On to the Next Chapter: Fred Seebeck

Fred Seebeck

Fred Seebeck retired in June after having engaged, inspired, mentored, and befriended countless individuals throughout his 37 years as a treasured member of the Loomis Chaffee community and an integral part of life on the Island.

Fred’s tenure at Loomis was bookended by two phenomenal disruptions of nature. In 1984, during his first year of teaching, spring flood waters rose so high that the campus truly became an island. Fred recalls that he and fellow faculty member James “Grim” Wilson were holed up in Flagg Hall with several boys who were unable to evacuate. The waters were so high that to get dinner in town one night, he, Grim, and the students paddled in canoes over the causeway to the school vans parked beyond floodwaters at the public library. They returned at nightfall and paddled back to the dorm with a full moon in the sky and nearby streetlights aglow.

“It was gorgeous. Like paddling around Venice at night,” Fred remembered, having made a mental note of that special moment. Fortunately, that year, a long-term crisis was averted — although final exams had to be canceled — as the floodwaters receded within 48 hours.

This year, Fred spent his final term at Loomis Chaffee holed up in the confines of River Cottage and Chaffee Hall as the state of Connecticut issued stay-at-home orders and the campus was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each class day this spring, Fred donned one of his signature ties and walked from River Cottage, his campus home, to Chaffee Hall, where he taught English students from his empty classroom via Zoom video conference. He admits it was a bizarre and melancholy time, especially having to keep socially distant from other residential faculty families who remained on campus. While he shared the seniors’ disappointment of missing their spring term on campus and its associated rites of passage, Fred’s sanguine message to the students — delivered via a video interview with junior Aidan Gillies, the incoming Student Council president — was that the pandemic and resulting separation of the community should serve as a reminder to “make the most of our moments together” at Loomis and beyond, and to make an effort to “consciously appreciate” the special times.

Being isolated at home and following social distancing measures was “like a dress rehearsal for retirement,” Fred says, explaining that he has lived in a residential academic community for his whole adult life so far, beginning when he attended Brown University as an undergraduate. Loomis Chaffee’s community spirit is what Fred says he will miss most — especially the shared meals, stimulating environment, lively exchange of ideas, and daily social interactions that are part of life on the Island. He also will miss the collegiality of the faculty and staff.

“You get to know people best when you’re rolling up your sleeves together,” Fred acknowledges.

After graduating from Brown, Fred had a short stint of teaching at St. George’s School in Rhode Island before taking an admissions associate role at Loomis in order to coach water polo, a sport not offered at St. George’s. He began teaching English full-time at Loomis during his third year on the Island.

A respected presence on the English Department faculty, Fred inspired and engaged students in courses across grade levels, including in the senior electives Satire and Literature of the Sea. He says the old adage, “I teach students, not English” is timeworn, but remains true.

He equates the experience of a teacher or coach with that of a music conductor trying to draw out the sound of one musical instrument so it may be heard clearly playing along with the rest of the orchestra.

Fred’s characteristic teaching preparation included making notes on an index card or Post-it note before every class. “You want to know where you’re headed [in the class discussion] but be ready to extemporize,” he explains.

In addition to teaching English, Fred’s roles at Loomis have included, at various times, serving as English Department head, a dean of students, an admission associate, a dorm head in Batchelder and Taylor halls, an affiliate in Flagg and Warham halls, a trusted and valued advisor to students, and a faculty advisor to the Student Council.

He also served on the Head of School Search Committee to find a successor to John Ratté, who departed in 1996 and was succeeded by Russell Weigel. “Everyone hated to see John Ratté retire, and finding his successor was no easy task,” Fred says, noting that he appreciated the sense of responsibility and commitment to the task that the search team members shared.

But perhaps Fred’s most rewarding role has been the one for which he came to Loomis in the first place — coaching swimmers, divers, and water polo players. “Seebs” as he was affectionally known by his team, was a fixture in Hedges Pool during the fall and winter seasons every year since his first at Loomis. Later in his career, Fred also coached the distance runners on the girls track and field team, which he enjoyed and says further challenged him to adapt and grow his coaching skills.

“I love the process of teaching and coaching,” Fred says.

With Fred as head coach, the boys swimming and diving team consistently ranked among the top teams of the New England Prep School Swimming Association and won 18 Founders League titles. Fred recalls a highlight from the team’s winter 2019-20 season: “At our final home meet of the season, and my coaching career, a number of our boys were geared up in the hopes of setting new records in several events. The 200-meter medley relay team [of senior Min Jun Jung; juniors Matt Ryckman and Kai Sheng Tham; and sophomore Trent Hieber] broke that record by nearly two seconds, a stunning improvement. Then, our team of Kai Sheng, [freshman] Kaeden Freston, [senior] Mac Pahl, and Min Jun bettered our school record in the 200-meter freestyle relay. To conclude the day, the kids threw me in the pool, a tried and tested swimming tradition!”

The team’s record-setting performance was a fitting capstone for Fred’s long and successful coaching career, and he is grateful for the dedicated and passionate team of swimmers he coached this year and in many years past.

Edward Pond and Fred have coached together in Hedges Pool for decades. Ed, who also teaches science, was an assistant coach to Fred’s swim teams for many years, and Fred served as assistant coach for Ed’s boys water polo teams.

Ed reflects, “I am immensely grateful for the time we shared; for the collaborative efforts that inspired so many boys to engage, thrive, and grow as athletes, students, and people; for the friendship that anchored our work together; and for the wonderful memories and many laughs.” The teams never wanted their seasons to end, Ed says. “After working so diligently in preparation for that culminating game or race, the boys, having finished the journey, wanted only to stay a while longer at the summit with their teammates. Fred’s gift for guiding these expeditions was evident in the smiles, tears, and words the boys shared.”

Fred’s many longtime friends at Loomis include Associate Director of Studies Robert DeConinck, the head coach of the girls swim team for the last 22 years. The DeConincks — Bob, his wife Virginia, and their sons, Christopher ’07 and Jacob ’07 — have lived and worked alongside Fred in the classroom, the pool, and all aspects of residential life since Bob joined the faculty in 1998. They count Fred among their family members.

“I have had the good fortune to have had Fred coach both my sons and teach one of them,” Bob wrote in a tribute to Fred. “The lessons they learned from Fred about sportsmanship, hard work, and team have carried them far in life. He is a scholar, a gentleman, and a lifelong friend. I know he is looking forward to the next phase of his life, to live his best self and continue in his service to others. Fred never puts himself before others, and I do hope that he is a little more selfish now that he doesn’t have his ‘boys’ to worry about and care for. I look forward to continuing to help Fred with some projects at his beloved Rhode Island home as well as some more beer and wings at some of our favorite taverns. But most of all, even though I will miss seeing him around campus, I look forward to continuing our long friendship, and Fred will always have a place setting at our Thanksgiving table.”

Indeed, Fred has many plans for retirement, including continuing his passionate following of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. He has fond memories of crowding into the Batchelder social room with all the boys in the dorm to watch the Red Sox play the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2004 World Series — and their loud and hearty celebration when the Red Sox won the championship for the first time since 1918.

Before the pandemic, Fred had plans to travel this summer to see his beloved Red Sox take on his family’s hometown baseball heroes — the Chicago Cubs — at Wrigley Field with his brother and nephews.

“I’m an outlier in the family,” he sheepishly admits. Born in New Jersey, Fred and his family moved to Chicago when he entered high school. He didn’t become a Boston fan until the early 1990s. His family members remain die-hard Chicago fans.

Fred also plans to devote some of his time in retirement to working with organizations that support veterans and environmental preservation, continuing a longstanding commitment to community service. Fred led an effort to save leftover uneaten meals that had been prepared for Loomis student athletes and deliver them to a Hartford shelter after Saturday meets during the fall and winter terms. When Fred and former faculty member Isso Shimamoto, who coached girls water polo and boys swimming, started making the deliveries, they enlisted the help of student athletes and used Fred’s car to make the trip to Hartford and back. Fred said he switched to using school vans when something with a pungent odor spilled in his car, but the tradition continued through his last winter season. He hopes the meals delivery will carry on in his absence.

A lifelong learner, Fred intends to continue his personal growth by pursing continuing education courses that interest him, including perhaps a class on the writing of William Faulkner or a World War II history course. He has close access to several colleges from his home in Rhode Island, which is where Fred will settle, trading his views of the Farmington and Connecticut rivers for the coastal inlets and salt marshlands of the Ocean State.

He also looks forward to returning to the Island to visit everyone when, as he puts it, “real school” returns post-pandemic.