Admissions and Advancement Icon Peter Barnum Retires After 40 Years at Holderness

If Peter Barnum had a spirit animal, it would probably be a yellow lab.

During his 25 years as Holderness School’s director of admissions, Peter would show up to work most days with one of his scruffy yellow labs by his side.

His first lab, Willy, was such a creature of habit that on the days Peter was away on business, Willy would pad over from his nearby home, through the woods, to the admissions office. “Carolyn Henderson, who I worked with early on, would take care of him during the day and then when she left to go home she would put Willy in the car and drive him home and pass him off to my wife, Joanie,” Peter says with a chuckle.

“I think he literally thought he had to be here.” That workaholic canine quickly became a fixture in the admissions office, and his joyful, bumbling presence— and that of subsequent dogs—calmed generations of prospective students. “They’d walk in the door and see a knuckleheaded lab lying on the floor and just feel the pressure either dissipate or disappear,” Peter says.

We’re sitting in Peter’s office on a golden October afternoon, talking about his upcoming retirement this June. As Peter reminisces about his 40 years at Holderness, another yellow lab, Barley, sits by his side. The spirited puppy has been a fixture on campus this fall, livening up the Advancement office where Peter has worked since 2005 as senior associate director for major gifts. In a way, Barley and his furry predecessors

have come to embody the laid-back, down-to-earth Holderness values Peter embraced when he became associate director of admissions in 1980. Mentored by school icons like Don Henderson, Bill Clough, and Pete Woodward, Peter came to see Holderness as a humble place that didn’t take itself too seriously, and where students could find an ideal balance between academics, athletics, and the arts. It’s the kind of place where a kid could be challenged and nurtured at the same time, says Peter, who watched his own children thrive at the school. “I always felt Holderness was good at allowing kids to learn and grow but still be a kid,” Peter says. “Maybe not all the time but certainly often enough, and I felt good about that.”

Since moving to the Advancement office in 2005, Peter has worked day in and day out to make the Holderness experience accessible to as many students as possible. Having spent a quarter century as the school’s director of admissions and director of financial aid, Peter knows just how critical the financial aid piece can be for students and their families. “Being director of financial aid was the only part of the job I didn’t like because it brought me as close to being depressed or having a migraine headache than anything else I did during my time here,” Peter says. “Every year there were kids that we would have loved to have had on campus where we would accept them and offer them a spot, and then deny financial aid. That was brutal.” On the other hand, Peter saw just how transformative financial aid could be—not just for the students who received it, but for the school itself. “A good number of the kids we’ve had the common sense to make financial aid awards to have added so damn much to this place,” Peter says. There’s no doubt that Peter’s efforts in the Advancement office made Holderness a more financially accessible place to more students. Indeed, major gifts and other forms of philanthropy have become an integral part of the school’s financial health. While tuition covers just 75 percent of the yearly costs to run the school and summer programming covers five percent, philanthropy makes up the remaining 20% of the operating budget. And financial aid has become more important than ever. Today, Peter says, approximately 40 percent of students receive some form of financial aid—up from 25 percent when he first came to Holderness in 1980. That growth in financial aid is made possible in large part through major gifts to the school, which often fund critical student scholarships. Peter has played a key role in arranging those gifts, mainly by nurturing the close relationships he’s formed with Holderness alumni, parents, and friends over the last 40 years. But he’s not pushy about it. “I was told that every time I went out on the road there should be a financial ask or a financial conversation that takes place, and I’ve never adhered to that—it just wasn’t who I am,” Peter says. “For me, it was much more about the relationships and getting to know people, and when the time was right having a conversation about their financial support.”

Although Peter will retire in June, he’ll maintain the close relationships he’s formed while at Holderness. You’ll still likely see him at reunion and other functions, and he’ll be happy to lend a hand if the Advancement office asks. But he’s ready to try other things, too —like gardening, playing poker with his buddies, volunteering with kids, and working on his admittedly poor golf game. He’s ready to try something new.

“There was a time when I was concerned about what I would do when I retired, but I’m no longer concerned,” Peter says, as Barley paws at his office door, eager to get outside. “I know that I can walk away from this place at some point and feel good about it. It will be tough, but I know I can do it, and that’s a good feeling.” n