GSB Alumni Magazine: Summer 2015

T H E

M AG A Z I N E

Home Winds

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G I L L

S T.

B E R N A R D ’ S

S C H O O L

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FROM THE HEADMASTER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 FEATURES GSB Acquires the Home Winds Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Schmidts Retire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 COLLEGE CORNER Annie Opel ’12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 PROFILES Jilly Walsh ’65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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ALUMNI NEWS Alumni Weekend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 50-Year Reunion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 COMMENCEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 GSB NEWS GSB Performers Reprise Once Upon a Mattress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 LeVar Burton from Reading Rainbow Visits GSB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Retiring Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 GSB Welcomes New Administrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 GSB On the Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 ATHLETICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Spring Coaches Complete First Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 PATRONS GSB Returns to China: The Legacy of Tom Kelly ’87. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Kirby Gift Caps Amazing Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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Hyde and Watson Foundation Honors GSB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Farris Gift Announced at Groundbreaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Corona Honored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 New Chair of Board of Trustees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Retiring Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Annual GSB Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 ALUMNI NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 FACULTY NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Board of Trustees Gill St. Bernard’s alumni magazine is published three times a year by the Communications & Marketing Department and the Alumni Office.

S.A. Rowell, Headmaster Allyson B. Daly, Director of Communications & Marketing Jill Brown, Writer & Communications Specialist Jennifer Doherty, Director of Parent Relations & Special Events James F. Diverio, Director of Development Matthew Marsallo, Major Gifts Officer Chanelle Walker, Director of Alumni Relations/Associate Director of Development Gill St. Bernard’s School P.O. Box 604, St. Bernard’s Road Gladstone, NJ 07934-0604 908-234-1611 gsbschool.org facebook.com/gsbschool facebook.com/gsbschoolalumni Photography in this issue by Becky Bedrosian Photography, Larry Levanti Photography and GSB staff members, unless otherwise noted.

Cover photo by Becky Bedrosian Photography.

Design by Vision Creative Group Some freelance writing by Bill Thorndike

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Harry Chowansky III Gia Dunn Michael Fritzlo Liz Fucci Donald Fuentes Robert Hemm ’46 Judith Fulton Higby ’65 John Howard Rose Kirk Douglas Matthews Linda Moore Edmond Moriarty III Patricia Hallett Muchmore ’66 Elizabeth Nametz Sandra Niccolai James O’Connor Preston Pinkett III

John Raymonds Marianne Saladino Robert Sameth, Jr. ’89 Vlad Torgovnik Janine Udoff HONORARY TRUSTEES Patricia Aresty Joseph Behot Miguel Brito Laurie Brueckner Brandon Clark William F. Conger Samuel Corliss, Jr. Richard Emmitt Nelson Ferreira Michael Golden Adrienne Kirby

Michael Mandelbaum Richard Markham Mary McNamara Ellen Nardoni Robert J. O’Leary Mark Paris Todd Ross ’94 Katherine Smith Maureen Stefanick Jayne Vespa Michael Weinstein ’87

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FROM THE HEADMASTER

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

It is with real pleasure that I invite you to explore this edition of the Gill St. Bernard’s magazine. Our cover story features the recent acquisition of 128 acres that lie across St. Bernard’s Road, alongside our present campus. The article highlights our longtime neighbors, Betsy Michel and her family, chronicling five decades of their uncommon fellowship and thoughtful stewardship. This wonderful relationship culminated in a gesture of extraordinary generosity this past March when Betsy and her family gifted the bulk of the 128 acres to the school.

To appreciate the full significance of Betsy’s gift, it is important to understand the history of the property. In 1965, out of financial necessity, the school reluctantly sold land that had once comprised part of the SBS campus. Sadly, this was not the first time. Although the decision was not an easy one, there was some consolation in recognizing that the buyers, Carl and Betsy Shirley, would be good stewards of the land and great neighbors.

Since then, the Shirleys, and later their daughter Betsy Michel and her family, lived in the main house, preserved the site as a working farm, and maintained the land in a way that resonated with the property and with the surrounding community. Affectionately nicknaming the property Home Winds, Betsy continued to reside in the house until this past spring when she transferred the property to the school.

Betsy’s gift speaks first and foremost to her remarkable generosity but also to her deep sense of what it means to be a good neighbor. As an independent school graduate and a trustee for a few schools, Betsy understands the importance of an independent school education. A constant supporter and friend of GSB, Betsy has watched with interest over the years as the school has evolved and grown. Her conviction that Home Winds should be “returned” to the school carries with it the implicit understanding that GSB today has the resources and the vision to steward the property as lovingly as her own family did.

As stories go, this one has a decidedly happy ending – all the more for being true. What was lost through necessity has been restored through generosity and friendship. I know you will join me in expressing your heartfelt gratitude to Betsy. May we also strive to justify her faith by helping to ensure that Home Winds will always be a part of the GSB campus.

Sid Rowell Headmaster 1

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

Dear Editor, Thanks for the latest issue of the GSB Magazine. Your tribute to the military was appropriate in giving them recognition for their service and sacrifice. My father was on the SBS staff from the early 1950s to 1966. He was in WWII and served in England with the Eighth Airforce, 67th Fighter Wing, from 1943-45. I’m sure there are many others.

Best regards, Jamie Durward SBS ’68

Dear Editor, I first met George Fessenden in the 1950s after I was expelled from my school in Newark.

Our local Episcopal priest convinced my mother to send me to St. Bernard's to see if I could get my act together before joining the military.

I arrived on campus and was immediately met by young faculty member George Fessenden.

He said, “Speck, you need to determine now whether you want to end up as an employer or an employee. If you want to be an employer you will need to go to college. You cannot afford college and your only chance will be to get an athletic scholarship, and that means playing football on my team and being a great player.” I did that and the rest is history.

He had me watch his children when he and his wife went out, which allowed me to escape study hall and the dorms. He assigned me the job of cleaning the labs each morning, thus eliminating the need to do farm work. He also took me hunting and fishing. He treated me like I had never been treated before.

I went to college on a football scholarship then on to medical school. I spent some time in the Navy as a lieutenant commander in San Diego. Thereafter, I served as Chairman and Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve, President of New York Presbyterian and Hospital Director of The Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole. Currently, I am serving as Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia. None of this would have happened had it not been for George. We kept in touch and just exchanged Christmas cards and pledged to meet in the spring in Gladstone. He was a wonderful man and I will miss him.

Sincerely, Dr. William Speck SBS ’59 P.S. I don’t think I was unique; I think George had this effect on many of his students.

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FEATURES

FE AT U R ES

Coming Home GSB Acquires the Home Winds Property

Photograph by Sam Carmel ’06.

Driving west along St. Bernard’s Road in the last days of summer, it is hard to imagine that much has changed from a year or two before. Gardens and farmland dominate the landscape as they have for decades. Interspersed among the swatches of green, the Home Winds property rises on the right, and the Gill St. Bernard’s campus unfolds to the left. Despite outward appearances, however, a significant change has taken place, one that carries with it tremendous possibility for the future of the school: last spring, Gill St. Bernard’s acquired the 128-acre property, known as Home Winds, which sits across from the present campus.

Home Winds came to the school in large part through a gift from its longtime owner,

Betsy Michel. Fifty years earlier, her parents, Carl and Betsy Shirley, had purchased the property from SBS during a financially challenging time in the school’s history.

The school, for its part, had owned the land since 1942 and had used it primarily for housing students and for farming.

Whatever misgivings brought on by the necessity of having to sell part of its campus, the school soon realized that it could not have asked for better neighbors than the Shirleys and Michels. For five decades, the family maintained the property as a working farm. They kept cows, chickens and pigs; they raised bees; they produced hay. They nurtured and improved the farm without altering its essentials.

In 1976, Betsy and Mickey Michel and 3

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their three children returned to Home Winds after having lived in Paris for several years.

They moved into the main house and assumed oversight for the farm. Last year, when Michel decided that the time had come for her to sell the property, she approached the school before listing the farm on the open market. After having watched Gill St. Bernard’s grow and strengthen over the years, she hoped that the property could somehow be “returned” to the school.

Three years earlier, the school had demonstrated its interest in acquiring property along St. Bernard’s Road by purchasing a house and 7.7 acres of land directly across from the present campus to serve as the headmaster’s residence.

At that time, the school’s board chairman John Howard cited the benefits of owning land contiguous to the school – chiefly the ability to determine what is, and is not, located across from the campus in the coming years – and also the flexibility to undertake construction on the present campus without inconveniencing the neighbors. Reflecting on the purchase, Howard noted, “Whenever contiguous property becomes available, the school will consider purchasing it.” He added, however, “Final decisions will 4

be guided by cost, appropriateness and future potential.”

In the case of Home Winds, there was no doubt that the offer to donate much of the land constituted an incredible opportunity. The school had only to consider whether the criteria of appropriateness and future potential would also be served through acquiring the farm. In terms of appropriateness, it would be hard to gainsay the historical significance of the school’s reacquiring land that had once comprised part of its campus. From a more practical standpoint, the property already complements the school’s farm-to-table program, and it will soon be incorporated into GSB’s signature place-based learning opportunities. In terms of the land’s future potential, there may be as much wisdom in considering what the land will not become as in contemplating its myriad possible uses. At present, 18 acres of the property are zoned for residential development. Had another buyer purchased the land, the school would have been unable to prevent future development along portions of the property – a scenario that could have hindered GSB’s long-term growth and created complications for the school.

FE AT U R ES

Recognizing a singular opportunity, the school’s board of trustees moved forward with the acquisition last spring. According to the terms of the agreement, GSB purchased a portion of the 128-acre property on March 2, and the remaining land came as a gift from Betsy Michel on April 1.

Reflecting on the acquisition, Headmaster Sid Rowell said, “This is a major milestone for Gill St. Bernard’s School. It is a rare opportunity for the school to reacquire a piece of its history. The farm is a very special place and part of Gill’s past, present and future. We are extremely grateful to the Michel family for this generous gift and incredibly excited about all the possibilities the new property presents for our school.”

Michel’s conviction that the property should be “returned” to the school represents not only her family’s generosity, but also her understanding that the school’s position has improved markedly since the time when her parents first purchased the farm. The decision to entrust it to the GSB of

SBS boarders 1940s.

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today reflects her faith in the GSB of tomorrow – a belief that the school will shepherd the property as conscientiously as her own family did and that the future of Home Winds is best served by allowing the school to assume oversight for the farm.

As a result of the school’s two most recent acquisitions, 7.7 acres in 2012 and the 128-acre Home Winds property this spring, the present campus now encompasses a little more than 208 acres. Less than a decade ago, it stood at approximately 73 acres. While the long-term use for the Home Winds property is yet to be determined, its potential is immense.

When asked about her decision to donate a portion of Home Winds to the school, Michel reflected, “Gill St. Bernard’s School has been a great neighbor for many, many years. Over time, I have seen the school grow tremendously. I have been witness to a not always easy, but in the end an extraordinary evolution from those very early days when I first learned to read and write in the old carriage house on the Bernardsville campus. I am pleased to see the property go back to the school. It feels right – the Home Wind has returned.”

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FE AT U R ES

Eve and New Year’s Eve, and kept an eye on the campus when everyone else had left for vacation.

Over the decades, the Schmidts “rescued” many a ninth grader whose parents were late picking him up at the end of the day. Alumni came unannounced to their doorstep, hoping for a tour of the campus; faculty members waited at the Cottage rather than going home and coming back to campus for evening events; and for many years, the school hosted alumni on the Schmidts’ porch during Homecoming weekends.

When Peter first came to GSB in 1976, he was looking for a place where he could make a difference in the lives of students. He explains, “Gill is all about relationships, student to student; teacher to student; administrator to teacher; administrator to student. Here you are an essential part of the lives of young people and their families. This is a core value of the school. I could sense it on the day I first interviewed and I can see it at GSB today.”

The End of an Era: The Schmidts Retire When you mention either Peter or Randi Schmidt at Gill St. Bernard’s, you quickly find yourself drawn into a conversation about the two of them and their remarkable legacy at the school. Although Peter and Randi are distinct individuals, so much of what each has accomplished at GSB is tied to the work the other has done. Peter and Randi’s shared interests in teaching and in community service enabled them to craft their lives together. In the process, they helped shape the GSB community for almost forty years. In a speech given by Peter at Alumni Day, he spoke of “affection for family, (which is) intimately tied to affection for place.

For us, that place is Gill St. Bernard’s School.”

Peter joined GSB in 1976 as a history teacher, and although Randi did not join the library staff until 1993, they moved onto the campus in 1985 when Peter became director of the Upper School. The couple raised their children in the Cottage, walked their dogs around the fields, rang the chapel bell at midnight on Christmas

As director of the Upper School, Peter oversaw more than 30 faculty members and managed the Upper School curriculum and its academic policies. Although the position demanded a lot of his time, Schmidt never relinquished his role as classroom teacher. He recalls,“When then-headmaster Bill Cooper asked me to become Director of the Upper School, my first words were, ‘Only if I can continue to teach.’”

Peter continued to teach at least one class each semester. In addition, he coached baseball, led Unit travel programs, and coordinated numerous community service activities.

In 2008, Schmidt was named Director of Studies and charged with coordinating the curriculum throughout the three divisions. He was also officially appointed Director of Community Service.

Headmaster Sid Rowell said of Schmidt, “He is known to all as a trusted advisor, welcome mentor, master teacher and friend to a generation of colleagues, parents and alumni.”

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FE AT U R ES

Long-term colleague Michael Chimes, Director of Academic Computing, offered, “I've had the great fortune to work closely with Pete for about 35 years. I cannot imagine a more capable and caring school leader. He has led by example, always willing to put time and energy into any project, large or small. But I believe what most distinguishes Pete from so many others is that truly, at the most elemental level, he deeply cares about the welfare of other people.”

Randi Schmidt contributed to campus life for nearly a decade before joining the staff in 1993 as a part-time aide in the library. After receiving her Master’s in Library Science from Rutgers University, she was named director of the Upper School library in 1999. During her tenure as the director, Randi brought the library into the digital age, oversaw the transition to the new Matthews Family Library in the Hockenbury Academic Center and established the eleventh-grade scientific literature review (SLR) and the ninthgrade reading and writing course, which has since become the freshman seminar. These latter two programs introduce Gill students to research and digital-based inquiry essential for college work.

Schmidt explains, “You could no longer teach content; rather students needed to know how to find information, what to do with it and how to think about it.”

Among the Schmidts’ accomplishments outside GSB, Peter has served on a number of boards, was a Klingenstein Fellow and later taught in the program. He has also given keynote addresses on various topics throughout the country and has authored several articles. In 2012, Peter won the Chronicle of Higher Education’s nationwide “Build Your Own College” contest. Randi has co-authored three books on the subject of guided inquiry research, spoken at several library conferences and published articles in academic journals and trade magazines.

Guided by their own belief in social justice and community service, the Schmidts instilled in generations of students the importance of giving back to society and making a difference in the lives of others. Among the organizations the 8

Schmidts introduced to GSB are the Matheny School, BRIDGES in Newark, Eric Johnson House for residents who are HIV positive, ARC, and Gill’s own Turkey Day, during which members of the school community collect and donate more than 500 turkeys to the New Jersey Food Bank.

Although they will miss the daily life of GSB and the energy of the classroom and the students, the Schmidts’ retirement will not be “about sitting in a rocker on the front porch.” They have discussed ways they can continue to do the work they enjoy and make a difference. “We will still be active in education - in both formal and informal ways,” Peter Schmidt says. Randi suggests, “We will be examining the possibility of founding an educational organization to help communities in underserved areas of the country.” Peter adds, “The ties we have with many alumni are strong, especially with many of those who have gone into teaching. Through them, we will have the ability to make a difference in students’ lives. If I am having an effect on a teacher or a community - I may not be standing in front of a classroom - but I’m still reaching students.” The Schmidts will also be travelling, speaking at conventions and connecting with GSB alumni across the country.

And, of course, they will be spending time with their grandson Gabriel, two sons, GSB Lifers Joe ’95 and Geoff ’00, and daughters-in-law Olivia and Ybelka. As always, Randi plans to continue to bake her famous chocolate chip cookies!

COLLEGE CORNER

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

Making a Sea Change Annie Opel ’12

By Bill Thorndike Before starting Harvard in the fall of 2013, Annie Opel ’12 spent a gap year in the South Pacific. Working with Rustic Pathways, a group that helps students design meaningful, service-oriented travel programs, Annie set out for Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Tanzania. She dedicated six months to community service initiatives, primarily in Fiji, and concluded her gap year with a sixmonth stint in Australia, where she worked with the Nature Conservancy. Annie’s time in Australia, which included scuba diving almost every day as she earned advanced licensure in scuba diving and lifesaving, helped her realize her passion for marine conservation.

Annie Opel ’12 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Although the Nature Conservancy represents a pivotal experience in Annie’s decision to pursue marine conservation, she credits her early interest in conservation largely to her parents. She offers, “We lived on a small farm in Lebanon. I’ve always been surrounded by animals and aware of other living things. My parents helped us grow up with a respect for the environment and everything around us. And I feel that’s what got me into conservation.” Annie notes her father’s keen interest in environmental issues was also a big influence. “He would send me articles to read or he would give me audio books that I would have to listen to in the car. I remember I used to resent it when I was growing up, but in the long run I think it really affected me because now it’s one of the main drivers in my life for all the decisions I make.”

For a long time, Annie had seriously considered majoring in music. “I sang all four years at Gill,” she says, adding “I grew up a singer. I sang all the time. Gill really inspired me to pursue my love of singing and to hone in on the actual performance side of it.” After Annie’s experience with the Nature Conservancy, however, she decided to make integrative biology (a field that includes marine biology and marine conservation) her academic focus at Harvard. She found an outlet for her love of singing by joining one of the university’s premier a cappella groups, the Harvard Lowkeys. “We get to perform on the stage at Sander’s Theater. It’s really famous, and we get to sing there every semester.

It’s one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done,” Annie says. Still, she is glad she chose to study marine conservation. She reflects, “I want to make a difference, in the oceans especially. My dream is to have a position working in conservation where I do research and write papers and spend a lot of time outside with the animals. I just want to live outside on the ocean, and maybe get paid for it.”

On her way to achieving her dream, Annie interned for the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) during the summer of her freshman year. Interestingly, she had a chance to reconnect with the group this January at the Sundance Film Festival when the OPS invited her to attend a screening of its documentary film Racing Extinction. Currently, Annie is beginning her junior year at Harvard, and she is already looking forward to spending the spring semester at sea: “I will be able to take a few marine biology classes that aren’t offered at Harvard, and I’ll be able to live on a sailboat, which is one of my dreams.” After college, Annie intends to study marine biology and marine conservation in graduate school, and she hopes to live on a boat one day.

Reflecting on her four years at Gill, Annie says “I found so many mentors at Gill – the Riptons, the Gores, the Federlains and Mrs. Kunzman. There were so many. When I think about mentors, I feel that’s what defined my time at Gill. The connections I made with the teachers instilled a respect, both for other people and myself, and a drive to do well. They really inspired me to be the best student and the best person I could be.”

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PROFILES

PROFILES

For the Love of Design Jilly Walsh GS ’65

By Jill Brown

Professional artist and designer Jilly Walsh GS ’65 traces her love of the visual arts back to her earliest childhood memories. She recalls, “I just loved to color; I loved to stay inside the lines.” Today, Walsh designs majolica dinnerware, channeling her love of coloring, drawing and painting into fanciful platters that depict fish, blue crabs and bittersweet vines. Walsh, who has been working almost exclusively in ceramics since the early 1980s, has all of her pieces produced by hand at a small factory in Deruta, Italy. Over the years, she has created lines for Henri Bendel, Gumps, Jilly Walsh in Deruta early '90s.

Mariposa, Scully & Scully and the famed art teacher, Ms. Yeagle. She also remembers Mrs. Manhattan restaurant, Le Cirque. In addition, Crichton, a history teacher who offered to proctor she continues to sell individual pieces through part of her entrance exam for Rhode Island her website, Jilly’s Jubilee.

School of Design (RISD). Walsh says, “I had to draw a dining room chair from various angles Walsh praises her English parents who, though and within strict time limits. Then the chair was not artists themselves, opened her eyes to all of removed, and I had to turn it in my mind and the arts. Because her father worked for a British draw it, and then turn it in my mind again, and corporation, Walsh’s summers growing up often so on. Mrs. Crichton was wonderfully enthusiastic involved a home-leave to the UK, which her about the whole experience. I remember her family inevitably combined with excursions being so delighted and helping me on my way.” In to other parts of Europe. Walsh credits those addition to the teachers, Walsh found inspiration summers – visiting museums and galleries and seeing the work of local artisans – as an important from her fellow students. She recounts, “When I early influence in her decision to pursue a career was at Gill, the school had a big sister program, and my big sister Judith Kruger Bromley went on in design. to attend RISD and become a photographer. It She vividly remembers a trip to Portugal when was she who first introduced me to RISD.” she was sixteen, saying “It changed my life.” She explains, “I fell in love with Portuguese ceramics. When Walsh began RISD in the fall of 1965, she found herself surrounded by people whose last In Ericeria, a fishing village on the west coast, I watched the fishermen arrange shrimp and fish in names began with the letter “W.” During her first patterns in flat baskets on the beach. That distinct week at school, her roommate, Marina Welch, introduced Jilly, whose maiden name is Walton, memory marked the birth of my passion for to fellow student, Alex Walsh. The alphabet, it design.” turned out, was looking out for Jilly Walton and Walsh also found encouragement for her talents Alex Walsh; soon after meeting, the two fell in at Gill, joining the school in her eighth-grade year. love.

“My parents made a fine choice,” she offers. “The Reflecting on her time at RISD, Walsh says, “It teachers nurtured and inspired me.” Reflecting was an incredible year; we were introduced to on her five years at the school, she effortlessly multiple disciplines and pulled lots of all-nighters. conjures up the name of her eighth-grade art But it was our 2-D professor Gerald Imonen teacher, Mrs. Spofford, and her Upper School

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Returning to the states in 1976, Walsh and family lived on Nantucket, where she designed needlepoint canvases for needlepoint guru Erica Wilson. The family then moved to Manhattan for two years before buying a house and farm in Woodstock, CT, where they still live today. The house, built in 1780, was a perfect base for them – plenty of space for studios and galleries, and barns for animals. Today, the house is filled with Walsh’s ceramics and paintings and a former carriage house serves as her studio.

In 1983, Walsh started her own company: MAJiLLY to create ceramics for the tabletop. “I love choosing who opened the door to design for me. He gave us specific serving pieces for different foods and seasons, five days to fill huge notebooks with hundreds of and ceramics bring a charming and sophisticated drawings of artichokes cut in half. None of us could informality to the table,” she explains. The company’s imagine what he was looking for, but through the name is taken from Walsh’s first name, “Marion,” process of day-in, day-out critiques, rejections and which no one has ever called her, and her middle hints of praise, something suddenly clicked and I knew I had learned something essential about design.” name, “Jill,” or “Jilly,” which her family has always called her. She recalls that everyone at trade shows loved the name. “It sounded right pronounced in The two loved RISD, but Alex decided to postpone any accent; it was simple and resembled the word earning his degree and enlist in the U.S. Army to majolica.” serve in Vietnam. Soon after, the couple became engaged and Jilly moved to Boston where she When starting MAJiLLY, Walsh toured several began work as a text book illustrator, after Anne Worthington, a RISD alumna and another fortuitous ceramics factories in Deruta, Italy, each of which had made samples of her designs. She chose a small “W” in her path, made the introduction to Allyn and Bacon Publishing. Walsh loved living in Boston, family-run factory that she continues to use today. planning her wedding, and making a living with her When asked about the process of translating her art work. She and Alex married the summer before he designs to ceramics, Walsh explains “The factory sends me blanks of the pieces, so that I can make my was deployed, and she gave birth to their first child, designs based on the actual shape, size and feel of Lisa, while her husband was still in Vietnam. them. Paper transfers are made of my drawings with tiny holes punched along the outlines. The design can In 1970, after Alex was discharged from the army, then be pounced with marking dust onto the blanks the young family moved to England. A recipient of and then painted by the head painter. I used to make the GI Bill, Alex finished his art education at the Hammersmith College of Art and Building, studying several trips a year to Italy to view the samples, but now they are familiar with my palette and can send mural design. During this time, Walsh continued to me the samples.” draw and design. The family loved London and saw both Hannah Bensley ’65 and Warner Daily ’63.

In 1996, Walsh sold MAJiLLY, including the In 1972, their second child, Nicholas, was born. company name and ceramic lines. In 2000, she began After Alex finished college, the family moved to designing ceramics for Mariposa, and in 2009, she Lincolnshire, and Walsh began designing a series of launched Jilly’s JUBILEE, an online retail company cards in pen and ink, which she had professionally printed onto note cards. Returning to her childhood she runs with her daughter-in-law. Walsh continues to work with the same family-run factory in Deruta, love of coloring, she hand-painted each card with watercolor and sold them at various shops, primarily creating ceramics for the tabletop. To learn more about Walsh’s work visit: Jillysjubilee.com. in London and Cambridge.

Paulo, a Deruta artisan, painting a crab platter.

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ALUMNI NEWS

ALUMNI NEWS

GSB Alumni Weekend On May 1 and 2, more than 100 alumni, faculty and friends of the GSB community gathered for the annual Gill St. Bernard’s Alumni Weekend. The festivities included a welcome reception at Conger Alumni House and fun for the entire family at Saturday’s outdoor picnic. The weekend also gave alumni the opportunity to honor longtime faculty members Peter and Randi Schmidt, who retired this spring.

In tribute to the Schmidts, the Class of 1995 announced the creation of the Peter and Randi Schmidt Fund for Community Service. With feedback from the Schmidts, the purpose of this endowment fund will be to support student participation in community service and establish a lecture series to engage the Gill St. Bernard’s community with the most important issues in current affairs and civic life. Speakers chosen for the lectures will present to the school community and collaborate with students and faculty during classes and in small group discussions. The Class of 1995 has asked other alumni to join them in honoring the Schmidts’ dedication to service by giving online or contacting the Alumni Office at 908-234-1611 ext. 292.

See remarks from program online: www.gsbschool.org/alumni-reunion.

Members of the Class of 1995 and their families.

Top: (Seated Front row, l. to r.) Jill Sung, Richard Wagner ’95, Ron McCormick, Alexis Vander Sterre ’95, David Greendberg ’95, George Chris Van Brunt ’95 (Second Row, l. to r.) Stephanie Ramos, Teri Raymond, Joseph Raymond ’95, Veronica Dolnick ’95, James Stover ’95, Eben Gordon ’95, Joseph Schmidt ’95, Court Clayton ’95, Andrea Freeman ’95, Joseph Richburg ’95, (Back center) Jack Green ’95.

Bottom: Photo booth fun.

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Top Row: (Front l. to r.) Thomas Cutler ’75, Beau Bossert ’74 (Second row l. to r.) Jay Woods ’75, Day Keel ’75, Peter Engelmann ’75, Meg Teele Rothberg ’73 (Back row l. to r.) Bob Wallace ’75, Laurie Hiestand ’75, Catherine Howard ’76, Mary Mazzocchi ’73, Louise Utzinger ’73; (Front row, l. to r.) Lauren Calone ’00, Colleen Laz-Hirsch ’00, Elizabeth Parsons ’00 (Second row, l. to r.) Michael Robinson ’00, Brandon Arvesen ’00, Jay Phillips ’00 (Back l. to r.) Geoffrey Schmidt ’00, John Mezey ’00; Middle Row: (from left) Sean Ages ’05, JohnPaul Dicks ’05, TarynAnn Barry ’05; (L. to r.)

Headmaster Sid Rowell, Court Clayton ’95, Randi Schmidt, Peter Schmidt and Andrea Freeman ’95.

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ALUMNI NEWS

Fifty-Year Reunion On May 30, alumnae of the Gill School and alumni of St. Bernard’s School gathered on campus to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the classes of 1965. Alumni traveled from as far afield as Alaska, Hawaii and Washington State for the special reunion. Festivities included opportunities to tour Home Winds, skype with a classmate in London and take part in a special presentation through dinner. The class organized a donation in the amount of $1,450 for the Student Support Fund, which was presented to the headmaster. The fund enables Gill St. Bernard's to expand its range of support to students on financial aid.

Top Row: Front Row: (L. to r.) Karen Kirkeby Alessi GS’ 65, Martha “Muff” Amerman Reina GS ’65, Sallie Dodd Butter GS ’65, Christina Clark GS ’65, Betsy Summers Solis GS ’65, Judy Fulton Higby GS ’65 Back Row: (L. to r.) Amy Looloian Hart GS ’65, Susanne Powell GS ’65, Jill Walton Walsh GS ’65, Denise Passmore Ring GS ’65, Sally Knoke Carter GS ’65, Carol Fernald Walker GS ’65, Michaela Hewett GS ’68, Patricia Hallett Muchmore GS ’66. Bottom Row: Alumni visit Home Winds. Front: (L. to r.) Reynold Thomas SBS ’46 and Sallie Dodd Butters GS ’65 Back: (L. to r.) Dan Walker, Eileen White, Joseph White SBS ’65, Hal Higby; (L. to r.) Herbert Gaiss SBS ’54, Tom Solis, Betsy Solis GS ’65;

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COMMENCEMENT

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L Seventy-eight members of the Class of 2015 earned their diplomas at Commencement on May 31. Among them were seven students who shared their reflections with the gathering, 17 “lifers,” students who had attended Gill St. Bernard’s for 12 years or more, and numerous recipients of academic, artistic and athletic awards. John Howard P ’17, ’21, the retiring chairman of the board of trustees, presented the graduates their diplomas, and incoming board chair Janine Udoff P ’16, ’17, ’21, ’23 officially welcomed them as alumni of the school.

Top row (from left): Soraya Falco ’15, Emily Western ‘15; Sunny Liu ’15, Marisa Guo ’15 , Kelsey Guo ‘15, Jill Guo ‘15; Anastasia Caron ’15, Shane Burchard ‘15, Zeel Patel ‘15. Bottom row (from left): Patrik Andersen ’15, Michael Petrilli ’15, Paul Dunham ’15, Shane Burchard ’15, Maximilian Burrows ‘15; Jamie Goetchius ’15, Kaila Gong ‘15; Sunny Liu’15, Stefan Lambert ’15.

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T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

Class of 2015

College Matriculation List American University Auburn University Barnard College

Senior Class Gift — Military Sevice Memorial The Class of 2015 honored GSB alumni who have served in the military with its senior class gift. With the help of two alumni and a senior parent, additional funds were provided to create a memorial which consists of seals from the armed services. The senior gift committee selected a quote from Abraham Lincoln which reads, “I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.”

Bentley University Boston College Bucknell University (2) Carnegie Mellon University Case Western Reserve University Clemson University College of Charleston College of the Holy Cross Cornell University (2) Davidson College Dickinson College Drew University

A few members of the senior gift committee with the military service memorial.

Eckerd College Elon University Gettysburg College High Point University (3) Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2) Ithaca College (2) Lafayette College (2) Lehigh University (2) Lewis & Clark College Loyola Marymount University Muhlenberg College New Jersey Institute of Technology New York University (4) North Carolina State University

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SBS Chair of Excellence in Teaching Middle School social studies teacher Joanna Hayes received the 2015 SBS Chair of Excellence in Teaching Award. Headmaster Sid Rowell and last year’s recipient Performing Arts Chair Paul H. Canada presented the award. In addition to teaching, Hayes coaches the seventh and eighth grade girls’ basketball team, advises the middle school ski club and heads up “Half the Sky,” a club for girls to discuss issues that women face around the world. As one parent summed it up, “A phenomenal teacher, a fantastic coach, a mentor and a role model, Joanna Hayes is the very best GSB has.”

COMMENCEMENT International students from the Class of 2015 and their families gathered at the residence of Headmaster Sid Rowell where they presented a gift to the school in honor of their time spent at GSB.

Northwestern University Parsons The New School for Design Pennsylvania State University, University Park (2) Princeton University Quinnipiac University Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rutgers University-New Brunswick Sacred Heart University Saint Joseph’s University Sarah Lawrence College Skidmore College

Back row: (L. to r.) Min Zeng, Sunny Liu, Danling Lai, Marisa Guo, Kelsey Guo, Jill Guo, Wenqing Li; Front row: (L. to r.) Xi Zhao, Wencan Liu, Sid Rowell, James Yi Guo, Linda Park.

Alumni at Commencement Several young alumni returned to campus to attend Commencement and congratulate the members of the Class of 2015.

Syracuse University (3) Texas Christian University The College of New Jersey The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States Military Academy University of California, San Diego University of Chicago University of Colorado at Boulder University of Delaware University of Florida University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Maine University of Massachusetts, Lowell University of Michigan University of Pittsburgh University of Rochester University of South Carolina (2) Villanova University Virginia Tech Washington and Lee University

Top row: (L. to r.) Matt Brookman ’12 congratulates his sister Elizabeth Brookman ’15; Alexander Rowe ’13, Jaren Sina’13, Garrett Rowe ’15, Roscoe Young ’13. Bottom row: (L. to r.) Members of last year’s graduating class return to congratulate the class of 2015.

(L. to r.) James Reiner '14, Kim Calabrese '14, Jasmine Sina '14, Ryan McCluskey '14, Raena Dell'Ermo '14; The Quinn sisters (L. to r.) Emily Quinn ‘13, Madeline Quinn ‘15, Sarah Quinn ‘12.

Washington University in St. Louis (2)

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GSB NEWS

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

GSB Performers Reprise Once Upon a Mattress On March 6, the GSB players opened to a sell-out crowd for the first of six performances of Once Upon a Mattress, a musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Princess and the Pea. This spring marked the second time that GSB staged the musical, having first performed it in 1995. Some members of the 1995 cast were able to attend this year’s production and meet with younger cast members at a reception on opening night.

The story takes place “many moons ago,” and centers on a conflict between Prince Dauntless the Drab (William Conlin ’16) who wants to marry, and his mother the nefarious Queen Aggravain (Alexandra Baker ’15) who imposes a series of impossible tests for any princess who sets her sights on Dauntless.

All seems hopeless until the arrival of Winnifred The cast of Once Upon a Mattress. the Wobegone (Erin Wetzel ’15), a refreshing unpretentious princess who was raised in a swamp. Queen Aggravain and her wizard sidekick (Mycroft Zimmerman ’16) have successfully dismissed twelve would-be brides, but they are no match for Winnnifred, especially with Dauntless, his father King Sextimus the Silent, (Xauen Zirpolo ’15), and the kingdom all rooting for her.

The Queen tests Winnifred’s sensitivity, placing a pea under twenty down mattresses. With some help from her newfound friends, Winnifred passes the test by staying awake. All ends happily ever after.

After the final performance, GSB bid farewell to ten cast members who graduated in May. Among them, Erin Wetzel has been a staple of GSB productions throughout her Upper School career. “I’ve learned to take theater from a level of fun to a level of professionalism over the past four years,” said Wetzel. Wetzel will continue her study of theater this fall at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

Performing Arts Chair Paul Canada and Beth Holland P ’12 received a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for Outstanding Costume Achievement. The production also received honorable mentions for Outstanding Musical Direction (David and Amy Southerland), Outstanding Scenic Achievement (Paul Canada, Shannon Ludlum ’03), and Outstanding Hair and Make-up Achievement (Venus Nedd P ’06, ’09 and Lee Amoroso P ’11, ’13, ’19) Once Upon a Mattress was presented through special arrangement with Rogers and Hammerstein Theatricals.

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GSB NEWS

Play Dedicated to Amoroso Once Upon a Mattress was co-produced by Lee Amoroso P ’11, ’13, ’19 and the play was also dedicated to her. This spring marked Amoroso’s 10th production as a member of the GSB Players’ creative team.

Since 2010, she has volunteered to sew, paint and feed the cast and crew. She has worked as an award-winning make-up artist, and has served as one of the most organized and efficient producers the program has ever known. “Lee is a true believer in all that an education rich in the arts can do for a student. We are eternally grateful for all that she has done for our program and our students, and we look forward to many more years of creative excellence,” said Performing Arts Chair Paul H. Canada. Amoroso is the immediate past president of the Parents’ Association, a position she held for two years.

LeVar Burton Visits GSB On April 7, LeVar Burton, the long time host of the popular television series Reading Rainbow, paid a visit to the Lower School at Gill St. Bernard’s. Burton read two books to the children: Enemy Pie by Derek Munson and The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, which he co-authored with Susan Schaefer Bernardo. He also shared Video Field Trips, one of the signature offerings from Reading Rainbow.

Since 2009, when Reading Rainbow officially left the airways after a twenty-six-year run and dozens of broadcasting awards, Burton and his business partner Mark Wolfe have been working to bring the spirit of Reading Rainbow to a new generation of readers.

In 2011, they talked with John Raymonds P’21, CIO and manager of Raymonds Capital, about the possibility of creating a Reading Rainbow app. According to Raymonds, “When LeVar approached me, I knew we had a great opportunity to bring Reading Rainbow back – this time to the digital world the children of today are surrounded by when growing up.” Raymonds notes that other investors, including the Kauffman Foundation, also came forward to help make the app a reality. Recently, the team expanded the reach of Reading Rainbow through the creation of Skybrary, which, unlike the app is not dependent on a tablet or e-reader, but can instead be accessed directly through the internet.

Although many adults associate Burton with his most famous TV roles, including Kunta Kinte from Roots and Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation, children recognize him as an amazing story teller.

Among Burton’s numerous awards are 12 personal Emmys for his unique ability to inspire children to read.

When asked about Burton’s recent visit to GSB, Headmaster Sid Rowell said, “LeVar was simply phenomenal. We were so fortunate to have him come to our school and read to our students.” He added, “We have to thank John and Val Raymonds for being the catalysts, for bringing LeVar to Gill.” For his part, Raymonds, a GSB trustee and parent, was thrilled to be able to bring Burton to the school. He offers, “After helping build the business into what it is today, I am grateful to have been able to share a little bit of the magic of Reading Rainbow with the school – live and in person.”

To learn more about the Reading Rainbow, please visit readingrainbow.com.

Former Reading Rainbow host and producer LeVar Burton with first grade students from Gill St. Bernard’s School.

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GSB NEWS

Retiring Teachers JANE BOYER Last spring, Jane Boyer delighted the Gill St. Bernard’s community when she agreed to postpone her retirement for one year so that she could step in as Interim Lower School Director while GSB searched for someone to fill that role. Mission accomplished, Boyer once again looks forward to her retirement, and after 28 years, the school bids farewell to a much-loved Lower School teacher and administrator.

Jane Boyer.

When Boyer graduated from college, she set out to pursue a career in teaching, taking a job with a high school in Highland Park. After the birth of her first son, however, she found herself increasingly drawn to early childhood education. One thing led to another, and she took a job teaching kindergarten at GSB. Once Boyer began working with Lower School children, she never looked back.

Seeing her in the classroom, Chris Cox, who was head of school at the time, realized Boyer would make an ideal ambassador for Lower School programs at GSB. So, after five years of teaching, Boyer transitioned to admissions and administration, eventually becoming associate director and overseeing all Lower School admissions in 2002, a position she held until 2014.

With her retirement, Boyer looks forward to traveling, pursuing new interests, and spending more time with her grandchildren, noting “I have one grandchild now and another on the way. They live in Seattle, but I think of that as the perfect excuse to visit.” Over the summer, Boyer and her husband moved to Ocala, Florida, where she intends to become a serious Florida Gators fan: “I am going to wear the orange and blue and do the Gator chomp.”

Excited about the new opportunities that retirement will bring, Boyer knows she will miss the Lower School community. She refers to the faculty as her “family away from home,” recalling their incredible support and friendship over the years. As for the Lower School students, Boyer smiles, saying, “How could I not miss a job in which I find myself laughing ten or twenty times a day at the stories the children tell, the wonderful things they say?”

Jane Boyer’s first year at GSB.

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T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

TONI BRESCHER Over the course of her 27-year career as a Gill St. Bernard’s science teacher, Toni Brescher has taught Lower and Middle School students on three campuses. She began as a grade 3-6 science teacher on the Stronghold campus. Eventually, Brescher focused on eighth-grade science, a position she has held for more than a decade.

Reflecting on her years in the classroom, Brescher said, “It is so easy for children to love science because it is so interesting and so hands on.

Beyond working to give the students a love of science, I have always sought to help them grow, to make good decisions and to develop personal integrity. I am so proud of what they do.” Brescher’s ability to inspire a love of science in her students is evidenced by the fact Toni Brescher. that two of her former students returned to Gill as science teachers.

Alana Baer, a former fifth and sixth grade student of Brescher’s is taking over the eighth grade classes in September. Baer spent the past year interning with her former teacher. Another alumna, Noreen Syed, who had Brescher for seventh and eighth grades, will be teaching fifth grade science this year.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Brescher helped develop the Lower and Middle School science curricula, and she authored Study Smart and Test Smart, a series of books on study skills. In 2001, Brescher received the St. Bernard’s Chair of Excellence in Teaching.

In retirement, Brescher looks forward to spending more time on Nantucket, where her son John lives with his wife and their one-year-old son. Reflecting on her 27 years at the school, Brescher offered, “I believe the school is stronger than ever. The campus is gorgeous, and the headmaster, Sid Rowell, does a remarkable job staying true to his vision for moving the school forward while honoring its past.”

ELISE SMITH After 19 years as an early-childhood teacher, Elise Smith is leaving Gill St. Bernard’s to spend more time with her family. Over the course of nearly two decades, Smith has enjoyed seeing many of her pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students remain at GSB through graduation. As her students grew, they would often return to visit her, remarking on how small the chairs seemed and reflecting on the importance of reading Animal Island.

Before coming to Gill, Smith intended to become a public-school teacher.

When she interviewed at GSB, however, she found the community warm and welcoming, and she realized this was the school for her.

Smith has loved her time at the school, reflecting “Although my reasons for leaving are all about family, I am leaving behind a place that feels like home to me and a group of colleagues, parents and students that also feels like family.”

Elise Smith.

In 2004, Smith received the St. Bernard’s Chair of Excellence in recognition of her dedication, patience and kindness as teacher of early-childhood students. In retirement, Smith looks forward to having more time to spend with her husband, Chris, and to traveling across the country and visiting her children Kevin, Courtney, Gregory and Nicholas, and her grandchildren Anna and Charlotte.

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T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

GSB Welcomes New Administrators TIMOTHY DAVIS Gill St. Bernard’s welcomes Timothy Davis as its new director of athletics. Before coming to GSB, Davis worked as athletic director for Tewksbury Middle School, where he also taught seventh-grade U.S. History and created a summer baseball camp program. Davis has nearly a decade of experience in teaching and coaching. He has earned master’s degrees in both teaching and educational leadership from the College of New Jersey, and he also holds a master’s in history and a bachelor’s degree from Monmouth University. While an undergraduate at Monmouth, Davis captained the university’s baseball team. After graduating, he continued to work with the team as an assistant coach, helping players improve their hitting and fielding skills. A natural coach, Davis subsequently worked with the basketball and baseball programs at Delaware Valley Regional High and provided hitting and fielding instruction for athletes at Flemington Baseball & Softball Academy.

IRENE MORTENSEN Irene Mortensen joins Gill St. Bernard’s as the school’s new director of studies.

Mortenson has more than thirty years of experience in the educational field, beginning her career as an English teacher and serving, most recently, as director of accreditation and professional development for the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS). Over the course of her career, Mortensen has worked as a dean of students, a secondary-school placement consultant and a director of student life. In addition, she has designed educational materials for Pearson, including curricula, textbooks and teacher guides. Mortensen comes to GSB with an extensive knowledge of regional schools, having served on the accreditation teams for Far Hills Country Day, the Purnell School and the Dwight-Englewood School.

As an administrator, Mortensen particularly enjoys the opportunity to connect with other members of a school community – students, teachers, administrators, and parents – and to continually help a school move forward while remaining true to its foundations.

HONOR TAFT This July, Honor Taft begins as the new director of Lower School for Gill St. Bernard’s.

Taft brings to GSB her remarkable dedication to children and her passion for earlychildhood and elementary education. She has almost twenty years of experience in independent schools and holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from Columbia University Teachers College and a master’s degree in education from the Bank Street College of Education. Prior to joining GSB, Taft served as assistant head of school for the Caedmon School in New York City, an independent school that comprises early childhood through grade five.

Taft has served as a faculty member on the NAIS (National Association of Independent Schools) Leadership Institute and as a mentor for the NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) Emerging Leaders Institute. Taft enjoys hiking, horseback riding, gardening and spending time with her family.

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GSB NEWS

GSB On the Go – Ravi Malik Creates Mobile-Friendly App Last April, Ravi Malik ’16 launched an app for students, faculty and current parents at Gill St. Bernard’s. Beyond offering mobile-friendly design, the app streamlines information from the school’s website so that users can quickly access athletic schedules, homework assignments and school news.

According to Malik, the early feedback has been good, with students telling him that it makes accessing information more convenient on a daily basis.

“One of the most popular features has been the lunch menu,” Malik says.

When asked about other high-traffic items, Malik offers, “Athletes love to check their team’s schedules, and parents seem to enjoy the news feature the most. Teachers and faculty have also gotten good use of the app, checking daily bulletins and school calendars.”

Malik developed the app with the help of the school’s new media specialist, Ravi Malik ’16 shows off the Gill St. Michael LaBrie, who is responsible for the GSB website. According to Bernard’s app he created.

LaBrie, the app could not have come at a better time. “Ravi’s beta version of the app gave us a deeper understanding of what actual students might be looking for in terms of functionality,” LaBrie noted.

This fall, Malik hopes to expand the app’s offerings to include more information from the middle and lower divisions of the school. He would also like to find an underclassman who is interested in taking over some of the responsibilities for the app.

A member of the GSB FIRST® Robotics Club, Academic League, Math League, Tech Team and Student IT program, Malik plans to pursue a double major in computer science and business while in college. Malik represents the third student in GSB history to successfully manufacture an app, following in the footsteps of predecessors Benjamin Brown ’13 and Nicholas Wu ’19.

Kruger Named National Merit Scholarship Finalist In February, Headmaster Sid Rowell congratulated Jacob Kruger ’15 on his qualification as a finalist in the 60th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Kruger represented one of 15,000 finalists in the competition. Each year, winners receive more than 8,000 awards totaling $32M from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

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ATHLETICS

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

Stellar Season for Spring Teams The varsity baseball pitching staff served up back-to-back shutout wins in the season openers against Belvidere High and Rutgers Prep. Building on a strong start, the team went on to set a school record for wins in a season (21-8), placing first in the Skyland Conference Mountain Division and capturing the Prep B title with a 10-7 win over Montclair Kimberley Academy. That victory marked the first-ever Prep B title for GSB baseball. At season’s end, the team won two games in the NJSIAA Non-public B South Sectional before losing to Holy Spirit High School in the semifinals.

In softball, the varsity squad began its season with a decisive 20-0 win over Princeton Day School. After an auspicious start, the team finished with an impressive 19-9 record, besting Morristown Beard in the Prep B semifinals and then defeating Montclair Kimberley Academy 8-1 to claim this year’s championship. The team advanced to the NJSIAA Non-public B South Sectional finals where they lost a close 5-4 game to Mater Dei Prep.

In lacrosse, the boys’ team (8-2) closed out its final JV season with a seven-game winning streak that culminated in a 20-3 victory over Morris Catholic. Among this year’s roster, Shane Burchard ’15, represents the only graduate, so the varsity program anticipates a strong core of returning players next spring. After an 0-3 start, the varsity girls’ team put together a solid season, finishing with a 4-4 record in its second year as a varsity program.

Boys’ tennis posted a 7-10 record for the season and placed third in the Prep B Tournament. The team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA Non-public B South sectional tournament on May 11, losing a close match (3-2) to Rutgers Prep.

The golf team went 7-9 for the season and was runner up at the conference tournament.

The team lost two strong players to graduation this spring, Gunnar Valentine ’15

The Varsity Baseball team at TD Bank Ballpark.

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Varsity Softball.

AT H L E T I C S

and Garrett Rowe ’15, but returning to GSB this year are Dylan Blackman ’16, who frequently posted the low score for the team this season.

In track and field, the boys’ team finished ninth in the Somerset County Track and Field Championships, with Patrik Andersen ’15 claiming first in the 800 meter run.

Both the boys’ and girls’ teams finished fourth at the Prep B Championships, where Andersen led the boys’ effort with gold medals in the 1600 meter run and the 200 meter dash and Ludi Zhu won the long jump and took second in the triple jump for the girls’ team. Zhu and Anderson each took home gold medals at the Non-public B Group Championships as well.

For a full wrap-up of winter and spring sports, visit www.gsbschool.org/ boosters

From left: George Harris ’16. Sahara Ensley ’16 (c.) with Lillie Wilson ’16 (l.) and Samantha Bittman ’17 (r.); Allison Coffey ‘17; Nicholas Cooper ‘17; Dylan Blackman ’16.

New Spring Coaches Complete First Season Two new head coaches joined GSB last spring.

Nicole Spiotta, assistant director of summer and auxiliary programs for Hi-Hills Day Camp, stepped in as head varsity softball coach for the 2015 season. Spiotta was a two-time team captain and all-conference player at Drew University with experience as a head coach for collegiate and club teams.

Head varsity softball coach Nicole Spiotta.

Mike Cascini, Upper School history teacher, served as co-head coach for the golf team last spring. Cascini, a former high-school and college golfer, coached alongside Chris Nevolo, former Gettysburg College assistant coach.

Co-head golf coach Mike Cascini.

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PATRONS

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

GSB Returns to China: The Legacy of Tom Kelly ‘87 In May, thirteen Gill St. Bernard’s students traveled to Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai on a Unit trip that marked the school’s first visit to China since 1987. Despite the success of the ’87 trip, distance and expense have kept China off the travel roster since then. The twenty-eight-year hiatus ended this spring, however, and the school will now offer a China travel Unit once every three years. This year’s trip, and the ones to follow, resulted from a scholarship established in 2012 to honor the life of Tom Kelly ’87. Kelly’s family, friends and co-workers created the scholarship one year after Kelly’s untimely death. The Thomas P. Kelly ’87 China Unit Scholarship ensures and expands the future of a program that Kelly loved.

In 1987, Kelly traveled to China for the first time as a senior at Gill. At seventeen, Kelly felt an immediate connection to the country, its culture and people. The trip became a defining moment in his life, and he knew that he would return to China one day. When Kelly began George Washington University a few months later, he studied Chinese language and culture, spending a semester studying in Beijing. After

Tom Kelly ’87.

college, Kelly furthered his studies at the University of Fudan in Shanghai. He returned to the United States to earn an MBA from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. Soon after, he moved to China permanently. He began his career in Shanghai with the international pharmaceuticals company Sanofi-Aventis, eventually becoming vice-president for Asia. Kelly married Xiao Bin (Sherry) Peng of Shanghai, and he resided in Shanghai until his death in 2011.

After Kelly’s death, his family, friends, and co-workers from Sanofi paid tribute to Tom by endowing a scholarship for the program that had introduced Kelly to his adoptive home.

Because the trip will be offered at three-year intervals, every student will have a chance to go during his/her Upper-School career. In addition, the scholarship makes the China Unit available to all Upper School students irrespective of their ability to pay. This May, four of the thirteen students had the chance to visit China because of Kelly’s scholarship.

Although China has changed in the past 28 years, enjoying explosive economic development and increasing modernization, the goal of the China Unit trip remains the same. It offers students a chance to learn more about the culture and people of China.

1987 Unit in China.

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The first stop on this year’s trip was Beijing, where students visited the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall. They traveled via rickshaw though traditional, rural sections of the city, practiced Tai Chi and sampled authentic Peking duck. In Xi’an, the students saw the life-sized Terracotta Warriors and took in a shadow puppet show at the Wild Goose Pagoda. In Shanghai, the final stop on their trip, they visited the Yu Garden – the only fully restored classical Chinese garden in Shanghai – and the Jade Buddha Temple. Students also had a chance to learn about traditional methods of making silk and to see the famed Shanghai Acrobatic Show.

Among the 13 GSB students on this year’s trip, two are natives of China: Sunny Liu ’15 and Hedy Jin ’16.

Trip leader, French teacher Carrie Grabowski, noted how much having the girls and their first-hand knowledge of the country added to the experience. She offers, “One of the highlights of our visit to Beijing was a stop at a tea house owned by Sunny Liu’s mom, which was wonderful. And of course the girls were great with helping the rest of us interpret and translate the language. It gave everyone a personal connection to the trip.” Another personal connection to the trip comes from the late Tom Kelly ’87. Students rounded out the two-week excursion with a visit to Sanofi in Shanghai. Company executives met with the students, shared their connections to Kelly and invited them to consider careers with Sanofi.

Reflecting on the trip, Grabowski said, “The students loved China. They appreciated how beautiful it is, how modern and ancient it is at the same time. It was the perfect example of place-based learning.”

2015 Unit trip to China: visiting the Yu Garden in Shanghai.

Thanks to the following alumni for their participation in this year’s other Unit programs: Kaitlyn Creegan ’06 Claire Diab ’80 Brooke Donaldson ’08 Caitlyn Dougher ’10 Dr. Andrea Freeman ’95 Trevor Kaminski ’13 Kyle Swartz ’13 Betsy Swartz ’11 Noreen Syed ’10

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T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

Kirby Gift Caps Amazing Year As history was being renewed with the acquisition of the Home Winds property (see cover story), preparations were also underway to secure another aspect of the school’s future. In December of 2013, the F.M. Kirby Foundation presented a challenge to the board of trustees: raise $4.5 million in 18 months in support of the campaign for a new performing arts center (PAC) and additional field house, and the foundation would double its support, increasing its gift to $1 million. “It was a significant challenge for our school,” said director of development, Jim Diverio. “$4.5 million is a lot of money for the school to raise in a year and a half. It had never been done before, much less for a specific purpose while still maintaining our annual fund and other needs. The challenge would need all hands on deck,” Diverio added.

When asked about the challenge, Dillard Kirby, President of the F.M. Kirby Foundation noted, “The challenge was presented to Gill for several reasons.

Adrienne and I had seen the growth and experienced the spirit of the school as parents of two graduates, and specifically the high level of commitment to the performing arts during our son’s four years in the programs. The trustees had already jump-started this campaign, by reaching deep into their wallets before approaching us. We [the foundation] wanted to support the project unconditionally with our upfront commitment, but also wanted to encourage the broader Gill community to step up as well and support the idea of making the facilities comparable to the outstanding program. Hence the second prong, the ‘challenge.’ What we have seen as a result is ‘genuine generosity’ - families who have ‘stretched’ to do all they can and accelerate gifts earlier than they may otherwise have. We are quite pleased.”

Delivering the Future Campaign Chair Doug Matthews, P ’16, ’18, ’24 accepted the challenge on behalf of the Board of Trustees. Helping to move the challenge forward, Dillard and Adrienne Kirby, P ’09, ’13 hosted receptions to help the school share the vision of the project and explain the challenge grant opportunity. Honorary Chair of the Performing Arts Center Campaign, former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, attended several of the events. Kean shared his story and reflected on the importance of arts in education.

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Shortly after the fundraising effort began, in early 2014, Betsy Michel approached the school about her interest in working with the board of trustees to “return” the Home Winds property to GSB. Michel was preparing to sell, but knew that her father would have loved to see Home Winds revert to the school. Reacquiring Home Winds presented a rare opportunity for the school, but the idea of competing fundraising efforts was worrisome. As Matthews explains, “It was quickly and unanimously agreed that as long as the acquisition did not compete with the campaign effort for the PAC, we could handle both opportunities at the same time.” He adds, “It was critical to focus on the students, and the challenge grant had a clear and significant impact on the academic and extracurricular programs.”

Over the past 18 months, the school has not only raised the money to achieve the challenge grant, but also garnered approvals from the township for the construction of both the field house and the performing arts center plans. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on the last day of school (see Farris story) for the construction of the new field house. The performing arts center will be located on the site of the “old gym,” which is used primarily as the Lower and Middle School physical education and recreation center, as well as housing the fitness center for the Upper School. Once the new field house is completed in June of 2016, work on the 450-seat performing arts center will commence.

Reflecting on the new construction, Headmaster Sid Rowell explains, “The two stages of this process have been carefully developed in terms of both construction and the financial strategy for the project.

The support of the F.M. Kirby Foundation, and the

The Field House

Performing Arts Center

PAT R O N S

Kirby family have been outstanding, and the resulting response to the challenge grant from our families and friends has allowed us to move forward on schedule.”

“It has been remarkable to meet with so many current families, past parents, alumni and enthusiastic grandparents eager to help make this dream a reality for our talented students,” Diverio notes. “At every reception, and traveling to places like Virginia and Massachusetts, the enthusiasm – and generosity – has been wonderful. So many have jumped in thus far, and even more have expressed interest to do so.”

The total cost of the two buildings will be between $11 and $12 million. With the challenge secured and inclusive of the earlier $2.0 million raised, the third phase of fundraising for the project begins. There is an additional $4 to $5 million to raise over the next two to three years. Matthews, while celebrating the success of the last year and half, recognizes the work ahead.

“The goal of this campaign is to leave the school with no additional long-term debt. We have more to raise.

I’m relishing the success we have had thus far, but the campaign committee has already begun to plan the next phase of this fundraising effort.”

Sitting on the hill above the soccer field, Rowell stares out at the trees in the distance surrounding “Betsy

Michel’s house,” a beautiful Victorian home that in the 1940s was a dorm for the St. Bernard’s School boys. It was known then as the Delliker House. It, and the barns and other structures in the distance, along with the 100 acres of rolling hills and fields are now part of our 208-acre campus. A few yards behind Rowell is the roar of construction vehicles pushing dirt and preparing the ground for the new field house.

It would seem unlikely that just 18 months ago such a thing was possible. Rowell contemplates, “It is certainly among the most – if not the most – outstanding year in our school’s history. Due to the inspirational kindness of our longtime neighbor, the invigorating challenge of an extraordinary foundation, the vision of our trustees, and the wonderful support of so many people, our campus is becoming a beautiful melding of the old and the new. And the beneficiaries are our students, now and for years to come. That’s how it is supposed to be.”

For more information on the campaign to build the new performing arts center and the field house please contact Jim Diverio at 908-234-1611 x210 or at jdiverio@gsbschool.org.

Hyde and Watson Foundation Honors GSB This past spring, The Hyde and Watson Foundation expressed resounding support of Gill St. Bernard’s School with a $250,000 grant for the performing arts and field house projects. With hundreds of proposals each year, the foundation supports many requests, with average grants ranging from $10,000 and $25,000. Gill was one of a handful of institutions to receive a significantly larger grant this year. In addition, the school was able to count the grant toward the F.M. Kirby challenge, thereby increasing the gift’s impact.

According to the president of the Hyde and Watson Foundation, William Engel, “The Hyde and Watson Foundation has been a long time believer in the value of independent school education. We are very pleased to support these important projects of Gill St. Bernard’s and partner with the F. M. Kirby Foundation in its generous grant to the School.”

The Hyde and Watson Foundation was incorporated on January 14, 1983 through the consolidation of The Lillia Babbitt Hyde Foundation and The John Jay and Eliza Jane Watson Foundation. Today, the foundation supports capital projects and the related activities of building, renovation, purchase of capital equipment and other one-time capital needs primarily in the areas of education, social service, arts and health. Located in Warren, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on the five boroughs of New York City, and Essex, Morris and Union counties.

Upon receiving the grant, Headmaster Sid Rowell said “Hyde and Watson is among the most respected foundations in the state. They support so many worthy projects, and we have been blessed to receive support from them in the past, and now humbled by such generous support for this critical project.”

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Farris Gift Announced at Groundbreaking After two weather-related postponements, David and Jill Farris GP ’11, ’13, ’15, ’17 and other members of the Farris family came out on June 3 to stick their shovels into the dirt, officially signaling the start of construction on the school’s new gymnasium and recreation center. The 14,400 sq. ft. building will house a multisport practice and game court as well as a fitness center and locker rooms. The new facility, which will be located behind the Cox building and just east of the Fuentes Tennis Complex, will serve as the principal gymnasium for Lower and Middle School students.

Headmaster Sid Rowell announced that the main arena in the new facility will be named the Farris Forum, after Dave and Jill. He added, “Their faith in our school and generosity are remarkable. They clearly believe in this project and certainly helped us to meet the F.M. Kirby Challenge.”

Mr. and Mrs. Farris are grandparents to five former and current GSB students, all of whom were present at the ceremony. The building is the first step towards the construction of the new performing arts center, which will be located on the site of the old gymnasium.

Corona Honored Over the summer, a new endowed scholarship was quietly given by a student from the Class of 2015 and her family. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, established an endowment for need-based financial aid, naming it in honor of Upper School math teacher, Fred Corona.

The scholarship represents a generous and meaningful addition to the school’s endowment, and it will assist a student who has excellent academic potential but whose family would otherwise be unable to provide a GSB education.

Requesting that the endowed scholarship be named “The Fred Corona Scholarship for Excellence,” the benefactor offered, “He is a remarkable master teacher who has a proven ability to teach young people math in 30

a way that challenges each student without letting anyone become overwhelmed.” The recipient will be chosen annually, beginning in the 2016-17 academic year. The financial aid committee will choose the student, based on documented family need, future academic promise and leadership potential. The scholarship will be awarded to an eligible seventh grader and will be renewable through high school, provided the student remains in strong academic standing and is a good citizen of the school community. The scholarship will provide up to 90% of tuition each year.

Upon hearing about the gift, Corona replied, “I’m speechless. For someone to do this for future students, and to do it with my name attached… wow! I wish I knew who to thank personally. I’m humbled.”

He added, “I’m fortunate to be working with so many outstanding faculty at Gill; we constantly challenge each other to be our best.”

PAT R O N S

New Chair of Board of Trustees JANINE UDOFF P ’16, ’17, ’21, ’23 In May, Janine Udoff was elected as the new chair of the board of trustees. Her first official act as chair was to address the recent graduates at Commencement, welcoming them as alumni of Gill St. Bernard’s.

Udoff joined the board in 2010 and served as chair of the Committee on Trustees and the Strategic Planning Committee. Prior to becoming a trustee, she was chair of the Parents’ Association, vice-chair of the Parents’ Association, and co-chair of Homecoming & Family Day. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Udoff pursued a career in finance and worked as vice-president for the private client group of Merrill Lynch. She lives in Bernardsville with her husband, Doug, and their children Alexandra “Allie” ’16, Jacob “Jake” ’17, Connor ’21 and Katherine “Katie” ’23. Udoff is an avid tennis player and enjoys traveling with her family.

Also joining the board in May were Ann Drzic P ’16, Rob O’Leary P ’11, and Steve Polachi P ’08, ’11, ’14.

These new trustees will be featured in the next issue of the GSB magazine.

Retiring Trustees JOHN HOWARD P ’17, ’21 This May, John Howard P ’17, ’21 retired from the board of trustees after nine years of service that culminated in a five-year term as chairman (2010-2015). Howard officially stepped down after awarding the diplomas at Commencement.

Applauding his dedicated and thoughtful service to Gill St. Bernard’s, the graduates then inducted Howard as an honorary member of the Class of 2015.

Elected to the board in 2006, Howard brought his business acumen, intelligence and love of the school to the role of chairman of the finance committee, a position he held for two years. Howard worked to steward and increase the school’s resources, poising GSB for continued growth. An avid golfer, Howard also co-chaired the GSB Classic Golf Tournament for several years, winning the tournament for the first time in the fall of 2014.

Janine Udoff and John Howard.

In 2010, Howard assumed the role of board chair, inaugurating a five-year period of remarkable growth for the school. He led the Strategic Planning Committee, formed in 2011, to chart the future of the school. Howard was also instrumental in creating the school’s strategic plan, “Delivering the Future,” which was introduced in 2013. His five years as board chair saw an increase in enrollment, the growth of the endowment, and the acquisition of 3 St. Bernard’s Road, which serves as the headmaster’s residence, and the Home Winds property.

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Reflecting on Howard’s nine years on the board of trustees, Headmaster Sid Rowell said, “He is a great partner – always thoughtful and caring and someone who can be relied on to demonstrate tremendous integrity. John’s leadership, informed by his love of the school and his belief in the value of a GSB education, was consistent and stable. Calm and highly intelligent, John presided over the board at the time of the school’s greatest growth and strongest advancement.”

Howard is vice chairman and CEO of the wholesale division for BB&T Insurance Holdings Inc. of Roseland, N.J. Additionally, he serves as vice chairman of BB&T Insurance and as a member of the board of directors for CGI JCF Inc., P.J. Robb Variable Corp., and each of the BB&T Insurance subsidiaries.

Howard received a BA in Economics from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Duke University. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and a Knight of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. John, his wife, Fran, and their two daughters, Mary Fran ’17 and Laura ’21, live in Far Hills, N.J. JUDITH FULTON HIGBY GS ’65 Elected to the board of trustees in 2012, Judith Fulton Higby served on the capital campaign committee and on the GSB alumni council. A graduate of the Gill School (1965) and a former alumni representative to the board of trustees (1976), Higby brought her invaluable historical perspective to the board. In addition to her own work with the school, Higby’s father, James Fulton, served as chairman of the Gill School board of trustees when the school merged with St. Bernard’s in the 1970s. A longtime resident of Wilton CT, Higby has dedicated her time and expertise to a number of regional organizations, including the Wilton Library Association, the New Canaan Society for the Arts, and the local Visiting Nurse and Hospice of Fairfield County. In 2005, she received the Wilton Citizen of the Year Award. Higby’s retirement from the board coincided with her 50th reunion, celebrated on the GSB campus this May. PATRICIA HALLETT MUCHMORE GS ’66 Patricia Hallett Muchmore joined the board of trustees in 2012. She served on the advancement committee, the capital campaign committee and the GSB alumni council. Muchmore is a member of the Gill School Class of 1966. She contributed historical perspective, which was complemented by her experience working with several non-profit boards for education. Muchmore was a co-founder and partner in the Stronghold Consulting Group and has held senior management positions with the Carlisle Collection, Doncaster, and Moretran Leasing Co. In addition, she was a former president of the Junior League of Morristown and served as executive director of the Council of Growing Companies. Muchmore and her husband have lived in Pottersville, N.J. for 35 years. They have four adult children and five grandchildren.

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PAT R O N S

Annual GSB Auction Members of the GSB community celebrated spring on a fun-filled evening at the 2015 GSB Auction. More than 225 people filled the athletic center, which had been transformed into a beach-themed resort for the evening. Guests donned casual resort wear in keeping with this year’s theme of Sand & Sea. Leading this year’s high-spirited live auction were comedian Jim Breuer and Bruce Beck, sports anchor for NBC 4 New York.

This year marked the first time that bidders could place bids remotely using cell phones.

The event raised more than $225,000 for the school.

This year’s Sand & Sea Gala was spearheaded by event co-chairs Sharon Bittman P ’17, ’23 and Jen Meenan P ’27, ’24. Special thanks to our co-chairs and to all who donated, volunteered or attended and helped make this year’s auction a huge success.

From left: Wendy Supron P ’17, Kim Ferruggia P ’12, ’14, ’16, Anna Matthews P ’16, ’18, ’24, Dawn Richardson P ’17, ’23, Sharon Bittman P ’17, ’23, Jennifer Meenan P ’24, ’27, and Jill Gateman P ’17, ’20.

“I believe the earlier the better. You just never know what is going to happen and one of the ways to be prepared is through early estate planning.” – Michael Weinstein ’87, Founders Society Inaugural Member The Founders Society of Gill St. Bernard’s School recognizes alumni, friends, and parents who have made or planned a Legacy Gift to Gill St. Bernard’s. These gifts account for over $1M in support and include: • Bequests through Wills or Trusts • Life Insurance Gifts • Retirement Plan Gifts • Other Tax Advantageous Charitable Gifts Gill St. Bernard’s, with support from well-respected, licensed financial partners, offers no cost, confidential, financial and philanthropic planning assistance to interested individuals and families.

For information about these services, or to share your gift intentions, contact Director of the Annual Fund and Planned Giving Gwen Paxon at 908-234-1611, ext. 205 or at gpaxon@gsbschool.org.

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Triptych Restoration After several years of planning and fundraising, restoration has begun on the school’s iconic triptych, which was painted by renowned artist Stanislav Rembski. Over the course of two days in early June, restorers from Cusworth Conservation in Lambertville painstakingly removed the 17’ x 22’ painting from Founders Hall, where it has hung for over 80 years. The meticulous job of repairing, cleaning and re-hanging the triptych will take approximately nine months.

Throughout the fundraising effort, Bob Hemm SBS ’46 and David Oakley SBS ’47 rallied numerous alumni to support the effort. The Parents’ Association was also instrumental in raising the necessary funds to begin restoration.

More support is needed; if interested in this project please call Jim Diverio or Chanelle Walker in the development office at 908-234-1611, ext. 210 or ext. 292.

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FACULTY NEWS

T H E M AGA Z I N E O F G I L L S T. B E R N A R D’S S C H O O L

Emilia Giordano & Randi Schmidt Emilia Giordano ’06 and Randi Schmidt will give a joint presentation at the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) 17th National Conference & Exhibition. Their half-day workshop, Extending Guided Inquiry into the Interrogation of Sources, will be held on November 5 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio.

Emilia Giordano ’06 (l.) and Randi Schmidt (r.).

Kim Turse Gill St. Bernard’s Middle and Upper School Learning Specialist Kim Turse co-authored the article, “The ABCs of RTI: An Introduction to the Building Blocks of Response to Intervention,” which appeared in the January 2015 issue of Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth.

Obituaries

Leslie Bartow SBS ’43 of Andover, MA passed away on November 29, 2014. Bartow served in Western Europe in the Army Artillery during WWII. He is among the many alumni whose service is honored with the new Military Service Memorial, given by the Class of 2015. He is survived by his wife Ruth.

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Obituaries

Albert Merck A former trustee of the Gill School, and noted philanthropist, public servant and champion of education, Albert Wall Merck died peacefully at his Lexington, Massachusetts home on July 22, 2014. He was 93.

Mr. Merck matriculated to Harvard University. Like many of his generation, however, his undergraduate studies were interrupted by the Second World War. Mr. Merck left school to serve as a first lieutenant in the field artillery in the Pacific, returning to Harvard to complete his coursework after the war.

In 1946, Mr. Merck married Katharine Evarts, and by the early 1950s, the two had settled in Mendham, New Jersey.

Mr. Merck’s children attended the Gill School in the 1960s and 1970s. His daughter Patience and son Wil were present for the first two years of Gill’s merger with Saint Bernard’s School. Patience graduated with the class of 1974.

Mr. Merck’s interests in education and politics led him to pursue opportunities in teaching and public service. He earned two master’s degrees in education, from Columbia University and Rutgers University, and subsequently taught political science at Rutgers University and Drew University. In 1971, Mr. Merck was elected to the New Jersey Assembly for Morris County. He was later appointed to the Casino Control Commission, and in the 1980s, he chaired the New Jersey Board of Higher Education.

Mr. Merck was a generous donor to Gill St. Bernard’s during his time as a parent and board member. In addition, in 1975 he set up a charitable trust, naming the school as a beneficiary.

Upon his death, the trust’s proceeds were distributed and the school received a large, unexpected contribution.

Merck was predeceased by his daughter Katharine, and is survived by his wife Katharine, his son, Albert, in California, Friedrike Merck of Bearsville, N.Y., Patience Chamberlin of Exeter, N.H., and Wilhelm Merck of Hamilton, Mass. He had eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

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Lee Charles Kasman ’76, P ’16 A longtime resident of Bridgewater and an alumnus of Gill St. Bernard’s, Lee Charles Kasman ’76 passed away on Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at the age of 56. Mr. Kasman owned and operated Lasco Contracting in Martinsville and had previously owned and operated the Kasco Lawn and Garden Equipment Company and Martinsville Power Mower.

A sportsman, Mr. Kasman enjoyed golf, fishing, baseball and soccer. He coached soccer and baseball for the Bridgewater Soccer Association, Bridgewater Recreation, and for Bridgewater Township. He was also active in the soccer program at GSB. Mr. Kasman is survived by his wife of 34 years, Susan Sawicki Kasman; two daughters, Rose Mary Kasman and Kathryn Jean Kasman; two sons, Joshua Edward Kasman and Charles Lee Kasman; his parents, Walter and Jean Gordon Lee Kasman; his brother Alan Kasman; his sisters, Paula Mastro and Frances Kasman; and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations may be made to Gill St. Bernards School (please note Lee’s name on your donation) C/O The Alumni Office, P.O. Box 604, St. Bernards Road, Gladstone, NJ 07934.

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Recent Alumni Events Nearly 30 members of the GSB community gathered at Harry’s Italian for an alumni event supporting STUNG before its showing on April 17th (see Adam Aresty ’03 class note).

Top right: Billy Young ’02, John Puglisi ’02, David Weinstein ’03, Ray Conger ’03, Emily Oppenheimer ’03; (front l. to r.) Bess Goden ’03, Lytle Harper ’03, Anne Rosenthal ’03, Katie Cannon ’02, Shannon Ludlum ’03, Cassie DePinto Greenberg ’03 (front l. to r.)

Mohammad Huq ’03. Below left: John Puglisi ’02, Barbara Ripton, David Weinstein ’03, Ray Conger ’03, Billy Young ’02, Randi Schmidt, Peter Schmidt (front l. to r.) Claudia Hesler, Mike Chimes, Barbara Ripton, Emilia Giordano ’06.

On Thursday, July 30th over 20 alumni came together for a summer alumni event at the Pilsener Haus & Biergarten in Hoboken, NJ.

Kyle O’Neill ’08, Chanelle Walker, James Finger ’06, Matt Simon ’06, Matt Marsallo, Olivia Kupfer ’07, Mike D’Arcangelo ’09, Dan Mistretta ’07, Nina Simon ’07, Tersey Regan ’07, Michael Jablonskyj ’09, Amanda Bisson ’07, Roman Jablonskyj ’09, Karen Cassetta ’07, Dina Manfredi ’07, Camad Hembre ’98, Sean Johnson ’08, Juan Dominguez ’09.

Save the date for these upcoming alumni events Los Angeles October 17, 2015 Host: Adam Aresty ’03 San Francisco October 18, 2015 Host: Jeff Lager ’86 Washington, D.C. November 18, 2015 Host: Adam Tenner ’85 *In order to respect the privacy of our hosts, please log in to www.gsbschool.org/alumni-login to see the addresses for these events.

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Gill St. Bernard’s School P.O. Box 604 St. Bernard’s Road Gladstone, NJ 07934-0604 908-234-1611 gsbschool.org facebook.com/gsbschool facebook.com/gsbschoolalumni

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