Georgian A Publication of George School, Newtown, Pennsylvania
Volume 76 • Number 3 • December 2004
Nowhere Else to Go By Kevin Cassel
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ud Henrie ’82 loves having animals in the house. He and his wife of ten years, Giti, have two dogs and two cats of their own—and they never know when there might be one more. Through Kalamazoo Animal Rescue (KAR), the Henries foster animals that have nowhere else to go. Their current foster animal is a cat named Trooper, who was found with one leg so damaged that it had to be amputated. The Henries took Trooper in right after the procedure, providing a foster home where he can feel safe and secure. “The cat interacts with our animals,” Jud explains. “We get to know the cat very well, and he’s fostered in an environment where he’s happy and healthy. It socializes the animal to other animals and to people as well.” Under the Henries’ care, Trooper is purring again. “I’m amazed at how social and happy this cat is, the way he uses his three legs...he really is a trooper.” Jud hasn’t always been an animal person, but that changed on one of his first dates with his wife. On their way to dinner and a movie, she took him to feed a stray German shepherd in her neighborhood—but when they found the dog, it had died. The experience made an impression, and when a similar situation arose a couple of years later, “there was no question what we were going to do.” They took the animal—another German shepherd—home and nursed it back to health. The Henries have worked with the allvolunteer organization Kalamazoo Animal Rescue for about three years. Giti serves on the board of directors. The group provides rescued animals with medical care, including spaying and neutering, and places them with a foster caregiver until a suitable permanent
home can be found. Through the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, the Henries have also established an endowment fund, which allows members of the community to support the organization’s no-kill philosophy. As a salesman who often drives a thousand miles a week, Jud has plenty of opportunities to help animals in need. On one sales call where the customer failed to appear, Jud found a pair of tiny kittens in the parking lot. He took them home and fostered them for KAR for six weeks until a family was found to adopt them. He still gets pictures of the cats via email. “It’s nice to have that update,” Jud says. “Had my customer made it, I might never have noticed them,” he notes. Most of the stray animals Jud finds on his travels have tags and are easily reunited with their families. He also rescues a lot of turtles from the hazards of busy traffic. The strangest animal he’s ever rescued? “It was rush hour; I saw an animal on the median and did a double take. ‘Is that a dog? No, it’s a pig!’” By the time he was able to turn around and reach the pig, it had been hit by a car. Jud wrapped it in a blanket, made a few calls, and located a farm veterinarian, who was able to save it. Jud has a hundred stories like that. “Each one is a unique experience,” he says. From his time at George School, Jud absorbed the Quaker philosophy of helping others, and he gained an awareness of other situations in the world beyond his own—an awareness reinforced by his travels as a US Marine. Fostering animals in need is a rewarding experience—for people as well as for the animals. “Making a difference for these animals is something that I get a lot back from. I get a lot of satisfaction from helping animals, because they can’t help themselves.”
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Jud Henrie ’82 (pictured here with his dog Bear, rescued August 4, 2002) and his wife Giti foster animals through Kalamazoo Animal Rescue.
“It was rush hour; I saw an animal on the median and did a double take. ‘Is that a dog? No, it’s a pig!’”
Inside this GEORGIAN SEARCH AND RESCUE
FOCUS ON FACULTY
See how Jennifer Taylor Parker ’82
Learn why four teachers chose to
works with dogs in times of trouble.
work at George School.
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In Times of Trouble By Cristina Lucuski
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hey are furry and cuddly, and most like to fetch. But, “man’s best friend” is much more than just a pet. Working dogs have always played a big part in hunting and farm work. Today, working dogs have even more serious “jobs.” Their role in search and rescue and crime scene investigations puts them in the center of services that have become so important in our complex society. Jennifer Taylor Parker ’82 always knew she wanted to work with dogs. Since the age of ten she has enjoyed training dogs. When her children were young but big enough to be around a large animal, she bought a bloodhound. “Once I got the dog,” Jennifer says, “I was ready to get involved with search and rescue.” It was then that search and rescue became not only her life’s work, but also her passion. She joined the Escambia Search and Rescue (ESAR) team headquartered in Pensacola, Florida, and is now their K-9 commander. Jennifer also works on evidence for various law enforcement agencies. ESAR, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization chartered in 1961, is supported through the generosity of people within local communities. About eighty people volunteer their time to ESAR and the people it serves. ESAR’s qualified volunteers, divers, and ground hunters are ready twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week to respond to any emergency. In addition to servicing the citizens of Escambia County and Northwest Florida, ESAR travels the nation to help those in need, whether they be lost children or elderly people, or victims of a natural disaster. The most recent natural disaster, Hurricane Ivan, tore through Jennifer’s home state, leaving devastation and destruction behind. Houses were destroyed and many people are still missing. Jennifer has been working on area searches throughout Florida ever since. “We don’t stop looking until we find them,” she says.
Participating in these searches requires that Jennifer keep an open schedule. Her home-based business in real estate finance and mechanical and electrical contracting allows her the flexibility to go on a search and rescue mission whenever necessary. “It could be the middle of the day or the middle of the night,” she says. “I am lucky that I can just leave when I get the call. Owning my own business is a definite plus.” Currently, she is working with her award-winning bloodhound, Cherry, who trails for live humans and evidence for crime scenes. She also works with a yellow Labrador retriever named Aero for scent discrimination among different people. “I start training them when they are young puppies, about ten weeks old,” Jennifer says. “I start with the basics and work them up to what they are trained to do. All I have to do now is get the harness and they are ready to go. The dogs really enjoy the work.” The task of working with dogs in this capacity is rewarding, but difficult at times. “Having to meet with family members to obtain a search article is the most difficult. These people are distraught and seeing them face to face is hard. Also, rubble searches are trying since you know you are not looking for a live person.” Still, Jennifer finds great enjoyment in helping family members find their missing loved one and reach a sense of closure. She credits George School for her interest in helping others. “Participating in community service at George School instilled in me the need to help people,” she says. Through her involvement with an organization that declares: “In the field of human endeavor there is little to compare to the satisfaction derived from helping a fellow human being in his time of need,” Jennifer’s work certainly embodies the spirit of the Quaker tradition.
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Jennifer finds great enjoyment in helping family members find their missing loved one and reach a sense of closure.
Jennifer Taylor Parker ’82 (shown here with Aero) and her daughter Sarah ’08 both train dogs and are active with Escambia Search and Rescue in Florida.
Animal Adventures Abroad By Kevin Cassel
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Nancy Keim Comley ’88 (left) lives in Bucks County, PA, with her husband David, their daughter Rebekah (right), and a menagerie of five pets (Asta, bottom left; Ricky, bottom right).
raveling in Europe with pets can be complicated—as Nancy Keim Comley ’88 found out. When security workers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport insisted on taking her cats out of their carrier bags, one of them—Muriel— took off. “It was like an episode of the Keystone Kops,” recalls Nancy. “It was hard to get her back in the bag.” Nancy met her British husband, David, while traveling in the Soviet Union on a George School Independent Experience. After getting married and attending graduate school in Kentucky, the Comleys moved to France. With them went a pair of cats—Nipper and Weasel, both Sphynx (a hairless breed since Nancy is allergic to most normal-coated cats). A fox terrier, Asta, soon joined the family. The two cats were constant playmates. They’d mastered the skill of opening the screen door, with Nipper’s hanging from the latch and Weasel’s pushing the door open. When one cat wanted to go out, he’d find the other. When Nipper died, the Comleys realized they needed to find another cat. A search of several months led to a breeder
of Cornish Rexes in England, and soon Muriel joined the family. After obtaining a rabies shot for her—a difficult thing to do in England, where the disease is virtually unknown—the Comleys returned to France. In Europe, Nancy found that pets are accepted in public places like restaurants and that people naturally notice animals and enjoy their company. “My friends would come asking for the American woman with the British husband, and they’d get blank stares. Ask for the American woman with the little dog? Oh, she lives right over there.” The presence of pets is welcomed, even expected: “I’d show up at the local pizza place, and they’d ask me, ‘Where’s your little dog?’ and I’d have to go back and get her.” The Comleys returned to the States when Nancy became pregnant. They now live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with their daughter, Rebekah, and an expanded roster of pets, three of them rescued, that includes two more Sphynxes and a Dalmatian named Ricky. Nancy does consulting as a museum curator, working with historical places that have done little or nothing with the
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“I’d show up at the local pizza place, and they’d ask me, ‘Where’s your little dog?’ and I’d have to go back and get her.” items in their possession and might have no idea where to start. Nancy shows them how to clean and stabilize their collections and helps them figure out how to catalog and store the items. It’s a calling Nancy enjoys; she previously worked for the Lambertville Historical Society, and she hopes to make a fulltime career of curating again soon. In the meantime, she’s enjoying raising her daughter.
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Raising Puppies with Purpose By Kevin Cassel
RABBIT PLAYS THERAPEUTIC ROLE By Juliana Rosati
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he’s very calm, she’s very quiet,” Abbie Rogers ’05 says of her pet rabbit Phoebe’s behavior as a therapy animal. Abbie has been bringing Phoebe to visit residents of Pennswood Village, the Quaker-directed retirement community that neighbors George School, for her service project since December 2003. Although, as Abbie reports, the attention-loving Phoebe has been known to have a bit of an “attitude” at home, she shows an impressive level of understanding about her role at Pennswood. “She really seems to get why she’s there,” Abbie says. During a typical visit, Abbie takes Phoebe to two or three residents individually, and they pet the rabbit while Abbie holds her. By now, Phoebe has unmistakably designated a favorite person, Louise, with whom she is especially comfortable and affectionate. Abbie explains that Phoebe kisses Louise much more frequently than the other residents, sits in her lap, and allows Louise to touch her under her chin. Louise, in turn, has a good sense of humor and often asks funny questions, such as whether Phoebe has had any boyfriends. Delta Society, an internationally recognized resource on interactions between humans and animals, identifies a number of benefits that the presence of animals can bring to people, especially those in care facilities. These include increased relaxation and socialization. Abbie vouches for the former; “It’s even relaxing to watch them interact,” she says. She is also certain that Phoebe helps her to connect with the residents, who are at various stages of independence. “It gives us something to talk about,” she explains. Nonetheless, making a connection can still be very challenging. “It’s hard and sometimes it’s frustrating,” she says, “but [Phoebe] is better than I ever expected.” It’s no surprise that Abbie would choose an animalrelated service project—her lifelong love of animals has inspired her to volunteer for the Bucks County SPCA for over five years. That’s where she found the English spot mix rabbit Phoebe. Abbie has also sold homemade catnip toys and dog biscuits at George School for the past three years and donates the proceeds to organizations that benefit animals. In addition to Phoebe, she has two dogs at home.
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Becca Hunsicker ’90 (middle) and her sisters—Qiuhong ’06 (right) and Yü Li (left)—raise puppies that are trained as dog guides for the blind.
H
aving a dog is a special childhood experience. Becca Hunsicker ’90 should know—her family has had twenty. Becca and her sisters—Qiuhong ’06 and Yü Li—raise puppies that are trained as dog guides for the blind. Through their local 4-H club and The Seeing Eye, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, the family receives puppies specially bred for the job. Becca raised about fifteen dogs. Qiuhong raised one before starting George School, and Yü Li is currently on her fourth. Becca started raising puppies at the age of eleven when her mother, the director of a library for the blind and handicapped, came home with a pamphlet from The Seeing Eye. “I was a cat person...Mom said, ‘Would you be interested?’ I said, ‘I’m not so sure.’ She said, ‘Let’s go to a meeting and see how you feel.’” They went to the meeting, where a group of kids and their dogs were sitting in a circle on the floor. Becca left the meeting wanting to give it a try, and she soon had her first puppy. Puppy raisers keep their dog until it is fourteen to sixteen months old. The family’s job is to provide a loving home and to teach the puppy basic obedience skills. There are also specific rules: for instance, Seeing Eye puppies are not allowed on the bed. Becca notes, “There’s nothing better than lying in bed with a warm puppy next to you, but that’s the rule.” She makes it clear that this, in particular, is a hard rule to follow. “There are definitely times when I’ve cheated—I couldn’t resist. You look down, and you see the glint in their eyes....” The family also trains the dog to be accustomed to a spending time in a crate, and attendance at monthly meetings further socializes the dogs to kids, adults, and other dogs.
After being raised to maturity by the family, the dog returns to The Seeing Eye’s training center, where it undergoes four months of training, learning how to be a Seeing Eye dog. (The generic term is “dog guide”; the more familiar term properly applies only to dogs trained by The Seeing Eye.) If the dog completes its training and passes various tests and health screenings, the family is invited to see the dog working with the instructor. “It’s a feeling of pride,” Qiuhong recalls. “Your dog made it, which is really nice. You’ve helped the process by training them in the fundamental skills.” “It’s a little bit hard,” says Becca wistfully, remembering the dogs she has raised. Even as a child, Becca understood her role in the dog’s life. “I knew that my dog was special and that she had a job to do, to help someone else achieve independence and freedom. My job is to help the dog get ready.” Still, knowing her role doesn’t always make it easier: “When you see your beautiful dog all grown up, working with the trainer, it’s like seeing your child go off to college.” In 2002, Becca took the opportunity to fulfill a couple of goals. Through the Princeton in Asia program, she moved to Taiwan and taught English to high school students. “The experience was wonderful,” she remembers. “It exceeded my hopes and expectations. The people in Taiwan are very warm and kind and generous; the students were sweet and funny and exasperating,” she laughs. Now back in the States, Becca started a new position in August as admissions director of a school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, her sisters carry on the tradition of preparing a new generation of dogs for service to the blind.
“I knew that my dog was special and that she had a job to do, to help someone else achieve independence and freedom.”
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To meet her service learning requirement, Abbie Rogers ’05 (middle) takes her therapy rabbit Phoebe to Pennswood Village, the retirement community that neighbors George School. Through service learning experiences, George School students get to know people whose lives are very different from their own and they learn how good it feels to help others. They also learn that each and every one of us has the potential to make this world a better place by how we live our lives. Students are required to perform 65 hours of social service before they graduate.
Attracting Extraordinary Teachers Contributions by Odie LeFever, Juliana Rosati, Nancy Starmer, and Carol J. Suplee
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e look for teachers who are models for students,” says Head of School Nancy Starmer, “teachers who will work hard here at George School to nurture and maintain the kind of learning community that we hope our students will feel compelled to create in other places in their lives after they leave here.” George School teachers, Nancy explains, deserve to feel secure and supported with a living wage, proper benefits, adequate stipends, professional growth opportunities, and housing. With projections of a growing national teacher shortage, and the graying of the George School faculty—with 35 members over 51 years of age and many of our experienced teachers reaching retirement age in the next ten years—the focus on attracting and retaining teachers is more compelling than ever. The George School Committee, the school’s governing board, began a formal exploration of faculty demographics and their implications at their September 2004 retreat. Board members interviewed thirteen faculty members, four under 35 years old, four 51 years of age and older, and five in the 36-50 age group.
From the retreat exercises, committee members learned that the most important qualities in attracting teachers and keeping them here are the students, the teaching environment, George School’s strong sense of community, and Quaker principles. Young teachers also appreciate the mentoring they receive from more experienced teachers in the school. Mid-career teachers value opportunities for leadership and professional growth. Teachers in the later stages of their careers value the opportunities that teaching at George School makes available to their own children. “The school’s efforts to keep salaries and benefits competitive in relation to those of comparable independent schools and to offer attractive on-campus housing communicate the value that we place on our teachers,” says Nancy. “Our capital program goals reflect these efforts,” adds Nancy. “Our goal is to double the size of endowment dedicated to faculty compensation before 2008 and to provide several new faculty/staff housing units in the next few years.” Below are articles about four teachers who participated in the retreat.
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Laura Kinnel
Chris Odom
Farrell Friedenberg
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hen Laura Kinnel, newly graduated from Haverford College, decided to become a mathematics and physics teacher at George School, she was looking for a way to make her Quakerism a part of her life work. She was also eager to work at a boarding school because of the opportunity she would have to be involved with students outside the classroom. In addition, she appreciated the benefit of not having to look for housing. After two years, not certain that she wanted to continue teaching, she left to pursue a master’s degree in Laura Kinnel (pictured here with daughter science policy at Washington Eva) lives with her husband and three chilUniversity. By the time she dren in campus housing. had her degree, she realized that she genuinely missed teaching. Dorm and coaching duties had made her two years at George School “very intense,” and as a result she hoped to find a position at a day school. When she called George School to request a reference, she was encouraged to interview for a newly vacant mathematics and science position. Laura took the interview, and the experience of being back at George School for just one day and seeing her former colleagues was enough to make her decide to return. “I decided to come back basically because of the community,” she says. “I had so much respect for all those people and what they were doing.” Laura says that she realized the quality of the community life was due partly to the fact that George School is a boarding school; as a result, faculty and staff have a particularly strong personal investment in it. Now, fourteen years later, Laura’s own investment in the community is evident—she has taken on the duties of registrar in addition to teaching, and she lives on campus with her husband and three children. Becoming a mother has made her very grateful for the George School Children’s Center, which all three of her children have attended, as well as for the fact that the campus affords her children a safe place to play.
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...the most important qualities in attracting teachers and keeping them here are the students, the teaching environment, George School’s strong sense of community, and Quaker principles.
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He is impressed by the students’ enthusiasm for learning and by how hardworking, polite, honest, and caring he has found them to be.
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t’s exactly what we hoped it would be,” science and mathematics teacher Chris Odom says as he recounts how he and his wife, Kathleen O’Neal, dorm head of West Main, made the decision to move their family from Clemson University in South Carolina to George School three years ago. In order for a high-school teaching position to be viable, he explained, a school’s job offer had to meet “a certain financial independence level”—it had to offer housing and a salary that would allow him to provide for his family and save for the future. Beyond that requirement (which all of the offers he received, including George School’s, satisfied), the criteria most important to them were work environment and the effect that the situation as a whole would have on their family. Chris says that he and Kathleen “didn’t find any other school that had what George School had” in these last two categories, even though some offered a significantly higher salary. George School’s work environment appealed to Chris for a number of reasons, but primarily because of the character and dedication of the students and the diversity of their socioeconomic backgrounds. He is impressed by the students’ enthusiasm for learning and by how hard-working, polite, honest, and caring he has found them to be. The prospect of being in a family-oriented atmosphere that is guided by Quaker ideals made Chris and Kathleen eager to raise their children at George School. George School’s tuition remission policy and the proximity of other Friends schools, along with the availability of the George School Children’s Center, played a key role in their decision to come here. Their six-year-old son, Archer, currently attends Buckingham Friends School, and their three-year-old daughter, Josie, attends the children’s center.
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Farrell Friedenberg
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Chris Odom teaches the Computer Programming and Robotics course at George School, as well as various physics courses.
Ieisha McIntyre
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primary factor in new English teacher Ieisha McIntyre’s decision to come to George School was the level of multiculturalism she observed among the students when she attended meeting for worship as a part of her school tour. Free to choose where to sit, the students did not divide themselves into groups of the same ethnicity, and when students of color sat together, they did not appear to do so as a defense. Having visited seven charter, magnet, and college preparatory schools, she found this to be her first encounter with a student body that seemed truly comfortable with its diversity. In addition, Ieisha valued George School’s Quaker philosophies and the way in which she felt that the institution affirmed students’ cultural backgrounds and differences. “As a teacher of color,” she says, “it’s difficult to be in an environment where people don’t affirm people’s differences.” Instead of encouraging students to change their identities to fit a certain mold, as she has found that some college preparatory schools do, George School, she says, teaches students respect for themselves and others, and the community has “a huge willingness to see people as much as possible without labels.”
Farrell Friedenberg
...she found this to be her first encounter with a student body that seemed truly comfortable with its diversity.
Ieisha McIntyre, new to George School in fall 2004, teaches Literature and Composition, and coaches track.
After receiving her master of arts in teaching at the University of Puget Sound, Ieisha taught in public schools for five years, and then at a private boarding school for two years. As a young, single faculty member, Ieisha says she is grateful to find that she has more time to herself at George School than she did in her previous position, and she hopes that the school can develop ways to help faculty connect to funding for continuing their education.
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Paul Machemer
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Farrell Friedenberg
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aul Machemer views faculty compensation from a special vantage point. He came to George School fresh out of college in 1969. Except for a brief two-year hiatus, he has been on the faculty ever since. “I think, then, I was most attracted by a boarding school with an apartment, meals, and a laundry,” he says, “but hiring new teachers is different now.” Many new teachers already have teaching experience. They might carry student loan burdens and thus are more sensitive to traditional salaries and benefits. Further, they might arrive with families, bringing housing issues into sharper focus. “New teachers who are assigned to dorm apartments are already anticipating the day when they can move their families into other housing,” says Dean of Faculty Scott Spence. “We need to add more housing soon.” Over the years, in addition to his classroom teaching and coaching, Paul has relished the campus’ cultural richness and professional environment. The elements that have made Paul’s long career fulfilling and satisfying are vital to new faculty as well. “I have been heavily involved in the governance of the school because of its philosophy of seeking consensus,” Paul says, “so I have probably had more influence on my working conditions here than I would have enjoyed at other institutions.” George School is listening to these voices as it contemplates how best to attract and keep teachers whose special gifts and long-term commitment will ensure the school’s future.
Mathematics teacher Paul Machemer ‘65 is the clerk of the George School Faculty Concerns Committee and coach of the boys varsity soccer team.
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Off to the Circus by Rebecca J. Wilkinson
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eople often speak of running away to join the circus, but few have ever accomplished such a feat. Anne Snipes Moss ’83 is an exception to the rule. In 2002, Anne was asked to participate in the Circus World Museum’s Festival and Parade. She and a group of friends agreed and joined the parade as The Elegant Equestriennes; donning authentic costumes and riding sidesaddle, they helped recreate an authentic 1902 circus parade down Main Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “When I was first approached with the idea, it never came up where the parade actually was.” Anne laughs. “I thought it might be New York or Virginia, somewhere relatively close to my home in Pennsylvania. I never dreamed our destination would be Wisconsin.” The parade involved over two thousand participants and approximately 750 horses. Eighty restored circus wagons, including one with a forty-horse hitch, traveled along with the mounted groups; they housed the circus’ animals inside while brass bands played on top. “It’s definitely a challenge to ride your horse with all the other animals nearby. I went out a week before the event so my horse could get a good look at the camels, elephants, and tigers,” Anne comments. The experience was so wonderful that Anne appeared in the parade for three consecutive years.
Anne took her husband John’s draft horse, Uncle Remus, because of his experience in Civil War reenactments. One year, the horse ridden in the festival’s “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show” by Buffalo Bill himself became lame and a replacement needed to be found. Anne suggested Uncle Remus with reservations. She wasn’t sure about the picture made by a large Percheron horse and a little cowboy. After Buffalo Bill was bucked off by several potential mounts, Uncle Remus had his chance. Anne remembers, “The director hopped up and fired several shots from Uncle Remus’ back, then rode him down the midway through the crowd and all your typical circus activity. They were gone about half an hour; by the time the director came back he was completely in love with Uncle Remus.” When not borrowing Uncle Remus, Anne works with her own horse Helium. She and Helium competed in sidesaddle dressage with the goal of obtaining a medal in the US Dressage Federation’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Program. Meeting that goal by receiving a bronze medal, she says, “was so exciting. It was the Sidesaddle Olympics for me.” In her second season of competition, she became the first person to receive the silver medal in sidesaddle dressage. Anne notes, “These are great horses. They’ve done everything we’ve thought up for them to do.” Anne initially learned to ride by galloping bareback around her family’s farm on their driving horses. She recalls, “I started riding at George School in the fifth grade so I’ve spent an awful lot of time riding in those rings.” During her junior and senior years, Anne worked with her show horses as an independent physical education class. Currently, Anne and John also share their home with other companions including two pot-bellied pigs, three dogs, and numerous koi. With a smile in her voice, Anne comments, “I do have a deep sense of satisfaction having these animals in my life. I love coming home to them, caring for the pigs, grooming the horses, and learning what each individual animal likes and catering to each of them.”
“The director hopped up and fired several shots from Uncle Remus’ back, then rode him down the midway through the crowd and all your typical circus activity.”
Susan J. Stickle
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FEATHERED PAGEANT WINNERS By Kevin Cassel
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hristie Johnson Lucero ’59 has had plenty of animals to keep her company over the years—horses, goats, sheep, geese, and dogs—but the chickens are the ones that win prizes. Christie shows a large featherfooted breed called Blue Cochins at the New Mexico State Fair every September. The birds are judged entirely on what they look like—they don’t perform, and Christie notes dryly, “they’re never selected for their intellect.” Intrinsic factors such as stance and the shape of the head signal a potential winner, although Christie works with the contestants as well. “I’ve been known to put curlers on their tails, and I’ll touch up their beaks and wattles with Vaseline to make them look cheerful.”
“By year two, chickens tend to look like they’ve been in a badminton game.” Christie’s chickens have won prizes competing as trios—two hens and a rooster. She’s also had success entering a pen—three older birds, three younger, plus one more. Finding older chickens to show can be tough, though: “By year two, chickens tend to look like they’ve been in a badminton game.” When she’s not raising showing chickens, Christie creates ceramics (an art she first learned at George School), paints, and teaches Spanish colonial tinwork with her husband. They’re also restoring an old mining cabin in Silver City, New Mexico. As busy as she is, Christie has found an activity that suits her lifestyle. “Chickens are relatively untaxing,” she says, citing the features that make Cochins her preferred breed: “They don’t peck me, and they don’t run very fast.”
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Anne Snipes Moss ’83 has been following her passion for horses and riding since childhood.
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Professor Shares Passion for Animals
Greeting Card Business Focuses on Animals
By Kimberly Robbins
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oanna M. Bassert ’77 recalls memories of feeding the cows during kindergarten recess at Newtown Friends School. As a child, she spent time playing on the banks of the Neshaminy Creek, and in the expansive fields and woods that surround George School. This ignited her love of the environment and of the wild and domestic animals that were part of her young life. Today, as professor and director of veterinary technology at Manor College in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, Joanna’s passion for nature, science, and animals thrives and is generously shared with her students. “I have a particular interest in comparative anatomy and physiology, which I acquired from my father, who was director of pathology at Lower Bucks Hospital,” recounts Joanna, who remembers participating in the postmortem examinations of humans. “Dad would pull up a stool for me to stand on so that I could get a good view of internal structures. I did not know then, at the age of eight, how unorthodox this exceptional education was, but it was monumental and lifechanging for me.” At George School, Joanna was given the opportunity to bloom academically when she was introduced to biology and environmental science. During the summer before her junior year, she traveled to Yosemite National Park as part of the Student Conservation Association. There she worked to maintain trails and eradicate illegal campsites.
“The bodies of animals have been molded by environmental forces. The variability of these forces has created a plethora of diverse beings with different physical structures and abilities. These differences are what fascinate me.”
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By Kevin Cassel
Maura Gleeson Searle ‘94 works as a pet photographer and swimming coach.
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Maura Searle
Joanna M. Bassert ’77 brings her dog Serena with her to work at Manor College every day.
Joanna chose to study biology at Mount Holyoke College, where she quickly became enthralled with the anatomy and physiology of birds. “I knew then that I wanted to study different species and compare them to one another. The bodies of animals have been molded by environmental forces. The variability of these forces has created a plethora of diverse beings with different physical structures and abilities. These differences are what fascinate me.” After Mount Holyoke, Joanna worked at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine assisting in research using scanning electron microscopy. She also taught fifth and sixth grade science at Friends Select School before attending the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “I loved teaching! And was quite apprehensive to leave it when I was admitted to vet school,” explains Joanna. After graduation in 1989, Joanna practiced for three years in companion animal medicine before returning to academia. In 1992, she headed up the Program of Veterinary Technology at Manor College. Since then, the program has quadrupled in size and has initiated a challenging Internet-based distance learning program, which utilizes video and audio streaming. “There is a shortage of veterinary personnel across the country,” adds Joanna. “Through distance education, we hope to reach the northern, central, and western portions of the state where there are no programs.” State and federal funding has helped to support Joanna’s efforts. “There are a lot of people who want to see the online program succeed,” she says. “As in the human profession, veterinary medicine suffers from shortages of nurses (technicians) and doctors.” When Joanna isn’t reaching out to educate aspiring veterinary technicians, she volunteers her time to help Native Americans in New Mexico. In conjunction with Americans for Native Americans, a nonprofit organization that supports Native American people, Joanna works with a team of veterinarians and veterinary technicians from across the country to establish free clinics that provide medical and surgical care to the animals of the Navajo Nation. And just what is Joanna’s favorite animal? She quickly confesses that she loves all animals, especially her dog, Serena. However, she doesn’t hesitate to admit that the concept of flight astonishes her. “If I could spend one day as a bird so that I could fly, that would be amazing!”
f you make your living taking pictures of animals, “you have to be ready for a lot of motion,” laughs Maura Gleeson Searle ’94. Maura has found a way to combine her love of animals with her love of photography—she’s a pet photographer. Not that it’s always easy—she frequently works outside, and her husband often helps by trying to get the attention of her subjects. Maura originally started her own business focusing on family portraits. A number of requests to include the family pet led to a specialty in animal photography. While she still shoots family portraits, her favorite subjects are children and animals. “I try to capture the joy and energy and spontaneity that’s such a part of who they are,” she says. “I’ll try to get them talking to each other, playing...it’s often really nice just to capture those candid moments.” Maura’s interest in photography comes from her father, John Gleeson ’65, a teacher at George School for more than thirty years. As a sports photographer and writer for the local weekly newspaper, John always had a darkroom in the house, and Maura grew up watching him work. She began by shooting pictures of her brother; in time, Maura’s photography led naturally to portrait work and to her own greeting card business. The cards feature her original photographs—many of animals—and a part of the proceeds goes to local animal shelters. “When I first started the business, I wanted the sense that I was giving back. When I started taking pictures of animals, I felt that [donating part of the proceeds] was the natural next step,” she explains. The shelters sell some of her cards and use others for thankyou notes to their donors.
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Maura Gleeson Searle ‘94 uses photographs like this image of a cat to create greeting cards that she sells online.
Pet Tales (More on page 20)
A Preponderance of Pugs By Peggy Berger
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uzanne Sauter ’66, a retired physician living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, loves animals and expresses this affection as the proud and caring owner of two cats and five dogs—all pugs. The preponderance of pugs began after Suzanne lost one of them to the side effects of chemotherapy that resulted in a fatally damaged liver. This loss left her with one pug who was visibly lonely. In searching for a companion for her surviving pug, Suzanne contacted local breeders as well as Pug Rescue of North Carolina. “Four of my five dogs are rescues and they all have interesting stories as to why they came into the pug rescue program,” Suzanne relates. “One owner died and another went into a nursing home. One family had a new baby and they thought that their pug Henry was too aggressive with their baby. A family that purchased Pickles on impulse as a Christmas present last year decided that they no longer wanted her, so she came to my home in April.” Suzanne Sauter ’66 encourages Suzanne views the people who actually rescue the animals from people to consider getting pets from shelters, pounds, or rescue pounds, abusive homes, or other problematic situations as the real groups. Four of her five dogs heroes. “I just get to have really loving animals,” she acknowledges are rescues, including Pickles appreciatively. (shown here). Suzanne says, “George School forced me to think beyond my narrow focus. Related to that was the reverence for all life that was taught by word and example by the headmaster, Mr. McFeely, and by almost all the faculty members I encountered. This touched me and gave me a sense of respect for life that I doubt I would have had if I had not attended George School.”
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Felix the Cat By John Fisher-Smith ’44
For almost five years, John Fisher-Smith ’44 has written and recorded a 3-minute radio commentary every third Wednesday at the end of the Jefferson Daily regional news magazine, a 30-minute show which airs 5 days per week over Jefferson Public Radio’s two FM programs (“Rhythm and News” and “Classics and News”) to a wide listening area in Southern Oregon and Northern California. This story is one of John’s radio commentaries.
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ow can I describe the sense of loss of our friend Felix. He was so loyal and loving, and showed such trust and grace in the manner of his dying. That evening I stopped my busyness long enough to pick him up from where he lay under the breakfast nook. He felt like a bag of bones. I gently cradled him on my lap, stroking him softly in the ways he loved. I noticed his breathing was labored and I sensed he had not long to live. While I stroked him he reached out with his paw to touch my leg in the way he had always done—expressing his love right to the end. Before leaving I put him back on the lambs wool sweater a friend had loaned him. I remember all his funny and endearing ways. Like the brown paper shopping bag left open on the floor which he would stalk for awhile and then pounce inside making it rattle like a drum. Eventually after spinning around inside his head would emerge—peering out with a triumphant grin. In the late evenings as we sat reading, quietly, he entertained himself by tearing through the house at breakneck speed—making dramatic maneuvers as he negotiated the corners—he shot ’round furniture or skidded on the bare floor. Suddenly he would stop and stand stock still, only his tail waving furiously from side to side. I often kidded him about being poker faced. After he had disappeared for a couple of days
Dot and I would very seriously ask him to tell us where he had been—he never responded— leaving us high and dry with our imagination. However when we returned from a trip of a week or two away from home—we had no illusions about his feelings when he shunned us as if we didn’t exist. I first met Felix when I walked into the Ashland Co-op the day before Christmas 1986. A friend handed me a lanky gray kitten. “Want him?” she said half joking. His gestures of affection and joy were immediate. “I’m your cat,” he said “take me home.” “Yes,” I said without a moment’s hesitation— seeing his character shining brightly. I wasn’t looking for a cat even though we had become accustomed to seeing mice running ’round the house as we sat reading, and Dot had grown fond of pointing out mouse droppings on the kitchen counters. As I brought Felix home I had no premonition or thought of danger. But had I thought about it, our “cat karma” didn’t look too good. We had been given two cats by friends, Orange Julius and Blackie. Both fell prey to predators, whether coyote, bobcat, or cougar we didn’t know. Felix however, turned out to be a real survivor. When he was younger I would hear him up in a tree arguing with another cat or a raccoon who had come onto his territory. Shortly after Felix died so gracefully a man told me he had given a monk a ride into town. On the way he told him he was taking his dog “to have it put away.” The monk said to him: “You know, every single breath counts!” The man dropped the monk off in town, turned right around and brought the dog back home to die. I’m glad we allowed Felix to die a natural death with dignity.
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We live in the country and used to let our cats run outside. One day our smallest, meekest cat came walking up with something in his mouth. He seemed very proud and pleased with himself. My wife and I figured he had caught a mouse or maybe a small bird and wanted to show it off to us. He stopped at our feet and dropped a grasshopper. The grasshopper picked itself up and hopped away, right between the cat’s legs. We laughed so hard at the cat’s crestfallen expression that I’m sure he was too embarrassed to ever go hunting again. –Kirk Klaphaak ’69 There is the time that I returned from work in the late afternoon to find the sheep standing on top of our white, apparently dead horse, as to say “we have won the battle of the pasture.” Shocking but true. –David Esser ’71 One day driving down our street, we found our cat, Gibbous, lying there dead. He was a beautiful longhaired gray cat, and very distinctive looking. We gathered him up and sadly, as is usually the case, dug a hole for him in the garden. We had just finished covering up the grave when, with a cat’s typical nonchalance, Gibbous walked into the yard. Momentary heart stoppage! Then we proceeded to nearly kill him with our hugs. We had never noticed his look alike in the neighborhood, and no one seemed to have lost a cat. We never checked the grave. –Tim Pershing ’77 Our dogs, both Border collies, are herding dogs and are therefore highly interested in the ducks. One of our dogs herds the ducks to different corners of the backyard. The other dog, however, is a bit timid, and we have actually found the ducks “herding” her around the yard instead. –Jennifer Onyx Oryn ’94 Our black cat used to cuddle up between the legs of our black Lab. Research confirms the many values of pets: unquestioned love and importance of responsibility. –John M. Templeton Jr. ’58 I found my dog, Tess, when I was working in Cape Verde, West Africa. She was a starving puppy but even then was extremely independent; stubborn would be a better term. She could understand both English and a Creole that was spoken on the island. I never spent any time training her so listening to commands was not one of her strong points. When I returned to the States I took her to Obedience School just to learn to come and stay, no rolling over or shaking hands, just the important things to keep her from being run over. There were about ten other dogs in the class, all barking and pulling on their leashes. Tess was quiet and walked by my side. She sat when I told her to, stayed in the middle of a field while I walked into a barn out of her sight, and came when I called her. She acted as if I had spent hours training her. The trainer thought she was great. We left and drove back to the house. I got out of the truck and told Tess to go into the house. If she had a hand to make a rude gesture I am sure that it would have been made. She looked at me out of the corner of her eyes as if to say “I performed for you, now I’m out of here,” and promptly ran down the street and was gone for a couple of hours. –Gerald Malabre ’67 Our cocker spaniel, Randy, loved raw vegetables, especially carrots. While I made dinner, salads in particular, he would sit on the floor staring intently at what I was doing hoping for a handout. Once I gave him a whole carrot, which he took into the family room to start eating, but suddenly realized that I was still in the kitchen working on dinner. So he came back, took up his position, again hoping for a handout—totally ignoring the fact that he still had the carrot in his mouth: it looked like he was smoking a giant orange cigar! –William Bretnall ’62 I lived in Portland, Oregon, for eight years and the pizza is not so good there. On a business trip I brought back two large pies to share with friends. My dog, Zoe, is a black Labrador retriever with real food issues. I ate two slices, my wife ate one, and the dog— who learned to open the refrigerator—ate the other thirteen slices. –Brendan Kehoe ’85
NOTE: Pages removed from this document to protect the privacy of GS alumni. Alumni may login to the alumni community at http://alumni.georgeschool.org to view the full version of this issue.
eQuiz highlights
The fall survey focused on pets and the people who interact with them. Thank you to the 403 alumni who participated. The following is a sampling of the responses. For complete results of the survey, visit the George School website at www.georgeschool.org and select “Alumni eQuiz” from the site index.
It’s Raining Cats And Dogs From the 403 alumni responding to the Pets eQuiz, 97.5% (393) of them had pets at some point in their lives and 77.7% (313) of them currently have pets. Of those 313 respondents, a majority had dogs (200). The next highest was a close second with 187 respondents saying they had cats, and then there was a jump down to 47 respondents with freshwater fish. Fill-in responses indicated that alumni respondents had a wide variety of other pets, including: a tarantula, ornamental pond fish (over 50), chickens, various backyard wildlife pets (chipmunks, squirrels, foxes, rabbits, raccoons), worms (for composting), ducks, miniature donkeys, a toad, llamas, mice, hundreds of fleas, geese, hermit crabs, bees, an African leopard tortoise, crayfish, a snail, and ants.
MAKING CONNECTIONS This is the eleventh eQuiz that alumni have responded to since we began these surveys in 2000. Sometimes surveys reveal the commonality of experiences, other times they reveal marvelous contrasts. The fun is in finding and feeling a connection to one another across the years. In this issue, eight of the nine stories featuring alumni were written as a direct result of eQuiz responses. If you do not currently receive the email messages notifying alumni of an available eQuiz and would like to participate, please let us know your current email address by sending it along with your full name and class year in an email message (subject line “eQuiz”) addressed to advancement@georgeschool.org.
Pet Tales Almost one-third of the respondents (127) shared their favorite pet stories. Unfortunately, we didn’t have space to include all of those wonderful stories here. Some are included below and others are on page 8. The rest are available on the George School website (select “Alumni eQuiz” from the site index of www.georgeschool.org). When I had eight rabbits (living indoors!) and it was hutch-cleaning time, I could depend on Dylan to herd them into one spot and keep them there until it was time for them to return to their hutch. As an added bonus, he gave each of them a good “wash”! Good dog! –Fanny Custer Clark ’53
All of our cats are rescues. One of them, Nathan, has no teeth. However, he seems to have given himself a nighttime job. Each night he moves all of his kitty toys from an upstairs toy box downstairs and lines them up across the kitchen floor. Usually we find at least 6-7 toys very precisely lined up in the morning. –Larry Klein ’67
Our cockatiel, Sunny, liked to watch TV sitting on our stomachs as we lay on the bed. One day he ran up my chest and, before I knew it, reached his beak into my mouth as I laughed at the TV show, and stole my chewing gum right out of my mouth. He made quite a mess before I wrestled the gum away from him. –Judith McIlvain Lewis ’64
I was hiking in the woods of Maine years ago with my old hound Ella. She ran off to chase a critter and never returned. I called and called, but she was gone. I took off my shirt and laid it on the ground off the trail and went home. The next day I hiked back to the spot and there she was, asleep on the shirt. –Carter Sio ’76
Georgian
Volume 76 • Number 3 • December 2004 In This Issue Nowhere Else to Go ................................................. 1 In Times of Trouble .................................................. 2 Animal Adventures Abroad..................................... 2 Raising Puppies with Purpose.............................. 3 Rabbit Plays Therapeutic Role.............................. 3 Attracting Extraordinary Teachers ...................... 4 Off to the Circus ......................................................... 6 Feathered Pageant Winners .................................. 6 Professor Shares Passion for Animals ................ 7 Greeting Card Business Focuses on Animals ............................................... 7 A Preponderance of Pugs....................................... 8 Felix the Cat .................................................................. 8 Pet Tales.......................................................................... 8 Class Notes ................................................................... 9 In Memoriam.............................................................. 18 eQuiz Highlights ...................................................... 20
Editor Bonnie Bodenheimer georgian@georgeschool.org 215-579-6567 Georgian Staff Peggy Berger Odie LeFever Alice Maxfield Juliana Rosati Rebecca Wilkinson
© 2004 George School Design: Turnaround Marketing Communications
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