Welcome New Alumni Board Members

THE COLLEGIATE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION WELCOMES ALL OF OUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS.

BEN ADAMSON ’98

P ’33 ’35

Professional:

Owner, Corinthian Construction

Education:

BA, James Madison University

Community Affiliations:

Board of trustees, The Nature Conservancy of Virginia

ELIZABETH DOLAN WRIGHT ’01

P ’33 ’35

Professional:

Art Institute Chicago, Philanthropic Advisor for Major Gifts

Education:

BA, Hamilton College

Community Affiliations:

Hamilton College Alumni Council; Community Foundation of Greater Richmond’s Impact 100

HARRISON RODAY ’09

Professional:

Partner, American Industrial Partners

Education:

BA, William & Mary

Community Affiliations:

Founder, Bridging Virginia; Treasurer, Foodshed Capital

HELEN RODDEY ’16

Professional:

Brand Marketing, NFL League Office

Education:

BA, University of Virginia

LUKE WALKER ’12

Professional:

Sales Representative, PGA TOUR - The TOUR Championship

Education:

BA, Elon University

VIRGINIA HARRIS ’16

Professional:

Analyst, Deloitte Commercial Consulting

Education:

BS, University of Virginia

Honoring a Diligent Leader

By Weldon Bradshaw

For years, Frank Mountcastle III ’83 has generously and loyally used his talents and energies in a direct way to benefit Collegiate School.

First, there was the pass.

Then, there were two very quick dribbles because time — two seconds — didn’t allow for more.

Then, there was the shot, an against-all-odds attempt from the left side that had no chance of hitting its mark because, really, what are the odds that a smallish 15-yearold could even reach the rim from 30 feet away in a pressure-packed, all-or-nothing situation, much less send the basketball through the hoop and save the day?

One in a hundred? One in a million? Doesn’t matter. Odds, you see, are simply numbers. They don’t measure heart, desire, resolve and passion. It’s action that counts.

With an undefeated season on the line and Collegiate School’s 8th Grade basketball team trailing St. Bridget 39-37 that memorable Friday afternoon in February 1979, point guard Frank Mountcastle’s shot, launched just ahead of the buzzer, banked off the West Gym backboard, then fell through the basket to tie the game, which the Cougars went on to win 44-41 en route to a 12-0 finish.

There was much jubilation in the moment, of course, and for those in attendance, it’s been an occasional topic of conversation for the past 42 years. The real point of the story, though, is this: When Frank Mountcastle III ’83 was called upon to deliver for his School, he responded with every ounce of energy that he had.

He’s been doing so ever since.

In mid-September, at Convocation, Mountcastle, a 1983 graduate, was honored with the Alex Smith ’65 Service Award.

Considering his selfless, never-say-no commitment to his alma mater, it’s recognition he richly deserves yet never expected or even considered.

In fact, when Alumni Association president Sarah Paxton ’84 informed him, he was, he admits, speechless. You see, to Mr. Mountcastle, the quintessence of a servant leader, the personal satisfaction he derives from his support of and dedication to Collegiate is all the reward he needs.

“‘Humbled’ was one of the first words out of my mouth,” he says as he reflects upon the moment he received the news. “This was incredibly out of the blue. I’ve known people who’ve been honored this way and realize the blood, sweat and tears that they poured into Collegiate over the years. I always wanted to emulate them.”

A managing director of Harris Williams, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, Mr. Mountcastle has deep Collegiate ties. Judith Deane Arrington, his greatgrandmother, served as a trustee in the 1920s. His grandmother, Frances Deane Arrington Hotchkiss, was a member of the Class of 1925. His mother, Deane Hotchkiss Mountcastle, graduated in 1959 and his sister Anne Mountcastle Rusbuldt in 1985.

He and his wife Jill are the parents of three Collegiate lifers: Grace ’14, a University of Virginia alumna who works for Horizon Media in New York City; Fisher ’17, a Senior at Clemson; and Henry ’21, a UVA Freshman.

Mr. Mountcastle started Kindergarten in 1970, so he’s been affiliated with the School in one capacity or another for 51 years, 20 of which he and Jill were Collegiate parents. He’s served in a variety of capacities, including Class Agent, Parent Annual Fund Chair and Auction volunteer.

From July 2013 through June 2021, he served on the Board of Trustees, including two years (2017-2019) as Chairman during the tenure of Head of School Steve Hickman. In 2020-21, he lent his experience and expertise as Chair of the Trustee and Governance Committee. He also served as a member of the Finance Committee before his term as a Trustee began.

Balancing multiple volunteer assignments, especially when he was Board Chair, with his professional responsibilities and quality time with his family has been a labor of love.

“You make time,” he says. “It’s easy to find time to serve an organization that’s meant so much to me and my family over the years, an organization where we really, truly, honestly believe in the mission and the experience that Collegiate delivers to students and families. When you think about it through that lens, it’s easy to find time to give back.”

Mr. Mountcastle’s leadership style is typified by collegiality, diligence and humility.

“I always take the team approach and stay in the background as much as possible,” he explains. “You always have to think about what’s best for the School and, specifically, what’s best for kids. You have to take into account all the constituencies when you make decisions, but at the end of the day, it’s about the kids and what we can do to give them the best possible experience and prepare them for life after Collegiate. To use one of Steve’s terms: that’s the North Star.”

“Mr. Mountcastle has been a true leader, putting the needs of others and our school before his own. He is optimistic, selfless, honorable and completely genuine.”

Penny Evins, Head of School

FAR AHEAD OF HER TIME

By Weldon Bradshaw

THE LATE COLLEGIATE ALUMNA ANN COTTRELL FREE WAS A PIONEER FOR WOMEN IN JOURNALISM.

Ann Cottrell Free ’34 was a journalist in the noblest sense of the word.

Not just a reporter, though report she did.

Not just a writer, though the body of literature, poetry and reportage she created was immense, purposefully conveyed and powerful.

Yes, she was a journalist, a descriptor that attests to the level of excellence she attained and maintained through the written word during a career of significance that spanned decades.

She was a pioneer as well and a courageous crusader of the highest order. Blending assertiveness with tact and an unwavering desire to present the news accurately and fairly, expose injustice and right wrongs, she became through skill, diligence and dogged determination one of the most respected and prolific practitioners of her craft of her era.

“My mother was a very strong person,” says Elissa Blake Free of the 1934 Collegiate alumna, recipient of her alma mater’s Distinguished Service Award in 1992, and a 1996 Virginia Communications Hall of Fame inductee. “She stood up to power. She feared no one.” Early in her high school years, a young and, by her own admission, academically unsuccessful Ann Cottrell transferred to the Collegiate School for Girls located at 1619 Monument Avenue. In an oral history that she dictated to her daughter and son-in-law over the course of a year in the late ’90s, she joked that she failed every class but English at her previous school.

“My life really changed once I went to Collegiate,” she told Elissa. “I had hockey, I had poetry, I had drama, I had some good friends, and that was wonderful. Collegiate awakened me intellectually, and taught me self-discipline. And I loved athletics.”

Recently, Elissa presented the well-used, weathered hockey stick her mother used as a goalie for Collegiate back in the day. It was a precious keepsake, she says, that her mother retained throughout her life as a symbol, perhaps, of that joyous time when she found her voice and developed her love of learning and competitive spirit, all of which served her well throughout her exhilarating professional journey.

“Throughout the years, she would always talk about her dear Collegiate,” Elissa says. “She blossomed there. The Collegiate experience was deep in her. It opened up the world to her.”

In 1936, while still a student at Barnard College, 20-year-old Ann Cottrell accepted a position as a reporter for the Richmond TimesDispatch. After a post-college stint as a press agent for Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, she landed a job with Newsweek and quickly transitioned from clipping newspaper stories in the magazine’s New York headquarters to becoming the first woman to serve as a fulltime Washington correspondent not just for Newsweek but for the Chicago Sun and the New York Herald Tribune as well.

Based in Washington, D.C. during World War II, she penned pieces about myriad historically significant issues, including the impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the subsequent declaration of war, women in the military, and the human and economic ramifications of the mobilization effort. She also wrote extensively about the work of Eleanor Roosevelt and was a regular at the First Lady’s all-female press conferences.

“She was one of the youngest people doing that,” her daughter says. “She always called her Mrs. Roosevelt. That’s what everybody called her back then. Later on, she went to Geneva when Mrs. Roosevelt was involved with the framing of the Declaration of Human Rights. Mrs. Roosevelt was very kind. She wrote letters of introduction for my mother before she went around the world, which gave her incredible entrée to people and places that she never would have had without that help.”

Following her stint in Washington, she served as a special correspondent for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in post-war China where she wrote of the plight of refugees who endured the famine that beset the nation, government corruption when she learned that relief supplies were being diverted, and problems German and Austrian Jewish refugees experienced in China.

From 1947 through the mid-50s, she traveled the world as a correspondent from outposts ranging from French Indochina (now Vietnam) to India to the Sinai Desert to hot spots in Europe. Among her many other assignments, she documented U.S. efforts to rebuild post-war Europe (the Marshall Plan), the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, and the transfer of power in India from the British to the Indian government.

“She said it was incredible to be in India for the transfer of power and also how dangerous it was because of the riots,” Elissa says. “They were on a train that had to be stopped because they found a bomb on it. It sounded like she came close to getting killed in the riots because people would stampede.”

In the late ’50s following her marriage to James S. Free, her post as the Washington correspondent for the Birmingham News, and the birth of Elissa, she turned her attention to writing about animal rights issues. For her efforts, the Animal Welfare Institute awarded her the Albert Schweitzer Medal in 1963.

In the ’60s, she focused on environmental issues, and her columns about such topics as pollution, ecology, and conservation drew the interest of Rachel Carson, who used her experience and expertise while writing her transcendent work, Silent Spring, which was published in 1962.

After Carson’s death in 1964, Mrs. Free kept her memory alive by leading a campaign to establish the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Maine, delivered a speech entitled “Since Silent Spring: Our Debt to Albert Schweitzer and Rachel Carson,” and, for her efforts, earned the Rachel Carson Legacy Award.

“My mother was always championing the underdog,” Elissa says. “That’s what she really cared about. That’s why she was always writing about people in need, human rights, animal rights, race relations. That was her passion. That’s what drove her.”

Ann Cottrell Free ’34 served as a journalist in post-war Europe.

Over the years, Mrs. Free also wrote two books, Forever the Wild Mare and Animals, Nature, and Albert Schweitzer, and a collection of poems, No Room, Save in the Heart. Ann Cottrell Free passed away Oct. 30, 2004. The next year, the National Press Club established the annual Ann Cottrell Free Animal Reporting Award.

“She was brilliant,” Elissa says of her mother, “and she was extremely kind. She was zany. She was funny. It was just fascinating to be around her, actually, because there was always something going on, almost like a three-ring circus, but in a good way. And she was ahead of her time. She was like that on everything: her animal work, her writing about the environment. She was really ahead of her time.”

Director of Alumni Engagement Anne Gray Siebert (left) and Director of Athletics and Field Hockey Coach Karen Doxey display Ms. Free’s Collegiate hockey stick.