Winter 2012 PALLIUM

PALLIUM MUSIC at Canterbury

THE MAGAZINE OF

CANTERBURY SCHOOL VOL. 28, NO. 2

“Music can change the world because it can change people.” –Bono

PALLIUM Vol. 28, No. 2

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2012

Letter from the Headmaster Tom Sheehy reports on the winter term.

2

Notes on a Staff

By Marc Vanasse ’73 Members of Canterbury’s Music Department have studied and played with some of the greatest names in the business.

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An EGG-cellent Investment

By Marc Vanasse ’73 Joelle Wyser-Pratte ’87 believes that educating impoverished girls in Third World countries is a great way to change the planet.

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A Dr. in the DR

By Marc Vanasse ’73 Founder of Health Horizons International, family physician Craig Czarsty ’71 brings his brand of medicine and compassion to the underserved of the Dominican Republic.

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The Iceman Treketh

By Frank Urban ’90 The author travels to some of the remotest and coldest places on Earth to research our geological history.

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Changing Lives in Nicaragua Photos by Amy Omaña ’86 Ten students volunteered for ten days with the Fabretto Children’s Foundation in San José de Cusmapa. They expected to affect the lives of others but found their own lives profoundly altered.

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Patience and Faith

By Paul Dolan Jailed for a 1991 murder outside a Greenwich Village club, Fernando Bermudez, one of this year’s Fay Vincent Jr. speakers, believed the justice system would set him free quickly – but it took 18 years before a judge finally exonerated him.

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Campus Life News and photos.

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What Canterbury Means to Me

By Macy Steers ’04 At the annual ring ceremony, the author reflects on his Canterbury experience.

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Class Notes News, photos, and more Editor, Photographer, Designer: Marc Vanasse ’73 On the cover: Canterbury’s Jazz Combo. Paul Gangi ’15 on drums, Sara Carioscia ’13 on sax, Jake Colbert ’13 on guitar, James Kilberg ’14 on sax, Oliver Martinez ’12 on guitar, Bosuk Lee ’12 on piano.

Cover photo: Wendy Carlson

How to Reach Us The Pallium encourages its readers to communicate with the School.

Mail: Pallium Editor, Canterbury School, 101 Aspetuck Avenue, New Milford, CT 06776 E-Mail: pallium@cbury.org • Fax: (available 24 hours a day): 860-350-4425 Call: 860-210-3800 (Switchboard), 1-800-526-1710 www.cbury.org

Mark Your Calendar Graduation Day May 29 Reunion 2012 June 8-10

Canterbury School, founded in 1915 by Roman Catholic laymen, is a coeducational, boarding and day school of approximately 355 students, grades 9-12. The Roman Catholic commitment of the School remains central.

Canterbury School is a non-profit institution that seeks and admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, and does not discriminate in the administration of its programs and policies.

The Canterbury Observer is a regular feature of the Pallium. It is a forum for any and all alumni, faculty, and friends of Canterbury to share their thoughts and interests. Views do not necessarily express the philosophy of Canterbury School.

PALLIUM A circular band about two inches wide, a pallium is made of white wool and worn over the chasuble around the neck, breast, and shoulders. With its two pendants draping down in the back and front, respectively, a pallium is also marked by six black crosses of silk. The wearing of the pallium dates to the Fourth Century. It was first given to St. Augustine by Pope Gregory the Great, and each successive archbishop has worn one. A representation of the pallium appears in the center of the School seal, as well as in the School’s logotype.

JOHN MCKEITH

LETTER FROM THE HEADMASTER

“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

Dear Members of the Canterbury Family, This PALLIUM highlights the extraordinary contributions made by diverse members of the Canterbury community.

Music faculty Dave Overthrow, John Shackelford, Amy Vinisko, Belinda Whitney and Arnie Gross bring a vast wealth of experience and talent to teaching our students. Each is an accomplished professional with a great temperament for teaching; together they form a superior ensemble that draws young musicians to Canterbury.

Amy McKenna Omaña ’86, acting chair of our Theology Department, led a group of students to serve the children of Familia Padre Fabretto in Nicaragua for the eighth consecutive year.

She first worked with the Fabretto organization in Nicaragua as a young Georgetown University volunteer in 1991; due to her continued dedication, our students have the same opportunity to experience the joy and rewards of service.

Like Amy, Craig Czarsty ’71, Joelle Wyser-Pratte ’87, and Frank Urban ’90, do “work worth doing” in the world. They model the values we instill in our students – the honor of hard work and effort; kindness and generosity to others; love of God, family and friends; and service to the community, locally and globally. These values, our teachers and coaches that promote them, and our graduates who carry them into the world, are what make Canterbury a transformational educational community.

Finally, I direct your attention to the article on one of this year’s Fay Vincent Jr. speakers, Fernando Bermudez. Mr. Bermudez visited campus to share his hopeful message of redemption and aspiration at the suggestion of Adriano Echavarria ’03.

It has been a wonderfully rewarding winter. I am grateful for your support in all that we do at Canterbury.

Warm best wishes and many thanks,

Thomas J. Sheehy III

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NOTES ON A STAFF

Text by Marc Vanasse ’73 Photos by Wendy Carlson

Members of Canterbury’s Music Department have studied and played with some of the greatest names in the business.

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Dave Overthrow Director of Music & Jazz Studies

It’s no secret

that Dave Overthrow has a passion for jazz.

The vanity plates of his black 2005 Honda CRV, FUNK 01, announce it to the world. Whereas some musicians absorb playing an instrument from one or both parents, in Dave’s case neither parent had a particular interest in music. That all changed when Dave’s dad, Curtis, found out he had cancer. In 1978, knowing that his time might be short, he bought a guitar and a motorcycle, and grew an Afro and pierced one ear.

Doctors gave him six months. He lived three years.

“Dad started playing the ukulele then picked up the acoustic guitar,” recalls Dave. Eventually, Curtis passed down the ukulele and acoustic guitar to Dave’s brother Keith, who in turn passed them down to Dave. Soon, Keith started playing the bass guitar and that instrument, too, ended up in Dave’s hands. “My earliest musical influence was my brother Keith,” says Dave, “because of the type of music he played – from Johnny and Edgar Winter to Stanley Clarke, Miles Davis, and Frank Zappa. My primary professional musical influence was the late great Jaco Pastorius. He was primarily responsible for the music world accepting the electric bass as a legitimate instrument.” But playing bass guitar wasn’t Dave’s only passion; it competed with football, which Dave played with some success in junior high. So what’s a young kid to do? Play football or music?

As a freshman in high school, Dave quickly realized that his chances of starting on the Bethel High School football team were slim, because two upperclassmen played his position. “If I wasn’t going to start on the team, I’d prefer to study the electric bass

Dave has traveled throughout the country playing as a sideman in a variety of groups and has also done short stints in Europe.

rather than play football.” Dilemma over, he would now devote his time to music.

Before entering high school, Dave had been exploring the bass.

He stuck with it because middle school friends of his had formed a rock band that rehearsed three doors down from his parents’ house. He listened to their music wafting down the street, and he learned every song he heard. “One day I walked down there with my bass and they let me sit in with them. They realized that I played a lot better than their bass player,” says Dave. “So they fired their bass

player and said to me, ‘You’re in the band.’”

After deciding to devote his spare time to music, Dave joined a band of seasoned upperclassmen musicians who were playing all sorts of gigs, especially proms, around Connecticut. “They paid us serious money. This helped me gain a tremendous amount of experience in playing live shows all through my high school years before I studied at Berklee College of Music.” As a junior in high school, Dave turned his attention to playing electric fusion and jazz, two of his brother’s new musical 193

passions. Rock was out. New genres were in. “At 17, I put all my energy into music,” says Dave.” At this time he knew he wanted to attend college for music. “I zeroed in on Berklee right away because they were on the cutting edge of a revolution of jazz guitar and electric bass playing.”

After two years of study at Berklee, Dave transferred to Western Connecticut State University, which was starting a Jazz Studies program. “I decided to transfer because the school offered me a handsome scholarship and because they had hired an incredible bass instructor, Dr. Lyn Christie,” says Dave. In 1983, Dave Smolover, who was starting the National Guitar Workshop (NGW) and teaching private guitar lessons at Canterbury, asked Dave to teach some workshop classes in the summer. When Smolover left Canterbury to devote his full attention to NGW, Canterbury hired Overthrow at Smolover’s suggestion. Teaching private guitar lessons evolved into Dave’s starting a small jazz ensemble and teaching AP Music Theory. “One thing led to another and the School approached me to start an instrumental music program in 1997,” says Dave.

That program consisted of Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Combo (by audition), and a Concert Jazz Band. Today the music department consists of 15 offerings. In 1999, Dave became Canterbury’s Director of Music.

When not busy rehearsing his students or teaching, Dave plays professionally. “I learn so much from the folks I play with and I bring that knowledge and experience to my classes and students,” says Dave. He has found the time to write ten instructional books for bass and make 60 instructional video lessons and three instructional DVDs. He also served as a staff writer for Bass Guitar Magazine from 2003-2006.

Dave has traveled throughout the country playing as a sideman in a variety of groups and has also done short stints in Europe. For several years, he participated in Montana’s 4

Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival and there performed with the legendary Pat Metheny. Dave has also performed with legends Stanley Clarke, Mike Stern, Trey Anastasio, Frank Gambale, Larry Coryell, and Zakk Wylde. Thanks to the Duffy Family Travel Grant, Dave observed the power of music in Brazilian culture and took in the country’s cultural rhythms in 2000.

“Working at Canterbury has been very rewarding,” says Dave. “Every year we have a couple of students who are great musicians that make me go WOW.” Dave lives in New Milford with his wife Yvette. You can check out his website at www.daveoverthrow. com.

Amy Vinisko Piano teacher, organist, Octet & Chorale accompanist

After graduating from Hastings College, Amy packed her bags once again, but this time for New York City to study with Eleanor Hancock, co-founder of the Taubman Institute of Piano.

Amy Vinisko’s love affair with music began

at an early age. “At five years old, I remember walking by a piano at our church while I was on my way to Sunday school,” says Amy. “I thought it was the most fascinating machine I had ever seen, and I begged my parents for two and a half years to let me start piano lessons.” In the meantime, she began to teach herself, using her cousin’s piano books and practicing on her toy piano. Her determination led to a music passion that remains undiminished.

Undeterred by not having a piano in her house, Amy started formal lessons when she was seven years old, and for two years walked to her church six days a week to practice. “When I was in fourth grade my parents bought an upright Kohler & Campbell piano,” says Amy. By eighth grade she was taking two lessons a week, one

“Music students at Canterbury are exposed to a higher level of professionalism than they might be somewhere else,” says Amy. “It’s a very exciting time for Canterbury’s Music Department because the faculty members are all very experienced and wellrespected in their particular musical genres.” with a traditional teacher and one with a college professor who taught at Hastings College, the school from which Amy received her B.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy.

Her passion and talent continued to flourish, and for the next five years she traveled from her hometown of Clay Center, Nebraska, (pop. 800) to Estes Park, Colorado, to attend a summer music camp. It was there that she got serious about music. “At camp I would practice eight to nine hours a day,” says Amy. During summers while in college she attended the Aspen Music Festival and Camp, a mecca for serious and dedicated musicians. “What was great about that camp was that it attracted students from conservatories around the world. We heard toprated performers on a daily basis,” says Amy. All those lessons, summer camps, and practicing started to pay off. Through the Music Teachers National Association, Amy entered piano and composition competitions and placed first in many of them. At age 12, she began taking organ lessons and playing for church services.

In 1996, she toured Japan with the Hastings College Choir and spent summers taking voice and piano seminars at the Britten-Pears Music Festival in Aldeburgh, England.

After graduating from Hastings, Amy packed her bags once again, but this time for New York City to study with Eleanor Hancock, cofounder of the Taubman Institute of Piano. The Taubman technique focuses on teaching pianists the most efficient and effective ways to produce music. Dorothy Taubman, for whom the technique is named, taught at Juilliard for many years.

In 1998, Amy moved to Connecticut to take the position of Director of Music at the Nutmeg Conservatory of the Arts in Torrington. For the next two years, she served as an administrator, piano teacher, and accompanist for the school’s ballet classes. It was during that time that she met Canterbury’s voice teacher John Shackelford, who was then teaching at the Connecticut Conservatory of Music in New Milford. When John joined Canterbury’s faculty he began looking for an accompanist for Canterbury’s Octet and Chorale and immediately hired Amy in 2004.

“It’s a small music world around here,” says Amy. She has also accompanied the St. John’s Chorale in Washington, Connecticut, and the Kent Singers. In addition, she regularly collaborates with other instrumentalists, singers and ensembles, giving about six concerts per year in the New England area.

At Canterbury, Amy teaches private piano lessons to nine students, from beginner to advanced, accompanies the Chorale and Octet, and plays the organ for Confirmation, Lessons & Carols, graduation, and other special occasions. Off campus, she plays the organ and directs the choir at New Preston Congregational Church. To improve her organ playing skills and because she plays the organ so often these days, Amy began taking lessons last year with Jason Roberts, who has a doctorate in organ performance from Yale and Manhattan School of Music. In addition, she takes courses in music composition at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music.

“Music students at Canterbury

are exposed to a higher level of professionalism than they might be somewhere else,” says Amy. “It’s a very exciting time for Canterbury’s Music Department because the faculty members are all very experienced and well-respected in their particular musical genres.”

Amy and her husband, Richard Vinisko, a statistician for Boehringer-Ingelheim, a leading pharmaceutical company, reside in Bantam and have two children, Maggie, 8, and Emma, 6, both of whom share their mother’s passion for the piano.

John Shackelford Director of Vocal Music, Conductor of the Octet and Chorale

John Shackelford’s journey from the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia

to Europe’s most elegant opera stages is a cautionary tale, fraught with challenges, rejection and epiphanies. His parents, Charlie and June, possessed musical talent but were not professional musicians.

They encouraged him to play the clarinet primarily because they had an old silver one collecting dust in the attic. Although West Virginia in 1955 wasn’t a place that produced many musical prodigies, John proved the exception to the rule.

“I hated the clarinet,” says John.

“When at age five I saw the flute section of the Lawrence Welk orchestra on a neighbor’s television, I knew at that moment that the flute was for me.” John, driven by his new passion, convinced his grandfather to purchase him a flute.

“Grandfather bought me one from the Sears catalog.” Thrilled, he took his first lessons once per week from a man who gave lessons out of the back of an old school bus with no seats.

In elementary school, John discovered he also possessed another music talent – a natural 5

John became a worldrenowned opera singer.

He created the roles of Romeo in Riccardo Zandonai’’s Giulietta e Romeo in New York and Ben Alexander in the world premiere of Jack Beeson’s My Heart’s in the Highlands.

and pure singing voice – one that warded off the taunting of the older and bigger boys who targeted him for his slight build and sensitivity for music. “My voice seemed to soothe them and would often make them cry,” explains John, “and they backed off.”

Though insecure as a child, John made up for it with his confidence in his musical abilities.

One day John announced that he, the student, had advanced well beyond his teacher’s ability to teach him and that in the future he’d be studying independently. “That didn’t go over well,” admits John.

“There’s a tendency to romanticize stories like this, but the fact is that my early years in West Virginia were often filled with fear and danger.” Within a few years, John’s father, an insurance agent, moved his family to Indiana, where John started his formal music training.

Although John felt more at ease 6

socially in Indiana, he yearned for greater musical opportunities to develop his talents.

“When I was ten years old, God took me by the hand and, with the help of good teachers, led me on a six-year journey that concluded with my studying flute at the Juilliard School of Music,” recalls John. While most of his peers were listening to the popular music of the day, John knew from the beginning that he preferred the work of composers such as Beethoven and Handel. “Their music was enormously appealing to me because it was so full of passion.”

Arriving in New York to pursue his Juilliard studies, John found the Big Apple terrifying. He lived alone in an apartment near Juilliard’s campus, located north of its current Lincoln Center campus. “I had no experience with cities at all,” explains John. “I was naïve and

scared, but I got to play with some of the greatest musicians of that period. Money was tight and that was a problem. I got a job working for an answering service from midnight to 9 a.m., five days per week. It was great because there was no one in the building and I could practice all night.”

John’s flute teacher at Juilliard was Julius Baker, solo flutist in the New York Philharmonic and the foremost flutist in the world at that time. Baker, who recognized John’s talent, invited the young Shackelford to spend summers at his place in Brewster, New York.

“It was a gathering place of flutists from all over the world who wanted to study with Baker,” recalls John. “We played duets and trios all day long. I spent nine to ten hours per day practicing.”

In his late teens, John made his official operatic debut in a Long Island production as Schelkalov

“I love Canterbury and am extremely grateful that after all my wanderings, the Lord gave me the opportunity to come here,” reflects John. “I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to teach the children and for what Canterbury is. I love what I do here far, far more than all of the accolades I ever received.” in Boris Godunov. He also gained singing experience by participating in opera productions at Juilliard.

Singing opera soon overshadowed his desire to play the flute. “I started to get tired of playing the flute because at age 18, I had actually memorized so much of the entire repertoire,” says John.

He had by then appeared as a soloist playing Handel concertos at Carnegie Hall and other wellknown venues. “I was bored.”

John started looking for different work after he realized that singers were getting more attention and making more money than flutists.

One of his first paid singing jobs was with an opera company in Maryland where he sang in La Traviata and The Rake’s Progress.

To hone his skills, John returned to Juilliard to study voice with Oren Brown, a pioneer in the field of voice therapy who was widely respected for his immense knowledge of the voice. John yearned to be a dramatic tenor, to sing the really big roles. “Everybody told me no. That it was too hard.

I did it anyway because I really, really felt I had to do it. I wanted to sing all the big heros.” John built up his 125-pound frame and began playing the big roles he so desired.

“It is difficult to sing Samson in Samson et Delilah or Bacchus

in Ariadne auf Naxos, but I was fortunate,” says John, “because I had the voice and the physical and emotional strength to do it.”

Soon, John became renowned for his brilliant and powerful portrayals. He created the roles of Romeo in Riccardo Zandonai’s Giulietta e Romeo in New York and Ben Alexander in the world stage premier of Jack Beeson’s My Heart’s in the Highlands. One role that he desperately wanted to sing but which had eluded him was Lohengrin in Wagner’s opera of the same name. “I had auditioned for one of Europe’s most influential agents in Munich who told me to go home, that I would never sing Lohengrin in Europe,” says John.

“Shortly after that, my New York agent called to ask if I wanted to sing Lohengrin in Paris. Naturally, I accepted the engagement even though I had never sung the role on stage. I had ten days to memorize the opera and fly to Paris. Two days later, I stepped on stage as Lohengrin having had no rehearsal at all. I made up the blocking as I went along.” The audacious stunt paid off, and critics wrote that Shackelford was the tenor for whom Wagner had written the role. After playing many roles in Europe, John discovered that the singer’s world that had looked so glamorous and appealing was, in fact, harsh and lonely. “Despite all the travel and exotic places, all I ever really saw was the inside of hotel rooms,” reflects John.

In his 50s, John returned to the United States and settled in New Milford with wife Laura, a clinical psychologist. He imagined himself retired, but after a few years of giving voice lessons locally, Canterbury’s Dave Overthrow called John and asked him if he would consider teaching here.

“I didn’t know anything about prep schools,” admits John, “but the interview process went well and they hired me to conduct the Octet.” John is effusive about his time working at Canterbury. “For the first time in my life, I felt at home,” says John. “I really started to feel comfortable in a place. It’s

the most extraordinary thing that has ever happened to me.”

“I love Canterbury and am extremely grateful that after all my wanderings the Lord gave me the opportunity to come here,” reflects John. “I am deeply moved for the chance to teach the children and for what Canterbury is. I love what I do here far, far more than all of the accolades I ever received. As challenging as this can be, I am always awed by what worthwhile work this is.”

John Shackelford directs the Canterbury Octet and Chorale, teaches AP Music Theory, Music History and Computer Music and gives private flute and voice lessons.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better than what I’m doing now.”

Belinda Whitney Strings teacher, Conductor of the Chamber Music Ensemble

“I wanted to be a scientist,” recalls Belinda

Whitney, a Philadelphia native and the newest member of Canterbury’s music department, “but it wasn’t meant to be.” She loved science and music – a situation that pulled her in two directions.

“Simultaneously, a high school science teacher encouraged me to study science in college, and my high school music teacher urged me to pursue music,” says Belinda. The University of Pennsylvania accepted her to major in biochemistry and minor in physics, but the financial assistance wasn’t enough to cover tuition, and her parents, a postal worker and a military uniform maker, disapproved of taking on large student loans. Adding to her dilemma was that she had completed seventh and eighth grade in one year and would be only 16 years old when she graduated from high school.

“Although Franklin and Marshall 7

offered me a full scholarship to study science, I felt I would be overwhelmed by being away from home at such a young age,” recalls Belinda. “At the last minute, I decided to study music at Temple University because they offered me a full scholarship and I’d be able to live at home.”

Belinda’s interest in music began as a young girl. Although her parents had absolutely no musical proclivities, they did encourage Belinda’s sister to take piano lessons, and they scraped together the money to buy her a piano. Ever curious and precocious at eight years old, Belinda started teaching herself how to play the piano after her sister, in one afternoon, taught Belinda how to read music, and she spent the next week mastering the first line of one of her sister’s pieces. “It was difficult, but I just loved it,” says Belinda. She had every intention of continuing with her piano studies, but a young, energetic, and idealistic music teacher decided he wanted to start a violin quartet in Belinda’s elementary school and that changed Belinda’s plans.

“When he asked me if I wanted to play the violin, I had never even seen one,” remembers Belinda. “He asked me to try it, and I did. In addition to teaching me in school, he would come to my parents’ house one night a week to give me lessons. He never asked for a penny, but he always stayed for dinner.” The quartet soon began performing on the Philly circuit, and the young teacher took them to concerts and recitals. “He planted the violin seed, and I began to develop a passion for playing in an orchestra. I loved that.”

While earning a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University, Belinda served as concertmaster of the Main Line Symphony Orchestra and the Lower Merion Symphony Orchestra. She took a year off after graduation to prepare for her Juilliard audition.

She knew that’s where she wanted to continue her studies, because her dream was to study with the legendary Ivan Galamian, who was 8

After graduating from Juilliard in 1981, Belinda returned to Philadelphia and began freelancing. She soon discovered that she enjoyed being a sideman and got regular gigs at Philly International and Sigma Sound, which were the two major recording studios in Philadelphia at the time.

She would go on to play violin for some of the music industry’s biggest names.

winding down his career at Juilliard in the late 1970s and taking on few new students. “My audition for Juilliard went very well,” says Belinda. “Galamian was there, but I didn’t know he was a juror. I started to leave and he called me back and wanted to hear more. I was one of two students he took that year.” Galamian had gained his legendary status producing luminaries such as Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Michael Rabin.

After graduating from Juilliard in 1981, Belinda returned to Philadelphia and began freelancing.

She quickly discovered that she enjoyed being a sideman and booked regular gigs at Philly International and Sigma Sound, the two major recording studios in Philadelphia at the time. She went on to play violin for some of the music industry’s biggest names – Tony Bennett, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, and the late Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

Belinda’s talent has earned her the responsibilities of concertmaster for many Broadway shows – most recently, the revival of Porgy and Bess.

Belinda’s talent has earned her the responsibilities of concertmaster for many Broadway shows (most recently, the revival of Porgy and Bess); film scores (Carlito’s Way, Pocahontas, and You’ve Got Mail); and live concerts (Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Three Irish Tenors, and Luciano Pavarotti). In 1987, she became the first African-American concertmaster of a regional orchestra (Savannah Symphony) in the United States. Currently, she serves as concertmaster for the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, which serves the Lower Manhattan community.

After living and working in New York for many years, Belinda decided she needed a change and, in 2006, bought a house minutes from Canterbury’s campus. She continues to work in New York, and recently drove in to play for Seal when he appeared on Late Night with David Letterman in January. A friend who knew that Canterbury was searching for a string teacher recommended her for the opening. Armed with her impressive resume, she got the job.

In addition to teaching violin and viola, Belinda directs the Chamber Music Ensemble.

“I love working with the students here,” says Belinda. “I love what Canterbury does with students – creating a balance of arts, sports, academics, theology, and community. I love the structure of the day. I think the School is a wonderful preparation for life.”

Arnie Gross Conductor of the Orchestra and spring musicals

For Arnie Gross, music became a way to feel a sense of belonging in high school. An admittedly socially

During his long career, Arnie has orchestrated and/or provided dance and vocal arrangements for innumerable Broadway shows and motion pictures, including Sugar Babies, Merrily We Roll Along, and the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz.

awkward and shy freshman at Forest Hills High School, he decided playing an instrument in the school orchestra would be his route to blossoming as an adolescent. “I asked my dad what instrument I should play and he said sax because I could learn to play it a few weeks,” says Arnie. “I had been taking piano lessons, so I already knew how to read music.”

Irving and Alice Gross, Arnie’s parents, were born with music in their DNA and certainly passed

it on to their son. Both played keyboard. In addition, Alice sang professionally and Irving majored in trombone and minored in flute in college. Irving specialized in world music, playing everything from authentic Hungarian gypsy music and German “oompah bands” to accompanying classical violinists in New York City’s finest French restaurants. He had mastered the entire opera repertoire and accompanying singers was his passion. “I grew up in that kind of 9

“My three years working at West Point were probably the best three years of education in my life,” says Arnie. “I was working with cream-of-the-crop talent and occasionally writing for The Ed Sullivan Show.”

household,” recalls Arnie. “There was always music in the house.

Dad always had people at home rehearsing with him.”

Using his mom’s alto sax that had been stored in a closet and learning from his dad how to play it in three weeks, Arnie got up the nerve to approach the head of the music department at Forest Hills High School and ask, “I’d like to be in your music program, but I don’t want to be in the beginners program because I already play the sax a little and can read music.”

Impressed by Arnie’s confidence, the teacher asked Arnie to play a couple of pieces. Then the teacher asked him to sight read some music he had never seen before. Next, he put something harder in front of him to play. “Finally, he looked at me and said, ‘You’re not going to play the sax, you’re going to play the oboe.” His parents bought him a good oboe and sent him to a good teacher. “That’s how I got into music.”

That Arnie’s dad had taught his son how to play the sax in three weeks impressed the high school music director so much that he hired Irving. He hired Alice, too, as a vocal teacher. “I wound up accompanying my mom’s chorus on piano, which was the first time I actually had any responsibility on keyboard.”

After his freshman year, Arnie auditioned for the New York City All-City Orchestra and earned the second oboe place. The following year he played first oboe. Upon graduation, he received a Doris Duke Scholarship and attended Manhattan School of Music where, 10

by the end of his four years, he had earned 28 credits toward a master’s degree, because he had taken so many advanced courses so early.

Not only did he learn a lot of music in college but he also did a lot of networking. “I met a lot of people, including Bob O’Brien, who helped me get my first job playing for summer stock productions.”

“My first job out of college was a teaching assignment at I.S. 61 in Corona, Queens, where I was hired to teach instrumental music,” says Arnie. “It was tough, but a good experience.”

A turning point came in Arnie’s life in 1967. That year, he received a call from his friend Bob O’Brien, informing Arnie that West Point was looking for music arrangers. He auditioned, got the job, and spent three years arranging music for the Academy’s glee club and USMA band and fulfilling his military service. “My three years working at West Point were probably the best three years of education in my life,” says Arnie. “I was working with cream-of-the-crop talent and occasionally writing for The Ed Sullivan Show.”

The prior year, 1966, thanks to his dad’s connections, Arnie started subbing as a keyboard player in the pit of Broadway shows such as Zorba and She Loves Me. Two years later he subbed in Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking musical Company and later played as the show’s regular piano player. For the last five weeks of Company’s run, he assumed the duties of conductor.

During his long career, Arnie has orchestrated and/or provided

dance and vocal arrangements for innumerable Broadway shows and motion pictures, including Sugar Babies, Merrily We Roll Along, and the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz.

In addition, he orchestrated the Emmy Award-winning NBC-TV children’s special Unicorn Tales and was music director of Annie (original Broadway cast) from 19781983. Arnie has taught at Western Connecticut State University and joined the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra in 1984.

Arnie’s arrival at Canterbury came when former Director of Music Kris Johnson hired Arnie to play for Canterbury’s production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 2002.

Dave Overthrow played in the same show and got to know Arnie. The following year Kris left Canterbury, and Maddie Dreeke, Canterbury’s drama director, asked Arnie to conduct that year’s show.

He has done so for every show since. A few years later, when Dave was looking for someone to lead the Canterbury orchestra, he asked Arnie, who agreed. Says Dave, “Arnie’s theater knowledge and experience have become indispensible to putting on a spring musical. He’s a real pro who works well with the students. We couldn’t ask for anyone better.”

“This year we have a stronger orchestra than we’ve ever had before,” says Arnie proudly. “I love working with young people, and I love working at Canterbury. It’s great.”

Arnie lives in Southbury, CT, and has four children and four grandchildren.

Music Curriculum Major Courses (meet four times per week) Chorale Music Jazz Combo Advanced Placement Music Theory Contemporary Music Theory Computer Music 1 Computer Music 2 Music History History of Rock & Roll Improvisation Minor Courses (meet two times per week) Octet Concert/Jazz Band Orchestra Chamber Ensembles Rock Band Blues Ensemble Private Lessons

Music Facilities Stephen N. ’43 and Lacey Hume Music Center Choral and instrumental performance spaces Composition room with computers, synthesizers, and Musical Instrument Digital (MIDI)

converters Recording Studio L. Michael Sheehy ’56 Music Classroom

11

Joelle Wyser-Pratte ’87 believes that educating impoverished girls in Third World countries is a great way to change the planet. Educate Girls Globally, EGG, an organization which her foundation supports and of which she is co-chair, has created a non-traditional model that produces rapid and sustained changes in unexpected ways.

AN

EGG-CELLENT

By Marc Vanasse ’73

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MARC VANASSE ’73

INVESTMENT

KIM SEIDL

U

pon her 1991 graduation from Tufts University, where she majored in International Relations and English, Joelle Wyser-Pratte ’87 set her sights on being a journalist. Like Christiane Amanpour, whom she admired, she wanted to file reports for CNN from the front lines of Operation Desert Storm and other hotbeds of global unrest.

Instead, she took a job in New York working for International Media Partners, which publishes daily newspapers for the IMF and the World Bank. Later she worked nights and weekends at NBC, still hoping to earn on-air time and transition to CNN. Unable to afford her own apartment because the pay was so meager, she moved in with her mom and stepdad, Robert Pierot. “I started to work at my stepdad’s hedge fund, Pier Capital, to supplement my income and to gain some financial independence,” recalls Joelle. “It was while working for him that I disproved every notion I had about working in finance. I realized that the work was remarkably like being a journalist, at least in terms of trading. You have to gather your data, know which sources to trust, and then act on your information.”

This came as a revelation, because she had grown from doing summer college internships on Wall Street, to dislike the world of high finance.

Shortly after hiring Joelle, Robert

Thanks to Educate Girls Globally, young girls in India have the opportunity to go to school.

saw in her a skill set perfect for trading, a skill set that she admits she didn’t see in herself. By now Joelle was working at the NBCaffiliate in West Palm Beach.

Hoping that such a natural talent would try her hand at trading, Robert cleverly hired Joelle to move his office from New York to Florida.

She did such a good job finding a location, lining up a support staff, and installing a computer network that he offered to hire her to manage the office and to match her salary at the television station.

She dismissed the offer. But after two of his traders didn’t make the move to Florida, he offered to hire her as a trader. “I told him I didn’t know anything about trading,” says Joelle. “He said, ‘I’ll double the offer’.” She took the job, knowing that the learning curve would be steep. Joelle claims the job was “a non-pressured way” for her to try trading. “I became his shadow and he was right, I took to it like a fish to water.” Almost immediately, she started making her own trades and running her own portfolio.

In 1992, Robert wound down

Pier Capital after his health began to decline. It was a fortuitous moment for Joelle. An investor she had befriended while working at Pier saw the same talent in Joelle that Robert had seen and offered her a line of credit to trade for him.

So at age 22 and for many years thereafter, she ran Minerva Capital in New York. With the birth of her second child, Joelle confirmed her market-timing skills, handing back money to investors just before the tech bubble burst. “At that point I was ready to take some time off,” says Joelle. She delivered her third child in 2000.

When her third child started preschool, Joelle returned to work, joining her biological father, an alternative investment veteran, in setting up a new fund for their hedge fund group (Wyser-Pratte Euro Value Fund). She realized that “I had sourced all the deals and raised all the capital I could and that this was the end of the road for me there. I decided it was time to strike out on my own again.”

In 2007, Joelle and her husband, Paul O’Reilly-Hyland, created 13

Today, Joelle travels the world developing her company’s interests in commodities. She spends lots of time in Africa and Latin America.

COURTESY JOELLE WYSER-PRATTE ’87

Ounavarra Capital, an independent investment boutique which derives its name from the Ounavarra River that runs through Paul’s family’s property in Wexford, Ireland.

“We find ways for different types of institutional investors with varying risk appetites to meet their objectives, or more readily stated, preserve and/or grow their wealth,” comments Joelle. Today, she travels the world developing her company’s interests. She has a strong belief in real assets, particularly commodities, and spends lots of time in Africa and Latin America looking for various investment opportunities while fulfilling her passion for visiting exotic destinations.

The Ounavarra Foundation, created at the same time as the company, has a strong commitment to distribute annually ten percent of its assets to charities. Originally, the Foundation supported a wide spectrum of education organizations. Determined that the Foundation could make a significant difference in the lives of impoverished students through education at the grassroots level, Joelle refocused the Foundation’s mission. It now invests in organizations whose efforts change how female students are educated.

One of Joelle’s clients introduced her to Educate Girls Globally (EGG), an NGO (NonGovernmental Organization) based in Sausalito, CA. “I was impressed by the rate and scale at which they effected change,” says Joelle, “and the Foundation decided to make this its primary cause.” EGG’s model is non-traditional and, to say the least, very successful.

14

KIM SEIDL

So successful is EGG’s model that it has attracted the attention of researchers who are interested in learning how the program creates positive ripple effects throughout communities. In addition, EGG was the featured education model at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2011.

Currently, more than 4,500 schools and 260,000 girls participate in the program.

KIM SEIDL

EGG is not in the business of building schools; rather, it focuses its work in tandem with existing schools and governments.

Advance teams travel to remote areas of India and set up town hall meetings, which serve to identify the town’s leaders. The team then asks those leaders if they want their daughters to attend school. “It’s a question no one has ever asked them,” says Joelle, who serves as co-chair of EGG’s Board. “Once the leaders say yes, others follow quickly,” says Joelle. “Soon the whole town gains a greater sense of pride, and great and unpredictable things begin to happen. Wells and girls’ bathrooms get built, roads are improved, and soap begins to appear in the bathrooms at school. All of a sudden, there is a change through ownership in the community where everyone wants the program to succeed.”

A. Lawrence Chickering founded EGG in 1999. Having worked as an economist for many years, he came to realize the importance of girls’ education and the incredible impact girls’ education has on both family and national income, as well as improving health, controlling population growth, and decreasing political extremism. In 2005, after years of failed attempts at reaching his goal, Chickering partnered with the Rajasthan government to launch a pilot program in 50 schools. Rajasthan, located in

India’s rural northwest corner, is the country’s largest state by area.

Currently, more than 4,500 schools and 260,000 girls participate in the program. EGG is committed to expanding the program in India, taking on two new school districts serving an additional 200,000 girls.

EGG also developed a creative learning technique in which EGG’s teachers are trained. “We are not in the business of building schools; rather, our focus is to work in tandem with existing schools and governments to improve what’s already there,” says Joelle with pride. “That’s how we get the scale of success that changes the dynamics of the society.”

So successful is EGG’s model that it has attracted the attention of researchers who are interested in learning how the program creates positive ripple effects throughout communities. In addition, EGG was the featured education model at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2011, won a Dasra Social-Impact Village Capital Award, a LGT Venture Philanthropy Award, and a Kubera-Edelweiss Social Innovation partnership prize. Efforts are now underway to replicate the success of the program in Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, and Kenya.

Making a difference in the world is important to Joelle and her husband, and they have instilled that passion in their children.

“I teach my children that there are many things they can do to make the world a better place if they follow their passion,” says Joelle. “My son Oliver, 14, is very interested in thorium as a means of producing effective clean alternative energy and started a Young Scientist Thorium Advocacy.

My daughter, Louisa, 11, has been passionate about preserving panda bears since she was two.

Ogden, 12, made Save Darfour tee-shirts, and he sold them to his schoolmates after they watched a documentary on the genocide. Kids feel helpless to create change, but with a little encouragement, they see they can really have an effect.”

As a student at Canterbury, Joelle demonstrated her academic ambition by loading up on AP courses and graduating one year ahead of schedule. She applauds Canterbury for working with her as an individual, for recognizing her academic strengths, and for not making her conform to its traditional path toward a diploma.

She asks, “Who knows why I was in such a rush at such a young age?” She adds, “But I was in a rush.” Her ambition continues to motivate her and take her down paths she never expected to travel.

Joelle and Paul live in Bedford, NY, with their three children. In Joelle’s spare time, she enjoys equestrian competition and would like to return to school someday to study writing, particularly screenwriting. On April 20, Joelle addressed Women of Canterbury at their annual dinner.

To learn more about Educate Girls Globally, visit their website at www.educategirls.org.

15

A DR. DR

MARY FRANCES CZARSTY (2)

IN THE

Founder of Health Horizons International, family physician Craig Czarsty ’71 brings his brand of medicine and compassion to the underserved of the Dominican

By Marc Vanasse ’73 Republic.

In the remote hills of the Dominican Republic, Craig Czarsty ’71, family medicine physician and founder of Health Horizons International, works with a local physician in a church that temporarily serves as a doctor’s office.

16

“M

y dad was always after us to give back,” says Dr. Craig Czarsty ’71, who has practiced family medicine in Oakville, CT, since his graduation from Georgetown Medical School and completion of his residency.

For many years he followed his dad’s advice by serving locally as President of the Connecticut State Medical Society and as Chair of the American Board of Family Medicine. Giving back on an international level didn’t occur to Craig until a friend with whom he served on the American Academy of Family Physicians started to regale him with tales of his adventures doing medical humanitarian work in Africa. “I loved listening to his stories and knew that was something I wanted to do,” says Craig.

In 2004, a Tufts University freshman who had gone to high school with one of Craig’s daughters invited Craig to join a team of doctors who were headed to the Dominican Republic (DR) to offer their expertise to the country’s neediest inhabitants. “I took him up on his offer, and the rest is history,” says Craig.

After five years, the foundation which sponsored Craig’s first trip pulled out of the DR, deciding instead to concentrate their time in Central and South America.

Undeterred by the foundation’s decision, Craig convinced some of his friends who had been traveling with him to the DR to continue to do their work in the country.

No doubt, many years later, Craig’s dad’s advice to give back still remained a potent force and, in 2009, Craig founded and incorporated Health Horizons International (HHI) (Horizontes de Salud in Spanish). From humble beginnings, HHI has blossomed into a not-for-profit organization with an eight-person Board of Directors, an Executive Director in Boston, three full-time staff on the ground in the DR, and two longterm volunteers, one of whom works for the Peace Corps.

HHI is based on the north coast,

“When I was a student at Canterbury, I felt that a culture of service existed,” recalls Craig. “That feeling of giving back probably shaped me in ways that even I don’t understand.” just east of Puerto Plata, the third largest city in the country. “We serve four villages on the outskirts of Puerto Plata, one off the main coast road and three in the hills,” says Craig. “The people we serve either have no health insurance and/or limited access to the medical system. We try to provide them with chronic care family medicine.”

Through Craig’s leadership, HHI has established a chronic care program that treats people with diabetes and hypertension. “That’s where we can really decrease the burden of disease for these folks,” says Craig. The program also trains local community health workers – 20 of them so far – spread over the four locations. They are the day-to-day healthcare providers who monitor and maintain patient care between visits from teams of doctors who travel to the DR three times a year. Right now Craig visits once annually, but because his term on the American Board of Family Medicine ended in April, next year he’ll start making the trip twice a year.

Craig is rightly proud that HHI has been recognized by the Dominican government as an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization).

During a recent cholera outbreak in two of the villages HHI serves, the DR’s Public Health Department requested that HHI’s community health workers lead efforts to educate people about cholera prevention.

HHI’s key partners for their medical service trips are Tufts University Community Health Program, Quinnipiac University Physician Assistant Program, and the Greater Lawrence Family Health

Center Family Medicine Residency Program. Medical teams are composed of four or five physicians with eight to ten allied health professionals, and students. With an eye toward the future, Craig hopes that one day HHI will be able to turn over the care of the people the organization serves to local physicians.

C

raig also credits Canterbury with instilling in him his desire to serve. “When I was a student at Canterbury, I felt that a culture of service existed,” recalls Craig. “That feeling of giving back probably shaped me in ways that even I don’t understand.”

What he does understand, however, is that he enjoyed his three years at the School. He served as a sacristan and proctor in Carmody House, captained the thirds football team, and later rose to the ranks of the J.V. squad. “Jean Hebert got his hooks into me and so I worked for him in the school athletic store for a couple of years,” recalls Craig fondly.

He remembers his first reaction to the School by saying, “When I visited Canterbury, I fell in love with the place. I truly enjoyed my time there,” says Craig. “The faculty was great. My favorite teacher was Gilda Martin, who taught me French 3 and 4. She was an awesome, no-nonsense teacher, but she cared about her students.

Eventually, she became my advisor, and we continued to keep in touch until she died in 2008.”

HHI is a young organization that does hands-on work and has a positive effect on people’s lives – all within an extremely limited annual budget. “We get lots of bang for the buck,” says Craig proudly.

“This work feels so good, there should be something wrong with how it makes me feel,” says Craig.

“HHI is my passion. It’s pretty pure medicine.”

Craig and Margaret Czarsty live in Watertown, CT, and have two daughters, Mary Frances and Beth.

To learn more about HHI,visit www.hhidr.org.

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Frank Urban ’90 travels to some of the remotest and coldest places on Earth to research our geological history.

The

ICEMAN Treketh

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY FRANK URBAN ’90

By Frank Urban ’90

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A Canterbury and Hobart provided me with the academic foundation and opportunities that guided me in the direction of my life’s work.

fter experiencing three outstanding years of Canterbury’s intimate community, I knew I wanted to attend a small liberal arts college.

When I arrived at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, I had no major in mind, but after taking an introductory geology class, I knew I had found my niche.

Geological coursework introduced me to climatology, and I began to gravitate in that direction, studying geological archives to understand how earth’s climate has varied in the past and its potential for change. During a particular course with a field component in Bermuda, I knew I had found not only my niche but also my career.

Applying textbook knowledge to a hands-on experience was incredibly enticing. I loved the “outdoor classroom,” and still do.

I applied for every available field trip Hobart offered and, by the end of four years, I had completed geologic fieldwork in the Bahamas, southern Mexico, and a long field season in Namibia. That work became the basis for my senior thesis investigating the relationship between climate 650 million years ago and the evolution of some of the earliest known organisms. I had found my calling, spending time outdoors, sometimes in exotic locations, while learning and developing my research skills.

Upon reflection, I realize my childhood experiences predestined me to study natural sciences. I grew up in a very outdoor and travel-oriented family in Colorado, where I still reside. My parents always focused on exposing my brother, sister, and me to the world, especially the natural world. We explored destinations off the beaten path, places such as fishing villages in Baja, Mexico. I remember my

parents taking us on a monthlong driving and camping trip from Colorado to Alaska. There were also many camping trips to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons National Parks. Once, we even rented a motorhome and drove all around Europe. That trip included a stop in rural Croatia to visit family who at that time did not yet have electricity or running water.

While these trips instilled in me a lifelong curiosity about how the natural world functions, Canterbury and Hobart provided me with the academic foundation and opportunities that guided me in the direction of my life’s work.

My college education and field experience led me to my first job at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Denver in 1995. I spent a year as a technician working on climate-related studies in the western U.S. and then attended graduate school at the University of Colorado at Boulder. My master’s degree involved reconstructing past sea surface temperatures and El Niño from the composition of reef corals. My studies took me to the tropics for fieldwork that included diving and sampling reefs in East Africa, The Cook Islands, and Venezuela. On these expeditions, I learned invaluable logistical and technical skills. Back in the lab, I became proficient in sophisticated instrumentation, data analysis, and publishing results.

After graduate school and through prior networking and a bit of luck, I accepted a full-time position at the USGS. The position did not require trips to the tropics; rather, I would conduct climate research at the poles. The change has made for a much colder, but equally fulfilling and exciting experience.

Currently I divide my time between two primary projects 19

I maintain a long-term permafrost and climate-monitoring network north of the Brooks Range that spreads about 700 miles from Alaska’s west coast to Canada. These stations are similar to those I maintain in desert locations, but they also collect detailed permafrost temperature and snow depth data.

Camping and working at an Arctic Alaska monitoring station in April 2010.

Frank repairs a snow depth sensor in Arctic Alaska in April 2008.

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Dogsled-based fieldwork along the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Frank plays with Farmer, an Alaskan malamute, the half-brother of Summit, the Urbans’ family dog.

with field sites in Arctic Alaska, Greenland, Antarctica, Montana, and the desert southwest U.S. In cold regions, my research involves monitoring current changes in climate through atmospheric and below ground instrumentation (Alaska) as well as reconstruction of past climates using detailed temperature data retrieved from ice sheets (Antarctica/Greenland).

In the desert regions, I focus my research on detecting and monitoring dust emissions across a suite of different desert landscapes.

I typically spend about forty percent of my time in the field and the remaining sixty percent in the office and laboratory, analyzing data and preparing publications and presentations.

In the Mojave Desert and Canyonlands, Utah, my monitoring sites are easily accessible by a fourwheel drive vehicle or hiking a few miles. The sites are comprised of sensitive monitoring equipment that tracks environmental variables like air temperature, winds, and soil moisture. In some cases, these sites contain digital cameras that collect imagery related to dust emission.

In Arctic Alaska, site access is considerably more difficult. I maintain a long-term permafrost and climate-monitoring network north of the Brooks Range that spreads about 700 miles from Alaska’s west coast to Canada.

These stations are similar to those I maintain in desert locations, but they also collect detailed permafrost temperature and snow depth data.

The primary goal is to establish a baseline dataset of how permafrost is responding to changes in climate in this region, where previously there was a paucity of this type of information. Currently, as a member of a six-partner interagency group, I am also involved in monitoring erosion along the Arctic coast, where thawing permafrost is sometimes resulting in dramatic loss of coastline. The research won the National Oceanographic Partnership Program’s 2009 Excellence in Partnering Award.

The sites I monitor in Alaska are extremely remote, accessible only

During downtime at NEEM, North Greenland Eemian Ice Core Project, in May 2010, Frank takes in a game of ping pong.

by helicopter, snowmobile, dogsled, and sometimes small fixed-wing aircraft. Helicopter access is the most expensive but quickest way to travel to our destinations. As funding allows, we establish bases at small camps and visit as many stations as possible during the summer months. Less expensive, but much more labor intensive, are the visits I make to stations in the winter/spring by snowmobile, and periodically in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, by dogsled.

Each year, I co-lead multi-week expeditions, often for only two researchers, visiting a subset of my stations. We travel 200 to 400 miles on each trip, sometimes staying in small cabins, but more often camp in a specialized tent with a small wood stove. Temperatures range from about 0 to -35°F. We usually carry about 2,000 pounds of gear (fuel, food, emergency supplies, tools, spare parts, electronics, etc.) on sleds behind snowmobiles. We experience a very beautiful and stark landscape, and we very rarely see other human beings; however, we encounter an abundance of caribou, foxes, wolves, musk-ox, the occasional polar bear, and

usually quite a few recently-out-ofhibernation grizzly bears.

Recently, I returned from a great experience in west Antarctica, where I collected data at a site where scientists have recovered a brand new ice core. Working on ice sheets (Greenland and Antarctica) is completely different than working in Arctic Alaska – the only commonality is the cold. The USGS maintains a large winch that we use to lower extremely sensitive temperature instrumentation into holes where ice cores have been extracted to the bottom of the ice sheet, typically eight to ten thousand feet.

The data we collect assist us in reconstructing local temperature conditions during the past thirty to forty thousand years. Logistics for ice sheet expeditions are much more involved than an operation in Alaska, because we require a very large plane to transport the winch and ancillary equipment.

We and other polar researchers utilize the U.S. Air National Guard and their fleet of ski-equipped LC-130 cargo aircraft to access the field sites. Flying conditions have to be excellent at both the takeoff

and landing locations, and with the long distances involved, there are often long delays before the weather cooperates and allows us to fly to (or from) our destination.

On my recent December 2011 trip, unfavorable weather delayed us from reaching our site for two weeks, and a few researchers were delayed by almost three weeks on the return trip.

Delays are frustrating, but the extra time is always a welcome opportunity to catch up on writing publications, analyzing data, or simply watching movies. Living conditions in the ice sheet camps are often quite nice in comparison to my work in Alaska. Because there are many researchers on site for extended periods of time, there are always a few heated buildings, fantastic cooks, and sometimes even a shower. Most people sleep in tents in very warm sleeping bags. Occasionally, there are tents that have small heaters to keep the temperature a bit warmer – right below freezing! The Danish camps I have visited in Greenland are well appointed with great infrastructure, food, and wine, and offer greater scientific camaraderie.

These camps attract a wide range of international participants that create an experience that goes beyond just the science.

As long as you have the right attitude and gear, the “outdoor classroom” in polar locations is a great place to work.

Frank currently lives in Superior, Colorado, just outside Boulder, with his wife Melissa, children Seneca, 7, and Colter, 5, and their Alaskan Malamute, Summit. Frank also enjoys playing ice hockey, camping and hiking with family, cooking, and gardening. For more information and links to Frank’s projects, contact him at frank. urban@gmail.com.

21

CHANGING LIVES IN

NICARAGUA Ten students volunteered for ten days with the Fabretto Children’s Foundation in San José de Cusmapa. They expected to affect the lives of others but found their own lives profoundly altered.

22

ALL PHOTOS BY AMY OMANA ’86

With Volcán Masaya in the background, this year’s Fabretto volunteers pose. L-r: Abby Woodworth ’13, Yu Li ’13, James Lord ’13, Emma Sylvester ’12, Sydney Trezza ’13 Caitlyn Everett ’13, Kacey Marra ’13, Brian La Muraglia ’12, Nico Marinacci, Stephen Pollock ’13, Kevin Marinacci, Executive Director of La Familia Padre Fabretto. (Missing from photo: Kyle Winters ’13.)

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With Gustavo, Emma Sylvester ’12 reinforces the old adobe bricks.

Sydney Trezza ’13 making a new steel pillar to support the kitchen entrance.

“This experience is unlike any other I have had before, and it has brought me closer to a group of my peers than anything I have ever experienced. The trip made me realize that I can affect someone else’s life with just a small act such as playing soccer, helping wash clothes, or hoisting a kid on my shoulders.”

Abby Woodworth ’13 uses a pickaxe to dig a trench around a kitchen, funded by the Canterbury volunteers.

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– Kyle Winters ’13

Kyle Winters ’13 and new friend Byron.

“I learned so much about how to build things. I was inspired to work hard because I saw the rewards of my hard work firsthand.”

– Stephen Pollock ’13

History of Fabretto Children’s Foundation

Fifth Formers Stephen Pollock, James Lord, Kyle Winters, and Yu Li (background) help Luis, a two-year Fabretto volunteer, pour water hauled from a nearby river and make cement.

“We all have grown, matured, learned, and become closer to each other. I was inspired by the Nicaraguans’ work ethic, which made me work as hard as they do. I will never forget my time here, loving the people, the kids, the food, the dirt, and even the cold showers.”

Fifth Formers Caitlyn Everett and Kacey Marra clearing debris from the trench.

– Kacey Marra ’13

In 1948, Fr. Rafael Maria Fabretto, a Salesian missionary from Venice, Italy, arrived in Nicaragua.

Concerned about the number of impoverished boys and girls he met, he founded a group of children’s homes in the rugged countryside of northern Nicaragua that came to be known collectively as La Familia Padre Fabretto. (www.fabretto.org) Fr. Fabretto’s philosophy was to give a home and hope to children who had been abandoned, abused, or orphaned. The organization grew to include five centers, or oratorios, in Managua and in areas north of the city that offered daily schooling, farming, sports, arts and crafts, and spiritual reflection.

Upon Fr. Fabretto’s death in March 1990, Kevin Marinacci, a Georgetown University volunteer who had worked for a year with La Familia Padre Fabretto, agreed to stay on for another year to help the organization and the children of Nicaragua. Twenty-two years later, Kevin now serves as Fabretto’s Executive Director.

Fabretto today is a vibrant, selfsustaining organization that has grown more than tenfold since the time of Fr. Fabretto. Since 2005, Canterbury students, organized

by Amy Omaña ’86, who spent 1990-1991 working with Kevin as a Georgetown volunteer in Nicaragua, have given up ten days of their spring break to Fabretto.

George Long ’59 is a member of Fabretto’s Board of Directors.

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Fay Vincent Jr. Speaker Series

Jailed for a 1991 murder outside a Greenwich Village club, Fernando Bermudez believed the justice system would set him free quickly – but it took 18 years before a judge finally exonerated him.

AND

PATIENCE

FAITH

W hen Fernando Bermudez stepped to the podium in Maguire Auditorium on the second Thursday evening of

By Paul Dolan, English Faculty

26

February 2012 to deliver his Fay Vincent Jr. lecture, he was fulfilling a vision that began to take shape on a sidewalk in Danbury, CT, ten months earlier. The relationship between Canterbury School and a man exonerated of murder charges began when Felix Echavarria, brother of Adriano Echavarria ’03, introduced himself to a familiar face approaching him on the sidewalk, a man he recognized from the news. That familiar face belonged to Fernando Bermudez.

A bond between the three men quickly formed, and soon Adriano was recommending Bermudez to Director of Communications Marc Vanasse ’73, who worked with Academic Dean Lou Mandler to facilitate the speaking engagement. Fernando Bermudez came to speak to the Canterbury community about his imprisonment for a murder he did not commit. Mr. Bermudez spent the prime years of his life in prison. From the time he was 22 until he was 40 years old, he lived in a prison cell, slept every night for 18 years on a prison mattress, and every day wore the harsh fabric of a prison uniform.

MARC VANASSE ’73

Mr. Bermudez pursues his redemption through aspiration. He aspires to raise his children. He aspires to schedule speaking engagements to help support his family. He aspires to read the books that friends give him as gifts. He aspires to make a difference in his community and beyond. He aspires to work with state officials to change the laws of our state.

He aspires to educate.

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Now, Bermudez is seeking compensation for the wrongs police and prosecutors committed against him. Investigators coerced witnesses, and the prosecution withheld vital documents from the defense, releasing them only when it was too late for the defense to use them. Civil attorney Michael S. Lamonsoff is representing Bermudez in his efforts to obtain compensation for these abuses.

The proceedings are underway. In addition to his civil suit, Mr. Bermudez continues to work tirelessly to prevent the injustices that he believes abound in our penal system.

Fernando with his two of his three His audience at Canterbury found children. inspiration and revelation in his account of loss and redemption. Mr. Bermudez pursues his redemption men to pursue their passions. The through aspiration. He aspires to raise most moving part of the night was his children. He aspires to schedule witnessing Bermudez quickly get speaking engagements to help support to know each young man and his his family. He aspires to read the aspirations, which he echoed and books that friends give him as gifts. encouraged. He gave all of the boys He aspires to make a difference in his his business card and encouraged community and beyond. He aspires them to be in contact with him by to work with state officials to change phone or e-mail. For a man who had

For a few moments our world became a fraction clearer, its intricately complex problems exposed, explored, and made more urgent by the facts Bermudez presented. desperate mission of hope whose survival depended on the unwavering support of his family and his wife Crystal. He accomplished his mission in November 2009 when Justice John Cataldo found “a complete lack of any physical forensic evidence linking Fernando Bermudez to the murder of Raymond Blount.” Cataldo proclaimed that “the only alleged association between Mr. Bermudez and the murder were the witnesses who recanted their coerced testimony.”

After 18 years and eleven different appeals, Cataldo uttered the words that freed Bermudez and his longsuffering family from the nightmare of prison, fruitless appeals, and, as each year of incarceration passed, the increasingly more remote possibility of freedom that had become his waking reality. “I find, by clear and convincing evidence, that Fernando Bermudez has demonstrated he is innocent of this crime.” For 18 years, Bermudez served someone else’s time.

28

the laws of our state. He aspires to educate. In Maguire Auditorium that night, his aspirations bore fruits.

All present shared in a collective learning experience: for a few moments our world became a fraction clearer, its intricately complex problems exposed, explored, and made more urgent by the facts Bermudez presented. Because Mr. Bermudez was genuinely interested in spending time with Canterbury students, they were inspired.

He arrived at five o’clock in the evening for a campus tour with two student admission ambassadors. He joined the community for sit-down dinner and, after his speech and question and answer period, spent upwards of a half hour talking casually with more than a dozen young men who were so moved by the speech that they wanted to spend more time with Bermudez. His energy and enthusiasm for his audience hardly waned as he encouraged the young

so much taken from him, including 18 years of life, he is exceptionally willing to give back. His mission is a giving, generous one.

After his talk, Bermudez’s wisdom and revelations were still lingering in the minds of students. Jonathan Diamond, AP U.S. History teacher and head of guidance, observed the impression Bermudez made on the students. According to Diamond, “Students thought that his talk was deeply moving and highly relevant to their lives and many felt a deep personal connection with him in the short period of time that he interacted with them. Moreover, while many were already interested in the criminal justice system, his talk inspired many to ask more about the system and to want to know more about how it works. When he remained afterward to meet with students and answer their questions individually, students were deeply impressed by Mr. Bermudez’s willingness to discuss

DANA ULLMAN

Lou Mandler was pleased to see this idea of Echavarria’s come to fruition. She remarked that “Fernando’s talk was thought provoking and informative. Students listened attentively, and at the conclusion of his talk, stood and gave him enthusiastic applause. Not only was Bermudez’s subject a dramatic one, the structure and delivery of his talk was intelligent and moving.” Indeed, with the energy and enthusiasm of a young man and the voice of a practiced orator, Bermudez held the attention of an audience of Canterbury parents, students, faculty and friends. Dean of the School JP Mandler was impressed.

“Fernando Bermudez captivated the audience. His story was compelling in itself, and he delivered it passionately.”

Before Fernando Bermudez became a summa cum laude college graduate (BS in Behavioral Science from Mercy College), a published author, a criminal justice advocate, and a Fay Vincent Jr. speaker, he was an inmate of Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, NY, with a

MARC VANASSE ’73

Fernando Bermudez poses with students after his talk. L-r: Scott Casley ’12, Cory Salatino ’12, Scott Waters ’12, Sean McKigney ’12, Fernando, Kingsley Amoako ’13, Mike Miller ’13, Sullivan Healy ’13, Raheem Logan ’12, Troy Williams ’12, Pierre DuBois ’13, Sam Maximin ’12.

openly and honestly his case and to respond personally to their questions and concerns.” The Fay Vincent Jr. series presents teachers and students with opportunities to explore more deeply areas within the curriculum.

Mr. Diamond and his students seized this chance, and his students’ views were altered as a result.

Taylor Jendras ’13, a proctor in Duffy House and an American History student, found revelation in Mr. Bermudez’s words. “His 18 years in prison gave him a strength that not many people possess. I admire him for finding a sense of pride in himself and following his heart. It saddens me to realize that such a normal man was convicted. From watching him speak for a mere 40 minutes, I felt like he was family. His story touched me like no other and I am grateful that I heard it.”

These reactions were shared by many who attended the event. Fourth Form Honors student Victoria Rio appreciated Mr. Bermudez’s uplifting message. “Fernando Bermudez’s speech was inspirational,” she said.

“I was especially impressed with his positivity and determination in the face of injustice. It is amazing that someone who has been so mistreated can still have faith in the

judicial system, humanity, and God. Incredibly, Mr. Bermudez did not allow his time in prison to defeat him or change his values. Instead of escaping depression with violence, drugs, or even suicide, he turned to education and worked to help his family and prove his innocence.

What amazed me was that, in telling his story, Mr. Bermudez was not looking for pity; he was looking for change.” By the time the question and answer period was winding down, change was on the minds of many in Maguire Auditorium.

Third-year law student and Hickory Hearth dorm parent Jeremy Potter asked Bermudez a question about the state of the judicial system and was impressed by the response. According to Potter, “Mr. Bermudez brought the complexity and frailty of our criminal justice system to life in his insightful presentation. I was particularly struck when he characterized the law as a man-made institution and thus vulnerable to all the imperfections of human affairs. Even after being taken advantage of by an irresponsible prosecutor and overzealous police officers, he still believes in our justice system and encouraged the students not to lose faith in the law.”

A brilliant speaker, a passionate, caring

man motivated to help others who are suffering, Bermudez seems likely someday to be part of the solution.

Fernando Bermudez has witnessed miracles. Indeed, his life today is very much a miracle, so to hear him talk about the possibility of repairing the hopelessly flawed system that so injured him is not a surprise. However, for now he is doing what everyone else does: the balancing act of trying to earn a living, being a parent to three children, and finding time for his own growth. His involvement in the community includes his efforts at The Innocence Project, which describes itself as “a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people.” He gives much of his time to the Morris Street Elementary School in Danbury where his children attend.

He enjoys taking the students on field trips to places like the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford. He is also involved in an effort to abolish the death penalty in Connecticut.

Wanting to talk to the inner-city youth of Danbury, Bermudez plans to reach out to Mayor Mark Boughton.

Bermudez’s involvement in his community runs deep.

A source of inspiration for so many, Bermudez himself finds inspiration in the words of some of the great authors. Adam Smith, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Rachel Carson – these writers have all changed the world through their words. Fernando Bermudez, very much a wordsmith, may attempt to follow their path with an autobiography in progress and a piece already published in the Columbia Law Journal.

As Michael Miller ’13 was leaving the auditorium, he shook Fernando Bermudez’s hand and thanked him for “putting out a positive message about education.” Miller, who came to Canterbury by way of the Wight Foundation, a program providing educational opportunities to families in the greater Newark, New Jersey, area, spoke briefly about his own path to Aspetuck Avenue.

Bermudez’s parting words to Miller were, “If you ever need any words of encouragement, call me. You have my number.”

29

CAMPUSLIFE

Sixth Form Retreat Challenges Students

Canterbury held its annual Sixth Form retreat on Ash Wednesday, February 22. The retreat’s theme was “Transition and Change.” Members of the Theology Department, sacristans, and Athletic Director Dave Wilson led group discussions and meditations at different locations on campus. Group leaders challenged students to reflect on their time at Canterbury and meditate on the transition to life after Canterbury. The day concluded with Chaplain Fr. Sebastian Leonard, O.S.B., celebrating Mass in the Chapel of Our Lady. Above, theology teacher Conor O’Rourke ’06, right, leads a discussion.

Sarah D’Andrea ’09, left, and Morgan Hopkins ’06, right, stopped by Sandy Behan’s Women’s Studies class this winter.

Sarah spoke to students about how advertisements portray women. Morgan gave students practical advice about how to navigate college.

14 30

MARC VANASSE ’73 (3)

Grads Visit Women’s Studies Class

Capstone Course Explores Science in Your Life

Laura Briggs discussed building energy efficient homes.

Sergeant First Class Sawyer Alberi spoke about traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

BJ Williams spoke about traumatic brain injuries.

Nasir Naqvi ’90, M.D. PhD., told of his research on tobacco addiction.

Bill "Birdman” Robinson spoke about effects of climate change on various bird species.

MARC VANASSE ’73 (7)

Bill Seguin spoke about harnessing geothermal energy.

This semester’s Capstone course, now in its fourth year, is being taught by the Science Department. Sandy Behan and Cammy Roffe are spearheading the curriculum and creating the roster of guest speakers who address students weekly.

The course’s theme is Science in Your Life, and the goal is to introduce Sixth Formers to the many ways that the natural world and discoveries or advances in the different areas of science affect their lives today. The curriculum is divided into several units, which include alternative energy, climate change, food and water scarcity, traumatic brain injuries, endangered species, mental and physical health, and extreme sports physiology.

“We want our students to have the tools to understand the scientific world as it pertains to them,” explains Cammy.

“We want them to be educated citizens who, as adults, will make informed choices in this global world.”

Joe Schnierlein presented a talk entitled “Animal Visitors to Long Island Sound.”

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CAMPUSLIFE

Finance Club Visits Offices of UBS The five members of Canterbury’s Finance Club visited the Stamford, CT, offices of UBS on February 14. Chaperoned by the club’s advisors, Bryan Kiefer and Marc Vanasse ’73, the students met trustee emeritus Donn Dolce ’63, a longtime UBS/PaineWebber employee, who now heads up the Dolce Group. After brief introductions, UBS executive Tom Danilowitz led the group to UBS’s trading floor, the largest in the world.

“I had never seen a trading floor in my life and to say the first one I saw was the largest in the world is really cool,” says Kingsley Amoako ’13.

“This was a rare opportunity for students to see the equity markets in action,” says Bryan Kiefer. “We are grateful to Donn and Tom for accommodating us.”

L-r: Trustee Emeritus Donn Dolce ’63, Mike Miller ’13, Sullivan Healy ’13, Kingsley Amoako ’13, Spencer Parsons ’13, Christian Procaccino ’13.

Yoga instructor Mike Torrant ’97 teaches students and faculty various ways to strengthen their bodies. He is working on his certification and offered several sessions at the School to fulfill his coursework.

Scott Casley ’12 was crowned Mr. Canterbury at the annual Mr. Canterbury pageant on January 20.

MARC VANASSE ’73 (3)

Power Yoga for Strength

Mr. Canterbury Crowned

30 32

COURTESTY JULIO OMANA

Six Students Study in Spain

Canterbury students with their host students and teachers at Collegio San Cayetano. Language Chair Julio Omaña, back right, coordinated the exchange.

On February 16, six Canterbury students who study Spanish flew to Mallorca for a six-week visit to Collegio San Cayetano in Palma de Mallorca. While there they took their classes in Spanish and soaked up local culture, each student lived with a host family whose child spent six weeks at Canterbury in the fall.

This is the second year of the exchange, which is coordinated

by Language Chair Julio Omaña, who chaperoned the students to Mallorca and spent several days with them before returning to his duties at Canterbury.

The students included Nick Hochrein ’13, Sarah Dyott ’14, Jenni Waegelein ’14, James Kilberg ’14, Morgan Peterson ’13, and Samantha Trezza ’14.

MARC VANASSE ’73 (2)

Blood Drive Successful Admissions UpClose

Mack LaManna ’12 was one of many students and faculty members who donated 47 pints of blood at the School’s annual American Red Cross Blood Drive on February 27.

Math Chair Sue Roberts assists a prospective student with an iPad project during the Admissions UpClose event on January 17. The Math Department makes extensive use of iPads in the classroom.

31 33

CAMPUSLIFE

Making Art History Artists Nancy Mygatt ’78 and her son David Martin ’06 made a little Canterbury art history with the opening of an exhibition of their work in the Edward J. Duffy Family Gallery on January 12. They were the first mother and son exhibition as well as the first show featuring the work of two related graduates. Not only are they both Canterbury alums, but both also majored in art at Skidmore College. David’s father is Garth ’77.

Juried Art Show

“Relativity,” an exhibition of work by Nancy Mygatt ’78 and her son David Martin ’06, opened in the Edward J. Duffy Family Gallery on January 12.

Kelly Tanner ’13 discusses her artwork with Kingsley Amoako ’13, Molly Elliot ’13, and Hamza Debbagh ’13 at the opening of the annual Juried Student Art Show, which opened on February 16.

MARC VANASSE ’73 (4)

Students Exhibit at Silo Gallery

Sixth Formers Alex Halkett, Murphy McRae, and Tzu-Yu “Alice” Kan exhibited their work at New Milford’s Silo Gallery, founded by Ruth and Skitch Henderson, on January 21. Fine Arts Chair Kim Tester joins the group.

32 34

Sixth Formers Minhye Choi, Tzu-Yu “Alice” Kan, Feng “Blake” Ye, and Ryan Melvin participated in “A Gallery Talk,” an opportunity for student artists to discuss their work at The Silo with the public on February 19.

Letting it Be: Concert Features Music of The Beatles

The Concert Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Rock Band, and Chamber Music Group treated the Canterbury community to a musical performance on February 14 in the L. Michael Sheehy ’56 Music Room. The “Let It Be” concert paid homage to rock ’n’ roll legends The Beatles. Director of Music Dave Overthrow arranged the program as a six-year chronology of the Fab Four’s music from their second album “Meet the Beatles” to their final effort “Let It Be.”

Paul von Uffel ’13 and bandmate Bamboo Kanyuck ’15 rock out “Back in the USSR.” Additional songs in the program included “Yesterday,” “When I’m 64,” “A Day in the Life,” “Hey Jude,” “Something,” and “Oh! Darling.”

MARC VANASSE ’73 (5)

Voice Recital: From Pop to Classical

Hayley Pettinato ’14 sang “Jar of Hearts” and Debussy’s “Beau Soir.”

All the vocalists are students of John Shackelford, Director of Vocal Music.

Henry McDowell ’13 sang Bellini’s ”Fenesta Che Lucive” and “Elle ne Croyait Pas” from Ambroise Thomas' opera “Mignon.”

Ally LaVigne ’14 sang Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and ”Lasciatemi Morire.” The recital took place on February 21 in the L. Michael Sheehy ’56 Music Room.

33 35

“..

CAMPUSLIFE

Boys’ Varsity Basketball Finishes Regular Season 17-8

Krista O’Gara ’12 Sets Girls’ Basketball Scoring Record

By Don Gowan, Head Coach, Boys’ Varsity Basketball

“Sixth Former Krista O’Gara is among the most driven, competitive athletes I have coached,” commented Sarah Ferland, Head Coach of Girls’ Varsity Basketball. It should come as no surprise that Krista, a two-year captain, broke the girls’ career points record set by Clare Fitzpatrick in 2010. In Krista’s four seasons on the team, she amassed more than 1,600 points.

e had an incredible season, with 17 wins, the second most in Canterbury history. We also qualified for the New England Tournament for only the second time in school history and hosted a tournament game for the first time ever. More importantly, our players represented our school well, not only on the court but in the classroom and campus community.

Four of our Sixth Formers will go on to play in college, including Edo Lawrence, who will be playing at Princeton University next season. He turned down seven other offers at the Division I level before choosing the Tigers. One other player will play Division II next year, and two will be playing at high academic Division III schools.

When I came to Canterbury last year, my biggest challenge was to change the culture and attitude of the team. It had won only one game in each of the two prior years. In 2010-2011, Coach Wright Danenbarger and I really tried to move the focus away from wins and losses.

Instead we worked on practicing and playing hard, treating each other with respect, and building a “team first” atmosphere.

We talked about academics.

Wright and I also stressed to the students how important it was for them to be good citizens in the school community. We ended up winning six games last year, about what we expected.

34 36

MARC VANASSE ’73

W

Edo Lawrence ’12, who stands at 7' 2", will play for Princeton University next year.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Kingsley Amoako ’13 Varsity Squash

Christina Loya ’13 J.V. Squash

Amy Bortey ’13 J.V. Basketball

Raheem Logan ’12 Varsity Squash

Jeffrey Celniker ’13 Varsity Hockey

Carter Moots ’12 Varsity Basketball

Sammy De Villers-Lacaasse ’13 Kathleen Mulvey ’12 Varsity Hockey Varsity Basketball

We worked on practicing and playing hard, treating each other with respect, and building a “team first” atmosphere. We talked about academics.

To have such a fantastic season in our second year with a great group of players was beyond our wildest dreams. We are going to build on this season and hope to continue having great basketball teams going forward. To have Pigott Arena filled with students and faculty for our tournament game on March 1 was special for us and the players on the team.

Anthony DiRienzo ’12 Varsity Hockey

Michael Odenwaelder ’12 Varsity Basketball

Sarah Dyott ’14 J.V. Basketball

Krista O’Gara ’12 Varsity Basketball

KJ Ebner ’13 Varsity Diving

Claire O’Keeffe ’13 Varsity Squash

Rachel Gaglio ’15 J.V. Basketball

Alexander Peterson ’15 J.V. Basketball

Eleanor Haines ’13 Varsity Hockey

Logan Pettinato ’12 Varsity Swimming

Temar Hermelijin ’15 Varsity Basketball

Nicolas Pierog ’12 Varsity Hockey

Brittney Hester ’13 Varsity Squash

Noah Rak ’14 Varsity Wrestling

Madeleine Holland ’14 J.V. Hockey

Olivia Steiner ’14 Varsity Swimming

Tristan Izzo ’14 J.V. Hockey

Vincent Turnbull ’14 Varsity Swimming

Kenneth Jordan ’15 Varsity Wrestling

Ryan Weldon ’12 Varsity Wrestling

David Kang ’14 J.V. Squash

E. Michael Woods ’12 Varsity Squash

Mackenzie LaManna ’12 Varsity Wrestling

Students Honored at Winter Awards BOYS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL

J.V. WRESTLING

Coach’s Award: Carter Moots ’12, M.V.P.: Edward Lawrence ’12

Coach’s Award: Tristan Kane ’15 GIRLS’ VARSITY SWIMMING

BOYS’ J.V. BASKETBALL

Coach’s Award: Troy Williams ’12

Coach’s Award: Olivia Steiner ’14 M.V.P.: Elizabeth Helmig ’14, Mikaela Puth ’12

BOYS’ THIRDS BASKETBALL

Coach’s Award: Robert Roffe ’12

BOYS’ VARSITY SWIMMING

GIRLS’ VARSITY BASKETBALL

Coach’s Award: Logan Pettinato ’12 M.V.P.: Kyle Winters ’13

Coach’s Award: Jeannette Waegelein ’14 M.V.P.: Krista O’Gara ’12

J.V. SWIMMING

GIRLS’ J.V .BASKETBALL

Coach’s Award: Amy Bortey ’13 GIRLS’ VARSITY HOCKEY

Coach’s Award: Lindsey Stewart ’12, M.V.P.: Samuelle De Villers-Lacasse ’13

Coach’s Award: Hayley Pettinato ’14, Loren Winters ’15 GIRLS’ VARSITY SQUASH

Coach’s Award: Kayla Lynch ’12 M.V.P.: Doris Amoako ’12 GIRLS’ J.V. SQUASH

Coach’s Award: Tristan Izzo ’14

Coach’s Award: Olivia Watkins ’12, Bosuk Lee ’12

BOYS’ VARSITY HOCKEY

BOYS’ VARSITY SQUASH

Coach’s Award: Nicolas Pierog ’12, Anthony DiRienzo ’12

M.V.P.: Raheem Logan ’12, E. Michael Woods ’12

BOYS’ J.V. HOCKEY

BOYS’ J.V. SQUASH

Coach’s Award: Timothy O’Shea ’13

Coach’s Award: James Kilberg ’14

GIRLS’ J.V. HOCKEY

VARSITY WRESTLING

MARC VANASSE ’73

Coach’s Award: Ryan Weldon ’12, M.V.P.: Thomas Harrison ’12, Mackenzie LaManna ’12

35 37

The Canterbury Observer

What Canterbury Means to Me At the annual ring ceremony, Macy Steers ’04 reflects on his Canterbury experience.

38

MARC VANASSE ’73

A

few weeks ago, I was going about my usual day’s work. In the early afternoon my phone rang and I picked it up. “Good afternoon, this is Macy,” I said. “Mr. Steers, this is Father Sebastian from Canterbury School, ok?” Immediately, my jaw dropped and my eyes widened as I thought I must have really done it this time. After catching my breath, I was pleasantly surprised and humbled to learn that Father was inviting me to talk to you about my experience here at Canterbury.

Upon ending my conversation with Father Sebastian, I began to reflect on the four years that I called Canterbury my home. I thought of all of the great stories that my Canterbury friends and I still rehash when we get together.

I thought about my four years living in Carmody House, my first squash and golf matches, the breathtaking foliage during the fall months, and the amazing cherry blossoms outside Hume in the spring. I thought about the first time I put on my sacristan garb, the first time I addressed, as president, the students and faculty at school meeting, the smile on my face when Mr. Sheehy told me I had gotten into and would be attending St. Lawrence University (also the Saints), and surprisingly the queasy feeling in my stomach when driving down Aspetuck Avenue after my graduation. Most of all, I thought about the friends and faculty that I was blessed to cross paths with

Macy Steers ’04.

while at Canterbury and the life lessons that I learned during my time here.

From there, I called to mind Canterbury’s core values – Respect, Honesty, Spirituality, Compassion and Self-Reliance. I thought about the fundamental principles that lie beneath each of these values and how they have truly guided me to be the man I am today. I tried to

remember the point during my time at Canterbury that I actually began adopting these values into my everyday life.

Now I have to admit, I would be violating one of the five values – honesty – if I told you that I always loved this school. If you had asked me in the fall of my Third Form year how I liked my new school, I would have definitively told you that I absolutely would not be staying at Canterbury. I was terribly homesick, and I didn’t think life could get any worse. I wasn’t exerting great effort inside the classroom and such effort yielded poor results on my first report card. During the fall mid-semester break in October, I pleaded with my parents not to make me come back. I told them fictitious stories of the “gruel” I was being fed in the dining room, how the dorms were run like prisons, and how teachers actually wanted their students to fail. I told them Canterbury was not the place for me and that they would be making a huge mistake if they sent me back.

Luckily, even as convincing as I thought I was, my parents did not buy into my stories, and I was back at school for my first class after break. They clearly knew something that I didn’t, and for sending me back I cannot thank them enough. It was shortly after that rough patch, with the guidance of my parents and even more so my dorm parents (the

“While a Canterbury student, I did not realize I was building not only a model for how to succeed at this school but also learning how to succeed in life.”

MARC VANASSE ’73

Hysons, Roffes, and Mr. Roberts, among others), who were privy to my situation, that I realized I needed to shift my focus from what “had been” to “what could be.” I was allowing myself to become so concerned about what I was missing at home, that I didn’t realize what amazing opportunities Canterbury can bring to a young man or woman’s life. It was gut check time. I could either continue down a very slippery slope toward ultimate failure, or I could make something of my four years at Canterbury.

I began challenging myself to be more outgoing, more involved in the School’s extracurricular activities, and to be a bigger presence on campus. I began recognizing the value in taking an extra 15 minutes to meet with a teacher for extra help. I began participating in class discussions, and became less afraid to raise my hand and ask questions. As a result, I began earning higher grades, building a group of great friends (most of whom I remain close with today), and enjoying life at Canterbury. Most importantly, I was becoming a happier person, and I found myself authoring what I am today glad to call a great turnaround story.

While a Canterbury student, I did not realize I was building not only a model for how to succeed at this school but also learning how to succeed in life. When Father Sebastian asked me to talk to you today, I realized that in everything I have done and will continue to do, I have employed and will continue to employ the life model that Canterbury helped me construct. I know that throughout my life I will again be challenged as I was during those first two months of my Third Form year; there will be hills to climb and I will find myself outside of my comfort zone. I will have to choose between two paths and ultimately one of those paths could lead towards failure. I truly believe in the life model that Canterbury provided me. I hope that many of you, especially the Sixth Formers, can share such beliefs with me.

These students received their Canterbury ring at a ceremony in the Chapel of Our Lady on January 22. Front row, l-r: Brandon McBreairty ’13, Christian Procaccino ’13, Briana Tom ’12, Olivia Watkins ’12, Lindsey Marra ’12, Feng Ye ’12, Tom Sheehy, Macy Steers ’04. Back row, l-r: Fr. Sebastian Leonard, O.S.B., Kevin Ebner ’13, Michael Smyrski ’12, Josef Najm ’12, Sean Owens ’12, E. Michael Woods, ’12, Felipe Siebrecht ’12, Richard Naccarato ’12.

I want to leave you with a couple thoughts. First, I hope that many of you have bought into the Canterbury way as I did and have recognized what great opportunities and life lessons you can seize from this amazing school. If you have, I assure you that you have received the necessary tools and built the relationships that you will hold on to throughout your life. Second, I urge you to take advantage of what Canterbury has to offer. Take a risk, go out on a limb, get involved, raise your hand, and always challenge yourself to be better. Third, enjoy your time at Canterbury, but make sure you are proud of what you have accomplished. Take some time to reflect on your experience at Canterbury and ask yourself how you can make it better.

Finally, for those of you receiving a ring today, let it be a symbol of your foundation, a symbol of strength, integrity, and you. It will remind you everyday of who you are and where you came from. Wear the ring with pride and humility, and always remember the life lessons that Canterbury bestowed on you.

I have always felt blessed to call myself a Canterbury Saint, and I will forever maintain my pride in knowing that I am a part of this special community.

Macy Steers is a senior underwriter at Arch Insurance Group. His father, Bill, and brother, Walker, graduated from Canterbury in 1975 and 2009, respectively; his uncles Charlie and Bob in 1969 and 1971, respectively. His cousin, JP, graduated in 2011. His grandfather, Charlie, graduated in 1944.

39

Dom Possemato ’74 married Nicolette Chiaia ’83 on December 17, 2011.

1945 Emil Tietje writes that he has finally retired and is taking care of his wife, who has Alzheimer’s. His children have taken over the business he started and are doing well.

1950 Ed Chainski recently became a second-time grandfather. Says Ed, “This makes me the oldest secondtimer in history, except of course for those folks in the Bible who were begetting and begetting well into their 7th and 8th centuries.”

1952 Timothy Sullivan tells PALLIUM that he has his own television show on Easthampton Public Access station LTVEH. It’s called Sullivan Travels the East End. 1957 Michael Beecher and Jennifer Keller’s son Jeremy is in his first year of law school at U.C.L.A. Jennifer won the high profile trial of Mattel (“Barbie” Dolls) vs.

M.G.A. (“Bratz” Dolls). She represented M.G.A. 1965 Martin Harrington reports that his daughter Annie was 40

Jim Shea ’78, who teaches at Northfield Mt. Hermon School, invited classmate Steve Kiernan to talk to the school about his book “Authentic Patriotism.”

married in August 2011.

1969 James Spencer is marrying Dr. Christine Wallace in June 2012 in Northern Ireland.

1978 Jim Shea, who teaches at Northfield Mt. Hermon School, recently invited classmate Steve Kiernan to give an all-school talk about his book Authentic Patriotism. Says Steve, “I think the last time we saw each other was at a Dead concert in the early ’80s.”

1982 Wendy Miller Claunch is vice president of Dating Abuse Stops Here, founded to raise awareness about teen dating abuse after the murder of her neighbor.

Wendy educates teens about the early warning signs of dating abuse and writes for the website www. datingabusestopshere.com.

1986 Cathy Lynch Diamond sends her best to her classmates and former students and colleagues. She says she especially misses fellow faculty members Kathleen Murphy, Chris

Goeff hoyt

COURTESY STEVE KIERNAN ’78

NICOLETTE CHIAIA POSSEMATO ’83

CLASSNOTES

Members of the Class of 1982 gathered to plan their 30th Year Reunion. L-r: Tim Kelly, Stuart Ivimey, Rich Owens, Curt Cannata.

Hollander ’86, and Brian Meehan ’78. Cathy still lives in Vermont and tries to keep up on the slopes with her two children. Andy Staib thanks the Shaffer and Keville families for their hospitality as he traveled for business on the West Coast.

1987 Hilary Duffy documented the AIDS United programs for an exhibition, titled AIDS UNITED: GENERATIONS III, which opened at Johnson & Johnson world headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ. She began her photography career in news and travel for the Tico Times while she lived in Costa Rica in the 1990s. A graduate of the International Center of Photography’s Documentary and Photo Journalism Program in 2000, she later was on staff for the Maine Photo Workshops in Havana. Compelled to share photography with the local youth, she developed a photo library and directed the Havana Youth Photo course in 2003. Her work reflects her commitment to social issues, including

homeless youth and their rehabilitation through a multimedia project with Casa Alianza in Mexico and Central America. Frequent collaborations with nongovernmental organizations strengthen her passion as a socially concerned photographer.

1988 Chantal Lambrix is living in Quito, Ecuador, where she teaches fifth grade at an American International School called Academia Cotopaxi. This is her third year at the school, and she plans on returning for a fourth next fall. Last summer, she married Andrew Kralovec, who is the school’s chemistry and technology teacher, originally from Michigan.

1998 On July 8, 2011, Matt Caceci married Jaclyn Maiorano in Easthampton, MA.Classmates Dave Benincasa, James Johnson, Rob Weinstein, and Bill DiTullio were groomsmen. Paul Liubicich and Scott Benincasa ’02 attended the event. The couple live in Holyoke, MA. Chris Kelly and wife Sarah

While on a photo assignment in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Hilary Duffy ’87 met up with Trustee José Carrion ’88.

The two shared a “cafe con leche” and caught up on each other’s lives.

announce the arrival of their daughter Madison, born on February 19, 2011.

1999 Jesse Kiefer and wife Brenda announce the arrival of their first child, Rosalie Judith, born on January 31, 2012. Nikyda Scott married Angel Resto on December 10, 2011.

2000 Catherine Chiffert has joined the Development and Engineering Group of JP Morgan Global Real Estate Asset Management. Eliott Wolfe is working and living in Hong Kong.

2003 Kevin Rubottom is an Associate at Promontory Financial Group in Australia.

The firm advises financial institutions and governments in the areas of strategy, risk management, and matters relating to regulatory compliance. He focuses on emerging market countries within Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

2005 Brittany Falconer was recently promoted to Assistant Account Executive

at Racepoint Group, a public relations agency outside Boston. Her clients have been featured in major outlets, including Fortune, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and several tech and healthcare trade publications. She is also a regular contributor to both business and recreational blogs.

2007 Jillian Tondreau recently graduated from college and lives in Boston, where she works as a Design Consultant for Needham Decorative Hardware. Steph Berger was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy on November 18, 2011. She is a Surface Warfare Officer on the USS Pearl Harbor, which is stationed out of San Diego. The USS Pearl Harbor is currently on deployment with the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group.

2009 Trevardo Williams is playing football for the UConn Huskies. At one point in the season, he ranked number two in quarterback sacks in all Div. I football.

COURTESY Matt Caceci ’98

COURTESY Hilary Duffy ’87

CLASSNOTES

Matt Caceci ’98 married Jaclyn Maiorano on July 8, 2011.

Classmates Dave Benincasa, James Johnson, Rob Weinstein, and Bill DiTullio were groomsmen. Paul Liubicich ’98 and Scott Benincasa ’02 also attended.

Stay Connected to Canterbury Website: www.cbury.org Facebook: Search: Canterbury Saints Alum Twitter: Search: cburynews LinkedIn: Canterbury School Alumni group WordPress (blogs, photos, videos) www.cburylife.org

Got News? Send us news/ photos about your new job, new baby, grandchild, travels, or wedding to pallium@ cbury.org. If submitting digitally, please send a high-quality JPEG file (300 dpi, size: min. 3" x 5"). If submitting prints through the mail, please send a photo-lab quality print. We’d love to hear from you.

41

Nikyda Scott ’99 married Angel Resto on December 10, 2011.

Chuck Wolfertz ’90 married Michelle Lee Boone on October 22, 2011. Peter Murphy ’90 was best man.

Stephanie Goos Johnson ’97 and Eliot Johnson ’97 welcomed third son Everett Arthur on March 4, 2012.

COURTESY BRYAN KIEFER

STEPHANIE GOOS JOHNSON ’97

COURTESY NIKYDA Scott ’99

courtesy CHUCK WOLFERTZ ’90

CLASSNOTES

Jesse Kiefer ’99 and wife Brenda announce the arrival of Rosalie Judith, born on January 31, 2012.

Down Memory Lane

Aerial of Canterbury’s campus circa. 1930.

Hockey players battle it out on Conn’s Pond located along Rt. 202.

42

Students lunch in the old North House Dining Room.

In its early years, the School maintained a horse and buggy.

You, too, can get into the act.

www.cbury.org/give

MARC VANASSE ’73

Make your gift to the Annual Fund today.

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CLASSNOTES

You’re invited to return to campus for good times and good friends!

Reunion 2012 Canterbury School

REUNION JUNE

8 9 10

Reunite with classmates and faculty.

Bring the whole family.

44

MARC VANASSE ’73 (3)

2012

CANTERBURY PROUD

A Few Moments with Chris Weber ’04 How did you first come to Canterbury?

I first visited Canterbury with my good friend and middle school classmate Steve Dyott ’04. The two of us spent a Saturday morning touring the campus, attending classes, and meeting with faculty and students. What struck me was how Canterbury positions its students for success by equipping them with a well-rounded secondary education as well as opportunities to participate in a diverse range of athletics and extracurricular activities.

COURTESY Chris Weber ’04

How did Canterbury prepare you for college?

Canterbury was excellent preparation for college, and it allowed me to hit the ground running once I started at Georgetown. While many of my other classmates there were still acclimating to the rigors of university life, I felt as though I had already undergone this period of adjustment while a student at Canterbury. Classes such as Mr. Mandler’s “APJP” English Literature class were especially helpful for me, and the standards to which he held his students were certainly no less than those of my professors at Georgetown.

Chris Weber ’04

What path has your life taken since you graduated from Canterbury?

After Canterbury, I attended Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. I studied International Politics and International Business, with an emphasis on Chinese politics and economics as well as Mandarin Chinese. My studies eventually brought me to China for the first time, where I studied in Beijing during my junior year.

Although I always imagined myself working in the public sector, after graduation from Georgetown, I worked in New York City for the capital markets division of a large U.S. bank.

What are you doing now?

I am currently Head of Investor Relations at a boutique real estate private equity firm based in Hong Kong, where I am responsible for capital raising and managing the firm’s reporting and investor relations functions. I have been living in Hong Kong for more than two years now, although my work often takes me to the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East. The strength of the Canterbury network (both in the U.S. and abroad) has been a key source of support for me since graduation.

How did Canterbury help lead you to where you are today?

I give Canterbury a great deal of credit for leading me to where I am today. Not only did it provide a strong educational background for college and beyond, but it also provided me with strong core values. Also, I believe the Canterbury experience is fundamentally one of balance – academics, athletics, extracurricular activities – something I later found to be embodied in Georgetown’s Cura Personalis, or “Care for the whole person.”

“ Classes such as Mr. Mandler’s ‘APJP’ English Literature class were especially helpful for me, and the standards to which he held his students were certainly no less than those of my professors at Georgetown.”

What were your activities/accomplishments while you were at Canterbury?

I worked with the Office of Admission as a tour guide, served as a proctor in Carmody House (where I lived all four years), and perhaps most important to me, I was named a sacristan. I was fortunate to be recognized with several awards during my time at Canterbury, and I still consider receiving the Nelson Hume Award at graduation to be one of my proudest moments.

Who are some of your memorable and influential Canterbury teachers?

One of my most influential teachers was Mrs. Hyson. In my Third Form year, she taught Global Studies, which was one of the factors that led me to pursue international affairs. Outside of the classroom, she was one of the dorm parents in Carmody and an important resource for me when I applied to colleges. Mr. Richardson, although never my teacher, was also influential as my advisor and dorm parent. I’m grateful to Mrs. Omaña, too, for steering me in the direction of Georgetown.

What are your future professional plans?

The world continues to become more interconnected by the day, and Asia, especially China, is a large part of this phenomenon. I imagine I will remain engaged in the international investment community, likely with a continued focus on this region.

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ALUMNI HOCKEY GAME • JANUARY 14 • CANTERBURY HOCKEY RINK CLASSNOTES

Billy Cummings ’09.

Front row, l-r: Vincent Ciardullo ’05, Billy Cummings ’09, Bob Werber ’72, Niall Cahill ’11, Ryan Fernandes ’11. Back row, l-r: Dan Murphy ’72, Tyler Reinhardt ’03, Paul Doran ’07, Emerson Mish ’02, Ryan Radonis ’99, Bud Brown ’88, Paddy McCarthy ’94.

Front row, l-r: Matt Rakoczy ’11, Jason Snyder ’05, Anthony Rowella ’05, Greg Szkop ’08, Graham Henderson ’11, Jared Garceau ’08. Back row, l-r: Caleb Luther ’07, Dale Reinhardt (faculty), Fed Lascano ’96, Justin Nash ’97, Linus Cooke ’74, Jamer Breene ’74.

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MARC VANASSE ’73 (5)

Emerson Mish ’02.

Caleb Luther ’07.

Kevin Siebrecht Joins Board of Trustees

MARC VANASSE ’73

“Throughout my professional career, I have come to appreciate the nobility of service, and serving Canterbury School is a great honor.”

C

urrent parent Kevin Siebrecht is the newest member of Canterbury’s Board of Trustees. He has an extensive background in Energy, Sales and Financial Management, which complements his entrepreneurial spirit and boundless curiosity.

Most recently, as co-founder and President of Alliance Energy Solutions (AES), he was responsible for the sales and installation of more than $100 million dollars in turnkey energy conservation projects across an extended Northeastern marketplace.

Under his leadership, AES installed more than 4,000 projects for public and private sector customers including the City of Waterbury, CT, the Town

of Middletown, CT, as well as Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, Wegmans, Xerox, and ITW. Kevin’s vision, leadership, and commitment to continuous improvement shaped AES’s processes and strategic partnerships from 2000 to 2011.

AES’s steady growth and Kevin’s ability to attract and retain toptier talent uniquely positioned the company for strategic acquisition.

In 2009, W.W. Grainger, a publicly traded industrial supply company, approached Kevin and AES became Grainger’s first service-based acquisition. Following the acquisition, Kevin accepted a position as V.P. of Sales, providing the new ownership with invaluable strategic insights during integration.

He has worked with numerous Public Utility Companies, including the Central Hudson Gas and Electric Company, where he designed and implemented an exclusive ESCO model. While lucrative for AES, it proved to be the most successful of CHG&E’s Energy Fund of demand-side management programs conducted in conjunction with American Reinvestment and Response Act (ARRA) funding.

Before concluding his Services Agreement with Grainger, Kevin supervised the dramatic expansion of the AES sales team and fulfilled a personal goal by implementing the first national rollout of AES energy solutions.

Kevin is a Certified Energy Manager, a certification recognized by the Association of Energy Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy, which holds an industry-wide endorsement in the U.S. and abroad.

Prior to AES, he held various positions in the automotive business as a Finance and Insurance Manager and Sales Manager.

“Throughout my professional career, I have come to appreciate the nobility of service, and serving Canterbury School is a great honor,” says Kevin. “I relish the chance to demonstrate this through my business acumen and by leveraging my extensive network of allies, in an effort to manage the development of a Green initiative for Canterbury School. This humble Trustee’s act of service and having one son, Felipe ’12, and a niece, Laura ’15, currently enrolled at the School, along with two more children eager to carry on the legacy, in some small way might serve to demonstrate the positive impact Canterbury School continues to have on families, the community, and our sustainable futures.”

Kevin, his wife Angela, and their children Felipe ’12, Kira, and Blake live in Energy Star homes of their own design in Connecticut and Vermont.

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CLASSNOTES OBITUARIES In Memoriam

John E. Aiken ’43 Jose A. Obregon ’52 William J. Ireland ’54 Philip F. Vogel ’54 Mark R. Garofalo ’75 John E. Aiken ’43 John E. Aiken ’43 died on December 6, 2011.

Upon graduation from Canterbury, he entered Yale University and played freshman football until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944. Completing his basic training as a medic in Atlanta, GA, he was sent to the South Pacific War Theater where he was on active duty. He was discharged as a sergeant with the Army Medical Department in 1946. Grateful to have survived the war, he returned to Yale and chose to play the snare drums in the Yale Marching Band. He graduated from Yale in 1949.

John then attended New York Medical College, graduating in 1953 as a medical doctor. He became an Intern at St. Vincent’s Hospital, NYC, and served as their senior resident three years later. He then became senior resident at Brooklyn Veteran’s Hospital and returned to St. Vincent’s to complete a three-year fellowship in cardiovascular diseases. In 1961, he became Director of the Cardiovascular Department at Nassau Hospital in Long Island, NY. He then moved to Ohio, where he directed the Medical Department of Smith Community Hospital in Marion, OH. In 1979, he retired from active medical practice at age 54 to become the Director of Medicine for Cities Services (later Occidental Petroleum), Director of Medicine for McDonnell Douglas in Tulsa, OK, and Director of Occupational Medicine for the Business and Industry Health Group in Kansas City, MO. In 1994, he retired to The Woodlands, TX, where he formed his private company, Locum Tenens Medicine, working primarily for General Motors Corp., in their multiple U.S. nationwide locations. He was a member of the American Medical Society, Diplomat of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (retired), and the American College of Internal Medicine (retired).

Throughout his career, he served on many boards and committees.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Barbara (Haugh) Aiken; and second cousins Michael F. Burke ’78, Thomas C. Burke Jr. ’77, Susan BurkeO’Neal ’87. He was predeceased by cousins Thomas C. Burke ’41 and John S. Burke ’41.

José A. Obregon ’52 José A. Obregon ’52 died on June 25, 2010.

José came to Canterbury from Barranquilla, Colombia, as a Third Former. He was a member of the Chess Club and captain of the club in his Sixth Form year, The Tabard, and Dance Committee. He played Varsity Soccer, Varsity Swimming, and Varsity Tennis, which he captained in his Sixth Form year. His yearbook page states that he “won more letters than anyone in his class and had the distinction of being the class’s only two-team captain.”

An official obituary was not available.

William J. Ireland ’54 William J. “Bill” Ireland ’54 died on January 5, 2012.

Bill was a Certified Addiction Professional who devoted his life to his passion of helping others and saving lives. He worked for the Community Outreach Service CORS and was an active member in Alcoholics Anonymous for more than 35 years. He was described as a “gentle, caring person, who put others first and lived his life with true meaning.”

He is survived by his wife Janet, several children and siblings, including his brother, David Ireland ’53.

Philip F. Vogel ’54 Philip F. Vogel ’54 died on January 31, 2012.

At the time of his death, he was a resident of Mequon, WI. He is survived by his wife of 13 years Ada (Noyola) Vogel, five children, one stepchild, 13 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A son, Chuck, predeceased him.

Mark R. Garofalo ’75 Canterbury School received news that Mark R. Garofalo ’75 passed away.

A Syracuse University graduate, Mark was an accomplished sculptor, who received numerous commissions from hospitals and educational institutions in the greater New Haven, CT area. He was one of the first artists to have work exhibited in Canterbury’s Edward J. Duffy Family Gallery.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

An official obituary was not available.

The PALLIUM invites members of the Canterbury family to submit copies of obituaries, which we will edit for publication. If you wish to share memories of a deceased classmate for possible inclusion in this publication, please send them to the editor.

48

Family and Friends Establish Gilda S. Martin Chapel Fund “Canterbury’s Roman Endowment provides

Catholic heritage is

perpetual support for the

what makes the School

Chapel of Our Lady.

exceptional, and I am pleased the Gilda Martin Chapel Fund will provide perpetual support to this COURTESY BOB MARTIN

center of campus life.”

To assure that the Gilda

– Bob Martin

Bob and Gilda Martin.

Martin Chapel Fund has sufficient assets to provide meaningful support, in 2009, Bob Martin gave an outright gift to significantly increase the Fund. In addition, Bob has confirmed a generous bequest of a percentage of his estate, which at his death will be placed directly in the Gilda Martin Chapel Fund.

Gilda Martin, beloved language teacher for more than four decades, died in December 2008. Gifts poured in from family, friends, and former students, and Canterbury established the Gilda Martin Chapel Fund to honor Gilda.

“Gilda loved Canterbury,” says Bob, her husband. “In addition to loving her students and her classroom, she loved attending Mass at the Chapel of Our Lady. Canterbury’s Roman Catholic heritage is what makes the School exceptional, and I am pleased the Gilda Martin Chapel Fund will provide perpetual support to this center of campus life.”

To assure that the Gilda Martin Chapel Fund has sufficient assets to provide meaningful support, in 2009, Bob Martin gave an outright gift to significantly increase the Fund. In addition, Bob has confirmed a generous bequest of a percentage of his estate, which at his death will be placed directly in the Gilda Martin Chapel Fund.

To learn how you can benefit from including Canterbury in your estate plans, please contact: Jim Sweeney Director of Gift Planning 800-526-1710 • JSweeney@cbury.org

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PARENTS OF GRADUATES: If this publication is addressed to your son or daughter and he or she no longer maintains a permanent address at your home, please notify the alumni office of his or her new mailing address (800-526-1710 or bjohnsto@ cbury.org). Thank you. www.cbury.org

Fresh snow blankets the campus on February 29, 2012.

(Photo by Marc Vanasse ’73)