The following letter was writ ten by the Class of 1963 to the Class of 2013 in response to their graduation ceremon y. July 2013 Dear PA ’13, Your elegant Graduation Day celebration of PA’s Abbot line age and of PA’s future as a springboard that will launch men and women at the same velocity astonished us, delighted us and, yes, comforted us whe n we reached campus a week later to celebrate our 50th Abbot reunion. Thank you! You will never have to ans wer the question “Where did you go to high school?” with “Well, you never heard of it; it closed,” but you can guess how that feels…. When 70 of the living AA ’63 classmates arrived at our reunion, we brought with us memories and many half -century-long unbroken frien dships, but many of us also carried a sad sense of loss and/or a touch of ang er. Our Abbot experiences wer e varied, complicated, and deeply influential. There were bright lines between the boys’/men’s world and our s. Our society and economy had not opened many opportunities for wom en to pursue high-impact, satisfying work and self-inv ention. We had no idea abo ut the transformation to come soon, changes that freed us to work and to rais e a gen era tion with unlimited dreams, regardless of gender. But Abbot prepared us. We have always appreciated that the PA women wear muc h the same white graduation dresses we wor e (and the stylish ones we wan ted to wear), but we know the difference betwee n accepting PA tradition and inve ntin g a powerful symbolic statement of you r own values. Your decisio n to wea r thos e Abbot-blue ribbons tied you to us and to an earlier-than-us century of det erm ined Abbot students, binding us togethe r as you head to the future. Tha nk you for bringing us along! Primarily, we treasure all of you for dramatizing that men can and should carry roses with the same grace and pleasure as do women. You signaled that, until men can enjoy carrying flow ers [symbolizing other obje cts onc e designated “feminine”] as joyously as women have always treasure d a good bouquet, there might be formal equality but there will not be real freedom for both women and men to develop all their gifts . You are so much wiser than we were at our graduation; we anticipate the cha nges you will make with joy and respect. You have left the Academy a historic challenge by you r parting statement. Like you, we believe the nation’s leading institutions have a unique responsibility to create a better world. We are counting on you, as our fello w alums, to help PA’s leaders carry out their sinc ere commitments to an edu cati on and a community that supports every student’ s effort to develop all her or his tale nts. You have given us new strength, and we will help you for as long as we can. Gratefully,
We Want Your Merger Stories! In honor of the 40th anniversary of the merger of Abbot and Phillips academies, Andover magazine will devote most of the spring 2014 issue to recollections of the merger. If you graduated in the late ’60s through the late ’70s, please send us your stories. What do you remember about this historical event? How did life change after the merger? What was better or worse? What was hard to adjust to? What surprised you? What made you laugh or cry? What lingers, even now? Please e-mail andovermagazine@andover.edu no later than January 15, 2014. Thank you!
Helen Watson Collison, Meg Power, Morley Marshall Kno ll, Bettina Proske Walker, Barbara Rugen, Ros emary Eustace, Betsy Cad bury, Carolyn Holcombe Damp, Fredericka Moxon Heller, Elizabeth Bartelink Lane, Sister Madeleine (Jacqueline Sutton Cleverl y), Mary Jasper Walter, Sus an Boutin Atkinson, Mary Wilkins Haslinger, Anita Mill er White, Sharon Seeche Ric h, Anita Schenck Zednik, Susan Archer Voll mer, Ann Harris Furgerson , Nancy Sullivan, Elizabeth Moulton Cocks, Emily Mou lton Hall, Susan Coolidge, Hilary Hayes Geyer, Margaret R. Kimball, Letitia Upton Brown, Danica Miller Eskind, Marie Fox Young, Margaret Brown Coa kley, Patience Meigs Bousel, Emilie Dean McBride MEMBERS of the ABBOT ACADEMY CLASS of 1963
Andover | Fall 2013
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