Kent Quarterly Spring 2014 by Kent School

Spring 2014

KENT Quarterly

KENT

CONTENTS 10

Quarterly

Features

Volume XXX.1 Spring 2014 Editor

Joan M. Beattie

The Imagination of Thomas Edison

Face to Face with Sir Richard Dearlove

Class Notes Editor

Laura Martell

Simplicity of Life: Even More Relevant Today

Kent School: 1963 and 2013

Bruce Whitman ’51 Honored

Alumni and Development Editor

Marisa Scarnati Contributors

Marc Cloutier Adam Fischer Elaine Griffin Tonya Kalmes Stacy Langa Denny Mantegani Kathryn Sullivan Peggy Traub Design and Production

Cheney & Company

The editors of the Kent Quarterly invite all readers—alumni, parents past and present, trustees, faculty, staff and students—to contribute to the magazine. We also welcome letters to the editor and look forward to your comments on articles and issues concerning the School as well as suggestions for future articles.

Departments

From the Headmaster

Between the Hills and River Shore

Alumni and Development News

Class Notes

Announcements

In Memoriam

The email address for letters to the editor is beattiej@kent-school.edu, and for class notes, alumni@kent-school.edu. Changes in address should be emailed to Laura Martell at Lmartel@kent-school.edu or mailed to her at Kent School, Box 2006, Kent, CT 06757. To reach the Alumni and Development office, please call 860-927-6230. ... Kent School adheres to a longstanding policy of admitting students of any race, color, creed, religion, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan program and other school administered programs.

On the front cover: The new Center for Music Studies opens a world of opportunities for Kent students, among them, reading left to right, Nneoma “Emma” Okonkwo ’14, Grace Cordsen ’15, Christopher Magnani ’17, Alexander “Doug” Johnson ’15 (standing), John LePino ’17, Trang Dieu ’15 and Jihyun “Jitty” Synn ’15. Photo by Mark Ostow

From the Headmaster

Endings and beginnings With this issue of the Kent Quarterly, Joan Beattie concludes nearly a quarter century as editor. Joan came to Kent in September 1988 from Greenwich Academy and served as the distinguished chairman of the English Department until her retirement from full-time teaching in 2008. She was the principal author of the award-winning centennial history KENT: 100 Years. Mrs. Beattie’s legacy runs deep and wide at Kent: in the vital and cohesive English Department she led, in the generations of students who learned to expect more of themselves and achieve it, and in her commitment to community service as a crucial part of every student’s education. Her love of learning, and of her subject, has been evident in all that she has done at Kent. To every class she brought an expectation for scholarly rigor. How many among us today can look back and say, “Mrs. Beattie taught me how to write”? As the editor of the Kent Quarterly since 1990, Joan has moderated the continuing interchange of ideas and news between those who are here on campus and those who have moved on, all of whom are continuing the traditions of the School in their achievements. The Kent School community owes Joan Beattie enormous thanks! • • • Our dance program is flourishing under the leadership of Ellie Morris, who joined the faculty this year. The Kent School Dance Ensemble performed at a recent Open House in the PreEngineering & Applied Sciences Center, which also houses a beautiful new dance studio overlooking the Town Center. Our dancers wowed everyone with their originality and skill. A member of the English Department, Ellie comes to us from Barnard College, where she was a member of the Barnard Dance Project, and taught dance in after-school arts programs in New York City public schools. She has been a guest choreographer at her own alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy. Ellie says, “Dance and writing are not so different as one might think—both are creative expressions, and both are in some ways

a performance. In my choreography I like to draw on elements from literature, things that I’ve read in poetry or mythology, using those figures and those ideas in my dance.” She adds, “I love working with students as they create their own expressions in movement or in words.” The academic program this winter was enhanced by the visit of Dr. Sally Bayley, Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University, and by the inaugural lecture in engineering history delivered by Edmund Morris, Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer, on “The Imagination of Thomas Edison.” I am proud to announce the opening of the Music Center and the completed transformation of Mattison Auditorium into a state-of-the-art teaching theater (both of which projects are featured elsewhere in this issue). A dream come true, these new additions to the campus are the result of the creative collaboration of our Planning Committee, led by Trustee Ann Dickinson ’65, and the architects, in the fulfillment of the Campus Master Plan dating from 1985. Among the sports highlights of this rugged winter just past were Boys Varsity Hockey and Girls Varsity Hockey both winning the Founders League Championships. And Kent Boys won the Division II New England Swimming and Diving Championships held at Westminster School. Going into the spring break, the Class of 2014 has already received early decision notifications of college acceptances to some of the finest colleges and universities, including Cambridge University (U.K.), Williams, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, University of Virginia, UNC–Chapel Hill, New York University, West Point and U.S. Naval Academy. We look forward to more good results later in the spring. As always, these accomplishments are the fruit of a partnership among the students, teachers, parents and alumni for which we are all deeply grateful. Richardson W. Schell ’69 Headmaster & Rector

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The Imagination of Thomas Edison Address at the Kent School, 12 November 2013

Edmund Morris ONE OF THE QUESTIONS EVERY biographer has to answer whenever he goes to a cocktail party—or wanders onto the campus of a private school in Connecticut—is, “What made you choose to write about so-and-so?” When I started my life of Theodore Roosevelt, I used to say, “His cinematic quality”—because you see, what I was really hoping for was to sell the book to HBO. (Thirty years later, I’m still hoping.) Then, when I became Ronald Reagan’s biographer, I would say that what interested me was his political transition from extreme left at age twenty to far right at age seventy—illustrating the old truism that a conservative is a liberal who just got mugged. But now that I’m beginning to study Thomas Edison, after writing five books about Roosevelt and Reagan and Ludwig van Beethoven, I realize that as biographical subjects, they share a common quality: they were all deaf. TR could hear very well when he was young, but he lost half his hearing, along with half his sight, later in life. As a young actor in Hollywood, Reagan had a gun go off in his right ear when shooting an action scene, and for the rest his life made sure that bores sat on that side of him in meetings. Beethoven, of course, was famously deaf, and could not hear a note of any of his later compositions. (If any of you are interested, I’ve written a long piece on that subject in my latest book of essays, which is called This Living Hand and is coming out in paperback in early December, JUST in time for Christmas!) Edison lost three-quarters of his hearing as a boy of twelve, and spent the rest of his long life wrapped in a shroud of almost-silence that intensified as he approached death. But it didn’t stop him inventing: He was awarded the last of his 1,093 patents in 1931, a few months before he died at age 81. Actually, it’s just a coincidence that all these four great achievers were deaf to one extent or another. 2

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The real reason they all interested me, and why I find Edison just as fascinating as the other three, is that they were all profoundly imaginative personalities. It would be irrelevant for the purpose of this evening to say any more about the creativity of TR and RR and LVB, so I’ll just concentrate right now on the imagination of Thomas Edison. In itself, it’s a subject big enough for a hundred lectures, let alone a lengthy biography. To save myself possible embarrassment later on, I should emphasize that I’m only in the early research phase of my work on Edison, so if any of you are getting ready to ask me detailed questions about his use of fine magnesium pyrolusites in the carbon button of the prototype square plate telephone transmitter of October 13, 1884, laboratory number N80-zero-8, you will find my answer marvelously evasive. This is a book that will take me years to write. However, I am willing to share with you the very first line of chapter 1, which came to me some time ago when I was hurrying to make a connection at the airport in Detroit: “Toward the end, as at the beginning, he lived only on milk.” It was in another air terminal, come to think of it, that I first felt the desire to write about Edison. I had to catch a plane at Southwest Florida International Airport, which is the gateway for folks wanting to visit the Edison-Ford Winter Estates museum in Fort Myers. I ran into the departures lobby and almost collided with the great man himself. That is to say, with a life-size photographic cutout of Thomas Alva Edison, standing right next to his real Model T car, personally redesigned and rejiggered for him by his good friend Henry Ford. I guess the cutout was part of a display designed to attract attention to the museum nearby. Fort Myers was Edison’s longtime winter home and subtropical research laboratory (yes, he was a botanist too, as well as electrical

engineer, chemist, cement manufacturer, movie producer, audio technician, virtuoso telegraph operator and a dozen other professional things). He and Henry Ford had adjoining estates on the Gulf Coast, forming what is now a double state Historic Site. Anyway, here was I, face to face with one of the supreme inventors of all time, the genius who had given civilization the triple gift of electric light, recorded sound and moving pictures—not to mention the rest of that list of well over a thousand patents. He stood just as tall as me, looking straight into my eyes with an expression of—how can I put it?—humorous disdain. He seemed about to say, “Dude, you don’t know a cathode from a catheter.” I stared back at him with as much courage as I could muster, and felt the first surge, faint but unmistakable, of biographical desire. Why? What was it in those smiling eyes under their thick black brows that attracted me? As far as I can tell, it was the creative quality of his gaze, which is to say the sense I got that here was a scientist whose inventions derived, as Beethoven’s quartets

and Picasso’s drawings derived, from pure inspiration. Long before Edison died in 1931, scientific innovation had become more a matter of applied theory than of spontaneous eurekas. He was the last of the nineteenth century’s intuitive inventors, ideas pouring out of his brain much as they do out of an artist’s, often indeed in the form of drawings that to an unscientific eye could be abstract art. Edison had no artistic training (I’ll summarize “his life story for you in a moment) but his work drawings, which survive by the thousand, are extraordinary in their clarity, quickness and sureness, the most complex intricacies unfolding on paper with hardly any evidence of second thoughts or uncertainty. I was going to say that he had no aesthetics, because he never cared what a machine looked like, or for that matter what he looked like himself. But the evidence of his extremely beautiful handwriting is that he did have an elegant side, even though he paid it little heed.

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Unlike the theory-driven inventors who this day, Edison spun his ideas out of what I’m not a psychobiographer, but can’t help noticing with amusement that when after an unhappy first marriage Edison married again, to a young woman named Mina Miller, of Chautauqua, New York, he reacted to the ecstasy of sexual release much as Robert Schumann had on winning the hand of Clara Weick. Creative geniuses both, they exploded into spasms of invention that must have frustrated and bewildered their spouses. The newly wed Schumann poured out songs at a rate that would not let him sleep. Edison, on the train that took him and his new bride south for their honeymoon, had only to glance out the window at a passing plantation to conceive a mechanical cotton-picker. During the ensuing weeks at Fort Myers, he crammed several notebooks with ideas for new patents: balloon telegraph transmitters, synthetic silk spinners, hearing aids, dynamos, railroad telegraphs, even a device to separate milk from cream. Fortunately Mina was herself the daughter of an inventor, so she didn’t mind him spending more time at work than in bed. What else could she expect from a man who had proposed to her in Morse code? Unlike the theory-driven inventors who succeeded him, and dominate science to this day, Edison spun his ideas out of what can only be called an artistic imagination. In a 33-page document he composed as an aide-mémoire to the science-fiction writer George Lathrop, he envisaged palaces walled with sheets of artificial mother-of-pearl, an undersea cable for the transmission of photographic images (presumably by breaking them down digitally), a canal to divert the Mediterranean Sea into the Sahara (thereby altering the balance of the earth and shifting the temperate zone southward), and a genetic reconfiguration of apes that would, in a few generations, have them conversing in English. He spoke dreamily of reducing himself to a mass of individual atoms and saying to just one of them, “Go and be part of a rose for a while.” That atom, he went on, could then be called back into his own body, giving him at least some of the sensibility of a

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rose. No man could say such a thing without being in essence a poet. Such fantasies were, of course, deliberately whimsical. But they indicate the surreal fertility of his mind, and make all the more impressive his determination, in the laboratory, to subject that mind to constant empirical discipline. Edison’s practicality accepted epiphanies as a natural part of scientific discovery. (His hero was Michael Faraday, who first divined electromagnetism in a thunderstorm.) But that same practicality made it impossible for him to subscribe to any religious faith. The most he would concede was that “a supreme intelligence” was responsible for the order of the universe, and that his own phenomenal mental powers were, in a mystical way, derived from it. Now let me, for the benefit of those who were not around to read his obituaries in 1931, give you a brief summary of Thomas Alva Edison’s career. He was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio, in straitened middle-class circumstances. When he was seven, his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Young Tom didn’t last longer than a few months in school, because his demeanor was so eccentric and absentminded that his teacher dismissed him as a moron. His mother tried to educate him at home, but he was largely self-taught, seeming to absorb knowledge, particularly scientific and business knowledge, simply by reading and working obsessively with his hands. Those hands, with their quick nervous nimbleness, stood him in good stead when at the age of twelve he began working as a railroad train newsboy, and became a virtuoso at tapping out and receiving telegraph messages. It occurred to him that he could keep up with wire news bulletins this way. So, using those same quick fingers, he transcribed, edited and printed newspapers to sell to passengers on the train. This combination of energy, originality and business acumen was what kept Edison busy, increasingly successful and eventually fabulously rich, over the next seventy years. It was around the age of puberty that he suddenly lost most of his hearing. In later life he liked to joke about what caused it, saying alternately that a conductor on the train boxed his ears or lifted him aboard by the ears when he was running to catch the

succeeded him, and dominate science to can only be called an artistic imagination. caboose as it left the station. But it seems more likely that Edison became deaf through an attack of scarlet fever, or some other middle-ear infection that went untreated. At any rate, from then on he could not participate in a conversation unless his interlocutor shouted directly into his right ear. Anybody who’s ever had to do that to a deaf person knows how exhausting it is, so no conversation lasts long, and loneliness begins to accumulate around the sufferer, like a gradually thickening shroud of felt. Perhaps I shouldn’t talk of loneliness and suffering in Edison’s case, any more than in Beethoven’s, because both men turned their disabilities to advantage. Solitude is an essential adjunct to the creative process (except in group efforts like the making of movies or the choreography of ballets) and although Edison was, when he wanted to be, the most jovial, gregarious person imaginable, he wanted most of the time to be left alone: to think, to brood, to create. For that reason, he said his deafness actually helped him concentrate, by screening him from the distracting noises of the world, and from that ninety-nine-percent quotient of human conversation that consists of unnecessary information. (He would have welcomed Twitter, I think, not only because it is noiseless, but because unlike the telephone it forces message-senders to be concise.) In another parallel with Beethoven, who used to absorb the vibrations of his piano by means of a reverberating stick held against the soundboard, Edison chose singers for his recording company by playing their sample cylinders and biting into the wood of the phonograph to hear their voices through his teeth. He claimed that he got purer sound that way than people afflicted with normal hearing, since he didn’t have to listen to the distraction of what audio engineers these days call “room tone.” (Or, in my alltime favorite quote, George Eliot’s line, “the roar that lies on the other side of silence.”) In 1868, at the age of 21, Edison won his first patent, for an electrical vote recorder. Ironically, it didn’t succeed because it was too efficient. Politicians then as now prefer clumsy vote-counting, in order to retard the workings of democracy. Within a year the young man had moved to New York City and set up shop as a full-time inventor. He opened a laboratory

in Newark, New Jersey, and one afternoon during a rainstorm a buxom schoolgirl, not yet sixteen, ducked in to take shelter. Among his other attributes, Edison had a normal supply of hormones, so he asked, after she had dried off, if he could escort her home. Her name was Mary Stillwell. “I thought he had very handsome eyes,” she said afterwards, “but he was so dirty, all covered with machine oil, etc.” For the next five months Mary received his suit as an old-fashioned “gentleman caller.” Thirteen years and three childbirths later, Mary Stillwell Edison voiced no regrets about becoming the wife of a smelly scientist whom she rarely saw by daylight. He was quite capable of experimenting for ninety-five hours at a stretch, neglecting food and sleep in his endless quest for what he called “life & Phenomenon.” Come to think of it, I might call my biography that. The Life and Phenomenon of Thomas Edison— sounds good, doesn’t it? Well, they married in 1871 and had three children, but it was not a happy relationship. As Edison advanced rapidly in success and sophistication, Mary did not, and his friends began cruelly to suggest that she was the blue-collar girl he should have left behind. She died mysteriously of a morphine overdose in 1883. By then he was world-famous as the inventor of the phonograph and the builder of the world’s first R&D laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He had also discovered the principle of electromotography; invented the quadruplex telegraph, press copier and electric pen; pioneered a new system of duplex telegraphy in Britain; devised a carbon-pellet transmitter that made him, in effect, the co-inventor with Alexander Graham Bell of the telephone; and last but not least, perfected the incandescent light bulb. That enabled him to incorporate the Edison Electric Company, and to construct the world’s first power grid around Pearl Street Central Station in New York, electrifying all of lower Manhattan. In 1882, the year before Mary died, he patented 87 inventions, and rejoiced in the popular nickname of “The Wizard of Menlo Park.”

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Edmund Morris speaking to a group of students and faculty

Since he was by now not only a hugely successful scientist but also a hugely successful manufacturer, with factories churning out hundreds of thousands of Edison light bulbs and Edison phonographs and Edison cylinders (he made sure his name was on every product), it follows that Edison was also hugely rich. Yet he never showed the least interest in wealth, putting all the money he made back into his labs and manufacturing plants. Clothes, travel, food and wine and high society, all the clichéd benefits of success, meant nothing to him. That unworldliness changed to a certain extent after he fell in love and married Mina in 1886. By then he was in his fortieth year, and Mina, who was well brought up and liked the good life, was determined that her famous husband should live as impressively as he deserved. So she persuaded him to spring for a lavish mansion in West Orange, New Jersey, at a place called Llewellyn Park—the first gated community in the listings of American real estate. The Edison mansion still stands in all its splendor, a historic house that anyone can visit, virtually unchanged from the days Thomas and Mina lived there. One of the modern residents of Llewellyn Park happens to be a wellknown black film actress who has become such a fan of Thomas Edison that she’s been known to take folks around the house herself. So if you happen to visit and find that your guide looks uncannily like Whoopi Goldberg, that’s who it is! Notwithstanding Mina’s attempts to “sivilize” Edison, the way the Widow Douglas did Huck Finn, he remained as slovenly and work-obsessed as ever. He gave her three children to keep her happy, just as he had to Mary, and to keep himself happy, closed Menlo Park and built an immense new laboratory/ factory complex in West Orange, just down the road from Llewellyn Park. That awesome facility—if I may borrow an adjective that [you] teenagers have abused almost to the point of meaninglessness—is now Thomas Edison National Park. It’s only fortyfive minutes out of Manhattan, and I can recommend no sight (spelling the word both S-I-G-H-T and S-IT-E) more certain to evoke the awe that lies in the heart of the word awesome. 6

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I remember that when I first walked into the hallway of Sagamore Hill, the mansion that Theodore Roosevelt built for himself at Oyster Bay, Long Island, it gave off such a powerful impress of his personality, with its heavy paneling and low ceiling and Victorian paintings and elephant-tusk gong and antlers projecting from every wall, that I felt I was walking, as it were, into his cranium. In the same way, but on a much larger scale, you feel when you walk into Edison’s laboratory library that you are trespassing into an immense mind. There, going up the walls to duplex height, are the thousands of scientific journals he used to devour, and there is the bed he used to nap for an hour or two during his weeklong orgies of invention and experimentation, and there is his desk, with its pigeonholes still stuffed with ideas he meant to get around to developing when he had time. Outside and upstairs are his recording studio, where you can hear the astonishing audio fidelity of the music cylinders he churned out in preference to acoustic disks, and elsewhere in the complex, laboratory after laboratory and workrooms loaded to the roofline with chemical, electrical, botanical, industrial and photographic equipment. Practically every one of the countless objects you see was either invented by Edison, or made by him, or used by him. Which brings me to the subject, not coincidentally, of Steve Jobs. When Jobs died in 2011, a eulogist in The New Yorker tellingly described him as “the twentieth century’s Thomas Edison.” Leaving aside the fact that Edison lived thirty years into that century, and patented his last invention ten months before he died, there is an almost comical disproportion between the creative achievements of the two men. The science scholar Vaclav Smil has pointed out that for all the sleek efficiency of Apple products, their technology has been derivative, making them at best “secondorder innovations.” As for the 313 patents that Jobs claimed or co-claimed, take his star device, the iPad, download the list of Edison’s successful awards at inventors.about.com, and see how many swipes you need to scroll it through. (In my case, forty-nine.) You will register amongst the moving blur patent

executions for automobiles, phonographs, rotary kilns, haulage systems, auditory telegraphs, magnetos, waterproof paint, electric pens, railway signals, talking dolls, and enough variations on the theme of incandescent light to give you photon fatigue. For sheer prodigality of scientific imagination and achievement, there is no comparison between the two men, and only one, in my opinion, deserves to be called a genius—another word, by the way, that has been all but hackneyed to death in recent years. Oh—but I’m forgetting I was supposed to be summarizing Edison’s career. Well, a proper recital would keep us here all night, and I’m interested to see what refreshment Father Schell says he’s laid on for us, so let me just touch on a few more high points. In 1888, Edison patented the kinetoscope movingpicture machines. (Another of things you can see at Edison National Park is his so-called Black Maria, the world’s first movie studio. It rides on rails.) By now he was CEO of multiple companies, mines and manufacturing plants, and his West Orange facility was staffed by hundreds of professional scientists. He experimented with X-rays, burning himself in the process, began to produce Portland cement, and developed an obsession with storage battery technology that lasted the rest of his life. He successfully tested an electric automobile that ran all the way from New York to the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire; released the first megahit movie, The Great Train Robbery, in 1903; invented a pouredconcrete house that could be constructed overnight and withstand any hurricane, even in the Philippines; invented and demonstrated one of the forms of “talking pictures”; and caused a national scandal by publicly doubting the tenets of Christianity, while affirming his belief in a Supreme Intelligence governing all physical laws. By 1911 Edison was rich beyond all computation (although still ploughing most of his money back into R&D), and he announced that henceforth he would work and invent not for profit but for social good. A paradoxical effect of his unstoppable inventiveness is that his mind kept pulling him on toward new discoveries, and some of his potentially world-changing ideas died simply because he forgot about them. Also, as probably the most famous American of his age, he was more and more prey to public demands. He responded simply by driving himself harder and

eating and sleeping less. In many ways Edison resembles his own invention, the incandescent light bulb, by giving off a maximum glow from the slenderest possible filament. As an executive now employing a labor force of thousands, he became monomaniacally rigid, ruthless and demanding. Although he was a registered Republican, World War I found him, at the request of President Wilson, heading the new Naval Consulting Board, an agency for the scientification of warfare. He established his own defense research laboratory on Eagle Rock Mountain in New Jersey. After the war he responded to economic recession by selling off or scaling down many of his businesses. Handing over control of the parent company to his son Charles, he and Henry Ford launched a major experimental program in Florida, aimed at producing homegrown rubber from plants native to the United States. This, plus a never-ending quest for a battery that would end American dependence on oil for energy, became the passion of Edison’s old age. When he died on October 18, 1931, it was suggested to President Hoover that all electric power across the country should be turned off for one minute in memory of the great inventor. But the gesture would have immobilized much of the industry that Edison had himself (in more ways than one) generated. So the old man drank his last glass of milk and suffered a blackout of his own, while the rest of America went about its business.

Edmund Morris was the speaker at the Inaugural Lecture in Engineering History, the ﬁrst special occasion of this nature in the new Kent PreEngineering and Applied Sciences Center. Mr. Morris is the author of a biographical trilogy on the life of the 26th president. Vol. 1, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1980, and its sequel won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography. Mr. Morris was President Reagan’s ofﬁcial biographer. He is also the author of Beethoven: The Universal Composer and This Living Hand and Other Essays, a collection of writings on literature, music and other subjects covering four decades of his career. His next book will be a biography of Thomas Edison.

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Face to Face with MI6 Director General Sir Richard Dearlove, KCMG The improbable tale of a Kent School alumnus who became a secret agent. And won a knighthood in the process.

Nicholas W. Wedge

Richard Dearlove ’63, KCMG

FOR SOMEONE LIKE ME —seriously addicted to tales of espionage, secret agents and such—a golden opportunity had come my way. On a visit to the Kent campus, Britain’s former spymaster-in-chief (and trustee of the school since 2001) said he’d be pleased to chat with me about his life and career. Would it, I wondered in avid anticipation, throw a new light on the characters brought to fictional life by Ian Fleming, Graham Greene and John le Carré? Forewarned, however, I agreed not to snoop into Sir Richard’s more exotic off-the-record exploits— those still protected under Britain’s Official Secrets Act. No matter; even a casual talk with the recipient of Britain’s third-highest order of knighthood would provide insights about a period extending from the Cold War era up to the present day. And, besides, there was a particular mystery about Sir Richard’s early life that he might well enjoy unraveling for me. But, first things first, one should properly introduce the former spymaster by way of a brief CV. Born in Cornwall in 1945, he received his early schooling locally—and at the Monkton Combe School near Bath. From there, in 1962, Richard transferred, as an ESU (English-Speaking Union) scholarship student, to the Kent School. Not coincidentally, this was exactly the same educational route taken a few years earlier by his older brother, John Dearlove. An apt, diligent student and athlete, “Dick” Dearlove gained his Kent diploma, with high honors, in 1963. Returning to the U.K., he attended Queens’ College, Cambridge, receiving his B.A. degree in history in 1966. Immediately thereafter, Dearlove joined Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, where he spent 38 years in a variety of positions in the

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U.K. and many other countries. In recognition of his highly distinguished service, he was appointed chief (or “C”) in 1999, holding that post until his retirement from the SIS in 2004. Two years earlier (adding to the OBE he had already earned) Queen Elizabeth “accorded” him a Knight Commander of the Orders of St. Michael and St. George—a KCMG for short. Following his SIS career, Sir Richard was selected for both public- and private-sector consulting and advisory positions, corporate directorships—and was named master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, for a term that expires in 2015. He also currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Kent School. So much for an overview. Now, back to that “mystery” of Sir Richard’s teenage trip to Connecticut. Why was Kent School his destination? Choices like that aren’t just made at random. “Of course not,” explained the affable, gregarious Sir Richard. “The answer, in fact, has to do with an extraordinary meeting that took place in 1927—between my father and Kent’s founder, Fr. Frederick Sill. The two men got to know each other at the Henley Royal Regatta— the first one Kent had ever competed in—and they formed a mutual admiration society that lasted for decades. Rowing sports, in which my dad was deeply involved, was their great bond. Does that help explain why Fr. Sill’s Kent School was always on my horizon when the time came?” It did indeed; and, mystery solved, this calls for a look at the fascinating life of Richard’s father, Jack Gilroy Dearlove—a native of London’s riverside borough of Fulham. An acknowledged over-achiever despite having lost a leg in a childhood accident, Jack

was as nimble on crutches as any of his classmates. “He never thought of himself as handicapped, even in an era before good prosthetics,” his son remarked, “and was particularly fond of rowing and water sports. He was a renowned cox as a member of the Royal Thames Rowing Club.” As Jack’s career with the RTRC progressed, it was found that his greatest contributions would be as coxswain and coach of its famed crews. For more than 30 years, Jack navigated RTRC boats—literally and figuratively—to a string of regatta victories in the U.K., the Commonwealth and many other nations.

The 1948 U.K. Olympic crew, with Jack Dearlove in the front

Cambridge’s Pembroke College

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Dearlove Dossier Favorite spy movie: The Ipcress File (1965), starring Michael Caine Kent ’63 Yearbook listing: Housatonic Club, Soccer “K”, Wrestling League, Crew, Dramatics Guild, English League Student, Art Prize, High Honor Roll Do spies wear disguises? It all depends on the occasion. Pastimes and pleasures: Reading, watercolor painting, visiting with his children and brother, angling for trout and salmon (sometimes in northern Maine, with Fr. Dick Schell), stocking firewood for cottage in Cornwall Children’s occupations: All enjoying successful creative careers: eldest son a painter; daughter a fashion designer; younger son an architect Novel you’ve re-read most often: Nostromo by Joseph Conrad Recent “déjà vu” experiences: Cheering on Kent’s crews (from afar) and those of Pembroke’s Boat Club (from close up) Ever use invisible ink? Sorry, not at liberty to say, but MI6 chiefs traditionally sign documents in green ink. The letter “C” we affix is not for “Chief”—but for Sir Mansfield Cumming, founder of the SIS in 1911. Milestones in academia: Honorary fellow, Queens’ College; honorary doctorate, Exeter University; chairman of the Trustees, Cambridge Union Society; Trustee of the Kent School Sleepless nights? Not any longer!

Sir Richard invited the Board of Trustees to meet at Pembroke College after the Henley Regatta in 2006. Sir Richard is sixth from the left in the front row.

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In something of a crowning achievement in his career on the water, the elder Dearlove—then father of three-year-old Richard—was chosen as coxswain (or mastermind) of the U.K.’s 1948 Olympic Games crew—the races held at Henley. “Imagine a onelegged coxswain,” Sir Richard related, “setting the beat for an unexpected finish just inches behind the winning U.S. boat. For war-weary Britain, the silver medals were a great morale boost and, for my father, an unforgettable sporting achievement on top of his RTRC career. How can you not try to follow his desire to excel?” Sir Richard’s (unsurprisingly) sentimental recollections of family lore brought on still another flashback—to his first encounters with America. “I arrived on the RMS Queen Mary, at the very start of the Swinging Sixties—you know, the era marked by profound changes in social and political affairs, by frequent protest marches and demonstrations for a variety of causes. All that, and tensions over an escalating Cold War, threat was at its peak. What a time to set foot here.” Dearlove went on to relate how everything swirled around him—on TV, in the press, in dormroom chatter—in the very air one breathed. “Even the music of that age symbolized the new tempo of life I was experiencing.” Not that Dick (as he was known on campus) didn’t apply himself with keen diligence, and no little enjoyment, to his sixth-form studies. “I swotted away trying to set standards for myself—and especially in trying to get to know my classmates. Kent was—and is—a great incubator for learning and friendships. The perfect combination.” Arguably, the academic side of life at Kent left its mark on the teenager from Cornwall. So, too, did the school’s other activities and pastimes. There were opportunities for travel as well: Dearlove visited U.S. cities and historic sites, sat through games at Yankee Stadium and Yale Bowl, told of an “endless journey by Greyhound bus from L.A. to New York—stuffing myself with cherry pies at every Howard Johnson stop.” In 1963, the 18-year-old Richard Dearlove stood with his Kent School class on Prize Day—graduating with high honors. The youthful interlude was over, the future about to unfold. “I was torn,” he recalled, “between the emotions of saying farewell to Kent— and the anticipation of returning home to see what college life, and its aftermath, had in store for me.”

“Legoland,” the MI6 headquarters

The next three years of Sir Richard’s life—1964 to 1966—were spent at Queens’ College, Cambridge. “I was drawn to the history of political thought—and even considered, as graduation approached, going for a Ph.D. on ‘political theories of the elites.’ I was even offered a research fellowship at Oxford on that topic, but as it happened, something else intervened. An opportunity, with just my B.A. in hand, to join the Secret Intelligence Service—or MI6 as it’s known.” Although Sir Richard chooses to remain silent on the circumstances of his recruitment, we assume he was talent-spotted early on during his Queens’ College years. In any event, the newcomer to MI6 is said to be the youngest-ever recruit to that service, and perhaps one of very few to have gone to school in America. Smart, high-spirited and ambitious, Dearlove, as he put it, “plunged headlong into a closely knit organization responsible for fulfilling the government’s need for intelligence on a global scale. Yes, you might say I found myself in something of an alternate universe, on the way to unknown adventures. Why this special interest? Well, my concentration on history and political theory played a part—as did the fact that the Cold War had yet to cool down. Also, I’m very inquisitive by nature; about events, people and places.” If all that tends to suggest that Richard Dearlove lives by Virgil’s admonition “Felix qui potuit rerum cognosceri causas” (Happy is he who knows the causes of things)—perhaps that’s all the answer one will ever need. The new SIS recruit went into training—and to an initial posting, in 1968, to Nairobi, Kenya, from where independence movements of various colonial states could be observed. By coincidence, while serving in Nairobi, Dearlove got to know a young American Foreign Service officer, Ray Seitz, also on his first overseas tour. They became friends—and while their paths rarely crossed after they left Kenya, Dearlove and Seitz got together decades later in London when the latter was named U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St James’s. His stint in Nairobi over, Dearlove was promoted to serve as an MI6 case officer, for various periods, in Prague, Geneva and Paris. In the process, he carried out assignments behind the Iron Curtain. In the early 1990s, Dearlove gained the crucial post of SIS chief of station in Washington. The post gave him entrée to the

highest levels of U.S. government and its intelligence agencies. Highly respected as an active “modernizer” of MI6 policies and procedures, Richard Dearlove returned to London to head agency departments such as personnel, operations, administration and interagency relations. Clearly on the fast track to the top, the stellar spymaster was named chief (“C”) of Britain’s SIS in 1999, the third such person to be publicly identified in that role. “It would be disingenuous,” said Dearlove, “to pretend that our work wasn’t complex, all-consuming, occasionally a little dangerous, and often fraught with tension as threats and acts of terrorism emerged in the new century. But that’s what comes with the territory. You do the best you can in the service of Queen and country—and if that sounds like a platitude, so be it. Hopefully, civilization as we know it has benefited from the effort.” Continuing to sum up his SIS career, the KCMG went on: “The examples set by my father and brother, the new horizons that opened for me at Kent, Cambridge, and in the service—all this inspired me, as they say, to go the extra mile, to make professionalism the watchword of our service.” Uniquely, Sir Richard is probably a candidate for a Guinness Book of Records accolade as having won two “Ks”—each from a different country. The first was for playing on Kent’s soccer team; the second, a knighthood (or “K” as the Brits call it) for his SIS achievements. KCMG stands for Knight Commander of the Orders of St. Michael and St. George and is granted to those who perform “extraordinary and important service in foreign and Commonwealth countries.” Only 375 living Britons can be members of the Orders at one time. The knighthood was established in 1818 by the then Prince Regent, later King, George IV. Its present head is HRH the Duke of Kent (how neat a coincidence for a Kent School graduate). The only higher orders of knighthood are the Order of the Garter and the Order of the Bath. Sir Richard was accorded his KCMG in 2002 by the Queen at a Buckingham Palace ceremony. Its badge of honor is a bejeweled medallion worn on a bright red sash. “Important as that memory is to me,” Sir Richard said, “here’s another I’ll never forget. As you know, I first came to America in the autumn of 1962—ready SPRING 2014

Bletchley Park

to start at Kent School. Now think… almost forty years on, here I am again in the U.S., this time on 9/11 plus one. What are the odds of a coincidence of timing like that? The mission was to attend an emergency meeting in Washington with our counterparts in U.S. intelligence and the military—and it was never made public until years later. The conference had its effects; decisions taken at the time resonated into the future, British–American activities were coordinated more effectively, and—surprised as many key people were that we had shown up from out of the blue—it got us all off on a new footing with respect to global terrorism. George Tenet, CIA chief at the time, wrote later that he never knew how—or on whose authority—we got flight clearance into the U.S. Some day, I may just let him in on the mystery…” It was, in fact, the president personally who granted it. On the very same issue—mysterious goingson—still another “affair” lingers on in Sir Richard’s storehouse of MI6 memories. In charge of administration (prior to taking over as chief ), one of his main assignments was to consolidate SIS activities and departments under one roof—that of a huge fortresslike headquarters building located diagonally across the Thames from Britain’s Houses of Parliament. Opened in 1994, Vauxhall Cross, as the HQ was named, quickly became known as “Legoland” for its jumbled multi-level array of cubical design elements. Inside, it is a labyrinth of offices, secret chambers, libraries, IT and surveillance gear, cryptology labs, miles of document vaults—as well as a nice “caff.” In September 2000, with Vauxhall Cross in full operation under Chief Dearlove, a Russian-made antitank missile tore into its upper storeys. While not causing serious destruction, the attack sent London into panic mode. Westminster and Whitehall were 12

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declared frozen zones; “What next?” asked the public and press. Miraculously, though, injuries were few and there were no fatalities. Nor, so we are told, were any MI6 secrets lost or compromised. “Legoland” lived on. To this day, however—despite countless investigations—the perpetrators have never been identified. (It was probably an Irish terrorist attack.) It remains a cold case—perhaps as some believe, a prankish protest against the HQ’s egregiously wacky design. “No comment,” sayeth Sir Richard, “except that the incoming round was damn noisy.” Retirement from MI6 in 2004, after 38 years “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” was a parting of the ways due to age requirements—not that anyone who knew the spry 65-year-old intelligence chief thought he would ever take off for R&R on some tropical islands. To the contrary, as Sir Richard explained, “there was still more to accomplish, even under vows of secrecy,” on the island he calls home. Setting forth from Vauxhall Cross, Dearlove segued into high-level consultancy and advisory posts, served on corporate boards, took part in debates and media events—and mingled, on occasion, with movers and shakers at world economic conferences. For a brief time, the former spymaster—in a role that echoes back to his MI6 days—served on the Bletchley Park Advisory Board. “BP,” as it’s known, was the secret WWII facility in Bedfordshire—and now a museum—where the infamous German Enigma codes were broken. “Among the myriad delights of my post-MI6 life,” says Sir Richard, “having a hand in the affairs of Pembroke College is sui generis. I’ve always had the highest regard for academia and scholarship as exemplified in the institutions of Cambridge University. Pembroke, the third oldest of these, was founded in 1347. Holders of its degrees and

fellowships include generations of eminent figures— Edmund Spenser, Pitt the Younger, Roger Williams, Abba Eban, Ted Hughes, R.A.B. Butler, Eric Idle and an uncountable number of others.” Sir Richard described the role of Master at Pembroke as that of a “facilitator”—assisting its various departments and groups in reaching unified decisions on their own affairs and relations with the university as a whole. Clearly, the title of Master is not merely an honorific or ceremonial one. As to how successfully the former SIS chief has dealt with the task, Pembroke’s president, Professor Jan Maciejowski, provided a glowing review early this year. “Sir Richard has supplied leadership and vision inside the College, built close relations with our alumni, and has represented Pembroke within the University and among other world institutions. Over his years as master our endowment has grown significantly. He is, quite simply, the right man for the times we live in.” On that note, having delved as deeply as one dares into the life of a secret agent, it seemed time to part company with Sir Richard. Was there, we asked, anything that might form something of an epitaph to his globe-spanning career in the corridors (and observation posts) of power? A rather long pause ensued. Then came these reflections—with pride, a sense of purpose and a nice twist on what once was the language of what used to be his trade. “First, I’d do it all over again in the nation’s service—in a heartbeat. As to shifting gears into academic life and other affairs, there is no better way of keeping pace with change than through involvement with educators, fellows, scholars, students and alumni—all those who are shaping the future. It’s not as if I was coming in from the cold—rather it’s being welcomed, once again, into the fold that matters. How invigorating all this has been—not least of which serving as a trustee of Kent School for more than a decade.” Nicholas W. Wedge in brief: Born and raised in Manhattan; Columbia College (Fr. Sill’s alma mater); more than 25 years a Mad Man, part of that time as creative director of BBDO London; switched to documentary ﬁlm making plus freelance writing for Financial Times, London Outlook, Sports Afield, Gazeta Mercantil (Brazil), Decanter (the Bordeaux-lovers’ bible), Litchfield Magazine and others; found Kent School via a wrong turn off Rt. 7, where he came upon a friendly priest; collects Edwardianera illustrated books.

The play’s the thing… That Dick Dearlove would become at least a knight was clear to all of us from the day he arrived for sixth form year. With his accent, elegantly chiseled features and keen sense of irony, he fully satisfied our image of the proper Englishman. We didn’t even resent the fact that he hadn’t gone through the hazing we’d endured to get to Sixth Form—we assumed he had endured something at least as awful at an unheated Gothic school on a bleak moor. And his father, we learned, had been the cox of an Olympic crew. How Kent is that! Still, it came as a surprise when we learned much later, that after his time at Cambridge, Dick spent many decades On Her Majesty’s Secret Service—the last five years as “C” (yes, he signed “C” in green ink—that way nobody except everybody who reads spy stories would know that he was head of MI6)… Yet we should not have been surprised. Because it was actually at Kent that Sir Richard first learned his tradecraft. This is not mentioned in his official biographies, but I know it to be a fact, because I was there. We were cast together in a play, Thieves’ Carnival, a comedy by Jean Anouilh about a trio of con artists, and Dearlove, with his oh-so-British accent, suave demeanor and wonderful sense of humor, was perfect as one of the younger thieves (I was the older one). At one key juncture, Dick had to run across the stage and land in my arms, moaning, “I am crrrumpled.” I actually caught him—back then he was imperially slim—and the audience loved it. Our roles involved several lightning costume changes… phony beards… false identities… Need I say more? (In a variation on the theme, I became a reporter. And that play, which was staged up on the Hill, is one of my best memories of Kent.) After graduation, and until his retirement from MI6 many years later, I only heard from Dick once, a brief letter from Prague on British Embassy stationery, sometime in the 1970s. A British diplomat I met soon after, however, said there was no Richard Dearlove in the Foreign Service. Indeed, but whatever Dick did there, the fact is that the Czech Republic ultimately emerged free and democratic. Something else for Kent to be proud about. Serge Schmemann ’63 At the master’s lodge of Pembroke College, Schmemann, Pulitzer Prize–winning foreign correspondent of the International New York Times, met with his Kent School classmate and fellow thespian of the Swinging Sixties.

At long last, a few short words from the Headmaster: Sir Richard’s career was distinguished by steadfast and courageous work in the service of Her Majesty’s government. Now he devotes his attention and skill to a Cambridge University institution known, for centuries, for scholastic excellence. Throughout the years he has also paid unfailing attention to Kent School—as a loyal but often far-off alumnus, and since 2001 as a member of our Board of Trustees devoted to the School’s mission both here and in the U.K. Fr. R.W. Schell

SPRING 2014

The Reverend Frederick Herbert Sill

Simplicity of Life: Even More Relevant Today TO CELEBRATE ITS FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY ,

Kent School, in a commemorative book, reproduced a trove of original documents and photographs bearing on its early history. One of the documents, a handwritten page prepared by the school’s to-be-founder Fr. Frederick H. Sill, was a “first draft,” dated around 1904 (“c.1904”), purporting to describe the school’s purpose. The document included this language: “The School is founded for the Purpose of Providing (a) at a minimum cost (b) For boys of good families, who must upon graduation be self-supporting (c) a combined academic and educational course (d) together with training in simplicity of life, self-reliance, loftiness of ideals and directness of purpose.”1 Within a short time of Kent’s opening in September 1906, three of the phrases had become the school’s motto, a motto that endures to the present 14

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day. The less felicitously worded “loftiness of ideals” was discarded. Having spent five years at Kent, I don’t think a week passed without a reference to one or another of the three phrases by Headmaster Fr. John Oliver Patterson, his Chapel priest Fr. Sam West, or William Armstrong, our history teacher (and later author of the prize-winning novel Sounder) who also was in charge of the hours board in the Auditorium. Even the sixth form prefects made mention of the motto. I was among fifty-one boys who joined Kent in September 1949. As a second former, one of my first memories that autumn was of having been roused late one evening, along with my roommate, to visit the RAD House (today the Deans’ Offices) to meet Fr. Sill, living there and confined to a wheelchair, barely articulate after several strokes.

This was an awe-inspiring moment for a fourteenyear-old from a small town west of Chicago… shaking the hand of an already legendary figure wrapped in a white cassock. Only later did I learn the full story of Sill and the founding of the school: how he had essentially failed in an effort to raise $250,000, but still proclaimed to the world that, “If the Lord wants me to start a school with $300, I’ll do it.” Apocryphal or not, he did precisely that. Of the three parts of Kent’s motto, probably easiest for us to understand in 1949 was “self-reliance.” Unless I did my fifteen-minute morning and evening work assignment, the school would obviously become a shambles. One rarely saw a maintenance person in the dorms, unless it were Hector the electrician, and never a cleaning woman, although a Mrs. Finn periodically scrubbed the Dining Room floor and looked after one or two faculty bathrooms. Students not only cleaned their own rooms (rugs and curtains weren’t allowed) but almost every other room on campus, with sixth form inspectors “stinging” hours for sloppy work. With hardly an endowment (the first major bequest arrived during the later Patterson years),

logical Seminary. As steeped as he was in the austere spirituality of his Episcopal Order of the Holy Cross, Sill would have related well to Emerson. I doubt that “directness of purpose” meant much in my first year as we struggled with Latin and learned ancient history from Armstrong. That phrase began to resonate only after I had advanced to the upper forms and begun to think about life after Kent, both in terms of further education and a career. “Simplicity of life” was a phrase not only descriptive of the school’s facilities in 1949 but also of the fare in the Dining Room (there were no choices, except not to eat), its sports offerings and our daily routines. Kent exemplified “simplicity” in every respect. Besides sports and a few extracurricular activities, our entertainment was essentially the Saturday night movie. We were not allowed to go into town. A radio or record player in our rooms? No way. It was certainly a lifestyle in the spirit of Emerson or Henry David Thoreau, and of the monastic order to which Sill and his successor subscribed. But did Fr. Sill intend his school to be so austere? When I let Marel Rogers, the recently retired head of the John Gray Park Library, who is as con-

How challenging it must be today to concentrate on one’s studies… one has to admire present-day students for their sheer skill in surviving.

even a new student appreciated that the school was impecunious. Not long before his death, Bill Armstrong told me that Patterson’s predecessor, Fr. William Chalmers, had approached him about cleaning up and seeding the courtyard below the Boardwalk after the construction of the Administration Building. “Use the hour boys,” Chalmers said. “But it’s all gravel,” Bill replied. “Bill, we have no money, not even for seed.” So Bill used the “hour boys” to haul topsoil to the site, and went himself to the school barn, swept up the chaff from the broken-up hay bales that fed the school’s cows, and with the hour boys planted a lawn. Perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “SelfReliance” had fallen into Fr. Sill’s hands when he was studying at Columbia University or General Theo-

versant as anyone about the school’s history, know that I was interested in the genesis of “simplicity of life,” she shared her opinion that Fr. Sill had probably planned for a less austere Kent but his initial lack of success in fundraising had given us the Kent I had experienced. The founder did seem to express frustration at the school’s financial plight in a frank report published in the Kent Quarterly in December 1918, twelve years after the first doors had opened (the endowment amounted to only $436 a year later 2): “Boys are now studying in the common room and in our small library because we have no space available. About fifty boys are without desks. At assemblies the Sixth Form sits in the common room adjoining the main study hall and other boys sit on the SPRING 2014

steps of the platform and in the doorway… What am I to do? I simply cannot drop my work here in order to go out and solicit funds. I must wait for someone to come in to do the work here, or hope that some one or more of our friends will push the work outside. It may be that it is too soon to ask help for such a nonwar object as a school. But how long shall we wait?” 3 By 1928, Fr. Sill seemed more comfortable with the situation. In an address that year he recounted that he had visited several schools before founding Kent, and found that “They presented an environment which tended toward the luxurious. Their common rooms were like the lounges of the city clubs, with their huge rugs and soft leather chairs. Their dining halls and service were fashioned after the style of the landed gentry in England.” In the next paragraph Fr. Sill acknowledged that, while he had been “making appeals and longing for large gifts for equipment” at the school’s founding, “I am thankful now that the funds did not flow in very fast.” He continued: “I am convinced that character is affected by environment and that [a] simple life has distinct and lasting effects on character.” 4 Reflecting on Fr. Sill’s thinking in the school’s first years, I sometimes wonder whether he had been influenced by ideas coming to the fore in late nineteenth century England, the country to which he traveled after graduating from Columbia, and to which his parents sometimes traveled, ideas that made their way to the United States—still in thrall to Thoreau and Emerson—about the time Fr. Sill was thinking about establishing a school. I recently came across an essay entitled “Simplification of Life,” published in London in 1877 by Edward Carpenter, an ordained Anglican priest and a friend of William Morris, one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement which later found expression in New England and the East Coast in craft communities and workshops. After opening his essay with a quotation from Thoreau, registering that sage’s disdain for the pursuit of “rich carpets,” “fine furniture” or “delicate cookery,” Carpenter offered thoughts such as these: “The current mode of life is so wasteful, and we have come to consider so many things as necessaries—whether in food, furniture, clothing or what not—which really bring us back next to no profit or pleasure… 16

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“No doubt immense simplifications of our daily life are possible; but this does not seem to be a matter which has been much studied. It is said by those who have travelled in Arabia that the reason why there are so many religious enthusiasts in that country is that in the extreme simplicity of the life and uniformity of the landscape there [,] heaven—in the form of the intense blue sky—seems close upon one. One may almost see God. But we moderns guard ourselves effectually against this danger.” 5 Kent’s founder died in 1952, before the school received its first major bequest, and before the American economy achieved its postwar prosperity. Fr. Sill’s successors have since labored mightily and successfully to build a strong endowment and to create a splendid physical plant, one that now rivals that of independent schools whose histories go back much further than 1906. At the same time, life’s distractions have multiplied and have invaded the everyday routines of students at independent schools. How challenging it must be today to concentrate on one’s studies. And with the arrival of PCs, laptops and mobile devices, and the insecurities and anxieties that often attend access to social networks and cyber communities, and the near-instant involvement of parents on farremoved campuses, one has to admire present-day students for their sheer skill in surviving. The motto that Fr. Sill fashioned in 1904 still endures, and the phrase “simplicity of life,” even if it connotes something quite different from what it did in 1949, may actually be more important today. Its repetition should encourage students to resist our culture’s more frivolous distractions and, somehow in the midst of them, to keep their lives as simple, materially and spiritually, as possible. No small task for today’s Kent. Robert F. Ober, Jr. ’54 Following a Foreign Service career, Mr. Ober succeeded Dick Whitaker ’44 as director of development. From 1998 to 2001 he served as president of International College, Beirut. He is presently a trustee of Marvelwood School on the former Kent girls’ campus. 1 2 3 4

Fifty Years, Kent School, 1906–1956 (New York: Comet Press, 1955). The Kent Quarterly, December 1919, p. 7. The Kent Quarterly, December 1918, pp. 3–4. Address in pamphlet entitled “Simplicity of Life, Self-Reliance, and Directness of Purpose.” 5 “England’s ideal,” and other papers on social subjects (London: Sway Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co., 1877; reproduced by the University of Michigan Library, September 24, 2013), pp. 79–99.

St. Joseph’s Chapel was completed in 1931, an important part of Fr. Sill’s Kent School.

Give an Honor Book This program gives you the opportunity to celebrate an occasion in your life—a wedding, graduation, birth of a child, any milestone—or in the life of someone to whom Kent is very special. A book in the John Gray Park ’28 Library will bear a decorative plate commemorating the occasion, and you will be enriching the academic life of the School in a unique and long-lasting way. We thank you for your support! The honor book gift is $50.

To give a book today, please visit: Alumni URL: www.kent-school.edu/AlumniHonorBook Parent URL: www.kent-school.edu/ParentHonorBook SPRING 2014

Kent School: 1963 and 2013 Peter Neely ’63

Peter Neely ’63

I AM RETIRING at the end of this academic year after 42 years teaching at Thayer Academy, a coed independent day school in the Boston area. As is common at independent schools, my duties have been varied: English teacher, director of college counseling, director of studies, tennis coach, etc. I have had extensive contact with colleagues at other independent schools, have chaired the New England Regional Assembly of the College Board, and served on numerous New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) ten-year accreditation evaluations (four at my school and two at other schools in New England). I have been asked to clarify some remarks I made to a few of my classmates at our 50th reunion last summer. I don’t pretend to speak for the class as a whole. Events that stand out in my memory may not resonate with anyone else. While some might think my window on schools is narrow, having worked almost my entire career at one school (or that I simply lack imagination and ambition), I would argue otherwise. For a few of our classmates, the presentation by David Greene was disturbing. Some were shocked by the influx of Asian students, the presence of postgraduate athletes (PGs), or the loss of the “old Kent.” I suppose the latter means the Episcopalian Chapels and the protestant work ethic ( jobs, hours). I think that overall Kent is a healthier place for young people now than it was fifty years ago. For one thing, I don’t know of a single independent boarding school that doesn’t have a significant population of teenagers from China, Korea, Southeast Asia (and lots of other parts of the world). Even day schools such as mine see dozens of applications from Hong Kong, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, despite the fact that we have no dormitories. Two forces fuel this migration. On the one side there are a lot of families in Asia with a lot of money, and there are a very limited number of options for high quality education for those teenagers at home. On the other side of the force field, there are a lot of American high schools

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(both public and private) who want to tap into this market for reasons of diversity or, more likely, for financial reasons. It isn’t a secret that the traditional population in the U.S. that supported independent schools is dwindling. The white middle and upper middle classes, who send their kids to private schools and become loyal alums with deep pockets, are shrinking. Without a significant population of “full payers” a school can’t offer financial aid to needy students. So what to do? Recruit in parts of the world where there is a need for education and deep pockets. This influx from other countries has its challenges both linguistic and cultural, but most schools consider the tradeoff worth the benefit. On to the PGs: Unlike the influx of foreign students, the admission of fifth-year, post-grad athletes is not common to all prep schools. You see the difference in a tale of two athletic leagues: the Independent School League and the Founder’s League. The former is the one Thayer belongs to. The sixteen schools who joined in the early ’70s all agreed that they would not allow PGs to play in the league. We also don’t give athletic scholarships, and one member school nearly got bounced from the league when it came to light that there had been some skullduggery on that account. The Founder’s League that Kent plays in, on the other hand, has allowed PGs. There is nothing immoral about this; so do Andover, Exeter and many other prep schools. It makes for some very high quality teams. But there is a downside to these one-year players. For one, a student who enrolls in ninth or tenth grade expecting to start on a varsity team one day is often disappointed to see that position perpetually occupied by a 19-year-old who is there for one year only. Often these one-year players don’t buy into the culture of the school, and some pack it in after their season. I have heard headmasters and other school officials at PG schools bemoan this situation. But, like the Cold War, if one school unilaterally disbands its PG program, it won’t be winning many more athletic

contests, at least in the high profile sports. Finally, on to the old Kent vs. the new Kent issue. This is where I am likely to disagree with many of my classmates. The male, white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant institution that was the old Kent we knew is just not viable in contemporary America. So even if we wanted it to survive, that would probably be a pipe dream—a misty vision of the past. I’ve written before that the Kent we knew in 1963 was a holdover from mid-nineteenth century schooling in Britain, specifically Rugby School under the headmastership of Thomas Arnold (Matthew’s father). Most states now have laws against bullying—an activity at the old Kent that was so pervasive as to be considered normal. (This, at a school where students studied the Sermon on the Mount.) Dave Lancy’s writings on initiation rites imply that we experienced something akin to common practice in Papua New Guinea. Do you think our parents understood that when we got dropped off to start our first year? Until last summer I had remained disconnected from Kent because of the memories of the bullying culture of the students and the apparent unconcern of the faculty. The reunion last summer renewed my respect and appreciation for my classmates, most of whom I hadn’t seen in fifty years. Also hearing how Kent has evolved as a more humane institution was gratifying. Schools these days have to deal with all the messiness of a modern American culture that assaults (and enriches) teenagers. A caring faculty is charged with the sorting out. The presence of many foreign students certainly

complicates this. A family email from Seoul or Beijing can ripple through a dorm with unintended consequences—as can one from Greenwich. Maybe students grow up faster today. Mortal danger was present in 1963 as it is today, and I’m not talking about drinking and driving. I still remember vividly the fall of 1962 and the Cuban Missile Crisis after having received my draft card the previous February. By 1967 I was on active duty in the Navy. Today kids are subjected to the news of monthly school shootings. I have participated in several lockdown drills. Where do you hide eighteen students in a classroom so that they are out of sight of windows and away from doors that may or may not lock? School security is an oxymoron. Our campus with its many outside doors is about one hundred yards from the MBTA Braintree station. Do you run or hide? Do you fight back? If so, with what? Local police haven’t figured out all that. They tell us that most school shootings are over in a few minutes or less, but brevity didn’t help those massacred at Sandy Hook. This may be the new normal, and I think it disturbs faculties more than it does the students. In a way I admire the kids for being kids and worrying about kid things. One thing for sure: the ones I know are much more tolerant of the many shades of diversity in their communities than we were in 1963. And, in general, they care for each other. Peter Neely has worked at Thayer Academy as an English teacher, director of studies and college counselor since 1971. While at Kent he was a prefect and captain of the crew.

SPRING 2014

Bruce Whitman ’51 Honored

Mr. Whitman with his Living Legend award

Kent Trustee Bruce Whitman ’51 was honored at the 11th Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards on January 17, 2014. Mr. Whitman was presented with the Lifetime Aviation Industry Leader Award in honor of his many contributions to the aviation industry. As president of FlightSafety International, Mr. Whitman leads the world’s leading aviation training company. FlightSafety provides more than one million hours of instruction every year, using over 300 flight simulators in its training centers around the world. Mr. Whitman has been a member of the Kent Board of Trustees since 2003. The following press release is from the event sponsors.

11th Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards Takes Flight BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Jan. 7, 2014—The 11th Annual “Living Legends of Aviation”® Awards, presented by Bell Helicopter and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, announce more honorees today. The awards will be held January 17, 2014, at the Beverly Hilton. With more legends and celebrities confirmed to attend than ever, this most prestigious and important recognition event of aviation, the “Living Legends of Aviation,” is honoring Mr. Frederick W. Smith, founder and CEO of FedEx with the Legends “Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award.” Mr. Bruce Whitman, chairman and CEO of FlightSafety International, will receive the “Lifetime Aviation Industry Leader Award.” Bob Hoover has selected Major General Patrick Brady, a Medal of Honor recipient, to receive the “Freedom of Flight Award.” In addition, Bob will pay tribute to his good friend, Col. Bud Day, posthumously, with his wife, Doris, and son, George Jr., receiving a special Legends medallion. Morgan Freeman narrates the “Flown West” segment of the program with a tribute to Paul Poberezny, founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). There will also be a special 10-year salute to 20

KENT QUARTERLY

the Udvar-Hazy Center, the companion facility to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Kiddie Hawk Air Academy, the nonprofit organization that produces the Living Legends of Aviation Awards, will induct seven Legends, including T. Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas; David Hurley, who has a 60-year aviation legacy and is chairman emeritus of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; John Uczekaj, CEO of Aspen Avionics; David Neeleman, founder of Jet Blue and Azul Airlines; Roy Morgan, founder of Air Methods; and actor/pilot Treat Williams. In addition to induction, Jack Erickson, the inventor of the SkyCrane and an avid aviation helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, will be honored as Bell Helicopter’s “Vertical Flight Hall of Fame Award” honoree. Harrison Ford is presenting his “Aviation Legacy Award” to Marilyn Richwine and Rhonda Fullerton, two key assistants who coordinate the Citation Special Olympics Airlift with amazing results. The 11th Annual Awards promises to be a memorable and historic event. Attendees, legends, and honorees include: Chuck Aaron, James Albaugh, Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Paul Allen, Maj. Gen Bill Anders, Bud Anderson, Laurent Beaudoin, Tony Bill, Dr. Forrest Bird, Linden Blue, Ed Bolen, Col. Frank Borman, Sir Richard Branson, Jimmy Buffett, Pete Bunce, Gene Cernan, Joe Clark, Julie Clark, Danny Clisham, Tom Cruise, General Jack Dailey, Tom Danaher, Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, Robert Duncan, David Ellison, Pat Epps, Craig Ferguson, Edsel Ford, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Randy Gaston, David Greschke, Charles Hall, Captain Al Haynes, Preston “Pres” Henne, Greg Herrick, Barron Hilton, Dexter Holland, Skip Holm, Bob Hoover, Emily Howell-Warner, David Hurley, Charles Johnson, John King, Martha King, Alan Klapmeier, Dale Klapmeier, Clay Lacy, Lorenzo Lamas, Amanda Wright Lane, Bill Luckett, Robert A. Lutz, Bruce McCaw, Russ Meyer Jr., Roy Morgan, Elon Musk,

Bruce Whitman, his wife, Winki, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Mr. Whitman’s sister Joby Gray, and his sons Stewart and John (right)

David Neeleman, Zoe Dell Lantis Nutter, Steve Oliver, Suzanne Asbury Oliver, Eren and Fatih Ozmen, Arnold Palmer, Jack Pelton, Tom Poberezny, Jeffrey Puckett, Vern Raburn, James Raisbeck, James Ray, Si Robin, Frank Robinson, Kurt Russell, Burt Rutan, Dick Rutan, Frederick W. Smith, Murray Smith, Dr. Richard Sugden, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, Edward Swearingen, Brian Terwilliger, Lynn Tilton, John Travolta, Sean Tucker, Louis Turpen, John Uczekaj, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Steven Hazy, Mark Van Tine, Patty Wagstaff, Kermit Weeks and Treat Williams. Sponsored by: Bell Helicopter, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, The Boeing Company, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Air Lease CorporationAviation Partners, Bombardier, Clay Lacy Aviation, Jet Aviation, Jeppesen, Breitling Watches, Dassault Falcon Jet and Honda Jet.

About Living Legends of Aviation Considered the most prestigious and important recognition event of aviation, this intimate, memorable and historic evening of aviation awards and entertainment will feature Morgan Freeman narrating the “Flown West” tribute to Paul Poberezny, founder of EAA, plus a 92nd-birthday salute to Bob Hoover. The Living Legends of Aviation Awards recognizes

significant contributions and achievements during aviation’s second hundred years. The “Living Legends of Aviation” are defined as aviation entrepreneurs, innovators, record breakers, industry leaders, astronauts, pilots who have become celebrities, and celebrities who have become pilots. The Legends meet yearly to recognize and honor individuals that have made significant contributions in aviation. Living Legends of Aviation is a registered trademark. www.livinglegendsofaviation.org

About Kiddie Hawk Air Academy The Living Legends of Aviation Awards event is produced by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy, a nonprofit 501(c)3 qualified organization. Kiddie Hawk introduces children ages 4 thru 9 to flight with the Kiddie Hawk Jet Trainers and their newly introduced “Kiddie Kopter.” These trainers allow kids to take their first flight lesson with the sophistication of motion and control of real flight, piloting their airplane, albeit a few feet off the ground. Kiddie Hawk follows the students as they progress, making scholarships available as Kiddie Hawk pilots enter actual flight training. The Kiddie Hawk program also introduces youngsters to other aviation related careers.

SPRING 2014

Between the Hills and River Shore

New Center for Music Studies The Center for Music Studies officially opened on January 17 and 18. Father Schell welcomed the parents, students, faculty and staff, trustees and friends of Kent who attended the opening festivities.

The Center for Music Studies (top right) is on the upper floors of the Dining Hall building. Top left, Tom Bouldin, coordinator of Mattison Auditorium, and Jennifer Malone Hobbs, chairperson of the Music Department, in a new practice room. Above, a view from the sound booth.

KENT QUARTERLY

Thank you for being here this evening as we usher in a new era for music at Kent. We begin with some history. In 1912 a group of students formed the first organized music group at Kent when they gathered in the Common Room to play their instruments—a few mandolins and violins, a flute, a banjo and piano. The yearbook reported that they “rehearsed with so much spirit and perseverance that they actually succeeded in mastering a few pieces sufficiently well to play before the school. The club’s financial condition at the end of the year was such that a Victrola was presented to the school.” Much has happened in the intervening one hundred years, and the Center for Music Studies heralds a magnificent second century for Kent music. The center, which has transformed the former Dining Hall Dormitory, more than doubles the area devoted to music, and provides spacious, acoustically perfect rooms where our many instrumental and vocal groups can now practice and perform. Kent’s music program is led by Department Chair Tom Bouldin, Jennifer Malone Hobbs and Suzanne McDonald, and assisted by twelve adjunct teachers who provide instruction for a broad range of instruments—brass, woodwind, strings, percussion, piano and voice. These dedicated teachers offer a comprehensive program serving over 200 students—a place where musicians can find masterful instruction and opportunities to perform, and those new to music studies can

learn to understand and appreciate. Thank you to the Kent Board of Trustees, whose leadership and support made the Center for Music Studies possible. Our sincere gratitude to the Planning Committee, chaired by Ann Dickinson and joined by Bob Anderson, Andrew Bogle, Avery Bourke, Hilton Clark, Tom Craig, Nonnie Cooney Frelinghuysen, Kim Brainard Naylor and Henrik Vanderlip. Their vision guided us throughout the planning and construction phases, and brought us to this beautiful place. We also offer thanks to the architectural and construction firm, S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury, Connecticut â&#x20AC;&#x201D;in particular, Steve Ansel, Geoff Gaunt, Gene Torrone and Ned Chernya, who worked closely with our plant supervisor, Joe Wolinski. S/L/A/M has overseen the transformation of our campus for more than 20 years, and throughout this partnership, they have shown a deep appreciation for the beauty of our School. To the alumni, parents and friends of Kent who have supported the music program, we thank you and look forward to seeing you at future performances. With the Center for Music Studies, the next exciting stage of our music program begins. In the months ahead, we will be working to raise funds to provide lasting support for the center, our dedicated music faculty and students. Endowment opportunities will be available to establish teaching chairs and professional development funds for the faculty; to underwrite the operations and maintenance of the center; and to provide scholarship aid to ensure that all students who want to further their music studies are able to take advantage of individual instruction, regional competitions and summer enrichment programs. In this way we continue the tradition that began with the Victrola in 1912 of providing opportunities for our students.

Mattison Auditorium The newly renovated Mattison Auditorium opened its doors in early February. Mattison is now a state-of-the-art teaching theater with a deeper stage allowing for more flexibility, and with 6,800 square feet, the house is more appropriately sized for Kent performers. The renovation included the installation of an overhead technical grid for lighting and sound purposes. Wood paneling and advanced acoustical treatments surround the theater. It is spectacular!

The newly renovated Mattison Auditorium

SPRING 2014

Alumni and Development News

Alumni/ae Hockey Game A morning snowfall didn’t scare away the intrepid alumni/ae hockey players, who returned to the Nadal Rink on Saturday, January 18. Alumni/ae ranging from NHL draft picks to club hockey all-stars were brought together by their love of Kent hockey. The white team won a hardfought game, after which alumni and their families enjoyed lunch in the Dining Hall, then returned to the rink for a showdown between the Kent and Salisbury varsity hockey teams. The Lions’ 6–2 victory was a thrilling end to the day. Thanks to Dick Sanford ’55 for providing hats for all participants, and to the Nadal Rink staff, who go all out to make it an enjoyable event for all.

Colleen Neill Overlock ’98, Rebecca Kurish ’02, Lauren Cameron ’08 and Michele Gintoli ’06

The blue and white teams after the game

KENT QUARTERLY

Steve Petyerak ’89 and family

Colleen Neill Overlock ’98 and Will Overlock ’98

Steve Petyerak ’89 and Justin Daniels ’08

1987 classmates Pete Heimdahl, Jim McKeown, Chris Thayer and Billy Jaffe, with their children

Alumni Soccer Game The annual Alumni Soccer Game kicked off the season on the Saturday after Labor Day. The Alumni vs. Boys Varsity game allows recent and not-so-recent graduates to play against some of the strongest soccer players in the league. An especially talented alumni squad took the field this year and after a spirited game, emerged the victors. Many thanks to the coaches and players for welcoming the alumni back to campus.

Henry Gabathuler ’99, Maxim Soloshchanskiy ’12 and Sean Becket ’04 applaud the alumni team victory.

Josep Adsera Martinez ’12 takes a break.

Marco de Filippo Roia ’10 and Richie Edmondson ’09 congratulate each other for a job well done.

Greg McFarlane ’04 relaxes on the sidelines with faculty member Pape Seye.

The boys varsity and alumni teams are all smiles after the game.

SPRING 2014

Head of the Charles Regatta A beautiful fall day and the promise of exciting races drew alumni to the Kent tent at the Head of the Charles Regatta on October 19 and 20. Racing under the Kent banner, alumnae from the classes of 1989 to 2013 defended last year’s strong finish in the Women’s Alumnae Eight race. On Sunday, current KSBC rowers competed in the Junior Men’s and Women’s Four events. Throughout the weekend, dozens of alumni raced for their colleges and clubs in just about every event offered: from senior veterans singles and father-daughter doubles, to collegiate fours and championship eights. It was great to see so many alumni and their families at the tent, cheering on the Kent crews. Thank you to everyone who brought food to share and helped throughout the weekend.

Jacqueline Regan Wilmot ’05 caught up with KSBC coach Garrison Smith at the Kent tent.

Gus ’91 and Wizzie Phelps and family joined Phil ’91 and Carrie Towle Closuit ’91 and their children on the river’s edge.

Former faculty member Jesse Minneman and Garrett Sweitzer ’08 stopped by to visit.

1977 classmates Jamie Wilkins and Jerry Anderson and family

Alumnae Eight (left to right): Coach Garrison Smith, Lauren Sweitzer ’11, Jennifer El-Sherif ’89, Jun Takeda ’13, Elizabeth Guernsey ’02, Eliza Spilsbury ’13, Jacqueline Regan Wilmot ’05, Austin Phillips Kupke ’03, Anda Adams ’96 and Elizabeth Martin ’06

KENT QUARTERLY

A Most Memorable Evening for Kent at the New York City Forum Over 50 alumni and parents gathered in the Yale Club of New York’s Library for the second annual Kent Forum. The event was designed to bring members of the Kent family together to network and to hear inspirational stories from alumni across generations. A panel discussion was moderated by Charles MacLachlan ’78 and included the following distinguished alumni: H. Rutherford Turnbull III 1955: Professor of special education and law at the University of Kansas, with experience regarding developmental disabilities; author of The Exceptional Life of Jay Turnbull, a memoir about his son’s life confronting the challenges of developmental disabilities; co-founder and codirector of the Beach Center on Disability with his wife, Ann; and member of the Sill Society of Kent School. Glenn Lau-Kee 1967: President-elect of the New York Bar Association, to reflect on his career in the law, and the role of networking and connecting with the community as important elements in a legal career. Christopher B. Burnham 1975: Former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, with experience in business, government service and diplomacy. Margaretta M. Colangelo 1983: President and COO of U1 Technologies, she discussed marketing and technology, with application to many industries and the role Kent has played in her personal and professional life.

Alumni Forum presenters: Glenn Lau ’67, Rud Turnbull ’55, Chris Burnham ’75 and Margaretta Colangelo ’83 with Alumni Council President Peter Patch ’67

Jeff Crowell ’01, Lukas Chacho ’10 and Opeyemi Akinbamide ’08 at the NYC forum

Geoff Isles ’79, Byron Loflin ’79, Jennifer Thayer Naylor ’79, Stephen Crocker ’79 and Charlie MacLachlan ’78

Upcoming Forums are being developed for Washington, DC, and San Francisco, CA. Please stay tuned for electronic communications in the coming months.

SPRING 2014

KENT ALUMNI RECEPTIONS AND GATHERINGS

U.S. Air Force Academy Falcon Foundation Annual Dinner NOVEMBER 1, 2013

The Falcon Foundation was founded by a group of prominent retired Air Force officers in 1958, three years after the United States Air Force Academy admitted its first class. As a nonprofit foundation, its purpose is to provide scholarships to either private preparatory or junior college schools for motivated young people seeking admission to the Academy and a career in the Air Force. Kent School is one of seven secondary independent schools in the United States participating in this program. Kent School Trustee Bruce Whitman ’51 is the Falcon Foundation vice chairman.

General Gregory Martin (USAF), chairman, Falcon Foundation; Headmaster Fr. Schell ’69; and Trustee Bruce Whitman ’51, Falcon Foundation vice chairman; at the Annual Dinner of the Falcon Foundation, held in Arnold Hall, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, November 1, 2013

Scavenger Hunt at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC The American Museum of Natural History in New York City was the perfect location for this fun-filled family event hosted by the Alumni Council. Watson Adventures team members greeted 60 Kent alumni, families and friends at the museum on a brisk Saturday in October. The group was divided into eight teams which were given tricky and humorous questions that took them on a whirlwind tour of highlights and hidden gems within the museum. After the 90-minute hunt, the team with the most correct answers won Watson Adventures backpacks. “Most Creative Team Name” was also a winner that day. Special thanks to Alumni Council members Lindsey Huenink McCormick ’95, Ashley Cooke ’98, Peter Patch ’67, Eleanor Culbertson Albert ’65 and Jesse Kimball ’98 for their countless hours of preparation.

Kent alumni, families and friends outside of the AMNH

Saorise Fischer, Adam Fischer P’13,’15, Charlie MacLachlan ’78; Caspar ’94, Hazel, Christian, Liam, Francesca and Henry Bentinck; Anne Griffin Pace ’92, Lexie Pace, Sherry Fayerweather Brodie ’91 and Cooper Brodie

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KentOberfest On October 24, more than 50 Kent alums—spanning five decades of graduates— got together for “KentOberfest” in downtown Manhattan, the first of many regional quarterly social networking events hosted by the Kent School Alumni Council. The winter networking social was held at Lily’s Bar in the Roger Smith Hotel in NYC on February 20, 2014. KENTOBERFEST FEEDBACK:

“Thank you for organizing the event last night and I’m looking forward to the next one!” Brett Miner ’07 “It was great seeing old friends, as well as making new connections. I look forward to our next event in February!” Amanda Shank ’08 “Well done!” Erica Lumiere ’87 “Thanks again for having your party at Sláinte. The servers and bartenders all spoke very highly of the Kent alumni, which is always nice to hear after an event. If you ever want that space again feel free and give me an email.” Mike O’Sullivan, Sláinte restaurant and bar manager

Rufus de Rham ’02, Jordan Pyers ’05, Shaka Shervington ’02 and friend, and Patrick Hickox ’68

Elizabeth Guernsey ’02, Elani Gonzalez Buchan ’03, Amanda Eickman ’03, Meaghan Reilly ’03 and Lauren Lynch ’03

Alison Lospinuso ’03, Heather Duffy ’09, Michael Graae ’08 and Ryan Snyder ’09

Charlie MacLachlan ’78 and Jennifer Thayer Naylor ’79

Samantha Fasone ’08, Alex Galasso ’08, David Ospina ’08 and Emilie Dodge ’10

Geoff Isles ’79 and Scott Craighead ’78

SPRING 2014

KENT ALUMNI RECEPTIONS AND GATHERINGS

Kent in Boston Kent School’s Alumni & Development Office kicked off the 2013–14 year with a reception for members of the Kent family in Boston on September 24 at the Back Bay Social Club on Boylston Street. Special thanks to Ryan Greene ’07 for his assistance in organizing this event for over 70 alumni, parents and Kent faculty.

Theology Department Chair Dr. David Greene P’07 and Lauren Cameron ’08

Alex ’52 and Judie Jenkins and Walley Williams ’50

MIT student So Young Michelle Park ’11 and Boston College graduate student Lucia Kim ’09

Ted Wagenknecht ’96, Mimi Buttenheim ’95, Gayle Love ’02, Katherine Taft ’02 and Laura Fonte Schweitzer ’00

KENT QUARTERLY

Class of 2006 alumnae Evee Elswick, Christine Fuchs and Maddy Knorring

Former faculty members Loretto Roney and Tim Carey with Jennifer Rettig and Jean-Marc Cloutier ’99

Brian ’03 and Kiera Conover, Marc Cloutier, Ryan Greene ’07 and Trustee Dr. Calestous Juma P’16

Brian and Jacqueline Regan Wilmot ’05 and Garrett Sweitzer ’08

John Hugo ’74 and Alumni Council member Beverly Cole Costello ’73

Anna Sanders ’07, Lauren Cameron ’08, Chris Corey ’07, Ryan Greene ’07, Lindsay Sheehan ’07 and Faith Castiglione ’08

Peter ’66 and Kelly Brown

Moses Esema with ’05 alumnae Nse Umoh Esema, Liz Malin and Brittany Allen

Jacqueline Gerretsen ’01, Jack Toner ’99, Alexina Cloutier Carey ’01, Carrie Flickinger Diana ’99 and Ted Wagenknecht ’96

Laurence Mercier-LaFond ’10 and Ben Iwanowski ’09

Faith Castiglione ’08, Scott McLean ’08, Sarah Sperry ’07, Siobhan Lavery ’07 and Bianca Geigel Lonergan ’07

SPRING 2014

KENT ALUMNI RECEPTIONS AND GATHERINGS

Kent Alumni in Denver

Kent Alumni in D.C.

On October 15, nearly 30 Denver alumni and their guests enjoyed a cocktail reception at Gather Café inside Galvanize in downtown Denver. The event was organized and hosted by Alicia Pokoik Deters ’94 and her husband, Jim Deters, founder and managing director of Galvanize. Alumni and guests enjoyed delicious hors d’oeuvres from one of Denver’s best restaurants, ChoLon, a collaboration between Alicia and esteemed chef Lon Symensma. Thank you to Alicia and Jim for arranging the Denver event and providing an innovative spot.

Alumni Council members Alice Bishop ’78 and Brett Waibel ’97 hosted a cocktail reception on November 9 for area alumni, parents and friends at the esteemed Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, MD. More than fifty guests socialized in the splendor of this traditional club. Many thanks to Alice and Brett for their enthusiasm and organizational skills. A special thanks to the parents of Liz Waibel, Mr. and Mrs. John Murphy, for providing the ideal venue.

Rick Rinehart ’72 and Lindsay Houston ’09

Denver alumni attendees

Kent Admissions & Alumni Gathering in Miami

Emily Horgan ’12, Bronwen Kalmes ’12, Carter Law ’12 and Tegan Campia ’10

John Smithies ’60 with his wife, Laura, and Headmaster Richardson W. Schell ’69

Pilar and Joel Danisi, Eugene C. Sullivan P’94 and David Wilson ’75

Eugene C. Sullivan P’94, Justin Porter ’14, Barbara C. Sullivan P’94, Jodi Mumford-Porter P’14, Bill Bangs ’74

KENT QUARTERLY

Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Richardson W. Schell ’69 and Mary Tyng McKenzie ’76

Mike Washkevich ’74 and his wife, LeeLee, with Ross Newland ’74

Kent at the U.S. Capitol On November 23, Bruce McBarnette ’76 organized a tour of the U.S. Capitol for friends and Kent School alumni as a celebration of the new world record he set in the high jump for his age group in March 2013. A group of over a dozen alumni and their guests met McBarnette at the Capitol Visitor Center, which was completed in 2008 and is the last major addition to the Capitol. The group watched a video about the history of the Capitol and then was escorted by a tour guide to some of the most famous places in the Capitol, including the rotunda, the largest room under the towering Capitol dome, which gives

the rotunda a ceiling of 180 feet. They also visited the crypt located in the center of the Capitol, known for its Doric columns and 13 statues that represent the 13 original colonies. The group also toured Statuary Hall that has statues from all across the country. “I was glad so many alumni chose to join me on a visit to my old stomping grounds,“ said McBarnette, who used to practice law for the U.S. Senate as a legal counsel and who also was a legislative assistant to a member of Congress. Many thanks to Bruce for organizing this special event!

Kent at the White House

Masters Championships in October 2013. This time the tour was a self-guided tour of the White House. Over a dozen alumni and their guests toured the White House in small private groups and learned about the history of the White House

On January 11, 2014, Bruce McBarnette ’76 organized a tour for friends and Kent alumni to celebrate his victory at the World

Brett Waibel ’97, Sara Hasselback Paulson ’68, Annesley Williamson Copeland ’77, Alice Bishop ’78 and Renée-Lauren Ellis ’00

Bruce McBarnette ’76 (left) with the alumni group

from Secret Service agents stationed in each room. The current White House was rebuilt in 1817 after the original White House was burnt down by the British in the War of 1812. Thank you to Bruce for another great idea!

Liz and Brett Waibel ’97

SPRING 2014

KENT ALUMNI RECEPTIONS AND GATHERINGS

New York Yacht Club Kent alumni, parents and friends celebrated the holiday season at the New York Yacht Club on December 5, 2013. The Model Room was a beautiful space for this annual event, which brings together members of the Kent family from around the country. Our sincere thanks to trustee Bob Hoerle ’52 for making this festive gathering at the Yacht Club possible again this year. Thanks also to guest photographer Crick Sinclair ’01.

Tiggie and Jay Gerli P’05,’06 with Kent Alley ’82

Frankie Celenza ’05, Henry Frelinghuysen ’06, Trustee Nonnie Frelinghuysen P’06,’08, and George and Stacy Langa P’14

Andrew Bogle ’90, Liz Uphoff Courtney ’86 and Dan Pike ’93

Lorraine Schell P’05 joins Brian Wilmot and 2005 classmates Jacqueline Regan, John Sommers and Samantha Chu.

Trustee Rogan Donelly ’04 with 2003 classmates David Ingraldi and Nile Lundgren

Scott Craighead ’79, Byron Loflin ’79, P’14, Rob Constable ’81 and Brad Craighead ’80

Board of Trustees President Waring Partridge ’62 with Trustees Andrew Bogle ’90 and Avery Bourke P’10,’11

2006 classmates Gavin Sweitzer and Vashti Chandler with Jeff Crowell ’01 and Headmaster Schell

1976 classmates Cornelia Armbrecht Brefka P’09,’13, Cathe Mazza, Wendy Jeffery Hubbell P’05,’07 and Anne Bavier P’07

KENT QUARTERLY

Kent in the Pacific Northwest Marc Cloutier, assistant headmaster and director of development, traveled to Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA, in November for Kent School. Pete Hines ’62 and Price Gripekoven ’58 hosted a reception at McTarnahan’s Taproom in Portland, and Trustee Bill Wurts ’55 hosted the Seattle event at the Broadmoor Golf Club. Both receptions proved to be good ways for alumni to reconnect and to learn about the many updates at Kent.

PORTLAND

Joining hosts Pete Hines and Price Gripekoven are Christian Melbostad ’97 and his wife, Amanda

Deana and Peter Camp ’64 with Pete Hines ’62 and Rebecca Hines at McTarnahan’s in Portland

Price Gripekoven ’58 and his wife, Hilary, with Tiffany Lightbourn Sullivan ’84 and her husband, Christopher, at the Portland reception

Richard and Caty Stevens Wilson ’72, Clyde Brown ’49, Bob Green ’63 and Andrew Preusse ’86 with his wife, Courtney

Host Bill Wurts ’55 with Karen Kershaw, Jeremy Dodd ’98, Tracy Harding Lincoff ’76 and her husband, Ross Lincoff

SEATTLE

Meredith Perlman, Mike Sydor ’90, Debbie and Steve Doman ’74, Julie Dillon ’87 and Lynda Crescenzi ’88 at the Broadmoor Seattle Reception

SPRING 2014

KENT ALUMNI RECEPTIONS AND GATHERINGS

Kent in Texas Thanks to the help and generosity of several Kent alumni, there were three Alumni/ Parent Receptions in the Lone Star State in October. The Austin event at the Zach Theater, overlooking the skyline, was hosted by Kate and Joe McSpadden ’81. The Dallas get-together at the NYLO rooftop Soda Bar was hosted by Mike Wyatt ’80, Ernest Franklin ’87 and Christian Yanicelli ’95. The Houston reception at Willie G’s was hosted by Daisy and Bill Quayle ’61. More than 100 guests attended these Kent events.

AUSTIN

Kathryn and Brendan Pribish ’90, Blair Newberry ’91, Tip Meckel and Amanda Ward ’90

Cecilia Barnhill ’16, John Barnhill and Christine Merrick Stewart ’89

Marc Cloutier P’99,’01 with Christina Echeverria ’08 and Barbara and Jim Steffensen P’08

Dallas hosts Christian Yanicelli ’95, Ernest Franklin ’87 and Mike Wyatt ’80

Teran Smith Caffey ’93, Karis Smith ’97, Lucy Malone Haslam ’94 and her husband, Daniel

Colby Stewart ’85, Brad Jacob ’85 and Antonio Gonzalez-Cortes ’83, P’14

DALLAS

Kent alumni and parents take time from SMU Family Weekend at the Dallas reception: Justin Shugrue and Ed Newberry, Class of 2013, Ned Shugrue ’08, Maeve Shugrue and Connie Newberry

HOUSTON

Randle Seymour ’89, Abbe Weinstein Forman ’90 and Brendan Pribish ’90

KENT QUARTERLY

Nola Fooshee Ray ’70, Andrew Stewart and D’Arcey Smylie Randall ’72

Amy and Peter Malin ’69, P’05 with Ann Irwin P’17

John Toubassi ’88 and David Nguyen ’01

Austin hosts Kate and Joe McSpadden ’81

Ernest Franklin, Michael Davis, Julie Pham Davis ’91 and Lisa Arpey P’16

Hosts Daisy and Bill Quayle ’61 joined by family members Edie Stewart P’85, Jill and Colby Stewart ’85

Kate McSpadden, Conrad Derdeyn ’52 and Tom Randall at the Skyline Room

Mai and Ernest Franklin ’87, Christian ’95 and Erica Yanicelli and Abby Wooldridge ’95

Houston alumni John Ashmun ’41 and Nicolas Russell ’68

Houston parents Cynthia and Brian Hughes P’16

SPRING 2014

KENT ADMISSIONS TRAVELS

Kent Admissions Travels Kathryn F. Sullivan ’94, Director of Admissions, and her international travel team spent November and December traveling the globe meeting prospective candidates and their families, hosting Admissions receptions, visiting schools and international educators, connecting with current Kent parents and reconnecting alumni to Kent today. Their stops included Cape Town, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Mumbai, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, the U.K., Russia, U.A.E., Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Spain, Germany, Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. We are extremely grateful to all those who assisted the Kent representatives while they were abroad: In CAPE TOWN: Ron Irwin ’88 In SINGAPORE: Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Choe P’15 (Rachel) In TAIPEI: Mr. Gordan Yeh and Ms. Jennifer Yang P’08,’13 (Jimmy and Ken), Mr. Ted Chih-Fan I and Ms. Jun Chiang P’13,’15 (Ted Jr. and Katherine)

In TOKYO: Mr. and Mrs. Kamei Sato P’15 (Hiro) In MUMBAI: Mr. and Mrs. Kunal Chauhan P’14 (Nipun), Mr. and Mrs. Nitin Shah P’17 (Ayush) and Mr. and Mrs. Munaf Vadgama P’17 (Anas) In SEOUL: Dr. Intak and Ms. Park P’06,’11,’14, (Amy, Jason and Peter) and Minki Synn ’92 In BEIJING: Mr. Zhiwei Yuan P’11 (Christina), Mr. Austin Yuan, Mr. and Mrs. Yu Zhang P’15 (Diyi), Ms. Ming Hu P’17 (Shelly Wang), Ms. Hong Wang P’15 (Angela), Mr. YuFeng Liu and Ms. Yue An P’14 (Ray) In SHANGHAI: Mr. David Chen and Ms. Shuming Ge P’15 (George) and Dr. Lexin Zong P’17 (Jessica) In HONG KONG: Mr. Alan Chuang P’99,’99,’03, Mrs. Nancy Koo Zau (Hon ’78), Mr. Hing Wah and Mrs. Eva Cheung P’95,’98,’06 (Wayne, Wendy and Winnie), Mr. Wayne Cheung ’95 and Ms. Wendy Cheung ’98, Dr. Yan Kai Yung

and Ms. Shirley Kan P’10,’14 (Jeffrey and Jacqueline), Ms. Linda Fang P’15 (Natasha), Ms. Sherry Lau P’14 (Jocelynn) and Mrs. Susan Collins P’16 (El) In BANGKOK: Mr. Yongyutt and Mrs. Mayuree Chaipromprasith P’14,’16 (Pin and Pi) and Mr. Nipon Leelasithorn ’79 In LONDON: Mr. and Mrs. Hakan Wohlin P’16 (Alex) In MOSCOW: Mr. Arshak Manasov and Ms. Olga Manasova P’15 (Ruben) In SAUDI ARABIA: Dr. and Mrs. Cemal Ercan P’14 (Ayse), Mr. and Mrs. Roland Sprague P’16 (Bailey), Mr. Jorge Nieto and Ms. Martha Blanco P’14 (Maria) In SPAIN: Mr. Flavio Diaz ’84 and Ms. Monika Horstmann P’14 (Paloma) In GERMANY: Dr. Angela Kohlmann Kupper P’15 (Eric) In the BAHAMAS: Mr. Rick and Mrs. Catherine Hazlewood P ’16 (Olivia) In the CAYMAN ISLANDS: Mr. Barry and Mrs. Karyn Bodden P’11,’13 (David and Kelsey)

CAPE TOWN

Ron Irwin ’88, Kathryn Sullivan ’94 and Marianne Buenaventura Goldman ’89 at the Savoy Cabbage

KENT QUARTERLY

Kathryn F. Sullivan ’94, Jennifer W. Johnston ’81 and Ron Irwin ’88 in Cape Town

SINGAPORE

Standing: Mr. Beng Seng Gan P’15, Mr. Kenneth Choe P’15 and Mr. Toshiyuki Tanaka P’15; seated: Ms. Sook Ho Kim P’15, Kathryn Sullivan ’94 and Mrs. Amy Choe

Meeting in Singapore are Lily McMahon with Stella (5), Kaili (3) and Fred McMahon ’92; Sam Craig ’94 with Ian (1), Bibi Ong and Kathryn Sullivan ’94

TAIPEI

Mr. Chu-Wei Chen and Mrs. Hsin-I Tu P’16 (Isaac), Ms. Jun Chiang and Mr. Ted Chih-Fan I P’13,’15 (Ted Jr. and Katie), Director of Admissions Kathryn Sullivan, and Ms. Chin-Chi Li and Mr. Andrew Kuo P’14 (Lester) at the Silk House Restaurant in Taipei

SPRING 2014

KENT ADMISSIONS TRAVELS

TOKYO

At the Tokyo Alumni Reception, left to right in back: Director of Admissions Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Kazi Kuwahara ’69, Kei Sato ’02, Kota Kobayashi ’02 and Madoka Matsushita ’95; front: Hiroaki Fukuoka ’02 and Keiko Iida ’04

Kathryn Sullivan ’94 and Hosei Scholar Masako Ota ’14

Left to right, back row: Mie and Hidekazu Kamei P’15 (Hiro) and Andrew Brough P’14 (Rebecca); front: Jean Brough P’14, Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Mrs. Akiko Nagura P’14 (Toshio), Mrs. Nakatani P’12 (Kaz) and Mr. John Montgomery. Not pictured: Mr. Nakatani P’12

MUMBAI

Mrs. Sajida Vadgama P’17 (Anas), Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Mrs. Sejal Shah P’17 (Aayush) and Mrs. Neeta Chauhan P’14 (Nipun)

KENT QUARTERLY

Mr. Kunal Chauhan P’14 (Nipun), Mr. and Mrs. Munaf Vadgama P’17 (Anas) and Mr. and Mrs. Nitin Shah P’17 (Aayush) and friends

SEOUL

Ms. YongSun Park P’06,’11,’14 (Amy, Jason and Peter), Ms. Seunghye Choi P’15 (Jason), Ms. Yun Dan Park P’15 (David), Ms. Seon-Mi Yoon P’11,’14 (Paul and Mary), Kathryn Sullivan ’94 and Lorraine Shirley

Kent School Korean Parents’ Association President Ms. YongSun Park (in red) and Dr. Itak Chu P’06,’11,’14 with Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Lorraine Shirley, Amy Chu ’06 and Jason Chu ’11

Flower arrangement from Dr. Ilhi Synn ’58

BEIJING

Beijing Parents dinner hosted by Ms. Ming Hu P’17 (Shelly Wang)

Luncheon hosted by Mr. Hua Liu P’17 (Katherine) with Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Lorraine Shirley and Mr. Golden Yuan P’11

SPRING 2014

HONG KONG Hong Kong Alumni Reception hosted by Wendy Cheung ’98, Wayne Cheung ’95 and Nancy Zao (Hon’78)

Stephen Monick ’80 and his wife, Kelly Wang

Muse Kwon ’90, Mauraeer Lai ’91, Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Tavis Wong ’99, Ms. Diana Tse P’99 (Ventina), Po Yee Koboer Ko ’89, and Mauraeer Lai’s husband

Tavis Wong ’99, Ms. Diana Tse P’99 (Ventina) and Candy Chuang ’99

Wendy Cheung ’98, Stephen Morocco P’98,’00, Alexandra Morocco ’98 and Winnie Cheung ’06

Hong Kong Admissions Reception: Ms. Sherry Lau P’14 (Jocelynn), Ms. Shirley Wai Han Kan P’11,’14 (Jeffrey and Jacqueline), Mrs. Peggy Traub P’05,’07,’10 (Carly, Kyle and Jordan), Ms. Elsie Mak P’14 (Michael Lee), Kathryn Sullivan ’94 and Wayne Cheung ’95 Hong Kong Parents Dinner hosted by Mr. Hing Wah and Mrs. Eva Cheung P’95,’98,’06, Mrs. Peggy Traub P’05,’07,’10, Kathryn Sullivan ’94, Ms. Elsie Mak P’14 (Michael Lee), Ms. Sherry Lau P’14 (Jocelynn), Ms. Shirley Wai Han Kan P’11,’14 (Jeffrey and Jacqueline), Ms. Wei Ling Fang P’15 (Natasha), Dr. Vivian Koo and Dr. David Choy P’14 (Brandon)

KENT QUARTERLY

BANGKOK

Kent students Kohei Iwamoto ’15, Pi Chaipromprasith ’16, Pete Watcharawasutara ’16, Kin Chutichetpong ’14 and Bangkok alumni Boonrat Lohwongwattana “Toey” ‘96, Phipat Phihakendr “Pop” ’98 and Phiroon Phihakendr “Top” ’95

Kent School Bangkok Student and Parent Dinner hosted by Mr. Yongyutt Chaipromprasith and Mrs. Mayuree Chaipromprasith P’14,’16 (Pin and Pi)

GERMANY

BAHAMAS

Associate Director of Admissions Peggy Traub (left), Dr. Angelica Kohlmann Kupper and Laura Rothschild Henckmann ’96

Bahamas hosts Rick and Catherine Hazlewood P’16 and son Whit

CAYMAN ISLANDS

Grand Cayman Island hosts Barry and Karyn Bodden P’11,’13 and their son Zach

SPRING 2014

Kent Legacies 2013–2014 ACADEMIC YEAR

Kent School welcomed to its community on September 9 a total of 29 legacies. These students continue the tradition of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents as they study here on Kent’s campus. Key: F = Father, M = Mother, S = Step, GF = Grandfather, GGF = Great-grandfather

Jordan Moller ’15 (F: Eric ’86), William Chynoweth ’14 (M: Dorothy Barclay ’83), Olivia Betke ’16 (F: Eric ’81), Phoebe Danaher ’16 (F: William ’84), Paloma Diaz Horstmann ’14 (F: Flavio Diaz-Liebelt ’84) and Courtney Thayer ’15 (F: Christopher ’87)

Mimi Tamkin ’14 holding the 1976 Yearbook with her Dad’s photo, Mitch Tamkin

Seated: Sixth Formers Lexie Menyhart (M: Lissa Pyfrom ’85), Alden Southworth (F: Ken Southworth ’81, M: Ellie Smith ’84) and Lauren Kearney (SGF: Allen Stowe ’56); standing: Adams Davenport ’14 (F: Robert ’83), Jitty Synn ’15 (GF: Ilhi Synn ’58) and Theo Freidenrich ’16 (M: Amy Macartney ’87)

Ben Chynoweth ’17 (M: Dorothy Barclay ’83) and Jaehan Kim ’15 (GF: Ilhi Synn ’58)

Johnny Alexandre ’17 (F: Philippe ’84), Richard Henshaw V ’17 (F: Richard Henshaw IV ’82), Andrew Hyde ’14 (F: Thomas ’79) and Gwendolyn Ozols-Remmeter ’16 (SF: Mark Gibson ’82)

KENT QUARTERLY

Seated: Stella Brack ’16 (F: Reginald ’85), Alexis Mills ’17 (F: Andrew ’89), Paige Whitney ’17 (F: David ’80). Standing: Blair Stratman ’17 (GF: Donald Arrowsmith ’49), Julia Kiendl ’15 (F: William ’74), Megan McSharry ’14 (M: Holly Izant ’80), Sam Haack ’15 (M: Jennifer Robinson ’84), Brian Dorman ’16 (F: Brian ’79) and Sam Ash ’14 (F: Jay ’79, GF: John ’48, GGF: John ’15)

We invite all Kent alumni and sixth formers to join the new

Kent Alumni Career Network

More than 8,000 Kent alumni throughout the world form an incredible professional network. We have created the Kent Alumni Career Network on LinkedIn to connect this network and to help our alumni engage with each other. This network is a place for all Kent alumni, newly minted or well established, to post information about new job positions, career opportunities, internships and career events. And it is a place for graduating sixth formers to connect to the network of Kent alumni worldwide to help with their career development. We invite all Kent alumni and students to join the group, connect with other alumni, participate in discussions and contribute to the Kent alumni community. To join the group please visit

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Kent-Alumni-Career-Network-6614709/about

Enjoy connecting! The Rev. Richardson W. Schell ’69 Headmaster

Waring Partridge ’62 President, Board of Trustees

Peter Patch ’67 President, Alumni Council

If you have questions or comments, please contact Alumni Council member Margaretta Colangelo ’83 at margaretta@gmail.com or Stacy Langa in the Kent A&D Office at langas@kent-school.edu

A Gift that Gives Back

Over the course of his 39-year career at Kent, Bob Mott wore many hats, as most boarding school teachers do: math teacher, advisor, dorm master, assistant to the headmaster, secretary of the Faculty Committee and director of studies. And these were just his formal titles. He also choreographed the presentation of awards on Prize Day (no easy task), and helped untangle the logistical complications of Parents Weekend scheduling. A graduate of MIT and the University of Wisconsin, Bob was appointed to the Independence Foundation Chair in 1999 in recognition of his teaching excellence. After retiring from Kent in 2003, Bob established a Charitable Gift Annuity to benefit Kent. It was a decision that made sense to him as a mathematician and a devoted â&#x20AC;&#x153;schoolman.â&#x20AC;?

How a Charitable Gift Annuity Works Fixed lifetime payments. In exchange for

Tax-advantaged. A portion of your gift is tax

your gift of cash or stock, you (and/or another beneficiary if you choose) receive fixed payments each quarter for your lifetime. The payment is based on the amount of your gift and on the number and ages of the income beneficiaries when the gift is made (the beneficiary must be at least 65 years old).

deductible. In addition, part of your quarterly payment is tax-free. If you use appreciated stock to make a gift, you can usually eliminate capital gains tax on a portion of the gift.

Uncomplicated. A gift annuity is a simple contract

Beneficial. When the contract ends, the balance

of your gift goes toward the area of support you indicated when the gift was made.

between you and Kent School.

To learn more, please contact Denny Mantegani, Director of Planned Giving ManteganiD@kent-school.edu 860-927-6274 or 877-770-5368 (toll-free) Or visit the planned giving website: www.kent-school.edu/plannedgiving

Nonproﬁt Org. U.S. Postage PAID

KENT SCHOOL

Hartford, CT

Kent, CT 06757

Permit #1382

We invite all Kent alumni, students and faculty to join the

GoodBooks Group We invite all Kent alumni, students and faculty to join the GoodBooks group on LinkedIn. This is a new subgroup of the Kent Alumni Group on LinkedIn, a place for alumni, faculty and current students to post links to books and to discuss their opinions of them. We will start with books from the Kent Authors collection in the John Gray Park ’28 Library, which holds more than 700 titles written by alumni and faculty. Please feel free to post any book you have read and enjoyed, and wish to share with other members of the group. We invite all Kent alumni and faculty members to share their published work within the community by posting a link to the book(s) in this group for discussion. To join this group please visit

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Goodbooks-6623579/about

Happy reading! Margaretta Colangelo ’83 Alumni Council member

Amy Voorhees Director, JGP ’28 Library

If you have any questions or comments about this group, please contact Alumni Council member Margaretta Colangelo ’83 at margaretta@gmail.com or Amy Voorhees, John Gray Park ’28 Library Director, at voorheesa@kent-school.edu