Spring - Summer 2003

Celebrating 25 Years of Coeducation Commencement Festivities Reunion 2003

2003

Spring Summer

O HO L

THE T H

C

HER S AC

1889

News Spring / Summer 2003 Volume XVI, Number 1

From the Head of School’s Distaff Side 3 The Stamp of the School

Editor Jane D. McCarthy Design Timothy R. Ditch and Jane D. McCarthy Contributors David V. Babbott, Elizabeth A. Bowman, Monique L. DeVane, Camilla Evans-Hensey, Richard J. Mazzola, Alisa D. McCoy, Alice E. Meyer, Kurt R. Meyer, Samuel A. “Pete” Pond CdeP 1932, Julia C. Robinson ’04, Sara Sackner, Joy Sawyer­Mulligan, Peggy Whyte, and Rick Wilson Photography Phil Channing, Elizabeth Reynolds Mahoney CdeP 1988, Jane D. McCarthy, Sara Sackner, Joy Sawyer-Mulligan, and Timothy O Teague Cover Photo Some Class of 2006 Cowgirls: Lucy Herr, Lauren Chase, Martha Gregory, Deirdre Herbert, Caitlin Wyman, Annie Lathrop, and Alyssa Tennant Photo by Timothy O Teague

Coeducation at Thacher 20 Coeducation at Thacher: 1978-2003 21 Historical Society

Campus Activities

22 Emma Willard/Thacher Exchange

5 Commencement 2003

23 Going Coed

7 Awards

24 Marci L. Dabbs, MD CdeP 1981 Major Changes Afoot

8 All-School Banquet Address: Carrying Ideals Beyond Thacher’s Gates

25 Belinda Hanson CdeP 1982 Balancing the Equation

8 Senior Banquet Address: Provisioning Kids’ Toolkits 9 Baccalaureate Address: Beyond the Boardroom 10 Senior Exhibitions, College Matriculation 11 Spring Sports 12 Big Gymkhana Weekend

26 Marian Huntington CdeP 1982 Elizabeth Huntington CdeP 1984 Julie B. Huntington de Polo CdeP 1986 Kindred Triumverate 27 Sarah Lavender CdeP 1986 Morgan Smith CdeP 1985 A Marriage Made at Thacher 28 Jennifer L. Kritz CdeP 1994 Joining the Political Milieu

14 Welcoming Our New Faculty

29 Kate Kochendorfer CdeP 1997 Rhea H. Wong CdeP 1997 Redefining Thacher in Modern Ways

15 Coeducation Sequela and New Numeracy Stumper

31 The Women of Thacher

16 Departing/New Trustees

32 Coeducation Survey

The Campaign for Thacher

Alumni News

18 Investing in Thacher

33 Reunion Weekend 2003

Third Class postage is paid at the Oxnard Post Office.

19 Introducing the New Director of Development

36 Class Notes

POSTMASTER: Please send form 3579 to the preceding address.

43 Til the Best We Can Do Is All Done

The Thacher News magazine is published twice a year by The Thacher School, and is sent free of charge to alumni, parents, and friends of the School. In preparing this ­report, every effort was made to ensure that it is accurate and complete. If there is an omission or an error in spelling, please accept our apologies and notify the Head of School’s Office at The Thacher School, 5025 Thacher Road, Ojai, California 93023-9001, call (805) 646-4377, or email ­jmccarthy@thacher.org.

NAIS MEMBER

40 Obituaries 41 Bookshelf Raúl Homero Villa CdeP 1978 Barrio-Logos: Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature and Culture 42 Calendar

C Printed by Ventura Printing with soy-based inks on recycled paper.

Head

From the Head of School’s Distaff Side

The Stamp of the School The Stamp of Our Lives

I

t’s October 2, 1976, the Study Hall of The Thacher School, a room that’s borne witness to generations of boys growing into young men, has heard the voice of Sherman Day Thacher and his successors instruct and admonish, praise and gently pontificate. High up on the east wall, Greek men and horses in bas relief, forever fixed in counter-clockwise motion prove the paradox of static dynamism. Below, around the table are gathered the 26 men who constitute The Thacher School’s Board of Trustees, 23 of them alumni of Casa de Piedra. Judge Jerome Berenson, President of the Board, calls for the vote: RESOLVED, that The Thacher School become coeducational commencing with the opening of the School in September, 1977. All those in favor indicate by saying “Aye.” A quarter century later, we can only imagine how potent the feelings in that room must have been, how charged the atmosphere, as Mr. Thacher’s School stood poised on the brink of so profound, so far-reaching and irrevocable a decision. In the year 2003, as I imagine that moment, I am especially drawn to this poignancy among many: one of those men had, tucked in his briefcase, a completed application for his daughter, materials polished and ready to be marched into the Admission Office should the vote go in that direction. To me, in this gesture, the philosophical notion of coeducation became instantaneously translated into the practical, an idea enlivened and converted to real by the prospect of the enrollment of this singular girl—motivated, bright, yearning for the kind of more that Thacher could provide her, as it had so richly given to her dad. In that moment, as the vote in favor was recorded, the general became specific, and Thacher launched itself bravely into a new world.

Bravely, perhaps, but by no means ill advisedly. In fact, the School’s leaders had for nearly five years prior investigated the concept of coeducation, beginning with the Emma WillardThacher Exchange program, inaugurated in the spring of 1974—a way to dip Thacher’s toes into the pool without committing whole-hog to the swim. Referred to as “The Project” and “The Experiment,” it was for all concerned, most decidedly, an adventure, and one that almost everyone, girls and boys—now women and men—on both sides

by Joy Sawyer-Mulligan

just loved. Women responding this year to a questionnaire sent out by the Alumni Office gave these sorts of testimonies: “Thacher was a school full of smart, warm, interesting people.” “I still had my voice and was encouraged to use it.” Men, equally grateful for the program, responded similarly, saying, “The EW girls offered cultural and intellectual diversity.”

“They gave us boys more balance, prepared us better for studying with women in college and working with them beyond that.” The EW pioneers—or trailblazers or bushwhackers—were game, willing to sacrifice in trade the ice, snow, “cozy” Gothic architecture and mostly women faculty for orange blossoms, 70-degree May weather, horses, mountains, palm trees—and the presence of that relatively unknown species—boys. As for those boys who went east to Emma, they cared less about the hassles of mud season than about being able to learn—and, okay, play—among the opposite sex. Big surprise.

As well, under the direction of Headmaster Willard Wyman and Mr. Pete Pond CdeP 1932 and chair of the Board’s Education and Student Affairs Committee, Thacher’s leaders methodically and relentlessly chased down the facts and fictions of single-sex institutions that had gone coed. This research included in-depth, on-site interviews, conducted by Mr. Wyman and his wife Jane (also an educator) with deans, faculty, and students of four New England peer schools: Hotchkiss, Groton, Exeter, and Andover. What they found was insistent and irrefutable; in these schools, girls had infused classrooms with greater intellectual eagerness and challenge and had brought to all aspects of boarding community life a palpable spirit of openness and happiness.

In his final report to the Board, Mr. Wyman underscored the congruence of all the research with both the runaway success of the Emma Willard exchange and, critically, the general (though by no means unanimous) feeling of Thacher alums, conveyed in heartfelt letters: “Far from thinking that the inclusion of girls will damage Thacher’s traditions or subvert its values, the proponents of coeducation are nearly unanimous in asserting that a coed Thacher will, while sustaining the specific educational aspects of Thacher, enhance the quality of the educational experience for both sexes.” The day of judgment arrived, and invited to make history for their beloved school, the Board members voted, 23 in favor, 3 opposed—and the first application made on behalf of a girl found its way to the Admission Office, the first of a whole

Spring / Summer 2003

new set of constituents, ready and raring to add their names to those on the narrow boards in the Dining Hall: Editor of The Notes, Varsity Basketball Captain, School Chair.

Yet as exhaustive as this pre-decision preparation was, no amount of forethought or action could guarantee a completely smooth transition. Those early years weren’t consistently a bed of, well, orange blossoms, despite everyone’s best and most sincere efforts.

One alumna wrote in the survey mentioned above—echoed by others here and there in their responses—“Girls just didn’t have a place in the School’s history. Thacher felt to me like a boys’ school that had admitted girls.” [Here, despite my full respect for these memories, I have to confess that I was, as Ms. Sawyer at the time, perhaps one of the more blissfully less aware, partly because the yardstick I measured Thacher by was my just-prior job at a school where nascent coeducation was a far, far worse hornets’ nest for everyone concerned.]

In any case, one of the School Chairs of those early days, grappling with issues of parity of locker rooms and in student government representation and, predictably, with at least a few boys who were overtly sad or even angry about the sea change, articulated the plain truth of the matter: “I don’t think there were any right answers to some of the problems. We were collectively making it up as we went.” Yet there was one clear answer to one essential question, as a member of an eighties class—a man—wrote recently: “Would the change from all-boys to coeducational alter the School’s basic values: integrity, personal honor, community? Clearly, no. Twenty-five years later, Thacher remains, as ever, the strong spiritual and moral center of preparatory education. It is a much happier, more interesting place than it would have been had it remained single sex.”

If that was then, this is most assuredly now, and the intervening years of fine-tuning have worked a magic similar to that of the Los Padres and Extra-Day Trips and horses. This spring, a student dropped by our house to update me on how her Senior Exhibition was shaping up. She caught me at my computer, and asked what I was up to. When I told

The Thacher News

her I was getting some notes together for a dinner celebrating Thacher’s anniversary of coeducation, she asked, “When did Thacher go coed?”

encompassing white tent, alumni and alumnae, in their early 20s to late 80s and of all ages in between. As culmination to the evening, we rise and launch into May old Casa de Piedra not fade from our hearts…As guests at the table A little surprised, I countered, “When do you honoring the oldest alums and their spouses, think?”

Michael and I part ways with them when we arrive at a certain point—the “bridge” of the Pause. piece, in musical terms: the old boys sing out, still hale, still hearty—May the stamp of the “1955?”

School be the stamp of the man, while we sing what we both learned, post-1977: May the More surprise, this in the form of raised eye- stamp of the School be the stamp of our lives. brows.

The lines were rewritten because obviously, we just couldn’t have girls singing about becom“OK, OK. 1963?” ing men. But more, the revised words reflect a sense of inclusiveness that says, in a small but “Why 1963?” I queried. powerfully critical phrase, that the privilege and wonderful peculiarities of a Thacher education “Well, that’s sort of the oldest date I could must belong to both genders. think of that might logically make sense.”

And so they do: at this year’s reunion, over half Distressing as it is to realize that my present of those attending sang the not-so-new words students thoughtfully consider 1963 a very, easily and naturally. Of those who sang the very long time ago, there’s really nothing but original, a good number had endorsed if not good news in this conversation: to our pres- embraced coeducation by virtue of applauding ent students, Thacher’s ever having been all as, throughout the years, daughters, nieces, or boys is truly ancient history, totally archival. granddaughters had come through the gates This fact was confirmed by my five junior as fully vested participants in the Thacher girl advisees perched at my kitchen counter experience. a few days after that first telling conversation. When I raised the topic, one said, “Girls The hundreds gathered for reunion this year and boys—I just can’t imagine Thacher any did generally what this issue of The Thacher other way.” An affirming synchronicity: this News does specifically: we toasted the Board’s sentiment, expressed almost exactly, was re- bold decision and the people who put the plan flected in about two dozen of the responses into action, as well as the skeptics who asked received back from women and men of the the important questions early on. We raised a past 25 years of classes at Thacher. Like fish glass to those Emma Willard girls who crossed who don’t know water because they live so the continent by air to get to Los Angeles, then, completely in it (or understand it at a level of many miles and hours later, rode through the intimacy we earth-walkers can’t approach), gates in the yellow TOADS bus, faces pressed these students are, in most ways, unconscious against the windows in eager anticipation of of the fact of coeducation; they swim in it the adventures ahead. We hailed the admindaily, without thought to its meaning in their istrators and teachers who purposefully and lives. I would argue that, a quarter century indefatigably forged the changes necessary in after those forward thinking trustees voted to those early years, even when it caused rancor expand our pond, it is appropriate and good or pain. And especially, we honored those that we are at this place. young women who have continued through the years, by force of intelligence and characWhich brings me around to The Banquet Song. ter and spirit, to add their names to those DinEvery June when we celebrate Alumni Weekend, ing Room boards and to the rosters of proud we gather now for dinner and toasts under an graduates of Casa de Piedra. e

C

O

M

M

E

N

C

E

M

E

N

T

2

0

0

3

arrived late in July; nearly two-thirds of the tests scored four or five.

quickly moving rollers and stacking them carefully onto boxcars for customized shipping orders. It required finesse to use the lumber’s momentum, balance points, and rollers to move this bulky wood. Initially, Cam muscled Extra-Day Trips it and wore through leather gloves in 15 minutes; by the next day, he only went through Whether sailing or one pair of gloves and gradually increased his kayaking across lakes efficiency. The other workers were “large, roand streams, hiking bust, and athletic fellows [who were] not too eight hours daily on crazy about new white guys [like myself]… trans-Sierra trails, straight across from me…was an excellent horse packing in the specimen of youth and strength who was a Sespe, or rock climb- manic worker and storyteller…[about] altering in Joshua Tree, cations he had around town on Friday and everyone enjoyed a Saturday nights…all ending in knockouts for few days of solace in his opponents. the wilderness before the year-end festivi- “I was sure it was only a matter of time until ties kicked into full I became part of one. Sure enough… one day gear. In quiet times, Danny jumped onto the green chain…deftly students and leaders danced across the moving chains and lumber and learned new camp landed almost without a sound on the catwalk songs, took photos of in front of me. He immediately started bobremarkable land for- bing and weaving and threw…a left hook…He mations, wrote in their missed and slipped and twisted towards me and journals, and grew landed with his head on my cheek. I seized my closer to old friends. unbelievable good fortune and his head, and And when Extra-Day figured a headlock was my only safe way out.”

Trips ended, students From then on, Cam was respected. “The crux had new tales and of the story is that there are still many places memories to share on the Earth where you have to prove yourself when not savoring before you’re accepted. a warm shower, nor donning hiking boots “Thacher is a bastion of learning, of civility, 24-7. A Barbeque and tolerance, and intellectual and athletic pursuit.

Pool Party welcomed all back, safe, sound, and It is based on honesty, fairness, kindness, and slightly sunburned. truth. We send missionaries all over the world to work on all kinds of problems. Even though there are ample problems in the world, there Vespers is great opportunity to take on your own Following Formal Dinner on June 1, Head of problem, make it your life’s work, and imSchool Michael Mulligan read the names of prove things. As former Thacher Trustee Al Thacher students who died while fighting for Hasdorf (doctor of psychology and professor America’s freedom as a prelude to the Vespers at Stanford University) replied when asked by Service. Seniors chose Cam Schryver, Director new parents: ‘How do you justify raising kids of the Horse Program, who imparted a little in this idyllic environment only to send them of his wisdom by recounting some of his life into a decimated world?’ his immediate antravels. When this year’s seniors were freshmen swer was ‘You don’t prepare young people for starting in the Horse Program, some became a decimated world by decimating them first. top riders, picked up a silver dollar at a gal- To encounter this world of problems, one lop, and embodied the Program throughout needs a solid education, enough experience their tenure, while others participated in other to handle practical situations, and a model extra-curriculars as soon as they’d completed on how things can work and how people can their riding requirement. From this, Cam spoke relate to each other.’ I completely believe we about how “learning by experience does tend have the model right here. You have worked to get exciting whether you want it to or not,” it. You have lived it. As battle-hardened seniors referring to Jesse Kahle’s oft-quoted statement you would probably argue that this place is far of horse camping: “You don’t have to look for from perfect. I would agree but counter that adventure horse camping, it just reaches out Thacher is the best place I have ever lived and and finds you.” worked, and is the most perfect attempt at a community to live up to its Mission Statement Among various jobs Cam held in his early and ideals. My hope for you is that your lives adult life, one glowed as a particularly rich are heroic enough, humorous enough, honest learning experience: pulling green chain for a enough, fair enough, kind enough, and truthlumber mill in Hoopa Valley, California. This ful enough that you inhabit the good stories of dangerous job involved standing on catwalks others and attain that immortality. For me, of to remove green board (read “heavy”) from course, you already have.”

Commencement

2003

Senior Exhibitions As days grew longer and warmer this spring, seniors put final touches on their presentations of year-long findings on a topic of their choice for Senior Exhibitions. Community members filled their “dance cards” with selections as wide-ranging as Tourette Syndrome to the Effects of Sleep Deprivation on the Human Mind, Dragons in Western and Eastern Mythology to China’s Falun Gong. Seniors employed various audiovisual techniques and practical demonstrations including bone-binding materials, flamenco dancing, high trans-fatty acid foods, and Power Point to fully display their expertise of multi-disciplinary/dimensional topics. The Class of 2004 is already focusing on topics for their projects which they will dive into once autumn arrives. A complete list of this year’s Senior Exhibitions appears on page 10.

Advanced Placement Exams Just after Gymkhana Weekend, 140 students tackled nearly 320 Advanced Placement exams in 17 disciplines. Over 50 students took three or more exams. Those who earn four or five points on a five-point scale receive four college credit units, thereby achieving advanced placement standings at college. In fact, many students have taken 6 to 10 AP courses, and have begun college as sophomores. Results

Spring / Summer 2003

C

O

M

M

E

N

All-School Banquet Review sessions, Final Treats, exams, and the All-School Clean Up were precursors to the last activities of the school year. Under ­drizzly skies and droopy pepper trees, the entire school gathered on The Pergola one final time at the All-School Banquet to celebrate the outstanding achievements in academic and extra-curricular pursuits. Joy Sawyer Mulligan, who serves as the president of Thacher’s Cum Laude Society, announced the inductees who “hold dear the qualities of excellence, justice, and honor.”

(See inset table.) Finally, School Chair Charlie Munzig gave a thoughtful farewell address to the student body that highlighted some of the special moments and features of living at and attending Thacher that prepare students “to carry its ideals to the world.” His thoughts can be found on page 8.

C

E

M

E

N

Harkening back to their arrival on campus as freshmen, seniors and their families gathered for a Reception on the Head’s Lawn prior to traipsing up to the Outdoor Memorial Chapel for the Baccalaureate Service. As birds soared overhead, horses brayed, and the sun dipped below the horizon, Assistant Head Peter Robinson introduced Yasmin Tong CdeP 1984, the School’s first female Chair and this year’s Laurel Back received the Community Service Award, as did Katie Telischak Baccalaureate speaker. (Excerpts appear on page 9.) embody perfect leadership counterparts: one [Laurel], a veritable charitable whirlwind conSenior Banquet stantly invents ways to bring cheer and joy to From the Outdoor Chapel, seniors accompa- those less fortunate than she; the other [Katie], nied their guests to the Forest Cooke Lawn for more reserved but imbued with a limitless cathe Senior Banquet. Katherine Bechtel intro- pacity for good, complements nicely the more duced her father Riley—a member of the class public work with her bending the scenes efforts of 1970 and father of Brendan CdeP 1999 and to generate support for the Community.”

Darren CdeP 2000—who shared lessons that his children learned at Thacher that have filled Director of the Outdoor Program Brian Pidtheir “tool boxes” in preparation for heading duck CdeP 1992 brought to the podium the last out into the world. (The main points of Riley’s recipient of the Alpinist Award, Brooke Halsey talk appear on page 9.)

CdeP 2000, who also served as a role model to and a climbing partner of this year’s recipients.

Presentation of special awards followed and concluded the evening. While being an accomplished athlete is an integral part of earning The Elizabeth Helms Adams Perpetual Sportswomanship Award (often referred to Elected in this, their Senior Year: as the award given to the best female athlete in the graduating class), athleticism is, by no Jacqueline Au means, this honor’s Christopher Cahill most important criHana Chang terion. The commitMary Leighton ment to excellence, teamwork, ability to Charmiane Lieu elevate the play of Kylie Manson others, and, above Emily Nathan all, sportsmanship Jacey Roche were key determi-

Cum Laude Society

The Thacher News

2

0

0

3

nants in selecting Bessie Hatch and Annie By virtue of their strength of character and reWheatley for this Award. sponsibility, physical strength, and technical difficulty in the climbs they’ve undertaken, the The Lettermen’s Club Perpetual Trophy follows award winners had achieved rock climbs that criteria similar to that of the previous award; only a few years ago were considered by Thacher this year it was presented to two senior male climbers to be too difficult or even impossible. athletes. For the first time in the School’s his- Brian presented the Award to climbers whose tory, this prize was shared by four outstanding styles complement each other: one who is “exuathletes: John Babbott, Tyler Caldwell, Charlie berant, powerful, visionary, and as determined Munzig, and Brenton Sullivan. as they come” (Russell Grether), and the other who is “quiet, graceful, subtle, and tenacious” Molly Twichell Perry CdeP 1985 bestowed the (Kylie Manson).

Newton K. Chase Community Service Award on Laurel Back and Katie Telischak who dem- Charlie Munzig was given the School Chair onstrated an unselfish interest in and concern Award for “the positive energy, the spirit of for others. As Molly said, “The two together cooperation, the consistent attainment of excellence, the depth of shared values,” that marked his year of leadership that helped this school experience one of its best years ever.

Baccalaureate Service

Annie Wheatley and Bessie Hatch shared the Sportswoman Award

T

Katherine Telischak Amy Vanderloop Mary White Vivian Wu

The Charles L. Tutt Silver Bowl for Integrity and Responsibility was awarded to Troy Pollet because of his many accomplishments in all aspects of the School Program despite personal challenges. “Described by his peers and faculty The Tutt Bowl was as a natural leader, presented toTroy Pollet respected, commanding presence, popular, and fun, this young man is known as a lover of life, of people, and of learning…” He’s also mastered “a balance between probing seriousness and humorous irreverence that he gives to every endeavor.” Repeatedly, the Community is “moved to see how much love and care he has exhibited towards his family…[such as] missing his own Family Weekend so that he could play with his little brother in the Father-Son Tennis Tournament at his brother’s school (since their father had died during this fellow’s freshman year).” And, as further testament to his kind manner, it took Troy a while to get to the podium because he had been holding his sleeping young sister.

Finally, The Thacher Cup was presented to a senior who, in the judgment of the faculty, best demonstrates those qualities the School holds as central: academic excellence, extracurricular achievement, moral leadership, and concern for others. In awarding The Thacher Cup to Kylie Manson, Michael Mulligan spoke of her “unshakable founda- Kylie Manson won The tion of unwavering Thacher Cup

C

O

M

M

E

N

selflessness, undisputed academic excellence, and unassuming yet undeniable inner strength [that] forms the foundation of this class…. She clings to those ideals we hold dear even as she ascends to great heights, quietly reveling in her own discoveries and successes but never forgetting to look back to encourage and support those aspiring to follow her lead—confident, true to herself, and willing to take on all challenges, not for self-aggrandizement, but for the sake of the experience.”

Commencement Bright and early on Saturday morning, the junior class swept the aisle to begin the Commencement Exercises to the strains of a bagpipe/drum band. Faculty followed and formed a gauntlet for the seniors to walk through. The seniors arrived, arm in arm, to the wild applause and camera shutters of the enthusiastic crowd.

Once in place, Michael Mulligan explained that a statement—woven from what teachers, advisors, coaches, and even other students have said throughout the years about the members of this class—would be read about each senior. The intent is to relate what these young men and women have meant to the Thacher Community, those special qualities that were brought to Thacher and honed further to make the School a unique place that it has been this year and during the preceding three years. These are the hallmarks and contributions for which the graduates will long be remembered. As each senior arrived at the podium, various faculty members read the remarks, a.k.a. “blurbs,” while the senior and Michael Mulligan shared one last moment together, listening to the attributes, before each senior received his/her much deserved diploma.

Once the last sheepskin was given, the seniors leapt from their chairs, hugged, cried, and congratulated each other on joining the Alumni Association. e

C

E

M

E

N

T

2

0

0

3

Awards Perpetual Sportsmanship Award John Lusk Babbott ’03 Tyler Robert Caldwell ’03 Charles Stewart Munzig ’03 Brenton Ambrose Sullivan ’03 Elizabeth Helms-Adams Perpetual Sportswoman Award Therese Devous Hatch ’03 Anne Tully Wheatley ’03 Newton K. Chase Community Service Award Laurel Kathleen Back ’03 Katherine Sierra Telischak ’03 The Charles L. Tutt Silver Bowl for Integrity and Responsibility Troy Scott Pollet ’03

The William Bishop Nixon Poetry Prize Phoebe Elizabeth Barkan ’03 Julia Coyner Robinson ’04 The Nash Robbins Short Story Award Emily Kate Nathan ’03

The Morgan Ward Prize for Mathematics Matthew James O’Meara ’03 The Language Prize Kathleen Jean Kuhl ’03 The Physics Prize (Special Commendation—Sophomore) Chandler Grace Pease ’05 The Chemistry Prize (Special Commendation—Junior) Martin Bingham Sawyer ’04

The Thacher Cup Kylie Elizabeth Manson ’03

The Life Science Prize (Special Commendation—Senior) Christopher Paul Cahill ’03 Katherine Sierra Telischak ’03

School Chair Award Charles Stewart Munzig ’03

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Award Martin Bingham Sawyer ’04

Charles Warren Alpinist Award Russell Broome Grether ’03 Kylie Elizabeth Manson ’03

The History Prize Jacey J Roche ’03

The Edward R. Spaulding Tennis Cup Troy Scott Pollet ’03 The Charles Pratt Trapshoot Plate Michael Bechtel Dachs ’03 Jesse Kahle Horsecamper Award Phoebe Elizabeth Barkan ’03 Best Camper Award Phoebe Elizabeth Barkan ’03 Matthew James O’Meara ’03 The George Beckwith Gymkhana Trophy Katherine Elizabeth Bechtel ’03 Robert Matthew Cerda ’03 Michael Bechtel Dachs ’03 The Bissell Gymkhana Trophy Katherine Elizabeth Bechtel ’03 The Vaquero Cup Katherine Elizabeth Bechtel ’03 The Marvin H. Shagam Award Cara Lasell Bonewitz ’04 The Jack Boyd English Award Owili King Eison ’03 Kathleen Jean Kuhl ’03

The Darrah Corbet, Jr., Studio Prize Zachary Arin Kitnick ’03 Rhode Island School of Design Award Jessica Sue Liu ’03 The Agnes M. Lord Music Award Julia Catherine Erdman ’03 The Marcus Hele Dall Photography Award Lindsay Maitland Hunt ’05 The Harry Llewellyn Bixby Dramatic Cup John Lusk Babbott ’03 The Class of 2000 Dance Award Alison Marie Barbieri ’03 The Eric Bechtel Dachs Prize for Technical Theatre Hana Chang ’03 Hugh Haralson Gordon ’03 The Munro-Palmer Public Speaking and Debate Awarde Troy Scott Pollet ’03 The Hollister Wheaton Trapshoot Award George Whittinghill and son Ian ’03 (20 out of 25)

Spring / Summer 2003

C

O

M

M

E

N

C

E

M

E

N

T

2

0

0

3

Address Banquet Addresses Equipping Students for Life

Carrying Ideals Beyond Thacher’s Gates

Mrs. Robinson’s class and realizing that their stories have the power to make me laugh or cry. Moments like losing a baseball game and realizing that losing may have taught me more All-School Banquet Address than winning, that as Pat Conroy has written,

by Charles S. Munzig CdeP 2003 “losing prepares you for the heart break, seth i s y e a r a t back, and tragedy that you will encounter in the Thacher we’ve world…By licking your wounds you learn how b e e n k n o w n to avoid getting wounded the next time.” to ourselves and others as athletes Thacher is a place where we’ve had lots of opand campers, as portunities to try new things—to climb rocks Chamber Singers for the first time, to learn to play lacrosse, to and rock climbers, join chorus even without knowing how to read as math and com- music, to make fun of ourselves and our teachputer whizzes, as ers on stage. With new opportunities, we will photographers and all have the chance to transform ourselves. riders/writers, both the equestrian and short story types. We build My uncles talk about Thacher’s Rough House rockets—well, one of us does—we write com- and the fun they had there. Even when the puter programs, and sing and dance and act on buildings at Thacher change, the memories stage. A part of how we define ourselves comes won’t. This School will always remain a place from what we’ve learned to respect most about where we struggled and sometimes prevailed, a place where we made great friendships—with who we are and what we do. other students, with faculty and staff, with The end of the school year brings changes horses and dogs, and with the best bunch of for us all. Ms. Johnson and Mr. Harris to little kids in the world.

New York, Mr. Driscoll and Ms. DeVane to Boston, the Yoos to parenthood, Mr. Pidduck What will never change about the School, even and Ms. Etchells to the altar, but not with each if the campus and the Ojai Valley change, is other. Many of us may have mucked a corral, its commitment that we should leave here or worn a Thacher jersey, or starred on stage prepared to carry its ideals to the world. John for the last time. Some of us will never wear Wesley, for whom a very fine university in a school’s athletic uniform again. The next Connecticut was named, said in the late eighgymkhanas or basketball or baseball games teenth century: we attend may be as spectators and fans, not Do all the good you can, as participants. For those still at Thacher in By all the means you can, the spring of 2004, some of you may watch In all the ways you can, others try to spear a ring at a gallop or pick In all the places you can, up a silver dollar in the dust as you remember At all the times you can, this year’s muddiest gymkhana in Thacher’s To all the people you can, history. Among seniors there are many who As long as ever you can. will attend colleges and universities where we may not choose to try-out for sports teams, or a cappella groups, or roles on stage. For Good advice for us to remember—to take others, the teams may not choose us, and the Thacher with us. starring roles may go to someone else.

T

Ultimately, we will hold on to the many memorable moments from this year. In the year ahead Lamb Auditorium may disappear, but the magic of the performances there will remain. Sports fields may change, but how we changed playing on them won’t. What really matters are the personal moments that change us and that we’ll always be able to recall. They are moments like listening to classmates read their short stories in

The Thacher News

Provisioning Kids’ Toolkits Highlights of the Senior Banquet Address

by Riley P. Bechtel CdeP 1970

Riley offered the following suggestions for how to live well.

Lesson 1 stemmed from Katherine’s Senior Exhibition on Horse Whispering that focused on “the power of communication and trust in all relationships. It is ironic that communication may actually be easier between person and horse than between people in many situations. You will be amazed at how hard inter-personal communication can become and how crucial it is to any collective undertaking, which nearly everything on our crowded planet is. In my world of business and not-for-profit service, as in any other interpersonally-rich environment I am aware of, executives spend well over 80%, and maybe as high as 90% of their time on ‘people issues,’ rather than the strategy, operations, or technology on which most think we spend our time.

Lesson 2: “Every society has rules which must be followed, but good humor, up to a limit, is valued (even by Deans of Students and JCs) and careful planning and disciplined execution (of anything) are key. Success—whether in the business or not-for-profit worlds—is about 20% strategy-driven and the rest is all close-in foresight and execution. Biz Schools will hype the great ideas and strategy of their proprietary version they want to sell you. But the reality is the game is usually won by blocking and tackling.

Lesson 3 is three-fold. “First, friendships are pivotal in life and they, more than anything else, are worth preserving and nourishing. Second, even difficult circumstances in a friendship can be overcome if respect, decency, and lots of caring but forthright communication are applied in liberal doses. Third, adversity usually produces some surprisingly good results if we look for the chance to apply them…

“As you head off from Toad Heaven to Life’s next challenges, I hope you will reflect a bit on y citing tales of their children’s Thacher what has happened in the last four years while careers, Riley Bechtel shared some lessons you have been at Thacher and what is coming that build “tool kits for life” in intellectual, down the road. In grand style, you have overemotional, social, and athletic arenas. Contrasting these lessons with business practices, Continued on page

B

C

O

M

M

E

N

C

E

M

E

N

T

2

0

0

3

Address Baccalaureate Address Excerpts from “Beyond the Boardroom”

G

raduation can be a very emotional time. I was reminded of this as I was re-reading my diary from senior year. I found this little story about my graduation dress. My mother had picked the dress, and it was everything I didn’t want, and it looked very old-fashioned. When I tried it on at the store, my mother said, “I want to see you graduate in that dress.” With all due respect to my mother who is very stylish, I confess that I hated that dress, but I wore it anyway. Why? Because I wanted to make my mom happy—because I understood that my parents’ investment in my education came at some personal sacrifice to them.

I had always been interested in journalism, but I had never allowed myself to pursue this course. Now, all of a sudden, I was ready to say yes to something I’d been wanting to do for a very long time.

For the next six months I did nothing but eat, sleep, work at my corporate job, and, above all, write. I was intense, determined, and focused. Writing was what made me get up in the morning, and is what prevented me from sleeping at night. When that six-month period ended, I left the security of my job and about a week later I learned that the Los Angeles Times wanted to publish my first story.

The whole process didn’t take a few months.

It took me my entire lifetime—35 years—to know what I wanted to do and to have enough faith in myself to do it. I had to go through many stages before I was really ready to be myself instead of who I thought I was supUsually when alumni are invited to return to posed to be. speak at an event like this, everyone expects them to provide some exquisite wisdom about First, there was the know-it-all stage. I just felt how to achieve excellence and success in the gratified knowing that I was being rewarded future. I wish I could do that for each and for playing by the rules. What matters is the every one of you, but I can’t, because it’s really effort you put into getting out of the know-itup to each of us to discover our own unique all stage. The only way you can get to the next formula for living a rich and fulfilling life. Dis- stage is to make your world as big as possible. covering and expressing our individuality is the College proves a great opportunity to acreal work and real joy of living. complish this, because you can meet lots of people, take interesting classes, study abroad, I started learning about this a couple of years ago, and learn a foreign language. My other advice when I was working at one of the world’s largest to you for college is learn how to schmooze financial institutions. I was on the fast track. with people you don’t know; this will be an And lucky me, I really enjoyed my work. invaluable skill later on for gaining access to jobs, or getting to know people.

But one day, something extraordinary happened. All of a sudden I lost interest in what My know-it-all stage ended and chaos began was happening around me, and I heard a voice when I graduated from college. I spent this inside my head saying, “I’m bored.” My next phase of my life flopping around like a fish thought was, “I have to get out of here. What out of water. am I going to do with my life?” Now, this moment was both terrifying and exhilarating for My era of chaos ended when I decided to unme, basically because it was my first big break pack my bags and stop moving around from from the familiar. Getting good grades, getting job to job and place to place. I bought a house good jobs and making good money were all and took a job at a bank. things I thought I was supposed to do, and what others expected of me, but the rules I’d I started a new phase: settling. During the setbeen living by didn’t apply to my situation any tling phase I lived in the same house for seven longer. years. I worked hard and I was rewarded.

Meanwhile, I yearned for a deeper sense of I had a stroke of inspiration in that same personal fulfillment and adventure in my life. instant. I decided then and there that I was ready to do something I’d always wanted to When I made my break from corporate Amerdo—work as a freelance journalist. ica, the settling phase ended and gave way to

by Yasmin T. Tong CdeP 1984

another new stage: revelations. The time of revelations started in the conference room when I asked myself the question, “What am I going to do with my life?”

But eventually, like all good stages, revelations came to an end and the best phase of all began. I call it the good times. Looking back now I realize that I couldn’t have reached the good times without going through those other stages. Even that old-fashioned graduation dress that I wore nearly 20 years ago prepared me for tonight. Since then, I’ve learned that I can still respect others’ expectations and values without compromising my own.

So here’s what I learned. I avoided my passions for writing and romance, not because I was afraid of failure, but because I was afraid of succeeding. I wasn’t comfortable with the notion that my dreams didn’t have to be dreams anymore—that they could become my reality.

I didn’t think that I was worthy of my dreams.

But gradually, I began to believe that I could have the life I wanted if I was willing to work at making it happen. Frankly, the hardest part of making my life my own was knowing myself well enough to know what I truly wanted.

So, take time to know yourselves. Go through your stages boldly, question the expectations you have for yourself and that others may have for you, and work hard at all of this. Then you will know about the real work and real joy of living a fulfilling life. e

Toolkits Continued from page

come the toughest challenges Thacher could throw at you. You have truly distinguished yourselves as a great class. You are not only the largest class in the history of the School but, more importantly, you have demonstrated bedrock values. You have honed, glazed, and fired those values which you likely brought with you to Thacher. This close-knit community, your close friendships, and your accomplishments as well as your mistakes (which after all are investments if you reap the learning return from them) have greatly contributed to this hardening of your values…. We Toads, old and new, can breathe a sigh of relief because we know the importance of values, and we know how to flourish in a world that is value-rich.” e

Spring / Summer 2003

C

O

M

M

Senior Nikke Alex Jackie Au John Babbott Laurel Back Alison Barbieri Phoebe Barkan Katherine Bechtel Carrie Blayney Lizzy Brewer Walker Cahall Chris Cahill Tyler Caldwell Robert Cerda Will Chamberlain Hana Chang Vincent Chen Dawn Cleveland Shayla Cooke Michael Dachs Kyle Dumont Graham Dunn Owili Eison Julia Erdman Jackie Fiske Arielle Flam Drew Fleck Alison Flynn Alex Gidwitz Hugh Gordon Russell Grether Phoebe Halsey Bessie Hatch Vivi Hernandez Lucy Hodgman Alex Huth Will Johnson Brian Keane Ellery Khazanovich Zak Kitnick Katie Kuhl Mary Leighton Charmiane Lieu Jessie Liu Jimmy Madigan Kylie Manson Emery Mitchem Melanie Morris Charlie Munzig Luke Myers Emily Nathan Matt O’Meara Nathan Parker Chance Phelps Troy Pollet Cameron Ridgeway Jacey Roche Sarah Shaikh Richard Smith Whitney Snyder Brenton Sullivan Sarah Tapscott Eddy Tavernetti Katie Telischak Mike Tyson Amy Vanderloop Melissa Vickery Annie Wheatley Mary White Ian Whittinghill Vivian Wu

10 The Thacher News

E

N

C

E

M

School Attending University of Arizona Georgetown University Amherst College UCLA Northeastern University St. Andrews University (Scotland) Stanford University Wellesley College Scripps College California Institute of the Arts Dartmouth College Vanderbilt University Colorado State University George Washington University Johns Hopkins University Emory University Scripps College Amherst College Colorado State University Cornell University Trinity University University of Southern California New York University University of Southern California Barnard College University of Southern California Bucknell University of Notre Dame Columbia University Pepperdine University McGill University Tulane University University of Michigan Carleton College California Institute of Technology University of Pennsylvania UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Cruz Bard College George Washington University University of British Columbia Brown University UCLA—Arts & Architecture Lewis & Clark College Colorado College Claremont McKenna College Art Institute of California Wesleyan University University of Southern California UC Berkeley University of Chicago Johns Hopkins University Maine Maritime Academy University of Southern California Colorado College Cornell University Middlebury College University of Southern California Pepperdine University University of Southern California Villanova University UC Santa Barbara Vanderbilt University Franklin College (Switzerland) UC Berkeley California Polytechnic State University University of Denver UCLA University of Southern California Northwestern University

E

N

T

2

0

0

Senior Exhibition Topic Improving the Lives of Native Americans Pre-Feminist American Culture Decline of Aboriginal Peoples Photography and the Homeless Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche Riding Techniques and their History Dressage and Reining Celebratory Cakes Ernest Hemingway Special Effects in Film: A History The Sierra: A Geological Survey WWII’s North African Campaigns Horse Whisperers Akira Kurosawa Bio-active Materials Biploar Disporder Hawaii—A State?

The Relevance of Navajo Traditions Horse Training Yellowstone and Volcanism Mazes and Labyrinths Michael Jackson Fashion and Modern Art The Modern American Musical Reconstructing the World Trade Center Hydroponics Superluminar Velocities Gambling and Rural America Tesla and Edison: Colleagues or Combatants?

Channel Islands Ecology California Water: Past, Present, and Future Tap Gangs and Gang Membership Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Artificial Intelligence Myths and Dragons High-speed Photography Ford Motor Company: Multinationalism in the Car Industry Tourette Syndrome Alcoholism and Recovery Cappadocia Marriage: A Study of Cultures Virginity: A History of Portrayal Through Art Lasers Hinduism Furniture-Making: A History New Orleans: An American Melting Pot Ancient Roman Spectacles Wireless Communications Language Acquisition Set Theory Physics and Snowboarding Transfatty Acids: Shelf Life or Human Life Investing in the US Stock Market Body Adornment Through Paint: Cultural Reflections Bio-terrorism Secularism in India Sports Scandals: Who’s to Blame?

Personality Traits Noctoambulation Rumspringa: An Amish Practice Chernobyl Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 Communism in Mongolia China’s Falun Gong Spain’s Flamenco Culture Female Comediennes Coeducation at Thacher Space Propulsion Technologies Chinese Propaganda

3

Campus Activities

Sports Spring

by Joy Sawyer Mulligan

the SCGLAC All-Star team. Four Thacher players tried out for the California Under-19 team; juniors Jennie Tucker and Virginia Dawson earned berths on the team.

to Cate, OVS, and Conejo Valley, the 12-man team had rallying moments—and through it all, gained a wealth of experience in the ABC’s of lacrosse, from legal checking to picking up ground balls.

Junior Varsity Girls’ Lacrosse

Track and Field

Captains: Belle Bueti ’06, Jessica ­Cornwell ’04, and Rachel Munzig ’06 Coaches: Kara Hooper and Phoebe Larson Season Record: 9-2 • League Record: 5-2

Captains: Bianca Kissell ’04 and Ian Strachan ’04 Coaches: Derick Perry CdeP ‘83, Kurt Meyer, Theana Hancock, and Pierre Yoo

The boys were Condor League champs for the first time since the coach himself ran for the Toads as a student here, and the girls came in Although two-thirds of the JV’s had second. At the end of the season, Katie Fryknever held a lacrosse stick before man strode into the Most Valuable Player spottheir first game, that initial inexpe- light, while new-to-the-sport Steffi Rauner and rience never got in the way of this Kaitlin Walter ’05 shared the David S. Lavenpotent team. They redeemed their der Improvement Trophy. only two losses (to Cate and OVS) by excellent and decisive victories later Varsity Boys’ Tennis in the season. Another thrilling game Captain: Troy Pollet ’03 was their victory over Midland—the Coach: Torek Helsen only Condor League team to do so.

Season Record: 13-3 • League Record: 8-0

Varsity Boys’ Lacrosse

W

hat an extraordinary year it’s been for Thacher athletics! Seven varsity teams won Condor League championships, two teams got to the CIF quarterfinals, two made it to CIF championships, one team won a Southern California championship, and one won the CIF Southern Section championship.

What’s more, many Thacher athletes earned individual honors: Thacher athletes secured 14 spots on All-CIF teams this year and one individual proved to be the best in our division not only in the CIF Southern Section but also in the entire state of California. And, as if that weren’t enough garlands, by vote of the teams from the ten schools in the Condor League, Thacher also won this year’s CIF Shake for Sportsmanship Award.

This spring capped off the year in a final blaze of glory. Four teams won Condor League Championships: Baseball, Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse, Boys’ Varsity Tennis, and Boys’ Track; and two teams were voted this season’s Tony Dunn Sportsmanship Award: Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse.

—Rich Mazzola, Director of Athletics

Varsity Girls’ Lacrosse Captain: Annie Wheatley ’03 Coaches: Emily Etchells and Peter Robinson Season Record: 13-3 • League Record: 4-0

Undefeated in Condor League play, this team also won the first annual Southern California Girls Lacrosse Association Championships, coming from behind in the tournament’s final game to defeat Cate: 10-6. Seniors Annie Wheatley and Bessie Hatch earned spots on

Captains: Tyler Caldwell ’03 and Emery Mitchem ’03 Coaches: Bill Rexford and Bo Manson Season Record: 6-8 • League Record: 2-2

“Although it may not have shown up in the win-loss distribution, this season was as rewarding as any I’ve had, in terms of the growth I witnessed in the players,” wrote Coach Rexford. “…Jaime Luna [may be] the best goalie in the state!” Year-end team honors went to seniors: Tyler Caldwell was selected to both the all-tournament team at the Carmel Tournament and the LA Regional All-Star Team; and Emery Mitchem, Most Inspirational (also all-tournament at Carmel, as well as selected as one of only two Californians to play for the West team in the National East-West Senior High School All-Star Game in New York). Junior and captain-elect Ward Sorrick was also selected to play on the LA All-Star team.

Junior Varsity Boys’ Lacrosse Captains: Chance Phelps ’03, Matt Stenovec ’04, and Evan Werlin ’04 Coaches: Spencer Stevens and Tyler Manson CdeP 2001 Season Record: 5-3

A home-field win over Cate, an overtime defeat of Ojai Valley School, and a one-goal victory over Laguna Blanca—these were among this year’s memorable moments for this spirited and cohesive team.

Freshman Boys’ Lacrosse Coaches: Cam Spaulding CdeP 1992 and Michael Mulligan Season Record: 2-3

Although the Condor League was loaded with strong talent this year, Thacher ruled. The senior-heavy team ended its season undefeated in the League and beat Magnolia handily 16-2 in the first round of CIF Playoffs; they lost in the second to Milken Community in a close 10-8 match. “The most memorable match,” asserted Director of Athletics Rich Mazzola, “was undoubtedly the good old-fashioned barn burner against Cate. The Toads and the Rams collected nine sets each, but when the games were tallied, the Toads emerged on top, 80-71.”

Junior Varsity Boys’ Tennis Coach: David Johnston Season Record: 1-4

Everyone shared the privilege and responsibilities of captaincy—as well as MVP and MIP honors. Reports Dr. J, “In fact, you might call us more of a communal than an individual, competitive enterprise.”

Baseball Captains: Charlie Munzig ’03 and Brenton Sullivan ’03 Coaches: Rich Mazzola and Robert Torres Season Record: 13-1 • League Record: 8-0

This team became Condor League champs for the third consecutive year due to great playing and exceptional pitching while catcher Brenton Sullivan seemed never to miss a pitch-call. The team managed three no-hitters and held opposing teams to a paltry 1.4 runs, on average, per game. In post-season CIF play, the team barreled through to the quarterfinals, where they suffered a disappointing defeat. All-CIF honors went to Graham Douds ’04 (1st Team); Charlie and Brenton were placed on 2nd Team. e

“It was,” says Coach Spaulding, “a short season, but rich in learning opportunities and good humor….” Even with humbling defeats Spring / Summer 2003 11

Gymkhana Campus Activities

Big Gymkhana Weekend Yee-Haw Fun

by Jane D. McCarthy

Thacher’s “Mudkhana” featured soaked riders on drenched mounts who splattered mud with each step

A

little rain couldn’t dampen the spirits and good times rolling during this year’s Big Gymkhana Weekend. In some ways, it just added to the fun as mud splattered from the galloping horses’ hooves and folks huddled under tents and got to know each other a bit better.

The highlights of Friday evening’s Cabaret included the advanced actors performing “The Compleat Wks of Willm Shkspr (abridged)”; a dance entitled “Identity” to music written

by Arts Chair Greg Haggard in which dancers did solos while their voice overs explained why they danced; the Chorus sang “Blue Moon” among others, and the Chamber Singers demonstrated their versatility by singing in Italian, Spanish, and English of various genres and styles.

Orange, and Blue Teams created a pinwheel with near static horses at the center, gradually picking up speed to where the captains on the ends flew around the field at breakneck speed to present the colors. Only a few events took place: the Washington Poles, on both horse back and on foot in soggy cowboy boots, and a Figure 8 team relay race. “Many kids commented that it was the most enjoyable Gymkhana they’d ever participated in,” Horse Program Director Cam Schryver said.

“The rain lessened the tension. We may incorporate some novelty races next year just so that less-competitive riders can enjoy the day while not trying to break time barriers.” Once the spectators congregated in the Gym for dinner and the Auction—out of the rain—awards were distributed with the Green Team coming out on top.

Saturday afternoon’s Gymkhana thrills were shortened dramatically by the heavy rains, but were memorable as “the wettest Gymkhana in the School’s history,” according to School Chair Charlie Munzig; or, as Pete Pond CdeP 1932 termed it, “The Mudkhana.” The Green,

A few new twists to this year’s Auction incorporated more bidders into the fray. Some Northern California Thacher Parents showed their appreciation for the faculty by creating a special weekend package for two in the city by the Bay, including two nights at San Francisco’s

12 The Thacher News

Fairmont Hotel, dinner at Bix, two tickets to Beach Blanket Babylon, and $100 spending money. The lucky winning bidder pulled a faculty’s name from a cowboy hat; science instructor Spencer Stevens will soon enjoy his trip. Another Live Auction highlight was a denim quilt that Diane Russell from Maintenance fashioned from Thacher students’ jeans, some toad squares, and a cowboy/girl flannel print. Finally, the School’s Trustees and

Gymkhana Team scores Green: 4271 Captained by Katherine Bechtel ’03, Robert Cerda ’03, and Michael Dachs ’03 Orange: 3376 Captained by Montana Caset ’05 and Hannah Uscinski ’05 Blue: 3278 Captained by Lizzy Brewer ’03, Hugh Gordon ’03, and Ian Whittinghill ’03

Soaked riders: Aubrey Wynn ’06, Alyssa Tennant ’06, Annie Lathrop ’06, and Billy Irwin ’06

Peter Arnold ’04 sloshes through the Washington Poles, sans horse

Lauren Church ’06 readies Leo for Big Gymkhana

an anonymous donor underwrote the cost of a 2003 Prius hybrid car that was raffled with all proceeds to benefit financial aid. A lively Hootenanny at the Mulligans’ Open House completed the day’s festivities.

Thacher and the last arriving this fall, spoke of the importance to “Be The Somebody Else.”

As the Ventura County Juvenile Court Judge, he shared snippets of probation reports that demonstrate the underlying problem with this population group: these kids don’t have a menThe sun finally peeked through the clouds for tor to help them be successful and learn how to Sunday morning’s Chapel Service at the Outdoor properly operate in society. His bottom line was Memorial Chapel. Brian Back, father of five that every citizen has a responsibility—indeed, children, four of whom have graduated from a duty—to be the somebody else for others; to

extend ourselves, and to share with others in our community.

The Weekend’s final ­activities were the Annual Parent/Student Tennis Match and Trapshoot Competition. The Babbott duo of John ’03 and his father David took top honors on the tennis court, while George Whittinghill and his son Ian ’03 were the best shots (20 out of 25), thereby winning the Hollister-Wheaton Plate. e

The Chamber Singers directed by Greg Haggard at Sunday’s service

Steve Kanaly, father of Quinn Cdep 1996 and Evan CdeP 1999, explains firearm safety at the Twin Peaks Trap Shoot Range

Top Ten Riders

Top Ten Freshmen

(in order)

(in order)

Katherine Bechtel ’03 Annie Lathrop ’06 Hugh Gordon ’03 Lauren Chase ’06 Deirdre Herbert ’06 Phoebe Barkan ’03 Marc Fuller ’06 Alyssa Tennant ’06 Robert Cerda ’03 Sara Schneider ’04

Annie Lathrop Lauren Chase Deirdre Herbert Marc Fuller Alyssa Tennant Andrew Fair Alex Marlantes Yoon Kim Billy Irwin Nick Wiltsie

Silver Dollar Pick-Up Winners: James Allison ’06, Andrew Fair ’06, and Ruth Sawyer ’06 Perpetual Silver Bridle for on-going achievement in the Horse Program: Becky Swan ’04 and Armando Leon ’05 Top English Rider: Katherine Bechtel ’03

Judge Back encouraged the congregation to “Be The Somebody Else” to others in the community Spring / Summer 2003 13

Faculty

Campus Activities

Welcoming Our New Faculty Creative and Enthusiastic Personalities Join Ranks

B

ill McMahon is Thacher’s new Director of Admission. He served most recently as the Director of Marketing and Planning at the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, where he oversaw all marketing, communications, strategic planning, and institutional research efforts. He also coached, ran a student house, and taught outdoor adventure classes. Prior to the posting, Bill worked in advertising for J. Walter Thompson in New York, where he was the Account Executive for various commercial products. He earned an undergraduate degree from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Bill’s wife is Sabina, who worked as the Associated Dean of Student Life at Northfield Mount Hermon for the past 12 years. While there, she also taught math, served as House Director, and was the Head Coach of Varsity Gymnastics. Since the early eighties, Sabina has been the Managing Director of the 160-camper residential summer camp called Camp Moosilauke in Orford, New Hampshire. At Thacher, Sabrina is advising freshman girls in Casa. She is a graduate of Colgate and earned a master’s in mathematics education at Columbia. Sabrina and Bill have three sons: William, Colin, and Griffin.

advising junior boys in the Upper School. Ben majored in history and American studies at Colby College, where he graduated two years ago.

in Sacramento and Port Hueneme, and as District Director of the Ventura County Council of Campfire. He earned his bachelor’s degree at CSU Sacramento, and has further training in as a Certified Fund Raising Executive and with the IBM Executive Training Program. He is married to Mona and they have one grown Thacher’s new Science daughter, Sara. His hobbies and outside inDepartment Chair is terests are golf, music, hiking, mountain and Megan Henry, who was road cycling. an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise for the past 4.5 Our new intern in the years. Aside from phys- Horse Program is Tracy ics, Megan can teach Cnossen, who hails from astronomy, calculus, and physical science. Jackson, Wyoming. She She also enjoys the outdoor, track, soccer, holds a bachelor’s degree and plays the flute. She earned her bachelor’s in marketing communicadegree at the College of William and Mary tions from the University and her doctorate at Pennsylvania State, both of Vermont, but she has in physics. Megan is advising freshman girls nine years of experience living in Casa. teaching adults and children of all abilities how to ride. She is professionally trained in both English and Western Riding with 19 years of experience in both. She has also done extenDan Henry is teaching sive backpacking, horse packing, and camping, Math III and IV this year and has run therapeutic riding programs. Just and advising freshman before arriving at Thacher, she was the Direcboys in Lower School. tor of the Horse Program at the Teton Valley Dan earned his bachelor’s Ranch Camp. She is advising senior girls asin economics with a sociated with The Hills dorm area. e minor in math from College of William and Mary.

He then earned a master’s in economics from Pennsylvania State. He has taught algebra, economics, technical and business math at both the high school and college level, and has coached cross country. He’s helping with coaching cross country at Thacher, too. He and Megan have two children: Peter and Emily.

Trading one coast for another is Ben Farrell. He was most recently teachThacher’s new Director ing history, working in of Development is Rick admission, and coaching Wilson. He comes to us soccer and basketball at after 17 years at the CurThe Waynfiete School in tis School in LA, where he Portland, Maine. Prior to worked as the Assistant that, Ben was part of the Head for Business and adjunct faculty at the Southern Maine TechniExternal Affairs, having cal College, also in Portland. Ben is working been promoted form the as the Assistant Director of Admission, will be Director of Development. Prior to Curtis, coaching JV Boys’ Soccer and assisting with Rick worked as an Executive Director for Inthe Baseball Team in the spring, and will be terAid International, Big Brothers/Big Sisters

14 The Thacher News

by Jane D. McCarthy

Tidbits Campus Activities

Coeducation Sequela New Numeracy Stumper

Toads who have married other Toads now number 20 couples; the most recent wedding was this summer when Blossom Beatty CdeP 1992 became Mrs. Brian Pidduck, also CdeP 1992. Two other couples are products of the Sara Lawrence exchange: Kelly Cope­land married Bill Anderson CdeP 1976, and Katherine Roade married Josh Rosenblatt CdeP 1976.

In the fall of 1977, 53 girls were accepted, including seven seniors: Ellen L. Hamilton, Susan B. Lascher, Janet D. Miller, Mary Norton, Mary Paredes, Anne T. Green, and Marganne Winter. The last two had first seen Thacher as Emma Willard girls.

Gillian St. John ’06 sculpts a head from clay

by Jane D. McCarthy

The first girls’ team to win a League Championship was the Softball Team of 1977, which was actually before Thacher went coed. Coached by John Hessler, Pam Grossman, and Peter Robinson, and captained by Catherine Keggi, the Team was comprised of Gwen Krause, Mary Jo Marks, Kathryn Dailey, Kimberly Thompson, Annette Green, Mary Hollyday, Carolyn Reilly, Jo Anne Als, Laurel Smith, Sarah Hill, Kimberlyn Leary, and Pamela Howe. Maury Smith CdeP 1978 helped, too. e

The first time that a young woman was elected Chair of the School was in 1983; Yasmin Tong CdeP 1984 capably led the School for the following school year.

Numeracy Puzzle K

The New Puzzle

ip Witter (CdeP 1964) is not a carpet bagger, but he is one clever fellow. Here’s his solution to last issue’s puzzle. To refresh your memory:

A Logical Deduction A. There are five lettered statements in this puzzle.

B. This is not a statement.

C. Only two of the statements are false.

D. Only one of them is true.

E. If you can solve this puzzle you are a very logical person.

You have two rugs of the same material, one that is 10 × 10 and another that is 1 × 8. How can you make one continuous cut in the 10 × 10 rug, so as to form two pieces which, when combined with the 1 × 8 piece, can be stitched into a carpet that is exactly 9 × 12? The two rugs are of plain pattern and have pile on one side only.

Question: Is statement E true?

1 × 8 piece fits here

Kip’s Solution: Send your solution to Kurt Meyer in the Thacher Math Department via email at kmeyer@thacher.org, or via US mail at the School address. Good Luck!

Spring / Summer 2003 15

Trustees

Campus Activities

Departing/New Trustees Unsung Heroes

T

he Thacher School Community greatly appreciates the tireless efforts, numerous contributions, and supreme dedication of these Trustees who rotated off the Board this spring: Carolyn M. Alm Buildings and Grounds Committee Vice Chair

Brian J. and Kathleen J. Back Parents Association Presidents

Christine L. Carter CdeP 1990 Alumni Association President

Lauren B. Dachs

go without a few words. We all thank him for his many years of leadership, dedication, and effort. He made exceptional contributions to The Thacher School. He embodies what is best about Thacher in his actions, his moral and ethical standards, his compassion for others, and his ability to encourage others through example.”

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon Certification in 1986, and recertification in 1994 and 2003. He has an orthopaedic practice that includes sports medicine, arthroscopic treatment, and degenerative arthritis, including joint replacement surgery. He has served as Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chief of the Surgery Department, and Chief of Staff elect at Dameron and St. Joseph’s Hospitals in Stockton. He also served on the Board of Directors for the California Orthopaedic Association from 1992 We wish to introduce the newest slate of Trust- til 2002, and as a trustee of the San Joaquin ees as their terms of service begin this fall: County Historical Society and Museum.

Vice President

Belinda Hanson CdeP 1982 Secretary, Personnel Committee Chair

Marshall C. Milligan CdeP 1969 President

Thomas C. Perkins Investment Committee Chair

David W. Van Horne CdeP 1962 Trustee Committee Chair

Special recognition is due Marshall Milligan, who not only served on the Board for the last 19 years—the last five as President— but also offered interim leadership in the Development Office since late last year. At the Senior Banquet, Michael Mulligan praised Marshall’s care and concern for Thacher: “…Few faculties in this country—and even fewer Heads of School—would welcome with open arms a Trustee, never to mention a Board President, to their campuses on a daily basis.

It is said that familiarity breeds contempt. The experience of…this School is that familiarity with Marshall breeds even greater levels of respect, devotion, and awe. A man of incisive intelligence, keen analytic abilities, Marshall is all the more impressive because he totally and fully embodies the qualities that we cherish in Thacher graduates: a deep sense of fairness and compassion, a quiet selflessness, and a sense of commitment to excellence that’s pervasive.”

A Thacher parent who has overseen many aspects of numerous Parents’ Auctions is joining the Board this fall. Susan P. Bechtel has served on various school and nonprofit boards including as the Vice President of the Royal Barney Hogan Foundation since 1980.

Susie recently spent several years spearheading the creation of Bechtel Community Network, a global volunteer and computer network to promote and facilitate support to Bechtel employees and their families around the world. She continues to serve as advisor to BCNET. On Thacher’s Board, Susie will serve on the Buildings and Grounds, Development, and Trustee Committees. She is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara. Susie and her husband, Riley CdeP 1970 (Chairman and CEO of Bechtel Group, Inc.) live in Woodside, near San Francisco, and are the parents of Brendan CdeP 1999, Darren CdeP 2000, and Katherine CdeP 2003.

Edward L. Cahill CdeP 1970 and Carol Teng Cahill will serve as this year’s Presidents of Thacher’s Parents’ Association. Following Thacher, Ned earned a bachelor of science degree in biology (1974) and a master of science degree in biology (1975), both from Stanford. He And, in the words of new Board President, earned his medical degree from the University Justin Faggioli CdeP 1969: “Although Marof Southern California in 1979 and completed shall has always shunned any form of recognihis orthopaedic residency in 1984 at LA County tion, we cannot let his retirement—actually, USC Medical Center. Subsequently, he earned change in status—as a Trustee and President 16 The Thacher News

by Jane D. McCarthy

Carol attained her bachelor of arts degree in Neurobiology and Asian Studies at Cornell University in 1975. She then worked on her doctorate in the Department of Anatomy at USC, followed by her medical degree from USC in 1984. Her Pediatric Internship and Residency were served at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. Since 1988, Carol has been part of a three-physician/three nurse practitioner pediatric private practice in Stockton. She has also served as a preceptor for medical and nurse practitioner students, and as a fellow or the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The Cahills live in Stockton with their four children: Kimberly CdeP 1999 who is finishing at Stanford, Kevin CdeP 2001 who is starting his junior year at the Johns Hopkins University undergraduate program, Chris CdeP 2003 who begins at Dartmouth College in September, and Edward ’05. They will serve on the Development and Program Committees this year.

Having just completed nine years at The Thacher School, Monique L. ­DeVane is re­ locating to the Cambridge area, where’s she’s taken a position as Director of Development and External Affairs with the Shady Hill School. At Thacher, Monique served as the Assistant Head of School for External Affairs and oversaw all aspects of admission, marketing, financial aid, constituent relations, development, research, and communications. Prior to Thacher, Monique served as the Director of Admission and Financial Aid, Associate Director of Admission, and Counselor/Co-Coordinator of College Coun-

seling at The Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. She has served on various boards including The Crane School, the Secondary School Admission Test Board, and the Northeast Foundation for Children. In addition, she has served as an advisor to the Association of Boarding Schools Market Research Project and the KIPP High School Feasibility Study.

Monique holds a bachelor of arts degree from Brown University, where she also worked as an Assistant Director of Admission and Admission Officer when she first finished college.

Monique and her husband Brian Driscoll (Vice President of Resource Development at Babson College) have two sons: Liam (8) and Owen (5). Monique will serve on the Buildings and Grounds, Development, Program, and Trustee Committees.

In addition to serving as one of six Co-Chairs for The Campaign for Thacher, Emily Williamson Hancock CdeP 1983 now joins the Board as a Trustee; she will serve on the Buildings and Grounds and Development Committees. After graduating from Thacher, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in communication arts and sciences from the University of Southern California in 1987; she then worked as an Assistant Office Manager for various companies before starting a family and focusing on philanthropic interests.

Emily has served on the board or chaired various committees including the Clairbourn School, Kidspace Children’s Museum, Foothill Family Service, the Doheny Eye Institute, and the Pasadena Children’s Guild. Emily and her husband Henry (Account Executive for AC Nielsen) live in Pasadena with their three children: Charles (11), Sarah (9), and Eleanor (8). Their family enjoys tennis, skiing, hiking, horseback riding and fly-fishing.

Taking over the reins as the new Alumni Association President is Reza Zafari CdeP 1978.

Reza matriculated from Thacher to Pomona College, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics in 1982, followed by an MBA from UCLA in 1984, with a concentration in finance and marketing. He worked as an Associate for Goldman Sachs in the late eighties until he took a position as Vice President for Credit Suisse First Boston in Los Angeles in 1990. In 1996, he served as Vice President, Regional Manager for banking activities in the southwest region of the US for J.P. Morgan. Since 1999, he has been the Se-

nior Vice President of Wealth Advisory Services division for Merrill Lynch in Los Angeles. He is also active with several charitable organizations focused on providing aid to children in Iran. Reza and his wife Malea live in Encino; their first baby, Emma, was born in September.

Reza is an avid skier and golfer; he also enjoys international travel. He will serve on the Development and Trustee Committees.

William E. Oberndorf has served on Thacher’s Development Committee for the last two years in support of The Campaign for Thacher, and will now chair that committee along with serving on the Executive and Finance Committees and the Investment Subcommittee.

Bill has been an investor and managing director for SPO Partners & Co. in San Francisco since 1978. He has served on the boards of Plum Creek Timber Co., Taft Broadcasting Co., and Bell & Howell Company, among others, and is currently a board member of ProQuest Company, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, and Hotel Equity Funds. His past and present civic activities include serving as a trustee of the Bay Area Discovery Museum, San Francisco Day School, San Francisco University High School, Stanford Graduate School of Business Trust, University School (Cleveland), University of California San Francisco Foundation, and co-founder and board chair of the American Education Reform Foundation. Bill attended Williams College and Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree and an MBA, respectively. Bill and his wife, Susan, who serves as a member of the Development Committee, have two sons, Peter ’04 and Will (13); they live in San Francisco.

Toby Rosenblatt CdeP 1956 begins his tenure on Thacher’s Board of Trustees this school year, serving as Secretary and on the Executive, the Buildings and Grounds, and Finance Committees, and as Vice Chair of the Trustee Committee. Toby is President of Founders Investments Ltd., a private investment company and since 1972 has been an officer of that company and President of The Glen Ellen Company, also a private investment and financial consulting firm.

He is currently a Director of the State Street Research Mutual Funds and the MetLife Series Mutual Funds. He is and has been a director of several small companies focusing on financial services and on pharmaceuticals. Toby also serves as a Director or Trustee of a number of civic and

community organizations. He was appointed by President Clinton as one of the founding Board of Directors of the Presidio Trust and reappointed

by President Bush in 2001. He serves as Chairman of that Board. He is also currently a Board member of The James Irvine Foundation. In the field of education, Mr. Rosenblatt was one of the founders of San Francisco Day School, where he served as Board Chair from 1976 to 1992. He was also a trustee of Thacher during 1970-1982 and later of San Francisco University High School from 1984 to 1999, where he was Board Chair from 1993-1999. He has served on the Boards of a number of other civic organizations devoted to parks and the environment (Golden Gate National Parks Association) healthcare (California Pacific Medical Center and Sutter Health), and the arts. From 1977 to 1988 he was President of the San Francisco City Planning Commission. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University (1960) and an MBA from Stanford University (1964). He is married to Sally Krill Rosenblatt and they have two sons, Jamie and Adam, who are pursuing careers as professional actors.

Finally, Thacher happily welcomes Justin M. Faggioli CdeP 1969 to his new role as Board President.

Justin is a rancher who manages family-owned ranches in Sonoma and Tulare Counties (California). Ranch activities include cattle grazing, a quarry, and wine grape vineyards. Justin is also a managing partner of several vineyard partnerships in Sonoma County. He was formerly Executive Vice President/Co-General Manager of Ravenswood Winery, a publicly traded company until it was sold in 2001. He is a member of the Board of Directors of E. D. Bullard Company, a privately owned manufacturer of personal safety equipment. Beyond Thacher, Justin serves as director and former President of Family Winemakers of California and is a former Councilmember and twice Mayor of his home town, Belvedere, California. He received bachelors and masters degrees in Earth Sciences from Stanford University in 1974 and an MBA from Harvard University in 1979. He and his wife, Sandra Donnell, have two children: Nathaniel CdeP 2000 is a senior at George Washington University, and Claire CdeP 2002 is a sophomore at Cornell. He is an avid SCUBA diver, traveler, naturalist, and reader.

As Justin begins his new role, he commented, “The School is in great shape and our priorities are clear. As Trustees, we will continue our work on The Campaign for Thacher; revise, update, and continue to implement the existing Strategic Plan during this new fiscal year; and provide the necessary resources and assistance to advance the School’s Mission.” e Spring / Summer 2003 17

The Campaign for Thacher

T

h e C a m pa i g n f o r T h a c h e r continues to

build momentum as friends of the School give in ways that will strengthen and enhance the Thacher experience. Gifts have been received in support of endowment for financial aid, faculty salaries, and professional development. Some donors have chosen to support campus buildings such as the Myers-Huyler Friendship Barn or the Commons Project, a combined student center and a performing arts facility. Regardless of how particular gifts are directed, donors share a clear enthusiasm for Thacher’s distinctive mission and spirit, and for The Campaign for Thacher.

Total dollars raised to date: $32,000,000 Cumulative Annual Fund Total 7,000,000 Grand Total $39,000,000 Total number of donors: 221 Number of gifts over $1 million 13 Number of realized bequests to date 8 Number of new irrevocable planned gifts 9 Earliest class represented 1929 Most recent class represented 1991 For more information about The Campaign for Thacher, please contact the ­Development ­Office.

As mentioned in the Fall 2002/Winter 2003 issue of The Thacher News, Pete Pond believes that Thacher’s success is due to its leadership, particularly the eight individuals who have served as headmaster. As one of the few people who has known and admired each of these eight men, Pete noted the investment that the first four made in the School’s success in the last issue; the subsequent four, through the current Head of School, are discussed here.

N

ewton K. Chase, a Mainer, Bowdoin graduate, and Yankee who “squeezed a nickel until the buffalo bellowed,” would have echoed long time Deerfield Head Frank Boyden’s education philosophy: “I believe in boys.”

Newt treated boys Pete Pond CdeP 1932 with respect and expected the same in return. His openness, candor, and genuine friendliness—symbolized

18 The Thacher News

Edward L. Sanford was hired not for his vision but for his experience maintaining discipline in challenging times. A graduate of Penn, Yale Law, and Columbia, he had been the Head of the Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma for 10 years before coming to Thacher in 1969.

Ted’s strategy was to keep the boys busy. He strengthened the athletic program and made it more attractive by adding a gym and grass fields. He enriched the curriculum with a number of for-credit and non-credit electives. He inaugurated an exchange program with the Emma Willard School, setting the stage for the changes that would soon follow.

Willard G. Wyman, after West Point, Colby, and Stanford, was recruited from his post as Dean of Men at Stanford in 1975 and remained as Head of Thacher for longer than anyone since SDT. Bill brought to the School a balance of academic experience and a love of the outdoors, where he is as comfortable and accomplished as any Thacher graduate.

Bill’s prowess in the outdoors earned him political capital with the alumni that he quickly reinvested in coeducation. With faculty support and nearly unanimous Board approval, the transition was remarkably seamless. Bill insisted that the first women at Thacher be

by Samuel A. “Pete” Pond CdeP 1932 outstanding role models for those who would follow, and they were! He took the same attitude towards the faculty that he recruited over by his bashed-down black felt Stetson—earned the years, many of whom have become the acahim the nickname of “Rootin’, tootin’ New- demic backbone and strength of the School. ton.”

One of the young faculty whose talent Bill Newt was a character in the best sense of recognized and nourished was Michael Mulmemorable school leaders. His example of ligan, dragged west by his new wife Joy Sawknowing how to have a good time while adher- yer from Governor Dummer Academy with ing to moral principles characterized Thacher degrees from Middlebury and Harvard. Provat mid-century and has remained a part of the ing his mettle as Dean of Students and later as School’s culture.

Assistant Head, “Mully” was the unanimous choice, after a national search, to become A natural choice to follow Newt in 1963 was Head when Bill retired.

David C. Twichell CdeP 1936. Like his father, who had taught at Thacher before Dave was Rarely pausing for breath, Michael spends born, he returned to Ojai to teach in 1946 after every waking minute teaching, coaching, earning degrees at Williams and Yale. He later guiding, counseling, and motivating those served as Headmaster of the Pomfret School around him. He sees his task as nothing less in Connecticut. Dave was the first Head to than securing Thacher’s reputation as the best articulate a vision of Thacher as a preeminent small boarding school in the nation, and he national school. works toward that goal one student at a time, one faculty member at a time, one parent at a Dave strengthened the curriculum on all fronts, time, one donor at a time. Anyone attending built the Helms Chapel and the “new” science Assembly can attest to the high morale that building (now the AST Humanities Building), pervades the student body, the faculty, and collaborated with UCLA to bring an observa- indeed the entire Thacher Community. tory to Beadleville Hill, and recruited AfricanAmerican students. With Ike Livermore’s help, Continued on page 19

Investing in Thacher Leadership (Part 2): Modern Times

he acquired the lease on the Golden Trout Camp in the high Sierra to complement the Sespe as outdoor classrooms. The “relevance” of a traditional boarding school was challenged in the late sixties, but it is Dave’s vision that the School is now realizing.

Introducing the New Director of Development Dear Friends, I am pleased and excited to join the Thacher Com­mun­ ity as Director of Development. I leave my position as Assistant Headmaster for Business and External Affairs at Curtis School in Los Angeles, where I have headed Rick Wilson the development effort for the last 17 years.



The Pergola

Computer-generated view of the Commons Project, a Student Center and Performing Arts Building, from the tennis courts

Thacher is highly regarded in the independent school community for its excellent academic program and western traditions. I have been impressed by its close-knit community, which fosters a culture of character, integrity, and modesty.

Thacher has been blessed with an extraordinary devotion to the School from its alumni, parents, and friends. This is abundantly evident in the fact that the School has gifts and pledges of over $32 million toward its goal of $70 million for The Campaign for Thacher.

The majority of these donations have been unrestricted, and often the donor has requested anonymity in their giving. This reflects a constituency whose priority is clearly to make Thacher the best school that it can be.

The Commons Project consists of the Student and Community Center, while the Arts Building will house various performing arts programs

The Commons Project Project Cost: $14,800,000 Funds Raised: $9,312,251 Funds Needed: $5,487,749 The Commons Project will complete the center of the campus with a Student Center and an Arts Building. The Student Center will include a student post office, a small student store, a gallery, music practice rooms, a formal meeting room, a game room, and two more casual spaces to gather for extracurricular and social events. The Arts Building will feature a 450-seat teaching theatre, a dance studio, and music rehearsal space. Between these two complexes is varied indoor and outdoor space for students, faculty, parents, families, and visitors to congregate.

These facilities will be of excellent design and sufficient capacity to enable the entire Thacher Community to attend School productions, lectures, and events at the same time.

Investing Continued from page 18

Thacher is fortunate to have been led by eight outstanding Heads, each of whom has built on his predecessors’ accomplishments, each relying ultimately on SDT’s philosophy and making the best use of SDT’s cherished Casa

I have known and worked with Terry Twichell, and am honored to carry on a development program which he—along with Brian Driscoll, Monique DeVane, and the Board—created with such a strong foundation of giving to Thacher.

de Piedra. Their collective investment of energy and wisdom will yield transformational education experiences for generations to come. e

There is much more to accomplish in meeting the goals of the current campaign. I look forward to the challenges and the opportunity to meet and work with as many of you as possible. My wife Mona and I have long loved Ojai and are excited to be settling into the Thacher and Ojai communities. We look forward to being a part of Thacher and nurturing the enriching relationships that are at the heart of the School.

Sincerely,

Rick Wilson

The Stamp of the School, by John S. Huyler, as well as Jack’s irrepressible advice, are gratefully acknowledged as sources for much of the information in this article.

Spring / Summer 2003 19

A

fter successfully offering a rigorous academic and physically challenging curriculum and environment to young men for nearly nine decades, the Trustees of The Thacher School considered offering admission to young women, but only if it would further enhance the education already offered. The Trustees had been concerned for some time that many single-sex preparatory schools—including Thacher—were experiencing a diminishing pool of well-qualified applicants seeking admission. Beyond this, the world had changed and women were competing and working beside men in business and professions, and “society not only accepts but actively encourages total equality between the sexes,” as then Board President Judge Jerome H. Berenson commented.

Extensive study regarding ramifications of going coed ensued, including an exchange program with Emma Willard School in Troy, New York (the oldest girls’ boarding school in the country) during the spring term of three years, beginning in 1974. These efforts proved that “girls could be fully integrated into Thacher’s Outdoor Programs,” said then Headmaster Willard Wyman. “We look forward to the academic vitality of our own girl students…. Our boys will clearly benefit from the intellectual competition and stimulation that the girls will bring…girls will have a chance to be exposed to the demanding academic experience of Thacher.”

The Board approved plans to admit 45 girls for the fall term of 1977. Wilmarth Lewis CdeP 1914 believed that Sherman Day Thacher would have concurred with the Trustee’s decision to offer girls educational opportunities on a par with the boys. “He held that the building of character is education’s primary concern,” wrote Wilmarth. “…The building of character is as prime a necessity as it ever was. I believe that he would welcome the proposed change because he would see that flexibility is vital to

20 The Thacher News

the continuance of the School’s prime aim: the preparation for a decent and helpful life.”

Further, Trustee George Wheaton wrote, “It is no longer a man’s world…. This evolution…makes it unrealistic to isolate boys from girls during their developing years when much of their concept of life is created. I believe that boys and girls, particularly at this stage of life, should be associated closely so that both can learn and understand the other’s strengths and weaknesses and learn how to live with them.

This will serve the youths better than to isolate each from the other and later confront them with a world different from the one they grew up in when they go to college or into business.”

Even with sufficient rationale to become coed and extensive planning that went into accommodating young ladies on campus, it was not an easy transition for the girls, the boys, or the faculty. Faculty and students offer tales of heartaches and challenges that ensued, as well as beneficial, enjoyable, and amusing memories of “going coed” in this issue of The Thacher News. This significant milestone of the School’s history was celebrated with an alumnae dinner in San Francisco featuring keynote speaker Joy Sawyer Mulligan (see pages 3-4, 28); a photographic exhibition in the Library that depicted campus life, friendships, academics, and the Outdoor Program during the last 25 years; a survey of the “Emma Willard girls” and Thacher men and women from the classes 1978 through 1993 that yielded wonderful anecdotes (see results on page 30); and special toasts during the Reunion Banquet to the Class of 1978, the first year girls graduated from Thacher (see pages 31-32); and, finally, the profiles of some graduates of the past quarter century. The enthusiasm of those being profiled and those who penned the articles has been overwhelming; we hope you enjoy perusing the final product.

Coed Coeducation at Thacher

Historical Society The Earliest Girls

A

lthough this year we celebrate coeducation officially because it is the 25th year since the first girls graduated from Thacher, a delightful historical tidbit located in the School’s archives reminds us that there were, in fact, female students at Thacher 110 years earlier.

Advertisements for classes for girls appeared in The Ojai and continued through the fall of 1893

In the earliest days of the School, the schedule and the curriculum changed according to the particular students in residence and faculty on hand. When a recently widowed Ojai resident needed someone to prepare her daughter for entrance to the University of California, Mr. Thacher offered to tutor the student, Jacqueline Newton. Apparently, Mr. Thacher decided to offer courses to other girls at the same time.

We know few details about this “experiment” and what Mr. Thacher was considering. Some insight can be shed through the comments of SDT’s children. When interviewed in 1976, Helen “Dilly” Griggs felt her father had an “amazing ability to keep up with the times” and Anson Thacher felt that Sherman Thacher was an “academic innovator” who led Thacher ahead of other schools in terms of social reforms. Coeducation, specifically, however, would not have been one of his goals, noted Elizabeth “Beezle” Thacher since Mr. Thacher felt strongly about segregated education for the sexes.

by Elizabeth Bowman

It was probably his keen interest in education in general which lead SDT to write an article that appeared in the October 18, 1893, edition of the local paper The Ojai.

Advertisements for classes for girls continued through the fall of 1893 and ultimately four other girls joined Jacqueline and began to attend classes at the Ranch: Gertrude Hobart, Mary Gibson, Annie MacMillan, and Ethel Doeg. In Sherman Thacher and His School, Leroy Makepeace noted that “the boys treated the girls with a mix of indifference and scorn.

Only in the carpentry class were they thrown together, and here the girls were at as great a disadvantage as the boys would have been in a quilting bee.”

The girls were included in professional photographs taken by John Brewster, a locally famous photographer, who came to the School in early December 1893. The Casa Piedra Reata (the bi-weekly student newspaper of the day) reports that “the girls had all been sent for and came on horseback, tho’ it was not a school day for them.”

Mr. Makepeace reported that Jacqueline Newton successfully passed her college entrance exam and so too passed this early experiment of female education. No more advertisements appear and no “girls” appeared on campus— officially—until 1974. e

It was probably his keen interest in education in general which led Sherman Thacher to write an article that appeared in the October 18, 1893, copy of the local paper, The Ojai.

“Twenty mounted boys and girls and men were grouped for the camera in front of the houses… the quietness of the crowded horses spoke well for their habitual good treatment.”

Casa Piedra Reata, December 18, 1893 Spring / Summer 2003 21

Coed

Coeducation at Thacher

Emma Willard/Thacher Exchange An Experiment in Coeducation

I

t is April 1977. Thirty-four Emma Willard junior girls under our guidance glumly boarded the yellow Thacher school bus, and we lumbered out the campus gates and over the Dennison Grade to US Route 5 South. It was to be a day of scintillating college visits in the famous five-college area, but none of our charges was convinced. To them it was, in an odd reversal of adolescent psychology, an unhappy day of missing school—The Thacher School!

These members of the EW’s Class of 1978 had undergone an excruciating selection process the previous winter in order to be among the privileged half of the Class to make the trip to sparkling California: the land of eternal sun, surf, beaches, mountains—and boys!

Staunchly a girls’ school, and established very much in opposition to the finishing schools of the day by its founder Emma Hart Willard in 1814, EW prided itself—and still does—in producing forward thinking, assertive, and intelligent young ladies who, by virtue of their special training, are prepared to meet life’s challenges in a coeducational world.

But Emma Hart Willard never suggested that girls would not be “gaga” over boys—and, we can confidently speculate, neither would she have suggested the Thacher—Emma Willard Exchange!

So “gaga” they were, and missing even one day of carousing with the gentlemen of The Thacher School seemed, to many of these young women, a terrible price to pay for something so distant—so beyond tomorrow, so immeasurably small in importance—as planning one’s college career!

ships among the boys and girls separately were ’76, both of whom rediscovered each other at equally reshaped by this new kind of life that Bowdoin College. Jason Livermore, who athad overtaken Casa de Piedra. tended Thacher with the class of 2000, is the son of Cheryl Stevenson (EW ’76) and Rob By 1977, coeducation was a forgone conclu- Livermore CdeP 1976. In a fourth example, sion at this boys’ school. With a still-newish Katie Reade (EW 1976) and Josh Rosenblatt Headmaster in Willard G. Wyman guiding the CdeP 1976 have a daughter who is currently process, the Board had settled the coeduca- Emma Willard ’05! tion question several months previously. Our girls’ “Springtime at Thacher” was Thacher’s With such deep relationships to contemplate, final preparation for a new legacy that was to maybe our charges were justified in relegating change the School forever. the matter of college planning to “turn-out.”

Whatever thoughts occupied the girls at the And of course, forever changed it is. time, their shrieks of glee were unmistakable as we returned “home” to Casa de Piedra after Living now as Dorm Heads in the sophomore that long day of college tours. Pomona, CMC, boys’ Los Padres dorm, recent names on our Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps just couldn’t rosters are compellingly familiar: Oxley, An- hold a candle to their beloved Thacher. These derson, Livermore…. These youngsters have girls had come to know a fabric of life that, sprung from the “exchange marriages” that while beginning to wear in new places, was to grew out of the very Emma Willard-Thacher them every bit as comfortable and reassuring relationships we saw budding 25 years ago! as it had been to the generations of boys it has Will Oxley ’05 is son of David Oxley CdeP served so well.

1979 and Margeanne Winter Oxley CdeP 1978, who matriculated at EW, made the jaunt Our first impressions of Thacher were of a to Thacher with us in 1977, and proceeded school that seemed uniquely content in its unto join the inaugural coeducational class at mistakably masculine skin. Twenty-five years Thacher and graduated CdeP 1978! Max and many hundreds of female graduates later, Anderson ’05 is the son of Bill Anderson CdeP CdeP still seems supremely right. We are for1976 (who attended EW on the Exchange in tunate to have had the privilege to know and 1975) and Kelly Copeland Anderson, EW love both worlds so truly. e

The intensity of the “Exchange Experience”—whether in classrooms where wits were regularly and respectfully matched, or on the athletic field, or on horseback, or on EDT’s—was as inescapable as it was enriching. The climate and countryside were striking enough. But so were the people, and of course the new relationships between girls and boys became the focus of each of the trimester’s activities.

We saw, too, that the relation- Emma Willard girls from the 1976 El Archivero

22 The Thacher News

by Alice E. and Kurt R. Meyer

Coed Coeducation at Thacher

Going Coed

Recalling Thacher’s Transition to Coeducation

M

arvin Shagam: Night Live.’ Perhaps this tradition should be “The original rea­ reinstated—after all, what senior girl couldn’t son why Thacher effectively run a freshman boys’ dorm?” admitted girls was for economic reasons: highly qualified boys Chuck Warren: “I were not coming because they wanted came to Thacher in the coed schools. Thacher early seventies when had to follow suit. I it was an all-boys never detected any school, but left after a vocal opposition from the few years because our faculty. I thought it was a two daughters would positive thing. But there was not be able to attend. tremendous opposition from I came back in 1978 the students…They didn’t when Thacher turned want anything changed. At coed. As the director the last Assembly, the School Chairman almost of the outdoor program in tears, announced that it was the last time (climbing, kayaking, skiThacher would ever be an all-male school. The ing, horseback riding, whole air of that assembly was very somber. etc.), I noticed that a lot of girls from urban areas “I believe, however, that young women have ride horses. And, because been very, very good for us. The boys are far climbing and camping are gender-­neutral less rough and far less afraid to show their activities, girls integrated easily into those feelings. The level of discussion, of caring—for programs. Claudia Martin CdeP 1980 was the poor, the aged, those less fortunate—is far the first Thacher student to make a big wall enhanced. The first girls created a legacy of climb on the Sentinel and the South Face of community service that still continues today, Washington Column; it was evident that genas vanloads of students go every day to visit der was not an inhibitor to accomplishment in the aged downtown and contribute cheerfully these activities.” to organizations such as UNICEF.” Both of Chuck and Carol’s daughters graduated from Thacher: Michelle in 1985 and Marielle in 1989.

David Johnston remembers that at first, the girls’ athletic teams Roger Klausler: “Girls were “pretty undeveloped, but judging from were first housed on the success of women’s The Hill because they cross-country, basketwere the newest and ball, and lacrosse in nicest dorms, but also the 2002-03 seasons, with the thought that they’ve come a long their relative isolation way. There were also from the rest of the big changes in the Horse campus would prevent Department with the introsome of the anticipated duction of English riding. hanky-panky—and there was MUCH of that.

“The School did try to work (That’s how naïve we the girls into the leadership were then!) The first girl position of prefectship, making Casa and Lower to graduate from Thacher School run by a single dorm head, which, at was Janet Miller, Bob and one time, was my wife ­Phyllis. The boys and Denise’s daughter. I think girls attended joint prefect meetings and they that the first girl admitted to Thacher was came over after check-in to watch ‘Saturday Deborah Taylor. I don’t remember if her father

by Julia C. Robinson ’04

was a Trustee, but I heard that when the Board voted for coeducation, he submitted the application for his daughter within minutes.

“I remember that two or three boys left the School or were withdrawn by their families when girls were admitted.”

Peter Robinson and Terry Twichell coached girls’ softball back when coeducation first started.

Peter recalled how the tradition of co-captaining came about. “Back before 1978, all the boys’ teams only had one captain, but when the girls came, they insisted on co-captains. We, however, believed that it was

best to keep things as they were. When they held voting, all of the ballots came back voting for the same two girls, except for two, which gave one vote for each of them. All of the girls voted for the two they thought should be the captains and those two captains voted for each other.

We had no choice, and the sports teams changed—for both guys and girls—to often include a second or even third captain.” e

Spring / Summer 2003 23

Coeducation at Thacher

Marci L. Dabbs, MD CdeP 1981 Major Changes Afoot

L

et your mind wander back to when you first entered the Ojai Valley and walked across the Thacher campus, whether that was 5 years ago or 45 years ago. For most of us the sweet scent of orange blossoms and visions of the Ojai Valley horizon linger in our thoughts; but for Marci Dabbs it was the realization that she was in the middle of nowhere—and would be living in what looked to her, much like a city park.

When Thacher student Paige Kendrix CdeP 1981 spoke to Marci’s ninth grade class in Los Angeles to promote the ABC program for gifted minority students, Marci was intrigued at the prospect of attending a high school like Thacher. Paige spoke about the opportunities at prep schools and life in a boarding school. Marci’s parents, both of whom are social workers, were supportive of the idea. And so it was that Marci joined as a sophomore the first class of coeds who attended for all four years.

Transferring from a large, urban LA junior high school to the rustic Ojai setting of Thacher agreed with Marci just fine. Initially, this city girl had reservations about the Horse Program. Her fears were realized shortly, when she fell off her horse on her first ride out of the stables. And then, there were the “noises” that woke Marci at night in her Middle School dorm room. These noises continued to terrify her until she asked her prefect, Diane Downey CdeP 1979, to investigate the source. As it turned out, Marci had never heard crickets chirping. She confessed that up until that point, the LA Zoo was as close as she’d gotten to animals. At Thacher, she had to contend with animals—large and small—capable of neighing and chirping.

Marci’s parents instilled in their daughter the belief that she could become anything she wanted. Indeed she has! Dr. Marci Dabbs is an obstetrician-gynecologist. There are no doctors in her family, and she can’t recall ever meeting a doctor as a child. But it was the

24 The Thacher News

by Dianna Marguleas CdeP 1981

experience of witnessing a live birth when she lived with a family in Mexico during the summer of her junior year at Thacher that inspired Marci to later want to study medicine. After Dartmouth, teaching in LA schools, attending medical school in Alabama, and then practicing rural medicine, she did a stint as Major Marci Dabbs, staff physician at Andrews Air Force Base, until shortly before 9/11. She then returned to California to practice at Kaiser Fresno.

Marci finds her youngest patients in the obgyn clinic her most challenging and yet, most rewarding. She appreciates her ability to talk straight to these young girls and that perhaps she can steer them away from the adult behaviors they tend to want to seek. Some of her pregnant patients are 13-14 year-olds, living lives far removed from their peers at Thacher.

Marci recalled the sex education course given to the class of ’81, which consisted of a short slide show on male and female anatomy followed by strict instructions not to touch the “façade” of the other sex’s dorm. But, it seemed to work. Marci credits her parents along with the Thacher community for instilling in her at a young age, responsibility and dedication.

Sparked by an upcoming birthday, and inspired

by Oprah, Marci recently trained and ran her first marathon; she proudly calls it, “the greatest experience of my life.” She’s now preparing for a half-marathon. Outside the delivery room, and when she’s not running or lecturing in her field at Fresno State, Marci enjoys the company of her two dogs.

When asked to recall her impressions of Thacher, Marci fondly remembers a warm and nurturing environment, that sweet scent of the orange blossoms, and the lifelong friendships she made. e

Coeducation at Thacher

Belinda Hanson CdeP 1982 Balancing the Equation

B

elinda Hanson CdeP 1982 and Thacher’s first alumna Trustee, was among the first girls ever to inhabit Upper School. The year was 1978, and Marvin Shagam was Dorm Head. Belinda recalls that Mr. Shagam, understandably nervous about this new situation, would “knock about a thousand times” on their doors while announcing repeatedly “THIS IS MARVIN SHAGAM. THIS IS MARVIN SHAGAM.” Laughing as she recalled those days, she says she and her friends enjoyed cooking quesadillas in Upper School’s fireplaces. Her parents, however, weren’t so sure about the living conditions. Upper School, which had seemed good enough for her brothers, Harry A. Hanson III CdeP 1975, and Bradley, CdeP 1978, suddenly seemed atrocious for their daughter. Could have been all the mice living under her couch…

Having served nine years, ­Belinda rotated off of the Board in June. Kelly Clark CdeP 1944, a long-time Thacher Trustee, called Belinda “a born leader” and “an articulate, consistent, incisive, and compelling voice in the life and times of the School.”

She became a Trustee in 1993, after having been a dedicated Class Rep and having served on the Northern California Development Advisory Board and the Dormitory Campaign.

[For those of you who are unsure about what being a Trustee entails, let me tell you: it is a lot of work. I served with Belinda on the Board for three years in my role as Alumni Association President.] Belinda, an attorney, came onto the Board the year she had her first daughter, Leigh, and when she also had a long-hours job. She traveled with eight-week-old Leigh down to the spring meeting and remembers the challenge of trying to cope with new motherhood at the same time she learned the ropes as a new trustee. Trying to nurse Leigh while sitting on a log out at the Diamond Hitch barbecue dinner in Thacher Canyon was a bit of a challenge, she recalls with some humor.

When Belinda came to Thacher in 1978, the upperclass ratio of boys to girls was 7:1,

by Christine L. Carter CdeP 1990

though the freshman and sophomore classes were closer to 50:50. “Needless to say, we freshman girls were warmly received by the boys!” remembers Belinda. “Fred Lamb, however, seemed perplexed about how to manage kissing teenagers on the Lower School circle.”

At Thacher, Belinda was a top-notch scholar and a competitive athlete—she played junior varsity soccer on the boy’s team in one season and was the captain of the girl’s varsity soccer team in another. She served on the Judicial Council her freshman year and was Class President her junior year. I imagine she was as warm and fun as her nickname: “Bindy.”

She went on to Wesleyan University, where she graduated with honors in two majors: psychology and American studies. Belinda met her talented husband, Rob Thomas, through her best friend from Thacher, Shawna Weseloh Biel CdeP 1982. They married in 1991.

After graduating from law school at Santa Clara University, Belinda worked for a large law firm while Rob went to law school. In 1997 she and her father started their own law practice: Hanson Family Law Group. They now are one of the two largest family law specialty firms in Northern California. Belinda is a Certified Family Law Specialist (that means she took two bar exams) and is listed in Best Lawyers in America. She regularly publishes articles and lectures on cutting-edge family law issues.

Every year for the last nine, Belinda has made three or four trips to Ojai on Board business.

She always showed an incredible ability to both define and implement diverse agendas and actions. She was on the team that wrote Thacher’s Strategic Plan, and she championed issues in particular that related to the faculty, such as improving the sabbatical policy, increasing salaries, improving faculty professional development programs, evaluation processes, and housing, and at the end of her tenure raising the issue of providing day care for faculty children. And of course, Belinda relentlessly encouraged the Trustee Committee to reach gender equity on the Board.

All this, and Belinda is one of the best mothers that I know. Belinda and Rob achieved workfamily balance relatively early in their parenting careers. They both work Continued on page 30

Spring / Summer 2003 25

Coeducation at Thacher

Marian Huntington CdeP 1982 Elizabeth Huntington CdeP 1984 Julie B. Huntington de Polo CdeP 1986 Kindred Triumverate Marian Huntington CdeP 1982

I

nstead of writing about myself, I thought I’d write a story about how my sisters and I made our way to Thacher. We three females came because of a male—our father—who was especially fond of the School.

He knew that he was but one of many children that she had helped—it was her lifelong habit to send food, supplies, and educational donations to widows, orphans, and refugees around the world through various international organizations, such as Save the Children.

So he would be pleased to know, were he alive, that some of his charitable money is being Our father John B. Huntington used to help support scholarship students at CdeP 1955 was a sentimental Thacher through the Olympus Fund. He went storyteller. We grew up listening to his tales to Thacher with a sense of gratitude—and so about riding horseback in the hills above Ojai. did I. He talked tenderly about his mare, Silque, and said that one of the hardest things he’d ever Elizabeth Huntington CdeP 1984 done in his life was to say goodbye to her. erhaps this seems frivolous, but I’m going to talk about jeans. As a 14-year-old, my Dad was just one of several Hunthoughts were not so much about how I as tington-Metcalf family members who had a soft spot for Thacher. a girl was going to be different at Thacher, but His first cousin was John Metcalf rather how I as a Thacher student was going CdeP 1933 who later voted against to be different from my friends back home at coeducation while serving as a Piedmont High School. Levi’s 501 jeans were Trustee, as did his uncle Howard the trademark of our intrepid clan: all alike, Huntington CdeP 1932, who, like integrated in denim.

P

his mother, was the child of the railroad man and art collector Henry E. Huntington. (As it happens, the late David Lavender wrote a book about my dad’s grand-uncle Collis P. Huntington called The Great Persuader.)

Thacher had an ideal to aspire to that I hadn’t experienced at home. I had conjured up a good deal of altruism by absorbing the stories from my older sister Muffet, as she was one of the first incoming freshman girls. Her stories described a sense of Grand My father always felt fortunate to be part of this Camaraderie that didn’t focus on gender, but family, because he began his life as an orphan. rather a type of person—all the students as He spent his first months of life in an orphanage well as teachers were cool, exciting, clever, in England. My grandmother Marian fun, and outdoorsy. Everyone was. Not one Prentice Huntington adopted him person wasn’t. Everyone wore Levi’s 501 and another British girl in 1937, and jeans. Everyone. Not one person didn’t. It brought them back to her home in all sounded very profound, and I wanted to San Francisco. This was a radical sign up immediately. Button-down fly became move for a single woman in her a strong metaphor for me. mid-fifties, but she pulled it off. My grandmother raised my father on It’s funny to think these 501s came to symbolher own, and provided for his entire ize everything Thacher stood for, but at the education at Thacher, UC Berkeley, time it was huge. I found tremendous pride in wearing them. At Piedmont High School, you and Hastings Law School. risked friendship if you wore the wrong thing, I mention all of this because, in and jeans were a deathwish. But I made a point essence, my father was given a of wearing them to visit my old pals. Yep, I “scholarship” to life. He never said my grandmother’s name without a sense of gratitude.

26 The Thacher News

Continued on page 30

Coeducation at Thacher

Sarah Lavender CdeP 1986 Morgan Smith CdeP 1985 A Marriage Made at Thacher

I

’ve been asked to write a brief profile about our youngest daughter, Sarah Lavender Smith CdeP 1986, and to offer some thoughts about changes coeducation has made in The Thacher School. It’s an interesting assignment for an older alumnus, for Thacher was all male for almost two-thirds of the years I’ve been involved with the place. I was a faculty brat at a boys’ school. I went to a boys’ school and years later came back to work at a boys’ school; our son (David CdeP 1976) was in the last class to graduate from an all-boys’ school.

And then bang—Sarah’s older sister (Martha CdeP 1980) was in the first coeducational class. That took some getting-used-to, let me tell you—the changes were immediate, dramatic, and traumatic for some! But I do believe wholeheartedly that Thacher has become a much better place since the words of “The Banquet Song” were perforce changed, eliminating the “stamp of the man.”

by David G. Lavender CdeP 1951 “At Thacher, boys and girls don’t date in the traditional sense,” she says. “Our ‘dates’ consisted of Morgan helping me braid my horse’s mane before a horse show, or my helping him set up the sound system for a dance in the auditorium. We ate all of our meals together, went camping together, and even faced interrogation by the Judicial Council together (for being dishonest about our whereabouts on the campus sign-out sheet). You just can’t get that type of experience anywhere else, and I fully believe it kept us bonded through college and led to our eventual marriage.”

Sarah says Morgan captured her heart in the fall semester of her junior year, when he would regularly visit the classroom in the science building where she studied after dinner.

“He liked to take my history book and draw fantastic caricatures of historical figures on the chalkboard. I loved his sense of humor and artistic talent.”

Morgan left for UC Berkeley in 1985; Sarah spent a lonely senior year at Thacher and then entered UC Santa Cruz. Morgan had been unhappy at Berkeley, so he transferred and joined Coeducation was a definite her there. The romance continued, and they fait accompli when Sarah were married two weeks after graduation. entered Thacher in the fall of 1982. Some latent con- The early years of their marriage required a cerns and uncertainties may significant measure of mutual support. Sarah still have lingered in faculty was the breadwinner while Morgan attended minds, but the nervousness McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento; she and even “uptightness” that worked as an editor and writer for a weekly pervaded the arrival of girls newspaper—her first step in a career as a jourin 1977 had faded away. In nalist. After Morgan got his law degree and most respects Thacher had become, in just five started practice, Sarah earned her master’s in short years, an established coeducational col- journalism at UC Berkeley. In 1996 Morgan lege-preparatory school. and his friend and mentor, Bob Arns, founded their own San Francisco law firm specializing I knew that Thacher’s transition to coeducation in plaintiffs civil litigation. Sarah left her job would give my daughters the opportunity for a at a local newspaper and switched to partsuperior education, but little did I expect that time freelance writing and editing when she it would also give me a son-in-law. Girlfriend- and Morgan started a family. They have two boyfriend relationships were one inevitable children: a daughter, Collier, born in 1998, and consequence of the arrival of girls, and Sarah’s a son, Kyle, who arrived in 2001. relationship with her boyfriend Morgan Smith (CdeP 1985) carried on through college and Both Morgan and Sarah express sincere resulted in marriage. gratitude to the women and men who made Thacher’s shift to coeducation possible.

The development of lasting friendships has al- “It’s hard to believe, but Thacher ways been a Thacher hallmark, and Sarah says the friendship she and Morgan formed early on at Thacher helped sustain their relationship. Continued on page 30 Spring / Summer 2003 27

Coeducation at Thacher

Jennifer L. Kritz CdeP 1994 Joining the Political Milieu

H

ow does an ambitious young woman with a love for politics go from Thacher Judicial Council to a post in African politics in less than 10 years? Jennifer Kritz emailed me from Rwanda to explain. She spent the summer there educating Rwandan women and encouraging their participation in the central African nation’s upcoming elections.

by Devon Brown CdeP 1994

next job, as the Volunteer Director of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, was a perfect fit.

Senator Clinton was impressed by Jennifer’s successful supervision of thousands of volunteers across New York State and offered her a position in her senate office. Jennifer served as a liaison between Clinton’s constituents and the INS, DeIt’s a long way from the Ojai Valley where our partment of State and foreign governments. She classmates knew Jen as a singer and actress in also honed her skills in analyzing government the annual spring musicals, an Upper School policies and legislation. This experience sealed prefect, a lacrosse goalie, and a strong student. her commitment to public service.

I personally remember her as one of the most outspoken women in our class, someone who Throughout the nearly 10 years since our high was never afraid to speak school graduation, a focus on women’s issues her mind. has united Jennifer’s studies and work in the public sector. Jennifer traces that conviction As Jennifer puts it, with a back to Thacher. note of her trademark humor, “Whether I was serving on “I always felt that Thacher girls were as much Judicial Council when it wasn’t a part of the Thacher Community as the boys the coolest thing to do, run- were,” Jennifer explains, “but I sensed that ning for class president three Thacher girls did not express their opinions times and never winning, or or claim Thacher as their own as readily as appearing on stage alone in boys did. I tried to involve myself as much front of the whole school, I as possible and encourage others to do the think Thacher encouraged same. When I left Thacher I saw the same me to push myself and take trends. I have involved myself with women’s risks.” issues because I think it’s critical that women push themselves as much as men do and find These skills have propelled prominent positions for themselves in the her to a series of accom- world.” plishments that stand out, even among high-achieving Jennifer’s work in Rwanda focused on inspirToads. In 1998, Jennifer ing that sense of confidence and empowerment graduated magna cum in other women. She designed and led a worklaude and Phi Beta Kappa shop for women on public speaking, policy from Columbia University. analysis, and political campaign strategies.

She returned to Columbia in 1999 to earn a Jennifer aimed to educate Rwandan women masters degree in English. Most recently, she on the importance of electoral involvement, completed her first year at Harvard University’s to encourage female participation in the first John F. Kennedy School of Government, where parliamentary elections since the genocide she’s working towards a second masters degree of 1994, and, ultimately, to secure a strong in Public Policy. representation of women in the Rwandan parliament.

Jennifer says she caught the “politics bug” during her junior year at Columbia. In between These are lofty goals, but Jennifer credits her classes, the self-described political junkie Thacher for her ability to meet the challenge. immersed herself in the world of Democratic “Thacher inspired me to think big, even if it politics. After interning for California Sena- means being embarrassed if you fail. I have tor Dianne Feinstein and the Clinton White chosen a career in public service, and I think House, Jennifer landed a position at the De- that Thacher influenced that choice profoundly. partment of Justice.

Thacher encouraged me to think beyond myself and that has stayed with me.” e The dry nature of the research-based job didn’t match Jennifer’s outgoing personality, but her Jennifer is a 1994 Class Representative.

28 The Thacher News

Coeducation at Thacher

Kate Kochendorfer CdeP 1997   Rhea H. Wong CdeP 1997 Redefining Thacher in Modern Ways

Kate Kochendorfer CdeP 1997

need the event to participate in the commemone does not have to spend much ration. I have been celebrating women at time at Thacher before the man- Thacher since I first set foot on campus. tra “What is good for the outside of a horse is good for the inside of Rhea Wong CdeP 1997 a boy� is committed to memory. It eing a woman at Thacher is less signifipervades the entire freshman year cant to me than being a person of color experience as young women and at Thacher. men are filed through the riding ring during their very first week on campus. Some of my fondest In thinking about writing this piece, I struggled memories at Thacher are from the with separating the two. Who am I today beearly dawn tramping up the hill cause I was a woman at Thacher? Who am from Casa in my pajamas to clean stalls with I today because I was a person of color at fellow classmates. But the mantra speaks to Thacher? Eventually, I gave up the struggle and acknowledged that I cannot compartmenanother tradition at Thacher: boys. talize the two experiences because they are The history of Thacher is rich, something inextricably linked.

O

B

that benefits us all as we hear the extraordinary tales of the first classes that filled the classrooms, rode the trails, and cleaned the barns. Attending my first reunion I could not help but be moved by being connected to people who were celebrating their 50th high school reunion or by having friends who were the third generation of Thacher students. As a student and now as an alumna I have always felt privileged to be part of something with such a splendid past but as a woman I could not help but notice that those traditions were forged solely by men.

While working at reunion in the summer after my sophomore year I was fortunate enough to overhear a toast from one of the first women to attend Thacher. She spoke about what it was like to establish a new tradition at Thacher, one that forced an old habit in new directions, one that stretched tradition to incorporate both sexes, and one that made Thacher a better place. Her toast rang of victory. The original traditions of Thacher were still in place but she demonstrated that new ones were established every day. It was not just about the history of Thacher but about redefining the history in modern ways.

I was disappointed to miss the celebration of coeducation that took place in San Francisco this past spring. But in many ways I did not

Being a woman of color at Thacher was alternately deeply re-affirming and frequently destabilizing.

As a woman, I found role models and educators who were strong, intellectual, and profoundly committed to imparting a solid sense of self-worth in young men and women. Fed on a steady diet of intellectual curiosity, nurturing guidance, and great literature, I began to understand the world beyond myself. There was power in knowledge, power in self-sufficiency, power in others. Being a woman at Thacher afforded no special privileges; everyone was out in the horse stalls at the crack of dawn.

Yet, at the same time that the sense of equality seemed empowering, there was an undercurrent of the unspoken. After 25 years of educating women at Thacher, why were we still talking about the outside of a horse being good for the inside of a boy? Why were we still celebrating the back-slapping good old boys of the KKK Camping Cup [former camping award, precursor to A and B Camper designations]? Where was the space made for alternative forms of womanhood such as queer women and women of color?

As a person of color at Thacher, I struggled with issues of self-identity. Did anyone truly know where I was coming Continued on page 30

Spring / Summer 2003 29

Belinda Hanson

imity of the sexes at Thacher led to intense relationships, heightened by the fact that there were virtually no limits on couples except for four days a week and then have a “day on” at single-sex dorms. Some counseling and educahome, when they focus on their two daughters, tion around relationships would have been Katharine, almost five, and Leigh, now eight. helpful at the time, and perhaps now there Both she and Rob volunteer in the girls’ class- is more support available for students. [Dean rooms. Their family is active in the Woodside Chris Mazzola instituted a comprehensive Pony Club, which means they trailer “Angel four-year program called Human Relations Mist” each Saturday for Leigh to ride. and Sexuality, that explores issues of sexuality, drug and alcohol use, tolerance, eating Thacher students and alumni could not be disorders, healthy living, and other topics that better represented than they are by Belinda. arise during the course of each year.] e Though she is extremely busy with her professional, community, and family responsibilities, she is able to concentrate on each with extraordinary intensity. She blazed a trail on the Board Sarah Lavender and Morgan Smith of Trustees for those of us women who came Continued from page 27 after her, earning the respect and reverence of the “old School” as well as the new. Thank as an all-boys school seemed like ancient hisyou, Belinda, for being the leader and role tory by the time I got there,” says Morgan. model that you are for all of us. e “I couldn’t imagine it not being coed, and I wouldn’t have wanted it to be. Some of the most interesting and smartest students at the School were girls, and they challenged us Huntingtons inside and outside the classroom—in a good Continued from page 26 way—which made all of us better prepared for was shunned. Didn’t matter. I belonged to a life outside of Thacher.” very special group of folks, and my old friends couldn’t possibly understand what it was like Sarah agrees but says she did detect some to stay up all night, muck your stall, and laugh vestiges of the all-male institution. “The curover breakfast with your algebra teacher. We riculum was still very traditional and therefore were an intrepid group of tenacious, clever, generally male-oriented during my years,” she irreverent kids with big ideas, nature at our recalls. “I would have appreciated learning doorstep and a camaraderie that only comes more about women in history and reading from struggles and laughter. more female authors. I remember a moment in my US History class when we were studying I’m still friends with the people I grew up with Vietnam and civil rights. There was a photo at Piedmont, but my tribe went to Thacher. in the textbook of a woman with a television camera on her shoulder, next to a paragraph of text about how women were moving into nonJulie B. Huntington de Polo CdeP 1986 traditional roles. That was it—one paragraph! he summer before my freshman year, my As I recall, we just skimmed over it and didn’t sister Liz embarked on a campaign of discuss it.” She also doubts that girls’ athletserious fire-and-brimstone lectures about ics were on an equal footing with boys’ sports what it meant to be a freshman girl in the first back then, the way they seem to be now. “It’s few weeks of school: a fresh new crop for the exciting to see the amount of enthusiasm that older boys. “So watch out!” she would warn. girls’ sports are generating at the School these She was just trying to be helpful, but her mes- days,” she says. sage was so terrifying, that the second a boy even spoke to me in those first few days, I As a proud father and father-in-law, I can say was immediately suspicious! What I learned that theirs has been among the most successful in my first year of coeducation, was that her marriages of Thacher alumni to date. Morgan’s message was partially true, but she didn’t give law practice is thriving, and Sarah is an accomthe whole story. Growing up with sisters, it plished writer and editor. But material success was an entirely new, thrilling experience to be has not gone to their heads; their values and among boys at every meal and in class, camp- interests are modest and wholesome. Morgan ing, sports, studying—it was a huge learning is a skilled and avid photographer. Sarah is a experience, and also great fun. Thankfully, we passionate long-distance runner and still rides had a formidable group of girls in our class, horses. which helped even out the score in personality, if not in numbers!

And Thacher remains high on their list of interests. They both applaud and support its When one is confronted with the topic of mission. They believe the School shaped their coeducation, however, the obvious cannot be character, gave them a strong intellectual foundaignored: there was a great deal of coupling at tion, introduced them to lifelong friends, and, of Thacher, and in ways more concentrated than course, brought them together. As I watch their public high school. The availability and prox- lives progress and also observe several other Continued from page 25

T

30 The Thacher News

alumnae make great success of their careers, marriages, and families, I cannot help but feel that the School is, indeed, a much better place than it was when I was a student, employee, and father of a son in the last boys’ class. The girls have made a wonderful difference! e

Rhea Wong Continued from page 29

from? While I could look up to strong women on faculty, could I reliably count on a strong role model of color to look up to? Why were the students of color at Thacher either flocking together with or isolating themselves from the other students of color? Was I wrong to think about these things and want to ask questions like these?

Ultimately, I have come to understand that I am trying to talk about the question of privilege. The first women at Thacher did not have the privilege of immediately belonging in an all-male environment. The space was something that the first women at Thacher carved out. Likewise, students of color do not have the privilege of not thinking about being conspicuous in a crowd of their Thacher peers.

Women have come to belong at Thacher just as much as men; I hope one day that will be true of students of color at Thacher.

As for myself, my experience as a woman of color at Thacher has profoundly affected my beliefs in education, equity, and access. I credit Thacher with providing the tools and opportunities of a sound education that allowed me to begin to critically assess my world. I have found strength in being both a woman and a person of color. Yet, it was not as a woman, not as a person of color, not as a woman of color, but as a person that I grew at Thacher and blossomed under its unique blend of outdoor education, rigorous curriculum, and independence. I believe that all young people should have the chance to benefit from such a wonderful educational experience. If me, why not everyone else?

Today, I am working at the national headquarters of a national educational non-profit that hires high school and college students to teach under-resourced middle school students. Our two-fold mission is to inspire young people to enter education as a career while inspiring lifelong learning and instilling necessary skills in our students for long-term academic success.

Clearly, Thacher showed me the power of coming together to build a community committed to learning and to teaching. It showed me the value of a well-rounded education and taught me lessons beyond the classroom.

The strength of character I forged at Thacher has served me well as a person. It is through this that I take pride in being a woman of color. e

Coed Coeducation at Thacher

The Women of Thacher A Silver Celebration

by Sara Sackner

O

n Saturday, March 1, over seventy-five alumnae gathered at the lovely home of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Calhoun, Jr. (parents of Alex Calhoun CdeP 1981 and Katie Ballou Calhoun CdeP 1983) for a celebration of the women of Thacher. Instantly, no matter whether these women attended during the Emma Willard Exchange or graduated in the class of 2002, all were happy to chat and share their remembrances of the Thacher experience.

Outgoing President of the Alumni Association, Christine Carter CdeP 1990 was the MC for the toasts prior to dinner. Joy Sawyer-Mulligan, the evening’s speaker, offered a fact-filled yet personal look at the transition from the early years to the current classes of 50 percent girls. Joy also took full advantage of the allwomen gathering and tailored her sometimes bawdy remarks to a most appreciative crowd.

Many attendees then made toasts to coeducation—to their prefects, teachers, parents, and especially their fellow Toads, both male and female. In fact, the toasts went on for quite some time until the caterers begged all to hit the buffet line before the delicious meal turned to compost.

The decibel level crept steadily upward throughout the evening. Farewell at 10 in the evening came and went. By midnight, the party drew to a close. Hoarse from talking, all whispered thank-yous to the hosts for an incredible celebration of coeducation at Thacher.

The School sends special thanks to the Calhouns for opening their home for the gathering and to the Host Committee for their thoughtful work.

The Hosts: Susan Lascher CdeP 1978 Carol McConnell CdeP 1981 Belinda Hanson CdeP 1982 Jane Su CdeP 1982 Katie Ballou Calhoun CdeP 1983 Yasmin Tong CdeP 1984 Sarah Lavender Smith CdeP 1986 Sydney Fisher Bernier CdeP 1987 Deena Williams CdeP 1987 Erin Rosen CdeP 1988 Christine Carter CdeP 1990 Elena Fischbacher CdeP 1990 Guadalupe Nickell CdeP 1992 Elizabeth Greenway CdeP 1997 Stephanie Hubbard CdeP 2002

e

Spring / Summer 2003 31

Coed

Coeducation at Thacher

Coeducation Survey Reactions to Thacher Being Coed

A

questionnaire was sent to men and women in the classes of 1974 through 1993 as well as the Emma Willard Exchange students. Though the return rate was not as high as hoped, the range of comments exceeded all expectations. Forty-nine alumni and thirtyeight alumnae responded; twenty-three Emma Willard women also participated.

Marganne Winter Oxley CdeP 1978

Katie Ballou Calhoun CdeP 1983

“…I was thrilled to be able to attend Thacher as a senior for the first year of coeducation. I knew I loved the School as I had just spent the spring term of my junior year there while participating in the Emma Willard Exchange. It was a wonderful opportunity to attend such a fantastic school and to be a part of its history!

Although many Thacher boys lamented the loss of an all-boys school, 99% of them were Don Osborne CdeP 1976 happy to have girls around!! It made Thacher a “In 1976, the School took a poll of all students more realistic place and a better school. Dorm to determine their support for a coed Thacher. life and male camaraderie remained intact!”

This brought me face-to-face with my love of [Marganne met and married David B. Oxley Thacher’s unique history. Would this change CdeP 1979 and their son Will is in his junior alter the School’s base values: integrity, per- at Thacher this fall.] sonal honor, community? Twenty-five years later, Thacher remains the strong spiritual and moral center of preparatory education.”

Dan Miller CdeP 1978

“My father [Sanford Ballou CdeP 1952] was 100% against Thacher going coed; he was so fondly attached to his experiences. But, as soon as girls were admitted, he hoped I would go.

He was very proud to have me there…”

“I was a senior the first year of coeducation and, as I recall, pretty much everything we did as ‘student leaders’ that year was related in some way to the transition. Trouble was, nobody knew exactly what the rules were: little issues (What do girls wear to dinner? What are the sleeping arrangements on coed camping trips?), as well as big ones (sex). We were going through this momentous change together. But we were just making it up as we went along.”

“…Having been a product of a single sex education at the grade school level [all boys], it was very important to learn socialized behavior in a coeducational environment. My first year at Thacher, Yasmin Tong CdeP 1984 was School Chair. That was a great example for all incoming students to see.”

Michael Blatt CdeP 1977 “The School’s initial decision to go coed and the announcement of it were handled very poorly. The announcement was a complete surprise and the explanations were disingenuous. As a result, I and many other members of my class reacted strongly against coeducation, when this was probably not our natural inclination.” [However,] “The Emma Willard Exchange was one of the best things about Thacher during my four years. The program’s strength was not that it brought girls per se, but that it brought cultural and intellectual diversity. The program did wonders to make apparent the homogeneity and isolation of the institution.”

Peter Kong CdeP 1985 “There is a theory that single sex girls’ schools help girls to speak out, assert themselves. As far as I’m concerned, the girls dominated my class! They were a lot more mature than the rest of my male classmates. Indeed, we had to keep up with them in class and on the horses.

Coeducation was only a positive.”

Anonymous CdeP 1986

Joanne Hughes CdeP 1989

“…Living so closely with my classmates, I feel I gained many brothers and sisters, and I left with a broader and deeper appreciation of “I have a unique perspective because I have a both. This provided a much richer experience twin brother, Rob, who had gone to Thacher for me, beyond the traditional male-female for two years before girls were admitted. Rob sexualized intrigues that are so pervasive in was honest with his feelings, [the boys] clearly public high schools or even many private daydid not want us there. I remember it made me schools.” feel sad. My father, uncle, and cousins had gone to Thacher, so I was very aware of all the Anonymous CdeP 1979 traditions. I think the boys looked forward to Diana Gibbs Kreer CdeP 1990 “…I was one of the luckiest because I was af- the Emma Willard juniors coming to Thacher forded two years in each scenario. That is why (my twin married one years later), but gener- “My family and I had been considering a few I am of two minds and two appreciations. The ally liked the freedom of being boys, free from boarding schools when one of my father’s old bonds and camaraderie cannot be equaled in a the complications of girls being around most friends gave him some advice. He said that he had gone to a wonderful school in Ojai and coed environment; the new and different facets of the school year. had loved it but that it was even better since women bring help better prepare one for collegiate challenges.”

There were nine girls and forty-one boys in my becoming coed.” e class when I arrived as a junior. The freshmen and sophomore classes were more even. The pioneers of coeducation, particularly the few girls of 1978 and 1979 should be thanked. We all knew things would never be the same.”

32 The Thacher News

Sara Livermore Dunsford CdeP 1979

Reunion

Alumni News

The Meaning of Friendship Making Our Lives Complete

give our lives perspective, make us comfortable to be who we are, and define us as people.

During our high school years our friends were our most important allies [who] helped us find our way in the world.

What greater compliment is there than someone who chooses you to be their friend? When someone is your friend, they are effectively saying I like you the way you are and I want to spend time with you. What better self-affirmation is there than having a friend? Yes, we need friends as much as we need the air we breathe.

Friends can also be a real pain… You would think that once a friendship exists that from then on the relationship would be a piece of cake. But no, just like the garden in your backyard, friendship takes constant work. Just when you think the roses in your garden are perfect, the blooms wilt and you have to add more fertilizer. So too with your friends! And ne of the great joys of the Thacher ex- this is not just limited to our generations. Sixperience comes from the friendships that teen hundred years ago St. Jerome wrote: “A we make here. It is appropriate that we friend is long sought, hardly found, and with come to the Outdoor Chapel to reflect on our difficulty kept.” friends, both living and passed away…. We made friendships that have endured happy Too often friends misunderstand our words times and sad times, that remind us of our and become offended. Or they become envious youth when we were filled with hopes and of our lives or competitive with us. Nobody is dreams of our quickly unfolding lives. Our more capable of annoying us than the person oldest friends have become our most cher- who knows us well and is our friend (except, ished because they help us bridge our life today perhaps our mothers!). But this uncertain with life we experienced years ago. So, as we state–the struggle to be or not to be friends—is sit here gazing down the majestic Ojai Valley, what makes it such a powerful experience. let us contemplate this important thing we call friendship. Let me ask you the question, then, There are different types of friendships, of what is the meaning of friendship? What does course. As we graduated from Thacher and it mean to you? moved on to other stages in life, we quickly realized that the vast majority of human relaOne definition of friendship according to a tionships are rather superficial. Unfortunately, leading expert in human dynamics, is: “…a we as human beings are incapable of personrelationship of voluntary interdependence ally befriending unlimited numbers of people. where two people get together because they On the other hand, to penetrate to that deep want to.” I think the key word in the definition and profound level of friendship is special is “voluntary.” You decide who your friends and wonderful and rare. And the most longare going to be, not your parents or teachers standing friends such as the ones we made at or anybody else. It also necessarily involves Thacher become the most appreciated of all. someone else. You can’t sit there by yourself Indeed, as Ecclesasticus wrote in the Apocryand decide, “I want to be a friend!” There has pha: “Forsake not an old friend; for the new to be someone on the other side of the equa- is not comparable to him: a new friend is as tion to make it complete—another person or new wine; when it is old, thou shalt drink it friend who helps us complete our lives. with pleasure.”

O

by Bradley N. Hanson CdeP 1978

drift out of our lives. We lose touch as our lives develop. Our job may take us to a new city and it becomes harder to stay in touch. And when we think about making contact over the telephone, for some reason we hesitate. How many of us have thought to ourselves “I need to call my old friend from Thacher.” We stare at the phone and we imagine making the call and the sense of embarrassment takes over. We think to ourselves that perhaps we will make the call later. A week goes by, two weeks, a month, a year, and soon our lives are somewhere else, and now we cannot ever make the call. Why? When you call a friend after a long period of time, you are telling that person that you want them to be part of your life. You are saying, in fact, that I care about you, that I love you as a friend. The intensity of that experience can be too much for many of us, just like the effort to come back to our Reunion is so difficult for so many people. We are afraid that our friends have changed into something that we no longer know. Or we are afraid that we have changed too much, that we have aged too much. Or that we haven’t succeeded enough in life and we feel embarrassed to come back here and share our sense of inadequacy. Whatever the reason, it is so easy to let friends drift away.

Despite all the reasons not to, many of us do come back here to…celebrate our friendships that we made here. We rise above our own awkwardness, our embarrassment, the fact that we are going bald! We reach out to our old friends. Even if we don’t actually say the words, by our action of coming here, we tell them that we love them and that we are glad that they are part of our lives. We understand the meaning of friendship.

As we conclude this Reunion Weekend, let us celebrate this place called Thacher. Let us celebrate the friendships that have occurred because this place exists. And let us remember all those who are no longer with us. e

Friends become a crucial part of our exis- Despite the importance of these old friendtence…because they make us happy to be alive, ships, even our best and oldest friends can

Spring / Summer 2003 33

M

ore than 400 alums and their families gathered again inside the gates of CdeP to celebrate both recent memories and those of 70 years past. Those classes that end in “3” and “8” spent three days catching up in all kinds of ways: chatting in courtyards, dorm rooms, on the Pergola, on the trail; playing soccer or pick-up basketball, dancing to the music of The McCloskey Brothers (yes, David CdeP 1996 and Todd CdeP 1998) Band. At the Banquet, toasts honored 25 Years of Coeducation with all in agreement that the women of Thacher are a wonderful addition to an already wonderful school.

Reunion

weekend 2003

34 The Thacher News

1933

1938

1943

1948

1953

1958

1963

1968

1973

1978

1983

1988

1993

1998 Spring / Summer 2003 35

Alumni News Letters of Thornton N. Wilder (CdeP 1915) to Be Published Jackson R. Bryer, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, and Robin G. Wilder are, with the authorization of the Wilder Estate, editing a selected edition of the corresponsdence of distinguished Thacher School alumnus and noted American man of letters Thornton Wilder. They would be interested in hearing from persons who possess any letters, telegrams, or post cards from Wilder, or know of other persons who do. Confidentiality will be respected upon request. No item will be published without the explicit written prior permission of its owner. Copying and mailing costs will be paid by the editors. Please contact Professor Bryer at Department of English, 3101 Susquehanna Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (email: jb92@umail.umd.edu).

1943 Class Rep Roy Holland couldn’t attend the 60th Class Reunion because he and his wife are so involved in ministerial work across the country, traveling around in their RV.

1954 Ric Laurence reported that the score was 2 to 2 (grandsons to granddaughters) with a tie-breaker due in late July; no word yet on the winning gender. He keeps busy with golf, sailing, and travel.

“Hope we have a good turnout for our 50th.”

1956 As of June, Lee Mothershead is retired from administration at Southwestern Academy. Now he has more time for travel, Rotary, San Marino City library, and furniture-making.

1958 After 30 years of service in different parts of the world, Chris Carpenter retired from the United Nations in 2000 and started a foundation that finances small-scale development projects in Vietnam. So far, 40 projects have been completed in different parts of the country, including construction of primary and secondary schools, irrigation systems, drinking water, roads, and bridges that contribute to the Vietnamese government’s National Program for Hunger Eradication and Poverty Alleviation. Check out details at www.microprojects-vietnam.org.

Bill Wheeler and his family gave up the view of grape vines in Healdsburg for boats at the San Francisco Yacht Club. He continues to be quite active in real estate projects in Sonoma County, but when not in those two places, he’s liable to be found at San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, at Casa Wheeler, Calle Cerrojo #7, Atascadero. “We would welcome any Thacher friends.”

36 The Thacher News

Class Notes

Mike Ward finds teaching English as a Second Language to Latinos in Santa Fe “very rewarding and necessary to help them get ahead.” He also competes in 5K races, but “invariably finishes at the back of the pack . . . exhausted.”

by Jane D. McCarthy

1959 According to John Lewis, “Life is good: three sons, one stepdaughter, one stepson, and six grandchildren.”

1963 Beyond teaching part time at Cal State Fullerton, Jeff Mason is a partial owner of two lovely Arabian horses. His experience at Thacher with his tough old horse comes in handy when trying to ride those feisty mounts.

1965 Sam Eaton reports that Rick Grinnell’s new home in Carmel is complete and lovely. Sam wants to know what’s up with the rest of you.

Hint, hint….

T h a n k s t o Te d Rhodes and Bill Horvitz, we heard about an exhibit at the BGH Gallery in Santa Monica featuring the work of the late Mo Adams, who died in a car accident the year following his graduation from Thacher. Art teacher Gui Ignon wrote of him: “Morgan shouldn’t Morgan Adams at his be in this school at piano in front of a selfall. He should be portrait studying full time at an art school in Paris, and then later apprenticed to a painter for a couple of years.” The exhibit was assembled during the past two years by Mo’s family and was the first comprehensive view of his work. It demonstrated his distinctive growth as a young artist and how became known as an American Expressionist.

The Livermore clan: Dina, Mo, Whitney ’04, Nori, and Ike CdeP 1928

1966 Three generations of Thacher-attending Livermores attended the Chapel Service during Big Gymkhana Weekend. Mo and Nori Livermore brought his folks, Dina and Ike Livermore CdeP 1928, to watch their granddaughter Whitney ’04 sing with the Chamber Singers.

1969 Jesse Adams accompanied his second son, Henry (who plays the trombone with the Sacramento Youth Symphony), for a 2.5-week tour of Brazil.

1972 Jim Moffitt enjoys life in Albuquerque, NM, where he is the controller of a Native American jewelry manufacturer and distributor. He recently hiked to the top of Sandia Peak, where the views extend 200 miles. Any classmates are invited to call on him if passing through.

After nearly five years on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tom Bard, his wife Karen, and their children Ted (11) and Ali (7) are adjusting to life in Houston, TX, where he works for ChevronTexaco. He still travels to Brazil to manage projects, which helps him stay fluent in Portuguese.

Thanks to his wife Robin, we learned that Bob Kellogg reached the half-century mark. He’s still playing tennis practically non-stop, so he must not feel that old.

1973 When not chasing after their five kids (two of whom are in college, one is taking a break, one is in high school, and one will soon enter first grade), Rhonda and Robert Montgomery run relay marathons. In fact, they recently came in 28th out of 102 teams at the Big Sur event.

George Pfau CdeP 1942 forwarded an article from Contract magazine proclaiming that son, Peter Pfau, was honored as the Designer of the Year for the 24th Annual Interiors Awards. Peter heads up Pfau Architecture which “embraces a strong belief that the process of design and innovation must continue during all phases of a project through construction…the same people responsible for Peter Pfau as pictured generating the original in the January 2003 concept are also in- edition of Contract volved in the specifics of each detail.”

1974 Randy Head makes excuses to be on the East Coast, ever since his partner Chih-Cheng joined the medical school faculty at Rutgers. Last fall Randy spent a term at the Institute for Advanced Study, and this coming year he’ll be teaching at UCDC in Washington.

1975 Two Class of ’75 families descended on Chez Twichell in June. Roberta and Noah Rifkin and Julie and Eric Thomas enjoyed catching up with news of Thacher, Terry, and Cricket at the Twichells’ retirement home in Ojai’s western foothills.

1978 Andy Shoop loved returning to Ojai for the Reunion, even though not everyone from ’78 could attend. Since the Shoop family lives in Grass Valley, let them know if you’re planning to ski at Tahoe since that’s only a short drive away.

1979 All is well for Lele (Herron) Galer in Pennsylvania. Sons Alex (12), Peter (9), and Simon (7), are doing well. Lele keeps busy doing art work, masonry, and heading the school district’s art history/art program.

James Hanley and his family relocated from their home of the last 3.5 years in Hong Kong, to London, where he manages Europe, Middle East, and Africa for EMC Corporation. Sons Tristan (7) and Spencer (8) attend English schools and get to ride horses once each week.

As of March 27, Laura and John Saidy have a new title: parents of Kaitlyn Drum Saidy.

1983 With a second daughter due late in May, Elizabeth and Brian Marguleas couldn’t make the 20th Reunion.

Jack Stephenson and his wife, Leala, live in Manhattan Beach, CA. He is a psychologist specializing in neuropsychological assessment, while Leala works as a school psychologist for the Beverly Hills School District. Lots of head shrinking going on in that household!

Nicole Miller lives in Santa Barbara, works at UCSB, and is starting her own private practice in both Santa Barbara and Ojai. She works with teenagers and specializes in substance abuse issues, eating disorders, and other developmental issues.

Traci and Steve Westerhout planned on attending the Reunion, but more pressing matters got in the way; Traci went into labor that Friday. If you’re in Newport and want to surf or catch up, give the Westerhouts a call: (949) 350-0115.

1984 Bayard Hollins doesn’t seem to miss New York very much, especially since he has two gold medal trout rivers in his backyard. He sent along a photo of Jackson and Samantha their two children: Hollins Jackson (1) and Samantha (2).

The Rifkin and Thomas families

Diana Lewis and Liam Callahan and son Connor took a break from cheesemaking to spend a week with Bayard and Karen Hollins in Hawaii. Eating lots of fresh fish and swimming with turtles were highlights.

Now that she’s finished one marathon (Boston’s), Alison Field plans to run again next year. “It was a wonderful experience that I would recommend to anyone who can find a way to fit in the crazy training schedule.”

1985 Sarah Lavender and Morgan Smith met up with Leah Daniel CdeP 1986 and her new husband, Thomas Barnes, while visiting the Big Island of Hawaii in March. Leah works as a snorkeling instructor and crew member on a boat that sails out of Kona.

Steve Lewis was in attendance when Ákos Foty married Réka Burovincz in western Hungary in August 2002.

The newlyweds run a full-service construction company Steve Lewis (center) with in Budapest; Ákos works in construcnewlyweds Réka and tion and Réka is an Ákos Foty interior and furniture designer.

1988 After spending seven years with Alex. Brown & Sons/Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank (many business cards, one seat) doing healthcare investment banking, Calbraith Wheaton took a position with ABS Capital Partners, a private equity/buyout firm in Baltimore, where he focuses on principal investments in the healthcare arena. His wife Aimee (Colby 1995) completed her residency and is an internal medicine physician/hospitalist at a community hospital in northern Baltimore.

Finally, they’ll join the cult of parenthood when their first child (a girl!) arrives in October.

Hilary Swift loved reconnecting with classmates at the 15th Reunion and getting back on a horse for trail riding. Her fiancé had mixed feelings, especially when she took him up Huntington Trail.

Hilary still loves mountain climbing. In fact, she took part in a breast cancer fundraiser this summer with her mother and sister by climbing Mount Shasta: “It was great to share that passion with my mother and see her conquer both breast cancer (15-year survivor) and the mountain.”

The sun shone particularly bright in Kensington, London, when Erik Landsness and Fiona Bullough were married in July 2002. A reception followed in the Chelsea Physic Gardens, where family and friends from America, including several Thacher Alumni, fêted the newlyweds.

Erik and Fiona Landsness

Spring / Summer 2003 37

1989 Toby Blue happily announces that he married Kathleen Cunningham last year. They’re living in Pacific Palisades, CA, with their dog Casey.

He’s still immersed in the entertainment industry and looks forward to seeing everyone at the 15th Reunion next year.

Parenthood abounds for Cathy Ruhl. Bridget was born in 2002 and another will arrive around New Year’s Eve 2003. “You’d better believe that we’ve got plans for the New Year!”

Allison Reed has a new job at Patagonia. “If you need a source for organic t-shirts, I’m the one to talk to.”

While waiting for a baby girl to arrive mid-September, Arianna and Joel A. Moore, Jr., are living in Denver, CO. They’ll be moving back to Seattle next August so that he can complete a fellowship in Foot and Ankle at Harborview Hospital.

1990 Home life is grand for Oak Strawbridge, his wife Susan, dog Chloe, and new daughter Elise, born in May. Things are finally picking up in the venture capital fund that he’s worked in since finishing his MBA at Georgetown. Oak reports that Tiffany and Tucker Orr CdeP 1992 moved to DC (where Tiffany is in med school). Tucker and Oak are doing their best to disrupt solitude by cranking up the electric guitars, as if they were sophomores in the music lab.

1992 Jessica Bliss finished her second year of law school at Santa Clara just in time to marry Joseph Rogove on May 31, 2003. Liza Siebel and Jessica McLaren served as bridesmaids.

Jessica is working at Wilson Sonsini in Palo Alto this summer.

Liza Siebel and Jessica McLaren with Jessica Bliss, Eugene Goei, and Marco Baray

Craig and Sharon Karlsberg moved to Berkeley, CA, in August. Their newest addition, Sugar, the dog, gives them plenty of reasons to hike and explore Point Reyes, Yosemite Valley, and Lake Tahoe surrounds! Look them up if you’d like to “join in local camping adventures.”

1993 Molly Wales spent two years studying flamenco dance in southern Spain, then returned home to Albuquerque, NM, where she works as a writer and editor.

38 The Thacher News

While reminiscing about the last Reunion on Christmas Eve day, Allison Huyler Glass ran into Kenyon Phillips with his parents and fiancée! He’s living in New York, is part of a band, and loves life. Things are still great for Allison in New England.

1997 Amanda Johnson is training horses, giving lessons, and loving it. She bumped into Cesar Gerardo CdeP 1998 and Ashley Wick CdeP 1998 at Thacher a while back.

1994 Rika Howe and Nate Toll spent a wonderful weekend in California to attend Jovi Young’s wedding on April 6, 2003. Other Thacher folks around for the festivities: Abby Ramsden, Bret Johnson, Josh Kurlinski, Devon Brown, Skye Rohde, Ysette Reynolds, and Rocky Brown CdeP 1996. They also indulged in Ruben’s Burritos, visited Thacher, and went to Bart’s Bookstore.

“What a treat to see everyone and catch up!”

“Greetings from upstate New York!” writes Skye Rohde. She’s been living in a small town called Oswego for the last several months. She moved there for her dream job, feature radio reporter for an NPR member station, and to live a little closer to her boyfriend.

“All is well in the Valley,” Napa Valley that is, according to Justin Hunnicutt Stephens. The first two vintages of Hunnicutt 2002 Zinfandel and 2001 Cabernet should be released in Fall of 2004.

In the meantime, he’s looking forward to seeing everyone at the big 1-0 Reunion in June.

The RoboCup Team in Padua, Italy; Carlos Soracco is second from left, seated, in light gray shirt

The proud father of Carlos Soracco came by Thacher and shared news that Carlos was the “head EE guy” (Electrical Engineer) for the Cornell computerized soccer team that competed in Padua, Italy, during July. Although their robot didn’t play well during the first match of the ­RoboCup, the AI (Artificial Intelligence) guys kept tinkering with it and their unit came back to win the final round in overtime, 1-0. Congrats to the Cornell team!

According to her mother, Jaime Kellogg is teaching fifth grade in Chicago and loving it.

1995 Heather Cohen just graduated from law school and accepted a position with a law firm in Seattle.

Additionally, she is pursuing an LLM (a legal masters) in Taxation at the University of Washington this fall. In the meantime, she is studying for the bar exam. “After a week, I am already in love with Seattle.”

Three more generations of Thacher graduates met on June 20 at the naval Aviator Designation Ceremony. First Lieutenant Joshua L. Foster earned his “Wings of Gold” at the Naval Air Station in Meridian MS. Walt Foster, CdeP 1950 and Walt Foster, Jr., CdeP 1973 were on hand for the celebration. Josh Walt Foster CdeP 1950, is now in train- Josh Foster, and Walt ing on the AV-8B Foster, Jr. CdeP 1973 Harrier at Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, NC.

1996 In a letter to Roger Klausler, Tyfahra Singleton wrote that she’s been accepted into the Comparative Literature Doctorate Program at Berkeley and she got a fellowship, too. For those not in the know, this is “one of the most prestigious and competitive fellowships at Cal.”

1997 Spontaneous Reunion: Skye Foster, Betsy Greenway, Dana Howbert, Lindsay Mock, and Katie Kochendorfer

1998 On June 28, Jenny Silverman married Chris Rowland. She’s pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor by beginning a post-baccalaureate prehealth program (probably at UPenn), where she’ll take all the science requirements for application to medical school.

Sarah Low worked in post production for film and television as associate editor of ABC’s “The Roseanne Reality Show.” She finished her MIT/ MA at Institute of Technology in December, and will soon be on Fox’s “Joe Millionaire 2.” She is still working on her own projects, including a documentary about her “hood” that “includes footage of a 15-year-old shoreline crypt dying in the gutter after he got shot in the chest a couple times—all of this seen from my bedroom window,” and some other projects including a thoroughbred mare named Maya and a collection of shorts she wrote, produced, directed, acted in, and edited. She wants to be a filmmaker, but would rather just make art and ride horses.

With a brand new EET degree, Sean Harding created Winema Energy Solutions LLC, a business that promotes local, clean, and independent energy production through installing wind turbines on the Oregon Coast.

Meanwhile, at Colby, four former Toads graduated this spring: Mary Craver, Catherine Jessop, Erin Campbell, and Katie Isaacson.

Caroline White was pleased to see so many classmates at Reunion. “Please send your email addresses or contact information to me at cfwcaro@aol.com and we can do a little better at keeping in touch!” in the future.

After attending short summer courses at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Webber Douglas Academy, Alexis MacDonald returned to her old stomping grounds: New York City.

She was accepted for a one-year conservatory course at the Michael Howard Studios, which is “a start into the tumultuous acting industry... So now I can finally offer a bed to anyone coming to the big city, and promise that I will indeed be there!”

After graduating from New York University in 2002 with degrees in French language and Journalism, Rob Landsness enrolled in the Wines and Spirits Education Trust, where he is currently finishing the AdThacher associates: vanced Certificate, Alistair MacKenzie a required degree (teacher, 1961‑62), for the Master of Paul Bressie CdeP 1986, Erik Landsness CdeP 1988, W i n e p r o g r a m .

After working in James Smith CdeP 1987, fine wine auctions Paul Manning CdeP 1979, in Manhattan he and Rob Landsness will be moving West. Anyone notice his article in the June Food Arts magazine, [a chef and restaurateur publication]?

1999 Hugh Foster is currently taking summer and fall classes at San Francisco State University. He is in splendid physical and mental condition, and can’t wait for his 5th Reunion. “Yeehaw!”

Kelsey McCarty recently moved to the DC area to start a master’s program in Tumor Biology at Georgetown. She’s also volunteering at Washington Hospital in the Orthopedic Oncology department. “It’s so rewarding and I’ve learned so much from both the doctors and the patients.

As always, though, I miss Thacher!”

One of the Brown graduates this spring was Michaela Andrews.

Michaela Andrews

Mary Craver, Catherine Jessop, Erin Campbell, and Katie Isaacson

Cynthia Kellogg is still working in Colorado; she takes kids backpacking for Discovery Camp sessions.

2000 While studying in Madrid this summer, Peter Hartnack spent some time out of town with Alfred English and Lauren Fraim. Peter and Carlos Soriano are planning a trip to the South of Spain when school ends. “Hasta Luego!”

2001 Katie Harmon loves Vassar, but misses Thacher!

We received word over the summer that Mary Ann Bronson spent eight weeks interning at the Viennese UN Office, working for the headquarters for the UNDCP (drug and crime prevention). She and Hannah Carney started their summer adventure with a trip to Dublin, followed by a tour of the Emerald Isle, then London, Barcelona, Rome, Slovenia, and Coration. Hannah then set sail for two weeks on the Adriatic with her family. She also played newscaster in her postscript: “I saw Mr. Bonewitz [Chris] in Boston shortly before school ended, where he put on a star performance in Twelfth Night. He will be continuing his drama studies in Moscow of all places starting this fall!

He will be studying in Paris in the spring (I possibly will be as well, though it’s a toss-up between France and Berlin right now). Ms. Carney will be in Madrid, Ms. Emma White in Italia…My fellow Brownies will not be going abroad; it looks like (Andrew DeYoung has some catch-up with all his transferring and such, while Meredith Flannery will be avidly pursuing her engineering degree).” Thanks for all the updates!

2002 Thank you Claire Milligan for all of the positive remarks and insights you made when reflecting on your boarding school experience for the site: www.boardingschoolreview.com.

In the small world category, who should Erik Fiske and his family run into while backpacking at 12,000-foot Mono Pan outside Mammoth this summer but Pete McCloskey, guest scholar at Thacher for various government courses. Erik had a busy summer teaching kids to ride horses at a day camp, but he’s ready to get Pete McCloskey and Erik back to Emory for his Fiske near Mammoth sophomore year.

Alex Lurie planned to spend a month river rafting and backpacking in Idaho with NOLS this summer. Upon returning home he pland to teach tennis and tutor math. If you’re near San Francisco, try giving him a call on his cell phone: 847-275-1242.

Before heading off to Brown in January, Bobby Kellogg had his fifth knee surgery recently. Just call him the hobbler!

His very proud mother reported that Jaime Everett was the Master of Ceremonies at the NAPS graduation in mid-May, since he was serving as Battalion Commander at that time. Besides a Senator from Rhode Island, Jaime was the only other speaker. He spoke of honor, courage, and commitment while serving and that the bonds of friendship would strengthen the forces for future success.

2003 Superstar runner Bessie Hatch is off to an excellent start in her collegiate career by being named the Conference USA Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week. She captured the title at the 24th runner in the 5-K race, winning with a time of 18:41:39 where she is running for Tulane.

His father reports that Chance Phelps is taking to the life of a midshipman and having a great time in the process. He’s up at 5 am, in class by 8, and takes part in the varsity sailing team.

Ahoy, Mate!

PAST FACULTY NEWS Emmet Hopkins CdeP 2001 was leafing through the “Stanford Review” when he noticed a photo of a familiar face and an article reporting that “The Walter J. Gores Award, the University’s highest teaching honor, will be presented to…teaching assistant Andrew Ho…a doctoral student in education, was honored for using his understanding of statistics and mathematics to make subjects accessible and enjoyable for students. He also was recognized for developing course materials that use data sets, such as national educational assessments, that are relevant to students’ lives.” e

Spring / Summer 2003 39

Obituaries Alumni News

Losses to the Community Alumni and Friends Who Will Be Sorely Missed

William H. Orrick, Jr. CdeP 1932 died in his sleep on August 15, at his home in San Francisco. Bill matriculated from Thacher to Yale and then returned west for law school at the U.C. Berkeley campus. He served in the Army in World War II and then, after working in his father’s San Francisco law firm, went to work for the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s. Among his assignments for the Department of Justice was working to protect the “Freedom Riders,” who sought to integrate buses in the South.

Bill was appointed to the US District Court by President Nixon in 1974 and oversaw high-profile cases such as sentencing Patty Hearst for her role in a bank robbery and various desegregation cases. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; three children; and six grandchildren.

Herbert C. Moffitt, MD CdeP 1933 lost his battle with cancer on October 7, 2003, just as this issue was going to press. Herb was ensconced in all aspects of academic and outdoor life at Thacher; he served on nearly every committee and organization. He matriculated to Cal, attended Harvard’s medical school, did his internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, and served a stint in the US Navy during World War II. He specialized in Internal Medicine at UC San Francisco and began his practice with his mentor, Dr. Eddy, in the City.

Beyond this, he served on the boards of numerous Bay Area organizations and Thacher, and he was very involved in fundraising for Thacher, including the founding of the Casa de Piedra Society.

Once retired from medicine, Herb spent time at his family’s 350-acre ranch in the Napa Valley, where he enjoyed horseback riding and tending to Cabernet Sauvignon grapes used in making premium wines.

Herb is survived by his wife Gwynne; children Herbert C. III CdeP 1966, Elizabeth (who is married to Andrew Herr CdeP 1973), James CdeP 1972, and David CdeP 1973; and five grandchildren.

George S. Bennett CdeP 1937 matriculated from Thacher to the US Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1941 with a Master of Science degree; he received another degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1949 from Naval PC School. He retired from Sandia National Labs at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, NM. George is survived by his wife Polly; and his children: Margaret, Barbara, Mary, George III, and Donald.

Sheldon von Hagen Brooks CdeP 1939 graduated from Yale in 1943 and served in the Navy for three years where he became a Lieutenant 40 The Thacher News

JG. He worked as chairman of the board Minnetonka Boat Works in Wayzata, MN. He was quite involved in marine supplies and sailing; he was connected with: St. James School as a trustee, Hennepin Co. Animal Rescue League as a director; MN Boating Association as a director, and as a trustee of Ducks Unlimited.

Sheldon was first married to Frances Harriet Atkinson, then Delores W. Brooks (1967). He had four children: Paul, Judith, Molly, and stepson Matthew Hoy. Robert Elwood Chesley CdeP 1950, who attended Thacher for his junior and senior years of high school and later became a teacher and Business Manager at the School, died on May 5, 2003. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and a Master’s in Education from Stanford University. While there, he met Alice McKinney; they married and raised a family.

After a short stint in the US Army, Bob taught physics and math at Thacher for 13 years. He also shared his interests in astronomy, photography, the outdoors, flying, and ham radio. He moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Department of Education and later managed the Educational Research Information Center (ERIC). He returned to Thacher to work as the Business Manager.

Once Bob retired, he built his own airplane and became very active in various Ojai organizations including the Ojai Rotary Club, The Ojai Valley School, and Concerned Resource and Environmental Workers (CREW).

Bob is survived by his wife of 47 years; sons John and Matthew CdeP 1981; and two grandchildren; he’s predeceased by his son Michael. A memorial service was held at Thacher on May 10.

Aidan R. Gough CdeP 1952 died March 21, 2003. Following Thacher, Aiden studied at the Holy Cross Order Seminary at Notre Dame University before studying Classics at Stanford where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956; a Master of Arts degree in Psychological Services/ Counseling Psychology in 1957; Juris Doctorate Magna Cum Laude from the University of Santa Clara in 1962; and finally a LLM from Harvard in 1966.

During Aidan’s 32-year tenure as Professor/ Professor Emeritus of Law at Santa Clara University, he held visiting positions at Stanford University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He served as Executive Director of the California Governor’s Commission on the Family, which drafted the nation’s first no-fault divorce law; as Staff Secretary to the Governor of California; as Reporter to the National Joint Commission on Juvenile, Justice Standards; and

by Jane D. McCarthy

as Consultant to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Aiden was preceded in death by his wife Patricia Kay Hardiman; he is survived by his brother Dennis (CdeP 1956) and two sons: Michael and Thomas.

Thacher Faculty David S. Lavender died April 26, 2003 at the age of 93. The prolific Western historian, who churned out more than 40 books, was nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, and taught English at Thacher full time for nearly three decades and part time for many years afterward, will be sorely missed.

Having grown up on a ranch 20 miles outside of Telluride, David’s roots sank deep in the West.

He headed east, however, to attend Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and graduated from Princeton in 1931. While at Princeton, he developed his flair for writing and interest in history.

He returned to Colorado to work the family ranch and as a gold miner. His writing was unique in that he actually experienced many of the events about which he wrote. His clear, graceful, and unpretentious manner, conventional wisdom, thoroughness of research, and graceful prose won him praise from peer authors and historians, as well as significant awards and honors.

A memorial service was held at Thacher on June 12, 2003; hundreds shared stories and memories of David’s life with his survivors: Muriel Sharkey, son David, and numerous grandchildren, stepchildren, and great-grandchildren.

David N. Lawyer, Jr., who taught at Thacher for the 1968-69 school year and subsequently taught at Santa Barbara City College, died of leukemia on July 15. He is survived by his second wife, Tracey, and a nine-year-old daughter Kymmy, as well as two grown children by his first marriage.

Bonnie Moon Robinson died on Tuesday, September 16, after an eight-year battle with cancer.

She was in the UCLA Medical Center undergoing a stem cell transplant at the time of her death. She is survived by her daughters, Julia ’04 and Catherine ’06, and her husband, Peter. Bonnie received her BA from Hollins College and her MALS from Wesleyan University. She was the first full-time academic woman to teach at Thacher, beginning her career in 1974, and its first Dean of Students, a position she held for 10 years. Over her long career, she also served as English Department Chair and Dorm Head for the Upper School. A Faculty Chair in Bonnie’s name has been established at Thacher. e

Bookshelf Alumni News

Raúl Homero Villa CdeP 1978 Barrio-Logos: Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature and Culture

by Jane D. McCarthy

University of Texas Press, Austin, 2000

W

hen Raúl came back to Thacher for his 25th Class Reunion in June, he gave to the Library a copy of his book, Barrio-Logos, inscribed: “To the students of Thacher—I hope you find the futures you seek.”

Raul serves as a Professor of English and Comparative Literature Studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He earned a doctorate in the History of Consciousness from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His major areas of scholarly and curricular expertise are in Chicano and US literature and popular culture, urban studies (with a particular emphasis on Los Angeles cultural studies), and Southwest/ Borderlands literature and expressive culture.

His published articles cover such topics as USMexico border balladry, intercultural relations in the Southwest, and Chicano barrio fiction and popular culture. Beyond authoring BarrioLogos, he edited Urban Latino Cultures: La vida latina en LA (Sage Press, 1999). He has lectured at schools, cultural centers, colleges, and universities across the country and in France. Closer to home, he takes students on field trips throughout Los Angeles County, to the San Diego-Tijuana border and into the Mojave Desert as part of his classroom and extracurricular activity. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Rita Alcada and their son Joseph.

United States’ annexation of Mexi­ can territory in the 1840s. Then, turning to the work of contemporary members of the Chicano intelligentsia such as poet Lorna Dee Cervantes, novelist Ron Arias, and the art collective RCAF (Rebel Chicano Art Front), Villa demonstrates how their expressive practices re-imagine and re-create the dominant urban space as a community enabling place. In doing so, he illuminates the endless interplay in which cultural texts and practices are shaped by and act upon their social and political contexts. e

Of Barrio-Logos, his publisher wrote: Struggles over space and resistance to geographic displacement gave rise to much of Chicano history and culture. In this pathfinding book, Raúl Villa explores how California Chicano/a writers, journalists, artists, activists, and musicians have used expressive culture to oppose the community-destroying forces of urban renewal programs and massive freeway development and to create and defend a sense of Chicano place-identity. Villa opens with an historical overview that shows how Chicano communities and culture have developed in response to conflicts over space ever since the

Spring / Summer 2003 41

Calendar

Thacher Gatherings and Events

Fall 2003 – Winter 2004 Tuesday, October 21

Los Angeles Gathering Friday-Sunday, October 24-26

Family Weekend Saturday-Sunday, November 15-16

Cultural Weekend Tuesday, December 16

Winter Concert Wednesday-Sunday, December 17-January 4

Winter Break Saturday, January 10

Winter Alumni Day Friday-Saturday, January 30-31

Winter Board of Trustees Meeting Friday-Saturday, February 20-21

Winter Musical Saturday-Sunday, February 21-22

Departmental Weekend Saturday-Sunday, March 6-21

Spring Break

The Campaign for Thacher TIL THE BEST WE CAN DO IS ALL DONE Thacher alumni are fiercely loyal to their school because of what they experienced here, and of how they have come to understand that experience as the years have passed. Thacher parents and friends are so committed to the School because they have seen what it has meant to the people they love. Over time, this understanding deepens, and with this deepening comes an immense gratitude and commitment to see Thacher continue and thrive for succeeding generations of young people.

Continuing in this issue of The Thacher News, we share some of the stories of people whose recent gifts represent the generosity of so many who are now giving to Thacher in new magnitudes.

The particulars of their reasons for giving may differ, but they share a common understanding that Thacher is an important and singular work in progress—til the best we can do is all done.

PAUL YELDER CdeP 1977 Columbia, Maryland Gift to the Campaign: Unrestricted Giving for Where Thacher Needs It Most

I

n the 25 years since he graduated from Thacher, Paul Yelder has created a life of

significance and of engagement in important social issues. After Dartmouth College, he received a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Since then, he has made his career in the field of community development. Today, he works with the Enterprise Foundation, helping communities strengthen themselves and thrive against immense forces of disintegration.

“

His work takes him to some of the poorest and most difficult neighborhoods in the country and it takes him, as well, to the elegant paneled boardrooms of banks and financial institutions. He is comfortable in both because he has known both in his life, and because he says he learned at Thacher not to be intimidated by people who seem to have substantially more economically or socially.

Having observed quite a few communities around the country, one of the things that I really value about Thacher is the Community that’s been built there. There is a common respect among everyone that I think is unique. Successful communities value everybody—they leave no one behind. I think Thacher does that, and I think that’s worth conserving.”

“I look at the Horse Program as a great equalizer in that the horse didn’t care what your daddy did, and the horse didn’t care how much money you had or where you lived. The horse didn’t even really care about how big you were or how good an athlete you were. The horse threw everybody. And on top of that, it’s really tough to put on airs when you’re shoveling horse manure.”

In his days at Thacher, Paul Yelder took in precious first lessons about what matters and what does not.

He learned that what pulls people together can be stronger than what separates them. With this knowledge, with his remarkable personal strength and commitment, he has created a life S.D.Thacher surely would have valued and admired.

Spring / Summer 2003 43

The Thacher School 5025 Thacher Road Ojai, CA 93023 Address Service Requested

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Oxnard, CA Permit No. 110