Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2021

Ma g azine

Spring 2021 VOLUME 84 |

NO. 2

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VAULTING INTO SPRING Sophomore C.J. Bukowski works on pole vault technique with event coach Andrew Bartlett on Pratt Field during the first week of track and field. Spring sports teams began practicing on March 22, and unlike some years, the season began with a week of sunny weather.

Photo: Cassandra Hamer

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Contents Spr i ng 2 0 2 1

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Volum e 84

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N o. 2 EDITORIAL & DESIGN TEAM

F E AT U R E S

Lynn A. Petrillo ’86 Director of Strategic Communications & Marketing

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Meeting of Minds: Chaffee Book Club Turns 20 The Chaffee Book Club marked its 20-year anniversary in February, continuing a tradition steeped in the intellectual exchange and community-building that Chaffee alumnae treasure from their school days.

Sweet Spring

Cassandra Hamer Graphic Designer

Makhala Huggins Class Notes Editor

Christine Coyle Obituaries Editor

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You’re Not on Mute

Using campus as classroom, a student learned maple sugaring from tree-tapping start to sweet-tasting finish this winter for a Global & Environmental Studies Certificate capstone project.

Loomis Chaffee alumni, students, teachers, and parents have discovered surprising new opportunities for connection in the age of Zoom.

D E PA R T M E N T S

From the Head Island News Faculty & Staff News Object Lesson

Managing Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

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4 6 16 38

Becky Purdy

40 Class Notes 44 Obituaries 56 Reflections

Christine Coyle John Cunningham Mitchell Linker Heidi E.V. McCann ’93 Deidre Swords Lisa Salinetti Ross

SUBMISSIONS/STORIES & NEWS

Alumni may contribute items of interest to: Loomis Chaffee Editors The Loomis Chaffee School 4 Batchelder Road Windsor, CT 06095 860.687.6811 magazine@loomis.org

facebook-square facebook.com/loomischaffee twitter-square twitter.com/loomischaffee instagram instagram.com/loomischaffee

Visit Loomis Chaffee online at www.loomischaffee.org for the latest school news, sports scores, and galleries of recent photos. You also will find direct links to all of our social networking communities.

For an online version of the magazine, go to www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

WEB EXTRAS Look for this notation throughout the magazine for links to online extras, from podcasts and videos to photo galleries and expanded news coverage.

Printed at Lane Press, Burlington, VT Printed on 70# Sterling Matte, an SFI Sheet, Sustainable Forestry Initiative

ON COVER: Senior Alejandro Rincón pours maple sap into an evaporator that helps boil the sap and create maple syrup. Photo: Mary Forrester

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Fr om t he Head

Remembering George Shultz ’38

By Sheila Culbert

One of the great pleasures of my term as head of school has been meeting with former Secretary of State George Shultz ’38. I visited with him several times with my colleagues Nat Follansbee and Tim Struthers ’85o0— sometimes in his lovely San Francisco apartment, sometimes at his office at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and once I had the honor of welcoming him to the campus. It was especially memorable and enjoyable when he attended our receptions in the city. With him, the conversation was always animated and fascinating. This was a man who had advised presidents, met with world leaders, and led a life of public service as a diplomat and economist.

My first meeting with him was at his home in San Francisco with possibly the most spectacular view imaginable overlooking San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the Bay Bridge all within sight. I was beside myself nervous at meeting this great man, but he quickly put me at ease.

Because of my British background, he talked about his meetings with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her relationship with Ronald Reagan. While Secretary Shultz had held four cabinet positions and had served multiple presidents, President Reagan was clearly his favorite.

He also talked about the school and what it meant to him. He had clear and wonderful

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memories of his time on the Island. He served on the Student Council and was a varsity athlete, competing on the football, basketball, and tennis teams. He was especially proud of the 11-1 record of the basketball team in his senior year. One story that he liked to tell involved Mr. Batchelder and the annual Thanksgiving dinner. The kitchen would provide a turkey for every table of boys, which the faculty would carve—but no faculty member dared to carve the table’s turkey more quickly than Mr. B. Consequently, the boys would watch with amusement as their faculty checked on Mr. B’s progress and carefully calibrated their own carving.

Over several more meetings, it quickly became very apparent just how connected and involved Secretary Shultz was in current politics. He remained an advisor to and confidante of several presidents and political figures, and he was passionately involved in the issues of nuclear proliferation and climate change. Right up to his passing, he remained engaged and involved in trying to solve these two issues.

In October 2017, Secretary Shultz visited the Island to address the whole school. We must have had well over 800 students, faculty, and staff in the Olcott Center, but you could have heard a pin drop as everyone sat in rapt silence listening to this 98-year-old man who had had a front row seat at so many historic

events talk about his career, the leaders whom he had met, and what matters in the world, providing sound advice to our students.

Following his convocation, Secretary Shultz met with the Shultz Fellows. First organized in 2017 by then Student Council President Taseen Anwar ’17, this bipartisan group meets regularly to discuss current political issues.

With his wife Charlotte at his side, Secretary Shultz gave each Shultz Fellow a signed copy of his 2016 book Learning from Experience and spent a minute or two talking with each girl and boy. He always had time for me and our school.

May he rest in peace.

He was passionately involved in the issues of nuclear proliferation and climate change. Right up to his passing, he remained engaged and involved in trying to solve these two issues.

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3 4 5 1 Secretary Shultz in October 2017 2 Head of School Sheila Culbert and Associate Head of School for External Relations Nat Follansbee visit Secretary Shultz at the Hoover Institution in March 2017.

3 The Shultz Fellowship members with their group's namesake and his wife, Charlotte, in Sellers Hall in October 2017.

4 Secretary Shultz, then-Chairman of the Board of Trustees Christopher K. Norton ’76, and Sheila pause for a photograph after the 2017 convocation in the Olcott Center.

5 A proud member of the 1937–38 varsity basketball team, Secretary Shultz holds up a photograph of his team, which had an 11-1 record that year.

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Photo: Jessica Ravenelle

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Filmmaker Challenges Social Media Business Models Mr. Orlowski encouraged the community to find solace away from social media platforms and look for ways to cultivate real human connections, removing themselves from the algorithmically-driven ones.

Two-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jeff Orlowski joined the Loomis Chaffee community virtually in late February to discuss his latest film, The Social Dilemma, and the consequences of people’s growing dependence on social media.

Students considered themes from the film and the webinar in advisory groups later that week.

Mr. Orlowski is the founder of the production company Exposure Labs. He served as director, producer, and cinematographer of the Sundance Award-winning films Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral. The Social Dilemma, a combination of documentary and drama, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix.

In the webinar, Dean of Student Life Jessica Matzkin and Scott MacClintic ’82, director of innovation in the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI), interviewed Mr. Orlowski, beginning with the same initial question asked of subjects in The Social Dilemma: “What is the problem?”

“The biggest problem is that we’ve now created technology that is affecting society at scale,” Mr. Orlowski replied.

From the impact on teenage mental health to political polarization, The Social Dilemma reveals the broad spectrum of consequences that stem from the use of social media.

Mr. Orlowski explained that tech companies have turned the social platforms they provide for free into trillion-dollar industries by manipulating the public, providing little transparency or clarity on their tactics.

Though the public has been unaware of these tactics for a long time, he feels that people are beginning to wake up and recognize the misalignment between these companies and the public good.

The amount of time people spend on social media has increased during the pandemic, heightening Mr. Orlowski’s concerns about platforms that feed their business models by convincing users to provide and consume content.

He described the harmful effects of scrolling through Instagram and constantly comparing oneself to friends, and he cautioned that “doom-scrolling” through Twitter can lead someone to feel more and more depressed about the state of the world. He also noted the alienating effects of wide-spread “fake news.”

While acknowledging that people might gain meaningful connection and comfort from social media during hard times like the pandemic, Mr. Orlowski encouraged the community to find solace away from social media platforms and look for ways to cultivate real human connections, removing themselves from the algorithmically-driven ones.

“What does social connection and social media look like when not built around an arbitrary financial business model?” Mr. Orlowski asked.

He said he wants to challenge what people think they get from social media platforms. Quoting a familiar saying about tech companies, Mr. Orlowski reminded his audience that if you are not paying for the product, you are the product.

The filmmaker also encouraged students to study the ethics and morality of technology and advised students to challenge big tech companies and ask tough questions when scouting for jobs.

Mr. Orlowski reminded students that Facebook was created from a college dorm room. “You can start building something today, something out of the box, something that you actually need and want to use,” he said.

Mr. Orlowski’s visit was part of the Hubbard Speakers Series, made possible by a gift from Robert P. Hubbard ’47.

For a link to more resources on The Social Dilemma’s website, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Looking Beyond

“I Have a Dream” C

alling for unflinching honesty in examining systemic racism in the United States, author, journalist, and political activist Jeff Johnson headlined a series of Loomis Chaffee activities in January that honored the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and sought a deeper understanding of Dr. King’s messages and appeals for action.

In the webinar convocation, Mr. Johnson focused on Dr. King’s speaking and writing beyond his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech.

Characterizing the civil rights leader through an idealized version of this speech is a disservice, said Mr. Johnson, because it ignores the complexity of Dr. King’s philosophy and the need for hard choices and firm resolve to tackle racial and socio-economic injustice in the United States.

To properly honor Dr. King’s legacy, Mr. Johnson said, the country should summon the courage to be “aggressively honest” in examining the truth of its history and commit to ending systemic inequity. He called on Loomis students to find inspiration in the full measure of Dr. King’s message and engage in finding solutions to systemic racism.

Referencing the work of several authors and historians, Mr. Johnson pointed to realities in U.S. history that people are reluctant to examine in the context of honoring Dr. King’s legacy: the de-humanization of Black people to justify the powerful economic industry of slavery in the country; the pitting of rural and urban poor against each other to preserve the wealth gap and ensure that elite white men retained political, economic, and social power; and the pull of raw emotions tied to issues of race in America.

Dr. King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech in August 1963, when he and his message of unity among Americans of all skin colors was highly popular, Mr. Johnson said. But as Dr. King’s ideas evolved from 1963 through the years leading up to his assassination in 1968, the civil rights leader began to speak about the need for civil disobedience, criticize the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and demand that public resources be redirected to address poverty and the lack of educa-

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tion and opportunity for poor people, especially Black Americans.

These ideas were less widely embraced, but Dr. King understood that there was no benefit in sanitizing the truth to make others comfortable.

He believed that aggressive action and sweeping measures were needed for change, Mr. Johnson said, and Dr. King was murdered for the threat he posed to people who benefited from maintaining the status quo.

After the convocation, students and their faculty advisors attended breakout sessions that considered racism as it pertains to sports, gender, economics, and education as well as other social, economic, and policy injustices and possible community responses to them. Faculty members led many of the discussions, and Ariel Williams ’06, a vice president at Goldman Sachs financial services company in New York, led a session on financial racism with economics teacher Matthew DeNunzio.

Dialogues sparked by the convocation and breakout sessions continued the following day during advisory group de-briefings and an open meeting hosted by the student organization People Rising in Support of Multiculturalism. Mr. Johnson also answered questions from several students in a session that was recorded and shared with the community later in the week.

The week’s events also included student music, dance, and spoken-word performances paying tribute to Dr. King. Because the campus was closed and the school operated entirely online during the first half of the winter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MLK Week events took place through videoconferencing and recordings.

Associate Deans of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Ahmad Cantrell ’07 and Elliott Dial and other members of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion coordinated this year’s MLK Week programming.

Mr. Johnson is the author of Everything I’m Not Made Me Everything I Am: Discovering Your Personal Best, published in 2009. His visit was made possible with support from the Hubbard Speakers Series, established by Robert P. Hubbard ’47.

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COVID and Community Norton Fellow’s Film Explores Impact of the Pandemic on Greater Hartford Community In this screenshot from the film, junior Cole Alleyne walks from his home in West Hartford, Connecticut.

“ What does ‘community’ mean and how should we reconsider ‘the common good?’” asks the film Community in the Time of COVID-19, created by junior Cole Alleyne and shared with the Loomis Chaffee community in February.

The film, part of Cole’s Norton Fellowship project, addresses the disparities of experiences in Greater Hartford during the COVID-19 pandemic through interviews with a variety of people living and working in the community.

The Norton Fellows program, administered by the Norton Family Center for the Common Good, offers selected Loomis students the opportunity to become more engaged with their local communities over the summer break.

Cole, a resident of West Hartford, Connecticut, wanted to better understand what was happening in his community during the pandemic, so he decided to ask local people about their experiences. Their stories bring attention to the struggles of individuals and of the community as a whole.

The film’s first interview is with Loomis junior Michael Zhou, who lives in Beijing, China. Michael was not able to return home when COVID-19 started spreading in the United States and stayed with a local day student during the spring term of 2020. He describes the struggles of being an international student on campus and the micro-aggressions he encountered because of negative press and misinformation shared online about the virus and its origins.

Cole’s film also shares the perspectives of several local officials and community leaders.

Patricia Baker, the founding chief executive officer of the Connecticut Health Foundation, speaks on camera about racial and ethnic health

disparities in Connecticut, an inequity that the foundation hopes to eliminate by improving the health status of people of color. She says COVID-19 made these health disparities blatantly clear to the public.

For perspective on the government’s efforts to support the people of Connecticut, especially those most affected by the pandemic, Cole interviewed Connecticut State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who spoke about what his office was doing, how his and his staff members’ lives had changed, and what challenges confront people working for the government from home.

For more personal stories about the pandemic, Cole spoke with Harold Sparrow, the president and chief executive officer of the Greater Hartford Area YMCA and a COVID-19 survivor. Mr. Sparrow talks in the film about the challenges COVID-19 posed for the mission of the YMCA, which is to build a community through programming for children and adults. The pandemic itself makes coming together in groups potentially fatal, he notes, and stay-home orders and other side effects of the pandemic also erode community.

“Community is like the air. We may not be able to see it, but like fish in water, we are moving through it every day,” Mr. Sparrow says in the film. “When I got sick, my community drastically changed for the worse. I lost connection with those people and the places that I move through every day.”

The racial reckoning that gained momentum during the pandemic was the focus of Cole’s interview with Steve Austin, a sergeant in the Hartford Police Department. Their on-camera conversation references the death of George Floyd while in police custody in

Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May 2020. Officer Austin, who is Black, speaks about being a Black police officer not only during a pandemic, but also during the current racial climate in America, and he explains the work that police officers do that isn’t seen in the news and on social media. “I don’t think there is such thing as a Black officer. I am a Black man first,” Officer Austin says. “There aren’t Black doctors, there are just doctors who happen to be Black.

So for me, when I see Black men being killed or harmed by police officers on the news and online, I hope that people are being honest and asking themselves what they would do if they were in that situation, and then reflect on the answer.”

In the final interview of the film, Sanford Cloud, chief executive officer of the Cloud Company and chairman of the University of Connecticut Health Center Board of Directors, praises state and local leaders on their decisions to mandate masks in public and continue requiring social distancing. He also reflects that the pandemic made him think more about how his behavior and others’ behaviors will affect future generations.

The film ends with Cole sharing some of his own thoughts. “Everyone on the planet has their own COVID story,” he says. “In a sense this pandemic has created one unifying factor that joins all humans on the globe. The common good in 2020 is not extensive acts of service or outgoing acts of kindness, but rather the simple things, like wearing a mask, staying home to keep others safe, and being thoughtful about others before yourself.”

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Student Helps Local Kids Stay Active in Pandemic Senior Eamon Moylan playing for the Pelicans.

Photo: Stan Godlewski

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o help Hartford-area children develop soccer skills despite the pandemic, senior Eamon Moylan created a series of training videos focusing on at-home skills development for school-aged kids and shared them last fall with local organizations dedicated to youth engagement, recreation, and education.

“Footy at Home,” as the video series and accompanying website are called, offers nine short instructional films explaining and demonstrating soccer drills that kids can do using spaces and items around the house. Featuring upbeat music and encouraging advice, the videos were designed to help children work on their ball skills even when team play was not possible.

Eamon created the series, with help from several fellow Pelicans, as part of his Norton Fellowship, a community engagement program administered by Loomis Chaffee’s Norton Family Center for the Common Good. A soccer aficionado, Eamon has played in numerous youth leagues and on various teams since he was a small child and is a leader on the Loomis boys varsity soccer team.

Eamon said the project was inspired by the positive interactions he’d had with young kids from Hartford as a volunteer in a mentoring program through his church and as a lifeguard in a town recreation program.

“I got to be really good friends with some of the kids,” Eamon says, adding that he had hoped to make more connections through his Norton Fellowship project.

Eamon’s original plan for the project, which he proposed in early March of last year, was to host underserved Hartford children at a soccer skills camp during the summer of 2020. When spring and summer brought the widespread shutdown of schools and other community activities due to the pandemic, the camp had to be canceled.

“I was just hoping things with the coronavirus would get better [last spring] and that there would be a window where I could the run the camp as I had planned. It was disappointing for sure,” Eamon says.

Eamon pivoted to “Footy at Home” as a way to still connect with kids and organizations that support young people in the community, and to fulfill his commitment to the Norton Fellowship. He says he hoped to at least offer the kids a fun activity they could safely enjoy.

The instructional videos were filmed on campus in September when day students were able to return to Loomis for in-person classes. Senior

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Declan Coyle filmed and edited videos of Eamon demonstrating the drills and then set up the “Footy at Home” website so anyone can access the video series. Senior Lauren Morrissey, a member of the girls varsity soccer team, and junior Will Cleary, Eamon’s soccer teammate, also appear in the videos.

Eamon says he was happy with how the project turned out, but there were times when he was discouraged, including when he had to rethink his original idea because of the pandemic.

“I learned to focus on controlling what I could control,” Eamon says, noting that he will likely continue to find this skill useful.

He also had to get comfortable asking others for help and learn to shake off discouragement when people weren’t interested or able to help him with his project. He said he especially appreciated the support he received from people in the Loomis community.

When the videos were complete, Eamon reached out to local organizations that he thought might be interested in the videos for their clientele and sent them a link to the “Footy at Home” website. Several responded with positive feedback.

Lynn Pantuosco-Hensch, a licensed soccer coach with United Soccer Coaches who works with youth leagues, wrote to Eamon in an email, which he shared: “… [Y]our instruction and demonstrations are spot on.

And the scope and length of each video are very appropriate for youth players. A lot of nice touches with the technology skills as well. I really appreciate seeing high school students take the initiative to create something, as well as learn to coach.”

Eric LaForest, Keller Family Director of the Norton Center, notes Eamon’s patience and determination in working to make lemonade out of lemons throughout the project.

“Even the most straightforward community engagement project necessitates a full measure of flexibility and patience, but, wow, Eamon took on a project that required a great deal of both,” he says.

For a link to the “Footy at Home” website and training videos, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Birth of a Scholarship Fund When the Loomis Class of 1970’s 50th Reunion Committee convened its first call on March 4, 2020, the group was enthusiastic about its charge, which revolved around planning the events for Reunion Weekend in June and ensuring that the class had a robust turnout for the milestone celebration. COVID-19 was not on the agenda, nor did anyone suggest that Reunion Weekend might be in jeopardy because of it.

The committee’s second conference call a few weeks later was very different.

While the decision to postpone Reunion Weekend 2020 was not officially announced until later in the spring, it was obvious on that second call that the committee’s focus would be unlike what they had previously thought.

Nonetheless, they had already coalesced into an excellent team. They enjoyed reconnecting with one another over conference calls (and later Zoom calls), which were often full of joyful reminiscing and humor, providing much-needed levity. As such, despite the uncertainty of Reunion Weekend, no one suggested suspending the meetings or disbanding the committee.

In fact, to the contrary, the group found a new purpose that very much met the moment.

It was on that second call that the idea of the Loomis Class of 1970 Scholarship was introduced. Establishing a scholarship, which would help make a Loomis Chaffee education possible for a student whose family had financial need, felt particularly timely given the impact the pandemic was having on the economy. The scholarship also gave the class something to rally behind to sustain its momentum, regardless of what might become of Reunion Weekend. Finally, it would serve as a lasting tribute to the Loomis Class of 1970, transcending the importance of a weekend celebration.

Within a few weeks, several members of the committee made commitments, and the Loomis Class of 1970 Scholarship was officially cre

On a Zoom call this winter are members of the Loomis Class of 1970 Reunion Committee and representatives of the Alumni/Development Office: (top) Associate Director of Development Heidi E.V. McCann ’93, Senior Major Gifts Officer Mitchell Linker, Tom Kimmell ’70, and Bob Kieckhefer ’70; (middle) Larry Malinconico ’70, Mark Nussbaum ’70, Sig Wissner-Gross ’70, and John Bosee ’70; and (bottom) Lee Burton ’70, Lew Baxter ’70, and Rich Lintz ’70.

ated. Lew Baxter ’70, who generously provided a critical lead gift during the early stages of fundraising, viewed the effort as an opportunity to knock down barriers to a Loomis Chaffee education and to give back. “As we approached our 50th Reunion,” Lew states, “we recognized that the school had made remarkable strides toward fulfilling the Founders’ vision. The glaring exception, however, was that the cost of tuition had become too high to admit many the school wished to enroll.” He continues, “The best way to address this is for those of us who have benefited greatly from a Loomis education and, like the Founders, have prospered financially, to create scholarship funds. It is unlikely Loomis can ever be free as the Founders hoped, but it can be made affordable to more of those of merit if those alumni who are in the position to give, do so.”

Sadly, days after the committee sent a letter to the entire class announcing the scholarship and inviting participation, tragedy struck: Longtime Loomis champion, committee member, and early architect of the scholarship effort Bill Stevenson passed away unexpectedly on June 14, 2020. “Bill was one of the kindest people I have ever known,” says classmate, longtime friend, and committee member Tom Kimmell. “He thought about and brought out the best in others, seemingly having no capacity for ill intent towards other people. He was that way as a student at Loomis and remained true to his principles to the end of his life.”

Tom continues, “As the head of the National Farmers Union Foundation, Bill supported local agriculture and empowered growers to form their own cooperatives. He also earned a degree in theology

and was inspired by the healing power of prayer. It may sound trite, but it is completely true — he made the world a better place.

Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Bill can attest to that.”

In their grief, the committee’s resolve to see the scholarship effort continue gained strength.

While the group’s charge had changed from that first meeting in March 2020, the members’ sense of purpose was clear and profound. They unanimously agreed to dedicate the fund in Bill’s memory so that it may serve as a lasting celebration of his contributions to the Loomis community, including his work in the formative days of the 50th Reunion Committee.

The scholarship emerged from a worldwide disaster, and along the way it was met with the tragedy of Bill’s untimely passing. The committee, comprised of members Lew Baxter, John Bosee, Lee Burton, Bob Kieckhefer, Tom Kimmell, Rich Lintz, Larry Malinconico, Mark Nussbaum, and Sig Wissner-Gross, banded together to create a permanent celebration of their class, and friend, while making a Loomis Chaffee education possible to talented and deserving students with significant financial need.

The Loomis Class of 1970 Scholarship serves as a beacon of hope and light in a dark time.

To read the obituary for Bill Stevenson ’70 that appeared in the Summer 2020 issue of Loomis Chaffee Magazine, visit www.loomischaffee.org/ magazine.

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In a familiar scene from his 37 years on the Island, Fred Seebeck converses with a student.

Photo: Jessica Ravenelle

New Mentoring Prize Honors Fred Seebeck Established by her family in loving memory of Lena Chen ’87, the award honors and celebrates the impact that faculty members have on the lives of students in and outside of the classroom.

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Recently retired Loomis Chaffee faculty member Fred Seebeck has been awarded the inaugural Lena M. Chen M.D. ’87 Faculty Prize for Mentoring.

Established in 2020 by Lena’s family, the prize will be awarded annually to a member of the faculty who excels in the role of mentor to students. Given in loving memory of Lena, who died in July 2019, the award honors and celebrates the impact that faculty members have on the lives of students in and outside of the classroom.

The school had planned to present the award to Fred at the close of the 2019–20 school year during a ceremony on campus honoring the year’s retirees, including Fred, but the ceremony had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Head of School Sheila Culbert notified Fred of the award via telephone in December 2020.

Fred inspired many members of the Loomis community as a teacher, coach, advisor, and

professional colleague throughout his 37-year tenure on the Island. Fred taught English; coached boys swimming, diving, and water polo; and at various times served as English Department head, a dean of students, an admission associate, 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, among other roles. “Seebs,” as he was affectionately known by his teams, was a fixture in Hedges Pool, coaching water polo and swimming every fall and winter during his tenure at the school.

“We really could not think of anybody else who so embodied the ideal of mentorship, not just for students but for all of us,” Sheila said in announcing that Fred was the inaugural award recipient. “He has made a positive difference in his students’ lives. He is the sort of teacher for whom we are celebrated — dedicated, professional, extremely erudite, and always caring. He is, quite simply, the model.”

Sheila acknowledged the Chen family’s long-standing dedication to Loomis, their tragic loss, and their generosity in creating the prize in Lena’s memory. In addition to Lena, her sister, Trustee Pauline Chen Halsey ’82; her brother, Michael Chen ’92; her cousin Oliver Chen ’96; and her nieces Isabelle Halsey ’20 and Natalie Halsey ’20 attended Loomis.

An exceptional student and active alumna at Loomis, Lena earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania before her notable career as a physician, scientist, educator, and advisor to federal health policy leaders. At the University of Michigan Health System, Lena is remembered for her kindness and compassion in her care of hospital patients as well as for her mentoring of new physicians and medical students as a clinical lecturer. The award is a tribute to Lena’s legacy.

To learn more about Fred’s career at the school and to read Lena’s obituary from the magazine, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Design Warrior

In conjunction with an exhibit of her Mulaninspired shoe collection, Ruthie Davis ’80 shared her entrepreneurial wisdom and fashion design insights with students.

Photo: Courtesy ruthiedavis.com

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ashion designer Ruthie Davis ’80 held a seminar with students this winter in conjunction with “Ruthie Davis – A Design Warrior,” an exhibit of her collection of Mulan-inspired shoes in the Richmond Art Center and online.

Ruthie spoke with students about her experience as an entrepreneur in the fashion business.

“I’m not the typical designer who went to art school,” Ruthie told the group of more than 30 students gathered online for her presentation. “I’m a practical problem-solver,” she said, explaining that she designs shoes in response to the desires and purchasing trends of the people for whom her personal brand relates.

At Loomis, Ruthie said, she was “into sports,” including field hockey, tennis, and skiing. She said she put together stylish, sporty outfits — that were more about looking cool than being warm — to wear to ski team practices that were held on winter evenings at a nearby ski resort.

“I used to freeze every night, … but I didn’t care,” Ruthie said. She didn’t know it at the time, she said, but her passion for sports and fashion eventually would lead her to career success.

Ruthie continued playing sports at Bowdoin College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and visual arts, and then earned a master’s in business administration in entrepreneurship from Babson College. She cut her teeth in the fashion industry working first for sports brand Reebok then footwear brand UGG and fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger before taking what she’d learned working in the industry to launch her own brand, Ruthie Davis, in 2006.

“I always knew I didn’t want to just design shoes. I wanted to create my own brand with a purpose and a meaning,” she said.

According to Ruthie, her brand represents creativity, inclusivity, and open-mindedness, and her shoes, many of which feature towering heels and platforms, are structurally sound and made of high-quality materials so that they are “comfortable and can move and give the wearer a feeling of empowerment.” Her shoe designs have been worn on the red carpet by trend-setting celebrities and social influencers, including Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

True to her passions, Ruthie said her brand aesthetic is both sporty and fashionable.

“Imagine if Manolo Blahnik and Nike had a baby — that’s my brand,” she quipped and explained that she designs for people like herself — people who are confident in themselves, are fun-loving and youthful in spirit, and like to stand out.

The Mulan Warrior Collection, inspired by the titular character from Disney’s Mulan, celebrates female empowerment and is one of several lines Ruthie has created in collaboration with Disney.

During the year-long process of creating the Mulan collection, Ruthie worked with a group of design students from University of Delaware, where Davis is a part of the fashion advisory council. She said she enjoyed mentoring the students because of their positive attitude and willingness to learn.

Ruthie also spoke to the Loomis students about her experience as an entrepreneur, the challenges posed to her business by the COVID-19 pandemic, and where she hopes to go next with the brand.

At the end of her talk, students asked

Ruthie questions about her design inspiration, her advice for breaking into the fashion industry, her experience collaborating with Disney, and her views on the fashion industry’s responsibility for preserving the environment.

The exhibit in the Richmond Art Center included an interactive display and Ruthie's sketches for the shoes.

Photo: Stacy-Ann Rowe

To view the "Ruthie Davis — A Design Warrior" online gallery and to watch Ruthie's webinar for students, visit www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Learning and Doing Global and Environmental Studies U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations Dustin Liu

Doing is a central aspect of the Global and Environmental Studies Certificate program at Loomis Chaffee. Students working toward the certificate must take action — traveling, engaging in hands-on projects, and expanding their physical horizons — as well as taking relevant courses and wrestling intellectually with global and environmental issues.

Through seminars, the program also introduces students to people who “do” global and environmental work in the world every day, through their jobs, avocations, and activism.

This is how 38 seniors this year met Dustin Liu, a U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations, and Carolyn Finney, an author and activist who draws attention to the intersection of racial and environmental injustice.

Mr. Liu spoke with seniors via videoconference in December during two seminar sessions focused on identifying and developing skills for youth activism. His presentation energized the cadre of students, who were working on capstone projects for the certificate program.

As a youth observer, Mr. Liu connects young people to the work of the United Nations. He explained that he meets regularly with groups of young people from across the United States in what he called a “national listening tour” to understand what people he meets think about pressing global issues and to inform them about ways the United Nations can help them take action. Mr. Liu said he seeks to amplify the voices of youth leaders, to engage more young people in the effort to

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enact change, and to help achieve worldwide sustainability goals as outlined by the United Nations.

“Young people have immense wisdom … [and] an indescribable sense of imagination,” Mr. Liu said, explaining that these attributes are important in tackling global challenges.

Mr. Liu said he was inspired to activism by his parents, both Taiwanese immigrants, who fostered in him a belief that change can begin with individuals, not just organizations or governments. Young people understand the change that needs to take place, he said, and their energy and participation can drive social change. He shared several stories about young individuals he has met who are actively involved in tackling global issues and are making a difference.

Activism regarding climate change is urgently needed, he said. “Systems need to be dramatically reimagined, … and relationships need to be transformative to enact change,” he told the students. “Each and every one of you plays a clear role in that movement forward.”

Using an informational graphic, Mr. Liu explained the tenets of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, a plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity that was adopted by all U.N. member states in 2015. He discussed what is necessary for systemic and social change, offered advice for developing skills to take action, and suggested ways the United Nations can help them meet their goals.

“It’s really important that we maintain hope

Author and activist Carolyn Finney

and stay in the fight,” Mr. Liu stressed.

After his presentation, the students asked Mr. Liu about his experience working at the United Nations and about policymakers’ receptiveness toward young people’s climate change concerns. The students also sought his advice regarding community organizing and gaining the attention of policymakers.

In addition to his role at the United Nations, Mr. Liu serves as a graduate assistant for social innovation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a teaching fellow at Harvard University. He is working toward a master’s degree at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.

Two guest speakers this winter showed students how they turned their interest in global and environmental issues into ongoing action.

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Ms. Finney discussed environmental injustice with seniors in the certificate program during videoconference visits to the seminars in November.

The author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors, published in 2014, Ms. Finney spoke to the students about the long tradition of African American environmentalism, extending from the time of slavery to the present, and described how her heritage and her experience as a Black person in America have affected her relationship to the environment. She drew connections between racial and socio-economic injustices and concerns about equity, inclusion, and diversity in American society.

“Environmental injustice is not only about the placement of toxic waste sites in poor [communities] and/or communities of color, but also considers the lack of access that certain communities have to green spaces and healthy food,” she said.

Citing the country’s long history of social injustices, including slavery, the removal of native people from their land, and limitations on immigration for certain groups of people, Ms. Finney referenced the many ways since the nation’s inception that the American people have “decided that certain groups of people are not going to be valued as much as other groups of people.”

After her presentation, the students asked Ms. Finney about a variety of environmental justice issues, including the oversight of businesses’ adherence to environmental policy, ensuring populations’ access to healthy living environments, addressing the negative effects of gentrification, and individuals’ responsibilities as consumers and activists.

The certificate program is administered by the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, headed by Christopher H. Lutz Director Marley Matlack.

To learn more about Mr. Liu, Ms. Finney, and the Alvord Center, visit www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.

Black Holes and Nobel Prizes

Maxim Lyutikov, professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue University.

Photo: Purdue University

Astrophysicist Maxim Lyutikov, a Purdue University professor of physics and astronomy, discussed black holes and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity with students and faculty during an Evening of Science organized by Loomis Chaffee’s Physics Club this winter.

More than 50 school community members joined the Zoom videoconference to hear Mr. Lyutikov’s presentation.

During his talk, Mr. Lyutikov remarked that it has been a “good decade for astrophysicists,” explaining that two groups of recent Nobel Prize-winning physicists earned the awards for work related to the detection, measurement, and mathematical explanation of black holes in the universe.

Mr. Lyutikov said he had been fortunate to collaborate with one recent Nobel laureate, Kip S. Thorne, earlier in his career when Lyutikov was a graduate student at California Institute of Technology. Mr. Thorne, Rainer Weiss, and Barry C. Barish received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics

for their success in observing gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes. The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez for their work advancing the scientific understanding of black holes.

Mr. Lyutikov’s virtual visit to Loomis was spearheaded by junior Lillie Szemraj, Physics Club president, and facilitated by Science Department Head Neil Chaudhary ’05.

In addition to teaching, Mr. Lyutikov conducts research in high-energy and extragalactic astrophysics, phenomena involving large-scale compact objects, and cosmic rays. His research has appeared in more than 300 publications. He earned a master’s degree at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute and a doctorate at California Institute of Technology.

Mr. Lyutikov is a regular contributor to Purdue’s Saturday Morning Astrophysics Program for high school students.

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THAT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! WINTER COMFORT In an effort organized by the Be Homeful club, 35 students assembled winter comfort kits in February to distribute to people experiencing homelessness. Each of the 40 kits contained a variety of health and beauty aids and comfort items, such as warm socks, mittens, and scarves, to help people during the cold weather. The Be Homeful club’s leaders, junior Viraj Dcunha and sophomore Lily Walker, distributed the kits to nonprofit organizations that serve the local community. Be Homeful is a part of Loomis Chaffee’s Community Engagement afterschool programming.

NATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL Three student musicians joined students from across the country for the 2020 National Association of Music Educators All-National Honors Ensembles, a two-day virtual music festival in January. Senior Clara Chen and junior Isabella Jiang performed on clarinet with the festival’s concert band, and senior Baihan “Tom” Zhang performed as a tenor vocalist in the mixed chorus. Applicants were selected for participation through competitive

video auditions and then were required to learn and rehearse their pieces in advance of the event. The festival’s rehearsals, masterclasses, and workshops all took place online.

The rehearsals culminated in a final concert recording.

“BLUES” ONLINE The Loom published its Fall 2020 online edition in December, featuring a collection of original creative writing and artwork by students on the theme of “Blues.” Led this year by co-editors-in-chief senior Krishnapriya Rajaram and senior Julie Chung, the student literary magazine is published twice during the school year — a themed digital edition in the fall and a general print edition in the spring — and celebrates the interconnectedness of the literary and visual arts.

To enjoy the Fall 2020 edition of The Loom, visit www.loomischaffee.org/ magazine.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS Gilchrist Environmental Fellowships were

awarded to seven student projects in January.

The annual grants help to fund efforts toward environmental preservation, awareness, and study on campus. Juniors Ellen Olender and Lillie Szemraj are cultivating a tea garden on campus and planning to harvest and process the herbs for possible sale as tea.

Junior Khushi Mahajan is promoting native pollinator plants to create pollinator meadows near the school’s Solar Energy Field.

Director of Sustainable Agriculture Gratia Lee is the faculty advisor to these two projects.

Senior Alejandro Rincón tapped several maple trees on campus and is processing the sap into syrup, with guidance from Dean of Students Michael Donegan. (Learn more about this project beginning on page 24.) Four other fellowship recipients are enrolled in the Guided Environmental Research Project course, taught by Jeffrey Dyreson, associate director of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies. The grants helped to fund their research projects. Senior Biani Ebie is assessing trees and shrubs that were planted at the school’s Solar Energy Field last year, replacing any that did not survive, and building a scale model of the area. Senior

FAC UL TY & STA FF NE WS Spanish teacher Jesús Cobo presented at the annual conference of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in November 2020. His session, “Humanizing the Text: Bringing Literature to Life in the Language Classroom,” shared ways to engage students in the study of literature in a foreign language by helping the students make connections between the characters’ experiences and the students’ own lives. The conference was supposed to take place in Washington, D.C., but was moved online because of the pandemic. Jesus’s presentation was an on-demand offering on the conference’s online platform.

Three teaching fellows at Loomis Chaffee are nearing completion of their master’s degrees in the Independent School Teaching Residency program at University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Psychology teacher Danielle Fergus, English teacher Michaela

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Chipman, and history teacher Kevin Guevara are in their second year as “Penn Fellows” on the Island and will continue as Loomis faculty members next school year.

Dean of Faculty Andrew Matlack and Sara Deveaux, director of the Henry R. Kravis ’63 Center for Excellence in Teaching, presented at the 2020 National Association of Independent School Annual Conference. Their workshop focused on incorporating professional development into the faculty evaluation process in meaningful ways.

Sara, who also teaches French, recently co-authored a French textbook, EntreCultures 3, published by Wayside Publishing.

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Pedro Arellano is calculating the school’s carbon footprint for 2020, including a comprehensive look at the dining hall and food waste. Senior Charles Morrison is examining the economics of food composting and creating a composting education and promotion campaign on campus.

Senior Carter Pavlonnis is building interpretive signs for the Joffray Trail, which runs along the Connecticut River on campus, to inform the trail’s pedestrians about the unique habitat of river floodplain forests and efforts to grow disease-resistant American Elm trees. To receive fellowship grants, Loomis Chaffee community members submit proposals for their projects to a committee that reviews the plans and decides which proposals to approve for that year.

MODEL UNITED NATIONS Delegations of Loomis Chaffee students honed their diplomatic, analytical, and oratory skills at Model United Nations conferences this winter.

At the North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference, organized by Georgetown University through the Georgetown International Relations Association and held virtually this year, six Loomis students earned awards for their committee work. At the Boston Invitational Model United Nations Conference, also held virtually, 10 Pelicans earned awards.

HONORS FOR ARTISTS AND WRITERS The 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards honored four student artists and 17 student writers from Loomis Chaffee in the annual competition sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The students’ original works of photography, painting, digital art, poetry, and prose were recognized with awards in the region that includes Connecticut schools. Gold medalists from the regional competition advanced to national judging, and two Loomis students earned national awards. Senior Rosalie Lyons received a national Gold Medal in the Science Fiction & Fantasy writing category for her piece, "Nine Lives." Freshman Emily Tang won a national Silver Medal in the Photography category for her work, "Rite of Passage."

ATHLETICS SPEAKER SERIES The Athletics Department launched a speaker series for student athletes this winter with the first two sessions focusing on sports nutrition and sports psychology. In December, athletics nutrition expert Christopher Barrett spoke with Pelican athletes and coaches over Zoom about optimal dietary practices for student athletes, including how athletes can best take in calories throughout the day, how they should fuel

Associate Director of Athletics and head baseball coach Donnie McKillop has been named manager of the New Britain Bees, a Futures Collegiate Baseball League team in New Britain, Connecticut, for the summer 2021 season. Donnie also is the dorm head of Warham Hall.

An exhibit at A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, New York, this spring will include sculpture by Jennifer McCandless, head of the Loomis Chaffee Visual Arts Department. Jen also will have a solo exhibition at the Soapbox Gallery in Burlington, Vermont, in September.

Associate Director of Admission Timothy Jeon ’06 and his wife, Elizabeth McDermott, welcomed a baby boy, Beckett Gabriel Jeon, on January 21.

their bodies before practices and games, and how they can eat to maximize recovery after training. He also stressed the importance of healthy snacking and eating a proper breakfast, and he offered specific suggestions for athlete meals and snacks. Mr. Barrett is the registered dietitian-nutritionist at the Center for Musculoskeletal Health at Hartford HealthCare’s Bone & Joint Institute and is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a running coach. In January, clinical psychologist Peter Lucchio met via Zoom with varsity athletes and coaches to discuss athletic performance and the mental, physical, and social factors that affect athletes, as well as strategies for coping with the COVID-19 pandemic as a competitive athlete. His wide-ranging discussion covered using breathing patterns and breathing exercises during competition, combatting self-doubt, practicing mindfulness and meditation before going to bed, and other topics. Dr. Lucchio works at the Bone & Joint Institute and with athletes and coaches at Trinity College and the University of Hartford.

Sophie Teresa Moore, daughter of faculty member Jeffrey Moore and his wife, Brittany, was born on October 2, 2020. Jeff is dorm head of Kravis Hall, head football coach, and a college counselor.

Math teacher Courtney Doyle and English and computer science teacher Matthew Johnson became parents on January 25 with the birth of their daughter, Frances “Franny” Margaret Johnson.

In other happy news, English teacher Chiara Mahogany Turay (formerly Chiara White-Mink) and Ahmed Turay were married on December 24, 2020, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.

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PELICAN GAME S On opening night of the new all-school Pelican Games, Teams Yellow, Orange, Green, and Purple gather under the lights on Pratt Field for the first event, Minute to Win It. After a first weekend full of games and contests, the Pelican Games are continuing through the end of the school year, when a winning team will be declared. Photo: Michael Howard

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Recent Books

by ALUMNI WRITERS These books have been published or have been brought to our attention in the last year. The editors ask alumni to send updates and corrections to magazine@loomis.org for inclusion in this annual list.

Brad Tillson ’61

The Dayton Book Guys: How a group of men bonded through books Ted Mooney ’69

The Siren of Good Intentions

Kevin O’Malley ’69 Shut Up and Be Pretty

Charles S. Bissell III ’75

I’ll Have What She’s Having: A Love Affair With Food.

Maya Shanbhag Lang ’96

What We Carry

Timothy Eng ’17

Ten Commandments of Investing: Guiding Principles from the Greatest Investment Wizards

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ALUMNI AUTHOR Michele Martinez Campbell

Best-selling novelist Michele Martinez Campbell ’80 read from her latest book and discussed writing as a career with a panel of student writers in February, an event that drew an online audience of more than 70 students and other members of the Loomis Chaffee community.

Michele, a former federal prosecutor, writes novels that primarily fall under the heading of thriller, suspense novel, mystery, or crime story. The latest of her eight published novels, The Wife Who Knew Too Much, was released in July 2020 to positive reviews.

In the hour-long videoconference, Michele described her daily writing process, discussed the business side of a professional writing career, and answered panelists’ questions about genre fiction and about her inspiration for plots and settings in her novels. She also spoke about her career trajectory from prosecutor to novelist. Although she always has loved to write and is an avid reader, Michele didn’t write her first novel until she was 38.

A co-editor-in-chief of The Log while at Loomis, Michele attended Harvard University as an undergraduate then worked on Capitol Hill

before entering Stanford Law School. After earning her law degree, she clerked for a federal judge and worked for several years for a Manhattan law firm before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney in New York City.

After eight years of prosecuting narcotics, gang, and other federal cases — exciting work that she said was “like an episode of Law and Order” — she shifted to teaching law and writing novels, and she moved with her husband and two children to a small town in New England.

Her first novel, It’s Always the Husband, was published in 2017 and became an international best-seller.

“Without my Loomis Chaffee education, I wouldn’t have had the diverse career that I’ve had,” Michele said.

The panel discussion with Michele was organized by the school's Writing Initiatives, directed by English teacher Kate Saxton. Panelists were staff members of The Loom, the student-run literary magazine and arts club, and included junior Aidan Cooper and seniors Krishnapriya Rajaram, Janus Yuen, and Audrey Zhang.

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Meeting of Minds Chaffee Book Club Turns 20

By Christine Coyle

C

haffee School alumnae from near and far gathered virtually on February 24 for the first Chaffee Book Club meeting of 2021, marking the 20th anniversary year of intellectual engagement, spirited discourse, and connection with each other and the rest of the Loomis Chaffee community.

Since its inception in the 2001–02 school year, the Chaffee Book Club has met physically on the Loomis Chaffee campus more than 50 times, and the 137 individual alumnae who have taken part during the club’s 20-year span have collectively read and engaged in discussion of about 55 books across a variety of genres and topics.

At the February 2021 meeting, 20 alumnae met via Zoom videoconference — some from the local area and several from further afield, including Chaffers from California, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wash-

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ington, D.C. Loomis Chaffee Trustee Katherine Ballard led a discussion of the book The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. Katherine is a former Loomis Chaffee faculty member who taught French, served as dean of faculty, and worked in the Alumni/Development Office.

In 2001, Katherine and then-Trustee Carole Crane Finck ’66 helped organize the first book club meeting. Katherine says she chose the Wharton classic this year to “take us out of the 21st century — that’s what books do, they take us away and allow us to travel.”

The inspiration for the Chaffee Book Club, according to Katherine, was to welcome the Chaffee alumnae to campus so that they could see how their history of academic excellence and commitment to lifelong learning, discovery, and self-development are reflected in the mission and values of the Loomis Chaffee community. “[W]e were looking for ways for Chaffee women to

rekindle memories of the Palisado Avenue campus days … plus have the opportunity to experience the Loomis Chaffee campus and the exciting people and programs of the present-day school,” Carole comments in an email describing her involvement in the inaugural event.

The format of on-campus Chaffee Book Club meetings has remained constant — an evening gathering in one of many inspirational spaces across the Windsor campus that begins with a reception and dinner, after which a Loomis Chaffee faculty discussion leader facilitates lively and engaging discourse about the book selection.

At first, the meetings were steeped in remembrances and stories from the alumnae’s time at Chaffee, Katherine recalls, but the exchanges that followed were impressive. It was fun to listen to the participants as they leaned into the discussions and shared their ideas with the faculty and each other, she says.

“Like a salon,” she explains, referring to the intellectual gatherings that flourished for centuries in European society.

“They did their homework and came prepared with passages underlined and pages turned down in their books,” Katherine says, noting that Chaffee alumnae take pride in the fact that they were required to pass a rigorous entrance exam — while the Loomis boys were not — and they are not afraid to voice their opinions. Chaffee faculty members Miriam “Mims” Brooks Butterworth ’36, Elaine Title Lowengard ’46, Suzanne Nolan ’69, and Evie Smith ’50 were in regular attendance at the meetings from the beginning and added their intellectual weight to the interactions. Katherine admits to being a little intimidated as a discussion leader, knowing she needed to be well-prepared herself for the occasion.

In consideration of the scholarly Chaffee audience, the faculty leaders have been some of the school’s most respected and beloved — Chaffee teachers Anne Sbarge and Courtney Carey among them — which, according to Carole, was a highlight for many of the attendees.

Book club regulars Carol “Sue” Fisher Shepard ’62 and Anne Schneider McNulty ’72 share the view that faculty leaders make the book club sessions special.

Head of School Sheila Culbert, who teaches a history course at Loomis Chaffee, often has hosted and facilitated book club meetings in the fall. “[A]s an historian, her discussions on Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power [by Jon Meacham], The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks [by Rebecca Skloot], All the Light We Cannot See [by Anthony Doerr], and The Distance Between Us [by Reyna Grande] were insightful and produced lively discussion,” Anne comments.

Both Sue and Anne welcomed the perspectives of several Loomis Chaffee students who joined the book club’s 2015 discussion of Longbourne by Jo Baker, written about the servants portrayed in Pride and Prejudice, after the students had studied Jane Austen’s classic novel in class. Other memorable meetings for Anne included a locally-sourced meal served to coincide with the discussion of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. The conversation was led by Jeff Dyreson and Gratia Lee, faculty members in Loomis Chaffee’s environmental sustainability and agriculture programs. A discussion of Treasures Afoot with school archivist and history teacher Karen Parsons uncovered several interesting stories as

participants were asked to bring a pair of shoes with special personal significance, Anne says.

Other memorable faculty discussion leaders have included English teachers Jane Archibald, Fred Seebeck, Jeffrey Scanlon ’79, Sally Knight, Berrie Moos, Scott Purdy, Will Eggers, Kate Saxton, and Jessica Hsieh ’08; history teachers Burt Thurber, Lori Caligiuri, Rachel Engelke, and Molly Pond; science teachers Scott MacClintic ’82, Alice Baxter, Betsy Conger, Edward Pond, and Ewen Ross; math teacher Andrew Matlack; languages teachers Michael Anderson, Sara Deveaux, Elizabeth Parada, and Rachel Nisselson; humanities and arts teachers Dominic Failla, Dennis Robbins, Marilyn Rabetz, and Susan Chrzanowski; and Katharine Brush Librarian Kathie Popadin.

For the Butterworth, Ransom, and Lowengard families, the book club has been an opportunity for generational connection as mothers, daughters, and sisters attended several meetings together. Kate Butterworth Valdez ’67, who has attended 41 of the 55 book club sessions, spoke at the February online meeting about how much she loved attending with her late mother — Mims — and other Chaffee alumnae.

For Carole, who has not been able to join in the club discussions while living in Dallas, Texas; Abu Dhabi; and now Florida, the prospect of joining the February 24 meeting was exciting.

“Now, for me and many others, it’s a blessing to have the possibility of virtual gatherings. We can now ‘Zoom in’ with fellow alums from around the country and world,” she wrote before taking part in the February Zoom meeting.

The February group discussion was indeed good fun, confirms Lisa Salinetti Ross, director of alumni and parent relations at Loomis Chaffee, who has been responsible for organizing the Chaffee Book Club for several years. Lisa says it was great to be able to welcome alumnae who live outside Greater Hartford as well as reconvene the book discussions, which had been temporarily on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coincidently, the 2014 book Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, about a fictional influenza pandemic, was the topic of the last meeting of the book club before the Loomis Chaffee campus closed in March 2020 because of COVID-19.

“I hope we might continue in some respect with an online component, but the social aspects of gathering on campus for a nice dinner before the discussion were missed for sure,” Lisa remarks.

Katherine says she is pleased and proud of the role the Chaffee Book Club has played in the Loomis Chaffee community through the last 20 years. She appreciates all that the school has learned from the Chaffee alumnae. “We have become as proud of their history as they are,” she says.

The Chaffee Book Club has become a tradition on the Island, and Katherine says she hopes that “over time [the alumnae] have come to see that what they loved about Chaffee School is now very much a part of Loomis Chaffee.”

For a list of all the books discussed in the first 20 years of the Chaffee Book Club, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Sweet Spring PHOTOGRAPHS BY: Mary Forrester & Marley Matlack

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Senior Alejandro Rincón learned maple sugaring from tree-tapping to syrup-bottling and everything in between this year as a Global & Environmental Studies capstone project. With help from friends and faculty and with funding from a Gilchrist Environmental Fellowship grant, Alejo collected 170 gallons of sap and produced almost four gallons of maple syrup this winter and early spring. The project drew interest from classmates and others in the school community as Alejo and helpers collected the sap in buckets, transferred it to food-safe barrels near the campus greenhouse, and boiled it into sweet, amber syrup.

The first step was to identify the best trees for sugaring on campus. With guidance from Chuck Drake, a local tree expert and experienced maple sugarer, and Dean of Students Michael Donegan, his project advisor, Alejo located 10 suitable maple trees on Loomis property, most located on Beckwith Drive and Island Road. In each tree, he drilled a two-inch hole, where he placed a tap. During the month of February, Alejo and Mike monitored weather conditions and sap flow.

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In early March, with a stretch of ideal weather for the operation — cold nights and clear, sunny days — Alejo set up a wood-fired evaporator system next to the greenhouse to boil the sap.

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The boiling operation is delicate: There is no ideal cooking temperature, but if it gets too high, the sap can burn and ruin the syrup.

The evaporator helps to regulate the heat.

As the day warms, seniors Elizabeth Chapman and Talia Mayo, both environmental proctors, move snow to the sap holding area to keep the sap cold before the boiling and evaporating process.

Once the temperature of the boiling sap reaches 207 degrees Fahrenheit, more sap is poured into the evaporator’s main container.

When the color of the liquid turns amber, the sap is siphoned off and brought to a hot plate to finish. When it reaches 219 degrees, the sap is turning into syrup and is removed from the heat.

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After the sap is boiled, Alejo and senior Thierno Diallo filter the syrup into jars.

Alejo used coffee filters to strain out imperfections although he recommends using filters specifically designed for maple syrup.

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When filtering is complete, the syrup is poured into glass bottles. The final product tastes “amazing,” according to one discerning taste-tester.

To watch a video about the maple sugaring operation, visit www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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YOU’RE NOT ON MUTE

BY BECKY PURDY ILLUSTRATION BY CASSANDRA HAMER

There is an upside to all the pandemic-induced Zooming we’ve been doing over the last year.

Bleary-eyed screen time notwithstanding, the ubiquity of video conferencing has enabled people separated by thousands of miles to connect with each other in real time and without the travel, location, and other logistical obstacles of meeting in person.

At Loomis Chaffee, the age of Zoom has opened a world of possibilities. Teachers have brought guest speakers from around the world into their virtual classrooms, giving students exposure to first-hand perspectives they might not otherwise have encountered. Students have met with elected officials, engaged in congressional lob-

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bying, and worked with local community leaders in ways that distance and expense previously hindered. Parents on the other side of the country and the world have been able to participate in parent association events and discussions with the head of school that were only in-person before the pandemic. And without major rearrangements of their busy lives, alumni have engaged in meaningful ways with the school, their classmates, and current students.

One might even describe these opportunities as thin bands of brightness around the edges of that giant fog of doom that has blotted out the metaphorical sun in the metaphorical skies for the last year.

At Loomis Chaffee, the age of Zoom has opened a world of possibilities.

Loomis Chaffee Orchestra students met and worked directly, via videoconference, with two composers this year as the Orchestra prepared pieces written by the composers. Both Zoomed in to work with the students from hundreds, and in one case thousands, of miles away.

Carlos Simon, an award-winning classical musician and composer from Atlanta, Georgia, spent time with the students as they prepared their parts of Mr. Simon’s composition “An Elegy: A Cry From The Grave.” The collaboration took place during the first half of the winter, when Loomis conducted classes entirely online because of the pandemic, so each of the students and Orchestra Director Netta Hadari also connected via Zoom.

The interaction gave students insights into the composer’s musical thought process as well as his experience in addressing issues of racial and social injustice through music, a topic the Orchestra also was exploring. Mr. Simon, who identifies as Black and Latinx, dedicated “An Elegy” to Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Alton Sterling, Black Americans who were killed by police in the past decade. The Loomis musicians practiced and recorded their individual parts of “An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave,” which were combined into a video recording.

To listen to the Orchestra’s performances of “An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave” and “The Curve,” visit www.loomischaffee. org/magazine.

In February, the Orchestra worked with Ameen Mokdad, an Iraqi composer who videoconferenced with the students from Turkey. “This would not have been possible without Zoom,” Netta confirms. Although Loomis had reopened to students and most had returned to campus, their familiarity with virtual collaboration enabled them to engage seamlessly with Mr. Mokdad on the other side of the world. Mr. Mokdad helped the student musicians as they prepared for a performance of "The Curve,” from a emotionally powerful repertoire Mr. Mokdad wrote while in hiding from ISIS for two years in his hometown of Mosel, Iraq. The Orchestra performed and recorded “The Curve” in March.

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Applied Economics students spent six class periods this winter learning directly from alumni who work in finance, all via videoconference. One or two of the alumni could have come to campus for the class visits in a regular year, but most could not have spared the time or the travel, says Matthew DeNunzio, who teaches the course. “Zoom makes this so much easier for both parties,” he says.

Ned Salter ’95, global head of investment research at Fidelity International, sat in his office in London while visiting the class in February.

Discussing how values are calculated for products and services, Ned also offered insights into his career and his day-to-day work.

Gretchen Engster Howard ’91, chief operating officer of the no-fee online trading app Robinhood, met with the class a week later. An in-person visit to the class would have been out of the question for Gretchen, especially this winter, when Robinhood was dealing with a stock market frenzy among individual investors. But via Zoom, Gretchen spent an hour talking with the students about the importance of investing early as individuals and discussed the concept of demonetizing financial markets, among other topics they were studying.

Loomis Chaffee Trustee Rachel Kort ’98, who works as a portfolio manager at Hall Capital Partners in New York and oversees the school’s in-

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vestment advisory team, spoke to the class about managing individuals’ and institutions’ investment portfolios and the idea of asset allocation.

In a week focusing on careers on Wall Street, Martin Vulliez ’90 and Michael Anderson ’76 visited with students to offer their perspectives on the trading and investment banking aspects of Wall Street. With the New York skyline and rows of desks and computer terminals behind him, Martin spoke from his office at Cadian Capital, a global long/short equity manager where Martin is a partner and head trader. Michael, a managing director at The Blueshirt Group, an investment consulting firm, worked for more than 30 years in investment banking. In addition to describing their day-to-day lives on Wall Street, both alumni discussed the skills students should develop if they are interested in careers in finance.

In the final week of the term, former Trustee Jason Karp ’94 met with the class from his home in Austin, Texas, to discuss sustainable investing, the idea of investing in companies whose products and services improve the common good, abide by ethical standards, and are mission-centered. Jason, a former hedge fund manager, is the chief executive officer of HumanCo, a health and wellness holding company, and the chairman and co-founder of Hu Kitchen and Hu Products.

Even after the pandemic subsides, Mat says he expects he will use videoconferencing as much as he does this year to bring alumni and other guest

speakers into his classroom if they cannot come to campus. Asking alumni to speak to his class via Zoom does not feel like a huge imposition on their busy lives, he says. They want to help, and the time commitment is small when they can visit virtually.

Several of the economics class visits resulted from an outreach launched by the Alumni/Development Office last spring when the campus closed and all classes moved online for the remainder of the 2019–20 school year. Members of the office connected teachers with alumni who are experts in various fields and might be interested in speaking to classes via Zoom.

That outreach brought Nina Pelc-Faszcza ’08 to the virtual classroom of history teacher Reem Aweida-Parsons. Nina, a lawyer whose practice focuses on U.S. immigration law, spoke to Reem’s Immigration and Ethnicity class last spring about her work, the issues and paperwork of immigration-related legal work, and her general experiences working with immigrants. Nina works in Hartford at the law firm Robinson & Cole. The class gained so much from Nina’s visit last spring that Reem invited her back to speak to students in the course this year, once again via Zoom.

Immigration and Ethnicity often brings in guest speakers — “experts and narrators,” as Reem says — who give voice to the topics that the class studies. Immigrants share stories of their journeys, researchers add context to statistics, and

immigration lawyers speak about the issues and experiences their clients face. “We’re basically bringing real-life cases to these kids,” Reem says.

Thanks to alumni like Nina and several faculty members who are immigrants, Reem has been able to continue offering these perspectives to her students.

Reem herself is an immigrant. The daughter of Palestinians, Reem has a green card, or Permanent Resident card, allowing her to remain and work in the United States as a non-citizen. Among the faculty members who have spoken to her class are history teacher Kevin Guevara, who immigrated from El Salvador; and history teacher Lauren Williams, a citizen of Zimbabwe, who spoke about the difficulties of becoming a U.S. citizen from her home country. Richard Wright, a professor of geography and the Orvil Dryfoos Professor of Public Affairs at Dartmouth, visits the class every year — and did so via Zoom this fall — to lend his expertise on the intersecting topics of migration, labor and housing markets, race, and ethnicity. Richard also immigrated from the United Kingdom, as did his wife, Head of School Sheila Culbert, who taught the Immigration and Ethnicity course before Reem.

Pandemic limitations and the ubiquity of Zoom have worked in favor of students seeking a voice in national, state, and local governments.

In November, students in the Loomis Chaffee Climate Action group lobbied members of the congressional delegation from Connecticut via Zoom. In February, students involved in community engagement efforts met virtually with Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives Matt Ritter to talk about politics, citizenship, and community service. And at the end of March, Loomis was to host a virtual youth town hall about climate change with U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Neil Chaudhary ’05, head of the Science Department, is an advisor to the Loomis Chaffee Climate Action group. He says the pandemic created a unique opportunity for the students to gain access to lawmakers without having to travel. “Typically lobbying takes place in person in Washington, D.C.,” he says. The financial cost, logistics, and time away from school required for a group of students to travel to Washington makes student lobbying less feasible. But video conferencing enabled the students to speak directly with the people who have influence and the power to bring change.

In a series of five video conferences in November,

members of the student group spoke with congressional legislative aides for Senator Blumenthal, Senator Chris Murphy, and Representatives John Larson, Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, Jim Himes, and Jahana Haynes. The students lobbied for the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, which would place a regularly escalating fee on greenhouse gas emissions and return the proceeds as a monthly dividend to citizens.

The Climate Action group also has met regularly over Zoom with the Greater Hartford Chapter of the Citizen’s Climate Lobby, a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan grassroots advocacy organization, as both groups worked to urge lawmakers to bring the bill to a vote in Congress. Neil says this collaboration, like the lobbying itself, happened because of the conditions caused by the pandemic, making virtual meetings a necessity and, thus, making it more practical for students to engage in them.

The discussion with Mr. Ritter drew more than 50 members of the Loomis community. Organized by juniors Kunal Kothari and Karan Kothari through the Community Engagement Program, the question-and-answer session via Zoom covered a range of topics, including partisan politics in state government, issues of race and equity in policing, the state’s response to COVID-19, and Mr. Ritter’s preference for public service at the state, rather than national, level. Mr. Ritter also offered students advice on influencing state legislation even if they are not yet 18 and able to vote.

Pandemic limitations and the ubiquity of Zoom have worked in favor of students seeking a voice in national, state, and local governments.

The limitations of the pandemic also brought together creative Loomis students and their peers at other independent schools for a virtual concert featuring musical performances and original art.

When COVID-19 forced the cancellation of in-person musical performances last spring, Loomis music teachers and students experimented with combining individual video recordings of music and voice into ensemble performances. These editing experiences, combined with a desire to continue performing music during the pandemic and to engage with their artistic peers at other schools, inspired Loomis seniors Andy Wu and Baihan “Tom” Zhang last summer to organize a group of students from six New England prep schools to create the concert. The group, Renaissance Ensemble, includes students from Loomis, Choate, Deerfield, Exeter, Hotchkiss, and Kingswood Oxford, and the cabaret-style virtual concert, “The Key to Change,” debuted in August on YouTube.

Along with partners at the peer schools, Andy and Tom brainstormed ideas, enlisted performers and artists, hosted Zoom meetings, edited

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performance video and sound, and promoted the concert. Vocal and instrumental musicians from each school performed, and student artists created graphics for the video and the group’s website. Fifteen Loomis musicians and artists, including Tom and Andy, were among the concert contributors. “The Key to Change” raised money from its online audience to benefit the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund.

The collaboration has continued this year. Renaissance Ensemble is creating an album featuring music of various genres as well as compositions, poems, and radio plays written by students at the member schools, Tom says. The “2021 Concept Album” is scheduled for release in May. The group is developing its website to serve as a resource for students who want to start their own projects and collaborate with students from other schools.

Loomis graduates leaped at the chance, facilitated by video conferencing, to connect with current students through the Black Alumni Mentoring program, which was launched in November 2020. Twenty-two Black alumni volunteered to participate in the initiative to provide one-onone guidance and support to Black students during their journeys at Loomis Chaffee and beyond. Interested students were paired with the trained alumni mentors, and the pairs met for the first time during a group meeting over Zoom.

Participating students will meet with their alumni mentors several times during the school year and may choose to meet more frequently. For now, because of the pandemic, the meetings are virtual, and while eventually the pairs will be able to meet face to face, the convenience and familiarity of meeting online may help them to connect with each other more often.

Originally conceived as an in-person program that would tap into the local alumni population, the mentoring program started to take shape last spring after a group of Black alumni expressed a strong desire to guide and support the school’s current Black students. The alumni recalled that, as students, they often had wished for someone who looked like them to talk to and to share their experiences. As it became clear that the pandemic would require an online approach at least in the program’s initial months, the mentoring program

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grew in reach and size.

“The widespread use of Zoom allowed for connecting to a wider pool of alumni to act as direct mentors,” says Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Stacy-Ann “Ro” Rowe ’97, who helped develop the program. Distance from campus and time zone differences no longer complicated participation. “We did still have a good number of mentors volunteer when they believed it would be in person, but the number grew exponentially once the virtual world was an option,” Ro says.

Alumni also have stepped up to offer online workshops in their areas of expertise for their fellow Pelicans during the pandemic, with good turnout. In pre-Zoom days, workshops like these might take place on Reunion Weekend, but they would be available only to alumni attending their Reunions that year.

To watch the “Key to Change” concert and for a link to the Renaissance Ensemble website, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

Nancy Covello Murray ’83, a professional-level yoga teacher, offered a midday online meditation session, “Pelican Peace of Mind,” in November.

Best-selling cookbook author Terry Jacobs Walters ’84, an expert in the “clean eating” lifestyle, led two virtual cooking classes for alumni — a holiday-themed class in early December and a “Taco Thursday” class on a weeknight in February.

And Mark Nussbaum ’70, an experienced certified financial planner, presented two financial workshops for alumni, parents, faculty, and staff in March via Zoom.

Parents, too, have discovered a silver lining in remote access to school events.

Turnout for Loomis Chaffee Parents Association (LCPA) meetings has been higher since the meetings were moved online out of necessity. Until last spring, the gatherings took place on campus on Pelican Days, Saturday mornings about twice a term when students were required to attend special programming. About 40 or 50 parents, mostly parents of day students, attended the events, bringing their children to school and then staying for the parents association coffee reception and meeting, which usually featured a guest speaker from the teaching faculty or administration, says

Lisa Ross, director of alumni and parent relations.

Since the LCPA began holding the meetings remotely through Zoom, more than 100 parents usually attend, Lisa says. Many tune in from other time zones and even other continents, giving them a connection to their children’s school far from home. The parents association has been able to keep most of its usual content for the online meetings, with guest speakers, information-sharing, and topical discussions.

Buoyed by the increased participation and the positive feedback from parents of boarders, the parents association plans to continue with regular online meetings even after the pandemic has subsided and face-to-face interactions are safe.

“The parents who are not here are desperate for this,” Lisa says. The parents association will still host in-person events for parents during Family Weekend and on other occasions, especially because the social component and incidental conversations are missing from online meetings, she adds.

medical, financial, and governmental experts from the Loomis community drew large audiences of parents, alumni, students, faculty, staff, and local residents — all hungry for reliable information.

This year, Sheila Culbert has held "state of the school" webinars with alumni and parents. Lynn Lyons, a specialist in anxiety disorders who is working with the school this year, has conducted multiple live forums with Loomis parents, students, faculty, and smaller groups throughout the year, and more are planned for the spring.

And far-flung Chaffee alumnae delighted in being able to join local alumnae for a Zoom-powered Chaffee Book Club meeting in February celebrating the book club's 20th anniversary.

No silver linings, of course, erase the loss, worry, and hardship that the pandemic has wreaked on the world, but they do provide sustaining rays of hope, reminders that wildflowers still can push their way up through a sidewalk's cracks.

The list of lemonade-from-lemons pandemic innovations is long and continues to grow at Loomis Chaffee. At the beginning of the pandemic, a series of COVID-19-related webinars led by

The list of lemonade-from-lemons pandemic innovations is long and continues to grow at Loomis Chaffee.

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O bject Le sson

This portrait of Mary Hunt Loomis was painted circa 1880–1900. The artist is unknown. Photo: Loomis Chaffee Archives

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Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2021

O bject Le sson

Portrait of a

Woman

By Karen Parsons

Loomis Chaffee History Teacher & School Archivist

The embroidered Victorian riding jacket. The leather gloves. The diamond bling. That bustle! There’s no mistaking the social position and status of the woman depicted in this portrait. Her painting hung in the front stair hall of her home; The Chicago Daily Tribune described this as “one of the finest residences on the [city’s] Lake Shore Drive.” While the elegant image communicates the privilege of Mary Hunt Loomis, other narratives from across her lifetime contribute to a more complex biography of an independent-minded, resilient woman during times of adventure, personal tragedy, and local and national crises. Mary was an early Trustee of the Loomis Institute and spouse of Founder and fellow Trustee John Mason Loomis. Highly visible on the late 19th-century Chicago social scene, Mary attended dinners with two U.S. presidents; entertained countless guests at her at-home teas, dinners, and dances; and worked to support city residents in the aftermath of the Civil War and the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

Born in Sherburne, New York, Mary met John in Milwaukee, and they married in 1849. Settling first in Wisconsin and then Chicago in 1852, the couple welcomed their only child, Mary, in 1855. As was all too common in the Loomis family, the young girl succumbed to childhood illness at age 5. A year later, John raised a Civil War regiment of local men and received appointment as colonel to the 26th Illinois Infantry.

When the 26th left for Union Army barracks in Hannibal, Missouri, Mary went too, leading a group of nurses. At a time when the nursing field and training were not organized nor specialized for battlefield medicine, it’s hard to know if Mary had specific skills. More likely, she, like many women, may have accompanied her husband purely out of companionship and patriotic duty. Perhaps they both welcomed a focus away from bereavement.

By 1863, Mary was living temporarily in Milwaukee; she noted in a letter that her plans were “somewhat indefinite,” possibly referring to a fire that had destroyed their Chicago house. Daily, she awaited

news from John or about his regiment, describing this in a December 1863 letter she wrote to one of her brothers: “I know your anxiety Dear brother to hear from John … last night I … watched the mail in vain… with an eagerness beyond expression.” After John’s safe return in 1864, Mary turned to philanthropy. She was instrumental in a local Sanitary Fair held after the war’s end to aid unemployed ex-soldiers and widows and orphans. After the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871 destroyed the homes of 90,000 residents, Mary served as president of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, working to establish an innovative program in which unemployed women earned money by sewing clothing that was then distributed to those who had been left destitute by the fire.

Mary and John were members and regular visitors at the Jekyll Island Club in Georgia, where women were encouraged to partake in outdoor sports, hunting, and horseback riding. And as many wealthy Americans were trading their horse-drawn carriages for more fashionable cars, Mary retained her longtime coachman until her own passing in 1910 because, as one city newspaper reported, Mrs. Loomis “would not trust her life to an automobile.”

The Boston Globe named Mary’s 1910 bequest to The Loomis Institute the second largest philanthropic gift by a female donor in America that year. Mary’s will also named 35 relatives and friends who received treasured personal objects or financial gifts. Six members of her staff received at least $1,000 each, including Nellie Finnan, head cook and 32-year employee in the Loomis household. The Chicago Tribune reported that with this gift of $5,000, Nellie was inclined to open a confectionary business and entertain her own dreams of becoming independent.

To see other artifacts and photographs from Mary Hunt Loomis’s life, from the Loomis Chaffee Archives, visit www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.

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Photo: Jessica Photo: JessicaRavenelle Ravenelle

CLA S S NO T E S

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Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2021

Cl ass Not e s

Important Class Notes News

We are changing our approach to helping you share your news with your classmates. With the advent of many digital options for keeping in touch and a long decline in submissions for alumni news notes, Class Notes will no longer be published in Loomis Chaffee Magazine after the current issue. Many of you already rely on Loomis Chaffee Facebook class pages and the LC Connect online platform to engage with each other, and we have several new ideas in the works to enable you to share news of life’s small moments, big milestones, and Pelican gatherings with each other. Stay tuned for more information about these offerings.

1962 William J. Kronholm shares that he has finally been chased from the East Coast by the hurricanes. He and his wife, Lynne, moved to Peoria, Ariz., just outside Phoenix.

William plans to try to make it back to Windsor in 2022 for his 60th Reunion and for the 25th Reunion of his daughter Jenn L. Kronholm Clark ’97.

1963 At the end of 2020, Samuel M. Sipe Jr. retired from the practice of law at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C., after 42 years. Although he missed his 50th Reunion, he writes that he has felt a continuing connection with classmates through email communications and occasional meetings. “I have particularly enjoyed regular meet-ups over recent years with Bob Lehrer, a classmate who learned to think for himself and express himself forcefully, a fine exemplar of what our school sought to accomplish.” Fellow alumni can reach Samuel at his new email address, samuelsipe1@gmail.com.

1969 Kevin O’Malley shared that his series of 26 screenplays is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle format.

Set in 1968, “Shut Up and Be Pretty” is a tale of boarding school best friends in love with the same girl. Kevin writes that it is the “perfect lockdown literature from an earlier ‘restricted-to-campus’ era.”

1975 Susan Hurwit writes that she continues to love her work as a child and adult psychologist in Newton, Mass. Her story “The Space Between Human Beings,” created as a response to people’s curiosity about what happens in play therapy, has “moved audiences at Story Slams in the Boston area.” Susan’s recent article about being a therapist during the pandemic, “Finding the Perch; Psychotherapy During Times of Mutual Uncertainty and Grief,” was published on psychotherapy.net. Now single with two adult children, Susan spends time with her parents, Joan and Albert Hurwit ’49, who live in Hartford, Conn.; her sister, Elizabeth Hurwit ’78, who lives in Chevy Chase, Md.; and her brother Jeffrey Hurwit ’73, who also lives in Newton.

WAYS TO DONATE

Did you know that you can donate to Loomis Chaffee in a variety of ways? Thank you, as always, for your support and please let us know if you have any questions about making your gift this year. You can reach us at 860.687.6276 or annualfund@loomis.org.

ONLINE

DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS

The fastest way to support Loomis Chaffee is by credit card gift online (loomischaffee.org/giving) or by calling 860.687.6276 to provide your credit card information over the phone.

A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a type of giving vehicle that allows donors to easily support their favorite charities.

Donors may also be eligible for certain tax benefits. An increasingly popular charitable option, DAFs are an excellent way to both simplify charitable giving and facilitate your strategic philanthropic goals.

PAYPAL/VENMO New as of this year, donors can make a gift using PayPal and Venmo.

RECURRING GIFTS Recurring gifts are a great option for donors who want to maximize their gift, with the convenience of automatic renewal. Donors can give to Loomis Chaffee in monthly, quarterly, or yearly installments at loomischaffee.org/giving.

STOCK TRANSFERS Gifts of securities offer significant tax advantages and are easy to make. Donors avoid capital gains tax on the appreciation and receive a deduction for the fair market value of the stock. Please refer to our website for transfer instructions.

IRA TRANSFERS If you are 70 ½ or older and own a traditional or Roth IRA, you can transfer up to $100,000 in a given tax year to a public charity of your choice, including Loomis Chaffee.

WIRE TRANSFERS Donors may support the school by making their gift via domestic or international wire transfer. Electronically transferred funds should be payable in U.S. dollars. Please notify our office in advance of your intent to wire funds.

CHECK Donors can make checks payable to: “The Loomis Chaffee School.”

Further details on how to support Loomis Chaffee can be found on our Ways to Give site at https://www.loomischaffee. org/giving-section/how-to-contribute.

The 2020–21 Loomis Chaffee Annual Fund closes on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. Support of Loomis Chaffee is always appreciated and will continue to make a direct and positive impact on the lives of our students, faculty, and staff.

STAY IN TOUCH

CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

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Page name: Loomis Chaffee Alumni Tweet to and follow @LC_AlumniNet Go to LinkedIn and search for “Loomis Chaffee alumni.”

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PHILANTHROPY DAY

SUCCESS FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Thank you to the Loomis Chaffee community for supporting our 9th Philanthropy Day. Your generosity helps Loomis Chaffee continue to provide a transformational education.

1,174 GIFTS

$586,105 RAISED

DONORS BY CONSTITUENT GROUP

704

ALUMNI

93

300

FACULTY AND STAFF

PARENTS

42 Francesca Pedemonti ’97 and Jason Roswig ’95 with their children, Samuel and Isabella “We are both very grateful for our respective experiences at Loomis Chaffee. In reflecting on those four years on the Island, a myriad of fond recollections come to mind: deep conversations with our friends at the SNUG, the all-nighters writing our junior year history term papers, the grueling practices for field hockey or cross country, our trips abroad with the Chamber Singers, the bonds we formed with our teachers and advisors, Dr. Ratté’s words of wisdom exchanged with us in the Founders hallways. By virtue of these special experiences, we learned the value of contributing to our community and were humbled by how the community reciprocally embraced us. We learned that becoming our best selves requires a village, and, for us, that village was Loomis Chaffee.

“We chose to include Loomis Chaffee in our estate plans because we believe that our Loomis Chaffee experience should not be unique to us but should be shared with future generations. Whether it be the friendships formed, the academic achievements earned, or the athletic championships won, our hope is that future students will similarly embrace their own unique experiences on the Island and, in return, contribute as they see fit to the common good.”

— Francesca Pedemonti ’97 and Jason Roswig ’95

Join The John Metcalf Taylor Society For more information about planned gifts and the John Metcalf Taylor Society, please contact Associate Director of Development Heidi E.V. McCann ’93, P’23 at 860.687.6273 or heidi_mccann@loomis.org. www.loomischaffee.giftplans.org 42 Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2021

35

PARENTS OF ALUMNI, GRANDPARENTS, AND FRIENDS

STUDENTS

ALUMNI CLASSES WITH THE MOST DONORS BY DECADE 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

Loomis Class of 1957 Loomis Class of 1969 Chaffee Class of 1971 – 50th Reunion Class of 1981 – 40th Reunion Class of 1997 Class of 2001 – 20th Reunion Class of 2014

TOP 3 AREAS OF SUPPORT GREATEST NEED

FINANCIAL AID

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES

GIFTS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE Canada | Cayman Islands | China | Finland | France | Germany | Italy | Jamaica | Japan | Mexico | Nigeria | Republic of Singapore | South Korea | Spain | Taiwan | Thailand | Ukraine | United Kingdom | United States (43 states) | Vietnam This amazing effort secured the generous $100,000 challenge gift to the school’s endowment for financial aid from an anonymous alumna from the Class of 2001!

IN THE ANONYMOUS DONOR’S WORDS

I was inspired to make this gift in honor of my parents, who prioritized a Loomis Chaffee education for my brother and me.

Loomis was the greatest gift, instilling strong critical thinking skills, a curiosity of the world, and a joy of learning that I value every day. The school taught me the value of hard work and perseverance. It helped to shape me into a well-rounded individual and introduced me to lifelong friends. I am very grateful for the opportunity and want to give the gift of Loomis Chaffee to the next generation.

Cl ass Not e s

1979 Ed Goehring’s sister, Kate Goehring ’82, reports that Ed continues to do well as a tenured professor at the University of London, Ontario. His daughter, Yutaka, is now 4 years old and speaking English, Japanese, and French.

’79

’82

1982 Kate Goehring writes: “Work as an actor and grants specialist continues to be really fulfilling. I did a gender-bending production of The Importance of Being Earnest in Central Park, King John at the Folger Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C., and then went on to be in the Broadway company of The Inheritance, directed by Stephen Daldry. COVID-19 shut all of Broadway down, but our show still grabbed some Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards (and we’re looking forward to the Tonys ...). Fortunately, no one at Loomis ever told me to put practicality over curiosity. It’s really been working out!”

2004 Betty Stolpen Weiner shared that she and her husband, Adam Weiner, moved to Weston, Conn., and welcomed a son, Jacob “Jake” Alexander Weiner, on December 24, 2020.

Betty writes that after maternity leave, she will be starting a new job as director of development at the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, Conn., and hopes her fellow alumni will visit her there.

Ed Goehring ’79 with his wife, Yuko, and daughter, Yutaka

’04

Kate Goehring ’82 at the production of King John at the Folger Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C.

’16

2013 Benjamin Russell was admitted to the Florida Bar on December 2, 2020. He writes that he is expanding his practice of property insurance litigation into the Sunshine State in addition to his existing practice with the New Orleans-based firm of Lobman Carnahan Batt Angelle & Nader.

JOIN LC Connect

Betty Stolpen Weiner ’04 with her husband, Adam, and son, Jacob

Grace Lyons ’19 and Nathaniel Lyons ’16, children of Trustee Doug Lyons ’82, with fellow Pelican Ramesh Shrestha ’18 (middle), on Aspen Mountain

Loomis Chaffee’s alumni engagement platform

LC Connect is an online community and resource for alumni that makes it easier than ever for Pelicans to stay connected to each other and with the school.

LC Connect is an opt-in networking platform, powered by Graduway, that enables alumni to: Find and re-engage with fellow alumni through the online directory and groups Expand professional connections through mentorship opportunities and a job board Stay up to date with Loomis Chaffee news and activities through an alumni events board and the school’s social media channels Have on-the-go access through the LC Connect mobile app

Register at www.loomischaffeealumni.org LC Connect replaces Loomis Chaffee's Evertrue app and Career Network, upgrading the loomischaffee.org alumni experience by providing several resources in one platform.

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Photo: Jessica Ravenelle

Obit ua r ies

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Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2021

1933 Ruth Loomis Havlick, on November 21, 2020, at age 105, in Cheshire, Conn. A two-year student from Windsor, Conn., Ruth was involved with the Junior Prom Committee, Chaffers, and Epilogue Board, and she served as secretary-treasurer of her class.

She was active on the basketball team. Married to Roy W. Havlick, Ruth was a resident of Cheshire since 1950 and was a longtime member of many community groups, including the Cheshire Congregational Church and the Lady Fenwick Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution. She also volunteered for many years at Waterbury Hospital. An avid and accomplished knitter and seamstress, Ruth, who was known as “Nina” to her family, presented welcome gifts of hand-crafted baby blankets, hats, and sweaters to new infant arrivals and their parents. Ruth also excelled at baking and showed kindness to others with home-baked bread and sweet treats, including her specialty, lemon meringue pie.

According to the family obituary, Ruth “was a firm believer in daily exercise to stay young and healthy, and she attributed her longevity to walking two miles every day, regardless of the New England weather.” Preceded in death by her husband, Roy, and her son Jonathan, Ruth was survived by her son Jeffrey Havlick and his wife, Kate Burke; her daughter-in-law Roberta Havlick; three grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Due to COVID-19, a private memorial service was planned for a later date.

1942 Robert L. Purinton, on August 5, 2020, in Northampton, Mass. A four-year student from Waterbury, Conn., Bob served as vice president of the Executive Committee of Endowment Fund,

news editor of The Log, art editor of Loomiscellany, and chairman of the Founders Committee. He was involved in the French Club and Music Club and was cast in several theatrical productions. Bob was captain of the fencing team and was active in football, tennis, and soccer. Bob entered Loomis as a freshman at age 13, and upon graduation at age 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in World War II. After the end of the war, he attended Harvard College but left before graduating to pursue a dance career in New York City. He later moved to California, retired to Florida, and then moved north to Windsor, Conn., and then Northampton, Mass., to be closer to family. A self-taught knitter and sewer, Bob designed and created some of his own clothes.

He was an avid traveler and an accomplished bridge player, and he remained active through his 80s and into his 90s by line-dancing and cycling. According to his niece, former Loomis faculty member Amanda Howe, Bob was “an inspiration and will be remembered for living life to the fullest.”

He was preceded in death by his brothers, John Purinton ’37 and Charles Purinton ’39, and was survived by his nephew, Charlie Purinton ’67, and extended family members, including Erin Howe ’19.

1945 and joined Patton’s troops in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, Jim completed his bachelor’s degree in 1949 and earned a master’s degree in architecture in 1952 at Yale, where he had the privilege of learning from modernist architect Louis Kahn, whom Jim considered a mentor and an inspiration. After his training, Jim enjoyed a lifetime’s interest in the study and practice of professional architecture. Jim married Barbara Ann Grace in 1951, and the young family relocated to Switzerland in 1952 for his first job. After returning to New York and working for several architectural firms, Jim and his family settled in New Canaan, Conn., in 1957, when he opened his architecture practice, James Evans Associates. Known for the mid-century modern style of architecture, Jim’s firm designed numerous commercial and residential buildings in the Tri-State area, across the country, and around the world, for which the company developed a reputation for innovation and earned many accolades. His work has been catalogued in professional journals and websites pertaining to modernist architecture. In 1961, Jim designed and built his unique vision for a home — a “glass dream house” — in New Canaan, Conn., where the family lived until 1978. He and Barbara moved into Vantage Point Condominiums in 1978, another project of his design, that overlooked the water in Norwalk, Conn. Jim enjoyed working on architectural projects and did not officially retire until he was 90 years old, remaining a consultant to friends and family afterwards.

After losing Barbara to illness, Jim married Ellen Sperry Fleming in 1990. Throughout his long life, Jim was an avid traveler, exploring the world and its cultures, which he especially enjoyed with the company of his family members.

At the age of 94, he and his daughter Sarah traveled to Egypt and cruised the Nile. In addition to being a lifelong learner, Jim’s favorite pastimes included sailing and sail racing, downhill skiing,

1943 James Albert Evans, on January 1, peacefully, in Camden, Maine.

A four-year student from Forest Hills, N.Y., Jim was involved in the Glee Club, Nautical Club, and Student Council, and was he cast in theatrical productions of Dead End and Pirates of Penzance. He was a sergeant in Military Drill and was active in hockey, baseball, skiing, and tennis and earned a varsity letter in football. Jim completed one semester at Yale University before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. While he was serving as a corporal in the Army’s 86th Infantry Division, Jim’s regiment went to Europe in

reading, astronomy, and keeping up with new technology, including computer-assisted drafting for architecture as well as smartphones and social media. Jim was known for “tinkering,” or perpetually fixing things. According to the family obituary, he was “enamored of duct tape and used it creatively to keep his aging appliances (and clothes) in working order. … [and] he attributed his longevity to viewing his glass as always ‘half full.’” He will be remembered for his “adaptable nature, positive spirit, perseverance, work ethic, humility, gratitude, thirst for adventure, and for his desire to keep learning and adapting to modern life.” Predeceased by his first wife, Barbara Grace, in 1988, Jim was survived by his second wife, Ellen Fleming Evans; his children, Juliette Evans Case, Sarah Evans Dwelley, and Peter Evans, and their spouses; his stepchildren, Ward Fleming, Candace Fleming French, and Tim Fleming; his six grandchildren, including Charles Evans ’11; and several extended family members. A memorial service was planned when COVID-19 health and safety allow.

1944 John Barbe, on December 20, 2020, peacefully in Athens, Ga. A one-year student from Scarsdale, N.Y., John was involved in the Concert Orchestra, Dance Band, and Delta Six, and was he president of the Jazz Club. He was active in football, basketball, and track. John served in the infantry and in U.S. Army band during World War II and later graduated from the Juilliard School of Music in 1950. In the 1950s he played saxophone and clarinet and wrote musical arrangements for big bands, most notably the Buddy Morrow Orchestra. In 1960, he married Millicent “Jane” Schneider, after which the couple moved to Atlanta and became part of a small but growing music business.

John enjoyed a long professional music career as a composer, loomischaffee.org

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arranger, and occasional performer in Atlanta, working at times with a variety of ensembles, including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Joe South, an award-winning popular music artist of the 1970s.

John composed hundreds of commercial jingles, including for Coca-Cola Company, Delta Airlines, the Major League Baseball Atlanta Braves, and James Brown’s Gold Platter Restaurant. He was a founding and lifetime member of the Atlanta Chapter of the Recording Academy, serving that organization as a Grammy Awards judge for 20 years. In 2015, John and his wife were enshrined in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.

John was an intellectual and a member of Mensa, who enjoyed studying his family’s genealogical history. According to the family obituary, he discovered more than “90 generations of ancestors, including eight emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, Charlemagne, William of Orange, and Harold ‘Blue Tooth’ Gormsson, a 10th-century Scandinavian ruler, as well as distant relatives that included Thomas Jefferson and Britney Spears.” John will be remembered for his intellect, sense of humor, and deep appreciation for music as well as his kindness and generosity. Preceded in death by his wife, Jane, and his brother, Stephen Barbe ’38, John was survived by his children, David Barbe and Shoshana Stubin, and their spouses; and his six grandchildren. An online memorial service for family and friends took place on January 6, and an in-person celebration of his life was planned for spring.

1945 Donald Spencer Barber, on December 9, 2020, peacefully at his home in Williston, Vt. A fouryear student from Windsor, Conn., Don made Honor Roll all four years at Loomis. He was involved in the Concert Orchestra, Darwin Club, and Advisory Committee, and he played in the pit orchestra

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for theatrical productions. Don was active in football, baseball, track, soccer, and tennis. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Amherst College and a medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. Don began his medical internship at Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine, in 1953 and then left to serve two years in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Mass., before returning to complete his residency at Maine General Hospital in 1956. With his first wife, Alice Tomkievich King of Bloomfield, Conn., whom he married in 1952, Don had four children. He married Ida Pike DeGoosh Barber, his second wife, in 1979 after Alice had passed away.

Don enjoyed a long professional career in medicine, which he began as a general practitioner and evolved into specializing in obstetrics, gynecology, and pediatrics.

He spent seven years in Billerica, Mass., then moved to the towns of Johnson and later Morrisville in Lamoille County, Vt. When he retired in 1986, Don had been an attending physician at Copley Hospital in Morrisville for more than 20 years. A talented musician, Don played violin with the Portland (Maine) Symphony and the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra. He played cello with the Cheshire (Connecticut) Symphony Orchestra and with a variety of string quartets and chamber ensembles through the years. Later in life, he enjoyed playing piano and duets with friends and family.

His interests included researching family genealogy, and he wrote three book editions of The Connecticut Barbers, a Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Barber of Windsor, Connecticut. Preceded in death by his first wife, Alice; his second wife, Ida; his son Thomas Barber; his sister, Elizabeth Barber Dougherty ’50; and his uncle, Ralph Spencer ’23, Don was survived by his brother Robert Barber ’48; his children Susan Barber Hackney, Robert Barber, and Penny Barber; his stepchildren, Eileen Degoosh Perkins

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and Anita DeGoosh; and his four grandchildren. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a celebration of Don’s life was planned for later in the spring or summer of 2021, and burial was planned in Windsor.

1946 Bruce Eliot Bidwell, on November 9, 2020. A three-year student from Hartford, Conn., Bruce was involved in the Darwin Club, Ping Pong Club, Chemistry Club, Rifle Club, and Debating Club, and he served on Senior Library Committee and the fire-fighting squad.

He was active in soccer, hockey, track, and tennis. Bruce earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1950 as a member of the college’s “Great Middle Class,” so named because it was the largest in Harvard’s history due to the return of many World War II veterans. Bruce served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War on the USS Baltimore and was stationed with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. He was a member of the first U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School class in Newport, R.I. In 1954, he joined the family business, Bidwell Hardware Company on Main Street in Hartford, which was founded by his grandfather, Frederick Clark Bidwell in 1901. Bruce succeeded his father, Eliot Bidwell ’20, as company president in 1972 during a difficult economy. When the company closed in 1976, Bruce became a representative for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a marketing representative for companies developing construction product directories and trade shows. From 1989 to 1991, Bruce served as editor of The Connecticut Architect and Specifier, a trade publication that he co-founded.

He married Jane Noss in 1954, and the couple raised a family of four children. The couple divorced in 1984. In 1991, Bruce married Roberta (Robin) Lockwood Roy, with whom he became a member of Hartford’s Center Church. The church became a major focus of

their lives. With a background in construction and an interest in historic preservation, Bruce served as chairman of Center Church’s Property Committee for 30 years. The preservation needs of a 200-year-old church are many, and he took pride in his stewardship of the building as well as the relationships he forged among the contractors, tradespeople, and community. A descendant of John Biddell (Bidwell), one of the founders of Hartford, Bruce belonged to several organizations related to his interest in his family heritage and Hartford-area history, including the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, Ancient Burying Ground Association, Wintonbury Historical Society, and Connecticut Historical Society. He served as president of the Harvard Club of Northern Connecticut for a time, and for many years he interviewed prospective students as a member of Harvard’s Schools Committee. A lover of the outdoors, especially Connecticut’s beautiful waterways, Bruce enjoyed fly-fishing even when he didn’t catch a fish, according to the family obituary, and his passion inspired the outdoor pursuits of his family members. Encouraged by his son to record his memories, Bruce published Reflections - A Family Memoir when he was 90 years old in 2019. Bruce had the good fortune of being healthy throughout his long life, until just the last few weeks. Predeceased by his father, Eliot, and his brother, John Bidwell ’50, Bruce was survived by his wife, Robin; his children, Matthew E. Bidwell ’76, Christopher L. Bidwell, Julie R. Bidwell, and Jeremy N. Bidwell, and their spouses; his nine grandchildren; his great-granddaughter; and many extended family members. Due to the pandemic, plans for a memorial service at Center Church were planned for a later date.

Arline Louise Doxsee Herriot, on December 29, 2020, in Farm-

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ington, Conn. Arline was secretary of the Athletic Association and editor of the yearbook. She earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in library science from Wellesley College. For many years, Arline served as head cataloger at the Raymond Library in East Hartford, Conn. Among her favorite pastimes, Arline enjoyed entertaining and socializing, including with other Chaffee School alumnae, with whom she remained friends through the decades. She was a regular contributor during the early days of the Chaffee Book Club. A devotee to arts and culture, Arline was a regular audience member at Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, and other venues. A lifelong swimmer and sailor, Arline was eager to join any water-oriented activity.

In her younger years, she skied and played tennis, and later, she practiced yoga well into her 80s.

Arline enjoyed extensive travel experiences with family and friends that included visits to Great Britain, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Canada, and across the United States. She especially loved a visit to Kenya. Predeceased by her daughter, Debra Jane Grant Henault, and her sister, Eleanor Doxsee Britton ’45, Arline was survived by her brothers, Irwin Doxsee ’50 and Larry Doxsee ’52; her sons, Arnold Jay Grant and his wife, Eileen, and Robert William Grant and his partner, Christine Hart; her two granddaughters; her two great-grandsons; and many extended family members. A celebration of life was planned at a future date.

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Robert H. Wilson Jr., on October 14, 2020, peacefully at home in Sun City West, Ariz. A four-year student from Hartford, Conn., Bob was involved in the Concert Orchestra, Rifle Club, Bridge Club, Glee Club, Photography Club, Political Club, and Student Federalists. He served on the Ed-

itorial Board of Loomiscellany, the Athletic Council, and Halloween Night Patrol, and he was cast in a theater production of Trial by Jury. Bob was active in football, basketball, and baseball and earned a varsity letter in wrestling. After Loomis, Bob earned a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College and worked for Aetna Insurance until his retirement in 1986. According to his son, Rob Wilson ’80, Bob always spoke well of his time at Loomis and was a frequent contributor to Loomis Chaffee organizations. He was survived

by Nancy, his wife of 60 years; his children, Cynthia A. McCallum and Rob; and two grandchildren.

1949 Peter Bouse Cascio, on December 18, 2020, in Virginia Beach, Va. A three-year student from West Hartford, Conn., Peter was involved in the Reception Committee, Jazz Club, and Bridge Club and was on the Log Board. He was active in football, basketball, tennis, and skiing. Peter earned a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He interrupted his study at Harvard to join the Air National Guard and complete the U.S. Air Force pilots’ training program.

Peter spent a year as a first officer with Trans World Airlines before returning to Harvard to complete his master’s degree. In 1957, Peter joined his father and began a 20year career working at the Peter Cascio Nursery in West Hartford.

He returned to military service and spent four years as commander of the 118th Tactical Fighter Squadron in the Connecticut National Guard before he moved the family to Alabama in 1978 to attend the USAF Air War College. Peter also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Auburn University in Alabama. In 1981, Peter was selected as Air National Guard advisor to the director of Air Force Plans

at the Pentagon, which involved moving his family to Arlington, Va., for five years. After more than 32 years of service in the Air Force, Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserves, Peter retired in 1986 with the rank of colonel.

He then spent 21 years with the Army Corps of Engineers in Military Programs at Fort Belvoir, Va., and fully retired from service in 2008. He remained connected to Loomis Chaffee as a member of the John Metcalf Taylor Society.

Predeceased by his wife, Barbara Ellis, and their son, Harlan, Peter was survived by his daughter, Anna Kate Cascio; his siblings, Joseph A. Cascio ’52, Anthony Lucian “Lu” Cascio ’53, and Joan Griswold; his two granddaughters; and many extended family members. Interment with honors, alongside his wife Barbara, at the Columbarium in Arlington National Cemetery was planned for a later date.

1950 Elizabeth Barber Dougherty, on October 13, 2016, in Newington, Conn. From Windsor, Conn., Betsy was active on the Athletics Association and played field hockey. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Bates College and then earned her certification as a registered occupational therapist from the Boston School of Occupational Therapy and worked for the state of Connecticut as an occupational therapist for more than 40 years. Betsy was a volunteer for the American School for the Deaf and committed time to helping people with hearing disabilities in her home community. For more than 40 years, Betsy was a devout member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Newington, where she was involved with the deaf ministry and library. Her community connections included the Newington Senior Center and the National Audubon Society.

According to the family obituary, Betsy was a lifelong student who “valued education, enjoyed her

family, her beloved pets, gardening, and teaching sign language.”

Preceded in death by her husband, James Dougherty, and her brother, Donald Barber ’45, Betsy was survived by her children, Ronald Dougherty and Linda Dougherty; her brother, Robert Barber ’48; her granddaughter and great-granddaughter; and many nieces and nephews. A funeral service was held on October 18, 2016, at Emmanuel Baptist Church, and burial took place in Rose Hill Memorial Park in Rocky Hill, Conn.

James Henry McGrath III, on October 23, 2020, at his home in Charlottesville, Va. A two-year student from Baltimore, Md., Jim was involved in the Sportsman Club, Jazz Club, Ping Pong Club, Outing Club, and Barbell Club.

A talented athlete, Jim lettered on the varsity football team and served as captain. He was active in basketball, track, and baseball.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Virginia and a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University, and he was a veteran of the U.S. Army. Jim met his wife, Barbara, at General Electric, where he began his long and successful career in business. He subsequently held consulting and executive positions with McKinsey & Company, Pennwalt Corporation, and Siecor Corporation. Jim and Barbara raised their family in Paoli, Pa. Upon retirement, the couple moved to Charlottesville, Va., “a natural location” according to the family obituary, given that Jim and all of his children are University of Virginia graduates.

There, Jim and Barbara enjoyed spending time with their children and grandchildren and traveled extensively. Jim was an active member of the Catholic Church throughout his life, notably at the Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, and in retirement held leadership roles in the Charlottesville and University of Virginia communities. He was the co-founder, longtime president, and board member of the

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia (formerly Jefferson Institute for Lifelong Learning), past president of the Charlottesville chapter of the University of Virginia Alumni Association, past president of his fraternity’s board of directors, past president of the Beacon Club (men’s dinner club), a past member of the Jefferson Area Board for the Aging board of directors, and a member of the University Village Home Owners Association board of directors. Jim was survived by Barbara, his wife of 59 years; his children, Jane McGrath Neal, Susan McGrath Smith, and James Henry McGrath IV, and their spouses; and his nine grandchildren. A private funeral mass was planned at St. Thomas Aquinas Church.

1951 F. Donald Brigham Jr., on January 10, due to complications caused by COVID-19. A threeyear student from Darien, Conn., Don was involved in the Nautical Club and Bridge Club, and he served as president of Student Council, chairman of the Intramural Athletic Council, and president of the Athletic Council. He was an English exchange student from 1951 to 1952 with an International Schoolboy Fellowship.

A talented athlete, Don played hockey and earned varsity letters in football and tennis, for which he was team co-captain. At Commencement, Don was awarded the Gwendolen Sedgwick Batchelder Prize for Industry, Loyalty, and Manliness. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University, where he played rugby, was a member of the Ivy Club, and nurtured his passion for the study of history during a semester abroad with the English-Speaking Union. He later traveled repeatedly to England, where he maintained long-established friendships from that time. After Princeton, Don enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

Upon returning to Connecticut,

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Don worked for Gulf Oil and reconnected with Kathleen “Kay” Johnson, whom he had known through friends in high school.

Don married Kay in 1959. Don and Kay moved from Middletown to Ridgefield and finally settled in New Canaan, Conn., to raise their family of four children. In that time, Don became treasurer and then vice president of National Distillers and Chemical Corporation, which became known later as Quantum Chemical and where he enjoyed a long career until he retired in 1988. Don and Kay then relocated to Washington, Conn., where they had space for farm animals, family gatherings, and grandchildren. In retirement, Don worked with at-risk students through a Princeton mentoring program and enthusiastically participated in local politics. Groton Long Point remained a constant family gathering place as Don and Kay moved to Old Saybrook and then to Mystic, Conn. According to the family obituary, “Don never met a body of water he did not love. Be it in a stream in Vermont, a swimming pool in New Canaan or the rocky shoreline of Groton Long Point, it would only be a matter of time before he was submerging himself and taking a long stroke before inviting us all to join him. Some individuals make a big splash; others create ripples that reach people far beyond their immediate shore. Don made ripples, believing in the impact of repeated and intentional strokes, ones that always focused on another person’s needs and interests.” He was survived by Kay, his wife of 62 years; his children, Michael Brigham, Chris Brigham, Jean Chant, and Kathleen Brigham, and their spouses and partners; and his 12 grandchildren, who refer to him fondly as “Pedro.”

Owen Sims Garner, on October 12, 2020, at home in Copley, Ohio, after a long and determined battle with Parkinson’s disease. A two-year student from Hamden, Conn., Owen was involved in

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the Outing Club, Ski Club, Jazz Club, and Stagehands Union, and he served as vice president and treasurer of the Radio Club and in the Special Projects Group. He was active in hockey and tennis.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in 1955 with an ROTC commission. He graduated in 1956 from U.S. Air Force Pilot Training School at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Okla., and went on to fly B-25 bombers and KC-97 re-fueling airplanes during the Cold War. Owen spent his last 18 months on active duty at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. According to the family obituary, “His first son, Richard, was born while he sat at the end of the runway awaiting orders to take off for the ill-fated Cuban Missile Crisis.” After leaving active duty he remained on active reserve for 28 years as the Southern New England liaison officer for the Air Force Academy. During that time, Owen graduated from the USAF War College and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. His civilian career was spent in management at the Southern New England Telephone Company, from which he retired after 25 years. Owen married Elizabeth “Libby” Dougherty, and the couple raised three children in their 64-year union.

Among his many pastimes, Owen was an avid sailor. “It’s the same as flying, just slower,” he is remembered for saying. Upon retiring to Southport, N.C., which was close to his son, John, Owen returned to flying as a hobby. There, he served as an airport commissioner for the Cape Fear Regional Jet Port – Howie Franklin Field for 19 years. Owen was a lifelong ham radio operator, and from the age of 16 until shortly before his death, he made many friends across the airwaves. He and Libby relocated to Copley, Ohio, in 2019 to be close to their daughter, Sharon. As a resident of Concordia at Sumner in Copley, Owen became known as “The Piano Man” because he brought enjoyment to himself and others playing “oldies” tunes on

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the residence’s baby grand piano.

Owen was survived by his wife, Libby; his sister, Betsey Garner Hendrick; his children, Richard, John, and Sharon, and their spouses; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren with others on the way. Owen was laid to rest in Whitneyville Cemetery in the Garner Family plot in Hamden, Conn. Due to COVID-19, endof-life ceremonies were planned for a later date.

1953 Thomas Melvin Reed, on November 11, 2020, peacefully at Seabury in Bloomfield, Conn. A four-year Honor Roll student from West Hartford, Conn., Tom was active with the Student Council, Senior Day Boy Committee, Senior Library Committee, Reportorial Board of The Log, Literary Board of Loomiscellany, Handbook Board, and Le Cercle Français. He was active in football and baseball and lettered in basketball. Tom was a member of Cum Laude Society.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in 1957 and began his 40-year career with Aetna Insurance Company in July of that same year. He retired as a manager in Underwriting in 1997.

An avid sports enthusiast, Tom was a devoted fan of both the New York Giants football team and the New York Mets baseball team, and he coached youth sports for many years. A lifelong resident of West Hartford, Tom participated in civic and social activities there and was an active member in the Unitarian Society of Hartford. Golf, reading, socializing with neighbors, and travel — especially to Cape Cod — were among Tom’s favorite pastimes. He remained connected to Loomis Chaffee as a member of the Common Good Society. Tom is remembered for his sense of humor and for being a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, and friend. Predeceased by his son, Kenneth D. Reed, and his brother David S. Reed ’49, he was

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survived by his wife of 59 years, Nancy DeWitt Reed; his brother Eugene Reed ’61; his daughter, Tricia Reed Tilley, and her husband, Ray; his three grandchildren; and several extended family members, including his niece, Elizabeth “Betsy” Reed ’86.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a Celebration of Life was planned for a future date.

1955 Robert Wallace Duff, on October 31, 2020, in Lancaster, Pa., with his family at his side. A two-year student from Hamden, Conn., Bob was president of the Glee Club and The Pelicans singing group; was cast in theatrical productions of The Mikado and Androcles and the Lion; served as secretary of Student Council, chairman of the Dance Committee, and treasurer of the Loomis Development Committee; was active in the Rifle Club; and played tennis. Bob earned the John Edmond Barss Memorial Prize at Commencement. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Princeton University, where he continued his enjoyment of singing with vocal music groups that included the Tigertones and the Boomerangs. In 1973, Bob married Sandy Scheidel and, as a result, became stepfather to her four children. Bob spent his entire professional life with the Bethlehem Steel Corp., and his successful career included roles in New York City; Bethlehem, Pa.; Chesterton, Ind.; and Baltimore, Md. Upon his retirement in 1999, he and Sandy moved to Wilmington, N.C., where playing golf became one of Bob’s favorite pastimes.

Later, the couple moved to Lancaster to be closer to their children and grandchildren. According to the family obituary, Bob lived a “full, loving, and generous life.” He was survived by his wife, Sandy; his sister, Julie Duff Moore; and his children and grandchildren.

Eleanor Grubbs Hetrick, on November 11, 2020, with her family by her side in Phoenix, Ariz. Born in Hartford, Conn., to longtime Loomis Headmaster and Trustee Francis Grubbs and his wife, Frances, “Ellie,” as she was known, attended Chaffee from 1951 to 1953. She was involved in the Glee Club. She completed her high school education at Emma Willard College-Preparatory School and then earned a bachelor’s degree in child education at Vassar College. Ellie worked primarily as a teacher and educator of school-age children, most recently at Scottsdale Coronado High School, before retiring in 2013.

Ellie married Charlie Rice in 1961, and the couple raised three sons, Tyler, Dan, and Jonathan Rice. Ellie later married George Hetrick in 1976, and together they welcomed a daughter, Jennifer.

For more than 50 years, Ellie was an active member of Memorial Presbyterian Church of Phoenix, where she was an Elder, taught Sunday school, and, until very recently, played in the handbell ensemble. She was involved in Phoenix-area community theater productions, was an enthusiastic sports fan — especially of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team — and was an avid reader.

According to the family obituary, Ellie will be most remembered for the ways “she modeled discipleship and strong family values. She loved life and loved her family immensely. She never forgot a birthday. She made it a priority to attend and encourage all of her children’s and grandchildren’s events. She celebrated everything with family and hosted many family gatherings. She loved and stayed in meaningful contact with family and her friends. She was loved and will be greatly missed.”

Preceded in death by her parents, her two former husbands, Charlie and George, and by her son Dan, Ellie was survived by her brother, Denny; her children Tyler, Jonathan, and Jennifer and their spouses; her 10 grandchildren; her seven great- grandchildren; and many

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extended family members. Due to COVID-19, a memorial service was planned for a later date.

Patricia Truitt Mayer, on October 19, 2020, at home in Webster, Texas, with her family by her side. A four-year student from Hartford, Conn., Patty was active in the Glee Club, Chaffers, and Political Club and served as manager of Chiel. While at Chaffee, she met Frederick Mayer ’54, and after a six-year courtship, Patty and Fred were married. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Smith College while he attended West Point.

Their wedding took place on Fred’s graduation day in the Cadet Chapel at West Point. Throughout Fred’s 22-year military service, Patty relocated with the family’s two children more than 16 times to various postings across the United States and abroad, including in Korea and the United Kingdom. Patty embraced the many opportunities and challenges she faced as a military wife; in Korea she taught children to read English; bravely endured living in conflict areas far away from home; and became skilled in rifle shooting. In 1980, Patty started taking on professional roles outside the home when Fred retired from the U.S. Army, and the family relocated to Killeen, Texas.

Her impressive resume from that time included roles as a senior partner in a home building firm, a newspaper editor, a printing business entrepreneur, and in public service on the City Council. Later, Patty worked at a male-dominated financial firm whose clientele was largely military service officers.

She was recognized for her work and promoted to manage the firm’s offices in Fort Hood, Austin, and Clearlake, Texas. Patty and the family relocated to Houston in 1990 when Fred assumed a role at NASA, and she became involved with several community organizations in Houston. A talented seamstress, Patty was a founding member and served in leadership roles of a quilting guild in her

Houston-area home of Lakeview.

Her designs won awards at quilting competitions, and many of her quilts are on display at the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange.

Patty’s many pastimes included reading books of all types, socializing, writing, quilting, hunting, fishing, traveling, and making beautiful homes for her family throughout their many moves.

Patty is remembered by her family for being “a classy lady — beautiful, charming and intelligent,” who led an extraordinary life as a scholar, an “Army wife,” and a respected career woman. Patty was survived by Fred, her husband of 62 years; her children, Nina Olson and Mark Mayer; her three grandchildren; and many extended family members.

1957 Dorothy Elizabeth Hearn Pratt, on July 9, 2020, peacefully in Deer Isle, Maine. A four-year student from Hartford, Conn., Dorothy was a survivor of the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. At Chaffee she was involved in the Constitution Revision Committee, Chaffers, and Glee Club, and she served as president of Student Council.

She attended Connecticut College, Yale University, and Yale School of Art and Architecture. Committed to helping people, Dorothy founded art camps and alternative schools and was a beloved teacher, artist, and therapist. She was a practitioner of Zen Buddhism, and her home in Coventry, Conn., served as a zendo for the Living Dharma Center for many years.

Dorothy was survived by her children, Alex Pratt and Nina Pratt Fleming ’85; her two grandchildren; her brother, Richard Hearn; her ex-spouse, Anthony Pratt; and many extended family members.

1959 William Calvin Bates, on October 29, 2020, in Avon, Conn.

A four-year student from West

Hartford, Conn., Bill was active in the Press Club, Glee Club, Ski Club, Dance Committee, and Pelicans and was a reporter for The Log. A talented athlete, Bill was active in football, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse and earned two varsity letters in soccer. After attending Dartmouth College, Bill was employed by wireless communications companies Bearcom and National Orders. A lifelong resident of West Hartford, Bob was a parishioner of St. John’s Church and was an admired lacrosse coach in youth sports in the town.

His favorite pastimes included fishing, golf, reading newspapers, following the stock market, and watching golf and football on television. According to the family obituary, “Bill ‘Bunk’ will be most remembered for his kind nature, generosity of spirit, dry sense of humor, love of family, and passion for sports. … He was an excellent listener and a very gentle soul.”

Preceded in death by his first wife, Ann Allen Sample Bates, Bill was survived by Carol G. Bates, his wife of more than 40 years; his sons, Jim and Sydney, and their spouses; his daughters, Katie and Carey; his sister, Susan B. Margraf; his eight grandchildren; many extended family members and friends; and George, his beloved pet Bichon Frise.

Jonathan S. Eliot, on August 30, 2020. A two-year student from Brewster, N.Y., Jon was involved in the Press Club and Senior Library Committee, served as treasurer of the Modern Jazz Club, and was a reporter for The Log. He was active in football, baseball, and rifle team. Jon enjoyed a long career as an insurance executive and was survived by his three sons and his four grandchildren.

1962 Vincent P. Dole III, on October 25, 2020, in Boynton Beach, Fla. A three-year student from Rye, N.Y., Vincent was involved in the

Political Debating Club and Ski Club, and he was a reporter for The Log, editor of Handbook, and a member of the Loomiscellany staff. He served as captain of JV football and Allyn basketball and was active in tennis, lacrosse, and golf. He was an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Vincent was survived by his wife, Genevieve; his son Alexandre; and his siblings, Susan Dole and Bruce Dole.

1967 Stephen Charles Kerman, on April 24, 2020. A four-year student from Daytona Beach, Fla., Steve was involved in Student Council, the Dance Committee, and the Pirandello Society, and he was vice president of the Darwin Club. An outstanding athlete, Steve earned three varsity letters and captained the football team; lettered and earned a Fartlek Award in hockey; and earned the Charles R. Denny Memorial Trophy and three varsity letters in lacrosse. Steve attended University of North Carolina, Auburn, and Daytona Beach Community College. His work experiences included roles in construction and yacht sales before he enjoyed a 25-year career working at Jessup’s, a boutique jeweler in Daytona Beach.

In the summer of 1969, Steve was part of the transportation crew and worked as a stagehand at the notable Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, N.Y. A lifelong sailing and sailboat-racing enthusiast, Steve joined many in his family who competed in regattas across waterways of the Southeast. He was a mainstay at the Halifax Sailing Association for decades and later competed in offshore sailing races, including the Daytona Beach to Bermuda TransAt and races from Key West to Cuba and Tampa to Fort Lauderdale, among others. Steve married Gaylyn in 1977. According to the family obituary, Gaylyn was the “one thing he loved more than sailing.”

Preceded in death by his brother, David D. Kerman ’61, Steve was

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survived by his wife, Gaylyn; his daughter, Sarah A. Kerman; and his brothers, Jeffry A. Kerman ’64 and Michael G. Kerman.

1989 Kristin Cuscela Siano, on January 18, in Rye, N.Y., after a long struggle with breast cancer.

Originally from Dallas, Pa., Kristin went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Lehigh University and a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University.

An accomplished writer, Kristin served as press secretary to U.S. Representative Phil English. After several years in Washington, D.C., she built a corporate career in New York with J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Alliance Bernstein, and Guardian Insurance. She married Matthew Siano in January 2002,

and they raised two children.

After stepping away from work to raise her family, Kristin returned to school to earn her educational credentials and taught Englishas-a-second-language courses at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, N.Y., and Concordia College in Bronxville, N.Y. In addition to being a voracious reader, Kristin’s favorite pastimes included watching her boys play baseball and working out at the gym. According to the family obituary, Kristin was a “devoted wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend, [who] will forever be remembered for her kindness, warmth, gracefulness, curiosity, humility, loyalty and sense of humor.” Preceded in death by her father, Frank Cuscela, Kristin was survived by her husband, Matthew; her sons, Michael and Alexander; her mother, Mary Lee Cusela; her sister, Susan

Carlson; and many dear friends. A service in Kristin’s remembrance was held on January 30 at the Rye Presbyterian Church in Rye, N.Y. The family requests that donations in Kristin’s memory be made to Loomis Chaffee and directed to the Kristin Cuscela Siano Scholarship Fund.

More News The school has learned of the passing of Frank Charles Infanger ’45 on January 27, 2021; Stephen L. Root ’46 on December 22, 2020; John Stewart Wilson ’48 on September 9, 2019; Beverly Sandbach Heminway ’49 on February 15, 2021; Sara S. King ’50 on February 10, 2021; George Dealy Edwards Sr. ’51 on January 4, 2021; Christopher Courtney Gates ’51 on January 30, 2021;

Alden Geer Valentine ’51 on February 2, 2021; Mary Zane Hickcox ’52 on February 8, 2021; Lochlin Gates Syme ’52 on September 16, 2020; Earl Russell Sandstrom Jr. ’55 on April 8, 2020; Thomas Baburka ’71 on June 1, 2017; John C. Lancaster ’72 on January 27, 2021; Tracey Perrier McKenzie ’79 on January 30., 2021; David Lee Trares ’80 on December 23, 2019; Mark T. Wilson ’80 on January 27, 2021; Abigail Abbott ’85 on February 2, 2021; Jodi Gebeloff Churchill ’86 on July 29, 2019; Paul M. Hawryluk ’88 on December 16, 2020; and former faculty member Ann B. Palmer on February 10, 2021. More information, as available, will be printed in future issues.

George P. Shultz ’38

George P. Shultz ’38, one of Loomis Chaffee’s most distinguished and inspiring alumni, died on February 6. In his exceptional career as a statesman and policymaker, he served in four different presidential cabinet posts, including as 60th U.S. secretary of state to President Reagan from 1982 to 1989, for which he is perhaps most known. As secretary of state, he earned respect for his steadfast leadership and integrity in matters of diplomacy and is credited for helping usher in an end to the Cold War. Secretary Shultz turned 100 years old on December 13, 2020.

In the eight decades since he graduated from Loomis Chaffee, Secretary Shultz remained connected to the school through his attendance at alumni receptions and philanthropic giving to the school. His generosity included a return visit to campus in October 2107, when he spoke at an all-school convocation, sharing insights from his work serving U.S. presidents, his knowledge and opinions about issues at the forefront of public discourse,

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and reflections on his time as a Loomis student.

Recalling his Loomis years, Secretary Shultz told the audience he remembered working hard in a challenging curriculum. He added that playing on athletics teams at Loomis was a lesson in accountability. “In football, you catch the ball — touchdown! You miss the block, your runner gets creamed,” he said. Secretary Shultz held up a photo of his 1938 Loomis basketball team for the audience and said proudly, “We were 11 and 1,” the most successful record in school history up to that date. During his day-long visit on the Island, Secretary Shultz also met with members of the Shultz Fellowship, a student club inspired by his legacy that hosts regular, open conversations to encourage thoughtful dialogue among school community members with a variety of perspectives on matters of civic importance.

Associate Head for External Relations Nathan Follansbee shared a remembrance: “My first recollection of Secretary Shultz reflects his kindness and genuine warmth. We were all very excited that he would be attending our San Francisco reception, held that year at a club near Union Square. Due to a travel snafu for the head of school, I learned earlier in the day that I would be delivering remarks to the many guests. Secretary Shultz arrived just before we gathered the group in front of me so that I could update them on the school. He and I greeted each other briefly, and he settled into a chair within five feet of me, quadrupling the pressure that I already felt. During the question session, he both asked me about our curriculum and took the time to reflect humorously and thoughtfully on his own time at the school. Afterwards and before he departed, he congratulated me on my remarks with his wonderful smile. … During our conversations he was always incredibly sharp and fascinating, whether he was explaining his views on China and Russia, on climate change and the resulting migration that he envisioned, on our national political situation, and on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, or reminiscing about the

Secretary Shultz converses with Head of School Sheila Culbert during an all-school convocation in 2017. Photo: Jessica Ravenelle

Former Chairman of the Board of Trustees Christopher K. Norton ’76 with Secretary Shultz. Photo: Jessica Ravenelle

presidents whom he served or the world leaders with whom he interacted. George Shultz was an amazing man, and we will all miss him.”

A two-year student from Englewood, N.J., George was involved in the Badminton Club, Table Tennis Club, and Student Council, and he served on the Mason Dorm and Senior Dance committees and was secretary of the Senior Class. He played football, basketball, and tennis. After Commencement, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University in 1942 and then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was stationed in the Pacific and attained the rank of captain. After his military service concluded in 1945, George resumed his study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), where he earned a doctorate in industrial economics.

From there, he embarked on an extensive and remarkable career in public service that included high-ranking U.S. governmental posts. Drawing on his knowledge and expertise in economics and public policy, Secretary Shultz’s government career intersected with numerous executive-level and enterprising business sector positions and influential and respected roles in higher education and academia.

His government and policy roles began in 1955, when he took a two-year leave of absence from his teaching job at M.I.T. to serve as a senior staff economist on President Eisenhower’s Council of Economic Advisors. He returned to government when he was appointed secretary of labor by President Nixon in 1969. In 1970, he became director of the Office of Management and Budget, and in 1972 he was named secretary of the treasury, a post he held for two years. During this period, Secretary Shultz also served as chairman of the Council on

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Top: Students in the Shultz Fellowship meet with Secretary Shultz and his wife, Charlotte, during a visit to campus in 2017.

Bottom: School officials gather with the Shultzes in Sellers Hall: (back) Associate Head of School for External Relations Nathan Follansbee and then-Chairman of the Board of Trustees Christopher K. Norton ’76, and (front) Head of School Sheila Culbert, Secretary Shultz ’38, and Charlotte Shultz. Photos: Jessica Ravenelle

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Economic Policy, negotiated a series of trade protocols with the Soviet Union, and represented the United States at the Tokyo meeting on the General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs. In the early 1980s, Secretary Shultz held two significant positions in the Reagan administration: chairman of the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981–82) and secretary of state (1982–89). In addition to playing a key foreign policy role towards the end of the Cold War, Secretary Shultz was instrumental in the development of strong relationships between the United States and the countries of the AsiaPacific region, including China, Japan, and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. His diplomatic legacy included the advancement of peace efforts in the Middle East and his history-making negotiations with the Soviet Union to reduce nuclear arsenals.

Respected for his economics scholarship and his business acumen, Secretary Schulz served as president, director, chief executive officer, and senior counselor of the Bechtel Group Inc., a global engineering and construction company, from 1974 to 1982. He served as advisor to many other business enterprises, including Gilead Sciences, Xyleco, Accretive Health, Femont Group, and Acuitus.

In addition to teaching economics at M.I.T., Secretary Shultz was a professor of industrial relations and later served as dean at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

He was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the

Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where he taught for many years as a professor of international economics at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In 2001, Secretary Schultz was named a Distinguished Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a global think tank, a position he retained until his death.

Secretary Shultz remained a strong advocate for nuclear arms control through diplomacy late into his life. He earned many international and domestic awards for his dedicated work— including the Medal of Freedom in 1989, the highest civilian honor in the United States. He was presented with honorary degrees from Notre Dame University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, and Williams College, among other institutions of higher education. Secretary Shultz authored many books, essays, and opinion pieces, and his writing inspired students of history, political science, business, and economics for decades. His most recent essay, “The 10 most important things I’ve learned about trust over my 100 years,” was published in The Washington Post on December 11, 2020, two days before his birthday. “Trust is the coin of the realm,” he wrote in the piece — a truism he liked to repeat publicly, including with the Loomis audience in 2017.

Secretary Shultz was predeceased by his first wife of nearly 50 years, Helena Maria O’Brien, and was survived by his second wife, Charlotte Mailliard Swig, whom he married in 1997.

Secretary Shultz and Charlotte Shultz supported philanthropic organizations devoted to serving young people and advancing education, public health, the arts, and the fight against climate change. He was a member of Loomis’ Common Good Society and the John Metcalf Taylor Society. In addition to Charlotte, Secretary Shultz was survived by his five children, Margaret Ann Tilsworth, Kathleen Pratt Shultz Jorgensen, Peter Milton Shultz, Barbara Lennox Shultz White, and Alexander George Shultz; his 11 grandchildren; and his nine great-grandchildren.

The former U.S. secretary of state signs his book Learning from Experience for Cara Keogh ’18, who was a senior at the time. Photo: Jessica Ravenelle

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R ef l ect ions

I Just Want Some

Tea

BY Sophomore Sujin “Serena” Kim This essay received an Honorable Mention in the Second Annual New York Times Personal Narrative Essay Contest in January. Teenagers from all over the world were invited to share their meaningful life moments in short essay form. Of the 9,000 entries, Serena’s essay was one of just 42 earning awards.

There were seven winners, 13 runners-up, and 22 honorable mentions.

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I barge through the doors of 7-Eleven, taking refuge from the cicadas’ cries and the barrage of heat waves.

Air conditioners greet me with gusts of cool air as I mouth “paradise.” Humming softly, I pluck out a can of apple aloe tea and glide to the cashier. I halt. A boy, lanky and hunched like a dried anchovy, stands in line: my fourth-grade bully Kyubin.

into the toxic ditch of insecurity that devoured my ten-year-old self. I face the green sign blinking “exit.”

I can escape. I can slip away without being noticed, mask covering half my face, curls healthy and beyond recognition, and a slimmer physique than my ten-yearold self. The chances of Kyubin recognizing me are even slimmer than that. I am poised to dash through the door, but I crave my tea so I stand behind my old oppressor instead.

My head prickles like an old blister that just popped.

Kyubin was that kid who got detention every other day, that kid who once hurled a sweet potato at a teach“Hey there,” I utter. “Kyubin.” My heart beats faster as I er’s face, and most importantly, that kid who made silently chant “YOLO.” my fourth-grade year a living hell. Kyubin thought he was Anne-of-Green-Gables material, tugging my curls, Kyubin glances at me, cocking his head. His eyebrows jeering, “African-native” and “chimp.” run a full roller coaster ride. “Uh-h-hi…” he stammers.

“Sujin. You look so different. How have you been?”

Neck bone bulging, Kyubin cranes over his phone, clutching an espresso in his other hand. Gel slathers We share a brief conversation: simple chatter about his hair, each strand mimicking a celebrity’s bedhead school and old classmates and how different our lives hair. His milky concealer barely veils the purple circles have become. Then Kyubin, in a flash, snatches my tea under his eyes. The only spark in Kyubin glints not from my hand. from his eyes, but from three holographic letters on his white t-shirt: the initials of his K-Pop record label.

Once a villain, always a villain.

My hands instinctively brush the wispy frizz coating my curls. Does my hair look ok? What if there’s dandruff? What if it’s too frizzy? What if he mocks me? What if … I pace back and forth in the aisle as I weigh my options: face Kyubin or walk away. I imagine myself confronting Kyubin like a glamorous superhero, beating him to a pulp and yelling some obscene words.

But in reality, I shudder at the thought of Kyubin deriding my curls, pointing fingers, and tossing me back

With his other hand, Kyubin swipes his card. The machine beeps as he hands me the can. “I got you,” he says, grinning.

I grab it back, my mouth twitching but no words leaving it. For once, I’m glad to be wearing a mask. “Thank you,” I mutter, eyes wide like saucers. I chug the apple tea in one gulp, toss it in the trash can and stroll into the summer heat.

The Loomis Chaffee School 4 Batchelder Road Windsor, Connecticut 06095 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Seniors Elizabeth Chapman and Anna Rebello face off for a chess match in Grubbs Quadrangle on a warm day in March.

Photo: Cassandra Hamer

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