Academy Journal, Spring 2022

The

Academy Journal LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2022

learning transformed, life inspired, only @ LA

Winterim @ 50: learning transformed, life inspired Given the planning process preceding Winterim (something students and families rarely get to see), we need to know where we are going, what we are doing, and what we are learning almost from the beginning of the school year. Discretion being the better part of Winterim valor, we decided this year that we would not travel internationally. It was a sacrifice and departure from tradition, but a wise one in retrospect.

I began this opening piece on March 15, 2022. Here is what is usually happening around this time at independent schools: Numbed by fatigue and ill temper, schools have literally and figuratively “spring broke” after a long winter. At Lawrence Academy, however, one singular thing has been happening at this time of year, for 50 years: Winterim. In our educational cycle of seasons, it is the reserve of life that invites spring.

The term “Winterim” itself is almost an incantation at LA. Not only does it represent an audacious hack of the ordinary independent school academic calendar, it is the wellspring of our annual educational energy, a burst of pure creativity setting the LA experience apart from every other school not only during the days of March, but through the whole year. A summary of this year’s experience, even in peri-pandemic times, is a fair representation of 50 years of Winterim.

Nevertheless, we planned to navigate a pretty full set of states and territories: Montana, Utah, Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, Puerto Rico (times three), and D.C., not to mention overnights to New York City and State, among other geographic regions. These travel Winterims (not “travel trips” as former English teacher and Winterim Director/redundancy officer David Smith ’65 would point out) are often the shiny objects of Winterim, but as most alumni will tell you, Winterim is an experience that builds over two, three, or four years.

The stepping stones of on-campus programs are often as important as the leap into the deep end of travel, and this year’s ground report follows (corresponding photos below): • Cake Wars! working their designs out in the athletic center team room; • Rustic Beauties (with wood-charring flame throwers — outside, of course) in the theater woodshop;

A Sampling of ON-CAMPUS WINTERIMS

Cake Wars!

Rustic Beauties (Woodworking)

Chinese Expression: Art, Dance, Ping Pong, Games, and Cuisine

S CHOOL D AN S CHEIBE P’23, ’24

• Chinese Expression expressing itself through dance in the Black Box;

combination of the five WINTERIM2022 categories of Winterim satisfied (super bonus points if you can name them in advance; see the upside down box below), reaches beyond the “good experience” to the greater good. On the last morning of this year’s Winterim, LA Girls Lead: An Lawrence Academy Exploration of History and This year’s Winterim catalog cover Culture and Leadership Training had breakfast with Leading Men: Championing Healthy Masculinity in the LA Community. This is an assignment humanity has been working on for millenia. We are fortunate to be able to accept assignments like this through the exercise of our school mission.

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Ultimately, as LA generations know, there is just a lot of good in it, too. Winterim, whether local or distant and whatever

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Though it’s not listed in the contents or waivers of the catalog, self-realization is the key transaction of Winterim. Students make powerful connections with each other (one of the huge social benefits of Winterim), but the greatest personal benefit of Winterim is that students make a connection between their present functional selves and their future functional selves.

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In about 30 minutes, you can see every academic space in the school repurposed into doing and making. And that is the rustic beauty of Winterim: it repurposes an academic space and time, both during the second and third week of March and over the entire academic year. It liberates and personalizes education, transforming it into an experience portable to learning and life. In the sequence of our mission, it is where we “take responsibility for who we want to become.”

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• Chess — this year’s Winterim cover story, advertised Pele-style (proper name only!) — in Ansin.

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• Full Circle Fishing in the chemistry lab (making a rod today, gutting a fish tomorrow); and

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• Clay and Kiln next door to Board Game Design in the art wing;

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M O N D AY, M A R C H 7 – F R I D AY, M A R C H 1 8 , 2 0 2 2

Groton, Massachusetts

No amount of programming or training can equal the experience of exploring something deeply and achieving a meeting of hearts and minds. Each program description in the Winterim catalog asks and answers the questions, “What will I do?” and “What will I learn?” As generations of Lawrence Academy graduates — 50 years in duration now — can attest, Winterim leads you into the world and into life. Conceived, directed, and organized well, that is the greatest good of all.

3. cultural immersion

4. personal challenge

5. academic field study

Board Game Design

2. craft or skill-based

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1. service learning

F ROM H EAD

Full Circle Fishing

Clay and Kiln: Pottery Making

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Board of Trustees of Lawrence Academy Jason Saghir P’19, President Phyllis Rothschild P’20, Vice President Karen Mitchell Brandvold ’82; P’16, ’17, Secretary David Stone ’76, Treasurer Robert Achtmeyer ’97 Pamela Amusa ’06 Ronald Ansin P’80, ’83, ’85, ’87; GP’03, ’05, ’14 Deborah Barnes P’13 J. Christopher Bernene P’19 Melissa Bois P’22 G. Randall Chamberlain ’79 Susanna Gallant P’20, ’24 Courtney Cox Harrison ’83 Kiyohiko Hirose ’94; P’22 Bradford Hobbs ’82 Samuel Liang P’18, ’19 Douglas Long P’15, ’18 Bruce MacNeil ’70; P’04 David Mazza ’01 Michael McLaughlin P’23, ’23, ’25 Peter Myette P’00, ’03 T. Devin O’Reilly P’24 David Santeusanio Taylor Sele ’02 Gordon Sewall ’67 Edward Steinborn P’23 Alex Sugar P’19 Richard Tyson, Jr. ’87 Stephen Wilkins

Honorary Trustees George Chamberlain III P’79, ’81 Albert Gordon, Jr. ’59 Albert Stone P’74, ’76; GP’15 Benjamin Williams III P’82, ’84

Alumni Council Carolyn Balas-Zaleski ’84; P’17, President Pat Donoghue ’06, Vice President Marianne Crescenzi Balfour ’88 Victoria Wellington Hanna ’97 Christopher Hazzard ’03 Lindsay Latuga Howard ’00 Victor Howell ’08 Paul Husted ’64 Ann Steward McGuire ’03 Catherine Floyd McMenamin ’97 Clare Noone ’14 Ben Stone ’15

Contents From Head of School Dan Scheibe Around LA 3

LA at a Glance

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Arts At LA

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Spartans Return to Fields, Gyms, and Ice

10 LA Faculty Art Show 12 Fall 2021 Retirements (Dave Fredrikson and Ken Berg) and Welcome to LA (Jackelyn Iorio and Sheri Lanni) 13 Meet the Parents’ Association 14 Learning Support at Lawrence Academy More Than a Decade of Growth and Vision 18 A Focus on Community (Ham Swartwood ’23) 20 Community Shines Through Amber Banks’ ’23 LA Story 22 Taking Action for the Greater Good The Power of the Lawrence Academy Community Feature 24 Winterim Adventures Recalled Alumni Profiles 30 Gold-Medal Reporting Meet the LA grad telling Olympians’ Stories (Philip Hersh ’64) 32 From Spartans to Olympians Former LA athletes and their quest for gold 36 New Ghosts in an Old Place Alumni 38 Alumni Events (Summer/Fall 2021 & Winter 2022) 43 Alumni Class Notes 56 In Loving Memory of George Peabody, Jerry Wooding, Bill Mees, Dick Pickering, and David Tobey 58 Obituaries 61 The Amos and William Lawrence Society: A Gift of a Lifetime (Chuck O’Boyle ’82)

Editorial Team Philip Hersch ’64, contributing writer Kate Engstrom, faculty – learning coach

Prudence Glover, program manager for alumni advancement and trustees Geoff Harlan, alumni leadership advancement officer

Caitlin O’Brien, director of advancement communications and operations Joseph Sheppard, college counselor, retired

Jo-Ann Lovejoy, chief advancement officer

Angela Stefano, editorial consultant

Dale Cunningham, graphic designer

Layout/Design/Production

Editorial Council

Photography

John Bishop, director of communications

Jonathan Gotlib, associate director of communications

Chris Davey, assistant head of school for institutional strategy and advancement

LA at a Glance September 20, 2021

Mountain Day Lawrence Academy’s Mountain Day always begins with a special guest speaker.

This year, LA was pleased to welcome motivational speaker Darryl Bellamy (fearlessinside.com), who spoke to the community about fear: how we can be less fearful, more confident, and challenge ourselves. His goal – to help people transform from fearful to fearless – was put to the test as Darryl joined students and faculty on the hike up Mt. Monadnock! And in the category of LA firsts, Owen Chen, a current senior, took a shortcut to the summit in an airplane that he piloted. Talk about a bird’s-eye view!

September 30, 2021

Lip-Sync Battle The spirit of SABA (Students Against Boring Assemblies) lives on! The LA community enjoyed a treat this past fall when Mr. Barker and Ms. Svec went head-to-head in an epic lip-sync battle. Mr. Barker and his lip-sync crew, who performed “This Is Me” by Keala Settle, were chosen as the winners over Ms. Svec and her backup dancers, who presented “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyonce. Regardless of who actually won, Mr. Barker and Ms. Svec gave the LA community an assembly to remember!

October 4, 2021

In-Person Assembly Monday morning assembly in the Richardson-Mees Performing Arts Center (RMPAC) wouldn’t normally be noteworthy. However, Oct. 4 was the first time LA held an in-person assembly since March 2020!

Half of the student body was in the RMPAC, and the other half Zoomed into assembly from their advisory groups. It was great to see the RMPAC (almost) full of Spartans again.

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LAatat aa Glance, Glance, continued continued LA October 22, 2021

Founders’ Day Founders’ Day was held on Friday, Oct. 22, on campus for the students, faculty, staff, and special guests of Lawrence Academy.

Those in the greater LA community who couldn’t join in person, including parents, alumni, and friends and family of the honorees, joined the celebration by Zoom.

In addition to the awards and retirements that are customarily announced, Rich Johnson ’74 presented a handwritten, hand-painted sampler from Groton Academy in 1796 in honor of former faculty member Dick Jeffers P’84, ’86. (Please see the Fall 2021 Academy Journal for more information on this sampler.)

Natasha Huggins P’23, ’24, recipient of the Robert W. Darling Faculty Chair

Jarred Gagnon ’03, recipient of the Departmental Chair for Excellence in Teaching

Rich Johnson ’74 and Paul Husted ’64, presenting the sampler to Dick Jeffers P’84, ’86

Jay Beades ’56, recipient of the Founders’ Day Award for Service to Lawrence Academy

Dave Ofgant, director of Dining Services, Kathy Peabody Memorial Book Award winner

Letter Signings Congratulations to these senior student-athletes who signed letters of intent to continue their athletic careers in college. Gavin Begonia, Jack Taylor, and Zachary Auble will be playing lacrosse at Ohio State, Jacksonville University, and UMass, respectively. Brooke Ahern is headed to the University of Utah for soccer; Jenesis Perrin will be playing basketball at Howard University; and James Agabedis is Tulane-bound for baseball.

Teammates Ty Chan (Notre Dame), Hollis Dirstine (Bryant University), Cam Maguire (Williams College), Matt Ragan (Boston College), and Colin Reynolds (Holy Cross) made commitments to continue their football careers after LA, too.

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Kaitlyn Nguyen ’22, recipient of the Greater Good Award

Kevin Wiercinski P’21, ’23, celebrating 25 years of service

December 14, 2021

Holiday Celebration On Dec. 14, LA’s Holiday Concert was filled with light for all. Musical and dance performances, paired with a special holiday meal lovingly created by our dining hall staff, set the warm tone. The entire community then met on the Quad to form a literal circle of candlelight, joining together in a traditional folk song, “This Little Light of Mine.” It was wonderful to have the whole community joined together in light, even close to the shortest day of the year.

January 12, 2022

American Hockey Coaches Association Award On Jan. 12, the AHCA presented its list of Award-winners for 2022. Included among this year’s honorees was Lawrence Academy Director of Athletic Operations Caroline “Heater” Heatley, who received the Joe Burke Award, presented annually to the person “who has given outstanding contribution, support, and dedication to women’s ice hockey.” Heater has made an enormous impact on women’s hockey throughout her career. Her coaching experience extends far beyond her tenure at LA; she has also worked with the programs at Proctor Academy, Dexter Southfield School, Northeastern University, Boston College, the USA Hockey-affiliated girls’ player development camps, and the women’s national and Olympic teams.

January 17, 2022

MLK Day In celebration and recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Lawrence Academy’s DEI Office was pleased to present a special panel featuring The Honorable Kimberly S. Budd P ’22, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; Dr. Hise Gibson P ’23, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and LA Trustee Pamela Nwaoko Amusa Esq. ’06, assistant general counsel at Navy Federal Credit Union. Assistant Head for Equity and Community Life, Raquel Majeski P ’25, Shelby Richards ’22, and Paloma Harker ’23 moderated the panel.

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#ArtsAtLA

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SPARTAN HIGHLIGHTS

Spartans Return to Fields, Gyms, and Ice During the first half of the year, sure signs of a “new normal” were evident both inside and outside the classroom. But perhaps the most visible were the sights and sounds of red, white, and navy blue-clad athletes at the playing fields, courts, and arenas around campus.

Several teams and athletes (and at least one administrator) enjoyed superlatives in the first few months of the 2021-2022 school year. Beyond the news of a major award for Caroline Heatley and NCAA commitments from many seniors (check

out the “At a Glance” section, page 4), three teams boasted particularly successful seasons and individual performances.

First, the girls’ varsity soccer team earned the No. 1 seed in the NEPSAC Class B soccer tournament. Mentored by Coach Kim Bohlin Healy and assistant coaches Jaime Schulze and Allie Goodrich ’13, the Spartans — led by standout Brooke Ahern ’22, who will play for Division-I Utah next September — defeated Williston Northampton School in the quarterfinals, but fell in the semifinals to the eventual champions, Suffield Academy.

# GoLASpartans

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Meanwhile, on Murbach Field, Coach Jason Swepson’s Lawrence Academy football Spartans — who boasted Notre Dame-bound Ty Chan ’22 — earned a bowl berth against Choate Rosemary Hall after going 6-2 in the regular season.

As the weather turned colder, LA’s wrestlers shone in tournaments. Charlotte Lokere ’23 (above) participated in Phillips Academy’s annual girls’ wrestling tournament, placing fourth in her weight class. Moreover, following a strong LA showing at the ISL tourney, Dom Selvitelli ’24 and Mike Gregoire ’24 (shown on the right) placed in the New England Tournament (Mike sixth, Dom second), and represented LA at nationals.

Editor’s note: Late winter and spring athletics superlatives coming in the next Journal.

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LA Faculty Art Show

by Caitlin O’Brien

The arts department values the fact that our faculty members are professional working artists. This fall, the LA visual art faculty shared their current creations with the community.

On Sept. 17, students, parents, teachers, and members of the community gathered in the Conant Gallery to take in the work of Zack Dawson, Laurie McGowan, Dina Mordeno P’18, ’20, and Scott Smith, who presented paintings, collages, photographs, sculpture, and board games.

Zack Dawson exhibited collage, painting, and sculpture at the show.

Of his work and process, he shares, “Whether in two dimensions or three, with sculpture, painting, or collage, I enjoy reining the juxtaposition of disparate elements into a coherent composition and seeing what meaning or message evolves from the process.”

Collage by Zack Dawson (Untitled #9)

Laurie McGowan’s photographs were all taken at home during the pandemic. Some of her pieces, including the one shown here, focus on the forest and trees. “This past year and a half have meant more walks than ever in the woods surrounding my house in New Hampshire,” she says. “I am comforted by the thought that the trees know me and are waiting patiently for me. I gain much more from them than they from me.”

Laurie also reflects that her quest is to look for the light concentrated into small beams through the leaves of summer, creating shadows of nearby trees falling on parent trees”. Leonardo DaVinci once said, “Look for the light; that is where the spirit lives,’” she notes.

Trees Communicating #1

Ice Fisherman, Vermont

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Crane Beach Marsh

Dina Mordeno also finds her inspiration in the outdoors, noting that when playing outside as a child, she would stop what she was doing and close her eyes (but not all the way) to see the colors of the landscape. Her “lashes would blur all the details in the landscape and allow for just color and light to be seen. It was calming and centering.” Remembering this experience, and with the desire to ground herself and meditate on the horizon, Dina began creating landscape paintings while on sabbatical in September 2020-January 2021. Her work is “inspired by the landscape and the ever-changing color and light of the seasons, with a focus on the horizon.”

Salisbury State Park: Black Rock Creek

Scott Smith’s contribution to the art show was his board game, Dungeon Drop. Scott began working on the game in 2018, often during dorm duty. Over the next few years, Dungeon Drop won The Game Crafter’s “Game Pieces Only” contest, was signed by a new publisher called Phase Shift Games, and was launched on Kickstarter. After a successful expansion campaign in 2020, there are now about 40,000 copies in print in a variety of languages around the world.

Regarding his work, Scott says, “Since then, I’ve had to think about who I am as a designer, take my work more seriously, and begin to think about my artistic voice. Using Dungeon Drop as a starting point, I want my games to question how players interact with games, find new uses for old components, and play with different ways to use the tabletop space.”

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FA L L 2 0 2 1 R E T I R E M E N T S In November 2021, Dave Fredriksen retired from Lawrence Academy after 11 years of employment.

As a member of the buildings and grounds (B&G) team, Dave’s focus was on the care and cleaning of several campus buildings: Elm Tree, Dr. Green, the Alumni Development House, and the field houses. But like every member of the B&G crew, Dave did far more than his specific responsibilities and helped out wherever and however he was needed.

Particular strengths of Dave’s are his incredible precision and attention to detail. His event set-up skills are legendary; he was known to use a yardstick when arranging the dining hall tables, making sure they were “just so.” Dave was also appreciated by his colleagues for being able to sense when something wasn’t quite right; on two occasions, he intuitively knew when pipes were in danger of freezing, and the problems were fixed before it was too late. Dave’s value at Lawrence Academy was known to all who worked with him, and we will all miss his diligence, humor, and knowledge.

Ken Berg retired in October 2021 after 22 years of employment in Lawrence Academy’s IT department.

Providing support for faculty, staff, and students, he was known for his commitment to excellence, thoroughness, and professional integrity. Without fail, Ken would choose the correct way to solve a problem, even if it wasn’t always the easy way.

Affectionately called “the most interesting man in the world” by his immediate colleagues, Ken has a fascinating personal history that includes military service, tractor sales, lightning strikes, and travel adventures. The entire LA community will L-R: Austin Bradstreet, Jason Bernadini, Brian Feigenbaum, Ken Berg, and Paul Husted miss Ken’s patience and even-keeled demeanor. We wish him the best of luck in his retirement as he builds his dream home for his loving family and pet cats.

W E LC O M E TO L A Jackelyn Iorio joined LA as the senior leadership administrative assistant in March 2022. She has a B.A. in family community services, with a specialization in child and youth development, from Michigan State University and has completed additional continuing education coursework in special education at Simmons College. Prior to coming to Lawrence Academy, Jackelyn was the assistant to the dean of academics at Hillside School and previously held positions at the New England Center for Children and the Community Mental Health Authority.

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Sheri Lanni joined LA as a part-time nurse in December 2021. She has a B.S. in nursing from Simmons University and certifications in Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Crisis Prevention Intervention. She worked at Winchester Hospital for 19 years, first as the evening charge nurse in the emergency department and later as a nursing supervisor and a nurse manager. Sheri also works as a substitute school nurse in the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District. Her favorite thing about working at LA is interacting with and caring for the students.

Sheri loves working on her family’s little homestead in Groton: raising chickens, gardening, and tapping maple trees. In the summer, she enjoys swimming with her family.

Meet the Parents’ Association

FALL PARENT CLASS DINNERS

PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION MEETING

For some, Fall Class Dinners were an opportunity to reconnect with parents and faculty; for others, it was a chance to meet new friends at a time-honored LA tradition. The festive and welcoming mood in the Park House tent was a promise of things to come for both new and returning families. Attendance at each dinner was excellent, and all events were followed by virtual, class-specific parent programs.

With much anticipation, parents were thrilled to be meeting in person once again at the LA Parents’ Association Kick-Off meeting on Sept. 21. After a warm welcome from Head of School Dan Scheibe, updates from Assistant Head for Student Life Libby Margraf, Assistant Head for Equity and Community Life Raquel Majeski, and Director of Parent Advancement Tonya Kalmes, LAPA Chair Heather Swartwood P’23, ’23 and Vice-Chair Amy Kelly P’23 presented opportunities to get involved and introduced the chairs of individual committees.

LAMP HOLIDAY DINNER

THE ROLE OF

On Dec. 16, Lawrence Academy welcomed current LAMP families and young alumni for a holiday celebration on campus.

This gathering provided an opportunity for parents, students, alumni, and families to make connections with the school and each other. Over a delicious meal, provided

by Flames Restaurant, and with plenty of holiday cheer. We hope that this is a new tradition at LA.

The function and purpose of the Lawrence Academy Parents’ Association is to promote a sense of community, fundraise, and serve as an educational conduit. All current parents are invited to participate. The chair and vice-chair of the Parents’ Association communicate directly with the Advancement Office and the administration, serving as liaisons and providing information and support to the parents, faculty, and administration of LA.

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PARENTS’ ASSOCIATION

Chair Heather Swartwood P’23, ’23

Vice-Chair Amy Kelly P’23

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Learning Support at Lawrence Academy

Abby Remis ’23 and Amber Banks ’23

More Than a Decade of Growth and Vision 1 4 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2022

by Kate Engstrom

Lawrence Academy’s learning support program has grown more than many realize throughout the past decade.

Assistant Dean of Students Kimberly Poulin P’18, ’21, Learning Coach Cindy Blood, Director of Learning Support Christine Torigian, and Dean of Academics Peter Hess have all been integral to that progress and continue to be committed to the department. Through their work, they have developed a program that helps carry out the school’s mission.

As a certified special educator with experience in both public and private schools, Kimberly took on the role of director of academic support in the summer of 2009. She was the department’s only paid staff member, and one of her primary responsibilities was to supervise a team of “tutors” contracted by the school. Those sessions, however, were not noted in students’ Kimberly Poulin (sporting attire for ’80s schedules as part of dress-up day) their academic program, so during her first year, Kimberly worked to develop protocols to ensure that the support students were receiving was in line with the curriculum.

Kimberly also strived to create a true team within the department. She gave learning coaches opportunities to communicate with each other through regular department meetings and by having them work in common spaces in the Schoolhouse. She also collected data and created documents to support their work. All the while, she was making sure the students were receiving the accommodations they were due in the classroom and on standardized tests.

When Cindy Blood reflects on stepping into an interim leadership role within the department in 2016, then being named director of learning support in 2017, she attributes the department’s strength at that time to Kimberly’s leadership in “defining the program and putting into words our values, practices, and policies.” Cindy sought to carry on that work by further integrating the learning coaches into LA’s various departments and maintaining the professional relationships that Kimberly had worked hard to forge. During Cindy’s first year, the department hired its first full-time employee, Meg Whitworth, who not only served as a learning coach but also helped with administrative tasks and got more involved with the faculty.

Cindy credits Head of School Dan Scheibe for embracing neurodiversity and demonstrating that commitment by hiring three full-time “learning specialists,” who began working at LA in the fall of 2019. It was “an opportunity to integrate the department more into school culture,” as these faculty members were also coaching sports teams, performing weekend duties, and teaching classes. As more learning coaches have become involved with the teaching of classes, the learning support staff ’s presence has increased across all departments, opening up conversation and encouraging collaboration.

An important part of shaping the tutors’ work was giving them each the title of “learning coach” starting in the 2012-2013 school year. This label took away the connotation that their work was content-specific and more accurately reflected the broader strategies they were using in sessions with students. Kimberly hoped the title change would “create a little more respect and depth to the program as a whole” and recognize their work as valuable across disciplines. The next year, the coaches became part-time LA employees — one more step toward integration into the school community.

Cindy Blood and Jackson Avila-Connerney ’20

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Christine Torigian came to LA in 2019, after working at the Carroll School for 11 years. In addition to working as a learning coach, she is now both the assistant dean of academics and the director of learning support. Her primary role now is to support students Christine Torigian who encounter academic challenges.

Thanks to her variety of roles, she understands that LA has “a faculty who is more skilled at recognizing the neurodiversity in each of their students.” She believes one of the greatest strengths of LA’s program is the one-to-one support that students receive in coaching sessions. It is an “opportunity to focus solely on them, their profile, the way they learn, and meet them where they are.”

One of the learning support program’s important initiatives moving forward is professional development. Christine is leading this effort, and in workshops, she explains the neuroscience behind learning profiles so that faculty might better understand where learning breaks down for students.

Through simulations, those in these sessions review strategies for working with students with specific learning differences. Those approaches are then compiled into a

common list for a variety of purposes — for example, guiding faculty as they work in the classroom or articulating to prospective families what learning support looks like at LA. Using a common language helps to ensure that students are getting what they need.

Peter Hess, LA’s dean of academics, is also invested in this important initiative and brings 29 years of experience in academic support from his tenure at Brewster Academy.

He was drawn to LA’s student-centered approach to learning. “LA has formally committed to the work that has always been there under the umbrella of diversity,” he says.

Peter Hess

As the current director of learning support, Christine is committed to “recognizing, inspiring, supporting, and empowering students” as they take responsibility for who they want to become, and she has a team of invested colleagues who have been and will continue to be devoted to that same goal. As Peter says, LA is lucky to have “ teachers who are willing to go the extra mile and adjust to accommodate students.”

L E A R N I N G S U P P O RT AT L AW R E N C E AC A D E M Y

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Support the LA Fund: Support our school – Lawrence Academy!

Greetings, LA Community: Happy spring! My name is Ben Rogers and I am Lawrence Academy’s director of annual giving. I am also a proud 2002 LA graduate.

Being back on campus for almost a year now has brought back many memories of my time as a student and has made me prouder than ever of my alma mater. Seeing our teachers teach, and coaches coach and just hearing the bells ring every hour, makes me love LA more and more.

Whether you are an alumnus/a, current or former parent, trustee, grandparent, faculty member, staff member, or friend, we are all so lucky to be connected to a school like Lawrence Academy. One of the reasons LA is able to continue doing great things each and every year is the support from you, our community.

If you have not done so already, I hope you will consider a gift to the LA Fund by June 30, which is the end of the fiscal year. Remember, no gift is too small (or too big).

We are all Spartans!

From Powderhouse Road,

Make your gift to LA today!

Ben Rogers ’02 Director of Annual Giving brogers@lacademy.edu

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Ham Swartwood ’23

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A Focus on Community

by Caitlin O’Brien

Hamilton Swartwood, a.k.a. “Ham,” knew Lawrence Academy was the right school for him very early in the admissions process. “I had a simple reason for choosing LA,” recalls Ham, a day student from Concord, Mass. “It was the feeling I got every time I came on campus, the same one I still feel today. It’s the strong community.”

During his freshman year, Ham was elected class president, and he has continued with student government every year since as an Executive Board member. Realizing his passion for working with others on campus to help build community, he also joined clubs including Rise Against Hunger (RAH), the SpEC (Special Events Committee), OCSWAT (On Campus Student Weekend Activity Team), and SABA (Students Against Boring Assemblies). This year, he has devoted even more time to community service, joining the CS (Community Service) Advisory Board/Rotary Interact Club.

Recently, he and other CS Advisory Board leaders were able to give a presentation to the Groton-Pepperell Rotary Club about the work LA students are doing to help take action for the greater good.

Another new opportunity for Ham this year was becoming a Spartan Leader, focusing on the new-student experience.

Spartan Leaders are juniors and seniors who help shape a positive school culture through visible leadership positions in the LA community; they are assigned to one of three focus areas: residential life, new students, or international students.

Ham explains, “I was able to work with new students during orientation and all throughout the school year. It was such an

Student Life Acronyms to Know: RAH (Rise Against Hunger): Students interested in ending world hunger work together to sponsor an annual meal-packaging event.

SpEC (Special Events Committee): Students help plan all-school events such as Class vs. Class Wars, Spirit Week, and Prom.

amazing experience to collaborate with other students and introduce them to the community that has helped me grow.”

When asked what he likes most about volunteering on campus, Ham replies, “I try to be as involved as much as I can and work with others as much as I can and then see it all come to fruition.” Inspired by his work with Rise Against Hunger, he hopes to spend this summer volunteering with organizations that help with food insecurity, extending his efforts into an even larger community.

Now in his junior year, Ham feels that almost every experience he’s had at LA will benefit him for the rest of his life. “The skills that I’ve gained here related to collaboration and promoting involvement and enriching communities, those will definitely be part of me for the rest of my life,” he reflects. “Additionally, both in and outside of the classroom, my understanding of myself — especially about how I work better with others — will definitely assist me after high school and beyond.”

For current or future LA students curious about getting involved on campus, Ham suggests, “Take every opportunity that is presented to you. That way, you can find out what you have a passion for and identify your areas of strength. Also, surround yourself with friends who also want to get involved.

Knowing that you always have people to do community service projects with is really helpful.” Ham’s other piece of advice: “When you find the passion for it, show it. Find opportunities to get involved and help the LA community in ways that you want to.”

OCSWAT (On-Campus Student Weekend Activity Team): Students help organize and work on ideas for our once-per-term on-campus weekends.

CS (Community Service): Every student must complete six hours of community service every year that they are at Lawrence Academy.

SABA (Students Against Boring Assemblies): Students help plan create creative events for Friday assemblies and ways to keep the community engaged.

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Abby Remis ’23 and Amber Banks ’23

Community Shines Through Amber Banks’ LA Story 2 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2022

by Kate Engstrom

When Amber Banks ’23 toured the Lawrence Academy campus on a snowy day in January 2020, she had no idea that her first months at the school would be much different than what she had observed on her first visit.

After considering several other private schools that also touted “community” as a core value, Amber felt that LA was the only school where she actually saw people on campus putting that value into action. “I felt like I was part of something before I was even accepted,” she says, and that was, in large part, what drew her to Lawrence. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amber’s first months at her new school in the fall of 2020 were tougher than she anticipated. With various social distancing measures in place — a maximum of two people per lunch table, for example — she found it difficult to meet people and feel at home.

In pursuit of that sense of community she first experienced at LA, Amber quickly got involved with activities about which she was passionate. Right away, in addition to running cross country, Amber joined the Astronomy Club, which met remotely once a week. She appreciated the crossover between student leadership and her cross-country team, and she found the club’s activities intriguing. She also stepped onto the Community Service Advisory Board, through which she helped start Spartan Notes, a group that coordinates the creation of birthday cards for children through Give Kids the World by making fliers and giving out addresses.

These groups of people welcomed Amber with open arms, and LA started to become more than remote Mondays and classes in masks; there were friendships to be had and fascinating topics to be explored together. During the spring of 2021, Amber joined the Environmental Sustainability Club and has since become a leading member who, according to club advisor Rob Moore, has “given countless hours of volunteer time to projects that have an impact on the community at large”.

job with sustainability and educating our students and faculty,” says Mr. Moore.

This school year, Amber carried a challenging academic load, including five honors classes, but she was still committed to pursuits that not only sparked her interest but also reflected LA’s spirit of community. She used her Honors U.S. History research assignment to learn about the school’s history around the time it returned to coeducation, which gave her a deeper appreciation of the myriad ways in which caring adults have worked hard to bring Lawrence to where it is today. “I enjoyed learning about the start of the Judiciary Committee, Winterim, the girls coming,” Amber says, “and in doing so, I gained even more respect for the school.”

As warmer temperatures arrived and masks came off outside last spring, Amber found herself experiencing the community that drew her to LA in the first place, and she continues to feel it today. Her efforts to learn about and give back to the school have yielded meaningful connections with a variety of people. Whether meeting with dining hall staff to talk about recycling initiatives or interviewing former faculty about their experiences at Lawrence, Amber’s appreciation for people’s different contributions across the community has grown deeper. She now sees, she says, that there are even “more opportunities at the school than she realized; you just have to ask.”

LA

CARES

This school year, Amber worked with a donor to provide water bottles for new students and with the administration to install water bottle refilling stations in Elm Tree and the library. “Amber’s strong suits are her determination and her belief in the cause of Lawrence Academy doing a better

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Taking Action for the Greater Good The Power of the Lawrence Academy Community

by Ham Swartwood ’23, with assistance from CJ Schuster ’23

As a junior at Lawrence Academy, I have worked throughout my time on campus to help nurture the idea of “taking action for the greater good,” both at LA and off campus.

Our school community is capable of helping many causes and inspiring others to do the same — and our success in these endeavors starts with our student leaders, club members, and those who work to uphold the values of the LA community. As a member of the Executive Board and a Spartan Leader, I have had great opportunities to work with Kimberly Poulin and other faculty and students to grow our community.

donation drive for K-12 students with the help of Catie’s Closet; a push for donations of toys and gifts for For the Love of Erika; making greeting cards for senior citizens; and a longtime on-campus favorite, making no-sew blankets for two different charities. We also managed to hold several in-person events: a Polar Plunge as a fundraiser for Special Olympics Massachusetts; a car wash to help raise money for Rise Against Hunger (RAH); and a springtime Walk for Hunger around campus.

“The pandemic has had an impact on how we learn, socialize, and live together.

Something as simple as eating in the dining hall has changed,” notes CJ Schuster ’23, a fellow Executive Board member and Spartan Leader. “Ham and I think the best way to define the LA community, though, is by its strength at the beginning of the pandemic.

Understanding our situation and navigating school life during the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be quite a challenge. Since early 2020, there has been no blueprint for “At LA, we know we are fortunate to be how to maintain LA’s style of student part of a diverse community that adapted life when we cannot always be to these ever-changing circumstances, Photo taken by Auggie Swartwood ’23 together in person, which is why we and we did it together,” CJ adds. “The are especially proud of the colossal effort students and LA community constantly works to build each other up, teachers put in to build relationships at a time when forming both a collaborative and inclusive environment developing them was difficult. Everyone worked hard, for all students.” whether in person or virtually, to stay connected, and as a Thanks in part to fewer pandemic-related restrictions this school community, we took the opportunities we had school year, we achieved an incredible goal: We raised (being in-person for most of the 2020-2021 school year, enough money to hold a 30,000-meal packaging event for for example) and turned them into chances to positively RAH on Feb. 20. Additionally, through the Community influence the greater Groton community: a toiletry Service Advisory Board and Rotary Interact Club, we held a 2 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2022

popular calendar raffle to raise money to allow LA to host an event and build ten beds for people in need through Sleep in Heavenly Peace. In the coming months, we have planned a basketball clinic for Special Olympics Massachusetts; a food donation drive for Loaves and Fishes (a constant favorite); more chances to help Sleep in Heavenly Peace through the Sweetest Baker competition; a care package distribution to help push through Assessment Week; and Spartan Sweetheart, a version of the Secret Spartan fundraising project.

Of course, we can’t foster the greater good off campus if we aren’t first doing it on campus. That’s why the leaders within our community have been working extra hard to give students the full LA experience even during the pandemic. “Spartan Leaders have been able to adapt to these challenges, converting what would be a normal

orientation to an inclusive and engaging hybrid/socially distanced one. The student leaders focused on keeping a sense of community in both online and in-person experiences. Several leaders stay on campus every weekend to ensure that students can have the full LA experience during on-campus weekend activities,” says CJ. We are both optimistic that we will build on this momentum this spring by bringing back some of our traditional student life experiences and even introducing some new ones.

“I hope we all leave with a sense of purpose and know through our experiences at LA that we can make a difference for the greater good one person at a time,” says CJ. Like him, I hope every member of the LA community can utilize their immense collective sense of school spirit and develop the skills learned at LA to encourage change for the greater good.

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Winterim Adventures Recalled Alumni and faculty share memories from 50 years of Winterim trips

by Joe Sheppard

Winterim has been part of the Lawrence Academy experience for half a century, and it’s safe to say that almost every LA graduate during that time learned from or was somehow affected by at least one of their Winterim courses.

Since the beginning of the program, some people have viewed the existence of Winterim’s big “travel programs” alongside usually lessexpensive, campus-based courses as a conflict between the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

While financial considerations do figure into many students’ Winterim plans, the real — and important — difference between the options is not one of value or prestige, but of purpose. The travel programs are certainly educational; they must meet strict criteria in order to be approved. Campus-based Winterims, on the other hand, have always been designed to teach a new skill or explore a particular area of knowledge in depth.

Peter D. Onanian ’73 shares this story of a 1972 Winterim trip to Greece with classmate Anna Koules: My favorite Winterim memory is of the trip to Greece and Crete in ’72 with co-leaders John and Marylou Curran. It may have been in Athens that Anna Koules and I noticed some handmade wool sweaters being sold in an open market, and we wanted to take one home. Anna spoke Greek but was hesitant to barter with the ominous-looking shopkeeper. She asked if we could do it together, and I agreed. I said, “Look, I’m Armenian and I don’t think I have paid retail for anything in my life, so I will negotiate and you translate.” So we selected our garments and Anna asks, “How much?” I don’t recall the exact amount, but let’s say he wanted the equivalent of $50. I said “Bulls--t!” Anna, looking worried, said she didn’t know how to translate it into Greek. I said, “Don’t worry, it’s universal and he gets it.” So we left the sweater shop paying $10 each. Anna and I should have partnered after high school — we would have owned half of Groton by now!

Over the years, Winterim courses in quilting, bookmaking, television production, and EMT training have done the former, while new knowledge has been gained through courses on choosing a college, exploring New England history, local forestry management, and more. All that said, a high point of many an LA student’s high school years is the Winterim program.

To help celebrate Winterim’s anniversary, we’ve collected memories and anecdotes from both alumni and faculty who traveled during Winterim. As you read them, we hope you’ll gain a new appreciation for this unique program and, perhaps, rekindle a few memories of your own Winterim experience.

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A fish market in Athens

Starting in 1978 — on the day of the many portions as I could. Our first stop Clockwise from top left: Tired in Tallin, Estonia, 1978. infamous Blizzard of ’78 — former faculty outside of Russia was usually Helsinki, Front row, R. Natalie Barnard ’78 member Tanya Sheppard P 93’, 94’ led Finland, which necessitated an immediate (other students are from another school) the first of eight trips to Russia and the trip to McDonald’s.

Soviet Union (which collapsed not long Soviet monument “Workers and In Armenia, we visited a Peasants,” Moscow, 1983 before her final trip in dental polyclinic, but 1992). She recalls some Tsar Pushka: world’s biggest hot dogs and peas before we could tour cannon, in front of the Kremlin, of the more memorable the place, one of our 1978 moments from those for breakfast?” students was pulled Selling apples at an Armenian times: away to be passed market, 1985 Astonishment on LA students’ faces upon around to all the departments so they could disembarking onto the tarmac and being see his braces and dental work. He had to greeted by two 16- or 17-year-old Russian hold his mouth open for an hour. soldiers holding Kalashnikov rifles on either side of the stairway. NO SMILES! Laura Graceffa ’83 shared this memory of her trip to the USSR:

“

One year, a student was asked at customs to step into a room with two officers. He came out 10 minutes later, red-faced. He was asked to open his suitcase, and a whoopee cushion fell out! They wanted to know what it was, but to show them risked angering them, so the boy just shrugged his shoulders, saying he did not understand.

Russian hotel food left a lot to be desired — hot dogs and peas for breakfast? Red salmon roe, a delicacy, was not touched, so I ate as

While all my Winterims were life-shaping, my 1981 trip to the Soviet Union was especially so. It was my first trip, ever, overseas. We were still in the Cold War, and everything in my life leading up to the trip conditioned me to be fearful. I came home feeling less fearful …We spent three days in Kyiv. My journal records that most of the streets were still cobblestones (although they were paved in the Russian part of the USSR). We spent time at “Pioneer Palace,” an after-school program for children, which I recorded being very impressed by.

Tanya Sheppard led this trip for LA, and when I look through my journal, I can see where she gently corrected my spelling of any Russian names — so I know she read every page — very dedicated!

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Another former teacher, Don Padgett, sponsored the popular Sports Journalism course for ten years. Here are some of his favorite recollections: I think it was 1988 when we went to Winter Haven for Spring Training, but there were no ballgames. The players were on strike and locked out of the training camp. This obviously put a big crimp in our Winterim plans! Somehow we got word that some of the Red Sox players were working out at the Winter Haven High School baseball field.

We went over to the school one morning, and Ted Williams sure enough, there were half a dozen players there, including Marty Barrett, Dennis Lamp, the irrepressible Oil My highlight was talking Can Boyd, and couple of touted rookies named Todd Benzinger and with Ted Williams and Scott Cooper. The players were at getting his autograph on a first not thrilled to be “found out” but were nevertheless gracious. A photo that is framed and couple of the Lawrence students had brought their lacrosse sticks hanging in my home.” with them. This caught the attention of Todd and Scott, a couple of Midwest boys who had

“

never played or even seen a lacrosse game.

Don’t let anyone try to tell you that baseball players are not really athletes. Within five minutes, Todd and Scott were throwing a lacrosse ball around as if they had played the game their entire lives!

On a personal note, my highlight was (very briefly) talking with Ted Williams and getting his autograph on a photo that is framed and hanging in my home in New Hampshire. I would also say that by far the two nicest men in uniform that we encountered were Johnny Pesky and Mike Easler. It was Johnny who got me in contact with Dick Bresciani, the PR director for the Red Sox, on our very first Sports Journalism Winterim. A wonderful Mike Easler moment came when he was talking with one of our journalists an hour or so before a game.

Mike was at the edge of the dugout; our LA correspondent was in the grandstand area.

They were talking through a chain link fence when Mike said, “I can’t talk with you like this. Come on down here.” And they sat in the Red Sox dugout and chatted.

Jack Horsman ’18 was grateful for the chance to become “immersed” in Hawaiian culture during his senior-year trip to our newest state, led by faculty members Kevin Potter and Chris Margraf. He recalls a daily ritual for the group: If I had to pick a favorite part of the trip, it would probably be swimming in natural hot springs. For the first few days, we camped across the street from a traditional Hawaiian charter school that we were helping/learning at, and right next to our tents was a natural hot spring pool. We would swim there morning, afternoon, and night. It was so calming and peaceful, and the views looking out across the Pacific right next to us were incredible.

As often happens on Winterim trips like this, a group of students who may have had little in common before the experience became close friends. Jack explains: Some of us were already good friends, while others we had only really talked to passing in the halls or class. We began referring to ourselves as “ohana” [a Hawaiian term used with family members and close friends].

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Jack Horsman ’18 and friends

Many students choose on-campus Winterim courses for their underclass years, capping the LA experience with a trip as seniors. Nancy Fitz Sumner ’84 recounts a memorable senior-year trip to Europe: We started flying into Rome, went to the Coliseum, and had a tour of the Vatican City. My neck hurt from staring at the Sistine Chapel. From Rome we went to Florence, a beautiful city. We even saw the David — what a beautiful statue. We were supposed to travel by train from Italy to France, but there was a train strike in France, so we had to find a train that would take us to our chartered bus.

We got a train that took us through the Swiss Alps during the day. I remember running to both sides of the train to see the beautiful mountains.

We met our bus in Lausanne, Switzerland, to go to Paris. I am very afraid of heights, but decided I needed to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing.

A couple of years ago when Notre Dame burned, I explained to my family how she is on an island and is huge. You could see how the fire engine ladders didn’t go very far up her sides. From Paris we went to Dijon, then over the Channel from Calais to the White Cliffs of Dover. From Dover we went to Canterbury and then to London. In London we saw Singing in the Rain; the balcony we sat in was very scary to sit in.

This was an incredible trip, one that I will always remember. A two-week tour of Europe is fast but, I loved it.

In 1980, the popular Outward Bound Winterim, this time under the leadership of science teacher and outdoorsman Bill McInvaille, traveled to the Great Smoky Mountains and the Joyce Kilmer National Forest in North Carolina.

Ted Przybylo ’80, one of the 10 hardy hikers, shared this recollection: Our last night in the mountains before heading back to Groton, we pitched our tarps on a ridge between two peaks. It was a wet, misty night. When we awoke, the tarps were covered with ice, and starting a fire for breakfast was difficult. After packing everything up, we began our hike down the mountain to the trailhead and our ride home. The day’s hike was incredible. We experienced different ecosystems, vegetation, and temperatures all the way down. What started with cold rain and snow ended with ferns and humidity. The whole trip was a memory-maker!

Class of ’80 seniors on Outward Bound Winterim, 1980.

L to R: Chris Russell, Ted Przybylo, Mike Meegan, Ellen Shoen, John Lord, Pat Warner (with staff), Dean Packard, David Klotz (red bandana). Kneeling: Todd Jennison, Christopher Smith.

Faculty: Bill McInvaille.

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At least one Winterim trip has provided the inspiration for a long and successful career. Damon Corkin ’95, founder and owner of Andean Discovery, an Ecuadorian travel company that specializes in adventure and educational travel in Ecuador, Peru, and the Galapagos, credits his decision to start the business to a Winterim trip to Ecuador led by Jerry Wooding P’88, ’90, ’95 and Jim Serach P’07. Writing for the Academy Journal a few years ago, he recalled: In the spring of 1993, I was fortunate to be accepted to the Ecuador Winterim, which was led by Jim Serach and Jerry Wooding, two of my favorite faculty members, who are extremely knowledgeable about Ecuador and its tropical ecosystems. Little did I know at the time that this trip would plant the seeds for an incredible life journey that has been enriched with language, travel, and lots of Salsa dancing …

“

Little did I know at the

time that this trip would plant the seeds for an

incredible life journey that has been enriched with language, travel, and lots of Salsa dancing.”

I was in my second year of Spanish with Donna Mastrangelo P’15, ’18 at the time, and when I landed in Ecuador, it was surprisingly fun to put my language skills to the test. I chatted with our driver, our guides, hotel staff, and pretty much anybody who had enough patience to listen to my beginner Spanish, which was strongly diluted by an unmistakable, thick, gringo accent. Luckily, the Ecuadorian people tend to be extremely patient and enjoy speaking with foreigners. This friendly and open demeanor of the Ecuadorians encouraged me to speak in Spanish more and more as we traveled through the Central Andes and the Amazon rainforest.

By the end of the trip, in addition to appreciating Ecuador as a country, I also realized that nothing in the world was as cool as traveling to a foreign land and speaking to the people in their own language. I learned that Spanish was much more than learning grammar and memorizing vocabulary. It was a profound cultural and personal experience. In short, I was hooked on Spanish. I returned to Lawrence that spring more excited than ever to continue my Spanish classes with Donna. The two-year foreign language requirement at LA was no longer, to me, a requirement at all; it had become my favorite class. My Winterim experience inspired me to take Spanish during all four years at LA. I continued taking Spanish at the University of Colorado and tried to immerse myself in Spanish-speaking cultures as much as possible. I practiced Spanish with my Latino classmates, took Salsa and Merengue dance lessons, and did two study-abroad programs in Spain for a year and a half.

After college, I was eager to get a job that would allow me to continue exploring the world and speaking Spanish. My passion for travel, ignited by my Winterim experience, led me to accept a position at EF Education as a tour consultant.

EF is a Boston-based travel company that specializes in educational tours for high school and middle school groups. Because of my Spanish skills and travel experience, I was put in charge of their Puerto Rico program. During my time at EF, I traveled to Puerto Rico, worked with local teachers, and coordinated cultural exchange programs with other U.S. schools. It was a wonderful

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experience and made me realize how much I had benefitted from my high school and college education …

In opening Andean Discovery, my idea was to harness my experience in adventure travel and in educational travel to offer a broad range of travel programs to individuals, high school groups, and universities … I couldn’t help but reflect on my sophomore year Winterim and digest how meaningful that experience was for me.

Whether you traveled to Europe for two weeks, explored Boston, made a quilt, or built a canoe, your Winterim experience did more than relieve the drudgery of mid-March school days — it left you with something that, at that time of your life, you probably couldn’t have found anywhere else. It’s as much a part of being an LA student as math class or Mountain Day — but more fun.

Vickie (Triplett) Coleman ’83 made this cabinet and jewelry box during her woodworking Winterim.

“

These items are at least 41 years old,”

Vickie writes. “I have held on to them for a long time, as I value my precious pieces of artwork from my Winterim experience.”

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ALUMNI PROFILE PAhLiU l iM pN HIe P r sRhO ’F6I4L E Philip Hersh ’64

Gold-Medal Reporting Meet the LA grad telling Olympians’ stories

by Angela Stefano

The Olympic Games only take place every two years, but Philip Hersh ’64 made covering the global event a full-time job for nearly three decades. Seven years after attending his first Winter Olympics — the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., for the Chicago Sun-Times — Phil became the Chicago Tribune’s Olympics beat reporter, a position he held from 1987 until his 2015 retirement from the paper. In that time, he wrote about plenty of household names, but particularly enjoyed spotlighting lesser-known athletes.

“The beauty of covering the Olympics is there are all of these weird sports, and the people in them have great stories,” Phil says.

“I always felt motivated, and kind of morally obligated, to give these great athletes the same amount of coverage … In the case of Olympians, and particularly female Olympians, they were delighted to have someone care about them.”

“The beauty of covering the Olympics is there are all of these weird sports, and the people in them have great stories.”

In addition to 11 Winter Olympics and eight Summer Olympics, Phil has worked dozens of World Figure Skating Championships and U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 12 World Track and Field Championships, seven soccer World Cups, and two Pan-American Games. His career highlights also include covering the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup Playoffs, and NBA Playoffs, as well as the Preakness, NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four, and college football bowl games.

“I had a lot of money to do what I wanted to do for a long period of time,” Phil recalls, and his editors at the Tribune knew that sending him where the athletes were would help

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him form relationships that would pay off in scoops and unique stories. During the Olympics, American stars took precedence, but Phil also found time to tell the stories of, for example, a gymnast from Uzbekistan whose dying son survived because of connections she’d made in her sport and one of the last swimmers to train in East Germany prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the country’s reunification.

Phil’s work earned him four Pulitzer Prize nominations, among other honors.

“My basic philosophy … was to write good stories, no matter what country they were from,” Phil says.

“I would seek out good stories, and if they were a story about a Russian, that’s great.”

Born in Boston and raised in Revere, Phil came to Lawrence Academy after looking for an alternative to Revere High School. He always loved sports and remembers writing fictional stories on a typewriter in his older brother’s room when he was a kid, but he says longtime French teacher Dick Gagné “actually motivated me to the idea of figuring out what makes a well-written sentence.” English teacher Bob Shepherd, meanwhile, had his classes memorize The Elements of Style and stressed the importance of “writing clear sentences that 18 people would read the same way.”

“The level of teaching was just very, very good. And also, the level of students was very, very good,” Phil reflects. “I learned a lot about writing from the way I was taught both French and English at Lawrence Academy.”

Phil with two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt of Germany in 2018

Phil graduated from Yale University in 1968 with a degree in early 19th-century French literature, having also pursued advanced studies in Spanish and Italian. He applied to and was accepted into law school at the University of Pennsylvania, but “hated it within minutes” and left, instead working in Yale’s Sports Information Office until he was drafted into the U.S. Army Reserve and began his year of basic training in late 1969.

The 2022 Winter Olympics, held in February in Beijing, China, would have been Phil’s 20th in-person Olympics.

Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, he instead covered the event from his home in Evanston, Ill., where he lives with his wife of 46 years, Ann Roberts, a professor emeritus in art history at Lake Forest College.

Prior to working at the Tribune, Phil worked briefly at the Beverly Times, was a sports editor at the Gloucester Daily Times from 1970 until 1972, and then covered several sports at the Baltimore Evening Sun for four and a half years. In 1977, he began covering Major League Baseball for the Chicago Daily News; when the paper merged with the Sun Times, he worked there until he left for the Tribune in 1984.

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From Spartans to Olympians Former LA athletes and their quest for gold

By Philip Hersh ’64 (contributing writer)

A luger. A rower. Five hockey players.

Two women, five men.

They are Lawrence Academy’s Olympians — or, in one case, oh-so-close to being an Olympian.

The whole idea of LA Olympians in these sports seems incongruous to someone like me, who was in the LA Class of ’64. In those days, the hockey rink was little more than what someone might assemble in a backyard — an ice sheet and boards near the windswept playing fields below the dining hall. Not exactly conducive to attracting Olympiclevel hockey talent. Even though the hill leading down to those fields was steep enough for some good sledding, it wouldn’t exactly be a luge track. And while many New England secondary schools have rowing programs, Lawrence is not one of them. Yet here we were, sharing Olympic memories over Zoom for an Alumni Speaker Series panel I moderated a few hours after the first 2022 Winter Olympics events had taken place in China.

Ninety minutes later, 1984 Olympian Dave Jensen delivered a perfect coda to the conversation. Jensen transferred to Lawrence Academy as a junior after what he described as unhappy years at another school. He spent very little of his senior year on campus because of commitments to six months of Olympic preparation.

The support could come from a flexible academic program known as LA II, which helped both Jensen and 1994 Olympic luger Jonathan Edwards stay on track to graduate while rarely on campus. It could come from the decision to build an indoor hockey rink dedicated in 1972, or it could come from the hectoring and mentorship of longtime hockey coach Charlie Corey. (All four of the men’s hockey players on the panel — Jensen, Steve Heinze, Ted Crowley, and Craig MacDonald — went on to play in the National Hockey League.)

Or, it could come from the school’s 1970 decision to become coeducational again, after seven decades of being all male, and the sports opportunities provided to young women including 1992 Olympic rower Cindy Ryder Matthes and 1998–2002 Olympic hockey player Laurie Baker McLaughlin, who were multi-sports athletes at Lawrence.

There are recurrent themes in each of their stories. The pride each felt in representing his or her country in international competition is one such theme.“When you pull on that USA jersey for the first time in an Olympic game, it’s an indescribable feeling,” Jensen said.

“Coming to Lawrence Academy was the best decision I ever made for many reasons,” Jensen said. “I got the support of everybody on campus, academically or in sports. Everybody wanted to help you try to succeed.”

L-R: Charlie Corey, Steve Heinze, Dave Jensen, and Ted Crowley

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When Baker McLaughlin did that in 1998, she was part of the first women’s Olympic hockey tournament. Her teams won gold in 1998 and silver in 2002. They were trailblazers who played it forward to many of the women on the 2018 team that also won gold. “As we travelled the country (on their preOlympic tour), it was amazing to see all the little girls coming out, whether they played or not,” Baker McLaughlin recalled.

Ryder Matthes’ Olympic dreams were spurred by watching 1976 gymnastics champion Nadia Comaneci achieve the perfect 10. She would get her first taste of the Olympics by running part of the torch relay for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.

Laurie Baker McLaughlin ’95

A runner and skier at LA, she took up rowing as a club sport at Bucknell, and then got serious about it when she moved to Boston after graduation. Ryder Matthes won a gold medal in single sculls at the 1991 Pan American Games in Cuba before placing 11th in double sculls at the 1992 Summer Games in Spain. “I spent my high school and college years building up my aerobic base, and that’s what allowed me to become a successful rower,” she said.

Jonathan Edwards transferred to LA to play lacrosse. He had tried street luge — sleds on wheels — a couple of times as a kid. At 16, he was invited to spend two weeks sliding on ice at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. “I stayed five weeks, and that was all she wrote,” Edwards said of getting hooked on the sport.

Cindy Ryder Matthes ’84

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Jonathan Edwards ’91

After being named to the junior national luge team, Edwards would spend only five weeks of the fall in Groton as a junior and just two weeks as a senior. The LA II program allowed him to progress toward his 1991 graduation, even though — in those pre-internet days — it meant lugging his books around Europe.

“Lawrence’s attitude toward this was, ’Let’s make it work,’’’ Edwards said. It put him on the path to the 1994 Norway Winter Olympics in doubles luge. Edwards and partner Mark Grimmette finished fourth, then the highest finish ever for a U.S. team in the event.

David Jensen ’84

Dave Jensen’s 1984 Olympic hockey team, which finished seventh, had the unenviable task of following the Miracle on Ice team of 1980, when the U.S. stunned the redoubtable Soviet Union in its medal round opening game and went on to win gold. “I was too young and stupid to know any better as far as feeling any extra pressure,” Jensen said. “I’m sure there was some.”

Steve Heinze, 10 years old in 1980, was one of many American kids motivated to play in the Olympics by watching the Miracle on Ice team. When he made it to the 1992 Olympics in France, the team’s play in winning its round-robin group and quarterfinal match spurred thoughts of history repeating itself, before the U.S. met the Russians (then known as the Unified Team) in the semifinals.

“We were on the cover of USA Today,” Heinze recalled. “They were thinking we might be the next ’Miracle.’’’

They hung with the Russians into the second period before losing 5-2, then could not regroup for the bronze medal game with Czechoslovakia. “One of my greatest regrets is that we couldn’t play the Czechs tougher,” said Heinze, who went on to a 12-year NHL career, with four seasons of 20-plus goals.

Steve Heinz ’88

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Ted Crowly ’89

There is a bittersweet Olympic connection between Heinze and Ted Crowley. They might have played together in 1992 had Crowley, slowed by an injury, not been cut just before the team left for the Olympics. Heinze wound up with Crowley’s jersey number (11).

“Just a quirky thing that my Olympic experience is tied to Ted after knowing and playing with him since I was 12 years old and through Lawrence Academy and Boston College,” Heinze said.

Crowley then caught a break because of the 1986 International Olympic Committee decision that switched the Winter Games, previously held the same year as the Summer Games, to the mid-point of the Olympic quadrennium. The first Winter Games of the new cycle was in 1994, so Crowley barely had to wait for another chance. “My favorite Olympic moment,” Crowley deadpanned about learning the next Winter Games were only two years from 1992.

played 62 games for the national team in the five months before the Olympics.

Ironically, another player from his small hometown, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, got a chance to be in the 2022 Winter Olympics when the NHL pulled out at the 11th hour because of COVID-related scheduling issues. “Best on best is what we all want to see,” MacDonald said of the NHL presence, “but what an opportunity for those kids to play.”

MacDonald was sorry to have missed out on that but felt the same way as the Lawrence Olympians did about having played for Canada on the international stage. “When you put that jersey on, it’s pretty special, whether it’s the highest level at the Olympics or any time you can represent your country,” he said.

Even if it didn’t say so on their uniforms, all seven also represented Lawrence Academy. Then and now.

Hockey was literally an underground sport at the 1994 Olympics, with games in the world’s largest subterranean arena, Gjovik Olympic Cavern Hall, nearly 400 feet below ground. “The team bus drove right into the cave,” Crowley recalled. The U.S. finished eighth.

For Craig MacDonald, a decision made in 1995 to allow NHL players in the Winter Games meant he had the odd experience of playing hockey for Team Canada in Japan less than three weeks before he would watch the 1998 Olympics in Nagano from afar. The players on that pre-Olympic iteration of the Canadian national team all would be replaced by NHL stars who arrived in Japan just a few days before their Olympic tournament began. MacDonald had

Craig MacDonald ’95

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 35

New Ghosts in an Old Place

by Joe Sheppard If you went to or ever worked at Lawrence Academy, you’ve probably heard the legend of the Waters House ghost: Miss Waters’ maid, a restless spirit who stalks the empty corridors, consumed with guilt for having accidentally caused her employer’s death. Whether it’s true or not, the old house is a creepy place — creepy enough that when New Line Cinema was planning a new adaptation of Stephen King’s equally creepy story Salem’s Lot, producer Michael Clear ’01 had no trouble convincing the studio to use Waters House in the film.

“Originally they wanted us to shoot the movie either in Atlanta or in Canada,” Michael explains, “but Salem’s Lot takes place in a seminal New England town … I was like, ’I know a place.’”

He convinced New Line to send a small crew to the Groton area to take photographs “to show them,” Michael says, “why it has to be Massachusetts. And the first thing I said to the team once we got here was that Waters House would make a great boarding house. It’s where the main character stays when he comes into town”.

“We start this project up, we’ve hired our costume designer, and then, on literally day one of our camera test, I’m just on set at New England Studios in Ayer,” Michael recalls, “and the costume designer walks over and says, ’I think you know Kristin.’” “Kristin,” of course, was award-winning costumer Kristin Achtmeyer ’02, who, unbeknownst to Michael, was in charge of costumes for the film. “What’s funny about it,” Michael continues, “is that Kristin doesn’t work out of Boston and neither do I … The first time we are working together happens to be where we’re both from even though we’re actually based out of Los Angeles.”

Kristin, whom John Bishop profiled in the Fall 2019 Journal, has worked as costumer on an impressive list of movies and TV shows including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Hunger Games, and the new Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek) series Kevin Can F--k Himself. She also earned an Emmy for her work on

3 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2022

American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. A freelancer, she emphasizes that she is not a costume designer, but a costumer: “I like the day-to-day set world,” she explains.

“I’m in charge of making sure the actors are in the right clothes.

We shoot different scenes at different times — the interior of a scene one day and the exterior a week later — and you have to make sure that the costumes are all correct.”

Michael interjects, “We had a lot of costumes on Salem’s Lot. I mean, it’s a vampire movie, so almost every costume has a bloody version and a clean version. Managing the actors’ looks was critical, and Kristin made it look easy.”

A women’s studies major at Dickinson College, Kristin spent her junior year at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and it changed the course of her life. “Most of my courses were in film because they offered them there, and I loved it,” she explains. “And then I came back and did a few classes in costume design at Dickinson in the theater program.

It was too short of a time to change my major at that point.

But I took all the classes I could and kind of just went out to LA after college and tried to get in any way I could, first with the USC student film programs. All their students have to do theses, and they’re always looking for help in every department.

So, I would do costume design for a small short film that they would be making. And then I kind of just got my name in other places, and then worked in costumes … It just kind of grew from there. I enjoy film, and then I enjoy the storytelling and what these characters can become in a costume.”

Michael has been in Hollywood as long as Kristin. After graduating from Harvard in 2005 with a degree in psychology and thoughts of becoming a therapist, he worked as a paralegal for a law firm in New York for a couple of years; however, he didn’t like it much and “wasn’t very good at it,” he admits.

Michael credits Chris Hazzard ’03 with getting him started in the movie business. “Chris was doing short films at NYU,” he recalls, “and asked if I wanted to come be a production assistant

on his short film. I was at the law firm working until 3 a.m. and was supposed to go work on the short film at 6 a.m.

Despite being exhausted from the week, I was so excited to work on the film that I just didn’t go to sleep. It was a very pivotal night.”

Coincidentally, it was a friend in film school at University of Southern California who persuaded Michael to go west.

He drove across the country and slept on that friend’s couch when he got there (“My parents were mortified!”). He found an apartment and, realizing that he had to pay the rent, got a job at Creative Artists Agency through a friend. “I started working there, and it just clicked. It was easy,” he reminisces. “It’s not easy now,” he hastens to add. ”It’s actually really hard because

it’s a different kind of responsibility as a producer. We’re the only people who are involved in a movie from the very inception of the idea through the marketing and release of the film.”

Kristin concurs. “Michael was very involved in Salem’s Lot,” she says. “Some producers are just up in their offices, but Michael was on set every day, very involved in the whole making of it.”

On Sept. 9, moviegoers will be able to see the fruits of the labors of a few hundred talented people, two of whom enjoyed a brief, and completely serendipitous, homecoming at their alma mater last summer. Maybe Miss Waters’ despondent maid will have a bit part.

K rKi sr ti si nt i n A cAhct hmtemyeeyr e’r0 ’20 2 a nadn d M iM c hi caheal eCl l C ea l er a’r0 ’10 1

Kristin, Michael, and the “boarding house”

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 37

Alumni Events DEI SUMMER SERIES

DEI FALL SERIES

July 27: A Space to Listen Aug. 3: A Space to Share Aug. 10: A Space to Plan Lawrence Academy’s DEI Summer Series was created as space for our broader alumni community and aims to support participants in giving voice to their diverse experiences while at LA and as alumni. It is also intended to provide an opportunity for participants to Raquel Majeski, assistant obtain greater awareness of LA’s diversity head for equity and initiatives and commitments and encourage community life participants to leverage the power, connections, and insight established during the series to propel forward LA’s commitment to diversity.

As a part of the ongoing growth, education, and commitment around DEI at Lawrence Academy, we offered the following opportunities to all adult community members:

Oct. 7: DEI at LA – A Strategic View Dan Scheibe, head of school, and Raquel Majeski, assistant head for equity and community life, discussed LA’s strategic diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The evening concluded with Meghan Smith, coordinator of DEI professional growth and practice, who led participants in a mindfulness practice.

The Summer Series is but one piece of LA’s broader effort to center the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion into our daily operations and sense of community, and to more fully energize LA’s commitment to recognize you for who you are and inspire you to take responsibility for who you want to become.

LA FALL CAREER PANEL: CAREERS

SUMMER/FALL 2021 & WINTER 2022

IN

Oct. 14: Fireside Chat with Irshad Manji Irshad Manji, author of Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times and the 2018 J. William Mees Visiting Scholar, addressed the importance of having moral courage and navigating courageous conversations.

SPORTS, PART TWO

Nov. 30 LA held its fourth virtual LA Career Panel, which featured a continuation of the profound sports career insights from LA alumni: Ben Lord ’57, Scott Brewitt ’82, Greg Rybarczyk ’86, and Julia Tesoro ’12. Alumni Council member Lindsay Howard ’00 moderated the discussion and posed a series of questions for the panelists.

Panelists offered insights on building a solid network, willingness to be flexible and adaptable, thinking creatively, and working collaboratively. The panelists connected back to their LA education to emphasize their public speaking, presentation, research, and collaboration skills while working on labs, projects, athletic teams, or Winterim groups.

Developing strong relationships and communication with their key constituents was another point of emphasis.

Being able to analyze and make inferences from the available data are essential skills in advancing one’s career in the field of sports. The expertise shared by each of our panelists was sage advice for anyone interested in pursuing a career in the sports arena.

Lindsay Howard ’00

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Ben Lord ’57, principal at Lord Advisory Group, LLC

Scott Brewitt ’82, vice president of digital partnerships at NESN

Greg Rybarczyk ’86, director, education and process analysis at the Boston Red Sox

Julia Tesoro ’12, activation specialist for the Chicago Cubs

BOSTON-AREA COMMUNITY GATHERING Nov. 18 – Liberty Hotel On Nov. 18, LA hosted its annual Boston Community gathering at the Liberty Hotel.

Alumni, parents, parents of alumni, current and former faculty and staff, grandparents, and friends attended the event. The evening was filled with fun, nostalgia, and a few current updates on happenings at LA, delivered by Head of School Dan Scheibe.

It was a great night of community building and celebrating. We are already looking forward to next year’s Boston gathering. Be on the lookout for a date.

LA SPEAKER SERIES: A CONVERSATION WITH SAM ROWSE ’65; P’92, ’94, GP’24 Dec. 6 Sam Rowse ’65 shared the fascinating story of his life and how he eventually became a farmer in Mason, N.H. Before he enrolled at Lawrence Academy, Sam’s only educational experience was in a one-room schoolhouse in a small, rural New Sam Rowse ’65 Hampshire town. Lawrence was a whole new world for him, with dormitories, a dining hall, a study hall, master teachers, athletics, a debate team, and theatrical productions.

After graduating from college, Sam returned home to learn the family apple juice business. His experiential education was of great benefit to him in developing the single-serve juice container that eventually propelled Veryfine, the family business, to a position of leadership in the beverage industry.

Starting with Horned Dorsets, a heritage breed of sheep known both for exceptionally desirable wool and outstanding food quality, Sam and his fiancée, Diana Templeton, now maintain a flock of sheep in addition to Berkshire pigs, Narragansett turkeys, and Wagyu cattle. Heritage breeds store a wealth of genetic resources vital to both our future and that of our agricultural food system.

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 39

Alumni Events, continued LA HOCKEY TOURNAMENT Dec. 16 – Reception at Publick House On Dec. 16, the annual LA holiday hockey tournament took place in Grant Rink, which was packed with alumni and friends of LA. After the LA/Cushing hockey game, a reception took place at the Publick House in Groton, where alumni, faculty, staff, and friends gathered for community cheer. Even though the boys’ varsity hockey team lost to Cushing, the night was still a blast!

LA CAREER PANEL: CAREERS IN L AW March 1 On March 1, Lawrence Academy held its fifth LA Career Panel featuring three LA alumnae lawyers – Amy Slade ’84, Polly Phillips Gilbert ’87, and Kristen Salvaggio ’01 – and two current LA parent lawyers, Dan and Lisa Haines P ’23. The panel was moderated by LA Alumni Council members Lindsay Howard ’00 and Clare Noone ’14.

Lindsay and Clare asked the lawyers to respond to a series of questions about their respective law careers and invited them to share stories on how each of them determined which field of law they choose to pursue. Each panelist shared insightful experiences and information about their law careers. The event was another highly informative career-related discussion in the field of law. Stay tuned for information on the next career panel, coming in the spring.

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LA SPEAKER SERIES: L AWRENCE ACADEMY OLYMPIANS February 3 With the 2022 Winter Olympics occurring in Beijing, China, Lawrence Academy held an LA Speaker Series the evening before the opening ceremony to recognize and honor the seven LA alumni who have participated in the Olympics or on a national team. The program was moderated by Phil Hersh ’64, an internationally recognized expert in the field who spent 28 years as an Olympic sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune and has gone on to write about the Olympics and figure skating for Ice Network and NBC Olympics. He has covered 20 Olympics – 12 winter and eight summer – seven soccer World Cups (four men, three women), 35 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 20 World Figure Skating Championships, 12 World Track and Field Championships, two Pan-American Games, and more than two dozen other national championships in Olympic sports.

LA’s esteemed panelists – David Jensen ’84 (hockey), Cindy Ryder Matthes ’84 (rowing), Steve Heinze ’88 (hockey), Ted Crowley ’89 (hockey), Jonathan Edwards ’91 (luge), Laurie Baker McLaughlin ’95 (hockey), and Craig MacDonald ’95 (hockey) – offered reflections and shared stories about their respective Olympic experiences. With his vast knowledge of each Olympics, Phil masterfully moderated the event and provided a truly memorable and inspirational evening for everyone.

Phil Hersh ’64, moderator

Laurie Baker McLaughlin ’95

Ted Crowley ’89

David Jensen ’84

Steve Heinze ’88

Cindy Ryder Matthes ’84

Craig MacDonald ’95

Jonathan Edwards ’91

Check out Phil’s story “From Spartans to Olympians” on page 32.

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 41

Connect with LA L AWRENCE ACADEMY ALUMNI OPPORTUNITIES Leaving the elm tree-shaded hillside doesn’t mean leaving the Lawrence Academy family.

Spartans are Spartans for life: part of a network of nearly 6,000 alumni living all across the globe. Lawrence Academy hopes its alumni will remain active, engaged members of the school community throughout their lives at LA alumni events; by participating in our online alumni networking platform; by volunteering as Alumni Council members, Reunion Weekend organizers, and Class Agents; and by becoming LA Fund donors.

GATHER Stay connected with fellow alumni and the Lawrence Academy community by joining us for virtual or in-person events. Throughout the year, we host a variety of opportunities to keep our community connected and informed about all of the exciting things happening at LA. From generational- and geography-based gatherings to online career panels and speaker series, there are LA alumni events for every type of graduate.

MENTOR AND NETWORK Lawrence Academy’s alumni community is accomplished, diverse, and vibrant. Regardless of when you graduated, we want you to feel connected to each other and the school. Network and interact with fellow Lawrence Academy alumni through LA Connect. Available on your desktop and mobile device, our community platform features easy registry with LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, or your email; search tools to find peers by name, class year, college, or industry; opportunities to find or become a mentor; upcoming event information; alumni job boards; and exclusive content found only on this platform. Sign up at www.lacademyconnect.com

SHARE YOUR PASSION At Lawrence Academy, our alumni are an important part of the community no matter how long ago they left campus or how far away they’ve gone. After graduation, we invite you to share your passion for LA by becoming a volunteer. Alumni Council members facilitate activities and relationships among LA alumni and the greater school community while encouraging participation in functions, projects, networking, and philanthropy. Class Agents write letters, make phone calls, and send emails to their classmates to help support the LA Fund, and Reunion Ambassadors keep classmates connected and inspire their annual support of LA.

SUPPORT Lawrence Academy’s donors are the driving force behind many of the advancements being made in our classrooms, on our playing fields, and at the school at large. Our alumni, families, and friends make campus better — and make the LA community stronger — through their philanthropic efforts. Through our online giving program, you can support the school via credit card, bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal! You can also plan a legacy gift at www.lacademy.planningyourlegacy.org.

Alumni Class Notes 1954

1961

Art Whittemore ’54 sent this note: “My wife passed away in February, 2021 after 63 years of marriage. I moved to Florida to our winter home this year. Celebrated my 85th birthday last February. Am still playing golf three times per week. Thanks for keeping in touch.”

Gib Colesworthy ’61 writes: “What a truly special celebration took place on Oct. 6, 2021, when the LA Class of ’61 gathered in Groton for their version of their 60th class reunion. From states near and far, the class members met on the elm tree-shaded hillside to reconnect. The LA staff did a beautiful job of coordinating the activities, from the lunch on the green, the athletic events, the cocktail reception at the head of school’s house, to the dinner at the Groton Inn.

1956 Paul “Lefty” Wennik ’56 sent this note: “I am in my 10th year as Board Chair of the Lawrence, Mass. charity Beyond Soccer/ Beyond Volley, which has served thousands of low-income, mostly minority, girls and boys. Our mission is providing health and hope to hundreds of young folks who come to us to participate in our many programs on and off the fields and courts, including academic tutoring, nutrition training (Lawrence’s child obesity rate is around 40%!), mentoring and leadership training, college counseling and other opportunities for kids 5-18 years old. I serve as mentor, leader, chief fundraiser, and Mass. State House liaison.

Our generous funders include the Cummings Foundation, New Balance, the Essex County Foundation, the Red Sox Foundation, and the Bill Belichick Foundation, as well as many companies and generous individuals who annually support our mission, believing it to be vital in the (65th Reunion) healthy growth and education of thousands of Lawrence’s children.

1957

“There was plenty of entertainment featuring Bill Tracy in his tophat playing his violin at all the scheduled events, and who even found his letter sweater. The cocktail party at Dan Scheibe’s was fitting for our class. Lots of wine and laughs and the presence of Mr. Baker (a.k.a. Tank) and his wife Edi was a highlight, since he was a class favorite.

“Pete Spinney provided laughs with his broken chair routine, and the class surprised Dan Scheibe, who made school-related remarks and mentioned that there is a school song which we probably didn’t know. They had song sheets which they began to distribute … no need … Dick Perry started to sing the song and the entire group chimed in … We had to learn the song or face the wrath of the teachers.

“Overall, a great time was had by all. The finale was the dinner in Groton, when we really bonded.”

“Please visit us on our website and join us in helping support these terrific low-income children as they are coached, taught, inspired, and mentored on their journey to becoming responsible and productive adults.”

1957 yearbook

Bill Tracey ’61, playing his violin, and the Class of 1961

Have a note to share in the Fall 2022 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 43

Alumni Class Notes

1967 (55th Reunion)

1962 yearbook Pic

1962 (60th Reunion)

1970

Ed Guthrie ’62 sent this photo from salmon fishing in Alaska. He plans to attend his class’s 60th reunion this spring.

Lou Curran ’70 met up for dinner with some classmates in March and sent this note to the group: “Greatly enjoyed getting together with all of you at the Firefly in Manchester. N.H., this evening. Very best regards and thanks to all significant others for sharing your mates tonight! Stay tuned for further adventures of The LA Giving Cup! Ciao for now…”

1963 Jeremiah deMichaelis ’63 writes that he is serving his second year on the finance committee of the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., and is in his 35th year of service on the Investment Committee of the Diocese of Washington.

1964 We received this from Sandy Wolcott ’64: “I am on my fourth year as an assistant varsity lacrosse coach for St. Edward’s School, a private school in Vero Beach, Fla. Last year we lost in the state championship final. We are ranked No.2 in the state. When I’m not coaching, my time is spent on sporting clays and fly fishing in Montana with my wife, along with consulting with some CEO customers at JPMorganChase Bank. I ran into Chuck Cramb, a classmate who lives in Vero during the winter season, whom I hadn’t seen since June of 1964.”

L-R: Kevin McDonald, Lou Curran, Chuck Will, Bob Kimball, and Andy Black, all class of 1970, with the Reunion Giving Cup won by their class in 2020.

1965 Andy Durham ’65 tells us, “I retired from teaching tennis after 50 years, as well as serving as a statistician for junior and pro tennis tournaments and for TV at Wimbledon. This led me to found a smartphone app for tennis parents, Andy Durham ’65 players, and pros, RacketStats.com.

We are now in 24 countries, making analytics available to tennis players and families worldwide.”

The Reunion Giving Cup on tour

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LA

Join the Challenge LA 2022 Reunion Challenge

R EUNION C HALLENGE

To inspire all LA Reunion classes, the LA Alumni Advancement Team has established the LA 2022 Reunion Challenge, creating a fun and friendly competition among the decades.

Challenge One: largest amount of total dollars raised by a reunion class.

Challenge Three: greatest number of individual donors in a reunion class.

Prize One: Class name is engraved on the silver LA Reunion Giving Cup. *Current Leader: Class of 1982

Prize Three: Participating donors will receive an LA stemless wine glass. *Current Leader: Class of 1982

Challenge Two: largest number of leadership gifts to any funds.

Challenge Four: highest percentage of first-time or lapsed donors (donors who have not given in a year or more) in a reunion class.

Prize Two: Eligible donors in the class will receive a 1793 Leadership Society baseball hat. *Current Leader: Class of 1982

Prize Four: Participating donors will receive an LA stemless wine glass. *Current Leader: Class of 2002

Challenge Five: largest number of unique class notes submitted to the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 Academy Journal.

Prize Five: Each alumnus/a who submits a class note will receive an LA phone charger and an LA screen cleaner.

Winner: Class of 1972 This competition is open to alumni with a graduation year ending in 2 or 7, and each challenge will be based on giving and activity from July 1, 2021, through May 31, 2022. *Results as of April 1, 2022

The Elm Tree Cup The newly-established Elm Tree Cup encourages and recognizes the support of LA alumni in a non-reunion year.

The Elm Tree Cup will be awarded annually to the LA class that raises the most LA Fund donations during the current fiscal year (July 1-June 30). The Cup itself will be engraved with the winning class year, and members of the class will have unlimited use of it for the next fiscal year, along with “bragging rights.” Each year, the previous year’s winner shall award the Elm Tree Cup to the next year’s winner at a special ceremony during Reunion Weekend.

This competition is open to all alumni classes in a non-reunion year.

Alumni Class Notes

1972 (50th Reunion)

when in some way thoughts of the things I learned at Lawrence Academy are not in play.”

Howard Bronson ’72 has been far busier than he expected to be as he approaches his 70th year of life. Five years ago, he returned to college to earn his master’s in counseling psychology.

He had previously earned a master’s degree in journalism and communications at Boston University. In addition, he has now 1972 Yearbook Pic authored a total of 16 books, five of them just during the COVID age of 2021. He has also appeared on national television on both CBS This Morning and Today. Howard attributes much of his success in life, as an author, therapist, and public speaker to Lawrence. “At LA, I learned how to learn,” he writes, “and that allowed me to soar far past what I ever thought I could achieve prior to that. Now as I approach my 70th year, I just keep reaching higher. Thank you, Lawrence!”

Dick Peet ’72 writes: “As a research scientist, patent attorney, and entrepreneur, I have had the good fortune to work with many exciting technologies and biotech companies over the past 40 years. After 23 years as a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, I retired to co-found two biotech companies focused on improving human health through interventions in the microbiome and endocannabinoid system. My wife Margot and I have been married for 40 years. We have three adult children and two granddaughters, and we live in Washington, D.C.”

Michael Coons ’72 sent us this update: “Although I officially retired as a journalist eight years ago, I’ve kept busy in the interim by covering college and pro sports in the Triangle region of North Carolina on a freelance basis and by writing a sports blog. However, last fall I escaped retirement and went in a Michael Coons ’72 at completely new direction, becoming an ACC tourney adjunct professor in the Communications and Media Department at Saint Augustine’s University, an HBCU in Raleigh, N.C. I teach two sections of a freshman requirement course in communication skills, allowing me to tap into 40-plus years of journalistic experience.”

Craig Graham ’72 writes: “Living happily in Amherst, N.H. Twenty years in the U.S. military. Currently a business owner and security specialist focusing on corporate and personal protection.

I love to travel, enjoy the outdoors through camping, forest and mountain hiking and finding new adventures. Physical fitness is of prime importance. I also enjoy archery and honing my survival skills. Creative writing is a passion, and a day does not go by

Eliot Tucker ’72 says: “This year is my 47th year in the apparel industry. Seven years working for retail businesses and 40 years self-employed as the New England sales rep for numerous clothing companies from US, Canada, England, and Ireland.

Looking forward to our 50th reunion this year!”

1973 Bill Curry ’73 retired in 2010 after a career in education as a teacher, principal, and school board administrator. Since that time he has been doing fine art Bill Curry ’73’s Mountain Morning photography, winning many awards as a conservation photographer. Bill has just had three of his pieces accepted for a display at Teichert Art Gallery in the Nova Scotia Art Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he has had pieces displayed before. Bill’s images celebrate the outdoors, with people finding that his work stirs their imagination, reminding them of time spent in a shared environment. Seeking to capture a moment in time, Bill’s images are of spaces and places that are changing, whether human-impacted or the fleeting hues of a sunset or the shape of a breaking wave. He has a website that promotes his Bill Curry Photography Gallery and Studio.

Bill lives in his father’s hometown of Port Maitland, Nova Scotia, with his wife Norma and their dog Sam. Barbara (Pallian) Peacock ’73’s monograph Hometown will be exhibited in Freiburg, Germany, in October 2022. It will then travel around throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium, with 11 more exhibitions. Barbara will attend the October opening show and give a talk about the work, which spans three decades from 1982 to 2015, using a dozen different cameras starting with a 4x5 film camera and ending with digital.

Have a note to share in the Fall 2022 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.

4 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2022

Rob Russell ’73 sent greetings: “A big smile to all my fellow Class of ’73 members. Hope you all are getting life back on track and faring well. I am still out in the Salt Lake area and enjoying the great outdoor life in Utah. The skiing is always fantastic, but now in retirement I have plenty of time to find passions in new endeavors, including triathlons and Ironman 70.3 events. The family is growing with our newest addition, one-month old grandson. This is my first grandchild, and I hope for more in the future. I started the Teton Foundation supporting an orphanage and the poorest communities in very remote areas of the Philippines. It is nice to have time to devote to helping those where the need significant. Had a great visit with Rusty Parker ’73 last summer. I think we revisited every winning goal in our soccer season during senior year. He lives north of San Diego and is well and hopes to make our next reunion. Best to you all.”

Quantico, Va. was a great place to meet and tour for Edna Triplett ’79 and her sister Vickie (Triplett) Coleman ’83 in December. Vickie was in town to visit her daughter and grandchildren in Maryland.

Vickie writes: “We’re LA alumnae Edna Triplett ’79 and sisters originally from Chicago!

Great to see family on the East Coast now, and of course Lawrence Academy was with us in spirit!”

1982 (40th Reunion)

1976

Doug Donaldson ’76

Doug Donaldson ’76 says, “Excited to be cooking still. I am the executive chef at One Love Brewery in Lincoln, N.H. Still an avid Deadhead; glad live music is a thing again.

Come by the brewery and say hi if you are in the area!”

1977 (45th Reunion)

Judi Cyr ’82

Judi (Martin) Cyr ’82 lives in Simsbury, Conn. She is senior vice president in global transaction services at Bank of America, based in Hartford, Conn. She stays in close touch with classmates Karen (Mitchell) Brandvold, Kerry (Lafferty) Jordan, David Mardirosian, Ned Richardson, and Julie (Baker) Rice ’81.

Dan Wolff ’82 says, “A lot has happened since my LA years! Most recently I have been involved with helping people and pets stay safe from ticks and avoiding tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease. My company, TickEase, Inc., provides education, resources, and my own products to help fight this big issue. I have also kept in touch with a few alums like Tim Byk ’82, Scott Brewitt ’82, and Brant Keany ’82. Cheve LA!” Dan Wolff ’82

1982 (40th Reunion) 1978 Laura Whittall-Scherfee ’78 writes, “Enjoying retirement.

My son Guy is engaged, and he and Madison will get married in October 2022.”

1979 Scott Minott ’79 is a public school science teacher. His wife, Nhanh Soung, still runs a seven-minute mile, and his daughter, Vicharadani Norma Minott, is a junior at CSU Fullerton.

1982, four-year seniors

SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 47

Alumni Class Notes

1983

Other ’83 classmates take pride in the next generations:

The Class of ’83 boasts a number of ageless athletes! Here are some notes they sent us:

Proud father Ajay Bhardwaj has recently seen his triplets accomplish major milestones in their lives. Son Thomas recently graduated from USC with his master’s in finance. Daughter Lexi is a career fashion model based in Los Angeles, and son Nick is an FAAcertified airline transport pilot who was recently hired by United Express.

Proving age is just a number, Anthony Rodale has begun training for the 2022 Trans Atlas Ultra Marathon in Morocco — a 160KM race — set for May.

Anthony Rodale ’83

AJ Bhardwaj ’83’s son

Sara Dawson ’83 finds happiness in celebrating her husband’s 70th birthday with their twin grandsons.

Hilary Fordyce ’83

Like mother, like daughter! Hilary Fordyce, with Risky, and daughter Lucy, with Jack, competed in the PineTop Prelim XC competition, taking fourth and sixth places, respectively.

Sara Dawson ’83 and family

Sam Pelham competed with Old Breed Rugby Club (a team created and composed of retired U.S. Marine Corps military ruggers) to take silver at the annual Huntsman World Senior (50+) Games in St. George, Utah.

Abiding by the team’s motto “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Liverpool Football Sam Pelham ’83 Club supporters and former classmates Darren Messina, Scott Sloan, and Chris Rogers rally in Cambridge’s Phoenix Landing bar to cheer on their Reds.

And Steven Stein ’83 tells us, “We welcomed our second granddaughter in January!

Dylan Paige Clark became Stella’s little sister. So happy to have had lots of contact and communication with the Class of ’83, and to see everyone flourishing.”

1984 Amy (Chitoff) Mersky ’84 launched a webpage for her business, AMY EDIT, Inc., during the pandemic. Her site features photographs from her more than 25 years of depositions in the scenic Palm Beaches.

1986 Laura Crapo ’86 writes: “I started doing celebrity psychic readings on YouTube for the public on how to heal relationships or solve problems through these well-known examples. I’ve had an intuitive distance healing practice since 2003, when I became a Reiki master. I had strong intuition growing up, so I took a left turn from my fine arts education and developed my skills.

Helping people is very rewarding.”

Darren Messina ’83

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1987 (35th Reunion)

Noelle (Desjarlais) Slattery ’86 says, “I am plowing through the pandemic out here in San Diego. It has presented many challenges with my work as a trial attorney as well as a parent! We have been enjoying our new house on the Cape as often as we can. I am currently a coach for the San Diego County High School mock trial Noelle Slattery ’86 competition, which is very rewarding. I continue with my DEI work through Lawrence Academy and the local public schools our kids are in. My daughter and I attended last year’s LA Reunion events, which were great despite the pandemic. I am looking forward to live reunions in the future!

I see Rebecca Keller ’86 and Brooke Hodess ’85 regularly.”

1987 (35th Reunion) Mike “Happy” Desmarais ’87 sent this note: “Retirement is all it is cracked up to be. I’m way busier now than I was before. My kids are 26 and 23.

My oldest daughter, Savanna, graduated from UNH after a few seasons on the dive team, and she owns and operates Blended (a smoothie shop) and Stir (a restaurant/bar) in Plymouth, N.H. My youngest daughter, Elissa, graduated

Mike Desmarais ’87

magna cum laude from St. Michael’s College and now works for Fjallraven in Denver, Colo. I sold my plastics business April 1, 2021, and have been adjusting to a more relaxed lifestyle over the past 12 months. In my spare time I play and collect guitars and enjoy offshore and inshore fishing. Looking forward to catching up with everyone and retelling stories from LA in the mid-’80s.”

Geoff Kuck ’87 writes: “Our son is currently living in Boston and I’m in town often. Hope to see some old LA friends on June 11 or other times throughout the year.”

Bill Rosenblum ’87 sent us this update recently: “I’ve been married for 21 years to my wife Kristen and have two daughters.

Aubrey is a graduating senior this year, and will be entering college in a direct program for a physician’s assistant. Alia is in sixth grade and she is a goalie for an ice hockey travel team as well as for her town team.

“I’m a member of the Professional Golfers Association of America, and have been a golf professional for 30 years. As the golf operations manager for the City of Hartford, I oversee all contractors, contracts, and vendors for Hartford’s two municipally-owned golf courses. In my hometown of Ludlow, Mass., I’m the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, being very involved in local, regional, and state politics. I stay active in the community as an ice hockey coach, president for high school basketball boosters, VP of soccer boosters, and Junior Achievement volunteer. As a 1991 graduate of Skidmore College, I was an All-American in golf and was inducted into Skidmore’s Athletics Hall of Fame.”

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SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 49

Alumni Class Notes

1992 (30th Reunion)

1998 Kate (Moffat) Lostracco ’98 is president and founder of Dominion Traditional Building Group (DTBG) in Marshall, Va. She started the historic masonry restoration company in 2012, hiring expert masons for the unique work. Today, DTBG’s 15 employees work all over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

Growing up near Concord, Mass., Kate has loved old Kate Lostracco ’98 buildings from an early age.

She writes, “You have places like Salem, Plimouth Plantation, and the whole wealth of Boston right there. I went to Boston University and lived in both the North End and the Back Bay. Living there had a really big influence on my appreciation for historic buildings and bringing something back from ruin.” Kate describes herself as “the mortar that holds it all together,” adding, “I don’t do the physical masonry work. But I have my hand in pretty much everything else. I manage the logistics and figuring out what materials a job needs, and help with the bidding, estimating, and business management … We get to work in some cool places!”

1992 yearbook senior page

1997 (25th Reunion)

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2002 (20th Reunion)

2002

(20th Reunion)

Nina (Sheff) Fish ’02 is getting her master’s in social work part-time at Boston College and living in Brookline, Mass., with her husband, Ed, and their two daughters, Corina and Lily.

She sent this note with the photo “Sarah Klopfer, me, Kristin Achtmeyer, and Nell Achtmeyer (all ’02) at the annual Runway for L-R: Sarah Klopfer, Nina Sheff Fish, Kristin Recovery event in October, Achtmeyer, and Nell Achtmeyer put on by Kristin and Nell’s older sister Olivia as a way to honor and celebrate those whom we have lost to breast cancer, survivors, and families. Liz O’Brien (Friel), and Lindsay ’02, and Abby Myette ’03 were also in attendance! The event originally started as a tribute to Kristin and Nell’s mom, Cande, whom we lost to the disease in 2001.”

Ben Rogers ’02 is back at LA, working as the director of annual giving. Ben recently worked at Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall in Waltham for 13 years, where he held many positions in the development office. He loves being back at LA!

Kari (Fredriksen) Wade ’02 is entering her eighth year working for St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., as the director of special events and creative services.

Kari and her husband, Rick, live in Maryland with their two young daughters, Rachel and Meredith, and their loyal pup, Teal

Kari Frederickson Wade ’02 and family

2003 Molly Clark ’03 writes: “I co-founded Taking Stock Foods in 2015, and seven years in, we’re gaining traction. We sell three flavors of nutritious, flavorful organic chicken bone broths. They are available by the case on Amazon and are sold in over 80 stores in Minnesota and the upper Midwest.”

Molly Clark (right) with co-founder Maddy Kaudy Ben Rogers ’02

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Alumni Class Notes Andrew Lurvey ’03 writes, “Hello, fellow Spartans. Crazy to think that almost two decades have passed since being a student! It has been a big year for my family and me. My wife Megan and I moved from Milton, Mass., to Woodstock, Andrew Lurvey ’03 and family Conn. I transitioned from the business world to a career in education (school counselor at The Woodstock Academy), and we welcomed our third child, Axel, in August. I want to share a quote that my school is focused on this year: ’Get comfortable being uncomfortable.’ No matter where you are at in life, it’s never too late to step out of your ’comfort zone,’ try something new, and continue to grow. We are all works in progress. As these last few decades have flown by since my days on Powderhouse Road, I am realizing more and more just how short life is. For that simple reason I hope that you all challenge yourselves to do what you feel is best to maximize your happiness on a daily basis. Even if it means being uncomfortable.”

2004

Rayden Sorock ’04

Rayden Sorock ’04 recently celebrated 10 years at Grow Pittsburgh, an urban agriculture non-profit supporting community gardens, managing a tool lending library, and facilitating a community land trust. He enjoys skating with the local LGBTQ hockey team, singing in a weirdo choir, and learning about animals (modern and prehistoric) with his four-year-old. He says, “Say hey if you’re ever in Pittsburgh!”

2006 Zak Engel ’06 writes, “I’m still up in my studio/barn in Maine.

Composing for film, TV, theater, and about to start working on a new videogame score (something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!). We are all happy and healthy. I’m staying busy with

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work, and Leroy (he’s three now) is keeping both me and Allie very busy as he explores the boundaries of safety, sanity, and all general ’funny business.’

When I was a guest artist on campus last November, I led the three boys through a composition workshop and facilitated group conversations that opened the floor for their questions about the music industry, my composition/ Zak Engel ’06 recording process, and specific questions and critiques about works-in-progress they had been composing. The boys offered a lot, and we explored many tangents — electronic music and synthesis, composing within constraints, drawing inspiration from different genres, overall creative philosophies. With the equipment available to at-home musicians today, it’s so easy to get caught in a pattern of composing an idea quickly alone, recording it quickly alone, and then never fully realizing its potential with other musicians. I wanted to help break that pattern for the students, remind them of each other and the opportunity they have to really use each other this year.”

Danny Roop ’06 was honored with the Young Professional of the Year for 2021 award by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA). An environmental engineer, he specializes in coastal resiliency for water and wastewater infrastructure. Danny is also known for his expertise in asset management within the engineering Dan Roop ’06 industry. During the past three years, he has helped 15 communities to be successfully awarded MassDEP & Massachusetts Clean Water Trust Asset Management Planning grant funds. In his spare time, he has participated in seven Pan-Mass Challenges on Team Tighe & Bond, personally raising over $40,000 for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and is currently in training for his second Boston Marathon to support a Boston-based anti-bullying program.

2007 (15th Reunion) Miguel A. Rondon ’08 writes: “I graduated from Lawrence Academy in 2008. I went to George Washington University in 2012 and have been working in the energy industry since. I have worked in different functions, from research to M&A and various geographies.

I went to Columbia in 2016 for my master’s in energy resource management. I have just published my book, entitled The Climate Crisis: A Moderate Approach to the Energy Debate.

2008 Mia Huntley ’08 married Lucas Brinkman on Oct. 31, 2021 — a Hallowedding — at Zorvino Vineyards, in Sandown, N.H. She writes, “Although we grew up in Pepperell it took us until 2018 to meet.” The Brinkmans live in Methuen, Mass., along with their dog, Darcy.

Mia Huntley ’08 and Lucas Brinkman Miguel A. Rondon ’08

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SPRING 2022 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 53

Alumni Class Notes

2012 (10th Reunion) 2012

2014

Vikki Stabile ’12 and Steven Bouvé were married on March 5, 2022. A student at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, she wrote us with this update: “I hope to practice in the public interest or non-profit sphere upon graduation in 2024. In spring of 2021, my steadfast Vikki Stabile ’12 and Steven quarantine partner, Steven Bouvé from Bouve ́ South Jersey, proposed... and I said yes!

We purchased our first home together, in the Philadelphia area.”

Clare Noone ’14 is currently a second-year law student at Boston College Law School. She is a student attorney in the BC Law Immigration Clinic, where she recently became certified to represent clients in legal proceedings under the supervision of a member of the Massachusetts bar.

2013 Jordan (Grant) Anthony ’13 sent this picture of daughter Madison with her new LA bib.

Madison Anthony (Jordan ’13)

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2016 Hannah Donovan ’16 writes: “I am happy to share that I started my first year of medical school this past fall at The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. I fell in love with Vermont when I attended Middlebury College, and I am so happy to continue enjoying all this beautiful state has to offer for the next few years.”

Hannah Donovan ’16

2017 (5th Reunion)

This year and next are anniversary times for LA: 50 years of coeducation and Winterim, and in 2023, it’s the Academy’s 230th birthday! If you want to brush up on the school’s long and colorful history, you can find several sources online.

Doug Frank ’68’s monumental book, The History of Lawrence Academy at Groton 1792 – 1992, has been digitized and is available on the LA website. Much of Doug’s research was based on the late Alan Whipple’s Academy Days, Groton Days, the first of a planned three volumes on the school’s history. Unfortunately, Alan passed away before he could start the second volume. More recently, retired faculty member Joe Sheppard has written two books: Shep’s Places is a compilation of 40 of his Shep’s Place columns, published on the school’s website for many years. His newest book, Voices from the Hillside, uses the writings of reporters for The Elms, the student newspaper from 1927 to 1971, to create an evocative chronicle of student life under three headmasters: Fred Gray, Arthur Ferguson, and Ben Williams in their early years. Both are available on Amazon in paperback and as e-books.

Have a note to share in the Fall 2022 Academy Journal?

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IN LOVING MEMORY OF...

The Lawrence Academy community has lost five former faculty members over the course of this school year.

Three of them, George Peabody, Jerry Wooding, and Bill Mees, each spent more than three decades at the Academy. Though the tenures of Dick Pickering and Dave Tobey were shorter, both made LA a better place in their own way and will be missed by the many students who knew and worked with them.

GEORGE PEABODY George Peabody came to Lawrence in 1963, four years after graduating from Miami University of Ohio. Fortunately for LA, he chose to put his training in mathematics to use in the classroom rather than in his intended career in the food service industry. Because of that background, however, Headmaster Arthur Ferguson put his new hire in charge of the student kitchen work program, a responsibility he shouldered for much of his 38-year career.

George and his wife Kathy, who predeceased him, were kind and welcoming dorm parents in Pillsbury House, and he made many lasting friendships in the dorm as well as through his teaching, coaching, and role as a faculty advisor. Late in his career, he enjoyed traveling with student groups for Winterim trips to numerous foreign countries.

George moved back to his native Ohio when he retired in 2001, though he loved to return to campus to see former students and colleagues — often wearing one of the very few extant LA blazers! He will be remembered for his kindness, his lively sense of humor, and his devotion to his family and the school he loved.

JERRY WOODING Over a 34-year career at Lawrence that started in 1979, Jerry Wooding was a luminary in LA’s distinguished science department and a beloved figure on campus. A gifted chemistry teacher as well as an outdoorsman and an avid birder, he led many outdoor hikes and Winterim trips, and his ornithology class was one of the most popular elective courses in the science department. For many years, he and his colleague and good friend Mark Haman coached the boys’ basketball thirds team together. As Mark commented, “Much of the kids’ joy of playing came from simply being around Jerry and from witnessing the delight he and I took in the joys of coaching and in the joys of each other’s company.”

In 2000, the Academy awarded Jerry a year-long sabbatical. He took that unique opportunity to explore on his own, taking a six-month solo bicycle trip across the United States and then spending five months living in Italy with his wife Sharon, where he became enamored with Italian art and architecture, a love affair that lasted the rest of his life.

Jerry’s ready smile and easygoing manner, which never concealed his deep dedication to his students and teaching, endeared him to generations of students.

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BILL MEES Bill Mees’ long and distinguished teaching career began at Milton Academy, two years after his 1960 graduation from Bates College. A seasoned veteran by the time he found his way to Lawrence in the fall of 1977, he would, over the next 33 years, teach French, Spanish, and English. At various times, he served as language department chair, director of studies, dean of faculty, and drama coach.

While Bill’s brilliant pedagogy earned him awards for excellence in teaching, he was also generous in his donations to fundraising efforts for the Academy, which honored him by naming its new performing arts center after him and another former faculty member, Arleigh D. Richardson. Upon his retirement in 2010, 50 years to the day after his graduation from Bates College, Lawrence Academy announced the J. William Mees Visiting Scholar Program, which allows the Academy to invite scholars in various academic disciplines to visit the school and interact with students.

Bill’s retirement was filled with travel to Europe, collecting American impressionist art, and sharing his prodigious culinary talents with his friends and former students. Bill touched many lives, and his own was a life well lived, for the good of others.

DICK PICKERING A member of the LA faculty from 1965 to 1973, Dick died on Jan. 22, a victim of cancer. He was 85. At Lawrence, he taught English and succeeded Bob Shepherd as director of admissions. He also coached the undefeated 1972 boys’ varsity soccer team to a league championship, which, years later, earned them a place of honor in LA’s Athletic Hall of Fame. After LA, the Pickerings moved to Maine, where Dick began a new career with Tom’s of Maine in the early days of the “health food” movement. They spent happy years on Paddy’s Creek in Cape Porpoise, mucking around in boats. After Tom’s, Dick owned Cape Hardware and Cape Floor Refinishers, then Meadowside Antiques after moving to two 18th century homes in West Kennebunk.

Dick’s wife Jane predeceased him in 2019. He is survived by their three children, Tina, Richard, and Nathan; seven grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren.

DAVID TOBEY Dave Tobey was 82 when he died on Feb. 1, 2022, at Cape Cod Hospital. He taught math at LA from 1963 to 1968; his personal warmth, easygoing manner, and sense of humor endeared him to his students. After Lawrence, he returned to his native Harwich, Mass., to run the family business. In Harwich, he served on the finance and school committees, and the conservation commission. He also coached Little League for many years.

Dave is survived by his wife, Evelyn, four children, and six grandchildren, in addition to one sister and many nieces and nephews.

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Obituaries This section is dedicated to alumni who have died since 2018.

Donald R. Holstrom ’49 passed away on Jan. 18, 2022. A PG student at LA, he went on to Bates College for two years before transferring to the University of Michigan.

He is survived by his daughters Ann Renee and Leslie Karen.

Agent Orange. Joining the Air Force after college, he served through much of the Cold War and in Vietnam, earning a bronze star and many medals. He retired at the rank of major. After retirement, Skip earned a master’s degree in public administration and worked as a town administrator for the Beaven Roche ’52, of Sautee Nacoochee, Ga., town of Lincolnville, Maine, for 17 years. passed away on June 18, 2020, at age 86.

He was a dedicated member of Rotary We have received no further information.

International and a Paul Harris Fellow.

John Guy ’56 died on Jan. 26, 2019, at the He was also active in the United Methodist Church in different committees and sang in age of 80. A longtime resident of Dover, the choir, which he loved. He also loved N.H., he worked as president of Seacoast Savings Bank, and then as an independent going to their lake house on Lake Onawa, financial advisor. He was deeply involved in Maine, where he enjoyed walking in the woods, boating around the lake, and the Dover community, volunteering his time and expertise to a variety of causes. For visiting with friends. Skip is survived by his wife of 59 years, Arlene; his mother-in-law, 30 years, he sat on the board of trustees at the Southeastern New Hampshire Alcohol Darlene Mac Runnels; four children, eight and Drug Abuse Services, including a term grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and as chairman in 1995. He also served on the five step-great-grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. board at My Friend’s Place, as a trustee at Berwick Academy (from which all four of Bruce Wendell Ogilvie ’58 of Skowhegan, his children graduated), and was president Maine, died on March 13, 2021, at of the Rotary Club, director of the Dover Woodlands Memory Care in Madison, Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Maine. He was 80. After graduating from New Hampshire Association of Savings Lawrence, Bruce earned a bachelor’s degree Banks, and longtime chairman of the from UMass Amherst in 1962, then went Dover Housing Authority. He was also a on to complete an M.S. in horticulture two prominent figure in the Seacoast area’s years later. He was employed as a 4-H agent substance abuse recovery community, and in Hampden County in Massachusetts for over the course of 32 years of sobriety, he years, in Somerset County in the same was a mentor to countless recovering capacity for seven years, then as a crop alcoholics. John is survived by Viki, his wife adjuster for Wells Fargo. He enjoyed of 53 years; four children; six grandchildren; agriculture, gardening, antiques, and and three sisters. His brother, Kevin M. Guy, shopping. Bruce is survived by his wife of of Portsmouth, N.H., predeceased him.

56 years, Janice (Hill), as well as by three daughters, five grandchildren, a sister, and Joshua T. “Skip” Day ’57, age 82, passed six nieces and nephews. He was predeceased away on Jan. 15, 2022 after a long battle by his brother, Brian Ogilvie. with Parkinson’s disease from exposure to

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Paul Michael Davidson ’59, of West Babylon, N.Y., passed away on Dec. 10, 2021. No further information is available.

Frank Henderson Ormsby ’61 entered into rest on Oct. 27, 2019. He was 75. Frank worked as a machinist at INA and was a veteran of the Coast Guard, where he served as an ET3. He enjoyed gardening, woodworking, and raising horses. Frank was a Civil War enthusiast and will be remembered by his loved ones for his relentless sense of humor. In addition to his parents, Frank was preceded in death by his loving wife, Janet R. Ormsby, and two sons, Daniel and Christopher Ormsby. Survivors include a daughter and a son, five grandchildren, and a sister, Priscilla Ormsby of Maine; his caretaker and friend, Ann Gatti, and many other close friends.

Dick Pierce ’69 died on Jan. 17, 2022 after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 70.

After graduating from Cornell, Dick worked at several jobs until 1978, when he became operations manager for the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He spent many years advocating for the facilities management profession via the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA), ultimately serving as chairman of the board.

His work with IFMA allowed for global travel and experiences that he treasured.

Dick remained at Wisconsin for 30 years before retiring at age 55. He and his wife Pam lived in Madison, though they enjoyed a second home in Duxbury, Mass., which had belonged to his parents. In addition to Pam, Dick leaves two daughters and three grandchildren. An older brother, John, predeceased him.

Ronald Wight Lee ’71 died on Sept. 28, Kelly Ann (King) Ciccone ’79, of 2021, in Herndon, Va. We have received no Leominster, Mass. and Moody Beach, further information.

Maine, died on Sept. 7, 2021, after a brief illness. She was 60. She is survived by her Jonathan “Jay” Doe ’72, of Ayer, Mass., husband of 37 years, Celestino “Cello” formerly of Harvard, died unexpectedly Ciccone, a daughter, a brother and a sister, on Oct.14, 2021, at the Nashoba Valley and three grandchildren. For 21 years, Kelly Medical Center in Ayer at the age of 67. and her husband owned and operated Blue Jay, whose mother was longtime LA Latin Heron Enterprises, a successful embroidery teacher Charlotte “Chick” Doe, held the and silk-screening business that they sold in position of maintenance supervisor for the 2012. They continued to work together at Massachusetts Department of Transportation their property management company, King until his retirement in 2018. Throughout Hamilton LLC, which they owned for his life he also worked on his family’s farm, many years. Kelly loved spending time at Doe Orchards, in Harvard. He enjoyed her home on Moody Beach in Maine and traveling in his recreational vehicle, loved walking her dogs Lucy and Charlie spending time with his family, going on on the beach whenever she could. She was cruises and vacations, and listening to also an avid New England Patriots fan and music. Jay had a great love for car racing a longtime season ticket holder. and even raced his own Datsun 510. He leaves his wife of 42 years, Ann K. Former development staff member Mary (Wyman) Doe, as well as two daughters, a Jean Rogers, of Chattanooga, Tenn, passed brother and a sister, two grandchildren, and away on May 27, 2020, at the age of 95. As many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and a member of the Development Office staff grand-nephews, in addition to a great many from 1979 to 1986, she used her superb longtime friends.

editorial skills to produce the school’s publications, and greatly enjoyed her interactions with student helpers. In her spare time, Mary Jean enjoyed activities like horseback riding and birdwatching, but continually spoke of the people with whom she shared the experiences. She looked forward to horse shows or bird counts as opportunities to pick up on long-standing friendships. She was supportive and encouraging to her children and maintained that having children was the best accomplishment of her life. Mary Jean is survived by three children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her son Ethan, former husband Palmer, and sisters Martha Hamill and Alice Chancey.

IN MEMORIAM These are members of the LA community who died three or more years ago.

Former Buildings and Grounds staff member Jim Houghton of Washington, N.H., passed away peacefully with his family by his side on Oct. 31, 2018. He was 74. A carpenter by trade, Jim was a valued member of the B&G crew from 1992 to 2007.

In addition to his wife, Cheryl, an LA food service employee for many years, Jim is survived by five children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

David E. Paine Sr. ’61 died on Jan. 3, 2018, in Bristol, Va., at the age of 75. After graduating from Washington and Jefferson College, he worked for Arrow, Hart & Hegeman until 1972, when he started a construction company and started building custom homes and remodeling. In 1980, David earned Connecticut state certification as a building inspector, and worked for the towns of Newington, Hebron, and Colchester before he retired. David is survived by his loving wife of 20 years, Linda Paine; two sons, two brothers, and two sisters.

Alvin “Al” Knox ’69 of Littleton, Mass., passed away at age 67 on Sept. 8, 2018, at Athol Memorial Hospital. A graduate of Holy Cross, Al served in the Navy before beginning a career in automotive sales for several local dealerships. He was an avid Red Sox and Patriots fan, and enjoyed spending time with his family. Al is survived by four children, a brother and a sister, and one granddaughter. He was predeceased by his sister, Beatrice Plourde.

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The Amos and William Lawrence Society

A Gift of a Lifetime A graduate of Amherst College and the University of Michigan Law School, Chuck O’Boyle ’82 shifted his professional focus from law practice to retained executive search early in his career.

He started his own firm in 2005, specializing in recruiting presidents, deans and other senior administrators for colleges and universities. He trailed his English professor husband, Rick Rambuss, from Emory to Brown in 2012 and now lives and works in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence.

My junior high school teacher in Hollis, N.H., had a son at Lawrence, and she suggested I apply.

The Academy gave me a generous scholarship, and I’ve since regarded my four years there as my big break in life. First, there was the classroom: Ned Mitchell’s freshman English course equipped me with grammar and the beginnings of a writer’s voice. Alan Whipple’s History I class introduced me to the historical method and led me to my college major. Terry Murbach demonstrated how close reading could tease out a narrative agenda beyond mere plot and character and encouraged me to think I possessed a literary sensibility. Three teachers in particular — Joe Sheppard, Bill Mees, and Doc Richardson — modeled conversational panache, culinary and sartorial good taste, and an abhorrence of “can’t” that I continue to embrace. They would prove to be lifelong friends.

I arrived at Lawrence a shy, bookish kid who always had a ready laugh but whose bashfulness and rural unworldliness were limitations. The friendship of my LA classmates, from around the U.S. and the world, was my first taste of cosmopolitanism. My classmates gave me an activist’s mindset and social self-confidence, both of which served me well in college.

Chuck O’Boyle ’82, member of the Amos and William Lawrence Society

I choose to support Lawrence above my other alma maters because my contribution can be of greater benefit than it might be at either of those institutions, with their multi-billion-dollar endowments. How wonderful would it be for LA as a place of teaching and learning if it developed a stronger culture of alumni financial support? Lawrence has always been about its people; I value its people and wish to do my small part in affording them the resources to make it an even finer college preparatory school.

The Amos and William Lawrence Society was established to recognize those individuals who have made a charitable planned gift to Lawrence Academy or have made known their intentions to include Lawrence Academy in their wills or estate plans through a bequest. Donors who have made financial or estate plans of any size through wills, trusts, and other planned gifts are recognized for their loyal and lasting support of the school.

For more information about The Amos and William Lawrence Society, contact

Jo-Ann Lovejoy, Chief Advancement Officer, at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu or visit www.lacademy.planningyourlegacy.org.

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to

NON-PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID come from printer PERMIT #???

NASHUA, NH

This quilt was made in 1992 during the always-popular Quilting Winterim. Signed by LA legends such as Donna (Bibbo) Mastrangelo, Rob Rand, John Curran, Holly Steward, Jerry Wooding, and Rob Moore, just to name a few, the individual squares represent the different areas of academic life at Lawrence Academy.

The O’Connor family won this quilt in the 1992 parent auction, and in 2021, it found its way back to campus, courtesy of Tiffany (O’Connor) Hofmann ’94 to be shared with the LA community in perpetuity.

We’d like to hear from you to help us learn more about this quilt from those who attended the 1992 Quilting Winterim, producing this beautiful time capsule of life at LA. Kindly email Jo-Ann Lovejoy, Chief Advancement Officer at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu to share any knowledge or memory of this quilt you may have.

To celebrate and hear more about other Winterim stories, please join us on campus on June 10 from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. for the Winterim 50th Community-wide Celebration Visit www.lacademy.edu/winterimcelebration for more details.

Winterim @ 50: learning transformed, life inspired, only @ LA