The Amos and William Lawrence Society A Gift of a Lifetime (Chuck O’Boyle ’82)

The Amos and William Lawrence Society

A Gift of a Lifetime

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

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.

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.

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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.