in memoriam FACULTY EMERITI
Camden, Maine, but moved to the West Coast in 2007 to be near his family. One of his greatest contributions, said his daughter, Elizabeth ’87, was the daily mentorship he provided as a grandfather to her son, Kai. His wife, partner, and helpmate, Katie, passed away in 2003. In addition to daughter Elizabeth and her son, he is survived by a son, Jonathan ’85. Donations in Mr. Crawford’s memory may be made to the Children’s Book Fund of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, c/o Phillips Academy.
Robert L. Crawford Portland, Ore.; Oct. 22, 2014
Former Phillips Academy history instructor Robert “Robin” Crawford died after a brief battle with leukemia. He was 76. Mr. Crawford’s 34-year teaching career at Andover—indeed, his entire life—was multifaceted. When he joined the faculty in 1971, he was hired as dean and director of admission for Summer Session and as an instructor in history and social science in PA’s regular session. When he joined Marion Finbury as codirector of the College Counseling Office during the merger in 1973 (he later became director), they set to work “building almost everything from scratch,” recalled Ms. Finbury 30 years later. A house counselor in four student residences, he also served as faculty advisor to the Philomathean Society, the oldest secondary school debate union in the United States. “Robin breathed new life into the society,” wrote English instructor emeritus Meredith Price in Mr. Crawford’s Andover Bulletin retirement piece. “Interest grew. An annual Andover Invitational Tournament, attended by students from 14 schools, was born.” In 2001, he was awarded the Class of 1946 Teaching Chair. He served as honorary associate at the Parish of the Good Shepherd in Waban, Mass. After earning a BA degree at Northwestern University, he was commissioned in the U.S. Navy as a supply officer on a destroyer from 1960 to 1963. He enrolled in the General Theological Seminary in New York, earning a degree in theology in 1966. He was ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church and for the next three years served as assistant chaplain and teacher of the Bible and theology at St. George’s School in Newport, R.I. In yet another turn in his life, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MA degree in history in 1971 prior to being hired at Andover. “There is history, and there is history with Crawford,” remarked colleague Vic Henningsen ’69 upon Mr. Crawford’s retirement in 2003, adding, “Few teachers challenge students as fiercely and effectively. Few teachers inspire such enthusiasm, such loyalty.” After retirement, Mr. Crawford settled in
Hale Sturges II Boston, Mass.; Oct. 14, 2014
Hale Sturges’s vocation was laid out before him, even as a young child. The son of a Milton Academy French teacher, he grew up immersed in the French language and culture, eventually developing a lifelong devotion to France and teaching. He passed away after a 15-month struggle with appendiceal cancer. He was 75. After earning a BA degree from Harvard University in 1960, he began his career at Middlesex School as a French and Latin teacher, a hockey and baseball coach, and a dormitory master. He received a master’s degree from Middlebury College in 1965. Next came Andover, where he served as chair of both the French department and the Foreign Language Division and was a varsity baseball coach and house counselor for 22 years. He held the Beinecke Foundation Faculty Chair for 21 years and served as vice president and president of the Cum Laude Society. Under his leadership as language division chair, Andover’s groundbreaking Chinese program expanded and a student-exchange program was begun with the Harbin Institute of Technology. In the 1990s, he organized alumni and faculty trips to China, and the Headmaster’s Symposium on China, led by Mr. Sturges, was a resounding success. Together with his colleague Lynn Herbst, Mr. Sturges wrote three French textbooks, Une Fois Pour Toutes (with Linda Cregg ’67), Encore Une Fois, and Par Tout le Monde Francophone. He also wrote a sociological study, The People of Pleure: Portrait of a French Village. Mr. Sturges served as president of the board of the American Memorial Hospital, in Reims, France, and was its director from 1993 to 2014. He also was
a board member of Mother Caroline Academy in Dorchester, Mass., for two terms. In a testament to Mr. Sturges’s passion for teaching, a former student once said: “It would be impossible to fall asleep in his class. He leaps around the room, passionately shouting out the text or acting out a scene, fiercely scribbling on the board and pouring so much contagious enthusiasm and excitement into the discussion that you can’t help but hang on every word.” (See Tales Out of School, page 122.) After his retirement in 2004, he continued to teach and share his love of the French language and literature through Beacon Hill Seminars, where he also served as vice president of the board and a member of the curriculum committee. A volunteer teacher of English as a Second Language to recent immigrants, he also recorded audio books for struggling readers every week at the Learning Ally in Boston. He lovingly shared his passion for baseball and the Boston Red Sox with his grandchildren. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Karen; daughters Meg McDermott ’83 and Annie Gatewood ’87; five grandchildren; and a brother, Sheldon Sturges. Donations in Mr. Sturges’s memory may be made to the Hale Sturges Scholarship Fund, c/o Phillips Academy.
ABBOT AND PHILLIPS 1924 Roy E. Slagle Morristown, N.J.; June 12, 2009 1928 Jean Joyce Washington, D.C.; July 11, 2012 1935 Charles B. Swartwood Elmira, N.Y.; Nov. 21, 2013 1936 William A. MacIntyre Jr. Port Charlotte, Fla.; April 6, 2014 1938 Lloyd W. Peelle Penn Yan, N.Y.; July 31, 2014 1939 Carolyn Fisher Cadman Lakeville, Conn.; Aug. 27, 2014
Charles M. Donovan Pottstown, Pa.; Aug. 30, 2014 Charles Donovan had strong connections to Andover from birth. His father, former major league baseball player and manager Patrick Donovan, had coached Andover baseball since 1919. Charles’s graduation coincided with his father’s retirement from the Academy. Andover | Winter 2015
119