50th
Reunion Class of 1964 Josephine Bayard Adams
Class of 1964:
The Year of the Girls AND Boys
K. Boel C. Berner Karla Lefren Blinn Susan Gassaway Curtis Deborah Demme Neil DeRiemer Andrea Dalgliesh Everett Josephine C. Hadlock-King Stephen Hessler Nancy E. Jones Ober Kline Tracy Shane Kramer Esther A. Lawrence G. Suzanne Chase LeBaron Valerie Wier Lee Dr. Lawrence J. Lincoln Steven L. Lincoln William G. Moeckel, Jr. Patricia A. Pryor Dr. Priscilla Harmon Putnam
Senior class photo
A
second grader dashed toward the
Tatnall. Fifty years ago, the members of
end zone, dodging older boys trying
Tatnall’s first co-ed class marched into
to grab the red handkerchief from his back pocket. Though few people would think twice
Beekley Lobby to accept their diplomas. “As the first class with boys, we were treated like royalty. We felt affection not
about a schoolyard flag football game
only from the girls in our class, but also the
Suzanne Evans Reeves
today, this 1950’s scene illustrated how the
girls in grades above us,” said Joe Schell
William Russell
dynamics were shifting at Tatnall.
of Naples, Florida, and Lewes, Delaware.
Ann Randolph Gawthrop Sawyer Joseph M. Schell Judy Reed Smith M. Carol Hitchens Starzmann Pamela Gottshall Stewart Judith Field Tigani Dr. William H. Ulmer Dr. John K. Urice Elisabeth O’Hear Williams
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| Tatnall Today
Historically, boys had enrolled in
“So many great friendships wouldn’t have
Tatnall’s first grade when their birthday fell
evolved without the decision to go co-ed.
too late in the year for them to be accepted
I will always cherish the tight bond I had
at public schools. However, because public
with my classmates, both male and female.”
schools would accept these boys in the
Larry Lincoln ’64, of Tucson, Arizona,
second grade, they often left Tatnall after
agrees. “In my family, I was the middle of
completing first grade.
three boys, so going to school with girls
In 1953, Tatnall’s board, recognizing a national trend toward co-education in day schools, agreed to offer boys half-tuition
whom I’d known since kindergarten was like having sisters.” Lincoln recalls that in the fall, eight
scholarships in an effort to keep them at
boys and two coaches would play touch
Tatnall. That effort succeeded, and in 1958,
football on a basketball court twice a week.
the board decided to allow these boys to
“The coaches were half-brothers and played
complete their high school education at
with unabashed sibling rivalry,” he said.