Portsmouth Abbey School Winter 2017 Alumni Bulletin

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

P ORTS M O U T H

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A BB E Y S C HO OL PORTSMOUTH ABBE Y SCHOOL

Family Day 2017 Saturday, May 13, 2017 from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Parents, Grandparents, Siblings and Friends All are welcome to come and share the day with our Abbey Community.

Enjoy a BBQ, watch games and performances, and attend special events.

ALUMNI BULLETIN WINTER 2017

T H E PA R E NTS’ A SSO C I AT I O N I N VI T E S YO U TO

For more information on the event or how to get involved, please contact Meghan Fonts, director of parent relations at mfonts@portsmouthabbey.org or 401-643-1246.

ENGAGE IN OUR COMMUNITY . . . ENHANCE YOUR ABBEY EXPERIENCE!

ALUMNI BULLETIN WINTER 2017

P ORTSMO UTH A BBE Y SCHO OL MISSION STATEMENT

2016-17 Annual Fund

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

Grounded in the Catholic faith and 1,500-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 Right Rev. Dom Matthew Stark, O.S.B. Abbot and Chancellor Portsmouth, RI Mr. W. Christopher Behnke ’81 P ’12 ’15 ’19 Chairman Chicago, IL 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. Peter Ferry ’75 P ’16 ‘17 Republic of Singapore Mrs. Frances Fisher P ’15 San Francisco, CA Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan ’75 P ’06 ’09 ’11 ’19 Tiverton, RI Mr. Peter S. Forker ’69 Chicago, IL

Mr. Shane O’Neil ‘65 Bedford, MA

Mrs. Margaret S. Healey P ’91 New Vernon, NJ

Mr. John Perreira P ’05 Portsmouth, RI

Mr. Denis Hector ’70 Miami, FL

Mr. Peter J. Romatowski ’68 McLean, VA

Dr. Gregory Hornig ’68 P’ 01 Prairie Village, KS

Mr. Rowan G.P. Taylor P ’13 ’17 ’18 New Canaan, CT

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

Mr. William Winterer ’87 Boston, MA

Mr. William Keogh ’78 P ’13 Litchfield, CT

Emeritus

Ms. Devin McShane P ’09 ’11 Providence, RI Rev. Dom Gregory Mohrman, O.S.B. St. Louis, MO Mr. Philip V. Moyles, Jr. ’82 Annual Fund Chair Rye, NY Mr. and Mrs. Emmett O’Connell P ’16 ’17 Co-Chairs, Parents’ Association Stowe, VT

young men and women grow in knowledge and grace.

Reverence

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

Dr. Mary Beth Klee P ’04 Hanover, NH

The aim of Portsmouth Abbey School is to help

Mr. Peter Flanigan R ’41 P ’75 ’83 GP ’06 ’09 ’11 ’19 Purchase, NY Mr. Thomas Healey ’60 P ’91 New Vernon, NJ Mr. William Howenstein R ’52 P ’87 GP ’10 Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Barnet Phillips IV ‘66 Greenwich, CT

R

Respect Responsibiity

Responsibility Our profound and unique mission statement places Portsmouth Abbey School in an important position in academia. The search for both intellectual and spiritual Truth is the hallmark of an Abbey education.

Guided by the Benedictine tradition, our dedicated faculty live out our mission every day as they help our students grow in knowledge and grace.

For our students, this growth is a lifelong pursuit that begins in the classrooms, houses, and on the fields at Portsmouth Abbey.

deceased

Front cover: Jon Kuyper, Portsmouth Abbey Class of 1985, is a film producer who has worked for film powerhouses like Warner Bros. and Lionsgate.

His CV includes such Academy Award-winning films as “The Great Gatsby,” “The Hobbit Trilogy,” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” and reflects collaborations with A-list directors from Baz Luhrmann and George Miller to Peter Jackson and Sean Penn.

Jon’s son, Luke, is currently a Third-former at Portsmouth Abbey School. Read the profile of Jon on page 12. Photo by Coco Van Oppens.

Your gifts to the Annual Fund go to work immediately to directly support our students and secure the strength of our mission. Make a gift today at www.portsmouthabbey.org/makeagift.

Please contact Director of the Annual Fund Alex Karppinen at akarppinen@portsmouthabbey.org or 401-643-1204 with any questions about the Annual Fund.

MONASTIC PERSPECTIVE

Distinctive Qualities

of a benedictine education

by Dom Edmund Adams, O.S.B., ’57

On December 24, 2016, Portsmouth Abbey and School lost a beloved monk, teacher and friend, Dom Edmund Adams, O.S.B.,’57.

In honor of Fr. Edmund’s keen intellect and devotion to the Rule of St. Benedict we begin with “Distinctive Qualities of a Benedictine Education,” a piece written at the request of the Abbot in 1995. The process caused Fr. Edmund “to rethink and formulate ideas concerning Benedictine principles and the work of Portsmouth Abbey School. As one example,” he said, “I tried to isolate those qualities which are distinctively Benedictine and to consider their influence on education.”

Benedictine life is motivated by certain distinctive qualities of the Rule of St. Benedict, of Benedictine history, and of Benedictine experience in the modern world. These qualities include moderation, simplicity, integrity, and six others to be touched on here: family, tradition, wisdom and truth, rhythm and harmony, specific sensitivity, and growth in love.

Both in spirituality and in organization Benedictines are a family of families. The family is the model for a community of brethren under an abbot (“abbot” means father”), with a vow of stability within the family. This structure and way of life are markedly different from Orders and Societies organized in provinces on the model of political or military institutions. Individual families, or abbeys, join together in congregations, but the vow of obedience is to one’s own abbot, the vow of stability to one’s own monastic family. A Benedictine school would have the characteristics of a family rather than of a civil institution, and the family would include monks, lay faculty, students, workers, parents, and alumni. I know from my own experience that, at Portsmouth, even those who left the school before graduating, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, are accepted as family when they return years later. In turn, I remain in familial contact with a few students who left for academic or disciplinary problems.

From the nature and antiquity of the Rule and from Benedictine history, Benedictines are committed to living an active tradition.

Tradition, in passing on what is alive and growing, is neither conservative nor progressive, unless it be both. Tradition keeps alive and enlivens the present by whatever is clas-

“

sical, that is whatever is effectively alive beyond any particular time or fashion. The spirit is that of that culmination of a half-century of Catholic genius, Vatican Council II, since lost in postconciliar disarray: the Church must be free of any age or party. An example is Gregorian chant, neither old-fashioned nor fashionable, but classic. The Benedictine understanding of tradition, affecting the liturgy of the monastery and the curriculum of the school, seeks always a living classicism through which that which is eternal inspires the present day.

We are neither a museum nor a fashion show.

In promoting Benedictine education, we usually highlight the intellectual ideal. This in itself does not distinguish the Benedictine spirit from others such as the Dominican, the Jesuit, the secular academic. Yet the Benedictine commitment to wisdom and truth can be distinguished from other intellectual commitments in ways influential for a characteristically Benedictine education.

There is a clear encouragement of the love of wisdom in the Rule, and the Benedictine contribution to the intellectual development of Europe is a historical commonplace. What we do not find dominantly in the Benedictine devotion to wisdom and truth is either the apologetic or the critical-academic approach to intellectual pursuits. While there is a place for both of these, the Benedictine spirit and approach differ from them.

In the Benedictine tradition, scholarship is engaged in neither for personal, nor for social advancement, but for love, for the love of learning, the love of wisdom, the love of truth, and the love of God. The monk or nun seeks wisdom and truth for his or her own sake and for the sake of God, to know and to love God in His wisdom and truth. Wisdom and truth are not our inventions; they are outside us to be pursued, known, and loved.

The purpose of intellectual activity is different, and therefore its nature and methods are different.

Even a school which took the life of the mind itself as the primary value would stand out in the present educa-

oth in B spirituality and in organization Benedictines are a family of families.

”

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PAGE 1

The Portsmouth Abbey Monastic Community in 2009

tional environment. But the Benedictine love of truth and wisdom goes a step beyond that. An education with such a goal and focus would be qualitatively superior to that offered by today’s colleges and secondary schools. This Benedictine devotion to truth is akin to that proclaimed by Francis Bacon in his essay, “On Truth”: But howsoever these things are thus, in man’s depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only does judge itself, teaches, that the Inquiry of Truth, which is the lovemaking, or wooing of it; the knowledge of Truth, which is the presence of it; and the Belief of Truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the sovereign good of human nature…Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man’s mind move in Charity, rest in Providence, and turn upon the Poles of Truth.

Another pervasive keynote of the Rule and of Benedictine life is rhythm and harmony, a balance of mutual interplay of contraries.

It may be seen in the motto: prayer and work. The ideal is for prayer and work to become one. Prayer itself has the mutually informing elements of individual prayer and common prayer. Within the common prayer in the Office, there is always a Wordsworthian variety within repetition. The liturgy may be both ceremonially elaborate and fundamentally simple. There is a similar harmony of contraries in the elements of seniority and equality, concern for differing individuals and for the communal family, the old and the new, and the mixed active and contemplative life in relation to the world.

Although the monk’s vocation is more contemplative, less directly involved in the world, than that of the students and other laity, the Benedictine’s relationship to the world should be reflected in a Benedictine school. A Benedictine family – including the school – is both a sign of contradiction (when No to the world is the necessary obverse of Yes to God or to the Truth) and the seed of the kingdom of heaven growing in the world. The Christian of PAGE 2

the Gospel life is in but not of the world, a child of God not born of the world, working within the world to transform it (or to allow Christ to transform the world through him or her).

A distinctive characteristic of St. Benedict, in strong contrast to his primary source, The Rule of the Master, is a specific sensitivity to the weak and the failing (physically, morally, or temperamentally). Those in authority are constantly reminded of this: let no one be distressed in the household of God. It is the care of the father/ mother, the care of Christ, for individually distinct children, with each one’s particular strengths and weaknesses. In the school, this Benedictine spirit is not a lax “permissiveness” but calls for treatment of each person guided by the specific nature of that individual.

The goal of Benedictine life in Christ is growth in love. The emphasis – as in St. Paul – is on maturity, maturing in humility and love. Each weak individual is to grow and be strengthened through the common fraternal life and the love of God. By love, one grows and matures. This holds true not only for the moral and social capacities of the individual and of the community, but even for the intellectual: knowledge comes through love, as one comes to know another person, a country visited, God. We seek constant growth in understanding oneself, one another, and the truth, in and through the love of God, together.

Fundamental to all of this is the life of Faith in God, not primarily an intellectual act but rather a fidelity in relationship which defines, controls, and activates one’s life. We live by what the then Archbishop Montini of Milan, later Paul VI, called the “religious sense” in his 1957 pastoral letter, and which he defined as: The soul’s natural capacity for a rudimentary awareness of God, a capacity to seek Him out and commune with Him, to believe in Him, pray to Him, love Him, and to view all human conduct in the light of a responsibility to something that transcends the human order.

As Benedictine educators, we ourselves and those we seek to educate must be capax dei, open to God, first of all. The natural desire for God and the divine gift of the life of grace must be nurtured and, if lost, rediscovered and assisted toward that living and faithful relationship with God which alone tells and lives out the truth about life, its true value and meaning. It is occasionally, but not primarily, a matter of direct teaching; more often it is an effect of our own lives and both the intended and the unintended result of our personal interaction with students. If we do this, we will be fundamentally different from most sources of education and information in the world our students inhabit.

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

CONTENTS

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 out our listing of upcoming alumni events here on campus and around the country.

And please update your contact information on our Alumni Community pages, where you can find out more about Reunion 2017, our Annual Golf Scholarship Tournament, and share news and search for fellow alumni around the world: www.portsmouthabbey.org/page/alumni

Distinctive Qualities of a Benedictine Education

by Dom Edmund Adams, O.S.B.,’57

1

Reunion 2016

4

Alumni Profile: Jon Kuyper ‘85

12

Alumni Profile: Ron Passaro ‘95

15

Alumni Profile: Zack McCune ‘06

18

Ora et La-Birra by Fr. Benedict (Jeremy) Nivakoff ’97 21

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 (1-5 MB), please email: classnotes@portsmouthabbey.org or mail to Portsmouth Abbey Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, 285 Cory’s Lane, Portsmouth, Rhode Island 02871.

The Portsmouth Abbey 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.

Alumni Profile: Paolo Soriano ‘10

24

Tito (Jaime)’59 and André del Amo and the Palomares Incident

26

From the Office of Admission

by Director of Admission Steve Pietraszek ’96

28

From the Office of College Counseling

by Director of College Counseling Corie McDermott-Fazzino

30

Abbey in Asia From the Office of Development & Alumni Affairs

32

Being Human in an Age of Confusion: A Preview of the Portsmouth Institute’s 2017 Summer Conference

by Christopher Fisher, Executive Director, Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture

36

Courage in The Lord of the Rings 38

by David Mills Fall 2016 Athletics

41

Milestones: Weddings, Births, Necrology

44

In Memoriam: Dom Damian Kearney O.S.B. ‘45, Dom Edmund Adams O.S.B., ’57, Philip Edward Heide ’58, Jaime (Tito) del Amo ‘59, John M. Kerr ’67, Lucas Miller Bandoni ‘15

47

Photography: Jez Coulson, Louis Walker, Andrea Hansen, Marianne Lee, Coco Van Oppens, Kathy Heydt

How to Write a Letter to a Boy Away at School Reprinted from the Portsmouth Abbey 50th Anniversary Book

by Jean Kerr P’63 ’67 ‘71 ‘77

61

Individual photos found in alumni profiles have been supplied courtesy of the respective alumni.

Class Notes

63

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

Headmaster: Daniel McDonough Director of Development: Matthew Walter Editor/Art Director: Kathy Heydt Design: Gayle Bordlemay

addendum:

In our last issue, we reported a sailing award won by Jessica McJones ’16, who was pictured with her team. We have received a request to identify all of the sailors in the photo, and we are happy to do that: Abbey sailors pictured, from left, are Kelly Shea ’16, Sydney Welsh ’16, Jackie Morrison ’17, Emily Bredin ’17, Coach Jonathan Hartley, Grace Benzal ’17 and Jessica McJones ’16.

correction:

In the profile of Cara Gontarz Hume ’99 and Andrea Petronello Marone ’02 we erroneously stated that Mr. Chenoweth was the girls’ varsity soccer coach when Cara came to the Abbey. The girls’ soccer coach at the time was Tim Groves.

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PAGE 3

by Director of Special Events and Community Relations Patty Gibbons

As we ushered in the first weekend of October on Cory’s Lane, we also welcomed Alumni from near and far for Reunion Weekend 2016. The occasional shower (or downpour) couldn’t dampen the spirits of this wonderful group of Ravens! Portsmouth Abbey classes ending in ‘1 and ‘6, as well as a few attendees from neighboring classes, made their way back to campus for a full weekend of fun. With over 260 attendees returning, we celebrated all weekend long with numerous activities.

The festivities began Friday morning with a few dozen alumni braving the elements and hitting the links at the beautiful Carnegie Abbey Club. Others participated by going “Back to the Classroom,” or with a visit to the St. Thomas More library to peruse the impressive display of alumni works. Friday evening found multiple class dinners at various off-campus locations on and around Aquidneck Island.

Saturday presented a full roster of events for our Reunion-goers. Some started with Mass followed by a delicious breakfast prepared by the talented staff at Stillman Dining Hall.

Many enjoyed the conversation with Headmaster Dan McDonough who presented on the impressive state of the School and held a Q&A for the group. A Low Requiem Mass was offered for deceased members of our Abbey community. Alumni had the chance to break bread (and lobster tails) with old friends and introduce their families at the New England-style clambake while enjoying the music of Jim Coyle and Americana Swing Band.

With butter-covered fingers and satisfied bellies, guests headed to the various athletic contests to cheer on their favorite team and show their Raven spirit! 1

3 Reunion guests reminisce outside of the

Church of St. Gregory the Great following the Low Requiem Mass.

2 Crystal Curry ’96 doesn’t let a little rain

dampen her reunion spirit!

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

3 Bryan McGuirk ’81

and nephew Teddy O’Connor ’17 catch up under the Reunion tent.

1 Eli Leino ’11 and wife

Sarah stop for a photo in between festivities.

3 Members of ’66 gather for a

photo before the clambake begins.

4 A future Raven gets in on the action.

2 Reunion revelers enjoying an old fashioned New England Clambake.

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2 Members of the Class of ’06 enjoying the Reunion dinner.

1 Charlie Lamar ’66 is leading his class in rousing cheers in

honor of their 50th Reunion.

2 Yong-Kwan Kwon ’96 of Seoul enjoys conversation

with classmates Mark von Sternberg and Steve Pietraszek.

3 Members of the Class of ’91 take a break from dinner to reconnect.

2 Proud Ravens from the Class of 2011 enjoying the company and the night.

PAGE 6

2 Members of the Class of ’01 flash us their winning smiles!

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

Sunday morning offered the opportunity for collective worship with an all school Mass at the Church of St. Gregory the Great immediately followed by a delicious brunch at Stillman Dining Hall. A great weekend was enjoyed by all as alumni reminisced in their shared history of Portsmouth Abbey School and all the things that make it such a very special place to live, learn and grow in knowledge and grace.

Planning has begun for Reunion 2017, which will be held on September 22 – 24, 2017. All classes, particularly those ending in ‘2 or ‘7 and members of the Diman Club, are encouraged to mark your calendar and make your plans to join us. For questions, please contact Director of Special Events Patty Gibbons at 401-643-1281 or email at pgibbons@portsmouthabbey.org

2 Ravens enjoy brunch following Sunday mass before heading home.

PORTSMOUTH ABBEY

2017

1942 x 1947 x 1952x 1957 x 19 62 x 1967 x 1972 x 1977 x 1982 x 1987 x 1 992 x 1 997 x 20 0 2 x 20 0 7 x 20 1 2

After a full day, guests gathered in the Winter Garden for a lively cocktail party then proceeded into the warmly decorated auditorium for a wonderful surf and turf dinner.

Diners were led in blessing by Abbot Matthew Stark and heard remarks from Headmaster Dan McDonough and Development Officer Andrew Rose, with special recognition for the Class of ’66 on their 50th Reunion and the Class of ’91 on their 25th Reunion. We had the great pleasure of recognizing a few special alumni in the room including Phillip Brady ’56, the most senior alumnus in attendance and Yong-Kwan Kwon ’96, the farthest traveled, from Seoul, Korea.

Save

the Date!

REUNION 2017 September 22 - 24 Classes ending in 2 and 7 – this is your reunion year!

We especially welcome back members of the Diman Club – alumni from all classes prior to 1966!

Visit www.portsmouthabbey.org/reunion for more information regarding the schedule, alumni golf, class dinners, accommodations, babysitting and more!

Questions?

Contact Patty Gibbons at 401-643-1281 or pgibbons@portsmouthabbey.org

Diman Club

(left to right) Mr. and Mrs. Roger H. Moriarty ’50, Mr. and Mrs. Phillip H. Brady, Jr. ’56, Mr. and Mrs. John T. Reid ’62

Class of 1966 seated: (left to right) Pierre de Saint Phalle, Juan Kellogg, Chip Burke, Hayes Hanley, Barney Phillips, Peter Walsh, John Bremner

Claude Rives, Ralph Mariani, Charlie Lamar, Bob Camargo, John Campbell, Peter Sturges, Walter Cotter, Rich Gilston

Middle row:

Back row: Nat Simpkins, Paul Kennedy, David Deegan, Eric Sandeen, Chris Mullen, Jon Gilloon, Enrico Martini, Jim Danaher, Peter Helmer Not pictured but attended: Paul Schofield, Mike Tierney

Class of 1971

(left to right) David Moran, Tim Klemmer, Tom Lonergan, David Black, Stephen Griffith

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

Class of 1976

(left to right) Tom Keogh, Tim McKenna, Chris Ferrone, Frank Tietje, Hank Schmitt, Robert Rogers

Front Row:

Shea Farrell, Ted Mahoney, Nick Murray, Chris Tovar, Rob O’Donnell, Paul DiBuono, Chris Harty, Rick Sullivan, Tim Garvey, Mark Dietrich, Jeff Calnan, Peter McCarthy

Back Rows:

Class of 1981

(left to right) Charlie Pages, Rick Abedon, Doug Peale, Nick Moran, Patrick Ward, Tom Ruggieri

Front Row:

Second Row: Jim Farley, Jay Lynch, Andrew Huntley-Robertson, Pete Loos, John Ruvane, Bill Spellman Third Row: Greg Kuruvilla, Jim Holland, John Canning, Patrick Gallagher, Bryan McGuirk

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Class of 1991

(left to right) Daryl Barnes, Ezra Smith, Benson Kutrieb, Kurt Edenbach, Dave Barrett, Jeremy Healey, Gordon Carrolton

Class of 1996

(left to right) Steve Pietraszek, Sardiaa Plaud Leney, Crystal Curry Newland, Enrico Palazio, Kathryn Tappen-Cosgrove, Ann Marie Gagnon Forbes, James Dec

Front Row:

Second Row: Stephen Allen, Todd Rich, Matt Leahy, John Edenbach, Heather Dwyer, Mary-Kathryn McKenna Aranda Third Row: Yong Kwan Kwon, Sean Howley, Morgan Kearney, Mark von Sternberg, Matt Igoe, Chris Finnerty, Ted Wells, Mike Earp

PAGE 10

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

Class of 2001

(left to right) Dan Murray, Kate Kearney, Brooke Beecy, Katie Eagan, Vanessa Palazio, Erin Harrington, John Heins

Front Row:

Second Row: Lisa Beck, Elizabeth Moran, Tiffany Behnke, Kate Erstling, Shelley Ryan, John Jay Mouligné Third Row: Matthew Judge, Alex Squire, William Hogg, Ethan Murray

Class of 2006 Front Row:

(left to right) Courtney Mitchell, Abby Smith, Lisa Betz

John Gray Parker, Rachel Johnstone, Eli Leino, Julie Dufresne, Rebecca Findlay Second Row:

Class of 2011 Front:

Sheamus Standish

Second Row: (left to right) Mike McLaughlin, Chris Weber, Garret Behan, Riley Kinnane, Sara Stratoberdha, Kaitlin Patton, Brigid Behan, Abby Shea, Maddie Savoie, Gabby Rossi, Kate Skakel, Kelly Buckley Third Row: Charlotte Anderson, Teresa Lonergan, Justin Coleman, Abigail Skinner, Mitch Green, Kara Lessels, Meghan Harrington, Shannon Mulholland, Ben Slade, Tiernan Berry, Tara Tischio, Emmet Conway (Class of 2012)

Liam O’Farrell, Henry Mullen, Nick Albertson, Jake Flynn, Drew Clendenen

Fourth Row:

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ALUMNI PROFILE

Jon Kuyper ’85 By any measure, Jon Kuyper ‘85 has led a storied life. A film producer for powerhouses Warner Bros. and Lionsgate for nearly a decade before going freelance in 2014, Kuyper’s CV includes such Academy awardwinning films as The Great Gatsby, The Hobbit trilogy, and Mad Max and reflects collaborations with A-list directors from Baz Luhrmann and George Miller to Peter Jackson and Sean Penn. above:

Jon in Newport with his son Luke, Class of 2020.

PAGE 12

Yet Kuyper says his life could easily have taken a very different path.

“After graduating from Pomona College, I had three career interests: politics, teaching English in a boarding school, or working in the Hollywood film industry,” he recalls. “In the end, the decision hinged on lifestyle choices. Pursuing a career in politics meant moving to Washington, D.C., my home state of Connecticut, or Sacramento, none of which was a preference. Teaching English in a boarding school meant getting my master’s and moving back to the East Coast…also not terribly appealing. So almost by default, I went with the Hollywood film track, because quite honestly, I wanted to live in Southern California.” The rest, as they say in the business, is history.

Today, Kuyper makes his home much farther south – in Sydney, Australia – and works as a freelancer, line-producing “more modestsize films” that capture his imagination. He’s earned that luxury. Since launching his production management career with Roger Corman in Los Angeles in 1991, Kuyper has produced or supervised production on more than 50 films worldwide, with budgets ranging from $300,000 to over $100 million. After striking out on his own two years ago, he signed on to produce Sean Penn’s drama The Last Face, starring Javier Bardem and Charlize Theron, which was shot in South Africa. He’s currently back in South Africa, working on 24 Hours to Live, a thriller starring Ethan Hawke, filming in Cape Town.

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

ALUMNI PROFILE

Despite this impressive CV, Kuyper insists his success is due to a series of happy accidents and “being in the right place at the right time.” He didn’t even major in film, he points out, instead earning a degree in English literature at Pomona. “Being a good filmmaker doesn’t require majoring in film. In fact, when I lecture students on filmmaking, I advise them to study something they love and can draw upon.

You can learn almost everything you need to know about filmmaking on the job.”

One of the most important things you learn, Kuyper contends, is that there’s no one right way to get the job done. “I think that one of the reasons I’ve been so successful working abroad is because of my approach,” he observes.

“Over the years, I’ve learned the way that things are done in a given country and when I’m there, I make it a point to work with locals rather than taking an adversarial stance.

There are lots of ways to do things, and I’ve learned to embrace different methodologies.”

Another of Kuyper’s potent skills: his ability to help directors and “money men” strike the precarious balance between art and commerce that is essential to the success of any film. “As an executive producer, I’m the translator between the film maker and the financier,” he explains. “The director has a vision, but the financier has a bottom line – after all, it is the film business. I serve as the bridge between the two, helping the director execute his vision and helping the financiers achieve their goals with respect to budget, timeline, legal issues, etc.”

Kuyper speaks of his skills with easy confidence, but when pressed, he concedes that his job entails managing complex logistics with numerous personalities and moving parts. “A typical film has a cast and crew – a circus if you will, because with a group of that size and complexity, it really is like the circus coming to town – of somewhere between 100 and 150 people.” That said, he immediately points out that when it comes to filmmaking, there’s little that’s typical.

“When we were filming Mad Max, for example, we were serving up to two thousand lunches a day under tents in the desert – it was like a military operation.”

Then there’s the director, with a vision that Kuyper must help to realize… as smoothly as possible. And when working with a personality like Sean Penn, there’s no telling what might happen. “Sean is one of the most passionate and talented directors I’ve ever worked with,”

above:

Director Sean Penn discusses a shot with producers Bill Gerber and Jon Kuyper.

left:

Kuyper and Sean Penn worked together in 2014 on The Last Face a film set in the war-torn country of Liberia.

says Kuyper. “He’s super smart, demanding and relentless.

His dad was a director, his mom was an actress, and Sean’s been acting since childhood—he knows the business inside out and he asks a lot from his team.”

Penn is also improvisational, which makes the executive producer’s role particularly challenging. “He keeps you on your toes,” says Kuyper wryly.

Kuyper and Penn worked together in 2014 on The Last Face, a film set in the war-torn country of Liberia. “One morning, Sean came to the set and told me that he’d had a dream the night before in which Bardem and Theron were walking through a sugar cane field on fire,” Kuyper recalls. “I thought the scene would be shot as a green screen – with the burning field filmed at one time and the actors superimposed on the image later, but Sean told me, ‘No, we’re shooting this for real.’” Kuyper was terrified of putting two Academy award-winning actors in danger, but Penn insisted, and the shoot proceeded. “I did my due diligence, staged a controlled burn, and had fire crews stationed all around, and it went exactly as Sean had said it would,” Kuyper says, “and then the scene didn’t even end up in the film. That’s filmmaking,” he concludes with a rueful chuckle. “It’s a very non-linear process, and that’s the magic of it. There are many times when I think, ‘Maybe this isn’t possible,’ but then things come together.”

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ALUMNI PROFILE

above: Jon with Jean Reno, whom he regards as the wisest, most wonderful man he’s ever worked with throughout his career. Reno may be remembered from “The Professional”, “The Big Blue” or any of the “Mission Impossible” films. left: Luke on set with a real live crash test dummy.

Over the years, things have come together repeatedly for Kuyper, including on his two proudest achievements to date: The Great Gatsby and Mad Max: Fury Road. “Those were big films with big risks, but they were both big successes.

Working with Baz Luhrmann on Gatsby was difficult, but his attention to detail was incredible and the results were very satisfying.” The Mad Max shoot, which took place on location in the Namibian desert, was also a tremendous undertaking. “There were all of these Aussie stunt men doing insane things in front of the cameras, while everything behind the cameras was carefully choreographed to make sure we got the shots,” says Kuyper. “It was very gratifying and a proud moment for me to see everything coalesce into an Academy-award winning film.”

Kuyper clearly has a knack for managing what many would view as barely controlled chaos, yet he attributes much of the good fortune he’s experienced in his life to the preparation he received while a student at Portsmouth Abbey. “I was so well prepared for college when I left Portsmouth Abbey that I felt like I had an unfair advantage compared to the other students.

I saw a lot of my classmates suffer through the transition, whereas I came in knowing how to prioritize my time, do the work, and manage my life.”

As competitive as Pomona College was, Kuyper continues, he never felt that he worked as hard there as he did at the PAGE 14

Abbey. “I had so many great teachers during my time at Portsmouth: Cliff Hobbins, the Teddy Roosevelt of teachers, was always counseling us to ‘Buy low and sell high.’

His lectures have stayed with me to this day. Mr. McGuire was a great art teacher – he opened that door for me.

Mr. Garman was a great photography teacher – I think photography at the Abbey was what helped lead me toward film. And Dr. Finnegan gave me a passion for English literature. I read books in his courses that were incredibly influential – The Great Gatsby was one of my favorites – and he instilled a love of storytelling that translated into a career in film.”

Yet Kuyper says that the Abbey’s biggest gift was the lesson it taught him about handling the impossible task. “I learned that when faced with a seemingly insurmountable job, it’s best not to tackle the whole thing at once, but instead to chip around the edges, doing the little bits that you know so that eventually you can get your arms around it. As a producer, I use this approach all the time – when I start a new project, I don’t freak out and look at what needs to be done for the whole film – I just start knocking off the jobs I know how to do first until, eventually, the whole thing becomes manageable.”

Kuyper is also grateful for the friendships he formed while at Portsmouth, many of which continue to this day.

“My classmate John McCormick ‘85 remains a good friend – we see each other every year or two and have met up all over the world.” For his recent 30th reunion, Kuyper continues, 42 of the 62 boys in his class showed up. “We picked up right where we’d left off, even though many of us hadn’t seen each other since graduating. It was thrilling to be able to resume those old friendships so easily.”

In light of these fond memories, it’s not surprising that Kuyper is delighted to have his younger son Luke in the Class of 2020. “I’m so proud that Luke is at the Abbey.

I hope that he walks away with the confidence and selfreliance that a great boarding school instills and makes the kinds of friendships that I made.” Talking to Luke, this outcome seems likely. “I love the academics here at the Abbey – the classes are difficult, but the teachers are excellent,” he says, “and I’ve already made a lot of good friends.”

“Connecting with classmates at my 30th reunion reminded me what a special place Portsmouth Abbey is and how important it is to stay in touch with the people I met there,” Kuyper concludes. “From now on, when I travel, I’ll be knocking on doors – it’s neat to have friends around the world.”

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

– Lori L. Ferguson

ALUMNI PROFILE

Imagine a New York City composer: who do you see?

Gershwin, Bernstein, Sondheim, Miranda.

Struggling graduate students at Juilliard.

Do they still exist?

It’s not easy to make a living as a composer, but it can be done: Ron Passaro ’95 is living proof.

Ron Passaro ’95 Ron writes music for film, TV and musical theater, and gave up his “day job” five years ago. The secret to his success? “Never give up. I knew I would have a career in music one day. I just kept doing things that I believed were going to make that a reality.”

American Pickers. His music was featured at a Kennedy Center gala for the Children’s Defense Fund’s 40th anniversary; another commission was a brass fanfare premiered by the West Point Band for New York’s West Side Presbyterian Church’s centennial.

Ron’s theater work includes Queen of Mean: The Rise and Fall of Leona Helmsley, a musical about the infamous New York real estate mogul, starring Tovah Feldshuh (Walking Dead, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Pippin). He wrote the score for the 2016 feature documentary film Queen Mimi, produced by Michael Shamberg (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained). His film music has been featured in more than 100 festivals worldwide. Ron has sold over 5,000 licenses to his music for commercial use in film, TV and online projects; it can be heard on TV shows such as Pawn Stars, Catfish, Ink Master and

Ron grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, “back when it was still affordable,” he laughs. His father was an opera singer, so perhaps music was in his blood. “I don’t think my experience is any different from most,” he says. “You hear a piece of music early on in life and are blown away.”

When Ron’s mother encouraged him to see the world beyond “the concrete jungle,” and consider boarding school for his high school years, he says, “I was intrigued. I’d missed out on a lot living in New York, like school sports.”

At the Abbey, Ron did play sports, but he kept up his music chops performing at

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assemblies and playing in a string quartet coached

by Father Ambrose. “It was nothing formal, just something we did once a week or so,” Ron says.

Like many alumni/ae, he credits the School for his strong foundation. “The Abbey creates the right environment for success, a community of monks, students, teachers who challenge you. You won’t find the curriculum’s diversity of topics and views anywhere else, and with extracurriculars and athletics, all nurture the body and mind so that students can choose intelligently where to go next.”

Ron chose the College of the Holy Cross, pre-med. He took some music classes, too. He had an epiphany while exploring Finale, the notation software: instant playback of his ideas.

“I realized I’m not meant to perform, but to write. In the moment, I had to take that path. I dropped pre-med and became a music major. My parents were not pleased,” he confesses.

Studying one-on-one with Osvaldo Golijov, he won the Beethoven Award for outstanding composition.

After graduation, Ron moved to Boston and worked for the American Composers Forum, in communications. He added morning shifts at Starbucks – “that’s how I got my health insurance!” – and eventually worked for the Big Dig, building a database of contractors and employees.

He’d done similar work as an Abbey student in an internship at ASCAP, cataloging musical scores for conductors, competitions and royalties.

He signed up for an evening musical PAGE 16

left: Brass recording session at Man Made Music, NYC.

below:

Los Angeles premiere of Queen Mimi.

theater workshop at Berklee College of Music. “It was run by Michael Wartofsky, a graduate of the Tisch Musical Theater program at NYU,” Ron says. “He encouraged me to apply. So back to New York I went, and I’ve been here ever since.”

Just weeks before Sept­ ember 11, 2001, Ron began the twoyear musical theater MFA program. “I was hoping to write a Broadway hit and start my career!” he recalls with a smile. “New York is not an easy city, but I’m a cockeyed optimist.” He wrote student film scores and studied composition and orchestration. To pay the bills, he most recently worked at a law firm, scaling back over the years as his paying musical work increased. “Finally I handed in my resignation, and that was it, I was on my own,” he recalls. “I started building a client base, one project at a time. “ Often, Ron’s favorite projects are those that pay the least. “I am most highly invested in my latest musical, Queen of Mean. With my collaborators, Alex Lippard and David Lee, I’ve been working on it for eight years, P ORTSM O U T H A BB E Y S C HO OL

improving, adding, cutting, making sure that it gets the right production.

We’re fortunate to be working with Tovah Feldshuh. For some reason, people just love Leona Helmsley as a character. Timing is everything: her old rivalry with Donald Trump, her flaunting of wealth, saying ‘only little people pay taxes’, gives the story new relevance.”

It’s rare for artists to succeed in the different genres of classical, theater, film and TV music. “I appreciate the different forms: all writing is creative,” Ron observes. “The deadlines are different: a musical can be an eightyear journey, but TV deadlines are unreal. Classical concert music can be around six months to a year. In

ALUMNI PROFILE Queen of Mean: Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals shoot.

To students and young alums, Ron says, “Go out and meet people.

You’ll be surprised at how quickly things will progress once you make time to attend events and meet-ups.

It’s a little cliché, but it’s so important: try to see the positive in everything, and, most importantly, never give up.”

film, you try for two minutes of finished music every day. If I don’t have a deadline, I don’t write. It’s the only way I can operate.”

The creative career has unique challenges, Ron says: “Writing is only part of the equation. Ultimately you need to run your career like a business, learning how to effectively self-promote,

continuously meeting new people, and making sure your unique talents are wanted, not simply needed…there’s a big difference. The principles of Tim Ferriss’ The Four-hour Workweek can be applied to any life: create space for the important things, reduce or eliminate what you don’t have to do yourself, to be more efficient and productive.”

“…surprisingly fun!”

“I could go on and on about how amazing Portsmouth Abbey was for me. The relationships formed and lessons learned are both lifechanging and lifelong. Social media and email allow me to stay connected with fellow students and teachers, but nothing beats meeting in person. At the very least, I try and attend the Abbot’s Reception in New York City every year to catch up and reminisce.”

– Emily Atkinson

Your child will love our summer program on the Abbey campus on Narragansett Bay. He or she will experience a transformational and intentionally-designed program, taught by Abbey teachers and geared toward rising 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-graders. The daily schedule strikes a thoughtful balance between enrichment and recreation and is rooted in our Benedictine foundation.

Past courses have included Creative Writing, Latin Workshop, Pre-Algebra and Algebra, Robotics, Apologetics, Digital Photography, Public Speaking, Literature, ESL, and Mad Science-lab Challenge.

The day includes daily assembly; tutorial and classes from 9 a m-noon; lunch and siesta; afternoon activities; dinner, evening recreation, and study hall for our boarders. Rounding out the experiential program are weekend

P ORT SMO U T H A BB E Y SUMMER PROGRAM 2017 Sunday, June 25 - Saturday July 22

trips to wonderful places like Martha’s Vineyard, Mount Monadnock, Six Flags, and local Newport beaches.

Visit our website or contact Director Kale Zelden at kzelden@portsmouthabbey.org for more info.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Zack McCune ’06 If you attended Portsmouth Abbey, you probably know

Wikipedia as the forbidden citation on your analytical essays.

What you might not know is that Wikipedia is supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit parent company concerned with making knowledge freely available to the public worldwide.

That is where Zack McCune ’06 comes in.

McCune at Ocean Beach, San Francisco

Currently, Zack works as the lead for Global Audiences

culture and nations’ unique needs when it comes to his

at Wikimedia. “In short,” says Zack, “I work to expand

job. Zack is adamant, saying that “every language should

the global reach of free knowledge.” According to the

have its own Wikipedia.” Neither Zack nor Wikimedia is

Wikimedia Foundations website, this is accomplished

interested in monopolizing or extorting free knowledge.

through research, project measurement, and community

Rather, “I focus on the regions where we are not that well

consultation. In the day-to-day, this means that Zack

known,” says Zack, and he has the airline miles to prove

structures surveys and works with a diverse range of

it. His position at Wikimedia has allowed him to travel

communities to develop a sense of Wikipedia that best

to India, Mexico, Nigeria, and many more corners of our

suits their individualized needs and cultures.

planet. Zack elaborates on the reason for these excursions,

But who hasn’t heard of Wikipedia? It is certainly the first place I look when an actor’s name has escaped me, or when I simply must know what Tom Brady ate for breakfast in high school. It turns out that this is an exclusively western

restating the importance of “interpreting what matters most for their communities and cultures.” Both Zack and Wikimedia envision a world in which knowledge is both accessible and relevant for users worldwide.

frame of mind. Wikipedia, which is now 16 years old, is

In talking to Zack, I begin to see how passionate he is

asking for the car keys, and Zack is happy to hand them

about his work. But how did he end up in this seemingly

over. Thanks in large part to the efforts of Zack McCune and

ambiguous role, jetting around the globe bearing the

Wikimedia, this online encyclopedic website is expanding

gift of free knowledge like Santa’s more studious older

across the globe, to regions unfamiliar with the interactive

brother? In following his trajectory, it becomes clear

resource. He discussed this trend, noting that “only 23

that, really, this is less Zack’s job and more his vocation.

percent of Nigeria has heard of Wikipedia, and less than

After graduating from Portsmouth Abbey in 2006, Zack

ten percent use Wikipedia like Americans.” Zack stresses

attended Brown University where he studied modern

the importance of customizing Wikipedia to best suit each

culture and media. This course of study was supplemented

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by an internship at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

From there, Zack took his talents across the pond to complete his master’s degree at Cambridge, and it was there that he completed the first academic study of Instagram. “Instagram basically blew up while I was studying it, and for a while I was the go-to authority on the subject,” says Zack, laughing. In any case, call it good fortune or good foresight, Zack was recruited back to the States, this time as digital marketing’s rising star in New York City. There he worked as the social media strategist for R/ GA and the supervisor of account and strategy for VaynerMedia. His digital marketing work with Converse, MasterCard and Mountain Dew earned him Cannes Lions Awards and national headlines. Oh, and he had his own column at the Newport Mercury for five years. With this highlight-reel resume in hand, Zack seemed the perfect fit for a position being created at Wikimedia headquarters in San Francisco.

Outside of Wikipedia, Zack says, “I have always loved storytelling, writing and media.” Indeed, at one point Zack and his brother Grady ‘07 had effectively monopolized all of Portsmouth Abbey’s media. “Our friends referred to it

A look at McCune’s Portsmouth Abbey career further

as ‘McCune Media’,” he chuckles, as they were associated

reveals why he might just be Wikimedia’s likeliest

with – if not completely in charge of – the school’s radio

candidate. “Wikipedia has always been a vital part of my

show, literary journal and the School newspaper The

life” says Zack. For those unfamiliar, Wikipedia allows

Beacon, all at once. Zack elaborates specifically on his

users to contribute information to any given page. This

experience with the Beacon, saying “Originally, The

would be why your Humanities teacher refuted it as a

Beacon was a pamphlet, and by my senior year we had

legitimate source, though Zack maintains that the vetting

a full-size publication.” He credits Mrs. Bonin with

process for information is more credible now than ever.

being instrumental in taking the publication to the next

In Wikipedia’s early days, Zack searched for Portsmouth

level. When he first agreed to take on The Beacon, Zack

Abbey on the site, only to find that a page for our beloved

decided, “Either I had to make it more interesting, both

school had not yet been created. A second search, this

for myself and the readers, or I had to walk away from it.”

time for St. George’s School, yielded a fully formatted,

Never one to back down from a challenge, Zack was

informative page on Aquidneck Island’s other boarding

granted a Haney Fellowship, which he used to learn

school. “I remember being really mad,” recalls Zack,

InDesign, a computerized publication formatting system,

again laughing. Ever motivated, “I composed the original

at Columbia University in the summer preceding his

Portsmouth Abbey Wikipedia page while there,” he

Sixth-form year. As it turns out, both design and writing

says - a page still cultivated by students and alumni to

are integral to his job now.

this day.

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McCune in Chandigarh, India, with dancers

another event. In regard to his cosmopolitan travel schedule, Zack remarks, “Every trip is a chance to reset my sense of normal – the world is so much more complex than I keep wanting to think it is.”

However, one experience in general stands out in Zack’s mind. After a 5 a.m. rickshaw and a long train ride, he found himself at the Taj Mahal in India. Once there, Zack said, “We were encouraged to take the stock photos, the ones you always see of the Taj Mahal.” But he was interested in a different angle. He wanted to defy the touristic stereotype, and thus began an impromptu interview of his tour guide. “Do you ever ‘get over’ the Taj Mahal,” he asked the man who hailed from a nearby village?

“No,” replied the tour guide, “because Zack recalls other Abbey memories and people and

there is always something more to see.”

credits his experience on Cory’s Lane as instrumental to

To illustrate this point, the tour guide directed Zack’s

his development as both a student and a professional. He

attention towards the many intricate, hand-crafted

expounds on Father Damian, “He was a fantastic wit; he

knobs that make up the Taj. As a whole, the individuated

always challenged you to be punchier, and at that time I

knobs make up the beauty of the palace, and yet on their

had to learn how to write less.” Caught in reminiscence,

own, each twist and wrinkle tells a story of the patient

Zack says, “I loved the Abbey; I met my best friends in the

craftsman. From this experience Zack is able to derive an

world there.” Indeed, he sees semblances to his position

eloquent metaphor. He finds, much like with Wikipedia,

today, saying, “At Wikimedia I get to hang out with

he is more interested in the details you don’t see at first,

people who are very generous with their time – much

the knowledge that is still at large. As with the detail that

like the Abbey.”

makes up the majesty of the Taj Mahal, Zack makes the

With such an adventurous and impressive professional history, I asked Zack if there were any particular experiences that stood out in his mind. He remembers

connection to his work and passion for Wikipedia, stating, “I am grateful that millions of people have contributed to make something great.”

– Fletcher Bonin ’13

working on a marketing campaign for Mountain Dew, in which he was able to hang out with professional snowboarders being sponsored by the soda brand at a huge competition. Zack laughs when he recalls, “I actually signed up pro-golfer Tom Watson for Twitter” at

PAGE 20

Fletcher Bonin grew up on the Portsmouth Abbey campus where his parents teach. He graduated from the Abbey in 2013 and holds a B.A. in English Literature from Salve Regina University. Currently, he works as a freelance writer.

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

Ora et La-birra

by Fr. Benedict (Jeremy) Nivakoff, O.S.B. ’97

In Italian, a playful change of words makes the supposed Benedictine

expression Ora et Labora (Pray and Work) into Ora et La - Birra or Pray and Beer. Locals in Norcia find this expression amusing and tease us with it when they think we’re not working hard enough.

“You monks, all you do is pray and drink beer,” they’ll say.

They can make that easy linguistic jump because Ora et Labora is such a well-known saying.

Interestingly enough, St. Benedict never said it. Since becoming a monk in Nursia, where the great patron of monastic life was born, I’ve come to think that it is rather misleading. More than prayer and work, St. Benedict wants the whole monk’s life to be one single prayer, where manual work and study are all taken up into that one longing for God which should be the monks’ whole life, his prayer.

When I was a Third-former at Portsmouth I would serve as acolyte for Conventual Mass a few times a week. Already at that time, the Sunday Mass had been given over to English hymns of the Glee Club so the only time one could hear Gregorian Chant was at the daily Mass. When the Introit

WINTER Alumni BULLETIN 2017

PAGE 21

was sung, as I preceded the priests’ procession (Fr. Ambrose’s voice had that ethereal, floating quality) it felt like we were entering into another world. On good days when I was not falling out of my sailboat in the bay or getting in trouble with Houseparent McDonough (for something), the sounds of the chant remained with me till evening. If I knew anything about monastic life it was that prayer had to be the backbone of it, something which binds together everything else we do.

Nursia was already a town of gastronomical delights: pecorino, prosciutto and, of course, black truffles. Birra Nursia was born to complement that spectrum of delights for the palate.

Our modest goal was to offer the many pilgrims who visit us a little refreshment for their body and soul as well as to give our growing monastic family a source of economic support.

We hoped, at the very least, they would buy our beer out of pity when they saw some of our thinner monks!

Becoming a monk in Nursia (or Norcia now to the Italians) meant an opportunity, a necessity even, to rediscover the backbone of monastic life through chanted prayer. Though the monastery is ancient (parts date from the 1st century after Christ), the monks were forced to flee in 1810 due to the Napoleonic laws. Our fledgling community (then only three Americans) took over the empty buildings in the year 2000 with a clear task: To rediscover the Rule of St. Benedict in all its depth at the place where he was born. For our Holy Patron, there were not moments of work and moments of prayer, there were only different kinds of prayer and different depths of solitude. Manual labor for him was an expression of that prayer: it was for God and with God.

It is hard to describe our surprise and gratitude when one of the wine capitals of the world opened up their taste buds to our bubbly brew and christened it one of the new treasures of Norcia. We were sold out months in advance. Within a year we had to sell our small 250-liter plant, purchase a new one five times larger, and, all the while, try to keep our beer as part of our prayer. That means not simply praying for the beer (which we in fact do) but making all of the steps of the process an occasion for conversion and sanctification. How can we make this area of the brewery neater, more efficient?

How can we work together as brew monks to become saints? How can we help our customers to have the most hassle-free experience possible? How can we treat our suppliers, distributors and collaborators so that they see Birra Nursia not as just another product but as an experience that leads to God? Those are just some of the questions we ask each day.

Twelve years after our founding in Nursia we felt we had passed the most difficult tests of survival and were ready to venture out in the dangerous world of self-sufficiency.

Many generous donors over the years have helped support our work but the family was growing and, with it, the expense account. We also sensed intuitively that until we contributed at least partly to our own expenses, we could never understand those paternal words of our founder: “If the circumstances of the place or their poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monks when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Father and the Apostles.”

At Portsmouth, many of us saw that labor in the paternal care of the monks for our bodies, souls and intellects. At Nursia we hope to do the same albeit with a much easier recipe than educating teenagers and running a boarding school: Making beer.

At one time a substitute for a poor water supply, at others a drink packed with nutrients during long periods of fasting, beer has a long monastic history.

Monks have been making “craft” beer for centuries, always local and in their own particular way.

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ALUMNI PROFILE

God has more in store for us though and we still need your help. We had something of a setback with the August earthquake that devastated central Italy.

Thank God, no lives in our monastery were lost but we do have extensive damage. Our brewery now finds itself in a building that has been declared unusable by the government. We’ve had to halt production for a couple of months and begin looking for a new permanent home for the brewery outside the city walls. While there is plenty of Birra Nursia stock in the USA so we can continue to accept orders, we’ll need help to rebuild. Please consider a purchase to help support the monks’ rebuilding effort in Norcia (birranursia.com).

At one point in my not always exemplary academic career at Portsmouth, a monk came into my room one evening during study hall and found three beers sitting on the table.

My roommate and I froze speechless. We knew this could be the end of us. Not only had we egregiously broken the rules, we hadn’t even bothered to hide it. In what will forever live in my mind as the most breathtaking example of charity, the old wise monk had a short simple response: “Gentleman, I don’t know what those beers are doing here and I don’t care what you do with them, but they had better be gone by tomorrow morning.”

Our response? “Definitely, Father.”

That story can’t help but bring me to laugh and wonder in awe at the mysterious Providence of God. Many years later I followed the steps of that saintly monk as a Benedictine monk myself and now produce the very drink that nearly got me kicked out of Portsmouth.

In 2016, Birra Nursia made another important step: importing to the USA, where Birra Nursia is now available directly from our website (birranursia.com) and in fine dining establishments in New York City and California.

We thought our readers would enjoy learning: On the “Superlatives” page of the 1997 Portsmouth Abbey yearbook Jeremy was voted “worst driver,” “most excuses” and “most likely to join the monastery.”

In November 2016, the Abbot Primate appointed Fr. Benedict prior of the monastic community of Norcia.

Upon his resignation from the post, Fr. Cassian Folsom wrote, “Fr. Benedict is extremely well-qualified to lead the community. He has much experience as Subprior and Novice Master, and possesses the human and spiritual qualities necessary to guide the monastery in these difficult times.”

WINTER Alumni BULLETIN 2017

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Paolo Soriano ’10 The Providence Journal claims that the millennials of today “are the best educated and most diverse population of young people in U.S. history,” but “are not big risk takers.” As a matter of fact, their age group has the lowest rate of new startups, with the lowest number of entrepreneurs since two decades ago.

However, they are also “community minded,” making them “more progressive” when it comes to addressing others’ needs.

Paolo Soriano ‘10 both defies and reflects the expectations of the millennial label by creating “Campus Watch” as the result of a tragedy that occurred on the University of Texas’s campus in April of 2016.

At that time, a young woman was walking back to her dorm from the Drama Building through a well-traveled public path alongside a creek bed in the middle of campus, but she never arrived. Film footage showed her on the path, where a male transient eventually followed her, later showing up on other footage holding her duffel bag, though she was nowhere to be seen. He had sexually assaulted and murdered her, even though she was within fifty feet of three blue light emergency call boxes. She was, however, on her phone.

The steady sound of blaring sirens in the background appropriately suits the discussion of the new cell phone safety app that Soriano explains during a video interview. “Campus Watch” has garnered plenty of attention in the college town of Austin, Texas, and his appearance on several news programs is certainly going to move this beyond those boundaries. Soriano saw a need for a more instant connection to police dispatch than a phone call from these blue light boxes provides. With the press of the Campus Watch help button that appears even when the phone is locked, emergency dispatchers at campus or municipal police departments immediately know the name and location of the victim. Currently, once the blue light box is reached, the victim must relay this information in the phone call, which takes extra time and can further aggravate the perpetrator of the crime. Unlike other companies that provide similar apps, Soriano thinks this one provides a service that stands out from the others.

He explains that “students can take part in their own safety, and we’re trying to empower them in this movement to take responsibility for it without leaving it to someone else. And we do that in a very specific way.” When this very non-technical PAGE 24

interviewer asked exactly how it works, Soriano likened it to Waze, which populates the lock screen with specific information through geo-location; it allows users to avoid traffic by a submission of tips through its user base.

The Campus Watch app, aside from instantly reaching dispatchers, can also be preventative instead of just reactive: through a series of colored dots, an interactive map might show – from student tips and other reports – where crimes have been committed previously and the unsafe routes to avoid and get home safely. “As the map becomes more robust and the students become more active in using it, the technology gets better and better. You’ll be able to see a real-time interactive map of what’s going on on campus,” Soriano says enthusiastically, “It allows peers to take care of peers.”

As the project develops, Soriano also sees other uses for the app aside from ensuring safety on campuses (which can give parents peace of mind as their children go off to college); hotels would provide guests with a customized app translated to the local language or home security, where even a child can easily access the icon to more quickly contact dispatchers.

Upon graduation from the Abbey after following his brothers Inigo ’05 and Luis ’07, Soriano attended UT as a Government Major with the intention of attending law school. He hated it. Upon graduation, he connected with Peter Wallace ’09, who had been working in the tech field. This led to Campus Watch, and Soriano couldn’t be happier – or busier. His apartment was half boxes and desks – it served as everyone’s office until moving to a

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

downtown office. It also includes his beloved dog Lady, described as an “adopted black lab/pit mix, mid-sized, 16” tall, super-cute, all over the place” who has “my personality – very sassy, always getting into trouble, and getting into things that she shouldn’t…” Austin, where he now calls home, appeals to Soriano for many reasons, including a vibrant music scene of which he avails himself every weekend since all types of music might play on one block. However, he is quick to recall that “home” was once Portsmouth Abbey, and so much of his experience here has informed how he chooses to run his business now.

While a student here, Paolo might not have fully appreciated the highly scheduled program, but he does see it all from a different perspective now. “After coming out of the Abbey I felt very independent and very secure about what I was doing. In college I felt very grounded and knew things that other kids didn’t know because I was fortunate enough to go to the Abbey.”

It wasn’t until he started his company that he felt the weight of real responsibility, and the regiment of the school helped him to create a regimen his employees/his people can rely upon.

“Study hall and sports was grounding and helped to nurture us into adulthood.

As a business owner, I couldn’t have figured out at such a young age what it took monks so many years to develop.

The structure kept us out of trouble; likewise, with eight or nine employees, you need a solid foundation or system that keeps them focused and driven toward their goals.” I asked how he applies the Abbey’s program into his business, and he begins with the Conference Period and Advisors as Mentor, “somebody checking in with you and talking to you, not from this perspective of an authority figure, but having to talk to someone is very important in what we’re doing, so I encourage all of our employees to have Advisors, have mentors, and take time throughout the day to have very collaborative, unstructured conversations – the team building aspect – which I think is very important to their development and keeping them focused. Mentors are key; I have three myself.”

Paolo reflects fondly on one class that provided such mentoring: he fell in love with Humanities because of Mr.

Zelden, who had just come in when he was a Fourth Former.

“It was something that I learned early on: you have to have someone older than you with experience to get advice from.”

He also remembered others whose guidance was significant in different ways: “Brother Francis, who always smelled like his pipe, and Fr. Edmund and Fr. Paschal’s always telling it like it is.”

A reading list was another idea he took from the Abbey.

Peter Thiel’s Zero to One is the first one he has his staff read, then Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo, because he has a lot of women employees, and it’s a “start-up book.”

“I just want to give them the idea that they should constantly be reading. When I was in the work force, I found myself not reading whatsoever, and it was one of the things I missed: being told that you need to read. It’s so important to professional and personal development in a lot of ways, which a lot of companies do not focus on, I’ve noticed.”

After considering everything he learned at the Abbey, he decisively states that “Out of anything I’ve said today, I want to emphasize what I did not learn in college: how to talk to people and get along with them, which goes a long way. Being in such close quarters with adults and having to talk to them is in itself so valuable.

Even the dress code: I knew how to show up at business meetings because I’ve been dressing like this since I was 13 years old! It may not go a long way in other industries, but it does with what I’m trying to do, so the Abbey helped me with marketing tactics!

I went to boarding school, and I’ve found that people respect that.”

Going back to that article on millennials, the writer suggests that “if baby boomers were known as the ‘me’ generation, millennials might be called the ‘we’ generation.” Paolo Soriano, in seeing the risk that others take in living safely day-to-day, takes the unusual risk himself with the innovative Campus Watch app, which will undoubtedly move far beyond schools.

Laureen Bonin teaches English at Portsmouth Abbey School and advises the Culinary Club. She lives on campus with her husband Michael, who is also in the English Department; they have three children, Drake ’11, Fletcher ’13, and Sydell ’18.

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This past summer, Portsmouth Abbey mourned the passing of alumnus Jaime (Tito) Del Amo ’59. Tito’s life story was full of adventure; the following perhaps stands out as one of the most notable episodes. While living in Madrid in January 1966 and working as an AP photographer, Tito was tasked with taking photos of the Palomares incident. The Spanish daily newspaper, El Pais, printed an article in 2014 that above:

Tito del Amo, pictured in his beach bar in Mojácar, January 2014. / FRANCISCO BONILLA

summarized the event:

left: Tito’s brother André del Amo in the 1960s. / TITO DEL AMO

REPRINT OF AN ARTICLE IN EL PAIS ON TITO (JAIME) DEL AMO ‘59 AND HIS BROTHER ANDRÉ

Tito’s is one of the most popular beach bars, or chiringuitos, in the Andalusian resort town of Mojácar, Almería, complete with palm trees, a terrace with sea views, oriental fusion cuisine, and live music every Sunday. But few of the vacationing customers here know anything about the owner, an outgoing, silver-haired American who has still not lost his accent half a century after following his brother here. “André lives in the Philippines these days. The only thing he’s interested in is windsurfing,” says Tito del Amo, aged 75.

The Del Amo brothers were born in Los Angeles at the height of World War II. After finishing their studies, in the mid-1960s they decided to return to the land of their ancestors. André arrived first, in 1963, and found a job working for US news wire United Press International (UPI) in Madrid, under the directorship of veteran newsman Harry Stathos. Two years later, Tito arrived. “As soon as I got here, the first thing André told me was that I had to see two places: Mojácar and Pamplona. We tried the former, and I fell in love at first sight,” he says.

And that was how the brothers became involved in the so-called Palomares nuclear incident. In the early hours of January 17, 1966, a B-52 belonging to the United States Strategic Air Command carrying four atomic bombs, each of them with a payload equivalent

PAGE 26

to 75 times the force that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, crashed into a KC-135 refueling plane over Almería. The entire crew of the KC-135 died in the accident, while four of the B-52’s crew of seven survived. Three of its bombs fell to earth, two of them suffering a conventional explosion that scattered radioactive material over a wide area around the tiny community of Palomares.

The fourth bomb sank to the bottom of the sea.

The US Embassy in Madrid immediately informed the government of General Francisco Franco, contacting the deputy prime minister and the foreign minister, as well as the US ambassador to Spain, Angie Duke. The international news agencies picked up on the story simultaneously, telling the world about the incident, but without mentioning the atomic aspect. Deputy premier Ángel Muñoz-Grandes began “coordinating” with the US authorities on how to handle the media. The Spanish Air Force Ministry at first avoided referring to the B-52, instead mentioning “a long-distance jet,” adding that a search was underway for what it called “elements of a secret military nature.”

Franco had given instructions about what could and couldn’t be said, vetoing any reference to atomic weapons, as would later

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

be confirmed by a recently declassified report by the US Department of State.

Franco’s main concern was to protect Spain’s tourism industry, the number-one source of revenue for the military regime. But Washington was also interested in keeping the potentially devastating accident under wraps. According the US State Department, Duke was told to do everything possible to persuade the Spanish authorities to continue to allow US military aircraft to fly over Spanish territory, although a ban was enforced for five days after the incident.

The State Department’s position was to tell the press absolutely nothing about what had happened, according to the recently declassified report.

For a while, the strategy worked. On February 19, two days after the accident, the media began to lose interest, and the government and the US authorities heaved a collective sigh of relief. Ángel Sagaz, the director general of North American affairs at Spain’s Foreign Ministry, met with Duke to press upon her the impact of the Spanish public finding out that of the three bombs that fell on Almería, one was still at the bottom of the Mediterranean.

Spain’s fears of anything leaking about the incident were such that the government told the US authorities that it did not want it to release a statement thanking Spain for its cooperation. Silence was the preferred option. But what the diplomats did not know was that André del Amo was on his way to Almería with Leo White, correspondent for British red top the Daily Mirror. Colonel Barnett Young, the US Air Force’s chief press officer warned them against sniffing around. “This is not the place for scandalous stories or crazy theories,” he replied when asked if the B-52 might have been carrying atomic weapons.

According to Tito del Amo, his brother pulled off the scoop as he was about to begin the return journey back to Madrid. “As he was leaving Almería, he came across a US military policeman who was looking for somebody to translate for him. He wanted local people to leave the area because of the radioactivity. André said nothing, and just translated. When he got to the car, he innocently asked if the authorities were worried about the bombs. The US military policeman told him everything.”The next day, The New York Times published UPI’s story, as well as confirming that there were atomic weapons aboard, one of which was still missing, and describing in detail the huge operation underway to find it in the area around Palomares. Declassified US documents show that when Franco read UPI’s story he was so angry that he ordered the news to be suppressed in Spain, as well as banning the distribution of foreign newspapers and magazines, and ordering Sagaz to protest in the strongest possible terms to Duke, even threatening “unilateral measures.” In the telegram sent to Washington after the meeting with the US ambassador, Sagaz spoke of his “extreme concern,” “an emergency,” and a “crisis.” The US ambassador also called Stathos, demanding that he reveal his sources, which in the story he had said were from within the US Embassy in Madrid. Stathos apologized for not running the story past Duke, and said that he had obtained the information elsewhere.

A US Navy craft being loaded with barrels of contaminated sand on the beach at Palomares in 1966. / TITO DEL AMO

The US government took 40 days to officially admit to the existence of the atomic bombs, despite mounting evidence. In doing so, it twisted the truth. Other declassified documents from the Atomic Energy Commission include references to efforts to align the different versions of events by the US authorities. These included a detailed questionnaire. The instructions were clear: refuse to answer any questions, distract attention and question the journalist’s own sources. In answer to the question, “has the United States lost an atomic bomb?” the supposed answer was: “The US Defense Department has said that it is looking for classified material. For reasons of security, we cannot make further comments. We cannot deny or confirm that we are looking for an atomic bomb.”

Should any journalists ask whether local people were at risk, the answer was: “I cannot talk in terms of numbers, because this is a classified matter. Do you know when something can be considered dangerous? What we can say is what we have already said: the experts have proved that this is not a danger to health.”

Perhaps because of the mounting problems with Franco’s censors and the US Embassy, and also because no progress was being made in finding the fourth bomb, Stathos and the correspondent for the Associated Press, the other US news agency in Spain, suggested to Tito del Amo that he follow the story. “They weren’t making much progress, so they hired me to keep an eye on things here. I lived nearby. They paid me 500 pesetas a day, which was a fortune in those days. I hired a Seat 600 and spent six weeks in Palomares,” he says.

Tito’s job consisted of following the search for the bomb lying at the bottom of the sea, as well as the clean-up operation, sending any photographs and information he could find to Madrid. He took so many photographs that he had to travel to Murcia every two days to hand over the rolls of film to the engine driver of the Madrid train. “The whole thing was very difficult, because nobody wanted to say anything. For me it was just a job,” remembers Tito, looking out over the Mediterranean just 18 kilometers from where the nearcatastrophe took place.

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PAGE 27

from the

office of admission

by Director of Admission Steve Pietraszek ’96 At the end of the 2015-16 school year, the Admissions Office began the process of updating the school’s viewbook – the information booklet sent to all prospective families. As we brainstormed possible themes, one phrase stuck with us. We were drawn to Meditation XVII, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions written nearly 400 years ago by the English poet John Donne. Never heard of it? We bet you have, or at least part of it:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were.

Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

– John Donne

This was our “Eureka!” moment. At Portsmouth Abbey School, part of our mission is to live as a community that values each of its members and to take responsibility for the shared experience of community life. One of the advantages of living at school is that the day doesn’t end when the last bell rings. The campus is your neighborhood, a place where everyone you pass says hello, and everyone very quickly knows your name. Your neighbors are your friends, classmates, PAGE 28

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

houseparents, and teachers. By placing an emphasis on the shared experience, we create an environment where students feel connected and cared for so that no man (or woman) is an island.

We are a community that values each of its members – our similarities and differences. This enables students to better understand themselves and the world around them. Our students thrive in this environment and can take full advantage of the spiritual, athletic, artistic, and service opportunities that exist on our campus and beyond. We celebrate our achievements and we offer help to those in need in an effort to make this a more gracious community.

The size and composition of our student body is enviable with 360 students from all over the United States and the world. This is a place where students are visible and known throughout campus. We make it a priority to come together as a group often throughout the week – assembly, advisory meetings, church assembly speakers, House meetings, athletics and play practices, club meetings, and music rehearsals. Each of these meetings represents an opportunity for students to support, celebrate, listen, and lead. This enables students to grow as people and form relationships outside of the classroom – their chance to be a part of the main.

It is hard to imagine a more ideal location for a boarding school. Our 500+ acre campus is located on the shores on Narragansett Bay. Our facilities include a mixture of beautiful indoor spaces and stunning outdoor areas. Students have places to gather for community events on a daily basis, as well as find time to relax and reflect on their own. The architecture is a mix of old and new – designed to give the school a sense of place, beauty, and serenity. We have spaces for students to live, learn, create, compete, play, eat, and pray together. However, buildings and location alone don’t make a place special. It is the way our community members interact with one another that truly sets Portsmouth Abbey School apart. We invite you to come back to campus to get a sense of this for yourself.

WINTER Alumni BULLETIN 2017

PORTSMOUTH ABBEY SCHOOL portsmouth

v

rhode island

If you would like to receive a copy of the 2016-17 Admissions Office viewbook, please call our office at 401-643-1248 or email admissions@portsmouthabbey.org.

PAGE 29

From The Office of College Counseling

by Director of College Counseling Corie McDermott-Fazzino

E

very year a colleague at a peer school asks his fellow college counselors for book

recommendations. He compiles a list, and packages it up in an article for the Washington Post.

One year I suggested Bill Bryson’s Earth: A Short History of Nearly Everything—a brilliantly entertaining and informative page-turner that lives up to its title. This past year, I suggested Richard Russo’s Straight Man—a zippy novel, hinging on Occam’s razor, about a sarcastic, hot-mess of an English Professor teaching at a Podunk University. You will notice: neither recommendation has anything to do with college, per se.

I wouldn’t be the first person to recommend William Deresiewicz’s Excellent Sheep. It has shown up on the Post list and has been all the rage among people who know. College counseling professionals obsess over the problems posed in the book’s subtitle: “The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life.”

But, despite our collective spent energy and worry, I have yet to meet a colleague who has solved the riddle.

Of course, calling it a riddle implies a solution, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. We aren’t raising word problems or statistical points or college applications; we are raising humans. Self-actualization doesn’t just happen one day — it’s a process that starts when consciousness comes into focus and is cultivated by a lifetime of experiences. We want kids to make mistakes. We want them to think for themselves. We want them to shoulder burdens.

We want them to find joy and love. We want them to make choices, see connections, and engage in the world. We give them the framework, but we can’t do it for them.

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

In essence, it’s a solo mission.

Sure, there are support networks — family, friends, mentors — but the project can’t be outsourced. And, if they prefer not to engage, are too scared to engage, or worse yet, are prevented from engaging, the outlook becomes grim. The last thing we want is for our Abbey graduates to become robots in the system Deresiewicz casts as inherently flawed: “The system manufactures students who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they are doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.”

So why try if the system is broken?

Because: it matters. And, according to Deresiewicz, it’s not a lost cause.

And, so, he indulges in a wideranging, accessible, at times uncomfortable conversation about the subject because, as a former English Professor, he, too, worries about this stuff when it’s quiet.

I’m sure Lisa, an office mate, thought me nuts while I was reading this book. I exclaimed in agreement while madly marking the margins. I laughed and sighed, out loud. On occasion, I would explode out of my office, riled up about a particular passage. “You know what the problem is with

“

The book is part descriptive, part prescriptive, and part reflective. It runs the emotional range.

It’s a call to action. It’s a scholarly exercise.”

today’s youth? They don’t know how to fail well!” Lisa would nod and indulge my rant. Deresiewicz had the good sense to call out all of the problems, even if it hurt.

The book is part descriptive, part prescriptive, and part reflective. It runs the emotional range. It’s a call to action. It’s a scholarly exercise— Deresiewicz leans as much on classic literature as he does on statistics and facts to make his points. He quotes Middlemarch, The Heart of Darkness, and The Odyssey, just to name a few. Perhaps that is why I enjoyed it so much; once again, I’m drawn to literature as opposed to a money-grab essay about the business of education.

Who should read this book? Well, parents for one, although I bet that’s difficult to do when facing the cost and stress of the college process. Students, for another, but it’s hard to have perspective on something you are in the middle of.

And, so, the audience? Typically, the choir — college counselors who shake their fists in both agreement and frustration, and then retreat in favor of controlling the things they can: those practical steps in the application process.

This book is brutal and hopeful, and downright enjoyable. It is unafraid to take on big ideas: leadership, the self, ideals, justice, truth, you name it. It warns against creating an army of diligent hoop jumpers. It sees education as an opportunity and an emotional experience. “Just as great art gives you the feeling of being about ‘life’—about all of it at once—so does great teaching. The boundaries come down, and somehow you are thinking about yourself and the world at the same time, thinking and feeling at the same time, and instead of seeing things as separate parts, you see them as a whole. It doesn’t matter what the subject is.”

The good news: I think we get school mostly right at the Abbey. We aren’t perfect —ah, far from it — but as our mission instructs, we help our students “grow in knowledge and grace.” We can only hope they carry those lessons with them when they leave – and more importantly, build upon those lessons in the years to come.

You won’t find this tale in the self-help section; and likely, that is why I read it. Maybe this is bold, but I wonder if Virginia Woolf might also endorse this book as she did Middlemarch? Another book “written for grown-up people.”

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PAGE 31

in Headmaster Dan McDonough, Board Chair Chris Behnke ’81 and Director of Development Matt Walter travelled to Asia last November for a ten-day, four city tour of China and South Korea. The purpose of the visit was to enhance engagement with our Asian community by strengthening relationships with alumni and their parents, building on relationships with current families, and increasing support of the School’s mission. The trip, a first to Asia for all three in their current roles at the Abbey, was a success on all fronts.

PAGE 32

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

The full itinerary included stops in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul where Dan, Chris and Matt were met with warm hospitality and an abundance of local fare. Receptions, dinners, and individual meetings highlighted the trip in addition to cultural visits to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and Xintiandi. Our Chinese families embraced the visit as an opportunity to discuss ways in which to connect more meaningfully with the School, culminating in the informal creation of a China Parents’ Association as a subset of the School’s main Parents’ Association. Our South Korean constituents confirmed their commitment to the annual selection of a Fifth Form family to serve as the main point of contact. All expressed their appreciation for the School’s increased emphasis on engaging international families in the life of the school. Recent initiatives have included a presentation from the development office during International Parents’ and Students’ Orientation and the addition of a special reception for international families during Parents’ Weekend.

The School is particularly grateful for those who helped host receptions during the trip: g Mr. & Mrs. Lincoln C. Yung P ’86, Mr. & Mrs. George Chan P ’17, and Mr. & Mrs. Henry P. Hamrock ’75 hosted the Hong Kong reception at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Deep Water Bay. g Mr. & Mrs. Lei Jiang P ’17 and Mr. & Mrs. Zhenglin Shi P ’20 hosted the Shanghai reception at the Ritz-Carlton in Pudong. g Mr. & Mrs. Lin Cao P ’17, Mr. & Mrs. Feng Wei P ’20, and Ms. Lianhong Li P ‘20 hosted the Beijing reception at The Hong Kong Jockey Club. g All parents of our current Korean students hosted the Seoul reception at The Grand Hyatt Seoul.

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PAGE 33

Stay Connected Through Volunteering. it is as rewarding to you as it is for the school.

Portsmouth Abbey School communicates to our constituency in numerous ways to ensure that our alumni, parents of alumni, current parents and friends stay connected to the School. Whether it is receiving the Bulletin over the summer,

by Meghan Fonts, Director of Parent Relations, Office of Alumni and Development

returning for Reunion Weekend in the September, gathering in Florida during New England’s wintery weeks early in February or celebrating Family Day each spring with siblings and grandparents, we share with you the excitement of what is happening at the School. These are a few of the customary opportunities for you to connect with the Abbey today, and in turn, these connections help the School continue to build a community within the Benedictine tradition.

Volunteering is another important way to connect.

Headmaster Dan McDonough writes to our prospective families, “The partnership between our lay and monastic communities provides a unique environment for students.” Though you may be miles away or it has been years since your last visit, by partnering with us through volunteering in a purposeful way you too can be actively part of our ”unique environment.”

How do you do this? What better way to see firsthand how Portsmouth continues to transform young men and women through the teachings of St. Benedict than to volunteer. Volunteering in any capacity undoubtedly strengthens your connection, but it also strengthens our entire

top:

Parents hosting an admission reception in Merida, Mexico.

above:

PAGE 34

Parents volunteering for 2016 Christmas Open House.

community, and the gift of your time and talents is vital to the stewardship of the School.

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

above: right:

Nick Moran ’81 with the Jazz Ensemble Debra and Christopher Falvey P’18 ’20 hosting the 2016 Boston Reception

The Office of Development and Alumni Affairs has seen an increase in alumni volunteering whether through hosting domestic and international gatherings, assisting with Abbey Madness and the Annual Fund in general, and most recently, creating networking opportunities for our young alumni.

“We are looking to expand our networking opportunities for alumni as well as introduce an annual community service opportunity in key regions or cities throughout the country,” said Michael Anselmi, chair of the Alumni Leadership Council.

Alumni volunteering, whether as a Class Agent or in an ad hoc capacity, helps strengthen the School by creating positive school spirit, nurturing communication between the School and the alumni, assisting with specific school needs, and raising awareness and funds to support the School’s strategic priorities.

Tom Payne ’80 speaking with Laureen Bonin’s English class

Our parent volunteer opportunities are event-oriented. Our parents

As Headmaster Dan McDonough and Board of Regents Chair

are encouraged to volunteer with an event or program that fulfills

Chris Behnke visit with alumni, parents and friends of the

a need of the School and is of interest to them. The Abbey’s

school around the country and internationally, they consistently

Parents’ Association and its chairs and form chairs serve and

encourage all members of our Abbey community to continue

support the School’s mission and are chosen to lead and engage

to stay connected. Behnke often adds , “there is no substitute

our current parents. They share their talents and resources

for coming back to campus for a visit… You will want to do so

to enhance the goals of the School while strengthening the

again and again”. Heed his advice and when you do visit, take

experience of the students, and enhance engagement between

note on how you can offer your time and talents to the spirited

parents and the School through volunteering at events. In 2012,

learning that is taking place in and out of the classroom. Alumni

the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) found

contact your Class Agent, parents contact your Form Chair,

that of the independent schools surveyed, “…over 95 percent

parents of alumni and friends of the school contact that member

report that the parents’ association has either a “positive

of the School community you stay in touch with, and ask how

impact” or a “very positive impact” on the life of the School.”

you can give of your time to further the mission of the School.

Over the past two years we have seen an increase in parent

Volunteering in any capacity will only benefit our current and

volunteerism in the following categories: international student

future students and our entire community. And for that reason,

volunteer, Parents’ Weekend events, Christmas Open House,

we ask you to continue to be a part of this “unique environment”

and Family Day, all of which are program-specific, and parents

in your own way.

are pleased that we are embracing their involvement.

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PAGE 35

BEING HUMAN IN AN AGE OF CONFUSION

A Preview of the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture’s 2017 Summer Conference

by Christopher Fisher, Executive Director

Humanity, in the modern mind, is an accident. We are, as the quotes at left and right suggest, improbably advanced monkeys.

“The essence of life is statistical improbability on a colossal scale.” richard dawkins

This means, of course, that humanity is essentially meaningless, in that we are not endowed with a transcendent telos, or purpose – we are simply made to survive and ultimately evolve to some other more advanced being.

If taken seriously, the assumption that humanity has no transcendent purpose has the opportunity to shape not only how we practice our faith, but how we organize societies, how we consider justice, what value we place on human life, and what limits we are willing to push in shaping and misshaping human identity.

In Thomas More’s Utopia, for example, More considers a society where transcendent purpose is subordinated to the public interest, where religious belief is accepted insofar as it contributes to social order, and where the purpose of human life is to follow the rules of society and contribute to Utopia’s economic productivity.

PAGE 36

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

As a result, the sick and elderly are

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.” stephen hawking

euthanized, marriage is reduced to

“for the church in our day I see three principal areas of dialogue, in which she must be present in the struggle for man and

a transaction of erotic desire with-

his humanity: dialogue with states, dialogue

out the prerequisite of agápe, or

with society – which includes dialogue with

true love, and the people generally

cultures and with science–and finally dialogue

live a life not of human flourishing, but of relative slavery. This vision

with religions. In all these dialogues the Church speaks on the basis of the light given her by faith. But at the same time she incorporates

of society is, I believe, the danger of

the memory of mankind, which is a memory

reducing the human being to mere

of man’s experiences and sufferings from the

temporal substance – an advanced

beginnings and down the centuries, in which

monkey to be trained and pacified.

Instead, to contemplate our true meaning, we should turn to the

she has learned about the human condition, she has experienced its boundaries and its grandeur, its opportunities and its limitations.

Human culture, of which she is a guarantee, has developed from the encounter between

wisdom of the Church, which

divine revelation and human existence.

through a combination of reason

The Church represents the memory of what it

and revelation articulates a clearly

means to be human in the face of a civilization

defined and transcendent meaning of the human person.

It is in the spirit of Pope Benedict XVI’s inspired words at right that the Portsmouth Institute’s 2017 Summer Conference will address

of forgetfulness, which knows only itself and its own criteria. Yet just as an individual without memory has lost his identity, so too a human race without memory would lose its identity. What the Church has learned from the encounter between revelation and human

the theme Being Human: Christian Perspectives on the Human Per-

experience does indeed extend beyond the

son. No less than the future of Western civilization rests on how

realm of pure reason, but it is not a separate

we define what it means to be human. It is important that we get it right.

world that has nothing to say to unbelievers.

By

entering

into

the

thinking

and

understanding of mankind, this knowledge

The Portsmouth Institute is at the forefront of this work; I appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you this summer.

broadens the horizon of reason and thus it speaks also to those who are unable to share the faith of the Church. In her dialogue with the state and with society, the Church does not, of course, have ready answers for

The Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture is a center for Catholic thought that explores the intellectual tradition of the Church and promotes the renewal of contemporary culture. We do this in the spirit of Saint Benedict, our patron, and in service to the new evangelization. The Portsmouth Institute is a joint apostolate of Portsmouth Abbey and School and Saint Louis Abbey and Priory School.

individual questions. Along with other forces in society, she will wrestle for the answers that best correspond to the truth of the human condition. The values that she recognizes as fundamental and non-negotiable for the human condition she must propose with all clarity.”

To learn more about the Portsmouth Institute and the upcoming 2017 Summer Conference, please visit www.portsmouthinstitute.org or e-mail Executive Director Christopher Fisher at cfisher@portsmouthabbey.org.

WINTER Alumni BULLETIN 2017

address of his holiness benedict xvi on the occasion of christmas greetings to the roman curia

Friday, 21 December 2012

PAGE 37

COURAGE IN

the

L

RingS

of D OR the

The following is an excerpt from a speech delivered at the Portsmouth Institute’s 2016 Summer Conference, Christian Courage in a Secular Age. Read the complete speech at: portsmouthinstitute.org/ conversatioblog

BY DAVID MILLS

For those of you who haven’t read The Lord of the Rings, here’s a very inadequate summary, leaving out a lot. If you want to read the book without knowing how it ends, stop reading.

It’s set in a world called Middle Earth, which is our world a very long time ago.

A kind of fallen angel named Sauron puts much of his power into a ring. He’s defeated in battle and he and the ring disappear from history. Millennia later a creature, later called Gollum, discovers it and is corrupted by it. Through a series of improbable and as we would say Providential events, a Hobbit named Bilbo gets it — hobbits are like us but much smaller and much more domestic — and eventually passes it on to his nephew Frodo. Sauron reappears in history in a land called Mordor and begins looking for his ring. If he gets, he will have nearly absolute power and will kill and enslave the world’s peoples and effectively destroy the world. He is served by very effective armies of Orcs, his evil imitation of the elves. The ring will corrupt and enslave to Sauron anyone who possesses it, even if they don’t use it, which means he will eventually get it, no matter what anyone does.

A wizard named Gandalf (wizards are a kind of semi-unfallen angel) rescues Frodo and takes him to a council at which representatives of the world’s peoples decide to take the ring to Sauron’s kingdom to destroy it in the only place it can be destroyed. That place, the place it was made, Mount Doom, lies deep inside Sauron’s heavily guarded kingdom. They have only the tiniest chance of success but those gathered at the council think they have no other choice. If they try to hide it, it will be discovered sometime and the world will face the same threat, and they can’t leave others to face the evil.

A company of nine, including Gandalf, Frodo, his servant and friend Sam, and two other hobbits named Pippin and Merry, sets out on the long trip to Mordor.

They are joined by an elf named Legolas, a dwarf named Gimli, a prince from the kingdom of the south named Boromir, and Aragorn, the man with the right to the throne of that kingdom. That’s the Fellowship for which the first volume is titled. After that, many exciting things happen, including the improbable destruction of the ring.

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

PROVIDENCE AND THE MORAL LAW The Lord of the Rings is the story of Divine Providence, though no one in the story would understand the term.

As the late Stratford Caldecott explained it, God “works through the love and freedom of his creatures, and…forgives us our trespasses ‘as we forgive those who trespass against us’, using even our mistakes and the designs of the enemy… to bring about our good.” If you want an extended explanation of this, I’d point you to an essay I wrote for Touchstone some years ago titled “The Writer of Our Story.”

The Lord of the Rings doesn’t include any references to any sort of god or even a supernatural realm, except in a few passive voice constructions. One of the most famous is Gandalf’s explanation to Frodo how he came to have the Ring. Frodo obviously doesn’t want it. Gandalf says that behind the facts of its history “there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.”

Frodo did not find it encouraging.

Providence doesn’t mean that God waves a wand like a fairy godmother and makes things right. He works through human cooperation and accounts for and transforms human wickedness, but Providence works better with much less human pain when man cooperates. Tolkien illustrates through his story St. Paul’s observation that all things work together for good for those who love God, with the additional insight that this does not always mean happiness as we think of it.

Besides the several hints like that one he puts into the story, Tolkien worked his belief in Providence into the plot. The workings of Providence is seen most obviously in the way mercy and kindness shown to the wretched and malicious Gollum by Bilbo, the Elves, Frodo, and Sam leads to the salvation of the world in the only way it could be saved.

Sam and Frodo reach Mount Doom but Frodo, predictably, can’t give up the ring and puts it on, which means that Sauron will get it and crush and enslave the peoples of the world. Then, when all is lost, the Gollum they’ve all let live bites the ring off Frodo’s finger and in the ecstasy of finally getting it back, falls off the edge of the path and into the fire, where he and the ring are destroyed. Sauron and his works collapse, and the world is saved against all odds.

Tolkien makes this providential relation of mercy and result explicit in one of the most famous scenes in the book, told at the very beginning, when Frodo realizes how dangerous the

ring is and how dangerous to him and to his entire world is the creature Gollum, who once had the ring and will do anything — anything — to get it back. His uncle Bilbo had had the chance to kill Gollum many decades before, and had justification, but spared him because he was so wretched. The horrified and frightened Frodo exclaims: “What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!” Gandalf replies: “Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.”

“I am sorry,” said Frodo, “but I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum.”

“You have not seen him,” Gandalf broke in.

“No, and I don’t want to,” said Frodo.“I don’t understand you. Do you mean that you, and the Elves, have let him live after all those horrible deeds? Now at any rate he is as bad as an Orc, and just an enemy. He deserves death.”

“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many — yours not least.”

That indeed happens. Providence uses the heroes’ pity and mercy to arrange the destruction of the ring, to do what they could never do on their own.

The working of Providence is shown also in an apparently impractical, indeed suicidal choice. I think this is an even more significant example for us, because it depends on fidelity to a moral principle. It’s easier for us to imagine exercising mercy to a wretched creature in the hope that God will work it out than it is for us to imagine holding firmly to a principle when doing so will cost us and when the principle can be so easily compromised with little apparent ill effect.

At the end of the first volume, the Fellowship has broken up thanks to the treachery of Boromir who tried to take the

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ring from Frodo and to an attack by Orcs. Frodo and Sam slip off east to Mordor beyond the aid of their companions, while the Orcs take the two other hobbits, Merry and Pippin, in the other direction, toward Isengard, the fortress of a wizard who turned bad and allied himself with Sauron.

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come upon Boromir’s body and figure out what happened. They realize that Boromir had repented and died trying to save Merry and Pippin. It is absolutely crucial to the salvation of the world from evil that they rescue Merry and Pippin before they’re tortured into giving up the secret that Frodo is taking the ring into Mordor itself. They can’t waste a second.

And yet, they wait, at Aragorn’s insistence, till they can properly bury Boromir. We would recognize that as a corporal act of mercy and in the world of Middle Earth it’s a moral imperative. Even Legolas and Gimli argue that they’ve got to go now but they eventually agree with Aragorn. They give Boromir a funeral fitting for a hero.

Then, finally, they start the pursuit of the orcs and their friends, but they’re too late to catch the orcs. What happens?

Had they left right away and caught up with the Orcs, they might well have died in battle with a large company of highly trained warriors. Merry and Pippin escape the Orcs, meet Treebeard, the leader of an extremely reclusive people called Ents, and tell him what’s happening in the world. He rouses his fellow Ents to destroy Isengard, the fortress of the wizard who turned bad, then saves Gandalf and the others who are trapped in a fort about to be over-run. There are other results that play out for the good later in the book.

It is not too much to say that did not Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli obey the moral rules of their world and bury their comrade, the Ring would not have gone into the fire of Mount Doom and been destroyed. The salvation of Middle Earth depended upon what was from any practical and prudential point of view, a completely insane act of piety.

AN AMERICAN EXAMPLE Let me make this concrete. This is the kind of act we heard about last night in Sr. Constance’s moving description of the Little Sisters’ of the Poor resistance to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS tried to compel the Little Sisters and other religious employers to include in their insurance offerings coverage of all contraceptives.

In response to the objection of the Sisters and other religiously affiliated employers, HHS offered a “compromise” whereby the insurers would offer free contraceptive

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coverage in plans where the employer objects to covering the costs themselves. The original mandate and the alleged compromise clearly violate Catholic teaching, and so the Little Sisters objected all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The Sisters believed, after prayer and careful thought, that they could not accept what 98% of the world, and probably a majority even of serious Christians, thought a fair and equitable compromise. They believed that they had to refuse it even at the risk of everything they did.

They acted as Aragorn acted when he found the body of Boromir. Worldly wisdom said “Go now” to Aragorn and “Compromise” to the Little Sisters. They both ignored the world.

You may remember what a lot of commentators, again including serious Christians, said. The Little Sisters are splitting hairs, they’re being unreasonable, they need to compromise and meet the state halfway, they’re being idealistic, they’re recklessly endangering all the good they do, and — my personal favorite among the excuses for compromise — they’re letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

All of us last night stood to our feet to cheer the Little Sisters’ intransigence. We applauded their courage even when threatened with destruction. But I would say that we are not necessarily so radically obedient when the challenges become more personal — when they require a lot more courage than we feel. My wife and I came to the Catholic teaching on marriage while we were still Protestants, and can show you two children — “trailers” or “bonus babies,” as they’re called — to prove it. They are great blessings.

(Except when they’re not.)

And there was a certain amount of courage required in practicing the teaching, much more for my wife than for me. But I can also tell you I knew years before that that the Catholic Church was right, but I pushed that thought away because I didn’t have the courage to risk the costs. I know intimately the rationalizations you can present yourself and how eagerly you jump to accept them. I might have told you I wasn’t letting the perfect the enemy of the good.

Anyway, you cannot underestimate the radicality of Tolkien’s belief in Providence and therefore his belief in the necessity of doing the right thing even when practically-speaking it’s absolutely the wrong thing.

Read remainder of speech online at: portsmouthinstitute.org/conversatioblog

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

FALL 2016 ATHLETICS Boys Cross Country Boys Coaches Award: Dan Rodden ’18 Boys MIP: Brendan Kelly ’19 Boys Captains Elect: Andrew Aubee ’18, Dan Rodden ’18 Overall Record: 10-2 EIL Record: 7-0 EIL Champions: 4th place N.E. Div. 3 EIL Girls’ Cross Country All League Girls Coaches Award: Abbey Luth ’18 Girls MIP: Ana Dwyer ’17 Girls Captain Elect: Abbey Luth ’18 Overall Record: 14-2 EIL Record: 9-1 2nd place EIL: 4th Place N.E. Div. 3 Field Hockey Girls Field Hockey Trophy: Jane Jannotta ’18 MIP: Lily Hovasse ’20 Captains Elect : Jane Jannotta ’18, Emma Stowe ’18, Tyler White ’18 Overall Record: 10-4-1 EIL Record: 9-2 Football John M. Hogan Football Trophy: William Ensign ’17 MIP: Jay Patel ’17 Captains Elect: Ryan Donovan ’18, Logan Kreinz ’18, Matt McKenna ’18, Lance Spears ’18, Henry Wilson ’18 Evergreen Bonnefond Record (League): 3-2 Evergreen Overall Record: 3-5 Boys’ Soccer Williams Franklin Sands Memorial Soccer Trophy: Ryan Madden ’17 MIP: Preston Kelleher ’18 Captain Elect: Preston Kelleher ’18 Overall Record: 13-3-3 EIL Record: 12-0-2 EIL Champions New England Tournament Class C Quarter Finals Girls’ Soccer Girls Soccer Trophy: Remy Chester ’17 MIP: Lilias Madden ’19 Captain Elect: Kate Hughes ’18, Maria Maldonado ’18, Jillian McRoy ’18, Taylor Yates ’18 Overall Record: 5-10-1 EIL Record: 3-6-1 Boys’ Golf Coaches Award: Oliver Ferry ’17, Davis Kline ’17 MIP: Shane McCarthy ’18 Captains Elect: Thomas Brant ’18, Shane McCarthy ’18 EIL Record: 9-3

Portsmouth Abbey Fall 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.

Boys JV Cross Country: Nathaniel Landers ’20 Girls JV Cross Country: Ella Souvannavong ’18 Field Hockey: Alessandra Alves ’18 Football: Daniel Teravainen ’19 Boys JV Soccer: Tiger Farah ’19 Boys JV B Soccer: Ken Zheng ’20 Girls JV Soccer: Tatum Bach-Sorensen ’19

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FALL 2016 ATHLETICS RYAN MADDEN

ALL-LEAGUE, HONORABLE MENTION AND INDIVIDUAL HONORS EIL Boys Cross Country All-League and All-New England Division 3: David Appleton ’20, Owen Brine ’17, Daniel Rodden ’18 Honorable Mention: Andrew Aubee ’18, John Billings ’17 EIL Girls’ Cross Country All-League All-League and All-New England Division 3: Abbey Luth ’18 Honorable Mention: Johanna Appleton ’17, Ana Dwyer ’17 All New England Division 3: Ana Dwyer ’17 EIL Field Hockey All-League EIL All-League: Kaity Doherty ’17, Jane Jannotta ’18, Tyler White ’18 Honorable Mention: Maddie Burt ’19, Emma Stowe ’18 Evergreen Football All-League Evergreen All-League: Connor Baughan ’17, Chase Carter ’17, Will Ensign ’17 All New England Class C: Will Ensign ’17 Honorable Mention: Jonas Echeandia ’19, Lance Spears ’18, Ryan Donovan ’18 EIL Golf All-League

KATE HUGHES TAYLOR YATES

EIL All-League: Oliver Ferry ’17, Davis Kline ’17 Honorable Mention: Thomas Brant ’18, Shane McCarthy ’18 EIL Boys’ Soccer All-League EIL All-League: Dom Cappadona ’17, George Humphreys ’17, Preston Kelleher ’18, Spencer Kelleher ’18, Ryan Madden ’17 EIL Player of the Year: Ryan Madden ’17 New England Senior All Star Game: Dom Cappadona ’17, Ryan Madden ’17 Honorable Mention: Kel Eleje ’17, Nick Nadalin ’17

JANE JANNOTTA

EIL Girls’ Soccer All-League All-League and All-New England Junior All Star Game: Kate Hughes ’18, Taylor Yates ’18 Honorable Mention: Taylor Yates ’18

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

FALL 2016 ATHLETICS

VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY

MAX GUERRIERO

ABBEY LUTH ATHLETIC SEASON HIGHLIGHTS Sailing: Over the October 27-29 weekend, Max Guerriero ‘17 placed second in the National Sailing Championships for the Cressy Trophy, single-handed Laser division, held in Galveston, TX. Boys’ Cross Country won the EIL championship and finished fourth in the New Englands. Mr. McDonough was the EIL coach of the year for Boys Cross Country. David Appleton, Owen Brine and Dan Rodden were All-New England.

Girls’ Cross Country placed second in the EILs and 4th in the NEs. Abbey Luth and Ana Dwyer were All-New England.

Boys’ Golf finished 2nd in the EIL. Oliver Ferry was an EIL Al-league selection in each of his 4 years.

Boys’ Soccer won the EIL championship with a undefeated league record of 12-0-2.

The boys were selected to the NE Tournament and lost a close game in the first round.

They finished a great season with a 13-3-3 record.

Ryan Madden was EIL Player of the year and Dom Cappadona, Preston Kelleher and Ryan were selected to play in the NE All Star game.

Girls’ Soccer continued to improve and their overall record and EIL record were the best since 2011. Kate Hughes and Taylor Yates played in the Prep School Junior All Star game.

Football had a rebuilding year finishing 3-2 in the league and 3-5 overall.

Will Ensign was selected All-New England.

Field Hockey finished 2nd in the EIL and their EIL record of 9-2 was the best since we joined the EIL in 2007. They played a challenging schedule and finished 10-4-1 overall.

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DAVIS KLINE

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MILESTONES BIRTHS 1985 A girl, Camilla, to Sandra and Toby Murray August 2015 1988 A girl, Marian Lily, to Kathleen and Joe Cassar December 22, 2016 1996 A girl, Isadora Elena, to Elle and Jose L. Vicini January 15, 2017 1997 A boy, Elias Simmons, to Emma and Michael Anselmi November 10, 2016 2001 A girl, Catharine “Wilson,” to Emily and John Kraper March 8, 2017

Bill Sherman ’97 on his wedding day with Abbey alumni in attendance, (from left to right), Lou Tavares ‘97, Steve DeVecchi ‘97, Jillian Hawes ‘99, Ryan Grabert ‘97, Ben Squire ‘97, Annie Sherman Luke ‘95, Matt Reeber ‘97, Chris Marcogliese ‘97, Andrew Gontarz ‘97 and Ted Horton ’89

Adam Robertson ‘03 and his wife Carrie on their wedding day

Catharine “Wilson” Kraper, daughter of Emily and John ’01

Elias, son of Michael Anselmi ‘97

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Isadora Vicini, daughter of Elle and Jose ’96

Joe Cassar’98 and his daughter, Marian Lily

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

MILESTONES Genevieve Block ‘04 and Zisko Apaza were married at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Florida on February 18, surrounded by family and friends including (from left to right): Christopher Block ‘96, Jennie Weiss Block (former board member and parent), Meredith Lawrence ‘04, Alexandra MacDonald ‘02, Andres Pesant ‘96, Genevieve Block ‘04, Zisko Apaza, Whitney Connell ‘04, Reverend Charles Latour, O.P (former teacher), Mary Block Herman ‘02, Chad Wood ‘04, Sean Galvin ‘04, and Paul Petronello ‘04.

Brendan and Tessa Condon Kennedy ‘10

Left: Cat Malkemus ‘10 and Dan Caplin ‘10 were joined by a joyous group of Abbey alumni on their wedding day

WEDDINGS 1997 Bill Sherman to Jenna Wheelhouse July 2, 2016 2003 Adam Robertson to Carrie Boys at the end of August 2004 Genevieve Block to Zisko Apaza February 18, 2017 2007 Katie Coaty to Maxwell Koenig August 8, 2016 2010 Catherine Malkemus to Daniel Caplin December 23, 2016 Tessa Condon to Brendan Kennedy August 6, 2017 Katie Coaty on her wedding day in Newport, RI, at the Newport Officers’ Club. Abbey alumni in attendance included (l-r) Page Fournier, Chris O’Reilly, Caitie Silvia, Gus Gleason, Lori Rich, Anna Buckley, and Katie (Chiumento) Russell as well as former faculty Tara and Eamonn O’Brien

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MILESTONES NECROLOGY Angela Araujo Mother of staff member, Maria Arruda October 1, 2016 Beatrice Bazarsky Grandmother of Jason ’04, Craig ’05 and Zachary Bazarsky ’07 August 18, 2016 Betsy Bloomingdale Mother of Geoff ’67 and Robert Bloomingdale ’73 July 19, 2016 Angus Brown ’01 January 4, 2017 Fernando Brum Father-in-law of staff member, Manny Almeida Grandfather to Kiahna Almeida ’16 July 20, 2016 Edward Coderre Father of Edward Coderre Jr. ’80 September 21, 2016 Roger Normand Cournoyer DVM MPH Father of Peter Cournoyer ’80 Grandfather of Faith Cournoyer ’19 December 19, 2016 Richard “Dick” Daly ’43 Father of Peter Daly ’75 March 1, 2016 Carroll Delaney ’65 September 26, 2016 John D. Diskon ’59 September 23, 2016 Maria de Leurdes Domnengoc Mother of staff member, Donaria Benevides Mother-in-law of staff member, Tony Pacheco Grandmother of Matt Benevides ’15 and Kaitlin Pacheco ’20 October 1, 2016 Lucy Elliot Widow of Henry Elliot ’41 Mother of Henry Elliot ’67, Douglas Elliot ’72, Daniel Elliot ’75, Joseph Elliot ’78 Aunt of Charles Carter ’82 and George Carter ’85 January 18, 2017

Raymond James Falvey Grandfather of Mary Beth ’18 and Ted Falvey ’20 November 14, 2016 John Gilman ’43 December 8, 2016 Iris Fisher Goodwin Mother-in-law to Kevin Kresock ’68 g June 19, 2016 Philip Heide ’58 Brother of Peter Heide ’55 g Father of Andrew Heide’95 and Elizabeth Fessenden ’97 Father-in-law of F. J. Fessenden ’97 August 23, 2016 John Kerr ’67 Brother of Christopher ’63 g , Colin ’67 and Gilbert Kerr ’71 July 18, 2016 David Lane Former Faculty July 25, 2016 Mary Leatherwood Mother of staff member, Dave Leatherwood December 31, 2016 Jung Min Lee ’03 Former Faculty Sister of Seung Joon Lee ’06 December 11, 2016 Ann Margaret H. Loughran Grandmother of Frank Loughran ’15 August 25, 2016 Andrew Warren Macy II Uncle of Eliza Pfeffer ’01 and Abigail Block ’01 Brother-in-law of James Pfeffer ’69 October 16, 2016 Margarida Manteiga Mother of staff member, Joe Soares Grandmother of Filipe Soares ’02 August 27, 2016

Francis Donal McDonough Father of Headmaster, Dan McDonough Grandfather of Joseph ’02, Gretchen ’04, Mary ’07, Felicity ’11, Sean ’14 and Diane McDonough ’19 July 13, 2016 Malinda Okoro Mother of Jeff ’14 and Josh Okoro ’15 January 2, 2017 Malcolm B. O’Malley ’62 December 1, 2016 Colonel Jack Paterno ’59 October 22, 2016 Charles L. Powers ’45 July 7, 2014 Reverend John W. Riegel Father of Nicolas Riegel ’91 October 24, 2016 Sean Romano ’94 September 18, 2016 Barea Seeley Mother of Frederick ’74 g , Tim ’77 and Richard Seeley ’80 November 27, 2016 Kevin Paul Sullivan ’70 Cousin of Michael McDonnell ’70 November 24, 2016 Cedric Smith Father of Ed Smith ’85 September 28, 2016 Delia Ann Stinson Former Faculty October 8, 2016 Louis Vallone Grandfather of Nick Vallone ’18 October 28, 2016 Jeffrey Vieira Nephew of Staff member, Joe Soares Cousin of Filipe Soares ’02 and Monica Furtado ’00 August 27, 2016 Charles Walgreen Grandfather of Tad Alexander Walgreen ’08 September 26, 2016 g Deceased

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

IN MEMORIAM

DOM DAMIAN KEARNEY O.S.B. ‘45 November 28, 1928 – September 8, 2016

“Rev. Dom Damian A. Kearney, O.S.B. has been a fixture of Portsmouth Abbey School for so long that his death did not fully register with me,” wrote John Tepper Marlin ’58 on December 10.

“I heard news of it while I was traveling in England, but I somehow expected to see him this week at the annual New York City Portsmouth reception.“

Fr. Damian’s services to the monastery were significant and varied. He was prior of the monastery and thus acting superior whenever the Abbot was away from 1974 to 1990. He had been nearly a permanent member of the Abbot’s advisory council since 1964. He directed the monastic education of the novices and junior monks, and most recently was director of oblates.

Former students, faculty and friends from Montreal, Chicago and other far-flung parts of the world arrived at the Abbey church on September 14 for Dom Damian’s funeral Mass, following a heartfelt flood of admiration and sorrow on social media.

Portsmouth Abbey gathered to mourn the loss of our beloved Fr. Damian.

A much beloved and dedicated educator, Fr. Damian taught in the English Department for over fifty years, serving as chairman from 1974 to 1988. In addition, he was the Housemaster of the largest boys’ dormitory, St. Benet’s House, from 1960 to 1974.

Born Allan Peter Kearney on November 28, 1928, in Rockville Centre, Long Island, N.Y., he was the son of Edward and Louise Keefe Kearney. Fr. Damian had five brothers and one sister, of whom his brother David survives him, along with many nephews and nieces.

Fr. Damian entered Portsmouth Priory School in the First Form in 1940, graduating early as a Fifth Former in 1945 because of the war. Father Julian Stead remembers, “He was on the quiet side but was always elected president of his Form, which says something about his essential character; and he never changed.”

Allan Kearney earned a B.A. degree from Yale University in 1949 and entered the monastery in 1950. Fr. Damian was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1956. John Tepper Marlin recalled that he was the first at Portsmouth to be Fr. Damian’s altar boy in 1956.

Throughout all he was our monastic historian and archivist, interested in everything and everyone; he was a man of great loyalty and devotion to the School and Abbey, to his beloved Yale University and to all things beautiful, such as fine art, literature (especially Shakespeare), and his gardens. He gave himself unstintingly to all that he did.

Indefatigable teacher in the regular and summer schools, keeper of the old Bookstore (my entry into Heaven will be, at least, indefinitely delayed because of the time, at the end of a long line to acquire a biology textbook I didn’t want, I shot my water pistol and missed my roommate, hitting Father Damian in the eye instead). Frequent contributor to the Bulletin and The Portsmouth Review, faithful author of the highly literate monthly oblate newsletter for over fifty years. Stern, but compassionate Housemaster (This room is a disgrace.), knowledgeable spectator of sports, peruser of and commentator on goings-on in the greater culture, mounter of exhibitions in the library and the McEvoy art

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IN MEMORIAM

Above: Allan Kearney’s Yale yearbook page Left: The Kearney clan with their dog Tad. Allan is seated at left.

Father Damian teaching in the loft

What I remember most clearly about Father Damian was when a classmate of mine named O’Brien got caught doing something he shouldn’t have and was sent home to await the Headmaster’s decision on whether or not he would return to the School. In the end he was expelled and, feeling pretty low, he called the St. Benet’s telephone. We were chatting to him, commiserating, when Father Damian walked by and asked who was on the other end. We told him, and Father Damian picked up the phone and said crisply, “O’Brien, don’t sweat the small stuff! Get on with your life, and you’ll do just fine.”

— Vin Buonanno ’62

A young Dom Damian with his father at the family home on Long Island

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gallery, enlightening homilist, master gardener by the Gazebo – but also keeper of the lovely green plant collection on the second story of the monastery – tour guide of the Abbey art collections (he was hugely happy to acquire a Durer from the Head family in the last month of his life), and wise and industrious counselor, a monk who happily represented the School in its development efforts, and correspondent on a Jeffersonian scale to students, alumni, parents and many friends.

When my class of 1962 graduated, we dedicated the Gre-

More than any other monk at Portsmouth Dom Damian took the dictum ora et labora literally and invested the same energy in his teaching and writing work over decades as he did in spiritual combat. And, on that morning in September, as students from more than a half-century gathered gratefully in a solemn send off, it was moving to see his herculean investment so visibly honored.

lesson a writer can learn: Tell the story. When you’re bob-

gorian yearbook to him as “our cheerful friend and sage advisor.” Fifty years later, he is every bit as cheerful and even more sage. And he is – and always has been – the absolute epitome of what an academic chair recognizes which is excellence in teaching and support for its future.

While explaining the Bard, he taught the most important bing and weaving all over the page, trying to write the next paragraph, juggling motivation and character development, history or mystery: Tell the story.

Nobody did that better than Shakespeare. Nobody taught English better than Damian Kearney.”

— Christopher Ogden ‘62 He was a hero and mentor to our Class of ‘65 and many others. He was contemplative, a communitarian, humane and perpetually cheerful. His spirit permeates Portsmouth and will live on in perpetuity. — James Sturdevant ‘65 I still have nightmares about the RED PEN, with flashes of “Essay begins here (with arrow, 7 lines from the end of what I had written);” or “Oh, please;” or how about “Nonsense.”

Yet assuredly, the English DP was the best educational experience I ever had. It gave me the wherewithal to succeed in college and in law school, and in my career: I could write quickly and clearly, an immensely valuable capability learned in one

I count myself as lucky to have had Fr. Damian as a

excruciating, humbling class. Thank you, Fr. Damian. — Paul

significant influence on my life. Like so many of the

Kennedy ‘66

monks at Portsmouth, he left the world a much better place than he found it.

Father Damian has made it a major cause of his life to combat the slovenliness of our language, and to reverse the process

– Charles Macdonald ’75 In the fall of 2012, a festive dinner at the Hope Club in Providence celebrated the completion of the Dom Damian Kearney Chair in English. More than 40 family members, students, friends and supporters of Father Damian attended. Michael Bonin, the first holder of the Kearney Chair in English, spoke: “You know that Father Damian doesn’t like people making a big fuss over him. The Kearney Chair in English was announced at last spring’s Commencement, and after the ceremony I ran into Father Damian in the Winter Garden. When I congratulated him on the honor, he rolled his eyes and said, ‘You know, they usually don’t do this sort of thing until after one is decently dead.’

of its decay. He has chosen to do so under the most difficult circumstance – by trying to teach writing to an inherently slovenly group, teenagers, and in my day, the especially slovenly subset of teenage boys. Father Damian is one of the teachers to whom my latest book is dedicated because he taught me how to write, even though I am sure he still notices the shortcomings of my prose.

When friends in the writing and journalism business get together, they routinely talk about their editors, particularly the tough one. I have sometimes told my friends: You guys don’t know a tough editor until you have met Father Damian.

Thanks to the Benedictine monk who taught me how to write – or at least tried mightily. — E.J. Dionne, Jr. ’69

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IN MEMORIAM Father Damian opening the ice rink at Portsmouth Abbey, 2011 Inset: Father Damian’s skates hang in the hockey rink in perpetuity

A man above all and a true inspiration for all who studied underneath his amazing talent.

I am sure you are riding your bike into heaven and tending to the gardens!

Rest in peace, your legacy will live forever.

— John Bird ’90

of the formative influences on his long career both as a boy in the School and as a monk on the faculty, such as W.K. Wimsatt, a teacher at Portsmouth in the 1930s who later became Sterling Professor of English and department chair at Yale, and Dom Alban Baer, Father Damian’s predecessor as English department chairman.

“Well, of course we are all here tonight because we much prefer Father Damian indecently alive. And when I see him ice-skating up at the rink, and riding his bicycle up Cory’s Lane, and swimming down at the Bay, it occurs to me that he’s really planning to take over the English Department again once I’m no longer around.

“The Kearney Chair honors Portsmouth Abbey’s remarkable legacy in English, which is largely Father Damian’s doing.

“It honors the Abbey’s extraordinary roster of alumni authors, especially (thinking about the recent election) our political writers, such as Chris Ogden, E.J. Dionne, and Christopher Buckley.

Living up to this heritage is a daunting task, but all of the Abbey English teachers are doing their very best to follow Father Damian’s inspiring example. I am here to thank all of you on their behalf, and on behalf of all the Abbey English students, past, present, and future.”

Later in the evening, Father Damian, spry and sharp as ever, thanked the assembled guests for coming out and recalled some

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Father Damian kept the long perspective in mind, and we benefitted from that in ways large and small. Ad multos Annos!

Finally, during research I undertook for the Portsmouth Institute “Catholic Shakespeare?” conference, I was able to find in the secret admissions archives the following comments by Father Damian on an applicant whose name is given only as “William of Stratford.”

Connecticut, I presume.

Antic, uncontrolled, shamelessly theatrical, narcissistically neologistic, pedantically prolix, in fact, I doubt he can define the differences among anaphora, periphrasis, and litotes, shocking though that might sound, but not without some talent – possibly some potential as a popularizer – once I get my hands on him….

Here is representative example of Fr. Damian’s own balanced, measured prose style, writing on the importance of art in the Benedictine tradition: Part of the Benedictine heritage consists in the conservation and the promotion of art, especially sacred art, as a means of expressing worship of God. Kenneth Clark has rightly given

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

IN MEMORIAM

credit for the patronage and importance of ecclesiastical art to Abbot Suger (1081 – 1151), superior of the royal monastery of Saint Denis in Paris, especially in the birth of the Gothic architecture, stained glass, sculpture and objects used in performing the liturgy. Clark quotes with approval his theory that it is ‘through the material that man approaches God,’ and that Suger’s expression of this principle “has remained the basis of our belief in the value of art until today.” Unlike St. Bernard, his great contemporary, who deplored what he considered to be the Cluniac excesses of decorative art in sacred places and a distraction to prayer, Suger equated ‘absolute beauty with God, who can be comprehended through the effect of precious and beautiful things on our senses.’

We can see that he wrote well, but what made Father Damian such a great teacher? He was punctual, efficient, demanding (the legendary DPs of English 3 in which one wrote a long essay in a 90-minute double period in the Science Lecture Hall, only to have him correct sixty of them within forty-eight hours and return them with comments: “Put a big X through that answer,” “Rubbish,” “Really?” or, “Oh, Mr. Buckley, alas!”).

In his understated way, Father Damian could be very funny.

His consistency was another hallmark, which Chris Buckley saluted, quoting Sonnet 116: an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests, and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, whose height’s unknown, although his worth be taken.

With Dom Damian’s death, the last living link in the monastery to the School’s Founder, Father Hugh Diman, is gone (though Father Julian ‘43, now residing at St. Clare nursing home in Newport, has vivid memories of Father Hugh as well).

Father Damian’s ice hockey skates are now hung from a corner of Fr. Bede’s sign above the rink, and his presence reverberates in a multiplicity of ways, on the campus and in the memories of his devoted brethren, colleagues and students, now scattered across the globe.

Abbot Matthew celebrated the Mass and performed the burial rites after in the monastic cemetery. He quoted the words Father Damian had asked to be put on his prayer card on the day of his ordination in May of 1956: “One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life.”

Abbot Matthew read those lines, then commented, “And that is just what he did.”

Indeed, he did, but he also did so much more.

— James P. MacGuire ‘70 (Jamie’s latest book, Real Lace Revisited, was inspired by Father Damian and was published on St. Patrick’s Day, 2017)

(Read more of Chris Buckley’s remarks from Dom Damian’s 2006 dinner on page 52)

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Father Damian at his celebration dinner in 2007 with faculty emeritus David McCarthy and Dr. Michael Bonin, both of whom succeeded Dom Damian as English department heads at Portsmouth Abbey

The following is excerpted from the address given by author Christopher Buckley’70 on the Damian Kearney Chair in English fundraising dinner at the Yale Club in 2006:

Then it came to me that that Fr. Damian had died. Of leprosy.

About a year ago I received an email from Portsmouth saying that they were having a little dinner at the Yale Club for Father Damian the following May and would I make a few remarks.

I said I’d be delighted, assuming that I would be just one of several dozen of Fr. Damian’s boys – and girls – to stand up and give a hip-hip-hooray.

During my time at Portsmouth, I came to know various Fathers Damian.

I relaxed. The last time I would relax over the course of the next four years.

One month ago the formal invitation arrived. I opened the envelope. I was immediately struck by the… augustness of the thing. A celebration of his - Good Lord – 50th anniversary of ordination as priest. I read on: Guest speaker: Christopher Buckley. My bowels shriveled as I heard the voice from the past. “Oh, Mr. Buckley, alas.”

The first, of course, was the figure of Ultimate Authority God’s warden here on earth, administrator of high, middle and low justice. This Fr. Damian would -- and usually did – at any hour of the day and night, burst through the door of your room. He had perfected a technique whereby knocking on and opening the door was one and the same motion. A miracle of kinetic efficiency. His opening line, at least in my case, generally consisted of, “Buckley, this room is a dis-grace.”

Another of Fr. Damian’s talents was that he could stretch out the word ‘disgrace’ to five, sometimes six syllables.

At any rate, I am pleased, I am tickled and indeed I am honored to have been asked to participate in this vernissage – a word I learned many years ago from another great teacher of Portsmouth Priory – Jacques Pagès. I first met Fr. Damian in September, 1966. That would be forty years ago, so he would then have been finishing his first decade as a priest.

Forty years later I still tremble at the memory. Every now and then, upon entering the rooms of one of my teenage children, I attempt to mimic Fr. Damian. But I seem to lack some compelling authoritarian component, for they respond to my words with a shrug, iPods still plugged into their ears, “Yeah, whatever.”

My parents were dropping me off at St. Benet’s. I was clutching my mother’s leg, begging them not to leave me in this ghastly place when the door burst open and in walked, or rather swept - the figure who was to play a large, indeed, pivotal part in my life for the next four years.

I doubt anyone ever said to Fr. Damian, “Yeah, whatever.”

“Ah,” he exclaimed, “you must be Buckley! I’m Father Damian.”

My mind raced. I had been to a Catholic elementary school and was already steeped in priestly literature. Damian…Damian?

Could this be the same Fr. Damian who’d lived with lepers in Hawaii? Bad enough that my parents were abandoning me in this place of desolation, but was I also to be left in the care of someone who had lived with lepers?

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(Or even in Latin, Certe, quidquid.)

He is not a physically towering person, Fr. Damian, but he seemed pretty towering even to the tallest of us.

My friend Bill Brazell ’86 tells the story of a moment outside the dining hall. Fr. Damian encountered a Sixth Former holding over his head a Third Former.

He called out loudly to the Sixth Former, “Smith, put down that boy!” Aware that he was playing to an audience that had gathered, Fr. Damian said in mock anger, “You should be doing your English homework!”

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

His voice rose, “You both should be doing your English homework!”

can’t make out what you’ve written here.”

He wheeled on the Third Former, who was still being held aloft, “MacGuire! Why aren’t you reading your Beowulf?”

He came over in a brisk swirl of cassock, peered at my exam booklet. Frowned. It became quite obvious after a minute or so that even he couldn’t make out what he’d said.

The whimpering Third Former replied helplessly, “But Fatherhe picked me up!”

“Well, Buckley,” he finally said, “it’s obvious, isn’t it? I was saying you need to strive for clarity!”

“Alas, Mr. MacGuire. Shame on you. Smith could have done no such thing if you had been in the library, reading your Beowulf.”

This pedagogical rigor has been much remarked on by Portsmouth graduates who have gone on to success in the literary field. I recall reading the transcript of an excellent commencement speech given a few years ago by my near contemporary, E.J. Dionne. E.J. spoke of a long and ambitious term paper that he had written as a senior project. E.J. was a brilliant student. He handed it into Fr. Damian, confident not only of a grade of A, but of a Pulitzer Prize – perhaps even a Nobel.

“But Father, I had to be at dinner!”

“Tut, tut, MacGuire. Not another word. Smith, why are you laughing? You should be reading your…your…”

“Hamlet, Father?”

“Precisely! You should be reading your Hamlet! Now go to it. And stop lifting the Third Formers. We have a gym for that.”

The second Father Damian I came to know was in the classroom. I was aware that he had gone to Yale, a school with which I had some familiarity, my father and uncles all having gone there.

I knew it was a serious place - unlike, say… Harvard - where you got a good, solid education. So I knew that I was being taught literature and writing by, as it were, an homme serieux.

His paper was returned to him more marked up than a Senate appropriations bill, crimson with scrawled comments, and not a one of them impressed. The title page bore a large, circled, “C minus.”

A scarlet letter. with a sort of

He would stare half-smile – at least, on a good day – and say, “Put a big X through that answer.” Or the familiar, “Oh, Mr. Buckley, alas.”

I recall it all vividly: Father Damian standing at the blackboard, the sleeves of his black cassock frosted with chalk dust, scrawling furiously about some finer point of Tom Jones, then wheeling like a Benedictine dervish and barking, “Buckley-what three aspects distinguish the 18th century English novel?”

I would venture an answer, usually pitiful. He would stare with a sort of half-smile - at least, on a good day - and say, “Put a big X through that answer.” Or the familiar, “Oh, Mr. Buckley, alas.”

His handwriting has been much commented upon by generations of students. Samples of it have been sent to forensic laboratories across the land for analysis.

Even now, 40 years later, when I type at my laptop, the screen becomes a palimpsest. His comments appear on the screen as if by magic, a kind of eternal spell, grammar, style and contentcheck. I see the words, “Nonsense!,” “Cliché!” “You already said that – on page 2!” Every rare now and then I see “OK” or even “Good! More of this.”

Sometimes - often, in fact – you just couldn’t make out what he was saying, though it was a pretty good bet he wasn’t pleased. One time I said helplessly, “Father, I’ve tried, but I

It was clear from his commencement speech that E.J. has still not recovered from this blunt force trauma to his youthful ego. But now he’s got a column in the Washington Post.

The third Fr. Damian I came to know was a sort of mentor, even friend, who took a kind interest in my jejune efforts at fiction writing. I’d submitted a short story to The Raven.

(Does it still exist?) It was a story about a moral dilemma of a boy who goes down to his dorm’s boiler room in order to smoke forbidden cigarettes. (Complete fiction, obviously.) While he’s down there puffing away, he sees a pressure gauge on the boiler indicating that it’s about to blow. He ought immediately to notify the housemaster. But the housemaster has sternly put the boiler room completely off limits. Anyone caught there will be presumed to have been smoking and – expelled.

It didn’t win a Pulitzer, my little story, but it did appear in The Raven. (They were probably hard up for material that month.)

At any rate, after the story appeared, with its rather…accurate description of the boiler room in the basement of St. Benet’s, my classmates murmured to me, in raven-like tones, “Beware, beware.”

I thought, Uh oh.

A few days later, sure enough there was a knock-open of my door and in swept Fr. Damian, holding a copy of that month’s Raven. I braced.

But he was grinning, and there were few sights more welcome that a grin on the puss of Fr. Damian.

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Father Damian and Vin Buonanno ’62 at Dom Damian Chair dinner in NYC

“Ah, Buckley,” he said, “I’ve read your story.” He swatted me on the chest with the Raven. “It’s not bad.

But let me show you a few things.”

We sat down, I hyperventilating with relief, and he showed me the few things – an infelicity of phrase here, a too-long sentence there, the word “very” - one of his signature vexations, along with the word “nice.” How he hated those two words. If you wanted to get Fr. Damian’s goat, all you had to do was tell him you thought something was “Very nice.”

turning 75 must have seemed impossibly distant. And yet here we are and there we are, forever a part of it, as if we never left. Perhaps we never did.

I’ve been thinking about that long-ago moment in St. Benet’s, recently, because there’s a movie out now called Thank You For Smoking playing now at a theater near you.

This is a 50th anniversary, so it would be appropriate, or meet – as the good old pre-Vatican II liturgy used to put it – to reflect on some of the historical milestones.

Allan Damian Kearney was born in 1928, the year Herbert Hoover was elected President, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon appeared, and the year “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” was published – a book I don’t recall being on Fr. Damian’s English syllabus.

He arrived at Portsmouth as a student in 1940, the year World War II began. This was also the year Grahame Greene published “The Power and the Glory,” a text that Fr. Damian did use. How many English papers about the whisky priest has he read and graded over the years?

After graduating from Yale, he entered the monastic community in 1950, the year William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize and [shortly after] Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary was sentenced to life imprisonment by the communist regime there for “high treason.”

And on May 26, 1956, the date that we celebrate today – if a bit early – he was received into the priesthood. A few weeks later, Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier and Cardinal Mindszenty was released from prison.

We all have our own time-lines. The years 1966 and 1970 are key points in my own, and I think of them often, those being the years I arrived at Portsmouth and the year I left. I say left, but I wrote in the 75th anniversary alumni bulletin a short reflection my time there. The last paragraph of it reads: The class of 1970 is now going on fifty years old. Thirty years ago, the idea of turning fifty to us was inconceivable. When Father Hugh Diman founded Portsmouth Priory in 1926, the idea of its

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It is inconceivable to me to imagine devoting a half-century of service to God and man. Or perhaps God and Boy. Or God and Boy and Girl.

And to have done it all in one place, a place that grew and – literally – flowered under his care. In addition to Fr. Damian’s other portfolios – housemaster, teacher, art historian, archivist – he also managed, in one of the ancient traditions of the Benedictine Order to find time to garden.

Among their other vows, Benedictines take a vow of stability.

(I think Father Andrew may have skipped the mental component of that one….) Many of Portsmouth’s monks have come and gone, or gone and come back, wandered about from monastery to monastery. Not Father Damian. He’s been a sort of Gibraltar, or, to put it in the words of a poem that I first studied with him, An ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken, A star to every wandering bark, whose height’s unknown, although his worth be taken.

Fifty years. A half century. An entire life of service to God and to God-knows-how-many generations of sniveling runnynosed Portsmouth boys. And girls.

To many of us, Father Damian is Portsmouth Abbey.

The silver patten that his parents gave to him on May 26, 1956, bears the words, “One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life.”

I don’t know what the House of the Lord looks like. I hope the food’s better than it was at Portsmouth when I was there.

But I do remember the sound off the church creaking in the late afternoon wind that swept up from Narragansett Bay, and recall thinking, as I knelt there, listening to the soft chant of the monks as they sang their Mother to sleep at vespers, that this, perhaps, was the sound of eternity.

Fifty years. Well done, Father.

(Or did I say that already on page 2?)

Congratulations. Very nice indeed.

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

– Christopher Buckley ’70

My Uncle Allan Dom Damian was my uncle, the Benedictine monk. He was for myself and all his other nieces and nephews “Uncle Allan”, or sometimes simply Allan. This was how he would sign off on his cards and notes and emails.

And while his emails showed his impressive, lengthy, circuitous sentences, they did not reveal his amazing handwriting. It really was “calligraphy”; beautiful writing that was a firm and florid script. In my mind it was Gothic, but in any case it was immediately identifiable as belonging to Uncle Allan. It did require close reading in order to transform a beautiful shape into a word. I don’t think I have seen any other handwriting that was so wildly expressive. It was the handwriting of an artist. And as I now reflect upon my late uncle’s life, I realize that he lived his life with the single mindedness of an artist who was always open to the new and original. He delighted in so many things and in so many people; in plants, in literature, in art, in history, and of course above all in the everchanging life of Portsmouth Abbey.

He wasn’t interested in politics or sports. But what did hold his interest was the history, the story of a particular fountain, or a tree, a window, a painting, how someone was related to somebody he had once taught. He had a steel trap mind for those details, and it meant he was an excellent representative of the school at alumni events.

He would remember everyone. He was a very caring person.

And that also was part of the paradox of my uncle. He was superb at social events but thrived on solitude.

On the infrequent trips to my parents’ home in CT, he would get up early and walk up to the Green and back, a two mile stroll before breakfast. He swam, skated, biked, gardened regularly all his life. He did not play golf or tennis or team sports. He chose exercise by which he could be alone to think, or else to listen to his books on tape.

He was especially close to his brothers David and Andrew. When they were together, I have been told, there would be enormous laughter and silliness. He didn’t like argument or disagreement. His way was to find resolution and move on.

Allan had a delicious wit and loved making jokes. When I last saw him this past summer, I was describing a production of “Measure for Measure” that I had seen in an open ended tent, and how in the midst of the play there was a tremendous thunderstorm with great bolts of lightning and gushing rain but yet the play continued.

And Uncle Allan quickly remarked, “Too bad it wasn’t “The Tempest”.

He was very brave and courageous through his final illness. He accepted his diagnosis and kept going. When my sister and I were saying our goodbyes to him, and we knew that they would be final, Uncle Allan smiled broadly at us, waving, “Arrivederci” and passed back into the monastery.

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Mara Kearney December 17, 2016

WPI O NR TT ES RMAOl U uT mH n iA B BB UELYL ESTCIH NO2O0L1 7

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IN MEMORIAM DOM EDMUND ADAMS ’57 Beloved monk of Portsmouth Abbey Reverend Dom Edmund Adams, O.S.B., ‘57 died on December 24, 2016, after a six-day illness in Newport Hospital. He was 77 years old. A Mass of Christian burial was offered for Father Edmund on January 6, 2017, in the Church of St. Gregory the Great, followed by interment in the Abbey cemetery.

Christened Thomas Frederick Adams, he was born in Cambridge, MA. He is predeceased by his family: his father Frederick Johnstone Adams, of London, England; his mother Keith Folger Adams of Bronxville, NY; and his brother Benjamin Folger Adams of Albuquerque, NM. Tom entered Portsmouth Priory School, as it was then known, as a Second-former and left in his Fifth-form year. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Suffolk University in 1964 and received his doctorate in English at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1969. Before returning to the Abbey, Tom worked as assistant professor of English at University of Toledo (Ohio). He rejoined the Portsmouth Abbey community as a postulant in the monastery in 1982, made his profession as a monk at the Abbey in 1984, and was ordained a priest in 1989.

In addition to his monastic duties, he served as teacher, coach and housemaster, at various times throughout his thirty plus years at Portsmouth. He remained House chaplain in St. Aelred’s until his final days, driving to the dorm each night to pray with the boys and reciting Compline twice weekly after House prayers. His love for music, especially the blues, was legendary, as was his radio show on Portsmouth Abbey’s WJHD station. Father Edmund was a fixture at football games, the Ravens’ greatest fan, where he could often be spotted on the sidelines in his signature baseball cap. “My strongest memories of him are his determination to stay in touch with the students as long as he could by saying Compline at night in the houses when both Pierce and Rhoads were Third Formers in St. Aelred’s,” says Jamie MacGuire ’70 “and also leading a prayer in the gym just before the football team took the field before home games.”

Chris Baum remembered how Father Edmund enjoyed “listening to jazz and would often wear a Thelonious Monk t-shirt during

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house prayers. He was a Red Sox fan and would often wear the team’s Jacket to class. He had a positive influence on everyone who knew him.” And Ron Passaro shared a text that he received from John Plummer: “I remember when Rodriguez and I asked for permission to do something after lights out and he said no, but added that in the future we should remember it is always easier to ask for forgiveness later than for permission first.”

“I have so many wonderful memories of this great man, says Ron. “I remember finding great delight in seeing the twinkle in his eye as he listened to students try and BS him as to why they were caught out of their rooms during study hall and the like. Of course, this was not a man to attempt to BS so usually that would be the first and last time.”

Paul Suk-Hyun Yoon ’01, who delivered the Class of 2001 valedictory speech, said these words about Fr. Edmund: “Rev. Dom Edmund Adams, I started my speech with you in mind. You have been my housemaster for three of the four years I have been “incarcerated” here on the glorious waters of Narraganset Bay. Father, you have embraced me, with an occasional bear hug, with genuine love and care since the day I set foot in St. Aelred’s. We talked last Friday evening, one of the last nights we prefects put the freshmen to bed, and we discussed this very day. You congratulated me on being chosen as the class’ valedictorian, and you remarked it would be a very special day for you. In your usual bashful but sincere retreat you turned around at the threshold of your apartment (jazz, smokes and blues) and spoke. You said that evening, “Paul, you have been like a son to me, it will be a very special day for me.” And like a wisp of smoke you disappeared, “ham and cheese” time, I suppose....

In 2005 the School yearbook, the Gregorian, was dedicated to Father Edmund, with the following inscription written by Meg Macdonald ’05 and Becky Findlay ’05: “It is difficult to envision Father Edmund anywhere but at the Abbey. He has been a presence here for 22 years, as a houseparent, monk, and teacher, and embodies a certain spirit of Abbey life. He attended the Abbey, but left before graduating. Although he went to multiple schools, Father Edmund insists he only remembers

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IN MEMORIAM

Fr. Edmund: God bless the Mother.

The father.

And the Washington Redskins.

– NEALE HEGARTY ’94

Fr. Edmund, we will always remember your zest for life and sense of humor. Your advice on life (often quoting so many great English books) when I was a junior and you were my Houseparent was invaluable.

Dom Edmund receiving his 1957 diploma from Headmaster De Vecchi in 2007

– CARLOS ALEJANDRO VASQUEZ ’95

what he learned here… The one thing that truly inspired him to come back was having great houseparents, Dom Bede and Dom Andrew, whom he loved. Father Edmund wanted to have the same influence on his students as they had had on him…

Despite the large-scale changes he has seen within the school, the constant and most-felt change was the entrance of the new boys every year, each with a unique personality… Feeling he was somewhere between a houseparent and housemaster, he loved the atmosphere the school fostered. He says he loves the discovery of people and watching their discovery of themselves: ‘I think each of us reflects some unique aspect of God that no other being does.’ “

He wasn’t full of sh*#. And he knew it. And we knew it. And when you are fourteen and you feel like everyone else is, such men can mean the world to you.

In June 2007 Father Edmund was awarded a Portsmouth Abbey diploma, Class of 1957, at commencement exercises, to a standing ovation. He taught English and Christian Doctrine at the Abbey until his retirement in 2009. Frank Pagliaro, who graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 2010 and then returned to teach Humanities at the Abbey recollects, “Dom Edmund Adams was a man with whom I had some fierce disagreements: he loved every baseball team except my Yankees, hated James Joyce, and refused to ‘interpret’ the Bible through any sort of ‘literary’ lens. He yelled gruffly down the hallways for night prayers, despised conversations at mealtime, and once even sat on me and said, “Guess my weight!” He was grouchy, grumpy, and ornery, a cranky force with whom to be reckoned. He was also one of my first and truest friends at Portsmouth Abbey. I will forever cherish the nights I spent under his counsel in St. Aelred’s House, and the letters we exchanged into my college years. Underneath his prickly surface radiated a truly compassionate soul, a man who rooted so hard for the little guy that we sometimes mistook his love of the Davids for a hatred of the Goliaths. In truth, Father Edmund never hated any person – he only hated evil. He was a good teacher, a great priest, and even better friend. It’s with great sadness that I wish Father Edmund a safe and happy return to the light of the love that made him. Noctem quietam et finem perfectum concedat nobis Dominus omnipotens.”

– CHRISTIAN VACHON ’95

You were one of the most serious yet funniest men I ever had the pleasure of learning from.

– KAT MALTARP ’97

Thank you for teaching me about Pascal’s Wager; for the time you agreed, against convention and at my request, to let the freshmen and sophomore boys out of study hall to support girl’s hockey against St. George’s; and for innumerable other moments of kindness and wisdom.

– MARTY ALEXANDER ’00

Whatever scheme or angle we seemed to think we had, Father Edmund was always four steps ahead. Lots of good memories of that man.

Rest in peace, Father.

– RICH HOFFMAN ’94

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IN MEMORIAM

LUCAS MILLER BANDONI ‘15 Lucas Miller Bandoni, of Tiverton, RI, died on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 in Portsmouth, RI. Lucas was born in Providence, RI, in 1996. He attended The Pennfield School in Portsmouth, and graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School in 2015. His memorial service was held on Thursday, August 18, 2016 at Portsmouth Abbey School.

Luc’s parents wrote the following tribute to their son: For those who you knew and loved Luc, he had a dry sense of humor and loved to make people laugh. While his humor was lost on some, for those who got it, he was a joy.

He aspired to be a stand-up comedian or comedy writer – especially enjoyed people like Larry David, Dan Harmon, Chris Gethard. Luc was also a voracious reader, delving into works such as Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and On the Road by Jack Kerouac. He loved poetry and the classics.

Luc was a sensitive, kind, intelligent young man. He was a natural born helper and an excellent listener. He was a philosophical thinker and liked to ponder the bigger things in life. He didn’t like small talk didn’t know how to do it and felt it a waste of time. His friends knew him as the one who took care of them.”

Luc leaves behind his loving parents, Thomas J. and Christine Miller Bandoni, his brothers Adrian Bandoni of Walpole, MA, Tristan Bandoni of Charlotte, NC, and his sister Alexandra Bandoni of Brooklyn, NY, as well as his grandfather Donald G. Bandoni of Norwood, MA, his uncle and aunt John and Carolyn Miller of Westfield, NJ, and extended family members and friends. Luc was the grandson of the late Pauline F. Bandoni, H. Patricia Miller and John R. Miller. Luc will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him. He was the kind of young man that anyone would be proud to call son, brother, grandson, and friend.

Portsmouth Abbey School extends it prayers and condolences to the Bandoni family.

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

IN MEMORIAM

PHILIP EDWARD HEIDE ’58

JAIME (TITO) DEL AMO ‘59

Philip Edward Heide, CEO and President of Henry Heide Inc., manufacturer of such candies as Jujyfruits, Jujubes, Red Hot Dollars, and Gummi Bears, died on August 23, 2016, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, NY. Mr. Heide, who lived in Manhattan, was 75.

Jaime (Tito) del Amo ‘59 died last summer in Mojacar on the Costa del Sol after a short illness.

Tito lived in St. Bede’s and was a close friend of Father Hilary Martin’s while at the Priory. His VI Form biography begins, “Tito, the unassuming, the innocent, has made a habit of getting away with murder,” and goes on to say, “In his own quiet way the del Amo sneak attack has demolished hearts in every state of the union.”

Philip grew up in New York City, the son of Andrew and Eleanor Heide. He attended Portsmouth Priory, graduating in 1958. He then attended The University of Pennsylvania where he graduated from The Wharton School of Business. Phil served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged.

In 1964, Phil joined Henry Heide, Inc., full time.

He spent over 30 years at the company, which was founded by his great-grandfather in 1869.

Mr. Heide was eulogized in The New York Times in August 2016 where it was stated, “Among his accomplishments, Philip was particularly proud of discovering Gummi Bears in 1977 and bringing the product category to North America.”

Phil was a devoted and outspoken member of the Portsmouth Abbey School Board of Consultants in the 1990s and was instrumental in helping the School reaffirm its branding and marketing.

Phil was predeceased by his parents Andrew and Eleanor, his daughters Christina and Penelope and his brother Peter Heide.

He is survived by his children Andrew William Heide of New York City and his daughter Elizabeth Heide Fessenden of Greenwich, CT, his son-in-law Jamie Fessenden and daughter-inlaw Erin Maxon. He was the beloved grandfather of Ella, Aidan, Ava and Cooper.

He will be remembered for his charm, storytelling and sense of humor, his love of Vermont, the New York Giants, and, above all, his family.

Portsmouth Abbey extends its prayers and condolences to the Heide family.

In the late 1960s Tito cruised the Med on his yacht in summer with a bevy of beauties. One year Fr. Hilary went along with Tito’s mother in tow, and Tito told me at his 50th Reunion that it was the happiest trip of her life, because she could attend Mass and receive the Sacrament every day on the water.

Tito was living in Madrid in 1964 and first came to Mojácar in January 1966 as an AP photographer to take pictures of the Palomares incident, when an American B 52 crashed near Alamares and debris from two nuclear bombs was discharged, the clean-up of which the US and Spain tried to conceal (see news story on page 26). He bought a ruined chapel in Mojocar and, with the help of architect Roberto Puig, built an astonishing home in the village. Tito was an American citizen with Spanish roots, descended from Juan Jose Dominguez, who in 1784 received a land grant of 75,000 acres from King Charles III of Spain, which encompassed what is today much of Los Angeles, California.

Tito’s father was a friend of General Franco (they would go hunting together) and there is a photograph somewhere of the father, a vaguely uncomfortable caudillo and a long-haired Tito standing together in a line, with their shotguns open on their arms.

Eventually Tito bought Las Ventanicas in Mojacar, an estate on the beach, which he converted into a beach-bar complex, called “Titos.” The bar became popular with several famous musicians, including Miguel Ríos, Jorge Pardo and the leader of Los Toreros Muertos, Pablo Carbonell.

Tito gave St. Bede’s its first color TV when Fr. Hilary asked him to in the late 1960s and will be forever blessed by those of us who were his beneficiaries as a result. His father was friendly with Nion McEvoy’s father, Dennis, in Madrid.

Nion and I promised to visit him at Tito’s Beach Bar one day, but we left it a bit late, so we will have to have a drink there in his memory instead one day.

Tito’s step-mother was the glamorous actress Jane del Amo, originally from Kokomo, Indiana, who spent much of her life in Hollywood and was later a fixture at The Eagles Club in Gstaad, a skiing establishment where William F. and Christopher (’70) Buckley also gathered in season.

Tito is survived by his three wives, Barbara, Mele and Marie, his companion Barbara and by his two daughters.

Tito’s brother André started the first English-language daily newspaper in Spain, the Iberian Daily Sun in 1964. Another brother, Tomás, is a photographer based in Hawaii. There are also two surviving half-sisters, Hillary and Christine.

Tito was a singular, charming and very hip dude of his era, and I will miss him.

– Jamie MacGuire ‘70

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IN MEMORIAM

JOHN M. KERR ’67 In July, the Portsmouth Abbey community marked the passing of John M. Kerr ’67, who died in Portland, ME, at the age of 66. John was one of five brothers to attend the Abbey: Chris ’63, who died in 2010, Colin ’67, Gil ’71, and Greg ’77. His New York Times obituary described him as “editor, literary muse and confidant for a generation of Freudian scholars and the author of A Most Dangerous Method, the book that became the basis for a play and a movie about the famous feud between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.”

Members of the Kerr family on the Trans Atlantic Ocean Liner to Europe the summer after John graduated from Portsmouth Priory, (l-r) Walter, Colin ’67, Jean, John ’67, and Chris’63.

Born in Washington on January 31, 1950, John grew up in Larchmont, New York, one of six children. John’s father was the prominent drama critic Walter Kerr and his mother, Jean Collins Kerr, a well-known writer; her best-selling book, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, was made into a movie and TV series that immortalized an ersatz family with six children, drawing on many of the hilarious Kerr family experiences.

John attended Portsmouth Priory, as it was known at the time. After graduating in 1967, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Harvard University in 1971, trained as a clinical psychologist at New York University, and worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings. John was co-editor of Freud and the History of Psychoanalysis and of Attachment Theory: Social, Developmental, and Clinical Perspectives; a research associate at the Institute for the History of Psychiatry at N.Y.-Cornell Weill Medical Center; an Erikson Scholar at Austen Riggs Center; a member of the RapaportKlein Discussion Group, Stockbridge, Massachusetts; a visiting teacher at the Harvard Medical School; and an honorary member of the William Alanson White Society of New York.

While a graduate student at NYU, John was hired by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) to research material for a script about Freud and Jung. Schrader later set the project aside, but John developed the project for his dissertation and the 1993 book A Most Dangerous Method. Drawing on Jung and Freud’s private letters, John argued that a woman was the catalyst for their falling out. In 1904, Jung treated Sabina Spielrein, applying Freud’s new theories to her case, for an early example of successful psychoanalysis. Seven decades later, Spielrein’s personal papers were discovered. Diaries and correspondence between Freud and Jung confirmed her sexual relationship with Jung. John untangled the complex relationships, revealing a stalemate of mutual blackmail. Freud knew about Jung and Spielrein, and Jung knew about Freud’s affair with his wife’s younger sister.

John’s book inspired the 2002 play The Talking Cure by Christopher Hampton, who also wrote the screenplay for A Dangerous Method, the 2011 film directed by David Cronenberg,

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starring Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender. “People congratulate me about my movie,” John told The Bollard in 2012, “but that’s after most of my adult life being broke from supporting this story.... I’m hoping that a lot of patients see the movie and start talking about it in their therapy. That will force the analysts to go back and read the book. And won’t they be surprised?”

Paul E. Stepansky worked with John at The Analytic Press. “He was a dazzling intellect,” Stepansky told the New York Times.

“His manuscript reviews were these wide-ranging meditations, stylistic gems, with commentary that was often more illuminating than the manuscript itself.” For example, John wrote: “I think Freud writes so well, and writes his particular brand of theoretical gobbledygook so especially well that all his would-be detractors are forced to go laboring after him with half his speed and one-tenth his grace.” Stepansky went on: “We would be talking on the phone about some abstract point of metapsychology, and he would say, ‘Sorry, I’ve got to get to the tavern; the baseball game’s about to start, and my blind friend Tony relies on me to provide the play-by-play.’”

Chris Kellogg, John’s classmate and roommate at both Portsmouth Priory and Harvard, was one of several friends, colleagues and family members who spoke at John’s Memorial Service in Portland, Maine on August 27, 2016.

The Portsmouth Abbey community extends its sincere condolences to the Kerr family.

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

How to Write a Letter to a Boy Away at School

by Jean Kerr P’63 ’67 ‘71 ‘77

Jean Kerr, an author and playwright best known for her humorous bestseller, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, and the plays “King of Hearts” and “Mary, Mary,” was also the mother of five boys who attended Portsmouth Abbey.

The following is a reprint of Mrs. Kerr’s submission to the Portsmouth Abbey School 50th Anniversary booklet, published February 1977.

John Kerr, who died last summer, was one of the five sons to whom Mrs. Kerr endearingly refers in her article. As a light-hearted essay from a mother whose children are away at school, it remains largely relevant and poignant in this age of electronic mail.

Do you remember the Lord Chesterfield who wrote those

noble, true-blue “Letters to His Son” that all the rest of us had to read in high school? Well, you won’t believe this, but it turns out that Chesterfield practically never laid eyes on that kid, which, undoubtedly, was good for his prose and maybe even for his blood pressure. But the fact remains that the boy, in spite of all the splendid advice that was lavished on him, amounted to rather less than a hill of beans.

He was an eighteenth-century dropout is what he was.

I know it seems downright tacky of me to be going on about

when, as it happens (and happened and happens), three

the failures of other parents of my five sons are guaranteed to

walk off with the car keys (sometimes as far as Washington,

the car. I suppose the truth of the matter is that I wish to

D.C) each time they borrow be assured that there is no

necessary connection between good letters and good behavi or.

And that’s a relief. Because I am aware that the letters I wrote to the boys when they were at Portsmouth (one of them is still there, hello, dear) were – for sheer, droning dullness – in a class by themselves. (Which reminds me that down throug h the years it has been hinted to me that my boys should be in a class by themselves, but I have always dismissed these suggestions in the spirit of fun in which I know they were made.)

But it’s a crazy thing. I can write the best letters to Macy’s . I just sit at the typewriter and it pours out: “Surely even you people, gloating in customers as you are, bloated with profits as you may be, can understand that the little fellow (I was referring to myself, which is pretty ridiculous) will not welcome on October 8th an air-conditione r that was ordered on June 11th.” And my letters to Hilldale Dairy about the condition of their cottage cheese when left in the sun beside the bicycles at the back door will surely somed ay be collected, though not of course by the Hilldale Dairy Co. I guess I began to find it difficult to write to the boys at about the time I realized that while they definitely wanted to get mail, they didn’t necessarily want to read letters from Dear Old Mom. Apparently it gives a boy status to find mail in his box, it gives him pleasure to wave it under the noses of his peers (who may or may not be orphans), and it costs him absolutely nothing to throw it unread into the closet that contains his Biolog y II books, also unread. This will be understandable to those who grasp the great truth that girls will always wish to be asked to dance, even by boys they don’t wish to dance with.

The boys themselves once indicated a partial solution to

the correspondence problem, and it’s a tribute to my character – however faint and flickerin g – that I didn’t seize upon it.

There was a period, about eight years ago, when all studen ts were required (forced) to write home every Sunday. Or at least they were required to addres s an envelope to their parents and stamp it. The resulting mail was full of fascination. Somet imes the entire message (on a large sheet of paper) would be “Please send more stamp s, will write again next week, love.”

On certain other occasions we have received a corrected Latin exam, notes for a term paper

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How to Write a Letter To A Boy Away at School on Robert Penn Warren, and once a letter from me – if you follow that. However, I never retaliated by sending them an old Gristede bill or even that letter to Macy’s.

Nonetheless, I thought it was an excellent system. It meant that every Tuesday morning you would be assured that your child was alive and, if not well, at the very least hadn’t broken both wrists. Also, he had not forgotten his home address, which, in terms of mental health, is supposed to be very important.

Having confessed that I never learned the art (the craft?) of writing to a boy in prep school, I may say that in the course of fifteen years I have picked up a few ideas, ideas I am perfectly prepared to pass on to those of you who find that once you have written “Dad and I are just fine” you’ve pretty much run out of steam. (By the way, even that opening is better than the sweeping “Everything around here is just fine,” which leaves you nowhere at all.) It’s too bad that the kid isn’t interested in your bronchitis or the fact that the Chevy broke down on the Triborough Bridge and had to be towed home.

But he isn’t. He also doesn’t seem to care who you had dinner with or what you had for dinner. This, in spite of the fact that his own letters dwell exclusively on cuisine (“The food here stinks. Mystery meat four times this week. Please send pretzels.”)

The real solution to the correspondence problem is perfectly complicated, but it does work. It may not fit into your needs or even your apartment, but the thing to do is purchase a lot of animals and you will find yourself prized as a pen-pal. A horse is probably way out of the question; New Rochelle is not Marlboro country. But apart from cats and dogs, and word may have reached you about this, there are all kinds of smaller beasts like hamsters and turtles and mynah birds and fish (tropical and domestic), plus

various other little creatures that have to be fed or walked or have their tanks cleaned or be taken to the vet. This animal husbandry is all pretty wearing but it is, as they say in the trade, good copy. Now, where animals are concerned even a softened cynic like myself can become quite mushy about certain dogs or cats. But I never met a fish I liked, or a hamster, for that matter. Yet even these miserable specimens can provide a rich lode of material for a letter to a fourteen-year-old boy. (James Michener could probably get eight hundred pages and a Literary Guild selection.) So, instead of passing on a lot of boring information about the refrigerator that broke down totally just two months after it went out of warranty and will have to be replaced at a cost of three hundred and eighty dollars, how much better to pass on the simple message: “Guess what? Lady Teazle has had her kittens!” Or you might be able to report that Chuck (the mynah bird) can now say, “That’s all, folks!” This is not to suggest that Chuck is approaching the virtuosity of Alistair Cooke, but since previously he has not said one damn thing I take it as something of a milestone and perhaps even a prediction – which will be all right with me. Or, to give you still another bulletin, “The fish are biting.” They may even be biting each other; I think there was one less in the tank this morning. Of course, I could have counted wrong since, as you know, they swirl by pretty fast and it’s easy to count the same fish three times, or not at all.

One thing I have definitely learned is the futility of asking questions in my various missives. I mean, I used to be dumb enough, and curious enough, to ask things like: “What did you do with your father’s stapler? Hammer? Electric pencil sharpener? Also, what did you do with the ball-point pen I had chained to the wall next to the telephone?” If he even bothers to give you an answer to the wistful queries, it will come in the shape of further questions: “What hammer? What pencil sharpener? What telephone?”

I don’t mean to suggest that all of the questions the children ask in their letters are idiotic. Far from it. Some will touch a chord in a way that is almost existential in its perception of being.

For example: “Did you happen to see the pair of skis I left on my bed?” Did I see them? Did I see them? Well, at long last I have something to write to that boy about. But I don’t think I will. It would be intemperate, if not X-rated. And while I have never heard that those good monks censor the mail up there, I still wouldn’t want to take the chance.

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

CLASS NOTES

42 I

57 I

Peter MacLellan is still having fun times.

This past summer Peter and his wife Ann vacationed with their niece and nephew at Lake Sunapee.

John Belt continues to go into New York City three days a week, working on managing pre-war office buildings in Midtown. He is grateful, however, that his daughter Laura has taken over for him.

46 I Joseph Scanlan and his son Dan saw Dom Damian at the Father’s Day car show in June. Both are very sad to hear of Fr. Damian’s passing.

47 I Douglas Bachem is enjoying retirement at Dominican Village, a senior center.

50 I Bill Costigan’s ‘56 painting of Bill Floyd’s ‘57 garden.

Alvin Lucier, at the ripe old age of 85, continues to compose and perform his music throughout Europe and the United States. In March 2017 he traveled to Berlin to participate in the Maerzmusik Festival, followed by two visits to Athens to perform in the Documenta 14 Festvial.

He is composing an hour-long work for the outdoor Parthenon amphitheater based on the myth of Orpheus. In May, Alvin will be honored by a three-day festival of his work in Moscow. For this, he has been commissioned to create a new piece based on the Billy Strayhorn-Duke Ellington classic Take the A Train, to be performed in the Kiev Railroad station in Moscow.

53 I John Ryan is semi-retired and spending most of his year in Naples, FL. He is still “pretty healthy. Thank the Lord.” John is still running daily and is a “happy guy.”

He has four fine grandchildren and step-grandchildren.

56 I

58 I John Tepper Marlin and his wife Alice escaped New York City for the winter and are in Vero Beach, FL, until April. He wrote the foreword to a reissued edition of his mother’s book, The Borrowed House, about the Nazi Occupation of Holland. The book was originally published by Farrar Straus in 1975 and was reissued in 2016 by the Purple House Press of Cynthiana, KY.

59 I Steve Ellis is still “on the clock at Home Depot,” as he has been for 20 years.

His days at Home Depot have him reminiscing about “The Woodworking Club” in the basement of “The New.” He is quite sure that the job has kept him moving and active and is afraid that the lack of challenge would make his “cement set.” His time away has been made bearable by the ministrations of his wife Pat and their daughter Liz. Steve and Pat continue to feel infinitely blessed that their marriage began with the fine touch and infinite care of Dom Philip….

Tony Elson is pleased to report that his third book is scheduled to be published this month by Palgrave Macmillan, entitled The Global Financial Crisis in Retrospect: Evolution, Resolution and Lessons for Prevention. This book completes a trilogy of studies on aspects of globalization and development, which he has been working on since 2009, each of which has emerged out of courses he has been teaching at Duke and John Hopkins University….

Bill Costigan visited Kennebunkport, ME, this past summer and painted a watercolor of Bill Floyd’s ’57 beautiful garden.

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CLASS NOTES

Abbey friends gathered at Cyr ’60 and Mary Ryan’s home in November: (l-r) Larry Marion ’60, Jamie McGuire ’70 (kneeling), Rick Wilson ’60, Bill Bippus ’60, Peter Dean ’60, Louis Farrelly 59, Cyr, Jim Robinson ’60 and Tom Healey ’60.

Pete Smith and Jay Curley enjoying dinner

59 I Charles Donahue was given a Festschrift, this fall, written by former students and current colleagues on the occasion of his 75th birthday: “Texts and Contexts in Legal History: Essays in Honor of Charles Donahue.” Charles was asked to write an autobiography as an introduction to the volume and here is what he said about Portsmouth Abbey: “Much of what I am today, both personally and intellectually, I owe to Portsmouth. It was at Portsmouth that I learned how to listen to and enjoy classical music, how to sing Gregorian chant, and how to practice my religion through participation in the liturgy.

All these things have remained with me.”

62 I Patrick McGowan has spent the past 20-plus years in Northern Thailand and is now living in the countryside near Doi

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Saket in Chiang Mai province. “My Jesuit friend here says the Thais are ‘a transcendent people.’” He wishes the best to all his classmates…. John Newlin has just earned an MFA in fiction writing at Converse College in Strasburg, SC.

63 I John Cadley has not stopped playing his guitar and performing music. He started playing at age 13 in the Third Form, thanks to a loaned guitar from Regan Kerney ’64. His very first group was “The Rum Runners” at the Priory, along with Jeremey Kinney, Phil Childs and Regan. They played Kingston Trio songs before the movie each Saturday and nailed the really “big” gig of playing at the prom when they were only Fourth Formers.

John has been playing ever since. The only difference… then he got in trouble for playing guitar and not studying; now he gets paid for it!

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

64 I John Sullivan is now fully retired but keeping his hand in horse racing with syndicates of higher thoroughbred racing in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

He has just joined the board of the Georgian Society and National Gallery of Ireland’s American Friend’s Advisory.

65 I Geoff Greene, Jim Minor, Matt Flynn and Gene McGuckin enjoyed a mini-reunion in Vancouver recently.

67 I Francisco Urrutia writes to say that his passion for photography, which started at the Priory in ‘63, led to a joint exhibition last November of totally different styles, with his wife Maria Elisa. The photos were published in an article of one of the local

CLASS NOTES

Geoff Greene, Jim Minor, Matt Flynn and Gene McGunkin from the Class of 1965 in Vancouver

Peter Tovar ‘72 Rickey Bevington’71 Bill Maher ‘70 on the Carnegie Abbey golf course at Reunion 2016

members of my late brother Philip’s Class of 1960 mini Reunion brunch at Cyr and Mary Ryan’s beautifully restored 18th century farm house in Bedminster, NJ.” Also in attendance were Larry Marion, Rick Wilson, Bill Bippus, Peter Dean, Louis Farrelly 59, Cyr, Jim Robinson and Tom Healey.

Jamie’s new book, Real Lace Revisited, was just released to rave reviews. “In Real Lace Revisited James MacGuire does for American Irish Catholics what Evelyn Waugh did for those eccentric English recusants at Brideshead: with wit, insight, and critically engaging affection he brings several generations to a life beyond life,” remarked Charles Scribner III. Colombian magazines and both Francisco and his wife were extremely happy with the proceeds collected for a foundation for children with cancer. It was their first “solo” exhibition, and it took place at the law firm from which Francisco retired at year end. Francisco is now busier than ever with work he does at the firm and other business. He is also kept busy with his photography and his seven grandchildren, now between seven and 14 years old.

Francisco has been living in Bogota, London, and Mountain Lakes, NJ, and loves to travel with his wife; they are both looking forward to attending Francisco’s 50th class reunion at Portsmouth this fall.

72 I

Photographer Francisco Urrutia ‘67

Peter Tovar recalls Reunion Weekend 2016, where our “illustrious member of the reunion class of ’71, Rickey T. Bevington” invited Bill Maher ’70 and Peter Tovar ’72 to join him for the festivities at this year’s celebration.

Golf was played on the magnificent Carnegie Abbey course where “the ghosts of the past still seem to emanate from every stone wall and forest path.

Thanks to the returning members of the Class of ’71 for sharing their table, stories and wine with two outliers.”

73 I Gust Stringos heralded in the New Year with a run and plunge into the ocean in Maine to support a local environmental organization. He is grateful for the support of many classmates! Gus continues working in Central Maine in family practice, supporting the local hospital.

In his personal life, he is a proud parent and grandparent, enjoys his garden and bees, and hopes to do well this June in

69 I John Harrigan sends his best wishes especially to Father Philip. He remembers being a prefect in “The New,” which seems a little older now.

70 I In November 2016, Jamie MacGuire was “touched to be included as honorary

Dr. Gust Stringos ‘73’s New Year plunge into the ocean in Maine

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CLASS NOTES

Tim McKenna’s ‘76 daughter Catherine in her Portsmouth Abbey t-shirt.

Jim Tietje, Joe Sullivan, Tom Keeley and Joe Robinson from the Class of 1974 after a very cold December night at JOMOTO cabin in North Haverhill, New Hampshire

the Bermuda 1-2, a single-handed race to Bermuda with a double-handed return.

This will be his 11th Bermuda Race!

“Best to all, Gust.”

76 I Tim McKenna’s daughter Catherine recently received a Portsmouth Abbey tshirt, which she loves.

78 I Richard White and his wife Mary love their life in Charlotte. They are now empty nesters with two of their children living in Washington, D.C., and a third finishing up college. Richard’s career continues to focus on cancer care.

79 I Tim Walsh, VP of sales at Discover Newport, promotes the city as a destination for group business. Tim can also be found behind the bar at Newport’s well-known Black Pearl restaurant where he periodically crosses paths with many Portsmouth Abbey grads, especially during reunion weekend. He welcomes everyone to stop in, share a memory and learn more about how to bring a work-related meeting or social gathering to Aquidneck Island.… Jim Coyle, Joe Tucker and Chris Sullivan got together this summer for a Grateful Dead concert at Fenway Park in Boston.

Tim Walsh‘79, far right, with Black Pearl bar staff

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

1979 classmates (l-r) Chris Sullivan, Joe Tucker, and Jim Coyle at the Grateful Dead concert at Fenway Park

CLASS NOTES

80 I Mark Urso is excited to announce that he has finished his debut CD, “Share the Moon.” The style is rock/country with a funky twist, and he hopes everyone gives it a listen and enjoys it! He has completed his first novel, also titled Share the Moon.

The novel is a companion to the music CD and the inspiration for many of the songs! “My first book, the nonfiction A Candle Lit has done well and gotten some very positive reviews!

Please support independent musicians and publishers! “Share The Moon” is on Amazon and iTunes. Hope everyone is doing great!”… Bede McCormack is a teacher working with future NYC public school teachers. He recently Mark Urso ‘80 finished his debut CD “Share the Moon,” a went to see Nick Moran ’81 perform in companion to his novel of the same title Manhattan.

John Power ‘80 and his daughter Paulina‘16 at the Grand Canyon on Christmas Day

81 I Andrew Hill and his wife Nancianne celebrated their daughter’s wedding in March 2016. Their eldest son’s wedding followed suit in October. It has been a wonderful, hectic year for them. Andrew enjoyed hearing about the gathering of his fellow alum for their 35th reunion and can only hope that his Head of School at Tampa Prep will one day think that taking time off in October to go play golf and hang out in Rhode Island is a reasonable request! Maybe for the 40th….

Nick Moran traveled back to the Abbey, braving a snowstorm, to work with the School’s jazz band. This is Nick’s second excursion to his alma mater this year; the first visit, in December 2016, was devoted to a master class with the Abbey orchestra followed by an evening concert by Nick and his band. On January 30 and 31, Nick worked directly with Abbey studentmusicians and with Performing Arts Director Jeff Kerr to coach and to share his love of jazz music. Nick’s experience and vast knowledge of jazz was a wonderful gift to the students.

84 I Marc de Saint Phalle recently joined Summit Rock Advisors as Head of Private Investments. “Summit Rock is an investment advisor and investment manager catering to a select group of families, endowments and foundations.”…

Andrew Godfrey just took a new job with First Western Trust as a wealth planning advisor in Aspen, CO.

88 I Eric Lane was just selected to be the next director for the Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department and could not be happier. It is a dream job that came along at just the right time for him. He is happy to be working somewhere that has been extremely warm and welcoming.

Toby Murray ‘85’s daughter Camila in her Portsmouth Abbey onesie

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CLASS NOTES

Colin O’Higgins ’97 and his son Colin visit with Abbey classmates Gino Tonetti Tieppo, M. Daniel Hughes, Jr., Michael Anselmi and Simeon Stancioff

Celina Collins‘94’s children, Nathan Mathew, Isaiah Ambrose and Bethany Grace

89 I J. Ryan Fitzpatrick is managing the flagship office of brokerage at Town Residential in NYC…. Sean Spicer has been appointed White House Press Secretary.

92 I

Annie Sherman Luke ‘95’s son Robert practicing for his first passport photo

Thomas Mullen recently published his fourth novel, “Darktown,” a mystery set in 1948 when Atlanta hired its first AfricanAmerican police officers. It was named an NPR Best Book of the Year and has been optioned for television by Sony TV, with Jamie Foxx executive producing. Thomas lives in Atlanta with his wife and two sons.

93 I

Best-selling author Thomas Mullen ’92

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we met 25 years ago. I was devastated to learn of his passing last year.” Celina and her husband Jon celebrated their 11th anniversary this past year, and have three children: Bethany Grace, age nine; Nathan Matthew, age six; and Isaiah Ambrose, age three – named after Dom Ambrose.

“Greetings to my Abbey classmates and prayers for a blessed new year.”…

Adam Conway is pleased to announce that he has been named to the 2016 edition of the Financial Times 401 Top Retirement Plan Advisers list. This is the second consecutive year Adam has received this honor. Adam works with businesses, non–profits and individuals to build more secure retirements.

95 I

Brendan O’Higgins met up with Dennis Iglesias in September 2016 for a beer in Sunnyvale, CA. Dennis was visiting for work; he is an engineer with Sensata Inc.

Annie Sherman Luke would like to announce the addition of her son Robert “Trebor” Sherman Luke to their family.

Trebor was born May 10, 2016, and is a happy, curious little boy.

94 I

97 I

Celina Collins is in her second school year as an instructional coach, supporting other teachers in her district. She is also in her 16th year of teaching English and honoring the memory of Dom Ambrose, as he was her Fourth-Form English teacher.

“Father Ambrose was a dear friend with whom I had been in correspondence since

Lou Tavares was sworn in as a member of the Florida bar and was invited to speak at the induction ceremony as he was among the highest scorers on the July bar exam. He thinks often of his Portsmouth Abbey days, and how those values are so important to him now in this next step

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

CLASS NOTES

he is taking…. Dom Benedict (Jeremy) Nivakoff is a Benedictine monk and newly named prior of the Monastery of San Benedetto in Norcia, Italy. The community is new, but the monastery’s history goes back to St. Benedict himself. In recent years, the monks have opened a craft brewery to help them earn revenue to support the upkeep and day-to-day needs of their monastery. Dom Benedict plays a key role in the beer-making process as the brewery’s overseer. The beer is now available for purchase in the United States and Dom Benedict asks for your support and prayers in his endeavors. See page 21 for a profile of Fr. Benedict and his work at Norcia... Colin O’Higgins and his wife Renee have been enjoying many visits from Colin’s classmates to visit the newest addition to their family, baby Colin.

John Heins’01 with his wife Kate and daughter Clara, enjoying the Florida sun

98 I Jen Stankiwicz was recognized with the 2016 Excellence in Student Mentoring Award for Secondary Education in the

Chris Beer ‘99’s family is growing with new daughter Ella Jane

Jason Weida ‘98’s children Bowen and Alden

All is going well for Paul Yoon ‘01 and his family, in Vermont

WINTER Alumni BULLETIN 2017

Teachers College at WGU….

Leslie Heller has been promoted to Director of the Center for Orientation, Transitions and Leadership at Providence College…. Jason Weida is joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, in Boston, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. In that role, Jason will represent the United States in a variety of litigation matters in federal court. He lives in Hingham, MA, with his wife, Kyley, their son Bowen (age four) and their daughter Alden (age two).

99 I Chris Beer and his wife have just had their second daughter, Ella Jane, who was born in November 2016.

01 I John Heins was promoted to the rank of major in the United States Air Force in 2016; he is currently the director of operations for the Air Force’s only formal training unit for advanced cyberspace warfare skills, located near Fort Walton Beach, FL. John, his wife Kate, and their one-year-old daughter Clara, are enjoying the Florida sunshine! The family is excited to be moving back to Rhode Island for one year in the summer of 2017, where John has been selected to attend the College of Naval Command and Staff at the Naval War College in Newport…. Paul Yoon is happy to say that things are going well for himself and his family. Paul is still serving as the assistant principal at the Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington, VT, and is still a partner with CO Strategies, LLC, facilitating diversity workshops throughout the state. He also sent his condolences, “It was with great sadness that I made my way back down to the Abbey this past Thursday and Friday. When I received word about Fr. Edmund’s passing a couple of weeks ago, I was heartbroken.

Fr. Edmund was a father figure in my life throughout my four years at the Abbey, and I will be forever grateful for the love, kindness, and caring he had for me during this pivotal period in my life.”

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CLASS NOTES Future Raven Aidan Rok, Brendan 03’s son, visited campus to scope out prep school options

03 I Adam Robertson was married in France at the end of August; many fellow alumni have had the pleasure to meet Adam’s wife Carrie over the years, on both sides of the pond. Adam and Carrie are still living in London if anyone wants to drop by!... Kellie di Palma Simeone is the new chairwoman of the Middletown School Committee. Kellie is now the “face” of the school board and will represent Middletown schools at town functions and events. She is honored and excited to take on this role…

Brendan Rok was back east visiting his family in December. He and his son Aidan stopped by the Abbey campus for a winter walk.

04 I Kathryn Hupczey (Winter) lives in Alexandria, VA, with her husband and two children, Magnus and Audrey. In addition to raising Magnus and Audrey, Kathryn has her own business “Artisan Matchmaker” (www.artisanmatchmaker.com), which is a creative concierge business that enlists a team of artisans to help clients bring their creative vision to life. “Essentially we can make people’s Pinterest boards a reality.

We specialize in weddings, home decor, scrapbooking etc.”…

Felicita Wight moved to Florida several years ago to pursue an interest

in endangered species; she recently completed her master’s degree in conservation biology. Currently, Lis is a Naturalist at the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge and Nature Center, overseeing various programs and managing the exhibit hall which includes multiple species of live animals. Three years ago, she co-founded a non-profit, Wild Tiger, dedicated to conserving India’s Bengal tigers and their habitats through on-the-ground research and connecting people to tiger conservation. She has also been traveling to places such as India and the Yucatan Peninsula. Lis aims to continue to focus on global conservation, particularly the issues with wildlife trade becoming passionate about the pangolin.

Bobby Ensign ’08 on his film shoot that examines Providence-based sculptors

07 I Katie Coaty married Maxwell Koenig in August in Newport, RI, followed by a reception at the Newport Officers’ Club. The Portsmouth Abbey alumni in attendance included Page Fournier, Chris O’Reilly, Caitie Silvia, Gus Gleason, Lori Rich, Anna Buckley, and Katie (Chiumento) Russell as well as former faculty Tara and Eamonn O’Brien…. Last summer Alex Reinman joined Georgia Markell for a harbor cruise in Newport.

Alex is doing well as assistant vice president at Lloyd Bedford Cox, Inc. in New York. Georgia received her M.B.A. from Babson College in December and was accepted into Babson’s WIN lab, an entrepreneurship program that supports women entrepreneurs and enables them to successfully launch or transform businesses. Currently Georgia is raising funds for charity in order to compete in the 2017 Boston Marathon. If you would like to lend your support, please visit: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/ georgia-markell/teambrookline2017

08 I Jim Buckley received an Employee of the Year award for his work as Dining Room Supervisor at Hemenway’s Seafood Grill and Oyster Bar in Providence at the Rhode Island Hospitality Association’s “Stars of Kathryn Winter Hupczey ‘04 and her husband and children, Magnus and Audrey

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

CLASS NOTES Katie Coaty ‘07 and Maxwell Koenig’s Wedding.

Juan Maegli ‘07 at the Olympic Games in Rio

the Industry” gala in November…. Robert Ensign is currently shooting a film about Providence-based sculptors and the city’s quirks.

Kristen Harper (B.A. summa cum laude, Classics and Great Books, Saint Anselm College 2013; M.A. Classical Languages, University of Missouri 2016), recently traveled to Italy to work as a trench supervisor on a Roman archaeological excavation in Orvieto and to study the sarcophagus of Pontia, displayed at a museum in Spoleto. Last semester, she taught Latin to elementary students, which was both creatively challenging and exhilarating. Kristen also volunteered at Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center and began practicing acroyoga. This semester, she is teaching the etymology class for the second time and is beginning to study for her comprehensive exams. Her current research interests include classical archaeology, epigraphy, burial practices, and ancient religion & philosophy.

celebrate….Tessa Condon is more than halfway through her Speech-Language Pathology master’s at MGH Institute of Health Professions. She will graduate in August 2017. She was married this summer at Castle Hill Inn to her college RA Brendan Kennedy, and they spent their honeymoon in Athens and Santorini…. Lauren Steinbach graduated with her Pharm.D. and MBA, ran her first marathon, married and started building a new house in 2016. “Excited for what’s to come in 2017!”… Madison Hansen participated in the four-mile Pell Bridge Run in Newport in October, placing fourth overall with a time of 22:58. He plans on running in the CVS downtown 5K this September…. Nick Caron received a master’s degree in information security from Carnegie Mellon University in May. Nick attended Carnegie Mellon on a Cyber Corp Scholarship for Service from the National Science Foundation…. Charlotte Papp is an asset manager in the downtown Boston financial district for a company called EdgeRock Technology Partners. She is working with both the PeopleSoft and Oracle team leads and is enjoying her new position.

“I miss the Abbey!”

10 I

11 I

Catherine Malkemus and Daniel Caplin were married in front of their immediate family and closest friends on December 23, 2016, in Newport, RI. It was a wonderful evening and they were thrilled to have their friends from the Abbey with them to

Philip Youngberg has been kept busy in 2016 by the U.S. Navy. His ship the USS SAN DIEGO (LPD-22) completed its Training Phase for its deployment later this year. The ship also completed Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise in Hawaii; cooperating with

09 I

Georgia Markell ‘07 and Alex Reinman ‘07 in Newport Harbor

Madison Hansen ’10 running the Pell Bridge in Newport, RI, in October

WINTER Alumni BULLETIN 2017

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CLASS NOTES

Philip Youngberg ‘11

ships from 26 nations. Philip is close to earning his Surface Warfare Officer pin, where he will officially be accepted into the Naval community he serves. “GO NAVY!”

13 I Robert Sucsy will graduate from Tufts University in May and continue on there for a master’s degree in public health….

Sarah Sienkiewicz and Callie Taylor spent the winter break embracing the cold in Canada. They skied Whistler and even attempted cross country skiing.

14 I Chris Sullivan travelled with Billy Zhang around China this summer. Their trip included the Forbidden City, Great Wall of China, Xian, Shenzhen, and Beijing where Chris did some part-time tutoring English tutoring with Chinese students.

15 I Maggie O’Donnell is on the Division 1 Women’s Crew team at Fairfield University.

At the end of her first semester, her boat

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Callie Taylor ‘13 and Sarah Sienkiewicz ’13 crosscountry skiing in Canada

won their division as well as winning The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and was named an All-MAAC boat…. Derek Poon-Tip was one of four nominees from the Georgey Awards Rookie of the year at The George Washington University in spring 2016…. Sally Hoerr’s Grand Valley State University hockey team recently played Colorado State where she was named first star for scoring a goal and contributing six assists in a 14-0 win. The team is currently listed 6th in the ACHA Division I national rankings. Sally is studying film, and she loves the area so much she is planning to move there for the summer.

16 I Carly Johnston is doing beautifully at Wake Forest University and her parents deeply appreciate how well the Abbey prepared her for college.

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

Chris Sullivan ‘14 and Billy Zhang ‘14 at the Forbidden City, China

Derek Poon-Tip ’15 was nominated for Georgey Awards Rookie of the Year for sailing at The George Washington University

P ORTSMO UTH A BBE Y SCHO OL MISSION STATEMENT

2016-17 Annual Fund

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

Grounded in the Catholic faith and 1,500-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 Right Rev. Dom Matthew Stark, O.S.B. Abbot and Chancellor Portsmouth, RI Mr. W. Christopher Behnke ’81 P ’12 ’15 ’19 Chairman Chicago, IL 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. Peter Ferry ’75 P ’16 ‘17 Republic of Singapore Mrs. Frances Fisher P ’15 San Francisco, CA Dr. Timothy P. Flanigan ’75 P ’06 ’09 ’11 ’19 Tiverton, RI Mr. Peter S. Forker ’69 Chicago, IL

Mr. Shane O’Neil ‘65 Bedford, MA

Mrs. Margaret S. Healey P ’91 New Vernon, NJ

Mr. John Perreira P ’05 Portsmouth, RI

Mr. Denis Hector ’70 Miami, FL

Mr. Peter J. Romatowski ’68 McLean, VA

Dr. Gregory Hornig ’68 P’ 01 Prairie Village, KS

Mr. Rowan G.P. Taylor P ’13 ’17 ’18 New Canaan, CT

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

Mr. William Winterer ’87 Boston, MA

Mr. William Keogh ’78 P ’13 Litchfield, CT

Emeritus

Ms. Devin McShane P ’09 ’11 Providence, RI Rev. Dom Gregory Mohrman, O.S.B. St. Louis, MO Mr. Philip V. Moyles, Jr. ’82 Annual Fund Chair Rye, NY Mr. and Mrs. Emmett O’Connell P ’16 ’17 Co-Chairs, Parents’ Association Stowe, VT

young men and women grow in knowledge and grace.

Reverence

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

Dr. Mary Beth Klee P ’04 Hanover, NH

The aim of Portsmouth Abbey School is to help

Mr. Peter Flanigan R ’41 P ’75 ’83 GP ’06 ’09 ’11 ’19 Purchase, NY Mr. Thomas Healey ’60 P ’91 New Vernon, NJ Mr. William Howenstein R ’52 P ’87 GP ’10 Grosse Pointe Farms, MI Barnet Phillips IV ‘66 Greenwich, CT

R

Respect Responsibiity

Responsibility Our profound and unique mission statement places Portsmouth Abbey School in an important position in academia. The search for both intellectual and spiritual Truth is the hallmark of an Abbey education.

Guided by the Benedictine tradition, our dedicated faculty live out our mission every day as they help our students grow in knowledge and grace.

For our students, this growth is a lifelong pursuit that begins in the classrooms, houses, and on the fields at Portsmouth Abbey.

deceased

Front cover: Jon Kuyper, Portsmouth Abbey Class of 1985, is a film producer who has worked for film powerhouses like Warner Bros. and Lionsgate.

His CV includes such Academy Award-winning films as “The Great Gatsby,” “The Hobbit Trilogy,” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” and reflects collaborations with A-list directors from Baz Luhrmann and George Miller to Peter Jackson and Sean Penn.

Jon’s son, Luke, is currently a Third-former at Portsmouth Abbey School. Read the profile of Jon on page 12. Photo by Coco Van Oppens.

Your gifts to the Annual Fund go to work immediately to directly support our students and secure the strength of our mission. Make a gift today at www.portsmouthabbey.org/makeagift.

Please contact Director of the Annual Fund Alex Karppinen at akarppinen@portsmouthabbey.org or 401-643-1204 with any questions about the Annual Fund.

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

P ORTS M O U T H

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID

Providence, RI Permit No. 30

A BB E Y S C HO OL PORTSMOUTH ABBE Y SCHOOL

Family Day 2017 Saturday, May 13, 2017 from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Parents, Grandparents, Siblings and Friends All are welcome to come and share the day with our Abbey Community.

Enjoy a BBQ, watch games and performances, and attend special events.

ALUMNI BULLETIN WINTER 2017

T H E PA R E NTS’ A SSO C I AT I O N I N VI T E S YO U TO

For more information on the event or how to get involved, please contact Meghan Fonts, director of parent relations at mfonts@portsmouthabbey.org or 401-643-1246.

ENGAGE IN OUR COMMUNITY . . . ENHANCE YOUR ABBEY EXPERIENCE!

ALUMNI BULLETIN WINTER 2017