The Magazine of The Thacher School • Fall 2019
Home Made
How do we fashion a community in which all of our members feel welcomed and at home?
CONTENTS 14 • Home Made
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How do we fashion a community in which all of our members feel welcomed and at home? At Thacher we do it through thoughtfully designed campus spaces that support our customs and connections, by devoting equal care and attention to the intangible structures of community, and by strengthening the shared values and skills that will allow us to become the School we aspire to be.
28 • We Were the First When three pioneering alums share their experiences as Thacher’s first black students, their whole class experiences the value of making room for difficult conversations.
ALUMNI & COMMUNITY NEWS
01 • View From Olympus
30 • Gatherings
Our head of school reflects on the importance and occasional messiness of learning in community.
04 • The Pergola An assemblage of noteworthy School and community intelligence.
12 • Armchair Wandering Robin Walter CdeP 2008 writes about the TOADTalk she never gave and introduces us to a role model of a mule.
FRONT COVER Mateo Thacher ’20, great-greatgrandson of founder Sherman Day Thacher, is school chair, a co-head of the Latinos Unidos affinity group and the living embodiment of the dual influences of legacy and growth in our community. Photo credit: John Davis
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Thacher takes community on the road and classes meet up on campus for Reunion 2019.
34 • Class Notes, etc. Alumni news, milestones, and news from faculty, staff, and friends.
41 • In Memoriam 49 • The Best We Can Do Changing the world, one community at a time, through the power of food. PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
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ON & OFF CAMPUS
VIEW FROM OLYMPUS ADVANCED TOPICS IN COMMUNITY Why things could get a little messy, and that’s OK.
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ike many kids who end up at Thacher, I didn’t grow up imagining I’d go to boarding school. I fell in love with Thacher despite the fact that it required living at school. What I didn’t know at the time was that the living together part of Thacher would bring with it deep learning that fundamentally changed how I understood myself in relation to the world. I’ve seen that experience repeated time and time again. Working, eating, playing, and living with peers and teachers,Thacher students learn what it means to be accountable not just to their parents and to themselves, but to be accountable to a community. There is no disengaged path through The Thacher School. This is not a transactional education, where you simply take what you need in order to reach the next rung on the ladder of life, ignoring what you don’t like or what makes you uncomfortable. Thacher students have enrolled themselves in an experiment in living and learning in connection, commitment, and service to one another. They have taken on the ultimate, real-world, project-based learning assignment—building and sustaining community. And Thacher is not the typical American high school community. Today’s Thacher is far more racially and socio-economically diverse than most schools in America. Even in this country’s most diverse cities, schools continue to be largely segregated by race and socio-economic status. Thacher students and teachers come from 27 states and 12 countries and we bring with us a vast array of experiences, beliefs, and ways of seeing and being in the world. We’ve all mucked a horse’s stall, and carried a heavy pack on a mountain trail. We’re committed to being present with one another in this place, and not buried in our devices as we make our way through the day. We all benefit from incredible resources the likes of which most com-
munities will never know, resources that bring with them real responsibility to the world around us. We reject the notion that high school must be synonymous with drugs and alcohol. We hold ourselves to high standards, and expect that when we fall short, we will be held accountable for our missteps. We strive to be kind—always—to step outside ourselves and learn what the world looks and feels like to others. We expect to be challenged, to be uncomfortable even as we work to make sure those around us are comfortable. This is advanced topics in community building. It’s tough stuff. And it can get messy. But the learning it brings is deep, rich, complex, and life-long. And it has particular benefits for today’s teens. I believe living and learning in a community like Thacher is a powerful counterforce to the anxiety and depression ailing so many of the world’s young people today. Some of you may have read that two recent studies added students in high-achieving schools to the list of “at risk” groups, citing the pressure to excel as the driver for that risk. Those publishing these studies are quick to point out that not all high-achieving schools exhibit at risk kids, but it still begs the question of how we have gotten to a place where the very schools with the resources and opportunity all kids deserve but too few get have become environments that can put kids at risk? When asked where the pressure is coming from for these kids, one psychologist responded, “Where is it not?” Kids are saturated with messages about the importance of achievement above all else. In response to the question of how to shift this tide, researchers cited a Harvard Graduate School of Education study that asked kids in highachieving schools to rank values their parents prioritized. Adolescents who believed that both of their parents valued character traits as much as or more than achievement exhibited better outcomes at school, greater mental health, fewer behavioral issues. Even when they are very young, kids are constantly observing their environments to understand what is being valued, and how they can attain that value. As adolescents, they begin looking to their peers and trusted adults to answer those questions. And when individual achievement is the only goal they see valued, they are more likely to internalize the belief that achievement is the only path to self-worth. Once they have internalized that value system, they themselves become the source of the pressure to excel. They begin to believe that their only purpose is to achieve, and that success requires the sacrifice of their well-being. For historically underrepresented students or those who are already at risk of feeling devalued relative to the majority community, the negative impact of this cycle can be exponentially worse. This is why living and learning in the context of a community like Thacher’s, where they are held accountable to one another and to explicit, transcendent values, as challenging as it can sometimes be, is so good for kids. It is a clear message that how we engage in the world is paramount, and it invites young people to find purpose and value beyond their individual achievement. It invites them to struggle with the big and difficult The Thacher School 1
VIEW FROM OLYMPUS
questions of what it means to be a human being; what it means to confront suffering, your own and that of others; what it means to live in service to something greater than our own comfort. This is why we have a horse program and a camping program. It’s why we give so much time and attention to endeavors that are committed to character building, to community building, to better understanding our responsibility to the world around us. It’s why taking on leadership roles is a requirement of a Thacher education. It’s why so much of what we do pushes kids to engage with something bigger than themselves. It also helps explain some of the recent changes on campus that you’ll read about in these pages: a new dining hall, affinity groups, and C.R.E.W. time. Yes, these are new additions to the campus and curriculum, but they are also expressions of School values that have remained unchanged since the days of Mr. Thacher. They are a good reminder that our work is not done the moment we agree to a mission and subscribe to values of honor, fairness, kindness, and truth. Thacher has always been in a state of evolution, vivified each fall by a new group of individuals who come together to realize its mission. Mr. Thacher’s annual invocation of “the best year yet” is an invitation to bring the distinct combination of voices and experiences of today’s community to bear on the work in front of us, guided by traditions and values whose power and truth transcend any single moment in time. These advanced topics in community are the curriculum beneath the curriculum, the foundation without which we cannot achieve our noble goal of training young people in the art of learning and living for the greatest good. Here is a case in point. This past June, as we do every year, Thacher welcomed back hundreds of alums for their reunions. The class celebrating their 50th reunion, the class of 1969, had the majority of their class return. Sometime last winter, in an attempt to get their classmates excited to see one another again, a few of them began to correspond over email, including the whole class in their exchanges. They shared stories from their Thacher days—the good parts and the not-so-good parts—and from their lives since. Some of them shared things they’d never told any of their classmates before. By the time they arrived on campus, that exchange had over 800 emails in it. There are only 45 people in the class of 1969. As you might imagine, they thought and wrote a lot about what was going on in the world, and in America, when they were at Thacher—the
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Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement and the passing of the Civil Rights Act, student protests, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and of Robert Kennedy, the appointment of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, the establishment of the National Organization for Women. The Stonewall uprising, the moon landing, and Woodstock all took place just weeks after they graduated. These were powerful and often turbulent times. Among the members of the class of 1969 are Thacher’s first African American graduates, Bert Hammond, Neal Howe, and Jim Richardson. These men took part in a panel discussion over reunion in which they talked about their experiences at Thacher. All three of them shared moments that they hadn’t ever talked about with their classmates or with one another— many painful, some joyful. (You can read more about what they shared on page 28.) I heard in their reflections echoes of experiences other historically under-represented students have shared with me over the years. I also heard in the comments and questions from their majority classmates, their recognition that as students, they hadn’t stepped far enough outside themselves to really wonder what these classmates’ experiences had been, to see and to acknowledge their struggles and discomfort. And they wondered how different all of their experiences would have been if they had done that. In fact, a common refrain from the class of 1969 over the course of that weekend was “I never knew that…” As bonded as they’d been, there was so much that they didn’t know about one another, that they hadn’t realized or seen or paid attention to when they were here. In so many cases, they’d made assumptions about one another rather than asking questions. They weren’t going to do that this time around. The stories of times when they were curious, when they did attempt to really see one another and themselves, to listen, to talk about real stuff, to be vulnerable—those were some of their best Thacher memories—late night discussions in the halls of Upper School, intense study sessions in the library, sitting and talking with a faculty member after dinner, unexpected adventures on horseback, a long ride home from a great game, telling stories around a campfire, a spontaneous beach outing with boys outside their typical group of friends. These kinds of moments are at the heart of my most profound memories of Thacher. These are the moments when we know we are connected to something bigger than ourselves. They are times of life learning in deep connection with others, of joy in deep connection with others, of challenge and risk in deep connection with others. There are many schools where you can get a great education and never have to be responsible for anyone but yourself (much less a horse). There are many schools where you can go along for the ride, take what you need and leave the rest behind. Thacher isn’t one of those schools. This magazine explores some of the ways in which we are learning from one another how to fully manifest the power of community at Thacher, and where we have more work to do. It also highlights ways our alumni carry elements of Thacher into their lives and communities. A Thacher education is a collective endeavor meant to last a lifetime, and that’s a beautiful thing.
Numeracy
THACHER The Magazine of The Thacher School Volume 13, Issue 12 Fall 2019
Melee at the Mully! For tonight’s celebratory meal, Mulligan Hall is outfitted with 40 tables and a total of 320 seats (seating for routine meals is typically 256 at 32 tables). For this special occasion each student and faculty member is assigned not only to a table, but to a particular seat at the table. All 320 seats are going to be occupied. As folks file in, however, the first diner to arrive mistakenly sits in the wrong seat. All subsequent diners sit in their assigned seat if it is available and take a random seat if it is not. In this melee, what is the probability that the last diner to arrive, the 320th, will be able to sit in their assigned seat? We owe this challenge to Kurt Meyer, who has refused to let retirement stop him from presiding over our puzzlement!
Send answers to: thachermagazine@thacher.org Correct answers will be announced in the next issue.
EDITOR Christopher J. Land ASSISTANT EDITOR Lynn Frances Jae CLASS NOTES EDITOR Aaron Boydston ARCHIVIST Bonnie LaForge DESIGN Michael Artman, Landesberg Design PHOTOGRAPHY John Davis, Christopher Land, Jon Swift, Carin Yates HEAD OF SCHOOL Blossom Beatty Pidduck CdeP 1992 DIRECTOR OF ENROLLMENT AND PLANNING William P. McMahon DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT Jeffery D. Berndt
Thacher is published twice a year by The Thacher School, and is sent free of charge to alumni, parents, and friends of the School. Every effort is made to ensure that contents are accurate and complete. If there is an omission or an error, please accept our apologies and notify us at the address below. Copyright © 2020 The Thacher School Third class postage is paid at the Oxnard Post Office. POSTMASTER: Please send form 3579 to the following address. Editor, Thacher Magazine 5025 Thacher Road Ojai, CA 93023 thacher.org thachermagazine@thacher.org 805-640-3201 x264
W I N N E R O F L A ST I SS U E ’S P U Z Z L E We had three responses that were equivalent and correct, so Kris Andersen CdeP 1983 takes the honors for submitting his first. Steve Hauge (faculty member 1976-80) was also correct and remains very impressive with his consistently good responses over the years. Michael Blatt CdeP 1977 was the third winner. Please visit thacher.org/ magazine/fall2019 for the correct answer.
How to Submit Class Notes Online: blogs.thacher.org/classnotes Fax: 805-646-1956 (fax)
Thacher is printed by Ventura Printing using an environmentally friendly waterless printing process, soy-based inks, and recycled paper.
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Fall Extra-Day Trips One of the many reasons we camp: time out, together, to take it all in.
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THE PERGOLA
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THE PERGOLA PERGOLA
Fall Play Features Foul Play The Thacher Masquers lit up the Milligan Center with the dark comedy of Arsenic and Old Lace.
Two New Crews, Not to Be Confused Community, reflection, engagement, and workshops supply the acronym for C.R.E.W Time, the new time slot that has been formally added to the weekly School schedule. This is time devoted to a variety of community-building activities: advisory gatherings, faculty development, speakers, dorm and grade programming, and School organization meetings. “Nothing offers firmer evidence of a school’s values than the way it allocates time,” said Head of School Blossom Beatty Pidduck. “When it comes to creating community, we are all participants in the work. We are all part of the crew. And the first step toward succeeding in that work is to set aside the time for it.” Not to be confused with C.R.E.W. is Trail Crew, an alternative to the winter team sport options offered this winter on a trial basis. It turned out to be a popular option, with 16 students signing on and discovering that, similar to C.R.E.W., the activity provided an opportunity for community, reflection, engagement, and plain old work. Also overalls.
Horse Program Head Meet the new director of Thacher’s Horse Program, Trinity Sudweeks Seely CdeP 1999. The 12th person to hold this title, she is also the third alum, and the third woman to do so. Trinity and her husband, Jeff, joined the Horse Program staff in the fall, bringing many years of experience managing large ranch operations together. The Seelys live on campus with three sons, one of whom is a Thacher freshman. Find a more complete introduction to Trinity at thacher.org/magazine/fall2019.
V E R B AT I M
“Being part of a family is not always perfect. Being part of a family will most likely be challenging. It’s challenging to be patient, it’s challenging to constantly be supportive, it’s challenging to prioritize others before yourself ... but it’s possible.” MATEO THACHER, School Chair, speaking at the New Year’s Banquet. 6 fall 2019
Fall Family Weekend While the familiar riding exhibition was new to our freshmen and their families, Mulligan Hall was new to us all, a beautiful venue for gathering family and friends.
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THE PERGOLA
Scoreboards Varsity Football This year, the team made it all the way to the CIF 8-man football finals. After early struggles, the Toads coalesced and scored 40 points in the second half of the last regular-season game to beat Cate 48-32. From there, they won three playoff games in a row, dispatching Coast Union 67-29, Chadwick 53-46, and Sage Hill 46-21, before falling to Windward in the CIF finals. Excellent leadership from all five seniors made for a rewarding and successful season. Most Valuable Player: Jackson Hollins ’20 (also CIF offensive player of the year) Most Improved Player: James Day ’20 Most Inspirational: Michael Sanderson ’20
Girls’ Cross Country The girls had a successful season. Seven freshmen ran this year, which is the largest turnout in years. The team placed 3rd in the league and 8th at CIF finals in Division 5. With only one senior on the team, most runners will be returning, so with the addition of this year’s freshmen, Coach DelVecchio expects to have a strong squad next year. Most Valuable Player: Karina Lyn Andersen ’21 Most Improved Player: Sophie Greve ’22 Most Inspirational: Sophie Bekins ’21
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Girls’ Tennis
Boys’ Cross Country
Girls’ varsity tennis finished with a 9-3 record overall (5-3 in league play) and qualified for the CIF playoffs, scoring quality wins over rival Foothill Tech and St. Bonaventure along the way. Most Valuable Player: Natalie Cheng ’22
Our runners continued a longstanding tradition of excellence this year. Meets at Lake Casitas, Camino Real, and Mt. SAC all proved great training for the finals. The team finished 5th in the Southern Section, qualifying once again for a trip to the state finals. There the team competed against the best schools in the division and finished 13th.
Girls’ Volleyball As much a family as they were a team, these talented players had an excellent season, reaching the CIF playoffs and winning their first-round game. But the season highlight might have been the second playoff contest, played during Family Weekend in the home gym before a raucous and supportive crowd. Most Valuable Player: Chrissy St. George ’20 Most Improved Players: Julia Hale ’21, Christina MacCorkle ’22 Most Inspirational: Abbey Alvarado ’20
Most Valuable Player: Winslow Atkeson ’20 (He set a new School record in a 3-mile race: 15:25 at Camino Real Park.) Most Improved Players: Kuma McCraw ’22; Javier Sebastian Zuniga-Gross ’23 Most Inspirational: Jacob Robert Mitchell ’20
OUTSIDE OUTLOOKS VISITING SCHOLARS, ARTISTS, AND EXPERTS SPARK NEW IDEAS AND INSPIRATION
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI CdeP 1991 addressed the campus community as part of Thacher’s McCloskey Speakers Series. Her talk, entitled Speaking to the Enemy, chronicled the evolution of Ms. Callimachi’s journalistic career from West Africa AP bureau chief to her investigations into the Islamic State on behalf of her current employer, The New York Times.
Associate vice president of the Office of International Affairs and professor of Korean Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, MICHAEL KIM CdeP 1986 is teaching a sophomore history course titled The Two Koreas in Comparative Historical Perspective: The Origins of War, Nuclear Ambitions, and the Korean Wave.
Astrophysicist DR. JILL TARTER, chair emeritus for research at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, brought us up to date on efforts to discover evidence of technology in other parts of the galaxy. “If we find it, we will infer some sort of intelligence that created it,” she said.
Former Illinois governor and father to three Thacher graduates, Libby CdeP 2002, Stephanie CdeP 2004, and Katherine CdeP 2016, BRUCE RAUNER shared takeaways from both business and public service in the McCloskey Speakers Series. His message promoted the idea of leading with kindness and searching the political landscape for the “whole truth,” not the “partial truth.”
JUDGE WILLIAM H. ORRICK III delivered his contribution to the Orrick Lecture series, named in honor of his father, at a Head’s Invite in October. In his talk entitled An Orrick’s Lecture, he shared stories about his path to becoming a judge, a role he considers “the best job ever.” With nods to Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, Orrick spoke of “the fierce urgency of now” and shared his personal judicial mantra: “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.”
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THE PERGOLA
From The Archives
125… 110… 100… 50… 25… Years Ago at Thacher A Backwards Glance Through the Pages of CdeP Publications 125 years 1894
75 years 1944
10 years 2009
“The Headmaster [Sherman D. Thacher] adopted the custom in 1894 of reading aloud a poem every morning. He sat on a platform in a supremely uncomfortable chair, with his legs intertwined and one arm twisted around his head while the fingers drummed nervously on his forehead. Unconscious of this extraordinary position, he read poems as familiar to him as a litany … The school year began and often ended with Holmes’s Chambered Nautilus. Others were bits of Shakespeare, Longfellow, Tennyson, Lowell, and Wordsworth.” (Makepeace, 147)
“After an operation and short illness, Mrs. Sherman D. Thacher, widow of the founder of the School, died in Santa Barbara on Thursday afternoon, October 19. With her passing Thacher loses a devoted friend and counselor; for half a century her guidance has left its imprint on the daily life of the School, and generations of Thacher boys will mourn her passing.” (The Thacher Notes, October 30,1944)
“Beneath clear blue skies, this year’s Fall Family Weekend included the usual flurry of activities … New to the mix this year was Horse Ball, an established equestrian sport that combines elements of polo, rugby, and basketball. Four faculty members took on four students in a brief exhibition match which the students won, 3-1.” (Thacher magazine, Fall 2009)
50 years 1969
5 years 2014
“I have come to Thacher from the sedate and ivy covered traditions of the East … Thacher’s uniqueness requires a bit of personal adjustment. It was with some surprise, for example, that I found the faculty concerned at its first meeting over how to keep horses out of the chapel. That was one problem I had never even considered.” (Edgar L. Sanford Jr. writing in Alumni News, Fall 1969)
“Opening day is a busy day for the newcomers who are not only occupied with settling into their rooms, but also with trips to the barns, camp supply, and the student store…. As evening rolls around and students have said their goodbyes to parents and siblings, the whole community gathers on the athletic fields for a barbeque and the All-School Games. Here everyone is made to feel welcome thanks to the leadership efforts of our senior class.” (Website news, September 9, 2014)
110 years 1909
“Mrs. Hunt has had charge this year of the purchase of horses for members of The Thacher School. She conducts riding parties to all points of interest.” (An advertisement published in El Archivero, 1909, Margaret Clark Hunt’s first year in charge of Thacher’s Horse Program.) 100 years 1919
“Everyone must take shower or sponge bath before breakfast. Teeth must be brushed thoroughly before breakfast and at bedtime. Everyone must take shower, or sponge, or tub bath every day after exercise. Everyone must take a hot bath with soap at least once a week with complete change of underclothes.” (From a pamphlet entitled School Rules and Customs)
Twin Peeks In the old days, as you can see in this undated photo, every part in a Thacher Masquers production was cast with a white boy because that’s all we had. Today, we are far less constrained, as evidenced in this year’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace, which featured Joy Mathebula ‘20 and Maggie Sonenshine ‘20 as the kindly-yet-murderous Mayflower descendents, Martha and Abby Brewster. 10 fall 2019
25 years 1994
“The [Community Council] meeting, led by school Chairman Tim Hatch, was essentially an open forum for students to voice concerns over problems. The movement of detention from Friday night to Saturday night was lightly debated … The meeting then touched briefly upon wandering … which has been rumored to be revoked… And the subject of breakfast check-in was brought up.” (The Thacher Notes, December 1994)
Blurb & Squib BOOKS In his latest book, Saints, Statues, and Stories, folklorist Jim Griffith CdeP 1953 shares stories gleaned from more than a half century of exploring the Mexican state of Sonora and its religious art. According to the New York Times Book Review, “Griffith writes of the beliefs and customs of people far different from himself in a spirit of restraint and simple decency.” Cambridge University Press published Making Archives in Early Modern Europe by Randy Head CdeP 1974. The book presents a history of record keeping in Europe from 1400-1700. Indirectly inspired by the digital revolution, it looks at how changes in making, keeping, and using documents helped support the rise of modern societies and politics. “A remarkably learned exploration,” wrote one reviewer. History teacher Russell Spinney PhD co-edited Feelings Materialized: Emotions, Bodies, and Things in Germany, 1500-1950, a publication of the German Studies Association. Russell also contributed a chapter entitled A Skin of Hatred: How Bodies Are Involved in the Memory of Emotions and Anti-Semitic Practice of the Weimar Republic. Katie Harmon Courage CdeP 2001 published her second book, Cultured: How Ancient Foods Can Feed Our Microbiome. As reviewed by National Public Radio, “From Greenland to Greece, Courage explores the ancient gut-friendly foods that have become integral parts of many food cultures, and offers suggestions on how to diversify the kinds of foods we feed our microbiome.”
FILM Max Barbakow CdeP 2007 has directed his first narrative feature, which recently sold for a record amount at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and J.K. Simmons, Palm Springs is billed as a “lighthearted romp peppered with thoughtful realizations about the nature of love and loneliness.”
MAGAZINE ARTICLE Zoey Poll CdeP 2012 published a piece in October 9, 2018 issue of The New Yorker called In France, Elder Care Comes With the Mail. The story covers a new role being played by carriers for La Poste as they make their daily rounds: Checking in on the aged to see how they are doing.
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JOURNAL ARTICLES Jon Swift PhD, director of the Thacher Observatory and teacher of math, physics, and astronomy, was recently listed among the authors of three astronomy-related publications: “Minerva-Australis. I. Design, Commissioning, and First Photometric Results,” (Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific); “First Radial Velocity Results From the MINiature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA),” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific; and “Magnetic Inflation and Stellar Mass. IV. Four Low-mass Kepler Eclipsing Binaries Consistent with Non-magnetic Stellar Evolutionary Models,” The Astronomical Journal.
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ARMCHAIR WANDERING
ON MULISHNESS PE A R L’S W ISDOM A ND THE BENEFITS OF CR E ATI V E OBSTINAC Y By Robin Walter CdeP 2008
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ne of my foremost and weirdest interests these days is mules. Just last week, I was rifling through old notebooks and came upon a sketch of my mule Pearl, who boasts a thick white coat, mischievous black eyes, and a tremendous set of ears. Alongside the sketch, I found notes for a TOADTalk I had planned to give during the year I taught Spanish at Thacher in 2017. I’ve had the good fortune to attend quite a few TOADTalks over the years; they are often heartfelt, usually hilarious, and always inspiring. Mine would have been mostly pretty weird. The directive therein was straightforward: Everyone—at Thacher and beyond—ought to strive to be more mulish. To deepen this viewpoint, I described Pearl’s finest attributes, among them very strong opinions and a healthy disregard for the systems in which most of us operate. For example, when we’re riding in the Bighorn Mountains in winter and I ask her to go around a pond, she’ll decide instead to go right through it. Or when we are late on the trail and trying to beat a storm, she’ll take the time to find a superior spot to roll, circle around it a few times, and lay her 1,200 pounds down with incredible groans of pleasure. She’ll then get up, paw at the ground to really get the dirt flying, and roll at least three to seven more times before moving on. She just has a certain je ne sais quoi. Pearl and Lil take in the scenery of Highland Park.
Luckily enough for me (and those in attendance at Assembly), I was sick on the day I was slated to deliver my TOADTalk, and so to this day the Thacher community may not know the extent of my mule obsession—though if I had the opportunity to give another, it would still likely feature Pearl. By encouraging students to develop mulish qualities, I had hoped to communicate that we must be creative and a little bit stubborn about how we craft our lives and engage in their most enduring questions. Further, we have to be suspicious of those forces that tell us we don’t have time to roll around in the dirt. It seems entirely appropriate that a few years after drafting those notes, I now spend most of my waking hours with Pearl. As the Robin with her pup Banjo atop her filly Pipit.
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owner and founder of Cloud Peak Expeditions, an education-centered horsepacking organization, I work with mules, horses, and one wily pup in northern Wyoming. Together, we endeavor to deepen participants’ connection to self, each other, and the natural world. The themes of the expeditions include creative writing, womxn’s empowerment, and wilderness and leadership skills. Like Pearl, I can be a hair obstinate and prefer to trot to the beat of my own drum. I love poetry, mountains, mules, and teaching—very few career paths incorporate all of these, so I have endeavored to create my own. It took years of exploring myriad different positions in vastly different fields to recognize I am the happiest and fullest version of myself when I am sleeping on rocks covered in mule slobber. I find immense joy and satisfaction bringing others into this context and sharing in the lessons of awe, won-
der, and humility offered to us by wild places. In true Thacher form, my work wardrobe now includes filthy jeans and a fixed-blade on my belt. Had I not been surrounded by fashion icons such as Katherine Halsey, who sports cowgirl hats with such aplomb, I might have opted to ride in a meager baseball cap. Luckily, I now sport a wide-brim hat with great pride. More than wardrobe, Thacher’s female leadership has instilled in me lessons that I have since found invaluable. Horsepacking especially runs afoul of traditional gender norms that can be prohibitive to women entering the field. In the decade since graduating from Thacher, I have worked under men that made dangerous decisions that failed to honor the health of the horse, or acted as “assistant” to packers with far less experience than I had. Had I not been treated with such integrity by the Horse Department at Thacher, which knows that a woman can throw
a hitch just as deftly as her male counterparts, I might have believed I did not have room at the table in a male-dominated industry. Drawing on those lessons that Thacher taught me about hard work, grit, patience, and perseverance, and with the help of countless others, I decided to set my own place at the table and established a women-owned and -operated business that reflects my values. It so happens that many of those values have found their form and shape through Thacher’s own. For me, the School’s pillars of honor, fairness, kindness, and truth, are less tenets and more questions—ones to which I return often, both in my daily life and as I strive to define success in my business. How am I honoring those values that are most dear to me? Am I fair in the ways I engage the people with whom I work? Am I kind to the wild spaces and generous creatures I have the privilege of encountering? Working
in environments and areas that are fraught with violent histories, how do I give space to truth? In all things, Thacher has prepared us foremost to constantly ask hard questions. At school—as in life—we learn as we go and, with humility, ask for help along the way. No industry is perfect; Thacher’s values remind us to do what we can to make the ones in which we work more inclusive. They remind us that when we are afraid to jump off the ledge into the unknown or turn down a rocky stretch of trail, we have to honor our doubts and fears and saddle up anyway. Importantly, we have to stop and roll along the way—not only because we’ll be better off for it, but because that’s what Pearl would do.
You can learn more about Cloud Peak Expeditions here: www.cloudpeakexpeditions.com. The Thacher School 13
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HOME
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BUILDING IT How we create and renew the structures of community. PAGE 16
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BELOVED COMMUNITY
WE WERE THE FIRST
The work before us and what it means to some of our students.
What we can learn from CdeP 1969. PAGE 28
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THE COMMUNITY WE GET IS THE ONE WE CREATE
Thacher’s mission is clear: to educate our students “in the art of living for their own greatest good and for the greatest good of their fellow citizens in a diverse and changing world.” But how do we understand this mission? And what sort of School community is best suited to advancing it? Who is invited and how do we relate to one another? How do we celebrate Thacher’s distinct culture while making all in our community, the most marginalized and the most privileged, feel welcomed, valued, and heard? These questions demand our attention more than ever as we apply ourselves to the primary business of learning together. In the following pages, we’ll explore them and some of the ways Thacher is balancing the demands of a changing world against an evolving understanding of community and our own enduring mission and values.
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BUILDING IT
Developing Spaces and Skills to Become the Community We Aspire to Be
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These welcoming spaces speak to a deeper purpose: They structure our interaction in ways that advance our mission. But the ongoing work of building a community suited to our mission doesn’t start or end with a single structure. There is also critical work to be done toward creating what Head of School Blossom Beatty Pidduck has called the “metaphorical spaces of connection and belonging.” The same principles that informed the design of this new facility guide efforts to maintain the 16 fall 2019
less tangible elements of community. At a boarding school, this work is necessarily ongoing. One quarter of our students are replaced each year; every four years our student body is brand new. We have to proceed with care and discernment in the constant work of articulating and transmitting community norms and values. One way we do this is by gathering four times a week at Formal Dinner and sharing assigned-seating meals together at which we converse with members of the community we might not otherwise get to know.
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
he big campus news this year is that Thacher has a stunning new dining hall, a welcome and welcoming addition to campus designed to provide a more functional setting for some of the most critical functions of our community. As intended, Michael Kent and Joy Sawyer Mulligan Hall provides us with a place to share meals and converse together that is far more comfortable, beautiful, and efficient than its predecessor. In addition to these primary functions, a new facility invited new uses: Comfortable informal seating invites students to linger in conversation and offers new areas for classes and clubs to meet.
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
Formal Dinner looks better, sounds better, tastes better, and therefore accomplishes its purpose better in its new setting.
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The need to establish deliberate communitybuilding opportunities has been further heightened by the significant ways we have changed as a school in the past 50 years. In the 1960s Thacher recognized the importance of admitting students of color. In the 1970s the School committed to coeducation. Our efforts to welcome talent from all quarters have made an impact. Today’s student body is more diverse than it ever has been. More than half the members of our freshman class are students of color. Our faculty has grown more diverse too. Driving all of this progress has been Thacher’s mission and our understanding of what it means to educate young people for their own greatest good and for the greatest good of others. As Blossom puts it, “To thrive in this world, we must be flexible, resilient, committed to growth, and deeply adept at communicating, connecting, and working with those around us—especially those
whose experiences and perspectives are unlike our own.” This work feels more urgent than ever and the stakes higher. “We are witnessing, in real time,” says Blossom, “that institutions and individuals who are unwilling to hear perspectives and truths that challenge their own, who are unwilling to reach out beyond their own spheres, to connect with a complex and changing world, are at risk of losing their center, their purpose, their values, and their place.” Research confirms the thinking that drove these changes: We are smarter and more empathetic when we work together in diverse groups. So how do we negotiate the terms of a more inclusive community, one that celebrates a common Thacher experience but also celebrates the differences each of us brings? We can begin by talking about it, by making time for such discussions, by agreeing that they
“The vision that gave rise to this building was rooted in Thacher’s commitment to creating metaphorical and physical spaces of connection and belonging....we dedicate this dining hall to the power of living, working, learning, playing, and breaking bread together.” BLOSSOM BEATTY PIDDUCK CdeP 1992
Building namesakes Michael Mulligan and Joy Sawyer Mulligan were honored by Head of School Blossom Beatty Pidduck and Thacher Board Chair Dan Yih at a campus dedication ceremony in the fall.
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may be uncomfortable, but also worthwhile. We can devote ourselves to accepting these conversations as part of our work together, and aspiring to become better participants in them. The end of these conversations, of course, is not simply a respectful community in which all have a voice. The purpose of these conversations is to set a table for the collective project of recognizing injustice wherever it may be and of educating leaders who will live in service of the greater good. Let’s not forget that this work is not only critical to our mission, but it is also deeply engaging to adolescents, who want and need a voice and a stake in their world in order to fully engage. And engage they do, often bringing great insight and commitment to this work of community building. When they assume meaningful roles in the work of community building, students learn deep and important lessons about themselves, their values, and citizenship. This is not a new thing for Thacher; it a testament to the wisdom of our founder who understood the power of expecting more from his students. Our country is now wrestling with deeply rooted systemic inequities that have proven as difficult for some to grasp as they are for us all to address. But compassionate communities learn how to place those who are marginalized at the center of their attention. This is challenging and nuanced work that requires commitment, humility, and a kind of critical self-reflection that has long been a core Thacher value and an aspect of our Westernness. As Wallace Stegner saw it, the West as a whole is in the process of transcending its own limiting myths, in particular the tendency to celebrate individualism at the expense of understanding the defining reality of its diverse community. As a result, he says, the regional culture has not yet been defined. “There is no Western face,” he wrote, “despite the myths and stereotypes.” At Thacher, our community is always changing and we are always defining our culture. Sherman Day Thacher understood that his reforming instincts could put him at odds with established ways of doing things back East. As he wrote to his friend Horace Taft, “Of course the Western ideas are vague and of course they are strenuous. All ideas that are progressive must be somewhat vague, and all people who believe in doing things are somewhat strenuous.”
MULLIGAN HALL BY THE NUMBERS
For the first time in many years, Thacher has a facility that can comfortably and efficiently accommodate large community meals. Here are some facts about the facility:
5,000 sq. ft. The size of a living roof that absorbs sunshine, keeps indoor temperatures stable, and helps the dining hall blend in with the landscape when viewed from above.
The number of seats at each table, creating more intimate groupings than the ten-tops in the old dining hall. Lazy Susans still facilitate the passing of food.
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The number of people who can be comfortably seated inside the Herbert Dining Room. Capacity expands for larger events, like Fall Family Weekend, Graduation, or Reunion, when the floor-toceiling sliding glass doors along the south wall retract to incorporate outside seating.
3,000
The number of cookies Robin bakes for Fall Family Weekend. “Now,” says Mr. Maxwell, “she can pre-make the dough and refrigerate it. That’s so much easier for her and more efficient for all of us.”
Designed with sustainability in mind, Mulligan Hall uses efficient lighting and energy systems and is expected to be certified LEED silver. A roof-mounted solar system preheats fresh water before it enters the traditional gas-powered hot water heaters, which promises to reduce water heating costs by 25 percent annually.
“These improvements have afforded us the opportunity to revitalize Formal Dinner and its role in creating and sustaining community. Here we have created a match between a community and the place it calls home—one that is mutually supportive, mutually inspiring.” BLOSSOM BEATTY PIDDUCK CdeP 1992
Yes, capacity and dependability—and an expanded of flavors!
The Tobin Kitchen offers a larger, more efficient space for fresh, healthy, locally-sourced organic ingredients.
The Walker Bell, Thacher’s dinner bell for as long as anyone can remember, is still calling the campus community to enjoy meals together.
Thacher history and tradition are on display in the form of the wooden plaques that adorned the old dining hall and trophy case displaying several of the Schoolwide perpetual awards including, the Thacher Cup, the Tutt Bowl, and the Vaquero Cup.
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1 Strenuous indeed is the deliberate work of maintaining a community amidst constantly changing field conditions, amidst the annual arrival of newcomers, many of whom know little about our culture and values, and who bring to campus the new and ever changing realities of the world beyond our gates. These students are our reason for being, but it is the adults and the programs that remain year after year and which provide the foundation and scaffolding for community. Thus it is so critical that our faculty receive the training and support they need to support the students in these efforts. This is the work that the School has been doing, work you’ll learn more about elsewhere in this issue. You’ll see how one class celebrated its 50th reunion by taking the time to share and hear stories of differing experiences, and how that conversation offered a moment of powerful bonding. You’ll hear from some current seniors—affinity group heads who are given formal time with freshmen and sophomores to explain the purpose and the importance of these groups, and how their activities strengthen the overall fabric of our community. The work may be daunting, but it is also invigorating. “The West,” wrote Wallace Stegner, “is still nascent, still forming, and that is where much of its excitement comes from. It has a shine on it; despite its mistakes, it isn’t tired.” What holds true for the West might be said of our School. And to that we might add one final quotation from our founder about his great and ongoing efforts to build a school worthy of its scenery: “And reform and progress I’ve come to feel must be slow—very slow—with many halts and retractions and new starts and corrections— and not a few abandonments. Who cares? Life is interesting and guessing about it and trying experiments in it are very good fun.” Yet, as apt and inspiring as the words of Messrs. Thacher and Stegner may be, our constituency is broad today and we are now paying better attention to voices that have not always been heard. Who are today’s and tomorrow’s spokespeople of the West and of The Thacher School? Some, we think, are quoted in the following pages, while others are just beginning to grasp for themselves what it will mean to live and work together in a community committed to discovering its own greatest good.
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5
3
1 Doc D’s history class meeting in Mulligan Hall. 2 The Horse Program offers a leveling path to community. 3 Middle School’s residents check their cell phones here outside the Common Room. 4 Relationships are
formed in and out of class. 5 Seniors take the lead in welcoming new students to campus. 6 Shared meals have long been a focal point of our community.
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Beloved
COMMUNITY
Celebrating Gains and Pursuing Growth Together
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN DAVIS
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
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hile it is important to keep an eye on the journey ahead, we should also celebrate our accomplishments. Reflecting a longstanding commitment to bringing talented students from all backgrounds to campus, our most recent two incoming classes have been more than half students of color, which works out to 47 percent of our overall student body. But measures of diversity only tell a fragment of the story; we have work yet to do. Bill McMahon, Thacher’s director of enrollment and planning, puts it like this: “You hear people saying that ‘diversity is getting invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.’ We think we can go that one better by saying that ‘inclusion is a voice in choosing the music.’” In other words, diversity is only a statistic; what we want is a community in which all feel equally at home. Thacher may have grown more diverse, but there is growing to do. “Multiple seemingly contradictory realities can be simultaneously true,” says Matt Balano, Thacher’s director of diversity and inclusion. “It can be true that we are a loving and supportive community. It can also be true that our community has blind spots and areas of growth. All of these can be equally true without one reality diminishing the other.” The Thacher School 23
These days, the “areas of growth” Thacher is targeting often center on strengthening our abilities to hold conversations that help us share experiences, understand those “seemingly contradictory realities,” and advance this work of becoming the community we aspire to be. Such should be the perennial work of any community that values fairness and kindness, but the work began taking on a clearer focus in 2013 after the School retained the services of diversity and inclusion consultant Steven Jones. Among his recommendations were that we hire a director of diversity and inclusion, increase the diversity of our faculty, create student and faculty affinity groups, and establish a student diversity council. In the years since, the School has worked to fulfill this plan. Matt Balano joined us in 2017 and has worked with students, faculty, administrators, and the board since then to build upon Thacher’s existing culture of care and community. Recently, Thacher strengthened its student affinity groups, elevating them from student clubs to formal campus organizations. Many who feared that affinity groups might divide
After delivering an inspiring message in the Milligan Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Dr. Cornel West posed for a photo with members of the Black Student Union.
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our community into identity-based factions have begun to see the role they actually play in knitting together a more cohesive community by first ensuring that everyone feels actively welcomed and included. Now, Thacher has a vibrant mix of affinity groups, including the Black Student Union, Latinos Unidos, Thacher Asian Students Society, Multi-Ethnic Students Association, and the Jewish Students Union. Rounding out these organizations are others, including the Christian Fellowship Club, the Conservative Club, and United Cultures of Thacher, the latter being a composite group that supports conversations around diverse backgrounds. The Student Diversity Council serves as a liaison between affinity groups, the administration, and the rest of the student body, supporting activities and events that further campus dialog toward awareness and inclusivity. Of course faculty members play a critical role in this work. As Assistant Head of School Jeff Hooper has noted, “Our kids need to see themselves and see their futures in their teachers.” Faculty turnover is very low at Thacher, so it is not a simple thing to match faculty composi-
tion to that of a student body that has evolved more rapidly. Since 2013, however, a majority of Thacher’s teaching hires have been either faculty of color or have identified LGBTQ+, thus expanding the availability of adult advocates and mentors for students who may not have seen themselves mirrored in the faculty before. When he is not working with students, Matt can generally be found with the faculty, conducting on-campus professional development activities, accompanying colleagues to workshops and conferences, and helping all develop the tools and expertise it takes to facilitate the sometimes difficult conversations that are so important to this work. In the classroom, our faculty keeps pace with this work by updating reading lists to be more culturally inclusive, exploring previously excluded historical perspectives, and engaging with matters of ethics and social justice. Further advancing these conversations is our Voices and Perspectives Committee, which brings diverse viewpoints to campus in the form of speakers meant to inspire, inform, and challenge our students. This year’s have ranged from Bruce Rauner, conservative former governor of Illinois, to Dr. Cornel West, the author, academic, and activist. Where does the School find time for all of these community-building activities? By making it. This year the administration created C.R.E.W. Time, a couple of school-day hours set aside every week for community, reflection, engagement, and work. This time is regularly given to supporting affinity groups and their efforts to bring about a more inclusive and equitable community. “At a place as highly programmed as Thacher is,” notes senior Maggie Sonenshine, an affinity group leader, “it is critical to have time set aside for this work. It not only affords the time needed to make headway; it also signals institutional priorities.” The work drives us back upon familiar questions: How is your experience different from mine? How can we make our School a better place for all of us? At Thacher, the best answers arrive in the simple acts of listening and sharing, through building and maintaining relationships, one person at a time. For that reason, we wanted you to have a chance to meet just a few of the senior leaders who are working in concert with faculty and administrators to make Thacher the best community it can be.
“I can see that we are making progress at Thacher in the general happiness of students, in the ways I see students becoming more comfortable sharing their background and views, even on difficult topics. I also see it in the increasing numbers of students who turn up for BSU events. You can see it in their smiles.” KEVIN WILLIAMS Kevin, a head of the Black Student Union, remembers older students who helped him find his place at Thacher and works to do the same for others.
“When we move on to college, my Thacher classmates and I are likely to find ourselves among peers who are well versed in discussing matters of race, gender, and identity. ….. Exploring these topics together is about more than learning how to be a respectful member of a community; it is an academic issue. As a school, we need to make sure Thacher students are prepared for college and whatever we do after.” MATEO THACHER In addition to serving as school chair, Mateo is co-head of Latinos Unidos and the great-great-grandson of our School’s founder, Sherman Day Thacher. He says he thinks a lot about what Mr. Thacher would want for the School today as he works to make Thacher a more inclusive community.
“Spectrum is both a confidential affinity group for LGBTQ+ students and an open organization for queer and questioning students to meet with other students who wish to better understand these issues and serve as allies. Recently, we held a fishbowl, an open event during one of the designated C.R.E.W. time slots. A fishbowl works like this: attendees arrange themselves in two concentric circles. Those in the inner circle respond to questions posed by the organizers while those in the outer circle listen without responding or interrupting. Taking their turn first in the inner circle were those students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. After that group other groups took their turns in the fishbowl, including those who identify as straight followed by transgender/non-binary, asexual/aromantic, cisgender, and questioning. Participation was, of course, completely optional. It was really powerful to see how many students and faculty members showed up and participated.”
MAGGIE SONENSHINE Maggie is a head of Spectrum. When she compares notes with her father Danny CdeP 1991, she is grateful for the progress Thacher has made toward becoming a place where all students “feel comfortable expressing themselves and living out their identities.”
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“We all recognize that Thacher is steeped in its own traditions, traditions that make the School what it is. But we have to recognize that Thacher was not made for everyone here today; it was established for white, mostly wealthy young men. So what we need to think about as we work on our community today is how the traditions of the School manifest in the lived experiences of the students here today…. My own identity doesn’t make me incapable of understanding that students at Thacher don’t always feel welcome, and I care deeply about contributing to the ever-necessary progress toward forming a community where we all feel at home. I can’t speak for others, but it’s necessary and humbling to be present and listening to everyone in our community.” WILL HARDING Will is a member of the Judicial Council and head prefect in the Los Padres dorm, where he’s played an active role in helping his peers and prefectees learn how to be effective allies.
“I’d like to be known as somebody who pushed important conversations— conversations that will continue to make Thacher a more welcoming and supportive community.” MYA BOLDEN Mya is a head of Spectrum and a member of the Student Diversity Council. She also developed and teaches an xBlock elective called Hip Hop Literature that explores questions of race, gender, identity, and art.
“It is understandably hard and sometimes scary for people who have historically benefited from institutional inequality to understand their privilege and accept it without feeling guilty or defensive.” NINA HARBISON Nina is a head of the Christian Fellowship Club, United Cultures of Thacher, and a member of the Judicial Council. She believes that It is “important for white students to understand the legacy of white supremacy (as well as male and straight privilege) at Thacher and to be able to work to address it while understanding that it is not their fault.”
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“My hope is that we all gain a deeper understanding about our individual differences, even within our affinity groups, and that this creates a stronger community at Thacher, where our differences are understood and celebrated.” CARINA FUNG Carina, a co-head of the Thacher Asian Students Society, says she became involved in this work because ”despite the fact that Thacher is an accepting and progressive community, there are still some ingrained issues around race that I felt we needed to educate ourselves about.”
“I’ve observed an elevation of our overall awareness and our individual abilities to engage in conversations about our different experiences. This, to me, is far more important than simply relying upon diversity statistics.” VINCENT LANGAN Vincent is a head of the Multi-Ethnic Students Association and a Los Padres prefect.
“The diversity council hosts conversation and dialogue sessions meant to help us work out what it means to be a diverse community in every sense of diversity, not just diversity of race but also diversity of religion, of ethnicity, of political perspective, of socioeconomics, etc.—all the different backgrounds and experiences we bring to Thacher. We recognize that in a diverse community it is not just the students of color who are diverse. It means experiences, and perspectives, and opinions. That is what diversity is.” FATOUMATA SOUMARE Fatoumata is a co-head of the Black Student Union and co-chair of the Student Diversity Council.
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“WE WERE the FIRST” The Trailblazers of 1969
One of Thacher’s most illustrious classes shares lessons of the past and points the way toward a more inclusive and cohesive community.
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ifty years ago, Thacher graduated its first students of color. Today, we are still learning about what their experiences were like, and how that understanding can help Thacher better serve students from underrepresented backgrounds today and in the future. The 1960s were a tumultuous time in the United States. Like many other schools, Thacher embarked upon a journey to change its social order when the board of trustees approved a plan to integrate the school. In 1965, Bert Hammond and Neal Howe “I no sense of arrived at Thacher as the School’s first being part of an African American students. In 1966, overt struggle. James Richardson joined them, and they At that age, it is all graduated in 1969 as members of one what is in front of the most cohesive and loyal classes that of right now.” Thacher has produced.
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
NEAL HOWE
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All these years later, these three pioneers and their classMoments of alienation like these would reach their peak in April of 1968 with the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When the mates are still coming to terms with that experience. One step in the process took place this summer during the class’s news broke on campus, the three did not know what else to do, so they 50th reunion, when Derick Perry CdeP 1983 invited Bert, Jim, sought refuge together in a shack on Beadleville Hill. There, as Jim told and Neal to share their experiences in a panel discussion at his interviewer in Thacher’s 2004 oral histories project, “[we] isolated and just kind of soothed each other for a Reunion 2019. Some of their recollections were difficult to share, and it couple of days.” Eventually, the wife wasn’t always easy for their classmates to hear. After all, this is of a faculty member brought the “Here I was fighting so hard three of them cookies, but this was a very close class, a class that refers to themselves as brothers, as to get acclimated and to be family. But like other families, each member experiences events a moment in which nobody, student accepted. Then I went home in their own way. or adult, black or white, seemed to and it was like, who is this guy?” Despite the strong sense of community and friendship that have an adequate response. Though the cookies were received as a kind the men felt at Thacher, the three panelists shared stories of BERT HAMMOND gesture, they fell far short of a real profound difficulties they experienced where their white classmates did not. There was the challenge of navigating academics solution to the problem. and cultural norms that were different from the schools and In 1968, the Thacher community lacked the tools to address these issues. communities they had come from. There were patterns of speech The panelists themselves felt they often lacked the conceptual vocabulary to and dress they brought to campus that could set them apart. name what they were feeling. Nor were there any adults on campus at that There were feelings of working hard to fit in at Thacher and then time who shared these experiences and who might have served as mentors. going home and feeling equally out of place there. (David N. Lawyer Jr. wouldn’t join the faculty until the next year and he only And then there were uglier moments. Bert told of a dorm stayed a year before moving on to found the Ethnic Studies Department bull session in which another student said, with him in the at SBCC). Nor had the administration set aside time and space, as it now room, “I hear they let a n***** into Thacher.” He recalls that the has, for constructive discussion of these topics. Thacher was attempting to first movie he saw shown at Thacher was Birth of a Nation, D. welcome and include students of color, a laudable move in its own right, W. Griffith’s 1915 epic glorifying the Ku Klux Klan. Afterwards, but there were ways it was lacking. And we’re still learning about them. while walking back to his dorm, he wondered, “What the hell During the course of the discussion, it became clear that the three pioneers had experiences that varied greatly from those of their white have I gotten myself into?” And that was just the first week. counterparts as well as from one another, and that to become the Neal shared the story of a math teacher who tactlessly challenged his class to calculate the amount of time Neal saved community of its aspirations, of its mission, Thacher needs to understand because he didn’t have to brush his hair. these kinds of differences and work as “It was very confusing,” Neal recalled, “disa community to develop the skills to orienting, made me very uncomfortable, negotiate them. “I spent a lot of time in the library looking not with the kids so much, and not with But another truth became clear through the El Archiveros; I was looking the school… but it was very disorienting.” as well: That a group of young people for African Americans. And it was funny: from widely different backgrounds Junior year I realized… there hadn’t been When Derick Perry (left) invited three members of can cultivate the strongest of relaany here, and that we were the first.” the class of 1969 to share their experiences as the tionships, relationships that feel like first black students at Thacher, their stories sparked a larger conversation about diversity and inclusion that family connections, and that when JIM RICHARDSON helps inform our work today. they share their experiences within this context of belonging and support, they can celebrate their differences and find powerful and transcendent unity, both at the same time. Jim captured this feeling in an expression of gratitude for his classmates: “Our relationship—amongst my classmates—transcends relationships that I have with others. Being here in this environment, you get connected with friends, and people just stick with you throughout, and I’ve found that to be the case. And I’m really grateful for that. I just want to say thanks guys. All of you. Thank you.” In the end, it is possible to share these difficult experiences and still be a strong and cohesive class. In fact, a class might become stronger as a result of exploring these difficult stories and the feelings that go along with them. And the same holds true for a school. The Thacher School 29
GATHERINGS COMMUNITY BEYOND THE VALLEY: TAKING THACHER ON THE ROAD Thacher has been meeting with our extended Toad family across America and beyond. Our Los Angeles reception was held at Yapa, a newly opened restaurant, hosted by Alfred English CdeP 2000. Trustee Bob Johnson CdeP 1967 invited nearby alumni, parents, past parents, and grandparents to board his beautiful boat for a sunset tour of the Orange County Coast. Later in the fall Karen and Bayard Hollins CdeP 1984 hosted a lovely reception for our Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Ojai friends at their home in Ojai. Further afield, Director of Enrollment and Planning Bill McMahon, Dean of Students and Assistant Head of School Sabina McMahon, and Director of Advancement Jeff Berndt met our families and alumni in Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. Finally, in December we hosted our annual San Francisco gathering, which brought together a large crowd to hear from Head of School Blossom Beatty Pidduck and trustee Lupe Nickell CdeP 1992, after which Blossom jumped on a redeye so she could connect with our Bostonian Toads for the final stop on our 2019 tour. In 2019, more than a thousand people attended Thacher events both in the valley and beyond. Join the next event near you, or even suggest a gathering in your area. Regardless of the size, when Toads meet up, it’s an event! For those of you in Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and New York; we will see you on April 14, 15, and 17 respectively. Please join us by registering at www.thacher.org/events.
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Reunion Weekend 2019
Alums from 15 class years, along with their families and guests, enjoyed a fun-filled weekend on campus. longtime faculty members who retired at the end of last year, addressed present-day education in their seminars, Teens and Sleep (or the Lack of It) and Math Challenges and Puzzles for Alumni, respectively. The Meyers also joined Blossom in a Q&A session on the future of education at Thacher. Director of the Thacher Observatory Dr. Jon Swift led observatory tours on Friday night. More than 30 people visited the facility to watch Jupiter rise and peer into distant galaxies. Throughout the weekend, alumni and their families enjoyed horseback riding, swimming, trapshooting, campus tours, and viewing films by and about Thacher. At meals, alumni caught up with old friends while making new ones during class barbecues, brunches, dessert on the Pergola, latenight pizza, and the Alumni Banquet. Members of the Boot Hill Society, alumni who plan to leave a legacy gift to Thacher, enjoyed a cocktail party at the home of the Pidducks.
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
From the 75th to the fifth reunion—alums with class years ending in four or nine gathered to celebrate their time at Thacher. It was also a time for the School to celebrate the alumni and to thank them for their continued engagement with Thacher throughout the years. And celebrate they did! The 50th Reunion class arrived on Friday afternoon and enjoyed lunch, campus tours, and horseback riding together—almost all of the living members from CdeP 1969 were in attendance. They were the guests of honor as they celebrated their gold reunion and in the planning of this event, the class shared over 800 emails. The results were well-planned, meaningful tributes throughout the weekend. Justin Faggioli acted as master of ceremonies for Saturday night’s Alumni Banquet and kept the stories and toasts flowing. To culminate Reunion, the class offered the Memorial Service on Sunday in honor of their class and in memory of classmates and fellow alumni: Stephen Huyler welcomed all to the morning and gave the Convocation; Scott Wilson read the poem When Death Comes by Mary Oliver; Jesse Adams recited Tennyson’s poem Ulysses; Neal Howe read Circles by Wendell Berry; and Jim Munger gave a talk titled A Sense of Place, performed a song he wrote for the event—Until Our Work is Done, and gave the Benediction. Saturday offered seminars on various aspects of the School to all attendees: its history, current academics, and visions of the future. History was covered by a presentation on the School’s leadership over the years, and a panel discussion with the first three black graduates, also CdeP 1969: Bert Hammond, Neal Howe, and Jim Richardson. Alice and Kurt Meyer,
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GATHERINGS
CLASS PHOTOS FROM REUNION WEEKEND 2019
CdeP 1964
CdeP 1969
CdeP 1984
CdeP 1989
CdeP 2004
CdeP 2009
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PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
CdeP 1944
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
CdeP 1954
CdeP 1959
CdeP 1974
CdeP 1979
CdeP 1994
CdeP 1999
CdeP 2014 The Thacher School 33
CLASS NOTES Photo of Ojai sent to Mark Peirsol ’62. Ted Rhodes ’65—in blue shirt and off-white hat—and his band, The Americana Cats. Samuel French ’66 and his late wife, Gail. CdeP 1967 Deneys Purcell, Bob Kendig, and Harvey Kaslow at Potluck Pass.
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NICHOLAS CUNNINGHAM “At about this time of year, seventy-five years ago, I took the train from New York City to Los Angeles to enroll in the school that had done such a good job with my disparate brothers: TY (FREDERIC) ’39 and LARRY (LAWRENCE) ’42. Ty built on his Thacher education to graduate summa cum laude from Harvard in math. Larry barely survived at Casa de Piedra: He loved cars and took John Griggs's class in motor mechanics, which facilitated his ‘borrowing’ of the Thacher truck for an extemporaneous evening excursion to Ventura...” See blogs.thacher.org/classnotes for more.
THE THACHER I CARRY
Nicholas Cunningham MD CdeP 1946 It’s perhaps hard to admit or believe, but when I arrived at Thacher in 1944 at age 16, I’d never had a friend. I was the youngest of five children in an old-fashioned family that seemed to believe that the family provided all the requisite social life for any child. At Thacher, I met Thomas Cunningham Simons, who had also just arrived. When Christmas vacation came, the Simons’s invited me to stay with them. This was fortuitous since the train back to New York took days and no one flew much during the war. Tom joined the Bit & Spur while I followed my brothers into the Pack and Saddle, but we both loved to sing or should I say, bellow? We became close friends, and later were freshman roommates at Harvard. I attended his wedding, but after that, we drifted; he went into the insurance business and I became a doctor. But when we did get together, we’d sing songs from that little green book: “To the tables down at Mory’s”, “Far above Cayuga’s waters”, “Drumbeats over Pomona” etc. My family never fully grasped how much I got from Thacher; one of the best of this was Tom Simons, a sturdy, rock solid guy, and my first real friend in this world. Tom’s gone, but I hope his children and grandchildren read this and recall what Tom gave me, and presumably gave to countless other folk.
34 fall 2019
JIM GRIFFITH says, “A busy year. Saints, Statues, and Stories: A Folklorist Looks at the Religious Art of Sonora was published by the University of Arizona Press, and from October 11 to 13 we will see the 45th year of Tucson Meet Yourself—the regional folklife festival that Loma and I founded. It’s free—Y’all come!”
1958 JIM LEVY shares, “I’ve published two
new books: a memoir with my partner Phaedra Greenwood, called Those Were the Days: Life and Love in 1970s New Mexico; and Seen From A Distance—poems from 2017-18.”
1959
BOB BOYD says, “I’m now a retired judge and thoroughly enjoying the free time I have. Mary Ellen and I are off to Montana and Idaho for some fishing and visiting with our daughter in Idaho and will spend more time in New Jersey with our son, his wife and, so far, our only grandchild, Mateo, age 7. Life is good.” PERRY GATES writes, “When Janet Mills was elected our first female governor of Maine last year, she brought with her a new wave of commissioners. Her selection for commissioner of the department of education is a business friend and colleague, Pender Makin, who promptly called me to ask if I would join her team at the department. How could I refuse!? So, until further notice I fill a position to develop an Office of Innovations that enables creativity in the delivery of learning services to our students, K through 12, and citizenry, statewide.”
1962 MARK PEIRSOL
received a note and a picture of Ojai from DON PORTER and was very appreciative. “I especially enjoyed seeing all the new green growth coming up in the burn area along with the beautiful bright orange California poppies! I live in a bygone era—no computer, no PDA, no cell phone. In some ways this has protected me but in others it has made it difficult for friends to get in touch with me. I am so very much thankful to be updated on Thacher. Best wishes.”
*1965 RUTH HUYLER GLASS is “happily into
my second year of retirement. Wayne and I are bouncing back and forth between Incline Village, Nev., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. We welcome visitors
in either place. For the near future: Wyoming through early December; Tahoe until May—or thereabouts.” TED RHODES reports, “After several months of delay due to the Thomas Fire and the subsequently disastrous debris flows in Montecito and Carpinteria, my band, Americana Cats, based here in Carpinteria, was finally able to lay down 11 tracks of our debut CD of Americana original and cover songs now available out there on the Internet and wherever we play. A few of the tunes we play date back to my campfire days at Golden Trout with BILL WYMAN II, ARCHIE LOOK ’64, ARNIE MOORE ’63, the late BILL HORVITZ, CHUCK WARREN; and, of course, CRICKET and TERRY TWICHELL.”
1966
SAMUEL FRENCH shares, “Although I retired in January 2019, expecting to have a nice long rest with my wife, Gail, she passed away two weeks ago after a long battle with lung cancer. She had chemotherapy and radiation, but the thing that contributed the most to her weakness was the use of opiates to fight spinal pain. Ultimately, she was going to be in remission, but her heart gave out and her weakness was the cause. I will miss her and want my friends to know we had a wonderful 53 years together.” BOB KENDIG describes, “Coming from opposite directions, I met DENEYS PURCELL and HARVEY KASLOW, all Class of 1967, at the top of Potluck Pass, a part of the Sierra High Route, on August 9, 2019.”
1968
TRAV NEWTON shares that, “Edgardo Catalan had an exhibit in Chile this past Summer. Victoria and I had hoped to attend but were unable due to family obligations. I think he was pleased with the reception and reviews, all very positive. Even though he suffers from Parkinson’s, his hand seems very steady in his paintings.”
1969
JUSTIN FAGGIOLI announces, “Sandy and I are celebrating the birth of our second grandchild, Marcus Ren Faggioli. Marcus was born on August 15—on Sandy’s birthday. Marcus is thriving with his incredibly competent and loving parents, Stacie Wang Faggioli and NATHANIEL FAGGIOLI ’00.”
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
*
1953
INDICATES REUNION YEAR CORRESPONDING PHOTO ABOVE
Trav Newton ’68 is enjoying art by past Thacher faculty Edgardo Catalan. Justin Faggioli’s ’69, son Nathan ’00, new grandchild Marcus, and daughter-in-law Stacie. Ned Cahill ’70 is looking forward to Reunion. Paul Gavin ’71 with wife, Kimberleigh, and Tyler Kesterson—son of Steve Scott ’71—at Andrews AFB in 2012. CdeP 1972 Tom Bard, Bill Dawson, Alan Silbergh, Grant Harmon, and company on the Salmon River in Idaho. Reuben Haller ’74 and McKenzie Wren have been married 20 years. Bill Rubenstein ’74 in South Africa. Will Wyman ’78 with daughter Molly ’12 and wife Michelle in Spain.
Tyler Kesterson (same first name as his son). A few years later, Tyler led the Villanova NROTC unit and, this year, joined an Osprey squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. Paul had created that squadron’s logo in 1985 and he and his wife Kimberleigh designed the Miramar station logo in 1996. Sharing just one or two such coincidences is fun; these four are remarkable and memorable.”
THE THACHER I CARRY
Stephen Huyler CdeP 1969 I have spent my adult life living and working in India. I know that a large part of my ease in adapting to that culture was engendered by my years at Thacher. I was born and raised on campus. Until I graduated from Thacher at age 17 half a century ago, I ate most of my meals in the old dining room surrounded by the student body, faculty, and fellow children. Most Americans live relatively isolated lives based largely upon small nuclear families. Many are baffled when they encounter India’s complex social systems. In contrast, through eating and living so closely with the large community at Thacher, I have always had a natural affinity for extended families that are at the core of Indian society. Thacher has taught me to be tolerant, open, and interested in others.
1972 GRANT HARMON
notes, “TOM BARD, BILL DAWSON, ALAN SILBERGH and I went rafting this summer on the Salmon River near Stanley, Idaho. Joining us were Karen Bard, Becky Dawson, Leslie Silbergh and Jill Horn.”
1977
THE THACHER I CARRY
*1970 NED CAHILL
is “looking forward to seeing many of my classmates at our 50th reunion. Please be sure to block out your schedule so that you can attend.”
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
1971
PAUL GAVIN details, “Career coincidences between STEPHEN SCOTT and I: After graduating from Thacher in 1971, Steve went on to the University of Colorado, met his wife Lynne and raised two children, Tyler and Stephanie, who went on to marry a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey pilot. Those same years, Paul Gavin went on to Villanova University and an art career and donated work to the Marine Corps and military air shows including Andrews AFB. When at Andrews a few years ago, Paul saw an Osprey on static display. Thinking just maybe, he asked who flew it up to the show and met Steve’s son-in-law,
1974
CHIP BARTHOLOMAY says, “I really enjoyed our reunion in June. Next reunion I hope to see as many classmates as possible. Consider this a challenge… book now!” REUBEN HALLER reports, “In October, McKenzie Wren and I celebrated our 20th anniversary.” RANDY HEAD presents, “This July, Cambridge University Press published my latest book—Making Archives in Early Modern Europe—a history of record keeping in Europe from 1400-1700. Indirectly inspired by the digital revolution, it looks at how changes in making, keeping, and using documents helped support the rise of modern societies and politics. Meanwhile, I’m just back from the Canary Islands, where I served as an outside examiner for the approval of a PhD dissertation. What fun (even if that meant reading 400 pages of Spanish first… good thing Thacher did such a good job with its Spanish classes)!” BILL RUBENSTEIN is “planning my third trip to South Africa during 2019—I’ve fallen in love with a cheetah and there's nothing I can do about it!”
Chuck Henderson CdeP 1976 For the past 15 years, a group of us from the class of 1976 have been gathering for an almost annual ski trip. We have missed a year here and there, but most years we have managed to get a weekend together. The core group of John Cicerone, Chuck Henderson, Nick Kent, and Nick Noyes have been joined over the years by Brock Metcalf, Miguel de Sanz, and John Wagner. Hosts have been Brock Metcalf at Alpine Meadows, CA; Chuck Henderson at Sugar Bowl, CA; and, most recently, John Wagner at Big Sky, MT. During these trips we have experienced deep powder, steep chutes, high stakes tree runs, and high speed groomers. We were snowed in at Alpine Meadows, dug John Cicerone out of a tree well, found a hidden bar in the woods with John Wagner, and created many wonderful memories together. The group plans to continue these weekend sojourns for many years to come.
KENDRIC FOULTZ shares, “I’m so proud that my twin girls, Kate and Lexi, will be graduating from Emerson this year. One in film and the other in sports communications.” ANDREW HOLMAN could not be “more appreciative of the ’77 and ’78 support for Inmedix—defining actionable stress biomarkers from human electronic signals (ECG, EEG, etc.) in our patent-protected ‘e-laboratory’ in the Azure cloud to improve care of autoimmune disease. Try repeating all that three times quickly.”
1978
WILL WYMAN says, “Saludos desde España! Michelle and I visited our daughter, MOLLY ’12, in Spain to celebrate her 25th birthday and our 35th wedding anniversary in September. Arriba los sapos de España! Tío Bob would be very pleased to know I’ve finally made the most of his Spanish instruction! Best to all.”
1982
REY BALDERAS shares, “I am continuing to run, train, pace lead, and coach with the Dallas Running Club and the Rockwall, Texas, running club. In February, May, and September, I was able to pace lead half marathons. In April, I ran a marathon and will run another in December followed by another Boston Marathon in 2020. My daughter is a college senior. I mentor her on The Thacher School 35
CLASS NOTES
Mike Voevodsky ’82 and Therese in Croatia. Clint Wilson ’83 and Jon Twichell ’83. Eric Gross ’85 enjoys his son, Javier ’23, being at Thacher. Tom Hale ’86 launching a rocket at Thacher. Sarah O’Brien ’86 at Golden Trout with her kids.
just began his freshman year. His advisor, LIZ MAHONEY ’88, reports that he seems to be thriving. With my daughter being a junior at RLS and starting to look at colleges, home is feeling very quiet this fall. We now have plenty of room for visitors to liven things up, so drop in when in Santa Cruz.”
1982
MIKE VOEVODSKY writes, “Therese and I are in Croatia for the week. Our daughter, Mia, spent several days along the Dalmatian coast five years ago and raved about it—lots of history, beautiful architecture, the Adriatic Sea, outstanding sea food, and affordable—but that was before Game of Thrones. She said, ‘a must see.’ So we’re doing it. We’re in Zagreb now (inland), heading through Sarajevo for the next few days then onto the coast—Dubrovnik, Montenegro, and then Split. Amazing so far.”
1983
JON TWICHELL had dinner with CLINT WILSON and his wife when they were in Chicago visiting.
1984
BETH ROBERTS FARLEY writes, “Better late than never: I successfully completed my master’s of education in professional school counseling. It was a challenge paired with working full-time, parenting three kids (still at home), and getting a divorce. I have learned the meaning of, ‘That which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger’ (as well as the importance of friend and family support). I have never felt more successful and capable than I do right now. Spending my spare time working with Moms Demand Action, looking for a new job, and figuring out what dating will look like in my 50s.”
*1985 ERIC GROSS
says, “I’m vicariously enjoying Thacher via my son, JAVIER ’23, who 36 fall 2019
THE THACHER I CARRY
Christina Chiu Alfandary CdeP 1985 I have always felt that one of the most challenging first Thacher experiences is that of the horse camping trip during freshman year. My brother, Stan Chiu ’82, sister, Elizabeth Chiu ’83, and I all graduated with this special experience. After we each became parents, I wanted to have a Thacher-type adventure within our family. So when the children were old enough, I proposed to my parents that we do a horse camping trip with them in California’s Eastern Sierra mountains with all the kids. My father was 72 and my mom was 68 at the time. To my surprise, they were totally game! As we all set out, there was a familiar sense of excitement for my siblings and me, new adventure for our children, and some understandable anxiety for our parents. Fifteen people, riding to up to 10,000 feet, ages ranging 4-72 years old. What was I thinking?! But it was awesome—a return to nature and time to spend uninterrupted as a family. Today, I also like to think that this trip prepared my own daughter (Lia Alfandary ’22) just a little bit for her own Thacher adventure.
1986
TOM HALE reports, “Preparing for another awesome Thacher rocket launch at parents’ weekend is keeping the whole Hale family busy this month. We’re so excited to head to the Gymkhana field early Sunday morning to launch some five-foot rockets into the morning sky. Between building, painting, and organizing, Karen, Ivy, Anna, and Tom are keeping very busy—we can only hope that PAUL BRESSIE will be bringing his camera and getting some great photos.” SARAH O’BRIEN shares, “It was wonderful to spend a week up at Golden Trout this summer with classmates CAROLYN and DOUG KIRKPATRICK. I loved taking my sons Pierce (12) and Ronan (10) on their first camping trip with an amazing group of Thacher alumni and their families. The hikes, delicious food, and the spectacular setting were a magnificent introduction to camping in the Sierra mountains. I highly recommend it. Although my husband, Aaron, was not able to join us at Golden Trout, we took a spectacular family vacation to London, Florence, and Rome.”
1987
JEN CRITTENDEN writes, “I had the pleasure of celebrating J.P. MANOUX’s birthday by participating in a beyond amazing race across Los Angeles. I didn’t win but I got to see DAVID SITZMAN, TOM COLE, TOM HALE ’86, and an assortment of Manouxes, so actually I did.” J.P. MANOUX shares, “TOM COLE and I celebrated our 50th birthdays with pickup soccer in Tanzania and a summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The adventure introduced eight of Tom’s buddies to some of the wonders of Africa, where Tom and his wife have worked to better the lives of thousands for many years.”
1989
MARC GANZI is “happy to report that I am back in the Golden State. I have been asked to be the CEO of L.A. based Colony Capital, replacing founder Tom Barrack this past summer. Spending more time in L.A. and getting back to my Thacher roots a bit.”
*1990 WINSLOW BURLESON updates, “I’ve
moved to Tucson as research director for the University of Arizona’s School of Information. We are also starting a health science design program. Let me know if you’re in the area for a hike or adventure. Cheers.”
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
making good choices that fit her world view. She will likely spend a year in Brazil after graduation and then on to graduate school. This is how I have been spending my time: running, working, and family.” TOM SAIDY is, “still working in emerging markets investment management here at Cartica. Just returned from Asia: Hong Kong, weekend at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Bangkok, and Singapore. Stayed with JOHN DAVIES and family in Singapore. Incredibly gracious hosts and they love living there. Family life is great in D.C. Our girls, Margaux (16) and Jane (14), are hardworking and fun-loving high schoolers. I am navigating life of father of daughter with first boyfriend. Pretty easy as the guy is the most responsible 16-yearold ever. My wife, Stacey, continues her successful interior design work and keeps us all going. Come see us!”
MILESTONES MARRIAGES
BIRTHS
Jen Crittenden ’87 enjoyed seeing J.P. Manoux ’87, David Sitzman ’87, Tom Cole ’87, Tom Hale ’86. Tom Cole ’87 and J.P. Manoux ’87 in Tanzania.
THE THACHER I CARRY
Sarah Lavender Smith CdeP 1986
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
Back in 2012, I participated in the inaugural Grand to Grand Ultra, a 170-mile self-supported footrace over remote, rugged terrain from northern Arizona to southern Utah. Competitors must carry all their food and gear for the week in backpacks and camp along the way (the race supplies only water and communal tents). The event—considered one of the most extreme ultramarathons in the world—is totally off the grid and immersed in the wilderness. When I felt anxiety about my ability to handle these conditions, I told myself, “It’s like an EDT. I can camp, I can keep going.” And I did. I earned a podium finish that year, again in 2014, and also when I raced its sister event, the 155-mile Mauna to Mauna across Hawaii in 2017. As I approached my 50th birthday this year, I entered the 2019 Grand to Grand Ultra last September with 101 other competitors (about a third of whom were female). We traversed high-desert plateaus, vermillion cliffs, sand dunes and forests; over each day’s route, ranging from 26 to 53 miles, I coped with extreme daytime heat and nighttime cold, deep sand, snakes, calorie deprivation, blisters and muscle fatigue. In the end, in spite of incurring a time penalty for carrying less food than the rules required, I finished 1st female and 10th among the men. Competing in this event deepened my relationship to the natural world and gave me courage to tackle other real-life challenges, and I credit Thacher for giving me the guts and grounding to try it. [You can read a full race report about the Grand to Grand Ultra on Sarah’s blog TheRunnersTrip.com.]
1 BRITTANY SANDERS ’96 welcomed Luciella Lee Polidori to their family on April 30, 2019. “She joins big sister Adelaide and is looking forward to her day on the swings up at Thacher!”
KATIE HARMON COURAGE ’01 and her husband, Dave, welcomed their first baby, Ava Courage, on October 26, 2018.
2 ERIC MORRILL ’98 and his wife, Lucia Pacca, welcomed their daughter, Elena Iane Emilie Pacca Morrill, into the world on July 19, 2019. “All involved are healthy and sleeping well.” 3 MICHAELA ANDREWS ’99 and husband Dr. Jan Bruder were thrilled to welcome into the world their daughter, Elin Christine Bruder, on April 4, 2019. 4 SHANNON HASTINGS HIGA ’99 welcomed Eleanor on July 5, 2019. “I did not go into labor during our 20th reunion this June, but instead had Nori a couple of weeks later. We’re totally in love with her and can’t wait to bring her to Thacher!”
NATHANIEL D. FAGGIOLI ’00 and Stacie welcomed Marcus Ren Faggioli on August 15, 2019. 5 LACEY GORDON CARUSO ’00 welcomed Elliot Arden Caruso, born on May 16, 2019. “He was so eager to meet his proud big sister Vivian, that he arrived six weeks early! We joke that at least I skipped being pregnant in the Texas summer. Now Elliot is thriving and has fully caught up with his non-preemie peers. Plus, he has a loving grandmother nearby—my mother who moved from Ojai to Austin.” 6 TREVOR MCPROUD ’00 and Anne Dahlie welcomed their son, Ferguson Paul (Gus), on December 28, 2019, in New York City.
7 BETSY BRADFORD PERETTI ’02 and John welcomed Hadley Hastings Peretti on September 28, 2019. “She came out with her ‘lasso’ (umbilical cord) in hand like a real roper. Hadley was welcomed by many of the Hastings/Bradford/ Perkins clan and can’t wait to share the Ojai with her soon.” 8 KYLIE MANSON GETTLEMAN ’03 and her husband, Matt, welcomed their first daughter, Willa Corinne Gettleman, into the world on June 27, 2019. “We’ve enjoyed the last three months of getting to know Willa and watching her open her eyes to the world. Can’t wait to introduce her to everyone at Thacher.” 9 MATT STENOVEC ’04 welcomed Eleanor Margaret and Madeline Rose Stenovec to their family on June 5, 2019. “They join their very proud big sister, Adelaide, and our very forlorn black lab, Moose, up here in Seattle.” 10 ALISSA WALLACE RUSSELL ’04 and Rob welcomed baby Emilia Jeanne into their family on June 15, 2019. 11 JENNY MORRILL KOLAND ’06 and husband, Erik, welcomed son Sebastian Edward Morrill Koland on July 12, 2018. 12 JORDAN MORSE ’06 would very much like to share about his new baby, James Nathan Morse—born on March 7, 2019. “We moved to Monrovia, Calif., to be closer to work and the trade-off of spending time with James has been way better than sitting in L.A. traffic!”
13 In August 2019, BARCLAY GRAYSON ’88 married Ms. Katrina Heilman at the Allison Inn in Newberg, Ore. Besides best man BLAKE GRAYSON ’91, they were also joined by a number of CdeP 1988 alumni, including officiant ROBERT COHEN who presided over a heartfelt ceremony, as well as groomsman ROBERT BUTLER, ELIZABETH GRAHAM TANJI and PATRICK CHU. Barclay’s children (Bailey, Nicholas and Remington) were especially appreciative to hear all the Thacher memories that were discussed late into the evenings of the weekend. 14 ERICA MOORE ’97 married her “favorite,” Marc Williams, in their backyard in Lexington, Ky., on September 1, 2019. “It was a low-key barbecue with our friends and family. We’re ridiculously over the moon and excited for our honeymoon in Belize in January 2020.”
WARD SORRICK ’04 announces, “On Saturday, September 21, 2019, I got married to my best friend and future Thacher mom, Genesis Diaz!” 15 ERICA PUCCETTI ’06 was married in Ojai in August 2019. “I was lucky enough to marry my now-husband, Court Townsend, surrounded by the Topa Topa Mountains and friends from Thacher. KAGGIE ORRICK was our officiant (and she crushed it, of course!), and fellow classmates CAL JENSEN, ALYSSA TENNANT, and AUBREY WYNN also helped us celebrate, as did Mr. and Mrs. Perry (’83 and ’85). We couldn’t have imagined a wedding day without all of them there, and we feel so lucky to have gotten married in such a magical place.” 16 OLIVIA JACOBSEN ’07 was married to Jack Downing on June 30, 2018, in Ojai.
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The Thacher School 37
CLASS NOTES
Natasha Leydecker ’91 and David Van Horne ’91 playing in Aspen, Colo. Sharon Karlsberg ’92 on summer sabbatical with her family. Rika Howe Toll ’94 with her family in Oklahoma City. Justin Stephens ’94 and faculty member Bill Vickery. Seumas Sargent ’95 is filming in Prague, Czech Republic.
1991
LAIRD LUEBBERS writes, “With both kids now away at school—JULIEN ’19 at Pomona College and LUCIEN ’23 at Thacher—I sold my house in New York and moved into my dad’s mostly vacant house in Jackson, Wyo. The idea is to spend a couple of years here enjoying the outdoors, skiing, and generally working on life balance. Of course, I have hardly been up here since I moved in mid-August—so this whole balance thing must have more to it than where I live!” NINI LEE RAO reports, “Sudeep, Sequoia, and I have moved back to Ojai! My folks are aging and in need of more support and so we moved back. Sequoia is in kindergarten at Monica Ros— where I went way back when. We are settling in and enjoying being here. Come visit if you come to Ojai!” NATASHA LEYDECKER and DAVID VAN HORNE met up in Aspen, Colo. says, “Hello fellow Toads! After 15 years with my firm, ZS Associates, I decided to create my own sabbatical program to spend the summer with family. And what a summer it was! In five weeks, Craig, Zachary (age 11), Wyatt (age 8), and I covered over 5,200 miles in our 1990 VW Westfalia camper van. Our travels through states and national parks included 90 miles of whitewater rafting, hiking, biking, horseback riding, wolf-watching, and other wildlife adventures. Trying to adapt back to office life has been a challenge. If you’re in San Francisco, please look us up!”
1994
RIKA HOWE TOLL updates, “We have moved to Oklahoma City where Nate is starting a new career as a high school physics teacher at Heritage Hall. We arrived in August and are adjusting to life off the farm, but the horses are not too far away boarding at a local barn.” JUSTIN STEPHENS reports, “Our family had a fabulous time at the 25th reunion. It was a great turn out. Summer flew by faster than ever. Had the chance to get in a bike ride with MR. VICKERY while he was visiting Napa. Harvest is ramping up with zinfandel coming in. Finding harvest interns is a growing challenge, but we’ve got a great team again this year thanks to our chief winemaker, Shaina Harding. Other than that, it’s school, ski team, piano, soccer, and lacrosse for the kids, and the cycle repeats! Best wishes to my fellow Toads.” 38 fall 2019
THE THACHER I CARRY
DJ Sigband CdeP 1995 I recently took my 2 ½ year-old daughter (Ande) camping for the first time. I figured I’d start early to get her comfortable with camping so that a multi-day Sierra trip (one day) would be a natural progression for her. So we spent one night beach camping with a couple other like-minded dads. Another alum (Bob Johnson CdeP 1967 lives near this beach so he popped by with his son Nick CdeP 2016 to say “hi” and wish us well.
*1995 SEUMAS SARGENT
updates, “I’m back from a month of saltwater and sunshine cure in southern France (read: little family, surfboard, tent, gas cooker, waves pounding just beyond the dunes) and now shooting a new TV series in Prague called Spy City. Hope everyone is getting the occasional health check, finding balance in the chaos and enjoying a good flat white from time to time. All the best from the road!”
1996
ALEXIA ALLEN says, “I got an old Amish pony team to help expand our market garden. The team knows more about plowing than I ever will. They are voice-activated, solarpowered, reproduce themselves, their exhaust is fertilizer, and they are fully compostable. I have yet to see any electric car beat that. It’s a new phase for Hawthorn Farm.” TYFAHRA SINGLETON announces, “I recently became executive director of a summer camp for Bay Area kids from low-income communities. Kids, many of whom have never been away from home, spend three weeks in beautiful San Gregorio near Half Moon Bay, swimming, camping, hiking, reading, doing
adventure math, visiting farms, bonding, and being kids. I spend a lot of time telling kids about my similar experiences years ago, camping at Thacher, how scary it was, and how truly worth it it is to find a home away from home outside.”
1997
JAIME KELLOGG updates, “I recently was able to reconnect with Thacher classmate, RHEA WONG, at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. We’ve come a long way since our Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament days!” RHEA WONG says, “It’s been a very Thacher year! ERICA MOORE, KAYTE FISHER, and I spent our 40th birthdays in Costa Rica together in March. Then, I caught up with JAIME KELLOGG in New York at the U.S. Open where we caught up with some great tennis and 23 years. Been traveling for fun this year which includes trips to Mexico, Costa Rica, Alaska, and Lake Tahoe. In other news, I’ve launched my own nonprofit consulting business and podcast: Nonprofit Lowdown. Been having a blast in 2019!”
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
1992 SHARON KARLSBERG
Alexia Allen ’96 cultivating with ponies. Tyfahra Singleton ’96 is directing a summer camp for low-income kids. Jaime Kellogg ’97 and Rhea Wong ’97 at the U.S. Open. CdeP 1997 Rhea Wong, Erica Moore, Kayte Fisher, and friends in Costa Rica. Ella Goodbrod Moench ’00 and her kids picked lots of berries. Michael Disner ’01 moved to San Diego. Christopher Eaton ’04 filming in Ojai.
1998
ANDREW BARKAN writes, “L.A.-based children’s music duo Andrew & Polly released Go for the Moon—our fifth record of quirky heartfilled family anthems. You can sample it on our podcast, Ear Snacks.” RYAN MEYER is executive director of UC-Davis Center for Community and Citizen Science which, was recently asked by the Resources Legacy Fund to develop a manual to help people who step forward to lead community restoration efforts to remove dams. “Organizations have recruited citizen-scientists for a long time, but the practice has really taken off in the past decade as digital technology makes it easier for regular people to gather data. The Center was created in response to this trend to help scientists
and organizations learn how to employ the new tools and manpower.”
1999
MICHAELA ANDREWS announces, “In April, my husband, Jan, and I were thrilled to welcome into the world our daughter, Elin Christine Bruder. We continue to live in Münster, Germany, where I have been teaching English, learning German, and studying history—but for now I am enjoying the luxury of some time off from work to dedicate myself fully to being a mom. Life with little Ellie is a treat!”
*2000 ELLA GOODBROD MOENCH
shares, “Back to school feels real in our house as three of the four of us are in the public school system— my big guy started kindergarten this year and I continue to hang out with middle school students exploring science. Summer of playing in the mountains, picking berries, and road trips. Amazed that this year marks our 20-year reunion!”
2001
THE THACHER I CARRY
Louisa Footman CdeP 1998
PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE
I am the Mental Health Director at The SEED School of Maryland, the only public boarding school in the state. We provide a free boarding school experience for 6th-12th graders. Every year I organize a camping trip for our 6th graders, many of whom have never traveled outside of the Baltimore area. This is one of the most meaningful ways I can share my Thacher pride with this generation of students. Watching their faces light up after they tackle a ropes course, or hearing their gleeful shrieks when they splash in the cool Chesapeake Bay fills my heart with joy. This is the Thacher that I carry with me.
MICHAEL DISNER updates, “We’ve had another big move this year, this time bringing us closer to home (and Thacher). We’re in San Diego now and expect to be here for the next few years. Look us up if you’re in the area and we hope to see more of the Thacher family!” KATIE HARMON COURAGE says, “My latest book, Cultured: How Ancient Foods Can Feed the Microbiome, was published this February by Avery/Penguin Random House. Just a few months before the book’s arrival, my husband, Dave, and I welcomed our first baby—and are beyond grateful to have had CARINA FISHER nearby for support!”
2004
CHRISTOPHER EATON reports, “Earlier this year, I wrote and directed a short film titled Split Oak, shot at my family’s ranch in Ojai. The short film will be premiering at the 2019 Ojai Film Festival on November 4 as part of the Gold Coast Film Series, featuring a Q&A of local filmmakers.”
THE THACHER I CARRY
Amanda Nonomura CdeP 2006 Although I only attended Thacher for two years, having begun my Thacher journey as a junior transfer student, I make it a habit to incorporate Toad culture into many aspects of my life. The most apparent ways have been my continual involvement in horseback riding and keeping in touch with other Thacher grads across the years, miles, and various iterations of social media apps (particularly easy since I have three family members who are also alums). Among the more complex ways in which Thacher has influenced me, the way that I incorporate the faculty’s pedagogy into my own teaching stands out. Educating the whole student is a perennial pillar of Thacher’s curriculum and I make a daily effort to build community-fostering mindset into my lesson plans. My fifth grade students, at Otay Ranch Academy for the Arts, are encouraged to make connections from academics to “the real world” (another piece drawn from Thacher) in order to deepen their learning and nurture community beyond the walls of our classroom.
HOW TO SUBMIT DIGITAL PHOTOS
• Identify every person in the photo, state time and place, and suggest a caption.
• Shoot using your camera’s best photo setting. Files should be 200k or larger.
• We can accept good old-fashioned prints as well. Unfortunately, we cannot accept photocopies or images from magazines or newspapers.
• Save photos as JPEG files.
• Two ways to submit photos: 1. Email digital files as attachments to alumni@thacher.org. 2. Mail prints or digital discs to: The Thacher School Alumni Office 5025 Thacher Road, Ojai, CA 93023 The Thacher School 39
CLASS NOTES
Leslie Sligh ’07 and Mukwetu, her dog from Namibia. Max Pillsbury ’08 in Kenya. Carrie Eastburn ’16 and Wesley Liang ’15 with Thacher faculty Gallia Vickery after a performance.
2006
JENNY MORRILL KOLAND shares, “My husband, Erik Koland, and I have been enjoying life with our son, Sebastian, born last year. He is now a very happy and active toddler! And in May 2019, I graduated with my MFA in design from California College of the Arts in San Francisco.”
ALYSSA TENNANT reports, “After seven years at Google and finishing my master’s in integrative health, I’m launching my own online coaching business! As a women’s empowerment coach, I help smart, successful women who are tired of feeling tired end the cycle of burnout for good. I’m available for clients and collaborations and would love to connect with Toads. Find me on social media and alyssatennant.com.”
2013
GRADY JACOBSEN began in September a master’s program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
2007 LESLIE SLIGH
updates, “After serving in the Peace Corps in Namibia from 2015 to 2017, I returned stateside accompanied by Mukwetu, a sage, sweet bush dog who adopted me in the village. Her name means ‘friend.’ Mukwetu and I now live in D.C. where I’m pursuing a master’s in global human development at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.”
THE THACHER I CARRY
Moizeé Stewart CdeP 2008 Honor, fairness, kindness, and truth. These values were taught to me from an early age, however, Thacher enabled me to actualize them in my daily life. As I grew into a young adult, I erred on the side of compassion when working with my clients with autism through utilizing kindness and extreme patience. I modeled how powerful speaking with truth can be when working with clients at an inpatient psychiatric unit. I demonstrated the importance of being honorable with others and oneself when supporting clients battling addiction. I practiced fairness in my personal and professional relationships by implementing the golden rule. These crucial values allowed me to excel in my professional life as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. More importantly they inspired me to ensure that I also exercised these practices with myself. I, too, am deserving of honor, fairness, kindness, and truth in relationship with myself. This realization, after so many years of engaging with others while holding myself to a high moral standard, finally allowed me to view myself with renewed clarity and awareness. This understanding has allowed me to start writing my first book with an emphasis on self-love. The ultimate accountability is to love oneself, which inspires you to live in alignment with these qualities and values.
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reports, “I facilitated a human-centered design process with colleagues in western Kenya to improve blood pressure control in rural clinics.”
THE THACHER I CARRY
Maggie Miller CdeP 2011 Up in the Pacific Northwest, the snow has come early this year. It can be easy to hide away inside until it gets cold enough for winter sports; after a Spring EDT with Mr. Pidduck on the mountaineer’s route of Mt. Whitney, however, no cold will ever compare to the bone chilling freeze of opening my tent door on summit day in stillsoggy layers, to be greeted by well over a foot of new snow. As I continue to hike throughout the fall and winter, I’m grateful to Thacher for teaching me to appreciate imperfect conditions and waterproof boots.
2009
JOSEPH TOBIN notes, “I just started at Stanford GSB in case anyone is in the area or passing through!”
THE THACHER I CARRY
Lexie Kirkwood CdeP 2014 This past March I convinced Wade Warren ’14 (who at the time was finding himself in the Nepalese mountains) to interrupt his tour of Asia to meet me in Morocco for a week. We were joined by two of our non-Thacher friends from San Francisco. The first few days Wade and I were on our own—getting lost in medinas and swindled by various tourist traps. What I realized only when we added the rest of the group to our trip was that Wade and I still, automatically, follow a no phone rule at meals. Unlike most of the people I eat with—millenials and boomers alike—my Thacher gang, wherever we are, still stack our phones in a pile on the table before we start to eat, and leave them there for the duration of the meal. What a concept! Face to face time, a remnant from those no-phone days in Ojai. It may seem simple, but it makes precious time with my Thacher friends, wherever we may be in the world, that much more special.
*2015/16 WESLEY LIANG ’15
and CARRIE EASTBURN ’16, former dance captains of The Thacher School Dance Ensemble, still dance together! Wesley (senior at Pomona College) and Carrie (junior at Claremont McKenna College) were in a performance of the 5C Dance Company.
Read and submit class notes online at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes
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2008 MAX PILLSBURY
IN MEMORIAM W. McCay Jordan CdeP 1938 William McCay Jordan “Mac” passed away peacefully at home in Newport Beach, California. April 13, 2019. Mac was born in Washington D.C. to Lt Cmdr Leslie L. Jordan and Mildred Buckner McCay. At Thacher, Mac competed for the High Mileage Prize, for most miles in the saddle, on his beloved “Weary” and won in 1937. From Thacher, Mac spent a fifth year at The Pomfret School, Pomfret, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in Mechanical Engineering with the class of ‘43, then joined the Army Air Corps, where he became a line chief with the 5th Air Force “Satan’s Angels” of the 475th Fighting Group. After his service, Mac returned home to Redlands, California to marry Anna Mary Wilcoxson whom he’d known since first grade. They had one son, Peter M. Jordan CdeP 1968, and were married for 65 years. As director of research for Swindell-Dressler in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mac became one of the world’s leading minds in refractory, metallurgy, and heat transfer. He held patents for the “Magic Carpet” kiln which produced flawless tile by floating it on a bed of hot air. For recreation, Mac spent time on the Mesabi Ore range of Northern Minnesota. In the mid-50s, the family relocated to California where Mac partnered in a start-up fiberglass products manufacturer. Once retired, he returned to his hobby—building airplanes of balsa wood and tissue paper. He is survived by his son, Peter; grandson Andrew K. Jordan CdeP 2007; and granddaughter Emily-Caitlin H. Jordan CdeP 2012.
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Felix T. Smith Jr. CdeP 1938 Felix Teisseire Smith, Jr, JD, PhD passed away Monday, October 15, after a brief hospital stay. Dr. Smith was a thirdgeneration San Franciscan born to Felix T. Smith, Sr. and Martha Smith (née Sutton). Per El Archivero, while at Thacher he established an “almost peerless reputation for conscientiousness and scholastic attainment” and demonstrated a “legal inclination.” He studied Latin and Greek and become “a distinguished editor of The Notes, and ... his diligence has served to stimulate that journal to unusual success.” After Thacher, Felix attended Williams College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Graduate School, where he earned a PhD in physical chemistry. During World War II he served in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Navy and briefly practiced law. For many decades he worked as a research scientist for the Stanford Research
Institute (now SRI International) in Palo Alto, specializing in low-energy collisions and the theory behind the Virial Equation. In the 1980s, he retired to San Francisco but continued to do research, publishing a paper in the journal of the Institut Louis de Broglie. He was active in Berkeley’s Pacific Center, San Francisco Hiking Club, Palo Alto Madrigal Chorus, S. F. Pride Safety Subcommittee, and Transactional Analysis community. He is survived by his husband, Frederick Tetim; his brothers, Nathan S. Smith CdeP 1941 and Lawrence H. Smith CdeP 1945; and their families. Felix will be remembered for his brilliance and his rigid adherence to a strict personal code of ethics.
David Z. Bailey CdeP 1941 David Z. Bailey passed away peacefully in his sleep with family at his side on November 14, 2018. Born in New York City to Elvia Z. and Russell T. Bailey and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, he spent one year at Thacher. While here, David immersed himself in School activities: first team soccer and track; second team basketball; track relay team; Glee Club; chairman of the Library Committee; debating; physics laboratory assistant. He went on to earn his degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from MIT, then joined the Navy and was based at the Naval Shipyard in California. After the war, he worked at the Gas Turbine Laboratory at MIT. David was an accomplished sailor and won the Blue Water Bowl in the 1947 and 1949 Newport to Annapolis races. In 1950 he married Nancy Ann Parsons; they settled in Rhode Island, and raised their three sons and daughter. During the Korean War, he was called back into service and spent two years with the Bureau of Ships in New York. Subsequently, he developed and patented a commercial hydrofoil boat and later built an operating prototype wind machine. In 1988, he married Clare Southerland Doolittle who had a passion for the arts and world travel. Their adventurous trips often gave the family nail biting moments. He is survived by his sons, David S. Bailey, Peter Z. Bailey, Jeffrey R. Bailey; daughter, Elvia Nina B. Roe; eight grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.
Charles H. Clark CdeP 1944 The Reverend Charles Halsey “Kelly” Clark, died in Exeter, New Hampshire, on March 11, 2019. Born in New York City, Kelly was the son of Martha Keck Clark and Alfred Marling Clark. He grew up in Coronado, California. His senior year at Thacher “Click” was the chairman of the School, an A camper, and won the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament. In 1944, Kelly enlisted in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program, later graduated from Yale. He earned his MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary and was ordained a priest. In 1953, Kelly married Priscilla, another native Californian and student at the Yale Divinity School. With Priscilla and her daughter, Pamela, the couple began a wonderful 66-year partnership. From 1953 to 1957, Kelly served as assistant chaplain at Yale, lecturer in Old and New Testaments, and director of Yale’s International Student Center. During that time, he received an MA from Yale in Old Testament studies in 1956. He spent 20 years on the faculty of theological colleges in Singapore and the Philippines then returned to the U.S. in 1977 and served at Berkeley Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, and St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He continued to serve after his retirement. Throughout his life, Kelly received several honorary degrees and served on the boards of schools and organizations, including The Thacher School. Kelly is survived by his wife; children, Martha, Nathaniel CdeP 1976, Mary, and Anne; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his daughter, Pamela.
Richard E. Foreman CdeP 1944 Richard E. Foreman of Cincinnati, Ohio, died on February 12, 2019. Richard spent his senior year of high school at Thacher. In El Archivero his classmates noted, “One of Rick’s characteristics is his willingness to work, a quality which he has demonstrated especially in the mechanics shop.” During his career, Richard was active in the American Machine Tool Distributors Association as chairman of its Government Relations Committee and as a board member. As a 20-year Florida resident, he was a member of the Bonita Bay Golf Club in Bonita Springs and
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IN MEMORIAM
George Ezra Newton Jr. CdeP 1946 George Ezra Newton Jr. was born August 17, 1928, in Denver, Colorado. On August 18, 2018, the day after his 90th birthday, at home in Lake Arrowhead, California, he passed away from complications of Parkinson’s Disease, with his wife Mary and son George Jr. by his side, his hands in theirs. George grew up in Beverly Hills, spent his high school years at Thacher, and earned a degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. While at Thacher, he lettered in most of Thacher’s major sports, enjoyed photography, and received commendations in art and photography. He proudly served his country in the Marine Corps. During his sixty-year residence in Apple Valley, California, he spearheaded many philanthropic efforts including Polio vaccines for thousands of children in developing countries and co-founded the Don Ferrarese Charitable Foundation, providing scholarships for local students. Known as Mr. Rotary, he was the quintessential example of the Rotary motto: “Service Above Self,” and was named Humanitarian of the Year by St. Mary’s Hospital in 2002. After retirement, he and Mary fulfilled their dream of living by the ocean in Baja Mexico, working tirelessly supporting several charitable organizations. Failing health brought him to Lake Arrowhead. George was preceded in death by his parents, George Ezra Newton Sr. and Adelaide Meade Newton; his wives Bonnie Coleen Newton and Edith Goodwin Newton. He is survived by his wife Mary Frances Wright Newton; brothers John and George Robert; daughters Janida Baader, Romallie Wolfa, Carrie Miller, and Sherry Considine; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and three greatgreat grandchildren.
C. Roger Tho as CdeP 1947 C. Roger Thomas CdeP 1947, “Roger” was born to Julia Hayward and Charles Thomas in 1929 in Hancock Park. His time as an altar boy lit the way for a lifelong relationship with St. James Episcopal Church. The family relocated to Washington, D.C., during the war while his father served as special assistant to the secretary of the Navy. Roger spent part of his high school time at Thacher, graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and then from UCLA.
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During the Korean War, he joined the Navy as a staff officer and served the peace in the Pacific aboard the USS Oriskany. During his service, he did not let it slip that his father was now secretary of the Navy in the Eisenhower administration—an attitude of modesty and aversion to favoritism that he maintained all his life. A career in the insurance industry was followed by active volunteer service at many nonprofits including Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where he was a docent, and the St. James food pantry and soup kitchen. A longtime member of the national Episcopal Church Foundation, he was named an Honorary Canon of the Episcopal Church. His family always came first. In quieter moments, he enjoyed fly-fishing, photographing his family in action, fine food and wine, and, always, a good book. He is survived by his wife Marilyn Thomas, brother Hayward Thomas, children Ross Thomas, Karin Dunn, Debbie Collins, Peter Thomas and Charlie Thomas, and 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Richard A. Hotaling CdeP 1949 Richard Anson Hotaling CdeP 1949, passed away at home in Pasadena on May 17, 2019, surrounded by his beloved wife of 63 years, family, and his two dogs. Born September 11, 1931 to Simone Juillard (Hutchinson) and George Henry Hotaling, Dick was the great grandson of AP Hotaling, founder of AP Hotaling Whiskey Company in San Francisco. He grew up in Woodside, California, and attended The Thacher School and Bellarmine Prep. A loyal brother of Kappa Sigma fraternity, Dick graduated from Denison University (Granville, Ohio) in 1954. In November 1955, he married the love of his life, Elizabeth Purdon Duque “Bitsy” and settled down to raise their family in Hancock Park. Dick took great pride in his 29-year career with Orange County Lumber Company which was followed by other business ventures with the Salvation Army, KAKS and GSA. Dick was a real tinkerer, perfectionist and master woodworking craftsman. He could build, fix, and repair almost anything! Involvement in his community was a natural passion for Dick. The amount of time and service he and Bitsy gave for others through both religious and secular organizations is immeasurable. An avid outdoorsman, Dick loved his country and his faith, however, family always came first and he touched countless lives with his humor, frankness, and firm handshake. Dick was predeceased by his grandson, Patrick and survived by wife, Ellizabeth; their four children, Elita Balfour, Marsi Lauble, Elizabeth Watson, George Hotaling; his sister Monie Hoag; twelve grandchildren; one great grandson: and numerous nieces and nephews.
Arthur O. Smith II CdeP 1949 Arthur O. Smith II CdeP 1949 “Art” passed away peacefully on November 22, 2018. He was born in Milwaukee on August 16, 1930 to Lloyd Raymond and Agnes Gram Smith. While at Thacher, he served as school chairman and prefect. “By far the finest example of Thacher spirit, Art has endeared himself to the hearts of all Thacher horses,” wrote his classmates. After his studies at Yale and Babson Universities, Art pursued his entrepreneurial interests. He opened the Manning & Smith Machine Shop, and later Arthur Smith Industries (ASI) serving its board for over 40 years and was president and CEO of Smith Investment Company from 1984 to 1999. Art conducted himself professionally much the same way he did personally: with integrity, humility, and respect that inspired many. He supported many worthwhile causes and his generosity and love for others knew no bounds. Art loved the outdoors and was an avid sportsman, but classic cars, engineering projects of all kind, and family and friends were his passion. A man of strong character, Art was an example to many on living your values and interests with passion and conviction while maintaining a soft and humble heart. He will be missed. Preceding him in death were his wife, Margaret Bach Smith; daughter, Gina Smith Mallon; and brother, Lloyd B. Smith CdeP 1949. Remembering him with deep love are his children, Arthur O. Smith III CdeP 1974, Maria Alt, Mark Smith, and Dana Smith Banghart; 13 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and many relatives and friends.
Charles N. DeMund CdeP 1950 Charles “Chuck” DeMund CdeP 1950 passed away peacefully at his home in Waxhaw, North Caroline on May 9, 2019. He was born in Evanston, Illinois, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. During his time at Thacher, Chuck developed an interest in photography, which became central to his career. After false starts as an auto mechanic and television director, he chanced into an entry level position in the motion picture division at General Dynamics. Through that accident, he met his wife, Janice, and developed a career in scientific photography and advertising that spanned four decades. His work took him around the world, into the air, and under the sea. While at General Dynamics, he worked with the scientists and astronauts of the Mercury missions, and
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Hyde Park Golf and Country Club in Cincinnati. Richard is survived by his wife of 35 years, Orene Copelan (Bothwell) Foreman; his two children, James W. Foreman and Sally Foreman Humphreys; four stepchildren; 11 grandchildren; 5 greatgrandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife of 29 years, Kate Magrish Foreman, and his sister Sally Foreman Little.
developed a connection to NASA and the space program. Chuck was also closely involved with SPIE, serving at different times as president and treasurer. He strongly valued that organization’s mission, as he believed in the tremendous potential of applied optics and photonics. He was a committed Rotarian and dedicated his time and talent to that organization during the latter part of his life. Though he was not a college graduate, Chuck was an advocate for higher education, and it brought him great delight to receive an honorary degree from South Piedmont Community College a few weeks before he passed away. Chuck was predeceased by his wife, Janice, and son, Christian. He is survived by his daughters, Erin CdeP 1994 and Kristen, and six grandchildren.
Lockwood de Forest IV CdeP 1953 Lockwood de Forest IV CdeP 1953 passed away around May 2019 in Australia. He followed his grandfather, Lockwood de Forest Jr. CdeP 1916, and his brother, Kellam de Forest CdeP 1944, to The Thacher School. El Archivero spoke about his love for everything electronic or mechanical saying that his room contained, “a large mound of radios, back issues of Motor Magazine, dismantled fly rods, hammers, nails, scissors, bagpipe records, and other strange objects.” He was an A camper, a prefect, president of the Lettermen’s Club, chief technician for Dramatics, belonged to several other School organizations and received the Roger Kent Scholarship. Lockwood is survived by his brother, Kellam.
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John L. King Jr. CdeP 1956 John L. King Jr. CdeP 1956 of Novato, California, formerly of Ozark County, Arkansas, died March 19, 2019, at his home, with his wife and daughter by his side. He was born May 25, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of John L. King and Frances Theodora Shaw. When he was nine, the family moved to California. After attending Thacher, he earned accounting and business management degrees from Menlo College and later managed a boatyard co-owned by his parents. He served in the Marine Corps Reserves for six years. On March 17, 1979, in San Rafael, California, he married Ozark County native Rosalie Miller. They moved to Ozark County and bought what was then Farmer’s store renaming it Miller’s Store. They sold the business in 1983 and settled on a farm. After the death of John’s mother in 1996, they moved back to
California. For 15 years, including while they lived in Ozark County, they volunteered at disaster areas with the American Red Cross, helping with on-site records and reports, working 10-14 hours a day to help the victims. They returned to Ozark County regularly for Miller family reunions. He is survived by Rosalie, his wife of 40 years; his son, Greg King; his daughter, Tina King; two grandchildren; his brother, David King; several brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Dirk A. ten Grotenhuis CdeP 1956 Dirk ten Grotenhuis III CdeP 1956, longtime resident of South Pasadena, passed away peacefully at home on June 24, 2019, with his wife, Susan ten Grotenhuis, by his side. Dirk was born in Manila, Philippines, to Dirk and Ruth ten Grotenhuis. As a toddler during World War II, Dirk and his parents were imprisoned by the Japanese Imperial Army in Santo Tomas Internment Camp, along with nearly 4,000 Allied civilians. The family survived over three years of extreme overcrowding and near starvation conditions. They were liberated by American troops in February 1945. At Thacher, he led the tennis team as the captain, played basketball, and joined Glee Club and the Masquers. After Thacher, he went on to earn his BA in history at Stanford. Particularly skilled at reading people, he made a career in banking, insurance sales, and executive search, eventually becoming a partner with Korn Ferry International. Dirk loved games and sports, and he made any game more special for those playing with him. In later years, he served as the president of South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. He was an avid bridge player, golfer and tennis player, and enjoyed all with his beautiful wife, Susan, whom he adored. A devoted family man and proud American citizen, he will be remembered for his sense of fun, quick wit, keen intellect and infectious laugh. Dirk is survived by his wife of 55 years, Susan; their children, Jeffrey Grotenhuis, Susan Romak, and Dirk ten Grotenhuis IV; his sister, Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis; eight grandchildren; three great-grandchildren.
George G. Bell II CdeP 1957 George Graham Bell II CdeP 1957 passed away peacefully at home on September 15, 2017, surrounded by family. Born July 31, 1939, George grew up on a cattle ranch west of Nogales. Arizona. At Thacher he was president of the Bit & Spur,
chairman of the Outdoor Committee, prefect, mainstay and captain of the Gymkhana team. He attended the University of Arizona graduating in 1961 with a degree in electrical engineering. He and his wife, Juby, met in 1957 and after graduation, moved to Redmond, Oregon, to manage a cattle ranch. There they grew wheat, mint, and raised cattle. The couple returned to Nogales in 1970, starting an electrical contracting and design company. George was an innovator: As a child, he and his brother, brother, Tom Graham Bell CdeP 1959, created an entire underground house, complete with a fireplace and separate rooms. George returned to ranching in the late 1980s, he joined cattlemen’s and municipal groups and grew the ranch into an enterprise that thrives today. He enjoyed snorkeling, fishing, and flying his Cessna. George instilled in his children his love of the outdoors and animals, especially his horses and his dedication to community service. He believed in making the world a better place and extended his generosity toward many. He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and June Bell and by Troy Kyman, his adopted son. He is survived by his wife, Juby; brother, Tom; children, Daniel Graham Bell and Jessica Bell Hinderstein CdeP 1981; five grandchildren; and extended family.
John G. Lewis Jr. CdeP 1959 Thacher has lost one of its best friends and most generous and loyal supporters. John leaves behind both the School and an extended family to which he was devoted. He was the beloved husband of Jane Flax Lewis; the eldest son of the late Captain John G. Lewis, USN, and Natalie Greene Lewis; the brother of Edison (CdeP 1962), Natalie, and Stephen (CdeP 1968); the father of three sons, John, David, and Barrett (CdeP 1989); and the grandfather of 12 grandchildren, including Eden Lewis (CdeP 2024). While a student, John was a prefect, was active in Glee Club, Debate Club, and Masquers, and was first team soccer goalie. His greatest love, however, was the Horse Program. As a member of Bit & Spur, he frequently took advantage of the opportunity to camp in the Sespe, and, while on the Orange Gymkhana Team, became the only California State Gymkhana Ring Spearing Champion in School history. After graduation, John’s valuable contributions to Thacher increased. He served as Thacher’s business manager from 1974 to 1977, was director of annual giving and alumni affairs from 1972 to 1976, and was on the board of trustees from 1991
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IN MEMORIAM
Peter B. Kibbee CdeP 1961 Peter Bartley Kibbee CdeP 1961 of McLean, Virginia, passed away at his home on October 24, 2018. Peter was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 12, 1943, to Chandler H. and Jane B. Kibbee but spent most of his youth in California. His interests at Thacher were varied; per El Archivero, “Peter’s activities include athletics—soccer, gymkhana, swimming—and also more esoteric pursuits such as music, both classical and jazz, and Yoga.” He attended Yale University, graduating in 1965 with a degree in Latin American studies then worked in Madrid, Spain. In 1966, he was drafted into the United States Navy where he worked in the office of a senior chaplain. After earning his MBA from the University of Virginia he was hired by the
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Conservation Research Center in Virginia, then transferred to the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., where he was their administrative officer until his retirement in 2001. He was also a director of the Zoo Conservation Outreach Group. Mr. Kibbee was a voracious reader, an avid photographer, and a passionate traveler. During his retirement, he visited five continents, and many of his trips took him to places known for their rich wildlife and sea life. A generous philanthropist, Mr. Kibbee supported animal conservation, historic preservation, education, and the arts. He was preceded in death by his parents; stepfather, Fred Dickson; stepmothers, Janet Dickson and Mercedes K. Kibbee. Peter is survived by his step-brothers, Fred and Ned Dickson; step sister Nancy (Dickson) Wiseman; nieces and a great-nephew.
Robert H. Cooley CdeP 1962 Robert H. Cooley CdeP 1962 of Moreland Hills, Ohio, passed away on Saturday, September 21, 2019, at Mayfield Heights Healthcare. He was a loving husband and father to four daughters. Robert was born on October 26, 1944, in Durham, North Carolina, to Richard CdeP 1930 and Margaret Cooley. El Archivero noted that he was involved in everything: “prefect, A.S.L. delegate, varsity soccer team (captain), Gymkhana manager, varsity baseball team, T.L.C (president), “A” camper, Bit & Spur, Outdoor Committee, Indoor Committee (chairman), Debate Club.” He received his bachelor’s degree from Trinity College, in June, 1966. He joined MCorp in 1982, and rose to the level of executive vice president. He played a key role in multiple acquisitions and creating an industry leading trust subsidiary. After multiple mergers, Bob was a senior executive in trust and investments with the surviving organization, KeyCorp. After leaving KeyCorp in 1996, he was a senior consultant with Antaean Solutions until his retirement in 2008. On January 23, 1988, he married the love of his life, Peggy J. Kane. He loved dancing, reading, working, and traveling to St. Kitts with Peggy every year to relax on the beach. He had a strong work ethic, high standards, and a good sense of humor, always up for a “joke’s on you.” He was a loyal friend and a business mentor to many. Robert was preceded in death by his loving parents. He is survived by his wife Margaret (Peggy) Cooley Ohio; his four daughters; eight grandchildren.
Stephen H. Kendrick CdeP 1967 Stephen H. Kendrick CdeP 1967 passed away on September 2, 2018. Born October 3, 1949, Steve came to Thacher from Atherton, California, and was extremely involved in School life. As a senior, Steve was the school chairman and track captain; and was a member of the Notes Board, Glee Club, Lettermen’s Club, Discipline Committee, and Student Council. As track captain, he was awarded the George Heffelfinger Track Shield. After his studies at Thacher, Steve’s deep care for the School could be seen in his years as a trustee from 1984 to 2000. Among those that Steve leaves behind—who miss him dearly—is his alumna daughter Claire E. Kendrick CdeP 1999. Steve was predeceased by his brother Robert C. Kendrick CdeP 1961.
Harper C. McKee CdeP 1969 Harper C. McKee CdeP 1969 passed away on July 16, 2015. Born in 1951, Harper came to Thacher from Lafayette, California, and spent two years at the School. During his sophomore year, he played on the nearly all-rookie junior varsity basketball team about which El Archivero reported, “Though they didn’t have much talent, they ended the season reasonably well.” Harper also received Thacher commendations in French I, Algebra II, and Science II. Later, he attended UC Berkeley and taught at Jerome Prairie Elementary School. A colleague said of him: “The kids loved working with Harper and couldn’t wait for math. He made learning fun and exciting. Harper was an extraordinary teacher and friend.”
PAST FACULTY W. Cotton Damon II, Past Faculty William Cotton Damon II, passed away peacefully on November 30, 2018, after a long battle with dementia. He was born September 28, 1937, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Alison Niven Damon and Edmund Ives Damon. “Cot,” as he was known, studied at Dean College. He served in the Army and was stationed in the Philippines. His greatest desire was to move to Maine and be a lobsterman, which he did in 1970. In 1971 he married Edie Chase (divorced 1996). After the birth of their first daughter, they moved to Ojai to join the Business Office at Thacher and begin a career in private schools. After the birth of their second daughter, the East Coast pulled them back and in 1977 they returned to Maine, then Massachusetts
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to 1994, and again from 1999 to 2008. Thereafter, he was designated an honorary trustee emeritus. John dedicated 22 years of service to the board, never missing a single meeting until 2018 when his health prevented further travel. John loved Thacher, and as a student, an administrator, and then a trustee, he worked to promote it and ensure its success. His deep knowledge and caring about the School were a direct result of his ability to listen carefully, and his sincere interest in what the students, faculty and staff were thinking. As a student, he was known to always have the low-down on what was going on: His advisor Mac Halsey wrote, “John knows everything before it happens,” and then Headmaster Newt Chase stated, “John is always dependable, willing, good-natured, and efficient in handling people and events. And somehow he knows more about what is happening around here than I do.” As a trustee, John consistently would arrive at Thacher a day before each board meeting and stay at least one night following the meeting. Because he loved knowing what was going on at the School, he would spend that extra time talking with students, administrators, faculty, and staff. Those conversations informed the sound advice he always provided to the board. As was the case when he was a student and business manager, he never shied from taking on difficult tasks, and he was a straight shooter who didn’t hesitate to stand up for what he thought was right. But, at the end of the day, those who had the good fortune to know John will likely remember him most for his loyalty, genuine warmth, sense of humor, and big laugh that, when it erupted, would usually engulf everyone in his presence. Happy trails, John.
where he worked for private schools for over 20 years. Cotton was a dedicated father and grandfather and he treasured the summers and time spent with his extended family on Heron Island, off the Maine coast. He loved to sing and sang tenor in barbershop quartets and in his church choir for decades. He eventually combined his love of travel with his interest in barbershop music and became a national barbershop contest judge and later a contest administrator. He is survived by his two daughters, Chase Fairburn Damon and Faith Damon Sykes; two grandchildren; siblings Alison Zeigler ( Joe), Faith Frasca, and Niven Damon ( Jacque); many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Don K. Reynolds, Past Faculty Don Kay “Jug” Reynolds passed away unexpectedly on January 9, 2019, in Fort Worth, Texas. He was born on May 29, 1937 in Odell, Texas, to Fess and Mable “Skeeter” Reynolds. As a child he traveled with his parents to rodeos across the U.S. while his father worked as a bull fighter and rodeo clown and his mother, Skeeter, performing trick riding. As a young boy, Jug joined their family’s performances with his trick riding and roping. He became a child actor known as “Little Brown Jug.” Jug appeared in movies with wellknown stars such as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and many others. Jug married Cynthia Kieschnick in 1960, they had their first son, Troyce, then In 1962 they moved to Ojai, California, where Jug worked for Jesse Kahle as the ferrier and a riding instructor. He delighted in taking the boys on week-end camp trips and to horse shows. Jug often rode around campus with his dog, Tag, balancing on the back of his horse. In 1966 the couple had their second son, Shawn. In 1974 Jug left Thacher and started his own horse shoeing business in the Ojai Valley. In 2001 they retired
to Bowie, Texas, and in 2015 he had the honor of being inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. Don Jug is survived by two sons, Troyce and Shawn; four grandchildren; siblings Sammy “Spooks” McCaffery, Glenda “Muffin” McConnell, Paul “Sled” Reynolds, and Fess “Ridge” Reynolds; cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Edgar (Ted) Lewis Sanford Jr, Headmaster from 1969-1975 Ted Sanford, whose expert leadership guided Thacher through one of its most difficult times, passed away at home in Bainbridge, Washington, on October 6, 2019. Arriving on campus during an era of national turmoil that had taken a toll on morale at Thacher, Ted was charged by the board of trustees with ridding the school of drugs and alcohol and, in his words, reestablishing “standards for reasonable conduct.” According to Jack Huyler’s history of the School, one of Sanford’s tactics in this effort was to build a gymnasium and add grass playing fields. Ted had discovered that many of the School’s disciplinary cases emerged in the wet winter months when the athletics fields turned to mud and the boys lacked healthy outlets for their energy, often resulting in less-healthy pursuits. Sanford also enjoyed Thacher’s Horse and Outdoor Programs. In a Thacher newsletter from 1974, he wrote, “One of the blessings of my job is being able, after a long day with people and papers, to mount up and ride into the hills, to peace and solitude.” As Jack Huyler wrote, Ted was “a moral man who liked things to be up-beat,” which they weren’t at Thacher when he arrived but were by the time he departed in 1975. Ted’s reforms were broad and successful; during his tenure annual giving nearly doubled and enrollment increased 20 percent. The Emma Willard exchange began under his leadership and paved the way for Thacher’s coeducation.
As a recruiter, he “strengthened the Thacher faculty immeasurably,” wrote Huyler. He was also a strong advocate for his faculty, improving housing and raising salaries by 60 percent. “Ted was responsible for the hiring of many long term faculty members,” said one of those hires, Terry Twichell. “Reeds, Robinsons, Birds, Coombs, Hannas, Klausler, and Koth to mention a few. I enjoyed working with Ted as I always knew where he stood.” In short, Thacher would not be the school it is today without Sanford’s caring guidance through some of Thacher’s most turbulent years. The School owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude.
Edgar Lewis Sanford Jr.
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Don K. Reynolds, on the far left, with Gymkhana riders
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T
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: WELCOME AND FAREWELL
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New to the board is JANET “JANIE” CARROLL RICHARDSON CdeP 1983, who served on Thacher’s Board from 2007 to 2016 and returns for a second term. Janie is also the parent of Jack CdeP 2015 and Sam CdeP 2017.
Serving as board representatives of the Thacher Parent Association for the 20192020 school year are Janice and Jim Day, parents of James ’20.
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his year, we bade farewell to eight trustees and welcomed three new leaders. CHRISTINE CARTER, PhD CdeP 1990, parent of Fiona McLaughlin CdeP 2019, first joined the board in 2000 as the alumni association president, then returned in 2010 and served nine more years. While she served on several committees over the years—personnel, buildings and grounds, executive, and governance—her expertise in adolescent development informed the work of the program committee during her entire tenure. DAVID CHAO CdeP 1984, parent of David CdeP 2014 and Chao Lukas CdeP 2017, is also leaving the board for the second time. He served 2001-2007, then again from 2010-2019. David has been instrumental in building Thacher’s relationships in Asia; served as vice chair of the finance committee for one year; and lent his expertise to several committees over the years. THOMAS “TOM” McCLOSKEY JR. is father to four Toads: Todd CdeP 1993, David CdeP 1996, Lauren McCloskey Elston CdeP 1999, and Devon McCloskey Karpowicz CdeP 2002. He served on the board while his children were students, 1996-2000, then again 2013-2019. In 2016, Tom and his wife, Bonnie, established and endowed the McCloskey Speaker Series, the purpose of which is to bring high-caliber, inspirational speakers to Thacher. LOUISE M. PATTERSON, parent of Emma CdeP 2012 and LuLu CdeP 2019, served on the board from 2010-2019. During her tenure, she held several leadership roles: board vice chair, executive committee vice chair, and governance committee chair. She was a model of the “relationships matter” credo, constantly seeking to build bridges with her fellow trustees. Parent Association Co-Chairs LEESA and MARTIN ROMO, parents of Abigail CdeP 2019, spent their year on the board focused on the School’s finances. Leesa served on the finance committee, Martin on investment, and both sat on the development committee. They strongly supported the financial aid and accessibility initiatives. We thank all of these amazing volunteers for their devotion and contributions to Thacher.
NEW FACES
AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS
New math teacher LIZ HONORATO is back in her home state of California from Massachusetts, where she spent the last several years. She earned her BA at Mount Holyoke College, taught at The Governor’s Academy, then worked with underserved communities in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Assistant Director of Admission GRACE LOWE CdeP 2011 joins us after graduating from Goddard College and working for the City of Minneapolis on a program called Blueprint for Equitable Engagement. Prior to joining the Thacher faculty as director of technical theater, LISANDRO MALISSIA owned a recording studio; hosted his own radio program; and was a sound engineer, documentary filmmaker, and international traveler. Director of Studies TRACY MILLER is another Mount Holyoke graduate; she earned her BA there before moving to New York City to pursue a PhD in English at NYU. Most recently, she was the director of studies at an all-girls day school in Pasadena, California. We added two new members to the Horse Program: JEFF and TRINITY SEELY CdeP 1999. Jeff is the assistant director of the Horse Program and Trinity is the program’s new director (see page 6). Jeff has spent his life riding, ranching, and flying airplanes. Trinity has enjoyed a successful career as a country music artist. The Seelys raised their four children in Montana; their son Wyatt is a Thacher freshman. This year’s addition to the Fisher Fellow program is RAÚL SOTO CdeP 2014, who serves as the assistant to the dean of students while also helping in the admission and the athletic departments. After graduating from Occidental College, Raúl spent last year teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our new history teacher, RUSSELL SPINNEY, his wife and two children moved to Thacher from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he chaired the history department at an independent school. Dr. Spinney has a PhD in modern German history from Pennsylvania State University.
Math and physics teacher and director of the Thacher observatory, DR. JONATHAN SWIFT, had three journal articles published in astronomy journals and was named an honorary member of the Summer Science Program, the academic research program with long ties to Thacher. New history teacher DR. RUSSELL SPINNEY co-edited and co-authored the book Feelings Materialized: Emotions, Bodies, and Things in Germany, 1500-1950. His chapter, “A Skin of Hatred: How Bodies Are Involved in the Memory of Emotions and Anti-Semitic Practice of the Weimar Republic,” is based on his postdoctoral work. (see Blurb and Squib on page 11 for more about these publications)
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Math and science teacher TOMMY HATTORI completed a master’s in education, with an emphasis on private school leadership, from the University of Hawaii. Associate Director of College Counseling COURTNEY CRONIN attended the Fitzwilliam Experience for Emerging Leaders in College Admissions Counseling in New Hampshire. She also attended the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools’ Summer Institute in San Francisco. In October, KAMALA QALANDER, JASON CARNEY, and TRACY MILLER attended the Nueva Innovative Learning Conference in Northern California. BOB ST. GEORGE attended the Annual Conference for the National Council for the Social Studies in Austin, Texas, in November.
This fall we applauded and said farewell to Mary Loney, academic secretary and loyal Toad fan, who was a familar and friendly face in Olympus for many years.
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FACULTY, STAFF & FRIENDS
SABBATICALS The HOOPER FAMILY has returned from their sabbatical and Jeff rejoined the School administrative team as assistant head of school while Kara has devoted her time to providing college counseling services to first-generation college-bound students in the Ojai Valley. In July, the VYHNAL FAMILY headed to southern Italy, where Chris, with colleagues at the University of Sannio in Benevento, has been conducting research related to the identification of mineral pigments in works of artistic and archeological significance. Meg, Katie, and Jack have been attending the local schools in Montesarchio; Theresa has been volunteering with a civic organization, exploring the area, and creating knit and woven wearable art. Local festivals, sagra, have been a great source of entertainment for the family—the Sagra Della Castagna celebrated all things chestnuts. Trips to Napoli, Salerno, Paestum, Pompeii, and Venice have expanded their Italian experience so far. The family is heading to Croatia for the next three months.
FACULTY TRAVEL WITH AN EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE As part of the Marvin H. Shagam Program for Ethics and Global Citizenship, JAKE JACOBSEN and SARAH DELVECCHIO were joined by 12 students for a trip to India in cooperation with Where There be Dragons. The group traveled to the urban metropolis, Delhi; a small town in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains; and a rural village to study the varying development issues in each region with a focus on the dynamic between millennia-old traditions and millennial modernization. IONA CdeP 2010 and TYLER POPA spent a month in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they taught Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship in the Global Scholars Program at the African Leadership Academy.
Not all new arrivals to campus come in the fall. This past spring, Annie Louise Yuan was born to Mandarin teacher CHRISTINE YUAN and her wife, Jing “Joy” Yuan. Fisher Fellow ALI RAHMAN, his wife, Sepideah MohsenianRahman, and son, Idris, welcomed a baby girl, Azadeh Muneera Rahman, to their family August 2. Just after noon on December 5, 2019, COURTNEY and TIM SULLIVAN announced that Cooper and Beckett had a little sister, Hannah McKean Sullivan.
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NEW LIFE
THE BEST WE CAN DO Changing the World Through the Power of Food Rob Wilder, father of Sydney CdeP 2015, has discovered that with the right mission you can both feed and transform communities. HOW HAVE YOU HARNESSED THAT POWER?
HOW DID YOUR FAMILY FIND THACHER?
Life changing serendipity! Like a lot of East Coasters, Sydney’s school search was all in the East until Thanksgiving her eighth-grade year. We did a house swap with a winemaker friend in Napa Valley, and met a board member from the Fountain Valley School in the Rockies. He heard about Sydney’s academics and riding and told us about Thacher … after that it was love at first sight for Syd and us.
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WHAT DO YOU DO?
Robin and I, along with our partner, Chef José Andrés (on left in above photo), founded Think Food Group 27 years ago, when we launched a pioneering restaurant in the not-yet-trendy Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C. We began with a single tapas restaurant, one of the first to bring this modern Spanish cuisine to the U.S., and have since grown to over 40 diverse restaurants in the U.S. and beyond. Along the way, we became increasingly aware of the ways that food—its farming, sourcing, preparation, enjoyment, and sharing—can transform communities. So much so that we changed our mission to “changing the world through the power of food.”
Nine years ago after a terrible earthquake in Haiti we worked with José to launch a nonprofit organization we called World Central Kitchen. While Think Food Group serves several million people every year who can afford to eat out, World Central Kitchen in the past two years has become a global leader in feeding people nutritious locally sourced food after major disasters. As José has said, “We don’t need to build walls, we need longer tables.” We also quote Tom Joad a lot! “Wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.” So in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria, WCK brought food and hope to almost four million people and since then in Indonesia, Mozambique, Guatemala, North Carolina, Florida Panhandle, and right here in California, providing 400,000 meals to displaced people and first responder teams after multiple wildfires, including a base much closer to home in Ventura during the Thomas Fire. When the recent Hurricane Dorian destroyed two Bahama out-islands, José and our team were the first NGO on the ground, not only bringing meals by helicopter and boat, but mapping the community’s urgent needs and providing recon to the Red Cross, World Food Program, and other partners in food. In addition, we are currently operating in Tijuana near the U.S. Border and in Colombia on the Venezuela border, which sadly is about to become the biggest refugee crisis on the planet. WHAT’S NEXT FOR THINK FOOD GROUP AND WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN?
Think Food Group continues to take its unique modern culinary approach to new markets, from Disney World to Hudson Yards in NYC this year, to Chicago and Dubai next year. Our two organizations run completely independently of each other, reflecting two sides of a shared mission. World Central Kitchen is currently creating a longer-term strategic plan to scale our operation to have an even bigger impact, with bigger teams and new technology in mapping, communications, and mobile cooking. We recently launched a “Climate Disaster Relief Fund” with a goal of raising $50 million. The need for what we do is sadly likely to grow, and we want to be ready.
AS SOMEBODY WHO THINKS ABOUT THE WAYS FOOD CAN TRANSFORM COMMUNITY, WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM SYDNEY’S EXPERIENCE AT THACHER?
Some obvious things come to mind: The way food brings people together over Formal Dinner, over campfires, at the Head’s Open House and everyday meals and snacks. Sydney also helped run the pig program while she was at Thacher, which taught her more about the circle of life than her 500 viewings of The Lion King! The impact on Sydney did not stop at Thacher’s gate but were reinforced by the natural riches from one of the world’s great agricultural regions: Those first lifechanging tastes of Pixies and Kishus at the Ojai Farmers Market or the text we got from Sydney in her first year at Thacher: “Ojai is the only place you can go for a run and come back smelling like oranges.” Sydney was also inspired to take advantage of the Chewonki Maine Coast Semester program, where students do all the chores on a working farm while studying natural sciences. WHAT LESSON(S) HAVE YOU LEARNED IN THE FOOD TRADE THAT THACHER MIGHT BENEFIT FROM?
Robin and I learned a lot about service to the community by serving the “few” in our early restaurants, and this inspired us to try to find ways to serve the “many” at their most vulnerable times. In a similar way, a Thacher education is by its nature available only to a few, but it too can have a broad impact when Thacher graduates carry the values of the school into their lives. The hope is that there is a ripple effect that can serve the many. IF YOU COULD TELL THACHER STUDENTS ONE THING ABOUT THE POWER OF FOOD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
That work for social change and improving the world need not be something you do in your spare time—with the right mission it will be part of your life every day!
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Beginning day one with All-School Games on Upper Field, students form the literal and figurative connections that link our community.