Thacher Magazine: Fall 2013

I DON’T THINK CULTIVATING A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT IS THE BEST WAY TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS OR FOSTER INTELLECTUAL GROWTH.

N INSULT TO SUGGEST THAT DENTS NEEDED A REMINDER NOT TO CHEAT. DISCUSS THE SITUATION WITH T STUDENT TO DETERMINE THE DIS AND RECOMMEND A CONSEQUEN

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FRAUGHT TOPICS

RESPONSIBILITY DIFFICULT CHOICES WE MAKE WHEN NOBODY IS LOOKING.

A COUPLE OF TEACHERS SAID THEY DIDN’T APPROVE OF THE WAY WE WERE GOING ABOUT THE PROCESS.

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IT MIGHT BE VERY EMBARRASSING TO THE STUDENT. OLDER STUDENTS MODEL FOR THE YOUNGER STUDENTS.

PERSONAL STARTS WITH THE

MOST RIDICULOUS THING I CAN IMAGINE. A MISTAKE FROM THE BEGINNING, AND BASED UPON FALSE PREMISES.

TELLING THE TRUTH ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU OR SOMEBODY CLOSE TO YOU HAS DONE SOMETHING WRONGCAN LEAD TO SOME TERRIBLY DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS.

IS A COMPLICATED TIME OF LIFE.

OUR BOYS WILL CLEARLY BENEFIT FROM THE INTELLECTUAL COMPETI TION AND STIMULATION THAT THE GIRLS WILL BRING.

COMPETITION CONSEQUENCE COMMUNICATION CODE CULTURE CHEAT

I LOOK CRITICALLY AT THE SCHOOL’S CURRENT APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY. THE BELIEF THAT BY IGNORING RACIAL AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES, A COMMUNITY CAN EXPERIENCE GREATER HARMONY AND EQUALITY.

MANY PARENTS WISELY CHOOSE TO INVEST IN SCHOOLS LIKE THACHER FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO DEVELOP CHAR ACTER AND GOOD HABITS, AND THE LOVE OF LEARNING.

YOU JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT

AT THACHER, I USUALLY FELT LIKE I WAS DOING SOMETHING I CARED ABOUT OR THAT WAS RELEVANT, WHICH TAUGHT ME TO RESPECT AND VALUE MYSELF.

THACHER ADOLESCENCE AND PREADOLESCENCE

IT’S EASY TO HAVE AN HONOR CODE; WHAT TAKES WORK IS THE CONVERSATIONS NECESSARY TO ENSURE THAT WE LIVE BY IT.

IF THERE EVER WAS A MALE DOMAIN, IT USED TO BE THACHER AND MY GOD GRANT THAT IT REMAINS SO.

The Magazine of The Thacher School * Fall 

CONTENTS 6

12 • Armchair Wandering

How many Thacher grads ever get a chance to use their riding skills at work?

Sam Lino CdeP 2007 did. Ride along with him to find out what it was like.

14 • Fraught Topics Conversations about coeducation, the future of the Horse Program, the Honor Code, diversity, and sustainability: As Thacher celebrates its 125th year, we consider matters of moment—past and present—and the ways we tackle them.

ON & OFF CAMPUS

ALUMNI & COMMUNITY NEWS

01 • View From Olympus

28 • Gatherings

The inside scoop on admissions from Director of Enrollment and Planning Bill McMahon.

02 • Up Front What to look for in this issue.

02 • Readers Respond We share your letters and emails.

14 FRONT COVER The Thacher Bubbles: You can learn a lot about a community by the topics that matter to it most. And you can learn even more by the way it conducts its most important conversations. On this issue’s cover, art director Charlie Hess captures a few of Thacher’s fraught topics, past and present.

04 • The Pergola An assemblage of noteworthy School and community intelligence.

Coverage of Reunion 2013, including class photos.

32 • Class Notes, etc.

Alumni news, milestones, and news from faculty, staff, and friends.

49 • In Memoriam 53 • The Best We Can Do A lasting tribute to Jess Kahle.

VIEW FROM OLYMPUS…

Wanted: Courageous Applicants

Straight Talk About The Admission Process

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OF ALL THE CHALLENGING and insightful conversations that take place here at Thacher, perhaps the most important one happens before students even arrive on campus. It’s the conversation that begins, “Mom and Dad, I’d like to talk to you about going to boarding school”—and it’s one that demands patience, understanding, and, of course, courage.

Applying to boarding school is no small matter. It requires a level of independence and self-assurance that most teenagers simply don’t possess. Even for the eighth-grader whose parents and siblings have all gone to boarding school, the idea of leaving home for high school still represents an enormous step into the unknown. Add to this equation Thacher’s very low acceptance rate, and the result is that it takes a courageous kid just to submit an application.

With that in mind, our job here in the Admission Office is to shepherd prospective families through the process of discerning whether boarding school—and Thacher—is right for them. This is a role that we view as an enormous responsibility: On a macro level, we see ourselves as working on behalf of Thacher to assemble a class of talented young men and women; on a micro level, we enjoy spending time with individual families to help them appreciate exactly what having a “Thacher life” means.

At the end of the day, what we’re seeking is the right fit, that perfect, balanced, mutually enhancing relationship in which both student and school are better for their association with one another. While our track record isn’t perfect, our low attrition and positive student survey feedback tell us that we hit the mark most of the time, and we’ve found that there are a few key elements that help us stay on target.

The most critical point is that we make it a priority to be clear and direct with prospective families about both what Thacher is and what it is not. Of course, many of the things that we share with our guests are points of pride for us, having to do with our challenging programs and authentic community: college lists, statistics about the absence of drugs and alcohol on our campus, and the many opportunities for positive risk taking our programs offer. But we find that it’s equally important to share things that require more nuanced explanations. Financial aid, for example, is an area in which we have some room to grow, and we know it.

With an aid budget of close to $2.5 million distributed among roughly 30 percent of our students, we’ve made great strides in this area, but there’s

Bill McMahon talks with students after Assembly.

still more that we’d like to be able to do. That said, the most difficult thing for prospective families to hear is often a matter of sheer numbers: We simply don’t have room to accept all the wonderful, deserving young men and women who come through our door.

The high demand for a Thacher education inspires courageous conversations of a different sort among our admission team. As rising inquiry numbers force us to make ever-finer distinctions among topnotch candidates, we’re constantly looking for ways to get to know our applicants better. With that in mind, one of the most frequent subjects of discussion in our office is the admission process itself: How well does our current approach serve us? Which elements of the process are the best predictors of an applicant’s readiness for the Thacher classroom?

What can we do to better assess non-cognitive traits like grit, enthusiasm, and curiosity? How can we shake things up to make sure that we accept the kids who truly are the “best fit”? Despite the fact that our approach seems to be working quite well, it’s important that we always remain willing to make changes in the name of progress.

Thacher is a school that demands more courage than most. As we tell each and every family who comes to visit us, Thacher is not for everyone: It’s a school designed to push its students outside their comfort zones.

Failure is part of our curriculum, because the truth is that pushing through failure leads to the most meaningful and permanent growth in the character of a student. This can be a lot to take in for our applicants, and the prospect of leaving home for a place like Thacher can be a daunting one. But what many families don’t realize is this: By the time they walk in the door on the morning of their admission visit, they’ve already taken the most courageous step of all—the first one.

Bill McMahon, Director of Planning and Enrollment

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UP FRONT…

Juan Sanchez and Kurt Meyer are guiding student efforts relating to sustainability.

Fraught Topics and Courageous Conversations

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S THACHER CELEBRATES its 125th anniversary this year and looks toward its next century and a quarter, we thought it made sense to examine some of the weighty conversations we’ve had, and continue to have, as a School.

Some of the challenging conversations of the past—such as the one in the 1960s about whether to maintain the Horse Program, or the one in the 1970s about whether to admit girls— have had a huge impact on Thacher’s history, visibly shaping the School we are today. Other weighty conversations—for instance, a moment of truth between two peers, or between teacher and student—amount to powerful experiences that resonate for a lifetime. Although much less visible, these too have been crucial in establishing and maintaining the ethos of Thacher and in shaping the lives of those who have studied and worked here. And both types of conversations involve risk and skill, and so Joining the conversation at Community Council. trace a learning curve of moral courage that is, for many alumni, the most important mark they recorded at Thacher.

What are Thacher’s fraught topics du jour? In September, Head of School Michael Mulligan started off the year by inviting conversations on sustainability, diversity, and the future of the School. These conversations are moving forward and finding their ways into action plans and programming. For example, in the fall we hosted sustainability expert Paul Chapman, who met extensively with students, faculty members, and administrators to help us set goals and focus our effort. In February, we will welcome Dr. Steven Jones, a diversity consultant who will help further our goal of becoming a more diverse and inclusive school.

We look forward to reporting on our progress on these fronts in upcoming issues of the magazine. Meanwhile, in the following pages you’ll see evidence of related conversations.

For example, we present a recap of the Honor Code discussion that took place at Reunion 2013 in which Marvin Shagam facilitated a   

panel on the role of the honor, fairness, kindness, and truth in life at Thacher and in the life experiences that follow. In this issue we also share stories of today’s students and ways they are taking on topics that matter. Also, we take historical glances at the debate over coeducation and at the story of how Jack Huyler, Jesse Kahle, and others spoke up to preserve the Horse Program.

Any tight-knit community will see its share of charged conversations.

And the plot thickens when you throw in the Honor Code, demanding academics, and leadership responsibilities. This, however, is a good thing. Conversations are valued by weight, and the loaded ones offer the richest veins for learning. Knowing how to resolve conflicts, how to risk an unpopular opinion or give criticism, how to lead and follow—these are the lessons of the school of hard talks. But it isn’t enough to expect moral courage from students; you have to be sure it is taught, modeled, and reflected in institutional priorities.

By and large, that work falls to the faculty. For many, Marvin Shagam and Jack Huyler have been heroes of moral courage in the face of difficult topics, which made it all the more poignant when, at the first Assembly of 2014, Mr. Shagam delivered the news to students, with his characteristic gravitas, that Jack Huyler had passed away in his sleep a few days before.

“He died peacefully in his own home while the students were away,” explained Marvin. “I hope to be as fortunate when my turn comes.” We look forward to offering a proper tribute to Uncle Jack and the other Thacher luminaries we have recently lost in the next issue of the magazine. In the meantime, however, I think you’ll find ample evidence in this issue of their influence, along with that of so many other faculty members—past and present—who guide Thacher through its most important conversations.

— Christopher J. Land, Editor

READERS RESPOND…

THACHER

The Magazine of The Thacher School Volume 7, Issue 2 Fall 2013

Eating Up the Food Issue ABSOLUTELY AWESOME publication!

As a recent retiree, I felt that it captured the ethos of the School and brought back many memories of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes. And it was so nice of you guys to give Linda and me a little nod and include a photo of how cute we are together!

Roger Klausler, Faculty Emeritus

EDITOR Christopher J. Land

The Magazine of The Thacher School * Spring 

THACHER

ALUMNI EDITOR Suzie Nixon CLASS NOTES EDITOR Aaron Boydston

Our Daily Bread What We Consume, Where It Comes From, and What It Means to Us

Nothing better in the world than farmraised local meat and I was impressed Thacher was getting in on the action.

Nicholas Geale CdeP 1992 Congrats on the Spring edition.

I liked the food theme and read most of the issue. Maybe it’s because I have more time now that I’m retired, but it looks, reads, and feels like a very professional publication.

Stephen Scott CdeP 1971

Memories of Thacher and Bob Acquistapace

PHOTOS PAGES 1, 2: TED CATANZARO; SPRING 2013 COVER: CORAL VON ZUMWALT

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jane D. McCarthy

MY FIRST TEACHING JOB WAS AT THACHER. I arrived in 1965 and departed in the spring of 1968. Reading through the magazine took me back to what I can honestly say were three of the best years of my life, both personal and professional. While most of the issue focuses on the current state of the School, rightfully so, I caught glimpses of and references to many of the people who were there 50 years ago: Anson Thacher, Marvin Shagam (so pleased he is recovering!), Chip Anderson, Hal Lewis, and Bob Acquistapace. Bob mentioned that his father each year gave members of the faculty a crate of artichokes. That gift was a highlight of the year for me. I would cook a dozen or so at a time, put them in the refrigerator and eat like a king for the next week. I am so pleased that he has found his own way to give a similar gift to the School.

The magazine is a delight to read and to view. I am particularly impressed with the quality of the photographs.

Finally, I discovered the joy of teaching at Thacher and have continued in the profession for my entire career. I am still working and finding the thrill of being in the classroom similar to that of my first three years I spent at Thacher.

Tim Carey, Faculty Emeritus

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN READ THACHER MAGAZINE ONLINE? Remember that you can find this and past issues of the magazine in digital form online at thacher.org/magazine. In addition to the full text of each issue, you’ll find related bonus content and media.

ARCHIVAL EDITOR Bonnie LaForge DESIGN Charles Hess, design director Lisa Lewis, designer PHOTOGRAPHY Ted Catanzaro, Christopher J. Land, Caitlin Jean Peterson, Dana Vancisin, Coral Von Zumwalt HEAD OF SCHOOL Michael K. Mulligan DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Brandon C. Doyle DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION William P. McMahon

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 © 2014 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 How to Submit Class Notes Online: blogs.thacher.org/classnotes E-mail: alumni@thacher.org 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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THE PERGOLA…

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it...every, every minute?”

FALL ANACAPA SCHOLARS

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FALL PLAY THE THACHER MASQUERS moved audiences with a production of Our Town, by Thornton Wilder CdeP 1915. Director Rod Jacobsen selected this well-loved play, with its big questions and bigger answers, in recognition of its 75th anniversary.

CIVIL WAR AND ITS DISCONTENTS

Dr. Ayers illustrated his talk with dynamic information graphics.

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IN OCTOBER, Dr. Edward Ayers, president of the University of Richmond and a Civil War expert, delivered his address to the entire Thacher community in the Milligan Center for the Performing Arts. In this talk regarding a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, Dr. Ayers emphasized that the Civil War did not originate as an effort to end slavery, but rather as a struggle to keep America united. Dr. Ayers captivated the audience with his passion for and knowledge of the topic, and articulate questions from students spurred many to congregate in the Thacher Room afterwards for further conversation and engagement on the subject.

OU NEVER KNOW who our visiting scholars program will bring to campus. This fall it was a novelist from Spain, a drumming astrophysicist, a robotics expert, an itinerant headmaster helping schools become green, and the guy who plays the grapes in the Fruit of the Loom commercial. Silvia Grijalba, a novelist from Spain who also directs the Palabra y Música Spoken Word Festival and writes as a journalist for El Mundo newspaper, taught in Thacher language courses and visited Mr. Haggard’s electronic music class during her two-week stay in late September. Another notable Anacapa Scholar this fall was Dr. Jon Swift, a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology with a PhD in astrophysics, who visited in October and taught an African drumming song to the freshman music class, derived the number of planets in the galaxy with calculus classes, explored exoplanet atmospheric makeup with chemistry classes, and discussed exoplanet detection with physics and robotics classes. We also hosted Andrew Stout, who gave a two-day workshop on programming the NAO humanoid robots.

Paul Chapman, who served for over 25 years as head of the Head-Royce School and published a book called Greening America’s Schools, spent a few days meeting with students and faculty in early December to help focus our sustainability projects. Occupying the Anacapa Cottage for the winter trimester is actor and comedian JP Manoux CdeP 1987; he is teaching drama and directing the winter musical, Anything Goes.

FALL FAMILY WEEKEND STUDENTS happily welcomed their families back to campus over the last weekend in October to enjoy a few days jam-packed with introductions, athletic contests, mini-classes, arts exhibitions and performances, and riding demonstrations.

Locally sourced meals helped fuel all the activity.

A new Thacher flag (left) joins the color guard for the first time.

THE CHINA PROJECT

FIVE MEMBERS OF DANCE ENSEMBLE traveled to China in October with their music and dance teachers, Greg Haggard and Gallia Vickery, for a few days of exploration and performance. The main event was a 20-minute piece performed for the opening ceremonies of the International Festival of Music in Chongqing, which placed them on a huge stage flanked by giant video screens in front of more than 10,000 people!

APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE: Dance Ensemble performed for a crowd of over 10,000 during their trip to China.

Gallia Vickery reports, “The students were professional and expressive, and their commitment and dedication throughout the process really impressed me. They performed brilliantly, and the applause was amazing.” A Chinese commentator concluded his review this way: “They disappeared from the stage, but the joy they brought us touched us deeply and will stay forever in our hearts. Thank you, five lovely American girls!”

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THE PERGOLA…

TURNING AND RE-TURNING: A spoken word performance

by Malika Ndlovu

THE POWER OF STORY

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RTS WEEKEND 2013: The Power of Story took hold of campus in midNovember, attracting more than 35 guests to perform, conduct workshops, screen films, and interact with students. Thursday kicked off with an entrancing performance by South African poet Malika Ndlovu incorporating words and song in front of a firepit in the Outdoor Theatre. On Friday evening, documentary filmmaker Whitney Dow, singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge P ‘15, New York Times blogger Suleika Jaouad, Ms. Ndlovu, actor Bill Paxton P ‘12, ‘16, and transmedia experiential designer Sara Thacher CdeP 2000 all contributed to a panel discussion about the role stories play in both life and craft. On Saturday morning, after a hilariously choreographed and costumed faculty “lip-sync smackdown” intended to inspire bravery in the students, all Toads broke out into smaller groups to participate in nearly 30 hands-on workshops.

Learn more about the weekend at Friday’s panel discussion thacher.org/magazine/fall2013.

FALL EDTS ENCOURAGING POSITIVE risk taking through carefully calibrated challenges is just one of the ways that fall Extra-Day Trips contribute to the growth mind-set of Thacher students.

And, of course, with accomplishment comes reward! After a full day of paddling canoes down the Colorado River, this well deserving group took a floating snack-break and enjoyed the sunshine.

Find more detailed coverage of campus news at

thacher.org/news   

“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.”

—Joseph Campbell

NUMERACY

MEET OUR NEW DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS SINCE THE END OF SUMMER, new Director of Finance and Operations Jim Poulsen has been familiarizing himself with Thacher systems and ably taking the reins from Bonnie Sharer, our outstanding interim Business Manager. Jim, a seasoned boarding school and finance expert, comes with 21 years of school experience at Middlesex and Northfield Mt. Hermon. With a BA from Williams College and an MBA from UMASS-Amherst, until now, Jim has been an east coaster exclusively.

He’s been quick to accustom himself to the outdoor benefits of the Ojai Valley, happily making the necessary changes to his vocabulary: Out with Polar Vortex, in with Extra-Day Trips.

NEW CASA DORM

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SE THE FIVE CLUES to fill in the 25 spaces. Each answer is five letters long, begins in the numbered space of the clue, moves in a non-straight line (though never diagonally), and uses one or more of the central nine spaces. Each space is used only once.

The result of each puzzle is a nine-letter word that curls snakelike in its middle from its numbered starting point.

PUZZLE 1

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Freshman girls sing Viva la Casa!

ON OCTOBER 4, the campus community and Board of Trustees gathered to mark the completion of the $6.1 million Casa de Piedra Dormitory renewal project.

A high point of the dedication was a rousing rendition of Viva la Casa! by the building’s new occupants, the freshman girls. The dorm boasts spacious, well-ventilated rooms, high ceilings, a modern kitchen and common area, its own study hall, and plenty of outdoor space designed to accommodate and feature the site’s heritage oaks.

THE FACULTY TINKERS WITH TEACHING EACH AUGUST, before the school year begins, Thacher brings specialists to campus to help faculty members refresh and expand their pedagogical tool sets. This year, educational consultant and psychologist Dr. JoAnn Deak returned for an encore visit to work with teachers, staff, and administrators, enlightening our community of lifelong learners by presenting researched tendencies and new techniques most effective on the adolescent brain. Dr. Deak shared recent neuroscientific studies to support her advice and encouraged us to “tinker with our teaching” accordingly.

14. New arena honoree 15. Chemistry tube Snake (9) = Extra-day trip animal

6. Under-the-saddle irritants 7. Artistic support 13. Athletic figure

PUZZLE 2

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17. What every freshman becomes 18. Wing of fabric of MacCready’s Gossamer Condor Snake (7) = New “stony” abode

WINNERS OF THE CONTEST FROM THE FALL 2012 ISSUE: Congratulations to Kip Witter CdeP 1964, who sent us an accurate and elegant solution to the real estate subdivision puzzle presented to our readers in the most recent challenge.

THE PERGOLA…

Breaking various school and meet records throughout the spring, girls competing in Track and Field provided the most CIF qualifiers in a single season (nine athletes in 10 events). Our female Toads emerged victorious as Condor League Champions for only the second time since 1983; Thacher also won the title in 2008.

SCOREBOARDS SPRING SPORTS

GIRLS’ VARSITY LACROSSE Record: 11-5 (3-1 league) Captains: Julianna Childs ‘13, Brittany Holden ‘13 Highlights: The team accomplished a number of tangible goals that they named in a pre-season dinner: beat Oak Park, beat Cate, win the Western States Tournament, make it to the playoffs. MVP Brittany Holden ‘13 reflected on the season, writing, “I learned to trust my teammates.

Everyone was an inspiring and important member of the team, and I think we did an amazing job of never forgetting that it was a team sport.”

GIRLS’ JV LACROSSE Record: 3-3-1 (1-3-1 league) Captain: Mahogany Monette ‘14 Highlights: Beginning the season with only four players with previous experience, the JV girls made tremendous strides over the course of the season. They lost two close ones to Midland, including a 12-10 loss on the road after tying it up with two minutes to go. Against Cate, the Toads did a little bit of everything: a 7-7 tie, a 12-6 win, and one loss. Elsabet Jones ‘16 set a new JV lacrosse record for most interceptions in a season with 12; throughout the season, Wally Baram ‘15 came up with clutch saves at critical moments, including in a thrilling 9-8 win over Thousand Oaks High School in the last game of the season.   

BOYS’ VARSITY LACROSSE Record: 5-5 (2-1 league) Captains: JJ Ntshaykolo ‘13, Grady Jacobsen ‘13, Zane Schryver ‘13 Highlights: When a back and forth match against Cate went into overtime, Leo Turpan ‘13 took a face-off and raced the distance to bury the game winner. In their March issue, US Lacrosse Magazine profiled Thacher team MVP JJ Ntshaykolo ‘13, who will play Division One lacrosse at Brown.

BOYS’ JV LACROSSE Record: 5-5 Captains: Owen Driscoll ‘15, Ben Yoon ‘15 Highlights: The great play of goalie Jack Pierrepont ‘16 kept the Toads in every game. Hard-fought wins over The Stevenson School and OVS distinguished the season, and spirited and close losses to Midland’s and Laguna’s varsity teams were also memorable.

VARSITY BASEBALL Record: 5-9 (1-5 league) Captains: Evan Farese ‘13, Cody Renfrew ‘13 Highlights: The high point of the season was a comeback win against Faith Baptist: Trailing by three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, the team battled back to tie the game with timely hitting. Jacob Nelson’s “squeeze” bunt brought in the winning run.

TRACK AND FIELD Girls’ Record: Condor League Champions Boys’ Record: 2nd Place in Condor League Championships

Captains: Elena McGahey ‘13, Shravan Rajasekaran ‘13 Highlights: The girl’s 4 x 100 relay team (Jasmynn Roman ‘13, Rachel Turner ‘13, Sophie McMillan ‘14, Kennedy Green ‘15) recorded a blistering time of 52.60 seconds, besting last year’s school record by one full second (and also setting the Condor League record). Setting another school record was the 4 x 400 foursome (Cassandra James ‘15, Kennedy Green, Rachel Turner, Sophie McMillan) with a time 4:18.62, shaving off more than 3 seconds from Thacher’s 1999 record. Kennedy Green ‘15 set a Condor Championship Meet record in the 200 (26.50). Nayla Kidd ‘13 was named league MVP by vote of the coaches, and the female Toads provided the most CIF qualifiers in single season (nine athletes in 10 events). Thacher girls were League Champions in: 4 x 100, 100H (Nayla Kidd ‘13), 100 (Kennedy Green ‘15), 800 (Cassandra James ‘15), Discus (Nayla Kidd ‘13), 200 (Kennedy Green ‘15), Triple Jump (Wallace Kalkin ‘14), 4 x 400. As for the boys, Thacher had the fastest 4 x 400 in two years and finished 16th out of 38 at CIF Prelims (3:39.85). Thacher boys also delivered the fastest 4 x 100 (TJ Kim ‘13, Raul Soto ‘14, Momo Lewis ‘14, Kyrien Edwards ‘13) in two years: 46.08 at CIF Prelims. The male Toads had seven CIF qualifiers in 11 events. The boys’ team had Condor League Champions in: 4 x 100, 4 x 400 (Lukas Cesena ‘15, Raul Soto, Ben Chadwick, Jack Weil ‘13, 110HH (Emiliano Vargas ‘13), 400 (Benjamin Chadwick ‘15), and 3200 (Simon Novich ‘14).

BOYS’ VARSITY TENNIS Record: 9-5 (4-4 league) Captains: Willie Halsted ‘13, Justin Myles ‘13 Highlights: The boys were victorious against schools in the Ojai Valley (Villanova and Nordhoff). Mitch Weil ‘15 and Ben Yih ‘15 won six doubles matches vs. Cate and Willie Halsted ‘13 emerged victorious from singles singles matches vs. Cate.

DANCE ENSEMBLE Seniors: Anna Fleming ‘13, Irene Limb ‘13, Casey Mulchay ‘13, Leigh Thomas ‘13 Highlights: Dance Ensemble worked with LA Contemporary Dance Company on a piece called Catch and Release, traveling to LA for two days of workshops learning choreography, and later hosting the LA company when they came to Ojai to complete the piece and perform it with our dancers.

FROM THE ARCHIVES 100... 50... 25.... YEARS AGO AT THACHER A Backward Glance Through the Pages of CdeP Publications

TWIN PEEKS

100 1913: In his Tuesday sermon, Mr. Dodge sounds an early call for sustainability by taking on the waste and inefficiency of the diesel motor. One student reflects that the scholarly presentation “showed how fuel consumption is of prime importance and that any invention which could give us more power with less fuel would therefore benefit us all.” (The Ojai, December 12)

75 1938: 50th Anniversary proceedings are celebrated in the spring with visits from various distinguished guest speakers and headmasters. Notable offerings include talks from Mr. Webb (head of The Webb School, who speaks “in glowing terms of S.D. Thacher aiding him in the founding of his school”), California Institute of Technology’s Dr. Munroe (who discusses the value of examinations, stating that “their importance lies primarily in the incentive they offer the student”), and President of Stanford University Dr. Wilbur (whose talk is entitled “California as a Home for Private Schools”).

Other speakers include the Yale’s president and Princeton’s dean of freshmen. (1939 El Archivero)

50 1963: The Religious Conference in December enlivens campus conversation by attracting almost 90 delegates who join the Thacher community for “two days of excellent thinking and discussion on the question of integration in America and Africa.” (The Headmaster’s Letter from The Alumni Bulletin, May)

25 1988: Inaugurating The Thacher School’s Centennial Celebration Lecture Series in October, Dr. David Kennedy—a man familiar with taking on challenging topics, having won the Bancroft Prize in 1971 for his book Birth Control in America—delivers a lecture focusing on the immigrant experience in the United States. This talk “produced much discussion among students and faculty… and it served as the basis of a writing project for many in the School.” (The Thacher News, Winter: “A Celebration of Ideas”)

10 2003: Senior Julia Robinson CdeP 2004 challenges the hair length policy after distributing a petition to gather a community consensus about changing the rule in the handbook. In her editorial, she encourages her peers to risk speaking out: “Thacher needs to hear opinions, it nurtures opinions— it was, in fact, founded on one man’s opinion: The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a boy.”

(The Thacher Notes, January)

The basic elements are simple: classroom, teacher, student, chalkboard. What’s not simple is the alchemy of great teaching, or how deeply these two great teachers, Bob Miller (top) and Chuck Warren (bottom) will be missed.

5 2008: With the opening of the new Hill Dormitories, Head of School Michael Mulligan relays Churchill’s famous take on the relationship between people and architecture: “We shape our buildings and afterwards, our buildings shape us.” The recently erected Thacher structures feature the outdoors while incorporating community through porches, bridges, common rooms, and shared outdoor space. (Thacher, Fall 2009)

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THE PERGOLA… BLURB & SQUIB BOOKS Jessica Cornwell CdeP 2004 accepted a book deal in mid-October for her hotly tipped “literary Da Vinci Code” trilogy; Quercus plans to publish it in 2015. The first book in the series will be called The Serpent Papers and tells of three bodies appearing in rapid succession, their skin tattooed with a cryptic alphabet and tongues severed.

Investigations into the deaths lead to an ancient book of witches and writing women and “a whispered secret from the time of Christ.”

Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea is the latest release from Katherine Harmon Courage CdeP 2001. The book delivers an intimate, expansive portrait of these fascinating creatures, revealing their role in everything from military research to cuisine. Katie has also been selected for inclusion in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2013 anthology for The Patient Scientist, an article released earlier this year through Scientific American.

Jack Huyler (faculty emeritus) compiled a series of missives sharing his insights and instruction about life in the Horse Program. The book is entitled “WHOA!” Training the Well-Schooled Horse and Rider and it includes more than 40 short messages originally sent to new riders at Thacher.

Emily Kate Wilson Moon CdeP 1995 has published her first children’s book, Joone. The story follows a little girl named Joone who lives in a yurt and enjoys the simple things in life with her grandfather and her pet turtle, Dr. Chin. This picture book is aimed at children 5 and under and is filled with colorful illustrations created by Emily.

The Thacher School was released in December by John Taylor CdeP 1965 as part of the Arcadia Press Campus History Series books. This research-laden text contains more than 200 images that trace the history and traditions of The Thacher School from its founding in 1889 to the present. Copies can be purchased through the Thacher Bookstore: 805-640-3201 x 235.

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BLURB & SQUIB FILMS Morning is a film directed by Leland Orser CdeP 1978 that provides a window into five days in the life of an American couple immediately following the accidental death of their child. Orser describes the movie in the following way: “A story of the resilience of the human spirit and the courageous ways of the heart to heal, this film shines a light on the pain that is part and parcel of being human and alive.” Morning was released in cinemas nationwide this September.

Nick Young CdeP 1994 produced, animated, and scored a film with his brother Zack called William Kurelek’s The Maze. The movie was presented by the Governor General of Canada in early October to raise awareness about mental health in Canada and honor the celebrated artist William Kurelek.

For more information, visit themazemovie.com.

MUSIC Americana singer-songwriter Jeff “Tripp” Jones CdeP 1982 recently released his debut album Here I Am! on iTunes. Los Angeles artists Heath Francis, Danny Sandock, Christina Lyon, Adam Holt, and Tim Banas all contributed their talents to the record, and the EP includes a track that Tripp wrote on the occasion of his son’s high school graduation.

ARTICLES Boldly going where few if any writers have gone before, Hunter Hollins CdeP 1982 tracks NASA’s development of a successful collection device for human waste after Alan Shepard short-circuited the electronic biosensors in his suit during America’s first flight in space. His article, entitled Forgotten Hardware: How to Urinate in a Spacesuit, was published in the June issue of Advances in Physiology Education.

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ARMCHAIR WANDERING…

Back in the Saddle

Sam Lino CdeP 2007 draws on his Thacher experience to document an ambitious horseback journey along California’s historic Mission Trail.

Sam was recruited as a cameraman on the California Mission Ride, an effort to document a modern-day horseback ride and explore California and its missions from a perspective not often experienced today. He joined the project for the southern leg of the trip, which started in September 2013 from Mission San Miguel and ended weeks later at Mission San Diego de Alcalá.

I

ARRIVED AT MISSION SAN MIGUEL

to begin an adventure that I was utterly unprepared for. I hadn’t been on a horse camping trip since Thacher, and I definitely hadn’t ridden more than 10 miles in a day since then. Despite my uncalloused hands, there I was, spreading flakes of alfalfa for seven horses as I watched the sun go down. As the horses made their way over from the perimeter of the adobe-walled pasture at Mission San Miguel, I thought, “Am I completely nuts?” I was a year into carving out a career as a camera assistant and I was taking five weeks off to ride horses from north of   

Paso Robles to San Diego and film the journey.

I had worked on documentaries before but never in the field like this, “embedded” with the subjects. When I signed on to the project I said that I had extensive horse experience, but my days with Chuck Warren and the B campers seemed very distant once I was asked to saddle up a horse.

That first night I set up my tent in the wind shadow of a rundown shed and listened to nervous horses whinnying and running around all night. I lay awake wondering how it was even possible to ride from there to San Diego. Our directors, Leslie and Gwyneth,

had assured us that their quest to recreate the mission trail was doable, but I wasn’t totally convinced. I knew there was no longer a trail connecting the missions, and I found it very difficult to believe that we were really going to just ride down the 101.

Well, we did ride down the 101 at times, and along main streets, and over mountain passes. On our ride from Mission San Buenaventura to Santa Paula we had a police escort from the mission down California Street. When we got to the Promenade, they instructed us to ride onto the beach all the way to the Santa Clara River. When our

The journey encompassed plenty of surf, turf, and historic missions, including the one at San Buenaventura.

horses hit the beach, they just let loose. They galloped for a half-mile before even thinking about slowing. It was incredible to look over and see four horses running, manes flying in the air, with the Pacific Ocean behind them.

When they finally pulled up, panting and foaming beneath a lifeguard tower, I could barely contain my exuberance. Then a park ranger drove his SUV down onto the beach and very nicely explained to us that horses weren’t allowed on the beach in Ventura, and in fact, weren’t allowed in any State Parks. Whoops!

He didn’t ticket us, though, and let us continue onto the side streets to make our way south.

From Harbor Boulevard we planned on traveling up the Santa Clara riverbed to Santa Paula for the night. The riverside willow thickets were much heavier than expected, however, and we had trouble finding the riverbed. The Ventura strawberry growers gave us very weird looks as we rode by on their agricultural roads.

After a few more miles on dirt roads, we found a way to the riverbed and entered a surreal western landscape. The dry, flat riverbed seemed like it went on forever with the

occasional cactus popping up and a winding line of willows making their way into the distance. We rode up the Santa Clara riverbed until the Freeman Diversion Dam blocked our path. After backtracking a few miles and heading up to Highway 126, we finally called it a day as the sun went down.

Our journey seemed like it was filled with days like this when we did not know where we would end up and weren’t even sure of our path. It was a wonderful reminder that even outside of Thacher it can be worthwhile to embrace the unexpected adventure.

While we stayed at Mission San Buenaventura, the Thacher Horse Program put up our horses for two nights to keep them off the pavement. It was an interesting perspective to see Thacher’s Dining Hall through the eyes of a horseback traveler. Without Thacher’s Horse Program I would never have taken part in this journey, and I would never have learned the contemporary history of the California Missions and Mission Indians. Please take a look at our website thecaliforniamissionride.org and keep an eye out for the film.    

Fraught Topics How courageous conversations have shaped the School and continue to prepare Thacher students to take risks that blur the distinction between talk and action.

Photos by Ted Catanzaro

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What is the best way to prepare young people for leadership in a complex and changing world?

One essential tool they will need is the courage and ability to take on tough topics with the right mix of candor and compassion, understanding and urgency. Such courageous conversations stand a better chance of success when they are held in an arena where participants feel safe enough to be honest and take risks, and where they are willing to support one another. For many of us, these conditions can be found at the four-way intersection of honor, fairness, kindness, and truth. These values may not make the conversations any more comfortable and they don’t promise success, but they are a solid place to start. In this issue of Thacher, we take a look at our Honor Code and its history as tool for navigating life with integrity. And we consider some of the courageous conversations on fraught topics that have guided the School for the past 125 years, along with a few taking place today.

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FRAUGHT TOPICS

One Conversation at a Time Learning to Build and Maintain a Diverse Community AT THACHER, we hear a lot about community: how important it is, how special ours is. We are justifiably proud of survey results that, year after year, rank our student culture among the nation’s healthiest, and of our lowest-in-the-country attrition rate. So, it’s no surprise that the word community is the one are most likely to overhear from a student tour guide addressing a cluster of visiting families. Yet, Thacher doesn’t have a monopoly on happy community, nor is ours perfect. What we do have is the shared sense that community isn’t something to take for granted but, instead, to work at deliberately, together, day in, day out.

We do this work, in part, through a willingness to tackle— rather than tiptoe around—thorny issues, coupled with a commitment to helping students develop the skills requisite skills to do so. Sharing the values of honor, fairness, kindess, and truth is a good place to start, but to be successful in taking on the difficult topics facing all adolescents—including sexuality, substance abuse, and diversity—takes skill and practice. To answer that need, Thacher has added significant proactive programming— much of it centered around the dormitories—to enable students to thrive in and eventually to lead our community.

“When you consider it,” explains Dean of Students Sabina Mc-

Mahon, “a unusually large portion of a typical Thacher day is devoted to helping students understand, improve, and sustain their community—and their individual capacities to participate in it in ways that are healthy and fulfilling. But you can’t really pull that off in any authentic way if students don’t feel both safe and empowered in the first place. When it’s working, it should seem organic, part of the air we breathe, but it’s actually thoughtfully coordinated and wired into a lot of our campus programming.”

Such programming includes the freshman orientation curriculum, judicial council workshops, the Human Relations and Sexuality Program, and the ongoing coordinated work of dorm heads, advisors, and student prefects. Similarly, students get to practice new skills as they participate in meetings of the Community Council, Judicial Council, or clubs such as Spectrum and United Cultures of Thacher.

In each case, students, guided by our wise and experienced faculty, get the opportunity to observe and practice the kinds of speaking and listening that are vital to healthy communities. Below, to provide further illustratation, three stories spotlight students taking on challenging conversations. In each, the students learn about themselves and the world and assume a share of responsibility for their community in the hopes of leaving it better than they found it.

Colorblindness: Broaching the Topic

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scious mind and only promoted and displayed my American identity.”

By courageously framing and inviting this conversation, Nu became part of the change she wanted to see in the School. Her essay helped launch the kinds of exchanges that will move the community to a new understanding of itself

and the experiences of its members. Though some might debate the premise that Thacher is, or wishes to be, colorblind, Nu’s thoughtful exploration of the topic and her presentation of real student experiences activated a valuable conversation that will continue to shape our community long past her graduation.

The research Nu conducted for her Senior Exhibition on first-generation Asian youth exposed her to campus diversity issues, a focus she now pursues at Harvard: “I’ve met so many people who have interesting, deep, and intimate understandings of these issues and I happily spend a good amount of time listening, absorbing, and learning new things.”

PHOTO (LEFT) BY CHRISTOPHER LAND

LAST SPRING, senior Nu Xiong submitted an essay to the faculty that addressed the experiences of students of color at Thacher. In it she argued that Thacher “functions on the belief that by ignoring racial and cultural differences, a community can experience greater harmony and equality.”

“On the surface,” she wrote, “colorblindness is a desirable and appealing model for a community.” However, she noted, “the effects of this phenomenon can be harmful and often work against minorities at Thacher, particularly for students of color.”

Nu went on to illustrate some of the ways that students of diverse backgrounds balance the pressure to assimilate with the realities of difference. Nu’s concern was that Thacher’s colorblindness “enables the majority population to ignore as well as stigmatize the need to engage in discussion about issues surrounding diversity.”

Nu cited one student who described his approach to fitting in at Thacher like this: “I did as I have always done: locked away my cultural Asian background in a safe deep inside my con-

CHALLENGING CONVERSATIONS A Community Council meeting in the Thacher Room is rich with teachable moments as participants discuss the matters of the day. Seniors and faculty members, such as Mr. Shagam, are on hand to help set the tone if not the agenda.

“Conversations here are often inherently challenging,” explains Dean of Students Sabina McMahon, “because they involve differences in perspectives and often conflicting interests.

As a school that actively recruits students and faculty members who represent diverse perspectives, we work hard to create an environment in which these conversations can take place in a way that respects all participants. When a student takes ownership of a complex discussion and keeps it on a constructive path, as I get to see almost every day, it lets me know we are doing something right.”

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FRAUGHT TOPICS

Across the Spectrums

An Uncomfortable Situation

When Advocacy Stops Preaching to the Choir

WHAT HAPPENS when an affinity group shares its agenda with a broader audience? This fall, Spectrum, Thacher’s student organization concerned with matters of gender and sexuality, took National Coming Out Day as inspiration to organize Thacher’s first-ever same-sex assigned-date dance, preceded with a brief “pride parade.” (For Thacher assigned-date dances, couples are expected to arrive together and may stay together for a dance, but typically go their separate ways after that. And it’s always possible to opt out.) To some, it was an effort to raise awareness and understanding. To many, it was just another themed dance. To others, it was a well-intentioned but ill-advised experiment, or it was discomforting, or even offensive.

Senior co-chairs Isobel Hayne and Lexie Kirkwood have been part of Spectrum since freshman year and felt that the group needed to engage the whole campus. “In Spectrum meetings,” Lexie explains, “everyone is pretty much on the same page.” In this case, however, “the whole school was expected to take part, not just the Spectrum members, so it added a new dimension, because there was room for people

to be opposed to it.”

“You can’t force it,” says Isobel. “There were people who weren’t comfortable with it and didn’t want to go to the dance and asked to be removed from the list. There were people who thought that the way we announced it was offensive. There were a couple of teachers who talked to us and said they didn’t approve of the way we were going about the process.”

Despite the static they encountered, the mission accomplished something. Lexie concedes, “We faced the reality that not everyone was going to support us in everything we did and that we’d rather have people talking about why they didn’t support it than no one saying anything at all…. It makes sense that there would be resistance because Thacher is not unified in its social or political beliefs.”

Later this year, the Spectrum heads will propose a Day of Silence activity at Thacher with details yet to be worked out. The hope is to help the School understand that many people feel silenced, but Izzy and Lexie are not sure silence will advance the conversation they seek. “We need communication,” they say.

Spectrum co-chairs Lexie Kirkwood and Isobel Hayne want to spark conversation about LGBT issues.

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MAHOGANY MONETTE ’14 recalls an experience in her freshman English class that illustrates one of the challenges often faced by students of color. During a discussion of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the class explored the struggles of the book’s main character in relation to her identity as an African American girl in the South. “I mentioned how, as an African American, there is a lot of segregation that goes on, even today, and often you are put in uncomfortable situations; the teacher wanted me to elaborate on that, but I became slightly uncomfortable because those were just my personal feelings.” The situation has repeated itself throughout Mahogany’s time at Thacher: the moment in which she is put on the spot and in some way expected to be a spokesperson for her race. “You just don’t know what to do and you’re not sure if silence is better or actually portraying your emotion.”

Now a senior and one of the heads of United Cultures of Thacher, Mahogany approaches these situations differently, thanks in part to the skills that she and her classmates have gained from School programming designed to foster awareness and thoughtful communication. “I’m more comfortable now expressing how I feel, but I also know how to preface my thoughts with, ‘you know, there are many people who have different opinions from mine, but based on my upbringing and what I’ve gone through, I feel that this could be interpreted in this way....’” Given her experiences, Mahogany really appreciated Nu’s essay about colorblindness at Thacher, especially the passage about the pressure some students feel they need to hide some part of their background that they think may not fit the Thacher mold. “There were many things I was used to at home—saying or doing things, or listening to certain types of music— and I was afraid that it would be considered stereotypically black….Even little things like how I would wear my hair. I wasn’t sure how it would be taken by the community.”

“So, I think it was really great that Nu captured the issue, because it’s not like you are just going to go up to the administration and tell them, ‘Hey, sometimes at Thacher I feel uncomfortable.’ It’s something Thacher has been struggling with for some time, but they didn’t know they were struggling with it. Her essay was definitely a great step in this conversation.”

Girl Talk

The Conversation About Coeducation A FRAUGHT TOPIC, when viewed in the rearview mirror, can resemble a foregone conclusion. Take Thacher’s decision to become coeducational. At the time, it was a highly controversial matter. To know this, one need only review the reams of research that went into it, the studies of peer schools, and the many letters (some excerpted on this page) pro and con from members of the community. Look around campus today, however, and it seems like an inevitable milestone in the School’s progress.

Here’s how it was explained in the official press release of October 7, 1976: “There were several reasons for the move, but the most important was a fundamental belief on the part of the trustees that the world has changed. Women now compete with and work beside men in business and in the professions, and our society not only accepts but actively encourages total equality between the sexes.”

Momentous pronouncements aside, the progress of history is messy, its outcomes uncertain to the participants. Thus, the conversations driving important events are conducted by people like us who rarely experience absolute certainty and settle, instead, for tradeoffs.

One case in point would be the experience of a young English teacher arriving at a newly coeducational boarding school:

1978 Two Dovetailed Experiments

By Joy Sawyer Mulligan Anyone connected to Thacher knew about the first experiment, started in 1977: coeducation for old CdeP, the real deal, no more Emma Willard warm-up. Bring on the girls—the smart ones, the game ones, the ones who didn’t mind dirt under their fingernails or rattlesnakes around any corner! The second was personal: a school I’d never heard of was seeking a few good women for its faculty (I qualified, at least by gender) and I wondered whether it really did never rain in Southern California. So I signed up for a year—two tops—of active duty. A limited time engagement for what I thought, given the circumstances, might be something of a rodeo. Could be fun; would for sure be interesting.

In fact, a year into girls as regular fixtures in the student body, it all appeared fairly settled to me. True, the the urinals yawning in every

“I am delighted and relieved to learn that the Board of Trustees is considering seriously the admission of girls to the school.”

—Stephen Cabot Brown CdeP 1947, father of Cabot Brown CdeP 1979 and grandfather of Stuart Brown ‘15

“Most ridiculous thing I can imagine. Better check Vassar College about the mess they have created.”

—Randolph Hilton CdeP 1957

girls’ bathroom were a stunning reminder of the School’s long single-sex history. But there were the girls, eager for the Thacher experience, going toe-to-toe with their male counterparts in academics, in leadership, on EDTs, and on horseback. Of the boys, most were delighted with the Board’s vote to welcome girls into the School. I sensed that a few were mildly disgruntled; they’d signed up for one experience and now found themselves in a place they hadn’t bargained for—a terra incognita overlay on home turf, their East End “boys’ paradise” (Howard W. Fleming, Jr., CdeP 1943) breached.

I felt an occasional undercurrent of this in the classroom during discussions. And once that first year, when I warned a student that he had to submit his days-late paper by dinnertime or else, I returned to Lower School to see something white and flat attached to my apartment door. It was the essay, stabbed through with a Bowie knife. While the blade wasn’t still shuddering with the force of the gesture (I’d watched The Lone Ranger), I sort of felt that it was. (Even now, I can’t decide whether this was a step up or down from how the boys of 1893 treated the four Ojai girls who attended class at Thacher in that last decade of the 19th century—that is, “with a mix that mingled indifference and scorn.”

Or, for that matter, if it had anything to do with my gender.)

The years following ultimately confirmed that the boys could, in fact, play nicely and share their little slice of heaven. More impor-

tant, those years proved that girls were worthy partners in learning and practicing honor, fairness, kindness, and truth, then taking these principles confidently out into the world. And for over a decade now, around my seminar table have sat many of the daughters and sons of those late-’70s pioneers. Naturally, as fish don’t know from water, this post-millennial knot of Toads—both genders—can’t really picture their school as all-boys. If they do, it’s only in fading sepia. Like most beneficiaries of positive change birthed of ardent, often uncomfortable, deeply thoughtful discussion pro and con, they see none of their situation for what it is: the fortuitous result of bold, decisive risk-taking, an institutional cliff-jump that hazarded the possibility of “irreparable damage” (Ferree Brinton who?) for the greater likelihood (Mssrs. Berenson and Wyman did their homework) of a safe landing in a more vibrant, culturally diverse, intellectually invigorated world.

Every June, under the big tent at Reunion, after eating dinner with the most venerable Old Boys of Mr. Thacher’s School, I rise with all the gathered loyalists for The Banquet Song. The men to my left and right, graduates of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, clear their throats to sing with all they’ve got, “May the stamp of the School be the stamp of the man.” I belt out the words I learned back when they were still wet on the page: “May the stamp of the School be the stamp of our lives.”

“My son reports that during the spring term when the Emma Willard girls are present, the entire atmosphere on campus becomes more relaxed and more conducive to the pursuit of intellectual exercise.”

—Norman Rosenblatt CdeP 1949, father of Josh Rosenblatt CdeP 1976

“All that Thacher has stood for these many years would be irreparably damaged by ‘feminizing’ its ‘maleness.’ I cannot imaging girls standing around the shack trying to learn how to throw a diamond hitch.”

—Ferree Brinton Jr CdeP 1918

FRAUGHT TOPICS

Questions of Integrity Marvin Shagam on Straight Shooters and the Honor Code

Thacher Magazine: Tell us about your experience with the Honor Code.

Marvin Shagam: When I first came in 1958, students resisted the requirement that they turn in any fellow student who they felt had violated the code. They did not want to do that. At that time, there was one provision in the Code that struck me as onerous. It was the requirement that one take an oath, that is, “I pledge my honor as a gentleman that I have neither given nor received assistance during the course of this examination.” I was against this oath, or pledge, because, to me, it was an insult to suggest that our students needed a reminder not to cheat. It was clearly very much in our ethos not to cheat. Secondly, anyone who wished to cheat would gladly take that pledge of oathmaking it meaningless, really. Thirdly, I had been teaching Julius Caesar. In that story, Brutus rejects the suggestion of an oath declaring that the cause must be enough.

The students noticed this, of course. There was a discussion in my class about it as they couldn’t help but see that Brutus had said, no, not an oath. Fourth, I think it is in Matthew 5 that Jesus says, “But I tell you, do not swear at all… all you need to say is simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’…” By this he meant there is only one During a recent visit to campus to pick up daughter Annie ‘14, Bryan Beckham CdeP 1974 caught up with Mr. Shagam in a conversation that was more congenial than courageous.

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standard of truth. Students eventually voted down our system because of the oath. That occurred during the headmastership of David Twichell who, as a result, appointed a committee to formulate new rules for the Honor Code, if we wished to have one.

The committee comprised two teachers (I was one of them) and four students. Together, we made two changes. One: We felt that freshmen should be part of the code, rather than excluded. And, two: We decided to eliminate the annual vote, feeling that everyone would know if the Code no longer operated.

A number of older alumni were upset by the elimination of the annual vote, and Jack Huyler always felt it was a mistake to remove the pledge, but I felt that the adapted Honor Code was just as strong if not stronger than ever.

In the early 1970s, we experienced great challenges to our code of honor due to drugs and lying, with much conflict and turnover among those classes. I chose Bryan Beckham CdeP 1974 as a head prefect his senior year due to his leadership qualities and insight into the secrecy of drugs on campus. He understood that the lying was breaking down our community and all that the Honor Code stands for, saying to his peers that, really, “We are lying to our-

selves.” The inspiring role that Bryan and his classmates assumed helped students to remember that the Code is honored first from within, regardless of views of authority.

TM: What is the role of the Judicial Council in relation to the Honor Code?

MS: Though being judged by a committee of peers was a departure from the days of Sherman Day Thacher, we find that there are very powerful lessons learned when students are allowed to respond to Honor Code violations. The Judicial Council does not determine innocence or guilt; they deal only with students who have admitted guilt.

They discuss the situation with the student to determine the disposition and recommend a consequence to the Headmaster. Originally, the students had a choice of having students decide or a faculty group.

In almost every case, the students choose their peers, who are elected to the Council. In some cases, however, when it might be very embarrassing to the student, then only faculty will meet to deal with those issues. The student may also request an advocate to speak for him or her, though the advocate does not sit in on the deliberations. The student body knows about each person who appears before the Judicial Council. Each case is discussed in every dormitory so that all students understand what is involved.

TM: Why do you think that the Honor Code is still so strong today?

MS: I can’t overemphasize the influence of prefects and older students on younger students.

And, maybe I’m romanticizing, but I do believe that it is the beauty of the place—the mountains and especially the horses, the spirit of the old West— that encourages us to be straight shooters. Being a straight shooter, you don’t dissemble. However, the single most important thing is that the older students model for the younger students. Because we are a small school, there are all kinds of interchanges that occur, but I do believe that the dorm is the most critical place where this modeling frequently occurs. I also think that faculty are most successful when they trust the students. It is infectious and reciprocated by the students.

A school of this nature, with this age group, is so important. Many parents wisely choose to invest in schools like Thacher for their children to develop character and good habits, and the love of learning.

It’s an indication of what life can be like.

PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE

During the June 2013 Reunion Weekend, Marvin Shagam moderated a panel of alumni representing each decade since 1960. The topic was the role of the Honor Code at Thacher and in alumni lives afterward. More than 100 alumni attended, many sharing their experiences. For most, the process of learning to live by the Honor Code at Thacher established a pattern of integrity that has offered guidance during difficult experiences since, a sort of ethical literacy that informs the kinds of conversations and relationships one maintains in work and family. We asked Marvin to revisit his remarks for Thacher magazine.

ALL TRUTHS WAIT IN ALL THINGS In the classroom, on the field, in the saddle, or in everyday interactions, the Honor Code is a pervasive and critical component of Thacher’s tightly knit community.

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FRAUGHT TOPICS

Firsthand Accounts of the Honor Code from Alumni IN 1961, I headed the committee of students charged with rewriting the Honor Code, and we eventually passed and signed a version of the pledge that had been carefully worded to meet our collective criteria. However, as I look back on it now, I realize that by requiring the signing of the oath not to cheat, we had actually abdicated our individual responsibilities to ourselves and to the Thacher community—that is, to commit to the truth at all times and in all instances. By signing the pledge, we acquiesced to the assumption that we were actually not trustworthy unless we did sign it.

Honesty is a rigorous individual discipline that requires mindfulness. Proclaiming your own honesty will not instill it in yourself or others. Honesty comes from within, and only by example can one foster it in others.

—Don “Skip” Porter CdeP 1962 IN MY SMALL BUSINESS designing and manufacturing specialty packaging, I need to trust that my factories will supply quality products and that my customers will pay on time. While there are agreements, contracts, and other legal ways to ensure that business functions, it is ultimately about building relationships based on trust and honesty.

I was raised on the Thacher philosophy of “honor, fairness, kindness, and truth,” first as a faculty brat and later as a student. The Honor Code has wedged itself into my post-student days, influencing who I have become and consequently how I choose to do business.

—Allison Reed CdeP 1989 MY DIRECT EXPERIENCE with honor codes as a student at Thacher and as a teacher at St. Andrews has led me to support them as long as a school takes great pains to define the system’s parameters and significance. The institution must spell out precisely why faculty trust is absolutely necessary to evaluate work in any academic setting, how that trust is earned and maintained by students’ behavior, and what consequences occur if that trust is betrayed.

Lots of explanation, many examples of hypothetical scenarios brought before students to illustrate subtle points, each class having student representatives on an honor committee to assist in judging cases, clear ideas of what defines real evidence—all of these are necessary if the honor code is to work. Most important, however, is the students’ agreement that they want an honor code and will abide by the provisions that they have defined and established.

When students are brought into the process as early as possible and given an important decision-making role, the result can be a powerful benefit to any school and a solid moral foundation of students’ lives.

—Chris Boyle CdeP 1948 THACHER’S HONOR CODE is not about “pawing at…souls” to get students to do the “right” thing. At the system’s core is a set of decisions placed before students that they are required to make independently by virtue of a profound lack of omnipresent supervision.

Making a responsible, well thought out decision is much more challenging when you don’t have someone hovering over your shoulder telling you what you must do or threatening you with punishment.

I am of the belief that personal responsibility starts with the difficult choices we make when nobody is looking. The School places this responsibility in the hands of 14-year olds the moment they get to Thacher, and students thrive on it. They learn to handle themselves, which may be the most valuable lesson anyone could ever teach a teenager. That’s why I would send my kids to Thacher.

—Will Rutter CdeP 2011

The Evolution of Thacher’s Honor Code

By Jane D. McCarthy INTEGRITY, RESPONSIBILITY, AND RELIABILITY have been the cornerstone of a Thacher education since Sherman Day Thacher founded the School in 1889. How those characteristics have been inculcated, however, changed significantly over the years. Mr. Thacher did not believe that boys should be in charge of any phase of discipline: “They are sent here for us to teach them the best ways of getting on with themselves and others.

That is just where they are most inexperienced and it is foolish to expect them to decide on their own and others’ mistakes. These problems require the most experience and insight...”

In 1952, School Chair Bill Hamilton spearheaded a student committee to draft an academic honor system in hopes of further improving School culture and implementing unproctored evaluations. After much discussion and editing, the following was suggested: “I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination,” followed by the student’s signature. Wisely thinking that this considerable departure from traditional operations should be approved by at least 90 percent of the student body, it went to a vote (even though it would initially apply to Upper Schoolers only). The Pledge did not pass until the next year due to a requirement to turn in anyone observed cheating, and its ultimate implementation was an expression of trust amongst the students.   

Currently, the concept of Thacher’s Honor Code is introduced during the admission interview process; accepted students and their families later receive the Student/Parent Handbook in which the first entry is entitled “Honor and Trust.” It sets the expectation for students “living a life of integrity, one filled with honesty, forthrightness, kindness, respect, courage, and determination… in all of their dealings, thereby supporting, in actions and in words, the fundamental principle of honor behind the School’s Rules and Regulations.” On campus, students engage in dormarea discussions regarding the spirit of the Honor Code which may arise from behavioral case studies; conversations become more nuanced as students mature and have witnessed the Honor Code firsthand.

Today, violations of major rules are adjudicated by the Judicial Council or a Faculty Committee. These rules fall into five categories: 1. Honesty (plagiarism, lying, cheating, stealing); 2. Respect for self, others, and community (hazing, sexual/verbal/physical harassment); 3. Drugs and Alcohol; 4. Dormitory Visitation; and 5. Wandering. Once the recommendation for disciplinary action has been accepted by the Head of School, JC and faculty members discuss the case with each dorm area to further educate students in hopes of fostering honorable behavior.

PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE

BALANCE A perennial fraught topic for Thacher is how to strike the right balance between work and recovery. Above, the football team demonstrates the former while a pair of volleyballers head back to the   dorm  after their workout.

FRAUGHT TOPICS

The Horse Stays in the Picture A Thacher Education includes a Fourth “R”

By Jane D. McCarthy

FOR 125 YEARS, horses have played significant roles in the lives of the Thacher students and faculty who care for and ride them throughout their tenure. Horses were, after all a primary means of transportation, carrying their riders to church in town, into the hills for hunting and camping, and often even between Ojai and wherever home was. In those early days, the boys kept riding logs to assure completion of the minimum 20 miles each week. In the process, Mr. Thacher discovered that some “boys learn more from their horses than from their teachers,” thereby gaining a sense of responsibility and concern for others.

In the early 1900s, Margaret Hunt helped boys care for and ride horses; she was largely responsible for the continuation of this distinguishing characteristic of Thacher life. As late as the arrival of legendary Oklahoman Jesse Kahle on campus to direct the Program in 1948, every Thacher student and faculty member “owned” a horse and had a weekly mileage requirement. Faculty Emeritus Jack Huyler noted two exceptions to this rule: in the ’50s, Keith Vosburg had written into his Thacher contract that he would “never have to go near those beasts.” And two students with extensive previous riding experience before they joined the class of 1950 (Jim Schurz and Miles Carlisle) received special dispensation from Headmaster Newt Chase to co-own Buck Shot with only half of the responsibilities each. They seldom rode him, but towed him as they ran the trails.

These exceptions to the “everyone rides” rule opened a fissure in the Program. Early in the fall of 1949, Mr. Chase summoned Headmaster Emeritus Anson Thacher, Jesse, and the newly hired Jack Huyler to his office, saying that the Board was considering elimination of the Horse Program within the next five-toten years following Cate’s lead. The Board was considering gradual expansion of the student body from 100 to 200 and adding diversity (potentially females and day students), thereby necessitating more buildings. Enhancing financial aid was being discussed, as well; all of these changes would require a shift in finances that   

could be solved by dissolving the Horse Program. The anti-horse majority of trustees (i.e., Henry Mudd, George Montgomery, George Farrand, and Brayton Wilbur) buoyed by Mr. Chase and even Anson Thacher, whose interests lay in athletics, bickered with the pro-horse Board faction (i.e., Russell Davenport and Phelps Hunter) led by Allen Chickering CdeP 1925, a long-time horseman and president of the Board of Trustees (1952-65) who understood the Horse Program’s distinctive role in a Thacher education.

Mr. Chickering prevailed by forging a compromise: Riding was no longer required for all students and faculty every year, but only for freshmen and sophomores, and encouraged for new upper-class students. This change promised to quash the concerns of anti-horse folks that compulsory riding infected the environment for those who enjoyed riding, while lessening the Program’s cost by reducing the remuda’s size.

Jess and Jack supported this notion and devised various enjoyable games and races between students and faculty to pique interest in riding. Riders competed in club matches from Paso Robles to the Mexican border towns; gymkhana events were opened to other schools and professional riders. In his senior year, Bruce Oxley CdeP 1955 competed and won the State Championship on a trail horse he’d trained at Thacher, which further enhanced interest in the Program. Riding at Thacher continued as more students sought to compete at the state level.

The Program carried on in a similar fashion until the mid-sixties when a Ten-Year Financial Plan for Independent Schools considered Thacher’s status: “…Thacher must seek a creative answer to its ‘horse’ problem.” The major problems noted were the growing difficulty of justifying the extra costs of horses, the impact of the Horse Program on Thacher’s overall image, the demands on student time of keeping and exercising a horse, the encroachment of civilization upon the traditional camping country surrounding our campus, and “the shift in interests of the average boy.” A student survey conducted in 1965 revealed that all but two of the School’s 136 students appreciated the “worthiness” of

the Horse Program; generally, though, as students matured, their interests shifted towards academics and athletics. Gradually, only freshmen were required to ride the full year and new upper-class students only one season; students could opt to ride more after playing a competitive sport for at least one athletic season.

Today, Thacher’s 120 horses are ridden by approximately 90 students each season, coached by three full-time instructors, eight part-time faculty members, and five expert student or Horseman-ranked riders who help look after barn chores and tutor freshman and Gymkhana riders. As director of the Horse Program during the past two decades, Cam Schryver has overseen the Program’s expansion beyond Western riding to Extreme Cowboy competitions, English Equestrian shows under the tutelage of Liz Reynolds Mahoney CdeP 1988, and Interscholastic Gymkhana against the Orme, Verde Valley, and Fountain Valley Schools. Outside clinicians work with students and faculty periodically; some students learn to rope or pack from René Duykaerts or how to doctor horses from veterinarian Kris Finch. “Bucking barrels” reside in each of the freshman dorms, and many students work towards A and B horse camper ratings each year. This past summer, a state-of-the-art, lit, all-weather arena honoring Jesse Kahle was built and dedicated.

The Horse Program has played a key role in developing students’ grit, resilience, and responsibility, while also fostering self awareness and coping skills through inevitable moments of fear and frustration. And let’s not forget those moments of transcendent joy that arrive only via horseback. All of these elements of a Thacher education translate into life lessons for handling oneself throughout adulthood. Over the last four decades, Heads of School Bill Wyman and Michael Mulligan have eloquently extolled the value of this program, putting to rest the old questions about its relevance and shifting the conversation to that of continuing to secure its future.

PHOTO/ILLUSTRATION CREDIT HERE

SOME DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS revolve around making a necessary change, while others have to do with resisting change in the midst of a changing world. The latter was the case for Thacher’s Horse Program, which at one time was threatened as the School considered its future.

LANGUAGE BARRIER One of the beauties of the Horse Program has always been the onus it puts on the student to bridge the communication gap between rider and beast. Though this amounts to a conversation of a different kind, the benefits of that exercise translate to all relationships.

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HOW COMPETITIVE SHOULD WE BE? What is the proper role of competition at Thacher? The answers vary from person to person and across arenas. Our humble mascot, the toad, belies the success of athletics teams, like last year’s cross-country squads, that compete at the state level. And admission to Thacher has never been more competitive. What do alumni think about competition at Thacher? Learn more about that fraught topic by reading about the results of our alumni competition survey at thacher.org/magazine/ fall2013.

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GATHERINGS… FALL GATHERINGS The fall calendar included a rich variety of gatherings, thanks to our many generous hosts and to hundreds who traveled from near and far to prove that Thacher community will thrive wherever we choose to assemble.

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N SEPTEMBER, THE FOLLOWING hosts offered their homes for gatherings that included admissions panels of college-aged young alumni sharing their Thacher experiences: Claudia and Peter Scott CdeP 1968 in Cambridge, Mass.; Robin and Rob Wilder (parents of Sydney ’15) in Chevy Chase, Maryland; and Kathy Halbower and David Johnson (parents of Will CdeP 2003 and Tom CdeP 2007) in New York City.

In October, Kim and Mike Robertson (parents of Emma ’16) hosted a Saturday afternoon gathering in their home in Newport Beach, for alumni, parents, and friends in Southern California.

In November, Bryan Beckham CdeP 1974 and Newie Hastings CdeP 1979, along with Michelle and Sherman Thacher (pictured above right), helped to host a “Wine Weekend” in their hometown of Paso Robles, California.

Approximately 150 community members from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and beyond (even Seattle) drove to Paso to enjoy a lively weekend of touring the area via trolley, fine dining, and a gathering at the Thacher Winery. Maggie Tillman CdeP 2002, manager of her family’s winery, added her Alta Colina wines to the mix. Many thanks to these hosts for offering such a unique and special experience. And thanks to the Paso Robles Thachers for generously hosting a School gathering, an honor for everyone involved.

Additional events found their way onto the calendar this fall, including two networking parties for young alumni, in the Bay Area and in New York City, and a wonderful holiday celebration in December at the Presidio of San Francisco.

NOTES OF BARNYARD: What better setting for a Thacher gathering than an elegant and atmospheric barn, great company, Michael Mulligan’s campus updates, live music, and fine wine?

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REUNION WEEKEND, JUNE 2013

PHOTOS THIS PAGE: ATTASALINA PHOTOGRAPHY

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Alumni from near and far brought their families back to Thacher for music, mingling, and fun activities throughout the sun-filled weekend.

HE OJAI VALLEY WAS BATHED in sunlight and mild temperatures during Reunion Weekend 2013, extending a perfect welcome for the 425 participants in Thacher’s joyous annual celebration. CdeP 1953 and 1958 enjoyed great turnouts, arriving a day early to commence a long weekend’s festivities, with many spouses joining in for the various dinner parties, seminars, toasts, and recreational activities.

Thanks to the care and creative efforts of alumni, faculty, staff, and volunteers, the weekend came off without a hitch or even a fall from a horse! As usual, every riding session was full on Saturday and Sunday, as was the lineup of trapshooters. Seminars, services, and entertainment were offered by a variety of alumni throughout Saturday, preceding the traditional banquet.

As per tradition, the weekend concluded with a memorial service at the Outdoor Chapel. This year’s message, delivered by Nick Thacher CdeP 1963, grandson of SDT, noted the many changes time brings, and some familiar things that remain the same: “the mingled scents of dust, orange blossom, greasewood, and manure; the sweep of the citrus groves luring your eye westward towards the far rim that obscures the sea, the looming but familiar solidities of Twin Peaks and Chief and Topa Topa, the occasional nicker from the corrals.”

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GATHERINGS…

CdeP 1943: 70th Reunion

CdeP 1953: 60th Reunion

CdeP 1955: 55th Reunion

CdeP 1973: 40th Reunion

CdeP 1978: 35th Reunion

CdeP 1993: 20th Reunion

CdeP 1998: 15th Reunion

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CdeP 1963: 50th Reunion

CdeP 1968: 45th Reunion

CdeP 1983: 30th Reunion

CdeP 1988: 25th Reunion

CdeP 2003: 10th Reunion

CdeP 2008: 5th Reunion

For downloadable versions of these images and many more candids from the weekend, visit www.thacher.or/magazine/fall2013

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CLASS NOTES…

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INDICATES REUNION YEAR

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CORRESPONDING PHOTO ABOVE

ROBERT “SHOVEL” THOMAS shares that “The great northwest had a lovely summer. This September Marion and I celebrated our 70th wedding anniversary and the birth of our first great-grandchild. We both are blessed with good heath and do as much as we can to be physically and mentally active at our age. At retirement, I took up a somewhat unusual hobby for a male: cross stitching! I have done more pieces than I can count but about a year and a half ago I took on a monster.

The theme is horses and will take some 84,000 stitches. It is now about 60 percent completed and I hope to finish by the end of 2014! Warm greetings to all and have fun!

KELLAM DE FOREST shares, “Being unable to walk without the aid of a walker, I am now in an assisted living facility here in Santa Barbara. Staying active with historic preservation as chairman of the preservation committee of the Pearl Chase Society, a local preservationist organization.” SHERM EWING sends his greetings.

TONY ARNOLD writes, “The Arnold dynasty at Thacher appears, at last, to have come to an end. It began with my late brother POP ’39, followed by brother PETE ’42, then me, followed by all four of our kids: GEORGE ’74, BILL ’76, KENT ’78, and LIZ (now MURRAY) ’81, and one grandson, PETER ’05. The only likely continuation might be if Peter continues the line, but that is still only a wishful theory and one that I will not be around to witness. But it was a great run for all of us. Go Toads!” ALEXANDER VAN DYKE: “Returned in May after my fifth complete world cruise. The first two I was the ship’s physician for Holland America. Now I go as a passenger. On one trip from Venice to Rome on the Windsurf for the Windstar line as ship physician, a man came to the medical office and asked me if I went by the name of Ike. It took me awhile but then I knew it was LOUIS BOYLE. I hadn’t seen him since his wedding 50 years before. We still communicate. His wife, Norma, is well and they live in Costa Del Mar. I was on the Windsong in Istanbul on 9/11.”

JOHN “SANDY” WALKER writes that he is “still doing architecture. Sees Bill Bucklin, Sam Wright, Cousin “Hendy” Henderson ‘49, and spent two high school graduations in Telluride, Colo., with great teacher and mentor David Lavender who was even reading. Visit from the goon squad by my step-daughter. Both grandchildren got into Stanford. Too bad they couldn’t get into Cal, where their mother, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, great grandfather, great grandmother, great uncle, and great-great-grandfather (step) attended. Still living in SF and enjoying it a lot. Best to all.”

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CHUCK DEMUND recently founded a scholarship at the University of Arizona to honor not only his own passion for photography and the optical sciences, but also his father’s support for the field of medicine. The DeMund Foundation Graduate Student Scholarship in Optical and Medical Sciences just named its first winner who is developing new methods to detect a painful, and difficult to diagnose, gastrointestinal illness in its early stages.

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TADGER WEBSTER shares, “For one reason or another, I’ve recently been recollecting the good times we had back in 1949-50. My classmates, DAVID GRAY and JIM GREENWAY, and I are still in touch frequently. I joined the Air Force in 1954 and spent the next 50 years in aviation, retiring from corporate flying in 1993. Judy and I left New Hampshire a few years ago for a retirement community on the eastern shore of Maryland just across the bay from Annapolis. If you are in the area, come share a crabcake with us.”

STEWART RING “continued my pro bono civic efforts dedicated to protecting and preserving the quality of life of Mokule’ia residents. I was elected president of the Mokule’ia Community Association last year. I have been its secretary for over 20 years and still am. Went to Coronado to visit my daughter who flew in from Zambia to give a presentation at the Plein Air Artist convention in Monterey. Enjoy seeing Thacher friends at the Bohemian Grove every summer. Best regards to all. SAR.” CHUCK THORNE says, “We have retired from running our Colorado business and now live in Kenosha, Wisc., close to Lake Michigan. We had to get out of the high altitude, which we were told to do since Pat’s open-heart surgery a few years ago. (We miss the Rockies but enjoy the lake.) I am in good health and doing some writing to fill in otherwise empty hours.”

JOHN CARVER is looking forward to attending his very last Thacher Trustee meeting this October. He wants to emphasize that he “termed out,” wasn’t tossed out. He has recovered from a wretched auto accident and is thrilled to be amongst the living once again! Go Toads.

RIC LAURENCE wrote that, “Our boating season on the Bay and in the Delta was curtailed severely this year due to an unexpected surgery to my first mate’s right foot. When she can’t climb or descend a ladder, the boat does not go out.

The good news is that, with the help of a walker, we had a magnificent trip to Alaska in August. Flew into Anchorage and spent seven days on either a motor coach or rail visiting McKinley, Denali National Park, and Copper River before boarding a Princess Cruise ship for stops at Skagway, Juneau, and Katchikan. Took numerous side trips before docking seven

Photos (L to R): Judy and Tadge ’51 had a delightful visit in Annapolis with Karleanne Rogers from Thacher; Alan Gallaway’s ’55 trawler; David Laylin ’55 in Iran at “one thousand mosques”—an area named for its many peaks; Bill Wheeler ’58 with a recent painting of his; License plate of John Lewis ’59; Arnie Moore ’63 at Reunion 2013; Archie Look ’64 met up with Jim Wright ’64 and Kim Cardin ’66 in San Francisco; Sigurd Murphy ’64 with his grandchild at Knott’s Berry Farm.

MILESTONES days later at Vancouver. What a fantastic 49th state. Would highly recommend it to all!” BILL McNABB writes, “I am not retired, but I’m cutting back on consulting so I can finish the four books that I have started. Joanne is still working for the Department of Justice and vows to be the oldest state worker in history. We will be great-grandparents in October.

What?! This isn’t possible. See you all at our 60th!”

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ENGAGEMENTS MAGGIE RENIERS ’92 announces, “I am engaged to a wonderful woman, Carol Peddie.” (photo 1) 1

KATIE RUSSELL ’99 accepted a proposal to tie the knot with Denali mountaineering ranger Dave Weber while at 20,000 feet on the summit of Mt. Denali. (photo 2)

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ALAN GALLAWAY shares: “I’m cruising my trawler from Aruba to Santa Marta, Colombia. I’ll commute back and forth from Sacramento till I cruise to Panama and go through the canal again, probably next year.” DAVID LAYLIN reports, “Most of my time is dedicated to natural resource conservation and management in Iran, together with scientific information exchanges with the U.S. I spend one to two months a year there, much in the boondocks. Don’t believe the anti-Iran media. It is a remarkably interesting and hospitable country, especially for Americans! This past spring, my wife and I had the pleasure of joining Janice and RHODES SPEDALE, in New Orleans, for the French Quarter jazz festival. We were together with the KNUDSENS, FARRANDS, JOHN HAVERLY ’56, and TAYLORS. Great stuff!” Read about David’s trip to Iran at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes.

HANNAH HOOPER ’00 is engaged to her band mate and love of her life, Christian Zucconi.

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JOHN WHEATON writes, “I am sorry to have missed the October memorial for Bob Miller. Denise and Bob were close friends with my mother and they often went to our Sierra cabin with her during the summer. The Millers loved the mountains and they all had a wonderful time along the American River. I am also sorry I missed the Kahle Arena dedication. Upon graduating, Jess took my wonderful horse, Doc, and rode him for two years in different shows. They were a great pair. On the Trail, John.”

C. DEREK ANDERSON says, “Pat & I recently attended a Memorial for Dave Brubeck at St. John the Divine in Manhattan. Many jazz greats performed Dave’s works , including a stirring eulogy by Tony Bennett. (It also happened to be our 40th anniversary). We’d gotten to know Dave through ownership of a bar in Lake Almanor that originated in his grandfather’s hotel in the long since disappeared town of Amedee, Calif. Aside from Pat gaining a recent pacemaker, we are in good health and hope fellow classmates can come visit us in ‘the poor man’s Tahoe.’” BILL WHEELER writes from San Miguel de Allende in the central Mexican highlands, “Many people come here imagining they will find a ‘different polarity,’ and they do. For a couple months a year, we enjoy this vibrant and quite magical place with the atmosphere of

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MARRIAGES JOHN WINSELL DAVIES ’82 married Elizaveta in June followed by a threemonth “dream-world” honeymoon. (photo 3)

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JOHN P. WEBB ’84 married Lisandrea Duque on May 4, 2013, at The Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur under the Redwoods. Officiant was LAUNCE LAW GAMBLE ’84 and also in attendance were DIANA ’84 and LIAM CALLAHAN ’84, GALO CABRALES ’84, EVAN BAKST ’84, BAYARD HOLLINS ’84, JEFFREY YOUNG ’84, RANDY RENICK ’81, and RICK SAVERI ’83. (photo 4) V. OMAR BARRAZA ’90 and Jorge Gomez Valdez were officially married on August 18, 2013. “Although we registered under Washington’s domestic partnership law in 2008, we are now first-class citizens and very grateful for all of the love and support!” (photo 5) NANDINI LEE RAO ’91 married Sudeep Motupalli Rao in January 2013. (photo 6)

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Read and submit class notes online at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes 6

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CLASS NOTES…

a 16th-17th-century well-preserved colonial town. There is riding—which I have rediscovered thanks to Thacher—in the ring and the campo; golf; tennis; a different language and culture; challenging discoveries and other pursuits; great restaurants and theater; and music bursting from the streets as the mariachis compete for attention around the central plaza.”

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writes, “The Class of ’62 seems to be edging reluctantly into retirement. MARSTEN and MILLIGAN have been there for years, and, although most of the lawyers show no signs of quitting, the sane among us are slowly packing for the next phase. ROGER IGNON reports selling his business, continuing to do the product development he loves, and spending more time in the desert, also the home to DON “SKIP” PORTER, similarly disengaging from LA architecture and working at painting and sculpting in his high-desert studio. JIM “JAY” McREYNOLDS reports beginning his last year as a psychology professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where it is rumored that he is the entire Social Sciences Department (and gets very high ratings). HANS LINDGREN is retired from his second career as a teacher and reports a crowd of grandchildren scattered across Sweden. NICK WOOD checks in with best wishes from New Jersey, and farthest afield is HAROLD “WARDIE” WARD, who may have graduated in ’63 but was ours for the first three years and does art photography in Australia. BOB MILLER was a young teacher in our day, and his passing left us with a wave of nostalgia for his stealthy footsteps in the Upper School.

CHRISTOPHER HENZE writes, “The passing of Bob Miller and a New York Times article reminded me of how much we benefited from our Thacher English teachers, including David Lavender and Jack Huyler. (For the NYT article, go to blogs. thacher.org/classnotes.) I did not major in English, but in anthropology—as good a background as any for a diplomatic career. Our deceased classmate, and good friend, JOHN BEALL ’59, majored in philosophy. He ended up with a good job writing and editing for Parsons Engineering—a good example of the importance and usefulness of writing skills in all sorts of professions.”

CHARLES BONNER has been diagnosed with bad arthritic knees, but still loves to backpack, ski, kayak, hunt, and fish, “so it was time to finally hang up work. But I cannot get too far from home because my wife is still working as president of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Idaho. We are happy living here, see our three kids often, and have full lives. One cannot ask for more.” BOB GARDNER and Gretchen Gardner welcomed their first grandchild, Harriet Speer Hector, on September 22. Harriet is the daughter of MOLLIE ‘99 and Bill Hector. HUGH GORDON shares, “Lorraine and I have returned to the West Coast from South Carolina—where we enjoyed five years occupying an ancient family property in the lovely Lowcountry—to our new home in Sonoma to reunite with our two CdeP sons, HUGH ’03 and CHRIS ’07.

They are, respectively, in medical school in Los Angeles and finance in San Francisco. We look forward to seeing our many friends from the NorCal Thacher community.”

CLEM WORK just retired after 23 years of professional journalism and 23 years of teaching journalism at University of Montana in Missoula. “Now I’m taking a couple of dozen undergrads and grad students on a three-week environmental reporting study trip to western and central India in January. Should be fun!”

DAVID MARSTEN shares that, “After 20 years of planning, our Santa Rosa Symphony has a magnificent new home at the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University… and even the Vienna Philharmonic will be playing there next spring. This has been a most-rewarding project. I hope many of you will visit this fine music center.” MICHAEL MILLIGAN

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The “Le Nozze de Figaro” directed this summer by BRUCE DONNELL at the Santa Fe Opera “displayed taste and refinement” and “was a success across the board” (The Santa Fe New Mexican). Bruce spent two weeks in September teaching at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston and looks forward to a busy winter (including the Colorado “skiing for seniors” trip in January). ARNIE MOORE recounts, “Our 50th reunion! Who-da-thunkit? A great two days on campus with plenty of time to catch up, and spend time with Marvin and Black Jack. We saw Bob Miller Friday night, and after Saturday’s banquet, Robin found a way to set up a slide show of our years, while the band was playing. We really felt the absence of RIC and JEFF; and NICK, JOE, and STEVE spoke poignantly at the remembrance in the Outdoor Memorial Chapel. At Marvin’s panel discussion of the Honor Code, he mentioned that students who don’t get to finish the four years with their classmates often become the most ardent of alumni. Was he speaking of me? What a conceit. I’m so happy to be included in this group.”

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TERRY KELLY shares, “We are so fortunate to have two young grandchildren now: Liam (3 1/2) and Isla (8 months—the first girl in the Kelly family since about 1910!). All three of our sons now live in Madison with their wives. It is terrific to have the family together. We sold the last of our businesses (Weather Central and MyWeather) to The Weather Channel last year and, at 67, I am enjoying helping the Aldo Leopold Nature Center reach 50,000 kids each year for interactive environmental education and to learn about the effects of climate

Photos (L to R): Thacher boys outside their rooms in Hong Kong with Stewart Walton ’64 as their prefect—circa 1963; John Taylor ’65 with his wife and granddaughters; Howie Lewis’s ’67 garden in Vermont; Brad Macneil ’68; Sandy Volkmann ’70 with his wife in Peru; Don Dennis ’74 with his three oldest children in Scotland.

MILESTONES change. It’s the most serious problem we and our children have ever faced and we must educate our children about the important choices to be made. My son, Matt, and I are mentoring and investing in small-tech companies. It is exciting, as always, to hear the fresh ideas and concepts which in the years to come will make a difference in our lives. All the best to my fellow 64s. I hope and trust you are healthy and happy.” DICK LIVERMORE says he “Just celebrated the baptism of my first grandchildren (twins!), Elizabeth Sealy Heinz and William Clifton Heinz. They could be members of CdeP 2031!” ARCHIE LOOK says “I live in Tokyo but during my yearly summer vacation in California and San Francisco, I met up with classmate JIM WRIGHT and cousin KIM CARDIN ‘66.” SIG MURPHY retired as an Army Pathfinder at the rank of Brigadier General and then became a judge for over 16 years. He was reactivated immediately following 9/11 to work on a portion of our national missile defense system.

He and Mary, his wife of 43 years, retired to Rockport, Texas.

He is presently the Coast Guard Auxiliary Assistant National Commodore in charge of FORCECOM for the nation. His daughter, Anne Marie, is an attorney in San Francisco, and his son, Sig, works in the field of cyber warfare and intrusion, living in Laguna Beach. Sig and Mary have three grandchildren.

Sig raised quarter horses for 30 years, is a master diver and pilot.” STEWART WALTON announces that, “I’m finally retired. Learning French, reading, pedaling my bike, working with the Boy Scouts, fixing the house, tending the garden, singing in the choir. It’s hard not to be engaged. Geneal and I are still living in the house in Encinitas that I bought in 1975 as I was getting out of the Navy (two remodels later, of course). We are looking forward to the reunion next year, and would like to hear from friends from the 60s at CdeP. Incidentally, I was surprised that there were no comments on my little article about the origins of Toads as a mascot.”

JOHN WINTRINGHAM reports, “I retired from 42 years of ministry on May 1. Visited Mr. Shagam this summer on a motorhome tour of 30 national parks in celebration of retirement.” JIM WRIGHT JR. notes, “Sold most (but not all) of my tax practice in 2012. Now I am practicing retirement.

Enjoyed lunch with ARCHIE LOOK this summer.”

MARRIAGES C O N T I N U E D

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JEFF MANSON ’98 married his best friend and art collaborator, Vanessa Waring, on September 21, 2013! (photo 8) 8

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On July 5, ALEXIS MacDONALD ’98 wed Mick Bormann at an old metal factory in New York City. Fellow Thacher grads LUCIA CRAVEN, CHARLEY MEDIGOVICH, and Alexis’s cousin, BROOKE MOOREHEAD ’99, were present for the party—” as well as a few Cate folks who behaved themselves nicely.” (photo 7)

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JOHN TAYLOR says, “I continue to revel in retirement.

I am singing in a barbershop chorus (probably a real “aha” for some of my classmates!), working on the restoration of a 1940s steam locomotive, writing books on New Mexico history (and a pictorial history of Thacher that came out in December; see page 10), and spending a lot of quality time with my wife, Lynn (OVS 1966), and our two marvelous granddaughters, Emma, 16, and Madison, 12.

Looking forward to my 50th in 2015.”

NATHANIEL D. FAGGIOLI ’00 married Stacie Sida Wang on July 6, 2013, in a barn on their family property in Sonoma, Calif. In addition to family and friends, many Toads helped them to celebrate the nuptials. Stacie and Nathaniel went to Italy and Croatia for their honeymoon and are now living in San Francisco. (photo 9) MARLEY ORR ’00 shares, “On September 7, 2013, I married Gabe Reilly—a funny and loving New Yorker and Wesleyan alum— in Paso Robles, Calif., at Cass Vineyards and Winery. The day was completely magical; there were butterflies and dragonflies in the air and, at night, stars as far as the eye could see! I was so thrilled to have my long-time friend, YUI SCRIBNER, along with me for the ride. She helped me get ready, kept me calm, and danced the night away with me.

T.J. LANGER ’01 married Rachel Rosenberg on June 8, 2013, in San Diego.

“I am happy to say friends, HEATHER AND BRIAN KELLY—both CdeP 2001, were in attendance!”

BRENTON SULLIVAN ’03 had a summer wedding in Lake Tahoe with his new wife, Courtney. (photo 10)

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T. DALLAS SWIFT ’06 married Lauren Elizabeth Troy, of Rochester Hills, Mich., on October 20, 2012. After wedding in Chicago, they are now living in Delaware. (photo 11)

CLASS NOTES…

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DOUG GRIMES writes: “I finished my PhD at UC Irvine in 2008, and immediately shifted focus to caring for my father, then my mother, at their retirement home near New Haven, Conn. During that time I started developing an educational software system to make learning more game-like and interactive for students, while providing educators with real-time assessments. That project is still a long-term goal, but I put it on the back burner last year to renew my old real estate broker license to find residential and commercial properties for a wealthy friend and client. The skills I learned in eight years of grad school have proven surprisingly useful in my real estate business. Of course those skills were built on a strong foundation at Thacher, for which I am forever grateful.”

CdeP 1968’s 45th Reunion, and spoke with Marvin Shagam and Bob Miller. I gave a tribute to Dave Twichell on Saturday night, and BOB ACQUISTAPACE remembered Tom Wheeler at the Sunday Outdoor Memorial Chapel service. CdeP 1968 decided that Thacher needs a new art center, gallery, and art/archival storage, so we are talking with architect ROSS ANDERSON ’69 about plans for that center.”

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JOHN BARKAN shares that the “Biggest news is we are now grandparents. Daughter PHOEBE CdeP 2003 and husband Jacob McNeil are parents to Betula Elizabeth Munro McNeil, born January 13. She is the best! They live in Oakland so we get to see her often. Probably my last year teaching math at St. Anselm School in Marin and for Joan at Northern Trust.

Anybody else ready to retire? WILL CdeP 2002 continues at the Defense Intelligence Agency in D.C. and joined classmate CHRIS GRANT for a Sierra backpack trip the end of August.

Son ANDREW CdeP 1998 and his wife, Polly, continue to write and perform music in Santa Monica. Had a great time with classmates at the Pacific Union Club seafood dinner hosted by Bob Johnson. We’re attending Rosemary Kendrick’s wedding this Saturday.” HOWIE LEWIS is excited that “Our second grandchild, Noah Lewis Reiter, arrived on August 10, his father’s birthday, in Burlington. Since we live part of the year in southern Vermont, we have seen a lot of Noah since August. When not in Burlington, I have been trying to keep up with my garden at the other house.”

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KIM CHASE shares, “I have been working in the UAE helping Cleveland Clinic and Mubadala set up a state-of-the-art, 5 million sq ft, LEED Gold, glass-walled hospital for the GCC. The project is unique, fusing the best of U.S. healthcare and training with the best of Middle Eastern hospitality to significantly raise the standard of care all over that part of the world. Do not see many Thacher alums in this area of the world but would love to!” CHUCK EVANS (aka Carlo Burton) went to the Cannes Film Festival to see a documentary. Went back in September. BRAD MACNEIL tells us, “I have been busy working at the Pasadena Museum of History for the last many years, where I wear a number of hats. I oversee the educational programs and many of the public events and do a bit of curating exhibitions on occasion. It has been a wonderful job. I am married to my classmate DAN McGILVRAY’s double-cousin Lynn. Life is good!” TRAV NEWTON writes, “Last June, Edgardo Catalan attended the Friday dinner for

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PETER DRAGGE says, “Darian and I are still alive and well, enjoying life in the beautiful Ojai Valley. Our daughter, Jenny, with a little help from her husband, Cliff Kenyon, has produced two gorgeous granddaughters, making our lives more special by the day. Our son, Joshua, has completed his first indie feature film, titled Born And Raised. It has won numerous awards at festivals throughout the country! (Big plug: available through Amazon or iTunes. Don’t miss it!) JUSTIN FAGGIOLI announces, “In July, our son, NATHANIEL ’00, married Stacie Wang on a hillside overlooking a vineyard on our Sonoma ranch. It was a fantastic celebration for a wonderful couple. It also served as a memorable gathering of family and friends, including many Thacher graduates and Thacher parents. Our daughter, CLAIRE ’02, is thriving at Pixar and is now a homeowner with her boyfriend, Dan. In June, Sandy completed her term as Mayor of Belvedere. She did a fantastic job and continues as a council member. I keep plugging along, keeping busy with our ranches’ several boards of directors.” STU WORK shares, “Rachelle and I are still enjoying living in Southern California—she for the first time and me after an absence of 40 years. The lure of our grandkids in Maryland is pretty strong, however, so we are fortunate to have our son and daughter-in-law here to connect with. Trying to convince the eigth graders at my school to try this wonderful boarding school in the Ojai. We have a couple of great candidates this year.”

WILLIAM RIGBY reports, “Son married; daughter graduated; both employed; still doing research and seeing patients as a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at Dartmouth. I am a boring guy, i.e., one of the longest serving members (32 years) of the Department of Medicine. A life in biomedical research was keyed by two Thacher science teachers—Milton Frye and Chuck Warren—each of whom is within 10 miles of me.”

SANDY VOLKMANN shares, “Pam and I recently celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary with a trip to Peru. We spent two weeks in the Sacred Valley exploring pre-Inka and Inka ruins and observing numerous birds and majestic views.”

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BILL DAWSON notes that “As though our own four years at Casa de Piedra weren’t enough, this past June marked the graduation of my younger son, PARKER ‘13, which ended eight straight years of me seeing the School through the eyes of a parent. Parker is now enjoying college life at Whitman in

Photos (L to R): Michael Peters’ ’74 renaissance performing group, The Trouvères; Bill Rubenstein ’74 on a Himalayan pass; A painting

by John Holstein ’75; Noah Rifkin ’75 recovering from neurosurgery; Bill Arnold ’77 and Tim Bowman ’77 at Miller Motorsports Park; Jill Oxley Souto-Maior ’80, Tracey Stevenson Garrett ’80, Rachel Oxley ’89, and Jill Stevenson ’82 in Oregon’s Strawberry Mountains.

MILESTONES Walla Walla, Wash. My older son, WILS ‘09, just graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine (Newt Chase’s alma mater) and is working in San Francisco as a software engineer. They do grow up fast! I left my last CFO position a year and a half ago and am now serving on three boards, which I guess constitutes semi-retirement. TOM BARD, GRANT HARMON, ALAN SILBERGH and I (along with significant others) get together every few months for a round of golf and a meal, at which we convince ourselves we are discharging our class rep duties. We also are good at convincing ourselves we play golf well. Please stop by and say hi if you find yourself in Marin County!”

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BRYAN BECKHAM writes, “Just back from Thacher gatherings in New York City and Boston. In N.Y.C., joined fellow 74ers SANDY KEYNON and JEFF KIMBALL. Both have just completed short films. In Boston, MIKE FRANK joined the gathering to recall some great memories. Save the date for our 40th next June—It’s gonna be great.” DON DENNIS writes, “I attended Thacher for only my sophomore year, so unlikely that others in my class would remember me.

I now live on a small island in the Inner Hebrides in Scotland.

I have three children by my first marriage, and another young fellow by my second. I run a small business producing orchid essences, and my wife (a native of Gigha) runs a small dairy farm.” MICHAEL PETERS is “Currently artistic director for The Trouvères and performing at renaissance faires in the Northeast. Currently at the Connecticut Renaissance faire for October. Best regards to all!” See a video of The Trouvères at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes. BILL RUBENSTEIN describes, “With two friends from Rome (and a local guide), I just completed a rare 200-mile monsoon trek in the Himalayas. In fact, it seems we were among the first ever to visit the remote and restricted Tsum Valley region during the rainy season. Getting through 50 air miles of hot, jungle canyon was challenging, of course. But the reward was sharing the high country—including the 17,000-foot pass behind Manaslu—with only the fascinating Tibetan people of the area.”

BIRTHS DOUGLAS HOLT ’83 and Julie are proud to announce the birth of Charlotte Elizabeth Eberhardt Holt born April 9, 2013. Charlotte enjoyed her first visit to Thacher during the 1983 class Reunion at two months old—no horses and no shotguns, but next time.

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BEN KROKOWER ’93 writes, “My son, Elijah Stephen Krokower, was born on July 3, 2013. My wife, Lesley, and I are overjoyed and have spent the last three months doing very little except staring at his cute face.” (photo 2)

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ALOYSE MELISSA BLAIR BROWN ’96 and her husband, Mac, are enjoying their new son, Wolcott Daniel Brown, born September 3, 2013. (photo 3) TOMMY THORNHILL ’96 announces, “On July 15, in New Haven, Anne Gunnison and I welcomed identical twin girls, Frances and Eliot, efficiently doubling our family before our first wedding anniversary.”

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Neil and SKYE FOSTER ’97 welcomed their second son, Henry, on June 10, 2013.

“Benjamin, our almost 2-year-old, is still getting used to his new partner in crime!” (photo 4) HALLIE GORDON PALLADINO ’97 and her husband, Rocco, welcomed a baby daughter, Serena, last spring.

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JOHN HOLSTEIN is living in France. “I teach American literature at the University of Rennes, France. I also teach art in an association near Rennes. My main interests besides life are painting and drawing. My wife, Dominique, is also an artist; she does lovely patchwork. I have two sons, Mathias and Damien. Mathias is a holistic doctor and Damien is now in California with his uncle DEREK HOLSTEIN ‘71. NOAH RIFKIN “spent several months living in LA. Managed to rendevous with the oh-so-enigmatic DENNY MILLIKAN on several occasions to enjoy some of LA’s finest jazz @ the world famous “Baked Potato.” Unfortunately had to return to

JUNG LEE ’92 and Jen Martin welcomed a new addition to their family: Joseph David Lee was born on July 18, 2013.

“We couldn’t be happier!” (photo 1)

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CLASS NOTES… Photos (L to R): Peter Cole ’83 with his family; Samantha Hartley Hewitt ’86 with daughter, Cate, at the Tower Bridge, London; Back row (L-R) Bucky, Carolyn, Liam Kirkpatrick ’17, Eric, Colly Smith ’16, Sarah Lavender Smith ’86, Morgan Smith ’85; front row: more kids with Eric’s wife, Carmen; Sarah O’Brien with kids, Ronan and Pierce; Cole, son of Kate Twichell Mason 86, Cole; Victor Wykoff ’88 with his family in Europe; Marc Ganzi ’89 with Prince Charles at the Westchester Cup.

Buffalo as I was in need of some critical neurosurgery to remove a disk from my neck. Fear not, friends and foes!

I recuperated easily and am fine, though missing the great music of LA!

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Tripplehorn, work together in Leland’s film, Morning, about a couple struggling after their only child dies (see page 11).

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MARK SLICHTER shares, “I’m pleased to report that my daughter is now a freshman at Thacher. I know, a lot of you are doing the math and are opining: ‘Well that sure took a while.’ To which I can only respond, ‘Better late than never!’

Erin ‘17 is in Casa (same location, different dorm) and loving it! We are anxiously awaiting our first trip to the School since dropping her off, when we attend Family Weekend.”

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TIM BOWMAN says, “Spent a few days with BILL ARNOLD at Miller Motorsports Park. He was officiating a race, and I must say he was intimidating! Also PETER DOWNEY and Robin are coming by next week on a combination camping and business trip. Pete and I see each other at least once a year and my son, Jon, was employed

by Peter to dig geoducks a few years ago. (Look it up— it’s an episode of Dirty Jobs.) I also stay in touch with LIZ WESTBROOK ’75 (Emma Willard), and hope to visit her and BRAD SMITH next year if I can.” PAUL YELDER announces that, “After a 36-year lapse of sanity, I have finally come to my senses and moved back to the West Coast! Now that I’m living in LA, expect to see even more of me on campus and at Southern California CdeP events.”

GRANT FLETCHER and family are “doing well in San Diego area with commercial real estate and still working as an ocean lifeguard supervisor. Jamie, 20, at UCSD/UCLA; Katie, 18, playing soccer for Yale; and Corie, 14, a freshman in high school.

Still traveling, investing, and living part time in our home in Hanalei on Kauai. Our best to the Thacher community. Aloha!!!”

PARKER MacCREADY notes, “I finally attended a class reunion this year, and was pleasantly surprised to find out what amazing things my classmates had done in the interim. In Berkeley, I had a great visit with DAN MILLER while dropping my daughter off at Santa Clara University. My wife, Molly, and I also have a son who just started high school here in Olympia. I’ve been an oceanography professor at the University of Washington for 20 years! However, I am taking a break and starting a four-month stint as a visiting scientist at Microsoft Research.” ABHI MANERIKAR writes, “After nearly two years in Norway, I have returned to Calgary and back to the consulting life. I am enjoying the freedom of being a parttime empty-nester, when the girls are at university. Tracey and I are taking advantage of the situation by traveling extensively: trips to Germany, Egypt and Jordan, and Spain in the last year. Be sure to look us up if you are in the Calgary area—assuming we are in town!” LELAND ORSER and his wife, Jeanne

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TRACEY STEVENSON GARRETT shares, “Daughters, Toads and Strawberries! Sounds like a unique combination or rather a saucy title to a novel, right?!! But no, it was just our third annual summer camp out in the Strawberry Mountains of Oregon! Four Toads, their daughters, and their dogs made up the camp, but don’t forget good food and libation to boot!

All we were missing were the horses and guns! That’s not right, we had guns. JILL OXLEY SOUTO-MAIOR, TRACEY STEVENSON GARRETT, RACHEL OXLEY ‘89, and JILL STEVENSON ‘82, and our respective daughters, enjoyed the annual get-together that would make Extra-Day Trip campers blush! Lots of fireside tall tales and laughter and too many paths to hike; it reminded us of Mr. Sutphen’s and Mr. Close’s outtings! We were together again Oct. 5 to support NICOLE ‘83, KIT ‘80, and JANET ‘78 for their father’s, beloved Bob Miller, memorial at Thacher. We miss you, Bob and Denise. Thank you for the guidance, values, humor, and my enduring love of huaraches! Da, Domine, propitius pacem.

CAROL McCONNELL visited San Francisco last month and saw ALEX ‘81 and KATIE CALHOUN ‘83 and enjoyed a short visit with HEATHER FINDLAY. “Everyone is doing well, but too much time has passed. How did we get so old? CdeP 1981 members are turning 50 this year! Surreal, but true!

Everyone I’ve spoken with seems to be upbeat about it.”

HUNTER HOLLINS writes, “This year, in addition to my work at the Smithsonian, I joined the board of ArtWorksProjects, a nonprofit that uses fine-art photography to raise awareness of global humanitarian crises. ArtWorksProjects is the creation of our classmate, LESLIE THOMAS, and we are doing great work! Check it out: www.artworksprojects.org.”

DREW HORTON shares that “Three years making wine in Minnesota have gone by so quickly! I am proud of the handful of gold medals I have won with these Minnesota-grown wines at competitions in California and New York. I never took chemistry while in college, but so far Anne Thacher’s tutelage has served me well! I invite anyone visiting Minnesota to come see what ‘Napa of the North’ looks like! Cheers, in vino veritas.” JOHN WINSELL DAVIES announces, “Elizaveta and I were married in June and, after 11 years in Moscow, emigrated to London. Had a dream-world, three-month, honeymoon in Taman Negara, Nepal, Chiang Mai, Malapascua Island, Boho, and Phi Phi Islands. We arrived in England in September, where I started work as CIO of Machlin Oracle Ltd. in Marylebone.”

SIBYLL CARNOCHAN CATALAN shares that “In early October, I am going to NYC to host a group of outstanding

MILESTONES

BIRTHS teachers and principals as part of my job as director of the America Achieves Teacher and Principal Fellowship. The goal of the Fellowship is to create more conversations among policymakers and great practitioners—we’ll be meeting with Secretary Arne Duncan and other leaders in the field. On other fronts, life at home is great. Rodrigo’s doing triathlons, Nic’s in eighth grade, Sophia’s in sixth, and Thomas is in first.

Fun to have a full and busy home.” PETER COLE exclaims, “What a great reunion this past summer! We are all exactly the same people we were back then, with subtle refinements that only age and experience confer. I was recently invited to exhibit at the fourth New York Maker Faire (makerfaire.com) and it was amazing! I built an eight-by-twenty-foot-wall of varying sizes of cardboard boxes, creating niches and pedestals on which to display a survey of 25 years of sculpture.

It was very well received, and created new contacts across a spectrum of disciplines. Meanwhile we still maintain a booth of vintage clothing at the ever-popular Brooklyn Flea (brooklynflea.com) and walk our daughter Charlie to the bus stop every morning, on her way to sixth grade. Fall is coming; looking forward to carving some pumpkins.” DOUGLAS HOLT says, “Just a quick note on our successful Reunion weekend. MICHAEL KONG did a fabulous job as spokesperson and, after 30 years as a class representative, I was thrilled and tremendously honored to give our class speech. The class of 1983 has always been one of the strongest supportive classes from Thacher. Our victory over CdeP 2008 in beer pong was enjoyable but not as sweet as the fact that classes 25 years apart can have an amazing time reflecting on horses and Michael Mulligan. I tip my cowboy hat to all the faculty and staff for making our 30-year Reunion fantastic.” BOBBY KAHN, “After a wonderful 30-year Reunion at Thacher in June, I spent one week at MIT for a teacher workshop called Summer Engineering Program for Teachers. I had never been to MIT before and it was absolutely awesome!

It was the perfect segue to come back and teach robotics for the first time this summer. Presently, I am teaching Brentwood School’s first ever middle school robotics elective called Robotics Innovation Design. Instead of being in front of the kids delivering information, I am literally on the floor with them watching and asking questions about their robots’ performances on the various challenges. It is a different way of teaching that I absolutely love! I will be blogging about the course at bwsmsrobotics.blogspot.com. If anyone knows anything about robotics, I would love to hear from you.”

BIRTHS C O N T I N U E D

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TIM HARP tells us that “After 10 years flying with FedEx Express I am finally getting to upgrade to Captain. Will be moving from the MD-11 to the 757. Also this change in aircraft will take me to Europe. I will be based out of and living in Cologne, Germany, for two years and flying intra-

1997 KRISTIAN WHITSETT and Lillian are happy to announce the arrival of Aksel Frederick Whitsett, born on September 15, 2013. (photo 5) JUSTIN BUELL ’98 and his wife, Lucille, had their second child, Atticus Calder Buell, on June 10, 2013. (photo 6)

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TED CRAVER ’98 (photo) and his wife had twin boys—Charles and Lucas—on July 3, 2013. They were welcomed by their 5-yearold brother, Teddy, and 2-year-old sister, Evelyn. (photo 7) SALLY WHITEHILL ’98 and her husband, Mark, are pleased to announce—belatedly!—the birth of their daughter, Julia Esme Gordon. (photo 8)

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BRENDAN BECHTEL ’99 and Helen were thrilled to welcome Alexandra Pearson Bechtel on June 19, 2013, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz! “Helen and Alexandra are both doing perfectly.” (photo 9) MOLLIE E. GARDNER ’99 and Bill introduce their baby girl, Harriet Speer Hector, born September 22, 2013, weighing 7 lbs 4 oz! “She has already mastered Domine, we’re now moving on to barrel racing.” (photo 10)

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CLASS NOTES…

JONG LEE writes, “Hope everyone is well. Things are crazy as usual. We continue to work on a couple of startups and some cool new companies. Our lotsofbuttons.com won Startup Arena in Singapore; I could never have imagined that one day we’d be selling 25-cent buttons online from Hong Kong!

We are working on expanding our social enterprise, Bonham Strand, which focuses on creating living wage, long-term skilled career opportunities for at-risk youth with substanceabuse challenges.” To read more from Jong and see a video about Bonham Strand, go to blogs.thacher.org/classnotes.

SARAH O’BRIEN shares, “After living in San Francisco for 20 years, Aaron and I returned to Santa Barbara in August 2012 to provide our sons, Pierce (age 6) and Ronan (age 4), the same wonderful childhood I enjoyed. Pierce is now in his second year at Crane Country Day School and loves being in first grade. It is thrilling to have Pierce at Crane, where I attended with my siblings: TOM ’79, PAGE ’81, and PETER ’88. We missed the annual class gathering in the city but hope to see our San Francisco classmates in Ojai or Santa Barbara.” JULIAN PRIDMORE-BROWN shares an adventure, “In August, I joined a friend riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. I completed about 500 miles of the 2,700-mile route, so there’s plenty left for next time! I started in Butte, Mont., and rode south into central Wyoming crossing the continental divide several times. We camped the whole way and saw some awesome country!” KATE TWICHELL MASON notes, “Since we moved from SF to Lafayette, Calif., a year ago, my husband, Paul, completed his eMBA, I am still working as a senior manager of organization and employee development at AECOM, and our son, Cole, is busy with Cub Scouts, playing soccer, and everything related to being in first grade.

Europe. Kids will all be in college so the timing is good. Still plan on trying to make the 30-year Reunion though. Anyone wanting to come visit me in Germany is always welcome.”

SORAYA MINTY is “entering my eighth year as seniorassociate attorney at Malmquist Fields Camastra in Glendale, Calif., and recent part-time pro-tem judge. I am now a board-certified specialist in workers’ compensation law, and I continue to find the field vibrant and intellectually challenging. Recently I purchased my first house and, after months of remodeling we finally moved in on September 7. Our move coincided with a very exciting trip to New York City to watch the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadow. This has been a busy year!

I look forward to many more such years in the wonderful city of Los Angeles.”

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JAMES TAYLOR shares that “After a disastrous battle with the State of Montana, I am now out of the land development business and back in education. I am teaching at a college prep boarding school in Utah (read: middle of nowhere...), Wasatch Academy. I teach any math class in the school, but currently AP Stats, Business Math, Intro to Programming, and Pre-Calculus. Pay is low but it is great to have a vacation whenever my kids have vacation! Good luck finding Mount Pleasant, Utah, on a map without the help of Google.... Still married, still have a house full of kids (but two in college— the end is in sight!), still nuts. The only big change is that my hair is all but gone.”

CHRIS DIENER notes, “In October 2013, Chris took a position as Senior Vice President, Analytics, at AbsolutData—an international Big Data analytics solutions firm—and started a blog at analyticsleadership.com.” SAMANTHA HARTLEY HEWITT shares, “September brings the warmest weather to San Francisco, just as the kids have to head back to school. Cate has started second grade and is loving soccer and dance. We had a few wonderful adventures in August with a trip to London and Mallorca, and weekends at Echo Lake. We got to spend time with HEIDI and JOHANNES GIRARDONI ’85 in L.A., to see Johannes’s newest light-and-sound exhibition. AMI BECKER-ARONSON and her daughter, Goldie, were also visiting from D.C. for a week. I started a new job at Arkitektura in June—all fine so far.” SARAH LAVENDER SMITH writes, “Last May, CAROLYN REED KIRKPATRICK, MORGAN SMITH ‘85, and I bought an item at the Thacher Parents’ Auction for three nights in August at Golden Trout Camp. We recruited REBECCA (BUCKY) CLYDE TENNANT, ERIC GROSS ‘85 and his wife, Carmen, and several of our kids to join us. We enjoyed a glorious long weekend hiking and hanging out in camp, expertly managed by CAM SPAULDING ‘92, NICK TRANMER ‘92, and several Thacher students. An alumni pilgrimage to Golden Trout is definitely worthwhile!”

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MICHELE BARNETT BERG writes, “This year has made for multiple, mini-Thacher reunions which I really appreciate as, being abroad for the past 11 years, I have not made it to the past couple of Reunions. On New Year’s Eve, we had a great time with ELEANOR WHELAN O’NEILL and her family at the Getty Museum and the Santa Monica Pier. Then, during our spring break it turned out that—thanks to seeing on Facebook that KATIE PARSONS, DAISY MOORE LALWANI, and I were all in NYC with our families—we had a fun time meeting up one afternoon. This summer TOM COLE and his wife, Linda, (who coincidentally used to live three blocks from our house) and their kids came to Stockholm and we spent time out on our boat and visiting one of the nearby horse farms. In November I will be running the NYC marathon with AMI BECKER ARONSON ‘86. Life is good here in Sweden and I am keeping busy with my consulting business, being a soccer and ice hockey mom, and running. I just did my first ultra-marathon in August. Love to see any other

Photos (L to R): William Redfield ’91 works on mobile device security; Rika Toll ’94 and Maggie Reniers ’92 atop Mount Lofty in Adelaide, Australia; Sara Cooper, daughter of Toby ’93; Toby’s other daughter, Nina; Brian Bennett ’94 with his family; Mary Everett Conarroe ’94 with her son, Cooper; Jen Kritz’s ’94 with classmates in Ventura (L to R): Jovi, Devon, Jennifer, and Skye.

MILESTONES BIRTHS C O N T I N U E D

Toads if they make it this far north!” ANDREW TIDRICK writes, “I am living once again in Colorado, where I grew up!

As my twins, Silva and Luna, graduated from high school and started at University of Texas at Austin in August, I decided it was time to return north. My son, Cesar, is also here with me in Fort Collins, going to college, and working a bit. Please look me up if you’re passing by!”

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VICTOR WYKOFF writes, “A challenging but fantastic year for the Wykoff-Pinon family. We kicked off summer by moving to Cupertino, Calif. Immediately thereafter, I attended reunion where Patrick (5 years old) rode his first horse and loved it. Carla finished her first year at BlackRock and I finished my second at PayPal/eBay (where ABBY GUARD BUCK also works). At the end of summer, we embarked on our first family vacation to Europe, where we swam in the South of France, hiked above Griante to San Martino, and trekked in the Alps underneath the gaze of the wind-swept Matterhorn.”

WALT WOODHEAD ’99 and Mandy had a baby boy, Samuel William Charles Woodhead. (photo 11)

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PETER HARTNACK ’00 and his wife, Ann Pepi, welcomed a baby girl, Josephine Ann Hartnack, on May 23, 2013.

EVY PAULINO ’00 announces, “We welcomed little Emari into the world last March. We are enjoying life together as a family of five!” (photo 13)

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MARC GANZI shares, “I had one of my greatest honors as a polo player this summer, by being asked to captain the U.S. National Team in the Ryder Cup equivalent of polo: the Westchester Cup. The U.S. lost in overtime to England, 12-11, but the honor will not be forgotten.” CATHY RUHL notes, “Well, it’s hard to believe that our five-year European adventure is coming to an end this summer! We’ve been living in Germany since our last Reunion—and I will likely have to miss our upcoming Reunion to pack up our house to make our way back to California. I was lucky enough to catch up with several Toads over the past couple of years. MARIELLE and I met up in Istanbul last year and she also visited me in Germany; BECCA and I had a chance to check out the castles along the Rhine; and GENEVIEVE was teaching in Rome for a year—so I had to visit! And, of course, my brother JASON ‘91 has been here several times. It’s hard to believe that five years is almost up and Reunion is just around the corner… have a great time!

NANDINI LEE RAO announces, “I got married in January of 2013, and my husband, Sudeep Motupalli Rao, and I are expecting a beautiful baby in March of 2014. We live in Sonoma County, near San Francisco.” WILLIAM REDFIELD and family are now living in San Mateo, Calif., where Peter (age 3) and Ian (age 7) are regularly surfing it up in Pacifica.

“Red” is keeping busy at Symantec, where he’s driving strategy for enterprise mobility protection solutions—mainly mobile application management (MAM) and mobile device management (MDM). “Stop by for lunch next time you’re in Mountain View and remember to password protect your device!”

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FELICITY ’00 AND JUSTIN ARNOLD ’00 joyously welcomed Willa Snow Arnold into the world on June 1, 2013. “Big brother Arlo is pleased as punch with the new addition!” (photo 12)

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MICHAEL DISNER ’01 welcomed their third son, Jackson Renán, into their family on January 27, 2013. “He loves his older brothers, and they love him too—sometimes too much.”

PHOEBE BARKAN MCNEIL ’03 and husband, Jacob, are parents to Betula Elizabeth Munro McNeil born January 13, 2013.

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Sawyer Evans Smearman was born to ELIZABETH JACKSON SMEARMAN ’04 and Jared in Monterey, Calif., on October 1, weighing 7 lbs. 8 ozs. and measuring 20 inches long. “We are thrilled to be firsttime parents and look forward to bringing Sawyer to Thacher for reunion in June!” (photo 14)

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CLASS NOTES…

Photos (L to R): Jovi ’94, Robert, Zion, and Liel at Mysore Palace in India; Lloyd Sacks’s ’95 son, Ori, passed away in July; Emily Kate Wilson Moon ’95 signing her new book, Joone; Brittany Sanders ’96 with daughter, Adelaide; Andrew Barkan ’98 and wife, Polly, performing children’s songs; Eliza ’99, Ryan ’99, and Ainsley are doing great in San Francisco; Melanie Larkins ’99 on the lot of Rede Globo, the largest television network in Brazil; Shay Mamo ’99 going to body surf in San Diego; Hannah Hooper ’00 with her band, Grouplove; Michael Disner ’01 with his family in China.

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NICK GEALE reports, “I finally made it through the U.S. Senate confirmation process in late July with a unanimous voice vote, and was sworn in as the Republican member of the National Mediation Board on August 19. It’s a small agency responsible for mediating labor disputes for airlines and railroads (all freight and some transit) and overseeing union elections and grievance arbitration processes in those industries. For your information, BART is not part of our responsibility so don’t blame me for that one, Bay Area Toads.”

MAGGIE RENIERS shares, “Hello! Life is good! The hotel continues to be an exciting adventure! I am engaged to a wonderful woman, Carol Peddie, and am looking forward to her moving down to Ecuador this fall. Had a great visit with the TOLL family in Australia in February 2013 and a great visit with MOLLY WALES and her family in Athens, Ohio!”

announces, “Big (or ‘little,’ depending on how you think about it) news from Noah: He’s going to be a big brother to his baby brother due in late January!” Jennifer also had a mini reunion in Ventura with JOVI YOUNG GERACI, DEVON BROWN CICHOSKI, and SKYE ROHDE. NICK YOUNG sends his greetings, “Hi, Thacher friends! A quick note: A film my brother Zack and I produced, animated, and scored, called William Kurelek’s The Maze, was presented by the Governor General of Canada on October 9 to raise awareness about mental health in Canada, and to honor the celebrated artist William Kurelek. To learn more, please visit: themazemovie. com. All my love to Thacher students and teachers! Hope to see you all for 2014 Reunion!” JOVI YOUNG GERACI writes, “I finished my PhD in religious studies from UCSB a year ago. I continue to teach religious studies at Manhattan College and homeschool my kids: Zion, 9, and Liel, 7. My husband, Robert, was the recipient of a Fulbright-Nehru senior researcher award last year and our family spent five months living in Bangalore, India. It was amazing!”

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TOBY COOPER says, “Right now I’m waiting for my flight from Paris to Bordeaux for work. Other than that, I’ve been busy living with my wife (Heidi), two daughters (Sara and Nina), two fish (Heidi and John), and two cats (Whiskey and Fancy) in wholesome Miami. BEN KROKOWER writes, “I couldn’t make Reunion last summer because my wife, Lesley Rogers, and I had our first kid in June! Besides having a kid, I’ve been running my own consultancy, Upwards Tech, and launched a website that helps nonprofits campaign and raise funds online.”

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BRIAN BENNETT shares that “Our son Timothy’s first word was ‘outside.’ He turned 2 in August and already loves climbing rocks and running up hills. I am enjoying writing for the Los Angeles Times in Washington, D.C. We hope to see most of CdeP 1994 at our 20-year Reunion in 2014. Love, Brian” MEREDITH BRESSIE HERRENBRUCK writes, “After Marc and I got married last year and honeymooned in Rome, we thought it would be great to buy a fixer-upper and call it home. Well, the remodel in San Anselmo is a bit more than we expected, but we think big! So, we adjusted, living on a boat for five weeks, and are now in a one-bedroom cottage for the duration of the project. Cozy! Our first year is quite an adventure and we are having lots of fun.” JANE CASAMAJOR reports, “I am happy to be back in California and again at the San Jose Repertory Theatre. Looking forward to enjoying the wilds of this state and catching up with friends.”

MARY EVERETT CONARROE says, “It’s been an eventful year. Our 1-year-old, Cooper, is just as busy as his older brother. We are still living in Bakersfield, Calif., which has afforded me the opportunity to meet up with various other California Toads, including DIANA GARCIA ‘95, KACEY PERKINS-TIFT ‘95, and KATHERINE KIRKMIRE VININGS. I am looking forward to Reunion in June... and still deciding if it will be a kids or no-kids weekend! JENNIFER KRITZ

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LLOYD SACKS shares, “After a long, intense, and courageous battle, we lost our darling boy, Ori, to leukemia on July 13, 2013. Ori had a happy life, despite all he went through in his 18 months. He also had a talent for making everybody feel incredibly loved and special. May Ori—son, brother, child of light, pure spirit—endure forever as an inspiration to us all.” Lloyd, Merav & Romi EMILY KATE WILSON MOON writes, “Howdy, y’all! I’d like to announce the publication of my first children’s book, Joone. It is about a little girl, Joone, who lives in a yurt with her grandfather and pet turtle, Dr. Chin, and how they enjoy the simple things in life. It is a picture book, aimed at children age 5 and under, and bound to please! I hope you love it! Feel free to email me or learn more about the making of the book at my website: www. emilykatemoon.com.”

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BRITTANY SANDERS notes, “We have happily relocated to Santa Monica after living in New York City. Adelaide is now 19 months old—what a fun age of discovery. I am looking forward to her first horseback ride at Thacher!” MANDY SONENSHINE WYNN announces, “I’m graduating with a MS in information and knowledge strategy from Columbia University this December! I can’t wait to be done. Working full time with twin first graders made pursuing this degree challenging but completely worthwhile. I’m already applying my new knowledge at Rodeph Sholom School and plan on working to understand and leverage knowledge assets and collaborative culture in diverse schools.”

HALLIE GORDON PALLADINO and her husband, Rocco, welcomed a baby daughter, Serena, last spring. They also have a

2½-year-old son, Rocco, who just started nursery school. They live in Chicago. KRISTIAN WHITSETT shares, “Lillian and I are happy to announce the arrival of Aksel Frederick Whitsett, born on September 15. Life is treating us well and I am staying more than busy as an architect with Margo Jones Architects—working primarily on public schools.

Also, just wanted to say congrats to TRISTAN RHODES for getting married, congrats to JOHN MATSON for his recent addition to his family, and KEN YOUNG for his recent addition as well!”

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ANDREW BARKAN reports, “My incredible wife, Polly Hall, and I have been killing it in children’s entertainment. Nickelodeon hired us to write songs for their upcoming preschool literacy show, Wallykazam! We’ve also had five songs playing on Sirius XM Kids Place Live all summer including our new single, Little Bitta You.” NICK ENGLISH “was fortunate to spend time with both WIL CALDWELL (Nashville) and also JAMES BOWIE (the OC) last month. Love those guys.” JEFF MANSON announces, “In September, I got married to my best friend and art collaborator Vanessa Waring! We had a great shindig at Gospel Flat Farm, where BRONWEN HALSEY lives with her husband, Mickey Murch, and their family. Vanessa and I are enjoying our small town life: growing veggies, making music, and exploring the nearby wilderness.”

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ELIZA GREGORY writes, “RYAN MEYER, Ainsley, and I are doing great! We live in San Francisco. I’m in the last year of my MFA in art and social practice. Ryan works at the California Ocean Science Trust. We are enjoying spending time with our families in California, exploring our neighborhood in the southern part of S.F., and eating burritos. Come see us!” MELANIE LARKINS shares, “I am doing very well and still living in Atlanta (for now). In December 2013, I will graduate with one MBA from Georgia State University, one MBA from L’Institut d’Administration des Enterprises de Paris, and a master’s certificate from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). I spent time living and studying in Brazil, Belgium, and France this year in our cohort program and I look forward to more global adventures in the future.

The attached photo shows me on the lot of Rede Globo, the largest television network in Brazil. I was later featured in an article on Globo.com. See the online notes, blogs.thacher.org/ classnotes for the link to the article. SHAY MAMO shared, “I’m writing from Newark airport on my way to Tel Aviv, where I’ve been accepted to the Technion for a one-year MBA program with a focus on start-ups. I’m sad to say goodbye to San Diego where I’ve lived for over a decade. But I’m sure I’ll be back in Speedo and fins soon for more body surfing.”

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MARIPOSA WIDDOES BRANT is focusing her energy on “The Oriole Park Sunshine Run” of Chicago. The 5K/10K is the first race she is coordinating and will be followed by a festival in the streets. Prior to the race, children can participate in training programs and adults can learn to be active during her Couch-to-5K program. If you will be in Chicago on May 18, 2014, contact Mariposa to volunteer or run!

HANNAH HOOPER says, “What up! I’m a singer in the band Grouplove. I’m engaged to my bandmate and the love of my life, Christian Zucconi. We are currently on a world tour promoting our second album Spreading Rumours. I still paint when we are home in Los Angeles, which is rare. Come out to a show and say hi!” MARLEY ORR REILLY shares that “On September 7, 2013, I married Gabe Reilly, a funny and loving New Yorker and Wesleyan alum, in Paso Robles, Calif., at Cass Vineyards and Winery. The day was completely magical; there were butterflies and dragonflies in the air and, at night, stars as far as the eye could see! I was so thrilled to have my long-time friend YUI SCHRIBNER along with me for the ride. She helped me get ready, kept me calm, and danced the night away with me. In other news, I work at Oracle in San Francisco in the Oracle Social Cloud, and am doing a ton of training with my running club; I have found a serious love for the half-marathon. Dr. D was right; your 30s are a great time to do distance running! Love to my classmates and others. Hope to see more of you soon.”

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MICHAEL DISNER tells us that “This past year has been a busy one for us! On January 27, 2013, we welcomed our third son, Jackson Renán, into our family. He loves his older brothers, and they love him too (sometimes too much). Then, in August, we made our fifth move in six years, this time to Beijing, China, where I am serving my first tour as a Foreign Service Officer in the State Department. We’ll be here until Summer 2015, so if anyone is in the area, look us up!”

PETER FRYKMAN is “living full-time in Pune, India, leading Driptech, the social enterprise I started five years ago.

We’ve had an impact on over 50,000 lives with affordable irrigation for small-plot farmers. Recently, I celebrated the Ganesh festival and was covered by locals in colored powder.

Check out my talk at INK conference in association with TED. KATIE HARMON announces, “My first book is coming out this fall! Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature In the Sea (Penguin/Current, 2013) profiles my adventures with these weird and smart animals from ocean to plate... to robots!”

T.J. LANGER shares, “I am thrilled to announce my marriage to Rachel Rosenberg in June! I’ve been working at Sapphire Energy for the past four years and advising at UCSD for engineering entrepreneurs. I run my own engineering consulting company, IMDGroup, designing consumer products and utilizing 3D printers to create prototypes that help startups

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CLASS NOTES…

1st Lieutenant from the Republic of Korea Air Force, thereby concluding my 40-month military service. During my service, I was an interpreter for the Bureau, within the Republic of Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff, responsible for military-tomilitary diplomacy with our allies around the world. Thanks to the Korean military, I had the opportunity to visit Brussels, Washington, Honolulu, Tel Aviv, Ankara, and Sydney, where I wined, dined, and translated for top-ranking admirals and generals. Even after discharge, my travels, it seems, haven’t quite ended. I’ll be spending the next two years (at least) in the Big Apple, where I’m currently attending the School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University.

I’m having a blast being a (master’s) student again, studying social policy and communications. If you’re in NYC, then, as that song by C.R. Jepsen goes, ‘call me maybe.’” CINDY SORRICK is “Working hard yet enjoying my third year of veterinary school at Iowa State University.” LT. WILL WILDER reports, “I returned to the States in May, flying on a military cargo plane from Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, into Manas, Kyrgyzstan, where the U.S. has a small town for all transiting troops—basically a bunch of tents, a couple 24hour dining halls, a 24-hour gym, and a couple shops. While I was at the MWR (basically a room with a bunch of computers and a movie screen), I ran into none other than USAF 1st Lt. PETER ARNOLD, on his way back to Little Rock from flying C-130s out of Kandahar. Good to see fellow CdeP-ers, particularly ’05s, out there doing good things and coming home safely.”

get their ideas to market faster. Rachel is a life coach and is finishing her master’s in spiritual psychology. Married life is good, work is fun, and free-time includes CrossFit and hiking—hopefully Mt. Whitney this fall, weather permitting.”

EMMA WHITE says, “I am living with my husband, Olivier, in Rome, Italy, where I am an early childhood teacher.”

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JAMES EVERETT was awarded the Air Medal citation after action in Afghanistan in the summer of 2012. STEPHANIE HUBBARD McGIRT says, “Hello! I’m still in Albuquerque, working on finishing my last year of medical school.

Having just sent my application to several residency programs in family medicine, I’m kind of excited to head out on the interview trail, which might even take me to Ventura to check out their program. If I do, I’ll be sure to make time to swing on up to the Valley and say howdy to the folks at Thacher. Know that I think of this place often and hope all my former classmates are doing well.”

ARIELLE MITTON writes, “In my last year of medicine residency and expecting my first baby in early October!”

GRAHAM DOUDS graduated from University of San Francisco School of Law in May 2013 and is waiting for the California Bar results coming out in November. “In the interim, I am working two jobs: one for the city of San Francisco and the other is for a private law firm. I am enjoying the abundance of Thacher Toads in SF. Spent Labor Day at at a backyard BBQ at ELLA CARNEY’S and JULIA ROBINSON’S apartment. Looking forward to my 10-year reunion next June!” WARD SORRICK is “currently enrolled in a professional acting training program in Berkeley, Calif., at the Waterfront Playhouse and Conservatory. When I’m not in class or rehearsing, I am working as an independent producer for feature and short films, commercials, events, music, and more. I am also playing a small role in a play called Sueno being produced through the American Conservatory Theater in SF. We only have seven shows that run during the second and third weeks of October, but I’m excited to perform! I plan to continue auditioning for projects once the play closes!”

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LAUREN BANGASSER shares, “I am living in Memphis, Tenn., and working for the Shelby County School District on the Farm-to-School program. We build school gardens and use them to get kids excited about eating healthier. In recent years Memphis has been named both the hungriest and fattest city in the U.S., so we have our work cut out for us! It gives me hope, though, when I have kids jumping up and down over spinach, carrots, cucumbers, and peas in the garden.” See Lauren interviewed at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes. CALVIN KIM writes, “In June 2013, I was (honorably) discharged as a

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CHRISTOPHER MASON “Just started work at Ernst & Young in their Assurance department. Also graduated in May from Loyola Marymount University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance.

Seems like I’ve finally put all the pieces back together after my higher education woes and looking forward to finally starting my career in the working world.” JENNY MORILL, RYAN SMITH, and two other friends recently started a company called Move Loot, an online furniture consignment site that makes it easier to buy and sell used furniture. Move Loot does all the heavy lifting, literally—picking up furniture from sellers, cleaning, and storing the furniture in their warehouse, and then delivering the furniture to the buyer.

Check out the site (moveloot.com) to learn more! RUTH SAWYER is “living in Seattle, about to celebrate my three year Seattle-versary! Drop me a line if you’re ever up here : ).”

ALEXANDRIA DOTSON notes, “I have been out of the country for a year-long Bristol Fellowship traveling to India, South Africa, Ghana, Brazil, and Dominican Republic. I was researching the import and export of Indian hair and the impact it has on the global black community and, as a result,

Photos (L to R): Peter Frykman ’01 in India during the Ganesh festival; Katie Harmon ’01 is excited to be an author; Lauren Bangasser ’05 serving schoolgrown cucumbers to students; Nylah, daughter of Jedidiah Harris ’07; Sarah Brown-Campello ’08 in Israel; Alison Espinosa-Setchko ’09 outside of Santillana del Mar in Spain; Chris Rowe ’09 in Taiwan; Teresa Findley ’10 with graduating sister, Kristen ’09.

put together a documentary. I have also been running a catering company, which my brother and I started a few years ago. We deliver lunch to local businesses, do craft services for the entertainment industry, and cater for all sorts of parties and events. Hope everyone is doing well, and can’t wait to see more Toads soon!” See the documentary teaser at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes. JEDIDIAH HARRIS writes, “Life has been a roller coaster of excitement for my family in a short period of time. I was medically retired from the Marine Corps in 2011; worked as a contractor for General Electric Nuclear; started my own government contracting firm; and finished my BS in business administration. If that weren’t enough, my wife, Chiquita, and I had a vibrant and fully-charged baby girl to keep us busy. Nylah recently turned 2 years old and is always the life of the party! We stay active in our church and I mentor a local young man in an attempt to give back.” BRIGID McCARTHY finished her third half-marathon at the San Francisco Nike event in October.

Joining her was Thacher classmate, CECI HAYNE. And, Brigid just finished up 2.5 years of infant autism research at UCLA, and will begin a post-bac program at UC Berkeley midJanuary. DELLA TAYLOR reports, “I am currently living in The Presidio in San Francisco, am self-employed as a private chef with several families, and do small event catering. I enjoy meeting new people and sharing my love for food. The Bay Area is such a diverse and eclectic setting; it is hard not to be excited constantly. I have stayed in touch with a number of Thacher friends, and if any Toads are in San Francisco and looking for a good meal, please feel free to reach out to me for restaurant recommendations or a home-cooked meal!”

invented young backs!” ABBY VOLKMANN shares, “I received a fellowship position for the fall with a nonprofit corporation, Community Water Solutions (CWS), a group that partners with rural communities in developing countries to establish sustainable water treatment businesses. These businesses are owned and operated by women in the communities that they serve, and use simple, affordable technologies to enable the treatment, distribution, and storage of clean, safe drinking water. CWA is effectively combating the water crisis in Ghana, and I am very excited to be working with them.”

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SARAH BROWN-CAMPELLO writes, “I have finished my master’s in Australia, and am currently living in Israel. I am participating in an Israeli nonprofit program called Yahel Social Change. I am involved in development and community empowerment programs, specifically focusing on working with Ethiopian Israelis and other minority groups. BRANNON CAVALIER’S father shares, “Brannon continues to thrive in his journey. He is an amazing young man. Not just because he’s my son, but, more, because he has embraced his life in such a competent, mature, open, seeking, curious, and peaceful manner. Much of that credit goes to his education at Thacher. Since his graduation in June from Dartmouth, he became employed at Flow Systems in Berthoud, Colo. He is a systems integration engineer for the technology that meters gas flow volumes in things like electronic fuel injection systems to huge gas pipelines. Beginning in August last year, the company sent him for installations, training, calibrations and software to: China (2x), Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, North and South Carolina, Mexico, Brussels, Frankfort, Kazakhstan (2x), Mass., Conn., and more. That’s why they

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ALISON ESPINOSA-SETCHKO greets, “Hey All! I am currently in Spain on a Fulbright Scholarship. For the next year I will be teaching English and Global Classrooms (Model United Nations) to secondary students on the northern coast of Spain. I am living in Santander, the main city in the region of Cantabria, where the Bay Cantabrica meets the Cantabrian mountains. I am so grateful for this opportunity for intercultural exchange both in and outside of the classroom. Please know that you all have a home in Spain! In a neighboring town, Santillana del Mar, a few of us were able to explore and hike on the world-renowned pilgrimage, el Camino de Santiago.” CAMERON KEMP shares, “Since graduating from Davidson College in May, I have been working as a project coordinator with the 2Seeds Network, an agricultural development nonprofit that works with rural farmers in Tanzania. I am so happy to have found an organization whose values and projects deeply align with my own beliefs.

I am working on the Bungu Project in the Usambara Mountains of northeastern Tanzania, facilitating a small farmers’ group by providing microloans, organizing financial and management trainings, working together to insure better income security in the region, and elevate the overall quality of life. Not to mention my recently acquired Swahili is safi sana.” EMILY KIRKLAND notes, “I just moved to Los Angeles and I’m working for Environment California on a campaign to promote rooftop solar power! If you’re in the area, hit me up on Facebook.” CHRIS ROWE reports, “Preparing to enter a four-year graduate program in Chinese Buddhist studies at Dharma Drum Buddhist University, on the north coast of Taiwan, in July 2014. Currently studying Chinese intensively through Taiwan’s Huayu scholarship program.”

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LAURA AMMONS is working hard at Bennington College; building a lab dedicated to neurobiological research on the octopus, and still dancing. TERESA FINDLEY writes, “I’m a senior at Emory University majoring in neuroscience and minoring in music—working in the Department of Physiology on brain-stem to spinal cord descending systems research.

I also work with electronics at Theater Emory and play in

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CLASS NOTES… Photos (L to R): Jensen Hodge ’11 in Prague, Czech Republic; Katie Taylor ’11 in East Africa; Patrick Teague ’11 with sister, Anna Teague ’07; Matt Wyckoff’s ’12 NOLS mountaineering/survival training.

a band, with two other members, called Roscoe. I hope to go to graduate school for research next year. My big sister, KRISTEN ’09, graduated last May and I’m on my way!

Miss everyone at Thacher and I hope to come visit soon!”

TIM REED is the new student body president at Whitman College. He was elected last spring and will serve as president of the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC) for 2013-14. He spoke at convocation this year.

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JENSEN HODGE is a marketing and strategic development intern for Greenpeace in Prague, Czech Republic, for the semester. KATIE TAYLOR says, “Hello, Thacher Toads!

I am currently studying abroad with a wildlife management program in Tanzania and Kenya! I get to learn all about wildlife management, ecologies of different species, the environmental policy of this area, as well as learn Swahili!

I also get to go on a ton of safaris to do field research using different animals, from baboons to big cats and elephants!

I am having a blast and I am really learning a lot. I could not have done this without gaining so much knowledge and confidence from my years at Thacher!” PATRICK TEAGUE notes, “I recently co-founded an internet/software company called Soound.com with an RPI alumnus. My sister ANNA ‘07 is currently pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology at Palo Alto University.” KYLE GRIFFITH updates, “Things are going well here at Emory University. I recently chartered the Gamma Beta Gamma chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity incorporated and my little brother—who was fighting aplastic anemia—is celebrating his one-year anniversary of a successful bone-marrow transplant.”

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DEREK GULICK-STUTZ writes, “After spending my gap year working and traveling in China and Brazil, I am excited to be back studying at the University of Pennsylvania. I’m playing linebacker on the sprint (lightweight) football team and am enjoying my classes in computer science, government, and Portuguese.” MATT WYCKOFF was recently selected as one of two head photographers for the Naval Academy’s yearbook—out of 80 who applied. At Thacher, Matt served as a media assistant and his efforts paid off.

He says, “The photo team here is incredible.” Matt shared gorgeous photos of his National Outdoor Leadership School mountaineering/survival training in Alaska at blogs.thacher.org/classnotes.

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HOW IS YOUR THACHER HISTORY? Don’t miss the latest addition to The Campus History Series by John Taylor CdeP 1965. This new book, which tells the story of Thacher in words and photos, can be ordered from the Thacher campus bookstore: 805-640-3201 x 235.

HOW TO SUBMIT DIGITAL PHOTOS: • Shoot using your camera’s best photo setting.

• Files should be 200k or larger.

• Save photos as JPEG files.

• Identify every person in the photo, state time and place, and suggest a caption.

We can accept good old-fashioned prints as well.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept photocopies or images from magazines or newspapers.

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

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FACULTY, STAFF & FRIENDS…

New to the faculty this fall (l to r): Juan Sanchez, Cal Jensen CdeP 2006, Karen Haldeman, Courtney Sullivan, and Donald Okpalugo; (below) Kim Maxwell, and Tim Sullivan. Bottom right, the newest facbrat, Sierra Grossman Sanchez, shows her School spirit.

ALL OF YOUR WELL WISHES FOR MARVIN SHAGAM did the trick! Over the summer, he traveled to Thailand and Brazil. Over Thanksgiving he visited Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, since he’d only seen them once before.

We weclomed some new faces (pictured on this page) to the faculty in the fall. For a complete introduction see the website news story at thacher.org/magazine.

JEFF HOOPER, JAKE JACOBSEN, MOLLY TWICHELL PERRY ‘85, JENNIFER FINLEY McGILL, and AARON SNYDER presented the inaugural week of the Capstone Consortium, an outgrowth of the Senior Exhibition program the Edward E. Ford Foundation now supports via a three-year grant. Nearly 30 participants from 18 public and private schools, from as close as Carpinteria and as far away as Rutland, Vt., came together to share best practices for capstone academic projects.

NAIS named English teacher JOEL SOHN as Teacher of the Future for Leadership creativity and innovation in the classroom, one of only 25 teachers to receive this honor. Speaking of awards, the Alumni and Development Office received a 2013 CASE Educational Fundraising Award for Overall Performance.

Nearing completion of their graduate work are SUSANNAH McGOWAN (doctorate in academic technology) and FRANCOISE KASMIROWSKI (master’s in French language).

Instead of taking a year-long sabbatical, English teacher and Department Chair JAKE JACOBSEN opted for a four-summer sabbatical. His first summer was spent traveling to South Africa, where he worked at the African Leadership Academy and then traveled to various parts of the Eastern and Western Capes, where he studied modern race relations. He then traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, where he witnessed the cultural advancement of girls and young women in society. Next summer, Jake plans to take some students to Cambodia for a service-learning experience and then to serve as a School representative in Korea or China.

Over the summer, two faculty members excelled in some grueling competitions. CAM SCHRYVER competed in the Calgary Stampede Cowboy Up Challenge, a multi-day event that puts horse and rider through a series of obstacles testing horsemanship skills at incredible speed. Out of 11 competitors, Cam and Sticks earned Reserve Champion status. ELIZABETH REYNOLDS MAHONEY ‘88 competed in the Ironman World Championship 70.3 on September 8 in Henderson, Nev., an event that drew the fastest competitors from around the world. Later that month, she competed in the LA Triathlon, taking first in her division, a goal she’s been working toward for a few years.

Some faculty members took students on trips over the summer and this fall. History teacher SARAH DELVECCHIO and Chinese teacher ERIC SHI took about a dozen students on a cultural immersion trip to China. Math and dance

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FACULTY, STAFF & FRIENDS… The newest board members: (l to r) Nancy Yih, Bob Johnson, Diana Rauner, Tom McCloskey, and Ted Williams (not pictured, Mark Holman).

NEW TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

instructor GALLIA VICKERY joined forces with Music Director GREG HAGGARD to put dance to music for the International Festival of Music in Chongqing, China. Their 20-minute presentation performed by five young women was very well received.

Spanish teacher JUAN SANCHEZ and wife, Xena Grossman, welcomed their first child, daughter Sierra Grossman Sanchez, on September 21. A few weeks later, when Sierra made her Assembly debut, a holiday was called in her honor. And, new associate director of admission and lacrosse coach TIM SULLIVAN and his wife, COURTNEY, expect their first child by spring.

At the fall gathering in Cambridge, former math teacher TOM FOSTER shared about the impact of his sabbatical at the Woodstock School. Also at that event was former history teacher TOBY ELMORE, who now works at the Hotchkiss School, teaching history, working in admission, and coaching soccer.

He, his wife, Amy (former director of Thacher’s Alumni Fund), and their two children are happily living in Western Massachusetts.

SARA EDWARDS, who has worked in Olympus for the past 15 years, also serves as organist and choir director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Ventura.

She was recently asked to play for the Reformation service at Cal Lutheran University.

After finishing a job in Santa Barbara, LUIS JUNGO returned to work at Thacher in both the Student Store and the Business Office.

Along with 15 other artists, pastry chef and ceramicist ROBIN RILEY opened the Ojai Valley Artists gallery in July, just a few doors down from Ruben’s on Signal Street. She joins over 40 artists displaying wares that range from plein air oil and pastel paintings to textiles and ceramics.   

After nine years on the board, JOHN CARVER CdeP 1953 retired in the spring and was lauded in the fall for his services. His legacy of support to the School is evident in The Commons, the true hub of student life that he made possible. Other retiring trustees were BRAD KREY (P Alexander CdeP 2007, Morgan CdeP 2010, and Katherine CdeP 2012), who served as treasurer and led the finance committee, and SAKURAKO D. FISHER (P Remy CdeP 2010) who was a very active leader of the development committee, always challenging the School to be more ambitious in setting Annual Fund goals. PAT and NEAL HOWE CdeP 1969 (P Brisha CdeP 2013) served as last year’s Parents Association chairs and set a new benchmark for fostering communication between the School and parents, especially those new to the boarding school experience.

Some new faces joined Thacher’s Board of Trustees this fall. DIANA MENDLEY RAUNER (P Elizabeth CdeP 2002, Stephanie CdeP 2004, and Katherine ’16) is the president of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, a publicprivate partnership serving at-risk children and their families. She has a background in investment banking, holds a PhD in developmental psychology from the University of Chicago, an MBA from Stanford, and a BA from Yale. The father of another sophomore (Teddy), EDWARD WILLIAMS also joined the board; he is the managing partner at Springbok Partners, an investment firm that provides seed capital and consulting in the financial services industry. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, where he works for Bonneville Power Administration is MARK A. T. HOLMAN CdeP 1986, a cum laude graduate of Harvard College, where he majored in Russian and Soviet studies. Two other loyal Thacher volunteers rejoined the board after several years working on other projects. BOB JOHNSON CdeP 1967 (father of Nick ’16) formerly served as president of the Alumni Association and worked on the strategic plan in the late 90s. Bob earned electrical engineering degrees from Stanford, followed by an MBA and DBA from Harvard; he works in venture capital and has taught part time at Stanford, Caltech, UCLA, and Claremont Graduate School. TOM McCLOSKEY (P Todd CdeP 1993, David CdeP 1996, Lauren CdeP 1999, and Devon CdeP 2002) is founder of Cornerstone Holdings and holds a BA from Notre Dame and an MBA from Wharton. He hails from Aspen, San Francisco, and Kaua’i, where the family focuses on developing projects that steward the land and leave a positive legacy. NANCY and DAN YIH (P Stephen CdeP 2010, Chris CdeP 2012, and Ben ’15), who live in Greenwich, Conn., are serving as Parents Association chairs this year. Dan is the chief operating officer at Starwood Capital Group. Nancy worked in management consulting for Bain & Company and brand management at Colgate-Palmolive Company. And, finally, the board brought back from retirement former secretary TOBY ROSENBLATT CdeP 1956, who was named honorary trustee, a role he shares with JOHN S. LEWIS CdeP 1959 and ELIZABETH HELMS ADAMS for their selfless and extraordinary contributions to Thacher throughout the years.

IN MEMORIAM…

PAST HEADMASTER, FACULTY, ALUMNUS DAVID C. TWICHELL CdeP 1936 David Cushman Twichell died at peace on the morning of April 24, 2013, after farewells from his family. He was 95. Born in New York City and raised in New Haven, Dave attended Thacher before graduating from Williams College. As a faculty child, student, teacher, and eventually headmaster, David Twichell had an intimate connection to the values of Thacher and a love of the Ojai Valley. His parents, Katharine Pratt and Burton Twichell, met in Ojai, and Burton taught Latin at Thacher for many years. When David attended Thacher in the mid-30s, he enjoyed playing baseball, soccer, tennis, and even acted in a few plays. His real loves, however, were camping, horses, and the great outdoors. After serving as a Navy pilot during the Second Word War, he returned to Thacher to teach science for two years, followed by earning an MS in education and zoology from Yale University before heading to Pomfret School in Connecticut to teach science and serve as headmaster from 1951 to 1961. The family then moved to Ojai in 1962, where Dave once again taught science at Thacher before serving as headmaster for five years. His legacy at both schools was to instill in students a love of learning through trust, exciting teachers and curricula, supportive communities, and exposure to arts, sports, current and world events, and ideas. As headmaster, he was keen to preserve Thacher’s long tradition of outdoor programs and environmental stewardship. Though his vision for Thacher’s future led to expansion in a multitude of directions, including faculty enrichment, social integration, community service, and long-term planning, Twichell never lost sight of the School’s keystone features. Recognizing Thacher’s longstanding tradition with horses as a valuable asset, he appreciated the unique possibilities for self-education and self-reliance learned through exposure to the horse and the outdoors. With this in mind, he canceled Saturday morning classes and extended Extra-Day Trips from four days to five, therefore permitting longer and more educational camping trips. Jack Huyler captured Twichell’s love of camping fondly in the following passage:

David Twichell’s enthusiasm for Thacher’s Outdoor Program helped the School secure Golden Trout Camp.

Twichell, himself a fine camper, outdoorsman, and a Spartan, scorned such comforts [as tents]. Most of us hunch our shoulders and endure when the storms blow in; DCT became ever more cheerful and enthusiastic. He was at his best in camp. His campsites were always snug and tidy. With shovel, ax, and pack covers he built shelters as effective as tents. He improvised swings from lash ropes and pack cinches and slung them from lofty limbs. It was a delight to see him, enveloped in happy laughter, his own and his boys’, pushing some youngster out over a draw on the end of a 40-foot swing. He read to his charges around the Forest Service stove at night. ’Twas a memorable sight to see them huddled about the stove and Coleman lantern while the wind soughed through the pines above them and the headmaster’s voice made O. Henry’s characters live yet again.

In 1966, helped by Ike Livermore, Twichell expanded the Outdoor Program, leading the School to raise funds and negotiate a lease for a parcel of land in the High Sierra, currently known as Golden Trout Camp, completing a series of progressive changes at Thacher. Moving to Belmont in 1968, Dave taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, working on a program for in-career training of Boston teachers. Starting in 1971, he taught biology at Browne & Nichols School, later serving as head of the middle school at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols until 1976. Looking to change direction, Dave attended the New England School of Photography. This led to a wonderful and satisfying period in his life in which he combined his science, arts, and management skills, and enthusiastic energy, and love of travel and teaching while helping the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences track and research the Red Knot. In his final active years, he put his woodworking skills to use building toys, aids, and other interactive devices for children at the Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown. Dave is survived by his wife of 65 years, Ethel “Smoke” Rowley Twichell; his five children: Joe, David CdeP 1969, Tess, Anne, and Phoebe CdeP 1982, and 13 much-loved and admired grandchildren.    

IN MEMORIAM… R. MITCHELL S. BOYD CdeP 1931 Robert Mitchell “Mitch” S. Boyd of San Rafael, California, passed away peacefully at home at the age of 99 on October 2, 2013. After growing up in Ray, Arizona, where his father managed the world’s first open-pit copper mine, Mitch was enrolled at Thacher, where he served on the Committee of Ten, the Indoor Committee, and the Outdoor Committee.

He was also a member of the Track Team, the First Baseball Team, and the Pack and Saddle Club, in addition to serving as the captain of the Gymkhana Team. Eight years later, Mitch received his law degree from Stanford and married Mary (“Polly”) Mitchell, his wife of 64 years, whom he met at Stanford.

In 1942, Mitch spent several months as a Naval civilian intelligence agent before attending Officer’s Training School at Dartmouth College. For most of the next three years of World War II, Mitch was involved with the planning and execution of the U.S. landings at Leyte Gulf, Lengayen Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. In late 1945, Mitch was released from active duty with the Bronze Star medal and rejoined the San Francisco law firm Dunne, Dunne & Phelps.

In the mid 1960s, that firm merged with another and Mitch became a partner in Bledsoe, Smith, Cathcart, Johnson & Boyd. Mitch was happiest outdoors, surrounded by family, cooking dinner over a grate, telling stories around the fire, and fly fishing for steelhead. Preceded in death by his beloved wife, Polly, Mitch is survived by his daughter Betty Cohen Boyd, son Robert Boyd, and son Bill Boyd; seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

JOHN F. BARNARD CdeP 1936 John Fiske Barnard died from lung cancer on July 4, 2013, at his home in Washington. He was 94. At Thacher, John was editor of El Archivero and a member of the Notes board.

He was captain of the second Soccer team, manager of the Track and Second Baseball Teams, and performed in most of the plays during his four years. John was also a member of the Indoor Committee, the Outdoor Committee, the Bit and Spur Club, the Debating Committee, the Spanish Banquet Committee, and was a B camper. After Thacher, John graduated from Yale, eventually continuing his education at American University, where he received an MBA in 1959. During World War II, he worked for Douglas Aircraft and helped start a factory in Oklahoma City. In 1947, John started his federal career with the post-World War II military government in Germany, where he negotiated trade agreements with other nations. He joined the Foreign Service in 1949, the NSA in 1953, and the Navy Department in 1960. In 1970, John retired, assisting his wife, Lovelle Richter Barnard, in the loving restoration of houses in Georgetown until she passed away in 1992, after a 44-year marriage. In 1999, Barnard wrote a book, The Twaining of America, under the pseudonym of B.J. Fiske, about the coming together of races and ethnicities in 19th-century America. He was a member of the Cosmos Club, the City Tavern Club, and Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired. Surviving John are his wife of 10 years, Jan Anderson; two stepdaughters, Carolyn Anderson and Jill Anderson; and seven grandchildren.

WARWICK JAMES HAYES JR CdeP 1938 Warwick “War” James Hayes passed away on January 10, 2013. At Thacher, War was on the Outdoor Committee, the Indoor Committee, and was a Prefect.

After Thacher, he graduated from the University of Arizona in 1942 with a BS in Agriculture and served as a pilot during World War II. War was a father to five children, and was blessed with six grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Marilyn.    

RICHARD WILLIAM BABSON CdeP 1939 Musician, artist, athlete, businessman, and lifelong Portland resident R.W. “Bill” Babson died on March 16, 2013, shortly following his 93rd birthday.

The youngest of four brothers in a family where music was the cornerstone, Billy studied the piano and violin at an early age. In his mid-30s, Bill adopted the cello as his preferred instrument and ultimately became a member of the Oregon Symphony orchestra and the founder of several Portland-area chamber-music groups.

There was seldom an evening in the Babson home when live music could not be heard.

Bill came to Thacher in 1935. Though not returning as an Upper Upper, he was on the Tennis Team and First Baseball Team, and received a commendation in Music. Bill set a School long-jump record and, as a baseball pitcher, could throw a slow, looping curve ball that would turn a batter inside out. But his true gift was in racquet sports, becoming a badminton champion and a top-ranked tennis and squash player in the Pacific Northwest. Bill met his wife, Jean McCall, while both were students at Reed College. Following his service in World War II in General Patton’s Third Army in its campaigns in Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, and the occupation of Germany, Bill and Jean were married in 1947.

From 1960 until its sale in 1977, Bill was president & CEO and an owner of Peerless Pacific Co., a Portland-based business founded by his father in 1913.

During his tenure, the company more than tripled in size, expanding to Eugene, Medford, Bend, Tri-Cities, Tacoma, and Seattle. Bill is survived by his son Stephen Babson and daughter Ann Kauffman and four grandchildren.

Preceding him in death were his wife Jean and daughter Jeannie.

ROBERT E. HUNTER JR CdeP 1940 During his 91st year, Robert E. “Bob” Hunter Jr died in his sleep on October 1, 2013. Bob arrived at Thacher in 1936 from Pasadena and, during his time at the School, was a member of Pack and Saddle, the Glee Club, the Second Soccer Team, and the Second Baseball Team.

He was also an A Camper and, much later, a co-founder of Thacher’s Boot Hill Society. A descendent of the Scottish Hunter clan, Bob worked for years as a banker in New York City (where he met his first wife, Syliva Morton) and San Francisco, specializing in agricultural lending. While he worked on the bank platform, Bob was the kind of man who made sure to walk the floor every morning and greet each teller. “He touched everyone he worked with. He was a man of the people,” said son Rob. “He touched many winemakers, and he had a big impact on them. He believed in all of these young winemakers.” In his early 50s he purchased a cattle breeding ranch in Glen Ellen in the Sonoma Valley, but his plan was to plant grapes and to develop it into what would become the smallest, and one of the finest, champagne houses in California. With the help of his second wife, Ann, a talented landscaper, the Robert Hunter Winery became a touted destination for those seeking a spectacular sparkling wine. Robert, an avid hunter and fly-fisherman, was, according to his son, “a great shot” and fished into his 90s. He is survived by his wife, Ann; his three daughters, Ruth HunterDaniels, Liza Hunter, and Catherine Hunter; his son, Robert Hunter III; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

HENRY H. JUDSON JR CdeP 1941 Henry Hammond Judson Jr. died at home on March 3, 2013, of complications of Parkinson’s disease. At Thacher, “Jud” was known for persistence and thoroughness in everything he said and did. He was part of the Outdoor Committee, Glee Club, the Debating Team, the Notes Board, and was a B Camper. At Yale he sang in the Glee Club and enjoyed music throughout his life, playing the organ and piano. Before spending his entire professional career at the Boeing Company, Henry worked at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory during WWII, in Washington, D. C. Henry will be remembered as a bright, kind, and loyal person by his wife, Betsy, his sons, Henry Hammond Judson III and William Judson, his granddaughter, and many more relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by Janet, his first wife and mother of his children; his second wife, Retha; his sisters Winifred and Joan; and his daughter Margaret.

J. PETER CAHILL CdeP 1942 Peter Cahill died peacefully on August 2, 2013, at his home in Woodside. He was 88. Peter attended Lowell H.S. in SF, later graduating from Thacher, where he kept everyone in hysterics for two years.

According to El Archivero, “When Peter was in the chemistry class, he excelled in accidental destruction.” He was Captain of the Intramural Soccer Team, and a member of the First Basketball Team, Track Team, First Tennis Team, and Swimming Squad.

He particularly enjoyed his horse, Beethoven, later transposing his love for classical music into years of dedication to the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Peter began his civil engineering degree at Stanford, completing it at UC Berkeley after participating in the Navy’s V-12 officer training program. In 1953, he married Carroll Tyson Kales. For over 50 years, they shared mutual interests in art, music, and travel. In his later years, Peter was named a Life Governor of the Symphony Board. He began a career in Real Estate with Marcus and Millichap in San Francisco, later joining his father and older brothers at the Cahill Construction Company. He worked as a real estate developer there for over 50 years, maintaining an avid involvement until shortly before his death. Peter was preceded in death by his wife, Carroll, and daughter Susan; he is survived by his children, Michael and Sally; his two grandchildren; and his second wife, Caroline Todd Cahill.

USCG Eagle. In 1955, he married Patsy L. Howard with whom he shared 58 years of love and devotion. He earned his JD from George Washington University School of Law, and joined the Order of Coif in 1960. Carlton practiced maritime law in Long Beach for 50 years as partner of the firm Russell, Mircovich & Murrow. Carlton was also a district legal officer for the 11th Coast Guard District, eventually retiring from the Reserves at the rank of captain. He was honored as Lawyer of the Year in 1991 for his work as part of Operation Stand Down assisting homeless veterans. Carlton is survived by his wife, Pat; son, John; daughter, Ann; and three grandchildren.

PHILIP G. JOHNSON JR CdeP 1948 Philip Gustav Johnson was 82 years old when he passed away peacefully in his home on April 15, 2013, at the age of 82. Just before attending Thacher, in the midst of WWII, his father died. Though in mourning, “P.G.” conducted himself famously, serving as the School Chair, acting in many plays, including the role of the Bishop of Canterbury during the production of Henry V, and participating as a member of the First Soccer Team, First Baseball Team, the Pack and Saddle Club. He also earned a B Camper rating. In the fall of 1957, P.G. married Isobel and, a year later, they settled in a small house on Hunt’s Point with one young son, Charlie, and one middle-aged Junior Knockabout. When Thacher classmate and lifelong friend, Bill Baillargeon, acquired his own small wooden sloop, Mistral, in 1962, P.G. was an obvious choice for a sailing companion.

In 1964, they became part of Mistral’s regular racing crew with Bill Booth and Wayne Schuh.

“Nothing quite describes the rare experience the four of us shared. It occupied dimensions of its own making, complete confidence in one another and all of a single mind towards the pleasure of sailing well. We few! We happy few!” Baillargeon reminisced. “By then P.G. had become adept in the sailing arts of all kinds. He had just the right touch at just the right time.” P.G. went on to skipper several very competitive boats in whose design he usually had a hand. He was also an avid reader, sharing that he especially enjoyed the writings of Hilaire Belloc, the early-20th-century Christian apologist and historian. Of Belloc’s many works, P.G. singled out his sailing narrative, The Cruise of the Nona. Philip Gustav is survived by his five children, Charlie, Sarah Graham, Mary Ellen, Matthew, and Alexander; and two grandchildren.

ROBERT W. GARDNER, MD CdeP 1950 CARLTON E. RUSSELL CdeP 1945 Carlton Russell passed away at home surrounded by family in Costa Mesa, California, on April 9, 2013, at the age of 85.

Carlton came to Thacher in 1944 and, though only here for his Upper Upper year, left a definite impression on his classmates. “Russ,” a star athlete, was known for his easygoing ways and big smile. He batted .500 on the First Baseball Team and was also on the First Track Team and the Second Soccer Team. Following Thacher, Carlton graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1952, where he crewed the

Robert W. Gardner, MD, was born in 1933 and passed away in 2013, as a third-generation Eurekan. Following Thacher and Eureka High School, he received a BA degree from UC Berkeley, an MD from McGill University, and psychiatric training at the University of Iowa. Bob was a Naval aviator during the Korean War, flying a P2V Neptune patrol bomber in the Aleutians and along the Siberian coast. During those years, he and Nancy Budlong were married, returning to Eureka in 1967, where Bob practiced psychiatric medicine until 2000. Inspiration and renewal were found for    

IN MEMORIAM… Bob in the great outdoors. His interests ranged from climbing the walls of Yosemite to tennis, golf, running, backpacking, sailboat racing and cruising, flying the family Cessna 210, a family viticulture project, gardening, reading, and classical music. Bob is survived by his wife, Nancy; daughters, Susan Townsend and Katie Hoepfner; sons, Michael and Jeffrey; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

PETER GARWOOD McDONALD CdeP 1958 Peter passed away in April 2013, surrounded by his family. El Archivero states that “Pete’s congenial manner and happy smile have won him many friends at Thacher during his four years; however, they haven’t charmed Sam, his horse.” Peter was on the Second Soccer Team, Orange Gymkhana Team, and was coach of the Third Baseball Team. He was also a part of the Masquers, the Bit and Spur Club, and was a B Camper. Peter’s interest in the environment led him to earn a BA in botany from Brown University and a master’s degree in forestry from Duke, followed by a year studying worldwide forestry at Hamburg University, Germany. At 25, he signed on with the government of Kenya to administer a million acres of forest and plantations. There he met and married his wife, Jill, a resident of Nairobi.

After six years in forest management, he was encouraged by his father to farm the family property in Wilsonville. Upon arriving in Oregon, Peter decided that Inchinnan Farm was perfect for the cultivation of filberts. The orchards thrived and Peter was named Nut Grower of the Year in 1990. Alongside the filberts, he successfully planted and managed many acres of forest, and was named Oregon Tree Farmer of the Year in 1993. Because of his expertise, the State Department invited him to advise agriculturists and foresters around the globe. Peter was also very active in The Nature Conservancy and 1000 Friends of Oregon, a group dedicated to promoting land-use planning, that presented him with the Tom McCall Legacy Award in 2013. Peter is survived

by Jill, his wife of 44 years; his son, James; his daughter, Jennifer; and granddaughter, Emma.

RICHARD C. STRONG CdeP 1972 Richard Strong passed away in 2013 due to complications in surgery to repair a torn aorta.

He was 59. Richard was born in Santa Monica as the older brother of Carol Stone, who attributes her career choice as a music teacher to her brother, who had an eclectic taste in music.

At Thacher, Richard played classical guitar, oboe, and trombone and was a member of the Varsity Lacrosse Team. He graduated from Stanford University in 1975 and attended law school at Boston University. He met his wife, Pamela, in 1978. They married in 1980 and had two sons, Andrew and Jeffrey. In 1987, the family moved to Fresno where Samantha was born. There, Richard went to work as a lawyer for McCormickBarstow LLP and Wathen-Castanos Hybrid Homes. Samantha’s best memories of her father were spending hours listening to music for his band, Rockabelly, to play. They would perform anything from the Rolling Stones to Coltrane, and Django Reinhardt to Stevie Ray Vaughan. But “my brother Jeffrey was his favorite guitarist,” Samantha said.   

JOSEPHINE E. CHOW CdeP 2005 Josephine Erica Chow passed away on July 20, 2013, in New York. At Thacher, Jojo earned membership in the Cum Laude Society, served as editor in chief of the El Archivero, and enjoyed the Dance Ensemble. Upon graduation, she received a commendation in English. Josephine graduated from Tufts University in 2009, where she performed as a dancer, was on the dean’s list all four years, and received a BAS in Communications. While at Tufts she worked as an advertising assistant and copywriter assistant. Following graduation, she worked in marketing and hospitality, and served on the executive board of the American Institute of Wine & Food before attending culinary school.

Josephine was fluent in Mandarin, English, Cantonese, and proficient in Spanish. She is survived by her parents and siblings, all of Hong Kong.

FACULTY EMERITUS ROBERT C. MILLER Robert C. Miller, scholar, teacher, and administrator at Thacher for more than a quarter century, passed away on June 17, 2013, at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura.

He was 87. During his tenure at Thacher from 1955 to 1980, Miller served as chairman of the language department, college counselor, director of administration and studies, assistant headmaster, and soccer coach. In 1974, he was awarded the Morgan Barnes Chair for Outstanding Teaching.

His specialty was Spanish language. Colleagues remember him as a highly respected, no-nonsense teacher who set high standards for himself and his students and engendered deep loyalties among students and faculty. He was viewed as the heart of an extended Thacher community that included alumni, faculty, and trustees. Robert Miller was regarded as a willing and capable mentor and adviser to both students and younger faculty. Born in Melrose, Massachusetts, and educated at Bowdoin College and Harvard, Bob always retained his New England persona despite his wide travels and worldly experiences. He received a Fulbright grant in 1964 to study in Peru, and he a nd his young family spent a year there. Among the other countries where he worked and studied were Spain, Cuba, Jordan, and Korea, where he served during the Korean conflict with the 65th Puerto Rican Regiment “because I raised my hand when the sergeant asked if anyone spoke Spanish.” Bob was married in 1958 to Denise Close Miller, who served for many years as Thacher’s librarian and spearheaded the fund-raising campaign to build a new school library. The Miller household was a home away from home for many in the Thacher “family,” especially for classmates of the two younger Miller children. After retiring from Thacher, Bob served as a college counselor at Happy Valley School (now Besant Hill School) and as an International Executive Service Corps consultant to the Amman National School in Jordan.

He also taught English as a second language and consulted for the Ojai Unified School District as a bilingual aide. In his retirement, Bob remained an avid reader and follower of the arts. He also volunteered as a reader for the blind, a “gleaner” for Food Share, and as a resource for ESL students. In his younger days, he enjoyed writing poetry for friends, horseback riding, hiking, and camping in the hills behind Ojai and in the High Sierra. He is survived by his three children, Janet Cipriano CdeP 1978, Christopher Miller, DVM CdeP 19880, and Nicole Miller CdeP 1983; and five grandchildren.

THE BEST WE CAN DO… BRUCE OXLEY CdeP 1954 Bruce, with his son David CdeP 1979, led the recent effort to honor Jesse Kahle by raising $250,000 from more than 100 donors to rebuild the arena named for Jess.

…

WHAT INSPIRED YOU? In my conversations with other alumni over the years, I found a lot of support for the idea that there ought to be a permanent memorial for Jess on campus. Jack Huyler also felt strongly about the project and encouraged us to go for it.

From Top: Three generations of Oxleys (l-r): Will CdeP 2005, David CdeP 1979, Bruce CdeP 1954; Bruce speaks about Jess at the arena dedication; students put on a riding demonstration.

WHY AN ARENA? We all wanted something connected to Jess’s memory that would benefit the Horse Program. What could be better than upgrading the arena Jess originally built while he was the director of the Horse Program from 1948 to 1972? This facility improves on its predecessor by enlarging the working area, providing for proper drainage, and adding lights and covered bleachers. The project also includes a round pen nearby.

WHAT WOULD YOU TELL TODAY’S STUDENTS ABOUT JESS? He was a very special teacher and friend. Jess epitomized kindness, truth, and respect for others, never speaking a harsh word about anyone. Even those who did not know him can recognize—by the donations, work, and dedication of those who made this arena possible—that he was was an extraordinary man.

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE OUTCOME OF THIS PROJECT? Yes! We met our goals and added a piece of equipment to maintain the sand and keep this special arean in top shape. At last we have a fitting tribute to Jess, thanks to everyone who joined us in honoring him.

JESS IS KNOWN FOR PROTECTING THE HORSE PROGRAM AT A TIME WHEN ITS FUTURE WAS BEING QUESTIONED. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT? What is learned from interacting with the horses and the many experiences they provide are some enduring life lessons not available in the classroom. Jess knew this and, through his teaching and his example, made a lasting impression on all the students he helped over the years.

When we were practicing our drill for the Jess Kahle Arena dedication, the new LED lights were really great. With our busy schedules, the only time we could all get together was in the evening, which would have made practicing difficult had it not been for the lighting. Also, it’s much bigger than the old Sand Arena, so we were able to include more complicated maneuvers in our drill. We are all so thankful for the increased space we have now.  L AC HL A N N U T T I NG ’ 14

THE COURAGE AND ABILITY TO The Thacher School 5025 Thacher Road Ojai, CA 93023

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TAKE ON TOUGH TOPICS WITH THE RIGHT MIX OF CANDOR AND COMPASSION, UNDERSTANDING AND URGENCY.

around the country. This milestone is an opportunity to celebrate the enduring values of the oldest continuously operating boarding school west of the Mississippi.

We invite you to host a 125th celebration on or around the

TO DO AND YOU’RE NOT SURE IF

with campus events and gatherings

SILENCE IS BETTER OR ACTUALLY

observing our 125th anniversary

PORTRAYING YOUR EMOTION.

Throughout 2014, Thacher will be

125th day of the year: Cinco de Mayo - May 5, 2014.

You can: * Toast Thacher at your own party ride, a horseback ride * Take a Thacher grad or parent or teacher to lunch * Share a memory or news of your celebration on the soon-to-launch

IT WAS AN OUR STUD E OSITION E.

* Plan a camping trip, a hike, a bike

CdePedia site Please inform The Alumni Office of your 125th celebration plans by emailing alumni@thacher.org or calling 805-640-3220.

IT’S AN INDICATION OF WHAT LIFE CAN BE LIKE. IT IS ULTIMATELY

ABOUT BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

BASED ON TRUST AND HONESTY.