Solebury School Fall/Winter Magazine 2011

Solebury School

Magazine Fall/Winter 2011

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_____________________________________________________ As our online capabilities increase and with a desire to find ways to use less paper, we have decided to merge the Solebury School Magazine and the Alma newsletter into one publication. Not only will you get to enjoy all the latest news and features about the school, you will also see the Alma’s here as well. _____________________________________________________

Cover Photo: Tessa Mania ’11 Photo Credit: Bob Krist 2 ❖ Solebury School Magazine Fall/Winter 2011

The Arts at Solebury In this issue of Solebury School’s Fall/Winter Magazine, you will be introduced to the Arts at Solebury. Our art program stands out as one of the best in the independent school world. The department includes the visual and performing arts, music, theater, and dance programs, and each program offers many opportunities and comprehensive curriculum for a budding artist to learn and grow. Each art teacher is a professional and accomplished artist, and each is excited to share his/her knowledge with our future artists of the world. You will read about each teacher, their lives, and how they became the artists they are today.

You will also read about four of Solebury’s distinguished alumni who, over the years, have benefitted greatly from the school’s art program. You will be introduced to a musician who is finding national success with his eclectic alt-bluegrass, neo-folk, country-punk style of music, an accomplished Hollywood actor, an accomplished stage actress, and one of Hollywood’s premier red-carpet photographers.

Last, you will find Solebury’s Alma’s update. Catch up with the latest news and photos from fellow alumni, friends and faculty.

Hope you enjoy this edition!

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Visual Arts

Erika Bonner–Discovering the Artist Within

Erika works with Michael Baskin-Searles ’12 on his art project

When Erika Bonner was a young girl, she told her parents that she was never going to be an artist because ‘you can’t make any money at it.’ Her father is an architect, her mother an artist.

They smiled.

“I was going to be an actor and a dancer,” said Erika. “I spent my high school years doing theater and dance. I took a sculpture class in high school, and I made art all the time at home.

When I applied to colleges the theater programs were restrictive and intensive and I realized I had to choose, art or theatre. That was when it hit me. Art had always been a part of my life and I wasn’t willing to give it up.”

Erika started her freshman year at Beloit College, but was ready to leave after her first semester because she wasn’t happy with her 3D teacher. She took a photography class, loved it, and spent the next semester in the darkroom.

“I had tremendous success in photography. I had a photograph selected for publication in a textbook and I thought that was where my career path was heading. I did some freelance photography work. My sophomore year, we had a new 3D teacher, and I took a ceramics class.”

Mike, her ceramics and sculpture professor, played a pivotol role for this budding artist. He inspired his small class of five to push the limits of what they thought possible. “It was the first time I allowed myself to be completely absorbed by my work. Friends would have to come get me from the studio and make sure I ate something. I would lose track of time. I think there are magical times in life when all the stars are aligned and everything is set up for you if you can just take advantage of the moment.”

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While her professor didn’t emphasize technical information, he provided many learning opportunities, and Erika said she later realized how much she learned that is not always taught in a traditional art class. Erika learned how to learn and she felt Mike gave her confidence to know that she could figure out anything.

“My first job out of school was running the Princeton Arts Council’s After School Art Program. I coordinated the music, dance, and theater classes, and taught the art classes. I started the ceramics program at the Arts Council, bought the first wheels and the first kiln and began teaching adult classes.”

Erika then worked at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown for two years before deciding to start her own tile business so she could stay home with her children.

“In the 16 years I had my business, I had the opportunity to work with many different clients and had some interesting commissions. There was a tile commission of 1000 for the Dubai promotion board, 14 designs for the Carnegie Mellon University Campus center, 500 tiles for the Press reception for the National Republican Convention in Philadelphia, and numerous tiles for Solebury Township and New Hope Visitors Center.”

When Erika started teaching at Solebury in 2006, she tried to keep her business but it was tough. “I decided to take a break for a few years and see if I still wanted to go back to tile making after some time away. I’ve realized I was really good at making tile and I take a lot of pride in what I was able to accomplish, but I was ready to stop.”

Though Erika has taken a break from tile making, she said she will always work in clay. It is her primary artistic medium.

“Working with clay is like coaxing a friend to do something they are afraid to do. Sometimes you have to be patient and gentle as you push the clay into the shape you want. Other times you need to be tough and beat the clay into submission. The trick is being able to understand how the clay is going to behave. The only way to learn how to work in clay is to just do it. Clay has to be experienced to be understood.” This philosophy translates to Erika’s classroom.

When teaching, Erika likes to give a general instruction and the basics. The real work comes in the problem solving, said Erika. Question: Why is the clay doing this? Answer: Because you are pushing it that way. Clay is a good teacher of cause and effect.

“I find my sense of smell plays a big part in my choice for materials. I love the smell of clay and I love the smell of wood smoke so I make wood fired ceramics. I love the smell of wax and oil paint and I have been oil painting and using encaustics. Perhaps I love the smells because I love the materials.”

The consummate artist, Erika said making art isn’t a choice for her.

“To me, making art is like eating. I have to do it. I can go for a while without making art, but like fasting, it is all I think about when I am not working. Art is the way I communicate best.

Even if I am not showing my work, I am working out ideas and seeing where it takes me.

My best advice I could give an aspiring artist is to be honest and ask, ‘is this really what I want to do?’ I think everyone should have the opportunity to create and enjoy making art, but not everyone is cut out to be an artist. Many young artists are not prepared for the realities of the artist’s life. They buy into the romantic idea of ‘Artist.’ It takes a tremendous amount of work and commitment. The working artists I know are the most disciplined people I know. You have to be open to the world, experimenting with and exploring different ideas. Artists have to be problem solvers, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, construction workers, business people, promoters, detectives, historians among so many other things all wrapped up in a neat little package. Add a healthy dose of creativity and curiosity.”

Erika is the Art department head and teaches Ceramics, Art History, Tilemaking, and Painting and Drawing. ❖

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Kirby Fredendall–Driven to Abstraction

Kirby Fredendall (Photo Credit: Doylestown Intelligencer)

________________________ “My process of painting requires that I obscure all that came before in the image in the interest of moving the image forward.

To accomplish this, I cover the entire painting many times with a one color layer.

At this stage, my painting stands as the unburdened warrior - new - fresh - with gestural expression - but relatively flat.

Then, with rags, I start to uncover the past.

However, the past is not completely revealed but rather is informed by the present veil of paint. In working this way I am unable to ‘hang onto’ passages that I have ‘fallen in love with’ at the expense of moving the image into a new place. These passages may or may not reappear, but when they do, they contribute to the present rather than to the past.”

Kirby Fredendall (from her blog)

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Though Kirby Fredendall was born into a family of artists, her father is a restoration builder, and her mother, a metal craftsman of lighting fixtures, she began her college studies in Pre-Med. She realized early on that she didn’t like science, so completely changed course and took some art history classes. She found an art history teacher passionate about his art and he ignited that same passion for art in Kirby. He taught Dutch and Flemish period art, something she had been and still is passionate about today.

She went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in art history from Duke University, but then decided to study in London. She stayed on in London, attending cooking school at the Cordon Bleu, returned home to America, cooked for a while, and realized she “wasn’t terribly stimulated by the company in the kitchen.” So she went on to graduate school at Arcadia University (then Beaver College) and earned a Master’s degree in art education and painting.

“I befriended a bunch of folks who were members of the Penn Emma Furth Program, all painters and sculptors,” said Kirby. “They inspired me to get back into making art. When I started selling my work, I was even more inspired.”

She began to paint more and more, and her landscape paintings became abstracted landscapes then gradually evolved to pure abstractions. Her work has been inspired by the abstract expressionists, such as Jasper Johns, Mark Rathko, and Willem De Kooning.

Another artist who has been a big influence on Kirby’s work is local sculptor and long-time friend Mark Pettegrow. “Mark is my oldest friend since I returned to the area from college. We support, inspire and critique each other’s work. Mark has had the most personal influence on my work.” Their work is similar, as they both work in abstractions, Mark as a sculptor, Kirby, a painter.

One of Kirby’s first big accomplishments as an artist came when a New York gallery owner invited her to present her work. She soon found her work in three shows in SoHo, the hub of the New York art world in the 1990s. The first show she shared with five other artists, the second and third, with only three. She was 30 at the time and didn’t realize what an amazing stroke of luck it was to get a gallery show in SoHo. “I literally walked into a gallery with a friend of mine and just got lucky. The gallery owner liked my work. She wasn’t a New Yorker. She was from Virginia, and had moved to New York to open the gallery. She was open-minded and approachable, unlike a lot of other owners.”

Since then, Kirby’s work has been included in more than 30 exhibitions, in galleries and museums from Seattle to New York, including the State Museum of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Art Alliance, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art (DCCA).

She started teaching art history classes with Nancy Cabot at Solebury School in 1993, added the Beginning Painting and Drawing class then expanded the art curriculum with her Figure Drawing class in 1997.

“The fact that I’m still doing art is my biggest accomplishment, despite the fact that of every 100 things I send out, I get one back that says yes, we’ll take it. It’s constant rejection. You have to look at it, not as a rejection, but as a pass. So the fact that I’m still making work, still enjoy making work, and people are still buying it, and people are still showing it, is good.”

Kirby’s most recent work and the one of which she is most proud is her show, “Add Sugar and Stir: Cookbooks and the Lives of Women,” a group of images inspired by her personal collection of 1940s cookbooks. The exhibit ran from March through June at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA. To Kirby, the old cookbooks offer a window into the lives of women in past generations and what they faced as mothers and housewives. These paintings are quite different from her bolder, larger, abstract paintings. To create these images, she collected and purchased old cookbooks on eBay. She used little pages, cut and torn and covered in layers of paint and beeswax. Upon close inspection, you see the words and images, scratched out from beneath the paint to reveal the story of women’s lives, both the women who owned them and the larger story of the roles women play in family and culture.

“They’re looking back in time or another place, like a time machine,” Kirby said.

Kirby tells young artists interested in pursuing a career in the arts to find an art school that has a strong job placement office and ask what their graduates do when they graduate. An aspiring artist wants to know that fellow students are going straight into the work force and areas of their chosen profession, and not right into waitressing.

You can check out Kirby’s blog at http://kirbyfredendallfineart.blogspot.com/. ❖

Two of Kirby’s paintings

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Music

Phyllis Rubin-Arnold– The Little Girl with the Big Voice ___________________________________________

Phyllis Arnold

Phyllis was recently awarded the first John and Linda Brown Faculty Enrichment Award at Solebury School.

The John and Linda Brown Faculty Enrichment Endowment is available to be used each year to award one or two teachers a grant to pursue a personal interest that serves to enrich his or her experience as a teacher. The funds may be used in a way that directly relates to a teacher’s academic field or more generally by stimulating his or her creativity and enthusiasm as a teacher, learner, and citizen of the world.

Faculty members may apply for the award, to be given annually each February by the Head of School. This endowment was established in 2008 by Solebury School’s Home and School Association, to honor John D. Brown, ’67, Head of School, 1989 – 2008, and Linda Brown, Director of Advancement, 1989 – 2008, for their years of dedicated service.

Phyllis said she always had a fascination with the Holocaust, and never understood how the world population did not know what was going on in Germany. How could they not listen to the stories of people that had escaped? How could they be so blind to the cries of millions? Was it that they didn’t want to see it? Was the Nazi propaganda machine too overpowering? There have been genocides since throughout recorded history. And in spite of what we all know, they still seem to go on today.

In an attempt to understand this, she started looking at the propaganda that was prevalent in Nazi Germany at

“I believe you can express more through music than any other medium.

Music can embody your whole being. Your voice is your thumbprint. With a change of inflection, you can tell a mood. With a change in the rhythm, you can change your whole personality. The rhythm is your heartbeat, the feeling you have is your soul, and you’re bearing your soul in a way that’s different from when you are speaking. It’s a part of you that can’t be changed. It is the best way to communicate. It’s more intimate. It’s your essence. For me to share my essence with people, in a way that is freeing, and allows me to express what I want, is a gift.”

Phyllis Rubin-Arnold

___________________________________________ Growing up, Phyllis Rubin-Arnold had been told that she was the little girl with the big voice, and though her stature is still a few inches short of five feet tall today, she continues to use that voice not only for singing, but for making a difference in other people’s lives on and off the stage.

“What I bring to teaching is the enthusiasm and that ‘bigger than life’ persona that I’ve developed over the years. It’s that, this is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done in my life, kind of moment. I really try to get everyone excited about a project and I do goofy things and I use my hands and try to explain so that everyone can understand.”

This persona she has created helps her get the students and others around her engaged.

It draws people to her and it works. Though she confesses to being a very shy person, when she is performing or standing before any type of audience, it’s quite a different story.

Phyllis’ musical journey started when she was just four years old. One day, she was sitting and watching her older sister, who was at the piano for a lesson. When the lesson ended, she got up, and Phyllis hopped in front of the piano and played exactly what her sister had just finished playing. Her family thought they had the next Mozart.

“I had a great ear even then and so my parents decided to start giving me piano lessons.

I had this elderly Italian woman giving me lessons. She had a ruler and if I stopped playing when I made a mistake, she would smack me with the ruler. So I learned quickly to never stop, to take the mistake and roll with it, and make something beautiful out of every mistake. That was the wonderful thing she taught me.”

When her teacher suddenly stopped coming, she began studying at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music at their after-school and weekend programs. She took piano, voice, theory, songwriting, and music history.

“I always say that before I knew how to read, I knew how to make music. I performed a lot at the conservatory. I was never very good at dancing, never learned my right foot from my left, but I was a good singer.”

Throughout her elementary school, junior and senior high school years, she performed in just about every play, landing the role of Gretel in the Sound of Music in high school even though she was only in fourth grade. She played the coroner, a member of the lollipop guild, and the wicked witch half-melted in The Wizard of Oz. While she was disappointed when she didn’t land the role of Nancy in Oliver!, she did make the choir. The following year, she starred as Peter Pan, a big accomplishment for young Phyllis.

“I was in all the shows whether they were musicals or not. I started a select singers group at the school that would meet with the choir director, Mr. Stohltz, after school. He was fabulous and inspirational and he just gave and gave. Because we were so talented, he

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would do anything with us. We sang some wonderful music. He started a variety show to give us more opportunities. I remember when this guy Walter Hermann, who was 6'2'', and I was my height, sang Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better, sitting back to back on barstools. The barstools were set up so his head and my head were the exact same height, and when we got up at the end, the whole place erupted in screams.”

Her choir teacher wanted her to pursue a music career, but Phyllis had other aspirations. During her first three years at New York University, she majored in biochemistry. She was a gifted student in science and math. By her junior year, Phyllis was unhappy. She had received several offers to sing in operas while at NYU but kept turning them down because she thought organic chemistry was more important. Eventually, she decided to switch. She left NYU, auditioned for a few music conservatories, and decided to attend the Boston Conservatory of Music, not only for its reputation, but for its location, its faculty, and its history. Phyllis earned her degree in Voice Performance and from there, started working with different opera companies in and around Boston, then New York City, then Philadelphia.

Phyllis has been teaching music classes at Solebury since 1999. Her main instrument is voice so teaching chorus has always been her first love. She is the director of the Solebury School chorus and a select group, known as the Master Singers. Outside of Solebury, she continues to perform in the Philadelphia area. She has taught music privately for over 25 years.

Since the addition of the Music and Meeting (M&M) period in the schedule a few years ago, a period for the ensembles and chorus to meet without interfering with other academic subjects, Phyllis’ chorus has blossomed from 12 to 25 to 40 to 70! She now can comfortably work with individual groups and can offer extra help during lab periods.

For students interested in becoming professional singers, Phyllis recommends finding a good teacher to connect with on a personal level. Sit in on lessons to understand what the teacher is looking for from students. Look for a voice teacher who you feel will give you good advice. An aspiring singer should decide on a style of singing and find a teacher that supports that style. It’s important to learn how to breathe, how to stand, and how to relax.

Take dance classes, learn the Alexander technique of body awareness, learn how to move, how to be on stage, and be comfortable in your own skin.

Phyllis fulfills another role at Solebury. She is one of five Learning Skills teachers.

Having always been fascinated with different learning styles she decided to pursue an advanced degree in education in 2003. After completing the course work with a concentration in special education at Arcadia University and student teaching in the Council Rock School District, she received an M.Ed in 2006. When a teaching position opened in the Solebury School’s Learning Skills department, she was thrilled to accept. ❖

Phyllis with Sheldon Lee from a performance of the Opera Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, music by Rodion Shchedrin

the time. This quest led her to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp’s Red Cross visit in 1944. At that time, they portrayed the camp as an artists’ colony for Jews that were relocated from their dangerous villages. Films were made, scenes were staged, buildings were painted, gardens were planted, and overcrowding was controlled through deportation. The world was given a wonderfully sunny glimpse into the nightmarish world. The crowning jewel in the deception was a performance of the children’s opera, Brundibar, written by Hans Krasa and Adolf Hoffmeister. The opera contains very obvious symbolism, as the helpless children triumph over the evil, mustache wearing organ grinder.

Phyllis’ award, a total of $2,800, will allow her to explore this opera with Solebury School students.

During the fall 2011, students will perform Brundibar and other works written by victims. The production will be the culminating activity for the chorus class, and, hopefully, other classes as well. It is meant to be a cross-curricular activity, finding faculty in other departments that would bring writings, readings, and even perhaps, survivors to the school.

Some of the topics that will be covered are conflict resolution, bullying, organizing to overcome adversity, and power in numbers, to name a few. It is Phyllis’ hope that the school community can gain insight and understanding of the enormous power of propaganda and the incredible resilience of the human spirit.

It is Phyllis’ vision to see that the performances replicate as closely as possible the Red Cross experience when they visited Theresienstadt.

Solebury School will invite churches, synagogues, community groups and any survivors living in the area to the performances. The performances will be free, but donations will be accepted for an organization that gives aid to victims of genocide, which is in keeping with Solebury School’s nature and Phyllis’ personal philosophy of giving.

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Cathy Block– Always Striving for That Perfect Note

Cathy Block

When Cathy Block performs on flute, she strives to play that perfect note, and get that sound she hears resonating in her head. There’s no doubt that Cathy is the consummate musician. An accomplished flutist and award-winning songwriter, who has scored over five musicals, and over 50 published pop and children’s songs, Cathy now works with Solebury’s young musicians in the Jazz Roots Ensemble and Solebury Rock Band, and teaches a songwriting class, among her other ventures.

“It is an ongoing journey to perform and play as perfectly as possible,” explained Cathy. “And so, the practicing never stops.

Music is my passion, and it is who I am.

It’s always been that way. It is what I think about 24/7. It is the air that I breathe, and I love sharing that passion with other people, especially young people. I have spent my life learning and loving music, so to get to come into young peoples’ lives the way that I do, and to be able to impart some of my experience and enthusiasm is something I’ve always viewed as an honor and privilege, and I take it seriously.”

Cathy is one of six children, and she said, they are a very close family. Music was always important in her life, and it was always in the house.

“My father played in big bands, and my mother was a Broadway chorus girl. They most definitely brought their love of music and the arts into our home.”

For Cathy, becoming a musician and composer was the only path she ever wanted to take. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz composition and arranging from Berklee College of Music, and graduated magna cum laude. She then headed to New York City to pursue her music and songwriting career.

“I didn’t know anyone, and so I made a bunch of cold calls, knocked on doors,” said Cathy. “It took about three years to get someone to listen to my songs. It’s a Catch 22: You have to be in it, to be in it. I got lucky one day, and have always thought I just caught this person in a good mood, but he agreed to let me come and ‘audition’ my work for him. I played him a bunch of demos of my songs, and he loved them! He was one of the managers for a hot group at the time, called New Edition.

This was my first real break. I began writing songs for the group.”

After writing for New Edition and getting some solid songwriting credits, record producers and A&R people were ready to meet Cathy when she knocked at their doors. She started to work and write for a number of acts.

“Al Jarreau was my favorite, because he was on my college wish list of artists I wanted to work with. Al recorded the song, Never Explain Love, co-written by Raymond Jones and me, for Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing. It was the closing credit song for the movie.”

Cathy also worked and wrote songs for music artists, Kool & The Gang, The Manhattans, Tisha Campbell, Myleka and Diana Ross. It was a very exciting time in her life.

After her success in the pop music world, she decided to start writing children’s music. The result, the 1994

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children’s album, Timeless, has thirteen original compositions. Timeless, was given the prestigious Editor’s Choice Award for children’s best audio by The American Library Association’s Book List, as well as the Toy Portfolio Platinum Award for Best Audio from NBC Today Show contributors.

She has also been praised repeatedly by the School Library Journal. Her follow up children’s album, That’s What Kids Do!, received much critical acclaim.

Her musical work with children has been extensive, and includes the formation of The Living Green Children’s Chorus, which has raised thousands of dollars for land preservation in Bucks County. Her original musicals, which are about and star children, have been performed from Ohio to South Africa!

Cathy is also the creator of Music is Wonderful!, a music introductory program developed for pre-schooled aged children.

These days, you can find Cathy performing on flute with several ensembles in the Philadelphia area. She also teaches flute, guitar and composition from her private studio.

“Being a good musician is an everevolving process that never stops, at least if you want to be a true artist at what you do,” said Cathy. “It takes lots of discipline, and hard work. I will come home from a full day, and night of teaching, and/or playing some place, and still sit down and put in real practice time. I’m on it early in the morning, and late at night. Like I said, it’s always about trying to play that perfect note.” ❖

Greg Lipscomb–To Sing is to Play Greg Lipscomb grew up in Richmond, VA and he remembers that people often thought he was shy - until they got to know him. When he learned to play the viola at age 11, he started to gain more confidence and slowly come out of his shell, so to speak.

He attended Open High School, a school similar to Solebury in that it was diverse in many ways and students and teachers were on a first name basis. It was small in numbers and was known for creating the conditions for academic and personal excellence.

“As I was looking to apply to colleges, my viola teacher convinced me to pursue music as a major. It was something I’d always loved and been very passionate about. I must say though, it has been a gradual process finding an approach to music that really suits me,” said Greg.

Greg holds a Master’s degree from The Peabody Institute of Music where he was a recipient of the George Castelle Memorial Award in Voice. His most recent album, Living My Life, which features him as a violist, singer, songwriter and arranger, has been played on radio stations throughout Costa Rica and on WXPN in the Philadelphia area. As an orchestral violist he has Greg Lipscomb performed with such artists as Patti La Belle and Smokey Robinson. As a vocal soloist he has performed in France and Switzerland under the baton of Mislav Rostropovich, in Japan under Yutaka Sado. Greg currently plays viola in the Greater Trenton Symphony. He is a member of the four-piece ensemble, Avalare Strings, and is the instrumental music director here at Solebury School. He teaches several music classes including Instrumental and Advanced Ensemble, Composition, Orchestration, and Arrangement, and Music, Rhythm, and Harmony.

“I started out as a violist, but later discovered I had a singing voice that people were reacting to rather dramatically. My graduate music degree is actually in voice. At the risk of spreading myself too thin, I refused choosing between playing viola and singing,” said Greg. “Eventually I started arranging and writing my own music which has given me more musical freedom. I enjoy the perspective of being a singer and instrumentalist. Some wise person once said, ‘To sing is to play and to play is to sing.’ I really appreciate when musicians/singers have both a sense of breathing with phrases and a sense of rhythm grounded in the beat.”

As a music educator, Greg said he enjoys teaching students to listen to and support each other.

“I love teaching the soft spoken/shy student to be a leader, and to find the dance in the music he/she plays. Time and time again I’ve seen this build confidence and a greater ability to excel in other areas, and I’ve seen music spark a higher level of enjoying life.”

Greg admits some of his own teachers in the past ranged from misguided and oppressive to brilliant and inspirational, but he is thankful for the range of experiences he had as a student. “It’s given me a deeper appreciation for good teaching.”

He continued. “To me, being a good musician /singer means being a good communicator through the language of music. Whether singing or playing an instrument, one benefits from a workable technique, finetuned ears, a sense of rhythm grounded in the beat, and the ability to convey the emotions of a given piece. My advice for any aspiring singer/musician is to sing and play and play and sing. Train your ears to hear intervals and chords, study the technique and vocabulary of your instrument. Meanwhile, keep it fun. If you get this right, you might just think it’s one of the most wonderful things in the world.” ❖

Greg leads his music classes by example

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Dance

Rebecca Summers Wilschutz– A Passion For Dance

Rebecca Summers Wilschutz

Rebecca Summers Wilschutz’s passion for dancing started when she was just four years old, and her passion has not waned since. At age 10, she appeared on the TV show, Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow, which was filmed in Atlantic City.

She taught her first ballet class at age 15.

“I continued dancing with the West Virginia Youth Ballet in high school. I studied ballet, tap and jazz. When my dance teacher gave me my first choreography assignment I knew I wanted to pursue dance as a career.”

Though unsure she could earn a living as a dancer, she continued her dance lessons and pursued a college degree in fashion design and theater education. After college, she went to Germany where she worked at the Five Pfennig Playhouse, teaching dance and choreographing musicals. Her dancing brought out a theatrical side to what she professes to be her rather shy personality.

“While in Germany, I had the opportunity to choreograph for Ulla Blaudin, prima ballerina for the Darmstadt Ballet.

Gradually, my passion for dance expanded to include musical theatre. I fell in love with the genre and the creativity it took to produce and choreograph the musical numbers. I worked under award-winning director James Hanrahan and he taught me everything he knew.”

Rebecca studied with many dance instructors throughout her life, and said two stand out: Romona Rose, her first dance

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teacher and Don McCardle, who helped her discover a passion for Bob Fosse’s choreography. Both nurtured her love of dance and gave her the tools needed to be the kind of teacher that can motivate students. She still keeps in touch with them.

Before coming to Solebury, Rebecca was Artistic Director at Streetsboro Theatre in Ohio for 16 years.

“I had just returned home from Europe from a stint as choreographer/dancer for the first European production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. I saw a newspaper ad to be the theatre’s choreographer. After one show they asked me to take over as artistic director. The theatre offered a musical, a drama and a youth theatre production, with casts of 70 to 100 young people, age 5 to 21. They rehearsed for 10 weeks and offered 12 shows over four weekends. The volunteer production staff numbered 60 to 70 adults, laboring on costume, set, and tech.

Actors came from over 50 different communities throughout northeast Ohio to audition.”

While choreographing every show, Rebecca also choreographed two or three high school shows and community theatre productions. She served as show choir director for two high schools as well. Rebecca accomplished all this during the evenings and weekends after working her full-time job at the theatre.

“I am not sure anything will replace the experience of running my own theatre, being responsible for the details of every show, or being the director/choreographer for the musicals. It’s always so rewarding on opening night, to be able to stand back as a show comes together, and watch the faces of actors and actresses beaming onstage as the audience gives them a standing ovation as the curtain falls.”

She now shares her love of dance and musical theatre with Solebury School students in her classes, which include Dance Exploration, Musical Theatre Dance Styles, Swing Dancing I and II, Choreography, Audition Prep, and Middle School Drama. She is the dance team advisor, offers a tap dance activity, coaches the musical theatre students and choreographs the school’s winter musicals. Her dance classes and dance team attract not only the more seasoned dancers, but novice dancers as well.

“I am thrilled to have started a dance program here at Solebury. It’s exciting to collaborate with the jazz and instrumental ensembles, and have the students dance to live music. We also put movement to the pieces performed by the Solebury chorus. The dance team likes to work with hip-hop and contemporary music. They also have the opportunity to choreograph their own routines.”

Rebecca encourages aspiring dancers to try different dance genres and enroll in master classes with different teachers, as she offered at Solebury last year with a visit from Broadway

actor Alex Puette and professional dancer Caitlin Maxwell.

Each experience will bring something new to their dancing.

Dedication to dance training is essential, said Rebecca. It takes passion and learning good technique to be a good dancer.

“Learn to close your eyes and get lost in the music. See the dance before you step on the floor. The ability to visualize is critical, not only in dance but in musical theatre. One of my strengths as a director/choreographer is that, when I read a script, especially one that grabs me, I can “see” the show – everything – the costumes, the set, the movement, the dance and how it will come together.”

Rebecca offered the same advice for students interested in musical theatre. She suggested acting classes, vocal classes and dance classes, and becoming a triple threat.

“Go see as many productions in as many venues as possible – high school, community theatre, regional, off and on Broadway. Develop a musical theatre palate. At times, you can learn as much from a bad production as you can from a good one.”

Rebecca has been working in the theatre for over 25 years.

Anyone who knows her knows her passion is Bob Fosse and her favorite show is Chicago because of the Fosse choreography.

“I have been lucky enough to direct and choreograph it. I also love that I have introduced this style to the students here at Solebury and we used it last year in the musical Pippin. I’m so excited that I had the opportunity to coach the musical theatre students this past year and they all auditioned and were accepted to colleges where they can continue to pursue their passion. It’s incredible to know that I had a hand in helping them achieve their dreams.”

As Rebecca said good-bye to this year’s graduating class, she was thrilled that six seniors who studied with her will go on to major in the performing arts in college. Three will continue to study dance, and three will pursue a degree and ultimately a career in musical theatre. ❖

Rebecca and her tap dance students search the internet for music

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Theater Tech

Chris Langhart– Theater Technician/Designer Extraordinaire

Chris Langhart (Photo credit: Chris Thomson)

If you were a child of the sixties and enjoyed the rock and roll music of that era, you will surely remember Woodstock, the famed music festival of 1969, and the many rock concerts hosted at The Fillmore East Theater in New York City. Solebury School’s theater technical director Chris Langhart was at the very core of those two music venues in his roles as the technical director at the Fillmore East and as the site director of Woodstock.

During his college years, Chris spent many hours working in theaters. After graduating from Carnegie Tech, now CMU, he was put in charge of technical direction of the five theaters on the Syracuse University campus. From Syracuse, Chris went to New York City.

He began his career as the head of the theatrical technical department at the opening of New York University’s School of the Arts in the late sixties. Because the university was next door to the famous rock concert venue, The Fillmore East, he became the technical director there as well, employing college students to train and work in both theaters. With this background and the fact that most of the Fillmore’s rock promotion team was involved with Woodstock, it was a natural fit for Chris to work as site director and designer for the Woodstock concert.

Chris has been described as a technical genius by Woodstock stage manager John Morris and promoter Miles Lang, someone who can “do anything to anything, anywhere in the world, under any circumstance. There was always an answer, always a solution, and it always worked.” To this day, that statement holds true, as Chris creates elaborate stages for each of Solebury’s theater productions.

Shortly after Woodstock, Chris moved to the Pennsylvania suburbs to get married and raise a family, and although he still had the opportunity to build for Broadway stages at Design Associates Scenic Studios, Lambertville, owned by Jim Hamilton, he decided he

Circa 1968: Chris collaborates with audio consultant and circuit designer John Chester in the electronic shop in the Fillmore East basement (Photo credit: Amalie R. Rothschild)

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didn’t want to travel into New York City anymore, so he settled and found work around Lambertville and Bucks County, eventually teaming up with Solebury’s theater director, Erik Johnke, in early 2000.

Under Chris’ tutelage, Solebury School students who serve on the school’s theater tech crews get a chance to work in all of the trades, learn to design what they really want, and discover and work with tools and materials. Chris also teaches students that it is important in the theater business to have the ability to work well with people and to learn to design and compromise in a collaborative project situation that has a deadline.

“I use the theater, not only to experience the technical side of theater, but as an educational experience dealing with making materials and processes.”

He prepares students for college and theater, because he said, “college is for getting to know the people that think like you think, as they will become your consultants for projects in the future.”

Chris has built many stages from floor to lighting, and Solebury School is lucky to have had Chris as the theater’s technical director for almost 15 years.

Our theater tech students are learning from the best.

Over his career at Solebury, Chris has been a source of employment for many alumni. He has been contracted to do anything from lighting work to constructing theater interiors, to any number of electrical and building projects around Bucks County. After installing the bleacher seating in the transformed Performing Arts Center, he is working with students and alumni to convert the Alumni Gym into a performance venue for our Music and Theater departments.

An integral part of Solebury’s theater program, Chris leads the theater tech crew in light, sound, and stage building.

He teaches courses in metalworking, materials, painting, basic mechanical and electrical systems, ‘How things work,’ sound systems/acoustics, scenic lighting and computer-aided design. ❖

Theater tech Evan Beidler ’13 works closely with Chris

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Alumni in the Arts

Jack Coleman ’76–On the Actor’s Life

Jack Coleman

For those of us who love pop culture, the life of a TV star would appear on the surface to be very glamorous with a bounty of work. Alumnus Jack Coleman ’76 gives us an insider look at what it’s really like to be an actor in Hollywood.

Jack has been a working actor in Hollywood for almost 30 years. His acting career began in 1981, as Chris Kositchek on the TV soap opera, Days of Our Lives.

He went on to play Steven Daniel Carrington in the TV series, Dynasty, for six years, and played Frank Nolan on Nightmare Café in 1992. Recently, he is best known as the character, Noah Bennett, on the science-fiction series, Heroes, which recently ended production in 2010. “‘Working actor’ is one of those interesting showbiz characterizations that can be misleading. It means you are apt to work, more than it means you are actually working. Its feast or famine,” said Jack.

“The last five years have been very good to me, though the previous five were lean, indeed. To still be in the game, although ‘of a certain age,’ is probably my greatest achievement in show business.”

Jack first caught the acting bug at Solebury School. He performed in plays and he played sports, he said, without any of the social stigma often found at larger high schools.

“Peter Brodie’s Shakespeare class, for me, was a dream introduction to the Bard.

We read each play aloud, in addition to studying the text. What a revelation to understand that these were plays that were meant to be performed and enjoyed, not just studied and endured. Unlike most teachers, Peter started with A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream and As You Like It, rather than the shorter and drier Julius Caesar, the standard starting point for most high school studies. He knew that hormonal teenagers were far more likely to relate to other hormonal teenagers, even Elizabethan ones, than they were to plotting heads of state. Given that this was against the backdrop of Watergate, Julius Caesar had its own relevance, to be sure.

Reading the plays aloud got everyone involved and engaged. It also taught me to love spoken language. I think it was an important part of my becoming an actor.”

After graduating from Solebury in 1976, Jack attended Duke University where he was one of six theater majors.

“The program there has grown a lot, though there still tends to be a heavy emphasis on study, rather than performance. In college, I performed in plays and also played JV basketball. My theatrical interests were tolerated by my teammates, though every offensive foul I drew was greeted with hoots of derision and accusations of fraud, or as they called it, ‘acting.’”

Certainly talent is a key ingredient of a good actor, but learning the essence of acting is very important. Like every other profession, passion and experience, along with knowing and honing your strengths, can only make you better.

“The most valuable thing I ever learned in acting class was that the job of the actor is to close the distance between where you leave off and where the character begins. You have to know yourself well enough to understand what characteristics you have naturally and be

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able to modify them. You must first identify those tell-tale characteristics of your own that need to be altered to believably transform yourself into, not someone else, but a version of yourself that no longer ‘tells’ your actual life experience, but rather the life experience of the character. For example, when one watches actor Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter, one marvels at the distance travelled from a Welsh-born, English Primary schoolboy to a working class, crack addicted, Lowell, Massachusetts prize fighter. He closed the distance so that not a flicker of light peeked between the two personas. That’s great acting.”

Jack is asked frequently to offer advice to aspiring actors.

“Work at it, perform in a community theater and be in an acting class every day until you are working professionally.

Unless you are astonishingly beautiful, don’t expect a nightclub to be your launching pad. In LA, everyone is beautiful, the barista at Starbucks, the teller at your bank, and the agent’s assistant who won’t let you in the door.”

Many young actors have asked him how to get an agent. “I ask what they have done,” said Jack. “Often the reply is a few amateur or school productions. I tell them they don’t deserve an agent. If they stick around, I follow that with, ‘Yet. Think of your acting career as tennis. How are your ground strokes? How’s your serve? Could you return Roddick’s serve? No? Well, if you get tossed into a movie with a great actor and you can’t return serve, you’re done. It’s sometimes hard for young actors to understand that being ready for their shot is as important as getting their shot.’”

Having done mostly television throughout his long career, Jack will tell you that life on the set of a TV show is different for each show.

“An actor on a multi-camera, half-hour show works four days a week, maybe for 10 hours, and never wanders far from the cozy confines of a studio. A one-hour show, single-camera (misnomer – they’re all multiple camera) show like Heroes shoots 14 hours a day in the mountains at night, through rainstorms on shipping docks, and

Jack in his role as Noah Bennett, in the TV show Heroes

until the wee hours of Saturday morning and then starts up again in the wee hours of Monday morning, two very different experiences. The one constant: it really helps if you like your cast mates, and if you should be so lucky as to one day be Monk or House – you will never see your family again. You are the show, the show is you.”

The day-to-day nuts and bolts of a one-hour drama is repetitious and painstaking, he explained. “There are moments when a dramatic acting scene can be riveting, or a car can come flying around a corner and flip over, and that can be shocking and amazing, but usually watching the proceedings on a television set, with the many shots required from multiple angles and with different lenses, it can be like watching paint refuse to dry.”

Jack hastened to add that it’s not boring for the actors.

“Often, we look forward to a chance to try different things or just get up to speed with the scene. In television, especially, where there is so little rehearsal, sometimes you rehearse on film. That is, you shoot film, hoping it’s usable, but everyone understands that you might not get it in the first few takes.”

Since Heroes ended, Jack has done episodes of House, The Mentalist, recurred on The Office with more episodes to come, and starred in a Hallmark movie that aired on June 11, 2011. He has written a movie, but the safety net has been removed, once again. While he is in a stronger position than a few years ago, the future is, again, unknowable.

Between acting jobs Jack is looking for work, meeting, auditioning, writing, trying to raise money for his screenplay with his producing partners, and being dad, which includes coaching soccer and lots of driving to and from practices and tournaments. He also likes to get out of town during down time, which is, of course, dependent on his daughter’s busy school schedule. ❖

Jack with Milo Ventimiglia (L), Zachary Quinto (behind), and Adrian Pasdarck, the 4 were fooling around at the end of the last season of Heroes

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Jeff Vespa ’88–Shooting for the Stars

Jeff Vespa (Meyer)

Alumnus Jeff Vespa’s ’88 (Meyer) first break as one of the Hollywood’s best known red carpet photographers happened quite by accident – or maybe it was fate. In May 1998, Jeff was working at a job he didn’t like much, when he found an internet job listing that read, “Wanted: Photographer for Red Carpet premieres in Los Angeles.” At first, Jeff thought it a joke, but printed out the ad and kept it on his desk.

After a few days, he decided to call. What could he lose? On the phone, the voice at the other end asked him, “Are you available tonight?” Jeff said, “Yeah, I’m available.” Their regular photographer had moved and they needed someone to cover the Bulworth premiere with Warren Beatty, he was told. Jeff needed a flash, a battery pack, and a zoom lens, all items he did not own. The one thing he did own was a good Canon camera with a 50 mm lens. He rented the other equipment and had his girlfriend deliver it to him at the premiere. She did, but the lens he was given was for a Nikon, not a Canon. He would have to shoot with the 50 mm lens, which wasn’t optimal because a red carpet photographer needs a wide angle lens to be able to shoot both the full length photos and close up head shots. Jeff shot the premiere anyway, developed the film, took it to the office, and met with the agent he had spoken to on the phone. They looked through the photos together, and the agent liked them. Jeff confessed that he had shot the photos with the 50 mm lens. The response, “You shot this with a 50 – You’re hired!”

At first, Jeff wasn’t making much money, but his celebrity photo archive grew. He and his partner Steve Granitz, one of the most prolific celebrity photographers in the business, decided to start their own photo agency, but this time, do it online.

It was 2000. The internet had started to take off and companies were adding web addresses to commercials. Jeff created a website, and with an archive of about 25,000 celebrity digital images between partners, they continued to sell their images to magazines but now were selling online through their website. In 1998, Jeff made a deal with yahoo.com and in 2000 with imdb.com for photography (both deals are still in place today). The demand for digital images was growing. Jeff and his partner decided they needed a better platform for the website, so they partnered with a company that had the right technology and funding.

“On January 1, 2001 nine partners officially started WireImage. By October 2001, WireImage was the biggest celebrity website in the country, with the largest market share of any U.S. photo agency,” said Jeff. “In 2007, six years after starting the online photo agency from practically nothing, we sold WireImage to Getty Images for $207 million.”

Jeff and Steve still work as photographers for WireImage.

Jeff’s career has taken him down many paths. He is seriously interested in filmmaking, producing and directing.

Since 1996, he’s made several movies, including a 10 minute short film Nosebleed, starring David Arquette, that was featured at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 and just this year, another short, Children of the Spider, starring Mena Suvari and Sam Trammel. He is also planning to produce a documentary film called The Story of LIFE for Life Magazine’s 75th Anniversary, and as of this writing, he and his writing partner Ilene Staple are working on a screenplay for a feature film, which he will produce and direct.

“The thing about photography and art, and the reason why an artist creates is because of the need to express oneself.” said Jeff. “I’ve found that moviemaking, more than the photography, is that place where I can express myself the most, and to me, Nosebleed is the most perfect piece of art that I have done so far.”

Just two of Jeff’s many cover photos for People and Life Magazine

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His photo career still thrives. He is the official photographer for the Sundance Film Festival (since 2003) and the Toronto International Film Festival (since 2006). He teamed up with Paris Hilton in 2004 to create the NY Times bestselling book, Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, which was followed by Your Heiress Diary: Confess it All to Me. He was named Editor-at-Large of Life.com in March 2009. In addition to his photography and film career, he is a part-owner of the art gallery, The Hole in New York City, and he recently opened an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles called Pici, named after the handmade Tuscan pasta that is served there.

Before coming to Solebury in the late 1980s, Jeff knew he wanted to be a photographer. He had come from Baltimore, MD. The summer before he matriculated, he purposefully shot a series of artful photos of all his friends to document their childhood together. He used his mother’s camera, one she had used for a photography class. He had read the manual and helped her learn how to use the camera. That series of photos, he explained, solidified his passion for photography.

Once at Solebury, he honed his photography skills.

“I was an assistant teacher, helping with photography classes and teaching the other students how to develop and print film,” said Jeff. “I was excited to always have a professional darkroom at my disposal. I would stay in there for hours and sneak back to my room late at night. Having that experience before college was huge for me. The level of teaching and the facilities were as good as I could have ever wanted, and I feel like my work was treated very seriously. We critiqued work very seriously. None of it was like high school. I believe we treated it just as importantly back then as anything I do right now. It was a major part of my development. I put together a great portfolio, printed the pictures and cut the mats, which helped me get accepted to the School of Visual Arts in New York. I still have that portfolio.”

A talented, reliable, and personable guy, Jeff is himself, now a celebrity. Jeff has developed relationships with many actors and artists, people just like him. As an artist, he feels lucky to be the one who captures an actor’s rising career or memorable moment in images.

“For example, I knew Adrien Brody before anyone knew who he was. I’ve watched actors like Adrien rise to fame, after knowing them for so many years, and then being able to be a part of that is special for me. The night he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in the film, The Pianist, I was backstage and one of the first to congratulate him that night. Not only was I able to be a part of that moment, but I was able to photograph it, so forever I’m a part of that moment in his life. Being a part of that history, being a part of the entertainment industry, is the thing that I always wanted and now that’s what I do.”

To read more about Jeff, visit his website, www.jeffvespa.com. ❖ Jeff works on a photo shoot with actress Penelope Cruz

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Laurie Kennedy ’63–A Lifetime of Acting

Laurie Kennedy ‘63

It is no surprise that Laurie Kennedy ’63 caught the acting bug early in life and has remained passionate about acting all of her life.

Laurie is the daughter of five-time Oscar nominated actor Arthur Kennedy, and actress Mary Cheffey.

“I was surrounded by theater, and movies and television when I was a young child, and always would hear stories about my father’s experiences in theater, and my mother’s as well. I grew up in that world.”

While Laurie has made numerous film and television appearances, Laurie’s career was mostly devoted to the stage. She was nominated for a Tony Award in 1979 as Best Actress for her role in George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman. Her latest project in 2010 was a role in the film, Armless, about a man who suffers from Body Integrity Identity Disorder, an actual psychological condition in which an individual doesn’t feel whole unless he or she loses one or more limbs.

After Laurie graduated from Solebury School, she attended Sarah Lawrence College as a theater major.

Each year, two seniors were chosen

from the class and sent to Chicago for a theater communications group. They did two auditions, one modern and one classical, for directors from all the repertory theaters in the U.S. Laurie was chosen to go, and out of that audition, she was hired at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT, where she remained a member for many years. That was her first break into professional theater. Before that, she had been an apprentice at the Williamstown Summer Theater and while there, she was chosen to play Irina in the Chekhov play, The Three Sisters. She was 18 years old. Laurie did quite a bit of work with Nikos Psacharopoulos, the artistic executive director and co-founder of the Williamstown Theater Festival for more than 30 years.

The life of an actor, Laurie explained, is kind of like being a gypsy.

“You’re hired somewhere, usually in a repertory theater and you go to that city. You get to explore America,” said Laurie. “I’ve been out to the west coast, Midwest, and up and down the eastern seaboard, at various theaters throughout my life. Each cast is a new experience. Each director is usually a new experience.”

Laurie performed Shaw’s, Saint Joan, in three different theaters.

“I remember doing tons of research on St. Joan, reading all the history about her. I immersed myself in the racial consciousness of the time period I was doing. I was fortunate to perform in a lot of turn-of-the-century plays, including six Shaw plays. That period of literature attracted me. I did a lot of Edwardian plays early on. I love that literature so I read it all the time.”

Laurie has done some television over the years. She was never as comfortable doing TV as she was doing theater. She felt more in control in the theater.

“You open the show, you start the show, and nobody stops you when you’re doing a play. In TV, the sound is done in one take, or someone

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messed up a line and you have to retake, or you’re waiting to get the lights and the sound right. It’s a very different rhythm.”

Certainly, it’s more intense to do something on Broadway than in a repertory theater, explained Laurie.

You still do your best in your performance, but the pressure around you is more heightened on Broadway.

At Solebury, Laurie remembers doing her first play, The Glass Menagerie, under the direction of Michael Casey. She did it with fellow students John McCook and Pat Dale.

Pat was in the class ahead of her. She played the role of Laura. They did it in a barn down the street from Solebury, and on opening night, Laurie noticed all these things flying around the stage during a scene. At first, she thought people were throwing paper airplanes, but it turned out to be bats. They started swooping down into the seats.

“Michael Casey loved drama and he loved theater. That was my first experience so it certainly influenced me becoming an actress,” said Laurie.

“I was lucky enough to be at Solebury when all the founders were still alive, Laurie Erskine, Robert Shaw, Arthur Washburn, and Julian Lathrop. I interacted with all of them, particularly Julian Lathrop and Arthur Washburn. Being a part of something that started with these men is something amazing. I also remember fondly David Leshan, my English teacher, and Bill Orrick, who was the headmaster. In my senior year, I was the only student studying Latin and Bill Orrick was my teacher. We breezed along for half a year and he said, ‘Well, you don’t need to do this anymore. Would you like to study Greek? So we started studying Greek, but we didn’t prolong it because of other things like the SATs. It was an amazing experience.” ❖

Life on the Road with Langhorne Slim (aka alumnus Sean Scolnick ’99) With an acoustic guitar in hand and a fedora dipped just so slightly to shadow his eyes, Langhorne Slim takes the stage to perform several times a week as he tours the country with his band, The Law. Some might say Slim’s music is an eclectic mix of alternative bluegrass, neo-folk, and country-punk. Whatever category of music it is, his fans can’t get enough of him.

Langhorne Slim, known to fellow Soleburians as Sean Scolnick ’99, is totally consumed with his music. He is either touring the country with his band or he is at home where his time is spent writing songs and getting ready to hit the road again.

If you haven’t guessed, Sean loves the musician’s life.

“My favorite part of being a musician is playing for and connecting with an audience. It’s the most natural part of the process for me and what I enjoy the most,” said Sean. “I spend most of my time on the road. We tour about 8 months out of the year so a lot of my life is spent in a smelly van with my friends. We drive by day and play shows at night.”

When Slim is not on tour, he is writing songs, and is hardly ever lacking for song ideas, inspired by the world around him.

“I find almost everything is inspiring some days and on others nothing at all. But inspiration can come from anywhere for me. It’s all around us. I have never had a fixed process though I envy those who do. I write best when I’m in the moment and Sean Scolnick (Langhorne Slim) performing at the the feeling strikes. I have no idea where or why that feeling comes but I’m sure glad Fillmore East (Photo credit: Kathyrn Friedman) when it drops by.”

He’ll come up with a tune, and bring it to the band. They work on it together with great results.

Over the years on the road, Sean has had quite a few memorable moments. Certainly one that stands out was his appearance on the David Letterman show in 2008, where he performed the first single from the album, Restless, and received rave reviews.

While he can’t credit Solebury School for influencing his style of music, it did help him gain confidence to do his own thing.

“Though I struggled at times to say the least, I found that Solebury allowed me to be myself and instead of condemning those of us who were a little outside of the box, so to speak, I found that I was praised more for being artistic than not. The public school I came from was so restricting and suffocating to anybody that didn’t fit the mold. Arriving at Solebury was a breath of fresh air.”

Slim has seven records to his credit, and he is currently working on another. He and his band do over 150 shows and major music festivals across the US and have done stints in Europe.

To fellow singer/songwriters Sean sends this advice. “Keep writing, believe in yourself and don’t let anybody or anything stand in your way.” ❖

Langhorne Slim (center) with his band, The Law (Photo credit: Kathyrn Friedman)

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Alma’s Update Summer 2011 NEWS FROM SOLEBURY ALUMNI The alumni office is missing the following yearbooks. If you have one to spare, please mail it to Solebury School, 6832 Phillips Mill Road, New Hope, PA 18938.

1952, 1965, 1967 and 1970

COED MERGER 1950-Present

Class of 1956 Karl Welsh visited the Rachel Class of 1941 and Jack Newkirk in Henry Garlington reports no fascinating news; I’m Mashpee, MA. traveling less often than in the past. I do work out at the gym fairly successfully four days a week in hope of Class of 1958 HOLMQUIST SCHOOL FOR GIRLS controlling the flab build up.

1917-1949 Bob Stockton is still writing.

Here’s what Apex.com has to say about Bob’s book, Class of 1947 Class of 1940 Listening To Ghosts, an autobiography.

Carla Rosenlicht is a snowbird living 5 months in Arizona Phil Reiss saw Al and Phyllis Smeeth on a visit to Sedona, “If you sit at the feet of any military veteran, you are sure and the rest in Oregon when she is not traveling. She just AZ last February. Al is a mining geologist having worked in to be regaled by stories of danger, adventure, and bought a townhouse in Corvallis where her daughter Colorado for 30 years after graduating from Solebury. Al conquest that rival anything out of the best of Tom Clancy teaches at Oregon State University and her son-in-law gave the Reiss’s a geologist tour of his part of Arizona novels. Life in the military is about more than killing and does cancer research. Her oldest son is a clinical including the old mining town of Jerome, which is perched warfare, though, and the candid, often frail humanity of our professor at University of California San Francisco and the on the side of a mountain. brave servicemen and women is a side of them we rarely other son keeps the San Francisco water clean. Her get to see.” adopted daughter is a horse trainer and riding instructor. Class of 1949 Throughout the pages of Listening To Ghosts, author Bob Carla is busy and active in the AARP tax program and sings David Hovey sends in his annual fund check with a note: Stockton puts that humanity on full display. In his moving Every little bit helps! Keep the faith! Thanks again for my memoir, Stockton recounts his quite colorful experiences in many choruses. super, decent education. Thank you, David! as he served in the U.S. Navy, being exposed to people, Class of 1945 places, and events he could hardly ever dream of as a April Blackburn Hill and her husband, Bob continue to Class of 1951 youth growing up in a nondescript Northeastern working enjoy retirement life at Rogue Valley Manor in Medford, Dick Mack reports that this summer Cynthia and he went class neighborhood. Through all the joyous highs and Oregon. They are kept busy with numerous activities and visiting first to Wanda and Nick Simons in Bethany Beach, depressing lows, Stockton learned invaluable life lessons interesting people. In nearby Ashland they attend an Delaware then down to Blairsville, Georgia to Ray that stick with him to this day, and he shows no hesitation excellent chamber music series at Southern Oregon Folgelson and Karen Luckritz. Hope to see all our in sharing those lessons with the reader. Equally University, and see some of the plays at the Oregon classmates and same era alumni at the reunion in May. enlightening and entertaining, Listening To Ghosts is highly Shakespeare Festival.

Let’s make it big. Got a call from Chuck Schwartz – he recommended for anyone who wants to know just how life April continues to work on art projects, and sometimes has sounds great – hope to see him at the reunion. in the military truly exists. one accepted in juried exhibitions. Last year she won First You can order Bob’s book at amazon.com.

Place for a 16-unit collage at Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon. April, at age 83, walks two miles a day around Class of 1959 the Rouge Valley Manor campus. She remembers doing Wistar Silver is still residing in Doylestown with wife quite a bit of walking from Holmquist School to New Hope Rachel. They recently celebrated their 47th wedding and back with a small group of girls. April was considered anniversary. a “responsible girl”!

Class of 1960 Class of 1949 Rick Smith boasts that Lummox Press has published his new book Hard Karl Welsh, Director of Annual Giving visited Agnes Landing. It’s about the mythology and Steven-Hubbard Former Faculty, Tad Evans ’51, Jean legacy of the wren.

Storrs Evans ’59, and Valerie Evans.

Rick enjoyed the 50th reunion and visiting with John Sieble ’60, Mira Nakashima Class of 1952 ’59, Herb Markman ’60, Bill Frankenstein Dick Walsh is looking forward to the 60th reunion next ’60, and Morna McGoldrick Livingston year and hopes to have a quorum. ’59. Michael Casey was pivotal for me at Solebury turning us onto Yates, Burroughs and Lieber and Stoller in the Class of 1953 same breath.

Noëlle Kennedy Masukawa, at Manhattan’s Skyline Park Jean Affleck is still getting rid of antiques from her New with son, Jeff Masukawa and husband Terry.

Jersey home. She moved into the heart of downtown Class of 1961 Charleston, SC – a mini New Hope!

Sandra Mason Dickson Coggeshall was devastated by the SOLEBURY SCHOOL FOR BOYS loss of Jim MacArthur ’56 and will treasure memories from Class of 1955 school days in the 1950s and later reunions. Sandra is a Class of 1947 Carol Holder Livingston shares some sad news. Her believer in life-long education and has been studying oil Ernest Hankamer writes…80th birthday a year ago, golden darling mother, Hilda Holder, died at 99 years old. How she painting with Ronald Frontin since February. In October, wedding anniversary a year from now, oldest grandson loved Solebury. Husband Mayo had unexpected open her daughter Lisa married Rodger Strickland. Grandson going on 21…how is this possible? heart surgery in late November. He’s doing well now. Life Sam was best man. They are living in Devon and hope to is good – appreciate it every day. be there in April just before the class of 1961’s 50th reunion Peter Whelan just completed a novel set in 1907 New at Solebury.

Orleans called The Cornet Lesson. Freddie Keppard, the Tony and Penny Evans are heavily involved in Maryland city’s dominant cornetist, encounters a range of Hall of Creative Arts. Penny is on the Board of Directors. Class of 1962 personalities from Buddy Bolden (first man of Jazz) thru They are always looking for funding. If you’d like to Toni Peters muses: While listening to Says You! I heard a E.J. Belloc (infamous photographer) to the legendary Tony support the Arts, here is the link: http://www. definition and derivation of alma mater – “nurturing Jackson (man of a thousand songs). marylandhall.org/home_flash.asp. mother” – that, of course, led me to think of Solebury. It

SUMMER 2011 was the second day in a row that the word “nurturing” led me to muse on its complexity. The first occasion related to Friend A telling me that Friends B & C had broken up despite the fact that Friend B is “very nurturing.” Hmmm, I wonder: how welcome her nurturing was. Nurturing means fostering, encouraging, and developing. Does that imply helping someone meet goals he has set for himself?

I hope so. It strikes me that Solebury’s philosophy of trying to help each student realize his/her own potential and goals is very much in sync with being an alma mater.

Toni had briefly contemplated retirement but when she received an invitation from the Turkish Ministry of Education to give a talk at a conference entitled “The Brain and Education” last February, she put thoughts of retirement on hold. After the talk, Toni visited 5 archaeological sites including the ruins of the school on Kos where Hippocrates taught.

Class of 1963 John Funk is still practicing law in New Hampshire. John lives in a small town in a wonderful one-of-a-kind 18th Century house (former country store). He has two kids who live on the west coast, both married and starting to deliver grandchildren. John loves to travel and is going to Turkey next year.

Class of 1966 Rick Row reports that one person who strongly influenced him during his day student years at Solebury School was a Phillips Mill neighbor named Margaret Hilles Shearman.

Already in her early 90s when he knew her, Miss Shearman had been a Latin teacher at the Holmquist School for Girls. A 1906 graduate of Bryn Mawr (along with classmate and friend Edith Hamilton who authored several well-known books about Greek and Roman mythology), Miss Shearman always had afternoon tea and cookies for a growing and hungry young man. Since her eyesight was failing her, Miss Shearman frequently asked that he read New York Times articles to her. Another regular guest for afternoon tea was Carl Holmquist. In the My Profile page of Solebury School’s website, Rick has posted an early 1960s photo, the only photo he has of Carl Holmquist and Miss Shearman, two long since deceased individuals who Rick considered personal friends.

Class of 1968

Former Solebury librarian Sally Foulkrod and her husband visited Sandy Hoffacker at her job last December.

Sandra Hoffacker was sad to hear of the passing of both Art Washburn ’45 and Henry Lindenmeyr ’56. Both were friends that in their own way added to her decision to move to the land where the earth meets the sky. Henry talked of moving to Colorado but couldn’t leave his bit of heaven on Ash Mill Rd and Art sent a photo with a walking stick standing in the middle of where the earth met the sky on the east coast of Oregon in the late 80s. Sandy says, their spirits, as well as those who have come before, still make their presence known to me where I live in the land where the earth still meets the sky.

Class of 1973 Jackie French is a Neurology Professor at New York University commuting to Philly for the weekend. She happily keeps in touch with former classmates on Facebook.

THE ALMA Class of 1975 Michael Crotsky received his degree in Social Work from Lehman College (City University of New York) after retiring from New York City Transit Authority.

Class of 1976 Will Sgarlet says life is good! He has a terrific family, a fun job and an excellent workshop in the basement where he tinkers and builds stuff as a hobby. He’s evolved into a mechanical designer and loves to build remote control airplanes and boats, as well as mechanized art that makes people scratch their heads. Will enjoys fixing broken things and rejuvenating them to their former glory.

He rides his mountain bike on Cape Cod, where the trails are tremendously fun and challenging.

“At Solebury, my most immediate family were my fellow students and teachers.” Will has very fond memories of Solebury School and all the individuals that made it a unique place in which to live, learn and grow.

Class of 1977 In May, 2011 Rachel Simon published her second novel (and sixth book), The Story of Beautiful Girl. The book is an unforgettably moving love story about the improbable odds faced by a couple with disabilities and a lost child.

It received terrific reviews and became a New York Times best seller within two weeks. (That is a first for Rachel!)

“The Solebury community, including those who connected with me on Facebook, has been very supportive. It’s been very exciting.”

By the way, Rachel’s blog is fantastic. Go read it! http://rachelsimon.com/blog/

PAGE 2 Class of 1980 and 1981 A smattering of 80s alumni made it back for alumni weekend.

Pablo Schor ’80, Kia Jacobson ’81, Scott Lynch ’81, Peter Cenedella ’81, Andrea Sherman ’81.

Theresa Quindlen ‘80, Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn ’81, Andrea Sherman ’81, Anne Blasko ’80, and Jo Prockop ’81.

Class of 1982 and 1983

Class of 1978 Three cheers for classmates Melissa Hamilton whose cookbook series Canal House Cooking is taking the food world by storm. Gwyneth Paltrow is a huge fan!

Amy Ford, also known as Ambika Devi, has a wonderful CD called Enchantment.

Amy describes the music as follows: Enchantment can be used as a means to boost energy and give healing to the entirety of our beings.

Some of the sacred mantras in this album are closer to the way I first heard them sung by my beloved teachers. Others began as written words, passed on to me through friends or discovered in my reading. These mantras transformed in my consciousness and morphed into song through divine inspiration.

A customer review: Amy Ford’s album Enchantment is a rarity in yoga music. It mixes a plethora of styles: Buddhist, Native American, Sikh and Hindu chants with unique instrumentation like didgeridoo. The result is a fun, upbeat, danceable party of a yoga album.

To purchase a CD go to this website: http://www.invinciblemusic.com/ambikadevi/enchantment Class of 1979 Cynthia Keler was granted tenure and promotion to associate professor at Delaware College.

Fred Royal is working like mad to preserve valuable and beautiful natural resources while promoting smart growth and low impact development.

David Toron ‘82 and Laryssa Small Clark ‘83.

Class of 1985 Robin Woosnam Haff was shocked to learn that Geoff Tilden retired. She writes, “Geoff, you were by far the best teacher I have ever had, even after 2 college degrees. It’s hard to put into words, but you gave me strength when I didn’t think I had any, you were patient when I had no patience left. You always trusted me when I didn’t trust myself. You were a friend but a teacher (that yelled sometimes, loved that). Honestly I parent my kids in a Solebury manner - unbiased, challenged, but still have rules. My older daughter is going to start her undergrad at Penn State and wants to be a veterinarian; my younger daughter wants to be a teacher. She is such a good soul and reminds me of you. I just wanted you to know in your retirement you played a role in who I am today.

Class of 1987 Aaron Keane is living in Chapel Hill, NC with wife Julie, Ruben (9) and August (5). Writing music for TV Film: Great Inca Rebellion on PBS, Kate Plus 8 and Sister Wives. Life is good!

Indra Lahir, a Ph.D. and organizational psychologist/ industrial anthropologist, decided five years ago to make a major change in her life. By day, Indra helps corporations like The Coca-Cola Company and Texaco build their diversity initiatives. She’s served on the faculty at Cornell and Penn State University. She has been a featured speaker at many conferences and universities, and guest on a number of talk shows. She’s published a

SUMMER 2011 popular book and numerous articles on cultural diversity.

Indra has saved countless animals from animal shelters and brought them to live with her in Mehoopany, PA on 30 acres she bought four years ago when her Bucks County home was no longer big enough to house her growing animal family. Once labeled “un-adoptable,” these dogs, cats, horses, pigs, roosters, goats, peacocks, sheep, turkeys, cows, ducks and chickens now have a dedicated and loving caretaker and safe haven.

Indra’s sanctuary, called Indraloka Animal Sanctuary (www.indraloka.org), “God’s Heaven” in Sanskrit, and the only one of its kind on the east coast, provides animals in desperate need with a lifetime of safe refuge, including love, compassion, gentle care, and dignity. Indraloka takes in abused, neglected, or abandoned animals of every species. Her team of 20 volunteers focus on those with severe medical or behavioral issues that would otherwise be considered un-adoptable, providing veterinary care, retraining, and nurturing to bring each animal back to full health, and then keeping them at the sanctuary for the rest of their natural lives.

THE ALMA MARRIAGES

Photo by Josh Rigling.

Hope Newhouse ’02 was married to Delphine Kilhoffer August 14, 2010. They were married in Rockport, MA and are living in Paris, where Hope works as an actress.

BABIES

Class of 1997 Matt Merwin had 3 sculptures accepted into the “Works in Wood” art show in New Hope.

Class of 1999 Rebeka Horowitz completed a law degree and is about to earn her Master’s in Public Health.

Class of 2002 Brittany Korn Winfeld is a surgical resident at NYU and her husband, Matt, is a resident at NYU in radiology.

Class of 2003 Laura Downs is pursuing her Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the SIT (School of International Training) Graduate Institute. She will spend the upcoming year in South Africa interning with a rural development organization and writing her thesis.

Olivia Douglas Cook Rachael Scott Cook ’95 Corey, Rachael & Henley Cook would like to present.

Olivia Douglas Cook Born on January 6th, 2011 8 lbs. 8 oz.

20 inches

Class of 2004 Jessica Giffin received her Master of Arts degree in forensic psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2010 and in fall 2011 will teach history and be a college coordinator and assisting with the theatre program at the Woodhull School in CT. Class of 2006 Malcolm J. Ingram of Philadelphia University has completed his Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to Argentina. Malcolm was one of over 1,500 U.S. citizens who travelled abroad for the 2010-2011 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Class of 2008 Holly Mutascio has been interested in studying on the tundra for quite some time and has been trying to find fieldwork up north for the past few summers. This summer, she made it to the Arctic! She went to Sweden at the end of June and spent July somewhere in northern Sweden interning with Professor Anders Angerbjorn. They trapped and tagged arctic foxes, studied their behavior, trapped lemmings, and did some vegetation mapping. She earned credit at Stockholm University. After a couple of years of applying to formal programs and consistently being rejected, Holly got this internship by e-mailing Professor Angerbjorn directly after having read one of his papers!

Class of 2009 Nate Danciger had the male lead in The Fantasticks at the Monarch Theater in Newtown.

PAGE 3

Meghan Perry, Administrative Support, Admissions and College Guidance, added two more babies to the home!

A huge welcome to Meg Perry’s little girls, born June 12, 2011 at 7:52 and 7:53am.

Lauren Elizabeth was a healthy 6 lbs. 15 oz., and Julia Katherine was 6 lbs. 2 oz.

The Eichman family welcomed a new baby boy on May 20th, 2011.

Brooks Robert Eichem all 9 lbs, 8 oz. Rumor has it he can already hit a fastball.

Jen and Dan Perez welcome their 3rd child to the world on February 17th, 2011. Ian Meringolo Perez weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Daniel and MacKenzie Perez love their baby brother.

DEATHS Peter Hobbs ’36 January 19, 1918-January 2, 2011 After a brief illness, Peter passed away peacefully at his home in Santa Monica surrounded by family. Born in Etretat, France, to Dr. Austin L. Hobbs and Mabel Foote Hobbs, Peter was raised in New York City, attended Solebury School in PA, and graduated in Drama from Bard College. In World War II he served in Europe as a Sergeant in Combat Engineering and fought at the Battle of the Bulge.

Peter was especially proud of his role in safeguarding the lives of the men in his platoon. Peter enjoyed a 50-year career as an actor in theater, TV, and film. He played on Broadway (notably, Teahouse of the August Moon and Billy Budd; on TV (from his role as Peter Ames in Secret Storm from 1954 to 1962, to Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Bonanza, All in the Family, The Odd Couple, Streets of San Francisco, Happy Days, Barney Miller, Lou Grant, M*A*S*H, Knots Landing, L.A. Law, and dozens more); and in film (Sleeper, The Man with Two Brains, 9 to 5, Any Which Way You Can, The Andromeda Strain, In the Mood, and The Lady in Red.) Peter is survived by his wife of 28 years, Carolyn Adams Hobbs.

Anthony (Tony) Layng ’51 March 6, 1931-June 12, 2011 Tony Layng a Winston-Salem tennis enthusiast and an emeritus professor of anthropology, died on Sunday, June 12, 2011. (He would want it pointed out that he has neither “gone” somewhere nor “passed over” anything.) A life-long religious skeptic, he graduated from Solebury School, completed undergraduate work at Rollins College and Columbia University, and received an M.A. from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Case Western Reserve.

He was awarded a Purple Heart as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War. He was actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi for four years and was a leader for Operation Crossroads Africa in Lesotho.

The National Institute of Mental Health supported his ethnographic research on the Carib Reserve in Dominica in the Caribbean, and he worked under John Hope Franklin as a Danforth Foundation Fellow in Black Studies at the University of Chicago. He taught at Washington, Tougaloo, Rollins, and Oberlin Colleges in addition to 20 years at Elmira College in New York, from which he retired in 1997. It was then that he, with his beloved wife Donna, settled in Winston-Salem and taught as an adjunct professor at Wake Forest. Donna Layng is a well-known artist in the area and was Tony’s favorite doubles tennis partner.

SUMMER 2011 Tony was active as a Shepherd’s Center Board member and volunteer, and he regularly taught in their Adventures in Learning Program. He also served on the WinstonSalem Human Relations Commission, the Board of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Chateau Ridge Homeowners Association Board as its president. He was a member of the Wake Forest Tennis Center and an active participant in USTA league play.

He is the author of a University Press of America book on the Carib Indians of Dominica and numerous journal and magazine articles on the nature of religion, women, black Americans, American Indians, human sexuality, and evolution. He devoted his professional career to promoting critical thinking and challenging biblical literalism. His students were consistently encouraged to develop a cross-cultural perspective on customary human behavior and to recognize as well as see beyond their own cultural biases.

Art Washburn ’42 July 12, 1928-September 29, 2010 Art was the nephew of Arthur Washburn, one of the founders of Solebury.

Art was born in San Mateo, CA and grew up in Denver, CO. He graduated from Manual Training High School, where he enjoyed writing short stories in his English class. He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, won a short story contest sponsored by the Air Force Times, and became a historian during the Korean conflict. From then on he wrote stories and poems whenever he could. Art earned a BA from Reed College, Portland, OR, a MA from Gallaudet College (now University) in Washington, D.C. and a PhD. from Columbia Pacific University. For 45 years he enthusiastically taught deaf children dedicating his life to the betterment of their lives and education. Art taught at the state schools for the deaf in Colorado and Maine, Riverside (CA) Community College, the Community College of Denver (now Front Range Community College), and the University of Northern Colorado Lab School in Greeley as well as several public schools.

Art moved to the Valley 12 years ago and continued to teach sign language and calligraphy at every opportunity.

He pursued art from a young age continuing until near death doing oil and acrylic painting and calligraphy. Art wrote prose, but his main interest in poetry led to the publication of three books: Shadow-maker, poems which depicts scenes from the San Luis Valley area, Miss Lavington’s Bomb, short stories and poems, and Eye of the Heart, selected poems. Many of these stories and poems offer insights into his career and life. He is survived by his wife, Pauline.

Michael Laine ’54 July 1, 1936 – January 16, 2011.

Born in Philadelphia, PA, and raised on the East Coast, Michael loved to call himself a New Yorker. Michael attended the University of New Mexico. He served in the U.S. Army. He moved to Reno, NV in 1967 to work at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was a Captain in the Reno Police Auxiliary. He was Commander of the Northern NV Drug Crime Unit which he helped establish. Michael worked in the Hotel/Casino industry in Nevada & California for most of his life. He recently retired from Choice Hotels Int’l. During his retirement, he enjoyed his volunteer work at The Animal Ark. James MacArthur ’56 December 8, 1927-October 28, 2010.

James, who for 11 seasons, booked ‘em on Hawaii Five-O, passed away October 28th, 2010. He was 72.

THE ALMA James was born in Los Angeles, California and raised in a theatre atmosphere by his parents, the First Lady of the American stage, Helen Hayes and noted playwright Charles MacArthur residing at their home, “Pretty Penny,” on the bank of the Hudson River in Nyack, New York.

As an actor, James had three separate careers, live stage, movies and television. In 1955, prior to his senior year at the Solebury School, James appeared in the TV play, Deal a Blow. After graduation and before going to Harvard, he went to Hollywood to make the film version of it, renamed The Young Stranger which earned him a nomination in the Most Promising Newcomer category at the 1958 BAFTA awards. During summer breaks from Harvard he made The Light in the Forest and Third Man on the Mountain for Walt Disney. In 1959 and 1960, he made both Kidnapped and Swiss Family Robinson for Disney and made his Broadway debut playing Aaron Jablonski opposite Jane Fonda in Invitation to a March which won him the 1961 Theatre World Award for Best New Actor. He then appeared in Under the Yum Yum Tree, The Moon Is Blue, John Loves Mary, Barefoot in the Park and Murder at the Howard Johnson’s before returning to Hollywood to star in such movies as The Interns, Spencer’s Mountain, The Truth About Spring with Haley Mills, and Cry of Battle. In 1963, he was a runner up in the Golden Laurel Awards in the “Top New Male Personality” category. He then was a member of the all-star cast which included Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, George Montgomery, Charles Bronson and Telly Savalas in The Battle of the Bulge.

In 1968 producer Leonard Freeman remembered the actor who did a cameo in the Clint Eastwood movie Hang ‘em High as the traveling preacher who came on the set, requiring only one take which was excellent. He called James, and cast him as Detective Dan Williams of Hawaii 5-0, who will be forever tied to the phrase “Book ‘em Dano!”

After 11 years as Detective Dan Williams, he returned to the live stage in The Hasty Hearst with Caroline Lagerfelt, The Front Page, a play written by his father Charles MacArthur, A Bed Full of Foreigners in several locales and then played Mortimer in the national tour of Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton, Marion Ross, and Larry Storch.

MacArthur loved life and all that it had to offer. He was adventurous and a world traveler. In the early 1970s he spent six months driving his Land Rover from London, England to Malawi, Africa with friend, Stan Hattie. He also enjoyed sharing his love for travel with his family taking them on numerous vacations to many exotic locations.

James was an avid tennis player and enjoyed skiing, fishing, and hiking. He was a skilled flamenco guitarist and a consummate reader. His passion for playing golf led him to meet and fall in love with his wife, LPGA tour player and teacher, “H.B.” Duntz. Throughout his life James developed a long list of friendships and stories to tell along the way. He had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh. He was often the recipient of practical jokes; however, one could always tell when he was the instigator of a few good ones of his own by that famous little crinkle at the side of his mouth and the twinkle in his eye.

MacArthur was deeply honored to speak at the Library of Congress. He also was the Master of Ceremonies at Dan Quayle’s Inaugural Ball. He was most supportive of the theatre through the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, DC serving as a Board member, participant in the Annual Charity Auction and as the presenter of the Charles MacArthur Award for Best Screenplay at the annual Washington Theatre Awards.

In 2001, James was honored with his own star along the Walk of Fame in Palm Springs, California. In 2003, the fourth annual Film in Hawaii Award was bestowed upon him and Hawaii Five-O. The National Academy of

PAGE 4 Television Arts & Sciences honored James with a Gold Circle Award for 50 years of outstanding contributions to the medium in 2008. He was a true master of his craft.

He leaves behind his wife of over 25 years, Helen Beth (H.B.) Duntz.

Henry Lindenmeyr IV ’56 January 2, 1928 – November 15, 2010.

Henry attended Solebury School and later served as a board member from 1987 to 1993. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied architectural design, and served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Henry owned his own antique car restoration business, Automobilia, in New Hope during the 1960s. He was a metal sculptor for many years, and had several local exhibits. He was an exceptional amateur photographer.

He loved exploring his family’s genealogy, and was extremely knowledgeable about Bucks County artists and local history.

Margaret “Peggy” Powell Alexander ’58 July 25, 1940 – June 25, 2010 Peggy died of lung cancer.

Joel H. Sterns ’53, who helped spearhead the establishment of Atlantic City’s multi-billion-dollar casino gaming industry, died Feb. 21, 2011 in Gainesville, Florida.

In 1977, Joel was engaged by Resorts International, operator of a major casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, which was seeking to become the first casino operator in New Jersey; the state had passed a referendum in 1976 to allow gaming in the declining resort of Atlantic City. Joel worked closely with the New Jersey Legislature and the office of Governor Brendan T. Byrne to shape the New Jersey Casino Control Act. Joel and his Trenton law firm, Sterns & Weinroth, grew to be recognized as leading practitioners in the gaming industry throughout the nation, in Canada and Europe. He also was the longtime legal counsel to the New Jersey harness owners and breeders association. Joel was raised in Montclair, N.J., and graduated from Northwestern University in 1956. He received a master’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs in 1958, and earned a law degree in 1967, commuting to classes at New York University.

Joel enjoyed music, particularly classical, opera and guitar music, and tennis. He loved Martha’s Vineyard and served on the executive committee and board of governors of the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club. Joel was fond of horses and horse racing. He was a former Solebury School Board Member, husband to Joanne Glickman Sterns ’53 and father to two Solebury graduates, David ’87 and Rachel ’82. His grandchildren were his greatest joy.

Hugh MacBrien August 27, 1928 – May 16, 2011 Hugh MacBrien, father of Chris MacBrien ’79 passed away at the age of 82. He passed with a book by his side titled Hero, The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. For nearly fifty years he was a friend and supporter of Solebury School. His association with the school began in the early 1960s when he tutored students in reading, writing and study skills. Over the years, Hugh continued his connection with the school as a parent, tutor, history teacher and Board member in the 70s and 80s. He loved history and spent hours in conversation with Mariella Sundstrom. He was a voracious reader of history and politics and loved to go to Farley’s Bookstore to speak with Julian Karhumaa ’79 about books and history. In 2003, he was blessed with the birth of his grandaughter Niamh whom he loved dearly.

Save the Dates Reunion Weekend May 4, 5, 6, 2012 Follow Solebury School

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2011-2012 Solebury School Fall-Winter Magazine Editor Peter Pearson Director of Advancement Associate Editor, Magazine Beverly Berkeley Director of Communications Associate Editor, Alma’s Renee LaPorte Associate Director of Development Design & Production EnForm Graphic Productions, Inc. Photography Beverly Berkeley, Bob Krist, Creosote Affects Please send change of address to: Solebury School 6832 Phillips Mill Road, New Hope, PA 18938 Phone: 215-862-5261 Fax: 215-862-2783 E-mail: alumni@solebury.org Web Site: www.solebury.org Copyright 2011 Solebury School

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2011-2012 Charles J. Abbe ’59 (CA) Chairman Joan Reinthaler ’53 (DC) Vice Chairman Elizabeth Wavle (NJ) Treasurer Diane Carugati (PA) Secretary Ezra Billinkoff ’03 (PA) Christopher B. Chandor, Jr. ’86 (MA) David Christiansen (PA) Dan Cohen ’63 (FL) Jonathan Downs ’71 (PA) Stan Jablonowski (PA) Mary Beth Kineke (PA) Ken Klimpel (NJ) Holly Mullin (PA) John Petito (PA) Mike Sienkiewicz ’56 (PA) Anne C. (Annsi) Stephano ’58 (PA) Elizabeth E. Wavle (NJ) Brett Webber ’85 (PA) Barbara Winslow ’63 (NY) Navarrow Wright ’88 (NJ) Head of School Thomas G. Wilschutz

26 ❖ Solebury School Magazine Fall/Winter 2011

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Solebury School

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Solebury’s endowment now stands at $4,200,000 thanks to the foresight of alumni, parents and friends who have included Solebury in their estate planning. Just think what a few more bequests could mean for Solebury! The interest from endowment given as gifts from bequests is used to support scholarships, faculty salaries, academic departments, athletics, the arts and the upkeep of our facilities.

Check out the website, www.solebury.org, and click on Giving on the left side of the home page and explore how both the school and you can benefit from your donation. It is relatively easy to make a bequest or a planned gift to Solebury School.

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You could also make a gift to the school now through a Charitable Trust or a Charitable Gift Annuity and, in exchange, receive an income stream for life. You also receive an immediate federal income tax deduction.

Gift Annuities can be started with a gift of $10,000. Gift Annuities rates currently range from 6 percent to 9 percent depending on your age.

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Class of

2011

Solebury School Class of 2011 Photo Credit: Steve Barth