Noble and Greenough School 10 Campus Drive Dedham, MA 02026-4099
NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID BOSTON MA PERMIT NO. 53825
Nobles THE MAGAZINE OF NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
SPRING 2019
Don’t Go Bacon My Heart
Science teaching fellow John Lower helps his honors biology students Sydney Morrison ’22, Tulasi Vithiananthan ’22 and John Henry LotzMcMillen ’22 identify different parts of a pig’s heart.
This Is Courage.
contents SPRING 2019
IN EVERY ISSUE 2
Letter from the Head
3 Reflections What Nobles folks are saying on campus and online 4
The Bulletin News and notes
17 Off the Shelf All about the books we read and write 18 By the Numbers The archives 19 Sports Girls squash and ski team do it again 22 Development A return to campus: a head of school celebration
Courtney Weinblatt Fasciano ’02 (at right) and her business partner Erin Ryder (far left) set out to create a different kind of luxury brand. See story, page 33.
FEATURES 26 Meet Leaders for the Public Good What it looks like to live the mission
Cover Photograph by Jared Leeds
38 The Overwhelmed Syrup Farmer Staff member Ben Heider taps the trees
24 Perspective What does a photograph say? 42 Graduate News Nobles graduate updates: what, when, why, where and how grads are doing 64 Archive Game on?
Nobles
letter from the head
SPRING 2019
The Nobles Story WHEN I LOOK AHEAD at the next long range planning
process for Nobles, and as I begin to think ambitiously of what our next several years will bring, I start by looking back. What can we learn from our extraordinary journey leading up to today as we plan the next inspiring curve of the Nobles story? How can our tremendous successes over the last decade inform our future successes? The starting place for this review is, of course, our mission. Leadership for the public good—a core element of our mission statement—emerged from the school’s last long range plan as a call to action that is now inextricably threaded throughout our program. It was the beacon that led to the tremendous growth of EXCEL, now offering transformative servicelearning and travel experiences for more than 80 percent of Nobles students. As we begin to think boldly about the priorities and opportunities in our next long range plan, what will “leadership for the public good” mean at Nobles in 2030? Where and how will its presence be felt and seen? I hope that it signals our renewed commitment to engaging students in meaningful conversations about the social, cultural and political landscape around them. Our mission can embolden us during an increasingly polarizing and tense era to find ways to engage students and to focus on citizenship. We want and need our students equipped to navigate complicated conversations, to be informed about the substance of issues when the media gravitates towards taglines and hyperbole, and to know how to listen in a way that builds ideas and helps students form their unique beliefs and voices. “Leadership for the public good” should also be a lens through which we continue to evaluate our course of study at Nobles and the student experience, ensuring students graduate from Nobles equipped with the knowledge, skills, confidence, resilience and inspiration to make a positive impact in the world around them. Whether the impact is on a small or large scale, whether it is highly public or behind the scenes, we aspire to graduate students who seek to make a difference in the lives of others. Lastly, in 2030 the mission needs to draw from the same deep well of faculty-student relationships that drive our work today and that have been transformative for decades of Nobles graduates. Nobles faculty are committed to their craft and to the education of their students. That commitment stretches well past graduation, and it is in the years after graduation that we see the lasting impact of what a Nobles education means. This year, we honor four of our remarkable faculty members who are retiring at the end of this school year, each of whom embodies this commitment to our mission and our students: Steve Toubman, Vicky Seelen, Trish Koningisor and Chris Burr. In the fall magazine, you will see tributes to all they have contributed to the community and to students. As we embark upon this long-range planning process, I am inspired by what led us to this point, and grateful for the position we are in to think ahead with such strong vision and passion. Great things lie ahead for us at Nobles!
—CATHERINE J. HALL, PH.D., HEAD OF SCHOOL
2 Nobles SPRING 2019
Editor Heather Sullivan DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Assistant Editors Kim Neal
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Ben Heider
DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCER/WRITER
Alexis Sullivan
WRITER/CONTENT MANAGER
Design 2COMMUNIQUÉ WWW.2COMMUNIQUE.COM
Photography Tim Carey Michael Dwyer Kathleen Dooher Ben Heider Leah LaRiccia Jared Leeds Kim Neal Risley Sports Photography The Editorial Committee Brooke Asnis ’90 Casey Hassenstein John Gifford ’86 Tilesy Harrington Bill Kehlenbeck Nobles is published three times a year for graduates, past and current parents and grandparents, students and supporters of Noble and Greenough School. Nobles is a co-educational, non-sectarian day and five-day boarding school for students in grades seven (Class VI) through 12 (Class I). Noble and Greenough School is a rigorous academic community that strives for excellence in its classroom teaching, intellectual growth in its students and commitment to the arts, athletics and service to others. For further information and up-to-the-minute graduate news, visit www.nobles.edu. Letters and comments may be emailed to Heather_Sullivan@ nobles.edu. We also welcome old-fashioned mail sent c/o Noble and Greenough School, 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA 02026. The office may be reached at 781-320-7268. © Noble and Greenough School 2019
Any classroom where you’re the only girl is an important classroom for you to be in.
—MADELEINE CHARITY ’19, QUOTING HER MOTHER WHILE ENCOURAGING FEMALE COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS, IN ASSEMBLY
When you’re a member of boys thirds basketball, every game is a big game, every team is our rival, and every time we step on the court, we do it for team and country! —DAVID ROANE, PASSIONATE COACH, IN ASSEMBLY
You once were a boy, and now you are a man, and I am in love with you. —BREENE HALABY ’19, PERFORMING DEE REYNOLDS IN “THE NIGHTMAN COMETH,” IN ASSEMBLY
This is the ’80s, and all young men out of dress code—that’s a suit jacket and tie— and all young ladies in jeans, please stay after assembly and Dean Flood will be here to see you. —NICK NICKERSON, SENIOR MASTER, TIME TRAVELING FOR ’80S DRESS-DOWN DAY, IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, VIA NOBLES INSTAGRAM Karina Cowperthwaite, Breene Halaby and Wyatt Sullivan (all ’19) work through a scene in the upcoming NTC production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
JANUARY 4, VIA NOBLES INSTAGRAM Celebrations at the 12th annual Cotting School Game
Being here and doing this work has been one of the great joys of my life. —C.P. PASTERCZYK, SCIENCE FACULTY MEMBER, IN ASSEMBLY
Thank you for coming . . . if you are going to come. —C.J. ACHEBE ’24, ANNOUNCING THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PLAY “SNOW ANGEL,” IN ASSEMBLY SPRING 2019 Nobles 3
the bulletin The task got trickier when the names and words were interspersed and participants were asked to tap left for a “white-sounding” name or a positivesounding word, and tap right for a “black-sounding” name or unpleasant word. Up to this point for all trials, everyone in Lawrence Auditorium completed the tasks in about 16 seconds. When the task was reversed and people were asked to tap left for a “blacksounding” name or a pleasant word, and tap right for a “white-sounding” name or an unpleasant word, completion time nearly doubled . . . or people just gave up. Maddox and Sommers acknowledged that this result is uncomfortable to face. Why is it so hard to create positive associations with black-sounding names? They want people to understand:
The Science of Stereotyping TO BE HUMAN IS TO BE BIASED. But what can we do about it? On Wednesday, February 13, Tufts psychology professors and social scientists Sam Sommers and Keith Maddox spoke about the universal tendency to stereotype and harbor implicit biases, and how we can learn not to let those attitudes adversely affect our decisions and interactions with others. Leading the audience through a series of word associations, Sommers and Maddox demonstrated how society has conditioned all of us to associate negative and positive connotations with different
assembly highlights #Winning Board game enthusiasts introduced the Strategic Game
4 Nobles SPRING 2019
Club, calling it “the premier club for the creation and destruction of friendships.”
concepts of race, however unconscious these biases may be. One exercise had participants read through a list of names and tap their left knee for any names that sounded stereotypically “black,” or their right knee for names that sounded more stereotypically “white.” The same exercise was repeated with words that sounded pleasant or unpleasant (e.g., “peace” vs. “cancer”). Then “blacksounding” and “white-sounding” names were mixed within a list, and people were asked to tap left for “black-sounding” and right for “white-sounding.”
Comfort and Cambodia Faculty members Mark Sheeran and Maura Sullivan described the
Nobles EXCEL trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Sullivan expressed how far outside her comfort zone this trip would
■■
■■ ■■
Associations like these are everywhere, whether tied to racial groups, sexual orientation, gender types or any other grouping. These biases can be unconscious. They can influence our judgment and behavior in a range of ways.
Maddox explained why stereotypes are so pervasive: “Even people we wouldn’t necessarily characterize as racist or sexist or homophobic can still have these kinds of associations that unintentionally, for the most part, influence the kinds of judgments they make or the interactions they have with members of those groups.”
be and encouraged students to stretch themselves as well. Hope Through original
spoken word poetry, Devon Minor ’19 shared his reflections on violence in his neighborhood, police brutality and the
ILLUSTRATION BY: BEPPE GIACOBBE
NEWS FROM OUR CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
Maddox explained that for all the information that bombards us, we devise shortcuts to decide how to interact with objects or people. Categorization by physical characteristics is one of those shortcuts. The dissonance occurs when how we process information about the world conflicts with our ideas about how we should perceive people. The danger lies in the inaccuracies we create when we oversimplify our world perception by categorizing. “Stereotypes reinforce themselves in many ways as we look to confirm our hypotheses instead of seeing the information that would lead us to think a little differently. They can influence what we see, believe, remember, how we act toward others, or even behave,” Maddox said. Knowing about our biases means we can do something about them. ■■
■■ ■■
Start by acknowledging that people are different, but don’t be afraid to talk about it. Recognize when stereotypes cloud our perceptions. Communities like Nobles should proactively strategize to minimize the impact of inherent bias. Set guidelines for organizations and actively engage people of different groups so they know they belong.
“Addressing bias isn’t necessarily about changing individual hearts and minds but changing our behavior so it influences environments,” Maddox said.
loss of innocence. His honesty and passion earned him a standing ovation from the assembly crowd.
Hasta Luego Spanish exchange students from Toledo sang their goodbyes in assembly after two weeks of
To Survive, to Reunite What happens when you are 15 years old and discover that you are the descendant of Holocaust survivors? If you’re Georgia Hunter, you wait a decade or so and begin to write a New York Times best-selling piece of historical fiction, We Were the Lucky Ones (Penguin, 2017). Hunter spoke to Nobles parents and guardians on the evening of January 15 and addressed the school community in assembly the next day. Hunter explained that her grandfather, Addy, had never spoken of his heritage or the Holocaust; he had not raised his family Jewish and did not live to see his granddaughter research and write his life story and that of his four siblings, all of whom survived in a statistical anomaly. A high school English assignment related to identity led Hunter to interview her grandmother, who revealed that Hunter is a quarter Polish-Jewish. “It was a shock,” recalled Hunter. As a young adult, she met many of her cousins at a family reunion. They came from all over the globe, she said, and spoke Portuguese, English and French. As she listened to their stories, she learned more about her grandfather’s siblings—how they scattered from their hometown of Radom, Poland, landing as far away as Siberia. The siblings, she said, had a twofold mission: “First, to survive. Second, to reunite.” Against the odds, they accomplished both goals. As her research intensified, she learned of a family member who had crossed the Austrian Alps while pregnant to avoid checkpoints at train stations, of another who married in secret against Nazi law, of others who survived the ghettos and obtained false IDs to aid in their escape. Her grandfather’s sister Halina was sent to jail in Krakow, where she was beaten and posed as a non-Jew to survive. “The idea was seeded,” she said, after the family reunion. Hunter’s sweeping novel follows the paths of the five siblings and other relatives. Her layers of research included extensive travel to interview family, visit sites and to hunt down archival documents. “I felt like I time-traveled a little bit writing this book,” she said. Her research provided the bones of the novel, but she used creative license to develop what she called “the colorful, connective tissue” of the book, such as dialogue and other unknowable details. “I wrote this book to honor my family,” Hunter said. “I never thought that the themes would feel so relevant, so timely. “My family’s story is one of hope, courage, perseverance and love,” she said.
immersing themselves at Nobles, exploring Boston and participating in homestays with Nobles families. An
EXCEL trip to Toledo is planned this June. Seen Head of School Cathy Hall spoke
about the Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen and emphasized the importance of feeling seen. A student band, made
up of Owen Asnis ’19, Alex Stimpson ’19, Henry Dolgoff ’19, Joe Harrington ’19 and Kamran Bina ’21 performed “Sincerely, Me,”
SPRING 2019 Nobles 5
the bulletin
“ While we think of a better tomorrow, we need to disrupt the systems that keep us from achieving liberation today.”
AMI NWAOHA AND DEVON MINOR, both ’19, spoke in unison as they took on the identities of Emmett Till and Tamir Rice, two black boys murdered 59 years apart for the color of their skin. Seeing and hearing Nwaoha and Minor, two young black men barely older than Till and Rice at the time of their deaths (14 and 12, respectively), drove home the impact that racism continues to have on our communities and people of color. The message was clear: Hate and ignorance are killing our children, friends, family and neighbors.
As student presenters introduced the program, they said, “While we think of a better tomorrow, we need to disrupt the systems that keep us from achieving liberation today. As you watch the dialogues, please do your best to listen, to understand. See these new perspectives as a gift.” Maya Rodriguez ’19 spoke for 7-yearold Guatemalan migrant Jakelyn Caal Maquin, who died in U.S. Border Patrol custody in 2018, while Maya Principe ’19 represented Jeanne Wakatsuki, also 7 when she was taken to a Japanese intern-
ment camp in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Miki Martin and Madeleine Charity, both ’19, stood for 1968 Olympic athlete Tommie Smith and NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who sacrificed their athletic careers and were condemned for anti-patriotism when they silently protested to demand social equity. The student-run multimedia presentation honoring Dr. King’s legacy involved spoken word, poetry and song, interspersed with relevant terminology, data and statistics about racial, cultural and economic inequities. Presenters also proposed resources, organizations and solutions to break cycles of oppression, racism and xenophobia. “Race and racism are rooted in history and have been used by society to further economic and political goals. Racism is embedded in the fabric of our society, nation, institutions, relationships and even ourselves, and impacts access and opportunities,” they said. They encouraged fellow students to create change, saying, “You can also work for racial equity by doing your own listening and learning, using your voice to disrupt racial jokes and stereotypes, and using
a song from the show, in which the title character tries to fabricate a friendship with a dead boy to sustain a
Environmental Action Committee promoted the message “take what you can eat; eat what you take,” with the goals of beating
A Story to Tell English faculty member Gia Batty announced the beginning of National Novel Writing Month
Class I students Ami Nwaoha and Devon Minor represent Emmett Till and Tamir Rice in a spoken word piece.
Speak Truth to Power
6 Nobles SPRING 2019
lie that comforts the boy’s family. Be Sustainable and Beat Milton Members of the
Milton Academy’s food waste initiative and earning an ice cream sundae bar.
(NaNoWriMo), saying, “Everybody has a story to tell. Sometimes you just need a nudge to write it down.”
your power to point out and fight against racial inequities when you see them.” Miki Martin ’19 sang “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” (a.k.a. the black national anthem) and Sophie Streeter ’22, Angelina Gomes ’19 and Saffiyah Coker ’20 closed with a reading of Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again.”
O, let America be America again— The land that never has been yet— And yet must be—the land where every man is free. Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Erica Pernell said, “We need to share stories that show us how our current challenges
are reflected throughout history. Fear and dehumanization of people of color is not new, and it’s important for students to understand that they can play a role now in ending the evils that plague our society. By bringing figures like Tamir Rice and Emmett Till to life, we remember that this work is never-ending.”
SEEING AND SHAVING “I’ve always been inspired by the people around me,” shared Jeff Raider ’99, co-founder of both Warby Parker and Harry’s. “And Nobles is a really inspiring place to be.” After engaging in a Graduates Council speaker series event the night before, Raider joined Provost Bill Bussey on the assembly stage on January 30 for a conversation about Raider’s beginnings and his path to success. Joking that he was a “ruffian iconoclast” during his time at Nobles, Raider soon revealed that he was actually more of a “sincere, normal person” who spent his time at Nobles trying to “contribute to the community” of talented people around him. Raider listed influential Nobles teachers Ben Snyder, Nick Nickerson, Vicky Seelen, John Gifford, Mark Sheeran and Alden Mauck. “One of the things I learned at Nobles was how to learn,” he reflected. He remembered his first few classes here, when he thought he had to answer every question the teacher asked. With his characteristic charm, Mauck had suggested that Raider might want to answer fewer questions, with a bit more thought. After Nobles, Raider earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University. He began his career with a brief stint in the political sphere, then at Bain & Company and Charlesbank Capital Partners. When he realized he wanted to be an entrepreneur, he began studies for his MBA at the Wharton School. The online eyewear company Warby Parker began with a
simple question posed by one of his Wharton friends: “Hey, what do you think about selling glasses online?” Soon Raider and three of his friends were dedicating all of their efforts to making a business out of the idea. In March of their second year at Wharton, the four friends launched Warby Parker to immediate success. Raider remembers his friend monitoring the sales from the back of the room, ticking them off by the second: “Another order, another order, another order.” Raider eventually stepped back to streamline the leadership of the new company, but he soon got a phone call from his friend Andy Katz-Mayfield. Katz-Mayfield had an idea similar to the one that started Warby Parker: Razors are overpriced, farcically difficult to purchase and rife with inappropriate gender stereotypes. How could they do it better? Fast-forward, and Harry’s is now a billion-dollar company. They recently launched a women’s line, Flamingo, that breaks the trend set by other major companies of low-quality razors emblazoned with a hefty “pink tax” and hyperfeminized marketing. “We always wanted Warby Parker, and now Harry’s, to be forces for good,” Raider explains. For every pair of glasses purchased at Warby Parker, another pair is given to someone who would not otherwise be able to afford them. Harry’s and Flamingo combat gender stereotypes with donations to like-minded charitable organizations and thoughtful product decisions. As he explains it, “The mission is built into the business model.”
The Best Ever At the Head of the Charles Regatta, the girls varsity crew earned third place out of 85 boats, when
the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht—the Night of Broken Glass— when Nazis attacked Jewish people and their homes, schools,
they were seeded 19th. “This is the best [the] girls crew has ever done,” the captains said.
Remembering Kristallnacht Soon after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the Jewish Culture Club marked
businesses and synagogues. “Let us recognize our shared humanity in the face of discrimination and hate,” said Noa Fay ’19.
Thank a Soldier Representing the club Heroes Wear Dawg Tags, John Murray ’19 listed veterans in his family and
SPRING 2019 Nobles 7
the bulletin
From l to r: Grace Hayward ’21, Ernie Zhang ’22, Anna Perez ’21, Xavier Welch ’21, and Olivia Hayward ’21
A Question of Ethics WHEN OLIVIA AND GRACE HAYWARD ’21
moved from New Jersey to Boston a year ago, they instantly felt they would be at home at Nobles. But the twins have also created a unique opportunity for others at Nobles—one they brought with them from Kent Place School, their alma mater. “Kent Place has a signature program called the Ethics Institute, run by Dr. Karen Rezach. Starting in middle school, students take ethics electives, attend ethics summer programs, and take part in ethics discussion groups at lunch,” the Haywards explain. They attribute their love of ethics to Rezach’s program. “She was the kind of teacher and leader who made you want to learn more and challenge yourself to think more deeply
encouraged the community to write letters to military service members. Murray read from a soldier’s thank-you note: “It
8 Nobles SPRING 2019
reminds me, and all our soldiers, of home.” Take Care, TCB After the passing of Aretha Franklin, Blues
about issues that had real-life applicability and relevance. She made us think more deeply about our values, so that we put an ethical lens on not just the material we were talking about during discussions, but more broadly in our lives.” Though it was difficult leaving their old school, the twins’ ongoing commitment to ethical studies eased the transition. As new ninth graders, they found Provost Bill Bussey to be very supportive of their ideas; the positive response they received after presenting their initiative in assembly encouraged them to go forward. Their goal for 2019 was to compete in the New England Regional Ethics Bowl hosted by Tufts University, a stepping-stone to the National Ethics Bowl hosted by the University of North Carolina.
Band took the stage to honor her with versions of “Respect” and “Chain of Fools.”
Fresh Food Science faculty member Deb Harrison encouraged the crowd to “honor the food system” by supporting
The core group prepared 16 ethical cases on substantial, multilayered topics for competition. Each member presented a case to the team, which collectively dissected it further. The Ethics Bowl competition team included five competitors, an alternate, and three research assistants from Classes IV-II. “We cannot say enough about the dedication of our team members. We found students who felt as passionately as we did about having these conversations and taking the time to do the outside research that was needed to really understand the issues at hand,” the sisters say. They are also grateful for the guidance of club advisor Kimya Charles. “Ms. Charles was with us from day one,” the Haywards said—from guiding them through the logistics of having a club at Nobles to helping them register for the Ethics Bowl and thinking through the issues. As a fledgling program, the Ethics Club lacked a content expert in ethics or philosophy to coach them but appealed to the Haywards’ mentor, Dr. Rezach, to review their case stances, preparation videos and outlines. The Haywards feel optimistic about next year. Charles says she is “superproud of the consistent hard work and enthusiasm with which they approached this bowl in the weeks and months leading up to it. They worked incredibly hard and also had a great deal of fun wrestling with some pretty complex issues, and it was awesome to witness!” So what’s next for these philosophers? They are already planning for the national competition, reaching out to teams they
local farms. “Food that takes a long journey takes away from the farmers in our own backyard,” she explained.
Que Me Ha Dado Tanto Ally Guerrero ’19 performed a stunning rendition of “Gracias A La Vida,”
met at Tufts to arrange scrimmages and learn from one another. “We would love to get more teachers involved in helping us take our thinking to the next level. Helping us with the philosophical theories and ethical analysis is really how we can improve.” They hope to invite Dr. Rezach to share with Nobles students the Ethical Framework she developed at Kent Place. Ideally, they say, she would present, conduct mini-breakout sessions, and develop a Nobles-Kent Place partnership for ethical learning. “Throughout our daily lives, we are constantly faced with ethical dilemmas. Our discussions help us to understand what values are important to us, and then we can lay those on top of the problem at hand to logically take apart the problem and determine next steps. With this ethical framework in mind, we, and all students on the team, can better approach problem solving in class, competitions and life,” the Haywards say.
2019 NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL ETHICS BOWL COMPETITORS Olivia Hayward ’21 Grace Hayward ’21 Anna Perez ’21 Xavier Welch ’21 Ernie Zhang ’22
SUPPORT Aileen Feliz ’22—alternate Sophia Lowry ’20—research assistant/spectator Danielle Frankel ’22—research assistant/spectator Sofia Samuels ’22—research assistant/spectator
by Violeta Parra. Librarians Making Jokes Talya Sokoll, codirector of the Putnam
Library, announced the new library Instagram account, saying, “The Instagram is lit-erary! Get it?”
Time Away On January 7, recent graduates Helena Jensen ’17 and Annika Harrington ’18 returned for a panel discussion about their gap-year experiences for an audience of students and their parents. Director of College Counseling Kate Ramsdell and Director of EXCEL Ben Snyder helped lead the discussion. Harrington spent the fall in Guatemala and Costa Rica with Thinking Beyond Borders and will go to Chile for the second half of her year away. She will attend Williams College next fall. Jensen spent last summer rowing for a club in Boston and then worked at the Massachusetts State House and for documentarians before spending the second half of her year in Denmark, where she has family and dual citizenship. She is now attending Georgetown University. Both students said they look forward to resetting after the rigor of Nobles. Snyder explained the benefits of taking time away from school before college: “It’s easy in this environment to fall into what you’re supposed to do.” He described the gap year as a chance to step off the treadmill, gain new experiences and skills, and return more ready for college. Jensen agreed, saying, “It was an impactful experience, coming back to school, and it being something I decided to do.” Gap years have gained more attention in America recently, as evidenced by a recent Wall Street Journal article that featured Nobles graduate Peter Scharer ’17. He spent a year studying Hindi and Urdu and volunteering at a school in northern India before beginning his freshman year at Princeton University this past fall. Recently, more colleges have recognized the advantages of the gap year. As Ramsdell explained, students taking time away often helps colleges manage enrollment numbers while developing more well-rounded students. “The data says kids who take gap years do better in college,” Snyder explained. Ramsdell shared evidence that, when students return to school after a gap year, they are more likely to take advantage of available resources. As Harrington said, “I’m more excited for college than I was six months ago.” The panel reiterated the Wall Street Journal’s point that the success of a gap year is not dependent upon income. Jensen and Harrington both took on jobs to help fund their plans. Jensen explained, “Gap years are not limited to American programs. You can often piece them together with resources around the world, often at lower costs.” Taking a gap year can benefit young adults in school, work and life. Snyder explained the problem-solving skills that the freedom of a gap year can help develop. “Becoming an adult has a lot to do with learning to work through things when they don’t go right.”
Beautiful Endings Henry Patterson ’21 debuted a song he wrote, with the lyrics “But sometimes endings can
be beautiful too.” 75 Years-Plus of Preparation “Track and field is back!” announced
future coach Kate Blake. Nobles track and field, which returned this spring, has been on a hiatus for more than 75 years.
Radical Empathy Dean of Students Mark Spence shared a story of his nephew who has autism. After hearing that the boy was
SPRING 2019 Nobles 9
the bulletin
All the Someplaces “WHEN YOU THINK BACK on how you ended up someplace, it’s usually this logical progression of small steps,” says visual arts faculty member John Hirsch. His own small steps landed him in Svalbard this fall, sailing for almost three weeks on the tall ship Antiqua. The trip made sense. Last summer, Hirsch published his book on the intersection between art and science, And Again: Photographs From the Harvard Forest. The Arctic Circle program adver-
tised scientists and artists aboard the boat together, giving Hirsch’s concept a new landscape. On September 30, Hirsch boarded the Antiqua alongside 26 other passengers, none of them scientists. Among the small crew, Hirsch met four rifle-carrying young women who were charged with choosing locations to work and protecting the group from polar bears. Hirsch decided his next few steps would be beside those guards, photographing the
casual efficiency with which they completed their tasks. Products of Hirsch’s expedition, nine toned silver-gelatin prints mounted to aluminum, joined the work of his colleagues on January 10 in the semiannual faculty art show in Foster Gallery, “The Canvas Is Not Neutral.” In different media, the gallery displays all the “someplaces” the talented visual arts faculty at Nobles have ended up. John Dorsey’s intricate ceramic vase
being bullied, Spence opened a dialogue with him. Of his own bully, Spence’s nephew said, “I just hope he’s having fun. I don’t
Three Cs In honor of the men’s health movement Movember, English faculty member Chris Burr spoke about male
Two Years Lev Sandler ’19 marked the second anniversary of his friend and classmate Jane Song’s passing.
10 Nobles SPRING 2019
see him having fun at school.” Amazed by his nephew’s empathy, Spence reflected, “He’s teaching me more than I’m teaching him.”
role models in his life. He encouraged students to be curious and courageous and to challenge accepted truths.
“When I think about her, I think about her life and smile. When I think about her death, I think about the support of this community.
forms honored the Stave Churches of Norway, the Gothic architecture of Italy and the Machiya townhouses of Japan. Hanging next to Dorsey’s stoneware was Curtis Mann’s “Removal #2,” a documentary photograph that Mann altered through a process of selection and erasure to stunning effect. Further into the gallery, Molly Pascal used oil and watercolor paints to confront her own privilege in depictions of the scenic New England coastline where she grew
up. On the back wall, the swirling pencil drawings of David Roane’s “Zoom” series interpreted the particles that surround him as he meditates. Circling the room counterclockwise, Betsy VanOot’s oil paintings honored the spaces in ordinary buildings that resist illumination. These portraits depicted those buildings as the women she most admires, “doing the work required of them without complaint, in silence, for decades.” Mike Bodall’s photographs
explored the northeastern United States, examining the intersections of the industrial, the domestic and the coastal. Nora Bourdeau’s porcelain platters, plates and vases began as a dozen of her “less successful attempts” to create designs that she enjoyed using as much as she enjoyed making. She brought the tableware home and, through its function in her kitchen, embraced its use as part of her process. “The Canvas Is Not Neutral” was on display until February 8.
… Thank you and take care of each other.”
you no matter where you fall on the spectrum.” Norah Jankey ’22 concluded, “I refuse to allow any member of our community to be
friends about since freshman year, and they finally gave in,” shared a triumphant Sammi Janower ’19 before taking the stage
Support Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Erica Pernell
accompanied students onstage to explain “how the new Nobles policy [on trans and gender-nonconforming individuals] supports
discriminated against.” What I Really, Really Want “This is a performance I’ve been bugging my
with the other “Spice Girls” for a performance of “Wannabe.”
SPRING 2019 Nobles 11
the bulletin
Clockwise from left: Peter Thibeault ’24, Valerie Gualdron ’24, Sally Nagle ’24, Alexander Lee ’23, Caroline Dies ’23, Brian Qi ’24
Snow Angel WHEN A HISTORIC BLIZZARD hits Deerpoint,
Vermont, and gives the town teenagers a snow day, the appearance of a mysterious visitor causes them to question one another and themselves. An unsolved town tragedy unites the divided group as they seek to uncover more about the enigmatic “Eva,” a new girl in their midst. Through the students’ journal entries and conversations, they reveal fractured views of the
Lessons Student Diversity Leadership Conference attendees took the stage to share lessons learned. Reflecting
12 Nobles SPRING 2019
on her experience as an Asian-American, Vivian Li ’21 learned that “oppression isn’t a competition.” After thinking about his
same shared experience. While each of them projects something different, their deeper need to connect ultimately wins. On February 6 and 7, 2019, performances of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Snow Angel highlighted portrayals of a quirky, funny and often poignant cast of teenagers. The play was the final production of beloved longtime Nobles theatre director Todd Morton, who moves on at the end of this year.
CAST
own code-switching, Chibueze Ikeogu ’19 shared his takeaway that “justice is a form of love in public.”
Head Over Feet.
Won Us Over With Alex ’21 on guitar and Breene ’19 on vocals, the Halaby siblings performed Alanis Morissette’s
Chinua Achebe ’24, Caroline Dies ’23, Mara DuBois ’24, Wudiana Fevrier ’24, Olive Gifford ’23, Valerie Gualdron ’24, Justice Hickman–Maynard ’24, Alexander Lee ’23, Sally Nagle ’24, Ava Neal ’23, Brian Qi ’24, Madi Shaer ’23, Jordan Sims Rhodes ’24, Amelia Simons ’24 and Peter Thibeault ’24.
The Ref After somersaulting onto the stage, Max von Schroeter ’19 and
Noah Janfaza ’20 announced the Silent Night basketball game, where costumed spectators wait silently until the 10th point to
THE PAST IN PAINT Shown in the Foster Gallery in early winter 2018, Charlie Hunter’s Scrapyard Lullabies portrayed the decaying infrastructure of Bellows Falls, Vermont, and the towns Hunter passes through when traveling by railroad. In dripping paint and muted colors, Hunter’s work depicts old homes, cars, depots and tracks. Ghosts of the past inspire his work. He writes, “You never see them straight on, but you catch a glimpse out of the corner of your eye as the sun is setting, or hear their voices in the metal-on-metal as a freight train rolls by.” He invites visitors to think of his show as a “suite of songs” to the past. On November 15, Hunter spoke to classes in the gallery. He told them, “Squint at reality; don’t squint at your paintings. Squint at reality to get a sense of the bigger shapes.” More about Charlie Hunter and his artwork is available at hunter-studio.com.
Rose Sale The annual Campuses Against Cancer (CAC) Rose Sale is always a bright spot in an otherwise bleak February. The Nobles community has the chance to send sweet-smelling reminders of friendship or appreciation (or even a secret crush!), knowing proceeds will benefit a cancer charity carefully chosen by the Nobles chapter of CAC. This year, CAC added a rose category to honor beloved math faculty member and Nobles treasure Bill Kehlenbeck, who is battling cancer. Each purchase of a Kehlenbeck Rose results in a monetary dona-
tion to Dana Farber in his name, where he is receiving treatment. The main beneficiary of this year’s fundraiser is Lucy’s Love Bus. Lucy Grogan, who was diagnosed with leukemia at age 8, started the organization when she was 11 “to improve the quality of life for children going through treatment for cancer and life-threatening illnesses, support their families and mobilize the next generation of cancer activists.” Since Lucy passed away at age 12, her Love Bus continues to fund free integrative therapies for children in treatment, including horseback riding, reiki,
aerial yoga, swimming and acupuncture. In promoting the sale, CAC leader and cancer survivor Sammi Janower ’19 recalled how she coped with treatment as a child by painting Tinkerbell on her hospital room windows. “Part of the proceeds from our rose sale will go to Lucy’s Love Bus, and the rest will go to other organizations who benefit people going through these problems every single day—so when you get that link to order a rose, buy that extra rose! Get one for your secret crush . . . or send one to me! Those extra dollars will go a long way.” The 2019 sale generated more than $10,000—a record—and $1,200-plus in Kehlenbeck roses.
erupt into noise. As von Schroeter said, “I’m gonna be wearing my referee costume. Why? Because things might get out of hand.”
“While they may be annoying at times, they have been my best friends since day one. The first two roses of the day go to my
education every time I get to work with them,” said performing arts faculty member Paul Lieberman of his bandmates
Stopping Cancer, Spreading Love Celebrating the annual Campuses Against Cancer rose sale, Owen Asnis ’19 announced,
two sisters, Sydney and Catie [both ’21].” Masters of Their Craft “It’s an honor, a privilege and an
before their fifth annual assembly performance of great black pop music. N
SPRING 2019 Nobles 13
the bulletin
Bright Star
In February, the Nobles Theatre Collective presented Broadway’s Bright Star, inspired by a true tale, and featuring a Grammy-nominated bluegrass score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. The musical is a tender and troubling story of love and redemption in small-town North Carolina in the 1920s and 1940s. Literary editor Alice Murphy (Lucy Morrison ’19/1940s, Elizabeth Kantrowitz ’19/1920s), long tormented by being separated from her baby at birth, searches for him to resolve the painful questions of her past. As she does, figures from her
14 Nobles SPRING 2019
past and present collide, and she regains her family (son Joe Harrington ’19) and the love of her life (Henry Dolgoff ’19). Director of Theatre Dan Halperin praised the 75-plus Nobles members of the show, saying, “Perhaps nowhere else in the school does such a high number of students and faculty collaborate together for so many hours and weeks on so large a project.” The ingenious set design by Erik Diaz transported both cast and audience, while accommodating a record number onstage with versatility and grace.
SPRING 2019 Nobles 15
the bulletin
A Book, By Its Cover With saucy titles and steamy images of entangled couples, Rebecca Brooks’ book covers invite some blushing and maybe a little bit of judgment. Trust the old idiom, though, and meet the complex characters beyond the covers and the feminist author behind the Brooks penname. This March, romance author Kate Broad ’01 visited Vicky Seelen’s creative writing class to talk about her craft and her path to dominating smart-and-sexy fiction. Read students’ reflections on the visit below: I loved talking to her about how the plot of the erotic scenes in her romance novels actually are crucial to the story itself due to all of the emotional changes that happen within each sex scene that she writes. While these books might not be exactly my go-to genre, I was fascinated to talk to an esteemed expert in that field. For writers, I was interested in how they make their living, as writing novels is a job that certainly does not pay off immediately (unless lucky). Kate expanded on how most writers are forced to generate original and fascinating ideas while making a separate and equally demanding living elsewhere (such
as teaching or being a professor). The most interesting part of Kate’s speech was learning about her process, and the research and outlining that goes into every scene, character and eventually—novel that she writes. —BEN MCPHERRON ’19 When Kate said she rewrote Fault Lines four times, I was shocked. How can someone spend that much time and effort rewriting their work? I was absolutely amazed—it seemed like a nightmare, but she said she enjoyed it. Yet, what I learned by listening to her is that if you are committed to the writing, then the revision process is easy. If you are open to change and critics, it makes the rewriting process a concentrated effort, rather than a dreaded Herculean task. It gave me a lot more respect for writers in general, now knowing the painstaking process they have to go through for every book they write, but it also fired-up my ambitions to [keep writing]. — SOPHIE ELDRIDGE ’19
Writing can seem very intimidating. It’s a lot of work, but Kate made it seem very possible if it is something you’re passionate about…She also made me realize that just because you head down one path, it doesn’t mean that you have to stick with it your whole life. Kate never thought that she was going to end up writing romance novels, yet she followed her passions and this is where they led her… It was interesting to see how she plays with the format of romance novels. I enjoyed hearing that she tries to twist the traditional “submissive” woman role in her books. It was interesting to hear how much backlash she received from the book where the woman made more money than the man. It’s awesome to see someone really try and change women’s roles in this genre. It was also interesting to hear that her process for setting up her romantic novel is very similar to her literary novels. —LAUREL ALPAUGH ’19
I thoroughly enjoyed the time our class spent with Kate Broad, mostly because she talked about what successful writers do not always highlight: failure. She discussed with us her lengthy, difficult process of becoming a successful published author and how she got to where she is now. I was particularly intrigued with her determination to publish her book that was inspired by the ice caves she saw on her trip to Peru. It was not her best work and she felt that it was not very coherent…she put it away and did not return to it for years. I admire her determination and how she did not let her initial failures discourage her. —MAYA RODRIGUEZ ’19
16 Nobles SPRING 2019
ILLUSTRATION BY: BENEDETTO CRISTOFANI
my books...
PUZZLE PERFECT: A LIBRARIAN’S APPROACH
BY ELLA STEIM, LIBRARIAN
I love puzzles. My ideal snow day includes working on a jigsaw puzzle; the Sunday New York Times crossword is a consistently difficult highlight of my week. It’s probably this affinity for teasing out patterns and searching for answers that makes librarianship so enjoyable for me—there’s little more rewarding than being able to provide a patron with an answer to a query. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that I gravitate to reading mysteries; my preference is for well-written, character-forward stories with plots that I can’t figure out (at least not until late in the game!). The five books I have highlighted below captured my curiosity and made me want to read more from each author. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have. (But if you want other recommendations, please come by the library!) 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON, BY AGATHA CHRISTIE The summer before seventh grade, I discovered Agatha Christie… and proceeded to read all of her books. In this one, Miss Marple’s friend Elspeth McGillicuddy swears she has seen a murder on a passing train (the 4:50 from Paddington Station). Only—there is no body. Miss Marple, thinking of hiding places for a corpse, enlists a young woman, Lucy Eyelesbarrow, to seek employment at an estate along the rails. The Crackenthorpes of Rutherford Hall certainly have their skeletons, but it’s not clear to Lucy (or the reader) that any of them are truly murderous. Luckily, Miss Marple is there to guide the investigation and flush out the villain. If you are looking for a classic British mystery with a wide cast of characters and not one but two strong female investigators, give this Christie a try. THE LIKENESS, BY TANA FRENCH This is the second book in French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, in which each entry is told from the point of view of a tangential character from the previous one. The Likeness chronicles the investigation of Detective Cassie Maddox, who, having recently concluded a devastating murder case (French’s In the Woods), is sent undercover to impersonate a dead woman… who happens to look just like her. The further she sinks into her role, the more uncertain she becomes about her identity. This is a very internal character study that considers what happens when what we think we know is upended. Taut and inscrutable, this is one of the strongest entries in French’s series. CUCKOO’S CALLING, BY ROBERT GALBRAITH After this book was successfully released in 2013, it was leaked that Robert Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling! Ostensibly, Cuckoo’s Calling, and the series it kicks off, have little in common with Rowling’s Harry Potter books—gritty and realistic, there are no wizards here. However, the character development and plotting are just what we have come to expect from Rowling—specific, detailed, and rich. Main character Cormoran Strike, retired from the British Military
ART CREDIT
Police following the loss of his lower leg in Afghanistan, is now a private investigator; the book opens with him reexamining the death of supermodel Lula Landry, who he has been hired to prove did not take her own life. Three books later, I am still fascinated by how she continues to develop Strike and his world.
THE BEEKEEPER’S APPRENTICE, BY LAURIE R. KING Classic Sherlock Holmes this is not. However, if you have ever wondered why the only woman in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories is Irene Adler, or felt that those stories might have been strengthened by a more authentic, intellectual partnership, then please try this book. King breathes new life into Holmes-ian canon in the form of young Mary Russell—an able foil for an aging Holmes. As the book, and ensuing series, unfold, the reader has the pleasure of seeing Russell mature as a detective, scholar, woman, and partner in crime; we also see Russell and Holmes work in the shadows of major early 20th-century events. King ably blends history, mystery, and both new and well-known characters to create an exciting take on a classic. GIRL WAITS WITH GUN, BY AMY STEWART Title notwithstanding, this last one is less mystery and more historical adventure. It’s also a true story. In 1914, a New Jersey man drove his car into the horse-drawn buggy of three sisters, the Kopps. Despite being at fault, he not only refused to pay for repairs, but also enlisted his cronies to hassle them when they continued to ask for payment. Ultimately, the Kopps, some sympathetic police, and the press (Stewart uses primary sources to ground the story), outmaneuvered him, and eldest sister Constance went on to become one of the first female sheriff’s deputies in the country. Though Stewart has taken some liberties with fictionalization, it is to great effect—Constance is a funny and sympathetic narrator, and some of the Kopp sisters’ experiences continue to resonate. This is another aspect of crime solving—how to use the law to bring a wrongdoer to justice— mixed with humor, family drama, and complicated gender dynamics.
SPRING 2019 Nobles 17
by the numbers
20
THE ARCHIVES
10 newspapers announcing the assassination of President Lincoln found in the Castle’s old safe
bedrooms large and small, in the original Castle
7,216 graduates from Nobles since 1886
37
years of middle school coeducation
$100 per year tuition in 1871
1,396
107 years of The Nobleman
18 Nobles SPRING 2019
Nobles students have graduated from Harvard
53
years of George Washington Copp Noble's tenure
sports
Awards Sweep
Lily Farden ’19 has had an exceptional career with the girls varsity hockey team, capping her Class I season by winning the John Carlton Memorial Trophy. The Boston Bruins annually award the trophy to the most outstanding male and female student athletes in Eastern Massachusetts “who combine exceptional hockey skills with academic excellence.” She was recently named Division One Player of the Year in the NEPSAC and Most Valuable Player of the ISL. Farden was also honored as a First Team All-New England and First Team All-ISL defenseman for the third year in a row. She was a member of the Under 18 Team USA Women’s Ice Hockey Team that won a gold medal at the World Championships in Dmitrov, Russia in 2018. SPRING 2019 Nobles 19
sports
On the Playing Fields ALPINE SKIING Girls Overall Record: 29-0 (ISL Champions, 9th consecutive year) Boys Overall Record: 22-18 (5th in ISL) Girls NEPSAC Class A Championships:
6th place
Boys NEPSAC Class A Championships:
10th place
All-League: Reese Dickinson ’20,
Hannah Epstein ’21, Caitlin FitzMaurice ’22, Meghan Hoffman ’22 and Ellie Batchelder ’24 All-New England: Ellie Batchelder ’24 Awards: James H. Bride Ski Bowl (for enthusiasm, spirit and sportsmanship): Reese Dickinson ’20, Mason Klinck ’19 and Matt Kirkman ’20. Coaches’ Award (for selfless attitude and consistent effort): Katie Doyle ’21, Hannah Epstein ’21, Wyatt Ellison ’20 and Toby Urell ’20.
All-New England: Conor Gibson ’19 All-New England Honorable Mention: Ben
McPherron and Jack Taitel, both ’19
Awards: Clarke Bowl (for contribution to
team spirit): Duncan Ayles ’21. 1983-’84 Basketball Award (for the player who best exemplifies the spirit, dedication, determination, attitude and improvement of the 1983-’84 team): Noah Gies ’19 GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL Overall Record: 19-6 ISL Record: 10-2 (3rd place) NEPSAC Class A Tournament: 2nd Seed All-League: Sydney Jones ’21 and Kayla
Lezama ’22
All-League Honorable Mention: Lauren Keohan ’20, Aislinn McCarthy ’19 and Priscilla Singleton-Eriyo ’19 All-New England: Sydney Jones ’21 All-New England Honorable Mention:
BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL Overall Record: 11-14 ISL Record: 9-6 (6th in ISL) All-League: Ben McPherron ’19 All-League Honorable Mention:
Jack Taitel and Conor Gibson, both ’19
Kayla Lezama ’22
Awards: Seadale Bowl (given by the
Seadale family for overall contribution to the basketball program): Priscilla Singleton-Eriyo and Aislinn McCarthy, both ’19. Richard Nickerson Award (in honor of the long-time coach,
Season Highlights ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
■■
Girls varsity squash won the ISL championship for the seventh consecutive year. Girls varsity skiing had an undefeated season and won the ISL championship for the ninth consecutive year. Girls varsity basketball, girls varsity hockey, and boys varsity hockey all qualified for the NEPSAC tournaments. John Murray ’19 won the prestigious ISL Flood Shield for sportsmanship. Lily Farden ’19 was named ISL MVP, NEPSAC Division I Player of the Year and won the Boston Bruins John Carlton Memorial Trophy as the most outstanding female student athlete in Eastern Massachusetts. Wrestling coach Steve Toubman was inducted into the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on April 13 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.
20 Nobles SPRING 2019
Matt Kirkman ’20
awarded to a non-senior for courage and determination): Caroline Keating ’21 2019 Captains: Caroline Ducharme ’21, Sydney Jones ’21 and Lauren Keohan ’20 BOYS VARSITY HOCKEY Overall Record: 18-9-2 ISL Record: 8-4-2 (3rd in ISL) NEPSAC Martin/Earl Tournament:
Semi-finalists All-League: John Murray ’19, Jack Cronin ’20, Casey Severo ’20 and Marc Smith ’20 All-League Honorable Mention: Will Zink ’19, Colby Bailey ’20, Peirce Kenney ’20 and David Jacobs ’21 ISL Flood Shield Award: John Murray ’19 Awards: Terry Flaman Award (for the JV player who demonstrates spirit, enthusiasm and love of hockey as exemplified by Terry Flaman): CJ Burke ’20. 1974 Award (for improvement in hockey): John DiNovi and Robert Lapsley, both ’20. Sziklas Hockey Trophy (for contribution to the team): Ryan Stevens ’19 GIRLS VARSITY HOCKEY Overall Record: 26-1-5 ISL Record: 11-0-1 (ISL Champions) NEPSAC Division I Tournament: Finalists All-League: Lily Farden ’19, Courtney
Hyland ’19, Rose O’Connor ’19 and Katie Pyne ’21 Honorable Mention: Maddie Bayard ’19 ISL MVP: Lily Farden ’19 NEPSAC Division I Player of the Year:
Lily Farden ’19
Jesse Brownell ’19
Sydney Jones ’21
NEPSAC Division I First Team:
Lily Farden ’19 and Katie Pyne ’21
NEPSAC Division I Honorable Mention:
Courtney Hyland ’19
Boston Bruins John Carlton Memorial Trophy: Lily Farden ’19 Awards: Anne Dudley Newell Hockey
Cup (for dedication and excellence): Lily Farden, Courtney Hyland and Rose O’Connor, all ’19 BOYS VARSITY SQUASH
Overall Record: 11-5 ISL Record: 7-2 (3rd place) NEISA Class A Championships: 11th place All-League: Jake Koeppel ’21 and
Lucan White ’19
All-League Honorable Mention:
Jackson Smith ’19
All-NEPSAC Class A: Lucan White ’19 All-NEPSAC Class A Honorable Mention:
Jake Koeppel ’21
Award: Cutler Cup (awarded to the
member of the team who has shown the greatest devotion to the sport): Lucan White ’19 2019 Captains: Jake Koeppel ’21 and Andrew Lazor ’21 GIRLS VARSITY SQUASH Overall Record: 11-1 ISL Record: 8-0 (ISL Champions,
7th consecutive year)
NEISA Class A Championships:
4th place
Division I Nationals: 8th place
Chris Millay ’20
All-League: Charlotte Bell ’22, Jesse Brownell ’19 and Isabel Kelly ’19 All-League Honorable Mention:
Abby Holding ’21 and Allie Winstanley ’19 Award: Cutler Cup (awarded to the member of the team who has shown the greatest devotion to the sport): Grace Santoro ’19 2019 Captains: Becca Gill ’20 and Abby Holding ’21 VARSITY WRESTLING Overall Record: 10-7 ISL Record: 6-6, 5th place team at
Graves-Kelsey Tournament All-League: Christopher Millay ’20 (Graves-Kelsey 2nd place at 152 lbs.) and Max Hall ’22 (Graves-Kelsey 2nd place at 145 lbs.) Honorable Mention: Bassam Qasrawi ’19 (Graves-Kelsey 3rd place at 160 lbs)
Additional Graves-Kelsey Place Finishers: Christopher Eaton ’22 (6th place at 106 lbs.), Vikram Aldykiewicz ’19 (4th place at 170 lbs.), Peyton Rose ’22 (3rd place at 182 lbs.), Yaro Mikhaylov ’21 (6th place at 195 lbs.) and Leighton Graham ’19 (4th place at 285 lbs.) Team New Englands: Christopher Millay ’20 (6th); Bassam Qasrawi ’19 (7th); Leighton Graham ’19 (6th) Awards: Warren E. Storer Award (for hard work and improvement): Samuel Jankey ’20. Wilbur F. Storer Award (for the most outstanding wrestler): Bassam Qasrawi ’19. Steve Toubman Award (for sportsmanship, leadership and dedication to wrestling, exemplified by Coach Toubman’s coaching career): Vikram Aldykiewicz ’19 2019 Captains: Sam Jankey and Christopher Millay, both ’20 SPRING 2019 Nobles 21
development
Hall of Fame DAVID C. HORTON SR. worked at
Nobles for nearly four decades, touching the lives of hundreds of Nobles athletes. Horton coached his teams to many league championships and was an influential force behind the soccer, basketball and baseball programs. In total, he led the baseball team to 30 successful seasons. As one example of his success, the basketball team, which by 1952 had become a powerhouse in the league, had a record of 13-1. The 1952 Graduates Bulletin reports: “The rise of the sport was a great tribute to the coaching skill of Horton.” Horton had immeasurable influence on the lives of his players. He played baseball and ran cross country and indoor track at Columbia College, graduating in 1925. Horton taught mathematics and Latin at Nobles from 1938 to his retirement in 1968. Three generations of Horton graduates have come out of Nobles: David Horton Jr. ’52, David Horton III ’78 and Savannah Horton ’13. ANTHONY ACKIL ’94
was a talented and respected leader on the football field and wrestling mat during his time at Nobles. He captained both sports and also played lacrosse. Younger players looked up to Ackil for his sportsmanship and leadership. In the words of one underclassman, he was “the most respected leader of any team I have ever been on, both at Nobles and beyond.” Ackil led the 1993 football team to a 7-1 season and was a crucial 22 Nobles SPRING 2019
part of almost all offensive and defensive plays, making nearly half of the team’s tackles. According to coach Steve Toubman, he “molded himself into one of the most dynamic wrestlers in Nobles history.” Ackil won the Graves-Kelsey Tournament heavyweight class in 1993 and was a finalist three other times. For Nobles his senior year, and for Choate in a PG year, he captured two New England heavyweight titles. He went on to play football and wrestle at Harvard. REBECCA LOUCKS MANRIQUE ’04,
a rare six-year varsity athlete, was an elite, nationally ranked squash player who ushered the program at Nobles into the 21st century. During her career, she accrued a record of 49-23; 36-4 in her upper school years. She was on the All-ISL team from 1999 to 2004, and in 2002 and 2004 she was named Boston Globe All-Scholastic player. A two-year captain, she is remembered by Coach Deb Harrison: “Becca modeled passion for the game at its highest level, as well as commitment to the team.” Her senior year, Manrique received the Cutler Cup, awarded to the member of the team who has shown the greatest devotion to the sport. She competed not only for Nobles but also at a local, national and international level, ranking as high as No. 7 nationally. She went on to play at Dartmouth as the first female player recruited from Nobles to the program. CASEY GRIFFIN GIUDICELLI ’09 was a four-year, three-sport varsity athlete who dominated the field hockey and lacrosse fields and the ice, captaining each sport and winning a total of 10 ISL
championships. As the only two-year captain in field hockey, the team had an overall record of 42-3-3 during her time on the squad. Field hockey coach Maura Sullivan explains that although Giudicelli was “blessed with speed, quickness and endurance, she didn’t just rely on her natural abilities—she worked very hard to improve herself in all areas.” In her senior year, the ice hockey team had a record of 26-1-1, and the team won the ISL all four years. Giudicelli led her lacrosse team to three ISL titles. She was also twice named U.S. Lacrosse First Team All-America and twice awarded All-New England and All-ISL honors. Giudicelli was the league MVP her senior year and was named Boston Globe Lacrosse Player of the Year, ISL MVP and Boston Globe Female Athlete of the Year. She finished her career as Nobles’ all-time leading scorer, with 181 goals and 128 assists. Her success on the field and her leadership qualities define what it is to be a Hall of Famer, and she is one of the greatest athletes to come out of the Nobles program. Giudicelli went on to play lacrosse at Dartmouth. MCCALLUM “MAC” FOOTE ’09 was a three-sport varsity athlete and a major contributor to the football, basketball, and lacrosse teams. From his sophomore to senior years, the Nobles football team earned a 21-4-1 record, an ISL title, two New England Bowl championships, and an undefeated
season. Foote was named All-ISL his sophomore season and Co-New England Player of the Year in his junior year. As captain his senior year, he led his team to a 5-3 season and was All-ISL and AllNew England. Upon graduation, he held all-time career passing records with 253 completions, 440 attempts, 4,474 yards and 60 touchdowns. His successes were
not limited to the football field. He was named captain, the #1 defenseman, and All-ISL in lacrosse, and he was a stellar captain and defensive player on the basketball court. He received the Eliot T. Putnam Award for football and the Arnold Lacrosse Prize as well as being chosen for the passing of the Nobles Shield. When presenting Foote with this
award, Coach Bob Moore said, “While talented for sure, his desire to achieve, his will to win, and intelligent approach are intangibles that set Mac apart as such a respected athlete at Nobles, within the ISL, and across New England.” Foote played football at Middlebury College where he had a record-setting career and many accolades.
Baker Talks Teaching— and Luck
Pictured are (clockwise from left): Beth Reilly ‘87, board president, Cathy Hall, head of school, Bill Kehlenbeck, faculty member, and Dick Baker, English faculty member and former head of school.
Head of School Dr. Catherine J. Hall hosted more than 150 of the school’s strongest supporters at the 44th annual Head of School Dinner in the Castle on April 11. The venue showcased the success of the recently completed Be Nobles Bold campaign, an historic effort that transformed the iconic building where this year’s event was held, the broader Nobles campus, and the endowment over the last decade. It was an evening of celebration and gratitude; reflecting on the extraordinary support of parents and graduates. Hall thanked guests for their generosity and urged them to continue to think boldly around issues of affordability and access at Nobles. She announced that beloved teacher Bill Kehlenbeck will be the first holder of the William H. Kehlenbeck Chair, a faculty chair established in his name in 2018. The news sparked a standing ovation for Kehlenbeck, who was in attendance. The speaker for the evening was former Head of School and current English teacher Richard H. Baker. In his remarks, entitled, “Whenever you ask an old person to give a speech, the subject is always himself,” he covered topics ranging from financial aid to Greek literature to fate. “Walk out the door, turn left instead of right—the future is irremediably changed. So I have played my role as rook, been lucky, very lucky, extraordinarily lucky in the moves of the chess master, Chance,” said Baker. Baker also discussed teaching and relayed that over his 48 years at Nobles he has often been asked by his peers to share wisdom on his approach and technique. “I don’t have any best practices in the sense of scripted curriculum,” he said. “I’ve often thought that if forced to present my best practices, I would stand up and simply say, ‘I work them [my students] really hard, and I try to love them.’”
SPRING 2019 Nobles 23
perspective
Breaking Down the Image BY CURTIS MANN, VISUAL ARTS FACULTY MEMBER
When someone asks what I do, I have to pause before I answer. Am I a teacher, an artist, an artist-teacher or a teaching artist? My answer changes and shifts, as the balance of those two worlds lives in a state of perpetual flux. Luckily, my focus and experience allow me to constantly engage in the conversation of visual literacy.
I
n my own work, I break down the physical materials of photography and introduce obstructions to the reading of the image. The manipulations I use are not an attack on or glib dismissal of the medium, but an outlet of intense curiosity and criticality about photography—a medium I am fascinated with, confused by, scared of and always looking to understand in new and different ways. My approach to the medium is born from my previous studies and career as an engineer, in which one has to break and bend a material to truly understand its characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. The photographic image is such a powerful and influential tool that we must now, more than ever, read each of them closely and never take them at face value. I bring this intense and multilayered view of photography to my teaching at Nobles, where I hope to challenge students to think critically about the images they make and those they encounter each and every day. In a world where we upload and share more than 2 billion images a day, while being inundated by images almost every waking minute, understanding how to read, decode and deconstruct them is an absolute necessity. Images are the language of now, and reading them closely is very different from simply looking at them. When we bring a critical eye and commitment to visual literacy to images, we can better see the potential bias of the photographer and propagandistic possibilities of the
24 Nobles SPRING 2019
work. When students slow down, look closely and question images they share or see, they reclaim intellectual power over the ever-elusive and illusory reality of the image. This helps dissolve constructs that become normative without criticality: standards of beauty; stereotypes of race, ethnicity and class; and more. In my series of cut images, the image is turned against the wall, then thousands of cuts are made and torn open. The small open wounds reveal a fragmented, pixelated and fuzzy image. The image can only be seen when viewed from an extreme angle, and as you move around the piece, the image disappears into textural bumps of torn white photographic paper. As a photographer, I constantly play with an equation of readability, hoping to encourage a slower read and nuanced experience. When we are forced to view images at a slower speed and check all their aspects, the prolonged engagement ekes out subtle lessons in visual literacy. In class, students are consistently asked to critique and analyze each others’ images. In between some awkward silences, they recognize small details that give away how the image is constructed. They think about how the image makes them feel and what the photographer’s intentions might have been. They are challenged to move past a simple “I like it” and consider the much more valuable question of “why?” Whether they know it or not, these students slowly develop their visual literacy along with their teacher.
In one assignment, students compared images of Japanese internment camps made by three photographers: Ansel Adams, FSA photographer Dorothea Lange and interned JapaneseAmerican photographer Toyo Miyatake. By contrasting the images, students see how the background and intention of the photographer can drastically change a photo’s look and function. They examined idealistic images Ansel Adams created with the help of his friend who ran one of the camps, to censored and critical images made by Dorothea Lange, and the empathetic and nuanced images by Mr. Miyatake, who had to smuggle in a lens and build a secret camera to make his images. They learned how who gets to tell the story can change how people are depicted, and either helped or exploited. Learning how to read and decode the visual language is a core objective of the Visual Arts department at Nobles, of which I count myself lucky to be a part. As a department, we hope to ask even bigger questions about how Nobles, as a community, uses and understands images. What is our responsibility, as we create young leaders and fair and critical thinkers? I am an artist. I believe an artist is not simply someone who is good at drawing a perfectly shaded figure, or spinning a centered and balanced ceramic object, or even someone who can make a beautiful, perfectly composed and stunning photograph. An artist is so much more
Clockwise from top: Failed works, 2014, cut inverted photographic prints, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago; Failed works, 2014, side view; Mann making cuts to the back of a photographic work for Luce Gallery in Turin, Italy
than that. An artist experiments, an artist breaks rules, an artist deconstructs and questions and thinks critically about the structures around them. An artist is not an entertainer; an artist is a change agent, an integral member of society. I am also a teacher. I am a teaching artist PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: CURTIS MANN
and an artist who teaches. It’s not simply what I do; it is who I am. And I share my eagerness to read images anew, to grow in my own visual literacy and to be critical of the power of images, with my students and my community at Nobles, and in my own artistic process. SPRING 2019 Nobles 25
Close to home and throughout the world, graduates interpret and express their commitment to leadership for the public good. Here are a few stories of how Nobles grads choose to give their best.
Leading theWay 26 Nobles SPRING 2019
SPRING 2019 Nobles 27
E
Summe’s snapshot of the precursor to a penalty kick at Grassroot Soccer in Lusaka, Zambia
Traveling with Purpose ERIN SUMME ’04 believes that the best
ideas come with time and distance. After graduating from Georgetown with a degree in economics, she took a month off before starting her job at Morgan Stanley to volunteer in South Africa. Working with children affected by HIV in the Khayelitsha township of Cape Town opened her eyes and inspired a new mission. “I couldn’t believe I didn’t know that
28 Nobles SPRING 2019
kind of suffering existed,” she says. “I just felt like my whole world turned around, and my life started from that point. I knew then and there that I was going to commit my entire life to making a difference in the biggest way that I personally could.” Two years later, on the day her contract ended with Morgan Stanley, she resigned, setting off for South Africa to figure out how she could help.
Without knowing anybody, Summe moved to Cape Town and created a position for herself as a fundraiser for Grassroot Soccer, a nonprofit that “leverages the power of soccer to educate, inspire and mobilize youth in developing countries.” Starting on a trial volunteer basis, she was eventually hired and worked there for three years to help build local capacity. “I PHOTOGRAPHY BY: ERIN SUMME
was trying to transfer skills that made young people employable and made them feel empowered,” she says. “It was never me doing the work to build up the mission of Grassroot Soccer; my job was to transfer skills to local people that could then build the organization and be leaders within it.” Early on, Summe recognized that short-term foreign volunteers aren’t the best solution, and they can often delay genuine development. She described an example where Westerners visiting Africa to build houses are adding to the abundance of unskilled labor and high unemployment by effectively taking jobs away from locals and reinforcing a dynamic of dependency. “I never want to scare people away from trying to help,” she says, “but we need to do it in a really thoughtful way. A better approach of empowering local people by transferring skills sends the message that we trust you are the best to provide for yourselves. That sense of teamwork and partnering as opposed to giving and receiving is huge. People don’t want charity. They want dignity, and they want faith that you believe they’re as capable as they are.” After her three years in Cape Town, Summe knew that she saw the world differently but didn’t know how that translated into effecting change. “So I went to London Business School because I wanted to do something entrepreneurial, and I knew I had a lot to learn,” she says. Upon graduating, she worked for another two years at Morgan Stanley’s London office in derivatives trading, and there she formulated the plan to start her own philanthropic travel company. She recognized that people visit Africa for its beauty, but at the same time they witness the inequality. “That can be very uncomfortable, and people want to be part of the solution, but there’s just no access point for them,” Summe said. Her company, Thandeka, which means “loved
one” in Xhosa, provides that access while also coordinating the travel itinerary. Thandeka pinpoints what issues travelers are most passionate about and then connects them with the nonprofit that is making the most impact in that area. Summe says her goal “is to make introductions that develop into long-term relationships, which evolve into investments.” Thandeka doesn’t bring visitors over to volunteer and do manual labor. Instead, they go to simply connect on a personal level with the individuals running the organization and those they are serving. “As part of a family’s trip to Africa they will spend one to three days immersed with an NGO, and I curate all of that to make it a natural interaction,” Summe says. Since they are coming from two totally different worlds, it can be hard to find common ground, but Summe has found a powerful way to facilitate these connections. By having each visitor deliver a TED-style talk about a challenge he or she has experienced and what helped them through it, the power shifts. She believes that underlying all communication is emotion, “and when you identify the feelings behind what’s actually happening, the conversation takes on a new kind of depth. All of a sudden you have the Westerner family feeling quite vulnerable, and it really balances out the dynamic.” For the rest of the trip, while the group is exploring the natural beauty of the country on safari or beach excursions, Summe continues to guide their emotional journey. “It can be a very emotional experience, but it’s also a very hopeful experience,” she says. In addition to guiding family trips to more than 10 countries all across Africa, Thandeka also leads insight trips for large philanthropic foundations looking to do due diligence to measure impact with their nonprofit partners. In measuring her own impact in her first two years of operation, Summe’s family trips
“ I knew then and there that I was going to commit my entire life to making a difference in the biggest way that I personally could.”
—ERIN SUMME ’04
have resulted in more than $700,000 of private donations to African nonprofits. She says they don’t even have to ask for donations. “I just show people great causes, and people are thrilled to support them when they feel a personal connection,” Summe says. Summe still feels that personal connection with Nobles. Reflecting on her time here, she says, “Nobles was always my family. My best friends are still mostly all from Nobles, and I hugely think that I am where I am today and doing what I’m doing because of the community that I was in. I don’t have a doubt in my mind that those six years that I spent there were the most formative years of my life.” —BEN HEIDER SPRING 2019 Nobles 29
T
Dreaming Courageously THE PAST FEW MONTHS have been a roller
coaster for immigration advocate and Harvard Graduate School of Education doctoral candidate Mariel Novas ’06—not surprising, given the turmoil swirling around current U.S. policies. But this hits closer to home: “I’ve just had 10 family members immigrate from the Dominican Republic. I’ve literally doubled the size of my family in the U.S. in just a few weeks.” For Novas, a Dominican immigrant herself, the work is very, very personal. A 5-year-old Novas arrived in the United States in 1993 with her family, when, facing an economic downturn in the Dominican Republic, they sought better opportunities. Novas attended Boston Public Schools (BPS) until sixth grade, participating in accelerated academic and bilingual programs. As a Steppingstone Foundation scholar (an academic program for motivated, underserved Boston students), she discovered the world of independent schools. Novas had never envisioned going to a school like Nobles, but her father had long had that dream for her. He cleaned independent schools for a decade (including Nobles) and told co-workers in 1995 that he wanted his children to attend such a school. They dubiously wished him luck. “It’s like the stars aligning, some form of destiny. My dad walked those same hallways many years before me, and there I was in 2000 as a student, years later,” marvels Novas (also a former trustee). But the BPS to Nobles transition wasn’t easy, and Novas spent her first few years trying to “contort” herself
30 Nobles SPRING 2019
into what she felt she needed to be to fit in. She’d think, “‘I guess I’ll try to wear an Abercrombie jacket that doesn’t fit me, like that boy everyone likes, speak a certain way, blend in’—almost to the exclusion of seeing what I was as valid and valuable. I think it would surprise people to hear me say that, but I knew I was holding back.” Then a watershed moment transformed Novas’ sense of self and the course of her life. During a National Coming Out Day announcement in assembly by the then-tiny GayStraight Alliance student group, Novas was pained by the reception. “People were laughing under their breath, slow clapping. It was one of the few moments I felt embarrassed to be a student at Nobles. What made it extra painful was that my own brother had just come out to our family. Would he be laughed at? Not clapped for? I felt a sense of ‘I’m being complicit.’” A troubled Novas sought out former history faculty member Marcela Maldonado. Maldonado suggested, “You could get up there and say something.” The challenge filled Novas with conviction. “That feeling is the feeling I have felt all my life since. Silence is not an option, even if it’s not impacting me or people I care about—it’s impacting people. I have a voice, so I have to speak.” She addressed the Nobles community, sharing her brother’s experience of coming out to her family. A standing ovation left her confused; she received a flood of support from peers, teachers and parents. From that point on, she learned to “speak,
PHOTO G RA PHY BY JA RED LEEDS
even if it’s uncomfortable—especially if it’s uncomfortable.” Maldonado hired Novas for the Upward Bound program (an academic enrichment program for first-generation college-bound high school students
hosted at Nobles). “Emotionally and spiritually, that summer completely changed the direction of my life,” she says. “Being around other kids around my age—smart, funny, super-diverse kids from Boston and Lawrence—I was so energized. I
began to think, how could kids like me, who have been plucked out of their communities, still be part of peer groups that affirm their identities and pathways? How do you maintain that connection to home and still achieve your dreams?”
Novas started to tackle those questions. After graduating from Yale in 2010, she joined Teach for America, while also working on her M.Ed. from Boston University. Novas is self-effacing about her role in her own success, often attributing her opportunities to serendipity instead. But her teaching placement in Dorchester, Massachusetts, did seem fated: It was a program for middle-schoolers who had recently arrived in the United States, most of them Dominican like her. “It meant so much to know I would be the first teacher for students arriving at the same age as my siblings did, to be able to ensure their trajectory—that I could play a small part in helping them to maximize their potential and explore their possibilities so they wouldn’t fall through the cracks,” she says. Recently, Novas heard from one of those students, one she’d been disappointed to hear had dropped out of school. But he found her on LinkedIn and wrote, “Miss, I had to Google you because you’re so famous. I’m ready to go to college. Would you write me a recommendation? I’m only applying to four schools in state so I can go for free because of the scholarship I got because of you.” That kind of impact keeps her hooked. Novas anticipates graduating with her Ed.L.D. (doctorate of education leadership) in 2020. Throughout her graduate work, she has remained committed to both Teach for America and Upward Bound, helping to develop the next generation of leaders. In spring 2018, Novas was named the Rappaport Public Policy Fellow for the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, strengthening partnerships with community organizations, BPS, and legal and medical professionals to improve supports for undocumented students and their families. For her fellowship, she launched a project to help SPRING 2019 Nobles 31
“ Women of color are stepping into their light and showing everybody what we are capable of doing when we are allowed to lead and when we give ourselves permission to lead courageously.” —MARIEL NOVAS ’06
the City of Boston and BPS devise a set of interventions to address the needs of immigrant families (from countries including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti and Somalia). Novas wanted to raise awareness that even though students themselves might not be facing deportation, having family members who might be affects the whole community. She prepared schools to better support students and families. Through her interviews, research and personal experience with immigrants, Novas learned their most urgent issues are punitive law enforcement, deportation and mental health support. She condemns the growing conflation of immigration law with criminality, “raising the penalties for both documented and undocumented immigrants. Policies have been enacted that specifically target low-income communities 32 Nobles SPRING 2019
that receive many new immigrants. This, paired with rollbacks of DACA, TPS and other pathways to legality, have made life very hard for immigrants.” Novas is also concerned by “the distancing effect,” a widespread attitude that “immigration is an issue for people at the border. I want people to know the number of people in mixed-status families: 16 million. When I was a student at Nobles, I didn’t have a social security number. That meant I couldn’t do certain things; I had to educate my teachers about my experience. On the outside looking in, maybe I didn’t ‘look’ like a kid who would be undocumented, but we don’t know what we don’t know. There’s so much silence and fear—schools don’t recognize those issues in their communities. Coming from a mixed-status family, I know how much I had to hold back at Nobles because I was afraid.” Novas is gearing up for her final residency starting in July. She will join the Education Trust, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization. She will combine policy and advocacy to help lead an equity coalition in Massachusetts, to champion issues for people of color and immigrant families to effect policy changes on the Hill. An unprecedented number of young women of color are changing the course of U.S. history through civic engagement, and Novas is energized to be part of that wave. “I joined [Ayanna] Pressley’s campaign for Congress last summer and also supported Juana Matias’ run for Congress. Matias is also Dominican-born, and we’re about the same age. I now have this overwhelming feeling that this is our time and that we are not alone. Women of color are stepping into their light and showing everybody what we are capable of doing when we are allowed to lead and when we give ourselves permission to lead courageously.” —KIM NEAL
C
Cesta Collective partners picnic with the artisans who help define their brand.
C
Making Change COURTNEY WEINBLATT FASCIANO ’02 is
a veteran of the fashion world—she attended fashion weeks in London, Milan and Paris in her role as accessories editor at Harper’s Bazaar and market director at Marie Claire magazine. “It was a truly incredible experience,”
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: THE CESTA COLLECTIVE
Fasciano says of her immersion in the world of high fashion. “But then you end up getting where you always dreamed you would be, and the glitter wears off and I found it was not fulfilling to look at clothes and shoes all day long, even the most beautiful
in the world.” From there, she says, it was a journey: She got her MBA and, after quitting her day job, attended a meditation retreat where she told the group that, in the coming year, she planned to start a sustainable handbag company to help women. SPRING 2019 Nobles 33
With her business partner, Erin Ryder, she set out to create a different kind of brand. The Cesta Collective website puts it succinctly: “Hi, we’re Cesta! We joined forces with one goal: to create beautiful products while making a difference. After years of working in fashion on all sides of the game, we’ve learned a few things. We’re building Cesta to change the rules, one basket at a time.” “Cesta,” the brand name, means “basket” in several African languages. And beautiful, artisan-crafted baskets are at the center of Fasciano’s endeavor with Ryder. In a November 2018 Vogue article, Cesta was called “a new, cult-ish handbag line with a feel-good success story.” The piece continued, sharing the story of Fasciano and Ryder being introduced because of their similar aspirations: to create a brand with social impact that benefited women.
TAKING FLIGHT
“We just had a simple mission at the beginning. Let’s just see if we can make a handbag sourced from a female artisanal group,” says Fasciano. The company launched May 3, 2018, for preorder only. Fasciano says that a New York Times piece in the Styles section really launched the brand. After that, calls from retailers and other media came quickly; Cesta launched exclusively with Net-a-Porter, a luxury web retailer, as their initial partner for distribution. Other
early press attention came from Gwyneth Paltrow’s website, Goop, and Oprah Winfrey’s magazine, O.
THE DOUBLE BOTTOM LINE
Creating a handbag brand is never a casual endeavor. Among the many considerations are what makes your product special, your price point, sourcing of materials, options for hardware, financing and marketing placement, and many others. Add to that the co-founders’ insistence on doing well financially—while “doing good” in the world—and the challenge is one that Fasciano’s professors suggested might be out of reach. “A lot of my business school professors and people that we knew said that a) artisan-made brands can’t scale and b) you’re never going to make real money. We feel profoundly that our challenge is to disprove both those statements. “We’re finding that our handmade artisanal supply chain in Africa is not a hindrance and can grow really quickly, and the women there want to work, and they do it beautifully,” she says, noting that the weavers are making five times what a typical Rwandan worker makes. Fasciano also sees profound opportunities for growth and the possibility of maintaining the mission, while creating a lifestyle brand. “There’s the possibility for this to become a very large business while helping everybody make
money—artisans, investors, ourselves. It’s the double bottom line. “How do we build a brand that has a larger economic and social impact? We’re trying to think about how we continue to bring artisan craft in a modern way to the luxury consumer. We’re not reinventing the wheel, but we’re trying to do it differently and keep it at a relatively acceptable price point with a luxury point of view.” Fasciano explains that Cesta uses the most sustainable and organic sources they can and provides work for the women in Rwanda. “It’s not about charity; it’s about providing income they can rely on so they can buy livestock and they can send their kids to school and they can begin paying taxes and buy medical care. All of those amazing changes are happening.”
A NEW KIND OF ‘LUXURY’
“Ubiquity is not interesting,” Fasciano says. “There’s true luxury in having something that’s one of a kind. We don’t think that the concept of every woman having a cookie-cutter designer bag is very interesting anymore. In addition to our core collections, we have small limited-edition batches that collaborate with select retail partners, like MatchesFashion and Bergdorf Goodman, that are only available in their stores and on our site. When these special pieces sell out, that’s it. . . . Our brand is product first and more design-focused than some do-gooder brands.”
“ How do we build a brand that has a larger economic and social impact? We’re trying to think about how we continue to bring artisan craft in a modern way to the luxury consumer.” —COURTNEY WEINBLATT FASCIANO ’02 34 Nobles SPRING 2019
Rwandan artisans pose with the finished product, the Cesta bag.
Fasciano says that from the workmanship to the materials, no detail is too small. Cesta sources fine Italian leather from a tannery certified for sustainability, organic cotton canvas from one of the last family-owned mills in America, and high-quality hardware.
BEAUTY—AT THE RIGHT PRICE POINT
Fasciano says that she and Ryder are “surgical” in their approach to wholesale distribution. She wants buyers to discover bags in a trusted place, maybe a small boutique on St. Barth’s or on a luxury retail website where they are already shopping. There’s psychology to this approach. Fasciano explains that sitting next to a $3,000 handbag conveys quality and that Cesta bags, typically priced at $375, hold up in terms of quality and style. “That consumer doesn’t have to think twice about buying our bag. We are also attainable and affordable for the aspirational shopper. We price these to sell because what ends up making
the largest philanthropic impact in Rwanda is selling more baskets. “Our mission is aided with volume, not with margin,” she says.
LIFE OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
“They say you’ll never work harder than when you work for yourself, and it’s true,” Fasciano said. “In the course of a week, we’re meeting with investors and meeting with store reps. We are working on the new collection, and we personally [quality control] every basket that gets sent out from the factory in Los Angeles.” The L.A. team works on the final assembly of basket, leather, fabric and hardware. The Fasciano-Ryder team also travels regularly to Rwanda to the co-ops, where women weave. Fasciano appreciates all of her Nobles teachers and credits former faculty Sarah Snyder and English teacher Vicky Seelen, in particular, with inspiring her feminist point of view. She credits her determination, in part, to those early relationships
and her persistence. “People can find it hard to take the emotional leap into the unknown. It’s almost like jumping from a plane without a parachute, hoping that you might catch soft ground or jumping off the cliff and hoping you learn to fly halfway through.”
COMMUNITY—AND THE NOBLES CONNECTION
“People have been so generous with their introductions and their networks and their thoughts—and obviously purchasing bags and helping the cause,” she says. “All my friends from Nobles really rallied around me,” she says, from buying bags in the early days to following the company on social media to hosting trunk shows. Her classmate and friend, Scott Johnson ’02, has also been an early investor in her company. “I’m so proud that we have been able to build a business that we love running every day and that has profound societal good. Nothing feels better than that. This is something that Nobles taught me.” —HEATHER SULLIVAN SPRING 2019 Nobles 35
M P H OTOGRA P H Y BY JA RE D L E E DS 36 Nobles SPRING 2019
M
Aging in Place MICHAEL VANCE ’77 attended Nobles
during Boston’s busing desegregation crisis. Although he thinks positively of the school, his daily commute took him through different neighborhoods, and he remembers name-calling. He remembers being angry by the time he made it to campus. But it’s been a while since Vance was in high school. He soon realized, like almost every other mature adult in America, that he was not prepared for the challenges of getting older. “Most seniors don’t plan for this, because they don’t know how to plan for this. There’s just so much out there, between Medicare and Medicaid, and most people don’t know the difference until they need it.” It was while Vance was first having these realizations that a recruiter called him, asking him to consider the CEO position at Central Boston Elder Services (CBES). “I feel like it was what God wanted, believe it or not,” he says.“Right time, right place, and I’m hitting the right note.” The purpose of CBES is primarily to help seniors understand the resources available to help them “age in place.” As Vance explains it, “We want to make sure that people are connected to the services that they are eligible for and entitled to.” CBES acts like a broker, maintaining contracts with service providers across the city of Boston, monitoring the treatment of their employees and clients, and then connecting them to seniors in need. As Vance says, “Most of my days are spent meeting with people to make sure that we’re keeping people aging in place safe all across the city of Boston.” Unfortunately, a major aspect of keeping seniors safe involves protective services—protecting those who can’t protect
themselves. CBES is currently managing more than 500 cases of reported abuse in the city. Vance describes “the number of people who take advantage of their parents, their grandparents, their loved ones. Money brings out the worst in people.” The organization handles all different types of abuse—financial, verbal, sexual. He remembers his screener’s recent phone call with an older woman who thought her relative had been through her bills. “Whether it’s true or not, we don’t know yet, but he listened to her. And I think that made her feel better.” The mission of CBES involves reinforcing the dignity of vulnerable individuals. In Vance’s perspective, respecting others can be as simple as returning a phone call. “That’s part of being respectful—follow-through,” he says. “In-person interactions aren’t usually the problem. I hear things all the time like, ‘This case manager was great,’ but my real concern is, ‘Did we make a difference? Did we follow through? Were we able to make it better?’” Vance’s concern for his community is a trait inherited from his parents. Both were active in their communities and often introduced their son to local politicians. His first foray into nonprofit work was with Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) as an assistant director at the Mattapan Family Service Center, serving his hometown. It was his first step closer to his lifetime goal: doing well and doing good. After almost 25 rewarding years with ABCD, he was offered the opportunity at CBES. “This is the new adventure,” he says. As the new CEO of a nonprofit worth nearly $62 million, Vance applies lessons from his time as a Nobles trustee in his own organization’s boardroom. Trust
the experts, he says: “If you can afford it, always hire a consultant. In almost every situation that we had as trustees, whether it was putting up new buildings or investing in the endowment, we had experts.” He remembers thinking, “Whenever and if ever I’m running my own organization, I have to be open to experts. . . I need people who know the details of different programs. I need someone who knows finance, someone who knows aging in place, someone who knows dementia.” His other major strategy as CEO is to engage as many community stakeholders in his organization as possible. He says, “If we’re state-funded, our management team needs to know who our state reps and state senators are,” which explains why CBES team members can be found introducing themselves to Jon Santiago, Liz Miranda, Chynah Tyler, the police commissioner, the district attorney and the city councilors. Vance says, “I’ve got all these managers interested in the political process because that’s where the power is. The power is in the vote and supporting bills that support our seniors aging in place. The mere fact that they know how this works and they’ve been in the room is important. You look at the State House News, and one of my people is in the picture, because we were there in force. We had a presence. So the strategy is working. And that’s just one piece. Obviously we have to maintain, we have to deliver, but half of it is just being there.” Being a constant advocate helps everyone, from Boston leaders to Boston’s seniors, to recognize CBES as an important resource in the community. As Vance says, “My job in the city of Boston is to try to keep these people safe.” N —ALEXIS SULLIVAN SPRING 2019 Nobles 37
Tales of an Overwhelmed Syrup Farmer STORY A ND PHOTO G RA PHY BY BEN H EI DER
38 Nobles SPRING 2019
SPRING 2019 Nobles 39
W
WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, my family had to relinquish my favorite climbing tree—a diseased silver maple—to the local logging industrial complex, which is an oxymoron in Dayton, Ohio. I don’t think that story has anything to do with my desire to tap maple trees, but I thought it was a good opening sentence. Nonetheless, in my unconscious yearning to enact an agrarian lifestyle, I bought two steel maple taps in a Vermont country store a couple of years ago, because you never know when an opportune maple tree will present itself. Luckily, around the time that the Castle was built, some genius, who for the sake of gripping literature we’ll call Frederick Law Olmsted himself, had the great foresight to plant a row of maples along the path that now bisects the fields between the Castle and Motley Pond. With the discovery of this veritable sugar bush in my backyard, I quickly went from mildly interested farming idealist to overzealous amateur syrup manufacturer, and I instantly got in over my head. The basic game plan is to sustainably harvest sap from the tree when the winter days begin to thaw. This is when the sap,
40 Nobles SPRING 2019
which has been stored in the roots, starts to run up to the branches for the creation of new buds. With days short on light, I found myself drilling 5/16-inch holes into preselected trees in the darkness one evening in late February of last year. After knocking in a tap, I would connect tubing and run it down to a three-gallon bucket that I had lashed to the trunk. I thought, “I’ll set up a handful of taps, and maybe over the course of a couple of weeks, I’ll get a few gallons of sap that I can reduce to a cup of maple syrup.” The first morning that I went out to check on the buckets, I thought there must have been a mistake. There was so much liquid that I knew the only plausible explanation was that the deer I regularly startle on the cross-country trail had noticed the bright blue additions to their environment and had relieved themselves with precision into the new vessels. The biggest surprise was the consistency of the maple sap. I was expecting viscous goo like the balsam fir sap that gets stuck to your hands while you’re wrestling your Christmas tree. Maple sap is completely different. It’s basically
Left to right. Sap dripping out of a maple tap; Taking the syrup’s temperature. Note the high residue line indicating how much steam has boiled off; Bottles of filtered maple syrup; With a circumference of 117 inches, the biggest maple tree on the path can handle three taps at a time.
water. Or rather water with 3 percent sugar content. When you drill through the bark into the white sapwood at the right time of the year, it starts to steadily drip out before you can even clear the shavings from the hole. Do you remember that part of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire where Katniss receives a parachute care package of a spile that she taps into a tree to collect water so she doesn’t die of dehydration amidst the other distresses of trying not to get murdered? It’s pretty much exactly like that, just a bit slower. On average, I was collecting two gallons of sap per tree per day. Encouraged by the first day’s success, I bought more taps and tubing to expand my operation. This was overly ambitious. Every night I had to empty the tap buckets into five-gallon buckets for long-term storage until I had time to process it. (Fun fact: “long-term” here means only a couple of days, because raw maple sap will spoil.) I made four trips to Home Depot that week to keep buying more buckets. I would have bought in bulk, but I kept thinking, “Surely this is going to dry up tomor-
row.” After six days I had to pull the plug because my back was giving out. With 30 taps in 19 trees, over the course of only six days, I had collected 35 gallons of sap. Processing maple sap into maple syrup just means boiling off the water until the solution of 3 percent sugar reduces to a solution of 67 percent sugar. During this process, the volume reduces by about a factor of 40, with the difference being water vapor filling whatever space you’re in. If you do this in your kitchen, your ceiling will soon be dripping, and if you’re reading this in the 1980s, your wallpaper will peel. Since I had no sugar shack access, I decided the best option was to boil my syrup over a fire in my cousin’s backyard during a hurricane. When the syrup reaches 7 degrees above the boiling point of water (219º F at sea level), the system rapidly changes from a rolling boil to quickly rising tiny bubbles, and the syrup is complete. Time for filtration and bottling. It took 12 hours, but my 35 gallons of sap reduced to 1.25 gallons of pure maple syrup. Not a bad yield! This year, since I had a limited time
frame to harvest and boil, I decided to only tap my top seven trees. Luckily I must have timed the thaw very well, because over the course of only three and a half days, my wife Catherine (new character alert!) and I had collected 55 gallons of maple sap. (Fun fact: 55 gallons of sap weighs 460 pounds.) I wouldn’t say hauling heavy buckets around in the dark through muddy snow is a very relaxing hobby. Instead of the tried-and-true method of spending an entire day tending a fire in your cousin’s backyard, I decided to upgrade this year and use the industrial appliances in the Nobles Castle kitchen. With a professional exhaust hood and vessels big enough to boil all the sap at once, it only took seven hours this time, and I yielded close to two gallons of syrup. So, is it worth it? Financially, a small operation like mine won’t ever become profitable, especially since I have yet to sell any of it. And though it’s way more work than I was expecting, I’ve rather enjoyed the challenge of fully deriving something from a life force I had no power in creating. Plus, it tastes damn good in an Old Fashioned. N SPRING 2019 Nobles 41
graduate news 1937 Seth Briggs, the final surviving member of the Class of ’37, died peacefully on September 23, 2018, while enjoying his annual fall trip to Shelburne, New Hampshire. While an official obituary appears in the In Memoriam section at the end of the magazine, Seth’s son submitted this reflection on his life. A lifelong resident of Brookline, Seth was still living in the family’s large brick house just outside of Brookline Village, his home since he was a young boy. Before joining his class of 14 young men at Nobles, Seth attended the Park School. While at Nobles, he played baseball and was also voted the “laziest” member of his class. Perhaps chastened or chagrined by this rather dubious distinction, Seth headed to Harvard to embark on a life filled with military service, a busy career and, most
important, family. He did, however, regularly suffer from a “never do today what you can do tomorrow, but do it right when you get to it” malady. When the options were an invigorating mountain hike, a long bicycle ride, a touch football or baseball game to play, skating and hockey on Hammond Pond, or tobogganing down the large hill at Larz Anderson Park versus finally getting the dining room floor refinished, the dining room floor always waited. After Harvard, Seth was called to active military duty with a number of his ROTC classmates and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Field Artillery. Early in 1942, he was assigned to one of the newly created Tank Destroyer Battalions then being organized as an answer to the German Panzer Divisions that had swept across Poland, France, Russia and North Africa. His battalion roamed the United States developing tactics in different
terrain and environments, became the training battalion at the Tank Destroyer School, spawned a number of other units, and, at last, as one of the final combat units to be deployed overseas early in 1945, took part in the final push in Europe. His battalion’s final assignment in Europe was to monitor the advance of the Russian Army across Germany. His battalion was redeploying to the Pacific when WWII suddenly ended. Seth was demobilized from active duty and returned to Brookline. He continued his military service by joining the U.S. Army Reserve. Seth was active in the Reserves until the mid 1960s, when he retired from military service as a lieutenant colonel. His children remember watching him march proudly with his troops in the Boston Veterans Day parade. During this time, Seth also started his long career as a businessman. In 1947, he went to work at MIT, where he was the principal
Graduate Notes Policy: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■
■■
Send graduate updates and photographs to class correspondents if you have one. Digital photographs must be high-resolution JPEG images (1MB+) to appear in print. Editorial staff reserves the right to edit, format and select all materials for publication, to accommodate eight decades of classes in the magazine. For more information, visit the graduate notes online submission page, www.nobles.edu/ community/graduates/submit-a-class-note/. Please contact us if you’d like to volunteer as class correspondent, to collect and compile news of your classmates to share. Contact Director of Graduate Affairs Kate Treitman Brown ’99 at kbrown99@nobles.edu. Please note: If you do not have a class correspondent listed, you can submit your notes online at www.nobles.edu/community/graduates/submit-a-class-note/.
42 Nobles SPRING 2019
administrative officer of the Naval Supersonic Laboratory, one of the nation’s leading aerodynamic research centers. At the same time, Seth met Elizabeth “Betty” West of Bangor, Maine, while they were both mowing their adjacent lawns and listening to a Red Sox-Indians game on the radio. Betty had been a head nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital and was head nurse at the Boston Lying-In Hospital premature nursery at the time they met. While Seth was busy at work, he was even busier at home. In 1966, in his Harvard 25th Reunion report, Seth wrote, “On the domestic front, my daughter and four sons continue to grow rapidly. They work hard at school, play hard at school and are by and large a source of satisfaction and pride to their parents. At homework time I am often given the chance to brush up on my rusty French or Latin or to enjoy the challenges of the ‘new’ math.” Never one to seek accolades, Seth was quietly very proud of the recognition he received from the Appalachian Mountain Club in 1998 as the oldest person to have joined the AMC’s New England 100 Highest Society. Seth was 78 when, in September 1997, he hiked Mount Snow with a small group of family and friends. This completed (but did not end) a journey that had started when he was 7 years old and was first deemed old enough to join his parents on their annual fall trip to the Androscoggin River Valley and the White Mountains. Seth continued to hike
NOTES & ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM CLASSMATES
Waban this winter. Percy remains an active graduate, coming to events on campus.
voice in a piece he wrote that his wife, Andrea, found and shared in January, a week after his passing.
1946
The Life of Hooley “I have tried to be as openminded as possible about my life (as in ‘what you see is what you get’) because I have happily always tried to be in my life as positive about life in general as I can possibly be (negative energy in life sucks). If you may (or may not) recall when I first arrived at Noble and Greenough School many years ago, I felt and very poorly demonstrated that I had to physically fight and/or wrestle with everyone to prove my worth as a person, plus trying to bully everyone into my way of thinking, because growing up with a two-year-older brother who used to taunt me, and because I was bigger than he was, I could physically overpower him (plus his friends), and that was the way that I thought that I could be ‘a bigger person’ than everyone. “I soon drastically learned and decided that I had to radically change my approach as to how I lived my life, and to change how I interacted with everyone, and that I had to be just a ‘nice guy,’ and to be fun to be with, as a forever ‘happy hooligan,’ and to be a giving and fun person and individual with everyone that I met or knew, and to get along with everyone as best I could, and to project my everyday life into being a positive person and a positive force with every one of my classmates, and with everyone that I ever met or interacted with, so that whenever I walked away from anyone, they would say
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Gregg Bemis
505-983-7094 gbemis@swcp.com
Kate Treitman Brown ’99 visits Percy Nelson ’40 at his home in Newton.
well into his 80s and took great pleasure in introducing all of his grandchildren to hiking during the annual summer family reunions he organized during the past 30 years. In 1987, in his Nobles 50th Reunion report, Seth wrote: “I know I speak for her [wife Betty] as well as myself when I report how deeply we believe in Nobles, in its values, and in the influence we know it had on our four boys. We can all be proud of such an alma mater.” Student, soldier and businessman; husband, father and grandfather. Seth lived a simple, frugal, disciplined and loving life to its very fullest. He was a Nobleman.
The Fearsome Foursome of ’46 reports in. Phil Baker has mastered another Maine winter and is rightfully proud of it. Stew Clifford is hiding out in Florida, lucky fellow. Dick Lucas is busy in his woodworking shop making a desk for his daughter. Lucky girl to have a talented father. And Gregg Bemis reports there is even less oxygen at 7,000 feet (Santa Fe) than when flying. We have a tough bunch. Hang in there, gents.
1948 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Bill Bliss
781-326-1062 wlbliss@comcast.net
1951 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Galt Grant
1940
781-383-0854 galtgra@gmail.com
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Percy Nelson
617-244-4126 percylnelson@comcast.net Kate Treitman Brown ’99 had a nice visit with Percy Nelson and his wife, Toni, at their home in
1952 & 1953 It is impossible for anyone to follow in the footsteps of Winston “Hooley” Perry when approaching these notes. Therefore, we will turn one last time to Hooley’s
to themselves and feel, ‘Wasn’t that a great and fun conversation, and don’t Hooley make me feel good about myself, and it’s great to have Hooley as a friend, plus liking and appreciating everything that we talked about.’ Since that amazing realization, that approach has always been my continual outlook on life and/or how I have strived to live my life, and how I have tried to ‘give back’ to all of my classmates and friends and acquaintances as best as I possibly could. It’s all about exuding positive energy. “If you travel with good energy, you will receive it, and if you travel with bad energy, see how fast it will find you. So just put all that good energy into something and just see the results at the end. “Also, early on during my working life, I joined a company that I and another partner eventually purchased, and I became the chief executive officer of the company. It was an engineering and materials and product-testing company, and I think that I was really immeasurably blest, because very fortunately I was its main spokesman, where I was able to tell all of my/our customers that you will be asking us to test and evaluate a specific structure, or material, or product, or the condition of a building and its components, and you may not like what I tell you, but the results that I give you will be the God’s honest truth, and what we give you will be truthful results that you can totally rely on and basically ‘take to the bank.’ The wonderful thing about this was that I was able to absolutely tell the truth to everyone that I dealt with, and
SPRING 2019 Nobles 43
graduate news
Peter Partridge ’54, Joan Bartlett, wife of Sam ’53, Fred Clifford ’54, Larry Bidstrup ’54, Barbara Clifford and Wendy Bidstrup. We really had a fun time in spite of this photo!
which I was paid very well for. I used to say, when anyone asked me what I did for work, that ‘I sell and provide truth and honesty and professionalism and motherhood and apple pie to anyone and/ or everyone.” So in business and in life, I was always able to be scrupulously honest and truthful with everyone I interacted with, which I found to be quite liberating considering what usually goes on in the business world these days. “And on that note, I will conclude my dissertation on ‘The Life of Hooley’ as he lives it, and I hope as we know it.”
1954
Nobles and the wonderful events that sprang from their time there. Bob writes, “Business will bring him within four hours from us in early April, so we’ll have a very small but enthusiastic Nobles reunion when we meet halfway!” Bob has been busy writing, and before the move was working as the marketing man at a shipyard in Boothbay Harbor. Now, as a “completely satisfied and totally retired person, I pick grapefruit off my trees and watch the most incredible sunsets that Arizona produces.”
1955 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Bob Chellis
Peter Partridge
781-237-9436 rdchellis@gmail.com
508-548-9418 bluechip7676@hotmail.com Bob Foster and his wife, Janet, just moved from their farm in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, to Tucson, Arizona, and up popped Peter Vandenburg. He called Bob from his home in Corona, California, and they spent at least an hour talking about
44 Nobles SPRING 2019
Susie and Wally Stimpson’s annual Christmas card is, again, truly impressive! A beaming threegeneration extended family—23 so far—and, talk about supporting your school, as of next June nine of them will be Nobles grads! Hooray for Wally and Susie. Surely an
unmatched record, and still a work in progress. Wow. Linda and Charlie Nichols have moved from Chadd’s Ford to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and their card had updates and great pictures. Lots of handsome kids and grandkids, Linda riding dressage with her “Happy Hour,” and Charlie at the wheel of his massive 1930s Packard open touring car (“his kind of horsepower”). In February, residents of Fox Hill, many of whom haven’t seen the campus, were invited for dinner in the Castle and a performance of this year’s winter play, Bright Star. A good time was had by all. Sandy and I are back from our annual post Xmas break in Nassau. In 1979 we liked the little Westwind Club so well that we went back a second year, got married in the post office, were happy with that too, and have been back every year since. Swimming and sun, reading and rum, works for me. Sorry not to have more news. But if you come to Nobles’ Reunion Weekend, maybe we can make some. Friday, May 10, 2019, for cocktails, great hors d’oeuvres and dinner, and in our favorite Castle. Join us and a great nostalgic mix of classes! And on Saturday, there are meetings and reports, a great cookout lunch and sports. Be well. Send us some news. And if you’re in the area, drop in to share a drink and a Fox Hill dinner. We’re less than two miles down Bridge St. from Nobles. Lucky us!
1956 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Gren “Rocky” Whitman
410-639-7551 grenwhitman1@gmail.com
From Tom Oleson: “My health is stable at age 80, but my golf is deteriorating weekly. I may need to give it up, or at least accept a higher handicap, currently 22.” Thanks to his wife, Gail, a strong advocate and caregiver, Bob Bach is well despite his long battle with an infected aortic valve. The silver lining, he says, is that he is much more appreciative of each day. He enjoys writing nonsophisticated poetry, mostly about people—including many of his palliative care patients—and pulling a few lobster traps. Bob has been involved in helping an inmate hospice team at Maine’s state prison and hopes there will be some real progress in prison reform similar to that accomplished in Germany. Tim Leland reports a mysterious development: “Somewhere along the way since my last class note, I got old. That’s my news item. I don’t know exactly when it happened, or where, but one morning a few months ago I realized that it’s difficult to put my socks on. I have trouble bending over to get them on my feet. Around the same time, I noticed that almost everyone walking with me on the sidewalk in downtown Boston—especially people in their 20s and 30s—walks faster than I do. I can’t keep up with them. Also, on cold days, when I have to wear my overcoat and gloves, I notice those same people, remarkably, often seem to be wearing flimsy jackets and no gloves. Don’t they know it’s cold outside? And here’s the killer: When I get on a crowded trolley car nowadays, more often than not a young woman will jump up and offer me her seat! It took a while, but it finally dawned on me what’s going on. I’m 81 years old, I
have a bum hip, a stiff lower back and a perpetual stoop, according to my wife. I’m also getting deaf, although I don’t like to admit it. Sure, I still bike over to a fitness club in South Boston several days a week, swim a few laps and do some light work with weights. But I’ve always wondered what it feels like to be old. Now I know.” “By the time this report reaches the Nobles community, I’ll already have used some of the tickets in the eight-game plan I bought just today from the Bowie Baysox,” says Rocky Whitman. Bowie is the Baltimore Orioles’ Double-A affiliate, and Whitman notes that Boston fans should realize that “Go, Sox” has a different application in Maryland.
1957 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
John Valentine
413-256-6676 jean6157@icloud.com “Spes sibi quisque”—“for richer or poorer, in sickness as in health, ’til death do us part.” The motto is known to all our graduates. The oath (or words touching on similar promises) is familiar to graduates who entered into marriage. While the fierce selfishness can feel good when young, the support of long-lived friendships becomes more important as we encounter the duty of the oaths. I am grateful for these friendships, many of which were formed at this school in Dedham, so I am grateful to the school that harbored them. A quick note from John Damon follows: “I’m discovering the second year of widower-hood to be even more challenging than
the first, and my heart goes out to the ladies in this demographic as well—most recently with Jane Deland (Mike Deland ’59) in mind too, a recent new widow. And there are others, of course. It’s a big club, regardless of seniority, which I find inspires deep reflections the longer we have to generate them. For me, by far the largest, is a broad, deep and comforting sense of gratitude.” Bill Gallagher reports: “I feel fortunate to have entered my ninth decade in relatively good health and spirits. Lucky enough to enjoy some pond skating here and in Maine this winter on the best, maybe only, good black ice we’ve seen in years. “Had a great trip to Ireland last fall with my son Bill Gallagher ’95. We did a counterclockwise loop around Northern Ireland starting in Belfast. Don’t miss the Titanic Museum if you’re anywhere near that city—then coastal roads north to Ballycastle. Bill found a side-alley pub there, all locals, with a fiddle and concertina trio playing old Irish airs. A true yesteryear experience—a far cry from Dublin’s touristy Temple Place section (both great!). Thence to ‘Giant’s Causeway’ crystallized rock pillars but didn’t see Finn McCool. Must have been out destroying another Irish village. Next, Ballintoy Harbor, one of the major Game of Thrones filming sites. A warm-up followed at the Bushmills Distillery tasting room and then on to Londonderry, or Derry, as is now the politically correct, but I suppose sensible, label given to the city in view of the nonviolent but simmering divisiveness that still exists in that epicenter of the 1972 ‘Troubles.’ We learned a lot and saw a lot of the religious and political history
that gave rise to such tragic times. “We then spent three days chartering a boat on the River Shannon. Amazingly beautiful countryside of which Bill took some great shots with his drone. There are small villages along the Shannon, so we were never at a loss for a Guinness or two, badly needed to restore our strength having each day braved mirrorsmooth river conditions at breakneck speeds of nearly five knots. “The most moving part of the trip for Bill and me was finding the old stone cottage, now deserted and dilapidated, in Fivemiletown, where my ancestors lived and where the first William Gallagher was born shortly after 1800, and who then as an infant emigrated with his parents and siblings to Canada before coming to Boston when it was safe to do so at the conclusion of the War of 1812. My brother, Dick Gallagher ’58, passed away in 2017, and I had brought some of his ashes with us on this trip to be spread upon the vast countryside where that humble cottage stood on a lovely knoll. A muddy field adjoining, cows and sheep all around us, we sent him off to the winds and the fields with a good splash of Bushmills from the bottle and joined him with a long toast to a great guy. “Dick revered Nobles, Mr. Putnam and especially his many classmates with whom he kept up over the years and who were of immeasurable support and unfailing providers of good cheer throughout his illnesses.” Eliot Putman chimes in with a reflection: “The older I get, the more the natural world thrills and mystifies me. The other day, Jan and I were taking our dog, Hondo,
on an afternoon walk in a wooded area not far from our home. The air was crisp and cold, the noises of traffic and other such intrusions blissfully distant for the moment. As is his wont, Hondo was stopping frequently to explore the myriad smells of the flora and fauna that surrounded us and that only he could sense. The setting could not have been more peaceful. “Suddenly something immense and dark passed silently over us, not 10 feet above our heads. Startling and mysterious as a runaway cloud, it then materialized just ahead of us as a large, brown, speckled owl, finding a perch on a branch of a sapling that overarched the path. To say we were transfixed in our tracks is to profoundly understate the case. Having never seen an owl up close in its natural habitat, we stood motionless and in awe, watching as its head silently and effortlessly swiveled this way and that, presumably in search of unwary prey. Handsome, majestic, beautifully proportioned, silent as a dream . . . it was all of those things. It was also beyond our reach, not just in the physical sense but in its existence as a creature of the natural world doing what it was created to do without reference to anything we could do or say. It was, in a word, thrilling. “I turned my head for just a second, and when I looked back, the owl was gone, as silently as it arrived, to parts unknown. Reading about it later, we determined that it was probably a barred owl, and that it and other owls are the most silent of creatures. The construction of their feathers is such that they make no sound whatsoever as they move through the air, in contrast to the sounds, however slight,
SPRING 2019 Nobles 45
graduate news
made in flight by other birds large and small. How mysterious and magnificent is that? Wonderfully so, and worthy of deep reverence and gratitude.”
1958 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Chris Morss
knossos@aol.com Peter Horton writes: “Not much to report up in this neck of the woods. Special moments—a family of deer in the moonlight at the bird feeders, the geese flying south—and the daily activities keep us alive. I’m still feeling the good vibes of our last class gettogether and looking forward to the next one.” His neighbor Bill Danielson shares that he “spent a wonderful two hours with fellow Mainer Peter on a frigid December day in Portland, guzzling lattes (his treat), trading memories, and solving the world’s problems.” Bill Russell reports: “In early January, Jan and I visited Sara and George Foss in Fernandina Beach, Florida, for a fun weekend that included Barrister Charlie Long, who was on his annual pilgrimage to the Florida Keys. Much serious conversation laced with lots of laughter. George conducted an excellent tour of the area, where he serves as a high-level emergency management official. His home office is still filled with an impressive array of communications equipment that enables him to continue his long-standing ham radio activities and looks sophisticated enough for listening in on all Russian message-sending.” Richard Whiteley shares: “I
46 Nobles SPRING 2019
am doing very well. The way it is shaking out on the health front is that I am a 79-year-old male who is in good condition for his age and who just happens to have Parkinson’s. The way I’m handling it, I put my emphasis on the 79-year-old quality of life and do what I can do to minimize the inconvenience of the disease. The bottom line is I feel privileged to have an extraordinary life with which I have been blessed. I continue to write poetry (see below) and am active in a physical fitness program of noncontact boxing. Catherine continues to flourish, and after a combination of eight sons and grandsons, we finally had a lovely little lady, Charlotte, show up to teach us guys about chivalry and sensitivity. Happy Old Year . . . Happy New Year As one year closes and another comes to the fore I reflect on what’s passing and what might be in store. Like a death and a rebirth is this special eve When reflections and visions are mine to weave. Next year, like them all, will bring joy and chagrin And I’ll honor them both to insure I can win. I’ll celebrate those highs each and every day And embrace the lows for they’ll show me the way. And as I look forward to the coming year I envision myself midst good fortune and cheer. And open to changes in the picture I see
For what I expect sometimes just won’t be. The last year for me had some highs and some lows With important life changes and a business too slow. But hidden in the angst were lessons to learn And loving friends to whom I could turn. And the highs were there too like amazing grace Putting joy in my heart and a smile on my face What is really special and appreciated too Is that while soaring in peace I was flying with you. So I honor the past . . . let its lesson sink in And smile to the future, which is about to begin. And as my new journey offers new issues to tend I wish for your presence . . . my very best friend.
1959
will always be remembered as our close friend and classmate during our days at Nobles (and for some of us at Dexter and Harvard) and throughout his life. We wanted to include these 50th reunion comments by Mike: “Dear classmates, friends, all: You, Nobles and its faculty shaped my life. Hundreds of vignettes come to my mind, but none more relevant for me than ETP reading ‘a tall gentleman helping someone…” That, without my thinking of it then, likely helped to direct me to a career of public service—one that has been a challenging joy to me, and I like to think of help to others. In addition, with President George H.W. Bush’s assistance, I initiated and led the six-year campaign to add a statue of President Roosevelt in his wheelchair at his memorial. It is the signature piece around which schoolchildren gather to have their pictures taken. Without it, they would not know now, or 500 years from now, that Franklin D. Roosevelt led this country through the Depression and to victory in the World War from his wheelchair.”
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Whit Bond
whit.bond@verizon.net Buzz Gagnebin
imbuzz@me.com John Gibson
jgib1963@aol.com Upon news of Mike Deland’s passing, Whit Bond and Buzz Gagnebin report to classmates: “We have just lost Mike Deland, who passed away peacefully on January 8, 2019, at Tobey Hospital in Wareham, Massachusetts, after complications with pneumonia. He
Classmate thoughts about Mike Deland follow: “You were a leader in all respects. Even when adversity hit, you continued to shine and show us the way. You can rest now knowing that you have set the path forward for all of us. Until we meet again…” —Tom “Quigs” Quigley “There are no words to convey the loss of one with whom we shared our younger years, our formative years, often with joyful abandonment, smiles and laughter. Mike had a gift of leadership he shared with us by example on the playing fields at Nobles, and on the
National Organization on Disability (NOD) President Michael Deland ’59 (left) and President Emeritus Alan Reich at the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. Under Reich and Deland, NOD launched a successful campaign for the addition to the memorial of the FDR Wheelchair Statue, which was dedicated in January 2001. Mike Deland passed away in January 2019.
larger field of Life, with his remarkable achievements. He touched us all. The universe is smaller by one. The loss to our lives, to our hearts and memories, is inestimable. Godspeed, my friend! May you always be out in front, an enduring inspiration to us all. As one of our own, we will always embrace you with our gifts of Love, Peace, Joy and Friendship. Continued safe travels!” —Charlie Castellani “Thanks, Mike, for sharing a small part of your life with us. It was huge to us!” —John “Rocky” Gibson “And to Mike, ‘May the Gods pour honey in your mouth.’” —Bill Taylor Mike sailed a Herreshoff 12 ½. He learned to sail in one owned by his family. “Dear Mike, although you have now completed your life’s journey—a remarkable journey, indeed—we ’59 classmates will continue to sail with you in our hearts and in our minds in a way that is real and really matters. We love and admire you. God bless.” —Dick Frazee
Whit Bond further reports: “I can add that I crewed for Mike on several occasions in his H 12’ during races in Marion during the summers of 1954-1956.” “Mike was the captain of the Nobles hockey team that defeated Belmont Hill and Milton in 1959. Of the 120 minutes of play in these two games, Mike was on the ice for 115. I have not seen his like before or since.” —Nick Soutter “Someone oughta write a novel—and let me add—Oh, my, we have lost a giant. I’m sure you know this, but I was pretty scantily prepared for my late-innings entry into the Nobles Class of ’59. Quite a shock to my system, for sure. I was not the most diligent of students in small-town Marysville, California, public schools, and (ironically, now) I hadn’t done much formal writing. I was pretty far ‘behind.’ I came to Nobles for my last two years of high school, largely by family tradition (my father and uncle had grown up across the Charles on Bridge Street,
Dedham; my two older brothers had done the last-two-years thing, at Nobles and Thacher). I grew up on a Sacramento Valley family farm, sort of a Tom-Sawyer existence and not much classical education, and not much diligence on my part. My uncle C.W. Edwards ’32 had gone to Nobles and had known well Mike’s father—great pals—hence the welcoming connection when I arrived. “You all welcomed me graciously, with remarkable good cheer, but Mike befriended me especially, showed me the ropes— including Miss Souther’s dances and deb parties!—and Mother Deland looked after me, hovered in her characteristic maternal fashion and laser-beam attention. Mike was a great friend to all of us, but I needed it more than the rest of you. He showed me how to be in my strange new land. I can’t think of a better example of the model Eliot Putnam boy, and I followed in his wake as best I could. I returned some of the favor, and Mike came out and worked on our Marysville prune and almond ranch (including Lake Tahoe) the summer after our second-class year. Back then, and especially later when he endured his humbling disabilities, Mike had a remarkable stoicism and forward motion, heroic, in deed. I get pretty choked up when I read now the Boston Globe and Washington Post summaries of his life of service, and the pictures (!). How honored we were to have had him in our lives, to have had him as a friend. Quite a guy!” —Selden Edwards “Mike, you will stay in our minds forever as class president, athletics star and supportive
friend. And, speaking as a former board member of the Conservation Law Foundation and second chairman of the Boston Bar Association Committee on Environment, I am so delighted and amazed at your work for the environment. I have many good memories; one unique one is crewing for you in an interscholastic sailboat competition at the Coast Guard base in New London, bunking at night with other high school competitors in a gymnasium. Maybe some gals there too. Fun!” —Buzz Gagnebin “What I can very well remember is that Mike was a very gentle classmate, very respectful, tactful, very, very clever, a smart person. I would say that he was an elite person. Michèle, my wife, remembers him also, during our stay at Nobles in May 1999 for our 40th. ‘Un garçon charmant, très digne et surtout très classe!’ Yes, Mike for me chiefly symbolized ‘class,’ a brilliant class and kindness. I am sad.” —Richard Seiler Before we received news of Mike’s passing, we received the following news: During a trip to the Virgin Islands in January 2019, Steve Grant presented his bilingual book on Salvadoran postcards to Dr. David Hall, president of the University of St. Thomas, for the library. When Dr. Hall served as provost of Northeastern University, his daughter Sakile Braithwaite-Hall ’10 attended Nobles for four years.
1960 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Albert Vandam
arvandam42@gmail.com
SPRING 2019 Nobles 47
graduate news
1961 & 1962 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Jim Newell ‘61
802-467-3555 newell43@gmail.com Peter McCombs ’62
215-947-8017 or 516-629-7983 prm9244@gmail.com D.A. Mittell ’62 reports: “For years there were friendly entreaties from Sarah and James Newell ’61 to visit them at their home in Newark, Vermont, in the Northeast Kingdom. Finally, dates were set for Sept. 7–9, 2018. Despite attempts to gather the masses, the only guests were Sam Mandell ’61 and Rae Ann, Brad Willauer ’61 and this humble writer. But it turned out that one more might have been too many. “I was last to arrive. The punctual were having cocktails atop an enormous wooden tower only slightly shorter than the Empire State Building. The Green Mountain State building! Remembering the tricks of these boys, I surrendered my weekend to Rae Ann Mandell—a wise choice that assured three days in sunlit upland. “Surviving James’s concoctions and the long descent, we adjourned to a two-and-a-half-story hall with a fireplace two-and-a-half times the size of any in the Nobles Castle. It is unheated, but when the fireplace was filled with trees and lit, we were nicely cooked. Seated at a long table, we were then treated to a sumptuous meal of many courses. King Henry VIII never had it so good. “On the second day, we drove around a surpassing beautiful mountain lake, then dined in an antique house at the Wildflower
48 Nobles SPRING 2019
Inn in Lyndonville. On the third day, I was the last to leave and was sent off by James and Sarah with a song and two-person kick line—which was just how visitors to Mr. & Mrs. Richard T. Flood Sr. were always sent off. “In 45 years in this paradise, James and Sarah helped found the Riverside School, where they taught and where James served as head of school. He also served for many years as town moderator in Newark. They have attended Newark reunions in California, New Jersey, England and South Africa. My advice to any friend coming within two and a half days of the Northeast Kingdom is to trespass in their world. “As for Sam, he and I roomed together for two years in the Castle, but till now have missed too many chances to catch up. “The same with Brad, whose distinguished life as a money manager has turned into world renown as a sailor. As I say, on this weekend, one more guest might have been too many.”
1963 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Jim Lehan
508-520-1373 jblehan@aol.com Bob Kretschmar was over in Germany last fall visiting the Seiffert family, including Tom Seiffert, who was a corporate attorney and is now retired. He came over for the reunion last May. The Seifferts they all live in Hamburg now, except for Christian ’91 and family, who are in Munich. Christian is a management consultant for LEK, an international firm
based in the UK. Stephan ’93 is a tax specialist at EY in Hamburg, and Moritz ’99 is an interventional cardiologist at a hospital in Hamburg. A wonderful visit with four Nobles grads!
1964 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Ned Bigelow
781-704-4304 moe9817@aol.com We hope this note finds all members of the Class of ’64 doing well. As you all hopefully know by now, over the weekend of May 10 and 11, 2019, we will be celebrating our 55th reunion. Details are in place, and we hope as many of you as possible will join us in Dedham. Please be in touch with us if you have any questions. We wish you all the very best. Hoping to see you soon. —Ned Bigelow and Ned Lawson Frank Cobb writes: “Greetings Noblemen: Life goes on in Texas and the Dallas area; I am slowly morphing into a Texan after many years on the East Coast and in the Eastern Time Zone. As the Texas Tourism Board likes to say, Texas is a whole other country. I am slowly learning there is a lot of truth to this. Cheers from Texas.” Ken Morse reported: “Laura and I are certainly looking forward to our 55th reunion in May, coming off a wonderful 50th reunion at MIT. Who would have imagined that those geeks would turn into party animals, like us? “It is heartwarming that both our grandchildren, children of Amy Morse Winslow ’89, are at Nobles: Hadley Winslow ’21 is rowing varsity crew, and Nate ’24 is in middle
school doing fine in basketball following a growth spurt that makes him taller than his grandpa. “One way to think about Nobles at our tender age is that we were very smart early investors in one of the most successful educational ventures on the East Coast. See you in May when the days will be longer and warmer, and the vibrant spirit of the Class of 1964 will be out there for all to admire and emulate.”
1965 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Jim Summers
jimsummers@post.harvard.edu
1966 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Ned Reece
ned4047@sbcglobal.net
1967 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Drew Sullivan
781-461-1477 drewsull49@aol.com News from Drew Sullivan: “I retired from Meditech after 32 years and bought a 1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan. I am still president of the Bay State Antique Car Club (www. bsaac.com). Brad Eaton’s woodie won a prize last summer at our Annual Car Show, which this year is on July 14, 2019, at Endicott Estate, East St., Dedham. I met up with Mark Rivinus and Phelps Brown in Camden, Maine, last July.” Steve Wellington writes: “I am still working. My son, David, has joined Wellington Company Real Estate firm and will take over at some point. We have five
1967
Top to bottom: Drew Sullivan ’67’s 1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan—Thunderbird 292 hp V8—dual exhaust (stock photo); Mark Rivinus, Phelps Brown and Drew Sullivan (all ’67), Camden Dock, July 2018.
grandchildren. We keep busy visiting presidential libraries, hiking the mountains, and traveling internationally more and return to Plymouth, Massachusetts, often to our cottage. I enjoyed the 50th reunion and hope to stay in touch with one and all.” Beez Cutler met up with Dick Byrd in Florida in January and sends best wishes to all. Byrd writes: “We are enjoying the 20th year of the former legends of hockey. Nobles is strongly represented by Lev Byrd and Chris Counihan (both ’70); George Pendergast ’69, Dick Malcom ’72, Bill Roman and Chip Norton (both ’73); and new addition Mike Wiggins ’64. On the class of ’67 front, some of us had an enjoyable
catch-up at Brandy Pete’s in Boston before Christmas. Hope to see you guys again before too long, and will be meeting Bradley ‘Bezo’ Cutler in Tampa this week during the Harvard Class of ’71 golf trip.”
1968 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Andy Lord
617-899-3948 ajliii@yahoo.com
1969 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Peter Pach
860-267-9701 peterbpach@gmail.com
Big news of the year is our 50th reunion on May 10 and 11. On that Friday, we are invited to a host of activities at the school, including a campus tour and chance to go to a class, all culminating with a dinner in the Castle. Saturday there will be graduate athletics, crew for rowers, men’s lacrosse and women’s soccer, a cookout, the Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony, team games against Tabor and a dinner at Brad Wilkinson’s lovely new home. Our significant others are invited to join us at all events. Among those I know who are planning to come are the members of the reunion committee: Toby Burr, Wigs Frank, Peter Gates, Wilkinson and me. Tod Whittemore, Mark Haffenreffer, Wes Wellington, George Pendergast and David Polk have also said they will make an appearance. Parkman Howe sends greetings to our class for the 50th but regrets he won’t be able to attend. “As it turns out, I will be in Ann Arbor—my younger daughter is graduating from law school.” I had a nice talk with Tom Taylor, who is also heading to the reunion. Tom is still out on Martha’s Vineyard where, until a couple of years ago, he operated a fine woodworking business doing soup-tonuts high-end finish work on island homes. A skilled traditional bow and arrow hunter, Tom has traveled frequently to Alaska and other spots around the globe to pursue brown bears, wolves and other big game. When he’s home on the island, he is out on the water in search of fish. He’s looking forward to reconnecting with classmates at our reunion. I also talked with Ted Canto out in Las Vegas, where he has ended up after a career in the food-service
business, much of it directing dining at colleges such as American, Duke and Vassar. It’s demanding work, on-call at all hours. Ted and his wife have five children between them, along with 24 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. He’s considering a trip east for the reunion but was still figuring out whether that would conflict with a family vacation. Peter Gates, on business in Miami, caught up with Jim Lack. Jim now lives in Miami and won’t make it to our 50th reunion. Peter reports that Jim got married when he was 55 and now has two sons, ages 5 and 2. Jim, Peter says, “seems to be in great shape, not working but looking for his next gig.” The end of 2018 turned out to be an eventful year for me. After nearly 36 years at the Hartford Courant (and 44 years in the newspaper business), I decided to leave the paper to see what might happen next. As of this writing, in mid-January, it’s too soon to know, but although I always enjoyed the work, getting away from long hours and daily deadlines has not been all bad. I plan to catch up with a lot you at the reunion, but you can always write me at my new email address: peterbpach@gmail.com.
1970 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Levy Byrd
781-449-7555 levbyrd@comcast.net
1971 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Harry Blackman
Harry.Blackman@skadden.com
SPRING 2019 Nobles 49
graduate news
John Dewey
jrdewey@usa.net Nick Mittell
phred.j.dog@gmail.com Win Perkins
wperkins@mmuftc.com This edition of our Class Notes has been a tough one, because it seems that almost everyone in the class is so humble and prefers to hide their light under the proverbial bushel, so we just don’t have much to report. That said, here goes: We heard it through the grapevine that Reed Austin, Harry Blackman, Nick Mittell, David “Hector” Pendergast, Jeffrey Schwartz and Peter Smith all got together at Nobles to watch the varsity teams play Milton. Harry played in the alumni soccer game. Jeffrey told tall tales about his RV trip across the country. Hector reported on his booming freight farm business, now expanded to two containers growing lettuce, chard and herbs, and supplying the produce to local restaurants, country clubs and farmers markets. Boston’s Channel 25 did a feature on Hector’s Agora Gardens: “Pendergast believes this is the future of farming as it provides an efficient way to get fresh food to people in cities. ‘We don’t need tractors. We don’t need a lot of labor. There’s nobody out there squirting pesticides on this stuff. We don’t have weather variables.’ One of the big selling features is reduction in water usage. ‘We recycle the water,’ said Pendergast. ‘Ten gallons a week for 5,000 heads of lettuce.’ And, a container can be controlled with an app. ‘You don’t need a green thumb,’ chuckled Pendergast. ‘It’s all run by
50 Nobles SPRING 2019
a supercomputer that turns itself off and on, and the lights go off and on, they are all synchronized together.’ African ministers have come to tour Agora Greens to see how the units work. Pendergast said they were impressed with the limited water usage and thought they could provide a good way to grow food in drought-impacted areas.” Great stuff, Hector! It was a great get-together out at Nobles. Lots of laughs. Missing from the group was usual attendee Greg Garritt, who was at his wife, Carol’s opening at an art gallery in Newburyport. Her calligraphic artwork is really incredible. The next day, Jeffrey, Reed and Nick traveled to Martha’s Vineyard to support Jeff Franklin at his dad’s memorial service, and the following week, Harry and Jeff had a lovely dinner in New York City with Chas Wyman and his wife, Vika. Just before Christmas, Harry, Jeffrey, Nick, John Dewey and John Bailey, with his wife, Deirdre, enjoyed a festive time together at the Fezziwig Ball in Natick. Congratulations are due to DG Wheeler, who was a silver medalist in his age division of the men’s doubles at the 2018 Pickleball U.S. Open in Naples, Florida. We hear that Dr. Ken Tyler was appointed to a task force to advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on treatment considerations for acute flaccid myelitis, a polio-like disease that has struck hundreds of children over the past six years. There has been criticism of the CDC for a slow response to this harrowing illness, including from the advisors on the task force. Ken was quoted on Fox News saying, “This is the CDC’s job. This is what they’re supposed to do well.
And it’s a source of frustration to many of us that they’re apparently not doing these things.” The images of the kids affected by this virus are truly heartbreaking. They can be absolutely healthy one day and quite severely crippled literally the next day. All we can say is that we are glad that Ken is on the case and hope that improved diagnosis and treatment are on the way. On a happier/more amusing note: Do you remember the Heidi Bowl? Well, the 50th anniversary of that game was celebrated one week after the Nobles vs. Milton game referenced above. On November 17, 1968, the New York Jets, with Joe Namath as quarterback, took a 32-29 lead over the Oakland Raiders with 1:05 left to go in the game, which was being aired on NBC. After the Jets scored, the network cut to a commercial and . . . never came back! Instead, the movie Heidi came on at its scheduled start time of 7:00 p.m., despite the fact that the game was not over and, as those of you who remember will know, it ended in historic fashion. After the Jets scored and kicked off, and the Raiders returned to their own 23-yard line, Raiders quarterback Daryle Lamonica threw two complete passes to halfback Charlie Smith, who took the second one in for the touchdown. The Jets fumbled the following kickoff, and the Raiders recovered and scored. They had scored two touchdowns in nine seconds and won the game 43-32. This lead-up is all related to the fact that classmate Curt Gowdy Jr.’s father, the legendary broadcaster Curt Gowdy, called that game for NBC. Our classmate Curt, now senior VP and executive producer at SNY, recently recalled
for that network, “I remember him saying he thought it was the greatest promotion for the American Football League. . . . I think that game was called the greatest game of the decade in professional football. . . . My father never knew that they went off the air to go to Heidi, so he continued to call the game, but after the game, they went down to the truck, and the producer told him, ‘Look, you guys have to go back up and re-record the final minute and five seconds so we can feed that to NBC News to show the two touchdowns that happened.’” It was a wild day for football, and it certainly changed how broadcasts were handled. The networks never again cut away from a game in progress. In final news, your correspondents received a nice email from Bruce Jones, which included the Aussie version of The Night Before Christmas with Santa’s sled pulled not by reindeer, but by eight kangaroos named Kylie, Kirsty, Shazza and Shane, Kipper, Skipper, Bazza and Wayne. Very funny. Bruce has not lost his sense of humor. Far from it, and perhaps that is due in part to the influence of his hometown—Bruce lives in the town of Woy Woy, Australia, renowned for its beauty and the fact that the great Goon Show comedian Spike Milligan spent time there, visiting his retired parents, and used the town in his comic routines. “There is somewhere in the steaming bush of Australia, a waterside town called Woy Woy (Woy it is called Woy Woy Oi will never know)!” So, we did have some news after all: Classmates and friends—getting together, staying in touch, supporting one another, doing good, doing well, enjoying
life and still laughing! Goodonya, Mates! And . . . that’s all folks!
1974 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
on up and let’s take a few runs together. Looking forward to seeing all of you in May!”
1975
Kevin McCarthy
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
617-480-6344 kjmc.bc.msw15@gmail.com
Jed Dawson 508-735-9663
jdawson711@gmail.com Looking forward to our 45th reunion and seeing so many of my classmates. I was able to enjoy some time in Arizona with Sheldon Ross ’78 while visiting the southwest. Recently met with classmate Tom Sleeper as he came out to support Heading Home Inc. at our annual volunteer service awards evening. I have been able to spend some time at Nobles getting to know the faculty and students of color, as well as observing the wonderful work being done. I want to thank all of the faculty and staff for the hard work they do and say that I look forward to seeing them at the graduation of Julia Lyne ’19. Seth Tower happily reports: “I just made my last college tuition payment for my younger child, Kristina, who will graduate from Bucknell University in May. Now can I think about retirement? My older child, Matt, an Amherst College graduate, is living the dream in the North End and working in the corporate world in the Seaport District. I am still living in Acton, Massachusetts, officially on my own these days, running the business office and doing marketing communications for Tremont School, a small private school in Lexington. Also running a soccer club in its 10th year now, coaching and playing myself as time allows. And, after almost 40 years, I’m still at Wildcat on Weekends. Come
Doug Floyd
781-788-0020 dfloyd44312@yahoo.co
psychological reasons of drug addiction. Sheldon is “blessed to be able to serve others with my work with the Arizona Department of Emergency Management and Military Affairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and as a 1st Lt. in the Arizona Wing of the Civil Air Patrol (USAF Auxiliary).”
1979 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Dan Rodgers
1976
212-423-0374 drodgers@wfw.com
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Tom Bartlett
+44 1908 647196 tom_bartlett58@hotmail.com Rob Piana
617-491-7499 robert.piana@vanderbilt.edu
1977 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Linda Rheingold
lrheingold@comcast.net
1978 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Christopher Reynolds
Cell: 800-444-0004 Home: 508-358-7757 chreynolds@comcast.net Sheldon Ross writes that he had the pleasure of sharing a recent evening with friend, Nobles friend and teammate in football Kevin McCarthy ’74 at his house in Scottsdale, Arizona, on December 16, 2018. Kevin continues to do great work in the Boston area, treating the underlying
Our 40th reunion is in May 2019. John Almy is psyched! Are you? Please do come if you can manage it. It is so much more fun with a big turnout. And with that happy thought in mind, Dan Kiryelejza writes that he received our reunion save-thedate email “and was quite moved by the idea of seeing my living classmates again.” Dan reports that he and his wife retired from federal service at the end of 2014 and have both been working as contractors/consultants with different parts of the government since then (do you go by the names of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Dan?). Dan’s daughter is now 25 and living in Los Angeles where she is working to finish her studies in architecture/design at UCLA. Dan and his wife (the aforementioned Mrs. Smith) live in northern Virginia but also have a place on the Cape and a place in West Virginia that Dan says is “mostly for the disposing of bodies.” Meanwhile, back at Nobles, Joe Selle, John Stimpson, Wyc Grousbeck, Phil Rueppel and I
Sonoran Desert sunset with Sheldon “Joe” Ross ’78 and Kevin “Kmac” McCarthy ’74 in Scottsdale, Arizona
turned out for Nobles Night in October, where there was a special party for Bill Kehlenbeck, who has somehow transformed from the 22-year-old guy who started with so many of us at Nobles in September 1975 straight outta Princeton into “eminence gris” on the faculty. It was great to see Mr. K again (who insists we call him Bill, but I’ll never get used to that) and to hear Joe, John and the guys from a variety of other (lesser) Nobleonian classes sing some of the classics for Mr. K. And Bill, if you are reading this, you changed a lot of lives in the Class of ’79 for the better. We are in your debt. Be there in May for reunion. It’s a good chance to berate on these class notes!
1980 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Rob Capone
781-326-7142 robcapwest@comcast.net
SPRING 2019 Nobles 51
graduate news
Left to right: Rob Finlay ’83 hiking with daughters Audrey (left) and Laurel (right) in the Trinity Alps, California (Emerald Lake in background); Jane Fogg, Pamina Gorbach, Betsy Morris Rosen and Haley Clifford Adams (all ’83); Sarah Weiss Auerbach ’84 and her family at the Coliseum
1982 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Holly Malkasian Staudinger
914-925-2340 hollyamalkasian@gmail.com J. Rupert Thompson writes from Pasadena, California: “Hey there, Class of ’82, and Happy New Year! Hope everyone is well, and if you’re anywhere near the Pasadena area, give me a shout: 323-828-4662 or rupert@laura-rupert.com.”
1983 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Nancy Sarkis Corcoran
nlsc3@me.com Thank you to the awesome Class of ’83 for keeping in touch and sending news. Love and peace to all. xoxo. N. My son, Holden Corcoran ’18, recently spent the day at Nobles visiting with old friends and teachers in January before heading back to Georgetown. He was especially
52 Nobles SPRING 2019
happy to see Sakura Hinenoya ’20 (daughter of Haley Clifford Adams) in Japanese class. He loves being in D.C. but definitely misses Nobles. Such a special place. Dan Tarlin checked in to say he “enjoyed being back on campus recently to sing with some other old Nobleonians for Bill Kehlenbeck—just one song, but it felt like old times.” Kevin Williams writes: “No special news here. Life goes on. Because of the kids’ ages/schedules (15, 17, 19), I have not been back to Boston in the summer in four years, so I haven’t seen Chris McCusker (and wife Tina), whom I used to visit regularly. I have been going to Phoenix to visit my parents for a week in the spring, though. One kid is a freshman at Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, learning French and going to France in February.” I was happy to hear from Wendy Riseborough, who took a new position at Harvard Business School. She is now the production manager for HBX Live. Students from all over the world log into a
digital wall to take classes from the Harvard Studio. Rob Finlay checked in from the Pacific Northwest. “I’m still out in Oregon working for a small think tank that’s part of KeyBanc Capital Markets. We look at technology disruptions that could impact institutional investors’ (mutual, hedge, portfolio managers) thesis and industry premises for long-term investments. Right now, I’m covering auto tech, industrial robotics, IoT, wireless and satellite communications. Off to CES [Consumer Electronics Show] tomorrow (it’s become a big auto tech event the last couple of years) and a telecom event in Waikiki later this month (I know, rough job, but someone has to do it). When not working, I’m usually playing around, skiing, biking, hiking, surfing. Went on a great five-day backpack trip with my daughters in June to the Trinity Alps, California. Highlight of the trip: They didn’t bring their phones and could set up the camp by themselves! Say hi to everyone for me, and please tell folks to look me up if anyone is out in the PNW.
Cheers!” (See photo, top left.) From Haley Clifford Adams: “Jane Fogg, Pamina Gorbach, Betsy Morris Rosen and I got together for a lunch in November, when Pamina came to town. We had a great time catching up. Whenever we’re together, it’s like not a day has gone by. That’s the beauty of old friends.” (See photo above.)
1984 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Christine Todd
christinetodd@me.com Sarah Weiss Auerbach writes: “2018 was a full year for the Auerbach family. While our eldest daughter, Maddie, started her next phase of life working in D.C., and our son, Nick, started as a freshman at UVM, Scott, Annie (age 16) and I spent the first half of the year living in Switzerland. We lived in a village called Preverenges, on Lake Geneva, while Scott was on a sabbatical at EPFL—the reason we went—and I continued in my role
for CAIA. Fortunately, our EMEA base is Geneva. “But it wasn’t all work, as we enjoyed travels to Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK and Lebanon—reconnecting with friends and colleagues. Maddie and Nick joined us in June, so we were at full strength for a fun-filled trip through Italy. I was sorry to not connect with Lou Hoffman in Geneva, though, and, as I learned after the fact, I had missed Demetrios “Coup” Coupounas in Lausanne by a few days early on in our visit. For now, there’s no place like home!”
1986 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Heather Markey
617-365-3836 hsmarkey@icloud.com Jessica Tyler
781-934-6321 tylerjessica@me.com
I turned 50 in 2018. My husband and I threw a big party on Cape Cod this summer, which I’ll always remember. I love being a mom and doing nutrition coaching for private clients here in Connecticut and New York. I feel like I have the best of both worlds. Being close to New York City is great for day trips to visit museums, to check out my favorite vegan spots, have tea at The Plaza and, yes, for the occasional visit to the American Girl Doll store. I’ll always remember our senior class trip to New York City and the Whitney Museum with faculty member Lisa Colt’s Art Without Boundaries class. A Nobles highlight! Hope everyone has a good 2019.” Jessica Tyler shares that her son, Sam, is heading to Middlebury in the fall and will play football there. “My husband, Joe, and I look forward to spending our weekends in New England cheering on the Panthers. We had to say goodbye to our 14-year-old lab, Cassie,
just before Thanksgiving, and our pug, Bean, was very distraught for weeks afterward. To brighten Bean’s spirits, we rescued a naughty 10-month-old Shih-Poo (shih tzu/poodle mix) named Addie just before Christmas. She is keeping us all on our toes and is a delightful addition to our family.” Michael Duffy’s family, including sister Tracey Duffy Connolly ’84, reminded us that it was 15 years last January 30 that Michael was killed in an avalanche while skiing in Canada. A mass was celebrated in his name at St. Paul’s Church in Wellesley. Raphaëlle and Tim Kirk write with a happy update about their clan: “Our daughter Laura Kirk ’10 married Jonathan Hilgart on Sept 2, 2017, in Newport, Rhode Island. Our daughter Helen Kirk ’13 served as Laura’s maid of honor. We are grateful to multiple generations of Nobles graduates, including Susan Carlson Kirk ’82, John Kirk ’83, Laura’s cousins, Jackson
Kirk ’10 and Katharine Kirk ’14, her godfather, Jim Boyle, and other Nobles grads and parents for helping to make it a beautiful celebration. Best wishes to all.”
1987 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Emily Gallagher Byrne
781-721-4444 egbyrne@verizon.net Elise Gustafson
elise_gustafson@yahoo.com Natascha Gielich Armleder writes: “We’re still living in Switzerland between Geneva and the mountains of the Berner oberland. Tassilo is in his first year of high school, and Cosima in her last year of middle school. Sebastien and I will meet them in Boston on their way back from Camp in Maine this year as they love Boston and say they feel (and probably sound) more American than Swiss.”
Eliza Kelly Beaulac
703-476-4442 embeaulac@verizon.net “All is well here in Westport, Connecticut!” Lisa Cummings writes. “I’m happy to report that I’ve reconnected with some of my favorite ’86 classmates and teachers (for three years in a row now) at a Nobles party hosted at the lovely home of Kimbrough Towles in New York City. It’s fun to hear what’s going on with everyone and feel somewhat grown-up—even though I still feel like a teenager when we’re together. My daughter, Eden, turned 8 this past fall and keeps us busy, along with our relatively new black Shih-tzu, Oscar.
1986
Left to right: Classmates Ian Sterling and Lisa Cummings; classmates Kimbrough Towles and Lisa Cummings; Lisa Cummings with her daughter, Eden
SPRING 2019 Nobles 53
graduate news
Rob Kornblum writes, “I published my second best-selling book in October 2018, titled Entrepreneur Rocket Fuel. I interviewed a number of super-successful entrepreneurs to learn their secrets for how to hire ‘A Talent’ and build a winning culture in high-growth companies. It’s available on Amazon, and I am doing a number of speaking engagements about it.”
1988 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Sasha Leland
sasha@thelelands.com 2018 was a big year. In early May, the family did a bicycle tour in
France’s Loire Valley to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday (Tim Leland ’56). I managed to high-five Jaime Saenz Denis in the airport before flying to France as he was flying in from Spain for the Nobles reunion. In late May, I attended Tim Russell’s wedding in North Carolina. In June, I spent a few days on Martha’s Vineyard with George Cadwalader and David Gerber for our annual island get-together. In September, my partner, Erin, and I took a week to drive around Iceland in a camper van. In October, I traveled to Morocco to participate in the “Monkey Run,” a seven-day motorcycle race where participants drive a miniature motorcycle (called a Monkey Bike) across the
Sahara Desert and over the Atlas Mountains. In December, Erin and I capped the year by launching a digital marketing business together called Sparks and Fuel. Excited to keep the action going in 2019! David Gerber and I see each other more regularly as he recently moved up to Maine, close to where I live in Portland! He updates the class: “Ayyyyup . . . Back in November, the Gerber family officially uprooted and moved north to Yarmouth, Maine. We don’t yet know if it truly is ‘the way life should be,’ but early indications are encouraging. My wife, Liza, Caroline (11) and James (9) love their new surroundings. So do our dogs, Winnie and Ollie. If your travels bring you to the area, I hope you’ll swing by and say hello!”
1989 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Rachel Spencer
917-921-5916 rachelwspencer@yahoo.com
1991 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Amy Russell Farber
amy.farber.143@gmail.com
1992 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Lynne Dumas Davis
703-623-4211 lynnemddavis@gmail.com
1993
1988
Top to bottom: Sasha Leland and partner Erin at Selfoss Waterfall, Norðurþing, Iceland; Sasha Leland ’88 about to set off across the Sahara on his trusty steed.
54 Nobles SPRING 2019
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Sam Jackson
978-409-9444 sambjackson@hotmail.com
1994 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Annie Stephenson
415-377-4466 annie.stephenson@gmail.com Greetings from California. It’s hard to believe that the class of ’94 is eagerly awaiting the arrival of May for our 25th reunion! It seems like just yesterday we were lounging in Gleason Hall, fiercely competing at Nobles/ Milton weekends, and starring in our very own James Bond film. But alas, we are all in our 40s now and spread out across the country, living our grown-up lives as best we can. Hopefully, we will have lots to report after the reunion! In the meantime, a little news from our classmates and not much to report from here. My kids are growing like weeds, with Cal now 6, the tallest kid in kindergarten and growing out his locks to achieve the quintessential Cali dude look, and Ava is almost 10 and rocking fourth grade, and is a star on the playing fields. I’m back at work full time after staying home with my kids for eight years, and I’m enjoying the balance that life 2.0 has brought me. I’m so grateful to live in such a beautiful part of the country but definitely wish I had more time seeing my Nobles crew. Can’t wait until May! It’s been a year of exciting changes for Heidi Notman Muccifori and family. After living in Hoboken, New Jersey, for the past 10 years, Heidi and family have finally traded big-city life for small-town suburban bliss. They moved to Madison, New Jersey, at the start of the summer in preparation for their oldest child,
Left to right: JP Plunkett, Derek Boonisar, Brian O’Neill and Tim Jones, all ’89, at Wollaston Golf Club in Milton, where they held the 3rd Annual Richard T. Flood Jr. ’53 Invitational in honor of their beloved former advisor/coach/mentor. Jones was the victor. Classmate Ross O’Hanley joined them for dinner afterward at Lascala in Randolph; Christian Seiffert ’91 with wife Nic and son Johan; Stephan Seiffert ’93 with wife Nina and children Max, Johanna and Emilia; Peter Sullivan ’98 cheers on the Patriots in the Super Bowl with his daughters, Madeline (3) and newborn Genevieve.
Teddy (5), to start kindergarten in September 2018. Teddy is loving elementary school and all that comes with it, including riding the big yellow school bus every day. Little sister Abby (3) is eagerly waiting her turn to join him on the bus in a few years. Concurrent with the move, Heidi resigned from her institutional equity sales job in New York City (after 19 years!) and at the time of submission was enjoying a few more weeks of time off before going back to work in early 2019. She is looking forward to starting a new role, still in the finance/investment industry, but without the arduous New York commute. Heidi had great visits in 2018 with other ’94 pals Robin Woodard Westerberg, Kathryn Lieber Berman and her kids, and Serena Mah Seel and her new baby girl. Heidi looks forward to seeing all of the class of ’94 at the upcoming 25th (in complete denial we are this old!) reunion this spring. Cole Parker is happy to announce that his tiny startup, Jodone, was acquired by RightHand
Robotics, which recently announced some good news that it raised funding to expand its services to Japan and Europe. He also wrote that he is “missing Dan Gelman! Reach out on LinkedIn, Dan!” Sameer Kapasi reported, “I see Jon Olinto just about every Sunday over the winter. He coaches an amazing basketball program in the South End for the neighborhood. kids. I saw Alicia Phelan there also, and both of us connected the dots to figure out she was a Sixie with us!”
1997
1995
1998
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Amy Sheridan
Dave Klivans
aksheridan@gmail.com
dave.liquid@gmail.com
Molly Haverty
Andrew Lamb writes: “My wife and I and our two kids (4 and 7) are living in Boston’s North End and having a great time. I work at Boston tech startup DataRobot, based in the financial district, which makes a product for automated machine learning, as
mollywhit@yahoo.com
1996 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Alex Slawsby
alex.slawsby@gmail.com
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Bobbi Oldfield Wegner
617-980-1412 bobbiwegner@gmail.com Jessie Sandell Achterhof
781-990-3353 jessie.achterhof@gmail.com Kim Ching Blois shared that she and her husband, Joe, welcomed a baby boy, Jack, on New Year’s Eve. Big sister Grace adores him!
the chief architect—which mostly means keeping entropy in check as the company and team grow at a breakneck pace. I do still get to code myself sometimes, which I really enjoy. The company has a sizable operation in Ukraine, and among other things, when I visited that office, I took a tour into the Chernobyl exclusion zone.” Everyone will be jealous of Lisa Cardito Oliver’s recent move: “In late December, my husband, Pete, and our two girls, Alaina (7) and Brooke (6), packed up our life and moved from the Boston area to Maui. Last year, we purchased an additional franchise of Sandler Training, a sales professional and sales leadership training and consulting company, on Hawaii. We intend to keep our local business in New England but will be putting a lot of effort into building our brand in paradise. If you ever find yourself on Maui, please reach out!” Peter Sullivan adds: “My wife, Liz, and I welcomed a second daughter, Genevieve, on January 25, 2019. Our first daughter,
SPRING 2019 Nobles 55
graduate news
Left to right: Moritz Seiffert ’99 with his wife, Katharina, and daughter Clara; The Seiffert family in Hamburg: Christian ’91, Johan and Nicole; Thomas ’63 and Petra; Moritz ’99 and Katharina; Stephan ’93, Nina and their kids, Max, Johanna and Emilia; Devon MacWilliam Villareal ’00 with her husband, Jesse, and their two boys
Madeline, will be 3 in May. Otherwise, everything is going well up here in the Pacific Northwest.”
1999 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Stephanie Trussell Driscoll
stephdriscoll32@gmail.com Gabriela Herman
gabriela.herman@gmail.com David Applebaum and his wife welcomed their first baby daughter, Evelyn, in March. He also started a new job as a writer/producer on a new NBC show called The Enemy Within. Emily Condon writes: “Hi! I wanted to share that I was married October 6, 2018, in Marion, Massachusetts, to Peter Sprayregen. My brother, Hayden Condon ’96, my new brother-in-law, Ben Sprayregen ’96, and Andrew Gay ’96 were all in attendance. Ben is actually responsible for the set-up! He organized the match with his
56 Nobles SPRING 2019
wife, Elizabeth, and Andrew and Hilary Gay. Pete moved from the Vineyard where he had been living the past six years and moved in with me in the South End. Pete works for Compass Real Estate in Cambridge, and I run my own interior design firm. I was also published last spring in the Globe for a renovation project I completed in Marion, Massachusetts. (https:// www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/03/30/redesigningvacation-home-for-familygatherings-and-retirement-years/ hHIgEC5aV7iPa4h2uKjddM/ story.html) Eric Hanson is pleased to share that he just started a new job at a startup called Pub Ocean as the director of revenue products. In his new role, he’s responsible for managing the ad units on Pub Ocean’s owned and operated websites and building a set of tools that will help the internal teams and external customers to quickly and easily test changes to website layouts to increase
their revenue. It’s an interesting set of challenges that he’s excited to dig into! Meagan Rock Painter and her husband, Andrew, welcomed their daughter, Claire Lillian Painter, on August 18, 2018. They live in Petaluma, California.
2001 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Lauren Kenney Murphy
Lauren.kenney1@gmail.com
2002 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
2000 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
William N. Duffey III
617-893-1040 williamduffey@gmail.com
Lisa Marx Corn
lisamarx@gmail.com Devon MacWilliam Villarreal is living in Boston’s South End and recently changed law firms. She is now an attorney at Robins Kaplan LLP. Devon and her husband, Jesse, also welcomed their second son, James, to their family on May 2, 2018. It’s been a busy year for them! On December 3, 2018, Shefali Shah welcomed her second child, Rohit Dinesh Aravindhan, to her family. “Sohana is a great big sister, and we’re settling into being a family of four in Chicago.”
Rory Walsh married Moira Talbot on September 15, 2018, at the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
2003 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Laura Marholin Garcia
laura.marholin@gmail.com
2004 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Carolyn Sheehan Wintner
781-801-3742 carolyn.wintner@gmail.com
2005 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Saul Gorman
617-447-3444 saul.gorman@gmail.com Allison Khederian married Matthew Tucker in October 2018. She writes: “I was very honored to have Kate Spelman, one of my oldest friends from Nobles, officiate. My brother, Robert Khederian ’08, was my man of honor, and we were fortunate to have several other Nobles classmates in attendance.” Congratulations to Danny Gonzalez, who was recently named president of the Massachusetts Hispanic Dental Association. He works in a practice in Fall River, Massachusetts. Andrew DeLorey married a St. George’s alum, Taylor Tobin, on September 1, 2018, at a private residence in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Many Nobles grads were in attendance. See photo on page 62; the photographer was Jenny Sherman Moloney ’96.
Next up, shout out to another A+ ’06 parent, Scott Runyon, who went out for a night on the town with his wife, Emily, and their daughter, Eleanor, to see Krysten Keches perform Berlioz and Wagner with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. (There are all those studies about classical music being good for babies’ brains, right?) See below for a photo of the Runyon family with ’06’s favorite harpist, plus a photo of Krysten in action, harping away with the orchestra. (She is circled in pink, for your convenience.) One of the best people ever, Melissa Weihmayer, wrote in from Geneva, Switzerland, where she continues to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Melissa informed me that this year she has: 1. consumed more than 5 kilograms of fondue, 2. worked with governments in Central America and the Middle East to better understand the situation of people displaced by violence and conflict, and 3. received three tickets for traffic
violations while biking. Melissa adds, “It’s possible that it was more than 5 kg of fondue. That is a rough estimate.” Resident actor Harry Aspinwall also wrote to me with a list of updates. Harry says: “1. The Wedding, a queer Muslim film I was in, got a theatrical release in New York, and I was interviewed live on AOL’s homepage (also now I’m on Getty Images, so I’m immortal); 2. A good friend of mine started at the Columbia Directing MFA program, so I’ve been acting in a whole bunch of films for him (including one where I was shooting cannibals with arrows in the snowy Adirondacks) and the rest of the program; 3. a feature script I wrote about medicine, con artists and demonic possession is currently a quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund; 4. I’m doing a gigantic amount of research into 900s Iceland and Norse magic and sexuality for another horror feature I’m writing, which is going to be about a queer Viking called The Witch.”
See below for a photo of Harry, complete with the Getty Images watermark, so you know it’s official! Gil Haylon has started Blank Canvas Tours, a Berkshires-based company providing unique travel experiences with a focus on art, music, theatre and culture. He invites everyone to check it out as they plan their next vacation. Finally, Caroline Holland writes: “I moved to Kenmore Square last year and successfully survived my first Sox season and World Series victory with my apartment intact. In August, I started a new job at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, where I work on the communications team managing the foundation’s digital presence and strategy. Outside of work, my boyfriend lives in Dedham, so I’ve been revisiting ’50s Diner, Dedham House of Pizza and other favorites from the Nobles days (RIP Chili’s) while also being shocked at how many new things have opened since we graduated. I also recently ran into
2006 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
E.B. Bartels
ebandersenbartels@gmail.com So many updates! No time for small talk. Let’s go: First, congratulations to Noelle Cooper, who is now a mom to two adorable kiddos. Noelle and her husband, David Hannah, had their daughter, Sydney Rae Hannah, on September 12, 2018. See page 59 for a photo of Sydney with her big brother, Leo.
2006
Left to right: Krysten Keches in action with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Emily and Scott Runyon ’06 with their daughter, Eleanor, and Krysten Keches at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Harry Aspinwall finally makes it onto Getty Images.
SPRING 2019 Nobles 57
graduate news
Brian Day, Dan McGoff ’04 and the entire Nobles boys hockey team while out to dinner on Route 1.”
2007 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Kat Sargent
katharine.sargent@gmail.com Katharine Sargent started a new job at communications agency Sunshine Sachs in New York City, where she works with a variety of clients in the nonprofit and financial tech space. Max Mankin recently read an article titled “Rapa Nui [Easter Island] monument [ahu] locations explained by freshwater sources,” in the journal PLOS One. It brought back terrific memories of that senior-year trip to Easter Island with Geoff Silver, Erik Peterson ’06, Emma Tall Bigelow ’06 and faculty members Joe Swayze, Jen Craft and Tim Carey. From Max: “Nobles grads are always welcome to crash with me in Seattle, though I suggest waiting until the summer for some sunshine.” Anne Sholley and her husband, Peter, continue to enjoy the newlywed life in Brooklyn. Highlights include semiregular dinners with classmates Kat Sargent, Kerin Kehoe and Elena Laird. Abby Snyder is in her second year at Duke University, where she is getting her master’s degree in public policy. This summer, she’ll be joining Alvarez and Marsal’s public sector services team in D.C., where she’ll consult for school districts and state and local governments. This spring she is training to run the Boston Marathon (her first ever!) for the Nobles Marathon Fund— thanks to
58 Nobles SPRING 2019
all of our classmates for supporting her in that endeavor. Courtney Frazee is living in Nashville, working as a brand manager, and travels to Central America frequently for work. She will also be running the Boston Marathon this spring with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute team. Maddie Pongor moved to Boston this past fall and started a new position with Huron Consulting on their Student Lifecycle Solutions team, which manages projects for American universities such as enrollment/ student success planning and enterprise system implementations. Laura Nelson is currently living in a remote desert-mountain valley in California as a visiting faculty member at Deep Springs College. Outside this new job, she has been a part of multiple art and educational projects in the Bay Area while finishing up a Ph.D. in American Studies at Harvard. Caitlin Cassidy is still making theatre all over the place. Nobles highlights of 2018 include Kate Zabinsky’s move to New York City and celebrating Kat Tuckett’s marriage in New Hampshire. Really looking forward to watching Julia Hickey tie the knot in March.
Nobles, will be joining the class correspondents team! Please see contact info above and get in touch with Michael with any updates. Katy Monaghan married Tom Berlenbach on September 29, 2018. Katy and Tom live in Riva, Maryland.
2009 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Liz Rappaport
617-413-6070 lizrap21@gmail.com Natasha Tyagi graduated from Northeastern University School of Law with a concentration in healthcare law and is now a licensed Massachusetts attorney. She is working at Oscar Health Insurance as a regulatory associate in New York City. Natasha also just got engaged at the Taj Mahal to Raj Sharma, a consultant for TCS. Cynthia Mendes Rivas and her husband welcomed a baby boy at 6 lbs. and 18.5 inches on October 31, 2018. His name is Aldrich Ezekiel Mendes, also known as Zeke.
2010 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
2008
Tori Goyette
tgoyette10@gmail.com
CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Michael Polebaum
mpolebaum08@nobles.edu Aditya Mukerjee
212-935-5637 aditya.mukerjee@gmail.com Exciting 2008 news is that our own Michael Polebaum, who is now teaching history full time at
“Hello, Nobles Class of 2010! Holly Foster, here. Wherever you may be in the world right now and whatever you are up to, sending lots of love and well wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! It’s been a good run as class correspondent the past eight years (has it really been that long since we graduated?), and I’m
beyond excited to pass the torch to Tori Goyette, who has already hit the ground running, gathering notes from our classmates. She will do a stellar job, and I’m glad she has agreed to take on this role for our class. Thank you all for reading my emails and posts and for submitting updates when I asked. Look out for more notes from me in regards to the Annual Nobles Fund, as I will maintain my role as head agent. Yes, that means more Facebook posts to come. “Everything is going well in Boston—always fun to get together with our classmates who are in the area. Especially great seeing everyone the night before Thanksgiving at and Tommy Kelly ’11 and Willy Bliss’ this past November. I just recently left State Street for a role at Acadian Asset Management where I am in business development/sales promoting our strategies to endowments and foundations and applying to part-time MBA programs in the fall. Enjoying skiing this winter and getting excited for more fun times ahead with Nobles classmates as we near our 10-year reunion in 2020! Love to all.” “Hi all, Tori here. Eight years in the making, but I am back to relive my Nobleman glory. As part of my 10-year plan, I’ll be working to turn this platform into my (and Dori Rahbar’s) new advice column in the style of the 2009-2010 evergreen column called “Dear Tori and Dori,” or “Dori and Tori,” depending on whom you ask. In the short term, we’ll stick to the usual classmate updates. “I am excited to report that I was able to participate (with Colin Coughlin) on a panel for young graduates moderated by
Ryan Ederle ’08 alongside some of the best grads from 20072013, including Rick Goode ’08, Bobby Kelly ’09, Tim Nelson ’08 and Maya Getter ’13. I have always loved reconnecting with the school, but this made me feel particularly old and wise. I would strongly recommend folks connect with the grad affairs team to see where you can get involved in events like this! “Look out for more emails from me seeking updates, and be warned, if you don’t respond, I will make something up on your behalf!” From Alexa Zilberfarb: “I am working on a master’s degree in natural hazards and catastrophes at the University of Miami. Despite a full college career on the West Coast without New England winters, I am still getting used to the heat. I appreciate my degree for giving me the necessary skills to manage the catastrophe that is this humidity.” From Marty Morris: “I am happily married to my wife, Sarah! We live in Philadelphia with our Scottie, Emmie. I am finishing my second year of medical school and excited to start rotations.” From Eliza Goode: “I recently moved to London and am loving it so far! I transferred with American Express in the Strategic Planning Group, an internal consulting team, and am learning a lot as the only American working with international markets. In my first week in London, I was lucky to get breakfast with George Maley and Dr. Hall on their annual trip, and on my flight home for the holidays, I ran into Caitie Meyer. Please let me know if you’re ever across the pond—would love to see you!
2011 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Katie Puccio
508-446-0726 krpooch@gmail.com Julia Weber writes: “I recently started at Weber Shandwick doing media relations for their healthcare accounts in Boston. I also just moved to Assembly Square—lots of fun activity there.” Scott DeSantis got engaged to Lizzy Briskin over Columbus Day Weekend. They met at Amherst College and moved into a condo in the South End this past summer. Scott recently launched his firm, Civic Financial, and they will move into a new office on Newbury Street in early 2019.
2012 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Coco Woeltz
ccwoeltz2@gmail.com “Hello, all! Sophie Atwood here. I’m currently pursuing my master’s in mental health counseling at NYU. I am in the final semester of the twoyear program. I’m also currently completing my clinical practice internship at Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center. I work with a diverse group of patients struggling with mental health issues. Upon graduating in May, I plan on finding a job as a mental health counselor and continuing to develop my clinical skills and expertise.” Eliza Loring writes: “I have been living in New York City ever since graduating Yale in 2016, which has been exhilarating and is beginning to feel like home. I have loved getting to know a new place
with the comfort of so many of my friends from all walks of life. I frequently get together with former Nobles classmates and teammates, many of whom I live right around the corner from. On the job front, I have recently left Bain & Company to join a middle-market private equity firm, AEA Investors, where I joined Will Randle ’08, who started just a few months before. While I lack the same athleticism of my soccer days, I hope to complete my first Boston Marathon this spring. Looking forward to what 2019 has to bring!”
2013 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Caroline Thayer
carolinejthayer@gmail.com Ryan Fitzpatrick writes: “I am currently stationed in Fort Eustis, Virginia, working in Army aviation for the Rhode Island National Guard. I hope the rest of our class is doing great and wish you all the best of luck!” Shanti Gonzales shared: “I’m working as a professional theatre director and a children’s music teacher in Montréal. I take the occasional playwriting and performance contracts, write grants constantly, and grow vegetables on my balcony. In the five years I’ve lived here, I’ve learned French (I’m certified “fluent” by the government), and I’m in the process of getting Canadian Permanent Residence. Loving my freelance artist life in Montréal!”
2014 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Alexandra Charron
alexandra.l.charron@gmail.com
Thanks to Alexandra for taking over the 2014 notes! In the future, please send her updates via her email. John Beadle, a senior at Harvard, received the prestigious Schwarzman Scholarship in December 2018. Modeled after the Rhodes, Schwarzman Scholars was created with the intention of allowing the next generation of global leaders to form a greater understanding of China and its place in the world. The program runs one year (beginning in August 2019), is fully funded, and culminates with a master’s degree in global affairs (with a concentration in economics and business) from Tsinghua University in Beijing. John says, “I could not be more excited about the opportunity.” John Cabrera graduated Northeastern University last August in 2018 and moved back home to Boston, a long trip! At Northeastern he did an internshiptype program called co-ops; he is now working full time at the co-op he did when he was there. “I work as a team member for the FOCUS therapeutic after-school program at the Italian Home for Children. We work with a group of children 5-13 years old diagnosed with behavioral disorders, helping them with their schoolwork and leading them in group activities. I’m planning on looking for opportunities where I can work in a therapeutic sense but with older children. I also plan on getting my master’s in clinical psychology to earn my license for mental health counseling, so I can be a talk therapist. I really want to be able to help people, and I love being able to do that through processing emotions and feelings with them.”
SPRING 2019 Nobles 59
graduate news
After graduating from Cornell last spring, Finn Putnam moved to Oakland, California. He was invited there to train with the national rowing team at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Since he has been there, he has also been working as a clerk at MG+M Law Firm in San Francisco. “Not a whole lot of people from our class are here in the Bay Area, but I have seen Whitney Hazard and Kirk Gulezian. They’re both living/ working out here as well.” Tim Demirjian lives with Marc Kessler ’13 and a 2-year-old bulldog named Waldo in Los Angeles. He writes, “I am working in tech, at Muzik, which is an innovative technology company that humanizes the way consumers interact with technology. By creating heads-up devices, Muzik curates user experiences to harmonize the connection between humans and technology
2016
as we know it. I’m helping run celebrity/ambassador partnerships and partner marketing. In addition, I am also starting my own company. I traveled around Portugal, France, Switzerland and Italy in June.”
2015 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Natalie Hession
hessionn@bc.edu Congratulations to those graduating college this year. I’m sure I’m not the only one excited to see where everyone ends up after school. Get ready for our five-year reunion next year in May 2020!
2016 CLASS CORRESPONDENTS
Sabrina Rabins
srabins@gmail.com
Top to bottom: Grant Rosen, Colby Fenn, Martin Williams, Tony Pandolfi and Nick Hunnewell; Kyle McGrath, Martin Williams and Philip Barnett ’17 at the Middlebury game.
60 Nobles SPRING 2019
Mariana Vega
vegamariana612@gmail.com Hello, Nobles! Sabrina Rabins and I are the correspondents for the Class of 2016. I am currently in my junior year at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing a degree in English with a minor in computer science. I just returned from my fall semester abroad in Ireland, where I studied at University College Cork, and during my travels I went to Madrid to see Mella Villa Gomez, whose Spanish host family was generous enough to receive me. I ran into Sophia Millay ’17 over Christmas break, in San Juan of all places! She reports that she is playing lacrosse at Williams College, where she is teammates with fellow classmate Olivia Gomez ’17—whom Sabrina also ran into at a squash match against Williams. Both Sophia and Olivia spoke very positively about their experience at Williams and were happy to be continuing their athletic careers together. Sabrina is at Colby College majoring in STS (Science, Technology and Society), with double minors in Italian and environmental science. Sabrina plays squash at school and says, “The season is going well for us, as we have a new coach who is working hard to improve the program.” While at Colby, Sabrina is able to spend time with fellow Nobles grads, including Tess Dupré and Melinda Edie. Tess spent her winter break skiing with twin brother Noah Nunnelly. Melinda has just returned from her semester at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Like the true adventurous spirit we know
her to be, Melinda went skydiving, skiing, hiking and traveling around the country. During her fall break, she went on a dive at the Great Barrier Reef along with sisters Hadley ’14 and Schuyler ’19. In spring 2019, Sabrina is headed to Cairns, Australia, to study abroad. While in Australia, she will spend most of her time conducting field research on rainforest and coral reef environments. We have several other classmates going global this semester: Meryl Rueppel in Denmark, Avery Gibson in Barcelona, Tim Barry in Brussels, and Maya Cortez in Vietnam, South Africa and Argentina. Lastly, props to Martin Williams, who submitted photos of Nobles graduates showing their support for him at a Middlebury football game (see bottom left).
2017 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Harry Sherman
harry74sherman@gmail.com We’re excited to have Harry as the new 2017 class correspondent! Please send all updates to Harry at the email above.
2018 CLASS CORRESPONDENT
Jill Radley
jillradley22@gmail.com Hi, 2018! I hope everyone had a great year, and for those of you who just finished your first year of college, congratulations! Looking forward to connecting with Nobles friends in the Boston area over the summer. Please send me news and updates when you have them.
in memoriam Seth Briggs ’37 passed away on September 23 at the age of 99. Briggs was the final surviving member of the Class of ’37 and a longtime class agent. During his time at Nobles, Briggs played baseball and, according to his yearbook, “seldom overtaxe[d] his brain with homework—although his marks [were] always quite satisfactory.” After graduating from Harvard in 1941 with an A.B. degree in history, Briggs was commissioned to serve as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Field Artillery on the Western Front of World War II. After active, honorable service, Briggs married Elizabeth “Betty” West, and the couple soon welcomed Anne (Winsor ’68), Rob ’69, Seth “Sam” Jr. ’71, Tom ’72 and Jim ’73 to the family. Briggs remained in the Army reserves until his military retirement in the mid 1960s as a lieutenant colonel. His long business career included work at MIT’s Naval Supersonic Laboratory and the co-founding of aerodynamic and space research company Mithras. After advising startup companies, he joined Security Design Consultants, where he worked until he was 98 years old. A lifelong hiker, Briggs became the oldest person ever to join the Appalachian Mountain Club New England 100 Highest Society in 1998. Briggs is survived by his five children and their spouses, 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A fourth great-grandchild was welcomed into the family two
weeks after his passing. Briggs was predeceased by his wife and one grandson. William “Bill” Stevens ’52 passed away on January 4. During his four years at Nobles, Stevens played for the soccer and basketball teams and rowed for the crew squad. He also managed sound effects for the dramatic club, a fitting task for a man whose yearbook page named his “earth-shaking guffaws” as his trademark. As the yearbook noted, “You can usually hear them resounding heartily at either a mere whiff of a joke, or at some subtle witticism that strikes him funny.” Nobles predicted his future success, writing, “At college Bill should fare very well, because he has a suave congeniality and a good mind that should keep him on good terms.” Many current faculty at Nobles are indebted to Stevens for his gift of kayaks for their use. In the fall 2016 issue of the magazine, Winston “Hooley” Perry ’53 noted Stevens’ and wife Mary’s love of their home in Middletown, Rhode Island. Stevens is survived by his wife, Mary. Winston “Hooley” Perry ’53 passed away on January 11 at the age of 84. Perry was a dedicated graduate of Nobles, benefiting the community as a class correspondent, longtime donor and volunteer for the Annual Nobles Fund and the reunion committee. As a student, Perry was a core member of the football and basketball
teams. He was also a talented tenor for the Nobleonians and the choir, and served as captain of the Quartets and president of the Glee Club. Beyond winning the improvement prize in 1950, Perry was on the dance committee as a senior. Perry remained, as his yearbook phrased it, “the man for parties” throughout his life, hosting many reunions among his 1952 and 1953 classmates. He once explained the closeness of the group of friends: “It all started in 1946, some 60-plus years ago, when an interesting and eclectic group of young boys came under the gaze of a god of a man by the name of Eliot Putnam. Through his inspirational leadership and teachings of how to be a better person, he helped to create a bond between us. Even now, that bond grows stronger by the day.” In his final of many class notes, after comments about New England’s seasons and his satisfaction with Floridian attire, Perry wrote, “So, on that pleasant note, I will offer y’all my warmest regards, wish you good health and bid you adieu.” Perry is survived by his loving wife of 38 years, Andrea, three sons, one daughter, three daughters-in-law, one son-in-law and six grandchildren. Michael Deland ’59 passed away on January 8 at the age of 77. Deland lived a life of leadership for the public good, defending both the environment and the rights of citizens with disabilities. He
is best known for his leadership as an administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency in cleaning up Boston Harbor. He also successfully campaigned for the creation of a statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt that shows him in his wheelchair. An avid outdoorsman, Deland sailed competitively with his wife, Jane, despite the progression of debilitating back ailments. At Nobles, Deland served as student council president, hockey team captain, baseball and football team member, and literary editor of The Nobleman. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Harvard, he served as a naval officer and attended Boston College Law School. In 1986, Deland was named a distinguished graduate of Nobles for his work as an environmentalist and community servant. The Boston Globe cited a statement from the Deland family upon his passing: “We had the great privilege of witnessing our dad’s perseverance, humor, and steadfast loyalty and determination on a daily basis. He was an inspiration to all of us, never complaining, ever present at all of the big and small life events.” Deland is survived by his wife of 45 years, the former Jane Slocum of Marion; a son, Michael Stanton Deland, of Malibu, California; twin daughters Melissa Reeves Deland, of West Roxbury, Massachusetts, and Holly Louise Deland, of Santa Monica, California; a brother; a sister; and three granddaughters.
SPRING 2019 Nobles 61
graduate news
Roger Williams Vose ’73 passed away on October 30, at the age of 63. The son of Amelia Cutler (Thompson) Vose and Herbert Phelps Vose, Roger Vose was born in Boston and lived in East Orleans, Massachusetts. In his Nobles yearbook, between a picture of a boat named Tranquility and another photograph of him napping with his feet on a desk, Vose quoted Henry David Thoreau: “Our life is frittered away by detail…Simplify, simplify.” After graduating from Nobles, Vose earned his bachelor’s degree in religion from Vassar College and his master’s degree from the Bread Loaf School of English. Over a long teaching career that included time at the Malcolm Gordon School and Buckley Country Day School, both in New York, and Detroit Country Day School, in Michigan, Vose coached many sports and worked on multiple dramatic productions. After retirement, he found rewarding work as a Massachusetts statecertified mediator with Cape Mediation in Orleans and in the Barnstable court system. He also worked as a cook in Alta, Utah, and the Chatham Bars Inn, and as a sous-chef in Naples, Florida. He was an accomplished tennis player and an avid bird watcher. As he quoted on his yearbook page, “In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an incredible summer.” He is survived by his loving friend Ying Patthathum, sister Elinor Cutler (Vose) Krier, nieces Kathryn Anne Cutler Krier and Laura Dunbar Krier, grandniece Josephine Thompson Krier Schneider, and grandnephew Jonathon Alden Krier Schneider. 62 Nobles SPRING 2019
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1. Emily Condon ’99’s wedding party. In photo: Hayden Condon ’96 (fifth from left), Peter Sprayragen and Emily Condon ’99 (center), and Ben Sprayregen ’96 (next to Emily); 2. Emily Condon ’99 and Peter Sprayragen at their wedding at the Kittansett Club in Marion, with their dog, Patsy Cline;. 3. The wedding of Allison Khederian ’05 to Matthew Tucker. Back row (left to right): Kate Spelman, Jennifer Nicolls Wallack, Gabrielle Helfgott, Amy Zwanziger, Audrey Murray, Melissa Bruynell Manesse, Caroline Eisenmann ’08, Robert Khederian ’08. Front row: groom Matthew Tucker, Allison Khederian (all ’05 unless otherwise noted); 4. Kate Spelman ’05 officiating the wedding of Allison Khederian ’05 and Matthew Tucker. 5. Back row: Mark Fayne ’06, Chris Tierney ’04, Chris Trovato ’04, Chris Huxley ’06, Andrew
announcements Engagements: Scott DeSantis ’11 is engaged to Lizzy Briskin. Natasha Tyagi ’09 is engaged to Raj Sharma. Marriages: Laura Kirk ’10 married Jonathan Hilgart. Anne Sholley ’07 married Peter Erhartic.
Kat Tuckett ’07 marriet Pat McGuire. Allison Khederian ’05 married Matthew Tucker. Andrew DeLorey ’05 married a St. George’s alum, Taylor Tobin. Emily Condon ’99 married Peter Sprayregen. Rory Walsh ’02 married Moira Talbot. Katy Monaghan ’08 married Tom Berlenbach. David Kehlenbeck ’03 married Ginny Wortham on February 2 in Richmond, Virginia.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
13.
14.
12.
DeLorey ’05, Will Maich ’05, Zac Trudeau and Ari Press ’04. Front row: Joseph Cappellano ’04, Alex Bain ’04, Sarah Parsons Wolter ’05, Matt Nelson ’05, Chris Poli ’04, David White ’05 and Dan McGoff ’04. Photograph by Jenny Sherman Moloney ’96; 6. Katy Monaghan ’08 and Tom Berlenbach; 7. Tim Kirk ’86, Helen Kirk ’13, Laura Kirk Hilgart ’10, Jonathan Hilgart and Raphaëlle Kirk; 8. Front row: faculty members Tilesy Harrington and Bill Kehlenbeck, David Kehlenbeck ‘03, Ginny Kehlenbeck. Second row: former faculty Erika Guy, Duane Claussen, Jan Mabley, Chris Mabley, faculty member Mark Harrington, Michael Harrington ‘03, faculty members Stacey Turner and Michael Turner, former faculty Doug Guy and Brian Jones, Arthur Hall ’73. 9. Rory Walsh ’02 and wife Moira in Marblehead, Massachusetts; 10. Aldrich Ezekiel Mendes, also known as Zeke, son of Cynthia Mendes Rivas ’09; 11. Exploring San Francisco with Claire Lillian Painter, the daughter of Meagan Rock Painter ’99; 12. Sydney and Leo, children of Noelle Cooper ’06. 13. Sohana, daughter of Shefali Shah ’00, is excited to be a big sister to new baby brother Rohit Dinesh Aravindhan; 14. Baby Jack, son of Kim Ching Blois ’97;
New Arrivals: Noelle Cooper ’06 and her husband, David Hannah, welcomed their daughter, Sydney Rae Hannah, on September 12, 2018. Devon MacWilliam Villarreal ’00 and her husband, Jesse, welcomed their second son, James, to their family on May 2, 2018. On December 3, 2018, Shefali Shah ’00 and her husband
welcomed their second child, Rohit Dinesh Aravindhan, to the family. David Applebaum ’99 and his wife welcomed their first baby daughter, Evelyn, in March. Meagan Rock Painter ’99 and her husband, Andrew, welcomed their daughter, Claire Lillian Painter, on August 18, 2018. Peter Sullivan ’98 and his wife, Liz, welcomed their daughter, Genevieve, on January 25, 2019. Kim Ching
Blois ’96 and her husband, Joe, welcomed a baby boy, Jack, on New Year’s Eve 2018. Cynthia Mendes Rivas ’09 and her husband welcomed a baby boy named Aldrich Ezekiel Mendes (also known as Zeke) on October 31, 2018.
SPRING 2019 Nobles 63
archive
HEREWITH AND HEREBY (AND POSSIBLY HEREON)
One of archivist Isa Schaff’s rediscoveries before her recent retirement, the Groton School’s chess challenge from October of 1923 was an invitation from “members of the pedagogical craft” at Groton to Nobles faculty members to a chess match. Although it remains unknown whether Nobles accepted the challenge, the document and its signatures speak to the treasures within the Nobles archives.
64 Nobles SPRING 2019
Living Color From sunrise to sunset, your gifts to the Annual Nobles Fund support the missiondriven growth of our students. Thanks for believing in this vibrant community. To make your gift today, visit nobles.edu/ giveonline or contact Director of Annual Giving Allie Trainor at Allie_Trainor@ nobles.edu or call 781-320-7005.
Noble and Greenough School 10 Campus Drive Dedham, MA 02026-4099
NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID BOSTON MA PERMIT NO. 53825
Nobles THE MAGAZINE OF NOBLE AND GREENOUGH SCHOOL
SPRING 2019
Don’t Go Bacon My Heart
Science teaching fellow John Lower helps his honors biology students Sydney Morrison ’22, Tulasi Vithiananthan ’22 and John Henry LotzMcMillen ’22 identify different parts of a pig’s heart.
This Is Courage.