Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin | Fall '20

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FALL ’20

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The Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin is printed using vegetable-based inks on 100% post consumer recycled paper. This issue saved 101 trees, 42,000 gallons of wastewater, 291 lbs of waterborne waste, and 9,300 lbs of greenhouse gases from being emitted.

COVER PHOTO: Sidewalk chalk stencils seen

throughout campus – a small part of Choate’s Safe + Sounder health campaign.

CONTENTS | Fall 2020

departments

Letters

2 3 4 30 34

Remarks from the Head of School

On Christian & Elm News about the School

Alumni Association News

Classnotes Profiles of Chris Miksovsky ’87, Founder, humangear; Owen Kennerly ’87, Principal, Kennerly Architecture; Adaeze Igwe ’95, Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State; Veronica Chou ’02, Founder, Everybody & Everyone

54 61

In Memoriam Phoebe Dey Remembered pg. 59

Bookshelf Reviews of works by Joanna Hershon ’90, Sarah Kendzior ’96, and Amaranth Borsuk ’98

64

End Note

Sowing and Reaping by Alfred D. Watts ’87 f e a t u r e s

Closing the Distance: A Safe and Sounder Return to Campus

How Choate returned to campus in the midst of COVID-19

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18

Digital Innovators Three alumni use artificial intelligence to forge a partnership between humans and machines

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Portraits of the Good and the Great How portraits capture the essence of individuals with the power to make a difference in our society

FALL ’20

Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin is published fall, winter, and spring for alumni, students and their parents, and friends of the School. Please send change of address to Alumni Records and all other correspondence to the Communications Office, 333 Christian Street, Wallingford, CT 06492-3800.

Choate Rosemary Hall does not discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, athletics, other school-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices on the basis of age, gender, race, color, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, genetic predisposition, ancestry, or other categories protected by Connecticut and federal law. Printed in U.S.A. CRH201016/17.5M

Editorial Offices T: (203) 697-2252 F: (203) 697-2380 Email: alumline@choate.edu Website: www.choate.edu Director of Strategic Planning & Communications Alison J. Cady Design and Production David C. Nesdale Features Editor Brianna St. John Classnotes Editor Henry McNulty ’65 Contributors Jamie Bruce Lorraine S. Connelly Donald Firke Mark Gosztyla Kevin Mardesich ’87 Dr. Rachel Myers Brianna St. John Andrea Thompson D. Dodge Thompson ’66 Alfred D. Watts ’87 David McKay Wilson Photography Danielle Capri Julia Discenza Al Ferreira Emily Osterhout Illustration Stephanie Dalton Cowan

Choate Rosemary Hall Board of Trustees 2020-2021 Alexandra B. Airth P ’18 Danya Alsaady P ’17, ’19, ’23 Kenneth G. Bartels ’69, P ’04 Caroline T. Brown ’86, P ’19 Marc E. Brown ’82 George F. Colony ’72 Alex D. Curtis P ’17, ’20 Katherine B. Forrest ’82 David A. Fraze ’84 Gunther S. Hamm ’98 David R. Hang ’94 Jungwook ”Ryan” Hong ’89, P ’19, ’22 Daniel G. Kelly, Jr. ’69, P ’03 Vanessa Kong Kerzner P ’16, ’19 Cecelia M. Kurzman ’87 James A. Lebovitz ’75, P ’06, ’10 Christian B. McGrath ’84, P ’18, P ’21 Takashi Murata ’93 M. Anne Sa’adah Life Trustees Bruce S. Gelb ’45, P ’72, ’74, ’76, ’78 Edwin A. Goodman ’58 Herbert V. Kohler, Jr. ’57, P ’84 Cary L. Neiman ’64 Stephen J. Schulte ’56, P ’86 William G. Spears ’56, P ’81, ’90 Editorial Advisory Board Judy Donald ’66 Howard R. Greene P ’82, ’05 Dorothy Heyl ’71, P ’08 Seth Hoyt ’61 Henry McNulty ’65 Michelle Judd Rittler ’98 John Steinbreder ’74 Francesca Vietor ’82 Heather Zavod P ’88, ’90

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Letters

OTHERS IN THE FIGHT… In the Spring ’20 issue of the Bulletin we profiled some of our alumni doctors on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus. Since publishing, other alums have reached out on how their work has pivoted to support ongoing COVID solutions.

Dr. Paul Pepe ’68 is working with EMS Medical Directors Global Alliance (the “Eagles”) during the COVID crisis. As the creator of the coalition, Pepe initiated virtual meetings of medical experts to discuss clinical and operational news and best practices while brainstorming new ideas.

Robby Grajewski ‘02, CEO of Enexor BioEnergy, pivoted to design and manufacture emergency ventilators in an effort to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Details on the BreatheStrong XVent ventilator can be found here: www.breathestrongtn.com/product/ Michela Bentel ‘13 is working in her family’s architecture firm to enhance safe dining. With creative approaches like opening a farmers market to propel business, planning extra routes for waitstaff, replacing dividers with sculptures and artwork, expanding table space into “sculpture parks,” and designing outdoor enclosures that mimic private dining rooms, Bentel is helping to ensure that the reopening of their restaurants is safe and successful.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 3

Remarks from the Head of School

Dear Alumni and Friends of Choate Rosemary Hall, After months of careful planning, I write to you once more from a bustling Choate Rosemary Hall campus.

Masks are the norm, classrooms and living spaces have been reimagined, and there are several new health protocols in place; important changes that have finally allowed us to gather together again in Wallingford.

With the support, dedication, and hard work of the entire community, the School spent the summer implementing a robust education campaign to support a safe reopening plan. We were pleased to welcome students back to campus on September 30 for remote learning, and following a successful quarantine period, students began in-person learning on October 12.

While we have returned to a familiar space, much has changed since we were last on campus. Over the summer, we were called to reflect deeply upon our community in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and too many others. It became clear that Choate Rosemary Hall needs to take a more active role in the necessary conversations and systemic changes surrounding racial injustice and bias. To address these conversations on campus, and to begin taking meaningful, responsible action, I established the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force in July, led by Dr. Rachel Myers, Director of Equity and Inclusion. Initially introduced over the summer, Dr. Myers sat down with the Bulletin for a Q&A, guiding us through her teaching philosophy and the work of the Task Force to date. A full report of the Task Force’s implementation plan will be shared in the spring issue of the Bulletin.

This issue also reflects on how the pandemic has reshaped and expanded the education system here at Choate, taking a closer look at the Safe + Sounder health campaign that brought the community back to campus. Technology like the one-to-one iPad program and the adoption of Virtual Student technology played an especially important role in bridging the gap between physically distanced learning spaces and a communal classroom environment. In these pages, we will also meet alumni who are using artificial intelligence to find innovative ways of working with technology; a crucial undertaking during this time of physical distancing. It was because of Choate’s own innovation in technology and programming that we were able to pivot to online experiences so quickly, allowing us to hold Graduation, Prize Day, and Convocation ceremonies virtually, stressing the importance of finding ways to connect across physical distance. These successes were made possible only through the collaboration of the entire faculty, staff, and student communities on campus.

We also remember Phoebe Dey. Wife of former President and Principal Charles F. Dey, who passed away in April, Phoebe played a crucial role in helping Choate become the institution it is today. As described by Katie Jewett in the Winter 2020 Issue, “‘Finding out’ encapsulates in a single phrase the admirable resourcefulness and adventurous spirit shared by Charley and Phoebe. How easily they seemed to reinvent themselves and venture into the unknown, always in service of a new community that needed their energy, spirit and care. May they forever inspire us all at Choate Rosemary Hall and beyond to find out how to be of service and bring new voices to our table.” We honor the shared dedication of Phoebe and Charley, celebrating a life lived to its fullest together.

As we continue to adapt to the changes we face in education and society, locally, nationally and globally, I remain grateful to our students, faculty and staff, and parents and alumni. Your continued support and willingness to engage in meaningful conversations embody the true spirit of Choate Rosemary Hall.

With all best wishes from campus,

Alex D. Curtis Head of School

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ON CHRISTIAN & ELM | NEWSWORTHY

The Choate Fund for Justice Initiative

Students in the signature Advanced Robotics Program were semifinalists in the FIRST Robotics Competition in March.

130TH COMMENCEMENT The 130th Commencement exercises were moved to an online format on Sunday, May 31, as campus was closed due to COVID–19. The Class of 2020 was celebrated with a virtual graduation ceremony, where teachers, friends, and loved ones were able to share messages of congratulations and support with graduates.

The Commencement remarks were delivered virtually by Maria Semple ’82, who was also the recipient of this year’s Alumni Award in recognition of her distinguished career as an author and screenwriter.

In addition to having written several successful novels, Ms. Semple has written for television shows like Ellen, Beverly Hills 90210, Mad About You, Arrested Development, and Saturday Night Live. She is perhaps best known for her breakout-

bestseller, Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, which was released as a major motion picture starring Cate Blanchett in 2019.

During her remarks, Ms. Semple noted how her time at Choate changed her: “I liked the person I was becoming. At Choate I grew into the person I am today – a comedy writer, a novelist, a teacher myself.” In her closing remarks, she acknowledged the unique circumstances facing the graduating class: “Class of 2020, you’re graduating boarding school. Now you’re heading into a world that is nothing like you thought it would be, even two months ago. This is insane, what you’re going through. But here’s what can never be taken away: that warm knowledge that you can survive and thrive.”

NAT I O NA L M E R I T S E M I F I NA L I STS Sixteen sixth formers have been named Semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Competition: Esther An, of Los Angeles, Calif.; Luke Barrett, of North Haven, Conn.; Anna Bonnem, of Bronxville, N.Y.; Alexander Du, of Hong Kong; Lucas Eggers, of Rochester, Minn.; Aarthi Katakam, of West Windsor, N.J.; Laura Kors, of Pacific Palisades, Calif.; Amanda Li, of Potomac, Md.; Declan Murphy Zink, of West Simsbury, Conn.; Naina Sharma, of Singapore; Calvin Walker, of Rhinebeck, N.Y.; Alicia Xiong, of New Hope, Pa.; Natarsha Yan, of Shanghai; Claire Yuan, of Woodbridge, Conn.; Elaine Zhang, of Las Vegas, Nev.; and Allen Zheng, of Glastonbury, Conn. These academically talented high school seniors will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships this spring.

In a letter to the community this summer, Head of School Dr. Alex Curtis emphasized the need to make an explicit connection between the School’s values and their specific applications to race, denouncing racialized violence, systemic injustice, and other forms of inequity. His letter encouraged fighting acts of bias and inequality in part through direct contributions to organizations that support racial justice. With this initiative, the Choate Fund for Justice was established.

The Choate Fund for Justice was formed in June with a mission to provide funds through individual contributions to organizations that support racial justice and fight systemic bias and inequality, especially Black-led and racial justice organizations on the local level. These efforts are a tangible act of support for our Choate community members of color and all people of color in our society.

Committee members include Marc Brown ’82 (Trustee), Dr. Rachel Myers (Chair; Director of Equity & Inclusion), Melissa Koomson (Director of Community Service), Gam Bepko (Financial Office), Cindy Okrah (HPRSS Department), and Anesi Ojior ’21.

The committee has thoughtfully selected the following nonprofit organizations as this year’s Choate Fund for Justice recipients: Community Healing Network – New Haven, CT Their mission is focused on the collective healing of Black-identifying people from the historical and continuing trauma caused by anti-Black racism and negative stereotypes.

New Haven Reads – New Haven, CT This local organization provides one-on-one after school tutoring, a community book bank, and educational family support at zero cost with a mission to increase literacy rates.

Women’s Law Project – Philadelphia, PA This regional organization aims to create a more just society by advancing the status of women through engagement in high-impact litigation, education, and advocacy initiatives.

Equal Justice Initiative – United States of America This national organization provides legal representation for people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in prisons.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 5

CONVOCATION

Choate Presents at Zoomtopia 2020

On September 15, the School convened its 131st Convocation. The ceremonial start of the new school year was held virtually and shared with the community. The ceremony included a welcome from Dr. Alex Curtis on campus in front of last fall’s Convocation venue, Ann and George Colony Hall.

Student Council President Ula Lucas ’21 delivered her speech from home. Her address to students recognized the community’s distance from one another, but noted that Choate has never existed in one place, as it encompasses students from around the globe. Ula noted, “Choate is a community of fantastic, intelligent, diverse, thoughtful, empathetic, caring, inquisitive individuals who come together to share their lives and learning in a way that knows no geographical bounds.”

The ceremony included something new this year: a welcome from student peers. Several current students offered words of inspiring advice, helpful support, and a friendly welcome, emphasizing that the community will remain strong together as everyone begins the new academic year.

On October 14, Choate Rosemary Hall Academic Technologist Kelsey Wiegert presented at the international Zoom user conference, Zoomtopia.

Wiegert’s livestreaming presentation shared the journey of the School’s pivot to virtual classrooms from March through the fall term.

The Zoomtopia session, ”How to Design Environments That Optimize Blended Learning,” included speakers Ty Buell at Zoom, David J. Malan at Harvard University, and Wiegert. Wiegert spoke to over 2,000 attendees on the use of Zoom Rooms in a blended classroom of remote and in-person learners. She emphasized the significance of Choate’s one-to-one iPad program and its contribution to the success of students joining class virtually during online learning.

Wiegert explained the School’s efforts with the help of Valley Communications in creating Virtual Student technology, a 55-inch monitor with a Poly Studio X30 video bar running Zoom

Rooms on a mobile cart, adding that the technology allows for classes to reach beyond the lecture style. Virtual Student technology, implemented in September, provides opportunities for group work with members not in the same room, also allowing remote students to feel part of the physical community. Over 80 Virtual Student systems were configured in classrooms across campus. Faculty have been utilizing this blended experience since October 12.

Wiegert notes, ”We hope to foster a sense of community by blending the in-person student experience with the remote student experience.”

Meticulous efforts from the Technology Support Group, including ITS, Academic Tech, and Andrew Mellon Library made for a successful implementation of the most Choate-like experience possible through hybrid learning.

Guest Speaker Colson Whitehead Virtually Visits Choate On October 5, author Colson Whitehead visited campus virtually in a community-wide webinar to discuss his novel and this year’s summer reading selection The Nickel Boys. The novel, published in 2019, depicts a fictionalized version of brutal experiences at a juvenile reform school in the 1960s. The novel won a Pulitzer and a Kirkus Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the National Book Award. The New York Times bestseller is preceded

by Whitehead’s 2016 novel The Underground Railroad, which won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Whitehead spoke about his inspiration for The Nickel Boys, saying he felt compelled to write as the nation’s division and disputes were coming to the forefront. Whitehead also noted the idea for

The Nickel Boys was influenced by newspaper reports discovered decades after incidents outlined in the book. He shared the inspiration behind the protagonists’ character formation and the heart of the novel before reading a brief excerpt to the community.

After his address, he spoke to a panel of students including Laura Jiang ’21, Sage Setty ’21, and Moyo Oyedeji-Olaniyan ’21, answering questions about writing descriptions and suspense, the writing and revision process, and inspiration. He noted, “I’ve always found my inspiration outside of [the avenues] being taught in school. Whether it was Stan Lee or Ralph Ellison … the connection with an author has always been important.”

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ON CHRISTIAN & ELM | On Campus

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 7

PUMPKIN PAINTING AT PITMAN HOUSE

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ON CHRISTIAN & ELM | Q & A

with

Dr. Rachel Myers

Director of Equity and Inclusion

On July 1, 2020 Dr. Rachel Myers joined the Choate Rosemary Hall community. An experienced boarding school teacher, Myers comes to Choate from The Hotchkiss School, where she was Coordinator of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives, and then was the school’s inaugural Director of Diversity and Inclusion. An English teacher, Myers has taught Humanities English and AP English and has created several electives including “The Protest in African American Literature,” “The ‘Lemonade’ of African American Literature,” and “African Literature.” She holds a B.A. in Africana Studies from Binghamton University and a Ph.D. in African American and African Studies from Michigan State University. While at Binghamton, Myers was a four-year member of the women’s basketball team and was inducted into the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 9

BULLETIN: Among the Eight Schools Association in New England, Offices of

Equity and Inclusion are still a pretty new phenomenon. Why has it taken independent schools so long to make equity and inclusion an institutional priority?

MYERS: Schools like Choate and Hotchkiss have been committed to multicultural work for quite some time, but it usually started, and at times ended, with the Admission offices. Often in independent schools a lot of the equity and inclusion work has come through multicultural recruitment and student retention. The focus has been on taking care of the everyday behind-the-scenes needs, particularly with kids who are dealing with financial aid or socioacademic issues or coming from feeder programs. Within the past five to seven years or so, our institutions have become more aware that there’s a deep need for equity and inclusion issues to be addressed at the institutional, top-down level – from trustees on down – and not just day-to-day student needs for targeted populations. Institutions are acknowledging, wow, this is actually a really important role. Diversity, equity, and inclusion work is a lens that every department on our campuses should be viewing through. It’s the lens that we need to pick up, look through, and assess what we’re doing and what we can do better. And so, I think, rightly so, institutions have created these positions.

BULLETIN: Your educational philosophy has been largely shaped by the work of

bell hooks, a Black feminist author and teacher, and her seminal work “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom.” What in her work resonates with you?

MYERS: What resonates especially with me is hooks’ quote: “While it is utterly unreasonable for students to expect classrooms to be therapy sessions, it is appropriate for them to hope that the knowledge received in these settings will enrich and enhance them.” Certainly, students shouldn’t expect their daily classroom sessions to be therapy, yet each day I hope that my students and I walk away feeling a little bit more healed, a little bit more fulfilled, and that there’s been intellectual and personal growth. As teachers, we can help students transgress or proceed beyond the societal barriers of race, gender, age, class, and so forth, and help them shift beyond their own thinking. For example, I recall a moment I had in the classroom back in 2017 when my seniors were reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. In that book, the character, a young Black girl who is mocked every day because of her dark skin and seemingly unattractive appearance, prays for the blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. After a discussion on our perceptions of beauty and how we’re hit with them on a daily basis, one of my students pulled me aside after class because he’d had this moment. He said, “I think I’m a little bit racist. I’m just realizing after our conversation and hearing from people, my line of thinking, it’s a little racist.” I said, “That’s huge. Thank you for sharing that. It’s something you can’t ‘unsee’ or ‘unknow’ and you’re only going to grow from this realization.”

The internal journey had begun, right then, for that young man – and I think those are those moments in a classroom in which your innermost biases are revealed safely enough in a way you don’t feel defensive or alone.

BULLETIN: In the midst of recent race-based violence and the unrest exploding

across our country right now, how can equity and inclusion work help reverse deeply rooted beliefs that have encouraged centuries of unjust treatment based on race and created those systems that perpetuate that injustice?

MYERS: Dismantling white supremacist ideology and systems is at the foundation of my equity and inclusion work. I say that because many of the theories that I have come across as a Black Studies scholar have truly shaped the ways I approach tackling issues related to various -isms and -phobias, for example, sexism, classism, or transphobia. In researching for my dissertation – an ethnographic comparison of the experiences of Black female athletes from the U.S. and South Africa through the lens of personal narrative, image, and

perceptions – I came across a theory from South African social anthropologist Gerhard Schutte called “rationalization of common sense.” Schutte found in his study of South Africans that white South Africans were making generalizations about Black South Africans overall based on rumors, anecdotes, and gossip they heard. Well, if we replace “white” and “Black” with other racial categories or social identifiers beyond race, I personally see a huge reason why prejudices, misperceptions, and hatred still abound. Many people aren’t having genuine interactions with people who are different, or perhaps just differentlooking than they are. Independent schools know that just bringing a bunch of different types of people in a room together does not alone eliminate biases and misperceptions. I’ve found that genuine dialogue that allows people to make connections with one another – and not just connections to texts, images, and the like – is where some of the learning and self-reflection about those “common sense” generalizations can occur and where inclusion can be really felt in peer-to-peer interaction and overall classroom and school culture. A number of Americans are currently coming to terms with what they thought were common sense notions – for example, “racism doesn’t exist anymore because we’ve had a Black president” or “no white people would call the police on a person of color who didn’t do anything wrong” – are simply not common sense at all. There’s a lot of work to do and equity and inclusion work in independent schools can be helpful in the unlearning of the “common sense” rationalizations currently plaguing our nation and local communities.

BULLETIN: In July, Dr. Curtis announced the creation of the Diversity, Equity,

and Inclusion Task Force to develop authentic, effective, and sustainable initiatives to ensure we create the most just, inclusive, and equitable Choate Rosemary Hall community possible. You have been leading an 11-member group in the development of a plan of action that spans all elements of school life. What should the community expect from the Task Force?

MYERS: The work of the Task Force thus far has been in three distinct phases, but we recently determined to extend the length of our final phase of work through May 2021 to provide invaluable time to meet directly with department supervisors to collect even more data that will help inform our final longer-term DEI initiative recommendations. We will also provide some short-term initiatives that can be started within the current challenges faced by a school year designed to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first phase of Task Force work, which spanned July through early August, focused on gathering data and information based on feedback from the Choate Rosemary Hall community. The second phase took place the week of August 17, and took the form of interactive workshops with various constituent groups within the Choate community (alumni, parents, current students, current and former faculty and staff).

Participants were shown three policies and three drafted initiatives and given opportunity to provide feedback. All three of the drafted policies have become – or are soon to become – official school policies. The DEI Task Force, currently in its final phase of work, continues to move forward by way of two subcommittees: a Writing/Communications subcommittee, which will oversee the drafting of written communications and drafting initiatives and policies; and the Constituent Meetings subcommittee, which will focus attention on meeting with various leaders and constituent groups to gather further information and data to better prioritize the initiatives that need to be executed. Aside from a Fall Report, the Choate community will receive a Winter Report and Spring Report from the DEI Task Force.

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Cover Story

Closing the Distance A Safe and Sounder Return to Campus b y b r i a n n a s t. j o h n

In March of 2020, Choate closed its doors in response to the COVID-19 crisis, moving to online learning. As cases in Connecticut declined over the summer, the long-held hope for a return to campus began to take shape, bringing with it critical questions: was it possible to reopen the School for the fall term? And even more important: how could a residential boarding school open safely in the midst of a pandemic? It would take seven months of careful planning, thoughtful work, and community-wide collaboration before Choate saw the answers manifest.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 11

Masked and distanced students return to their dorms, where new COVID-19 protocols are in place.

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EDUCATION FIRST

A return to campus both started and ended with the idea of togetherness: in order to live, work, and learn together, the pieces of the Choate community had to reassemble in spirit and intention before returning to Wallingford. The idea of a homecoming could only succeed with the dedication of the entire community, where each individual would be called upon to adopt new behaviors and protocols to protect the health and safety of their peers.

This presented two critical starting points for a potential reopening: a comprehensive education plan, and the knowledge that a reunion would only become a reality if every student, staff member, and faculty member showed their support through demonstrated action. The merger of these ideas began with a Community Compact, a pledge for each individual to do their part to adopt recommended behaviors in order to minimize the risk of COVID-19 on campus. The compact begins, “All of us in the Choate Rosemary Hall community have a shared responsibility, as we continue to navigate these challenging and unprecedented times, to contribute to campus life in a way that will promote the health and safety of all community members.”

The desire to reunite without jeopardizing well-being gave rise to the Safe + Sounder health campaign. Launched in August and named for the School’s mascot, the Wild Boar, a group of which is called a sounder, the campaign laid out the building blocks of individual actions that would assemble into a successful reopening – proper masking and physical distancing would need to be common practice at home before a return to Wallingford became possible; handwashing guidelines would need to be followed; the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 needed to be thoroughly understood.

A student arrives for Registration and COVID testing on September 30.

All students received care kits with fabric masks, gaiters, and hand sanitizer.

With these building blocks in place, the 3 W’s (Wear Your Mask, Watch Your Distance, and Wash Your Hands) became the guiding principles of the campaign. These principles were supported by training modules released over the summer (detailing granular healthcare basics like proper handwashing and mask-wearing etiquette), and extensive signage around campus (serving as helpful reminders of what six feet of distance looks like and detailing newly adopted cleaning procedures, which include wiping down shared surfaces and increased deep-cleans in all shared spaces). It also led community members through the process of quarantining at home, limiting contact to family members in preparation for returning to campus.

And even apart, Choate’s senses of integrity and enthusiasm shone bright. Students, staff, and faculty did the work: they committed to this new normal, downloading apps, watching tutorials, and limiting contact to get ready. Choate strove toward a common goal: maintaining health and safety at home so the community could reunite.

With the education component in full swing, Choate Rosemary Hall welcomed boarding students back to campus on September 30 for quarantine. At Registration, masked and distanced students were tested, asked to download their symptom tracking app, and given care kits with fabric masks, gaiters, and hand sanitizer. Upperclassmen, not parents and guardians, helped new and returning students move into their dorms. Boarding students – newly introduced to their family pods – and day students – still at home for the time being – learned remotely, but together. After a summer of preparation, the community was beginning to reshape.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 13

Educational videos set expectations of what life would look like back on campus.

Demonstrations of six feet of distance and etiquette for proper masking, handwashing and distancing were required viewing for the community.

CHOATE.EDU/SAFEANDSOUNDER

Posters and directional signage were installed across campus, reminding the community of safe practices to protect themselves and each other.

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Equipped with phone apps that allow for symptom tracking, the School implemented daily wellness checks, which allow the community to stay informed and proactive of illness on campus.

Testing, adherence to the 3 W’s, and a culture of care are vital to keeping friends, classmates, and coworkers on campus.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 15

The Safe + Sounder webpage provides daily testing data, information on alert levels, and FAQs to help the community navigate their path back to campus.

SAFETY THROUGH TESTING

Next came the task of maintaining health and safety through the period of quarantine. A successful return was grounded in the education campaign, but it could only be fully achieved with a carefully structured campus-wide testing regimen.

For students, this began at home. Before group quarantine began, test kits were mailed off-campus, ensuring that people coming back were healthy enough to do so. Once kids arrived for Registration, they were tested again by members of the Pratt Health Center, to ensure that the students, parents, faculty, and student-facing staff alike were well.

The commitment to the health of the community continues with weekly testing for students, faculty, and student-facing staff on campus. Equipped with phone apps that allow for symptom tracking, the School implemented daily wellness checks, which allow the community to stay informed and proactive of illness on campus. The heart of the Safe + Sounder campaign was moved online, providing FAQs to guide individuals through every step of the reopening process, and a dashboard, updated daily, reflecting the number of tests administered and the number of positive results. This transparency of data grants the community real-time access to updates about illness on campus.

While testing certainly plays a major role in monitoring for COVID-19, it was also clear that a culture of care needed to take root. Widespread testing would detect the virus, but individual action was vital to containing it. Care for the greater community became (and continues to be) just as crucial as the act of testing, itself. This meant finding ways to allow students and faculty alike to remain out of the classroom if they felt ill, without cutting them off from the newly re-formed sense of community.

But how could the School bridge the gap between the necessity of physical distance and the joy of shared experiences? Having made an impressive pivot to online learning in March, and now with several months of brainstorming, feedback, and reconfiguring to draw upon, Choate turned back to technology for an answer.

THOUGHTFUL APPROACHES

Careful consideration was given to new approaches in nearly every area of learning. Implementation began in the classroom. While students and faculty underwent their summer training, staff and on-campus facilities crews set about rethinking and restructuring learning spaces.

All classrooms were measured and furniture was adjusted to allow for appropriate physical distance between students and between students and teachers. iPads, Zoom Rooms, and Virtual Student technology gave students on campus and those participating remotely the opportunity to learn synchronously. (Learn more about Virtual Student technology on pg. 5.) All students were provided iPads and smartphones to ensure that classroom access was consistent across the student body. In short, while technology had become a symbol of distance for so many months, it was now the gateway to keeping classes, advisees, departments, and friends together.

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Boarding students met their family pods, giving them a homelike environment in which to relax.

iPads, Zoom Rooms, and Virtual Student devices gave students on campus and those participating remotely the opportunity to learn synchronously.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 17

To accommodate as many students as possible, the School also developed a new academic daily schedule to support learners in all time zones. With some students learning remotely for the entire year, and to support students in their decision to remain out of the classroom when feeling unwell, Choate faculty committed to teaching during waking hours in Wallingford. The dedication to finding shared time together, even when physically apart, worked to close the gap between an online experience and a communal one.

Arts and athletics in particular underwent significant restructuring. Arts began with digital ensembles, implementing a phased-in approach to gradually move to distanced and masked ensembles once it was determined safe to do so.

Performances, music lessons, and theater courses and rehearsals met virtually, keeping students engaged while minimizing health and safety risks.

For athletics, indoor spaces were equipped for 12 feet of distance, while outdoor practices were still held at 6 feet. New intramural offerings like ping pong, pickleball, yoga, and Frisbee golf were incorporated into the schedule, promoting physical activity that still adhered to physical distancing requirements.

With these new protocols in place, the academics and arts alike were restructured to allow the health and safety of the individuals on campus to take precedence without sacrificing the feeling that the community had come home.

In October 2020, Academic Technologist Kelsey Wiegert presented at Zoomtopia, the international Zoom user conference.

Wiegert spoke to over 2,000 attendees about blended classrooms making use of in-person learning and remote resources.

COLLABORATION MAKES A COMMUNITY

After faculty, staff, and students committed their summers to learning and preparing, their dedication came to fruition: on October 12, boarding students emerged from quarantine and day students joined them for on-campus learning.

It would not have been possible without the widespread care and support from the entire Choate community. The exchange of ideas and a willingness to adapt, to try, and to start again gave rise to the successes marked across campus.

None of them would have been possible without collaboration and creativity from every corner of the School. In being willing to face the challenges of returning, to think through solutions that would ripple through every classroom and department, the community came together to prove that while the spirit of Choate extends far beyond the boundaries of campus, there is an incredible sense of peace when we are together.

Brianna St. John is the Bulletin Features Editor and Communications Office Coordinator at Choate Rosemary Hall.

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Emily Reid ’05, Vice President of Open Learning for AI4All.

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DIGITA.L I.NNOVATORS_

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USING A.I. TO HELP NONPROFITS SUCCEED Gerard McGeary ’00 has put

his business acumen to work in the tech sector, selling cloud-based systems to retailers, developing strategies for an online lender, and raising seed capital for a startup company that uses artificial intelligence to improve decision making. Never has the use of digital technology been more critical to nonprofits than during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Gerard is Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships for Catchafire, a Manhattan-based company that links volunteers around the world to nonprofits in need of help for a wide range of projects. Says Gerard, “Our virtual skill-based volunteer platform and program was perfected during good times and is uniquely situated to meet the needs of nonprofits during the coronavirus crisis. We have created bundles of specific projects that are responsive to the expressed need of our nonprofit users in this moment, including running virtual programs, organizing virtual fundraisers, writing work-from-home policies, and remote organizational management. At the same time, we are providing a way for the many professionals who now find themselves working from home and trying to find out how to help their communities to connect to organizations on the front lines of keeping people afloat.”

“It’s rewarding to get a chance to make an impact on change-makers in the world,” says Gerard, who lives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side with his wife, Sarah Gonzalez.

“If I’m successful, that means a group of nonprofits have more resources and support than they had before, and that will allow them to be more successful in their programs.”

Founded a decade ago, Catchafire has a roster of nonprofits, with support from foundations, that provides access to a database which will connect these nonprofits with a network of about 7 million volunteer professionals worldwide who are looking for volunteer projects.

Gerard McGeary ’00, Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships for Catchafire.

“It’s rewarding to get a chance to make an impact on change-makers in the world. If I’m successful, that means a group of nonprofits have more resources and support than they had before, and that will allow them to be more successful in their programs.”

– GER AR D MCGEARY ’00

Those projects are classified as “capacity building,” an often-neglected part of a nonprofit’s business plan that typically isn’t supported by foundation grants. Projects could include writing a strategic plan, designing a brochure, developing a marketing strategy, or creating a social media campaign.

“In our model, the nonprofits won’t pay a dime for our service, and they’ll have a programmatic team to support them during the experience,” Gerard says.

Catchafire uses artificial intelligence to match the professional with a certain skill-set to a nonprofit looking for that expertise for their project. Where the nonprofit or professional is based is not a major factor because so much of the work can be done off-site.

“Our volunteer network is global,” says Gerard. “It’s a great way for nonprofits to access talent outside of the geographical constraints of their local pool of volunteers.”

The algorithm that matches the nonprofit with the volunteer is a vast improvement for both parties.

“For nonprofits, it’s a question of finding volunteers,” he says. “For volunteers, it can be difficult to find a nonprofit with a project that’s fulfilling to them and helpful to the organization.”

Gerard, who grew up in Avon, Conn., came to Choate for his fourth form year. He played soccer and basketball and ran track, with his 4 x 100 relay team holding the School record for several years. New England championship banners from his soccer and track teams’ sixth form seasons still hang in the Johnson Athletic Center.

He recalls the Model Congress program in one of his history classes that passed bills on gay marriage and ended the Cuba trade embargo. The School’s emphasis on public engagement, along with his parents’ involvement in civic affairs, remains with him today.

“There was a model of being active in your community,” he says. “It’s not just about yourself.”

Gerard’s journey to Catchafire began with undergraduate studies at Harvard, where he majored in government. He was an associate consultant at Boston Consulting Group for two years, a field director for Dan Malloy’s 2006 Connecticut gubernatorial campaign, and earned an M.B.A. at the Yale School of Management.

He spent four years at J.P. Morgan Securities, obtaining financing for governments in the municipal bond market before making the leap into the tech sector in 2014. He has witnessed how technology can increase access in so many areas – from low-cost communications on mobile devices to the ability to obtain credit or investment opportunities through new financial technology products.

Dr. Stephen Haskins ’00, the best man at Gerard’s wedding who lives a few blocks from him, said Gerard’s latest job is a good fit for his friend of 23 years.

“It’s right up his alley,” says Stephen. “He’s able to connect large foundations with big pockets to little organizations trying to make a difference.”

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Emily Reid ’05 speaks about AI4All’s work at Civic Hall’s fiveyear anniversary event.

DEVELOPING AN A.I. CURRICULUM FOR DIVERSE AUDIENCES

Emily Reid ’05 has seen the promise of artificial intelligence, the rapidly growing field that can suggest movies you’d like on Netflix, navigate cars without a driver, and help diagnose what ails you. But she’s also seen the flipside of this branch of computer science, with underrepresentation by women and minorities and technologies that may have biases built into the algorithms that drive the software.

For example, Emily says, studies have found that certain facial recognition software was almost 100 percent accurate for light-skinned males but had an error rate of about 20 percent for dark-skinned females. Another study found that algorithm-based risk assessments for those charged with crimes was biased against African Americans.

“We live in an imperfect world, and that can be reflected in the data,” she says. “The program could be designed without thinking about a diverse set of users in mind.”

As Vice President of Open Learning for AI4All, Emily is developing interdisciplinary curriculums for high school classrooms, after-school programs, and online learning to introduce a diverse mix of students to artificial intelligence – with both its promise and pitfalls. She came to the nonprofit after working for four years in cybersecurity at Mitre Corp., a federally funded research center, where she helped develop protocols for the Department of Defense, the NSA, and NATO. Spreading the good word about computer science to a broad range of students reminds Emily of her experience at Choate Rosemary Hall, where she excelled in advanced math and science courses, inspired by teachers such as David Quarfoot, whose calculus course she took in her sixth form year.

Nevertheless, Emily never considered taking a computer science course, where most of the seats were filled with boys.

She majored in math at Tufts University, and then earned a master’s in computer science at Columbia.

Even at Tufts, where she took a required computer science course, there were only three women among 30 students in the class.

She later learned of a concept called the Imposter Syndrome.

That’s a psychological effect experienced by members of a minority group who tend to downplay their abilities because they don’t feel part of a larger group.

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“There are going to be a lot of jobs in the field, so we want our students to think about the ethics and impact of artificial intelligence at the beginning of their A.I. journey.” – EMILY R EID ’05 “Computer science wasn’t even on my radar,” recalls Emily, a Wallingford day student who co-captained the girls cross-country team and developed her creative side performing in plays. “It seems to me like the guys had been programming at home, and it was all new to me.”

Gender diversity in Emily’s computer science classes improved at Columbia, where women comprised up to 30 percent of her classmates. There, she delved deeply into natural language processing, the branch of artificial intelligence that allows devices to recognize one’s voice.

Many of those women were from overseas. At Columbia, she joined a fledging organization called Girls Who Code, and later worked for two years as its Director of Education, during a time when its programming grew from 19 summer programs and a few pilot clubs, to 97 summer programs and 3,000 clubs.

In 2018, Emily joined AI4All, which was previously launched at Stanford University by a doctoral student in A.I. with an idea to create more access for underrepresented people. That year, AI4All summer programs educated 150 people of color, young women, and low-income high school students. By 2019, its summer programs had expanded to 11 university campuses.

Recent Choate graduate Rebekah Agwunobi ’19 attended an AI4All summer program. Says Bekah, “There, I was exposed to a brilliant community of women and was able to approach problems I had never seen before, such as applying natural language processing to disaster relief. This was crucial to my overall development, because it helped me consider computer science as a viable major that could still integrate my passion for supporting underrepresented groups.”

She adds, “I was so inspired by AI4All, I helped direct a coding competition in New York City called ByteHacks, the largest hackathon for high school and collegiate women in New York. This opportunity, as well as the support system I gained through AI4All, made me want to pursue computer science and anthropology majors at Columbia. I was so grateful to connect with Emily over lunch and see the myriad Choate alumni working to support women who want to pursue STEM-related fields.”

Emily is developing programs for high school curriculums that would help integrate A.I. in computer science programs without the need for a student to know programming or advanced math. Another would use A.I. in English classes to analyze social issues.

“Our mission is to increase diversity and inclusion in A.I. for high school and college students,” says Emily, who lives in Manhattan with her husband, Clement. “There are going to be a lot of jobs in the field, so we want our students to think about the ethics and impact of artificial intelligence at the beginning of their A.I. journey.”

TOLERATING AMBIGUITY LEADS TO BUSINESS SUCCESS

Six months into his second tech startup, Austin Ogilvie ’05 thrives, with a nimble business mind and a healthy tolerance for risk, developing products that resonate with corporate clients.

“The unknown is very exhilarating,” says Austin, whose latest company, Laika, is based in Manhattan. “It’s rewarding to work on real-world problems with a team, to see how your work impacts the business – for better or worse.”

Laika, which Austin launched in 2019 with two partners and $3 million from investors, has found a market among startup businesses. Laika’s software suite keeps them up-todate with ever-changing requirements regarding the protection of customer financial data and health information, as well as compliance with international accounting standards.

Austin knows first-hand how problems with compliance can stall entrepreneurs when they want to sell to major corporate clients.

“I can rattle off deal after deal I lost for not being a credible counter partner,” he says. “I remember wanting to sell software to Intuit, but it took 190 days to close that deal.”

Laika is his latest venture in a career that began in 2009, while studying at the University of Virginia. He had an internship with a startup company in Washington, DC, where he worked alongside its three founders in a Georgetown townhouse.

“That’s when I fell in love with startups,” says Austin, who lives in Brooklyn, and finds time to kayak in the Berkshires and rock climb in New York’s Shawangunk Mountains. “I saw them figuring out the path forward for their business. In the early stages, it can be relentless and ruthless. It’s all about prioritization – pruning the bush, eliminating all that’s superfluous.”

After graduation, Austin joined a company called OnDeck, which underwrote business loans with artificial intelligence. The company’s software engineers had developed a program that analyzed a company’s credit worthiness by analyzing its digital footprint through data scraped from the Internet.

“It was applied machine learning in its purest form,” says Austin.

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BULLETIN | FALL 2020 23

Austin Ogilvie ’05, Founder at Laika.

“The unknown is very exhilarating.

It’s rewarding to work on real-world problems with a team, to see how your work impacts the business – for better or worse.” –AUS T IN OGILVIE ’05

He left OnDeck in 2013 to launch his first enterprise, which he named “yhat.” The name was a in-joke among data science nerds like Austin – it’s the term for the line of best fit in a regression analysis. His company solved a problem that had bedeviled software developers, who would build a software model on their own computer but would have to recreate the code when it was launched on the web or a mobile platform. Yhat’s software allowed developers to integrate complex business logic through a mobile app without rewriting the code.

Among his company’s seed investors was Ed Sim, P ’20, whose company, Boldstart Ventures, invests in tech startups.

“Austin can see around corners and has an incredible product mind,” he says. “He can understand where a market is headed, and then build product to meet those needs. He is relentless and always curious, looking to learn and grow as much as possible.”

Five years later, a corporate suitor came a-calling.

Alteryx, a data science company, found yhat’s software a good fit for its business model. It made an offer, and Austin accepted.

“We had no intention of selling, but it was a good deal, and we merged forces,” he says.

After helping with the transition for a year, Austin needed a break. He left Alteryx on what he called “a bit of a walkabout.” He kite-surfed in Barbados, visited Chernobyl in Ukraine, explored Uzbekistan and rented a Winnebago to tour Scotland.

Then he met Sam Li, a former computer engineer at Goldman Sachs and Google who had a heart for startup ventures. They talked about the trials and tribulations they’d seen in the startup world with the issue of compliance creating major obstacles to growth.

They launched Laika in June 2019, now have 13 employees, and exceeded their business targets by a good margin in the fourth quarter of 2020.

It looks like Austin has his next big thing. “You have to know how to tolerate ambiguity,” he says. “If you are joining a startup, you won’t be paid all in cash commensurate with what you’d make at a big established firm. As long as you are getting paid, and the business is capitalized enough to keep the lights on, the equity upside is quite extraordinary, especially at the earliest stage.”

David McKay Wilson is a freelance writer based in New York.

Feature

portraits of the good and the great

By D. Dodge Thompson ’66 In my 40 years of public service at the National Gallery of Art in Washington I have had the great privilege of organizing about 750 art exhibitions. In truth, the first time I ever heard the term “art history” was in 1965 when I unwittingly sat down in the Choate classroom of M. Jean-Pierre Cosnard des Closets to discover I had enrolled in a course called “French Civilization Seen through the Arts.” I faced three obstacles: I had to learn to take notes in a dark classroom, I was immobilized by the powerful images that flickered across the screen, and I didn’t speak French.

Nonetheless, the lessons and images have stayed with me to this day.

P H OTO G RA P H S COURTESY OF T H E NATIONAL P ORTRAIT G ALLERY

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 25

Cover story

Untitled (Archbishop Desmond Tutu), 2010, by Robert McCurdy.

Oil on canvas, 73 x 68 inches.

The Cumming Collection.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Choate for Community Weekend in October of 1994.

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About 25 years ago at a family reunion I reconnected with the investor and visionary businessman Ian M. Cumming. We found ourselves pondering the power of individuals to make a difference in our society, and the ability of portraits – as rendered by the most talented artists – to capture the essence of such individuals. Ian and his wife, Annette, agreed that we should test our premise and try our hand at commissioning. Our personal shortlist eventually included, among others, Muhammad Ali, Neil Armstrong, John Ashbery, Warren Buffett, President Bill Clinton, Al Gore, the Dalai Lama, Toni Morrison – and how about a group portrait of U.S. Supreme Court Justices O’Connor, Ginsberg, Sotomayor, and Kagan – the first four female justices of the country’s highest court? My daunting role was to select and arrange for the artists.

For over a quarter of a century we had the pleasure and honor to commission portraits of those listed above, as well as several other worthies. Most of the paintings have recently been given to the National Portrait Gallery or the National Gallery of Art. Three of the subjects – architect I. M. Pei, human rights advocate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and primatologist Jane Goodall – had a personal connection to Choate.

Untitled (Dame Jane Goodall), 2020, by Robert McCurdy.

Oil on canvas, 73 x 68 inches.

The Cumming Collection.

Dame Jane Goodall came to the Choate campus twice (1992 and 1993) to talk about her ”Roots & Shoots” program.

“Everything about working in the hospital environment is abnormal.

We don’t know who is exposed.

We are at a higher risk. We are leaving our houses and entering a w o r k p l a c e . ” – Paul Lantos ’92

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“IN A RATHER ICONOCLASTIC MOMENT, I APPROACHED RICHARD ESTES, THE FOREMOST PHOTOREALIST PAINTER OF URBAN ARCHITECTURE AND STREET SCENES, TO PORTRAY I. M. PEI IN THE EAST BUILDING WITH THE U.S. CAPITOL IN THE BACKGROUND.”

I. M. Pei, 1996, by Richard Estes.

Oil on canvas, 31 x 56 inches.

National Gallery of Art. The Cumming Collection.

I. M. Pei is responsible for the design of Choate’s Paul Mellon Arts Center and the Carl C. Icahn Center for Science.

Architect Ieoh Ming Pei had a long relationship with Choate Rosemary Hall, an almost 20-year association. The School commissioned the architect to design the eponymous Arts Center on the Wallingford campus in 1968 (opened in 1972), followed by the Science Center (now Carl C. Icahn Center for Science) in 1989. More than a coincidence, in 1968 Mr. Mellon also engaged Pei to design the East Building of the National Gallery on the National Mall, a modernist masterpiece that anticipated and informed Pei’s work at the Louvre Museum in Paris. In his choice of an architect, Mr. Mellon was influenced by his close friends President John F. Kennedy ’35 and his wife, Jacqueline, who early on secured Pei’s reputation by commissioning the 35th President’s official archive and library in Boston.

In a rather iconoclastic moment, I approached Richard Estes, the foremost photorealist painter of urban architecture and street scenes, to portray I. M. Pei in the East Building with the U.S. Capitol in the background. Estes and Pei agreed that the portrait would be situated in the library atrium. Estes memorably captured the master builder, symbolically and pictorially, as if the architecture were emanating from his prodigious mind.

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Untitled (Toni Morrison), 2006,

by Robert McCurdy. Oil on canvas, 73 x 68 inches. National Portrait Gallery. Gift of Ian M. and Annette P. Cumming.

Here, Toni Morrison poses in front of her completed portrait in 2006.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 29

The New York-based artist Robert McCurdy (b. 1952) occupies a special place in our portrait project. Rob was not well-known when I became aware of his work in 1995, but his portraits, which rendered his subjects “warts and all” and at a scale 50 percent larger than life, caught my attention. The first portrait we commissioned from Rob was of novelist and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, a painting that immediately went on view at the National Portrait Gallery, where it has become something of a shrine, admired by millions of visitors.

Since 1995 Robert has produced on average one portrait a year, exclusively for the Cummings. Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Choate for Community Weekend in October of 1994. In addressing the students and faculty on the subject “Freedom Is Breaking Out Everywhere,” he memorably put aside his prepared remarks and exhorted the students to be the “teachers of the world” and said that he was confident they would “handle the world with care.” McCurdy’s portrait was completed in 2010.

“THE FIRST PORTRAIT WE COMMISSIONED FROM ROBERT McCURDY WAS OF NOVELIST AND NOBEL LAUREATE TONI MORRISON, A PAINTING THAT IMMEDIATELY WENT ON VIEW AT THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, WHERE IT HAS BECOME SOMETHING OF A SHRINE, ADMIRED BY MILLIONS OF VISITORS.”

Choate was early to discover Dame Jane Goodall’s “Roots & Shoots” program. It was founded in 1991 in Tanzania by the pioneering British primatologist with the goal of bringing together youth from preschool to university students to work on environmental, conservation, and humanitarian issues. Dame Jane came to the Choate campus twice to talk about her vision at school meetings in 1992 and 1993. The organization now has local chapters in over 140 countries with more than 8,000 local groups worldwide that involve a diverse group of nearly 150,000 young people.

Her portrait, which was completed earlier this year, is on view at the National Portrait Gallery, where it will ultimately reside.

You well might ask what is my favorite portrait of those created as a result of this 25-year program? Well, today my favorite is Nelson Shanks’s portrait of the “Supremes,” the largest work on view at the National Portrait Gallery. But tomorrow, who knows?

D. Dodge Thompson ’66 is Chief of Exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art. He recently authored an essay featured in the book Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection, which can be purchased on the museum’s website at: saamnpgstore. si.edu/visionary-the-cumming-family-collection.html. In 2016, Thompson received Choate’s Alumni Award, along with Dr. Laurie Patton, President of Middlebury College.

The Four Justices, 2012, by Nelson Shanks. Oil on canvas, 85 x 66 inches. National Portrait Gallery. Gift of Ian M. and Annette P. Cumming.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Together …

While Apart CHOATE’S ALUMNI BASE IS ENGAGED AND ENTHUSIASTIC, showing up for events with an ardent desire to connect with fellow alumni and with their alma mater. Choate spirit and good cheer have always marked events of all kinds – from panel discussions to museum tours to networking happy hours. Enter March 2020. The sudden halt to the in-person events that had defined the alumni experience in large cities across the world became a daunting new reality. How could we replace the handshakes and toasts that signaled our shared comradery? How could we replicate the lively debate between panelists and their audiences? How could we adequately connect without the human interactions defined by sharing space in a room?

Against all odds, Choate alumni did just that. They found connection, debated across screens, and kept strong their attachment to gold and blue. Long before many schools and institutions had wrapped their heads around what it would mean to function in a society largely, and almost entirely, remote, Choate was already pivoting their programming.

Over the course of April, May, and June, Choate hosted six panels of breadth and depth, on the timeliest of topics with key experts in those fields. The newly launched webinar series, “Choate Connects Us, Bringing Choate Rosemary Hall Together, Apart,” tackled issues from healthcare to women’s equality, sports and education to social justice, all through the lens of how COVID-19 was changing landscapes across the board. Panelists ranged from U.S. Representative Stacey E. Plaskett ’84 to Marna Borgstrom P ’03, ’08, President and CEO of Yale New Haven Health System, from Laurie Patton ’79, President of Middlebury College, to Charlie Dixon ’93, EVP at Fox Sports, among so many other experts, all of whom gave insight and voice to pressing issues of the day.

Driven by topics of great relevance and the unmatched expertise of the panelists, alumni showed up as never before. A panel, which for an in-person event might secure between 30 and 45 registrants, suddenly had upwards of 300 registered. Even for the most widely appealing topics, the reach of a traditional event is geographically constrained, often limited to an alumni audience with access to major cities. With that barrier erased by a webinar platform with no boundaries, alumni and parents from all corners of the globe came together at a time when it was needed most. Literally overnight, access to a wide range of exciting and timely programming opened up to Choate alumni everywhere.

Simultaneously, access to high-level thought leaders in all fields became streamlined – joining an hour-long Zoom webinar proved more manageable than traveling to and from an in-person event.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 31

The newly launched webinar series, “Choate Connects Us, Bringing Choate Rosemary Hall Together, Apart,” tackled issues from healthcare to women’s equality, sports and education to social justice, all through the lens of how COVID-19 was changing landscapes across the board.

Like so many pandemic-related changes to the way we do things, silver linings were clear. As Mari Jones, Director of Development & Alumni Relations, reflected: “Panelists were interesting and so relevant, but most importantly, they made time for their School. That says a lot.” Will this type of programming continue moving forward? Without doubt.

When the webinar series ended in early June, in-person events were still on hold, alumni were largely still working from home, and even summer vacations were shifting and being cancelled. Was this another opportunity for creative programming? For building community at a time when meaningful connection remained critical to the very fiber of our beings? As an institution rooted in learning, the Choate community knows as well as anyone the power of intellectual curiosity and exchange of ideas. And so grew the first ever series of classes taught by Choate faculty for Choate alumni.

Studying themes ranging from modern literature to Arabic language, alumni came together to learn something new, to become students once again.

It was an experiment in risk. “Would alumni take time out of their busy lives to take a class?” asked Jones. “Their appetite was more than we could have imagined. We were pleasantly surprised!”

One hundred and ninety-one alumni spread out over eleven courses, discussing and debating with some of Choate’s most beloved teachers, old and new. Andrea Solomon, Director of Alumni Relations, found their enthusiasm characteristic: “Our alumni love to learn, just as they did at Choate. They are curious and want to expand their knowledge, even when they are decades out. And, the faculty loved interacting with and teaching them.”

With fall underway, exciting programming for alumni continues, from professional development opportunities to virtual turkey trots to book clubs. The reach of alumni programming has never been so great. The depth of content has never been so rich. Silver linings.

Choate Alumni, we’ll meet you where you are. We’ll see you there. We are indeed together, even when we are apart.

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ALUMNI ASSOCIATION Virtual Fall Foliage Bike Ride

From Maine to Manhattan, Spain to Singapore, Chicago to Long Beach, more than 100 alumni and parents around the globe participated in our inaugural Virtual Bike Ride. This event is part of series designed to help the Choate community focus on physical and mental well-being.

Next up, a Turkey Trot on November 22. It’s not too late to lace up your sneakers and join the movement! Visit www.choate.edu/alumni for more details.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 33

The Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni Association’s mission is to create, perpetuate, and enhance relationships among Choate Rosemary Hall alumni, current and prospective students, faculty, staff, and friends in order to foster loyalty, interest, and support for the School and for one another, and to build pride, spirit, and community.

OFFICERS President David Hang ’94

Connecticut David Aversa ’91 Katie Vitali Childs ’95, P ’24

Vice Presidents Elizabeth Alford Hogan ’82 John Smyth ’83, P ’20

Los Angeles Wesley Hansen ’98 Alexa Platt ’95

Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations Dan Courcey ’86

New York Sheila Adams James ’01 Julie Kang ’12

Director of Development and Alumni Relations Mari Jones Director of Alumni Relations Andrea Solomon Past Presidents Susan Barclay ’85 Chris Hodgson ’78, P ’12, ’14, ’17 Parisa Jaffer ’89 Woody Laikind ’53 Patrick McCurdy ’98

Cheer all year! Reunions are a great chance

to reconnect with classmates and reengage with the School, and while we’re not certain if we can be together on campus this spring, it’s still important to celebrate your time at Choate and everything you’ve done since!

We’re planning opportunities to engage with classmates in new and exciting ways. Stay tuned to your email for more details, as we celebrate our alumni in the 1s and 6s throughout the year!

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Susan St. John Amorello ’84, P ’15, ’15 Melissa Barrett ’88, P ’21, ’23 T.C. Chau ’97 Jaques Clariond ’01 John Glanville ’73 Dewey Kang ’03 Jack Kingsley ’87 Lambert Lau ’97 Shanti Mathew ’05 David Sack ’75 Alexandra G. Smith ’09 Jessy Trejo ’02 REGIONAL CLUB LEADERSHIP Boston Lovey Oliff ’97 Sarah Strang ’07 Kristine Yamartino ’10 Chicago Samantha Carney ’00 Maria Del Favero ’83

Rosemary Hall Anne Marshall Henry ’62 San Francisco Ian Chan ’10 Emma Cook ’14 Washington, D.C. Olivia Bee ’10 Dan Carucci ’76 Tillie Fowler ’92 Beijing Matthew Cheng ’10 Gunther Hamm ’98 Hong Kong Lambert Lau ’97 Sandy Wan ’90 Jennifer Yu ’99 London Ed Harney ’82, P ’15, ’17 Elitsa Nacheva ’08 Seoul Ryan Hong ’89, P ’19, ’22 Shanghai T.C. Chau ’97 Michael ’88 and Peggy Moh P ’18, ’23 Thailand Isa Chirathivat ’96 Pat Sethbhakdi ’85, P ’18, ’18, ’20 Tokyo Robert Morimoto ’89 Miki Yoshida ’07

34

CLASSNOTES | News from our Alumni

Send Us Your Notes!

Do you have news to share with your classmates?

We’d love to hear from you. Submit your news and photos online at www.choate.edu/classnotes. When submitting photos, please make sure the resolution is high enough for print publication – 300 dpi preferred. To update your alumni records contact Christine Bennett at alumnirelations@choate.edu or (203) 697-2228.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 35

36 CLASSNOTES

1930s ’38 C

Doug Plate writes, “Just passed my 100th, with full recognition here at my retirement community.

Still ambulatory, but not very swift! As with most, we are restricted to our comfortable campus, but remain well looked after.”

’38 RH Jane “Peach” Taylor turned 100 on June 6. She was celebrated by dozens of friends with a surprise socially-distanced car parade at her home in Williamsburg, Va. Peach continues to knit, feed the birds from her window ledge, and share her creative spirit and earned wisdom with all. Sharing in and photographing her celebration was Kat England ’78, who feels lucky to share a connection and friendship with Peach.

1940s ’44 C Charlie Kuyk Jr. writes, “A few years back my son, Charlie Kuyk III ’69, and I embarked on an effort to document the untold story of the contributions to the development of the U.S. Air Force by graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, from which I graduated in 1950. With the creation in 1947 of the country’s newest military service, the Air Force was in need of trained officers, so many came from West Point as well as Annapolis. The U.S. Air Force Academy, from which Charlie III graduated in 1973, did not graduate its first class of new lieutenants until 1959. Writing a history book about these events proved to be more work than we originally planned, but we’re pleased to say that our book was recently published by McFarland & Co. The book spans the period from the earliest days of flight, when a few stalwart West Point grads learned to fly with Orville and Wilbur Wright, up through the early 1990s upon

the retirement of the last active duty West Point grads serving in the Air Force who had graduated in the 1950s. I might add that during our writing we often reflected on the influence Choate had on each of us, though we moved on to different military service academies and military and civilian careers.”

’46 C Roger Graham writes, “Polly and I have been at The Evergreens, a fine CCRC, in Moorestown, N.J., for almost 15 years. We are both 91 and in fairly good health, but slowing down. It will be difficult in the fall when orchestra concerts and like, including smaller concerts on campus, will be curtailed.”

Jay Stempel went on to receive his B.S. from Muhlenberg College, his M.B.A. from the University of New Hampshire, and his LLD from New York Law School. He retired 10 years ago, and has a wife, four daughters, four granddaughters, two great granddaughters, and one grandson.

’49 C Lynn Parry writes, “I spent five lovely days with John and Nancy Baay at their lovely home on Squam Lake in New Hampshire in July. We are a little too old for the Hoby Cat! Nancy is painting up a storm! You can Google her and see her lovely watercolors... I am sorry about the relentless loss of our fellow ‘49-ers.”

1950s

’46 RH Dottie Cholnoky writes, “I think there are only six of our RH class left! Wish that I could be more helpful, but that’s reality.”

’50 C Tristan Krogius writes, “My wife of 68 years, Barbara, and I welcomed the arrival of our third great-grandchild recently, and look forward to the last of our 19 grandchildren finishing college in the fall semester. Following my early retirement as president of Tenneco West, Bakersfield with the sale of that company to Castle and Cooke, I went to law school and was admitted to the California Bar in 1991. A second career in practicing law followed, including also teaching at WSU, and a variety of pro bono activities until my retirement as an active member of the Bar last year.”

’48 RH Mary Snyder writes, “I have many memories

’51 RH Diana McGhie writes, “We keep ourselves

of the School when it was in Greenwich. I arrived in 1945 when there were many more restrictions - some the result of our country’s involvement in the second World War! We all had to do our part in Rosemary Hall’s survival, such as preparing meals in the kitchen; ‘naughtyness’ job was cleaning out the incinerator. I was in charge of Rosemary’s chickens: clipping their wings, selling their eggs house-tohouse on Lake Avenue, and so on. Today’s students might find it hard to believe the hands-on work we did to ensure the school’s survival when ‘help’ wasn’t available those early years after the war. Any classmates still out there? Would be fun to hear from you! News of me: Manage my own house, have four children, eight grandchildren and three greats!

busy with a morning visit with Sweetie the whiteeared grey squirrel whom we hand-feed and who sits on our lap! We are all well and I hope you are, too.”

’52 C Arthur E. Gibbs Jr. writes, “After retiring in 1998, I coached high school tennis for 15 years until I retired again in 2015. This year my assistant coach and I found a 13-year-old girl who wanted to play high school tennis. At age 85, we got the job done in about 4 weeks. She is now enjoying high school tennis as a freshman.” ’53 C Bill Crosby writes, “I have been living in Vancouver, Canada over 40 years. The President of Peru recently awarded me the honor of Commander of the Order of Merit for Distinguished Services to Peru in my homeland, mainly for having been Honorary Consul General of Peru for Western Canada for longer than a decade. I am now 86. You can contact me at chandan-will@telus.net.” ’54 C

Benjamin Horne writes, “After 51 years in Lincoln, Mass., Jean and I are moving north to New London, N.H., where we will be closer to the lake house and our daughter. The new address: 39 Highland Ridge Rd., Box 406, New London, NH 03257.”

’55 C Randy Ney writes, “This is my first note since graduation. When at Choate I lived in Fort Smith, Ark. I’ve now lived in Houston for over 20 years. I started a second career in the travel industry when I moved to Houston and own a bespoke business that plans luxury trips for clients throughout the world. My wife, Lea, and I have five sons and 12 grandchildren.”

Jane “Peach” Taylor ’38 turned 100 on June 6, 2020.

Charlie Kuyk III ’69 (L) and father, Charlie Kuyk Jr. ‘44 (R).

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 37

Jack Winkler writes, “I now live near the centre of London at 28 St. Paul Street, London N1 7AB, telephone (44) (020) 7226-1672. Happy to receive old classmates here at home for lunch/dinner/coffee, even tea, or meet them at any mutually convenient location in the city.”

’56 C

Mike Clegg writes, “Still active in the community (e.g., Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland which my deceased wife, Sue, and I helped start in 1979 when our third-born child became ill with leukemia, and its Pro-Am which is in its 41st year, an event I started and ran for its first 25 years and which has raised over $8 million during that time). I see my lifelong pal as well as Choate and Yale roommate, Bing Blossom, often, and we grouse about the challenges of health and of being a Cleveland sports fan, especially our Indians and Browns.”

Robert Gaines writes, “In June, at the virtual Zoom graduation ceremonies of the class of 2020 at the University of the South, I was honored for my work on behalf of the University. I have represented it at inaugurations of college presidents in New England, attended college fairs to provide information about Sewanee to high school students, and also worked with the Arcadians in calling prospective admission candidates.”

Alfred Vinton writes, “I am still living in the UK and have managed the COVID-19 crisis reasonably well. I have not been able to travel to the U.S., where we have a home in Carmel, Calif., and where we reunite with our five children and the respective grandchildren.”

’57 C

Jan Beyea writes, “The February 11 New York Times carried a story about veterans exposed to plutonium in 1966 and linked it to a journal article by me and Princeton nuclear physicist Frank von Hippel.

The article is important because the exposed veterans recently won the right to sue collectively for health benefits following this Cold War-era atomic accident.”

Seth Hoyt ’61 and grand-dog Bruno bonding after his move to Connecticut.

’58 C Whitman Knapp writes, “For a number of years I have been involved in a project to provide a legal/interoperable framework for cross-border digital payments. It has been part of my ‘you can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm off the boy’ post-‘retirement’ journey. Having spent my purported adult life in transaction banking, the rocket which has been put under all things digital has put a spotlight on this project and provided the incentive to bring it to a successful conclusion. It has been fascinating working with young, incredibly talented fintech specialists, lawyers, and traditional transaction bankers to harness everyone’s knowledge to provide an essential component to keeping business flowing in our rapidly changing world.” ’59 C

Ivan Light writes, “I have a new book, a collaboration between a professor of business and a professor of sociology. It makes a case for business strategies that exploit non-monetary resources of skill, social networks, reputation, and work ethic.”

’59 RH Jane McKeone Gleason writes, “Daughter Kerry is in Carlsbad, Calif. Her son Nick is a senior in high school, and her daughter Kate is at Montana State. My son Mike lives in Framingham, Mass. with his daughters Sarah (16) and Greer (15). I’m still loving Murrells Inlet, S.C.”

1960s ’60 RH Heather Ellison Browning writes, “Greetings from Florida, where we all are dealing with the quarantine in different ways. I have a passion to weave Nantucket baskets. Aside from weaving, I’ve read dozens of books, I try to keep in touch with friends, we have cocktails on our lanai with neighbors, and out on our boat so life has not been difficult. We are blessed! How did we get so old so fast??”

Heather Ellison Browning ’60 is pursuing her passion for weaving Nantucket baskets. Pictured here is a basket she made for her daughter’s birthday.

’61 C

Seth Hoyt writes, “After 25+ years in Long Lake, Minn., the ‘widower I’ moved back to Connecticut in July to be closer to kids and grandkids.

Email and cell remain the same. Snail-mail is: 24 Elm Street, Stonington, CT 06378.”

Sadaaki Numata writes, “My career has been considerably influenced by my one year at Choate.

Having obtained an LL.B. from the University of Tokyo and an M.A. (PPE) from University College, Oxford, I spent 40 years as a professional diplomat, serving as Ambassador to Pakistan (2000-2002) and Canada (2005-2007). I was apparently the third Japanese to graduate from Choate (the first one in 1908 and the second in 1921), however, I have discovered in recent years that there are today probably two dozen old boys and girls(!) in Japan, of whom I am by far the eldest. In my retirement, I am serving as Chairman of the English-Speaking Union of Japan, a volunteer organization that is a part of the worldwide ESU network, devoted to fostering global communicators through the promotion of public speaking.”

Ken Phillips writes, “When my dad was in his late 80s, he began to write a book about his life.

Essentially this was a series of glimpses: growing up, meeting my mom (he described the brown sweater she was wearing when he first saw her), running our resort; good times and bad. Dad’s fingers didn’t work as well as they had, but he had learned to use a computer and he was able to write roughly 120 stream-of-consciousness pages before his death. I never got to read Dad’s work before he died. The one printed copy was lost somewhere in a mountain of moving boxes and the computer stored his files on old floppy disks. And the disks were lost. Earlier this year, during a period of COVID-inspired boredom, I was looking through a pile of CD backups that I had made years ago and came across a file named ‘ME.’ There was Dad’s story. Bottom line: Tell your story.

Go for candor.”

Ken Phillips ’61 and his wife, Pauleitta.

38 CLASSNOTES

’62 C

Deaver Brown writes, “As we get older most of us find we need something to do to stay in the picture, as Gordon Stillman used to say in History class. I am continuing to write and edit titles at simplymedia.com, recently focused on the Better Life series. We sell only through third parties. Most sales are through the FAANG Group and Walmart. com which keeps me connected, especially with Millennials and Z generation people who are expert at simplifying and expediting with no travel or meetings. Impressive.”

Franklin ”John” Wilkes writes, “Gini and I have been sequestering at Port Liberté ever since I was sent home in March from my French classroom at Lacordaire Academy in Upper Montclair, N.J. After teaching remotely for several months, I said to her, ‘You know, this sequestering thing isn’t much different than what I ordinarily do except for going to the gym or the pool.’ Parker Llewellyn has also got me hooked on watching several episodes of A French Village (English subtitles) every afternoon – I find it riveting!”’

’62 RH Muffie Bourne Swan writes, “I am fine and staying in with my asthma - especially with our massive forest fires and no rain for three months! I am happy I have all my family right here in Colorado.”

’63 C

William Reed writes, “Our family have a bit of a Choate legacy: uncle, William Sweatt ’35, me ’63, brothers Lach ’64 and Hal ’75. Thinking of my three years at Choate and sixth form year living with our chaplain and my crew coach, Bob Bryan. I’m living the ski bum and mountain life with my wife, Jennifer, in Big Sky, Mont, P.O. Box 161447, Big Sky, MT 59716.”

’63 RH Donna Dickenson writes, “On account of the pandemic, I’ve been back in touch with Italian, Dutch, Spanish, and Canadian friends, as well as American, of course. It’s so instructive to learn how much restriction many have dealt with. Chris is treating me to a nightly piano concert, working his way through Schubert’s sonatas as well as some Mozart and Moussorgsky. Time that he and I would otherwise have spent on commuting is much better spent this way!”

Doreen McClennan Gardner writes, “I am finalizing the course work for my Project Management Professional re-certification. One never knows!”

Mary McGee Graf has left California and moved back to the East Coast. “We moved across the country June 7, no problem. Enjoying life at Round Pond Farm in Amenia, N.Y. Seems like we have always lived here. I’m a novice gardener and doing well even though I had a late start. Harvesting two varieties of eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach, lettuces, green beans, and carrots!”

Angela Treat Lyon writes, “I have been painting my brains out - I can’t show in galleries or do exhibits, but I have been ‘showing’ on my Facebook Art Group page - and getting pretty good responses. I’ve been teaching classes about how to handle emotions (anger management, trauma release, etc.) for years using Zoom, so it has amused me to see the tremendous surge of people signing up to use it. And, of course, I’m still designing and publishing books for authors.”

Chris Murray McKee writes, “Starting at Christmas 2019 our life took a different turn. Our granddaughters, who live with their mother in Thailand, came to Dallas to spend Christmas with their dad. So Tom and I drove to Dallas mid-December, stopping off in Cincinnati where daughter Rachel is with her family, husband Scott and three daughters, for a few days before Christmas. Then a few days on the road, visiting Tennessee, Arkansas, and lots of Texas, to Ethan’s in Dallas where we had rented an Airbnb for five days. We had a very nice Christmas with Ellie and Charlotte, ages 8 and 6. We spent another few days in San Antonio before we put the girls on the plane to go back to Thailand to their mother on New Year’s Day. Little did we know that the world was about to change.”

Margo Melton Nutt is doing fine, happy to be sequestered in a sparsely populated state (Vermont), doing Zoom church, Zoom yoga, Zoom library board meetings, and tapping in to virtual lectures, author readings, and webinars. Socializing with friends outdoors and six feet apart.

’64 C Kim Masters writes, “I have started my seventh year of the online study of Egyptology at the University of Manchester, UK. I have now entered its Masters Program in Egyptology which lasts two years, with a thesis. Lots of fun, actually. I was interested in this topic while at Choate and had lots of discussions about it with my roommate, Bill Walker. Have been restudying it since 2013.” ’65 C

George Newell writes, “This year marks 50 years for me as a volunteer with fire departments, mountain rescue teams, and technical rescue squads.

I am still volunteering as a paramedic with a fire department here in the mountains of Colorado.”

’65 RH Elizabeth Edgerton has had lots of life changes over the years. At the moment her most exciting news is her new book, now available on Amazon, Saying What Needs to Be Said, Explorations in Trauma and Recovery. This is a story of personal recovery from a violent crime trauma in her life that occurred in 2012.

Karin Int-Hout Jones is headed to the Ashville, N.C., area to escape the hurricane season and the COVID environment in the Sarasota/Bird Key area in Florida, and she will be closer to her son.

Ann Mason Sears arrived back in New Hampshire just as the COVID situation was developing and remained there, following the strict guidelines and awaiting the arrival of a new grandson.

’66 C Peter Erkkinen writes, “Sue and I are blessed to have all six grandchildren from our three children living in Rhode Island. We split our time working and playing on Narragansett Bay with motor and sail boats.”

Foster Gamble writes, “I was the creator, along with my wife, Kimberly, of one of the most widely seen documentaries in history – Thrive: What On Earth Will It Take? The film launched in 2011 and has been seen by over 90 million people in 27 languages and spawned more than 1,000 self-created solutions groups in 90+ countries. We were subsequently contacted by hundreds of innovators from all over the world. We spent much of the last six years vetting health, energy, and environmental breakthroughs and what we found was so profound and encouraging that we had to make a sequel to share the good news with the world. Our new film, Thrive II: This Is What It Takes, premiered on September 26. For a breath of fresh air, making sense of the nonsense going on in our world, and real hope based on grounded solutions, check it out at www.ThriveOn.com.”

Noel Hynd writes, “My book, The Final Game at Ebbets Field, received the 2020 Ron Gabriel Award of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) for the best new work on the Brooklyn Dodgers. Along with my other book on baseball history, The Giants of the Polo Grounds, it is often among the top selling baseball books on Amazon.”

Russ Kridel writes, ”After many fulfilling years in private practice as a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, I continue to enjoy caring for patients, teaching at the University, and publishing scientific papers.

Because there is much to improve in our healthcare system, I have also been involved for years in various roles in the American Medical Association, whose goal is the advancement of science and the betterment of public health. The coronavirus pandemic has magnified the weaknesses of our public health preparedness and has pointed out the importance of patients and science before politics. In June, I became Chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, and we have much to do! Joyous also are all the moments I spend with my two sons, their lovely wives and five grandchildren, and my significant other.”

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 39

Foster Gamble and wife Kimberly in the recording studio for Thrive II: This Is What It Takes, which premiered on September 26.

’66

George Newell ‘65 in the Rocky Mountains.

Peter Erkkinen ‘66 celebrates Father’s Day 2019 with his six grandchildren. L to R: Moxie, Audrey, Olivia, Frank, Emilia, Sam, and Peter ’66; Grandchild #7 coming in February 2021!

40 CLASSNOTES

’66 RH Sutton ”Pixie” Hays writes, “I’m thriving in Kennett Square, Penn., my painting grows and amazes, and I ride in gorgeous horse country, two-hour hacks or more.”

Gusty Lange writes, “I am still teaching at Pratt, Graduate Communications Design. When Pratt closed down March 13, I had to teach remotely, which was very difficult. In the middle of the pandemic my sister Mary Lou ‘67 and I lost our brother, Karl Lange, age 67, a victim of COVID, so we are in the midst of mourning our loss.”

Edwina von Gal writes, “More and more people are interested in making their landscapes toxic-free and habitat friendly so I am busier than ever. Look for our new initiative 2/3 for the Birds, launching this fall. I sure hope everyone joins in.” ’67 C Doug Bryant writes, “Our daughter, Carrie, graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in June and is now a resident at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence. Her twin sister, Kate, lives in Barrington, R.I., with her husband, Barrett, and our first grandchild, Lilly. Our son Sandy is Director of the Annual Fund at Kimball Union Academy. Cammie and I recently bought a winter home in Vero Beach where we see a lot of Dan Hunt and his wife, Jodie.”

Selby Hinkebein writes, “Our grandson is obsessed with dinosaurs! When we saw the review of Ian Lendler ’92’s book, we bought it.”

Richard Terry writes, “Wrapping up my legal career. Can’t believe the lack of ethics in business today. Ethics and honor was always prevalent at Choate. Good for Choate!” ’67 RH Mary Lou Lange writes, “ My sister, Gusty Lange ’66, and I lost our brother unexpectedly in April related to coronavirus. We are devastated but managing. My dear dog, Lola, passed away earlier. I had a wonderful 3-week trip to China in September and skied out west.”

Penny Heald Whitehouse-Vaux writes, “Have been taking the time to write up a bit about my career in geology (used to work on the geochemistry of ore deposits) for my children and virtually attending my choir and an art class. Other than that, I am trying to learn the bagpipes – might as well step out of one’s comfort zone. I have really enjoyed keeping in touch this spring and summer with many Rosemary classmates.”

’68 C Bill Wadsworth writes, “In July, after 34 years of being based in New York City, I retired from my position as director of Columbia’s graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs, and moved from Brooklyn to my new home – a beautiful loft in a converted old mill – in North Adams, Mass., next door

to Mass MOCA and Williamstown, and not far from my old base in Vermont. I plan to continue part-time as an adjunct professor of poetry at Columbia, but will be able finally to devote the majority of my time to writing after 30 years of full-time administration. In May, my son Sam graduated magna cum laude from the NYU Tisch Film Program and is now pursuing a career as a freelancer in graphic design and 3D animation. My daughter Charlotte is starting her junior year as an English major (and budding poet) at Barnard College, and is persevering in spite of having to continue her studies online. I’d like to send a shout-out to Tom Yankus ’52, whose warm welcome made a tremendous impression on Charlotte when she visited Choate six years ago, and to Chris Halstead, whose words of wisdom at our 50th anniversary dinner two years ago (‘if you plan to change your life, don’t wait!’) helped to instigate my decision to retire and the move just completed. I send best wishes to all our classmates for good health and safety in a difficult and scary time.”

’69 RH Vickie Spang writes, “Working from home has its benefits, and I’m used to Zoom meetings with my firm’s lawyers.”

1970s ’70 C

John Heffernan writes, “With all Choate’s wit for innovation and genius I and about a dozen alums from 1970 had a great 50th reunion this spring; the spirit was contagious and the bittersweet emotions covered us all. Todd Staub, Chip Ryan, Bliss Clark, George Whipple, Mike Dingle, and I were just as cozy and intimate as though we were together in a dorm chatting. Kudos, Choate, you provided the impossible.”

’70 RH Terry O’Neill writes, “I recently moved to Portland, Ore., where my daughter lives. It’s a lovely city, and for those who might have been worried – no, Portland was not burning. Protests here have been overwhelmingly peaceful. In the meantime, I created a podcast, What Equality Looks Like, in which I talk with feminist and progressive leaders about the women’s movement from an intersectional perspective. It’s available on all major podcast platforms and at whatequalitylookslike.com.”

Mary Lou Lange ’67 had a wonderful 3-week trip to China this past September.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 41

’71 C

Michael Bremer writes, “I left Choate in March 1971 with Mark Smith and went to Malawi, where we worked as volunteers in providing primary healthcare in bush communities and building a clinic in the small village of Salima Bay. Mark and I then traveled together and separately throughout East and West Africa for many months enjoying the hospitality and kindness of people from Kenya to Morocco, from Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire. From 1973 to 1975 I worked in Norwalk, Conn., in a textile firm. In 1975 I moved to Charlottesville, Va., to continue my work in textiles, leaving what was clearly a dying industry in 1976 to work various jobs in nightclubs and construction until I joined Volunteers In Service to America in 1977.

As a VISTA volunteer, I directed a nonprofit housing organization until 1980, providing emergency repairs and upgrades to poverty-bound owners who occupied their homes. In 1980 I married Mari Normyle and had two children - now adults - and have three grandchildren, whom we visit often. Leaving VISTA I worked as a freelance carpenter for several years in and around Charlottesville. In 1986 we moved to Lynchburg where I started a construction company specializing in high-end residential remodeling. In 1996 I earned a B.S. in political science (I know!) and teaching licensure from Lynchburg College (now the University of Lynchburg) and began my third career as a public Middle School teacher. I have recently retired after 24 years. I enjoyed being part of leading experiences that allowed children to explore and learn as they grew from adolescence into young adults. I taught everything from Ancient Civilizations to Government with a healthy dose of U.S. History and macroeconomics thrown in. Mari and I continue to live happily in Lynchburg. We also operate a shortterm rental apartment in our home and welcome visitors!”

Carl Kempner joined Mario Gabelli as a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager in September 2018. Married to a wonderful lady, Valerie Kempner, for 12 years now.

Curtis Spraitzar writes, “For the past dozen years or so, I have transitioned to the healthcare field and am now Director of Research and Analysis at RealTime Medicare Data – a small healthcare analytics company with a huge Medicare data asset.

In my spare time, I have been helping the Urology Health Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group in Birmingham, Ala. Its mission is to promote public awareness about prostate cancer and to provide free prostate cancer screenings across our state, especially in underserved areas that are at highest risk.”

TOP Vickie Spang ‘69 in front of an

unfortunately named store!

MIDDLE (L to R): Bill Monroe ’68,

Bill Rompf ’68, and former head of the Choate French Department John Foster reunited for lunch at a new restaurant on the Manatee River as Florida restaurants began to reopen in June.

BOTTOM Doug Bryant ’67 with wife,

Cammie, Sandy, Carrie, Kate, Barrett, and baby Lilly at Carrie’s Dartmouth Medical School graduation, June 2020.

42 CLASSNOTES

1 ’72 C

Clarke (Kim) Oler Jr. writes, “Still lucky to be a composer for the musical theatre in New York and the director of two choruses at St. John’s University – the grateful recipient of two Richard Rodgers Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, bestowed by Stephen Sondheim, and two Emmy Awards for Composition and Music Direction on TV. More fortunate by far, I am the proud papa of two amazing children – Elizabeth (Choate ’04, now an OB/Gyn) and Clarke, a brilliant singer/songwriter and construction manager in NYC. Both children were brought into the world by Cece Critchley, my wonderful wife of 35 years.”

’73 C

Jim Beloff writes, “Happy to report that my new album, The Wind and Sun, was released in August. Due to the pandemic, all of the guest musicians recorded their parts in their home studios. The album title and title track are based on the Aesop’s fable ‘The North Wind and Sun,’ which is one of my favorites and has never seemed more relevant.

Seven of the 10 songs were played on a 1950s Martin baritone ukulele, three on a koa concert Fluke uke. A couple of the songs were co-written with Hawaiian ukulele virtuoso, Herb ‘Ohta-san’ Ohta, and two others were works-for-hire for William H. Macy film projects. All of the tracks can be heard here: jimbeloff.bandcamp.com/album/the-wind-and-sun.”

2

3

5

4

Jim Bertles writes, “It’s been a long time since I submitted anything. Have kept up with some but not many Choaties – I see Drew Casertano ’74 regularly and am having lunch with Mike Millard ’76.

Still living in Palm Beach most of the year with summers in Darien. I’ll celebrate my 39th wedding anniversary soon, and have three kids, three grandchildren, and one more on the way. Got a new hip four years ago and a new shoulder two weeks ago.

And still working – retirement is not in my future.

Would love to reconnect with old friends!”

Jamie Campbell has a new book coming from McGraw Hill in 2021 - Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Truth Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History.

Stephen Davis was named chair of the new independent panel overseeing the global proxy voting advisory industry, which has strong influence on how investors around the world vote their shares at listed companies. Stephen and wife Clo also have their first grandchildren: Jacques, from son James Griffith and wife Niall Mangan; and Alice, from son Jacob Griffith and wife Christina.

David White’s company CSCGAMBIA, based in The Gambia, has been appointed a bulk hiring partner for Royal Caribbean cruise lines and several of their brands.

1 Jim Bertles ’73 and wife Lisa

with grandkids, Caroline Hennigan (2), James Hennigan (5), and William Stamm (2).

2 Kim Oler ’72.

3 Chef Musa Mendy and David

White ‘73 aboard the Norwegian Spirit.

4 Stephen Davis ‘73 shares a

photo of his grandson, Jacques Mangan.

5 Stuart Crane Tilt ‘74 with her

partner, Lee Bowden. Stuart keeps busy with selling real estate, interior design work, scuba diving, sporting clay shooting, boating, and beaching.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 43

’73 RH Roberta Kirn writes, “It was a pleasure to connect with some of my Rosemary Hall classmates recently on a Zoom call organized by Julia Brine. Normally, I lead a monthly community sing on Martha’s Vineyard, where I have lived since 1989, but I have moved into an online format for the time being.

For more information please check out my website - www.bewellsing.com. And if you’re interested in singing with me, wherever you might be, please send me a message and/or sign up to receive emails about Virtual Community Sings. It would be great to ‘see’ you in the Zoom Room!” ’74 C

John de Jong stepped down as Immediate Past President of the American Veterinary Medical Association after 21 years. He now is Treasurer of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association. With sons at LSU and GWU, John and his wife, Carole, spend their time between Weston, Mass., and Jupiter, Fla. Love to hear from classmates!

’74 RH Stuart Crane Tilt writes, “Living with Lee Bowden in Vero Beach, Fla., which is like living in Paradise! Selling real estate and interior design work – both of which keep me very busy! Scuba diving, sporting clay shooting, boating, and beaching also keep me busy! No retirement in my foreseeable future! Loving life – COVID or not!”

’75 C Bruce Cooper writes, “Having moved my legal office to our dining room table, I am just trying to survive COVID while also preparing for major criminal trials (homicide/armed carjacking/armed robbery) in Washington, DC and Alexandria, Va. Our son Daniel is the Northeast Finance Director for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and his fiancee is a second year law student at Duke. Daniel recently worked with Chip Forrester ‘73, on a fundraiser in Tennessee.

Chip and I were in East Cottage in 1972–73 when I was a fourth former and he was a sixth former, and we have stayed in touch over the many years.”

Bob Kaiser writes, “Last September, my husband, Tim, and I took another road trip through England touring grand old country houses and palaces. We also visited with dear friends at their beach house in Rhiw, Wales. On a clear day one can see Ireland from the kitchen window. Participating in the Zoom ‘75 reunion was great. It was wonderful to see so many classmates and catch up. The candor with which many shared their challenging trials and tribulations took me by surprise, and simultaneously reinforced how wonderful it was to see them.”

my own home-based gallery, The Inner Vision Studio, located at my home in West Stockbridge, Mass. I currently do primarily watercolor on paper, but was a fine art photographer for many years. I was married for 19 years to a fine woodworker/harpmaker, Michael Costerisan, who recently passed away.

In addition to painting, I also have a small private practice as a creativity coach, helping other creative individuals find their voice, overcome inner critics, and get organized.”

Helen Healy Lenart writes, “I am blissfully happy with a home we purchased and moved into literally days before the shelter-in-place order. I have been busily feathering my new nest. Family business is good, my son is in law school at Seton Hall University (online) and high school age daughter is finding her path in life. She is great with animals – two dogs, two cats, and possibly a horse in our future.”

’76 C Robby Kilgore writes, “After nearly a decade as Creative Director at Nuance, I joined Amazon in December 2019 as Principal Voice User Interface Designer.”

’75 RH Karen Andrews writes, “I have been a working artist for over 30 years, having gotten my start in Barbara Bagg’s art history course and Peter Charlap’s painting class my fifth and sixth form years. I have

1 1 This is Alan Romefelt ’75’s

2

fifth year participating in the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, a charity event that raises money for prostate cancer research and men’s health centers. He writes, “If you could use a chuckle, this is my picture from last year’s event.

Not exactly typical Choatie attire on an atypical Choatie BMW.” 2 Bob Kaiser ’75 (R) and his

3

husband Tim (L) visit Aberdaron Beach, Rhiw, Wales, UK. 3 Karen Andrews ‘75 outside her

West Stockbridge gallery, The Inner Vision Studio.

44 CLASSNOTES

’76 RH Lisa Helme Danforth writes, “We were on cruise ship NCL Jewel in the middle of the South Pacific on March 15 when ports around the world started locking down. No one was ill on our cruise, but port after port rejected us. We zigzagged for 2 weeks before Honolulu eventually took us in and we were able to make our way home. With beautiful weather, nothing to do, free alcohol and food, it was the longest spring break ever for 60-year-olds. We made great CV friends whom we plan to travel with in the future when it’s safe(r).”

Suzanne Williams retired from Argonne National Laboratory in December and launched her new digital content consulting business, Weavequest LLC. It turns out to have been a crazy time to do both those things, what with everything going on in the world, but she is enjoying her newfound schedule flexibility to spend more time on creative projects and focus on a healthier lifestyle. She lives outside Chicago with her husband, Dave Lloyd, and two cats. ’77 C

Sam Otis writes, ”I text regularly with former roommates Tommy McGivern in California and Brad White in Texas. With me in Illinois, we seemed have hit the trifecta for COVID-19 hot spots. All are safe and healthy. Our daughter recently gave birth to our first grandchild. Mom, Dad, and baby boy Theo are all doing fine. My nurse practitioner superhero wife had to wait about a month to hold the babe because she volunteered to work the COVID-19 ICU for a few months. She is back in Cardiology where she belongs, still saving lives. We spend our free time holding the baby!”

’79

Rich Grinker ’79 writes, ”In January, W.W. Norton will release my new book, Nobody’s Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness.”

Glenn Hendler writes, ”Just before the pandemic hit, I published the book I talked to a bunch of classmates about at the reunion last year. It’s a short book all about David Bowie’s 1974 album Diamond Dogs, published in the ‘33⅓’ series, each of which is a book entirely about a single album. There’s lots of history in the book, and lots of close analysis of the music and the lyrics and the album cover, and little snippets of memoir – a couple of Choate Rosemary Hall classmates even come up! I had a big book release party planned for mid-March, with an opera singer performing Bowie’s song ‘Sweet Thing’ and another performer doing other songs from the album. Several CRH classmates were planning to attend, but the city shut down just days before. So I’ve done some online interviews and the like, in lieu of a book tour.” There is commentary on the book and the Bowie album by novelist Rick Moody, performer Daniel Alexander Jones, and singer Liz Phair: 333sound.com/why-diamond-dogs/

1980s ’81

Corina Salas Alvarez de lugo writes, “I’m currently in my last semester in grad school pursuing an MFA in the low-residency program at Lesley Art + Design at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., where another Choatie, Start Steck ‘82, happens to be teaching. A month into quarantine life because of COVID-19, I found myself adjusting to it by creating a series of handcrafted face masks out of materials at hand – one each day – as a way of reflecting this time in isolation, and creating a sense of purpose. We are all being asked to wear masks so I decided to use the mask to respond to what I hear in the news, how I feel, or just to keep my hands and mind busy as well

as to teach myself to crochet. I continue with my job as Visual Art faculty and Director of Galleries at The Ethel Walker School (6-12 grades).”

Tom Colt writes, “I’m starting my fourth year as a college counselor at Shanghai American School.

In the past year before the pandemic, Megan and I were able to visit a number of places including New Zealand, Fiji, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. We visited Vietnam during Chinese New Year in late January where our eight-day trip turned into a 40-day stay in the beach town of Mui Ne since the borders were closed at that time.”

James Wright writes, “I have coached soccer full-time for 29 years. I am currently working with NCFC Youth Soccer Club in Raleigh, N.C., approaching my 10th year. Previously I spent nine years as the assistant men’s soccer coach at my alma mater, Davidson College, before launching into youth coaching.”

’83 David Goldstone writes, “Just celebrated 21 years of marriage. Approaching the empty nest - one son in college and one a senior in high school. Living outside Boston. COVID has hit my catering company pretty hard, but we are surviving. We are still pushing forward with the development of a 12-acre event location near Franconia Notch in the White Mountains.” ’84

Emile Westergaard writes, “In 2019 I became a professor of finance at CUNY Brooklyn College. I currently teach investing online due to COVID to about 100 students per semester, and was recently made Advising Professor to the MD Sass Investment Institute at Brooklyn College. In 2020 I co-founded Green Chi Holdings BV, an Investment, Education, and Media platform, including Green Chi BV (Accelerator), and Green Chi Academy – all based in Amsterdam.”

’82 Gary Crotty ’82 and Karen Leetzow, Chief Legal Officer for U.S. Soccer, glacier lake diving in Iceland.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 45

CLASSNOTES | Profile

E V O L E H T ESIGN OF D

’87 y k s

v o iks Chris M ABOVE Chris’s ”capCAP”

design is an interchangeable water bottle wide-mouth lid with an ergonomic spout.

2005, Topanga Canyon, LA. In his 30s, a man hikes up a trail, checking his watch’s temperature: 90 F. Sweating, he treks up the last 20 yards to Santa Monica Mountain’s peak. He unscrews and raises his wide-mouthed water bottle, tossing it back. The wide-lip design coupled with a long bottle splashes water onto his mouth and face. The lip is too wide, and now there’s no water left.

2006, Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. After midnight, one apartment window stays lit. Inside its modest studio, Chris Miksovsky ’87 sits at his kitchen table, measuring a prototype lid for a wide-mouth water bottle. He measures it with a digital caliper, an extremely accurate right-angle ruler, a gift from his brother, Jan Miksovsky ’86. Chris unscrews his prototype’s small cap, revealing a smaller drinking spout mounted to the bottle’s wide-mouth lid.

His invention is an interchangeable wide-mouth lid with an ergonomic spout. Chris calls it the “capCAP.” For several years, Chris had managed other inventions at IDEO, the global design firm, including helping to develop a better toothbrush for a Fortune 100 company. Chris’s grad degree from nearby Stanford’s Joint Program in Design, his Cornell undergrad degree, and Choate Rosemary Hall proved he had the rigorous education to strike out on his own. But could he and capCAP earn even a tiny fraction of IDEO’s design success?

In 2007, Chris walked his capCAP prototype into the San Francisco store of the national outdoor retailer REI. The manager agreed that Chris had solved the wide-mouth lid issue. But REI’s buyer said they won’t purchase a prototype, only a finished product.

Using IDEO connections, Chris flew to a factory in China, perfecting capCAP’s final design, stopping one version that shattered when dropped. China’s Computer Numeric Control machines built molds for the caps to Chris’s satisfaction and shipped 5,000 capCAPs to him in San Francisco. The capCAP secured coveted REI shelf space.

Today, Chris’s design firm, humangear, helps many different consumers with busy, adventurous lives. Chris’s goal is to be in some small way part of the evolution of products that “make life easier for people,” he says. REI bought his next product, GoToob (a tube designed to be filled with liquid) on sight, emailing him a $156,000 purchase order. Chris tried to not scream with joy. He had to borrow money (partly from the same brother who gave him the caliper) to fulfill REI’s order.

Here’s how GoToob works: Sunscreen, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and dish soap come in many hard-plastic sizes. After 9/11, countless trashcans in airport security lines were filled with such liquids. What was needed was a refillable small tube.

Try squeezing Chris’s small 3.4 oz, soft yet rugged silicone GoToob. Its skin feels like foam rubber, like squeezing one of those silicone stress-relief balls. A review of GoToob usage shows how popular these portable tubes are. One cyclist tucks a GoToob filled with sunscreen in his skintight jersey. A professor uses GoToobs to transport shampoo and conditioner to feel confident in his crosscountry presentations, meeting TSA’s max size. Families use GoToobs to transport ketchup and mustard condiments for camping BBQs. Chris likes to use humor to sell his products. Yet, he also takes pride in their design, offering lifetime warranties for every single item, even $3 GoBites – forks, spoons, and knives that help displace throw-away plastic utensils. GoBites were recognized with the International Design Excellence Award, Fast Company’s Innovation Award, and three more prestigious prizes.

The side of a BPA-free nylon GoBites fork has a dull knife’s edge built into it. Not sharp enough to cut your tongue, but angled to slice Chimay Vieux cheese.

GoBites utensils are multi-functional in other ways, too. When you’re camping and eating REI’s self-heating deep pouch of porridge, your plastic spoon doesn’t reach the bottom. The GoBites Duo spoon slides into the groove on the Duo fork to make an extralong utensil. You’re not throwing away the virtually indestructible GoBites either. As evidence, Yosemite National Park now carries GoBites as part of the #dontfeedthelandfills sustainability initiative.

Chris freely admits, “We’re not curing cancer. We’re not inventing the transistor. We’re making forks, spoons, and squeezable tubes.

But I hope and believe our products help people lead more reusable, less disposable, lifestyles, which I think is a noble challenge with respect to the environment and climate change.” And humans love Chris’s gear. He still lives in his modest Haight-Ashbury studio, but to thwart San Francisco’s skyrocketing dot-com office rents, with humangear’s profits, he bought a nearby small converted auto garage that he shares with his four employees. Chris had the garage renovated to a design center with 3D printers, a back garden with an outdoor glass erasable board to brainstorm ideas, and a fire pit for lunches and happy hours during San Francisco’s notoriously cold “summer” days.

By Kevin A. Mardesich ’87 Kevin teaches Story at UCLA Extension.

46 CLASSNOTES

’85

Debby Leckonby has been Zooming with Katie (Prezzano) Durfee, Kristin (Beeman) Dunning, Courtney (Ingraffia) Barton, and Margaret Brinckerhoff on a regular basis.

Tom Lyons writes, “I am a psychotherapist living in Palm Springs, Calif. Would love to connect with other Choaties in the Coachella Valley.”

Jane Purdon writes, “I am the CEO of Women in Football (soccer as you call it), a position I’ve held since 2018. Prior to that I worked at the Premier League, Sunderland AFC, and UK Sport. I’d love to connect with any alumni or alumnae currently working in soccer or other sports.”

Scott Weinhold writes, “In July, I was assigned by the Department of State to Afghanistan as the Assistant Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. I will be here for two years, managing the embassy’s security and daily operations as well as overseeing U.S. assistance to the Afghan people and government.”

’87 Paul Grabowski writes, “I am beginning my second semester as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Never thought I would enjoy teaching so much!”

Kevin Kassover writes, “As many of my classmates are already aware, I’m excited to announce that I moved back to Los Angeles (from New York) in July.

I look forward to reconnecting with all of my SoCal Choaties. And I remain Vice President of Practice Development for Topix Pharmaceuticals.”

’88 Michael Teske completed his four-year diplomatic assignment as Regional Executive Officer with USAID in Pretoria, South Africa, his third overseas assignment with USAID. Previously he served for three and a half years in Honduras and two years in the Philippines. On August 12, he transitioned to a two-year diplomatic assignment with USAID in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as Supervisory Regional Executive Officer for the Central Asian Republics.

Michael is joined by his wife, Sevda, and three children: Isabella, Adib, and Kian. ’89

Adam Wallach was recently appointed to the Virginia Commission on Civic Education. The term runs through June 30, 2022.

Mark Serencha ‘89 wed Rebecca Martin at a family-only celebration in Miamisburg, Ohio, on June 20, 2020. Brothers Todd ‘94 and Scott ‘95 were in attendance. Hat-tip to Terry Wong ‘89, who introduced the happy couple at his wedding in 2018. A larger party with Choate friends will be planned post-pandemic!

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 47

CLASSNOTES | Profile

with Owen Kennerly ’87

B: Looking back on your career, what were some key turning points?

OWEN: One was learning how to look at cities and understand their DNA, something I gained an appreciation for at UC Berkeley from professors like Solomon and Paul Groth.

The city is like a text. You can read it and understand what happens over time and see transitions: social, cultural, racial, and financial facts. Oakland is a great example of that. That cued me in to working on urban projects.

B: Tell us about your Bill Sorro Community Project.

OWEN: That involved 66 units of affordable housing and

mixed use. On the ground floor there is double-height commercial space with restaurants and a community room open to gatherings and residents. Fourteen of the units are for the developmentally disabled. We worked with a nonprofit developer. The project received an operational subsidy from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the support of homes for developmentally disabled adults. Artist Eric Norberg honors the building’s namesake, late local community activist Bill Sorro, in the lobby with a tile mosaic, literally showing his strong stance for livable, affordable, equal housing.

B: What are some of your reflections on Choate’s architecture?

OWEN: I think a lot about the spatial experiences at Choate.

There is strong spatial choreography in great architecture.

That is what we try to bring to all our work. I had many experiences like this at Choate in the 1980s. For example, in my fourth form year, we were housed on the upper campus.

By K evin A. Ma rdes

ich ’ 87 /

A lot of modern architecture is a cool object set on a place.

But the Arts Center creates a space. It’s actually hollow in the middle.

B: It visually linked the Upper Campus with Lower Campus.

OWEN: Yes. And that space in the middle was great for

gathering. I remember on Friday nights seeing a movie in the Arts Center and then hanging out on the space’s steps with friends. And being in that space. It was very successful at unifying, including the two sides to the campus. It served a double role – a beautiful object and a void you would fill with friends.

The other facility that I loved was the combined structure of Hill House, the Dining Hall, and the Library. Harry Potter didn’t exist yet, but the Library had this Hogwartian feel to it. I also remember the acoustics of walking through Hill House’s carpeted lobby, then stepping into the clanging chatter of the Dining Hall, filled with antique wooden panels, soaring ceilings, and students alive with ideas.

B: How did you know you would go into architecture right away? As a Northwestern undergraduate, you immediately applied to Berkeley Architecture grad school.

OWEN: I knew I’d go into some design profession. I loved carpentry. I took the boat design course at Choate with Mark Tuttle. You would draft drawings of the hull, calculate its displacement, then cut and carve a model in the woodshop. A great class! I knew I’d go into something design wise. My dad was an architect. He tried to dissuade me, saying, “It is a ton of work. Not as romantic as you think.”

The great thing about architecture is you can be a generalist.

History, literature, sound design – it’s all relevant. It’s like film! So many skills are useful for it: your screenwriting is huge, but also sound design, cinematography, et cetera.

Kevin t eache s Story

at UCL A

Extens ion.

Kenn erly Arch itect ure & Stree t by

B: Do you recall any favorite Choate buildings?

OWEN: The Arts Center is one of my favorite buildings.

San Fran cisco ’s 20 0 6 th

construct today are modern, we like to think they have a quality to be landmarks in the future. That they will be representative of this time, yet in a way that resonates with the buildings that were there before. Dan Solomon and other urban theorists call this “the continuous city.” We do not want to disrupt the city. That happened in decades past where entire neighborhoods were torn down. The idea is to have a continuum where you build on what is there in a contemporary way that’s modern, forward looking, and progressive, but does not erase. You build in an additive way.

You would cross the long timber bridge through a forest of tall pines to go to the upper campus Dining Hall. In the winter, you would walk across the bridge the morning after it had snowed, with boughs hanging down, covered in snow.

It was like you were in the Nutcracker! For a kid who grew up in New York City, that spatial experience blew me away.

Phot o de tail: Mixe d-us e bu ildin g on

BULLETIN: What’s your overall building design philosophy?

OWEN KENNERLY: Even though the buildings we

Plan ning .

P r i n c i pa l , K e n n e r ly A r c h i t e c t u r e

48 CLASSNOTES

1990s ’91

Anne Glass writes, “I am in my third year as Head of School at Purnell School, a college preparatory boarding school for girls who learn differently.

With the need to empty our campus and pivot to distance learning last spring, we succeeded in migrating our entire learning and wellness program online, including academics, individualized learning support, student activities, community service, and mental health supports via tele-therapy releases.

In other news, my sons Jake (18) and Owen (15) continue to thrive and eat everything in the house!”

Paul Taegel writes, “Be sure to check out The 2nd, written by me and Eric Bromberg, coming to iTunes and Netflix this fall. Although production and casting considerations changed the location to a college, my earlier drafts involved a kidnapping at a boarding school, and I used a Choate campus map to figure out the geography. Essentially it’s Die Hard at Hill House.”

Geoff Tracy writes, “While the state of the restaurant industry is beyond rocky, we’re fighting to keep as much of our team employed as possible.

We also think Washingtonians could use more CG Burgers and Supermug beers now more than ever.

We’ve decided to take a risk and expand the Chef Geoff’s brand with an additional location.”

’92 Courtney Baker writes, “After completing a Mellon fellowship at the James Weldon Johnson Institute at Emory University, I have returned to California to be an associate professor in the English department at the University of California at Riverside. During quarantine, I have been giving talks on Instagram Live and other platforms, to discuss the art of African American liberation with the Atlanta University Center Art Collective and to announce the appearance of my book chapter on the documentary I Am Not Your Negro (Routledge, June 2020). I have been working in an advisory capacity with screenwriters and would love to hear from other Choaties in the industry or academia.”

Ian Lendler has published another picture book, Everything Naomi Loved, a story of gentrification and a young girl who chronicles her lost neighborhood by painting a mural. This is the first project that he has worked on as a co-writer alongside Katie Yamasaki, an award-winning muralist who has created public art around the world.

Hee-Jin Yim writes, “This summer, I moved to Korea from NYC to become Director of College Counseling at Dwight School Seoul. I’m originally from Seoul, but left for Choate exactly 30 years ago.

Returning for the first time since then as an expat, I feel a bit like a fish out of water. I look forward to connecting with the fellow Choaties in the area.”

Samantha Coleman Ritchey writes, “I’ve gotten to have some girls weekends with Kristen Zeitzer, Onna Houck, Lacey Tucker, and Sara Glenn! Fun times all over the country. I also got married on leap day this year to my amazing husband, Zachary Ritchey.”

’93

Kalimah Fergus Ayele writes, “After a decade living and teaching at international schools abroad, I have returned to my hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y. I completed my EdM in Organization and Leadership with the Klingenstein Center for school leadership at Teachers College Columbia University and look forward to connecting with fellow Choate alumni on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Valerie Chang Greer will join the tenure track faculty at the University of Utah School of Architecture with research jointly sponsored by the Schools of Architecture and Medicine to focus on health and design. She and her family look forward to calling Utah home, and hope to see you on the slopes of Park City.

Jenny Hyun and several members of the class of ’93 got together for a virtual reunion during COVID shelter-in-place. In attendance were Lori (Nigro) Merritt, Jenny Hyun, Whitney Asher, Lily Lok, Sara Wright, Courtney Scott, Jemima Talbot, Window Snyder, Sal Nuzzo, Kristen Clarke, Veronica (Hernandez) Tate, Susan Kurien, Kalimah Fergus Ayele.

Hannah Sears is working, volunteering and living in Washington, DC. She is now Auntie to four beautiful children.

Jonathan Rebell writes, “This summer, I have been enjoying dining outdoors (in a COVID-safe environment) at the brand new Demarchelier Restaurant opened by Emily Demarchelier ‘95 on the North Fork of Long Island.”

’96

Florian Kuhn welcomed the birth of children four and five, twin girls Sophia and Helena.

’99

Julianne Miller and Lindsay Murphy were married on May 7, 2020 on Ojibway Island in Saginaw, Mich. It was a small, socially-distant outdoor ceremony with four friends and family in attendance. They are currently living in San Diego, where Lindsay is a lieutenant in the Navy Medical Corps and Julianne is working remotely for Trinity College, Cultural Programs in Italy.

Sean Thomas writes, “During July and August, some of the alumni members of the Choate Track and Field team came together virtually and conquered the Polar Believe In The Run Grit Challenge. The virtual running challenged the participants to run 25, 75, 150, 225, or 300 miles in 30 days.

Former track and field captains including myself, Rob Mandle ’98, Stephen Haskins ’00, Jamel Melville ’00, along with former members Gerard McGeary ’00, and Alex Pullen ’01, all completed the 30 to 60 day challenge in their respective parts of the country as part of their Choate Track and Be More Today teams! #forevertrue #demchoateboys.”

TOP Julianne Miller ’99 and Lindsay Murphy were married on May 7,

2020 on Ojibway Island in Saginaw, Mich. Jules (L) and Lindsay (R) are pictured here in Newport, R.I. CENTER Valerie Chang Greer ‘93 and her family on the campus of

Washington University in St. Louis. Pictured here, Valerie ’93, daughter Isla (3) and husband Jeff.

BOTTOM Jonathan Abram ’99 married Naquita Allison in Hong Kong

in a civil wedding on February 28, 2020. Jonathan’s brother Jordan Abram ’06 was also in attendance.

CLASSNOTES | Profile

Adaeze Igwe

A World of Opportunity

’95

Adaeze Igwe ’95 grew up in Texas as a Nigerian national, with an aptitude and love for learning that prompted one of her teachers to encourage her to apply to East Coast prep schools. Less than a year later, she stepped onto the Choate campus, ready for her next adventure.

Adventure it was. Adaeze found inspiration in every corner – from teachers who set high but caring expectations, to standout classes like French and International Relations, to the incredibly diversified and talented student body.

It was in this trio of mentors, courses, and classmates that Adaeze discovered her love of civil service, her draw to languages, and her interest in the world outside our borders. And, she wanted to pursue these aspirations as an American citizen.

After a four-year stint at the World Bank, Adaeze, with newly gained American citizenship, joined the Peace Corps. She was sent to Togo, in West Africa, where she worked with local women to build up micro-businesses. She reflects, “You learn so much as a human by being somewhere with such poverty. I left Nigeria at age 7 with fond memories. This was so different.” In her time in Togo, Adaeze became close with both the U.S. Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission to Togo, two women invested in her aspirations as a young professional. With their guidance, Adaeze pursued her now 10-year career as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State. In June 2010, Adaeze joined the Public Diplomacy “cone” of the Foreign Service – a great marriage of her communications and language backgrounds.

After a first tour in Jamaica, Adaeze spent a second tour in Honduras as the Embassy’s Cultural Affairs Officer. In that role, she utilized public diplomacy skills to engage with the local population, often sharing with them her passion for American education – the foundation of which was set at Choate.

The draw to learning new languages helped drive Adaeze toward intriguing posts around the world. In 2014, at the peak of ISIS, Adaeze had her eyes on Arabic – she knew that with this language under her belt, she could be at the very pulse of important work in the Arab-speaking world. Following two years of intensive language study, Adaeze began working in Baghdad with a focus on the ethnic and religious minorities of the country – Christians, Jews, Yazidis, and Kurds, among many others. “This was an intense and dynamic portfolio for two years. Iraq is steeped in a beautiful mosaic of history. People don’t realize how incredibly diverse this country is. Our work there was so professionally and personally impactful.” Adaeze organized a Seder at the Ambassador’s residence for the remaining Jewish Iraqis in the area and Jewish Americans at the Embassy, all led by a U.S. Army rabbi. Often amidst strife, Adaeze and so many diplomats across the world work tirelessly to protect the marginalized, the Seder being one example of such efforts.

Adaeze returned to the U.S., not content to rest on her three languages already mastered. So, why not apply for a position in Beijing? Chinese Mandarin has never been described as an easy language, but that only served to fire Adaeze’s drive. With a year of language study completed this summer, Adaeze is off to Taiwan for language immersion before three years at Embassy Beijing.

Adaeze built her foundation at Choate. “Choate has a special place in my heart forever. While at school, I saw students intensely focused on their education in a remarkable way. I learned everything I needed to know about how to study hard while at Choate.”

She grew her wings in three years in Wallingford. Now, she quite literally flies the world. She brings passion and purpose to each post. She is a reminder of the America so many strong and courageous diplomats are sharing with the world beyond our borders.

“I love my career. I am paid to learn a language to do my job. I am paid to travel to do my job. I am paid to be a representative of America to do my job. It is amazing. The opportunities to make a difference are great.”

By jamie bruce Jamie is an Assistant Director of Donor Relations in Choate’s Office of Development & Alumni Relations.

50 CLASSNOTES

Babies!

1

1 Hawkins Bear Khachane,

3 Charlotte Wuisan ‘07 and

5 On April 2 Julia Fraser

6 Catherine Tarasoff Burroughs

new son of Avi ’04 and Vanessa Khachane ’04 and baby brother to River Hazel Khachane.

husband Philip welcomed their daughter, Avery Chen, on December 7, 2019.

Washington ’03 and her husband Andrey welcomed their second daughter, Remi Grace Washington.

‘03 and her husband, Taylor, welcomed their second daughter, Samantha Swan Burroughs, on April 8.

2 Tyson Seely holding daughter

4 Jason Kasper ’05 and wife

Etta (2) and Shannon Sweeney ‘03 holding daughter Nellie, born July 27.

Elizabeth welcomed George Duke Kasper on July 3. Both he and Elizabeth are healthy and doing great!

2

3

4

5

6

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 51

2000s ’02

Anthea Jay Kamalnath writes, “Beginning this fall, I am joining the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies - Center for International Dispute Settlement MIDS Program in Geneva, Switzerland, to specialize in international investment and trade law with a focus on WTO, ICC, the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, and ICSID dispute settlement mechanisms. As an attorney, I look forward to deepening my understanding of the law and the critical role of foreign investment in international development.”

’03 Daniella Berman married Dr. Anthony Cak on December 1, 2019 in Brooklyn and celebrated with family and close friends, including Christine Cha, James Stewart, Annie Rosen ’04, and Sarah Rosen ’08.

Catherine Tarasoff Burroughs and her husband, Taylor, welcomed their second daughter, Samantha Swan Burroughs, on April 8. Samantha is already thrilled to be best friends with Julia (Fraser) Washington ‘03’s newest daughter, Remi Grace, born just days before her.

Shannon Sweeney and her husband, Tyson Seely, welcomed their second daughter, Nellie Kate Seely, on July 27 at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass., where they live. Nell joins Etta (2), who is thrilled to be a big sister! Shannon has been working remotely as a research associate for Oregon Health & Science University on the AHRQ-funded EvidenceNOW evaluation called ESCALATES.

On April 2, 2020 Julia Fraser Washington and husband Andrey welcomed their second daughter, Remi Grace Washington. Like mother, like daughter Remi is already best friends with Catherine (Tarasoff) Burroughs 03’s new baby, Samantha Swan, born exactly a week after her! ’04 Alessandra Echeverria has been accepted to the Coordinated Program of the Department of Nutrition at Georgia State University. She plans to become a pediatric dietitian.

Avi Khachane and Vanessa Khachane welcomed their second child, Hawkins Bear Khachane, on June 2, 2020. Parents, baby, and new big sister, River Hazel Khachane (2), are doing great and finding silver linings during this time with more quantity and quality family time. They have also recently moved from NYC to Westchester, N.Y., and would love to connect with fellow Choaties in the area!

’05 Morgan Eifler and Allegra welcomed their first child, Genevieve Scott Eifler, who turned 1 in August. She is happy, healthy, and looking forward to meeting the other small humans she has only observed from a distance. Morgan recently switched roles from Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock’s Financial Institutions Group to the Business Development unit of Minneapolis-based Varde Partners. They still live in Manhattan.

Kelly Ryan Rizzo and John Rizzo tied the knot on July 17 in Bethesda, Md. Due to COVID-19 and the restrictions in place, they had an intimate ceremony of 15 people on the 16th Hole of the championship course at Congressional Country Club - the first couple ever to get married on Congressional’s golf course. ’06 Molly (West) Dearing married Danny Dearing on September 7, 2019 in Kennebunkport, Maine. It was a beautiful day, and Molly and Danny were so thankful to have many Choate friends take part in their celebration!

Frank Hamilton and his wife, Diana, moved to London, UK in January. Any Choaties in London should reach out! ’07 Rachel Cohn started a small business called Virtual Party Planning born out of the rise in virtual events and extra time spent at home. Virtual Party Planning creates custom experiences for any occasion.

Services include designing and planning virtual parties and at-home experiences from concept and theme development to agendas and activities to environmental details that are each tailored to a specific platform: virtualpartyplanning.com.

Sean Lubner writes, “In a recent episode of ThinksWithTwitch, I discuss the need for better energy storage to enable a future switch to all-renewable energy: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SYBHHEr75OY. The discussion covers economics and grid-management considerations and dives into my research on batteries and thermal energy storage.”

Greg Manz is joining Fox News as a communications adviser for strategy. He previously worked for Steve Bannon’s War Room show and is a veteran of the Pennsylvania GOP. ’08 Cordelia Blanchard writes, “I was surprised and excited to learn that Elliott (Eli) Augus ’08 and I are both in this year’s incoming M.B.A. class at the UT Austin McCombs School of Business. I have transitioned away from a career in the arts as a Master Printmaker and will be concentrating in marketing and brand management. Eli is finishing up a master’s of science in human ecology (focusing on well-being and contemplative practice) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and will specialize in technology product management.”

’09

Maggie Remsen married Chris Sachvie on July 31 in a small ceremony in Locust Valley, N.Y. “We were surrounded by immediate family and a few friends - not our original plan but ended up being great! Missed having a bunch of Choate friends there but plan on celebrating at some point next year.”

2010s ’11

Dylan Anslow writes, “I had a virtual graduation ceremony this May and received my Master of Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and am now working as a landscape designer.”

Thomas Huntley-Loehr recently graduated and has begun to practice general dentistry in central Florida.

’13 Katie Botta and Johann Fitzpatrick were married on August 7. One of the eight guests in attendance at this outdoor, socially-distanced ceremony was Megan Souza ’13, maid of honor, photographer, and best friend to the bride and groom.

Josephine O’Neil is starting an M.A. in East Asian studies at Stanford.

Ashish Patel started his first full-time position as an Aerospace Engineer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He will be supporting the Exploration Ground Systems Program at Kennedy in preparation for the launch of Artemis I in 2021. Ashish graduated from Purdue with his M.S. in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in August. ’17 Austin Huang writes, “My Choate classmate and now Williams classmate, Mohammed Memfis, was recently one of 55 students nationwide awarded the Udall Scholarship for Environmental Studies.

He has both been a leader at school and in his work for the advancement of environmental justice.

Mohammed has interned at the ACLU and NRDC and plans to work as an environmental attorney. During his time at Williams, he worked on researching histories of environmental activism on college campuses across the country and has helped organize various events on environmental justice. Here is a link to the Williams College announcement of the award with more details on Mohammed and the Udall Scholarship: communications.williams.edu/ news-releases/5_8_2020_udall/“

52 CLASSNOTES

1 2

4

3

Weddings!

1 Kelly Ryan Rizzo ’05 and John

4 Maggie Remsen ‘09 and Chris

Rizzo tied the knot on July 17, 2020 in Bethesda, Md. They had an intimate ceremony of 15 people on the 16th Hole of the championship course at Congressional Country Club.

Sachvie were married on July 31, 2020.

2 Newlyweds Katie Botta ’13

and Johann Fitzpatrick ’13 celebrate after their small backyard ceremony.

3 Newlyweds Daniella Berman

’03 and Anthony Cak share their first dance at Brooklyn Winery.

Photo credit: Olya Vysotskaya Foto Atelier.

5 Molly (West) Dearing married

Danny Dearing on September 7, 2019 in Kennebunkport, Maine. From left to right, Lena Gayraud-Oliveros ‘06, Emily Lovejoy-White ‘06, Eliot Jia ‘06, Miriam Brisbin ‘06, Molly Dearing ‘06, Danny Dearing, Caroline Luby ‘06, Molly Biddiscombe ‘06, and Alex Nason ‘06.

5

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 53

CLASSNOTES | Profile

Creating A Sustainable Brand with Veronica Chou ’02 BULLETIN: You launched your eco-clothing line Everybody & Everyone

VERONICA: It hasn’t been easy, and a lot of things cannot be

(everybodyeveryone.com) last fall. You had already made inroads in the fashion industry as an executive at Iconix Brand Group China bringing American brands to Chinese consumers, and as a director of Karl Lagerfeld Greater China. Five years ago, you were driven to create a sustainable brand. What changed your focus toward sustainability and addressing some of the negative impacts of the fashion industry on the environment?

VERONICA: I grew up going to my family’s factories, asking why is it so smelly, why is it so dusty. When I began learning about sustainability and how our world is in climate crisis … once you learn these things you can’t unlearn it. I couldn’t just sit back and not do anything. I was then lucky enough to be exposed to the fascinating world of material science and technology, which I firmly believe can enable us to make products that don’t harm our planet.

Some of our clothes at Everybody & Everyone already demonstrate that we can produce items with no pollution and low or no carbon footprint. For example, our wrinkle-less pants are made from fermented sugar and are adjustable to three leg-lengths and at the waist; our puffer coat is made from 330 recycled plastic bottles, and it can be unzipped into a shorter jacket; our sustainable turtleneck sweater has a removable neck piece to become a crew neck!

achieved yet. It’s important for us to start from the ground up and consider every single element. We were lucky to find many good partners to help us.

B: Your brand emphasizes embracing every body type. You sell

women’s clothing from size 00 to size 24. On your website, you show identical clothing on models ranging from size 2 and size 8, to size 16.

Why is body positivity and inclusivity important to consumers?

VERONICA: I grew up with all the pressures of being a size 0, but I have never been that size and never will. I don’t want anyone else to have this mentality that you have to be a certain size. Everyone’s body is different, and our identity shouldn’t be defined by a size.

B: Your team has given attention to details across the entire supply

chain. Fabrics are knit close to where garments are manufactured in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint; your t-shirts, socks, packaging, mailers, labels, and stickers are all made from recycled materials; your denim is manufactured in America. You’ve woven sustainability into every aspect of the business. Was this difficult to do?

B: How did Choate help shape your interest in fashion?

VERONICA: I came from Hong Kong, and Choate exposed me to

the way Americans dressed. My roommates showed me brands that I didn’t know about, such as J. Crew and Abercrombie, and I started to understand the reach a branded business can have. I also helped out with the costumes for some theater productions and wrote a history paper on the uniforms of the Confederate and Union armies.

B: You have been quoted as saying that the birth of your twins refocused your sustainability efforts. Can you say more about that?

VERONICA: Since having kids, eating organic became important for our family, as well as buying things that were nontoxic. Then I very quickly learned about how polluting the fashion industry is, and I knew I had to do something about it.

B: How do you juggle a new business as a working mom?

VERONICA: I know how busy mom life can be, so I want to have

done all the hard work of making the most sustainable wellthought-out product in order to help make every busy mom’s life a little bit easier. A busy mom won’t have to do all the research of what is sustainable, but she can wear our jeans, feel good, and put a lot of things, including pens, in our jeans because of their massive pockets. A busy mom can have clean clothes and do less laundry because our lounge collection is spill and odor proof, and she can look effortlessly good when juggling all the things in her life.

By lorraine S. Connelly Lorraine was Choate’s former Associate Director of Communications for Marketing and Media and Editor of the Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin.

54

IN MEMORIAM | Remembering Those We Have Lost ’44 C

Alumni and Alumnae

Stephen Peter Law, 93, a retired insurance executive, died June 26, 2020 in Salisbury, Conn. Born in Rome, Italy, Peter came to Choate in 1942; he was in the Choral Club and the Band, and was on the Board of the Choate News. After Choate, he graduated from Princeton, and because he was a British subject he joined the Royal Navy. He was in risk management for four decades, mostly in New York. Active in the community, Peter was a former Norwalk (Conn.) city commissioner, was in the Norwalk Land Trust, and volunteered at the Norwalk Maritime Center. He also enjoyed tennis. He leaves four children and seven grandchildren; the family may be contacted at 18 Sugar Hill Rd., Falls Village, CT 06031.

’36 RH Molly Cummings Cook, 102, died April 2, 2020 in Greenwich, Conn. Born in Seattle, Molly came to Rosemary Hall in 1930; she was General Sports Captain, Head Dayboarder Marshal and Prize Day Marshal, and was in the Choir. She then graduated from Vassar. Her mother, the first woman to receive a commercial pilot’s license in the United States, urged Molly to become a pilot, which she did at age 18, performing stunt flying in several air shows. During World War II she was a Second Lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol.

After several years living abroad, she returned to the US and pursued careers in interior design and photography.

Her first husband, William Minot, was a Rosemary Hall Trustee from 1959 to 1963. He managed Canada Dry of Fairfield County, and when he died, Molly took over management of the company until 1968. She later managed the family cattle ranch in Montana. She enjoyed gardening and sailing. She leaves a son and three granddaughters.

’40 RH Phebe Davol Wallace, 97, active in the community, died June 17, 2020. Born in Stamford, Conn., Phebe came to Rosemary Hall in 1937; she was in the Choir and the Philomel Chorus. After attending Smith, she lived for many years in Longmeadow, Mass., where she was an active volunteer at her church and in a maternity hospital, at the Laughing Brook Nature Sanctuary, and at the Springfield Museum of Natural History. Phebe enjoyed canoeing, particularly at her vacation home in the Berkshires; she was also an avid gardener. She leaves four children, nine grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

’41 C

James H. Fannon, 96, an artist and advertising executive, died August 20, 2020. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jim came to Choate in 1939; he was Business Manager of the Brief and President of the Art Club, winning a School art prize. In his sixth form year he created a mural which is still at School in the Macbeth Study of the Andrew Mellon Library. He then attended Dartmouth, but left to serve in the Army Air Corps

’45 C

William D. Kelley IV, 92, died December 18, 2019. Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., Bill came to Choate in 1940; he was in the Cum Laude Society. His father, the late William D. Kelley III, taught English at Choate from 1927 to 1957.

’45 RH Claire Grover Parsells, 93, In his sixth form year, James Fannon ’41 created a mural depicting scenes from Macbeth, which now resides in the aptly named Macbeth Study of the Andrew Mellon Library.

during World War II. After working at a New York art auction house, he co-founded Fannon & Osmond, which produced business advertising. Jim enjoyed sailing and playing tennis, but art was his passion; he headed arts organizations on Hilton Head Island, S.C., and was a docent for the Coastal Discovery Museum into his 90s. He leaves three children and six grandchildren.

Manton B. Metcalf III, 97, a retired executive of an investment firm, died July 17, 2020. Born in New York City, Manton came to Choate in 1937; he lettered in cross-country, was in the Glee Club, and was an associate member of the Student Council. After graduating from Harvard, he served in the Navy. Manton was Vice Chairman of the Smith Barney investment firm. He also served on the boards of several organizations, including the Forrestdale School, Greenwich House, the Providence Journal, and Rumson Country Day School. He enjoyed tennis

and was involved with several tennis clubs. He leaves three children; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a sister. A brother, the late Richard Metcalf ’43; also attended Choate. Other family at School were a niece, Amy Loomis ’82, and cousins Jesse Metcalf II ’42, Rowe Metcalf Jr. ’43, Mary Kinney ’48, Louisa O’Keefe ’50, all of whom are deceased; and Timothy Metcalf ’70 and Nicola Metcalf ’78.

’42 RH Helen Lynch Dickey, 95, active in the community, died March 25, 2020. Born in Greenwich, Conn., Rogie, as she was known, came to Rosemary Hall in 1938. She was Business Manager of the Answer Book, Treasurer of the sixth form, Dayboarder Fire Captain, on the Kindly Club Council, played 1st Team tennis and earned 10 bars on the Committee. Rogie was an active advocate for women’s health issues, chairing the board of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania. She enjoyed tennis, playing well into her 80s. She leaves five children, 15 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

died July 14, 2020. Born in Princeton, N.J., Claire came to Rosemary Hall in 1943; she was Captain of the basketball team. She worked at the Princeton Public Library, Parsells Real Estate, and the Princeton Packet. An avid golfer, Claire won several tournaments. She leaves four children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

’46 C

Arthur F. Bohner, 91, a retired stock broker, died December 26, 2019. Born in New York City, Art came to Choate in 1942; he lettered in soccer and was in the Band. After graduating from Williams, he served two years in the Army and then attended Northwestern’s and New York University’s schools of business.

He worked for General Electric Co., then was a stockbroker with the New York firm of Cady Roberts & Co. He leaves his wife, Suzanne Bohner, P.O. Box 452, Glen Cove, NY 11542; six children; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and a brother, Robert Bohner ’47. Another brother, the late William Bohner ’45, also attended Choate.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 55

Henry N. Marshall II, 92, an executive of lumber companies, died June 2, 2020. Born in Newton, Mass., Henry came to Choate in 1944; he lettered in hockey and was in the Choral Club. After graduating from Babson, Henry spent many years in the lumber business, retiring in 1992. He leaves his wife, Carolyn Marshall, Allerton House, Unit 368, 290 Kingstown Way, Duxbury, MA 20332; three children; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

Raphael Eustace Semmes, 90, died February 29, 2020 in Memphis, Tenn. Born in Memphis, Eustace came to Choate in 1944, where he rowed crew. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, he was associated with Stratton-Warren Co. and then acquired Montgomery & Co., where he was President for nearly 40 years. Eustace enjoyed deep-sea fishing, skiing, cycling, contemporary architecture, and music. He leaves his wife, Carrie Semmes, 4065 Dumaine Way, Unit 67, Memphis, TN 38117; two children; four grandchildren; and a sister.

’46 RH Eleanor Lloyd Helm, 91, a retired nurse, died May 12, 2020 in Hanover, N.H. Born in New York City, Eleanor, known as Nell, came to Rosemary Hall in 1943; she was Secretary of Philomel and Prize Day Marshal, played 1st Team hockey, earned four bars on the Committee and was in the Choir. After studying at the Child Education Foundation, she graduated from the Children’s Hospital School of Nursing in Louisville, Ky. and specialized in respiratory care during the polio epidemic of the 1950s. She later moved to Weston, Mass., where she was on the board of the local Visiting Nurses and was a co-founder of Parents and Children’s Services of Boston, and then moved to Philadelphia, where she was a hospice care worker. Nell enjoyed tennis, golf, and skiing. She leaves her husband, Bill Helm, 57 Cummings Rd., Apt. 359, Hanover, NH 03755; four children; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Her sister-inlaw, Barbara Ann Burroughs ’45, also attended Rosemary Hall.

’47 C Edmund H. Damon, 90, a manufacturing company executive, died May 25, 2020 in Kennebunk, Maine. Born in St. Louis, Mo., Ted was at Choate for one year. He lettered in tennis and was in the Choral Club.

After earning degrees from Amherst and the University of Bridgeport (Conn.), he served in the Air Force, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. He then was an executive with Strategic Materials Corp., the Singer Company, and the manufacturer of rubber goods Panasote, where he was President and CEO. He also served on the boards of several companies, including Arnold Foods and the Bombay Company. Ted was a past President of the United Way of Greenwich, Conn., and of York County, Maine, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He leaves his wife, Florence Damon, 5 Annies Way, Kennebunk, ME 04043; two daughters; and a granddaughter. His brother, the late William Damon ’46, also attended Choate.

Ernest E. Monrad, 90, a retired investment banker, died June 27, 2020.

Born in Little Falls, N.Y., Ernie came to Choate in 1942. He was Associate Editor of the Choate News; a Campus Cop; in the Cum Laude Society, the Choral Club, and the French Club; and he won a School prize in modern languages. After graduating from Harvard, he spent two years in the Army and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. He then joined Northeast Investors Trust, rising to become its Chairman. He was also on the boards of several banks, trusts, and funds, and he endowed chairs at Harvard in Economics, Russian Studies, and World Christianity. Ernie served on the boards of several schools, including Simmons College, the Fessenden School, and St. Paul’s.

In 2004, he established the Karl J. and Augusta O. Monrad Chair in honor of his parents. He leaves his wife, Betty Monrad, 218 Allandale Rd., Apt. C, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467; three children; eight grandchildren, including Gregory Shuman ’05 and Elizabeth Shuman ’07; and two great-grandchildren. ’48 C Richard K. Barnes, 88, a retired teacher, died May 21, 2020.

Born in Englewood, N.J., Dick came to Choate in 1943; he was in the Cum Laude Society and a Campus Cop. After

graduating from Haverford College, he was a teacher, first in private schools and then in public schools, retiring in Ridgefield, Conn., in 1995. Dick enjoyed tennis, playing into his 80s, and he founded the Senior Summer Tennis Association in Bedford, Mass. He leaves five daughters, including Lydia Barnes ’82. His brother, the late William Barnes ’41, also attended Choate. His former wife, Theodosia Knapp Watkins ’48, attended Rosemary Hall.

’49 C Robert S. Jones, 88, an executive of a pharmaceutical firm, died July 12, 2020 in Columbus, N.C. Born in Waterbury, Conn., Bob came to Choate in 1943; he lettered in crew and was in the Choral Club. After graduating from Yale, he was in the Navy for three years and then earned an MBA from Harvard. Bob spent most of his professional career with Hoffman LaRoche in Nutley, N.J. He leaves his wife, Ellen Jones, 621 Laurel Lake Dr., Apt. B-219, Columbus, NC 28722; three children; and six grandchildren.

William Tedrow “Ted” Little, 89, an entrepreneur and longtime Choate volunteer, died June 24, 2020 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., Ted came to Choate in 1947; he lettered in cross-country and basketball, was a Campus Cop, and was in the Western Club. After serving in the Air Force, he earned degrees from the University of Michigan, then spent 11 years with US Plywood Corp. and years in partnerships with other national firms. Ted was involved with many organizations in Kalamazoo, including those providing housing for the poor. He was also active in the United Way, the Boy Scouts, the Rotary Club, Big Brothers, the Salvation Army and many other charitable groups. A 49-year Choate Class Agent, in 2013 Ted donated $10 million for renovations to the Paul Mellon Arts Center. He also supported the Sculpture Garden at the Sally Hart Lodge and the construction of Phoebe House, the Head of School’s home. He enjoyed hunting and golf. He leaves his wife, Fran Little, 1608 Whites Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49008; three children; two stepchildren, including David Carrington Jr. ’83 and Heather Carrington ’85; and five grandchildren, including Kohl Weisman ’15.

Warren G. Poole, 89, a retired management consultant, died August 12, 2020. Born in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., Warren came to Choate in 1946. He lettered in basketball, was Advertising Manager of the Brief, was in the Student Council and St. Andrew’s Cabinet, and was President of the Western Club. After graduating from Harvard, he served in the Army in Alaska, then earned a business degree from Stanford. He worked for management consultants McKinsey & Co. in San Francisco and Melbourne, Australia, returning to California to found Food Dimensions Inc. Warren was an enthusiastic collector of contemporary glass, serving on the board of the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass. He leaves his wife, Barbara Poole, 620 Sand Hill Rd., Apt. 106-D, Palo Alto, CA 94304; two sons; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson. ’50 C Henry A. Leigh III, 88, an executive of paper companies, died May 30, 2020. Born in Port Chester, N.Y., Harry came to Choate in 1948; he played club sports and was in the Altar Guild. After graduating from St. Lawrence University and serving in the Army he was an executive of the Oxford Paper and Mead Paper companies.

Harry enjoyed boating, fishing, golf, and hunting. For several years he was the Shellfish Warden of the town of Greenwich, Conn. He leaves his wife, Lindsay Leigh, 11 Keofferam Rd., Old Greenwich, CT 06870; three children; two stepchildren; five grandchildren; and four step-grandchildren.

Nicholas Peay Jr., 86, a private investor and patron of the arts, died April 19, 2020 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Born in Kansas City, Mo., Nick came to Choate in 1946; he was in the Glee and Choral Clubs, the Maiyeros, and the Western Club. After graduating from Yale, he became a private investor. When he moved to Cleveland in 1970, he joined the Cleveland Opera Chorus and eventually became its Chairman and head of fundraising.

Nick also was on the boards of the Cleveland Ballet, the Robert Page Singers, and the Cleveland Orchestra.

He leaves his wife, Barbara Sue Peay, 2965 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland Heights, OH 44118; three children; and seven grandchildren.

56 IN MEMORIAM

Francis V. Tracy, 89, a retired high school teacher, died May 19, 2020 in Ridgefield, Conn. Born in Bristol, Conn., Frank came to Choate in 1948.

He was in St. Andrew’s Cabinet; lettered in football, basketball, and baseball; and won two School sports awards.

After graduating from Middlebury, he served in the Air Force, then earned a master’s degree in education. For 30 years, Frank taught political science, U.S. history, and government at New Canaan (Conn.) High School. He enjoyed opera, traveling worldwide to opera houses and teaching classes in opera in his home town. He leaves his wife, Anne Tracy, 32 Ledges Rd., Ridgefield, CT 06877; two children; a sister; and a brother. An uncle, the late Joseph Tracy ’23, also attended Choate.

’51 C Carl “Sandy” Dann III, 88, a retired orthodontist, died June 18, 2020. Born in Orlando, Fla., Sandy came to Choate in 1947. He was Captain of varsity wrestling, President of the Southern Club, in the Press Club, the Student Council, and the Cum Laude Society, and was on the Board of the Choate News. After earning bachelor’s, master’s, and Doctor of Dental Surgery degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he had a long career in orthodontics. Sandy enjoyed travel, hunting, diving, skiing, and sailing. He leaves four children, three grandchildren, two greatgrandchildren, and a sister.

Scott E. O’Gorman, 87, a retired executive of Johnson Controls, Inc., died April 3, 2020 in Greensboro, Ga. Born in Birmingham, Mich., Scott was at Choate for one year; he was in the Western and Glee clubs. After graduating from Yale, he served in the Army, then moved to Washington, DC, where he held various positions in the HVAC Division of Johnson. Scott enjoyed singing, tennis, and golf. He leaves his wife, Genevieve O’Gorman, 1925 Macarthur Dr., McLean, VA 22101; two children; and five grandchildren. ’51 RH Ruth DeNoyelles Diefenbach, 86, active in the community, died August 18, 2020. Born in New York, Ruth was at Rosemary Hall for one year, and then attended Mount Vernon

College. In Rye, N.Y., Ruth worked with the Junior League, chaired the Twig Organization, and was on the boards of United Hospital, Osborne, and the Healthcare Chaplaincy. She leaves her husband, Rob Diefenbach, 1910 Virginia Ave., Unit 1501, Fort Myers, FL 33901; six children, including David Diefenbach ’75; 12 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Patricia Sweney Hart, 86, a social activist and the owner of a music store, died April 2, 2020 in Decatur, Ga. Born in St. Paul, Minn., Pat came to Rosemary Hall in 1947; she was Captain of the field hockey team, a member of the Self-Government Committee, in the Choir, and she played piano. After marrying and moving to Washington, DC. Pat and her husband became social activists, marching for peace, writing for change, and supporting the arts.

She later owned a small retail music shop and served on the boards of several organizations. She enjoyed travel, hiking the Scottish highlands several times. She leaves four children and nine grandchildren. Two halfsisters, the late Alice Weed ’38 and the late Phoebe S. Wooley ’41, also attended Rosemary Hall.

’53 C

James R. Fuller, 86, an executive of several companies, died June 7, 2020 in Sunapee, N.H. Born in Kingston, N.Y., Jim came to Choate in 1951. He was Chairman of the Dance Committee and lettered in football and hockey (co-captain), winning a School trophy for excellence in hockey.

After attending Lafayette College, he worked in the family business, the Fuller Shirt Co. of Kingston, then spent many years as a Vice President with the furniture manufacturer CollierKeyworth before founding Fuller and Associates, a juvenile products firm.

Jim enjoyed skiing. He leaves five children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Alexis Gregory, 84, a retired book publisher and art expert, died April 10, 2020 in New York City. Born in Switzerland, Alexis came to Choate in 1949. He was Editorial Chairman of the Choate News; Vice President of the Art Club, Literary Editor of the Literary Magazine, Chairman of the Debate

Council, President of the Current History Club, and in the Cum Laude Society. After graduating from Harvard magna cum laude, he worked with the Swiss art publisher Albert Skira, then he founded The Vendome Press, a publishing firm specializing in fine arts, music, architecture, and culture.

He was co-Publisher of The Journal of Art and was on Sotheby’s Advisory Board and the Visiting Committee of Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Alexis also wrote several books on travel. He collected Renaissance bronzes and 17th and 18th century paintings. Honored by the French and Italian governments, he also established the Vendome Prize, a European piano competition. He leaves a brother, Andre Gregory ’52, 455 West 20th St., Apt. 4B, New York, NY 10011.

’54 C Samuel H. “Sandy” Stevenson, 83, a retired Marine, died February 15, 2020 in West Tisbury, Mass. Born in New York City, Sandy came to Choate in 1949; he lettered in football and baseball, and was in the Automobile, Western, and Press clubs. After graduating from RPI, he served 18 years in the Marines in Okinawa, Japan, and Vietnam, earning several medals.

He then was a defense contractor in Northern Virginia, and later opened a tax preparation service. Sandy enjoyed sailing, and retired to Martha’s Vineyard. He leaves two children and two grandchildren. ’55 C Philip S. Shailer, 82, a retired lawyer, died August 22, 2020 in Hollywood, Fla. Born in Waterbury, Conn., Phil came to Choate in 1949; he lettered in basketball and was in the Spanish National Honor Society.

He earned degrees from Yale and Duke, served in the Marines, then was the lead public defender of Broward County, Fla. He also served on the Inspector General Selection and Oversight Committee of the State Attorney’s Office. Later, Phil was in private practice and was an executive of Alamo Rent-A-Car. He enjoyed watching baseball and playing golf.

He leaves two daughters and three granddaughters.

’56 C Harvey D. Carter Jr., 81, a lawyer and professor, died March 21, 2020 in South Burlington, Vt. Born in New York City, Harvey came to Choate in 1952. He was President of the Choate News, Vice Chairman of the Debate Council, Associate Business Manager of the Literary Magazine, and he won a School prize for public speaking.

After graduating from Williams and from Duke University’s School of Law, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York City, then established a law practice in Bennington, Vt. Harvey served in the Vermont Legislature, first as a Republican, then as a Democrat, helping to pass water-quality legislation.

In the late 1980s, he taught historic preservation law and city and regional planning at Cornell University. He leaves his wife, Mary Carter, 16 Winding Brook Dr., South Burlington, VT 05403; two sons, including H. Cleave Carter ’85; two stepdaughters; three grandchildren; and three step-grandchildren.

Walter T. Forbes Jr., 81, the retired executive of a thread firm and a musician, died February 27, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Born in Chattanooga, Walter came to Choate in 1953; he was Vice President of the Southern Club, in the Skeet and Rod and Gun clubs, and on the Dance Committee. After Choate, he joined the Marines and was with the last occupation troops in Japan. He then attended the University of Tennessee and the University of Georgia, and while he was in school he recorded two albums of bluegrass and country music for RCA and performed on the Grand Ole Opry. He then joined the family business, Signal Thread Co., rising to become its CEO, and later founded Signal Aviation. Walter was active in the community, on the boards of the YMCA, Chattanooga Theater Center, and Commerce Union Bank. He enjoyed skeet shooting, playing backgammon, and making music. He leaves his wife, Kitty Forbes, 101 Scenic Highway, Apt. 24, Lookout Mountain, TN 37350; three children, including Katherine Dallimore ’81 and Walter Forbes III ’83; and five grandchildren.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 57

Marcus C. Mason III, 82, a retired banker, died March 26, 2020 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Born in Evanston, Ill., Mark came to Choate in 1952; he lettered in wrestling, was on the Board of the Brief, and was in the Western Club. He then earned degrees from Northwestern and from Southern Methodist University and worked for Norwest Bank in Edina, Minn. He leaves his wife, Karen Mason, 10570 East Ranch Gate Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85255; several children; and 18 grandchildren.

Fredrik H. Murrill, 80, a retired Army officer who later did defense consulting, died September 12, 2019.

Born in New York City, Fred came to Choate in 1953; he was Manager of the Orchestra and was in the Art Club and the Glee Club. He then graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and later earned a master’s degree from the University of Maryland. He served 26 years in the Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and earning the Legion of Merit twice, two bronze stars, and an Air Medal. He then was publisher of international defense industry publications and was an international consultant in ballistics, drone technology, and logistical support. He was fluent in five languages, and enjoyed foreign travel and bird shooting. A half-sister, the late Patricia Murrill ’36, attended Rosemary Hall.

’57 C William H. Lathrop Jr., 79, a retired engineer, died June 19, 2019.

Born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Bill came to Choate in 1955. He was in the Cum

Laude Society, was Secretary of the Glee Club, and was on the Student Council; he also lettered in wrestling and was Chairman of the Sixth Form Scholarship Committee. After graduating from Cornell, Bill worked for engineering firms, both domestically and in Singapore and the Philippines.

He retired to Australia, where he raised shorthorn cattle and grew heritage apples, cherries, pears, and quince.

He enjoyed the symphony, opera, and ballet. He leaves his wife, Ann Lathrop, PO Box 845, MacLeod West, Victoria 3085, Australia; and a daughter.

James F. “Tim” Oliphant, 81, a retired lawyer, died March 30, 2020 in Montclair, N.J., of Parkinson’s disease.

Born in New York City, Tim came to Choate in 1954; he was in St. Andrew’s Cabinet, the Altar Guild, and the Current History Club. After earning degrees from Williams and the University of Colorado Law School, he moved to Peru and worked for the American chemical firm W. R. Grace & Co. He then returned to the United States, where he was an assistant federal prosecutor. In 1974, he was part of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the Watergate affair; after President Nixon resigned, he investigated the actions of the FBI and the CIA during the Nixon administration. In 1977, Tim moved to Steamboat Springs, Colo., where he specialized in criminal law. He leaves two children and two stepchildren.

’58 C Richard M. Barton, 80, a writer, died April 10, 2020 in Brunswick, Maine. Born in Boston, Dick came to Choate in 1953; he was on the Sailing Team, was a Drum Major in the Band, and lettered in wrestling as the team manager. After study at the Université de Montpellier in France, he worked for the family business, the game company Parker Brothers. He later managed a travel agency. Dick was a member of multiple writers groups and recently completed a novel. He was an avid sailor since childhood. He leaves two children, two stepchildren, eight grandchildren, and two siblings.

Kendrick B. Melrose, 79, the retired chairman of the Toro Co., died May 3, 2020. Born in Orlando, Fla., Ken was at Choate for one year; he lettered in football, basketball, and track. He then earned degrees from Princeton, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and the University of Chicago. In 1970, he joined the Toro Co., makers of lawnmowers and related machines, rising to be Chairman and CEO. Ken was especially motivated by ethical business practices and what he called servant-leadership. While at Toro, he founded a special-needs scholarship fund, and after he retired in 2006 he founded Leading by Serving, which advocates that people perform best in an atmosphere of freedom and trust. He also started the Melrose Center, which helps people with eating disorders. He leaves his partner, Kaye O’Leary, 935 Lake Street East, No. 405, Wayzata, MN 55391; three children; and two grandchildren.

’59 C

Talbot M. Curtin, 79, a retired accountant, died May 22, 2020 in Estero, Fla. Born in New York City, Tal came to Choate in 1954; he was in the Rod and Gun Club, the Ski Club, and the Band. After graduating from Syracuse, he served in the Army, then began a lengthy career as an accountant. At one time he was Controller of Ingersoll Rand, which made pumps, drills, and compressors. Tal moved to Amherst, N.H., where he was a member of the local fire department. He leaves his wife, Bonnie Curtin, 23218 Marsh Landing Blvd., Estero, FL 33928; two sons; a granddaughter; two greatgrandchildren; and a brother.

Gunton Geer Wilcox, 79, a retired social worker, died July 17, 2020.

Born in Hartford, Conn., Geer went blind during his childhood and came to Choate in 1956. He lettered in crew, was Co-Chairman of the sixth form, and was on the Honor Committee and in the Debate Senate and the French Club. After graduating from Harvard, he spent time in the Peace Corps, then after earning a master’s degree from the University of Michigan he stayed in that state, where he performed social work. Geer was an ardent volunteer, particularly for the National Federation for the Blind. He enjoyed summers at the family cottage near the Straits of Mackinac on Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. His wife, Carrie Ellen, predeceased him by a month. He leaves two children.

’57 In 1974, James Oliphant was part of the U. S. House Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the Watergate affair; after President Nixon resigned, he investigated the actions of the FBI and the CIA during the Nixon administration.

58 IN MEMORIAM

’60 C

Edmund J. ”Ted” Doering III, 77, a retired pediatric oncologist, died April 20, 2020. Born in Chicago, Ted came to Choate in 1956; he lettered in baseball, was on the Sixth Form Tutoring Committee, and was in the French, Camera, Astronomy, and Glee clubs. After earning degrees from Princeton and Northwestern, he completed his residency at the Medical University of South Carolina.

After joining the Cleveland Clinic as a pediatric oncologist, he opened a private practice in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and later in Jupiter, Fla. Ted enjoyed scuba diving and golfing. He leaves his wife, Diana Doering, 3455 Lantern Bay Dr., Jupiter, FL 33477; two children; four stepchildren; and seven grandchildren.

A brother, Alfred Doering ’63, also attended Choate, as did his father, the late Edmund Doering II ’36.

John G. Ogilvie, 78, a retired banker, died August 4, 2020. Born in New York City, John came to Choate in 1956; he was on the board of the News; was Vice President of the Glee Club and in the Maiyeros; and lettered in crew, winning a School rowing award. After earning degrees from Yale and Harvard, he worked for Morgan Guaranty Trust for many years. He leaves his wife, Silvia Ogilvie, 755 Park Ave., Apt. 3-A, New York, NY 10021.

Otto D. Trautz, 77, the retired Budget Director of the State of Vermont, died June 4, 2020 in Burlington, Vt. Born in Queens, N.Y., Otto came to Choate in 1955. He was in the Dramatic Club and won a School prize in dramatics; played flute in the Orchestra; and was in the Cum Laude Society. He then graduated from Yale and earned a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard. After moving to Vermont, Otto held several state positions, including with the Department of Corrections and the Office of Finance and Management. For 35 years, under five governors, he was the state Budget Director. He enjoyed British sports cars and motorcycles. He leaves two children and three grandchildren.

’61 C Barton K. Wickstrum Jr., 76, a realtor, died March 28, 2020 in Danbury, Conn. Born in Phoenix, Ariz., Barton came to Choate in 1958; he was in the Dramatic and Rod and Gun clubs, and in the Band. After graduating from Northwestern, he

joined the Navy, where he became an exhibition skydiver. Barton worked for Homequity for 25 years and then was a realtor. He enjoyed crossword puzzles and woodworking. He leaves his wife, Barbara Wickstrum, 71 Powderhorn Dr., Ridgefield, CT 06877; two children; four grandchildren; and a sister. A niece, Laura Stack ’86, also attended Choate Rosemary Hall.

’62 C

Thomas F. Curtis, 75, owner of night clubs, died May 5, 2020 in Bethesda, Md., of heart disease. Born in New York City, Tom came to Choate in 1959. He was Senior Editor of the Choate News, on the sixth form Tutoring Committee and the Debate Council, in the Cum Laude Society, and won a School prize for excellence in public affairs. His classmates voted him “Hardest Worker” and “Least Acknowledged.” After graduating from Yale, he moved to the Washington, DC, area, where for the next four decades he owned and ran nightspots, among them Annie Oakley’s, Club Zanzibar, Wayne’s Luv, and most successfully, The Yacht Club, which catered to singles over 35. Tom also organized concerts at RFK Stadium and produced films. He leaves a brother.

Alexandre Goodwin (Levitch), 76, an entrepreneur, died September 19, 2020 of Parkinson’s disease. Born in New York City, Alex came to Choate in 1959, where he was known by his stepfather’s name, Goodwin; he later took the surname of his birth father, Levitch. He was President of the Chess Club and in the Debate Senate, on the Sixth Form Tutoring Committee, and on the board of the Literary Magazine. He then graduated from the University of Michigan and earned a law degree from Columbia. Alex’s career was varied. He worked for Robert Kennedy, patented and distributed the “Umbroller” baby stroller, helped lead the buyout of Northwest Airlines, and built a Moscow-based investment house.

He later bought and ran a children’s summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains. He enjoyed art, writing, gourmet food, and travel. He leaves his wife, Linda Goodwin, P. O. Box 97, Putnam Station, NY 12861; a daughter; two grandchildren, and a sister. A stepbrother, Charles Goodwin ’57, also attended Choate.

Chris A. Swindells, 76, an international entrepreneur, died January 12, 2020 in Sag Harbor, N.Y. Born in Boston, Chris came to Choate in 1959. He was in the French, German, and Camera clubs and the Gold Key Society; on the Sixth Form Tutoring Committee, and in the Cum Laude Society; and he won a School prize for excellence in French. After attending Yale and the Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, he worked for Chemical Bank in Beirut and Cairo. For 25 years Chris and his wife lived, worked, or studied outside the U.S. with significant time spent in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the Soviet Union, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Haiti, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

He was an avid skier. He leaves his wife, Heidi Swindells, 158 Redwood Rd., Sag Harbor, NY 11963; three daughters; and four grandchildren. ’63 C Andrew Flint, 76, a retired accountant and later an innkeeper, died February 13 in Cornwall, England.

Born in Cheshire, England, Andrew was at Choate for one year as an exchange student. He was in the Camera, Current History, Russian, and Ski clubs; lettered in squash; and won a School prize for excellence in that sport. He also introduced Woodhouse, where he lived, to the practice of taking afternoon tea.

When he returned to England, Andrew was an accountant at Peat Marwick in London. In the mid-1970s, he and his wife bought Boscundle Manor, an inn on the south coast of Cornwall, which they ran for many years. He enjoyed sports, particularly squash, and world travel. He leaves three stepchildren, five grandchildren, and a brother. ’64 RH Carolyn Norton Padgette, 74, a retired insurance agent, died July 15, 2020 in Raleigh, N.C. Born in Abingdon, Pa., Carolyn came to Rosemary Hall in 1960; she was Treasurer of the Library Committee and in the Choir, the Dramatic Association, and the Debate Society. After graduating from Duke, she was a teacher of children with learning disabilities, and later ran a Nationwide insurance agency for many years.

Carolyn enjoyed playing cards, especially bridge. She leaves two children; two grandchildren; and a brother.

’66 C

Ralph Metcalfe Jr., 71, a retired teacher, died January 14, 2020. Born in Chicago, Ralph came to Choate in 1961; he lettered in wrestling and track, was co-captain of track in his fifth and sixth form years, won two School prizes in track, and set School records in the hammer throw and discus. He was also on the board of the Brief and in the Automobile Club. After attending Columbia, he returned to Chicago to manage blues artists; he later became an instructor in Social Sciences for the City Colleges of Chicago. In recent years, he was founder and curator of the Metcalfe Collection, the archives of his late father, Olympic star and Congressman Ralph Metcalfe Sr. He leaves a son.

’71 C

Steven J. Bresky, 67, President of an agribusiness and transportation firm, died July 10, 2020. Born in Boston, Steve came to Choate in 1968; he was in the Chess Club. After earning a B.A. from Boston University, he joined the family business, Seaboard Corp. of Shawnee Mission, Kan., rising to become its President and CEO. He leaves two children and a sister. His father, H. Harry Bresky ’43, and an uncle, Otto Bresky ’41, also attended Choate.

David W. Doyle, 66, a retired lawyer, died November 30, 2019 in Golden, Colo. Born in North Attleboro, Mass., David was at Choate for one year; he lettered in football and won a School football trophy. After earning degrees from Harvard and the University of Colorado School of Law, David was in private practice for 23 years. He leaves his wife, Robin Desjardins-Doyle, 81 Topaz St., Golden, CO 80401; three children; two sisters; and a brother.

’74 C Jeffrey S. Morris, 64, the founder of an educational company, died July 22, 2020. Born in Bay Shore, L.I., N.Y., Jeff came to Choate in 1972; he lettered in tennis and was on the staff of the News and in the Band. After graduating from Princeton and the Harvard School of Business, he and his wife founded Insight Media, which dealt with education. For more than 20 years he was President of the North Salem (N.Y.) Open Land Foundation. Jeff enjoyed tennis, golf, and the theater. He leaves his

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 59

wife, Janet Morris, 154 Keeler La., North Salem, NY 10560; two children, including Madeleine Morris ’10; and a brother.

’77 C Ronald J. Dunham, 60, a technical recruiter, died February 16, 2020, in Farmington, Conn. Born in Middletown, Conn., Ron came to Choate in 1975; he rowed crew and was in the Spanish and Chess clubs. After graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University, he worked for job placement agencies, including Hobson Associates of Cheshire, Conn. Ron enjoyed winter sports and ice fishing.

He leaves a daughter, Nicole Dunham, 159 Liberty St., Southington, CT 06489, and a brother.

Thomas M. “Tim” Jones, 61, an executive in the financial services industry, died April 9, 2020. Born in Somerset, Bermuda, Tim came to Choate in 1973. He was Photo Editor of the News and in the Camera and Flying clubs. After graduating from the University of Richmond, he was a helicopter pilot in the Navy. He was then an investment adviser for Robert W. Baird Co. of St. Louis for many years. He leaves his wife, Lynn Hastings Jones ’77, 19 Foxboro Rd., St. Louis, MO 63124; two sons; three siblings; and his stepmother. A stepsister, Leslie Zimmerman ’77, also attended Choate Rosemary Hall. ’78

John D. Shumway, 60, an entrepreneur, died May 31, 2020.

Born in Waterbury, Conn., John came to Choate Rosemary Hall in 1976. He was in the Cum Laude Society and the Spanish Club, and won a School award in historical scholarship. After graduating from Cornell, John worked for Rolm Corp. in New York City, then moved to Concord, Mass., where he had a diverse career in telecom, finance, life science industries, and several startups. He enjoyed fishing in the Great South Bay. He leaves his wife, Melinda Shumway, 365 Garfield Rd., Concord, MA 01742; two children, including Caroline Shumway ’08; and a brother, Michael Shumway ’80.

A nephew, Ross Shumway ’13, also attended Choate Rosemary Hall.

’81

Sharon L. Timoner, 56, a lawyer, died April 5, 2020. Born in New York City, Sharon came to Choate Rosemary Hall in 1978; she lettered in volleyball and was in the Gold Key Society and the French Club. She then earned degrees from Johns Hopkins and the University of San Francisco School of law. She was Vice President, HR Legal, for Applied Materials Inc., a semiconductor firm in Santa Clara, Calif. Sharon enjoyed travel. She leaves two brothers, including Benjamin Timoner ’87, 206 Stanford Dr., Apt. A, Albuquerque, NM 87106; two stepbrothers; and her mother.

’85 Jae Bum “James” Ye, 53, a restaurant owner, died June 12, 2020.

Born in Seoul, James came to Choate Rosemary Hall in 1983; he was a House Counselor and in Christian Fellowship, and he lettered in volleyball. After attending Stetson University and the University of Central Florida, he owned Wings-N-Things in Winter Springs, Fla. James enjoyed hunting and fishing. He leaves his wife, K. C. Ye, 5555 Oxford Moor Blvd., No. B-1, Windermere, FL 34786; and two sons. A brother, the late Kyu Bum “Kenny” Ye ’87, also attended Choate Rosemary Hall. ’88 Gerald K. Lee, 49, died March 9, 2020 after being struck by a car at a street crossing in San Francisco. Born in London, Gerald came to the United States in 1975 and entered Choate Rosemary Hall in 1984; he played league sports and was in the Band.

After graduating from the New York University film school, he worked for a short time in films before joining an IT startup in New York. Gerald relocated to San Francisco in 1996 and worked at Inktomi, Preview Travel, Six Apart, and Cisco. He enjoyed playing the guitar, travel, chess, and artisanal beer, and was fluent in five languages.

Betsy Rothstein, 50, a media critic, died June 28, 2020 of cancer.

Born in Akron, Ohio, Betsy came to Choate Rosemary Hall in 1984; she played violin in the Orchestra.

After attending Union College and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she moved to Washington, DC, where she wrote for several online sources, including Fishbowl DC. She leaves a brother, Joel Rothstein ’86, 10333 Windsor View Dr., Potomac, MD 20854.

Phoebe Dey as she arrived with Charley on campus in 1973.

Phoebe Evans Dey

remembered

Phoebe Evans Dey, the wife of former President and Principal Charles F. Dey and an accomplished artist in her own right, died Saturday, September 26, 2020 in Walpole, N.H.; she was 85. Born in New Jersey, Phoebe earned a B.S. degree in fine arts from Skidmore, then worked as a production assistant at the Lord & Taylor department store in New York City. She met Charley Dey during her senior year at college. “He was … with the Sixth Fleet,” she told the News in 1989. “He phoned from his ship in Norfolk, Va., and said ‘I have tickets for the ballet – would you come?’” They married and moved to Massachusetts; initially, Charley taught history at Phillips Andover and Phoebe taught fifth grade at the Pike School in Andover. After four years, they moved to Dartmouth College, where he was a dean and she supervised their children. In 1962-63, they ran a mental and physical health center for Peace Corps volunteers in the Philippines. Returning to Dartmouth for another decade, they then came to Wallingford in 1973, where Charley was appointed President and Principal of both the Choate School and Rosemary Hall. In Choate Rosemary Hall: A History of the School, Tom Generous wrote that Charley Dey’s “inspiration, his ballast, his source of strength, was his wife. Role model for the students, she accompanied Charley to countless plays, concerts, sporting events; she invited all new students into her home for dessert; she entertained all graduating sixth formers at a series of spring dinners.” Art was always a part of Phoebe’s life. As a young woman, “I was always sketching and drawing,” she told the News in 1984. Concentrating mainly on watercolor, her favorite subjects included landscapes and flowers.

She regularly held one-woman art shows, and exhibited her watercolors in Connecticut and Massachusetts. For Choate Rosemary Hall’s 1990 Centennial, she painted School landmarks, copies of which were presented to retiring faculty and staff. Her original watercolors remain on display around the campus. The 2012 School calendar featured her artwork.

Phoebe served not only as a role model for female students but as an advocate for them. “The changes I have seen in the role of a headmaster’s wife have reflected the changes of lives of women in our society,” she said in 1989. “I am pleased to see the way women are taken seriously in this community.” In 2013, Choate dedicated the Head of School’s house on Rosemary Lane, Phoebe House, in honor of Phoebe. The home was a gift of William ‘Ted’ Little ‘49 and his wife, Frances. The Deys retired from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1991. Phoebe is survived by her daughters Robin ’78 and Penny, sons Andrew ’81 (Annette) and Tom ’83 (Coliena Rentmeester), and grandchildren Julian, Phoebe, Rani, and Mamta.

60 IN MEMORIAM

Faculty, Staff, Trustees Allen S. Ames, who taught theater at Choate Rosemary Hall for two years, died June 12, 2020 of congestive heart failure. He was 78. Born in Middletown, Conn., Allen earned degrees from Wesleyan and the University of Wisconsin, then taught at the State University of New York at Geneseo.

He taught at Choate from 1973 to 1975. When he left, the Director of the Paul Mellon Arts Center said “he has proven to be an effective, imaginative teacher, to whom the students have responded enthusiastically.” Adds Chip Lamb ’75: “He ran the black box like a college theater, allowing all different types of plays and dance to be mounted. He was open to almost anything, while still demanding a high standard of performance.” After Choate, Allen taught at St. Timothy’s School in Maryland. He enjoyed the theater and the open sea. He leaves his wife, Judith Ames, 7895 Birmingham Forest Dr., Frisco, TX 75035; five children; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and a brother.

Mary A. Morganti Gagnon, who worked in Admission at Choate Rosemary Hall, died March 16, 2020. She was 87. Born in Meriden, Mary grew up in Wallingford and graduated from Lyman Hall High School. She started working for the Alumni Association in 1977, and later spent years in the Admission office, retiring in 1996. A colleague said, “Mary is a true-blue worker, colleague and friend, who loves life, her family and friends. There are just too few Marys around.” She enjoyed singing as a member of the Vintage Voices Chorus and was an active member of the Wallingford Senior Center. She leaves a daughter, Michelle Gagnon, 78 Overlook Rd., South Windsor, CT 06074; two sons; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and two brothers.

Donald G. Geddes III ’49, a former Choate Trustee, died February 12, 2020.

He was 89. Born in New York City, Don came to Choate in 1943; he played club sports and was on the board of the Brief. After graduating from George Washington University, he had a

lengthy career on Wall Street, where his clients included sports figures and film stars. Don was a Trustee from 1973 to 1975. His great love was underwater exploration; he participated in diving expeditions worldwide and wrote widely on the subject. He was Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University and belonged to New York’s Explorers Club. In later years he wrote fiction, winning awards. He leaves his wife, Marilyn Geddes, 1449 Natchez Loop, Covington, LA 70433; and five children, including Robyn Geddes ’73.

Two cousins also attended Choate: the late Peter Geddes ’23 and Peter Geddes III ’80.

in the Navy. He was a mathematics teacher, assistant varsity basketball coach, and tennis coach at Choate from 1972 to 1974. He then moved to Durham, N.C., where he was a city budget analyst and later a network administrator for the University of North Carolina. He enjoyed travel, snorkeling, and science fiction. He leaves his wife, Kay Rosenmarkle, 9 Montcrest Dr., Durham, NC 27713; a daughter; two grandchildren; and a sister.

Gerard R. McCormick, Former Director of Community Safety at Choate Rosemary Hall, died August 16, 2020 in Madison, Conn. He was 84. After graduating from West Haven (Conn.) High School, Gerry spent four years in the Marines and then joined Yale’s Police Department.

From 1975 to 2007 he was Choate’s Director of Community Safety. He leaves three children, including Leigh McCormick Montgomery, 3355 So. Newport St., Denver, CO 80224; eight grandchildren; and two siblings.

Jacqueline H. Phyfe, who coached archery and riflery at Choate, died May 12, 2020. She was 81. The wife of the late Choate organist J. Duncan Phyfe ’38, Jackie was born in Plymouth, Mass., graduated from Tufts School of Medicine for Physical Therapy, and worked at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford until she married Duncan.

A longtime resident of Old Saybrook, Conn., she was active in the Episcopal Church there and spent much time with cancer support groups. She leaves four children, including Kent Phyfe ’81; Elizabeth P. Drow ’82; and Duncan Phyfe ’89, 27 Cheshire Pond Rd., Ashburnham, MA 01430; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Michael Rosenmarkle, who taught math and was a coach at Choate for two years, died June 18, 2020 in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 77. Born in Cumberland, Md., Mike graduated from High Point (N.C.) University, then served

John Russell ’46 established an unprecedented rate of giving to the Annual Fund: an unbroken string of 100 percent class participation for 26 years.

John Gibson Russell ’46, a retired member of the School’s Department of Development and Alumni Relations and longtime Choate volunteer, died April 21, 2020 in Fairfield, Conn. Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., John came to Choate in 1943. He lettered in basketball, was Advertising Manager of the Choate News, Vice President of the History Club, on the Student Council, and in St. Andrew’s Cabinet and the Cum Laude Society. After graduating from Yale, he served in the Army, attaining the rank of Lieutenant.

He then joined the C.R. Gibson Co., the greeting-card and paper products company in Norwalk, Conn., that his grandfather had founded, retiring in 1987 as Executive Vice President. John then joined his friend and classmate Ted Ayres ’46 in helping run the Choate

Annual Fund; he worked for the School on a part-time basis until 2013. “He was famous for poring over reports and records and lists,” remembers Dan Courcey III ’86, Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations, “ensuring that all donors received their deserved distinction, especially consecutive donors – John’s great passion.” For his own Choate class, John established an unprecedented rate of giving to the Annual Fund: an unbroken string of 100 percent class participation for 26 years – a record of support unlikely to be surpassed. He managed the Head of School’s Leadership Council and was Chair of the Choate Society, those who have remembered the School in their estate. In 2015, he was awarded the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award. He enjoyed world travel and photography, and was a member of the Comedy Club of Fairfield, the Circumnavigators Club, and the Yale Club of New York City. He leaves two children, six grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. A son, the late Stephen Russell ’84, also attended Choate Rosemary Hall.

Barbara Jean Zawacki, who worked for Choate Rosemary Hall’s Dining Services, died April 13, 2020 in Meriden, Conn.

She was 87. Born in Meriden, Barbara graduated from Meriden High School, then married and started a family. For more than 30 years, she worked in Choate’s Dining Hall, where generations of students knew her as “Dolly the Salad Chef.” After retiring from Choate, she worked at the Wallingford Convalescent Home. She leaves a son, Michael Zawacki, 13 Simpson Ave., Wallingford, CT 06492.

Our sympathy to the friends and family of the following alumna, whose death is reported with sorrow: Barbara J. King ’58 March 30, 2020

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 61

BOOKSHELF

In this issue, a novelist explores the conflicting feelings at the heart of our most important relationships and the perilous ways those relationships can detonate; a journalist examines the systems of political corruption, organized crime, and systemic racism, and how these systems have given rise to America’s current political climate; and a poet considers the history, evolution, and experience of the book, asking readers to examine what books mean to them.

St. Ivo

By Joanna Hershon ’90 | Reviewed by Andrea Thompson

ST. IVO Author: Joanna Hershon ’90 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux About the Reviewer: Andrea Thompson is a freelance editor and writer who has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other publications.

Joanna Hershon ’90 plunges straight into dread in this slender novel. Sarah, a sometime screenwriter/ filmmaker in New York City, prepares for lunch with her agent, hoping her appearance belies “the recent terrible years.” Adjectives flourish like clinging vines: the restaurant is “aggressively charming,” her lunch companion “improbably fashionable.” Sarah’s temples pulse, and she frets over her lunch order, a glass of wine, the notes for a prospective screenplay.

After the small disaster of lunch, she meets an old man on the subway, with whom she has an oddly portentous conversation. As she tells him about her first film, a modest success, she babbles, “‘I don’t know. It was the nineties. It’s almost like it happened to someone else. Though my husband shot it – he was the cinematographer – so I know it happened; I mean, he can verify that I was there, that I was … in control.’ She laughed a little anxiously. ‘Do you ever feel that way about some of your memories?’

‘Do I feel as if my life has been determined by another? Do I feel as if someone else has made certain decisions and has – look – taken this action or that one? Yes, of course. But this is a very common feeling, no?’”

He tells her he is on his way to his son’s restaurant, St. Ivo, and takes leave of her by telling Sarah that she is a good mother, words that strike at her heart. We know this much – something terrible has happened to her daughter, and Sarah feels that it was her fault. When she gets home, she looks up St. Ivo – guiding spirit of lawyers, symbol for justice, and “patron saint of abandoned children.”

Hershon seems to be building to something tragic; over the course of a long weekend, including a trip upstate to visit estranged friends, foreboding hangs thick. At times danger manifests externally – a violent mugging, a menacing neighbor – but most perilous are the invisible tripwires that lie between friends, lovers, and spouses. Hershon unsparingly detonates the conflicted feelings at the heart of these most important relationships: love and resentment, desire and disgust, empathy and anger, admiration and envy.

Most tender, though, are the bruises of parenthood. Memories of Sarah’s elementary-age child precociously arguing for the necessity of conflict in life vie with recollections of picking up her adult daughter from rehab, only to have her disappear days later along with Sarah’s favorite earrings. “Being a mother, Sarah reflected, was all too often like starring in a horror film.”

This is Hershon’s fifth novel; across her work, she has demonstrated a gimlet eye for willful deceptions and painful elisions, and the endless ways that we contradict and undermine ourselves. As she builds toward a final revelation about Sarah and her daughter, the most disturbing realization is that the ultimate tragedy lies in the self-destructive ways Sarah has avoided the truth.

62 BOOKSHELF

Hiding in Plain Sight

By Sarah Kendzior ’96 | Reviewed by Donald Firke

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: THE INVENTION OF DONALD TRUMP AND THE EROSION OF AMERICA Author: Sarah Kendzior ’96 Publisher: Flatiron Books About the Reviewer: Donald Firke is former Dean of Faculty at Choate Rosemary Hall.

Fifty years ago Abbie Hoffman, the anti-war activist who was infamously prosecuted as one of the Chicago 7, wrote an impassioned call to action, titled Steal This Book. He identified ways for concerned young people to organize, communicate, and ”liberate” the country from corporate control. This year, Sarah Kendzior ’96, author of the 2018 bestseller The View from Flyover Country, has delivered to us a most persuasive call to action for our times.

Dr. Kendzior is uniquely positioned to offer insights into current affairs in America. She was a journalist in New York when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center; she has lived and worked overseas; she has earned a Ph.D. in anthropology, with a focus on the autocratic government of Uzbekistan; and she is living with her family in St. Louis, Mo. She was one of the few observers of the American political scene to predict in 2015 the nomination and election of Donald Trump – leading many to call her ”Cassandra,” after the Greek goddess cursed to see the future but never to be believed – and her writing remains remarkably timely and prescient.

Kendzior’s introduction identifies what she feels are the crucial elements of the rise of autocracy in America: the three structural issues of political corruption, organized crime (the Russian mob), and systemic racism. In addition, many elected and appointed officials at the local, state, and federal levels have acted for personal gain and against the public good for their whole careers. And she observes that once autocrats get into office, it is very hard to remove them, as they will purge the agencies that enforce accountability, undermine the free and independent media, and eliminate structural protections before most people realize the extent of the damage.

An early chapter educates those of us who live on the coasts about the realities of Missouri’s recent history. In clear, cogent prose, Kendzior describes the case study that Missouri presents. The compounded effects of weakened ethical laws, huge amounts of unrestricted ”dark money” (much of it from out of state) in political contests, the demise of local media, and loosened gun ownership regulations, plus the resultant gerrymandering, have allowed a minority of the voters, influenced by unknown political donors, to control state politics to the detriment of the majority of the citizens. Especially chilling is her depiction of a Trump campaign rally. As she waited outside before

the rally began, she got to know a group of kind, polite, respectful individuals eager to see the candidate.

Inside the arena, those same people quickly turned into a jeering, combative mob. She writes: ”The Trump rally was a study in how people capable of compassion can turn cruel in response to the rhetoric of their chosen leader or in retaliation to those who dare oppose him.”

After a quick look at Missouri, Kendzior offers historical context and illuminates important connections for much of what we are seeing today. Reaching back to the 1980s, she describes the relationship between Trump and Roy Cohn. Cohn, shaped by his service as adviser to Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, and all five of the New York City crime families, worked with the Trump family when they were prosecuted by the Department of Justice for discriminatory rental practices. Cohn and Trump became close friends and spoke as often as 15 or 20 times a day. It was from Cohn that Trump learned how to respond when put on the defensive: counterattack, lie, threaten, sue, and never back down.

Kendzior then turns her attention to the longstanding relationship between Trump and many Russian oligarchs, including Vladimir Putin. The primary links between them are through Trump’s real estate developments. Similarly, her description of the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is chilling and compelling. She matter-of-factly presents their association on the New York and Palm Beach social scene for more than a decade, as well as the ultimate breakdown of their relationship.

Kendzior goes into great detail on a number of other topics, including the role of the ”reality” show The Apprentice in the development of the Trump brand, Trump’s relationship with David Pecker and the National Enquirer. She is able to connect seemingly disparate items and then use that knowledge to illustrate important points.

This well-written and carefully constructed book rewards its reader with a wealth of information, context, and insight. For those interested in hearing Dr. Kendzior’s thoughts on a regular basis, she co-hosts (with Andrea Chalupa) the podcast Gaslit Nation. She is not a psychic or a Cassandra, but she is a careful observer and a keen analyst with much to offer her audience.

BULLETIN | FALL 2020 63

The Book

By Amaranth Borsuk ’98 | Reviewed by Mark Gosztyla

THE BOOK Author: Amaranth Borsuk ’98 Publisher: MIT Press About the Reviewer: Mark Gosztyla teaches in the English Department at Choate Rosemary Hall.

If I asked you to describe your favorite book, what would you say? Where would you begin? With a plot summary or library catalog-style abstract? With a description of its cover or its pleasantly yellowedover-the-years pages? Or maybe you’d tell me the story of the time you brought it to the beach, used it to help your toddler dig a moat around a sand castle endangered by the encroaching tide, and then had to rescue it from the roadside after leaving it on the roof of your car as you started to drive home and luckily glimpsed it flying off in the rearview?

Now, what if I asked you to describe the worst book you were assigned to read during your high school English career? Would you answer in the same way? Do each of those books add meaning to your life in the same way?

And while no answer can fully capture what a book means to you, Amaranth Borsuk ’98’s The Book is an entertaining guide through roughly 5,000 years of book history and theory that helps readers better understand and live with the ever-evolving and possibly forever-present (in one form or another) “stack of paper sheets printed on both sides, bound on one end, and encased between covers.”

A poet, scholar, book artist, and professor whose work is described as “working at the intersection of print and digital media,” Borsuk turns what could be dry and boring scientific text into a series of delights and curiosities – in one moment cheekily describing the ancient Sumerian text Epic of Gilgamesh as a series of “escapades includ[ing] war, rivalry, romance, brotherhood – all the makings of a great road movie,” while in another profoundly ruminating on how “we keep books on our shelves to remind us who we once were and what mattered to us even if only to run our fingers along their spines.”

As Borsuk examines the way a book can be object, content, idea, and interface, she encourages her readers to see books not only as texts to be read but also as a “material text,” one that has enabled humanity’s evolution and one that has evolved alongside humanity. To this end, Borsuk’s fills The Book with examples of books acting as much more than simple containers for the ideas of their authors.

The familiar illuminated manuscript of The Book of Kells and William Blake’s image-poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience are re-examined towards this

end alongside newer, more slippery-feeling texts like Allison Knowles’ The Big Book – seemingly equal parts story and adult playscape – and Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro’s post-Gulf War novella Pry – an interactive, iOS-driven app-like “read.”

But perhaps the most rewarding aspect of The Book is the way it presents its readers with two distinct options for reading. The first is the linear, cover-to-cover, follow-the-argument version described above. The second encourages use of the standard codex’s ability to be randomly accessed. In this case, flipping through Borsuk’s The Book reveals a majority of “normal” pages (white blocks of black printed words) punctuated by a large number of black pages printed in relief with elements of white text in a larger-than-normal font size.

Each of these pages contains a quote from a book historian or theorist, ranging from Martyn Lyons’s very practical “The term ‘book,’ then, is a kind of shorthand that stands for many forms of written textual communication adopted in past societies, using a wide variety of materials,” to Julie Chen and Clifton Meador’s more esoteric “What is a book? A book is an experience… A book starts with an idea.

And ends with a reader,” to Stéphane Mallarmé’s poetically prophetic “Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.”

Together, the quotes suggest a Commonplace Book, a tradition Borsuk defines as “Personal collections of literary quotations, bon mots, facts, and other information transcribed from one’s reading” popular in Europe from the Renaissance through the 19th century. Frequently, Commonplace Books would be organized around a theme, but in the case of The Book, the effect of the far-reaching and multi-faceted definition of “the book” is like seeing a constellation form in the night sky; suddenly a big blank canvas of space becomes story and experience.

Ultimately, Borsuk’s book might be an essential reminder that even in an age where too much time is spent discussing how the digital world is replacing the physical, all books, those oft thought of as human hand-sized “stack[s] of paper sheets printed on both sides, bound on one end, and encased between covers,” are invitations for readers to experience infinite possibilities of time and space.

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END NOTE |

Alfred D. Watts and his fellow missionaries on their way to dedicate the third church that his congregation has built in Bangalore, India.

Sowing and Reaping B y A l f r e d D. W at t s ’ 8 7 Equity. Inclusion. While I do not remember hearing either of those words when I arrived at Choate Rosemary Hall in the fall of 1986, their spirit was as present then, as it is today. I still remember my first day on campus. As I headed to my admission interview, my mind was filled with words from people back home: “Only children of the rich and elite attend that school”; “Why would they admit someone from the inner city like you?”; “They will never embrace you.” Although those words plagued my mind, I quickly learned that nothing could be further from the truth.

To the contrary, my year at Choate was filled with episodes of equity and inclusion.

Among them was my interview with Admission Director Andrew Wooden, with his signature crisp white shirt, sharp bow tie, and perfect smile. When I shook his hand, I felt a spirit of greatness arising within me. Mr. Wooden was aware of where I was from and my academic profile, but never held them against me. Instead, he accepted me as I was, and opened the door to all that I could be. When we departed, I somehow knew that I would see him again.

There was also my friendship with Noah, a teammate on the varsity basketball team. Noah invited me to his home in Santa Monica, Calif., for spring break. His home was absolutely beautiful, his dad embraced me as his “other son,” and we had a great time. When we returned to Choate I considered inviting Noah to my house, but I was ashamed of its dilapidated condition. I now realize that Noah would not have cared. Our friendship was not based upon what I was, but who I was. I never took him to my house, but to this day I wish I had.

Finally, there was my experience with Choate’s college admission team. I don’t remember their names, but I remember their hearts. They, in essence, asked me, “If success was guaranteed and failure was not an option, where would you desire to go?” Cornell was in my heart, but I was afraid to say it. I did not believe that my grades and meager SAT score were worthy of admission. But once I declared my desire to attend Cornell, the team members began doing their best to help me reach my goal. They could have expended their efforts on another student with the typical Cornell admission profile. Instead, they chose to help me reach my goal. When I received my Cornell acceptance letter, I did not celebrate that I had done it, but that we had done it.

On graduation day, I was stunned to learn that I had become the first and only post-graduate in Choate’s history to be awarded the School Seal Prize. ThenPresident and Principal Charles Dey said that I received it for making the most outstanding contribution to the school. Truth is, Choate had simply reaped what it had sown.

My Choate experience inspired me to live my life enriching the lives of others – and I continue to do so today. After I graduated, Andrew Wooden and I conducted several seminars in New Haven to inform inner-city parents of the great opportunities available at Choate. In 1989, while attending the Cornell Hotel School, I co-founded the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality, an organization with chapters on more than 100 college campuses today. In 1995, I graduated fourth in my class from the Howard University School of Law, clerked for a federal judge, and began a promising legal career at Davis, Polk and Wardwell. And in 2001, I left the legal profession to become Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Christian Center, a multi-ethnic congregation of more than 800. Since that time, Cornerstone has conducted more than 30 mission trips around the world, constructing churches, digging latrines, and sharing God’s love with the blind, widows, orphans, and lepers.

Cornerstone also operates The Storehouse Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to meeting the daily needs of the poor and food-insecure. Each month, The Storehouse Project conducts a weekly food pantry, two weekly community dining centers, a mobile food pantry that serves three college campuses and four housing projects, and a clothing boutique. This year, The Storehouse Project distributed more than 1,100 Thanksgiving baskets to families in need.

When I reflect upon all that I have done since my Choate experience, and drawing from my religious tradition, I am reminded of Jesus’s command to His disciples: “Freely you have received, freely give.”

Alfred D. Watts ’87 is the Senior Pastor at Cornerstone Christian Center in Milford, Conn.

COLOR THEN FOR CHOA OAT OA AT E!

ALL HAIL HER BRIGHT NAME Though we cannot be together on Deerfield Day this year, the spirit of the Choate community remains strong. As you color this piece, we hope

COVER PHOTO: Sidewalk chalk stencils seen

throughout campus – a small part of Choate’s Safe + Sounder health campaign.

you will draw on fond memories of your time at Choate to remain connected to the School.

Another great way to be connected is by making a gift in support of today’s students and faculty.

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