Retiring Faculty

I’LL BE SEEING YOU

PAUL TUZENEU • TONY SPRINGMAN • LESLIE MATTHEWS • SCOTTIE GIRGUS

BY MARY ELLEN PETHEL • DEPARTMENT CHAIR – UPPER SCHOOL SOCIAL SCIENCES • SCHOOL ARCHIVIST

Billie Holiday, Jimmy Durante, and Frank Sinatra popularized the tune, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” in the 1940s. Combining sentimental lyrics with a soulful melody, the chorus begins: I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places That this heart of mine embraces all day through In that small cafe, the park across the way

The children’s carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well

We may not have a carousel or wishing well on campus, but Harpeth Hall is without a doubt a singular place—a place with a strong gravitational pull that connects and inspires. For the last 30+ years, Leslie Matthews, Paul Tuzeneu, Tony Springman, and Scottie Girgus have remained central, not only to the school’s sense of community but to its very identity. Ordinary words fail to capture all that they mean to us as students, alumnae, and faculty. And so, we turn to their words. Sit back and relax as these four extraordinary faculty members take us on a retrospective journey through time and “all the old familiar places.”

LESLIE MATTHEWS fame—she worked directly with Leslie Matthews was hired by Head of School Idanelle Patty Chadwell, longtime chair “Sam” McMurry, in 1977. Matthews credits McMurry of the Physical Education (1963-1979) with creating a “vision that has blossomed Department. Miss Patty was a into an incredible reality. . . . [as] the school evolved a founding faculty member of from a small college prep girls school to an institutional Harpeth Hall following the 1951 power house.” Named in McMurry’s honor, the closure of Ward-Belmont’s high McMurry Center for Arts and Athletics opened in school. In 1977, on her way to Matthews’s first year. Whether fate or serendipity, student registration in the old Leslie Matthews would call this building her professional home for 37 of her 43 years at Harpeth Leslie with colleagues Pat Moran and Susan Russ dining hall (located in the basement of the former middle Hall. Ever the spirited and energetic educator, Matthews taught dance, school building), Matthews popped in a piece of bubble gum. When she physical education, and wellness. In 2009, she developed a yoga walked in, Miss Patty spotted her, walked over, and asked with an air program with support from Head of School Ann Teaff. That same year, of incredulity, “Are you chewing gum?” Leslie quickly swallowed it and McMurry passed away. Matthews also maintains a historic claim to said, “No Ma’am!” Matthews has not indulged in gum since.

Five years after Leslie Matthews joined the Harpeth Hall faculty, Paul-Leon Tuzeneu was hired by Head of School David Wood in 1982. Affectionately known as Señor Tuz, he remains the ultimate linguist—teaching Upper School Spanish and French for 38 years. He fondly recalls the original Leigh Horton Garden, located between the former Middle School and the McMurry Center. He

Leslie Matthews, 1985 PAUL TUZENEU

spent many quiet moments relishing in the sights and sounds of nature while sitting in the garden’s gazebo. Listening to the water’s gentle flow from the fountain, he also thought about Leigh who was “always gracious, always smiling, always humble.” The garden was dedicated in May 1985 with words of special remembrance and enduring relevance, “For every joy that passes something beautiful remains.”

SPRING 2020

Over these many years, Paul Tuzeneu has often provided comic relief— whether making noises that resemble a seal or standing on furniture in true “O Captain, My Captain” form. Most (in)famously, Señor Tuz made good use of tree climbing skills he developed as a young boy. Before the 2007 renovation of the Wallace building, his room was on the first floor at the front of the building. Outside there were a number of trees that became “the locus for many hijinks and moments of inspiration.” On more than one occasion, Tuzeneu leaned out of his classroom window to reach the tree and “proceeded to climb up to the upper floors of Wallace.” He recalls, “During one of Tony Springman’s classes (much to his dismay), I climbed up the tree and waved through the window—generally disrupting the engaging Socratic discussion in progress.”

Paul Tuzeneu, 1985

TONY SPRINGMAN Tony Springman may have had a class interrupted by Señor Tuz, but he stands alone as the commander-in-chief of the Social Science Department. In 1987, David Wood lured Tony to Harpeth Hall from Christ the King. Mr. Springman quickly gained a reputation as a master teacher, and his early days were also spent coaching multiple sports. Basketball was played in Morrison Gym, which gave the Honeybears “the greatest home court advantage in Nashville.” Meanwhile, the softball team had no home field at all—driving to Percy Warner Park to practice. When the first field was built in 1991, next to the Hobbs Road entrance, there were no bleachers or dugouts. Teams and fans sat on hay bales, which stayed wet because of rain and frequent flooding. Speaking of rain, it was on the steps of the Annie Allison Library, where the Ann Scott Carell Library now stands, where Tony first asked his wife, a former English teacher, to go on a date with him. Months later, in the same exact spot, he “proposed at midnight in a pouring rain storm!” The world changed on September 11, 2001, and Springman remembers that day vividly: “Because we did not have computers everywhere, students and teachers came to my room because I had the only television on our floor. Throughout the day we watched and cried together as the news unfolded.”

Scottie and Derah Myers, 1995

SCOTTIE GIRGUS Hired in 1990 by Head of School Leah Rhys, English teacher Judith Scot-Smith “Scottie” Girgus began her Harpeth Hall career in the Middle School and moved to the Upper School in the mid-1990s. The first laptops arrived on campus in the immediate post-9/11 landscape, and Scottie quickly saw the impact of the laptop program on student learning. One morning she “booted up [her] computer. . . . and opened an email from a student [that] read, ‘There are workers in Florida who harvest tomatoes for Taco Bell. . . [who are] paid a tenth the minimum wage. I have the address of the company president and have started a petition. Can I bring it to class?’” Girgus asked how she learned of the pickers’ plight; the student replied, “On my computer.” In that moment, she realized the power of technology as a tool that sparked not only learning but social responsibility. But as we all know, technology can notoriously fail in the classroom. Scottie’s colleague and friend, “Derah Myers had no love nor talent for computers.” In 2002, Derah’s computer crashed, and Girgus went to her room on the first floor

Knitting Club Officers Lindsay Turner and Claire Henry, along with Scottie Girgus, Jacquie Watlington, and Caroline Winsett, 2007.

of Wallace to help. As Scottie worked to restore the files, Derah was teaching The Great Gatsby. She read aloud, and became each part, giving Daisy “a voice rich with the sounds of the South” and “found just the right tenor for Gatsby and Nick.” Girgus was spellbound and returned to Derah’s class everyday “until Gatsby was buried and Tom and Daisy were off to Chicago.” In the early 1990s, the middle school was comprised of two white brick, red-roofed buildings with a connecting covered walkway. On a crisp fall morning, Girgus came across a “teary-eyed, petite girl with raven hair standing in the middle of the walkway. She was lost.” They made their way to a room in the Middle School where Scottie, “found a tissue so she could wipe her eyes and blow her nose.” Girgus recalls, “Years later, I was having coffee with a friend. I looked up and there she was—the lost little girl all grown up. I knew her immediately and, despite the years, she knew me too. She is now a doctor at Vanderbilt Medical Center.”

For Scottie and for Leslie, Paul, and Tony—this is the very ethos of Harpeth Hall—helping young women find their way. The physical campus has changed, but these and other faculty members provide the continuity. Following the 2019-2020 academic year, these incredible educators, mentors, and colleagues will move on to life’s next chapter. We seek to thank and honor them for what poet Mary Oliver called “our joyous, endless, and proper work.” Their institutional memory runs deep and wide. Their contributions to the school are too numerous to count. Their legacies will live on in the hearts and minds of generations of students. As for the rest of us? Well, we’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.