feature STORY
have to understand that it’s not all about you, and
Gerhard now serving at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day
you have to be happy for the other team when they
School in Washington.
get to shine.” One of Lucy’s biggest passions in life is fishing. She has traded fishing stories for years with
It is perhaps this spiritual perspective on life that has
Facilities Manager Marvin Shelton and others. Retire-
made Lucy a person of compassion. Jim Heck, Dean
ment will include more of that, but it might be said
of External Affairs and Alumni Relations (and parent
that all along she has been fishing for the hearts and
of three St. Andrew’s graduates) comments, “She
minds of our children more than anything else. Their
doesn’t want to end a conversation with a ‘no’. If a
minds, of course, are harder to reach.
student has been irresponsible, she wants to give him or her another chance, if possible. These are all things
Many have remarked on Lucy’s optimism and strong
that make people love her, and that’s why they work
sense of vision for the future. John Works comments,
so hard for her.” Margaret Marcus, one of our 25-
“She is someone who is perhaps in the back of our
year teachers who is now retired, recalled that Lucy
minds as we deliberate and as we live, sort of like a
has always said “above all else, be kind,” and when
light that shines on us all…she illuminates things for us
facing a tough decision involving student discipline
in some mysterious way.” He describes this presence
would usually say she needed to sleep on it. Lucy was
as being like a weather pattern, simply creating a fa-
viewed as “being in the business of promoting re-
vorable atmosphere. This is a secular perspective on
demption of children.” This empathy extended to the
Lucy’s spiritual side, which has resonated throughout
faculty, many of whom have awoken from surgery to
her tenure. She estimates that she has conducted
find that Lucy was there while they were in the op-
at least three chapel services a week (four when the
erating room, waiting and praying. Retiring Upper
Middle School was added and five when the Up-
School Math Department Chair Wayne Packwood
per School was added) ever since she arrived at St.
tells the most recent of these stories. Almost every
Andrew’s, and considers daily chapel an essential
faculty member or family having significant tenure
part of the educational experience we offer. She
at the school has a story of Lucy’s kindness, in some
has imbued the school with such a strong sense of
way large or small. And because she has interacted
Episcopal identity that Billy Gammon was moved
personally with so many people, it is fitting that the
to whisper to a faculty member seated next to him
best visual portrait of her is currently hanging in the
at the 2011 St. Andrew’s Day Service, “You know St.
dining hall of the high school, a large and highly ac-
Andrew’s is not a church, but it’s not far from it.” When
curate black and white image made entirely from
told of this remark, Lucy, replied “I don’t see it as a
the fingerprints of a group of our students (see cover),
church. I see it as a worshiping, serving community,
with their names all carefully keyed to their prints. It is
but it is the church for a lot of people.” The first plan
not surprising that the image captured in this portrait
for the Upper School Chapel called for a very small
is one of compassion, and its twin, wisdom.
structure, and Lucy vetoed the design, insisting that it be large enough to hold the entire community. It is, and it matters – the Upper School gathers there daily. The most noticeable thing about the old prayer book that Lucy brings to all of the school board meetings is just how tattered it is, from such long years of usage. Increasingly, that usage includes the performance of many weddings for former students. Lucy has for
L ucy , we wil l al l m is s y ou so much.
years mentored many priests in training while they were studying at the Seminary, including one, Kurt St. Andrew’s Episcopal School • www.sasaustin.org • 9