IN MEMORIAM
FACULTY EMERITI
which had served it well throughout its history,” he wrote. “I was then, and remain, immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to be some part of it.” He returned to the Abbot campus for celebratory events, most recently in spring 2014. Gordon went on to author articles and books and serve as an education consultant. He was a college instructor in New Hampshire and Colorado prior to retiring in 2006. He is survived by his son, James; his daughter, Alexandra; a granddaughter; and his life partner, Ruth Van Voorhis.
Donald A. Gordon ’52
Loveland, CO; June 23, 2016 The Andover community lost a legendary leader with the passing of Don Gordon ’52, Abbot Academy’s 18th and final principal. Gordon served from 1968 to 1973 and was among those instrumental in the merger of Abbot and Phillips academies. A graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, Gordon was just 33 years old when he was hired to work with then Phillips Academy headmaster Ted Sizer and many others to guide the two schools to a successful merger. In 2013, the 40th anniversary of the merger, Gordon shared with Andover magazine the lifelong affection and respect he held for the women of Abbot: “When I became principal of Abbot Academy in 1968, my board chair Philip Allen ’29 was rightly plain: ‘An eventual merger is the aim here. You’ll be working yourself out of a job,’ he told me.… I was OK with that. But a funny thing happened on the way to the merger: I fell in love with Abbot Academy. I fell in love with Abbot Academy’s academic seriousness, its long history, the de facto challenge, the opportunity to work with Phil Allen, the sheer enjoyment of working with so many bright students, [and] Abbot Academy’s strong belief in education for women and equality.” Although charged with preparing the all-girls school for the merger, he focused on making life at Abbot as progressive as possible. He raised teacher salaries, expanded scholarship programs, modified the dress code, and improved the physical plant. He wrote recommendations for faculty members he felt would be best suited for teaching on the Hill and presided over Abbot’s final commencement ceremony. “Abbot Academy met the culturally fractious times, the pending end of its 144-year run and all the attendant challenges, by energetically embracing the times, the issue—indeed, every aspect of the task—with its own warm, intelligent, let’s - get - it - done - and - done - well attitude,
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Andover | Reunion 2016
Shirley J. Ritchie
“Miss Ritchie was a caring, understanding person, a patient teacher who seemed to treat us all the same,” said Nancy Donnelly Bliss ’54. “She always walked with a determined gait and had a ‘laughing’ smile. She was an enthusiastic supporter of both Abbot and PA and faithfully attended reunions as long as she was able.” Paula Prial Folkman ’54 wrote, “I remember Shirley Ritchie with much affection. I was not a very good basketball player, and she told me so with a twinkle in her eye. In the years after graduation from Abbot, whenever I would see her at reunions or at the school she took particular joy in reminding me of that fact! Of course it was all in great fun.” “Miss Ritchie was my house counselor in Abbey House,” wrote Sylvia Thayer ’54. “She spent lots of time with us, laughed and cried with us, and fed us often, and, of course, we loved her! She treated us all as if we were her younger sisters.” Ritchie, who retired in 1984, received the NEPSAC Distinguished Service Award in 1991 and was a 2008 inductee into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor. Survived by two nephews and a niece, she was the great-aunt of seven and the great-great-aunt of 13.
Silver Spring, MD; April 2, 2016 Shirley Ritchie, longtime member of Abbot and Phillips academies’ athletic departments, passed away at age 92. She joined Abbot Academy in 1951 as a physical education instructor, coach, and house counselor and was named head of athletics in 1961. Along with carrying on the school’s long tradition of Gargoyles vs. Griffins intramural contests, she instituted a formal schedule of interscholastic athletic competition. Prior to the 1973 merger, PA administrators sought advice from Ritchie and Abbot Academy colleagues Marge Harrison and Cristina Rubio about how to create a welcoming environment and an equitable athletic program for young women. In 1973, the trio joined the athletics department on the Hill, helping to smooth the transition for 100 or so former Abbot athletes. Ritchie coached varsity soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. “It was the happiest time of my life,” she told an Andover magazine writer in 2013. In 1979, Ritchie was promoted to assistant athletic director. “Shirley became the face of coed Andover athletics and consistently represented the school beautifully,” said Joe Wennik ’52, athletic director at the time. “Along with coaching, scheduling games, organizing officials, and greeting visiting teams in her own gracious way, she proudly invited the whole PA community to use and enjoy the facilities of the coed athletic complex and its new Abbot Academy Wing. I will forever admire her devotion to her athletes and her many, many positive contributions to Andover athletics.”
Jean M. St. Pierre
Harwich Port, MA; Aug. 10, 2016 Jean St. Pierre, faculty emerita of Abbot and Phillips academies, died at her home in Harwich Port, MA. She was 79. St. Pierre joined Abbot Academy as an instructor in English in 1963 and served as English department chair from 1971 to 1973. As Abbot and PA worked toward becoming one, she helped lead the early curricular integration and shepherd Abbot’s faculty, students, and alumni through periods of discord. Colleague Tom Regan ’51 called St. Pierre “an angel of mercy, the personification of counseling, consoling, and cooperation.” She was one of only a handful of Abbot faculty members hired to teach