Faculty Farewell: Jen Rader, Deborah Reinhold & Beverly Oswald

Ms. Jen Rader Upper School Science

Has Been Found: At the MP Wastewater Treatment plant, rebuilding oyster reefs, foster-failing kittens, baking cookies

Will Be Found: Wearing 17 layers of clothing under her parka, driving a riding lawn mower, raising chickens (maybe one day sheep…?), taking Bea and Thatcher to the cider mill

Fondest PG Memories:

Taking the junior class to Hunting Island during a tick outbreak, APES field trips, teaching freshmen, chaperoning Kanuga, science department get-togethers, lunch

Favorite Sayings:

“What are you weirdos doing in the dark?” “Shut your lips and learn” “How did that work out for you?”

Quote:

“Success is walking from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

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Parting Words:

After 12 years at PG, I’m graduating along with the class of 2020, heading into the unknown (Frozen II spoke to me), and on to whatever comes next. While I didn’t miss my own prom or graduation, I am missing this year’s and I feel the sense of loss, the lack of closure that comes along with missing those milestones. I’ve struggled a lot over the last couple months, figuring out how I would get over not having the good-byes I’d planned, the last big hugs, the last feel of the warm breeze on the green at graduation, saying goodbye to all of my students. But the more I struggled, the more I began to focus on what was important; the relationships I’ve built over the last twelve years that haven’t gone away during quarantine, and won’t go away when I move to Michigan. So, to my fellow graduates, I ask you to consider this. We may not have our last goodbyes in person, but we don’t need to say goodbye. We won’t be at PG physically next year, but that’s ok. We are moving on to our next adventures, will face challenges, have wonderful new experiences, and eventually life will get back to “normal.” Porter-Gaud will still be here, waiting for us to come back and share our stories. No matter how far we travel, after 12 years (or 6 years, or 4 years, or 1 year), the magic of Porter-Gaud is that you became part of the family. Porter-Gaud becomes home; always willing to welcome you back with smiles and hugs (remember those?!?). So, I’ll send my love to my students and colleagues, my gratitude for 12 years that taught me more than any classroom ever could, my wishes for laughter and adventure, but I won’t say goodbye. I’ll see you on the flip side ;) 44

Ms. Deborah Reinhold Former English Teacher, Lyceum Director

Has Been Found:

Grading essays—at school, at home, on the beach, in the mountains, pretty much all the time, wherever I happened to be; in the Lyceum scheduling, tutoring

Likes Most:

My students, my colleagues, my family, my pets

Will Be Found:

On the beach, in the mountains, traveling, writing (and not grading)

Fondest PG Memories:

Watching my English students and now my Lyceum students find their voices and their confidence; the day my eleventh grade class with William Feldman, Wayne Chomitz, and twelve other amazing students refused to leave the class at the final bell on the last day of school; being at school every day with Joanna and Evan; listening to students read their essays, especially the day we all sat stunned and awed as Jackson Wills read his short story to the class; guiding student editors such as Sally Parker Phillips and Hannah Ellison in fulfilling their vision for Polygon and creating a beautiful record of their experience at Porter; advising student leaders planning their proms, their class trips, their yearbook, their service projects; any pre-PG event parties with Tommy Evatt and the English teachers on Sullivan’s.

Quote:

“And, when we say that man is responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for all men. . . In fashioning myself I fashion man. . . Man is nothing else but what he purposes, he exists only in so far as he realizes himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions, nothing else but what his life is.” Jean-Paul Sartre

To the graduating seniors:

You never really leave Porter-Gaud. As you move on to fresh starts and new lives, you leave behind the many ways you’ve shaped the school: the laughter you’ve shared with friends still echoes across the Green; your questions and comments linger in the classrooms and in the minds of your classmates; your performances on the fields, courts, and stages replay as stories and memories; the goodwill you’ve shared through service radiates in the heart of the community; and the kindness you’ve extended continues to enrich lives. As you leave behind your gifts, take into the future the experiences and memories of your years at Porter that have helped shape you into who you have become and will become.

Ms. Beverly Oswald has earned her credits.

If you have ever signed up for a course, taken a course, passed a course, or remained on course to graduate, then you have one person to thank: Beverly Oswald, of course.

The registrars at any school must be technicians of the highest order, for order itself is what they stand upon; so many details must fall in so many ways to get so many students what they need to become so educated. At Porter-Gaud, though, ours has been a heart surgeon, ensuring that all our chambers and aortic valves, hundreds by the way, not merely function, as if to keep us alive, but flow, so as to keep us in rhythm with the hasty pace of an ever-changing world. So our world will certainly change when, after forty-five years on this campus (Forty. Five?!), Frau Oswald, as she first became known as a beloved German teacher, a role she reveled in for decades before becoming registrar, steps away to tend to the easier ebb and flow of a much-deserved retirement. Several of her former students and colleagues reflect on what she has meant to them, and to all of us.

When Ethel Merman retired from the theatre, she was quoted as saying, “Broadway has been very good to me, but then, I’ve been very good to Broadway.” Beverly Oswald is too modest to make such a statement, so I shall make it for her: Porter-Gaud has been very good to Beverly, but Beverly has been exceptionally good to Porter-Gaud. Beverly came to PG in the fall of 1975 right out of Furman University. A year later she became the chair of the department of foreign languages. Although hired to teach Spanish, she also developed the German program in her department. When I arrived at PG, I thought that it would be nice one day to succeed Beverly as the department chair. Then I saw how much work she put into that position and how well suited her talents were to that particular job. At that point I decided that I would be happier remaining a classroom teacher. The robust language curriculum that we now have in the Lower School is due to Beverly. There was no Lower School foreign language program at all when she arrived, and Beverly had to fight tooth and nail to have it installed. (You want to know the gory details? Don’t ask!) In the 2000s, Beverly was called upon to take on the role of registrar/scheduler. Did I mention that Beverly is extremely well organized? This talent was exactly what her new job required. Her predecessor had left several cardboard boxes of papers which he had been hired to enter into the computer. From the beginning, Beverly had to keep the current records straight while working with these boxes. Not surprisingly, she dealt with the backlog in record time. I began this tribute with a show business quote and I would like to end it with a verse from the Bible by paraphrasing slightly Proverbs 31:29: “Many people do noble things, but you excel them all.”

8 Not only did Beverly excel as a teacher but she was also a superb judge of character. She could be strict, but diplomatic about it. And she rarely, if ever, got ruffled. Even if she had days when she felt—as all teachers sometimes do—that teaching was like trying to nail Jello to a tree, she did not let it show. Thank you, Beverly. May you enjoy every moment of your well-deserved retirement. Maxwell Mowry PG Faculty Member 1976-2012 46

It was the late summer of 1975, and at Camp St. Christopher we were four women hired for the Upper School Faculty in preparation for the arrival of girls into all grades of Porter-Gaud School. Vaughn Mazursky in history, Cherry Daniels in physical education, Beverly Oswald in Spanish and her undergraduate study. I remember Beverly explaining to me why my daughter was shouting FU across the campus to Mr. Stewart, another Furman graduate. I learned about Camden and became friends with Beverly’s mother and sisters. We made several trips together, including taking my laundry

German, and I in English. We four women would become respected colleagues and good friends in the years to come. Yet over the next forty-five years, I would develop the closest professional and personal friendship with Beverly.

For twelve years, Beverly and I coached the school’s debate team together leading the team to several milestone achievements. We became department heads at the same time and worked closely together to develop the curriculum and improve the educational experience for our students. We served together on committees to research three headmasters. I was a friend to mourn with when the decision was made to end the German Department. Beverly loved her German classes, the culture, the language, and her dedicated students. We both knew that she would make an excellent registrar and would come to love that position as well, but we also knew that she would most deeply miss teaching German.

to her mother’s house during the weeks without electricity after Hurricane Hugo. We took a trip to Germany together, and she was my guide and tutor in the culture that she loved I remember standing in the airport in Frankfort and realizing that I had no place to stay the night and could not speak the language. I really hoped that Beverly knew what she was doing.

For many years, Beverly and I have shared good times and bad times in our families, have laughed and cried together, and have encouraged one another through life’s vicissitudes. We still try to see each other for breakfast most weeks unless one of us gets a better offer! Beverly has been invaluable to Porter-Gaud School, to her colleagues and her students. I have promised Beverly that retirement also is wonderful. Not because she no longer loves her career and Porter-Gaud, but because she will have so much fun exploring another phase of life’s journey.

In 1975, when Beverly Oswald joined Cherry Daniel, Vaughan Muzursky, and Sue Chanson as the first female teachers in the Upper School, she had just graduated from Furman University the previous May. In fact, she was so young that a faculty member mistook her for a student and tried to shoo her out of the faculty lounge, which, by the way, had a smoking room—though, I hasten to add, Ms Oswald nor I took advantage of that space.

Although you probably know Ms. Oswald as Porter-Gaud’s registrar, for many years she taught German and chaired the World Language Department, the first female teacher to serve as chair. Although more students took Spanish and French than German (Latin was not offered in the Upper School), German tended to attract the most intellectually curious students, perhaps because of the difficulty of the language with its challenging syntax and polysyllabic vocabulary. During Ms Oswald’s tenure as a German teacher, often the valedictorian or salutatorian (or both) had been one of her students.

In keeping with the general conception of the German character, Ms. Oswald’s organizational skills were—and are—a source of wonder; not only did she have her yearly syllabus ready on opening day, but also her exams printed and deliverable. Her superb skill at conveying the material is underscored by her having so many of her students major in German; moreover, a number of them earned Fulbright scholarships and worked in Germany or Austria as student aides in English classrooms. In addition to providing students with the linguistic skills to become proficient in German, Ms. Oswald also instilled in them an appreciation for German culture, its music, literature, philosophy, art, and architecture. We’re talking Beethoven and Mozart, Goethe and Kafka, Kant and Nietzsche, Dürer and Klee. She did a superb job of transferring her love of German culture to her students.

10 The excellence exhibited in the classroom continued in her position as registrar. When I was English chair, it would take me hours to line 48 up English teachers with courses. I can’t conceive of the complications involved in scheduling the entire school, a seventy-story sort of Rubik’s Cube, all the pieces having to click together just so.

Yet every year she managed to pull it off, going out of her way to ensure that virtually all students got their first choices.

During her forty-five-year tenure at PorterGaud, Ms. Oswald has always epitomized professionalism, which includes maintaining the most pleasant of demeanors in the most trying of circumstances. Her retirement marks the end of an era [sigh], and all who have had the pleasure of working with her and being her friend deeply appreciate her service to the school.

The good news, at least for her, is that retirement’s a blast.

Wesley Moore English Teacher, Dept Chair 1985 – 2019

Beverly, for your forty plus years of dedicated and tireless commitment to Porter-Gaud School, I am delighted to be a small part of this special and welldeserved tribute honoring you. Few individuals in any career can claim your longevity at a single institution or the variety of your professional responsibilities from rookie teacher mistaken as a student to Upper School World Language Dept. Chair to Registrar / Scheduler Extraordinaire.

Certainly, you have had a profound impact on every student you ever scheduled. You worked tirelessly with precision focus and determination to make certain that every student got his or her first choices of classes. Yet, if queried about the job you liked best, you would likely not hesitate in stating, “Classroom teacher.”

With such a response in mind, I wanted to share how that impact can best be explained by way of describing another dramatic teacher-pupil relationship: Louis Germain on his young pupil Albert Camus. Yes, I know they are French and you taught German, but indulge me. Aside from Camus’ warm portrayal of Louis Germain in The First Man, little is known of Germain. However, the letter that Albert Camus wrote to his teacher, Louis Germain, after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature reveals volumes.

Your own students over many years believe the same of you.

Dear Monsieur Germain,

I let the commotion around me these days subside a bit before speaking to you from the bottom of my heart. I have just been given far too great an honor, one I neither sought nor solicited. But when I heard the news, my first thought, after my mother, was of you. Without you, without the affectionate hand you extended to the small, poor child that I was, without your teaching, and your example, none of all this would have happened. I don’t make too much of this sort of honor. But at least it gives me an opportunity to tell you what you have been and still are for me, and to assure you that your efforts, your work, and the generous heart you put into it still live in one of your little schoolboys who, despite the years, has never stopped being your grateful pupil. I embrace you with all my heart.

-Albert Camus

Just as you have touched the lives of your students, you have touched faculty and staff as well. As you begin your retirement, I hope that you enjoy many happy years of travel, singing, volunteering, and relaxation. Porter-Gaud will not be the same. I will miss you. I wish you good health and godspeed.

Brad Gilman Upper School Principal

As I write these words, I’m occasionally pausing to look out the small, oval-shaped window of my bedroom in Nuremberg. Across the street, you can see the red-tiled roofs of the apartment houses and, if you tilt your head just right, the Fernsehturm standing tall against the horizon. To say that Beverly Oswald had an influence on me would be an understatement.

Though we would audibly groan—the way teenagers do—during the inevitable times we had to learn grammar, German class at Porter-Gaud was something to look forward to. Frau Oswald cultivated a small community in her classes, and students were encouraged to speak out and make mistakes, something vital to the process of language learning. And despite my old grammar-induced groans, I now enjoy the kudos I get from my German roommate Sarah whenever I use the genitive case correctly, a case that often eludes native speakers, a case I learned in Frau Oswald’s class.

Frau Oswald’s palpable love of German culture was the highlight of classes for us, something she shared by telling stories and using authentic materials in class. By doing so, she showed the immediate relevance in learning a foreign language; German was something to be used. Instead of just learning shopping vocabulary from the textbook, Frau Oswald brought in real German newspaper advertisements and a videotape of TV spots. (In fact, I still think about the goofy, and very German, Captain Iglo commercial we watched in class whenever I pass the brand in the grocery store.) Sometimes lessons would be very hands on. During a unit on food, not only did we learn the vocabulary, but we also had to cook traditional German meals. Also, Frau Oswald was quick to highlight cultural differences with the United States without evaluating them, whether educating us on the differences in legal ages to obtain a drivers license and drink alcohol or just bemusedly warning us that half of Munich’s English Garden permits nude sunbathing. Her lessons have informed my own language teaching, as I too make my lessons as authentic as possible, using real materials and highlighting cultural differences.

Frau Oswald laid the foundation for my interest in Germany. Thanks to her, I not only placed out USC’s foreign language requirement but wanted to continue learning German despite having no requirement to do so. Now, fifteen years later, I’ve spent over four years collectively studying and working in Germany, long enough that it will always feel like home. While I did not foresee this outcome after signing up for German class as a rising ninth grader, I do have Frau Oswald to thank for leading me down this path. In the midst of COVID-19, many things are unfamiliar – the solitude, the news reports, the virtual classrooms, the constant Zoom calls. But as I sit at my desk in quarantine, one thing brings familiar memories: a dog-eared copy of a German-English Dictionary, purchased seventeen years ago in Fall 2003 during my first trimester of Frau Oswald’s eighth grade German class. Since then, it’s accompanied me through four happy years with Frau, to college and graduate school, on trips to Europe and through conversations with good friends. When the news of shutdowns and stay-athome orders first arrived in March, I returned once again to German. Something about the complexly structured clauses seemed comforting in a time of chaos. Could it be that the suspense and satisfaction of waiting until the end of a sentence to find the verb somehow teaches us patience? Each line enacts, in miniature, the stamina needed to puzzle through uncertainty until we finally reach that sought-for moment of clarity. At first, I felt rusty, but soon the vocabulary and grammar, the rhythms and patterns, came flooding back. As I flip through the well-thumbed pages of my Dictionary, words resurface like old friends, still spoken in Frau’s voice in my memory. Bleiben: to stay. A word of duration and persistence. Ruhig: calm. A good reminder amidst our anxiety. Zusammen: together. One day soon. Zukunft: future. Still worth fighting for. Each day of quarantine (sixty-five and counting), I’ve practiced my German, finding consolation in the consistency when everything else seems to shift beneath our feet. So thank you, Frau Oswald, for the lessons and language that you instilled in us – they have provided comfort for me in a challenging time and inspiration as I look to the future. We wish you a happy and healthy retirement. Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Abigail Droge Class of 2008

“Nichts Großes in der Welt ohne Leidenschaft vollbracht worden ist.” “Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” Hegel may have written these words, but it was Frau Oswald who taught us what they meant. I mean this literally, of course—with daily vocabulary quizzes, she terrified us into learning ten new words each day; with her Teutonic insistence that a 100% on any assessment had to be achieved purely and not through rounding, we drilled our forms, patterns, and syntax until we realized that the Holy Grail was more easily attained than perfection in Frau’s grading ledger—but, more than anything, I mean it metaphorically. Frau Oswald was a daily example of passion in the classroom. The most arcane grammatical rules and regulations were punctuated by her stories, her mnemonics, and by her distinctive giggle, which would bubble up mid-phrase and buoy the rest of the sentence. She never taught us the language isolated from either reality or history; she wove Goethe’s Zur Farbenlehre, the poet’s book on color theory, into simple vocabulary lessons about the rainbow and insisted that we be familiar with modern German history from Bismarck to Weimar to Hitler to division and reunification and the ways in which those eras shaped a people and a language. Her classroom was filled with wonders: posters of the great Kölner Dom, breathtaking views of Ludwig II’s castles, rural scenes from along the Romantische Strasse, and Dr. Caligari’s cabinet in the back, which contained an extensive and horrible archive of our disappointing tests, all guarded by the verboten German Furby, which Frau passionately hated but— because the little beast was a gift from a former student—could never throw out. It is her voice I hear when I conjugate in my head and it is her giggle that prevents me from saying her favorite German words without laughing myself: Geschirrspülmaschine, dishwasher; Rhabarbermarmelade, rhubarb marmalade. She taught us to see the beauty in a language that is often the punchline for its guttural noises and harsh sounds; her lilting Southern accent brought a music to the cadences of German—and helped us learn to pronounce the tricky ü-sound.

Frau Oswald would patiently sit with me and translate German arias into English so that I could understand what die Königin der Nacht was threatening or what it was that Tannhäuser yearned for. So, Frau, if you would let me, I would sing for you the gifts you gave us and the lessons you taught us with a bit of Wagner you once gave me:

“Frau Oswald gab uns Mut: wie ungewohnt uns alles schien, wir sangen voll Lieb’ und Glut, dass wir Frau Oswalds Studenten verdien’.”

Paraphrasing Wagner’s opera Der Meistersinger von Nürnberg: “Frau Oswald gave us courage: even though everything seemed strange to us, we sang full of love and ardor so that we might deserve to be Frau Oswald’s students.” Herzlichen Glückwunsch, Frau Oswald!

Alex Werrell Class of 2009

One might assume that teachers would be natural lifelong learners because they should practice what they teach. My experience in 20 years at PorterGaud is that is not always the case. It is human nature to settle into a rhythm and ease of teaching what you are most familiar with both in subject matter and practice.

Beverly Oswald models an extreme version of lifelong learning. I have seen her reinvent herself several times in her career at Porter-Gaud, embracing new techniques, skills, and technology over several cycles of her tenure.

When I returned to Porter-Gaud to be the Director of Technology, Beverly was still teaching German and serving as the Department Chair for Modern Languages. As enrollment in German diminished, she supported more independent study for students and differentiated for different levels in her class. At some point, she became interested in the scheduling process and learned the intricacies and nuances of the puzzle from Jeannie Green. The puzzle became more complex every year as students had more choices in courses and then school grew in enrollment. We also moved from doing the work on a wall with post-it notes to a Filemaker system that we built in house and later to the Blackbaud platform.

Even though the computer tries to create schedules through its algorithms, it only works with the right instructions from the master. Beverly knows the tripping points in the schedule and where the restrictive aspects dictate the starting points. She is a natural problem solver and has frequent epiphanies in the middle of the night—juggling AP Latin with the one section of multivariable calculus.

I’m so grateful that Beverly has always wanted to tackle a new challenge and learn the next piece of software. I’m also grateful that she has trained the next registrar and scheduler, but we are all hoping she will still take our calls and might solve our problems in the middle of the night.

DuBose Egleston Head of School

I met Beverly three years ago and have had the fortunate pleasure of working with her on a daily basis for the past year. Beverly is one of the kindest, most selfless people I have ever encountered. Her love, dedication and loyalty to her family, friends and co-workers is truly inspiring.

When asked to share my favorites about Beverly, it was difficult to narrow it to only a few. I am always amazed by Beverly’s memory. She has shared so many wonderful stories of her time at Porter-Gaud and the people she’s met. Her love of the students and classroom shine through when she hears a name from the past or something sparks a memory. For instance, when a former student calls requesting records, Beverly always remembers that person and has a great story to share. These stories are irreplaceable. Another favorite I have of Beverly is her positivity and humor. Beverly is always laughing, smiling and seeing the best in people.

Beverly, I will miss you sharing German sentences and translations with my children. I will miss your delicious and world-famous caramel cake. I will miss your mentorship. But most of all, I will miss seeing and talking with you every day. I wish you all the best as you begin your next adventure.

Becca Weil Incoming Registrar

Beverly Oswald - In trying to imagine a way to memorialize this iconic figure, we looked back at those who have come before and made a lasting impression on their world. Who were these people who changed the course of history and how were they remembered throughout the generations that followed. George Washington, Winston Churchill, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln. Yes, perhaps Mr. Lincoln can help us find the words to express the impact and legacy that Ms. Oswald has left with us here at Porter-Gaud School. The Oswald Address: Two score and five years ago, our administration brought forth on this campus, a new employee, conceived in excellence and dedicated to the proposition that Beverly Oswald would make a lasting impression on this school and its community. Now, we are engaged in a great dilemma, how to function without this amazing woman in our midst and whether we can so endure. Her expertise and commitment to our cause – grades, scheduling and meticulous record-keeping—is something we will long admire. We have come to dedicate a portion of who we are today because of her commitment and acumen to her love of students and learning—not to mention as that she was one of the first woman faculty to enter our gates AND the first woman to be appointed department chair. It is fitting and proper that we should celebrate and honor the contributions and accomplishments of this maverick to our school community. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this outstanding educator and everything she has done for this school and its students. As a teacher and administrator, Ms. Oswald has dedicated herself to caring for those in her charge and balancing unbelievable details when all others were lost. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but the students who were taught by Ms. Oswald and the faculty and staff who were the benefactors of her expertise and dedication will NEVER FORGET what she did here. It is rather for us who are left here to walk the halls without her to carry on her legacy while missing her too much, treasuring her kindness and generosity, seeking to emulate her example, and remembering: That this school, because of Ms. Oswald, shall not perish from the earth. Karen Kimberly College Counselor