Alumni News Summer 2013 Park Tudor School
Indiana’s First Lady recalls her days at Park School
When Indiana First Lady Karen Pence
celebrated Arbor Day with Park Tudor second-grade students, the event brought back memories of her own days at Park School. At the Arbor Day event on Friday, April 26, students planted a Bradford Pear tree in the Lower School courtyard with the help of Indiana State Forester John Seifert. Before planting the tree, Mrs. Pence told students gathered in the Lower School library that she had danced as a student on that very library stage. Mrs. Pence—who was Karen Batten when she enrolled as a second grader on the Cold Spring Road campus in 1964— attended Park School until sixth grade. Her mother, the late Lillian Batten Barcio, was an administrative secretary at Park School. “She told me she wanted me to have this amazing second-grade teacher, Mrs. Laila Hartman,” Mrs. Pence recalls. Mrs. Hartman—and Park School— lived up to her mother’s glowing description. “Mrs. Hartman really did instill in me a love of reading, and of being read to. She also let me start a knitting club in the back of the room for students who had finished their work,” Mrs. Pence recalls. Among her favorite Park School memories: the “ocean wave,” a “very dangerous and lots of fun” playground fixture; the traditional morning milkand-Oreo snack; family-style lunches; and a sense of freedom to play and learn,
Indiana First Lady Karen Pence showed second-graders a photo of herself when she was a student at Park School during her visit to plant a tree at Park Tudor.
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especially outdoors. During the month of May, students then often shared the Commons with race-car drivers from the nearby Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “I got Mario Andretti’s autograph,” Mrs. Pence recalls. In the 1960s, girls attended Park School through sixth grade. Although Park School had relocated to the present Park Tudor location on College Avenue, the school would not become fully co-ed until the merger with Tudor Hall in 1970. So Mrs. Pence went on to St. Luke’s Catholic School and Bishop Chatard High School, but her ties to Park Tudor continued. Her mother married Latin teacher Bernard F. Barcio, who brought national attention to Park School when NBC-TV visited in 1966 for a segment on a studentbuilt replica of a Roman catapult. They counted many Park Tudor faculty among their family friends. Barcio also managed the Lilly Orchard store on campus. Mrs. Pence worked there after school and on weekends, selling cider and polishing and bagging apples. As a Park student, Mrs. Pence loved art classes with Mr. Bill Hopper, “a really gifted artist,” in the school’s art barn. She continued studying art at Butler University and returned to Park Tudor as a student teacher with art teacher Paul Sweeney. She later went on to teach art and elementary education for 13 years at Indianapolis-area schools. “Park really nurtured me as a child,” Mrs. Pence says. “I have nothing but good memories.”
Our thanks to new Endowment Society members
The
Park Tudor Endowment Society recognizes members of the Park Tudor family who have notified us that their estate plans include a gift to the school. Special thanks to new members: Mr. Terry Carr and Mrs. Susan Nunamaker ’69 Carr Mr. and Mrs. Zach W. Ford (Abby*) Ms. Angi Parks* Mr. and Mrs. Mike Stewart *=current faculty/staff There may be others who have made such arrangements but have not told us about them. If you are one of these special people, please notify the school so we may have the opportunity to thank you in advance for your gift and discuss your wishes for its use. If you wish to remain anonymous, we will keep your name in strict confidence. There is no need to share the amount of the gift, but it is helpful for the school’s long-range planning. If you have questions about the Endowment Society, please contact Gretchen Hueni at 317/415-2766, toll-free at 1-888782-5861 or ghueni@parktudor.org.
A huge number of PT alumni who attend IU attended an alumni reception at Mother Bear’s Pizza in Bloomington on April 9.