Pat Burns'

By Olivia Baumgartner

Reconnecting with Pat Burns'68, we dug a little deeper into some of the eighth grade ambitions and memorable classmates.

Pat assures us that the sports they followed were soccer and volleyball and that “rugby” must have been a good joke among friends in eighth grade. He recalls a core group of Joseph Banning, Gilbert Barnes, and Laura Jones. The group attended Harbor Day in its earlier incarnations as St. James Parish School on Lido Island and Harbor Episcopal School under Father Edward Allen and Eric Pepper before graduating in 1968 from Harbor Day School under John F. Marder. Pat recalls 1967-68 as the first year of the Blue-Gold Track Meet. (Pat captained Team Gold to victory in the inaugural event.)

The decades that followed included work, careers, and stories that weave through old Newport with the feeling of a sun-bleached patina. Pat (an avid cyclist since high school) dabbled with an early career in precision machining in an aerospace machine building on Von Karman, run by a family well known to Harbor Day: the Berteas. Jack Whitmer, a friend of such longstanding that he is more of a brother than a friend to Pat, joined him in this work before the two started an export business, bringing wine down to Central America, allowing them to drive and surf their way down the coast. Passing through in 1979, they viewed El Salvador first hand at the outset of its civil war, and Nicaragua just 10 days after the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) overthrew Anastasio Somoza. The two landed in San Jose, Costa Rica for a time before returning home. Later business ventures for Pat included strawberry and vegetable growing on 350 hectares in Guadalupe, Mexico before returning stateside. He pursued coursework at Sonoma College and continued in agriculture, this time with vineyard work in Sonoma County. His next venture took him up to Oregon, where he spent the next 25 years of his career with a family vineyard before retiring.

Reflecting on these years, Pat shared that he had a lot of fun, took a long time to grow up, and thinks fondly of Southern California now and then. “It was such an amazing place, and I wrestle a little bit with the privilege we all had, but that doesn’t diminish the amazing accomplishments of so many people in this geographic area. There was the freedom to try something out and an unencumbered attitude that if it should be done, then it could be done, and we were the ones to do it.”

Pat’s father, Ben, was a physician who served in the Navy, and Pat was born at Camp Pendleton. Dr. Burns set up a private practice in Corona del Mar and served on the board at a critical juncture in our past. Pat remembers the move from St. James Parish Day School on Lido Island to the schoolhouse on 5th and Marguerite and recalls worrying that there might not be a school to attend. From 1963-64, “vestry members of St. James Church had voted in October to close the school at the end of January. According to the Rev. John Parke, rector of the church, the school was putting too much financial strain on the parish.” 1 Pat recalls his father returning home one night and remarking “Well, that’s done.” For Pat, that meant continuing at the school he’d known for years. On January 9, 1964, board members of the St. James Episcopal Day School announced that the school would not close at the end of the semester but reform as a private corporation. It would operate under the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles as Harbor Episcopal School and “open” on February 1, 1964. The Reverend Edward Allen intended to remain as vicar at the school. On Thursday, January 16, the Laguna Beach Post noted newly elected officers of the Parent’s Council for the school as Mmes. Hancock Banning III, president; Robert Gurley, vice president; Benjamin Burns, corresponding secretary; D.S. Gurney, recording secretary; and C.L. Monson, treasurer. In speaking with Pat, it is thrilling to corroborate his memories with the news archives detailing his family’s involvement when Harbor Day School’s fate was as yet unwritten.

After graduating from Harbor Day, Pat went to Corona del Mar High School and then California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, where his mother, Charlotte Burns Wood, was a professor. His sister, Heather Burns, also attended Harbor Day School. Pat is the proud father of Claire, an avid horsewoman and Army reservist now working with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. n

80’s

Brad'01 and Clayton'99 Stone, and Eric Neff '99 Andrew is currently senior counsel with Allen Matkins. After Harbor Day School, he attended St. Margaret’s, followed by Stanford University for his B.A. and then the UCLA School of Law for his J.D.

James Strong'86 has been with CAL FIRE for over three years and now serves as their Forest Practice Administration Coordinator. James attended UC Berkeley, graduating in 1994, before serving with the U.S. Army in counterintelligence. Concurrently, for more than 20 years, he worked as a forester in the timber industry before moving into state agency work with CAL FIRE. His three daughters are all attending various universities. He has been on some exciting wildfires, actively surfs, and still keeps in touch with Steve Olson from the HDS days. He is based out of Humboldt county with his wife, Amy.

She and her husband, Brian, will celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary this year! Megan switched gears from her professional fundraising career to focus on her health and wellness business (but actually spends most of her time as a chauffeur for her three children). Megan lives in Laguna Niguel. She recently enjoyed getting together with Shelley Rich Manning, Nadia Dorsey Samuel, Elena Goodman Singletary, Brooke Smith Shepherdson, and Ansley Pierce, all from the class of 1993! Go Blue!

Matthew Danzig'01 is now a Managing Director at Lazard in the technology group, investment banking division. He is a graduate of Emory University and holds a J.D. from New York University, which was followed by a judicial clerkship at the Delaware Court of Chancery. He began his career at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York City and turned his attention to finance, starting at Lazard in 2016. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Allison, and two children, Reece and Penn.

Megan Strader Meihaus'93 is currently serving as President of Avenue to the Arts (A2A), a support group at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Fellow alum Ashley Johnson Good'90 and current parent Veronica Slavik are on the board of directors with Megan. She is excited to continue the tradition of enjoying the arts with their children. Megan’s oldest daughter is currently a freshman at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, where she is part of the Talon Academy of Performing Arts (TAPA). Her two sons are in the sixth and second grades at Mission Basilica School and enjoy playing sports.

Jefferson Cowart'99 and his wife, Heather, welcomed Jacob Moshe Cowart on January 19th Jefferson is a systems engineer at Sidepath consulting and Heather is a Global Portfolio Manager of Oral Care at 3M, based in St. Paul, MN.

Andrew Wood'99 married Michelle Bagge on March 4, 2023. In attendance were his brother Bill 90 and sister Katie 94, along with

Jenny Danzi Elias'01 recently stopped by to see Harbor Day’s new campus while visiting family in Newport. She is PepsiCo’s Senior Director of the Pepsi brand and Board Director for WIN: Women in Innovation, dedicated to closing the gender gap in innovation leadership. Jenny graduated from Williams College with a degree in economics and studied at the London School of Economics and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. She resides in New York, NY, with her husband, Alex, and two sons.