Portsmouth Abbey School Summer 2019 Alumni Bulletin

285 Cory’s Lane Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871 www.portsmouthabbey.org Address Service Requested

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P ORT S M O U T H

ABBE Y SCHOOL PORTSMOUTH ABBE Y SCHOOL

PARENTS’ WEEKEND 2019

SAVE THE DATE! OCT. 17-19

SUMMER BULLETIN 2019

PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL

SUMMER BULLETIN 2019

MISSION STATEMENT The aim of Portsmouth Abbey School is to help young men and women grow in knowledge and grace.

Grounded in the Catholic faith and 1500-year-old Benedictine intellectual tradition, the School fosters: Reverence for God and the human person Respect for learning and order Responsibility for the shared experience of community life

BOARD OF REGENTS

Very Reverend Michael G. Brunner O.S.B. Prior-Administrator Portsmouth, RI Mr. W. Christopher Behnke ’81 P’12 ’15 ’19 Chairman Chicago, IL Mr. Christopher Abbate ’88 P’20 ’23 New York, NY Ms. Abby Benson ’92 Boulder, CO Dom Joseph Byron O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI Mr. Creighton O. Condon ’74 P’07 ’10 Jamestown, RI Sr. Suzanne Cooke, R.S.C.J. Washington, D.C. Dom Francis Crowley O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI Mrs. Kathleen Cunningham P’08 ‘09 ‘11 ‘14 Dedham, MA Mr. Gang (Jason) Ding P’18 Qingdao, China Mr. Christopher and Dr. Debra Falvey P’18 ’20 Co-chairs, Parents’ Association Plaistow, NH Mr. Peter Ferry ’75 P’16 ’17 Philadelphia, PA

Mrs. Frances Fisher P’15 San Francisco, CA Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan ’75 P’06 ’09 ’11 ’19 ‘21 Tiverton, RI

Mr. Philip V. Moyles, Jr. ’82 Annual Fund Chair Rye, NY Mr. Emmett O’Connell P’16 ’17 Stowe, VT

Mr. Patrick Gallagher ’81 P’15 Providence, RI

Mr. Shane O’Neil ‘65 Bedford, MA

Mrs. Margaret S. Healey P’91 GP’19 ‘21 New Vernon, NJ

Mr. Peter J. Romatowski ’68 McLean, VA

Mr. Denis Hector ’70 Miami, FL

Dom Paschal Scotti O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI

Father Francis Hein O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI

Mr. William Winterer ’87 Boston, MA

Dr. Gregory Hornig ’68 P’01 West Palm Beach, FL

EM ER ITU S

Mrs. Cara Gontarz Hume ’99 Hingham, MA

Mr. Peter M. Flanigan g ’41 P’75 ’83 GP’06 ’09 ’09 ’11 ’11 ’19 ’19 ’21 Purchase, NY

Mr. Peter M. Kennedy III ’64 P’07 ’08 ’15 Big Horn, WY

Mr. Thomas Healey ’60 P’91 GP’19 ‘21 New Vernon, NJ

Mr. William M. Keogh ’78 P’13 Jamestown, RI Dr. Mary Beth Klee P’04 Hanover, NH Ms. Devin McShane P’09 ’11 Providence, RI Abbott Gregory Mohrman O.S.B. St. Louis, MO

Mr. William Howenstein g ’52 P’87 GP’10 ’17 ’21 ’22 Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Mr. Barnet Phillips, IV ’66 Greenwich, CT

g Deceased

Cover: Roman Paska ’69 with puppet self–portrait, based on Portsmouth yearbook photos, for Schoolboy Play, performed at Linz ‘09 and the Dona Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon, 2010.

in this issue

Stay Connected To keep up with general news and information about Portsmouth Abbey School, we encourage you to bookmark the www.portsmouthabbey.org website. Check our listing of upcoming alumni events here on campus and around the country, and find out more about Reunion and our Annual Golf Scholarship Tournament.

If you would like to receive our e-newsletter, Musings, please make sure we have your email address (send to: info@portsmouthabbey.org).

To submit class notes and photos (photos must be original high-resolution jpegs), please email to: classnotes@portsmouthabbey.org or mail to Portsmouth Abbey Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, 285 Cory’s Lane, Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871.

Portsmouth Abbey’s Alumni Bulletin is published bi-annually for alumni, parents and friends by Portsmouth Abbey School, a Catholic Benedictine preparatory school for young men and women in Forms III-VI (grades 9-12) in Portsmouth, RI. If you have opinions or comments on the articles contained in our Bulletin, please email: communications@portsmouthabbey.org or write to the Office of Communications, Portsmouth Abbey School, 285 Cory’s Lane, Portsmouth, RI 02871.

Please include your name and phone number.

The editors reserve the right to edit articles for content, length, grammar, magazine style, and suitabilty to the mission of Portsmouth Abbey School.

Headmaster: Daniel McDonough Director of Development: Matthew Walter Editor/Art Director: Kathy Heydt Photography: Andrea Hansen, Kate Lucey, Louis Walker, Marianne Lee, Kathy Heydt Individual photos found in alumni profiles have been supplied courtesy of the respective alumni.

On Character & Leadership: Prize Day Address Dr. Stephen Zins, Science Department Head

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Commencement 2019

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Summer of 1969

by James MacGuire ‘70

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Alumnus Profile: Terence (Terry) McGuirk ‘69 by Lori Ferguson

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Alumnus Profile: Roman Paska ‘69

by James MacGuire ‘70

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Sustaining Creativity in NYC – Young Alumni in New York

by Fletcher Bonin ‘13 Frank Pagliaro ‘10 Peter Vergara ‘14 Nick DeLieto ‘13 Maggie Moran ‘07

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Onward and Upward: The Performing Arts Program

by Annie Sherman ’95

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The Meaning of Christian Citizenship: The Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture’s 2019 Summer Conference Invocation by the Very Rev. Michael Brunner, O.S.B.

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2019 Summer Program Overview

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Science in the 21st Century: Portsmouth Abbey’s New Science Building

by Matt Walter, Director of Development & Alumni Affairs

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The Hall Manor Society

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Winter 2018-2019 and Spring 2019 Athletics

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In Memoriam: Keith Botsford ’44 Ed Belt ‘51 Javier Cristiani ’90 Robert Willis Morey, Jr. P’51 Michael Meads ‘18

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Milestones: Necrology, Weddings, Births

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Class Notes

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VISIT OUR NEW SQUADLOCKER STORE Shop Online for all your Abbey Athletics Apparel, Spirit Wear and Accessories!

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prize day and commencement 2019

On Character & Leadership The following was shared by Science Department Head Dr. Stephen Zins with the Portsmouth Abbey community on Prize Day, May 25, 2019: Good afternoon and welcome: parents, friends, colleagues, students, and especially the Class of 2019.

I mean it when I say it’s truly an honor and a privilege to be up here speaking to you briefly and then announcing the character and leadership awards.

This class particularly holds a special importance to me since we started together, four years ago in September of 2015. I’ve been able to watch you grow, and grow with you myself. I’ve been able to see your character develop, and it’s an extraordinary thing.

In thinking about what to say today my mind went back to my Grandpa’s basement. I spent a lot of time there as a kid, and the basement was where Grandpa kept his workshop. I would spend hours down there watching him work and exploring all the nooks, crannies, shelves, and drawers – looking for treasure.

One day when I was about eight, I opened a drawer and pulled out a pocket knife. It was a very old knife, most likely passed down by my great-grandfather at some point in the distant past. I grew to love its design and wondered what it would be like if it were mine.

It became a ritual to check on the knife every time I went downstairs. One day I checked and there was a tag on it that said “For Stephen – Age 10 IF READY.” I was both thrilled and disappointed at the same time.

I held those two emotions in tension – “Yes, the knife is mine! But I have to wait 2 more years??” But then

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those final two words stuck with me – IF READY. What could that possibly mean? When I asked my Grandpa about it he told me “you have to prove to me that you will be able to responsibly own this knife.

You need to exhibit self-control, patience, and an understanding of what this object’s purpose is.”

Heavy stuff for an eight-year-old.

Character is sometimes hard to define. You hear the word bandied about as something to strive for, or something someone has, but what is it exactly? As a biologist I like to think of character as the phenotypic expression of the soul’s experience. Your individual lives, encounters, and influences form a worldview that dictates what’s important to you and how you act.

Your character naturally flows out of what you hold dear, whether consciously or not. As a Christian I like to think of character as the Holy Spirit making me get

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out of my own way, allowing me to exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians. Do I have a ways to go?

ABSOLUTELY. But as long as I’m aware of the fact there’s a journey at all and willing to embark on it, I’m hopeful my character will bear much fruit.

Portsmouth Abbey at its best and most well intentioned tries to get you READY – not ready to wield pocket knives but ready to respond to life’s difficulties, curiosities, challenges, and successes with those fruits of the spirit I outlined above. In short, to build character. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that phrase that’s been repeated ad nauseum by every parent and grandparent ever (That was for you, Grandpa). Is this process perfect? Of course not, and to suggest otherwise wouldn’t be genuine. But if you take a moment and look through that best-case lens you’ll realize that you have been changed. You don’t react the same way to things now as you did when you started.

You’re becoming more READY. The leaders we are recognizing today are exemplars of this process, but it’s important to say that they are not the only leaders under this tent. All of you are on this journey and all of you have influence in your circles.

True leaders aren’t necessarily the strongest, or most talented, or the loudest. They can be, but often the best leaders are the ones who completely give themselves up for others, who quietly do the right thing even when no one is looking, who recognize true freedom.

The freedom that the late novelist David Foster Wallace describes as “the really important kind of freedom that involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able to truly care about other people, and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” This freedom also recognizes the RIGHT constraints that allow for true

human flourishing. If you try to play tennis without lines and a net, it loses all meaning. The great leaders are so because of the constraints, not in spite of them.

These concepts are not intuitive. They don’t naturally follow from the initial thought of a leader. It’s one of my favorite paradoxes: SERVANT LEADERSHIP. Being a prefect or a captain or a student group leader is not the end; it’s the beginning and where the real hard work starts. It’s where that daily grind tempts you to cut corners, snap at someone, or scoff at a contribution, but you don’t because you know it’s not about you.

It’s the hardest work you can do. And even if you don’t fancy yourself a leader you’re doing that work, little by little, every day. Each situation presents a choice and that choice will either hinder your character development or inch it forward. Leaders recognize that process and embrace it.

Your generation is better than any that has come before it at understanding the power of different points of view. Every app or piece of social media has an option to filter the appearance of what’s actually there.

Many times this enhances or gives a truer feel of what’s real. Many other times it does not. But the power of the effect is undeniable. I think if you even just average what you’ve seen and done and experienced at the Abbey you’ll realize that you are lucky, brilliant, and in an incredible position to do something. Use it.

Do it. Mold it. Don’t hide from it. Don’t toss it away.

Pour yourself into others, see their perspective and value as a person and see what that frees you to do.

The Bible says he or she who loses his life will find it.

C.S. Lewis says that true humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. Embrace these paradoxes. You’re READY.

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the class of 2019 Alessandra Alves Alyssa Alves Tatum Lee Bach-Sorensen Elise Marie Banderob Meghan Loreto Behnke Mariana Bermúdez Turull Curtis Adam Birthwright Brooke Suzanne Booth Evan Alexander Boyd James Francis Brower Madison Ann Burt Riley Madison Carter Bautista Carugati Lucas Cobery Amie Eileen Conlan Sarah Ann Costa Faith Marie Cournoyer Addison Cox Shannon Kelley Critz Sydney Noelle Cushing Jaxson Stoll de Pinho Juistine Lucia DelMastro Joshua Ian Downey Isabella Claire Drake Jane Sara Dwares Jonas LaRosa Echeandia Tiger Tanios Jacobsohn-Farah Kaitlyn Sue Farah Patrick Flanigan Isabelle Lucia Fournier Christopher Paul George Franco

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Jayson Regan Gibb Abigail Rose Gibbons Virginia Ann Hagerty Isabella Catherine Hannigan William Paul Harkins Erik Herrera Molly Rose Hoefel Tony Lee Hooks Jr. Emily Anne Hyder Abigail Deloris Jackson Soren Shane Gonzalez Jarabelo Sheila Elizabeth Joyce Alexa Paige Kelleher Brendan Joseph Kelly Thomas Clay Kirker Julia Flanagan Lamarre Jaehyuk (Jason) Lim Tianfang Liu Eve Noreen Loftus Yuxin (Evelyn) Long Zoë Katherine Lowney Jiah Lym Lilias Antoinette Madden Malia Payton Mantz Madison Marcum Alexandra Rae Marino Giuseppe Mavuli Diane Guadalupe McDonough Thomas Harold McSparren Maddy Mercier Inés Minondo Stillman Ayau Clark Herrera Johnson Cordón

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Francesca Mullaly Thomas Owen Murphy Daniel Cassion Neill Angelina Hariel Castillo Nueva Gregory Francis Oakes Chiara Angelique O’Connor Marcello Oh Rory Grace O’Neill Peter Joseph Parella Allison Lin Patys Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer Sarah M. Pelletier Jingqiao Sylvie Qiu Antony Brandon Ramirez Reyes Kathleen Marie Kelly Ritchie India Roemlein George Harry Skakel Nicholas Philip Solomon David Kendall Sozanski Minghao David Sun Jonathan Susilo Daniel X. Teravainen Blaze Thompson Alvaro Efrain Torres Daniel Alejandro Torres John-Joseph Twomey Lisa Alexia Vicini Bonetti Zhiyan Wang Mia Ann Wright

Portsmouth Abbey School’s 89th Commencement weekend began with Prize Day on Saturday, May 25, under the Holy Lawn tent.

The ceremony began with Headmaster Dan McDonough welcoming the students and their families. Spanish teacher and Manor House houseparent Caitlin Villareal ’12 presented the athletics awards followed by art history teacher Allie Micheletti ’05, who presented the academic awards. History Chair Cliff Hobbins announced those students who were elected to membership in the Cum Laude Society, and Science Department Head Dr. Stephen Zins concluded the program with the presentation of the Portsmouth Abbey Character, Service and Leadership Awards. The ceremony was followed by the Headmaster’s Reception for Prize Recipients and Guests in the School Auditorium.

On Sunday, May 26, 91 graduates and their families gathered in the Abbey Church of St. Gregory the Great for a concelebrated Mass before heading into the tent. The procession was led by Music Director Jeff Kerr playing bagpipes and Dean of Residential Life Paula Walter. Commencement exercises included a welcome and benediction by Prior Administrator Fr. Michael Brunner, O.S.B., where he thanked the graduates for their perseverance throughout their rite of passage at Portsmouth Abbey. Fr. Michael quoted from President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, “With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

Chairman of the Board of Regents Christopher Behnke ’81 P’12 ’15 ’19 spoke to the graduates about a kinship he felt with them as he recalled the opening of the Burden Classroom Building during his Sixth-Form year, just as the Class of 2019 saw the opening of the new science building this past year. He congratulated the Class, which included his daughter Meghan, and in his parting advice for the graduates, Mr. Behnke paraphrased from the Rule of St. Benedict, “‘Be gentle, lest when removing the rust we damage the vessel.’ Be gentle,” advised Mr. Behnke, “but get the job done!”

Headmaster McDonough then addressed the Class of 2019,

The Commencement Procession, led by Portsmouth Abbey Music Director Jeff Kerr (left) on bagpipes and Dean of Residential Life Paula Walter (center)

Prior Administrator Fr. Michael Brunner, O.S.B., welcomed graduates and their families with a benediction.

Graduate David Sozanski’ 19, on Prize Day, was recognized for excellence in Chinese at the upper level and was the recipient of the William Griffin Kelley Memorial Trophy.

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which also included his daughter Diane. Citing our ever-changing world he noted, “One thing won’t change, and that is how you treat other people.” He advised the graduates to be leaders and to take time to speak to God every day, closing with, “For now, thank you for our time together. May God bless you, and I hope you come back often.”

Left: Student speaker Patrick Flanigan ‘19; center: student speaker Kathleen (Katie) Ritchie ’19; right: Commencement speaker Dr. John Malcolm McCardell Jr.

There were two student speakers from the Class of 2019, elected by their classmates to deliver commencement speeches: Patrick Flanigan of Tiverton, RI, and Kathleen “Katie” Marie Kelly Ritchie of New York, NY. Patrick began with, “Why do I love the Abbey?

The answer is simple. It’s the people – the students, faculty, staff and families – the people here today who make all of this possible.” He cited some of the silly pranks that he and his friends pulled over their four years, saying those “small moments – not the big ceremonies” are the memories that he will cherish throughout his life. “If you learn to value the moments that don’t have ceremonies ... the beauty is hidden in those seemingly trivial moments.” Patrick told his classmates to thank their families for the opportunity afforded by attending the Abbey, and concluded with, “Class of 2019, I love you guys!”

Katie then addressed her classmates and the Abbey community, humorously reporting that she sometimes felt her life has been composed of nothing but numbers, saying, “As our Fifth-Form selves were pitched into the daunting college process, I managed to come to the frightening conclusion that every aspect of my life boils down to a number. I began to think of myself as a series of data points.

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Headmaster Dan McDonough hugs his daughter Diane upon the conferral of her diploma while Chairman of the Board of Regents, Christopher Behnke ’81 P’12 ’15 ’19, applauds.

Recipients of the Dom Peter Sidler Awards for Excellence in Teaching were Janice Brady (senior faculty) and Ann Gallagher ’13 (junior faculty).

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“Even after saying all that, there is one measurement we can never escape, and that is time. Nothing is forever, so if your time here has taught you anything at all, I hope that it is to make the most of each day, each relationship, each victory, and each failure.”

In conclusion, Katie said, “With that, I want to thank everyone again for being here to support the Class of 2019. To my fellow graduating seniors, take a look at one another. It wasn’t always easy, and it wasn’t always fun, but we made it, and we’re stronger and better than ever. Every one of you sitting before me should be incredibly proud of themselves and of each other.

Congratulations again!”

Elected into the Cum Laude Society were graduates: (front, from left) Zhiyan (Violet) Wang, Jane Dwares, Meghan Behnke, Virginia Hagerty, Kathleen Ritchie, and Yuxin (Evelyn) Long. (back, from left) Tianfang (Peter) Liu, Jaehyuk (Jason) Lim, Minghao (David) Sun, and David Sozanski.

The guest Commencement Speaker was Dr. John Malcolm McCardell Jr., vice-chancellor and president of Tennessee-based Sewanee: The University of the South.

Dr. McCardell titled his address “An Ounce of Hope,” calling the day a time of ends and beginnings. “You stand today athwart the course of what Isaac Watts’s beloved hymn refers to as ‘time’s ever rolling stream,’ which will eventually ‘bear all our souls away.’” He quoted from T. H. White’s Once and Future King: “You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies. You may lie awake listening to the disorder of your veins. You may miss your only love. You may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your own honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then –

The Vicini family, (l to r) Juan ‘12, Felipe ‘79, Felipe ‘09, and Jose ‘96, gathered to celebrate Lisa’s graduation.

David Appleton ’20 was the recipient of the Faculty Form V Award.

Chris Franco ’19 (left) and Eve Loftus ’19 were recognized on Prize Day for their year-long efforts as 2018-19 Head Boy and Head Girl.

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to LEARN. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fail or distrust, and never dream of forgetting,” and recalled the words of Wendell Berry: “The thing being made in a university is humanity… human beings in the fullest sense of the word – not just trained workers or knowledgeable citizens but responsible heirs and members of human culture.”

The Minondo family celebrating with graduate Ines on Prize Day.

Dr. McCardell recounted the story of the recent devastating fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, and of the beekeeper, “who tended three hives of more than 180,000 bees housed about 100 feet below the Cathedral’s main roof. ‘An ounce of hope,’ reported the beekeeper. The bees had, miraculously, survived. Out of fire and destruction in that Holy Week – life. Hope.

“May you be that ounce of hope,” said Dr. McCardell, “and may you, like the ancient Greeks, make a commitment to leave the communities you will inhabit and serve not less strong but stronger, not less beautiful but lovelier, than you found them.”

The Behnke family (from left) Will ’15, Erin, Chairman of the Board of Regents Chris ‘81, graduate Meghan, Greta ’12, and Dr. Stephen Behnke’78. Among Meghan’s awards were election to the Cum Laude Society and the Headmaster’s Award.

Headmaster McDonough presided over the conferral of diplomas, and the Portsmouth Abbey School Schola sang “All Creatures of Our God and King” as the graduates began the recessional from the tent.

Please visit the News page of the School website to see a full list of Prize Day recipients, to view more photos or to read Dr. McCardell’s complete commencement address.

The Conlan Family on Amie’s graduation day.

Amie’s brother Patrick is a rising Sixth-form student and will be Head Boy for 2019-20. Her sister Laura is a rising Fourth-form student and her sister Emily is Portsmouth Abbey’s study skills specialist.

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The Healey-Hagerty clan, including alumni Rev. Joseph Healey ’56, Thomas J. Healey ’60, John Hagerty ’82, T. Jeremiah Healey ’91, Katie Strong ’08, Mary Cate Whelan ’15, current Raven John Healey ’21 and Board of Regents Member Meg Healey, celebrates Virginia (Ginny) Hagerty’s graduation.

Cousins George (Harry) Skakel ’19 and Patrick Flanigan ’19 celebrated their graduations with family, including Dr. Tim Flanigan ’75 and Susan ’09 and Kate ’11 Skakel.

Left: On Prize Day Nkem Ogbuefi ’20 was awarded the Ali Sacco Summer Internship at Children’s Hospital in Boston as well as a Haney Fellowship.

Right: Jaehyuk (Jason) Lim and his father, Dr. Daeeui Lim on Prize Day

captions

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Class of 2019 Matriculation:

DESTINATIONS

The O’Connor/Ambrose clan celebrating Chiara’s graduation.

Mary Jean, Diane ’19, Headmaster Dan and Joe ’02 McDonough in the Winter Garden on Commencement Day 2019.

Ginny Hagerty’19 with her uncle Rev. Joseph Healey, M.M. ’56. Among Ginny’s many awards were election into the Cum Laude Society. and the Excellence in Scholarship Award, presented to the graduating Sixth-Form student with the highest cumulative academic average for his or her Fifth and Sixth Form years.

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Babson College (3) Barnard College Bates College Baylor University (2) Boston College (2) Boston University Bryant University Bucknell University Carnegie Mellon University Colby College College of Charleston College of the Holy Cross Connecticut College Dean College Drexel University Duke University Elon University Emory University Florida International University Fordham University Furman University Georgetown University High Point University Instituto Tecnologio de Monterrey Johns Hopkins University (2) Loyola University Chicago Mercyhurst University Miami University, Oxford Nazareth College New York University Northeastern University Northwestern University (2) Occidental College Providence College Purdue University (3) Roanoke College Saint Michael’s College Smith College Southern Methodist University Stevens Institute of Technology Stonehill College (2) Texas Christian University The New School - All Divisions The University of Alabama (2) The University of Tampa Trinity College (2) Universidad de Navarra University College Dublin (2) University of Chicago University of Georgia University of Massachusetts, Amherst University of New Haven (2) University of Pennsylvania (2) University of Rhode Island (7) University of Rochester University of San Diego University of Virginia University of Wisconsin, Madison Villanova University (2) Virginia Military Institute Virginia Tech Wake Forest University (2) Whittier College Williams College Worcester Polytechnic Institute Yale University

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SUMMER OF 1969

by Jamie MacGuire ‘70

1969 started auspiciously when Joe Willie Namath and the underdog Jets upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Superbowl III. But violent student protests at Berkeley, Columbia and Harvard soon set a grimmer mood.

By that June, I was visiting my St. Bede’s housemate Joe Tobin in Hillsborough, California, hitting the hippie clothing shops in Haight-Asbury by day and going to concerts at the Fillmore to hear Santana and the Jefferson Airplane at night. One night Joan Baez dedicated a song to Governor Ronald Reagan that began with the lines: He’s a drug store, truck drivin’ man You know he’s the head of his own Ku Klux Klan…

Today’s incivility in political discourse is nothing new!

Commander Neil Armstrong — the first person to step onto the lunar surface on July 21, 1969. photo: nasa.gov

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The Woodstock Music Festival held August 15–18, 1969, attracted an audience of more than 400,000.

Billed as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music”, it was held at a 600-acre dairy farm near White Lake in Bethel, New York. photo: Woodstock.com

The Summer of Love had been declared dead a couple of years before, but alternative newspapers, radio and retail shops flourished. Don and Doris Fisher opened the first Gap that summer on Ocean Avenue.

In July I went down to Los Angeles, where on a cloudless night I rode on Disneyland’s “Moonwalk” while Neil Armstrong was projected walking on the moon on a sixty foot television screen nearby, all beneath a brilliantly full southern California moon.

Chappaquidick happened that same week. My friend Art Nicol was working in a liquor store in Edgartown when Teddy Kennedy came in to stock up for his office party on the fateful night. Artie duly carried the booze out to Ted’s station wagon and for his trouble got stiffed on the tip. “They saith not a pater noster there,” my father commented when the story broke, quoting Judge Learned Hand.

On August 9th eight-months pregnant actress Sharon Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger were murdered brutally by followers of Charles Manson, who killed again the very next night.

A week or so later I bought a ticket at the local record store for fifteen bucks and told my parents I was

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going camping upstate with some friends – including a Portsmouth contingent of Rob Barnes ’68, Mark O’Neil ’69 Chris Coy ’69, Peter Raho ’70, Denis Hector ’70 and Nion McEvoy ’70 – to listen to some music. By the time we got to Woodstock it was a sea of people and traffic jams, the second largest city in all of New York State. Richie Havens started things off with “Freedom,” followed by Arlo Guthrie and Country Joe McDonald, bringing the crowd to its feet: Well, it’s one, two, three, What are we fighting for?

Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn Next stop is Vietnam…

Then the rain began, and as Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Who and Joe Cocker sang, Woodstock turned into a sea of mud. Sly and the Family Stone played, “I Want to Take You Higher,” Paul Butterfield played “Love March,” and Jimmy Hendrix rang in the druggy dawn with the festival finale of a stoned out “Purple Haze” followed by his eerie electric guitar solo of “The Star Spangled Banner.”

During the course of the night I got separated from my friends and hitchhiked home with a blonde-haired, Indian head-banded girl named Vickie. We ended up at

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my aunt and uncle’s pad on 79th Street, assuming they were at their beach house for the weekend. My uncle turned up to collect the week’s mail. He wasn’t happy to see us. We grabbed our knapsacks and high tailed it to Penn Station before jumping on to different trains.

Vickie’s kind last words to me were, “Be good.”

I wonder where she is now.

The next week a bus dropped me at the top of Cory’s Lane, and I walked down to the School to make up the 29 I had received on my final Math 3 exam. For ten days I lived with the monks as Father Andrew patiently and brilliantly guided me to a 99 on my re-exam. I prayed with them, ate with them, played tennis with Father Luke, swam in the Bay with Father Damian, listened to music with Father Ambrose, all of whom became dear lifelong friends, and heard their life stories. A part of me wanted to be like them. Looking back, I think that was the most countercultural thing of all I did that summer of 1969.

When I left Portsmouth I flew back down on a small Newport Aero plane with James and Candy Van Alen (Jimmy being the savior of the Newport Casino, the founder of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the inventor of the revolutionary tennis tie breaker) on their way to the second U.S. Open, where Rod Laver would complete his second

Grand Slam. Later that year, came the Trial of the Chicago 7, the Mets’ World Series win over the heavily favored Orioles, the Mylai Massacre, and the November anti-War Moratorium March on Washington.

There was another side of 1969 as well. In addition to putting a man on the moon, the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet made its first successful test flight. Scientists at UCLA and Stanford created ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. The combination of our market-driven economy, constitutional government and individual freedoms enabled us to create amazing scientific and technological breakthroughs and achieve unprecedented wealth.

But fifty years on those ten days in the monastery are what stay with me most, and the words from St. Benedict’s Rule still echo in my ears:

Seek peace and quiet; be more of a listener than a talker; if you must speak, speak the truth from your heart...To start with, ask God for the help of his Grace; then never give up…

Jamie, fourth from left, in 1969 with the Fifth-Form boys of St. Bede’s (from left) Nion Mc Evoy, Mark Anderton, Byron Grant, Jamie MacGuire, Peter Raho, Rob Portz, Denis Hector, Bill LaSalle and David Kernan

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ALUMNI PROFILE

Terence (Terry) McGuirk ‘69 Although Terry McGuirk ’69 is a widely recognized figure in the worlds of media and sports management, his mien is exceedingly modest.

His résumé is a storied one – McGuirk was at Ted Turner’s side for three decades as the media mogul established and grew his empire, and since 2001, he has served as chairman and CEO of Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves. Yet to hear him tell it, his wildly successful career in cable news and sports management is in many respects a case of ‘right place, right time.’

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In 1972, McGuirk explains, he was an undergraduate history major at Middlebury College. His parents had recently relocated from New York to Atlanta for his father’s job in the television industry, and they wanted their son to find a summer job in the city so they could see him more. McGuirk complied. Fatefully, he landed an internship at the nascent Turner Broadcasting System, a move that set him on a path that fulfills him to this day.

“When I first joined Turner Broadcasting, I was working in a broken-down TV station for $30 a week—it was like the French Foreign Legion of television,” he recalls with a chuckle. “But I gained valuable industry experience, and when I graduated a year later without a job, I returned to the station.” McGuirk thought the position would be temporary – he had his sights set on a career as a history teacher – but as the saying goes, ‘Man plans, and God laughs.’ above:

Terry McGuirk during Game 2 of the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at SunTrust Park on Wednesday, April 17, 2019. The Braves lost, 3-2 in 10 innings. photo by kevin d. liles/atlanta braves. copyright atlanta braves

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Initially hired on as an account executive, McGuirk quickly became an indispensable employee for Turner, helping him to launch WTBS, the original cable superstation now known simply as TBS, as well as the Cable News Network (CNN). McGuirk was also by Turner’s side in 1976 when the media mogul purchased Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, the team McGuirk now leads as chairman and CEO. In 1979, he was named Vice President of Turner Broadcasting and in 1996 became the company’s chairman and CEO. He retired in 2001 but returned a short time later as Vice Chairman and Director of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., where he remained until 2007. “I was extremely lucky to be in the spot I ended up in,” he avers. “I had the good fortune to work with great people in a great industry. I didn’t strategically place myself in the cable business, but once there, I realized the multitude of opportunities the situation afforded me.

“I had a hand in every bit of Turner Broadcasting System’s growth and was lucky enough to work directly

with Ted,” McGuirk continues. “He’s a complicated individual with great foresight. From the 1960s to the 1990s, he was one of the most important individuals in the communications world. What he did for cable television and international communications in the ’70s and ’80s was every bit as influential as what the internet did for communications in the ‘90s.”

In 1975, most homes in the U.S. only received two to four channels, McGuirk explains, and cable television was in its infancy. Ted Turner changed all that. “The age of satellite TV and the concept of sending programs via cable systems really hinges on the decisions Ted made in ’75, ’76 and ’77, and I was along for that ride,” he says.

While McGuirk obviously enjoyed his years as an executive with Turner Broadcasting, he clearly relishes the sports management work he did for Turner.

For a time, he served as CEO of Turner Sports Teams, overseeing operations for the Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and Thrashers, together with Turner Field and

Atlanta Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos, Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk and Braves Manager Brian Snitker (43) prior to the game against the Colorado Rockies at SunTrust Park on Thursday, August 16, 2018. photo by kevin d. liles/ atlanta braves. copyright atlanta braves

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Philips Arena. He remains chairman and CEO of the Atlanta Braves, enjoying a tenure that includes a series of division titles and friendships with some of baseball’s best-known figures, including Hank Aaron.

McGuirk has also shepherded the franchise through a period of tremendous growth with the building of its new stadium, SunTrust Park – which opened to the public on March 31, 2017 – as well as a surrounding development dubbed The Battery Atlanta. The project was a huge undertaking that involved the purchase and development of 90 acres just ten miles northwest of downtown Atlanta, says McGuirk. “The stadium sits on approximately 15 acres and is part of a complex that features 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use

retail space. We master planned a small city, and it’s become a huge success, with hotels, restaurants, retail establishments, and corporate headquarters. Now we’re working on developing another one million square feet.”

Three years in, observes McGuirk, the complex plays a vital role in the life of the city and stands as a model that others seek to emulate. “The initiative broke the mold on how to build a new stadium and has proved to be very innovative. We frequently host delegations from other cities looking to replicate our success,” he notes proudly.

McGuirk’s passion for all things sporting is obvious, and a quick review of his days at Portsmouth reveal that the interest is longstanding. A three-sport athlete, he recalls the camaraderie of the playing field fondly. “I was very

Hank Aaron and Terry McGuirk during an on-field presentation dedicated to the retired numbers of Braves legends before the game against the San Diego Padres at SunTrust Park on April 14, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. photo by kevin liles/beam/atlanta braves/getty images. copyright 2017 atlanta braves.

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sports-oriented. I started off sailing in the Third Form, then joined the baseball team. I also played basketball and football in my Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Forms and was team captain for both sports my final year.”

McGuirk’s respect for discipline and performance also stretch back to his days in Portsmouth. “The educational experience at the Priory was intense; I entered the school as a 13-year-old and was unaware of what I was getting into, but the academic rigor was real,” he concedes.

“The intellectual discipline of the English Benedictines made a lasting impression on me.” In fact, says McGuirk, the sting of a dressing down received from Latin teacher Cecil Acheson resonates to this day.

“He was particularly disgusted with me one day due to lack of attention to my Latin homework,” he recalls.

“He said, ‘You speck of dust from under Acestes’ heel!’ I had never been called a speck of dust before nor have I ever been again,” says McGuirk with a laugh. “And I remember that moment clearly to this day. It’s impossible for the ethos and insistence on performance not to affect you.”

Terry McGuirk in 1969.

The Priory’s emphasis on reverence for God and the human person and belief in one’s responsibility for the shared experience of community life resonated as well, as evidenced by McGuirk’s later philanthropic efforts. Over the years, he has served on many boards including those of the International Olympic Committee’s Radio and Television Commission; the Piedmont Hospital Medical Center; the Westminster School; and the Georgia Research Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding the research capacity of universities by encouraging start-ups around inventions and discoveries. In 2000, McGuirk’s efforts were recognized by the Anti-Defamation League, who honored him with the Stuart Lewengrub Torch of Liberty Award for his outstanding contributions to the welfare of his community. McGuirk was humbled by the recognition. “It was a very meaningful award and I was deeply grateful to be recognized.”

Queried as to his future plans, McGuirk says he’s keeping it simple. “It’s really one step in front of the other,” he insists. “I have a great family – a very supportive wife, Nancy, 4 great kids and 11 wonderful grandchildren – and I love what I’m doing.”

McGuirk admits he does have plans for one specific weekend: September 20-22, 2019, when he’ll be attending his 50th Reunion at the Abbey. “When I graduated in ’69, William (Bill) A. Crimmins ‘48 G’11, a history teacher and coach, told me and my classmates, ‘You may not realize it now, but the joy of your Portsmouth education will stand out as you age.’ And he was right. The discipline and dedication to performance and goal setting that I learned at Portsmouth was a life-orienting experience that has never left me. I’m looking forward to seeing old friends.”

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As a member of the last graduating class of what was still Portsmouth Priory in 1969, Roman Paska’s swan song was the performance of his original play, At the Height of the Tower, as one of that year’s featured commencement activities.

A surreal poetic drama about the passage from a sheltered (dare I say “cloistered?”) existence into a world of uncertainties, both the play and its realization (ending with a carnivalesque parade

Roman Paska ‘69

of animal masks) marked a radical departure from the customary approach to theater

by James MacGuire ‘70

at Portsmouth, where previous offerings were limited to light comedies with boys in female parts. In fact, one of the play’s most controversial innovations was the groundbreaking introduction of what were then referred to at Portsmouth as “real girls,” and it was only through the valiant intercession of Dom Gregory Floyd ’57, with assurances of rigorous supervision, that the show (cum Mary C. Wheeler girls) was sanctioned. The rest, of

Roman Paska ‘69 at the Watermill Center, Long Island, 2014.

course, is history...

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Roman Paska ‘69 as a Third-Form student in St. Bede’s House (2nd row, 4th from right).

Among the school’s many participants, the protagonist of the play was Roman’s classmate and fellow theater enthusiast, Norman René ’69, who together with Roman had been attending weekend workshops that spring at the fledgling Trinity Rep in Providence, and whose own brilliant career as a theater and film director was sadly interrupted by his AIDS-related death in 1996.

Particularly encouraged, as he remembers it, by his two last English teachers, Dom Damian Kearney ’45 and Dom Alban Baer, Roman’s interest in theater – especially a kind of theater he still describes as a synthesis of poetry, performing and visual arts – drew him to Columbia University in New York, and his life has been tied to that city ever since. But when his freshman year at Columbia ended prematurely in a general student strike, he spent the following academic year in France and Switzerland, first studying mime at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, then on tour with the Bread & Puppet Theatre, a company whose work he’d first encountered at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival.

After returning to Columbia the following year, he was haunted by the idea of revisiting France with a roving show of his own, and in the spring of 1972 he devised what he describes as a “mock-ritual medieval street performance,” Works & Days, based on the sculptural

program of the central west portal of Notre-Dame de Paris. He enlisted two student dancers from Barnard College and a pair of ex-Portsmouth peers, his late prefect Robert Barnes ’68 and classmate Christopher Coy ’69 – who, by the way, would later partner as architects on the East End of Long Island. They rehearsed the show on the steps of Columbia’s St. Paul’s Chapel, then decamped to the year-abroad digs of another Portsmouth alumnus and friend, William Greene ’68, in Paris, where they conscripted their unsuspecting host and set off for the south of France in a decommissioned French postal minibus purchased at auction. Busking their way from village to village, they concluded their adventurous tour in Provence at the Sanctuaire de la Sainte-Baume, once sacred to the goddess of fertility and where, according to local tradition, Mary Magdalene spent her final years.

As fate would have it, one of the two Barnard students involved, Wendy Insinger, would later become the wife of Bill Greene ’68; the other, Donna Zakowska, has been Roman’s lifelong partner and is an esteemed costume designer whose many achievements include HBO’s John Adams and Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

By the time of his graduation from Columbia in 1974, then, Roman was committed to puppet theater as the medium most propitious to his vision of a theater at the

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nexus of performing and visual arts, and to hone his skills, he briefly joined the company of the short-lived National Puppet Center in Alexandria, VA, where, though his own work was never destined for family audiences, he became (more by accident than choice, he says) the co-star of a weekly, Emmy-nominated children’s show with puppets for NBC Washington.

In Washington he began to build and present his solo shows (twice commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution), first with hand puppets, then, after decisive trips to India and Indonesia, rod puppets largely inspired

by West Javanese wayang golek. Then in 1980 he returned again to New York to enroll in Columbia’s Doctoral Program in Theatre and Film, and continued to present his solo performances, first as a “performance artist” in galleries, theaters and museums in New York, then, from the summer of 1980, at numerous theaters and festivals in Europe.

On one of these many European junkets, to the Inteatro Festival of Polverigi in 1983, he was accompanied by another ex-Portsmouth cohort, Jamie MacGuire ’70, who, in the wake of dutiful service as offstage assistant, factotum and squire, continues to wax nostalgic about his role, whilst on summer sabbatical from Macmillan Publishing, as Roman’s erstwhile “Sancho Panza.”

By the time he had completed the doctoral program at Columbia and taught for a year on the faculty at Cornell (1985-86), Roman had decided to devote his time exclusively to what he called “the daily practice of puppetry.” He wrote a brief manifesto, Theater for the Birds, and under that rubric, focused on his expanding series of solo shows – or, as he called them, “little mental dramas” – especially Line of Flight (completed 1984), Uccelli, the Drugs of Love (premiere 1988) and The End of the World (premiere 1992), which he continued to perform through 1998, establishing an international reputation as a performer and gaining renown in the world of puppetry

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as a master puppet maker and manipulator. Fragments of his solo work can be seen in John Turturro’s Illuminata (1998), which took him to the film’s premiere – and critical kudos – in Cannes.

Concurrently, through the ’90s and the aughts, Roman extended the range of his work to productions that were characterized by the integration of puppetry or puppet technique into works created for larger, multidisciplinary groups of actors, dancers and musicians. His ensemble productions from that period, many of which were also created or toured internationally, include original adaptations of Yeats’ The Shadowy Waters at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin (1991), Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata (Stockholm, 1992), Lorca’s Yerma (Seville,1993), his own Moby Dick in Venice (in three versions: Porto, 1994, Perth, 1995, and New York, 1996); God Mother Radio (Paris, 1998, based on Marlowe’s Massacre at Paris); and arden/ Ardennes (Avignon Off, 2000, based on Shakespeare’s As You Like It). In 1993 his Ghost Sonata received the award for best production, presented by Ingmar Bergman, at the first Swedish Biennial of Theatre. The following year he received the international critics’ Palm for The End of the World at the Kontakt Festival, Torún (Poland), and in 1996 the Alan Schneider Directing Award from Theatre Communications Group. And with puppets temporarily in the background, he worked with composer Steve Reich on the development of his video opera Three Tales, designing and directing the first part, Hindenburg, for its premiere at the Bonn Opera (1997), followed by a European tour that included the Hebbel Theater, Berlin; the Barbican, London; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; and in Paris, the Théâtre du Châtelet.

Since the 1980s, Roman and his work had been frequently chosen to represent American puppet theater abroad at major international festivals, including the quadrennial UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette) Festivals in Dresden, Nagoya, Ljubljana and Budapest (1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 respectively), and he was regularly invited to give workshops throughout the world.

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left: Directing The Shadowy Waters for the Yeats International Festival at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 1991. below left: The End of the World, from the Theater for the Birds trilogy, at the Public Theater, New York, 1992. below right:

Ghost Sonata at the 1st Swedish Biennial of Theatre, Stockholm, 1993.

bottom:

Moby Dick in Venice at the Public Theater, New York, 1996.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Then in 1998, in a gesture of outstanding recognition, he was selected to be the director of the UNIMAaffiliate Institut International de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières, France, the world’s foremost center for the study, development and promotion of puppet theater, a position he now playfully describes as “Pope of Puppetry.” Supported by UNESCO and the French Ministry of Culture, the Institute’s activities included a three-year conservatory program, a summer university, a center for documentation and research, publications, conferences and seminars, an international festival of art schools and a resident theater. During his tenure, from 1999 to 2003, in order to accommodate the expansion of the Institute and house new programs, he conceived and oversaw the acquisition of a former industrial building, a “grand magasin et manufacture,” that was remodeled to provide studios for visiting artists, f lexible performance space, archival storage facilities, and a gallery for the Institute’s collections and exhibits.

He himself organized a number of exhibits and installations within the new complex, including a retrospective of the work of Dario Fo, an installation of the “Papier-Mâché Cathedral” designed by Peter Schumann for the Hannover World’s Fair, a retrospective of the work of Jan Svankmajer in conjunction with the Festival d’Animation and the Musée d’Annecy, and an exhibit of traditional Sicilian marionettes from the collections of the Museo delle Marionette in Palermo.

While his own work is decidedly “avant-garde” or “experimental,” with a technique notably influenced by the puppetry of China, Japan and especially Indonesia, Roman has always felt an equal affinity for European traditions of puppetry, especially those in Italy, which he considers the cradle of puppet theater in Europe, and is the country in which he first regularly toured. The Neapolitan, black-masked character of Pulcinella, to Roman’s mind the European ur-puppet, often appears in his shows, and Roman is

top to bottom:

Creating life-sized puppets for Souls of Naples, at The Duke on 42nd Street, 2005.

Dead Puppet Talk at The Kitchen, New York, 2004.

Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy, filming in Palermo, 2008.

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above: With John Turturro at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy, 2009. right: Directing a Guy Fawkes play for AMC’s Turn, 2014.

proud to have been the only non-Italian to serve on the diploma jury and teach at Naples’ Scuola di Pulcinella.

Another Italian tradition with ancient roots that Roman acknowledges as an early inspiration, is Sicily’s “Opera dei Pupi,” with its clashing knights in armor, and his efforts were influential in its finally being inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage lists.

But already in late 1970 in Paris, during his first college year abroad, Roman briefly apprenticed at a Sicilian puppet theater run by a family from Palermo in the basement of a bookshop on the Boulevard Saint-Michel.

There he first unwittingly crossed paths with the director’s son, Mimmo Cuticchio, with whom, after a subsequent encounter in the mid-80s at a festival in Hydra, Greece, he would form a lasting friendship that finally led, in 2008-09, to Roman’s “magical-realist” documentary feature, Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy, with Andrea Camilleri, Mimmo Cuticchio, Donatella Finocchiaro and John Turturro, an homage to the Sicilian pupi tradition that premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 and has since been seen at Lincoln Center, BAM, the IFC Center, the Hamptons Film Festival, Cinema Arts Festival Houston, and more.

Alongside his puppet “practice,” Roman has also focused from the outset of his career on puppet “theory,” and remains especially interested in the relationship between performer and spectator psychology. He has published essays or articles in Zone, Puck, Alternatives Théâtrales in Brussels (for whom he also edited two issues), the ITI World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, various anthologies (including The Language of the Puppet, 1990), and his work is discussed in Giovanni Lista’s encyclopedia of contemporary theater, La Scène Moderne (1997). He has taught at Columbia and Cornell, and been a guest professor at NYU, Columbia, Cal Arts, London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and, most recently, the Yale School of Drama. His address to the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in 1998 was the subject of a New York Times feature article, and he is frequently invited to speak at events and institutions here and abroad – with venues including the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies; STEIM, the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music, Amsterdam (on digital manipulation and new media); the Centre National de la Danse, Paris (on Oskar Schlemmer); the Ecole Supérieure

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clockwise from left:

Schoolboy Play at the Dona Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon, 2010.

Discussing puppetry, consciousness and dreams with neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinas at the Rubin Museum, New York, 2011.

Echo in Camera at the Dialog Festival Wrocław, 2015.

Samuel Beckett’s Company at the Dublin Theatre Festival, 2018.

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de l’Image, Angoulême (on virtual puppetry); and most recently, the Rubin Museum, New York (on consciousness and puppetry); the University of Sussex, Brighton (on the puppet as live interface); and Stockholm’s Kulturhuset Stadsteatern (on theater and migration).

Roman considered his time at the Institut International de la Marionnette in France to be a watershed, and so in 2003, after relocating back to New York, he declared an end to Theater for the Birds and created a new company identity, Dead Puppet, launched with the production of the eponymous Dead Puppet Talk, which took a playfully and self-consciously subversive view of his dabblings in puppet theory. Dead Puppet Talk was developed at the Sundance Theatre Institute at White Oak (Florida), presented in 2004 at The Kitchen, New York, and the following year in Vienna at the Schauspielhaus Wien, who then co-produced his next project, Beethoven in Camera, with the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg.

His third Dead Puppet production, Schoolboy Play, inspired in part by Roman’s Portsmouth experience (and featuring a puppet self-portrait based on his 1969 yearbook photos), was commissioned by Linz ‘09 European Capital of Culture and was subsequently presented in 2010 at Lisbon’s Dona Maria II National Theatre.

His most recent Dead Puppet play, Echo in Camera, was developed at the Watermill Center, Long Island, and has been presented to date at La MaMa, New York (2013), the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014), and the Kontakt Festival Wroclaw (2015).

In parallel with these “après-Charleville” Dead Puppet projects, Roman revisited Naples in 2006 with his production of Souls of Naples, an adaptation of Eduardo De Filippo’s Questi Fantasmi, at the Teatro Mercadante, where it was also the subject

of a RAI television documentary, Diario di un viaggio con fantasmi (Diary of a Journey with Souls). And in 2007, he adapted, designed and directed Strindberg’s Dreamplay, one of Sweden’s most renowned and difficult plays, for its centennial at Stockholm’s Stadsteatern (City Theatre), where it was lauded by the Stockholm press as one of the centennial’s standout productions.

Roman is currently at work on another feature and a handful of short puppet films, as well as another Dead Puppet production, while other recent projects include his collaboration on a theatrical adaptation of Beckett’s Company, which premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2018; a music-theater work in progress based on the medieval Irish poem, Buile Suibhne (The Madness of Sweeney); and a revival of a Philip Glass opera, The Fall of the House of Usher, with the Philip Glass Ensemble.

The Fall of the House of Usher in rehearsal at MASS MoCA with the Philip Glass Ensemble, 2018.

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Sustaining

Creativity IN NYC

YOUNG ALUMNI IN NEW YORK

BY FLETCHER BONIN ’13

On the corner of 22nd Street and 10th Avenue in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, above the retro Empire Diner, Brazilian graffiti artist Eduardo Kobra has made his mark. The

Much like the murals tattooing the sides of buildings and overlooking city blocks, creativity is intrinsic to New York City’s very identity. Creative expression is as quintessentially New York as the Statue of Liberty, dollar pizza slices, and smoking cigarettes in black skinny jeans outside your friend’s Off-Off-Broadway one-woman show.

One can hardly leave his or her cramped apartment without being bombarded by a city that yearns to perform, to create, and to be witnessed. Turn a corner and you may recognize the diner from Seinfeld or the iconic toy store where Tom Hanks danced in Big. Mind your head when the subway dancers start spinning and kicking acrobatically from the ceiling rails. Anywhere else open-mic nights might be sad affairs, but here they fit perfectly into the performative food chain. Lightning has struck the city so many times that a tangible, collective sense of hope, wonder, or bafflement now permeates the hazy metropolitan air.

It is all of a piece: the chaos of the city channeled into paintings, theater acts, bucket

expansive mural features the likenesses of Andy Warhol, Frida Khalo, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Typical of Kobra’s disruptive style, their visages replace the familiar faces of Mount Rushmore, swapping the gray subtlety of the Midwestern original for the Technicolor vibrancy of its Manhattan locale. One of 18 bold murals completed by Kobra in 2018, this piece functions not only as an homage to four of the most influential, transgressive artists of the 20th century, but also speaks to the inherent creativity of the city itself.

Fletcher Bonin ’13

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FRANK PAGLIARO ’10 Though he graduated from the Abbey in 2010, Frank Pagliaro’s history with the School extends well beyond his student experience. From 2014 to 2016, Frank taught both English and Humanities at the Abbey, while houseparenting in St. Aelred’s and functioning as the technical director for the School plays. While he admits to missing the classroom and witnessing students “discover the book that spoke to them,” and while acknowledging that the Abbey has always been a place where he could be amongst “people whom I loved, who loved me and wanted the best for me,” Frank has found a new home in New York City.

Frank Pagliaro ‘10

From nine to five most days you’ll find Frank in Midtown, working for the software company Schrödinger. In his capacity as a recruiter for the company, Frank notes that this role attracts many actors, given the premium it places on interpersonal skills.

Indeed, it was a passion for acting that drew Frank to New York in the first place. Every weekday evening, Frank attended classes at the Stella Adler Studio from 6:30 to 9:30 until he recently graduated. Somewhere between his full-time job and these intensive acting classes, Frank was able to find time to attend auditions, meet up with fellow Abbey alumni for impromptu interviews, and presumably, eat and sleep.

When pressed on the most difficult part of the acting classes, Frank details his revelation that his “authentic self is worth showing,” stressing the importance of, “digging past those walls to see something real, honest.” While at first he hurled himself into the city’s notoriously competitive audition scene, he soon felt “directionless,” with no “rigorous training, no physical discipline” to stand on.

This led him to the Stella Adler Studio, where he fortified the foundation that he hopes will prepare him for a career in theater.

Of course, Frank maintains no illusions about the difficulty of the industry. “I’m pretty sure I will always have to have another job,” he says, before going on to assert that “the work of acting itself makes me happy.”

Entertaining the possibility of success for a moment, Frank admits to having two dream

roles. The first, familiar to any Abbey grad, would be Shakespeare’s King Lear.

The second would be that of Roy Cohn from the 1991 play, Angels in America,

by Tony Kushner (later adapted into an HBO miniseries). Chuckling, Frank acknowledges that both are “roles I couldn’t play for forty years,” and yet, “that descent is fascinating– characters that go from kings of their realms to being reduced to nothing by the end.” As for actors who have inspired him, Frank is quick to answer with James Gandolfini, legendary as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos. So impressed was Frank with Gandolfini, “this soft-spoken, nerdy theater guy who found that character,” that he ended up writing a thesis on the subject in his senior year at Williams College.

As for roles he’s played, Frank recalls his portrayal of Henry Drummond in the Abbey production of Inherit The Wind as one of his all-time favorites. Of Jay Bragan, the School’s director of performing arts, Frank notes that he is “a consummate professional,” a resource that “I didn’t fully appreciate as a student.... His dedication is on a different level,” with an uncanny ability to “teach both the new and experienced actor on the same stage,” while building “a robust performing arts program” throughout his tenure at the School. Frank’s taste as an actor runs to the classics – Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, Beckett – an appreciation that he knows stems directly from his time spent in Abbey classrooms.

Indeed, Frank references Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard as instrumental in his decision to pursue acting. Playing the tragic character of Gayev in his last show at Williams, Frank thinks back to this climactic moment, onstage, “standing there, reflecting…I was in both of these worlds, overcome with emotion.” It was this “synchronicity between myself and the

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drumming, graffiti, street dancing, avantgarde fashion and, I suppose, even the sadist playing an accordion on the subway at seven a.m. during my morning commute.

Much like Warhol, Haring and Basquiat before them, several Abbey alumni have found their beacon in New York City, the answer to their creative calling.

As it happens, the creative opportunities of the city have funded my lavish metropolitan lifestyle as well, as evinced by my cigar box apartment and my reliance on pretzel carts for all my meals. I work at an art gallery – slash – production studio in Hell’s Kitchen, hidden on the top floor of an old brick warehouse overlooking the Hudson River and the newly completed Vessel sculpture. Complete with a 90-yearold freight elevator, decorated with abstract art, hosting a rotating coterie of film crews and celebrities and two precocious feline residents, it’s the kind of place so painfully New York it could not possibly exist elsewhere. While I was just a tree-climbing faculty child during Maggie Moran’s tenure at Portsmouth Abbey, I had the good fortune of sharing the campus with Frank Pagliaro, Nick DeLieto, and Peter Vergara as a student. Now that I too live in New York, our worlds have once again, delightfully, collided.

YOUNG ALUMNI IN NEW YORK

Peter Vergara ‘14 during his intership at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

character’s experience” that led him to the counterintuitive conclusion that, “I feel most myself when playing someone else.”

Of course, this path that Frank has chosen is not without frustration, mainly the audition process, in which you are “trying to put your heart on the table and some jerk says, ‘next’.” For being “free and vulnerable, you might get smacked down anyway.” New York, too, offers plenty in the way of discontent. Frank notes that the “grind mentality” that charges the Manhattan air “is not conducive to artistic life.” Still, he asserts that New York is “one of the only places in the world where I can only be an actor, where I can hone my craft.”

Given what I’ve seen of the city, I’m inclined to agree with Frank. If there were ever a place that could make a King Lear out of a personable, sandy-haired kid from Cape Cod, this might be it.

PETER VERGARA ’14 If you plan on visiting Peter Vergara in New York City, my recommendation would be to plan a time after the Sotheby’s Day Sale has passed. Otherwise, you might only catch Peter early morning as he enters the palatial Sotheby’s building on the Upper East Side or when he slips out late at night. Under the guise of friendship, I was able to trick Peter into meeting for a coffee, though he was careful to choose a café within a two-block radius of the world-renowned auction house.

Officially, Peter is the administrator for the Day Sale for Impressionist and Modern Art, focusing on works from the late 1800s to the 1970s. While the Sotheby’s Evening Sale regularly draws headlines for the quarter-billion dollars changing hands over the course of one evening, the Day Sale is less expensive (though certainly not inexpensive) but higher in volume.

This of course makes Peter quite busy in his capacity as Day Sale administrator.

His duties include coordinating the contracts for clients ensuring the proper export and import of paintings, and overseeing the two-week pre-sale exhibition. Despite this

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harrowing job description, Peter appears remarkably sane, never losing sight of the fact that he is trafficking in the rarefied air of the art world.

March 11 marked the 275th anniversary of Sotheby’s first auction.

While it may surprise you that someone not five years out of the Abbey might land such a sought-after position, it would surprise none of his classmates. Growing up in Madrid, Peter frequented El Prado and Museo Reina Sofia. However, his first exposure to art history as a subject was in Allie DeSisto Micheletti ’05’s AP class. When a dentist appointment absented Peter from an art history class, he was struck by just how upset he was to miss out on the lesson.

This sentiment surprised him not only because DaVinci was the topic du jour but also as a sensation of loss that rarely accompanies a class excusal. Of Micheletti, Peter remarks, “she is the defining reason why I am involved in art. She was also invested in the work and there’s a lot to be said for a teacher who’s passionate.”

Recently, Peter met up with Micheletti and Abbey art teachers Kevin Calisto and Joney Swift at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view the masterpieces housed therein. Reflecting on the outing, he reports that his former teachers “are examples of people living and working in the arts, and they’re happy!”

Thus encouraged, Peter set out to study art history while attending Fordham University. Fordham’s New York City location proved fortuitous, as it is centered in a major art hub. Soon enough Peter was giving tours at both the Met and the Hispanic Society, something he still does to this day when things aren’t so hectic at Sotheby’s. While giving the Met the praise it deserves, Peter finds himself drawn more to the curated intimacy of the Hispanic Society.

In the summer of his junior year, Peter

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landed an internship at Sotheby’s and later reapplied as a trainee. Securing this position, Peter scheduled to rotate through four different departments of Sotheby’s, gaining experience in the varied inner workings of the revered auction house.

However, during his first trainee rotation, a position opened up in the ImpressionistModern department and Peter jumped at the opportunity.

Without much time to rest on his laurels, Peter was thrown into the tumultuous volume of Sotheby’s Day Sale. An art historian at heart, he sometimes resents the volume, wishing “that I could go deeper into each work,” though he notes that he is “getting better at Excel and quick math by necessity” given the number-crunching that is required of the job. He is quick to clarify, “when it gets tedious , it’s motivating to remember that I’m getting to work with unique and stunning works of art.” Yet unbroken by the bureaucratic elements of the job, Peter associates a certain amount of romanticism with the work. Of the paintings he handles, he reflects on his role in the cycle, “While it’s changing hands, it gets a fresh life…It’s physically in my hands for the brief interim between its tenures spent in private homes and collections.”

It is no coincidence that an art historian like Peter would end up in a city like New York. According to him, most big auction houses are in major cities, because

NICK DELIETO ’13 If you attended Portsmouth Abbey between the years of 2009 and 2013, chances are you

have a cherished shot taken by Nick DeLieto bejeweling your Instagram or framed in your bedroom. In fact, much of our interview was spent poring over old photos cached in various Facebook albums. To view Nick’s photos is to understand on a fundamental yet intangible level that some photographers and photos are undeniably better than others. It’s not unlike tasting Godiva dark chocolate after snacking on Hershey bars your whole life. While our faces and profile pictures have changed since graduation, Nick’s camera eye has only grown richer.

In high school we hardly deserved him, and at present we can neither afford him nor afford to overlook him.

Officially, Nick is a freelance photographer for LOVE magazine and fashion giant Givenchy. However, in an industry saturated with talented photographers, nothing is guaranteed; yet he’s carved a path for himself, rarely making an appearance from behind the camera. Whenever he does show his face, his work draws comments from high-powered editors ranging from, “You’re so young!” to “We trust you; let’s cultivate you.”

In the beginning, while shooting a fashion show for LOVE magazine, Nick recalls struggling with the limited time allotted to him, given his untested status.

That changed when he “found an allaccess bracelet on the ground.” With this skeleton key thus affixed to his wrist, Nick was able to shoot the lineup at the ‘Palais de Justice’ in Paris where he was covering the show for LOVE. “I shot all those models in this incredible light,” he recalls.

Back in the dressing room, “one of the models was still in dress, and I shot her in this beautifully lit hallway just outside.” He sent the shots to his editors at LOVE, slightly worried that he’d be exposing his covert bracelet heist in doing so. Within a few weeks, Givenchy had contacted LOVE magazine

expressing a desire to post Nick’s photos to their official Instagram account, which at the time had nine million followers.

“The way I got anything in this industry is by asking,” Nick says. And ask he did, sending off an email to several contacts he found online, and a few weeks later he was bound for Paris, on assignment for Givenchy. Asked why his eye is drawn mainly to the fashion industry, Nick pauses before answering, “because of the exploration of that beautiful raw emotion,” adding that “the top fashion houses are at the top because of the quality of their art.” Through fashion photography, and indeed photography in general, Nick feels a unique ability to combine documented reality with creative ingenuity. Having studied psychology at Fordham University, Nick feels especially drawn to the humanity of the models wearing the clothes, the people behind the intricate stitching of each piece. His is an effort “to capture feelings that translate on a universal level…my hope is that my work will be that emotional.”

When it comes to the fashion industry, Nick exchanges rose-colored glasses for camera lenses. “Fashion is interesting because it’s so beautiful,” he states before noting the flip side of that coin, that “it can attract people for the wrong reasons.”

As Nick sees it, Instagram, monetized followers, commercialization, and supermodels have further mired the industry in superficiality. Nick is especially troubled by the focus on stringent body standards, social climbing and the premium placed on exclusivity.

When asked how the city plays into his career, Nick quickly responds, “It is my career; everything is here…there’s always new energy, culture and money, all constantly turning.” Scroll through his website (nickdelieto.com) or his Instagram (@actuallynicholas) and you’ll find elegant portraits of subway passengers, a source that he often taps to achieve that indisputable image of humanity so ubiquitous in his photos, even dating back to his days at Portsmouth Abbey.

Nick DeLieto ‘13

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“that’s where the museums and galleries are, and they all need each other when it’s time to rotate their collections.” And, he adds, “buyers don’t buy without seeing. All the money is here, all the buyers are here.”

Though originally he thought he might pursue a Ph.D., Sotheby’s has opened his eyes to the possibilities offered within the art-auction world. Ideally, Peter says he’d like to follow the track at Sotheby’s to eventually become a Specialist, where he would be relied upon as a generalist, forming catalogs, providing estimates, and talking to interested, passionate buyers – three aspects of the industry he feels are most in tune with his interests.

I asked Peter which painting he’d cite as his favorite of the moment.

His mind pored through the vast mental catalog he’s amassed to this point; he lands on “Las Meninas” by Diego Velazquez.

Not only did he grow up observing this piece at El Prado, but Velazquez’s“paintings speak for themselves, independent of artist or context.”

Speaking as one of the fellow classmates to first witness Peter’s engrossment in Mrs. Micheletti’s art history class, I have little doubt that Peter will continue on his rapid upward trajectory through the art world.

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During that time, and speaking as a classmate of Nick’s, his camera and the photos he captured were a function of our relationship as a class. We recall specific moments in which dozens of us were gathered around one computer to view Nick’s photos from Prom or Spring Fest.

While we all might like to think we supported Nick by cherry picking photos of ourselves from his albums and framing them for our personal shrines, online or otherwise, Nick remembers that “Mrs. Bonin was my champion. She’s an incredible resource, always believed in my art, believed in me as a human being. Not every teacher understood me at the Abbey, and she saw me for who I was.”

Prior to the Abbey, Nick toted a Polaroid camera, gradually progressing to a pointand-shoot, and then in his sophomore year, he graduated to a truly professional camera. It was then that he started shooting everything. “It was just fun at the time,” he reminisces, unaware that it could one day be his career. And while shooting freelance for Givenchy might sound like ‘making it’ in the traditional sense, Nick makes it clear that ultimately he wants, “to be trusted to create things of my own vision, to shoot a campaign for a major publication,” rather than executing other people’s vision as he does now.

As for sources of inspiration, Nick cites Sarah Burton, current creative director of Alexander McQueen, as “a genius, connected to her art…I would love to document that,” as well as the visionary photographer-director Harley Weir. Like her, Nick has no desire to bow to tradition, asserting, “I don’t want to play by the rules.”

It is this irreverent mindset that landed Nick a spot in Dazed magazine’s lineup of their featured ‘Incendiary LGBTQ Youth’ last year.

Of this fact, Nick finds that “my queerness allowed me to tap into an infinity that now comes through in my work, allowing me to be anyone and no one.”

Reflecting on his path into the tumultuous world of professional photography, Nick concludes, “Nothing I studied in school got

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me to where I am. I asked for the job that I have now, asked people that I’m scared of, actually.” As for advice for aspiring photographers and advice he would have given himself in the beginning, Nick says, “Don’t hesitate, trust in your ability, and ask.”

Though this may be the first time you’re reading of Nick DeLieto, I have no doubt that you will bear witness to his work and recognize it for the Godiva dark chocolate that it is. Whether you seek out his work yourself or one day pick up a copy of Italian Vogue and recognize the name on the cover, keep Nick DeLieto on your radar.

MAGGIE MORAN ‘07 There are few people as enmeshed in the art world as Maggie Moran.

Not only is she the digital experience manager for Christie’s Auction House in New York, she has also established herself as a painter in her own right.

While a day’s work at Christie’s would be enough artistic fulfillment for most of us, Maggie paints every day after work for at least an hour. Should you view her work on her website (mgmoran.com) or on her Instagram (mgmoranfineart) you’ll likely notice her distinctive style replicated throughout three mediums. “The work I’m doing is pretty cyclical,” she explains – rotating between figurative, expressive, and oil pieces.

Generally, she is “moving towards applying traditional methods to abstract, non-traditional subject matter.” Closer inspection of this assertion proves revelatory, as all of Maggie’s work appears to be united by this cohesive effort.

Maggie’s ascension to her current position at Christie’s is inextricably entwined with her career as an artist. Following her college graduation she was happily surprised to find almost immediate commercial success, selling several paintings and thinking, “OMG, this

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is so easy!” However after a six-month dry spell during which none of her paintings were sold, Maggie pivoted into a gallery director position in York, Pennsylvania. There she “found an affinity for digital organization of people’s collections” that would suit her, unaware that Christie’s loomed on her future.

Maggie eventually moved to New Jersey to be closer to NYC and took a sales job at a gallery in SoHO. There she quickly discovered that sales was not her passion. Shortly thereafter, Collectrium, a subsidiary of Christie’s, contacted her about a digital cataloging position, referencing her work back in Pennsylvania. Thrilled by the opportunity to reenter this realm of the art world, Maggie worked her way up from contracted employee at Collectrium to a full-time position in Christie’s emerging digital sector.

As for her own art, Maggie finds that the new position has given her more flexibility to focus on her artistic work. She still sells her paintings, often by word of mouth,

Maggie Moran ‘07

difficult to navigate. It would appear that galleries often fail to see their role in this pretension that the artwork itself so often seeks to subvert. In Maggie’s own words, “It’s not a blind tasting.” And yet the galleries are also an indispensible resource to the city’s artists; she hopes to find a gallery that’s a good fit for her work.

With New York functioning as the de facto mecca of the art world, the city often influences Maggie’s work. Since her arrival, she’s found “architectural elements in my work,” that weren’t there before, as well as “colors that have become more muted,” the respective results of the bluegray, geometric architecture of the skyline.

Almost every day, Maggie runs “along the Brooklyn pier overlooking Manhattan,” and certain “things I see have become focal points” in her paintings.

Asked about her time at the Abbey, Maggie reminisces on the then newly built art building, and delighting in its magnificence.

Maggie recalls a “freedom to explore different ideas I had without constraint.”

To illustrate this point, Maggie recounts a story from Mr. Hobbins’ Political Science class. Maggie remembers doodling portraits of her classmates and even Mr. Hobbins, which amused him to the point that he asked to keep one for himself. And given the fact that the School was so small, “people knew I loved painting,” resulting in opportunities such as painting a giant mural for a School play, commissioned by Mr. Bragan. Certainly the Abbey was structured, “but with a personal touch,” she adds fondly.

Though Maggie has always painted, she long considered it to be solely a hobby.

In fact, she planned on pursuing a career as a a doctor, perhaps focusing on plastic surgery, and completed three years in the pre-med track before an epiphany in her junior year. Realizing that nothing made her happier than painting, Maggie decided to pursue it full time. Undeniably, it’s worked out for her so far.

Maggie has a hard time choosing a favorite painting of hers, saying, “It depends on the day.” Eventually she decides on a

piece entitled “The Storm,” which currently hangs in a bank in York, Pennsylvania.

Of this piece, she says, “I didn’t have a concept when it started,” though painting it soon after hurricane Sandy nearly demolished her hometown, she recognized that the emotional elements of that loss appear in the painting itself. As for artists who inspire her, she is quick to rattle off several names, including Julie Mehretu, George Condo, Dana Schutz, Agnes Martin, Christopher Wool, and Umberto Boccioni.

Lauding their originality, Maggie is moved by the paths these artists have blazed in an industry too often reliant upon tradition.

Asked what she might tell herself when she began her foray into professional painting, Maggie replies, “I don’t think I’d tell myself anything,” knowing that, “I needed to feel that fear of not knowing what’s next.”

Later in our conversation she amends that advice slightly, saying she might tell herself, “chill out, it’s all going to be ok…I wouldn’t have listened to that but I’d like to hear it.”

And as it happens, it is all ok. Given Maggie’s success in the art world thus far, it would surprise no one if she continues her rapid ascent.

From the outside, New York may seem like some grotesque, eternally hungry beast churning through one starry-eyed wannabe after the next. However, it is important to remember that it would not be the paradigm of creativity it is today without the original vision and passionate dedication of its most daring citizens.

New York’s iconic character is derived directly from the colorful, imaginative characters it hosts. Counted amongst these characters are Frank, Peter, Nick and Maggie.

These four Portsmouth Abbey grads are proof positive that a creative career can be possible even in the most wonderfully ruthless, beautifully chaotic city on the planet.

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enjoying success despite the limited marketing she’s done for herself. That said, her work was recently shown in a gallery in New York. Furthermore, her paintings can be seen adorning the walls of the Christie’s offices on the 20th floor of Rockefeller Center – acquired by the gallery during the staff auction, further entwining her dual endeavors.

At Christie’s, Maggie cites the people she works with as one of her favorite parts of the job. For an artist and art lover like Maggie, to be “surrounded by museum-quality work twenty-four-seven,” as well as “access to people who know so much about those quality works,” is certainly a dream. Of course, she admits that some auctions are more fun than others. Overseeing the sale of a George Michael collection is perhaps more stimulating than, say, a late night wine auction for buyers in Hong Kong.

As for her goals as an artist, Maggie asserts, “If I could paint all day, every day, for the rest of my life, I would.” The process and study of painting clearly enchants her as she compares painting to an “unsolvable math equation that you’re always just getting close to,” and that in painting, “there will always be something new to learn, something new to paint.” Maggie’s passion for painting is contagious, nearly inspiring me to drop the pen and pick up a brush.

Undoubtedly, certain vexations permeate both realms of the art world that Maggie occupies. When it comes to Christie’s, Maggie finds that often the “art world isn’t all about art,” and that art itself, at times, “has a certain amount of pretension.” She believes that “art should be accessible, at least in conversation, to as many people as possible.” As for the tribulations she’s experienced in her own foray into professional painting, she finds issues that are not dissimilar to the art world at large.

It seems galleries oftentimes subtly imply that artists should be “selling yourself first and your art second.” As Instagram followers and industry connections factor into curatorial visions, the system can be

Onward and Upward

As performing arts director Jay Bragan plots his 50th performance next winter, we take a peek at how his program is developing top tier students. by annie sherman ’95

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The lights dim. The audience’s frenzied conversation softens to a hush as late arrivals find their seats in the dark auditorium. The electricity bounces like ping pong balls around the room as the sun seems to rise above the stage.

When character Abby Brewster alights from stage left, the student audience erupts with bottled excitement, as if they were a can of soda, shaken and then uncapped. Eleven weeks of rehearsals arrive at this moment.

Jay Bragan leases a precarious perch on the back step, as far from them as possible. Unable to sit still, the play’s director teeters on the edge like a metronome, back and forth slowly, mouthing each word as it’s emitted by each actor. His body says, “It’s in their hands now.” His smile and eyes beaming say, “They’re nailing it.”

This spring production of Arsenic and Old Lace is the third of the academic year, and a fundamental part of the broad performing arts program at Portsmouth Abbey School. From musicals to Shakespeare, comedies to tragedies and contemporary translations of classics, these productions are a campus collaboration. The individual music, dance and art programs play their own role in shaping young minds, and have become a highlight for everyone who experiences them.

Students, however, remain at its core. They accept most of the drama, music and technology roles, on stage and off. From set construction to managing the lighting and sound board and even passing out the programs, 14 students ran this entire show on opening night in May. It was an impressive accomplishment for professionals, let alone a handful of teenagers. And the excellent performance, from first line to final bows, made onlookers forget that these are high school students.

“We get to be that creative side, that outlet of personal expression,” said Music Director Jeff Kerr. “For them, whether or not they know it, they need that. There is something about a student who has participated in the arts that is more freeing, more social, it gives them confidence.” left:

Director of Performing Arts Jay Bragan with drama students

above:

From top, Shrek (Winter Musical 2013); Aresenic and Old Lace (Spring 2019); and The Tempest (Fall 2017)

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Act 1, Scene 1 “This is all part of their education,” Bragan said. “Ultimately the goal is not so much training them for a career in theater (although that does happen from time to time); it’s more about giving them the skills needed to fully express themselves in front of a group, even if they are a bit terrified.”

“Ninety-nine percent of these students don’t study performing arts after high school. So these lessons of being in front of an audience will carry them to the boardroom or their best friend’s wedding speech,” he added.

“We’re training them to go on with their lives and deal with public speaking.”

There was no fright on stage or behind the scenes during this performance.

The actors looked as comfortable as if they were conversing with friends in the Stillman Dining Hall. The student stage crew owned the light and sound board, deftly operating the technology as if they were right at home.

It’s because they were.

The actors have mastered key techniques like breath awareness and articulating speech during 2.5-hour rehearsals six days a week for nearly three months, while the stage crew learned to maneuver the sound board after practice, practice, practice.

Annie St. George ’20 in Arsenic and Old Lace

Fifth form actress Annie St. George, who played Abby Brewster, said theater seemed daunting when she was a freshman. She said she didn’t know she had the ability to remember where she was supposed to be and what she was supposed to say at the same time with an audience.

“I was always a nervous person with unscripted public speaking.

It either would be a catastrophe or a miracle,” she said.

“So I just needed to trust myself, in front of an audience. I have learned to carry myself in a more professional confident manner.”

Claire Doire ’16 at the sound board

Act 1, Scene 2 You could say that confidence really is the foundation of any performance, and in a group of teenagers who might be lacking it, the challenge lies in practice.

So recitation to their peers in the classroom reinforces the skills of public speaking.

English teacher and casting assistant Laureen Bonin requires poetry recitation in her class for just this purpose. They start with Alfred Lord Tennyson’s six-line The Eagle in the fall. “They’re horrified,” she said.

“But by spring, they recite Tennyson’s Ulysses. It’s 72 lines, by memory.”

She will often see someone who has a gift, who pulls in their audience with the first word, and you can hear a pin drop. The whole room is hooked. She encourages them to try out for the play. “During auditions, there might be students I didn’t know well, or perhaps I thought I knew them. Then they made themselves vulnerable in an audition. And they would sing when they didn’t sing very well.

Perhaps there was a young man who usually presents himself very cool and confident. And all of a sudden, he’s nervous, sweating and allowing himself to look foolish on stage. It’s quite brave and heroic putting themselves out there.”

English teacher and casting assistant Laureen Bonin requires poetry recitation in her classes in order to reinforce the skills of public speaking.

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Act 1, Scene 3 Flashing back to 1981, when Brother Joseph was hired straight from college to run the drama program.

“I would do stage crew in the afternoon, rehearsals at night during study hall. It was a killer schedule but it meant everyone could do drama,” said the former longtime artistic and technical director. “The week of the show I was here until 2 or 3 in the morning, doing the sets and lighting. It was quite primitive.”

Dom Joseph Byron has mentored the stage crew in everything from building sets to mastering the stage lights.

As director in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s, he crafted more than 25 performances on a skeleton crew and budget, before coeducation brought a wealth of variety to the stage. Lacking microphones or appropriate lighting, and only $1200 for the year to do three or four shows, “I was borrowing everything from everyone,” Brother Joseph said.

“With these copper roofs, if you had a downpour the night of the show, no one could hear anything. But now the sound system is all wireless microphones. But even when we had nothing, or we were fighting against some restraint, it forced us to be creative. We can do some really great things with nothing.”

He recalled Macbeth (fall 2004) as technical director, and they wanted to do it “in the round” – build the stage into the audience and position the seats around it. Luckily the chairs were mobile, but the lighting was fixed toward the stage, and run from the catwalk where you can’t see the performers. “We’d have to learn the cues of what they were saying or have a signal to do the right lighting. We jerry rigged another lighting system to run remotely and see what was going on,” he remembered. “For Macbeth, two stage guys stayed under the stage for the whole show, to emit smoke, red light and blood. And it worked.”

When Bragan proposed Beauty and the Beast (winter 2010), he envisioned a vortex of rose petals when the beast transformed into a man. “And I thought, ‘How are we going to do THAT?’” Brother Joseph laughed, as he remembered the vacuum he positioned underneath to create a whirlwind tornado.

This adaptability is something they teach all their students, whatever their talent, said Brother Joseph, so they can utilize it to be a major ingredient wherever they end up. If some students have an interest in technology, or if they want to work with their hands, they can construct the set or manage the microphones. “The most well-rounded student has the opportunity to do everything,” he said. “And it’s a group effort.

No matter how talented the actor or singer, you can’t do it without lights, a set or the rest of the cast. It was a huge sense of satisfaction, a triumph for everyone. As technical director, I was so proud of the kids and how far they’d come.”

Frank Pagliaro ’10 played Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, the Portsmouth Abbey Winter Musical in 2010. Read about Frank’s continuing acting career on page 27.

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The Abbey Singers were invited to be part of the cast for the prestigious Trinity Repertory Company’s performance of Dickens’s“A Christmas Carole,” December 2018

Act 2 As a symbiotic arm of the diverse performing arts program, the growing music department is a dominant force.

While it provides a slate of Abbey Singers to the winter musical, it also has a range of choral and instrumental ensembles with a roster of events, on campus and off.

“I have tried so hard to get us out and be visual. Every time I can get us out of this basement I do it. We’re trying to be as visible as possible,” Kerr said.

“When a group has worked together to create something, to perform one time, it’s remarkable how far they come.

They want to get better together.”

Spring and fall concerts on campus complement the three academic courses and foster classmate support, while off-campus exposure opens the performers’ eyes to their potential. The Enharmonix vocal jazz ensemble and Jazz Band perform at Berklee (College of Music) High School Jazz Festival each January, and sing the national anthem and play at Providence Bruins games. Its Chamber Music ensemble performs at Newport Art Museum’s Art After Dark concert series. Thirty Abbey Singers have even sung as part of the cast for the Trinity Repertory Company’s “A Christmas Carol;” others did a live show of “A Christmas Carol” on Abbey Radio, which involved drama and music classes, as well as faculty, staff and members of the monastery.

“Any chance that they have to get off campus, they really truly enjoy. They enjoy a challenge, and they react well to it. They know they have a public concert coming up, they tighten their belts and start working really hard for it,” said Instrumental Music Director Joe Bentley. “But you don’t have to do one thing or the other, just make music for yourself.

For students, it’s important to discover that as a musician. If you want to make music, it’s about who you are as a musician, to build a relationship with your instrument. And it’s a lot of fun.”

The Portsmouth Abbey Enharmonix group at the annual High School Jazz Festival hosted by Berklee College, 2019

Music technology has improved with the addition of a tech lab, including 16 computers with digital audio and video editing software. Kerr edits music and sound effects for some of the drama performances, and teaches students about digital music and video editing techniques. This comes into effect with the winter musical, which is the biggest, raddest, all-hands-on-deck show that the campus creates.

“I love the musical because it brings our disciplines together, drama, music and dance, so we can collaborate.

That’s really important,” Bragan said. Prone to classics, like West Side Story (2007) and The Sound of Music (2011), he said In addition to mentoring and conducting student groups Music Director Kerr edits music and sound effects for some of the drama performances, and teaches students about digital music and video editing techniques.

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“Jeff introduced me to the contemporary shows and the potential with students (The Addams Family, 2016, and Legally Blonde, 2017). Having that new material in the community is wonderful.”

With that development, trying new routines is essential, said choreographer Sandra DiPalma, who also coordinates the co-curricular dance program. “We have some amazing dancers and some kids who aren’t. But usually they like it and try to own it,” she said.

“The coolest part is that we see them grow from freshman to senior, and their evolution growing into who they are is the best part.”

Sophia Diodati (class of 2015) is living proof of this development.

A member of the drama program and Enharmonix, she went on to perform at Johns Hopkins University, where she graduates in December with double majors in Medicine, Science, & Humanities and Anthropology, with a Theater Arts minor.

“The performing arts program at the Abbey gave me one of the greatest platforms to grow not only as a musician or actress, but as a person as well,” she said. “I was always given the opportunity to make the most of any song or character I took on, and often times I was told to just ‘do your thing.’ Having that push to trust my own instincts has absolutely shaped how I take on life, both on and off the stage.”

top: Carly Johnston ’16 as Morticia with the cast of The Addams Family (Winter 2016) above: Maya Wilson ’17 in Legally Blonde The Musical (Winter 2017). above:

Sophia Diodati ’15 in Ghost The Musical (Winter 2015)

below:

As a Johns Hopkins University student Sophia Diodati ’15 became one of the Barnstormers and played the lead role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

Epilogue With Bragan’s 50th performance on the horizon, the occasion for faculty in the performing arts to push themselves, as well as their students, is now. But they are prepared. Bragan said they’ll be assessing the entire program, better promoting shows to the public, and perhaps filming a documentary to highlight the evolution of one of their performances. A little more stage presence for the program itself and expansion of the music curriculum might come, possibly even a broadcast station to complement their radio program, Kerr said.

And while they’re determining the lineup for the next academic year, they know they just want to help the performing arts grow. “We’re trying different things, upgrading the technology, audio and lighting, doing more events,” Bragan said.

“Student athletes do battle on the sports field – this is the same thing. And to have the entire community cheering them on is enormous validation.”

Annie Sherman is a member of the Class of 1995, and unfortunately never took the stage.

She is a freelance writer in Newport, R.I.

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god’s servant first:

the meaning of christian citizenship portsmouth institute 2019 summer conference The Portsmouth Institute’s conference convened on June 14-16 to discuss “The Meaning of Christian Citizenship.”

The Very Rev. Michael Brunner, O.S.B., prior administrator of Portsmouth Abbey monastery delivered this invocation at the Conference.

Almighty and loving God, we ask you to be with us during this Portsmouth Institute as we consider the meaning of Citizenship as followers of Jesus Christ.

We are mindful of the motto of our nation “In God we trust” and we are mindful that so many of our fellow citizens and leaders are heedless of this guiding principle.

Help us to understand how to follow the example and live the guidance Jesus has given us in the Gospels: … to Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s … to live as Sheep among wolves … to be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves.

Our times are challenging and confusing, Lord.

Strengthen us to resist conforming ourselves to this age and to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, so that we may discern what is Your will, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

As Saint Peter has taught the Church, may we as aliens and sojourners in this world keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.

May we conduct ourselves well among unbelievers and among those with whom we disagree, so that even if they speak ill of us now, they may observe our good works and one day come to glorify You and be one with us in Your truth, which we humbly recognize we ourselves cannot yet comprehend fully.

May we be subject to human institutions for Your sake, whether it be to the supreme head of state or to those others responsible for the suppression of evil and the advancement of good.

For it is your will, Lord, that by doing good we may silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Help us to be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but only as your servants. Show us, Lord, how you will for us today to love our community.

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Make us to be diligent, Lord, to be Your salt, leaven and light in our nation.

May we use well those tools of good works Saint Benedict prescribed for the citizens of his monastic communities: May we relieve the lot of the poor, help the troubled and console the sorrowing.

- not repay one bad turn with another (1 Thess 5:15; 1 Pet 3:9).

- not injure anyone, but bear injuries patiently.

May we truly love our enemies (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:27).

-If people curse us, not curse them back but bless them instead.

- Endure persecution for the sake of justice (Matt 5:10).

May we not grumble or speak ill of others.

And as our nation’s motto echoes Saint Benedict, may we place our hope in You alone. and If we perceive something good in ourselves, give credit to You, and not to ourselves In this your way, O Lord, with malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as You give us light to see, guide us to strive on to finish the work you give us; to heal our nation’s wounds and to do all which may achieve and cherish the just, and lasting peace of your Kingdom, which is our true home, your peace among ourselves and with all the world.

We ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, through the Holy Spirit, with you Almighty Father, One God, for all ages.

Amen.

For more information on the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture, call Executive Director Christopher Fisher at 401.643.1255, email cfisher@portsmouthabbey.org or visit www.portsmouthinstitute.org

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PORTSMOUTH ABBE Y SUMMER PROGRA M 2019

The 2019 Portsmouth Abbey Summer Program provided fun in the sun on Narragansett Bay along with a transformational program that forged a thoughtful balance between enrichment and recreation and was rooted in the Benedictine foundation. Our students spent July living and learning with children from North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

A budding marine biologist on a field trip to Fogland Beach in Tiverton, RI

Classes included Rhode Island History, Ecology and Environmental Science on Narragansett Bay, Literature: The Russian Short Story, Robotics, Summer Sound, Mad Science Challenge, Economics, Public Speaking, Latin, English Comp, Algebra and Geometry. They were taught by Abbey teachers and our prefects were returning young alumni.

In addition to plenty of beach time, afternoon activities ranged from sailing, textile arts, and marine biology studies with snorkeling, clamming and crabbing. The kids watched fireworks over the Bay and traveled to Martha’s Vineyard and participated in the Summer Radio Show and Coffee House performances in the evenings.

Summer Program Director Cat Caplin ’10 noted, “Our Summer Program students adjusted to life at the Abbey quickly and they had a wonderful time. Highlights have included using the new Science Building for all of our classes, going to Second Beach on Wednesdays, and spending a Sunday on Martha’s Vineyard. This group was special because they were the first group I’ve had as the director; I enjoyed chatting with them before assembly every morning and it was great to watch them thrive in this program!”

Portsmouth Abbey Music Director Jeff Kerr works with students on video and sound editing in Music Tech class.

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Clockwise from above: Robotics is always one of the most popular Summer Program classes Our prefects were returning young alumni (l-r) Lucia Billings ’18, Arthur Shipman ’18, Dan Rodden ‘18 and Abbey Luth ’18.

Mad Science Challenge with Mr. Esformes included making hydrogen gas using muriatic acid and alumnium, ending with a bang Instructor Rebecca Karis with her Textile Arts students In the on-the-water classroom onboard Sail Newport’s J/22 sailboats, students learned the fundamentals of sailing, including rigging, tacking, jibing, points of sail and docking.

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The courtyard of the new science building, nearing completion. Created on the west side of the building it will incorporate 29 new trees, 341 new shrubs and hedges, and 340 perennials, along with numerous vines, bulbs, and other groundcover.

The courtyard utilizes many of the traditional materials seen throughout the Portsmouth Abbey campus, including native stone unearthed during the excavation. The new stone terrace overlooking the courtyard will be ideal for outdoor classes, departmental gatherings, and alumni events.

securing our academic future

Science in the 21st Century at Portsmouth Abbey

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On Friday, January 4, 2019, the students, faculty and staff of Portsmouth Abbey School received one last Christmas gift when they returned to campus for the opening of the School’s new $20 million Science Building. The new building is already exceeding all expectations. The six combination labs and classrooms are working beautifully as our biology, chemistry, physics, and marine biology classes are all engaging in expanded curriculums, including new “hands-on” experiments that were not possible in the old science building. The Student Project Lab has proven to be incredibly popular with our students, who have already initiated independent work in hydroponics, robotics,

and GPS and autonomous glider technology. The Science Commons, together with the first- and secondfloor Informal learning spaces, are providing gathering spaces for students and faculty before, during, and after the school day for group study and the exchange of ideas, perspectives, and experiences. The new Seminar Room has already hosted a myriad of events ranging from alumni guest speakers for the Mind and Market Investment Club to admissions panels during Closer Look to the Board of Regents’ spring meeting.

Work on the project continued this spring and early summer to complete the exterior hardscape of the

The Commons of the science building, with a spectacular view of the Church of St. Gregory the Great and the monastery, connects the new facility with the Burden Schoolhouse, forming the crossroads between science and the humanities. summer Alumni BULLETIN 2019

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building and its surrounding landscape. The new courtyard created on the west side of the building will incorporate 29 new trees, 341 new shrubs and hedges, and 340 new perennials, along with numerous vines, bulbs, and other groundcover. The hardscape will include a new stone terrace overlooking the courtyard that will be ideal for outdoor classes, departmental gatherings, and alumni events.

As of May 2019, alumni, parents and friends of the School had committed a recordsetting total of $15.1 million toward our $20 million goal and we are working hard to close out the campaign by the end of this summer. While most naming opportunities have been secured, a few remain, including

SAVE THE DATE SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 Save the date and join us on campus when the new building will be formally dedicated during

the exclusive opportunity to name the entire

Reunion Weekend. You can follow both

building with a $2.5 million gift.

construction and campaign progress at: www.portsmouthabbeyscience.org.

For more information or to learn how you can participate in this transformational project, please contact Director of Development & Alumni Affairs Matt Walter at 401-643-1291 or mwalter@portsmouthabbey.org.

Clockwise from top left: Patrick Flanigan ’19 rejoices at the opening of the new building; students now have separate spaces for classes and labs in the stateof-the-art facility; David Sozanski ’19 and Patrick Flanigan’19 developed an autonomous glider in the Student Project Lab under the mentorship of teachers Dave Wilson and Dr. Stephen Zins; Jamarya Jackson ’20 and Simona Christian ’20 developed a hydroponics project for the Art & Science Expo.

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“You are doing it right!” Marguerite Fulton Kosewicz told Headmaster Dan McDonough when she visited the School from Fort Worth, Texas at age 100 in the fall of 2015. This remarkable force of nature breezed onto campus to catch up with her old friend Rev. Dom Christopher Davis, O.S.B. ’48, hear about our plans for the new science building, and meet the people leading a school which she had come to love.

Born and raised in Boston, Marguerite married Joseph Kosewicz, a petroleum engineer and moved with him to an oil camp in the jungles of Venezuela where she raised her children and home-schooled them along with the other children in the camp. She had always hoped to send her boys to “The Priory” but it never worked out. A product of, and lifelong believer in the power of Catholic education, Mrs. Kosewicz was devoted to finding ways to enable children to experience this gift. She also was a fervent believer in the power of science and technology to improve lives and reduce suffering throughout the world.

Mrs. Kosewicz reconnected with the School through Father Chris, who was her pastor in Fort Worth and decided that she would like to fund a scholarship through her estate for a student interested in the studying science and mathematics at Portsmouth Abbey. In 2007, during the Growing in Knowledge and Grace campaign, she seeded the scholarship with a modest stock gift. Taking this initial step provided additional mission-critical financial aid resources for the School while simultaneously enabling her to enjoy the fruits of her beneficence while she was still alive. She made subsequent gifts to the scholarship fund annually, and with her passing in March of 2019, the School was notified that it will be receiving the promised resources required to fully fund the Edward Paul Kosewicz Fulton Memorial Scholarship Fund.

When she notified the School of her intent to include it in her estate plan, Mrs. Kosewicz joined the Hall Manor Society. The Hall Manor Society honors those individuals who have remembered the School in their estate plans, made a planned gift during their lifetimes, or established an endowed fund.

These gifts create a legacy for each donor in support of the mission of Portsmouth Abbey School and can offer numerous financial planning benefits which may enable donors to make a bigger impact on the School than they ever thought possible.

If you have any questions about the Hall Manor Society, planning a gift, or establishing an endowed fund, or if you wish to notify the School of your eligibility for the Hall Manor Society, please contact Director of Development and Alumni Affairs, Matt Walter at 401-643-1290 or mwalter@portsmouthabbey.org.

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ATHLETICS Winter 2018-19 athletics awards Boys’ Basketball Coaches Trophy: Tommy McSparren ’19 MIP: Nick Solomon ’19 Captain(s): Shane Hoey ’20, Luke Fonts ’21, Matt Walter ’20 Overall record: 6-14 EIL: 6-6 Girls’ Basketball The Pfeffer Cup: Madison Burt ’19 MIP: Tibi Zabasajja ’21 Captain(s): Kate Driscoll ’20, Cam Holley ’20, Maddie Knudson ’20, Nicole Huyer ’20 Overall record: 9-12 EIL: 9-5

MADISON BURT ‘19

Boys’ Ice Hockey The Andrew M. Hunt and Carol Meehan Hunt Boys and Girls Hockey Trophy: Will Crowley ’20 MIP: Toby Oliveira ’22 Captain(s): Will Crowley ’20, Josh Plumb ’20, Dean Simeone ’20, Ryan Tarmey ’20 Overall record: 1-21 Holt : 0-8

TOMMY MCSPARREN ’19

WILL CROWLEY ‘20

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Girls’ Ice Hockey The Andrew M. Hunt and Carol Meehan Hunt Boys and Girls Hockey Trophy: Riley Carter ’19 MIP: Laura Fink ’21 Captains: Alyssa Civiello ’20, Lily Hovasse ’20, Avery Korzeniowski ’20 Overall record: 4-14-2 EIL: 4-3-2 Boys’ Squash Carlos Xavier Araujo ’96 Memorial Squash Trophy: Jason Lim ’19 MIP: Emiliano Gonzalez ’20 Captain(s): Matthew Liuzza ’20, Emiliano Gonzalez ’20 Overall record: 10-5 2nd Place New England Class C Girls’ Squash Coaches Trophy: Faith Cournoyer ’19 MIP: Hannah Best ’22 Captain(s): Ashley Breyer ’20, Laila Fahmy ’20 Overall record: 4-13 EIL: 0-6

FAITH COURNOYER ’19

Wrestling Coaches Trophy: Owen Brine ’20 MIP: Matthew Spear ’21 Captain(s): Nate Bredin ’20, Owen Brine ’20 Overall Record: 12-11 2nd Place EIL, EIL Tournament: 3rd Place

junior varsity awards The Portsmouth Abbey Junior Varsity Award is given to the athlete who best demonstrates the spirit of Abbey Athletics. The award recognizes hard work, individual improvement, sportsmanship and a willingness to do what is best for the team.

OWEN BRINE ’20

Boys’ JV A Basketball: Chris Zaiser ’20 Boys’ JV B Basketball: Evan Ventura ’21 Girls’ JV Basketball: Chiara O’Connor ’19 Girls’ JV Squash: Hannah Best ’22 Boys’ JV Squash: Flynn O’Connell ’22 Boys’ JVB Squash: Cortez Sanchez ’20 Girls’ JVB Squash: Ellie Richard ’21 Boys’ JV Ice Hockey: Davis Mattaliano ’21 Girls’ JV Ice Hockey: Abbey Jackson ’19 Wrestling: Kene Ogbuefi ’22

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post-season individual and team awards Boys’ Basketball (EIL) All League: Shane Hoey ’20 Honorable Mention: Tommy McSparren ’19 Girls’ Basketball (EIL) NEPSAC All Star: Maddie Burt ’19, Nicole Huyer ’21 All League: Maddie Burt ’19 Honorable Mention: Kate Driscoll ’20, Nicole Huyer ’20 1000 Point Career Scorer: Maddie Burt ’19 (1034 Points)

RILEY CARTER ’19

SHANE HOEY ’20

Boys’ Ice Hockey: (Holt League) Curtis Birthwright ’19 Will Crowley ’20 Girls’ Ice Hockey (EIL) All League: Riley Carter ’19, Isabelle Fournier ’19 Honorable Mention : Alessandra Alves ’19 Boys’ Squash NEPSAC Class C All New England Jason Lim ’19 New England Class C, Second Place Girls’ Squash (EIL) Honorable Mention: Faith Cournoyer ’19

JASON LIM ’19

Wrestling (EIL) All League: Owen Brine ’20, Antony Ramirez ’19, Matt Spear ’21 EIL Coach of the Year: Mike McLarney All New England: Owen Brine ’20 (6th Place), Antony Ramirez ’19 (4th Place) Matt Spear ’21 ( 7th Place) Prep School National Tournament: Owen Brine ’20, Antony Ramirez ’19

EIL COACH OF THE YEAR MIKE MC LARNEY

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ATHLETICS Spring 2019 The Ravens wrapped up another stellar season in spring 2019 with a number of notable milestones achieved: Boys’ Track finished the regular season 12-0 and won the EIL Championship. David Appleton ’20 was the EIL Champion in the 800 meters; Jason Lim ’19 was EIL Champion in Pole Vault, and Connor McGeehan ’22 was EIL Champion in both Long Jump and High Jump.

Mr. McDonough was named Co-coach of the Year in Boys’ Track.

RORY O’NEILL ’19 MARGOT APPLETON ’21

In Girls’ Track the regular season ended 11-2, with the team finishing fourth in the EIL. Margot Appleton ’21 broke School records in the 800 and the 3000 meters and was named EIL Champion in the 800 and 1500.

Abbey Jackson ’19 was the EIL Champion in the Pole Vault.

Baseball finished the regular season 12 -5-1 and won the EIL Championship for the second year in a row.

Tommy McSparren ’19 was the EIL Player of the year.

Girls’ Sailing qualified for the Hereshoff Championship (Girls’ NEs) at the Bowdoin Sailing Center in Maine and placed 13th overall.

Girls’ Golf finished the regular season 4-0-2 and participated as a team in the Girls’ New Englands, for the first time; they finished 10th overall. Julia Lamarre ’19 was the first Abbey finisher in the 18-hole tournament and Maddie Knudson ’20 placed third in the 9-hole.

Boys’ Lacrosse closed the season with an 11-6 record and finished second in the EIL. Nick Solomon ’19 was selected US Lacrosse All American while Tommy Murphy ’19 was named US Lacrosse Academic All American. Chris Franco ’19 was awarded the US Lacrosse Bob Scott Award for Leadership and Service .

NICK SOLOMON ’19 TOMMY MC SPARREN ’19

Girls’ Tennis finished 12-7 overall and 4-3 in the EIL. Rory O’Neill ‘19 finished her Abbey Lacrosse career with 127 points.

AND Baseball, Boys’ Lacrosse, Girls’ Track, and Boys’ Track all defeated the St. George’s Dragons.

Go Ravens!

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Girls’ Lacrosse The Girls’ Lacrosse Trophy: Cam Holley ’20 MIP: Amelia Stencel ’22 Captains-elect: Alyssa Civiello ’20, Lexi Handy ’20, Cam Holley ’20, Ella Stookey ’21 Overall Record: 5-7 EIL Record: 4-4 Sailing The Robert Price Sailing Trophy: Evan Boyd ’19 and Faith Cournoyer ’19 MIP: Alasdair McDermott ’22 Captains-elect: Aidan Brown ’20, Ceci Bohan ’20 Overall Record: 8 -8

The Sailing Team finished the season 8-8. The Girls qualified for the Hereshoff Championship (Girls’ NEs) at the Bowdoin Sailing Center in Maine and placed 13th overall.

athletics awards Baseball The Baseball Coach’s Trophy: Tommy McSparren ’19 MIP: Thomas Kirker ’19 Captains Captains-elect Overall Record: 12-5-1 EIL record: 6-1 EIL Champions Girls’ Golf The Dorment Family Golf Trophy: Ines Minondo ’19 MIP: Emily Hyder ’19 Overall Record: 4-0-2 Boys’ Lacrosse The Frost Family Boys’ Lacrosse Trophy: Tommy Murphy ’19 MIP: Jonas Echeandia ’19 Captains-elect: Andrew Busch ’21, Will Crowley ’20, Aiden McAvoy ’21, Josh Plumb ’20 Overall Record: 11-6 EIL Record:6-1

Softball Softball Coach’s Trophy: Riley Carter ’19 MIP: Sheila Joyce ’19 Captains-elect: Nicole Huyer ’20, Jamarya Jackson ’20, Diana Reno ’20 Overall Record: 5-7 EIL Record:4-4 Boys’ Tennis The Boys Tennis Coach’s Trophy: Emiliano Gonzalez ’20 MIP: Flynn O’Connell ’22 Captains-elect: Peter Dwyer’20, John Owen Habib ’20 Overall record: 2-14 EIL Record: 1-4 Girls’ Tennis The Girls Tennis Coach’s Trophy: Lilias Madden ’19 MIP: Ava Park ’21 Captains-elect: Leah Eid ’21, Laila Fahmy ’20, Margy Girard ’20 Overall Record: 12-7 EIL Record: 4-3 Boys’ and Girls’ Track The Track Coach’s Trophy: Tiger Farah ’19 and Diane McDonough ’19 Boys MIP: Jonathan Susilo ’19 Girls MIP: Tibiwa Zabasajja ’21 Captains-elect: David Appleton ’20, Luke O’Reilly ’20, Ken Zheng ’20, Kem Kem Ogbuefi ’20, Isabella Zangari ’20 Overall Boys Record: 12-0 EIL Record: 6-0 EIL Champions Overall Girls Record: 11-2 EIL Record: 5-2 , 4th Place EIL

TIGER FARAH ’19

CAM HOLLEY ’20

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INES MINONDO ’19

Boys’ Tennis (EIL) Emiliano Gonzalez ’20, Honorable Mention Girl’s Tennis (EIL) Laila Fahmy ’20, All-League Boy’s Track (EIL) David Appleton ’20, All-League Connor McGeehan ’22, All-League Jason Lim ’19, All-League Tiger Farah ’19, Honorable Mention Luke O’Reilly ’20, Honorable Mention Co-coach of the Year, Dan McDonough Girl’s Track (EIL) Margo Appleton ’21, All-League Abigail Jackson ’19, All-League Malia Mantz ’19, Honorable Mention Diane McDonough ’19, Honorable Mention

DIANE MCDONOUGH ’19

junior varsity awards

post-season individual and team awards Baseball (EIL) Tommy McSparren ’19, All-League, EIL Player of the Year Peter Parella ’19, All-League Dan Teravainen ’19, All League Joey Parella ’21, Honorable Mention Thomas Kirker ’19, Honorable Mention Dan McKenna ’20, Honorable Mention Boys’ Lacrosse (EIL) Chris Franco ’19, All-League, US Lacrosse Bob Scott Award Tommy Murphy ’19, All-League, US Lacrosse Academic All-American Dan Neill ’19, All-League Nick Solomon ’19, All-League, US Lacrosse All-American Will Crowley ’20, Honorable Mention Aiden McAvoy ’21, Honorable Mention

The Portsmouth Abbey Junior Varsity Award is presented to the team member who best exemplifies the spirit of Abbey Athletics.The award recognizes hard work, individual improvement, sportsmanship and a willingness to do what is best for the team.

JV baseball: Danny De Oleo Peguero ’20 Boy’s JV lacrosse: John Boudreau ’20 Girl’s JV Lacrosse: Hannah Best ’22 JV Sailing: Claire Fink ’22 Boy’s JV Tennis: Marco Cristiani ’21 Girl’s JV Tennis: Katia Seoane ‘20 Boy’s JV Track: Charlie Kang ’21 Girl’s JV Track: Cassiel Chen ’21

Girls’ Lacrosse (EIL) Cam Holley ’19, All-League Rory O’Neill ’19, All-League Ella Stookey ’21, All-League Zoe Lowney ’19, Honorable Mention Softball (EIL) Riley Carter ’19, All-League Nicole Huyer ’20, All-League Gwen Bragan ’22, Honorable Mention

TOMMY MURPHY ’19

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IN MEMORIAM

KEITH BOTSFORD ’44

Excerpted from The New York Times – By Bill Morris june 14, 2019

Keith Botsford, a globe-trotting, multilingual and multifaceted man of letters who became a longtime collaborator with Saul Bellow, died last year, on Aug. 19, in London — a death that drew little public notice at the time. He was 90.

His death was noted two days later by The New England Review of Books on its website but it was otherwise not reported widely.

The Times of London published an obituary two months later, and the Boston University alumni magazine, Bostonia, noted his death in its recent winter-spring issue. Mr. Botsford was professor emeritus of journalism at the university’s College of Communication and had lived, and written, in Costa Rica for some time before moving to London.

Mr. Botsford was a fluid, prolific writer unfettered by the boundaries of form or genre. He was a novelist, essayist, journalist, biographer, memoirist, teacher, translator and founder, with Bellow, of three literary magazines, most recently News From the Republic of Letters.

A Renaissance man, he also composed chamber works, a ballet and choral music, and was fluent in seven languages and able to read a dozen.

While teaching comparative literature and French in the early 1950s at Bard College in the Hudson Valley, Mr. Botsford attended a cocktail party that changed the course of his life.

A budding novelist in his mid-20s at the time, he looked across the room and saw a fellow faculty member in a predicament.

“It was Saul Bellow, and he was pinned against the wall by a dreadful man from Winnipeg,” Mr. Botsford recalled in an interview for this obituary in 2014. “I had just read The Adventures of Augie March, so I walked up and started talking to him.” A friendship soon flowered, and it lasted until Bellow’s death in 2005 at 89.

“He liked to call me his sidekick,” Mr. Botsford said. “I found the title perfectly honorable.”

Dismayed that literary magazines of the day were, by their lights, either too chic or too academic, the two friends founded one of their own, The Noble Savage, which made its debut in 1960.

Ralph Ellison, Arthur Miller and Wright Morris, among others, wrote for its first issue. It later published a couple of unknowns, Thomas Pynchon and Robert Coover, before ceasing publication after five issues.

They followed The Noble Savage with another literary magazine, ANON, in 1970; it lasted just one issue. They put out the first issue of News From the Republic of Letters in 1997, featuring in its pages an excerpt from an unpublished Bellow novel, “View From Intensive Care.” Bellow called the magazine, published twice a year, “a tabloid for literates,” and said that he and Mr. Botsford were “a pair of utopian codgers who feel we have a duty to literature.” The magazine continued publication until at least 2008.

In 2001, Mr. Botsford and Bellow edited Editors: The Best From Five Decades, a 1,000-page mosaic of stories, poems, articles and essays by writers as diverse as Victor Hugo, Martin Amis,

above:

Keith Botsford in 1990. He was a novelist, essayist, journalist, biographer, memoirist, teacher, translator and co-founder, with Saul Bellow, of three literary magazines. He also composed chamber works, a ballet and choral music. photo: kalman zabarsky/boston university

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IN MEMORIAM

S. J. Perelman and John Berryman, most of the material never before published in book form.

In his journalism, Mr. Botsford was equally at ease writing about movie stars, concert pianists, bullfighters, novelists and race drivers. Formula One racing and the Boston Red Sox were two of his passions, along with literature, music and food.

His interest in bullfighting led him to write a biography of the celebrated Spanish matador Luis Miguel Dominguin (192696), whom Ernest Hemingway profiled in his nonfiction book The Dangerous Summer. In the biography, published in 1972, Dominguin was quoted as dismissing Hemingway as “a commonplace bore” who “knew nothing about fighting bulls.”

Mr. Botsford’s opinions could be just as barbed. He once wrote of the French composer Olivier Messiaen: “Messiaen is the Al Gore of music. That is, he sells a brand of French intellectual sanctity that I will do a great deal to avoid.”

The critics were generally kinder toward Mr. Botsford’s work.

He began his career by producing four largely autobiographical novels. The fourth, The March-Man, is a multivoiced narrative about Franklin Carey, a man, much like his creator, who inhabits the border regions between the cultures of Europe and America.

Writing in The Times in 1964, Haskel Frankel called Mr. Botsford “a writer of sure stylistic control and great technical skill.”

In all, Mr. Botsford produced some two dozen novels, including crime and espionage tales written under pseudonyms.

He was born on March 29, 1928, in Brussels to an expatriate American father, Willard Hudson Botsford, and an Italian mother, Carolina Elena Rangoni-Machiavelli-PublicolaSantacroce. He said that his mother was a descendant of Niccolo Machiavelli and that his father’s ancestors had helped found Milford, Conn., on Long Island Sound, in 1639.

Severely burned as a boy, Keith spent much of his early life bedridden, and thus reading avidly. By age 7, he told The Times in 2007, “I was a man of letters.”

His formal education began in English boarding schools, but his family was forced to leave Europe for the United States as World War II loomed. His parents soon divorced, and his schooling continued in California and at Portsmouth Priory School in Rhode Island (now Portsmouth Abbey School).

He entered Yale but left before graduation to enlist in the Army.

By his account he served as a spy in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Mr. Botsford received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa in 1949 and a master’s in French literature from Yale in 1952. He also studied composition at the Manhattan School of Music, Japanese at Columbia University and law at the University of Strasbourg in France and at Holborn College in London.

His teaching, translating, writing and administrative jobs took him all over the world, from New York to Boston, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris and Istanbul. He said his most rewarding jobs were his stints as deputy international secretary of the writers association PEN; director of the Center for Translation Studies at the University of Texas, Austin, where he also taught English; and assistant to the president of Boston University.

His half-century friendship with Bellow was, he said, another high point. “We had an intellectual love for each other,” Mr. Botsford recalled. He said he had helped Bellow write his acceptance speech when Bellow was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976, and he visited Bellow’s bedside shortly before he died. Bellow’s last words to him, he said, were, “One good thing in my life was that I loved you.”

After Bellow’s death, Mr. Botsford visited southeastern Costa Rica at the urging of one of his sons, Joshua, a chef, and ended up building a house there on a lush tropical plot overlooking the Caribbean Sea. (His wife at the time, Angela Carol Fellows, a molecular biologist 52 years his junior, continued to live in Boston.)

Designed by his son Gianni Botsford, a London-based architect, the house, dramatically angular, featured all-local timber, a corrugated metal roof and a breezy central room dominated by a grand piano and a wall of books. (He had shipped 17,000 of them there from Boston, he told The Times in the 2007 interview, for an article about the house.)

Whether writing fiction, journalism or biography, Mr. Botsford always kept the reader in mind. For this he thanked Bellow: “As my dear friend Saul Bellow put it to me, ‘Take the reader by the hand, Keith, and he will follow you anywhere.’ Or as I tell my students, ‘You are not writing for me, but for the world.

Or at least for your Aunt Nellie in Boise, Idaho.’ ”

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IN MEMORIAM

ED BELT ’51

Edward Scudder Belt ’51 passed away peacefully at home on March 23, 2019, after a brief battle with lung cancer.

Ed was born August 4, 1933, to Emma Willard Keyes Belt and Charles Banks Belt of Glen Cove and Southampton, Long Island, New York.

The middle of three brothers, Ed and his younger brother, John, attended Portsmouth Priory, where Ed graduated cum laude; Ed and Charlie both completed undergraduate degrees at Williams College and went on to become Ph.D.s in Geology. “Ed was captain of the Priory soccer team,” recalls John, “leading it to victory in the championship.

He set the standard for me to follow on the soccer field.

Ed, you were the best mentor a younger brother could have. And that is why your students really took a shine to you.”

John also recollects, “I will never forget when Ed went off to the Priory in 1947 and coming home would regale us all with stories of living in the Barn, which was rectangular with gutters running the length of the building. Students were sent to their rooms at 7pm to study until 10.

There was a certain group of boys who would visit with their friends by traveling along the gutters and then dive into the window, which was opened for them.

The problem was there were some students who were situated between these buddies who thought this caper should cease, so they rubbed shoe polish on the gutter outside of their window!”

After receiving his undergraduate degree from Williams College (1955), Ed received his M.S. in Paleontology from Harvard (1957), completing his Ph.D. in Geology at Yale (1963).

Ed started his career as assistant professor of geology at Villanova University, PA, moving on to Amherst College in 1966. From 1999 until his retirement in 2002, Ed was the S.A. Hitchcock Professor of Mineralogy and Geology.

Ed was known to say, “I am teaching what I want to teach, where I want to teach it.”

From 1987-2002, Ed was Director of the Pratt Museum of Natural History at Amherst College, combining his passion for teaching, archiving, and story-telling. This allowed him to mentor students in museum ‘field work.’ A prolific researcher in the field of geology, Ed’s work was published in a variety of scientific journals. In May, the Beneski Museum of Natural History dedicated a diorama to Ed, one depicting Amherst 190 million years ago.

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Ed Belt ‘51 (left) with his brother John ‘57.

One of Ed’s personal interests was building ship models.

This culminated in a replica of “The Fair American” schooner. His attention to detail and accuracy led him to solving a structural mystery, and his article about it was published in “Ship Modeling” magazine.

At the age of 60, Ed pursued tennis lessons with Art Carrington of Bay Road Tennis Club. He became an enthusiastic player and it became the family sport.

He played regularly into his eighties. Ed was somebody who was constantly picking up new projects. He built model ships and train sets, focusing intensely on minute details to make sure everything looked as accurate as possible. And he fixed and refurbished antique furniture.

“We would joke, ‘If dad got bored, just go break a chair,’” said his daughter Anne Belt Ye. “It was really fun because he really could fix just about anything.”

A devoted son, brother, uncle, husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Ed’s commitment to his family was unconditional. Ed was known to say, “The best decision I ever made was marrying your mother!” Emily was Ed’s partner, his rudder, his rock, and his salve. Together they raised four daughters: Emily, Anne, Aggie, and Kilty.

As a family they camped, hiked, explored and formed bonds that have carried them through life.

One of the cornerstones of Ed’s life was his deep spiritual faith in God and the Roman Catholic Church.

From Portsmouth Priory to renewing his vows with Emily for their 50th wedding anniversary, he always relied on his faith to inspire and guide his life.

The Portsmouth Abbey School community extends its prayers and condolences to the Belt family.

P PO OR RT TS SM MO OU UT TH H A AB BB BE EY Y S SC CH HO OO OL L

IN MEMORIAM

JAVIER CRISTIANI ’90 Javier Alfredo Cristiani Llach, Portsmouth Abbey Class of 1990, was killed in a cycling accident on June 15, 2019; he was 47 years old. Javier was the son of former President of El Salvador Alfredo Cristiani (1989-1994).

He was the father of current Portsmouth Abbey student Marco ’21, brother of Alejandro Cristiani ’89 and Felix Cristiani P ’21, uncle of Tomas ’21, nephew of Eduardo Llach Hill ’56 and Roberto Llach Hill ’58, cousin of Eduardo Llach ’77 and Roberto Llach ’85 and cousin of Marcos Llach ’94. The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador expressed condolences to the family of the former president and described Cristiani Llach as “a worldrenowned architect and part of a generation of Salvadorans prepared to improve the future of this nation.”

The following tribute was offered by Javier’s cousin Eduardo Alfaro ‘88.

To Javier...

For a Raven, life’s most precious gift must be an overnight stay. I still remember the pangs of anticipation as one yearned for a journey away from School, which began right after sports on Saturday, reaching out all the way until the beginning of Study Hall on Sunday. Every second counted, too treasured and valuable to waste.

It was at the dawn of such an occasion, that our taxi awaited us outside St. Leonard’s on a winter weekend in 1987. Through the common room’s windows, one could see the white condensation fuming and billowing from the cab’s exhaust. Within the cab, Alex Cristiani was fuming as well. Javier was late, and we were helplessly consuming our overnight stay, still at School, while we waited for him.

Concerned, I left Alex in the cab and rushed to St Benet’s to fetch him. Yet, as I reached his room inside the dorm, I already knew he would not be there. As minutes began to slip away from our overnight stay, and as the red, digital burden of the taxi’s meter haunted my mind, I was fortunate for a chance glimpse through the window, spotting Javier outside. He was a small, distant dot against a white, powdered field outside the dorm.

When I reached him, he shielded himself from my irritation with his usual smile and sincere greetings, his ever-efficient tools to summon instantaneous forgiveness. He stood there in the snow: no jacket in the freezing cold, his battered bluchers bandaged together with gray tape, holding a football, in deep concentration before making the perfect

Javier Christiani ‘90 (second from right), Parents’ Weekend.

pass, oblivious to all the fuming going on at St. Leonard’s.

Urging him to hurry, we rushed back to the cab.

Halfway to Leonard’s, I panicked! Javier hadn’t packed for the weekend. Knowing Javier, it must’ve been difficult for him to fathom the grave dangers I described were lurking in Boston, mischievously awaiting the bagless.

Yet, he quietly acquiesced, heading back to his dorm to burden himself with a bag for the weekend, in order to brighten my humor and lighten my mood. In his room, Javier splayed his blue jeans on the bed. At the center and directly on top of his pants, he carefully laid his T shirt. At the center of the shirt, and directly on top, he meticulously placed his toothbrush. Admiring his work with a satisfied grin, he tightly rolled it into a rod, sealing it by tying his blue and green striped belt around it, then garnishing his creation with a ribbon made from both ends of his belt. As we ran again for St. Leonard’s, Javier asked with a smile: “Where did you say we are going?” “Do we have permission?” and “Where is Alex?”

My memories of Javier’s packing his “clothing burrito” that day at the Abbey are, for me, a gift even more precious than an overnight stay. That everyday incident, I believe, captures the essence of his simplicity. Javier’s life was extraordinary, not through its length, but through its magnitude. He lived it in his own terms, always generous, simple and good; permanently loving music, art, sports, motorcycles, bikes ... life. He was, and always will be, a benchmark for all of us who had the privilege of knowing him.

I will never forget you.

Eduardo Alfaro ‘88

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IN MEMORIAM

ROBERT WILLIS MOREY, JR. P’51

Robert Willis Morey, Jr., former Chairman of the Portsmouth Abbey School Board of Consultants, passed away on Friday, January 18, 2019. Bob was born on August 23, 1936, in Cleveland, OH, to Robert Willis and Elizabeth Brahm Morey. They settled in Short Hills, NJ, where he attended The Pingry School and learned horsemanship and marksmanship in the Junior Essex Troop.

Bob attended Phillips Exeter Academy (Class of 1954), where he began rowing. At Yale University he stroked the Men’s Varsity Eight Oared Crew to a gold medal in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. The ‘56 Crew remained lifelong friends and gathered annually before the Harvard/Yale race to row together. In four years at Yale, Robert never lost to Harvard.

Upon graduation from Yale in 1958, Bob was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy (Ret. ‘68 LTJG). He served as navigator aboard the icebreaker USS Atka. Following active duty, he earned his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School in 1962.

He began his career in finance at Brown Brothers Harriman. In New York City he met and married his wife of 50 years Maura Burke Morey, settling in Tiburon, CA. In 1984, Robert founded his own underwriting company, R.W. Morey, Inc., a pioneer in the catastrophic health care reinsurance market. He served on the boards of the San Francisco Opera, California Pacific Medical Center and Coventry Health Care, Inc. He was a lifelong Rotarian and founding member of the Rotary Club of Tiburon Sunset.

Bob and Maura spent summers in Hyannis Port, MA, where he cherished his time golfing and sailing with friends. Over the years, it was there that he gathered most with family — a place of lively dinners, social gatherings, and quiet reflection.

A strong proponent of education, Robert served on the boards of Marin Country Day School, Santa Catalina School, Portsmouth Abbey School, Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences, and the California State University Maritime Academy. He and Maura sent their son Edward to Portsmouth Abbey School where he graduated as a member of the great Class of 1994.

Bob’s life was deeply rooted in faith. Born Episcopalian, he converted to Catholicism. He was an active parishioner and served in advisory roles at St. Stephen’s (Belvedere, CA), St. Hilary’s (Tiburon, CA), St. Dominic’s (San Francisco, CA), and St. Andrew’s (Hyannis Port, MA).

He was a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre and the Order of Malta, serving on the Regional Board of the Order of Malta and instrumental in the development of the Order’s Parish Nurse Program in San Francisco. His faith led him to become a daily communicant and devotee to a life of the Sacraments.

The Portsmouth Abbey School community extends its prayers and condolences to the Morey family.

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IN MEMORIAM

MICHAEL MEADS ’18 Michael Meads ’18 passed away on February 14, 2019.

Mike came to the Abbey in the fall of 2016 for his FifthForm year and though his time here was relatively short, his impact was immediate and his legacy will be longlasting. Mike was a much-beloved classmate, housemate, and teammate and was a model prefect in St. Aelred’s House during his Sixth-Form year. On Prize Day in 2018 he received the Excellence in Public Speaking Award and the St. Gregory Award. As quarterback of the 2017 football team, he led the Ravens to an Evergreen Conference Championship and to an appearance in a bowl game for only the third time in School history. Michael was immensely grateful to be a student at the Abbey. What he valued most was the opportunity to live out his Catholic faith on campus — through his relationships with students and mentors, daily mass, lectoring, confession, and living amongst the Benedictine community.

Michael’s family has established the Michael Meads ’18 Memorial Scholarship Fund, an endowed fund that will ensure that an Abbey education is both accessible and exceptional for future generations of students. Consistent with the intentions of the family, the needbased scholarship will be awarded to deserving students who display a strong devotion to their Catholic faith, who lead by example, and who demonstrate the virtue of Christian humility. Michael himself benefited as a recipient of financial aid, making it possible for him to attend the Abbey.

Those who wish to add to the fund may do so by mailing their contribution to: Michael Meads ’18 Memorial Fund Portsmouth Abbey School 285 Cory’s Lane Portsmouth, RI 02871 Gifts can also be made online at www.portsmouthabbey.org/makeagift (please type “Michael Meads ’18 Memorial Scholarship Fund” in the “Comments” section). For questions, or for more information, please contact Director of Development Matt Walter at 401-643-1291 or mwalter@portsmouthabbey.org.

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MILESTONES

NECROLOGY

Christopher “Kit” Anderton ’63 Son of the late Piers Anderton ’34, nephew of the late John Anderton ’34, and cousin of Mark Anderton ’70 March 30, 2019 Edward S. Belt ’51 Brother of John Belt ’57 and brother-in-law of the late Clinton Macsherry ’41 March 23, 2019 Manuel F. Bento Father of staff member Carla Bento Kenahan, father-in-law of Chuck Kenahan ’77, step-grandfather of Kian Kenahan ’12, Sean Kenahan ’12, and Trevor Kenahan ’12, and grandfather of Luke Kenahan ’23 February 28, 2019 David F. Bubser ’51 December 9, 2018 Winifreda P. Busabos Mother of the late Lee Busabos ‘97 April 5, 2019 John P. Caval ’58 February 21, 2019 John Cheever Husband of Kathy Cheever (Staff member of the School) January 28, 2019

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James G. Conzelman, Jr. ’56 January 7, 2019 Javier A. Cristiani ’90 Father of Marco Cristiani ’21 and Elena Cristiani ’23, brother of Alejandro Cristiani ’89, and uncle of Tomas Cristiani ’21 June 15, 2019 Pierrette Comtois Dumenco Mother-in-law of Timothy Flanigan ’75 and grandmother of Teresa Flanigan ’06, Daniel Flanigan ’09, Michael Flanigan ’11, Patrick Flanigan ’19, and Nicholas Flanigan ’21 February 7, 2019 Eileen M. Gallagher Mother of Patrick Gallagher ’81 and grandmother of Jennifer Cravedi ’09 and Ryan Gallagher ’15 April 25, 2019 Judy Cavalier Hamilton Grandmother of Andrew Busch ’21 December 27, 2018 Deborah C. Kern Mother of Ryan Kern ’94 March 3, 2019 Marguerite Louise Fulton Kosewicz Friend and benefactor of the School March 13, 2019

P ORTSM O U T H A BB E Y S C HO OL

IN MEMORIAM

Robert W. Morey, Jr. Father of Edward Morey ’94 January 18, 2019

Pierre F. Lavedan ’52 June 4, 2019 Emily S. Leonelli Mother of Roberta Stevens (Faculty member of the School) and grandmother of Michael Stevens ‘87 and John Stevens ‘90 February 4, 2019 Jose Gabriel Llach Grandson of Roberto Llach ’85, great-grandson of Roberto Llach-Hill ’58, and nephew of Diego Llach ’94 and Marcos Llach ‘94 Nancy Hoguet McBean Mother of Peter Helmer ’66 June 7, 2019

Philip James Schwarz ’58 December 15, 2018 Brian Shay Former faculty member of the School January 3, 2019 J.V. “Jerry” Shields, Jr. Brother of David Shields ’57 October 10, 2018 Dolores Swann Mother of Paul Swann ’74 February 7, 2019

Peter C. McGowan ’80 March 29, 2019

Edith Tobin Wife of Joseph Tobin II ’71 January 23, 2019

Gloria McGuirk Mother of Terence McGuirk ’69 and Bryan McGuirk ’81 and grandmother of Christopher Duncan ’90 and Edward O’Connor ’17 June 12, 2018 Michael T. Meads ’18 Cousin of Grace Jannotta ’15, Joseph Jannotta ’16, and Jane Jannotta ’18 February 14, 2019

John “Jack” Walsh Father of J. Timothy Walsh ’79 May 3, 2019 Thomas F. Zilian Son of Frederick and Geraldine “Geri” Zilian (former faculty members of the School) and brother of James Zilian ’95 April 2, 2019

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MILESTONES

Gontarz ‘97 wedding: Louis Tavares 97, Ryan Grabert 97, Brian LeComte ’98, Cara Gontarz Hume ’99, Steve DeVecchi ’97, Brian Walsh ’97, Amy and Andre Gontarz ’97, Bill Sherman ’97, Chris Marcogliese ’97 and Matt Reeber ‘97.

WEDDINGS 2001 Tom Winter to Beth Hanrahan on January 12, 2019 2002 James Fitzgerald to Nóra Devlin on April 7, 2019 2006 Julia Driscoll to Justin Willette on February 23, 2019

Julia Driscoll ’06 with her new husband, Justin Willette.

2010 Grace Popham to Tristan Hobbes on July 6, 2019 2011 Sean Morrissey to Shay Lynn Reilly on January 5, 20192019 2012 Brian O’Connor to Kelsey Stecklow on September 1, 2018

Ravens celebrating at Grace Popham’s wedding: Caitie Silvia ‘07, Laura Medeiros ‘10, James Buckley ‘08, Cat (Malkemus) Caplin ‘10, James Buckley ‘73, Daniel Caplin ‘10, Nick Caron ‘10, Grace Popham ‘10, Amelia (Bradley) Tracy ‘10, Jay Popham ‘07, Cameron Shirley ‘10, Ethan DaPonte ‘10, Eleanor Deutermann ‘16, Ryan DaPonte ‘07, and Robert Savoie ‘10.

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MILESTONES

BIRTHS 1997 A girl, June Roslyn Reeber to Rebecca and Matt Reeber on February 3, 2019

Sabrina Annabelle Tauber, daughter of Andrew and Francesca Tauber ’99.

1998 A boy, Julius Ji-Hyun Yang to Eva Zhong and Alexander Kyung-Yul Yang on February 20, 2019 1999 A girl, Sabrina Annabelle Tauber to Andrew and Francesca Palazio Tauber on February 13, 2019 2000 A boy, Owen Peter Hewett to Maura and Patrick Hewett on December 18, 2018 2001 A boy, Astor Vernon Adams Pinder to John and Karina Craig Pinder on January 5, 2019 2002 A girl, Emma Grace Bassi to Christopher and Miriam Halpern Bassi on February 15, 2019 A boy, Oliver Francis Marone to Paolo and Andrea Petronello Marone on January 10, 2019

2006 A girl, Poppy Elizabeth to Sarah and Eli Leino on May 11, 2019 2007 A girl, Nora Corinne Kendrick to Nick and Anna Buckley Kendrick on June 19, 2019 2009 A boy, Ryder Andrew Deck to Robert and Alicia Turner Deck on May 22, 2019

Big sister Valentina holding Astor Vernon Adams Pinder, son of Karina Pinder ’01.

2003 A boy, Owen Michael Ruggieri to Matt and Shannon Maher Ruggieri on February 7, 2019 2005 A boy, Corbin William to Brian and Rachel Wigton Jastrebsky on March 26, 2019 A girl, Fiona Simone Breeze to Fred Breeze and Farrell Ougheltree on June 28, 2019 Eli Leino‘06 and his wife Sarah with baby Poppy.

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CLASS NOTES

48 I Peter Miner currently teaches on-camera acting at a studio in NY and has taught a course on working with actors at the Columbia University Film Department. Peter and his wife Diana have five children and three grandchildren scattered around the globe.

50 I Michael C.J. Putnam, Professor Emeritus of Classics at Brown University and one of the preeminent living scholars of Virgil, was given the Arete Award by the Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study in New York, May 1, 2019. The Paideia Institute seeks to promote the study of the classical humanities by advancing public appreciation and awareness of classical antiquity.

has all changed because I retired April 30. This past year, I also retired after 25 years of involvement with the Citizens’ Advisory Board which advises the city’s development organization and the Mayor’s Office. These events round out other involvements in Shelton including 14 years on the WPCA Commission, 8 years on the Open Space Committee, 4 decades involved with Historical Society, and 18 years with the St. Lawrence Choir. None of this counts incalculable hours dealing with local zoning fights over the 47 years we’ve lived in this house. In 1990, a large gas station was proposed across the street from my house by a member of the zoning commission!

“I won that one and many more! Our 1894 Victorian was built on a dirt road but now has a Rt 8 exit across the street and traffic light on our corner. It’s been a long challenge!

The site of the gas station is now “Constitution Park” with the highest flagpole in Shelton and our committee paid for it. So we’ve definitely left our mark here! Daniele and I love our home here and plan to stay and enjoy it. We keep enjoying everything available to us in the Connecticut and New York area. Every two years, we spend two weeks in the Berkshires (beautiful). My son Adrian and and his wife, Donna, live an hour north of here near Thomaston where grandchildren Luke (17) and Amy (13) are in school. Amy is big into dancing and will dance in Disneyland in June. Adrian is free-lance building expensive homes down in CT’s gold coast, while Donna runs an organization supporting US veterans out of Bristol, CT.”

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Regis Dognin writes from CT, “Life goes on as it has in the past. I had been working at Shelton City Hall making the maps for the city for 14 years using ArcGIS. It might be hard to imagine what that means.

John Tepper Marlin reports that since February 2019 he has been serving as senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the Congress. John shares, “Harry Truman advised that if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. Alice and I have moved to an apartment in the Eastern Market in Washington with our dog, Hachik.”

“I’ll illustrate with some of the variety of specialized maps: street & their names, highways, parcels with details, structures, schools, churches, fire stations, municipal buildings and facilities, building zones, school districts, fire districts, recreational facilities, open spaces and parks and their amenities, walking trails, rivers, feeder streams, lakes, dams, city boundaries, power lines, telephone poles, hydrants (restricted data), traffic lights, political boundaries [city wards or congressional districts], voting districts, soil types, elevations, and more.

“These things generally keep changing over time and need to be kept up to date.

In addition, special maps are needed for every parade, Shelton Day, and fundraising benefit race or special event.

It kept me busy and challenged. But this

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60 I Jim Robinson recently attended his 55th Reunion at Georgetown. He also has moved to Fairfax Realty Select in Falls Church. He will continue his real estate practice in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Portsmouth Abbey grads are especially welcome. Jim boasts that in 34 years as a realtor, no client of his has ever lost a penny following his advice.

63 I George Fowler reports that classmate John Cadley’s fine song “Time” appears smack-dab-in-the-middle of Dede Wyland’s latest excellent recording, “Urge for Going” (Patuxent Music), in George’s view one of the best bluegrass recordings in recent years. George’s most recent book translation, Islam, Humanity, and Indonesian Identity: Reflections on History, by Indonesia’s renowned public intellectual Ahmad Syafii Maarif, has been published by Leiden University Press and is distributed in North America by University of Chicago Press and in Asia by National University of Singapore Press.

P ORTSM O U T H A BB E Y S C HO OL

Please join us as we gather for the Science Building Dedication

We will celebrate the 100th anniversary year of the Monastery of St. Gregory the Great and Queen of Peace with a Centennial Mass

Saturday, September 21 at 12:00 pm on the Holy Lawn

Saturday, September 21 at 5:00 pm on Manor House Lawn

JOIN US! SEPT. 20-22, 2019

1949g1954g1959g1964g1969g1974g1979g1984g1989g1994g1999g2004g2009g2014

CLASS NOTES

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John Fisher and Didi Moloney Fisher have made their “Brexit” from California and now reside in McCall, ID, two hours north of Boise. McCall is a skiing, fishing, and hunting gateway to the Frank Church Wilderness and the Salmon River complex.

Classmates and fellow Ravens are welcome to visit. You can email John at: fisherco@earthlink.net ...Mary and Matt Flynn just returned to Milwaukee from a great trip to Budapest, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania. The Balkans produce more history than they can consume locally. From meeting people in their homes and businesses, Matt has a deeper appreciation for why that is so.

Paul Florian was the visiting Robert A.M. Stern professor this spring at Yale University. He taught an advanced design studio based on the principles of classical architecture comprised of ten graduate and post-graduate students. Rather than commute from Chicago, Paul based himself in New Haven for four months, thinking often of Portsmouth and his first experience of New England....

After 27 years at Carney Logan Burke Architects (CLB Architects), the architecture firm he founded in Jackson, WY, John Carney has transitioned into the next phase of his professional career and will enjoy a much anticipated sabbatical while continuing to serve on local boards and completing several ongoing projects that he is involved with at CLB. “Working with my partners, colleagues and staff at CLB Architects for nearly three decades has been a

66 I Jon Gilloon enjoyed a wonderful visit at his home in Cortez, FL with his Form VI roommate, Juan Kellogg.

Jon Gilloon ‘66’s wife, Peggy, with Juan Kellogg ’66 on Anna Maria Island, FL during their recent visit together.

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P ORTSM O U T H A BB E Y S C HO OL

rewarding experience,” says John. “Over 300 projects and 50 design awards later, I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved in this community and beyond. We always wanted our practice to be rooted in and inspired by this very special place, and to use our design vision to enhance the community while mitigating the effects of growth and other pressures facing Teton County and the Rocky Mountain West. Beginning this next chapter is an exciting challenge,” says Carney. “I intend to use my years of experience and relationships with colleagues throughout the region to keep pushing creative boundaries and working in ways that benefit this great community that we love.”

69 I 50th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019 Pierre Whalon is retiring as bishop of the Episcopal Churches in Europe on July 1. His successor, Bishop Mark Edington, was consecrated on April 6 in his cathedral in Paris. Furthermore, Pierre and his wife Hélène are looking for a home in Martinique. Pierre writes, “I do not wish to live in Europe now that my successor is here. After all, I was bishop for almost 18 years, and he needs elbow room! My wife loves Martinique, knows it well, and our insurances are valid there and the medical care is French-quality. I hope to see classmates in September but I cannot be sure yet.”...

Mick McQuade has moved to Berkeley, CA, full time. He finds a significant culture and weather upgrade from Alabama.

His wife, Cindy, has her CA medical license, will do some hospice volunteer work, and may do cannabis-based medicine. Mick writes that while Cindy makes the world a better place, he will spend his time playing tennis and poker.

CLASS NOTES

70 I Jamie MacGuire shares, “April 1 was the opening of the Met Museum’s “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll” show.

The catalogue was underwritten by Nion McEvoy ‘70 and Joe Tobin ‘71. Other Portsmouth attendees included Robert Bloomingdale ‘73 and Peggy McDonnell Vance and her husband Cyrus, sister of Michael ‘70 and Stephen ‘73.” Jamie‘s latest book, International Religious Freedom: The Rise of Global Intolerance, will be published by Lexington Books this September. Cardinal Dolan contributed the preface, and a conference on the very timely topic sponsored by The Anglosphere Society and America Magazine will be held in New York on October 29. ...Thomas Danaher and his wife, Mallory, celebrated forty years together this March. Mallory has blossomed on the lecture circuit, speaking against feminism and abortion. She’s giving the keynote address in September for Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum annual event. On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, she will also be the keynote speaker (with President Trump the possible honoree) to receive the Bernard M. Nathanson “Life is Beautiful” award from the pro-life group, The Hosea Initiative.

While traveling this spring they had the great luck of being with Amory Cummings and four of the fabulous Cummings siblings in Palm Beach. Thomas continues to develop his latest website, Perfectlinens.com. If you’re looking for sheets you might want to visit it. This year they’re spending the summer in New York City.

Nion McEvoy ‘70

Charles De Leo writes from Florida, “I’m pleased to report that our youngest son, Andrew, graduated in May from Tulane University and will enter Tulane Law School (where I studied law) this fall. Our eldest son, Ned, is a medical resident at the University of Florida in Gainesville together with his wife, Alex. Our middle son, Chris, who graduated with a B.S. in business from SMU, works in the vessel deployment department at Royal Carib-

bean in Miami. I continue with my maritime law practice in Miami and was recently elected to the board of directors of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the national association of maritime lawyers founded in 1899.”...

John Romano retired from the Providence, RI, Fire Department after 30 years of dedicated service, in June 2017.

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Jamie MacGuire ’70 shared a photo of his rendezvous with (l-r) Morgan Jetto ’03, Peter MacGuire ’73, (Jamie) and Chris Low ’83 at the Rockaway Hunt Winter Festival.

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CLASS NOTES

Christopher Cooke ’76, Christopher Ferrone ’76 and Christopher Tovar ’76, celebrating Chris Cooke’s 60th birthday.

Bill Keogh ‘78 paddleboarding

76 I Christopher Cooke, Christopher Ferrone and Christopher Tovar, St. Bede’s men of ’76 celebrated Chris Cooke’s 60th birthday at a fabulous party organized by his lovely wife, Leslie, in Marrakech, Morocco, in November. It was a wonderful event with Chris’s beautiful family and multitude of fascinating friends!

Ian Sterling ‘81 took a two-week tour of France for his 54th birthday.

78 I Jas McGuire and Bill Keogh reconnected at their 40th Reunion last fall. This past winter they went paddle-boarding together several times in Jamestown and Newport. This summer they hope to hit the waves and surf in Newport.

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40th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019

Ian Sterling, an independent personal trainer in West Hollywood, gave himself a two-week driving tour of south-central France for his 54th birthday. Highlights included a quick hike up the hill outside Narbonne overlooking Fontfroide Abbey and a tour of the Papal Palace in Avignon....Continuing his career in personal financial services, John Cummings is proud to share that his

Peter Mogayzel has been named the director of the Eudowood Division of Pediatric Respiratory Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

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Warwick Carter has joined 1919 Investment Counsel as a senior wealth advisor, where he advises clients on trust and estate matters.

P ORTSM O U T H A BB E Y S C HO OL

daughter Chloe is building a successful career in video. Her various projects with Disney, Greys Anatomy, Walking Dead and Nat Geo’s 2019 Shark Weeks also include an Emmy-Award-winning documentary she edited solo for Sharp Memorial Hospital. Abbey Ravens will enjoy the comic relief in a documentary she solo-produced entitled “The Journey,” which follows a rabid Patriots fan through his fanatical season with an ultimate trek to the Super Bowl in a borrowed camper. With nine grandchildren already (six compliments of daughter Maya Craig ‘99), John and Betsy are excited to host Chloe’s wedding this fall to U.S. Navy LT Henry Mangold, an officer and a gentleman. Anchors away!

CLASS NOTES

84 I 35th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019 After a two-year separation from family and loved ones while serving as the III Marine Expeditionary Force Current Operations Officer in Okinawa, Japan, David Bardorf moved to Quantico, VA, this past July for a tour with Marine Corps Combat Development Command. He was fortunate to make a quick trip home in May to watch his son Hayden receive his master’s degree from High Point University. Dave’s daughter Anna is doing great, thriving in high school as she prepares for her sophomore year. Dave’s fiancée, Heidi, is adapting well and settling into their Virginia home, but misses the beautiful beaches of NC. Dave is hoping to get back to the Abbey for a fall visit! He sends his best to all his classmates from 1984.

The Minihane family at the Abbey’s Denver Reception (left to right) Keith ‘89, Derek ‘87 and Neil ‘85.

85 I David Hayes set a personal record in the 2019 Boston marathon of 3:13.27. ...Sean Mullen and Mark O’Connor joined the same book club in New York City. “At first we were shocked to see each other, but not surprised. We have both added spirited dialog to the conversations around the book we are reading, Something for Joey, a book which became a popular movie starring Steve Gutenberg.

We are hoping to involve more Abbey grads in the area who have any interest, and who are in striking distance of the East Village on Tuesday nights (7pm to 10pm, BYOB). Any interest, hit us up on Snapchat or MySpace.”... The Minihane family had a mini reunion at the Abbey Denver Reception with Derek ‘87 in town for work and Neil ‘85 and Keith ‘89 making the trip up from the Springs.

Chris Galloway ’90 at a quick and dirty swearing-in in the basement of the county administration building – not glamorous, but it sufficed. Chris’ daughter, Brittany Galloway, and mother, Brenda Sheppard, attended.

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30th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019

Christopher Galloway was sworn in as Lake County (Ohio) auditor on April 1, 2019. Appointed by the Lake County Republican Central Committee, this follows 15 years as Concord Township trustee. Chris will hold this position until November 2020 when the election for state and county offices takes place.

Michael Foley is currently working as a writer and Executive Producer of Netflix’s “You” as well as raising two teenage girls.

He is desperately trying to hammer down plans with fellow Class of ’89 Angelenos: James Koelzer, John Hedstrom and Reed Koppen. Michael exclaims that he is “confident we can pull this off!”

91 I Dave Barrett recently published More Fun and Games, the sequel to his first novel, It’s All Fun and Games. Both books are available online and at brick and mortar bookstores.

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CLASS NOTES

Matt Stencel ’93 and his daughters Amelia and Grace ’22 after their final lacrosse game of the season.

Miguel Bichara ‘94 in Africa.

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Matt Stencel has been spending extra time at Portsmouth Abbey this year visiting and cheering on his twin girls, Amelia and Grace ’22.

After completing a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Ithaca College, Anya Woythaler attended the Finger Lakes School of Massage. Over the past 14 years, she has established a growing therapeutic massage practice at 372 Broadway in Newport.

She enjoys living back in her hometown near her friends and family and still makes time for music and the arts.

Feel free to take a look at her website www.massagetherapywithanya.com.

94 I 25th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019 Miguel Bichara was elected president of the Board of Directors of the American School Foundation of Monterrey (www.asfm.edu.mx). This is a K-12 top 1% private school in Monterrey, Mexico.

Miguel also had the chance to visit South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana with other Nissan distributors. He was impressed with this amazing country because of its natural beauty, its people, and its economic future. ...Celina Collins earned her preliminary administrative credential last year and has been serving as assistant principal of student services and attendance at Rubidoux High School in Jurupa Valley, California. Her contract is almost up, so she is open to changing districts for another administrative position.

Her daughter will be starting middle school next year, and her two sons are still in school together, finishing kindergarten and second grade. The family recently moved to Jurupa Valley and is looking forward to spending the summer together by the pool!

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96 I Stephen Allen was named as a Partner at Katz & Matz P.C., a New York Real Estate Law Firm.

98 I Tristan Mouligné and his brother, John Jay Mouligné ’01, have formed the Mouligné Group at Morgan Stanley.

Tristan moved his practice to Aquidneck Island in 2017 after working in wealth management at the Morgan Stanley office in Boston for 15 years. When John Jay joined the firm in 2016, working together became the goal. Their new office is on Bellevue Ave in Newport. They serve as advisors for an endowed investment fund established by the Mind and Market Club, an investment club started this year by Portsmouth Abbey students....

Celina Collins ’94 with her husband Jon, daughter Bethany and sons Nathan and Isaiah Ambrose.

Tye Nielsen is a professional voice actor in Los Angeles and he just voiced his first national television commercial which began airing in late April. It is a Cheerios commercial and will be running for six months. Some of his other recent clients include E-Trade, Sea World, Marriott, and Coca Cola....This past April, Jason C. Weida, an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston, began a six-month detail to the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy in Washington, DC. During the detail, Jason will serve as a counsel primarily working on federal judicial nominations.

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CLASS NOTES

Francesca Tauber ’99 with her husband Andy and children Sienna, Henry and baby Sabrina.

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20th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019

Evan Piekara enjoyed catching up with Abbey alumni and faculty at the April reception in Washington, DC and looks forward to connecting with other Abbey alumni. He has a lot going on with the move to a new home in D.C., and a book published on the government and nonprofit consulting industry. He and his wife are expecting a baby girl in September!

Francesca Palazio Tauber has moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL and is loving the sunny life. She, her husband Andy, and their children Sienna (5) and Henry (4) welcomed baby Sabrina into their family on February 13.

00 I Pat Hewett has assumed a new role as the vice president for advancement at Catholic Charities of Boston. In this role, he oversees the fundraising, marketing, and communications functions for the largest private human services agency in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Pat, his wife Maura, and their kids Hannah, Liam, and Colin also welcomed new baby Owen Peter on December 18, 2018.

05 I Marc Paranzino finished his Internal Medicine residency at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in June.

Following residency, he will be staying at UK for a Cardiology fellowship with plans to pursue Interventional and Sports Cardiology. He recently proposed to his long-time girlfriend, a Plastic Surgery resident at UK, and will be getting married in Newport in 2020. In October, he will also be competing in his third Ironman Triathlon in Louisville, KY. ...The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) named Andrew Coombs one of their 40 Under Forty 2019 Honorees. Andrew is the Managing Partner and President of Coombs CPA, PC where he recently celebrated the Grand Opening after the purchase of his professional building in Newark, NJ.

06 I

On May 19, more than 15 alumni of all ages returned to campus to face off against our varsity boys’ lacrosse Ravens. In a hard-fought battle, our alumni bested the boys’ team 13-11!

Coach and Mrs. Brown fired up the grill for the players after the match.

Julia Driscoll married her college sweetheart, Justin Willette, on February 23, 2019 in Austin, TX. In attendance were Kate Atkinson Laird and former Abbey faculty member Therese Thomas Roberts! ...Alexandra Leonard graduated from Albany Medical College this spring and matched into dermatology residency at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, RI.

summer Alumni BULLETIN 2019

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CLASS NOTES

07 I After 6 amazing years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ryana S. Barbosa and her husband will be relocating to Lisbon, Portugal. Ryana will be pursuing an MSc in International Studies at ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon.

08 I Margaret Ferrara graduated from NYU College of Dentistry in 2017 and recently finished a General Practice Residency at the Manhattan Hospital for Veteran Affairs. She is now working as a general dentist alongside her dad, Dr. Peter Ferrara, at his practice in Shelton, CT. ...Kunwoo Kim will receive his Master of Arts degree this summer, and will be continuing towards a Doctoral degree in Music, Science, and Technology at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Science (CCRMA) at Stanford University. He studies computer-based music theory and acoustics at CCRMA and conducts research in designing aesthetic lenses of human values in the medium of Virtual Reality. Kunwoo shares that his “previous works express human qualities in the form of real-time audiovisual interactions. I aspire to expand my design into social, philosophic, and ethical dimensions of virtual reality, and suggest future directions and artful methods of imbuing human nature and music into this immersive medium. I remember how I enjoyed studying both music and mathematics/science at the Abbey. It has really established a foundation for being a PI-shaped scholar, where I use aesthetics as a bridge to connect engineering disciplines and musical domains.“

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Margaret Ferrara DDS ‘08.

Kristin Harper ‘09 and sister Kelsi Harper ‘13.

09 I 10th REUNION SEPTEMBER 20-22, 2019 Kirstin Harper successfully defended her doctoral dissertation entitled “Pauca tamen memorans: A Selection of Late Antique Funerary Poetry Commemorating Young Women” and graduated with her Ph.D. from the University of Columbia-MO. Kirstin presented selections from her dissertation research at the July 2019 Classical Association’s conference in London.

10 I James Baylor is living, working, and sailing in the Virgin Islands. ...At the beginning of June, Frank Pagliaro graduated from the two-year evening conservatory program at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in Manhattan. Read more about Frank’s acting career on page 27....

Last August, Cindy Ruiz visited Dan Carney and Sarah Savoie in South Carolina for her baby shower as she prepared to welcome the beautiful baby Isla.

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Sarah Savoie ‘10 and Cindy Ruiz ‘10

11 I 2011 Girls were among those cheering on Emily Cunningham at the Boston Marathon: (from left) Kelly Buckley, Tara Tischio, Tiernan Barry and ( far right) Georgia Callahan.

Georgia Callahan graduated with a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Boston College this May and has begun working to provide therapeutic and stabilization resources to adults with severe mental illnesses at North Suffolk Mental Health. She recently reunited with Tara Tischio, Kelly Buckley, and Tiernan Barry to support Emily Cunningham from the sidelines as Emily ran this year’s Boston Marathon!

12 I Matt Brigham moved this May to Adelaide, Australia, to play semi-pro lacrosse for the Brighton Bombers. Matt received his degree in Finance from Bentley University in 2016 and was a co-captain and four-year starter for the men’s lacrosse team. Recruited to play lacrosse for Durham University, Durham, England, he received his Master’s Degree in Finance Management. While at Durham, Matt was awarded the Palatinate Award which is given to athletes or former athletes who demonstrate the following qualities:

Ability of a High Standard (international representation), Service to a Club, and Attitude and Commitment. His Durham team won the 2017 Buck’s National Championship for Men’s Lacrosse. He also played quarterback for Durham’s football team and won a silver medal in the National Championship game. Most recently, he lived in Washington, D.C., and Hartford, CT, for two years while working in Finance for Aetna Insurance. This past 2019 spring season, Matt was an assistant coach for Marymount University’s (Arlington, VA) men’s lacrosse team.

Matt Brigham ‘12 received the Palatinate Award while at Durham University

summer Alumni BULLETIN 2019

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13 I Francesca Kielb received a BFA in Visual Art and Design from the University of Michigan, where she gained experience working with non-profit art organizations including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Cranbrook Art Museum.

Francesca now manages communications for arts organizations and city-wide events throughout Chicago with a special focus on visual arts. As an Account Executive at Carol Fox & Associates, her clients include EXPO CHICAGO, Art on theMART, Hindman Auction House, Chicago Artists Coalition, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. In her free time, she is growing a photography collection and serves on the Executive Board for Arts of Life, a nonprofit organization serving adult artists with disabilities.

confidence in professional settings, thereby facilitating equal opportunity for success.

The Wardrobe operates through two business models: pop-up giveaway shops and an online rental system through the school website. The organization receives both clothing and monetary donations from alumni outreach and from firms like Deutsche Bank, EY, and etc. All clothing donations at the pop-up stores are given away, while the donated funds are used to purchase and replenish items for the rental model. With more than 300 registered items, including suits, shirts, ties, belts, shoes, dresses, and skirts in its inventory, The Wardrobe has helped more than 300 students.

Sean Spicer ‘89 and Alex Sienkiewicz ‘18 at the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference.

15 I Elizabeth (Ellie) Kielb recently graduated from Purdue University-West Lafayette with a degree in Developmental Science and is pursuing a graduate school degree in the PhD program in Public Health at Purdue, with research focusing on childhood obesity and eating behaviors.

16 I Max Bogan is finishing her junior year at Stanford University. She spent 8 weeks in New York City this summer working in a research lab at Rockefeller University. ...Stephen Vye was named a Srixon/ Cleveland Golf All American Scholar this year at Rosemont College. To be eligible for Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar status an individual must be a junior or senior academically and compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 50-percent of his team’s competitive rounds or compete in

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the NCAA Championships, have a stroke average under 79.0 in Division III and maintain a minimum cumulative gradepoint average of 3.2. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university.

Stephen was the top golfer for Rosemont and posted a +9 for the team tournament to finish four shots off the cutline for the individual tournament.

17 I Kevin Jiang joined “The Wardrobe,” an organization within Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, in February of 2018 as a marketing associate; he is now serving as the operations director, managing its daily business operations and overseeing internal development. The Wardrobe provides free professional apparel to Cornell students to help build their

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18 I Alex Sienkiewicz met with fellow Abbey alumnus, Sean Spicer ’89, while in DC for the Conservative Political Action Conference 2019. ...Dan Sliney was awarded the Hobart College Druid Society character award as a First Year student who best represents the cardinal principle of Character. Hobart finished their season as NCAA Division III Men’s Ice Hockey runner-up. Dan was also elected into the Orange Key Society of Hobart College.

This society recognizes promising rising sophomores who have been leaders on campus their first year. ...Abbey Luth was named the United College Hockey Conference (UCHC) Rookie of the Year in Ice Hockey at William Smith. She finished her first season with the Herons with 31 points on 18 goals and 13 assists.

MISSION STATEMENT The aim of Portsmouth Abbey School is to help young men and women grow in knowledge and grace.

Grounded in the Catholic faith and 1500-year-old Benedictine intellectual tradition, the School fosters: Reverence for God and the human person Respect for learning and order Responsibility for the shared experience of community life

BOARD OF REGENTS

Very Reverend Michael G. Brunner O.S.B. Prior-Administrator Portsmouth, RI Mr. W. Christopher Behnke ’81 P’12 ’15 ’19 Chairman Chicago, IL Mr. Christopher Abbate ’88 P’20 ’23 New York, NY Ms. Abby Benson ’92 Boulder, CO Dom Joseph Byron O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI Mr. Creighton O. Condon ’74 P’07 ’10 Jamestown, RI Sr. Suzanne Cooke, R.S.C.J. Washington, D.C. Dom Francis Crowley O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI Mrs. Kathleen Cunningham P’08 ‘09 ‘11 ‘14 Dedham, MA Mr. Gang (Jason) Ding P’18 Qingdao, China Mr. Christopher and Dr. Debra Falvey P’18 ’20 Co-chairs, Parents’ Association Plaistow, NH Mr. Peter Ferry ’75 P’16 ’17 Philadelphia, PA

Mrs. Frances Fisher P’15 San Francisco, CA Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan ’75 P’06 ’09 ’11 ’19 ‘21 Tiverton, RI

Mr. Philip V. Moyles, Jr. ’82 Annual Fund Chair Rye, NY Mr. Emmett O’Connell P’16 ’17 Stowe, VT

Mr. Patrick Gallagher ’81 P’15 Providence, RI

Mr. Shane O’Neil ‘65 Bedford, MA

Mrs. Margaret S. Healey P’91 GP’19 ‘21 New Vernon, NJ

Mr. Peter J. Romatowski ’68 McLean, VA

Mr. Denis Hector ’70 Miami, FL

Dom Paschal Scotti O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI

Father Francis Hein O.S.B. Portsmouth, RI

Mr. William Winterer ’87 Boston, MA

Dr. Gregory Hornig ’68 P’01 West Palm Beach, FL

EM ER ITU S

Mrs. Cara Gontarz Hume ’99 Hingham, MA

Mr. Peter M. Flanigan g ’41 P’75 ’83 GP’06 ’09 ’09 ’11 ’11 ’19 ’19 ’21 Purchase, NY

Mr. Peter M. Kennedy III ’64 P’07 ’08 ’15 Big Horn, WY

Mr. Thomas Healey ’60 P’91 GP’19 ‘21 New Vernon, NJ

Mr. William M. Keogh ’78 P’13 Jamestown, RI Dr. Mary Beth Klee P’04 Hanover, NH Ms. Devin McShane P’09 ’11 Providence, RI Abbott Gregory Mohrman O.S.B. St. Louis, MO

Mr. William Howenstein g ’52 P’87 GP’10 ’17 ’21 ’22 Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Mr. Barnet Phillips, IV ’66 Greenwich, CT

g Deceased

Cover: Roman Paska ’69 with puppet self–portrait, based on Portsmouth yearbook photos, for Schoolboy Play, performed at Linz ‘09 and the Dona Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon, 2010.

285 Cory’s Lane Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871 www.portsmouthabbey.org Address Service Requested

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P ORT S M O U T H

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PARENTS’ WEEKEND 2019

SAVE THE DATE! OCT. 17-19

SUMMER BULLETIN 2019

PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL

SUMMER BULLETIN 2019