The Academy Journal LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
1970 ALUMNUS GEORGE AELION CONTINUES HIS WORK WITH THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP) AS THE ORGANIZATION IS AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. SEE PAGE 26 FOR FULL STORY.
Board of Trustees of Lawrence Academy • 2020-2021 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 Kevin Anderson ’85 Ronald Ansin P’80, ’83, ’85, ’87, GP’03, ’05, ’14 Timothy Armstrong ’89 Deborah Barnes P’13 J. Christopher Bernene P’19 G. Randall Chamberlain ’79 Susanna Gallant P’20, ’24 Elizabeth Gross P’15, ’16 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 Michael McLaughlin P’23, ’23 Peter Myette P’00, ’03 Pamela Nwaoko ’06 David Santeusanio 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
Contents Around LA 1
From Head of School Dan Scheibe
2
LA at a Glance
8
LA Parents’ Association Keeps Community Engaged Even While Distanced
10
Linda Sheehan Retires
11
Welcome to LA
12
Perfectly Imperfect: Working Toward Community
LA History 15
With a Little Luck, a True Find
16
An End and a Beginning
22
Evelyn Munroe Prescott, Class of 1896
Alumni Profiles 24
LA’s First Spaulding Scholar: Dr. Yoshi Nakada ’54
26
Helping to Feed a Hungry World: George Aelion ’70
30
Baseball Connections
32
Sharing Red Sox History, One Baseball at a Time: Rich Johnson ’74
34
Tyler Beede ’11: San Francisco Giants pitcher credits LA with bringing him out of his shell
36
e Student-Athlete Becomes the Teacher-Coach: Catching up with Logan Gillis ’09
Alumni 38
Nearly Half a Century of LA Baseball: Coach Richmond Baker
39
People First, Players Second: Coach Chris Margraf
40
Alumni Events
Alumni Council 2020-2021
44
Alumni Class Notes
Carolyn Balas-Zaleski ’84; P’17, President Marianne Crescenzi Balfour ’88 Pat Donoghue ’06 Brian Drolet ’00 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
56
In Memoriam
58
Obituaries
65
Amos and William Lawrence Society: A Gift of a Lifetime: Neil Klar ’64
Editorial Team Kate Engstrom Faculty - Learning Coach Joseph Sheppard College Counselor, retired Angela Stefano Editorial Consultant
Caitlin O’Brien Director of Advancement Communications and Operations Hellie Swartwood Director of Parent Advancement
Editorial Council John Bishop Director of Communications Chris Davey Assistant Head for Institutional Strategy and Advancement Jonathan Gotlib Assistant Director of Communications Geoff Harlan Alumni Leadership Advancement Officer Jo-Ann Lovejoy Director of Alumni Advancement
Layout/Design/Production Dale Cunningham Assistant Director of Communications Photography Jonathan Gotlib Assistant Director of Communications
F ROM H EAD
OF
S CHOOL D AN S CHEIBE P’23, ’24
“LA’s Way Beyond Normal” In any other year over the last 50 or so at Lawrence Academy, I would be writing amidst the special energies at the intersection of Winterim and Spring Break. Generations of Lawrence Academy students can recall that particular feeling of healthy transition from the depths of winter to the rhythms of Winterim to the relief of break to the promise of spring. No other school in the universe has that kind of flow. This year — and last year as well — this steady routine was completely upended and superseded by repeated transitions from one phase to another of the COVID-19 pandemic and our community response to it. The global impact may be the most profound compound experience of a generation. But the individual impact — in the psyches and growth patterns of individuals — has been just as intense, and we are all still in the process of figuring out what to make of it. I have said the following on a few occasions: If there is one school that can find educational value in disruption, unpredictability, and norm-shaking — in a pandemic — it is LA. After all, we have figured out how to do Winterim through nearly 50 years and thousands of variations. Planning and operating in 2020-2021 has been just such an epic convergence: Snowmaggedon meets Winterim travel program detour meets political science crisis case study. Every school manages snow days and political/cultural moments. Only LA manages a yearly program that expects educational value out of disruption. So, what have we learned, and what is the value we have found in this last disrupted year?
community has. As we have seen in the struggle and passion, nationally and globally, to keep kids engaged in school, learning in place may be one of the most important social goods any culture has. We have worked our hardest to make our contribution and meet expectations. Managing to stay open as much as possible during these circumstances has meant an unwavering commitment to the starting point of our mission: recognizing students for who they are. Whether through the portals of technology (for remote students and for all students on our “Virch Mondays”) or through the barriers of masks, appreciating students for their unique sets of characteristics and capacities — how they “show up” — matters more than any particular program, facility, or routine. We will have whole new sets of habits and bags of tricks on the other side of this pandemic — adaptability and innovation worthy of the most ingenious Winterim. But we will also have a newfound appreciation of what it is to be together in a place with deep meaning for each of us, a place where we feel personally recognized and cared for. If there was any doubt whether on-campus education will ever be fully replaced by virtual education, that doubt has been eliminated. The essential need — and the essential value — of being meaningfully present for each other as a precondition for learning and being well is as obvious now as it was instinctive before COVID. As a last message, I simply want to thank people. Thank you to our faculty and staff, who have showed courage, endurance, and an absolute conviction towards our students. Thank you to our families, who have invested in us their trust and support and understanding. Thank you to our alumni and trustees who have put the good of our current students first in mind. And thank you most of all to our students for centering us always to what matters most here: the well-being, healthy growth, and joyful energy of young people.
First and last, that the appetite for learning — in person, in place, in the presence of others who care about who you are and what you do — is the single most-important resource a
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 1
September 2020
LA at a Glance
Registration/First Day of School “Welcome back to Lawrence Academy, everyone.” It was the same message that comes at the start of every new school year, but — as with most things in 2020 — it looked a little different. We told students and families, “If you’re registering in person … please pay attention to our campus signage. Traffic patterns have changed … Follow the arrows!” And for those students who needed a little laugh, Mr. Scheibe and Mr. Mastrangelo had a vital (but humorous) message reminding everyone to practice social distancing when they’re back on the Quad. It was a “10.”
October 22, 2020
Photo Day Like a lot of events in 2020, it almost didn’t happen. Finding a safe and socially distanced way to capture portraits of everyone on campus required a bit of extra planning, a new outdoor space, and a lot of patience. But it worked, and the consensus is that 2020’s photo day produced some of the best student, faculty, and staff pictures ever; in fact, we might just keep the practice of taking photos outside (with the beautiful backdrop of Gibbet Hill in the fall) going in 2021.
2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Every Friday Morning
Assembly Online Before 2020, online events were not unheard of at Lawrence Academy — they’re why we have the Media Conference Center — but during the last two school years, Zoom and Teams meetings have become de rigueur. Incumbent on the Senior Cabinet was finding a way to inform and entertain students, staff, and faculty (and families eavesdropping remotely), and President Amaya Benzaquin-Magill, Vice President Nicholas Beloff, Secretary Abigail Kelley, and Treasurer Wilson Li have made the experience fun and memorable.
Fall 2020 - Winter 2021
Making Blankets Over Break Before the holidays, students picked up material to bring home and make “no-sew” blankets; then, when everyone returned after an extended break, we saw their final products — for a short time, that is, before Blanket Me, a local non-profit whose mission is to provide blankets and other necessities to people experiencing homelessness, put them to good use. “With the freezing temperatures, we are very grateful for this amazing, heartfelt donation of handmade blankets from the students at Lawrence Academy,” said Blanket Me Founder Susan Michelle Laurin of the more than 120 blankets that arrived from Spartans. “ere were a lot of smiling people today!”
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 3
October 20, 2020
LA at a Glance
Masks Upon Masks Happy Halloween! e new normal and a nasty forecast didn’t stop Spartans from dressing up with their advisories on Oct. 20. It was great to see so many socially distanced groups in masks and costumes: Scooby-Doo, Pac Man, Santa(s), angels and devils, tropical shirts, video game characters, ghosts in hats, Winnie the Pooh, Smurfs, and Gru and the Minions. Both online and in person, this wonderful Spirit Week tradition continued.
November 9, 2020
Virtual Founders’ Day Times Two Founders’ Day is essentially Lawrence Academy’s birthday, and in 2020, for the first time ever, it was a virtual ceremony. ank you to Mr. Scheibe, Mr. Moore, and Ms. Rhonda Collins, as well as all of our student and faculty presenters, who did a fantastic job honoring this year’s award recipients: Rebecca Fleischman ’09 (Greater Good Award), Rod Jennette (Kathy Peabody Memorial Book Award), Sean Sheehan ’87 and Jim Howard (25 Years of Service), and Chris Margraf (Departmental Chair for Excellence in Teaching). Congratulations to all! An additional Founders’ Day ceremony, held in the spring after the Academy Journal deadline, lauded the 2021 Greater Good Award student recipient.
4 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
December 17-18, 2020
A December One-Act? Talk about a switch-up! One-Acts are a tried-and-true experience for Lawrence Academy thespians; however, in December, it was crucial that our students act over Zoom, too. Under the guidance of eatre Director Joel Sugerman, Lulu Feeney ’21, Stephen La Sala ’21, and Victoria Lucontoni ’22 wrote and twice performed a comic one-act play entitled Error Number 666 live on Zoom. Attendees of the performance also saw an appearance from Liv Ristaino ’23. Congratulations, Lulu, Stephen, and Victoria, on writing an incredible show!
January 15, 2021
Award-Winning Artists and Writers Congratulations to the Spartans who each received a Scholastic Art and Writing Award from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers: Calum Tinker ’21 earned a Gold Key for his painting 13 Awakenings; Kyle Soule ’23 picked up a Gold Key and a Silver Key for his photographs Abandon Factory and Dam Holding More Art an Water, respectively: Yuki Sun ’22 won a Silver Key for her digital art Sunken Paradise; and Mehar Poreddy ’21 was awarded Honorable Mention for his essay and memoir Our Love Was Too Much. Outstanding job, everyone!
Yuki Sun ’22
Calum Tinker ’21
Kyle Soule ’23
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 5
January 19, 2021
LA at a Glance
A Special Spanish Class With Mr. Moore and Guest Mr. Moore’s Spanish 5 Honors class had a fantastic experience in January when they were surprised by Bolivian actor Juan Carlos Anduviri, who visited virtually and answered questions — in Spanish, of course. Anduviri, also a cinematography professor at the Municipal School of Arts of El Alto, was nominated for the Goya Award for Best New Actor after his performance in También la Lluvia (Even the Rain).
February 7, 2021
NCAA-Bound Spartans Congratulations to the senior Spartan student-athletes who will pursue their chosen sport in college: Faith Gargano (soccer, Sacred Heart University), Mary Jo Smith (soccer, UNC-Asheville), Sean Henderson (lacrosse, Hofstra University), Marley Chappel (soccer, University of Arizona), Meg Hayes (field hockey, Bentley University), Walter Morales (football, Bentley University), and Nicholas Bilsbury (football, Bryant University). #GoLASpartans!
6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
January 18, 2021
Virtual MLK Jr. Day Presentation In perhaps the most poignant of Lawrence Academy’s traditional Martin Luther King Jr. Day presentations ever, Anthony Ray Hinton, the author of e Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, spoke about his incarceration for a murder he did not commit. e students listened as he recounted his time in prison and his many attempts to overcome systemic racism, which punished him for the color of his skin. ank you, Mr. Hinton, for sharing your incredibly moving story with our community and meeting with our students after the presentation.
March 1, 2021
2021 J. William Mees Visiting Scholar: Matthew Kay Lawrence Academy was pleased to present our 2021 J. William Mees Visiting Scholar, Matthew R. Kay, who engaged our community about “Meaningful Race Conversations: Tools and Strategies.” Kay, an educator, is the author of Not Light, But Fire, which the LA faculty read over the summer. Earlier in the year, he spoke to faculty members regarding meaningful in-class conversations fostered by teachers, and he echoed that lesson to the student body during a special assembly. His public presentation took place on Zoom on March 1 and boasted one of the highest rates of attendance in the program’s history.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 7
LA Parents’ Association Keeps Community Engaged Even While Distanced When Lawrence Academy sent students home and began holding classes remotely at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, faculty, staff, and students faced an enormous challenge: keeping the school’s welcoming, compassionate, and diverse community united from afar during an unprecedented global crisis. So, too, did the Lawrence Academy Parents’ Association. “No one expected, initially, for this ’new normal’ to be the entire rest of the year,” says Judy Schuster, P’22, ’23, ’23, the LA PA 2019-2020 vice-chair and 2020-2021 chair. She and the rest of the leadership team tried to remain optimistic about holding May’s Spring Social on campus, but eventually made the difficult choice to cancel the big event. As it became clear that the Lawrence Academy community would not be able to gather on the elm tree-shaded hillside before the end of the ’19-’20 school year, but would also spend the ’20-’21 school year in an altered state, Judy and her ’20-’21 vice-chair, Heather Swartwood P’23, ’23, as well as
the Parents’ Association’s class reps and committee chairs, started making changes. “The mission has always stayed the same: Keeping Lawrence Academy parents and families engaged somehow, even remotely … keeping everyone connected,” Judy reflects. “We knew there were going to be limitations … but we really tried to come in with the attitude that we could be creative and innovative.” Both Judy and Heather recall being surprised at the amount of parental involvement at LA when they first became part of the community. “Lawrence Academy really tries to keep that engagement, so that was one thing we kept front and center with programs,” Judy notes, adding that their goal was to complement the correspondence coming from campus without overwhelming parents or causing them “Zoom fatigue.” Making the PA’s monthly meetings virtual “was an easy decision,” Judy admits — especially with campus leadership
T H E P A R E N T S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
willing to join to tackle parents’ questions — and one that resulted in increased participation. “That actually turned out to be one of the positives because we realized we could reach more families,” she adds. “Sitting home and making dinner and hearing what’s going on is a lot easier than trying to get to campus.” The option to join via Zoom, or to host a fully online Parents’ Association meeting based on the weather, will likely continue post-pandemic, too: “I think that is a plus of what’s come out of this,” says Heather. “We’ve all learned that it’s doable, and that people will participate, so it’s going to have to be an offering.” With no chance to welcome parents to campus at the start of the school year or for a holiday party, the PA mailed out coffee mugs, then wine glasses. They started a virtual book club and a virtual faculty speaker series, delivered gift bags in lieu of the Faculty Appreciation Luncheon, and organized online class gatherings instead of the annual Park House dinners. They kept hoping for opportunities to get everyone together in person, but adapted as needed (sometimes at the last minute), and, as of publication time, have planned for an online Spring Social auction as well as a COVID-friendly, outdoors in-person event that will take place only if it meets the latest federal, state, and school guidelines. “This is not the norm for Lawrence Academy at all,” Heather points out, “but we’re doing the best we can.”
In particular, both Judy and Heather are impressed by the PA’s Admissions Ambassadors, who, in “normal” times, staff the on-campus Admissions Lounge and offer prospective and newly-accepted students and their families a parent’s perspective on applying to and life at LA. Completely remotely, the team has assisted the Admissions Office in establishing a bevy of online resources for those families, including a full slate of Virtual Revisit Experience offerings. “Talk about being innovative and creative and coming up with new ideas,” Judy gushes. “It’s really phenomenal what they’re doing to be creative, unique, and also make sure the LA community is still welcoming to new families and existing families.” In the fall, the Parents’ Association focused on the Class of 2021: “It’s a very emotional year,” Judy says, so they’ve been finding every opportunity to celebrate the soon-to-be graduates and make their final year at Lawrence Academy memorable. As the end of the year inches closer, however, they’re looking to the freshman class, and how they can “get them more geared up for next year,” says Heather. All the while, Judy, Heather (who will assume the role of PA chair for the ’20-’21 school year), and the rest of the Parents’ Association are crossing their fingers and hoping they’ll be back in Groton soon. “We really want to get back to being on campus, in person, and having the community really be together when they can be,” Heather says. After all, “it’s such a welcoming school.”
The Parents’ Association show faculty and staff their appreciation with stuffed and delivered goodie bags in lieu of the annual luncheon.
Staff member Diane Bellino with her goodies.
O F L AW R E N C E A C A D E M Y SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 9
1 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
LINDA SHEEHAN RETIRES
Fourteen-year Business Office veteran looks forward to serving others by Joe Sheppard
Linda Sheehan came to Lawrence Academy in 2007 as assistant business manager, working with Linda Deasy (LA’s former Chief Financial Officer.) Among other responsibilities, she oversaw payroll, the retirement plan audit, and benefits, and helped employees understand their benefits programs, especially when they were experiencing life-changing situations. That part of her job, she says, was “all about relationships” — and being very much a people person, she loved it. When Deasy retired in 2018, Linda became the controller, responsible for the accuracy of all business transactions, and financial and government reporting — a vital position in any business. She juggled the demands of the controller’s job, always greeting people with a smile and ready to offer a helping hand to those in need. Service to others has always been central in Linda’s life, and she is sustained by her Catholic faith, which, she explains, “shapes everything I do.” The recent recipient of a master’s degree in ministry from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Mass., she has counseled LA colleagues in times of grief or trouble; she has prepared several Catholic students for their confirmations as well. For a few years, Linda also helped form an informal, interdenominational Christian fellowship group that met during lunch on Fridays. Asked about her retirement, Linda smiled as she said, “I just want to slow down and be grateful for each day.” She will serve others through volunteer work — at a homeless shelter and for a former professor at St. John’s whose manuscript she will help prepare for publication — and as a lector at masses. She also helps her elderly parents, who live on Cape Cod. As far as her own home is concerned, Linda wants to “open it more fully to family and friends.” She and her husband John, who also retired recently, will leave time for “travel, reading, and hiking,” and spend more time with their two adult sons, who live in California and Chicago. “As controller, Linda has improved our processes and operations and completed a difficult migration to a new information system,” commented Bob Kramer, assistant head of school for finance and operations, when announcing Linda’s retirement. “Her hard work, commitment, and dedication are an asset to the school, and she will be greatly missed.”
Welcome to LA! Whether they live on or off campus, all faculty participate in Lawrence Academy’s residential life program, either as dorm parents or affiliates. Additionally, all serve as advisors, and most have coaching or extracurricular responsibilities as well. An October arrival to Lawrence Academy, Betsy Andrews is a Business Office accountant who previously ran her own accounting and bookkeeping company. She holds a B.S. in education and business administration from the University of Vermont and is an avid skier, cook, and gardener. Betsy, her husband Charlie, and their dog Brodie live in Groton, and are enjoying their experience as part of LA’s supportive and giving community.
Jason Bernardini is a new hire on Lawrence Academy’s information technology support team. He earned a B.S. in criminal justice from Hesser College and has more than a decade of experience in customer solutions and IT, as well as a passion for modern innovation and all things technology. Jason lives in Lowell with his mini goldendoodle, CJ, but loves to travel and spends much of his free time in Maine.
A May 2020 graduate of Stonehill College, where he earned a B.A. in communications, Ryan Smith joins Lawrence Academy as a Building & Grounds groundskeeper. During college, he was a member of Stonehill’s championship-winning men’s hockey team and a recipient of its 7th Player Award, and a Summer 2019 teaching fellow at the Taft Summer School in Watertown, Conn. Ryan, who currently lives in Arlington, also has experience as the assistant director of the Boston University Swim Sport Camp and a U15 hockey coach.
Kelly Yetter is Lawrence Academy’s new controller. She has a B.A. in marketing and operations management from the University of Houston and is a certified public accountant; prior to coming to LA, she worked as audit director for Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP, in Braintree. Kelly’s favorite things about Lawrence are the people, the community, and the mission. She lives in Westford and enjoys spending time outdoors with her family.
We wish Linda Sheehan all the best, and hope she’ll find a moment to stop in and visit from time to time. SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 11
Raquel Majeski Assistant Head of School for Equity and Community Life
1 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Perfectly Imperfect: Working Toward Community by Angela Stefano
Each fall since the start of the 2017-2018 school year, Assistant Head of School for Equity and Community Life Raquel Majeski works to focus Lawrence Academy — students and their families, faculty, and staff, alumni, and even the greater Groton community — on a specific piece of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) puzzle that will serve as a theme for the year’s work. This year, for example, the prescribed skills became listening and communicating. “We have to get to ‘the how’ and work to let folks in,” says Raquel of the disparate opinions in this world. “In DEI, we’re asking ourselves, ‘What is it that we do?’”
Both traits put her in good stead in her chosen career. And they make her a critical catalyst when it comes to keeping meaningful conversations happening at LA. Raquel began her career in diversity work at a school in Tampa. In 2016, she joined the Lyndon Institute in Vermont to build a diversity program at the school located in a particularly conservative, religious, and impoverished area. The framework she enacted ended up including efforts to engage the entire local community. “That was the moment that I knew I wanted to continue doing the work,” Raquel recalls.
What Raquel and her colleagues do is work to find common ground. Thankfully, her background and myriad experiences help her begin conversations on an even keel.
The work of opening people’s hearts and minds became a mission, and she looked to further her career at a school with a similar outlook. When she arrived at Lawrence Academy one year later, she found some diversity efforts already in place, “but it wasn’t strategic, and it remained unconnected to the greater community.”
Born, raised, and educated through graduate school in Florida, Raquel is the daughter of a father who grew up in the South and a mother raised in Harlem, N.Y. “That’s two different perspectives of what race means and what diversity means,” she points out.
“Everyone has a role
“I was raised with this fantastic dual-lens of my mom and dad. I understood that, while they were growing up at the same time, they didn’t experience these issues in the same way,” Raquel says. “So, they raised us to be very open and eclectic and forgiving.
to play in making the
world a more just place, that we all can work
toward community.”
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 13
Wanting to build off the LA community’s good intentions and previous efforts, she gathered more data to help inform her plan and started “really forming and creating a space and a place to do the work.” “It wasn’t just ‘that thing that happened over there,’” Raquel adds. “Instead, it was connecting the little things to the framework of LA’s mission.” Today, the many identity-based on-campus clubs remain united under the ‘Concordia Clubs’ banner (the word is Latin for “unity”); in turn, club leaders form the Moral Courage Task Force support each other’s missions. Moreover, all ninth-graders take a Concordia class (“Identity 101,” as Raquel describes it). As mentioned above, traditional programming for Martin Luther King Jr. Day now ties into an entire year’s diversity work focus. The Community Conversations series offers local stakeholders the opportunity to participate in the school’s DEI efforts, and a summer series does the same for alumni. Off campus, Raquel is the chair of the Town of Groton’s Diversity Task Force.
“I found that more folks were drawn into the work,” Raquel adds. The effort is far from over, however: Whether it be at LA, in Groton, or in the world at large, conversations held on the elm tree-shaded hillside are crucial to building community. “Facilitating courageous conversations isn’t meant to be so distant,” says Raquel, who strives to make those essential talks part of every day at LA.
Concordia
Now four years in, Lawrence Academy’s DEI programming offers everyone a chance to be involved in this work for the greater good. Of course, the current conversation around racial inequality and civil rights — coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic — both amplified the importance of Raquel’s work and made it more difficult. “It’s forced folks to see themselves in this work in a different way,” she says. “You couldn’t survive this summer without doing some soul searching ... and so,
14 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
people came to us wanting to engage and participate even more, and then they started asking questions.
To assist in those efforts, in 2020, Raquel’s department expanded to include O’Shea Bell, assistant dean of equity and community life, who focuses on students’ DEI programming. Soon, Raquel and O’Shea will be joined by a third staff member who will help coordinate and manage professional development for faculty. The new position will open Raquel’s time up to “really take a bird’s-eye view and design the framework” to ensure their efforts remain continuously connected to that overarching goal and the school’s mission.
Meanwhile, and despite this year’s complications, Raquel remains steadfast in her optimism, and her belief in the work. “In the middle of a pandemic, we haven’t let up on DEI,” Raquel says of 2020-2021’s unique challenges. “I’m excited about the opportunities there, and we’re going to keep going. “It’s perfectly imperfect,” she adds, "but we’re going to continue to keep going and growing.”
LA HiSTORY
With a Little Luck, a True Find by Rich Johnson ’74
y As a lifelong collector who’s toiled as a curator for the past five decades, I’ve always subscribed to the reflexive routine of leaving no stone unturned. When perusing the bins at the legendary Argosy Book Shop in New York City, I attempt to look at each and every print and signed piece. Likewise, at the outdoor shelves and carts of the Brattle Bookshop in Boston and various library and antique sales, among other well-traveled haunts. All because of three words: You never know. At Argosy, I once scored a one-of-a-kind print of a famous, signed David Levine cartoon of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Nikita Khrushchev playing soccer with a globe. Ten bucks. Go figure.
On eBay, it also pays to be persistent, and to take a regular look at subjects that strike your fancy. As a proud graduate of Lawrence Academy, I periodically take a gander at listings for the school. You never know when you’ll find a yearbook, postcard, or historic treasure from an institution founded in 1792, America’s 10th oldest boarding school. Well, this past October, the clouds parted and my years of persistence were finally rewarded when I spied a listing for a written sampler, penned in 1796, by Lucy Cook, a student at Groton Academy, the original name for Lawrence Academy. It was listed for an opening bid of $100,
so I quickly bid $130, and was soon overtaken by a competitor’s bid of $135.
Possessed in equal measure by excitement and anxiety, I then sent an email to all my Lawrence friends, including school officials, alerting them of the listing to ensure I wasn’t bidding against my compatriots. In addition, I made it clear I was willing to bid up to $250 in order to make a donation of the historic treasure to the school. I then asked if folks would make pledges to ensure we wouldn’t lose the piece should bids escalate. To everyone’s credit, I got direct pledges of $1,200, with one classmate simply saying he’d donate “whatever it takes.”
With wind in my sails and sweaty palms, I nervously anticipated the auction closing, having lost prior eBay auctions in those final 10 seconds, when bids can jump tenfold in a scene that resembles nothing less than feeding time in a cyber piranha tank. With that in mind, I upped my bid to $331.96 with just under a minute to go and the winning bid holding at $136; with 12 seconds to go, I made the Nicolas Cage-in-Leaving Las Vegas bet of $1,330.31 and held my breath. 10 … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … exhale.
When the winning bid of $145 flashed, I took another deep breath, but realized my mission wouldn’t be complete until the piece
arrived safely at my door. I cast that thought aside momentarily and purchased an antique frame suitable for the treasure that I’d soon mat and frame with UV-protective glass. Within days of purchase, both the stunning artifact and the frame arrived as advertised, and soon, Lucy Cook will return home to Groton and the Academy at which she wrote of truth and slander 225 years ago. Paul Husted ’64, co-curator of the Whipple Archives, informed me that school records indicate Lucy was born on Jan. 9, 1779, and died on May 12, 1840. But now, Lucy will assume a measure of immortality in a place I’m guessing she’d still recognize as the acreage adjacent to the First Parish Church, a beloved structure built in 1755 that also served as Groton’s town meeting house and was the gathering place for the Groton Minutemen, who joined the forces that battled the British at Lexington and Concord in 1775. This treasure will be presented in honor of Richard Jeffers, in recognition of his now-seven decades as a teacher, coach, and keeper of the archives at Lawrence Academy. A fellow Bates graduate, he’s a gentleman as beloved as any counterpart in the academy’s 228 years, and is someone I’ve appreciated for his great sense of humor (“good morning” greetings at 3:00 p.m.) and respected for 50 of his years on our elm tree-shaded hillside.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 15
LA HiSTORY
1 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
The Main Building from Main Street, c. 1940. Note: black banding around the elms, an early attempt to control Dutch Elm Disease.
AN END AND A BEGINNING May 27, 1956: “The Academy Building is on fire!”
by Joe Sheppard
Lawrence Academy’s original schoolhouse burned down in 1868, the victim of a firecracker carelessly tossed onto the roof by the eldest son of the then-principal, Rev. William Pope Aiken. Its replacement, a magnificent three-story brick-and-granite edifice in the Second Empire style that matched Bigelow Hall, opened in March of 1871, as students returned to campus for the spring term. They were summoned to class by the new 500-pound Academy bell, a gift to the trustees from Ephraim Sawtelle, a Groton resident. The new facility was quite an improvement over its predecessor, as LA’s historian Doug Frank ’68 describes in his History of Lawrence Academy at Groton, 1792–1992: As the students explored the new schoolhouse for the first time, they discovered the following interior design. On the first floor were the principal’s room, library room, chemical laboratory, philosophical room (“with good facilities for illustrating the various sciences taught”) and two students’ dressing rooms. The second floor was divided into two large school rooms — “one for young men and one for young women.” The third floor was divided into rooms of various sizes for recitation and music. The interior of the building was “furnished throughout in hard wood...attractive and convenient.” The library of the new building became the favorite and only meeting place for the board of trustees from 1871 until 1899. It was an inspirational setting: the bust of Amos Lawrence on the south side of the room; the bust of William Lawrence on the north. Portraits of Caleb Butler (added in 1876, a gift of his daughter, Mrs. Frances Brooks) and William Lawrence bedecked the north wall. On the east wall, saved from the fire in 1868, hung the historical compendium by N.D. Gould. The cabinet of medals, conchological collection, and mineralogical cabinet and almost three thousand books completed the furnishings. The intellectual and historical traditions of Lawrence Academy were well served by this library, not to mention elderly trustees who could nap in a corner armchair, dozing over a copy of Virgil. The new Main Building — or the MB, as it was soon christened — served the Academy well for 84 years, until a fateful Sunday afternoon in 1956, the day of the annual baccalaureate service. A reporter for The Elms, the student newspaper, gave this account (see the following page) of the second time Lawrence lost its schoolhouse to fire:
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 17
BACCALAUREATE DAY BLAZE TOTAL LOSS Groton, May 27: May 27th was a cloudy, cool Sunday. At four o’clock, the faculty, students, and their friends listened attentively to the Baccalaureate Sermon delivered by the Rev. Paul Harris, Jr. After the service and after many of the guests had departed, the boys were enjoying one of the last buffet suppers of the year. A cheery warmth prevailed with the expectation of a happy summer vacation not far ahead. Suddenly the serenity was shattered by the alarming cry, “The Academy Building is on fire!” Smoke and flames were soon enveloping the bell tower while the fire department was working desperately to reach the persistent blaze. Then came the cry for volunteers to help salvage the office records. There was urgent need for help. Not five or ten, but the entire student body was ready to run into the undamaged first floor of the burning building. About twenty were admitted, and the rest of the eager help was held back. Quickly and quietly the boys and masters formed a human chain; and not only were office records and files carried to safety, but also furniture was saved from the first floor of the burning school house. It was with sincere sadness and dismay that the crowd of spectators watched one of the towers crumble and then the bell-tower give way to the devastating flames. Although the fire was confined to the entire third floor, the heat and the pressure involved caused the structure to collapse, and soon walls began to cave in and what was once a stately building became a mass of rubble. The sturdy metal fire excapes lay on the ground twisted and torn. In spite of the unexpected tragedy, lights were out at ten o’clock. At a class meeting on Monday morning, Mr. Gray announced that seniors would be excused from their final examinations. Although no senior would be required to return to march in the Memorial Day parade, each one enthusiastically expressed a desire to participate. The Prize Speaking Contest was held as scheduled on Monday evening, and the under-class examinations were given in the gymnasium during the remainder of the week. On Saturday, June 2nd, graduation brought to a close a year of Study Hall in Main Building, 1950s happy and sad experiences. Perhaps the burning of the Academy Building marks the end of an era, but it also heralds the beginning of an even more glorious one than the past. The old building is down, but the memories of the years that we treasured within its four walls have not been crushed by falling bricks. The tremendous financial loss by fire can never make our school fail, for Lawrence has something more important than material possessions. Loyalty, love, and courage can never be destroyed.
1 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
A few days later, the Worcester Telegram published a tribute to the venerable school and its indomitable principal:
WORCESTER TELEGRAM. Sunday, May 27, 1956
photo by Bill Cooper ’59
A MAN AND A SCHOOL Fire may destroy a school building but it cannot destroy a good school.
The point is pertinent to the blaze that wrecked the main building of Lawrence Academy up in Groton last Sunday afternoon. That building, erected in 1870, was a landmark on Groton’s main street. It housed many of the Academy’s important facilities. The loss is bound to be severe, for it costs plenty these days to replace so large a structure. But good schools have a way of overcoming such problems. It is the purpose and the standards and the leadership that make a teaching institution, no matter how old or ivied or hallowed its buildings. So it has been with Lawrence. Established in 1793, the Academy went quietly along its way until shortly after the first World War when various troubles beset it and it was forced to close for three or four years.
Many thought it was finished. But it reopened, and after a brief but difficult period, it began the advance to its present position. As with Deerfield, Groton School and many another of New England’s distinguished secondary schools, one man has provided the leadership at Lawrence. When Fred C. Gray arrived as headmaster in 1925, most of the boys and faculty had departed with the previous administration. Mr. Gray began with 21 boys and a faculty of three. Now Lawrence has a capacity enrollment of some 160 students, fine new buildings, and an assured future, fire or no fire. It has sent 1100 boys to college since Fred Gray came down from Whitefield, N. H., over 30 years ago to take over a faltering institution. New England’s prep school tradition is built on just such achievement as that, Lawrence has risen above greater reverses than this fire, serious though it is.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 19
While LA’s second new building in two years was under construction — Spaulding Hall had just opened — some classes met in barracks donated by the Army at Fort Devens and set up in the parking lot behind the Gray Building. To anyone who has been working or studying on the LA campus during the COVID-19 pandemic, this recollection by Al Gordon ’59 will seem familiar: Study Hall was in the basement of Spaulding Hall, thanks to the installation of acoustical tile. A barracks was brought over from Fort Devens in sections and reassembled with the help of teachers, who became carpenters that summer. This served as a classroom building; however, classes were also held in the four corners of the MacNeil Lounge and in the gym and the dining hall in the Gray Building… The Army barracks: classrooms for 1956-57 The barracks were located right behind Spaulding Hall. This made it possible for power and heat to come from the equipment in Spaulding’s basement. My recollection is that the barracks were two floors and were transformed into about eight classrooms on each floor. I had three classes in the barracks and one, my English II class with Bob Shepherd, in a corner of the MacNeil Lounge. The opening of the new Schoolhouse in the fall of 1957 did more than provide needed additional classroom space: It heralded the start of a new era for Lawrence Academy. With the headline “New Era Opens,” Elliot Zide ’60 reported on the dedication of the new schoolhouse in The Elms:
DEDICATION November 16, 1957, a year after the ground breaking ceremony, the new Classroom Building was dedicated. The exercises started in the gymnasium promptly at 11:00 o’clock with the unison singing of “America the Beautiful,” followed by the invocation given by Reverend Manuel R. Holland. The presiding officer of the occasion was Ralph W. Conant, President of the Board of Trustees, who introduced Melville F. Weston, Trustee. Mr. Weston recited his “Sonnet upon the Dedication of the New Building.” (See following page.) Arland Dirlam, the architect for the new building, then presented the key to the new structure to Mr. Gray, Principal. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Gray stated that with the new building, he was confident that that there would continue to be the same teacher-pupil relationship which is so important in a school of this type. 2 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Next, the Glee Club sang “Bless This House” in honor of the occasion. The program was then turned over to General Daniel Needham, a Trustee, who gave the Dedication Address. The greater part of General Needham’s speech was devoted to an interesting account of the history of Lawrence. The formal exercises closed with a benediction by Reverend Holland. After a short ceremony at the main entrance the building was open for inspection. The rotunda, with its terrazzo floor, indirect lighting, low ceiling, and the two busts of William and Amos Lawrence, is one of the main attractions of the new building. On the first floor are the administrative offices of Mr. Gray, Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Head. Also on the first floor are two lounges, two classrooms and a faculty room. The lower level which has the book store, the post office, audio-visual aids room, and other
smaller rooms, also contains three modern laboratories: the chemistry, physics, and biology laboratories. The study hall which is annexed to the building, is a well-lighted, high-ceilinged room having the capacity for 200 boys. In the rear of this room is the McDonald Library, honoring the late James R. McDonald, a former President of the Board of Trustees. On the upper story are 12 class rooms with the most modern equipment, which creates an environment for work and study. We have seen the building, the result of the hard work of all concerned. Credit must be given, however, to Mr. Malcolm F. MacNeil, the chairman of the building committee. Truly this is the opening of a new era in this school, and in the words of Reverend Holland, “Lawrence Academy will continue to be a light on this hill.”
The new Schoolhouse on a spring day, c. 1958. Note the white shutters.
Like its predecessor, the new Schoolhouse became the center of LA’s academic life, fulfilling its purpose well for nearly half a century. In time, it wasn’t a fire that caused its demise — or rather, its demotion — but a growing school’s need for more space. In 2004, most classes except for the sciences were moved into the shiny new Ansin Academic Building. But the Schoolhouse still stands proud, with some windows, if not portals, facing westward. If you look up when you enter the front door, you’ll see a lasting connection to 150 years of school history: the massive granite Lawrence Academy medallion, rescued from the ashes of the old Main Building.
For the poetry lovers among you, here is Mr. Weston’s poem:
Sonnet Upon the Occasion of Dedicating the New Lawrence Academy Building by Melville F. Weston, trustee
This house was built in need. The swift blow fell, Compelling instant choice of destinies — Like death or life, as simple as breathing. Well, A house there had to be. And here it is. What are these walls? Why, sand and clay, of course. Now look again! Whenever did clay and sand Take on such forms by other force Than that of man’s firm heart and ready hand! Cleave to the lesson. Here we dedicate The structure to the spirit at its core, For they who chose to make a friend of fate
Parts of this article are excerpted from Joe Sheppard’s latest book, Voices from the Hillside, a chronicle of student life at LA in the mid-twentieth century as reported by the staff of The Elms. It will be available early summer on Amazon. Also available is his first book, Shep’s Places, a collection of 41 of the “Shep’s Place” columns he wrote for the LA website between 2011 and 2018.
In time of need, now see and hail once more The storied phoenix rising to proclaim Creation’s virtue from the cleansing flame.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 21
LA HiSTORY
Evelyn Munroe Prescott (née LIVERMORE) (1878-1965) e Lawrence Academy Class of 1896
Contributed by Christine Prescott-Allen, who lives in the wilds of Vancouver Island and is currently writing a multi-generational novel featuring her New England relatives. According to family lore — and never contradicted by my grandmother — her middle name came from her famous birthplace: Munroe Tavern in Lexington, Mass.
Many consider the brief, April 19, 1775, skirmish on the town’s common between local militiamen under Capt. John Parker and an advance team of British Redcoats led by Maj. John Pitcairn as the emblematic start of the Revolutionary War. Pitcairn’s men, joined by the 700-strong main contingent of army regulars under Lt. Col. Francis Smith, marched on to Concord, where they came under unexpected heavy attack from forewarned and strategically placed militiamen. The “midnight rider” credited with alerting the townspeople of the impending arrival of the British was Samuel Prescott, a forebear of Charles Jones Prescott, the man whom Granny would marry. With mounting casualties and no gains made, the British were forced to withdraw to Boston in what has been described as a chaotic retreat “with much bloody battling all along the way.” They neared Lexington low on ammunition and teetering on surrender; however, awaiting them was a 1,000-man rescue party commanded by Brig. Gen. Hugh Earl Percy, dispatched from Boston in response to a request for reinforcements. Within half an hour of his arrival in Lexington, Percy had commandeered Munroe Tavern as a temporary field headquarters-cum-hospital and positioned two cannons and troops to cover Smith’s men as they fled a full complement of militia and minutemen to reach safety behind friendly lines. Post-Revolutionary War, Munroe Tavern’s last historic hurrah was an illustrious visitor: Pres. George Washington, who, on Nov. 5, 1789, dined in one of its second-floor rooms on his tour through New England. Almost 90 years later, in the room named in his honor, Lucy Evelyn Livermore (née Bennett) gave birth to Evelyn Munroe Livermore. Lucy believed a superior education would be her daughter’s salvation and moved heaven and earth to ensure there would be funds to make it happen. During her time at Lawrence
2 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Academy, and encouraged by a mother who believed any and all extraordinary things could happen to her daughter, Granny pursued the classical curriculum designed for college preparation and immersed herself in the ancient world of the Latin and Greek languages, history, geography, mythology, and literature (Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, Books I-IV; Cicero’s Orations; Virgil’s Aeneid, Books I-IV and his Bucolics; Xenophon’s Anabasis, Books I-III; Selections From Herodotus; Homer’s Iliad, Books I-III). She further proved her one-track seriousness of purpose with her pick of elocution as an elective, but she put the lessons to good use, as her recitation earned second prize among female students in the declamation contest her junior year.
Granny’s June 25, 1896, Lawrence Academy graduation photo shows a young woman whose strength and selfconfidence somehow manage to triumph over a fashionably silly, long, white dress with a chokingly high neckline, ludicrous leg o’ mutton sleeves ballooning from the shoulders to the elbows and then fitted to the wrists, and an A-line skirt with an artfully tied ribbon at the waist and rows of frou-frou ruffles to the floor (see photo on right). In the fall of 1896, Granny began a four-year degree at Radcliffe College (since 1894, the new name of the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women), and the academic life that had sprouted promisingly at Lawrence vigorously beanstalked. She signed up for courses in both subjects she already loved (Greek and Latin literature, English, and music) and those that piqued her interest (philosophy: Kant and Schopenhauer; history: England during the Tudor and Stuart Periods; fine arts: Principles of Delineation, Color, and Chiaroscuro; Astronomy: Preparatory Practical). Despite it costing an extra $2.50, she splurged on Zoology: Lectures and Laboratory Demonstrations. In 1900, Granny graduated from Radcliffe. On the occasion of her 50th class reunion, she wrote that educational opportunities equip people “with a wider appreciation of the world and a lifelong desire for increased knowledge.” She certainly was living proof: In her 80s, she invited the Anglican and Catholic Bishops of Montreal to tea to discuss Buddhism.
“Educational opportunities equip people with a wider appreciation of the world and a lifelong desire for increased knowledge.” -Evelyn Munroe
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 23
ALUMNI PROFILE
LA’s First Spaulding Scholar Dr. Yoshi Nakada ’54 recalls his years at Lawrence Academy Yoshi in front of Gray Building (fall of 1950)
by Kate Engstrom
After a two-week boat ride and a 24-hour plane trip, Yoshinao Nakada arrived in Massachusetts, ready for the educational opportunity awaiting him at Lawrence Academy in the fall of 1950. There was no school system in Tokyo at that time, so Yoshi had only learned math and spoke no English. The long journey proved well worth it, however, given the warm welcome and growth he experienced at the school. In the late 1940s, Americans wanted to help the younger Japanese generation by offering boarding school opportunities, and thenLA Principal Fred Gray was interested in being a part of that outreach when selecting the first recipient of the school’s Spaulding Scholarship, established in 1949 by Huntley N. Spaulding, Class of 1887, and his wife Harriet. Principal Gray remembered Yoshi’s father from when the elder Mr. Nakada had come to Lawrence to learn English in 1929, while working for the Guaranteed Trust Company in New York City. The selection of a Japanese student who spoke no English was “an expression of the secular mission and nondenominational, nondiscriminatory values upheld by Lawrence Academy.” In making this choice, “Principal Gray challenged the Academy community to confront prejudice and discrimination” at a time
when America was reflecting on WWII, facing Communism, and on the cusp of entering the Korean War. When asked if he experienced discrimination at LA, Dr. Nakada said, “No, I was more of a curiosity.” Most of his Lawrence Academy peers were from Massachusetts, and a few came from New York, but he did not feel as though there was any antiJapanese sentiment; in fact, he characterized it as entirely different from the West Coast at that time. Academically, he found that math, chemistry, and physics came easily, but English and other languages were more of a challenge, and he credits many supportive teachers for helping him along his path of learning all of the subjects in English. Spaulding Scholarship recipients were selected “based on scholastic aptitude, character, personality, general promise, and financial need” and provided full tuition, room, and board. Even with the assistance, however, Yoshi’s family could not afford to get him to the United States, so trustee Malcolm MacNeil assumed those costs; in fact, the MacNeil family unofficially adopted Yoshi through his time at both LA and Harvard University. On the weekends, Dr. Nakada distinctly remembers lining up at Mr. Head’s* office on Saturday mornings to collect $1.00 to spend, and recalls attending Sunday services at the First Parish
* Francis Head (LA 1939 - 42; 1945 - ’71) Academy Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, and Alumni Secretary.
2 4 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Church of Groton. During the summers, Yoshi joined the MacNeil family at their home in Duxbury, where he might be found playing with or babysitting their children. Their eldest, Bruce ’70, remembers that whatever he wanted to do, from playing catch to rowing in the boat, Yoshi was up for it. Dr. Nakada graduated from Lawrence Academy in 1954 and went on to study material engineering at Harvard, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He then returned to Japan to look for a job; when none was available, he went back to Harvard for a Ph.D. in applied physics. Hired by Bell Laboratories in 1968, he began a 33-year career with the company, much of his work centering around research into telephone equipment materials and system reliability. In 1989 he was transferred to Bell Labs in Tokyo, to oversee the company’s operations in Japan. He retired in 2001, and now resides in New Jersey with his wife Anna. In reflecting on his time at Lawrence Academy, Dr. Nakada shared one of the most important lessons he took from the experience: “It is very important to be kind to other people. A family who didn’t even know me took me in for 8-10 years. I now try to be as open and kind to people I don’t know.” The opportunity afforded him by Mr. Gray and the MacNeil family changed his life and will never be forgotten. With continued generosity and hospitality such as theirs, more LA students from a variety of backgrounds are sure to thrive as he did.
“It is very important to be kind to other people. A family who didn’t even know me took me in for 8-10 years. I now try to be as open and kind to people I don’t know.”
Yoshi (pictured first row and center) with the 1953 soccer team.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 25
ALUMNI PROFILE
George Aelion ’70
2 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
with daughters Léah and Julia at the the Piazza del Popolo in Rome.
Helping to Feed a Hungry World One LA graduate does his part … and then some by Joe Sheppard
Second only to the United Nations’ World Bank in size, the World Food Programme, founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, has been delivering food and other assistance worldwide to people in need since 1961. In 2019 alone, the organization assisted 97 million people in 88 countries, according to its website; it amounts to some 15 billion rations per year. In October, the WFP earned the Nobel Peace Prize “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflictaffected areas, and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.” George Aelion ’70, a former Lawrence Academy wrestling co-captain and a 1974 graduate of Connecticut College, worked for the WFP for 22 years. Service and teaching come naturally to George, whose warm and outgoing nature has made him a natural for the diverse, but related, jobs he has held throughout his long career. Right after college, he spent a year in rural Vermont as a social worker before joining the Peace Corps, through which he taught secondary school in Togo, West Africa, for two years. Upon returning home, he went to work for the organization’s Boston office, visiting colleges and interviewing potential applicants — good training, it turned out, for the job he would eventually hold with the WFP. With his stint at the Peace Corps over, George became the assistant director for operations and training at the University of Rhode Island’s International Center for Marine Resource Development, where he managed a number of
international development and training programs. Then, in 1991, the opportunity came along to interview with the World Food Programme at its Rome headquarters. When he was offered initially the job of training officer and subsequently that of chief of human resource development — head of training — George was concerned that his new employer might be trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. “The job I got,” he explains, “was not really well fitted for what I was trained for. They just assumed that because I was at a university, I could be a trainer, which is a completely different thing. So, I quickly learned that you just need to know a little bit more than the people around you and you’re fine.” He remained at the Rome office for five years. During our Skype conversation in February, George, who emigrated with his family from France to the U.S. when he was seven, recalled with some amusement that the people who interviewed him were astounded to be talking with an American who actually spoke another language. “When I went to the interview, they couldn’t believe I had said that I was fluent in French. They just think Americans can’t speak any languages,” he relates. “The person I was interviewing with was German, but he spoke French and Italian. And there was a Moroccan there who was head of Human Resources. He said, ’Do you mind if we continue in French?’ And then when I started to speak French, you know, I don’t have an accent. They were going through the whole thing, trying to figure out what went wrong …”
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 27
In the end, George’s bilingualism was a major factor in landing a job that would become a challenging and immensely rewarding career. When he joined the WFP, the organization was transitioning from “development” work — sending food (in-kind contributions from donors) to countries and programming it into activities such as school feeding and community construction projects — and, to a lesser extent, responding to emergencies, from droughts to civil wars to epidemics. George’s initial position involved “bringing people up to speed to respond to complex man-made emergencies, like wars,” he explains, adding, “… Then there are climate issues and slow-onset emergencies like droughts, where you know it’s coming and you have to prepare for it.”
other organizations are guaranteed a certain amount of money. WFP just gets money for the operations that it does. In other words, donors provide funding for Yemen, for Syria, for Cameroon, and so on,” George explains. The major donors are “mostly governments,” he adds: The U.S. is the biggest donor, followed by the European Union, Japan, Australia, and Canada. “Countries don’t like to see people starving on their TVs, so whenever there’s an emergency, the donors are extremely responsive,” George says with a wry smile.
A fitting cap to George’s career came in the form of the 2011 formation of the Global Food Security Cluster, designed to provide coordination support to countries in crisis. He became the Cluster’s senior “Countries don’t like to programme advisor, a position that allowed him to use his wealth of see people starving on their experience to help deal with the TVs, so whenever there’s an coordination challenges that come with all types of humanitarian emergency, the donors are emergencies.
Major shifts in organizational priorities were beginning to move managers from the office to the field — just what George wanted after several years in an office. “They asked us to give them three choices, and I wanted to go to India,” he recalls. “At this point, I was married and we’d extremely already had one daughter, who was born while we were in Rome. My second daughter was born in India.” The family stayed in India for four years, at which point George was reassigned to war-torn Kosovo — his first purely humanitarian job for the organization. Because family members were not permitted to accompany employees, George’s wife Anne and their young daughters moved back to her home city of Toulouse, France. Every month or so, George was able to join his family for a week. When the food security situation in Kosovo improved, the WFP closed its office there, and George was transferred to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he remained for five years. Whereas he headed up operations in Kosovo, the regional response in Africa — “an enormous challenge,” he describes — involved six countries. His job became more advisory in nature, coordinating different projects in several countries through the central office in Johannesburg, allocating food and funds and “helping them design and develop their programs.” George returned to Rome in 2007 as senior donor relations officer for the WFP, which is the only organization in the United Nations to not receive annual funding. “All the
2 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
responsive,”
George “retired” from the World Food Programme in 2014, though his life since then justifies the quotation marks: He now works as a consultant for the organization wherever his expertise is needed. “What’s nice about working with WFP is that once you get their confidence, they’ll send you anywhere,” he says. “I’d never been to Southern Africa and I’d never been to Kosovo. And now I’m doing all of this consulting in places I’ve never been to. I was in Chad for a couple of months; I was in South Sudan, Malawi, and now in Cameroon. I try to keep that side of the brain going … I used to read as a form of escapism, but I’m having so much fun now that I don’t really need to escape anymore!” When George does finally return to Rome for good, he will do so knowing that all the “fun” he has had in his life has been for the benefit of millions of people who might not have survived without the World Food Programme and the vital work he has done for it. For this work, Lawrence Academy honored him with the Greater Good Award in 2011, and a good chunk of that Nobel Prize belongs to him and all of his colleagues.
TO SHARE Inquiring minds want to know what you are up to! We would love to publish news of your life and what matters most to you in our Class Notes. Contact Pru Glover at pglover@lacademy.edu to be included in the next issue of the Academy Journal. Deadline will be announced.
Connect with LA
TO REMEMBER Consider joining your reunion planning committee this year if you are part of a class ending in 0, 1, 5, and 6, or begin to look ahead to next year with classes ending in 2 and 7. Contact Jo-Ann Lovejoy P’06, ’08, ‘10, at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu.
TO iNSPiRE Join the dedicated legions of class agents inspiring connectedness among your classmates and serve as a critical link between your class and Lawrence Academy. Contact Tamara Belmonte at tbelmonte@lacademy.edu or Kevin McDonald ’70; P’10, chair of the Class Agent Executive Committee, at mcdkev@comcast.net.
TO SPEAK Contact us to share your interest in participating as a panelist on a future Alumni for LA career panel series. Contact Jo-Ann Lovejoy at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu.
TO GiVE
Connect with the Alumni Advancement Team: Tamara Belmonte and Geoff Harlan, alumni leadership advancement officers; Pru Glover, program manager for alumni advancement and trustees; and Jo-Ann Lovejoy, director of alumni advancement
Contact us to discuss the traditional and non-traditional ways you would like to demonstrate your support of LA. Contact Jo-Ann Lovejoy at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu.
TO OPiNE Participate in the DEI Alumni and Community Read and book discussions this year. Contact Geoff Harlan P ’16, ’18, at gharlan@lacademy.edu.
TO MENTOR Join LA Connect, Lawrence Academy’s online and mobile alumni community, to mentor and inspire LA alumni jobseekers and to utilize the job boards and other features. Contact Geoff Harlan at gharlan@lacademy.edu, or visit https://lacademyconnect.com/ for the desktop version. For iOS: Go to the App Store and download the Graduway Community app, then search for “Lawrence Academy Network.” For Android: Go to Google Play and download the Lawrence Academy Network app.
TO UPDATE Moved? New phone? New email? Please think of LA as life continues to move at warp speed. Updating your contact information enables us to share all of our communications with you reliably, in a timely fashion, and at a cost savings to the school. Contact Pru Glover at pglover@lacademy.edu.
TO SUGGEST We are working every day to improve our alumni program in all aspects and would enjoy hearing from you with your ideas, feedback on our work, and innovative ways we can improve. Contact Jo-Ann Lovejoy at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu. SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 29
What’s the connection between the Boston Red Sox, the San Francisco Giants, and Lawrence Academy? Baseball first came to LA in the fall of 1878, when the first organized team played two games, lost both, and “gave up the ghost and returned to study again,” according to a student newspaper of the time. (They did win four out of four the next year.) Fortunately, the sport has fared somewhat better since that inauspicious first endeavor, as it is still very much a part of LA in the spring. Since the baseball season is upon us as we go to press, we’d like to share with you answers to our “connection” question, offered by five present and past members of the Lawrence baseball fraternity: coaches, players, and one intrepid collector. Play ball!
Earliest known LA ba
3 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
3 seball photo, from 192
Lawrence Academy 1940s baseball team
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 31
ALUMNI PROFILE by Angela Stefano
Sharing Red Sox History, One Baseball at a Time RiCH JOHNSON ’74 chronicles incredible collection in new book
Rich Johnson ’74 keeps everything — including, as it turns out, two research papers that are nearly 50 years old. “I have them in my office somewhere,” he says over the phone, and you can sense him thinking about where they might be, these two assignments for a class taught by Lawrence Academy History Department mainstay John Curran. One focuses on Rich’s great-great-uncle, a sailor on the USS Tennessee during its trip to the Far East in celebration of the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the other, on editorial cartoonist Thomas Nast; both were among Rich’s earliest work with primary sources. “Mr. Curran’s method of teaching, his openness to going beyond the textbooks, to really exploring the sort of history that connected you to it in a visceral, emotional way, remained with me, and so I tip my hat to him,” Rich reflects. “I imagine that I would join a rather large group who would say he was a very big influence on my professional path.” Rich is a life-long athlete, history buff, sports fan, and collector; he fondly recalls both his time on the Spartan cross country team under head coach Jim Holmes and his love for Old Sturbridge Village, not far from his childhood home in Worcester. His post-Lawrence career highlights include work published in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, and elsewhere; nearly two dozen books; consultant work for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, documentarian Ken Burns, and others; and even a songwriting credit on the Dropkick Murphys’ “Jimmy Collins’ Wake.” For nearly 40 years, he’s been the curator at the Sports Museum of New England, located in Boston’s TD Garden (it’s currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but continuing with its education and community outreach work). “Basically,” Rich says, “I’m a lucky person who’s been able to pursue work that I truly love. It’s not often that people get to do that.” Rich’s newest book, A Stitch in Time, chronicles the history of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox one baseball at a time — literally. Collectors Brad Keltner and David Levanson have amassed autographed baseballs from every single Red Sox team ever, all the way back to the ball club’s founding in 1901, and photographs of each baseball sit beside Rich’s words to tell tales of both all-stars and forgotten figures with incredible stories. “I’m a great believer in fate. This wasn’t a project that I even imagined,” admits Rich, explaining that the idea first came out of a 2017 phone call from Keltner about the collection: “Just before we were going to hang up, I said, as a throwaway line, ‘Oh, you know, it’d be a hell of a book.’” And that was that, until about eight months later, when Keltner called back and asked Rich to take on the project for real.
3 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Eventually, the project included Ted Williams and David “Big Papi” Ortiz (the latter of whom wrote the book’s foreword) as well as men like Charlie Berry — a NFL player-turned-MLB player who would later be a pro football referee and a pro baseball umpire — and Curtis Pride, who is deaf and now coaches at Gallaudet University (a Washington, D.C.-area school for the deaf and hard of hearing). A Stitch in Time arrived in December via the publishing company Assouline. “Doing this book was a John Curran-like voyage of discovery … It was really a blast to delve into a subject I figured I knew a lot about,” Rich admits. “This, like a lot of the projects I work on, assumed a sort of spiritual dimension. What it is, is making sure the people who shouldn’t be forgotten aren’t … I’m the one that should be putting the spotlight where it deserves to be placed.”
Clockwise, top left, cross country team (Rich Johnson is third from the right in the front row), Rich today, and Annual Tom Warner Memorial Day walk/run at Reuion weekend (Rich pictured center, green jacket)
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 33
ALUMNI PROFILE by Angela Stefano
San Francisco Giants pitcher credits LA with bringing him out of his shell TYLER BEEDE ’11 From the ISL to MLB
In the 2011 MLB draft, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Tyler Beede ’11 21st overall and offered the 2011 Lawrence Academy graduate a whopping $2.5 million to sign with the organization. Instead of inking the contract, however, Tyler turned it down in favor of attending Vanderbilt University. “I found myself as a high school sophomore going to Lawrence Academy to put myself in a better draft position for leverage,” explains Tyler, who enrolled at LA for the start of his junior year. “To challenge myself more academically would show that I had a higher interest to attend Vanderbilt, but in my case, at the time … I was thinking how much more leverage that could potentially get me in the draft for a team to sign me, and that was so narrow-minded.” Tyler was the MLB’s only 2011 first-round draft pick to not sign with the club that drafted him. If he hadn’t attended Lawrence, he might have made a different choice. “Lawrence Academy broadened my horizons, it broadened my interests, it got me out of my comfort zone. I developed into being not just a baseball player, but more academically driven, more community driven, leadership driven,” Tyler reflects. “Yeah, I had a tremendous opportunity on the table to sign, but the same reasons I chose Lawrence Academy were the same reasons why I valued so highly the opportunity to go to Vanderbilt to just further my human development, academic development, and athletic development, and it was undoubtedly jumpstarted from my experience at Lawrence Academy.” Tyler, a Worcester native, began to consider attending Lawrence Academy after meeting a future Spartans teammate, Joe Napolitano ’11, at a summer baseball camp at Boston College. He’d been looking for a more challenging high school, and Napolitano had plenty of praise for LA and its baseball coach, Chris Margraf (see page 39). Applying and enrolling “was one of the biggest early decisions my parents let me work through,” remembers Tyler, who was a boarder during his time on the elm tree-shaded hillside. “I felt more challenged, both academically and athletically, but, at first, I didn’t know if it was the right decision because of that,” Tyler admits. “I felt as though I may have been a little bit in over my head … I really needed to work on my time management and figuring some things out, but the challenge pushed me to focus more, get more determined academically, showed me where I needed to improve athletically, and socially, too.” Two years later, Tyler found himself facing a similar shift as he moved from Lawrence to Vandy. Once again, it wasn’t an easy change, but it was easier than it could have been. Notes Tyler, “If I had gone from public school to Vanderbilt, I would have 100 percent been in way over my head. It wouldn’t have been as quick of an adjustment.”
3 4 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
In 2014, after his junior year of college and a College World Series victory with the Vanderbilt Commodores, the San Francisco Giants selected Tyler 14th overall in the MLB Draft. That time around, he signed with the organization, though he continued his education and earned a degree in organizational management from Vanderbilt in 2019. Tyler worked his way through the rookie and minor leagues — from the Arizona Giants to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes to the San Jose Giants to the Richmond Flying Squirrels to the Sacramento River Cats — and pitched his first major-league game on April 10, 2018. On every team, he’s tried to act in accordance with the principles he learned at LA, where he truly felt able and comfortable to be himself.
Courtesy of San Francisco Giants
A self-identified introvert, Tyler quickly came out of his shell at LA. He explains, “I started to see other people’s interests and passions really align with mine, and it took me to a point where I was more outgoing, in a setting that really charged me up.” He still recalls how he began creating music with a dorm neighbor after hearing the fellow student’s beats through the wall.
“I was able to peel back the layers of who Tyler Beede really is, and all credit goes to the staff that I was surrounded by; they were just allowing me to be myself … and them sticking with me, it proved that I can be myself and I don’t need to be anybody else; I don’t need to try and be anybody else,” Tyler muses. “Who I am is completely valued and loved and respected and appreciated and supported … It was a very safe community, very encouraging and uplifting … “When I talk about wanting to be a part of a team and be a leader, that’s the same environment and culture that I try to create everywhere I go,” he continues. “That’s the community that I want people to feel, and it’s because of what I felt at Lawrence Academy.”
While he was clearly an extremely talented baseball player, Tyler made sure to involve himself in LA’s arts program, too. “I love the creativity and expressing yourself through that aspect,” he says; in fact, although he doesn’t spend a ton of time on it anymore, music is still a hobby of his. “A lot of people saw me as the baseball player, and maybe looked at me with a certain admiration, whereas I was looking at the art students, and the more musically inclined or theatrically inclined students, and looking at them with admiration,” Tyler adds, “because that’s my creative outlet.”
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 35
ALUMNI PROFILE by Angela Stefano
The Student-Athlete Becomes the Teacher-Coach LOGAN GiLLiS ’09
At the end of his five years at Lawrence Academy, Logan Gillis ’09 “was just ready to be done.” And yet, more than a decade after his graduation, he once again finds himself living on the campus of his alma mater. “I kind of always wanted to come back to LA,” confesses Logan, who moved on campus for the second time when his wife, Sara Davey Gillis ’10, took a job in the Admissions Office. He’s now a faculty member himself, in the math department, after discovering his “true calling” was teaching and coaching, not the Corporate America sales job he took after college, but he also owns a robust baseball training business and a travel baseball club. Logan played baseball throughout childhood, high school, and college (Northeastern University, then Bentley University), and aspired to a career in the pros. When his dream didn’t pan out, he admits, “I was pretty disappointed … and really struggled to understand why” — but he kept coaching. A side gig offering private lessons blossomed with the support of a childhood mentor who referred a number of clients; after one of Logan’s trainees, Grant Lavigne, was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Logan’s nights-and-weekends job became his full-time one. “Eventually, it just got to the point where, in a good sense, I was forced to make a decision,” says Logan, who now coaches varsity baseball and JV hockey at LA, and has in the past coached for Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, Nashua North High School, and Emerson College. He officially founded Next Level Athlete, his training program, and the Next Level Shamrocks, an associated travel club, in 2015, offering one-on-one lessons and group clinics as well as running team practices for the Shamrocks and others. “It became my mission to help kids not only learn the game of baseball, but to understand where their strengths and their weaknesses are, and how to navigate the game from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint,” Logan says. “You hear a lot about mental health these days, and my main reason for doing what I do is helping kids through those challenges … and trying to coach them on the experience that they’re going to have, the struggles that they’ll face, in this game, and how to deal with those.” In addition to Lavigne, Logan has worked with a number of players currently at the Division I level: among others, Zach Fletcher has committed to Purdue, Austin Bequeath will be attending and playing for American International College, and James Broderick ’20 plays at Wake Forest. During Logan’s time at Emerson as a hitting and infield coach, his players broke 10 program records. “I always want kids who work with me to have a clear understanding of my thoughts of them as a player and as a person … I’m not afraid
3 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
“As a kid, it’s tough to wrap your head around … but there’s a lot more to it than just living in the same building as you,” Logan says. “They really are a second set of parents to you … This job has only created a greater appreciation for everything everyone did here when I was a student.”
Logan pitching for LA...
to have a difficult conversation with a player, because I’d rather have them know than guess or not know,” Logan reasons. “The end goal is to provide these kids, potentially, the opportunity that I never got.” Along with his wife (Sara ’10), Logan’s Lawrence Academy family includes another actual family member: his father-in-law, Chris Davey P ’10, ‘16, who is LA’s assistant head of school for institutional strategy and advancement. “Working at LA with family is a very rewarding experience, because we see LA on so many different levels,” Logan reflects. “I think at times we talk about LA too much in the house,” he adds with a laugh, “but when you’re constantly involved, it’s hard not to talk about it.” Logan first found out about Lawrence Academy through his godfather; his father was himself an alumnus of another New England prep school, and while Logan always thought he’d go to the same place, commuting there from New Hampshire simply wasn’t feasible. But, Logan says, “ever since I walked on campus, I just fell in love with LA.”
At LA, Logan learned plenty about resilience and being a fierce, but fair, competitor, in sports and in life. With an additional decade-plus of world experience under his belt, however, he’s able to not only pass those lessons on to current students, but also offer them some perspective: “Letting them know that you’re vulnerable, that you make mistakes as well, and that you learn from those kinds of things, I think that’s the big value I bring,” he muses, “and letting the kids know that I care about them more as individuals than their grades on the math test or their performance on the field.” In addition to his family members with ties to Lawrence Academy, Logan remains close with many of his classmates and former teammates, some of whom were in his wedding. Even with those he doesn’t see particularly often, he’s able to pick back up as though little time has passed. “It’d be great for the students to know just how awesome this place is,” Logan says, reflecting on his LA days. “I really hope that everyone cherishes the relationships that they make here; they really are lifetime relationships.”
“It just felt right, the community here,” he adds. “I was a publicschool kid … There were a lot of kids I could relate to here … I didn’t feel like I was stepping too far out of my comfort zone.” Now a dorm parent, Logan looks back on his time as a Lawrence Academy boarder with a hint of amusement, noting that now he understands that those nights he may have been trying to get away with not doing homework, his dorm parents knew what he was up to, even if they didn’t say anything. It’s also been “eye-opening,” he admits, to see from the faculty side how committed the adults on campus are. … and teaching his math class in 2020.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 37 In the classroom
Nearly Half a Century of LA Baseball Coach RiCHMOND BAKER by Kate Engstrom
When considering his roots with America’s pastime, retired LA faculty member Richmond Baker P’74 reflects humbly on playing stickball in the streets of Brooklyn and cheering for the Dodgers as a kid. He played baseball at Stony Brook High School on Long Island, then junior varsity baseball for a couple of years at Springfield College (“The coach there liked me well enough to keep me around as the batting practice pitcher for the varsity team,” he recalls, chuckling). When he came to Lawrence Academy in 1955, Mr. Baker knew he would coach varsity basketball and teach biology and general science; his 45 years of service to Spartan baseball came as an unexpected, but rewarding, surprise. After coaching JV baseball for four years, Mr. Baker took on the varsity head coach position. He worked with the team for 33 years, celebrating LA’s first baseball championship win in 1992. The nine-player team notched an impressive 13–2 record; Coach Baker recalled them as “by far the most talented group of players I ever coached and the most hard-working and enjoyable team I ever watched.” That year, captains Jeremy Baker ’92 and Ryan Mailhiot ’92 led the team with their focus and drive, and Mailhiot in particular stood out at “the most talented pitcher, hitter, and fielder” with whom Baker had ever worked. Teammates, including David Naspo ’93 — the shortstop when Ryan was pitching — and Geoff Oliver ’93, also came to Mr. Baker’s mind as he looked back to that time; in fact, Oliver was named ISL All-League alongside Jeremy and Ryan, the latter of whom was also the ISL Most Valuable Player and a Boston Globe All-Scholastic appointee that year. In 2001, Lawrence Academy recognized Coach Baker’s commitment to the Spartans athletic program by naming the Baker Baseball Field in his honor; 20 years later, he still remembers how “thrilled” he was the day the field was named after him. Mr. Baker also continues to be recognized for his contributions each year at graduation, through the Richmond Baker Award for athletic achievement.
COACHiNG 3 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
People First, Players Second Longtime Spartans baseball coach CHRiS MARGRAF explains his philosophy
by Angela Stefano
“I can’t say that Chris Margraf P’24 was my first exposure to a great coach … but he was my first exposure to a coach who didn’t just say, ‘Good job,’ and ‘You’re doing great,’ or ‘Keep going.’ He challenged me, he pushed me, and he didn’t allow me to be content or comfortable with being a successful high school pitcher,” reflects Tyler Beede ’11, now pitching for the San Francisco Giants. Coach Margraf, the former Spartan standout says, “challenged me to remain humble but to continue to challenge myself.” A fixture on campus since 1997, Chris Margraf has headed up the Spartans baseball program since before the new millennium. In 2011, he led the team to an undefeated season and an Independent School League championship, and he has sent a steady stream of players to Division I colleges — not to mention, he coached Tyler before he was drafted into the major leagues. But while Chris is proud of those achievements, he’s even more proud of the men his former players have become.
important is that you’re doing well academically, and that you’re a good kid.” “What was always so cool was that Coach Margraf cared about me as a human being and didn’t just see me as this valuable asset to his baseball program; he saw me as someone who was a valued part of his community and his family, too,” Tyler notes. “It’s not easy to live away from home for the first time, and so to have someone like the Margrafs to welcome you in and be your second family was huge.” Indeed, Chris, his wife Libby — who is Lawrence Academy’s assistant head for school life — and their children have helped make the Lawrence Academy campus a home away from home for dozens of student-athletes. He still keeps in touch with many of them, routinely starting group texts among former teammates and meeting up with his ex-players when they’re back in the area. “I’ve got a lot of kids who will look back and remember their time at LA and will be saying thank you,” he reflects “and you just can’t put a price on that.”
“We never want our kids to define themselves based on their abilities on the field — we want them to define themselves based on being good people, and, invariably, we end up with very good athletes,” he says, adding later, “What’s most
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 39
IB
US
LU
M
N
C
E
LA
O
T
17 9 3
D E MY
WR E
CE AC
A
N
Alumni Events
Undaunted by travel restrictions, the Alumni Advancement team took to the internet for online holiday celebrations each week in December, visiting with alumni around the country. During virtual stops in Boston, Florida, New York, California (Pacific Time), D. C., and the Midwest/Denver (Mountain Time), we were all greeted with great joy and enthusiasm. Highlights included our signature game of “LA Hit or Miss,” virtual magic acts that even engaged alumni children, and signature mocktail/ cocktail and hors d’oeuvre recipes. There was something for everyone!
4 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Alumni Speaker Series November’s inaugural Alumni Speaker Series featured George Aelion ’70 and focused on his work with the World Food Programme. (George is featured on page 26.)
Alumni again shone brightly in December. Courtney Cox Harrison ’83 — via our Alumni Speaker Series — shared her thoughts on the future of work; it is a prescient topic as we all navigate a new vision of “normal” for the workplace.
In January, 20 participants joined the third Alumni Speaker Series presentation featuring Chris Dickson ’08, a native of Bolton, Mass., who works as a back-country ski and rock-climbing guide in Telluride, Colo. A significant highlight of the evening included Chris’ sharing of the “key lessons learned” in his role: • “Risk is the spice of life, but all things in moderation – build margins of safety to protect yourself from all that you don’t know.” • “You can’t control what happens – only how you react to it.” • “Mute your ego with mindfulness – be in tune with all of the information you are getting rather than blindly drive toward a goal." • “Integrate passion into your everyday life – every day is a new opportunity to find/pursue your passion.” Words to live by, no?
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 41
Alumni Events, continued LA’s Alumni Council launches “Alumni for LA: A Career Panel Series” On Oct. 8, the Alumni Council launched their inaugural “Alumni for LA: A Career Panel Series,” moderated by Alumni Council members Victor Howell ’08 and Patrick Donoghue ’06. Alumni in financial services were invited to share their experiences and/or advice with other alumni who were interested in learning more about the industry as a possible career path. They answered many questions about the challenges they had faced along the way. The panelists who participated were: Jessica Shaw ’07 – Ernst and Young Spencer Lovejoy ’08 – Fidelity Investments Ashley Ott ’07 – Vantage Point Financial Kelvin Moses ’06 – HealthPeak Properties Peter Nikitas ’79 – Fidelity Institutional The panelists began the conversation by discussing the many pathways that took them into the industry and to their current roles in it.
Amaren Colosi ’97
Jared Mezzocchi ’03
Taylor Selé ’02
Meg Lewis ’10
Alumni for LA: Careers in the Arts The second LA Alumni Career Panel focused on careers in the arts took place on Nov. 13. Alumni Council members Chris Hazzard ’03 (screenwriter in Hollywood) and Ben Stone ’15 (video producer at Shadow Lion) served as the moderators of the webinar, hosting a diverse group of panelists who offered insights on their respective career paths in a wide variety of artistic fields. Amaren Colosi ’97 (commercial and editorial photographer), Taylor Selé ’02 (television and film actor), Jared Mezzocchi ’03 (resident artist at Woolly Mammoth Theater Company in Washington, D.C.), and Meg Lewis ’10 (creative executive at Paramount Pictures) discussed their journeys toward their current roles and shared how their time at Lawrence Academy provided them with both opportunity and encouragement to follow their creative interests.
Alumni for LA: Career Panel Series Continued February was a busy month, and we were excited to host the LA Class of 2021 for a panel discussion entitled “Alumni 101.” With our youngest alumni leaders — Ben Stone ’15, Clare Noone ’14 and Paige Beede ’16 — serving as panelists, we worked to inspire and share what awaits as lifelong members of the LA alumni community.
4 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Pictured above: A few samples of what was displayed in the Conant Gallery
Luke Rogers ’09: Meaningful Meandering On Jan. 26, Lawrence Academy and over 190 friends, family, and classmates celebrated the one wild and precious life of Luke Rogers ’09 with the virtual opening of Meaningful Meandering, Luke’s inspired photography from the African continent (featured in Conant Gallery). Luke passed away just over one year ago, and on this special evening, his life and memory were honored in ways that would have made Luke’s eyes twinkle and his laughter even louder.
Diversity, Equity, and inclusion In LA’s continuing effort to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our entire community, the Alumni Advancement Team — in partnership with the DEI office led by Assistant Head for Equity and Community Life Raquel Majeski — established several programs focused on our off-campus community members. The ongoing DEI Community Read and Book Discussions, and last summer’s DEI Zoom sessions, as well as the inclusion of alumni in both the Anthony Ray Hinton program during LA’s celebration of MLK Jr. and that of J. William Mees Visiting Scholar Matthew Kay, were welcome dates on the alumni schedule.
Grateful for our alumni leaders and volunteers, the Alumni Advancement Team recently hosted our newly-established quarterly Class Agent meeting on Zoom; the Team continues to meet bi-monthly with the Alumni Council. We appreciate the time and efforts of our Alumni Council, Class Agents, and Reunion Ambassadors. All of them hold the community together as our “keepers of the flame.” SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 43
Alumni Class Notes Have a note to share in the Fall 2021 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.
Golden Alumni Reunions 55th Reunion 1965 and 1966 60th Reunion 1960 and 1961 65th Reunion 1955 and 1956 70th Reunion 1950 and 1951 75th Reunion 1945 and 1946
1954 Art Whittemore ’54 sent this update: “I served on a U.S. Navy submarine from 1955 to 1959, then became a maritime pilot for the ports of Boston and Quincy, Mass. At that time, there were 1,100 pilots in the U.S. I now live six months in Naples, Fla., and six months in an over-55 place in Bridgewater, Mass. We married in 1957, and we are both still kicking. Playing a lot of golf year-round and love it.”
1964 Doug Joseph ’64 writes: “To my class of ’64 friends and those who remember Greg Joseph, Class of ’63: Greg was ‘sent’ away to Lawrence by our parents because he had fallen in with the wrong crowd at Lexington, Mass., High School. Those were the days when parents could do such things. He thrived! “I had not yet fallen, but Greg insisted that I follow him to LA, as big brothers tended to do. He gave me lots of advice and kept
44 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
his eye on me for the two years that we overlapped, playing together on the hockey and baseball teams. “When it was my turn to apply to college, Mr. Burckes asked me what did I want to do with my life and where did I want to go to school. My reply was, ’I don’t care, but it had to be pre-med and co-ed.’ Thus, I entered the University of Rochester with a plan to follow my father’s advice and join the medical profession with him. “After four years of college and 10 years of medical school and orthopaedic training, I settled in Nashua, N.H., just up the road from LA. Thirty-nine years later, I hung up my stethoscope and retired. No more broken bones to fix or knees to replace! “Now, with the crisis-enforced life restrictions, I read books from the library, exercise, read some more, take a nap, watch politics, and hit the sack early. Everyday is a Saturday, except Sunday! After vaccination, my wife and I will do what everybody our age does: travel, play golf, and enjoy friends and family.
Returning to my starting place, LA, will always be near the top of the list.” Neil Klar ’64 reports: “I retired from SQAD five years ago, three years after having sold the company to a private equity organization. I have continued to be active on their board since then. This past July, I retired from my 10-year tenure on the board of the Hudson Valley chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, with two of those years serving as board chair. I was asked to join the board of our synagogue, Bet Torah, in July 2019 as vice president of development. This has been a very engaging and fulfilling experience at this stage of my life. I was also happy to join the NYC Head’s Advisory Council, which met in New York City in February 2020 — an interesting and informative meeting. “Fortunately, Eileen and I have been able to enjoy the company of our sons’ families and grandchildren during this pandemic year. We are lucky enough to be able to spend the summers in Amagansett on Long Island. And now that we will have had our COVID vaccinations, we will spend the next 2-3 months escaping the snow in Naples, Fla. Regardless of location, this COVID-19 year has been filled with Zoom gatherings for family events, social events, film clubs, book clubs, and business meetings. Fortunately, we have remained cautious and healthy and busy and hope to continue in this way.” Rich Harvey ’72 won re-election as county coroner in South Carolina.
1965 (55th Reunion) 1970 (50th Reunion) 1971 (50th Reunion)
LA ’56: The Motley Crew LA holds a special place in the hearts of the “motley crew”: members of the Class of ’56 who have remained close friends for decades and who celebrate their 65th reunion this year. Some of them came to Lawrence as PGs: one-year post-graduate students who had already earned a high school diploma and who wanted to strengthen their academic (and sometimes athletic) credentials before applying to college. Class Agent Jay Beades asked a few of his classmates to share memories of their time at LA, 65 years ago. We are grateful to all of them. Dr. Mike Robinson ’56 I was in LA for two wonderful years in the mid-’50s, both years living in Bigelow Hall. The school really guided me in the way to study, in time management, and in accountability, and was responsible for my admission to Middlebury College, and from there to medical school. I can still remember the regimen of getting up at 6:45 a.m., having to be at the dining hall in a very new Gray Building at 7:15 a.m. for breakfast — having shaved, dressed in a tie and jacket, and never being late for that meal or any other, at the great risk of being disciplined. Mr. Ferguson, the senior master, would lead the morning meeting at the school house at 8 a.m., followed by Mr. Gray, the principal, who seemed very strict, but had a heart of gold. We were allowed to go to town on certain afternoons after classes, and could smoke in the “butt room” in the barn at Waters House. We went to study hall from 7 to 9 each evening – had to keep our eyes on our work; no talking. The camaraderie and Bigelow was a high point; Jay Beades, Jack Kirby, Paul Levine, Duke Adams, and many others lent to the fun, the jokes, the pranks of prep school life. I remember Mr. Burckes, one of the masters, asking if I’d like to go to Middlebury College. When I said I had seen the school and its campus on the way to visit my sister at UVM, he pulled out an application from his pocket and told me to fill it out and hand it back to him. I hadn’t known he was an alumnus of Middlebury. He told me he would call the college and for me to send in the application. That’s how it was in those days. I loved Lawrence for what it gave me, and I have always been happy to give back.
Ken Rice ’56 As a student at Nashua High School in Nashua, N.H., I had no interest in academics and gave no thought to my future after high school. Fortunately, my mother had much more foresight than I, and scheduled a visit with the guidance counselor at Nashua High School to discuss a possible future direction for me. As a result of that meeting, two things happened that changed my life. First, it was decided that my academic record was so poor that I needed to attend a prep school for not one but two years if I had any hope of attending a college or university. The prep school selected was Lawrence Academy. I must add that I did not attend the meeting and had no part in the decision. Second, every incoming student was required to have a physical exam by his family doctor prior to attending Lawrence Academy. My doctor detected a heart murmur, and he specified that I was not to participate in seasonal sports. This became very significant because it allowed me to spend the athletic period each day from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. in a vacant classroom studying. I was assigned to Bigelow Hall and was older than most of the students … I think this was one reason why I was elected to the student council my first year. The reason I mention this is the student council have the responsibility for monitoring the study hall each evening from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and the time I was able to study from each afternoon allowed to get most of my homework done before study hall. Living in Bigelow Hall with a roommate provided the opportunity to build relationships with people in the dorm and to get to
65th Reunion SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 45
LA ’56: The Motley Crew, continued know the faculty member assigned to live in the building with the students. The challenge was that of breaking the rules without being caught. Smoking took place in the bathroom, with smoke going up the ventilator shaft, and if extra study time was needed after the 10 p.m. lights-out edict, we studied by either sitting in an empty bathtub with the doors closed so that light would not be detected or with a flashlight under the covers in our bed. Those caught violating the rules were taken outside by Mr. Darling and required to “duck walk” on the side lawn until they were exhausted. The event would be observed by a number of Bigelow residents, who thought it was entertaining as long as they were not the ones “duck walking.” Not long after entering Lawrence Academy I discovered that a number of classmates were golfers and had played golf in high school … We decided that we should develop a golf team at Lawrence. My doctor agreed that my heart murmur would not prevent me from playing golf, and although LA had not had a golf team for years, they granted our request to form one. Much to my amazement, an eight-match schedule was developed, and Mr. Burckes was assigned as the coach. Against a difficult schedule, we were 5-3 the first year and were undefeated in 1956, with a record of six wins and one tie against powerful Nashua High School. Lawrence Academy truly did change my life and give me a second chance at success. How did that occur? First, small classes, along with outstanding, dedicated teachers, provided the ideal environment for learning, and teachers were always available for extra help when needed. I utilized those opportunities and the extra afternoon study time each day to improve my academic record sufficiently to allow me to apply to three great academic schools: Duke, Wake Forest, William and Mary. I chose William and Mary. A sad note: Just as we were getting ready to take final exams, a fire broke out and destroyed the academic and administrative offices. As a result, students were offered the opportunity to take or not take final exams. Most seniors, already accepted to the college or university of their choice, elected not to take final exams. What separates one class from another that makes it special? … A class needs a focal point or cheerleader to keep the class in the forefront. The Class of 1956 has that person in the form of Jay Beades — someone who keeps in touch with classmates, who encourages their participation both financially and emotionally, and always looks for opportunities to make sure the class is recognized for its academic and athletic achievements. Otherwise, who would care about people who graduated 65 years ago? We are diminishing the numbers from the 61 members of our class, but the memories of our experiences together will never diminish our love for each other and for Lawrence Academy.
4 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Jay Beades ’56, class agent Although I only spent one year at LA, as a PG, that year was one of the more important, enjoyable, and rewarding ones in my life. I am especially proud that the Class of ’56 was one of the last classes that had a significant number of postgraduates, who attended LA for one year as they prepared for college. I was a rather rebellious, floundering 16-year-old senior who had attended three Boston high schools and was seriously considering repeating my senior year so our football team might win the city championship and I would be old enough to date the cheerleaders. Thankfully, I was fortunate to have my coach learn of my plan … He asked many athletic and teaching associates in Boston who were either LA alumni or knew of the school to contact me and arrange an interview. Once I learned about LA’s historic and bucolic location in Groton, plus the fact I would have a working scholarship, I was hooked. The atmosphere, discipline, regimen and the concern and quality of the faculty were perfect for me. I applied myself and was fortunate to be, after my first months, ranked number one in the class. One of the other benefits of having high marks was that I was excused from attending evening study hall and allowed to study in my room. Fortunately, there was another student on my floor at Bigelow, Ken Rice, who also qualified. While we did study, we also allowed time to share the food sent to us by our mothers, who stuffed food goodies in the return laundry bag boxes that we had previously sent home with our dirty “unmentionables” to be cleaned — with also, perhaps, a request for a few dollars. While the majority of us PG’s were athletes, primarily football players with scholarships, we did have to meet the academic standards of the school and also work, primarily in the kitchen and dining hall. While working together, we developed friendships that have lasted to this day. I had a personal experience with one of the teachers that I have always fondly remembered as an example of the personal concern of the LA faculty. After a visit to Bowdoin College, I had decided that it was my first choice; consequently, I did not pursue applying to other “top-rated” colleges. Then, one afternoon, I was contacted by Mr. Darling, a teacher whose classes I had not taken and whom I had never spoken with; he asked me why I had not applied to Williams, his alma mater. I was too embarrassed to tell him that I barely had heard of Williams, and just mumbled something about having trouble getting information about it.
Mr. Darling took the time to sit down with me to discuss Williams and its many virtues, and then asked me if I would like to apply; if I did, he would arrange an interview for me on campus. Because I was not only impressed with what I had learned about Williams, but also to show my appreciation for the time and effort he had given me (plus, I hadn’t heard from Bowdoin — it was late February), I did agree to apply to Williams and to visit the campus. Mr. Darling made the arrangements, and the next thing I knew, I was on the train to Williamstown (the Mass Pike hadn’t been completed yet), where I was met by two Williams students who hosted me for the weekend. I enjoyed the visit, the town, and the admissions interview; I was placed on the waitlist despite the fact that the interviewer was puzzled that I had not applied to Williams earlier. I’m confident that Mr. Darling gave me a strong recommendation, which had allowed Williams to overlook the fact that I was far beyond the official closing date for applications. While I was impressed with Williams, Bowdoin remained my number one choice. But I will always remember Mr. Darling’s interest in a student whom he had never had in class, and the time and effort he took with me as an example of the quality of the Lawrence faculty and their concern for the students.
Paul “Lefty” Wennik ’56 My one year as a senior post-graduate student at Lawrence Academy, I rate as my best, finest, and most rewarding academic and school experience — this includes other public and parochial high schools and six years of college. The reasons: Most importantly, being away from home for the first time and suddenly immersed in a strict environment and routine, could have been devastating to me normally, but, the friendly and caring faculty and staff and their organized direction and plan for me – including being assigned to a lovely two-bedroom suite with a very new, but very friendly, roommate – made the fearful overnight-first-time-out-of-thenest experience a pleasant and non-threatening one for me. I fell into the school’s routine, as every boy did with no exception: dress codes, meals, scholarship job peeling potatoes six days a week after each meal and then rushing to class, mandatory athletic participation, and nightly two-hour study hall (with three circling faculty making sure our heads were down and our homework was being completed). The essence of my LA experience: Yes, I met and made lifelong friendships; yes, I had great success on the athletic fields; yes, I learned to be more organized and timely in my life going forward; and yes, I learned to eat meatloaf and other strange but actually quite good foods that opened my most virgin palate to future dining adventures. BUT: Here is why I love Lawrence and am so loyal to the school, its faculty, and staff, and its mission: At Lawrence, the faculty and leadership at every level not only cared for me, they truly cared about me — as a person — as Paul Wennik. No school or college experience ever rivaled that, and for that, I remain very grateful to Lawrence Academy past and present. Editor’s note: A standout left-handed pitcher on LA’s nine in 1956 under Coach Bob Shepherd, Lefty went on to UMASS, where his outstanding three-year career 1.59 ERA remains the best and lowest in the university’s history. He earned All-New England honors and was inducted into the UMASS Hall of Fame, only the sixth player to earn that honor.
LA football capped an undefeated 1955 season with a resounding victory over archrival Cushing Academy. (Photo Credit: Bill Cooper ’59)
65th Reunion
Have a note to share in the Fall 2021 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 47
Alumni Class Notes
1975 (45th Reunion)
Sandy Sweeney Gallo ’75 writes, “Last year, we missed our 45th, and this year, we will miss our 46th in person. But who says we can’t go virtual this June? I look forward to some fun online. Next year, we will get together in June for Ben Lord’s induction into the Athletic Hall of Fame! Let’s have a mini-reunion in 2022 to prepare for our 50th in 2025. In the meantime, Tony and I cannot wait to travel again!” (We’re grateful to Sandy for collecting these notes and pictures from the Class of ’75. — Ed.)
Carol Bolger Esposito ’75
Carol Bolger Esposito ’75 reports that she has now retired from law and teaching. “In 2017, at 60, I officially joined our family investment firm, Esposito Financial Group, as John’s partner. I hope to be a fully licensed investment advisor by January of 2021. My personal focus will be on providing financial and investment planning to traditionally underserved communities of individuals and families hoping to build financial security as well as equity for their first home, their children’s education, and a secure retirement. I am very excited about this next career move and cannot wait to see what the next 20 years brings! Meanwhile, John is continuing to enjoy his work and his golf. Our three grown-up kids (Mary, 24; Christopher, 29; Joe, 30) are all working hard and loving life. Mary lives in Miami, where she is the marketing coordinator for Satellite Digital Marketing; Chris lives in Boston and works as a retirement specialist at John Hancock; Joe lives in Georgetown and is the business development coordinator for a large furniture manufacturing firm, Infinity, Inc. John and I still live out in the woods in Georgetown, where we are happily surrounded by our neighborhood deer, turkeys, foxes, yard birds, and other wonderful wildlife. Life is good. I absolutely cannot wait to see everyone!”
4 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Meg Jones Meeker ’75
Sandy Sweeney Gallo ’75 and and Tony Sampas ’74
Ben Lord ’75 updates us: “Thirty-eight years ago, I married a Concord girl, Nancy Flavin. We have two daughters: Louisa, age 34, and Caroline, age 28, married with great husbands. Louisa has a son named for my father-in-law, Jack, and a daughter, Emerson. We all live in the Panhandle. I have been in advertising/marketing and media for 40-plus years. We moved to Orlando in 1994 to help launch and run sales for The Golf Channel. I will continue to work my golf media and marketing consulting business as long as anyone will listen!”
Meg Jones Meeker ’75 sends the following news: “Although I have missed out on reunions in the past, it certainly has not because I didn’t want to be there, but my travel schedule for my work in the past has been pretty hefty and kept me from going. On a personal note, Walt and I will be married 40 years this August. Yikes! We have five grandchildren. Three of our four grown kids are married, and the baby (28) — our son — isn’t. We both work in our medical practice that we started together in 1992. No plans for retirement because we just love our work. (We went from just the two of us to now eight docs.) I finished book No.7 last year and continue to give lectures all over the globe via Zoom.” “The older I get,” she wrote in an earlier note, “the more I appreciate the great education I received at LA. LA taught me
to never back away from a challenge. Before COVID kicked us off of planes, I even got to address the UN on behalf of families. What a treat this was.”
classmates, various alumni, and parents of current students in my backyard. Keep in touch — through all my travels I still enjoy the friends of my youth!”
Austin Smith ’75 and his wife sold their Sudbury home and moved to Lisbon, N.H. “I have a landing pad in Boston because I am still working commercial real estate,” he writes. Meanwhile, in his leisure time, Austin and the family enjoy time together skiing, hot tubbing, and cruising the lake.
1980 (40th Reunion) 1981 (40th Reunion)
Robin Martin Adams ’75 wrote us: “Happy (Almost?) Past the Pandemic to all! Just wanted to add my pandemic story to the rest: I opened Robin’s Table, my latest business venture, on March 2, 2020, and closed March 14, 2020. Okay, we can all admit I’ve never had the best timing. Anyway, I’m considering changing the title of my memoir to Opening a Vegan Restaurant in Biddeford, Maine, During a Pandemic and Other Questionable Decisions. After a lot of soul-searching I decided to sell my home in La Jolla, Calif., and moved back to New England in December 2020. I am planning on reopening my restaurant this spring. I’m hoping to reconnect with friends, virtually, until we can see each other face to face. I remain happy and well ... no matter the circumstances.”
1976 (45th Reunion) 1979 Gary Surprenant ’79 is alive and well in New London, N.H. He reports: “I really enjoyed the Class of ’79’s 40th reunion two years ago and encourage all to attend reunions if they can! I look forward to continuing the ’mini-reunion’ get-togethers some of us started a few years ago in New England. If you are from away and are visiting, give a shout. I have found many
audio professionals around the world. My last two years at LA were spent studying art and music full time in the LA II program [now the IIP]. I can definitely say that LA II had a huge effect on my life and career: I was allowed to pursue my passion and since I graduated from LA I have been living the dream. In other news, I recently became a grandfather! So exciting! Feel free to reach out to me anytime; I’m easy to find. Namaste.”
1983 Julie Mason ’83 was recently promoted to morning show host on SiriusXM’s. Julie Mason Mornings can be heard nationwide. The top-rated show features conversations with politicians, journalists, authors, filmmakers, artists, and more. Julie writes that she is still not a morning person!
Frank Bry ’81
Frank Bry ’81 sent greetings: “Hello from North Idaho! Wow! Forty years. After spending 10 years in Seattle designing sound effects for video games and other media I relocated to Idaho and started a company called The Recordist. For the last 25 years, I have been providing original sound effects for video games, feature films, and television shows such as The Last of Us II, Battlefield, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Seal Team (CBS), Jack Ryan (Amazon), Game of Thrones (HBO), Mad Max: Fury Road, and countless others. You probably have heard my work, as my website sells sound effects to thousands of
Julie Mason ’83
After a four-year stint in Hawaii, Naomi Schatz ’85 is teaching International Baccalaureate Psychology at DC International School in Washington, D.C. She reports, “It’s a little colder here than in Hawaii, but good to be back on the East Coast. It’s been nice to see some LA faces via Zoom! Hoping to see people in person at our 35th (36th?) reunion on campus.”
Have a note to share in the Fall 2021 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 49
Alumni Class Notes
1985 (35th Reunion) 1986 (35th Reunion) Jon Paulding ’86 sent in this update: “After graduating from Lawrence I attended Connecticut College, then promptly moved west to Salt Lake City to start my career and pursue my passion for the outdoors. I have lived in Utah for 30 years, where I married my wife Kim and have raised our children. I earned a master’s degree in social work at the University of Utah and now work as the senior director of corporate and foundation engagement for Utah State University. Our family enjoys the mountains and deserts of Utah, skiing, hiking, camping, and spending time in the outdoors. “My experience at Lawrence helped me to become an effective communicator. My classes with Doc Richardson, ‘Moose’ Mees, and John Curran in particular helped formulate my writing and analytical thinking skills, which have helped me greatly in my life and work. I am eternally grateful for my experience at Lawrence and the many lifelong friends I made there!” Mike Poe ’86 reports: “I’ve settled with my family in southern Sweden, where I’ve lived since 2015. It’s nice and quiet (I’ve had a few lifetimes of craziness over the past 30 years). Family is my wife of 12 or 13 years, GG, and our son Miles, 9 years old going on 16. I’m currently working for a small but rapidly-growing software composition analysis company, and I love it. I’m not a techie; I engage with customers on commercial and strategic levels, but I don’t get into the coding conversations. When I’m not working or with the family, I’m out running. I also started a podcast called The Fatherless to Fatherhood Initiative — go check it out. It’s conversations with dads who’ve overcome their fatherless upbringings, successfully shed the shame, hurt, anger, and stigma of growing up fatherless, and transitioned to fatherhood.
5 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
It’s a very personal topic to me, as I never really knew my dad. “I often think of LA and wish I were able to be there more. My life has been largely spent living overseas (Australia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Spain) since 1998, so popping up to Groton, Mass., isn’t the easiest. I miss everyone, and it would be amazing to actually see everyone in the flesh one of these days. Social media is great for someone like me who is so far away. I encourage anyone to connect with me if we’re not already.”
Noelle (Dejarlais) Slattery ‘86 with Rebecca Keller ’86
Noelle (Desjarlais) Slattery ’86 sends this news: “I am writing from San Diego, Calif., where I live with my husband and our three youngest kids, who are 17, 12, and 8. Our three oldest have flown the coop. Our oldest son, 24, lives in New York City and is currently a member of the show Stomp, which is suspended during the pandemic. Our oldest daughter, 28, is an interior designer and lives in Weymouth with her husband and our middle daughter, 20, who is a junior at BU. This year, we were fortunate enough to buy a beautiful house on the Cape for our brood to spend some family time and spread out. We have been returning to Massachusetts for regular short trips every year, and for three weeks in the summer. Last summer, I took the kids to visit Rebecca Keller ’86 at her family’s home in Rindge, N.H. I am a trial attorney here, and I enjoy it very much, although my heart is in New England! I would love to hear from any alumni on the West Coast at noelle@marcshularlaw.com.”
Tom Vorisek ’86 has been in the Bay Area for the past two years after five years in Back Bay. He runs a boutique investment firm, Esalen Ventures, LLC. Esalen invests in alternative asset classes: private equity in startups in all stages of growth from seed to mezzanine, as well as 19th and 20th century American, European, and Asian fine art. Tommy is in regular contact with Steve Janes, Jimmy Quinn, Gregg Jackson, and Jeff Serowik, and a handful of other classmates.
1990 (30th Reunion) 1991 (30th Reunion) 1995 (25th Reunion) 1996 (25th Reunion) Vanessa (Fadjo) Osage ’96 won a five-star review from IndieReader for her October, 2020 Social Change Memoir, Can’t Stop the Sunrise. Vanessa has also been interviewed about her life’s work in Authority magazine and is the founder of the Amends Project and the Justice CORPS, which “provides a template for prevention [of concealment of incidents of abuse] that empowers kids and places decision-making power back in the hands of families.” She remains busy as a guest on podcasts and radio.
1997 Arica Ostreicher ’97 is working for AbbVie as a planning systems finance lead for operations, ASPIRE, Corporate FP&A. She completed a doctorate in business with a specialty in international finance in 2013. Arica writes that she is “busy with three children under six”: Alec (6), Riley (2), and Asher (1). Son, Chance, is a college sophomore in Chicago.
1998 JD Berry ’98 and his wife Lari wrote us in February that they were expecting their second child in May 2021. (No update at press time!) Son Carter James turned two in February. The Berrys make their home in Pittsburgh.
reminiscing about our days hanging out in the Swamp and fun field trips; the various APES and Outdoors trips to Acadia National Park ranked highly.”
1999 Julia Kendrick ’99 writes: “I am currently in Charleston, S.C., finishing up a cardiothoracic anesthesia fellowship at Medical University of South Carolina. Before this, I was in New Orleans doing an anesthesia residency at LSU. And prior to that, I was in Boston and San Francisco doing a general surgery residency. COVID has made things crazy in New Orleans and Charleston; I have chosen to live away from my 6-year-old twins and partner, who is an orthopedic surgeon, so that I don’t expose them, since my field is high-risk. Thank goodness for FaceTime. LA definitely set me up for success. Looking forward to moving back to New Orleans or Boston when I’m done with training.”
barrier, which was a goal I had been working towards for years now. This finish qualifies me to race in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii for the sixth time, which will hopefully be taking place in October of this year.” Erica Ayotte ’00 and Nick Favorito were married on October 3, 2020, at Gibbet Hill in Groton. She writes, “It was, of course, a much smaller event than originally planned, but we had a beautiful early fall day and we were able to hold it entirely outdoors with our immediate families and a handful of close friends.”
2001 (20th Reunion) Amanda Champagne-Meadows ’01 reports: “My husband Christian and I welcomed our first baby this summer. We’re totally in love with our little boy, Harrison. Turns out 2020 wasn’t all bad!”
JD Berry ’98 and his wife Lari and son Carter James
Veteran LA science teacher Michelle Ruby ’98 is still teaching environmental science and coaching JV girls’ hockey. She wrote us about a winter-break reunion with a few LA classmates: “One of the highlights of my winter break was getting together over Zoom with ’98 classmates Jess (Brooks) Hewitt, Jonathan Mann, and Ben Bradway. We’re spread across three of the four lower 48 time zones, with Jess directing the Foothill Horizons Outdoor School in Sonora, Calif., Ben running his own one-man property monitoring/maintenance company and serving as a volunteer firefighter/EMT outside Santa Fe, N.M., and Jonathan living on a farm and working for a company near Troy, N.Y., that develops LED technology (as best I understand it). We did some fond
Colin Cook ’00
2000 (20th Reunion) We received this note from Colin Cook ’00: “It happened towards the end of last year, but I won the amateur race at the Ironman Florida triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) in early November while finishing my 17th Ironman. It was also the first time that I broke the nine-hour
Amanda Champagne ’01 and husband Christian and son Harrison
Have a note to share in the Fall 2021 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 51
Alumni Class Notes
2003 Katie (Himmelmann) Hale ’03 lives in the Bay Area with her husband Charlie, her one-year-old redheaded son William, and her 3 1/2-year-old daughter Corinna. She works as a pediatric nurse practitioner at a clinic for rare genetic disorders at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, Calif. She spends her days chasing after her rugrats, trying to learn piano, and rollerblading around her town. Katie’s parents escaped New England winters and followed her to California to be around the grandkids.
Ken Kaufmann ’04 and wife Stephanie Tioseco
2004 Ken Kaufmann ’04 and Stephanie Tioseco were married on Nov. 8, 2020, in Alexandria, Va. Classmate Matt Kilfoyle served as groomsman in the wedding party. The couple are living in Washington, D.C.
Zak Engel ’06 with wife Allie and son Leroy
Colin Havey ’06 works in the entertainment industry, splitting his time between Los Angeles and New Hampshire. He spent the fall working on a documentary for the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), following lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov to Fight Island in Abu Dhabi and filming for a week before returning to UFC headquarters in Las Vegas for eight weeks to work on the post-production as an editor. Colin has worked on multiple projects over the years for clients including the UFC, Disney Channel, Showtime Sports, Harley Davidson, Modelo, and various other companies and brands. His work has brought him all around the world, to places including Nepal, Bali, and Thailand. His company, Graniteville Films, is named after the neighborhood where he grew up, just down the road from Lawrence Academy, in Westford, Mass.
2005 (15th Reunion) 2006 (15th Reunion) Zak Engel ’06 and his wife Allie welcomed their son Leroy on Dec. 8, 2018. The three live happily in Eliot, Maine, where Zak continues to write and produce music for film and television from a home studio in their barn. Looking ahead, Zak is very excited to serve as best man at classmate Matt Egan’s wedding.
5 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Colin Havey ’06
Have a note to share in the Fall 2021 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.
Katie (Woo) Coster ’08, husband Johnny and daughter Maven
2008 Katie (Woo) Coster ’08 and husband Johnny Coster welcomed daughter Maven into the world in February 2020. Grandparents David Woo (former faculty member) and Laurie Woo are thrilled for the newest arrival. Chris Dickson ’08 writes: “As promised, here is a little update about my engagement. I proposed to my fiancée, Emma Christensen from Rangeley, Maine, on top of a peak outside of our home in Telluride, Colo., on Christmas Day 2020. She said yes, and then we skied some lovely powder all the way back down the mountain. We couldn’t be more happy!” Gwen Gilmore ’08 sends this update from Italy: “I want to start off by expressing great gratitude for Mr. Woo, who personally helped Gwen Gilmore ’08 and friend me, patiently, with my algebra homework during my years at LA. As someone with a diagnosed math learning disability, I felt discouraged by my difficulty with mathematical comprehension. Mr. Woo gave me the confidence to strengthen my particular way of understanding the material. I am happy to report that this year I will have completed my master in business management for
fashion, experience, and design Industries from SDA Bocconi in Milan. Never in a million years did I think I could complete a business degree, passing exams in corporate finance, managerial accounting, and statistics with a math learning disability. I just want to say thank you to LA, and Mr. Woo in particular, who showed me that, with perseverance and patience, anything is possible. I’m now living in Milan with my fidanzato Vittorio, and working as a strategist for Davines, an Italian haircare and bodycare company that just recently received their B Corp certification. My wish for the LA community is to continue to foster patience and compassion, for oneself and for everyone around us.”
and work at a private practice. I’m excited for 2021 because we are hoping to go on our official honeymoon! Plan is to hike/climb Machu Picchu and finish with a few days relaxing on a beach.”
2010 (10th Reunion) Matt (LeBlanc) Dunn ’10 was married to Patrick Dunn in August of 2020. He is pursuing steel sculpture under the business name Bear Bones Sculpture. They have three dogs, Jake, Cooper, and Buddha.
personal solicitations, and managing alumni programming. A 2016 Ithaca College graduate, Ryan earned a master’s degree in higher education administration at the College of William and Mary in 2018.
2013
2011 (10th Reunion)
Jordan (Grant) Anthony ’13
Mei Mei Siu ’12 and husband Daniel McKay
2012 Hilary Cranston ’09 and her husband Ted Skarbinsky
2009 Hilary Cranston ’09 and Ted Skarbinski were married at a vineyard in New Hampshire on Oct. 20, 2020. She writes, “Amid all of this COVID craziness, we were able to have an absolutely picture-perfect wedding of our dreams with all of our closest friends and family! It was a magical day!” She added, “I got my nursing degree a while back, and then got my MSN in 2018 to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. I reside in New Haven, Conn.,
Mei Mei Siu ’12 and Daniel McKay were married on Oct. 18, 2020, at Tupper Manor in Beverly, Mass. Mei Mei, a graduate of St. Olaf College, is public relations manager for Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort in Whitefish, Mont. Danny is a software developer at Alamon Inc. in Kalispell, Mont., where the couple currently lives. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Ryan Zapolski ’12 has moved to Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to start a new job at Case Western Reserve University, where he is in charge of annual giving and alumni relations for the School of Management. His responsibilities include annual appeals,
Jordan (Grant) Anthony ’13 writes: “My husband Christian Anthony and I got married on Jan. 18, 2020, and we welcomed our sweet little girl, Madison, in 2020. We both graduated from Northeastern University and have enjoyed living in Vermont for the past three years. My husband works in K9 detection, and I work as associate director of nutrition and wellness at Age Well, a nonprofit. It’s the largest area agency on aging in Vermont.”
2015 (5th Reunion) Heather Downing ’15 sent us an update: “After earning a B.S in economics with a minor in environmental studies at Northeastern, I’m now pursuing an M.S. in global studies and international relations there, concentrating in either diplomacy or conflict management; I haven’t completely made up my mind yet. In the past few years, I’ve become really interested in foreign affairs, policy, and particularly refugee and asylum policy.”
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 53
Alumni Class Notes Oren Karp ’15 writes: “I graduated last spring amidst the pandemic, and I received a Fulbright grant to travel and teach for a year in Nepal in 2021. It was originally scheduled for March of this year, though it was just recently postponed to June/July.” Connor Melvin ’15 has been accepted to the MBA program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Currently working for the field marketing team at a software company in California, he plans eventually to work in the aviation industry — not a surprise, since Connor has been a pilot since his LA days! He explained, “Both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are located in Dallas/Fort Worth, so I’m hoping to make connections with both companies during my time in school.”
2016 (5th Reunion) Renee Perkins ’16 is the founder and marketing director of Nantucket Island Marketing, a marketing consulting company for small businesses based in Boston. Her company has grown significantly in recent months, serving small businesses across the U.S. Fueled by her love of product marketing and of the island she grew up on, she recently co-founded another company selling local island gifts.
2017 Taylor Goodman-Leong ’17 sends this news: “The past four years have flown by. I graduated from Wesleyan University with a major in psychology. Starting in the fall, I will be attending Boston College School of Social Work to earn my master’s in clinical social work. I’m looking forward to this next stage and hope to eventually work with children and adolescents.”
Renee Perkins ’16
Summary of Splendor by Laura Rogerson Moore Faculty Member Laura Moore P’04, ’06, ‘09 has published her third book, Splendor, available on Amazon and through Kelsey Books. The fifty-nine poems in the collection tell the story of a girl named Phoebe, her mother and father, and a stranger named O’Ryan who comes to be one of them. Set in rural New England in the middle of the 20th century and written in Phoebe’s voice, Splendor captures the extraordinary lives of these four ordinary people who seek a way to exist beyond the expectations of their world. Weaving her present with her past, Phoebe recounts her days as a child, her young womanhood, and her final years, certain of both her incorruptible self and of her joy, acknowledged and sustained by wonder and love. The cover is an oil on acrylic painting called Running, by Katherine Rogerson Moore ’06.
Have a note to share in the Fall 2021 Academy Journal? Forward info and pictures to pglover@lacademy.edu.
5 4 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 55
In Memoriam
This section is dedicated to the memory of graduates who died more than three years ago. News of their passing has come to us only recently.
Bradford Elijah Monk ’36 died in Concord, N.H. on July 15, 2014, at age 98. After a post-graduate year at Lawrence, he attended the New York State Ranger School of Forestry for the school year 1936-1937. Bradford had recently attended the school’s 100th anniversary and was honored as a 75th year graduate. Mr. Monk worked for the Pigeon Timber Co. in Fort William, Ontario, Canada, from 1939 to 1942. Returning to the U.S., he enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He attended officer candidate school at Fort Belvoir, Va. As a second lieutenant with the 1613th Forestry Company, he served in New Guinea and the Philippines for the duration of World War II. After the war, Bradford completed his B.S. in forestry at Syracuse University. He continued his profession as a forester until 1962, when he began his work with the U.S. Postal Service, from which he retired in 1981. He served with the Concord Red Cross until 1992. At the time of his death, he was survived by Louise Monk, his wife of 63 years. Dr. Philip C. Martin ’39, 94, of Hopkinton, Mass., died on Dec. 7, 2012, at Concord (N.H.) Hospital, after a brief period of failing health. He graduated from UNH in 1943, where he enrolled in ROTC. He then served in the U.S. Navy while studying dentistry at Northwestern Dental School in Chicago. After almost 50 years of dental practice, Dr. Martin retired to his home on Gould Hill in Hopkinton, N.H., spending summers on Lake Winnisquam in Laconia. Phil loved the outdoors and sports; he was
5 6 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
an expert skier, avid bow hunter, dedicated golfer, and an almost impossible-to-beat cribbage player. At the time of his death, Dr. Martin was survived by his beloved wife, Gloria, of Hopkinton; three children; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. He was predeceased by his sons Bruce, Gregory, and Phil Jr. of Concord, his sister Barbara Ruelke, and brothers Gordon and Nelson. Edward Rosenberg ’45, 84, of Boca Raton, Fla. died March 31, 2012. A 1950 graduate of the University of Miami (Fla.) with a degree in business administration, he served in the U.S. Army before entering business. As part-owner of Nan-Max Travel in Providence, R.l., he was able to explore and see the world as only few people could. He made friends on every continent, and will be missed throughout the world. He was passionate about travel, the Patriots, and the Red Sox, but was most passionate about his family and friends. At the time of his passing he was survived by his wife, Elaine, two children, and four grandchildren. Raymond Lawrence Mullin ’47, 82, died on Dec. 20, 2010, at Kindred Hospital in Green Cove Springs, Fla., after an extended illness. A Navy veteran of World War II who served in the Asian-Pacific Theatre, he earned an A.B. in English from Dartmouth College after the war and then earned master’s degrees in library science from Simmons College and in English education from Salem State College. Raymond was a professor of English at Salem State College and at St. Johns River
Community College in Palatka, Fla. His interests were wide-ranging, and he read extensively about English and American literature, theology, military history, and art. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife of 52 years, Judith Mullin, as well as by a son, a brother, a sister, and one nephew. Allen Knight “Al” Remington Jr. ’49 died on Oct. 4, 2012, at the age of 81, with family members at his side. He graduated from Norwich University in Vermont, serving in the U.S. Army, where he achieved the rank of major. After a long career as a hospital administrator, he owned The Book Store in Sequim, Wash., where he also worked with the State Hospital Association. At the time of his death, he was survived by his former wife, Marcia (Brownell), five children, six grandchildren, two sisters, and a brother. Paul N. Polshuk ’50 died in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Jan. 4, 2017. He was 84. At his passing, he left his wife, Bobbi. Burton N. “Pete” Peavey ’51 of Walpole, Mass., passed away on Feb. 23, 2017, at the age of 85. In addition to his wife, Jeanne (Cronin), he left a son, two daughters, and three grandchildren. Robert R. Kessler ’52 died on Feb 7, 2015, at age 80 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., after a courageous battle with cancer. He was a 1956 graduate of Harvard College and held an MBA from Columbia University. At his passing, he left his wife of 55 years, Betty Ann (Slotnick), two sons, and one sister. Another sister predeceased him.
Peter B. Perkins ’53 of Mattapoisett, Mass., died peacefully on March 8, 2014, at Our Lady’s Haven. He was 79 at the time of his death. He was the husband of the late Sandra W. (Kuechler) Perkins. A veteran of the Korean War, he was the proprietor of Edwin L. Perkins Plumbing and Heating. Peter was also the gas inspector for the Town of Mattapoisett and the gas and plumbing inspector for the Town of Marion. Marion honored him at his retirement with a tree planted at town hall for his many years of service. A lifetime member of the Mattapoisett Congregational Church, Peter served as a volunteer fireman with the Mattapoisett Fire Department. He was a member of the Pythagorean Lodge A.F. & A.M. and the Machacam Club, and a member and board member of the Mattapoisett Historical Society. Survivors include a son, a daughter, and one sister, as well as five grandchildren. Henry C. “Hank” Milton, Jr. ’54 died in Port Charlotte, Fla., on Nov. 29, 2017. He was 81. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1958, Hank worked for over 20 years as a district manager for Texaco in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, then in corporate real estate in New York City. In the early 1980s, he purchased Mathews Office Supply in Bridgeport, Conn., which grew into Mathews Business Interiors, a contract office furniture company serving the southern Connecticut market. In 1993, he moved to Bonita Springs, Fla., where he developed Club Projects, a company, still in operation, that supplies custom built-in storage units for golf and country clubs nationwide.
At the time of his death, Hank was survived by three sons, a granddaughter, one sister, and a daughter-in-law, as well as by his former wife, Corliss Darge, and numerous nieces and nephews. Charles P. Nason, Jr. ’54 died on Oct. 24, 2011, at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. following an illness. He was 76 at the time of his death. A career military officer, Lt. Col. Nason held degrees from Norwich University and Pennsylvania State University at Scranton. His military career spanned 26 years, during which time he did two combat tours in Vietnam. He received the Distinguished Service Medal, one Silver Star for gallantry, three Bronze Stars for valor, and two Purple Hearts. Later in his career, he was the commanding officer for the Northeast Recruiting Command in Concord, N.H. He subsequently retired to Vermont as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1983, where he pursued his true passion of breeding Morgan horses at Old Fairgrounds Farm in Chester. At his passing, Charles was survived by his wife, Linda, two sons, three daughters, two sisters, and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as by his former wife, Priscilla (Blaisdell) Nason. He was predeceased by a brother, Michael. John B. Poole ’54 died in Pasadena, Calif., on July 11, 2014, at age 79. At the time of his passing, he left a son, a daughter, and one sister, Sally Farnham. H. William Rose ’56 died on Feb. 2, 2016, at the age of 78. At his death, he was survived by his wife, Myrna Renkert, four daughters, one grandson, and many nieces and nephews.
Kelly C. Brown Jr., ’58, 74, of Portsmouth, N.H., died on Dec. 26, 2014. A 1957 graduate of Reading, Mass., Memorial High School, he attended Lawrence for a post-graduate year before entering the University of New Hampshire, where he was an active member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. After service in the Navy, he spent many years driving throughout New England as a food salesman, working before his retirement for RC Fine Foods. In addition to being a loyal follower of UNH athletics, Kelly loved spending time with many groups of friends, and he especially enjoyed trips to Ireland with his son and friends to play golf in the mist. At the time of his death, he was survived by his former wife, Sandra Davison Brown, with whom he remained close, a son, and a granddaughter. Neal A. Silverman ’76, of New Milford, Conn., passed away on June 21, 2017. He was 58. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife Patricia (Patty), son Michael and wife Elise, and son Christopher and wife Donna, and a large, supportive extended family. Neal loved his wife, his kids, his extended family, and all things Boston sports (especially the Red Sox) more than anything else in life. He was known for his warm, kind, and encouraging attitude. He was a long-time coach with New Milford baseball and a regular at gyms around town. A cancer survivor, Neal was eternally grateful for the compassion and dedication of all the medical professionals and caregivers who helped him over the years.
A lifelong sports enthusiast, Hank was a scratch golfer who played for both LA and Dartmouth. He was a repeated winner of club championships and inter-club matches.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 57
Obituaries This section is dedicated to alumni who have died since 2018.
Stephen Merrifield ’41, of Wolfeboro, N.H., passed away at age 95 on June 11, 2018. He entered the University of New Hampshire after graduation from Lawrence, where he was a star athlete, but left after his sophomore year to join the Army Air Corps, flying as a gunner in bombing raids over Germany. Steve began his professional life working in his father’s trucking company in the Boston Faneuil Hall Market before it became chic. In his late 20s, he co-owned Smith and Merrifield Real Estate and Insurance. He left a successful career as a realtor to build and found The Middlesex Fells Nursing Home. As president of this Melrose, Mass., business, he designed innovative programming and a warm social environment for both the elderly and people who needed rehabilitative services. He leaves three children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife, Jean Merrifield. Thomas M. O’Neil ’42 passed away on June 12, 2019. He was a resident of Texas at the time of his passing. Stephen L. Longley ’44 passed away on Sept. 27, 2020. After graduation from LA, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served his country during World War II. Stephen joined the Fitchburg Police Department in 1953 and retired in 1988 as a detective. He was awarded Policeman of the Year in 1966, the Exchange Club Award, and the BPOE Law and Order Award. He leaves four daughters, 11 grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. His wife, Dorothy (Bussiere), predeceased him in 2005.
5 8 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Kenneth S. Rolley ’44 died on June 25, 2018, in Dallas, Texas at the age of 92. He served in the Army Air Force during World War II. Robert W. Sansom ’44 passed away on July 3, 2020. After serving in the Army during World War II, he graduated from Tufts University, where he met his wife Dottie, with whom he shared a happy marriage for 58 years. After college, Bob worked for DuPont until his retirement in 1988. Bob and Dottie enjoyed many years of square dancing, and those who know Bob will remember him as always wearing his beloved bolo tie. He will be remembered for his witty sense of humor, devotion to his family, honesty, kind heart, and humble spirit. Bob is survived by three daughters, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. David Granoff ’46 passed away on Dec. 15, 2020, at age 92, surrounded by his family. Dave was an honor student throughout his Lawrence career, a threeseason athlete, and a serious photographer who was vice president of the photography club. His page in the Lawrencian pays him tribute: “An avid reader, Dave generally has his head in some kind of book and actually seems to take pleasure in studying. With him photography is an obsession; the informal snapshots in this book are the results of Dave’s ingenuity.” A younger member of the Greatest Generation, Dave was a graduate of Tufts University and a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. Returning from service, he built home, family, and work with his
beloved wife Anita. David was the founder and operator for nearly 30 years of Customforms, Inc., of Newton, Mass., where he was a lifelong member of Temple Emmanuel. He devoted many hours to the temple’s Brotherhood, serving as its president, among other roles. David was a dedicated alumnus of Lawrence Academy, serving as a class agent, on the Board of Visitors, and as the first president of the Alumni Council. David would have celebrated his 75th reunion at LA this spring, and he will be lovingly and gratefully remembered for his service to the school. In addition to Anita, his wife of 68 years, David is survived by three sons, six grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, as well as a brother, a sister, and many nieces and nephews. Martin Stein ’46 died on Nov. 15, 2020 at the age of 92. After graduation from Lawrence, Marty attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was known for his excellent academic record as well as his athletic achievements. He remained an avid sportsman and outdoorsman all his life. Following graduation from Wharton in 1950, Marty worked with his father and his brother, Barney Stein ’32, in a successful shoe manufacturing business, transitioning in the 1960s into managing residential and commercial real estate. In all of his dealings, Marty was known for his kindness, intelligence, honesty, integrity, and humor.
In addition to his devoted wife, Helen, he is survived by five children, including Peter Stein ’77; 11 grandchildren, including Matthew Stein ’04, and Johanna (Stein) Cobb ’06 and her husband Jeremiah Cobb ’05; six great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews, including Daniel Stein ’86. He was predeceased by his first wife, Phyllis, a sister, and two brothers. Donald Hamaty ’47 died on Sept. 16, 2020. A graduate of Boston University, he was a cryptologic operations specialist in the United States Air Force and served in the Korean War. After 10 years of military service, from which he was honorably discharged with the rank of Technical Sergeant, he began employment with the Retail Credit Company, which became Equifax, where he retired as the director of advertising in 1982. He then ran his own advertising firm for a number of years until his final retirement. He was especially skilled in photography, writing, drawing and painting, and rarely lost to a crossword puzzle. He was a lifelong and loyal fan of his Boston Red Sox. Mr. Hamaty is survived by his wife of 66 years, Carole, their son Donald Jr., and his wife Tammy, and grandchildren Hannah, Matt, and Caroline. Bernard Charles McGuire ’47, 91, died peacefully on Dec. 23, 2020, surrounded by his wife and children. He graduated from Harvard, after which he served a two-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps. Upon moving to Dallas in 1953, he joined his cousin in the oil and gas business while attending law school at night. Eventually, he joined the law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist, where he remained for the rest of his long career. “Bernie,” to those who knew him, was full of charm, wisdom, irrepressible humor, and merciless wit. He was also generous, kind, and loyal. Until his leukemia diagnosis in 2019, he and his beloved wife Eleanor (MacInnis), continued to ski,
dance, sail, play tennis, and see the world. In addition to his wife, he leaves a son, three daughters, two stepsons, 10 grandchildren, and a sister. He was preceded in death by his wife Anne, of 23 years, his wife Shirley Moore, of but one year; and his sister, Eileen Donahue. Willis M. Pearson ’48 of Lancaster, Mass. died on March 24, 2018. A World War II Navy veteran and 1947 graduate of Concord High School in Massachusetts, where he was MVP of the school’s first undefeated football team, he was a post-graduate student at Lawrence and a 1950 graduate of Bentley College. He was a retired employee of the Town of Concord Light Department. A sports fan, Willis enjoyed following the Red Sox, the New York Giants, and the New England Patriots. He also loved gardening, black labs, and a host of outdoor activities. He leaves his former wife, Jane R. Pearson, as well as a son and a daughter, four grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. Another son, Michael, predeceased him. Robert E Delaney ’49 of Meredith, N.H., passed away on April 24, 2019. Alan H. Godfrey ’49 died on Sept. 12, 2018, at the age of 88. A graduate of Columbia University, he worked for Texaco for 36 years before retiring. In addition to his wife, Regina, he leaves one daughter, a sister, two grandchildren, five step-children, and several nieces and nephews. Robert J. Guttentag ’49 died peacefully at age 90 on Feb. 20, 2021. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, he enjoyed a long career in managerial positions, including 25 years at Gillette. He was an active contributor of his time and energy to a wide variety of not-for-profit boards, through which ran the common theme of upholding judicial fairness and social justice, and expanding opportunities for women and disadvantaged youth.
Bob is survived by his wife of 57 years, Helen Goldblatt Guttentag, as well as by two daughters, two granddaughters, and a sister, Ruth Segel. Rodney Clark Hunt ’49, of Marblehead, Mass., died peacefully on May 4, 2020, of complications from COVID-19. An engineer by profession, he spent the bulk of his career at Polaroid, where he worked on architectural projects before retiring after 32 years. His projects included test and production facilities for the first instant color film, and later film for the groundbreaking SX-70 camera. In addition to Kathryn, his wife of 68 years, he leaves a son, a daughter, four grandchildren, and many extended family members. Leonard John Marino ’51 died on April 14, 2019, at the age of 87. A post-graduate student at LA, he earned his associate’s degree from Newbury College. After serving in the United States Navy during the Korean War, he became a Boston police officer, stationed in District 13, Jamaica Plain, retiring in 1975. He leaves four daughters, five grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews; two wives predeceased him. Philip M. Lebet ’52 passed away at the age of 85 on on Dec. 29, 2019. A 30-year veteran of the Coast Guard, he retired as a captain, having earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. To be near the water in his retirement, Phil settled in Virginia Beach, where he spent many relaxing days on the beach with his book, his crossword puzzle, and his chair. He enjoyed talking with neighbors, sharing a joke, and laughing with old friends. Phil was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Elizabeth Lebet (Betty). Two daughters, two grandsons, and many nieces and nephews survive him.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 59
Obits, continued
John Koulbanis ’53 died on Sept. 22, 2019. He served in the Army in the Korean War. He will forever be remembered as a news photographer for the Westerly, R.I., Sun, where he worked for 40 years photographing countless people, sites, and local events in the community. He leaves his wife, Charlene, three children, six grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces. Arthur Edward Murphy Jr. ’54 of Osterville, formerly of Concord, Mass., passed away at home on June 2, 2020, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 84. A PG at Lawrence, he went on to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he studied engineering and played forward on the hockey team. After RPI, Art graduated from Officer Candidate School at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I. He served as an officer on the USS Rooks, traveled the North Atlantic Ocean, and eventually crossed the Arctic Circle. Following the Navy, Art earned an MBA from Northeastern and became a management engineer, starting at Westinghouse and finishing his career at Digital Equipment Corporation. A true engineer, Art had a sharp and analytical mind, loved a challenge, and had the ability to fix just about anything. He always had a project, including restoring the BMW he drove on his honeymoon with his wife of 45 years, Frances (Forbes) Murphy. A kind and compassionate man, Art was devoted to and is survived by his wife Fran and their two daughters, Margot E. Murphy and Suzanne F. Murphy, both of Newtonville. He is also survived by his in-laws, many nieces, and nephews, and their children, all of whom he adored. David Marshall Newell ’54 of Punta Gorda, Fla. and Pepperell, Mass., passed away at the age of 82 on Aug. 23, 2018, after a brief illness. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Marcia Nichols Newell, sons Mark and his wife Kathy Newell and Robert and his wife Leona Newell, and daughter Lorraine (Lorri) Newell, and five grandchildren. 6 0 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
Dr. David S. Chedekel ’55 passed away on Sept. 6, 2020. He earned three degrees in psychology from Boston University (B.A. 1957, M.Ed. 1961, and Ed.D. 1971). David was an active participant in the fields of child psychology and mental health care. His passion for his profession, especially when it related to burn victims and children’s mental health, eating disorders, and suicide, served him to co-author many books and professional articles. During his professional career, David was a contributor to numerous mental health activities. He was a participant in the founding of Landmark School, Beverly, known for treating children with language-based learning disabilities, where he served as director of psychology along with assuming the role of director while the school was going through a period of transition. Prior to his retirement, he served as chief psychologist at the Shriner’s Hospital for children for 45 years. He was also an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School for 25 years, and founder and director of General Psychological Associates Andover for 30 years, along with numerous hospital affiliations. David is survived by his devoted wife of 61 years, Donna (Finkelstein) Chedekel, a son, a daughter, four grandchildren, a brother, and a sister. Peter Laverty ’55 passed away peacefully on May 14, 2020, at Palms of Pasadena Hospital in Florida. He was 83. After graduating from Lawrence, he earned a B.S. in business from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he met his former wife, Elsie. Peter worked in sales for most of his career, selling everything from printing presses and fencing to sheets, which he peddled out of his trunk as “Pete the Sheet Guy” around St. Pete Beach. Peter loved all sporting events and always had a wager riding on the event at hand. He was well known at the local watering holes and had many friends, He was a staunch Republican and enjoyed political bantering. He looked forward to barroom
bowling on Saturday mornings, and for many years enjoyed games of bingo and “Got It,” and daily walks on the beach. He is survived by a brother, three daughters, four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. George Abbott Davis ’57 of Poultney, Vt., died on Aug. 13, 2020, at the age of 81. He leaves his wife, Jean, three children, and four grandchildren, as well as a sister and two stepbrothers. Donald B Samburg ’57 of Boynton Beach, Fla. died on March 16, 2018, at the age of 79. George Stephen Hopkins ’58 died on Nov. 10, 2020. Daniel McKinley Paine ’59 passed away unexpectedly on Feb. 13, 2020, at the age of 79. He was a 1963 graduate of Union College, where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and the ROTC program. After completing his education, Dan proudly served his country in the Air Force until 1967 and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain. After completing his service, Dan was employed at Connecticut Bank and Trust Company. Eventually, he became president of SINCO (the Safety Industrial Net Company). He traveled the world expanding the business and worked hard to help set the industry standards for fall protection and construction safety. After working at SINCO for 22 years, Dan decided to start his own company, Innovative Safety LLC, where he continued to positively affect the construction safety industry as an expert witness. Dan wanted to help as many people as he could during his life, and was a member of many organizations that share that mission. He was a member of the Shriners; past grand master of Masonic Lodge, Fayette #69 in Wallingford, Conn.; a former board member at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center; and a member of the National Safety Council and the American Society of Safety Engineers.
In addition to his current wife, former wife, and three siblings, Daniel leaves behind two children from his first marriage, three grandchildren, and a large extended family. Charles J. “Jack” Remien ’60 passed away peacefully on Feb. 22, 2019. He was 76. A native of Winnetka, Ill., he moved to Minneapolis to pursue his first job after college, remaining there for the rest of his life. Jack enjoyed a long and successful career in foodservice distribution and manufacturing, eventually serving as president of the Plymouth, Minn., division of PYA/Monarch, Inc. He loved sports, and diligently stood on the sidelines, year after year, cheering on his grandchildren at all of their high school and college sporting events. Jack was also a car enthusiast, and managed to bring that passion to life with the creation of his 1929 Ford Tudor Sedan. He is survived by Eunice, his wife of 19 years, as well as four step-children, a sister and a stepbrother, and many grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Charles P. “Chip” LaPlaca ’61 died on June 18, 2018, surrounded by his wife and three sons. He made his home in Franklin, Mass., though he never lost his attachment to his native South Boston. As a postgraduate student at LA, Chip was a standout football player and was chosen for the Globe All-New England team. His achievements earned him a football scholarship to Boston College. After college, he worked for a time in insurance and then joined the campaign staff of Robert Kennedy’s run for the presidency. In the fall of 1968, he began a 20-year teaching career at Foxboro High School, where he also coached the varsity baseball team. After leaving Foxboro, he worked for the United States Postal Service for 24 years. Chip took great pleasure watching and coaching his sons in sports. He was active in The Gridiron Club and was an announcer for the Franklin Panthers football games for many years. Besides
Betsy (Crouse), his wife of 48 years, Chip is survived by three sons, eight grandchildren, and a sister. He was predeceased by a brother and a sister. David Everett Paine ’61 died on Jan. 3, 2018, in Bristol, Va., at the age of 75. He graduated from Lawrence in 1959, and went on to Washington and Jefferson College. After college, David worked for Arrow, Hart & Hegeman until 1972, when he started a construction company building custom homes and doing remodeling. In 1980 David became certified as a building inspector for the state of Connecticut, working for the towns of Newington, Hebron, and Colchester before he retired. David’s hobbies were fishing, carpentry (he was a true craftsman), religious study, and history. He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Linda Paine; two sons; and siblings, Daniel Paine, Thomas Paine, and Susan Paine Bodden. Dr. Stanley Robert Davidoff ’62 of Boynton Beach, Fla. passed away on Aug. 28, 2020, at the age of 76. He leaves his wife, Ila Davidoff, as well as a son, two stepsons, five grandchildren, and a cousin, Sandra Davidoff. David Rolfe ’62 died Feb. 18, 2019, at the age of 74. After serving in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, he worked for many years for IBM in Kingston and Poughkeepsie, N.Y., as a computer engineer and programmer. An IBM Inventor of the Year, he held several patents for developments in the field of supercomputing. David taught continuing education classes at Bard College, sharing his interests in philosophy and mathematics. A member and presenter at the Bertrand Russell Society, David also enjoyed writing poetry, and hiking the Catskills and Adirondacks. He was an avid reader, learner, and gardener. David also served for several years on the City of Kingston Library Board, and was the chairman of operations during the redesign of the Children’s Library in Kingston.
He leaves Debbie Schnide, his partner of 24 years, as well as a daughter, two grandchildren, one sister, several nieces and nephews, and his former wife, Alice Rolfe. Another sister, Joan Kaskan Ryan, predeceased him. Gerry Goodrich ’64 died on Oct. 26, 2020. A graduate of Middlebury College, Boston University School of Law, and the Harvard School of Public Health, he held a number of executive positions during his extensive health management career in New York, retiring in 2016 from Weill Cornell Medical College. Renowned for his curiosity, exuberant zest for life, love of intrepid travel, and gift for friendships, Gerry thrived on the energy and culture of urban life in New York City, but also loved spending as much time as possible in rural Connecticut, where he built stone walls, gardened, and golfed. Wherever he was, he welcomed his amazing range of friends to share his passions, his joy in his latest intellectual pursuit, his wine, his family, his life. He leaves his wife, Susan Caughman, daughters Hope and Charlotte, son-in-law Patrick Whitehead, and many colleagues and friends. Louis Stella Jr. ’64, of North Andover and Melrose, Mass., passed away on Sept. 11, 2019, at his daughter’s home in Berwick, Maine. He was 74. After graduating from Clarkson University in 1968, he joined his dad at Stella Plumbing and Heating in Medford, Mass.. He was a member of the Plumber’s Union Local 12 and the Indian Ridge Country Club in Andover and on the Board of Directors of the Andover Hockey Association. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for Andover Hockey, he was the “clinic” instructor for 17 years. Besides the pride he took in his family, nothing brought him more joy than teaching the youth of Andover how to skate. He was recognized in 1991 for his contributions to Andover Hockey. Until his death, he was regularly recognized by the kids he taught to skate as Coach Lou.
SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 61
Obits, continued
Mr. Stella is predeceased by his wife, Nancy (Bremner) Stella, and is survived by three children, nine grandchildren, a sister, and several nieces and nephews. Edward H. Jones ’68 died at the age of 70 in Jan. 2020, after a brief illness. After graduating from Lawrence, where he was captain of the soccer team, Eddie moved on to the Newhouse School of Journalism at Syracuse University. A salesman and entrepreneur, Eddie held three patents, and friends knew him for his quick wit and humor. He was also an avid golfer and past member of Scituate and Hatherley Country Clubs. He was an independent bicycle enthusiast and loved going on long rides along the south shore. Eddie was an amateur birder and dog lover, and in recent years, he was a longtime bartender for local caterers in Boston and the South Shore. In addition to his partner, Melanie L’Ecuyer, Eddie leaves his daughter, Ashley (Jones) Maxwell ’02; his sister, Leslie (Jones) Brigham ’74; two brothers, six nephews, and several in-laws. Thomas E. Garrity iV ’73 died on Dec. 21, 2020, at his home in Rockport, Mass., from complications of heart failure and epilepsy. He was 67 years old. After Lawrence, Tom attended Wabash College on a football scholarship, but left to marry his high school sweetheart, Robin Martin (now Adams) ’75. Together they had a daughter, Kellian (Adams, née Garrity) Pletcher ’95, though they later divorced. Tom was a strong athlete, playing baseball and football at LA together with his brother, Peter Garrity ’73. He was also a talented artist, creating cartoons, handlettering, and technical documentation
6 2 LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
with incredible precision in the days before computerized graphic design. He especially loved working with scientists designing new inventions at Raytheon. A severe car crash at 43 left him in a coma for close to a year and then caused severe memory loss that kept him from working as a designer. One of his original pieces, The Rube Goldberg Machine, was recently chosen in a juried exhibition at the Rockport Art Association. While at LA, he designed and painted the sets for several dramatic productions. Through all the difficulties in his life, Tom kept his lively sense of humor and his strong Christian faith. As a Christian musician, Tom wrote and performed beautiful original songs at the Pigeon Cove Chapel, with the North Shore Men’s Choir, and even through volunteering at nursing homes and at the state prison. Once COVID set in, Tom brought his electric piano onto the balcony to sing to anyone who passed by. With the fellowship and endless support of his best friend, Tony Brandtner, Tom poured his heart and soul into restoring the Captain Charles, a Rockport fisherman’s cabin that almost collapsed when he bought it in the 1980s. The dark little house sprang back to life over the years, becoming a beacon of hope and an icon of Bearskin Neck. In the last 10 years of his life, Tom found the love of his life, Synda (Green) Garrity, whom he married in December 2012. His last years were the happy storybook ending to a life that read like a novel as he and Synda tended the Christmas lights and garden at the Captain Charles, prayed and attended services and volunteered within the community in countless ways.
In addition to Synda, Kellian, and Peter, Tom is survived by two sisters and his mother, Frances Garrity. Jason Courtright ’86 passed away on April 6, 2018, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville, Miss., at the age of 50. He was employed at Toyota in Blue Springs. Jason enjoyed working in his shop, cooking, working on his corvette, and spending time with his family. He was a very family-oriented man. Jason is survived by his wife, Sabrina Courtright, daughter Savannah, and son CJ, as well as his mother, Ann Courtright; three brothers and three sisters; his fatherin-law; and many nieces and nephews. Will Umphrey ’93 died unexpectedly on March 17 of this year at the age of 45. Moving to Colorado after graduation from LA, he earned EMT and fire academy certificates and an Associate’s Degree in Radiologic Technology from Red Rocks Community College. He returned home to Massachusetts to work as a radiological technician, and will be posthumously awarded a BS in Radiation Therapy from Suffolk University this spring. He aspired to work in radiation oncology to help cancer patients after graduation. Will overflowed with intellectual curiosity, musical ability, artistic talent, creativity, and caring; he personified the “lifelong learner.” A gifted self-taught musician, he often worked as a set instrumentalist for recording studios. His prolific art work spanned drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, and many other varied forms. Will leaves his fiancée and domestic partner, Kenia Wiedemann, as well as his mother, father, and step-mother, two sisters and a brother, and several nieces and nephews.
Support the LA Fund Support for the LA Fund has allowed us to remain committed to a learning program that stays true to who we are as an institution and what we value: individualized teaching and learning; a warm, compassionate culture; engaged and connected teachers and students; and a responsive, adaptable institutional mindset to support it all. We have reminded ourselves constantly of the greater good we serve, and of the broader community to which we are responsible.
www.lacademy.edu/LAFund SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY X X
JOiN THE CHALLENGE The 2020/2021 Reunion Challenge
The Alumni Trustee New Donor Challenge
As we plan for the Virtual 2020 / 2021 LA Reunion scheduled for June 11, the LA Alumni Advancement Team is excited to provide some fun and friendly competition among the reunion classes. Since we had to cancel the 2020 LA Reunion Weekend, there will be two simultaneous challenges occurring: one for all 2020 LA Reunion classes ending in 0s and 5s and one for all 2021 LA Reunion classes ending in 1s and 6s.
To secure and advance the future of Lawrence Academy and to expand the base of alumni support, the LA Alumni Trustees have pledged to make a one-time challenge gift of $25,000 (or more) to support LA financial aid if 520 new alumni donors join them by the end of this fiscal year, June 30. Last year, 520 alumni chose to support Lawrence Academy, resulting in a participation rate of 10 percent. The Alumni Trustee New-Donor Challenge boldly inspires us to double our donors and double our participation!
Here are the results at the time of the Journal’s printing: 2020 Reunion Challenge
2021 Reunion Challenge
Most LA Fund Dollars Raised (top two): 1970 – $62,459 • 1975 – $6,492
Most LA Fund Dollars Raised (top two): 1976 – $56,550 • 1966 – $56,050
Most LA Fund Donors (top two): 1970 – 24 • 2015 – 21
Most LA Fund Donors (tie): 1981 – 11 • 1986 – 11 • 2016 – 11
Percentage of New (one or more years lapsed) LA Fund Donors (top two): 1945 – 33% • 2000 – 15%
Percentage of New (one or more years lapsed) LA Fund Donors (top two): 1951 – 13.3% • 1966 – 12.8%
Number of Class Notes (top four): 1975 – 6 • 2010, 2015 – 5 • 1980 – 4
Number of Class Notes (top three): 2016 – 62 • 1956 – 4 • 1986 – 4
Alumni Trustee New Donor Challenge Classes in the lead: 1983 – 20 1987 – 12 2000 – 12 1982 – 11 1988 – 11 2013 – 9 2015 – 9 2017 – 9
Remember: It’s not too late to jump back in!
LA
R EUNiON C HALLENGE X X LAWRENCE ACADEMY SPRING 2021
A gift of a lifetime The Amos and William Lawrence Society A graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, Neil Klar ’64 enjoyed a long and successful career providing media technology and research services to the advertising industry. He appreciated the structure that LA offered him at a time when he most needed it. I attended Lawrence Academy from 1960 through 1964, years that changed the trajectory of my life. A friend of my dad’s was sending his son to Lawrence Academy as a day student, so LA was one of the first schools my father heard about … and ultimately became our choice for my high school education. My time at Lawrence gave me skills to help lead three companies, and that I then used when I bought and became CEO of SQAD in 1990. SQAD was a small company that became an industry standard in media cost analysis in the ad world. My team and I built SQAD for nearly 30 years, at which time we sold it, and I remain on its board. Eileen and I are now retired, but I continue to give back and volunteer in many ways. My life has been filled with volunteer board positions at the Alzheimer’s Association in New York, as well as at synagogues in my community. Giving back has played a strong role in my life and that of my family. Lawrence was there for me when I needed some redirection. I am very grateful to my father and to LA for having given me the opportunity, and it is in Dad’s honor and with thanks that I have given continuous support to LA for over 50 years. I am proud to be included in the Amos and William Lawrence Society.
Neil Klar ’64, Member of the Amos and William Lawrence Society
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, director of alumni advancement at jlovejoy@lacademy.edu. SPRING 2021 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 65
Winterim is turning 50, and we will be celebrating with an event in 2022!
Calling all alumni, faculty and former faculty! is year represents the 50th anniversary of one Lawrence Academy’s most beloved traditions, Winterim. We invite you to help us honor the program – and its many stories – by building a collection of memories, including journal entries, photos, comments, postcards, and more. Whether your memories are about the moments, the friendships, and the laughter, or the lost luggage, sunburns, and blisters, we know that experiential learning, community impact, and joyful discovery are what winterim is truly about. Tell us all about your on-campus performances and creations, your far-flung adventures, and everything in between. Did your winterim experience influence your career or hobbies? Did you develop life-long relationships with other students in your program? How has winterim impacted your life?
Let the celebration begin! Please send all submissions, comments, and questions to John Curran, Honorary Co-Chair of Winterim 50, and Jo-Ann Lovejoy, director of alumni advancement. jlovejoy@lacademy.edu
Sailing in the Carribean Winterim (2018)
