Nobles Magazine Summer 2025 by Noble and Greenough School

Nobles

STANDOUT PERFORMANCE

Annabel Abdelal ’25 performs the violin solo from Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14 during the spring Nobles Symphony Orchestra concert.

HANDSHAKE HIJINKS

Graduating Class I students have developed a tradition of performing increasingly elaborate handshakes after walking down the graduation tent aisle. This year, the creativity reached new heights as Ollie Donovan ’25 hitched a piggyback ride on Toby Gauld ’25.

HISTORY IN DEPTH

Sienna Robertson ’25 presents her Honors Research Seminar project, the culmination of a rigorous history class where Class I students dive deep into topics they’re passionate about and hone advanced research and writing skills.

PAWS AND RELAX

Students enjoy a cheerful break in the library, spending time with friendly dogs and soaking up some stress-free moments during the school day.

PASSPORTS TO DISCOVERY

Amy Ma ’30 shares her ’Round the World project, part of Class VI’s tradition where students showcase their geographic knowledge, creativity, and budgeting skills. Each project blends research and crafting as students plan imaginary journeys while managing a realistic travel budget.

HERE’S THE WINDUP

King Gross ’28 practices throwing the discus at our new on-campus throwing facilities.

SUPERFANS

As part of their Mechanical Engineering class project, Rohin Pinisetti ’25 pilots the hovercraft built in collaboration with Arav Santhanam ’25, Aydin Alsan ’25, and Daryl Shumway from the Buildings and Grounds team.

STEP UP

Madi Grossman ’29 speaks during the Class V Step Up ceremony, marking the end of middle school and the exciting transition for eighth graders into the upper school.

CRAFTS AND CULTURE

Rylan Singh ’25 gets henna at the spring Art Street festival, a lively event where clubs and organizations come together to celebrate creativity and community.

GREEN LIGHT

Mars Oliver-Martinez ’27 and Erin Campbell ’26 dance in the final scene of the Nobles Theatre Collective’s spring mainstage production of John Proctor Is the Villain. The Lorde song “Green Light,” woven throughout the play as a recurring motif, returns as the powerful soundtrack for this culminating moment.

WINTER 2024–25

Nobles

SUMMER 2025

Editor

Tiffany Truong

Director of Marketing and Communications

Tiffany Truong Director of Marketing and Communications

AssistAnt Editors

Kim Neal

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Anchoring Our Future

50 Years, Countless Stories

Over the past few years, we have been excitedly immersed in strategic planning at Nobles. As we map out our school’s future together, we have anchored our strategic planning in our mission—our why—and the core values that serve as guideposts for the Nobles community.

As we continue to celebrate 50 Years of Women at Nobles throughout 2025, I have been moved by the meaningful stories that have been shared—stories that thread themselves into the tapestry of our rich history.

When I think about a school’s identity, I am reminded of the metaphor of a home. Over time, as new walls are added, it can be hard to tell which you can remove and which contain the load-bearing beams—the supports essential to holding up the roof and anchoring the house to the foundation. In schools, we often take on more and more initiatives and programs, making it hard to know which are core to our mission and which distract from it.

Many of these are stories of “firsts”—the first young women enrolled in 1975, the first female to lead the student body, the first female athletic director, the first female distinguished graduate. These moments highlight the courage and tenacity of these remarkable women, who each gave a shoulder for the next generation to stand upon.

Over the past few years, we have clarified our three load-bearing beams at Nobles, encapsulated by our new mission statement: We forge human connections to inspire a lifelong process of discovery and unlock the potential to do good.

We have also heard many stories of hardship, where being the first meant experiencing a school not designed to support our evolving student body. Those challenges were almost always accompanied by the generosity of people who made a difference, including the faculty who forged connections and the classmates who stood by each other and have remained lifelong friends.

Forging human connections: Nobles students build and maintain enduring connections: to their classmates, who are friends for life; to their faculty, who serve as advisors and mentors long after graduation; and to our beloved campus, which will always welcome them home. At Nobles, we always show up for one another, because these human connections are our starting point, captured by our mantra relationship before task.

Inspiring a lifelong process of discovery: Our daily work is anchored in teaching and learning. As an exemplar in academics, we challenge our students through smart rigor while drawing upon the power of our human connections to inspire confidence and cultivate intellectual curiosity. Our focus is on embracing the process of learning and discovery, trusting that meaningful outcomes will follow in time.

As graduates across the last five decades share their experiences, the arc of Nobles’ history has bent toward inclusion, one where greater diversity and excellence have always gone hand in hand. Diversity at Nobles has never lowered a ceiling for anyone but has always raised the floor for everyone. We know we are a stronger community for this commitment.

While 2025 is a year to celebrate 50 Years of Women at Nobles, this celebration belongs to all of us. Every member of our Nobles community carries a story that shapes who we are today and shines a beacon for our journey ahead.

Unlocking the potential to do good: As educators, when we think about our purpose, it is rooted in the belief that we are making a difference in the world through our students. Unlocking the potential of our students to do good is the ultimate manifestation of the human connections we forge and the discovery we hope to inspire. We know our graduates’ impact radiates in and beyond their many communities.

Our yearlong celebration will culminate in a special Nobles Night in November, and I hope you will join us on campus!

Catherine J. hall, Ph.D., heaD of School

These three load-bearing beams hold our Nobles roof up high and anchor our community strongly to our foundation. In spring 2025, we look forward to sharing the strategic priorities that will enable us to fulfill our mission in transformative ways for Nobles students and the school community for decades to come.

Catherine J. hall, Ph.D., heaD of School

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Nobles is published twice a year for graduates, past and current parents/ guardians and grandparents, students and friends of the school. Noble and Greenough School is a day and 5-day boarding school for grades 7–12 in Dedham, Mass.

Nobles is published twice a year for graduates, past and current parents/ guardians and grandparents, students, and friends of the school. Noble and Greenough School is a day and 5-day boarding school for grades 7–12 in Dedham, Mass.

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Letters and comments may be emailed to communications@nobles.edu or mailed to 10 Campus Drive, Dedham, MA 02026.

Campus Drive

CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Meet Derek Jin ’25— chess aficionado, mentor, humorist.

FAST FACTS

Top Players: Derek Jin ’25, Aydin Alsan ’25, Noah Brauner ’25, Alexander Meng ’27, Lucas Keefe ’27, Ben Nguyen ’28, Jeffrey Liu ’26, Tony Wu ’28, Justin Lee ’26, Anran Liu ’26, Drew Palfrey ’27, Alex Cheng ’26

3 straight undefeated seasons (perfect seasons in the past two years)

6-time

SSICL champions (out of the last 7 seasons and 15 times out of the last 18)

3rd place in all high school chess teams in Massachusetts

1st place in all private high schools in Massachusetts at the 2025 Hurvitz Cup, Massachusetts Interscholastic State Chess Championship

How long have you been playing chess, and how did you first become interested in the game? When I was 5, I saw a crowd of spectators swarming around a chess hustler in Harvard Square. Through a flurry of hands and pieces, a wooden rook was flung from the board and landed a few paces from me. As I watched the miniature oak castle—worn and dented as though it had been plucked straight from a medieval siege—I knew I needed to learn everything I could about this erudite game.

What is the difference between the Chess Club and the Chess Team at Nobles? The Chess Team refers to a specific segment of the Chess Club participating in the annual chess matches for the South Shore Interscholastic Chess League (SSICL) each winter. The Chess Club represents a much broader community of chess enthusiasts at Nobles who offer us encouragement and support, regardless of whether they play in official matches.

How long have you been involved in the Chess Club/Team at Nobles? I have been a part of the Nobles Chess Team since seventh grade, when I supplanted the passionate, savvy, and charismatic (but also hapless and blunder-prone) senior captain Alex Bao as the team’s top player. I served as team captain in 10th and 11th grade, and this year I am the club president. Since joining Nobles, I’ve played in 41 of the 47 matches, with an overall record of 40 wins and one draw.

How has your experience as a member of the Chess Club informed or impacted your overall experience at Nobles? When I first came to Nobles, I was struck by how the Chess Club felt less like an activity and more like a home. During my tour, one of the Chess Team captains personally reached out to me to welcome me to Nobles.

My experience as a Chess Club member has served as a bridge between me and the greater Nobles community and has helped me form lifelong connections and friendships.

In what ways does the Chess Club help to build community and connection at Nobles? As glamorous and enthralling as the game is, the true value of the Chess Club lies in our members and the light, joyful attitude they bring to the community. If you drop by Baker 100 on a given Tuesday morning, you will see students laughing at the table, joking about their blunders, and playfully tossing pieces

Checkmate in the Castle: Nobles hosted St. Sebastian’s for a spirited chess match.

CHESS TEAM FAST FACTS

Final Record: 6–0–1

SSICL Champions for the third straight year

Individual Top Scorers: Derek Jin ’25 (7–0) and Alexander Meng ’27 (7–0) Most Improved: Ben Nguyen ’28

Close Matches: vs. Roxbury Latin (4–3 victory) vs. Sharon (3.5–3.5 tie)

ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHT

Kai Neal ’25 and Valeria Yepes Restrepo ’25 delivered a standout vocal performance of Glen Hansard’s “Falling Slowly,” expertly accompanied by Will Eckford ’25 on guitar, Eva Yu ’25 on piano, and Jonathan Tillen ’25 on violin.

ACADEMICS

BALANCE BY DESIGN

The 2024–2025 school year marked the second academic year of the full implementation of a new daily schedule at Nobles—designed through years of research, reflection, and a steadfast commitment to student well-being, academic engagement, and connection.

In 2018, Nobles partnered with Challenge Success, an affiliate of the Stanford Graduate School of Education, which works with schools to elevate student voices and implement research-based, equity-centered strategies that improve well-being, engagement, and belonging. Data gathered from students, faculty, and families revealed that while the previous schedule supported a rich academic and extracurricular program, it moved at an unsustainable pace.

“What the data from Challenge Success and other methods of hearing from families and teachers revealed was that our schedule was really frenetic,” explains Middle School Director of Studies and English faculty member Clara Brodie.

ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHT

around as they play (occasionally at the expense of the physics equipment). Sometimes it’s nice to be able to sit back, relax, and play some chess after a long and fulfilling academic day!

A dynamic cast of students, faculty, and staff delivered a wildly entertaining, elaborately choreographed mini-musical, The Heart of the Ocean, to celebrate the arrival of the newest community Lego set at the Putnam Library: the Titanic edition.

Brodie explains that the goal of the new schedule is to “de-densify” the day, creating more time and space for students and teachers to make meaningful connections. Key changes include limiting students to no more than three academic classes in a row, extending class periods to 60–70 minutes, and rotating subjects across a multi-day cycle.

“The new schedule gives students more time to sit with the topics and to unpack them,” says Upper School Director of Studies and mathematics faculty member Sue Kemalian. “While you can’t do 70 minutes of new material, you can go deeper.”

Research showed that a student-centered schedule prioritizes focus, flexibility, and connection. By reducing daily transitions and limiting students to no more than three academic blocks in a row, schools can create more productive learning environments. The schedule also carves out space for extra help, meaningful teacher-student meetings, and dedicated time for collaboration among teachers.

Expanded M-blocks (for performing arts classes) and increased community time create space for connection, support, and enrichment, including affinity group meetings and rehearsals that previously took place in the evening.

Early feedback from students points to a calmer, more balanced school day. The result is a more equitable, sustainable experience for both students and teachers.

ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHT

A faculty and staff tap group— launched by Director of Academic Support Heather O’Neill— performed a choreographed routine to “Me Too” by Meghan Trainor. O’Neill explained that the aim was to encourage community members to take risks and engage in Assembly, modeling vulnerability and involvement for students.

LEADERSHIP

Meet Alison Easterling

Openness, curiosity, and connection are hallmarks of Head of Upper School Alison Easterling’s leadership. In fall 2023, when her new colleagues were adjusting to an overhauled academic schedule based on a seven-day cycle, everything was new to her. She embraced the novelty, drawing on her instincts and decades of experience as an educator as she observed and learned with fresh eyes and a healthy respect for “what was sacred.” Before joining Nobles, she was at Lawrenceville Academy for 18 years, most recently as academic dean. Easterling, who is fluent in French, likens the move to a new school to “learning a new language in the same language family, like French and Spanish. The vocabulary is different, but the structures are familiar.”

Easterling’s big-picture perspective, driving Nobles’ academic vision, is informed in large part by frequent conversations with colleagues and students—connection is at the heart of the job. She says that most of what guides her work and decision-making comes down to this: “We have a deep belief here in the student first, foremost, and always. The question we always need to come back to is: What is best for them?”

Easterling reflects, “Any school, including ours, can grow from reaching outside of itself and bringing in new perspectives and ideas, and being open to doing things differently.” She encourages professional development and the sharing of discoveries, recognizing that a culture of continuous learning for students must be mirrored by a similar commitment among adults. As she often asks, “What are some of the ways we can make that even more true for our adult community as well?”

Easterling says, “Nobles’ mantra, ‘relationship before task,’ has helped me grow professionally: This school believes so deeply in community. The time we spend together in Assembly is so moving to me, and it made me want to be here.” She shows up in myriad ways, whether teaching U.S. History to juniors, coaching track, advising a club, or singing with Imani. She cheers on students and supports colleagues at games, performances, and academic events. “I think it’s important that I’m visible in a lot of spaces,” she says. Students’ hard work and risk-taking inspire her to champion them and to be vulnerable herself.

Head of Upper School Alison Easterling confers with a student from her U.S. History II course.

Easterling also prioritizes providing students with “opportunities to explore a range of different things. We have students who specialize, but everyone has to do some exploration [across the Nobles core curriculum and graduation requirements], and I truly value that, too.” As Nobles rounds out its strategic plan, Easterling plans to expand interdisciplinary studies and experiential learning, preparing students to tackle real-world problems. “We’re at a pivotal moment in the world and education with AI, when there are so many pressing questions and ‘known unknowns.’ What is our responsibility to evolve with all of these changes and new challenges? It’s something we’ll lean into in the next several years. Educators tend to like routine; moments and milestones shape our experience. AI in particular, but so many other things on the horizon, are asking us to think in new ways, and that is hard, but exciting. Schools like Nobles are based in tradition, so how do we, at the same time, think about the future?”

TOSTEPINTOTHEWORLD

STUDENTS

Learning Through Immersion

Fifteen Nobles students spent two weeks in China during spring break 2025. Through teaching at the Dandelion School, sharing meals with host families, and walking the ancient streets of Xi’an and Shanghai, Nobles students found connection in unexpected places. They faced language barriers with courage, embraced cultural differences with humility, and discovered that the most lasting lessons come from human connection. Along the way, they not only learned about China—they learned about themselves.

AS NEIGHBORS

AND AGENTS OFCHANGE

RETIREMENTS

Hard Work & Heart

Extraordinary educators embody a rare duality: They challenge students by holding them to the highest of standards while simultaneously nurturing them with genuine compassion. It’s a delicate balancing act, and when done right, the impact is both lasting and profound. In their myriad roles at Nobles over the decades, Dick Baker, Jenny “C-Traz” Carlson-Pietraszek, Christine “CP” Pasterczyk, and Maryanne MacDonald have demonstrated that an impactful career in education requires equal amounts of hard work and heart. As they retire after having dedicated a cumulative 131 years to Nobles, we celebrate not just what they taught, but how deeply they care, and the indelible mark they have left on generations of students and countless colleagues. All four of this year’s retirees are revered for how expertly they have approached the balancing act required of great school people. They have done it brilliantly, committing in equal measure to the minds and hearts

ETERNAL SCHOLAR, DEVOTED EDUCATOR,

In the 2024 Nobles Night video, honoree and former head of school and English teacher Dick Baker chronicles his 53 years at Nobles (1971–2024) as a triad of distinct chapters: his initial 15 years as a teacher and coach, his 13-year tenure as head of school (and one as acting head during Gleason’s sabbatical), and his return to the classroom for the 24 years that followed. Baker wore many hats over the course of his five decades at Nobles, accruing a list of titles that included, among others, English teacher, director of studies, department head, and head of school. Deeply committed to his role as an educator, he deliberated when offered the headship in 1985, knowing that the administrative role would inevitably pull his focus away from the classroom. Ultimately, it was the quiet wisdom of a former board chairman that convinced Baker to accept the position. “Opportunities open up, and we either step into them or not,” he told Baker. “But the doors close quickly.” Baker’s decision to walk through this particular door profoundly shaped both Nobles’ trajectory as a school and the lives of countless students,

“The 13 years that Dick served as Nobles’ fifth head of school would be a watershed in our school’s history,” says Head of School Cathy Hall. “Under his leadership, our academic program was strengthened; our student experience became more dynamic, diverse, and inclusive; and our reputation in the Boston region soared.”

Although Baker never set out to be head of school, he naturally excelled in the role. Despite this success, it was the third chapter—his return to the classroom— that he valued most. “I could focus on teaching,” he explains, “which meant I could focus on students, and that had become what I was most interested in.”

During the Baker celebration Assembly in fall 2024, English Department Chair Jessica Brennan praised Baker’s lasting impact on students. “Known for his challenging yet nurturing approach to education, Baker consistently pushed students to intellectual heights they never thought possible while simultaneously ensuring they felt seen and heard,” explained Brennan. “Year after year, Dick helps his students discover that they are capable of more than they imagined.”

Sara Shaff ’25, a student in Baker’s final Nobles English class, shares, “At the top of Baker’s syllabus is a quote from Socrates: ‘Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.’ Every day, Mr. Baker chose to ‘kindle the flame’ in all of us. In the classroom, he ‘kindled our flames’ with boosts of encouragement, celebrating our ideas and contributions. It was clear that Mr. Baker saw his role as a nurturer of students far above his role as ‘a filler’ of knowledge in the vessels of our brains.”

Brennan also highlighted Baker’s gift for making others feel seen, heard, and understood. “While books have been his primary vehicle over the years,” she said, “relationships have always been his destination. He has generously and steadily mentored countless teachers during his tenure, infusing us with the

resolve to reach higher, and the heart to listen more deeply.”

Former colleague and longtime friend Tim Carey captures the depth of Baker’s influence on his colleagues. “Dick was, at first, my boss, head of the English department, and director of studies,” says Carey. “Over time, I fully realized that he was also my mentor—the person who helped me recapture my love of teaching and showed me that relationships are what create indispensable learning.”

It is nearly impossible to encapsulate the full extent of Baker’s impact over his 53 years at Nobles, but Brennan comes remarkably close in her description of his magic: “Mr. Baker’s superpower is to show people the possibility in themselves that they didn’t know existed,” she said. “If that booming voice says we can, well, maybe we can.”

JENNY “C-TRAZ” CARLSONPIETRASZEK

CURIOUS SCHOLAR, SPIRITED ADVENTURER, GROUNDED EDUCATOR AT NOBLES SINCE 1997

Whether her classroom required a thinking cap or a safety helmet and a harness, history and social science faculty member Jenny “C-Traz” Carlson-Pietraszek’s lessons unfailingly promised adventure— and she was the steady belayer, adjusting the tension as students learned to trust themselves.

Throughout her 28-year tenure at Nobles, Carlson-Pietraszek quietly worked to reshape how we think about education—one student, one colleague, and one nuanced idea at a time. In 1998, just one year after arriving on campus, she was named head of the middle school. From pioneering the beloved middle school outdoor adventure program to developing

the groundbreaking Power and Inequality course, Carlson-Pietraszek has spent her career expanding the boundaries of what education can be. Whether she was facilitating impactful conversations within the four walls of a classroom or supporting middle school students as they belayed off the exterior wall of the Castle, she invariably demonstrated that the best educators don’t just adapt to their environment, they expand it.

“Jenny’s nature is steeped in natural curiosity and unflagging positivity,” says faculty member John Gifford. “She sees the possibilities for learning and growth in any situation, but perhaps her greatest gift to Nobles is not the knowledge she imparts—it is how students leave her classroom, seeing themselves as she does, full of boundless potential that they may not have recognized before.”

An intentional listener and leader, Carlson-Pietraszek made those around her feel seen and valued. “What I will remember most about working with Jenny is the way she brings out the best in everyone around her,” history and social science faculty member Nahyon Lee shares. “She is endlessly open to new ideas, always learning, always growing. When you’re with Jenny, you feel truly seen, heard, and valued. She reminds us, by her very presence, what it means to be a better colleague, a better teacher, a better person.”

Long before it became common practice, Carlson-Pietraszek held a deep conviction that learning happens everywhere—on hiking trails as much as in history classrooms, in casual conversations as much as formal discussions. She believes in meeting students where they are and honoring who they are becoming, and modeled the importance of lifelong learning for her colleagues.

“I have learned so much from Jenny about teaching, learning, and the essential ingredients of caring, connective teacher-student relationships, as well as colleague relationships,” says school counselor and former history and social science colleague Hannah Puckett. “Jenny understood that we first needed to care deeply for each other as colleagues before we could develop an impactful curriculum for our students. This is her genius— we were better teachers who could be consistently and critically engaged with our curriculum year after year because she encouraged us to start from a place of love.”

Carlson-Pietraszek leaves a legacy in the countless lives she’s touched— students who discovered their voice, colleagues who found their confidence, and a school community enriched by her intellect and heart.

Lee captures the depth of CarlsonPietraszek’s impact on the Nobles community: “Most of all, I’ll miss how Jenny makes Nobles feel like home. She offers sage advice, helps others process what’s on their minds, and reminds us—students and adults alike—that we each must walk our own path and find comfort in who we are. Her quick laugh, deep sincerity, and fierce advocacy for others will leave a lasting mark.”

CHRISTINE “CP” PASTERCZYK

INVENTIVE

EDUCATOR, FEARLESS ADVENTURER, EMPOWERING COACH AT NOBLES SINCE 1994

When science faculty member Christine “CP” Pasterczyk took her sabbatical last year, she didn’t spend it resting. In true CP fashion, she recharged by traversing three continents. During her year “off,” CP sailed tall ships through Scotland’s Hebrides, plunging into open-water swims each day; completed six longdistance Nordic races across Northern Europe; explored philosophy and traditional arts in Kyoto; traveled Eastern Europe by rail; and explored British Columbia’s coastline by sea kayak. This same boundless curiosity and spirit of adventure—matched by an unwavering dedication to her students—has defined CP’s 31-year teaching career at Nobles.

“CP has been an inspirational model of the great balancing act,” says science faculty member and department head Jen Craft, “maintaining the highest expecta tions for our students, supporting them at every step of the journey, and helping them realize the resilience that lives within. She leaves a legacy of principled excellence, playful connection, and pow erful authenticity. A masterful teacher, her artistry lives in her ability to make science fun, a little weird, and 100% memorable. Broadly, she sees the world differently than most, and those who go the distance with her are often transformed by virtue of her vision, care, and belief in others.”

By transforming complex concepts into engaging lessons, CP helps students see science from a fresh perspective. “For CP, it’s never really been just about physics,” says Honors Physics student Lily Comander ’25. “Physics has simply been the vehicle she operates to shape us into better, more resilient, curious, and thoughtful people. We are so grate

“A masterful teacher, her artistry lives in her ability to make science fun, a little weird, and 100% memorable.”

ful for all the wisdom, laughter, and guidance she’s shared with us over the years.”

When presenting CP with the 2025 yearbook, dedicated to her by the graduating class, Maya Rottenberg ’25, CP’s student and advisee, shared, “CP, I am forever grateful for your pep talks and your continuous support. You inspire me to be a better version of myself.”

Dean of Faculty and math faculty member Maura Sullivan explains that CP was a natural in the classroom from day one. “It is her happy place,” says Sullivan. “She feeds off the curiosity, energy, and quirkiness of her students and gives the same qualities back in return. CP sets the bar high, but the students work hard to meet that bar because of their respect and admiration for her.”

CP’s signature course, Advanced Projects in Physics, culminates each fall with student teams collaborating to construct sophisticated Rube Goldberg-inspired machines, a project that blends creative engineering with quantitative analysis.

“Advanced Projects in Physics has been an extraordinary model of curriculum that bursts with student-driven exploration in partnership with a phenomenally creative educator,” says science faculty member Deb Harrison, pinpointing the magic of the popular course and its teacher.

Craft elaborates on the impact of this inventive, engaging pedagogy, sharing: “CP is deeply invested in student curiosity and ‘the doing’ of science. She enjoys moving students through a making process that rewards their persistence, ingenuity, and productive collaboration.

Kids take pride in the work they do in this class, and, in turn, CP takes pride in helping her students to recognize something new in themselves.”

CP’s impact extends far beyond the physics classroom, through her role as advisor to countless students and to the renowned and beloved Chess Team, which has achieved remarkable success under her guidance. Derek Jin ’25, a member of the Chess Team and CP’s advisee, says, “Throughout my time at Nobles, CP was always there for me— whether I needed to talk through Chess Team affairs, get advice on a math course, or just decompress after a tough test. She brings a tremendous sense of duty and obligation to everything she does, whether it’s supporting students, collaborating with colleagues in the physics department, or guiding her advisees. She is humble and down to earth, and like many of the hidden gems in the Nobles community, you often learn about CP’s greatest qualities not from her directly, but from those whose lives she has touched in countless ways.”

This spring, the Class of 2000 honored CP by naming her the recipient of the Coggeshall Award, which celebrates the dedication, passion, and positive influence of a member of the extended Nobles community. In her remarks during the presentation, Devin Green ’00 captured the essence of CP’s exceptional mentorship: “CP influenced us in the way I think the best teachers, coaches, and mentors do,” explained Green. “She taught us to look deeper, to ask questions, to believe in ourselves, to be playful, to find joy, wonder, and awe in the world.”

For generations of graduates, CP taught more than physics—she showed them how to see possibilities where they might have once only envisioned limitations. As CP charts her course toward new horizons, she leaves behind a community forever changed by her visionary approach to education. In Harrison’s words: “CP’s adventurous spirit is an enduring reminder that there is a big world just waiting to be explored.”

MARYANNE MACDONALD

QUIET

HERO, CARING MENTOR, MOTHER HEN AT NOBLES SINCE 1999

Authenticity defines everything Assistant to Head of the Middle School Maryanne MacDonald has done at Nobles for the past 25 years. Whether helping a student from her desk anchored at the heart of Pratt, teaching a cooking class to middle school students, volunteering at the local food pantry, or painting inspirational messages on rocks for hospital waiting rooms, MacDonald is always doing good.

Former head of Middle School and longtime friend John Gifford sums up MacDonald perfectly: “She doesn’t curate her kindness and care—she just is.” At her retirement celebration, he shared a story that captured the essence of her role. A parent had recently sent her a bouquet as a gift of gratitude with a note that read, “Heroes often come in cardigans, not capes.” Gifford elaborated on MacDonald’s impact: “Day after day, Maryanne has been our quiet hero, not with grand gestures that demand applause, but with steady hands that hold everything together when it matters most.”

A mentor to thousands of middle school students, MacDonald’s steady presence has been a gift to the community. “I love working with the students,” shares MacDonald. “I often have lunch with former middle school students. They share their stories with me, and I feel honored and blessed that they want to include me. I also work with the student leaders in the middle school. Many of these students become leaders in the upper school, and it makes me really proud.”

Chidubem Chukwu ’25, who has known MacDonald since middle school, shares, “Mrs. MacDonald has a great care for her students that manifests in an awareness of their struggles. It is because she recognizes when a student is in need of care and reaches out that she has most deeply touched my Nobles experience.”

Interim Head of Middle School Colette Finley adds that MacDonald is the “mother hen” of the middle school. “She cares for everyone while also holding them to high standards,” Finley explains. “I watched and learned as Maryanne helped run the middle school. I was always impressed by her ability to both get the job done and be there for others.”

Her advice to the community? “Treat people the way you want to be treated. Take things one day at a time. Never worry alone. We’re all in this together, and it’s really healthy and important to laugh.”

Gifford concluded his speech at MacDonald’s retirement gathering with these words: “Today, I raise my glass to Maryanne. For the long days you’ve worked without complaint, for the countless times you’ve anticipated what we needed before we asked, for the way you make the impossible look routine. Your brilliance may not come with a spotlight, but it illuminates everything we do. To Maryanne—may you always know that while capes can get attention, it’s cardigans that change lives. And you have certainly changed all of ours.”

“ALL THAT JAZZ”

The Nobles Theatre Collective brought the Roaring Twenties back to Campus Drive with this year’s musical, the iconic Chicago. The cast and crew delivered seven sensational performances, leaving viewers wondering if they were seated in Vinik Theatre or the Shubert. Every dazzling detail of the performance amazed the audience, from the showstopping leads and charismatic chorus to the playful pit band, visionary tech crew, and dynamic choreography.

NOTABLE NED TALKS

If you’re really good at something but you don’t see an outlet for it around you, then you have to seek one out. It can be scary, but I want to assure you, if you do it out of genuine passion, it doesn’t matter how unique it is, people will appreciate it. Sitting in these seats are some of the most unique, the strangest, and the most wonderful kids I know. I know someone who can juggle while unicycling, who makes Chess Club propaganda movies for fun, who can play the accordion, and more. They’ve shown us who they are, and we all love them for it. So get out there and show us what you can do.

Eli sC hotl A nd ’25

As

We do a lot here, and it may seem like we’re all walking on separate paths. But in reality, those paths are ours to walk because of what we give to each other … Each of us are dazzling mosaics of the people we walk with, the people who walk ahead of us, and the people who will come to follow.

Emm

A sA w A tzky

’25

I leave Nobles, I do so with the understanding that I am not defined by where I come from, nor by where I am now, but by how I choose to move forward carrying the wisdom of those before me not as a burden, but as a guide to becoming my truest self.

nin A ros A ’25

Be gracious with your friends, your family, and yourself. You may never know what someone else is going through, but you can always be empathetic. And remember that all we can do is our best in the moment— I promise, it’s enough.

Emili E Andr E ws ’25

IDENTITY IN FORM

The Annual AP Art Show in Foster Gallery showcases the culmination of a year defined by curiosity and creativity. Fifty-eight student artists spent months exploring their personal style, experimenting with new techniques, and pushing their creative limits—all to build a final body of work that speaks to something uniquely their own. What began as clay, canvas, and film became a powerful collective statement—an exhibition of identity, experimentation, and vision.

Finnoula Wheeler ’26 started her pottery on the wheel, then delicately hand carved detailed buildings into the walls, finishing them with watercolor and adding mixed-media details. Provincetown Town Hall, 2008; Cot Hill Rd, 1973/Fairfield St., 1998; Emmeline, 2005

The Power of Curiosity— and the Courage to Follow It

The No. 1 skill that has helped me, both at COP [29th Conference of the Parties] and in college, has been curiosity. It’s been the drive to ask questions like, Why? What if? And that curiosity was sparked right here when I was in seats like yours. In classrooms like Ms. Harrison’s AP Environmental Science class, where I first learned about the delicate balance of ecosystems. In Mr. Gallagher’s Politics and Ethics class, where I began to understand the complexities of global governments. And in conversations with my advisor, Gwen Chiaranda, where we dreamed about what a green revolution might look like. These moments taught me that change does not happen in isolation. It begins with bold ideas, thoughtful questions, and the courage to act on them. Wherever your path may take you, I hope you nurture that curiosity. It will open doors you never imagined, take you places you never thought possible, and, most importantly, it will allow you to make a meaningful difference in whatever field you choose.

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ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHT

Assembly was a family affair as sisters Jordyn ’25 (above) and Maddie ’30 Julien each took the stage. Maddie, a brave Nobles Sixie, sang “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski, accompanied by Christian Eckford ’28, Nina Ge ’27, and Claire Chow ’27, followed by Jordan’s rendition of “Crave,” by Paramore, with Jameson “Jamo” Callaghan ’25 on drums, Will Eckford ’25 on guitar, and Nora Voldins ’26 on bass.

ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHT

Playfulness and connection were on full display during a “Gen-Z word-off” organized by Thomas Xue ’25. Faculty members Jenny CarlsonPietraszek, Amadou Seck, Nahyon Lee, and Elliot Mancuso were each given a Gen-Z slang term to say aloud—while students tried (and often failed) to keep a straight face. Laughter was constant—and eliminations swift.

FOOLS FEST

This year’s reimagined Fools Fest lit up The Beach. Student bands took the stage in front of the glowing library, filling the night with music and energy. Add in lawn games, fire pits, tie-dye, and food trucks, and it was the perfect celebration of community and spring.

MEET THE ATHLETE

Sophia Hahn ’25

How would you describe the culture of the Nobles softball team? The Nobles softball team is unlike anything I’ve ever had the privilege of being a part of before. The team culture is welcoming and enthusiastic, a space where we can authentically enjoy each other’s company. One of the most special parts of Nobles softball is how the relationships we build extend far beyond the season and field.

What were some of your personal or team goals for this season? This season, some of our goals included beating our rival, Brooks, and winning the ISL—goals we were fortunate enough to achieve. As captains, we also focused on shifting away from the pressure of maintaining perfection on the field, taking each play, game, and opposing team one step at a time. With such a young team, fostering an environment that supported mistakes and learning was necessary for creating a healthy team culture and successful relationships.

Is there a game or moment from your time on the team that stands out? One of my favorite memories from Nobles softball was winning the Big East Championship my freshman year, capping off both an undefeated season and ISL championship.

How has your role on the team evolved over the years? My role on the team unexpectedly shifted this year when a back injury forced me to step away from hitting and made my primary position as a pitcher more difficult. Being told I couldn’t contribute in ways I previously had only made me want to be more involved, so I taught myself to slap from the left side of the plate.

What will you miss most about playing Nobles softball? I will miss the laughs, memories, celebrations, and hardships that made me into the player I am today. Nobles softball has given me some of my best friends, and I am so grateful for the experiences this program has given me.

Nate Pichardo

ATHLETICS SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

WINTER 2025

Boys varsity alpine skiing finished fifth in the ISL, and girls varsity alpine skiing swept the ISL with first-place finishes at every race and earned second at NEPSACs.

Boys varsity basketball more than doubled its win total from the previous year and beat Phillips Andover 65–47 for the first time since 2014.

Girls varsity basketball earned the No. 1 seed in the first year of NEPSAC’s AAA division and concluded the season with a record of 28–1. Coach Alex Gallagher ’90, who has celebrated 19 ISL championships, was named Class AAA Coach of the Year.

Boys varsity hockey secured first place in the ISL Keller Division for the second year in a row and earned the No. 8 seed in the NEPSAC Elite 8 tournament.

Girls varsity hockey won 15 consecutive games between mid-January and mid-February, earned the No. 4 seed in the Elite 8 NEPSAC tournament, and capped the season with an overall record of 23–5–1.

Boys varsity squash finished third in the ISL, won the New England Class B tournament, and finished fourth in Division B at nationals.

Girls varsity squash finished second in the ISL, seventh in the New England Class A tournament, and 13th in the nation in Division I.

Two girls from varsity wrestling placed at the New England Preparatory School Wrestling Association and the girls’ National Prep Wrestling Championships for the second consecutive year.

SPRING 2025

Varsity baseball completed a remarkable turnaround from last season, earning a 14–3 record, a 9–2 finish in the ISL, and the No. 2 seed in the ISL playoffs.

Boys varsity crew launched nine boats over the season. At NEIRAs, the 2V and 4V earned silver, and the 1V placed fourth. The 5V, 6V, and 7V crews also impressed, finishing second, third, and fourth in the Lower Boat Championship.

Girls varsity crew dominated the season, capturing gold in the 1V, 2V, and 3V races at NEIRAs and a silver in a separate 4V race, and securing the NEIRA title. Both the 1V and 2V boats qualified for Nationals in Florida.

Varsity golf captured several hard-fought wins, including a 4–3 victory over St. Sebastian’s—their first time in many years.

Boys varsity lacrosse finished fourth in the ISL, securing a home game in the ISL tournament and finishing the season with three consecutive wins over Governor’s Academy, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Milton Academy.

Girls varsity lacrosse, with an ISL record of 11–1, won its fourth consecutive ISL championship, with a 9–7 win over Governor’s in the final game.

Varsity softball went undefeated in the ISL (9–0) to win the league title for the second year in a row. The team also advanced to the Big East Tournament final, beating both Governor’s Academy and Brooks, advancing to the championship game, and placing second in the tournament.

Boys varsity tennis, in their first season at the Class A level, advanced to the NEPSAC semifinals, dropping just one match all season, to the eventual champions. They also captured the NEPSITT Class A singles title, with runner-up finishes in both singles and doubles.

ASSEMBLY HIGHLIGHT

The final Assembly of the school year wrapped up with a beloved tradition: the annual Bill Bussey Book Toss, where teachers launch their favorite reads into the crowd to kick off a summer of new stories and fresh pages.

Girls varsity tennis recaptured the ISL title after a two-year break, with an ISL record of 12–0. The team advanced to the NEPSAC semifinals after a commanding win over the Winsor School, led by a strong group of five seniors.

Varsity track and field broke a total of 11 records, with several performances ranking among the top in the state. The girls team reached a record size of 74 athletes, and the boys team earned their best-ever finish at New Englands—fourth place—with two champions.

Stay up to date and see full schedule at bit.ly/noblesathletics.

Jasmyn Cooper ’25

’27

LETTER TO MY YOUNGER SELF

ELI INGRAHAM ’76

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50 OF WOMEN @ NOBLES

HEIDI CHARLES, ANNE MCMANUS, KIM NEAL, MEGAN TADY, AND TIFFANY TRUONG

1974–1984

Pioneers & Trailblazers

DID YOU KNOW?

In the 1970s, the first Apple computer, Atari gaming system, VHS video player, and Sony Walkman brought technology into the home.

Title IX expanded women’s sports in schools (1972).

Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency after the Watergate scandal (1974).

Boston Public Schools were ordered to desegregate through a system of busing students, and protests drew national attention (especially 1974–1976).

The fall of Saigon marked the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War (1975).

THE YEAR 1974 was a watershed moment for America as we witnessed Watergate, U.S. troops withdrawing from Vietnam, and second-wave feminism growing at home. It also marked a turning point for Nobles, as fourth Head of School Ted Gleason and the board of trustees recognized the need for the school’s physical and intellectual expansion. While seeking to double Nobles’ population and enrollment revenue, they also knew admitting female students would better prepare all graduates for the real world. Families with sons at Nobles were eager for their daughters to enjoy the same opportunities and represented the majority of those first 84 female students. Lesser-known lore is that Nobles was on the cusp of merging with Boston’s all-girls Winsor School, which chose at the 11th hour to keep their single-sex status.

A NEW SCHOOL

Nobles’ lower school (renamed the middle school in 1980) didn’t admit girls until 1982; the curriculum there also included a predecessor to today’s Personal Development courses, addressing relationships, sexuality, and substance use. Of the transformative decision to bring girls on board, Gleason said, “Coeducation meant everything was possible.” Gender inclusivity at Nobles offered everyday examples of the strength and success that diverse perspectives bring to a community. It also helped Nobles more closely mirror environments in which graduates would live and work.

In addition to elevating academics at Nobles, according to their laudatory male classmates, the first decade of female students were no wallflowers. They blazed trails as artists, athletes, and leaders, enriching opportunities for all students. An apt choice for the era, the 1976 production of Guys and Dolls was the first all-Nobles musical with male and female students. In 1980–81, girls basketball and lacrosse were Nobles’ first girls teams to win the Independent School League (ISL) championships, and Caroline “Ceci” Clark became the league’s first female athletic codirector (1981). Female students also voiced themselves through campus publications: In 1978, Kathy Mitchell ’79 and Debby Amory ’80 founded Calliope, Nobles’ literary magazine, and Linda Lynch ’81 became the first female editor of The Nobleman. In addition, Diane Ives ’79 was elected as the first female president of the School Life Council in 1979.

ELI INGRAHAM ’76

A TURNING POINT

Social impact and systems change consultant and advisor, Center for Partnership Systems, bioregional coordinator for Design School for Regenerating Earth

The U.S. celebrated its bicentennial with nationwide events and a commemorative quarter (1976). During the Iran Hostage Crisis (1979), 52 Americans were held for 444 days.

Post-it Notes hit store shelves (1980).

MTV transformed the music industry and the listener experience (1981).

In the 1970s, Americans were watching TV shows like “All in the Family,” “Happy Days,” “M*A*S*H,” “Little House on the Prairie,” and “Dallas.”

On being among the first: Being one of the first female students at Nobles in 1975 felt both special and daunting. I’m not sure women in 1970s society felt special, and I know as a teenager, I felt pretty insecure and invisible. But Nobles was transformative, perhaps because it was going through its own metamorphosis from an institution of white male privilege to a more progressively integrated school.

On what Nobles gave her: The biggest gift Nobles gave me was the awareness that, in fact, I was special. Nobles was like a mirror, reflecting back to me the potential I wasn’t able to see in myself. Going to Nobles, even for only two years, was a huge turning point in my life. I was recognized and rewarded in ways I could never have imagined. I was awarded the first female Nobles Shield for athletics. I received the first creative writing award for poetry. I was absolutely stunned to hear my name as the first female student to be given the Russell B. Stearns award for academic achievement and promise of leadership. Being able to excel, to explore, and to be seen allowed me to internalize self-esteem and confidence. I literally grew up at Nobles.

Eighteen-yearold DJ Kool Herc launched the hip-hop movement in the Bronx when he played a back-toschool house party that made history.

The first American baby was born via in vitro fertilization (1981).

On self-discovery: School was my refuge. It was my place of support and stability because home life was very disruptive at the time. Nobles gave me teachers, coaches, and administrators who provided much-needed guidance and mentorship. I am still so grateful. In my mid-30s, I finally came out as gay, which meant I had to rebuild my foundation. I had no constructs of support—no school, no family, no community, no congregation. It was only me. I went to Canada for six years so I could heal and reconstitute my life in a quiet space.

On the value of exploration: I graduated from Wellesley College in 1980. By 29, I was a senior VP of an investment firm in Boston. But I realized that finance did not resonate with my values or personality, so I decided

to take a year off and travel by myself with just a backpack and a few bucks. Mark Twain said that travel does away with bigotry and prejudice—and when you walk the earth and see different cultures, it changes you like nothing else can. Those adventures are some of the most important times of my life. I actually took every fifth year off for 15 years, much to everyone’s dismay, I might add.

On doing good: People talk about the climate crisis, yet ironically, the climate is not in crisis. It’s humans who are in crisis—a moral, existential crisis. In my line of work, we believe we need to transcend the current system and develop completely new ways of thinking, being, and interacting in order to preserve future generations. Beyond reducing harm, we need to figure out ways to do more good if we want a world with a flourishing future. I recently discovered the bioregional movement that is regenerating

place-based communities worldwide. Now I advise on funding mechanisms and bioregional coordination, pro bono. Bioregionalism is an understanding of our connectedness to the earth and of our being part of nature, not separate from it.

On cycles of life: Systems theory, which guides my work, has a lot to do with the patterns of life, with the seasons, and with the divine feminine nature of water. It’s interesting that many of the people who work in bioregionalism are women, because women instinctually understand the cycles of life. It was women who actually started agriculture by taking seeds from the fields and sprinkling them within the community to cultivate and grow food closer to home. All of us can be impact doulas. We give life, we understand the ebb and flow of life, and as mothers and daughters, we are acutely aware of trying to make sure future generations live on.

Finding Their Voices 1984–1994

A MIDDLE SCHOOL full of boys and girls

DID YOU KNOW?

At the 1984 Olympics in LA, gymnast Mary Lou Retton was the first American woman

marked Nobles’ evolution from a single-sex institution to an all-gender one. Conversations in class and the Castle infused learning with broader perspectives and experiences. As female students found their voices at Nobles, Head of School Ted Gleason embraced the value of those viewpoints and sought to expand religious and racial diversity. Admission processes were gradually revised to appeal to students from various geographic areas and backgrounds. In 1987, enrollment reflected Nobles’ first 50-50 balance of female and male students. While attracting more students from previously

BESTING THE BOYS

Nobles’ second female School Life Council president, Amy Diercks ’87, won the leadership position as a write-in candidate, beating out three of her male classmates—even though she was excluded from the onstage election assembly in which candidates responded to campaign questions.

SEEDS OF SERVICE

The seeds for Nobles’ current EXCEL (Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning) program took root in the 1980s. By 1985, community service became a requirement for graduation, a prescient programmatic choice for a school that has always valued service and named it in their mission. The Class of 1989 was the first to fulfill the requirement; members of the Class of 2025 averaged 120 service hours, blowing past the 80-hour requirement.

British scientist Sir Tim BernersLee invented the World Wide Web to share content over the internet (1989).

The Americans with Disabilities Act marked a monumental win for individuals with disabilities, legally protecting them from many kinds of discrimination (1990).

Los Angelenos erupted in protest after members of the LAPD beat Rodney King, a Black man (1992).

Seattle spawned the grunge movement, launching local bands Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and making flannel cool.

Awareness of and activism around the AIDS epidemic were high.

Americans flocked to movie theaters to watch “Top Gun” and “Back to the Future” and stayed home to see “The Cosby Show” and “The Simpsons” on TV Basketball legend Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to consecutive NBA championships in 1991, 1992, and 1993.

The newly elected SLC leaders for the ’89–’90 school year, from the left: Liz Robinson ’90, social vice president; Lorna Lowe ’90, president; and Mike Wexler ’90, political vice president

Strength in Numbers 1994–2004

DID YOU KNOW?

President Bill Clinton was impeached on the grounds of perjury after his scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky; he was then acquitted by the Senate (1995).

Terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, claimed nearly 3,000 lives on domestic soil, setting in motion overhauls to American foreign and domestic policy. One of the many communities to suffer tragic losses was Nobles itself.

Dot-com businesses bubbled—and burst (1997–2001).

Toyota rolled out the first hybrid auto, the Prius, shifting gears toward greater climate awareness and energy efficiency in the automotive industry.

“Friends” and “The West Wing” dominated top TV ratings.

BY 1994, Nobles reached near gender parity among faculty for the first time: 32 of the school’s 68 teachers were women.

In the classroom, the intellectual landscape broadened. English electives such as Women in America and Unheard Voices: A Multicultural Survey of Women’s Literature sparked critical thinking around identity, voice, and power and offered deeper engagement with women’s perspectives. The classes drew female students in large numbers, reflecting both the courses’ appeal and the space they claimed in academic discourse.

And academically, girls weren’t just keeping pace—they were excelling. A 1997 Nobleman article reported that twice as many girls as boys were admitted early to college that year, including to nearly all selective institutions where Nobles students typically applied. Additionally, Class I girls consistently outperformed their male peers in academic achievement and honors.

During this era, a cultural tradition came under scrutiny: the longstanding practice of girls waiting on tables at the football team’s end-of-year banquet. When Head of School Richard Baker

asked Coach Nick Marinaro to end the tradition in 1993, his request sparked a lively debate. Some female students saw nothing wrong with continuing, while others found the practice outdated and degrading. However, the disagreement reflected a deeper truth: Young women at Nobles were thinking critically about gender roles and questioning long-held assumptions, even as they themselves held differing perspectives.

GRADUATE RECOGNITION

In 2000, Nobles named Wellesley College Dean of Admission Janet Lavin Rapelye ’77 as the first female recipient of the Distinguished Graduate Award, recognizing her for her leadership and vision in higher education. She led admission at Princeton until 2018, when she became president of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education.

SARAH B. SNYDER ’95

PERSPECTIVE IN PRACTICE

Historian, author, professor at American University

Comedian Ellen DeGeneres came out on her self-titled show, “Ellen” (1997), and popular sitcom “Will & Grace” broke boundaries by bringing queer representation to prime time (1998).

A tragic portent of so many more to come, the Columbine High School massacre (1999) drew national attention to gun control and safety measures in schools.

Box-office smashes included an ambitious screen adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Titanic.”

Fears about “Y2K” computer system failures on January 1, 2000, proved inconsequential.

Tech breakthroughs transformed ways of seeking and sharing information, from Google’s founding (1998) to the spread of Wi-Fi and the introduction of the first camera phones (2000).

The U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 based on global security concerns about Saddam Hussein’s government harboring weapons of mass destruction.

On writing: As a professor, I enjoy working with students to improve their writing. The ability to write analytically is likely the most important skill a student will leave my course with, and the lessons I share with them are grounded in Joe Swayze’s Nobleman course, where he ingrained in us the importance of the lede and to “write what before when.”

On uncovering the past: My history classes at Nobles, in particular with Dr. [Vin] O’Brien, Beth Reilly, and Bill Mayher, expanded my enthusiasm and passion for history. As a historian, I love to hunt in the archives for sources that can change the way we understand an event or development. Sometimes these records have only recently been declassified, enabling us to appreciate the U.S. government’s position fully on a particular negotiation for the first time. In other instances, historians read existing sources to illuminate a new question, say, how human rights activism contributed to the end of the Cold War.

On questioning assumptions: I wish more people would understand that there are no definitive historical narratives. Historians disagree, often vigorously, and others thinking about historical events should, too. In history, and elsewhere in our lives, it is important to interrogate our assumptions and always seek more and new evidence to answer critical questions.

On the process of discovery: At Nobles, I learned to play ice hockey, manage the football team, understand Latin, organize a charity rock concert, and throw a pot. Those are not skills I rely upon professionally, but they stretched my brain in new ways and facilitated connections to colleagues, students, and friends in the subsequent decades.

On perspective and breaking convention: I think my gender has made me want to study historical phenomena from unconventional perspectives.

In my teaching and research, I have been interested in demonstrating the influence of nonstate actors on international negotiations, bilateral relations, the formation of congressional legislation, the policies pursued by presidential administrations, and the motivations of individual policymakers.

On raising your hand—and your voice: In my junior year, Beth Reilly offered what may have been the first women’s history class at Nobles. I can only imagine that she was trying to address an imbalance she recognized in the course offerings. Studying women’s history, and indeed learning about other groups less well documented

in dominant historical narratives, was and is important to understanding our place in the world.

On speaking up: If I recognized a problem, other people probably did too. And if they were not yet speaking out about the inconsistency, I should be sure to raise it. Nobles gave me the confidence to do so. The experience of getting up on stage to make an announcement in Assembly as early as my Sixie and Fifthie years taught me that if I had something to say, my community would listen.

Breaking New Ground 2004–2014

DID

YOU KNOW?

When Hurricane Katrina leveled New Orleans, it also revealed the uneven playing field for its citizens of color and catastrophic gaps in disaster relief (2005).

Barack Obama made history when he was elected the first Black president of the United States (2008) and introduced the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, during his first term (2010).

Banking failures and a plunging real estate market set off an economic recession that required a $700B government bailout.

In Massachusetts, same-sex marriage was legalized in 2004.

Facebook and Twitter opened the floodgates to social media in 2006, immediately followed by Apple and Android launching smartphones. Instagram joined the online party in 2010.

THE COMPLETION of the Arts Center in 2006 (later named for sixth head of school Bob Henderson ’76) ushered in an expansion of the arts at Nobles. The Vinik Theatre expanded possibilities for student productions, while the Foster Gallery invited artists, students, and the community at and outside of Nobles to share and converse about art. Spaces for dance and music rounded out the offerings. With Nobles’ continued athletic excellence, the school started to attract and serve a student body with increasingly diverse interests and talents. Women were shaping the next chapter of Nobles. Jenny Carlson-Pietraszek became the first female administrator to helm the middle school on her own, from 1998–2008, before becoming a history teacher and pioneer of integrating technology initiatives with classroom learning. In 2013, Beth Reilly ’87 was elected as Nobles’ first (and only) female board president to date; she served until 2020. Her wise governance and skillful collaboration reflected a profound understand ing of and dedication to Nobles as a graduate and educator, having been a history teacher and department head. And former Director of Communications Joyce Eldridge was hired to write In Their Voices, a tome chronicling Nobles from 1966–2016. A woman literally wrote Nobles’ history.

HOCKEY HEROES

Around the globe, the Nobles community hailed its homegrown hockey heroes as they competed in the Winter Olympics. Sarah Parsons ’05 and Helen Resor ’04 (daughter of legendary coach and college counselor Tom Resor) each brought home a bronze from Turin, Italy, in 2006; Karen Thatcher ’02 secured a silver in Vancouver, Canada, in 2010; and Michelle Picard ’11 won silver in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

LORIS TORIBIO ’06

EYES ON EQUITY

Director of Economic and Fiscal Policy at Robin Hood, New York City’s largest local povertyfighting philanthropy

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore sounded a siren about climate change in the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth (2006).”

In 2007, Netflix introduced digital streaming, expanding the entertainment industry for television and film.

“Game of Thrones” and “Glee “topped the TV charts, while the “Harry Potter” film franchise drew moviegoers to theaters.

Navy SEALs tracked down and killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, 10 years after he plotted the 9/11 attacks.

The Black Lives Matter movement began in response to national conversations around racial justice and police conduct following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in 2013 in the death of Black teenager Trayvon Martin.

On justice: I have always had a strong sense of justice and fairness; I think it comes from being the eldest daughter in an immigrant family. I’m always rooting for the underdog and want to make sure that we’re honoring the dignity of all people. That was really nurtured at Nobles. I met so many incredible teachers and counselors; they’re honestly my inspiration for wanting to go into education. When I think back on my Nobles experience, the thing I felt most deeply was a sense of duty and giving back. It has guided me in my career and the way I choose to spend my time. It’s led me to work at an organization focused on fighting poverty, where we’re thinking through questions like: What are the systemic injustices that people need to overcome? How does public policy contribute to that, and how can we use it to ensure that all people have opportunities for economic mobility?

On female identity: We live in a society that centers men, and as a woman, you see how that manifests in double standards, higher expectations, and more policing. Growing up, that really impacted my sense of fairness and how I view the world. I feel it more acutely now that I’m a working mother. Women are more likely to be in poverty, not just because they might earn less, but because they disproportionately shoulder caregiving responsibilities, which impacts labor force participation, career advancement, and financial security. So it’s something that I constantly think about in the way I do my policy and advocacy work.

On doing good: I love my job. I work for an organization dedicated to creating permanent pathways out of poverty, and I do feel like we are making a difference, even if it’s through incremental wins. Robin Hood is very data-focused, and we track the impact of our grantmaking. Our grant partners’ advocacy contributed to 300,000 kids accessing child care vouchers and that our direct advocacy helped double the state’s child tax credit and moved 47,000 kids out of poverty.

On hope: To be completely frank, it can be hard to stay optimistic. The reason I don’t feel hopeless is that my day-to-day work is confronting the challenges head-on. In periods of crisis, when setbacks can feel overwhelming, working for an organization that is aligned with my personal values allows me to turn concern into purposeful action.

On gender and raising good humans: I have 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. We are very conscious about not imposing restrictive gender norms and work to proactively mitigate against the more harmful ones. That means teaching them both to identify and express their emotions, to set and respect boundaries, and to practice empathy and kindness.

I’m always rooting for the underdog and want to make sure that we’re always honoring the dignity of all people. That was really nurtured at Nobles.

Expanding Possibilities (The Future Is Now) 2014–2025

DID YOU KNOW?

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage across all 50 states (2015).

Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and other tech entrepreneurs and researchers founded OpenAI in 2015.

President Donald Trump, who defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016, returned to office in 2024 by defeating Vice President #MeToo movement, founded by Tarana Burke, raised awareness of and demanded retribution for sexual misconduct across industries, from entertainment to politics.

The number of women elected to the U.S. Congress hit a historic high in 2018, with a recordbreaking 127 women serving in both the House and Senate.

HONOR CODE

In 2022, the College Board honored Nobles with the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for female representation of 50% or higher in AP Computer Science Principles. The course was designed to attract nontraditional students to the field, and the distinction marked a shift toward more female students demonstrating interest and excellence in STEM.

THE JUBILANT installation of Catherine J. Hall, Ph.D., on October 3, 2017, marked a major milestone as she became the seventh (and first female) head of school. Clubs dedicated to female advancement have proliferated during this decade, from Feminist Coalition to Women in STEM to Women in Business and Women in Medicine. A greater understanding of gender’s complexities has informed best practices to make Nobles more inclusive. Examples include recognizing how students self-identify in classes and admission, revising the personal development curriculum, and establishing a comprehensive policy to protect the rights of transgender

and non-binary community members (2019). The next year, Co-director of the Putnam Library Talya Sokoll was named Nobles’ first gender and sexuality specialist.

In 2024, Nobles unveiled an updated mission statement that reflects its evolving purpose and enduring priorities: “At Nobles, we forge human connections to inspire a lifelong process of discovery and unlock the potential to do good.” Accompanying the mission are five core values—curiosity, respect, playfulness, generosity, and belonging—that guide the community’s culture and shape how the school brings its mission to life.

RACHEL KENNEDY ’17

ADVOCATE FOR EQUITY

Law

student, aspiring public defender

When COVID-19 swept the globe, it brought widespread isolation, but by 2021, scientists had launched the fastest vaccine rollout in history, with mRNA technology paving the way for future breakthroughs in treating cancer and autoimmune diseases.

TikTok became one of the world’s most downloaded apps.

Conversational AI tool ChatGPT launched in 2022. A boom of AI tools sparks questions about ethical applications, from mapping the spread of COVID to perpetuating misinformation online like deep fakes.

“Barbie,” directed by Greta Gerwig, became a global phenomenon and the highest-grossing film by a female director.

On grace in the struggle: The Nobles math department taught me that vulnerability can be a virtue. I struggled with math—I got a C+ freshman year (and still went on to college and law school, in case any students need to hear that!). Math brought me to tears on many occasions. But Ms. [Colette] Finley, Ms. [Karen] Gallagher, Mr. [John] Chung, Mr. [Chris] Pratt, and Ms. [Tilesy] Harrington met my discomfort with grace, humor, and kindness. They met with me before school, laughed at my self-deprecating jokes, and never made me feel small or incapable. Each of them became close mentors despite my never performing at the level I hoped. Their encouragement and patience made me comfortable asking for help and inspired me to treat everyone with kindness and respect.

On being seen: At Nobles, I felt seen and heard by the faculty. I cannot overstate how important their encouragement and mentorship were for developing my sense of self and modeling how I want to connect with others.

On charting her course: Mr. [Dick] Baker was my senior year English teacher; now, he is one of my great friends. His philosophy and literature course snapped me out of the rat-race mentality and encouraged me to chart a course in life guided by selffulfillment rather than external validation. Since I was 18, he has pushed me to think critically about my life, education, and goals. I do not think I would want to be a public defender had I not taken his course and built a great friendship with him.

On journalism and justice: I graduated from Nobles wanting to be a journalist. I’ve always loved speaking with people about their lives, politics, arts, and culture, and I've also enjoyed writing, so I thought journalism would be the perfect career. During my sophomore year in college, I wrote a story on the criminalization of pregnant people—a

story that’s become bigger and graver since Dobbs. I spoke with lawyers who represented clients in some of the most intimate aspects of their lives. They were also the first people I heard speak of the criminal legal system as one dedicated to reproducing racism, classism, and sexism in society. A few years later, working at a bail alternative program in Manhattan, I saw firsthand how right they were.

On listening: As a case coordinator at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services, I connected clients with social services and ensured they attended court appearances. But more than anything, I tried to create space for clients’ frustration with the system. Stringent attendance policies made balancing employment, treatment, and programmatic requirements difficult. My clients taught me that the criminal legal system inevitably destabilizes people, their families, and communities. Despite the hard work of many community providers, I saw that the most helpful person to my clients was

the person most able to lessen the criminal legal system’s power over their lives: their public defender.

On purpose and public defense: In law school, I seek clinics, student organizations, and summer internships to build the client-centered skills I need to be a strong public defender. I see public defense work as doing good by providing those caught in the crosshairs of the oppressive criminal legal system with zealous advocacy and support. I enjoy working with people, learning from their lived experiences, and putting my resources and skills toward mitigating the criminal legal system’s intrusion on their lives. I understand Nobles’ mission to encourage us to seek mission-driven purpose from our careers, and I am thankful to find purpose, meaning, and gratitude each time I work on a client’s behalf. My career journey has centered around forging human connections and has changed as I find hope in new places and further hone my understanding of what “good” means.

GIRLS’ ATHLETICS

An Enduring Legacy

Nobles has one of New England’s most successful girls’ athletic programs, an honor that began 50 years ago with the school’s first determined scholar-athletes.

These confident, resilient athletes often competed on under-resourced teams with few fans in the stands and limited institutional support. Compared to their male counterparts, they had to do more with less. Still, they overcame societal barriers and systemic inequities to plant a flag in the sand: Nobles girls came to win.

Win, they did, kicking off a streak of championships that continues today. Across every sport at Nobles, tremendous female athletes have set records, won titles, gone on to compete at the highest levels, and established a culture of community, camaraderie, and commitment. Their astounding achievements have bolstered the entire athletic program, making Nobles a first choice for top-tier scholar-athletes with high expectations for themselves on the field and in the classroom.

For Sarah (Plumb) Dornak ’08, a standout three-sport captain and former lacrosse coach, the culture of camaraderie left a lasting impression. “When I first arrived at Nobles, I remember being in awe of the female athletes,” she shares. “They were confident, talented, supportive, and driven. I was drawn to their belief in themselves and in each other. There is a special bond that exists on the girls’ teams at Nobles, almost like that of a family. When you couple that with tremendous athletes, you get a unique and winning combination.”

Dean of Faculty Maura Sullivan, who has coached the girls varsity field hockey team since 1989, says the 50th anniversary is “a time for all of us—not just the girls, but the entire community—to reflect, to reconnect, and to celebrate the people who helped build Nobles’ incredible girls’ athletic program.”

This legacy wasn’t built overnight but forged over decades by student-athletes who showed up every day ready to give their all—and by dedicated teacher-coaches who championed equity and excellence.

Athletic Director and girls varsity basketball coach Alex Gallagher ’90 says the girls’ legacy has been a true gift to the school. “It represents one of the most significant and lasting contributions of girls at Nobles,” he says. “Our reputation of excellence has been built through the dedication and high-level performance of those who came before.”

In 1975, when Hillary Walker was named girls’ athletic director—at a time when Nobles still had separate directors for boys’ and girls’ sports—she made her vision clear in an interview with The Nobleman. “I want female athletes at Nobles to be taken as seriously as male athletes,” she said, “and for the girls to have a great sense of pride in themselves as athletes.” Soon after, the school unified its athletic program, and in 1981, Caroline “Ceci” Clark became the first female athletic director in the Independent School League (ISL). Reflecting on that era in a 2015 Nobles magazine interview, Clark remarked, “Nobles did all the right things to become something it deliberately planned to become. Girls are very much at the heart of its success.”

Today, Nobles’ commitment to athletic equity is evident across all programs. Yet while the progress has been substantial, Gallagher acknowledges that the journey continues. “While we believe that many things are going well at Nobles, we remain deeply committed to the work required to ensure equity, inclusion, and meaningful change,” he shares.

The 50th anniversary of girls’ athletics is more than a celebration; it reflects the cultural shift that’s unfolded at Nobles and beyond. “It was only within my own lifetime that girls even had the opportunity to play sports seriously,” Sullivan notes. “The growth has been exponential—especially in the last five years—with women’s sports getting more media coverage and more presence in the Olympics. But it’s easy to forget how quickly that shift happened, and how far we’ve come in such a short time. Hopefully, this moment helps our current athletes see who came before—and realize they’re part of something much bigger.”

50 YEARS OF FORWARD MOTION

As the school marks 50 years of coeducation, it honors the women who paved the way and ensures that the next generation of female athletes at Nobles continues to thrive. Following are some* of the defining athletes, coaches, and moments over the last five decades:

Pioneers and Trailblazers In 1974, 18 players joined Nobles’ first girls field hockey team.

Softball debuted in 1976 with legendary coach G.K. Bird ’39 at the helm. In that same era, the first girls ice hockey team was coached by David Mittell

Deb Sturtevant White ’78 pioneered women’s sports at Nobles, competing in the inaugural field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse programs.

Hillary Walker, Linda Woodard, Caroline “Ceci” Clark, and Maura Sullivan (pictured inset) were instrumental leaders in the athletic department, helping to usher in a new era of growth and gender equity in school athletics.

Kate Blake has been the driving force behind bringing back the track and field program in 2019, for the first time since 1945.

Championship Performances

The 1996 crew team, coached by Lou O’Brien, won ISL, New England, and national championships and reached the Henley Regatta semifinals.

In 1997, the field hockey team claimed its first New England Championship and went on to win ISL championships from 2004 to 2007, under coach Maura Sullivan

In 2000, the soccer team clinched its first ISL title since 1989.

The cross country team won the 2011 Division I title in only its second year competing at that level, under coaches Mark Sheeran and Shannon Clark

In 2014, volleyball captured the New England Class B title in just its second season, led by coach Kimya Charles and Colette Finley, who helped launch the program.

In 2018, the crew’s first boat placed third at the Head of the Charles Regatta—the highest finish by a high school crew in the nation that year.

In 2024, Nobles varsity soccer, led by former captain and coach Beth Reilly ’87, clinched an ISL title. Reilly has coached in two chapters: 1991–1997 and 2021–present.

Three-sport captain Martha Schneider ’90—lacrosse, soccer, squash—earned both the Nobles Shield and Miller Medal, and helped drive the soccer program’s success.

Jenna Gomez ’04 became the school’s second-leading scorer in girls basketball with 1,680 career points.

Sarah (Parsons) Wolter ’05 scored 85 goals and 25 assists in soccer, becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. She helped win five ISL and three New England Class A Championships in ice hockey.

Ayla Brown ’06 scored 2,358 basketball points—the sixthhighest total in Massachusetts history.

Sarah (Plumb) Dornak ’08 captained the field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse teams and graduated with nine ISL championships. She earned both the Nobles Shield and Miller Medal.

The Boston Globe named three-sport athlete Lauren Dillon ’14 (pictured inset) the 2014 New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Female Athlete of the Year.

Record Breakers and Standouts

Val (Jordan) Thompson ’81 led the basketball team to a 47–4 regular-season record and two league titles under coach Nick Nickerson

In 1983, Pippy O’Connor founded Nobles’ girls golf team, the first girls program at an independent school in Massachusetts. The Pippy O’Connor Independent School Girls’ Golf Classic is named in her honor.

Tennis player Jen Lane ’88 never lost a single set at Nobles and was ranked No. 1 in New England’s under-18 division.

The 1987 girls basketball team won the first ISL and New England Championships, led by Chrissy Cadigan Ducharme ’87 Since then, the program has won 10 out of 12 New England championships from 2012 to 2024 under coach Alex Gallagher, with Katie Benzan ’16 and Caroline Ducharme ’21 among the exceptional players.

Beginning in 2000–01, ice hockey launched a 16-year ISL Championship streak under coach Tom Resor. Standouts included Karen Thatcher ’02, Helen Resor ’04, Sarah (Parsons) Wolter ’05, Michelle Picard ’11, Caitrin Lonergan ’16, and Rebecca Gilmore ’17. The team went undefeated in 2002, 2004, 2012, 2020, and 2021.

Softball, led by Kelly Chung, won its first Big East title in 2017 and swept the ISL and Big East with a perfect 19–0 season in 2022.

Olivia Mussafer ’15, ISL girls cross country MVP, earned All-ISL and All-New England during each of her six seasons on the varsity team.

Nannette Chatman ’22 competed in the inaugural women’s match at the New England Independent School Wrestling Association tournament.

Defining Eras and Powerhouse Teams

Deb Harrison has led squash since 1981, winning eight ISL Championships from 2013 to 2020 and the Division II National Championship in 2020.

* This tribute offers a window into the many individuals whose passion, perseverance, and excellence have elevated girls’ athletics at Nobles. We honor not only those named here but all who have contributed to building a tradition that continues to inspire and empower.

The 2020–21 ski team finished with a 30–0 record, clinching the ISL Championship for the 19th time in the last 20 years. In 2023–24, the team won the Class A NEPSAC Championship for the second consecutive year. Head coach Fred Hollister celebrated and concluded his final season leading the alpine skiing program for the past 30 years.

Lacrosse won four straight ISL titles (2022–2025) and earned its first national ranking in 2024 under coach Brooke Asnis ’90. >>

Helen Resor ’04 and Sarah (Parsons) Wolter ’05

Women Represent

The Nobles Athletics Hall of Fame celebrates generations of extraordinary female athletes who have left an indelible mark on the school’s athletic legacy.

2010 Inductees

Val Jordan Thompson ’81

Martha Schneider ’90

Kelly McManus Sousa ’98

2011 Inductee

Jill Havlicek Buchanan ’91

2012 Inductee

1987 Girls Basketball Team

Karen Thatcher ’02

2013 Inductee

Genie Simmons Thorndike ’82

2014 Inductees

Kim Hyland ’89

Helen Resor ’04

2015 Inductees

Jennifer Lane ’88

Sarah Parsons Wolter ’05

2016 Inductees

Ayla Brown ’06

1996 Girls Crew Team

2017 Inductee

Leanna Coskren ’07

2018 Inductees

Ceci Clark

Jenna Gomez ’04

Sarah Plumb Dornak ’08

2019 Inductee

Becca Loucks Manrique ’04

2020 Inductees

1985 Girls Tennis Team

Marissa Gedman ’10

2021 Inductees

Karen Griffith Gray ’86

Michelle Picard ’11

2022 Inductees

Liz Sarles Dias ’97

2002 Girls Ice Hockey Team

2023 Inductees

Deb Sturtevant White ’78

2011 Girls Cross Country Team

2024 Inductees

Kenzie Kent ’14

2014 Girls Basketball Team

2025 Inductees

Krissy McManus ’00

Olivia Mussafer ’15

Deb Harrison

KELLY COOKE ’09

BREAKING NEW GROUND

Collegiate and international women’s hockey official; corporate lawyer, Boston Scientific

On breaking barriers: I referee Division I women’s hockey and international hockey, and that led me to being at the forefront of breaking barriers for female officials. I was lucky enough to be one of four women who was the first to referee an NHL-level event, and that was really cool, because it had never been done before. Nobles prepared me for these moments—for wanting to pave a path for people behind you. So many people have done that for me, especially as a female athlete, and that has led me to have that mentality going forward. I referee a lot of international hockey; I did the Olympics in 2022, and I’m going back in 2026. A lot of that comes from starting as a student-athlete at Nobles and having all of those older kids to look up to. Seeing how they do things and adopting those ways set me up for a lot of success.

On Nobles hockey: Joining a team that has such a strong legacy and tradition and being part of that family, where you have all those people that came before you, was awesome. The way Mr. [Tom] Resor ran the program, with a team-first mentality that valued the success of the team above all else and embraced each and every teammate, has helped me both as a hockey player and in the corporate world. Those are the values that have really resonated with me and made it easy for me to be successful as a hockey player, but even more so as a lawyer now.

On teamwork outside athletics: I was a boarder at Nobles, so I had that community. The academics also felt very team-oriented. It was more collaborative than I expected, coming to a rigorous academic setting. The whole campus embodies the ideals of teamwork, and that was something that was really pertinent.

On generosity: Doing good is a big part of where I’m at now toward the end of my career as a referee—giving back and making sure younger girls

have resources that I didn’t have. It’s still a male-dominated sport at times, but making sure they have a role model that I might not have had growing up is kind of my big thing now. I am trying to give back and get more hockey players into reffing, because at some point people’s careers come to an end, but there are certain avenues that they can take after they’re done because they still love the game.

On values and a legal career: Nobles’ values are deeply rooted in my everyday life and in my current role as an attorney at Boston Scientific. They shape my future goal to continue to be a part of creating solutions for various healthcare needs. Working for a company that develops innovative and life-changing technology in the medical device space is both intellectually challenging and extremely rewarding. That was one of my guiding principles in moving over there: doing good as a lawyer, and not just being a lawyer.

On community and connection: The relationships you make at Nobles will last forever. Even to this day, some of my best friends are people I met at Nobles. The relationships from those four short years of high school are some of the most important in my life.

Nobles prepared me for these moments— for wanting to pave a path for people behind you.

LETTER TO MY FUTURE SELF

CARINA GROSSMAN ’26

Dear Future Self,

Do you remember the way you felt that freshman-year October morning in the Henderson Arts Center? Hailey braiding your hair while Clara recited our presentation notes? We were scared together, but we were brilliant together. I hope you remember not just the outcome of that French presentation (though we did nail it), but the precise moment when you sat with your friends and knew you belonged in this place as much as anyone else. That sense of unlimited potential is what I hope you’ve carried forward from Nobles.

By now, you’ve likely entered spaces you never imagined. Perhaps that Mock Trial passion became a career in law, or maybe life took you down a different, equally meaningful path. I hope you still hold close the values and people Nobles gave us. The friends made here have shaped who we’re becoming. Through study sessions, sports team dinners, and shared laughter in the Castle, I know I’ve discovered what true community feels like. I hope you’ve kept our people close to you, but I also hope you’ve learned how to find that kind of connection wherever you go.

At Nobles, we found our voices and learned that our thoughts matter. Teachers believed in us before we believed in ourselves and helped build our confidence. From girls JV tennis to art studios

to the India EXCEL trip, we discovered hidden parts of ourselves. I hope you’ve continued painting and pursued new passions—did you ever try knitting?

Walking these halls with one year left, I know I am already becoming you. Critical thinking, compassion, and commitment to service are preparing me for a future I’m excited to meet.

I hope you remember how this place transformed an uncertain freshman into someone ready for the world.

Whatever path you’ve chosen began here, where we learned not just to succeed but to lead purposeful lives— where we learned to be scared, brave, and unstoppably brilliant together.

With love, Carina

Graduate News

The Young Graduate Award

Created in 2011, this award is given annually to a recent graduate who models the spirit and values of Noble and Greenough School as set forth in its mission statement. Through professional, academic, and/or volunteer roles, the recipient has demonstrated a deep commitment to serving others and doing good. The recipient will have graduated in the past 15 years. DOING GOOD

Improving Healthcare for All

John Beadle ’14, Nobles’ 2025 Young Graduate Award recipient, is determined to help fix America’s overburdened healthcare system. He is the co-founder and managing partner of Aegis, a New York–based venture studio that launches AI-enabled companies tackling critical issues such as clinician burnout and early disease detection.

“I want to make world-class care available to everyone, and I think technology can play a huge role in doing that,” Beadle says. “Ultimately, everything that we do is about improving the healthcare experience for patients and for caregivers, which will be the enduring impact of the companies that we’ve launched.”

His mission is deeply personal. Beadle was raised by a single mother who experienced a traumatic brain injury when he was 3 years old. “My mom was quite sick, and I assumed a caregiving role for her growing up,” he says. “I saw firsthand how incredibly difficult it is to navigate the U.S. healthcare system. The people who need the help are often the people who don’t have it. Helping people like my mom has been the strong tailwind behind everything that I’ve done.”

scale transformative AI start-ups. He also architected Aegis’s $100 million joint venture with Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system.

Before founding Aegis in 2020, Beadle spent five years at APL Group, a global private investment firm. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a master’s degree in global affairs from Tsinghua University, where he was a Schwarzman Scholar.

Beadle has always been entrepreneurial; as a child, he ran side businesses such as mowing lawns and creating greeting cards. He credits Nobles with introducing him to a vast array of career possibilities that could engage his drive for innovation and his commitment to purposeful work.

Beadle is already making a monumental impact. In 2024, he partnered with Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. John Noseworthy to launch the Aegis Digital Consortium, a first-of-itskind alliance of 11 of the nation’s leading healthcare systems—including Stanford, Vanderbilt, and UPMC—to codevelop and

“As I look back at the arc of my life, there are a small number of moments that I really look to as major inflection points, where either people or institutions put their hands on the tiller of my life and changed it enormously,” he says. “And for me, the first really great inflection point—one of the most impactful—was the chance to come to Nobles. I got exposure to a world that I didn’t even know existed. It gave me a strong desire to make the most of the opportunity.”

Of being named the 2025 Young Graduate Award Recipient, Beadle says, “It’s an incredible honor. There’s been an extraordinary set of past recipients, and I feel privileged to stand alongside all of those folks. I’m deeply humbled.”

ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE

Grit to Greatness

Nobles inducted the following graduates and faculty members into its 2025 Hall of Fame:

Mike Bent ’95 was a standout hockey player and golfer at Nobles. He was named AllISL each of his three seasons on the varsity hockey team, All-New England for two years, and the ISL MVP his junior year. He tallied 97 goals in just 92 games and 71 assists in three years for 168 points. Bent is credited with being a catalyst for the hockey program’s trajectory during that era, making Nobles one of the top programs in prep school history. In addition to finding success on the rink, he played in the No. 1 slot on the varsity golf team for three years. He was an ISL golf champion and voted ISL MVP. Bent’s success as a hockey player and golfer earned him the Nobles Shield Award, the highest athletic award given to the two most respected graduating students whose skill, sportsmanship, and competitive spirit embody excellence and the ideals of Nobles athletics.

Bent went on to play one year of hockey at Harvard University before transferring to Brown University, where he became captain his senior year.

Krissy McManus ’00 distinguished herself as a versatile elite athlete early at Nobles. She played three varsity sports as an eighth grader: soccer, hockey, and golf. In her first season on the hockey team, McManus was named All-ISL, a title she kept for four subsequent seasons. As a member of the hockey team, she received all-scholastic honors from her sophomore through senior year and was a two-time ISL

Champion. McManus was named to The Boston Globe AllScholastic Team, honored as the Daily Transcript Player of the Year, and became the first female recipient of the Boston Bruins’ John Carlton Memorial Trophy for most outstanding female player in New England. She graduated from Nobles as the all-time leading scorer and received the Shield Award.

McManus demonstrated natural leadership as captain of the hockey and golf teams for two seasons. As a golfer, she won two ISL Championships and was a CYO Golf Tournament champion. She also won the Massachusetts state golf championship and was a two-time selection for the state golf team.

During her hockey career at Brown University, McManus received the Alli McMillan Award.

Olivia Mussafer ’15 was an outstanding athlete at Nobles with remarkable success on the cross country team. Her running career began in seventh grade, when she made the varsity team. She quickly proved herself as she earned All-ISL and All–New England during each of her six seasons on the team. As a junior, she was named a Boston Globe All-Scholastic athlete. By the end of her running career at Nobles, Mussafer was labeled the most decorated cross country runner, male or female, in ISL history. Her success led

Nobles to multiple ISL and New England Championships.

Mussafer’s success on the cross country team and as a four-year varsity lacrosse player earned her the Shield Award.

Miles Wood ’15 made a name for himself as one of the most accomplished hockey players in Nobles history. Wood spent three years at Nobles, proving himself with tremendous success on the ice despite fighting injuries. During his junior year, Wood was awarded All-ISL, ISL MVP, and All–New England honors. Wood played in 60 games, scoring 54 goals with 53 assists. His leadership helped the team achieve a 41–12–2 record over his junior and senior years and consecutive ISL Championships.

While being a top contributing athlete to the Nobles hockey team, Wood also played for the U.S. National Junior Team. The U.S. team had tremendous success and made it to the quarterfinal round at the 2015 IIHF World

Miles Wood ’15

Olivia Mussafer ’15

Junior Championship. He went on to play one year of hockey at Boston College and then signed his first NHL contract.

Deb Harrison has been instrumental to the success of the squash program at Nobles since 1981. For 40 years, Harrison coached the girls varsity team, winning multiple ISL Championships and securing the Division II National Championship in her final season. Harrison mentored numerous athletes throughout the program, including 33 who played at the collegiate level. Her coaching career culminated in a remarkable 319–186 record.

Above all else, Harrison is a coach who values sportsmanship and the values integral to Nobles athletics. She instilled in her athletes a team-first mentality and a belief in sportsmanship above winning. This commitment and culture led the team to multiple ISL sportsmanship awards, most recently in the 2018–19 season. Harrison is still an active squash player and was awarded the 2016 Feron’s Wedgwood Sportsmanship Trophy by US Squash for her “exemplary sportsmanship on and off the court.” In 2014, she was awarded the Tom Resor Coaching Award.

Harrison is also currently Nobles’ longest tenured faculty member and teaches science.

BOOKSHELF

Greenwich

BY KATE BROAD ’01

St. Martin’s Press

The year is 1999, and 17-year-old Rachel Fiske arrives like a fish out of water to live at her aunt and uncle’s sprawling estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. She befriends the live-in babysitter, who becomes a scapegoat when the family seeks to preserve its reputation. Will Rachel toe the family line or speak out? Of her debut, Kate Broad says, “Greenwich is a story about class, race, sexuality, and power. It’s about how mistakes can have life-altering consequences.”

Spatial Alchemy

BY OLGA NAIMAN ‘91

Hachette

The subtitle of Olga Naiman’s debut—Design Your Home to Transform Your Life—is an invitation to harness interior design for personal growth and manifestation. A stylist and interior designer for 25 years, Naiman asks: Who do you want to become, and how can your space support this change? Sumptuously illustrated, this step-by-step guide shows you how to use color, texture, and symbolism to call forth your future self.

Such a Good Mom

BY JULIA SPIRO ’05 St. Martin’s Press

Best-selling author Julia Spiro returns with a thriller set on Martha’s Vineyard just in time for beach-read season. Hailed as a “twisty ride,” Such a Good Mom follows Brynn Nelson, a new mother feeling the pressures to be the perfect parent—and to enjoy her on-the-surface perfect life. When a friend’s body washes up on shore, Brynn is caught up in a murder investigation. The prime suspect is her husband, Ross. Is he really to blame? Brynn is determined to root out the truth, no matter the cost.

Deb Harrison

A National Champion

In April 2025, when No. 2 UConn defeated No. 1 South Carolina to secure the Huskies’ 12th NCAA Division I Women’s National Championship in basketball, the victory was especially sweet for guard Caroline Ducharme ’21. Sidelined by debilitating concus sions and injuries for three seasons, Ducharme’s return to the court had been uncertain.

With 90 seconds left in the championship match played in Tampa, Ducharme checked in. The sold-out crowd erupted, recognizing how diligently Ducharme had rehabbed to regain and maintain her health. Subbing her in wasn’t merely a symbolic gesture on Coach Geno Auriemma’s part; Ducharme helped pave the way for the Huskies in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament. She played 11 min utes against Arkansas State, scoring six points, and she recorded two additional minutes against UCLA—both major milestones in her recovery.

“It’s honestly been a whirlwind,” Ducharme told after the final game. “I’m emotional just because I didn’t know if I would get to this point.”

Ducharme entered UConn with high hopes for her college career. She was named to the 2022 All-Big East Second Team and the 2022 Big East All-Freshman Team, but recurrent head injuries made playing impossible, and she had to with draw from the 2023–2024 season.

At Nobles, the Milton, Massachusetts, native was a standout player, earning the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year in 2020 and 2021. She was also a McDonald’s All-American and a three-time All–New England selection. She concluded her high school basketball career with 2,092 points, despite missing her entire sophomore season due to injury.

Following the final game, Ducharme—wearing a “National Champions” T-shirt—ascended a ladder to cut down the basketball net for the Huskies, a cus tomary post-victory ritual. “I’m feeling amazing,” she told CT Insider. “It’s so exciting. This group has been through so much, and for us to get this moment [as] seniors—to go out like this—it doesn’t get better.” Ducharme plans to use her final year of eligibility to play for UConn in 2025–26.

O Say Can You See Singer and songwriter Ayla Brown ’06 took center court during the NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship, held at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, to perform the national anthem. Brown, who was a 2006 semifinalist on “American Idol,” is known for her blend of country, folk, and Americana. She was an exceptional basketball player at Nobles and played Division I at

REUNION 2025

More than 600 graduates and guests returned to campus on May 9 and 10 for a grand gathering. Highlights included the Athletics Hall of Fame Ceremony, a cookout and carnival, Assembly, and class reunion gatherings.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony honored standout contributors to Nobles athletics: Mike Bent ’95, Deb Harrison, Krissy McManus ’00, Olivia Mussafer ’15, and Miles Wood ’15.

During Assembly, the community recognized several distinguished graduates and a faculty member for their remarkable impact. Longtime science teacher Christine “CP” Pasterczyk was presented with the Coggeshall Award, Christine Todd ’84 with the Distinguished Graduate Award, John Beadle ’14 with the Young Graduate Award, and Jeffrey Alpaugh ’85 with the Lawson Service Award. Denna Laing ‘10 was named a Graduate Trustee and will begin her three-year term on the Nobles Board of Trustees in fall 2025.

1. The 50th Reunion Class of 1975

2. Eliza Goode ‘10 and Nike John Maguire ‘10

REUNION 2025

3. The 35th Reunion Class of 1990

4. The 20th Reunion Class of 2005

5. Christine “CP” Pasterczyk accepting the Coggeshall Award

6. Grads taking photos at the photo booth

7. The 25th Reunion Class of 2000

8. The 30th Reunion Class of 1995

9. Kids having fun at the Wild World of Reptiles show

10. Alex Maund ‘15 and Michaela Thompson ‘15 performing at the Graduate Assembly

11. Giana De La Cruz ‘20 and Angela Giordano ‘20

12.The 45th Reunion Class of 1980

13. Hall of Fame Inductee Olivia Mussafer ‘15 with her coach, Mark Sheeran

14. The 10th Reunion Class of 2015

15. Breakfast hosted by the Women of Nobles 50th Anniversary Student Committee

16. Class of 1970 at their 55th reunion row

17. Members of the Class of 1970 ready for a morning row

18. The Class of 1970 at the Noblest Dinner

19 Hall of Fame Inductee Deb Harrison and her family

20. The 15th Reunion Class of 2010

Graduate Notes

Frank Cunningham in the ’70s

1951

Class Correspondent

Galt Grant

781-738-4655

galtgra@gmail.com

1952 & 1953

Class Correspondent

John Childs

johnchilds37@gmail.com

From John Childs: While several months will pass before this report is published and in your hands, I can assure you of the status of most classmates in early May 2025. In response to a plea to at least acknowledge they are still alive and with it, I received checkmarks from Charlie Soule, Dave Horton, and Bob Hoffman, so that is good news. Also, Dave Thibodeau remains in good health and mentioned that he is still living at Fox Hill (a retirement community a few miles from where Jean and I reside), enjoyed several cruises recently, and often travels to Florida. And Harris Poor, like all of us, is showing his age by mentioning a struggle with hearing aids that are giving him so much grief he “is going to report them on a couple of these ‘shame’ websites.” Other problems also exist.

On a happier note, Jack Farlow reports that life is definitely “thumbs-up,” although periods of activity are shorter and time resting is getting longer. He has resumed teaching U.S. Power Squadron boating safety and education classes, plus continuing to enjoy lifelong learning Zoom classes on Shakespeare, Noel Coward, and Cosmology. He sends his best to me “and the rest of Hooley’s

two classes of classmates.” We also heard from Carol Willauer telling us Peter Willauer is getting along well with his walking sticks after 11 years with Parkinson’s and remains active with the Hurricane Island Center for Science & Leadership. They threw him a 90th birthday bash last fall with about 100 people attending and speeches about his impact on their lives. They also recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and greatly enjoy the support of their sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. What an extraordinary guy and family!

Dear old friend Ted Jennings and I had our usual memoryfilled phone conversation, and it happened just a few weeks before he and Sally will move from a CCRC near Albany, New York, to Bainbridge Island in Washington State. With time zipping by and daughters living nearby in Seattle and San Francisco, this makes good sense and is apparently a beautiful place to enjoy the good life.

And then, allow me to quote one of the best recent replies of all time from Ben Taylor: “Good for you to keep up with those of us still around, and I am one of them. However, being in the 90s is no fun. I live in a very nice retirement community, like North Hill, and they take good care of us. They even come around to our apartments and teach us how to not fall (again), which I did five years ago and fractured my hip. The other thing they teach us is to keep busy, which helps us forget we are 90. So I root for our local basketball team (the Golden

Galt Grant ’51 and Hal Grant ’45. Hal was one of the persons honored at Weston’s COA’s “Wisdom of Weston” reception at the Weston Golf Club in November.

State Warriors) and our football team, the ’49ers, who are supposed to be better this year. That means winning the Super Bowl. And a few 80-year-old ladies are chasing me, but I can still move faster on my walker than they can on theirs. And I still drive short distances, so I know the meaning of ‘independent living.’” Ben has never stopped enjoying life!

Finally, for reasons no one can fathom, Jean and I continue to enjoy “relatively” good health, enough so that we had a pretty successful 61st curling season. We still run an active Wednesday morning nine-hole golf group, we’ll launch Jean’s Bullseye sailboat soon, and we both have leadership roles as residents of North Hill in Needham. We are inexplicably lucky and blessed. Go figure!

1955

Class Correspondent

Bob Chellis

781-237-9436

rdchellis@gmail.com

1956

Class Correspondent

Gren “Rocky” Whitman 443-691-9370

grenwhitman1@gmail.com

His expanding library has grown to almost 100,000 books and catalogues, all art, reports George Waterman. “Hope to find someplace to donate it,” he says, “but it’s not easy because the collection’s so large and detailed.”

“My income tax guy inquired about a deduction that I submitted for Depends,” writes John Fritts, “and told me that to claim it, I needed a letter from my doctor. So, she asked me why I needed Depends, and I told her that at 87, I feel more comfortable having them on in case. She said it was the first time anyone had asked her for a letter for a Depends tax deduction. After she consented to giving me the letter, she said, ‘I have to give you a hug because you’re the only patient who makes me feel young again.’”

From Tim Leland: “Julie and I finally returned to the travel trails (and travel travails) last March after a two-year pause while Julie underwent treatment for esophageal cancer. Praise the Lord, her treatment appears to

have been successful. In celebration, we spent a week in March driving around the beautiful Caribbean island of St. Maarten, first on the Dutch side, then the French side, before flying to Florida for a two-week stay at our condo on Longboat Key. All in all, a lovely problem-free winter vacation. Until . . . as we sat in our plane on the runway in Sarasota, two minutes before take-off for our flight home, the pilot came on the intercom and announced that departure had been ‘temporarily postponed’ due to tornadoes in the area. We’d have to go back to the terminal and wait for a later departure time, taking all our luggage off the plane with us. Similar ‘temporarily postponed’ announcements followed the rest of the day while we sat in the overcrowded gate area, nibbling airport pretzels and Cheez-Its. Finally at 7 p.m. came a new announcement: ‘Due to lack of a crew’ the flight was canceled. We were instructed to come back at 4 a.m. for a new departure at 6 a.m.

“Our last night of the trip was spent curled up on the carpeted floor of a corridor at the Sarasota Airport, two 80-year-olds trying to get a few hours of sleep. It brought back memories of the time Nobles classmate Ced Porter and I, bumming around Europe the summer of 1960, snuck aboard a cruise ship in Italy and stowed away to Greece, sleeping on the hard deck behind a lifeboat. Two similar travel experiences separated by 65 years. The deck felt softer for some reason.”

Rocky Whitman grumbles, “At my age, I thought I was done

with picket signs and protests. Silly me!”

1957

Class Correspondent

Eliot Putnam

781-431-8584

etputnam@earthlink.net

Lance Grandone shares, “Not a lot has changed since my last update. I’m less active due to osteoarthritis, but thanks to regular cortisone shots, I can get around fairly well. Karin and I stay pretty close to home because of her lack of mobility and the difficulty of transporting her electric scooter when we go out. We are still living in the Nokomis house and intend to stay there as long as possible. We are making use of several types of delivery services, such as Instacart, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Amazon, etc. I find it just amazing how efficient these services are and how we save on gas, car insurance, and parking. We have even used a Telemedicine app for non-emergency medical issues. A few years ago I would never have thought about having a Zoom conference with my primary care physician. Ah, the wonders of technology and the life changes it brings.

“I mentioned before that our son, Cass, who retired from Abbott after 30 years, is building a custom home in Edwards, Colorado, near the ski slopes. He is more than just handy and has been doing a lot of the work on the mountainside home himself, alongside the contractor. He did all the wiring, and the house will be considered a ‘smart house,’ so he will be able to control everything from the

temperature to video security to electric window screens to door locks, etc., via his smartphone when not on site. He and his wife, Carol, are planning to move in late this year. He is in town currently at their condo on Longboat Key and will be helping me with some jobs around our house and condo.

Once his new place is finished, he plans to pick up consulting practice again and will probably go back to Denmark for his previous client.

“Our daughter, Susan, who was also retired from a mining consortium in Brisbane, Australia, was enticed out of retirement by a close friend who knew about her unique skill set to accept a vice presidency for a Toronto-based company specializing in the recycling of

rare-earth elements and industrial high-capacity magnets. She will be in charge of capital projects and helping to set up spoke and hub facilities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. Her capabilities in the business world just amaze me. I have been working with her, giving suggestions and advice where appropriate. I am truly honored she is willing to use me as a sounding board.

“Karin and I are so lucky to have had two wonderful, successful children. We are thankful every day for their success and just hope they will be able to persevere in the upcoming months. The Class Notes is not the appropriate venue to discuss politics or religion. I will only say that Karin and I are appalled at the current state of affairs

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■ Please note: If your class correspondent is not listed, you may submit your notes online at www.nobles.edu/ community/submit-a-class-note or contact Shannon Hutteman at shannon_hutteman@nobles.edu for your correspondent’s information.

in this country. The amount of apathy we see, in addition to the hatred and uncertainty, is truly frightening. I can only wish that our society will survive this aberration. I don’t envy our grandchildren and the future they will be facing. I can only echo Edward R. Murrow’s famous sign-off: ‘Good night, and good luck.’”

Eliot Putnam writes, “This entry is written shortly before the Nobles 2025 Reunion Weekend, which, as it happened, was to be attended by a plethora of descendants of the former and greatly admired headmaster Eliot Putnam. These included three of his great-granddaughters: Katherine Putnam Constantin, Class of 2015, and husband Steven Constantin; her twin sister, Caroline Putnam, Class of 2015, and companion Colson Buscher; and Betsy Matthew, Class of 2020. Not to be outshone, an older generation was also in attendance at the Noblest Reunion on Friday of Reunion Weekend, namely Eliot Putnam’s sons, Charles Putnam, Class of 1970, and Eliot Putnam Jr., Class of 1957. Logistics would probably have made a group photo in front of the Putnam Library difficult to organize, but nonetheless it was a fun gathering for all of us, chock-full of good memories.”

Bob McElwain submitted the following: “Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out why I was so passionate about baseball in my youth. Here are a few of my answers:

“In the mid- to late ’40s, my mother took me into Fenway Park to see a Red Sox versus

Yankees game. You can guess why: The game, of course, featured Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Actually, I think she had a major crush on both Ted and Joe, as well as on Bobby Doerr, Johnny Pesky, and Dom DiMaggio (who wouldn’t have?!). The only thing I can remember about the game was when my mother turned to me and, despite being a diehard Red Sox fan, she declared to me that Joe, despite being a Yankee, had the most graceful swing in baseball.

“Up through the ’40s, baseball did not have major league teams west of the Mississippi River. Several cities in the east had two teams. Boston had the Red Sox and the Braves. For some of us fanatics, it was a challenge to find out if the Red Sox were winning way out in Chicago or Saint Louis. Both cities started late because they were in a later time zone, but broadcasts from Chicago could be heard (with static) on a couple of A.M. stations. The Saint Louis Browns? That was tiresome. We had to listen to some announcer reading a ticker-tape summary of the game! The reader provided as much ‘drama’ as he could by more or less pretending to be at the game (read with long pauses): ‘Williams is coming up to bat now…Here comes the pitch... Swing and a miss...Strike one... Ted is a little angry at himself on that one...One strike on Ted...Ned Garver rubs the ball… Here’s the windup and the pitch...There’s a long drive to right field...way up into the second deck of Sportsman’s Park…’

“Anyway, you had to have the patience to listen to any more than two or three innings of a Sox game read from a ticker tape. (Those of us who were Williams fanatics would stay up a little later and try to catch Ted’s second at bat.)

“Friend and classmate Fred Hitz and I went in to see a few Sox games in the ’50s. Not a good decade for them, except for Ted, who still maintained his reputation as a fearful, powerhouse hitter. Fred and I went to a game in 1956 after Ted came back from his military service in Korea. We bought our unreserved grandstand tickets and went in. The players were all warming up. The game started. Fred and I could see that attendance was very low, so we changed seats, crossing into Reserved Grandstand seats. Better, but we had our sights set on the box seats behind the Red Sox on-deck circle. The usher waved us in. Plenty of room! We only had to wait an inning to behold our hero emerge from the dugout, two bats in hand, and stride out to the on-deck circle. There he was, on one knee, waiting, swinging the bats right in front of us, focused on his time at bat, very closely watching the pitcher. Then it was Ted’s turn. He walked into the batter’s box, watched the first pitch go by, and must have noticed that the ‘shift’ was on: infield and outfield. A pitch or two later in the count, he picked the kind of pitch he liked to hit. He quickly shifted his feet and banged a double off the left field wall.

“Another Red Sox baseball experience brings our mutual

Nobles friend and classmate into the picture: Johnny Valentine. In the summer of 1960, on our drive out west to see the sights and to work for a logging company in Arizona, from Niagara Falls to Chicago to the Rocky Mountains, we could pick up baseball broadcasts all the way from Boston. This was Ted Williams’ final year playing baseball. He hit 30 home runs that summer and batted well over .300.

“My final paragraph involves none other than my wonderful former Nobles headmaster, Eliot Putnam, and my friend and classmate Eliot/ Putty. The three of us went to an old timers’ game to see Ted Williams and some of his old teammates one more time. Ted managed to fly out to right field, which produced a hearty ovation in the stands, and he made a super running catch at knee level (Yaz style!) in left field. Big standing ovation for that! What a wonderful, meaningful experience for the three of us!”

1958

Class Correspondent

Chris Morss

508-395-5671

knossos@aol.com

Peter Norstrand writes, “In late March, Kathy and I escaped to Arizona to spend a week with my daughter and son-in-law. We ran into record heat that sent us home after five innings of a spring training game. A few days later, we did enjoy the Desert Botanical Garden in Scottsdale, which is a must-see if your travels bring you that way.”

Tappy Wilder shares, “Wilder, Inc. continues to be

a busy address. Calendar year 2025 is bracketed by the closing in January of a wonderfully successful limited Broadway run of Our Town, starring Jim Parsons in the role of Stage Manager (a Tony nomination for Best Revival). This November we’ll have the world premiere at the Public Theater of the musical version of Thornton’s 1942 Pulitzer Prize–winning The Skin of Our Teeth. Now entitled The Seat of Our Pants by its inspired creator, Ethan Lipton, the show will debut on the stage that birthed Hamilton and A Chorus Line. Are we not allowed to dream?

“It’s been a year now since I handed off Wilder literary executorship duties to Jeremy McCarter. Among many blissful things, this means that I get to offer opinions but no longer deal with their consequences. This also means I get to spend more time researching topics of interest that I hope will enliven our website or the pages of The Thornton Wilder Journal. It being the last quarter of you-knowwhat, I also find myself reading or re-reading serious stuff I won’t be encountering again like War and Peace and Moby Dick—interspersed, of course, with Simenon and Wodehouse. I mean, after all, there are limits to madness!

“And there is also Maine, where Patty and I will be spending two glorious months this summer. I’m not allowed to climb ladders anymore, but nobody stops me from making a fool of myself on the golf course (yet). Best of all, I get to see daughter Jenney and granddaughter Niven. Maine is always

“The three of us went to an old timers’ game to see Ted Williams and some of his old teammates one more time.

Ted managed to fly out to right field, which produced a hearty ovation in the stands, and he made a super running catch at knee level (Yaz style!) in left field. Big standing ovation for that! What a wonderful, meaningful experience for the three of us!”

BOB MCELWAIN ’57, sharing a fond memory of a game with classmate Eliot Putnam and former Nobles head of school Eliot Putnam

special. Best and loving good wishes to all.”

George Foss writes, “We are happy to host Charlie Long in early January and late February every year on his annual trip to and from the Florida Keys. My best to my classmates.”

Larry Daloz writes, “By the time these comments are

published, we will be in a very different place as a nation. Let me just say at this point that I am sickened by the actions of the current regime, and we can only hope that the worst of it will have been stopped without further enormous suffering, not only in our country but around the world.

“I have just put down the phone after calling a number of reasonably decent GOP senators, pleading with them to respect truth, the rule of law, and the Constitution. The image of masked Americans kidnapping other Americans and spiriting them off to who-knows-where is something that used to

and I continue to enjoy the activity and music each season brings us. With the help of exercise gizmos and headphones, I row to Wolfgang and bike to Bach as a way to stay sane.”

Bill Danielson shares, “Three years ago, a malignant sarcoma sprouted on my left shin. Numerous treatments ultimately proved unsuccessful, so this past October the leg was amputated just below the knee. Now I’m mainly wheelchair bound. Although I do have a prosthetic leg, it doesn’t play well with my ‘residual limb.’ Once I get my fleshy, artificial, and phantom elements to cooperate, I expect to be walking again.

community living, as are many N’58-ers, I’m sure.

“Of course, I regret losing my leg and a degree of autonomy, but I’m still alive! I’m a very lucky guy. I’m able to participate in each day’s ebb and flow, which vastly outweighs any regret. And after living a life of privilege, of which Nobles was a significant part, it’s chastening to see the world through the eyes of a disadvantaged American. My education continues.”

1959

Class Correspondent s Whit Bond 617-633-5120 whitbond41@gmail.com

belong only in our Nazi-fueled nightmares. The picture of our president soiling the White House as he vies with a tin-pot South American dictator to see who can be most brutal and callous will scar American history forever. I have organized some 60 of my fellow residents here at Kendal, and we are writing, calling, and protesting weekly in Hanover. We will be on the streets in Montpelier and Lebanon (New Hampshire) as well. Some of us may go further.

“Those ringing words of Eliot Putnam, ‘Look for a tall man

helping someone,’ sound pretty flat against the appalling moral rot in which one would be more likely to look for a fat man screwing everyone—in the most brutal and, frankly, demonic way that none of us could have even imagined in those days. And now here we are. I deeply hope that others of our classmates would be among us today…are among us as they read this in some still unimaginable time.

“Bill Danielson and I have retained our lifelong connection and stay in touch with each other and our families as we go through all this. It’s a life-preserver of a friendship.”

Peter Horton shares, “I am still walking a bit and chewing gum and have little patience for those who lack empathy. Helen

“Esther, our kids, and our grandkids have selflessly shouldered their new burden (me). So have many friends; Larry Daloz has continued to be my lifelong confidant, supporter, and bud through the process, and Peter Horton has emailed me regularly, relating episodes from his earlier years ranging from poignant to hair-raising. Peter’s vignettes, written in his clear, engaging style, have greatly buoyed my spirits over the past months.

“The amputation hastened a change in residence from Chebeague Island to Stroudwater Lodge, a mainland retirement community in nearby Westbrook (Maine). We will continue to spend some days and weeks in the Chebeague house we share with our daughter and son-in-law, but it’s nice to be free of concern over ferry schedules, tides, ice, and snow. And we confess we’re enjoying many features of retirement

Buzz Gagnebin 617-840-7712

imbuzz@me.com John Gibson 318-834-2100

jgib1963@aol.com

1960

Class Correspondent Al Vandam 978-844-1197

arvandam42@gmail.com

Barry Treadwell reports with sadness the passing of Debbie, his wife of 60 years: “For almost 30 of those years Deb battled breast cancer, although you wouldn’t know it, as she never complained or asked why me. She was the first female member of the Nobles graduate advisory committee; Debbie loved Nobles and Nobles sports, and always enjoyed bringing our family back to the beautiful campus for reunions. We remember her with a smile because that’s what she always had for everyone she met.”

From left: Daughter Jenney, granddaughter Niven, and Tappy Wilder ’58 at opening night on Broadway for Our Town, October 10, 2024, at The Barrymore

Roger Berle, Christian Bertelsen, Thomas Botsford, Ted Burt, George Draper, Dan Funkenstein, Kirk Gibson, Chip Gray, Lenny Holmes, Mike Poor, Dudley Post, Ned Robinson, Barry Treadwell, Al Vandam, Tom Walker, Ken White, Tony Wilkins, and Jon Wood all in attendance for the 1960 Zoom call.

“So, let’s Zoom again as we did yesterday—with a full boat, yeah? Pass the word. Cheers, Ken.”

1961

Class Correspondent

Peter Ward 307-413-4055 peward@wyoming.com

perhaps in the hope that our own descendants will be able to heal the significant differences that still exist in the American population.”

From Ken White, submitted after the class Zoom call: “Bravo to Al and Lenny for orchestrating our ’60 Zoom confab. Great fun to catch up with these geezers—no surprises, and heartening to see them living large. Such fond memories of the ‘vintage’ Nobles.

I remember saying something about ‘the beauty of being average,’ but I came away thinking…these guys are hardly average. Spes sibi quisque, indeed.

“News: Kitty and I are enjoying independent living at Atria Woodbriar in Falmouth, coasting to our 60th wedding anniversary next month. Seventeen years living on Martha’s Vineyard took its toll… my sea legs walked off and left me with one too many pratfalls, so we retreated to the safety of the mainland and level ground. So far, so good.

Peter Ward collected the following notes from 1961: John Merrill and his wife, Carol, have now lived for 25 years at Teel Mountain Farm, a 200-acre property nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. As native New Englanders whose ancestors fought on the Union side of the American Civil War, they would never have predicted that they would end up here. However, they have come to understand that this is hallowed ground upon which more Americans have fought and died than on any other place in history. A Confederate officer, George H. Teel, is buried on the farm, in the family cemetery that they maintain with care. John and Carol have acquired deep respect for the local residents who, after all, are the descendants of Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson. John writes, “If there is a lesson in our comfort in these surroundings, it resides

In the late 1960s, Peter Ward rescued a 3-inch-thick stack of papers from his grandmother’s attic collected over a 50-year period in the late 1800s by his great-grandfather John Langdon Ward. The papers detailed genealogy going back into the 1600s and consisted primarily of supporting documents including numerous letters. Peter had the papers bound into a book for safekeeping. The book sat on his living room shelf for decades until his daughter, Tonya Ward Singer, started reading some of the letters in 2016. A clue she found set her on a path of researching the histories of slavery and the slave trade in our New England roots as well as how these histories have been— and continue to be—silenced. The work is ongoing and collaborative with multiple organizations including Coming to the Table and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire. Her research brought her into collaboration with a descendant of Prince Whipple, a Revolutionary War veteran and co-signer of the 1779 Petition for Freedom in New Hampshire. Prince Whipple was enslaved by William Whipple, a Declaration of Independence signer in our family. Tonya and her new friend co-presented on their interconnected American legacies at the Museum of the American Revolution last fall and continue in collaboration to deepen the ways we can learn together from our past together

for a better future. Peter also rescued 107 Lantern Slides from the same attic in 1959 while still at Nobles and shared them in American History class. They detail the fortifications at Port Hudson, the final battle in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River from May 22 to July 9, 1863. These slides were compiled by John Langdon Ward, who was commissioned Major of the 3rd Infantry Corps d’Afrique, the third Regiment of black troops in the United States. Peter donated these slides to LSU Libraries. To enjoy the digitized versions, Google “John Langdon Ward Lantern Slides.” Jim Newell and wife Sally decided to give up flying several years ago because of the hassle. To travel, they take trains and ships. They are currently (April) on their way to see friends in England and France, and to visit their eldest son and family in Brussels, where he is an anthropology professor (Africa). Nobles inspired Jim’s interest in languages; he speaks four pretty well. Some of you will remember his special accent, now with a Northeast Kingdom flavor. Brad Willauer and wife Ann continue to live in their Prouts Neck home on land passed down through the family from the great American artist Winslow Homer, who lived there from 1884 until his death in 1910. Their children and seven grandchildren all live within an hour or so, allowing them to watch the grands compete, act, sail, etc., all in Maine. They continue to cruise with friends and family during summer months on their beloved sailboat Breezing Up, named

after a famous Winslow Homer painting. Brad enjoys all house repairs, painting, etc., as long as a ladder is not required. For better or worse, Brad agreed to be president of the Bermuda Race Foundation, created to ensure the iconic Newport to Bermuda Race, about to sail its 100th race in June 2026, lives on for eternity. Brad first did this race at age 18, in 1961, together with Stu Finlay. In all, he has completed this biennial race 20 times! Stuart Gauld and his wife, Suzanne Veilleux, have now lived in Bluffton, South Carolina, for 15 years. Stu retired long ago, but Suzanne still does three days a week in her own psychology practice. Every year she provides some significant help to a few souls with major challenges. According to Stuart, her website, DrSuzanneVeilleux.com, is more interesting than his, which has yet to be unveiled. Although their property is small and in a 55-and-over 500 home community, there is a lot of yard work to be done. Stu still bicycles with an electric mountain bike and has gotten moderately good at the pool (billiards) table. One son lives in Manhasset, New York, and has three children, and the younger son lives in the Berkshires. He has two children and is a great artist. His website is JohnGordonGauld.com if anyone wants to see some very intricate paintings. Stuart writes, “Getting old has brought its share of pains and regrets, and some departed friends. Spending time in meditation, some Bible study, and continued

(for 30 years) readings of the Hindu/Advaita masters helps in many ways. Check out all the books about the teachings of Ramana Maharshi.” Jim Henry and wife Sue are doing well. Kids and grandkids are all prospering and making positive contributions to the world. They just came back from a wonderful trip to Holland and Belgium. Who knew there were so many kinds of tulips? Jim writes, “Miss you guys and think of you often. Pete Miles and wife Alice have been enjoying the far-less-hectic and less-tourist-crowded Yakima, Washington, going on six years this September. After 30 years in the rampant growth in Bend, Oregon, and 20,000 to 26,000 tourists every day, year-round, it is great to be the first or second car at a stop light and make an easy left turn out of a store without falling asleep waiting for a break in traffic. We are still collecting a few clocks. Lastly, I was put onto it by my stepdaughter, Jordana, who manages a huge thrift store in Longview that supports a battered women’s home. She texts me pictures of clocks and other antiques that are donated to the store. The clock in question is a Soviet-era submarine chronometer. I had two questions for her: Does it work? And how much do you want for it? Answers were “yes,” and if I remember correctly, about $100. “Check is in the mail along with a donation.” Chuck Kaman and his wife, Maureen, continue down the “razor blade of life” as sung by Tom Lehrer in his famous song “Bright College Days.” Maureen is full-time at McLean Hospital, and Chuck

continues working in cryptography. Their five dogs are now down to two, but they might get a collie or maybe another sheltie. Their home and lives are entirely dog-oriented. Chuck writes, “I, too, think often of those who have gone before. They are missed. The logic of life eludes me.”

Boynton Glidden and wife Dana continue to live in Dover, Massachusetts, on property originally settled by his grandparents in 1914. The Gliddens must be one of the few families remaining in Dover that have had five generations living on the old family farm. Boynton has two kids and six grands living in Dover and Weston. Both kids went to Nobles, and now one grandson is in the sixth class. Nobles is still located in Dedham, but that is the only resemblance to the school we all attended in the 1950s and earliest ’60s. Hard to believe the changes there. Dana and Boynton travel a lot in the western U.S. and enjoy visiting with family and friends there. He is still working a few hours daily in the hardwood lumber industry. If any of you travel back to Nobles, give them a call. They would love to see you.

John Merrill sent the following story recently:

A Nobles Memory

It was late autumn 1955, now some 70 years ago. I was the youngest and conspicuously the smallest member of Nobles Sixth Class. The fall sports season had ended, and winter sports were now beginning.

On that particular day, I found myself walking down the

path that connected the schoolhouse to the athletic building and grounds, alongside a giant of a figure, a First Classman who towered over me, an 11-year-old pipsqueak that I was.

“What are you doing for a winter sport?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” I replied. “Most everyone seems to be going out for hockey, but I broke my ankle last year and haven’t been on skates since then.”

“Why don’t you come out for wrestling?” he suggested, then introduced himself. “I’m Newell Flather. They call me Newie.”

As it turned out, my new friend Newie was captain of the Nobles wrestling team as well as the team’s star heavyweight.

“I don’t know,” I hesitated.

“Why not come up to the wrestling room on the second floor and find out what it’s all about?”

The fact that a senior, and one of such imposing stature, had even bothered to connect with me was all the persuasion I needed. I changed into a pair of sweats and climbed the two flights to the wrestling room. Newie spotted me and led me over to the coach, Mr. (Wilbur) Storer.

That was that. I was a member of the Nobles wrestling squad and never looked back. I learned a lot, and the team in those days had some star performers to observe and learn from—the names Wade Williams and Rocky Whitman come to mind. By my third-class year, at age 14, I had gained enough weight to compete for a varsity position, and enough experience to hold my own against older opponents.

I finished the season with a respectable record and, most important, became the first member of my class to earn a varsity letter.

Newie Flather graduated at the end of that first year, with the Class of 1956. I lost track of him but read some time ago in the Class Notes that he had passed on. I suspect he had forgotten all about the little kid he had recruited to the wrestling team. But I have not forgotten him. It is said that immortality resides in the succession of human memories. If there is any truth to that notion, Newie is entitled to his share of immortality in my memory.

1962

Class Correspondent

Pete McCombs 215-947-8017 prm9244@gmail.com

1963

Class Correspondent

Jim Lehan 508-320-5250 jlehan.jl@gmail.com

1964

Class Correspondent

Ned Bigelow 339-203-0086 moe9817@aol.com

Mike Wiggins shares, “As the time for presentation of the annual James M. Ritvo Award approached, Alexander Caskey, Rick Farlow, and I recently enjoyed receiving a glowing update from Catherine Hall and faculty member Edgar De Leon about the great strides Nobles has continued to make this year to advance the diversity, equity, and inclusion

“I suspect he had forgotten all about the little kid he had recruited to the wrestling team. But I have not forgotten him. It is said that immortality resides in the succession of human memories. If there is any truth to that notion, Newie is entitled to his share of immortality in my memory. ”

JOHN MERRILL ’61 , recalling the kindness of Newell Flather ’56, then a senior, who took Merrill under his wing as a Sixie

initiative that so many in our class helped to boost when we set up the award in memory of Jim in 2021. The funds we raised back then have been wisely applied to support the many affinity groups that flourish throughout the year. Many students have stepped forward to foster a deep sense of belonging for all in the Nobles community, which is one of the school’s core values. We look forward to sharing further details of this ongoing story following presentation

of the award at the May 30 commencement.”

From Ken Morse: “Knowing that retirement is not what it’s cracked up to be, and knowing I would flunk retirement anyway, I haven’t tried yet. I am still helping three to four cool, young tech companies to grow and go global. Every portfolio has winners and losers; one home run covers up for many zombies or strike outs.

“Recently in Palm Beach, I gave a talk on global entrepreneurship for the local HBS and

MIT Clubs combined. Very heartwarming and gratifying to see what people of our generation are working on in the community service chapters of their lives. Examples: cleaning up nitrogen and phosphate pollution in Lake Okeechobee and developing CO2 sequestration technology using geothermal in Kenya, among other good things for our planet.

“As I write this, Laura and I are enjoying a lovely white Christmas with our kids and grandkids in Needham. Bright

sun, no wind, and 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Beautiful.

“It is always nice to read how we have all mellowed in our own special ways. With greetings to all!”

William Miles shares, “I sent a note to Ned Bigelow the other day after my grandson, a former Middlesex School soccer/hockey and studying too guy, sent me an Instagram of Ned’s son, who works at Middlesex, playing the piano and singing there. Quite a talent! I mentioned that my grandson Zach is headed to study and play soccer at Villanova and that I am soon headed to San Diego to help a bit with my older son’s new job, COO of the new MLS San Diego football club and executive director of its Soccer Academy. Many who read my prior postings know that we are all small investors in a Danish Division 2 pro soccer club. So now it gets bigger— see www.righttodream.com/ san-diego-academy.

“I’ll be out there later this week (I’m writing this in early March) when they select the middle school–age applicants for their academy—4,000 applied for 20 spots. By the way, the pro club is 2–0–1 so far. San Diego is crazy wild about this new team. And talking admissions numbers, don’t tell your soccer-loving relatives to track me down—they received over 3,000 internship requests and are not even offering any this first year. You should all read about the team and the commitment by the Mansour family of Egypt and London, Right to Dream (we have a Right to Dream girl here on

Dartmouth’s soccer team), and the Sycuan Tribal people. Pretty amazing stuff!”

1965

Class Correspondent

Jim Summers 617-510-1520

jimsummers@post.harvard.edu

1966

Class Correspondent

Ned Reece

773-935-0442

ned4047@sbcglobal.net

1967

Class Correspondent

Drew Sullivan 617-549-7253

DrewSull49@aol.com

Frank Cunningham shares, “I am still trying to figure out this retirement thing. The problems are that I like what I do, and people keep asking (and paying) me to do it. My wife, Anne, has the same problem. She is a professional violist who plays with H+H and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, among other Boston-based groups. Pre-

pandemonium, she designed, and we started building, our retirement home in Eastport, Maine. (Fortunately, it was well underway when the world ended.) She has played concerts in their Art Center and opened an art gallery and studio on the waterfront. The art will be her ‘retirement’ gig. She spent all last summer there.

“After a full career designing professional audio equipment and using it to make recordings, I have dialed back a little. I work part time archiving old recordings using IRENE technology. I am still recording choral and classical concerts, preferably those for which the gear fits on my bike. I hope to corrupt the youth in Eastport—teaching them classical recording technique. I’m still trying to find something to complain about, other than the obvious, DoJo the Clown.”

1968

Class Correspondent

Mike Sherman

781-244-2717 msherm@att.net

1969

Class Correspondent

Peter Pach

860-575-3954

peterbpach@gmail.com

Peter Pach writes in, “We had the sad news in January that Stan Lord died.”

“Stan was a really good person, really good,” said his brother, Andy Lord ’68, who added that they were very close. “He was always there when push came to shove.”

After Nobles, Stan went to Lafayette College and graduated

with a bachelor’s in history. He worked in Andy’s painting business during his college years and then spent five or six years selling cars. His approach to sales apparently worked on the showroom floor and brought him national awards, Andy said. Stan then returned to the painting business, spending more than 20 years working with his brother.

Outside of work, Stan’s focus was most often on his family. At family gatherings, Andy said, Stan was the one who would know all the memories and history when stories were being recalled and told. Stan was a well-loved brother, uncle, and brother-in-law known for a sharp sense of humor. That love of family was borne out when, following his father’s death, Stan lived with his mother for many years. After her death, he lived a more solitary life in an apartment in Wellesley, Andy said. Stan worked to stay in good shape, which included a daily walk.

John Clark wrote, “I consider Stan to have been one of my dearer friends at Nobles. We were a lot alike: younger brothers of upperclassmen who were better athletes and scholars than us (as were many/most? of our classmates). Together we were able to enjoy much of our lives, being very comfortable with ourselves and each other, free from the pressures of the Nobles experience. We had a lot of laughs: Bronsky, Nobles Rangers, New England Dragway (Sunday! Sunday!), and a few victories, particularly the Nobles Rangers. Thank you, Stan, for being my friend at

Frank Cunningham ’67 today (see page 51 for nostalgic photo)

Nobles, and my apology for not helping maintain that after we graduated.”

Wigs Frank remembers crossing paths with Stan during college. “While I did not know Stan well during our Nobles years, nevertheless I always enjoyed our conversations and found him to be a really nice guy,” Wigs wrote. “The last time I saw Stan was, I think, the summer after our freshman year in college. I remember a fun discussion about Babatunde Olatunji, of whom I had not previously been aware. If you don’t already know, Olatunji was, in the words of one source, ‘a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.’ I think Stan had just been at a concert where Olatunji had played or was about to go to one. In any event, I remember both how Stan took the time to tell me all about Olatunji, and how enthusiastic Stan was in the telling. I am sorry that I never saw Stan again.”

The word from Lake Wales, Florida, is that renovations are finally complete. “Everything looks great,” reports Steve Baker, who spent the better part of a year rehabbing a condominium, which he had purchased from his mother, who lives nearby. “My mother remains alive and occasionally still cracking jokes at the age of 100.5 years old. We threw a big birthday party for her in late September 2024. More than 70 people came. We had three cakes. One had ‘Happy’ on it. Another had ‘One Hundredth’ on it, and the third had ‘Birthday’ on it. Many thanks to Mr. Longland, because I was able

to get them all in the right order on a long table! Everyone had a very good time.”

Wes Wellington appears to have his hands full. “I’m still (allegedly) working for Dimensional Fund Advisors in Austin and continue to expand the Jeffers Hill Farm wedding/ event space side hustle in Pike, New Hampshire (once home to the world’s leading provider of whetstones). This past summer, Karen and I sold the Colorado ranch where she spent the last 10 years and moved horses, dogs, chickens, and furniture to Terrebonne, Oregon, to be closer to her identical twin sister.”

An example of life’s little victories came in from Brad Wilkinson. “Yesterday, I went to the local jewelry store to get my Medic Alert bracelet tightened (no smirks—you’ll be joining me soon enough, if you haven’t already). There I saw a woman I recognized. ‘Damn! Who is she? I should know this person. This is really embarrassing. Gray hair, about my age. ... Where have I seen her?’

“Quickly, I adopted my favorite adolescent defense mechanism—pretend not to see her. Turn my back. Avoid eye contact at all costs. ‘And think, you idiot, think! Wait a second. ... My back yard, about a year ago ... Nobles 55th Reunion. ... That’s, that’s ... Debbie Gates [wife of Peter Gates]. Saved!’

“Suavely, I now smiled at her and nonchalantly asked after Peter. We chatted about the birth of their fifth grandchild and the pewter baby’s cup she was buying. And with an enormous amount of undeserved

self-congratulation, I sauntered out of the store.”

Tom Taylor called in with spring finally arriving in Parish, New York, after a winter of heavy weather. He spent five days plowing his long driveways after getting two feet of snow. More snow followed. Even Tom, the hard-working outdoorsman, seemed a little weary of winter’s bounty. He did report a silver lining to all the cold and snow, which, he said, would likely produce a good run of steelhead trout in the spring.

I heard from David Brown that he joined the ranks of grandparents in April with the arrival of a grandson born to his son in California.

Your correspondent remains busy in Middle Haddam with a wary eye on the world around us. I had a nice exchange with Peter Litman about our uncertain times.

My wife, Kathy, and I are lucky enough to live near our toddler granddaughter. I spend a fair amount of time building towers with blocks, which are subsequently reduced to

rubble, to everyone’s great delight. I continue to poke my nose into town affairs with a particular interest in planning and zoning decisions. We need better oversight of the hodge-podge of development in our semi-rural town. My book group recently read Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey, a 1912 western that overcame a lot of scenic descriptions with intrigue, shootings, and romance. Please keep in touch.

1970

Class Correspondent Levy Byrd 857-998-1507 levsbyrd@gmail.com

Jamie Peebles shares, “How do you keep ’em down on the farm? Why, you Air BnB, of course. I am living in Weston, and I run a BnB, and I grow lots of wonderful stuff. I call it LilacHouse Farm. I have two grandsons living in Jersey (we all have to do our time in Jersey LOL). As I have said before, I transitioned years ago, and I guess I am woke? I have some interesting memories of Nobles, and I owe my excellent classic education to the school.

Jamie Peebles ’70 and her family

“Of course, I am a feminist now, and I do a lot in the nonprofit sector with LGBTQI+ rights. Look forward to seeing the old gang again. Oh, and I made a movie about being transgender called The Second Life of Jamie P, produced by Roger Sherman of Florentine Films, the same guys who did The Civil War for PBS.”

1971

Class Correspondent s

Harry Blackman 845-549-8821

Harry.Blackman@skadden.com

John Dewey 817-713-4672

jrdewey@usa.net

Nick Mittell 617-590-2639

phred.j.dog@gmail.com

Win Perkins 201-919-8938 wperkins@mmuftc.com

1972

Class Correspondent

Art Depoian 518-265-6069

adepoian@gmail.com

George Colt shares a tribute to the late Rob Farnsworth: “By now, many of you are aware that our classmate Rob Farnsworth died last November. All of you will recall the indelible mark he left on us, as a classmate, teammate, and friend.

“By the time he arrived at Nobles as a Sixie, Rob was already determined to be a poet. By ninth grade, he was rarely seen without his journal and a copy of T.S. Eliot’s Selected Poems. He was that rare highschooler who cared less about getting good grades than about getting a good education, be it in

the classroom with Mr. Bulkeley or Mr. Paine, or after school in the music room, where he and Rudnik and Pillsbury and Briggs would listen to LPs of Lenny Bruce and John Coltrane or discuss the poetry of Rimbaud. Rob loved literature, words and wordplay, and, especially, he loved poetry. He also loved music, whether pumping out the bass on ‘A Monarch Is the Wine’ in BJ’s Glee Club or trying to get the harmony right on Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ on drives to Nick’s Pizza. Rob combined an irrepressible enthusiasm for life and its oddities (how he laughed, how he made us laugh!) with a playful world-weariness: ‘J’en ai marre. Et j’ai marre d’avoir marre,’ he’d say with an exaggerated sigh. (‘I’m fed up. And I’m fed up with being fed up.’)

“And Rob loved sports. Though the apex of his formal athletic career may have been the six goals he scored for Mr. Bridge’s legendary JV soccer team (9–1), anyone at Nobles in the late sixties and early seventies will recall the schoolhouse resounding with cries of ‘Cheevers’ as Rob speared a duct-tape puck or a crumpled piece of theme paper in an impromptu hallway hockey game. (They may not recall that Rob, having skated only once or twice in his life, donned the pads for an actual JV hockey game; though barely able to stay upright, he made a number of incredible saves. Senior year, he backstopped the Rangers to an undefeated—albeit two-game—season.)

“After graduation, Rob went on to Brown University, where

he met Georgia Nigro, his wife of 47 years, and then to Columbia, where he earned his MFA in poetry. He taught for 26 years in the English Department at Bates College, where he founded the creative writing program and was a cherished mentor to many young poets. He wrote three acclaimed books of poetry: Three or Four Hills and a Cloud, Honest Water, and Rumored Islands. Those of you who made it to our 50th reunion will recall his memorable reading at the graduates assembly of his Nobles-inspired poem ‘A Classical Education.’ It began: ‘None of us would have admitted having sentiments/or fears, but we had to have the right loafers, wide/belt, sober tie, a madras jacket, hair just too long/and a studied slouch, suggesting bored intelligence/ and the athlete’s effortless grace. It was 1967…’

“By the time of our 50th, Rob had already been slowed by a string of debilitating illnesses. Despite these challenges, he never lost his sense of humor or his wonder at the world, and even in his last months, as Alzheimer’s claimed his memories at a rapid pace, he would recall, with fondness and an occasional delighted cackle, details of what even back in 1967 he called ‘our halcyon days’ at Nobles.”

1974

Class Correspondent

Kevin McCarthy 617-480-6344 kmac56@gmail.com

1975

Class Correspondent

Doug Floyd +49 1525 1778800 (Germany) dfloyd44312@yahoo.com

1976

Class Correspondent

Tom Bartlett tom_bartlett58@hotmail.com

1977

Class Correspondents

Rob Piana 615-491-7499 robert.piana@vanderbilt.edu

Sarah Gleason Ross sross@gilman.edu

Stacy Scott recently led a three-day conference at Boston University on global leadership called Leadership Exchange. You can see the conference info at www.leadershipexchange.org. He will have a second installment in the series in November. Stacy writes, “It’s been a pleasure serving on the board at Nobles these past few years. Nobles is making great strides in refining its vision and mission. The future looks bright as all its systems gain clarity and focus.”

Louis Hutchins writes in, “After some 20 years in the history museum field and over 10 years teaching at the Cambridge School of Weston in the history and English departments, I am now retired. I’ve taken up sewing in a somewhat serious way, making dress shirts, work shirts, and caps. What one can do on a sewing machine! I also got back into a sweep rowing shell (first time since 1977!) at Community Rowing in Boston in the waning months of the first Trump administration and have been rowing from March

through November ever since, a wonderful salve during these really difficult times of assaults on our social fabric. These days, I am reminded of that morning assembly led by Ted Gleason many years ago when he blasted out Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ with the ever-powerful refrain: ‘Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone?’

“I am so fortunate to be with my wife of 36 years, Nina Silber, also just retired (from Boston University), and two wonderful, thoughtful, and engaged children, Benjamin (33) and Franny (28).”

George Sanderson shares, “Greetings from Pennington, New Jersey, and many thanks to Sarah for encouraging the class of 1977 to be more communicative. Carolyn and I have been living here now for decades, but I think of Nobles often, especially given my involvement in the independent school world. I served as head of school at Doane Academy in Burlington, New Jersey, for eight years, and then, in 2023, I became a partner at Educators Collaborative, a consulting firm that works with independent schools on leadership searches, strategic planning, coaching, and governance. My work keeps me busy, and I enjoy the opportunity to continue to help schools and boards. We’ve found more time for traveling in recent years, most recently to Southeast Asia earlier this year. And since I can work from pretty much anywhere, I spend multiple weeks in Naples, Florida, each winter, enjoying a respite from the cold. Our three children are

all living and working in New York, where we see them often. Our oldest, James, is getting married (to a Winsor graduate!) in September. Hope everyone in the class of ’77 is doing well. Looking forward to seeing you at our 50th (!) in two years, but I hope we can stay in touch in the meantime.”

Adam Sholley writes, “After 38 years of living in Milton, Joan and I started our next chapter with a move to Providence last fall to be closer to our daughter, Anne [Sholley] ’07, and two of our grandkids. We live across the street from them in an antique house on College Hill. We’re also now closer to George [Mara] ’04 and his husband and our other grandson, as well as Peter [Sholley] ’11 and his wife, who all live in New York. In addition to moving, I also retired, just to keep things interesting. I’ve joined the Narragansett Boat Club here in Providence and am rowing again after 48 years (!) while working on my executive coach certification. We see a lot of Louis Hutchins and his wife, Nina, and connect regularly with George Sanderson and Tim Mansfield ’79. Hope everyone is well!”

Ben Lasher shares, “Janel and I both retired in 2024 and live in Norfolk, Massachusetts, but spend the warmer half of each year in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, enjoying the Lakes Region and specifically the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee. We are enjoying being grandparents (three grandsons so far) and Janel spends time cooking, hiking, and in yoga studios while I stay busy restoring classic wooden boats and playing

hockey a couple of times a week (one of them being Sunday morning at Nobles).”

Sam Norton shares, “Retirement is a chimera, it would seem. Having spent the better part of 40 years involved with companies in the shipping

1. Jenny Amory’s ’77 granddaughters, Margot and Addison 2. Sarah Gleason Ross’ ’77 children, Matthew and Benjamin Ross

industry, I am still at it, working on a new project to develop a maritime transport system to move liquified CO2 from Florida to Texas (see here: Aptamus Carbon Solutions LLC) while hanging onto my executive role at my current Tampabased employer, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. My son, Noah, is working at Aptamus, making the effort all the more pleasurable. After commuting between Miami and Tampa for nearly nine years, it’s looking more like my wife, Panita, and I will soon make Tampa our permanent home, now that our son Owen has begun his pursuit of an engineering degree at the University of Rochester. Ironically, the best part of the day is often when I have time to read about non-work pursuits. Always looking for good book recommendations for anyone wishing to share.”

Jenny Amory is retired with her partner, John, and lives in beautiful Rockport, Massachusetts. She continues her art, community projects, and political work. Her greatest joy is caring for her twin granddaughters, Margot and Addison, the children of her son Jeremy and his wife, Samantha. Jeremy is director of development for the Boston-based Soccer Unity Project, and her other son, Kyle, is CEO of Don’t Tell Comedy.

Sarah Gleason Ross shares, “Over the past 40 years, my husband, Rob’s, work as an Episcopal priest has led our family to parishes across the country—from Virginia to Cape Cod, California to Connecticut. With each move, I found new ways to engage in work I loved,

taking on roles in education that spanned elementary to higher ed, from admissions and teaching French to DEI and community service. When we settled in Connecticut 20 years ago, I joined the college counseling team at Kent School, which eventually led to my current role as director of college counseling at Gilman School in Baltimore, where we moved in 2017. That same year, Rob was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Our sons, Benjamin and Matthew, spent their first years after college in Los Angeles pursuing their artistic passions in film and music. Benjamin now lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he co-founded Open Civics, building a network of civic leaders and change agents working for the public good. Matthew lives in Brooklyn and works with Jenny & François, an importer of natural wine. For the past 10 years, Rob has faced the challenges of Parkinson’s with courage and grace. He died on April 30, 2025.”

Lucy Frick Cornish writes, “Hi all, it is hard to believe that 50 years have gone by! Those Nobles years are still so alive in my mind—so special! I am fully retired now after almost 20 years at a therapeutic riding center, where I could combine my social work and horsemanship background. So now there are no horses in my life, but I have been training and competing in dog agility for the last 10 years. I currently have an older and a younger mini poodle. I have two children, both married now, and they have two children each. My grandchildren range from 7 years old to 6 months old. I

love being a grandmother, and both families live in the Boston area, so I get to see them often. Most sadly, my husband, Bill, died in 2022 from ALS. We were married for almost 37 years— he is greatly missed. I spend my time between Lexington, Massachusetts, and Delray Beach, Florida. I’d love to hear from any of you if you come to either of those places! My email is lucyfcornish@gmail.com.”

Julie Rosen writes, “Thinking about our time at Nobles during this important milestone anniversary. I have been incredibly blessed with health, family, and friends but am troubled by what we are facing today in this country. I have had three careers—all in healthcare—first in advocacy and communications representing state and national organizations, then as a CEO of a not-for-profit, and now running the social impact practice of a retained search firm. I am living in Newton and have been married 41 years with three adult children, have one grandson, and another one on the way. And my mom is living at NewBridge in Dedham, where the Nobles students visit with her every week! Still in touch with Jenny and Barb—my oldest and greatest friends. Looking forward to hearing news from all of you!”

Pam Saunders-Albin writes, “After Nobles, I graduated from Harvard College and Stanford Business School, spent several years in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in New York City, then married a Goldman colleague. Ten years later, we moved to Santa Fe, where our son, Ben, was born. A longtime

interest in education led to my getting my teacher’s license and homeschooling our son from preschool through eighth grade, as well as tutoring other students. In addition, I joined my family’s real estate firm and became a trustee of three wonderful organizations: St. John’s College (the unique ‘great books school’ in Santa Fe and Annapolis), the New Mexico School for the Arts (a dual curriculum charter high school), and the International Rescue Committee (a global humanitarian organization). My marriage ended amicably after 25 years. For the last 10 years, I’ve been sharing home and life with a man I’ve known since we met as teenagers in Europe. Meanwhile, Ben played college golf at Notre Dame, then enjoyed a professional golf career for four years, playing on the PGA Canada and PGA Latin America Tour before joining his father’s private equity firm and moving to Dallas, where he now lives. My mother passed away 10 years ago, but my father is a blessed 90 years old and still lives in Boston, as does my sister and most of my family members.”

Rob Higgins shares, “Sad to report that classmate Emmett Thomas passed away on September 11, 2024, in New York, of complications from Parkinson’s. Emmett spent his adult life after Duke and HBS in Asia, living mostly in Hong Kong, where he thrived. He stayed connected to the United States, spending time during summers at his home in Newport, Rhode Island, with his wife, Ronnie, and daughter,

Sami. He was laid to rest in nearby Portsmouth, Rhode Island. A celebration of his life will be held in Boston on Friday evening, September 5, 2025, at 5 p.m. Anyone who might wish to attend, please contact me for details at rhiggins@ dataguide.com

“In happier news, my son Ryan is celebrating his marriage to his Spanish wife, Maite, the very same day, on September 5, in Girona, Spain. They were married in Santa Barbara on September 26, 2024. ‘Reception to follow,’ indeed, almost a year later.”

Peter Gryska writes, “Howdy y’all! After 34 years in Texas, I picked up some of the lingo. We split our time between Houston and our ranch in West Texas. Currently we are watching the sunset over thunderheads in the Llano Estacado. In Houston, I am director of fine foods for SPECS Spirits and Wines, a statewide chain of liquor stores. At the ranch we hunt, fish, count birds, run cattle, and monitor the oil and gas production. And yes, ‘the stars at night are big and bright.’ I will see y’all at the 50th.”

1978

Class Correspondent

Chris Reynolds

800-444-0004

chreynolds@comcast.net

1979

Class Correspondent

Dan Rodgers

616-648-1100

dvonredern61@gmail.com

Dan Rodgers writes in, “It’s always good to hear from our classmates. It’s also good to

Leave a Lasting Legacy With a Planned Gift

You’ve helped build the Nobles community in so many ways. Planned giving is a chance to continue that tradition, ensuring that students for generations to come experience the same support, scholarship, and spirit you did.

LEARN MORE

If you are interested in including Nobles in your will or trust, or naming us as a beneficiary of your retirement plan or other account, please contact Major Gifts Officer Carolyn Flynn ’93 at cflynn93@nobles.edu or 781-320-7017.

have them pop up on my highly limited social media feed (which makes it sound like I’m some sort of livestock at the trough but definitely better than being a cyberstalker). And yippee ki-yay, I got both in these class notes. So buckle up Buckeroos, for another story or two about your classmates.

“First, let me tell you about the very nice email I received from Molly Dempsey, who

actually likes what I write about the great Class of ’79. It feels very good to know that my musings about all y’all bring a smile to Molly’s face. Molly told me, ‘My Nobles classmates will always be 18, it seems. Even though I am 63. And honestly, that is not such a bad thing. I am enjoying being 63, and I love thinking of my classmates eternally held in their 18-year-old selves.’ Molly also hopes that

‘one day, I will make it back to a Nobles reunion…but honestly, what would I talk about with all of those 18-year-olds!’ Yes indeed, Molly, you need to make the next reunion and put your thesis to the test.

“But in the meantime, Molly has led a wonderful life since we parted ways in June 1979 and didn’t even have to start a new company, operate a multimillion-dollar enterprise, or write a

great novel to do so. With her husband (since 1986, we’ll just refer to him as Mr. X), Molly has lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, since the mid-1990s. Most of her time and effort over the years has been spent, as Molly explained, ‘in raising two daughters and trying to do good through a myriad of different activities in various organizations, from the sublime (e.g., Triangle Land Conservancy) to the ridiculous (well, someone needs to be the class parent and help with spelling, reading, and field trips).’ Molly has a degree in mathematics and has taught at various universities and schools over the years, but over the last 15 years settled down to tutoring high school math. Molly also finds the time to work with a small local Senior Move Management company, which helps older individuals as they downsize and move from their current home to a smaller place—frequently in a nearby retirement community. And she still enjoys running several times a week and the hiking vacations she and Mr. X have found both in our own country and abroad. Like so many of us, Molly misses her parents (who would be well over 100 by now) and finds herself wishing she could still ask them questions! I think lots of us would give just about anything to speak with our parents again, if only to apologize for being such braying jackasses when we were 18!

“Second, let me tell you about Sarah Bowman, who popped into my LinkedIn feed just the other day, which is the first time ever that Facebook for Professionals has actually

sent me something I cared about and could actually Like! Well, as they say, a picture tells a thousand words, and so may I suggest that you take a look at www.sarahbowmanphoto.com. Looks like all that time with a camera at Nobles paid some dividends for Sarah. Bravo!”

1980

Class Correspondent

Martha Kittredge Rowley

781-801-6903

martharowley@comcast.net

1981

Class Correspondent

John Fiske

978-880-4125

johnfiske@comcast.net

Ian Jarrett still works for HKD Snowmakers, the snowmaking equipment manufacturer that he and a college classmate started in 1990. Both a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Lindsay, work there too. Another daughter, Lily, lives in Chicago. Ian and Sally still live in Weston, ski at Cannon Mountain, and have a year-old granddaughter, Josephine.

Sarah Bates Dolcino writes: “I retired at the end of 2024 from dual careers in banking and environmental consulting. I have been enjoying a snowy winter in New Hampshire to buy some time as I figure out what’s next. It was fun to run into Margie Prevot in January at the Craftsbury Marathon; she was kind enough to let me ski with her for a while during the race and to invite my mother and me back to her house for a visit. The skiing was preparation for a February trip to Estonia and Finland, where I competed

in two Worldloppet ski marathons. During these times, it was especially gratifying to share a common interest and build community with skiers from all over the world.

“Cathy Buckley, Janeth Eby, and Susanne Jarnryd, and I have started a new tradition of annual get-togethers, and we enjoyed catching up and reminiscing at Janeth’s house on Cape Cod last August. I’m looking forward to my next chapter—discovering new ways to find fulfillment and connection.”

Sam Paige now lives in Fort Lauderdale and captains Crown Royal, a twin-diesel, 103-foot, 200-ton sport-fishing yacht. He and his wife, Linda, a certified financial planner, previously lived in North Carolina for 10 years. They have two daughters, ages 25 and 30. Sam’s peregrinations include the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, and each summer the New England coast, all the way to Castine, Maine.

Andrew Wheeler, who speaks German, will be traveling to Istanbul this summer to celebrate Moritz von Moeller’s dad’s 90th birthday. Andrew, a few years ago, picked up the bass guitar. He says that he and Deborah, who is a working artist and an art professor at Clark University in Worcester, have “played around a little bit.”

Their son, Eli, is at UVM.

1982

Class Correspondent

Holly Malkasian Staudinger

914-656-2893

hollyamalkasian@gmail.com

1983

Class Correspondent

Nancy Sarkis Corcoran

781-492-5576

nlsc3@me.com

From Frances Robbins Bauer: “Hi, Nancy and classmates! Late last summer, Rob Findlay was on a backroads motorbike ride across Montana. Having camped for the previous week with friends along many a dusty trail, he headed west into a thick smoky wall of forest fire smoke. To my and Brian’s delight, Rob parked his bike in our yard in Anaconda, and we got to enjoy an evening of dinner and stories. Rob tolerated our dusty tornapart basement with no running water due to the beginnings of a do-it-yourself bathroom remodel, but we sure enjoyed his company!

“Our son Kai returned from California in October to start classes in Bozeman after four years in the Marines and a year at an Audi dealership. He is taking advantage of the GI bill, studying engineering. I retired from my nursing career in December but still see one private client. We became grandparents in January (Brian’s daughter Kori had a baby girl). What a joy! What a milestone!

“Brian, the avid outdoorsman, has filled the freezer with wild game. While I crosscountry skied, he ice-fished. He is presently smoking all that Kokanee salmon. Too bad there is not a good bagel shop nearby. I still play with clay just as I did at Nobles and still sing (terribly) in a local community choir.

“If anyone else dares across Montana via I-90, please stop by

and visit. I would love to catch up with you. And yes, we have finally finished that bathroom remodel. Love to you all.”

From Seth Goldman: “Although it was not on my bingo card, I have found myself back in the deep end of the beverage industry with the nationwide launch of Just Ice Tea. You can find our drinks all over the country, including at Target, CVS, and most of the New England supermarkets. Please go buy a bottle (or a case!) and let me know what you think.

“Our oldest son, Jonah, and his wife, Sara, have given birth to our first granddaughter, Rose Merle Goldman. We make a point of seeing her every week, and I can report that grandparent-hood lives up to the hype.”

1984

Class Correspondent

Christine Hegenbart Todd 617-699-1933 christinetodd@me.com

1986

Class Correspondent s

Eliza Kelly Beaulac 703-476-4442 embeaulac@verizon.net

Heather Markey 617-365-3836 hsmarkey@icloud.com

Jessica Tyler 617-312-1369 tylerjessica@me.com

1987

Class Correspondents

Emily Gallagher Byrne 914-656-4127

egbyrne@verizon.net

Elise Plunkett Gustafson 310-292-2694

elise_gustafson@yahoo.com

1988

Class Correspondent

Sasha Leland

508-916-8202

sasha@thelelands.com

David Gerber writes: “Earlier this year, Sasha Leland, George Cadwalader, Tim Russell, David Weld, and a special guest from the Class of ’88 met near North Conway, New Hampshire, for a weekend getaway. Like many of us, this group of former boarders hadn’t done the best job of keeping in touch over the years. After crossing paths at memorials for Tim’s father and Dave’s mother last year, we realized we needed to find time to meet under better circumstances. In the fall, we agreed to a date, Dave and Tim booked their flights, and we all protected that weekend on the calendar. A few weeks before the trip, Sasha thought it would be a fun surprise to have Jaime Saenz Denis, our classmate and fellow boarder, join us by a Zoom video call. As luck would have it, Jaime had already planned a business trip to Brazil and told Sasha he could ‘swing by’ New Hampshire via Boston on his way back to Madrid. Of course, Sasha shared none of this in advance and savored our stunned expressions as we arrived and saw Jaime sitting by the fire.

“We spent the weekend skiing, retelling old stories, and falling right back into the easy rhythms of old friends. Different lives, different paths, same connection. We’re hoping to make it an annual tradition—and not let decades slip by again.”

1989

Class Correspondent

Rachel Spencer 917-921-5916 rachelwspencer@yahoo.com

1990

Class Correspondent

Lisa Donahue Rose 617-633-7127 lrose90@nobles.edu

1991

Class Correspondent

Amy Russell Farber 781-856-4689 amy.farber.143@gmail.com

1. Around the table from left to right: Sasha Leland ’88, Jaime Saenz-Denis ’88, Tim Russell ’88, George Cadwalader ’88, David Gerber ’88, and David Weld ’88 2. Pat Mikus’s ’92 son, Tyler Mikus (left), and Karen (Robinson) Coyle’s ’92 son, Aedan Coyle (right), postmarathon

1992

Class Correspondent

Lynne Dumas Davis 508-463-6107

lynnemddavis@gmail.com

Rachel Levin writes, “Big news from Eric Cleary! ‘I got married on September 14, 2024, to my now-husband, Frank Dix.’” The

“Hilariously, I am doing exactly what I loved so much at Nobles— photographing and playing soccer. Only difference is that I’m a grown-up now, married with four children and a golden retriever and living in London.”

VANESSA (BERBERIAN) FERNQUEST ’95

wedding was in Cape Cod, at his parents’ home in New Seabury. Aimee Falchuk and Sabah Ashraf were among the wedding guests, along with his sister Nina Morrissey ’90 and former faculty member Leona Cottrell. Mazel tov, Eric and Frank! Edie Carey writes, “My family and I are still in Colorado Springs, and despite our country falling apart, we’re doing well. In the fall I put out a record with my dear friend Sarah Sample. It’s called Lantern in the Dark: Songs of Comfort and

Lullabies, and it’s a follow-up to our first duo record in 2014, which we made when our kids were toddlers. Now they might be bigger and less in need of lullabies (or perhaps teens need lullabies even more than toddlers?), but we’re all in need of comfort sometimes. It’s been really moving to be touring these songs with her when things feel so uncertain. Our concerts become a comforting bubble away from the chaos where ugly-crying and cry-laughing are fully welcome.

I’m touring lots this year and always love when Nobles folks show up. I was just on tour in Seattle and got to see Molly Coffin, Kaarina Aufranc, and Steve Sack.”

Sarah Kurker writes to report that she has been teaching at ASU’s School of Social Work and integrative health for 20 years and was just nominated by her students for Instructor of the Year for 2025! She’s also a mindfulness educator for women with breast cancer and a longtime fitness

teacher at Miraval in Tucson. (Field trip, anyone?) She published her third book, Profound Meaning, which is available on Amazon. Her daughter is a freshman at ASU, and her son will be attending U of A. An almost empty-nester! (It’s okay, she loves to garden.) She also says: “I cherish visiting Boston every summer and always make a stop at Nobles.”

Aw, loved hearing about the continuity across generations! Karen (Robinson) Coyle’s son, Aedan (a freshman at Dartmouth), and Pat Mikus’s son, Tyler (a freshman at Villanova), are good friends—and ran the Boston Marathon together! Pat lives a few doors down from Tripp Woodland, too. Clearly, Nobles ’92 has taken over the town of Norwell. (Also, hi, Pat! Haven’t seen you since Colgate, where I always loved seeing you!) ’Til next time!

1993

Class Correspondent

Sam Jackson 978-837-8909

sambjackson@hotmail.com

1994

Class Correspondent

Marni Fox Payne 617-372-6561

mpayne@berkshirepartners.com

1995

Class Correspondent

Chad Godfrey godfrey22@gmail.com

Vanessa (Berberian) Fernquest: “Hilariously, I am doing exactly what I loved so much at Nobles—photographing and playing soccer. Only difference

is that I’m a grown-up now, married with four children and a golden retriever and living in London, in Camden Town, by Regent’s Park. My husband, John, and I have Magali, 16 (who towers above me at 5’8”), Freddie, 14, Rex, 10, and Agatha, 8. They all love playing football and playing in their various rock bands.

“As a photographer, I shoot for The Wall Street Journal, London Boroughs of Camden and Islington, and do lots of branding, lifestyle, and travel work. I’m working on personal projects too, lots of portraiture, and am about to get back in the darkroom to print color now, which is exciting. I’ve also been teaching a street photography class to young people in Camden through an amazing youth charity, which is very inspiring.

“I’ve just finished my second season of football—I’m playing on the left wing again, for a

team in the Greater London Women’s League—on the same club all my kids play for, United Dragons. My kids aren’t even embarrassed anymore. It’s so much fun to be on a team. I highly recommend it. Agatha, my youngest, loves hanging out with the team and coming to the pub with us after matches.

“As a family we do lots of European road trips; with so many kids it’s easier to just pile everyone in the car and go—fun to explore all the little towns too. And being in the car for so long gives the kids plenty of time to argue and fight, so that’s good. London is great. Everyone should come and visit!”

Donny Wright and his wife, Marta, moved from Sudbury to Concord now that all three of their children are out of college. They unexpectedly realized that they now live around the corner from Dennis Corkery and his wife, Christine, enjoying the empty-nest life and often running into other classmates Matt Mittelstadt, Mark Sullivan, John Manley, Holtie Wood, and Tim McCabe a couple of times a year.

Diana Falchuk shares, “I’m living in Seattle, Washington, with my partner, Brett, and our 9-year-old son, Zev. We’re gearing up for another summer of swimming and hiking in the PNW—the most gorgeous place to be in the summer! I’m in my art studio a lot these days and recently had a solo exhibition of installation and twodimensional works connected to my Jewish and Venezuelan traditions. I’m working nationally and internationally on education, dialogue, healing, and policy change toward dismantling racism and antiSemitism, resisting authoritarianism, and protecting civil rights and democracy. I love my work and the communities I get to create bridges with. It’s a space-time juggle sometimes, but laden with connection that fills my cup!”

1996

Class Correspondent

Matt Kane 617-443-1100 mkane.esq@gmail.com

1997

Class Correspondent

Bobbi Oldfield Wegner 617-980-1412 bobbiwegner@gmail.com

1998

Class Correspondent

Nina Freeman 347-301-2633 ninahanlon@gmail.com

Michael Holick shares, “In June 2024 I got married. My wife’s name is Anna Apostolova (now Holick), and we got married in a small and intimate ceremony in Pray, Montana (area is also

called Paradise Valley, and the mountain in the background is called Emigrant Peak), where we love to spend as much time as we can in the summer.”

Brian Cullinan writes, “I am still living in Wellesley with my wife, Ellie, and our two boys, Jack (14) and Conor (12). Jack is a freshman at Wellesley High School, where he is playing football this fall. Conor is in seventh grade, and I am lucky enough to get to coach his football team. I am leading the Northeast region for a tech startup called Pigment. We raised Series D a couple of months ago, and we are growing very fast, which makes it hectic but a lot of fun. I run into Steve Gardos around town occasionally, but other than that, I haven’t really seen any of our classmates in a while.”

Joshua Woodard: “I am enrolled at the North Bennet Street School for the next academic year. I will be studying piano technology. I also have a 4-year-old child named Aris, who is the coolest kid that has ever lived.”

In March, Jessica London, Melissa Tansey, and Nina Freeman had a great time catching up at an event celebrating 50 years of Women at Nobles. We hope to see more of our classmates at upcoming events.

Andrew Lamb: “A day after receiving the class update reminder, I happened to cross paths with Steve Gardos at Logan Airport. Small world. My kids are now 10 and 14, and my wife and I took them to the Galápagos Islands this spring break, which was amazing.

Vanessa (Berberian) Fernquest ‘95 in Trafalgar Square with Magali (wearing vintage Nobles Soccer gear!), Freddie, Rex, and Agatha

1. Andrew Lamb ’98 and his family on the Galapagos Islands 2. Michael Holick ’98 married Anna Apostolova Holick in June 2024. 3. Maura MacLeod ’98 and her family in Panama

Workwise, I organize, encourage, and cajole software developers around the world to work together on Apache DataFusion and Arrow, open-source software that serves as ‘plumbing’ for large-scale systems such as training AI models. I was also recently elected as a member of the Apache Software Foundation and have been traveling regularly to present at technical conferences. I also still get to code!”

Maura MacLeod shares, “I traveled with my husband and four young children to Colombia and Panama over April vacation. The highlight of our trip was taking a jungle cruise through Gamboa, Panama, where we spotted exotic creatures including sloths, monkeys, toucans, and crocodiles. We were in awe of the incredible biodiversity of this area of the world!”

Steve Gardos writes, “It has been way too long since I contributed in any meaningful way to these class notes. I think most of the reason is that I hang around Nobles all the time anyway, and second is I’m always just too self-conscious. My wife, Andrea [Berberian] Gardos ’01, has been working at Nobles for the past 15 years, and my oldest, Ozzie, takes squash lessons every Sunday on campus—I probably go to every Nobles graduate event and also find myself running into Tim Carey and his camera at obscure

squash events. All in all, life is going well locally, and I can’t complain—macroeconomically and political speaking aside. I hope this note finds everyone doing well, and look forward to running into some of you at this year’s reunion—which I will undoubtedly attend.”

1999

Class Correspondent

Gabi Herman gabriela.herman@gmail.com

Nick Gorman is taking his foundation, Striking Hunger, to the Ukrainian border near Warsaw in early June to feed as many refugees as possible with bags of essential groceries. Please reach out at ngorman19@ icloud.com or @nickgorman2.0 on Instagram if you’d like to get involved.

Bianca Mauro’s company, BRM Production Management, is currently managing the creation and installation of 15 public artworks for the inaugural Boston Public Art Triennial. This will add to the 23 large-scale public artworks they currently have on view in the Boston area this year.

Lastly, her non-profit STEAM-focused event, Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race, is in its 10th year and continues to donate all race-day proceeds to local nonprofits and youth organizations. Last year, they donated to the STEM Academy at the Roger’s School in Lowell, and this year are partnered with Mill City Grows to help support their mission to create a more food-secure and sustainable community.

2000

Class Correspondent

Lisa Marx Corn lisamarx@gmail.com

2001

Class Correspondent

Lauren Kenney Murphy

Lauren.Kenney1@gmail.com

2002

Class Correspondent

William Duffey III williamduffey@gmail.com

Christina “Chrissie” Long Marin just completed a marathon in every state—a journey she began as a sophomore in college and finished last October in West Virginia.

2004

Class Correspondent

Carolyn Sheehan Wintner carolyn.wintner@gmail.com

2005

Class Correspondent

Saul Gorman saul.gorman@gmail.com

Whitney Dziama writes: “My partner, John, and I welcomed our first daughter, Kessley Colleen, on September 24, 2024. I am working as an HR manager for a manufacturing company.”

2006

Class Correspondent

E.B. Bartels ebandersenbartels@gmail.com

E.B. Bartels writes, “Buckle up, my ’06 friends, have I got some exciting updates for you!”

Melissa Weihmayer is a mom! She writes: “Hi! I have a really cute baby! Alistair is a born Londoner, a champ on public transport, and likes to

After 13 years of friendship

eat cottage pie. This year I have also gotten visits from not one, but two Nobles faculty, Ellen Boomer and Joanna Swayze, plus our classmates Janna Herman and Caitlin Fang Looking forward to more visitors, so let me know if you are ever in London.” Ugh, Melissa, I am so jealous of all your visitors. I promise to get to London soon. In the meantime, turn to the photos page for a sweet

photo of Melissa and Alistair, taken by legendary photo teacher Joanna Swayze herself. Erin Greene is a mom x2! She shares: “In September, my husband, Greg, and I welcomed our identical twin boys, Liam and Ronan, who showed up very early for the party. After spending some time in the NICU, they are home and thriving—and becoming fast friends with their puppy brother, Frankie. We are feeling very grateful and very sleep deprived!” Hooray for Erin and Greg! Those twins are lucky to have you two as parents. Check out the photo page for a photo

s ave the d ate

Nobles/Milton Day and Nobles/Milton Graduate Soccer Game

November 8, 2025 at Milton Academy

Nobles Night November 13, 2025

Nwanagu Family Dinner for community members of color November 24, 2025

Reunion Weekend May 8 and 9, 2026

of the boys dressed appropriately in green(e).

Plus, Cory Rosenfield is going to be a dad! He emailed: “My wife, Aysha, and I are expecting our first baby! We are very excited to be welcoming a baby girl at a soon-to-be-determined date this summer. Perhaps we’ll have a picture to share for the next class update, but for now, we’re thoroughly enjoying our nesting phase, complete with my disastrous attempts at being handy. Setting up the crib was fine, but I’m pretty sure my right leg is just a little longer than my left because everything I hang in the nursery is a disaster. I hope all of ’06 is doing well, and sending y’all lots of love from L.A.! (Don’t worry, I still live and breathe Boston sports out here).” Congrats, Cory, and thanks for saying that you always read the ’06 class notes before the rest of the magazine. I appreciate you!

Meanwhile, some big life changes for Rachael Plitch, who is living in Portland, Oregon! She married Michael

and

post-pandemic partnership, Bianca Mauro ’99 married Johnathan West on September 13, 2024.

Pimlott, an artist from Detroit, on September 21, 2024 (“No, we didn’t play that song, yes it was hard to find vendors because everyone else wanted to get married on that date and play that song, and apparently people flip out when the 21st of September is a Saturday”),

and then she kicked off 2025 by leaving her job at a wine company (where she’d worked for nearly a decade) to start her own brand marketing consultancy, Pearl Street Strategy. Good for you, Rachael!

Becky Barbrow writes that she is “following in the footsteps

of some great ones: Maura Sullivan, Tilesy Harrington, Doug Guy, Bill Kehlenbeck, and Nick Marinaro come to mind! I teach AP calculus and AP statistics at a high school in Tucson, Arizona, where I live with my husband and two kids.” I love that so much. You’re making the math department proud, Becky! Don’t worry, Harry Aspinwall always has a million updates for you: “My film premiered at Cinequest in San Jose; I’m editing another weird film; I have art up around Providence; we threw an event at our house called Puppet Runway; I’m playing a lot of D&D; I’m organizing a collaborative tarot

1. Chrissie ’02 and Derek Marin ’01 with their three boys

2. Melissa Weihmayer ’06 and her husband, Chris Rowlands, welcomed their son, Alistair Rhys Weihmayer Rowlands, on September 28, 2024! Photo of Melissa and Alistair by legendary photo teacher Joanna Swayze.

3. Saul Gorman ’05 and his wife, Tori, welcomed twins in December. Ruth and Phineas didn’t make it to the reunion this year, but they’re hoping to make the trip for the 25th.

4. Caitlin Fang ’06 shared this joyful photo of her daughter.

5. Erin Greene ’06 and her husband, Greg Millar, are now the proud parents of identical twin boys, Liam (left) and Ronan (right), born on September 7, 2024.

deck with local artists; and my partner and I are starting a mobile sauna business.” Tell me more about that mobile sauna business, Harry. Will you drive to my house in Arlington, Massachusetts?

Plus, I have news to share! Your faithful class correspondent, E.B. Bartels, is thrilled to announce that her book, Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, is coming out in paperback on November 11, 2025! You can preorder it now from your favorite indie bookstore, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or wherever else you like to buy books. Thanks to Greg Croak, who already promised me he is “gonna buy some.”

Speaking of Greg Croak, he let me know that he continues to serve as president of the PNW chapter for the 2006 Nobles Alumni Group (“title self-ordained”) in Seattle. You might find him on the University of Washington campus raising money or playing bass in the dad rock band Reader, which has been described as “Alice in Chains meets Simon and Garfunkel.”

Finally, please turn to the photo page for a photo of Caitlin Fang’s daughter throwing sand in the air like she just doesn’t care. Pure joy.

2007

Class Correspondent

Kat Sargent katharine.sargent@gmail.com

Anne Sholley kicked off the new year by launching Pilot Plantscapes, her landscape design-build firm specializing in container gardens for

“My film premiered at Cinequest in San Jose; I’m editing another weird film; I have art up around Providence; we threw an event at our house called Puppet Runway; I’m playing a lot of D&D; I’m organizing a collaborative tarot deck with local artists; and my partner and I are starting a mobile sauna business.”

HARRY ASPINWALL ’06

businesses and homes. She lives in Providence with her husband, Peter, their two kids, Marlow (4) and Graham (2), and her favorite neighbors—her parents, Joan and Adam Sholley ’77, and Vicky Seelen.

Max Mankin is still in Seattle. Here’s one fun life update: He’s recently gotten into the hobby of foraging for wild mushrooms

in the vast woods around the Pacific Northwest. Very tasty! Maddie Pongor married Jameson Pasek in January 2025 in an intimate wedding in Anguilla. They celebrated their engagement in 2024 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with extended family and friends, including many from Nobles.

Big updates from Caitlin Cassidy include her marriage at St. George Church and Harvard Art Museums to her wonderful partner of 10 years, Geoff Kanick, last August and ongoing new play development with her company LubDub Theatre Co and beyond!

From Jake Tower, “Our family welcomed its newest

In Memoriam

NOVEMBER 2024–JULY 2025

ROBERT K. MORRISON ’49

EDWARD P. BLISS ’50

BOB MACLEOD ’57

BOB MACPHAIL ’58

LAWRENCE “RENNY” DAMON ’59

STEPHEN H. GRANT ’59

RICHARD H. REIBER ’60

ROY CLINTON BOON ’62

D.A. MITTELL ’62

FREDERICK CURRAN ’66

DONALD “NIPPER” HARDING ’68

NICK HYDE ’68

STANLEY M. LORD ’69

NATHANIEL HEMENWAY ’70

ROBERT L. FARNSWORTH ‘72

JOHN DOWNEY ’78

CHRISTINE M. MCDONOUGH ’81

MICHELE S. ABRECHT ’84

ABIGAIL RILEY HASTINGS ’92

CONNOR V. COSTELLO ’13

To read the obituaries of deceased graduates, please visit www.nobles.edu/in-memoriam.

addition—a baby boy—on January 13, 2025. Our newborn, Sam, is now a few months old, and his older brother, Landon, turns 3 in November this year. We’ve moved to Wayland, Massachusetts, where we can enjoy outdoor living for a lot of the year. My plastic surgery practice in Newton continues to grow, and for anyone who is curious, you can find me on Instagram @drjtower.”

2008

Class Correspondent

Michael Polebaum Mpolebaum08@nobles.edu

2009

Class Correspondent

Maria Sibilia mcmontes14@gmail.com

2010

Class Correspondent

Tori Goyette tgoyette10@gmail.com

2011

Class Correspondent

Katie Puccio-Williams katie.pucciowilliams@gmail.com

2012

Class Correspondent

Colby Woeltz Maritz ccwoeltz2@gmail.com

2013

Class Correspondent

Caroline Thayer carolinejthayer@gmail.com

2014

Class Correspondent

Alexandra Charron alexandra.l.charron@gmail.com

2015

Class Correspondent

Natalie Hession natalie.a.hession@gmail.com

2016

Class Correspondents

Sabrina Rabins srabins@gmail.com

Mariana Vega vegamariana612@gmail.com

2017

Class Correspondent

Harry Sherman harry74sherman@gmail.com

2018

Class Correspondent Jillian Radley jillradley22@gmail.com

2019

Class Correspondent Ally Guerrero guerreroalessandra@gmail.com

2020

Class Correspondents Drew Barry drewbarry1177@gmail.com

Hailey Brown hailey@birksbrown.com

2021

Class Correspondent

Hadley Winslow hadleywinslow@gmail.com

2022

Class Correspondent Alex Janower ali@janower.net

2023

Class Correspondent

Madi Shaer mbshaer@gmail.com

2024

Class Correspondent

Devin Gray devinmcgray@gmail.com

Hunter Patterson spent his fall camping in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming on a NOLS course.

Timothy Churchill says, “I started the year off on a three-month Where There Be Dragons trip in Bolivia and Peru. I met eight other gappers and practiced Spanish while hiking and living in the Andes. Then, I spent the winter working at Alta bussing tables. There, my closest friends were international workers on work visas from South America, and I skied almost every single day. At the end of March, my family took a trip to Morocco for 10 days. Now, I’m 10 days into a fiveweek road trip out west hiking 11 national parks. This summer I’m hoping to get a job and maybe go to Central Asia for more backpacking.”

1. Eliza Goode ’10 married Kevin Rosenberg in October 2024.

2. Emma Roberts ’15 married Teddy Henderson on June 21, 2025.

3. Post-game photo with (from left) Nobles graduates Owen Fitzsimmons ’24, Tommy Schwartz ’23, Joe Ngnombouowo ’22, Paul Loeber ’24. Missing: Darnel Cineas ’21

2025

Class Correspondent

Eli Schotland eschotland@icloud.com

Congratulations to the Class of 2025 on their recent graduation! Please keep us updated on what you are up to by submitting a class note to Eli Schotland or the Graduate Affairs team (graduateaffairs@ nobles.edu)!

THE MERGER THAT WASN’T Nobles and The Winsor School in Boston once stood on the brink of a merger—but in a pivotal last-minute decision, Winsor chose to remain an all-girls school, preserving two distinct school identities.

THE POWER OF ONE (GIFT)

ONE GIFT. ONE RIPPLE.

ONE TRANSFORMED EXPERIENCE.

Support the Annual Nobles Fund and keep the momentum going. Every gift supports the possibilities, people, and programs that make Nobles extraordinary.

GIVE TODAY AT WWW.NOBLES.EDU/GIVING.

Noble

and Greenough School

Dedham, MA 02026-4099