Samual Williston’s Original Hat
THE EARLY YEARS WILLISTON ACADEMY
THE FIRST EDITION IN OUR THREE PART SERIES
175TH ANNIVERSARY
SPECIAL EDITION
MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE?
Dance cards and invitations are just a few of the mementos from the school’s early years to be found in the Williston Northampton Archives.
CONTENTS | VOLUME 101, NUMBER 2
FEATURES
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12 | THE PEOPLE, THE PLACES, AND THEIR THINGS In the first of three special issues commemorating the school’s 175th anniversary, 10 alumni remember their Williston Academy years.
The legendary Sarah Stevens remembers her years at Williston Academy
34 | AN EVOLVING CAMPUS A look back at some well-loved and lost places from the campus of yesteryear. 38 | FROM THE ARCHIVES Emily and Samuel Williston and the early years of the school created amazing relics, held in trust by the Archives.
CAMPUS NEWS 4 | IN SHORT The newly renovated Phillips Stevens Chapel played host to a variety of inspiring programs and speakers this year.
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Emily Williston’s much-loved brooch, a gift from husband Samuel
7 | SPORTS SPOTLIGHT The Wildcats owned the winter and spring, with standouts including first-year Boys Basketball Coach Michael Shelton, named NEPSAC Class A Coach of the Year. 11 | DON’T BE AN A**HOLE Brad Hall ’75 returns to campus to serenade the Class of 2015 with some excellent (and hilarious) advice.
PEOPLE/PLACES
PH OTO G R A PH S: C H ATT M A N PH OTOG R A PH Y
41 | REUNION PORTRAIT Roger Walaszek ’65, inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame on Reunion Weekend, recalls his years at Williston. 42 | REUNION RECAP It was the second-most attended Reunion in school history, as alumni, families, and friends gathered on campus to celebrate. 45 | CLASS NOTES News from classmates and former faculty. 78 | OBITUARIES Remembering those we have lost. 81 | FINAL THOUGHTS Anne Woomer Bartoszuk ’87 shares her thoughts on her return to campus for the induction of the 1986 girls basketball team into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
HEAD OF SCHOOL Robert W. Hill III P ’15, ’19 Chief Advancement Officer Eric Yates P ’17, ’21 Director of Alumni Relations Jeff Pilgrim ’81 Director of Communications Traci Wolfe P ’16, ’19 Design Director Aruna Goldstein Director of Online Communications Rachael Hanley Project Manager Dennis Crommett
Please send letters to the editor, class notes, obituaries, and changes of address to: The Williston Northampton School Alumni Office 19 Payson Avenue Easthampton, MA 01027 T: (413) 529-3300 F: (413) 529-3427 Established in 1915, the Bulletin is published by the Advancement Office for the benefit of alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and friends.
cover photo
Chattman Photography
2 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
SAMUEL. EMILY. SARAH. DOROTHY.
If you’ve been at the Williston Northampton School long enough, you may already be familiar with these names and what they mean to our community. You might know the stories, too: Samuel Williston’s exodus from Andover due to failing eyesight, which became the driving force behind his desire to found a school in Easthampton. Emily Williston’s infamous “button theft,” an act of reverse engineering that should put her on a top 10 list for early American entrepreneurial women. Sarah Whitaker and Dorothy Bement defying economic and societal odds by founding a school for girls in Northampton. And how all four names came together in 1971 when, as so many New England boarding schools did at that time of increased coeducation, Williston Academy merged with Northampton School for Girls. In honor of these 175 extraordinary years of history, we dedicate the 2015-16 academic year to our founders, their visions, the lives of thousands of alumni who have benefitted from the school, and the hundreds of teachers and staff who have brought their passion and interests to campus. If there was ever a year to recall the school’s most extraordinary people and stories, then this is that year. Schools, like families, foster a deep sense of connection to a collective past. We forget where we came from at our own peril, for to do so severs an essential narrative. No doubt the Williston Northampton of today is strikingly different than it was even 10, 15, or 20 years ago—to say nothing of decades long past. Today, Williston Northampton is a leader in the integration of technology and pedagogy. Our athletes play on turf fields as often as on natural grass. Solar panels provide a portion of the school’s energy use. Our students carry tablets in their book bags and work with cloud-based software in the classrooms.
But boys and girls continue to pursue their life goals with purpose, passion, and integrity, just as they always have done, even if those values went by other names. I am deeply gratified to be the head of school during this 175th year. I not only relish hearing more about the school’s history, but look forward to the many gatherings of alumni, students, and parents this year. Together, we will celebrate our school, share in plans of, and support for, the future, and bear witness to one of New England’s oldest boarding schools and the countless good deeds that have come from those who have passed through our gates. I hope to see you at one of our on- or off-campus events as we celebrate this milestone, and as always, thank you for your support of all we do. Sincerely,
Robert W. Hill III P ’15, ’19
campus news
Want to send a big offering for next Bulletin; ashamed to see ’63 gone blank again. I can’t get over how unique and splendid this last Bulletin is. Whoever did the layout seems to have excelled. Williston is certainly a far different creature today. —David Tatlock ’63
WE WON A GOLD AWARD!
PH OTO G R A PH S: C H ATT M A N PH OTOG R A PH Y
CASE CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
Williston Northampton’s alumni magazine can add another gold trophy to the shelf. In June, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded the Bulletin its top national prize for independent magazines: a Circle of Excellence gold medal. CASE judges noted that the biannual magazine was “a strong publication with compelling content.” They commended the Bulletin for its layout, content, and photography. CASE received more than 3,200 entries for this year’s Circle of Excellence Awards. Judges awarded 93 bronze, 106 silver, 91 gold and 17 grand gold medals in nearly 100 categories. Winners were selected based on such factors as impact, overall quality, innovation, and use of resources. The awards are open to colleges, universities, independent schools, and nonprofits. This is the second award for the Bulletin, which received a gold medal at the association’s district awards in January. The gold was presented at the 2015 CASE District I Conference in Boston on January 30.
IN MEMORIAM
[The Memoriam Blog] is an excellent new addition to Williston’s program to stay in touch with us “old guys.” —Roger Kallock ’56 A recollection: Spring 1951, Williston’s baseball team playing a home game against undefeated Amherst freshmen; down by three, I hit a bases-loaded triple to tie the game; no further scores until the bottom of the ninth, Ed playing right field drove the ball over the fence and into the pond for the win; for me, certainly, and for Ed as well, I remember, a best win ever. Obviously, a milestone event.—Jim Perkins ’51, on the passing of Edwin Anderson, Jr. ’51 How sad to read about the loss of a gentle soul with a very sweet and always sincere smile. She had such a soft but easy happy laugh. Just made you feel comfortable. So sorry. Wish I had known her as an adult. I’m sure she was not only brilliant but charming.—Suzanne Cote-Croce ’82, on the passing of Margaret Ross ’82
5 QUESTIONS
I enjoyed reading the entire article about the organ in the chapel. Having grown up with part of that organ in my home, it is wonderful to think that it has been in place at Williston
for over 50 years. I do hope some students are able to study organ. Thank you. —Charles Williston Camp ’59
| letters
and for helping me find my favorite pastime.—Ashley Glenn ’03 GROWING UP ON CAMPUS
BREAKING 200
Honestly, I do not know many people like Mr. T. [Greg Tuleja]. He not only supported me through some challenging adolescent years, but he gave me the inspiration to run every inch, of every foot, of every mile, in cross country. I have been so fortunate to have Mr. T. in my life, and I know that Williston feels the same. I remember dreading our sprint practices around the baseball field. Yet somehow, Mr. T. inspired all of us to dig deeper and give our absolute best. His influence has carried over to many aspects of my life, both in running and in pursuing what I never thought I was capable of. They don’t come any better than Mr. T.! Thanks for being a supportive and inspiring person to so many of us. Your dedication to all of your cross-country teams, both on and off the field, has not, and will not, go unnoticed.—Cassy Delano ’06 Mr. T. was so much more than a coach. He inspired us to push our bodies to the limit and run as a team, not an individual. Most importantly he always made practices and running a fun experience. I had the pleasure of joining the cross-country team when I was in 8th grade with no running experience. Mr. T. helped me develop a passion for running. I ran with Mr. T. through my senior year at Williston and was a team captain. Today I have continued my passion for running by training for marathons. Thank you, Mr. T., for so many fond memories
Exerpt from longer letter: I was inspired by Victoria Brett’s article in the Winter Bulletin to set down some of my reflections on growing up on campus in the early 1950s. The life skills and breadth of knowledge I gained were extraordinary. For me, of course, “growing up on campus” meant also the status of Son of the Headmaster; and that experience was complex and fraught and must be a separate story! I was seven when we arrived and settled into The Homestead. That majestic building was really the face of the school, and its front rooms were to be maintained as a welcoming, comfortable, and stately space. Even the kitchen, with its fireplace with black iron kettle on a swinging hook, and Dutch oven, projected hospitality. To accommodate our expanding family, the floor above the kitchen and garage was subdivided into three bedrooms and a spacious playroom, where we spent many hours; and where Mrs. Donais’ Cub Scout Pack 22 met weekly! The basement was a delightful place for kids; with dark hidden spaces and a stairway to nowhere, a wood room and a coal room with chute, dust and cobwebs, the smell of age and neglect—it invited modification into a Halloween chamber of horrors. —Phil Stevens ’54
Read the full text of Phil Stevens’s memories of growing up on campus at www. willistonblogs.com/bulletin
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 3
campus news
| in
short
Maranie Harris-Kuiper ’15 and Brittany Collins ’14 speak to friends following their symposium keynote.
This year’s Diversity Symposium asked students to examine the nuance of self.
T
hat was the simple—and surprisingly complex—question at the heart of the 2015 Diversity Symposium. Keynote speaker and advocate Thomas Smith viewed the issue as a matter of triumph through adversity, while University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty member Dr. Kerrita Mayfield saw it as a matter of integrity. In their student addresses, which began a day of workshops, Maranie Harris-
Kuiper ’15, Verdi Degbey ’16, Anthony Leung ’15, and Cameron Stanley ’16 strove to answer the question through the multifaceted lenses of race, culture, sexual orientation, and religion. Mr. Degbey offered his response in the form of a spoken word performance, entitled “Self Reclamation,” in which he urged his fellow students to discard labels and “know yourself, then be yourself.” “If we tried to copy you through a machine,” he said. “It’d read error because
4 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
there are just too many levels to what makes you an individual.” Perhaps nowhere else were the answers to the question as nuanced or fluid, though, as in the “Storytelling Through Writing” workshop, jointly presented by former diversity intern Brittany Collins ’14 and Diversity Committee member Ms. Harris-Kuiper. To kick off the session, Ms. Collins explained that, in her mind, identity encompassed “our story, our experiences and our traditions, our
quirks and preferences, and the feelings that we carry with us that influence who we are and how we live our lives.” “We refer to identity as a muscle, so much like I would go to the gym to exercise my body, I can come to this space to exercise the muscle of identity,” she told students in the workshop. “Identity changes every minute,” Ms. Collins added. “We’re always different people. We have the same base, but everything is changing.”
To illustrate her point, Ms. Collins and Ms. HarrisKuiper asked the dozen participants to go around the room several times and complete the following sentence: “By looking at me, you wouldn’t know that…” The group began tentatively at first, listing off their club and sport affiliations. As their confidence grew, so did their answers, until the list became as complex and nuanced as they were, involving travel, the banjo, diabetes, public speaking, an eating disorder, shyness, and
PH OTO G R A PH : M AT T H E W C AVA NAU G H
HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF?
Kids Speak Up What’s something about you that other people would be surprised to know? Students answered that question for each other and themselves. BY LOOKING AT ME YOU WOULDN’T KNOW
I really like poetry. I’m very talkative outside of the classroom. I like to run. I love to read. I love to play soccer. I’m a photographer. I’m a shy person. I really like to dance. I’m extremely emotional. I’ve never been on an airplane. I’ve been to almost every country in Europe. This is my third high school. I go to classical music concerts. Anthony Leung ’15 dazzles the crowd with his magic performance.
I’m in the Caterwaulers. I hate to travel. I used to play the banjo.
an extreme fear of spiders. “I’ve been to almost every country in Europe,” said one. “This is my third high school,” said another. “I’m scared of public speaking,” said a third. It was a way of answering the question of identity that Ms. HarrisKuiper had also touched on in her address earlier that morning. “I’ve learned that we all have a race in common,” she had said then. “It’s the human race.”
I’m a type-1 diabetic. I like to play jokes on people. I play the viola.
RENOVATED CHAPEL HOSTS INSPIRING SPEAKER Before Thomas Smith began his address in Phillips Stevens Chapel— before he said a single word—Williston Northampton students and faculty gave him a rousing ovation. What had the audience found so moving? Mr. Smith’s simple act of ascending to the stage, which he accomplished by bypassing the stairs and rising on the chapel’s new wheelchair lift. That Mr. Smith, a Diversity Symposium keynote speaker and quadriplegic, could access the stage smoothly and easily was worth applauding. The new lift, part of an extensive, year-long chapel renovation project, was the final piece in a retrofit puzzle that made the Phillips Stevens Chapel completely accessible for the first time since it was constructed in 1965. Building renovations—funded by parents of the Class of 2014—included extensive updates to the choir loft, rear entrance, and exterior. The $300,000 project involved moving and rewiring the organ, raising and reconfiguring the loft, and building a stage with a modern audio and visual system. Since being installed in the fall, the multimedia system and stage have become a mainstay of weekly assemblies. Besides Mr. Smith, co-founder of the Thomas E. Smith Foundation, they have also been used for performances and talks by such notables as the Yale Whiffenpoofs; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder P’92, ’97; Cum Laude speaker Mark Franczyk ’00; and Wright Speaker Series visitor Jacy Good. Mr. Smith, who is an advocate for patients with spinal cord injuries, commended the school for such forwardthinking renovations. “People recognize when you do hard work, when you’re determined to make our culture better,” he said.
I’m scared of public speaking. I know how to play the violin. I’m an only child. I have an eating disorder. I like rap music. I have an extreme fear of spiders.
How would you answer? Add your response at:
www.willistonblogs.com/bulletin
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 5
EVENTS 1. AS YOU LIKE IT
Students brought the Forest of Arden to life on the Williston stage with “As You Like It,” one of William Shakespeare’s most musical plays. Actors learned swing-inspired dances for this light comedy, which also tackled such themes as gender roles, land grabbing, and censorship.
Sarah Williams Carlan ’92
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2. SPECIAL ASSEMBLY
Sarah Williams Carlan ’92 spoke to students on Friday, May 15 about “coming full circle.” She talked about her own experience, why she looked at Williston for her daughter, and why she feels it’s important to stay connected and give back.
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FROSTIANA
5. CUM LAUDE
“Frostiana,” written by composer Randall Thompson, is a piece in seven movements, each featuring a different Robert Frost poem. First staged in Amherst in 1959, “Frostiana” was the highlight of the year’s music program when it was performed by students and a full orchestra.
On January 16, Mark Franczyk ’00, a former investment banker turned chef, was the special guest speaker during the Cum Laude induction ceremony in the Phillips Stevens Chapel. Of career choices, he said, “Just because it’s the non-traditional choice, doesn’t mean that it’s the wrong choice.”
3. BACCALAUREATE
Baccalaureate, which brings together the senior class, their families, and the faculty, marked the beginning of a beautiful Commencement Weekend.
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4. ACADEMIC AWARDS
Williston celebrated the considerable academic achievements of the year on the Saturday of Commencement Weekend. 6 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
Mark Franczyk ’00
campus news
WINTER AND SPRING SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
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short
1. TRACK AND FIELD
Mike Dereus ’16 broke the 200 meter record with a time of 21.8, and Alexis Ryan ’17 won the NEPSAC discus event with a throw of 106’8.” The girls 4x100 relay team (Rebecca Sundel ’17, Sideya Dill ’16, Lena Gandevia ’15, and Gabby Thomas ’15) broke the school record with a time of 49.76, and were named NEPSAC champions for the second year in a row.
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2 4. GIRLS HOCKEY
Varsity girls ice hockey had an incredible 20 wins, one loss, and four ties and went undefeated for 24 games (in arguably the top girls’ ice hockey league in the country). The team set a new Williston record for the most victories in a single season.
PH OTO G R A PH S: C H ATT M A N PH OTOG R A PH Y, PAU L R U TH E RFORD, AND MAT T H E W C AVANAU GH
2. BOYS SKIING
Boys skiing won the NEPSAC championship, securing the title for the first time in 22 years. Devin DeVerry ’17 finished in third in the giant slalom and second in the slalom. Captain Anthony Aquadro ’15 finished 10th in the slalom and Jesse Cassuto ’17 finished fifth. 3. SWIMMING AND DIVING
The girls swim team set two new school relay records, four new individual school records, and a host of individual best times. The team placed second in the NEPSAC championship. Gabriella Mercier ’17 broke school records for dual and championship meet diving; David Fitch ’17 won a NEPSAC title in the boys 100-yard freestyle.
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4 5. LACROSSE
The boys lacrosse team, led by Coaches Syfu, Dietrich, and Johnson, celebrated its best season in 16 years with a 12-3 record. The Wildcats went 6-0 against Western New England Division II teams to win the league championship. Coaches Syfu and Dietrich were jointly named Division II Mike Fuller Coach of the Year.
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Coach Shelton’s
Wild Ride
“I
t’s been a wild ride.” That’s the first thing Michael Shelton says as he leans back onto his office couch and smoothes his tie. This is a rare moment of contemplation for the coach and assistant director of admissions. His phone is always ringing: There’s a new student asking about the team, a basketball player who needs workout advice, an advisee with a schedule question. Coach Shelton—like so many others at the school—wears many hats. Having just finished coaching one of the most successful seasons in Williston Northampton basketball history, he had to transition quickly into the admission and recruitment period that marks the spring. In his first year at Williston Northampton, Coach Shelton helped recruit 10 strong players. Those students formed the core of what would become a powerhouse basketball team—one that would rack up the most wins in school history, earn the #2 seed in the Class A tournament, defeat two-time defending New England champion Phillips Exeter Academy, and go on to win the New England Prep School Class A Championship. For their outstanding play during the season, three boys garnered postseason recognition on the All New England team, Ryan Richmond ’15 was also named the outstanding player of the tournament, and Coach Shelton was named the NEPSAC Class A Coach of the Year. That the students would come together the way they did was not always a given. In fact, the team had faced difficult losses—a 59-62 loss to Kimball Union Academy, and a 67-72 loss to Cheshire Academy—as well as the transfer of one of its key players early in the season. “As coaches, it’s our job to have all of those different personalities and skill sets come together on the court,” Coach Shelton said. “So that’s what my initial goal was from the onset, to try and create a winning culture on and off the court here.” To create that winning culture, Coach Shelton drilled into his team the four pillars of his coaching philosophy: the collective is stronger than the individual; there is always room to grow; the only way to perfect your craft is to keep patiently hammering away at it; and academic excellence is always a priority. Coach Shelton honed this philosophy at the college level, where he served as an assistant basketball coach at Winthrop University, an assistant men’s basketball coach at Wesleyan University, and an assistant coach at the University of New Haven. Such a background forged a self-described “really tough coach” with a desire to push students to their limits. Or, in his words, “make them comfortable with being uncomfortable.” 8 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
For the team, that meant that a win didn’t necessarily lead to a celebration— especially if Coach Shelton felt that the players were not performing at their best. After a particularly lackluster victory against Westminster School, Coach Shelton brought the team home in silence, gave them a talk, and had them run a 45-minute practice. “Nobody wanted to be there. No one wanted to be doing sprints, or defensive slides or whatever the case may be, but we started to see the accountability of each kid to the kid next to them and their teammates, and then spurring them on, ‘We need to get this right,’” he said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Okay, we have it.’ That was the catalyst of us coming together and starting to roll toward the end of the season.” It’s a message that players such as point guard Ryan Richmond took to heart. Reflecting on the season in April, as he was preparing to commit to Bentley University, Mr. Richmond said he had learned “the value of hard work and sacrifice.” “As individuals, we had to sacrifice what we were capable of doing for the positive progression of the whole team,” Mr. Richmond said. “It had to be about ‘we’ and not ‘me.’” For Coach Shelton, the work of the past season isn’t ultimately about winning championships. It’s about building a long legacy of excellence—on the court and in the classroom. “Something that I really believe in is: we just do what we do,” he said. “We don’t really change what we do. Because you have to have conviction in what you’re doing.”
“ My initial goal was to try and create a winning culture on and off the court.”
campus news
| sports
spotlight
PH OTO G R A PH S: PAU L R U TH E RFO R D
ENDING WITH A GOLDEN RUN
Gabby Thomas ’15 capped an extraordinary career at Williston by winning gold medals in four New England Championship events: 100 meters, 200 meters, 4x100, and triple jump. She set a NEPSAC meet record of 39’ 11” in the triple jump; her best jump of the year was 40’ 7,” the fifth-best result in the country this spring. Ms. Thomas also broke her own NEPSAC record in the 100-meter with a time of 11.71, the fifth year in a row she’s won the title. Her time put her in the top 20 of 100-meter finishes in the country. For the second year in a row, she was named MVP of the NEPSAC championship meet. She will attend Harvard University in the fall.
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 9
PH OTO G R A PH S: M AT TH E W CAVA N AU G H
Brad Hall ’75
DON’T BE AN A**HOLE
Brad Hall ’75 gives the Class of 2015 advice on how to be a great, big, classy, fabulous failure
H
ilarious and self-deprecating best describe the keynote address that marked the occasion of the 174th Commencement and Brad Hall’s return to the Williston Northampton School. The actor, writer, and director began his remarks, which would end with an off-color song, by noting that he had been having a recurring nightmare about returning to Williston Northampton to give an oral report—dressed as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Pausing for a moment, so the audience could take in his black, formal robes, Mr. Hall quipped, “Thank you for helping my most horrible dreams to come true.” One of television’s creative powerhouses—who has been involved in such shows as “Frasier,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Parks and Recreation,” among others—Mr. Hall has described his career as having achieved “the weird distinction of having done just about every creative job in television.”
After majoring in theater at Northwestern University, he attended the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts, and Drama Studio in London. Mr. Hall was a co-founder and artistic director of the Practical Theatre Co. in Chicago and wrote and and performed on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Mr. Hall has recently written and directed two award-winning short films, “Picture Paris,” a dark comedy starring his wife, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and a documentary about an art collection that becomes an education for African American kids in Harlem, “Generosity of Eye.” On May 24, after comparing his own experience at Williston Northampton to living in a teepee during the ice age and hunting mastodons, Mr. Hall noted that the 139 seniors “seem to really appreciate the gifts you’ve been given.” “What am I supposed to tell you guys about the future?” he asked. “You guys literally are the future.” He did, however, wish the Class of 2015 both tremendous success and fabulous failures—particularly the humility and compassion that could be learned through the latter. “There are times when a little suffering, a little hardship, and a little failure have value,” he said. “Even those of us lucky enough to receive a Williston education will someday fail.” In a wonderfully wry finale, that drew a standing ovation from the senior class, Mr. Hall concluded his speech with a song he had written for the occasion called, “Don’t Be An A**hole.” “I’ve been to a lot of commencements in my 30 years—that’s professionally and then as a student—and I guarantee you’ll remember that one for the rest of your life,” laughed Head of School Robert W. Hill III, who took the stage following Mr. Hall.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS EXCERPT
So, you did it, Class of 2015! You are graduating! You have been looking forward to this day, your high school graduation day, for at least 13 years. That’s how long you’ve been going to school. Can you believe that? Thirteen years, for nine months a year, five days a week—or in some cruel, barbaric institutions, six days a week. Well, now it’s over. You are through with school forever. Congratulations. You will never again have to attend another class, read another book, or write another paper, or get up before noon. Oh—wait a second. That’s right. You’re just graduating from high school. Now you’ve got to go to college. And then graduate school. And then post-graduate school. And then prison, which is seven days a week unless you get one of these cool ankle bracelets… Can we go back and talk about Saturday classes for second? Guys, I know you’re used to it, and some of you like it, but that’s insane. I know I went to school here a long time ago, and most things have gotten MUCH better, but at least we didn’t have Saturday classes. We didn’t have Monday classes either. Or Wednesday or Friday. We had classes Tuesday mornings and then for a few minutes on Thursday. That was the Williston way. Read the rest of Mr. Hall’s speech at www.willistonblogs.com/speeches or watch his remarks and song at www. youtube.com/willistonnorthampton
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 11
THE PEOPLE, THE PLACES, AND THEIR THINGS
Remembering the Williston Academy years
12 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
the williston northampton school is embarking on a celebration of its 175th anniversary,
beginning with Convocation on September 18 and continuing through December 2016. We hope you will be able to join the school for the celebration, and you can find a listing of events both on and off campus on page 33 of the magazine. There’s a lot to share when you’re considering 175 years of the school’s history—particularly a history as interesting and complex as ours. Since the only way to do justice to our three schools is to treat them equally, we’re breaking our special edition into three parts. We’re starting with Williston Academy, which of course, began as Williston Seminary. In our spring 2016 issue, we’ll take a closer look at the Northampton School for Girls, and finally, in the fall 2016 issue, we’ll turn to the Williston Northampton School. In each issue, we’ll offer a glimpse of the school’s history, through artifacts in the Archives, photography, brief biographies of the men and women who shaped each institution, and most importantly, interviews with alumni. We’ve asked 10 alumni from Williston Academy, 10 from Northampton School for Girls, and 10 from the Williston Northampton School to answer five questions each. In our final issue of this series, we’ll do the same of five members of the Class of 2016. That comes to a total of 175 questions for 35 people. It’s not an exhaustive history by any means, but it’s a glimpse into the lives of the alumni who have been educated and grown up on our campuses. It’s a look across decades and an opportunity to learn more about how that experience influenced their lives. So let’s begin in 1841, with an idea for a new kind of education in a growing town in Western Massachusetts, and a passionate man who had the means to make it all possible—a man with a brilliant wife who helped make the fortune that was the beginning of everything. Samuel Williston dreamed of building a school in Easthampton. As Amherst College faculty member William Seymour Tyler noted at the time, “Nothing could then stop him but absolute impossibilities. There was no such word as can’t in his vocabulary, but I will, or I’ll try, was on every page of his dictionary.” In December 1841, Williston Seminary opened on downtown’s Main Street with 91 students. Mr. Williston was closely involved in the school, and with no biological children of his own (having lost four daughters before the age of five), he and his wife took in several of those first students. The school was co-ed until Mr. Williston built the first public high school in Easthampton in 1864, after which the Seminary became all boys. By then, the Willistons had built their own house, now the Homestead. Their farmland eventually became home to Williston Academy in 1951. Samuel and Emily Williston’s worldly success and personal tragedy were transformed into a lasting gain for generations. And as Mr. Tyler noted, “[Williston] wished his work to endure and be ‘a possession forever;’ and it is only the best structures, those which cost time and money, that endure.”
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: MEGAN TADY AND RICK TELLER ’70
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 13
THE PEOPLE
Frank Conant ’35
A man with a lifelong devotion to Williston and a fascination with the history of its founders
Frank Conant ’35 was a day student at Williston Academy during the Great Depression. Raised in Southampton, MA, he rode with his father to school every day. His father worked at United Elastic Corporation, one of Easthampton’s largest manufacturers. A shy student, Mr. Conant initially struggled at Williston Academy, in part, because he was distracted by the pain of wearing braces on his teeth—a rare thing in the early ’30s. Mr. Conant soared through his senior year, and went on to send his four children to Williston. In 1991, he published a book about the school’s founders, called God’s Stewards: Samuel and Emily Williston. What was your favorite year at Williston?
My senior year. The first couple of
years at Williston were difficult coming from a small town background. The homework was very steep. The demands were heavy. Plus the fact that I was having my teeth straightened with braces, and I was always afraid, when I was playing sports, of having a soccer ball hit me right in the face. By senior year I had gotten through the braces and was able to really participate in the school.
What about the beauty of Williston’s campus did you enjoy?
I enjoyed the relationship of the school with the mountain, particularly with the athletic fields south of the town. The mountain is very obvious from those fields. It’s like the backdrop, which many competitive schools didn’t have.
ton hanging on his overcoat. After he had gone to bed, she snipped off a button, took it apart to see how it was made, and sewed it back on the gentlemen’s coat. He never knew the difference. But she had the secret. The Willistons were very successful in selling these buttons. They made their money off of these button sales. It makes a good story.
Who was a teacher who had a big impact on you?
Why did you decide to write a book about Samuel and Emily Williston?
What do you want the younger generation of alumni to know about Williston?
Mr. Rouse. He was an English teacher and he was in charge of the Glee Club. He was the most important teacher for me. He was very much an on-the-ball kind of person. He was a very good teacher, too. One of the things that Williston did was they specialized in making you a good writer.
I was always distressed that there was no simple way of getting to know about their life and how they started the school. Emily was quite a person in her own right, too. In those days, the style of the time included cloth-made buttons of a large size. A visitor came, so the story goes. Emily was attracted to a cloth-covered but-
An important part of the story is that Emily was so supportive of him. And he was of her. He depended on her because of his poor eyesight. Together they made a team. They were a prime example of partnership.
William Williams ’45
A local—and reluctant—student finds a way to take advantage of an opportunity he wasn’t sure he wanted
William Williams ’45 grew up in Easthampton and describes himself as a local “day boy.” He lived with his grandparents across the street from campus, and would dart back and forth from his house to classes. Although Mr. Williams struggled during his initial days at Williston, he would eventually grace the top of the honor roll and go on to attend Harvard and Harvard Business School. He became a security analyst for leading financial firms in Boston and New York City. Now 87, Mr. Williams lives in Hingham, MA, where he’s an active film buff with a collection of 650 movies.
PHOTOGR A PHS: M AT T HEW CAVA N AU GH
Why did you go to Williston?
I nearly flunked out my first semester and I had to take tutoring. It didn’t take long to sink in that this was an opportunity, even at that tender age. I started really working and found out there was such a thing called studying and homework. By the time I got through my junior year, I was pretty high on the honors list. Which teacher had the most impact on you?
I admired Archibald Hepworth. He taught history. He used to torture me once a week when we had a quiz. I remember this vividly. He would
write up on the blackboard the marks that everybody got, but without any names—from 95 to sub-zero. Then he’d go around the class and see who could identify the scores. Now I had the best mark, but I always lied and put myself two spaces below the top score. He would grin at me every time. He knew that I knew. It didn’t make me very popular with the other guys in my class.
Were there any incendiary articles in The Willistonian?
In those days, there was very little thought of doing anything that would smack of the kind of dissent and argument that might be taken for granted today. It just didn’t happen back then. Part of that was [Headmaster] Galbraith’s commanding performance over things. He wouldn’t understand something like
that. You would know he wouldn’t understand it, and you’d say, ‘I’m not going to raise this point.’ He kept things very calm. How different does Easthampton look today?
It looks the same when you’re driving into the main part of town because the old Town Hall is still there. When you drive through the neighborhoods in town, you see some changes, but not a whole lot. So it looks very much like the old Easthampton that I knew. But when you get down into the seams, you’ll see quite a few changes. I’m happy that this kind of change has taken place in the town, because at the time it seemed like a living ghost town. Gradually, people have found other uses for all those old empty mill buildings. Artists moved in there, and crafts people. Easthampton is a semi artsy-crafty place. What’s your all-time favorite movie?
There are so many movies that are so good. There’s one movie that made a lasting impression on me. It was called ‘Babette’s Feast.’ I was very affected by that movie. That’s why I recommend it.
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 15
Williston Seminary/Academy Notables
William Seymour Tyler 1841-1897
Luther Wright
Marshall Henshaw
Joseph Henry Sawyer
Without him, nothing. Mr. Tyler, a professor of Greek and Latin at Amherst College, was probably Mr. Williston’s closest friend, who initially proposed the idea of founding Williston Seminary. He served on the Board of Trustees for 55 years.
Samuel Williston’s boyhood friend had instituted an innovative scientific curriculum at Leicester Academy, which made him Mr. Williston’s choice for principal. “Boss” Wright may have run the Seminary the way Mr. Williston’s managers ran the factories – but he was the first Head of School.
A scientist rather than classicist, our third Principal challenged the Founder’s meddling and made the technical curriculum work at a time when Samuel Williston was prepared to close the school. Henshaw built the best lab and gymnasium facilities west of Harvard.
In 52 years of service, 22 as Headmaster, Mr. Sawyer taught nearly every course in the catalog, wrote a history of the school, established a tradition of alumni fundraising, and utterly changed Williston culture to reflect round-the-clock, personal interaction among students and adults: the modern boarding school.
George Parsons Tibbetts 1890-1926
Sidney N. Morse
Lincoln D. Granniss
Archibald V. Galbraith
Brilliant, eccentric, irascible, and much-beloved, Mr. Tibbetts redefined the teaching of mathematics to emphasize process and concepts over memorization and results. “Algebra? Geometry? Nothing! The problem: everything!”
Morse moved the study of English from the periphery of the curriculum to the center, where it remains. He also led choral groups, advised debate and The Willistonian, and left behind volumes of revealing, entertaining minutes of faculty meetings.
Teacher of Latin and Greek, “Granny” set the tone for providing the attention to individual students that so defines Williston culture. He was a strong advocate for community service and an enthusiastic outdoorsman.
Headmaster Galbraith guided the school through the Depression and World War II, while vastly strengthening finances, faculty, and academic, athletic, and social programs. He set the stage for moving the school from the center of Easthampton to the present campus.
1841-1849
1890-1927
16 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
1863-1876
1910-1953
1866-1919
1919-1949
Joe Lucier ’50 was a postgrad student before there was a term for it. Having graduated from high school in Northampton at the age of 16, he decided to attend Williston Academy for two more years. He returned in 1977 with his wife, Priscilla, a 1950 Northampton School for Girls (NSFG) graduate, to inject new vitality into the school’s development efforts. Together, they raised four children at Williston—and also raised the bar for giving. You were on the varsity football team. What game do you remember most?
Loomis. I was very good at allowing big boys to push me back. But as they pushed me back, I could pull them to one side. I would tell the quarterback which side to send the ball. We’d make yardage anytime we wanted. I’d say to Tommy, ‘Right.’ And a guy would come at me and I’d pull him to the left, and, zoom. I always remember our coach who said, ‘Gee, you don’t seem to be having any trouble out there today, Joe.’
PHOTOGR A PHS: CH ATT MA N PH OTOG RA PHY
You said you paid your way through Williston. Where did you work?
I used to work at the A&P in Northampton. I could walk in there and work anytime I wanted. When I was playing football, I didn’t work. The manager would put my time card with his and didn’t want me to lose my status. He would plug me in for so many hours a week and pay me. I was a good worker. I worked for them for 11 years.
Joe Lucier ’50
Creating a culture of philanthropy as a family affair
Did you attend school dances with NSFG?
I used to go to NSFG on the weekends and go to a dance. My wife was going to school there as a day
student at the same time, but I never met her. We met at UMass. She was the president of Kappa Kappa Gamma and I was in Phi Sigma Kappa, and we finally met our senior year. We got married a year later. We’re celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary. What’s the secret? I married the right woman. When you began working at Williston, how did you change the way the school approached development?
I asked people to ask people. We made a rule that no one would be asked to be on the Board of Trustees until we got a financial commitment from them. That changed the giving pattern of the board tremendously. If the board isn’t interested in the success of the school, who the hell is? Then we started working on Reunion classes. We’d get people to make $1,000 gifts, and at that time it was a major gift. How did it feel to receive a Distinguished Service Award in 2004?
I was pleased because they thought I had done a good job. I used to look at that chart of [other recipients and] I never thought I would be on it. It was a great gift to me. Also, I want you to know, my wife [Priscilla] was in the office and she ran the office. She was a big item in that office. I got the rewards, but she was the person running the show. FALL 2015 BULLETIN 17
Bob Couch ’50 Williston Academy’s first darkroom was in the basement of the Homestead, where Bob Couch first began teaching students the art of photography. As a student at Williston, he focused more on singing than slinging a camera, but he learned how to develop photographs in his father’s newspaper’s darkroom in Dalton, MA. He’s seen the school weather many transitions—from two campuses to a unified campus, for example—and many incarnations of darkrooms. He taught math and photography at Williston for 40 years, and lived on campus for 30 of those years with his wife, Janet, and five children.
18 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
How did you feel when you first came to Williston Academy as a boarder?
I was really lost. I was not particularly happy. One thing that’s stayed true to Williston is that everyone was friendly. I sat down in math class and a junior introduced himself. That helped a lot. Even though I was still homesick—I was the youngest of four brothers—by the time the end of year came around I couldn’t wait to get back for the next year.
What did you sing in the Glee Club?
We sang a lot at Williston, just in general. We had chapel every day at 9:00 a.m. We’d always sing a hymn. On Sunday, they’d have an outside speaker come in, and we’d sing three or four hymns. Everybody sang. Townspeople used to stand across the street to hear the singing from the chapel. As a photographer, what’s one of your favorite images you took at Williston?
I was fortunate to get a grant from the school to go to Newfoundland and photograph in 1992. I spent a
month up there. I’ve never been in that situation before where I could devote all my time to just photographing. That was really a wonderful experience. I’ve also taken the sports team photos since 1959 for the wall in the gym, and I have been taking them ever since. I don’t think many schools have a display as good as that one. What was your philosophy to teaching photography?
I taught math for 22 years. It’s about a 180-degree turn from teaching something so objective as math to subjective as photography. One of the things I would tell them on the first day was that I wanted them to fail. You’re going to mess up. You’re going to put film in the camera wrong or get a double exposure. But you learn from that stuff. The basic idea was to get them to try new things. The first assignment I gave was to take a picture of something common and make it look different.
What’s one of your favorite memories of Williston?
We used to play hockey on the pond—we had two rinks. We’d check the weather report. If it was going to be really cold at night, we’d get the hoses out from the gym and we’d flood the rink. Of course if we were going to have practice and it snowed, the kids had to shovel the snow off. It was a little different than having a Zamboni. The third hockey team used to play the faculty. The headmaster and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, played and their son David was on the third hockey team. David got the puck and he was coming up the ice toward his parents. And somebody said, ‘How often does this happen?’
1815
1826
1841
1874
williston academy timeline
Samuel Williston leaves Phillips Andover after less than a year due to failing eyesight. His inability to finish his education will motivate his charitable interests for the rest of his life.
Samuel’s wife Emily develops a method of manufacturing fancy cloth-covered buttons, starting the Willistons on the road to their fortune. Their business interests would expand into textiles, transportation, and banking.
Williston Seminary, a coeducational school offering scientific and classical curricula, is incorporated, March 18. Ground is broken, June 17; classes begin, December 2. The so-called “Old Campus” is complete by 1866.
Samuel Williston dies. Although his and Emily’s (d. 1885) estates provided for the Seminary, the school no longer enjoyed cash underwriting and had to learn to live within its means. The lesson lasts four decades.
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 19
Michael Lockshin ’55
A shy boy learns there’s no limit to what he can achieve
1896
1916
1919
1949
williston academy timeline
Joseph Sawyer, who joined the faculty in 1866, becomes the Seminary’s seventh principal (and the first to style himself “headmaster”). In his 22 years at the helm, he puts the school’s finances in order, and develops a curriculum that adapts to the times and emphasizes teaching.
Ford Hall, the first building on the “new campus,” formerly Samuel and Emily Williston’s homestead, is constructed. The second, the Recreation Center (now the Reed Campus Center) opens in 1930.
Archibald Galbraith succeeds Mr. Sawyer as Headmaster. Until 1949, he continues Mr. Sawyer’s emphasis on teaching, and transforms the school environment into one which absorbs all aspects of student life, class, sports, activities. The school is renamed Williston Academy in 1925.
Phillips Stevens becomes Williston’s headmaster. His 22 years will bring immense growth in the size of the school, the campus, and the curriculum.
20 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
Dr. Michael Lockshin ’55 attended Williston Academy with his twin brother, Richard Lockshin ’55. Originally from Ohio, the brothers had at first scoffed about enrolling in a prep school, but Dr. Lockshin says his “Midwestern horror quickly faded.” After Williston, he attended Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, and is now a professor of medicine and obstetrics-gynecology at WeillCornell Medical Center.
I was shy and never thought I could speak in public, but I joined the debate society and I was surprised how much fun it was to formulate an argument and put it into a logical sequence. It forced me to have a more rigorous thinking pattern. That gave me a lot of confidence. I did try out for
1951
PHOTOGR A PHS: JA I MI E SAUN DER S
What did you try at Williston that surprised you?
Williston Academy transfers operations entirely to the present campus on Payson Avenue and Park Street (with a parade). The “Old Campus” is sold and demolished.
the Glee Club, my brother and I, and we were thrown out within a day by the leader, who said, ‘What’s that monotone section over there?’ ” What was it like to attend Williston Academy with your twin brother?
We were independent. We didn’t go to the same classes. We didn’t have a lot of competition, except which one of us was going to be the valedictorian. He beat me by a quarter of a point. What do you remember was happening in the world while you were at Williston?
Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio at that time. Any teenage boy in that era was enamored with Marilyn Monroe. And Joe DiMaggio was one of the great heroes of all time. Everyone talked about that. Also, the Anne Frank book came out. The town I had come from in Ohio had a number of refugees from World War II, but I had not put it into my consciousness what it all meant. It was a big realization when I read it, I think, in Mr. Rouse’s English class.
Williston acquired property rights to a ski area on Mt. Tom. But it was still wooded and they had to remove tree stumps. My brother and I volunteered the jeep to help remove tree stumps. I don’t think you want a 16-year-old boy to be doing that kind of thing. There was a moment when I got physics in mind, I was on a very steep slope, and I said, ‘If I don’t get out of here, the jeep is going to roll over with me in it.’ They didn’t have roll bars or anything like that. It was one of those quickly eliminated experiments. What impact did Williston have on your life?
Williston opened up to me the possibility of a very wide world and that I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve. I didn’t have a huge amount of ambition when I was there. When I started at Williston, the concept of me going to anything other than a state school was not on my radar. I got the idea that I could go for things, and that I would be the limit of what I could do.
Williston Academy Notables
Howard G. Boardman 1921-1961
French teacher and innovative theater director, as alumni secretary “Boardy” kept in individual touch with hundreds of “his boys,” especially those serving in wartime, when his long, newsy, personal letters were, for many, a link with sanity back home.
Wilmot S. Babcock
What’s one of your favorite memories from Williston?
1943-1972
My family had a jeep—an old WWII-style jeep. When my brother and I got driver’s licenses, we were allowed to drive to school in it. There was a moment when
Business manager, science teacher, soccer, and track coach—but in the swimming program, where his teams regularly beat college squads, “Bab” achieved legendary status as Williston’s most successful coach. Ever.
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 21
How was your life at Williston different from your life in Hong Kong, where you had been studying?
Vuttichai Wanglee ’63
Making a home at Williston, far from his own
Originally from Thailand and studying in Hong Kong, Vuttichai Wanglee ’63 came to Williston Academy when his father asked that he learn English. The steep language and cultural barriers gradually faded away. By the time he graduated, Mr. Wanglee says he felt like a full member of the student body.
I was able to speak Chinese fluently while I studied in Hong Kong. I was very happy then. Life was also the same in Thailand, but the school in Thailand was very strict academically, especially every subject you have to memorize instead of using your own expression. Study in Hong Kong was more open. I was not used to expressing my ideas while I was at Williston because I was conditioned to accept everything when the teachers gave it to me. That was why I encountered some difficulty in expressing myself in class. In Hong Kong, it was more open but the teacher seldom asked the students to express their own ideas. Which teacher had the most impact on you?
Mr. Hepworth, the U.S. history teacher, who inspired me to attend his class. He made every subject in U.S. history very interesting. I loved to study U.S. history. It is very interesting and especially during the expansion to the West, the Civil War, the Indian War. U.S. history was quite easy to understand and follow, unlike European history; it was full of unfamiliar words, especially Latin words. What kind of student were you (shy, confident, a troublemaker, a class clown)?
I was shy, especially among American females. Maybe my English speaking ability was not up to par with the rest of the American students.
22 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
What’s a favorite memory of your time at Williston?
I have several: wearing a tie and jacket during the school day; taking turns waiting on the tables; wearing hats during the winter; attending Chapel on Sunday. The teachers and the school staff were very friendly and made me feel at home. During my last year at the school, I was really enjoying the life there. I was a part of the student body. There weren’t as many international students at Williston in 1963 as there are today. What was it like to be an international student at Williston?
The first night, the police in Easthampton thought I was lost when I carried my luggage back to the school. I was very lonely at the beginning and I could not get along very well with the Americans due to the language barrier. I learned English very quickly and it was to my advantage when I met Thai students in the big cities and compared abilities to comprehend English. Schools in Thailand or Hong Kong did not stress sports. When I was at Williston, I was surprised that I was required to join the sport activities. However, this requirement built up my determination that if I want to send my children to the school in U.S., they must be able to join any sports. I have done so with my two sons and they joined Williston Northampton School.
Gordon Cadwgan ’63
A lively student discovered a love of science
Gordon Cadwgan ’63 was a feisty teenager who didn’t love his high school in the south of Providence, RI. He agreed with his parents that Williston might be a better fit, and he excelled academically—though his lively nature kept his dorm parents and teachers on their toes. After Williston, he went into the sciences. He worked for five years at Union Carbide and then 16 years at DuPont as a senior scientist. He retired in 1996, and lives in West Palm Beach, FL. How did things change for you at Williston?
Things were pretty regimented. I needed that because I wasn’t going to be able to do them myself. Very quickly, I became accustomed to doing certain things at a certain time and getting them done, as opposed to being on my own in high school. You have a book report due in two weeks? Well heck, you don’t have to do that until two days before it’s due. Whereas at Williston, I really enjoyed that regimentation.
PHOTOGR A PHS: CH ATT MA N PH OTOG RA PHY
Which teacher had a significant impact on you?
Doc Phillips. He was chemistry. I ended up doing chemistry in college. I liked all the sciences. That was that era of rockets and Sputnik. Both my brother and I were very active in science programs. We built rockets. My dad was a businessperson, and all three of his kids went into science. He always used to make the comment, ‘Where did I go wrong?’ I just enjoyed Doc’s classes and discovering things that I didn’t know.
What did you try at Williston that surprised you?
I started playing soccer right away. That was one thing that I needed the most, a daily hard physical activity to keep me more even keeled. I don’t think I would have ever played sports in high school because I was 110 pounds and wasn’t even five feet. I remember when we had Parents Day, I was on the varsity squad, and Saturday morning we woke up and there was two to three inches of snow on the ground and the mountain was covered with snow. We played the game in front of our parents anyway. If you kicked the ball to make a pass, it would take off like a rocket. What was the food like?
At that point we were still [taking turns] waiting on tables. There was also kitchen crew—some of the guys worked in the kitchen. We always referred to them as the ‘animals’ because they could wear an old pair of jeans and T-shirts while the rest of us were in coat and tie. I remember the food being very good. We ate a lot of eggs in the country, so I missed eggs. At Williston, we’d have what was supposed to be soft-boiled eggs. So you’d get a piece of toast and open up the egg, and it would be hard boiled. So you’d eat that one and get another one. Maybe you’d find one that was soft boiled. What did you enjoy about going to boarding school?
I didn’t have any baggage. Nobody knew what a terrible kid I was. It’s like going off to college or going off to work for the first time. You have a clean slate. FALL 2015 BULLETIN 23
Williston Academy Notables
Charles E. Rouse 1923-1965
Archibald L. Hepworth 1926-1973
Dale Lash
Read, write, and write some more. Mr. Rouse, who also served as Dean of Faculty and choral conductor, set the standard for an English Department that alumni from the ’50s and ’60s recall as simply glorious.
Jeekers! Colorful longtime Dean of Students “Heppy” demanded exceptional precision and attention to detail in his history classes, coached tennis, hockey, and more, and was a key figure in Easthampton politics.
As Director of Athletics, Lash was charged by Headmaster Galbraith with creating a sports program in which every student engaged in meaningful participation. In those simpler times, he also coached every season and was his own athletic trainer.
Henry Teller
Phillips Stevens
Richard Francis
Mr. Teller raised Williston choral music to preeminence among New England private schools. A demanding history teacher who enjoyed challenging assumptions, he was the first in the U.S. to offer Russian Civilization at the high school level, and Williston’s first student activities director.
Envisioning a world-class school that could compete with the best, Headmaster Stevens built five major buildings, while increasing the number of students and faculty, raising admission standards, addressing endowment, and ultimately setting the stage for coeducation and the Northampton School merger.
Dale Lash’s successor as director of athletics expanded Williston’s offerings to include many more sports, was an inspiring coach of football and basketball, and presided over the introduction of women’s sports following coeducation. He was also a caring and patient math teacher.
1949-1983
1949-1972
24 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
1942-1968
1958-2000
Rashid Dilworth Silvera ’67 A football player is inspired to pursue a career of finding the good in life Rashid Dilworth Silvera ’67 swept into Williston Academy as a postgrad football player ready to take the field for the Wildcats. A pre-season injury sidelined Mr. Silvera, but he forged friendships and a new path outside the locker room. After Williston, he became a man of “firsts:” among the first class of male students to attend Bennington College and among the first African American models on the cover of GQ magazine. He also attended Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Mr. Silvera teaches psychology, race and ethnicity, and public policy at Scarsdale High School.
PHOTOGR A PHS: JAI MI SAU ND ERS
What teacher had the most impact on you?
the student body. I did begin to realize that not everyone was ready for a bright brown person everywhere. It was a violation of people’s expectations. I learned to calm myself down. At Williston, as much as I think I grew, I think I realized that not everyone could be as happy about me as I could be about them. What type of student were you?
I was a connector. I wanted to take one hand and open the other. In the hand that I took, I’d become a part of a chain. I ended up at the Harvard Divinity School. It’s like, ‘Oh, of course he would end up going to divinity school. He’d been rehearsing all of his life.’ I wanted to find good and praise it.
His name was ‘Thugsy’ Thorner. This chap was out of a Dickens’ novel. He had the little tweed coat that was crusted with meals from months past. This guy and I liked one another immediately. I was on crutches because I had been hurt in the pre-season. This little ogre, this mean little twisted-nose chap, comes to the door, takes my books and ushers me into class. Do you know what a tender moment that was? And then I wanted to work for him. People may have not seen the cool in him. I thought this cat was completely cool.
What do you remember was going on in the world while you were at Williston?
What was it like to be one of only three people of color on campus?
I was a preppy. In that way, a brother fit in. If you could see some of these pictures of me wearing an argyle sweater and a herring bone jacket and a nice red tartan tie. I’m so insouciant. The clothes aren’t wearing me.
I was patently aware that there weren’t many people of color. That was a visual reality. But it didn’t dampen my spirit about what the school could do for me or perhaps what I could contribute to
Big stuff. Vietnam. Cities were burning. There was the killing of Malcolm X, Dr. King. Everything was turning and churning. The music was telling us, what the Rolling Stones were saying, what Motown was saying, what Marvin Gaye was saying: ‘Listen up. What’s going on?’ Everybody was beginning to take a different and new look at life. What fashion statement were you making in 1967?
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Charles “Chic” Eglee ’70
An academic career spurred on by music forges a successful writer and producer
Charles “Chic” Eglee ’70 remembers the year he went away to Williston. The Beatles’ “Revolver” album had just been released, and it rocked his world. In fact, many of his memories of Williston hinge on the music of the late ’60s— that, and the growing activism on campus around the Vietnam War. A studious kid, Mr. Eglee learned to channel his wit and became a writer and producer for TV shows and Netflix series such as “The Shield,” “Dexter,” and “Hemlock Grove.” Can you describe the dorm culture?
The one year I lived in the dorm, which was John Wright House, that was an incredibly kinetic year musically. Jimi Hendrix’s first album came out, The Doors had just come out. The Velvet Underground. To me, I just remember the dorm being essentially a musical environment. There was this kid from Virginia and he was a big Motown head and he always had Motown playing. The Summer of Love happened my junior year.
26 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
Jefferson Airplane. The Grateful Dead. Somebody in the room next door to me was playing “Are You Experienced?” and I walked by and stuck my head in. We all stood in the doorway staring at the record player going, ‘What the f--- is this?’ Nobody had ever heard music like this before. The music sounded so original and subversive. That was a great memory of that time. What at Williston inspired or influenced the career you have now?
I was studying constantly. I had lots of papers to write. It gave me a work ethic. I went to Yale and it was like, ‘Oh a 10-page paper, oh no big deal.’ I had written a hundred of those. The academic discipline that I brought from Williston served me very well in college. Who were you as teenager?
I remember becoming very political my senior year. The Vietnam War was coming to the fore. In Easthampton, whenever anybody from Massachusetts was killed in Vietnam, they would toll the church bells. I just remember walking around and it seemed like it was endless that the church bell would be tolling. That war just loomed over the campus…That war, man, you had to be there. It was the thing that shaped my generation more than anything. What are you working on right now?
After a very long run on “The Shield,” I worked on “Dexter” for a couple of seasons, and then I went in to set up “The Walking Dead.”
Then I went to Netflix on a show that they had which was the first venture into a regular series. They had this show that had premiered and it was just a disaster. It was a genre show and by episode four everyone had deserted the tent. They needed someone to come in and fix it. I had not been on a fix-it mission before. The show was called “Hemlock Grove.” There were no TV people involved. Nobody knew how to do a TV show. I got the show up and functioning the second year. We earned back the good will of the critics and then got the audience back. And then this last year really had a lot of fun. We got to shoot off all the fireworks at once. That drops in October.
ca. Mid-1960s | Supervised study hall in the old Language Building.
What makes for a good show?
It’s really about storytelling. The great thing about TV is there’s this remarkable alchemy that takes place when you’ve got actors, and writers and this sort of synergistic exchange. The show becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Are you going to resonate in the zeitgeist? Are you going to hit that thing that makes it special? I’ve had the good fortune of having that happen a few times in my career. “The Shield” was one of those shows. That show was really pretty wonderful for me. You look at a show like “Breaking Bad,” and that’s where the writers and the material and the actors, it just took off. It was smartly conceived. There’s a certain ‘lightning in a bottle’ quality to a good TV show.
ca. 1889 | Senior vs. Peewee (freshman) baseball— serious stuff! FALL 2015 BULLETIN 27
ca. 1945 | Williston’s laboratories and science curriculum were rivaled only by Harvard’s during the 19th century.
Charles Ross ’71
Williston gave the future businessman a chance to chart his own path
What did you try at Williston that pushed you out of your comfort zone?
ca. 1968 | A good book and a shady spot—Worth Durgin ’68.
28 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
For sports, I tried just about everything, baseball, hockey—I gave everything a try. I wanted to see what I might become passionate about. I wanted to try drama, but didn’t have
Did you discover the passion you were looking for? What was it?
Math has always been my favorite subject, and I knew whatever I would do would include numbers. Beyond that, it was a very difficult decision. As a practical matter, there were many options but I
PHOTOGR A PHS: M IC HA EL ESP OSI TO
The transition from his home country of Liberia was a difficult one for Charles Ross, who had to adjust to a new environment and new faces. At Williston, though, the shy student became a confident tennis team manager and mathematician. Mr. Ross, who says he’s now in his “second career,” is the finance director of the NFL Players Association.
enough nerve. My public speaking confidence was quite low. In the end, I played soccer and basketball, and I enjoyed managing the varsity tennis team. Tennis has remained an interest for me, and I plan on attending all four Grand Slams at some point.
ended up taking the business route. I majored in accounting, became a CPA, and eventually went on to law school. I knew whatever I wanted to do, I needed to be passionate about. It was really an endeavor on my part to find that. Can you describe the dorm culture?
Dorm life was new to me, but overall it was fun. It was a great group of guys. Ed Pytka ’71 was my roommate and we have remained friends. I am looking forward to seeing him at next year’s alumni Reunion. I recall the dorm master was a former military man who lived down the hall with his family. He was a good authoritative figure, but gave us enough latitude to be boys and have fun without being self-destructive. There were many pranks involving water bags and tampering with your bed sheets, mostly harmless pranks. What was going on in the world around you?
It was a very difficult time actually: the Vietnam War; the military draft, which affected my peer group. Everyone was worried, wondering ‘Am I going to get drafted?’ Also, I remember the Biafran War in Nigeria, which was closer to home for me. Nigeria also had a mandatory military draft system. It certainly caused me to think about how I would respond if I were drafted. It was also 1968, which was not long after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. There was racial
tension. Nothing that I felt personally, but it was certainly in the news and in the newspapers. I would spend weekends in New York, and really felt it when I was there. Can you describe yourself as a teenager?
I started coming out of my shell at Williston. I was a shy kid. I was the middle child of five. My two older siblings were very outgoing with a lot of friends. So Williston gave me an identity. When you are the third one growing up, you feel like you have to play a certain role. But at Williston, I was the first one, so I got to chart my own path.
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 29
many
A MOTHER TO
Sarah Stevens made Williston Academy a home to a generation of boys, and over more than two decades worked with her husband, Phillips, to transform the institution.
B
ill Harmon ’57 was settled on Loomis. But he and his father decided to give Williston Academy a look before making a final decision. On a Saturday morning, then-headmaster Phillips Stevens personally guided Mr. Harmon around the campus. “Having the headmaster give us a tour on a Saturday morning, it was impressive,” Mr. Harmon says. “Phil was almost larger than life, he was very tall, and he looked like a superman at the time to us younger guys.” But the person who left the greatest impression on Mr. Harmon was Sarah Stevens. In contrast to
her husband, Mr. Harmon says Mrs. Stevens “had a braid wrapped around her head and looked like someone from a prior era.” When he met her inside the Homestead, the couple’s house on campus, she made it clear she hoped Mr. Harmon would attend. “It was a feeling that she just really wanted me here,” he says. “This idea that someone was really interested in wanting me at the school—it was a good feeling.” Mr. Harmon changed his mind. Williston Academy, it was. Mr. Harmon isn’t the only one with a Mrs. Stevens story. Generations of boys, who dubbed Mrs. Stevens their “den mother,” recall
30 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
her support, compassion, and kindness. To many, arguably she’s one of the most beloved figures in Williston Northampton’s history. “We’ve always celebrated her just because we love her,” Peter Hewes ’58 says. “Because she was a lot like our mothers, we really kind of cherish her.” Mr. and Mrs. Stevens served the Williston community for more than 20 years, from 1949 to 1972. When the couple moved to campus, Mrs. Stevens carved out her own role. She organized teas with sandwiches and cocoa, taught boys to mind their manners, and she consoled them when they were sick, even taking it upon herself to notify parents if their child spent a night in the infirmary. She raised four of her six children at the Homestead, finding time to attend student events or drag them out to view the aurora borealis. Next to Mr. Stevens’ stern exterior, she offered a more gentle tone, though she was a stickler for niceties. “I said it was important for the boys to know how to drink a cup of cocoa or a cup of tea and be social,” she said during a recent interview. “I insisted they wore their ties when they came to tea. If someone said, ‘Mrs. Stevens, I don’t have a necktie,’ I’d say, ‘Borrow one from somebody.’” Mr. Harmon says those ties “were a pain in the neck, no pun intended. But if she spoke about it, the last thing you wanted to do was
not listen.” On Sunday nights, Mrs. Stevens invited seniors for dinner, going down the class list alphabetically so as not to play favorites. Using two irons, she cooked golden brown waffles, to which she added bowls of salad. On one infamous night, she recalls pouring maple syrup over the salad instead of the waffles. “She was always there with cookies and punch and teaching us to drink tea properly,” Mr. Hewes recalls. “She had a pleasant, playful nature about her. She was never the authoritarian figure. We knew that she cared about us. We could feel that. Boys need that, especially growing boys.” When Dick Brady ’58 received an invitation for dinner at the Homestead, he says, “I thought I had done something wrong.” But he quickly found out that wasn’t the case. “Mrs. Stevens made it special. She was considered a mother to 300 boys.” Mrs. Stevens called the boys “her Willies.” And 43 years after Mr. and Mrs. Stevens left Williston, her Willies still have a fondness for her. A group of alumni always invites Mrs. Stevens to their Wildcat Weekends every year, and they take turns escorting her to the dinners. “I didn’t know I was especially dear to them,” she says of the surprise she felt after being invited to the alumni dinners. “It’s wonderful for me to know that they still want me to come, even though I can’t hear half of what they say.” Why the steadfast dedication that’s spanned decades? “She was the sweet, compassionate woman who saw us as young boys away from home,” Mr. Hewes says. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t revere that woman and truly love her.”
PHOTOGR A PHS: CH ATT MA N PH OTOG RA PHY
THE PEOPLE
ca. 1936 | Williston’s athletic programs date back to the mid-19th century.
ca. 1960s | The Brewster Reading Room in Plimpton Library.
ca. 1890 | The football 11, in an uncharacteristically informal pose. They were coached by future Hall of Famer Alonzo Stagg. FALL 2015 BULLETIN 31
THE PEOPLE
ca. 1940 | Between classes on the Old Campus on Main Street.
ca. 1960s | Sailing—first a club, then a team—on Norwich Lake in Huntington, MA.
ca. 1941 | The “Sammy” Class of 1905 at the school’s Centennial. Pitt Johnson ’05 wrote the school’s “stand-up song” of the same name, which remains an essential part of Williston tradition. 32 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
175TH ANNIVERSARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS • Liz Cheney P ’20 Assistant Director of Alumni Relations and 175th Coordinator
• Traci Wolfe P ’16, ’19 Director of Communications • Anne O’Connor P ’18 Manager of Security
• Jeff Pilgrim ’81 Director of Alumni Engagement
• Ann Pickrell Assistant Head of School
• Eric Yates P ’17, ’21 Chief Advancement Officer
• Penny Molyneux ’74, P ’95, ’04
• Laura Rotenberg P ’17 • Reid Sterrett ’91 and Trustee • Jim Brennan ’85, P ’15 and Trustee
175TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS SEPTEMBER 18, 2015 175TH CONVOCATION
DECEMBER 1, 2015 REGIONAL HOLIDAY GALA
• Keynote address by John P. Booth Jr. ’83, Trustee, Upper School Academic Dean, Brunswick School
• New York Yacht Club (New York City, NY)
• All community celebration with DJ Steve Porter ’97 OCTOBER 23-24, 2015 FAMILY WEEKEND • Friday night alumni tailgate and football game
DECEMBER 8, 2015 REGIONAL HOLIDAY GALA • Downtown Harvard Club (Boston, MA) FEBRUARY 22, 2016 FOUNDERS DAY
MAY 13-15, 2016 REUNION MAY 29, 2016 COMMENCEMENT SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 CONVOCATION OCTOBER 28-29, 2016 FAMILY WEEKEND DECEMBER 2, 2016 CLASS DAY
FALL 2015 BULLETIN 33
THE PLACES
BY KEVIN MARKEY
AN EVOLVING CAMPUS At a place that has thrived for as long as Williston has—rapidly approaching 175 years—and has undergone as many momentous changes, history runs deep. Scratch the surface and you’ll uncover a tale as compelling in its details as the one recorded in the strata of a canyon wall. To find the hidden history, you just need to know where to look. Here is a brief archeological guide to icons of a vanished Williston and the stories they tell, by turns poignant, funny, and full of surprise.
THE Y CABIN
Careful observers of this catalog photo of potato peelers will note that these boys are rusticating in jackets and ties. 34 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
Back in the day, Williston boys could escape the bonds of polite society—though apparently not its dress code—by lighting out for a log cabin deep in the wilderness that was Southampton. Hard by the banks of a feeder brook of the Manhan River, near what is now Pomeroy Meadow Road, lads would practice the manly arts of trout fishing, camp cookery, and cutting stuff with sharp implements. Built at the beginning of the 19th century under the direction of legendary teacher Lincoln Granniss—a tireless outdoors guide during his 40-plus years at Williston—the one-room cabin initially served as an outpost of the school’s YMCA club. Over time it became more of a general-purpose retreat, the place to go for a good old fashioned woodsy experience. Right up until its final days at the end of the 1960s, students relished their visits. “I have fond memories of events at the cabin,” says Phillips Stevens, Jr. “School picnics, games of capture the flag in the surrounding woods and the cow pastures across the stream. There were some substantial pools, with fish, in that stream.” Contemporary satellite images still show the clearing where the cabin once proudly stood.
WILLISTON SKI HILL
“Timing was done by sending off skiers from the start at regular minute intervals and a listing of racers’ names, so if skier A left at 3:10:00 and finished at 3:12:15, his time was calculated at 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Obviously this system was fraught with opportunities for mistakes and uncertainty!”—Samuel Hull ’52
“We had long wooden skis with no edges,” remembers ski team captain Thomas “Teak” Kelley ’65. “We had bear-trap bindings that snapped to your heels. If you fell, you’d break your leg.” Primitive equipment didn’t stop Williston’s alpine racers from shredding the school’s own ski hill, which from 1946-1972 traced a breakneck route down the western flank of Mt. Tom. “We rode over from campus on a bus called the Blue Dart,” says Mr. Kelley, “so named for the wispy flame painted on its side. At the end of what is now Reservation Road, we got out and walked 100 yards through the woods to the ski area.” What awaited them was, if anything, even sketchier than the barn boards strapped to their feet. “There was a rickety shed and inside the shed was the skeleton of an ancient Model T Ford,” recalls Mr. Kelley. “A rope attached to the Ford’s axle ran out through a hole in the wall to a block on a post up the hill in the woods. Coach sat on the Model T’s worn out spring seat while an assistant handcranked the engine. The thing would turn over, chug, and start. Coach shifted into gear and the rope started to move. You grabbed hold of it and it pulled you up the hill. Guys from other schools thought it was the best thing ever.” In 1973 the team abandoned its hill in favor of the much larger Mt. Tom Ski Area, which operated on the Holyoke side of the range from 1962-1998. Although nature gradually reclaimed much of the narrow old school trail, remnants of its jerry-rigged rope tow can be found to this day in the woods above Reservation Road.
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY Students and faculty once scanned the skies from a state-of-the-art observatory set at the rear of what is now Main Street Quad. The observatory was the brainchild of Principal Marshall Henshaw (1863-1876), who came to Williston from Rutgers University, where he’d been a professor of natural philosophy and astronomy. Always on the lookout for ways to improve science education, Mr. Henshaw repeatedly traveled to Europe to acquire cutting-edge equipment for Williston, powerful telescope included. The telescope was sold during a financial crisis early in the 20th century. By the 1930s, the observatory was being used as a bicycle shed. Today faint outlines of the foundation in the lawn between Conant and Sawyer Houses are all that remains. FALL 2015 BULLETIN 35
LANGUAGE BUILDING Located behind the Schoolhouse on a spot of lawn across from present-day Tandem Bagel Company, Williston’s Language Building featured classrooms on the first floor and a second floor equally divided between a chapel on one side and a huge study hall on the other. Although the school made efforts to dress up the place in scholastic finery—fancy academic seals were hung on whitewashed brick walls (see photo, p. 27), stained glass medallions were affixed to chapel windows, climbing ivy was trained up the exterior—it never really felt like anything other than what it was: a re-purposed mill. The building came down in the 1970s. Aural-oral learning: French teacher Joseph Piazza in the Frank Putnam Language Laboratory, ca. 1968.
WOODEN BRIDGES Over the years, Archivist Rick Teller ’70 has fielded any number of questions about objects that supposedly lurk beneath the placid surface of Williston Pond. For the record, Mr. Teller asserts that while the hockey team did indeed use the frozen pond as an outdoor rink, it never lost a Zamboni through the ice. Nor is there now (or was there ever) a Confederate submarine buried in the mud at the bottom. Until recently, the only submerged hazards were footings from a series of trestles that spanned the pond before Parents Bridge was built in 1957. Under steady assault from the football team, which crossed over from the gym in steel cleats, the old bridges’ wooden decks tended not to last. The steel-and-concrete construction of Parents Bridge took care of wear-and-tear issues, and a dredging of the pond in 2005 addressed the orphaned pilings: they were removed for good.
SKI JUMP
A ski jump on the hill behind the Main Street Quad, with the Manhan River in the background
36 WILLISTON NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL
In an era before liability waivers, Williston Academy thought nothing of maintaining a ski jump for the amusement of students. Daredevils could lash a pair of skis to their boots and bomb down a steep hill behind Sawyer House, no helmet required. Two-thirds of the way to the field at the bottom, they’d spring off what amounted to a manmade wooden cliff and so commence a white-knuckle flight. Hit the take-off just right and a kid might soar like an Olympian. Miss it? Let’s just say there’s a reason Williston’s DIY adrenaline rush was gone by the 1950s.
BABCOCK HOUSE
A TALE OF TWO CAMPUSES Ever notice how the Schoolhouse’s entry columns don’t quite fit the building and block several second-floor windows? That’s because they originally belonged to a different building altogether. For more than 100 years, stately Middle Hall stood on the old Williston Seminary campus, smack in the center of downtown Easthampton. After Williston consolidated operations on its present campus in 1952, Middle Hall was torn down. Its columns were salvaged and attached to the Schoolhouse, which had begun life as part of a mill complex. Additional old campus transplants include the sections of granite-and-iron fencing that run along both sides of Payson Avenue near the Schoolhouse and Scott Hall. A third segment of the fence still occupies its original Main Street location. These days it fronts a Bank of America building. No coincidence that the short street next to the bank is called Campus Lane, which now exists where Middle Hall used to be. A ghostly remnant of that proud edifice can be found tucked behind an azalea bush at the west end of Memorial Hall. Push aside the branches and there it is: Williston’s original cornerstone, dated June 17, 1841.
Former Athletic Director Rick Francis (1970-2000) P ’81, ’83 remembers moving into the curious antique house that once stood behind Memorial and wondering what the heck he’d gotten his wife and himself into. “Marilyn and I replaced Wilmot Babcock, who’d lived there for many years,” says Mr. Francis. “Actually, we were swapping houses with him. We’d been renting a house he owned in town. When he retired, he moved into that house and we moved into the AD’s house on campus. We understood that it dated back to Williston farm and had once served as Sam Williston’s coach house.” Mr. Francis recalls floorboards so gapped that a person could see straight down into the dirt cellar. Modern appliances could barely be squeezed into the ancient kitchen. The living room had seven different doorways, making furniture placement all but impossible. When the family tried to blow insulation into the attic, cellulose blew right back out the fireplace and threatened to fill the parlor. One time a skunk crawled through the porous fieldstone foundation and sprayed the basement—on the very evening that Marilyn Francis was hosting a prebridal dinner. But by far the house’s oddest quirk was its proximity to Memorial Hall. It stood less than 10 feet from the back wall of the dorm. The plan had been for Coach Babcock to move into Mem when it opened in 1952 and for the old house to be demolished. But “Bab” got cold feet about living in a dorm and decided to stay put. Mem boys took advantage of the situation by using the side of his house as a giant movie screen. One night in the late 1950s dorm master Bob Couch discovered half the dorm glued to their windows as the blue images of an erotic film flickered over the weathered clapboards. More shocking than the content, perhaps, was the fact that the boys had borrowed his film projector for the occasion. Nearness to Mem presented Mr. Francis with a different set of problems. “After girls moved in, I could no longer use my kitchen sink,” he says. “The window above it looked directly into a room. There was no privacy.” When Mr. Francis retired in 2000, the school didn’t waste any time in finishing what it had intended to do half a century earlier. As he and his wife pulled away, a bulldozer was already warming up. Within a week, Babcock House was gone. FALL 2015 BULLETIN 37
THE THINGS
FROM THE
ARCHIVES EMILY WILLISTON’S BROOCH Her husband gave Emily this brooch, based on a painting by John Singleton Copley. It depicts the prophet Samuel’s call into the Lord’s service. Mrs. Williston wore it in every one of her painted and photographic portraits for the rest of her life. The brooch remained in the Williston family, and was given to Mrs. Phillips Stevens by the Williston’s granddaughter—also named Emily—in 1952. The original painting now hangs at the Atheneum in Hartford, CT.
SAMUEL WILLISTON’S LAMP As a student at Phillips Andover, Samuel Williston did farm chores to earn his keep and studied at night by the light of a single whale-oil lamp. Such oil was cheaper than pricy candles, but whale-oil flames burned very bright, and the lamp probably had no chimney. When his eyesight failed, partly due to the lamp, he was forced to give up his studies and return home. For the rest of his life, Mr. Williston would keep that whale-oil lamp on his desk: a reminder of where he started and how far he’d come.
PHOTOGR A PHS: CHATTMA N PHOTOGR A PHY
DESK SET During preparations for the 1941 Williston Centennial, Guy Carpenter ’01 and Herbert Howe ’05 found Samuel Williston’s office desk and contents largely undisturbed in his former Easthampton office. The desk is now in the head of school’s office; the inkstand and blotting sand are part of a collection that also includes Mr. Williston’s register of charitable contributions and plans for expanding the Congregational Church. Once a month, Mr. Williston even recorded his weight, after measuring himself on the factory shipping scales.
SAMUEL WILLISTON’S HAT In the mid-19th century, no gentleman would have appeared in public hatless. Somehow, the Archives still has Mr. Williston’s dress hat—tall, covered in beaver fur, and even in its present dilapidated state, distinguished. And of course, black.
BUTTONS Emily Graves Williston, a talented seamstress, jump-started the family fortune when she snipped a button off the coat of a visiting clergyman to see how it was made. Her first buttons were made from pieces of her black silk wedding dress. Mrs. Williston would eventually provide patterns and instruction, and her husband the materials, cartage, warehousing, and marketing, for a cottage button-making industry. In an unofficial biography, Mrs. Williston is quoted as saying that “buttons on a girl’s dress are just as noticeable as her nose. Buttons should be trim and neat and they should set so well that they give a burnish to her whole turnout.” These rusted scissors, black silk bits, and wooden button centers were found under the Williston Birthplace floorboards. FALL 2015 BULLETIN 39