Connections 2012 by Roland Park Country School

Connections Ro l a n d Pa r k C o u n t ry S c h o o l

Spring 2012

Miss Anne Healy 1913-2011

This issue of Connections is dedicated to Miss Anne Healy, Headmistress of Roland Park Country School from 1950 - 1975.

I scarcely know where to begin, but love is always a safe place. ~Emily Dickinson

R P C S

C o n n ect i o n s

spr i n g

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Feature Articles 3

Beloved Faculty - Tribute to Anne Healy Remarks by: J ean Waller Brune, 1960 Gordon K. Lenci, HA, delivered by Kent Lenci, BA Margaret Smith Blair Stambaugh Betty Ann Schmick Howard, 1957 Diane Hutchins, 1972

3 16 Alumnae Association Awards Prestigious

McCauley Bowl to Jane Wilhelm Daniels, 1946 by Kimberly Mitchell Wolff, 1995, Alumnae Association President

Saying Goodbye to Adrienne Rich, 1947

Departments 2

Headlines

20 Alumnae Class Notes 130 New Babies in the RPCS Family 18

132 Memorials

Connections is published annually for the Roland Park Country School community. Head of School: Jean Waller Brune Director of Marketing andCommunication: Nancy Mugele Director of Online Communication: Kristin Raneri Nicolini, 1998 Assistant Director of Communication: Sarah Cody Proofreaders: Missie Dix Mack, Director of Alumnae Relations, Katy Spencer, 1994 Assistant Director of Alumnae Relations Designer: Paul Miller, Freefall Design Printing: Diversified Printing

Front Cover: Portrait of Miss Anne Healy, Headmistress of RPCS from 1950-1975

Headlines And only lately have I guessed That some things will not come again, And that the heart must taste with pain Remembered times, no more possessed. –Adrienne Rich, 1947 excerpt from CODA

iss Healy’s death this year has caused me to reflect on the many ways in which she impacted Roland Park Country School through all these years. Her contributions were immeasurable. The School stands today on a solid foundation carefully and thoughtfully tended by Miss Healy for 25 years. She also informed and impacted my tenure as Head of School and I will forever be grateful to have been her student, her colleague and her friend. I will truly miss her indomitable spirit and her unwavering support of RPCS. I hope that you will read the tribute to Miss Healy that follows. Throughout the School’s history, RPCS has set the standard for 21st Century education. Academic excellence remains a hallmark of RPCS as we continue to seek ways to ensure that our program is vibrant and relevant in the global and technological society in which we live. The faculty steadfastly upholds the academic challenges. RPCS has two endowed faculty chairs to recognize exemplary teachers. The Anne Healy Chair for English Language and Literature honors a member of the faculty who demonstrates a love of the discipline of English and a deep concern for his/her students as individuals. The Passano Family Interdisciplinary Chair for Communications was established to honor faculty who display inventiveness and imagination in the use of verbal, visual, and/or written communication and who, in all aspects of their lives, serve as role models and demonstrate a commitment to discover the unique talents of each student. I am pleased to announce the creation of a new Chair honoring Miss Healy’s leadership which was presented for the first time this spring. The Elsie Y. and Henry L. Meledin Faculty Chair was established in 2011 by Louise Y. Meledin, 1970, in loving memory of her parents, to honor the Roland Park Country School faculty who served under Anne Healy. The recipients of the Chair are members of the School faculty whose enthusiasm for their discipline is infectious and whose joy in learning is

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matched by a commitment to sharing that spirit with their students. We are deeply grateful to Louise Y. Meledin, 1970 for her heartfelt gift. This spring’s Anne Healy lecture featured author Jacqueline Woodson - a woman who shares Miss Healy’s love of reading and writing. She is the author of 24 books for children and young adults, a three-time Newbery Honor winner, as well as the recipient of numerous book awards for her contributions to young adult literature. Jacqueline captivated the RPCS community during her time with us, and her presence made me feel certain that of Anne Healy was close by. As Commencement approaches I know it will be bittersweet for me not to see Anne Healy in her signature blue suit wave at me as I begin to address the graduates and their families. Anne’s presence at RPCS will be missed but never forgotten. I am happy to present the annual edition of Connections dedicated to Miss Anne Healy with a piece on Adrienne Rich, 1947 who also died this year. The Alumnae Class Notes in this issue also demonstrate true RPCS spirit. Each story illustrates the accomplishments of our Alumnae and the strength of our connections with Roland Park Country School. n

Jean Waller Brune Head of School

RememberingAnne Healy

www.rpcs.org

Reflections by Jean Waller Brune

Remembering Anne Healy

delivered at the Headmistresses of the East 100 Year Celebration

nne Healy, Headmistress of Roland Park Country School from 1950-1975, had an indomitable spirit, an unwavering belief in destiny and a conviction that leadership of an independent school is a sacred trust. Thus, it should not surprise any of us that she moved on to the next phase of her destiny on November 9, 2011, just weeks short of her 98th birthday and days short of the Centennial celebration of the Headmistresses Association of the East (HMAE) of which she had been President from 1954-56. Almost a century old herself, and a self-proclaimed “every inch a 20th century woman,” she is now, in some deeply spiritual and indefinable way handing the torch over to us for 21st century teaching and learning at a propitious and celebratory milestone for our school and this national organization. Born December 4, 1913 in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, Miss Healy was stricken with paralytic polio, something that could have been a debilitating, lifetime affliction. But it never was. Her leg brace and canes and later her walker and wheelchair were almost invisible because it was her “joie de vivre,” her smile, her laughter, her sparkling eyes, the ever changing expressions on her face as she responded to others, her eloquence and her passion for living that one remembers. Home schooled as a youngster, a tomboy – called Andy in her childhood – and a coxswain on the crew team at Wellesley, Miss Healy never let her infirmity hinder her. Anne entered Dana Hall when she was 12 years old, earned a bachelor’s from Wellesley College in 1935 and a master’s from Middlebury College in 1937. She did graduate work toward a PhD at Columbia University, the University of Cincinnati and

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Trinity College in the England. Between 1935 and 1950, she taught at three independent schools: Oxford School in Hartford, CT; Kent Place School and Nightingale-Bamford School, and three colleges: the University of Cincinnati, where she was a teaching fellow; Vassar College, as an instructor in English and Skidmore College, as an assistant professor of English. It was in the early 1940’s that she started towards what she called “her destiny.” Miss Healy was invited by her headmistress at Kent Place School to attend one of the annual meetings of HMAE. It was there that she was introduced to Elizabeth Castle, Headmistress of Roland Park County School in Baltimore. The two shared common experiences, both having graduated from Dana Hall and Wellesley College, but they had no more than a brief conversation. Yet, as Miss Healy always maintained, destiny was at play, for approximately seven years later she received a letter from Dr. Sidney Painter, President of the Board of Trustees

From the RPCS Archives

Jean Waller Brune with Anne Healy at her 90th Birthday Celebration

of Roland Park Country School and Head of the History Department at Johns Hopkins University, inviting her to interview to become the successor to Miss Castle who was retiring and who had suggested Miss Healy’s name to the Board. Miss Healy came to Baltimore, not because she was really interested in the opportunity. She was, as she noted in a 1994 interview, “pleased with where I was and had for the first time in ten years arrived at a place in life where I wanted to stay, but I was so humbled by [Miss Castle’s] confidence in me that I felt it imperative to travel to Baltimore to thank her in person for what she had offered me and to let her see and know how deeply it had affected me.” Miss Healy left Baltimore, as she herself said, “with the express purpose of writing a letter of appreciation but

saying I was not going to come, but among my thoughts appeared a memory of the fact that I had wanted to be a headmistress of a school, but having gone into college teaching, I had abandoned my dream. I suddenly realized that I had held that dream for ten years, I had abandoned it and now, suddenly, here without any effort on my part, it was being offered to me. And it came to me that one simply does not say no to destiny.” So, Miss Healy accepted her destiny and came to Roland Park County School where she remained for 25 years as Headmistress, a position that was handed to her in trust. She held that trust always in the forefront of her mind as she led the school through the relatively peaceful 50s into the tumultuous 60s and 70s. Always she kept her own

standards and integrity before her as she made decisions. She felt it was her mission to uphold and celebrate the triumph of the human spirit. She never looked back, noting in a 1970 article, “Girls of high school age are more willing to let a teacher into their lives. They are more exciting to teach and they are creatively and culturally less inhibited.” Miss Healy learned, especially as she tackled the challenges of the 1960s to listen and respond to the students. Many of the privileges our students treasure today began under Miss Healy’s steadfast leadership. Some of these include: the establishment of our Honor Board in 1953; the first coordination with Gilman School in 1971; and the first open campus in 1973. Miss Healy also felt that keeping the School at the top of girl’s

www.rpcs.org

Remembering Anne Healy

education was her highest priority. Significant School milestones initiated during her tenure include: n

t he creation of our a capella singing group, The Semiquavers, in 1953;

t he establishment of a student foreign exchange program in 1955; RPCS was the first independent school in Baltimore to do so;

t he establishment of our membership in Cum Laude in 1963, the first girl’s school in Maryland to be award membership.

t he installation of our first computer, an LPG21, in 1967 – again another first for Baltimore; RPCS was then one of only three independent schools nationally to have this technology; and finally

t he initiation of the first fund-raising campaign. The $500,000 goal of the 1967 Anniversary Campaign was to add the final wing onto the University Parkway campus. Campaign Chair Sydney King, later President of the Board of Trustees, noted, “in light of today’s capital campaigns among local independent schools, our $500,000 goal seems almost ridiculous, but I believe it saved the School.”

ver the years Miss Healy and I laughed O about another first: Roland Park closed for winter weather for the first time in its history during the blizzard of 1958; I remember it well because I was a student there at the time! I think of it now, every time I have to make an inclement weather decision!

However, I think the most notable, historic and courageous “first” Miss Healy inspired came in March 1962 when the Board of Trustees developed its first explicit admissions policy, offering admissions to all qualified applicants without discrimination. In her groundbreaking proposal to the Board, she wrote, “Would a refusal to consider a Negro applicant be consonant with our educational philosophy? To us it seems that it would not: we cannot really nurture spiritual growth or make each student aware of her responsibilities in group living in a school where boundaries are set to human beings. In an age when man is setting his seal upon the universe, we should at least admit all of humanity into our educational orbit.” Because she considered the well-being of the School was given to her in trust, she remained connected to the School throughout her life. A faculty chair, an endowed lecture and a student Commencement Award bear

In our Headmistress, Miss Anne Healy, we have found that rare person, whose words and actions are consistently based on her inner creed, whose ready laughter and spontaneous tears reflect a sensitivity to the struggles, the successes, and the failures of the people around her, who seems to have discovered, and to rediscover daily, a deep significance in living. —1971 Quid Nunc

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her name and commemorate her eloquence in written and spoken word and her love of the teaching of English literature. From her first Commencement at Roland Park in 1951 to this past one in 2011, Miss Healy always attended. In my 20 years as Head of RPCS, she always sat in one of the front rows where I could see her and know that she was sending good wishes and support. Every September she sent me roses – our school flower – with a note saying that she would be with me in spirit each day as I carried out the responsibilities of leading the school. In a Baltimore Sun article shortly after she retired, Miss Healy noted, “It’s not life that matters so much but what you bring to it. The human spirit is the motivating force behind everything. I came to believe this strongly when I was in my 30s and reading Thoreau. Something he said, ‘to affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts’, hit me, and has stayed with me all of my life.” The 1971 yearbook dedication to Anne Healy affirms that she succeeded in affecting the quality of life for all who came within her sphere: “In our Headmistress, Miss Anne Healy, we have found that rare person, whose words and actions are consistently based on her inner creed, whose ready laughter and spontaneous tears reflect a sensitivity to the struggles, the successes, and the failures of the people around her, who seems to have discovered, and to rediscover daily, a deep significance in living.” Miss Healy’s sphere of influence extended beyond the walls of the School. That is because in spite of age, in spite of disability, she always said “yes” to life. In addition to being president of HMAE, she was President of the Baltimore Senate (an organization which preceded

The Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) from 1960-1962; on the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Executive Committee from 1959-1962; president of Natioal Association of Principals of Schools for Girls (NAPSG) from 1969-1971; and a member of the Committee of the Maryland State Board of Education to create criteria for the non-public schools of Maryland. In retirement she continued to teach adults and established a book club that still exists. In a 1986 letter she noted that she surprised herself by saying “yes” to Diane Howell, a colleague and head of rival Bryn Mawr School, long after either were still heading their schools. “It gave me a new concept of myself when I said yes to Diane’s invitation to march with her in the Pro-Choice NOW rally in Washington. [imagine] the miracle of her bravado in asking me to march. And my indiscretion in starting out with her in what turned out to be one of the greatest experiences of my

life! Of all the invitations, however, I am most exhilarated by the one to go up in a hot air balloon in New Hampshire; the delightful irony is my strongest enjoyment of an experience that I never had!” In the early 1990s, and approaching 80 years of age, Miss Healy volunteered with HERO – Baltimore’s educational and support group for people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. She was assigned a buddy whom she visited often to keep him in touch with the world. Most other volunteers were in their 30s, but Anne was ageless, fearless and a contemporary woman throughout her lifetime. Anne’s obituary in the Baltimore Sun concludes, “There are no survivors.” It is the single sentence in a beautifully written obituary to which I take exception. There are hundreds of survivors: every student she taught; every life she touched; everyone to come who will benefit from her legacy.

www.rpcs.org

Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy Reflections on Anne Healy

Remembering Anne Healy

by Gordon K. Lenci, Headmaster 1975-1985 and delivered by his son Kent Lenci, BA

s a former Head of this School and Honorary Alumnus, I am proud to offer a Tribute to my predecessor, a grand gentlelady. And I am equally proud to have my son, also an alumnus of RPCS, bring you this tribute in my absence. My accolades are intended to applaud a spirited family, and, in particular, Miss Anne Healy, the Head of that warm and lively family. I will share with you snippets about two course-changing events stored within family scrapbooks. Miss Healy was at the epicenter of one and a significant inspiration during the other. Finally, I will conclude with a symphony, highly appropriate given her passion for music. Returning to our eastern roots from Kansas City and a school where I had been Head, my wife Janet and I with our toddler son were thrilled to have the opportunity to take the helm of Miss Healy’s school at her retirement. Respect for her abounded widely in educational circles even beyond Baltimore, with her school unusually well regarded for its superb and rigorous academics. Within Baltimore independent school circles the rich school spirit was admired, even envied, and rightly included in our School Philosophy there is tucked a spotlighted phrase, “resilient spirit.” It’s hard to discern if the word “spirit” refers to Miss Healy alone or to the school as well. For those of us who are insiders, they are wedded. Miss Healy was and remains the spirit behind the spirit. Juxtaposed to my delight about coming to RPCS, counterparts with well-meaning caution inquired repeatedly if I really wanted to head a school where my predecessor would not only be in the same city but even in residence on campus. Little did I know that

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Jean Waller Brune with Kent Lenci, BA

fall how swiftly the gauntlet would be hurled in my direction. Within the first month of school’s opening an entrenched, high ranking faculty member trotted over to Miss Healy’s home—all of 100 yards from the gym—and unleashed a complaint about the absurdity of the new Head’s recent announcement (which, as I recall, had something to do with my request for all faculty, not just Admissions officers, to make visitors feel warmly welcome). Miss Healy, of course, had a choice of responses - one would preserve my headship, the other would likely doom me to a two- or three-year term of office. I was not present but later would learn that instead of siding with the protesting teacher, Miss Healy crisply replied, “It is his school now; you

Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy She leaned into me and whispered, “Have you ever been so proud of our school?” I responded lovingly, “I could never be more proud of it and never more honored than to have shared it with you.”

go to him if you have an issue with Gordon’s plans and decisions.” My predecessor understood her new support role and never wavered from it. From that one meeting the notice rose up the flagpole that the mantle had been passed. I never wavered from my gratitude and appreciation for the way Miss Healy covered my back. Let me move to another event. For many students, most faculty, and surely the Trustees of my decade, Thanksgiving Friday 1976 was a singular event. A fire ravaged our beloved RPCS, turning the Upper School area into twisted steel and ashes. We faced the fire and its havoc. Four long years later, in a reflection of Miss Healy’s can-do RPCS spirit, our enrollment had swelled about 25%, and now we paraded up Roland Avenue to pour into our new facilities. We were Roland Parkers, and we were on the move. My only regret about that parade was the absence of Miss Healy’s hand clasping mine and the shiny brass bell I clanged along the mile route. However, Miss Healy’s irrepressible spirit had permeated my thoughts and efforts throughout those harrowing four years. In the same way, I now hoped and expected it would infuse, and take hold in, the new hallways: a new home for the family of RPCS but ever the same spirited halls as those

into which Miss Healy had poured her every breath. And now for the Symphony and the ineffable joy surrounding the Centennial gala in 2001. After a gourmet dinner, Miss Healy and I sat side by side in the cavernous Myerhoff hall. Both of us carried the same title, “Former RPCS Head of School.” We reflected on how far the school had come in the past two decades. I seized

the moment to confess to my friend Anne how important it had been to me to rebuild a school that would be worthy of her legacy. As the Symphony Hall lights dimmed, the orchestra struck its first chords. With feeling, Anne gently took my hand. With hundreds of exhilarated lovers of RPCS surrounding us and a stage resplendent with bright faces and blue uniforms, we savored our togetherness. She leaned into me and whispered, “Have you ever been so proud of our school?” I responded lovingly, “I could never be more proud of it and never more honored than to have shared it with you.” The poem “Success” is a fitting final salute to Miss Healy’s spirit:

She has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, Who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children, Who has filled her niche and accomplished her task; Who has left the world a better place than she found it, Who has looked for the best in others and given the best she had, Whose life was an inspiration Whose memory is a benediction.

Gordon K. Lenci with Anne Healy

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Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy Friends Like Anne Healy are Rare

Remembering Anne Healy

by Margaret E. Smith, Headmistress of RPCS from 1983-1992 Excerpted from remarks delivered at the Anne Healy tribute

nlike many of you, I was never a student of Anne Healy’s, never a teacher who worked under her leadership, nor was I the new Head of School to whom she passed the torch. To me she was something else – a faithful friend, and a best friend in every sense of the word. I arrived in Baltimore almost 30 years ago after a difficult early summer in Europe. I had lost both my mother and my sister within a month and was forced to move back my starting date at RPCS. Gordon Lenci generously cut short his vacation and filled in for me. Once here I had little time for acclimation or preparation before opening day. I remember it was hot that later summer. I had piles of new information and mail waiting for me on my desk in my non-air conditioned office. It must have been 200 degrees. Barbara Chapple, Lower School Head, came to my rescue when she pointed out that my English tweeds would have to go and hauled me up to Towson Mall to buy polo shirts and lightweight skirts. But climate was not the only problem I had at that time. I found myself in a very different school habitat than what I’d left behind in Switzerland. Roland Park was all girls’ coming from the local area, as opposed to co-ed students from at least 40 different countries. There was a large administration at RPCS and large financial dealings that we did not have in Zurich. Fund raising was unknown! And, everyone spoke English here – at least a form of it! I felt a little at sea and suddenly alone. Fortunately for me, amongst the cards and flowers from well-wishers, was a gracious letter from Anne Healy. I’d never met her. In her warm, friendly note she wished me

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Louise White, 1955, Margaret E. Smith and Judy Waters, 1950

success and happiness in my new venture and suggested that when things settled down, she and I could get together. Settled down! Things never settle down in a school, but no one knew that better than Anne Healy. Our first dinner marked the blossoming of a wonderful and fruitful friendship. Anne’s interest in and questions about my past experiences in Europe were many, varied and quietly penetrating. The international school, the multi-national faculty, the vibrant student body, the International Baccalaureate – and how all of that channeled in my new position at Roland Park. She pointed out that RPCS was a wonderful school, full of top notch students taught by a superb team of teachers, all of whom would be open to new ideas but had plenty of good ones of their own. I believe my dinner was cold when I had the chance to take a bite! By the time dessert came around some hours later, I was finally able to ask her about her life at RPCS during the upheavals of the 60s and 70s. She laughed out loud – as she often did – an replied, “Oh my dear, that will take me another 25 years, so let’s keep on meeting.

Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy I want – if you so wish it – to be your sounding board, your historian, but above all, your friend.” Never once, in all our meetings, did she every try to push her own opinions or ideas. Yet back in my office I invariably felt she had helped me move forward. From that day on she became the

one special friend with whom I could share, in utmost confidence, my worries, my failures, my ideas, and even from time to time, my successes, while offering help and guidance whenever asked. She never tired of hearing anything that concerned her beloved

School. I quickly came to realize that RPCS was the great love of her life. Friends like Anne Healy are rare. And I cherished her.

Reflections from a Former Colleague by Blair Stambaugh, Headmistress, The Bryn Mawr School, 1973-1980 and Head of School, The Baldwin School, 1980-2006

met Anne Healy in the fall of 1973 when I became Headmistress of The Bryn Mawr School. I wonder how many of you instinctively just thought “rivals.” We knew Roland Park was excellent and rigorous academically and your School kept us on our mettle. I don’t think Anne had that competitive sense. At 32, I really did not know a lot about the mechanics of heading a school, despite having taught grades 5 – 8, 9 - 12 and Latin at Williams College. So, I called Anne. I told her I needed to produce a new catalogue. I had seen Roland Park’s and it was beautiful. She found out for me from her Business Manager the cost, the number of pages and the effect of the number of colors on the price. Back to my Board I went buoyed by my new found expertise. That sharing was an example of how generous she always was. Later, I shared with her heartfelt dilemmas about faculty and students, and she offered sage advice. I knew she was completely trustworthy. Still later, we found out we each enjoyed a glass of bourbon. Over drinks we shared information about our families and found we came

Blair Stambaugh with Jean Waller Brune

from long-lived maternal lines. Her mother was then in her 90’s and my grandmother was, also. We both loved to read, though her passions were more erudite. She read poetry and the classics and my leanings were more toward fiction. She loved participating in Roland Park’s reading circles and book groups. She was always interested in my lot as a single mother of young sons. She generously gave them very special Christmas presents which even today grace our tree, though the boys are now in their 40’s. Where we parted company was in risk taking. I took the path well travelled and she the path of adventure. When she heard of a possible way to strengthen her

breathing by swimming in a tank in the Berkshires, she endured minutes in a dark pool with a cover on. She took lessons in jazz piano from an expert in downtown Baltimore in her 70’s. She turned her home in the Berkshires into a B and B to provide a place for young Shakespearean actors who didn’t have much discretionary money. I might add she stayed up until 2 a.m. to hear about their performances and to offer encouragement. Anne became an important mentor to me and other heads, writing us what we privately called her “Ship of State” letters at the beginning of each school year. She began by calling to mind calm waters, sails filled by gentle breezes and unknown harbors ahead. I am grateful to her even now for paving the way into a meaningful retirement. I have felt bolstered by her courage, unflappable nature and her wise ways. She had a wonderful twinkle and a great laugh. May each of you savor her for years to come.

www.rpcs.org

Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy Reflections

Remembering Anne Healy

by Betty Ann Schmick Howard, 1957

students, as well as parents and friends were s if it were yesterday, and not sixtyequally sustained, encouraged, celebrated – two years ago, I can remember the offered whatever was needed – by her notes. first time I saw Anne Healy. She “You write so beautifully. You should was brought to the Lower Main to write a book!” she was told over and over. be introduced to us as our new headmistress. “I am too busy living!” was always There she stood, midway between the her reply. two large Third Main classrooms whose After Miss Healy retired from Roland connecting doors had been opened to provide Park Country School, she returned to the for an “assembly room.” It was an Autumn teaching that she loved and taught literature morning, and Miss Healy was wearing a dress at an adult education patterned in green and program in Cross burnt orange leaves Keys, “Adventures in which complemented Learning.” I was in her auburn hair. She that first class which had bright blue eyes was called “Voyages and did not look at of Self-Discovery!” all like my idea of a Eventually this group headmistress. merged with an RPCS Standing there, Alumnae Book Club so young and pretty that Anne also led. and yet wearing a leg The “First Monday brace, she caught my Discussion Group” imagination; and as is still going on. For life unfolded, many Betty Ann Schmick Howard, 1957 toasts Anne Healy at over thirty years Miss years later she became a birthday dinner. Healy and I read my friend. books together. Perhaps it was The early years of her adult education in the middle of my senior year that I first class attracted a diverse group of women, experienced Miss Healy’s empathy beyond the some of whom had not gone to college. These classroom. My grandfather died one February were initially very shy and never spoke in class. weekend, and I felt that I had lost the person When one did venture an opinion, Miss Healy who seemed to have loved me almost more had a way of accepting it as the very insight than anyone else in my world. I didn’t know that she had been waiting for. Gradually, these anyone who had a grandfather as large in her women began to gain confidence. life as mine had been, and I had no words for A perfect example was Rose, a small this loss. However, there on the small cork southern lady, whose nervous manner and bulletin board outside Miss Healy’s office was unfocused blue eyes gave the impression of a note to me. She had the words! On paper, one who has been run over by life. Always she held my hand. early to class, she sat, head down, in the This note was the first of many back row. that I was to receive from her. Countless other

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Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy Gradually, Rose was transformed by Miss Healy’s ability to see in her something that Rose had lost touch with, maybe something she never knew she had. Whenever Rose raised her timid hand, Miss Healy nodded to her and appeared to hear in Rose’s faltering words just what she had been searching for. It seems to me that true power empowers others, and that is what Miss Healy did, simply by giving back to people their best selves. When Miss Healy’s memorial service was held at RPCS on her ninety-eighth birthday, I was honored to one of the speakers. I began by reading one of her favorite poems, “Finisterre,” by her friend Josephine Jacobsen, 1926 and went on to share further reflections.

From the RPCS Archives

FINISTERRE Do not be concerned with the black hole Its density can only confirm truth Or the ashy world of a particular planet Or the scanner from a neighboring galaxy. When you are taken – and you will be Beyond Finisterre, say to yourself, “grass.” Remember it; love is a secret, only you Know what is inside it. Remember that. To be sure of what you will not give up Is the point. Preparation is simple: Identify what you will not renounce. Hold a secret. Hold a blade of grass.

Throughout her life, Miss Healy reached out for the blade of grass, for that which was life-giving, positive, hopeful. As she grew older and began to suffer from post-polio syndrome, we established a ritual where I would bring lunch every Thursday and we would visit. What a privilege that was for me – to sit with her in her sun room with her bright copper planters always filled with geraniums. Miss Healy had such a creative way of looking at things. If there were ever a situation that seemed utterly bleak and enigmatic, she would somehow turn it on its head and find some new way of seeing it. However, if I ever tried to ask her for blanket advice such as “What would you tell young people today?” she would always turn it back to me with – “Well, I don’t know. What do you think?” What I did learn is that Anne Healy believed in Mystery, and she trusted the Mystery. She felt that there

are things in life, very difficult things, for which there are no answers. And these we have to accept and learn to live with. Of spiritual matters, she would say that there are “too many words in the air, trying to pin things down that can never be captured in language. “ But again, she trusted the Mystery. Lastly, I want to tell you that she did not like the word “die.” Nor did she like any version of “pass” – as in “pass away,” “pass on” and certainly not “pass over.” “Well,” I asked her, “how do you think people should express the fact that someone is no longer here?” “I like to say,” she replied, “that she has fulfilled her destiny!” And so, Anne Healy has fulfilled her destiny. Woven together, in one way or another, we have been a part of her destiny, and for that we give thanks.

www.rpcs.org

Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy Letter to Miss healy

Remembering Anne Healy

by Diane Hutchins, 1972

December 4, 2011 Miss Anne Healy Admissions Office The Gates of Paradise (While I knew you best at 817 W. University Parkway, I am sure that this is now the correct address.) Dear Miss Healy:

riting a letter to you seemed to be appropriate. A document you wrote to the Board of Trustees in 1962 changed my life, and I hope you know that you and that act have meant a great deal to me. I have respected and admired you since our first meeting in 1966. You were the epitome of the iron fist in the velvet glove. You could cry very easily, but you were stronger than the braces on your legs. You were one of the biggest risk takers I have ever known. You were fully involved in the act of living. The first definition of “teach” in the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary is “to give systematic information to a person on or about a subject or skill”. I was not privileged to see you in that role, although I have no doubt that I would have enjoyed your English class. However, I am proud to say that, throughout my life, you were my teacher as outlined in later definitions of the verb: “to advocate as a moral principle” and “to induce a person by example or punishment to do or not to do a thing”. I would like to let you know about a few of those instances. One lesson occurred within 2 years of my entering the Roland Park Country School in the III Main (that’s 7th Grade for those of you who don’t remember). My parents were divorced, but they never missed attending a Parents Night. You were there from the

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beginning, although I was not then in the Upper School. My father, a cynical Southerner with a mistrust of certain kinds of behaviors, came back from the first of those Parents Nights commenting about you, “She can’t be real. Nobody is that nice”. By the time I was in V Main, he not only believed you to be real, but also looked forward to spending time with you at Parents Night. That taught me that being true to oneself is essential. Another took place when I was 40. I was at RPCS for an event. I ran into you, and I was more than impressed that you knew immediately who I was. You asked me how I was and what I was doing. I told you where I was working. You then asked how old I was. You told me that I would enjoy life in my 40s and 50s more than any other years. As you put it, “I became the Headmistress of the Roland Park Country School when I was in my 40s and those years became the most productive time of my life”. While I had never doubted it, you proved that an older, nevermarried woman could have a rich, vibrant, and most satisfying life. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic was first exploding in the 1980s, you became an “AIDS

Reflections from the Celebration of The Life of Miss Anne Healy Buddy”, someone who provides meals and company to those who had been diagnosed with the disease. You did that for several years. On another occasion when you and I happened to meet, I asked if you were still doing that. Your answer was “No. It’s too hard to continue to say goodbye to my friends.” Throughout your life, you wanted to reach out to and be a part of the lives of people others chose to ignore. Which brings me back to that document you wrote 49 years ago in which you suggested to the Board of Trustees that it was time for the admission of “Negro students”. To quote from that missive, “Whatever decision is made will establish a new role for the Roland Park Country School. Whether we like it or not, we shall be to the public a school either conservative and reactionary or liberal and progressive. These labels, however misleading in their generality, will also characterize the kind of education we give and the kind of alumnae we send on to college and community life. Our decision should be based upon an understanding of our educational philosophy and our belief in what is best for the welfare and future of the school in an Astronaut Age.” I have said publicly that you put your professional life at risk when you took that daring step. I am a direct and early beneficiary of that risk. Thank you for being willing to take it for me and for the hundreds of others like me who are students and alumnae of the Roland Park Country School. Sincerely, Diane Hutchins Class of 1972

Anne Healy was born on December 4, 1913 in Windsor Locks, Connecticut and received her diploma from Dana Hall School, an all girls’ school in Welles ley, MA. She earned a bachelor’s from Wellesley College in 1935 and a mas ter’s from Middlebury College in 1937. She did graduate work toward a PhD at Columbia University, the University of Cincinnati and Trinity College in the England. Between 1935 and 1950, she taught at three private schools and three colleges: Oxford School in Hartford, CT; Kent Place School, Summit, NJ; Nightingale-Bamford School, New York City; the University of Cincinnati, where she was a teaching fellow; Vassar College, as an instructor in English; and Skidmore College, as an assistant professor of English. In 1950 Anne Healy became the third Headmistress at Roland Park Country School in Baltimore, MD. She was essentially handpicked by her predecessor. She led RPCS until 1975 and under her leadership the school focused on academic excellence, inclusion and technology. Anne served many organizations in Baltimore and nationally, most notably as a Member of the Committee of the Maryland State Board of Education to create criteria for the Non Public Schools of Maryland, Director of the Board of Trustees of the Creative Arts Workshop, Member of the Board of Dana Hall, Member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Independent Maryland Schools as well as the National Association of Independent Schools. She served as President of the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls, The Headmistresses Association of the East and the Senate of the Private Schools Association of Baltimore during her time as RPCS Headmistress. Upon her retirement from RPCS, Anne Healy continued to teach, to lead book discussions and to remain connected to the RPCS and greater Baltimore communities. Anne’s hobbies included reading, playing the piano, and attending the theater.

www.rpcs.org

Jane Wilhelm Daniels, 1946 Wins Prestigious McCauley Bowl Excerpted remarks by Kimberly Mitchell Wolff, 1995

lumnae Weekend is one of my favorite events because so many people return to the School and to each other. I was a “ten-year” girl here and I have stayed involved with the School ever since I graduated. It is one small way I show my gratitude and appreciation for my education - learned inside and outside of the classroom. Tonight I have the distinct pleasure to award the McCauley Bowl. The award is given periodically to an alumna or other member

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of the School community who has distinguished herself through long service to the School and its graduates. This award is made in memory of and in gratitude for the life of Bell Lazenby McCauley of the Class of 1931. Mrs. McCauley’s life of service defines the standards and values which are used by the Board of the Alumnae Association in selecting recipients of this honor. This year the McCauley bowl goes to Jane Wilhelm Daniels, Class of 1946 who is celebrating her 65th

Jane Wilhelm Daniels 1946 Quid Nunc

l to r David Calhoun, Annie Calhoun, 2016, Jane Desvarreux January Daniels, 1982, Gracie Calhoun, 2017, Jane Wilhelm Daniels, 1946, Josie Kalbfleisch, 2023 and Ann O. Daniels, 1983

reunion. Jane is so deserving of this award, and Roland Park Country School is truly grateful for her dedication. We actually have Jane to thank for being here tonight, in that she cochaired the capital campaign which brought RCS to this Chestnutwood Campus, just over thirty years ago. Jane has consented – sometimes reluctantly and always graciously – to a number of positions highlighted by her roles as: Centennial Campaign Cabinet Committee Co-Chair, Centennial Campaign Generations Committee Co-Chair (with daughter Ann O. Daniels, 1983), Honorary Co-Chair of the Spirit is Soaring Auction in 1994, Class Reunion Representative, Past member of the Board of Trustees and gracious host to countless meetings and RPCS gatherings at her home on Ridgewood Road. Jane’s service to the School far exceeds her fundraising endeavors. She has extended her legacy at RPCS with her two daughters - Jane D. Daniels 1982 and Ann O. Daniels 1983 and three granddaughters Ann Calhoun 2016, Grace Calhoun 2017 and Josie Kalbfleisch 2023. It should also be noted that Jane’s appointment as this year’s McCauley Bowl honoree marks the first mother/ daughter combination as Jane, Class of 1982, is also a McCauley Bowl honoree from 2007. When I was asked to present this award to Jane I started my research in the RPCS Archives. I found out that her support of the School started as early as her senior year when

she was the first to “advocate for and produce beautiful new curtains for the common room.” I also learned that she’s known for her long-standing involvement in the world of artistic weaving and this is evidenced in this very room. She and her late husband Worth, were responsible for commissioning the Centennial Tapestry which has hung in the Faissler Library for the past ten years. Friends will be interested to note that Jane’s signature Checker Marathon (known by some as the “Blue Beastie” may be found along the curb of Roland Avenue having been woven into the tapestry). Jane is described in the Quid Nunc as being someone that everyone likes to have around. She’s always having fun, whether at work or play. n

s elected “I wish I knew” as her theme song – not sure if that’s the song or the answer?

l isted “anything edible” as her weakness

l isted “big operators” as her abomination

was always found “asking Susie”

wanted to be a flier

would be flightly

a nd listed “Fiddle-dee-dee!” as her pet phrase

On behalf of the School and the Alumnae Association we say thank you to Jane for all her contributions through all these years. n

McCauley Bowl Past Recipients 1990: Eleanor Graham, 1916 1991: Helen Metcalfe Duncan, 1921 and Elizabeth Protzman Webb, 1921 1992: Judy Waters, 1950 1993: Marguerite Kelley - Honorary Alumna 1994: Kay Hamilton Cavanaugh, 1937 1995: Anne Healy - Honorary Alumna and former Headmistress (1950 - 1975) 1997: Peggy Webb Patterson, 1947 2000: Agness Fulton Bond, 1941 2002: Betty Ann Schmick Howard, 1957 2003: Celeste Woodward Applefeld, 1964 2006: Ginny Wood Delauney, 1964 and Janie Susemihl Griffin, 1974 2007: Jane Desvarreux January Daniels, 1982 2008: Courtney Jones McKeldin, 1958 and Pam Miller Loya, 1969 2009: Lil Wise, 1950 2010: Ann Witich Warfield, 1948

www.rpcs.org

Saying Goodbye to Adrienne Rich, 1947 Article first printed in illuminations 2004

“My mind to me a kingdom is.” from Adrienne’s Quid Nunc page

oet and theorist Adrienne Cecile Rich graduated from Roland Park Country School in 1947 with a love of the English language, creative writing, drama and music. In her senior year she was the literary editor of the Quid Nunc, played the lead role in the School play, Miss Elizabeth Bennett, and authored numerous poems and compositions. Born in 1929 in Baltimore, Adrienne was the elder of two daughters born to Arnold Rice Rich, Professor of Pathology at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, and Helen Jones Rich, a gifted pianist and composer. Her parents’ marriage of academics and the arts produced the perfect blend of talents in Adrienne. Rich demonstrated an aptitude for writing poetry early in life, but her professional career blossomed quickly when in 1951, after graduating from Radcliffe College, she won the prestigious Younger Poets Prize from Yale University for her first collection SPRING 2012

of poetry – A Change of World. From that first taste of literary success she has not looked back. At 75, Adrienne, one of the major American poets of our time, is the author of sixteen volumes of poetry and several books of nonfiction prose. She is the recipient of numerous literary awards including the National Book

Adrienne Cecile Rich 1947 Quid Nunc

Award (1974), the National Poetry Association Award for Distinguished Service to the Art of Poetry (1989), the 1996 Tanning Award for Mastery in the Art of Poetry and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award (1999). In 2003, she was honored again by Yale University with the Bollingen Prize for her volume, Fox: Poems 1998-2000, and for lifetime achievement. The judges noted her “continuous poetic exploration and awareness of multiple selves.” Her latest collection of poems, The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000-2004, was just published. Over the years Rich’s poetry and essays have chronicled and forecast her personal and political journeys with surprising openness and candor. Rich is best recognized as a distinct feminist voice in modern poetry and her frank poetic exploration of lesbianism, while often controversial, has contributed to a more open discussion of homosexuality in today’s society. Rich was once quoted as saying she was determined “to write directly and overtly as a

woman, out of a woman’s body and experience.” In her poem “Tear Gas” she writes:

The Anne Healy Chair of English Language and Literature

The will to change begins in the body not in the mind

Headmistress of Roland Park Country School from 1950 to

is an endowed Faculty Chair created to honor Anne Healy, 1975. The recipients of the Chair are experienced members of

My politics is in my body. Interestingly, Rich carefully dates all of her writings because she believes that poetry does not exist separately from the poet’s life. Thus, with each subsequent volume of poetry, Rich successfully connects her political commitment to issues of poverty, racism, sexism and violence, with her poetic dream of a better, more tolerant and accepting world. In a June 1999 interview with Michael Klein from The Boston Phoenix, Rich stated, “I think my work comes out of both an intense desire for connection and what it means to feel isolated.” Her vision is of a world where everyone can achieve “a happiness of true participation in society.” Over Rich’s career, the form of her poems has also evolved moving from tight formal and polite lyrics to more experimental poems using a combination of techniques such

the School faculty who demonstrate a love of the discipline of English, exemplary teaching skills, and a deep concern for students as individuals. The Chair is awarded annually by the Head of School after consultation with the Board of Trustees. Each year a visiting author or authors gives the Anne Healy Lecture.

as long lines, gaps in the line, interjections of prose and informal, oftentimes activist, expressions. As Rhonda Pettit wrote in Adrienne’s biography in the Encyclopedia of American Poetry, 2001, “No poet’s career reflects the cultural and poetic transformations undergone in the United States during the 20th century better than that of Adrienne Rich.” In addition to her own writing, Adrienne Rich has taught aspiring writers at Swarthmore College and Columbia, Brandeis, Rutgers,

Cornell, San Jose State and Stanford Universities. In addition, her poetry is taught in English and women’s studies courses across the country. Roland Park Country School was honored to present Adrienne Rich as The Anne Healy Lecturer on September 28, 2004. Rich addressed the political themes in her writing and delighted the audience with readings of several selections of her newest poetry. She will be deeply missed. n

from Adrienne’s senior page in the 1947 Quid Nunc