Spring 2007 Taft Bulletin

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The Photography of Jed Kirschbaum ’67 Alumni Farmers Joe & Louise Brogna Retire

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B U L L E T I N Spring 2007 Volume 77 Number 3 Bulletin Staff Interim Director of Development Bonnie Welch Editor Julie Reiff Alumni Notes Linda Beyus Design Good Design, LLC www.gooddesignusa.com Proofreader Nina Maynard Mail letters to: Julie Reiff, Editor Taft Bulletin The Taft School Watertown, CT 06795-2100 U.S.A. ReiffJ@TaftSchool.org Send alumni news to: Linda Beyus Alumni Office The Taft School Watertown, CT 06795-2100 U.S.A. TaftBulletin@TaftSchool.org Deadlines for Alumni Notes: Summer–May 30 Fall–August 30 Winter–November 15 Spring–February 15 Send address corrections to: Sally Membrino Alumni Records The Taft School Watertown, CT 06795-2100 U.S.A. TaftRhino@TaftSchool.org 1.860.945.7777 www.TaftAlumni.com The Taft Bulletin (ISSN 0148-0855) is published quarterly, in February, May, August, and November, by The Taft School, 110 Woodbury Road, Watertown, CT 06795-2100, and is distributed free of charge to alumni, parents, grandparents and friends of the school. All rights reserved.

This magazine is printed on recycled paper.

6 j Jessica Ng ’08 and Macie Winship ’07 paint a mural at La Escuela John F. Kennedy while volunteering at Orphanage Outreach in the Dominican Republic in March. This was the third year Spanish teacher and Volunteer Program adviser Roberto d'Erizans organized the service-oriented option for students over spring break. Enyi-Abal Koene

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F EA T URES

Writing with Light................................... 18 Baltimore Sun photographer Jed Kirschbaum ’67 says he never tries to take a picture, he always tries to give one.

Alumni Farmers:..................................... 23

• Family Trees: Lyman Orchards’ Connecticut Legacy • Herbal Remedy: Ted Andrews ’72 • Believe in Your Meat: An alumni couple find their calling raising grass-fed cattle

Joe and Louise Brogna........................... 30 Three Decades of Taft Service

D E P AR T MEN T S

Letters.................................................... 2 Alumni Spotlight.................................... 3 Around the Pond . ................................. 8 Sport . .................................................... 15 From the Archives.................................. 35 Remembering Horace

ON THE COVER: Baltimore Sun photographer Jed Kirschbaum ‘67 came upon this young boy in war-torn Eritrea in the 1980s. For more on Jed’s work, see page 18.

Taft on the Web Find a friend’s address or look up back issues of the Bulletin at www.TaftAlumni.com For more campus news and events, including admissions information, visit www.TaftSchool.org What happened at this afternoon’s game?

Visit www.TaftSports.com Don’t forget you can shop online at www.TaftStore.com 800.995.8238 or 860.945.7736

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The Peach

I just received the winter issue, and when I turned to the inside there was Juddie Conant [“Victory Mail”], who was a beau of my mother’s! On the first page of the article, I could even see in his handwriting, “You will have to meet Ann “Rookie” Faust from St. Louis, my best girl. She is really super.” My mother! So sweet.

I always go and touch his photo [in Lincoln Lobby] whenever I come to Taft. I first noticed it, I think, when my son Sam ’05 was a senior and I wondered if it could be the same man. And now there he is. We found some letters from him years ago, but my grandmother decided to burn them because she didn’t think they were appropriate for anyone else to see. How wonderful

From the Editor

When I arrived at Taft in July 1988, the school had just broken ground for a new dormitory to celebrate the school’s Centennial. When the dorm opened in 1989, Louise and Joe Brogna, who retire this spring (see page 30), chose to give up their house on North Street and move in alongside 41 upperschool girls. Louise, a registered nurse, has run the dorm ever since.

Not many faculty live in the dorms for 18 years (and that’s only this go-round). I’ve never asked Louise why they made the move, or why they stayed—even though I now live on the other end of the building from them—but perhaps it has something to do with the proximity to the Baseball Field.

In Joe’s honor, the Alumni Baseball Game is back on the schedule for Alumni Day. So whether you come to play or to watch, it’s a wonderful opportunity to say “hello,” “goodbye,” or simply “thank you.” It’s the end of an era after all.

I am thrilled by the number of letters we received after the winter issue; I hope you keep them coming!

—Julie Reiff Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

that you have these and what a treat to see my mother’s name right there.

Now I have even more reason to visit Juddie. My mother, who died quite young, rarely talked about him, but I gather he was a remarkable, sweet, good, kind man. I just wanted to say how thrilling it was to see him and to see her name, so thank you.

—Mary Dangremond P’05,’10

A Friend in Ferdie

I’ve just read the winter Bulletin in which I fondly encountered the article on my classmate Ferdie Wandelt. I valued Ferdie’s friendship as a student and have enjoyed our reunions. His accomplishments are an unsurprising testament to his character, insight and common sense.

Many have praised Ferdie with more experience and skill than I can attempt.

I respond, however, because I so enjoyed the writing that, on finishing the piece, I turned back to the beginning to see who achieved the feat of so engagingly wading through the range of material that Ferdie’s career has generated. I should have guessed that Barclay Johnson ’53, my Taft English teacher, was still displaying his talent.

Bravo, Barclay, for your wonderful work on a wonderful fellow.

—Mike Cutler ’66

Taft Trivia

Do you know?

Although many women were a big part of school life from the early days, including Winnie Taft and later Nurse Grant, it was many years before any woman joined the ranks of the faculty. Can you name Taft’s first female teacher?

A Taft key ring will be sent to the winner, whose name will be drawn at random from all correct entries received by June 1.

Becca Fine ’04 was the winner of the previous question, correctly identifying today’s McIntosh House as the former Martin Infirmary, or “Grant’s Tomb.”

Thanks to all who replied.

Love it? Hate it?

Read it? Tell us!

We’d love to hear what you think about the stories in this Bulletin. We may edit your letters for length, clarity and content, but please write!

Julie Reiff, editor Taft Bulletin 110 Woodbury Road Watertown, CT 06795-2100 or ReiffJ@TaftSchool.org

How the Cookie Crumbles

I read Peggy Rambach’s article about the Hydrox with great interest, and noticed that in all these years of hearing about the group, the naming story has never been fully rendered. But now it can be told—I named the Hydrox.

Huh? What’d he say?

Yup. And in the spirit of Melanie Griffith in Working Girl (remember the elevator scene where she explains her thought process and saves her job?) I will now take you through the steps that led to this event.

Back then I was a theater nerd. That year, it was Boys From Syracuse, which I —continued on page 38

The Philanthropists

m Elsie and Henry with their offspring.

Courtesy of The Hillman Foundation

b Both Henry’s and Elsie’s families spent summers at Beaumaris, a Canadian town on Lake Muskoka where they first met.

Courtesy of The Hillman Foundation

If you live in Pittsburgh, you know the name Hillman. So it’s with the greatest honor that Pittsburgh Magazine named Elsie and Henry Hillman ’37 their Pittsburghers of the Year in January. The Hillmans’ philanthropy is legendary: The Hillman Library at the University of Pittsburgh, Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Hillman Cancer Center at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Hillman Fellows Program for Innovative Cancer Research, and the list goes on.

Having both lost loved ones to cancer, their support in that field is understandable, but the spark of their generosity goes much deeper. Henry spent more than 40 years on the board at Children’s Hospital. “It opened my eyes to what philanthropy can do,” he told Pittsburgh Magazine. “At that time, hospitals were much more dependent for money on gifts from the outside world.

There was no Medicare or Medicaid.”

The Hillman family first moved to Pittsburgh after the Civil War, when Henry’s grandfather started a coal and coke brokerage in 1886, later expanding into coal mines and river transporta-

tion. Armed with a geology degree from Princeton and 12 weeks at Harvard’s advanced business program, Henry took over the family company after his father died and eventually evolved it into the investment firm he runs today.

Elsie and Henry are hoping to instill similar values in their grandchildren. In addition to their own foundation, they have established philanthropic foundations for each of their four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren (so far).

“Living in Pittsburgh has been a tremendous pleasure for both of us,” adds Henry, “We never wanted to move.”

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Curry Named Beanpot MVP

Clothing designer Melissa Lee Madden ‘91, center, with Kristin Williams ‘01 and Becky Belcher ‘97 at the MAGIC trade show in Las Vegas last August

Timeless Preppy with a Twist

While working in the corporate arena, Melissa Madden ’91—also known as Melly Mads—designed and created unique apparel and accessories for her family and friends, who consistently encouraged her to turn that talent into a career. She heeded their advice, and Melly M was founded in the spring of 2003.

Madden began to produce preppy, sophisticated skirts and handbags, and her merchandise began to sell more quickly than she could produce it. After her first NYC trade show, she realized she had found her calling and soon hired two production houses to assist with manufacturing.

Melly M collection has evolved to include dresses, bustiers and accessories as well as skirts and handbags, now found in more than 300 boutiques in the United States. Madden designs and prints all her own fabric and continues to seek out unconventional color palettes to keep her clothing distinctive and timeless.

Melly M’s products have been spotted on many celebrities, listed in such magazines as In Style, Brides, Women’s Wear Daily, Golf For Women, and featured in Oprah’s “O List.” Madden was also featured on the Today Show’s Style File.

Madden was asked to showcase her wares at Smashbox Studios Design Suites in Los Angeles during the everpopular Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week annual runway shows in March. She is venturing into a line of bridesmaids’ dresses, coming this fall.

For more information, visit www. mellym.com.

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

After leading Boston University men’s ice hockey team to its third straight Beanpot title, in addition to clinching home ice for the league quarterfinals, senior John Curry ’03 (Shorewood, Minn.) was named Hockey East ITECH Goaltender of the Month and is their nominee for the Hobey Baker Award.

Curry posted a .947 save percentage and a 1.63 goals-against average in February and was undefeated in his first seven starts in the month, helping

the Terriers move back into the top five in the national rankings for the first time since October.

In the Beanpot, Curry earned MVP honors and set a tournament record with a .985 save percentage and made 37 saves in a thrilling 2–1 overtime victory over rival Boston College in the championship game. He will finish his career with a perfect 5–0 record in the Beanpot.

For more on Curry, please visit CurryForHobey.com.

. John Curry ’03 is the only goaltender in the country ranked in the top three in both save percentage (.933) and goals against average (1.86). Courtesy of Boston University

The French Bread Connection b Brandy Dailey and Frank Riordan ’35 work together to make French baguettes with a recipe from Charlie van Over ’56.

Karen Elshout/St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Retired chemical engineer Frank Riordan ’35 has had incidental and long-term relationships with many of the giants of

the food world, but his latest passion is for a French bread recipe from Charlie van Over ’56, author of The Best Bread Ever.

It was another Taftie—development officer Chip Spencer ’56, who happens to have been Charlie’s roommate at Taft—who introduced the two.

A series of illnesses has largely confined Riordan to a wheelchair, but with the help of a caregiver, he regularly bakes bread, recreating the French baguettes he so enjoyed on trips to Europe for Monsanto.

After apprenticing in the kitchen of France’s renowned Troisgros, Riordan later hosted the Troisgros brothers in St. Louis.

“I can tell you,” Riordan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “a dinner invitation to the Riordan household then was never turned down.”

Starting Up in Shanghai

Ever wonder if you’d find a use for what you studied in high school? Learning Chinese with Yen Liu has come in handy for Nestor Gounaris ’89, who recently opened his own firm in Shanghai. Limelight Studios

Starting a new business can be daunting in any country, but for lawyer Nestor Gounaris ’89 establishing his own practice was simply the logical next choice.

Having worked as a corporate lawyer for large multinational law firms in Shanghai for a number of years, he had a solid grasp on the basics.

“Part of the challenge—and benefit—of being in a smaller outpost office is that you have to sink-or-swim, as there is not much hierarchy between you and the client,” he explains. “As a result, you can quickly become the leading attorney on a given matter. Junior lawyers are driven to mature quickly in this environment.”

Starting China Solutions (www. chinasolutions.us) in April 2005, his clients now include the Greek Consulate General in Shanghai as well as Greek manufacturers, ship owners, retail operators and agricultural producers. “It has been such a privilege to connect with Greek clients—helping me feel at

home in Shanghai,” says Gounaris, who has roots in Greece, “but we also have clients from around the globe, including South Africa, Denmark, Italy, and the United States.

Having lived in China for over eight years, Gounaris enjoys working in Greece or New York for weeks on end.

“Being in a wholly different environment, connecting in person with clients,” he explains, “it’s revitalizing.”

The hardest part of striking out on his own was not having a safety net.

“Suddenly the onus was on me to find sufficient clients, ensure motivation for team members, appropriate work environment, and so on. Once you get past the fear of failure, though, the challenges are the best part.

“Things have changed quite a bit since I first started, with our first client in our first office. Those first days almost seem quaint. Maybe in another year, I will find nostalgic humor in them, but not quite yet.”

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

In Print

Momzillas

Jill Kopelman Kargman ’92 Broadway Books, 2007 Uban dictionary defines the term as someone “whose good mothering traits, such as concern for others and knowing better, get blown to massive, Japanese-lizard proportions, thus rendering them annoying and complicated people with whom you don’t want to spend a second longer than you must. Combination of mom+Godzilla.”

The new solo novel Momzillas by Jill Kopelman Kargman ’92 is a dark comedy about “a scary sect of Type A competitive yummy mummies on New York’s Upper East Side.”

Publishers Weekly says Momzillas “offers a breezy jaunt through the Manhattan nursery grinder…. Kargman writes with verve. Fans of the genre won’t be disappointed.”

Kargman has, with Carrie Doyle Karasyov ’90, authored novels Wolves in Chic Clothing, The Right Address, and Bittersweet Sixteen, as well as the screenplay for Intern. She and Karasyov are working on another teen book, Summer Intern, due out in July.

“So are the characters based on real people?” people often ask her.

“Hand to Gawd: NO” says Kargman. “They truly, 100 percent, are completely invented, or they’re composites of a million peeps. No one

Cape Wind

person, school, club, apartment, etc., is based on anything, SWEAR…. I was, however, dumped while the guy was throwing a lacrosse ball at the wall and I just had to put that scene in Momzillas, cause you can’t write that shizzle. But take my word for it: it’s fiction.”

Check it out at www.momzillas.com

Author Jill Kopelman Kargman ’92 is the mother of two.

Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb ’66 Publicaffairs, 2007 This acidly funny account of the battle over an Cape Wind is a rollicking tale of democracy offshore wind farm is both a fascinating win- in action and plutocracy in the raw as played out dow on the business and politics of energy and a among colorful and glamorous characters on one of scathing portrait of the ruling class. our country’s most historic and renowned pieces of When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind coastline. As steeped in American history and local farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some color as The Prince of Providence; as biting, revealing people might object. But there was a lot of merit and fun as Philistines at the Hedgerow, it is also a in creating a privately funded, clean energy source cautionary tale about how money can hijack defor energy-starved New England, and he felt sure mocracy while America lags behind the rest of the most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, developed world in adopting clean energy. all hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly chal- Robert Whitcomb is a vice president and lenged the privileges of some of America’s richest editorial-page editor of the Providence Journal. and most politically connected people, and they Before that he served as the financial editor of would fight him tooth and nail, no matter what it the International Herald Tribune; and as editor cost, and even when it made no sense. and writer for the Wall Street Journal.

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Spiffy Space

Day Brigham ’44 and his wife Catherine were on hand for the dedication of the remodeled Headmaster’s Conference Room, the cost of which they underwrote. Some alumni may remember the space as the Dean’s Office, where Messrs. McIntosh, Douglas, and Oscarson presided in turn. Adjacent to the Headmaster’s Office, the room holds frequent meetings and occasional lunches for honored guests. Peter Frew ’75

Winter Alumni games Alumni Hockey Team

c From back left, faculty Mike Aroesty and Jason BreMiller, Paul Kessenich ’88, Jordy Davis ’91, Gary Rogers ’83, Pete Maro ’83, Chris Watson ’91, Casey Archer ’86, Tucker Cavanaugh ’86, Ed Travers ’86, John Long ’88, Matt Donaldson ’88, Matt Lieber ’88, Jamie Better ’79, Courtney Wemyss ’78. Front, Tim Cooney ’90, Scott Richardson ’82, Willy MacMullen ’78, Chris Taccetta ’83, Greg Seitz ’86, Fred Erdman ’71, Eric Hidy ’93, Jon Lieber ’91, David Better, Wilkie Bushby ’76, Christy Everett ’90, and faculty emeritus Jol Everett.

Alumni Basketball Team

in the gallery

c From back left, faculty John Piacenza and Dave Hinman ’87, Jon Dodd ’92, Tyler Whitley ’04, Adam Kowalsky ’03, Brian Baudinet ’04, David Kilborn ’86, Ben Andrysick ’05, Phil Thompson ’06, Dave Halas ’05, and faculty Carl Carlson.

Front, Rob Hicks ’92, Victor Smith ’06, Hunter Serenbetz ’06, Pat McCormack ’92, Andrew Svensk ’94, Jon Willson ’82, Brandon Miles ’03.

Artist Ken Rush ’67 displays his recent work in the Mark Potter ’48 Gallery from April 20 through May 19.

b Vacant, 33" x 48", oil on canvas

Courtesy of Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Around the pond

by Joe Freeman

“We Are the Dream” Instead of going to classes on Monday, January 16, students and teachers at Taft engaged in a variety of programs to commemorate Martin Luther King Day. The day began with a prayer breakfast that brought faculty and students together with religious leaders from the local community. The school then gathered in Bingham Auditorium to hear the Rev. Wayne Meisel’s keynote address. Meisel is president of the Bonner Foundation, a group that provides service-based scholarships to over 3,500 students at 75 colleges and offers grants to faith-based organizations in their fight against hunger.

Meisel shared his own entry into the world of service, recalling how getting cut from varsity soccer at Harvard caused him to organize a youth soccer league in Cambridge. He presented Taft with the Bonner Foundation Award for “fighting indifference” and students left inspired and empowered to make a difference.

Much of the community then broke out into workshops led by students and faculty members. The subjects ranged from Hip-Hop Culture and the Comedy of Dave Chappelle to Social Entrepreneurship and White Privilege.

While these sorts of programs have been offered in the past, the sessions this year placed much more emphasis on student leadership. Oat Naviroj ’07, who helped to facilitate a workshop with Meisel, spoke about the way in which a documentary prompted him to begin Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Volunteer program coordinator Roberto d’Erizans welcomes the Rev. Wayne Meisel on Martin Luther King Day. Peter Frew ’75

a campaign at Taft for AIDS awareness.

During the workshop sessions, a group of students and coaches went up to the gym to meet over 300 students from the greater Waterbury area. They ran a series of sports-related clinics, interspersing sessions with discussions about leadership and self-confidence. McKay Claghorn ’07, who spent the morning teaching soccer skills, said: “Spending time with kids from Waterbury gave me the opportunity to learn about a lifestyle that I so rarely encounter here. It was one of the coolest things I did this year.”

In the afternoon, the entire community reconvened in Bingham for a student-run program of dance, song, and spoken-word poetry. Between per-

formance pieces, groups of students and faculty members took the stage to “testify” about the importance of embracing difference. John Craver ’10 and Brian Sengdala ’10 discussed how their friendship grew stronger because of their very different backgrounds, and Charmaine Lester ’07 and Headmaster Willy MacMullen ’78 spoke about the mutual support each gained from their adviseradvisee relationship. The day ended with a series of Class Dinners in the Upper and Lower Dining Halls. In addition to sharing a fantastic meal, students and teachers had the opportunity to reflect on the events of the day and consider ways in which they can embrace the school’s mission: Not to be served but to serve.

A Farce in One Act

Dees Promotes Social Activism Taft was honored to host Morris Dees, co-founder and chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center, for a morning of meetings and classes. Heralded by Headmaster Willy MacMullen as “one of the most sought-after speakers touring the country today,” Dees delivered a riveting School Meeting about the continuing importance of fighting injustice and discrimination in the United States today. He spoke about his recent work defending the rights of Vietnamese anglers working in Galveston Bay, Texas, arguing that all people, regardless of class or ethnicity, deserved to live with dignity and without fear. Dees also illustrated a fundamental connection between race and poverty, noting that we “cannot consider one form of injustice without recognizing the other.”

In addition to this address in Morning Meeting, Dees spent the day at Taft, meeting with students, faculty members, and administrators. In individual meetings and small group discussions, he encouraged students to see themselves as part of the change in American society, and to fight for justice in their local and school communities. Science teacher Jim Lehner noted: “It was an awesome chance to meet one of my personal heroes. So many in our society talk the talk, but he actually goes out and uses the civil courts to defend the rights of all citizens. He taught us the fight for racial and class equality is far from over.”

“In five years I’ll feel just like Mrs. Michelangelo!” exclaims Carol Melkett, Brindsley Miller’s debutante fiancée in Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy. Presented for a three-day run over winter Parents’ Weekend, Shaffer’s play is both literally and figuratively a black comedy. Set in a London flat during a blackout, the oneact play is staged under a reverse lighting scheme. The opening scene is set in darkness, and the stage lights come up only after the fuse blows. Brindsley Miller (Max Jacobs ’08), a struggling artist, prepares to meet Carol’s father, Colonel Melkett (Ben Zucker ’09), and “borrows” the antique furniture of his neighbor, Harold Gorringe (Charlie Fraker ’08). At the same time, Miller prepares for a visit from Georg Bamburger (Aaran Fronda ’07), a wealthy German art collector.

Things take a turn for the worse when the lights go out. As each character enters the scene, including Clea (Stephanie Menke ’08), Brindsley’s mistress and

true love, and Miss Furnival (Grace Scott ’07), an upstanding woman who is served the wrong drink, the evening quickly deteriorates for Brindsley. All is eventually revealed when Schuppanzigh (Nathaniel Breg ’08), a philosopher/ electrician, repairs the fuse, casting the stage back into darkness.

Maddy Bloch ’08, who played the role of Carol Melkett, described the play as “exceptionally challenging. As an actor, you are trained to make eye contact with the other characters on stage, so having to pretend that you cannot see anyone took a lot of getting used to.” Max Jacobs praised the play as “one of the coolest things I have ever done. I never realized physical comedy could be so hard, but Ms. Fifer offered me a lot of support.” The actors enjoyed mastering their English accents, and audiences were amazed by the production’s professionalism and wonderful sense of comic timing.

Grace Scott ’07 and Max Jacobs ’08 in Black Comedy.

Peter Frew ’75

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Around the pond Sarah Amos Gallery Exhibit On January 12, Rockwell Visiting Artist Sarah Amos opened a show in the Potter Gallery. Currently a full-time studio artist, Amos taught printmaking at Dartmouth College and spent ten years as the Director of the Vermont Studio Center Press. Amos specializes in printmaking, and she displayed a number of richly layered pieces. She overlays her prints with dynamic and colorful painted patterns resonant of the indigenous art of her native Australia, winding and threading lines, dots, and circles through the work to create a unified structure. Amos often lays the successive layers of pattern while the previous layer is still wet, causing a blending effect between the different levels of her pieces. Through soft, repetitive shapes and quiet color, her finished pieces create subtle color boundaries and tonal

Soya Seo ’09 works with master printmaker Sarah Amos.

juxtapositions. Gallery director Loueta Chickadaunce describes her work as “seductively intelligent,” and praises the artist as “a superb artist and teacher.”

In addition to displaying her work,

Loueta Chickadaunce

Amos spent the day at Taft, teaching printmaking skills to AP and Advanced Studio Art classes.

For more information, visit www. sarahamos.com.

Decoding the Language of Elephants Grunts, groans, even the sound of trumpets—these are just some of the sounds that elephants make. Taft hosted Dr. Joyce Poole ’74 as part of the Paduano Lecture Series on Philosophy and Ethics. Poole

is the founder of the Elephant Voices Project, which records and analyzes the various sounds that African elephants make, in an attempt to understand their behavior and communication. Poole

Dr. Joyce Poole ’74 talks about her work with elephants at Morning Meeting.

10 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Julie Reiff

described her work in the field, discussing how she became interested in elephant behavior and sharing slides and recordings from her years of work in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. She worked in Amboseli for many years, and she spoke of her relationship with individual elephants, showing the ways in which the animals would remember and greet her. She also taught the community about various ways in which the elephants are threatened, from ivory poachers and deforestation to the ecological changes brought about by the rapidly shrinking glacier atop nearby Mount Kilimanjaro.

Oliver Mittag-Lenkheym ’08 described her meeting as “kind of funny at first, but as she kept talking, I really found myself worried for the elephants.” Poole is the daughter of former faculty member Bob Poole ’50. The school’s Poole Fellowships were created in her father’s memory.

For more information, visit www. elephantvoices.org.

Storyteller Jay O’Callahan enthralled audiences at Taft in February.

Of Chickies and Dragons In February, renowned storyteller Jay O’Callahan spent the day telling stories and facilitating performance and writing workshops. O’Callahan has performed his tales at venues around the world, including at Lincoln Center and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In Morning Meeting, he told the story “Chickie,” part of his collection of “Pill Hill Stories” inspired by his childhood growing up in Boston. “Chickie” is a

powerful tale of a young boy’s imagination, and it challenged the kids to consider powerful issues surrounding race, poverty and social justice.

O’Callahan held another storytelling session in the evening for students, faculty and their children in the Choral Room.

Many faculty kids (and some older ones as well) showed up in their pajamas to hear O’Callahan tell “The Little Dragon” and other short tales. In addition, he ran

workshops in Helena Fifer’s acting classes and Jennifer Zaccara’s creative writing class. School Chaplain the Rev. Michael Spencer, who brought O’Callahan to campus, described his visit as “a wonderful day of storytelling to awaken the creative imagination and remind us that we are never too old for stories—we too have powerful stories to tell.”

For more information, visit www. ocallahan.com.

Good Grief!

This winter, senior Ben Grinberg starred in TheatreWorks New Milford’s production of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, Bert Royal’s parody of the iconic “Peanuts” comic strip. The play shows a group of angst-ridden teenagers whom, as the play progresses, the audience comes to recognize as grown-up versions of the “Peanuts” gang. Grinberg played the lead role of “CB,” a young, suburban youth who is fascinated by hip-hop culture.

Reviewing the play for Housatonic Living, critic Abigail Leab Martin described Grinberg’s performance as “engaging and sympathetic…despite the considerable demands of his role, he never falters. He is riveting, particularly in the more poignant moments of the production.”

For more information, visit www. theatreworks.us.

Ben Grinberg ’07, left, as “CB” in Dog Sees God

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

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Around the pond “What Happens at Formal Stays at Formal” The senior monitors once again produced a memorable winter formal.

For many years, the event took place at the Southbury Crowne Plaza Hotel, but owing to scheduling difficulties, the dance moved to the Farmington Marriott this year. Despite a strong push for “Candyland” by a group of renegade school monitors, the formal theme this winter was “Las Vegas,” and the event featured a gaming room, a chocolate fountain, Ken Nigro’s Jazz

Ensemble in the main ballroom, and a DJ dance party in a smaller ballroom.

The turnout for the event was tremendous, and many of the couples chose to have their pictures taken in front of the “Wedding Chapel.” School monitor Steph Schonbrun ’07 noted, “the formal was not overdone this year with publicity, decorations and overwhelming hype.

People really seemed to enjoy the new location.” Holly Donaldson ’07 added, “We were a bit disappointed when the

j Hannah Utley '07, Hailey Karcher '10, Louise Trueheart '08, perform “Max” at the Dance Concert in March. Hannah did the choreography as well. Peter Frew ’75

Student Band Hits the Road This winter, Day-Glow, a student band consisting of Sam Beatt ’07, Nate Thompson ’07, Will Calder ’07 and Scott Hillman ’09, moved from the Black Box and the Band Room to various live music venues in the Northeast. The band describes itself as “a mix of rock, funk, and psychedelic music,” and looks to such “jam bands” as Phish, moe., the John Butler Trio, and Tea Leaf Green for influence. While performing the occasional cover, much of Day-Glow’s music is composed by the band members themselves, with Calder and Beatt spending hours writing songs for performance. This winter, the band performed in a music festival at the Webster Underground in Hartford and a two-day showcase at the Knitting Factory in Manhattan.

They were at Union College in Schenectady in March and have gained quite a following from the student community.

12 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Class of 2005 chose the James Bond theme, as 007 seemed appropriate for our class, but we have pretty much been planning this since our sophomore year.

I was particularly proud of the wedding chapel decorations, though the accompanying divorce court never made it off the drawing board.” For the first time in recent memory, the senior class actually stayed under budget for the formal, employing cost-cutting measures like homemade decorations and tablecloths.

Raising Disability Awareness A new club appeared at Taft this winter to promote disability awareness on campus. Co-founded by uppermids Beth Kessenich and Hope Gimbel, the club raised money for “Wheels for Kids,” an organization that provides wheelchairs and other accessories to families that cannot afford them. Selling T-shirts and Mardi Gras beads, the club hopes to donate all its proceeds to the fund.

Also, the club participated in a Bowla-Thon with the Special Olympics of Greater Waterbury. The long-term goals of the club are to make Taft’s campus more handicapped accessible, to organize volunteer projects for the disabled in Watertown and to continue raising money for disability-related charities. Both Kessenich and Gimbel have family members affected by disabilities, and Kessenich notes, “What really prompted me to start the club was when a close friend fractured his spine. I admired his attitude and determination, and I wanted to show others how well people manage to live with disabilities.” Gimbel adds, “When you don’t live with a disability, it is very easy to ignore the challenges that a handicap poses. We want to plan an awareness day where students volunteer to spend a class day in a wheelchair to better understand the physical challenges and limitations of our campus.”

Music Series Continues

Hudson Shad

Arcadian Winds

Five Play

The Walker Hall series, “Music for Awhile,” continued in January with four more memorable performances.

Arcadian Winds kicked off the winter season. A wind quintet founded at Boston University, the group has a strong commitment to education, bringing chamber and contemporary music to public, private, and community schools in the Boston Area. The ensemble includes Vanessa Holroyd ’90, and they performed works by Bach, Ligeti and Holst.

Another Taft alumna, Katalin Viszmeg ’98, played in Walker Hall this winter with the Arensky Piano Trio. The group formed in 2005 and performs

works by Russian composer and pianist Anton Stepanovich Arensky and other composers of the Russian Romantic Era. In addition to classical music offerings, Walker Hall also played host to Five Play, a group created from the world renowned DIVA Jazz Orchestra as a means to feature some of its foremost players.

A virtual United Nations of Jazz, fusing world cultures with extraordinary musical talent and a shared creative vision, their repertoire is comprised of innovative arrangements of classic and contemporary standards, as well as original music composed by the band members.

Finally, Hudson Shad performed their original show “The Good, the Shad and The Ugly” in early March. A NewYork based professional vocal sextet, their act began as a cowboy tribute in a Berlin cabaret. The group performs “sounds of the Wild West,” singing arrangements popularized by Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, the Statler Brothers, Sons of the Pioneers and many others. With original choreography and a classical music twist, the group brought the concert attendees to their feet with its lively performance.

The Improbable Players “I thought it was going to be another boring lecture about how not to do drugs, but those guys were awesome,” exclaimed Jimmy Kukral ’09 after a presentation by Improbable Players, a nonprofit touring theater company that came to Taft in February. The company is comprised of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who present funny and poignant mini-plays, many of which are autobiographical. Their mission is to spotlight important social issues that confront today’s teenagers, particularly as they relate to substance abuse, alcoholism in the family, peer pressure, relationship violence, HIV/AIDS, and abuse of the elderly. The group works to shatter the stigma associated with substance abuse, illustrating how the problems they have experienced are real. They educate students about the patterns of abuse, and provide them with resources about how to ask for help.

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Around the pond

In Brief Starry Nights Science teacher Rob Follansbee can be found atop the Wu Building on many crisp, cold evenings guiding students and faculty members through the dazzling sights in our night sky. Recently, Taft purchased a Celestron 11' telescope to support science electives in astronomy. The telescope represents a significant upgrade in equipment, and it digitally tracks objects across the night sky, allowing for fewer adjustments during observations.

So far this winter, observers have seen the moon, a diffuse nebula, and a binary star system. Most students agree that Saturn was the most extraordinary object sighted, for it was in a point of orbit that accentuated its rings.

This spring, Follansbee plans to offer more evening sessions with the telescope, targeting Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, some planetary nebulae and the Andromeda galaxy. The school is currently looking to purchase a 35 mm camera mount to take photographs through the telescope, and we hope to add more accessories to our inventory.

Some students have also expressed interest in pursuing independent projects with the scope.

Mathletes Compute The Taft Math Team traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in February to participate in the Harvard/MIT Mathematics Competition. The event began with each teammate sitting two 50-minute individual examinations, consisting of extremely difficult problems constructed by a committee of math majors at Harvard and MIT. After a short break, a group competition commenced, where the eight members of the team collaborated to solve problems in number theory. As Coach Ted 14 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Heavenrich explained, “If the team can solve 15–20 percent of the problems in this phase, that’s doing incredibly well.”

After lunch, the team then moved on to the “Guts Round,” a race against the clock where team members have 75 minutes to solve as many of the 36 problems as they can. Taft competed in the “A” Division, pitting themselves against many of the brightest math students in the nation. At the end of the afternoon, Taft’s team, consisting of Khai Do Ba ’08, Khoa Do Ba ’07, Daniel Kim ’07, Theresa Chang ’07, Amy Jang ’07, Wilson Yu ’07, Lee Hsu ’07, and Oscar Shi ’08, placed in the top 35 percent of all participating teams.

Muska Visit Michael Muska, assistant headmaster of Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, spent a day at Taft meeting with students, faculty members and administrators about adolescent sexuality. A college coach and former director of athletics at Oberlin College, Muska spoke in Morning Meeting about his own experiences as a gay athlete, and counseled students, dormitory faculty and administrators about ways in which Taft can become a more open and accepting environment for students struggling with questions of sexuality.

“My Love is as a fever, longing still” On January 23, students taking Middle English performed in the Annual Sonnet Recitation Contest. Every mid commits one of Shakespeare’s sonnets to memory and performs their sonnet in class.

Each section then selects one student to represent them in the class-wide competition. The entire class assembled in the Faculty Room to watch the 13 students perform sonnets, and a panel of three judges selected a winner: Melodie Mendez ’09 for her dramatic interpretation of Sonnet 147, complete with a descent from the second-floor balcony and choreographed lighting effects.

Mel received a commendation from the school, and her class enjoyed a feed financed by the English Department.

English Department Chair Linda Saarnijoki called the recitations “the best I have ever seen at Taft.”

Angels with Attitude Many than 100 female students attended Angels with Attitude training in January. The interactive teen attitude safety trainings teach girls to be more aware, confident and safe. Students learn to set boundaries with male friends, use awareness and intuition, and employ a few basic self-defense techniques that may help to protect them from sexual assault and violence.

Spotted on campus

This Eastern Screech Owl was spotted in Mac House Circle in early March. He stayed only for a few hours, but drew many admirers.

Jamie Nichols

S S S S

P P P P

O O O O

R R R R

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Winter Wrap-up by Steve Palmer

team was without captain and center Colleen Sweeney ’07. Sweeney, a top allaround player and 900-point scorer over her career, led the team with 13 points per game (ppg). Post-graduate Katie Bergeron averaged 12 ppg and netted the 1,000th point for her high-school career during the team’s second win against Hotchkiss.

Uppermids Katherine Latham (8 ppg) and captain-elect Chelsea Berry, a defensive force, will lead next year’s squad.

j Starting guard Brooke Hartley ’08 looks for an opening in Taft’s come-frombehind win over Suffield in January. Kelly Urmston-Parish ’07

Girls’ Basketball 15–7 New England Quarterfinals The Rhinos worked through a hardfought season on their way to a seventh consecutive appearance in the New England Tournament with a #7 ranking. They faced a very strong team from

New Hampton, the eventual champion, in their first-round game (30–57). Taft’s key wins during the regular season came against three strong N.E. Tournament qualifiers: Loomis (46–37), Suffield (48–45), and Choate (53–41). The victory over Loomis came after a tough loss to them only four days earlier, when the

Boys’ Basketball 19–6, Tri-State League Champions, New England Semifinals David Hinman’s squad has made the N.E. Tournament four of the past five seasons and shared the league title in 2005, but the outright championship had eluded them until this season. After going 2–3 in December, the Rhinos powered to an 11–1 league record. The peak came when they knocked off perennial power Trinity-Pawling, 64–50, for the first time in 13 attempts. Wins over Loomis (54–51) and Avon (65–56) clinched Taft’s first Tri-State title in 42 years, a share of the Founders League title, and a #6 seed in the N.E. Tournament.

Their first-round game was an exciting 63–60 win over #3 Kimball Union that saw Taft jump to a 15–0 lead and hang on with some dramatic 3-point shooting. The semifinal game versus a loaded team from Marianapolis Prep was nearly a repeat of the first round, with Taft leading 27–21 at halftime, going down in the second half, and clawing back Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

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S S S S

P P P P

O O O O

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with a chance to tie the game in the final minute. Though the shots did not fall in the end (57-64), the Rhinos finished the season battling toe-to-toe with the best in New England. Captain Thomas Baudinet ’07 led the team in points per game (22.1) and set a career-record 108 three-pointers. He finished the season with a remarkable 55 percent from the three-point line, averaged 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, was named the Outstanding Player of the Tri-State League, and earned 889 points in his Taft career. Co-captain A.J. Houston ’07 was the defensive leader of the team, averaging 4 steals and 10 points per game.

He was named a Founders League AllStar along with Tim Gallagher ’07, who averaged 13 points and 5 rebounds per game while doing a lot of the hard work down low. The team has some huge shoes to fill for next year, graduating seniors George Abood, Teddy Dwyer, Pete James, Matt Loftus, Mike McCabe and Jay Riffe as well.

Girls’ Ice Hockey 10–6–3 Playing the toughest schedule in the Division 1 prep ranks, Taft defeated the best in N.E. but fell just short of making the tournament with a number of incredibly close one-goal losses. Still, the Rhinos made it to the championship game of the Patsy Odden Tournament for the second year in a row and tallied a number of great wins: 3–2 over #1 ranked Tabor Academy, 1–0 OT win over #2 ranked Loomis, and 1–0 over eventual N.E. champion Choate. In fact, Taft’s 2–2–2 combined record against rivals Loomis and Choate speaks to the competitiveness and balance of girls’ hockey in the Founders League. Their best game of the season came at the end when the Rhinos defeated a very strong Berkshire team (last year’s champions), 3–1, outshooting them 44–15. Erin Barley-Maloney ’08 again led the team in scoring (26 points) to give her a two-year total of 62 points in 40 games. Geneva Lloyd ’09 16 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

led the team in assists (14), and Ashleigh Kowtoniuk ’08 scored three key gamewinning goals (Berkshire, Loomis, Choate). Finally, captain and goalie Jackie Snikeris ’07 was a main reason for the Rhinos’ success, stopping an incredible 93 percent of the shots this season, averaging 1.5 goals per game, and being named a Division 1 All-New England and All-Founders League player.

Westminster (4–2) and Kent (2–1) and hard-fought ties with Hotchkiss (2–2) and Salisbury (0–0). Goalie Andrew Margolin ’07 was named as a First Team All-Western N.E. player and All-Founders League player. Leading scorer Bobby Kramer ’07 was also AllFounders League and ended the season with 28 points, while Brian Curran ’07 (24 points) and captain Brendan Reich j Captain Will Roe ’07 at the NEPSAC Championships at Mount Snow in February.

Risley Sports Photography

Boys’ Ice Hockey 13–6–4 Early in the season this strong team defeated eventual N.E. champion Avon, 3–2, and then won the Lawrenceville Christmas Tournament in an exciting 4–3 win over Choate in the finals. In addition, the Rhinos knocked off N.E. runner-up Belmont Hill, 2–1. Yet, this success was not enough to give Taft an 11th straight trip to the N.E. Tournament, as the team went 3–3–1 in the final seven games and fell one place short of qualifying. Other key games during this impressive season included wins over

’07 anchored the defense. Next year, a core of talented uppermids will be led

by Andy Balysky ’08, Drew MacKenzie ’08, and George Hughes ’08.

Skiing The odd weather made for a shortened season: only two multi-team races in January followed by the League and N.E. Championships in February. In their second competition, the Rhinos raced to first place as a team, defeating Avon, Loomis, Salisbury, and Kingswood, with Will Roe ’07 in 3rd place, Will Hibbs ’08 in

5th, Ben Johnston ’09 in 8th, and Harry Weyher ’07 in 13th (43 skiers). At the N.E. Class B Championships, the girls placed 7th as a team and the boys 9th of the 13 schools competing. Captains Will Roe and Maggie Seay ’07 had great days in both the slalom and G.S. Roe was 17th (G.S.) and 3rd (slalom) out of 65 total skiers, while Seay was 13th (G.S.) and 4th (slalom) out of 50 skiers.

’07 (160) and Sam Shiverick ’08 (171). Saliu was the team’s top medalist at the large New Englands (4th), and placed 2nd at the Western N.E. Championships. Also at the Westerns, Ide took 3rd, Canary 5th, Capel 5th, and Shiverick 6th to push Taft to a 9thplace finish out of 19 teams. Captain Paolino has put together one of the finest wrestling careers ever for Taft, with

j Taft #2 McKay Claghorn ’07 strikes a forehand vs Travis Judson of Brunswick.

Peter Frew ’75

Wrestling 12–4 Huge victories over Canterbury (47–28), Avon (42–30), and Hotchkiss (45–33) were the core moments in this fine season. The matches versus Avon and Hotchkiss came down to the final few weight classes, and the Taft wrestlers pulled out thrilling wins each time.

Taft’s string of middle-weight wrestlers was formidable and made them an especially strong dual-meet team: Dante Paolino ’07 (119), Will Ide ’09 (135), Afolabi Saliu ’07 (140), TJ Story ’09 (145), Isaiah Capel (152), Ben Canary

a New England individual title in ’04 and placing four consecutive years at the competitive Westerns.

Girls’ Squash 3–11 The team finished 11th out of the 32 schools at the N.E. Championships, tying rivals Hotchkiss and finishing in front of Loomis and Deerfield. The Rhinos also won the Sportsmanship Award—a real honor—and captain Alisha Mashruwala ’07 came agonizingly close to her third straight individual N.E. title. She earned 16 out

of a possible 17 total points for the team at the N.E. Championships and is certainly one of Taft’s all-time greats on the court. Kelly Barnes ’10 played solidly at #2 for Taft all season, but the loss of seniors Elizabeth Pompea ’07 (#3), Simone Foxman ’07 (#4), and Kit Thayer ’07 (#5) will leave some gaps for next year’s team to fill.

Boys’ Squash 13–4 Founders League Champions The team’s overall record would have been even more impressive had the Rhinos not come up against N.E. champion Brunswick three times this winter. Still, Taft won the league title once again and blanked rivals Choate, Andover and Hotchkiss 7–0. Heading into the N.E. Championships the team was in rough shape physically, and even the top performances of McKay Claghorn ’07 (3rd at #2), Sam Beatt ’07 (4th at #3), and Oat Naviroj ’07 (4th at #4) did not lift the team out of their 6th-place finish. Far more appropriate was their 5th-place finish at the National High School Squash Team Championships, including exciting wins over Philadelphia powers Haverford and Episcopal. Alex Dodge ’07 played well at #1 for Taft all season, as did senior Bobby Campbell at #5, and all these seniors will be sorely missed.

For more information visit www.TaftSports.com Good Sports The Connecticut Ice Hockey Officials Association presented Danny Murphy the 2007 Vincent J. Reilly Coach of the Year, Sportsmanship Award.

Taft players clearly model the school’s emphasis on character as well, as both the girls’ varsity squash and girls’ varsity basketball teams were recognized for their superior sportsmanship this season.

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writing with light A photographer for the Baltimore Sun for 29 years, Jed Kirschbaum ’67 says he never tries to take a picture, he always tries to give one.

Photographs by Jed Kirschbaum/Baltimore Sun 18 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

i

generally like to photograph images related to people I think are interesting. It’s always nice when you get to help someone. Basically, it’s the way you approach people. How do you reveal their inner beauty? The only way to get a great portrait is if someone lets you through their

shield. They’ll never let you in if they think you’re trying to take something from them.

During my first 10 years at the paper I did a lot of sports photography, where I shot maybe

a third of the Orioles season and football games and things. That’s kind of fun to do, to work on your timing and see if you’re quick enough to get a good photo of the ball in the air, but I think I’m drawn to quieter kinds of things.

I tell young photographers two things:

• You never steal a photo, and

• You always try to leave people their dignity.

How do you reveal someone’s soul in a portrait? How can you communicate a place that’s

been spiritually important to someone without resorting to tricks? Once in a while you’ll get a picture and you feel like you’ve done something above and beyond. It doesn’t happen often when the only vocabulary you have to build meaning is light.

—Jed

President Clinton visited the Pleasant View Gardens Boys and Girls Club in East Baltimore. Congress was debating whether to impeach him, and he seemed to have a lot on his mind. (DECEMBER 1998)

When I was studying at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, I had to do laundry one night. I watched this kid jumping around by the window and couldn’t figure out what she was doing at first... and then I saw the moth on the outside, out of her grasp. This has always been one of my favorite images. A sense of wonder is important to all of us and something one should always try to nurture. (SPRING 1976) Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

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on the cover

In the rebel-held trenches of the front line in Eritrea’s war against Ethiopia, I came upon more than one young child. When I asked the rebels why they didn’t get the kids out across the border to the Sudan and away from the war, they said they wouldn’t because these were their fighters for the future. (1985)

Baltimoreans can’t get enough of hometown filmmaker John Waters. He’s done big subculture films like Pink Flamingo, Hairspray and Serial Mom. I felt like I was just starting to understand black and white when the newspaper went to color.

USS COMFORT returns—Petty Officer Josh Cackowski smiles along with his 18-month-old son Jacob as Jacob brought him rocks from the parking lot at Pier 11 at the Canton Marine Terminal. The two were waiting for Mom to get the car. (JUNE 2003)

20 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Dr. John Cameron of Johns Hopkins is one of the world’s best and most prolific pancreatic cancer surgeons.

His quest for perfection still pits him against a virtually unbeatable foe.

Cameron daily faces the fact that his patients generally die in about 15.5 months—no matter how perfect his surgery. I spent about three months off and on going to surgeries, patient consults and rounds for a project last year. I was trying to capture his intensity with this image. (2006)

The handshake.

A dog with Pets on Wheels was greeting patients at a nursing home in Baltimore.

This picture was taken around 1979 and is one that I’ve always liked.

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Grayson Gilbert, 6, of Towson left a note beneath a statue called “The Healer” at the entrance to Johns Hopkins Hospital before his surgery for pancreatic cancer. On a recent office visit to Hopkins, he asked his mother if they could go the long way out and see the statue. I have lost touch with his family but as far as I know his cancer went into remission. (MAY 1996)

Chaquon Whitfield was severely burned in a house fire when she was three years old, but she hasn’t let her scars limit her. She is currently enrolled in the School for the Performing Arts and dreams of being a star someday. I found out as I was working on a story on her, that I had been the photographer who covered the fire…. I had photographed her twelve years earlier being carried to an ambulance. (2006)

To see more of Jed’s work, visit www.baltimoresun.com and choose “photo essays” under Multimedia.

Jed Kirschbaum ’67 has been a staff photographer for the Baltimore Sun since 1978 after working on The Dispatch in Union City, New Jersey, where he was named New Jersey Press Photographer of the Year (1978). He has a bachelor’s in English from the Johns Hopkins University (1971), and a degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri (1976). His work has been used by the Associated Press and United Press International, published in Smithsonian Magazine, Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report, and annuals of The Best of Photojournalism. He has covered assignments in Africa, Central America, the South Pacific, Mexico and across the U.S. for the Baltimore Sun. He has been the photographer for two books on Chesapeake Bay Cooking.

His work has been exhibited in several art galleries and colleges in Maryland.

22 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

If a Taftie Had a Farm...

Farming is not a typical career choice these days, but whether they inherited their livelihood or turned to the land after trying more typical occupations, these alumni decided it was time to get their hands dirty.

In their wildest dreams, colonial farmer John Lyman and his wife, Hope, could not have envisioned the diverse enterprise that would evolve from their 1741 purchase of a 36-acre parcel of land in Middlefield, Connecticut.

Lyman Orchards is now the ninth oldest family-owned business in the United States and one of Connecticut’s most popular family destinations.

Family Trees

Courtesy of Lyman Orchards

By Marti Attoun

Alumni Farmers

ack Lyman ’44 drives through the apple orchard on the family farm in Middlefield, Connecticut (pop. 4,203).

When he reaches his favorite hilltop spot, he can see most of the Lyman Orchards spread: 140 acres of fruit trees, 18 acres of berries, 20 acres of pumpkins, two golf courses, the old homestead and a bakery that rolls out 1,500 apple pies each week.

Eight generations of the Lyman family have maintained one of America’s oldest family farms by adapting with the times. In the first century, the farm was a typical self-sufficient New England homestead. In the second, the Lymans specialized in raising hogs and sheep and growing peaches. When a severe winter in 1917 killed the peach trees, the family sold land to survive and began planting more winter-hardy apple trees.

During the Great Depression years, Lyman Orchards became a leading apple grower in the Northeast. John Lyman Sr. ’14 promoted the distribution and consumption of locally grown apples, forming the New York/New England Apple Institute, serving as its president, and later served as vice president of the National Apple Institute.

In the 1960s, “we had 300 head of Guernsey cattle, then people woke up to the fact that high-fat wasn’t good for them,” recalls Jack.

Using the Yankee ingenuity of their ancestors who weathered lean times by manufacturing clothes wringers in the 1850s, the Lymans sold the cows and converted the pastureland into greens and fairways. Famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the farm’s first 18-hole course in 1967, and golfing legend Gary Player drew up plans for the second in 1994.

People can spend the day, taking a horse-drawn wagon ride or navigating their way through a corn maze. Many parents today came to Lyman’s as kids, and now they bring their kids.

The 1,100-acre farm has become a popular pick-yourown destination from June, when the first strawberries ripen, through October, when the last pumpkin is picked.

Twenty-five varieties of apples are grown at Lyman’s, and new varieties are planted annually. Apples, apple cider, applesauce, specialty cheeses and deli items are sold at the farm’s Apple Barrel store, which opened in 1972. The store buzzes

with customers loading up fresh produce and goodies from the bakery, including hot-from-the-oven apple pies, which are the fastest-growing slice of Lyman Orchards’ business.

Outside, customers linger at tables on the deck of the barrel-shaped store, which overlooks a valley with a duck pond.

“The community appreciates this open space,” Jack says overlooking the land first farmed by his namesake 264 years ago.

b Three generation of Lymans—John ’14, Jack ’44, and his son John, who now runs the farm—show off their crop at the Lyman Homestead, located on land first purchased by John Lyman in 1741. The building is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and was home to generations of the Lyman Family, until 2000 when it was made available for hosting special events.

Dot with butter or margarine. Pour lemon juice, then maple syrup over all. Bake about 1 hour until apples are tender. Use remaining sugar/water cooking liquid to baste, if necessary.

J

This story first appeared in American Profile magazine and is reprinted with permission.

For more information, visit www.lymanorchards.com.

While their famous Apple Pie recipe is “top secret,” Jack is proud to share one of his mother’s prized recipes.

Edna Lyman’s Scalloped Apples “A wonderful accompaniment to roasts of all kinds.

A favorite at family gatherings and church suppers for more than 70 years!”

—Dorothy Lyman Waller j 6

baking apples, medium to large; peeled, cored, and quartered j 2 1/2 cups water j 1/2 cup sugar j 3 tbsp. butter or margarine j 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice j 1/2 cup maple syrup Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9 x 13 x 2” baking dish.

Combine water, sugar and apples in saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook one minute.

Place apples rounded side up, in prepared baking dish. Pour half of the cooking liquid over apples.

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Herbal Remedy Former accountant Ted Andrews ’72 traded in his adding machine for a little parsley, sage, rosemary...and time.

David Lykins

By Julia Feldmeier ’99

Alumni Farmers

was a rough year for Ted Andrews ’72. It was the year he divorced his wife of 15 years and was working as an accountant—a job that was uninspiring, at best. It was also the last year before he would turn 40.

Call it a midlife crisis, an unfortunate confluence of events. A perfect storm.

Weathering it, Ted says, was a matter of prioritizing, of reassessing his sources of happiness. His kids and his garden made the short list; his job didn’t.

A friend tipped him off to a family-owned farm that was looking for someone to be an investor-cum-chief financial officer, which is how Andrews found himself at the head of HerbCo International, an organic herb farm 20 miles outside of Seattle. The rainbow after the storm.

“Hitting bottom was a good thing,” Andrews says. “I wasn’t so much looking for a job; I was looking to remake my life.”

1992

j j j Fifteen years later, Andrews, now president of the company, works from an office overlooking a mile-wide flood plain filled with more than 26 kinds of herbs. To the south is Mount Rainier; to the north, Mount Baker.

“Standing in the middle of 40 acres of basil, it gives me the biggest thrill,” Andrews says.

Before he commutes home at day’s end, he might grab a batch of fresh lemon thyme to sprinkle over chicken for dinner, which he’ll share with his new wife, Gretchen, whom he married in 1997.

Indeed, Andrews’ life got a wonderful makeover.

So did the company he took over. What began as a 22acre, six-man operation has grown to 225 acres and 93 employees. Annual sales have steadily increased from roughly $34,000 to nearly $8 million last year. The herbs, which include arugula, bay leaf, dill, parsley, rosemary and sage, are sold throughout the Northwest at major grocers such as Safeway and Food Pavilion—a significant coup for an independent farm.

Ward Roney, the man who started HerbCo and whose family has owned the original farmland for more than 100 years, credits Andrews for the growth: “When Ted came in, he turned it into a successful operation,” he says. “He’s a very good businessman.”

And how. Recognizing that major retailers preferred the convenience of dealing with large national vendors, Andrews established a nationwide network of seven independent

herb farms—creating a unified, multi-regional entity better equipped to bargain with national grocers.

He also understood the importance of providing product consistency and making all of his herbs available year-round.

“If you always keep it in the store, then people start using it,” he says. “They know they can always come back and make fresh pesto, because they know there’s always going to be basil.”

Because Washington’s climate doesn’t allow for yearround growth of all herbs, Andrews began importing herbs from as far away as Hawaii and Israel. (Hence the “International” in the company name.) And the price is the same, regardless of season or herb origin.

Andrews also had the foresight to go organic—a farming tactic that had little cachet among consumers in 1992 but has since boomed in popularity. Though he’s not a “granola guy,” he says, “it was a market niche and an opportunity to differentiate from the next guy.”

But for a man who was once an unhappy accountant, this newfound business savvy was surprising—and an adjustment.

“It’s a very uncomfortable transition from being a mostly detail-oriented type person to now having to be a big picture person and a visionary and leader,” he says. “That’s the part of my growth that’s most rewarding for me. I’m nothing like I was 15 years ago.”

Still, Andrews downplays the company’s success as mere luck—simply being in “the right business at the right time,” he says. Perhaps. But more likely it’s about the right job for the right man—about finding that perfect marriage of passion and pay.

After all, Andrews says, “I always worked hard, but I never worked as hard as I have at the herb farm. I loved it right from day one.”

Of course, running a farm is full of stresses. In November, HerbCo’s fields flooded; crops were swamped under 12 feet of water. A wind storm knocked out power for days. Mother Nature can strike at any time.

It’s a risk worth taking, Andrews believes—and besides, when a storm strikes, who’s to say you’re doomed?

Andrews certainly wasn’t. The herb farm, he says, was the “silver lining” to his midlife crisis of 1992. Since then, everything in his life has fallen, happily, into place.

Well, almost. “My garden is now a disaster because I get all my ya-yas here,” Andrews says. “The last thing I want to do when I go home is weed.”

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Believe in Your Meat Arthur ’76 and Laura Closson Hyde ’78 have turned a country home into a prospering cattle farm and find that it’s a wonderful life.

By Julia Feldmeier ’99

Alumni Farmers

hen a man has a loving wife and three sons, a successful career on Wall Street, a lovely home in a tony Manhattan suburb and a country home to retreat to on weekends, what more could he really want?

Meat, perhaps—and lots of it. For Arthur Hyde, that means ground beef, New York strip, filet mignon and London broil—all from what he considers the finest Black Angus cows in the business: his cows.

“We like being in the meat business,” Arthur says of the cattle farm he now owns with his wife, Laura. “We like having a quality product so we can share it with family and friends and customers.”

Mostly, though, they just really like cows. “We like all animals,” he says, “but cattle are something I’m especially fond of. They’re wonderful.”

W

j j j Once you buy your first Angus cow, “it’s all over,” says Arthur.

“You get addicted, and that’s what happened to me.”

The Hydes bought their first cow in 1997. It was a whimsical purchase, a fun accessory for the old dairy farm that the family purchased six years earlier.

It’s not all that surprising that the couple chose to embark on an unconventional business. “We’ve always done our own thing, regardless of what everyone else is doing,” says Laura.

Though they knew of each other at Taft, the couple didn’t date until college, when Laura—at Hampshire College—attended a fraternity party at nearby Amherst College, where Arthur was a senior. They married in 1982, had their first of three sons in 1985, and in 1991 bought 140 acres of pasture and woodland for use as a country home—two hours north of Manhattan.

Today, Prospect Hill has more than 250 Black Angus cows and 700 acres of farmland for the animals to graze.

Operations are overseen by Arthur, who left his job as a bond trader in 2003 to explore the cattle business.

Though their meat is popular—Amherst and Bard colleges purchase Prospect Hill beef, as do local restaurants—it’s only 10 percent of their business. The rest comes from the sale of female cows and their embryos.

A female cow with the best pedigree and the best performance (that is, her ability to grow muscle and to marble, which makes better meat) can trade for as much as $400,000.

Because her eggs are valuable, too, top-ranked heifers are peb Henry, Arthur ’76, Laura ’78, “Lefty,” Asa, and Arthur Hyde raise cattle at Prospect Hill Farm in New York State. Their friend Bridget Starr Taylor ‘77 created the farm’s logo.

riodically flushed of their embryos, which are then implanted into less genetically desirable females.

It’s likely that the Hydes know more about the ancestry of their cows than most people do about their own family tree.

Each calf is registered with the American Angus Association, so they know the animal’s lineage and medical history as far back as seven generations.

While Prospect Hill’s male cows are castrated at birth and later sold as meat, their female cows are artificially inseminated by bulls from around the country. Arthur researches a bull’s lineage and stats, looking not only for cows with great ability to muscle and marble but also those with low birth weight (so the calf won’t put too much stress on the female) and a fast growth rate.

It boils down to genetic prediction—a numbers game, really. Which is why, when the whole business began, Laura wasn’t worried about her husband’s switch from banking to cattle breeding.

“The math end, I knew Arthur would have a good head for that,” she says. “He understood the whole thing from day one.”

Besides, having a family business has been fun. Laura, who has a background in art design, creates the brochures and print items relating to the farm.

“It was great what Arthur did before, but he did that alone and I did my thing alone,” she says. “Now we get to do it together.”

Next year, when their youngest son is away at college, the couple anticipates spending even more time at Prospect Hill.

For now, Arthur commutes from their home in Bronxville, New York, three days a week, and the family spends most weekends on the farm.

Several times a year, the couple heads West to attend cattle breeding shows, and they held their own show last August.

More than 350 ranchers from around the country turned up at the farm—testament to the appeal of Prospect Hill cows.

It’s a close-knit industry, and ranchers routinely call one another to compare notes and swap cow stories. After all, Arthur says, “You either like the smell of cow manure, or you don’t.”

As for Arthur, he loves it. The smell, the chores—mowing the hay, feeding the animals—and, yes, the steak, though he says he never eats beef more than once a week.

“My idea is to raise the animals, and for them to have a wonderful life,” he says. “And I love being on a farm. I love every minute of it.”

Writer Julia Feldmeier ’99 lives in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.believeinyourmeat.com.

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

29

Joe and Louise Brogna: Three Decades of Taft Service

By Willy MacMullen ’78

W

hen a couple like Joe and Louise Brogna retire, as they will this year, there is a sense that something larger is happening, that an era has ended. After all, Joe arrived at Taft in 1963, and his appointment letter was dictated by Headmaster Paul Cruikshank and typed by Mildred Reilly, and the paper is now yellow and brittle. With the exception of a few years teaching at Northfield-Mount Hermon in the early 1970s, the Brognas have been teaching, coaching, advising and living in the Taft dormitories since that day. As one colleague shared of them, “They are what Taft teaching is all about.”

Joe came to Taft because the school needed a Latin teacher.

He had been a classics major at Bowdoin, and he was captain of the basketball team. When he came to interview, he asked Headmaster Cruikshank what the job was all about. Cruikshank said, “Mr. Brogna, you’ll be fine. You just have to like kids.”

For forty years, Joe Brogna has embodied what it is to care about students, to educate the whole person. Like any young teacher, Joe had to do many things. In his first year, he coached club football, helped Jim Logan in basketball, and assisted in baseball. The next year, Larry Stone asked him to help in varsity football and baseball, and for many Taft graduates, that is where they remember “Coach Brogna.”

Stone and Brogna were Taft football and baseball. There was an “old school” approach with Joe, if “old school” means a respect for the game, an insistence on doing things correctly and a rigorous attention to detail. That approach has never changed. Watch his team this spring and you will see his teaching: his players have their shirts tucked in, know how to bunt a runner over, run out every ground ball and shake hands with the umpire after the game. Larry Stone says of Joe, “We shared a philosophy: do a few things well; work really hard at them; and stick by what you believe in.”

And he has been a remarkable Latin teacher. It is impossible to know how many students he taught in his many years here. His training was impeccable and his command is total. You can pull Joe aside in the Main Hall and ask the

“When a couple like Joe and Louise Brogna retire… there is a sense that…an era has ended.”

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

31

Joe & Louise Brogna derivation of a word, and he won’t have to hesitate. Teaching Latin is vital, he feels: “It is clear: if you are disciplined, you can succeed. You cannot bull your way through Latin.

You have to do the work, the critical thinking on a body of knowledge unfamiliar to you. You have to engage in complex judgments based on fine distinctions. There might be 76 words linked to a single root, and you have to decide which form is correct.” For all these years, Joe has conducted class in that basement classroom, an absolute master.

Joe understands Taft and how it has changed and stayed the same. “The students come from much more varied walks of life now,” he observes, “and they are even more genuinely interested in each other than in the past. The way they cheer for each other’s teams is amazing. But what seems the same is that we never really have had much in the way of discipline problems, really. Kids like being here. They are happy. That’s real. That friendliness and happiness are real. What is the essence of Taft? People who care about students.”

years when he oversaw the residential program: “She cared so deeply about her girls in Centennial, and she always had their best interests at heart. She was the ‘House Mother.’” Joe says proudly, “Louise has grown to love the dorm. She treats the girls like her daughters. They come to her for all kinds of things.” Hundreds of girls in Centennial were mothered by Louise, who told them how to behave, helped them get dressed for the formal dance and taught them what living with pride and dignity meant.

Joe says that he will miss the daily routine. “I have been living by a bell since I was eleven years old. Louise and I will be free to travel, to read, to see our kids and grandchildren.

But I will miss this. Remember, Centennial was our home.”

There is not much Joe hasn’t done at Taft, and he has always been willing to work for the school. He picked up kids at the airport, ran the security office, taught extra classes, and kept the faculty laughing with bad jokes told in a north Boston accent. He is everywhere. When I think of Joe Brogna, and the thirty-some years he has had here, I think of scenes:

“Hundreds of girls in Centennial were mothered by Louise, who told them how to behave, helped them get dressed for the formal dance and taught them what living with pride and dignity meant.”

I come to school every morning and am in the dining hall for breakfast by 7:03 a.m. Joe, now in his last year, beats me every morning, and he sits at the end of the table where the lowermids and mids sign in, and talks to his colleagues and greets the students.

Ned Trombly, who has some four decades of work at Taft, knows him well. “He has that strange sense of humor and that laugh…. But how many student/athletes were taught sportsmanship, integrity, toughness and loyalty? He is one of the old school masters. He always had time for his students.” Joe’s Latin colleague and fellow Bowdoin graduate Dick Cobb’s praise is for a man who has always served the school and who has never ceased to care for kids—the quintessential school man who wore many hats. “Throughout the years,” Dick recalls, “Joe has been willing to do whatever was asked of him to make Taft a better place: teach a fifth class, tutor a student in Greek, run the security office…. And as a teacher, he has displayed outstanding knowledge and always gone out of his way to offer extra help to a student who was struggling. As a coach, he was incredibly knowledgeable and very competitive.”

Joe is quick to point out that he never was alone in this. Louise Brogna has been a fixture here since the day she arrived, her last seventeen years as the head of Centennial Dormitory. She and Joe married in 1968, and she had served the nation as a nurse in Korea, treating soldiers wounded in Vietnam. Adjusting to life in a boarding school was not easy, but Louise brought a love and toughness that have marked everything she has done. Ned recalls how “outspoken, loyal and honest she is.” Dick Cobb worked with her for 32 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

It’s a cold April morning, and the baseball field is a raw, miserable place, with some spitting rain. Joe is running practice, his hands stuffed in his waistband, his hat perched on top of his head in an old school manner. He puts an arm on a player’s shoulder as he explains the hitting stance.

It is a hot, sunny spring day a few years back, the varsity baseball team is playing Avon, and Joe is just finishing his chemo treatments. The doctor has told him he can’t coach, of course, and he shouldn’t be in the sun; so he is parked in his car, the window rolled down, behind the Wu Science building, near the right field line, where he can watch the game.

It’s near the door to the gym, and Joe stands where he always does, where he can watch two games at once. He has coached here so long in three sports that he knows everyone. Coaches, referees, friends from town and parents stop by to shake hands. He has a joke for almost everyone, and generally a shared story. He watches every game with the same interest: varsity boys, girls JV, the little faculty kids racing around the court at half time.

Joe is at a class committee meeting, where we review every student in the class. Joe has a boy in class who is struggling: he has failed a couple of quizzes and a recent test. “He’ll be OK. He is seeing me for extra help, and I will work with him until he gets it.” The next day I walk by Joe’s classroom in the basement of HDT. The room is empty save for Joe and a boy, at a desk.

“He has that strange sense of humor and that laugh….

But how many student/ athletes were taught sportsmanship, integrity, toughness and loyalty?

He is one of the old school masters. He always had time for his students.”

It is morning in the faculty room, the early 1980s; Taft’s Classics Department is sitting at the big table drinking coffee: Don Oscarson, Dick Cobb, Joe Brogna—The Big Three.

It is about five years ago, and Pam and I are eating dinner in the dining hall with our two boys. Joe comes up to the boys, gives a gentle twist to the ears, and does a Donald Duck imitation.

It is a warm spring evening, the shadows on Walnut Hill. Joe is walking along the fields with Louise, behind Centennial dormitory, where he has lived and raised his family, at the school he first saw in 1963.

Headmaster Willy MacMullen is a dining-hall regular at 7 a.m. and has shared many breakfasts with Joe over the years.

. Louise and Joe raised four children at Taft, and now enjoy spending time with their grandchildren. Front from left, Mike and Greta Campanale ’92 with Sofia, Louise and Joe; back, daughterin-law Melissa with Hunter, Claire ’03, Alexa, Toni ’99 and Rico.

“What is the essence of Taft?

People who care about students.”

—continued from page 36

“You have done the impossible— made a head that is much better looking, but just like me.”

From the Archives

sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial. With French, she was also free to work on her own projects. The two sculptors became close, lifelong friends and colleagues, French often seeking her opinion on his works in progress.

Even from the early years of her career, Longman enjoyed national acclaim for Victory, which she created for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, and The Genius of Telegraphy for the AT&T Building in New York City. Other early works included monumental bronze relief doors for the U.S. Naval Academy Memorial Chapel and the Wellesley College Library. Longman continued to win major public and private commissions while working out of her studio at Loomis. Today her bronze and stone portraits and reliefs are represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Portrait Gallery and the Wadsworth Atheneum.

By the time she was hired for the Taft bust, Longman was clearly a creative and professional force to be dealt with. On January 21, her husband, who had wholeheartedly supported her career, stepped into the fray with a headmaster-to-headmaster letter to Paul Cruikshank, who had just taken over the school: “I didn’t mean to draw you into this situation, but…I think you had better have the whole story…. It would seem as if (Mr. Taft’s) …old boys who meant to commemorate his service to the school in a portrait had let him down.

I don’t think he would mind others contributing, but I certainly hope the alumni won’t withdraw.

I myself am a bad fundraiser, but if I were a Taft alumnus, I should think this about the easiest project in the world to raise funds for….” And relaying a classic bit of Taft’s self-deprecatory humor, Batchelder wrote: “The question will arise whether Mr. Taft will consent to the erection of a full-length statue, or even a bust, during his lifetime. He has laughingly said that whatever was made would have to be stored.”

In the end, of course, the decision was made to proceed with the bust. Then on May 25, 1940, more than 450 alumni returned to campus for the school’s 50th birthday celebration, and listened to Dr. Charles Seymour, president of Yale, speak about the ongoing war in Europe and call for American action.

Unfortunately, Mr. Taft could not attend the celebration, owing to heart trouble. The bust was formally unveiled and dedicated by the Honorable Thomas Day Thacher 1899, who was then a trustee. He said: …“We knew (Mr. Taft) as a man who, through the sheer force of his character and personality, taught us the spiritual qualities underlying human relationships. This he accomplished without lectures or preachments, without dogma or doctrine, but by his own clear-eyed conception of what was fair and what was honorable…his spirit is still the spirit of the school.”

In the end, Mr. Taft himself liked the portrait, telling Longman, “…You have done the impossible—made a head that is much better looking, but just like me.” The Headmasters Association presented him the statuette as a personal gift.

No doubt he promptly put it into storage.

—Alison Gilchrist Picton The Leslie D. Manning Archives Evelyn Beatrice Longman Batchelder was commissioned by alumni to sculpt a portrait of Mr. Taft to be presented at the school’s 50th anniversary celebration. Courtesy of Loomis Chaffee Archives b

Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

35

From the Archives

Remembering Horace: The Sculptress Behind the Likeness H

ow familiar we all are with Horace Dutton Taft’s genial bronze face greeting us at the entrance to the school. But little do we know about how the oft-crowned, swathed, bereted, masked and otherwise affectionately decorated head came to be.

Soon after I took my job as archivist here, I came across a charming, 18-inch bronze statuette of Horace Taft. I immediately connected it with the bronze bust outside the school’s entrance. The statuette, or “sketch,” as the artist called it, is an appealing portrait of the tall, lanky man, standing at ease with his hands clasped behind his back. Its kind and graceful expression concurred with my sense of the man from his writings and stories.

The bust, we knew, was initiated by a group of alumni, headed by Howard L. Davis 1895. They commissioned Evelyn Beatrice Longman Batchelder to sculpt a portrait of Mr. Taft, to be presented at the school’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Longman was well known in the art world for her monumental statues, busts, and reliefs. Married to Loomis headmaster Nathaniel Batchelder, Longman worked a full schedule sculpting large and small public and private works in bronze, marble, and granite at her campus studio.

Taft and Batchelder had been colleagues and friends since the two schools started competing in athletic events, around 1916. Soon after they met, Batchelder’s first wife, Gwendolen, died during the birth of their only child. Seven years before, Horace Taft had suffered deeply the loss of his wife, Winifred, to cancer. I wondered if the men’s shared experiences had fostered their friendship. Batchelder’s search for a sculptor to create a memorial to his late wife turned up Evelyn Longman, whom he married in 1920.

They often hosted Horace Taft at their homes at Loomis and Osterville, Cape Cod.

By late winter 1937 the Taft project had come to a standstill. In the midst of the Depression, Davis may have felt reluctant to press alumni for more money. There was a dispute about the scope of the project and the artist’s fee. The only letter we have from 36 Taft Bulletin Spring 2007

Davis to Longman, from January 12, 1936, is impatient: …“If we are to continue to represent the alumni in (the funding of ) this matter, we shall definitely be forced to abandon further consideration of a full-length portrait, unless you can see your way to reduce the cost materially.”

Adding to this, according to Davis, was the committee’s dissatisfaction with the likeness.

Davis complained of “the somewhat too sweet expression of the face….”

Longman stood firm. On January 16 she wrote Davis: “I have offered to do the full-length statue at a much lower price than I have ever given for a comparable work…. Of course I, or any other artist, could do a slap-dash job…turn out something rapidly, beat the bronze foundry down in price, and perhaps make a profit. But this gives no satisfaction to client, artist, or to the person who is to be commemorated. If I do this work, I am going to do it right. I am going to take a long time over it; I am going to go to the best bronze foundry, and try to have every detail perfect….

“As for your being satisfied with the likeness, I have never yet failed to satisfy a committee, and I am confident I can satisfy a committee in this case…the bust in its unfinished state has been seen by a large number of people who know Mr. Taft intimately. President Barbour of Brown was unqualifiedly enthusiastic, likewise several headmasters…But someone says make him heroic, and someone else says make him genial.”

Longman was an eminent sculptor who had risen to the top of her craft against considerable odds. Though born into deep poverty, she put herself through the Art Institute of Chicago, establishing herself as a gifted student and artist. She studied modeling under the artist Lorado Taft, a fifth cousin to Horace Taft and “an important local sculptor with a growing national reputation…(who) unlike many male sculptors of the day, believed that women belonged in the profession.”

Longman moved to New York City and landed a job as the first and only female assistant to Daniel Chester French, the renowned Longman’s original bronze “sketch” of the tribute to Horace Taft. Peter Frew ’75

c

continued on page 35—

Thursday, May 10 6:30 p.m.

Class of 1957 50th Reunion Celebration: Cocktails, Potter Gallery; Dinner, Choral Room

Friday, May 11 8:00 a.m.

Alumni Golf Tournament

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. School Lunch, Armstrong Dining Hall Noon

5:00 p.m.

Reunion Class Luncheons: Classes of ’32, ’37, ’42, ’47, ’52 & ’57

6:00 p.m.

Old Guard Dinner, Headmaster’s Home

Evening

Reunion Class Celebrations: Classes of ’62, ’67, ’72, ’77, ’87 & ’92

Service of Remembrance, Christ Church on the Green

Saturday, May 12 7:00–8:00 a.m.

School Breakfast, Armstrong Dining Hall

7:30 a.m.–Noon

Registration, Main Circle

7:50–11:45 a.m.

Classes open to visiting Alumni

8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Recent Work by Kenneth Rush ’67, Potter Gallery

9:30 a.m.

Class Secretaries and Agents’ Informal Breakfast Woolworth Faculty Room

9:30–10:30 a.m.

Collegium Musicum Revisited, Walker Hall

10:30 a.m.

Alumni Baseball Game Honoring retiring Latin teacher and baseball coach Joe Brogna

10:30–11:30 a.m.

Taft Today and Tomorrow Panel discussion with the headmaster and student leaders, Choral Room

11:45 a.m.

Assembly and Parade, Main Circle

12:30 p.m.

Alumni Luncheon, Donald F. McCullough ’42 Field House Children’s Program, Paul and Edith Cruikshank Gymnasium

2:00 p.m.

5:30–8:00 p.m.

Alumni Lacrosse Game, Geoffrey Camp Field

8:00 p.m.

Reunion Class Celebrations: Classes of ’82, ’97 & ’02

Buffet Dinner, Headmaster’s Home

Campus tours will be offered at various times throughout the weekend.

Alumni Weekend

Come join the fun!

Spring break options: In addition to the usual team trips to Florida, students also had the option to (top to bottom) travel to the Dominican Republic to volunteer at an orphanage, tour South Africa [Ashley Barronette '07] or sing in San Francisco with Collegium [Peter Frew ’75].

Taft Bulletin

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