dealmaking communications, died on Aug. 30. He was 86 and lived in New York. He started the Jonathan Rinehart Group in the mid-1970s. It later merged with Mel Adams and Associates to create Adams & Rinehart. The firm advised on some of the most prominent deals, including hostile takeovers, friendly mergers, spinoffs and bankruptcies, in the boom years of the 1980s. His clients were as varied as Gillette and BP. His mainstays were Seagram Company, which once was among the largest alcohol distributors in the world, and Salomon Brothers, the investment bank that is now part of Citigroup. Two of today’s most prominent financial communications companies, Sard Verbinnen and Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher were founded by alumni of Mr. Rinehart’s firm. Mr. Rinehart was born in Manhattan on April 19, 1930. He held his first summer job at 16 in the mailroom at Fortune Magazine. In the 1950s, he graduated from Yale and enlisted in the United States Navy Air Intelligence, where he served for several years during the Korean War. For almost a decade he was a journalist, first for Time magazine, then for Newsweek. He started his career in corporate communications at Eastern Airlines, where he became the senior vice president of public relations, before starting his firm in 1974. Adams & Rinehart was acquired by Ogilvy & Mather in 1986, and Mr. Rinehart retired in 2000. He is survived by a son, Clem Rinehart, and daughter, Annabelle Rinehart.

Elizabeth Lynes Hollander ’57, who had a distinguished career in city planning and in academia, died October 14, 2015. At Friends, Liz was notable for both her intellectual curiosity and her energy. In the 1957 Yearbook she appears in an impressive ten extracurricular activity photos, ranging from the basketball and softball teams to the literary magazine, newspaper and student council, with dramatics, the chorus, philosophy, current events and le Cercle Francais in between. Her father, Russell Lynes, was a noted social critic and managing editor of Harper’s Magazine, and her paternal uncle, George Platt Lynes, was a well-known photographer for whom Liz sometimes served as a model. Her brother, George, who also died in 2015, was a good friend of her Friends class. After graduation from Bryn Mawr, where she majored in political science and headed campus civil rights efforts, Liz started working at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Philadelphia. Upon moving to Chicago with her husband, Sidney Hollander, she became involved in the Task Force on the Future of Illinois and became director of the Metropolitan Planning Council before her appointment by Mayor Washington as Chicago’s Planning Commissioner. The first woman to hold the post, she served from 1983 to 1989, gaining a reputation as a champion of city life, through increased neighborhood development and the enlivening and reactivation of the downtown. She was also known to do needlepoint at City Hall meetings and hearings, which undoubtedly communicated to developers and City Council members that she was not to be rattled. After

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Elizabeth Lynes Hollander ’57, Ross Harrison ’57, Michael Botein ’62, Cella Maria Irvine '75

leaving office, she headed the Egan Urban Center at DePaul University, offering professional training to people in public service. After a divorce, she married Carl Kaestle, a professor at Brown University, and in Providence became the executive director of Campus Contact, a national organization that promotes civic engagement in higher education. She also taught at Tufts University and served as president of the Board of Directors of Community Music Works, a prize-winning after-school music program, as well as creating and leading Arts Allies, an organization that advocated greater resources and commitment for the arts in Providence public schools. A convert to Judaism, she assumed leadership positions not only in her local religious congregations but also in major Jewish organizations. She published many articles in the fields of her expertise and received numerous awards for both her professional and volunteer activities. Liz is survived by her husband Carl, her children Daniel Hollander and Rachel Hollander, and four grandchildren.

Ross Harrison ’57, whose personality and talent played an important part in the cohesiveness of his Friends Seminary class, died October 26, 2016, at the West Haven, CT Veterans Administration Hospital. Ross showed his flair for showmanship early. As a premature baby, he was exhibited with 40 other babies at the 1939 World’s Fair to demonstrate the newly invented incubator. At Friends, he was active in dramatics and the basketball team, as well as the Yearbook Committee and the philosophy club,

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and truly outdid himself on the Senior Play Committee, cowriting and playing the male lead in a remarkably funny and politically perceptive play in which he not only acted, but sang and danced as well. It was the intensity and skill that he devoted to jazz piano, however, that stood out both in his school days and the rest of his life. At Friends, the shared experience of listening to Ross play was an important part of his class’s treasured memories. After two years at Yale, Ross joined the Army and was trained in Mandarin Chinese, after which he served in a classified post in the Far East and then remained in Taiwan for a time, teaching English. Returning to Yale, he majored in Chinese Studies and then did graduate work at the University of Washington, while teaching Mandarin to private students. He also played jazz piano in Seattle, leading a band called “Dr. Roscoe and the Red-Hots,” but returned to New York to help care for his ailing mother and, after her death, for his father. He continued playing in New York in the ‘80s and ‘90s, including Sundays at Arthur’s Tavern in Greenwich Village, and in New Haven in the new century, including a regular gig at the Veteran’s Hospital in West Haven and on special occasions at the New Haven Friends Meeting House. In 1963, Ross and his family lost his sister, Nancy ’52, to an earthquake in Skopje, in what was then Yugoslavia. That tragedy, which came when Ross was overseas, remained an empty spot in his life. He is survived by his brother, Sam ’61, his sister-in-law Donna, his nephew Ben and many cousins.


Michael Botein ’62 died on August 3, 2016 of complications from cancer; he was 71. Mike graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and earned law degrees from Cornell and Columbia. An emeritus professor at New York Law School, where he founded the Media Center, he was recognized as an expert in communications law. Mike was a prolific author of treatises, handbooks and articles, largely on media law, and shared his expertise as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. He travelled extensively, teaching US telecommunications policy at law schools in foreign countries including France, Israel, Australia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. At New York Law School, Mike was remembered as deeply committed to his students, collaborating on projects and staying in contact long after they graduated. Mike was an avid science fiction fan and had a large collection of sci-fi classics. He was enthralled with everything involving radio, though he wasn’t able to fulfill his dream of owning a radio station. Mike read widely on higher education trends, world politics and advances in technology, especially in medicine and automobiles. He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Kris Fischer (recently retired as editor-in-chief of New York Law Journal), his children Matthew and Elizabeth, and his grandchildren Rachel, Jack, Ella and Isabel. Cella Maria Irvine '75 died on November 8, 2016 at her home in Manhattan. She was 59. Cella, a former School Committee member and mother of two Friends students, was an ardent advocate for the School. Cella was born on Sept. 23, 1957, in Manhattan. She graduated from Friends Seminary and received a bachelor’s degree in history from Cornell University and a master’s in general management from Harvard. Cella broke ground in a male-dominated field in her corporate roles and as a founding board member and chairwoman of the nonprofit New York New Media Association. She began her quarter-century career in the digital industry in the mid-1980s at Activision, a video game and educational software company. From 1989 to 1993, she ran customer relations and strategic planning for the Prodigy Services Company before joining the Hearst Corporation in 1994 as vice president and general manager of new media At Hearst, she guided its first digital ventures, including an interactive newspaper and the marketing of CD-ROMs. Within two years she was the general manager of Sidewalk, an early online guide to local businesses started by Microsoft.

Sidewalk, described as a digital version of urban newsweeklies, emerged as one of the most heavily trafficked sites on the internet. She stepped down when the guide was sold to Citysearch in 1999. After heading strategic planning and operations at a unit of Marsh, a risk consulting firm, Cella became chief administrative officer of Digitas, the digital advertising agency. There she helped integrate Modem Media and the Medical Broadcasting Company to become Digitas Health, a health care marketing firm. Cella became chief executive and president of the About Group of The New York Times Company in 2008. In 2011, when she became chief executive of Vibrant Media, a digital advertising company, David Kenny, the former chief executive of Digitas, told paidContent.org that she had been instrumental in planning the agency’s acquisition strategy and in integrating newly acquired companies. She remained with Vibrant until 2013 and had been consulting since then. In addition to her husband, Hart Hooton, she is survived by their two children, Giovanna '16 and Hudson '18, and her mother. Excerpted from obituary published in The New York Times on Nov. 11, 2016. Jean Elliott Johnson, faculty emerita, passed away peacefully at her home in New York City surrounded by her family on April 4, 2017. She was 82. Jean led a full and rich life, dedicating her life to education, social justice, and an unwavering commitment to her friends and family. Jean was born in New York City. She attended New Lincoln High School, where her talent for leadership began to manifest itself as the Chairperson of the National Self Government Committee, an organization dedicated to promoting self-government among students and youth. After graduating from Oberlin College, Jean began her career in education teaching English in Turkey. She earned a graduate degree from Columbia Teachers’ College, which lead her to Parsippany High School, where she fortuitously met Donald Johnson. Her marriage to Don in 1960 began a life-long relationship and professional collaboration. The decade was full of adventures, including the birth of three children, teaching at Mt. Kisco High School, living in East Harlem, holding volunteer positions with the National YWCA (an affiliation

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Jean leaves her husband Don; children Keith, Karen and Mark; grandchildren, Grace, Bob and Jack, two brothers Donald and Dave Elliott, sister-in-law Sally Elliott, as well as numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. Excerpted from obituary published on NYTimes.com from Apr. 10 to Apr. 11, 2017

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Paul E. Reeder and Jean Elliott Johnson

started in college and lasting until the 1980s), and a wonderful one-year residency in 1969 in New Delhi, India. During their stay in India, Jean and Don created teaching materials, which yielded the co-authored God and Gods in Hinduism and Through Indian Eyes and the start of the Asian Studies Curriculum Center at New York University, to distribute educational material to teachers. Beginning in 1974, Jean taught at Friends Seminary for 20 years. During this time, she was instrumental in establishing a two-year world history course to replace Western Civilization, a major curriculum change. She wrote her own manuscript for use as the textbook, developed with input and feedback from her ninth grade students. This manuscript was the genesis of a published textbook, The Human Drama, a four-volume series co-authored with Don, in use throughout the United States. In 1983 Jean won a Klingenstein Award, which facilitated a deeper study of her intellectual pursuit of the manifestations of the Mother Goddess through history. Additional awards include the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in World History from Princeton University and the Buchanan Prize for Asia Curriculum material. After leaving Friends Seminary, her activities included directing the Asia Society’s Teach Asia; speaking engagements with the Humanities Council, American Historical Association and World History Association; publishing academic articles; and co-authoring with Don The Human Drama, Vol 2-4, and Universal Religions in World History. Throughout it all, she always found time to tend to her flower gardens. 69 | n f f

Paul E. Reeder, former Friends History Teacher and Upper School Head, died August 24, 2016; he was 87. If you were a Friends Seminary student, faculty or staff member during the 1960s–1970s, you probably crossed paths with Paul Reeder. He touched many lives in the most positive of ways. Yet, humble as he was, he never fully recognized his influence on his students and those around him. Upon learning of his death, the Friends community expressed overwhelming affection, appreciation and admiration for Mr. Reeder, which is the way we addressed him when we were students. Paul used history as a springboard for helping students to understand human nature and themselves. From posting a sign on his homeroom door stating “Know Thyself,” to instructing us that it was easier to stand up to support the human rights of “others” vs. ourselves, he taught us the importance of being the individuals we were. Who can forget his discussions of the Protestant Reformation and Martin Luther’s crisis of the soul regarding the Catholic Church? Or his classes on social problems, India and China and other topics? Or, as a Korean war veteran, his participation in lobbying efforts against the War in Vietnam on school trips to Washington? He helped shape a generation of Friends students by teaching us to think critically. Although a private man, he had a wonderful sense of humor with a laugh that could resonate. Calling a class to order, he might say, “Ladies and gentlemen… Ladies and gentleman… and I use that term loosely.” He respected and cared about his students and colleagues and kept many of our written communications with him until his death. Paul led a wonderfully textured life. He was predeceased by his partner of over 50 years, Dr. Paul L. Kendall. He is survived by several nieces and nephews, as well as many students and friends. We were lucky to have him in our lives.


Remembering the Past, Thinking About the Future The late Ina Evans, mother of Craig Evans ’72 and the late Lisa Evans ’76, made a $50,000 gift to the Jerome Evans Holocaust Memorial Fund. In 1995, Ina established the endowed fund in memory of her late husband who served on the School Committee (Board of Trustees) from 1968-70 and as clerk. The Jerome Evans Holocaust Memorial Fund at Friends Seminary provides library materials and programs related to the Holocaust and other genocides. “My parents believed that education and understanding is the best way to ensure the atrocities of the Holocaust are never repeated. This Fund is a lasting expression of this belief, their love for Friends and devotion to Quaker values and practices,” reflects Craig Evans ’72. Ina and Jerry, as Jerome was known, embraced Quakerism. Craig and his father were members of the 15th Street Meeting and also attended the Morningside Meeting, on the campus of Columbia University. As Vice President of Advertising and Publicity at Universal Pictures, Jerry was involved in many notable films throughout his long career including JAWS, The Sting, Front Page, Spartacus and many John Wayne and Charlton Heston movies. On at least one occasion, Craig used his father’s Hollywood connections to benefit the School. In the days following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Craig invited Leon Bibb to lead an Upper School assembly in the

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Meetinghouse. Leon was a notable actor and folk singer, whose baritone voice made him a stirring performer at landmark civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s. Leon was a close friend of Dr. King’s. “We are grateful to Ina for her foresight and generosity in establishing the Jerome Evans Holocaust Fund and this significant gift, which will benefit students and teachers for generations to come,” says Principal Bo Lauder. Ina’s gift is the result of simple but considered estate planning. In 1995 when Ina decided to set up this fund in her husband's memory, she bought a new life insurance policy and transferred ownership to Friends. As the owner of the policy, rather than the named beneficiary, Friends paid the premiums each year. In turn, Ina made annual tax-deductible gifts to the School, equal in value to the premiums paid by Friends. Approximately 20 years later, through the insurance proceeds paid to Friends, Ina has made a far greater gift to the School after her death than she could have done in her lifetime. All planned gifts, including retirement plans, life insurance policies, and appreciated securities, support the School’s future. To learn more about making gifts of assets, please contact the Director of Major Gifts and Planned Gifts, Rebecca Holmes at rholmes@friendsseminary or 646-979-5058.

Jerry Evans and Alfred Hitchock, Craig Evans ’72 and Ina Evans, Jerry Evans and The Munsters

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b a c k i n t h e day

Kim and His Camera During his time at Friends, Kim Moser ’84 carried his GAF 35 Memo EE camera everywhere, capturing iconic images of his classmates and teachers. “my memories are largely influenced by my photos, which help refresh and reinforce my experiences at Friends,” Kim Moser '84 said. “I enjoy comparing how things were when I attended Friends with how they are now, and marveling at how much (or little) has changed. Photographs are often our only tangible links to an ephemeral past.

Lucas Miller ’84, Tanya Vysotsky ’84 and Yi Wright ’84 at Powell House retreat, September 1983.

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Teacher Christina Moustakis and Charles Rosenberg ’84, April 1982. Rebecca Moore ’84 at Powell House retreat, September 1983.

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All photographs Copyright © 2017 by Kim Moser / kmoser.com. Used with permission.

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Moser said it wasn’t until years after he graduated from Friends that he came to appreciate his experience at Friends. “Most of all, I remember the eclectic array of teachers who all influenced me in different ways,” Moser said. Following Friends, Moser attended New York Institute of Technology and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Today, he works as a freelance programmer and web designer for clients all over the country. In January 2017, a selection of Moser’s photographs were displayed in the Rosenquist Gallery at Friends Seminary. Students viewed the photographs with awe and curiosity as they saw what the hall of Friends Seminary once looked like. To view the images displayed during the exhibit, visit www.bit.ly/KimMoser84.



FRIENDS SEMINARY 222 EAST 16 TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10003

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NFF IS MOVING ONLINE! As a community that embraces stewardship, simplicity and sustainability, we have decided to publish all future News From Friends issues exclusively online. By making this issue of News From Friends the last printed issue of this magazine, we will drastically reduce Friends' ecological footprint in terms of ink, paper and energy. It will also save the School money, which we can redirect to our innovative programs. While the printed publication has an unequivocal aesthetic, we hope you'll understand our reasoning as we embrace this digital culture shift. You'll hear more about this exciting change in the months ahead. Lastly, in the vein of digital media, we encourage you to connect with Friends via our social media pages to see what is happening at Friends each and every day.

/FS1786 /groups/FriendsSeminaryAlumni @friendsseminary /FriendsSeminary /friendsseminary


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