In Hubbard Performance Hall, where she fondly remembers presenting her senior recital 13 years ago, professional violinist Sirena Huang ’12 coaches the Loomis Chaffee Orchestra during her visit to campus in February. See related story on page 18.
Cover: Senior Ava McCann’s altered book project for the Sculpture I course, where teacher Melanie Carr assigned students to recycle books into works of art. Turn to page 16 to see more of the projects and learn how the students turned concepts into creations.
Place and Time
Telling stories of place and time on the Island, from hockey rinks to Founders Chapel to a faculty apartment in Flagg Hall.
Photo of the Day
Shining a spotlight on some breathtaking student submissions for the “Photo of the Day” section of The Daily Bulletin this winter.
Alumni Writers
In this annual list of recent books by alumni authors, the writers share the inspiration for their choice of subject matter and the impression they hope their books make on their readers.
EDITORIAL & DESIGN TEAM
Lynn A. Petrillo ’86 Director of Strategic Communications & Marketing
Becky Purdy Managing Editor
Kelley Albert
Senior Graphic Designer
Jeff Otterbein
Obituaries Editor
CONTRIBUTORS
Jeff Otterbein
Emma Lange
Paul Thompson
Paige Abrams
Heidi E.V. McCann ’93
Deidre Swords
Lisa Salinetti Ross
Anne Longley
Sophomore Aim Wanglee
Sophomore Natalee Ezedine
PHOTOGRAPHY
Defining Studios
Megan Du Plessis
John Groo
Sophomore Shane Fraser
Erica Dunhill
Jessica Ravenelle
Makhala Huggins
Courtesy of Allison Beason
Jeff Otterbein
Cloe Poisson
Stan Godlewski
Loomis Chaffee Archives
1979 Confluence
Christine Coyle
Amanda Gentile Photography
SUBMISSIONS/STORIES &
School community members may contribute items of interest to:
Loomis Chaffee Editors
The Loomis Chaffee School • 4 Batchelder Rd • Windsor, CT 06095
860.687.6811 • magazine@loomis.org
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LinkedIn (The Loomis Chaffee School)
Liz Lynch Photography
David Gordon Photography
Visit Loomis Chaffee online at www.loomischaffee.org for the latest school news, sports scores, and galleries of recent photos. You also will find direct links to all of our social networking communities. For an online version of the magazine, go to www.loomischaffee.org/magazine.
Printed at Lane Press, Burlington, VT
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A Gathering Place
For me, a highlight of the year so far has been an evening at the Head’s House watching the Barbie movie with the residents of Howe Hall. They arrived with pillows and blankets in hand, which were quickly transformed into comfy nests on the living room floor and couches. The dorm faculty arrived with arms full of boxes of candy and bags of popcorn. (It was also likely the best night of my Cocker Spaniel, Cocoa’s, life. All that attention! All those snuggles and tasty crumbs!) It was a delightful way to spend a cold winter night, basking in the light of the projector and the company of Loomis Chaffee community members.
At the September 12 student leaders reception in the garden at the Head’s House, two student resident assistants were talking with me about Halloween costume ideas. Their suggestion was that I should dress up as Barbie (again) so that we could refer to the Head’s House as the “Soja Dojo Casa House.” (You would have to have seen the Barbie movie to get that reference.) I believe this was the inspiration of the Howe Hall movie night at the Head’s House.
In my attempt to learn as much about Loomis Chaffee’s history as possible this year, I have found some inspirational stories about how the Batchelders envisioned and used the head of school’s residence on campus. Architectural drawings from the design of the Head’s House and Founders Hall reveal that the same architect who designed the Georgianstyle home for the Batchelders also designed Mr. B’s office in Founders. The two were intended to feel like an extension of each other. An early map of the Head’s Garden design also demonstrates that the residence was intended to be an extension of the school as they shared the outdoor gathering space.
In the earliest days of Loomis Chaffee, Mr. Batchelder and his first wife, Gwendolen, did much to include their home in the life of the school. In a 1915 letter to Board Chair John Taylor, Mr. B wrote, “We have from four to eight boys to supper on Sunday night,
As a new member of the community, the time that people have spent in the house has been an unbelievable gift and has deepened my understanding of all that makes Loomis Chaffee such an amazing place to work, learn, and live.
— JODY REILLY SOJA
and as many more as wish to come down to the library to hear me read aloud after supper, when we also often make candy or popcorn.” Further in his letter to Mr. Taylor, Mr. B noted that throughout that first year of the school, they “served approximately 500 meals in addition to the teas etc. for teams.” Mr. B continued, “[We] would not for the world have forgone the pleasure we have had in doing things for the fine [students] we have here.” (This same welcoming spirit continued at the house during Mr. B’s second marriage, to Evelyn Longman. Gwendolen died in 1917.)
Indeed, a famous piece of Loomis Chaffee folklore, the controversy that led to the “Spoon Game” with Kent, started at one of Evelyn Longman Batchelder’s teas for the
visiting football team from Kent. More than 100 years later, the missing silver spoon from Mrs. B’s personal collection lives on in infamy — and is a reminder of the impact those social gatherings at the Head’s House had on our school culture and history.
This year, as of the end of winter term, we have hosted 28 events at the house: dorm dinners (11 to date), student leader receptions, the Chaffee alumni book talk and tea, Chapel Talk desserts, faculty and staff dinners, dorm meetings, and more. None of these gatherings would be possible without several Loomis Chaffee colleagues who, frankly, do all the work to pull off these events, including organization, invitations, planning, food prep and catering, furniture rearrangement, and post-event cleanup.
Like the Batchelders, we would not forgo the pleasure of having these gatherings in the house. Several times, after a dinner or larger event, smaller numbers of students or faculty will linger to enjoy conversation. At our recent dinner with the 48 residents of Kravis Hall and their dorm parents, for example, several students stayed after the end of the meal, spread out among five large round tables, savoring their tres leches cake and their extended time together.
As a new member of the community, the time that people have spent in the house has been an unbelievable gift and has deepened my understanding of all that makes Loomis Chaffee such an amazing place to work, learn, and live. There has been a lot of levity, laughter, storytelling, and connectionbuilding. All of this has been an extension of the work we are doing in the school buildings every day. We look forward to continuing these traditions at Loomis Chaffee, and hope that many more Pelicans are able to come and enjoy meals, events, and other community-building opportunities with us in the Head’s House.
Warmly and with gratitude, Jody
ISLAND NEWS
Soledad O’Brien Headlines MLK Week
The documentary style of journalism, a big part of Soledad O’Brien’s lengthy media career, affords her the time to probe an issue.
“In a world where we have become focused on a sound bite — everyone has eight seconds to tell their story — to have a long time to spell out issues and give people context and help them understand what is happening in the world ... that is a luxury,” Ms. O’Brien said in an interview shortly before she addressed students, faculty, and staff at a convocation in January. She was the keynote speaker for a day set aside at Loomis Chaffee for conversation and reflection about Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. After the convocation, students gathered for various workshops, and additional MLK Week events took place in the days that followed.
Ms. O’Brien has anchored and reported for network and cable TV, is the founder of Soledad O’Brien Productions, and has received numerous media awards.
Her address to the Loomis community explored the history of the civil rights movement and Dr. King’s role, including aspects that are not widely known or understood.
She showed clips from documentaries about not only Dr. King, but also Rosa Parks, best
known for her role in the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama in 1955. At the time, Blacks sat toward the back of a bus and whites sat in the front. If the “white section” became full, Blacks had to give up their seats. On this day, each of the four seats in the row where Ms. Parks was sitting had to be vacated even though there was only one white person needing a seat. Ms. Parks refused to get up this time.
Ms. Parks is quoted saying she was “tired,” but that quote is often misinterpreted to mean she was fatigued after a long day of work as a seamstress, Ms. O’Brien said. “The reality was, and she would say this over and over and over again, and no one would really
listen to her, that she was exhausted by being treated as a second-class citizen,” Ms. O’Brien explained. “So when she said she was tired, it wasn’t, ‘I had such a long day working as a seamstress.’ It was, ‘Racism is grinding me down — and today I’m done.’”
That day and every day for the next 13 months, Rosa Parks was part of a movement that led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation is unconstitutional. The Montgomery bus boycott also helped lead to the rise of Martin Luther King Jr. as the face and voice of the civil rights movement. At the beginning of the movement, he was a young preacher, tapped to lead because of his ability to get along with various factions in the cause, Ms. O’Brien noted.
“He didn’t come in as this powerful figure,” she said. “He started as this regular guy.” Perhaps leading change can come from any of us, she said.
Yet leading social change in the 1960s and leading change today will inevitably look different.
“The church is not the center of life as it was back then,” Ms. O’Brien said. “All those meetings took place in church. Those protests were led by pastors and religious leaders, so today what replaces that and how? And Dr. King rose as this leader. Who is that person
today or on the way today? How does social media play a role in this? Do marchers even have an impact today? Do we care enough about any issue to say, ‘For [13] months I will put myself in discomfort because I believe in something so strongly’? Do we believe that today? I don’t know. I think those are all questions for you to consider when you think about the impact and legacy of Dr. King.”
In the interview before the convocation, Ms. O’Brien discussed the continuing call to action of MLK Day celebrations. “It is very easy to look back at events that happened a long time ago and think it’s irrelevant to me today in my life, especially if you are a young person,” she said. “I think it is interesting to help students connect the dots about some specific things that happened in the civil rights movement that are relevant today to their lives.”
Students connected those dots in workshops after the convocation. The workshops explored such topics as faith and justice, music during the civil rights movement, the personal stories of the first Black students at Loomis Chaffee, and the experiences of women of color at Chaffee and Loomis Chaffee.
The student leaders of PRISM — seniors Izzy Heflin, Sydney Hallowell, and Christine Wu, and junior Aster Conway-Reppert — each played a role in the convocation, and Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Roland Davis and Head of School Jody Reilly Soja offered reflections on the day before Ms. O’Brien’s address.
Jody, in her address, talked about visiting the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, which provides a journey through racial injustice in America. She talked about sitting in the pews of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Dr. King was pastor when he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott. She spoke of the church as being “charged with the strength and power of history.” She spoke about all the juxtapositions she saw as she walked the city, starting with the museum being built on the site of a cotton warehouse where enslaved Blacks had worked.
More dots to the past were connected by Roland when he introduced two special guests, Windsor Mayor Nuchette Black-Burke, the first Black woman to lead the town as mayor; and Emily Rodriguez ’90. Roland also gave a nod to faculty member Adrian Stewart ’90.
Emily and Adrian were leaders of PRISM in 1990 and advocated for a special convocation in recognition of MLK Day, Roland said.
“Our gathering here today could not have happened without their efforts 35 years ago,” Roland said. “Students, as difficult as it may be to grasp, what you do now can make a difference for our shared future. Never underestimate your power to change the world for the better. These two alums are evidence of this.”
Roland went on to connect even more dots, saying his father, Willie, was, like Dr. King, a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta. They were not in school at the same time but were connected by a shared mentor, Dr. Benjamin Mays, a leader in the civil rights movement and the president of Morehouse from 1940 to 1967.
“Because of his relationship with Dr. Mays, my father was friends with Dr. King and spent many nights at King’s house,” Roland said. “I grew up hearing many stories about Dr. King and Dr. Mays. The theme of this year [at Loomis] is the power of storytelling, and with this in mind I wanted to share the
[stories] with all of you so we understand the connection we all have with the past. I wanted you all to know your connection to this day through the Loomis Chaffee alums in this very place.”
After the convocation, Emily said she was inspired by the day’s events. “It is clear to see that Loomis is embracing diversity robustly,” she said. “This is important to the school, and I think it is wonderful. I am so happy to be invited back and to share the day with everyone.”
Other MLK Week events included music and dance performances by students, a community concert featuring Windsor High School’s Teens of Praise and the Shades of Yale a cappella group, and a poetry slam.
Opposite page, top: Keynote speaker Soledad O’Brien answers audience questions. Opposite page, bottom: The Orchestra and student spoken-word poets engage in a friendly duel. Above, top: The Chamber Singers present “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Above, left: The Step Team performs for an energized crowd. Above, right: Juniors Alijah Harper-McQueen and Abdoulaye Sow recite the poem "I, Too" by Langston Hughes.
Scott Havens ’91 To Speak at Commencement in May
Trustee M. Scott Havens ’91 was named president of business operations for the New York Mets organization in November of 2023. He grew up a Mets fan, so imagine his first day at the office.
“Surreal,” he says. “Parking my car and looking up at the Citi Field sign, I couldn’t believe this was now my office. Even today, I still have to punch myself when I turn from my desk and look out at center field.”
This spring he will be looking out toward Founders Hall at seniors, their families and friends, faculty, and staff as he is the Commencement speaker for the 109th graduation ceremonies on May 25. Scott is a longtime media executive and a member of a three-generation Loomis Chaffee family. His son, Tommy, is a senior, and his twin daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth (Lizzie), are sophomores. Scott’s father, Sam, graduated in 1961. Scott has been a member of the Loomis Chaffee Board of Trustees since 2023.
“Besides the great education one gets from attending Loomis,” Scott says, “the independence you gain at a younger age and the development of social skills have been instrumental in my life and career.”
In his role with the Mets, Scott provides strategic and operational leadership for the team, overseeing all front-office functions except baseball operations. Before joining the Mets, Scott was chief executive officer at Bloomberg Media. He joined Bloomberg in 2015. Before being appointed CEO in 2022, Scott was chief growth officer and global head of strategic partnerships, overseeing Bloomberg Media’s digital business and platforms.
Prior to joining Bloomberg, he was senior vice president of digital at Time Inc., president of The Atlantic, executive director at Condé Nast Business Media, and senior manager for business development at Yahoo! Finance. In 2016 Scott spoke to students at
[Those] were transformational years — entering as an unfocused, disorganized, immature 16-year-old and leaving a more mature, more humble, kinder 19-year-old.
— TRUSTEE M. SCOTT HAVENS
a convocation titled “Journalism Disrupted.” In 2022 he was a keynote speaker during Reunion Weekend.
“At each company and in each role across my career, I learned something new from doing, failing, listening, and watching … but being humble enough to know that I can always improve was critical to the growth,” Scott says. “I have also been blessed with great mentors at almost every step of the way.”
Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hamilton College in 1995 and a master’s degree in business administration from New York University in 1999.
The Mets made huge news in the offseason this year across the baseball landscape when they signed outfielder Juan Soto to a record 15-year contract worth $765 million. Last season Soto, just 26 years old, helped lead the Yankees to the World Series, but he opted for the Mets.
“We keep a pretty strong separation between baseball and business, and so I had a heads up before the public knew, but not much,” Scott says.
When asked what Soto might contribute to the bottom line, Scott says, “It’s too early to tell what the revenue lift might be from Soto, and I’m sure it won’t be insignificant, but also the team’s performance last year and the enthusiasm of our fan base will certainly lift us to our biggest revenue year ever.”
There were a number of teams trying to sign Soto, including the rival Yankees. Scott says he did not see it as a Yankees/Mets rivalry so much as “a future Hall of Famer deciding where he wanted to play. … When the teams play, there is something special about the competition, but off the field, we’re in close contact, friendly, and often share ideas.”
Like all Mets fans, he has his favorite players of all time. “My top five favorites are easy: Keith Hernandez, Darryl and Doc, David Wright, Mike Piazza ... and the most amazing thing is that I get to spend time with them in this job,” Scott says.
“Darryl” is Darryl Strawberry, and “Doc” is Dwight Gooden, but they need no last names to those who follow the game. Just as the final sentence in the next quote needs no explanation for Loomis Chaffee alumni.
When asked if there was a place on campus that was especially meaningful to him, Scott says, “Taylor [Hall], without question, where I lived for all three years. These were transformational years — entering as an unfocused, disorganized, immature 16-year-old and leaving a more mature, more humble, kinder 19-year-old. I still rub the nose when I walk by the dorm.”
For the uninitiated, that is the nose of John Metcalf Taylor’s plaque outside Taylor Hall. The nose has been rubbed so much — for good luck — that its bronze luster shines. Not unlike Scott’s career.
Paralympian Celebrates Her Journey
The car was crushed, but Sydney Satchell’s spirit was not. Ms. Satchell, who grew up in Windsor and graduated from Ethel Walker School in Simsbury in 2010, went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Howard University, where she played lacrosse. In 2015, less than a year after graduation from college, she was involved in a car accident on the way to work that, months later and after multiple surgeries to try to save her left leg, led to amputation.
But in February 2025, she was in the Olcott Center talking about her journey, one that led her to Paris for the 2024 Paralympics, where she and her U.S. women’s national sitting volleyball team won a gold medal. “Celebrate Your Journey,” was the theme of her convocation talk.
In an interview before the convocation began, she discussed her mindset when facing challenges. “What I have learned,” she said, “is to celebrate each step. We can’t just wait for the accomplishment. ... Every little step needs to be celebrated. When we won the gold [medal], I would have missed the moments of progression, I would have missed the beautiful times where I learned new skills and got closer to my teammates.”
That’s also how she was able to get through the car accident and all that followed — months in the hospital, eight surgeries, the loss of a limb, and adjustment to a prosthesis.
“When I had a good day and did not feel low, we celebrated,” Ms. Satchell said. “When I learned to walk, we celebrated.
Those are the things that helped me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to have joy along the way.”
And when the gold medal came, eight years after she moved to Oklahoma in 2016 to compete for a spot on the team and three years after not being selected for
the 2021 U.S. Paralympic team, “it was unbelievable and yet I am still processing it months later.” Her family was in Paris cheering her on. So, too, were friends, a former teacher, her prosthetist. The gold medal, she said, was “the best way to say thank you to those who helped me along the journey, and we’re still saying thank you.”
Ms. Satchell’s inspirational story led the Howard University Athletics Department in 2017 to create The Sydney Satchell Award For Perseverance. Ms. Satchell readily
admits that she was never the best lacrosse player, never the best sitting volleyball player. But, as she addressed students at the convocation — in a talk that she sprinkled with humor — it was clear that her energy and spirit are infectious. Just the kind of player any team needs.
With a photo of the gold medal-winning team on the screen, she talked about what her teammates endured in their lives. She gave away T-shirts and other items to students, including “Celebrate Your Journey” wristbands. And at the end, she brought out her gold medal and allowed students to pass it around and wear it while photos were taken.
The medal was heavier than one might imagine, and Sydney’s spirits were lighter than one might expect. Indeed, she was celebrating the journey.
Above: Sydney Satchell shows her gold medal to students after the convocation and even lets them try it on. Left: The front and back of the medal.
“Live Life With the Antenna Up”
Charlie Chamberlain, a singer/ songwriter/record producer, can find inspiration from all parts of life. Maybe it is something someone said. Maybe a line from a movie or a movie title itself. A sentence from a book. A song can come from anywhere.
“Live your life with the antenna up,” is one piece of advice he gave students in December at a convocation in the Olcott Center, where he also shared some of his music.
Mr. Chamberlain grew up in South Carolina and has lived for 15 years in Nashville, Tennessee, a place that got its nickname, Music City, for a reason. As Mr. Chamberlain said, hundreds, maybe thousands, of songs are worked on each day there. Few become hits, of course, but not for a lack of energy and enthusiasm, which runs through the city.
All it might take is building on one idea. He uttered the dreaded phrase “writers’ block”
and offered a solution to his audience of students.
“Allow yourself to write something terrible,” he said. “Don’t let the editor in you get in the way of it. I think of writing as a garden hose. Again, I’m kind of country. We drink from the garden hose down in Tennessee.”
And there are times one must let that garden hose run a bit. Flush out the debris, and before you know it, the water is clean and clear. “Give yourself the freedom to write through the gunk, through that mud, through that debris, and it will free you up so much because all of a sudden you’ll get halfway down the page, and here comes a pretty good idea, a pretty good line. … You write a little bit more and chase that idea, [and] all of a sudden this terrible idea is turning into a good idea and turning into a better idea, and maybe the better idea is going to lead to a great idea.”
Not that it comes easy. Mr. Chamberlain spends as much as nine hours a day in the writing studio. “You never know when the song will click,” he said.
Mr. Chamberlain’s antenna is always up, and he is always filling up “his well of inspiration,” taking notes on paper, typing notes, or as a voice memo on his smart phone.
Speaker Shares Story of Homelessness
There was no reason for Ralph Gagliardo to think he would some day live on the streets. He owned a business, restoring antique and classic cars. Then one day a tractor-trailer slammed into the vehicle he was driving, and his life changed. He suffered back injuries, which led to pain medication, which led to addiction, which led to relapses and being in and out of prison. He lost his business, but more painful than that, he said, was hurting his family.
Mr. Gagliardo, from the Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau, told his story to the Loomis Chaffee community at a convocation in January in the Olcott Center.
It is “important to spread the message that homelessness is a growing issue that is not going away and should not be ignored, and just as importantly that it can happen to anyone at any time during their life,”
Mr. Gagliardo said in an interview before his talk. “And it also is important to realize there are a lot of stereotypes around homelessness.”
When Mr. Gagliardo was on the streets, he said, he lived in cars and tents and outside wherever he could. “Every day is like being in a whirlpool where you’re just going around
and around,” he said. He spent a total of more than three years in prison during the 10-year period that followed his accident.
But it’s never too late, he said, to turn your life around. He received a bachelor’s degree in his 50s, and he is living life. He has been sharing his story for about 12 years through his work with the speakers bureau, which is part of Hands on Hartford, a social service nonprofit founded in 1969.
Senior Anna Bolwell led the effort to bring Hands on Hartford for the convocation, and she helped organize an event later that day to make care packages — containing such things as hygiene items, hats, gloves, and socks — for people experiencing homelessness in the Hartford area. Last year Anna brought the idea to Heather Henderson, the director of community engagement, and they worked with Matt Kammrath, the director of the Norton Family Center for the Common Good.
Hartland Property Getting Upgrades
There is no shortage of studies that speak to the health benefits of kids being outside. Google it. But then get off your phone and go outside.
For years Loomis Chaffee has owned property and a cabin in East Hartland, Connecticut, accessible by a short hike. The Darwin Club, one of the oldest organizations on campus, has used the property for hiking and overnight trips. Now there is a push to make the cabin and its property more accessible and a better equipped space for use by members of the LC community.
The late Douglas Wilson ’54, through the Shenandoah Foundation, donated money to be used toward student wellness. Some of that will be used for work on the property.
Jess Matzkin, dean of student life & wellness, and Lance Hall, director of the physical plant, took a trip to the property last year to envision what improvements could be made, and projects began in November 2024. Work has already been completed on bridges, doors, windows, the wood stove, access ways, and a monitoring camera. Still to come are the creation of a secondary walking trail on the property and the completion of a composting toilet. The property’s primary trail is about 1.75 miles in length.
space off campus for kids to retreat is a great step. A space where kids, especially on the weekend, can go to get off campus and have an opportunity to relax and rejuvenate. It’s right by the river, quiet, beautiful.”
A place to unplug.
Jess envisions the property as a retreat center.
A place to relax.
“When we talk about educating the whole person, so much of that for adolescents today is emotional support,” Jess says. “Providing a
“Kids don’t like to disconnect from their phones, but when they do and reflect on it, 99 percent of the time they will talk about how they feel so much better,” Jess says. “So providing opportunities and spaces for them to do that is a really good thing.”
A place to learn.
Jess and Marley Matlack, the Christopher
H. Lutz Director of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies, also see the property as ideal for place-based education activities, including ecology field trips, nature writing, sustainable art, and expanded activities for the land management program and the Darwin Club.
Relax, unplug, learn, take in the surroundings. Darwin Club member Sydney Robinow, a senior, has experienced all of these.
“I like the history of the place,” Sydney says. “For example, the guestbook is really cool to look through; they describe their activities, and it is the same things that we still do today. I like sleeping in the cabin; it’s quite nostalgic for me. It reminds me of summer camp but with fewer bugs and a lot less humid. The loft is my favorite spot to go. The sunlight peeks through in the morning, and despite waking up at dawn, I’m never groggy. My favorite thing to do and place to walk is along the creek. It’s so peaceful, the clear babbling water, the smooth stones, the moss, the frogs, it’s perfect. I don’t know how to describe it without sounding cheesy, but standing there surrounded by nature’s symphony as I feel the cool water rush across my rainboots, I feel entirely at peace. The last thing I can think of to wax poetic about is the fireside dinner. It is not fine dining, but I love it. There is much laughing and camaraderie. It’s sweet, simple, and a wonderful reprieve.”
Top: Enjoying time at the cabin in December 2023 were: (front) faculty member Allison Beason, Charlotte Millman ’24, and Grace Lund ’24; and (back) faculty member Jeff LaPrise, JaHiem Harvey ’25, and Jasper Curtis ’24.
There’s Something Rotten! in the NEO
“God, I Hate Shakespeare” is just one of the many songs in Something Rotten!, but it tells you so much about the rip-roaring fun this musical was from beginning to end during its four-show run in the Norris Ely Orchard (NEO) Theater in February.
As Theater Director David McCamish wrote in the playbill, “Set in Renaissance England but mixed with modern humor, Something Rotten! follows two struggling playwrights desperate to step out from Shakespeare’s shadow.”
Those playwrights, Nick and Nigel Bottom, were played by sophomores Joy Smith (Nick) and Lilly Autry (Nigel). William Shakespeare, played with poker-faced hilarity by junior Nina Gitlitz, was at once funny, narcissistic, sly, and willing to do anything to hold onto his status as the No. 1 bard, the most famous writer in England.
After opening night, as is tradition, the actors stepped out of their roles and into the lobby of the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Center for Theater and Dance to be greeted by family and friends.
Nina said opening night “felt really good, and I am glad so many people got to see it. We’ve been working really hard, and I’m proud of all of us.”
Back to being just a student, without the Shakespeare garb, Nina said of the role: “It was incredible because it is a very different
take on a classic figure, and so it was a little weird that maybe his spirit would come and haunt me, but I was really excited.”
Joy said she was still filled with the adrenaline of the evening. “This musical is a lot of dancing and moving around and singing at the same time,” she said, “and I’m feeling really excited. It’s opening night, and the energy is one-ofa-kind.”
Singing; dancing; tap-dancing; dialog; a 20-person cast; a 16-piece orchestra, including eight student musicians, tucked away in the Black Box Theater — this musical was a challenge.
Top: The cast sings and tap-dances in one of the show’s biggest numbers, “A Musical.” Bottom, left: Brother Jeremiah (sophomore Dean Sontag) preaches to the citizens. Bottom, right: Snug (freshman Kennadi Mitchell) performs in Omelet, the musical-within-a-musical.
“The tapping took a couple of months,” Joy said, “and Nina’s and my tap battle was hard to learn, hard to do.” That tap-off between Nick and Shakespeare in “Bottom’s Gonna Be On Top” was among the many special moments that got the audience tapping, too.
“No more Mr. Anonymous!
No more world that is Nick Bottom-less!
My name will be synonymous
With being on the top.”
“The singing and dancing other than the tap also took a long time,” Joy said. “There are a lot of hard songs to sing and equally hard choreography, and a lot of moving pieces, set pieces with wheels, and people being moved around. All this took a while, but it was worth it.”
Junior Sonia Barinskaya played Bea Bottom, Nick’s wife. “When I think about Bea, she is so brave, so confident, and so kind, and that combination is a wonderful thing,” Sonia said. As is performing. Sonia, like much of the cast, is a veteran of NEO musicals. “I’m doing this because I love it,” she said. “It’s like giving the people in the audience a hug and sharing some happiness with them.”
to outdo Shakespeare. Below: Bea Bottom (junior Sonia Barinskaya) lyrically urges her husband, Nick, to “let me be your right-hand man.” Bottom: The villagers swoon over pop-staresque Will Shakespeare (junior Nina Gitlitz).
Left: A villager (junior Natalie Pereira). Above: Playwright Nigel Bottom (sophomore Lilly Autry) and his producer brother Nick (sophomore Joy Smith) scheme
Based on the true story of Thoreau’s act of protest in 1846, when he refused to pay taxes because of the U.S. government’s involvement in the Mexican war
THE NIGHT Thoreau Spent in Jail
Acast of seven students nimbly shared the role of Henry David Thoreau in an ensemble production of the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail in the Black Box Theater in February.
As the scenes changed during the two-act play, so did the cast members playing the title character. The seamless rotation of roles was just one indication of the cooperative spirit that the cast built this winter from first read-through to final performance, according to faculty member Will Eggers, who directed the play.
“This cast embraced every challenge with a can-do, let’s-do-it-together attitude,” Will says. “In the process, they forged a commu-
nity where they knew they could trust one another at all times. With an ensemble piece like this one, working together is vital, and the precision with which they worked together was impressive.”
The play, first staged in 1969, is about “civil disobedience in a time of trauma,” according to the playbill, and is based on the true story of Thoreau’s act of protest in 1846, when he refused to pay taxes because of the U.S. government’s involvement in the Mexican war. Thoreau was arrested and jailed for this act of civil disobedience. The playbill says the play “explores a range of conflicts at the heart of our society that remain relevant 180 years after Thoreau’s courageous actions.”
The staging, with a minimalist aesthetic that
is a signature of black box theaters, presented challenges that became opportunities for the cast, Will says. When they didn’t have a detailed prop or set piece, the cast members used blocks and silks to create a jail cell, a rowboat on Walden Pond, a schoolhouse, a town center, and other settings. “Doing so invited the audience into the creative process, helping them to create an entire world from a few, abstract objects,” Will says.
The cast included sophomore Kofi Donkor, freshman Ruby Hoffman, freshman Tonnam Jongcharoensiri, freshman Klara Oppenheimer, junior Adam Pendergrass, and freshman Cylina Wang. Stage manager was senior Angel Neklyudova, and senior Boden Bubb provided lighting and sound design.
“Unbridled Creativity”
The Altered Book Project
The class: Sculpture I
The teacher: Melanie Carr
The assignment: Transform a recycled book into a sculptural form.
The results: See below — and prepare to be enchanted.
In her instructions for the altered book project earlier this year, Melanie Carr explained to her Sculpture I students that their work could involve cutting, folding,
gluing, and painting as well as “manipulating the pages and spine [to] generate volume, shape, and new forms.” She assured them that there was no right or wrong way to complete the assignment.
“I want the students to make connections between thinking and making through their hands,” Melanie says. “Exploration and experimentation are two words I use all the time — particularly in sculpture. … I want them to be intentional, but I also want them to find their way.”
Books, says Melanie, can provide students with “a jumping-off point — be it the title, color, size, etc.” Books also allow students to reimagine something familiar to them, “to think about old things in new ways.”
“That is really important to me — for them to think that if a book can become this, then anything can become something else,” Melanie continues. “That is the sort of unbridled creativity that I hope they get through the process.”
“Exploration and experimentation are two words I use all the time — particularly in sculpture. … I want them to be intentional, but I also want them to find their way.”
—MELANIE CARR
Above: Altered book projects on display in the Richmond Art Center
1 Junior Miles Gackstetter wasn’t sure what to make at first.
“After some time,” he says, “I found my inspiration. Cartoon sparks — the ones in comic books that typically visualize an interjection. This abstract shape has always appealed to me and been so fun to draw, so I thought it would be interesting to bring the shape to a three-dimensional scale with this project.”
He had to pivot at times.
“I ran into unexpected difficulties, which prompted me to really channel my creativity to find workarounds,” Miles says. “When I first started working on this sculpture, I wanted the book to stand up straight and open. [That] design was difficult to achieve when the book’s spine wasn’t cooperating with my vision. So I had to adjust. I figured I’d lay the book on its spine instead. Additionally, at first, I wanted to cut the spiky edges directly out of the book. After beginning this design, I learned the book couldn’t maintain its open shape, so I needed to pivot again. I decided to cut spiky edges out of another book and place them in the folded pages of the original book. Despite these and many other spontaneous shifts in my design, I felt the final piece achieved my desired look very well.”
2 Sophomore Ria An reached back in her childhood for inspiration for the merrygo-round she constructed, naming her sculpture “Merry-Page-Round.”
“I arrived at the idea for ‘Merry-Page-Round’ by reflecting on the shared sense of wonder and escapism that both books and merrygo-rounds evoke,” Ria says. “As a child, I was always captivated by the joy of riding a merry-go-round and the feeling of being transported to a different, magical world. As I grew older, I noticed that books offer a similar sense of escapism — every page turn bringing me deeper into a new realm of imagination. Combining these two elements, I wanted to create a sculpture that represents this timeless enchantment, capturing the magic of both childhood and literature.”
Ria enjoyed the process.
“The act of folding and cutting the pages, carefully crafting each part of the sculpture, felt meditative and allowed me to connect with my own childhood experiences in a deep, creative way,” she says. “It was a unique
challenge to translate the movement and vibrancy of a merry-go-round into a static sculpture made from books. The attention to detail — like the varying heights of the horses, the pom-pom lights, and the grasspatterned walls — was especially exciting, as each element felt like a small tribute to the feelings of joy I associate with both rides and stories.”
3 At first, senior Ava McCann thought she would make a “round, 3D bouquet of flowers sticking out from my book.”
But it became much more than that.
“As I was flipping through my book, I noticed the repetition of ‘Human Rights’ in chapter titles and headlines, as well as some other strong vocabulary such as ‘Lying,’ ‘Aggression,’ and ‘Dictatorship,’” she says.
“I tore these pages out and set them aside with the idea that I would somehow highlight these in my piece.”
Ava says she noticed that some projects “looked more peaceful and elegant — those with flowers in particular — while others’ projects had sharp edges and were more rough looking.”
The book she used was about the Peruvian
Revolution. “In my mind a revolution can be both ugly and yet ultimately beautiful and uplifting,” she explains. She decided to reflect both of these ideas through juxtaposition: the rough surface of the book and the sharp angles around the negative words versus the bouquet of flowers and more positive headlines. Together they show “how a beautiful thing can come from something so tragic.”
4 As part of the assignment, senior Evie Flowers’s interpretive text discussed her process for producing what she called “Paper Nirvana, 2025” as if it were displayed in a museum: “The book first had its pages cut in half vertically, and then began the timeconsuming process of rolling each and every piece of paper. Following the rolling process, small pieces of scrap paper were used to
form the shape of trees. Delicately, leaves were cut to add detail and life to the tree. Finally, the clouds were added to provide a sense of scenery and weather, topped off with a swing. The swing represented a childhood swing, a place of many laughs and few worries. This swing and the trees symbolize an escape in Evie’s mind, leading to the choice of ‘Nirvana’ in the title. Evie was inspired to create her version of heaven out of paper.”
Sirena Huang ’12 Returns to Hubbard
Professional violinist Sirena Huang ’12 shared her love of music with Loomis Chaffee students during a day on campus as a guest musician in February.
On the Hubbard Performance Hall stage, she coached the Loomis Chaffee Orchestra on the Vivaldi “Winter” concerto. It was on that same stage that Sirena presented her final violin recital as a Loomis student in June of 2012. And, as she told the Orchestra students, passing by a practice room down the hall evoked more memories. “I know that room really well,” she said. It is one of many rooms where talent and hard work came together for Sirena, a prodigy long before she arrived on the Island.
Sirena began taking violin lessons at age 4, made her professional debut at 9, and shared her gifts in a TED Talk performance at 11, one of the youngest to ever do so. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and entertain she did, with her words and music.
Hartford. A group of Loomis Chaffee students attended the performance.
Sirena graduated from The Juilliard School with a bachelor’s degree in music in 2016 and from the Yale School of Music in 2019 with an artist diploma in music. She was familiar with Juilliard well before she attended the New York school for college.
the audience with delight.”
“While my passion for music has always been a driving force, I’ve also come to realize how important it is to be committed and disciplined in my craft,” Sirena says. “It’s the time spent in the practice room, focusing on gradual improvement, that has helped me grow as a musician. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the process itself, finding fulfillment in the journey rather than focusing solely on the outcome.”
“Looking back, I feel incredibly fortunate,” Sirena says. “I began learning the violin through the Suzuki method, and the sense of community and my wonderful first teacher, Linda Fiore, made it so easy for me to develop a deep love for music. I’m thankful that my early experiences were centered [on] enjoyment rather than the pressure to be ‘good.’ I simply loved playing. Even though my life has become busier since then, I still prioritize that same love for music because it’s what motivated me back then and continues to inspire me in everything I do today.”
Sirena has performed in 17 countries and has been a featured soloist with more than 50 ensembles. A few days after her visit to the Island this winter, she performed with the Hartford Symphony at the Bushnell in
“Becoming a professional musician is shaped by numerous factors, and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have had an extraordinary support system throughout my entire journey,” Sirena says. “My father would drive me, often for five hours round-trip, every Saturday to the Juilliard Pre-College program in New York City, and my parents always ensured that someone was always available to accompany me to concerts, summer festivals, rehearsals, and lessons. ... Simply put, I would not be where I am today without them. Words can hardly capture the depth of my gratitude for all they’ve done.”
Words don’t quite capture the depth of her performances either, but there have been plenty in reviews over the years. “Impeccable technique,” “kept audience ears on edge,” “plays with her whole body,” “overwhelmed
That journey has taken her to many places in front of many faces. On this day the faces in front of her belonged to Loomis student musicians. After being introduced by Sue Chrzanowski, the Performing Arts Department head who also was Sirena’s advisor for three years at Loomis, Sirena listened, instructed, and engaged the Orchestra students with questions about the music.
At the end there was time for students to ask Sirena questions. One asked her where she sees herself down the road and what
Above: Sirena and her violin in Hubbard Performance Hall. her long-term goals are. Music, she said, will forever be a part of her life in whatever form it takes. But she thinks beyond that, too. “With so much happening in the world now, I often ask myself, ‘What can I do as a classical musician?’” Sirena responded. “One of my missions is to use my platform to center my attention on marginalized voices. ... Long story short, my goal is to inspire a more just and inclusive classical music world. That’s my way of responding to the problems in the world today. I’m going to start with the world I am most familiar with.”
Guests in the Arts
Visiting artists in music, theater, and visual art shared their expertise with students this winter.
Guest musician and Loomis Chaffee voice instructor Chelsea Lorraine took the stage in Hubbard Performance Hall in February for a voice recital that encompassed a variety of song styles and singing techniques. She was joined by LC piano teacher Tamila Azadaliyeva in music by Franz Liszt, Giacomo Puccini, Richard Strauss, and other composers. At the end Chelsea picked up her guitar and played a song by Joni Mitchell, from the 1960s folk music scene. Sue Chrzanowski, head of the Performing Arts Department, says Chelsea is a master at cross-training the voice, which is the ability to create a range of sounds that work for classical music and musical theater performance. Chelsea is a classically trained soprano who says she grew up “singing in choirs and in theater and found much joy in playing the guitar and singing the folk songs that I loved to listen to.” She has performed with many local opera companies, singing roles such as Gretel and Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel, Annina in La Traviata, and Sophie in Werther. She teaches voice at Loomis Chaffee as well as at the Hartt School of Music Community Division. She says she
wants her students to feel they can sing any style, even multiple styles, and to never worry about conforming. “Even if someone’s voice doesn’t fit the style perfectly, it doesn’t mean they cannot sing the song with their voice and make it their own,” she says.
Performer and playwright Ibrahim Miari worked with acting students, met with the Loomis Chaffee Orchestra, and visited an Arabic language class during a day-long visit to campus in February that led up to an evening performance of his semi-autobiographical, one-man show, In Between, in
a Jewish
says he grew up thinking everyone was “in between.” “Half of my family is Jewish and Hebrew speakers. Half are Muslim and Arabic speakers,” he says. “We got along really well, and we visited this side of the family and that side of the family. It enriched my world.” In Between portrays the complexities of Mr. Miari’s Palestinian-Israeli identity and, he hopes, encourages his audiences to think. “I try not to answer any question in the show,” he says. “I just present my stories and the conflicts, and I basically show the ironies of being in between two worlds, the Israeli side and the Palestinian side, especially nowadays when they are in a huge conflict. So the hope is I bring a new perspective. I bring a message of hope. ... You can seek a way to live and let live and co-exist.” His show was followed by a question-and-answer session led by student leaders from the Middle Eastern Society, Muslim Student Union, and Jewish Student Union affinity groups. Mr. Miari has been an Arabic and Hebrew lecturer at several universities during his career. He is in his 13th year as a lecturer in modern Hebrew language at University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Miari’s visit to Loomis was funded by the Bussel Family International Lecture Fund. The events were a collaboration among several Loomis departments and centers and were organized by Richard Karrat, associate director of the Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies.
GUEST MUSICIAN
Top: Ibrahim Miari speaks with acting students. Above: Chelsea Lorraine performs a Joni Mitchell tune.
the Norris Ely Orchard Theater. Mr. Miari, the son of a Palestinian Muslim father and
Israeli mother,
GUEST PERFORMER
Visiting artist Khae Haskell worked alongside students in the Richmond Art Center for a week at the end of February, a residency that coincided with From Rot to Ravish, an exhibit of Mx. Haskell’s work in the Eugene and Sue Mercy Jr. Gallery. The exhibit was a continuation of their “Decomposed” series, for which Mx. Haskell draws what many people might consider unwanted or undesired parts of nature. When Mx. Haskell is on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, walking to and from their studio, their eyes are on the surroundings. “The city has these little treasures; if you’re paying attention you can find them,” Mx. Haskell says. “There is interesting botanical growth, mushrooms growing on trees, anything from decomposing birds
and rats to weird fruit someone left behind that is rotting.” Mx. Haskell incorporates their detailed drawings of these treasures into their work, which takes a variety of forms, from traditional pen and ink to neon lights.
Sydney Samele, a Connecticut-based printmaker and illustrator, spent a week in the Richmond Art Center in February as part of the Adolph and Virginia Dehn Visiting Artist program. During her residency, she shared some of her work with the CollegeLevel Art Seminar and talked with the students about her process and journey. The highest compliment she can receive as an artist is “someone stopping to look at my work for five minutes,” she said. “They don’t need to say a thing. If something is visually interesting enough for them to stop and look for a period of time, I don’t think any amount of words speaks volumes more
than that.” Ms. Samele graduated from the University of Hartford with a bachelor of fine arts degree in 2021. Her work is inspired by Japanese printmaking and explores mythology and transformation through water. She has exhibited in many galleries in the Hartford area, and some of her work is held in private collections across New England. Sydney also is the education director for the Five Points Center for the Visual Arts, a nonprofit in Torrington, Connecticut.
For the last 25 years, visiting artist Traci Molloy, who spent a week on campus in January, has worked with adolescents and young adults who have survived trauma of all kinds — from sexual assault to genocide to 9/11 — to create large-scale, multimedia pieces. “What I’ve found is art is its own language, and when you have experienced something that is fairly horrific, sometimes you can’t talk about it ... but you can channel your emotions through art,” Ms. Molloy says. Five of Ms. Malloy’s large-scale pieces are in the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York. She does some solo work, too, such as painting, but working with people, helping people, brings another layer of meaning to her work. “When I work with other people, it is like the best of humanity,” she says. “I make my own work, but my own work is pale in comparison to these collaborations.” Her week on campus was made possible through the Adolf and Virginia Dehn Visiting Artist program.
20 Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2025
Top left: Khae Haskell with one of their exhibit pieces. Left: Sydney Samele in the printmaking studio of the Richmond Art Center. Above: Traci Molloy during her visiting artist residency.
GUEST ARTISTS
THAT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
DOUBLE ROBOTICS
Two FIRST Tech Challenge robotics teams from Loomis Chaffee qualified for and competed in the Connecticut state competition this winter. Ross’ Universal Robots (RUR) and HAX Robotics both earned berths in the state competition at a qualifying tournament in January, where RUR won the tournament and received the Think Award and HAX received the Inspire Award. The Think Award is “given to the team that best reflects the journey the team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season,” according to FIRST, and the Inspire Award is “given to the team that best embodies the ‘challenge’ of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. The team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST team.” Both teams competed well at the state tournament in February at the University of Connecticut.
ALL-EASTERN MUSIC
Three Loomis Chaffee students were selected for the 2025 National Association for Music Education All-Eastern Band and Orchestra and will participate in the four-day All-Eastern Music Festival in April, with the culminating concert at The Bushnell in Hartford. Held every other year, the festival selects high school juniors and seniors from 13 Eastern states to participate based on several criteria, including audition scores. Senior Kenneth Lee (clarinet) and juniors Tristan Buttimer (cello) and Matthew Li (French horn) were chosen this year.
DEBATE TOURNAMENT
The numbers added up to yet another successful debate tournament: 124 debaters from four New England states competed in the 43rd Loomis Chaffee Debate Tournament in January. The tournament is one of the longest continuously running competitions in the Debating Association of New England Schools. Curt Robison, the longstanding advisor to the Loomis Chaffee Debate Society, chose the resolution: “Resolved, that the U.S. government should develop and implement policies designed to reduce the production and consumption of meat, in part by raising the price of meat to consumers.” Loomis has a large group of students in the Debate Society this year, and
10 members qualified for the Connecticut state debate finals in March.
WRITING AWARDS
Loomis Chaffee students won more than 40 awards across multiple categories in the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Connecticut Writing Region. Eight students won Gold Keys: junior Aanum Khan (poetry), junior Shane Lischin: (personal essay/memoir and poetry), junior Ji Yee Chung (flash fiction), sophomore Katie Pham (poetry), freshman Tidal Fisher (personal essay/memoir), sophomore Vivaan Chaturvedi (poetry), sophomore Blair Sontag (poetry), and freshman Adhista Kanuri (journalism). Gold Key winners advance to the national competition, with medalists announced in the spring.
RIVER COLLABORATIVE
Loomis Chaffee, Deerfield Academy, and Northfield Mount Hermon have teamed up to form the Connecticut River Schools Collaborative, an organization committed to preserving and protecting the river, which flows by all three schools on its 400-mile course through New England. In the fall, the three schools participated in the Connecticut River Conservancy Source to Sea Cleanup, and in February Northfield hosted an ecological summit with a special focus on the Connecticut River. This spring Loomis plans to sponsor a “bio blitz” effort to gather scientific data about the river, according to Marley Matlack, the Christopher H. Lutz director of Loomis’ Alvord Center for Global & Environmental Studies. The idea for the collaborative originated when Loomis students went on an educational paddling trip on the Connecticut River in 2022. The school worked with Bald Mountain Meadow, which specializes in interdisciplinary, place-based learning expeditions, on that trip. “We talked about how wonderful it would be to create an organization for schools centered around an important ecological landmark, and in New England that is the Connecticut River,” Marley says. As in 2022, the school is working with Bald Mountain Meadow to offer a June 2025 trip along the Connecticut River with a focus on environmental studies and outdoor education as students paddle from the headwaters in
northern New Hampshire to the Meadows at Loomis. This time students and faculty from Deerfield and Northfield will join LC students and faculty on the journey.
TRANSCRIBE-A-THON
In celebration of Douglass Day in February, Loomis Chaffee students transcribed parts of the Library of Congress’ Daniel Murray Collection, a trove of pamphlets and books about the contributions of Black writers and organizations in the United States from about 1870 to the 1920s. Mr. Murray, a bibliographer and historian, was the second Black employee of the Library of Congress. The effort was part of an annual nationwide virtual transcribe-a-thon on February 14, the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass, the 19th-century abolitionist, orator, newspaper publisher, and author who had been enslaved for about 20 years. Mr. Douglass did not know the precise date he was born, so he chose Valentine’s Day. Digital transcriptions enable the public to more easily search documents and can help with readability, especially when the originals were hand-written. Loomis’ participation in the volunteer effort was organized by Writing Initiatives and the Center for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, along with the History, Philosophy & Religious Studies Department and the Katharine Brush Library.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
Ben Sharf ’15 worked with students in the Loomis Chaffee Entrepreneurship Club earlier this school year to help them turn their ideas into products and services. Ben is the co-founder of Platter, which provides tools to help Shopify brands increase profitability. During a Zoom call in October and a campus visit in December, he listened to the club members’ concepts for entrepreneurial ventures and offered advice and feedback. Ben also provided tips on exploring the viability of an idea, according to senior Eli Krasnoff, a co-founder and co-president of the club. Ben often cites two Loomis alumni, Neville Bowers ’01 and Jason Karp ’94, who helped ignite his entrepreneurial spirit. “If I can be that role model for the next generation, it would truly be a dream come true,” he says.
Faculty and Staff News
Seth Beebe ’78 concluded a 40-year coaching career at Loomis Chaffee in February with the annual game between his III boys basketball team and former III players still at Loomis. Seth, the director of advancement services and operations, was honored after the game at a ceremony attended by many colleagues as well as current and former players. Athletic Director Sue Cabot thanked Seth for “his years of service, incredible knowledge, and the special qualities that made him an amazing coach all these years.” Since 1985, Seth has coached boys and girls at various levels of basketball, soccer, and lacrosse. Thirds boys basketball, which he coached for 23 seasons, has been special to him. “I think it’s a combination of many
things,” Seth says. “Because of the nature of our roster, mostly freshmen with a sprinkling of sophomores and an occasional junior, we mostly start anew each year. The journey from picking the team to having a pretty highly functional squad at season’s end where everyone knows their role is something I treasure. The energy of the boys brings a smile to my face. Freshman boys for the most part have a hard time staying focused on one thing for very long, so I tried to make practices have a quick pace where we were transitioning from one thing to another. And I tried to make it fun.” Alumni of the team describe Seth as a caring coach whose lessons have resonated with them long after they graduated.
The second annual Wellness Summit at Loomis Chaffee in February drew more than 100 educators from more than 30 schools to hear from experts and share ideas for fostering student well-being. Coordinated by Dean of Student Life & Wellness Jess Matzkin and Associate Dean of Students Linda Hathorn, with help from others, the summit opened with a keynote address by Shafia Zaloom, a health educator, parent, consultant, and author of the book Sex, Teens, and Everything In Between. The conference also included case-study and round-table sessions and discussions of a variety of topics, including “the erosion of social skills” and issues involving body image, substances, cell phone policies, and healthy habits.
Year of the Snake
The school celebrated Lunar New Year this winter with a week of activities and workshops, including a reenactment of the legendary race among the 12 zodiac animals; a cooking class during which sophomore Alyssa Ji taught participants how to make the South Korean dish sanjeok; a Chinese dance workshop led by junior Claire Cen; and a festive evening celebration in the Scanlan Campus Center with a buffet of Asian dishes and desserts, a live show by Asian Performing Arts, and workshops in calligraphy, decorative arts, Tai Chi, and dragon dance. Far left: Freshman William Song considers his culinary options during the Lunar New Year celebration in the Scanlon Campus Center. Inset: Senior Cara Dai practices calligraphy.
NEW ENGLAND CHAMPS
Glory Day
PELICAN SPORTS
One Day, Two Championships
Two Loomis Chaffee teams won New England championships this winter. For the fourth year in a row, the girls basketball team, led by head coach Adrian Stewart ’90, won the Class A New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) title, defeating Sacred Heart 51-45 in the tournament final on March 9. On the same afternoon, the girls ice hockey team, under head coach Liz Leyden, captured the NEPSAC Chuck Vernon Elite Eight Championship crown — for the first time since 1989 — with a 5-3 win over Andover in the tournament title game.
Left: Hoisting the trophy, the girls basketball team celebrates its victory on the home court. Below: Liz Leyden congratulates her championship team on the ice at Taft.
Girls Basketball and Hockey Win New England Titles
VARSITY RECORDS
1: Sophomore Lisa Pang
2: Sophomore Andrew Purviance
3: Junior Lindsay Stepnowski
4: Freshman Matt Cormier
5: Seniors Aniyah Neal and Catherine Chadwell
BOYS BASKETBALL 17-8
New England Class A Quarterfinalist
GIRLS BASKETBALL 25-3
New England Class A Champion
CO-ED EQUESTRIAN 5 shows
3 riders qualified for IEA regional finals
BOYS ICE HOCKEY 8-16-1
GIRLS ICE HOCKEY 26-2-1
New England Chuck Vernon Elite Eight Champion
CO-ED SKIING
New England Class B Championships, Boys 2nd Place, Girls 11th Place
BOYS SQUASH 10-5
GIRLS SQUASH 7-7
BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING 6-5
Founders League Meet, 2nd Place
GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING 7-4 Founders League Meet, 3rd Place
6: Sophomore Grey Pierce
7: Senior Lucia Zhang
8: Sophomore Victoria Ribeiro
9: Junior Andrew Kim
10: Seniors Gennaro Pompano and Luke Collins
Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring
By Jeff Otterbein
PLACE AND TIME
Robert Rifkin ’54, in The Centennial History of Loomis Chaffee, writes, “beyond the recollection of classes and teachers and classmates, my memories are dominated by the sense of the place itself.” He mentions Grubbs Quadrangle, the Senior Path, the cupolas “crowning Founders and the dining hall.” He reminisces about a walk past the Hockey Pond, up Batchelder Road to get an ice cream in town. He recalls heading down to the Connecticut River, “where I channeled Huckleberry Finn on the banks of the Mississippi.” The former Trustee asserts, “The place itself was the beginning of an education in aesthetics, and I am mindful of Churchill’s observation: ‘We shape our buildings, and therefore our buildings shape us.’”
A place shaped by time. Alumni and faculty shaped by the place. Over the next few pages, we tell stories of place and time.
Place and Time
WARM FEELINGS, COOL MEMORIES
Ken Howe ’77 and his brother, Bob ’80, grew up on campus, and as kids they skated on the outdoor rink that once stood on the grounds of what is now the Richmond Art Center.
Years later, in the 1976–77 hockey season, they helped lead their team to a memorable win in the last game played on that rink.
The final game of that season, the end of an era, was against Avon Old Farms, always a top hockey rival. Avon had beaten Loomis Chaffee earlier in the season and, as Bob recalls, “They thought they would again.” Bob and Ken would have something to say about that.
“The final game against Avon was incredible,” Bob says. “Lots of people there to say goodbye to the old rink. My brother was amazing in the goal that evening, and I scored three goals as we beat the Winged Beavers by a 5-2 score.”
That game, that rink, those times, bring back memories for the brothers.
“The last season on the rink was very special because we knew hockey at Loomis was changing and it would never be the same again,” Bob says. “Exciting for sure, but even as a 15-year-old boy I could feel a bittersweet sadness that the experience of playing on
the outdoor rink was coming to an end. It was fun to play that season as my brother, Ken, was a senior captain, and I was a sophomore. Playing on the same team as my older brother was pretty special, I always felt.”
Pretty special could also describe growing up on campus. Bob and Ken’s parents, Jane Mackay Howe ’49 and Glover Howe ’48, were longtime faculty members and are the namesakes of the dorm Howe Hall.
Bob and Ken remember pickup hockey games for “fac brats” — the loving nickname for children of faculty. They generally were
spearheaded by Chuck “Bruno” Vernon, a faculty member and coach of various sports, including girls hockey.
“Growing up on the campus as a faculty brat, we thoroughly enjoyed playing endless hours of hockey at very random hours of the day and night,” Ken says.
And the memories keep on coming.
“When public schools closed due to snow, we’d all get up early and head to the rink for a day of hockey,” Bob says. “But first we had to shovel the rink off.”
There were plenty of shovels, he recalls, and “just the right amount of Zamboni backup. We grew up knowing that we had to earn our ice time.”
Open skate on the outdoor rink in the 1960s
And if the rink was rented or otherwise occupied, there was no stopping these kids. “We would head down to the Cow Pond with our shovels and make our own rink to play on all day,” Ken says. When the weather cooperates, as it did much of this winter, and the Cow Pond is frozen, you still might see hockey teams practicing there or students skating there.
When they reached the appropriate age, Bob and Ken were well prepared for varsity hockey, but you had to work your way onto the team in more ways than one.
“Anyone trying out for varsity hockey was required to help get the ice surface ready at the beginning of the season,” Ken says. “This required about 48 hours of round-the-clock water spraying the rink surface (brine filled pipes lying in a bed of gravel) until the ground became frozen and enough layers were built up to cover all the pipes. It was a badge of honor to sign up for the 2 a.m. or the 4 a.m. shift on a school night to freeze to death watering the rink surface with a fire hose. And every year someone would sleep through their shift, so when the following shift showed up, the hose was filled with frozen water
A horse-drawn snowplow cleared the Hockey Pond once cold weather had produced enough solid ice to handle the weight of the horse.
and needed several hours in the Zamboni room to thaw before the watering could continue. Grim was not pleased when this would happen.”
“Grim” was the varsity hockey coach, Jim Wilson, who retired in 2008 after 49 years as a faculty member.
According to Bob and Ken, Grim was a big reason for that final win versus Avon Old Farms. On the day before the game, he arrived at practice with several cans of red paint.
“When he told us to paint ‘whatever you want’ on the rink boards, we got very excited,” Bob recalls. “Avon showed up to play us the next day for an evening game, and the boards were covered in graffiti. ... We each wrote our names and numbers, gave shout-outs to our parents, drew popular slogans of those times. We had an absolute blast and made the rink painting our last stop on the long history of playing there. The best coaching I’ve ever witnessed. We were destined to win the big game as soon as Grim purchased the paint buckets.”
Ken agrees that Grim’s idea was a brilliant motivational tool.
“Every varsity hockey player showed up Saturday morning to paint the boards with
messages of Pelican power and depictions of crushing the Winged Beavers. We filled every space on the boards and on the benches. It was the absolute best way to psych up a team,” Ken says. “I don't remember the score. I just remember that we won. No one wanted to leave the rink that night.”
The score may have escaped Ken’s recollection, but he remembers his goalie gear well.
“Equipment was very basic compared to nowadays,” he says. “Helmets simply covered the tops of players heads — no facemasks. All hockey sticks were just wood. My Riedel goalie skates protected my feet with a piece of leather surrounding my skate, which I needed to paint with a black hardening agent to make the leather stiff at least twice a week. My goalie mask was a Gerry Cheevers plastic mask that just covered my face. After taking a slapshot to my unprotected ear, I switched over to the ‘new’ Jacque Plante mask that weighed several pounds but now covered my whole head.”
During day games he also had to battle the sun.
“Night games were always preferred over day games,” Ken says. “During some sunny and/ or warmer day games the ice would be so slushy in the corners near the boards, along each of the painted lines, and in the crease areas that the puck would simply just stop in the slush. Icing the puck was often difficult. The rink had these sunshades to help with the sun during a game, but as a goalie it was sometimes terrifying when you really couldn’t see the play developing — or worse, the shot being taken — because of the glare of the sun.”
1929
1940s
That 1977 season included another game frozen in time.
“We played The Hill School on a Saturday night, and it was so cold out — wind chill at 60 below zero — that we made the nightly news. Incredible,” Bob says. “Grim described it as like being at the summit of Everest.”
That outdoor rink was fan-friendly.
“There was chain link fencing at the ends of the rink but nothing along either side,” Ken says. “Fans would jam along the open sides of the rink with broken hockey sticks and smack them against the face of the boards to make noise.”
The rink had been a step up from what Loomis had played on previously. When the outdoor rink opened in 1956, the school
Ice rinks through the years at Loomis Chaffee. 1929: A rink created in the Meadows for when ponds hadn’t frozen. Circa 1940s: The Hockey Pond, where a horse-drawn plow cleared the surface when the ice was thick enough. 1961: The outdoor rink at the southeast corner of campus. 1980s: The rink in its current location on Island Road but before it was enclosed. 2022: Today’s Savage/Johnson Rink. Below: The outdoor rink decorated for its final game in 1977.
“When
he told us to paint ‘whatever you want’ on the rink boards, we got very excited. Avon showed up to play us the next day for an evening game, and the boards were covered in graffiti. ...
—BOB HOWE ’80
newspaper, The Log, said it had an impressive “total freezing capacity of 150 tons and boasts the greatest-freezing-power of any other rink in this vicinity.”
The Pelicans no longer had to worry about warmer weather melting their dreams. No longer would the Hockey Pond, located on Batchelder Road, be the home ice for a program that first played hockey in 1917. No longer would fickle New England weather matter as much.
For instance, a 1931 photo shows a horse-drawn snowplow clearing the Hockey Pond once cold weather had produced enough solid ice to handle
the weight of the horse. While the average temperature in the winter generally is warmer than it was back then, you could never be
for the entire season.”
Jim Bulmer ’45 played on the Hockey Pond each of his four years, a wise decision, as he recalls.
sure weather would be on your side. The 1934 Loomiscellany noted, “For the first time in several years, the Hockey Pond froze over this winter and stayed frozen
W“The gym [Shimkus] was small,” Jim remembers. “Those who weren’t in the basketball world would be running around the [balcony in the gym]. I saw these guys on the Hockey Pond skating. I said, ‘Can I play hockey?’ They said, ‘Sure.’ I said to myself, ‘Playing hockey is more fun than running around in a circle,’ so I played hockey for four years.” Now there is the spacious Olcott Center and Erickson Gym, though Shimkus Gym still is used as the weight room.
Today the indoor ice hockey facility — the Savage/Johnson Rink — on Island Road is home to the boys and girls teams.
PUSHING THE PUCK FORWARD
1978–79: The first girls varsity hockey team
hen the Loomis Chaffee girls hockey team stepped onto the ice at Savage/Johnson Rink for the first time in the 1978–79 season, the players were pumped. The LC girls played as a club team the year before; this was the first year that girls hockey was a varsity sport.
“We were all so excited to be on the new rink and considered a varsity team,” said Elizabeth Richmond ’80, a member of that team who now is a Trustee. “We always had the two Queen songs playing when we warmed up — “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You.” I remember clearly we would sing … ‘We will, we will, knock you … off the ice,’ as we skated in and out of the other team warming up. By the end of the warmup, we were shouting it as loud as we could. I still sing those words when I hear the song.”
It did not matter that many girls had not been playing for long. Elizabeth remembers
“the sense of empowerment and strength” in the Queen songs. “We were in our own world, believing we were champions; it shaped the rest of my life.”
In effect they also were championing a cause: the time for girls varsity hockey had come.
Elizabeth will never get far into a conversation about the girls hockey team without mentioning one of the captains.
“I don’t think anybody can talk about the Loomis girls hockey program without giving great credit to one single person for making it happen, Sue D’Antonio, Class of 1979 [who died in 2008],” Elizabeth said. “She tirelessly pushed for three years for the team to be started. She never gave up, and she pushed and pushed and pushed every year.”
Her father, Ray D’Antonio ’53, had played hockey at Loomis. Ray, who died in 2022 and helped start the men’s hockey program
at Wesleyan University, was at a celebration of 100 years of boys hockey at Loomis Chaffee in 2017.
“I remember how incredibly proud he was of Sue’s efforts, and he also continued to push the administration to allow it to start,” Elizabeth said. “There’s absolutely no doubt that this team would not exist today if not for her tenacity.”
Loomis Chaffee actually was ahead of its time. The first public school girls high school hockey team in Connecticut was formed in 1987, according to the Connecticut High School Girls Hockey Association.
“My personal story with the team started in the winter of 1976 as an eighth grader, during my interview with Evelyn Smith [former faculty member and administrator]. As was her style back then, she shared with every girl candidate all the great things that Loomis could do for you and then at the very end of
Right: Players help faculty children learn to skate in this snapshot from 2009.
The work job assigned to Stephen Paul ’85 his final two years was driving the Zamboni at the rink. Who wouldn’t sign up for that?
“Work job” refers to the school-keeping tasks assigned to all students and faculty through Loomis Chaffee’s work program, which was started in the fall of 1970 by Chuck Vernon.
“I knew Bruno well from my years in Flagg [Hall], and I think because I was playing club hockey and was at the rink often, he offered me to drive the Zamboni as my work job,” Stephen recalls. “The machine was much less complicated back then, so after making sure I wouldn’t crash the Zamboni through the walls, he offered me the job. It was definitely a highlight of my work job experience and a much better job than my freshman-year dish room assignment.”
The first full varsity season for girls hockey was the 1978–79 school year. Both the boys and girls teams play in the Founders League,
widely regarded as one of the best high school hockey leagues in the country. Each team routinely has players go on to play hockey in college. Some have played professionally. Jacob Bryson ’16 is in his fifth season with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. Gretchen Ulion Silverman ’90 played for the U.S. women’s ice hockey team. At the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first time women’s hockey was played in the Olympics, Gretchen scored the first goal in the championship game as the U.S. team won the gold medal.
J.R. Zavisza, who has coached Loomis boys hockey since 2011, has led championship teams at several levels in the United States and internationally. Liz Lyden, with more than 200 wins since she started coaching the girls team in 2009, was on three Division III national championship teams as a player at Middlebury College.
the meeting she asked each student the same question, what can you do for Loomis, a pretty simple question, but for any 14-year-old, pretty darn scary.”
Elizabeth had grown up with four brothers and played touch football with them growing up. So her answer to Evie: “I’d like to start a girls football team. ... Evie said, ‘I don’t think you’ll find enough support to start a girls football team, but there’s a very good likelihood that you could start a girl’s hockey team.’”
Elizabeth ended up in a dorm next to Sue D’Antonio’s room. “I’ve always wondered if Evie did that on purpose. Because of Sue, the team became a club sport my sophomore year, and a full-fledged varsity team the next year. That team changed my life at Loomis, the sense of empowerment and purpose, and we all wanted to become better skaters every single time we hit the ice.”
The LC girls finished 4-3-1 that first varsity season.
COVID, of course, shut down high school sports in the state for a while and limited activity. But when it comes to a rink, Loomis Chaffee seemingly has always found a way. During COVID, the Physical Plant crew constructed an open-air rink at the north end of the Meadows for students to enjoy on weekends.
The old rink by the RAC, like the new rink on Island Road, like the Hockey Pond, like the Cow Pond, carries its shares of memories surrounding competition. But also of family and friends. The Savage/Johnson Rink is open to the Loomis Chaffee community for recreational skating, so a whole new generation of fac brats can be seen on the ice. The old outdoor rink had that warm feeling, too.
“Public skating on Sundays on a mid-winter afternoon,” recalls Bob. “Hot chocolate on the benches and lots of town friends coming onto campus.”
“I never had skated in my life, and I think that was true for a lot of other girls on the team. I remember my sophomore year, they had to go over the rules before we even got on the ice since none of us had ever played it,” Elizabeth said. “There was a handful of powerful skaters, of course, Sue, and all of the Watson girls (Monie ’77, Lauren ’79, Jill ’80) that had been skating since they were younger. They had played hockey as a pickup sport with their older brothers. But most of us had never played.”
All these years later, impressive statistics and titles have followed.
“It feels like it was something that was so natural to be doing,” Elizabeth said of playing, “and yet I realize now that we were breaking walls down and ceilings for the next group of girls to come through.”
Above: The 1978–79 girls varsity ice hockey team, its first season as an interscholastic sport at Loomis Chaffee.
Place and Time
THE CHAPEL
A Place of Beginnings and Endings
Perhaps nowhere else on campus does life come together quite like Founders Chapel. A place to celebrate, a place to mourn. A place to sing, a place to learn. A place to be in conversation with others, a place of thoughts kept to oneself.
Junior Sonia Barinskaya, speaking for herself yet representative of many who have passed through those chapel doors, says: “In the spring when it is sunny and we have A Cappelicans practice there, it is so beautiful seeing the sunset through the windows. It is a sacred space — and a place I can be that part of myself that loves music so much. ... We sing our songs, and I can’t stop myself from jamming or snapping to the beat, and I can’t stop myself from having a smile on my face.”
Fitting, since Webster’s Dictionary tells us that the term a cappella, “meaning ‘without instrumental accompaniment,’ entered English from Italian, where it literally means ‘in chapel style.’”
“There are so many memories of concerts and performances in the chapel, and that was our major rehearsal space,” said Susan Chrzanowski, the Performing Arts Department head and choral/vocal director. “That was our classroom until Hubbard [Music Center] opened in 2009.”
Sue remembers holiday concerts so big that platforms were placed on stage for risers to accommodate up to 90 students and faculty singing, and a few pews were removed to make room for the orchestra. Every window had a wreath with a battery-operated candle, but back in the day those candles were real. From a May concert (“windows open, bird singing, the sun coming in,” recalls Sue) to spring recitals, the chapel was home to student music.
Sue is on a roll, the memories flowing just like the music did. A May storm once caused the loss of power during a student performance, but a father of one of the kids “had a huge battery-powered lamp” for enough light so the show could go on.
“Last thing I’ll add,” she says, “is that to this day, when I go to Founders [Hall] for a meeting, I stop in for a minute, check the piano, listen for a few minutes if there are students practicing — and kind of let the faces and memories come to me. There’s a sense of calm for me. Perhaps it comes from the strong start I had to my tenure at LC — right there in that space. All those recitals and concerts and classes I had there. I love Hubbard. But the chapel remains special.”
There also have been many musical performances by visitors, free and open to the public, through the years.
There is something timeless about the chapel. You can just hear them singing and playing in your mind. Its architecture, with its huge windows and high ceiling, is never outdated, a nod to the past and fine artisanship. “They don’t make them ’em like that anymore” is not a saying that originates from the chapel, but it feels that way.
Opposite page: Founders Chapel in a quiet moment. Top: The Concert Choir and Orchestra pack into the front of the chapel for a holiday concert in 2006. Above: Music teacher James Rugen ’70 plays the piano for a rehearsal in the chapel.
Few have written so eloquently about the chapel than did former faculty member James Rugen ’70 in Cherished Hopes and Honorable Ambition: A Centennial History of The Loomis Chaffee School. He wrote of “the scores of students I have had the pleasure of accompanying in recitals; classmates who sang hymns with me many years ago; colleagues who have wept with me during memorial services.”
He wrote of Memorial Day services that ended with the reading of all the names of graduates who had died in wars. One of those was Pierre Piche ’92, a U.S. Army first lieutenant who died in a Blackhawk helicopter collision in 2003. “I had taught Pierre,” Jim, an English and music teacher, wrote. “A gentle young man from Vermont, he had performed on the piano in many concerts in that room where we were later to honor his memory. For me, Pierre is ever linked with the chapel.”
So, too, is Jack King, the only Loomis Chaffee student or faculty member to die in World War I. The dedication of the Jack King Memorial took place in the chapel in 1919. Jack, a Red Cross ambulance driver, was killed in September 1918 in northern Italy. The memorial, carved in New York, hangs in Founders Hall, which in 1919 was the library.
This year, in which the all-school theme is the “power of storytelling,” first-year Head of School Jody Reilly Soja instituted Chapel Talks. The chapel has long been a place of storytelling, be it students, faculty, staff, or outside guests. So in December 2024 when faculty member Courtney Jackson shared in a Chapel Talk the story of her aunt who would not let physical disabilities deter her, Courtney followed a long line of people who have given of themselves by telling a personal story that leaves a message.
Part of that message: “So whether you celebrate Christmas or not,” Courtney told those gathered, “I invite you to embrace Aunt Adelaide’s approach to gift-giving — to really think about the gifts you
class meeting.
Above: The Elqui Trio perform as guest musicians. Inset: Faculty member Courtney Jackson. Left: A chapel meeting in 1950.
have, to share them with others, and to notice the gifts in them, too.”
The chapel has been a gift to many — and many have shared their gifts there.
“When I step into the chapel, I feel as though I’ve walked into a place of ‘milestones,’” the Rev. Ryan Heckman, the school’s religious life coordinator, says. “It’s a place of beginnings and endings. ... The chapel is a stop on the admissions tour, meaning nearly every student who attends Loomis Chaffee enters this ‘milestone space’ as they begin their educational career here. The chapel has also hosted numerous weddings celebrating the beginning of new relationships between
Top left: Visiting Tibetan monks created a sand mandala in the chapel in 2017. Top right: Students exit a
loving couples and their families. The chapel, even more poignantly, marks ending milestones. This is, I think, the weight I appropriately feel when entering the chapel.”
“The seniors have class meetings in this space and so it marks one of the last spaces at Loomis that they occupy together as students before Commencement,” Ryan continues. “It’s also the place where families, friends, and colleagues have gathered to say goodbye to loved ones
at funerals, memorial services, and prayer vigils. It’s a beautiful, bright space where grief, prayer, and story can merge to help us find closure after the death of a loved one. The chapel holds all of this for us as a community.”
One such memorial service was for the first headmaster of the school, Nathaniel Horton Batchelder, in 1956. Then-Headmaster Francis O. Grubbs gave the eulogy, in which he said Mr. B, as he was known, was the “architect
and builder” of the school, from the outward beauty of the campus to the inner beauty of the students.
Mr. B also announced his retirement in that very space. On the morning of February 26, 1949, he told the Loomis boys and faculty at a special assembly in the chapel that he would be retiring in June 1949. The next Loomis Bulletin reported: “Mr. B stopped talking, nodded as if to indicate the audience was dismissed, and turned to Mrs. B. Suddenly the school rose as if rehearsed for this moment, and burst into an applause that might have never ended if Mr. and Mrs. B had not walked
The chapel is a stop on the admissions tour, meaning nearly every student who attends Loomis Chaffee enters this ‘milestone space’ as they begin their educational career here. RYAN HECKMAN
Top: Religious Life Coordinator Ryan Heckman. Above: Afternoon light spills out through the chapel doors into the Founders hallway.
down the aisle, smiling as usual, and out of the chapel. The applause continued till they were out of the buildings and well on their way to the dining hall.”
Our collective grief — illustrated by personal stories of unfathomable loss — was assuaged, at least a bit, in 2018 during a commemoration of and conversation in the chapel about the attacks on the United States that took place on September 11, 2001. Mimi Donegan, then a psychology teacher and dorm head of Cutler Hall; and Fred Kuo, then senior associate director of the Annual Fund and a dorm affiliate in Howe Hall, lost family members in the World Trade Center towers in New York City during the attacks. They found the strength to get up and talk at a Norton Family Center for the Common Good event. Mimi lost her brother, Billy Kelly, who was 30 years old and in the World Trade Center for a professional conference that day. Fred lost his father, Fred J. Kuo Jr., who was working on the 91st floor of the South Tower. In an article about the event, both Mimi and Fred said they told their stories to help the younger generation understand the impact of the September 11 attacks on the individuals involved, their families, and their communities. “The tears still come,” Mimi acknowledged, “but that’s OK.”
There have been weddings in the chapel, including those of many graduates who met at Loomis. The baptism of Mr. B’s son, Nathaniel Jr., known as Skip, took place in the chapel on the morning of graduation in 1917. Mr. B’s first wife, Gwendolen, had died unexpectedly a few months earlier, two weeks after giving birth to Skip.
Daily services in the chapel, once mandatory for all, became voluntary in 1964. The Loomis Bulletin noted that “some regard this change as a retreat, or at least a backward step, but there are many others who feel this step strengthens the hand of religion in the school. The philosophy is that compulsory worship is not worship at all. Meanwhile the school continues, of course, to be interdenominational; it aims to teach a way of life rather than a creed.”
The chapel has long represented a place on campus where one can just slip in for a quiet moment. Or, as happens from time to time, a student loses themself among the piano keys. The Steinway baby grand was donated in 2017 as part of a bequest from former Trustee Henry Ridgely Horsey ’43 given in
Loomis Chaffee Magazine
Clockwise from top left: A view through the chapel’s Palladian window. A floral arrangement awaits the start of the annual Remembrance of Alumni during Reunion Weekend. The chapel was one of the performance venues for Take Five, a Class of 2018 a cappella group with Noah Yoon, Josh Ryu, Cameron Purdy, Logan Katz, and Alexa Kim. Junior Maleah Cogle and other Commencement volunteers attend a meeting before the 2024 ceremony. Below: Gunnar Simons ’18 reunites with his brother, who returned from a tour of duty in the Middle East and surprised him at a senior class meeting in the chapel.
honor of Henry’s advisor, William C. Card, who taught music at Loomis from 1919 until 1947. Mr. Card played many times in the chapel on the piano and organ, which was built by the Austin Organ Company of Hartford in 1916 and sits in the balcony. His final performance was just days before his death on March 28, 1947.
It also is a place where the forces of time converge to make us think. The 1960s were such a time. The civil rights movement. The Vietnam War. Anti-war protests. Countercultural movements. The Rev. William Sloane Coffin visited in 1969. He was the chaplain at Yale and a longtime peace activist. “Addressing a capacity crowd of Loomis and Chaffee students,” noted the July 1969 Loomis Bulletin, “the Rev. Coffin touched on many topics, including the ‘generation gap,’ religion in contemporary society, the war ... .”
A few years earlier, in a January 1966 assembly in the chapel, a senior’s comments about the Vietnam War left a strong impression on faculty member Joseph S. Stookins. “In the course of his remarks he expressed his surprise and concern that this subject was so rarely, if ever, touched upon in these assemblies,” Mr. Stookins noted in an article later published in the Bulletin.
In February 1966, a month after that assembly, Mr. Stookins was prepared to address the war issue but decided against it because he was not sure how much he could add to “an over-confused picture whose lines remain constantly blurred, where black and white never quite emerge from ever-shifting combinations of grays, and where right and wrong are never wholly definable, or identifiable, in the disheartening accumulations of human misery and death, and in the outcries of indignation and condemnation hurled at us from so many parts of the world.”
boy in the Class of 1961, Thomas Temple [who died October 19, 1966]. If I convey no other clear notion in these remarks than my sense of personal loss and deep grief,
At the end of the talk, there was a call to action as Mr. Stookins wondered aloud what could be done “to bring back under the control of the human mind, the human heart, and the human will forces which escape all three of these at present, and which are dehumanizing us in the process. ... We must hope that the kind of leadership this will require will be forthcoming, and soon, so that we may not just go on being saddened by the shattering of young life in a conflict no one seems to be able to understand or control.”
But later that year, in a chapel assembly at Loomis, Mr. Stookins felt the time was right to deliver a speech he had prepared nine months earlier, “not because I have anything more to say than I did in February, but because of my intense sorrow of the past week and a half since word came to us of the death in action in Vietnam of a Loomis
you will at least understand that my reluctance to talk on what we are doing in Vietnam, and that of many of my colleagues, I am sure, has not been due to callousness or indifference about the state of affairs there, or about the uncertainties which await you when you step out of the protective environments of school and college.”
The U.S. involvement in Vietnam did not end until 1975, nearly 10 years after Mr. Stookins spoke. And, of course, wars rage on across the world. And, of course, the chapel remains a place of reflection in moments like these. In the fall of 2024, a year after the violent conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted, the chapel was open for meditative time with gentle music provided by student musicians. In 2017, a year in which the school theme was “Mind Over Matter,” seven Tibetan monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery created a sand mandala. A Tibetan Buddhist tradition that dates back 2,500 years, sand mandala painting is said to effect “purification and healing.”
The chapel, notes Reverend Ryan, is “a room imbued with over 100 years of milestones, and we are blessed to have a space that can help us hold the weight of all these beginnings and endings here at Loomis Chaffee.”
Top: Music teacher William C. Card, who taught at Loomis from 1919 to 1947, plays the organ in the chapel balcony. Bottom: Students and faculty work on a peace tapestry in the chapel, which was opened for quiet reflection on October 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of the start of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Place and Time
SALUTING FLAGG
The Answer to “Where Did You Meet?”
Imagine being a young teacher and having waterfront property at such an early stage of your career. The second-floor apartment in Flagg Hall may never get listed by Sotheby’s, but over the years it has had its perks.
“The balcony was beautiful,” Science Department head Neil Chaudhary ’05 says of his time living there as a young science teacher. “It looked out over the Meadows ... very beautiful. And in the spring when the Meadows flooded, it became waterfront property.”
Beyond the water in the Meadows lies the Connecticut River and trails to take a hike, walk a dog. Very scenic. Very peaceful. Yet the water inside Flagg 2 apparently holds its own power. As faculty members Michaela Chipman and Aidan Winn say with a laugh, “There must be something in that water.”
The Flagg apartment is a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen that opens into a living room. The dorm door at the end of the living room reminds one that all the students are just beyond those walls. Small, yes; cozy, too. And maybe magical.
More than a few faculty couples met while one was living in Flagg 2.
Neil Chaudhary and Kate Saxton
Neil and Kate, an English teacher and now associate director of studies and registrar, met socially through other teachers. One summer day in 2012 Kate recalls they went to the beach with others and reconvened that night on the balcony of Flagg 2. “At one point,” Neil remembers, “I got my telescope, and we went up to the third floor [balcony], and I showed you Jupiter.”
Neil once said that when he was in first grade he drew a picture of himself that included looking through a telescope. There has always been something magical about a night sky and space to Neil — “an example of the beauty and wonder of life” — and that leads to this next story.
“We have a great engagement story that I will let Neil tell,” Kate says.
They went camping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 2016. “It turns out there also was going to be a meteor shower at the same time we’re there,” Neil says. “Awesome. It’s remote, the skies are really dark, so you can see a lot.”
The first night they were there, they set up some chairs. “We’re watching,” says Neil, “and I learned that Kate had never seen a shooting star. I said, ‘What? Never? Well, what you have to do when you see a shooting star is you have to close your eyes and make a wish. So, we’re sitting there, and there goes the first one ... and so close your eyes and make a wish and when she opens them, there I am on one knee with the ring. Pretty good, huh?”
“I do feel there is something about the bonding experience of living in one of the smallest, most junior apartments on campus, and that feeling of being young faculty at a boarding school, which I strongly associate with that apartment, and I think was really important in the tone of our relationship when it started.”
He kids around, saying she probably was wishing for a new car or something. She kids around that he must have been pretty confident.
So what was Kate wishing for? She says she knew the ring was coming soon, “but I didn’t think he had it at that point. So in that moment I was probably thinking this would be a good time to get proposed to if he had it together — and he did!”
“Yeah, I feel proud about it,” Neil says, “A lot of things kind of fell into place, but I’ll take credit for it all.”
They were married in 2017, but memories remain of Flagg 2, one of the smaller apartments on campus that turned even smaller when a room was converted into
another dorm room for a student.
“We still have those green plates,” Kate says.
“Uh huh,” says Neil, “those plates given to me when [former LC teacher] Ben Norland moved out of Flagg 3.”
“You had patio furniture for furniture,” says Kate.
“Yes, I did,” says Neil. “What are you going to do?”
“You had a dishwasher,” says Kate, “and that was a big deal then in a non-dorm head apartment. ... And window air-conditioners.”
See, we told you there were perks in Flagg 2.
But the list runs out quickly.
“I do feel there is something about the bonding experience of living in — however you want to phrase it — one of the smallest, most junior apartments on campus, and that feeling of being young faculty at a boarding school, which I strongly associate with that apartment, and I think was really important in the tone of our relationship when it started.”
In it together.
Opposite page: Neil Chaudhary ’05, Kate Saxton, Michaela Chipman, and Aidan Winn enjoy the view from the Flagg 2 balcony.
Above: Kate and Neil
Nick and Katie Barker
Nick was living in Flagg in 2004, his first year here, when Katie was living in Ammidon Hall. In that sense, they were next-door neighbors. “We would sometimes open the door between the dorms at night and play late-night ping-pong in the Flagg social room,” Nick says. “I would walk my dog toward Ammidon every morning in the early days on campus and she often ‘happened’ to be outside.” And, of course, he just ‘happened’ to always head in that direction.
Nick was hired as an English teacher, was dorm head in Flagg and coached boys soccer and wrestling. Katie was a science teacher who coached girls soccer and girls golf.
“We met right when I arrived and it was all based around moving into Flagg,” Nick says. “We hit it off pretty much right away.”
As Nick says, they just ‘happened’ to be on the back porches of Flagg and Ammidon many times “to have an excuse to bump into each other.” Nick would meet many of the faculty members Katie had become friends with during her first year here, and Katie would go to events for new faculty. “I think we probably thought we were being a little secretive, but it was pretty obvious to everyone we were getting along well,” Nick says.
Right: Katie and Nick arrive at their wedding reception on Grubbs Quadrangle.
Katie left after her second year at Loomis to go to medical school. “She didn’t want to go to med school right away, but knew she would eventually get there,” Nick says. “She liked teaching a lot ... still does.” Katie is an OB/GYN (obstetrics and gynecology). Even after leaving Loomis she would help in various capacities.
They married in 2009. He was living in Warham Hall when they married. “That’s another good Loomis story as well,” Nick says.
The ceremony was at First Church in Windsor and the reception was at Loomis under the tent that had been set up for graduation, which was on a Friday back then, and was still up on Grubbs Quad. “It was well-known to faculty that you had this giant tent still set up with nothing scheduled on the weekend. The year before, Katie and I said this would be a pretty good spot to have our wedding. It was fun to do it with my door to Warham right there and being out on the quad. Every time graduation and reunion tents go up, that kind of recreates what we had on our wedding day.”
When Nick thinks of Flagg 20 years later, one of the first things that comes to mind is that back porch that overlooked the Meadows and the ability to walk the dog in the Meadows with Katie. “I just loved going out the back and enjoy the beauty of the campus right from [the Meadows], especially in the morning.”
Flagg and Ammidon are never far from their mind. “It’s just a big part of what we talk about when people ask us how we got to know one another,” Nick says.
Andrew and Marley Matlack
Andrew, now the dean of faculty, started at Loomis Chaffee in the 2003–04 school year. He lived in Batchelder Hall his first five years, then moved to Flagg 2 in 2009. “I loved it,” he says, “sophomore boys, great vibes. Pretty early on in my time at Flagg, I met Marley. We have Liz Stewart to thank for that.”
Liz is the senior associate director of admission. Back then Marley was working at Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford. Marley was the head coach of girls lacrosse at Kingswood, and Liz was the head coach of girls lacrosse at Loomis Chaffee.
“Liz felt Marley should meet me,” Andrew says. A blind date was set up. They went to the Spigot Cafe on the Hartford/West Hartford line. “We hit it off pretty quickly,” Andrew says.
The beauty of Flagg, says Andrew, rests “in the community.” He rattles off a bunch of names from the time he was there, one of them being Liz Leyden. She was the dorm head at one point. They now work together as she is the associate dean of faculty.
Andrew lived in Flagg 2 for three years, “the whole extent of our courtship — and the backdrop is me in a place with 35 15-year-old boys. So it took a lot of patience on Marley’s part to put up with that. We might be having dinner and I’d have to say, can I come back in an hour because I need to connect with my advisees or I’d invite some boys into the dorm for extra help and she’d have to be patient and maybe go into another room. And mind you, it’s a three-room apartment.”
Andrew and Marley married in the summer of 2012, and Marley started at Loomis Chaffee in 2013 an assistant director of the Alvord Center for Environmental & Global Studies as that center was just beginning. Now she is the director of the center.
Penwood State Park in Bloomfield, not far from campus, is a special place for them. Their second date was a hike there, that’s where they were engaged, and that’s where they celebrated finding out they would become parents.
Yet it all circles back to Flagg. “There just something about when people are in that apartment ... the time of life that they are in ... and it's one of the most beautiful views on campus out the back,” Andrew says. “We had a lot of really nice dinners sitting out on that porch with other people. And I will say, you don’t need a lot to be happy — a job you love and the ability to connect with your future partner.”
When Nick thinks of Flagg 20 years later, one of the first things that comes to mind is that back porch that overlooked the Meadows and the ability to walk the dog in the Meadows with Katie. “I just loved going out the back and enjoy the beauty of the campus right from [the Meadows], especially in the morning.”
—NICK BARKER
Michaela Chipman and Aidan Winn
Michaela moved into Flagg 2 in 2021 as the dorm head, her third year here. Aidan was in his first year. They met in a gathering of current and former Penn Fellows. The University of Pennsylvania program allows aspiring and early career teachers to receive a master’s degree in education while completing an intensive teaching fellowship at a host partner school. They would continue to have dinner together in the dining hall at times and what they categorize as a first date was a group outing to a Yard Goats game in Hartford with other faculty members. “We rode in a toaster,” Aidan says, “driven by [teacher] Liz Bucceri [’07].” A so-called toaster is a small bus used for various outings.
What is it — besides the water — that has led to these relationships?
“Part of it is the size of the apartment, and the time of your life. Often is a single faculty member moving in,” Michaela says. “There is something exciting and interesting being in a phase when you’re living in a dorm or, in my case, running a dorm. You’re all in
with the kids. It’s demanding in a way if you aren’t around people who really get it — in a way that your colleagues would or in this case several of our colleagues and the people they ended up with did — it can be really lonely. I think it's little bit of fairy dust, but also timing and space and a calling — we all share that vocational pull — and that is a powerful force that brings people together.”
And is keeping Michaela and Aidan together. Michaela will be leaving to start a new job as the dean of wellbeing at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. She starts on July 1. Aidan will join her there; he will be a science teacher, coach, and have some form of dorm faculty responsibilities.
“What I like to say about Loomis Chaffee is that I was here four years, and I grew up here,” Aidan says. “I thank those who took chances on me, who mentored me, and I also thank Michaela. I’m grateful for Loomis not only because I grew up here but also met the love of my life here.”
The decision to leave for Michaela was not easy, she says. “Loomis has come to feel
like home. The community here, and the way I was nurtured both professionally and personally, it leaves me forever indebted to this place,” Michaela says. “I have so much affection for Loomis, so much respect for my colleagues. It is the people I will miss the most.”
There may not be all that much to miss about Flagg 2, at least in its physical space. But the memories made there — and on that balcony that overlooks the Meadows — aren’t likely to fade. “I was very fond of the balcony, and we spent a lot of time there,” Michaela says.
There was no table, but there was a counter at which meals were shared. “I would drag my stool around the other side. I said, we’re not going to sit side by side like we’re in a diner,” Michaela says. “I remember spending a lot of time on the other side of that counter.”
Aidan was always impressed with how Michaela decorated and furnished the apartment. “You need to put a lot of time and effort into making it cozy, and she did,” he says.
Below: Aidan and Michaela
“There may not be all that much to miss about Flagg 2, at least in its physical space. But the memories made there — and on that balcony that overlooks the Meadows — aren’t likely to fade.”
MICHAELA CHIPMAN
PHOTO OF THE DAY
A few years ago, The Daily Bulletin, a digest of announcements and practical information emailed to the Loomis Chaffee community on the eve of every class day, began publishing a “Photo of the Day” from campus at the top of each edition. The bulletin, produced by the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing, invited submissions for the photo feature, and the response was immediate and sustained. For Island denizens, having one’s photograph chosen for “Photo of the Day” has become a source of personal pride — and even glee.
This winter yielded a particularly stunning collection of student submissions for “Photo of the Day,” and we share some of them here.
Previous page: Hockey Pond, junior Alexa Gonzalez
This Page: 1. Causeway from above, junior Wyeth Andrews 2. Ratté Quad at dusk, freshman Walt Li 3. Cow Pond practice, sophomore Shane Fraser 4. Moonrise over the Meadows, freshman Tonnam Jongcharoensiri 5. Southward geese, junior Sophie Posamentier 6. Closeup of holly, freshman Zieozi Olen 7. HOPE, the Howe Pelican, sophomore Millen Berglind 8. Tree in winter, freshman Katy Su 9. Brush Library from the Cow Pond, senior Artem Gagushin 10. Frosted Founders Hall, Sophie Posamentier
PHOTO
ALUMNI WRITERS Recent Books by
Each spring we share a list of alumni-authored books that have been published or brought to our attention in the previous year. This year, to find out more about the books and their authors, we asked each writer to answer two questions, and all of them kindly obliged.
RICK CAREY ’69
Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire (new edition)
IMPRESSION: What is the most prevalent impression or feeling that readers will be left with after they have finished your book?
Capitalism, for all its virtues, is not good at the practice of sustainability with the natural resources that feed it. A sturgeon is a remarkable fish that people know too little about. But we all know its eggs are crucial to a prized and expensive delicacy. These eggs must be taken before the female has ovulated, however, which in practice means that the female must be killed. This also means that the profit motive driving those who catch sturgeon, and those who produce and sell caviar, operates at dramatic cross-purposes to those who wish to study the fish, to sustain it as a species, to defend this planet’s biodiversity.
The Philosopher Fish is an adventure story. We go behind the lines, getting to know the merchants, fishermen, poachers, and smugglers trying to get rich in the business
of caviar, and also the scientists, conservationists, and law-enforcement personnel out to save the fish. It tends towards black-andwhite, but there are shades of grey.
It’s also a modern fairy tale, a new retelling of “The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg.” I hope readers come away knowing what’s at stake as we measure the earth against our desires.
INSPIRATION: What was the inspiration for your choice of subject matter?
I was drawn to this subject after I finished Against the Tide, my story about Cape
Codders trying to reconcile profit versus sustainability in the commercial fishing industry. Another way to express that conflict — from a consumer’s perspective — is in terms of desire versus discipline, and the caviar industry struck me as a fiendish example of that binary.
If you fish cod down low enough, prices go up enough for consumers to look elsewhere. Demand falls, fishing pressure relaxes, stocks rebuild. With caviar, however, consumers don’t look elsewhere. This product is a perfect instance of a Veblen good, a commodity where scarcity and expense only increase demand.
Caviar is wonderful, but it’s a luxury beloved of oligarchs eager to flaunt their wealth. Such wealth keeps the wheels turning and sustains the slaughter. Some of the most interesting people I met, however, were the legitimate merchants who are as ardent as any conservationist for the survival of the sturgeon.
They suffer this conundrum internally, dreaming of a world safe for both caviar and the female sturgeon. My book describes our struggle towards such a world. If we can’t get there from here, it’s a bad sign for cod as well — and for us all.
Central America in the Crosshairs of War: On the Road from Vietnam to Iraq
IMPRESSION: I hope my readers will reflect on the astonishing disparity between official pronouncements and what reality looks like and feels like on the ground. From the early days of my career, I learned that the most accurate information comes from going into the field where events are unfolding and listening to the people caught up in the drama. In my book, I seek to bring all my abilities as a storyteller and visual journalist to bear in recreating moments of beauty, tension, and lasting significance. I think readers will put this book down and say to themselves, “Wow, I never thought of that before.”
INSPIRATION: I decided to go to El Salvador straight out of journalism school in the early 1980s. It was a risky choice, going as a freelancer into a country in the midst of a bloody civil war. I remained in Central America for seven years, eventually moving my base to Nicaragua and, later, Guatemala. I developed a rich trove of stories and images from the frontlines of all three conflicts that I wanted to share, first of all, because they’re great stories, but also because of their contemporary relevance to issues ranging from the immigration crisis to the importance of on-the-ground journalism as a counterweight to propaganda, disinformation, and deception.
The Vietnam War: A Military History
IMPRESSION: Clarity and surprise. The origins and conduct of the Vietnam War across five presidential administrations — Ike, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and Ford — are so muddy and disputed that a book was needed to explain the war in all dimensions — military, political, economic, and cultural. The book assembles the disconnected operations of the war into a coherent narrative and puts the reader in the shoes of the troops. It shifts back and forth between Vietnam and Washington, revealing what a “political” war Vietnam was.
INSPIRATION: I grew up with the Vietnam War as background noise. It was on television and in the newspapers when I was a child, and very much on the mind of my older brothers and their peers. As a historian I wanted to understand how and why the war was conceived and waged for 10 fruitless years. I wanted to answer the question: “How did we win every battle and lose the war?”
Tears in Rain (poetry collection)
IMPRESSION: This collection invites readers to embrace often unnoticed moments of beauty, sorrow, and being. Poems and photographs work together as glimpses into passing instants — fragile, self-contained worlds that exist only for a breath before dissolving into memory.
INSPIRATION: The inspiration behind these poems comes from the fleeting nature of existence and the search for significance in impermanence. Existentialism and absurdism shape the writing, reflecting on what it means to exist when nothing lasts.
continued on the next page
SCOTT WALLACE ’72
GEOFFREY WAWRO ’78
DAX HASSELL ’90
Into the Tree: Journeying into the Spirit World
IMPRESSION: Readers will gain profound insight into the transformative power of shamanic journeying — a guided meditation practice that unlocks hidden realms of wisdom, healing, and self-discovery. This immersive experience offers a gateway to deep transformation, clarity, and answers to life’s most profound questions.
INSPIRATION: Becoming a published author has always been a dream of mine, and I knew I had a powerful message to share. With over a decade of experience in shamanic healing, I felt called to bring this transformative practice to a wider audience. I realized that while many books discuss shamanic journeying, few truly capture the essence of the experience — what it feels like, the wisdom it reveals, and the profound transformations it ignites. Inspired by this gap, I set out to create a book that brings the magic of journeying to life, guiding readers into unseen realms of healing and self-discovery.
Warm and Fuzzy and Kittybunkport
IMPRESSION: I would love for my readers — both young and old — to have felt like they had fun, laughed a little, or maybe even a lot, and can’t wait to read both books all over again.
INSPIRATION: For Warm and Fuzzy, I was inspired by my love of imagination and my many real and imagined fears about going on adventures of any kind. For Kittybunkport, it’s easy. While we were on a summer vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine, my youngest son, Maxwell, said it would be funny if the town was actually called Kittybunkport and was run entirely by cats. The book basically just wrote itself after that.
CHRIS VOLA ’03
The
Cocktail
Atlas: Around the World in 200+ Drinks
that readers come away with that same sense of appreciation for humanity’s constantly shifting liquid landscape, that they’ll discover new spirits and ingredients that they otherwise wouldn’t have, and, most importantly, that everyone from cocktail newbies to seasoned bartenders will be able to whip up some new favorite drinks at home, regardless of any previous experience.
The editors ask alumni to send updates and corrections to magazine@loomis.org for inclusion in this annual list.
IMPRESSION: Any book claiming to thoroughly investigate spirits culture, especially one describing itself as a global drinks atlas, needs to have a deep respect for the far-flung nations it describes and the local flavors that define them. When choosing cocktail recipes for the 195 countries featured in The Cocktail Atlas, I’ve taken great care to ensure that these drinks accurately reflect both the history and modern-day essence of each specific locale. I’m hoping
INSPIRATION: As a child, I was always a huge geography nerd, spending hours at home or in the library scouring giant books of maps … and dreaming of being able to take in all of it firsthand. In the past decade or so, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to some fascinating spots, from the High Arctic to the Nepalese jungle, further adding to my appreciation for far-off places and, as a longtime spirits writer and bartender, their diverse drinking cultures. It was a no-brainer for me to combine these two passions in book form. While doing research, I noticed that, while there were cocktail books with international elements, none were comprehensive enough to include drinks from every country. Finding or crafting more than 200 cocktails inspired by local ingredients was a challenge, one that took me out of my comfort zone but also greatly expanded my repertoire, allowing me to showcase underappreciated spirits while paying proper homage to all-time classics. And I hope that love comes through both in the writing and in the gorgeous maps and illustrations found throughout the book.
SCOTT ROTHMAN ’92
TINA KINNEY CLARKE ’91
History teacher Alexander Peña Bethencourt joined the Loomis Chaffee faculty in 2022, and within two years he was chosen for the Austin Wicke Prize, a prestigious award given to an early-career teacher at Loomis each spring. The recognition came as no surprise to his colleagues and students, who
Posters of Roman frescoes (far left and far right), a “kitschy ‘papyrus’” from a trip to Egypt, and an African mask given to Alex by an advisee
Faculty Desk
ALEXANDER PEÑA BETHENCOURT
every day witness Alex’s dedication to the craft of teaching, his focus on his students’ growth, and his concern for others. In his office on the third floor of Brush Library, items on and around Alex’s desk reflect his scholarship in medieval history as well as an eclectic variety of interests.
A few years ago, Alex took up the hobby of creating dioramas and miniature buildings from scratch. This one is a haunted library made entirely from insulation foam and coffee stirring sticks.
The Austin Wicke Prize, presented to Alex in 2024
A late 15th-century or early 16th-century manuscript leaf from a medieval Book of Hours. It was handwritten on parchment and is “one of my coolest possessions,” Alex says. It calls to mind the research he did for his doctorate in medieval history.
“I have a deep appreciation for silly small animals,” Alex explains, so he kept this doodle from a student.
Meaningful mugs: a gift from a student (left) and a treasure from a white elephant exchange (right)
A textbook that Alex and the other World History teachers sometimes use to supplement the curriculum.
OBJECT LESSON
Charmed
By Karen Parsons
Loomis Chaffee History Teacher, School Archivist & Curator
In the spring of 1924, faculty member René Chéruy sketched designs for the Loomis French Club pin. Having worked as secretary to well-known sculptor Auguste Rodin, he was no stranger to the process of transforming drawings into three-dimensional objects. But it was collaboration with two professional artists — his wife, Paris-trained costume designer Germaine Rouget Chéruy, and acclaimed sculptor Evelyn Longman, wife of Loomis Headmaster Nathaniel Batchelder — that would bring what The Log described as an “off-hand” sketch to its final iteration as a dime-sized gold pin used as the club’s insignia and worn by students in the club.
Loomis boys selected one of René’s drawings, and Germaine modeled it as a large-size plaster maquette. This design was reduced to threequarters of an inch wide before pins were produced. Evelyn Longman advised on the project, already having gained experience in her own career for creating commissioned medallions, including overseeing the reworking of full-size models into elegant miniatures and preparation for casting. In April 1925, The Log announced the arrival of the club’s pins with a detailed description: “Its subject is the gallic Rooster, the emblem of France, which with wings extended is represented uttering his cry of liberty. A band bearing the inscription, ‘Cercle Français,’ is placed across the breast of the rooster, while an escutcheon inscribed, ‘Loomis,’ is under his claws.” The original model was cast in bronze, painted green, and possibly hung in the club room.
A few years earlier, Evelyn Longman worked with students on another project. Mr. Batchelder wrote to the Medallic Art Company in 1921 that she had “helped the boys with the design for a little charm to be worn on the watch chain. There is a plaster model in triangular form, nine inches on a side; it is desired to reduce this to one inch on a side. The design is simple, a pelican, letter L and date only, in a flat relief.” Mr. B emphasized that “it is desired to produce these as economically as can be done.” While charms bearing this design remain elusive, then-senior David Grainger published his drawing of the object in the June 9, 1928, issue of The Log.
A number of club pins and charms reside in the school’s Archives. Their details are all the more remarkable given the objects’ diminutive size. The largest charm of the group is 1 1/2 inches tall.
1920s
French Club Pin
Designed by René Chéruy, modeled by Germaine Chéruy, and produced in consultation with Evelyn Longman, the French Club’s insignia pins arrived on campus in April 1925. Club members wore the gold pins on their lapels.
1910s
Loomis Musical Clubs Charm
During the early years of the school, one charm design was used by all musical groups. It featured depictions of vocal and instrumental music-making in an idyllic landscape. James Wise received this sterling silver charm in 1918; engraving on the back identifies his membership in the Orchestra. The incised maker’s mark of N.G. Wood and Sons of Boston also appears on the back. Wood and Sons advertised in the 1918 Loomiscellany, identifying its silversmithing firm as “Makers of Prizes for Loomis.”
1940s–50s
Chaffee Greyhound Pin
When The Chaffee School for girls opened in 1927 as part of The Loomis Institute, it adopted Loomis’ mascot, the pelican. Shortly after, students conducting research discovered two Loomis family coats of arms. One bore a pelican, the other a greyhound. The greyhound became Chaffee’s official mascot in 1929. Two years later, the student-run Chaffee Athletic Association divided the school into two teams for competition: the Pelicans and the Greyhounds. This tradition continued for decades. Evelyn Smith ’50, owned this pin signifying her membership on the Greyhound team during her four years as a Chaffee student.
1920s
Darwin
Club Charm
Neither a pelican nor a swan, a moose head curiously decorates this Darwin Club charm owned by Robert Watrous Russell, Class of 1925. The club’s focus on natural history, the outdoors, photography, and other activities made it extremely popular with most of the student body during Loomis’ early years. In 1923, the Darwin Club moved to a room in the newly constructed Warham Hall designed to accommodate many of the club’s interests. Sandy Russell ’50, donated his father’s charm.
1940s
Glee Club Charm
This Loomis Glee Club charm, owned by Glover Howe ’48, features the image of Apollo, depicted as the god of music, wearing a laurel wreath and accompanied by a lyre. The strong visual connection to allegorical figures sculpted by Evelyn Longman throughout her decadeslong art career affirms Glover’s handwritten note that she had designed the object, as do Evelyn’s initials incised into the back of the charm. This charm is just over half an inch tall.
1930s
Chaffee Student Council Pin
Although The Chaffee School’s mascot was a greyhound, the pelican appeared on the Chaffee Student Council’s bar-style pins, perhaps as a measure of economy or an expression of its association within The Loomis Institute. The first Chaffee Student Council members were elected by their peers in 1927, the school’s opening year, and less than a decade after women had received the right to vote in America. Anne King ’39 owned this pin, and her daughter, Ellen Kennedy ’72, donated it to the Archives.
1940s
Loomis Student Council Pin
The 1916–17 Loomis Student Council recorded its discussion about a design for a lapel pin. The pin would be “a round dish of gold with part of the school seal (the swan plucking its breast) and the letters LSC raised upon it.” Council guidelines advised that “the pin would be worn only during the term of office of the wearer.” The lapel pins, just half an inch in diameter, arrived in time for members to wear them to their final meeting in June 1917, and the design — is it a pelican or a swan? — was used for at least three decades. Glover Howe ’48, who served as Student Council president, owned this pin.
1920s
Loomis Agricultural Society Charm
Engraving on the back of this 10-karat gold charm identifies Walter J. Williams, Class of 1928 and president of the Agricultural Society, as its original owner. The front design includes generalized symbols of agriculture, including field crops and forestry. Walter also might have enjoyed an added figure of something more specific to his own experiences, perhaps the horse-drawn two-wheeled open carriage that he drove from his home in White Plains, New York, to campus at the start of his freshman year.
NEWS FROM THE ALUMNI / DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
Loomis Chaffee Magazine Winter 2025
ALUMNI GATHERINGS
New York City Reception
JANUARY 23
1: Justin Grillo ’17, Austin Strazzulla ’17, Claire Fanning ’17, Grace Dubay ’17, Liam Lynch ’17, Emma Trenchard ’17, and Michael Greenberg ’17 2: Chris Schmidt P ’26, Angelia Schmidt P ’26, and Catherine Hilyard ’94 3: Trustees and hosts Courtney Ackeifi ’06; Jen Podurgiel ’96; Scott Havens ’91, P ’25, ’27, ’27; Erik Cliette ’84; Rachel Kort ’98; and Ariel Williams ’06 with Head of School Jody Reilly Soja (third from left) 4: Chris Rout ’79 and Rico Roberts ’92 5: Tim Marshall ’90; Victor Samra ’90; Chair of the Board of Trustees Duncan MacLean ’90, P ’24, ’27; Brett Rodriguez ’90; Sondra Ward ’90; Nick Phillips ’90; and Andras Petery ’90
FEBRUARY 20
1.
FEBRUARY 18
1. Hosts Anderson Libert and Trustee Jessica Paindiris ’01, Head of School Jody Reilly Soja, and Chief Advancement Officer Tim Struthers ’85
2. Tim Struthers, Ginny Cross, Eric Strom ’55, and Jody Reilly Soja 3. Caroline Reese ’10 and Greg Zuboff ’08 4. Kelly Grayer P ’27, Jonathan Grayer P ’27, and Jonathan Beskin P ’28 5. Carol Earle P ’08, ’09; Tyler Earle ’09, and Cait Earle
Molly Pitegoff ’12, Allin Seward ’61, Head of School Jody Reilly Soja, and V.P. Dao ’11 2. Host Jason Mulvihill ’95; Al Freihofer ’69, P ’97; and C.J. Owen ’19 3. Isabella Delach ’24, Victoria Che ’21, Vanessa Kim ’24, Daisy Xu ’23, Jimmy Shen ’22, and Nic Ji ’22
Did You Know?
There Are Three Ways to Make a Charitable Gift from Your IRA
Many find it convenient to support Loomis Chaffee with gifts from their IRAs. Below are three ways to do so.
Make an Outright Gift
IRA administrators can be authorized to transfer funds to Loomis Chaffee, and those funds can be used currently for whatever purpose specified. The maximum qualified charitable distribution (QCD) allowed in 2025 is $108,000 (indexed for inflation).
For people 70 ½ or older, QCDs within this limit will not be included in taxable income — as they would be if one made a personal withdrawal. Because they are not included in taxable income, they are equivalent to a charitable deduction and thus may save taxes even when donors don’t itemize.
Name Loomis Chaffee as Beneficiary of an IRA
Many people do not make QCDs from their IRAs during their lifetimes because they want to retain access to their entire IRA. However, they arrange for a gift of all or a percentage of whatever funds might remain in their IRA at the end of their life. This is accomplished by completing a change-of-beneficiary form provided by their IRA administrator. If their circumstances should subsequently change, they can alter the beneficiary designation.
Create a Life-Income Plan
It is possible to make a QCD from an IRA without diminishing future retirement income. Thanks to legislation that became effective in 2023, one can make a one-time QCD, not exceeding $54,000 in 2025 (annually adjusted for inflation), for a life-income plan. The donor and/or spouse would receive payments for life, and then whatever remains of the contribution would go to Loomis Chaffee.
As with QCDs for an outright gift, the donor must have reached the age of 70 ½. QCDs for a life-income plan, like those for an outright gift, are not included in taxable income. Payments are taxable just like personal distributions from an IRA. We can provide a financial illustration showing the payments one would receive based on the amount contributed and the age(s) of the donor and/or spouse.
We invite you to join the JMT Society if you have made, or plan to make, a commitment to support Loomis Chaffee through a gift in your will or other planned gift.
www.loomischaffee.giftplans.org
FEBRUARY
6
1: Alumni gather to celebrate the tradition of Head’s Holiday. 2: Aarman Pannu ’20, Mahek Pannu ’18, and Alex Chang ’16 3: Harrison Parsons ’16, Lydia Masri ’16, Bryce Loomis ’16, and Nancy Coulverson ’16
Thank you, Pelicans!
To the Loomis Chaffee Community,
We are thrilled to share the incredible success of this year’s Philanthropy Day! Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of alumni, parents, parents of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends, we surpassed all goals, with 1,535 donors contributing an astounding $655,014 in just 24 hours.
We are thrilled to share the incredible success of this year’s Philanthropy Day!
This achievement is especially meaningful as we celebrate Jody Reilly Soja’s first year as head of school. The outpouring of support came from donors all around our country and the world — 39 states and 19 countries. This is a testament to the strong and engaged Loomis Chaffee community on and off the Island. Whether near or far, each donor played a vital role in the success, reinforcing the impact of coming together for a shared purpose.
A special thank you to our dedicated volunteers, whose outreach efforts helped make it all possible. Their commitment to connecting with fellow Pelicans inspired participation at every level.
Philanthropy Day is more than just a day of giving — it is a reminder of what we can accomplish together. Thank you for being part of this historic moment for Loomis Chaffee!
With gratitude,
58 Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2025
Gillian MacLean Growdon ’91 Annual Fund Co-Chair
Kaned Suviwattanachai ’03
Annual Fund Co-Chair
ALUMNI GATHERINGS
College Alumni Winter Lunch
JANUARY 11
1: Samantha Carr ’24 and Annie Shactman ’24
2: Faculty member Ro Clark ’97 and Inari Barrett ’23
3: Kevin Zhai ’24 and Moslima Hassani ’24
WAYS TO GIVE
Did you know that you can donate to Loomis Chaffee in a variety of ways? Thank you, as always, for your support and please let us know if you have any questions about making your gift this year. You can reach us at 860.687.6276 or annualfund@loomis.org.
The 2024–25 Loomis Chaffee Annual Fund closes on June 30, 2025.
Credit Card
The fastest way to support Loomis Chaffee is by credit card or digital wallet online at www.loomischaffee.org/give You can also make your gift by calling 860.687.6276 to provide your credit card information.
Recurring Gifts Recurring gifts are a great option for donors who want to maximize their gift, with the convenience of automatic renewal. Donors can give to Loomis Chaffee in monthly or yearly installments at www.loomischaffee.org/give
Stock Transfers Gifts of securities offer significant tax advantages and are easy to make. Donors avoid capital gains tax on the appreciation and receive a deduction for the fair market value of the stock. Please refer to our website for transfer instructions.
IRA Transfers If you are 70 ½ or older and own a traditional or Roth IRA, you can transfer up to $105,000 in a given tax year to a public charity of your choice, including Loomis Chaffee.
Donor-Advised Funds A donor-advised fund (DAF) is a type of giving vehicle that allows donors to easily support their favorite charities. Donors may also be eligible for certain tax benefits. An increasingly popular charitable option, DAFs are an excellent way to both simplify charitable giving and facilitate your strategic philanthropic goals.
Wire Transfers Donors may support the school by making their gift via domestic or international wire transfer. Electronically transferred funds should be payable in U.S. dollars. Please notify our office in advance of your intent to wire funds.
Check Donors can make checks payable to: “The Loomis Chaffee School.”
Further details on how to support Loomis Chaffee can be found on our Ways to Give site at www.loomischaffee.org/giving/ways-to-give.
Support of Loomis Chaffee is always appreciated and will continue to make a direct and positive impact on the lives of our students, faculty, and staff.
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Loomis Chaffee Alumni
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Loomis Chaffee Gatherings in Asia
While traveling in Asia for the school, Head of School Jody Reilly Soja, Chief Advancement Officer Tim Struthers ’85, and Dean of Enrollment Amy Thompson gathered with alumni, current parents, and parents of alumni at dinners and receptions in a number of cities in November 2024.
NOVEMBER 14, 2024 • SHANGHAI
NOVEMBER 16, 2024 • BEIJING
NOVEMBER 18, 2024 • SEOUL
NOVEMBER 22, 2024 • BANGKOK
NOVEMBER 20, 2024 • HONG KONG
Pelicans at the Ballpark
Join Loomis Chaffee alumni at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford and at Boston’s Fenway Park to root on your favorite team.
Hartford Yard Goats vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats
Dunkin’ Park
Saturday, June 28
6:10 p.m.
Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Dodgers Fenway Park
Saturday, July 26
7:15 p.m.
To register and for more information, visit www.loomischaffee.org/alumni
Submit a Class Note
Reunite, Reconnect, and Reminisce • June 6–8
The countdown to Reunion 2025 is on! Classes ending in 0s and 5s — this is your year! Return to the Island for a weekend that includes events and activities that entertain, educate, and celebrate the school. Make your plans today. To register and learn more about the weekend, visit www.loomischaffee.org/reunion.
We can’t wait to see you back on the Island in June! Questions? Contact Michelle Carr at michelle_carr@loomis.org or 860.687.6815.
GET LINKED
LinkedIn is our primary tool for alumni networking and engagement.
The platform’s extensive network allows for dynamic and interactive connections among the thousands of Loomis Chaffee alumni who have already joined our LinkedIn group. By joining this group, you enhance your ability to take full advantage of this growing network.
To join the private Loomis Chaffee Alumni LinkedIn group, go to www.linkedin.com/groups/68181/
Email the Class Notes Editor at magazine@loomis.org to share news with classmates and friends. High-resolution photographs are welcome; please clearly identify all people. Class Notes appear on the school website and social media channels.
Be sure to update your LinkedIn profile to include Loomis Chaffee in your education section.
Loomis Chaffee Alumni Group
1939
Justine Ransom Goebel, on June 26, 2024, in North Port, Fla. She was a two-year student who also attended Mount St. Joseph High School and was a member of the Class of 1941 at Lasell Junior College in Auburndale, Mass. She was a longtime resident of Stamford, Conn., and was a past member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Stamford Chapter, and was regent from 1983 to 1985. Justine also was a past member of the Colonial Dames, National Society Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, and the Stamford Women’s Club. She was preceded in death by her husband, Alvin R. Goebel; a grandson, Michael J. Goebel; and her son-in-law Dane C. Scott. Justine was survived by her son, A. Raymond Goebel; daughters Jerilyn Scott and Gail Paulson; six grandchildren; and 11 greatgrandchildren. A funeral service was held in Stamford.
1941
Howard Malcolm Marton, of New York City and Southampton, N.Y., on December 4, 2024. He was a two-year student who played soccer, basketball, and golf and was on the track team. Howard also was in the Glee Club, theater work group, and Grounds Committee. Born in New York City, he remained a devoted part-time city resident until he was 80, after which he lived full-time in Southampton for the last 20 years of his life. Howard graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was a World War II veteran who served in the Coast Guard. Returning to New York, he and two friends founded Dillon, Agnew, and Marton — an international advertising agency with offices in Amsterdam, London, and New York City. After he retired, Howard took a trip around the world before settling down and buying a house on the south fork of eastern Long Island, first in Westhampton Beach, then in Southampton. Howard will be remembered by his many
OBITUARIES
friends and family for his joie de vivre; his “glass half full” attitude toward life; his love of martinis and caviar, dogs (especially dachshunds), and orchids. He donated his body to medical science. Howard was survived by six nieces and nephews: Renee, Gary, David, Betty, Tom, and Carol; his longtime friend Donald Hruska; and many other friends whose devotion was continuous and ongoing. A celebration of his life was held.
1946
George Foote Murphy, of Lancaster, Pa., on October 15, 2024. He completed his final two years of high school at Loomis, where he sang in the chorus, was in the Glee Club, served on the Student Council, and ran hurdles on the track team. He attended Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., where he was a member of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity and received an excellent liberal arts education including achieving fluency in the German language. After graduation, George served in the Army in Germany for two years during the Korean War. Thanks to his German proficiency, he was drafted into the Army Security Agency, where he served in Frankfurt analyzing intercepted cryptographic messages. It was there that he met his future bride, Inge Kischkel. They married in 1952 and moved to Elmira, N.Y., where they raised
their family. George had a successful career at Perry and Swartwood Insurance Agency. They took their children to Husum, Germany, every year to visit Inge’s parents and later bought a small apartment on a ski mountain, the Gerlitzen, in southern Austria, where they spent many wonderful vacations and ultimately retired, living there for 18 years. Up into their early 80s, they enjoyed skiing, hiking, foraging for mushrooms and blueberries, dancing, and traveling throughout Europe. They lived the last years of their lives together in Lancaster at Woodcrest Villa and made annual visits in early spring to Phoenix, Ariz. George lived his final years in Lancaster at Homestead Village, where he enjoyed the community and continued to engage in chorale, history lectures, and chair yoga. A lifelong Episcopalian, George was an active member of St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, where the music, liturgy, friendships, and learning experiences brought him much joy. He had an insatiable curiosity that kept him engaged in lifelong learning. His love of travel continued until his death. He took 14 trips in seven years with his daughter Anneliese, visiting places of beauty ranging from Alaska to Scotland, including multiple trips to his beloved Downeast Maine, where he died while on vacation. George’s faith, curiosity, kindness to and genuine interest in people from all backgrounds, positive attitude, and happy nature made him a joy to be with and an inspiration to many. As the nurses who cared for him said, they witnessed a self-actualized man who lived a full, loving life and approached his final phase of life the same way — with happiness at being with his family, with serenity and grace, and on one last grand adventure. He was predeceased by his wife, Inge, and sons Jon Dieter Murphy and Gerhard Murphy. He was survived by his daughters, Anneliese Mougharbel and Viktoria Yaeger; his sons-in-law, Abed W. Mougharbel and W. Henry Yaeger; his five grandchildren; and his brother, Richard W. Murphy ’50. A mass celebrating George’s life was held at St. James Episcopal Church.
1947
Eleanor Young Lord, on May 2, 2024. Eleanor was a four-year student who was involved in soccer, basketball, tennis, Glee Club, and the yearbook committee. She was the senior class representative to the Athletic Association. Eleanor was part of the John Metcalf Taylor Society. An activist and artist, she focused much of her life on making a difference for women and girls locally and nationally. Whatever Eleanor was passionate about, she never went halfway. She was an avid athlete in high school, winning many awards in tennis. She attended Vassar College, graduating with a degree in economics and went on to earn her master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University. Her first job out of college was to write the international column of the Morgan Guaranty Bank’s monthly newsletter. It was in New York City that Eleanor met her husband, Frederick W. Lord, originally of Great Barrington, Mass. After getting married, the couple moved to Egremont, Mass., to be closer to Eleanor’s in-laws. They moved to Boulder Farm in Stockbridge, Mass., after the birth of their first child, David. Eleanor, along with her husband, became involved with the issues of the times, starting with the anti-war movement and the civil rights movement. She then started focusing her efforts on the emerging feminist movement, which continued throughout the rest of her life. She was one of the founders of the Women’s Services Center and the Rape Crisis Center, now the Elizabeth Freeman Center. She was one of the original board members of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, which funds programs for women and girls. Eleanor’s home, Boulder Farm, became the welcoming heart of the women’s community, a place for events, dances, and potlucks. Eleanor is remembered for her love of nature and art and her commitment to the support of women in their struggle and in their strength. In the 1980s, she worked with two friends as an artist’s representative and was part of the annual event Celebrate Berkshire Women Artists. In 1995, spurred on by her daughter Rebecca, Eleanor returned to her love of painting from her childhood and began creating art seriously. She painted with local teachers as well as on her own. She explored many mediums and settled on pastels. She was a strong and confident painter with a vibrant palette that captured the energy and curiosity of her subject. Her work was shown in both the Berkshires and
in Hudson. Eleanor was an accomplished pianist and loved playing everything from Jerome Kern to Brahms, Gershwin to Shubert. She loved all that the Berkshires offered, the landscapes she painted, the arts community she was a part of, and the cultural venues, especially Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow, and the theater. Eleanor was predeceased by her husband of 15 years, Frederick W. Lord; and her partner of 40 years, Margaret Wheeler. She will be remembered for her optimism and infectious smile and her fabulous dancing. Eleanor was survived by her son, David, and his partner, MoonSong; her daughter Rebecca and her wife, Janita; her daughter Julia and her husband, Lee; her stepdaughter, Catherine Wheeler; two grandsons; and her dear friends at Pine Hill Assisted Living at Kimball Farms. A Ceremony of Remembrance was held.
Charles A. Streich, of Old Greenwich, Conn., on November 29, 2024, at Waveny Lifecare Center in New Canaan, Conn. Chuck was a two-year student who played football and tennis and was in the rifle, bridge, and press clubs. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and then enlisted in the U.S. Army and served heroically in the Korean War. Upon his return to the United States, Chuck embarked on a successful advertising career in New York City and Denver, Colo. He met his wife, Antje, while walking the beach in East Hampton, and they married in 1985 and settled in Old Greenwich, Conn.
Chuck had many interests, including travel, photography, and long walks at Tod’s Point, but his favorite was sailing. He spent many days sailing his beloved “Circus” throughout Long Island Sound and exploring the Atlantic seaboard. He was an excellent sailor who was great at giving sailing advice. Chuck had an easy-going natural way about him. He was a well-informed conversationalist and never shy about sharing his opinion. Chuck was predeceased by Antje and was survived by his siblings, Peter Streich, Sally Moore, and Susan Harmon; his extended family, including Jim and Cynthia Bell, Paul and Catherine Kramer and their daughters, Jeff and Lindsay Streich and their children, and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews; and his best childhood friend, Craig Fanning, and his wife, Sara. Chuck’s remains were interred alongside Antje’s and those of other family members in the Memorial Garden at St. Paul’s Church in Riverside, Conn.
1950
Carol Lee Blake Joslin, a lifelong resident of Greater Hartford, on December 10, 2024, in West Hartford, Connecticut. She was a four-year student who was secretary of the Student Council, a Common Good Society member and on the Executive Committee of the Alumnae Association. She graduated from Connecticut College for Women. Carol Lee was the devoted wife of Brooks Joslin
for 69 years. Together they built a close-knit family that includes their three children: Blake Joslin and his wife, Donna Eagle Joslin, and their children; Timothy Joslin and his wife, Michelle Pettee Joslin, and their daughters; and Spencer Joslin-Montlick and her husband, Neil Montlick, and their daughters. She cherished her six grandchildren and took great joy in watching them grow. Summers were spent at her beloved family cottage, “Pioneer,” in Scituate, Mass., where she enjoyed sailing and connecting with nature. An avid Girl Scout in her youth, she attended Camp Four Winds as both a camper and counselor. Carol Lee dedicated her life to service and community engagement. She was an active member of the Founders of Hartford and served as president of the Junior League of Hartford. Her professional career included meaningful roles with Greater Hartford Process in the 1970s and later as director of volunteer services at Avery Heights. Faith was central to Carol Lee’s life as a member of Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford. She served as a deacon, sang in the choir, and contributed to the decorating committee. She also had a deep appreciation for art and culture, collecting art, enjoying opera performances, traveling extensively, and working at Arts Exclusive Gallery in Simsbury. Her childhood was lovingly shaped by her grandmother, Edith “Dodo” Hills. Carol Lee will be remembered for her devotion to family, faith, and service. Carol Lee’s cousins included Meredith Gage Boone ’64 and the late Anne Gage Beckwith ’60. A memorial service was held at Immanuel Congregational Church.
1951
James French Morrissey, on November 5, 2024. James was a post-graduate student who played football, competed in track, was a member of the Barbell Club, and was on the Senior Dorm Committee, the Mather House Committee, and the Senior Path Committee. He graduated from the Ethical Cultural School of New York, Dartmouth College in 1956 and New York Medical College in 1960. He married Barbara Anne Gettens in 1956. James was the principal partner of Yonkers Orthopedic Association in Yonkers, N.Y. Throughout his career he practiced at Yonkers Professional Hospital and all area hospitals in Yonkers. James served as a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1967 to 1969; he was the chief of orthopedic
surgery, 24th Evac Hospital, Republic of Vietnam. James and Barbara lived in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., for more than 35 years. Summers in Southampton included boating, golfing, and fishing with friends and family. In 2015, James and Barbara moved to Hingham, Mass., to be closer to their family. James was survived by Barbara, his wife of 68 years; their children, Deborah A. Cunningham and her husband, Lawrence; John F. Morrissey and his wife, Kathy; and Sharon A. Morrissey Grant; and seven grandchildren. A funeral Mass was held at the Church of the Resurrection in Hingham followed by a Celebration of Life reception at Blackrock Country Club in Hingham.
1952
Michael C. Altschuler, of West Hartford, Conn., on December 15, 2024. Mike was a three-year student who played soccer, baseball, and basketball and was president of the Stamp Club, a member of the Bridge and Science clubs, chairman of the Senior Scholarship Committee, and senior editor of the handbook. He was an alumni volunteer and a Common Good Society member. Mike graduated summa cum laude from Yale in 1956 and earned a master’s degree in mathematics from Harvard in 1958. He was a Phi Beta Kappa, a member of the Society of Sigma Xi, and a fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Mike was an actuary at Travelers Insurance Company for 36 years. He met his wife, Cora, in Hartford, and they raised their family in their home in West Hartford for more than 50 years. He was a devoted husband, father, and “Poppie” to his grandchildren and grandpuppies. In his last years, he lived at the McCauley, where he built a new network of friends while reuniting with others and quickly becoming an active member of the community. A brilliant man with an impeccable memory, Mike was an avid stamp collector, a world traveler, and a lover of music, the arts, and food. He could be equally happy reading a book, watching a ballgame, attending the symphony, or spending time with friends and family. He also had a lifelong commitment to Judaism and regularly read Torah and volunteered at The Emmanuel Synagogue. He generously contributed to a number of philanthropic causes, including The Ron Foley Foundation to help fund a cure for pancreatic cancer following Cora’s diagnosis. He was predeceased by Cora, his wife of 52 years. Mike was survived by his daughter
Lynne; his daughter Debra and her husband, Eric; and two grandchildren. Funeral services were held at The Emmanuel Synagogue in West Hartford.
1953
Curtis Jay Hooper of Bonita Springs, Fla., on December 22, 2024. Jay was a two-year student who was on the Student Endowment Fund Committee and later was a class agent and an alumni volunteer. He served in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954 as a tank driving instructor. Jay had a great deal of integrity and put his all into everything. A born salesman, Jay worked most of his life in the real estate field and had many accomplishments throughout his career, including being a partner in Vermont Realty Exchange Corp, a member of the Vermont Real Estate Commission, and a real estate license instructor; and being named Realtor of the Year in 1988. Jay also dabbled in a bit of everything imaginable, including but not limited to roles as regional manager for Hallmark Cards, owner of an advertising business in Minnesota, developer of a coin-operated amusement game and snack business, limousine driver, tractor trailer driver, motorcycle safety instructor, Cold Hollow Cider Mill production manager, nationwide Cabot Cheese ambassador with his wife Pat, cheese retailer at the Big E in Massachusetts, restaurateur, and construction roadie for the Gathering of the Vibes tour for which the band Phish was the headliner — among other things. Jay was also an active person who loved to roller blade (until age 87) and enjoyed alpine skiing, biking, golfing, kayaking, and motorcycle touring. For fun, Jay loved to be at his Greenwood Lake camp, where he would drive the pontoon boat and visit with his many friends there. He also had a love for Florida, where he vacationed with his wife Jackie and their children, Beth and Curtis, in the 1970s and where he ultimately retired with his wife Pat in Bonita Springs. Jay was survived by his wife of 34 years, Patricia Heller Hooper, and was preceded in death by his wife Jacqueline Rose Hooper ’53. He also was survived by his brother, Donald Mark Hooper ’64; his children: Beth Hooper; Curtis Hooper and his wife, Sue; Paul Hill; Amy Hill and her husband, Steve Glendinning; and Gary Hill and his wife, Jennifer; as well as six grandchildren, including Payge Cain ’13; and four great-grandchildren.
1955
Daniel Webster Lyon, artist and architect, at home in Wallingford, Conn., on January 12. He was a two-year student and went on to Yale University, where he rowed varsity crew, enrolled in ROTC, and graduated in 1955. He served as a U.S. Army lieutenant, artillery division, in Korea. Returning home, Dan explored several careers and then harnessed his artistic and drafting talents with his building experience into a notable career in local architecture, designing both residential and commercial spaces such as vineyards, equestrian centers, churches, homes, retail stores, medical offices, and his own studio until his retirement at 89. Affectionately dubbed “The Pencil King” by a colleague, Dan eschewed technology and computeraided drafting. His pencil sketches, pen-andink renderings, holiday cards, free hand “doodleydoops,” and hand-drawn architectural plans remain works of art, treasured by those who received, collected, or commissioned them. In addition to his family, he loved and faithfully served his community and church in a multitude of capacities. He loved sailing; making music; the YMCA; playing the harmonica; St Paul’s choir; offseason trips to Quansoo, Martha’s Vineyard; and a brandy by the fire at the end of the workday. Dan graced, and his memory will continue to grace, the lives of his wife, daughters, step-daughters, and grandchildren, as well as his extended family, professional associates, friends, and neighbors. He was predeceased by his former wife, and his son, brother, and sister. All will recall his easy laugh, his courtliness, his encouraging spirit, his steady habits, and his corny jokes. A Service of Thanksgiving for Dan’s life was held at St Paul’s Church in Wallingford.
1956
Richard Martin Danziger, on November 9, 2024, of congestive heart failure in his home in Purchase, N.Y. Dick was a four-year student who competed in football, baseball, track, tennis, and wrestling. He was in the Glee, Jazz, Radio, and Political clubs. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1960 and Yale Law School in 1963. He practiced law in New York City. After a trip to Japan in 1974, his love for Japanese art was sparked, especially art connected to the Japanese tea ceremony. His passion for learning translated into teaching as he spent time at Yale,
Princeton, and Amherst, and he was known for taking his students out for a slice of New Haven pizza during seminar sessions. Dick served as chair of the Urasenke Tea Ceremony Society of New York, and of the Freer Gallery of Art. He was a trustee of Johns Hopkins University and later served on the Advisory Committee of its Berman Institute of Bioethics. He was a member of the Governing Board of the Yale University Art Gallery and served on the Asian Art Visiting Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and on the Visiting Committee of the Japan Society Gallery. Dick had a discerning eye, a droll wit, and was fiercely loyal to his friends and family. He enjoyed playing tennis and golf at Century Country Club. Another passion was fishing for salmon, which he celebrated on his 70th birthday by getting a tattoo of his favorite fly, the Green Highlander. His favorite vacation spot was Barbuda, where he gathered the whole family for more than 40 years in matching bathing suits he personally selected. Predeceased by his son, Michael Danziger, Dick was survived by his wife of 62 years, Peggy Block Danziger; his brother and sister-in-law, Mike and Lucy Danziger; his daughter and son-in-law, Katie Danziger and Steve Horowitz; his daughter-in-law, Betsy Lind Danziger; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
1957
Judith Storrs Middlebrook, on March 23, 2024, in Farmington, Conn. Judy was a four-year student who was president of the Athletic Association, sang with the Glee Club, and worked on the school paper. She was a voracious game player. Whether it was tennis, paddle tennis, or card games, she was always ready to play, and win. Reading was another huge hobby of Judy’s. She was always the first one to get the “Fast Reads” at the Farmington Library and would usually return them before the week was out. Judy loved the beach — any beach — but the beach that held her heart was in Floods Cove, Friendship, Maine, where she and her family spent more than 50 years making lifelong friends and memories. She was also known as the dog whisperer, and many friends would ask for assistance when training their dogs so that their own pets would be as well trained as Judy’s. She was survived by her sister Patricia Storrs ’56; her daughter Sara Middlebrook Heaney and her husband, Chris; three granddaughters; a niece; a nephew; and many other extended family members.
She was predeceased by her husband, Curtis Middlebrook; her daughter, Susan Middlebrook Rutkowski; and her sister Kathleen Storrs Smith ’59. A Celebration of Life was held in Unionville, Conn.
1958
Margaret “Molly” Savage Francolini, of Granby, Conn., at home on August 10, 2024. Molly was a four-year student who was in the Glee Club and was secretary of the Athletic Council. She enjoyed reading, knitting, jigsaw puzzles, and walking with her dogs. She loved all animals, and at one time had a mini-farm in North Granby, Conn. She was a past leader of a 4-H horse club in Granby. She also enjoyed UConn basketball, the Boston Red Sox, and her beloved Aussie dogs. However, her greatest joy was taking care of her family, especially her children and grandchildren. Molly was survived by her daughter, Dana Boardman, and her husband, Jonathan; her son, Scott Francolini, and his wife, Kimberly; her three grandchildren; and her brother, Richard Savage ’57, and his wife, Louise. Molly was predeceased by her husband, Robert A. Francolini. Her late father, George B. Savage, was a 1923 graduate. Funeral services were private.
1960
Peter F. Atkin, on February 4, 2024. Peter was a two-year student who was in the Press, Chemistry/Physics, and Astronomy clubs; on the Senior Library Committee; and in the Orchestra. He competed in football, basketball, baseball, and track. Peter earned multiple degrees, including an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College and a graduate degree from Case Western Reserve. He retired from Taylor Made Industries, where he was president of a number of companies. Peter was an avid golfer and could be found on the course on weekends and most days in his early retirement. He was active in community efforts in his retirement, counseling the founders in the start-up efforts of Rock Steady Boxing in Garrett, Ind., supporting the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches, volunteering his time for the AARP in providing tax preparation services for many years in central Florida, and most recently supporting SCORE as a volunteer mentor. Pete loved his family and looked forward to phone calls and visits with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. His beach
“Hideout” at Ormond-by-the-Sea had walls covered with photos of family, particularly his children and grandchildren (along with a few of his favorite cars — all Porsches). He was always striving to make an impact in life, looking for ways to apply himself while helping others. He was survived by his wife, Jan, to whom he was married for 40 years; sons Scott and Brett; daughter Stacy; step-daughter Michelle Vaughn; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
1962
Daniel J. Gleason, on October 19, 2024. Dan was a four-year student who played football, hockey, and baseball all four years and was assistant captain of hockey as a senior. Other activities included the Student Endowment Fund, Key Society, Loomiscellany, Student Council, Biology Club, and Ski Club. He was on the honor roll each year and graduated with cum laude honors. Dan lived each of his 80 years with boundless energy, enthusiasm, and joy, treating every day as a cherished gift to be lived to the fullest. Dan was a brilliant student, writer, thinker, and advocate, and his academic and professional accomplishments were remarkable, though he would have quickly changed the subject were anyone to have dared remark on them in his presence. Life to Dan was about experiences, not achievements; “adventures” — particularly those with his family — were their own reward. After graduation from Loomis Chaffee, he
spent the next year in Holt, England, at the Gresham’s School through the English Speaking Union. In the fall of 1963, he began a seven-year run at Harvard, graduating from college as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1967 and from law school in 1970. Dan continued his legal studies with a year at an international school in Brussels. In 1972, Dan began a four-decade-long career in the Boston office of Nutter McClennen & Fish, where he served the firm in many leadership and mentoring roles. His talents in the courtroom were legendary and earned him admission to the American College of Trial Lawyers, where he served as chairman of the Massachusetts Chapter. Dan’s work brought him great happiness, as it allowed him to constantly learn, teach, laugh, serve, and perform. He took particular pride in representing the underserved communities in and around Boston, including as co-chair of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. The many friendships Dan developed in the stressful and often contentious world of litigation are a testament to the integrity, kindness, and excellence that he brought to his profession. Dan’s intellectual curiosity was insatiable. He was always either learning or looking for something new to learn. History, language, and music were primary among his passions, and he loved to share each with those around him, even complete strangers. No matter the occasion, if a piano or guitar were in his line of sight, it was a pretty safe bet that Dan would end up filling the room with a college fight song or a 1960s ditty, played entirely by ear. True
to form, when he learned of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, he responded by learning the accordion. Dan’s heart was even bigger than his brain. His greatest passion was people — and none more so than his family. Fortune had a habit of smiling on Dan throughout his life, but perhaps never more brightly than on a spring evening in May 1966 when a beautiful, brilliant Smithie was in need of a date to escort her to her twin sister’s formal. Dan got the call. Six years later Jodie and Dan wed, and four years after that they started their family. Their children, Jeff, Greg, and Katie, joined Jodie as the center of Dan’s universe. Nothing was more important to him than the four of them; no one made him smile (or laugh) more — that is until they further enriched his life by introducing Cristina, Zlata, and Mike and then Eva, Isabel, Caroline, Benjo, Emma, Ariana, and Maya into his world. A Celebration of Life was held in Needham, Mass.
1963
Diane Reinhardt, at her care facility, NewBridge on the Charles, in Dedham, Mass. Drew, as she was popularly known, was a beloved sister, scholar, writer, and quilter. She was a four-year student and associate editor of The Chiel. A section of the 1963 Chaffee yearbook, Epilogue, predicted that Drew “has settled in the country amply surrounded by menacing brooks and cow pastures to finish the collected works of d.d. reinhardt.” Her father was a mechanical engineer, key to the development of the life support system for the Apollo 11 moon landing. Drew graduated from Vassar College in 1967. She married her college sweetheart, Allen P. Cox, a Yale graduate from West Texas, where he was a star high school football quarterback. While he fulfilled his U.S. Navy obligation, with tours in Vietnam, she attended Stanford University, completing her doctorate in English with a focus on Thomas Hardy. After receiving her degree, she joined the faculty of DeAnza College in Cupertino, Calif., where she taught English. Following her husband’s graduation from Stanford University Law School, the couple relocated to Denver, Colo., where Al joined the public defender’s office and Drew won a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to research literature that took California as its subject. She joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, forming a lifelong friendship with her little sister and her family. She also began work on a novel.
Al died unexpectedly in 1979. Drew applied to and joined the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a student and completed her novel, as yet unpublished. She remained in Iowa City for the next 38 years and was an active volunteer in the Crisis Center of Johnson County. For many years, she tutored students at City High. She became an expert quilter, completing more than 200 pieces. She continued to write fiction. She relocated to Brookline, Mass., and later moved to NewBridge on the Charles. She was survived by her sister, Shelley Reinhardt, and Christopher Kerr; her nephew, Graham Reinhardt Kerr, and Sara Engelsman Kerr; and several cousins to whom she was devoted.
1965
Peter Shelley, on October 13, 2024, in Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln, Mass. Peter was a four-year student who wrestled, played soccer and lacrosse, was in the spring play, and was on the Dance and Volunteer committees. The Boston Globe noted his death by writing an obituary with the headline, “Peter Shelley, environmental lawyer who led effort to clean up Boston Harbor’s ‘dirty water,’ dies at 77.” Peter had a long career with the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF). He led the way starting in 1983 for the CFL in its lawsuit forcing the cleanup of Boston Harbor by government agencies. “At the time,” noted the Globe obituary, “via two treatment plants, 43 Greater Boston municipalities were pouring more than 450 gallons of treated sewage and 100 tons of sludge into the harbor daily.” The Globe obituary also noted that CLF’s then-president Doug Foy said the cleanup of Boston Harbor bolstered anti-pollution efforts in other harbors along New England’s coast. In an article on the CFL website in 2016, Peter looked back at the Boston Harbor cleanup. “When we made the initial decision to fix this problem, no one had any idea how big the challenge was, how long it was going to take, or what it was going to cost,” he wrote. “But one of the things that has been true about CLF from the beginning is that once we tackle something, we don’t let go until it is fixed. I filed the first legal papers in July of 1983 and in March of 2016, the case officially came to a close. I’ve been really proud that CLF and our supporters have been willing to see things through to this outcome. I don’t think there’s any question in anyone’s mind that the Boston Harbor cleanup was worth it. This case was formative in many ways. In very practical terms it was about cleaning
up and recapturing the harbor for the people of Boston. But it was formative for CLF as an organization, too. We realized we had to be more vigilant — we couldn’t just assume that government was doing its job and accomplishing all of the lofty objectives that animate critical federal laws like the Clean Water and Clean Air acts. Without a
group like CLF to hold the government accountable for its responsibilities, New England would be seeing one Boston Harbor after another.” The Pew Charitable Trust noted that Peter’s work went beyond cleanup of waterways and extended into overfishing.
“He devoted 35 years to advocating for marine conservation and sustainable fisheries management,” the Pew article said. “Over the course of his distinguished career, [Peter] worked in courts, legislatures, and the policy arena to protect marine resources and support the longterm health of coastal communities.” He was awarded a Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment in the 1990s. During his years at CLF, Peter created the organization’s Ocean Protection Program, directed the Massachusetts and Maine offices, and was interim president and a senior counsel. Peter was survived by his wife, Stephanie; his mother, Virginia; two sons, Luke and Ethan; a sister, Mary; a brother, Jim; three granddaughters; and one grandson.
John Robert Mazer, of Watkinsville, Ga., at home on July 28, 2024. John was a threeyear student who was chairman of the
Library Committee, executive of the Student Endowment Fund, associate editor of the yearbook, and a member of the Religious Life Committee. He was involved in many sports, including soccer, golf, wrestling, lacrosse, and sailing. He graduated from Yale University in 1969 and retired from a 30-plus year career at Georgia Pacific. He was an active individual and had many hobbies, including cycling, walking, gardening, traveling, photography, and newspaper crossword puzzles. He was a past president of Congregation Children of Israel and took pride teaching Sunday School there for many years. He enjoyed a cup of black English tea every morning and loved to spend time in his yard watching the wildlife. He was preceded in death by his brother, Fred Mazer; and many canine companions, particularly his beloved walking partner, Bosie. Survivors included his wife of 44 years, Debra Mazer; his children, Jesse MacKenzie and Samantha Alex, and their spouses; siblings Linda Goldman and Mike Mazer; and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service was be held at the Congregation Children of Israel.
1967
John Anthony Coccomo Jr., at home on February 2. John was a devoted son, loyal eldest brother, and mentor to four siblings, Barry, Carmelo, Dean, and Kimberly. John’s teenage years were spent in Windsor, Conn., where he had many friends to whom he remained committed to his entire life. John attended Loomis Chaffee for more than a year and graduated from Windsor High School. He attended two years of college at Northeastern University, but found Boston was too far from home and his siblings. Just two years ago, he held his mother’s hand as she took her last breath. John was married to Barbara Shuler Coccomo for 54 years, and they were parents of John Anthony Coccomo III and Emily Coccomo Walsh. John and Barbara created a love-filled home devoted to family, friends, and adventuring. This ethic was passed on to their six grandchildren. “Pop-pop,” as he was known to his grandchildren, wore many hats during his life, with great impact to anyone who was fortunate enough to meet him. He was administrator of the family business and a builder and developer, providing homes for families in Connecticut. John was also a captain many times over as the owner of several sailing and fishing vessels. He knew the waters of Long Island Sound and its tributaries,
including the Connecticut River up “as far as you could take a boat.” He also sailed the Caribbean. John pursued many hobbies that expressed his love for living — and living well. He loved the Red Sox, hats, good music, good shoes, good food, dancing, hidden waterfalls, fishing for stripers, and watching hummingbirds. John and Barb loved to spend time together, especially taking rides to the beach, visiting cool places for lunch, and strolling Elizabeth Park. Upon retiring, John devoted time piloting for the Mystic Seaport Museum and working for Santa Claus on the Essex Steam Train North Pole Express. In retirement, he continued to impact everyone he met with a sparkle in his eyes, an infectious smile, and an easy laugh. Nautical charts brought him to sea and guided him safely home many times, both with knowledge of the tides and sometimes with little more than luck. There is no chart showing the hidden channels below the surface of one’s life, but John navigated them well with the simple knowledge to hold friends close and family closer. There was a celebration of John’s life at the Arch Street Tavern in Hartford.
1971
Kathryn Coe, on Dec. 15, 2024, surrounded by family. Kathy was a four-year student who was on the Student Council for three years and later was a reunion leader and class agent. She graduated from Smith College and retired as a teacher from the Washington Montessori School. She was a member of the Chilmark Pond Association and the Abel’s Hill Pond Committee and held a certificate as a master wildlife conservationist. A gifted and creative Montessori teacher with a storytelling heart and deep sense of place, she mentored countless students over her 40-year career at the Grier School in Pennsylvania and Washington Montessori School. Her nurturing spirit extended beyond family, friends, and students to beloved generations of cats and dogs, two evolving gardens, and the natural world outside her door in Chilmark and Washington. The glorious gardens and the innumerable scarves, sweaters, and quilts she fashioned remain a testament to her skilled hands, unique eye for color, and passion for gardening, knitting, and quilting. Loved by all who knew her, she was especially admired the last five years for her fierce tenacity, determination, and grit. In addition to her husband of 47 years, Thomas Hollinger, Kathy was
survived by her sons, Philip Coe Hollinger and his wife, Samantha, and Charles Howard Hollinger and his wife, Kelly; her sisters, Gigi Robinson and her husband, Dan, and Carol Coe Fowler ’69 and her husband, Fred; and many well-loved grandnieces and grandnephews. Kathy’s family received relatives and friends at the Lillis Funeral Home in New Milford, Conn. Burial was at the family plot on Martha’s Vineyard in the spring.
1996
Hugh Edward O’Reilly Jr., on January 26. He was a three-year student who was a dorm prefect and student activities officer. Hugh was on the swim team and was a co-captain of the water polo team. He also became an alumni volunteer. Hugh was the beloved husband of Caroline “Caley” Cronin O’Reilly and father to James, Reagan, and Gunnar O’Reilly. A gentle giant, Hugh was a proud member of the Rye community who could often be found leading Cub Scout events and coaching his children’s sports teams. Ever ready to help anyone in need, Hugh had a big heart and was passionate about celebrating life. Last summer, the Boy Scouts awarded Hugh with the Algonquin District’s Commissioner Award of Excellence, which was a strong testament to his leadership and dedication to the community. An Class of 2000 alumnus of Denver University, Hugh was a collegiate swimmer who went on to become an Ironman, completing the Lake Placid half and full Ironman competitions in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Hugh was fascinated by the world around him, which sparked a thirst for travel that included traveling to Europe, sailing the Red Sea, living on a scuba diving boat in the Galapagos Islands, and hiking Machu Picchu. It was his love of adventure that brought him to Hawaii in 2004, where he met his soulmate and future wife, Caley, in Maui. Their first date was at the Pearl Harbor Museum, which was more romantic than it sounds, and they were inseparable ever after. Caley was the light of his life and together they were a dynamic team. They had three amazing children, with whom Hugh shared his love of adventure. Whether visiting family and skiing the mountains of New Hampshire, exploring Windsor Castle in England and the beaches in Normandy, or sailing on the Long Island Sound at American Yacht Club, he could always be found sharing new experiences with his family and friends. His last adventure was to a Cub Scout campout,
where he was celebrating his son James’s Arrow of Light journey to the Boy Scouts. Earlier that day his daughter Reagan scored her first basket in her CYO basketball game, and his son Gunnar had his best basketball game of his young YMCA career. James was beyond proud of all his children and their accomplishments. He was survived by his wife and children; his mother, Sylvia; brother Biff and his wife, Jeanne; sister Kelly Considine; brother Daniel G. O’Reilly ’98 and his spouse, McKee; sister-in-law Cammy Cronin Williams and her spouse, Greg; brother-inlaw Teddy Cronin; parents-in-law Bill and Cathy Cronin; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, Hugh; his brother-in-law John Considine; and his aunts Florence Roberts Skantze and Helene Roberts. A mass of Christian burial was held at Church of the Resurrection in Rye.
2016
Tiger Bech, on January 1, in New Orleans, La. Tiger was a one-year student who played football and lacrosse. Tiger was remembered by Dean of Enrollment Amy Thompson as “a young man who was friendly to everyone and took full advantage of his [post-graduate] year to improve his academics and embrace the opportunity to meet new people — everything we want [for] our PGs.” Elliott Dial, a teacher and dean of students, remembers Tiger as “a dynamic athlete both on the football and lacrosse fields” and as someone “not afraid to speak his mind or stand up for things that he believed.” After Loomis Chaffee, Tiger’s academic journey continued at Princeton University, where he graduated in 2021. He was a starting wide receiver and punt return specialist as a member of the Princeton football team and received numerous All-Ivy honors. Tiger next moved to New York City, where he entered the cybersecurity industry. His professional journey continued to flourish, and in early 2024, he began his dream job in finance. He lived large and he died much too young, cramming 80 years of living into 27. In just the past year, he ran with the bulls in Pamplona, saw the great pyramids of Egypt, traveled to Morocco and Ibiza, and lived in and loved New York City. Tiger cherished the intellectual thrill of his job and felt deep gratitude for the people he worked with and who mentored him into the world of trading. Most importantly, Tiger spent all his extra resources flying almost every
weekend to Fort Worth, Texas, to see his best friend and brother, Jack, do what they grew up loving together — playing football. Tiger had an impact on everyone that he met, and his family will cherish his memories. Survivors include his parents, Martin Bech and Michelle Voorhies Bech; his sister Ginnie Bech and her fiancé, Jordan Carter; his sister Sophie Bech; his brother, Jack Bech; his maternal grandmother, Marie Kilchrist Voorhies; his paternal grandparents, Jenna Hebert Bech and Malcholm Bech Jr.; his aunts and uncles; and numerous cousins. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather, Judson A. Voorhies. A Mass of Christian Burial was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette, La.
Former Staff
Benjamin R. Abbot, of East Windsor, on December 28, 2024. After his retirement from military service as a senior master sargeant, Benjamin held a variety of security positions, in recent years finding a community at Loomis Chaffee, where he served as a campus safety officer from September 2022 until his unexpected passing. He left a legacy of service, dignity, love, and strength. His life was a testament to the enduring spirit and dedication that defined his many years in the 103rd CT Air National Guard/U.S. Air Force. Benjamin excelled at all of his jobs in his nearly 22 years of military service, but
most prominently and recently as superintendent of the Air Operations Squadron (from 2008 to 2013) for the 103rd Air and Space Operations Group, the predecessor to the U.S. Space Force; and as superintendent of logistics, plans, and integration (from 2013 to 2018) for the 103rd Airlift Wing. Both posts were at the Bradley Air National Guard Base in East Granby, Conn. Serving in combat zones in the Middle East and other sites abroad, Benjamin was also deployed in a variety of capacities across the United States. He was known for fostering the morale and human potential of hundreds of airmen under his command. His military career was a striking record of leadership and accomplishment, marked by multiple medals and other honors, including the prestigious Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Air Force Achievement Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, and 14 others. In 2000, he was the youngest airman in the history of the CT Air National Guard to receive the distinction of Airman of the Year and later attained the non-commissioned officer rank of senior master sergeant when he was in his late 30s, far younger than most of his peers nationwide with that rank. A 1997 graduate of Bloomfield High School, Benjamin later studied human resource management at Ashworth College and pursued specialized military coursework at the U.S. Air Force Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Academy. Benjamin was an avid outdoorsman, foodie, chef, and reader of books on numerous
subjects. He particularly enjoyed general history and military history. More recently he became a student of scripture and an ordained minister. He was an animal lover and a devoted parent to his two dogs, Inu and Maximillian. Other pastimes included listening to podcasts and gaming; he played Nintendo Switch games often with his two sisters. Ben was known by many for placing equal value in enjoying all life has to offer and sharing that joy with everyone lucky enough to be in his company. Ben also served for many years on the board of directors of Thursday’s Child Adoption Agency of Bloomfield until the agency closed its doors; for well over a decade, he was also president of his condominium association board. Ben was survived by his mother and stepfather, Iris J. Arenson-Fuller and Arthur Fuller; his brother, Jesse Abbot, and his partner, Yvonne Espinoza; his sister Crispin Abbot; his sister Helena Holmes and her partner, Karief; and two nieces. His father, Kim Abbot, preceded him in death. A graveside service was held at the State Veteran’s Cemetery in Middletown, Conn., and a Celebration of Life was held at the Jewish Community Center in West Hartford, Conn.
More News
The Alumni Office has learned of the death of Jason Joseph Wolkowski ’59, on June 9, 2024, in Ft. Pierce, Fla.
70 Loomis Chaffee Magazine Spring 2025
Faculty Member Betsy Conger
Longtime faculty member Elizabeth Conger, on October 31, 2024, from a recurrence of cancer that had been in remission for 13 years. She was 64, having marked her birthday four days before she died.
Betsy, who came to Loomis Chaffee in 1986, was a science teacher, a Science Department head, an associate dean of faculty, a softball coach, a field hockey coach, and a dorm head at various times during her tenure. She also was a faculty advisor to individuals and SPECTRUM and an LGBTQIA+ coordinator, and she oversaw the assignment of weekend duties for faculty, affectionately known as “Conger duties.” Teaching and caring were at the core of everything Betsy did at Loomis — in the classroom, on the field, around campus, and in her interactions with students and colleagues. Her enthusiasm never waned.
Betsy was born in Bryn Mawr, Pa., in 1960. When her brother, Michael, was born in 1967, the family settled in Brookside, N.J. Unlike most little girls who wished for a pony, Betsy actually got one, keeping Crackerjack, and later her horse Bojangles, in a backyard paddock.
A standout student with a passion for science, Betsy also was a standout athlete. In field hockey, her high school record of 60 goals stood for many years. She also excelled at softball and was on her high school swimming, diving, and basketball teams.
After high school, Betsy spent the summer working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute then entered Middlebury College, where she majored in biology and made lifelong friends. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Middlebury in 1982, she moved to Seattle, Wash., for a job at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
She returned to the East Coast when she was hired at Loomis Chaffee. Betsy taught a wide range of science courses in her 38 years at Loomis, from Biology I to College-
Level Genetics and Environmental Science. She received the Distinguished Teaching Award in Honor of Dom Failla in 2018 and a Service to the School honor in 2014. The Western New England Prep School Girls Softball Association honored her with a service award in 2023 for her 32 years as Loomis’ head coach.
In 2001, Betsy chose a favorite spot in Maine to spend her summers — Spruce Head — where she could relax, kayak in a nearby cove, dive into a new craft project, or just enjoy a glass of wine with neighbors. She welcomed visits from family and friends from every aspect of her life. In recent years, she couldn’t resist inviting a group of Loomis students from Afghanistan, excited to introduce them to another part of New England.
During her last days, Betsy received hospice care at her cousin Rosie LaBonte’s house in Massachusetts, surrounded by flowers, the sun streaming through the windows, and stacks of cards. A long ribbon connected multiple photos in which 22 of her Loomis colleagues held up letters spelling out “Happy Birthday, Betsy!” Rosie strung it across the wall in front of Betsy’s bed where she could see the familiar faces.
Dozens of colleagues, students, friends, and family — including her beloved dog, Mackie — came to say goodbye.
The family’s obituary for Betsy shared treasured stories of their time together and reflected the importance of Betsy in their
lives (and provided many of the details in this school obituary). “To her family, the idea that Betsy wouldn’t be around for another Christmas, wearing her favorite red velvet shirt and laden with her signature presents — handmade peppermint bark, granola in mason jars, and a homemade treasure comprising shells, sea glass, and string lights — was unthinkable,” the family’s tribute shared. “There’s no way she wouldn’t be with Rosie and her family to ring in the next New Year! Of course there was still time to call and catch up! And suddenly, there wasn’t.”
Betsy gathered with her family for a reunion last summer in ‘Sconset, Mass., on the island of Nantucket, where Betsy’s grandparents had owned a house and Betsy had spent many summers in her youth. During the reunion, she and her cousins reminisced about the “old days” of their generation — the ’60s and ’70s — when they’d have to explain to friends at home not only what Nantucket was, but where.
It was the last time Betsy saw ‘Sconset. Her family is forever grateful that they could be with Betsy one more time on the island that was such an important part of their lives.
Betsy was survived by her brother, Michael Longley Conger; nephew Michael F. Conger, his partner, Candace, and their daughter, Phaedra; aunt Nancy D. Longley; cousin Anne Longley and her son, Colin; cousin Jennifer Lynch and her husband, Tom; cousin Amy Longley; cousin Rob Longley, his wife, Maria, and their children, Anna and Ethan; cousin Rosanna LaBonte, her husband, Chip, and their children, Katie and Bonnie; her late cousin Lydia Agnew Speller’s husband, John, and their children, Mo and Anna Speller, and families; and step-sisters Lori Calvin, Mindy Lopus, and Jennifer Perdek and their children.
A Celebration of Life will be held on April 27 at Loomis. Burial will be on Nantucket later this year. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Betsy Conger Memorial Fund at Loomis Chaffee.
Puzzle Pieces REFLECTIONS
All-school meetings this year feature an “LC Meditations” segment, when students are invited to share personal reflections on a particular theme. “Belonging” was the LC Meditations theme at the January 28 all-school meeting, where sophomores Aim Wanglee and Natalee Ezedine presented their stories. On these pages we share Aim’s and Natalee’s essays on which they based their meditations.
BY AIM WANGLEE
Imagine a world where everyone is the same. There’s no room for “being yourself.” Every person is a mirror reflecting the same image, the same thoughts, and the same life. This might seem like something straight out of a dystopian movie, but it reflects more of our society than we’d like to admit. You may have heard of the phrase “everyone has their own story.” Maybe it whizzed through your mind once while meeting new friends on the first day of school or you were sitting in the crowded dining hall, curious about the different journeys that shaped the laughs and conversations of people around you. But as simple and cliché as this phrase sounds, have you ever stopped to think about the weight this phrase holds? I want everyone to pause and look around; every person you see sitting in front or behind you carries an experience unique to themselves. Moments of joy, turmoil, or sadness shaped who they’ve become. Yet sometimes, those unique stories we hold make us feel like outcasts. That missing piece of a puzzle that supposedly renders you “imperfect,” or someone whose scars, whether hidden or visible, set you apart in a society that overlooks and frowns upon differences.
peeked through. There was no way for me to hide them; they would always find a way to be noticed. People’s eyes lingered when they caught sight of my back, cautious not to make eye contact while trying to satisfy their curiosity. Their smiles would quickly fade. Instead of playing around like every other 12-year-old girl, my eyes too were constantly glued to my scars. I twisted my neck, trying to see my back in the mirror. I wondered if I would ever look the same again, questioning when society would finally stop isolating people with scars like me. Every day felt heavy as I wrestled with the fear of rejection, feeling as though my body was “less than” those of others.
For years, I continued feeling like a big part of me was missing — sort of like a missing puzzle piece. No, not that shiny, perfect, missing piece you’ve been looking for. Think of a piece that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere. A piece you look at and immediately discard back into the pile because its rough edges are too complex.
This is something I have experienced before, and I am going to share my own story with you today. When I was 12, I was in an accident involving fire. Thankfully, I walked away with my life, but with 10 percent of my body burned: first-, second-, and third-degree burns were scattered across my back. No matter what top I wore, the scars always
But here’s what I’ve learned about puzzles: The picture will never be complete without every piece, even the ones that seem impossible to place at first. Just like the stories we all carry, my scars represent who I am as a person. Belonging isn’t about overlooking our differences to make everyone “fit in.” It’s about expanding our definition of who “fits” into society, shifting our view of others to invite the jagged-edged puzzle pieces that are essential to completing the bigger picture.
Light and Shadows
BY NATALEE EZEDINE
Wherever you go, a shadow will always linger. It trails behind, cast by the vibrant light of your surroundings, shaped by the angles and contours of life. You may feel trapped in this contrast — chasing brightness while weighed down by darkness. But what if you don’t have to?
What if the shadow isn’t all there is? Imagine the world as a candle, its flame burning brightly. The flame stands alone, refusing to cast the dark mark we’ve come to expect. The candle’s light is yours — it shines, untethered by the shadows around it.
In second grade, I caught a glimpse of this light before the shadows overwhelmed me. I had my eye on a prize bin in my classroom — a magical treasure trove of toys that made a 7-year-old’s heart race. But you could only earn a prize for showing star behavior.
But why are we allowing the past to dictate the future when we will never see it again? Shadows are a product of light. Just as we can let the shadows of our past hold us captive, we also possess the power to let our light shine brighter. The flame of my effort hadn’t disappeared. It was still there, waiting for me to notice it again.
We all have moments like this, don’t we? Times when the shadows of our past feel all-encompassing, when we let fear, failure, or a single mistake define us. Maybe it’s something someone said years ago that you’ve carried with you ever since. Whatever it is, I want you to hear this: You don’t have to live in that shadow.
One day, I decided it was my day. I said hello to everyone, held doors open, and even shared my precious scented markers (and trust me, those were sacred). Everything went perfectly — until the last period. I was chatting with my classmates, and for reasons I can’t recall, I called someone a “sucker.” My teacher overheard. She swooped in, reprimanding me loudly enough for the whole class to hear. I tried to explain that I was talking about a lollipop, but it didn’t matter. The prize bin might as well have been a million miles away.
To my second-grade self, this was catastrophic. I’d worked so hard, and with one word, it all fell apart. I left school that day crushed. I stopped saying hello to people. I stopped holding doors. I stopped trying. Small as it may seem now, my flame dimmed, shrouded by self-doubt and disappointment.
Your flame is brighter than any shadow. Even when life feels overwhelming, that light — built by your courage and resilience — burns steadily, a reminder of your strength and potential. The key is to shift your focus. Don’t fixate on the shadows — they will always be there, shaped by your upbringing. Instead, focus on your light.
That second-grade experience taught me a valuable lesson — not just about the fleeting nature of a prize but about the power of self-forgiveness and empowerment through resilience. Shadows may linger, but you have the power to choose how you see yourself, how you move forward, and how you let your flame grow. People around you often feel the same suffocating darkness.
So today, I challenge you to step into the light of your own candle. See its brightness, its warmth, its power to guide you and inspire others. Use the shared human struggle to uplift our community where everyone feels safe to share their story and what they’ve lived through. Together, we can create a world where our flames illuminate paths of hope, connection, and belonging.
You belong, należysz, Your flame is brighter than any shadow. Even when life feels overwhelming, that light — built by your courage and resilience — burns steadily, a reminder of your strength and potential.
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Mirth
Head of the Performing Arts Department Susan Chrzanowski and sophomores Kofi Donkor and Vivaan Chaturvedi share a moment of hilarity during an acting workshop in the Nichols Center for Theater and Dance.
