/ class notes /
Glenn is survived by his wife of 44 years, Juliana Kasius Dulmage, his daughter Cornelia Dulmage ’90, and son-in-law Zachariah Schmitt. A service celebrating Glenn’s life was held in Chestertown on June 2, 2012. The family requested that memorial contributions be directed to the Annual Fund at NMH or to a charity of the donor’s choice. ♦
Louise Elizabeth “Jo” Dorchester
Louise Elizabeth “Jo” Dorchester, 93, died on March 21, 2012, after a period of failing health. She taught mathematics and French at NMH for 37 years, from 1944 until her retirement in 1981. Jo Dorchester was born on July 25, 1918, in Montclair, N.J. She chose to be called Jo, after the character in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, because “she didn’t think she was a ‘Betty,’” according to her friend, former NMH faculty member Sara Jane Moss. Jo graduated from Montclair High School in 1935 and continued her education at Middlebury College, where she earned her bachelor’s in 1940. She returned to Middlebury decades later for a master’s in French, graduating in 1969. She never married. During her high school years, Jo became a cook during the summers at Camp Kehonka in Wolfeboro, N.H. For the next 30-plus years, she spent summers at the camp, eventually becoming a counselor and then a teacher of canoeing, water safety, hiking, and mountaineering. Jo also served for a time as secretary to Laura Mattoon, founder of Camp Kehonka and the American Camping Association. Jo taught French and mathematics in Newfield, N.Y., before arriving at Northfield School for Girls in 1944 to teach French and mathematics. She never left, considering that she had the best of both worlds, teaching at
Northfield and spending summers at camp. In her years at NMH, Jo served as dorm parent, academic counselor, and administrator in charge of College Board testing. Unlike some others, she took the merger in stride, teaching at NMH until she retired and remaining in Northfield afterward. She moved to Brattleboro three years before her death. Jo was an avid downhill skier. The other great interest in her life was the cello. Although introduced to the instrument in her mid-fifties, Sara Jane Moss said Jo played with great enthusiasm until very late in her life. Jo volunteered at the Brattleboro Music Center, and she was a member of the Windham Orchestra and its music librarian for many years. Jo is survived by two cousins. A memorial service was held at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vt., on April 21, 2012, and burial was in the family plot at Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Upper Montclair, N.J. Memorial contributions may be made either to Hilltop House, 65 Harris Ave., or Brattleboro Music Center, 38 Walnut St., both Brattleboro, VT 05301. ♦
Katheryn “Kay” Johnson Rowsey
Katheryn J. Rowsey, known to everyone as Kay, was a faculty member at NMH for more than 30 years, teaching AP biology and related subjects until her retirement in 2002. She fought a decade-long battle with COPD, succumbing to its effects on May 7, 2012, at the age of 71. Kay was born February 17, 1941, in Greenwich, Conn. An only child, she graduated from Immaculata High School in Detroit, and then continued her education at Nasson College, where she met Elliott Rowsey. Kay and Elliott married in 1960, while Kay was still an undergraduate, and she graduated summa cum laude in 1962 with a bachelor’s in biological science.
After college, Kay and Elliott moved to Hampton, N.H., where Kay worked as a substitute teacher at Winnecunnet High School. In 1970, the Rowsey family, now including two children, moved to NMH, where Elliott had accepted a position as registrar. The Rowseys’ third child was born in early 1971. The following fall term, Kay began her NMH career as a biology teacher. In 1980, Kay and colleague Carol Knox copublished Problems in Biology: A Biology Laboratory Guide that was used in their classes for years. In 1981, Kay traveled to the Galapágos Islands, later producing a pictorial exhibit on the theory of evolution for the school. She led a school trip to England in 1984, was awarded the Theodore Carpenter Fellowship for excellence in teaching in the field of science in 1985, and later participated in teacher exchange programs in Swaziland and Beijing. In the late 1990s, she and religion teacher Ed Brooks cotaught a course called Human Genetics and Ethical Decisions. With Elliott, Kay traveled on sabbaticals to many countries, fulfilling a lifelong dream to travel around the world in the 1990s. In addition to teaching, Kay coached girls’ tennis, was a dorm head, served as a weekend dean, and was an adviser to the yearbook. Outside interests included tennis, cooking, cribbage and bridge, the Red Sox, and the Patriots. After her death, Kelley Borg Duffy ’92 wrote on Facebook: “Kay Rowsey has been one of my heroes ever since AP Bio…that class transformed what I thought I could do.” At her memorial service, Ed Brooks commented that Kay met “every day with joy… with a grit and determination to make the best of it. She knew how to manage bad news, how to stand up to disappointment, how to wring magic out of a vanilla Monday, how to plan a party when there was the slightest excuse for celebration.” Dick Peller added: “You could always depend on Kay to be refreshingly honest and direct…Those who didn’t know her well thought her gruff; those who got to know her loved her soft and sensitive side.” Retired faculty members Nelson ’56 and Carol Lebo said Kay was brilliant, loving, and competitive, played mean games of bridge and tennis, was not one to suffer fools gladly but was incredibly kind and generous with her friends, family, and students. Kay is survived by her husband, Elliott; their children Robert ’80, Mary Rowsey Swinney ’82, and Katheryn Rowsey FournierDeCoste ’88; and eight grandchildren. A memorial service was held in Memorial Chapel on June 17, 2012. Memorial contributions may be sent to Kristin Kellom in the NMH Office of Advancement. ♦
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