GEORGIAN
Vol. 91
No. 01
pu bl i c at i on of ge orge scho o l, ne w tow n, pennsy lvania
INSIDE
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FALL/WINTER
c o nti n u o u s lear n i n g
2019
Researching, Testing, and Adopting Innovative Teaching Methods
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th e powe r o f a wh i s pe r
Student Film Debuts at Tribeca Film Festival
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seeing the world through ap human geography
Introducing Global Thinking in Ninth Grade
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nati o nal g e o g r aph i c g r o sve n o r teac h e r fe llow
Kevin Fox Explores the Artic and Storytelling
GEORGIAN TABLE OF CONTENTS
Vol. 91 | No. 01 | FALL / WINTER 2019
01 PERSPECTIVES George School Faculty: Continuous Learning 02 Learning by Doing 04 Learning by Watching 06 Teaching Artificial Intelligence 07 A Student’s Perspective:
Sean Kelly ’19
08 WOOPing It Up in the Learning Center 10 Kids at Play: Learning How to Laugh in the Classroom
14 FEATURES 14 Rodney Glasgow: The Power of a Whisper 16 Seeing the World through AP Human Geography 18 National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Kevin Fox 19 Shining a Light on the Global Refugee Crisis
Above and front cover: History Department faculty Ben Croucher, Kevin Fox, and Meredith Alford ’01 are three of the faculty members featured in this issue of the Georgian. The AP Human Geography class is now a requirement for all first-year George School students. The course helps students understand the interconnectedness of regions and recognize the political, social, economic, and environmental processes that shape who we are and what we do. See the story, Seeing the World through AP Human Geography, on page 16.
20 Embrace the World 22 Memories of Alumni Weekend 2019
24 CAMPUS NEWS & NOTES 28 ALUMNI TELL US 54 IN MEMORIAM
Passionate about the ongoing crisis of refugees worldwide, activist Celeste Huang ’22 uses a camera not only to document their struggles, but also to provide them a measure of solace. See the story, Shining a Light on the Global Refugee Crisis, on page 19.
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THE CLASS OF 2021 participated in the annual Thinking Across Disciplines (TAD) sophomore project this spring to compare and contrast ways of thinking in different subject areas.
Perspectives
George School Faculty: Continuous Learning Researching, Testing, and Adopting Innovative Teaching Methods Our faculty members readily admit—and rightly boast—that they are students, too, continually improving their teaching methods while modeling ongoing learning for their students. Nowhere is that more evident than in the pages that follow. In 2016–2017, George School began a new faculty evaluation system inspired by Carol Dweck’s focus on a growth mindset. In a two-year process, both new and veteran teachers reflect on their practice, set self-directed goals, and embark on a year of professional development with support and guidance from supervisors. Year one sees teachers gather student feedback, invite peers and administrators to their classes, and draft a professional development proposal with clearly articulated goals. In the second year, they implement their plan. Each project is as different as the needs and interests of the faculty member. Some choose to
focus on residential life, others on new curriculum, and still others on pedagogical tools. Some embrace technology, but many look forward with approaches devoid of bells and whistles and grounded in the real world. At the end of the process, faculty assess their growth and stay mindful that teaching—even for experts—is a practice. They remain reflective, open-minded, and eager to continue seeking new growth opportunities, just as they ask students to do. The articles teachers have written for this issue of the Georgian come from their professional development plans and demonstrate their commitment to ongoing research, risk-taking, and improvement. We hope you enjoy reading them and that wherever you are, in the spirit of George School, you, too, are always learning.
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Learning by Doing by
Meredith Alford ’01 HISTORY TEACHER AND DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
It’s not about covering content. It’s about having students uncover it. That is the main goal— and benefit—of Project-Based Learning (PBL), an educational framework that has been gaining enormous traction in schools across the country. Rooted in “real-world learning,” or “learning by doing,” PBL strives to make educational experiences inquiry-driven, student-centered, and authentic. In the past year, dozens of George School faculty have been trained in PBL and have implemented it in their teaching with impressive results. The projects at the heart of PBL are not summative assessments that simply demonstrate content mastery. Instead they offer students opportunities to learn more deeply through questioning, reflection, and revision. 2 | GE O RGIAN
To fit the PBL framework, a project needs to meet several criteria: • S tudents must tackle a challenging problem or question in some kind of “authentic” or “realworld” context. •T here must be an extended period of engagement—often 10–20 (or more!) classroom hours— so students have time to dive deeply into the subject matter. •T eachers need to allow space and time for student voice and choice, so that students take active ownership of their own learning. • S tudents must have opportunities for critical feedback, reflection on their work, and revision to their ideas and products. • I deally, students should engage with an audience outside of the project’s educational community to further connect to the real world. The roots of PBL extend from the work of educators like John Dewey and Parker Palmer, who encouraged connections between education and students’ personal lives, to the Buck Institute for Education, a leader in PBL resources and training. It is a philosophy that blends seamlessly into our Quaker institution. Placing students at the center of projects and having them work together with teachers toward educational outcomes dovetails nicely with the core testament that “there is that of God in everyone.”
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Rooted in “real-world learning,” or “learning by doing,” Project Based Learning strives to make educational experiences inquiry-driven, student-centered, and authentic.
Though student-centered classrooms are hardly new at George School, finding the time to employ real PBL is. Our rigorous academic focus leaves us with a tremendous amount of content to cover in limited seat time. It is natural to worry about the ramifications of spending several weeks tackling one large question in significant detail. Thanks to two major initiatives, however, the school has supported faculty members in learning about PBL, and is helping them take steps to deliberately and reflectively integrate it into their teaching. First, Howard Glasser, George School academic technology integrationist, led a small cohort of faculty interested in learning more studentcentered teaching practices. With support from the Curricular Innovation Impact Fund, Michael LoStracco, Becky Hutchins, and Faith Moynihan ’05 worked together in the summer and fall of 2018 to learn more about flipped classrooms and PBL and to develop new pedagogical strategies to keep students at the center. In addition to implementing their own PBL projects, Becky and Michael have modeled their work for their peers. Last winter, George School hosted a Buck Institute for Education PBL 101 workshop for thirty faculty members. The foundational workshop based on a model of Gold Standard PBL not only taught the framework’s components, but also allowed time for each teacher to develop a standards-based project through cycles of peer feedback and revision, modeling the PBL process. At least one faculty member from each academic department attended, along with several department heads, who can now better support their colleagues as well as use PBL themselves. The enthusiasm generated by this workshop spurred faculty to immediate action. Twelve PBL projects were implemented in the spring with teachers supporting one another throughout. Together they created a Google Calendar to document their plans and timelines, enabling
faculty members to observe each other teach using the framework, offer ongoing feedback, and support one another with resources, suggestions, and expertise, as needed. Projects have ranged from a study of a local water contamination issue by Becky Hutchins’ IB Environmental Systems and Societies class to documentary filmmaking that brought together English, history, and art classes. (See the story, Rodney Glasgow: The Power of a Whisper, on page 14.) History department head Ben Croucher even used PBL when planning the New Student Orientation for 2019. What is most exciting is the way that faculty are framing their professional development. It’s easy to sit in a workshop, take notes, and call it a day, but that kind of continuing education, though sometimes useful, employs the very teacher-driven pedagogy we are trying to break away from. Instead, both initiatives asked faculty to become students themselves—to demonstrate curiosity, take risks, work with peers, do something unfamiliar and uncomfortable, and keep trying and revising as they achieved clarity and success. At a Quaker institution, we must put empathy at the heart of our teaching. Accordingly, I can think of no better professional development than to be students ourselves, not as passive vessels to dump information into, but as active, inquiring teams working towards a common goal. It’s harder to do, it requires us to be vulnerable, and it certainly takes more time. But we are learning by doing, and in the spirit of the constructivist pedagogies that influence us, we know our students will embrace the opportunity to learn together with us.
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Learning by Watching by
Jo- Adachi P A I N T I N G A N D D R AW I N G TEACHER
In one of my classes last year, I complimented a student on a painting project and asked if she had used acrylic in the past. She had not, she surprised me, explaining that she had learned to paint through a painting app on an iPad. Further proof that today’s art instruction is evolving— my own along with it through the use of video technology. Traditionally, painting and drawing techniques were passed down from a master artist to apprentices. In Europe, the Old Masters had workshops, where apprentices were taught a particular method to produce parts of a painting for their master. In Japan, my father, also an artist, began as an apprentice to a billboard painter. I imagine his learning experience was similar to that in the Old Masters’ workshops. In the beginning, he was not allowed to paint. He maintained the studio, watched the master and experienced the process, and practiced what he saw on his own time. In the past couple of decades, however, technology has emerged that changes the way artists and art students learn, create, and approach art. Or has it? We may think of technology use as a new phenomenon, but artists have been at the forefront of technology throughout the ages. Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut “Draughtsman Making a Perspective Drawing of a Reclining Woman,” circa 1600, shows the use of strings to aid in perspective. Contemporary artist David Hockney theorizes in his book Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters that several Renaissance artists used mirrors and other optical devices to project images to aid in their drawings. Tim’s Vermeer, a 2013 documentary, sought to understand how
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the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) plausibly used a camera obscura to achieve photographic quality in his paintings. It is no surprise that artists are continuing the tradition of embracing technology. Recently I have reevaluated and redeveloped the painting and drawing curriculum to create efficiency and effectiveness through the use of technology. Much of my focus has been on Canvas, George School’s learning management system, which allows me to explore various methods of communication, grading, presentation, and portfolio management for AP, IB, Senior Studio, and college applications. A particular interest has been the use of video instruction, which, granted, has existed for some time. Bob Ross’s The Joy of Painting, the PBS program that taught viewers accessible painting techniques by watching him, reached such a wide audience that some argue it was “viral video” before the phrase was invented. Since then, the growth of the Internet has further changed art instruction. When I first began teaching high school, I would joke about creating tutorial videos inspired by Bob Ross. Students were surprisingly enthusiastic, so I made a series of YouTube videos in 2010 and became struck by the website’s power. Although I produced only a handful of videos, I received messages from students around the world. The Internet and new video capabilities have led to innovative teaching methods both in and out of the classroom. Some educators, including artists, are providing online instruction for students to learn at their own pace. Others are flipping their classrooms by providing online content to “teach” and using class time to engage students in hands-on activities. In our busy world, time is a precious commodity and online video instruction can be a powerful tool. This spirit of sharing knowledge has led to an explosion of skilled young artists like my student who learned to paint on an iPad. I still give demonstrations in the art studio— a hands-on and often intimate process—because I believe that these traditional firsthand experiences of watching the creative process hold significant value. However, by recording some projects to be viewed later (or again) at the student’s own pace, I am providing further support. I have also begun to incorporate videos by other artists and
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art historians when specific expertise is needed. For a drypoint etching project, for example, I had my students get acquainted with the process and its terminology via a YouTube clip before a live demonstration in class. In using YouTube in particular and the Internet in general, I aim to be efficient and to model the responsible use of information. New technology can be overwhelming, but we should embrace it like the artists of the past.
In the past couple of decades, technology has emerged that changes the way artists and art students learn, create, and approach art.
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Teaching Artificial Intelligence by
Travis Ortogero M AT H E M AT I C S T E A C H E R
When I was a student at Cornell, majoring in computer science with a focus on artificial intelligence, AI was a promising field, but we didn’t have the processing power to answer its important questions. Nearly twenty years later, the technology revolution has enabled student laptops to quickly do what once took a very long time, allowing me to bring AI to George School. Starting with AP Computer Science and more recently through an independent study, I have posed some of those important questions to my students, and they have answered them. Building on Chris Odom’s robotics course, we added AP Computer Science (APCS) in 2015. The class has taken on somewhat different forms since then, but I have always included elements informed by my background in artificial intelligence.
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Typically, I start by asking students to implement a very simple form of AI: finding a secret number in a guessing game and using it to determine a range that leads to optimal performance. By the end of the year, students do intensive research (perhaps into Nash equilibria or learning algorithms) and work with a sample genetic algorithm. The kinds of things my APCS students have been able to develop inspired me to take AI further. Meanwhile, Stephen DeAngelis, the father of Mia Brossoie ’18 and the CEO of a local company specializing in applied artificial intelligence and advanced mathematics, met with Chris, myself, and others to discuss the current state of AI and a potential course in it at George School. After APCS, it would be the next step toward a computer science curriculum for all four years. We decided to pilot the course as an independent study, but because Stephen’s vision exceeded what I originally had in mind, I explored what was possible in a more structured environment. The result was a group independent study for five students in 2018–2019. Beginning simply, the course exposed students to a bit of theory and to something applied (a coding assignment) each term, touching on hot topics in AI. We held meetings to discuss the theory and to check in and help one another on projects, which they mostly pursued independently. In the first term, we mixed study of propositional and first-order logic (how to formalize logic with mathematical symbols) with an applied
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project based on the evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma, in which prisoners receive different sentences based on whether they snitch on their partner and vice versa. Students created simulations to determine the best strategy in different scenarios and with repeated iterations. For their second project, students created more complicated AI-infused minesweepers using neural networks (pieces of code that act almost like neurons) and genetic algorithms (which score genes’ fitness for tasks and conduct their own natural selection to maximize fitness, much like the evolutionary process). The third term focused more on the theoretical and less on heavy programming, introducing students to decision trees and random forests and to existing software for information analysis.
My goal was to include all the topics of an introductory college AI course. Knowing my students and how strong they were at coding, I gave them projects that were more sophisticated than what is in a typical college freshman class. It will certainly help them if they pursue AI after George School. This year I am again offering a group independent study in AI, with hopes of turning it into a regular part of the computer science curriculum. Fueled by student and personal interest as well as advances in the field, the course is a work in progress. Next I would like to explore more technological advances and the ethics involved in the generation and utilization of artificial intelligence. Like AI, the course will keep evolving.
Sean Kelly ’19 A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE This fall Sean Kelly is at Northeastern University, studying computer science with a concentration in artificial intelligence and a minor in digital ethics. Last year, he took group independent study in AI offered by Travis Ortogero which gave him technical skills and helped him narrow his focus in a broad field. Sean had already planned on a major—and a career—in computer science. He had taken Robotics in his sophomore year and AP Computer Science in his junior year before inquiring about studying AI. “I really liked it,” he said. “It was basically a college-level course. Because there were only five of us, Travis was more of a mentor. He’d ask us what direction we wanted to go and took it to heart. We had a lot of input into our education, and it felt like we were on the journey together.” In Sean’s opinion, the most rewarding project came in the third term. Provided with a data set about immunotherapy patients and their medical outcomes, students designed models to gauge the effectiveness of the therapy depending on patient condition. They then tested their models on additional data, and Sean was gratified that his was 95 percent accurate. He then found more data on
breast cancer patients and mammography and ran that through his model, too. “It was nice because I could actually take highlevel theory and apply it to real life,” he explained. “I’m interested in doing AI projects with data like that, using computers to find the connections that humans can’t.” Sean’s interest in the ethical issues surrounding AI was sparked not in the independent study, but in his junior-year AP class and in non–computer science courses like Theory of Knowledge. “At George School, we have an ethical lens that prepares you with an ethical mindset. I don’t just want to be a programmer. I want a holistic experience and knowledge base. I want to think more deeply about how what I do will affect people around the world. That’s very George School.”
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WOOPing It Up in the Learning Center by
Minnie Lee DIRECTOR OF LEARNING CENTER SERVICES
In September, students and teachers return to campus with a renewed sense of purpose and high hopes for the school year. In the Learning Center, we see a wide range of students who have well-intentioned aspirations but who can lose sight of their goals and fall short of achieving them. To help these dreamers become doers, we have implemented a powerful tool: WOOP. Results have been woop-worthy.
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Regardless of the reasons students come to the Learning Center—a ninth grader needs better study habits, a student with a learning difference needs help making sense of school demands, a twelfth grader needs inspiration to combat senioritis—we strive to help them develop academic and executive-functioning skills and sustain these skills over time. Students know how much I want them to succeed at George School, but ultimately, academic success has to come from within. I formulated a guiding question, “How might we help students see themselves as agents of their own learning?” which led me down a rabbit hole of fascinating reads on motivation, grit, and resilience. I found the Character Lab (https://characterlab.org), a resource developed by Angela Duckworth for educators interested in cultivating character strengths such as gratitude and curiosity. Its playbook on self-control was exactly what I was looking for. It includes a section on WOOP, a simple but powerful strategy developed by Gabrielle Oettingen, an expert on the psychology of human motivation.
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In Rethinking Positive Thinking, Gabriella presents research that confirms what many of us who work with students already know: that though we want them to be optimistic about their dreams, positive thinking alone does not result in goal attainment. In fact, dreaming about the future can actually lead to inertia and a lack of drive to create a path to success. Enter WOOP, an approach to goal setting and habit formation that guides us through four key steps: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. Also known as mental contrasting, WOOP juxtaposes a feasible wish and the desired outcome with an internal obstacle that prevents the wish’s fulfillment. By visualizing potential challenges, students can formulate a plan—a specific action or behavior—to overcome the obstacle. Research shows the effectiveness of WOOP as a self-regulatory tool. According to Mental Contrasting Facilitates Academic Performance in School Children (by Gollwitzer, Oettingen, Kirby, Duckworth, and Mayer), WOOP has energizing effects on the fulfillment of wishes and increases engagement, including in academic performance. The nature of our work in the Learning Center made it an ideal environment to experiment with
WOOP. Thanks to this metacognitive tool, we have reframed how we interact with students and steered them to set bite-size goals, look inward for what holds them back, and design an actionable plan that allows for easy follow-through. For example, one student used WOOP to come to terms with disorganization and its impact on academic performance. Another employed it to stop procrastinating and write a 4,000-word extended essay by the due date. For a third, WOOP unlocked potential by dispelling the ingrained, and flawed, belief in their inability to do math. And WOOP has also helped numerous students see the value in asking for help. In the first year of using WOOP, I have observed first-hand how it helps students get unstuck and motivated. As a tool of empowerment, it has the potential to create more self-aware and self-driven students, especially when coupled with the latest neuroscience research on learning strategies. Still, I occasionally return to the bad habit of telling students what to do to reach their academic goals. That’s why my WOOP is to WOOP more myself.
WOOP
Name
WOOP helps people do the things they really want to do.
W O O P
WISH
What is an important wish that you want to accomplish? Your wish should be challenging but feasible.
My wish:
OUTCOME
What will be the best result from accomplishing your wish? How will you feel? Pause and really imagine the outcome.
Best outcome:
OBSTACLE
What is the main obstacle inside you that might prevent you from accomplishing your wish? Pause and really imagine the obstacle.
My obstacle:
PLAN
What’s an effective action to tackle the obstacle? Make a when-then plan.
When: Then I will: (my action)
Copyright © 2018 Character Lab. All rights reserved. Visit characterlab.org/woop for more information.
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Kids at Play: Learning How to Laugh in the Classroom by
Kim McGlynn ENGLISH TEACHER AND I N T E R N AT I O N A L B A C C A L A U R E AT E P R O G R A M C O O R D I N AT O R
My four-year-old son peers into my office. A plastic fireman’s hat tilts precariously on his head, he’s inexplicably wearing a green ribbon around his neck, and he’s in Batman pajamas with Cookie Monster slippers. “Do you want to play?” he asks. Asher has two stock phrases. The aforementioned “Do you want to play?” is one of them and “Two more minutes!” is the other, the latter always
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occurring after the former question has been answered. At these times, it’s tempting to think of all the work that needs to be done—dinner must be made, an email requires a response, there’s homework to be graded, and bills to be paid—but then I remember that he’s my student, too. And so, I’ll smile and say, “How about five more minutes? How about ten?” Kids don’t change. 2019 may be witness to new social advancements and new technology, but there’s no upgrade for imagination. All kids play. Play is, of course, an essential practice in the animal kingdom, and for young creatures it is purposeful not merely pleasurable. Amongst other benefits, it allows individuals to improve basic motor coordination, to practice later life roles, to engage in social bonding, and to manage stress and anxiety (Lents). But while kids play, adults do not. Or at least we don’t do so in quite the same way. We may act playfully or behave with playful intent. But our motivations are more serious, our play entangled in responsibilities or obligations or intense desires. Yet kids work quite hard and the work of the child is play. In fact, they are often quite serious in this work, operating in a fantasy world guided by
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surprisingly clear rules; despite the seeming freedom of this play, such games are frequently sincere exercises in self-control. The work of adults is often far from play, but I think there is value in returning to our childish games—not only as a necessary part of parenting, but especially in the context of a high school classroom at a Quaker boarding school where we teach skills but also act in loco parentis to our charges (Gray). The juniors and seniors I teach are on the precipice of a major life change, living on the cusp of adulthood. Although this liminality can produce great anxiety (especially as college acceptances start to roll in), it’s also a time of adventure and possibility. Perhaps because of this, there’s already a sense of nostalgia for the recent past. As a high school teacher, I’ve found that teenagers still long for all that reminds them of those moments when they played as a child. I am, as any student who has taken my class will tell you, a “hard” teacher. And I believe strongly in the value of persistent effort, perseverance, and the diligence of practice, which makes habits permanent if not perfect. Yet, I also believe that laughter is an important element in the learning process and over the years I’ve made an increasingly conscious effort to allow more “fun” in the classroom. In fact, I’ve come to see “play” as demonstrable best practice. To be sure, all classes have their inside jokes and those funny moments, and all George School teachers attempt to cultivate a warm yet dynamic atmosphere. But I think play is underrecognized as a legitimate pedagogical tool; those silly moments at the beginning of class or the injoke amid a discussion are not wastes of time or merely stall tactics as they may initially appear and as I initially thought at the beginning of my career. They are not placeholders or fluff. Those moments are, in many respects, the real work of the classroom. School is hard work, and it’s this word that is oft repeated in the litany of student complaints. “I have too much work. I don’t want to do this work. Why won’t this work?” Classroom play is not about denying the challenge of hard work but embracing it. It’s not the play of children, true, but it’s not, I think, the transitory playfulness or gamesmanship of so many adults, either. The characteristics of an individual good at play—imaginative, curious, adaptive, fun—are
also characteristics that define the best students. Similarly, the qualities associated with play—an active and alert but unstressed state of mind, the balance of flexibility and order or skepticism and certainty, a good-humored attitude, and a selfdirected trajectory—are those that serve good scholarship and establish a productive classroom community (Seppala). The practice of play is not about strictly proscribed behavior or action but about the inferential attitude, approach, and motivation of the participants (Gray). Still, to envision this play in practice, here are some of the practical examples that have evolved in my classroom: Students who earn A- grades or higher on reading quizzes can take pride in the satisfaction of a high mark—and a sticker, usually of the Pokémon variety. If this sounds silly, it is. It’s also true that I once heard a third term senior dismissively assert, “I really don’t care about getting high scores on my quizzes anymore” only to literally squeal in delighted fashion, “Ooooh! A grass type!” upon seeing the sticker she received. To earn bonus questions on a quiz, I might ask a student to offer a recent “success,” either academic or personal. I’ve heard various happy listings of good grades earned, some lovely moments of care for friends or family, and a few too many boisterous declarations of driver’s licenses being awarded to self-professed speedsters for my own driving comfort. A student might earn the class a bonus by demonstrating a “talent, trick, or skill,” which, as you might imagine, has produced many creepily double-jointed individuals, impressive drawings, and one-handed pushups. Or, one individual might be challenged to take a “trashball” shot. Throwing a ball of paper wrapped with rubber bands into the trash can is surprisingly difficult—the record of eight shots in a row still stands years later. Those that hit their shots are roundly cheered, and it’s often the unexpected individual who sinks the shot stone cold. The entire class might be challenged with animal trivia in order to unlock a bonus question. Do you know the longest recorded flight of a chicken, or the term for a group of frogs? *(Answer on page 13) Coming to consensus is often an exercise in hilarity, especially when there is the sage assurance that an answer must be correct because a certain student “knows his chickens.”
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At first, classroom play is merely reminders of joy, pride in self, and the value of community—in all its ridiculous glory. Later, it’s about taking some risks and learning to relish the silliness.
At first, classroom play is merely reminders of joy, pride in self, and the value of community— in all its ridiculous glory. Later, it’s about taking some risks and learning to relish the silliness. An individual (or two or three or four) might be tasked with performing a Just Dance routine to, say, Turn Up the Love by Far East (the Sumo version, of course) or the ever popular Waka Waka (Time for Africa) by Shakira. Performing in such fashion is on a volunteer basis and while there are often individuals quite apt to throw themselves onto the dance floor, it’s also possible to create a culture where students will take some risks. For instance, last year, a reserved student broke into an extremely dramatic lip sync of Blue Swede’s Hooked on a Feeling. While students may decline to come up to the stage, there’s a balance between volunteerism and a healthy dose of pressure to dance one’s way into a new comfort zone. In fact, almost all students consent to photography and video knowing the images are likely to end up on someone’s Snapchat or even Instagram. And if you don’t mind getting up to do a ridiculous dance in front of peers and letting a video shake its way into the public sphere, it’s no wonder that students can offer ambitious and provocative insights on course texts or take a chance with a critical argument. Being intellectually vulnerable is a bit easier in a classroom where peers have seen each other energetically jounce their way through Gangnam Style by Psy or be subjected to the infamous Dr. Jean’s Tooty Ta. Or, as one student wonderingly observed, “Why would I be nervous for this oral presentation when everybody has already seen me try to dance?”
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Each level of play builds on its predecessor, and absurdity can pave the way for more serious characteristics. The silliness allows for a more authentic self, but it also aids in the establishment of a class identity and a sense of class care. By midyear, students might earn a bonus question by offering a genuine compliment to a peer. And while it’s true that some must build their skills in this department, I’ve also heard extremely touching testaments to the bonds between friends as when one girl thanked another for helping her through a personal tragedy—a moment that literally brought an entire class to tears. Other students might try their hand at understanding character or plot via a one-minute performed version of a text. The Metamorphosis was summed up thusly: “Die, die, trolley, trolley!” End scene. Hamlet, of course, invariably ends with all participants falling dramatically to the floor. Or quiz options such as discussing a question with the entire class might be unlocked by a brave student or two willing to do a lip sync, often in response to an in-class joke about the affection between two good friends or two friendly rivals. I Will Always Love You is a classic choice, but Let it Go offers some nice possibilities for an over-the-top performance. By the second term, there’s usually a move to inter-class challenges— dance battles or the infamous sticker challenge in which the winning team might enjoy some homemade baked goods (pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes!) or a ridiculous prize (because who doesn’t like Play-Doh or mini animal erasers?). It’s at this point in the year that I often hear students asserting that their arrangement is the best,
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or good-naturedly engaging in some trash talking about who will reign supreme. Or, as one student excitedly exclaimed, “They may win the dance battle but we’re more intellectually challenged.” Pause. “Doh.” Throughout the year, I try to record as much of this classroom play as I can via notetaking, pictures, and video. Some of the pictures make it onto the walls of the classroom where students are always pleased to see themselves and their peers. Often, students I don’t teach or admission tours take a peek as well. By the end of the year, I have enough material to make each class a personalized Jeopardy complete with insider joke questions about as many individuals as I can. The final class party, a time-honored tradition, often devolves into laughing about the events of the past year— and folks become surprisingly competitive as they play a game about themselves. I end this class with a PowerPoint containing pictures and videos from the year, most of them highly ridiculous. Generally speaking, school isn’t “fun” or meant to be, really. It’s meant to be a place of learning, a place where you gain a better understanding of yourself and the world around you, an environment that fosters a range of academic and life skills. Yet what better skill can we learn than the ability to take some risks, and, if necessary, to laugh at ourselves as we offer ourselves up with humility and grace? What better knowledge can we gain than the understanding that we’re all in this together, in serious times or silly ones? What better values can we uphold than those of friendship and amity, especially at a Quaker school?
Moreover, I’ve found that the greater the absurdity in class, the greater the academic ask I can make. Yes, there’s a lot of reading and a lot of writing and a lot of work. Students know this just as they know that I’m here to do my equal share of work alongside them. But there’s also the reward of community, of caring, and of those crazy moments where we can blow off steam and just be kids together. And all kids play. Can we play, too? It’s hard work, I know, but we can learn together. Surely, we can devote at least five more minutes to it. *F or the record, the answers are: 13 seconds and an “army.”
1. G ray, Peter. “The Value of Play I: The Definition of Play Gives Insights.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, Nov. 2008, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedomlearn/200811/the-value-play-i-the-definition-play-givesinsights. Accessed 12 March 2019. 2. L ents, Nathan H. “Why Play Is Important.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, May 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beastly-behavior/201705/why-playis-important. Accessed 12 March 2019. 3. S eppala, Emma M. “5 Reasons You Need to Play More.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, Jan. 2013, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-it/201301/5reasons-you-need-play-more. Accessed 12 March 2019.
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GEORGE SCHOOL students who participated in the project walked the red carpet at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Rodney Glasgow: The Power of a Whisper Student Documentary Wins Grand Prize at Speak to Truth Competition It began on the stage in Walton Center and ended on a screen at the Tribeca Film Festival. In between was quintessential George School—a mix of inspiration, dedication, collaboration, and heart that brought forth four student documentaries about human rights defenders. Created for the Speak Truth Video Competition sponsored by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, all four made the contest’s final round, and one, Rodney Glasgow: The Power of a Whisper, by Julia Carrigan ’20, won the grand prize. The project traces its genesis to 2017–2018, when Karen Robinson-Cloete, a George School parent and senior staff member at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, spoke at assembly. Knowing about the school’s film program, she encouraged submissions to her organization’s contest for “student films that utilize creative storytelling to teach others about a human rights issue” and that “make a connection between your chosen [human rights] defender and the work of Robert F. Kennedy.” Also that year, three teachers—Scott Seraydarian ’90, Melaina Young ’93, and Meredith Alford ’01—had begun discussing possible class collaborations around documentary filmmaking.
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Meredith, who teaches IB global politics, was exploring opportunities for Project-Based Learning. (See the story, Learning by Doing, on page 2.) Melaina, an English teacher, was writing for documentaries on her sabbatical. And Scott was already helping students conceive and produce award-winning films. In summer 2018, the three came together to design the project. Since human rights are one of the global politics course’s main units, “It made sense for my class to research the historical context of human rights and do biographical research on the human rights defenders,” explained Meredith. “My students would then hand that over to Melaina’s English class [IB HL American Literature] to write compelling screenplays and tell how each defender’s work relates to RFK’s. Then they would turn that over to the film students to create the film.” Students in the three courses broke into four groups—one per film—and met in the evening to choose their defender and a human right focus for each one. According to Meredith, students were asked to pick defenders “from your community” (with the definition of “community” up to the team) for two reasons. The first was logistical.
FEATURES
Malala is a compelling story, she points out, but the chance of landing an interview was remote. The second was to realize a goal of the global politics course: “to get students thinking about how they are political actors. The driving question for the project was, ‘What can an individual do in your community to support human rights?’” Meredith’s and Melaina’s classes each spent about three weeks on the project, with group meetings in between to present their work, receive feedback, and hand it off. Scott and his film students spent considerably longer, setting up interviews and doing the filming. According to Julia (who happened to be the only student in all three classes), “Scott was there the entire time and knew the proper protocol for talking to people as well as all the technical details. He is totally dedicated to everyone in the film program.” Julia’s group selected Rodney Glasgow, a speaker and activist for diversity, equity, and social justice who runs the National Association of Independent School’s annual Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Some of the students had met, worked with, and been inspired by Rodney at the conference. With the aid of his friend, George School Director of Admission Rohan Arjun ’05, Rodney came to campus to be interviewed and filmed. The human rights focus of The Power of a Whisper is free speech, the title a reference to Rodney’s assertion that people should never let themselves be silenced, even if they have to whisper to be heard. Told in narrative documentary form, the story is actually a meta-documentary, following a girl (played by Jalsa Drinkard ’20) making a documentary for a class assignment. Though the film is attributed to Julia, as director, more than twenty students collaborated on its production, from research and writing to cinematography, sound, and, of course, acting. Per Julia, “The shot that I’m proudest of is the shot of the credits, because there are so many people.” The three other teams made documentaries about Emma Schneider ’19 and her efforts to stem gun violence, Jacqueline Evans and her fight against the PennEast Pipeline, and retired professional soccer player Jill Loyden and her work combating domestic violence. Out of 1,000 submissions, all four George School entries made the top 100 and received honors. According to Meredith, the judges asked Karen, who did not take part in the judging,
RODNEY GLASGOW was interviewed by Jalsa Drinkard ’20.
“‘Who is this George School that they have so many good films?’ They were particularly impressed with the choice of defenders.” As the winner, The Power of a Whisper was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival, where, Julia admits, “It was crazy to see my film on a screen and walk the red carpet, which was a big deal.” A bus to New York brought students who had participated in the project, friends, and family, who were proud of all that had been accomplished. Meredith, too, is proud—not only of the documentaries, but also of the experience of creating them. “Normally we are so focused on what we produce for a grade. Thinking about what we produce that goes out into the world is a new way of assessing our knowledge. In terms of learning about political processes, this was a better learning experience.” Julia concurs: “It was the most influential experience of my junior year. I learned so much from Rodney.” For the Speak Truth documentaries, “The End” may not be the end. Should the project be repeated—and it well might—the teachers will reflect, collaborate, and revise. Since scripting a documentary interview in advance proved hard, for example, Meredith wonders whether the English class should contribute after footage is shot. Whatever the changes, it is likely that any sequel will be at least as challenging and in-depth as the first episode, and will again empower students to take ownership of the creative process while providing a vehicle for their political participation. This film and other award-winning student films are available on our YouTube channel George School Video.
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THE AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY CLASS taught by Rebecca Missonis did a project this year on migration and culture using family stories from George School students and community members.
Seeing the World through AP Human Geography There’s a new freshman history course in town, and it is already making a positive impact on student learning. In truth, it isn’t strictly “new” or “history.” Formerly open to upperclass students, AP Human Geography is now the social science gateway for ninth graders, building their academic foundation while it sparks their curiosity about the world. According to History Department Head Ben Croucher, the switch from Global Interdependence to AP Human Geography allows for more consistency across the grade, thanks in large part to the College Board’s extensive AP curriculum and resources. “We wanted freshmen to have an experience that was similar, regardless of teacher, and to be introduced to the same ideas.” What those ideas entail was equally important. As a global school, George School has long believed that new students should start on a path to becoming world citizens as well as scholars. AP Human Geography, often characterized as teaching “the why of where,” provides that. Ben credits its original teacher, Lyman Castle, as describing its content as “the things I would want every adult in the United States to understand.”
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Beginning with a course in geography makes a lot of sense. As teacher Kevin Fox puts it, “The definition of geography is ‘the study of our home (the earth).’ This course builds a lexicon of how to talk about the world, creating a framework so that students can gain a deeper understanding of it. It allows them to talk about complex issues that are historical but also current.” After getting students to “think geographically,” the course moves on to units on the patterns and processes of population and migration, cultures, politics, agriculture and rural land use, cities and urban land use, and industry and economic development. “One of the things that excites me is the opportunity for an interdisciplinary model for learning,” said Ben, since topics may range from the distribution of religions to the effects of climate (and climate change) on food systems or energy sources. Though AP Human Geography has a largely standardized curriculum, “teachers can still bring their own spice to the table,” as Kevin puts it. Faculty members integrate project-based learning (see Learning by Doing on page 2), building projects or sharing case studies based on their interests and
FEATURES
WITH THE RISE OF GLOBALIZATION and climate change, Human Geography has become increasingly relevant. This year Sara ShrevePrice’s class will research world hunger.
experiences. Rebecca Missonis’ class created presentations on human rights in different countries, for example. Kevin challenges his classes to go on an “expedition” in each unit, though given the school’s location, most expeditions remain virtual. In the population unit, he asked students to imagine if the world’s 7.6 billion people were represented by only a hundred individuals. Students then divvied them up, researched their regions, and crafted backstories for each, putting “real” faces to statistics. “It got them to ask, ‘Who are the people we share this world with? What are their living conditions?’ For college-bound students to realize that only seven of the hundred would have a university degree shakes them up. We want them to reconsider their previously accepted worldview and to develop a more nuanced one. We want them to expand their geographical imagination.” And that—along with foundational skills— may be the course’s biggest takeaway. Students move beyond stereotypes and oversimplified narratives to develop a real curiosity about the world, setting them up for upper-level history courses and for all sorts of other learning, too.
Whether coincidental or not, more than fifty students enrolled in George School’s online US history course this summer to make more courses available to them in the future. As for first-year students handling an AP course, Ben said, “I’d rather set the bar a little high than give them something too easy. George School students have shown they can handle it.” Taking the AP exam is optional (though almost all did, with scores that were competitive nationally). Ultimately, though, “Human Geography” is a more important part of the title than “AP.” Kevin sees a direct link to George School’s mission statement. The course’s combination of “an interdisciplinary look at human processes” and emphasis on deepening students’ understanding of the world and their place in it makes it an excellent introduction at a school that “seeks to develop citizen scholars cheerfully committed to openness in the pursuit of truth, to service and peace, and to the faithful stewardship of the earth.”
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National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Kevin Fox Kevin Fox came to George School in 2018 primed to teach the new freshman human geography course. He had taught geography at both the college and high school levels, including AP Human Geography, for which he is a longtime reader for the AP exam. But he had also lived geography. From serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay to teaching at an international school in Austria to living in eight other countries, he truly calls the world his home. In spring 2019, Kevin added another item to his educational, geographical, and explorational toolbox when he became a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. The two-year fellowship has enabled him to spend five days in storytelling training at National Geographic headquarters in Washington DC, followed by a ten-day summer expedition to Arctic Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago only about 600 miles from the North Pole. Primarily a cultural geographer, Kevin was particularly interested in the stories of people who live and lived in the region, especially looking beyond the Arctic landscape and peoples represented through typical explorer narratives. “I want students to dig deeper and move beyond the stereotypes.”
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But he was also taken by the natural history, learning about the wildlife and environmental impact of non-Arctic life on the area’s ecosystems. He returned full of insights and information to share with his students. As a program for educators, the Grosvenor Fellowship asks participants to reflect on, and share, how the experience will enrich their teaching. Because the AP exam’s mid-May timing provides post-exam class time, Kevin already worked his Arctic adventure into last year’s course by asking students to develop research questions as if they were going on the expedition. This year he plans to share what he saw and discovered to demystify the Arctic for his students, help them see the world’s interconnectedness (its global interdependence, as it were), and inspire them to be curious about far-away lands and take action at home. Mostly, he will “help them figure out how to ask questions,” which for Kevin is the ultimate goal. “Doing this might inspire more curiosity and continue to develop the explorer mindset.”
FEATURES
CELESTE HUANG ’22 takes family portraits to help highlight the global refugee crisis.
Shining a Light on the Global Refugee Crisis Passionate about the refugee crisis, activist Celeste Huang ’22 uses a camera not only to document their struggles, but to provide them a measure of solace. Celeste, along with her brother Alexander Huang and parents Daniel Huang and Theresa Menders, has traveled to refugee camps around the world. She is a key member of “The Power of Faces,” a photojournalism project that seeks to humanize the global refugee crisis. The United Nations reports that 65 million people—one every two seconds—have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict or persecution. To raise awareness and combat the dehumanizing of refugees, Celeste depicts camp residents as individuals. “It is easy to become numb to refugee problems,” she said, “but it is important that we understand this crisis and not forget these people.” While visiting Souda and Vial Refugee Camps on Chios Island in Greece in 2017, and the Barretal Refugee Camp in Tijuana, Mexico in 2018, Celeste shot residents’ portraits and used portable printers to share the photos with their subjects. “Most refugees lost their personal possessions and their photos when they left their homes,”
said Celeste. “Our portrait project gives these individuals a physical photo of family or friends that they can hold in their hands. It can be a comfort and people are excited about their photo sessions.” To date, the family has distributed thousands of pictures. Many families also give permission to use their images to put a face to the refugee crisis. “First and foremost, I hope people will remember that these are human beings who are seeking safety,” Celeste said. “The world is a complicated place and politics can be messy, but the more we remember to show kindness to others in need, the better the world can be.” In September, Celeste and her brother Alexander presented Global Refugee Crisis: It’s Now Our Generation’s Time for Action at TEDxFarmingdale and Art and Advocacy: Putting a Face on the Global Refugee Crisis at TEDxNJIT. They will present at the Princeton Public Library on Sunday, November 17, 2019 and Rowan University on Tuesday, December 3, 2019.
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EMBR ACE THE WOR LD From service learning trips to our internationally focused curriculum and student body, George School has embraced the world for much of its 125-year history. On October 20, 2018, the world embraced it back in a fundraiser-cum-birthday party that netted almost $130,000 for tuition assistance and faculty development. The sold-out event featured a nostalgic look back at school history, a dinner of international foods, dancing, and both a silent and live auction. More than 400 alumni, parents of alumni, current parents, prospective parents, faculty, staff, and members of the community came to celebrate, some from around the globe, while still more attended in spirit through the online auction. Live bidding
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was so animated that more than one donor contributed additional items to the auction so that more funds could be raised. Embrace the World owes its tremendous success to more than fifty volunteers as well as to underwriters, auction item donors, advertisers, and, of course, the attendees. “The event was an incredible success on all levels and exceeded all of our expectations,” said Kim Clabbers p ’20, event co-chair. Fellow co-chair and trustee Toni Yonce p ’09 concurred: “As a former George School parent, I found the outpouring of support at Embrace the World deeply moving. I hope everyone involved understands they are helping to change the lives of people around the world.”
FEATURES
A special thanks to all our supporters! UNDERWRITERS Brian ’93 & Nastaran Wise A. Brooks Construction, Inc., Kanga Roof Aramark Class of 1961 Colonial Consulting, LLC Betsy Cotton & Rob Mulcahy CulinArt Group Catering Collection Ed Huff Karpf, Karpf, & Cerutti, P.C.
SPONSORS AND ADVERTISERS Amazing Space Bruce E. Brooks & Associates Buckingham Friends School Building Control Solutions, LLC Bucks County Herald Capital Corn & Confections Centro Dad’s Hat Enterprise Rent-A-Car Factory Donuts Fox Rothschild, LLP Fred Beans Family of Dealerships Fred C. Church Insurance Gilmore & Associates, Inc. Hamilton Jewelers Harris Blacktopping, Inc.
Lomax Family Foundation PDC Machines Ann & Norval Reece R.S. Mowery & Sons Deborah Spitalnik & John Weingart & Molly Weingart ’03 Tait Weller TD Bank
Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar Leck Waste Services Monzo Media Productions N.B. Rogers, Inc. Newtown Athletic Club Nothing Bundt Cakes Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, LLP SavATree Save Stone Meadows Farm Shady Brook Farm Twining Construction Co., Inc. William B. Parry & Son, LTD Woods Services
COMMITTEE Toni Yonce trustee, p ’09 Event Clerk Kim Clabbers p ’20 Event Chair Stephanie Connolly p ’20, ’22 Marketing Chair Elizabeth Hurst p ’20 Auction Chair Dick Brown ’61 Sponsorship Co-Chair Katherine Falk trustee, p ’99, ’05, ’15 Sponsorship Co-Chair Mike Kosoff ’56, trustee Sponsorship Co-Chair Betty Lou Thompson ’56, trustee Advancement Committee Chair
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Memories of Alumni Weekend 2019 Alumni Weekend 2019 was a big success! More than 600 graduates, families, and friends returned to campus to get reacquainted with classmates and teachers, to catch up with friends, and to have plenty of fun. Alumni who arrived on Friday could truly go back to school. Beginning with an assembly by film and television producer Geno McDermott ’04 and followed by the opportunity to sit in on IB global politics, AP physics, or photography classes, participants were able to see how much their alma mater is and is not as they remember it. The Friday evening welcome reception on campus was a time for storytelling and reminiscing. Saturday morning made time for farewells: a memorial meeting for worship and a tribute to three longtime
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and much-loved faculty members—Terry Culleton, Ralph Lelii, and Paul Machemer ’65—who retired in 2019 after a combined 122 years at George School. But the day was not all long faces and wistful memories. Picnic luncheons, ceramics with Judy Bartella, a gathering of the Cynthia Crooks Carpenter ’47 Alumni of Color Network, campus tours, an alumni soccer game, a wrestling reunion, live music on South Lawn, a carnival, and reunion class parties and dinners rounded out the festivities. The weekend concluded on Sunday with meeting for worship, brunch, and thoughts of reuniting again soon. To enjoy additional photos and memories of the weekend, visit www.georgeschool.org/alumniweekend.
FEATURES
S A V E T H E D AT E !
A LU M NI W EEK END 2020 F R I D AY– S U N D AY, M AY 1 , 2 , 3
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Campus News & Notes Students Strike against Climate Crisis On September 20, 2019, more than one hundred George School community members joined thousands of other marchers in Philadelphia for the Global Climate Strike. Echoing the global youth-led movement that protests inaction on climate change and urges a Green New Deal, George School’s participation was organized by Julia Carrigan ’20.
Student Entrepreneurs Pitch Ideas to Alumni “Sharks” Working with MIT’s LaunchX Program, which helps high school students develop entrepreneurial skills, members of the Entrepreneurship Club pitched ideas for new products to a panel of alumni judges in the school’s first Shark Tank–style Demo Day, March 31, 2019. Howard Chan ’21, Kairo Morton ’20, Faith Friendshuh ’20, and Lam Pham ’20 won for their product, Silent Savior, a wristband for hearing impaired individuals that vibrates when it picks up a fire alarm’s frequency.
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World Nobel Prize Winner Mario Capecchi ’56 Visits Campus Nobel Prize winner Mario Capecchi ’56 was a guest lecturer in several biology courses, lecturing on models for researching cancer and OCD behaviors based on his current research. His studies include the molecular genetic analysis of early mouse development, neural development in mammals, production of mouse models of human genetic diseases, gene therapy, homologous recombination, and programmed genomic rearrangements in the mouse. He gave a more formal
presentation of his work during an evening session, taking questions from students and community members. George School Math Team Ranked 20th in Nation For the fifth consecutive year (every season it has competed), the George School math team ranked in the elite, Division I bracket of Math Madness, one of the premier math competitions in the United States. The team’s 7-1 record in 2018 placed them twentieth among more than 550 high schools.
CAMPUS NEWS & NOTES
George School Robots Rock Competitions In April 2019 robotics students attended the Trinity College International Home Firefighting Robot Contest, where Firex, a robot programmed by Charlie Castle ’20, Sam Coscia ’20, Robin Deeboonchai ’19, Ian Liu ’21, Kairo Morton ’20, and Andrew Wu ’20, finished first in North America, fourth among high school robots worldwide, and in the top ten of all robots, including college and professional teams. In May, students from several high schools came to campus for the fourth annual Robotics Invitational, a hack-a-thon style competition in which Kairo Morton ’20 and Robin Bouchet ’20 took first and second place, respectively, in the individual category.
World Cube Competition Comes to George School After having competed in more than thirty Rubik’s Cube competitions himself, Young He ’19 organized the George School Open 2019, sanctioned by the World Cube Association. More than 100 opponents from six countries took part in the six-event competition in May 2019. Ellen Zhang ’21 Among Top US Chemistry and Math Students Ellen Zhang ’21 qualified for both the National Round of the 2019 US National Chemistry Olympiad and for the USA(J)MO exam of the American Mathematics Competition. Advancing to these rounds ranked her in the top echelon of high school students nationwide.
Students Explore Environmental Science from the Rooftops Conducting work “in the field” took on a higher meaning as environmental science classes studied the benefits of green roofs with teachers Becky Hutchins and Robert Fest. Using roofs atop the Fitness and Athletics Center and Anderson Library as living labs, students learned about the roles green roofs play in stormwater management and buildings’ climate control, and their potential as carbon sinks to reduce the effects of climate change. Student Films Honored in Multiple Competitions Among the many student films garnering top honors in 2018–2019, Agents of Change capped off a successful awards season with second place in the documentary category at the WHYY 2018 Youth Media Awards. Produced by John Hudson Fort ’19, Shumpei Chosa ’19, and Maddie Keith ’19, the film documents the fall 2017 George School production of the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. Agents of Change also took top documentary honors at the Greenfield Film Festival. George School film students also won four out of the five top awards at the Bridge Film Festival.
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Students Commit to College Athletics Eight senior scholar-athletes in seven sports were selected by collegiate athletic programs to play at the college level. George School honored Class of 2019 members Andrew Arth, Vanessa Baker, Nora Greer, Amerley Lokko, Jeffrey Love, Kenneth Rodriguez, Charlie Trey-Masters, and Jordan Valdepeñas-Mellor in a May ceremony.
Athlete of the Month Emily Matson ’20 tallied seventy-four goals as a freshman varsity lacrosse player and forty-seven more as a sophomore. She earned first team FSL honors in both seasons and was named Athlete of the Month by the USMC.
Equestrians Take Second George School’s varsity equestrian team tied for second place at the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) Regional Competition, with three riders moving on to IEA Zone Finals.
Three New Cougars Welcomed George School added three new members to its Athletics Department team. Kurt Ruch joined the Cougars as Director of Athletics. Ben Luber is the new head boys varisty basketball coach. Dominic Gregorio joined the team as the new head varsity football coach.
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CAMPUS NEWS & NOTES
Theater Season Spotlights Strong Women From the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with several central female characters who stand up to men in power, to Side Show, based on the true story of conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton, to The Miracle Worker about Helen Keller and teacher Annie Sullivan the focus of the 2018-2019 George School theater season was squarely on the strength of women and what they can accomplish. Student Work Selected for Prestigious Ceramics Exhibition Claire Schmucker ’20 had two woodfired ceramic pieces accepted into the juried National K–12 Ceramics Exhibi-
tion, one of the largest ceramic competitions for students in the nation. Her Coiled Vase and Altered Tea Bowl were chosen from more than 1,000 entries. George School Strikes Gold in Art and Writing George School students took thirtyseven prizes, including eight Gold Keys, from the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. From poetry to woodworking, the student work was judged by a panel of arts luminaries with the goal of identifying students with exceptional artistic and literary talent. In writing, Jiayi Luo ’20 received two Gold Keys for Passion, a poetry piece and Mirrored, a short story. Jalsa
Drinkard ’20, Heather Thaler ’20, and Maksim Shi ’20 each received a Gold Key. In the arts competition, Claire Schmucker ’20 received two Gold Keys, while Eric Yu ’19, Ben Yu ’20, and Jasmine Zhang ’22 were each awarded one Gold Key. Dance Eclectic Is Again Electric For more than twenty-five years, Dance Eclectic performances have featured the talents of George School’s dance students. This year was no exception with ten original works choreographed by students, several that were IB submissions, as well as class dances choreographed around the theme of gods and goddesses by Barb Kibler, dance teacher.
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Alumni Tell Us EDITED BY EMMA WELLS ’13 For Alumni Contact Information Visit our alumni website: www.georgeschool.org/alumni Contact the Advancement Office T. 215.579.6620 E. advancement@georgeschool.org
1935 Judith ( Judy) McIlvain Lewis ’64 writes on behalf of her mother: “Rebecca (Becky) Gatchell McIlvain ’35 continues to enjoy living in Foxdale Village, a Friend’s community in State College PA. She will be 101 in June. Becky still operates rather independently within the assisted living facility, getting to all of her meals, going to exercise class, and enjoying the many evening social offerings such as movies and lectures.”
1943 Sonia Chalif Simon writes, “I write from northern Spain, where, since our retirement from teaching at Colby College, my husband and I spend eight months a year. We are joined for Christmas and during summer holidays by our son David and his daughters Sophia and Sonia. Sophia is a student of English philology at the University of the Basque Country and Sonia has just finished her first year at Sarah Lawrence College.”
1945 Mary Lou Johnston Schmidt writes, “In a graduating class of 125 how many of us are still here? In July 2018, I started a memory series for my ‘kids’ and their cousins. Our class experienced the Depression and war decades, and recollections make for an interesting read. Try it!”
1948 George E. Walker writes, “At eighty-eight, my life is slowing down, so not much news. My wife of sixty-
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five years passed away in January 2019, and adjustment to that is slow. I still enjoy reading, and walking, and spending a couple of weeks every year at Walloon Lake!”
1950 Patrick (Pat) A. Pleven writes, “Some seventy years ago I received a letter from David Binder ’49 [In Memoriam page 61] greeting me as a new member of the sophomore class at George School. David introduced himself as my ‘big brother’ intent on making me feel comfortable in my new surroundings. Coming from France, where first relations with someone whom you had never met before tended to be formal if not downright reticent, his generous offer of guidance and camaraderie struck me as bountiful but made me realize that it would be up to me to measure up to the expectations of my new school and my new country. I am still grateful decades later for not only his sponsorship but also for his amity. Looking back at his life as a journalist, writer, editor, actor, activist, and classmate, I realize how inspiring and precious were the passions and energy that he was passing on, and how fortunate I was to have had him as my starship not only at George School but in America. Thank you David.”
1951 Margaret (Marge) Corry Hansell writes, “My husband Norris Hansell died three years ago. I still miss him. I am doing well, busy with many activities: many family gatherings, travel with three children and spouses and seven grandchildren, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, bridge, the University of Illinois art museum and symphony, book club, and old ladies’ exercise classes. It is more exciting at my age than it sounds!”
1952 W. Bernard (Bernie) Marshall writes, “Mary Ann and I continue to do as much traveling as we can fit into our schedule. Among other short trips this year we man-
aged to spend a relaxing week in Arizona. In May and June 2019 we covered a lot of the western United States and got ourselves to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, seeing the Badlands in a lush coating of spring grass with plenty of wildlife. Made a return visit to beautiful Arches National Park which we recommend to anyone coming west.” William (Bill) M. Quigg writes, “In November 1958, I was the Coast Guard Search and Rescue officer on duty in Cleveland OH when the Carl D Bradley (a 639-foot-long ore carrier) sank in a November storm in northern Lake Michigan. It was my responsibility to coordinate the search and rescue operation. Only two people survived, and it went down as the most disastrous sinking in the history of the Great Lakes. Thirty-three crew members died and twenty-three were from Rogers City MI. In August 2019 I was inducted as an honorary member of the Lore Maritime Museum in Rogers City as one partaking in that historic event. I am living in Phoenix AZ and as I write this enjoying our usual July 115 degree weather.” Christopher (Kit) Weir writes, “Most people my age, if not all, are retired. Not me. I am involved too deeply with distance learning and my students to do that. I am a very active full-time professor with the New England College of Business. I report to a department chair forty years my junior!”
1953 Stephanie Bunzl Cohen writes, “My husband Fred and I spent two weeks in May 2019 cruising the Rhine and Danube rivers from Amsterdam to Vienna. Very relaxing. The best part was seeing the multiple castles along the banks of the Rhine.” Donald A. Frey writes, “On my website www.amphoras.com I’ve got shortcuts to 1) a short video I shot on one of our excavations. It gives an idea of how I spent my summers. 2) A video made from one of my tours
ALUMNI TELL US
1943 Sonia Chalif Simon ’43.
1952 William (Bill) M. Quigg ’52 hiking with his camera.
1952 Christopher (Kit) Weir ’52.
1955 John C. Raushenbush ’53 fishing the Slate River in Colorado.
1957 Carroll Conklin Eagles ’57 with seven of her twelve grandchildren on a hike in New Hampshire.
1957 Judith (Judy) Taylor Uehlein ’57 and E. Carl Uehlein Jr ’58.
1960 The day Mahlon (Lon) A. Barash ’60 became a Peruvian citizen.
1960 Keith Brinton ’60 shared a photo of wood working tools he made from scratch—a wood plane, drawknife, and hunting knife.
1960 Andrew (Andy) K. Fleschner ’60.
1960 Henry S. Taylor ’60.
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of our underwater archaeological museum here in Bodrum. I think you’ll recognize me! 3) An article from Caria homes which shows our house in Bodrum and gives a taste of how we live here. I’m twice married... each time bringing two children into the world. My second wife (we’re still together) is Danish. So you get us with four kids, two spouses, and five grandchildren.” Marjorie (Peggy) Ayars Laidman writes, “In a nutshell, the ensuing sixty-five years have been good to me. I have three college degrees: a bachelor’s from Mt. Holyoke, an MS in education from Syracuse University, and an RN from SUNY Morrisville. I used all of them: the first to get into grad school, the second to teach special education in Syracuse NY and Cazenovia NY, the third to work ten years as an office nurse. Seems I liked education. During this time, I married my wonderful Hume almost sixty years ago and had three marvelous (of course) children, all college graduates. We have seven grandchildren, three in college, one going next year, one in high school, and twins (11)! In 1973, having become an emergency medical technician, I was asked to join a committee seeking to start a volunteer ambulance in Cazenovia, replacing the last of three funeral directors who used their hearses for ambulance transport. I’m proud to say, forty-four years later we are a going concern with paid paramedics, volunteer EMTs, and volunteer dispatchers who work from information radioed to us in the 911 center. Today, there are 140 active volunteers, including high school students fulfilling their community service requirement for graduation. I volunteer between four and twelve hours weekly as a dispatcher and scheduler. Thanks, George School, for a great start to the education journey!” Mary Heacock Price writes, “Where did the last sixty-five years go? It seems impossible that we graduated that long ago. I unfortunately
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was unable to go to the reunion due to my health. I am now in Brethren Village rehab due to a fall and am trying to get well enough to get into the apartment that I had reserved before I fell. Unfortunately, I had to give up running a support group for parents of children with special needs due to failing health. My brother Harold O. Heacock ’49 passed away in September 2017. [In Memoriam page 61] He is survived by a wife and two children, and four stepchildren and step grandchildren. He spent his whole life farming, which he loved to do until his health no longer allowed him to do it. Hope you all had a wonderful reunion.” Robert (Bob) W. Pyle Jr writes, “Connie and I are basically in good health, with the normal assortment of creaky joints and some dental woes, but nothing remotely life-threatening. I continue to pursue my interest in the acoustics of musical instruments (which for me means brasses). This started in our senior year when Mr. Burton ffac loaned me his copy of The Science of Musical Sounds by Dayton Miller and said, ‘You might find this interesting.’ He was right. In the United States it’s next to impossible to earn a living doing this kind of thing, so I didn’t start spending a lot of time on it until after I decided I could afford to stop earning money at the end of 1994. At that point, I became part owner of SE Shires, a new company making trombones, and later trumpets as well. Unfortunately, we were hit hard by the 2008 recession and slid slowly downhill financially, culminating in bankruptcy in April 2014. ‘Borrowing’ money from Uncle Sam by not paying your taxes is not a viable long-term business strategy. The firm is now Chinese-owned (and losing money). Undeterred (after all, Adolphe Sax went bankrupt three times!), Steve Shires and I, who started our original company, have begun to make French horns in his basement (just one completed so far). That is, I design, and he builds. I was the guy who never set foot in the George School machine shop, and now I
sometimes lecture on the metalworking involved in building trombones! Otherwise, I sort of act like a pseudoacademic, giving papers at various conferences in North America and a half dozen European countries. My best to all of you.” John C. Raushenbush writes, “In November 2018 my second book, Mike Mulligan, The Secret of the Magic Berries, was published. Written for ages 8 to 14, it is about two teens in Yellowstone Park who are guided through their adventures by a bald eagle. In October 2019 Marcia and I will celebrate our sixtieth anniversary on a trip that includes the pyramids, Taj Mahal, and Great Wall of China.” Frances McCammon San Miguel writes, “We had lunch today with Ed and Jane McManama Duffy. We are keeping ourselves as busy as we want to be with our various extracurricular activities, trying to keep up with family (four great-grandchildren so far, and one on the way), and grateful to still be in relatively good health. All your correspondence is much appreciated.” David (Dave) P. Willis Jr writes, “A fraternity brother and I started a company making fluoropolymer paints (Teflon coatings) in early 1965 after getting fired from our initial job. I am still at it some fifty years later and about to retire. It has been a lot of very interesting travel encompassing just short of ninety countries and six million air miles. It is time I retired, time the business goes to my daughter and her managers and shareholders, letting them spend their time on the airlines.”
1954 Elaine (Laney) Martin James writes, “My husband Cary Amory James died on December 12, 2018. He was an architect, writer, photographer, and a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the University of California, Berkeley.”
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1955 Marion (Martie) Yerkes Kyde writes, “Some of you may remember that I was a singer in high school. I am still singing, but not the same kind of folk music as in 1955. Currently working on “Juliet’s Waltz” from Charles Gounod’s opera Romeo and Juliette. At the performance I plan to announce that Juliette was fourteen... and I am somewhat older. I expect to elicit a smile or two.”
1956 Nancy Crowell Reinbold writes, “Imagine spending two extraordinary weeks in Cuba and finding a group of George School students at the airport in Holguin! Barry and I travel a lot, and it never ceases to amaze us the unexpected fellow Georgians we meet. Cuba, and its people, culture, music, art, dance, and theater, are incredible. If you haven’t been there, put it on your bucket list. Still tutoring English to immigrants and helping them get ready for their citizenship. Extremely involved in the International Sculpture Symposia in Nashua NH, Acton MA, and at the Andres Institute of Art. No time to let the moss grow.”
1957 Carroll Conklin Eagles writes, “I celebrated my eightieth birthday at a family inn in New Hampshire with nineteen of our children and grandchildren.” Charles (Chuck) Freeman writes, “Retired and living the life of a southern gentleman in South Carolina. Love keeping up with the happenings at George School. Loved watching this year’s commencement. Regards to all.” Judith ( Judy) Taylor Uehlein writes, “E. Carl Uehlein Jr ’58 and I celebrated the birth of our first great-grandchild in July 2019. New grandmother Christine (Chrissie) Uehlein Nelson ’86 and great-aunt Sara Uehlein ’88 are naturally thrilled! Since retiring we have enjoyed the opportunity to travel
more often—mostly golf, birds, and wildflowers. Our favorite place that combines all three is Margaret River, Western Australia where we spend the fall avoiding electioneering phone calls, ads, and debates (voting absentee of course!).”
1958 John J. Burton writes, “George School and Sears, Roebuck and Company had their quasquicentennials in 2018, both having been founded in 1893. Their celebration was perhaps more subdued than George School’s, suffering as they have been from competition in recent years. Just the same we wish them well, recalling how the annual Sears catalog was so eagerly anticipated in our younger years.” Miriam Zeman Marecek writes, “Imagine my tender surprise when I got ill with multiple sclerosis and several former classmates—Hugh K. Tyson, John ( Jack) M. Templeton Jr, and Dillwyn (Dill) P. Paiste IV—set up a fund to encourage me to fight the disease and to help defray the many medical costs that come with the illness. Often the people who gave the money were secret givers—I only knew they were friends from class who always cared. As the years pass and these dear friends are no longer with us, I am surprised that the gifts keep coming. What an abundance of good wishes and blessings from friends who remain secret givers. When I came to George School, I barely knew English, having escaped from Communist Czechoslovakia with the help of the American ambassador. I arrived at George School alone on a train from Daytona Beach FL. This school became the family I had to leave behind the Iron Curtain. I look back throughout my life with gratitude for the marvelous students and teachers who have become my George School family.”
Cracked Pots party and sale (I am still playing with clay), Sally and I headed north on a tour of Michigan, which included Mackinac Island and the Upper Peninsula. Carolyn Zwanziger contacted me through Facebook. We had a long phone conversation. She is living in Apollo Beach FL.”
1960 Mahlon (Lon) A. Barash writes, “Since our 50th reunion I have decided to live in Peru permanently. Two years ago I became a Peruvian citizen in addition to my US citizenship. This is a wonderful country and I really enjoy living here because of the wonderful people, including my many friends, the amazing diversity and history of the country to explore, and just how comfortable I feel living here. My roots in Peru go back to the mid-sixties when I came here first as a Peace Corps volunteer. In late 2010 I published a book of black and white photos of my Peace Corps experience in rural highland Peru helping small communities to build schools of local and imported material. I am currently teaching English to executives at Adidas, the sports equipment company. Occasionally, I do an international consulting assignment in housing microfinance, my specialty. I always welcome George School alumni if anyone is motivated to visit this fascinating country.”
1959
Keith Brinton writes, “A few years ago I decided on a new project in my wood shop: I wanted to learn how to make wood planes and fine steel blades for them. Information was obtained from a local blacksmith, online sources, and experience. My brother Daniel (Dan) F. Brinton ’65 supplied me with some beautiful waste wood, red birch, and some Vermont maple. I’ve made (and I use) nineteen planes, plus some other small tools, and have had a great deal of fun and frustration.”
Karyn Weir writes, “Sarah (Sally) Trent Harris came to Grosse Pointe MI for her annual visit with me in June 2018. After my
Andrew (Andy) K. Fleschner writes, “I am very sad to report that Barbara Thacher Herpin
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1961 Lawrence (Larry) K. Houghteling ’61 enjoying himself at the Screamery ice cream parlor in Tucson AZ.
1961 Peter D. Crown ’61.
1961 The book cover of Friends Lost and Found by Catharine (Cathy) Bothwell Rachlin ’61.
1961 Thomas (Tom) N. Palley ’61.
1961 Burt L. Ross ’61.
1961 James C. Michener ’61 wrote, “The shirt I wear was awarded to the twenty-five participants who accumulated the most miles on a web-enabled exercise bicycle during a competition in March and April 2019 of more than 600 participants from over 100 retirement communities. I accumulated 466 miles on an exercise bicycle during 240 hours of competition.”
1962 Mary Winter Arnold ’62 face painting just like the kids!
1962 Sara (Sally) Wislar Farneth ’62 and the Hankins in Washington DC.
1963 Carol Ellis Duke ’63 and her husband Frank in the Skagit Valley in Washington.
1963 Joan Worth Davidson ’63 shared this photo with Edward (Ned) H. Worth III ’66 and Bruce T. Worth ’69 at their Florida family reunion.
1964 Linda Redland Klemmer ’64 and her husband Phil. Judith (Judy) McIlvain Lewis ’64.
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ALUMNI TELL US
passed away July 2 in Paris, France of cardiac arrest. She leaves a husband, three children, ten grandchildren and many beautiful paintings.” Olivia (Livy) Ot to Johnston writes, “I am a retired attorney living with my husband in Las Cruces NM. I am involved with the immigration situation and visit detainees. Also, I am involved with Court Appointed Special Advocates and children living outside their families due to abuse and neglect. We love the beautiful desert and the friendly diverse group of people in this university town.” Henry S. Taylor writes, “For starters, David (Dave) J. Schiller came to Santa Fe NM in July 2019, and my wife Mooshe and I had the great pleasure of joining him for dinner one evening. We made a good start at catching up with each other. Mooshe and I moved to Santa Fe in 2015, having spent about ten years in Gig Harbor WA after my retirement from the literature faculty of American University, where I had been teaching since 1971. For several years we were away from home in an RV for weeks or even months at a time. Often we saw couples a little older than we were, snapping and snarling at each other about some procedure or other, and we told ourselves we would never be like that. So about four years ago we gave up the motor home and enjoy the quite amazingly numerous sites and sights within easy reach of where we live. For a while I let up a little on writing poems and essays, and during that hiatus accumulated about fifty hours in the University of Wyoming’s online land surveying program. It was exhilarating to be a student again. More recently, I’ve written more and have a gathering of new and selected poems coming out in fall 2020, about which I’ll say more next year.”
1961 Peter D. Crown writes, “Lawrence (Larry) K. Houghteling visited for a few days, kicking off his western road trip, right behind Kerouac. I retired from the medical
school last year. Just got a new guitar, adding to my collection, and I’m jamming with friends every week. I am still passionate about writing and photography. Hoping the new crop of George School students will be effective in helping to clean up the mess we are in. Take your pick of topics.”
‘It wasn’t really a vacation,’ I told my friends, ‘more an adventure.’ Was it worth it? Yes! I do love driving, and it must have been the most driving I ever did in a month, and through such splendor. The West is one astounding vista after another, and such clouds! ‘The road goes on forever.’”
Corinna F. Fales writes, “A dedicated Manhattanite, I have moved south to Asheville NC where I have been obeying George School teachings by working to ease the divide between liberals and conservatives, coast and middle, and other categories. To my surprise, I observe more bullying by liberals of conservatives than vice versa.”
Marion J. Kincaid writes, “This summer has been very busy. It’s the twelfth season I have worked for Pearson in Norfolk VA as an educational test scorer. Currently working on the CMAS (Colorado Measurement of Academic Success) and ELA (English Language Arts). Texting is changing the way students are writing! What is this world coming to? Hope all is well with everyone. Love to all.”
Lawrence (Larry) K. Houghteling writes, “I’ve spent the last three years living with and looking after my mother (98), which is both wonderful and taxing, so when my sister recently said she’d look after Mom for a while, I scheduled a month-long trip out west, timed to conclude with celebrating my seventy-fifth birthday in Fort Collins CO with my sons Sam and Jack and Sam’s terrific wife Kelly. I started out in Tucson AZ, where I finally got to meet Karen, the lovely wife of Peter D. Crown. Spent several happy days there, lolling about in their excellent new urban house. I also rented a Kia Soul for the road trip. I drove to Los Angeles and Malibu CA, where Burt L. Ross and his charming wife Joan treated me to a delicious Italian dinner. The Rosses saw their beloved house burn down last year, but they’re making do (while awaiting a rebuild) in a fantastic hilltop palace. After a few days in the Bay Area with relatives and friends I headed north. Thomas ( Tom) N. Palley was generous to let me come and pester him for a few hours at his farm north of San Francisco. He gave me a tour of his beautiful place, where he’s been growing organic produce for forty-some years now. Tom looks great and is doing swell. It was a long trip, nearly 5,000 miles, and back in Massachusetts I’ve spent many a morning sleeping late.
James C. Michener writes, “Six months ago I moved next door to George School. I live at Pennswood Village, a continuing-care retirement community embracing Quaker principles. My partner Carolyn and I enjoy the high-quality community spirit at Pennswood engendered by mutual caring, the high-quality (non-institutional) food, and the multiple opportunities provided by the hundred committees. Before our move, Carolyn and I lived in Bryn Gweled Homesteads, the intentional community in Southampton PA where I (and numerous other alumni, including Lydia Pot ts Quill) lived while day students at George School. I am maintaining commitments there, including digitizing archival material which documents the history of Bryn Gweled.” Catharine (Cathy) Bothwell Rachlin writes, “I’ve written a children’s book called Friends Lost and Found. It’s the story of two spots, one on the ceiling and one on the floor of an old farmhouse. They are good friends. Then one day, a family moves in and covers the spots with fresh paint and a new carpet. The friends lose touch. But slowly the paint peels and the carpet frays, and over time the friends find one another again. It is a story of resilience and hope.
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I collaborated with a local artist and good friend. We had great fun writing and illustrating the book and will probably do it again once new inspiration hits!”
1962 William (Bill) M. Andrews writes, “I’ve moved to Arcata CA and celebrated my fifty-second wedding anniversary with Marilyn. I retired from land surveying five years ago. My time is mostly spent on local music—classical and jazz—and on visits to two now-grown children and four grandchildren.” Mary Winter Arnold writes, “Getting older makes you remember older events. I look back on good days and good friends at George School. Life has kept us in the southeast and travel has taken us on adventures around the world, most recently to China’s Silk Road. We’re moving again—back to Auburn AL where our younger son and grandchildren live. And we have a lake to enjoy! Looking forward to more Class of 1962 news!” Sara (Sally) Wislar Farneth writes, “Busy summer! We went to the Friends Gathering in Grinnell IA that was really good. The workshop I took was entitled “Active Non-Violence” led by Friends Arnie Alpert and Maggie Forgery of Committee on National Legislation from New Hampshire. We also got to visit Wisconsin with Katherine (Kate) Farneth Hirsch ’94 and family and celebrated our granddaughter Piper’s tenth birthday. Alan and I have sold our house and are moving to Maine to be near our oldest daughter Melinda (Lindy) Farneth Hankins ’92. We’re heading up to find a rental property until we figure out exactly where we want to live. We want to be near Falmouth, but not under their feet. I look forward to seeing the grandkids’ school and sport events.”
1963 Carol Ellis Duke writes, “Five years ago I moved from Cincinnati
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OH to Federal Way WA to be closer to my daughter and her family and to get away from the cold winters and hot, humid summers that we had in Ohio. We live within two hours of three national parks and six miles of the airport. We still go car camping in the national parks and take extended trips outside the United States a few times a year. I retired from full-time teaching almost twenty years ago and then did teacher training for a local Cincinnati nonprofit organization called Mayerson Academy. I was bored when I moved to Washington, as I had always worked. Mayerson Academy was interested in having an online presence, so with the help of their technology department and about six months of work we took the course that I had taught in Cincinnati and adapted it for online instruction. This is a graduate level course and we have had teachers enroll from as far away as India! I am currently a co-director for online training. The beauty of this job is that I can do it anywhere in the world if I have a good internet connection. When I am not working or traveling, I can be found in my flower gardens. With abundant sunshine in the summer and rain in the winter, anything grows in the Pacific Northwest!” Paula Claxton Gavit t writes, “After working both full- and parttime after early retirement in 2002 due to breast cancer, I have decided to REALLY retire this year. My brain and body are doing okay for my age, but not what they used to be. I am on a small farm with dairy goats, horses, etc., and breeding Central Asian Shepherds—rare livestock guardian dogs. I go out less and less, as both this country and the world seem to be heading backwards at a faster and faster pace. Sigh. Visitors still welcome, however.”
1964 Linda Redland Klemmer writes, “Had a wonderful few days reconnecting with classmates and friends at our 55th! My husband Phil and I celebrated our ‘golden anniversary’ in June in
Sunriver OR with our two children, five grandchildren, and in-laws—a total of fifteen. A life well spent!” Kathryn McCreary writes, “Dear Friends, summer again, and the garden is full of promise. This morning I planted more carrots, but I’m nearly out of room until I pull the onions up, which will be soon. I hope you have the pleasure of digging the dirt and harvesting the rewards! A new pleasure for me is my volunteer work at the Humane Society. I devote myself to cats: brushing, snuggling, scratching, and whispering sweet nothings. Today I found that two of my favorites had been taken by folks who wanted them. That was the best news. I am trying to be optimistic, in spite of the dreary national and international state of things. Some fine people are hoping to unseat Mr. T. I finally did what I should have done years ago: I joined the American Friends Service Committee. I took their online bystander intervention course and found it interesting that on the list of don’ts the first one is DON’T call the police. That’s pretty sad. I am trying to be optimistic. Well, I guess being realistic makes sense, and doesn’t have to get in the way of being optimistic. I got to visit my youngest son on an island in the Puget Sound where he lives. Beautiful! In July 2019 I visited my other son in Portland OR. I travel only by train, and I love it. Someday I will come to a reunion. I do give it serious thought every time. Until then, may your garden grow, and your efforts be rewarded.” Judith ( Judy) McIlvain Lewis writes, “Retirement is great for us, and we love living in sunny Bradenton FL. I teach pool and land aerobics and serve as secretary for our condo association. Donovan has all the time in the world to build his model railroad layout and play with trains. My newfound fun is karaoke—thanks to chorus director Richard Averre ffac for furthering my confidence in singing. Best wishes to the Class of 1964 and God bless you all!”
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1965 Loran T. Thompson ’65 and Meera Thompson in Tasmania, Australia.
1966 Janice Powell Crausaz ’66 and James (Jim) P. Patch ’66 giving a toast to George School.
1966 Charles (Chuck) F. Willson ’66 receiving the Jacobi Award in 2018 in Orlando FL.
1968 Claire Holvik Favro ’68 and Hank playing dulcimer and guitar in a house concert.
1968 Stanley T. Kwok ’68.
1969 Holly Gross Kruse ’69.
1969 Robert (Rob) E. Ganz ’69.
1969 Joanathan D. March ’69.
1969 Elizabeth (Liza) S. Myers ’69.
1969 John R. Boone ’69 wrote, “Our meeting for worship for classmates who died was among the most moving events of the reunion.”
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1965 David H. Foster writes, “As I write Holly Barnet-Sanchez and I are in Houston TX where she has been invited to participate in a panel discussing an exhibition of a photographer she has written about. Her book, Give Me Life, is getting great recognition in her field, and she has several engagements to keep her busy. As for me, I’m working in the DA’s office helping to change the culture from worst-performing in the country to something a lot better. When my contract is up, we’re planning more travel. Our son Rob Foster ’04 has been promoted to vice president at JP Morgan, and our daughter Ashley is an assistant professor at Fresno State, a tenure track job. So they are off the payroll, officially! Call us if you are in Albuquerque NM. We’d love to see you.” Martin F. Smith writes, “Lots of excitement lately: Marty and I welcomed our first grandchild, Aubrey Quinn Smith, in April 2019, and celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary at Bedford Springs PA in June 2019.” Loran T. Thompson writes, “A recent trip down under took my wife Meera and me to Freycinet Peninsula on Tasmania’s east coast. Standing knee-deep in water at a Felliniesque table perched beside an oyster bed in the Tasman Sea, our photo on page 35 shows us sampling the fare at a local marine farm.”
1966 Stephen (Steve) J. Althouse writes, “I’m still making art in Amish country and had solo exhibitions last year at the Museum of Art at Juniata College, the Bellefonte Art Museum in Pennsylvania, the Museum Moderner Kunst Kärten in Austria, and the Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama. This is the year that members of the Class of 1966 officially become geezers. How is this possible?” Jonathan W. Heritage writes, “A. Louisa Beck Hatanaka’s memory of Grant Fraser jolted
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my memory bank. Can’t say that I remember that specific thing, but I can well imagine it. I recall: Julius Laramore ffac had us memorize the motto of the University of Chicago, ‘Crescat scientia, vita excolatur,’ which he translated as ‘May knowledge grow from more to more, and so be human life enriched.’ Also regarding Richard (Dick) L. Danley’s mention of the opening of Walton Center in 1965, Richard Averre ffac wrote a choral piece based on the writings of James Naylor, of which I still recall some of the words and music: ‘There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to avenge any wrong, but delights to enjoy it’s own in the end...I found it alone, being forsaken, in God alone it can rejoice.’ I Googled James Naylor a couple years ago—an early Quaker martyr, and Googled Richard Averre, who is in there for his Christmas song ‘Did Mary Know.’ So George School has been there for 125 years increasing our knowledge and developing our consciences.” James ( Jim) P. Patch writes, “My wife Barb and I toured Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in April. We met up with Janice Powell Crausaz in Cork for a nice dinner.” Jeffrey ( Jeff ) L. Speller writes, “My daughter Heather is a psychiatrist just like her mom, dad, and aunt Marsha Speller ’62, and Justin is a wellness coach and counselor in the family private practice. Both kids are married but no grandchildren yet!” Charles (Chuck) F. Willson writes, “I was honored by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics with the 2018 Abraham Jacobi Memorial Award for contributions to pediatrics in the tradition of Abraham Jacobi. Dr. Jacobi was the father of pediatrics in America.”
1968 Claire Holvik Favro writes, “Enjoying semi-retirement as half
of the tight-harmony duo Hank and Claire. We’ve been performing our Pete Seeger program as often as possible in our own bid for sanity and activism. This year we’ve added a program about hootenannies, and we’re taking on ‘Women in Folk’ as the next library program to develop. All are full of music and commentary. While I wrassle up new gigs, Hank builds banjos, ukes, banjoleles, and dulcimers. Latest dulcimer is from purple heartwood. Susan Sweitzer ’69 has settled in North Bend WA just two hours from us. We cavort together when we can. Anyone coming to the Seattle area is welcome to visit us in Poulsbo WA, just across the Salish Sea from the Emerald City.” Stanley T. Kwok writes, “I went with the International Service Team of up to nine thousand Scouters to the 24th World Scout Jamboree in July 2019 at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. There were forty thousand Scouts from 170 member countries of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.”
1969 John R. Boone writes, “As of this year I have enjoyed living and working in New York City for forty-four years.” Robert (Rob) E. Ganz writes, “It was a privilege to lead a great committee which produced a memorable 50th reunion in May 2019. With special events as well as all-school events, the classmates who attended (more than fifty in the aggregate) enjoyed a wonderful spirit of friendship and nostalgia throughout the weekend. I am in the process of moving from Albany NY to San Diego CA and transitioning into at least semiretirement from the practice of law. My plans for this new chapter of my life include traveling more, playing more golf, increasing my involvement in the charitable work I do, and most importantly, visiting my three grandchildren more often.”
ALUMNI TELL US
Susan Sweitzer ’69 shares her reunion snapshot.
Deborah Snipes Hale writes, “I enjoyed our 50th reunion! Hard to believe. I am retired in Rochester NY, loving my two granddaughters, and am involved in Rochester Friends Meeting and various volunteer commitments. My Snipes siblings are scattered far and wide, including Martha’s Vineyard MA and Snipes Farm.” Holly Gross Kruse writes, “It was wonderful to visit with so many classmates at the 50th reunion in May 2019. What an interesting and diverse group we are! I retired from a long career as a middle school teacher and librarian at a small pre-k to 12 public school here in Vermont several years ago. Since then, I have joined a Buddhist group meeting weekly for meditation and study. My life also includes political work in statewide elections through Lean Left Vermont and the Sister District project. And I have returned to the piano after a fifty-year hiatus, slowly making my way forward with the help of an excellent teacher, so my head is filled with Chopin. It would be lovely to get together sometime with other George
School northern New Englanders and anyone else who finds themselves in the area.” Jonathan D. March writes, “It was such a blessing to visit, however fleetingly, with so many beloved classmates and teachers, to speak on the phone with others who weren’t able to come, and to share together poignant memories of our fifteen departed classmates. After twenty years each in San Francisco CA and St. Louis MO, I’ve been in Austin TX for nine years, still creating scientific software, but now in more of a support and mentoring role. Gerda retired last year from teaching college history. After lifetimes of flowing and ebbing activism for justice and peace, we are each groping to find our next steps in helping to heal this pillaged world and ourselves. We enjoy the company of siblings, nieces, nephews, godchildren, ‘grandchildren’, and reading, walking, and gardening.”
surgeries and subsequent chemo have slowed me reluctantly down. I am SO LUCKY to have such wonderful friends and family. The reunion was wonderful. None of us have changed a bit! I’m still painting, mostly commissions now. After thirty-plus years I’m no longer teaching in my studio or any classroom. If you’re in Santa Fe NM give me a call!” Susan Sweitzer writes, “50th reunion was stellar! Who knew so many people in our class would craft such fascinating lives? I’m retired, living at the edge of the Cascades outside Seattle WA. Very happy to host old friends visiting the area. Loving being a grandma to twins (5) who live next door, learning the woods and water at this side of the continent.”
Elizabeth (Liza) S. Myers writes, “My life has changed abruptly in the last three years. Three major
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Notes from the Class of 1969 Reunion On Alumni Weekend in May the largest ever gathering of our class took place. More than 50 members of the class attended the events; traveling from the four corners of the continent (Maine, to Florida; Washington State to Southern California). We had informal time together Friday night at the hotel at which time there was class memorabilia on display and a booklet of completed class questionnaires was distributed; the school hosted a lunch for us on Saturday at which time we formally presented our class reunion gift—an endowed visiting speaker fund which will bear our class name. Late in the afternoon we held a meaningful memorial service for the classmates we have lost over the years. The weekend events culminated with a dinner at a local restaurant at which we were joined by former faculty members and friends of the class. Sunday morning allowed us to gather informally at the hotel to say our goodbyes over breakfast and many then returned to campus for meeting for worship. All who attended felt a renewed affection for our classmates and George School. Many classmates shared reflections on their life journeys and time at George School. Classmates may obtain a printed copy of these completed questionnaires by emailing Barb Beckelman (bibibeckelman@gmail.com). Barbara A. Beckelman recently retired after selling the organizational consulting and training firm that she and her partner Susan ran for thirtysix years. She continues to pursue her interests in languages, a cappella singing, gardening, knitting, and social action causes. Portland ME has been home to Barb for twenty-nine years, but she and Susan recently purchased a condo in the French Quarter for a winter escape to New Orleans LA.
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James ( Jim)A. Brokaw II reports that he is happily retired from the custom software development business. He and his wife Mollie live in Brunswick ME. Jim provides pro bono IT and database consulting to non-profits. Bowdoin College is an invaluable resource in exploring his interests in classical music performance and contemporary German culture and society. Rachel A. Carey-Harper was unable to attend the reunion, but has been supportive of the class project. She and her family have a very successful Cape Cod MA business focusing on handmade jewelry and pottery. Rachel is heavily involved in many social action projects focused on fighting racism, violence against women, and homelessness. James R. Caulkins continues to live in France and was unable to attend the reunion. He has been retired from Conde Nast France for five years. Frederic (Rick) Fenstermacher lives in Miami Beach FL. He is semiretired, having enjoyed a successful career of corporate risk management specializing in media liability. He served as CEO of the Disabled Veterans Memorial Foundation and led a successful $70 million capital campaign and oversaw the construction of the Memorial in Washington DC that was dedicated by President Obama in October 2014. Geoffry H. Fried resides in Vermont and serves as a professor of design at Lesley University in Cambridge MA. Laura Miller Gilbert is living in Highland Park IL. She has been retired from a career as a home health nurse for almost ten years. She has three children and three grandchildren.
Wendy Hollenbach Hellyer is the owner of Hellyer Performing Arts Center and continues to perform as a professional concert soloist and Director of Activities at Tenacre Foundation, Inc. in Princeton NJ. Katherine Holden retired as an attending physician in the Student Health Department at Vassar College in recent years and is involved in historic preservation in Connecticut. She has two grown sons. Anne Judson is living in Burlington VT and retired from St. Michael’s College as Director of Graduate Education. Anne and her husband Tim, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s four years ago, recently bought a condo in Venice FL for a winter respite from the Northeast. Their daughter lives in Seattle WA and works in admissions at the Lakeside School. Their son Chris lives nearby and teaches weatherization skills to 16- to 24-year-olds who did not finish high school. They simultaneously work on their high school degree and renovate affordable housing. Anne loved seeing everyone at the 50th reunion and says, “Thanks a million to Rob Ganz for his excellent organizational skills.” Lucy S. Judson lives in Boulder CO and retired a year ago after thirty-two years as a physician associate. Her two daughters have provided four grandchildren. Kirk W. Klaphaak writes, “I retired from Indiana University after twenty-nine years in the office of information technology. I have been dancing since I was eight years old (clogging, ballroom, square dance, folk) and now have time for even more (woo hoo!). I volunteer at Actors Theater of Louisville and am the longest serving volunteer usher with forty-five years of service. My wife and I have supported Shaker
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Village in Pleasant Hill KY for many years. If you are ever down that way, I encourage you to visit and note the many connections to Quaker life. My best wishes to everyone and I hope you are truly enjoying this stage of your life.” Robert (Rob) W. Lehner enjoyed a career in health care management systems. He spent ten years as a teacher, recently retiring. He has two children and is active in his local synagogue in Hamilton Square NJ. Elizabeth Cope McDonald retired from teaching after almost twenty-nine years and now is the education director at the local recycling center in Wichita KS. She has two grown sons, a granddaughter, and a foster grandson. Mary Foster Rosenthal is retired and continues to live in St. Paul MN. She and Lisa S. Garrison got together last March to attend “Louisa Chase: Below the Surface” at the Parrish Art Museum. Two solo shows of Louisa’s paintings are opening this fall: “Force Field” at Hirschl & Adler Modern in September 2019 and “Kamikaze Curiosity: Louisa Chase Prints” at the Palitz Gallery in October 2019, both in New York City. Catherine (Cass) Seely Rulon-Miller is a part-time counselor after receiving a Master of Counseling degree in 2016. Her prior careers were as an elementary school teacher and the manager of a medical practice. She has two grown sons. Nancy Lynn Sharpless retired after thirty years of teaching. She is active in the quilting community in Asheville NC. Deborah (DD) Smith Hilke has two children and four grandchildren. She lives in Washington State. After many professional jobs involving
museums and university teaching, she is retired, teaches tai chi, and is currently involved in faith-based networks for social and environmental justice activists. Stephen A. Somers has relocated from Princeton to Muir Beach CA after he stepped down as CEO of the national non-profit he started in 1995, the Center for Health Care Strategies. He continues to work part-time on health policy issues. He and his wife, Katherine (Kate) Augenblick Somers ’70 have two sons and four grandchildren. D. Neil Stafford lives in Littleton NH with his wife, four children, and five grandchildren. He is winding down his career as a tax practitioner and financial consultant and recently sold his H&R Block franchise. William ( Willy) G. Suter Jr retired after thirty-nine years as education facilities director at George Washington and American Universities, both in Washington DC. He is married and has three children. He is involved in sculpture, carpentry, and fishing. This fall, he is back to school as a first-year Spanish student. Marjorie Thomas Candau lives in Lakewood WA and is retired as an occupational therapist. She has two daughters and four grandchildren. Pamela (Pam) Thorp lives and works in NYC. For many years she worked professionally in the theater: on Broadway, off-Broadway, and on national and international tours. She returned to school and completed psychoanalytic training and has been in private practice as an integrative psychotherapist for thirty years.
May, however, she retired! She has two sons and three grandchildren. We are grateful for the wonderful video she put together for all reunion attendees. Marge and her husband are active travelers and avid movie-goers. Stephen (Steve) Waddington’s current work involves special projects for a convenience food chain requiring him to work in six different states and the District of Columbia. He did this work after being involved in his family’s dairy distribution business for more than twenty-five years. He has three sons and one grandson. Donald (Don) J. Wenzel is currently a realtor with Coldwell Banker in Bucks County. Previously he worked for thirty-five years in the advertising business with his mother. His twin children are sophomores at Brown and the University of Chicago. He continues to be an active cyclist. He and his family enjoy European travel. Don just completed nine years of service as a member of Newtown Friends School Board of Trustees. John C. Widenmeyer continues to live in Langhorne PA and serves as the owner and president of a veterinary hospital. Deborah (Deb) Hummel Wilson lives in York PA, has three adult children, and three grandchildren. Deb is retired after serving as a high school librarian in York PA for twenty-seven years. More Class of 1969 members’ notes from the reunion will be shared in the next Georgian.
Marjorie (Marge) Welker Uhrich had been working part time for an allergy and immunology group coordinating electronic medical records software. Since the reunion in
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1970 Roger L. Kay writes, “This year is retirement for me. I still have a few clients, but I’m stepping away as gracefully as possible. Just how gracefully, you can judge for yourself from the picture. Kids still come and go. Our daughter (23) comes home to do laundry (at least that’s what she says). Our son (20) is heading into his junior year. I intend to remain active, but unconstrained by traditional goals.”
1971 Patricia (Pat t y) Appelbaum writes, “I’m taking an AmeriCorps Vista job in Duluth MN for a year, beginning in August 2019. I’ll be working for a community development nonprofit, focusing on a National Science Foundation grant application and on building local food systems. Looking forward to a new adventure!” Nancy Henry Hale writes, “We were at George School during an extraordinary time in history. It was the perfect place to learn and examine the changing world. I am now living in Oklahoma with my dear husband Glen. I’ve worked as a mom, preschool teacher, and caregiver for folks with developmental disabilities. I am now retired thanks to a broken left humerus. Oy vey. I have two sons and four granddaughters. Peace and love to all.” John F. Hallowell writes, “Things are going well on Long Island NY. I am the director of advanced practice providers at a large hospital with oversight of the physician assistants and nurse practitioners. In my spare time, especially during the summer, we go boating and to the beach. My wife Meg is also a physician assistant and in family medicine. Our three children are all out of college and doing well. No grandkids yet!” Frank Jarret t writes, “I retired in June 2017 after almost thirty-three years of helping to make ‘carbon’ free electricity. Since then I’ve been providing oversight on construction work
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for a school for children with learning disabilities that I’m on the board of. I’ve restarted doing wood turning.” Tod J. Kaufman writes, “I had the pleasure of attending my daughter’s graduation at the University of Cambridge in July 2019. I continue to be an active trial judge in West Virginia and try to keep in touch with Antonio ( Tony) P. Jackson and others from George School. Barrie and I celebrated thirty-five years this year with a weekend hike in the rain forest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Japheth ( Jay) March and I had hiked as part of our senior year at George School in 1970!” Donna Caulkins Parsons writes, “I’m in Madison CT, still caring for my mom (93), semi-retired but helping seniors part time. Very active with an over-forty singles sailing club with 250 members and enjoying my children Dan Parsons (32), a cameraman in Massachusetts, and Sarah Parsons (29), a comedian/actor in NYC, and my two baby grandchildren Hunter and Mason Parsons. My brother James R. Caulkins ’69 and wife Evelyne are still in France, thirty years now!”
1972 Elzada James Lukens writes, “I would like to thank the Class of 1972 and the George School community who came to my husband John Everret Lukens’ mass in January 2018. I shall never forget you showing your sympathy and love. John died suddenly and your support was greatly appreciated.”
1973 John B. Hoffman writes, “My new educational not-for-profit organization Go To College NYC is nearing the end of three years of operations. Fifty-one high achieving, low income, public school students attending New York City high schools were placed into leading colleges and universities this school year. My wife Lucia is an international tennis journalist, and covered Wimbledon the first two
weeks of July 2019. My son Joshua ( Josh) O. Hoffman ’17 (20) completed his second year at Brandeis University as a history major and classics and medieval and renaissance studies minor. My daughter Maia (12) is an eighth grader at the Calhoun School in New York City, and will begin the admission process to George School this year. Maia is a brilliant student, as well as a talented writer, artist, singer, and actress, with ambitions to be an actress on Broadway. After visiting over ten day and boarding schools this past spring, Maia determined that George School was the only school offering everything important to her: Mandarin, strong fine and performing arts programs, great academics including the IB Program, a gorgeous campus, a diverse, warm, and welcoming community, and close proximity to home.” Jeffrey S. Schwartz writes, “Three tuitions down and one to go! Anthony is working for Ford, Jeffrey is in Pennsylvania working for GSK, and Jarred just finished NYU Stern and already has a position with a finance firm in New York. Alec is entering his third year at Rhode Island. His major remains undecided. I’m sure he will find his interest as time progresses.” Thomas H. Woodman writes, “I am having a blast giving back some of the knowledge I gained of competitive rowing over the years. This is my tenth year of coaching Sammamish Rowing Club in the Seattle WA area. We have built the master’s program into one of the top ranked men’s teams in the country, with wins at Head of the Charles, San Diego, and other top regattas this past year. The regattas have the added bonus of feeling like reunions, as I am able to meet up with my 1980 Olympic group of friends and others I have raced with over the years. I have also taken on helping run the rowing alumni group at Oregon State University. These projects keep me busy in addition to my full-time job. Our girls are all launched. Two in San Jose CA (one a physical therapist and one designing
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1970 Roger L. Kay ’70 on any given day in summer.
1971 Frank Jarrett ’71 shares a wood turning project.
1971 Donna Caulkins Parsons ’71.
1973 Jeffrey S. Schwartz ’73 shares a photo of his four sons.
1974 Barbara (Barb) McAnerney Kohout ’74 loves retirement!
1975 Rebecca Armstrong ’75 shares a photo of alumni gathered with family and friends to celebrate the lives of Elizabeth Sweet Armstrong ’50 and Donald Armstrong ’49. Elizabeth Sweet Armstrong ’50 and Donald Armstrong ’49.
1977 Elizabeth (Liz) L. Bowen ’77 and daughter Ana.
1979 Jane Lindley ’79.
1980 Linda J. Pollack ’80.
1981 Sarah (Sally) Brady ’81 shares a photo of a marvelous spatuletail hummingbird, Northern Andes, Peru.
1981 John (Fell) F. Cadwallader Jr ’81.
1982 Kimberly Caputo Noe ’82.
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iPhones), and one nearer to home who is an accountant. Now my wife and I have time to do all the things we have not been able to do in the kid-raising years. We love the Pacific Northwest and feel we still have a lifetime worth of spectacular trails to backpack, and islands to sea kayak to. So little time, so much to do! Life is good.”
1974 Barbara (Barb) McAnerney Kohout writes, “So nice to be retired now after owning my business for over thirty years! I have moved back to New Hampshire and love life on Newfound Lake and access to skiing and other vacation plans! Enjoying life with my husband Fred, no schedule, and time for my grandchildren (1 and 2) in Ann Arbor MI. Let me know if you’re coming to NE!” Todd M. Preuss writes, “I have been living in Atlanta GA for the last seventeen years, researching and teaching neuroscience and anthropology at Emory University. I was recently promoted to full professor —just in time for semi-retirement. I spend my spare time fly fishing and contradancing. I was fortunate to attend a contradance weekend in Seattle WA last year at which Deborah (Deb) Comly was the caller!” David C. Rutstein writes, “After retiring from the US government in 2010 we moved to Beijing, China to oversee the medical management and development of a private national healthcare system. We retired again and returned to the United States (Eliot ME) to be closer to our three married children and now six grandchildren. Soon after our return I started SolHEALTH, a 501(c)(3) public charity which assists carefully selected organizations to promote health and prevent disease in the populations they serve (https://solhealth.org). SolHEALTH completed its first project in Shenzhen, China and plans to start another in The Gambia in February 2019. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with George School classmates and friends.”
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Craig X. Sotres writes, “Our class had a great reunion and experienced the special treat of having Shira Small-Cangialosi and Diane M. Garisto sing for us again after forty-five years! Big thank you to Terese ( Teri) Van SolkemaWaitz , David (Dave) A. DiMicco, and Bernard (Bernie) Hirsh for organizing. Check out George School Alumni on Facebook for photos. See you all for the 50th. Can you believe it?”
1975 Rebecca Armstrong writes, “I would like to thank all of the George School friends and family that joined me in celebrating my parents’ lives this spring. My parents met at George School. My father Donald Armstrong ’49 died in November 2018. With the death of my mother Elizabeth Sweet Armstrong ’50 three years ago, their relationship spanned seventy-two years. Two of four children attended George School: my sister Alison Armstrong ’7 7 and myself. My father’s career as chief of infectious diseases at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center facilitated numerous doctors traveling from all over the world to attend a meeting for worship at George School. Marti J. Sagar and Cheryl hosted a phenomenal gathering at their home in New Hope PA where great conversations and stories were shared. The entire Brick Hotel in Newtown PA was reserved for family and friends attending meeting, with a celebration following at the Barley Sheaf Farm in New Hope. My cousins toured the campus where both of their fathers attended high school: twins James J. ( Jay) Armstrong Jr ’45 and Newell H. (Newt) Armstrong ’45. Numerous classmates and friends of mine had become very close to my parents. My gratitude for their assistance and support in creating a stellar celebration of two great lives: David (Dave) A. DiMicco ’74, Marti, Leslie Plapinger Skolnick , Katherine (Kim) E. Nagle , Charles (Chuck) C. Norris , Carter J. Sio ’76
fac, Erin B. Sio fac, Susan Haines Cunningham ’7 8 and Tony Cunningham, Kimberly (Kim) Allen-King, Kate Sherfy Rogers, and Andrew (Andy) J. Cantor ’7 7. My parents felt strongly that along with their tutelage, George School gave me the backbone to defy all odds, trials, and tribulations of growing up handicapped. Present day, forty-five years later, I still receive inspiration to succeed from what George School relationships bestow upon me.” Kathy Hart Rogers writes, “After forty years, I retired from the George School English Department. I look forward to discovering new interests after a summer of rest and relaxation.”
1976 Joel H. Tabachnick writes, “I’m busy doing a wide variety of construction and repair projects with my older son Robin. My bliss is drumming for West African dance class, and I host monthly music jams. I live just north of San Francisco CA.” Cynthia (Cindi) F. White writes, “After thirty-five years working for the State of New Jersey, I retired in August 2018. I initially began as a Medicaid social worker for fifteen years, working first with the developmentally disabled and then the geriatric and disabled population. For the past twenty years I was a Medicaid fraud investigator with Medicaid and then within the Office of the State Comptroller Medicaid Fraud Division for the State of New Jersey. In March 2018 I celebrated my 60th birthday traveling to Dubai as well as Nepal. I plan to spend many more days traveling and exploring new places as well as meeting ‘new’ cousins I discovered through the AncestryDNA testing. As I enter this new phase of life, I’m considering also working with the elderly in some capacity. I’ll always be appreciative for George School preparing me to write extensive reports and engaging in analytical and independent thinking
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as well as maintaining compassion and caring towards others. I remember being told I was too nice of an investigator. I never viewed this as a negative trait. I continue to live in Barnegat NJ and Bordentown City NJ. Facebook has enabled me to interact and remain in touch with so many alumni.”
1977 Elizabeth (Liz) L. Bowen writes, “Hello from Los Angeles CA! My daughter Ana (15) and I moved here two years ago for Ana to pursue dance and acting. It has been an exciting journey. She is in tenth grade in the performing arts school at Hollywood High School and loves it. I’m making ends meet doing home care, but mostly I go to auditions and sit on set with Ana! Was so glad to see Abby Deitch Smith when she was in LA for business!”
1978 Marta Ernst writes, “Our family is very busy with four grandsons and a granddaughter on the way. Simply put, I love my life. I spend all day with children as an elementary resource teacher. My students are filled with the hope of our future, and I relish the opportunity to encourage loving, curious, responsible, and compassionate adults. Now I am doubly honored with beautiful grandchildren who live in the same town. My husband and I spend as much free time as we can with our family and each other.” Mark F. Miller writes, “I’m proud of my son Max, who graduated from University of Chicago in June 2019, and next year will complete his master’s degree from the Harris School of Public Policy, also at University of Chicago.”
1979 Jane Lindley writes, “I worked with the Sierra Club, 350.org groups, Redefine Tacoma, and legislators including Senator Reuven Carlyle, Senator Christine Rolfes, Representative Joe Fitzgibbon, and many others to pass a 100 percent clean
energy bill in Washington state this year. No more coal by 2025, 80 percent clean by 2030, and 100 percent clean energy by 2045. Highlights: https://www.vox.com/energy-andenvironment/2019/4/18/18363292/ washington-clean-energy-bill.” Piret te McKamey writes, “A few of us made it to our 40th reunion this past spring. How great it was to see everyone who attended. Of course, it left me wanting more. Our teenage friends leave lasting marks, overwhelmingly positive! Speaking of youth, I was recently appointed principal of Mission High School in San Francisco CA, where I was an English and history teacher for a number of years. At the center of our work is anti-racist teaching, profiled in the book Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph. I look forward to hearing about your life’s adventures.”
1980 Linda J. Pollack writes, “I’m holding round two of my public dialogue project, ‘Constitution Happy Hour’ at the UCLA Hammer Museum this fall, kicking off on Friday October 4, 2019 and continuing through November 15 2019. The project creates guided, topical conversations about the US Constitution and its role in our democracy and is part of my mission to animate public life. If you find yourself in LA, please join us! (https://hammer.ucla.edu, https:// www.mydailyconstitution.org).”
1981 Sarah (Sally) Brady writes, “Retiring a year ago, I have been actively involved with our local nonprofit nature center. We want to move from the ‘strip mall’ where we are currently renting in Nederland CO to our five acres of beautiful open space through donations. I made a forest bathing exhibit to help visitors understand the benefits of being in nature, where I spend a lot of time with my rescue dog Brownie! Had an amazing trip to northern Peru in April—I saw
over thirty-two species of hummingbirds! Nature’s calling you!” John (Fell) F. Cadwallader Jr writes, “Life has presented a plethora of opportunities for connection and community. It’s been a blessing to blend our work and life together with my company Meaningful Trainings (meaningfultrainings.com). Our vocation finds us working with communities and people ravaged by behavioral challenges (mental health, addiction), as well as helping health systems grapple with inherent process deficiencies that present themselves as they try to fully engage the other seventy-eight million baby boomers (just like us!) who are at the gate readying for unlimited and unsustainable health care services. Any suggestions? We are all ears and look forward to catching up. Much Light.” Diana Levy Grewal writes, “Biggest family news was our daughter getting married in October 2017 and accepting a position as an assistant professor of marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University. Since her father and I met in graduate school as marketing majors, she’s continuing the family business.” Mat thew (Mat t) Lindley writes, “On a recent visit home to see Mom, we hit the Pineville Tavern and then drove by George School. Beautiful as ever. I honestly believe tuition should include a month-long return in our fifties to audit all the classes we wanted to take but didn’t. When the kids went off to school, we moved from Lexington MA up to Gloucester MA and built a house on the banks of the Annisquam River. I left a consulting firm to join Google a few years ago. Nice folks and mostly huge fun. Lots of travel. I chat with John W. Zinsser often (he’s in Geneva, Switzerland) and still listen to Robert (Rob) J. Kruse II who is putting out music regularly now. Best to all. And think about that ‘revisit’ program. I’m ready.”
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1983 Janine M. Douglas ’83. Anne Snipes Moss ’83. Audrey B. Pass ’83.
1984 Kathyrn (Kate) A. Bruton ’84 offers tennis opportunities for youth ages 5 to 17 within Cheltenham PA and beyond.
1986 Jennifer (Jen) Schmitt Perry ’86.
1987 Andes Van Syckle Hruby ’87 at home in Bend OR.
1988 Tamara (Tammy) L. Harper ’88 in Carnegie Hall.
1988 Jeffrey K. Mann ’88 publishes third book May I Kill?.
1991 Laura Swanstrom Reece ’91 in Peru.
1991 C. Brooke Wells ’91 gathered with friends from the Class of 1991 in Austin TX.
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Janis Parrilla writes, “My sister Leslie and I took a road trip from Pennsylvania to Tennessee (Dollywood and Graceland—her picks, not mine). Then onto New Orleans LA (our pick) to savor crawfish etouffee, jambalaya, shrimp po boy, and beignets, and listen to jazz and zydeco. From NOLA to the Keys, then back north to Savannah GA and Charleston SC.” Susan Keim Wiggins writes, “At the Planned Parenthood Keystone fundraising event held in October 2018, I was pleased to witness Bethann Morgan being honored by Planned Parenthood for her role as a clinician who has received patient experience survey scores in the very top percentile—the ninety-ninth—in a recent report! This is an amazing achievement (especially since it was based on a statistically significant number of responses). Well done Bethann! I am proud of your excellent care of women in our area!”
1982 Kimberly Caputo Noe writes, “So thrilled to share that our ‘baby’ was George School bound in August 2019. She is looking forward to a new adventure and I must say the campus looks fantastic! She follows in the footsteps of her older sister Daisy O. Noe ’16 who will graduate in December with a degree in biology. Her love of science and writing was nurtured at George School. I have finally left the world of law in the enormous urban public education system and am excited to now be representing parents and caregivers facing challenges getting services for school age students with disabilities. It is tremendously gratifying work. Anytime anyone finds themselves in Bucks County give a shout out. Our door is always open and the dog is super friendly!” M. Shay Craig Robertson writes, “I was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in June 2018. I serve as curate at Christ Cathedral in Salina KS.”
1983 Janine M. Douglas writes, “I currently live in Atlanta GA and work as a coordinator for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.” Anne Snipes Moss writes, “I enjoyed seeing and catching up with Noriko (Nori) Miyakoda Hall and Betsy and Debbie Finston at the memorial lunch for Peggy Finston in February 2019. This year I am trying to upgrade my dressage judging license so have been learning a lot while apprentice judging all over the country. Channeling Elizabeth (Bet t y) Powell ffac, I started Blow Horn Pottery about a year ago, and am having great fun playing around with different clays and glazes. To my great delight Carol Ann Baker ffac, former George School religion teacher, has moved into the neighborhood, and it has been a treat reconnecting with her!” Audrey B. Pass writes, “I’m happily starting Chapter Three of my life and career and have reinvented myself once again. After spending four exciting years as the chief marketing officer of the Empire State Building, I am coming back down to earth and joining the organization Pencils of Promise (PoP) as the senior vice president of external affairs. PoP provides educational access to children in developing countries. I look forward to learning a lot and having an impact. I also look forward to ending the educational access I’ve provided to my daughter Elena, who will graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2020. I’d love to catch up with anyone in the New York area!”
1984 Kathryn (Kate) A. Bruton writes, “For the past six years, I have been involved with community tennis programming in Cheltenham Township PA. In January 2018 I started my own United States Tennis Association incorporated nonprofit tennis association and National Tennis and Learning Program. I run a seven-week summer camp, an eight-week fall
clinic, an after-school program for kids kindergarten through second grade, and will be starting a junior team tennis group this fall. My goal is to offer tennis opportunities for youth ages 5-17 years within Cheltenham and beyond at an affordable price. No child is denied due to cost (our programs are one-fifth the cost of others) and I offer scholarships. We were featured in Net Generation magazine in May 2019. This is a passion of mine and a labor of love which requires approximately 750 volunteer hours annually. If you know anyone interested in supporting or sponsoring us, please let me know! My son Connor (21) is in a five-year master’s program and studying history at LaSalle University. My daughter Aubrey will be entering the second grade.” Harold M. Buck writes, “My big news is that, after years of thinking about it, I have gotten back into dance. I’ve been practicing or taking classes six days per week and working on breaking, locking, popping, hip hop, tutting, and animating, and I’ve entered four dance battles in the past five months. It’s been a fun way to get exercise, and the Twin Cities dance community has been really accepting of the ‘old guy.’ I still ocean lifeguard on Long Beach Island NJ in the summers if anyone finds themselves in New Jersey and wants to get together.”
1985 Susan Wilson Baron writes, “Still enjoying living on a boat. Summers spent in eastern Long Island NY and winters in Florida, exact location always unknown because of the boating life. I’m following the flip flops. I got to visit campus last year and show my husband around. Still as beautiful as ever. The door to Main still has that wonderful familiar squeak, very nostalgic.”
1986 Jennifer ( Jen) Schmit t Perry writes, “I was a co-author of an article published July 2019 in the Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services about the use of asset building in the
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program I run: “The Impact of an Alternative to Detention on Developmental Assets for Adolescent Involved in the Juvenile Justice or Legal System.” Kirby W. Rosenbluth writes, “As of this September 2019, I am deploying for my sixth overseas tour. I have accepted an assignment to be the head of security at the US Embassy in Jerusalem. If you are ever in the neighborhood, please feel free to look me up!”
1987 Karl P. Biron writes, “Seth D. Rubin ’86 and I met for a quick Drayton second floor reunion in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in November 2016.” Andes Van Syckle Hruby writes, “I was chosen for the Iowa Review Award in nonfiction. ‘The Kitty’ is the first chapter of my nonfiction memoir, another of which was featured in the Los Angeles Times article The Robert Mapplethorpe photo you haven’t seen: The one he took of me. The journal featuring my work will be published in print and online in December.”
1988 Tamara ( Tammy) L. Harper writes, “I was excited to participate with three of my Atlanta Music Project colleagues at the PlayUSA workshop at Carnegie Hall in July 2019. The theme was artistry and belonging. We experienced live music and interactive learning with approximately eighty educators representing PlayUSA organizations from across the country. One of the highlights was a concert by the NYO Jazz Orchestra —talented youth ages 16-19. What an experience to be around so many like-minded creatives. Thankful and grateful!” Jeffrey K. Mann writes, “My third book came out this past year. It deals with the ethics of violence—a topic I was first taught to think critically about at George School. It is titled May I Kill? Just War, Non-Violence, and Civilian Self-Defense.”
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1990 Peter A. Flood writes, “I graduated from Allegheny College in 1996 with a BA in communications and then from Pittsburgh Technical Institute in 2003 with an associate degree in multimedia design. I am now a cartoonist with an original webcomic called Mannyacs. My creation details the adventures of an instrumental rock band full of dogs. My character roster is comprised of three dogs, a fox dressed like a superhero, and myself. My work is full of nods to real bands, real musicians, and real producers, plus references to favorite movies and shows. My principle writing influences are a mixture of Animaniacs, Firefly, Northern Exposure, 12 Monkeys, Phineas and Ferb, several Charles De Lint novels, Marc Maron’s podcast, and stand-up comedians like the late, great Richard Jeni. I designed everything in Mannyacs, including the featured guitar. I just recently celebrated my Manny-Versary and launched Comic Strip #200. All are welcome to join the party. Visit: www. mannyacs.com/. Select the ‘Newbies Start Here’ button and you can begin from the very beginning.”
1991 Laura Swanstrom Reece writes, “Our family recently relocated to Palm Beach FL from the Washington DC area. We launched Reece Worldwide Travel, a boutique travel agency focusing on family travel to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe. We are fortunate to have many George School alumni as clients and enjoy reconnecting with such wonderful friends. I would love to hear from other alums too! We also buy, sell, and lease hunter/jumper horses through our company Palm Beach Sport Horses. It’s given me an opportunity to show at the Wellington Equestrian Festival and reconnect with George School alumni Ivy Gordon Nyberg ’94, Steven (Steve) J. Jo ’90 and the niece of Hunter S. Euler ’88, Ella Doerr. I love a small world.” C. Brooke Wells writes, “Some fellas from the Class of 1991—Peter Koo, Andrew J. Stone, Brooks
M. Cavin, Matthew C. Barlow, C. Brooke Wells, Robert (Bob) M. Benck, Jeremy I. Harder, Adam L. Barea, Robert (Rob) E. Hardy, and Nopadon (Mike) M. Wongpakdee—gathered in Austin TX in January 2019 for a weekend of laughs, music, brisket, and friendship.”
1992 Michael G. March writes, “I made a life change. After some twenty years living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I took a weekend trip to Portland OR, fell in love with a dream home and beautiful scenery, and bought a house. I returned to the Bay Area, sold my house, and now happily live in Beaverton OR. The change from the Bay Area has been nice and I continue to work from home.”
1993 Shawna Grimm Lyons writes, “Can you believe it has been a year since our reunion? It has been a busy year. Almost twenty-five years after I graduated, I was thrilled to welcome the next generation of our family into the George School alumni status! My son Ryan Lyons ’18 already made his mark as the principal bassoonist and on the Dean’s List in his freshmen year. If you come to Atlanta GA, let me know. We have an active alumni group here and would love to catch up.”
1994 Cristina (Cris) E. Alonso writes, “I was admitted to Harvard University to study for a doctorate in public health.”
1995 Angel M. Fischer writes, “Hello George School family! I love seeing these notes in the Georgian and I am finally committing to writing one! It’s been an exciting few years. I married my best friend and love John (aka Lamby) in May 2016 and we have been living in Yardley PA. Molly Wolford DeGaetano was my wonderful matron of honor. We welcomed our beautiful baby girl Sunny Elise in October 2017. She is our sun, moon, and stars, and we love
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1993 Shawna Grimm Lyons ’93 and her son Ryan Lyons ’18.
1995 Angel M. Fischer ’95.
1997 Jesse (Jess) Nankin McMahon ’97.
1998 Tamara Reynolds-Monroe ’98.
1999 Robyn Pendleton Esancy ’99.
2002 Kevin H. Martinez ’02.
2003 Jessica (Jessie) A. Duncan ’03 was married on the Oregon Coast.
2003 Krysten M. Rollins ’03 married Jamie Sieck in June 2019.
2003 Ian T. Rhodewalt ’03 and Courtney Cullen’s wedding party: (from left to right) Morgan A. Rhodewalt ’01, Ross A. Hollister ’03, Sam Kestenbaum, Andrew (Andy) W. Carten ’04, Ian T. Rhodewalt ’03, Courtney Cullen, Ashley Cullen-Bandzuh, Sara Breen, Jenny Herbert, and Fiona McCue as the flower girl in the front row.
2004 Carey N. Walden ’04 and Michael with their dog Rigby on their wedding day.
2005 Sarah E. Moody ’05, Marianna L. Bogucki ’05, and K. Grace Turnbull Cleveland ’05 enjoying summer at a lake house in New Hampshire.
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seeing her grow into a sweet and very funny little girl. Kary Wolford Benedet to ’98 is Sunny’s amazing godmother. I am the director of strategy for a global consulting agency which has kept me very busy, but learning day by day how to balance and to stop and smell the sunflowers. We are looking forward to seeing Jaime L. Ginsberg and her family at the beach this summer and to seeing everyone at our 25th reunion next year. I cannot believe it. I still feel like I am fifteen, dancing in the pit in front of Marshall.” Emily L. Roysdon writes, “After living in Sweden for the last several years, I am moving back to the United States as a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. I am an artist and professor of fine art.”
1997 Jesse ( Jess) Nankin McMahon writes, “Hello Class of 1997! I am living in Arrowsic ME—a tiny town of about five hundred—with my husband Michael, two dogs, eight chickens, and as of March 2019, our first child, Pierce Lir. After a brief maternity leave, I’m back to work as a content producer for the PBS Kids show Nature Cat. It’s our mission to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards and encourage young children to explore the natural world that exists right outside their door (wherever they live). If you’re ever in Maine, stop by.” Christopher (Chris) D. Miller writes, “I hope everyone is doing well out there. Things have been very busy over the past year. My family and I bought a new house at the end of summer 2017, so we spent the next year settling into it, and I got a new job! The exciting part is that it is at another Friends school, and one of the few in the Washington DC area. I am now the director of college counseling at Sandy Spring Friends School, and my daughter will start third grade there which makes it even more fun. Last year I made
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it to Philadelphia PA for a conference and got the chance to hang out with Kassem L. Lucas ’90, and I still regularly catch up with Elihu (Eli) C. Miles ’95 and Cameron Walker-Miller. In fact, Eli’s family and mine had brunch recently with Ingrid Fleisher Yuryev ’98 and her family at her house—she works and lives near me (and her husband is an amazing cook!). I hope to see you all soon on your future travels through DC and on my future college tour adventures!”
1998 Tamara Reynolds-Monroe writes, “My organization, the Monroe Foundation for Youth, formerly known as the Monroe Foundation for Autism, celebrated our ten-year anniversary in May 2019. We are proud to announce that we expanded our services to help at risk youth, and our girls’ basketball team has won five championships in a row. I am slowly working on my doctorate and working as a part-time psychology adjunct at Delaware Valley University. In addition to working as a behavior specialist, mobile therapist, and yoga teacher in my spare time, my husband and I continue to raise our five children.”
1999 Robyn Pendleton Esancy writes, “Made it to the 20th reunion —it was great to see so many faces. Having spent the last eight years at a Athena Health technology company, I earned a nine-week sabbatical. I spent the summer with my family, competing in some competitive trail rides with my horse, camping, but mostly relaxing. In September 2019, I returned to my position as a manager on the client support project team, supporting my awesome team and solving our clients’ most complex concerns. After last November’s bucket list trip to Hawaii, I’m looking to plan my next adventure! If any alumni are ever in Maine, please look me up.”
2001 Kimberly (Kid) M. Brabazon writes, “As head of consulting at
Ackama in New Zealand, I’ve just led a team to deliver the world’s first virtual political summit, the CVF Virtual Climate Summit, on behalf of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. The entirely online, carbon free event was an opportunity for government officials, NGOs, scientific experts, and the public to share their stories and ideas on how to tackle climate change issues facing our planet. Representation from the United States included Former US Vice President Al Gore and Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as keynote speakers. See the full agenda: https:// www.virtualclimatesummit.org. A copy of the recent press release from my company: https://www.ackama. com/blog/posts/33, and if you follow #virtualclimatesummit there is a lot of traction on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. If you’d like to chat more about any of the above, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.”
2002 Lauren Perez Bralski writes, “My husband and I currently live in Douglassville PA with our three children (Katherine, Isabel, and Oliver), two dogs, and twenty chickens! After working nine years in the corporate world I resigned and stayed home with the kids. This year I have been fortunate enough to find a new position tying my passion with purpose. I was offered the role as the director of operations and director of social media, as well as a coach, for a nonprofit tennis organization in Pottstown PA providing scholarship and outreach programs for the community. I am also the varsity girls’ tennis coach for Pottstown High School.” Kevin H. Martinez writes, “Hello George School family! It’s been years since I last wrote to you all in the Georgian. All I can say is that I have been doing well. I’ve reached the halfway point in my career with the New York Police Department after 11.5 years. I’m also a wellness coach with Herbalife and it has helped me lose over thirty pounds. Now I’m taking what I’ve learned, and I’m helping
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others out on their journey to a better lifestyle! I definitely miss George School and want to go back soon to reconnect with all of you! ”
2003 Jessica ( Jessie) A. Duncan writes, “Lots of news to share this year! My massage and yoga therapy practice in Portland OR is growing and very fulfilling. I met and married my husband Andy, and we bought a beautiful home and garden outside of Portland to grow our family. Hoping for dogs and babies soon! Our honeymoon in Australia was an epic adventure to seek out all the native flora and fauna, especially the giant cuttlefish (Andy’s a biologist). Best wishes to all George School alumni, but especially the Class of 2003.” Ian T. Rhodewalt writes, “I am excited to share that I got married in June 2019 to Courtney Cullen from the Laurel Highlands of PA. We are living and teaching in Amherst MA. The wedding was held in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and was attended by a number of George School alumni, former faculty, and community members. Morgan A. Rhodewalt ’01, Ross A. Hollister, and Andrew (Andy) W. Carten ’04 were three of my four groomsmen, and Carolyn B. Lyday ffac officiated the wedding. Nicolas (Nico) E. Houghton ’00, Juliana (Julie) D. Carten ’00 were in attendance, as were former George School teachers and campus community members Scott Rhodewalt, Susan Rhodewalt, Mabel Houghton ffac, Donald Houghton, and Margaret A. Sanborn fstaff. I also am working on my first novel and a collection of short stories. I have been teaching preschool in Amherst MA for five years—since receiving my master’s degree in social justice education from University of Massachusetts Amherst. I am a very happy uncle of my niece Esther (2) who served as ringbearer at the wedding.” Krysten M. Rollins writes, “I’m so grateful for the impact George School had at such an important time
in my life. I have lived in Chicago IL for twelve years and practice as a family nurse practitioner in an underserved community. I’m grateful for my children to whom I teach Quaker values and excited to announce my marriage in June 2019 to the love of my life, Jamie Sieck. May we all build a more loving, peaceful future.” Jonathan ( Jon) R. Stot t writes, “My wife Joanna, our daughters Charlotte and Lilibet, and I welcomed Robert Francis ‘Fran’ II to our family in October 2018, and we are happily settling into life with three little ones. I was promoted to partner in the private equity and mergers and acquisitions group at Dechert LLP—a large international law firm—in January 2019 and continue to enjoy my work and rely on many of the lessons I learned at George School. I see Palmer Dalgliesh Marinelli (‘Uncle Palmer’ to my kids) frequently.”
2004 Wi Hyun (Brian) Lee writes, “I moved out to the Bay Area in California after years on the East Coast. I will be a physician working for Alameda Health System.” Olivia C. Perez writes, “It’s been a full and fulfilling year, with lots of George School alumni love and support. I returned to George School to celebrate my 15th reunion, moved into a new home with help from Lawrence Resnick ’07, and married Alexander (Alex) S. Det tmer ’06 with our best friends Adaobi (Dobi) S. Kanu, Krysten L. Trull, Leonel (Leo) Rodriguez ’06, and David M. Mason ’06 by our side in our wedding party. We are very grateful for everyone’s warm wishes.” Daniel (Dan) C. Suchenski writes, “As a wearer of multiple hats I wanted to make the alumni community aware of two events. The Delaware STEM Council will be hosting its annual Delaware STEM Symposium and Educator Awards at the DuPont Country Club outside
Wilmington DE to acknowledge the good work that teachers do in the state to promote science, technology, engineering, and math. I am also hosting an event in Canberra, Australia for international affairs and the role of China in the world for my work with the China and the World Program on December 16-18, 2019. If anyone is interested to learn more or would like to attend, please feel free.” Carey N. Walden writes, “Just weeks after co-organizing the fifteenyear milestone Alumni Weekend for the Class of 2004, I married the love of my life Michael Glancey in Easton MD in June 2019 on the banks of Maxmore Creek, where my father’s ashes are scattered. In attendance were several George School alumnae, including my sister Alcora N. Walden ’01, Katherine (Katie) E. Kurek, Ayanna D. OliverTaylor, and Catherine (Katie) M. Kerr. It was a fantastic celebration of love and friendship with weather seemingly orchestrated by the late David Walden himself. The distance traveled by my dearest classmates totaled more than 3,400 miles. This was a testament of the bonds generated at George School and solidified during the fifteen years postcommencement. Happily, Michael attended Alumni Weekend four times to experience a meaningful crosssection of this community experience. I look forward to the next chapter of our shared life, instilled with values fostered by my experiences at George School, and new memories with the friends I met so long ago at this treasured place. See you at our 20th!”
2005 Lacey R. Kovacic writes, “In April 2018, my husband and I moved to Austin TX. I am now working at the College of Education at The University of Texas. We are enjoying all the barbeque in our new city!” Sarah E. Moody writes, “Hello classmates! I’m currently living in southwest Washington DC and working in Annandale VA with the
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Department of Family Services. Looking forward to our 15th reunion!”
2006 Alexander (Alex) S. Det tmer writes, “This year I moved into a new home and married my best friend, Olivia C. Perez ’04. Surrounded by our loved ones (including many of our best George School friends), we could not have asked for a more perfect celebration! We look forward to this next chapter of our lives.”
2007 Rachel A. Griffin-Snipes writes, “I am enjoying a summer filled with travel, good food, and friends. I loved spending a short visit with Elizabeth J. Grafeld as she traveled through town in June 2019.” Jane E. Sancinito writes, “Hello all, I’ve had a busy few years and am pleased to report that I have finished my PhD in ancient history at the University of Pennsylvania and am now a visiting assistant professor of Classics at Oberlin College and Conservatory. I’ve published a couple of articles on Roman history and am currently working on my first book, which is about the uses of reputation among merchants in the Roman Empire. I’ll be teaching at Oberlin for one more year, and then we will see where the winds take me.”
2008 David H. Bernstein writes, “I am a doctoral job market candidate and summer instructor at the Miami Business School at the University of Miami. I have published my research in leading economics and econometrics journals including Energy Economics and Econometrics. I am interested in studying the US energy sector as well as econometric methods more generally.” Eliza Catalino writes, “It is with great pleasure and excitement that I share with my George School family that I headed off to Harvard University this fall to embark on my next adventure in education, to obtain my
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master’s degree in school leadership. For the past seven years I have been a middle school educator consistently motivated and inspired by those that taught me at George School. Thank you for teaching and demonstrating to me a standard of excellence and compassion that I have been able to pass along to the students who have come through the doors of my classroom.” Emily S. Rogers writes, “It was quite a George School event when I walked down the aisle of the Outdoor Auditorium with my parents Thomas ( Tom) C. Rogers ’73 fac and Kathy Hart Rogers ’75 ffac to marry Dominic Reeder from England in June 2018. Alison L. Greidinger was maid of honor, and Joelle I. Sanphy fac and Kelly Lan were among the bridesmaids. Following the ceremony, guests gathered under a white tent on the patio of the Mollie Dodd Anderson Library for a Britishstyle tea reception; former George School Food Service Director Joseph Ducati and Kate Smith-Ducati fac catered the celebration and made all of the tea sandwiches and desserts. Among the guests were: my sister Abigail (Abbie) S. Rogers ’05; my grandmother Esther Stapler Hart ’52; my great-aunt Mary Stapler Nystrom ’45; my aunt Susan (Sam) E. Hart Wyrick ’79; and my uncle Michael E. Rogers ’79. Other George School alumni guests were Daniel (Dan) P. Vari, Brian J. Seuffert, Samantha (Sam) D. Grossman, Christine M. Pontecorvo, and Alana N. Burchman.
2009 Kabir Chopra writes, “Dear friends, I’m excited to tell you about my latest project, Swiped to Death, an episodic series that explores the messy realities of online dating, told from both the male and female perspective. The series follows two single South Asians in New York City as they try their luck on a dating app. Each episode is based on a real-life date that went terribly wrong. Swiped to Death stars Reema Sampat (Orange is the
New Black, Jessica Jones) and myself (Madam Secretary, Horror Time). This project has been two years in the making and I can’t wait to share it with you. Thank you so much for your continued support!” Sarah R. Pollock writes, “I graduated from the University of Virginia with my PhD in microbiology. I am currently working as a technical advisor at Ice Miller LLP in Philadelphia PA where I’m merging my science background with patent law.” JoAnn Riker writes, “I absolutely loved seeing everyone for our ten-year reunion this year! My husband and I have finally moved from Japan and are currently residing in San Francisco CA! Our next big move is to the Los Angeles CA area to work for Sega. Hoping to also get our EmaLee into acting and modeling since she is such a drama queen. My next dream is to be one of those crazy stage moms, so keep an eye out for me on Dance Moms or something in the future.”
2010 Elizabeth (Liz) A. Bitzer writes, “Hello, George School family! This past year, after six years of dating, I married my best friend and soulmate Rubén. I even had Hannah B. Bitzer ’11 and Leonor (Leo) M. Gomes ’11 as my bridesmaids, a testament to how precious our George School friendships really are. Rubén and I now live in his hometown of Barcelona, Spain. I left my HR career path in the United States, and because I’m bilingual I’m fortunate to have a blank slate. I guess all of that Spanish with Molly L. Stephenson fac really paid off! Sending all my best wishes from across the Atlantic!” Stephanie M. Feinman writes, “I have been working as a creative production coordinator and post associate producer at the National Geographic Channel in New York since October 2017. Some of the most recent projects I have worked on are 2019’s Oscar winning documentary feature Free Solo, as well as the ten-
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2006 George School alumni joined to celebrate the wedding of Alexander (Alex) S. Dettmer ’06 and Olivia C. Perez ’04.
2007 Rachel A. Griffin-Snipes ’07 and her wife Nora on a road trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
2008 David H. Bernstein ’08.
2008 Eliza Catalino ’08.
2008 Emily S. Rogers ’08 and Dominic Reeder on South Lawn after their wedding in the Outdoor Auditorium in June 2018.
2009 JoAnn Riker ’09 with her husband and daughter.
2010 Elizabeth (Liz) A. Bitzer ’10.
2010 Stephanie M. Feinman ’10 in Ancash, Peru.
2012 Meredith Allen ’12 and Eli S. Bresler ’13 enjoy San Francisco’s Carnaval festivities.
2017 Holdyn B. Barder ’17.
2017 Akshay Gupta ’17.
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part cinematic series One Strange Rock currently on Netflix, hailing from the award-winning team of filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) and producer Jane Root. I am currently working on a new documentary feature, The Cave, with Oscarnominated filmmaker Feras Fayyad (Last Man in Aleppo) which unveils the harrowing true story of an underground Syrian hospital and the team of medical professionals led by women who risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population.”
2012 Meredith Allen writes, “Upon graduating from George School, I moved west to attend Colorado College. After nearly seven years in the Rockies, I now live in San Francisco CA (to that end, I’d love to connect with others in the Bay Area). Postcollegiate life has been a whirlwind— particularly in the last year and a half! In that time, I’ve freelanced event production and political advance work across the United States. From campaign launches to climate change forums, I’ve enjoyed a dynamic life (mostly) on the road. I continue to study herbal medicine and nutrition, spend time outdoors, and see live music whenever I can. As always, I hold George School close to my heart. South Lawn still feels like a version of home. Take care!”
2015 Alison (Alie) Tomlin writes, “I just graduated with my bachelors of science in nursing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Starting in August 2019, I am working as an RN at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore MD in their new graduate Nurse Residency Program!”
2017 Holdyn B. Barder writes, “I regard my time at George School as some of the most creative and educative years of my life. Occasionally, I will ride through the property to remind myself of all the amazing experiences I’ve had on this enchanted campus. Following graduation, I had
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enrolled in Lafayette College’s physics department to pursue quantum mechanics, as well as philosophy. My interests shifted after my first year, which led to pursuing economics. My passion for music (which began during my time at George School and when performing at many Live Music Weekends) grew while at Lafayette, too. I am now chasing a country music career. In 2018 my current management consultant first contacted me, and from then on, I have been frequenting Nashville TN monthly for recording, songwriting, and meetings, as well as networking and collaborating with well-revered artists, engineers, and songwriters in and around the Nashville metropolitan area. In Fall 2019, I transferred to Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Music Business and Entertainment, studying music business, audio engineering technology, including a music production emphasis. Words alone cannot express how excited I am to relocate to Nashville to continue to pursue my childhood dreams at a professional level. I cannot wait for the future ahead. I credit George School for teaching me how to follow my joy, whatever the cost is, and for imparting the spiritual wisdom and lifelong connections I will cherish forever.” Akshay Gupta writes, “After graduating I wentto Manhattan to continue my studies in economics, while seeing where I could gain experience in the world of finance. In January 2019 I was offered a position at a new venture capital fund in the heart of Soho. The fund currently manages $60 million and is seeing exponential growth. There are only seven of us, so I am constantly given the opportunity to learn from and work with people like the founder—a chance many people don’t get in big corporations. I’m currently starting a mutual fund geared towards teaching college students about financial literacy. Money is not the purpose of life and in no way can it buy happiness, but money enables you to do the things which do bring you happiness.
It’s a medium. Through my studies and professional experience, I hope to help other people grow their wealth and increase their knowledge on being financially stable. I currently run a group chat which has several alumni and other college students, where we exchange knowledge about the stock market, including tips on trading and opinions on certain markets. It’s a place for people to learn more about investing, regardless of their level of expertise.”
2018 Sophia C. Stio writes, “I write this note on a hot Saturday in July 2019. It is 1:00 p.m. and I have just returned home from having breakfast with my friends from the Class of 2018. Yes, breakfast. Yes, we left for the cafe at 9:00 a.m. No, the cafe was not upset with us for loitering. What became evident to me as I laughed with my friends for four hours is that George School taught us how to listen. During our lengthy discussion this morning, everyone’s voice was valued. Every friend’s contribution to the conversation was treasured. No one went unnoticed. I am convinced that this way of engaging with people is truly one of a kind. I will always be grateful for time spent with my brilliant, loving, and high-spirited George School friends.”
Class notes for this issue were received as of September 6, 2019. The “Alumni Tell Us” and “In Memoriam” sections of the Georgian are shared online. If you do not want your name to be included in notes from others, contact us at advancement@georgeschool.org or 215.579.6571. The views and opinions expressed in class notes do not necessarily represent those of the school. Notes submitted for publication might be edited due to space limitations and Georgian style guidelines.
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How will you remember George School? Celebrate and invest in George School’s past, present, and future. A planned gift is a powerful act of philanthropy, and one that serves as a testament to your belief in the importance of a George School education. We hope that you will consider such a personal and important gift that will enrich and make permanent your legacy.
To learn more about planned gifts, contact Renée Mayo ’93, leadership gifts officer for planned giving and institutional support at 215.579.6574 or rmayo@georgeschool.org.
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In Memoriam EDITED BY ODIE LEFEVER
1937 F. Preston (Pres) Buckman June 15, 2018 Pres served as an Army medic in the 104th Infantry Division in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany during World War II. In 2009, he was given the French Legion of Honor, France’s most prestigious award, for his role in liberating the country from the Nazis in 1944. Pres also received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. After returning from the war, Pres worked in management and administration at the Curtis Publishing Co. before founding Buckman Van Buren in Abington with his friend and business partner Walter Van Buren. He served as president of the company, which specialized in personal and employee benefits. Pres graduated from Swarthmore College in 1941 after attending George School. His family said Pres was a true gentleman with a fabulous sense of humor, who cared deeply about charity and loved tennis. Pres volunteered with many Quaker charitable organizations. He served as chairman of the board of Jeanes Hospital, director of the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, founding director of Friends Life Care at Home, and director of the board of Foulkeways at Gwynedd. As an active member of Abington Monthly Meeting, he served as president of John Barnes Trustees Inc., president of the Grandom Institution, chairman of the Abington Friends School Committee, and chairman of the Tyson Fund. In his personal notes discovered by his daughter, Pres wrote that “the best thing that ever happened to me” was meeting and marrying his wife, whom he described as “able, beautiful, caring, capable, and artistic.” In addition to his daughter and wife, he is survived by his son and two grandchildren.
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1939 Lucile Raymond Silvester March 29, 2018 Lucile was a 1938 graduate of Princeton High School and a 1939 graduate of George School. Employed by Princeton Fuel Oil during World War II, she also published a monthly newsletter for three years for her husband and friends serving in World War II, writing them consistently to keep them all in touch. She retired in 1945 to raise five children and build the family log home with her husband John. “Chimney Lodge,” which it was affectionately named, became a welcoming paradise to neighbors, friends, and family, often in large numbers, coming from many miles. She was “Mom” or “Grammy” to all and was most often found caring diligently for the extensive grounds. She enjoyed skiing until age 79 and skated on the pond into her 90s. She was well known for reaching out to and helping everyone around her and will be missed by all who knew her. When she moved to Pennington NJ at the age of 93, she quickly made new friends and pitched into gardening at several of the neighboring homes. Lucile is survived by a daughter and four sons, eight grandchildren, and sixteen great-grandchildren. Dwight G. Stauffer May 12, 2016 Dwight passed away peacefully in his sleep. He enjoyed time with his wife and four children before his health turned earlier that same week.
1940 Marjory (Marge) R. Abbot t January 4, 2019 Marge graduated from Colorado College in 1944 then continued her education at the University of Pennsylvania becoming an occupational therapist. Marge attained her master’s degree in early education from Mills College. She enjoyed working as a kindergarten teacher at Chandler Tripp School for physically disabled children in San Jose CA for a few years before being promoted to principal of the school, a position she held for
twenty-five years before retiring and returning to her home state of Colorado. While at Chandler Tripp, Marge was responsible for many innovations and improvements in providing disabled children with quality education, including structural modifications to buildings, and field trips. After retiring and returning to Colorado, Marge spent many hours enjoying her hobbies of woodworking and gardening. In the summer she gardened for many friends and neighbors as well as tending to her own beautiful yard. Marge had a passion for travel and visited over seventy-five countries on six continents (although regretted never making it to Antarctica). She enjoyed seeing new places and learning about other cultures around the world, always prepared with her camera and binoculars. As an avid photographer Marge documented her travels with thousands of slides and enjoyed sharing these with family and friends. Marge was incredibly determined and very independent, a loving, caring, devoted person who will be greatly missed by family, and so many friends. Rose Anderson Akerman September 12, 2018 Rose was so very grateful for being able to attend George School along with her sisters after their parents passed away. Louise Zimmerman Forscher January 25, 2018 Louise leaves two daughters and two grandchildren. Among her passions were reading, writing, acting, and collecting dolls from all over the world, originally donated by well-traveled friends of her parents. She ended up with a large collection, which she occasionally lent to small museums. George School introduced her to the Quaker faith, as well as to numerous friends, some of whom she kept up with for the rest of her life. She was a devoted letter writer. Louise graduated from Swarthmore College in 1944 with a joint major in English and philosophy, as well as additional lifelong friends. She earned her MA in English
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from Columbia University, married A. Kent Hieatt in 1945, and taught English composition and literature for several years at Hunter College. In 1961, she married Dick Forscher, a carpenter, teacher, and sailor. Louise taught part-time at the local branch of the University of Connecticut and was always interested in politics and current affairs. During the Vietnam War, she followed her Quaker faith by offering draft counseling and she also wrote many “letters to the editor.� Louise was cheerful and a great conversationalist, and always reached out to new neighbors to welcome them to the community. She led book discussion groups and worked in the library there and read to friends who had fallen ill. She also enjoyed puzzling, gardening, and taking daily walks in the woods surrounding the community. Louise was also highly organized. After each trip she constructed detailed scrapbooks with pictures, captions, and maps recording her travels. She also kept diaries of some of these trips, reading them now, we laugh affectionately at the amazing amount of detail she included. The scrapbooks provided a welcome means of sharing, communicating, and remembering with Louise, once she declined into dementia. She also still enjoyed going outside, marveling at the flowers, trees, and sky. Donald J. Kester April 6, 2017 Donald was a CPA, who retired as a senior partner of the accounting firm KPMG. He then started his own consulting firm and continued to work from home through his final days. Donald was a World War II bronze star veteran. He was a member of the American Legion Post 134 Bernard Schlegel where he served for several years as part of the Color Guard. Donald also was a lifetime member of the Union League of Philadelphia. He thrived on the time he spent with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, who all learned important life lessons from his fascinating stories and sense of humor and his unconditional love, honesty, wisdom,
patience, and strength at times of adversity. He will be forever loved for his open heart and open home and generosity towards family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who crossed his path. He is survived by his six children, his eighteen grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren.
At one time she was active in the Rose-Tree Media Student Exchange Club and the Media Community Concert Association. She was a member of and volunteered for many environmental organizations. Caroline leaves three children, three grandsons, and one great grandson.
Frances (Franie) Wallin Shaw December 22, 2018 Frannie received a BA in psychology from Swarthmore College. She married Robert J. Shaw in January 1943 and they moved to Michigan after he was discharged from the Navy. When Bob finished law school at the University of Michigan they relocated to western Michigan, eventually settling in Grandville, where their four children were raised. Frannie’s abiding interests in psychology, child development, learning for all ages, and preserving the natural environment were evident in her many professional accomplishments as a social worker for preschool children and wide-ranging lifelong volunteer activities involving human services and the environment. She and Bob retired to Florida for eighteen years before returning to western Michigan to be close to family, friends, and the landscape she loved. Her husband and son preceded her in death. Frannie is survived by four daughters and five grandchildren.
Cicely Canby Post November 13, 2017 Cicely married Herbert at a Quaker meeting in Langhorne PA in 1945. Together they owned a farm in Pennsylvania until moving to Florida in 1956. Cicely worked for the Pinellas County Extension Service for over thirty years specializing in home economics and horticulture. She was a member of the Extension Homemakers Association for over fifty years, serving as club, county, and state president. She also served as a Florida delegate for the Associated Country Women of the World, visiting twelve countries in the process, and was a member of the Suncoast Chapter of the Embroidery Guild of America and the 4H Economics Department. She collected both international and American historic costumes, at one time having more than one hundred, and she presented fashion shows for many different organizations. Cicely was predeceased by her husband of fifty-nine years, Herbert, and her brother Joseph, killed in the Battle of the Bulge. She is survived by many nieces and nephews.
1941 Caroline Smith Hoffman June 15, 2019 Caroline was a lifelong member of the Religious Society of Friends, with her longest membership at Media Friends Meeting, where she served as recording clerk and on the Overseers and Fellowship Activities committees. She was born and raised in Bucks County PA on a dairy farm and graduated from West Chester State Teachers College. She taught at a one-room school near her birthplace, and later at Media Friends School in the 1950s and 1960s. She also worked in Philadelphia for Curtis Publishing Co. When the children were grown, she was employed at the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Senta Amon Raizen December 23, 2017 Senta was well known nationally and internationally for her work in science education, which impacted millions of children around the world. She founded the National Center for Improving Science Education in 1988, which she led until her retirement in 2010. She is survived by her husband, three children, and nine grandchildren. Marjorie Forbush Scot t February 8, 2018 Marjorie was the wife of the late Harry Shane Scott, Jr She is survived
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by her son, two daughters, and five grandchildren.
1942 Donald S. Beyer December 23, 2017 Donald was an US Army colonel, Volvo dealer, race car driver, beloved husband, father, grandfather, greatgrandfather and cherished friend. Donald spent his childhood on Spring Hill Farm in McLean VA. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1946 and served as an Army officer in many places around the world for the next twenty-one years. A Car Guy from the beginning, Donald founded Don Beyer Motors in 1973. He continued to attend NASCAR events until his 80s. He is survived by five children, fifteen grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren and his devoted companion and love for the last seven years, Betty Knight. Donald will be sorely missed yet celebrated for his long, happy, productive life. The memories of his love, warmth, humor, wisdom, and integrity live on. Allen L. Boorstein February 12, 2018 Businessman and opera lover, Allen was deeply devoted to his wife of sixtyeight years, Jane Kulla Boorstein. He served as a radio technician in the Navy during World War II and returned to Cornell University to complete a degree in electrical engineering in 1946. He graduated from the Harvard Business School in 1950. After many years of work, he became the owner and president of Rob Roy, a boys’ shirt company, founded by his father August Boorstein in 1922. Allen modernized Rob Roy’s approach to manufacturing, sales, and management; he completely integrated and eliminated racial segregation of bathroom and drinking facilities in the company’s factories in Maryland. Allen sold Rob Roy in 1979. In the 1980s he studied System Dynamics at MIT and became a passionate advocate for teaching systems thinking to young students. He is survived by his wife Jane, a sister, a daughter, two sons, and a grandson.
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Margaret Wilson Denison June 27, 2019 Margaret was a graduate of Wilson College in Chambersburg PA. She retired as the facility manager for SRA International in Fairfax VA. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, the Lord Fairfax Garden Club, the Women’s Golf Association, and a member of the Winchester Country Club Tigers. Her husband preceded her in death in 2006. Margaret is survived by three daughters, three grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. William (Bill) B. Morlok January 3, 2018 After serving in WWII, Pacific Theatre, Bill married Nancy Fessler in 1946, and they moved to State College, where he graduated from Penn State in 1948 with a degree in electrical engineering. He spent his business career at the Philadelphia Electric Company, retiring in 1986 as vice president of commercial operations. He was active on many private and public, regional and national boards and associations, and received numerous awards and recognitions. Bill was as successful in life as he was in business. He was an accomplished gardener and landscaper, wooworker, tennis player—most recently at Merion Cricket Club. He traveled extensively and was an avid reader and student of history. He loved his springer spaniels, and most of all he loved his family and friends. His wife, Nancy, passed away in 2013. His love, example, and presence will be missed by his sister, his children, his five grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. Martha Reeder Palmer November 17, 2016 Martha attended Earlham College in Richmond IN. She was married in 1947 to Stuart Mervin Palmer. Together they traveled to China and Europe and spent many summers on Nantucket Island MA. Martha was a lifelong Quaker and a member of the Crosswicks Friends Meeting, where she played piano for the Sunday
meeting for worship for many years. An educator by training, Martha spent most of her career working for the Camden and Philadelphia school districts. Her interests included collecting and selling antiques, and old houses, but she most enjoyed spending time with her family. She is survived by her sister, Edith (Edie) Reader Pray ’44, her daughter and son, five grandchildren, and two great grandsons. Rolf Valtin August 1, 2018 Rolf was a labor mediator and arbitrator who helped resolve labor disputes involving General Motors, coal and steel companies, and their labor unions. He was born Rolf Wiegelmesser in Hamburg, Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1938 because of his family’s Jewish and Quaker background. During World War II, he served in the US Army as an interrogator of German prisoners of war. He was an allAmerican soccer player at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and was a member of the US Olympic soccer team at the 1948 Summer Games. Rolf was a federal mediator and arbitrator in Philadelphia before moving to the Washington area in 1965 and opening his own arbitration practice. He retired in 2013.
1943 Walter S. Farley November 22, 2017 Walter served in the US Navy during World War II and was honorably discharged in 1943. An eternal optimist, his enthusiastic reply to “How are you?” was always a resounding “Fan-tas-tic!” Walter was an engineer and held degrees from Northwestern University and Drexel University. He worked for thirteen years at Philadelphia Electric Company and taught engineering as an adjunct professor at Drexel Evening College. Walter’s passion was politics. He served as an elected official in Middletown Township for many years and served an eight-year term as a Bucks County
IN MEMORIAM
Commissioner in the 1960s. While a commissioner, he played a key role in bringing the Bucks County Community College to reality. In the early 1970s, he was a founding partner in the firm of Stratton-Farley which became Dawson Engineering, specializing in forensics. He led and grew that successful firm until retiring in 2006, at the age of 80. He is survived by his wife of thirty-one years, Maggie Goyne Farley, four stepchildren, six grandchildren, and one great-grandson. Macdonald (Don) H. Leach August 11, 2018 Don excelled in soccer at George School. After graduating, he joined the Army in the summer of 1943 and was discharged in 1949. Of his war time, he remembered his father telling him before he left, “Keep your mouth shut, your eyes open and never, never volunteer for anything!” He also remembered the kindness of people to men in uniform. After the war Don went to Yale University majoring in English. In the early 1950s he moved to Manhattan and worked in sales and advertising for several automobile companies including Packard and the French auto company, Citroen, for which he became advertising director. Don moved to the Washington area in the late 1960s to work for the Library of Congress copyright office and retired in 1990. A life-long car enthusiast, Don was an authority on cars of the pre-war era and wrote and published articles. He was a member of several car clubs including the Lambda Car Club of Washington of which he was a founding member. Don was an avid reader and was very knowledgeable about American history and the British royal family. He will be remembered for his sense of humor, his story telling, and his sharp wit. He will be greatly missed. Don is survived by his brother, two nephews, and many long-time friends. Robert (Bob) W. Parker February 22, 2019 Bob will be remembered for his generosity and big heart. His kindness
and sense of humor will be missed. He walked the talk. He was predeceased by his wife and two sisters. He is survived by his son, daughter, and granddaughter. John P. Schwantes February 6, 2018 John attended Swarthmore College and graduated from Cornell University in 1952 with a degree in chemical engineering. He was a warm, kind, generous, smart, fun-loving, and adventurous man. During WWII he was a conscientious objector who served in the Civilian Conservation Corp as a lumberjack and fireman in the American northwest. He worked for many years as a chemical engineer at DuPont. He was a woodworker and tinkerer who enjoyed tweaking his table saw and other tools as much as building furniture. John was an avid churchgoer and sang in church and community choirs including barbershop quartets. He was a volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society. He traveled throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and the US with his family and maintained a sense of curiosity. He read The Economist each week and shared his opinions about politics, the economy, and the environment. On his cherished iMac he created and maintained spreadsheets of the Wii bowling league at the Friends Village. He is survived by his second wife Bertha and her children, thirteen grandchildren, and twentysix great-grandchildren. Marian Morse Swan June 13, 2018 Marian studied nursing at Pennsylvania Hospital and then became a nurse at New York Hospital in Manhattan, where she met her husband, Roy Craig Swan Jr, a resident physician. After her children were grown, she pursued her passion to become an actress, studying in New York City with Stella Adler and Uta Hagan. She performed on stage off-Broadway in Equity productions and in regional theaters in New York and Pennsylvania and on TV in soap operas (The Guiding Light and Ryan’s Hope); and had small roles
in feature films including Three Days of the Condor with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway; Serpico with Al Pacino; Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams with Joanne Woodward; and Witness with Harrison Ford. She taught acting at Wiest Barron Studios in Philadelphia. Her other creative passions included gardening, stenciling, needlepoint, and knitting. She was active in the Rockland Shakespeare Society, serving as its president, and was a docent at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland. She was very interested in politics and ran for Maine Senate in 2005. An avid reader, she always had a fine novel to lend. She was a dear lady and wonderful mother, and grandmother, admired by all for her grace, kindness, charm and empathetic ear. Up to the end of her life, she remained independent, living on her own and driving herself to do errands. Marian is survived by three sons, a granddaughter, and a step-grandson. Martha Washburn Trull July 7, 2018 Martha will be remembered for her gentle yet strong spirit. She volunteered throughout her life for many organizations in the Hartford and Chapel Hill communities. In 1993, Martha and her husband, Sam, retired to Chapel Hill NC. They spent twelve years together at Carol Woods Retirement Community where they embraced the community. Martha was preceded in death by her husband, Samuel F. Trull. She leaves four children including Andrew P. Trull ’72, Margaret Trull Waddington ’69, and Nancy Trull Laughridge ’75. She also leaves eight grandchildren including Benjamin T. Waddington ’94, Nathaniel W. Waddington ’96, S. Andrew Waddington ’99, Krysten Trull Williams ’04, Meghan Trull Zullo ’06, and Seumas A. Trull ’10, as well as three great-grandchildren. Martha is survived by two siblings, including Cornelia (Neal) Washburn Frey ’51, and eight nieces and nephews.
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M. Elizabeth (Bet t y) Haines Williamson June 3, 2018 Betty was the devoted wife for fiftyseven years of her late husband, John W. Williamson, who died in 2007. She earned her BS and RN from Skidmore College in 1947 and worked in public health nursing in the Newton and Boston area. She and her family lived in Wellesley MA for forty-five years where they were members of the Unitarian Universalist Church. They all vacationed in New London MA, starting in 1960 and moving there permanently in 1995. Betty was a member of the Kearsarge Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and dedicated “weed watcher” for the Pleasant Lake Protective Association. She was a founding member of the Wellesley Garden Club, a member of the New London Garden Club, the New London Historical Society, Elkins Ladies Benevolent Society, and the Kearsarge Area Council on Aging where she generously volunteered her time and energy. Betty was a tremendous cook who loved swimming, tennis, gardening, crafts of all kinds, as well as loons, other birds, and wildflowers; she always carried binoculars with her, even after retiring to Woodcrest. She was a loving and dedicated wife and mother/stepmother of six sons. Her love and loyalty to her family were the center of her life. Betty was very talented in many crafts, which now enrich the lives of many friends and family, and which she frequently contributed to support local charities. JoAnn Johnson Woodman December 3, 2018 JoAnn graduated from George School and Mount Holyoke College, where she made lifelong friends. JoAnn married Lewis Woodman sixty-eight years ago, sharing a partnership that was a model for many couples. JoAnn valued family most highly, raising her daughter Susan and son Tom through childhood before returning to school for a MA in teaching, followed by twenty plus years of teaching fifth grade in Centennial School District. In later years, this evolved into love
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for her six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and she never stopped teaching. JoAnn loved people and made it her mission to ensure that everyone felt welcome with her big smile. She brought her gift of learning names and welcoming newcomers from teaching into her long and active membership in Newtown Friends Meeting, residence at Pennswood Village, and her many volunteer activities. She loved to learn new things and visit new places. Her second passion was for social justice, focusing endless volunteer hours on organizations including the League of Women Voters, the Peace Center, and VITA, seeing education as the primary pathway for moving ahead in the world, and the need for all people to have a voice. She held everyone to a high standard, providing support and encouragement to be their best self. She encouraged selfsufficiency and self-advocacy. Her final gift was giving herself to Humanity Gifts Registry. JoAnn is survived by her daughter Susan Woodman Hoskins ’7 1, son Thomas H. Woodman ’73, six grandchildren including Nicholas W. Hoskins ’04, Daniel W. Hoskins ’12, and two great-grandchildren.
1944 Elizabeth Raiford Hansard August 25, 2018 Elizabeth was a resident of Ormond Beach FL. After George School, she attended and graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro NC. Kenneth A. Wilcox September 15, 2018 Kenneth graduated from the University of Maryland in 1950 with a BS degree in accounting. He later attended the University of Baltimore School of Law where he graduated with a JD degree, was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1966, and began his law practice in Elkton MD. Kenneth was elected the mayor of Elkton from 1967-1971. From 1971-72, he served as Cecil County assistant state’s attorney. In 1973, Kenneth was appointed as a District Court judge, and until his retirement in 1988, served as the
District Court administrative judge (for the five upper counties of the Eastern Shore) and the Circuit Court juvenile court judge. His public service was extensive including the Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts, YMCA, Rotary Club, Optimist Club, Cecil County Library, Cecil County SPCA, Elkton Chamber of Commerce, Big Elk Creek Water Shed Committee, to name a few. In addition to his public service, Kenneth was very active in historical organizations and programs. He served as founding director and later president of the Historic Elk Landing Foundation, was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Cecil County Historical Society, and the General Society of the War of 1812. He was preceded in death by his wife of almost seventy years, Ann Frazer Wilcox, and a daughter. Kenneth is survived by his two daughters and two granddaughters.
1945 Sarah (Sally) Cadwallader Wood Fell January 22, 2019 Sally was a graduate of Swarthmore College and did post graduate work at Drexel School of Library Science. She worked at the United Nations as a clerical librarian following graduation from college and continued to work as a librarian once back in Bucks County. Sally was an active member of Doylestown Friends Meeting and volunteered for the American Red Cross Blood Division for more than forty years. She was an avid traveler of the world. She is survived by her daughter Susanne Fell Adams ’79 and two grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews. Darlington Hoopes Jr December 27, 2017 Darlington graduated from Albright College in 1950 and Dickinson School of Law in 1953. After his service in the Army during World War II he determined that war and force were not an acceptable way to resolve disputes. This led him to become involved with the Friends Committee
IN MEMORIAM
Trenton Country Club, and Nassau Club. She enjoyed playing bridge, golf, and tennis with her wonderful friends. In her younger years, she was an accomplished equestrian. She is survived by two children, a stepson, two granddaughters, a stepgranddaughter, step-grandson, and two step great-grandchildren.
on National Legislation (FCNL) and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He practiced law for more than fifty-three years and was a member of the Berks County PA and American Bar Associations. He was a member of American Civil Liberties Union and was devoted to volunteering his time to many peace and social order concerns. Darlington actively volunteered for numerous organizations and served on the boards of the Berks County Mental Health Association, Economic Opportunity Council, Reading-Berks Human Relations Council, the United Way, Berks Chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism, and served as treasurer on the Board of Berks County Community Action Program. He helped establish Pill Addicts Anonymous and Threshold Inc. and he served as president and provided pro bono legal services for these organizations. He drew his greatest pleasures from his family and he and his wife enjoyed participating in many political and charitable functions together through the decades. Darlington is survived by his loving and devoted wife of forty-seven years, Frances, and four daughters, one son, and seven grandchildren He is also survived by his sister Delite Hoopes Hawk ’52 and numerous nephews and nieces. He was a member of the Reading Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
1946
Janet Hill Hurst August 5, 2017 Janet graduated from Harcum College. After college she worked at New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, married, raised a family, then she went back to school to become a nurse and worked at Mercer Hospital. Janet was a volunteer at the New Jersey State Museum, Trent House, and Mercer Hospital. She also served as a lay person on the New Jersey Supreme Court Ethics Committee for many years. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Junior League, Trenton Garden Club, Greenfingers Garden Club, the Present Day Club,
Sarah Hutchinson Guarino May 7, 2018 Sarah was an accomplished artist, avid Bridge player, voracious reader, gardener, and animal lover. She attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley MA where she studied language. She moved to New York City and studied at the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School, working part-time as a secretary. However, modeling was more her style and she trained at the Barbizon School, eventually becoming a hat model. She met Michael Guarino, a partner in Guarino Marble Works of Belleville NJ, in 1950 and after a whirlwind romance, they eloped and married in Bermuda. She traveled the world with
Albert (Steve) H. Torongo Jr April 26, 2019 Steve was a graduate of Lehigh University and Philadelphia Museum of Industrial Arts (University of the Arts). He was a veteran of the US Army Air Corp serving during World War II. He was an industrial designer for Donald Deskey Association, retiring after thirty-nine years. Steve was an active member of the Newtown Presbyterian Church serving as an elder, Sunday school teacher, and he sang in the church choir for over seventy years. He was a member of the Princeton Rhododendron Society and was an avid and patient gardener. His hobbies included wood carving, growing iris, and tending to his prize rhododendrons. Steve is survived by his wife of sixty-eight years, Jean Fabian Torongo, three children, five grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews.
her husband, including extensive trips to China, Thailand, the British Isles, and Europe. Sarah was proud of her family’s history, traceable back to the first colonial settlers. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames XVII Century (Samoset Chapter), Sons and Daughters of the Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar, Dames of the Court of Honor, and Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. In New Jersey, Mrs. Guarino was an active member of the Junior League of Monmouth County, the Monmouth Park Charity Ball Committee, the Monmouth County Hunt and Race Meet and other philanthropic activities. Painting was also a constant throughout her life. She exhibited her work at local art shows and earned recognition in juried events. Sarah is survived by two daughters. Frances (Anne) Nichols Hendrickson July 20, 2018 Anne graduated from Oberlin College in 1950 with a degree in early childhood education. She subsequently received a ME from the University of Maryland and was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honor society for educators. A kindergarten teacher for twenty-nine years in Montgomery County MD, she taught at Rockville, Larchmont, Garrett Park, Hungerford, and Bethesda elementary schools. Anne was a lifelong member of the Society of Friends (Quaker) and attended Goose Creek Friends Meeting in Lincoln VA. Survivors include her husband of sixtyseven years, Bartlett R. Hendrickson, two children, four grandchildren, and six great grand-children. She is also survived by two brothers, including Milton A. Nichols ’42. Joseph ( Joe) H. Reese Jr October 18, 2016 Joe attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington VA where he graduated in three years with a BA in economics and finance. In 1951 he enrolled in the US Air Force Officer Candidates School at Lackland Air
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Force Base in San Antonio TX. In 1953 he joined the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 1961 he was recruited by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company to start a new agency for that company in Philadelphia. Joe was very active in business, civic, social, and charitable organizations. He served as president of the Philadelphia Chapter, American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters; vice chairman of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization, chairman of the Philadelphia Presidents’ Organization, and president of Compensation Systems Corporation. He served on the boards of Provident American Corp (OTC), both of the American and Meridian Banks; CDI Corporation (NYSE) and Montgomery Manage-ment Corp. His charitable boards included Franklin and Marshall College; The American Lung Association of SE Pennsylvania; Holy Redeemer Hospital; the Philadelphia Sports Congress; and US Regional Sports Clubs. More recently he was on the boards of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra and the National Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. He was a member for some years of the Kiwanis Club of Skidaway Island. Joe Reese had an active love for golf and was for many years a volunteer for the Golf Association of Philadelphia. His golf background included several individual club championships. He was also an instrument-rated private pilot. Joe was an active member of the Skidaway Island United Methodist Church. Joe is survived by his brother, his daughter, a son, and several grandchildren.
1947 Anne Atlee Crewe March 6, 2018 Anne received her BFA in art education at the Philadelphia Museum School (now the University of the Arts) in 1951 and taught art at Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr PA. She was married to Hayward B. Crewe in the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont PA. They moved to Brandon VT and subsequently to Norwich CT. Anne started the art
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program at Hartford High School where she taught from 1964-1981. She also taught jewelry design at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen for many years. She returned to school at Dartmouth College where she earned her MALS degree in 1974. In 1980 Anne moved to Gray Barns in Norwich where she lived with and ultimately cared for her cousin Eleanor Cadbury. Anne is survived by her two daughters. Anne Thomas Moore January 24, 2019 Anne attended Swarthmore College, graduating in 1951. She was active in the communities in which she lived as an adult: Lansdowne PA, Washington DC (co-director of the International Student House), Lawrence KS, Wayne PA, West Chester PA, and Northampton MA. She was a member of the Religious Society of Friends and worked with a host of social justice, peace, and civic organizations. Anne was truly grateful for every person in her life. She is survived by her two sons, two daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
1948 Ernest Lawrence January 6, 2018 Ernest is survived by his wife, two children, three grandchildren, and his brother. Harold (Gerry) Fitzgerald Lenfest August 5, 2018 Gerry was accepted to Washington and Lee University and graduated with a degree in economics. Before he went, Gerry worked as a roughneck, a farm hand, and aboard a ship that carried oil between Venezuela and Europe. A lawyer by training, Gerry and his wife Marguerite built up their cable business over several decades and then sold Lenfest Communications Inc. in 2000 to Comcast. After the sale, Gerry became one of Philadelphia’s leading philanthropists and civic leaders, donating more than $1.3 billion. He was “one
of the greatest philanthropists the city has ever seen,” said Comcast Corp. chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts. “He has changed our city and so many institutions.” Gerry was chairman of institutions like the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Curtis Institute of Music, successfully convincing other supporters that even great traditions needed to be expanded upon and brought up to date. He established the Lenfest Ocean Program and supported the new Museum of the American Revolution. Late in life, Gerry bought the Philadelphia Media Network that publishes The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. In 2016 he donated it to a new nonprofit, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
1949 Donald Armstrong November 27, 2018 Donald met his wife Elizabeth Sweet Armstrong ’50 at George School. Along with their years of courtship, their relationship spanned seventytwo years at the time of Elizabeth’s death in 2016. Friends and family attended a special meeting for worship, with a celebration of their lives in New Hope. The gatherings represented years of George School alumni from 1945 to1976. Donald pioneered AIDS research in the early 1980s at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he was chief of infectious diseases for forty years. He co-founded the Chinatown Health Clinic in NYC. Donald and Elizabeth traveled and lived overseas as required in his role as president of The International Infectious Disease Society. After raising four children, Elizabeth’s studies and degrees dove-tailed alongside Donald’s. With her PhD in medical anthropology, both Elizabeth and Donald volunteered with the American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China. Working together in a refugee camp in Vietnam was an example of the humility they learned at George School as teenagers. “My father, Dr. Donald Armstrong, and mother, Elizabeth Sweet Armstrong exemplified what George School hopes each
IN MEMORIAM
student gains in their attendance. To Mind the Light and serve with humility, respect, and honor truly portrays my parent’s legacy to the world at large,” said Rebecca Armstrong ’75, their daughter. Donald is survived by his four children, including Rebecca Armstrong ’75 and Alison Armstrong ’7 7, four grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. David Binder June 30, 2019 David was a longtime correspondent for The New York Times who chronicled the Cold War in Europe, the dissolution of the Soviet bloc in the East, and the horrific civil wars in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. David graduated from Harvard in 1953 and was a Fulbright scholar at Cologne University in Germany. Early in his career, he was a reporter for The Louisville Times, a correspondent for The London Daily Mail, and a copy editor for The Minneapolis Tribune. David joined The New York Times in 1961 and was soon posted to Germany. Although he retired in 1996, he contributed freelance articles and reporting until 2004, often for the obituaries of prominent historians and foreign-policy experts. A restless, relentless journalist, David covered the Berlin Wall’s construction in 1961 and its destruction in 1989—bookends to his many hundreds of reports on East-West tensions and life under the Communist regimes in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. In the early 1990s, as Germany reunified and peace returned to much of Europe, he went back to the Balkans to cover wars that engulfed the former Yugoslavia. Among his many books is The Other German: Willy Brandt’s Life and Times. He also wrote with authority on the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, who was deposed in 1971, and on Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator, for The New York Times Magazine. David also wrote for The Nation, The New Republic, The Mediterranean Quarterly and publications in Germany and Yugoslavia. His other books included
Berlin: East and West in Pictures. David is survived by his wife of sixty years, Helga Wagner, an East German physician, three daughters, and six grandchildren. Eva Hood Clemson February 12, 2019 Eva is survived by two children, five grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and her dear sister. R. Ted Curran July 10, 2019 Ted graduated from Haverford College (BA history and Russian, 1953) and Columbia University (MA Russian history, 1955). He joined the US Foreign Service in 1955 as a public affairs officer. His diplomatic career led to postings in Washington DC and around the world in Germany (19561960), Lebanon (1960-1961), Jordan (1961-1962), Yemen (1963-1964), Mexico (1968-1970), Afghanistan (1974-1977), and Morocco (19811984). In 1984, he retired as career minister, the highest career rank. His diplomatic career afforded remarkable encounters and experiences from hosting Louis Armstrong in 1957 Germany to receiving assistance for a flat tire from King Hussein’s body guard in the Jericho valley, escorting Ladybird Johnson through the 1967 Montreal World Expo, welcoming the Apollo 11 crew in Mexico City in 1969, teaching President Nixon how to ‘abrazo’ the president of Mexico, working closely with William Rogers in the US State Department’s Secretariat from 1970-72, helping to guide Henry Kissinger on a tour of Afghanistan in 1976 to picking up the American hostages from Iran in Algeria with President Carter in 1981, hosting President George Bush and Barbara Bush in Morocco in 1983, and playing a midnight round of golf with the King of Morocco. Following his retirement, he joined the executive leadership team of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty based in Munich, Germany (1984-1987). In 1987 he returned to the US to become president of Springfield College in Illinois (1987-1990), president of the
Foreign Policy Association (19901993), and executive director of the American Institute for Foreign Study Foundation (AIFS Foundation) (1993-2005), continuing as a trustee from 2005-2017. He also served on the boards of George School and Sidwell Friends School. Ted is survived by his wife, Marcia, his two daughters, four grandchildren, and many, much loved extended family members. Harold O. Heacock August 21, 2017 Harold graduated from Earlham College in 1953. An Army veteran, farming was his work and his hobby. His passion was bailing hay, tending livestock, and attending farm sales. In his younger years, Harold enjoyed snow skiing and dancing. He was a loving husband, father, brother, grandfather, great-grandfather, and devoted friend who never met a stranger. Harold is survived by his wife Evie, his sister, two sons, and many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Nancy Barlow James June 28, 2019 Nancy was a graduate of Bradford Junior College. She earned a BS in physical therapy from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a strong supporter of many organizations in the San Diego Community. She is survived by her sister, Sara (Sally) Barlow Briggs ’47, her brother, her son, two daughters, four grandchildren, and one great granddaughter. Eve Johnson Kulberg March 1, 2018 Eve raised five children and built a career that included stints as a dance camp director, art teacher, and secretary. She will be remembered for her stories, dancing, teasing ways, teaching of art, and love of parties.
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Bruce Kyte March 20, 2019 Bruce attended Dickinson College in Carlisle PA before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps, where he served two tours of duty during the Korean War. Returning home, he married his childhood friend, Barbara Jean Clark, and began his career in the HVAC industry in Hampton Bays as the owner of Kyte Heating and Air Conditioning. He was an active member of the community, serving as the president of his local industry trade association, as a member of Rotary International, Hampton Bays Methodist Church, and the Democratic Party of Suffolk County. Bruce was an avid sailor, even making it to the quarter final qualifiers for the United States Olympic Sailing Team, sailing an Olympic class Finn sailboat. He also enjoyed deer and duck hunting. In 1968, he sold his business and moved his family to the United States Virgin Islands, where he opened an air conditioning and refrigeration business to serve the burgeoning tourist industry. In his off-hours, he continued to sail, even teaching sailing lessons at the local St. Croix Yacht Club. He and the family moved to West Palm Beach FL in 1973, where he once again started his own business in heating and air conditioning installation and service. He continued that work until his retirement in the 1990s. In retirement he tried his hand at farming, first raising pigs and then sheep. When his home was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Frances, he left Florida for an area less prone to storm damage, moving to North Carolina. Bruce is survived by three daughters, three grandchildren, four greatgrandchildren and a sister. Louis F. Schutzenberger February 8, 2019 After George School, Lou joined the US Air Force and served in Europe. After leaving military service, he attended Santa Monica City College and UCLA, graduating from UCLA with a BD in geology. In 1958, Lou met Sue Kirkgard at a church picnic and fell in love. Lou and Sue were
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married in 1959 and were married for almost sixty years. Lou and Sue moved to Palos Verdes in 1959 and lived in the same home until his death. Lou worked in the aerospace industry in Southern California for three decades, retiring from Hughes Aircraft Co. in 1989. Lou was always passionate about his hobbies and volunteer activities, including the French language and culture, photography, archery, and motorcycling. In his late 60s he fulfilled his lifelong desire to own and ride motorcycles and was active in the South Bay Indian Motorcycle Club and the South Bay Black Sheep Harley-Davidsons for Christ. He volunteered at a local AIDS hospice and for the Salvation Army prison ministries for many years. Lou and Sue attended Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Palos Verdes. In 2012, Lou suffered a stroke and lost most of his mobility. He rested comfortably at home those final years. Lou is survived by his wife Sue, son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters. Lydia Huntington Sparrow April 8, 2017 Lydia studied art at Antioch College and School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her passion was sketching people and places as well as painting watercolors of flower bouquets and the boats and the landscapes of coastal Maine, where the family summered. She shared this passion during the artist workshops she ran during the summer. She and her first husband, the late Edward G. Sparrow, Jr, (St. John’s College professor and, later, dean) became devout Catholics after they were married. She believed in the importance of eating organic foods and made all the family’s bread. Lydia taught her eight sons and daughters how to sew, cook, draw, paint, garden, and work with wood. Living in Annapolis MD, Lydia encouraged and counseled students as well as entertained other faculty and guests with elegant meals and parties. She was a lifelong member of Caritas Society of St. John’s College, Inc. and president
from 1981-1982. She was also an environmental activist and participated in other political causes. In 1998, she married Edwin C. Hoyt and together they pursued their joint passions for conserving the natural lands of Vinalhaven ME and promoting world peace. They were active members of the Thornton Oaks Retirement Community in Brunswick ME. Lydia spent her final years in Concord NH. She is survived by two younger sisters, six children, and twelve grandchildren. Her family and friends will miss her generous, creative, and affectionate spirit.
1950 Joseph (Hank) H. Carter Jr October 19, 2017 Hank grew up in Yardley, where he met his future wife Tracey Cushmore Carter ’51 at George School. After graduating from Amherst College in 1954, and marrying Tracey in 1955, he served in the US Army Medical Corps and was stationed in San Antonio TX during the Korean War. Hank graduated, and completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Hahnemann Medical School. In 1970 he and Dr. G. Bradford Myers opened a private practice in York PA. The practice flourished and in 1996, it became part of Wellspan Health. He retired from private practice in 1998. A compassionate physician, Hank was a staunch advocate for women’s reproductive rights. He served as the medical director for Planned Parenthood for twenty-five years. He also was a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a member of the AMA. Most recently, he worked as an attending physician at Wellspan OB/GYN clinic from 1999-2017 where he dedicated his time to teaching residents and seeing patients, something he loved best. Hank also served as a deacon at First Presbyterian Church, the president of the Valley View Elementary PTO, and a 4-H Ringmaster and Old Rose Tree Pony Club volunteer for many years. He loved to travel but always found himself back on Long Beach Island
IN MEMORIAM
for a few weeks in the summer where he listened to the waves and read spy novels. He loved going fast in cars with big engines. Hank enjoyed wildlife photography and collecting African masks. A passionate gourmand, he adored tasting, sharing, and buying wine. Hank was predeceased by his wife. He is survived by his sister, four children, many grandchildren, and many beloved nieces and nephews and special friends from all walks of life. Edith (Edie) M. Johnstone December 6, 2018 Edie was raised with horses, caring for and competing alongside them. Horses remained a source of strength to her, as were her artistic and athletic interests. She was an art teacher to schoolchildren and adults while remaining a student herself, always trying something new. Edie enjoyed the companionship and play among her fellow artists, tennis players, and skiers for many years. Edie attended Pembroke College and RISD where she met Robert W. Johnstone (deceased 2013) whom she married in 1954. After buying and renovating a house in 1961, they moved their family to Killington in 1967. Edie is survived by three children, a daughter-in-law, a grandson, and two granddaughters, as well as many nieces and nephews. Knowing these young people and helping them grow was one of the great joys of her life. Not only was Edie a person who gave and drew strength from her friendships but also one who offered a steady and dependable optimism, which bolstered her and those who depended on her. James ( Jim) B. Shuman August 31, 2017 Jim was an award-winning newspaper reporter, an editor, and writer for Reader’s Digest, senior staff associate for John D. Rockefeller III, and president of a philanthropic foundation. For seven years, he was an assistant to President Gerald R. Ford. In the White House, he designed and supervised the production of a daily news summary for the president and senior
White House staff, and he produced the President’s Question and Answer Briefing Book for news conferences and other interviews. After the 1976 election he traveled with President Ford assisting in visits to college campuses throughout the United States. Donald (Don) MacGregor Thomson Jr July 17, 2017 Don attended the US Coast Guard Academy, where he excelled in sports and was especially fond of his summer training trips aboard the Tall Ship USCG Eagle. His military career of twenty-four years included becoming a Coast Guard search and rescue pilot, working with Congress to maintain the Kodiak Alaska Coast Guard Air Station in active status, and initiating the Coast Guard’s water rescue program. Upon his retirement from the Coast Guard, Don taught at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy. He returned to Kodiak to develop and teach the first marine safety and navigation courses to fisherman at Kodiak Community College. He also assisted in development of the Fisheries Industrial Technology Center, now known as the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center. Don relocated to Cornell University where he managed the Shoals Marine Laboratory, a research and training facility. This work led to work with the Sea Education Academy, Woods Hole MA. Don was in his glory, teaching classes at sea on the training and research vessel MV Westward as it traveled between Nova Scotia and the Bahamas. In retirement, Don became a paramedic in Overgaard AZ, sat on the Board of Trustees for Claremont (CA) School of Theology, was active in various local committees, and loved to play golf. He is survived by five children, sixteen grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters, Dorothy Thomson Hilton ’54 and Sarah Thomson Staiger ’57.
1951 Robert (Robb) C. Bacon Jr December 23, 2018 Robb was a conscientious objector and did two years of alternative service in Chicago. Robb was passionate about antiques, and very knowledgeable about items from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was one of the founding members of Ray of Hope Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the first church in Central NY to reach out to the LGBT Community and those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Robb was active in many LGBT organizations in the Syracuse area, working tirelessly for liberty and justice for all. He is survived by one sister. Robert (Rob) H. Webb August 23, 2018 Rob’s degrees (Harvard, Rutgers, Stanford) were in physics but he said of himself, “I am an inventor.” Much of his career was spent affiliated with Schepens Eye Research Institute, and Wellman Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked to invent diagnostic medical instrumentation, including the Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope that spawned hundreds of research projects. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School as associate professor of ophthalmology and of dermatology. Colleagues and students admired Rob for his honest, irreverent way of looking at the world and his ability to expect, demand, and bring out the best in everyone. Rob’s inventiveness was evident in other ways. For a car with no front defroster, Rob rigged a vacuum cleaner hose from the rear defroster; the front passenger’s job was to hold it up to the windshield while Rob drove. Rob had the ability to recite just the right poem for any occasion, from Blake and Yeats to “I eat my peas with honey….” He loved music. His skill at reading aloud was unequalled, and his daughters were introduced to classics from Homer to Winnie-the-Pooh. For many years, Rob made silver jewelry and blown glass ornaments. He was an expert, untiring skier, and was patient with
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skiing companions of all levels. No detour was too long for ice cream. In recent years he enjoyed dance classes with his wife. He was a baby whisperer to four grandkids. Rob is survived by his wife Sonja Johansson, two daughters, two stepdaughters, and four grandchildren.
1952 Priscilla Rogers Burdsall May 31, 2018 At the age of 16, Priscilla met the love of her life, Richard H. Burdsall ’52, at George School. After graduation from George School, Priscilla attended Colby Junior College and graduated from Penn Hall (Wilson College) and Keystone Secretarial School. In 1955, Priscilla and Richard married at the Swarthmore Friends Meeting and moved to Baldwin Hill in Egremont to raise their family. In 1959, Priscilla and Richard settled the family in Cambridge NY, where they lived for thirty years. She was a fixture in the neighborhood, riding a tandem bicycle with two child seats through the town streets and taking the neighborhood children trick-ortreating every Halloween. In 1989, they returned to Egremont and Baldwin Hill to turn Richard’s childhood home into the Baldwin Hill Farm Bed and Breakfast. Priscilla and Richard ran this very successful business for twenty-two years. Priscilla dedicated her life to others and, as an only child, she reveled in the wonders of her children’s relationship with each other, always bringing love and a playful spirit to games with her children and grandchildren. Her sense of humor and love for all she met was amazing and will be greatly missed. Priscilla is survived by her husband Richard of sixty-three years, her two sons, her two daughters, and her six grandchildren and great granddaughter. Kenneth W. Funk March 6, 2017 Kenneth graduated from Penn State and, along with his parents and his brother, Kenneth owned and operated R. Funk and Co., a Doylestown manufacturing company. He was a
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man of many talents. He built and flew radio-controlled airplanes with his sons. When he retired, he built a rocking horse for his granddaughter. This led to his hobby of wood turning and carving. Family and friends own his beautiful creations. Later in life, he took up painting with watercolors. Kenneth was the loving husband of Janice M. Funk. They had been married sixty-one years. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his three children and three grandchildren. Kenneth will be missed by his family and many friends. Esther Stapler Hart December 13, 2018 A birthright member of Newtown Friends Meeting, Esther grew up on Mirror Lake Farm, her family’s dairy farm for generations in Yardley PA. After graduating from Endicott Junior College in Beverly MA in 1954, she taught kindergarten at Friends School Haverford in Haverford PA from 1954 to 1955. Esther married Stephen Hart in 1955. She taught at Newtown Friends School for twenty-five years, was a docent at Fonthill Castle in Doylestown PA for twenty-five years (her favorite tours were with school children) and was a member of the Doylestown Country Club for thirty years. With her husband, Esther enjoyed playing golf, gardening, and traveling; however, she was the happiest when she was surrounded by family and friends. Esther was preceded in death by her husband. She is survived by her sister Mary Stapler Nystrom ’45, her daughters, Kathy Hart Rogers ’75, and Susan (Sam) E. Hart Wyrick ’79, and her granddaughters, Abigail (Abbie) S. Rogers ’05 and Emily S. Rogers ’08. David B. Holland March 14, 2018 David was a proud veteran of the United States Navy, a member of SAG, Actors’ Equity, and a graduate of West Chester University of Pennsylvania. He survived by his wife Marilyn and his nieces and nephews.
Ruth Anne Detwiler Jackson June 21, 2019 After George School Ruth Anne continued her education at both Bucknell and Penn State Universities where she was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority. Ruth Anne and her husband Theodore C. Jackson grew up three doors apart in Huntingdon PA where they first met in 1939. Married for sixty-three years, they started dating in 1953 and were married in 1955. After retirement, Ruth Anne and Ted spent many winters in Palm Desert CA at Ironwood Country Club where she scored the only family hole-in-one, a feat she took great delight in reminding Ted. An avid bridge player, Ruth Anne also enjoyed flower arranging, entertaining family and friends, and caring for the family dogs and other odd pets brought home by her children. Her adventurous spirit and love for travel began at the early age of seventeen when she biked through Europe and that passion for travel continued throughout her life. Ruth Anne was very active in every community where she lived and among the first to volunteer; she never met an event she couldn’t organize. For fifty years she was dedicated to PEO International. In addition to her loving and devoted husband, Ruth Anne is survived by their two daughters and four grandchildren. She will be remembered for her beautiful white hair, twinkling eyes, welcoming smile, and infectious laughter. Dudley ( Woody) H. Woodall July 22, 2019 Woody earned a BD from Amherst College and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. Woody was a member of the Air Force ROTC during college and went on to serve his country from 1957 to 1960, primarily stationed in Japan. As a professional, Woody’s career focused on higher education. He was a member of the team that established Hampshire College in Amherst MA (1968-1972). He went on to become the chief financial officer of Antioch College in Yellow Springs OH (1975-1979). From there, he
IN MEMORIAM
became treasurer of Bowdoin College (1979-1990). New England College in Henniker NH made Woody Director of NEC’s British campus in Arundel, West Sussex, England (1990-1994). Woody formerly noted that his greatest satisfaction as a professional administrator was helping to ensure access to a quality education for all students of all backgrounds. Under Woody’s quiet demeanor was a man with an enthusiasm for life. He traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Central America, Europe, and the Middle East. He loved motorcycles, Formula 1 Racing, single malt scotch, ice hockey, the Patriots, a hand of cards, a fine cigar, the companionship of good dogs (all dogs are good), a hearty laugh, his second home in Nova Scotia, and a fine meal. However, above all else, Woody loved being at the helm of a sailboat. Woody will be remembered as a trusted friend, a loving father, and a devoted husband. Woody is survived by Alyce, his wife of forty years, two sons and daughters-in-law, one daughter and son-in-law, and four grandchildren, as well as by his sister and her children and grandchildren.
1953 Gudrun Schulz Weeks May 29, 2018 Gudrun was born in Baden-Baden, Germany and went to George School after WWII. She attended the Trappsches Conservatorium in Munich (1953-1954), then Sarah Lawrence College in New York (1955-1959). Gudrun was a passionate musician and classical violinist. She enjoyed singing, teaching students, making chamber music, and playing in orchestras. With family she loved tending a garden, going for walks and hikes in nature, and having adventures in new places. Gudrun was engaged in her community, an active Quaker, organizing fundraising concerts for women’s shelters and healing communities, and most recently mobilizing a neighborhood to welcome a family seeking asylum. She was an inspiration to many. Gudrun is sur-
vived by her spouse Sheldon Weeks, her three children, thirteen grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces and nephews. They miss her smile and laugh, passion for music, sense of adventure, zest for life, love of nature, and concern for social justice in the world. Charles A. Wells Jr October 31, 2017 Charles was a noted printmaker and sculptor in Newtown PA. After studying as an apprentice with the master printmaker and sculptor Leonard Baskin, Charles won two fellowships that allowed him to work alongside the great carvers in Italy. His sculpture evolved over a thirty-year period from stone heads, torsos, and figures, to large-scale wooden pieces, to a synthesis of the two, using media that ranged from woods like cherry to white marble. His austere angel-like figures often appear to be emerging from their folded wings, unlike earlier crouching or recumbent figures. His favorite medium was stone, although he took pleasure in working with local hardwoods. Incised lines often appear on his sculpture, and this fascination with the depiction of lines carries over into his etchings, which are most often portraits. Charles exhibited widely in the US and abroad and is represented in the permanent collections of MIT, the Library of Congress, the National Portrait Gallery, the Whitney Museum, and Nelson Rockefeller. His work was also featured in The Rodin Legacy in conjunction with Rodin: The Human Experience Selections from the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Collections, an exhibition at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown PA in 2015. He was a fellow of the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Rome. Charles also was an accomplished guitarist and songwriter and enjoyed playing around Bucks County with his band, Winterhill. He is survived by his wife Margaret Diana Greig Wells, five children including Brooke Wells ’91 and Hunter Wells ’98, and six grandchildren.
1954 John T. Arnold November 5, 2018 John was a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown CT and New York University in New York NY. He began his career at the Federal Reserve in New York and moved to JP Morgan, where he spent the balance of his professional career. Summit NJ became his home for thirty years, where he happily raised his family, while commuting to New York City. John was a respected member of the community, serving as a trustee and treasurer at The Winston School in Short Hills NJ. During the past twenty-five years, John called Lakeville his home where he continued to support his community and was inspired by those around him. He enjoyed serving as a trustee and treasurer at the Salisbury Association, the Scoville Library, the Salisbury Congregational Church, and as a trustee at the Northwest Center for Mental Health in Lakeville. John is survived by his wife, Mary (Markert) Arnold, three of his children, and his seven grandchildren. John loved spending time with his family and friends. He enjoyed playing tennis and paddle tennis. He loved the Red Sox, fireworks, summers in Canada, his dogs and riding his tractor on the land he cherished. John J. Harkins May 7, 2019 John will be missed for his poetry, sharp wit, kindness, and deep belief in the power of education, which changed his life. He loved his high school experience at George School, received his BA from Haverford College, his MD from Harvard, and his EDD from University of Pennsylvania. He loved and helped lead Camp Dark Waters in the Pine Barrens and Camp Onas in Ottsville PA. John was a Quaker and teacher at the Frederick Douglass School in 1967 and 1968, principal at Germantown Friends Lower School in the 1970s, and helped found the Orchard Friends School in 1999. He canoed the entirety of the Delaware River and did not hesitate
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as principal of Germantown Friends Lower School to attend the Halloween celebration as the Tooth Fairy, nor to open the window and blow his trumpet outside. As a principal he was kind, so students didn’t mind being sent to the principal’s office. If they had a loose tooth, he would pull it out upon request. He did not hesitate to build or sew whatever he needed and was ready to repair anything from a door hinge to a bicycle. He made beer, poetry, and friends. He is survived by his wife Margaret (Meg) Weller Harkins ’53, his daughter, and two grandsons. Rudolph W. Japchen August 7, 2018 Rudolph was the owner of A.R.S. Metal Fabricators, Inc., in Hatfield PA. When not at work, he loved to spend his time golfing, shooting guns, and most of all enjoying his family. Rudolph was an avid fan of the Penn State football team. Along with his wife, he is survived by three children and nine grandchildren. Eileen Thompson August 1, 2018 Eileen received loving support from cousins and church friends in her last hours. Both Eileen and her father, J. Stanley Thompson ’25, held fond memories of George School throughout their lives. She is interred next to her parents, Stanley and Olga, in the Friends Meeting House Cemetery in Manasquan NJ.
1955 Jane Fredendall Nolder February 4, 2018 Jane was a resident of Isanti MN. She attended Earlham College, where she met Nevin, the love of her life. Jane received further education at Columbia University to become an occupational therapist.
1956 Katherine Polsky Vivian October 9, 2017 Kate was a funny, kind, loving, generous force of nature. After graduating from George School, Kate went to
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UConn’s nursing school for a minute before marrying a Fulbright scholar and moving to Paris so he could pursue art. Kate learned to cook and appreciate art and carried those talents through the rest of her life. She moved to Rhode Island in 1965, raised two daughters and earned her BA from the University of Rhode Island in 1990. She had various jobs, working for the Rhode Island School of Design, then Planned Parenthood, then for a crew of oceanography nerds, then opening an art gallery in her home, and she finally created her dream job as the event coordinator at The Towers, a historic McKim, Mead & White building in Narragansett. Kate spent the last twenty years organizing the programming at The Towers, almost exclusively music events, hiring dance bands and developing a passion for Cajun music, Cajun bands, and Cajun dancing. Kate lived large. She said yes. Yes to travel, yes to art, yes to staying out late, yes to more love with more friends. She died at home, her choice, six weeks after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was surrounded by her family including her daughter Molly K. Sexton ’85, sister Peggy Polsky Pennell ’54, niece Katherine (Kate) Pennell ’81, and son James R. Vivian ’01.
1957 Elisabeth (Betsy) Pot ts Brown July 6, 2018 Betsy spent her final days at her beloved summer home at Riverbrink in Pocono Lake Preserve PA, during a week-long family reunion. She met Allan Brown while attending Swarthmore College and they married in 1962. From 1963-1965 they lived in Vietnam, working at the American School in Saigon—Betsy in the school library and Allan as a teacher. They returned to Philadelphia and once the children reached school-age, Betsy earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University. She worked in the libraries at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, the American College
in Bryn Mawr, and Springside School before serving as the Haverford College Library Quaker Collection bibliographer for the final twenty years of her career. She also served for many years as secretary of the Friends Historical Association and as a member of the School Committee of Germantown Friends School. Betsy was a conservationist and lover of nature whose Quaker values influenced all aspects of her life. She was devoted to her family and community and was always looking for a way she could help. She lived a spare home life, but was generous with her possessions, her time, and her love. She was witty and had a wry and quirky sense of humor. A lifelong learner and constant reader, she was curious about the way things worked and enjoyed music, math, language, and words. She will be remembered as kind, cheerful, caring, intelligent, and straightforward, with a ready smile and a bit of a silly side that made her endearing to all. She is survived by her siblings Lydia Pot ts Quill ’61 and Edward (Ned) Pot ts Jr ’65. John M. Crowther April 27, 2018 John played soccer at George School, and at Princeton he played freshman and JV lacrosse, was active with WPRB, and was president of the Triangle Club. After college, John had roles in two successful Broadway plays and then moved to Rome, Italy, where he directed a film, The Martlet’s Tale, and married the leading lady, Carla Romanelli. He also directed the Two Worlds Festival at Spoleto for three years, and wrote his own play, Affected Memories, about the Russian directors Stanislavsky and Meyerhold. John wrote nine movies and television series; a half-dozen books, including a novel, Firebase, about the Vietnam War; and a humorous book of his own cartoons, Out of Order. He also wrote and performed a one-man show, Einstein. In Hollywood, he had careers as a theatrical agent, high school lacrosse coach, and artist. John is survived by Carla and his two brothers.
IN MEMORIAM
Samuel A. Everit t June 15, 2018 Sam graduated from Colgate University in 1961. He served in the NJ National Guard following his graduation. The majority of Sam’s professional career was spent at ITT Rayonier, Inc. where he worked as vice president and treasurer. He then applied his skills in the not-for-profit sector, becoming the assistant business manager at the Kent School in Kent CT in 1990, a role he served until his retirement in 1999. Sam married his best friend and high school sweetheart Kate Prior ’59 in 1962 in Trenton NJ. They initially settled in Mahwah NJ where they raised their two children. In 1977 the family moved to Wilton CT where they lived until 1999 when Sam and Kate retired to Skidaway Island in Savannah GA. Sambo as he was known to his close friends and grandchildren, could either be found in his golf clothes or wearing his toolbelt. He was an avid woodworker, taking great pride in his creations which included anything from fences to backgammon tables. His most devoted charity was the Barn Builders where he spent most Mondays building and repairing projects at the Bethesda Academy for Boys in Savannah GA. A New Englander at heart, Sambo cherished his time with friends and family in Winhall VT. He was an outdoorsman, who loved skiing, working in the woods and reading by the fire. Sambo is survived by his wife of 54 years, his sister, two children, and seven grandchildren.
1958 Peggy Kahoe Fowler August 9, 2017 Peggy went to Earlham College, finishing her formal education with a master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago. Around 1970, she and her husband Dennis moved from New York City to 100 beautiful acres in the Oneonta area. While their daughter attended St. Mary’s School, Peggy served as a volunteer in the office, ran the rummage sale, and eventually became president of the PTO. After her daughter graduated,
Peggy’s volunteer efforts turned to the Orpheus Theatre. Eventually, she became a paid member of the office staff, handling most of the administrative duties. Thanks to her organizational and fiscal talents, Orpheus had money in the bank when she left, a rare thing for a small, nonprofit arts organization. Following her daughter’s untimely death in 2004, Peggy threw her energies into volunteering for Habitat for Humanity of Otsego County, working on eleven of the thirty-three houses HFHOC has built since 1989. Also in 2004, Peggy and her husband hiked the Appalachian Trail. Books were her life. She read about one a week, more than 3,000 in all, and kept a list. She was particularly fascinated by Robin Hood, in print, on film, and TV. She edited and re-typed her husband’s fifty plus books, most of them written before the days of personal computers. Through her tireless volunteer efforts, superb organizational skills, and thoughtful, generous acts she touched innumerable lives and brightened the world. She is survived by her husband of 47 years.
1959 Alan Coltman February 27, 2017 Alan graduated from Rollins College, where he met his wife Jane. Soon after, he moved to Sarasota FL where his career in banking as a trust officer began, and his son was born. Alan remained living in Sarasota until his death. In more recent years, he enjoyed spending time with his longtime companion Martha Swenson, and his favorite place to be has always been on Siesta Beach, where he enjoyed running, walking, and relaxing in the sun. Alan is survived by his brother Robert (Bob) Coltman ’55, son and daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. Margaret (Marnie) T. Evans June 10, 2018 Marnie took the ideals of equality, integrity, and responsibility for others to heart while at George School and at Smith College, where she continued to shape her love of history, languages,
and her ideas about how women could exert social and political influence. She pursued doctoral studies, received a Fulbright Scholarship, married, lived in Paris for a year, and came home to work in the educational world. She loved working with students and thrived as an academic advisor at Kirkland, Kenyon, Hollins, and NYU. At SUNY’s Empire State College, she facilitated the path to academic achievement for nontraditional learners by assessing and monitoring individual degree plans and creating innovative programs to support them. Her commitment to the transformative power of education improved thousands of lives. Wherever she lived she dedicated energy to religion, political activities, the arts, and people in need. After attending a George School class reunion and seeing art work there about Mohegan Island in Maine, she reconnected with classmate Elizabeth (Betsy) Bonner Zimmerman and formed a bond that led to 25 years of summer retreats to Mohegan. She also loved to travel at other times of the year. Her first actions in all those places was always connecting or reconnecting with people and learning about their lives. She had groups of friends in all the avenues of her life, and she excelled at building connections between those groups. Marnie is survived by brothers Charles Evans ’62 and Jeffrey Evans ’65, their families, and numerous friends. David M. Haines October 18, 2018 David was a resident of Skaneateles NY. He graduated from George School in 1959 and later attended the University of Nevada. He is survived by his brother Richard Haines ’64. David P. McGourt y November 1, 2018 David earned a master’s degree in psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and a PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He worked as a psychologist at state institutions in California and Oregon. He had a lifelong commitment to
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advocating for vulnerable people and he continued that commitment after his retirement. In the later part of his career, he gained expertise in the autism spectrum and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Dave was an avid fisherman and participated in activities focused on river quality and decreasing fish population on our local rivers. He leaves behind his wife of forty-two years, Luce LaFleur, three sisters, eight nieces and nephews, and his godchild. Dave will be remembered as a compassionate, kind and generous person. Edouard Rouby June 28, 2017
1961 Gay Swerk Pfahler July 7, 2016 Gay was a graduate of Centenary College, Hackettstown NJ, and a loan officer at the Flemington National Bank & Trust Company in Flemington NJ. Gay also was a former president of the board of trustees of the Hunterdon YMCA, a member of the Flemington Woman’s Club, and a member of the Flemington Presbyterian Church. Surviving are her husband of 52 years, Charles Pfahler, two children, and a grandson. Anne Cook Torry November 26, 2017 Dorothy Prentice Ziegler October 11, 2018 Dorothy was a loving mother of three and grandmother of six. She went to Endicott College in Massachusetts where she studied preschool education, followed by Syracuse University where she majored in special education. It was there she met the man she would marry, Richard L. Ziegler. Dorothy and Richard were wed in 1966. They spent much of their life in Alplaus NY, before moving to Rutland. Her happiest years were spent caring for and teaching others. Her early career was working with special education students and later, with disabled children at Clover Patch in Niskayuna NY. Later in life, she
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pursued adult education, helping under-educated adults learn to read and write with Vermont Adult Learning. Dorothy also spent her personal time giving to others. She taught Sunday school at the Alplaus Methodist Church. She would visit local nursing homes to spend time engaging with the residents doing puzzles, reading with them or crocheting. She also taught reading at the correctional facility in Rutland. She enjoyed playing bridge and in her better years, square dancing. Her proudest moment was when she obtained her master’s degree in 1998. Dorothy is survived by W. Courtney Prentice ’64, her husband Richard, and three children. She will be remembered for her warm smile, giving spirit, and impeccable grammar.
1963 Anne C. Birdsall April 11, 2018 Jefferson ( Jeff ) H. Crowther February 13, 2019 Jeff was a gentleman with a wonderful sense of humor who was a great protector of his wife and family. He earned a business degree from New York University. He served in the US Navy and spent his career in the banking industry until he retired in 2018. Jeff was also a volunteer firefighter and inspired his son Welles to join the fire service himself. Since Jeff always carried a blue bandana, his son always carried a red one. When the World Trade Center’s Tower filled with smoke and fire on September 11, 2001, Jeff ’s son Welles was working as an equities trader on the 104th floor. Welles covered his face with his red bandana and led others down the only working stairwell. He was credited with saving at least ten people. His body was found with the remains of other firefighters. Jeff and his wife Alison helped establish the Red Bandana Project and a family foundation to share their son’s story of heroism and to inspire leadership and character development. Boston College, Welles’ alma mater, embraced his legacy with an annual Red
Bandanna football game. Before the game each year, Jeff would address the athletes in the locker room with great joy and pride, according to Tom Rinaldi, author of The Man in the Red Bandanna, “I think those were some of the richest, greatest moments in his life … because I think he felt like he was looking at other young men that he hoped would be like his son….” Jeff is survived by his wife of fortyseven years and by his two daughters and their families. George B. Scarlet t November 9, 2016 George Baily Scarlett was the loving husband of Dorothy Kirmse Scarlett with whom he shared 40 years of marriage. He attended George School, Rollins College, Penn State, and Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy. His love of art led to the founding of The George B. Scarlett Gallery and over the years he nurtured many emerging artists. His love of architecture led him to a successful career in real estate. He was director emeritus of The Kennett Symphony and an active board member of the Union Hill Cemetery. George was the consummate host. He taught so many to appreciate the finer things in life. He was a true gentleman, with a twinkle in his eye, an infectious laugh, and a generous heart, who always saw the bright side of life. In addition to his wife Dorothy, George is survived by two sisters, Joan Scarlet t Winebrenner ’58 and Elsie Scarlet t Gerard ’60 and close cousins in the Halsted and Jackson families. He was a very special uncle to many nieces and nephews. Lucinda Sharp-Gates December 14, 2017 Lucinda earned a BS from Hiram College and then a MBA from Baldwin-Wallace University. She worked many years as a real estate broker in her business, Gates Real Estate Concepts. She enjoyed helping strangers become neighbors in their new homes. Lucinda was also a coowner and the operations manager of the Cleveland Parachute Center for
IN MEMORIAM
over twenty years. While doing so, she founded and operated Second Wind, a hot air balloon repair service. Lucinda continued serving the community as a former Parkman Township trustee for many terms and as a board member of the Great Geauga County Fair with a focus on fine arts. She also served as part of the National Ski Patrol Ohio Region Team. Lucinda enjoyed life and loved to travel, especially overseas. She also liked horseback riding and was a devout member of the Quaker Third Haven Society of Friends in Easton MD. Lucinda will be greatly missed by her daughter, sister, nephew, and many dear friends.
1964 Bruce Maxwell Fox January 29, 2019 Elaine Newcomb French February 7, 2018 Elaine was the loving wife of Leonard French who preceded her in death. She was a kind and beautiful woman who will be greatly missed by her children, grandchildren, and her extended family and friends. Peter D. Rousseau April 2, 2019
1965 William (Bill) H. Powell September 26, 2017 At George School, Bill was a diver and pole-vaulter. He attended Clarkson University in Potsdam NY. He was a member of Pima Friends Meeting in Tucson. Bill is survived by his three daughters, his four grandchildren, and his two nephews. His sister Helen (Honey) Powell ’60 and his nephew Andrew A. Bjorksten ’80 preceded him in death.
1966 Christine (Christie) P. Clark July 18, 2018 Christie attended George Washington University and St. Mary’s College. She later earned a bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State College and her early childhood teaching credentials from Mills College in California, after
serving seven years in the Peace Corps from 1968 to 1975 with her former husband Charles Lachman. In 1978, she met a fellow artist and musician Robert Hobbs with whom she lived and had more adventures with on the West Coast alongside many great friends. She taught at Berkeley Elementary School for several years before moving back to St. Mary’s County in 1993 to raise her 13-yearold son closer to family. In 1998, Christie met her partner, Patrick Hillis, who has provided wonderful support for her during her illness, and while her son Teddy was growing up. Christie and Patrick enjoyed a life together simply relaxing on Lucas Cove and caring for their beloved pets over the years. She was a beloved teacher at Lexington Park Elementary School from 1993 until her retirement in 2010, where she taught pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. She was known throughout the school and community for her generous, warm nature, mischievous sense of humor, and willingness to help everyone. A very optimistic and caring person, Christie had a positive influence on her friends and on a generation of young students helping them adjust to school and learn life-long skills. Christie is survived by her son, three grandchildren, her partner Patrick, her sister, many cousins, and her former husband Charles Lachman. Michael Edward Mongeau April 18, 2018 Michael graduated from St. John’s College in Santa Fe NM and embarked on a life-long career in education and education administration. He received a master’s degree in education from Columbia University. He cared deeply for the students he taught and for the educational communities he served. He went to St. Croix in 2005 to serve as head of school at the Good Hope School. He taught at Kingshill School and he tutored many students on St. Croix. He was devoted to service and shared his many talents on service projects in Haiti, at My Brother’s Table in Frederiksted, in the office of Senator Nellie O’Reilly, and on
the board of the St. George Village Botanical Garden. He is survived by his loving companion, Ruta von Schilling, his three children including Meagan Mongeau Schofer ’88, his granddaughter, his brother, nieces, and a nephew. He is also survived by special friends at My Brother’s Table, the Office of Senator Nellie O’Reilly, other community members, his students, and his two former spouses.
1968 Robert L. Wechsler May 7, 2018
1969 Ronald Charles Fondiller March 7, 2018 Ron was a graduate of Princeton University, Cambridge University, and New York University. He was senior vice president and general counsel of Constellation Brands for twenty-two years. Ron was an active member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Having a deep faith, God was his constant strength. Ron is survived by wife Jane, son David, and mother Fay.
1970 Emily Atkinson Green December 25, 2017
1975 Sophia S. Breer August 24, 2018 With her understated intelligence, humility, and wry wit, not only was Sophie an irreplaceable sister, daughter, wife and friend, she was a true people whisperer. Her ability to disarm and charm both colleagues and strangers alike established an immediate respect and mutual trust that would ultimately prove invaluable over her lifetime. After George School Sophie attended Vassar where she studied English. A great love of the arts landed Sophie in New York City in the late 1970s at the center of the Punk Rock and Avant-Garde art scene, bartending at the Peppermint Lounge, waitressing at East Village pubs, and playing drums at clubs such as CBGB with her band “The Big Ones.” With close friends
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the likes of artist David Wajnarowicz and recording artists The Ramones, it was a colorful and formative chapter in Sophie’s story. In the late 1980s, Sophie’s career path led to a research position at the National Jury Project of Minneapolis where she formed mock juries, allowing attorneys to obtain crucial insight into their pending cases. At The University of Minnesota Cancer Research Department, she oversaw research studies in which her recruits not only contributed invaluable data to the studies, but also were often affected personally. Compassionate and empathetic, especially to the disadvantaged, Sophie also saved the lives of several pooches over the years through adoption, and most recently worked in elder care. Sophie’s wicked sense of humor was a gift from her late father. From her mother, she inherited her love of literature. Sophie was a generous Auntie to her nieces and nephews, a loving daughter and a fierce protector of her sisters, Emily S. Breer ’7 8 and Sabelle Breer ’85. Her devoted husband of eighteen years, Vhannes Koujanian, has lost “my best friend. My Sophie.”
1978 Scot t A. Herman June 10, 2017 When at George School, Scott was a varsity wrestling champion, winning the Pennsylvania-New Jersey League championship in his weight class in 1976. He graduated from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor of fine arts degree. While in college he was able to indulge in sports not available in his coastal hometown. He especially loved skiing and hiking the mountains. After college graduation, he joined his father at the Lighthouse Restaurant on the oceanfront in Virginia Beach. They worked together for twenty years at which time his father decided to retire, and Scott took over the operation. When the properties were sold to the City of Virginia Beach he moved to Carolina Beach NC. There he was involved in some small building projects. As an adult Scott continued his pursuit of sports. He worked out almost daily
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at Wareing’s Gym in Virginia Beach. He was a beautiful runner completing many marathons, finishing second in his age group in the 1986 Shamrock Marathon and seventh overall in the 1989 Shamrock. He surfed from the time he was very young and often traveled outside the country to pursue this passion. He also loved to travel out west to ski. Left to cherish his memory is his beloved wife of twelve years, his mother, two sisters, nieces, a nephew, and cousins. Scott was kind and caring with a great sense of humor. He was extremely close to his sisters, who he referred to as his “girls.” He loved his dogs, reading, sports, arts, and travel, but most of all he loved his family and his friends. Deborah Waddington Lynch October 12, 2017 Holly DiMicco Olson May 1, 2019 Holly enjoyed many roles early in her career, including at a print shop, a doctor’s office in California, and at Richboro MRI. She found her true calling as coordinator for Bucks Quarter for the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker). Her gifts were helping people, spreading love, and touching people’s hearts and minds. These gifts will live on through the continued actions of those who knew and loved her. Holly’s love of animals cannot be overstated. She developed a lifelong love of dogs, from her first cherished pets as a little girl to her last pack of five dogs: Lucy, Dana, George, Henry, and Nimbus. Holly and her husband Tom also fostered and adopted dogs over the years. She volunteered for the Bucks County SPCA, helping to care for and train many dogs, along with working with and supporting many animal rescue and care organizations. Holly was also involved in the creation of the Food for Friends program that continues to feed the homeless in Lower Bucks County at Fallsington Friends Meeting. Holly’s last project was the memorial for the forgotten slaves buried at Middletown Friends Meeting. Holly is survived by her husband,
Thomas Olson, her brothers David DiMicco ’74 and Bruce DiMicco ’75, her sister, her step-daughter, granddaughter, nieces, nephews, and too many friends to name.
1979 Julian ( Jay) S. Brockway July 26, 2019 Jay came to George School with several friends and classmates from Buckingham Friends School. His years after George School included a memorable cross-country trip, a semester at the University of Montana, and completion of his BA degree in business administration from St. Andrews University in Laurinburg NC. Jay settled in Philadelphia, where he held a variety of jobs, as an employee and later as a volunteer. He faced mounting medical challenges over the years, but never complained. He brought great courage and perseverance to each challenge he faced, up until the end, and was an especially valued and beloved member of the community of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, where he was often a patient. He is survived and was much adored by his sisters, Nancy Brockway Marvin ’72, and Mary-Porter Brockway ’75, his brother-in-law, his niece, and his nephew. Cathy Bosworth Horton December 20, 2017 Cathy was a loving mother, entrepreneur, priest, lawyer, and philanthropist. She enjoyed success as an elite swimmer at the University of Michigan. Cathy continued to cheer on the Wolverines while pursuing her law degree from Ohio State University. Cathy cultivated global mergers and acquisitions through her venture finance legal practice in the early part of her professional career. Fulfilling a lifelong calling, Cathy attended The University of Kent Canterbury Theological College and was ordained in England as an Episcopal priest. She was proud to serve as an advisor to Tony Blair on his Technology Innovation Committee. In 2002, after fifteen years in London practicing law and developing a consulting practice,
IN MEMORIAM
Cathy returned to the United States and was a trailblazing businesswoman, building flourishing enterprises during her career. Her ventures include Renegade Brands, Nutek Green, and Beta Strategy Group. Her love and commitment to the environment and the community were evident in all her business ventures. Cathy integrated faith into her work life, conducting a midweek Eucharist services at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland. She was dynamic speaker and writer and she served on numerous boards. Cathy’s greatest love and joy were her two children and stepchildren. Cathy was selfless with her love and generosity, never asking for anything in return. She was cherished and loved by all who crossed her path.
1981 Lee H. Siegel February 8, 2019 Lee was born in Rochester PA and lived in Beaver and Pittsburgh. He was a graduate of Lake Forest College in Lake Forest IL.
1988 Cindy R. Lobel October 2, 2018 Cindy earned her BA from Tufts University in 1992 and her PhD from the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY) in 2002. Cindy was a groundbreaking urban historian who researched life in New York through the lens of food and eating. Her award-winning book Urban Appetites: Food and Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York was published in 2014. She was also a tenured associate professor of history at Lehman College, CUNY, where she worked for more than a decade. At George School, many of Cindy’s lifelong passions were nurtured. She loved performing in musical theater, and later, as a mother of two young boys, immersed herself in their school productions. During her junior year, Cindy traveled to France, and fell in love with the country, language and culture—returning many times. George School also helped cultivate her commitment to making the
world a better place: Cindy was active politically and with the social causes she held dear. Her deep intelligence, generous spirit, and sparkling wit created a wide social circle with whom she remained close throughout her life. Cindy approached triple-negative breast cancer with the grace, optimism and humor she brought to all aspects of her life. She created a blog that detailed the horrors of cancer, but was written from an upbeat, and, yes, often very funny perspective. Her strength and determination were inspirational to doctors, fellow patients, all those who loved her and even strangers who found comfort in her words. Cindy is survived by her husband Peter Kafka, her sons, her mother, her sisters, a large extended family, and a myriad of friends.
1999 Drew Allen Justice January 5, 2019
Former Faculty Samuel E. Smith November 1, 2018
Former Trustees Samuel (Sam) M. Snipes December 31, 2018 Sam was a prominent attorney, Quaker activist, peacemaker, and learned historian. Sam was a proponent of civil rights, peace initiatives, and interracial housing in Bucks County. One of his passions was the Peace Center in Langhorne PA. Sam graduated in 1941 from Haverford College where he was student body president, track captain, and winner of the Varsity Cup. He worked with the National Relief and Reconstruction Administration and escorted thousands of displaced persons to safety in 1946 and 1947. In 1948, he lobbied the US Senate and immigration committees to change immigration laws and admit displaced persons into the US and Canada. Sam graduated from Temple Law School in 1953 and in 1957 he assisted the first black family to move into Levittown. Snipes held off a mob for forty-five
minutes by standing in front of the Meyers’ house until the sheriff arrived. As solicitor of Falls Township, Sam found a weakness in the Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s application to build a nuclear power plant on Newbold Island across the Delaware River from Pennsbury Manor and US Steel and helped block the construction. Sam visited South Africa to support freedom fighters. As one of five persons from the Delegation of Quaker Friends, he took the message of peace to Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin in the Kremlin. He attended the Friends World Committee in Tokyo, Japan in 1988 to participate in the memorial services marking the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An avid historian and researcher, he wrote and edited a 300year history of Falls Township, The History of Falls Township, 1692-1992. Sam served as a trustee of Haverford College, a member of George School Committee, director of Pennswood Village, Historic Fallsington, Inc., Pennsbury Manor, William Penn Center of Fallsington, The United Way, and many Quaker committees. Jean Robbins Strat ton August 18, 2018
Notification of deaths was recorded as of September 17, 2019. We edit and publish information provided by families of deceased alumni, faculty, staff, and trustees. Notes submitted for publication might be edited due to space limitations and Georgian style guidelines.
Printed using soy-based ink on paper containing recycled fiber. Cover and text stock are certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and contain 10% post-consumer recycled fiber.
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HOLD THE DATES SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020
FRIDAY–SUNDAY, MAY 1–3, 2020
Winter Instrumental Music Concert
Alumni Weekend
FRIDAY–SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21–22, 2020
Spring Instrumental Music Concert
SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2020
Winter Musical Performance Children of Eden
FRIDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 15–16, 2020
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020
Spring Theater Performance Spring’s Awakening
Student Film Festival
FRIDAY–SATURDAY, APRIL 17–18, 2020 Dance Eclectic
SUNDAY, MAY 24, 2020 Commencement
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2020 Student Film Festival
GEORGIAN
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PHOTOS: Inside Back Cover: Affectionately known as “the C,” this favorite gathering place of students in the middle of campus is named in memory of Carter Waghorne ’99 who died in his junior year of meningitis. The C is located on the Class of 1937 Student Plaza, most commonly called Red Square. Back Cover: A Midsummer Night’s Dream opened the 2018-2019 season at Walton Theater. Director Maureen West, head of the Arts Department is intrigued by defining the fairies. “They are different each time we stage the play.”