BCDS Magazine, Fall 2010 issue

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e l Magazin ay Schoo D y tr n u o Beaver C

INSIDE

Teaching Innovation: Beaver Launches NuVu

See pages 2-3.

Reunion 2010 ★ Commencement ★ Profile: Paul Ochs ’80 Peter Gow Eyes College Landscape ★ Glee Club Memories ★ Teaching with Laptops

Welcome from Peter Hutton, Head of School

A recent Newsweek article entitled “The Creativity Crisis” (July 10, 2010) reported that while IQ scores increase at the same rate each generation, CQ (creativity quotient) scores have been falling since 1990. While I don’t put much stock in any type of standardized test, declining CQ scores should be a wake-up call for parents of school-age children and education policy makers.

First, if creativity is to be taught we need to better understand what it is. The article cites a fairly standard definition: “…the production of something original and useful…. There is never one right answer…. to be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).”

The CQ test was developed in the 1950s by Professor Paul Torrance, founder of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of Georgia. As the Newsweek story notes, “What’s shocking is how incredibly well Torrance’s creativity index predicted those kids’ creative accomplishments as adults. Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance’s tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers…. The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ.” Why are CQ scores falling? Some blame cuts in school arts programs, children watching television or playing video games. That is a huge cop out. The truth is that traditional schools (and I include here the many independent schools obsessed with their students’ SAT and AP scores) teach to a battery of standardized tests that emphasize mastery of content and conventional problem solving above all else. In my opinion, the greater concern is not students failing tests but testing failing students.

From my 2010 Annual Meeting remarks: I would like to express my deep appreciation to Jennifer Potter-Brotman ’71 for her seven years as a trustee. With Jennifer as president the past three years, the board completed a strategic plan that led to initiatives on technology and athletics, NuVu and a facilities master plan. She led the school with confidence and a steady hand through a challenging recession, always balancing the need to hear all viewpoints with the need to make timely and important decisions. All sorts of complicated and sensitive issues arise in schools, and Jennifer was always available to share her insight and wisdom.

Jennifer, we are a better board and a better school for your leadership, and all of us are so grateful for the energy and passion you brought to this very challenging role.

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I agree with Sir Ken Robinson, whose TED Talk on how “schools kill creativity” is a powerful indictment of our education system; traditional schools don’t just suppress creativity, they punish it. In an era when it has never been more important for us to harness the power of synthesis, collaboration, integration and innovation, it should be abundantly clear that creativity is not only the province of the arts.

At Beaver, we have always valued creativity and innovation. Our faculty understands that these skills can and must be fostered in every classroom.

Reflect on this notion when you read in this issue about our exciting NuVu Studio program (page 2) and about how laptops and Web 2.0 tools are empowering students to think and act globally (page 4). In each, you will see how we help students develop both convergent and divergent approaches to problem solving. We recognize that creativity is not something that a handful of people are born with. Rather, we understand that all of the higher-order thinking skills related to creativity can and must be inculcated in every student.

Jennifer Potter-Brotman ‘71 passed the reins to Chuck Campion P’09 as board president in July.

Beaver Country Day School Magazine Head of School: Peter Hutton

BCDS DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS STAFF Director of Development: Karen Hill Wood

Director of Alumni Relations: Shira Lewin ’92

Director of Communications: Jan Devereux

Communications Associate: Matthew Clobridge

Director of Annual Giving: Jill Henson

Development Associate: Jamie Golden ’02

Data Coordinator: David Michaels

Board of Trustees 2010-2011 President: Charles M. Campion P’09 Vice Presidents: Jeffrey Katz P’08 William R. O’Reilly, Jr. P’09 Sonja Rudder Spears ’82, P’10, ’12 Treasurer: Andrew S. Offit P’09 Head of School: Peter Hutton Trustees: Allison Gordon Abrams ’92 Jennifer Chafkin P’12, ’14 Faye Florence ’74 David G. Fubini P’10 Mary Loeken P’11, ’13 David G. Schechter P’12, ’14 Harold W. Sparrow P’12 Beth Terrana P’16 Michael Winter P’09, ’11

Faculty Representatives: Kit Cunningham Beaudouin ’72 Peter Brooks Parent Representatives: Susan Centofanti P’11, ’13 Jane E. Hughes P’13 Student Representative: Will Harrington ’12 Trustees Emeriti: Marian Upton Clouse ’58, P’88 Deborah Willard Coogan P’00 Edward Eskandarian P’90 Richard G. Huber Elizabeth Jick P’05, ’08 Nancy J. Moore ’41 Nina Rubenstein Morse ’61, P’87 Jennifer Potter-Brotman ’71 Robert L. Riemer P’88, ’90 Maria C. Walsh ’70 David L. Weltman P’75, ’78, ’82

Contents

BCDS

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2 Teaching Innovation: Beaver Launches NuVu Program 4 Laptops Tearing Down Classroom Walls—A Good Thing!

6 News Briefs 8 Sports Round-Up 10 Commencement & College List 14 Surveying the College Landscape: Bright Spots Visible 16 Reunion 2010 22 Profile: Paul F. Ochs ‘80

Editor: Jan Devereux

25 Glee Club Memories

Contributors: Peter Gow, Rob MacDonald, Robin Neal

29 Supporting Beaver

Photography: Michael J. Maloney, Matthew Clobridge, Jan Devereux, NuVu staff and Highpoint Pictures

31 Class Notes

Design: kor group, Boston

46 In Memoriam 10

Front Cover: Philip Skipitaris ’14 (keyboard) and Peter Killelea ’15 (guitar) at Jazz Café in May. Photo by Michael J. Maloney.

Printed on FSC-certified, 10% post-consumer recovered fiber paper.

Beaver Country Day School does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, creed, disabilities, sexual orientation, handicap status, national origin or ethnicity. The school actively encourages diversity, believing it to be an essential aspect of education.

Beaver Country Day School 791 Hammond Street Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 617.738.2700 www.bcdschool.org

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Campus Teaching Innovation: Beaver Launches NuVu Program This fall, Beaver is launching NuVu Studio, a unique academic program inspired by the innovative work of the MIT Media Lab. About sixty upper school students will spend one of their three trimesters at NuVu in Cambridge in lieu of taking their regular classes at Beaver that term. Developed in partnership with PhD students and faculty from MIT and with a pedagogy based on the design studio model, NuVu teaches innovation skills and cultivates creativity through hands-on problem solving and collaboration.

Rob MacDonald (math department head) led a task force comprised of Peter Hutton (head of school), Nancy Caruso (assistant head of school), Peter Gow (director of college counseling and special programs), Laura Nickerson (science department head) and Kader Adjout (history department head), which investigated the NuVu program and how it could complement and enhance Beaver’s academic program. Going forward, Rob will coordinate the partnership between Beaver and NuVu.

INTERVIEW WITH ROB MACDONALD

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How did the connection between NuVu and Beaver come about?

How does NuVu fit into Beaver’s mission and strategic goals?

There was a series of nice coincidences. First, Michael Bronner (father of Kristopher ‘12) deserves a lot of credit for introducing us to Saeed Arida, who developed the NuVu concept as part of his postdoctoral work at MIT. Saeed and other members of the NuVu team came to Beaver just before Thanksgiving and presented their vision. A few weeks prior to that presentation, though, I had mentioned to Nancy Caruso that MIT’s Media Lab was a big source of inspiration for the math department. I was hoping that we might find some sort of connection that would allow the math department to visit the Media Lab and pick their brains about solving problems through truly creative thinking. So, when Nancy invited me to come to a presentation by some people from the Media Lab, I was definitely excited. And afterward, I was even more excited.

I know that I’m not the only adult at Beaver whose reaction was, “I wish I could have done NuVu back when I was in school.” In fact, when Peter Hutton announced NuVu to the entire faculty, one of the first questions was, “When can we do NuVu?” And, this spring, when we invited students to sign up for NuVu in 2010–11, we got an overwhelmingly positive response.

We’re already a school that embraces innovation, so NuVu fits into Beaver’s mission perfectly. We challenge students to think creatively and critically instead of passively absorbing information and spitting it back out. We want students to be genuinely engaged in academic work instead of being spoon-fed a curriculum. If you spend a few minutes in the classrooms of our most experienced teachers, you’ll see students who are actively engaged in their work, who are thinking creatively, and who are having fun, too. NuVu looks different from Beaver in some ways, but when you look at the big pedagogical ideas, the approach to education really is the same. NuVu gives students access to some amazing resources (including people who are doing groundbreaking work in a variety of fields), and it gives them a different sort of structure for doing problem-based work. The reason that this partnership works so well, though, is that the two organizations share a vision about the future of education. It has been great to see everyone from students to board members embrace the program. It shows that this whole community understands our mission, and it shows that we really mean what we say about reinventing education.

How will NuVu prepare students for future classes and challenges?

What does it really mean to teach innovation and creativity?

This question seems to be getting a lot of attention these days. Authors like Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink), Tim Brown (Change By Design) and Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind) have sold millions of books about what happens when you look at problems from new angles. There’s a lot of enthusiasm right now about the potential for creative problem-solvers to change the world in big ways, but as Saeed points out, this type of thinking isn’t really new. In fact, Beaver’s own faculty was teaching creativity long before NuVu ever existed. We ask our students questions that don’t have easy answers.

We give students opportunities to brainstorm with one another, and we embrace diverse perspectives.

We leave room in the curriculum for students to follow tangents and explore the issues that really excite them. We let students take the lead, and we’re not afraid to let them make “excellent mistakes,” as Peter Hutton is fond of saying. I could probably go on, but the point is that there are some pedagogical approaches we follow every day at Beaver that allow our students to flex their creative muscles and take intellectual risks. NuVu’s approach is very similar, supplying students with mentor-coaches who ask tough questions and help students consider new possibilities. The design-thinking model asks students to imagine, use prototypes, and then re-imagine in a way that’s been proven to generate solid results in places like graduate programs in architecture and engineering. I think that Beaver and NuVu both have faith that kids are naturally creative, so it’s only a matter of tapping into an ability that already exists. It’s disappointing that so many schools seem to be doing the opposite, squelching creativity and independent thinking in a test-driven culture.

Inspired by the MIT Media Lab’s design studio model, NuVu teaches innovation skills and cultivates creativity through hands-on problem solving and collaboration.

Learn more about NuVu Studio at: www.nuvustudio.org and about Beaver’s NuVu partnership at www.bcdschool.org/nuvu.

(L-R) Mariah Shore ’10, Vanessa Lecky ’10 and NuVu director Saeed Arida >

> NuVu coach Eric Rosenbaum (R) with Jake Haas ’10, Luke Fraser ’10 and Henry Moorhead ’10

I think that students who return to Beaver after a term at NuVu will inevitably have some new skills to share. This past spring, our seniors piloting the NuVu program made music using circuit boards and resistors, built hot air balloons to take aerial photos and made some impressive short films. It’s clear that all of the NuVu students were stretched. Those who didn’t consider themselves to be particularly artistic saw that they could be artists. Those who didn’t consider themselves to be particularly strong in science saw that they could be scientists. If we can help students go outside their comfort zones and integrate skills from multiple disciplines, that’s a great thing, especially since the world needs more people who can synthesize ideas and see connections. I think that it’s also inevitable that NuVu students will come away from the program with a deeper understanding of what problem-solving looks like in the real world.

They’re bound to be impressed by the experts they’ll meet; these people are passionate about the work they do, and they love thinking about complex problems. It’s tough to predict exactly how students will react to the experience, but I can’t imagine working alongside such inspiring people without being affected in powerful ways. I also think NuVu will have a ripple effect throughout the Beaver community, pushing teachers to continue re-thinking how they teach creativity and collaboration, something we’ve all been thinking a lot about since becoming a laptop school last year. The great thing about working at Beaver is how open my colleagues are to trying new strategies to bring out the best in our students.

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Campus Laptops Tearing Down Classroom Walls— A Good Thing! By Robin Neal

In describing how laptops helped shape one unit in sophomore English, teacher Robin Neal explains how technology is supporting and redefining learning at Beaver. >

When Beaver launched its 1:1 laptop initiative in 2009, some worried that using computers in the classroom would create distracted, isolated students—a valid concern in this day and age. Like many, I am disgusted when I look around a crowded café or sidewalk and see pallid faces buried in digital devices, ignoring everyone and everything else. Imagining a similar tableau in a classroom is frightening. The reality of the wired classroom is quite different, however, and after the program’s successful inaugural year, the majority of students and faculty look favorably upon the change.

It started with a question: “Can’t we do something?”

In my 10th grade English class I was beginning a unit on Harriet Jacob’s narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. To help students make personal connections between their lives and the time of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, I had vetted several online sources that explored modern forms of slavery with the idea that a class period of research would help my students delve deeper into a complex issue.

I was so utterly wrong. We did achieve personal connections and close textual analysis, but not in the way I planned. My students showed me a better path.

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The inquisitive sophomore went on to explain—in a sincere and respectful tone—that Beaver does an excellent job of making students aware of social justice issues. He felt, however, that too often this study remained abstract. He wanted to do something about the issue of slavery, not just discuss it in relation to the text. A quick survey of the other students showed they agreed. It was a classic teachable moment. I could see the students were genuinely interested in the topic and decided, on the spot, to scrap my plans. The students and I constructed a new unit instead, and the three weeks that followed were some of the most successful, enriching, and edifying I have had in my thirteen years in the classroom.

The modern slavery unit was truly student-centered and student-generated. They devised the various components of the unit while I acted as a coach, and they collaborated with every other sophomore taking English that term to determine the scope and sequence of our study. In the end, they decided to create public service announcement videos exposing modern instances of forced or child labor and to launch letter-writing campaigns to corporate leaders and government officials. All the while, we made connections between this work and our reading of Harriet Jacob’s memoir. The end result was so much more meaningful than I had ever imagined (visit: www.tinyurl.com/BCDSslavery).

Tara Paulauskas and Reilly McDonnell ’13

I would venture to say that each of my faculty colleagues had their own “aha” moment last year when they and their students realized the power of instructional technology to transform their learning experience.

Robin Neal

> Peter Brooks with Aleah StewartSouris ’10 and Jen Chan ’10

Now, such learning can and should occur in any classroom, regardless of the resources available.

Yet because of our laptop program this particular unit was much more productive and meaningful.

Students still worked in groups, using face-to-face interactions to brainstorm, research and edit, but the laptops extended this collaboration beyond the classroom walls and the school day.

My students used Google Docs, which allows many authors to work on one document. Because each student had a laptop, he or she could add to the group’s research log whenever it was most convenient. This asynchronous collaboration is a powerful addition to group work, allowing even the most reticent student to make meaningful contributions at a personal pace.

Also, by using a class wiki—a web page that allows for many editors at one time—students shared resources not only with group members, but also with students in other classes. Sarah Akhtar’s 10th grade English sections, interested in the approach my students were taking, quickly joined in. When someone found a useful link, they added it to the class wiki and everyone benefited. The list of initial sources rapidly blossomed into a rich and organic resource far richer than anything we could have done individually.

The work we accomplished was more efficient as well. A common concern people have about laptops in the classroom is that they create too many distractions. Yet, I have found that having laptops actually saves time and helps the class move at a faster pace. When the laptops are not needed, they are simply closed.

The biggest benefit from the laptop program has been the way it helps create authentic audiences for the students’ writing. They were no longer writing just for me, but for the world beyond our classroom walls. I installed a visitor-tracking map on our wiki, and by the next day our site had visits from Japan, Jakarta, and cities all over the U.S. As the week continued, we received more and more hits. For generations, teachers have understood that writing is more effective when it is purposeful and focused; using the Web as a communication platform, students discovered that others are interested in what they have to say. The realization that their voices can hold influence and garner reactions from the wider world was transformational and a lesson that will last a lifetime.

Robin Neal teaches upper school English and serves as the faculty’s technology integration specialist. He joined the Beaver faculty last year from the Frankfurt International School, where he was a leader in the inventive use of classroom technology.

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Campus

Joining the board for three-year terms starting July 1, 2010, are: Jennifer Chafkin of Chestnut Hill (Isaac ’12 and Joseph ’14), Mary Loeken of Dover (Sebastian ’11 and Dominick Smith ’13), Harold Sparrow of Hyde Park (Lexie ’12) and Beth Terrana of Wellesley (Skylar ’16).

At the Annual Meeting of the Corporation in May, Peter Hutton acknowledged outgoing president Jennifer Potter-Brotman for her steady hand and expert counsel, which helped the school to safely weather the financial crisis. During her tenure, enrollment remained strong and the Annual Fund broke the million-dollar mark in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Appreciation also goes to outgoing trustees Gale Hunt P’05, ’08, ’11 (board clerk), Ann Fissler P’06, ’13, Michelle Lefkowitz P’08, Lisa Tucker P’08, ’10 and Maurice Wright P’93 for their years of dedication and service to the school.

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Chuck Campion, board of trustees president

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Robert Principe leading a workshop on multicultural competency.

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Trustee Charles (“Chuck”) Campion is Beaver’s new board president, succeeding Jennifer Potter-Brotman ’71, who stepped down after serving three successful terms in the role. Chuck, a principal and founder of Dewey Square Group, is a public affairs strategist who served as special assistant to Vice President Walter Mondale and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. A trustee since 2006, Chuck chairs the marketing committee. He and his wife Heather live in Brookline and are the parents of Max ’09.

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CAMPION Named BOARD President

Amirah Mahdi ’11 and Kasjah Scarlett ’11 at the Students of Color Conference

Beaver Hosts Conferences for Students and Educators Members of the Beaver community organized and hosted three prominent conferences last year. Social action leaders Danielle Bynoe ’10 and Emily Salfity ’10, working closely with the Hiatt Center for Social Justice Education faculty, organized the 2010 Association of Independent Schools of New England (AISNE) Students of Color Conference in April. The event drew several hundred students from across the region for a weekend of diversity workshops, several of which were led by members of the Beaver community. In February Beaver co-sponsored the Boston EdSocial Media Summit, a professional development conference on using social media in the classroom and for marketing and communications. In December a group of about 50 educators attended an AISNE workshop on teaching multicultural competencies led by Robert Principe of the Hiatt Center. Beaver’s department heads and several faculty also led discussions on how they teach these skills. Last October Beaver hosted a workshop on “Re-Imagining High School” with members of the Independent Curriculum Group.

Under Secretary of State Judith McHale >

Distinguished Speakers Visit Campus annual Gilbert and Marcia Kotzen Lecture brought Bentley University business professor and author Raj Sisodia to talk about the conscious capitalism movement.

Other notable speakers included: children’s TV producer Sophie Ali ’83; photojournalist David Arnold (son of Dorothy Arnold ’42); BBC journalist Firle Davies; poets Dan Chiasson, Jeffrey Harrison, Jaamil Kosoko, and Kim Garcia; Holocaust survivor Max Michelson; addiction prevention counselor Jeff Wolfsberg; writer Wendy Mnookin P’97; and visiting artist Alexander DeMaria.

Poet Robert Pinsky with Caroline Margolis-Borgeson ’10 >

The Beaver community welcomed several noteworthy visitors during the 2009-10 school year. Last fall, seniors in the memoir elective invited best-selling writer Mary Karr to campus by posting a video on her Facebook page, humorously listing the top ten reasons she should visit their class while she was in Boston promoting her new memoir (Lit). Ms. Karr took the bait and led a spirited discussion with the class. Later the same month, another senior English elective invited former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky to give a reading. In January, a Skype session between upper school history students and students in Afghanistan attracted the attention of the U.S. State Department, and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith A. McHale was present in the Rogers Room as the students discussed the impact of the war. In April, the

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Stay current with campus news at www.bcdschool.org

Professor Raj Sisodia with Mara Riemer Goldstein ’88, Hannah Goldstein ’16 and Stepheny Kotzen Riemer ’65.

Sculpture Installed on Cohn Terrace A colorful sculpture, entitled Freestyle, was installed in May on the Alex Cohn Terrace adjacent to the Visual and Performing Arts Center. Inspired

by Alex’s love of freestyle skiing, the sculpture was designed by members of the Class of 2007 and fabricated by art teacher Peter Brooks.

Separately, the Kaplan and Cohn families have established the annual Alex Cohn Explore Grant to provide a Beaver student with the opportunity to pursue a passion outside of school. The inaugural recipient, Taylor Hayes ’12, used the grant to study fashion design this summer. For more information, please contact Karen Hill Wood, director of development. > Freestyle (photo by Carol Kaplan)

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SPORTS

Round-Up ATHLETICS HIGHLIGHTS IN 2009-10

Harry Bachrach ’11

Boys’ varsity tennis clinched the Eastern Independent League (EIL) Championship for the second year and qualified for the NEPSAC tournament. Undefeated in league play, the team won five of its eight matches by 5-0. Co-captain Pierre Planche ’10 was undefeated at #1 singles in the league.

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Boys’ varsity basketball won the EIL regular season title and the tournament championship and qualified for the NEPSAC tournament. Freshman Rene Castro ’13 was voted a NEPSAC First Team Class D All-Star.

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Girls’ varsity basketball (16-4) won the EIL tournament championship and qualified for the NEPSAC tournament.

Daisy Jordan ‘11 was named a NEPSAC Class C East All-Star.

Isabelle Yardley ‘10 won the Palmer Cup for excellence in girls’ athletics.

Boys’ fencing placed 4th at the Mass. High School Championships. Joseph Randles ’12 and Will Harrington ’12 competed in the U.S. Fencing Association’s 2010 Junior Olympics in Memphis in February.

> Pierre Planche ’10

Boys’ wrestling: Beaver hosted the EIL tournament in February. Ramon Romao ’11 won his weight class at 119 lbs, and Jason Flashner ’12 placed 2nd at 125 lbs. Tyler Kavoogian ’13 and Murray Hershkowitz ’10 each placed 3rd. Ranked #4 in New England, Ramon competed in the National Prep Wrestling Tournament in Pennsylvania in February.

Boys’ varsity cross country finished 3rd in the EIL Championships and 4th in the NEPSTA Division V Championships.

Boys’ varsity lacrosse qualified for the New England Small Schools Championships, and Peter Brooks was voted EIL Coach of Year for boys’ lacrosse.

EASTERN INDEPENDENT LEAGUE HONORS

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Julian Fialkow ’12, boys’ tennis (#3 singles)

Fall All League: Henry Moorhead ’10, boy’s soccer

Winter All League: David Thomas ’10, boys’ basketball

Oliver Hunt ’11, boys’ soccer

Rene Castro ’13, boys’ basketball

Lukas Mead ’10 & Kris Bronner ’12, boys’ tennis (#1 doubles)

Isabelle Yardley ’10, girls’ soccer

Daisy Jordan ’11, girls’ basketball

Danny Segel ’10, baseball

Noah Kulick ’11, cross country

Emily Belowich ’11, girls’ basketball

Matt Friedman ’10, boys’ lacrosse

Taylor Pierce ’11, cross country

Ramon Romao ’11, wrestling

Charlie Jackson ’11, boys’ lacrosse Hannah Searle ’11, girls’ lacrosse

Harry Bachrach ’11, cross country Christina Volcy ’10, field hockey Shane Bourque ’10, golf

Spring All League: Pierre Planche ’10, boys’ tennis (#1 singles) Henry Moorhead ’10, boys’ tennis (#2 singles)

Tess Anderson ’13, girls’ lacrosse Peter Brooks, boys’ lacrosse coach of the year Sarah Bormel & Liz Skinner, girls’ lacrosse coaches of the year

> Emily Belowich ’11

> Danny Segel ’10

Ramon Romao ’11

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Rene Castro ’13 > Tyler Starr ’10 won the Revere Cup for excellence in boys’ athletics.

Christina Volcy ’10 >

Announcing the BCDS Athletics Hall of Fame Help us identify and recognize the contributions of outstanding student-athletes, coaches and teams over Beaver’s history. We will announce the first inductees in spring 2011.

Read detailed criteria and submit nominations by September 30th at: http://bit.ly/BCDSHallofFame

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CLASS OF 2010 COMMENCEMENT

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BCDS conferred diplomas on 75 graduates at its 86th commencement on June 6. The Class of 2010, which includes 22 lifers (students who attended from 6th through 12th grade), will disperse to 53 colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad.

Maeve Williams ’10

As he presented the diplomas, Head of School Peter Hutton said a few words about each graduate’s strengths and contributions to school life, a Beaver tradition that underscores how well students are known, and appreciated, as individuals.

be shot in a crime of passion by an angry husband or boyfriend.” He said some veteran teachers in the audience were probably so shocked to see him at the podium that “it’s like the Rapture happening, it’s such an impossibility.”

Senior Class President William Tucker ’10, a Beaver lifer and high-honors graduate who received this year’s Spirit Cup, spoke about what makes Beaver so special.

Brad brought along some of his old Beaver report cards as props. He said that in high school he thought he might become a doctor, like his father, until he made a D in science. He had a few choice words for a former English teacher (long since retired) who gave him a C- and told him he was destined to fail. Only in college did he discover that he is severely dyslexic!

Willy introduced guest speaker Brad Falchuk ’89 (co-creator, writer and director of Glee) and presented him with a “Beat LA” T-shirt, a nod to the ongoing NBA finals between the Celtics and the Lakers.

In his witty and self-deprecating address, Brad said that back in 1989 he would have been voted least likely to be invited to speak at a future graduation. In fact, he said, he “probably would have been voted most likely to resign my seat in an ethics violation, or to be responsible for an oil rig explosion, or to

> Speakers (and Celtics fans) Brad Falchuk ’89 and Willy Tucker ’10

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He went on to reassure the graduates that he was “utterly lost” when he was their age, and told them that they may eventually discover that their greatest strengths are what they now think of as their flaws.

Read Brad Falchuk’s full speech at: http://bit.ly/BCDScommencement

* = Cum Laude Society

(L) = Lifer

COLLEGE CHOICES, Class of 2010 as of July 2010

David Arbeiter University of Rochester Parker Barrell PG at Pomfret School Sheyda Bautista-Saeyan (L)* Brown University Reid Bernstein (L) Syracuse University Cameron Bloy (L) University of Richmond Joshua Bourdeau (L) Bowdoin College Drew Buckley Wheelock College Danielle Bynoe Colgate University Brae Cabot * Franklin & Marshall College Jennifer Chan (L) Skidmore College Justin Conway Bates College Mariela DeLeon Boston College Jahrad DeLosSantos Emmanuel College Brett Duboff (L) Connecticut College

Nathalie Dubreuil (L) Elmira College

Brendan Hickey University of Denver

Kayla Masterman Union College

Matthew Robbins Colgate University

Rebecca Felcon University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Lucile Hicks (L)* Duke University

Geoffrey Mayer School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Emily Salfity (L) Goucher College

Daniel Fellman Indiana University, Bloomington Max Flashner Bates College Luke Fraser Emerson College Matthew Friedman Union College William Fubini Bates College Andrew Galakatos (L) Colgate University Joanna Georgakas (L)* Middlebury College Margaret Gregory (L) Providence College Jake Haas Worcester Polytechnic Institute Laura Haigler (L) High Point University

Jon Huang (L) Boston College

Lukas Mead (L) Gettysburg College

Adina Jick Barnard College

Michael Micheli College of Charleston

Dylan Judson (L) College of Charleston Samantha King The University of Arizona Anjali Lappin Wheelock College Vanessa Lecky * Northwestern University Samuel Lynch * Northeastern University

Lily Moore Roanoke College Henry Moorhead (L) Trinity College Christina Nanfeldt The George Washington University Haley Peck Syracuse University Myriam Piquant College of the Holy Cross

Rachel Maltz Skidmore College

Pierre Planche Gap year

Caroline MargolisBorgeson * Boston College

Rebecca Pleskow (L) Boston University

Brooke Marram University of Miami

Gus Polstein * Occidental College

Emma Marshall (L)* Elon University

Nathaniel Harrington * Yale University

Daniel Segel McDaniel College Mariah Shore Hampshire College Diallo Spears * Yale University Tyler Starr * Tufts University Aleah Stewart-Souris Bennington College Alexandra Strawbridge Wheaton College Jake Tankel The George Washington University David Thomas Boston College William Tucker (L)* Bowdoin College Hayley Tuckett High Point University Piers Turner Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne Christina Volcy * University of Pennsylvania

Charles Haverty * Tufts University

Jeffrey Weinman (L) University of Colorado at Boulder

Murray Hershkowitz Drew University

Carrie Widmer Parsons School of Design, New School University & Eugene Lang College, New School University Maeve Williams Pitzer College Paula Wolf Parsons School of Design, New School University >

Riki Adams University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Sheyda Bautista-Saeyan ’10 > Peter Hutton congratulates Jennifer Chan ’10

Isabelle Yardley Providence College Hayley Yudelman (L) University of Michigan

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CLASS OF 2010 COMMENCEMENT

Will Fubini ’10 with father David, a BCDS trustee

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Trustee President Jennifer Potter-Brotman ’71 gives Andrew Galakatos ’10 his diploma as Peter Brooks looks on.

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Tyler Starr ’10 with mother Kathy and brother Jason ’05

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Trustee Sonja Rudder Spears ’82 with sons Diallo ’10 and Omari ’12 and husband Ike

> Mariela DeLeon ’10 with brother Danny ’11 (student council president in 2010-11)

> Danielle Bynoe ’10 with parents Troy and Celestine

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The Class of 2010

Henry Moorhead ’10 with parents Susie and Steve

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> Larry McKinney ’90 (senior class dean) and Josh Bourdeau ’10

SPECIAL REPORT

Surveying the College Landscape: Bright Spots Visible

By Peter Gow

When I became director of college counseling five years ago, I wrote that it was a “golden age” for college applicants. The campus facilities arms race was in high gear, and colleges were falling all over one another to offer amenities, academic and otherwise, that would attract applicants. Highly-regarded schools were shedding testing requirements at a rapid pace, and there was a steady trickle of colleges announcing “no loan” financial aid programs and other policies to ease the cost burden on students and families.

And then came the crash. Endowments plummeted, and anxieties over the availability of students who could pay and of funds for financial aid gave everyone—colleges and applicants—a major case of the jitters. Colleges dialed back building programs, and admission offices hunkered down. Families watched the economic news and bit their fingernails to the quick.

In the end, however, applying to college from Beaver in this time of economic uncertainty has proved to be, at least on the whole, not such a bad thing. If the golden era has passed, the financial clouds overhanging American higher education have proved to have some silver linings.

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Over the past two years, for example, we have seen an increasing number of Beaver seniors’ applications result in offers of admission; 2009 was a record, and 2010 surpassed that. Fewer applications have been denied, and wait-list activity has been relatively high. Students, in short, have racked up acceptances at a good clip. Colleges clearly recognize what is unique and exciting about Beaver, and our students have certainly been presenting themselves as strong and interesting candidates, but some colleges have also been hedging their bets, offering a few more places to students out of nervousness about their own yield rates—that is, the percentage of accepted students who choose to enroll.

The effect of uncertainty on students has paralleled the colleges’ response. In recent years the number of applications per student has risen relatively steadily, reaching record levels in 2009 and 2010. The rising rate of acceptances has meant that many students have discovered that choosing a school to attend from among five or seven or even ten choices is as difficult as applying in the first place.

Students are hedging their own bets, and for students applying for financial aid it has become more important than ever to have a number of offers—and many of these are still quite generous— from which to choose.

The bad news has come at the top of the rankings heap, where the super-selectives—the Ivies and other traditionally elite colleges—have continued to see increases in their application numbers and have become even more selective. A few colleges, including Boston-area schools like Tufts, Boston College, and Northeastern, have been expanding their national and international reputations, and the first two can legitimately be regarded as super-selective; no longer are they to be regarded as “easy” under any circumstances. Beaver has contributed to this trend, incidentally, with the number of our students applying to (and attending) Boston-area schools rising since 2008.

Colleges clearly recognize what is unique and exciting about Beaver.

Peter Gow

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Super-selective does not mean unattainable, however, and Beaver students with strong academic records, top-level standardized testing, and exciting personal qualities and extracurricular interests have done just fine in obtaining offers of admission to a number of schools in this category. If anything, our students did especially well this year in attracting positive attention to the school from college admission offices.

Peter Gow, director of college counseling and special programs, has been a member of the BCDS faculty since 1980. His son, Nat Harrington ‘10, is attending Yale University, Peter’s alma mater.

What’s to come? As I write this, the Dow Jones has dropped over 260 points in a day, Paul Krugman says we are living through a depression, and “recovery” seems more elusive every week. Colleges with wobbly finances—and this includes many very well thought-of schools—will work ever harder to attract applicants while discreetly cutting expenses, and families will bargain-hunt more aggressively.

State schools and Canadian universities, relatively inexpensive compared to U.S. private colleges, offer outstanding opportunities and are starting to look attractive enough to overcome any perceived “prestige gap.” It’s likely that the trend toward more applications per student will continue. The superselective colleges will continue to be super-selective, and a few more colleges each year will join that category. Financial aid will, unfortunately, remain a challenge, and the trend toward test-optional admissions has slowed.

Here at Beaver students will continue to work hard, and we will continue to support them. Innovative programs like NuVu and our Web 2.0 initiatives will continue to differentiate Beaver and its students, and we are cautiously optimistic that the silver lining we have noticed in this extended recession may gradually assume a golden tinge. If the times are not as giddily glorious as they seemed in 2006, right now is as good a time as there has ever been for a Beaver student to be applying to college.

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Reunion Alumni Weekend reunited classmates and friends from across seven decades on Friday, May 7 and Saturday, May 8.

The festivities kicked off Friday morning with alumni classes and a luncheon in the Rogers Room honoring the Class of 1960’s 50th Reunion. Barbara Ray Stevens ’60 gave a touching tribute to her classmates and the vast changes women of their era have lived through.

Friday evening’s party in the Visual and Performing Arts Center brought together alumni of all ages, and the Class of 1960 capped off a busy day with dinner at Peter and Cissy Hutton’s house.

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http://bcdschool.smugmug.com

The Class of 1960’s 50th Reunion: (Front L-R) Jeannie Hoyt Olinger, Judith Laws Wood, Sherry Atkinson-Mallory, Susan Heifetz Kopelman, Clare L. Dana, Susanne Mueller, Marcia Norcross DeHanas (Middle L-R) Diana Chace Hoyt, Toni Caldwell Junkin, Susan Tucker Davis, Elizabeth Fellows Klemm, Lallie Pratt, Perrin Bagg Heard, Wendy Taylor, Lynne Wyluda Beasley (Back L-R) Cynthia Lyman Freeman, Diane Goodale, Ann Pinkerton Foss, Barbara Ray Stevens, Tracy Keppel Drury, Judith Broggini Gunner, Diana Horn Grammont, Ellen Fish Kingsbury >

On Saturday, alumni marking major reunion years gathered off campus.

Special thanks to those who hosted class parties: Lynne Wyluda Beasley ’60, Sandy Swift Bigelow ’65, Pamela Sacks Weil ’70, John Weltman ’75, Henry Feldman ’85, and Gena Comenzo ’90.

Members of the Class of 1980 met at a Middle Eastern restaurant and limbered up with belly dancing with Amy Jo Blotner ’80, while alumni from 1995, 2000 and 2005 gathered at a sports bar to watch a Red Sox game.

To see more photos from Reunion 2010, and to purchase prints or download digital files (free), go to:

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SAVE THE DATE

Reunion 2011 Friday, May 6 & Saturday, May 7, 2011 Alumni from all years are invited to attend Reunion Weekend.

Special celebrations in 2011 for classes ending in -01 and -06.

ALUMNI AWARDS 2010

Distinguished Alumna Award

Outstanding Young Alumnus Award

Anna Laurence Harding ’65 for her deep commitment to serving the needs of others. Laurie is serving her third term as a New Hampshire State Representative. A resident of Lebanon, Laurie is a registered nurse and hospice worker who has advocated on behalf of abused women, disabled adults and senior citizens. She is a former assistant professor of nursing at ColbySawyer College.

Alex Whitmore ’95 for his sociallyresponsible and environmentallyconscious entrepreneurship.

Alex is the co-founder and CEO of Taza Chocolate, which manufactures organic chocolate products using fair trade ingredients and sustainable processes in Somerville’s Union Square.

Service Award Stepheny Kotzen Riemer ’65 for her dedicated service to Beaver. Stepheny has been actively involved in the school community as a parent (Adam ’90 and Mara ’88), a grandparent (Hannah Goldstein ’16), a trustee, and currently as chair of the President’s Advisory Council. She and her family sponsor the annual Gilbert and Marcia Kotzen Lecture.

Driscoll Award for Social Responsibility Susanne D. Mueller ’60 for her efforts to develop an awareness of key issues facing developing nations and to effect positive change through her scholarship and field work. Susanne has spent most of her adult life in Africa, as an academic and doing international development work for the World Bank and various UN agencies. She has authored numerous policy papers on political and economic development.

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50th Reunion Committee (L-R): Barbara Ray Stevens, Toni Caldwell Junkin, Lynne Wyluda Beasley, Susan Tucker Davis, Tracy Keppel Drury, Ann Pinkerton Foss

Driscoll Award recipient Susanne Mueller ’60 (C) with Ellen Driscoll ’70 (L) and Kit Cunningham Beaudouin ’72 (R).

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Reunion More photos online at:

Anne Patterson Wynne-Wilson ’59, Susan Tucker Davis ‘60 >

> The Class of 1970: (Front L-R) Kit Motley Reno, Janet Benson, Ellen Driscoll (Back L-R) Rachel Spang Lawton, Laurie Palfreyman Cohen, Judith Nead Weiner, Lisbeth Bornhofft

> The Class of 1985: (Front L-R) Nicole Dokton Dunn, Laura Travers Lerner, Carl Gladstone, Marianna Caponigro, Kristin Harper (Back L-R) Pierre Robert, Gary Wynn, Henry Feldman, David Mahoney, Sara Gregg Gorham

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http://bcdschool.smugmug.com

The Class of 1965 (L-R): Milo Fay, Stepheny Kotzen Riemer, Susan Keppel Keller, Betsy Washburn Cabot, Susana Cantor Brown, Bea Kleppner (faculty), Barbara Blake Porter, Sash Ludwig, Ceelie Wood Beacham

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1975 classmates (L-R): Julie Slavet, Danielle Alexandra, Donna Barrett

The Class of 1980: (Front L-R) Ava Altman Harder, Amy Jo Blotner, James Turner (Back L-R) Julian Liknaitzky, Lehana LaPlaca, Rose Shapiro Tankel, Deb Sriberg

Elizabeth Fellows Klemm ’60 (L) and Ann Pinkerton Foss ’60 drummed with a jazz class > > Nancy Proger Kaplan ’55 (L) and Kitty Ray Sturgis ‘58

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Class of 1990 (L-R): Gena Comenzo, Rebecca Dunne Waterfall, Wendy Jacobs Wilensky, Larry McKinney, Larry Madden, Anika Gregg Susan Heifetz Kopelman ’60 (L) and Stepheny Kotzen Riemer ’65

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Reunion

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Class of 1975 (L-R): Julie Slavet, Caroline Rubin Goodman, John Weltman, Donna Barrett

Class of 1985 (L-R): Carl Gladstone, Gary Wynn, David Kaplan, Rick Kaplan, Keith Garte, Henry Feldman

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1970 classmates (L-R): Jody Gardner Crosby, Cheri Coulter, Lee KileyLadd, Nancy Brooks >

Rebecca Dunne Waterfall ’90 (L) and Wendy Jacobs Wilensky ’90

> Ellen Fish Kingsbury ’60 exhibited some of her art at reunions.

> Nelson de Witt ’00 (L) and Chris Shields ’00

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Laura Kaplan P’13, Rick Kaplan ’85, P’13, Peter Hutton, Dan Kaplan ‘85, P’13

> Mike Castellot ’01 and Jamie Golden ’02 > (L-R) Rachel McHugh, Nelson Rutrick, Jamie Jick (all ’05)

Class of 2005 classmates (L-R): Zach Wallack, Colleen Hutton, Julia Budnick, Rob Kotzen

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Class of 2000 classmates (Front L-R): Jamie Lederer, Maria Suarez Peneda, Ilan Bachrach, Reed Harris (Back L-R): Nelson de Witt, Kendra Mitchell, Chris Shields, Jonathan Geller, Chris Coogan, Paul Connors

The Class of 1985 (L-R): Keith Garte, Gary Wynn, Henry Feldman, Nicole Dokton Dunn, Jean Robert, Marianna Caponigro, Dan Kaplan, Sarah Gregg Gorham, Rick Kaplan, Laura Traverse Lerner, Carl Gladstone, David Kaplan, Marjorie Kaplan, Barrie Silver, Kristin Harper, Chris Steadman, Andre Papajohn >

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Wendy Wightman Taylor ’60 (L) and Sherry Atkinson-Mallory ’60

PAUL F. OCHS III ‘80

Designer-Entrepreneur Crafts Stylish Interiors By Jan Devereux

When I arranged to meet Paul Ochs this summer in New York City, I expected to conduct a traditional interview, with Paul answering my questions about his career as an interior designer. Two minutes into our meeting, I set aside my notebook and listened, rapt, for three hours as Paul revealed the polymathic mind of a contemporary Renaissance man.

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Profile

His business card, with its sepia photo of an acorn (a subtle signal that his last name is pronounced “oaks”), reads “Interior Design & Construction Management,” but that description understates the breadth of talent and expertise that Paul brings to his busy practice. Since founding Ochs Design in 1989, Paul has acquired an encyclopedic knowledge of construction methods and finish materials and has cultivated master craftsmen and trades people all over the world, a compendium of resources and connections that have gained him notice in the competitive New York design world. HGTV featured his dramatic renovation of an 850 s.f. apartment in Manhattan in an episode of Small Space, Big Style.

His work on an antique farmhouse on 10 acres in the Delaware River Valley, which he saved from abandonment, lovingly restored and re-sold (fully furnished), was featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine last spring, and his recent renovation of a landmarked Greenwich Village townhouse will likely be published soon.

We met at the townhouse, which dates to 1852 and is located on a tree-lined street in the West Village. Paul arrived on foot, escorted by his wellmannered labradoodle, Lafayette. A California couple had purchased the 2,300 s.f. property to serve as a pied-a-terre, and hired Paul to design and fully furnish living spaces that would showcase the wife’s own artwork.

Paul explained every aspect of the project, from the custom-made and antique furnishings he procured for the clients; to the architectural elements he designed; to the decorative wall, window and floor

finishes he chose. Unlike many of his firm’s commissions, this one did not entail gutting the interior, but Paul did renovate the kitchen and installed new lighting and fixtures, even nickel-plating the radiator in the foyer to match the other nickel elements used throughout. The clients deemed the existing bathrooms perfectly serviceable, however, so Paul did not press to renovate them solely for the sake of leaving his own stamp on every square inch of the house, as another designer might have. Waste is anathema to Paul, a hard-toshake Yankee virtue in a profession whose bread and butter is change. Paul told me he considers waste the “number one problem” in the design industry and that his guiding esthetic is a more sustainable, “universal design” based on durable, organic materials and classic fixtures that will please a succession of residents.

Completed in late 2009, the townhouse is cosmopolitan, yet comfortable—a home-away-fromhome whose elegant and eclectic style and high level of finish betray no sign that Paul executed the project start-to-finish in just eight months, communicating long-distance with the couple, even flying to Paris to bring home a pair of Art Deco andirons. (The actual work began four months after Paul first met with his clients; they moved in four months later—the blink of an eye in design terms.)

The project demanded a seasoned designer with the confidence and sensitivity to tailor his own esthetic to his clients’ needs and to deliver high-caliber results on a tight timeline. Paul’s well-deserved pride in his meticulous work was heightened by his clients’ satisfaction with the result.

> Dining area in a Chelsea loft with peek to a glamorous bedroom beyond. The photo enlargement of a mushroom’s underside was commissioned from Paul’s friend and artist, Chrissy Glenn. (photo

by Andrew Bordwin ’82)

“As a small business owner, there’s no aspect of my education that I don’t use regularly,” Paul observed. His success in the business is all the more impressive when you consider that he has no formal training in interior design or architecture. “I’m not intimidated by a lack of knowledge,” he told me, explaining that he sees not having attended design school as an advantage that gives him a unique perspective unbound by convention. I would add that being largely self-taught also requires intellectual curiosity and a willingness to venture into uncharted waters; in this respect, Paul embodies the lifelong learner that all schools aspire to produce.

In college, at the University of Vermont, Paul created his own major in environmental planning and design and was headed for a career in land use planning.

Living in Copenhagen and traveling widely, he gained an appreciation for the flair of international interiors, with their clean lines and judicious use of space.

(World travel continues to be a regular source of inspiration for Paul and a valuable conduit to skilled crafts people.) He cut his design teeth with stints at Knoll and Smallbone before starting his own firm twenty-one years ago. Ochs Design, which has grown to employ an architect and a construction manager for its residential and commercial projects, operates out of a modest ground floor studio in Soho.

The firm’s extensive portfolio includes projects of all scales, uses and budgets. Paul clearly thrives on work that expands and stretches the boundaries of his expertise. “If I’m not trying something new in every project I’d get bored,” he remarked.

As a small business owner, there’s no aspect of my education that I don’t use regularly.

Paul Ochs ‘80

Not one to shy away from a challenge, he immerses himself in learning how things work mechanically and structurally and in understanding how materials interact chemically, reveling in the chance to marry his love of science with his finely honed visual esthetic, a duality that emerged in high school. He credits Beaver art teachers Karl Tabery and Lisbeth Bornhofft ‘70 with giving him rein to explore new mediums and to take creative risks. Science teachers Barbara Little and Jerry McCarthy, his advisor, also encouraged him to experiment with process.

Getting to know Paul, I found myself wondering how schools can more intentionally incubate the broad skill set he relies upon. Along with imagination and a strong visual esthetic, a designer needs to be able to effectively communicate, collaborate, negotiate, budget, multitask, network and troubleshoot when an unexpected problem arises, as it inevitably will.

Flexibility, patience, salesmanship and tact, in equal measure, are all essential to success in this and many other careers. A program like Beaver’s NuVu (see pages 2-3), which takes its inspiration from the design studio and applies its methods and mindset to teach problem solving across disciplines, seems likely to seed a new crop of Beaver entrepreneurs like Paul.

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This summer Paul was juggling several residential projects uptown and downtown along with designing a pet emporium in suburban Washington, DC, and restoring historic structures in rural Pennsylvania and New York. And for a busman’s holiday, he and his wife, writer Lalita Khosla, were living through Paul’s long-awaited and overdue gut-renovation of their one-bedroom co-op.

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Alumna Profile

After showing off his meticulous work on the townhouse, an oasis of calm, comfort and charm, Paul was eager to show me its polar opposite: the “before” state at home. Apart from a commanding view straight up Sixth Avenue to the Empire State Building, Lalita and Paul’s penthouse has little to distinguish it architecturally, but Paul was determined to prove he could make the proverbial silk purse out of a sow’s ear. This apartment, in an uninspiring 1963 mid-rise, would call upon Paul to dig deep into his designer’s bag of tricks.

A concrete floor, originally covered with parquet, runs throughout the apartment, and Paul and a small crew had spent the past three weeks painstakingly applying soy-based solvents and sanding the concrete to remove layers of mastic in pursuit of just the right level of polished luster. Custom-woven rugs from India would ultimately cover a good portion of the concrete, but bringing out the material’s “natural beauty” had become something of an obsession for Paul.

See Paul’s portfolio at: ochsdesign.com.

Follow Lalita’s blog at: renovationispainfulbutnecessary. wordpress.com

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Paul Ochs with wife Lalita Khosla and their dog Lafayette

Media room in the same Chelsea loft.

The silk shag rug was custom woven in Turkey. (photo by Andrew Bordwin ’82)

While describing how the unit’s compact city kitchen and open living and dining area will be configured to suit the couple’s mutual love of cooking and entertaining, Paul mentioned that he had co-owned two restaurants. (Zitella and Tompkins 131 were trendy East Village outposts in the mid-1990s, and Paul has since designed several other restaurants.)

He is designing a dining table on wheels, with a pedestal fashioned from a gymnastics pommel horse, that Lalita can roll aside to clear an area large enough for her to practice yoga with a small group.

With only 850 s.f., storage and closet space are at a premium in the unit, but Paul is designing an array of ingenuous built-ins inspired by his lifelong love of sailboats. Summer weekends, Paul and Lalita escape the city to sail at Shelter Island. This fall, Paul promised, their home port would be totally transformed, but in the meantime, Lalita has been sharing her wry perspective on the ordeal in a blog called “Renovation is Painful but Necessary.”

Paul might disagree with the “painful” part, but not on the necessity of traveling with a master designer when navigating the Scylla and Charybdis of a renovation project.

Glee Club

Memories

A year ago, few would have predicted that a TV show about a high school glee club would become a pop-culture sensation, topping both the Nielsen and Billboard charts and racking up industry awards. With Brad Falchuk ’89 one of the creative forces behind Glee, we were curious about the history of glee clubs at Beaver.

The 1940 yearbook includes a lovely essay by Nancy J. Moore ’41, describing what many Beaver students of her era remember as a highlight of their Glee Club experience—the annual winter concert in Bradley Hall. The emotions that Nancy so eloquently expressed in her essay, entitled “My Favorite Day” (excerpted below), are timeless:

“ We have been rehearsing for this concert since the beginning of school, and everyone is keyed to a jumpy nervousness, hoping that the music will sound as well as it did in rehearsal and that we can uphold the tradition of a fine Beaver Glee Club. The concert takes place on Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning I am all anticipation. I cannot do any work that day, or at least not until the concert is over. Sunday afternoon I arrive at school about four. I am in my white dress, reserved especially for such occasions, and with me I have a black notebook containing the music in correct order.” “ …We stand about shivering in our thin dresses. We shiver partly through cold and partly through nervousness. After a while, Mrs. Harris comes in. She always seems so sure of us. I wonder sometimes if she knows how nervous we are.”

“ …We line up in the order in which we are to sit. There is a lot of excited conversation and many questions as to whether we are in the right order. After a few minutes we file up. A loud ‘sh’ is passed down the line as we reach the first floor, and in complete silence we walk up the next flight to the door leading into the hall. One by one you see the girls before you file in, and finally you follow them. The change in the hall is amazing. No longer is it the cold cheerless place of half an hour ago. The curtains of the windows are drawn, and the large candles splutter cheerfully in the twilight. The most tremendous change is the presence of people, many people, little children and grown-ups, faculty members and parents, friends of the girls whom I know. In the next to the last row is my father, looking as he always does at a concert, very sleepy.

Most of the people are looking at us expectantly. They think that we will sing our music well. They have come here to get, through our singing of the carols, some

Christmas spirit. How I hope that we can give it to them! For a moment I realize our responsibility, that we have to sing well to please these people.” “ …Then we rise to sing. We stand tense. At last Mrs. Harris drops her arm and we have started.

After the first chord I know we are all right. The moving music of the old Christmas carols rises and fills the hall. The audience smiles contentedly, and even my father stirs a little. For an hour we sing. I put my heart and soul into the music. I have often been told that I make horrible faces at the concerts. This probably because I forget what I look like in an attempt to give my all to the song. At length it is over, and as the last ‘Amen’ dwindles to an echo, I realize that here, if anywhere, one would find the peace and good will that is so often spoken of at Christmas time. A light snow is falling outside, and inside in the warm hall I am completely happy.”

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> 1927 concert program from the Beaver archives

Both drama and singing taught me that while you could accomplish much as an individual, you could also accomplish much within a group.

Annie Layzer ‘55

A sampling of Glee Club memories from a few alumnae: Nancy J. Moore ‘41 The quality of singing was better than most college glee clubs. The music program was created by Emily Harris, who made music a central component of a BCDS education. This tradition was carried on by Barbara Norris and Ingebord Jarratt. The whole school was expected to sing at each assembly (twice a week), and students were seated by their voice range in Bradley Hall—quite a sound to hear 300 voices singing. Joint concerts with Exeter and Andover (then single-sex) enabled singing classical repertoire…. Much better music than at Smith College, when I attended….Words cannot describe the bonding affect of the experience of singing together…. Music at Beaver was life altering. It launched me as an amateur musician.

Eleanor Perry Merrick ’41 The standard was

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high, Mrs. Harris was demanding, so the performance was very good. Once we sang with Nadia Boulanger conducting…a thrilling experience.

I later taught piano, and I would recommend to mothers of my students that if a child’s school had a good glee club, the child should by all means join it, simply to experience the joy of making music at a level above that of a beginning piano student.

Barbara Benjamin Chertok ’46 Everybody sang in the Glee Club. If you couldn’t carry a tune, they put you in the middle.

Sarah Bond Gilson ’50 We did King David

by Honneger in 1948, along with Alleluia by Randall Thompson. In 1949, some Brahms and La Belle Hélène by Offenbach. In 1950, Mozart‘s Mass in C….

I could never convey how exciting the Symphony Hall concerts were for me, and the joint concerts were great fun, too. I have sung King David twice since then and the Mozart, but nothing could compare with the thrill of hearing that orchestra in front of us in the chorus when it began the first notes. The chorus I now sing with is doing the Randall Thompson Alleluia, and I still know it by heart just from the Beaver experience.... My love affair with choral music was much enhanced by my experience at Beaver. The Glee Club and Miss Clendenin’s Senior English are what I still carry along with me.

Nancy Shapiro Hurwitz ’50 My fondest memory was singing with the Glee Club at the Christmas concert at Symphony Hall. It was a great thrill to be on the stage performing in front of a large audience.

Beverly Sanders Payne ’55 I have the fondest memories, thanks to our very wonderful director and voice teacher, Ingeborg Jarratt. Of course, I had a crush on her son, which made her even more special to me! I studied voice with her and she gave me encouragement and singing opportunities that influenced my decision to major in music at Skidmore. She was such a close friend that she attended my wedding in 1961.

Annie Harwood Layzer ’55 Choral singing was

my favorite non-academic activity at school, with drama a close second. I tell people that choral singing “formed the bones of my adolescence.” It was the structure where joy and emotion were both expressed and managed. Both drama and singing taught me that while you could accomplish much as an individual, you could also accomplish much within a group. I took another life lesson from being an alto.

I defined the role of altos as to make sopranos sound good, or anyway, sound better. We did not carry the melody, but we added depth that the sopranos could not achieve on their own. The League of Women Voters, where I work, is a good place to apply that lesson.

Lacking male singers, we did some joint activities with Rivers Country Day School, which at the time was close enough to walk to, but mostly we were limited to music arranged for women’s voices.

The most thrilling event of my ten years at Beaver— I entered in 3rd grade—was the concert, when I was in 10th grade, of the New England Prep School Chorus singing the Mozart Requiem in Symphony Hall.

I worked so hard on learning it, using one of the first LPs we ever owned, that my poor family took to calling me “Lacrymosa Harwood” and groaning when I went to play it again.

I knew the piece by heart. On 9/11/02, the local community college gave a 9/11 memorial sing-along of the Requiem, and I almost didn’t need my tattered score to sing it.

I was well prepared for other concerts at Symphony Hall with the Radcliffe Choral Society and Harvard Glee Club, and the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, which I joined with my father.

Clare Parsons Weaver ’57 The highlight, and

ultimate Glee Club challenge, was to be chosen for the New England Prep School Sing at Symphony Hall with members of the BSO. Many schools participated, creating a co-ed chorus of at least 200 voices, perhaps more. Juniors and seniors in the Glee Club were priority singers, so as a sophomore to make this chorus was a very big deal. I remember Mrs. Jarratt posted the list of those going on the bulletin board near the dining room. I did not (DO not!) have a great voice, but a “choral voice” that blends in. When my name was on that list, along with a few fellow classmates, it was one of the highlights of my BCDS days! This was a first exposure for all of us to be in a large chorus, with orchestra, performing a major classical work—a Requiem mass or the like—in the historic Hall.

The Beaver Glee Club 1937-38.

Teacher Emily Harris is at the center of the second row (in dark shirt). >

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> 1929 concert program from the Beaver archives

Singing The Messiah in Boston’s Symphony Hall was a goose-bump experience.... The Glee Club was simply extraordinary.

Jane Alexander ’57

Jane Quigley Alexander ’57 I relish the opportunity to say a few words about the Glee Club.

Parsie Weaver is right: it was a highlight of our day, singing together as we did year after year led by the incomparable Mrs. Jarratt. Since we were an all-girls school, the Glee Club dances were the most important way we met the opposite sex, boys from different schools, which was very exciting…. Most of all I adored singing with my classmates and with the other schools’ singers when we got together.

Singing The Messiah in Boston’s Symphony Hall was a goose-bump experience and singing Fauré’s Requiem introduced me to the deep thrill of drama that great music is able to conjure. The Glee Club was simply extraordinary.

Judith Parks Anderson ’57 I felt very fortunate that Mrs. Jarratt took pity on me and invited me to join the Glee Club in my junior and senior years. I had a voice that needed a strong voice next to me to keep me on tune. It was a lot of fun being part of the group. I guess the highlight was concerts with other schools. Boys, of course.

Becky Perham ’60 While we were under Ingeborg

Jarratt and Jean Poole’s baton and piano, at least, Beaver’s choruses were among the finest around. We were invited to sing in Symphony Hall with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus. Best training anywhere! [Of the group’s vinyl LP of their 1960 concert]: I listen to it every Christmas; the choral pieces are still outstanding.

Leslie Horst ’63 I was active in the Glee Club and

in the smaller (and slightly more exclusive) group, A Cappella, for my whole time at the school, as were my sisters before me (Valerie ’58 and Pam ’60).

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I recall learning to read music (at the Chestnut Hill School, then a part of BCDS, and in piano lessons) at pretty much the same time as I learned to read. We had music class weekly, and we could opt to participate in music groups as part of the arts curriculum. In 8th grade I had a choice between sewing (yuk!) and the madrigal group, as I recall.

Easiest choice I ever made.

I am still active as a choral singer, as a long-term member of The Spectrum Singers (now in my 24th season) and in the choir at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill. BCDS very much laid the foundation for that lifelong interest.

A highlight experience for me was a time we got together with Phillips Andover (at Andover) and performed the Mozart Requiem, and Nadia Boulanger, who by then was of great age, conducted!!! I knew enough to know that she was an icon, and was most impressed that she was willing to conduct a performance by a bunch of high school kids. I hung on every word, furiously taking notes. And then she said something that no other conductor has ever said to me—that we should simply remember what was said and not write in our music.

Cathy Williams Reed ’70 Both the Glee Club

and Madrigal were really close and supportive groups.

We had many laughs, but I remember tackling some great music. I gained a lot of confidence learning the music theory, and I went on to major in music at Wheaton. I remember spending the night in the bathroom, running the shower for steam before one concert. I had a solo and had such bad laryngitis that I couldn’t talk. I did manage to sing, though.

Lisbeth Bornhofft ’70 My fondest memories are singing When You Walk Through a Storm and The Messiah, especially the Hallelujah Chorus. I still have my notebook of music.

Supporting Beaver 2010 ANNUAL GIVING TOPS $1M FOR 3rd YEAR

Parent Participation, Annual Fund 2010

Our fundraising results for 2010 set yet another record. For the third year in a row, we raised over $1,000,000, surpassing last year’s record with a total raised of $1,087,806. Alumni giving, boosted by a generous challenge grant from a group of donors, increased the total raised by 34%, while new and increased gifts from alumni grew by 77%. Parents of the Class of 2010 showed their support for Beaver’s faculty by tripling the amount their class raised from the previous year.

97%

12th 66%

1 1th

74%

10th

70%

9th 8th

Annual Fund, 2005-2010

senior gift

81%

7th 70%

6th

$1.2m $1,054,162

$1m $800k $600k

72%

$1,055,487

$1,087,806

ifts from parents of current students · Gaccounted for about 65% of the total

$761,189 $565,476

$628,591

raised in 2010. parent participation rate increased · Tbyhe10% over last year. his year’s senior class gift was · T$234,782, and 97% of families gave.

$400k $200k 0 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

At the Mabel Warren Bradley Society reception for leadership giving in Dec. 2009 1

2

The annual Mabel Warren Bradley reception for leadership donors took place at the home of Elizabeth and Dan Jick in Chestnut Hill. Elizabeth is a former board president.

3

1 (L-R) Trustees Michael Winter P’09, ’11, Elizabeth Jick P’05, ’08 and Mary Loeken P’11, ’13 2 Mabel Warren Bradley Alumni Chair Judy Parks Anderson ’57 and husband Bob 3 Senior Gift chairs Kathy and Tony Starr P’05, ’10

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Supporting Beaver JOIN THE BEATRICE VAN NESS SOCIETY: MAKE A PLANNED GIFT TO BEAVER John Weltman ’75 explains why he included Beaver in his estate plan: Supporting Beaver has been a Weltman family tradition since 1970. My sister and brother (Liza ’78 and Herman ’82) are both graduates, my father was president of the board of trustees for five years, and I served as a trustee for nine years, including serving on the search committee that brought Peter Hutton to the school. And, of course, all of us have supported the Annual Fund over the years.

Celebrating this year’s 35th Beaver reunion with classmates, I was reminded of how our Beaver experience shaped who we are today. No time in life is harder than high school, and for my class, and I believe all Beaver classes, it was a wonderful time, full of support and caring, making us stronger individuals and empowering us to go on and be whomever we wanted to be and to do whatever we wanted to do. By including the school in my estate plan, I am not only making a statement about what the school and the treasured friendships it created have meant to me, but I hope I am leaving behind a small legacy that will help future generations benefit from the extraordinary things that Beaver has to offer.

John Weltman is the founder and president of Circle Surrogacy.

He attended Yale University, Oxford University and the University of Virginia, from which he earned his B.A., master’s and law degrees.

John lives in Milton with his husband Cliff Atkins and their two sons.

The Rewards of Planned Giving A planned gift to Beaver can benefit both the school and you by generating lifelong income, converting low-yielding assets into a higher income stream, providing tax deductions and reducing or eliminating estate taxes. There are several planned giving vehicles, including bequests, charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts. Beaver’s development office can help you and your financial advisor structure a gift so that it has the greatest benefit to both you and the school.

For more information please contact Karen Hill Wood (director of development) at 617.738.2746.

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The Beatrice Van Ness Society The Beatrice Van Ness Society recognizes all those who have made a bequest provision, a life income gift, or other planned gift commitment to Beaver Country Day School. A renowned painter in the school of American Impressionism, Beatrice Whitney Van Ness (1888-1981) led the art department at Beaver from 1921 to 1949 and was a pioneer in the emerging field of art education. Her life’s work as a practicing artist and as an innovative teacher is reflected today in Beaver’s commitment to the arts as a vital part of a balanced curriculum.

Members of the Beatrice Van Ness Society help the school uphold these core values of progressive education through their thoughtful and generous commitments to Beaver’s future.

We would appreciate learning of your gift intentions for Beaver so that we may include you in the list of Beatrice Van Ness Society members. However, should you wish to remain anonymous we will honor that request.

Selma Jones Wheaton ’25* Natalie Waldo Koehler ’27* Maria Whitten Pomeroy ’27* Elizabeth Willett Musser ’28* Anne Allen Conklin ’30* John Wolbach ’30* Rosamond Hamlin Thomas ’36 Nancy Garland Bowen ’37 Ellen Chafee Tillinghast ’37* Edith Moir Kiley ’38*, P’63, ‘64, ‘70 Deborah Law Redpath ’40 Nancy J. Moore ’41 ff John and Katharine Sawtell Plimpton ’41, P’69 Katharine Driscoll Withington ’43* Colby and Emmy Richardson Hewitt ’44, P’71 Janet Bird Burns ’45 Patricia Hurley Goodrich ’49* James and Carol McConville Dwyer ‘54, P’80, ‘82, ‘84, ‘86 Judith Parks Anderson ’57 Larry and Nancy Sargent Howell ’58, P’81 Carolyn White Spengler ’58 Ruth Isabella Gardner Lamere ’59 Rosamond Wright Reiber ’61 Nancy Whittemore ’64* Muriel Loring ’65* Jacqueline Hall Fesler ’67 John Weltman ’75 Paul Merton ’97 Edward and Margo Wallack P’05, ‘07 Rosamond Lovering ff* Eugene Randolph Smith ff* Camilla Titcomb ff * deceased ff = former faculty

Class notes

Send Us Your News & Contact Updates!

Submit online at: http://bit.ly/BCDSclassnotes or Mail to: Shira Lewin ’92, Director of Alumni Relations, BCDS, 791 Hammond St., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.

Photos for Class Notes: The BCDS Alumni Board The BCDS Alumni Board was established in 1937 by a dedicated group of graduates to foster and strengthen ties between the school and its alumni community.

The members work on outreach and help plan alumni events.

This year the board is fortunate to have the following alumni as members:

Please e-mail the largest digital file available to Shira Lewin ’92 at slewin@bcdschool.org. Please include a caption. You also may mail snapshots to Shira Lewin at the address above; be sure to label the photo and indicate whether the print needs to be returned to you. We regret that some photos submitted for this issue were not high enough resolution to print.

Find Classmates in the Online Alumni Directory 1. Go to alumni.bcdschool.org and click on the link to “Alumni Directory.”

2. Log in with this user name protocol: full first name last name 2-digit class year (no spaces).

3. The first time you log in use your home zip code as your temporary password.

You’ll be prompted to create a permanent password.

Dave Berman ’02 Henry Feldman ’85 Kevin Forgett ‘02 Gene Hashkes ’94 Carla Jabbour Higgins ’89 Matt Millstein ’96 Scott Parker ’02 Lisa Spagnuolo ’88 Laura Spiro ’83 Jay Bailey Strzetelski ’52 Will Harrington ’12 (student representative)

1935 Miriam Ingalls Hastings After living in Kennebunkport for 29 years, I moved in 2003 to Bangor to be near my two sons and their families. I have five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. I do enjoy reading about the changes at BCDS! (February 2010) 1941 Barbara Tilden Lindeman We moved in August to a lovely, large, adult facility in Bloomfield, CT. (November 2009) 1942 Ronda Markson Solomon I’ve been away from Beaver for so long (I’ve been at UCLA and, of course, a Californian since 1952), but couldn’t resist the latest request for news!

Dave and I now live in a wonderful retirement community called University Village Thousand Oaks.

Family nearby and golf, bridge, lectures, etc. (February 2010) 1943 Hildegard Knauth Manley After 15 years in my terrific condo in Tiburon, I moved across Highway 101 to a cozy two-room unit at the Redwoods. I figured the time had come. Much like dorm living in many ways. Boy, you have to be neat in such a small space!

(December 2009)

Madlin Gulick Moore I miss mountains and fall colors! For five days over Thanksgiving, I was with assorted family in Burlington, VT. I was cold day and night in spite of warm clothes. (December 2009) 1944 Pippa Hendy Woods I’m still living on my farm in beautiful South Devon (England) near the sea. Son, David, does all the work with the beef cattle; I fill in forms, pay the bills, and try to keep the finances straight. I’m proud to have an American granddaughter studying for a doctorate in ecology at Princeton. Her sister was doing Peace Corps in Tanzania; still busy collecting funds for her Tanzanian village. (June 2010) 1946 Anne Churchill Jones Now in Naples, FL, year-round! (December 2009) 1947 Joan Shepley Dunphy One husband, three sons, three daughters-in-law, five grandchildren and one great grandson. Lots of travel, lots of golf, some volunteer service and summers on the Cape. (June 2010) Eleanor Franz Hansen We have had a busy spring. Two college graduations: one from the University of Northern Colorado who will enter the Peace Corps this August; his sister is at graduate school at UNC. They are from Steamboat Springs, CO. My grandson from Martha’s Vineyard graduated from University of San Francisco with a degree in architecture, and his brother graduated from Martha’s Vineyard

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> Linda Smyth Hiebert ’53’s racecar

High School and will also go USF. We love living in Duxbury, still a beautiful town after all these years! Our Kingston, MA, family is now visiting colleges for their son, a junior at the high school. I see Mary Gay Dwight Bens several times during the year. (June 2010) Katherine MacLure Lincoln Still living in Cohasset for 56 years, keeping up with several classmates and looking forward to our 65th reunion. (December 2009)

Class Notes

1948 Patricia Thayer Nitzburg I finally retired from my position as director of a family and children’s psychiatric clinic in the Bronx and continue to do some volunteering and consulting. Meanwhile I have been enjoying all the wonders that New York has to offer, particularly the opera. I have also been fortunate enough to do some traveling and this summer will be going to Tanzania. I loved our reunion and would be happy to hear from any classmates. (June 2010) Mary Wing Foreman Corky and I seem to stay busy between grandchildren and greats. Our best to everyone. (October 2009) 1949 Barbara Baker Campbell I will be traveling to France this month for seven days at a chateau in the Dordogne, where we will visit the caves of Lascaux and surrounding antiquities. This is a Tufts Travel and Learn excursion. Our group will be accompanied by a learned professor whose specialty is art and architecture. (October 2009)

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1950 Nancy Shapiro Hurwitz Michael and I continue to spend six months in Naples, FL. We enjoyed our granddaughters’ Beaver graduations in 2009: Ali Cooper ’09 (high school) and Liza Cooper ’13 (middle school). Looking forward to my 60th Beaver reunion in 2010.

(December 2009)

1952 Holly French Perry I am living in Gloucester and teaching an evening course at the Boston Museum School in the fall. Busy with garden, grandchildren, making art, cooking and knitting.

Oh, and traveling. We just came back from a trip to Berlin, Cracow and Auschwitz. (June 2010) Mardi Cowles Scott We enjoy living here at our retirement condo in Yarmouthport, MA. We are planning to sell our boat and boat slip in Longboat Key, FL, in two years, maybe sooner. We are in good health. My husband does a lot of woodcarving, mainly waterfowl, and I do a lot of knitting.

(June 2010) Joanne Hengesch Bradshaw I have a CD that includes Pomp and Circumstance; whenever I play it I think back to our graduation, a day of such expectation. It has been an incredible journey. Wish we could all get together and share our journeys. I am working on getting my poetry published. (Yes, this has been one of the great surprises of my journey—becoming a poet!).

Also am still teaching three nights a week (English as a Second Language). I really enjoy it. I also do a lot of work to help a school in Haiti that one of my students started. You are all a part of some of my best memories. (June 2010) 1953 Linda Smyth Hiebert It was meant to be! After all the years of ballet and yoga and raising children, I have realized my 50+ year dream of racing cars. Perhaps not the wheelto-wheel excitement of Formula 1 or Indy racing, but definitely getting on a course and racing the clock and doing very well, I might add, staying in the top 15% of those who share my love. I race a Lotus Elise SC and at nearly 75, I am having so much fun! I don’t have a single classmate on Facebook and would welcome any alumni who would like to friend me. (June 2010) Pauline Thayer Duke It is Christmastime when I write this to acompany my donation and I think of the magic of Christmastime at Beaver, but then, every day at Beaver was magic. (December 2009)

1954 Carol McConville Dwyer My current personal enthusiasms are journalistic photography, gardening, swimming and skiing and being with Jim and our kids and grandkids: Sean ’80, lives in Rindge, NH, and teaches Manga drawing at the DeCordova Museum School (Khira, 12 and Taliah, 9); Peter ’82 is a municipal lawyer in Santa Fe, NM (Rowan, 8); Katherine ’84 teaches 5th grade at the Ambrose School in Winchester, MA; and Cullen ’86 is a brewer at the Santa Fe Brewing Company. I’m planning a benefit yard sale on September 25 at our home in Concord, MA, to support another extraordinary school—in Belle Vue, Haiti. Any help is welcome!

(June 2010) Judith Corwin Garver Still busy with life on Hilton Head. Can’t believe we’ve lived here 22 years! I am playing tennis, although with two hip replacements not competitively anymore. I also sing in the choir and with the Hilton Head Choral Society. For the last several years I have been volunteering in the hospice office, helping the bereavement coordinator, and I also volunteer at the Bargain Box. We have seven grandchildren, ages 12 to 27.

Our oldest granddaughter got married last May. Two other granddaughters just graduated from high school. Oldest daughter lives in Charlottesville, VA, our son in NYC and youngest daughter in Pittsburgh. Would love to have any of you visit if you ever come this way. (June 2010) 1955 Anne Harwood Layzer I had always thought of myself as a stay-at-home mom who didn’t have a career, but I’ve recently decided that I have had a career. The League of Women Voters has been my career, and an endlessly fascinating one.

I manage candidate debates and ballot measure explanations for the county League; I write ballot measure analyses for the state League; and I am a “water-watcher” and board observer for our water district. I have served on a citizens advisory committee on water supply and two on water rates. I’m a member of the Registrar of Voters Citizens Advisory Committee and

Emily Heath Wilson Sadly, I lost my husband in October 2009, so am facing the shrinking of my household posessions and planning for a simpler lifestyle. (March 2010) 1956 Kitty Joplin Murray Hi, everybody, since our reunion, we haven’t been hearing much news, and I haven’t been in touch with any of you, and I miss it! My wonderful husband, Jim, died on November 27, 2009. He had been in the nursing home for 1-1/2 years and had suffered from Alzheimer’s for about nine years. He is in a better place, and I am doing very well. I’m still here in Cumberland, ME, in my home. Visits would be great!

(June 2010)

Adele Merrill Welch I am still glowing after our 50th! I am now spending five months in Maine (May to October) and the rest of the time in Lincoln, MA. This seems to be a nice mix with plenty of down time. Have enjoyed seeing Laurie Vance Adams up in Camden. Life is good. (July 2010) Sandra Shelvey Velde Karl is still working in the municipal bond business. We like living in our house in Lake Forest and going to my Nantucket house in the summer. We each have six grandchildren whom we enjoy seeing. Hope many classmates will attend our 55th reunion in 2011!

(December 2009) 1957 Judy Lamb Leslie wrote to say she travelled to Kenya last fall on a medical mission with a group from HEART (africaHeart.com). Before leaving home (Penn Valley, CA), she successfully solicited donations of a three-month supply of vitamins for 500 orphans and 65 caregivers to bring along. The group worked with H.I.V. and AIDS widows and orphans in Nairobi and Nyamira, where Judy and a lab partner administered 710 AIDS tests in two days. (October 2010) Sandra Corwin Flatland Enjoying my grandchildren (ages 4 and 5-1/2). Such fun! Still playing lots of tennis. I keep in touch with Sally Taylor Harrison. We need another mini-reunion to all stay in touch! (December 2009)

Joy Calfee Roberts I am still enjoying my small country town and find myself more involved than ever. I’m secretary of three organizations and am doing a lot of editing these days, and am now helping four writers. As always, grandchildren Mike (7) and Lizzie (4) are my joy! (December 2009) 1958 Virginia Tullis Latham I turned 70 a few weeks ago and am lucky enough to still have a healthy husband after 50 years of marriage.

I can’t believe that all those years have flown by since BCDS. How in the world did we change from a gangly teens to grandmotherly “older women”? Various of our class members reunited through the 50th reunion activities a few years ago, and many of us still get together often, which is a great pleasure. It’s amazing how much more many of us have in common than we realized while at Beaver. Despite some “structural challenges” I’m still active in various capacities, ranging from being incoming garden club president in our small town (despite a horrifying weed accumulation in my own yard) to being incoming chair of the 57,000-member senior physicians group at the AMA. I am very proud of the AMA’s fight to get meaningful healthcare legislation passed. Now, we just have to make sure that both patients and physicians are best served as the bill’s provisions are clarified and phased in. Hopefully, by my next class note I will finally have learned to say very firmly

Class Notes

serve behind the scenes as an official observer of county elections.

My other major activity is a large, and as I age, a too-large vegetable garden, which in the San Francisco Bay Area is possible year-round. I call it my mental health program.

Tonight (June 21) Bob and I are celebrating our 52nd anniversary at a wonderful restaurant—another delightful feature of San Francisco.

Our daughter Robin is a dancer and dance caller, employed by the Country Dance and Song Society near Amherst; Kate is a Congregational minister with a small church in Winthrop; and Philip is a legal assistant at a San Francisco law firm. My five grandchildren range from age 25 to 4. (June 2010)

Alumni Lunch at Wellesley College Club (October 2009) 1

3

2

Graduates from the 1940s through the 1960s enjoyed a festive luncheon at the Wellesley College Club in October 2009. Peter Hutton brought the group up to speed on the school’s laptop initiative.

4 4 5

1 (L-R) Meredith Morten ’68, Tanya Contos ’67, Dianne Crawford Dana ’68, Kristin Lee ’68 2 Carol McConville Dwyer ’54 (L) and Shirley Waterman Amory ’41 3 Sue Elwell Newbury ’57

6

4 Alexandra Forbes Walker ’54 (L) and Sally Hurlbut ’56 5 Jean Gucker McKinney ’61 (L) and Rosamond Wright Reiber ’61 6 Linda O’Keefe Plunkett ’57 (L) and Mary Grew Mendlar ’57

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“I decline” when nominations open, and my husband will have decided that he doesn’t really want to work 70+ hours a week until he keels over! Maybe when pigs fly. (June 2010) Nancy Sargent Howell I have recently received several big painting awards, which pushes me to explore more in the art field.

No “retirement” for me! We just visited with our son Tom in L.A., where he was recently made an assistant organist at a church in Hollywood with a HUGE organ.

It was great to be his proud Mom again. His voiceover work is going well, but he’s stretching for more in that area, too. Our daughter and grandsons (now 17 and 13) are all well, so we feel very blessed.

(June 2010) Ivy Smith MacMahon I am semiretired and loving the new life rhythms this allows. D’Arcy and I have combined 14 grandchildren, and they are a source of joy. Am wanting contact with old classmates and friends. Am so grateful for Pixie Shugrue Lampert ’59’s sense of humor and bravery. Let us know if you are near Dartmouth, MA. Would love to get together.

(June 2010)

Class Notes

Katherine Gould Straight My first granddaughter, Allegra Cecily, was born October 3, 2009, to my son and daughter-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Matteo Levisetti. I continue to teach at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago and see my private patients in Lincoln Park. (December 2009) Rebecca Draper King I recently spoke with Betsy Weathers, whose husband of 20 years died in November 2009. Betsy is surrounded by a large circle of friends and a church community with whom she is active in Greensacres, FL. (November 2009)

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1959 Ruth Gardner Lamere Bob and I spent a very wonderful, albeit chilly, winter at our house in Key West. It is a cultural paradise, and we attended nine operas and seven concerts, and I saw 28 movies in the four and one-half months we were there! It was just great! Of our eight children (!!!), seven are married, and we have 15 grandchildren. This keeps me very busy remembering various birthdays and anniversaries! And spending time with them, of course!

I am still serving on several boards of trustees in the Boston area, and enjoy it tremendously. And, of course, my Beaver affiliation is tops on the list! The school is just

so wonderful and gets better and better all the time. I hope many of my classmates will send in notes for this issue of the bulletin.

Our 50th reunion last year was wonderful, and I hope that Wendy Withington and I can drum up the same sort of enthusiasm for our 55th. (June 2010) Ellen Kaplan Kardon Some of my classmates may remember from our reunion last year that I had recently re-met and married an old boyfriend. Steve and I were on a bike trip to France in the summer of 1960. We were sweethearts that summer and shared one kiss.

We did not see or speak to each other for 48 years! When we reconnected and saw each other again after all that time, we knew we would marry. The news is that we have just returned from the same bike trip to the Loire Valley!

Incredible that it was 50 years ago and that I could actually bike and enjoy that heavenly place again. We went with a company called Vermont Bike Tours, which I recommend very highly.

(June 2010) 1960 Special thanks to Lynne Wyluda Beasley for hosting the 50th reunion dinner at her house in Brookline in May. Susanne Mueller received Beaver’s Driscoll Award for Social Responsibility (see page 17).

Judith Laws Wood In my position as a librarian, I have found 101 people who remember the years 1941–1946 in Tulare County, CA. I trained 20 people as oral historians, connected them with these people, who taped their stories about this time period. I had them transcribed, with the help of a grant from the California Humanities Council, then edited all 101 interviews, added history notes when the discussion faltered such as a history of the rodeo in Visalia, CA. These oral histories are available for viewing at our library’s website: www. tularecountylibrary.org in the history section. This project lasted for five years. (August 2009) Sara Caldwell Junkin Both my husband and I are retired, and I am tracking my geneology and writing a book. (April 2010) Ellen Fish Kingsbury lives in Kittery Point, Maine, and is a nurse practioner in Portsmouth, NH. She still sees Anne Pinkerton Foss and Lynne Wyluda Beasley.

(November 2009)

1961 Harriet Harding My life is rich and full of art and family and friends!

I exhibit in three galleries in Maine and am active in several art groups, primarily printmaking and drawing but also painting and sculpture. Last year I worked as gallery manager for the Barn Gallery in Ogunquit, home of the Ogunquit Art Association (of which I’m a lifetime member), and will do so again this year. Formerly worked managing two galleries and was art school coordinator and an art teacher for River Tree Center for the Arts in Kennebunk. I have been so happy in Maine with family (four grandkids) close by, and all my siblings in Maine also. I was very saddened by the news of Joy Nickerson Long’s death (see page 48). It reminds me how short this life is and how disconnected I’ve become from Beaver days, and that I would like to reconnect with old friends. (February 2010) Ann Ropes Flather Last year I had just retired and was enjoying the wonder of grandchildren and not having a schedule of things I “had” to do. This year I am at the other end—trying to move forward after the unexpected death of my dear husband just a few days shy of our 25th anniversary. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I think I’m making progress—the good days are a bit better and I don’t take as many steps backward. Thank heavens for kids and grands and friends. Live every minute to its fullest—you just never know.

Looking forward to catching up with all next year—at our 50th— can you believe it?! (June 2010) Sara Ewart Mackie Sold my family home (built about 1730 on original home built about 1636) and am moving someplace smaller. Still love my area in NH. New grandson, Colby, born April 15, 2009, to son Stewart (third-year pediatric resident) and wife Lisa. Daughter Lissa has two children (Kaitlin, 6, and Jason, 4). Son Tom getting a joint Ph.D. at Brandeis. Life is hectic. (December 2009) 1962 Pam Corbett Hoffer Phil and I are grandparents to three: our daughter Kaethe has Noah (7) and Jane (3), and daughter Amy has Maggie (4 mos.); all three of our girls (Kaethe, Amy and Lara) are terrific...hard to believe they are nearing 40! We must really be old now. Phil is enjoying his retirement; I am mostly retired as a social worker in private practice, but trying to take my avocation as a painter more seriously; I had my

Barbara Trickey Lampe After an MBA in finance I pursued a financial career, first as a commercial lender, then as a partner and VP of finance with Weyerbacher Brewing Company.

I live in Macungie, PA, and anticipate retiring in the next 18 months. My husband and I are headed to Russia in July to sing with a choir in St. Petersburg and tour the region. (June 2010)

Sylvia Thorndike Sheriff We just got back from our youngest son’s (John) perfect wedding in Hakkaido, Japan. It was wonderful to meet all Yukari’s family and to fall in love with another country.

Japan is so clean and beautiful.

Deer were around the grounds every day and our grandchildren (7 and 4) loved the huge pool with two different kinds of waves! The daisies I transplanted from NH last year are very happy in my backyard! We had a great time with Lili Brooks West and her adorable granddaughter in Santa Fe! (June 2010) 1963 Phyllis Frankel Huberman My family and I are wonderful.

Everyone’s employed, and we have a fulfilling life complete with good friends and special experiences.

> Marlee Brewster Brockmann ’63 with her mother Marietta Brewster ’38, who turned 90 in February 2010

Elizabeth Valsam Hunter Bob and I are well. Daughter Cate had her first one-person exhibition at the Cape Cod Art Association. Son Nat got his thesis in. Daughter Dee is in her last year at UMass-Amherst and just became a state certified EMT. My museum (The Cape Cod Museum of Art) is doing really well, and our new summer exhibition (The Christopher Hyland Collection) at has doubled attendance and attracted a lot of favorable press.

Much to be thankful for! (April & June 2010) Lee Kimball Byron I am very busy with real estate in Sarasota, FL, and with many community boards.

Also involved in my parish as a Eucharistic minister, welcoming committee and helped with RCIA (which is introduction to those joining the Catholic church at Easter). Trying to put my new master’s in pastoral ministry to work. Best is that I now have three grandsons: Tom Byron IV (10) and James Chase Byron (7) live in Arlington, VA. They come down to Florida, or I go up every three months or so. Evan Reed Sellers is 13 months and walking, sometimes holding hands, sometimes alone.

A very happy young man with lots of signs for animals, more, finished, please, milk, etc. He lives in Sarasota, so I get to see him more often. Anyone is welcome to come see us here on the wonderful southwest coast of Florida.

Paradise on earth. (June 2010)

Documentary photographer Carol Beckwith won the 2010 Wings WorldQuest Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented at a ceremony in NYC last spring. She and her longtime creative partner Angela Fisher have two new books: Lamu: Kenya’s Enchanted Island (Jan. 2010) and Dinka: Legendary Cattle Keepers of Sudan (Oct. 2010).

Her photos of the Dinka were exhibited in Brussels in June and will be in San Francisco this October at Modernbook Gallery.

Other awards in 2010: Spanish Geographical Society Image Award, Madrid; International Digital Printing Award (for Dinka), UK; Best Photography Book of the Year (for Lamu), USA; and Lowell Thomas Award for Exploration & Photography from the Explorers Club, NYC. Fieldwork took Carol to Botswana, Nigeria and Cameroon this year.

Carol Beckwith ’63 (front) and Angela Fisher on the Nybor River >

Linda Coughlan Flint Any classmates coming to the coast of Maine this summer? I’d welcome your visit. Stop by my office at Ocean View Properties in the village of Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport.

(June 2010)

Deb is a producer for the CBS Early Show, which takes her traveling throughout the country. David is a senior engineer for an IT company that works with the Internet. No one is married—that future awaits.

I am looking forward to seeing my classmates at our next reunion.

(December 2009)

Marlee Brewster Brockmann We have a new home designed by my husband, Javier, overlooking the Pacific in Puerto Vallarta. I get to enjoy the best of both worlds, dividing my time between Plymouth and Mexico. My boys, Brewster and Pipo, and their families live just south of Vallarta. They are both artists, and their work is shown both in the States and in Mexico.

My daughter, Tatiana, is living in San Francisco, where she dedicates her talents to the practice and teaching of yoga. I will be having my annual show with my sister, Patience, at the Field Gallery on the Vineyard in August. Saludos!

(June 2010) Karen Rhodes Clark enjoys spending time with her two-year-old grandson Peter “P.J.” Michienzie, son of Jennifer Tarter ’92.

Class Notes

first two solo shows last year (May and October of 2009) and now have a little sort of website at www. pamhoffer.blogspot.com, where I post my paintings irregularly (keep forgetting how to do it in between postings). I have a very ambivalent relationship with technology. Look us up if you are in Ann Arbor, MI. (June 2010)

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> Susanne Williams ’63

Class Notes

Susanne Williams Blissfully happy, celebrating my 26th wedding anniversary with my wonderful husband, Gerald Howard. Gerry works in book publishing at Doubleday-Knopf/Random House. I still have a hand in decorating, but am on my own so I spend time in both Tuxedo Park, NY, and Brewster, MA, on the Cape, two beautiful places. I ran into Liz Valsam Hunter a week ago at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, where she is the executive director. Gerry and I love to travel—to Provence each June and the Bahamas/ Caribbean in the middle of the winter. They both suit us to a T! Had a bilateral hip replacement in Sept. ’08 and it was such a huge success. I am now back at gardening and Pilates and even hiked in France last year.

(June 2010) 1964 Jane Canter Loeffler I am still teaching at the University of Maryland and writing about architecture. Both sons married.

One charming granddaughter— more on the way. (December 2009) Susan Jolley Waldrop Walt and I are enjoying our new role as grandparents—with six grandchildren and #7 due in June, it keeps us happily busy.

(December 2009) 1965 N.H. State Rep. Laurie Harding received Beaver’s Distinguished Alumna Award, and Stepheny Kotzen Riemer received the school’s Service Award (see page 17).

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Special thanks to Sandy Swift Bigelow for hosting the 45th reunion party at her home. She writes: “Still teaching reading at Brimmer and May School—my 17th year. So blessed with five wonderful grandchildren whom I see every week!” (January 2010)

Joey Hawthorne Amick I was sorry to miss our class reunion in early May. I live in the UK, but visit the USA frequently, as my two kids live in Boston and Chicago. I was there in April and again in late May, as my daughter Alexandra was married in Philadelphia in June. I thought of you all, and was glad to hear from some of you!

Please keep in touch, and see you at our 50th! I am still working as Director of the Brazelton Centre in the UK, training health professionals who work with new parents and babies. I have worked in the field of infant behaviour and infant mental health as a psychologist for many years. I have very fond memories of Beaver, especially French, music and anthropology classes! (June 2010) Diana Wallace McConnell My life continues to be surrounded by the very things I loved most even back in my Beaver days. Boats have always been a priority, and currently I manage the Swan 42 fleet, a one-design sailboat class, for the New York Yacht Club with boats located on every continent except Africa. I have been very fortunate in that regattas are based all over the world, and I have been to many exciting and beautiful places several weeks of each year.

Working out of my home, I am able to balance my job with additional travel with my family, horseback riding on a new half-lease here in town, walking my two Whippets 8-12 miles a day and swimming laps of 1-3 miles a day. I am looking forward to: a trip to South Africa with my married daughter in August; a trip to Sardinia for business in September, which will be followed by my husband and daughter meeting me in Rome for a week in Sicily; ten days in the Grenadines on a charter yacht over Thanksgiving with my husband, daughter and her husband; and then a 4th trip in consecutive years back to Chile and Argentina in March. Two AFS students in backto-back years from France and Italy were incredibly rewarding, and we manage to see each other every year, which adds another dimension of joy to our family. The catering business has come and gone, but yes, I did manage to teach skiing for four years as well!

(June 2010) Helen Kimball-Brooke 2009 brought me another adventurous trip to Australia built around a workshop on homeopathic facial analysis in the Melbourne area: a week exploring Sydney, ten days near Melbourne for the workshop, then four days on beautiful Tasmania. I hope to go again next year if their gorgeous island isn’t consumed by bushfires this summer. (November 2009)

1966 Cynthia Baker Burns I am currently living in London (for the last 13 years), where I serve on the board of a national cancer charity (Maggie’s Centre) and love that I work. I get back to Rhode Island and Massachusetts frequently to see my daughters, grandchildren and family. Life is good and the memories of ’66 are great. (December 2010) 1967 Carol Fanger Bell My first grandchild, Nathaniel Thomas Bell, was born on August 23, 2009.

What a thrill to see my son holding HIS son! (September 2009) Jennifer Lawrence Braverman Stan and I still migrate between a Shennandoah Mountain cabin, and Charlottesville, VA. Now we’ve added St. Andrews, New Brunswick, for summer, just to keep me totally confused. Our younger child, Jonathan, was married in June 2009 to his high school sweetheart, Jessie! Our adopted yellow lab, Kodi, is a delight. (December 2009) 1968 Jean Bundy had a solo show in NYC at the Pleiades Gallery in December 2009. All pieces have a connection to water. She paints women and abstracts ordinary objects, often placing them in ironic positions. She also writes a monthly art column for Senior Voice in Alaska. (December 2009) Ellen Roberts Harshbarger “I don’t look 60, do I?” Am I the only one saying this? Dave and I are enjoying this stage in life and beautiful Michigan. (June 2010) Jay Sargent Although I am still very involved in the horse business (last year I received the lifetime achievement award at the New England Finals), I have developed a new passion, dolphins. I have been swimming with JoJo, a wild dolphin in the Turks and Caicos Islands for ten years. Our relationship has grown over the years, and he has introduced me to many of his pod members. I feel especially lucky to have met so many calves. I am about to self-publish a book about this friendship. I also have a DVD out.

E-mail me (spssargent@aol.com) if you would like to know more!

(June 2010) 1969 Polly Field Cummings I am now a licensed massage therapist, working in Watertown for Elite Massage. I love the work. Only wish I had started this profession a few decades ago. My clientele is growing, as are my hands! Come and visit. (June 2010)

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Jane Hamilburg-Guy My youngest daughter will be graduating from Mansfield High School in May. (Don’t know whether to cheer or cry!) I am very proud of her, but can’t believe our “baby” is all grown up and will be leaving for college in the fall. (March 2010) Elizabeth Soutter Smith I am entering my 10th year as the varsity field hockey coach at Concord-Carlisle High School. It never gets old! (November 2009) 1970 Lisbeth Bornhofft Eighteen members of the Class of 1970 turned out for a fabulous evening at the home of Pam Sacks Weil.

Despite the hours we spent together, there just wasn’t enough time to catch up and just plain be together. A bonus to the evening was the addition of classmates who couldn’t be there in person, so we Skyped them in! Memories of teenage hardships evaporated and 40 years melted away as we thoroughly enjoyed company of our warm, yet boisterous classmates.

(May 2010) Ellen Driscoll’s artwork Filament/ Firmament was dedicated at the new Cambridge Public Library this spring. The permanent installation work is the result of a 12-year collaboration with the City of Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women, the Cambridge Arts Council and the library’s leaders. (March 2010)

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Filament/Firmament

by Ellen Driscoll ’70 at the Cambridge Public Library (photo by Phyllis Bretholtz)

Mindy Fuller Bocko It sounded like the 40th reunion was a great time, and I hope to make the next reunion gathering. I am in touch with Suki Hearne Foster, whom I reconnected with at the 20th reunion, and I would love to see some Beaver classmates. I went back to school when my daughter went off to college five years ago and studied expressive art therapy at Lesley University, which incorporates music, dance and all arts into therapy. Stan is still surfing and our son, Joel, and daughter, Amber, surf too.

(June 2010) Nancy Brooks I really enjoyed getting together with classmates for our 40th reunion. I’m glad so many were able to show up. ’Til the next reunion, or sooner.

(June 2010) 1971 Robby Morse Levy As hard as it may be to believe, our 40th reunion is less than a year away! Odd that the fashion is, pretty much, the same now as it was then!

How fortunate are we to able to celebrate that milestone and think of it as just yesterday? Is anybody interested in planning something for this reunion? It seems as if several of us have had that honor for too many years and some “new leadership” would be energizing and welcomed! Personal update: Jeff and I just got a raise, as our last child graduated from college last week. Two-thirds are self-supporting; one to go. Pinky Ohanian Heath and I still spend loads of time together sharing good times, family and memories.

(June 2010)

Andrea Kelley I am still practicing landscape design and site planning, based in Newton, MA. This past year I completed a yearlong, customized professional development program at the Boston Architectural College, where I focused on computer-assisted design such as Auto CAD and Revit, and sustainable design. Landscape architecture projects are keeping me busy: several restaurants, special permit applications, an historic train station and Olmsted landscape, and residential clients.

I helped found the Newton Villages organization (newtonvillages.org) and was recently appointed to the Mayor’s Mixed Use Task Force.

I’m in a book group that meets monthly, with Suzin Bedell-Healy and Katie Woodworth. (June 2010) Veronica Ohanian Heath All is good in the Heath household. Our oldest son, Michael, is in his second year at the Threshold program at Lesley University. And we found Marcea Rosenblatt’s neice Jodi! Zachary turned 21 and is a junior at Vanderbilt. Donn is busy at Caldwell Banker Residential in Winchester, and I am busy with BHMA. Robby is my Pilates teacher but the student doesn’t look so good! Do we have another reunion soon? (December 2009) 1972 Carol Spack Over New Year’s I went dogsledding and camping in Maine with the Mahoosuc Guide Service along the Frozen Lake Umbagog. What a wonderful way to end one year and begin the next.

A shout-out to Amy Hiatt and Amy Godine! (February 2010)

Class Notes

The Class of 1970 held their 40th reunion party at Pam Sacks Weil’s house.

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A large contingent from the the Class of 1975 gathered at John Weltman’s house for their 35th reunion.

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Class Notes

Sheila Mahoney ’73 with children Amanda and Brendan

1973 Abby Zimberg I started a master’s program in art therapy in January of 2010. This adventure will take about three years including fieldwork and thesis. I will be able to combine my art skills with therapy skills and work with many populations. This came about after seeing the decline in the graphic design field, especially relating to print work.

Time for a change! I recently visited with Karen Yee Chiang in Walnut Creek, CA. (June 2010) Sheila Mahoney After working for several years as a nurse-midwife with the Indian Health Service in New Mexico, I joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2003.

Last month I joined the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), where I am using my nurse-midwifery skills to help fund federally qualified health centers so they may be better prepared to provide primary health care to millions of Americans under healthcare reform. I love it here (in Silver Spring, MD) and am very excited about the changes in healthcare under President Obama.

My two children, Brendan and Amanda, are grown; my son is in graduate school at the University of New Mexico, pursuing a degree in urban planning. My daughter recently graduated with a double major in family studies and Spanish and a minor in Flamenco

dance. They are both in New Mexico. My son has two kids; I am a grandma! Max is almost 6 and Maya is 4. I hope everyone is well and enjoying life. (June 2010) 1974 Amy Lowell I am loving living and working in southern New Hampshire. I have a wonderful job as a mentor and fundraiser for Farmsteads of New England, a residential, working farm for adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. It is very unpredictable but rewarding work, which makes it fun. And I have a new addition to my home menagerie: a year-old donkey who thinks he’s a dog!

(December 2009) David Stone I am still living in Wellesley with my wife and daughter. I have two sons in college, and my daughter is going into high school. I have been fortunate to be able to keep in touch with Peter Silberstein and Charlie Krinsky for all these years. Beaver looks bigger and bigger each time I drive down Hammond Street. One of these days I may just drop in to see if our class gift is still hanging in the science center. (June 2010) John Berenson Still in the interior design field and traveling a bit to New Orleans, buying antiques and art for a project in the French Quarter. Also, following another passion: food and cooking.

(June 2010) Beth Gray Nix I had a mini-reunion with Malka Bordwin in Israel.

Malka is busy writing, and I was on a People to People International professional visit with occupational therapists across Israel. It was an amazing trip and what fun to see an old friend. (June 2010)

Sept

25

DeCordova Museum Event

Andrew Bordwin ‘82 is one-half of Type A, a multimedia art collaboration (with artist Adam Ames) whose outdoor sculpture installation (Barrier) and indoor photography and sculpture exhibits (Insertions and Target) are at the DeCordova Museum this fall.

Members of the Beaver community are invited to attend a free public reception with Andrew on Saturday, September 25 at 7 PM at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA.

1975 Special thanks to John Weltman for hosting the 35th reunion party at his house in Milton. About 45 people—more than half of the class and several who left before graduation—attended, including Bea and Dan Kleppner, and a few stayed into the wee hours. A highlight was bowling in John’s home alley.

Constantine Vaporis My 2008 book (Tour of Duty. Samurai, Military Service in Edo and the Culture of Early Modern Japan, University of Hawaii Press) was selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 and was published in paperback in 2009. A Japanese edition was published by Kashiwa Shobo in May 2010. (June 2010) Beth Masterman My niece Kayla Masterman ’10 graduates from Beaver this year. I was elected a town meeting member in Lexington, MA, Precinct 3.

(March 2010)

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Chris Cameron ’82 (L) with Governor Christ of Florida

Sophie Ali ’83 with characters from The Magic Tent

Rosanne Miller Payette Both my girls are college grads, RISD and Union. Each working toward a career in the arts, painting and museum exhibit design. Drew makes amazing jewelry. I travel, play tennis, work at an auction house and love seeing my Beaver friends here in Dedham.

(December 2009)

1980 Special thanks to Amy Jo Blotner for organizing a fun 30th reunion party at Karoun Restaurant in Newton, complete with belly dancing!

1979 Catherine Givens Arnold Since 1999, my husband (Doug), two children (Halle, 13 and Braden, 10) and I have lived and worked in Santa Rosa, CA, just north of San Francisco. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place with friends, family and the great outdoors here at our fingertips! Competitive swimming, music and more music, photography, and the coast and mountain ranges seem to take up most of our free time. I have been lucky to stay in touch with a few terrific BCDS classmates as well as teachers from my years there (1973–79) and that has meant the world to me as my own children head into middle school. No chance they’ll head to Beaver, but I hope they will find a similar experience when they are in high school! Happy trails. (June 2010)

David Flashner’s older son Max graduated from Beaver this year and is headed to Bates College.

Jason is a junior. (June 2010)

New York City interior designer Paul Ochs is profiled in this issue (see page 22).

Rose Tankel-Shapiro’s son Jake graduated from Beaver this year and is headed to George Washington University. Rose’s daughter Charli joins Beaver’s 10th grade this fall. (July 2010) Saundra Thomas Just celebrated 26 years of living in Brooklyn, NY. Still loving it. It’s been a busy time, as I just received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Francis College for work I do in mentoring and with college students in the tri-state community.

Sorry to miss the reunion, but love seeing folks on Facebook.

Working with Phil Lipof ’91, which is a trip. Love to connect with any New York transplants. (June 2010) 1981 Lauri Scher Chmielewski In January 2010, I started a booking agency, TreeTop Artists, representing a variety of awardwinning performers for family programming throughout North America. These artists provide an educational and interactive concert experience and familyfriendly entertainment. Artists are available for a wide range of venues including performing arts centers, festivals, schools, libraries and fundraising events. Artists include Mr. Steve from PBS Kids (a.k.a. SteveSongs), Debbie and Friends, Ben Rudnick and Friends and Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys, to name a few.

(June 2010) Andrea Mintz Gilmore I have never written a note, but since I will be 30 years out of high school, I guess I can reflect on the fact that I am proud to be considered a veteran teacher these days! While our profession isn’t financially rewarding, our numerous stories, special celebrations and inspirational moments make it all worthwhile! Best to all of my peers, with special hellos to Becky, Devon, Roger, Herman, Stephanie and Aldo! (June 2010)

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OCT

Alison King ’83 with her cat Shadow

> Catherine Givens Arnold ’79 with children Halle and Braden

Class Notes

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23

Los Angeles Alumni Event

Cocktail party at the home of Matt Selman ‘89 For more information, contact Shira Lewin ‘92, slewin@bcdschool.org.

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Class Notes

1982 Sonja Rudder Spears’s older son Diallo graduated from Beaver and is headed to Yale. Omari is a junior at Beaver this year (see photo on page 12). (June 2010) Greg Rudolph Carrie and I moved to Wilmington, NC, in October and are loving it. So far, the best part of the move was being able to trade my snow blower for a lawnmower.

We go to the beach regularly. My new hobby is fishing, and I hope to find a boat soon. (June 2010) Peter Dwyer I am in private practice as an attorney in Santa Fe, NM, and spend most of my free time with my 8-year-old son, Rowan. The skiing and hiking here are great, and the weather is almost always perfect. I might have to look into putting Rowan into Beaver when he gets to high school age since the high schools here are not very good.

(June 2010) 1983 Special thanks to Laura Spiro for hosting the second annual wine tasting party at her Cambridge condo in February. We’re scouting locations at bars and restaurants to expand the event in early 2011.

Laura writes, “Having a great summer. Traveling to VT, NH and the Vineyard. I left the Commonwealth School to start my own business as a professional organizer. Just finishing up a sewing room now and off to Seattle to work on a home office and garage.” (July 2010) Carol Waldenburg Just caught up with Suzanne Landay Robinson for dinner the other night when I was up there. What a great time— it was as if we see each other all the time—there’s that comfortable feeling when you’re with good old friends. (June 2010)

Alison King I am currently working in childcare with kids from 3 months to 10 years old. I have one exam left to pass of three, which will give me my teaching license, and M.Ed. from UMass-Boston. I am also involved with an amateur comedy improvisational group, which performs throughout Boston. I live in the South End with my two cats: Miss Behavin’ and Shadow. I would like to hear from any classmates in the area! I recently enjoyed a pre-birthday luncheon with Julia and Mary in Boston. As for an achievement, I am now a member of Ensemble A’s comedy troupe. I have also decided to live in Paris for a year to become fluent in French before I die. (June 2010) Sophie Ali visited Beaver last fall to speak to students about developing an educational television show (The Magic Tent) for children in South and Central Asia. (October 2009) 1984 Alex Boro My first report, so I’ll try to give a concise update. I live in New York City with two very cute little daughters, Lucy and Willa, who are 4 and 2, respectively, along with a very nice wife, Elizabeth.

She is a writer. I’m a neurologist.

Lucy likes cats and plans to be a writer when she grows up. Willa prefers elephants and has no plans as of yet. (June 2010) Monica York Teasley I married Reno L. Teasley, Jr. on July 14, 2009, in Las Vegas and have been a partner in the law firm of Breedlove, Lassiter & York, LLP since 2006. (June 2010) 1985 Special thanks to Henry Feldman and wife Lori for hosting a wonderful and well-attended 25th reunion party at their house in Needham.

Liz Novack I have a firm called Liz Novack Events in Newton, MA, which plans corporate and private meetings and events. (June 2010) Jocelyn Smith Busby I am living in Memphis, TN, and celebrated 18 years of marriage this spring. I’m a stay-at-home mom, raising two teenage sons. Loved seeing our 25th reunion photos! (June 2010) 1986 Cullen Dwyer I’m still living in Santa Fe, NM, not far from my brother Peter ’82 and his son Rowan. This spring I returned to my job at Santa Fe Brewing Co after a six-month sabbatical in the Czech Republic, where I was working in a small brewery in northern Bohemia, and struggling to learn a rather difficult Slavic language. On June 11, 2010, I was wed to Amanda Rose Peters. Many friends and family members came out from her hometown of Houma, LA, to dance the second line at the wedding. (June 2010) Karen Richards Acton We are doing well down here in the South! Our oldest, Alicia, just graduated high school and will be off to college in August. Our second, Bryce, is learning to drive and loves soccer.

Logan is 14 and will be in 9th grade at our local high school. And our youngest, Cassie, is 11 and will be starting 6th grade at our local middle school. How I wish she could have Ms. Baker, Ms. Grayson, and Ms. Lavine!! I am doing well.

I keep busy with the family, some volunteering, sewing/quilting, and women’s Bible studies at our church. I am on Facebook and would love to hear from classmates.

If anyone is visiting Atlanta, please contact me and come over for some Southern hospitality and sweet tea! (June 2010)

> (L-R): Leighton Burgess ‘91, Meredith and Charles Van Dyke ‘99, Julie Beck ‘91

(L-R) Stephanie and David Katz ‘93, Adam Gopin ‘93, Peter Hutton >

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BCDS held an alumni party at the Press Club wine bar in San Francisco in February 2010

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Pamela Mazza ’88 and husband Danilo Tumbarell del Pozo

1

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3

The night-after-Thanksgiving party for younger alums has become a popular Beaver tradition after five years. In 2009 the group convened at Alibi in the Liberty Hotel on Beacon Hill. This year’s event will take place at the Ames Hotel downtown on Nov. 26, 2010 (details to come).

1 Wayne Turner ’95 and friend Joyce

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2 Carl Gladstone ’85 and wife Leslie 3 (L-R) Jessica Ostroff, Carrie Shafir, Cristina Wetterau, Helen Barbieri (all ’03) 4 Paul Connors ’01 and friend Rachel

6

5 David Borenstein ’01 and Stacey Polishook ’02 6 Jessica Ostroff ’03, Joe Schweon ’03 and Adam Cutter ’03

Ian Alderman has just been granted his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, where he and his wife both teach. The couple recently welcomed a son to their family, which includes a daughter, Iris.

(May 2010) 1987 Jenny Kaplan Schreiber I am director of bereavement services for Manitou Experience, providing comprehensive bereavement support groups, services and a weeklong overnight camp for grieving children, teens and families in the Greater Boston area. For more info visit www.manitouexperience.org.

(June 2010)

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1988 Pamela Mazza After two years of dealing with visas, my fiance Danilo Tumbarell del Pozo finally arrived in the US in June. We had the first of four weddings (yes, four: one for immigration, one for Cuba, one Catholic and one boda tranquila for us), and we were married on July 15 in the Boston Public Garden with Peter Gow officiating. This summer I also completed NY State’s final requirements for my mental health counselor license and bilingual school counseling certification. I work as a counselor in Connecticut at a college preparatory residential school for students with Asperger’s and non-verbal learning differences.

Danilo will join me at school as a teacher of English, history, and Spanish. (July 2010) Andrew Draper Living in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with my wife and two kids. Recently went back to work fulltime after many years of stay-at-home parenting.

Technical writer for a software

Erik Nystrom ’90’s son Cameron

> Sibling entrepreneurs Amye ’91 and Rob Kurson ’97

Class Notes

Young Alumni Party at Alibi in Boston (November 2009)

implementation company. Fresh from the yearlong job search and grateful for the fortuitous encounter that led to the job, I’m more appreciative than ever of the power of networking. Any BCDS alums in NYC should feel free to link to me. (June 2010) 1989 Brad Falchuk spoke at Beaver’s Commencement in June (see page 10). A copy of his speech is online at: http://bit.ly/BCDScommencement.

Al Fitzpayne works at the US Treasury Department as deputy chief of staff for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Al gave Brad Falchuk and his family a tour of the Treasury when the Glee cast performed at the White House in the spring. (April 2010) David Karofsky Living in Framingham with my wife Jenny and two kids, Adam (12) and Lily (8). Adam just completed 5th grade, reminding me that it wasn’t so long ago that I was in Mr. Denny-Brown’s and Mrs. Schuster’s class! I recently joined my father in our family business consulting practice. We work with family and closely held businesses, helping clients address challenges ranging from communication and conflict resolution to strategic and succession planning and governance. Check us out at www.ForTCG.com. (June 2010)

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Caroline della Penna ’93’s daughter Lucy

Morgan Warners ’04 bumped into Kit Beaudouin ’72 this spring at the CARE Conference in Washington.

Perry Burgess Burr We’ve moved to Eastchester, NY. I am still working as an angioplasty nurse in the cath lab at Stamford Hospital, and I am learning to be an EP nurse (electrophysiology works to correct abnormalities of the electrical system in the heart). In Nov. 2009 I was employee of the month and in March of this year was given the Nightingale Award for excellence in nursing. Katharine is 8 and Randy is 5. It was so nice to see so many of you in the picture in the last BCDS magazine. Best wishes to you all! (June 2010)

Class Notes

1990 Special thanks to Gena Comenzo for hosting the 20th reunion party at her house. (Gena recently moved back to Boston from NYC.) Twelve members of the class enjoyed a BBQ and their class video.

Erik Nystrom My wife Shannon and I have been enjoying being new parents. Cameron Daniel Nystrom was born on February 8, 2010, and both mom and baby are doing great.

It’s funny having a “mini me” and I couldn’t be happier! (June 2010) 1991 Amye Kurson continues to grow and extend her sports accessories brand, Ame and Lulu, which she runs with brother Rob Kurson ’97.

This year she launched a stylish collection of pet, baby and home products. www.ameandlulu.com (June 2010)

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Sheryl Fredberg Levin I live in the metrowest Boston area with my husband, and we have two boys, Alex (4) and Charlie (2). I work part-time as a physical therapist.

(June 2010)

1992 Brian Monahan I am excited to announce my engagement to Rhonda Casterlin. We are planning a wedding in fall 2010 at Saint Ignatius at Boston College, and my law school professor will officiate.

(December 2009) Ben Eisenstadt Beaver teacher Bea Kleppner presented the inaugural Benjamin Eisenstadt Award at MIT high school science fair this spring. The award in Ben’s memory recognizes a student whose project most creatively combines musical artistry with scientific understanding. (May 2010) Josh Narva My wife Jamie and I have a 3-1/2-year-old son and are expecting our second son in mid-July. Also, I’d like to publicly congratulate Adam Mehl for completing a daunting race to the summit of Mt. Washington.

Adam beat five other competitors who each ate a 92-ounce Porterhouse and then raced to the top. Well done, Adam! (June 2010) Boaz Kirschenbaum My wife Sakiko, our 2-1/2 year old son Cassidy, and I live on Martha’s Vineyard where we have our own successful piano tuning and restoration practice. This will be my fourth year of self-employment after leaving Steinway & Sons.

Sakiko also works part-time on an organic farm. I formed a contemporary jazz ensemble with a local Berklee professor this winter; we gave a concert in May and another is planned for August. We traveled to Japan last fall to visit family on the southern island of Kyushu, and we plan to stay for three months next year. Cassidy will have his first taste of Japanese preschool. (June 2010)

1993 Dan Goldwasser This summer I attended the Film Music Festival in Krakow, Poland, hosting a panel discussion about film music and the Internet, and speaking about my work producing soundtrack albums with La-La Land Records. In July I attended the 6th International Film Music Festival in Ubeda, Spain, as a featured guest, and then attended Comic-Con to promote my recent soundtrack album release. I am currently working on five more soundtrack albums, to be released over the next few months.

(June 2010) Caroline Maguire della Penna Everything is going well. My daughter Lucy is turning two in August. She is very happy and vivacious. We live in Concord, MA. I work two days a week from home and am finishing a master’s in special education this fall. I have been meaning to write in to announce Lucy’s birth for the past two years, so I wanted to finally share the good news. (June 2010) 1995 BCDS history teacher Alex Gould and his wife Darcy welcomed their first child, daughter Tylee Rogan Gould, on January 17, 2010.

Alex Whitmore received Beaver’s Distinguished Young Alumnus Award (see page 17).

1996 Ariel Brown I recently finished a Ph.D. from BU in behavioral neuroscience where I was trained in psychiatric neuroimaging, which is a field that tries to understand psychiatric illness by analyzing images of the structure and function of the human brain. I am currently working as a post-doc at MGH and MIT studying the neural underpinnings of cognitive and emotional problems in ADHD. I live in Somerville with my wife, Anne, and our turtle, Pedro. (June 2010)

fun catching up with fellow BCDS alumni at the joint class of 2000/2005 reunion party and at a Red Sox game in May. (June 2010)

1997 Kate Lord I am currently living in Hong Kong, running bars and clubs. I am in the process of starting my own bakery, to be opened in August ’10. (June 2010)

2001 Conor Savoy is working in DC at the Council of Foreign Relations as a research associate on Europe and Russia. (April 2010)

1999 Kim Barstow My plan of living in Oakland, CA, for a year has now turned into nearly seven years, and I love it! I love the work I do, the communities I’m part of, and the inspiring grassroots power and voice of folks in this area. I ride a bike all over this amazing town and beyond, camping and biking and exploring the parks, rivers, estuaries, marshes and redwoods. I work at a community center, Street Level Health Project, started by and based in a few of the local immigrant communities, mostly folks from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mongolia; it’s especially a second home for a lot of day laborers in Oakland. I’m a case manager, health programs coordinator, healthcare and social services navigator, and a volunteer trainer, depending on what the day calls for. I also volunteer with a local youth bicycle education organization called Cycles of Change/The Bikery, where I also used to work. And it all comes together with a collaborative project between The Bikery and Street Level Health Project (which are now neighbors!) to offer a monthly bike repair education class for Spanish-speaking folks. But some things don’t change; I still dance, whenever, wherever, however and generally as much a possible!

(June 2010)

Dave Madan was at Beaver in May to help students plant a vegetable garden adjacent to the library and science wing. He is starting a new venture, called the MA Outdoor Volunteer Experience (MOVE), to coordinate community farming and gardening projects (www.getoutma. org). (May 2010) Danielle Pier I just earned an M.D. from Harvard Medical School this past May (only nine years after high school, and have a five-year residency program ahead. It will take me 14 years to finally finish school after high school. Yikes!)

I have signed on to do a two-year pediatric internship at Tufts Medical Center, and then will go on to do a three-year pediatric neurology residency at Children’s Hospital Boston. I plan to pursue a career in academic pediatric neurology, possibly with a focus on neurogenetic diseases. At this point, however, I am keeping my longterm career options open to other neurologic sub-specialties such as epilepsy, neuro-muscular disease, or neuro-oncology. I recently published a paper in a European journal regarding the presentation of a rare disease, Guillain-Barré Syndrome, in pediatric patients. I am also finishing up research that

I did in medical school regarding the use of fetal MRI to study the brain and other major organs of fetuses during pregnancy.

(June 2010) David Borenstein I am beginning a Ph.D. program in mathematical biology at Princeton in the fall. I hope to use computers and mathematics to model the interactions between systems with many parts. Examples include signaling between bacteria, immune reactions in higher organisms, or even swarming and schooling behavior in animals. (June 2010) 2002 Ben Clippinger will start medical school this fall at Stonybrook College. (June 2010) Kevin Forgett Emily Goodyear and I are getting married on August 21 at the Boston Harbor Hotel. I am happy to say three of my groomsmen are fellow Beaver grads: Brian Bonaviri ’01, Haris Dervisevic and Cory Rosenblatt.

(July 2010) Chelsea Mitchell I am living in NYC and working at Columbia Grammar and Prep as a kindergarten associate teacher (or assistant teacher in other words).

Been living here for 4 years now and loving it. I’m getting my master’s of science in early childhood education at Fordham.

(July 2010)

Class Notes

Special thanks to wine sommelier Geoff Thompson for leading the annual Alumni Wine Tasting in February.

Will Van Dyke I’m currently playing the piano for The Addams Family on Broadway. And I’m very excited to be releasing an album of my original music later this year!

(June 2010)

2000 Paul Connors In May, I graduated from the JD/MBA program at Suffolk University Law School and Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School in Boston. I will be taking the bar exam in July and will then start work as a corporate and securities attorney at a large Boston law firm in September. I had

> Danielle Pier ’01 with her medical school diploma

43 > Jason Starr ’05 (L) and Cloude Modelious ‘05 were among a group of alumni who attended a Red Sox game togther this spring

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The Class of 2005 at their 5th reunion party in May.

(L-R) Cloude Modelius, Aaron Singer, Jason Starr, Rob Kotzen and Zach Wallack (all ’05)

2003 Phil McCully I just returned from six months at the South Pole (yes, in Antarctica) working as a contract firefighter for the National Science Foundation. I have just started working with the Newton Fire Department as a career firefighter-EMT. (May 2010) 2004 Morgan Warners moved to Washington, DC, this spring to join the Alliance for Climate Protection (www.climateprotect.org) as field state projects manager.

(March 2010)

Class Notes

Holly Battelle is living in DC and working at the Congressional Budget Office. (February 2010) Sara Segal-Williams is living in China and studying Mandarin at Yunnan University in Kunming.

She is still best friends with her Beaver buddies, Morgan Warners, Evan Spigelman ’05, and Stephanie Gould. (November 2009)

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Charlotte Piper I graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University, in 2008 with a B.A. in political science. I have until recently been working as a management consultant at a small firm in NYC and living in Brooklyn with friends. I had a great time with that, but I decided that before life got too complicated and I was tied down, I would quit my job and travel the world for a year, which is now my current endeavor.

I left New York in June and will be making my way around South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and South America. I hope everyone is well!! (June 2010)

2005 A large contingent from the classes of 2005, 2000 and 1995 held a combined reunion party at the Union Street sports bar in Newton Centre in May. Jeremy Levine was interviewed on CNN in early June describing his new start-up venture (StarStreet), which aims to create a sports stock market for investors to legally trade shares of professional sports.

Jeremy developed his business plan and computer model while taking part in the TechStars entrepreneurial development program in Cambridge. Evan Hunt is also involved. (June 2010) Jason Starr was one of a group of about fifty alums from all years who attended a Red Sox game in May. 2006 George Williams I graduated cum laude from Morehouse College with a B.A. in sociology and departmental honors. This past year I was awarded one of three scholarships named in honor of our most distinguished alumnus, Martin Luther King, Jr. I was also inducted into Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociology honors society. In the fall I will begin doctoral studies in sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. (May 2010) Charlene Leung graduated from BU’s School of Management with a degree in business administration and majors in marketing and information systems. (May 2010) Philip Boustany graduated from BU’s School of Management with a degree in business administration with quadruple concentrations in finance, business law, international management, and entrepreneurship.

(May 2010)

FALL

Alumni 2010 Events September 25 DeCordova Museum Reception with artist Andrew Bordwin ’82 October 16 Homecoming at BCDS October 23 Alumni Party in Los Angeles at Matt Selman ‘89’s home November 26 Young Alumni Party at Ames Hotel in Boston December 16 & 17 Holiday Hoops at BCDS

Check alumni.bcdschool.org for details or contact Shira Lewin ’92 (slewin@bcdschool.org)

Bennett Wilson I graduated from Wesleyan University. I will be backpacking through Europe in July and August with the special event being the Ultimate World Championships in Prague. My life is not definitively planned past August, although I have some internships lined up, and I am great with that! (June 2010) Adam Rice graduated from Middlebury College and headed off to China. (June 2010) Setareh Fararooy graduated from Binghamton University with a B.A. in biology. (June 2010) Willy Clippinger graduated from Skidmore College and is back in Boston looking for a research job in biology. (May 2010) Daniel Allon graduated from Cornell Hotel School and is launching an online business (YallAboard.com) to offer exclusive deals for adventure sports and activities such as whitewater rafting and race car driving in New England.

Science teacher Michelle Mandelman Wildes with Lila (born Dec. 2009)

2007 JoJo Gutfarb I’m entering my senior year at Mount Holyoke College this fall, majoring in mass media and society. I am still horseback riding and will captain the Mount Holyoke varsity equestrian team. Last winter I was an intern for the New England Patriots in media relations, and this summer I am interning in the communications department for Sports Illustrated in NYC. (June 2010) Graham Lloyd spent last fall in Mombasa, Kenya, interning with a community youth group through the Foundation for Sustainable Development. This summer he was studying at the London School of Economics. (June 2010) 2008 Taylor Haigler spent three weeks horsepacking in Wyoming this spring. She is working as a counselor at Camp Hilltop in Hancock, N.Y. this summer before transferring from Colby College to Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, in the fall. (July 2010) Daniel Katz This summer I am interning at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC. I will be in London for the fall semester, taking classes at the London School of Economics while interning in the British Parliament. I will return to Brandeis University in the spring, where I am majoring in politics. (June 2010)

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Vivek Pai recently worked with a small development team on DeweyMusic.com, a music discovery site that allows the public free access to Archive.org’s gigantic music database. (June 2010)

Toph Tucker Hello Beaver! Class notes in the age of the news feed feels splendidly retro and quaint, no? (Friends, I hope my volume of posts isn’t bugging you too much!) I am enjoying Bowdoin College and glad that the size of the Beaver contingent there will increase 50% (to 6) in the fall. I am also glad that The Beaver Reader lives on, and bemused that its embrace of social media has infected the administration. I am not up to much... just thinking and stuff. But if I were to start a Lefties’ Rights movement, who’d be with me?! Down with righthand rule! I’m looking for a lefthand man. Ha, yeah right.

(June 2010) 2010 Hayley Yudelman placed first in the 2010 USRowing National Youth Championships in the women’s lightweight youth 8’s division and will join the crew team at the University of Michigan. (June 2010) Faculty Teachers Rebecca Roberts (visual art) and Kevin Bau (math) were married on campus in June 2010.

The couple, who met when they joined the Beaver faculty in 2006, are affectionately nicknamed “Bauberts” by students.

Class Notes

Kate Shafir graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a B.A. in economics. (May 2010)

The 2009-10 school year produced a bumper crop of faculty and staff babies. Congratulations to: Jill Henson (Baker); Matthew Lippman (Natalie); Sarah Scoville (Lucy); Kim Kaplan (Max); Peter Brooks (Nate); Michelle Wildes (Lila); Alex Gould ’95 (Tylee); Nicole Lipson (Louisa); Sarah Kuper (Addison); Jon Butler (Hadley); Kelley Connolly (Nelleh); Matt Thompson (Maya); Nicole Zito (Max); and Lindsay Rich (Lily).

More on the way!

Newlywed teachers Rebecca Roberts and Kevin Bau (photo

by Channing Johnson)

The Clippinger family: John, Willy ’06, Sue and Ben ’02

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In Memoriam 1931 Elizabeth Marston Smithers died September 24, 2009, in Smithfield, RI, at age 95. Lee was one of five sisters, including Barbara Marston Hanson ’30, Janet Marston Lamont ’33, all of whom predeceased her. Lee married the late Francis S. Smithers in 1939 and moved to his farm in Red Hook, Duchess County, NY, where she lived for 56 years.

She is survived by her five children: Sarah Smithers Sugatt ‘67 of Exeter, NH; Elizabeth Klose of Red Hook, NY; Virginia Nyman of Cumberland, RI; Jean Williams of Hopkinton, RI; and F. Sydney Smithers of Pownal, VT. She also leaves ten grandchildren; ten greatgrandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

1932 Anne Torbert White died on June 15, 2010, at age 95. She lived in Seattle all her adult life, and was a member of the Sunset Club, Seattle Golf Club, Seattle Garden Club, Seattle Junior League, and the Seattle Children’s Hospital Guild.

She and her late husband, Horace, had a summer home on Bainbridge Island. Their four children survive her: Pamela Leighton of Blue Bell, PA; Horace, Jr. of Bainbridge Island, WA; Candy Charlwood of Edmonds, WA; and Beth of Vashon Island. She also leaves six grandchildren and seven greatgrandchildren.

1934 Mary Van Ness Crocker died peacefully in her home at Sunrise Senior Living in Wayland, MA, on November 6, 2009, at age 93.

Mary was the daughter of Carl Norwood and Beatrice Whitney Van Ness, a noted painter who founded Beaver’s visual art department and was a faculty member from 1921 to 1949. A painter and sculptor who > Mary Van Ness Crocker ’34 (family photo from the 1930s)

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studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mary taught art at Beaver and led children’s classes at the Weston Arts and Crafts Association. Mary and her family lived in Weston for 50 years and spent summers at the family home North Haven, ME. She was an active member and volunteer at The First Parish Church in Weston. She was survived by her husband, Frederic and their children: Cornelia Crocker of Pittsford, VT; Samuel Crocker of Simsbury, CT; and Ellen Crocker of Watertown, MA. She also left three grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. Mary’s sister, Sylvia Van Ness Martin ’37, died in 2005.

1937 Katharine Putnam Beal died on November 30, 2009, in Hanover, NH. A graduate of Radcliffe College, Kate enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a WAVE in 1942. She and her late husband, Thaddeus Reynolds Beal, raised four children in Cambridge, where Kate volunteered at Shady Hill School. Later, in Washington, she served on the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health. For many years she co-chaired the board of the Kodaly Musical Training Institute. After moving to Lyme, NH, she worked for the Lyme Library and the Upper Valley Land Trust. She was survived by four children: Katharine Davis, Thaddeus, Alice, and George Beal; nine grandchildren; six greatgrandchildren; and a brother and a sister.

Josefa Richmond Febiger died March 28, 2010. A resident of Essex, MA, for 50 years, she volunteered at the Peabody Essex Museum and was a member of the Singing Beach Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea. She enjoyed skiing, tennis, golf and bowling.

She loved gardening, bridge and Scrabble and her dogs. She was survived by her four children: Christian of Wellesley, MA; William of West Gloucester, MA; Marian ’62 of Fall River, MA; and Edith of Montville, ME. She also left four grandchildren. Her husband, Christian, predeceased her.

Marie Haffenreffer Fox of Duxbury died March 9, 2010, at age 91.

After studying botany at Wellesley College in 1941, she earned a degree in landscape architecture form the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1944, she married Robert Stanton Fox, a naval architect. Marie loved gardening and was a longtime member of the Duxbury Garden Club. She also participated in Art in Bloom shows at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Marie regularly attended concerts at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and frequently volunteered at its offices. As a young woman, she sang with the Handel and Hayden Society Chorus, and in her 70’s she and her sister (Katharine Haffenreffer Selle ’41 of Chestnut Hill) managed the gift shop at the Opera Company of Boston.

Marie also belonged to her Wellesley class’s book club. Along with her sister, she left three children: Marie Young of Santa Monica, CA; Josie Fox Hanlon ’64 of Norwich, VT; and Robin of Pembroke, MA; and five grandchildren. She was predeceased by a son and three brothers.

Phoebe Arnold Rankin of South Dartmouth, MA, died on June 1, 2009.

1940 Mary Coe Fry of Plymouth, MA, died in June 2009.

1941 Gloria Bond Tenney died in December 2007 at home in Chestnut Hill, MA. Bonnie left behind her husband of 53 years, Charles; two sons; two stepsons; eight grandchildren; and five greatgrandchildren.

1942 Sarah Protheroe Kennerly of Dallas, TX, died on July 22, 2008.

Sally spent most of her adult life in Darien, CT, where she was president of the League of Women Voters and chairperson of the Southwestern Regional Planning Agency. She and her late husband, Warren, retired to Colorado, where Sally started support groups for people suffering from fibromyalgia and from alcoholism. She left behind two sons and a grandson.

1943 Nancy Giesen Spiller of Fort Collins, CO, died on January 29, 2010.

Frances Stratton Monroe died July 15, 2010, in Green Valley, AZ, at age 84. Upon graduating from Wellesley College, she worked as a legal secretary at Hale and Dorr in Boston. After their marriage, she and husband Kenneth Monroe lived in Amherst, MA, for 20 years. Fran earned the first of two master’s degrees from UMass in community health education. Her second M.A. (in counseling psychology) was from Antioch New England. She was survived by her husband, three children and two grandsons.

1945 Joanne Livermore Potter of Wenham, MA, died July 11, 2009, at age 82. She was the wife of the late G. Glen Potter, and the mother of: George of Cambridge, VT; Carl of Rowley, MA; Charles of Adams Run, SC; William of Hamilton, MA; and Sarah Villa of Wenham. She also left seven grandchildren.

Mary Buell Card of East Providence, RI, died on December 22, 2009.

1946 Carolyn Underhill Harmon died in Charlotte, NC, in December 2008. Carolyn was a member of PEO International (Philanthropic

Educational Organization) and a past president of Chapter E; a longtime volunteer caregiver with Hospice and Palliative Care Charlotte Region; and active in her church and community groups, including the Monday Menders and Persian Pickles sewing groups.

She also served on the board of directors of Physically Disabled Adults. Her compassion touched many lives, and her warmth extended to the many foreign guests she hosted in her home and those she met on her travels abroad. She was survived by her husband, Kenneth; their children: Kenneth, Jr. of Roswell, NM; Lynn of Tulsa, OK; Royce of Waxhaw, NC; and Mark of Matthews, NC. She also left her sister, Dorothy Underhill Taylor ’48 of Lincoln, MA; a brother; and eight grandchildren Jane Young Smith of Dover, MA, died May 3, 2010. Jane received a master’s in music at the New England Conservatory and was a retired concert flutist who formerly taught music at Beaver.

She was a longtime member and past president of the Ladies’ Dog Club and bred champion Dachshunds with her late mother.

She belonged to the Noanett Garden Club and loved to travel. Survivors include her five children: Wesly of Hudson, MA; Evelyn of Woodstock CT; Deborah Mozzicato of Acton, MA; Douglas, Jr. and Bradford both of Waltham, MA; and seven grandchildren. Her husband Douglas predeceased her.

1947 Myra Blanchard Rucker died on August 14, 2009. With her husband, Jerry, she spent 14 years in the Far East and then 25 years in Bethesda, MD. In 1990, the couple retired to Ponte Vedra, FL. Myra sang in the choir of the Palms Presbyterian Church, played tennis at the Sawgrass Golf and Country Club and was a Life Master in bridge. For many years she volunteered for the Reader’s Aloud program in the Ponte Vedra elementary school system. Myra loved to travel and had visited almost every continent. Survivors included three children, seven grandchildren, a sister and a stepbrother. Her husband and a son predeceased her.

1950 Barbara Stickney Laughlin of Waltham, MA, died on February 13, 2010. She was survived by: her husband, Stuart; a daughter (Deborah of Allston, MA); a son (Scott of Natick, MA); a sister (Ruth Elsa Stickney of Boston); two grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

1953 Joan Benedict Annese of Wellfleet, MA, died on March 29, 2010, at age 75. A former Needham resident, Joan left three children: Brian of Needham; Steven of Holliston, MA; Cindy Murphy of Bellingham, MA; and nine grandchildren.

1954 Sarah Anne Kraetzer Dallas of Concord, MA, died January 1, 2010, at age 74. Sally attended Garland Jr. College, and taught preschool and music at Brooks School in Concord and at The Miquon School in Pennsylvania. She volunteered in the Concord schools and at Emerson Hospital. When her children were teens, Sally and her family hosted two foreign exchange students, and she later served as president of the local AFS chapter. More recently, she became a trained facilitator with Communities for Restorative Justice, counseling juvenile offenders.

She was a longtime member and dedicated volunteer at Trinity Church in Concord. Sally loved knitting, needlework, music, gardening and birds. She was survived by her husband of 47 years, George, and their three daughters: Martha of Burlington, VT; Sarah Milt of Winchester, MA; and Elisabeth of Washington, DC. She also left two grandchildren, a brother and a sister.

1958 Kerstin Fernström Molin died on December 9, 2009. Classmate Bobbie Wessell McCuskey ’58 shared these memories: Kerstin arrived at Beaver in September of 1957 to spend our senior year with us as our American Field Service exchange student. Her home was Norrköping, Sweden, where her father worked as a dentist.

Her mother and younger sister, Eva, completed the family. Kerstin quickly immersed herself in many Beaver activities and will be especially remembered during her time with us as a remarkably warm and kind friend, a talented

In Memoriam

1944 Elizabeth Williams Ivins, of Centerville, MA, died at home on October 27, 2009, at age 83. She graduated from Skidmore College and Simmons College-Harvard Medical School, with a certificate in physical therapy in 1950. Elizabeth worked with polio patients at Children’s Hospital in Boston and at the Veterans Administration Hospital of White River Junction, VT. She and her husband, William C. Ivins Jr., M.D., lived in Lloyd Harbor, NY, for many years, and Elizabeth was an active volunteer, leading the Huntington chapter of Meals on Wheels and serving on the several nonprofit boards. In 1985 Elizabeth moved to the Cape, where she volunteered atthe Centerville Public Library, taught osteo exercise at the senior center and was involved in knitting circles. She was survived by her three daughters: Deborah Taylor Doylestown, PA.; Hannah Ivins Narowski of East Corinth, VT, and Sarah of West Hartford, CT. She also left five grandchildren and a brother.

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gymnast and an industrious student. She added enormously to our senior year experiences together. Upon her return to Sweden, in the summer of 1958, she continued her education and graduated from the university GCI in Stockholm. At that point she began a lifelong career as a physical education teacher at the high school level. One can imagine easily Kerstin in this role and, by all accounts, she was beloved by her students. In 1964 she married Per Molin of Stockholm and together they had three children: Stina, Lotta and Magnus. Per’s career in Swedish steel included living in many parts of Sweden until their return to Stockholm, when he became head of Avesta Sheffield. All three children are married and living in Stockholm; Stina is a psychologist; Lotta is studying to become a psychologist; Magnus is an engineer at HewlettPackard. There are four delightful grandchildren. Kerstin took special pleasure in being at our Beaver 50th reunion in June of 2008. We also included a tour of New York City and Washington, DC, with her sister, Eva, prior to our class reunion. Kerstin’s family and ours have been intertwined for 52 years, and we had the good fortune of countless reunions around the world. Both Lotta and Magnus have each lived with us in Los Angeles for several months, and now the next two generations have a strong bond. Kerstin’s husband, Per, wanted me to add that her lifelong love for the United States came through her time at Beaver when she lived with the Wessell family on the Tufts campus. It is difficult to try to use mere words to describe Kerstin but she was a person of unbelievable energy and warmth, enormous compassion for others from all walks of life and a joy in life that was contagious. She enriched the lives of others beyond measure.

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1960 Eve Epstein died on June 28, 2009, following a long illness. Eve was an honors graduate of Harvard College, and she also took graduate courses in biochemistry at MIT. She later worked as the assistant to Mary Bunting, president of Radcliffe College. In 1972, Eve moved to Washington, DC, and became a consultant to non-profit and commercial organizations in

the US and abroad. She worked in 42 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East. She was survived by her partner, James M. Harkless, a brother and many cousins.

and Sterling/Barnes and Noble. A passionate defender of animal rights, Lee devoted much of her time to volunteering on their behalf. She was survived by her brother, Clarke, of Marblehead, MA.

1961 Diana Joy Nickerson Long of Dover, MA, died on November 30, 2009, at age 67. Joy graduated from Garland Junior College, and was a lifelong member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Dedham, serving on many committees. At the time of her death, she was a Lay Eucharistic Minister and a member of the Vestry, the Altar Guild, the Mission Committee, the Bible Study Group, and the Prayer Shawl Knitting Group. She was also a longtime member of the Vincent Club of Boston. An alcoholic who found sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous, Joy helped many others to become sober. She was survived by her husband of 47 years, Charles, and their three children: George of Dedham, MA; Nancy Davenport of Holliday, FL; and Henry of Cambridge, MA. She was also survived by four grandchildren, a niece and a nephew.

1967 Elizabeth Drinker of Brighton, MA, died on December 2, 2009, at age 60. Betsy was an employee of Star Market in Brookline. She grew up in Dover and attended the University of Colorado. She led a life of adventure, travel and personal introspection, and her generous heart and open nature won her friends among people in all walks of life. She was survived by her mother, Priscilla Page of York, ME, and three siblings: Susan of Glenwood Springs, CO; Nick of Exeter, NH; and Amy of Marblehead, MA.

1962 Lee C. Fowler of Newton, NJ, died on November 18, 2009, at age 64.

After graduating from Bennington College in 1966, Lee moved to New York City to pursue a career in publishing. She worked at Ski Magazine and The New York Review of Books before moving into magazine development at the Hearst Corporation. In the mid 1980s she served as consultant to and then editor of New Age Journal in Boston, bringing the magazine to greater national prominence. When Lee returned to New York, she became a successful book-series developer for publishers including Reader’s Digest, Gruner and Jahr,

> George Blackman and Patricia Drew ’41 in Ruddigore in March 1939

Friends Rev. George L. Blackman died June 23, 2010, at age 90. As a Harvard student, George was recruited to play the male lead in Beaver’s legendary 1939 production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore. A talented performer on the Hasty Pudding stage, he turned down offers from Hollywood to serve in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He earned a doctorate at Cambridge University, and was rector at the Church of Our Savior in Brookline for 30 years, until he retired in 1987. In a letter to Nancy Moore ’41, he expressed his great and lasting admiration for Beaver’s music faculty, especially founding music director Emily Harris and vocal coach Henry Parker. At a memorial concert for Mrs. Harris, held in Bradley Hall in June 1979, George reprised several songs from Beaver’s Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, costumed as the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe. He was survived by his wife, Maeve of Chichester, NH, and four sons.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

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Performing Arts Highlights

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Tyler Starr ’10 and Haley Tuckett ’10 in She Stoops to Conquer (advanced drama play)

Chamber musicians (L-R) Abina Cohen ’11, Anjali Lappin ’10 and Katie Block ‘11

Will Truslow ‘14 and Sarah Thompson ‘15 in The Sound of Music (middle school musical)

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South Pacific (upper school musical)

Evan FeldbergBannatyne ’16 (L) and Jake Barton ’16 in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (middle school play)

> Jazz musicians Drew Buckley ’10 (L) and Willy Tucker ’10