The Hillside - Summer 2011

Page 26

Faculty Children

Group photo in the SKS courtyard, circa 1961. Left to right, Back Row: George Bartlett holding Caroline and Peter Bartlett; Anne Waller, Lori Dingman, Legare Cuyler holding Linda Mary Kohut, Gail Henry, Ida Henry, Mary Dingman, Clare Dingman, Tommy Dingman. Middle Row: Lawrence Smith, Ellen Smith, Margie Smith, Peggy Waller, Billy Brown, Sydney Waller; Front Row: Cricket Richards, Richard Kohut, Polly Bartlett, Daniel Holt, Mike Kohut, Timmy Richards, Eliza Wister, Sally Wister. for an executive decision, and the executive decided that the school proper would become “child unfriendly”, definitely off limits and in today’s terminology, a “no fly zone”. To underscore this policy, the “Old Man” marshaled his five offspring half way between their house and the school courtyard, declaring that spot as “the dead line”. Talk about unintended consequences, his stern prohibition worked much better than he thought. For years we were petrified by that piece of lawn, not because we were sure he meant business but because we never knew when that dreaded “dead lion” would show up . . . especially at night! As time went on, the number of faculty children increased and their presence at 24 • The Hillside Summer 2011

meals, athletic activities, performances, etc. became commonplace, adding much to the collective ambiance. By that time all five of us were off at our own boarding schools where we monopolized the time and attentions of other kids’ parents. Come to think of it, I never saw many of our counterparts on those campuses, either. I guess there were deceased “kings of the jungle” all over!

Nita Brown Howland I guess I would say that I feel very lucky

to have grown up at a place like SKS. I know times were simpler for everyone back then, but South Kent was definitely a pretty idyllic place. We had a lot of freedom to roam the campus playing our various games—leaf piles were a big attraction as were the barn, the big tree below the Smith/Dingman house, the brook down which we’d float tennis balls for hours, Hatch Pond where we’d skate on the (scary) black ice. (I really wish I hadn’t known about John Deak going through that ice.) Movies in the Playhouse on Saturday night (Hatari was the best!), skit night, the Nativity Play—it was all wonderful. The only downside to being a faculty brat is that there was no preparation for the “real” world. I can remember


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