Aspiring English teacher accepted into JET program

Cody Mills ’22 serves as educator in Japanese

Elementary School

Cody Mills ’22 is immersing himself in the northeastern city of Tome, Japan, for a yearlong teaching position through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. Mills, a double major in English and secondary education, serves as an assistant language teacher in one of the city’s elementary schools.

Founded in 1987, the JET program is a competitive teaching exchange program managed by the government of Japan that has placed more than 35,800 Americans to work in schools, on boards of education and in government offices.

For Mills, the JET opportunity combines his many passions and interests, including teaching, education and Japanese culture. As a child, the Japanese animated film “Spirited Away” sparked Mills’s interest in the country’s art, folklore and mythology, and led him to study everything he could about Japan. Since then, he has become an avid consumer of all things Japanese.

At Wheaton, he decided to major in education and English with the goal of becoming an English teacher. As a student, he served as a writing tutor for three years and worked in the Admission Office, where he said he developed skills both in public speaking and hospitality services.

As part of his practicum his senior year, he taught English as an assistant at Norton High School. In that role, he said he enjoyed helping students discover their passions and think critically about the world around them.

“When I discovered the JET program, it all just clicked. I knew that as an assistant language teacher for the program I would be able to not only live my passion teaching, but do so in an environment where I could simultaneously teach and learn about a rich and unique culture,” he said.

Mills, who himself is originally from the small town of Dinwiddie, Va., said he looks forward to living and working in a more rural area of Japan.

“Coming from a rural area of the U.S. myself I understand the scarcity of quality education. My goal is to provide these areas of Japan with valuable language skills that they can then use to uplift the community around them or be able to seek opportunities that would not be afforded to them otherwise,” he said.

Mills said he hopes to gain a better understanding of Japan as well as teaching in a foreign environment. His long-term goals are to receive his master’s degree in literature and earn his Teaching English as a Foreign Language or Teaching English as a Second Language certification.

“Even after my time with the program has concluded, I still wish to reside and teach in Japan, continuing my service and education in less developed areas,” he said.

—Laura Pedulli

1936

Helen Williams Hill, 106, died on March 28, 2021, in San Diego. After graduating from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in English, she earned her master’s degree from Brown University. It was during graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana that she fell in love with Donald Hill. The two married in 1941. The couple moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1948 and quickly became part of the community of writers and teachers at the University of Michigan. In 1963, Helen joined the faculty of Eastern Michigan University and served as a professor of writing and of children’s literature. In the 1980s and 1990s, Helen transcribed and edited the diaries of her seafaring grandfather, Capt. Edward Baker. After Donald’s death in 1998, Helen led a popular memoir-writing group sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. In 2014, Helen moved to San Diego to live with her family. In 2018, she published Searching for Sophie, her memoir about the loss of her mother.

1940

Elizabeth Adams Noyes, 103, of Stonington, Conn., died on Nov. 9, 2021. She majored in English at Wheaton. She was honored with a Wheaton Alumni Achievement Award in 2012. During her lifetime, she was involved in church work, youth group programs, teaching and community organizations. Working with University of Connecticut history archivists, she focused for many years on preserving her family history and letters handed down from the 1700s. In 2017, she wrote a book about the value of personal history called Bettye’s Blue Sea Chest. In 1984, she joined the staff at Mystic Seaport Museum. For more than 30 years, she loved her museum work. In 2016, she was honored with the Mystic Seaport Lifetime Achievement Award.

1942

Eleanor Murray Eberhard , 102, died on Sept. 28, 2022, in Sun City Center, Fla. Eleanor graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. During college, she met her future husband, Sid. After graduation, they married and moved to Pennsylvania to start their new life in Towanda, Pa. All of their children were born there, and Eleanor was active in Girl Scouts, parentteacher organizations and bridge clubs. Just before retirement, she and her husband relocated to Statesville, N.C. They stayed only two years, but made lasting friendships. They then moved to Florida. Eleanor was an active tennis player, spent hours knitting for church charities and volunteered at an elementary school in Wimauma, Fla.

1944

Doris Alexander Mitchell , 100, of Roseville, Minn., died on March 12, 2022. She majored in psychology at Wheaton.

1945

Elizabeth Hamilton Fraser, 98, died in Gorham, Maine, on Nov. 12, 2022. Elizabeth majored in biology at Wheaton and earned her master’s degree in physiology from Mount Holyoke College. She married Perry Fraser in 1947 and they had three children. Following periods of employment as a professor at Skidmore College and high school teaching assistant, Elizabeth built up her time as a Girl Scout troop leader through a 15-year career as a volunteer coordinator with the Mohawk Pathways Girl Scout Council in upstate New York. She was a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts. She and her husband retired to Maine, where they built a passive solar house. Elizabeth was a member of the Sanford Unitarian Universalist Church.

1950

Nancy Sausser Anixter, 94, died on Nov. 11, 2022. She attended Wheaton.

1951

Marjorie Yungk Hackett, 92, of Easton, Conn., died on Oct. 21, 2022. After studying English at Wheaton, she earned a teaching certificate from the Connecticut Teachers College. She taught at McKinley Elementary School in Fairfield. She married Donald Hackett in 1953 and had three children. Marjorie later earned her master’s degree in school counseling and worked as a caseworker for The Bridgeport Big Brothers Big Sisters Association before becoming a school counselor in the Bethel school district from 1987–1997. During her life,

Marjorie volunteered for multiple nonprofits and town committees. She also was an active member of the Wheaton Alumni Association and for many years helped raise money for academic scholarships for students.

1953

Jean Shepherdson Dana died in Shelton, Conn., on Nov. 26, 2022. She studied political science at Wheaton. Jean was an early and enthusiastic adopter of ski culture, and it was no surprise that she met her husband, Joe, at a local watering hole near Cannon Mountain. They spent a few years in Cleveland, but they soon returned to New England to raise a family in Wilbraham and Andover, Mass. They retired to Chatham on Cape Cod. Jean volunteered at the library, served as a docent at a nature center, participated in reading and garden clubs, went on trips and supported the local arts scene.

1954

Judith Dacunte DeFeo, 88, died on Sept. 24, 2021. She attended Wheaton.

Dian Kimball Fortunato, 89, died on Nov. 21, 2022. She attended Wheaton.

1956

Judith Pemberton Swan , 88, died on Nov. 5, 2022. She attended Wheaton.

1959

Margaret Marcy, of Hardwick, Vt., died on Aug. 31, 2022. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in French.

1960

Jane Canfield , 84, died on Sept. 19, 2022, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She graduated from Wheaton with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She married Jacques Andriessens and they had two children. The family lived in Belgium, Holland, France and England. While living in England, she served on the board of education of the Lycée Français Charles De Gaulle of London. Divorced in 1984, she moved to Falls Village. She joined the Falls Village Ambulance Corps in 1992 and became an EMT. She was captain of the ambulance corps and a state EMT examiner. She retired in 2012. Jane was an active Wheaton alumna and supporter who attended many Reunions and college events.

1961

Susan Stearns Scott, 83, of Dunwoody, Ga., died on Oct. 3, 2022. She studied sociology at Wheaton, where she and her daughter were able to attend her 40th Reunion in 2011. Susan married and had two children soon after college. She volunteered in multiple Northeast communities with the Junior League and in Atlanta, after a move to Dunwoody, Ga., in 1975. A few years after relocating to Atlanta, she became divorced from her first husband of 17 years. Susan became involved with Dunwoody United Methodist Church, volunteering, singing in the choir and eventually becoming a minister. In 1982, she met John Scott, to whom she was happily married for 24 years. Throughout her life, she was an active Wheaton volunteer and alumna. She also enjoyed playing tennis.

1962

Jean Gibbons Amick , 81, died on Nov. 18, 2022, in Seattle. Jean was the beloved wife of Russ for 57 years. She studied sociology at Wheaton, where she made lifelong friends. Jean was a tremendous athlete. She played field hockey in college, then soccer and skied in her 30s. Tennis was her lifelong sport all the way into her mid-60s. She also took up golfing later in life. While Seattle was Jean’s adopted hometown, her heart belonged to a special place in Pennsylvania, Pocono Lake Preserve, where she spent every summer of her life. She was a voracious reader and loved to garden. She served as the cofounder of Saving Urban Nature Park in Seattle. She was an avid supporter of Wheaton and regularly attended alumni events and contributed Class Notes.

1964

Deborah Wills Burgess, 80, of Norton, Mass., died on Sept. 19, 2022. She was the wife of George Burgess for 59 years. She studied history at Wheaton. Later, in 1982, she graduated with a master’s degree in nursing from the Community College of Rhode Island. A longtime resident of Norton, Deborah first taught in the Norton Public School System and was later employed as a registered nurse, a job she truly loved. She was an active member of Chartley Norton United Methodist Church, where she served as a den mother for Cub Scout Pack 27, and was a member of the board of directors at the Daggett-Crandall-Newcomb Home. Deborah’s hobbies included traveling and camping.

Gail Karsh Douglas, 79, of Towson, Md., formerly of Bedford, N.Y., died on Sept. 4, 2022. She received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Wheaton.

1971

Mary O’Brien , 73, a longtime resident of Lexington, Mass., but recently of Marlborough, Mass., died on Oct. 23, 2022. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Wheaton and earned her master’s degree from the Missouri School of Journalism. Mary was a journalist and writer for Gannett Newspapers, Time Life magazines and several large corporations.

Ellen Foster Stirling, 73, died on Nov. 10, 2022, in Lake Forest, Ill. She majored in art at Wheaton and continued her studies at the University of London. She was married to James for 52 years. Ellen had a brief career as a travel writer for Passport Magazine. In 1987, she took the reins of the business The Lake Forest Shop, which her grandmother had launched in 1922. She helped form Access Chicago, a nonprofit that addressed wheelchair accessibility. She was vice president of the Women’s Board of the Lyric Opera of Chicago; a founder and vice president of the Auxiliary

Board of the Art Institute of Chicago; a founding director of Lake Forest Bank and Trust; and chairman of the bank’s Business Development Committee from 1991 to 2011. The History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff named Ellen its Local Legend in 2016.

1975

Natalie duPont Lyon , 69, died on Nov. 5, 2022. She attended Wheaton.

1976

Doreen Frasca, 68, of Manhattan, Morristown, N.J., and Vero Beach, Fla., died on Sept. 16, 2022. She majored in history and government at Wheaton. During and after college, Doreen studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She returned to New York and earned her M.B.A. from Columbia University. Doreen built a 45-year career on Wall Street in public finance and municipal bonds, which began at Dillon, Read & Co. in 1977. She worked for 15 years at Merrill Lynch, where she became a managing director in the public finance group, specializing in airports, transportation and resource recovery. In 1997, she formed Frasca & Associates, an advisory practice. In 2019, she received the Municipal Forum of New York’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

1996

Jason Neal, 47, a resident of Brookline, Mass., died on Nov. 22, 2021. He was the beloved husband of Alison. He majored in history at Wheaton. He also did graduate-level work in finance, accounting and economics at Boston University. Growing up, Jason played hockey and ran both track and field and cross country. He was an Eagle Scout, earning several Palm awards. Jason loved his children and spent much of his free time with them. Earlier in his professional life, he had spent nearly seven years at Landmark Partners. In February 2021, Jason rejoined Landmark Partners as a principal in their investor relations and business development group. Jason spent much of his career in investor relations, marketing and fundraising for private equity and secondary funds.

2010

John Hazen White III , 35, died on Nov. 3, 2022, in New York, N.Y. John was a graduate of Moses Brown School and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wheaton. He was married to Katelyn White and had one daughter. He began his career with Taco Comfort Solutions in high school, starting in maintenance and working his way through many departments throughout the company over the years. His experience also included time working at B.J. Terroni Co. in Bensalem, Pa. His Taco career path led to his most recent position as senior vice president of North American OEM Sales. He had a passion for creative writing, reading, traveling and most of all spending time with friends and family. John and his family are active supporters and volunteers at Wheaton. They established The White Family Endowed Scholarship to open up access to educational opportunities for students at Wheaton.

Friends

Mark Flanagan , former head painter for Wheaton, in August 2022

Relatives

1952 Jack Kirkeby, husband of Priscilla Kendall Kirkeby, in October 2022

1959 Arthur Rothkopf, husband of Barbara Sarnoff Rothkopf, in February 2022

1960 John McLoughlin, husband of Barbara Davenport McLoughlin, in September 2022

1964 Stanton Ose, husband of Betsy Dexter Ose, in June 2022

1965 Richard Fay, husband of Catherine Hill Fay, in September 2022

1965 Benjamin Graboski, husband of Natalie Stokes Graboski, in September 2022

1982 Anne Easton, mother of Laurie Easton Parker, in May 2022

1984 Nancy Scrivenor Atwood, mother of Laura Atwood Kottler, in April 2022

1986 James Purdon, husband of Deborah Litton Purdon, in August 2022

1989 Gloria Flahive, mother of Gretchen Flahive Wiik, in February 2021

1990 Joseph Daley, father of Maryann Daley, in November 2020

2011 Russell Miller, father of Marlowe Miller, in May 2022

2017 Elizabeth Dubois, mother of Audrey Dubois, in August 2022

2019 Elizabeth Dubois, mother of Evelyn Dubois, in August 2022