Making Meaning out of
Adolescent W od by Sally V. Holm
T
he students gathered around a massive wooden conference table are delving deep into Homer’s classic, led by their teacher Greg Wilkins, when Strother Purdy ’85 pokes his head in the door. In a flash, he recognizes “those dear, favorite stories” he learned in this classic old school building. “How wonderful!” he marvels. “They are reading the Odyssey at my table.” Purdy is a master furniture maker. And that gleaming table is one of 18 he has made with his own hands for his alma mater. But there’s more. Each table was lovingly crafted from the 10 mature trees that had to be taken down last summer before the renovation of Bulfinch Hall. The final order was substantial—four large conference tables, six coffee tables for the new faculty lounge, and eight side tables for various classrooms. No one is quite sure how the idea came about, to use the site’s wood, to ask an alum (who is also, ironically, an English teacher) to work it. But Jeff Domina, chair of the English department was there, as were Larry Muench, head of the Office of Physical Plant (OPP), and John Galanis, Bulfinch project manager. Purdy had passed their way before—volunteering to make a table and a cutting board to donate to the Andover auction held in 2011. He wanted to create them from PA wood, and OPP obliged with a maple recently cut down next to Bartlet Hall. They asked him if he was interested in the Bulfinch project. He was, definitely. Purdy calls himself a “very personal woodworker,” doing his best work when it’s for somebody or some place he cares about. Clearly a romantic, he loved the idea of making tables for the school where 52
Andover | Spring 2013