Groton School Quarterly, Spring 2011

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Groton School Quarterly

Groton School

Groton School Quarterly Spring 2011 | Vol. LXXIII, No. 2

The Reverend Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr. May 24, 1927 — February 13, 2011

Spring 2011 • Vol. LXXIII, No. 2

Headmaster 1965-1969

Gallery News • Winter Performances • Chapel Talks • The Millionaires’ Unit

2010-2011 Varsity Boys Hockey Wins ISL Eberhart Division Title

Spring 2011 | Vol. LXXIII, No. 2

Contents 3

In Memoriam The Reverend Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr.

Circiter | Featured on Campus 12

Gallery News Exhibits change at the de Menil and Brodigan Galleries

13 14

Winter Musical Once on This Island

Book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens Music by Stephen Flaherty

Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle 14

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Letters to Myself A Chapel Talk by Charlotte E.P. Bullard-Davies ’11

22

Foundations A Chapel Talk by Eric J. Smyth ’11

25

Choosing to Serve A Chapel Talk by Thomas L. Kalaris, P ’05, ’07, ’12, Trustee

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For the second time in three years, boys hockey 17-6-1 won the coveted Eberhart Division title. (See season recap on page 37.)

Groton School uarterly Personae | People of Note 28

The Millionaires’ Unit

32

Malcolm E. Peabody, Jr. ’46, P’82

28

Grotoniana | All Things Groton 36

Winter Sports

42

New Releases 36

44

Alumni News GWN / GSAA

In Memoriam | As We Remember 46

William B. Warren ’52 46

Notabilia | New & Noteworthy 47

Form Notes

77

Marriages, New Arrivals, Deaths

49

FROM THE EDITOR:

Groton School uarterly Spring 2011 | Vol. LXXIII, No. 2

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s the snow recedes and the days lengthen here at Groton, we anticipate the spring term and our meaningful work in many areas of school life.

Informed by our recent year-long self-study and strategic planning work, we have a refined the School’s mission statement, published this past September. It now reads:

Groton School is a diverse and intimate community devoted to inspiring lives of character, learning, leadership, and service.

Vaughn Winchell

These 18 words will define Groton’s purpose and primary objectives while also containing the key measures of our success in the years to come.

We have this winter also immersed ourselves beyond the classroom and athletic fields, beyond the dormitories and advisor groups, in the committee work that will develop new courses in the areas of science and mathematics, and perhaps new approaches to teaching and learning in the broader curriculum.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) work continues.

On a weekend just before spring break, the Parents Association sponsored a Saturday morning discussion that was streamed live on the Internet. The theme of the parent roundtable was “A Classical Education for the 21st Century.” The two central questions considered were: What are Groton’s inviolate qualities as the institution moves into the second decade of the 21st century? (Why are these qualities important?) and What are the key challenges to Groton as we seek to become a better school in the coming years, given the realities of the 21st century? One can find the link for the video of the roundtable discussion in the news section of the Groton.org web site. I invite the readership of the Groton School Quarterly to engage these two questions and submit responses. They would make an interesting article in a future issue.

Meanwhile, this spring issue presents the School in all its activity and energy over the last term, offering evidence of inspired lives of character, learning, leadership, and service. We look forward to seeing the reunion forms this May and, as always, encourage alumni participation in the development of new articles for publication in future issues of the Quarterly.

John M. Niles Editor

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Editor John M. Niles Graphic Design Jeanne Abboud Contributing Editors Julia B. Alling Elizabeth Z. Ginsberg Elizabeth Wray Lawrence ’82 John D. MacEachern Andrew M. Millikin Melissa J. Ribaudo Amybeth Babeu Sim Photography All photography by Vaughn Winchell, Insight Studios unless otherwise noted.

Editorial Offices The Schoolhouse Groton School Groton, MA 01450 Phone: 978-448-7506 E-mail: quarterly@groton.org

Other School Offices Alumni Office 978-448-7520 Admission Office 978- 448-7510 The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the School.

Groton School of Groton, Massachusetts 01450 publishes the Groton School Quarterly three times a year in late summer, winter, and spring, and the Annual Report once a year in the fall.

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The Reverend Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr. May 24, 1927 – February 13, 2011

1 Headmaster 1965-1969

At the close of winter term, the School was saddened to hear of the death of former headmaster The Rev. Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr., who died February 13, 2011. Reverend Honea followed Jack Crocker ’18 as Groton’s third headmaster, serving from 1965 to 1969.

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Remembrances 1

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t was with profound sadness that I received the news of Bert Honea’s death. I had the deepest respect and affection for him as a friend, a colleague, and a minister of the faith. I was privileged to work for and with Bert during the four years he was a headmaster at Groton. To say that those were particularly challenging years is an understatement. The School was transitioning from the longstanding leadership of two greatly revered and outstanding headmasters. Change was inevitable, and to accomplish it the trustees chose a young chaplain from St. Paul’s School, a Texan by birth, to lead the School forward through troubled waters and uncharted territory. Bert came with a new style of leadership that was direct and thoroughly honest and principled. He honored the values of the School, and above all, the values of Christianity in which he so deeply believed. Change was threatening too many of us who were safely ensconced in the traditions with which we were familiar and in which we felt secure. Bert had the difficult task of “opening windows” to meet the future challenges facing not only the students, the faculty, and the trustees, but also a troubled society at large. Inevitably, there were differences in opinion and often objections to some of Bert’s ideas, but I doubt there can be any disagreement that he brought energy, enthusiasm, and a firm sense of commitment to the School he grew to love. That Groton ultimately followed through on so many of his visions is a great testimony to his intelligent and thoughtful approach to education.

Though the 1960s were years of rebellion and uncertainty, Bert and his lovely wife, Patricia, led the School community with a strong and steady sense of purpose as well as with the warmth and graciousness we all remember. Whatever disagreements one might have had with Bert, no one could resist his engaging sense of humor, his genial and kindly manner, and his absolute honesty and integrity. It was always great fun to be with the Honeas, and they could be counted on for lively conversation and wonderful stories. With their four children and various pets, they added vitality and a love of life to the School. The Headmaster’s House continued to be a place of unending hospitality to one and all.

For me, personally, working with Bert was deeply satisfying and always inspiring. He encouraged me to develop my strengths, to believe in myself, and he gave me unconditional support. I admired his patience and his courage during the difficult times, and always his steadfastness in holding true to his beliefs.

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Bert in vestments circa 1998.

My wife, Clare, and I continued our valued friendship with Bert and Patricia through these many years, and each visit with them has refreshed our spirits and given us joy. Groton School is fortunate to have them as part of its history, and we are fortunate and thankful to have known and loved two exceptional and graceful friends.

We will miss Bert.

Charles P. Rimmer, Jr. ’44, Faculty 1950-1974

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ike most of us who remember Bert Honea, my recollections are from a time 40-plus years ago when we were teenagers and he was our School’s young headmaster. I remember him vividly from my first year, and his last, at Groton. He began our days in Chapel, made the announcements each morning in the Schoolroom, taught classes, gave a blessing from the head table at each lunch

The Rev. Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr. I N

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and dinner, and closed his days shaking hands in Hundred House.

Bert Honea was selected as the third headmaster of Groton because he was superbly qualified for his new role as a minister, educator, and scholar. He genuinely warmed to his task and had come to Groton from St. Paul’s as a highly regarded teacher and chaplain. But given the proud Yankee worldview of the School then, some found it surprising that the headmaster of this quintessentially New England institution was from west of the Hudson (not to mention south of the Mason-Dixon line). Mrs. Honea recalls overhearing an older Boston lady at a football game declaring that things were truly headed south when the president of the United States (LBJ), the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church (Bishop Hines), and now the headmaster of Groton School were all Texans.

At the time Bert left Groton at the age of 42 he still had 42 years to live. Unlike most readers of the Quarterly, my memories of Bert Honea did not stop at Groton School in the late 1960s. I had the good fortune to get to know Bert and Patricia Honea a second time, half a lifetime later and half a continent away, when I relocated from New York to Texas to start a business in the Honeas’ hometown.

I met Bert Honea again in the late 1990s, several years after moving, when he came to the Harvard Club of Fort Worth

to speak as an alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. By this time Mr. Honea was 70 years old and I was in my mid-40s. I introduced myself, and Bert was gracious and welcoming as always. His energy and bearing were that of a much younger man. His cheerful voice and manner were unchanged from 30 years earlier.

When my wife and I subsequently became members of the church in which Bert was active, we started seeing Bert and Patricia more regularly. He retired from ministry full time in 2001 at the age of 74, but continued to teach a very popular Bible study class and preach several times a year. He still officiated at many baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Indeed, there is a story that Bert’s eulogies were so admired that one frail Fort Worth matron stayed alive by sheer will until Bert and Patricia returned from a European vacation and promptly gave up the ghost once Bert was back in town and available to give her eulogy.

In 2001, we asked that Bert baptize our first son, William.

We so enjoyed his ease and joy in sharing the sacrament with squealing babies and the good company of Bert and Patricia at the luncheon following that we started a tradition with Bert baptizing all three of our sons.

Several times when Groton formmates, like Rob McSween, came through Fort Worth we would visit Bert and Patricia at

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In Memoriam | As We Remember I N

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He graduated from the Hill School their house nearby or host a dinner with and promptly enlisted in the Navy in the them. Bert and Patricia were lively dinner spring of 1945. Since the war was rapidly companions. Later, when my mother-incoming to a close, Bert’s deadly accuracy law moved nearby from out of town, Bert with a typewriter earned him a desk job and Patricia graciously invited her into their typing countless Navy discharges. After a book clubs and lecture series. year, he decided it was time to type up his Though his family was distinguished for own discharge and quickly found himself generations in its achievement and service, returned to civilian life.

Bert seldom discussed their accomplishments Bert’s brief stint in the Navy changed or his own. I learned from reading, but not his life in one major respect: in the from Bert himself, that Mr. Honea, Sr., was Bert Honea at the Porter christening Navy the only chaplain on his detail was a major figure in Fort Worth as chairman of in 2004 Episcopalian. Bert fell in love with the the board of Carter Communications, which grand Episcopalian hymns and the rich language of the 1928 owned the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as well as television and prayer book. Upon his return from the service, he had the radio properties. Likewise, I only learned after Bert’s death that delicate task of informing his Presbyterian grandmother that his cousin Jimmy from Houston was James A. Baker III, or he had become an Episcopalian. He always laughed recalling that Bert was an early civil rights advocate in his first ministry her dry response: “Well, everyone is allowed one mistake in in Texas. their life.”

After completing two years at Princeton, he transferred to the University of Texas, which unlike Princeton at the time had the distinct advantage, in Bert’s mind, of being coed. It was at Texas that he met and married Patricia Murphree, his exceptionally strong, lively, and lovely life partner for 61 years.

Bert then went to seminary at the University of Virginia and served several years as pastor of St. David’s Church in Denton, Texas, prior to heading to St. Paul’s School for nine years.

His funeral in February was a testament to his life. The church was packed to overflowing with a small sampling of the many people he had touched with his service and his friendship. The eulogy for the man known for his eulogies was fittingly given by Bishop Hulsey, a lifetime friend of Patricia’s from childhood and Bert’s from seminary.

In thinking of Bert Honea, I remember the simple blessing often given in Groton’s Chapel, “Watch over thy children, O Lord, as their days increase. Bless and guide them wherever they may be, keeping them unspotted from the world…”

I was fortunate to become reacquainted with Bertrand Honea as his days increased. Clearly his faith blessed and guided him wherever he went. Though he was fully engaged in community and service throughout his life, he remained remarkably unspotted from the world.

David M. Porter ’72

Bert Honea as a teenager with his younger cousin, James A. Baker III.

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ert Honea and his wife, Patricia, came from sunny Ft. Worth, Texas, to the rigors of New England where he became a highly successful chaplain and teacher of religious studies at St. Paul’s School.

The Rev. Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr. I N

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Following the legendary leadership of Endicott Peabody and Jack Crocker, the tradition at Groton was, of course, that a cleric should be headmaster. Bert had come from a newspaper publishing family but had struck out on his own to become an Episcopal priest. His service at Groton was from 1965 to 1969, a time of great turmoil across the nation in universities, schools, and among young people generally. The general sense of rebellion was ignited mainly by the war in Vietnam, but it showed itself through all kinds of behavioral issues that reached even into the precincts of Groton.

Bert was a very well-meaning and generous person who took on his responsibilities in a high-minded and principled way, but somehow it proved that he was not quite the right fit for the School during that difficult period. Bert was a fine person who made many friends at Groton even though his period of service was a short one.

Paul S. Russell ’43, M.D., Trustee 1964-1979

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fter graduating in spring 1968, I returned to Groton in 1972 as an admissions officer working under Paul Wright for one year and Rowland Cox for two. I have a great deal of respect for Paul Wright as a very calm, staid but politically savvy leader. He was a great interim, as he had the respect and confidence of the faculty,

Bert at a family picnic in Truro, Massachusetts, in 1984.

board, and alumni. I found it fascinating, however, how many of Bert Honea’s innovations he implemented or continued, even some with which he did not agree entirely. I believe that is Mr. Honea’s legacy, and it is a shame in many ways that he is not recognized for it. Following an iconic head of school, such as Jack Crocker, is almost invariably a failing proposition.

There is a period of grieving that lasts a long time. Bert Honea was caught by that, compounded by the times generally, but I believe that he had a very real part in making Groton’s later successes possible.

Geoffrey G. Young ’68, Faculty 1972-1975

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e have great admiration for Bert Honea who, with his wife, Patricia, came to Groton School at a very difficult time. Not only were they following the very successful 25-year career of Jack and Mary Crocker, but also their years at Groton were in the midst of a time of upheaval in American society: the use of drugs, the sexual revolution, and the Vietnam War. Bert and Patricia were willing to take on the challenge of change. They came with new ideas. When the Headmaster’s House was renovated, they moved Parlor into faculty homes.

Thanks to Patricia’s sense of style and great taste, the newly decorated Headmaster’s House was outstandingly attractive and welcoming. Those changes lasted for a long time and always seemed fresh and inviting. Patricia started Sunday school for the faculty children, taught by faculty wives and some sixth formers. Under Bert’s leadership, students were allowed weekends off—unheard of before—and Chapel requirements were changed to students attending only once on Sunday instead of two out of three services. He proposed the idea of coeducation, but the School was not ready. As head of school, Bert made a great effort to listen to all students and initiated a voluntary sixth form/faculty off-campus, pre-school conference in 1968. He tried to organize long-range planning before it became a standard practice, and he helped set up faculty salary comparisons by age with other leading schools.

On a personal level, Bert baptized our two younger children.

We were especially pleased when he returned to Groton in 1989 to perform the marriage ceremony for our daughter, Sarah ’79, and her husband, John MacEachern. We shared some time in Italy with the Honeas as well as time at their house in Truro.

We are very grateful for Bert and Patricia’s friendship and their influence on our lives.

Ann W. Alexander, Faculty 1981-1996, and Charles C. Alexander, Faculty 1960-2009

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Home from Princeton at The Casino.

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am forever grateful to Bert for hiring me. As many of you know, I was probably the least likely member of my Form to return to Groton to teach. Bert took a chance on me and hired me to teach math in 1966. Two years later he allowed me to take a leave to get my master’s degree while promising to hold my job until I was finished. He was always very interested in what I was doing and saw potential in me to pursue mathematics in ways that I did not yet understand.

Bert had ideas that were way ahead of his time, including Groton as a coeducational institution, and he understood the radical social changes of the ’60s. As I look back over my 40plus years at Groton, I recognize how today’s School actually reflects much of what Bert had envisioned, and how much I owe to Bert and his belief in me.

Jonathan Choate ’60, Faculty 1966-1968, 1969–present

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greatly valued working closely with Mr. Honea my sixth form year. Weekend freedom and independent art projects seem pretty minor now, but they were large steps then, taken through initiatives largely of our Form, with Bert’s support.

When I visited him on the Cape the year after he left the School in August, I had the most moving powwow with an adult that I had yet had in my life. Parallels between his and my experiences were astonishing. I’ve found myself valuing humility evermore over the decades. I’m glad we tasted the great Jack Crocker. I’m also profoundly grateful we worked with Bert Honea for three years.

John H. Wulsin, Jr. ’68, Senior Prefect

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The Rev. Bertrand Needham Honea, Jr. I N

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thought that Chip Wulsin’s reflections on his active relationship with Bert Honea were very sensitive and revealing. After all, that has always been a kind of linchpin in the way Groton’s remarkably active, warm, and personal interconnections between the young and older generations had always worked. These were widely tested in those days of Vietnam stress, in which generational conflict thrived, even festered; but, in spite of this and the rather abrupt contrast between Bert, a Texan from St. Paul’s School, and the New England athletic and towering personalities of Endicott Peabody and Jack Crocker, it can be said that the traditional teacher/student relationships remained outstandingly strong; they were after all built into the system. It is also true that Bert did put the School on the road to a new and different set of values. Paul Wright understood this and, having the strength, and years at Groton since 1928(!!), was actually able to put some of the most significant elements (especially coeducation) into effect.

In those days I had the pleasure of running a third and fourth form dorm, as well as acting as dining room supervisor (at first, three meals a day, seven days a week), and was quite aware of the restlessness of the young: really just tweaking us,

while (even at Harvard) college administrative offices were being occupied by the SDS. On the other hand, I was also aware of the discomfort of older colleagues with attempts at change—long hair or short hair? bus the Fourth Form to Concord Academy for classes or not—which could become divisive. Bert hit a rough patch!

But in Bert Honea we had a fine Christian character—always sensitive to the personal needs of others. Here are a couple of anecdotes: After I had chatted loosely with his secretary Lucy Barrie about my inability to accept my younger brother’s invitation to be his best man in London, I was summoned to the Headmaster’s Office—a unique event, and he said, “Here is your ticket to London. Enjoy the event!” Similar generosity enabled Melvin Mansur and Leda to visit her family in Latvia for the first time since before World War II. Bert also took the trouble to make a friendly visit to my parents at Kingswood School in Bath (UK).

L. Hugh Sackett, Faculty 1955–present

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Bert and his family.

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rom my perspective Bert Honea never got enough credit for what he accomplished and, more importantly, tried to accomplish during his fouryear controversial tenure as the third headmaster of Groton School. Bert supported the diversification of the student body courageously initiated by Jack Crocker. He enthusiastically embraced the idea of coeducation at Groton so successfully carried out by Paul Wright a few years later.

He also recognized that the student body could not maintain the insular lifestyle immune from the many changes taking place in the outside world. He may have been somewhat naive about the cultural changes in American society in the 1960s, but so was the rest of the faculty. A group of students with tongue in cheek petitioned Mr. Honea to be allowed to go to Boston to see the Jefferson Airplane, which he assumed was an antique aircraft. The ’60s were not an easy time for faculty and students alike, with the Vietnam War, assassinations, drugs, and all kinds of challenges to the status quo and authority in general. Bert tried as hard as anyone at Groton at that time to wrestle with the changes of that time, most of which were outside our control.

On a personal level, I will always remember in 1967 when Bert asked me how my plans were going for my upcoming sabbatical. I told him about my plans to go to the University of London, but I was having trouble finding a home for one of my two dogs. Immediately, Bert volunteered that he and his lovely wife, Patricia, would be more than happy to take Penelope for the year. (For the record Penelope was not the cutest or preppiest dog on campus. She was a somewhat obese mutt, loved dearly by the Congleton children but not the kind you would see pictured in Field and Stream!!) Let the record show that every visitor to the Headmaster’s House the following year was greeted enthusiastically by Penelope Congleton. I should also point out that Penelope was a little disappointed when we returned at the end of the school year.

I will always value that act of friendship and generosity by the entire Honea family.

I hope in the years ahead Bert Honea will be remembered as a good man who guided the School through four very tumultuous years.

Richard J. Congleton, Jr., Faculty 1957-1995

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s has been noted in many of these remembrances, much of what Bert Honea envisioned for Groton eventually came to pass, if not under his leadership then under subsequent administrations. In closing, we leave you with this paragraph from Forty Years More, a

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history of the School from 1934 to 1974, written by history teacher and school historian Acosta Nichols ’30, in which Bert and the author describe Bert’s vision for Groton. “… as headmaster, Mr. Honea held ‘four basic facets of the School must above all be continued and strengthened: its Christian nature (including required Chapel attendance), extension of the Upward Bound program as an application of the spirit of service, faculty excellence, and an outstanding, demanding curriculum.’

He also hoped to implement a number of developments, among them the elimination of the second form, coeducation, a different system of student government, construction of many new facilities (buildings for science, art, and a theater in the round) renovation of dormitories to enable all of them to be run solely by married masters, a year abroad for most students during their school career, increased curricular flexibility and enlarged independent study opportunities [and] a more formal organizational structure of the faculty with a Dean of the Faculty, and a Dean of Students to be responsible for the affairs of the respective groups…”

Circiter | Featured on Campus WINTER SHOWS | SPRING EXHIBITS

Circiter | Featured on Campus

Gallery News The de Menil Gallery SPRING

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White on White: Churches of Rural New England Historic New England’s newest traveling exhibition of photographs

by Steve Rosenthal April 4 - June 5, 2011

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hite on White: Churches of Rural New England presents 40 photographs of iconic New England churches by renowned architectural photographer Steve Rosenthal. The collection is drawn from his handsome book of the same name.

Rosenthal began photographing New England churches in the 1960s, and the project gradually became a personal quest. His luminous black-and-white photographs capture the effect of light on three-dimensional forms and the abstract patterns of shingles and shutters. The early churches of New England hold a special place in the American consciousness, revered for their physical beauty, simplicity, and elegance and for their role in the country’s early history. Rosenthal captures the architecture’s intrinsic beauty while creating a world of rich order and rational light. “These are the buildings that give New England towns and villages a unique sense of place and define, in many minds, the New England character. Collectively, they are as important to the cultural and architectural history of these villages as the great cathedrals are to the cities of Europe,” Rosenthal explains.

All shows at The de Menil Gallery are free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays (except Wednesdays) and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends (except School holiday weekends).

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Gallery News

Christopher Carey Brodigan Gallery SPRING

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Afghan Stories An Intimate Journey into the Lives of Kandahar’s Women

by Paula Lerner

April 11 - May 20, 2011

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any news stories from Afghanistan cover the ongoing insurgency and the hardships of war, but few report how the Afghans are rebuilding in the war’s aftermath and what the fabric of their daily lives is like. People still bake and break bread, children still play, and women still sit with each other to sing at weddings and other events. Men still buy and sell birds at the market in Kabul, and boys still fly kites in the winter. It is this other side of Afghanistan that intrigues photojournalist and multimedia producer Paula Lerner, and which, she feels, is largely neglected in the West.

Paula Lerner first went to Afghanistan in 2005 as a member of the Business Council for Peace (www.bpeace.org), a non-profit dedicated to helping women in post-conflict regions set up and grow self-sustaining businesses. Several times she traveled to Kabul with a team to document Bpeace programs, giving her access to people in all walks of life. Women’s issues have consistently been a theme throughout Lerner’s career, and collaborating with Bpeace was a good fit. More recently, she began working on a long-term book and multimedia project about women in the Taliban’s home city of Kandahar, an undertaking that portrays daily life behind the Afghanistan headlines.

Because Lerner is a female photographer, the door to the women’s quarters was open to her, enabling her to chronicle a world rarely seen in the West—from outgoing businesswomen in Kabul to homebound wives and widows in Kandahar. By focusing on people heretofore unseen, Lerner hopes to allow viewers to connect with them in a personal and humanizing way. She says, “My aim is to put a human face on those who were previously invisible and offer a voice where there has been only silence.” Lerner’s work about women in Kandahar won her and the Toronto Globe and Mail team with whom she collaborated an Emmy Award in the documentary category last year (published online at http://globeandmail.com/veil), as well as a Webby Award nomination among other honors.

More of her work is online at www.lernerphoto.com.

All shows at the Brodigan Gallery are free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends by appointment.

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Circiter | Featured on Campus

Once on This Island The company performs the opening number, WE DANCE.

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n three vibrant and colorful shows performed in the Asen Theater in the Marion D. Campbell Performing Arts Center, Groton presented Once on This Island to highly enthusiastic audiences. Laurie Sales, Groton’s director of theater, directed the performance; Sarah Sullivan designed the sets and provided the technical direction; and Christopher Murrah created the choreography.

Michael Smith, Groton’s organist and director of choral music, directed the music and led the orchestra; Christopher Metzger designed the costumes and makeup; and Eric Fox designed the lighting.

In almost nonstop song and dance, the show was a delightful mix of contemporary and Calypso-flavored music that included tender ballads sung by the leads and uplifting celebratory numbers performed by the ensemble cast.

Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, the play retells in a tropical setting the legend of The Little Mermaid, a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that ultimately leads to the triumph of love over death.

In the play, character Ti Moune, played by Sofi Llanso ’14 and Alice Gauvin ’11, is a poor orphaned girl who grows up holding tight to the idea that she was chosen for a very special destiny by the gods, who were played by Nya Holder ’12, Daniel Castellanos ’13, Eliza Fairbrother ’12, and Zachary Nicol ’11. The challenges the little orphan faces are pitted against her desire to honor that destiny. Although her life is in the hands of fate, she does not resign. She lives fully and without fear, knowing that one’s heart is the strongest tool one has to push through confusion, loss, and destruction.

This winter’s production of Once on This Island drew upon the talents of more than 75 student actors, singers, dancers, builders and painters, five members of the Groton music faculty, and more than a dozen faculty children.

Each did an extraordinary job engaging the hearts and minds of the audience through language, music, staging, and dance.

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Once On This Island

This page clockwise from top: As the entire company looks on, Sophie Llanso ’14 ends the show by repeating the opening lines of the story, “There is an island, where rivers run deep.” Papa Ge, the demon of death (Zach Nicol ’12), warns Ti Moune (Alice Gauvin ’11) of the dire consequences that will befall her if she trades her life for the dying Daniel (Sherwood Calloway ’12). Nya Holder ’12 as Asaka, Mother of the Earth, sings MAMA WILL PROVIDE with the support of the storytellers and participating faculty child sprites. Agwe, God of Water (Danny Castellanos ’13) summons a storm in RAIN.

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Circiter | Featured on Campus

Clockwise from top left: Ti Moune (Alice Gauvin ’11) is comforted by the storytellers in MAMA WILL PROVIDE. Erzulie, Goddess of Love (Eliza Fairbrother ’12) blesses Ti Moune and Daniel in HUMAN HEART. “The Beauxhommes” throw a ball at the Grand Hotel, featuring a waltz performed by Luke Duroc-Danner ’12 and Hadley Stack ’14.

The villagers ward off the coming Demon of Death in PRAY. The peasants and storytellers hit a grand finish to WE DANCE.

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

Some 30 years ago, weekday Chapel Talks became regular occurrences at Groton. Now an ingrained tradition at the School, parents, trustees, alumni, faculty, and students continue to address the School four times a week in Chapel. The talks have become the centerpieces of services that enrich the Groton experience by virtue of the points of view, ideas, experiences, and opinions expressed in this more formal setting.

Over 100 speakers present at Chapel each academic year, adding to the voices on the Circle. We offer a sampling of three Chapel Talks from the winter term here.

Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

Letters

to Myself

A Chapel Talk by Charlotte E.P. Bullard-Davies ’11 January 10, 2011

Charlotte in VI English class.

I

love dinner.

It’s not just that I like food—which I do—but especially in the winter, the Dining Hall is just a great place to be. It’s warm and bright, but the lighting is soft. The chairs are comfortable, and there is a good selection of seasonal fruit.

In the winter, oranges are fresh, and I have a thing for citrus. The best part, however, is sitting in the senior section and watching groups of people drift in and out. Most only stay for 15 or 20 minutes, some up to 40. Some, like me, however, linger. I like to arrive at 4:53 or so and hover around the food, despite glares from the all-too-patient Dining Hall staff. I will sit at dinner with an empty plate for the next two to two-and-a-half hours, usually joined by a lively crew including James Cottone, Hannah Kessler, Coco Paul-Henriot, and Alice Gauvin.

Recently, on one of those nights, I stayed at the Dining Hall even after they left.

Only one other person remained with me, just starting his meal as the Dining Hall emptied. We hadn’t talked in a while, and I appreciated the opportunity to catch up. We somehow stumbled upon the topic of how people in our Form had changed during our time at Groton.

“I’m sure everyone’s changed somehow,” I said, as I nibbled on the peel of my orange.

“Yeah … well, you have changed, but you’ve always … had a pretty good outlook on things,” he said. A pretty good outlook.

Despite anything that got in my way, my number one goal through Groton has been clear and singular: optimism.

For my 8th birthday, I received a large book called All About Me. In it, amongst other activities and games, was an envelope with a small folded letter inside. The letter was covered in daisies and had several prompts in it. As I filled out this book, I took this letter extremely seriously, filled it out with great care, and sealed it in the envelope.

On the cover, I wrote, “Do not open until August 2007,” when I would be 13.

Through two moves in the next five years, I saved the letter and resisted any urge to peel it open. Finally, one month before I enrolled at Groton, I read it for the first time. The letter reads as follows: Dear Future Me: Today’s date is August 14, 2002. I’m 8 almost 9 years old.

My plans for self-improvement are: to learn some new ways to hold my quick tongue.

Goals and milestones I hope to accomplish in the next few years are: to be on the team at gymnastics and be on travel team soccer.

18 | Quarterly Spring 2011

Letters to Myself When I picture myself in the far-off future, I see: me with long hair, surrounded by friends, in a school or somewhere else with Emilia, Viki, Haley, Heather, Kyra, and Chloe.

Something I won’t ever forget is: my saving a bird’s life from Jessie, our cat.

Yours truly, Charlotte D. To be perfectly honest, I still haven’t really figured out how to “hold my quick tongue.” I quit gymnastics the next year. I have managed to grow my hair, but I haven’t spoken to Haley, Heather, Kyra, or Chloe in years. My cat Jessie got eaten by a coyote.

Still, I did make it onto travel team soccer, for a glorious two-year stretch that culminated with a satanic coach and a devastating losing streak in the seventh grade.

I wrote the letter neither for whim nor boredom. Rather, I had an overwhelming fear of losing the past. This, in turn, translated to desperation—a need to quantify and evaluate my current self in order to instruct a later one. The letter expressed lofty goals for the far-off future with eagerness and conviction.

Of course, given a few years, any sweeping change can be accomplished. I always imagined the version of myself reading the letter: Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger.

From that point, I began to write more letters to myself, urging the “future me” toward more generalized goals.

I wrote two in Third Form. In May, my teacher, Ms. Matwychuk, told our English class to write letters to ourselves and give them to her. She kept them until the summer, and I completely forgot about mine until it arrived in the mail. It was one of the longest letters I had ever written, typed in a variety of different colors, primarily purple. The following is a shortened version: Dear Charlotte, Hello! There are eight days of Third Form left and you/I/me is sitting in Ms. Matwychuk’s English class … It’s spring fling today! (smiley face) That is how I’m feeling about spring fling. (frowny face) That’s how I’m feeling about exams.

OBEY: 1. Please do NOT procrastinate in Fourth Form. Email can be death!

Designate a certain amount of time for email and if the conversations are

pointless, stop. SERIOUSLY! 2. I know I don’t know a lot about Upper School but at least try to remember this year.

Remember the hard things. Remember the fun things. Remember swimming in the Nashua yesterday.

Remember swimming in the blow-up pool.

Don’t be obsessed with what people say about you. Smile at people. Don’t be overly ridiculous. Dance a lot, but not too much.

Bake. Don’t go to the Health Center that often. Try to wake up on time. Go to bed before midnight. Cook. Don’t cry. Have fun in photography. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Quiet down a little bit. Call your friends. Be ridiculous.

Go shopping! Eat fish. Cut down on pizza. Do sit-ups. Buy headbands. Don’t spend too much money. Organize your schoolwork (clearly you can’t organize your bedroom).

Shut up and pay attention!

This year you did sooo many incredibly stupid, dumb, regrettable things. Get over it! Move on and LOVE Upper School. Seriously! Just chill out a little bit. But don’t forget your commitments. Please.

Respect yourself, your family, your friends, your enemies, and yourself (times two)!

This year you did sooo many incredibly stupid, dumb, regrettable things. Get over it! Move on and LOVE Upper School. Seriously! Just chill out a little bit.

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle This letter differed from the first in that it directed me specifically toward the next year, Fourth Form. With its lists of goals both concrete and abstract, the letter embodied my optimistic expectations. Although I didn’t expect to achieve them all, they served as reminders of how absolutely fabulous the school year could become.

Again, most of these aspirations fell short, particularly those to do with any kind of self-preservation. Still, I discarded any negativity of the last year and appraised the new one with high hopes. To me, this wasn’t naïveté. It was intuition.

Throughout my time at Groton, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with avoiding the familiar trap of dejectedness, of looking to the next thing as an “escape.” I vowed to “live in the present” and carpe diem—the stuff of many Chapel Talks before me. A potent combination of idealism and determination fueled my desire to stay positive.

But I wanted to push it even further. Here, it’s so easy to fall into a familiar trap of looking to the next thing as an “escape,” to long weekend, or break, or summer, and finally college as “the way out.”

Since Third Form, I’ve been consumed with maintaining what my dinner friend calls “a good outlook on things.” Every time I heard someone utter, “I hate this. I hate Groton. I can’t wait to get out,” I would fight it with an almost violent sense of urgency.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having “hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favorable or hopeful view.” The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning “best thing,” which many of you probably know.

Technically, this means you can be unsatisfied in your current state and, as long as you anticipate a better outcome in the future, you’re an optimist. You can say life’s terrible at the moment, but if you think it will improve later on, it still counts.

Unfortunately, last year I found myself sucked into a cynical state, as I began to perceive my optimism as fake and stale. I was looking through rose-colored glasses I didn’t really want to wear, and the prospect of something better loomed darkly.

Negativity felt so effortless and uncomplicated, almost a relief from the cheer to which I was so accustomed. Even dinner lost its appeal.

This September in Sixth Form, I opened the final letter, written three years prior, the evening before I first stepped foot onto campus as a Groton student. When I first unfolded it, I wasn’t expecting much. Going back to school didn’t appeal, and I felt nothing in the letter could persuade me otherwise. I had, after all, changed a lot since then. The handwriting looked similar, and the letter was loaded with exclamation points and question marks.

The most underlined, scribbled piece of advice at the bottom of the page reads: “When I open this, I hope I am self-assured! Rock on … exclamation point exclamation point exclamation point!”

“Rock on” is quite a simple piece of advice. Upon reading it, I realized that lately, I had ignored it. While writing that letter, I didn’t see optimism as a burden or something that could come and go. It didn’t require any effort. Being happy was cool, and seeing it in print as an innate part of my 13-year-old-self made me feel ashamed that I had stifled it with laziness and dejected complacency.

At that point, I once again decided to make a change. Instead of pushing it off for the next few years, I saw optimism as absolutely vital now. Although it technically refers to the future, optimism can’t work unless applied to the present. It was real and natural, and it was part of me. It still is. The pessimism I harbored from Fifth Form and identified as the “easy” way really seemed like the “wrong” way.

At 13, I was perhaps not entirely self-assured, but I had confidently assured myself that “rocking on” was the way to live. Now, I still can’t say I have assurance about everything. I do, however, have honest hope for the future, and not just at some indeterminate, distant point in time. I’m optimistic about the next five minutes, the next five months, and, yes, the next five years.

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Letters to Myself

Callout

Letters to the “future me” have accomplished a significant purpose, but not the one they were originally intended for. Most importantly, they are a unique way to remember the type of person I once was, and to reflect upon how I’ve changed since.

I think I tried to make the letters more powerful than they were: I was always holding out for something better that surely could come in just a few more years.

I am an optimist, but I also hope not to get stuck in the future as much as I have gotten stuck in the past. I’m not saying I won’t write any more letters to the far-off future, but I think if I were to write another letter now, it would be one to me, to be read right after it’s written. It would go like this: Dear Future Me: Today’s date is January 10, 2011. I’m 17-and-a-quarter years old.

My plans for self-improvement are: to forget about trying to hold my quick tongue.

Goals and milestones I hope to accomplish in the next few years are: to have more fantastic dinner conversations.

When I picture myself in the far-off future, I see: good things.

Charlotte returning to Hundred House.

Letters to the “future me” have accomplished a significant purpose, but not the one they were originally intended for.

Most importantly, they are a unique way to remember the type of person I once was, and to reflect upon how I’ve changed since.

Something I won’t ever forget is: writing this letter.

Yours truly, Charlotte D.

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

F oundations A Chapel Talk

by Eric J. Smyth ’11 February 3, 2011

He is so grounded in the earth that he has developed a sixth sense of sorts, something that, for him, came as a result of meaningful work. In this way, he has created something that he can rely upon day in and day out—a foundation.

Gerald on the farm in Jonesborough, Tennessee

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T

hese past few summers, I’ve spent my time as a migrant worker of sorts, mostly laboring at Smyth Farms in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

There, on a hill surrounded by 28 goats, six donkeys, three horses, and a Great Pyrenees, I split my time between riding four-wheelers, shooting machine guns, and doing some real work. On the farm, I spent the majority of my time with Gerald—a tough-skinned chain-smoker whose words tripped over themselves and slurred into an incomprehensible soup of Southern jargon. Soon enough, I learned to smile, nod, and pick up any tool he pointed to.

Some days, when the blistering midday sun became too hot, we would break work and take refuge under the roof of the tool shop. Gerald would plunk himself down on the ground and crack open a Coke in his leathery hands. Our view was incredible.We could watch as the wind created rippling waves of alfalfa in the distance, seemingly bending under the glare of the sun. But Gerald would slowly adjust the visor of his neon John Deere hat, turn to spit some tobacco in the trash, and mutter, “It’s gonna rain soon.”

I would look around. “What are you talking about, Gerald? There aren’t any clouds in the sky.” But Gerald noticed the small things around the farm. He pointed out that the wind had changed direction and was cooler than the air around us, the dogs were quiet, and way down the hill the donkeys had gone into the barn. Sure enough, within minutes, dark clouds rolled over the horizon and smothered the sun.

Gerald is one of the happiest people I have ever met, and it took me a long time to figure out why. He has spent his whole life in the rolling hills of Tennessee, and he pours his entire being into the land. He is so grounded in the earth that he has developed a sixth sense of sorts, something that, for him, came as a result of meaningful work. In this way, he has created something that he can rely upon day in and day out—a foundation.

I think we all have them—these foundations—things that we build up over the course of our lives that help us reach new levels of understanding. And it is different for every person: for Gerald, it is work; for others, faith, science, family, the philosophies of Nietzsche or Kant. They are different for every person, but the foundations don’t grow on their own. A foundation takes conscious thought, and every once in a while, foundations must be shaken. Like a piece of metal that is thrown into the fire, our foundations only come out harder in the end—maybe a bit shorter, but wider, sturdier.

This act of shaking our own foundations involves an open mind and a bit of risk. But, as Zoe said earlier this year, this risk leads to growth, and we all might just turn out stronger in the end.

The problem is there doesn’t seem to be any upper limit in our understanding of the universe, of life. It seems that every question we answer leads to a hundred questions yet to be explained, and yet we keep on asking, searching, building on the foundations.

Foundations People hunt for the goal line—the perfect end-all of logical answers. But who said that life is so logical? For example, the podium in front of me is solid. I can feel it with my hand; my fingers meet a hard surface and stop. But quantum physics tells me that the world between my skin and the wood is not ruled by this rigidity, this certainty, but rather, probability. In fact, if I pushed and pushed until almost the end of eternity, my hand would slip right through. Sure, the chances are inconceivably small, but the point is, they aren’t zero.

It’s weird to think about, isn’t it? From the quark to the big bang and everything in between, we have levels of approximation and belief, but never an absolute conviction. I think it was Socrates who said, “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.” It’s nothing new, I mean—people have been dealing with this doubt for thousands of years. Some look at my hand slipping through the podium and turn to microscopes and test tubes. Others take a deep breath, find some firm footing, and jump, taking the ultimate risk—the leap of faith. Call it God, call it love, call it anything that you can pour your heart and soul into—a complete emotional lunge.

This is why faith is so hard for me. It doesn’t make sense! It isn’t logical. I think and think, and the numbers don’t add up. Maybe my foundation isn’t strong enough; but the point is, it’s scary. This is why I am not ready to take the leap of faith. I am not ready to choose a path in my life—not yet. I am not at the stage in the growth of my foundation to take this emotional plunge, but I believe the day will come. So no, I don’t believe in God. Or Nietzsche or Kant for that matter. But I won’t rule them out of my future. I won’t close my mind off to the possibility. Do I think faith will lead me to the ultimate answer? No, I don’t think that’s possible, but maybe it can bring me one step further. First, I must put my foundation through the flames a few more times.

But who said that life is so logical? For example, the podium in front of me is solid. I can feel it with my hand; my fingers meet a hard surface and stop. But quantum physics tells me that the world between my skin and the wood is not ruled by this rigidity, this certainty, but rather, probability.

Eric on the Circle with Jared Belsky ’15 and Julia Metzger ’11.

Callout

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

And what is my foundation?

I think it has a lot to do with my dad, and his weird obsession with Larry Bird.

Larry “Legend” was an odd basketball player, one of the all-time greats, but he couldn’t out-run, out-jump, or out-muscle anybody in the league.

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And what is my foundation? I think it has a lot to do with my dad, and his weird obsession with Larry Bird. Larry “Legend” was an odd basketball player, one of the alltime greats, but he couldn’t out-run, out-jump, or out-muscle anybody in the league.

He was smart though and more than confident in his abilities. My dad tries his best to emulate him. Every Friday, he drives down to the Nashua YMCA to play pickup basketball with men half his age and twice his size. One day, I decided to watch.

It was toward the end of the game, and my dad’s team had the ball. I watched as he walked up to the 20-something who was guarding him, pointed at the floor, and looked in the kid’s eyes. He said: “I’m gonna get the ball right here. I’m gonna shoot it in your face, and I’m gonna win the game.” It seemed cocky, but to me, it was something more.

When I picture my dad, I see that 50-year-old man who strides onto the court with knee-high socks and mid-thigh shorts. He is never afraid to shoot, never afraid to miss, and never afraid to shoot again.

I like to think that I’ve learned a thing or two from my dad. I have confidence, not in the certainty of life, but in that very uncertainty, the impossibility of perfection.

If I had a Larry Bird, a hero to emulate in my life, I think it would be Richard Feynman. He is my favorite scientist, a theoretical physicist and one of the fathers of the very quantum theory I mentioned. Once, while reading one of his books, I came across his theory of uncertainty. He said: “Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.”

I think this is why Gerald is so happy. In his own little way, he does explore the world.

Geographically, maybe not, but on his own little hill in Jonesborough, Tennessee, he reaches his own, deep level of understanding.

In a way, this is what I hope we can get from Groton. Hopefully, this School will encourage us to keep our minds open until we discover what path we want to take, until we discover something that does interest us. The deeper we go, the more questions we find, the higher we climb. And hopefully, you will find something that you don’t mind thinking about for the rest of your life.

Choosing to Se rve A Chapel Talk by Thomas L. Kalaris, P ’05, ’07, ’12, Trustee January 21, 2011

Introduction My father, Tom Kalaris, grew up in Southeast Asia before attending Dickinson College and then earning an MBA at the University of Chicago. He has worked on Wall Street for 30 years, beginning his career at JP Morgan before helping to found the investment bank Barclays Capital. He serves on the Barclays Group Executive Committee and since 2006 has been responsible for its wealth management business. He lives with his wife, Karen, in London, England, and has five children, three of whom have attended Groton.

– Susanna Kalaris ’12

L Andrew Kalaris ’05 with his father.

et me do something that you will rarely find a speaker doing, and most likely none of your teachers—and that is to ask you to take a moment not to listen to me, but to look around. Rather don’t look around, but look up—look at the walls of this Chapel. Look at the inscriptions, look at the names, look at the dates, think about these memorials around you. It was in doing just that during a free minute at the last trustees’ meeting—daydreaming—that I looked over at the west fireplace in the periodical room in the Library. Do that some time and you will see a list of 18 names: Edgar Scott 1889 through Quentin Roosevelt 1915 all fallen in the Great War 1914–1919. All graduated from Groton. All walked around the Circle. All sat in desks in the Schoolhouse. All worshipped in this Chapel. There are countless other reminders around campus in very familiar but overlooked places of the many graduates of this institution who have served this country in the military. And this is not just ancient history—there are familiar names: Christopher, Carlo, Tommy, Andrew. All are members of the forms of the last few years who are currently on active duty in our armed forces.

My daydreaming last fall was just that, interesting and academic—worthy of a few seconds or so—not overly thoughtful or intense. I certainly thought of these young men in the context of their service and certainly reflected on their service in terms of the Groton creed, but my daydream was like a commercial break in a long movie, or a pop-up on a website—a fleeting thought. Maybe in fact even worse than that, something impersonal, at arms length, removed, theoretical, even detached. Something not really part of our reality 100 years later on from the Great War, 70 years from World War II, 40 years from Vietnam, and 5,000 miles away from Afghanistan. Now please don’t make the mistake of thinking that I am advocating for a new militarism, a cult of the warrior. I most assuredly am not. But I do think their service stands as something we can learn from.

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Per Circulum Locuti Sunt | Voices on the Circle

By definition, I believe in its concept of service. But when we think of service, do we really think of it as being hard? Do we think of it as requiring sacrifice—true sacrifice, and maybe the ultimate sacrifice? Until my moment with Andrew, I certainly never had.

The Kalaris family (l. to r.)

Susanna ’12, Karen, Andrew ’05, Thomas, Elizabeth ’06, and William.

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I had to face that reality recently, not as an individual but rather as a parent, when my son Andrew, of the Form of 2005, sat down with me in my study this past July. After much research, analysis, thinking, and soul-searching, Andrew announced that he had decided to join the Marine Corps officer training program, ten weeks of challenge, followed by a year of training—followed by who knew what, but for a parent could come only one conclusion—a ticket to Afghanistan. My first question, the most obvious one, was: Why? Why commit yourself to this path? Why commit to four years of military service? Why commit to potentially putting yourself in harm’s way? Isn’t there another way to serve? Can’t someone else do it? Had he read One Bullet Away or Eating Soup with a Knife? (It turns out he had—I hadn’t). Why choose the hard way? Why choose the hard way indeed? …

This father/son conversation forced me to do my own soul-searching. Was this decision a good one? Was it even mine to judge? Was this actually about me? As someone at the tail end of the Vietnam generation—fortunate to have had a high draft number—did I have a different notion of service to country? Why did it have to be the hard way? What had I done as a parent to send him in this direction? Was he prepared? Was it part of the plan? Or an inevitable conclusion of the parenting that we had given him? A logical extension of his time at Groton? The influence of a certain teacher? Foregone when I had first shown him that long list of this School’s graduates who had made such a difference in world affairs, almost all who had chosen the hard way? What was this notion of service?

I am not a product of this institution, but I have the pride of a parent and the honor of being a trustee, and so by choice I carry part of Groton with me. I believe in its ethos, its culture, and its mission. I believe in its concept of service. But when we think of service, do we really think of it as being hard? Do we think of it as requiring sacrifice—true sacrifice, and maybe the ultimate sacrifice? Until my moment with Andrew, I certainly never had.

Choosing to Serve So frame in your mind a picture of service. Is service building a home for Habitat for Humanity? Is it the Peace Corps? Is it wearing a wristband in support of a particular charity? Reading to the elderly? Collecting money for a particular cause? Has it been hard to do? Is it something that has stretched you, challenged you, forced you outside of yourself?

Fundamentally all service, no matter how small, requires sacrifice, involvement, full commitment to the moment. There cannot be service without the willingness to be engaged, the willingness to sacrifice some piece of yourself for a greater cause, for something bigger. It might be financial, it might be time, it might be emotional, but it has to be complete. There has to be a preparedness to sacrifice. And why? I think simply that it’s a matter of our private balance sheets. Motive is relevant—a recognition that hurdles have to be overcome, work has to occur, investment has to be made.

When we think of what makes us prepared to make that investment or sacrifice, and again no matter how small, what is it a function of? Is it in our genes? Is it a result of our upbringing? A by-product of the institution we attend? A function of our heroes?

I think the answer is, unsurprisingly, all of the above.

We are privileged at Groton—not just in having the physical resources which are so clearly evident around you, but in also having all those elements so central to teaching us of the nature of service and the nature of this sacrifice. So is all this relevant–your parents, your teachers, your friends, and your heroes? In some way—perhaps a small way—your fate is predetermined. As soon as you became associated with this School, some part of your destiny is set. There is no escaping that this notion of service—that it requires sacrifice, that it requires commitment, that it is hard, and that it leads to something greater—is in the air, water, and buildings and in the traditions of this place.

So maybe that is the answer to the question I asked myself—simply that no one can be associated with this institution without being impacted, changed, and branded.

And maybe that is the answer to the question that all graduates of Groton have had to ask themselves at some time or another over the past 125 years: service is hard, but ultimately it is the most rewarding of every part of the Groton experience and of the experience of our lives.

Let me leave you with a quotation. It’s popularly known as Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena,” from a speech that he gave at the Sorbonne in the spring of 1910.

Fundamentally all service, no matter how small, requires sacrifice, involvement, full commitment to the moment.

There cannot be service without the willingness to be engaged, the willingness to sacrifice some piece of yourself for a greater cause, for something bigger.

“It is not the critic that counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms; the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst if, if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

In addition to being our 26th president, Roosevelt was also the father of three of the names on the walls of the periodical room. He speaks to the full engagement and involvement that I am asking you to consider—and to do so with the full knowledge that it is hard.

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28 | Quarterly Spring 2011

Personae | People of Note

The

Millionaires’ Unit

By Marc Wortman

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H Personae | People of Note

I

n the summer of 1916 a dozen young men, 10 of them Yale College students, decided they needed to learn to fly. The greatest and most violent war up to that point in history was raging across the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. remained neutral and had done little to prepare for war. But the group’s leader, Yale sophomore and Groton alumnus F. Trubee Davison ’14, knew that an entirely new battlefield had opened in the sky. He and his young friends intended to lead America into the new age of air warfare.

Using their prominent families’ wealth, the young men learned to fly over the Long Island Sound. Davison asked the Navy if his “Millionaires’ Unit,” as the press dubbed it, could become a reserve unit, but military leaders understood little about the value of aircraft. On the brink of war in the spring of 1917, the Navy finally realized it needed an air service and called upon the Yale Aero Club, grown to 29 members. Among the Groton alumni were Trubee’s brother Harry ’16, Reg Coombe ’14, Oliver James ’14, George Lawrence ’14 and Sam Walker ’13.

They enlisted as the First Yale Unit, the founding squadron of the Naval Air Reserve. All the Unit pilots were among the first 100 navy fliers to win the Wings of Gold—with the tragic exception of their leader. Davison crashed during his flight examination. He suffered a lifelong disabling injury.

In August 1917, the Unit members went to war. Those who remained stateside helped build air stations; design aircraft, engines, and weapons; and train desperately needed pilots, observers, mechanics, and navigators. Those who first shipped “over there” formed an American vanguard, serving with the British, Italian, and French forces. Unit members served as executive officers in the first overseas U.S. stations. Several of the Yale fliers flew convoy protection operations and U-boat patrols. The dangers of war proved quickly all too real. Albert Sturtevant, famed Yale crew team captain and Harvard Law School student, became America’s first-ever uniformed serviceman killed in air combat. Two more Unit members also made the supreme sacrifice.

Unit men filled out the leadership ranks; several flew pioneering offensive missions. David S. Ingalls set the pace as the Navy’s first and only Ace of the war. Robert A. Lovett, a future Secretary of Defense, was the first American in uniform to fly in bombing runs and was architect of the nation’s first strategic bombing campaign. At age 23, he commanded its night bomber wing.

After the war, the commander of naval forces in Europe, Rear Admiral William S. Sims, lauded the First Yale Unit as “the romantic beginnings” of U.S. naval aviation from which the navy’s 40,000-man force grew. In World War II, the Unit’s members returned as leaders in the creation of the victorious naval and army air forces.

To learn more about the First Yale Unit, read Marc Wortman, The Millionaires’ Unit: The Aristocratic Fly Boys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power, or go to marcwortmanbooks.com and millionairesunit.org.

H

Facing page: Aviators of The First Yale Unit (Groton alumni) as profiled on www.millionairesunit.org, the online website devoted to the history of The First Yale Unit and home of the documentary film now in production.

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★

Oliver B. James ’14 served in Washington, D.C., with Lt. E. F. Johnson who was in charge of the Navy flight schools. He was then ordered overseas to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he served as flight instructor.

★

Henry P. “Harry” Davison ’16

was on the baseball, football and squash teams at Yale. The younger brother of Unit founder Trubee Davison and best friend of David S. Ingalls, Harry was an original Unit member. After service in the U.S., Davison went overseas and helped deliver the notorious Caproni bombers over the Alps, from Italy to France, for the Northern Bombing Group.

Samuel S. Walker ’13 shipped out with six other Unit mates in the third group to sail for Europe. He was stationed at LeCrosic coastal air station in France. In December 1917 he served a stint at Colonel House in Paris as an aide for the Inter-Allied War Conference. In January 1918 Walker commanded a boat rescue of a downed seaplane crew out of LeCroisic. In May 1918, Walker wrote to Bob Lovett seeking an assignment with the Northern Bombing Group, and in June he was sent to Italy to learn to fly the Caproni bombers. Walker was one of the Unit pilots to fly a Caproni from Italy to France over the Alps. His flight ended in a crash landing in France, but he escaped unhurt.

George “Lotta” Lawrence ’14, served first with the Yale Battery before joining the Unit. He served at Squantum and Rockaway, New York, before being sent to Fort Worth, Texas, for advanced training, then on to Hampton Roads, Virginia. Lawrence served overseas at Killingholme, England, where he participated in bombing runs on U-boats and chased zeppelins.

Reginald G. Coombe ’14 was captain of freshman crew at Yale.

He was in the third group of Unit members, including Walker, Smith, McIlwaine, Landon, Ingalls, and Beach to sail for Europe. Coombe served at LeCroisic coastal air station in France and, with ‘Hen’ Landon, piloted the first U.S. naval air patrol over European waters. Coombe trained to fly the notorious Caproni bombers at Malpensa, Italy, along with fellow unit members Walker and Landon.

He piloted Capronis from Italy to France over the Alps for the Northern Bombing Group.

★

F. Trubee Davison ’14 was the founder of the Yale Aero Club and the volunteer Aerial Coast Patrol Unit No. 1. Though severely injured on his flying test for the Navy, Davison remained the titular leader of the Unit as they were mustered in as the U.S. Navy’s first air reserve squadron, the First Yale Unit.

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Personae | People of Note

Choosing to Serve: Malcolm E. Peabody, Jr. ’46, P’82

Washington, D.C.’s Clark Kent

by John M. Niles, Director of Communications

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Mike Peabody on the Circle with his godson Thomas Hardy ’04 in the fall of 2004

32 | Quarterly Spring 2011

ince the September 2010 release of the documentary, “Waiting for Superman,” much has been written about the plight of America’s failing public schools. In a review of the film, the Wall Street Journal explained that the documentary’s title comes from a story told by one of the film’s adult stars, Geoffrey Canada, a celebrated education reformer and the founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ). When he was little, Canada says, he believed in Superman, and was later dismayed to discover that ‘there was no one coming with the power to save us.’” What can be done to address the problems? The documentary contends that the salvation of our troubled public education system lies in charter schools.

Directed by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim of “An Inconvenient Truth” fame, “Waiting for Superman” humanizes the topics of education reform, the achievement gap, teacher’s unions, and charter schools by covering five underserved families struggling within the public school system. Although critics have called Guggenheim’s work an oversimplification, the documentary’s supporters assert that since the first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1992 the growing flood of families choosing charter schools is evidence that reform efforts can successfully serve children, even from the poorest families.

Following Minnesota’s example, more than 40 states and the District of Columbia have passed charter school laws since 1992. Today 5,000 charter schools serve over 1.5 million students. Publicly funded and tuition-free charter schools are open to all and must choose students by lottery if too many apply. They are run by non-profit boards with full control of their budgets, staff, and curriculum, but are responsible to their chartering authority that can revoke their charters if results are poor. Indeed, some 12.5 percent of all charter schools have been closed by revocation, indicating a level of accountability not equaled by traditional public schools.

One Grotonian whose sense of service brought him into a leadership role in the charter school movement is Malcolm Peabody ’46. His path to the realm of public education and his passion for charter schools is a lengthy one that stems from his civil rights work starting in the 1960s, when he worked in this field in New York, Massachusetts, and ultimately at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C.

Malcolm Peabody ’46 In New York, Peabody was assigned to Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s Commission Against Discrimination. During his three years there, he immersed himself in the problems of the black community, knowledge which he later brought to his work as an advisor to his brother, Governor Chub Peabody ’38 in Massachusetts. The Governor appointed him to chair a legislative study commission on low-income housing, from which sprang legislation establishing the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency and the nation’s first housing voucher program whereby needy families could accecss private housing instead of being crowded into public housing projects.

In Washington, Peabody became a deputy assistant secretary for equal opportunity at HUD in the early ’70s under Secretary George Romney, bringing his ideas about more effective rental assistance and housing voucher programs into competition with the public housing policies of the day. Peabody believed then that, although there are different ways to deal with housing and education problems affecting the poor, giving choice to the recipients was always better than programs that funded institutions that forced recipients to go there to receive services. In fact, he felt that lack of choice or choicelessness was a better indicator of poverty than low income. As an example, he points to the success of the GI Bill, which gave millions of veterans tuition support to attend colleges of their choice. In stark contrast to the GI Bill, the manpower programs set up by the poverty programs in the ’60s and ’70s directly funded training organizations with far less satisfactory results.

Mike Peabody ’46

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Personae | People of Note Unfortunately, during his years at HUD Peabody saw government programs that supported housing for the poor (but lacked this central principle of choice) generate mixed success and sometimes devastating consequences for poor families and neighborhoods. Urban renewal programs and public housing projects forced many to relocate and increase their isolation, and once strong community standards broke down. The schools, burdened by teachers’ unions and bureaucracy, could not cope with the flood of unsocialized children and when they dropped out, the street culture prevalent today set in.

In the mid-’70s Peabody left HUD and became a private real estate developer. In the ’80s his interest in education reform grew, and by the early ’90s he was centrally involved with the growth of charter schools in Washington, D.C. He recognized in good charter schools the freedom and ability to create strong school cultures and the possibility of reversing the negative trends of earlier decades. Founding in 1996 the Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS) foundation, Peabody became a supporter for choice in education through charter schools. Since its founding, FOCUS has been the primary advocate for the establishment of 57 charter schools within the Washington, D.C. system.

Although not directly involved with running specific schools like Geoffrey Canada does in New York City, since 1996 Peabody’s efforts on behalf of charter schools in Washington have expanded their reach to more than 28,000 students, nearly Peabody on Baker’s Island near 38 percent of Washington’s total public Mike Northeast Harbor, Maine. schools. As the charter schools outperform the public schools, particularly those with heavy majorities of poor children, their success is finally forcing reform in the regular school system, where last year—prompted by wholesale loss of teaching jobs—the teachers union signed a contract giving up their sacred tenure and seniority rights.

Peabody describes Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone as “an exciting attempt to revive the former sociology of Harlem that existed in the ’50s and ’60s.” He also says, “That program grew out of Canada’s frustration that, despite his relative success in improving the educational outcomes of his Harlem students through the charter schools he was running, he could only narrow but not close the gap between his students and those in the middle class.”

Looking to the future, Peabody’s path appears to be merging with Geoffrey Canada’s. Peabody states that “Before he became president, Obama visited the Harlem Children’s Zone and promised he would replicate the program in 20 cities. He has now started the Promise Neighborhood program and last year invited applications from cities interested in planning grants to create similar programs. A charter school operator here in D.C., similarly frustrated in fully closing the gap, started up a community group two years ago to replicate the Harlem program and won one of the 20 grants. I have helped her put this together and am now on the planning committee board. I am very hopeful we can find ways to recreate the strong sociology that governed the black communities in the ’50s and early ’60s.”

If Peabody is successful, he will be helping to create the Superman for whom the nations capital waits, re-creating the successful and healthy sociology that existed in America’s black communities some 50 years ago, beginning with the children of Washington, D.C. and their education.

34 | Quarterly Spring 2011

Grotoniana | All Things Groton

Grotoniana | All Things Groton

WINTER SPORTS Boys Basketball | 10-11

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he boys varsity basketball team finished a competitive regular season at 10-10, earning Groton a berth to the NEPSAC Class B tournament. After beginning the season 0-4, the Zebras won seven straight games. Dropping a few games in the middle of the season, they rallied to win three of the final four regular-season games to finish the season at the .500 mark.

All-ISL player David Caldwell ’13 drives in the open court.

Capt. Mike Corkrum ’11 attacks the rim in a home game against Lawrence Academy.

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In his final season at Groton, Head Coach Ron Mazzaferro coached an up-tempo style, valuing intense team defense and offensive fast breaks. Coach Mazz was assisted by second-year Assistant Coach Matt Westman. Senior tri-captains Mike Corkrum, Alozie Erondu, and Matt Hennrikus each made important contributions to the team.

Corkrum was instrumental in the team’s seven-game win streak, averaging 10 points and seven rebounds before going down for the season with a broken wrist in the 10th game. Erondu used his athleticism to make key plays in big games throughout the season, including 14 second-half points in the one-point, mustwin victory against Rivers. Hennrikus led the team down the stretch, hitting six three-pointers against Middlesex late in the season. In recognition of his efforts, Matt Hennrikus was named to the All-ISL team by the ISL coaches.

New to the team this year, senior Kahlil Stuckey was instrumental in the team’s late season success. He hit six threes against Rivers and averaged a team-high 14 points in the final four contests of the year.

Junior forwards Evan Hansen-Bundy and Ray Dunn helped to dominate the paint for the Zebras in a number of key games.

Fellow juniors Joe MacDonald, Chris MacDonald, and Adam Lamont provided consistent energy and intensity for the team at the guard position.

Sophomore forwards Sam Caldwell and Adam Hardej played key roles in a number of close victories, working tirelessly to control the glass for the Zebras. Fellow sophomore David Caldwell stepped into the point-guard position this year, earning All-ISL honors in his first season at Groton.

Winter Sports Most Valuable Player: Matt Hennrikus ’11 Most Improved Players: Kahlil Stuckey ’11,

Evan Hansen-Bundy ’12 Coaches’ Award: David Caldwell ’13 ISL All-League: Matt Hennrikus ’11, David Caldwell ’13 ISL Honorable Mention: Alozie Erondu ’11 .

Boys Hockey | 17-6-1

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t’s a funny thing when a school so bent on academic excellence rallies for a sports team. The boys hockey team, over the past few years, has accumulated fans throughout the Groton community, as the packed rows of hooting students shows every game day. And while the ISL Eberhart League championship title, which the boys clinched for the second time in

All-ISL and Boston Globe All-Scholastic player Michael Doherty ’12 shoots on goal in opening game with Deerfield Academy.

Jack Wilkinson ’11 gathers a rebounding puck in front of the cage.

Jordan Piccolino ’13 denies a Deerfield goal.

three years, should not go unnoticed, these fans were attracted not by the 17-6-1 record but by the players’ courage and enthusiasm on the ice.

Despite graduating six seniors last year, the team started the season in fine fashion, settling for a tie against Deerfield Academy.

From there the team went on a three-game winning streak before the holiday tournament, easily winning games 7-3, 7-2, and 3-1.

During the 37th annual Groton/Lawrence Holiday Tournament, the Zebras played a tough schedule against top teams like Cushing Academy and Pomfret School. But they continued to play hard with success, coming out of the tournament with a 2-2 split. After the break, the team came back and rattled off three wins in the first week, but at the expense of multiple injuries. That first week cost the team four players for the remainder of the season. Groton went into Dexter-Southfield and Middlesex games injured and tired, but remained together as a team and worked hard even with a limited bench. The Zebras looked to three players from the JV squad to fill key spots for the remainder of the season, and the boys performed admirably.

The Zebras finished out the season with nine more wins, including a come-from-behind victory against St. Mark’s. During the final stretch, Groton lost only once—to Belmont Hill—and earned the fifth seed in the Division I Small School tournament.

The team traveled two hours to Avon Old Farms to play the Gunnery School. They played hard and with heart, winning through the first and second period, but coming up short in overtime 5-4.

Seniors Zander McClelland, Alex Machikas, Connor Miyamoto, and Jack Wilkinson were hard working and dependable throughout the season. Captains Remy Knight, Garrett Sunda, and Nils Martin showed leadership on and off the ice, contributing many goals and assists and keeping the team together as a whole.

Jordan Piccolino and Matt Pompa, the new goaltenders, played exceptionally well the entire season and were solid between the pipes, keeping the team in many games. Overall the team battled Quarterly Spring 2011

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Grotoniana | All Things Groton through many injuries, but continued to play hard and finish the season with an Eberhart Championship title and its impressive winning record.

All-ISL first team recognition goes to Michel Doherty, Nils Martin, Garrett Sunda, and Remy Knight. ISL honorable mention was awarded to Jack Wilkinson, Alex Machikas, and Jordan Piccolino. It should be noted that Michael Doherty was also awarded the ISL League MVP and therefore won Boston Globe All-Scholastic recognition.

Boys Squash | 10 - 2

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hy do some of us love the terrific game of squash? Is it for its angles and surprises, for its athletic demands on movement and coordination, for the stamina necessary to play at the top level, and/or for the way great players come in all sizes and shapes and talents? Or is it for the thinking it requires, the decisions it rewards and punishes, both strategically and instantly in the blink of an eye? Or perhaps it is because the game asks of its players their integrity, fair play, sportsmanship, and respect for one’s opponent while competing and jostling in very tight quarters, with no adult in striped shirt and whistle in sight? It’s a tall order, and it doesn’t always end well, but it offers the opportunity again and again to do the right thing. And this year’s Boys Varsity Squash team did so day in and day out.

Last year, we were strong but we were deep, and this year we were even stronger and deeper. We defeated big powerful schools—Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Andover, St. Paul’s, Exeter, and Milton; and little ones as well. And though we lost against favored Belmont Hill, the outcome was undecided until late into that January afternoon.

Mathieu Diab ’12 finishes a backhand in Milton Academy match.

38 | Quarterly Spring 2011

Alex Southmayd ’11 stretches for a forehand.

In the middle of February, we traveled to Yale for the three-day Team Nationals, without, as it turns out, our number one player, Mathieu Diab, who was playing in the Canada Games. We lost our first two matches, but won our next two, earning 13th place in the nation (again, without our number one). When we returned to School, still sans number one, we lost a cliffhanger 4-3 to the 11th-ranked team in the nation, Nobles, and finished off with a strong 7-0 win over St. Mark’s, celebrating our season by fielding a team exclusively from the Sixth Form.

Then came the extravaganza of squash known as the New England Interscholastic Class A Championships, another three-day event, this year held at Salisbury School in Western Connecticut.

When the dust had settled, we had taken fifth place in New England, just two points (out of a total of 80) behind Belmont Hill, and ahead of all our other regular-season opponents.

With team success like this, it is obvious that the individual boys had much to be proud of. In order from the bottom of the ladder to the top: Groton School’s number one tennis player, Orme Thompson, had a tremendous attitude, was a great team asset, and won each of the varsity matches in which he played.

Jamie Conner, playing at numbers 5, 6, and 7, lost but once in 14 team matches. James Fulham finished fifth among the number 7 players at the New Englands, and lost only once in nine varsity matches. Steve Cho was 12-2 in team play and one of very few Groton players in decades to reach the championship match in his bracket (in this case at number 6) at the New Englands, having defeated the number 2 seed; and he won a huge match at Nationals, digging deep to take a 16-14 fifth game to secure a key win for the team. Captain Will Bolton’s team record was 12-4, and at the New Englands he came back from being down 2-0

Winter Sports Our newly-formed nucleus of players took to the court with focused determination this season, squaring off early in the traditional cross-town rivalry game against Lawrence Academy.

The contest would end in a thrilling overtime win for LA, and a disappointing single digit loss for the Groton squad. However, Groton would experience redemption against LA only a week later in our holiday tournament contest winning an extremely intense and competitive game.

With our team beginning to bond and players settling into their roles, we posted another big win over early season rival Brooks, only to lose our senior captain and center, Emma Peabody, to a serious ankle injury. This was a tough loss as she was out for the remainder of the season, or so we thought! This forced us to shuffle some players into different positions and adjust our strategic game plans. Our team rose to the challenge and the players worked extremely hard through that transition.

We finished 6-13, but our record is not indicative of how close most of our mid-season games really were, how hard we competed as a team, or the valuable experience we gained playing close to half our schedule against Class A opponents. With that experience

Walker Evans ’12 executes a drop shot in Milton match.

to win his final match for Groton, 3-2. Gage Wells had a great final weekend, taking sixth place in New England at the number 4 spot, also coming back from love-2 in a match to win 3-2. In the number 3 bracket, Alex Southmayd captured fourth place by knocking off a top seed in the opening round, coming back from, yes, an 0-2, to win, this one in overtime in the fifth. Walker Evans, playing at numbers 2 and 1 this season, had a 9-6 record against some of the top players around, and battling injury and seemingly the whole Salisbury student body, he came from behind to beat the Salisbury number 2 at the New Englands, having beaten the very highly regarded Salisbury number 1 at Team Nationals. And Mathieu Diab brought a fresh style and a winning spirit to his new team, and ended up sixth among the number 1 players in New England. It was quite a season. And not surprisingly, three of the 13 All-League players, as selected by the ISL coaches, hail from Groton: Mathiew Diab, Walker Evans, and Alex Southmayd.

This group of players made Groton proud week in and week out, playing with determination and sportsmanship, and taking seriously their role on the court as models of strong play and fair play. It was a great season to conclude my varsity coaching career, fading as I will now, like a good rail, into a back corner of the game.

Hoyt Taylor

Girls Basketball | 6–13

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he Lady Zebras faced a challenging season of rebuilding after losing five very talented starting seniors to graduation last year. This year we welcomed six new players to our squad and embarked on our intense preseason training schedule to prepare for our season opener against the Class B champions, Rivers School.

Capt. Adrianna Pulford ’11 controls a loose ball in the Lawrence Academy game as Marissa Garey ’13 looks on.

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Grotoniana | All Things Groton

Capt. Emma Peabody ’11 works down low against Lawrence Academy opponent.

and learning, we made huge strides, finishing our season on a winning streak against Middlesex, Northfield Mount Hermon, Milton Academy, and St. Marks. A big reason for that success was the leadership of our captains, and the responsibility all players accepted to diligently work at improving their skills throughout the entire season.

Senior Day, which was also game day versus St. Mark’s this year, became the pinnacle of our success as our seniors put the team on their backs. Captain Emma Peabody played one last time, taping and securing that bad ankle to help make a difference for us again, scoring six points and hauling in five rebounds in the first half. Our seniors started the game, and with contributions from all their teammates, finished the game with everyone scoring to secure our winning streak. Congratulations go to seniors Kate Lapres, Jocie Hickcox, Emory Wellman, and captains Adrianna Pulford, Emma Peabody, and Yoon Hae Ahn. NEPSAC & ISL League Honors: 2010-11 NEPSWBCA All-Star Team: Adrianna Pulford ’11 2010-11 First Team ALL-ISL: Adrianna Pulford ’11 Most Valuable Player Award: Adrianna Pulford ’11 Most Improved Player Award: Emory Wellman ’11 Coaches Award: Marissa Garey ’13

Villa and junior Talia Simon. The captains showed from the beginning that they would firmly establish a pride in this program that future teams could carry on for many years.

Though wins were few, what was in abundance was the fight and resilience that each team member showed. Led by our captains, the team brought to each game different themes. Using motivating phrases like “no what ifs,” “simply work harder,” and “be the change you want to see,” the players pushed themselves to heights that at first perhaps they thought they could never attain.

But as the season advanced and the team grew in strength, both on and off the ice, wins came. And at this point, the team realized that lights on the scoreboard reflect only a portion of what it means to be truly competitive.

All of the fight and ability to dig deep can be traced directly to the commitment and passion poured out by our three sixth formers. Michela Mastrullo, having spent five years as a Groton student-athlete, will leave her mark on this program for years to come. She is the player who simply has the intangibles. Playing wherever asked, whenever asked, Michela will be missed more than she may know. Gracie Villa, a fouryear member of our community, has grown into a truly impactful player, not just in skill but also in leadership and selflessness. She embodied all of what being a captain means, and we were a better

Girls Hockey | 4–17

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he 2010-2011 season for girls varsity hockey was one where pride and strength were the cornerstones of our success. Each member of the team found ways within herself to contribute on a daily basis. This year’s team was lead by tri-captains, seniors Michela Mastrullo and Gracie

40 | Quarterly Spring 2011

Maeve McMahon ’13 looks to pass in home game against Holderness.

Winter Sports Whitney Hartmeyer ’11 were also awarded All-League ISL by the ISL coaches. Both of these players contributed tremendously to the team’s success and finished fifth and sixth respectively in the second and third flights of the New England Division A tournament.

Other individual results in the New Englands: Chloe Fross ’12 finished seventh in the number 4 flight, Maeve Hoffstot ’13 sixth in the number 5 flight, Kirsten Craddock ’11 ninth in the number 6 flight, and Julia Metzger ’11 sixth in the number 7 flight. We lose seniors Julia Metzger and co-captains Kirsten Craddock and Whitney Hartmeyer next season. Each of them provided invaluable support to the team, and each represented Groton in an exemplary manner over the past few years.

Gracie Villa ’11 looks to score versus Holderness.

team because of her efforts. And last but not least, KC Hambleton was a coach’s dream. KC has left her mark on this program not in what most observers spot simply by stopping by the rink during a game. What KC has done for this team in her dedication and love for her teammates is something to which a simple “thank you” does not do justice.

As we say good-bye to our seniors, we welcome those who will join our team as we look to the 2011-2012 season. A new wave of Groton hockey is upon us, and we look forward to hard work at the rink next winter.

Girls Squash | 11- 3

All-ISL player Whitney Hartmeyer ’11 executes a drop shot in home match against St. George’s.

T

he girls varsity squash team had a terrific season.

They finished second in the ISL, sixth in the Division A New England tournament, and had a season record of 11-3. The 11-3 record included 7-0 wins against St. Paul’s, Exeter, Andover, Middlesex, Brooks, and St. Mark’s, a 6-1 win against Milton, and 5-2 wins against Nobles and Hotchkiss.

The only teams that they lost to were Deerfield (0-7, 1-6) and St. Georges (3-4). This was quite an achievement for a team that was considered weak at the start of the season, the reason we chose not to go to Nationals during the Long Winter Weekend.

This was an incredibly athletic team, and everyone on the team worked extremely hard to make this season such a success. Zandra Ho ’13, who picked up a squash racket for the first time a little more than a year ago, moved from number 7 last year to number 3 at the start of the season, to number 1 midway through the year.

In her first match in the number 1 position, she beat the top player in the ISL. She then went on to win all of her matches during the regular season and was subsequently awarded the Boston Globe Interscholastic MVP award by the ISL coaches. Lizzy Ross ’12 and

Boston Globe All-Scholastic player CC Ho ’13 sets up for a forehand in her St. George’s match.

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New releases Heather N. Clay ’89

Losing Charlotte Released March 2010, Paperback April 2011

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osing Charlotte wraps the reader in the lives of people who ready or not must face the loss of a relatively young loved one. It explores the sisterly bond, where that can break down, and how it might be healed, at least partially. It also studies marriage and how that bond, frail at times, can be unbreakable but incomprehensible to outsiders. Its graceful and uncompromising insights enlighten us not only about the struggles of the characters, but remind us of our own as well. That Heather Clay manages to write so beautifully about this mixed bag of emotions is to her credit. That she does it in her debut novel is exceptional.

– From Amazon.com Michael Knox Beran ’84

Pathology of the Elites: How the Arrogant Classes Plan to Run Your Life Released: December 2010

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n this bracing collection of provocative essays, Michael Knox Beran examines the false benevolence that characterizes the power classes in contemporary America. Their enlightened pity for their fellow citizens, he charges, conceals an instinct for power rather than compassion. Mr. Beran argues that today’s elites have come to rely on a social philosophy that reduces people to a mass of social groups and types, obscures their individual humanity, and makes them easier to manipulate.

While they tragically conceive their desire for authority as a form of virtue, the elite classes have set about remaking schools, rewriting the U.S. Constitution, dehumanizing charity, and making war on tradition in the name of a crude form of Social Darwinism.”

– From Amazon.com David A. Cleveland ’70, P’05, ’07

History of American Tonalism, 1880–1920 Released: December 2010

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he first definitive account of the Tonalist movement that galvanized America’s artistic life in the decades around 1900. At over 500 pages and 400-plus color illustrations, the History offers both a chronological narrative and contextual re-evaluation of this long neglected— and crucial missing-link in American art. Based on cutting edge scholarship and images—most never reproduced before, the History tells the fascinating story of how the progressive Tonalist landscape first dethroned the Hudson River School in the late 1870s and then went on to become the dominant school in American art until the First World War. – From Amazon.com

A Juicy Joyful Life: Inspiration from Women Who Have Found the Sweetness in Every Day

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Juicy Joyful Life: Inspiration from Women Who Have Found the Sweetness in Every Day is a compilation of stories by women who, despite obstacles like anxiety, depression, addiction, abuse, or devastating loss, are able to stand tall in their world and shed light on all those around. The book’s intention is to encourage ALL women to embrace the truth that “where you’ve been does not define where you will go. You can create a new personal story.”

Ellie’s chapter, “Chasing Nuns,” is about her experience of her husband’s death and the love and strength she gained from loving and losing him. “From this tragedy arose wonder, gratitude, and an entirely new perspective on my life.” —Eleanor P. Bassick-Trovato ’84

42 | Quarterly Spring 2011

New Releases Edited by Raymond H. Geselbracht and David C. Acheson ’39,

Affection and Trust: The Personal Correspondence of Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson, 1953–1971 Released: November 2010

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avid Acheson ’39 has arranged publication of private correspondence between Dean Acheson 1911 and Harry Truman from 1953 to 1971, when both men were out of office. Dean Acheson was President Truman’s secretary of state. The letters are very interesting, vivid, candid, and colorful; and reveal details about the Korean War, the dismissal of General MacArthur, and other facets of the Truman administration that have not been published before. No other collection of letters between an ex-president and a member of his cabinet has been published, so far as we know.

– From David Acheson ’39 William N. Gates III ’48

House Born of Mud Released: April 2010

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his is a story of the struggle to create beauty. A novice may find it useful in building an adobe house—how to mix the mud, how to grade a pipeline, how to tell a two-by-six from a oneby-10: such details abound. But above all, it tells of a man’s triumph over every obstacle to achieve something delightful. Aside from the obduracy of the materials he had to work with, the author would encounter vexing conflicts with the subcontractors and workers that he hired. As both boss and laborer, he knew neither how to lead them nor to be one of them. He simply believed he could do it. And he did, learning as he went. And the dwelling that rose by their efforts achieved a splendor that no one could have foreseen.

– From Amazon.com Henry H. Richards 1894, edited by Douglas Van Dyck Brown ’57

A Schoolmasters Scrapbook Published: December 2010

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Schoolmaster’s Scrapbook presents a clear picture of Groton School under the Endicott Peabody regime. Henry Richards kept an annual diary of Groton. The discovery of Mr. Dick’s manuscript by one of his daughters-in-law was a happy accident of fate. One of the most interesting aspects of this labor of love is that Richards shares his personal feelings about the mythic figures of Endicott Peabody, William Amory Gardner, and Sherrard Billings.

This book is a must for anyone who wishes to learn about the roots of Groton School.

–From the Peabody Press article by Charles Alexander Copies of A Schoolmaster’s Scrapbook are available from the Groton School web store.

Rachel R. Chapman ’80

Family Secrets: Risking Reproduction in Central Mozambique

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ehind a thatched hut, a birthing woman bleeds to death only minutes from “life-saving” maternity care. Chapman begins with the deceptively simple question, “Why don’t women in Mozambique use existing prenatal and maternity services?” then widens her analysis to include a whole universe of cultural, political, and economic forces. Fusing cultural anthropology with political economy, Chapman vividly demonstrates how neoliberalism and the increasing importance of the market have led to changing sexual and reproductive strategies for women.

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ALUMNI NEWS GWN

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he Groton Women’s Network continues to create and host some wonderful events for graduates, alumni and student parents and grandparents, faculty, and other members of the Groton family to enjoy.

Recent offerings include two educational events, one that shared information on how Groton women are working to educate girls and empower women in developing countries and the other a private tour of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts new Americas wing.

Each of these very popular events were filled within days of the invitation going out by email. Cohosted with the GSAA, the New York team offered an annual children’s event. This one welcomed 24 young and not-so-young Groton family members at Central Park’s Swedish Cottage for a marionette show on a chilly February afternoon.

These three events are just a sampling of the plethora of options provided by this energetic and enthusiastic committee of Groton alumnae and parent volunteers to help Grotties stay

connected with each other and to meet new people. So why do GWN volunteers do the work they do? Here are just some of the reasons: “I haven’t been involved to the degree that others have, but I think the work the GWN is doing is terrific. It really sends a strong message about the depth and breadth of what it means to be a Groton graduate, encompasses the spirit of service that is the School motto, and it is fun. I hope to do more events and participate more in the future.”

—Catherine New ’93

n “One of the best parts of the GWN for me is having a formal vehicle for getting to know Groton women from other forms.”

Children of alumni await the Swedish Cottage marionette show at the New York GWN children’s event.

44 | Quarterly Spring 2011

—Jen Field ’97

School News “What I like most about being part of the GWN is that I meet very fascinating women who are involved and interesting. At every event I have attended, from Model Mugging dinners to community service day at On the Rise, I have left the venue thinking that I just met and/or spent time with some very accomplished and fun people. The GWN gives me opportunities to take part in activities that are meaningful/fun with women who I enjoy spending time with, learn from, or am inspired by.”

—Christine Baharozian P’10, ’12

n “The best thing for me about being part of the GWN is reconnecting with old friends from Groton who I had lost touch with and meeting some great new women from our area. It turns out that two of the women who I met have children at the same school as my children. I really enjoyed the cooking lesson and lunch that the GWN hosted last spring. Aside from picking up some cooking tips, it was great to spend time with old friends as well as hear about the School from mothers of current students. The small size of the group was wonderful, as I was able to socialize with everyone who was there.”

—Suzy Keating Lukens ’79

n “My favorite part of being involved with the GWN is meeting bright women connected to Groton that I otherwise would not know, as you are limited at Groton to know the forms ahead and behind you. Some of my favorite events— I have loved the children events—connecting the next generation of hopeful Grotties—especially since your form is not important, the age of your children is.

I have also loved the community service events—coming together as a community to do something for the community.”

—Brooke McFerran Bancroft ’96

n “While running the Washington, D.C. chapter of the GWN several years ago, I really enjoyed getting to know other women connected to the School. There are so many interesting, accomplished, smart, and fun Groton women around. I feel lucky to have the chance to hang out with them! I particularly enjoyed one event where Dr. Margaret New P’93, the mother of Catherine, spoke to a small group of us about self-marketing and career advancement. And trips to museums with other women is always a treat, as well as a great excuse to take advantage of our city’s culture.”

—Piper Fogg Gould ’95

n “I have not attended many of the GWN events, but I have loved the range of activities as well as the camaraderie among Groton women—whether they are graduates, mothers, sisters, or any other category. My experiences have included helping at a food pantry to prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, a cooking class, a museum visit, a reception at an elegant jeweler’s, and a book discussion. What special choices! The breadth of offerings and knowing that there will always be interesting women make me read my GWN email carefully.”

—Susannah Bristol P’06, ’08, and past trustee

If you are in one of the GWN areas, please come to an event and meet not only the volunteers who make it happen but also others in your city who love Groton and want to meet you.

GSAA

J

ust before students left for break, the GSAA sponsored the ad-free livestreaming of Lessons and Carols.

An audience of over 900 viewed this quintessential Groton event. Many were commenting during the event in a chat available on the webpage, and viewers chimed in from both coasts in the U.S. and from Europe. The event was recorded and can be viewed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ grotonschool.

The GSAA began the new year on the West Coast with receptions in San Francisco at the University Club and Santa Monica at Casa Del Mar. Those in attendance enjoyed connecting with formmates and friends and heard Mr. Commons speak on the state of the School.

In February, we moved to the Southeast with a reception at the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, Florida. The most well attended event in that area in recent memory, over 50 attendees enjoyed conversation and camaraderie.

Also in February, the GSAA and President Ann Bakewell Woodward ’86 hosted a career-networking event at the Harvard Club of New York. Julia Bator ’86 moderated as esteemed panelists William Perry ’80, Dr. Daniel Salzman ’80, Elizabeth Gardiner ’83, Sarah Fey ’85, and Whitman Knapp ’85 answered questions, gave advice, and shared their professional experiences with over 50 attendees. All lingered afterwards for an opportunity to chat, socialize, and network. The event was such a success that a similar event was immediately organized for Boston.

Finally, February saw the increasingly popular jazz concert at Ryles in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Groton’s jazz band, Soul Sauce, played in front of a packed house of over 120. This annual event continues to grow in popularity and is a must to add to your calendar for next year.

Quarterly Spring 2011

| 45

In Memoriam | As We Remember I N

M E M O R I A M

William B. Warren ’52

1

July 25, 1934 – October 8, 2010 Remembrances from the memorial service at St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City, November 4, 2010

by Charles H. Jones, Jr., ’52

A

fter four or five obituaries about Bill appeared in the New York Times, a friend from Groton, Ham Forster, called and said, “I had no idea Bill was involved in so many civil and cultural activities.”

I responded, “Join the club.” Modesty is an endearing quality because it is in such short supply; Bill had little need to be modest, but he was. In addition to managing the Trusts & Estates Department at the then Dewey Ballantine—and being listed many times in the book The 2,000 Best Lawyers in the U.S.—some of Bill’s additional activities encompassed: the Grolier Club, council member for 10 years and president for five; the Metropolitan Opera, advisory director for a dozen years; the Cintas Foundation, board chairman; the Academy of American Poets, board member for 17 years and vice president for seven.

Additionally, Bill was a trustee of St. John’s College, the Johns Hopkins University Press, the John Carter Brown Library, the Hodson Trust, and the Arthur and Alice Adams Foundation. After years of back-and-forth telephone conversations with the Warrens, I got the distinct impression that Arete and Bill ate out nearly every night.

My wife and I marveled at this. Now we understand: given all these commitments, he couldn’t get it done during the day. A little aside—it rained at our 45th Groton Reunion, so we retreated to the town and went to a book sale. Bill looked and looked. Then he grasped one book, paid quickly, and left. Out of earshot Bill proclaimed, “It’s a Ford Madox Ford first edition that the Grolier doesn’t have!” He was happier about this acquisition than when we beat the Exeter crew by three lengths 45 years before. The only times I saw him in better spirits was when he and Arete married 25 years ago (Bill kept shaking hands with people coming in the front door. John Warren and I had to get him to go to the back of the church to get ready), and finally, when his son John was installed as the headmaster of St. Mark’s School.

I want to share some observations made by Ham Southworth, our formmate and close friend at Buckley and Groton.

Undaunted that he is a registered professional engineer, Ham writes beautifully: “Friends of over 70 years can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Bill was one of them.

“I was fascinated by the challenge of describing Bill. These words came to mind: adventurous, astonishing, courageous, undaunted, self-righteous, imperious, cavalier, connoisseur, savant.

“Some of these words may seem critical, but they indicate the crux of the matter—Bill was fun. His friends knew that his regal demeanor was to some extent an act, and he pulled it off. We loved him for it.

“My recollections of Bill are most vivid around his preteen and teen years when I saw him multiple times a week. What good times we had!

• Stock car races all at Bill’s invitation • Sticking pins in neighbors’ doorbells • Overflows of bathtubs • Hiking far beyond Groton’s approved boundaries • Roller coasters “Bill’s many interests in life—in people, law, arts, music, literature, clubs, reunions, Germanic culture, history, Anthony Powell—were most extraordinary. I will miss him very much. It was my great pleasure to have known him.”

46 | Quarterly Spring 2011

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