Bulletin | Fall 2013 53
Lawrence (Larry) P. Coassin and son Lawrence (Rence) P. Coassin, Jr. ’06
No one was more committed to Choate Rosemary Hall over the past decade. Larry Coassin was an enthusiastic donor, a fervent supporter of Choate hockey, and a constant recruiter and advocate for the School. –stephen C. Farrell
and Darien, Conn., retiring in 1992. Many of the teams he coached won district, conference, and state championships. He and his wife also taught at Cairo American College in the 1980s and enjoyed overseas travel; at the time of his death, they had visited 72 countries. He leaves his wife, Diana Davison, 225 Rimmon Rd., Woodbridge, CT 06525; four children; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Eleanore Whitla Drury, a former Choate Rosemary Hall Chaplain, died February 21, 2013 in New Haven. She was 83. Born in Pittsburgh, Ellie was raised in Sharon, Pa. She attended Connecticut College for Women and Pratt Institute as an art major, receiving a B.A. from the University of Arizona. She then earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Connecticut. Ordained in 1977 in the Choate chapel as a minister in the United Church of Christ, Ellie was Chaplain at School until 1979.
She also taught a required course in adolescence. When she left Choate, then-Principal Charles F. Dey noted that “her general assignment was ‘to raise the religious and ethical consciousness of the School,’ clearly a large order. She addressed this task with energy, enthusiasm and creativity.” She organized and chaired the School’s Council for Religious and Ethical Concerns, which initiated the Day of Reflection program. After Choate, she was a social worker at Hamden (Conn.) Mental Health Services. She leaves five children, including Fritz Drury, 29½ Morton St., New York, NY 10014; six grandchildren; and a sister. Dora “Dorrit” Becker Gutterson, 89, wife of the late Choate English teacher Herbert Gutterson Jr. ’33, died May 22, 2013 in Hyannis, Mass. Born a British citizen in Malaysia, where her father was the manager of a rubber tree plantation, Dorrit was educated in London, where her family had moved before the Japanese invasion of Malaysia. She served in the British
Army as a nurse and ambulance driver in World War II, including the Battle of the Blitz, and immigrated to the United States with her family after the war. Dorrit met and married Herb, and followed him to Choate, where they lived for 30 years. She served on various faculty wife committees and also became in loco parentis with her husband for students over the years. She was accomplished in needlework and, as a member of the Embroiderers Guild of America, was nationally recognized for her expertise in the Hedebo stitch. She also excelled at flower arranging and was a past President of the Nantucket Garden Club. She also enjoyed acting in plays at Choate. She leaves two children, including Eric Gutterson ’70, 9 Salisbury Dr., Westwood, MA 02090; three grandchildren; and a sister. Herb Gutterson died in January 2013. Jean Heyl, a retired administrative assistant, died June 20, 2012 in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. She was 87. Born in Acock’s Green, England, she met her future husband during World War II, when she was in the British Auxiliary Territorial Service and Lawrence Heyl was in the U.S. Army. After the war, they married and lived in the United States; she was active in the League of Women Voters in Nyack, N.Y. and worked with the author Betty Friedan at the Community Resources Pool there. From 1966 to 1971, she worked at Rosemary Hall as an aide to former Assistant Headmistress Margaret Marshall. Afterward, she was execu tive assistant to several presidents of the State University of New York at Purchase. Jean enjoyed horticulture, art, and foreign travel. She leaves two daughters, including Dorothy Heyl ’71, 178 Garth Rd., Scarsdale, NY 10583; and five grandchildren, including Regina Heyl DiPietro ’07. Another daughter, the late Catherine Heyl ’72, also attended Rosemary Hall.
Our condolences to the following: Our sympathy to the friends and family of William J. Bingham Jr. ‘40 who died on January 7, 2013.
Edward Evans C ’60, whose brother, Bruce Evans ’57, died in May. Husband Preston Tyree C ’62, and sons, Walter ’87 and John Tyree ’91, whose mother Ann, died in January. Stephen Wade C ’63, whose brother, Philip Wade C ’62, died in June. Don McClure C ’65, whose father, Donald McClure C ’38, died in 2012. Eric Gutterson C ’70, whose mother, former faculty wife Dorritt Gutterson, died in May. James Given C ’71, whose father, Bart Given C ’44, died in June. Benjamin Sullivan Jr. C ’71, whose father, Benjamin Sullivan C ’36, died in April. Dorothy Heyl RH ’71, whose mother, Jean Heyl, died in June 2012. Hovey Kemp C ’72, whose father, Frank A. Kemp C ’38, died in April. Alex Mathews C ’72 and Adam Mathews C ’75, whose father, Hayden Mathews ’49, died in December 2012. Tim Bradley C ’73, whose father died in April. Jenny Puchta Berkeley RH ’74, whose husband died in December 2011. John Giammatteo C ’77, whose father died in May. James Wright C ’81, whose father, James Wright III C ’48, died in May. Carolyn McKee ’82, whose father, Bunt McKee ’60, died in April. Josh Parsons ’87 and Sahler Parsons ’93, whose father, Jay Parsons C ’57, died in March. Katherine McClure Hershey ’92, whose grandfather, Donald McClure ’38, died in 2012.