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BROOKS BULLETIN • FALL 2016
BOA R D OF T RU ST E ES President Steven R. Gorham ’85, P’17 Andover, Mass. Vice Presidents John R. Barker ’87 Wellesley, Mass. Whitney Romoser Savignano ’87 Manchester, Mass. Secretary Craig J. Ziady ’85, P’18, P’20 Winchester, Mass. Treasurer Valentine Hollingsworth III ’72, P’17 Dover, Mass.
Matt Vieira ’17 (foreground) participates in a relay race held on Field Day in mid-September. The teams are formed by dormitory. Vieira represented the male day students.
Belisario A. Rosas P’15 Andover, Mass. Lynne A. Sawyer ’83 New York, N.Y. Ashley Wightman Scott ’84, P’11, P’14 Manchester, Mass.
T RU ST E ES Pamela W. Albright P’10, P’16 Topsfield, Mass. William N. Booth ’67, P’05 Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Robert W. Hughes P’16, P’19 Andover, Mass. Booth D. Kyle ’89 Seattle, Wash.
Kamilah M. Briscoe ’96 New York, N.Y.
Zachary S. Martin P’15, P’17 Wellesley, Mass.
W. J. Patrick Curley III ’69 New York, N.Y.
Brian McCabe P’18 Meredith, N.H.
Anthony H. Everets ’93 New York, N.Y.
Timothy H. McCoy ’81, P’14, P’15, P’18 Wellesley, Mass.
Jon Gibbons ’92 Needham, Mass. Shawn Gorman ’84 Falmouth, Maine Paul L. Hallingby ’65 New York, N.Y. 2
John R. Packard Jr. P ’18 Head of School North Andover, Mass. Daniel J. Riccio P’17, P’20 Los Gatos, Calif.
TRUSTE E S E M E RITI Henry M. Buhl ’48, P’82 New York, N.Y. Steve Forbes ’66, P’91 Bedminster, N.J. James G. Hellmuth P’78 Lawrence, N.Y.
Juliane Gardner Spencer ’93 New York, N.Y.
H. Anthony Ittleson ’56, P’84, P’86 Green Pond, S.C.
Ramakrishna R. Sudireddy P’15 Andover, Mass.
Michael B. Keating ’58, P’97 Boston, Mass.
Isabella Speakman Timon ’92 Chadds Ford, Pa. Alessandro F. Uzielli ’85 Beverly Hills, Calif. ALUMNI TRUSTE E S Zachary McCabe ’15 North Andover, Mass. Albert D. Nascimento ’10 Somerville, Mass.
Frank A. Kissel ’69, P’96, P’99 Far Hills, N.J. Peter A. Nadosy ’64 New York, N.Y. Peter W. Nash ’51, P’81, P’89 Nantucket, Mass. Cera B. Robbins P’85, P’90 New York, N.Y. Eleanor R. Seaman P’86, P’88, P’91, GP’18 Hobe Sound, Fla. David R. Williams III ’67 Beverly Farms, Mass. BROOKS BULLETIN
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BU L L E T I N • FA L L 2 0 1 6
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Head of School John R. Packard Jr. P’18 Associate Head for External Affairs Jim Hamilton Director of Development Gage S. Dobbins Director of Alumni and Parent Events Erica Callahan P’19, P’20
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Assistant Director of Alumni Programs Carly Churchill ’10 Director of Admission and Financial Aid Bini W. Egertson P’12, P’15
D E PA RT M E N TS Director of Communications and Marketing Dan Callahan P’19, P’20
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Director of Publications Rebecca A. Binder
FEAT U R ES
Design Lilly Pereira
22 A New Life for Old New York
Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams Assistant Director of Communications Jennifer O’Neill
Unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. Opinions expressed in the Bulletin are those of the authors and not necessarily of Brooks School. Correspondence concerning the Bulletin should be sent to Editor Rebecca A. Binder: mail Editor, Brooks Bulletin 1160 Great Pond Road North Andover, MA 01845 email rbinder@brooksschool.org phone (978) 725-6326 © 2016 Brooks School
Andrew Kimball ’83 has always been drawn to urban transformation. He’s made his mark in New York working to repurpose the city’s fading manufacturing buildings for the new “innovation economy.”
02 Message from the Head of School 03 News + Notes 45 Brooks Connections 52 Class Notes
30 A Different Glory
Athletics have long been an important part of a Brooks education. The 2nd and 3rd teams ensure that every Brooks student gets to play at a competitive level. They also teach lessons that enhance the experience of playing on a 1st team or in college.
38 The Value of Gratitude A Chapel program asked Brooks students, faculty and staff to reflect on the pieces of life at Brooks that they are grateful for. The result was an outpouring of thanks directed at roommates, advisors, staff, faculty and the community.
ON THE COVER: A coxswain’s view of sunrise on Lake Cochichewick. The Brooks boys and girls crews returned to row in the Head of the Charles Regatta this fall. Crew is a spring sport at Brooks, so the rowers committed to a series of earlymorning, offseason practices to prepare. At the Head of the Charles, the Brooksians met threetime Olympic gold medal winner Elle Logan ’06, who is profiled beginning on page 82. Photo: Bella O’Shea ’18
A MESSAGE FROM JOHN R. PACKARD JR. HEAD OF SCHOOL
“Bullish About Brooks”
“ If there is a strand that pulls all that has felt special to me about this year’s beginning together, it is the strength of our school’s human capital.”
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As the leaves fall from the trees through November and winter begins to descend onto our campus, I am always amazed at how quickly the fall season comes and goes each year. As I reflect on what has been special about this year’s beginning, four thoughts come to mind. Our students. The degree to which our students support and encourage one another in so many ways inspires me. During our first School Meeting of the year, I have the privilege of awarding a prize to the student who was the previous year’s ranking scholar. The 2015–2016 ranking scholar was Yutong “Coco” Sun ’17. If you had been present for the thunderous ovation she received when I announced her name in a packed auditorium, you would have been witness to the pure elation at news of another student’s achievement. This is the rule at Brooks, not the exception, and it never ceases to impress me. Our faculty and administration. We began this school year with a number of experienced faculty members in new roles. Finding ways to ensure that extraordinary educators have exciting opportunities to grow professionally helps us cultivate continuity in ways that have served the school well. When we enter the F. Fessenden Wilder Dining Hall every day and pause to read of his service to the school through the better part of four decades, we are reminded of the impact evolving careers at Brooks can have on the school and its students. We have been energized by those who are in new roles this year, and it leads me to believe that future Mr. Wilders are among us. Our board of trustees. Our October trustee meetings were the first set led by Steve Gorham ’85, P’17. It was exciting to
officially begin with a new board leadership team, and to spend time thinking with such a committed and devoted group. The school has been blessed for generations with great stewards who tend to it, care for it and engage with it in ways that have always moved it forward. The attention we are paying to improving the school in the moment as we seek to strengthen our capacity to endure continues to leave me feeling Brooks School’s best days are still in front of it. Finally, The Campaign for Brooks. I shared over Parents Weekend that campaign giving had risen from a total of about $26 million in gifts, pledges and intentions in the fall of 2015, to about $45 million just one year later. We continue to work hard on reaching our $60 million goal, and the manner in which so many have led and responded to this effort has been incredible. As a result, we are on track to begin construction on a new arts facility and theater at the end of this school year, and we will experience a substantial increase to our financial aid budget beginning with this year’s admission cycle. There is still a lot of work to do, but it feels good to sense that the wind is at our backs. If there is a strand that pulls all that has felt special to me about this year’s beginning together, it is the strength of our school’s human capital. I am reminded of a moment early in my tenure as head of school when former trustee Malcolm G. Chace III ’52 shared that he was “bullish about Brooks” when reflecting on initiatives and the people who were moving them forward. I shared his feeling then and believe it is as true now as it has ever been. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.
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NEWS + NOTES
© 2016 THE AN DY WARHOL FOUN DATI ON FOR TH E VISUAL ARTS, INC./ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK.
IN THIS SECTION 04 News from Campus 10 Campus Scene 14 In the Classroom 16 Campaign Update 18 Athlete Spotlight 20 Athletics News
Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Can on Shopping Bag (1966).” The Robert Lehman Art Center hosted six Warhol works and a collection of Warhol-inspired pieces by Brooks students and alumni in October 2016.
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Iconic Art @ Brooks The Robert Lehman Art Center was the place to be in October. It hosted an exhibit of six original works by Andy Warhol, a leading guru of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. The Warhol pieces were presented in partnership with the Williams College Museum of Art, with which Brooks co-owns the artworks. The works were gifted to Brooks and Williams College by Brooks assistant head emeritus Richard Holmes, who attended Williams. 4
The exhibit included pieces from Brooks students and alumni that were inspired by the six Warhol works. They all hung together on the walls of the Lehman, which created a stunning visual narrative. The six Warhol works were: “Campbell’s Soup Can on Shopping Bag (1966)”; “Autographed Picture of Andy Warhol (c. 1971)”; “Happy Bug Day (1954)”; “Velvet Underground and Nico (yellow bananas) (1965–1967)”; “Mick Jagger No. 6 (gold/silver/
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PH OTO: JACK M ITCH ELL
The Robert Lehman Art Center hosts an intimate look at a larger-than-life artist.
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blue) (1975)”; and “Leg (1956)” and “Shoe (1956).” The exhibit’s opening reception welcomed a large group of Brooks students, faculty and alumni. The crowd mingled, looked at the pieces on display and discussed the ways in which the student and alumni work informed their interpretation of the Warhol works. “We’ve been working on this exhibit for a couple of years now,” says Director of the Robert Lehman Art Center Amy Graham, who also teaches visual arts at Brooks. “We want our community to enjoy the Warhols, and we’re very grateful to Williams for doing the legwork in properly storing and caring for them.” The Lehman exhibit, Graham explains, echoed The Factory, Warhol’s well-known New York studio, which Graham describes as a collaborative community space for a variety of 1960s artists. “We tried to mimic that here in a way,” she says. “We figured it would be appropriate not just because it’s in keeping with the spirit of Warhol, but also in terms of our students’ experience. To have their work on display with the original pieces in the Lehman is an extraordinary opportunity.” Graham thinks Warhol would have approved of the final product: “The show ended up being hung salon-style,” she says. “It was a little bit hard to find the Warhols on the wall, and that was kind of cool. I think Warhol would have liked that effect.” Charlotte Harvey ’17, who participated in the exhibit, knows that she was given a unique opportunity. “Not many students can say that their own artwork was hung right next to one of Andy Warhol’s
FALL 2016
“The idea is that the word ‘paint’ is not a noun, it’s a verb; painting is something you do, not something you make.” Director of the Robert Lehman Art Center and visual arts faculty AMY GRAHAM
original pieces,” she says. “As clichéd as it sounds, it was truly an experience of a lifetime. Sharing an art show with Andy Warhol and other Brooks students is something that I’ll never forget.” Warhol’s antiestablishment streak came into play while Graham was working with students who were preparing pieces to hang in the exhibit. She says she was able to teach her visual art students different lessons than she usually does. “In class, we had an amazing opportunity to talk about compositional design and these rules that we’d already learned,” she says. “Then, also valuable to me as a teacher, we had the opportunity to throw out all the rules that I know and that I’ve taught my students, because this is Warhol. That doesn’t always happen. Here, the answer was always yes, you can do that — and that was both incredibly difficult and incredibly liberating. We were able to learn the rules and then break them with intelligence.” The notion of breaking rules with intelligence, of experimenting with materials or techniques that are outside the bounds of what one typically sees in art, of finding inspiration from a seemingly lowbrow space — this, Graham says, is an opportunity for students who may typically have trouble engaging with art. “Art is scary for a lot of students,” she says. “Students are afraid that they’re going to have to bare their souls. Studying an artist
like Warhol helps keep students interested and engaged.” Graham compares art to an English teacher’s asking students to engage in stream-of-consciousness writing. “Get the words out now, and fix them later,” she says. “The idea is that the word ‘paint’ is not a noun, it’s a verb; painting is something you do, not something you make. Whenever you create something, that’s good. If you have to make 71 bad paintings to make a 72nd great painting, good for you; you’re doing your job.” Following the Warhol exhibit, the Lehman hosted Chicago-based photographer Suzette Bross in November and December. After a Winter Term exhibit, the Lehman will show work from 3-D artist Alicia Eggert in February and March, and from alumna Tjasa Owen ’89 in April and May. Graham explains that she doesn’t usually try to apply an overarching theme to a year of Lehman exhibits. Instead, she tries to bring a variety of forms, styles and genders of artists to the Lehman. “I’m trying to show our kids a variety of works,” she says. “I also want to host artists who are good teachers for our students. It’s important to me that the students see and meet the human being connected with the work. They can go to a museum any time, but to be able to spend time with and get to know the artist is really special.”
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N EWS + NOTES
NEWS FRO M CAMPUS
A SCHEDULE CHANGE The Brooks administration continues to review and adjust the daily schedule to best fit the needs of students. This fall, the community began holding School Meeting every other week, alternating School Meeting time with an open period for student clubs and organizations to meet. Associate Head for Student Affairs Andrea Heinze says that the change is meant to enhance the quality of School Meeting. The alternating period also ensures that clubs and organizations have a set time to meet with no schedule conflicts. “Moving School Meeting to every other week gives groups more time to prepare the announcements, videos, skits and performances that typically take place,” Heinze says. “This should allow for more meaningful content that the students won’t want to miss.” Until the schedule adjustment, student clubs and organizations had to find time to meet outside of the academic schedule, a challenge that Heinze says prevented many groups from meeting consistently. “This change also provides time for clubs and organizations to meet during the academic day,” she says, “at a time when day students and boarding students can do more substantial work for their interest group.”
Brooks Unplugged The school community leaves its cell phones, computers and other online devices off for a day to “digitally detox” and reflect on the All-School Read. Brooks students, faculty and staff were challenged to unplug their
computers, leave their cell phones untouched and avoid using other online tech devices during the school’s first Brooks Unplugged Day, which took place in mid-October. This summer’s All-School Read was “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline, a dystopian novel about a crumbling society that interacts largely online. The tech-free day at Brooks was meant to illustrate our increasing overuse of and reliance on technology, one of the book’s major themes. The community reviewed the day over seated dinner that night, where discussions ranged from how students checked the time without using their phones, to whether students felt obligated to respond to text messages immediately and the ways in which faculty reworked their lesson plans for the day. One hundred sixty-eight students managed to complete the day without using online technology. Ironically, they proved their success through a pre-installed phone app that tracked whether the phone had been used that day.
A LOOK AHEAD, AND A LOOK BACK:
“Cabaret” Rehearsals for our winter musical, “Cabaret,” have begun in earnest. The show is scheduled for a midFebruary run in the auditorium. These performances will be the last in the auditorium, as construction on the new Center for the Arts will begin this summer. Brooks plans to send the old auditorium out in style during the “Cabaret” run. Please keep an eye out for announcements on reserved seating for performances, receptions and other events.
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Remembrance Garden Takes Shape The conceptual design of the Anna Trustey Remembrance Garden, which has been installed in the courtyard between the Classroom Building and the Science Center. The garden will serve as a serene spot for reflection and gatherings, and will include a candle wall, an echo-creating water feature and a fire bowl. A formal dedication is planned for spring 2017.
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FA L L P L AY
Wild Dust
The play explored themes of feminism and friendship against a Wild West backdrop.
The fall play, “Wild Dust,” which enjoyed a three-night run at Brooks in November, opens with a predicament. In a Wild West town, an approaching dust storm has caused all the town’s men to leave in order to drive cattle and horses to safety. The women, meanwhile, huddle in the only sturdy, brick building in town — a brothel. An unexpected knock on the door adds a U.S. Marshal and a murder investigation to the mix, as the play explores themes of equality, social status, the role of women in the Wild West and the validity of assumptions made based on those constructs. Director of Theater Rob Lazar chose “Wild Dust” because it fit the cast, both in terms of available roles and skill, and because “this is also a play that will be good for the Brooks community at large. This is very much a feminist play, which ties into a lot of the conversations we’re having on campus,” Lazar says. The play is a comedy, which Lazar says was “deceptively hard” to stage and work through, due to its abundant one-liners and need for precise comic timing. The cast of “Wild Dust” included Max Currie ’17, Ritika Kommareddi ’17, Hannah Maver ’18, Emily Choe ’19, Clare Naughton ’18, Kate Packard ’18, Amolina Bhat ’19, Katie O’Brien ’19 and Stella Si ’19.
Part of the cast of “Wild Dust.” From left to right: Hannah Maver ’18, Ritika Kommareddi ’17, Kate Packard ’18 and Emily Choe ’19.
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Fast 5 // Q+A 2 Grace Lindsey ’17 eats science for breakfast. The budding engineer has enrolled in Brooks’s toplevel courses and the Students on the Forefront of Science program. At Brooks, she builds community. Outside of Brooks, she’s an adventurer who chases adrenaline rushes. The Bulletin asked Lindsey about her wide variety of interests.
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What are your favorite classes here at Brooks? I really like the sciences. I prefer chemistry and physics to biology, because I enjoy the math that’s so prevalent in chemistry and physics. I like that chemistry and physics are a tangible application of math: You can see the theory that you’re learning at work. This year, I’m doubling in Topics in Advanced Chemistry and AP Physics, and I’m also taking two math classes, so I have a lot on that side of the spectrum.
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You spent time at Apple though our Students on the Forefront of Science program last summer. What did you take away from that experience? I’ve known for a while that I want to be an engineer, but I wasn’t quite sure which field of engineering I wanted to go into. At Apple, I worked on a group project, and I found myself focusing on the mechanical engineering aspects of the work. I really liked it, and I’d like to study mechanical engineering in college. Also, I prefer to work alone, and not in a group. At Apple, I worked in a group with kids my own age who had tons of experience that I lacked in programming and engineering. I learned how to collaborate with people who have ideas that come from a different base of knowledge. This was a good lesson for how I can conduct myself as I move forward in my education and career.
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What are your activities outside of class? Mentoring and getting to know younger students is important to me. I manage the girls 3rd soccer team, which is mainly third-formers. It’s fun, and I get to pass on my experience at Brooks. I’m also a dorm prefect: The dorm is where we live, and I want our new students and younger students to feel like they’re part of a community in the dorm. I took the Winter Term course in scuba diving as a third-former, and then I went on the scuba trip over Spring Break. The sixthand fifth-formers interacted with us younger kids, and it was incredible. We got to share really awesome experiences, and I was struck by the sense of community that I felt coming off that trip.
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Have you gone scuba diving since that trip? Yes! Not as often as I want to, but I did get to go to Mexico to go cave diving. It was dark down there and kind of scary. I also really want to go cage diving. For my 18th birthday, I went skydiving, and it was awesome! I had been waiting for that for many years. I have a little bit of an adventurous streak, a danger streak, which you can’t really tell by looking at me or talking to me.
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You were also a gymnast when you were younger. What was that like? I started doing gymnastics when I was 2, and competing in gymnastics when I was 7. I loved it. I spent probably four or five hours a day, five days a week in the gym. My last competition before I left gymnastics behind for high school was a national competition in Georgia. I did my best ever on all of the events, which was a great way to end. I didn’t medal, but that’s OK.
FALL 2016
COMMUNITY SERVICE PEN PAL PROGRAM
The Community Service program at Brooks spurred a campus-wide pen pal program with third-grade students at South Lawrence East Elementary School this fall. The yearlong program pairs Brooksians with the younger students, and encourages them to get acquainted and learn about each other while also improving the third-graders’ literacy. Eighty-five Brooks students, including but not limited to students in the Community Service afternoon activity, have committed to the program. The Community Service group will also visit with the elementary school children weekly. Here, from left to right, sixth-formers Liza Peters, Ellie Cordes and Mairi Anthony open their first letters from their pen pals.
OVERHEARD
“Joy can be found in unexpected places and in unexpected ways. Every morning, I head out the back door of Merriman to let my dogs run in the fields. This morning, as Tux and Henry burst out of the door, they saw the first snow of the season. It was unexpected to them, and talk about joy — they frolicked and rolled in unadulterated joy.” Associate Director of College Counseling and Merriman House residential faculty WENDY BRENNAN speaking in Chapel on December 5, 2016. That morning’s Chapel service focused on the theme of joy.
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N EWS + NOTES
CAMPUS SCMENE NEWS FRO CAMPUS
A student pauses to enjoy the fall colors on campus in October 2016. The swing he sits on was installed this fall off a tree behind the Head of School’s House. It bears an inscription, which reads, “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
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FOU R TRUSTEES JOIN THE BOARD
Talent, wisdom and experience strengthen the board of trustees.
CRAIG J. ZIADY ’85, P’18, P’20 rejoins the board as its secretary. He previously served from 2007 to 2012. Ziady is senior vice president and general counsel at Cummings Properties, LLC, where he leads the real estate, litigation and environmental teams, serves as compliance director for all of Cummings’s affiliated companies and is the pro-bono advisor to Cummings Foundation, a $1 billion grant-making foundation. Ziady attended Bates College and Boston College Law School. At Brooks, Ziady served as school prefect, Chapel prefect and editor-in-chief of the “Shield.” He is a longstanding volunteer for the school, including stints as president of the alumni association, reunion chairman and class correspondent. SHAWN GORMAN ’84 is the executive chairman of the board at L.L. Bean, the company his great-grandfather founded. Gorman has served L.L. Bean in a number of leadership roles, including partnership marketing director, vice president of card services and senior vice president of brand communications. He received a degree in English from the University of New Hampshire, and also completed executive programs at the Wharton School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management. Gorman volunteers his time for several Maine-based charity groups: He is the vice chair of the United Way of Portland’s board of directors; he is the board chair for the John T. Gorman Foundation, which donates millions of dollars annually to local community programs and projects; and he was recently appointed to the board of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. BRIAN MCCABE P’18 is a managing partner at independent public affairs consulting firm DCI Group, where he oversees the firm’s grassroots engagement team and digital and online integration team, as well as a significant portion of the firm’s client portfolio. He is one of the industry’s leading technology and telecommunications policy experts. Prior to joining DCI Group in 2004, McCabe founded his own public affairs firm. He also served as executive director of Senator Bob Dole’s New Hampshire primary campaign and managed the 1994 and 1996 campaigns for New Hampshire Congressman Bill Zeliff. He was president of the political organization Progress for America, where he led the national campaign to build support for the confirmation of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito. JULIANE GARDNER SPENCER ’93 is a brand strategist and interactive copywriter who specializes in corporate branding and consumer communications. She has worked via The Taproot Foundation, a pro-bono organization that benefits non-profit organizations, to create copy, content and messaging for a variety of groups. Her pro-bono clients include Dancewave, which focuses on improving lives through dance, and Fight for Children, which betters the lives of children in low-income neighborhoods. Previously, Spencer worked as a content strategist for TD Ameritrade and spent time as an English teacher. She is the carnival publicity chair at The Calhoun School, which her children attend. Spencer volunteers as a writer for Calhoun’s school benefit and annual fundraising campaigns, and is currently involved in various creative writing projects.
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Two New Endowed Chairs An Ashburn Chapel ceremony honors two members of the Brooks faculty. Head of School John Packard took to the Ashburn Chapel lectern in mid-November to bestow endowed faculty chairs on two respected members of the Brooks faculty. English department chair Dean Charpentier received the F. Fessenden Wilder Endowed Chair. Science department chair Randy Hesse received the Waldo Holcombe Chair. Charpentier and Hesse join mathematics faculty Dusty Richard, mathematics department chair Doug Burbank, English faculty Leigh Perkins and classical languages faculty Deb Davies as the holders of the school’s endowed faculty chairs. “These two teachers have reached students and colleagues throughout their adult lives in ways that demand decency, in ways that ooze humility, in ways that are rooted in kindness, in ways that are always civil and in ways that reveal an embedded commitment to being empathic in everything they do,” Mr. Packard told the assembly. “They are good listeners, deep thinkers, and demanding and patient with their colleagues and students all at the same time. They are the sort of master teachers that students recall for the rest of their lives. Indeed, as we seek to provide the most meaningful educational experience our students will have in their lives, these two
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colleagues are meaning-delivery engines of the highest order.” As part of the process of selecting endowed chair recipients, Mr. Packard and Dean of Faculty John McVeigh solicited nominations and insight from the entire Brooks faculty. Mr. Packard gave the ceremony a personal touch by reading aloud some of the comments sent by the faculty in support of Charpentier’s and Hesse’s nominations. Faculty comments on Charpentier focused on his ability to teach by listening and giving students space to explore their own thoughts and abilities. “I strive to embrace his quiet confidence, creativity and tenacity in my own teaching every time I enter the classroom,” one faculty colleague wrote. “He listens far more than he speaks, and the safe space he creates for all to bring their full selves forth is the evidence of his wisdom.” Another faculty colleague applauded Charpentier’s ability to “help the most reticent kid find her voice. Hand in hand with the technical skills he imparts is a trust and a confidence he elicits from his students that they are safe with him, and they can use these new tools to think about their lives if that’s how they are moved, and so many of them are.” Faculty comments on Hesse centered on his dedication to intellectual excellence and inquiry, and on his devotion to the Brooks community. “He is the first person
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Dean Charpentier, recipient of the F. Fessenden Wilder Endowed Chair (left) and Randy Hesse, recipient of the Waldo Holcombe Chair, after the Ashburn Chapel ceremony.
“As we seek to provide the most meaningful educational experience our students will have in their lives, these two colleagues are meaning-delivery engines of the highest order.” Head of School JOHN PACKARD
that I think deserves this honor for the simple fact that he lives and breathes Brooks School,” one colleague wrote. “The school is in his soul. He is an engaged teacher who challenges his students, pushing them to be their best. He has endless creativity that he uses to enrich his instruction. He also believes in the residential life of Brooks as a parent in Peabody. During our first dorm meeting last year, he gave an impassioned speech about how Peabody is a dorm that has a tradition of respect and appreciation for diversity.”
Mr. Packard concluded by offering his own thoughts on Charpentier and Hesse, framed against the background of “a time of considerable uneasiness in this country.” “As a parent, I have considered my daughter blessed to be in their classrooms,” Mr. Packard said. “As head of school, I look forward to what lies ahead, buoyed by their presence and certain of the difference they will make in an uncertain time.”
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I N T H E C LASS RO O M
A new set of courses helps students learn about themselves and others.
Self in Community A new set of courses called Self in Community debuted at Brooks this fall. Self in Community is a comprehensive four-year program designed to provide discussion-based learning opportunities for students throughout their time at Brooks. Students explore their understanding of self, along with their place as citizens of the Brooks community and the wider community. The four-year program incorporates and replaces the one-year courses Brooks Beginnings, Human Understanding, Life Skills and Ethics, with the goal of providing students with a cohesive, thoughtful approach to health and wellness. Associate Head for Student Affairs Andrea Heinze explains that the first two years focus on the individual, and the second two years focus on the individual’s place in the larger world. The third-form class focuses on the transition to Brooks: Students discuss different learning styles, living independently as boarding students and time management. They also examine the way in which their upbringing may have affected their values, morals and perspectives, before moving into a focus on physical health and relationships. The fourth form continues its focus on physical health, and also examines public health issues and topics such as stressors and stress relief.
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Although this year’s fifthformers have a syllabus that resembles the fourth-form coursework, subsequent fifth forms will discuss cultural, spiritual, emotional and socio-economic differences in the Brooks community, and how those individual differences play into being a part of the community. Sixth-formers focus on leadership skills, ethics, opportunities for college counseling and the transition out of their time at Brooks. “We cover a lot of different areas,” says Lindsey McDowell, who serves as the coordinator of the fourth-form program and as a wellness educator. “The goal is to have a four-year program during which our students are able to think about themselves and the world around
them and where they fit, and about how to make healthy decisions and find the right path for them.” Heinze hopes that the four-year program can “flow and be more comprehensive. We want to give kids information that we think is pertinent to their development at the right time,” she says. “We want to create a place where kids can be with adults and discuss uncomfortable or difficult topics and ideas in an environment where they feel safe and supported.” Self in Community classes are graded on a pass-fail basis, and no homework is assigned. The hope is that students will engage in the moment, be present, and reflect on and apply what is discussed. “We’re committing time during our academic day to these issues and these conversations,” Heinze says. “We think that health, wellness, awareness and community are important, and we think the time spent with adults and students in these smaller groups will help kids develop social and emotional skills that will carry on outside the classroom.”
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A New Space for Health Services The Health and Wellness Center expands its offerings in a new facility. Over the summer, the Health Center moved from its old quarters above the admission and Head of School’s offices to a renovated, large, bright, comfortably appointed space underneath the Luce Library. The new Health and Wellness Center allows the Health Services staff to tend to not only the physical health of the Brooks community, but also to its wellness needs. “The old Health Center was our home, but the space placed a lot of limitations on our work,” says Director of Health Services Tracey Costantino. She cites the old Health Center’s lack of handicapped-accessible entrances, lack of a waiting area and cramped quarters that made it difficult for the staff to properly navigate privacy concerns. The new facility, she enthusiastically says, is “wonderful. It’s such a step up.” The new space features a proper entrance and waiting area, several treatment rooms, an in-house lab space and welcoming common areas. The expansion of space allows for an expansion of services. Costantino plans to adopt more wellness offerings into Health Services, and she sees the new space as key: She promotes the Health and Wellness Center as a welcoming community space where students can spend time if they need a break, if they want to gather with Health Services staff to talk about a topic of interest or even if they want a space to relax with their friends. “One Sunday, we had the Patriots game on in the common room, and kids were sitting here watching it,” Costantino says. “The kids seem to really love this new space. We were welcoming before, but there’s definitely a different feel here.”
Welcome New Faculty Six new faculty members begin work at Brooks this fall.
WENDY BRENNAN joins the Brooks community after 28 years of work at three other independent schools. Brennan is the school’s associate director of college counseling, but she also brings experience as an English teacher, department head, coach and community service coordinator. Brennan is a dorm parent in Merriman House, and she will coach the girls 1st lacrosse team. She received her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College, and master’s degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. MICHELE MUSTO joins the faculty as chair of the history department. She has previously lived and worked at Miss Porter’s School and Millbrook School in a variety of teaching, residential and coaching roles. Musto comes to Brooks from Tilton School, where she taught history and served as dorm parent. Prior to her teaching career, Musto worked as a museum curator, during which time she wrote several award-winning exhibitions and catalogs. AMANDA NASSER joins the history faculty after teaching history and English at KIPP Academy Boston. Nasser previously taught history at Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts. She graduated from Boston University with a degree in social studies education, and she returned to receive her master’s degree in curriculum and teaching in 2016. She attended Pingree School. JULIA SINNOTT joins the world languages department as a French teacher. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French and art history from Wellesley College, and an MBA and master’s in accounting from Northeastern University. Sinnott worked as an accountant before she began her teaching career. She has lived and worked in France and Germany, and she has traveled extensively throughout Europe. Sinnott attended Groton School. TOTE SMITH joins the mathematics faculty and serves as director of Brooks’s crew program. Smith spent 12 years working as an investment banker before taking a teaching position at Salisbury School in 2003. Smith taught, served as a dorm parent and coached squash and crew for 13 years at Salisbury. Smith lives on campus in Thorne House with his family, including his wife, Katharine Palmer ’88. STACY TURNER joins the science department and the Learning Center. She attended Tabor Academy and Saint Lawrence University, where she earned first-team All-America nods in both field hockey and lacrosse while rewriting the record books in both sports. Turner spent 14 years working as an actuary, a chartered financial analyst and, most recently, a senior strategist at Mercer Investment Management. Beyond her service in the classroom and as a dorm parent in Hettinger East, Turner will coach the girls 2nd ice hockey team and the 1st field hockey team.
The common room of the new Health and Wellness Center.
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N EWS + NOTES
CAMPAI G N UPDAT E
The Campaign for Brooks: Now in its fourth year, The Campaign For Brooks has made tangible and intangible improvements to the Brooks campus and community. This campaign timeline, with references to an aerial photo of campus taken in October 2016, crystallizes the campaign’s successes and the work to be done.
PRE-CAMPAIGN: • A leadership $5,000,000 intention for capital helps Brooks determine its needs and vision.
2013–2014: • Brooks receives an anonymous $3,000,000 gift and a $2,000,000 gift. This momentum allows Brooks to complete the turf field construction and Ashburn Chapel renovation in summer 2014. FY2014 Brooks Fund total: $1,968,064
2014–2015: • The first Summit is held in the fall. Brooks receives two $1,000,000 gifts from Summit participants for unrestricted use and financial aid. • The turf field opens and hosts its first night game in fall 2014. • Ashburn Chapel opens for Lessons and Carols in December 2014. FY2015 Brooks Fund total: $2,149,173
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Meaningful Impact 2015–2016: • The second Summit is held in the fall. After the Summit, Brooks receives a $1,000,000 gift; a $1,000,000 gift is increased to $2,000,000; a $2,000,000 gift is increased to $5,000,000; and three six-figure gifts are increased.
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• The turf field is dedicated as Anna K. Trustey Memorial Field in fall 2015. • Brooks receives a third $5,000,000 gift in spring 2016, along with a $2,000,000 gift for financial aid and the arts.
2016–2017: • A $4,500,000 challenge for the Center for the Arts launches in fall 2016, created by two school trustees. • The groundbreaking for the Center for the Arts is planned for June 2017.
2017–2018: LOOKING AHEAD • Construction of the Center for the Arts will continue. • The Campaign for Brooks will reach its $60,000,000 goal in its final year.
FY2016 Brooks Fund total: $2,289,238
To learn more about The Campaign for Brooks, please visit www.thecampaignforbrooks.org.
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NEWS AT H L E FRO T E SM POT CAMPUS LIGHT
Andrew Stevens ’18
An emerging leader of the boys soccer program finds his outlet on the field. The Andrew Stevens ’18 who walks the halls of the Classroom Building at Brooks is different from the Andrew Stevens who patrols the boys 1st soccer pitch at Brooks. The first Andrew Stevens is easygoing and reserved: A strong student with a solid work ethic, he speaks quietly in thoughtful, measured responses. The second Andrew Stevens, though, is unleashed: An aggressive, fiery athlete, he’s a good bet to be the Brooks player sacrificing his body for a header or tackling an opponent to get the ball. Co-head coach Dusty Richard says that Stevens is “one of the best midfielders in the league. Nobody’s better in the air than he is.” The team’s statistics showcase his skill: Although Stevens is a defensive center midfielder, he scored six goals and three assists this year, good for sixth on the team and placing him among the top 30 offensive players in the ISL. “Andrew scoring is definitely icing on the cake for us,” co-head coach Willie Waters ’02 says. “He sets the tone physically for us in every game by winning balls in the air and making great tackles while the other team is trying to build its attack. He’s the type of player who causes other teams to change their offensive game plan to avoid.”
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Stevens, who began at Brooks as a fourth-former after spending his freshman year on the varsity team at his hometown Marshfield (Mass.) High School, says that in his second year at Brooks, he’s felt himself become a leader for the squad. “Being a year older is a lot different,” he says. “Last year, I played my hardest, but I was up against kids who were two years older than me. Now, I feel like I can run games in midfield by being the guy who wins battles for the team, and I can also play forward, get goals and create chances. I understand the team and the game more, and hopefully we can keep going and keep getting results.” Stevens knows that his on-field personality is a contrast to his offthe-field manner. He explains that his position allows him a physical way to express himself. “I grew up playing one-on-one with my brother, and I would always tackle him really hard, and that’s the role I’ve taken up, being the person who makes the tackle that gets the team going,” he says. “I love soccer, and I’ve always really loved the physical part of the game — being able to get the ball away with a clean slide tackle while also taking a man out, there’s no better feeling than that. Soccer lets me express my emotions and physicality in a way that I don’t really get a chance to do off the field. When I step onto the field, it’s like a whole different world.” Off the field, Stevens acknowledges, he’s “pretty laid back. I work hard, I don’t cause any problems, and I just try to be the best person I can be in the dorm and in the school.” Even in his off-the-field, laidback capacity, Stevens manages to stand out in the Brooks crowd. He’s
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an admission prefect, charged with organizing admission tours for prospective students and meeting with prospective applicants at admission events. He was chosen to speak at the revisit days last year, where he spoke effectively about his first year at Brooks. He also succeeds in the classroom: Stevens says that his favorite academic subjects are English and history. He eagerly describes the classroom environment of his fourthform English class as one where “ideas were bouncing back and forth, and we had the opportunity to share our thoughts and talk about books. It was engaging and fun.” When he’s not playing soccer, Stevens plays squash in the winter and engages in the school’s Community Service program in the spring. Richard, who is Stevens’s advisor as well as his coach, touts all of Stevens’s accomplishments, on the field and off. “Andrew is a kid who is achieving at a very high level in all aspects of his life here at Brooks, not only at soccer,” Richard says. “He does well academically, and he’s playing at a very serious, clear Division I potential. He’s really going to use soccer to change his life.” Stevens confirms that he plans to play soccer in college, at “the best combination of academics and soccer that I can find,” but for now, the boarding student has found a home at Brooks. He speaks enthusiastically about the “brotherhood” he’s found in the soccer program at the school, and how the rituals and traditions of the team help everyone feel included in the program’s successes. “People told me that this was a great team to be a part of, and once I got here, I bought into that,” he says. He also speaks fondly of the residential community at Brooks, and of the sense
that the Brooks uniform represents a community as much as it does a team. “Here, it’s different from other teams I’ve played on, because I live with my teammates; I eat with my teammates; I go to school with my teammates; I sleep in the same dorm as my teammates; I do everything with my teammates,” he says. “I think it brings us that much closer, so that when we get on the field we’re all in tune with what we need to do.” When asked for a standout memory of his time at Brooks, Stevens hesitates. “It’s hard to put my finger on one thing, because everything about Brooks is great,” he says. “Getting to go to classes every day with incredible teachers, getting to play soccer on such beautiful fields — I appreciate everything this school has done for me and everything it offers.” But, he says, finishing his thought with a wry smile, “In terms of soccer, the most fun I’ve had playing soccer here was when we beat Phillips Academy 5–0 on the road at the beginning of this season. We just came out firing, and I got the first goal by heading it. It was awesome — so much fun. It’s fun winning here at Brooks.”
“Soccer lets me express my emotions and physicality in a way that I don’t really get a chance to do off the field. When I step onto the field, it’s like a whole different world.” ANDREW STEVENS ’18
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NEWS FRO AT HLET I CSMNCAMPUS EWS
Fall Teams Find Success FOOTBALL CONTINUES WINNING WAYS
The 1st football team kept its foot on the gas this fall, storming through its schedule to notch a 7–1 record, a share of the ISL championship and a spot in the Mike Atkins Bowl. After a Week Two stumble on the road against Milton Academy, Brooks put together a 6-0 stampede during which it outscored opponents 166–38, including a 42–0 rout over Rivers School and a 36–0 drubbing of Groton School. Brooks also took home a 13–9 win over traditional rival Governor’s Academy in front of a huge Parents Weekend crowd. The fairytale couldn’t last forever, though, as Brooks fell in the Mike Atkins Bowl — its second bowl
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appearance in three years — to a talented and undefeated squad from Hamden Hall Country Day School. “This was the first time Brooks has won a share of the ISL championship in a long time, which is quite an accomplishment by this year’s team,” says head coach Pat Foley. “And, getting to the bowl game was great. I was really proud of the way the team kept fighting the whole game. The team played extremely hard for 48 minutes, which is all you can ask for as a coach.” On offense, quarterback Seamus Lambert ’18 turned heads in his first season at Brooks, going 66–113 and passing for 1,138 yards and 14 touchdowns. Quad-captain Nick Konovalchik ’17 rumbled for
441 yards and five touchdowns on 118 carries. Fifth-former Pat Freiermuth led all receivers with 537 yards and five touchdowns on 26 catches; classmate Terrell Brown followed with 271 yards and three touchdowns on 14 catches. On defense, quad-captain Owen Rosenberger ’17 notched a team-leading 51 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Owen Borek ’19 nailed 3.5 sacks of his own, and fifth-formers Jaylen Cromwell and Connor Breen grabbed three and two interceptions, respectively. Freiermuth showed up again on defense, leading Brooks with three forced fumbles. “The team had some outstanding players, but there was also a lot of balance. We got tremendous
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<< Newcomer quarterback Seamus Lambert ’18 (center) led a balanced Brooks 1st football offense to a share of the ISL championship and a bowl game.
contributions from so many different people, which made it a lot of fun,” Foley says. “We got great leadership and on-field contributions from our four captains: sixthformers Will Gibeley, Konovalchik, Kyle Neyman and Rosenberger. We are also really going to miss guys like Russell Byers ’17, Joe Berberian ’17 and Kyle Helfrich ’17, who played so well in less glamorous positions. We will need to work hard to replace those guys in order to build on this season’s success moving forward.”
CAROLINE KUKAS ’19 in action during 1st field hockey’s 5–1 win over St. George’s School on October 19, 2016. Brooks took the eighth seed in the Class B NEPSAC Tournament before losing to top seed Rivers School in the first round. “We were determined, played with heart and played as a team,” says head coach Ali Mattison. “Our seven sixth-formers all had outstanding seasons. Next year, we’re returning both goaltenders, and four rising sixth-formers will lead the way for 10 rising fifth-formers. I believe we will contend for another NEPSAC tournament bid.”
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BOYS SOCCER TAKES ISL TITLE AND GOES TO NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The boys 1st soccer team made a triumphant return to its historic greatness this fall. The side went on a head-turning 15–0 run to open the season, during which it outscored opponents 64–5. Brooks clinched the ISL championship Gunmere Cup on November 2, via a 3–1 win over Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School, with three games left in the regular season. The undefeated season lasted until November 9, when Brooks fell to defending ISL and New England champion Milton Academy 1-2 in a hard-fought match. Brooks dusted itself off for a win against St. Paul’s Zeke Godwin ’17 looks for an opening during School to end the regular season before the New England Tournament championship setting its sights on the New England Class game against South Kent School. B tournament. Brooks passed Cushing Academy in the opening round, then beat Noble and Greenough School in a come-from-behind, stoppage-time victory in the tourney semifinal game. Less than 24 hours later, Brooks suited up for the New England championship game against South Kent School, which had been ranked first in the nation for much of the season. Brooks played with grit and determination, but couldn’t match South Kent, losing 0-2. “I’ve been doing this for 39 seasons. This was the most enjoyable of those 39 seasons for me,” co-head coach Dusty Richard says. “This team has always been about more than just winning and soccer. One of the great things that we take pride in is how much our kids care about the team and the program. It isn’t like that at every other school, and most of that is because of the tradition that has been built by kids ranging back to our first team in 1978. They’ve built a tradition of caring about W MORE ONLINE: their teammates, caring about the group rather than Please visit the Brooks themselves. This year has epitomized that. These kids athletics website at www.brooksschool. suffered through some down years. They experienced org/athletics for more what it was like to fall short together, and this year, information on your favorite they got to experience what it feels like to be chamBrooks team, including schedules, game recaps pions together. And, the feeling isn’t that different. and up-to-date news. That’s taken two or three years, and close to 40 years of tradition, to build.” The program graduates three sixth-formers: Alex Chaban, Zeke Godwin and captain Dylan Steele — the only two-year captain in the last 40 years, who Richard calls one of the “three or four most impactful captains I’ve had.” As a group, Richard says, the three sixth-formers “have returned the program to where it rightfully belongs.” Richard has a lot to look forward to next year: Brooks will return Duncan Sutherland ’19 and Jacob Iwowo ’18, two of the leading scorers in the ISL. Brooks also returns goalkeeper Christian Garner ’18, who held down a 0.71 goals against average this season, as well as standout Andrew Kempe ’19, who will vie for time in goal. Andrew Stevens ’18 will captain the team.
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Andrew Kimball â&#x20AC;&#x2122;83 looking in on Ends Meat, a whole-animal salumeria, which is one of the popular food joints in Industry City.
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A NEW LIFE FOR OLD NEW YORK
ST O RY BY R E BECCA A . BI ND E R
P H OT O G R A P H Y BY JE NNI F E R LI SEO
Andrew Kimball ’83 grew up watching the collapse of New York’s manufacturing industry. He’s built a career around urban transformation, and he’s on a mission to bring those hulking, ramshackle buildings back to life by turning them into beacons for the new “innovation economy.”
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If
Andrew Kimball ’83, CEO of Industry City, ever offers you a tour of the six-million-square-foot complex, here’s a tip: Wear your walking shoes. Industry City, formerly Bush Terminal, is a historic shipping, warehousing and manufacturing complex on the Brooklyn waterfront. Now, the 35-acre site has been transformed, and its 16 repurposed warehouses host a variety of commercial and manufacturing tenants. The space boasts high ceilings, bright, unfettered workspaces and large windows that provide views of the Statue of Liberty.
What this means for your feet is that Industry City is huge. You’ll walk through the massive buildings, across the landscaped courtyards between them, up stairs, down hallways, and through countless spaces where artisans and manufacturers — fabric makers, pickle makers, chocolatiers, woodworkers, artist’s studios and vodka distilleries — create and ply their wares. You’ll pass through a great deal of space that’s under construction, but you’ll also pass through a great deal of space that has reached its vision. Industry City hosts a 40,000-squarefoot “food hall” packed with eateries; a passageway, dubbed “Innovation Alley,” that connects the buildings and is lined with shops; and events, markets and concerts held in the courtyards. Industry City, Kimball will tell you, is more than just a collection of creative offices and workspaces. Industry City represents something new: an ecosystem of innovators, entrepreneurs and established industry presences that want more than just high ceilings and natural light; they want a community, a chance to collaborate, a chance to stake their claim and participate in what Kimball calls the “innovation economy.” “Part of the reason I call it the innovation economy is to move the debate away from what is manufacturing and what is not manufacturing,” Kimball explains. “Things have changed over the past 15 years. Old definitions of ‘this is office space’ and ‘this is manufacturing space’ are becoming irrelevant. Instead, we focus on which sectors are growing and thriving in New York City, and are they providing access to well-paying, local jobs?” In New York and other urban areas, Kimball continues, the “innovation economy” is a mashup of design, art, technology, fashion and light production. One hallway at Industry City, for example, houses Suneris, a biotech startup that developed a wound-clotting gel for animals. Next door is AeroBo, a company that manufacturers and operates drones. Then, Coral & Tusk, a fabric company. Industry City provides space for these varied pursuits and also focuses on building a larger community. The complex boasts intentional community spaces — the lounges, courtyards and the food hall — that promote collaboration among businesses. Industry City also hosts an online portal that allows tenants to communicate with each other. “We connect people,” Kimball says.
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“People like this want to be around other creative types, but they don’t want to be around other creative types from only the same sector.” Take, for example, the collaboration between AeroBo,the drone manufacturer and operator, and AbelCine, a camera and photography rental outfit. AbelCine teamed up with AeroBo to provide drone services to their client base; this move benefitted both companies and is indicative of Kimball’s vision: “You can take these big, massive places, cut them up into smaller units, and that’s where today’s maker wants to be,” he says. “In a small space where they can grow over time, and in a community with other creative types with a landlord who connects them.”
A LIFELONG INTEREST
A New York native, Kimball grew up on East 96th Street in Manhattan. That address is significant; East
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Andrew Kimball ’83, CEO of Industry City in Brooklyn.
“It was the MOST VALUABLE eight months of education of my entire life, but I don’t think I would have been prepared to be a good candidate for Coro if I hadn’t started to learn those kinds of leadership experiences at Brooks.” ANDREW KIMBALL ’83
96th Street is the dividing line between two neighborhoods: the traditionally posh Upper East Side and the traditionally struggling East Harlem. Kimball says that he noticed this stark division as a child, especially during the turbulent economic period of the 1970s. “That was one of the things that got me interested in urban transformation early on,” he says. “Why do cities evolve in some positive ways and in some not so positive ways?” Kimball also grew up in a family with the ability to effect change. Adlai Stevenson, the progressive Democrat who was the party’s twotime nominee for United States president, makes an appearance on Kimball’s family tree. So does a former president of the University of
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Miami. “Adlai Stevenson made urban regeneration a big part of his platform,” Kimball explains. “The University of Miami played a big role in anchoring the revitalization of Miami. All those ideas were kicking around in the back of my head when I was 15, 16 years old.” Kimball is neither the first nor the last of his family to attend Brooks, and he says his family’s connection to the school made the choice to take up residence on Great Pond Road as a fourth-former appeal to him. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I really lucked out. Brooks was the perfect place for me over the years in terms of personal development,” he says. “It was a great balance of academics, sports and community.”
Kimball speaks highly of the opportunities Brooks gave him to hone his leadership skills, especially his service as senior prefect and as a member of the boys soccer team. “Soccer helped me understand that if you commit as a group toward a larger goal, you can achieve great things,” Kimball says. “That’s obviously a very simple concept, but it was the first time I saw it in action. That was a really important leadership experience for me early on.” He also remembers the insight that serving as the school’s senior prefect afforded him. “Being senior prefect gave me my first flavor of working directly with adults on bigger agendas around improving the school and helping to better link students with faculty,” Kimball says. “That was tremendous exposure for me early on, and it allowed me to think about that form of leadership.” Kimball attended Hamilton College and then took up a position with former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis’s 1988 presidential campaign. “I wasn’t crazy
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The exterior of Industry City.
about the direction of the country,” explains Kimball. “I was becoming more engaged politically, and I wanted more focus on urban investment, more focus on celebrating the diversity of our country and lifting people up, with some thoughts on urban transformation mixed in.” After Dukakis lost the 1988 election to former United States president George H. W. Bush, Kimball returned to New York in 1990 for what he calls a “gamechanger”: a spot in the elite Coro Public Affairs Fellowship program. Kimball is currently chair of the board of directors of Coro New York Leadership Center, the organization that facilitates the Coro fellowship, and his lasting dedication to the program is well founded: The fellowship uses cities and a series of internships as classrooms to train the next generation of leaders. The fellowship stresses the need for leaders to be able to forge connections and lead across non-profit, business and government sectors in complex urban environments. “I’d grown up in New York, and I thought I knew New York,” Kimball says. “I didn’t know New York at
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all.” The fellowship placed him in internships that ranged from finance to policy to a place with the Teamsters union. “I began to understand how decisions get made and how to move solutions forward,” he says. “It was the most valuable eight months of education of my entire life, but I don’t think I would have been prepared to be a good candidate for Coro if I hadn’t started to learn those kinds of leadership experiences at Brooks.”
TRANSFORMING NEW YORK
Kimball’s career reflects his childhood interest in urban transformation. He spent eight years at the New York Public Library. “I wanted to get out of political campaigns,” Kimball says. “I decided that I wanted to work for organizations that were transforming things; I felt I could get more done.” During his stint at the Library, Kimball says, he gained a greater understanding of how to run a large organization: Kimball raised public money to fund the restoration and redevelopment of branch libraries. “Libraries are the backbone for small businesses getting started; they’re a critical afterschool program; libraries are the way many people see the world for the first time, especially in poorer urban areas,” Kimball says. “That got me interested in real estate, because
when you think about communities that are beaten down, if all of a sudden there’s a brand new, shiny library, it becomes an anchor for regeneration.” He moved on to his next challenge: Daniel Doctoroff, New York’s deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding under the Michael Bloomberg administration, appointed Kimball the director of operations for the city’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. Kimball says he accepted the appointment because he “wanted to help make sure the Olympics would come to New York, as a way to help transform our city.” Even though New York failed in its Olympic bid, Kimball points out that in an important way, the city “won by losing.” The rapid timeline of the bid, he says, hastened the approval of rezoning, new parks and other improvements. “In the normal life of a city, these things might take seven, eight, 10 years to get done,” Kimball says. “We got them done in two.” He points to the rezoning of Manhattan’s Far West Side, now a booming neighborhood; the High Line park, now a major attraction; and the rezoning of the Brooklyn waterfront, which, Kimball says, has transformed the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Williamsburg. “All of that would
Andrew Kimball ’83 in the shop of a custom kitchen appliance manufacturer at Industry City.
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Artwork lends flair to the previously drab industrial hallways at Industry City.
“It’s not the smokestacks anymore, where one company comes in and puts thousands of people to work; now, it’s more urban area-type uses, where you have tons of these small businesses that are going to GROW OVER TIME.” ANDREW KIMBALL ’83
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“Creating real estate value, while at the same time creating jobs and doing it in a sustainable way. This is something with STAYING POWER that can really change urban areas.” ANDREW KIMBALL ’83
have happened without the bid,” Kimball says, “but it would have happened much more slowly.” In 2005, Kimball was appointed president and CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. This is the not-forprofit corporation that serves as the real estate developer and property manager of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is owned by New York City. These days, the Yard is a 300acre waterfront industrial park that showcases the viability and positive impact of modern, urban industrial development. But, that wasn’t always the case. “The Yard is this massive industrial relic that had amazing history, but was a dump,” Kimball says. “I was able to convince City Hall that we had a business model that worked, that we were creating jobs, that we were generating revenue and were self-sufficient from an operating point of view, but that if the city didn’t invest in basic infrastructure — nobody had put a dime into those buildings since World War II, and some of them went back to the Civil War — the place was literally going to fall into the East River.” Kimball succeeded: During his tenure, his team put into place $250 million in public investment and leveraged approximately $750 million in private investment.
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The Yard reflected this good work: Kimball nurtured a complex with 300 tenants — including manufacturers, artists and a distillery — and more than 6,000 employees. He has been credited with creating jobs, working to employ area residents and sparking Brooklyn’s recent manufacturing boom. Kimball points to Steiner Studios, a sprawling film production company that is a resident of the Yard, as an indicative tenant. “Their soundstage was just being finished when I got there,” Kimball says. “It was another example of redefining manufacturing, which is what I’ve tried to do here at Industry City, also. It’s not the smokestacks anymore, where one company comes in and puts thousands of people to work; now, it’s more urban areatype uses, where you have tons of these small businesses that are going to grow over time. Twenty-five years ago, nobody said film production was manufacturing, but you’re building sets, you’re doing post-production, you’re doing digital media, and you’re creating well-paying, local, urban jobs.” 2013 brought Kimball to Industry City. When Kimball took the reins, 70 percent of the space at the Industry City complex was underutilized — either vacant or being used for static storage. Kimball also faced a $350 million mountain of deferred maintenance costs, including $50 million of damage from 2012’s Superstorm Sandy (for example, 20 million gallons of water filled Industry City’s basements). By July 2016, $150 million had been invested toward, among other improvements, replacing 18,000 windows, upgrading 144 elevators and $40 million of electrical work. The complex had added 200 tenants and 2,500 jobs. Kimball’s not resting on his laurels: His long-term master plan calls for a rezoning that would allow for
three new buildings, the continued redevelopment of current buildings, and, he says, the creation of an additional 20,000 jobs in the next decade.
A CHANGING NEIGHBORHOOD
It’s impossible to talk about Industry City without talking about the neighborhood it sits in. Sunset Park is home to a diverse community with a large number of Latino and Asian residents. The elevated Gowanus Expressway cuts through the neighborhood on a north-south axis: Industry City, the waterfront and New York Harbor lie to the west of the expressway; to the east lie avenues, flush with small businesses, restaurants and subway stops, which are intersected by residential side streets of row houses and brownstones. The fate of the eastern side of the neighborhood has historically rested with the fate of its western side. When Bush Terminal — Industry City’s predecessor — was booming, so was the neighborhood. It reached its peak in the early part of the 20th century as a hub for steamships and freight cars, and was commandeered by the United States military during World War I and World War II. But, when the Great Depression, the decreasing importance of heavy industry and the rise of truck-based shipping began to bring down Bush Terminal, the neighborhood’s economy suffered. Sunset Park has begun a slow ascent since the 1980s, but there’s little doubt that the reinvigoration of Industry City has recently put the neighborhood on the map. In February 2016, The New York Times called Sunset Park one of “New York’s Next Hot Neighborhoods”; increasing numbers of cafes and boutiques occupy storefronts; and aspiring Brooklyn homebuyers
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Andrew Kimball ’83 explains how the “innovation economy” has grown along the Brooklyn waterfront, including the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Industry City.
priced out of Park Slope and Fort Greene are beginning to notice those quiet side streets and bustling avenues. Gentrification is coming to Sunset Park, and with it, the issues that every “next hot neighborhood” faces: rising rents; displacement; the pricing out of longtime residents and small businesses. Kimball acknowledges that Sunset Park is changing, but he’s hopeful that Industry City can help the neighborhood’s residents rise with the tide. “Gentrification is not a New York problem specifically, and it’s not a Brooklyn problem specifically, but it’s an issue that’s particularly intense in Brooklyn,” Kimball says. “I would argue that even if we weren’t putting in a dime here, gentrification would be sweeping these communities anyway. It’s a function of Brooklyn’s great residential neighborhoods.” “There are a lot of things the city can do, which are important: rent
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protection; building affordable housing,” Kimball says, “but that’s not what we’re doing here. We’re doing a redevelopment of buildings that have basically lain fallow for 30 years. We have a real opportunity here, though, to be a counterpoint to gentrification: we can create well-paying, local jobs, move people up the economic ladder faster than a lot of service-sector jobs do, and then give them the resources to choose where they want to live.” Industry City takes pride in the fact that, according to a 2015 tenant survey, 51 percent of the complex’s workers live in the surrounding neighborhoods — 37 percent in Sunset Park — and 43 percent hold less than a bachelor’s degree. Meanwhile, workers with high school diplomas who have worked at Industry City for five or more years have an average annual income of $60,000, and entry-level jobs with Industry City tenants typically pay
between 40 to 50 percent more than service-sector jobs. These are impressive statistics, and they’re no accident. While at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Kimball set up an employment center for local residents, which paid off. Currently, the employment center at the Yard places 300 people a year in jobs at the Navy Yard. Industry City is building on that model through the opening of its Innovation Lab — an on-site employment center that allows Industry City to partner with local non-profits to offer job placement and training, business assistance, entrepreneurship workshops and educational classes to neighborhood residents. “You have this highly educated work force at the top, but then you’re also providing jobs and access to jobs to lots of people,” Kimball says. “Increasingly, this has become a real value-add for our tenants: If you’re a small business and you need to hire an employee, and you can hire someone who can walk here, bike here, take the subway a few stops, that person’s going to stay in the job. It’s straightforward common sense, and it affects the bottom line of that business. If they can pay their rent, if they can expand, that also benefits the landlord.” “The old adage of doing well and doing good at the same time is something that’s always been in my DNA,” he says. “Luckily, because of my parents and upbringing, my education at Brooks, my time at Coro and other places, I’ve been able to figure out this niche around creative real estate over the past 15 years. Creating real estate value, while at the same time creating jobs and doing it in a sustainable way. This is something with staying power that can really change urban areas.”
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A DIFFERENT
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Outside the edge of the spotlight the 1st teams occupy at Brooks, the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2nd and 3rd athletic teams pile up their own successes. They give students space to make friends and find community while learning how to skate, kick a ball or defend a basket. More than that, though, they give students the opportunity to learn valuable lessons that they will apply inside and outside the classroom. 31
AT LAHEY ’08 was well known at Brooks for being an
outstanding football player and wrestler. The offensive lineman anchored the Brooks line for four years, earning All-ISL honors before accepting an early-decision offer to play football at Dartmouth College. Lahey also dominated on the mat for Brooks: He was named to the All-New England team and won the ISL heavyweight wrestling title en route to earning Prep All-America Heavyweight accolades. You might expect Lahey’s most memorable athletic experience at Brooks to be a tale of football glory or a play-by-play account of a beautiful pin. But instead, Lahey’s voice will light up as he tells you about a frigid March practice on a just-thawed Lake Cochichewick — as a 6'3", 280-pound member of the boys 2nd crew team.
“[Former faculty] T. J. Baker, our coach, had us doing this balance drill with our oars that he told us they did at Harvard,” Lahey remembers. “One kid changed his hand height on the oars a little too quickly and flipped the boat in the middle of the lake. It was a little dicey for a moment, but it was hilarious. Whenever I go back to campus for Alumni Weekend or the Alumni Row, I’m sure I’ll always think of that moment.” Lahey explains that he never expected to be involved with crew. “I put so many hours into football and wrestling at Brooks, and there are great memories there too, but crew sticks out for me,” he says. “In football and wrestling, I focused on being big, strong, powerful and using brute force to excel. Crew, though, is really the ultimate team sport, because you have to move in unison and work together with your teammates. It was humbling, and it made me a smarter athlete.” Darby St. Clair-Barrie Nevola ’07 has a similar story. A two-time girls lacrosse ISL Prep All-Star and 2005 All-America honorable mention selection who went on to play lacrosse at national powerhouse Northwestern University, Nevola speaks enthusiastically about her time playing lacrosse at Brooks: the talented teammates she played with; the coaching staff that helped her progress; the high level of skill in the ISL, which
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gave her a taste of college-level play. But, she reserves what may be her fondest words for her time spent on the girls 2nd ice hockey team. “I think I fell over every practice and every game for the first couple of months that I was on the team,” Nevola admits. “I played lacrosse at such a high level, and it was challenging to suddenly be in the rink and not know what I was doing. I was able to learn and develop new skills that I wasn’t used to. A lot of the challenge was mental: the idea that you have to keep pushing, that you have to keep going, even if you’re not the best one out there; that you have to have fun. The lessons that hockey taught me turned out to be very valuable as I went on to the college lacrosse game.”
OUR AFTERNOON ACTIVITIES PROGRAM COMES DOWN FROM WHO WE ARE AND WHO WE HAVE BEEN FOR A LONG TIME. WE BELIEVE IN WHAT CAN BE LEARNED OVER AND ABOVE THE ACTIVITY ITSELF. Director of Athletics BOBBIE CRUMP-BURBANK
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Mathias Tankersley â&#x20AC;&#x2122;19 in action for boys 3rd soccer against Milton Academy on October 5, 2016.
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It’s hardly a new idea at Brooks that sports can teach valuable lessons that translate to other areas of a student’s life. In fact, founding Headmaster Frank D. Ashburn recognized the place of athletics in a Brooks education. Writing in “Greatly Pursued,” his biography of Mr. Ashburn, faculty emeritus E. Graham Ward notes that Mr. Ashburn coined the designations of 1st, 2nd and 3rd team. Mr. Ashburn was attempting, Ward writes, to draw the focus away from gradations marked by age or grade level, and toward talent and experience level. Mr. Ashburn wanted to encourage a sixth-former with limited experience or talent in a sport to feel comfortable playing on a 3rd team where he could find success. Mr. Ashburn’s vision lives on at modern-day Brooks. Today, each student is required to engage in afternoon programs. A group of these afternoon activities, including interscholastic sports, theater, dance, community service and sailing, is called “team offerings”: activities that allow students to collaborate, engage with others and work together toward a common goal. Third- and fourth-formers are required to sign up for three team offerings over the course of the academic year, one of which must be an interscholastic sports season. The team offerings requirement allows students to develop qualities of leadership, teamwork, empathy and overcoming adversity, and instills the importance of balancing the mind, body and spirit. “Our afternoon activities program comes down from who we are and who we have been for a long time,” Director of Athletics Bobbie Crump-Burbank says. “We believe in what can be learned over and above the activity itself. Team activities are a tremendous opportunity for leadership, for example. Any time a group of kids comes together to try to achieve something bigger than themselves, which they can’t achieve on their own, it’s an opportunity for kids to step up and think outside themselves.” Crump-Burbank stresses that all of the team offerings at Brooks teach valuable lessons. But, she sees something special in the value of interscholastic competition — the girls 3rd soccer team, for example, competing against squads from other schools. “At some level, the ISL is not only a very competitive league; it’s also a league that believes in the value of competition, of exercise, of teamwork,” she says. “The reason we offer these activities has always been so that we can provide that experience for our students.” In the age of sport specialization, Crump-Burbank
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continues, playing for a 1st team may be out of reach early for an athlete. The 2nd and 3rd teams, she explains, enable all of the school’s athletes to play interscholastic sports at a level that allows them to improve and enjoy their experience. The coaches of the 2nd and 3rd teams are the key to this mission. Crump-Burbank holds a strong belief that the ideal 2nd or 3rd team coach is a Brooks faculty member who understands the “big picture” of life at Brooks: who understands how Brooks students spend their mornings; who understands their responsibilities at night; and who, in Crump-Burbank’s words, “understands how afternoon practice falls within the broader scheme of a student’s day.” Crump-Burbank points to English faculty John Haile, longtime coach of the boys 3rd soccer team, which plays a 16-game schedule each fall. “John is an extraordinary teacher who understands what Brooks’s mission and goals are,” she says. “He loves coaching boys 3rd soccer because, while he develops his players’ skills, his goal is to make sure that they have a positive experience, a meaningful experience that they can look back on fondly when they leave Brooks.”
TEACHING BY COACHING
Haile has coached soccer for 37 years at every level from varsity to intramural, and he says without hesitation that coaching the 3rd level is his favorite. “I was not a great athlete in high school. I never made it to the varsity,” he explains. “I think I sympathize with the kids who, just because they lack experience or interest or athleticism, may never make it to the upper levels but still want to have a good experience. The 3rd team, at least in soccer and especially at Brooks, really fulfills that role in the lives of a lot of kids.” Watching Haile’s boys 3rd soccer team play against Milton Academy in early October is a treat. Boys in familiar green jerseys go all-out to patrol a Brooks field bathed in sunlight and surrounded by the beginnings of fall foliage. The sidelines are animated, with reserves cheering for their teammates and waiting for their chance to play. Haile coaches the same way he teaches: with an easygoing, approachable manner that doesn’t hide his knowledge of or love for the subject matter. Haile likes to win games and knows that his players love to win games. But, he points out that, as is often said, winning isn’t everything. “I believe that you learn
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A moment of bonding before the start of the girls 2nd soccer game on October 5, 2016.
things from winning, and you learn things from losing,” Haile says. “If you get a winning season three out of five years, that’s great, but my goal is to create an environment where kids can learn from both kinds of experiences.” “I think the secret to it, at least from a student’s point of view, is that they’re able to be themselves,” Haile continues. “Typically, the year starts out with kids posturing, boasting, trying to jostle for the approval of others and the coach. Gradually, as the season goes on, they learn that it’s OK to make mistakes, it’s OK to admit that you don’t know what you’re doing. I’m the kind of coach, for whatever reason, that is able to let kids feel comfortable doing that.” As a fall team with a roster filled mainly with thirdformers and younger students, the boys 3rd soccer team serves as the backdrop to many students’ first days at Brooks. Haile uses this opportunity to introduce his players not only to each other, but also to
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THE 2ND TEAM UNIFORMS ARE THE SAME COLOR AS THE 1ST TEAM UNIFORMS; I LOVE THAT THERE’S THAT COMMON THREAD ACROSS ALL OUR TEAMS AND ALL OUR LEVELS. TIM BENSON, English faculty and head coach of the boys 2nd ice hockey team
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A New Director of Athletics Brooks proudly welcomed Bobbie
softball and began her career teaching
camp director,” she says. “When you’re
Crump-Burbank P’11 to the director of
Spanish. She moved to Oldfields School
a camp director, it’s a lot like teaching
athletics position in July. Crump-Burbank
in Maryland, spending two more years as
or coaching: you work with your staff;
is no stranger to Brooks, having arrived
a Spanish teacher and three-sport coach
you build your team; you coach and
on campus in 1985 as Spanish faculty.
before arriving at Brooks.
teach them, and set expectations. You’re
Over her time at Brooks, Crump-Burbank
working together to create something.
has served as a dorm parent, and has
ate impact at Brooks. She was a dorm
That’s what I really like to do — teach and
coached in the field hockey, girls lacrosse,
parent, taught Spanish and helped start
work with kids, and help them progress
girls basketball and softball programs.
the school’s health program through the
through their education. Accepting
She spent 23 years working in Brooks’s
Dean’s Office. She coached three sports
the director of athletics position was a
renowned Summer Programs. Under her
until her son, Andrés Burbank-Crump ’11,
no-brainer for me; it was an easy choice.”
watch as director of auxiliary programs,
was born; she continued to coach basket-
the summer months at Brooks grew from
ball until 2006.
a day camp to today’s bustling hub of
The decision to move to Summer
Brooks’s athletics program is strong, Crump-Burbank says, pointing to the school’s on-the-field success, to the
camps, sports academies, and a host of
Programs was made, in large part, so that
quality of the department’s coaches and
professional programming for teachers
Crump-Burbank’s schedule as a working
to the school’s well-kept, impressive
and other educators.
parent could also accommodate her son’s
fields and athletics facilities. “My goal is
Crump-Burbank grew up far from
flourishing athletic career. “It was logis-
to make sure that the ideal experience a
Brooks, in Mexico City. She played soft-
tically easier to have my career focus on
student can have in afternoon programs
ball as a girl before attending school in
Summer Programs,” she says. “I could
is had by every student, through all three
the United States. She studied physical
pick my son up from school and drive him
seasons,” she says. “I want to provide the
education at Slippery Rock University
to practice. Throughout his high school
kid who has never played sports before
and followed that up with a master’s
career and college career at Williams
the same opportunity that we provide to
degree in athletic administration from
College, I could go to all his games. If he
our 1st team players — to pursue their
Springfield College.
was playing soccer at Hamilton College
passions, to challenge themselves and to
on a Wednesday, I could get there.”
compete at a high level. For some of our
Her first teaching position was a twoyear stint at Culver Military Academy in
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Crump-Burbank made an immedi-
After Crump-Burbank’s son graduated
kids, playing sports at Brooks will be the
Indiana, where Crump-Burbank taught
college, she no longer needed to tailor
first of many experiences playing sports;
physical education, was a dorm parent
her schedule to the summer months.
for some of our kids, playing sports at
and coached girls volleyball, girls basket-
And, she adds, as Brooks’s summer
Brooks will be their only experience play-
ball and girls crew. She then worked at
programs grew, her work became more
ing sports. We want to make sure that
Fay School for four years, where she lived
administrative and moved away from
both experiences are good experiences.”
in the dorms, served as athletic director,
what she loved. “When it started, it was
coached field hockey, basketball and
basically a day camp, and I was the day
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Brooks. “I talk frequently about life at school, and I’m always eager to make connections between our time on the field and their life in other places at school,” Haile says. “For example, we start every new drill with a trivia question, often about things at Brooks: What is the name of [Head of School John] Packard’s dog? This helps them understand that they’re a part of the school, and it helps them feel connected.” Spanish faculty Chelsea Clater, head coach of the 2nd field hockey team, has a larger depth of talent on her roster. There is no 3rd field hockey team at Brooks, so, Clater explains, “I have some girls who are just picking up a field hockey stick for the first time and some girls who will probably make the 1st team next year. It creates this cool environment where girls can really share a love of the game and teach each other. The girls who have a little more field hockey experience almost immediately become mentors to the girls who are new to the sport.” Clater believes that this phenomenon of students teaching and learning from each other, also in the fall and in the first days of school, helps solidify the team’s experience. “This is a group of girls they’re going to see every day, and finding success with that group is important,” she says. “The players improve so much over the course of a season, and they notice it in each other. It’s a very positive experience of fellowship for them, especially during a time of year when they’re having their first successes — and their first failures — in the classroom.”
A PERMANENT HOME
Second field hockey boasts a roster that, in the last several years, has run the gamut of form years. Clater’s captains this year — fifth-formers Blakely Dimeo, Madison Dunn and Emma Flaherty — are all threeyear veterans of the 2nd team, a point that Clater takes pride in. “These girls don’t have to play field hockey anymore, but they all decided to stay,” she says. “Almost all of my players from last year came back this year. I really want to instill a love of the game, and I want the girls to come back and play for me every year.” Field hockey isn’t the only 2nd team that routinely has students suit up for four years. Connor Silva, a fourth-former who played on the boys 1st lacrosse team last spring, also picked up a stick for the boys 2nd ice hockey team last winter. He was, in his own words, “the worst player on the team by far.” He spent the season learning how to skate, and then slowly picking up playing time during the games — including a dramatic overtime win against St. Sebastian’s School that he grins when describing.
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THE LESSONS THAT HOCKEY TAUGHT ME TURNED OUT TO BE VERY VALUABLE AS I WENT ON TO THE COLLEGE LACROSSE GAME. DARBY ST. CLAIR-BARRIE NEVOLA ’07, remembering her time on the girls 2nd ice hockey team
+ O + + + + + + + + + + + + O + + + “I have so much fun,” Silva says. “I can really just give it my all, knowing that it’s OK to make mistakes. I want to play 2nd ice hockey for all my four years here. I hope I can be a captain for this team when I’m a sixth-former. Deciding to play 2nd hockey is probably one of the best decisions I made last year.” Silva won the team’s Best Teammate award last season. Boys 2nd ice hockey head coach Tim Benson, who teaches English and is also an assistant coach for the boys 1st lacrosse team, says that the awarding of the 2nd team best teammate honors is his “favorite day of the year.” “There’s a lot of exterior noise at the 1st team level — playing time, college prospects — that doesn’t happen at the 2nd team level,” Benson says. “You’re really able to coach the game: Egos get thrown out, humility comes into play, lessons are shared. I think it’s pretty great.” “These kids don’t play for accolades or notoriety,” Benson continues. “Second team players start to believe in the idea of playing for something bigger than themselves, and of representing the entire Brooks community in practice and games. The 2nd team uniforms are the same color as the 1st team uniforms; I love that there’s that common thread across all our teams and all our levels.”
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A Chapel program encouraged the Brooks community to reflect on what it’s grateful for. As it turns out, the small, sometimes unheralded parts of life at Brooks may matter the most.
The Value of
e d u ! t a Gr It was hard to miss the brightly colored bulletin board hanging in the Link last spring. The words “Gratitude Board” lined the top. Simple printed instructions accompanied a stack of index cards, push pins and pens: Grab a card, write down what at Brooks you’re grateful for and pin it up for the world to see. Within days — hours, even — the cards started to appear. Roommates, grateful for each other; faculty, grateful for their students; adults, grateful for their colleagues; notes from students expressing gratitude to the Brooks grounds crew and coaches; even a note from the parent of an applicant for admission who had recently been accepted. The Bulletin asked the authors of several of the cards to expand on their thoughts. Taken one by one, the responses shine a light on individual Brooks experiences. Taken collectively, though, the responses echo the close-knit, familiar strength of the Brooks community, and the different sets of perspectives, talents and strengths that form it.
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I consider education one of the most admirable occupations in the world. My experience at Brooks has only reinforced my belief. Teachers improve our society. From exploring “The Odyssey” with [English faculty John] Haile to debating the cause of the Civil War with [history faculty Eddie] Carson, my classroom interactions at Brooks have benefited me beyond measure. Yet, teachers play a role much greater than a passer of knowledge. They build character in students. I still recall one winter morning in my fifth-form year when almost half of our math class did not show up to class on time. [Mathematics faculty] Dusty Richard sat on his elevated stool, patiently waiting for students to come in, one after another. When everyone finally made their way into the room, it was already 10 minutes into the class period. Though Dusty was not angry, he was clearly let down. Before he started teaching that class, he said, “sometimes we don’t get to do what we want to do, but honor compels us to do so.” Dusty taught us how to solve Taylor series that morning, one of the more difficult concepts in calculus, but what I learned was a lesson in life. The teachers who come to class every morning, ready to share, are doing their part to promote thought and intellectualism. As students, we should show our gratitude and pay our respect.
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Julia Moore '17 I’ve met a lot of great people that I didn’t expect to meet here at Brooks. The relationships I’ve formed here are closer than I ever thought they would be. I come from a small town in Colorado that’s very different from here. I was a little nervous about who my friends would be and about who I would meet. I’ve been very surprised by how close this community is. In terms of the opportunities here, there are millions of things to do, and I’ve ended up liking some things that I never thought I’d try. For example, I’ve become involved in student government. And, I’ve always enjoyed writing poetry, but I felt uncomfortable sharing my poetry. Joining the Poetry Club and watching my classmates share their work so passionately has been really moving for me. Brooks is a small school — when you know all the faces around you, finding the bravery to try new things becomes easier. Now, as a sixth-former, I’m a school prefect. It’s really cool. I’ve looked up to the prefects since I was a third-former. Prefects are the students on campus to whom people look for leadership, and they’re the students that the third-formers know will be there for them. I really enjoy being a leader in new ways and working closely with [Head of School John] Packard. Living on the East Coast has opened my eyes to how much I love experiencing new places. I went to Italy over last year’s Spring Break with the Grahams [see front cover, Brooks Bulletin, Spring 2016], and that trip inspired me to travel more. I hope to study abroad in college. I’ve taken a film class, and I’m currently doing a film independent here at Brooks, and I’d like to do something with travel and film. I think the lessons I’ve learned here at Brooks will definitely apply to that.
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Lily Valerio '19 Brooks isn’t only a school. It is much more. Brooks is a home, a place of comfort and a sanctuary. I come from a city — Lawrence, Mass. — that I believe is frowned upon and underestimated. Coming to Brooks every single morning has guided me to open new doors, look through a different perspective and try new things. In reality, what does Brooks have to offer? Community is the beating heart of Brooks. We have all these clubs and conversations to help us become better people, explore the world around us and grow as a school. In all honesty, coming together to talk or to listen about something important is extremely hard, but I have realized that it only brings us closer. Talking about challenging topics is never easy and never will be. What is most important is that during difficult conversations, we support and love each other no matter the situation. Brooks has taught me to stand up, and I believe that is why I hold this place so close. Everyone I know has close friends. The relationship between the teachers and students is so genuine; teachers have become my best friends, mentors and support. I have only been at Brooks for two years. In the past two years I have grown, thought and pushed myself more than I have anywhere else. I could not be more grateful to be here. Everyone, every single individual, deserves to be in a place like this.
Brooks has taught me to stand up, and I believe that is why I hold this place so close.
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A Student-Driven Program The Gratitude Board was one piece of last year’s Chapel programming. School Minister and Director of Spiritual Life Julie Mavity Maddalena says that last year’s Chapel prefects wanted to leave a mark on their last spring at Brooks by finding a way to thank members of the staff who they felt were not often recognized for their efforts. The idea blossomed into a series of “staff shoutouts” in Chapel: Each prefect selected a staff member to recognize, met with that person to learn about their life and work, and then presented the staff member with a card in Chapel after reading an extensive biography of them to the assembled school. “The Chapel prefects did a great job recognizing different members of our community in different roles,” Mavity Maddalena says. “I think it’s important to honor all different kinds of work. Some of the work that we do with kids here gets more recognition and more glory; in this case, the kids wanted to name people who clean the buildings and take out the trash. I think that’s a really good awareness and appreciation to cultivate.” As the staff shoutouts continued, the Chapel prefects decided to cultivate a spirit of gratitude by offering the rest of the school a chance to express its thanks to the broader community. The Gratitude Board was the result of that expansion. According to Emma Martin ’17, this year’s head Chapel prefect, public displays of gratitude may become a recurring theme for the Chapel program. “I’m really excited for what’s going to happen in the spring,” she says. “We’re in the early stages, but we’re going to try to build on the board and see where we can take it.” Mavity Maddalena also looks forward to the continuation of the program. “The Chapel program is about building community, nurturing a rich inner life with integrity and nurturing a spiritual life that can mean a lot of different things,” she says. “The Chapel program is also about tapping into our spiritual and religious traditions. Along those lines, all religious traditions and wisdom traditions value gratitude. That’s fundamental to the sort of people we want to be, and the sort of community we want to be in. Gratitude is something that we all have in common, and that we can all offer each other at Brooks.”
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Niko Wagner
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SCIENCE FACULTY
I like to say that our meetings are "loud and proud." We have a lot of fun at the start, and then we're able to simmer down so that we can get through our work in a respectful way.
The word “advisor” is such a misnomer in that it implies that we just advise our students. Really, we do so many other things: we’re counselors; we’re tutors; we’re teachers; we’re just about everything else. I think my age — I’m 25 years old — helps me as an advisor because I’m somewhere between a parental figure and an older brother. I’m able to have difficult and productive conversations with my advisory, but I’m also able to relate to them and joke around with them. It’s a dynamic relationship that I think is unique. The default is that advisors advise the same students through all four of their years here at Brooks. I have seven advisees: four sixth-formers, one fifth-former and two new third-formers. I’ve taught them in class, two of them live in my dorm and I’ve coached two of them in football. I like to say that our meetings are “loud and proud.” We have a lot of fun at the start, and then we’re able to simmer down so that we can get through our work in a respectful way. What I really love about my advisees is that, after we’ve done what we’re supposed to do, they tend to stick around and just talk about whatever’s going on in their lives. It’s great that I’m able to be an outlet for them to turn to here at Brooks. At the same time, though, I have conversations with them as much as they have conversations with me. There’s a give-and-take in the relationship. I think they see our time not as an obligation, but as an opportunity to get to know me, and to get to know each other, better.
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Jackie Desautels '18 There are many things I am grateful for at Brooks, including a great faculty and staff. They are a huge part of the Brooks community. The faculty try to make our time here better, something too easily taken for granted. Many of the faculty have enhanced my time at Brooks. My advisor, Bini [Egertson, director of admission and financial aid], is like family to me. My meeting with her is my favorite period of the week. We talk about anything and everything, and I always leave in a better mood. I am thankful for the dedication my teachers have to teaching. For example, to [Spanish faculty Lillian] Miller, teaching is more than a job — it’s a devotion for which she expects nothing in return but students ready to learn. Each teacher has a different passion that has made me want to challenge myself and try new things. [Elizabeth] Ford’s love for dancing shines through every day in practice. Finally, I am thankful that the faculty try to provide students with the best opportunities. I appreciate [Director of Exchange Program John] McLoughlin’s effort to make my exchange to Peru last summer as meaningful as possible. The faculty has contributed to my life at Brooks in countless ways and has made me aspire to be a leader who helps others the same way. Thank you for all you do!
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ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE COUNSELING AND ENGLISH FACULTY
Kristin Moody The days are long at Brooks — packed with classes, meetings, preparation and homework, coaching, and then night meetings and even the dormitory. The frenetic pace is something that I enjoy but also need the support of the community to maintain. Each day, I am surprised by how a conversation with a colleague on our walk into school can set a positive tone for my day, or how a chance interaction with a student on our trek toward Chapel can teach me something about that person that I never knew before. The form trip days — though just one day — have provided me with relationships that have lasted throughout a student’s four years, until we remember at graduation the moment three years ago when we conquered our fears on the ropes course, or share a laugh about how we both took on the role of the drummer in the “Rock Band” ice breaker. We have many visitors to campus: admission candidates, writers, exchange students and their teachers, speakers, college admissions reps. I feel so fortunate to learn and grow from meeting people from far and wide. At Brooks, we attend school together, we eat together, we laugh together, we go through life together. I have colleagues whom I have known for more than 16 years and those whom I met only a few months ago; but I love that Brooks is a place full of people whom I can go to with questions or challenges, knowing that there will be others to solve the problem of the day or of the week. We work hard — students and adults alike — and we endure because of the special moments that we share. I think it just keeps getting better!
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Emma Dawson '18 + Nalia Medina '18 If you asked either of us about our first memory here on campus, we would tell you about the advisory barbecue during our third-form year orientation. In fact, the two of us would have never become such close friends without the immediate bond we shared that day with our advisor, [Academic Dean and history faculty Susanna] Waters. She welcomed us into this brand new world with open arms and a contagious smile. In a world as fast-paced as Brooks, students quickly realize how important it is to develop a close relationship with their advisor. Over the past couple of years, the two of us have encountered the ebb and flow of high school life, and Mrs. Waters has remained our constant support throughout it all. During our time at Brooks, we have seen Mrs. Waters in almost every area of life possible. Whether she is sharing her passion for history in the classroom, running alongside her team at girls 2nd basketball practice, or spending time with her family and dog around campus, she puts her heart into it entirely. Even with her new commitment as academic dean, Mrs. Waters reserves a weekly meeting period for each of her six advisees. These meetings have become something that we have grown to love and look forward to. They usually start off with an academic check-in, but quickly transform into relaxed conversations about just about anything on either of our minds. Every time we meet as group, Mrs. Waters engages us in a meaningful discussion and encourages us to stretch ourselves. Being a part of Mrs. Waters’s advisory has kept each of us organized, honest and focused beyond the classroom walls. We both trust her with anything and have learned that she is always only a phone call away. The two of us are incredibly lucky to have her actively involved in our lives as an advisor and as a friend as we experience high school and everything else to come.
From left to right: Nalia Medina ’18, advisor Susanna Waters and Emma Dawson ’18.
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BROOKS CONNECTIONS IN THIS SECTION 46 Alumni News 52 Class Notes 95 In Memoriam
This unidentified photo was recently unearthed in the Brooks archives. Can you help us identify this person reading a newspaper in a quiet spot on campus? If so, please email Rebecca Binder, Bulletin editor, at rbinder@ brooksschool.org.
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Photos taken by Bill Ferris ’60 and included in his new book, “The South in Color: A Visual Journal.”
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The South in Color “The South in Color: A Visual Journal,” by Bill Ferris ’60 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2016) is a beautiful, provocative collection of 100 of Ferris’s photographs of the South. The 1960s and 1970s were a significant period for Ferris as he became a pathbreaking documentarian of the American South; the photographs contained in “The South in Color” are from this period, and they capture the power of his color photography. This book is the first large published collection of Ferris’s color photographs. In the book’s introduction, Ferris notes that color film was not commonly used by documentarians in the last half of the twentieth century, but he found color to “exude a warmth, an accessibility, an animation that invites the viewer to engage with them.” The book opens with images of Ferris’s family farm and its workers — family and hired — southeast of Vicksburg, Miss. As Ferris continued to photograph people and their homes, churches and blues clubs, their handmade signs and folk art, and the roads that wound through the region, divisive racial landscapes became part of the record. In the introduction, Ferris calls race a “central theme” in his photography, and says that an understanding of the American South requires acknowledging the “intimate, enduring presence of race in the region.” Along with his previous books, “Give My Poor Heart Ease” and “The Storied South,” “The South in Color” completes Ferris’s informal trilogy documenting the South’s tumultuous twentieth century.
Lifetime Achievement Award Bill Ferris will receive Mississippi’s top arts honor, the lifetime achievement award from the Governor’s Arts Awards, in February 2017. The Governor’s Arts Awards are presented annually by the Mississippi Arts Commission in partnership with the governor’s office.
Have you recently published a book? Has your album just dropped? Tell us about it. We want to hear about your creative successes, and we want to highlight your work in an upcoming issue of the Bulletin. To have your work considered for inclusion in a future installment of Brooks Works, please send a review copy to:
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Editor, Brooks Bulletin 1160 Great Pond Road North Andover, MA 01845
The magazine does not purchase the materials listed in Brooks Works. The materials we receive will be donated to the Luce Library or another appropriate outlet. The Bulletin reserves the right to reject works that, in the judgment of the editorial staff, do not promote the mission or values of Brooks School or the Bulletin.
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS A LUMNI AWA R DS
We’re already planning for Alumni Weekend, which will take place May 12–14, 2017. A highlight of the weekend is the awarding of three alumni awards: the Distinguished Brooksian award, the Alumni Bowl award and the Alumni Shield award. Descriptions of each award follow. If you’d like to nominate a member of a Brooks alumni class year ending in 2 or 7 for one of these awards,
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please contact Assistant Director of Alumni Programs Carly Churchill ’10 at cchurchill@brooksschool.org or (978) 725-6286 by February 1, 2017.
The Alumni Bowl award, given by the Brooks School Alumni Board, recognizes dedicated and thoughtful service to this school.
The Distinguished Brooksian award honors a member of the Brooks community whose life and contributions to society exemplify the nobility of character and usefulness to humanity embodied in the spirit of the school.
The Alumni Shield award recognizes an alumna or alumnus who graduated from Brooks less than 25 years ago and has made significant contributions in the field of his or her endeavor.
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The Brooks Alumni Association seeks your nominations to the Alumni Board. All Brooks alumni are eligible to serve on the Alumni Board. For more details about the nomination process and to submit your nomination, please visit www.brooksschool.org/ alumni/association.
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A Voice Abroad Journalist Alexander Clapp ’09’s prolific career has taken him to some of Europe’s most politically charged recent events. He’s covered a slew of topics; for example: the Greek citizenry’s rejection of the proposed bailout proposed by its European creditors in July 2015; Moldova’s 2015 parliamentary elections, which asked the nation to align itself with either Russia or Europe; Greece’s tenterhook attempt to care for migrants arriving on its shores; and the political climate of Macedonia. Clapp was named the Greek America Foundation’s 2013–2014 Post-Baccalaureate Fellow. The fellowship, which was created to support American students seeking a deeper understanding of the beauties and complexities of Greece, placed Clapp in an internship with Kathimerini English Edition, an Athens newspaper affiliated with the International Herald Tribune. Clapp graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013. At Brooks, Clapp dove full-bore into classics. In 2008, he was selected as the first participant in the classics department’s internship program, which allowed him to participate in an archaeological dig in the Agora, Athens’s ancient marketplace. John Camp ’64, the world’s leading authority on the Agora, ran the dig.
Follow That Car! Associate Director of Development Kim Fox spotted a gray Honda
Alumni Bowl Award The 2016 Alumni Bowl award, given by the Brooks School Alumni Board to recognize dedicated and thoughtful service to the school, has been awarded to Stow Walker ’71, P’06. Walker accepted the award during the alumni board’s fall meeting on campus. Walker quickly earned a reputation as a steadfast and productive individual shortly after entering Brooks in the second form in 1966. Founding Headmaster Frank D. Ashburn called Walker “one of the most effective and efficient members of his class.” Fifty years later, Walker earned accolades from current Head of School John Packard, who called Walker “a standout among our alumni volunteers.” Walker joined the alumni board in 2003 and serves on the nominating committee. He has sat on the Headmaster’s Parents Council, helped with phon-athons, and has led the class of 1971 as class chair and reunion chair. He is a loyal donor, giving to Brooks every fiscal year for more than 20 years. Walker served as a knowledgeable and constructive voice during high-level strategic planning in 2003; in 2005, Walker donated his expertise in the energy and environment industry to Brooks, as the school focused on its sustainability and energy conservation efforts — work that the school continues to reap the benefits of today.
CR-V with Massachusetts license plates sporting this Brooks School decal on the New York State Thruway in Sharon Springs, New York in June 2016. Brooks sends this decal to Brooks Fund donors who have given either for the first time or for the first time in 10 years. To the owner of the mystery car: Thank you! If you have yet to give to the Brooks Fund, or if it’s been awhile since you’ve given to the Brooks Fund, and you think your back windshield could use some decoration, please visit the Giving page on the Brooks website (www.brooksschool.org).
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Frank Blake ’67, P’00 was the recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in Leadership Character from the Turnkett Leadership Group and the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Blake, the former chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, Inc., accepted the award on Oct. 4, 2016. Blake was recognized for showing “the highest standards of character, integrity and servant leadership over a lifetime of organizational service and service to the larger community.”
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A Lasting Gift Graham Lusk ’53 used planned giving to establish an endowed chair at Brooks. From left to right: H. Nelson Tracey ’11, Peter Henry, Mohammed Shyam and Lonnie McCulloch. “Rockmen” follows Henry, Shyam and McCulloch as they search for and purchase gems.
A Film Debuts “Rockmen,” directed by H. Nelson Tracey ’11, is an hour-long documentary that follows Peter Henry and Lonnie McCulloch, two gem buyers, as they travel the globe in search of precious and rare gems. Henry is the owner of Market Square Jewelers, with locations in Dover, N.H., Portsmouth, N.H., Newburyport, Mass. and Portland, Maine. McCulloch is his buying partner. The film takes the viewer from New England to Colombia and Sri Lanka as the two explore mines, bargain with gem dealers and build business relationships and rapport around the world. The film debuted in Dover, N.H. in May 2016. The documentary stands on its own, but Tracey, who directed, filmed and did post-production work on the film, says that it also serves as a proof of concept piece for a television show based on the pair’s travels. The film has been submitted to production companies and film festivals for review. “It’s really a passion project,” says Tracey. “Everything that comes after it is just icing on the cake.” Tracey graduated from Chapman University in 2015, where he studied narrative film; he also discovered documentary filmmaking as a junior and senior. Since debuting “Rockmen,” Tracey has worked as an assistant on a largescale documentary about elephant and rhinoceros poaching. “I went from ‘Rockmen,’ which was very much a one-man show, to working on a much bigger documentary where I’m at the bottom of the totem pole,” Tracey says. “It’s a much bigger budget, and there are massive amounts of people working on it. To have both of those experiences in the space of a year has been really cool, and I know it will benefit my career no matter where I go from here.”
¶ Joanne Connelly ’92 received her induction into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in July. Connelly capped off a tremendous lacrosse career at Brooks with a four-year stint playing at The Pennsylvania State University, where she earned first-team AllAmerica honors twice and second-team All-America honors once. She then became a 10-year fixture on the U.S.
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National Team. Connelly was inducted into the Brooks Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.¶ Nikita Minocha ’15 was named to the “20 Under 20 Stars 2016” list published in INDIA New England News, the region’s oldest and largest print, online and video magazine serving the South Asian community. Minocha, a sophomore at Boston University, is an accomplished Bharatnatyam dancer.
Graham Lusk ’53, who passed away in 2014, gave to Brooks for more than 20 consecutive years during his life. He also made a final, lasting gift to the school through his will, establishing the Nick Evangelos Endowed Chair for Science. Sally Lusk, his widow, says that Lusk spoke highly of his academic experience at Brooks. Outside the classroom, Lusk managed the Brooks soccer, basketball and baseball teams. He received two prizes at his graduation: the History To learn more about Essay Prize, for an essay on planned giving at Brooks, the Monroe Doctrine; and the please contact Manager Russell Prize, awarded to rec- of Reunions and Planned ognize an outstanding single Giving Heather Ferrara via email at hferrara@ contribution to the life of the brooksschool.org, or community, for his “devoted via telephone at (978) managerial efficiency” in 725-6275. running the dining room. Lusk went on to undergraduate and doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before pursuing a career as a food scientist based in Omaha, Neb. He included bequests to five entities in his will: Brooks; MIT; his church; Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha; and Opera Omaha. Sally Lusk says that these bequests reflect his “sense of organization” and the progression of his life. Lusk’s memory lives on beyond the establishment of the endowed chair for science. Two paperbark maple trees that flank the entrance to Ashburn Chapel were dedicated in honor of him and his brother, Jim Lusk ’56, over Alumni Weekend last spring. “Graham loved trees,” Sally Lusk explains. “He knew how to maintain them, and he loved working on them. He liked what they did to make a property look better in terms of design, but also what they brought scientifically in terms of water and shade.” The permanence of the trees, she believes, helps perpetuate Lusk’s memory at Brooks.
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A SLATE OF RECEPTIONS Brooks alumni, parents and friends gathered for receptions at several locations this summer and fall, including Denver, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., Bar Harbor, Maine, and The Explorers Club and Doyle in New York City. For information on upcoming events, please visit www. brooksschool.org and click on the “Alumni” tab.
01 A group of alumni enjoyed a reception at Linger in Denver in August 2016. 02 The room at The Explorers Club in New York City. 03 Patrick Curley ’69 (left) and Tony Milbank ’59. 04 Blake Davis ’88 speaks to the crowd at The Explorers Club. 05 Head of School John Packard addresses the crowd at Doyle in New York City. 06 Sonja Wilson P’16. 07 Sewell Robinson ’08. 08 John MacDonald ’03 (left) and Morgan Manoff ’04. 09 Ryan Ahn ’10 (center). 10 Susan Whitman (right). 11 Lindsay Wagner ’06 (center). 12 Chair of Mathematics Department Doug Burbank P’11 (left) and Hamdi Cavusoglu ’05. 13 Jess Kapadia ’04 (left) and Alex Ameter. 14 Bob Potter ’77 (left) and Ham Potter ’74. 15 From left to right: Amanda Essex ’87, Ashley Wightman Scott ’84, P’11, P’14 and Peter McLaughlin ’85 in July 2016.
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A wintry scene at Brooks.
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Tim Coburn (202) 234-2054 george.tim.coburn@gmail.com
In June, I relocated to Forest Hills, a retirement home at 4901 Connecticut Ave. NW #276, Washington, DC 20008. My telephone number and email address are unchanged. Downsizing from about 2,000 to 440 square feet has gone remarkably well in this up-to-date building on beautiful grounds with about 100 residents mostly in their 90s, with about half of them in the separate assisted living area. I welcome visitors. Russ Bingham ’63, P’88, P’93, who was master of ceremonies at the dedication of the Jack Soper Paddle Tennis Complex, writes the following about our classmate Jack Soper GP’98, GP’11: “We had a great celebration at Old Lyme Country Club on July 1 of this year. Jack’s contributions to paddle at OLCC are substantial: arranging for a relocation of our facility, adding a very fancy warming hut, keeping everything shipshape and whipping up enthusiasm for the game itself. To top it all off, we celebrated his 93rd birthday on that very same day at the very same time! Jack’s Brooks Athletics Hall of Fame achievements during his Brooks years still carry on; he continues to receive accolades for his athletic prowess. He and his partner even won the Club Centennial Championship at the end of this past season!”
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org
Please share your news!
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Pat Bowditch (860) 662-5016 bowditchpat@gmail.com
We’re still here at Essex Meadows, a retirement home with about 200 to 300 people in Connecticut. In fact, Fessenden Wilder P’66 and
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his wife, Merrill P’66, were here — unfortunately Merrill died a few months ago and Fess has been gone for many years. It’s a unique spot and very well run. I haven’t been well at all, but I’m still kicking. I also haven’t been in touch with anybody — there’s only two or three of us left, that I know of. But you all have my phone number, so do reach out. I look back on Brooks with very positive memories. Frank Ashburn was a wonderful man.
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Tony Waller (978) 468-6340 waller@pacbell.net
I regret to tell you that our good friend and classmate, William Angell Viall II P’81, passed away March 13, 2016. As I write this, I have just learned that Bill’s wife, Gretchen Elliott Viall, passed away July 9, 2016. I was unable to attend Bill’s funeral, as I was in rehab recovering from 10 broken ribs. Talked with Dick Prescott, who has developed heart block and is being worked up for Lyme disease. He spent the summer in Maine with his childhood friend Persis Lazrack. They both turned 89 this summer.
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Rufus Peckham (202) 965-1466 rpeckham@verizon.net
Once again, I was the only member of our class to attend our 70th reunion. Henry Gardiner had planned to come up from Florida, but at the last moment he wrenched his back wrestling his suitcase out of an airplane’s overhead rack and had to cancel. For myself, I took a bad fall during the reunion on a step and suffered a severe nosebleed. Much to my irritation, Head of School John Packard insisted on calling an ambulance and packing me off to Lawrence General Hospital, where I spent the night and was able to return to Brooks the next day, not too much the worse for wear. I’m pretty
Call for New Correspondents We would like to thank Jim Lee ’48, Sally Milliken ’88, James Scully ’05 and James Williams ’12 for their years of service as class correspondents. While we already have replacements for Williams and Milliken, we are currently looking for new correspondents for the classes of 1943, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1972, 1979, 2000, 2005 and 2016. Interested? Simply email Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams at ewilliams@ brooksschool.org.
well retired from law practice, though I’m still a member of the bar and handle a case from time to time, just to keep my hand in. I was happy to hear from George Milliken, who said, “Barbara and I are hale and hearty here in the beautiful South Puget Sound area. I am still painting my watercolors and they can be seen on gmilliken.com.” I’m glad he’s still painting, as nothing is worse for us senior citizens than sitting around doing nothing awaiting the call to glory or a summons to a rather warmer climate! REUNION
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Bill Courtney (603) 394-7532 billcourtney@comcast.net
Please share your news!
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Bill Gahagan reports, “I am sort-of
retired and happily living in Delaware. I’m healthy, except for my legs, which were donated years ago to the undefeated football season of 1947. I have four sons, 12 grandchildren and a great wife.” Jim Lee
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shares, “I’m playing nine holes three times a week, and I’m out on the tractor every few days. Life is good in Vermont; I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. My memory is not good. But I’ve had a wonderful life and do have many positive memories of Brooks, our great masters and the great school!”
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Tim Prentice writes, “I am work-
ing on a show for the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensberg, Penn., titled ‘The Art of Movement,’ scheduled to open in June 2017.”
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Tom Marriner shares, “I’ve enjoyed
some cabinet-making projects during the last 10 years and have made five wood-strip kayaks out of western cedar for my wife, myself and three family members. Now I repair old chairs, and redo caning and rushing on the seats, which I like very much part-time. For 40plus years, I did Shaker reproductions, but mostly made Shaker oval boxes for some museum gift shops. I retired from that about 15 years ago. I’ve been married to the same good woman for 59 years, and we have three married daughters and six grandchildren.”
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Julio Herrera jherrera@pantaleon.com Peter Nash P’81, P’89 spent a good
deal of time traveling throughout the summer. He recently sold his house on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts and is living full-time at Newbury Court in Concord, Mass., which he deems “a very nice spot.” The residential facility brings him closer to his children, two of whom attended Brooks (Tom Nash ’81 and Andy Nash ’89) and both of whom
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are doing well. It also brings him closer to Brooks, which he looks forward to visiting soon. He is still involved with the Nantucket Historical Association, in addition to serving on the board of the Concord Museum. We also heard from Martin Waine, who shares, “From Brooks, I went to Yale for an active, but misspent year. Then to summer school at Tufts to undo my shortcomings of the previous year. Feeling no different about college, I spent the next months doing manual labor, then joined the Army to avoid the Korean War draft and with a commitment to the signal corps school in Georgia. I was lucky to be assigned in Europe installing Army microwave telephone stations across France and western Germany. Upon release, I resumed undergraduate study at Columbia, then to Yale for a Ph.D in physics. I taught physics for six years at Mount Holyoke College, then joined a company in Joppa, Md., for which I had built some electronic equipment. After several engineering and engineering management jobs in the Baltimore area, I took a job with a startup in New York City. I moved that company to Stamford, Conn., and ran it until it was sold 19 years later. A part of that business — unwanted by the buyer — was spun off into a new company, which I continued to run until retiring several years later. Myra and I now live in an apartment in Greenwich, Conn. We own a sailboat and spend summers on the boat and in a summer house on Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts. We have two children and five grandchildren. Our recreation has always been sailing, racing until 20 years ago, then cruising. Along the way, as a family, we’ve owned and raced several sailboats; one, which I partially built, won championships on the Northern Chesapeake Bay and on Western Long Island Sound.” As for me, Lito P’77, GP’09, GP’10,
GP’12, I went through Dartmouth College and then found my objectives at Columbia’s graduate school of business. I did internships and training stints in Paris and London, got married, moved to Guatemala and saw that I could really add value to the family business. But, I had to spend 10 years changing the company statutes in order to be able to take it over — time spent learning Spanish, getting to know the whowhat-and-where, managing a tire retread plant, small coffee plantation, becoming a bank director, getting involved with the international coffee and sugar organizations, etc. So when I took over the family sugar business, which was going downhill fast, I was ready to run it. I started with one “ingenio,” producing 25,000 tons of sugar annually. Over the years, I bought five more and we now produce 1,200,000 tonnes of sugar with operations in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico and Brazil, along with cogen in all and ethanol in two. It’s still a family business. We also have modern shopping malls in Guatemala, Tegucigalpa and Bogota and are expanding in the region. I believe that Central America has to be integrated in the need for basic education, values and social responsibility (sound like Brooks’s influence?), which have been my main outside activities and charity work. I have been slowing down during the past three or four years and will have my son, Peter, and my brother Jack’s son, Diego, take over. I am divorced from my first wife and happily remarried to Rosamaria and with a schnauzer, Divo. I have two sons (one, Alex ’77, who went to Brooks), two daughters and nine grandchildren (three of whom graduated from Brooks). We have a second home in a townhouse on Key Biscayne. I no longer play golf or fly my plane (although I have a bigger plane now with a pilot). Being too sedentary, I have gained some 45 pounds since Brooks and
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have white hair. But otherwise, I’m probably recognizable. R EU N I O N
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John Leland (707) 996-6127 johnleland707@gmail.com
Hello! I know we have lost many of us, but I hope many of you are still around to witness the greatness of America, which is undergoing an unusual election. That is not bringing out the best in people! We will survive it! Our boys-only era has seen the school go co-ed, and this former coxswain grew to 6 feet tall and attended Stanford, despite Mr. A’s admonition that Tom Peirce and I would be spending four years in an intellectual vacuum (or words to that effect). Who would have believed I would emerge as senior class president after two years in the Navy. Incidentally, my wife, Sandy, and I have two grandchildren entering Stanford this coming fall. We would like to share Mike Anstey’s updated contact info, should classmates like to reach out to him: 8/28 Compton Road, Lindfield, Haywards Heath, RH16 2JZ, UK. His phone is 44+ (1444) 483797. I recently heard from Chuck Dow and Clark Tyler, who are both doing well and both residing on the East Coast. I’m still out on the West Coast in California and would love to hear from more classmates, particularly those who have been out of touch since college. Over these years, I have supported the Brooks Fund in recognition that this small school contributed so much, and not only to my education. Please support our school, and do let me know your recent news and family events. Thanks, Brooks!
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Hal Hamilton (401) 289-2530 halhamilton1011@gmail.com
The arrival of the spring edition of the Bulletin was eagerly awaited by a number of our class. This issue,
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the school’s dialogue with the world, carried the patina of an up-market corporate proposal, filled with items of wonder, not the least of which were samples of the curriculum. What a remove from yesterday and the tenets of a liberal arts education. Taken as a theme, life after Brooks, general class notes revealed a feast of accomplishments, both remarkable and various, although possibly at the surprise of our founder, who viewed the arts with well-mannered indulgence and sports as a healthy diversion. In 1953, General Electric had talent scouts prowling our ranks. Accomplished athletes were also in demand. The shape of things to come, but no one foresaw the rise of the media or the industrial potential of television/advertising, let alone the Cult of Youth in 1955. From its earliest beginning, the school traditions opened to all manner of expression. Brooks maintains to the hour an excellent tradition in the theater, and some of its adroit practitioners have crafted long-term careers on stage, in television and film. The latest jeune premier is Michael Weatherly ’86, his chariot of fire none other than the much lauded “NCIS,” top U.S. television series for the last several years and font of ensemble acting. Not only has he held his own with sparkling talent, he even managed to direct an episode of the series. The Weatherly range is, frankly, to be envied. By turns wildly sardonic and irritatingly bright, his forays into vulnerability and romance make for the complete package. Now Michael morphs into the lead of a new series called “Bull,” an appropriate title for a show about lawyers! Looking into the future, Michael Weatherly is prime material to venture up into the realm of the classics. He would be an excellent choice to play John Barrymore, whose 1919–1924 “Hamlet” prompt book has presently been discovered. The dynamic combination of the stage
play and wild lifestyle would suit our Brooksian star to perfection, only needing the merest touch of makeup to transform him into “the great profile.” Watch this space. Some current class news: Steve Stranahan P’88 has given a transplant organ to a family member. It would be excellent to hear from Brewster Ely, Barry Rowland and E. Maxwell Geddes P’82, P’90.
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Lawrie Barr (603) 547-2174 albontherise@gmail.com
On a gorgeous August 4 summer afternoon, I was killing two birds with one stone: a trip to North Andover with stops at Brooks and Butcher Boy Market. The lake was a beautiful blue, bringing back memories of crew. Beware of the access roads and parking spaces. You probably know already that cars are no longer permitted on campus. My main goal at Brooks was to meet with Director of Annual Giving Lisa Zopatti. I needed our results from the 2015–2016 Brooks Fund drive. I also wanted the directory of our fabulous ’54. Sad to say, two of our classmates failed to participate in the drive, so our percentage came in at 88, same as last year. I always hope for improvement in our new campaign for 2016–2017. I came upon a photo that was new to me: “Lakeview Farm 1924,” hanging in what used to be our entry to the old dining room. Very special! On the day of the Ashburn Luncheon in May 2016, I met and talked to our new archivist and mentioned my interest in all of our Bulletin entries since 1954. Thanks to the archivist intern, not too long ago a hefty envelope arrived here bearing all of those entries. Very grateful! I hope to entertain you with them. Of course, that means outliving my prostate cancer. Incidentally, I am WELL! In other class news, Eliot Paine sent me a postcard from Maine, saying: “Beautiful, warm, dry summer here. Many boat trips and island picnics.
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Top to bottom: From left to right: Mary Frost (who was Penny Jackson Trask’s roommate at Westover School), husband Rufus Frost, Penny Jackson Trask P’83, P’84 (a close friend of the class of 1956 and daughter of former faculty member Frank Jackson ’33, GP’83, GP’84), Lawrie Barr ’54 (class agent and, as the son of faculty member George Barr, the first faculty child to attend Brooks); seated is Fritz Trask P’83, P’84, Jackson Trask’s husband. ■ Tim Cain ’55 (wearing tie) recently stumbled upon this photo of himself with his graduate students whom he taught at State University of New York at Cortland in 1979. ■ Bill Kellett ’55 had a fabulous time at his nephew’s recent wedding reception in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here he is, mid-joke, surrounded by numerous family members, including his daughterin-law and three granddaughters, as well as a few members from his daughter-in-law’s family.
Never laid the logs into our island fireplace. No rainy days! My garden thrived and has been very productive. Still trying to sell our home; moving out in October, hope to be in the new digs in November.” Dick Pickering reports, “Jane and I are struggling a bit, as she has Alzheimer’s. It has gotten to the point where I now have caregivers a few times a week to get a break and allow
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me to play golf and sail my new (old) boat, a Cape Dory 27. Kind of crazy to buy a sailboat at age 80, but I can with some difficulty sail her by myself. More comfortable with a crew member to help. Fortunately, the local golf pro here wants to learn to sail, so we barter lessons. He has improved my golf… there was plenty of room there. We’re in a good place in this community here in Belfast, Maine. It’s a delightful, small city with lots of stuff going on. I’ve been volunteering some on the construction of a labyrinth in one of our parks and have tutored some as a literacy volunteer. Also, I attend a class or two at our senior college. I’m not looking forward to our first winter in Maine since 2000. We sold the house in Apalachicola and a boat we had there this past spring. I hope this note finds you in good health, and all best wishes to you and other classmates.” [Ed. Note: Mr. Barr shared these excerpts from the issues of The Archbishop, which contained the class of 1954’s first class notes from December 1954]: “John T. Beatty Jr. and Edward C. Hume are members of the Yale Political Union. The former is working on the membership committee of that organization and has also been elected to the Calliopean Society. Timothy T. Holbrook is a member of the Freshman Executive Council at Trinity College. Leland L. McCoy is singing with the Freshman Glee Club at Yale; together with John T. Beatty Jr., he is devoting one afternoon a week to volunteer work at the Grace New Haven Hospital. Augustin H. Parker III is a member of the Trinity College Glee Club. Richard L. Pickering has been playing first string goalie on the Trinity Freshman Soccer Team. A short article, ‘Nest of the Arctic Three-Toed Woodpecker,’ by William D. Payne, appeared in the July edition of the Bulletin of the Maine Audobon Society. George L. Pew Jr. is on the Freshman Crew
Squad at Yale; David T. Schiff is out for the Freshman Swimming Team. Frank E. Donovan, both as actor and stage manager, has been active with The Players, the Dartmouth student dramatic association. Peter T. Brown completed his basic training at Fort Knox and qualified for further training as an officer candidate at Fort Ord, Calif. Andrew W. Burden has been elected an officer of St. Anthony at Columbia. Frank E. Donovan has resigned from Dartmouth in good standing to enter the Air Force. Ex.-Satoshi (Sam) Kawamitsu, of Miyako, Ryukyus, is studying in Tokyo in preparation for entrance into Tokyo University. He plans to study diplomacy. George L. Pew Jr. has been rowing at No. 7 in the Yale Freshman boat this spring.”
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Bill Kellett (860) 435-5661 wpkellett@att.net
I’m much appreciative of the photo Tim Cain shared of a group of his SUNY Cortland graduate students taken in 1979 (he’s the one wearing a tie). He ran across it recently after 37 years. Willie Smith took the time to share, “As we age, traveling does not get simpler or easier. Our son has helped us travel, namely during two trips to the Mediterranean Sea in the past two years. This last year, we began in Rome (we always begin in Rome) and cruised down the Italian coast and up the Adriatic to Venice. The places we saw included Taormina, Zakynthos, Corfu, Bari, Kotor, Dubrovnik and Koper. As we cruised, the shoreline was remarkable, filled with residences, roads climbing hills and great forests. The history of this area is complex, and reaches hundreds and hundreds of years back. Kotor, for example, in Montenegro, is a good example. Settled in 165 B.C., Kotor was surrounded by fortifications. More recently, it has become a popular tourist place and part of a world heritage site. The remnants
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of old fortifications with their stone walls and the elements of a busy, modern place make it clear that the city is not so dependent on its past and strike quite a contrast with life in Connecticut.” The recent Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, gave Dick Welton the inspiration to reflect upon his time in the country from 1968 to 1988. He wrote, “Brazil was—and still is to a degree — a potpourri of sensual experiences — sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch — all intensified by the warmth of the people.” He admits, however, that during his time there, “things slowly changed — fueled by the corruption at every level of government and a growing epidemic of drug use… the Rio I knew when I first arrived is gone or so muted by the day-to-day struggles of its people.” Despite this, Welton claims that he will always have feelings for Rio, perhaps best described as “saudade,” a Portuguese word meaning a feeling that has no word equivalent.
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David Grant (401) 619-0574 dgrantnewport@gmail.com
Gathering notes for the fall edition of the Bulletin has been somewhat challenging this time, perhaps because most of us refuse to acknowledge the passing of Labor Day. A recent email from the school bemoaning the lack of class responses led to an observation by our own Neil Wilkie, to wit: “The fact that 30-plus classes have sent nothing suggests to me that Brooks graduates are much more concerned with what’s happening in this country and the world than news about our own lives. Take it as a compliment, Brooks. You taught us well.” Fred
Kingsbury responded to my nags
with the news that, after 35 years of living on Martha’s Vineyard, he is pulling up stakes and moving closer to his kids in New Jersey. Hopefully, Fred, somewhere with water views. A frequent correspondent, Phil Ottley, writes, “I’m probably the only ’56er to report from Winchester Bay, Ore. It’s a great trip to visit the coastline and see all the salmon and Dungeness crabs and to visit little villages. Good food, too. All Ottley kids great, as well as seniors. We may sell the Florida house; too capital-intensive. The motor home is just fine, thank you!” Tony Ittleson P’84, P’86, living the vida grande, chimes in: “OK, so I am doing my usual marathon U.S. Open tennis watching. I go every day (except the Friday through Monday of Labor Day weekend) from about noon until about 10:30 p.m. It is tiring, but great fun. The new roof guarantees that we will have tennis, rain or shine. The noise level is about the same as last year (without the roof, but with the structure) except if it is raining hard — then it is deafening.” It was a great tournament, Tony, but much quieter via ESPN! Also present at the Open was Jim Bride, who wrote that he and Ginny watched the match when Kei Nishikori upset Andy Murray. He was reminded of the athleticism and talent on show every time Gerry and Emmett battled on the squash court! I think we all remember that! Class president Peter Jones P’94, P’01 also succumbed to my nagging with the following post: “In early December 2015, Leslie and I took her mother to St. Croix, where she has lived every winter for some 40 years. We were there until
“When I was at Brooks, 80 wasn’t even a concept. Now that it is about to happen, it still isn’t a concept.” NEIL BLISS ’56
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Top to bottom: David Grant ’56 at the top of Connor Pass near Dingle, Ireland. ■ From left to right: Patrick Emmett, son of Gerry Emmett ’56, and Ellery McLanahan ’56 on the croquet lawn. ■ Phil Ottley ’56 and wife, Glenna, in Winchester Bay, Ore., on their summer trip.
December 28. We spent New Year’s in Quogue, N.Y., with a house full of friends. January and February 2016, we were back and forth between New York and Quogue. We went to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to visit friends and then to Sewickley, Penn., where I grew up. Leslie always plays in a paddle tennis tournament at the Allegheny Country Club. In the beginning of March 2016, we went back to St. Croix and stayed until mid-April. St. Croix is a lovely island with great beaches, delicious restaurants and wonderful friends. The best event was our 60th reunion at Brooks School. This, however, has already been recorded, and you will have read it by the time you read this. The rest of the summer was spent in Quogue with all of my children visiting often. Elliott ’01
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got married at the Shelter Island Yacht Club on September 17, 2016, and we hosted a rehearsal dinner in Sag Harbor on the 16th. We see my daughter, Palmer Jones O’Sullivan ’94, often as she lives in Southampton, N.Y., on weekends and holidays. I am excited to report that my son, Frick, and his wife, Mindy, will be having their second child in early December 2016. I will be the grandfather of 10! And, lastly, I talk with my brother, Frick Jones ’51, every Sunday and he is doing very well enjoying his summer on Martha’s Vineyard with his wife, Karen.” Ellery McLanahan, always a reliable responder, shares, “I spent Labor Day swimming and sunning on a beautiful endless beach on Little Talbott Island, a half hour east of Jacksonville, Fla. There was the usual worry about a rip tide and four rows of waves, one behind another, for those adventurous souls among us. Lots of sun spray. I had dinner here in Jax with Patrick Emmet et al., tennis champ son of my pal, Grenville Emmet.” And our own Neil Bliss, a frequent emailer to the class, initiated a whole new chain of messages with the challenge as to who is the oldest member of our class. He thereby initiated a large number of claims, all of which sounded fishy to this correspondent, and, as a result of his non-scientific analysis, Bliss claimed to be the second oldest. Furthermore, he was sworn to secrecy by one who stated that no, he is the oldest. So far, that individual lurks in the weeds and remains unidentified. Neil started all of this with, “I guess I’ll make the fact that I turn 80 this year my official entry into the Brooks Bulletin. When I was at Brooks, 80 wasn’t even a concept. Now that it is about to happen, it still isn’t a concept. Mentally, I haven’t really gotten much beyond Brooks, and physically, I still hurt when I go to extremes. The only difference I see is that I don’t go to extremes as often. I hope everybody
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who reads this in our class reaches 80. As long as it’s after me!” Finally, your humble correspondent and wife, Debbie, have had a fine summer here in Newport, R.I., and abroad. Last October 2015, we made plans to travel with old friends from our Princeton days to Ireland and England. After an evening in Dublin, we embarked by Irish rail to Killarney for a few days and then on to Dingle on the west coast. We had not traveled in Ireland before and found the country and its people most enchanting! The only bad news was that the trip coincided with our 60th Alumni Weekend, and I had to miss that momentous occasion. The ever stalwart Peter Jones kindly subbed for me and wrote up the notes on same, which you have all read by now. Thank you, Peter! REU N ION
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Bunny Fisk bcfisk@comcast.net I am sad to share that Harold Riley Colvin passed away on May 11, 2016, in Port Charlotte, Fla. George Reithoffer, who lovingly referred
to Colvin as Pear, was one of his oldest friends, as they both attended Collegiate School in New York prior to Brooks. “Our parents dropped us both off at Grand Central Station for the trip to Boston and then North Andover. I think Charlie Pfeffer P’81 was also in attendance. Me for the first time, since I had never been to Brooks. Pear was the veteran, as he had a year at Brooks under his belt. He was one of my best friends; he was in my wedding and I was in his. Helen Colvin went to Westover with my ex-wife. We took the No. 4 Fifth Avenue bus together for our commute up to Columbia; both of us were in St. Anthony Hall,” Reithoffer shared. In a more formal remembrance, Reithoffer wrote, “Riley had the distinction of being a member of the last first-form class at Brooks. He spent six years at school, which has to be a record for
Elizabeth Palmer Barr, daughter of Bill Barr ’57 and niece of Lawrie Barr ’54.
the class of 1957. He loved astronomy, opera and classical music. He also played some soccer, but most of all, he loved New York City. After Brooks, he returned to New York City to attend Columbia College (BA) and then Columbia Business School (MBA). After business school, he joined the Special Forces in their language school and spent a year or so learning Mandarin. Upon returning to civilian life, he returned to New York. He married Helen McVey on November 20, 1965. They lived in the city for a short time, but moved to Helen’s hometown, Harrisburg, Penn., at Riley’s request. Riley took a job with W.O. Hickok Manufacturing Company, a family firm, as vice president of finance. Helen went back to what she loved: teaching. They had a daughter on March 29, 1976. Riley moved on to P.R. Hoffman, where he worked for many years. His career then came full circle as he rejoined and eventually retired from W.O. Hickok. He and Helen started to spend more and more time on Martha’s Vineyard until it became their primary home. Tragically, Helen became ill with pancreatic cancer and died in September of 2014. Riley was also in failing health and started to spend winters in Florida until his recent passing.”
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Jock Cowperthwaite (843) 524-8134 jock@the-narrows.com Danna and Alex Dearborn continue
to live in Kittery Point, Maine, and Osprey, Fla. Hobbies are vintage car rallies (him) and new art (her). Road trips with or without their cats and trailers are planned. Their son, Sam, is in Brooklyn, N.Y., and daughter, Fay, in San Anselmo, Calif.
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George Kilborn (401) 864-9800 gfk@comptoncapital.com ■ Gene Record (781) 631-1379 generecord@comcast.net I (George Kilborn) had the pleasure
of having lunch and playing a round of golf at the Sakonnet Golf Club several weeks ago with Gerry Emmet ’56. I came to Brooks as a fifth-former in 1957, so I never had met him personally. He was a skilled squash player and was captain at Harvard, so I must have seen him when playing Harvard in squash in 1960 or 1961 while at Williams, where I played for four years and became captain in 1963 on the heels of Mike Keating ’58, P’97, who was captain in 1962. I wish I had met him earlier. He had fond memories of many of our classmates, especially Mickey van Gerbig, Tony Fahnestock P’86, Dave Jeffrey and others. To celebrate reaching 75, I (Gene Record) hosted my 12 grandchildren and their parents at the E/L Ranch in Montana. I managed not to fall off my horse or drown in the river while gathering the appropriate homage from all. Bob Youngman and Jim Walker were very disrespectful of this event, making disparaging remarks on Facebook. Esmond Bradley Martin, who is still living in Kenya, recently shared his annual newsletter with Brooks, which notes, “This year will be a challenging one for rhinos, elephants and lions, as well as for the people who
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Esmond Martin ’59 feeds a Thomson’s Gazelle in the Nairobi Animal Orphanage Nursery, where his wife, Chryssee, has worked for the past 45 years.
hope to restore some sanity to world affairs.” He also gave a few examples of how China, Vietnam and Kenya have changed since the late 1970s, when he and his wife, Chryssee, were there. “My first trip to China was in 1985, when I carried out research on wildlife trade in six cities. My most recent trip, doing similar work, was in 2015. How China has changed in 30 years! For example, most people were then wearing the ubiquitous Mao suit and were earning less than $50 a month. There were almost no privately owned vehicles; the most difficult part of my work was obtaining competent interpreters who were willing to ask questions on my behalf; some literally walked off the job, leaving me stranded. In my 2015 ivory study trip, I was joined by Lucy Vigne in mainland China. I think there have been more social and economic changes in China than in any other place in the world. The streets were choked with privately owned cars; expensive luxury goods, including ivory carvings, were for sale in all of the big cities visited; our interpreters were excellent, not fearing to ask penetrating questions.” He concludes the letter by paraphrasing
“Candide”: “We wish you the best of all possible worlds in 2016.”
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Bob Turner (617) 698-8021 rlturner16@gmail.com
On behalf of the class of 1960: Our very own Ferris wheel — Bill — never rests. He hit the road this fall, discussing his latest book, “The South in Color: A Visual Journal,” at nearly 20 museums, festivals and bookstores. Ferris, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, filled the book with 100 color photographs he took during the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, including images of his family’s Mississippi farm and its workers. There’s Southern culture, literature, art — but I think Bill’s heart is in the blues. [Ed. Note: For more on Mr. Ferris’s newest book, please see the Bulletin’s “Brooks Works” entry on page 46.] Charlie Salisbury P’79, P’83 was our leader, of course, connubially speaking, with help from Martha. But others who chose early also chose well. Joan and Charlie Hunt celebrated their 50th anniversary this year, and were in turn celebrated by one of our finest poets: Ellery Sedgwick. “Joan and Charlie,”
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A LUMNI PROF I LE
E L L E RY SE DGW I CK ’60
A Community Effort A Brooksian works for 30 years to help the less fortunate members of his community.
Ellery Sedgwick ’60 has always recognized the strength of community and its collective ability to do good. From his time at Brooks, where he met classmates that would become lifelong friends, to his career working to improve public schools in the community in which he lived, to his current passion — Sedgwick is president of the board of directors of Farmville Area Community Emergency Services, a food pantry in central Virginia known as FACES — Sedgwick has both focused on and relied on the community and the people that surround him.
Brooks, Sedgwick reports, had a profound impact on his approach to academics. “I was not a good student going in, and Brooks had a reputation for taking chances and taking students who might have potential but never showed it,” he says. “Brooks accepted me, and I was very grateful, but Brooks really turned me around academically. The teachers really liked the kids and encouraged them, but demanded performance. For me, that worked wonderfully. I really began to take an interest in my work.” Brooks also provided Sedgwick with a sense of community that far outlasted his tenure on Great Pond Road. “My friends at Brooks really became my family,” Sedgwick says. “I remember my classmate, Bill Ferris, who has led a very distinguished career [Ed. Note: Mr. Ferris’s latest book is featured on
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page 46 of this issue]. We were the only ones who had background in the South — I had spent a lot of time in Georgia — and when we would read Faulkner, we would take up for the South.” Sedgwick matriculated to Harvard University with five of his classmates from Brooks. The group still reunites regularly. “They come down to visit me every year,” Sedgwick shares. “There’s a group of about five of us that get together and hunt in Georgia in January. It’s a great part of the year for me.” Sedgwick went on to receive his teaching credentials from Columbia University’s Teachers College. He embarked on his teaching career by taking a position at a Stamford, Conn., public high school before obtaining his doctorate. Then, he accepted a position at Longwood College, now Longwood University, a small institution that is part of the commonwealth’s
public university system, and which is located in Farmville, a town in the south central area of the commonwealth. He was hired as director of the writing program, and then he chaired the department of English, philosophy and modern languages for several years. “And then I developed another interest, which was really compelling for me,” Sedgwick says. Virginia had no education major, Sedgwick explains. Instead, prospective teachers were encouraged to major in the subject area they wished to teach — English or mathematics, for example. Sedgwick felt that put teachers and students at a disadvantage. “I got together with a couple of other people who felt this was not working well and created a cross-disciplinary major, which
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became a required major for students who wanted to teach K-8,” he says. The Liberal Studies program includes courses in mathematics, science and social studies. “It was tremendously successful,” Sedgwick says, reporting that since its inception, the major has been adopted by many of Virginia’s colleges. Sedgwick didn’t stop at merely improving teachers’ academic preparation: He also served on the local school board for eight years, which he said was “interesting and enjoyable, and one of my main community connections after retirement.” Another connection to the community, and perhaps his most profound, is Sedgwick’s work with FACES, the food pantry that provides hope to so many of the needy in his community. The area of Virginia in which FACES is located is struggling: According to the organization, almost 20 percent of the residents of Prince Edward County live below the federal poverty level and unemployment hovers at 7.6 percent. Both numbers are well above the national average. FACES is vital to the area it serves. Nine hundred sixty households are registered with the organization, which provides food to an average of 1,358 individuals every week. The organization estimates that it distributes over 1,000,000 pounds of food to area residents
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“[T]he members of the board are the staff. They’re the people that do the work. They’re the people that go down and get the food delivery, store it, pack it, distribute it — all of that.”
every year. Despite its reach, FACES is able to operate on a lean budget — its total annual budget in 2014 was $80,000 — because of the dedication and determination of the community it serves. “We have a board of 17,” Sedgwick says, “but the members of the board are the staff. They’re the people that do the work. They’re the people that go down and get the food delivery, store it, pack it, distribute it — all of that.” Sedgwick credits the hundreds of local residents that volunteer for the organization as its driving force. “We couldn’t possibly do this without our hundreds of volunteers,” he says, pointing specifically to the bevy of enthusiastic college students in the area. Sedgwick also notes that almost all of the organization’s funds are raised locally. All the money that FACES collects,
Sedgwick emphasizes, goes directly to acquiring, storing and distributing food. Sedgwick has been involved with FACES since the mid-1980s, when he started volunteering for what was, at the time, a small operation that distributed food to between 30 and 40 families a week. Since then, FACES has expanded several times. Now, Sedgwick has one more goal in his sights: to extend its reach over a larger geographic area, as a hub for storage and distribution of food over an eight-county area of central Virginia. FACES is an agency of the larger Central Virginia Food Bank, which has a five-year strategic plan focused on increasing distribution in the state’s most rural, most remote areas. “We’re now in the process of trying to raise what is not a great amount of money for most places, but is a great amount of money for a place like this, to build a new facility that will be large enough for our operation and the hub operation,” Sedgwick says. “I’ve really enjoyed doing work that feels directly productive with other people,” he concludes. “I’ve gotten a great deal out of this experience, and at this point — I’m 74, and I’ve been retired for 10 years — it’s really the focus of a lot of my life and it’s a source of a lot of satisfaction to me. It’s become a kind of a mission, and it’s connected me with other people.”
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Top to bottom, left to right: Faculty member Leigh Perkins ’81, P’14, P’18 showed Chip Sterling ’62 and his wife, Kathy, around the Brooks campus on a beautiful September day. Chip hadn’t been to Brooks since 1987, and he enjoyed his return. ■ Peter Cross ’63, P’07 during his 15th Rhodes Run in South Africa. ■ From left to right: Rob MacColl ’63 and classmate Bill Macy ’63 in Rhode Island. ■ Bill Endicott ’63 uses a tricycle to tow his shell to a nearby canal where he rows. He participated in the Head of the Charles Regatta with his former Harvard teammates.
wrote El, “were among the earliest who had the courage and wisdom to take the leap of faith into marriage while most of us equivocated. For the 50 years since 1966, they have been a great gravitational force that has drawn passing objects into their orbit and kept them closely connected. The novelist E. M. Forster summarizes the theme of his works as ‘Only Connect.’ This seems the main theme of my experience of Joan and Charlie as well.”
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Galen Brewster (772) 231-0733 gbrewster42@icloud.com
The Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy voted Dave Sampson P’93 the Saving Special Places Award for significant contribution to land conservation in the capital region. Dave said that he quickly tired of retirement, so he recently became
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a hearing officer at the New York State Office of the State Comptroller. Sally and Stan MacDonald have bought a second home on the coast of North Carolina, to which they will repair in the winter, like some of the rest of us. It is always a pleasure to get together with Mary Bell and George Case when they are in Vero Beach, Fla. REU N ION
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Dick Viall (412) 749-1771 castingabout4ever@gmail.com Chip Sterling wrote, “Kathy and I
celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in Honolulu, in her home state. We were married on June 20, 1966, which means we were married just four years after I graduated from Brooks. Getting married so young meant entering marriage on instinct, not knowing how each of
us would grow up. Whatever we did right, certainly very good luck has to be a factor. Therefore, we both always value and support other couples’ happy relationships of any stripe or duration.” Chip visited campus in September 2016; the last time he was there was in 1987. “Event three of our 50th anniversary celebration was an East Coast tour. We visited Brooks on September 11 and after parking, we had the sheer luck of meeting Leigh Perkins ’81, P’14, P’18, who also was celebrating her 50th on campus (she grew up on campus as a faculty child). We hopped on her golf cart and toured old and new buildings, getting a perfect update from Leigh of stories and new buildings over the years and since visiting on my 25th. A beautiful campus on a beautiful fall day, bringing back memories. Thank you, Leigh, for your time and patience!”
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Cliff Irons (978) 358-8825 cjirons@comcast.net ■ Jim Saltonstall (978) 369-4094 jasaltonstall@gmail.com I (Jim Saltonstall) decamped to
Maine for much of the summer, as usual. We decided to stop racing our Ensign this year. Simply put, the racing took up almost the whole day every Saturday. Instead, I marveled at the occasional soaring hawks and eagles and made sure that the hummingbirds were well fed. Getting soft? Yes, I guess so. Bridget and I climbed most of Mt. Katharine late in the summer (yes, you infer correctly that I didn’t make it to the very top… long story). Our kids and grands (total of five) were able to visit for a week each, followed by some of our closest friends, who made us laugh with music and stories. We also spent many hours covering grandchildren this spring. We love it and we come home exhausted. The parental logistics
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for our kids seem overwhelming: two sets of parents, very busy at very good jobs, on the road a lot, kids with busy schedules, it’s hard to keep it all straight. In other news, Sue and Bill Macy have their house in Rhode Island on the market and plan to move to a senior community in North Carolina when their new home is ready in mid-2017. When he wrote, Bill noted that he and Sue were entertaining Marsha and Rob MacColl, who had come east to spend some time at a family home that Rob shares with his sister in Matunuck, R.I. From his summer report, Bill shared, “I retired from oceanography about 10 years ago. As for upcoming travel, my wife, Sue, and I are off on September 3 for a Road Scholar trip to the Canadian Rockies. More weirdness: The weather forecast for Banff, Alberta, calls for rain the following week! We then plan to go to Winter Park in Colorado around Christmas for a few days of downhill skiing with our daughter, Meg, who is a pediatric oncologist in Denver. In January 2017, I plan to return to the IndoPacific Ocean with a first cousin and her friend, specifically to Wakatobi, Indonesia, again, to scuba dive and attempt to take some decent underwater photos. Looking further ahead, I have signed up early in order to get one of the few single rooms to go to the Antarctic in January 2017 on a Lindblad/ National Geographic cruise. No Russian icebreaker for me, thank you very much! We have taken two previous cruises with them: to southeast Alaska, and, last year, up the Columbia and Snake Rivers. We found the Lindblad guides, staff and crew to be outstanding. The overall quality of the trips was excellent as well. In spite of a substantial cost premium over alternate trips to the same areas, we felt that the money was well spent. Sue has a weak stomach when it comes to rolling ships and has no desire to go to the
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Antarctic. Therefore, I am going alone! You probably will not hear from me again until we have moved to Asheville in February 2017.” I spent a wonderful afternoon this summer with David Shepler, who was cruising the Maine coast in his outrigger sailing kayak. We met for lunch and exchanged childhood and Brooks stories and reminisced about mutual friends, and then spent the afternoon tending to his car, which was in a repair shop 45 minutes away in Ellsworth, Maine. He is still recovering from the car accident that took his wife’s life a year ago. He seems to me to be coping pretty well under the circumstances. I also caught Jonathan Dean for lunch in Ellsworth in August. He spends time in Harpswell, Maine, and most of the year on Sanibel Island, Fla., where he and Ruth bought a home. Jonathan is working to restore some logic and fun to his life after losing Ruth to cancer in 2016. He takes great pride in his two children, their spouses and his four grandchildren. From Jonathan: “I am still feeling recently widowed, but I did have a great time in Italy this summer, staying with old friends who rented a farmhouse in Umbria, as well as being a tourist in Venice, Florence and Rome. I still spend the winter in Sanibel, where I would love to see people — great beaches, lots of birds and beasts.” Bill Endicott planned to participate in the Head of the Charles crew race on October 22, 2016, racing with many of the same members of the Harvard crew he did it with the first time, exactly 50 years ago. Russ Bingham P’88, P’93 and his wife, Paula, are the co-chairs of paddle tennis at Old Lyme Country Club in Connecticut. On August 1, Russ was master of ceremonies at the dedication of the Jack Soper Paddle Tennis Complex. Jack Soper ’42, GP’98, GP’11 was present for the dedication and for the celebration of his 93rd birthday!
Share Your Alumni Profile Ideas Do you know a Brooks alumnus or alumna you would like to see profiled in the Brooks Bulletin? Tell us about it! Email Bulletin editor Rebecca Binder at rbinder@brooksschool.org with your suggestions.
Russ and Paula continue to enjoy an almost daily round of golf with friends at Old Lyme CC. Cliff Irons and Joan traveled to Austin, Texas, in June 2016 for a nephew’s wedding. They had a chance see Austin and the Texas Hill Country. Cliff planned to be in Pinehurst, N.C., in late September, with seven golfing friends from his club in Massachusetts. They will join eight golfers from the United Kingdom for a friendly Ryder Cup-style competition. Peter Cross P’07 writes, “Not yet retired, although the current market for IDEAS’s services is sufficiently tight that changes may be coming, whether we are ready or not. Given the amount of time it now takes me to run 50 miles/week, however, perhaps I will soon need to face facts and become a full-time runner. This spring, I enjoyed a row on Lake Cochickewick with rowers from various Brooks classes, although sadly none from the class of ’63. This summer, Ileana and I returned to South Africa for nearly two weeks. Our youngest daughter, Alejandra ’07, and her boyfriend, Adam, flew out to join us, initially to provide me with a pair of patriotic running tights to wear during my 15th Rhodes Run. Ileana and I then treated them and my legs to a few nights at &Beyond Phinda game reserve (no running in the 100-square mile reserve). It was Adam’s first trip to Africa; he
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arrived well-equipped with a camera with a digital telephoto, although we had a sighting so close to the first meeting of two sets of cheetah cubs (two mothers with three and four cubs) that a telephoto was hardly needed. We also had a couple of close-up sightings of a pride of nine lions and great sightings, at a slightly more respectful distance, of the other members of the “Big 5,” including a couple of brief sightings of relatively elusive leopards. Alejandra returned just in time to start her part-time, online MBA at Northeastern University. She successfully completed her first course this week. She continues to work as an assistant store manager for Verizon in Leominster, Mass. Meanwhile, both our older children, Shimae and Allen, are in Washington, DC. Shimae manages the surgery interns at Georgetown Medical Center and practices surgery two days a week. Her husband, Peter, has just joined a private practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Bethesda, Md. Their older children, Emiko and James, are ready to enter third and second grades, respectively, after a month and half of sailing and swimming. Their young brother, Ted, now 2 years old, is the latest addition to our inventory of four grandchildren. Our son, Allen, is responsible, with his wife, Lisa, for our remaining grandchild, Charles, now 5 years old, who is in kindergarten. In addition to learning to read and practicing his addition and subtraction flash cards, Charles has become an enthusiastic piano player. Meanwhile, his father, Allen, has just been promoted to associate at Ropes & Gray, where he works on patent cases. He is in his last year of law school at George Washington University. Lisa is in her third year at the U.S. Patent Office, and is able to do an increasing amount of her work at home. I’m looking forward to seeing many of our class at our
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55th reunion, but first comes the 50th reunion of Caltech ’67.” Ben Riggs writes, “This is our 16th year in Newport, R.I., where we are fortunate to remain healthy enough to take advantage of the many opportunities. I try to sail my sloop as much as possible during the season, but the rest of the time I stay occupied as president of the Newport Circle of Scholars, which includes co-teaching a course called Current International Events. I’m also heavily involved in some environmental issues and still work a bit part-time as a mergers and acquisition consultant. Lee and I also co-host the monthly meetings of the Rhode Island IANDS group. IANDS stands for International Association for Near Death Studies, where we delve into things like non-local consciousness and what really happens (don’t worry, it’s all good) when we die (Lee explains more about it at www.heavenslight. net.). Lee has also been working with mental health patients at Newport Hospital, utilizing techniques like expressive arts therapy and meditation, and continues with various writing projects related to IANDS. We are up to four grandchildren. Three of them in Nebraska, which may not be an exciting place to visit, but daughter Lisa’s fine arts gallery is there (you live near your source of income). Daughter Sonia is near us in Rhode Island, having recently started renovating a house she bought with her boyfriend. Son Scott and our youngest grandchild are in Santa Monica, Calif. He and his wife are both journalists (Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian), so who knows where they will move to next. Overall, for us and our family, life is good all around. Give us a call if you are in the Newport area: 401-846-2540.” Jim Rousmaniere notes, “On my retirement from newspaper management three years ago, my
daughters surprised me with a box of 10,000 Italian honeybees. The gift, which was entirely unprompted, opened me to fascinating aspects of social organization, science and nature. The bees, which do wonders for the gardens, provide a fine balance to my various intellectual and athletic pursuits. Then, too, there’s the honey and the satisfying surprises that that can bring. For example, I had not known that Gerry Thompson loves the stuff; I keep him supplied. Meanwhile, my wife, Sharon, kindly offers a listening ear to my stories from the bee yard, and my daughters and granddaughter think I’m a genius.” Gerry himself shared earlier this fall, “Not much to report from here but I continue to progress. I’m now waiting for my last rehabilitation stop at Putney in Southwest London, about two miles from where I live and I expect that to come through sometime in the next week or two. Afterwards, probably in the new year, I will move back home. I’m looking forward to a visit with Marsha and Rob MacColl when they pass through London towards the last week in September 2016. I’m sure they will have lots to report on their U.K. trip and about what’s happening with Brexit.”
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Peter Rathbone 508-790-1964 rathbone.peter@gmail.com
After five beautiful months in sunny Santa Barbara (California would have welcomed a bit more El Niño weather), Alanna and I returned to Great Island in May 2016, looking forward to seven months of life on Cape Cod, Mass. Our new, bicoastal life is so appealing that in our final week before returning east, we bought a house in the Highlands neighborhood of Santa Barbara (we had been looking and researching various possibilities for a couple of months). It is ideally situated between downtown and where our daughter, Sarah, lives in Goleta,
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Calif. Unfortunately, I didn’t touch base with any Brooksians while on the West Coast (except Freddy Herrick ’65, by phone), but we did get together with Sally Cottingham P’08 on occasion. We stopped in Boulder, Colo., for five days on our way back to Boston to visit our daughter, Vanessa ’04, who gave us an updated sense of her life in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We also caught up with Townsend Hall ’03 and Nicole Lonero ’05 during our stay. Returning to Great Island is always special, but a beautiful spring only enhances the experience. There is plenty to do in preparing the house for the summer. The island population, which includes numerous Brooks alumni from multiple generations, doesn’t really begin to expand much until July. One of the reasons to return by mid-May was to ensure I wouldn’t miss the Brooks Alumni Weekend and the class of ’66’s celebration of its 50th reunion. That class turned out in great numbers (close to 30), as Jim Madden ’66 chaired a dedicated committee, and, along with Sidney Lawrence ’66, produced a memorable exhibition of art, traditional and otherwise, at the Robert Lehman Art Center. The sheer number and diversity of creative entries was remarkable, which led John “Chip” Norton ’65 to muse that perhaps he graduated a year too early at Brooks. Most all of those represented in the exhibition paid tribute to Mike King H’66, who revitalized the studio art program at Brooks and was an inspiring presence for many years at the school. John Lewis ’65, P’01 made a special trip to Brooks to lend, and subsequently donate, King’s 1966 painting, “I’d Flex, But I’m Too Tired,” which depicts in various poses Nick Greene ’66, Freddy Herrick and Eddie Lewis ’67 (the reason the Lewis family acquired the painting). The painting was proudly displayed over the Lehman
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mantelpiece. The weekend was very festive. It was great fun to reconnect with so many good friends from the class of ’66, as well as Todd Cobey ’61 and John Cobey ’62, who were on campus to be celebrated for their endowment 50 years ago of the Wilder Prize in Public Speaking. As the only returning member of the class of ’64, I was invited to join the class of ’66 at its Saturday night class dinner hosted by Kay and Jack McKallagat ’66, P’96, P’00 at their house in West Newbury, Mass. My sister, Eliza P’08, came down from Rockport, Mass. (as a member of the class of ’66 at Miss Porter’s, she had attended dance weekends at Brooks with various returning 50th reunion alums), and everyone in attendance had a grand time as they continued their weekend-long reminiscing. Also important to note that our class communications chair extraordinaire, Jody Burns, lent his considerable expertise to assisting the class of ’66 in locating its missing classmates. On Great Island in May 2016, we had a visit from my nephew, James Hamilton ’08, and his girlfriend, Liz Ziebarth, as they were promoting his budding GuideHire enterprise, and a week later I caught up with Taylor Goodyear ’09, who had worked with James, but was on this occasion visiting the Saltonstall family (several Brooksians from that family tree) who were staying at the home of Liz Chace W’52, P’84, P’88, GP’09, GP’11, which she and the late Kim Chace ’52, P’84, P’88, GP’09, GP’11 built together many years ago.
June 2016 found us traveling to Southampton, N.Y., to attend the wedding of Lara Nadosy (daughter of Pat and Peter Nadosy) to Charles Boutwell, which took place on June 25. As it turned out, Alanna and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary that same day in a much more sumptuous manner than we would have otherwise. It was a grand, weekend-long
Top to bottom: From left to right: Alanna Rathbone P’04, P’15, Lex Manice ’64, Peter Rathbone ’64, P’04, P’15 and Julie Goodyear W’64 in Wainscott, N.Y. ■ From left to right: Peter Rathbone ’64, P’04, P’15 and Henry Lee ’64 at the National Golf Links of America. ■ From left to right: Martha Lane-Zucker, Keith Lane-Zucker ’81, Peter Rathbone ’64, P’04, P’15 and Alanna Rathbone P’04, P’15 on Great Island in West Yarmouth, Mass.
celebration, beautifully orchestrated in every way. Peter had very kindly arranged to have Alanna and me put up at the National Golf Links of America, where we were joined by Julie Goodyear W’64 and Henry Lee to participate in the wedding festivities, which were so extensive that there was no time for golf! Alanna and I, with Julie, did find time to pop over to Wainscott, N.Y., to see our dear friend and classmate, Lex Manice, in his delightful digs, formerly the home of actress Sarah Jessica Parker. It is strikingly adorned with Lex’s painting collection by contemporary American artists, and although
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we weren’t able to stay long, we did have a very enjoyable catch-up. We had also had the pleasure of staying with Julie in Washington, Conn., a week before the Nadosy nuptials for the wedding of the daughter of old friends from Litchfield. A busy, but festive couple of weeks. In mid-July, I journeyed to Wareham, Mass., for lunch at the invitation of Liz and Frank Blake ’67, P’00, where John Rankin ’67 had also descended at the Blake’s summer home for a stay. It was great to catch up with them both and to meet Liz as well. We enjoyed a delicious lunch, followed by a healthy, but hot, walk along the water—an ideal, beautiful setting. They are in the planning stage for their Brooks 50th reunion for May 2017 and will certainly have to go some way to match this year’s highly successful gathering. In August 2016, Sarah visited from California and Vanessa from Colorado, giving them an opportunity to check in with their younger brother, Dylan ’15, who has spent the summer here teaching tennis at the Hyannisport Club. He had to adapt to an early-morning schedule, arriving at the courts at 7:30 a.m. for a five-hour stint, with additional afternoon private lessons twice a week. He was, however, very pleased to be beefing up his bank account for his return to Tulane for the fall semester. Although Sarah had left Great Island before the fifth annual Chace Chase, a 4-mile obstacle course around the island, Vanessa planned her visit so she could compete and was joined by Townsend Hall for his first time around the course. An exceptional, all-island dining and dancing party took place that evening to cap off the event. Our most recent guests, Martha and Keith Lane-Zucker ’81, arrived for the weekend following Labor Day, and picture perfect weather, island-wandering and delicious dinners on our deck highlighted a wonderful get together with dear friends on their
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first visit to Great Island. After all, I had spent almost a week staying at the Lane’s house in New Canaan, Conn., where I had returned for various appointments and to catch up with old friends, so a reciprocal visit was definitely in order. Next month, we are looking forward to a visit from Hannah and Jody Burns, who will be acting as chauffeurs for Lex Manice, as that is his preferred manner to get anywhere within extended driving distance. For those who follow various friends on Facebook, you must surely be aware of the sailing prowess and success of our classmate, Fred Shrigley, this past summer. He captained his crew on Mischief to first place in The Great Race (what could be more impressive sounding than that?) and they were winners of the season long Magic Cup series! Go Shrigaboo! Alas, Fred himself reports, “It’s been a difficult summer because we had a fire at The Rhumb Line, my restaurant in Gloucester, Mass. We’re still sorting it all out and are partially reopened. I had a nice visit from Lew Geer and his wife when they came to Gloucester. If anyone is near Gloucester, look me up; food and drink will be on me.” In other classmate news, Jim Hamilton splits his time between Munich and Barcelona, where he is learning Spanish to open a branch of his business there next year, which is “moving in slow, slower, slowest motion,” he notes. Patrick Dumont and his wife, Sylvie, traveled to the United States this past August 2016 and stayed with Hannah and Jody Burns in Locust Valley, N.Y. They then made their way south to Savannah and St. Simons Island, Ga., before heading West to Santa Fe, N.M., where they spent a week. While there, they ventured up to Vail, Colo., for three days to see Lucinda and Andy Daly, and had dinner with Nancy and Lew Geer before their departure. It would seem they definitely made the most
Top to bottom: Barney Hallingby ’65 (left) enjoyed a tour of the Kremlin this summer with a guide who looked an awful lot like Putin. ■ Mike Hajjar ’65 is seen here with his family in Sarasota, Fla., where they celebrated his mother’s 100th birthday in February 2016.
of their visit. That about wraps it up from here! Next posting site: Santa Barbara!
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Barney Hallingby (212) 628-4923 bhallingby@aol.com
I checked in with my old pal Mike Hajjar recently. You may recall that Mike, Bill Turner and I were among
the group that went on to Penn, and the three of us were members of the DKE House. Ken Frazee and Chris Keidel were also in our class at Brooks and Penn. Mike became one of the early members of the Brooks School Athletics Hall of Fame, and as a three-sport man (football, wrestling and baseball) deservedly so! Mike reports, “I moved to Ocala, Fla., from Boca Raton, Fla., in 2004, and have been involved in various real estate investment opportunities. I concentrated on
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developing and renovating small equine properties in the area with my former wife; I must say that I even surprised myself by morphing into a country lifestyle type of person, having lived most of my life in the suburban New England area. But now the slower-paced lifestyle suits me better. I partnered with a good friend in 2013 and became a managing partner of Hawk’s Nest Properties, LLC. We own and manage several small residential apartment complexes, and also renovate and flip single-family residences. I am in the early stages of developing my own small farm property on a 13-acre site in Northwest Ocala, which will also be used as a seasonal rental for housing both horse and rider attending the permanent winter horse show, HITS (Horses In The Sun), which runs from January to early April. My family continues to thrive in various parts of New England and Sarasota, Fla. My elder daughter, Melissa, lives in Massachusetts and has two beautiful children, a son and a daughter. My younger daughter, Lauren, also lives in Massachusetts and is engaged to be married next year. My family recently celebrated my mother’s 100th birthday in both Sarasota, Fla., and Rockport, Maine. She is an amazing woman who still lives in her own personal residence in Maine without much outside assistance.” John Norton wrote earlier this spring, “I am retiring myself after 33 years at BB&N. It’s been a great run, and I will miss the school community. But, I am also ready to move on down the road. New landscapes and a new sense of time awaits! Here is some contact info if you want to share it around: my new email address is jcnorton47@gmail. com. My studio is at 119 Braintree Street #501, Allston, Mass., with open studios in November. Visitors welcome. My website, a work in progress, is johncnortonart.com. And, yes, there is always Facebook.”
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Top to bottom, left to right: Stephen Kratovil ’66 (left) and wife, Barbie, enjoyed lunch with Marshall Norton ’66 and his wife, Mia, at their home in Richmond, Va. ■ Peter Beatty ’66 traveled to Washburn, Wis., on the shores of Lake Superior, where he visited honorary classmate and former faculty Tom Vennum in his nursing home. ■ Stephen Kratovil ’66 and wife, Barbie, welcomed another grandchild on November 3, 2015. The grandson, Henry DeWolfe Kratovil, is seen here with his parents. ■ Members of the class of 1966 at the crew races during Alumni Weekend (from left to right): Jim Madden ’66, Charlie Walbridge ’66, Ted Ritchie ’66, Pat Mitchell ’66 and Shel Pitney ’66, P’96, P’97.
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Jim Madden (406) 585-8825 me@jim-madden.org ■ Shel Pitney (585) 746-3308 spitney333@gmail.com Peter Beatty shared earlier this fall,
“A week ago, I loaded up my driving music and audiobooks, fueled up and headed up north to Washburn, Wis., on the shores of Lake Superior, north of Ashland and across the bay from the beautiful Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Madeleine Island. I found and visited our former teacher and honorary classmate, Tom Vennum, in his nursing home in Washburn. After I greeted him in German, I was happy to notice that he corrected both my grammar and pronunciation. Still the teacher. Tom has had a series of strokes, which have incapacitated him to the point where he can neither stand nor walk. He is sharp as usual, though, and recalled
numerous classmates, including Jim Madden, Steve Letarte, Joe Roberts and John Lee. Because of his disability, I doubt that he will be able to return to his home on Madeleine Island. I hope to drive up again in the winter for another visit.” Steve Kratovil shares, “I’m very sorry to have missed our 50th class reunion, but I hear it was an outstanding time (despite my absence!). Other family news: Barbie and I have another grandchild, Henry DeWolf Kratovil, born November 3, 2015. Also, Barbie and I had lunch (a mini 50th??) with Mia and Marshall Norton in their new Richmond, Va., abode on a pond. We had a great time catching up, and both Marshall and Mia (despite recovering from a broken leg) were in great form. Nick Greene’s memorial service took place September 19 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. A Marine who had served honorably in Vietnam, Nick died May 20 in Dusseldorf,
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From left to right: John Rankin ’67, Peter Rathbone ’64, P’04, P’15 and Frank Blake ’67, P’00 are seen here on a hot summer day in Wareham, Mass.
Germany, his home for several decades, of Agent Orange-related Parkinson’s. Attending the graveside service were Nick’s mother, siblings, extended family, first and second wives, long-term companion of recent decades and two children, one of whom, Conrad Borst, 19, was the spitting image of his dad, we three Brooksians who attended — Andy Pittman, Sidney Lawrence and John Lewis ’65 — agreed. At school, Nick excelled equally in sports and art, and although a banker-investor by profession, continued painting throughout his life. A series of constructivist abstractions, in fact, were to be part of our 50th reunion show, but a sudden, final onslaught of Parkinson’s halted these plans for poor Nick. Still, our much-loved classmate was front and center — in paint, as Pop Art, along with Eddie Lewis ’67 and Fred Herrick ’65 — as part of painter-teacher Mike King’s magnificently colorful figure composition at the heart of the Lehman Art Center, above the mantel.” REU N I ON
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Tabby Turner (215) 794-8970 rturner24@aol.com
We have a big 50th reunion coming up in May 2017. John Rankin, Frank Blake P’00, John McArdle, Toby Goodyear P’08, P’09 and I have been
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trying to reach each of you to prod you into making the trip to North Andover. We want everyone there! If you haven’t already spoken with one of us, please let us know via phone/email/snail mail or radio frequency what your plans are. John Rankin echoes, “I am having fun with former classmates organizing our 50th reunion. Hoping everyone will come back. I retired from my practice in November 2016 after 41 years. Retirement will be a different experience, for sure. Hoping it will be as good as the past 41 years have been, but doubt it will last another 41 years, as that would make me 109 at the time of my demise!”
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George Johnson george.johnson@ wellsfargo.com
We had a very enjoyable summer, the highlight being the marriage of Sue’s daughter, Merrill Swig ’02, to Brian Genoa on August 6, 2016, in Essex Junction, Vt. A truly wonderful day! During a weekend visit to Martha’s Vineyard, we attended a crafts fair where we purchased some remarkable digital photographs. I was speaking with the owner, as I have a strong interest in photography, and it turned out that he is Ben McCormick ’86, who was on the first Brooks exchange program to South Africa and had some
spectacular photographs of wild game. We had a great chat about Brooks and his career. Ben’s website is www.benjaminmccormick.com and worth exploring if you are looking for fine and unusual photographs of fish, abstracts, plants and water scenes. Sue and I just returned from a five-day adventure in Iceland, which is a lot of fun if you enjoy the outdoors and still have the equipment to get around!” Jim Wellington reports, “There’s not much news to report, except that after 39 years as a landscape architect, I am trying to semi-retire by the end of the year. I spent four weeks in the Madison Valley, Mont., this summer with my wonderful wife and very happy dog. I have much to be thankful for.” I hope everyone in our class is doing well and starting to think about our 50th!
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Peter Doyle (508) 653-9001 peterdoyle215@gmail.com
My wife, Ellen, and I continue to savor our addiction to Airbnb and manage to travel on a monthly basis. Oh, retirement is so much fun! Still working 9 to 5 is Richard Gardiner, who was appointed as a judge of the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Va., on November 1, 2016. Bill Denson continues his quest for the world record in the number of concerts he has attended. He keeps meticulous records of the music scene. When I spoke with him, he mentioned that he has attended 3,910 concerts over the years, all documented. Bill continues to ski like a madman despite a serious fall earlier this year. He celebrated his 40th year in his ski club this year. Jay Baldwin P’02 reports that he will soon be a grandfather, now that his daughter, Lucy ’02, is expecting in December 2016. It’s a boy! Jay enjoyed a fabulous week of fly fishing for salmon in Alaska in August and is loving his new life in Los Angeles.
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Garritt Toohey (407) 876-1419 gtoohey@me.com
I am sad to share the passing of Alexander Laughlin Jr., who died of a heart attack on June 1, 2016. Sandy, who lived in Greenwich, Conn., was the brother of David Laughlin ’77, P’08, the uncle of Lisa Bottomley ’96, Timothy Bottomley ’00 and Serena Laughlin ’08, the cousin of Patrick Curley ’69, Peter Stephaich ’73 and James Curley ’75, and the nephew of Thomas Hitchcock III ’57. We will miss his sense of humor and lively personality. Rob McKean writes, “I’m going titanium, as this year I got a new hipster; somewhat nervous about the operation. My son is an Emory sophomore and my daughter is applying to Swarthmore. Son No. 2 is St. Paul’s sophisticate. My wife has a new job and Lucky is out of luck. No, it’s not drugs; just the confusion of life. Thinking of going to North Andover to tackle George…”
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Townsend Weekes (516) 922-6073 tweekes@optonline.net
I continue to work at Citigroup and I am looking forward to retirement in the next couple of years. I took up beekeeping three years ago, something I have wanted to do for many years. This year, we harvested 50 pounds of honey. Diana and I are currently on a trip to Hong Kong and China with the Smithsonian. It is an amazing country with such a rich and complex history. Be in touch! REU N I ON
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Steve Taber shares, “I spoke at the
Pritzker Military Museum on May 3, 2016, in Chicago about my book, ‘A Rainbow Division Lieutenant in France.’ It was taped and aired on local public television on July 7. I
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“I took up beekeeping three years ago, something I have wanted to do for many years. This year, we harvested 50 pounds of honey.” TOWNSEND WEEKES ’71
have been very involved in the Massachusetts World War I Centennial Commission, as the April 7, 2017, centennial of our entry in the war approaches.” We are sad to report that Michael Madden died on September 3, 2016 at a hospice house in Danvers, Mass. Classmate Richard Spencer shared Michael’s obituary, which noted that the 62-year-old Gloucester resident was a member of the A.D. Club at Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1976. Michael in fact served as vice president of the A.D. Club from 1996–2009 and co-chaired the extensive renovation of the club in 2000. The obituary also notes, “He was an owner of a series of restaurants, most notably Harvard Square’s Club Casablanca and The Wayward Duck in Beverly Farms. Michael was a hands-on proprietor who is well remembered by his patrons for his dry sense of humor and unique perspective. He later built an independent health insurance business in the North Shore where he was a pioneer advocate for equitable care of AIDS patients. Michael served on the Board of NUVA in Gloucester, an addiction and treatment program, and later served as its president. Michael was instrumental in forming the North Shore Health Project, which promotes wellness in people living with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. A unique soul, Michael, who majored in American history at Harvard, was the keeper of his family’s history, in which he was a seventh-generation, direct descendant of Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. He
organized numerous get-togethers and reunions for his ‘clan’ of cousins and relatives. Michael was at peace after a long and courageous struggle with cancer. He will be greatly missed.” Michael’s ties to Brooks run deep, as his brother, Jim Madden ’66, attended, as well as his cousin, Robert McKean ’70 and nephew, Alex Madden’08.
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Seymour Knox shkiv@aol.com ■ Tim Platt (603) 491-9792 tcplatt@gmail.com
We are sad to report that Jim Dale died in August 2016 from cancer. Close friends, including a few classmates, were invited to celebrate his life before he passed during the summer. Jeff Macartney made the trek from California, sharing the following: “I flew from Orange County, Calif., to Halifax, N.S., on Friday, August 12, 2016. I arrived at Jim’s house at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 13. When I walked in, the nurse was just finishing up. He was a bit under until he saw me, and a big smile came across his face. We spent hours talking about old times, our families, our work, while looking at pictures. We looked at all the Brooks yearbooks and reminisced about so much. As you may remember, Jim lived with my family and me for a year, so he was like a brother to me. As soon as we started talking, it was just like picking up from the last day we saw each other more than 40 years ago. Having a Brooks brother was as wonderful a feeling as I have ever experienced in my life. I got up to leave late that afternoon. Jim stood up and we
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held each other for a minute or so, and as I turned to walk out, I took a few steps and turned around and hugged him again until I could feel the tears coming. We then let each other go and I walked away. I did not feel sad, I did not feel happy, I just felt at peace with the world. During his last few weeks, he spent time with his wife and his sister; he visited his mother with his two sisters. His mom passed a week after his visit. I know Gregg Marston visited him two weeks before I arrived. His children were with him. My flight home was pleasant, and I thought about him the whole way. I heard that he passed that next Monday night, about 48 hours after I left. He had a wonderful family, friends from all his years and a special place for all his friends from Brooks. It made me realize that I have a special place for all of you from Brooks — very special years. Jim reminisced about Neal Alexander, calling him a great kid who went ‘pita pata’ running down the hall in the dorm. I still struggle with the knowledge he is no longer with us, but smile when I think about him and all of our times together at Brooks.” Henry Hagemann reports, “Jen and I are spending the summer on our boat, Arabella, in Lyme, Conn. Jen acquired a horse last spring, and he has added an interesting new dimension to living aboard! His name is Rudy, and he lives just down the street from us. Jen loves the boat and living aboard, but horses are her true passion. Rudy is a beautiful 17-hand Oldenburg gelding, who had been badly neglected. We are working hard to get him back on his feet. Hopefully, Jen will be able to ride him on trail next summer if all goes well. Arabella turns 80 next year, and we are planning a party back in Marion, Mass., along with a wedding bash for our oldest daughter, Kate. Life is really good!” Quentin
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Warren writes, “Life has been pretty humdrum, which at our advancing age is probably good news. My wife, Suzie, and I still live and work in Newport, R.I., a vacation destination for many but home for us. We’ve got this terrific chocolate lab named Willoughby, who is almost 2 years old and a force of nature, dragging us to the beach at dawn every day before the touristos arrive and showing us beyond the shadow of a doubt how happiness is not an option but a prerequisite. Our daughters are in New York: Ryan, a student at New York University’s Steinhardt School, is eyeing a master’s degree in clinical nutrition, and Annie, a sales manager for Coterie, in the fashion arm of UBM Americas. I have not swum the Amazon or climbed a Himalayan peak or sailed around the world or done anything to impress anybody lately, but, hey, what of it. I’d love to catch up with my pals from Brooks sometime soon, and I’m pretty much relying on James Pendry to make that happen by letting us pretend we’re 14 years old at his house again. Only you can pull that one off, Jim.”
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Pradeep Kapadia (805) 646-4131 pk.ojai@gmail.com ■ Ross Povenmire (978) 490-0226 ross@povenmire.com Susan and I (Pradeep P’04, P’09)
are pleased to announce the engagement of our daughter, Jessica ’04, to Alex Ameter, who is the nicest guy. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan for a year and brings out the best in our daughter. The two lovebirds are feathering their nest in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, and are preparing for a wedding in Ojai, Calif., in spring 2018.
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Chris Abbott (617) 462-0525 chrisabbott@verizon.net
I hope the members of the great form of 1975 had a good summer. As one of our classmates observed, it is the year that, in many of our cases, we turn… 60! I have already weathered one 60th birthday party for a classmate of ours and observed that the surprise parties have been discontinued, apparently due to the fear of myocardial infarction that often accompanies this type of sudden event! For those married, a 60th wedding anniversary is the Diamond anniversary, so named for diamonds, which comes from the Greek word adamas, which means unconquerable and enduring. So instead of treating yourself to a diamond ring, I suggest a few more minutes on the treadmill or elliptical, which may just make you younger next year and enduring! I am in the process of transitioning from the private equity business in New York that I have been involved with for the last eight years and hope to return to my native Boston. This past summer has allowed me to catch up with the usual suspects and my peripatetic travels have produced even more form of ’75 encounters! I can report that Wisner Murray and his wife, Betts, have nearly completed their move from Cohasset, Mass., to South Dartmouth, Mass., having nearly sold in Cohasset and renovated a beautiful family house in South Dartmouth. They have a dock on Padanaram Harbor, access to moorings and a delightful outdoor shower that I availed myself of this summer. I am certain they would be happy to see visiting yachtsmen from the form of 1975. Steve Jay P’06 continues to light up the sailing world and has been actively and successfully campaigning his Atlantic class sloop. Steve placed third in the 2016 Atlantic Class Nationals in his boat,
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Alliance. The competition was stiff, and a number of world-class sailors participated. I was also fortunate to enjoy some cruising time with Ben Sprague ’74 aboard my boat, Meteor. Bruce Fleming and I are in constant contact. He has a daughter at Bucknell and his son, a very accomplished baseball player, is a senior at Princeton Country Day and applying to college. In late August 2016, I attended the wedding of a great college friend’s daughter. Her grandfather, Wells Stabler ’38 was, parenthetically, a recipient of the Distinguished Brooksian award for his work in the U.S. State Department and as ambassador to Spain. It was there, in Stowe, Vt., that I caught up with Mike Nahill, who was invited by those on the groom’s side! I asked him to jot me a few notes about life since Brooks and he was good enough to submit the following: “As you might know, in 2008, I transferred from the global banking and investment banking division of Merrill Lynch to the Global Private Client Group. I luckily passed the exam and got my CFP certification. I work in Merrill’s Andover office, which is about two miles from my residence. Don’t miss my former commute at all! I provide advice and guidance to families and businesses throughout New England, Connecticut and New York City. I got remarried about three years ago to my wife, Debbie. She is a dental hygienist at a dental firm in Andover called Andover Smiles. We reside in Andover at the Andover Country Club. My son, Mike, graduated from Georgetown and is in his third year at Citibank as an analyst in their investment banking division. He currently works and resides in San Francisco, Calif. He plans on returning to school soon to get his MBA.” Whilst nearly 60, I can report that Mike looks exactly the way he did at Brooks in 1975. He is trim, fit and appears to be very happy. We
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have talked in the past, and I know he has been a devoted parent to his son, of whom he is justifiably proud. I also got to meet Debbie in Vermont, and she could not be nicer. Thank you again, Mike, for being the feature in this dispatch! Please, don’t make me track you down and for goodness sake, pocket your modesty! Write, text, send smoke signals or signal flags, and let me know what you are up to these days. And, for those of you turning 60: Bonam vobis fortunam, bonam salutem, bonum amorem opto.
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Bill Parker (617) 519-4600 parkerhqj@me.com
I would like to use this space to acknowledge the following teachers from our years at Brooks: Doc Baade, for letting me develop confidence in my abilities; John Wright, for always referring to me as “Mindless Goon” (not sure how that helped me, but I think it did); Tom Burgess and wife, Pieter, for being outright hilarious and creative; David Black, for looking the other way; Phil Clinton and David Swift, for busting me — I’ve never been apprehended since (not technically true, but you get the idea); Stoddard Spader, for being a soccer coach who taught me that no matter how bad you are at a sport, you can always get worse; Bill Dunnell, for being a wild man and making me act in those dreary plays. I could go on, but it’s better that I don’t. Let’s just say these were formative years, whether we accept it or not. And there were adults there — more or less. REU N ION
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Steve Bliss (203) 856-1672 stevebliss@optonline.net
Over the years, I have enjoyed catching up with Steve Carpenter in very interesting places. First it was St John where he was captain of a cigarette boat that allowed one to
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tour the entire Caribbean in an afternoon. Many a satisfied customer to be sure. A fellow island resident at the time was Hugh Jessiman P’15, P’18, who has since moved to Denver. Then it was in Aspen, Colo., where Arthur DeMoulas P’10, P’12, Steve Carpenter and I joined Hugh to celebrate his 50th. Steve has since moved back to the states and I am happy to report he has two grandchildren, Leonora, 2, and Freya, 4. If you’re ever in Orlando, Fla., and Steve is not ferrying ships in the Gulf or West Africa, stop by and say hello. In other news, Rich Gleason writes, “I’m still in Washington, DC, exploring gardens and museums at every opportunity. Visitors are always welcomed and free tours are given. I’ve caught up with Tim Coburn ’42 for a couple of lunches and had the opportunity to read his book, which has many references to Brooks and provides a lot of insight into those years before and during World War II.” Rich also happens to be an honorary graduate of Staples High School in Westport, Conn., so I have the pleasure of seeing him a couple times a year. I suggest the class friend him on Facebook, as his commentary on life can brighten your day. Another local to the Fairfield County area is Eb Gains. I have to admit, in high school I did not see a suburb of New York in his future. I will say that he has a
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river in his backyard, so it’s not all bad. He has gone missing again, as he’s done in the past. Lost phone, trip around the world, whatever; Eb, give me a call. I am sitting here waiting for Vin Morton to email, as he wanted to contribute this year. While I wait, I will say I have seen and spoken to Peter Morton ’79 quite a bit, as well as Bob Phinney ’79. Although not in our class, still good guys. Peter lives on the North Shore and works for Autism Speaks. Bob Phinney spends a lot of time at Brooks and works for Raymond James in Boston. As promised, here is Vin: “Hello, class of 1977. Most of you knew me as Trip Morton while at Brooks, but I switched to my legal name, Vincent, in college. As it turns out, the change in me was more than simply a name. While Brooks was a great experience for me, it was also like a bubble that burst rather quickly. Life became a lot harder as soon as I hit college. I won’t try to summarize 40 years of my life in a few sentences, but I will tell you what I have been up to since 2010. I pick that date because that was the year my father died and my life changed yet again. My dad made Brooks possible for me, and for that I am grateful. More than that, my Dad (and Brooks) gave me a love for learning that has been with me ever since. My dad went through serious mental health issues following the death of my mother in 2005. After his death, I decided to return to school and earned a master’s degree in counseling in 2012. Since then, I have been practicing behavioral health in Michigan, where I have lived with my wife for 21 years and raised my two children, who are now adults. It would help my likelihood of showing up for our reunion if I knew a few more of you might join me. I’d hate to travel from Michigan only to find one or two alumni. If you’re thinking of attending, drop me an email at sunsetrock14@ gmail.com. Hope to see you then!” I
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will see you there, Vin. I also heard from one of our illustrious senior prefects, Mr. B. G. Sykes. As a lawyer, dive master and an all-around lover of life on the Cape, he invites all of us to join him anytime we are in the neighborhood. What’s the address again, roomie? I will see you there, B. G. For those of you who did not contribute or whom I ignored, sorry. I will see you all at our 40th!
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Carl Nablo (480) 248-7577 carl_nablo@hotmail.com
I had an incredible visit back to Brooks for Mark Shovan’s send off. Barbara made the trip with me, and it was her first visit to Brooks where it was not under four feet of snow! Renny Ponvert P’10 stayed in Acton, Mass., with us, which allowed us to catch up. We had a nice dinner with David Worthen P’09, P’11 and his wife, and caught up with John Stone ’79, P’11 and his bride at the dinner. The rest of the trip east was difficult, as my father had neurosurgery for a meningioma in May 2016 and recovery has been slow. We have been back frequently this summer to the Cape for care visits. Been an interesting 18 months since my mother passed. My sister and brother have been great, and we are encouraged as recovery of our treasured father continues. Lots of news from classmates! Peter deMenocal writes, “In July, I was asked to become dean of science at Columbia University. It comes at a time when I’m already busy as the director of the new Center for Climate and Life, but I accepted because I think large research universities have a special responsibility to lean in and offer solutions to the many challenges ahead of us. I’m optimistic that we can do this, but it requires a slightly different mindset and, of course, lots of resources. Our daughters, Grace and Maaya, just turned 10 and are starting sixth grade. We’re still living on the Upper West Side, and I’d love
to meet up with old Brooks friends when you’re in town. Dave Worthen, Greg Bolton and I had a wonderful get-together this summer — old friends, old bonds.” Blake Auchincloss writes, “Decided to leave KSQ Design in mid-August 2016, just in time to enjoy a wonderful extended summer up in northern Vermont on Caspian Lake in Greensboro (a John Stone summer hangout) with my wife, Lisa, and our dog, Stella. We are now back in Bronxville, N.Y., enjoying ‘empty nester’ status. Eliza is in her freshman year at Lewis and Clark in Portland, Ore., and Rob will be starting at Raytheon in Tucson, Ariz., soon. Lisa’s daughter, Annie, just got her master’s degree in education and is teaching in New York City, and Ali is a yoga instructor and waitressing. Life is good as I begin my search to see what I want to do for my next stint. I’m doing a deep search in all design/construction/ teaching fields. I’m hoping to put together a consulting gig with my wife on 21st century teaching spaces and design thinking! Cheers to all.” Cas Smith writes, “During the past year, I have been volunteering my time to teach hydrogeology with the Montana Groundwater Academy, as well as stream ecology with the Watershed Education Network. The students are mostly middle and high school groups, though the entire age span has been from 5-ish to 80-ish. That all has been very, very fun. Missoula, Mont., just had its first snow on the surrounding mountains, and the apples and plums now have some sweetness. Grouse season is into its second week. George, my Golden-Brittany, is about to end his 11th year and is a joy to watch hunt. Unfortunately, the woods are very thick this year, so all I have seen is the sound of roughed grouse fleeing. Still, a walk in woods with dog and gun is a beautiful time. Also, there is a good crop of choke cherries, and I have seen quite a few very large piles of bear ‘sign.’ None have been
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warm, and George and I have yet to come across a fresh trail or see a bear. Fingers crossed for luck that we don’t. That’s about all from God’s Country.” Tom Crowell writes, “I’m back in New England! I’m living in Keene, N.H., and attending Antioch University New England for a master’s degree in environmental studies with a concentration in environmental education. I knew I was going to start the degree two years ago when the kids were all out of the house, but I did not know exactly when. What is crazy is in mid-August 2016, I was still not sure I was going to start this year. Two weeks later, I arrived from the San Francisco Bay area in Keene with two bikes and 10 boxes of stuff four days before classes! I’ll be here at least for this fall and maybe next spring; my plan is to finish my degree at Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyo., in 2017–2018. Eventually, I hope to land a job at a private, residential secondary school or wind up working in interpretation for some conservation organization. Wherever I end up, I’ll be teaching and working in the outdoors. As expected, there’s a ton of reading and lots of projects. So far, the brain seems to be working in the short term, but there’s no proof it is capable of long-term retention or reasoning (as reinforced by the events over the past month). I’m taking some great classes: Foundations of Environmental Education, Teaching Science with the heuristic method, Program Evaluation and Earth Systems and Environmental Change. Seems like Pete de could teach my Earth Systems and Climate Change class. Hey Pete, got any suggested readings on climatic changes in the Pacific Northwest? Maybe you can help me shortcut my final project. Perhaps the reality of graduate school hasn’t sunk in yet, but I’m still planning on doing a bunch of skiing and sailing in the Caribbean this winter to keep winter blues at
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Top to bottom, left to right: Russ Tuckerman ’79 (right), with his wife, Lisa, and their son, Hudson, after racing Dragon boats in Mongolia. ■ Gary Witherspoon ’80 had a chance encounter with classmate Bob Karr ’81 at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Pictured here (from left to right) are Witherspoon’s mother-in-law Famebridge Payne, his sister-in-law Sarita Payne, his son, Jackson, himself, Bob, and Bob’s sons Kyle and Connor. ■ Gary Witherspoon ’80 ran into Bob Karr ’81 in Arizona while at the Grand Canyon. ■ Parker Gallagher ’79, John Cunningham ’91 and Jim Quirk ’80 after a day of golf and dinner at the Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass.
bay. Anyone interested in joining me in the Spanish Virgin Islands in January or February 2017 or the Northern channel of Lake Huron in August 2017? Best to all.”
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Parker Gallagher reports, “I accept-
ed a position as deputy director of the Office of Antiterrorism Assistance last spring, continuing my career at the state department. I love the mission of providing countries that don’t have the resources of ours with training and equipment to solve this complex issue; I’m
also thrilled to be working with an incredibly talented team. I continue to work on my golf swing and had a great evening with Jim Quirk ’80 and John Cunningham ’91 after a thrilling day with other friends who hosted us at The Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass. My score isn’t dropping, but it is fun! Pete Nicholson’s sister, Liz, recently sent me a nice note, which brought back many memories. I hope all of you are well. Please look us up if you are near DC.” Russell Tuckerman shares, “Lisa and I are early empty-nesters in Bozeman, Mont. We have two Berkshire bears in the ninth and 11th grades. Lisa, Hudson and I just returned from inner Mongolia, where we raced Dragon boats against the world. Hudson was the drummer, I did the steering and Lisa, along with nine other people, paddled a 12-person boat. We finished fourth overall of the 12 teams. We competed in the 200-meter, 500-meter, and 3,000-meter events. As a new team, seven were first-year paddlers and five first-time racers. It was neck and neck against the Russians for all the races. We edged them out for fourth place. I am heading to Lees Ferry to row in the Grand Canyon waters for a fifth private trip in 20 years. Twenty-one days of rowing and hiking with 16 new friends will be a blast. Lisa is staying home and working. She will join us for a whole family trip in a couple years. Best to all our classmates.”
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Kevin O’Meara (269) 932-4072 kevinaom@gmail.com ■ David Elmblad (970) 376-4407 dave@elmblad.com I (David Elmblad) recently had the honor of hanging out with Dave Bouchard and his wife, Sylvia,
daughter, Hannah, 16, and son, Justin, 14. Sylvia has done a remarkable job raising the kids with polished demeanors and thankfully
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“As I left a building near the South Rim visitor’s center at 6:15 p.m. on August 1, 2016, coming straight toward me was a figure I hadn’t seen face-to-face in perhaps 35 years.” GARY WITHERSPOON ’80
no North Andover accents (or very little). Coincidentally, while at Bouche’s home, I received an email from John Slosberg, who shared a note here, as well. Slos, always good to hear from you. I recently thought of you and Matt Wirths when I was helping my son, JP, settle in his freshman dorm room at Union College. I was making his rickety, small, single bed and thought of you and Wirths from the bed flipping days at Brooks — I still owe you guys! Also, when with Bouche, I called Wirths, who sounds well and busy being a New Jersey entrepreneur, managing several convenience stores. I asked him how his Brooks sweetheart was doing, but apparently there hasn’t been much contact in last 30 years. I recently spoke to Peter Guyer, who is excelling in sales and marketing of his own health food and beverages company out of Seattle, Wash. A few months ago, I exchanged emails with Steve Killeen P’10 about his stay at Union College in Upstate New York, where my 18-year-old son is a freshman, as well as Jon Block, who requested a visit on Martha’s Vineyard while my family and I were on Cape Cod last summer. Big Den McManus shared a couple messages via LinkedIn, as did a couple others — Louis Halle and David Bonner ’81. John Slosberg writes, “I moved to Portland, Ore., from Boston in 1993 and have been here ever since. Gotta love the Pacific Northwest. I have been in practice as an acupuncturist for the past 20 years. It is an interesting challenge, working one-on-one with people, many of whom have exhausted other treatment options. I got married in 2011 and my son, Asher, was born in
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2013, which, as far as I know, makes me the second oldest member of the class of ’80 to enter fatherhood. Number one in that department goes to none other than Jon Block, whose daughter, Maya, was born earlier this year. Congrats, JB!” Gary Witherspoon shares, “Something told me I should go; but I tried to beg off of the trip. I wanted to opt out of the six-hour round trip drive from my niece, Astarte’s, place outside Phoenix to the Grand Canyon. I’m glad I didn’t. As I left a building near the South Rim visitor’s center at 6:15 p.m. on August 1, 2016, coming straight toward me was a figure I hadn’t seen face-to-face in perhaps 35 years. My son, Jackson, 10, said I embarrassed him when I let loose the name, Bob ‘Truck’ Karr ’81, deploying the moniker I had given him during football at Brooks in the late 1970s. Seeing Bob, who lives in Connecticut, made my day and the trip worthwhile. It also was great to meet his wife and kids. Hopefully, we’ll hook up again soon, since his daughter just enrolled at Johns Hopkins, near where I live in Maryland.”
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David Bonner (203) 292-6014 dbonner@klht.org
As with every endeavor like this, some will be left out, but know that is not intentional. As we continue to embrace social media, more and more of our lives seem to be revealed. Woodsie and I did not connect in person before I headed to Indiana, but it has been wonderful to connect. Jon Woods and his family look absolutely wonderful as I write. He notes, “In May 2016,
I was elected president general of the Society of the Cincinnati, the oldest patriotic and genealogical organization in the United States. It was formed at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 by George Washington and his officers. May also brought the first anniversary of the founding of Woods Asset Management. After 30 years of being employed by Wall Street investment firms, I started one to compete with them. Thank you Mr. Holmes for teaching my first economics class!” Jim Thompson made it to reunion, although I missed him. Nevertheless, his son heading off to eighth grade is great news amidst other successes. Among the most magical of trips was traveling to Mongolia with Elly Hoops. While I was used to the main shore, this was something new. Congratulations on your award from the Denver Public Defenders Office! Rob Karr’s family is well, and Meredith Maren Verdone’s daughter is a fourth-former at Brooks — hockey player, as I recall. If she is as competitively minded as her mom, we should all make a few games, as it will be a fun season to watch! Being closer to Chicago now, I look forward to actually seeing Peter Bogle (although his trips to the University of Michigan to see his boys, both playing lacrosse there, may make it hard to pin him down). With that said, I hope to catch up with others whom I have not seen in many years. Yesterday, I connected with Andy Roberts ’84. When I am in Columbus, Ohio, I look forward to catching up and perhaps watching one of his daughter’s soccer games (as any parent will admit, best thing ever is watching your kids play!). Folwell Dunbar ’84 is as creative as ever; check out his latest posts online. Leigh Perkins’s daughter, Sam Grant ’14, is abroad. I bet mom and grandmom can’t wait to visit! In case it does not make it into the class of ’86 notes, my brother, Rob Bonner ’86, and his family moved
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to Simsbury, Conn., last summer. Great house, nice yard, with plenty of room for guests (so if you are stuck when things back up at Bradley, or find yourself in one of those winter ice storms that frequent Connecticut, drop him a line). Alice Babcock Pearce recently joined forces with a great team of realtors, The Sharon and Caron Group, a division of KW Luxury Homes International. Her office is in East Boca, Fla., but their area spans from Palm Beach down through Fort Lauderdale. She also is the co-founder with an old friend originally from New York of an off-shoot company, J+B Projects, that works with investment properties, renovation and home staging in Delray Beach. They have lived in Florida for seven years now. Isabel is a senior in high school, and William is in seventh grade. She adds, “Please feel free to contact me should you be coming down our way this year and are looking for advice on hotels, restaurants, etc. Delray is a great place to vacation; I’d love to see old friends.” She can be reached at: alicebpearce@gmail. com. Rob Karr is well and found Gary Witherspoon ’80 at the Grand Canyon. How small the world can be! As an aside, best regards to Gary, whose smile and good humor always took the edge off. As for me, I’m now the director of college advising at Culver Academies. I am settling into Indiana, while the kids are back east. Ellen, my wife, is shepherding Anne through her eighth-grade year as we sort out what is next for her. We have a class of 1981 Facebook group that gained momentum with our reunion. If you are on, search and connect, and add classmates. Beyond the personal connections from being back on campus, it has been really wonderful to see what folks are up to. I don’t know how else I’d have traveled to Afghanistan a few years ago (thank you, Leigh and Sam), or Mongolia this summer (thank you, Elly), or had so many
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other wonderful experiences, from Big Dogs and Lobstering to so much more. It helps connect us all to our best selves; by sharing and caring, we are stronger. Be well, and connect with at least one more classmate this month! REU N ION
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John Runnells (979) 479-0585 john_runnells@yahoo.com
Greetings to all my classmates. I hope everyone had a great summer, and I look forward to our reunion in 2017!
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Lynne Sawyer lynnesawyer@mac.com Ambrose Carr shares, “In May 2014,
my wife, Elizabeth Galbreath Carr, and girls relocated to Wilmington, Del. We have been very happy with our decision and our girls, Maisie, 7, and Libby, 4, are thriving in school and love living on the edge of the countryside. Maisie attends Upland Country Day in Unionville, Penn., and Libby is a star at Christ Church Episcopal — Rev would be proud! We can hear cows from our backyard, have foxes that play in the yard and we had a herd of deer until Santa brought a puppy last Christmas. Isabella Speakman Timon ’92 has been incredibly kind to us during our adjustment and through our New York withdrawals! I have relocated my insurance and retirement business to Wilmington, but New York City is only 90 minutes away by train, and we still visit Quogue, N.Y., in the summers.” Jennifer Gooch Hummer reports, “I do have a bit of news. My middle-grade fantasy, ‘Operation Tenley,’ published on September 13, 2016. This is my second novel (first is ‘Girl Unmoored’). ‘Operation Tenley’ is the first book in my fantasy series, ‘The Fair City Files.’ Check out my website: jennifergoochhummer.com. Hope everyone is doing well.”
Top to bottom, left to right: John Runnells ’82, P’17 shows off his fishing skills. ■ Ambrose Carr ’83 with his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughters, Libby and Maisie. ■ From left to right: Ben Rowland ’14, Rodney Rowland ’85, P’14, Robin Rowland ’56 and John Rowland ’60, P’91 gathered recently for a family reunion. ■ Independent crew coach Ali Boileau ’87 coaches a friend who studied French literature at Oxford University, where Boileau studied Japanese as a post-graduate. ■ Independent crew coach Ali Boileau ’87 recently moved to the South of France in hopes of hosting foreigners interested in rowing, cycling and linguistics. Here you can see the local rowing club beyond the old bridge in his new hometown.
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Ashley Scott (978) 526-9701 ashley@chezscott.com
Please share your news!
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Craig Ziady (781) 729-1345 craig@cummings.com Rodney Rowland P’14 noted that
he attended the Rowland family reunion in July 2016, along with his son, Ben Rowland ’14, his
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brother, Robin Rowland ’56, and his cousin, John Rowland ’60. While there in spirit, his wife, Wickie Rowland ’85, his cousin, Jessica Rowland Hazelton ’03, and his brother, Barry Rowland Jr. ’53, were unable to attend the event.
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Andrea Botur abotur@mac.com Jennifer Grigg, living in London
Top to bottom, left to right: In July 2016, friends from the class of 1989 gathered at Samantha Topping Gellert’s home in New York City to toast their friendship, which began at Brooks. From left to right: Jenn Childs Pelletier ’89, Ariane deBraux Triay ’89, Francoise Gavigan ’89, Samantha Topping Gellert ’89, Tanya Moore Jessop ’89 and Rhonda Taylor McDonald ’89. ■ Alexandra Picard Dunley ’89 is halfway through her doctorate in vocal performance and teaches voice at the University of Washington. ■ Edward Morris ’89 with his son, Theo. ■ Susannah Sayler, the wife of Edward Morris ’89, with their son, Theo.
while running Green Bottle Press, was in Boxford, Mass., this October 2016 with her sister, Jessica ’91, and their whole family to celebrate various milestones.
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Whitney Romoser Savignano (978) 526-4424 savignano@comcast.net Ali Boileau wrote this spring, “I
have now stopped teaching and coaching crew at a high school (I taught geography and Japanese and ran a large crew program in Central London, which had been the worst in the country and ended up winning a gold medal at the National Schools Regatta and Head Races, and going on to have an eight beat Eton College and Hampton School, two of the most famous rowing schools in England!) after 14 years. I am currently in the south of France and (French was one of my worst subjects at Brooks, and now I have to get to be fluent!)… I am setting up a rowing location! On the Dordogne River, in Bergerac. It is a World Heritage location for nature and wildlife, and it is beautiful. I brought someone, Charlotte Taylor, from my rowing club to train in this area two years ago, and she is now heading to Rio for the Olympics in the GB women’s lightweight double. She could well get a medal! I did my training here for the last few years and ended up then winning the British Rowing National Masters in a single, double and quad, and got a gold medal at the world masters.
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Training here (sculling and cycling for a full week) really helped. I am now setting up a house for cycling and sculling (singles and doubles) and will have a few courses here, but also will rent it out to competent scullers who would like a week in the south of France with good boats and bikes and water. I shall put a blog/ website together soon. If Brooks people want to learn to scull in the south of France, I would love to help. I shall be doing some work on the building through the summer and already have ex-pupils asking to come. For every person who comes from Brooks, I shall make a substantial (for me) donation! It was due to Brooks that I fell in love with rowing, and then at university I got completely hooked. I am still working on the book I mentioned in my earlier note about rowing technique. The local markets provide amazing fresh food, and the town has a medieval centre and a wonderful history. The wines of the area are really famous, but I have yet to learn about these. The cycling in the region is also superb; a few minutes from the house and you are on the 2014 Tour de France route. If anyone wants to come to study French, there is a
wonderful language school in the town, or I could arrange a tutor. Be in touch: alpheusb@aol.com.”
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Dee Dellovo dee.dellovo@gmail.com Josh Bingham is still working in the
television business, currently as the vice president of Critical Labs, a new incubator program launched by Critical Content that is giving 10 millennial producers the resources to develop new unscripted projects for traditional media, digital and over-the-top platforms. Josh oversees all creative operations for the division. Kathy Palmer Smith P’18, P’20 shares, “I am sitting on the porch of the farmhouse attached to Thorne, listening to the clinking lines of the flagpole, amazed that this sound has not changed in so many years. I have returned to Brooks with my husband, Tote, who is down the hill teaching math as I write this. Tote’s other roles include head of the rowing program, dorm parent in Thorne and squash coach. Our sons, Nate ’18 and Tobey ’20, are students here at Brooks and in a few years will be joined by our daughter, Laura. I am working down the road as a field teacher for Mass
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Top to bottom: From left to right: Adam Lavin ’90 and Rick Barnett ’90 recently connected at the wedding of Adam’s brother, Matt, in Washington, D.C. ■ From left to right: Brooke and Lynn Dixon ’90 with Doug Horner ’90. ■ The next generation of Brooksians (from left to right): Emmy Dixon (parents are Brooke and Lynn Dixon ’90) and Caroline Horner (father is Doug Horner ’90).
Audubon, along with Sally Milliken. I look forward to seeing fellow alums when you return to Brooks. It’s great to be back!”
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Thomas Armstead (212) 726-3990 armsteadcapital@gmail.com Lexi Dunley writes, “My husband,
Tim, and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on August 27, 2016. Nick, who’s in the sixth grade, and Matty, who’s in kindergarten, keep us busy with basketball, football, soccer and, of course, many Pokemon excursions! I am halfway
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through my doctorate program in vocal performance and have been teaching voice at the University of Washington. I continue to perform and was thrilled to see Ted Howard at a recent concert! If you are coming through Seattle, don’t hesitate to look us up! Hope everyone is doing well — I can’t believe it’s been 27 years.” Edward Morris shares, “I am an artist (4 reals). And an activist. An artist-activist. I work with my wife, Susannah Sayler, and we have an awesome 5-year-old, red-headed boy named Theo. Our issue used to be exclusively climate change, but increasingly, we don’t think we are going to solve climate change without solving corporate influence on politics (Go Bernie!). So our issue has become ecology — all types of ecology, not just flora and fauna: social ecology, mental ecology, etc. This year, we won two awards: New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and the eighth annual David Brower Art/Act award (previous winners: Maya Lin, Sebastiao Salgado, Richard Misrach, Edward Burtynsky). We teach at Syracuse University and run a studio called The Canary Project.” Chris Stone reports, “Although my husband and I are both physicians, we’ve branched out and opened a restaurant in Burlington, Vt., called Gaku Ramen (www.gakuramen.com). Along with our consulting chef from Tokyo, our local team has created a fantastic menu that pairs our ramen and appetizers with local craft beers from Vermont, the microbrew capital of the world! I ask all classmates to check us out if you find yourself in the Burlington area.” Ariane Triay shares, “I just had a mini-reunion in July 2016 with classmates Francoise Gavigan, Samantha Topping Gellert, Tanya Moore Jessop, Rhonda Taylor McDonald and Jenn Childs Pelletier. We spent the night at Sam’s gorgeous home in New York City and toasted the start of our friendships at Brooks 30 years ago.”
Top to bottom: Paul Horgan ’91 of Virginia Beach, Va., with his wife, Becky, and children, Liam, 8, and Hannah, 12. ■ Paul Horgan ’91 with his son, Liam. ■ The next generation of Brooksians: sons of Jackson Marvel ’91 — Stiles, 3, and Grant, 7 — sport their Brooks T-shirts. ■ Jenny Funk Levy ’91 (center) reunited with Sarah Seaman Alijani ’91 (right) and Sarah’s daughter, Sophie (left), on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.
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Brooke Dixon (516) 801-0136 bdixon@gmail.com Rick Barnett was thrilled to reminisce with Adam Lavin during the
wedding of Adam’s brother, Matt, in Washington, D.C. He also notes, “I’m going to write in every class notes from now until our 30th to get even more people next reunion! I started a non-profit called CARTER, Inc. (Center for Addiction Recognition Treatment Education & Recovery). Check it out at cartervermont. org and @cartervermont. I just did a two-day solo, silent retreat with no technology and no contact with outside world. Amazing experience. Go unplugged!”
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Erin Beach (203) 662-0160 erinbeach@optonline.net Jackson Marvel is keeping his kids’
closets filled with Brooks gear. Jenny Funk Levy and Sarah Seaman Alijani had a great time together this summer on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. They both were so sorry to miss our 25th reunion and hope everyone in our class is doing well. Paul Horgan is living in Virginia Beach with his wife, Becky, and children, Liam, 8, and Hannah, 12. Paul is the head of Upper School at Cape Henry Collegiate. Though he couldn’t come to the 25th reunion, he says, “I was pleased to see in pictures that none of us have aged a day since our graduation from Brooks!” They’ve been in Virginia for 18 years and has lived at the beach for the last six. REU N I ON
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Farhad Farman-Farmaian (786) 302-7435 farhadff@me.com
I recently joined a start-up, highend residential real estate brokerage, Compass, which was last week valued in Bloomberg at $1 billion, and am brokering properties in both Los Angeles and New York.
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Lisa Torrisi ’92 married Juan Bonilla on August 27, 2016, at Abenaqui Country Club in Rye, N.H. Brooksians in attendance, front row (from left to right): Kathy Scalera Santoro ’85, Lara Cogliano Thompson ’93, Lowey Bundy Sichol ’92, Lisa Torrisi ’92, Lisa Martineau Fitzgibbons ’88, Gary McPhail ’89. Back row (from left to right): Jim Fitzgibbons ’89, Russell Bashford ’90, David Torrisi ’86, Kristen Landreth Dean ’92, Susan Sullivan ’92, Mary Sporcic Farrington ’92, Marc Rozzi ’87 and Jay Torrisi ’84.
Lisa Torrisi married Juan Bonilla on August 27, 2016, at Abenaqui Country Club in Rye, N.H. She described the event as “an amazing weekend with many Brooks friends in attendance.” Evan Dunlop is living in New York with his wife and three sons, where he is chief operating officer of Fownes Brothers, a 236-year-old glove and cold weather accessories manufacturer. James Medeiros has recently moved to Old Greenwich, Conn., with his wife and two children, where he is senior managing director of the hedge fund Graham Capital. Jen Carter writes, “I have some exciting news: I am thrilled to have been offered a new position and will be leaving Lazarus House to be the director of strategic planning, programs and evaluation for Greater Lawrence Community Action. I will greatly miss my work
at Lazarus House, but will continue to serve on the special events committee as a volunteer. I first became involved with Lazarus House while a third-former at Brooks in the community service club, so it certainly is an organization that has continued to be close to my heart for many years. The Brooks School community continues to be a great supporter of Lazarus House, which exists to help ease the poverty, homelessness and food insecurity so many families in Lawrence, Mass., face. I am thankful to have gotten the opportunity so many years ago to become a volunteer with Lazarus House and want to thank the Brooks community for its support on behalf of the guests, as well as the many volunteers and the staff who all work tirelessly to help so many through the programs
“I would love to try to get back this fall to cheer on girls soccer, but I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of classmates in May 2017!” MARY SPORCIC FARRINGTON ’92
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and services they provide. I am also excited to see my son, Reid, off to his second year at Pike School as he embarks on the first grade! It is sure to be a great adventure!” Rachel Clapp Smith shares, “My family and I are spending the academic year on sabbatical in Toulouse, France. We would love to connect with any classmates living in France or traveling to Europe during the course of the year.” Mary Sporcic Farrington ran the Cape Cod Half Marathon in Falmouth, Mass., on October 29. This was her third time in the race during the past four years. She notes, “I would love to try to get back this fall to cheer on girls soccer, but I am really looking forward to seeing a lot of classmates in May 2017!” Ken Halberg writes, “I still live in New York City with my wife, Jill, and daughter, Zoe. I eat breakfast almost every day, and I am an avid watcher of ‘American Ninja Warrior’ with my daughter. My wife has joined me in our restaurant business. Yes, I work with my wife all day. Yeah! We have been fortunate to have had great success with Harding’s, Kitchen and Bar. In response, we have opened our latest concept, Casa Neta, Mezcaleria and Tequileria. I would love to host a New York City class of ’92 reunion, so please do let me know if you are interested.”
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Sarah Hallowell Visagie (772) 215-1367 shvisagie@gmail.com
My family and I moved this summer back to Stuart, Fla. I was offered the position of middle school coordinator at The Pine School, where I worked for nine years before an “eight-year hiatus.” I am excited to take on the leadership role of creating a unique middle school culture. This year, I also am teaching sixth and eighth grade English. If anyone is traveling to the southeast corner of Florida, please give me a call! My husband is excited to return to
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Florida and get the boat back in the water, and my daughter is already loving her preschool. I can hardly believe that my daughter, Tanya, turned 3 in October 2016. Time sure is flying by, and before we know it, we will be planning a 25th reunion!
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Andrew Garcia andrew.a.garcia@gmail.com
Please share your news!
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Jen DiFranco jdifranc@holycross.edu Katie Barrow married Thomas
McGauley at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., on February 6, 2016. Michelle Randolph Turner was an amazing photographer at the wedding.
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Chrisso Rheault (207) 233-7401 eb13@mac.com
It’s been a busy summer since our great reunion in May 2016. Those who did not make it appear to have had good reason: Ted Pitney was awaiting the arrival of his first child. Meanwhile, Aaron Baker was in the process of moving from Minnesota to California. Perhaps he will run into Scott McCray and his family out there! Rounding out the summer, I had a lovely visit with Sarah King and her family up here in Maine over Labor Day weekend. Aaron Baker adds, “I finally finished my vascular surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic and started practice with the Kaiser Permanente group in San Francisco, Calif. We are very excited to be back on the West Coast. Karin, Alex and I are thoroughly enjoying the great outdoors living in Marin County.” Ryan Jarvis writes, “All is well. I enjoyed seeing everyone at our 20th reunion this past summer. The after-party at our house was easy to clean up the next day, a sure sign of age for our group. In other news, my band, The Budds (which was our fictional band at Brooks), is releasing its debut
Top to bottom: Katie Barrow ’95 and Thomas McGauley were married at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., on February 6, 2016. ■ Michelle Randolph Turner ’95 was an amazing photographer during the February 2016 wedding of Katie Barrow ’95 and Thomas McGauley. ■ Laura Sacco Richio ’97 (left) reunited with classmate Jillian Smith ’97 (right). Here they are with Laura’s children, Luca and Nicola, and Jillian’s daughter, Kennedy.
album. Our homepage is BuddsBand.com.” Sarah Nelson shares, “I’m excited to have recently started my own art advisory business, SRN Art Advisory + Appraisals (www. srn-artadvisory.com), specializing in 20th century works of art, based between San Francisco, Calif., and Boston. San Francisco Cottages & Garden Magazine ran a piece on my new firm in its October arts issue. It was fun to run into Tom Costin ’98 and his wife, Julie ’01, out here in
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Ben and Katie Childs Sayles ’00 welcomed their third child on July 27, 2016, Tucker Childs Sayles.
Many Brooksians were at the summer wedding of Megan Gupta Christudas ’99 and Ajinth Christudas. Front row, left to right: Nicole Carosella Mills ’99, Ajinth Christudas, Megan Gupta Christudas ’99, Shanna Gupta Chambers ’02 and Brendan Gupta ’05. Second row, left to right: Adam Mills, Jill Booty ’99, Ginger Pearson ’99, Julie Petralia Derderian ’99 and Christian Derderian. Third Row, left to right: Matt Snyder, Ashley Turner Snyder ’99. Back row, left to right: Aaron Chambers, Carolina Santos-Neves ’99, Casey Pellerin Westguard ’99, Mark Westguard, Abbey Kissel ’99 and James O’Connor ’99.
California a few months ago, as they live across the bridge in Mill Valley, Calif. I also had a great summer traveling Europe to visit many of the great art collections and then back in New England, where I was able to catch up with classmates Lisa Bottomley and Emily Baluta Snyder, who now lives in my hometown of Manchester-by-the-Sea!”
traveling in New England visiting family and friends. We met up with Laura Sacco Richio and her beautiful family at their home. After Brooks, Laura and I were reunited in med school (she is now a successful obstetrician/gynecologist), and we continue to keep in touch. Our kids enjoyed running around together, and we were able to get them all to sit still long enough to snap a photo.”
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Murphy, and I got married (finally) during Hurricane Joaquin last October 3, 2015, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. The only Brooksian in attendance was my amazing roommate Evan Newell and his family. Not in attendance but greatly missed was Megan Seifert Tuscano. Sara and I went on our honeymoon in September 2016: two weeks on the West Coast of Italy.” Jill Smith reports, “My husband, Dave, daughter, Kennedy, and I have recently moved to York, Penn., where I have accepted a new position as a surgical oncologist. Before starting our new jobs, we spent some time
summer; highlights included an extended visit to Massachusetts, including catching up with Hobey Stuart ’99. We continue to enjoy living in Dallas, Texas, and look forward to another alumni event here.
Clair Windsor (781) 400-1585 clairwindsor@hotmail.com Peter Wetzel shares, “My wife, Sara
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Jim Greer (214) 862-4060 jim@liz-jim.com Elizabeth and I had a wonderful
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Ginger Pearson gingerbpearson@gmail.com
I, along with several other Brooksians, was proud to be in attendance at Megan Gupta Christudas’s and Ajinth Christudas’s wedding at the Langham Hotel Boston on June 4, 2016.
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org
Will Herter wrote earlier this year, “Hope all is well. My wife and I have been enjoying summer in Washington, DC. We also welcomed our daughter, Carolina, back in September 2015. I just started a new job with a company called Global Guardian, which specializes in international travel risk management. Life has been good otherwise.”
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Matt Godoff mgodoff@yahoo.com Katie Childs Sayles and her family
welcomed their third boy, Tucker Childs Sayles, to their family on July 27, 2016. He was 7 pounds, 10 ounces at birth. In August 2016, Erin Doherty moved with her husband, Chris, and daughter, Colby, from the Washington, DC, area to Winchester, Mass. While Chris is on a two-year rotation for work, Erin will continue to work as a leadership coach and consultant for her DCbased firm. If you are in the area, let them know! Cecy Ramirez writes, “The big news on my end is that we’re expecting another little boy on Christmas Eve! We’re pretty excited (and terrified) and we’ve already begun minivan shopping. If you’re interested, you can check out our announcement video. It’s some of my best work: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=oUKLQLsRUko&feature=youtu.be.”
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Southern Methodist University chapel, and it was great to have so many Brooks friends come down and attend. We ended up moving back to Houston in 2014 (again for new jobs) and currently live in the Heights area, close to downtown. We are down to three dogs now, after our Golden passed away last year (he lived a really long time; about 15 years). I continue to keep in close contact with Mike Reed and Willie Waters. Mikey and I met up in Houston for the Patriots game last year and caused quite a ruckus with the Texans fans in the stadium. The big news is our daughter, Cora Rose, was born on November 5th, 2015. Her nickname is Coco and she’s basically a mini Lindsay… I’m in trouble!” Merrill Swig Genoa shares, “I married Brian Genoa on August 6, 2016, in Essex Junction, Vt. Fellow Brooks alums in attendance were my stepfather, George Johnson ’68, P’02, and Emilie Paschal Hatch ’00. Life has been busy, but with all good things! We bought a house in Bedford, Mass., and I have been working and going to graduate school at Brandeis University.” David Greenidge writes, “I’m in my 10th year as a middle school special education teacher. My family has grown and is doing great. I’m looking forward to seeing my Brooks family in May 2017 for our 15th reunion.” Top to bottom, left to right: Danny Berman ’02 with his wife, Lindsay, and daughter, Cora Rose. ■ Merrill Swig Genoa ’02 married Brian Genoa on August 6, 2016 in Essex Junction, Vt. ■ Brittany Lonero ’02 was surrounded by Brooks friends at her wedding on May 29, 2016. From left to right: Nicole Lonero ’05, Jaime Gilbert ’04, Christina Stone ’02, Marianne Gianelli ’02, Brittany Lonero ’02, Rachel Koffman Saint-Firmin ’02, Allison Caffrey ’02 and Andy Caffrey ’69, P’02, P’06, P’10. ■ Alexa, the daughter of Katerina Markos Sheerin ’03 and her husband, Kevin. She turned 1 in June 2016 and is “growing like a weed!” ■ Several Brooksians attended the June 4, 2016, wedding of Kaylan Tildsley ’03 and Jeff Alderson at the Wychmere Harbor Club on Cape Cod, Mass. From left to right: Allison Arrigg ’03, Kate Lombard ’03, Kaylan Tildsley Alderson ’03, Delia Rissmiller ’03, Megan Russell ’03 and Kathi Tildsley P’03.
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Ashley Banker Enthoven (516) 993-7781 ashley.enthoven@gmail.com Brittany Lonero was surrounded by
Brooks alumni during her wedding on May 29, 2016, including Nicole Lonero ’05, Jaime Gilbert ’04,
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Christina Stone ’02, Marianne Gianelli ’02, Rachel Koffman Saint-Firmin ’02, Allison Caffrey ’02 and Andy Caffrey ’69, P’02, P’06, P’10. Danny Berman
reports, “Lindsay and I moved to the Dallas area from Houston, Texas, in 2010 for new jobs. Then, in 2012, we got married at the
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Drew Elliott drew.w.elliott@gmail.com Katerina Sheerin wrote earlier this
fall, “I am entering my fourth year as an associate in the private investment funds group at Proskauer Rose. My husband and I just bought our first house earlier this summer and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our second child (due early November 2016). Our daughter, Alexa, turned 1 in June 2016 and is growing like a weed!” Kaylan Tildsley shares, “I married Jeff Alderson on June 4, 2016, at the
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Elle Logan ’06 on the medal stand at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016.
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E L L E LOGAN ’0 6
Friendly Waters A three-time Olympic gold medal rower found her love of the sport on Lake Cochichewick. If you follow rowing, you know the successes of Elle Logan ’06. She’s been called the greatest rower in American history, and the evidence for this claim is convincing. Logan is the first American rower to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympics: She won in the U.S. women’s eight in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and, most recently, in Rio de Janeiro last summer. Logan is also a threetime world champion in the women’s eight, grabbing gold for the
PH OTO: E D H EWITT, ROW2K.COM
Americans at the 2010, 2011 and 2014 World Championships. She made a splash as an undergraduate at Stanford University: She returned from Beijing to the Stanford women’s eight that won the 2009 Pac-10 championship and the NCAA championship. Logan earned four first-team All-America nods at Stanford and was named the Pac-12 Women’s Rower of the Century in May 2016, shortly before she headed off to Rio. At the 2016 Olympics, Logan was one of only two rowers returning to the games from the gold-medal crew in London, and she was the only rower returning to the games from the gold-medal crew in Beijing. You may have heard of Logan’s successes. What you may not have heard, though, is how Logan discovered rowing; or, more accurately, how rowing discovered Logan. “I had seen the Head of the Charles Regatta when I was younger, which was the first time I saw the sport, and I thought it was pretty cool,” Logan says. “When I got to Brooks, after class one day, my history teacher, [faculty emeritus John] Morris [P’86, P’89, P’06, P08],
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brought me up to see his wife, crew coach Sally Morris. Mr. Morris introduced me and said, ‘She might want to row in the spring.’” Truer words were never spoken. Logan spent her summers on the water in her hometown of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and she took to the confines of Lake Cochichewick immediately. She quickly fell in love with the sport. “I think there’s definitely something about being on the water,” she says. “Crew is a very physical sport. It requires a lot of training, but you’re still outside and out on the water. And, Lake Cochichewick is a great place to row. Having this beautiful body of water on campus, where you can just walk down to the boathouse, is so special. I was very lucky to have that experience. I think the reason I love to row is because of my early experiences at Brooks.” Crew was a juggernaut at Brooks during Logan’s time on campus. The girls four brought New England and national championships home to Great Pond Road in 2004 and 2005 during her tenure. Logan is quick
to credit her teammates, many of whom, she says, are still her friends today. “It was an amazing team of good, strong athletes, and we had a lot of fun being pretty fast at rowing,” she says. Logan didn’t just excel on the lake, though: She also helped the girls 1st basketball team to the New England championship in 2003 and 2006, traveled to Uganda through Brooks’s Exchange Program, served as a school prefect and received the Allen Ashburn Prize at her graduation. Logan’s performance in the dominant Brooks program launched her from North Andover west to Stanford’s elite rowing program, which is a perennial host to All-Americans, national team members and NCAA championship contenders. “Rowing is just a three-month sport in the spring at Brooks,” Logan recalls, “where we all had fun and just happened to row fast. As soon as I got to Stanford, I realized what a serious sport rowing is. People are very serious about their training. When you’re not racing, you’re training, year-round. It was a shock to me, because until then I had always just rowed for fun.” Logan adapted to the rigorous Stanford crew program by calling
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“Rowing at Brooks prepared me for anything, because I developed my love of rowing at Brooks. Even at the level I’m at now, it can get pretty competitive, but if you love it, it doesn’t matter — you have fun doing it.”
on her days at Brooks. “If you love to row, where you go or what you do doesn’t matter,” Logan says. “Rowing at Brooks prepared me for anything, because I developed my love of rowing at Brooks. Even at the level I’m at now, it can get pretty competitive, but if you love it, it doesn’t matter — you have fun doing it.” Logan attended some junior development camps while she was at Brooks and was also a member of the 2005 U.S. Junior Women’s National team. She redshirted the 2007–2008 Stanford season to train, but she says she didn’t consider herself a serious contender for the Olympic team until just a few months before the opening ceremonies kicked off in 2008. “Oh my gosh,” she remembers thinking, “I can make this.” Logan headed to Beijing, then to London in 2012, then to Rio last summer. Each of Logan’s Olympic experiences had many similarities, she says, even as she matured from a rookie into a veteran presence for the women’s eight over the three four-year cycles. “You’re four years older, and you have four more years of experience, so that changes everything,” she says. “But, it’s still a race, and you’re still trying to win, and that’s what’s always stayed the same. If you can look at it like that every time, even as your experience
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changes, that’s how you can be successful.” “I had great experiences at all three games,” Logan continues. “After London, I felt like I had more to grow physically, technically and mentally, and I wanted to explore that. I felt like I had more to give, and I wasn’t quite done. I feel really proud of everything I did.” Logan raves about her experience in Rio in August. “It was fun to be in the city of Rio,” she says. “It was a beautiful venue, especially for rowing. Usually, we’re far outside the host city, but in Rio we were right in the middle of everything, rowing right under the Christ the Redeemer statue.” She emphasizes, though, that what happens on the water matters much more to her than the landmarks that loom over it. “For me, the best part has always just been the racing,” she says. “That’s the reason I keep training, because I love to compete. I love sitting on the starting line, looking at my competitors. They say go, and you just race. You can’t mimic that feeling in practice. It’s fun to race against the best in the world, and I’m very addicted to that.” When asked about her place in history, Logan humbly shrugs off the implications of the question. She points quickly to the strength of the American rowing program, which has won 11 straight world
and Olympic rowing titles in the women’s eight, dating to 2006. She calls herself “a part of something very special, and I feel lucky to be a part of it.” “I haven’t given my legacy too much thought, because I’ve been so focused on performing and getting the best out of myself. The results just happened,” Logan says. “I think that when someone starts thinking about their legacy, they’re taking energy away from what they’re capable of. That said, there are some amazing athletes in this country, and I think we’re going to see a lot more rowers and female athletes in general, so I’m not entirely sure that what I’ve done is that special. It might seem like it, but I think it’s
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going to become much more common — which is exciting!” Now, with three Olympic Games, three gold medals, and innumerable wins, awards, honors and accolades in her corner, Logan’s ready for the next part of her life — whatever that may be. She’s been training full-time for years, and she’s looking forward to trying something new. “Right now, there’s no plan. That’s the plan for the meantime,” she says. “That’s the way I want it to be for a little bit. I’m going to try to get a job and get some work experience under my belt.” Logan may not put much stock in thoughts about her legacy or her place in history, but the facts remain. She has rowed all over the
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globe, under international attention, side-by-side with the world’s elite. Logan, though, keeps her days on Lake Cochichewick fresh in her mind. In fact, a tangible piece of her Brooks experience came with her to her first Olympics: a set of bangles that she procured while on exchange to Uganda. “They reminded me of my experience at Brooks,” Logan says. “My four years at Brooks are one of my most precious experiences. I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m grateful to a lot of people at Brooks, and for how many people supported me and believed in me.”
Members of the Brooks boys and girls crews pose with Elle Logan ’06, center, and her three Olympic gold medals at this year’s Head of the Charles Regatta. From left to right: Arnaud Harmange ’17, Jameson Lehrer ’18, Jared Day ’17, Henry Hollingsworth ’17, Logan, Madison Dunn ’18, Clare Naughton ’18, Claire McCabe ’18, Lindsay Russell ’19, Riley Baker ’18, Grace Lindsey ’17 and Bella O’Shea ’18.
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Top to bottom, left to right: Kelly Sheehan ’04 married Alex Plaisted on December 5, 2015, at the Wequassett Resort & Golf Club in Chatham, Mass. From left to right, front row: Chris Pope ’04, bride Kelly Sheehan ’04, Kristin Homer Small ’04, Delia Rissmiller ’03, Vanessa Rathbone ’04, Emily French Breakey ’03, Abby Scully ’03 and Allison Sheehan ’17 (Kelly’s cousin). Back row: Fred Hollings ’04, Matt Mues ’04, Seth Reilly ’04, Mike Sheehan ’09 (Kelly’s brother), Ryan Armstrong ’04, Eric Amoroso ’04, Jaime Gilbert ’04, Townsend Hall ’03, Jamie Waters ’04, Lauren Young ’04 and Tm McLoughlin ’04. ■ Kristin Homer ’04 married Andrew Small on June 11, 2016, at her family’s summer house in Kennebunk, Maine. From left to right, front row: Eric Amoroso ’04, Vanessa Rathbone ’04, Kristin Homer Small ’04 (bride), Emily French Breakey ’03 (matron of honor), Delia Rissmiller ’03 and Jamie Waters ’04. Back row: Townsend Hall ’03, Kelly Sheehan Plaisted ’04 and Lauren Young ’04. ■ Milena Duke Holmes ’05 married David Holmes at the Meadow Brook Hunt Club in Long Island, N.Y., on May 21, 2016. From left to right, Jeb Berry ’05, Carolyn Thomas ’05, John O’Kane ’02, Ashley Enthoven ’02, Tiernan Rose ’05, Milena Holmes ’05, D.R. Holmes, Christie Fennebresque ’04 and Charles Thomas ’05. ■ Lindsay Tagerman Davis ’05 married Finn Davis on June 25, 2016, in Chittenden, Vt. ■ The class of 2006 at its 10-year reunion during Alumni Weekend 2016. ■ Members of the class of 2006 gathered together to celebrate the Fourth of July 2016 in Chatham, Mass. In the back row, from left to right): Charlie Cornish ’06, Kevin Jacobs ’06, Susie Movitz, Sarah Callanan, Derek Missert ’06, Taylor DiGloria ’06, Adanta Ahanonu, Alie DesGaines, Eric Couture and John Crisafulli. In the front row, from left to right): Scott Mannion ’06, Geoff Smith ’06, Brian Mannion, Jon Sussman, Jess Phelan ’06 and Sara Christopher ’06. ■ Some members of the class of 2006 at their 10-year reunion in May 2016. From left to right, back row: Charlie Cornish ’06, Kevin Jacobs ’06, Geoff Smith ’06 and Brian Mannion. Front row: Derek Missert ’06, Taylor DiGloria ’06, Connie Shaheen ’06, Scott Mannion ’06 and Paul DiResta ’06. ■ Charlie Cornish ’06 and his husband, John, at the French Open in May 2016.
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Wychmere Harbor Club on Cape Cod, Mass. Four class of 2003 Brooksians were in attendance: Allison Arrigg, Kate Lombard, Megan Russell and Delia Rissmiller. Delia was a bridesmaid. In a fun coincidence, my husband is distantly related to Michael McCahill P’91, P’97, who was my favorite teacher at Brooks.”
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Jess Kapadia jesskapadia@gmail.com
I got engaged to Alexander Ameter, who recently finished his time as a captain in the Army. Kelly Sheehan wrote earlier this spring, “I realize that this is extremely late, since I just received my Brooks Bulletin in the mail today, but I’ve been meaning to share a wedding picture with you all. We had a huge Brooks crew show up and it was such a blast! Moose provided the hockey jersey (of course).” Great pic, Kelly, from your wedding at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Chatham, Mass., on December 5, 2015.
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Milena Duke Holmes married David
Holmes at the Meadow Brook Hunt Club in Long Island, N.Y., on May 21, 2016. Many Brooksians were in attendance: Jeb Berry, Carolyn Thomas, John O’Kane ’02, Ashley Enthoven ’02, Tiernan Rose, Christie Fennebresque ’04 and Charles Thomas. Lindsay Tagerman Davis shares, “I married Finn Davis on June 25, 2016, in Chittenden, Vt. We celebrated with some fellow Brooksians, including Stacey Tagerman Tringali ’03, Elizabeth Brosseau Billingham, Carolyn Thomas and Margaret Greata.”
Left to right: On August 20, 2016, Darby Lynn St. Clair-Barrie Nevola ’07 married JR Nevola at the Ocean Edge Resort in Brewster, Mass. ■ Kamilah Welch ’08 spent time with Nadja Shaw ’08 in December 2015 in Reykjavik, Iceland. ■ Kamilah Welch ’08 with Jamiee Gomez ’08 in Los Angeles, Calif., in February 2016.
accomplishment we thought we had this year by winning a third straight Olympic gold medal. So awesome! I got married on New Year’s Eve down in Washington, DC. Charlie Cornish, Paul DiResta, Geoff Smith and Derek Missert were all part of the wedding party, and a whole lot more of my other favorite Brooksians were there as guests. I also saw a lot of the class of 2006 during our 10-year reunion and during the July 4th weekend. My wife and I just moved back up to Boston, where she’ll be attending MIT Sloan while I work at PowerAdvocate doing energy consulting. I’m looking forward to being back up north and seeing a lot more of my Brooks friends… except for Geoff Smith… I’m just sort of meh about seeing him. Charlie Cornish was promoted to manager at PwC in July 2016. Charlie continues to live in Waltham, Mass., with his husband, John, and their beagle, Blake. In May 2016, Charlie and John went on vacation in Paris, which included a visit to the French Open. Mariel Nunes and her fiancé, Sam Gilbert, got engaged at the end of June 2016. They live in Portland, Maine, with their Great Pyrenees, Yuko. Sasha Weinreich was appointed a member of the North Andover, Mass., Finance Committee in July 2016. REU N ION
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We all sat on our couches and watched Elle Logan supersede any
Calif., from Boston this year to pursue her career as a clinical
Kevin Jacobs (603) 819-1961 kej210@gmail.com
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Eubene Sa eubene.sa@gmail.com Mariel Shaw moved to San Diego,
supervisor with Easter Seals of Southern California. She is enjoying the sunshine while helping kids with autism spectrum disorder by providing supervision of in-home applied behavior analysis services as well as assessment and consultation services. Darby Nevola shares, “I recently got married on August 20, 2016, to JR Nevola from Smithtown, N.Y. We were married at the Ocean Edge Resort in Brewster, Mass., and were so happy to see all of our Brooks friends for an amazing weekend! Currently, we live in Durham, N.C., I am working in the Duke University Athletic Department, and JR teaches math at a local high school.”
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Brooks Goodyear brooks.goodyear@gmail.com James Hamilton’s company, Guide-
Hire, has been in the press recently, receiving praise from both Outside magazine and Nantucket magazine. The company has recently transitioned from a guide booking platform to a guide and outfitter directory, with thousands of listings across the world. Hamilton’s business partners are Macgill David and Alex Shukis, who are fellow ISL alums from St. George’s. In July 2016, Jess Waters Duryea married Will Duryea in Ashburn Chapel. There were many Brooksians (and future Brooksians) in attendance, including Susanna, Ainsley and Willie Waters ’02, Jamie Waters ’04, Liz Bruno, Ally Langevin, Katie Herter, Eric Amoroso ’04, Tim
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Share Your Alumni Profile Ideas Do you know a Brooks alumnus or alumna you would like to see profiled in the Brooks Bulletin? Tell us about it! Email Bulletin editor Rebecca Binder at rbinder@brooksschool.org with your suggestions.
McLoughlin ’04 and Eliza Marshall ’09. Kamilah Welch writes, “In
December 2015, I spent Christmas with Nadja Shaw in Reykjavik, Iceland. In February 2016, I spent time with Jamiee Gomez in Los Angeles, Calif. In April 2016, Nadja and I went to our friend’s brother’s (Belmont Hill School alum Emeka Ekwelum) Nigerian wedding in Peabody, Mass. I finished four years of teaching high school history at two separate schools in Boston from 2012 to 2016 and am now in Johannesburg, South Africa, working to create a network of cooperatively owned businesses that will employ ex-offenders and respond to the immediate needs of the communities they inhabit.”
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Kelsey Gillen (978) 420-8408 gillen.kelsey@gmail.com ■ Brian Wilber bwilber32@gmail.com Samuel Ingraham married Elizabeth
Preysner at Trinity College on October 8, 2016. Joe Napolitano and Rob Whirty are living together in East Boston. Rob recently visited good friend and classmate William Cissel in Chicago, where they watched the Chicago air show together and had a splendid time. Bradlee Jackson moved to New York City earlier this year and is working as a project manager at London-based marketing and digital training firm,
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Top to bottom, left to right: Nadja Shaw ’08 (middle) and Kamilah Welch ’08 (right) with a friend at a wedding in April 2016 in Peabody, Mass. ■ There were many Brooksians in attendance at the July wedding of Jess Waters Duryea ’08 and Will Duryea in Ashburn Chapel. Pictured in the back row, left to right: Eliza Marshall ’09, Eric Amoroso ’04, Tim McLoughlin ’04, Academic Dean Susanna Waters, daughter Ainsley Waters, Dean of Students Willie Waters ’02 , Jamie Waters ’04. In the front row, left to right: Will Duryea (groom), Jess Waters Duryea ’08 (bride), Liz Bruno ’08, Ally Langevin ’08 and Katie Herter ’08. ■ James Hamilton ’08 (center) with his girlfriend, Liz Ziebarth, and cousin, Dylan Rathbone ’15, on Great Island in West Yarmouth, Mass. ■ In May 2016, Brooksians gathered in Brooklyn, N.Y., to celebrate Rachael Burke’s birthday. From left to right: Eliza Wehrle ’12, Rachael Burke ’10, Nicole Muto-Graves ’11 and Margaret Klein ’10. ■ In October 2015, Margaret Klein ’10 (left) and classmate Lowell Abbott ’10 (right) completed the Baltimore Marathon.
Econsultancy. She recently met up with me (Brian Wilber), as I am also living in New York City. Tink James, Chrissy Cornish and Nicole Rosmarin volunteered at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston for the fourth year in a row. Nicole is also planning to run the London Marathon in April 2017, after completing the Paris Marathon this past spring 2016. Barney Ruprecht writes, “I continue to work at RM Sotheby’s as a car expert and just finished filming a new BBC show that captures a behind-the-scenes look within the high-end collector car industry. The show will consist of 10 individual episodes documenting RM Sotheby’s car specialists’ travels around the globe and will be broadcast worldwide in 2017.”
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Rosie Berardino (978) 766-0022 rberardi92@gmail.com
I spend much of my time working at a gift shop in the heart of New Orleans, La., answering tourists’
questions like, “Where is the closest public restroom?” or my own questions like, “Why do I work here?” When I’m not battling existential nausea, I dig up okra plants as part of an agriculture apprenticeship at a local farm. You might also find me playing music on the street, performing improv comedy at a small theater or chatting on the phone with fellow Brooks alum Rachael Marie Burke. As for Rachael, when she’s not sending reading materials to me, Rosemary Lee Berardino, she works on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” as a social media coordinator. Living in New York City, Rachael performs comedy at the UCB Theater, maintains a healthy perspective on ’90s nostalgia and drops comedy gold nuggets on twitter (@thatsso_rachael). In May 2016, several Brooksians, including Margaret Klein, Nicole Muto-Graves ’11 and Eliza Wehrle ’12, gathered in Brooklyn, N.Y. to celebrate her birthday. Margaret is living in Manhattan with Julia Caffrey. In
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October 2015, Margaret and Lowell Abbott completed the Baltimore Marathon. Sam Conway spends most of her time living and working at a hedge fund in New York City. When she’s not working, she spends her time traveling to as many places as possible. Favorite destination so far, you ask? Croatia, hands down, she says. Sam also just passed the New York State exam to be a certified fly fishing guide. If any Brooks alums want to hit the river and cast some lines, Sam’s your girl! Albert Nascimento is in his third year teaching at Salisbury School, where he continues to coach varsity soccer and basketball. This year, Bert will serve as co-director of multicultural affairs at the school, in addition to teaching Spanish. This past summer, in preparation for his new language curriculum, Bert studied at the Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander, Spain, where he made friends with a giraffe. Harry Hawkings shares, “I’m still at ESPN and enjoying my time a great deal. I’m on Sunday NFL Countdown this year, which should be a ton of fun.”
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Andie Missert (603) 401-3458 andrea.missert@gmail.com In June 2016, Kelsey Domoracki, Nicole Muto-Graves and I visited Graye Robinson, who is living and working in Nashville, Tenn. Toby Koekkoek shares, “It has been just
Left to right, top to bottom: Sam Conway ’10 is seen here with a fish that she caught in the Adirondacks. She recently became a certified fly fishing guide. ■ Albert Nascimento ’10 became friends with a giraffe while studying in Santander, Spain, at the Menéndez Pelayo International University. ■ Friends from the class of 2011 reunited in Nashville, Tenn. From left to right, Kelsey Domoracki ’11, Graye Robinson ’11, Andie Missert ’11 and Nicole Muto-Graves ’11.
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over a year that I have been calling beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyo., my home, and as some say ‘living the dream.’ I’ve been surviving in this expensive destination town by working a combination of jobs. I spent the winter interning for the Jackson-based action sports media website, Teton Gravity Research, coaching skiing to kids and working late nights making pizza, on top of getting around 100 days on skis. For the ultra-busy, hot, dry summer, I taught tennis and continued to
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A LUMNI PROF I LE
R EN U M U K H ERJ EE ’ 1 5
Discovering a Passion A first-person account of a young alumna’s journey to find meaning in her Brooks education. As a third-former at Brooks, you’re told that over the next four years, you’ll receive the most meaningful educational experience of your life. You’ll read Shakespeare, take calculus, speak a foreign language and be able to explain the significance of a protein’s tertiary structure. And, you’ll understand every bit of information shown to you, at least by the time you graduate. When [Head of School John] Packard told my class that we’d learn all of this and more at the year’s Opening Chapel in September of 2011, my knees shook. I shrunk in my seat and stared at the ground and held my breath. Never had I liked Shakespeare. Basic geometry gave me goosebumps. I stuttered whenever I tried to utter a word in Spanish, and I didn’t even know what the adjective “tertiary” meant. Renu Mukherjee ’15 at the 2015 Lawn Ceremony.
“A Brooks education is meaningful because it not only allows you to explore various subject areas, but it also helps you find what you are most passionate about.”
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On the way to elementary school every morning, my mom and I would drive past Brooks. I’d tell her, only 8 years old, that someday I was going to be a student at that school on the lake, the one with the duck pond and a playground out front. Brooks had always been my dream. But now that I was actually there, I felt frightened. What if I couldn’t handle a Brooks education? What if I could not make it meaningful? These questions rolled round and round in my head throughout the beginning of my third-form year. My 14-year old self found it impossible to believe that I’d understand so many different disciplines and subjects. The information and level of difficulty appeared insurmountable. Yet now, as a sophomore in college, I look back at my third-form year, at my teenage worries, and I laugh.
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Brooks did not just give me a meaningful education. It gave me my passion — English. [Spanish faculty] Señora Miller did help me attain a high proficiency in Spanish. I can tell you about the different levels of protein structure thanks to [science faculty Laura] Hajdukiewicz. Each of these classes taught me a lot academically, and each of these adults acted not only as my teachers, but also my mentors, my cheerleaders, my support system. A Brooks education is meaningful because it not only allows you to explore various subject areas, but it also helps you find what you are most passionate about. It connects you with extraordinary people — from both the faculty and the student body. I always thought that I was going to be a surgeon. I even pursued this goal at Brooks, through several advanced science courses and even a Students on the Forefront of Science internship. These topics were interesting, but what made me want to jump out of my seat and willingly study was English. Emily Dickinson’s poetry spoke to my mind, and Ernest Hemingway’s short stories pulled at my brain. I’d tell my parents that Shakespeare was, in fact, a genius, and his play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” was almost as enjoyable to read as Harry Potter. Of the English faculty, [John] Haile showed me the beauty behind the semicolon. [Leigh] Perkins encouraged my writing throughout my time at Brooks. [T. J.] Baker taught me to appreciate even the most difficult of authors, like Nathaniel Hawthorne. [Mark] Shovan taught me to find the deeper meaning behind writing. And [department chair Dean] Charpentier, the head of what I believe is the best English department in the world, fostered my love of creative writing. From my first day in his fourth-form English class to the last day of my sixth-form independent study with him, he taught me why the world needed literature. I am currently an English major, and I think of my Brooks education every single day. It’s made me who I am; it’s helped me find my passion. It is the most meaningful educational experience that I will ever receive. [Ed. Note: In April 2016, Mukherjee, then a first-year student at the College of the Holy Cross, was awarded the James H. Reilly Memorial Purse, given to the student who has contributed the best poem or short story to Holy Cross’s literary magazine, The Purple. Mukherjee’s winning story is extremely brief — only 285 words long. She wrote the first draft of the story as a sixth-former at Brooks, as part of an independent study project.]
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A Response from English Department Chair Dean Charpentier While we are flattered by Renu’s sepia-toned memory of her time in the English department, and we are proud to have had some influence, however small, on her world view, it would be disingenuous to make any claim to have set her on the right track. Shakespeare and Dickinson, and Hemingway, certainly do not need our help to inspire or excite. Renu arrived with her passion for words intact; all we did was set out a whole lot of those words, arranged in interesting ways in front of her, and step back. Her skill with them, as a reader, as a writer, is really no different than that other skill she thought she would master, that of the surgeon, and I imagine that if she chose, her magic with a scalpel would resemble her magic with a pen. I’ve always said that English teachers are the luckiest people in the world: We read and write and talk about reading and writing for a living. Mark Shovan used to say that we have one job, and that’s to communicate our love of words to the students. What they do with that is up to them. We all have our own stories about where we fell in love with words; mine begins in an old farmhouse-turned-library in a small lake town when I was 10 or 11, where I sat on the floor inhaling the sweet scent of old books, running my fingers over crisp yellow pages, falling down rabbit holes into the imagination of authors long dead. Like Renu, my fate was laid out in front of me and I was powerless to stop it. We take our responsibility in the department seriously. Wherever our students travel after Brooks, they cannot avoid words: reading them, writing them, speaking them, in myriad ways, whether they are writing a book or a magazine article, a blog, a movie script, a memo, a letter. We can only hope their experience here at Brooks has the power to mold that relationship with words for the rest of their lives.
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work at the local favorite, Pinky G’s pizzeria. I plan on calling Jackson my home for the foreseeable future, with the long-term plans of starting the valley’s first squash club. Come out and visit! It is the most beautiful place in the world.” REU N I ON
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Ellie Barker Ebarker011@gmail.com
Our previous class correspondent, James Williams, shares, “After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with degrees in economics and Asian studies, I headed across the pond to attend graduate school for two years: first at SOAS in London and then Oxford University. Having spent more than a year of my college career in China, my high school obsession with all things China has continued, culminating now in my pursuit of a graduate degree in Chinese politics. In college, I dabbled in the swing dance club, attempted to salvage the last remnants of a fading basketball career in intramural hoops and was a part of greek life. Sadly, I had few opportunities to keep up with other Brooksians in the past few years, except for fellow Tar Heel Andres Herrera and resident day students Zander, Max M. and Ellie D. Anyone heading through London this next year, please hit me up so that I can host you or grab a beer with you!” Zander Buttress writes, “I am currently applying to medical school and will be living in Clemson, S.C., this year, working at a restaurant/ hospital and also as the head coach of their hockey team.” Kate Axten reports, “I just moved to New York City in July 2016. I was up in Maine for two weeks for a family reunion and had a blast. I have a new job at an executive recruiting firm called Insight Global. I’m loving the city, and living with my roommate from Bucknell and my dog.” Tory Gardiner notes, “I just graduated from the University of Richmond and am
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living in Boston working at Cambridge Associates as an investment associate. I am looking forward to reconnecting with my fellow Brooksians in the area!” Cat Lau writes, “I graduated from Boston University last year and spent the past year at culinary school in Paris. I worked in two Michelin star restaurants in Paris. It was a really tough experience, but I’ve learned just so much about what good food should be. I’ve also been writing for Food Republic, where Jess Kapadia ’04 is the senior editor. She introduced me to Food Republic during our 100-day dinner when we were sixth-formers. I talked to her after her speech, and we kept in touch until I went to college and she offered me the writing opportunity. She’s now my editor at Food Republic. I’m back in Bangkok now for a job offer at Cookly. It’s sort of like Airbnb, but for cooking activities around the world.” Connor Mahoney reports, “I finished my college basketball career and graduated from Le Moyne College with a dual major in finance and business analytics. At the end of June 2016, I started working as a sales operations analyst at athenahealth in Watertown, Mass.” Lily Niles shares, “I just graduated from the University of Denver and started my masters program at DU in elementary education. I’ll be student-teaching first grade at a Denver public school.” Henry Wagner writes, “I am currently running my own food truck up in Belfast, Maine, with my cousin, Anna Wagner. The name of the truck is Wags Wagon. We are serving up sandwiches and salads all sourced from local farms and bakeries— pretty much everything that we serve comes from within 10 miles of the truck. We have two local bakers that make all of our bread and are teamed up with a couple farms for all of our produce. I am actually living on my uncle’s meat farm in Northport, Maine, where we source
all of our meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb). We smoke our own bacon, make our own sausage, etc. Our goal is to serve the most local product that we possibly can. We just opened up in the end of May 2016, and all is going well. It was a little slow at first, but it has been busy for the last few weeks, which is very exciting! You can follow us on Facebook at Wags Wagon and on Instagram at Wagswagon to check out pictures!”
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Ravi Shah (714) 930-5759 shahravi@usc.edu
The summer featured a mini-reunion of sorts, as several members of the class of 2013—Gavin Ugone, Jory Makin, Nick Gates, Ani Bilizarian, Michael Schelzi, Caroline Trustey, Ellie Olsen, Andrew Kimball, Ben Shirley, Sam Milbury, Emilie Klein, Tyler Britt, Jill Doherty, Michael Sciascia, Johnny Gratton, Dan Smith and Andrew Bruno — gathered in Boston’s North End for some fun. This past summer, Ren Robinson had an internship in New York City, working at a marketing company called Kipany Productions on the business development team. Pauline Zenker transferred from University of Colorado Boulder to Emerson College this fall, where she’s majoring in marketing communications. Amelia Hulshult writes, “Unfortunately, I was not able to travel back home to see any fellow Brooks people this past summer. I stayed in Blacksburg, Va., to work for a small community design center as a student designer. I worked on a project out of St. Paul, Va., to assist in a conceptual design of a brownfield project and storm water management design for a farmers’ market square. When I was not in the office, I completed some freelance landscape design. I’m entering my fourth year of a five-year program in landscape architcture here at Virginia Tech. I hold a position
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in the VT student chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architecture and also serve as the vice president of the Sigma Lambda Alpha honor society. I’m excited to see where my last few years at Tech will lead me and what I will discover through my fifth-year thesis. I am now taking courses that directly engage rural and urban parts of Appalachia: to work with them to help them build back their capital utilizing their natural resources, but also to work with them to take steps against food insecurity. During the fall, however, it’s hard to focus too much on school with Hokie football happening! Go Hokies!”
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Seif Abou Eleinen (978) 973-2050 seifo_8@hotmail.com Krittanon Sirorattanakul reports,
“I got a Lee Teng undergraduate fellowship in accelerator science and technology to intern at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., for 10 weeks. We are working on testing the first superconducting radiofrequency cryomodules operating in continuous wave operation for Linear Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Calif.”
Get Ready for
Giving Day! Plans are in the works for a second annual Giving Day in 2017. The goal of our one-day fundraising challenge for the greater Brooks community is to achieve 380 gifts — one for each Brooks student. There also will be an interscholastic competition against The Governor’s Academy to see who garners the most participation amongst alumni from all graduating classes during the 24-hour period. More information will be forthcoming this winter, much of it through email. Please make sure we have your up-to-date email address on file! Simply email alumni@brooksschool.org. Go Brooks!
Vogel reports, “This summer was
very eventful. I spent about eight weeks around Jackson, Wyo., as a counselor for Teton Valley Ranch Camp, a summer camp on a ranch for 11- to 16-year-old boys and girls in separate sessions. I worked with 11-year-old boys and had such an amazing time looking over young people. We camped out in the backcountry on horseback and did backpacking on foot. It was just a pleasure to be surrounded by mountains during the summer. In the girls’ session, a wildfire in the region forced the camp to evacuate and to subsequently cancel the
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Caitlin Kluchnik (978) 944-7912 caitlin@kluchnik.com Amy Tournas wrote earlier this
fall, “I am back on Mayflower Hill at Colby College for my sophomore year. As a global studies and government major with a creative writing minor, this is an extremely busy and eventful time of year! My sophomore year soccer season has begun as well, as I play on the Colby women’s soccer team with alum and former captain Emilie Klein ’13. The season is underway, and we are doing big things. We have a brand new soccer coach, so the NESCAC doesn’t know what it’s in for!” Sam
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camp three weeks early. Everyone made it out safely and the camp itself was saved by the firefighters. I am now back at Skidmore College and excited for sophomore year!”
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Alumni Communications Manager Emily Williams: classnotes@brooksschool.org Harrison Rice reports, “I recently
began working in an Italian restaurant on Long Island, N.Y., as a barista. I make all the coffee and dessert for the restaurant. It’s kinda like a high-stakes game of diner dash, except where in the game you would lose, I would be berated and pelted by angry servers and patrons. In the kitchen, things can get real hectic pretty quickly, and I have severely burned myself multiple times making espressos and steaming milk. Victuri te salutamus!”
Soccer player Amy Tournas ’15 is in her sophomore season at Colby College. Photo courtesy of Dean Denis Photography.
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CHA C LCLASS ASS NOT ESI RS
Class Chair Contact Information Your class chair is your point of contact for any class-related questions you may have. Please feel free to reach out to your class chair using the following information. If your class is not listed here, and you wish to serve as class chair, please contact Director of Development Gage Dobbins at gdobbins@ brooksschool.org or (978) 725-6288.
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Charles A. Hunt George M. Coburn (781) 790-1064 (202) 234-2054 george.tim.coburn@gmail.com charliehunt@comcast.net ■ John B. Rowland (508) 771-5570 1944 john.rowland@comcast.net Patrick F. Bowditch (860) 662-5016 1961 bowditchpat@gmail.com José E. Andrade (212) 988-0823 1945 loge@thomaspublishing.com Littleton W. Waller ■ David S. Sampson (978) 468-6340 (518) 271-0285 waller@pacbell.net dsampson2@nycap.rr.com
1946
Rufus W. Peckham (202) 965-1466 rpeckham@verizon.net
1947
Arthur N. Milliken (978) 369-9113 artmilliken@gmail.com
1950
John S. Keating (978) 258-2887 keatprop@comcast.net
1951
Peter W. Nash (978) 610-6302 Sally@polpis.com
1953
Robert S. Walker (401) 847-5042 robwalk34@aol.com
1954
A. Lawrence Barr (603) 547-2174 albontherise@gmail.com
1955
William P. Kellett (860) 435-5661 wpkellett@att.net ■ William H. Smith (860) 868-2502 smithw@gunnery.org
1956
Peter D. Jones (212) 876-4040 pdjlmj@gmail.com
1958
W. Ross Hatch rhatch@rcknox.com
1959
Eugene E. Record (781) 631-1379 generecord@comcast.net
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1962
1971
Charles C. Platt (212) 628-3116 charles.platt@wilmerhale.com ■ C. Stow Walker (781) 639-4236 stowwalker@gmail.com
Clifford G. Irons (978) 358-8825 cjirons@comcast.net ■ James A. Saltonstall (978) 369-4094 jasaltonstall@gmail.com
1964
Peter B. Rathbone (508) 790-1964 rathbone.peter@gmail.com
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Paul L. Hallingby (212) 628-4923 bhallingby@aol.com
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John A. McKallagat (978) 363-5766 jack.mckallagat@opco.com
1968
Robert T. Hall (978) 559-7421 hallrt@gmail.com ■ Townsend Y. Lathrop (914) 941-3626 tylath@gmail.com
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Seymour H. Knox shkiv@aol.com
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Ross M. Povenmire ross@povenmire.com
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Bruce F. Fleming (609) 737-7927 bfleming12@comcast.net
1976
Michael J. Doyle (858) 367-8577 mike.doyle009@gmail.com
1978
Carl V. Nablo (480) 248-7577 carl_nablo@hotmail.com
1979
R. Beverley Corbin (401) 849-5310 rbc@sealrockgroup.com
1980
David B. Elmblad (970) 376-4407 dave@elmblad.com
1981
David S. Bonner (203) 292-6014 dsbonner@gmail.com
1982
John S. Runnells (979) 245-4881 john_runnells@yahoo.com
1983
Lynne A. Sawyer lynnesawyer@mac.com
1984
Ashley W. Scott (978) 526-9701 ashley@chezscott.com
Andrew A. Caffrey (978) 475-2412 acaffrey.caffrey@comcast.net ■ Peter V. Doyle (508) 653-9001 peterdoyle215@gmail.com
1985
1970
Andrea M. Botur abotur@mac.com
Peter G. Toohey (407) 876-1419 gtoohey@me.com
John R. Barker (781) 235-5688 jrbbarker@gmail.com Blake T. Davis blake.t.davis@gmail.com ■ Jeffery M. Hudson (203) 202-9069 jeffery_hudson@msn.com
Philip N. Dearborn 1977 (954) 229-9322 Geoffrey M. Fulgione pndear@aol.com (978) 688-5110 ■ Richmond Viall jiffy2@comcast.net (412) 749-1771 castingabout4ever@gmail.com
1963
1987
Craig J. Ziady (781) 729-1345 craig@cummings.com
1986
William Pitkin (978) 468-0151 will.pitkin@gmail.com
1990
P. Brooke Dixon (516) 801-0136 bdixon@gmail.com ■ William C. Phelps (832) 545-9980 wcp@wcphelps.com ■ Christopher B. Tamis (212) 861-1020 ctamis@nb.com
1991
Erin Beach (203) 662-0160 erinbeach@optonline.net ■ Matthew Cascio matt@matthewcascio.com
1992
Jonathan F. Gibbons (781) 400-5528 jgibbons@mba2004.hbs.edu ■ Isabella S. Timon (302) 571-9814 isabella.timon1@icloud.com
1997
Greta J. Lundeberg glundeberg@gmail.com
1998
Thomas A. Costin tom.costin@gmail.com ■ Elizabeth A. Kearney Forbes elizabethkearney5@gmail.com
1999
Ginger B. Pearson gingerbpearson@gmail.com
2000
Kingsley P. Woolworth (516) 922-7724 kwoolworth@rfr.com
2001
Matthew A. Godoff (617) 455-7282 mgodoff@yahoo.com
2002
William D. Waters (978) 618-7756 wwaters6@gmail.com
2003
Delia E. Rissmiller delia.rissmiller@gmail.com
2004
Jessica S. Kapadia (917) 993-3702 jesskapadia@gmail.com
2005
Alexandra N. Experton alexandranbooth@gmail.com
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Ethan A. Kaulas ethankaulas@gmail.com Andrew A. Garcia (917) 291-1125 andrew.a.garcia@gmail.com Cristina E. Antelo cantelo@podesta.com ■ Jennifer G. DiFranco jdifranc@holycross.edu ■ Adam N. Stevens ASteven2@schools.nyc.gov ■ Nicholas R. Ziebarth (312) 636-1952 nziebarth@gmail.com
1996
Frank A. Kissel (305) 858-6060 fkissel@gmail.com ■ Bailey Martignetti bmckallagat@gmail.com ■ Christopher S. Rheault eb13@mac.com
Alexandra B. Caffrey lexi.caffrey@gmail.com Emma M. Parkinson emma.m.parkinson@gmail. com Monica N. Berube mberube18@gmail.com
2009
Samuel C. Eisenman samuel.eisenman@gmail.com
2010
Julia P. Caffrey (978) 475-3332 jpc223@georgetown.edu
2011
Haley J. Keegan (978) 346-9993 hkeegan16@gmail.com
2012
Christopher J. Smith (516) 759-2731 cjsmith@colby.edu
BRO OKS BULLETIN
I N M E M O RI A M
B RO O KS CONNECTIONS
OBI TUARY
In Memoriam 1945
W. LAWRENCE KING JR. Dorset, Vt. August 16, 2016 WILLIAM A. VIALL II P’81 Providence, R.I. March 13, 2016
1947
A. G. DAVIS PHILIP, former faculty Schenectady, N.Y. March 28, 2016
Michael B. King H’66, P’87 [Ed. Note: We received word that Michael B. King passed away late in the production schedule of this issue of the Bulletin. We plan to include an in-depth remembrance of and reflection on King’s time at Brooks in the spring 2017 issue.] Faculty emeritus Mike King passed away peacefully at 82 years of age on November 20, 2016, surrounded by his three sons, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was a visual artist who was deeply involved in promoting the arts. In a November 22 communication to Brooks faculty and staff, Head of School John Packard wrote that King “was in many ways the founder of the school’s arts We look forward to continuing department. In addition, he served as the our fundraising to honor Mike King in the new Center for Robert Lehman Art Center’s first director the Arts. If you would like to during his final few years at Brooks and contin- discuss these opportunities, ued to support the work exhibited in that space please contact Director of Development Gage Dobbins at well beyond his retirement.” gdobbins@brooksschool.org or King’s impact on Brooks extended beyond his (978) 725-6288. faculty and administrative duties. Mr. Packard noted, “there are scores of alumni and alumna who think of him first when recalling their years at Brooks, in general, and their experience in the arts, in particular. Above all, he was a wonderful person and a terrific colleague. We will miss him.” King was at Brooks for 36 years, from 1963 to 1999. After retiring to Dublin, N.H., King became active in the campaign to restore the historic Park Theater in Jaffrey, N.H. King is survived by his three sons, including Matthew Draper King ’87. He also leaves nine grandchildren, his sister, his brother and his former wife.
FALL 2016
GRAHAM L. PLATT Siletz, Ore. January 25, 2016
1949
B. CORY KILVERT JR. Peterborough, N.H. March 23, 2016
1952
ROBERT L. SEWALL P’81 Homosassa, Fla. March 8, 2016
1957
H. RILEY COLVIN JR. Edgartown, Mass. May 11, 2016
1966
NICHOLAS P. GREENE Duesseldorf, Germany May 20, 2016
1970
ALEXANDER M. LAUGHLIN JR. Greenwich, Conn. June 1, 2016
1972
THOMAS P. SHOLA Osprey, Fla. July 10, 2016 MICHAEL L. MADDEN Gloucester, Mass. September 3, 2016
95
PARTING SHOT
A sun-dappled October afternoon at Brooks. The Brooks campus is host to more than 900 trees. Pictured is a shademaster honey locust (foreground) that stands between Alumni House (left) and Thorne House.
96
B RO O KS BULLETIN
B RO OKS S C H OO L BROOKS FUND
At Brooks, we honor our past while also moving forward into our future. Brooks has always valued a strong community, a dedicated faculty and the unique qualities of each of its students. The Brooks Fund, which provides 10 percent of the school’s annual operating budget, helps ensure that balance: It funds the day-to-day expenses — the classroom technology; the arts supplies; the athletics equipment — that allow today’s students to flourish while walking in the footsteps of those that preceded them.
Three easy ways to give: Credit Card — Check — Stock. Visit www.brooksschool.org to make your gift.
Brooks Bulletin Brooks School 1160 Great Pond Road North Andover, MA 01845-1298 Address service requested
Did you enjoy the line drawing of the Brooks campus by Washington, DC-based artist Sidney Lawrence ’66 that was published in the spring 2016 Bulletin? Did you get a chance to view the original, which hung in the Lehman gallery for the “Class of ’66 Creatives” exhibit over Alumni Weekend 2016? Now, you can own a version of the original for your home or office. Lawrence has graciously offered a limited run of high-quality posters. The proceeds will benefit the Stephen J. Letarte ’66 Memorial Scholarship at Brooks. Please be on the lookout for more information, including ordering and payment instructions.
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage P AID Permit No. 36 Lawrence, MA