The First 75 Years

THE BUSH SCHOOL The First 7 5 Years

Anne M. Will

Documentary Book Publishers

THE BUSH SCHOOL

The First 75 Years Copyright © 1999 by Anne M. \Xiii] and The Bush School All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or urilized in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

First Edition 1999 Printed in the United States Author: Anne M. Will Editor: Don Graydon Cover and interior design: Paul Langland Design Project Manager: Deb Jensen Managing Editor: Carolyn Margon Publisher: Barry Provorse Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LC# 99-37466 \Xlill, Anne M., 1950The Bush School: The First 75 Yem:r p. cm.

Jnclu<les Jndex JSBN 0-935503-28-5 1. Bush School (Seattle, \Xfash.)-History. I. Title LD7501.S44W55 1999 373.797'772-<lc2 l Documentary Book Publishers 615 Second Avenue, Suite 260 Seattle, Washington 98104 email: docbooks@SasquatchBooks.com (206) 467-4300 www.SasquatchBooks.com Documentary Book Publishers publishes books for corporate and institutional clients across North America. For more information about our titles an<l services, contact us at the address listed above, or view our site on the World Wi<le Web.

Table of Con tents

Foreword 4 Preface

6 Introduction IO I

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

I5 2 The Marjorie Livengood Years: I948-I967 43 3 Thejohn Grant Years: I967 - I972 59

4 The Les Larsen Years: I972-I987

75 5 The Fred Dust Years: I987 -I 996 IIJ

6 New Directions: I996 and Beyond

IJ5 APPENDICES

Heads of School

I44 Presidents of the Board of Trustees 1 45 Student Government Presidents

• 1;_46 Senior Award Winners

I48 Footnotes

I49 Index

I56 Photo Credits

I6o

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

Foreword

The Bush School's celebration of its seventy-fifth year has created an obvious reason to study the past and update its history. The educational approach that Mrs. Bush initiated as she gathered the first group of six children in her home in 1924 was different from most educational environments at the time. Mrs. Bush wanted children to work collaboratively in groups, to compete only with themselves to do their own best work, and to pursue their learning experientially instead of theoretically.

Despite the changes in society during the seventy-five years since Helen Bush founded her school, the educational approach to teaching and learning has remained consistent. This current history updates the school's "story" since its fiftieth anniversary in 197 4, when the school's first history was written. The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Committee felt that an integral aspect of the school's celebration of its Diamond Jubilee would be to commission an accurate written history complete with anecdotes and interviews conducted with significant persons who have figured prominently in the school's long, rich life.

Foreword

The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Committee anticipates that by documenting The Bush School's past, the year of celebration will be enhanced and enriched as the school prepares for a prosperous, hopeful future . I salute the Committee's editorial objective for this important work, and my compliments to Anne Will '68 who compiled and wrote the history of this extraordinary school. Helen Bush would be proud that her little school has matured and become a leading independent school on the West Coast. More to the point, she would be proud that an alumna of her school has created a thorough, animated retelling of her school's history.

Timothy M. Burns, Ph.D. Headmaster

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Preface

In 1962 I entered the Helen Bush School as a shy and awkward twelve-year-old. Lonely and unhappy in the public schools, I was dreading the prospect of junior high. My mother, Mary Rolfe Will, had attended the school and thought I would be happier there. In those days, the admissions process consisted of a brief test and a writing sample, administered by Mrs. Livengood. I wrote a poem.

She called my mother that evening and said, "My dear, Anne is why we are in business."

I regard this as a turning point of my life. Straightaway I was given an assignment: six books to be read over the summer. Serious books that were a hint of the expectations to come. Over the next six years, I was blessed with some extraordinary teachers and a remarkable group of classmates.

My class saw the end of Mrs. Livengood's administration, with

its emphasis on respect and decorum. We wore the old scratchy wool uniform, and we missed out on the exciting changes of the 1970s: coeducation, independent study, wilderness adventures, and foreign travel. Yet, in spite of the uniform and the old-fashioned protocols, I felt real freedom at Bush, the freedom to be myself and to discover just who that person might be.

Preface

7

In 1968 I graduated, went off to Smith College, majored in history, and later earned my master's degree at the University of Massachusetts and eventually a doctorate in humanities at the Union Institute. Bush provided the foundation of my work as a student and a scholar and later as a teacher and a writer. What I gained at Bush was so intrinsic to my identity that I did not often think about it. I stayed in touch with Mrs. Pease and my close friends, but- like many alumnae- I did not return to the school.

I went, instead, to Alaska.

Many adventures and addresses later, in 1998, I returned to the Northwest, and I found myself reflecting on what it meant to grow up here and to go to a school like Bush. When I learned of the plans to write a history of the school for its seventy-fifth anniversary, I asked to be considered for the job. Selfishly I hoped that this work would allow me to renew old ties after so many years away, and I was richly rewarded.

Many individuals contributed to this project. First of all,

Fifty Years-The Bush School, written by Susan T. Egnor and Helen L. Runstein in 1974, provided a valuable framework for the early years of the school. I was also able to draw from an excellent series of interviews of early Bush alumnae conducted in 1988 by Liza Benedict-Hobbs.

H elen Taylor (B ush) with her basketball team at the University of Illinois in r902. Helen is directly to the right of the ball.

8

Helen Taylor (B11sh), fo11rth from the left in the second row, with her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

I want to thank all those busy people who spoke to me about their association with the school, including Peter Eising, Frank and Ginny Kitchell '43, Tom Duffield, Elaine Aoki, Gary Emslie, Fred Mednick, Bill Baber, Mandi Counter, Sylvia Clise Duryee '43, Corrie Duryee Moore '77, Anne Rolfe Kellogg '49, and Mary Rolfe Will '43. In addition, the following individuals participated in a Saturday focus group to help identify themes for the book: Elaine Daly Jacques '69, Joan Marsh, Marilyn Gibbs, Andy Dahlstrom'85, Jay Sesnon '81,Judy Thomas, Meighan Pritchard '80, Megan Bowman '78, Tom Duffield, Rob Corkran, Chris Wright '70, Katherine Burns Vaughan '68, Alden Garrett '73, Sis Pease '41, Sally Pritchard, Midge Bowman '51, and Shirley Loper.

In particular, I appreciate the help of Sis Pease, Midge

Bowman, Shirley Loper, Rob Corkran, and Gardiner Vinnedge, who shared their time and extensive memories on numerous occasions and read the manuscript in draft form. Tim Burns, the current headmaster, has supported the project from the beginning and also gave the manuscript a thorough reading. I want to thank the staff

Pref ace

at the Bush Development Office: Dean Carrell, Carole Wilbeck, Sue Hovis, and especially Lucy Leitzell. I have had terrific support at Documentary Book Publishers from Barry Provorse, Deb Jensen, and Carolyn Margon. Don Graydon is a scrupulous copy editor of whom even Miss Grove would approve. For any mistakes that slipped by this crew, I am entirely responsible.

There are, unfortunately, many members of the Bush family who were not contacted for this book and whose stories may not be adequately represented in these pages. I regret this, but there simply was not enough time or space for a fuller narrative. I hope the reader will recognize the school from this account, even if memories differ. The author of the first Bush history put it well: "This material concerns the delicate memories of many childhoods.

Because what we say may not be exactly what you remember does not make your memory invalid."

Anne M. Will, Ph.D. June 1999

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

IO

Introduction

People have always enjoyed reviewing their past- in stories and oral legends, in personal remembrances and scholarly histories, and more recently in a wave of visual memoirs on television and the Internet. One thing is clear from this volume of works: The past does indeed appeal to many of us, especially when the topic connects to our own experience.

This fact alone might be reason enough to publish a history of The Bush School on the occasion of its seventy-fifth anniversary.

We can celebrate the story of the school's founding and growth, we can remind each other of our personal and shared memories, and we can clarify the role the school plays as a model for innovation and educational reform.

Among the issues confronting the American public today, education at all levels has become one of the most complicated and controversial. Ever since the great outpouring of ideas for innovation and reform that took place in the 1960s, new models for teaching American children have become legion. Every community and every level of government is caught up in the debate on the role of technology, of print materials, of "the basics," of "real life" experiences, of class size, of safety, of home schooling.

Introduction

In the midst of all this talk, one can discern both an impatience with the past as well as a hunger to go back to that past and to what may be romantically perceived as its successes in the educating of American children. However, as we look to the past more realistically, we can find wisdom and examples to help guide us in our decisions of today.

The school that Mrs. Bush established in 1924 reflected the educational philosophy of John Dewey and was considered a "progressive" school, where how one learned (through the now familiar technique of "learning by doing") was considered more important than the actual content of what the child was learning. Her vision was child-centered, and her goal for every student involved a respect for each individual's interests, abilities, and potential. This remains a remarkable philosophy in light of today's demands that schools turn out technologically proficient men and women, possessed of marketable skills and programmed for success in a postindustrial "information age."

There were times-most notably in the 1950s and early 1960s-when the school's programs became less flexible and more structured, reflecting in part the thinking of the times. But never was there a deviation from an emphasis on the interests and talents of each individual student or on the respect given the faculty to develop their own curriculum within the Bush framework. As new trends in education appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the school was able to reflect those trends and once again became more flexible and experiential in its programs and atmosphere.

II

12

THE BUSH SCHOOL

It is significant that Bush has maintained its "progressive" image through a long period of time, especially during the past twenty-five years, when such an approach once again fell out of favor and most schools and colleges returned to more prescribed courses of study. As we peruse the school's history, we can see that the most likely reason that Mrs. Bush's vision has worked so well over the years has been her ability and that of her successors to attract an imaginative, dedicated faculty of artists, writers, scientists, and experts in many fields who are, first and foremost, people who can teach. These teachers were allowed to follow their own images for innovation in education and given the opportunity to evidence their love of children in implementing their ideas.

The Bush School is now poised to consolidate the ideas of the past and to move on to addressing the needs of students in the twenty-first century. Making this possible is an unusually active Board of Trustees that is dedicating its time, energy, and support ro a long-range plan for the next five to fifteen years. Their tasks include implementing the long-range plan and overseeing construction of the school's new Science and Technology Center.

This book of history, researched and written by Anne Will, can help all readers understand the philosophy and traditions of The Bush School, even as we move to refine these for the future. For those of us whose lives have been touched by the school-as students, teachers , staff members, parents, trustees, and friends-we hope this account will bring back memories and reveal to each of us

lntrod11ction

an increased understanding of ourselves and the part the school may have played in our life. For readers in the larger communityneighbors, educators, potential students and parents, and the public in general- we believe this chronicle of a great experiment in education will hold genuine interest.

Those of us who knew Mrs. Bush and benefited from her establishment of the school know that she would be thrilled to see that her creation has not only endured, but has remained true to her vision even as it has adapted to changing times. A prevailing spirit of optimism, hope, and bold plans for tomorrow guides the expectation that The Bush School will be very much a part of a new progressive period. It is in that spirit that we publish this history on the occasion of the school's seventy-fifth anniversary. The illumination of our past should move us with energy and confidence into the future.

Mary "Sis" Haight Pease Class of 1941

13

Chapter One

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School The founder of The Bush School was born Helen Mary Taylor on August 20, 1879, in Bloomington, Illinois, where her father practiced medicine. Little is known of her girlhood. She attended Illinois Normal University for two years, then transferred to the University of Illinois at Urbana, where she studied history, literature, rhetoric, French, math, and science. The 1902 university yearbook shows two pictures of Helen Taylor: one with the varsity women's basketball team and one with her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. She distinguished herself as a student, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1902.

This was an exciting time in education. It was a period that became known as the Progressive Era, a time of vigorous public debate on political and social reform. Public education was now compulsory through the eighth grade in most states, but the function of the school often was simply to create a docile, diligent workforce for American industry. The great progressive educator John Dewey challenged this rigid system that favored recitation, memorization, rote learning, and corporal punishment. He argued that a successful democracy required people who were independent thinkers and responsible citizens, not just obedient workers. At the University of Chicago in 1896, Dewey established his controversial Laboratory School, where he unbolted the desks from the floor and let the children move about the room and work cooperatively at tasks that had relevance to their lives and interests.

Helen Taylor Bttsh.

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

It is tantalizing to imagine Helen Taylor meeting John Dewey.

It is not impossible: Chicago is less than a hundred miles from Urbana. By the time Helen Taylor reached the University of Illinois, Dewey's efforts in early education had generated considerable comment. She would surely have heard of him. She might even have heard him lecture on the need to educate the whole child. What is clear is that when she established her own school some years later, she drew heavily upon Dewey's philosophy of experiential learning.

Helen Taylor on her wedding day in A ugust

r 908, when she married a fellow graduate of the University of Illinois, J ohn K. Bush.

After graduation in 1902, Helen Taylor taught mathematics at De Kalb High School for one year, then rhetoric at the University of Illinois for a year. In 1904-05, she traveled to Europe and studied French in Paris. Returning to the United States, she taught high school for three years in Bloomington and Oak Park, Illinois. 1 On a trip to Denver, she met a fellow University of Illinois graduate, John K. Bush. They were married in August 1908 and made their home in Joliet, Illinois. She retired from teaching, and their first child, Eleanor, was born in 1909. The family moved in 1912 to Seattle, where John Bush worked as a cashier for American Bank and Trust Company. A son, Kenyon, was born in

1915 . The family lived first in the University District and later moved to the Denny-Blaine area near Lake Washington, into the house on Dorffel Drive that would become the original school building. Here Helen Bush devoted herself to the task of raising her children.

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

r7

One anecdote from these years attests to Helen Bush's modesty and strength of character. Evidently she had been summoned to the principal's office at Kenyon's school to discuss her son's behavior. As the principal addressed her, he toyed with a Phi Beta Kappa key on his watch chain.

"I don't suppose you know what this is," he said.

"Oh yes, I do," she replied, "but I keep mine at home in my dresser drawer." 2 Helen Taylor Bush was forty-four years old when circumstances forced her to resume teaching. In 1923, John Bush suffered a baffling illness that caused him to lose his hearing. His doctor gave him six months to live. Leaving their children with neighbors, the Bushes traveled to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, for a second opinion. They were relieved to learn that John Bush was not fatally ill, although he remained nearly deaf and could no longer work at the bank. The family now needed another source of income. From this crisis sprang Mrs. Bush's School in the fall of 1924.

NEIGHBORS OF THE BUSH FAMILY noted that Mrs. Bush had an extraordinary way with children. According to neighbor Virginia Price Patty, "She was a wonderful, warm person- someone you could trust completely with your children. "3 In the fall of 1924, six youngsters from the immediate neighborhood came to the house on Dorffel Drive for preschool and kindergarten. They met in the playroom, but frequently went outdoors.

Helen Bush with her daughter, Eleanor, in 1909.

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

One of those youngsters, Ward Beecher, later recalled, "When you were with Mrs. Bush, you were in school. She would explain about natural things. She made you look and realize the order of things in nature, the kinds of birds, the virtues of bugs." 4 In 1925, Helen Bush added a first grade and then added a grade each year after that. Staff help was hired, and the The Dorf/el Drive house where Helen Bush started her school.

house was adapted to the needs of the growing school. Kenyon Bush remembered those days:

Within a few years the living room, dining room and den yielded their space for the school tables. The front porch was enclosed, and the garage was floored and heated for classrooms. Even the car had to give way under the pressure of ever more school. Finally, the entire second floor was taken over and the family retreated to the third floor. 5

Kenyon and Eleanor Bush were too old to attend the school but shared in the enterprise. Eleanor later recalled her embarrassment at having blackboards in the living room when young men came to call. But, she said, "We all worked together to help mother make a go of it. We painted chairs. My father built furniture and kept the books ."6 By 1929 the school had grown to six grades and a kindergarten. Besides Mrs. Bush, there were three full-time teachers , as well as part-time instructors in French, dance, modeling (sculpture), painting, and music. Her innovative teaching evidently inspired the confidence of the parents, who urged her to expand

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

into the upper grades. The school was formally organized in 1929 as a nonprofit corporation, with the parents as shareholders, and a Board of Trustees was elected.

Although the parents were generally pleased with Mrs. Bush's little school, not all the neighbors were so delighted. According to Kenyon Bush, "Some neighbors, fearing a school might lower their property values, signed a petition prohibiting any school in the district. That occasion is the only time I can remember seeing my mother cry." Apparently there was also criticism of Mrs. Bush from "some parents, neighbors, and competing schools" because of her lack of formal training in education. 7 Early in 1930, major expansion became possible when the private Lakeside School for boys moved to the north end of Seattle.

Mrs. Bush rented Lakeside's vacated property on Thirty-sixth Avenue East, only a few blocks northwest of the Bush home on Dorffel Drive. But there was a condition: New grades at Bush could admit only girls, so that Lakeside would remain without competition as a boys ' school. Mrs. Bush would have preferred a totally coeducational school, but she accepted the condition.

The Lakeside buildings, though dark and poorly ventilated and in need of remodeling, provided desperately needed space for the growing school.

With the addition of seventh and eighth grades, the Helen Bush School for Girls formally began in September 1930.

Thereafter a grade was added each year through twelfth grade. The Lower School was given its own name-Parkside-and remained coeducational through the sixth grade. The combined institution became the Helen Bush- Parkside School. And in 1934, Lakeside School sold the Thirty-sixth Avenue property outright to Bush.

19

THE BUSH SCHOOL

20

These early years were difficult financially. Kenyon Bush recalled his mother "borrowing money at the end of the school year in order to meet teachers' salaries." 8 For the 1932-33 school year, tuition for the upper grades (seventh and above) was $400 a year, while tuition for the primary grades was half that. Rent was $200 a month, and staff had to be paid. Mrs. Bush received $99 a month, when she could afford to pay herself. Part of the problem arose from her generosity with tuition waivers. According to a financial statement from February 1933, of eighty-one students enrolled, fourteen paid half tuition and eleven paid nothing.

Fortunately the original trustees included several prominent businessmen who believed in Mrs. Bush and helped put the school on a sound financial footing. Lenore McGrath Ostrander, one of the first parents and an early trustee, loaned the school her lakefront home for use as a dormitory for two years.

The first senior class, of six girls, graduated in June 1935 . Two of the graduates-Rosemary Ostrander and Phyllis Ross-had started in Mrs. Bush's first kindergarten in 1924.

MRS. BUSH'S SCHOOL WAS REMARKABLE for putting into practice the basic ideas of progressive education-ideas that many educators espoused but few followed. The 1928-29 school catalog set forth the following guiding principles:

1. Education should be creative to be fruitful of results.

Creative education brings joy to the pupil, and a deep satisfaction to the teacher.

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

2. The sciences as well as the arts may be taught creatively. Even in the abstract field of arithmetic the child experiences a genuinely creative pleasure in discovering a new truth for himself.

3. The subject matter taught should be that in which the child has a natural interest. Life is the big interest, but books are sought at a certain age as a gateway to a broader understanding of life.

4. The time to present a subject to a child is when he feels a real need for it. To present it too early or too late are equally harmful.

He must be placed where he belongs according to his educational age, and re-classified from time to time so as to advance at his own natural rate.

5. The most important factor in any school is the TEACHER.

6. A corollary to the first principle is: Any really effective discipline comes under some form of self-government.

At the core of Mrs . Bush's philosophy was her belief in the value of experiential learning . In every subject, the children were encouraged to discover things for themselves. She envisioned a school that furnished "a real-life environment, making school just as thrilling as the world was to the pre-school child-and more understandable."9 The classes were very small, and students were permitted to move about freely. Mrs. Bush and her staff encouraged self-expression, exploration, and active learning.

2 1

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

Mrs . Bush had great faith in the potential of each child to learn and to contribute to the life of the school. Given "the freedom and the right to choose for one's self," she maintained, "(a child} pursues knowledge with all the force of an inner urge; he develops right attitudes, responsibility, initiative, character." 10 Sis Pease, a kindergarten enrollee in 1929 and a 1941 graduate, started as a Spanish teacher at Bmh and went on to become a history teacher and Upper School director.

Sis Pease, who entered the kindergarten in 1929 and graduated from the school in 1941, saw this faith firsthand:

The thing I remember was that Mrs. Bush believed that everybody could learn. I was one of those people who used to say, "I can't. I can't skip. I can't do this. " And she said, "We don't use that word in this school--can't. "JJ

To discourage competition, no letter grades were given in the Lower School, only written comments from the teachers . In the Upper School, grades were assigned, but not class rank. Mrs. Bush firmly believed that students should be in competition with themselves-not with one another. She felt that each student had different gifts, and she tried to recognize the unique qualities that each brought to the school. Consequently the school gave no prizes or awards for academic, artistic, or athletic achievement.

Only one award was given, beginning in 1943: for the graduating senior who had made the greatest contribution to the school.

Faculty and students voted to select the student who best exemplified the virtues stated by Alexander Pope, "In action faithful and in

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

honor clear." The first recipient was Sylvia Clise (Duryee).

The award was presented annually through 1970, and periodically since then.

Mrs. Bush and Robert Adams, principal of Lakeside School, organized the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools

(PNAIS) in 1941 to address common concerns and develop standards for independent schools throughout the region. The association, an affiliate of the National Association of Independent Schools, conducted the first peer review of the Bush program, and the school was accredited in 1946. A thorough evaluation followed approximately every ten years thereafter.

TRANSLATING PHILOSOPHY INTO PRACTICE, Mrs. Bush gave the natural sciences a central place in her curriculum of experiential learning. Beginning in kindergarten, the children were surrounded with plants, pets, and domestic animals. They studied science in the garden, at the nearby University of Washington Arboretum, and at the seashore. They brought crabs and snakes into the classroom. At one time in the mid-19 30s the school owned a dog , rabbits, laying hens, and a horse.

Instruction in reading and writing was adapted to the needs and interests of the child. The 1934-3 5 catalog explained that reading instruction was "arranged so that no child is held back and bored by the others, and no child is pushed." Writing was described as "an art which the children enjoy developing as soon as they are shown its possibilities." 12

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

A school pageant performed in r939 with a Graeco-Roman theme.

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Post Intelligencer archive at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI)

The children were immersed in language and literature.

They heard, read , and enacted classic myths and stories: Greek and Roman myths in third grade, medieval legends in fourth grade.

They began learning French in kindergarten and by fourth grade were listening to stories in French.

Mrs. Bush herself taught Lower School arithmetic as a combination of drill and critical thinking. Students learned not just how to solve a problem, but why it was solved in a particular way. Later she taught math in the Upper School, where her algebra classes included philosophy and logic. Although she did not approve of standardized testing, she prepared her students for the College Board exams with a thorough review.

One of the strengths of the Bush program was the integration of disciplines around a certain theme. Seventh grade usually offered a year of ancient history and literature. Mary Rolfe Will '43 recalls

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

spending a whole semester on Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe in the eighth grade, weaving together medieval history, religion, art, and music. "It was the first time I learned about the persecution of the Jews," she said, "and it made quite an impression on me." 13 Barbara Edenholm '40 transferred to the Helen Bush School from the Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., and noted a difference. Sidwell Friends was more rigorous, she felt, but not as deep; students learned the facts but not how to make meaningful connections. At Bush, she had the same chemistry book, but the course was more focused and more practical. She remembers in particular learning how a refrigerator works. 14 Learning from experience, students in Virginia Pratt's art classes made pottery from scratch. Dee Squire Dickinson '45 recalls:

There was an enormous emphasis on process . ... We dug the clay out of the hill to make our pots. There was a bank that had red clay and another bank that had gray clay. We would come back and sift it and get the rocks out and slam it on the bats. And then shape it and fire it in the kiln on the hill, and glaze and fire it again. A process from beginning to end. 0

The arts were central to the Bush experience- not as a veneer of accomplishment, but as a means of understanding and selfexpression. Mrs. Bush hired practicing artists, and students shared directly in the creative process. According to Dee Dickinson, "All of the arts-art, music, dance, and drama- were embedded in the curriculum, not taught separately." 16

THE BUSH SCHOOL

MRS. BusH's ABILITY to pick extraordinary teachers was legendary.

The teacher, she wrote in a 1928 brochure entitled Mrs. Bush's

School, "must know when to furnish a stimulus, when and how to obliterate herself while the child forges ahead." In her interviews with prospective teachers, two questions were usually paramount.

The first was "Do you like children'" Of course every candidate assured her they did. "Well, then, " she would continue, "do children like you:,'' If an applicant hesitated at this point, Mrs. Bush would realize the teacher was not right for the school. She was inclined to trust her instincts about people rather than be swayed by impressive credentials.

On a trip to California, she observed a young swim instructor who seemed to have a special rapport with children. When she learned that he also was an artist, she offered him a job. William LaGrille arrived in Seattle with all his worldly possessions in a pillowcase. Activities in his art classes included throwing clay at the wall as a form of free expression. "This child works well in clay," 17 he would often write on report cards. Dee Dickinson, who was a student of LaGrille's, says, "Mrs. Bush encouraged him to give us the finest art experiences, which included nude models- in this drafty old art shack. We had a fat model for flesh and a thin model for bones .. . so we sketched real life. " 18 Mrs. Bush hired working artists in the belief that they were best qualified to inspire a love of beauty in the children. Elsa "Midge" McPhee Bowman '51 recalls that "Mrs. Bush chose artists, dancers, writers, scientists, mathematicians-who could teach-not dance educators or science educators." 19 Dee Dickinson echoes this: "We had some of the finest artists of the Northwest on our faculty.

Eleanor King, who was a protege of Martha Graham, was a great, great dancer. William LaGrille was an artist who was pre-beatnik and wore sandals and bare feet." 20

H elen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

Another well-known artist on the faculty was Windsor Utley. As a conscientious objector during World War II, he had difficulty finding work, but Mrs. Bush was pleased to hire him. He encouraged his students to express themselves by throwing paint at canvases. Under his supervision in 1947-48, students at Parkside (the Lower School) painted a mural depicting the history of the school; the mural now stands above the stairs to Reed Hall.

Mrs. Bush also hired a number of married women who were not allowed to teach in the public schools.

Before World War II, the Seattle public schools refused to hire any woman who had a working husband. At one time in the 1930s, the Bush faculty included four women who were married to University of Washington professors: kindergarten teacher Mildred Isaacs, English teacher Wil Tyler, French teacher Virginia Chessex, and art teacher Virginia Pratt. In this way, Mrs. Bush secured a highly educated and talented faculty. And as a practical matter-since women at that time were paid far less than men-she was able to staff her school without substantially raising tuition.

Just as she believed in the potential of each child to learn, Mrs. Bush had great faith in her faculty and staff and helped them in any way she could. In 1939 she hired Ruth Haight to run the dormitory and dining room and offered her husband, Pierce Haight, who had lost his law practice in the Depression, a parttime position teaching history. The Haights lived in the dorm, and their children Mary "Sis" and Warren attended the school.

\Vindsor V tley mpervised L ower School students in 1947-48 in the production of this mural for the school's 25th anniversary.

The mural was dedicated to Mrs. Bmh in April of 1949, shortly after her death.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Sis Pease later became the U.S. history teacher at Bush-but first she taught Spanish there. As a new teacher in 1947, she was nervous: "But Mrs. Bush was persuasive and insisted that a person could do anything she set her mind to do . She had confidence in me; more than I had in myself." 21 After Sis Pease taught for a year, she considered taking Spanish classes at the University of Washington, but Mrs. Bush advised her to travel in Mexico instead, to learn by experiencing the language.22 Of all the faculty members hired by Mrs. Bush, probably none was more important to the future of the school than music teacher Marjorie Chandler Livengood, who had been teaching at Garfield High School in the Seattle public school system. An interviewer reported that Marjorie Livengood said she "felt she would never be able to bring the things of music in her heart to reality in the public schools." While playing at a dance recital at Bush, she became intrigued by the possibilities of the institution. She recalled later that the smell of burning cocoa alerted her to the informality of Mrs. Bush's school. 23 After teaching part-time at the Helen BushParkside School for a few years, she joined the full -time faculty in 193 7. She greatly admired Mrs. Bush and lived in the Dorffel Drive house with the Bush family for ten years .

Marjorie Livengood was an accomplished musician who played viola in the Seattle Symphony. Under her direction, the Bush glee club gained citywide acclaim and sang in performances of Handel's

Messiah and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Students in her harmony class made their own arrangements of traditional melodies. She also taught a class called "Speech and Deportment," a required course in which girls learned how to stand and sit properly, how

Helen Taylor Bttsh and the Creation of a School

to enunciate, and how to project their voices. Proper projection meant a strong diaphragm. "In order ro graduate from that class," Dee Dickinson '45 relates, "we had to walk over Marjorie Livengood's diaphragm and let her walk over ours." 24

MRS. BUSH IDENTIFIED THE SCHOOL'S IDEALS as Truth, Beauty, and Purpose (although some girls irreverently changed them ro Truth, Beauty, and Propose. 25 ) Mrs. Bush wrote the words to the school song, and Marjorie Livengood set them to music.

God of Truth, give us sight into Thy wondrous laws of might, And out of chaos let there be Thy perfect, ordered harmony.

God of Beauty, help us to see all that's fair in flower and tree, And may our inner thoughts express themselves in outward loveliness.

God of Purpose, make us strong to use our knowledge and our song.

To make the world more true, more fair, 0 God of Purpose, make us dare!

To make the world more fair, more true, more fair!

In 1938, student Liz Gall designed a terra-cotta statue of three cherubs, representing the three ideals, as a gift to the school from the class of '38. A number of girls helped, including Betty Evans, Jean Kelly, Lesley Hampton, Adell Clemmer, and Sally Paine. For many years the statue sat in the center courtyard. Neglected during

29

30

THE BUSH SCHOOL

the 1970s, it was later found badly damaged and was restored in the early 1990s by art teacher Bill Baber and student Chris Chickadel '93. The statue now stands at the entrance of the Livengood Library. 26

IN THE EARLY YEARS the school was very

small. Enrollment for the entire school in 19 3 6-kindergarten through twelfth grade-was just 141. Graduating classes numbered only eleven to nineteen students \

each year until the mid-1940s. Thus

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students and faculty became quite close.

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Student Liz Gall (Jhown at left) and Betty Evam '38 work on the 1938 claJJ gift, a terra cotta Jtattte of three chembJ reprmnting Trnth, Beauty, and PurpoJe. Liz Gall BieJiot Jtill JcttlptJ in A !aJka.

Virginia Gall Morrow '3 7 echoed the

'

memories of many former students when she said, "The teachers were your friends, as well as the other students ." 27 Activities such as plays and sports tended to include everyone.

The student body was small, but very busy. The annual high school play, often by Shakespeare, was months in production.

School elections , holidays, and assemblies were occasions for skits or parodies. The school paper, The Rambler, reported a spirited election rally in J anuary 194 5 that featured the Always Flat Singing Society performing for candidate Nancy Lee Hanson '45, a quartet crooning "The Trolley Song" for candidate Pamela Harrah '45, and the "Phyllis Boogie" performed "with plenty of oomph" for candidate Phyllis Rattray '45. 28

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

The original school newspaper was a single mimeographed sheet called The Bush Bugle, produced while the school was still in Mrs. Bush's home. This was followed by the Barometer, then by the

Bush News. Eventually the school graduated to an offset-printed paper with photographs, which the student body voted to name The

Rambler. To cover printing costs, students solicited advertising. The content of The Rambler was described in 1949 as "gossip, sports, gossip, fashions, gossip, recent social events, who-was-seen-withwhom, themselves, and gossip." 29 The first yearbook was published in 1936. Editor Ellen Dudgeon '3 6 and her staff decided on the name Tykoe, an Indian word for "young tree"-as close as they could come to "bush."

The yearbook editor was a senior chosen by the faculty. Before the school literary magazine Flight began publication in 1951, the yearbook often featured poems and drawings by Upper School girls.

The medieval Christmas banquet was a spectacular annual event, the culmination of weeks of preparation. According to librarian Berniece Matthews, "Right after Thanksgiving the biology laboratory would become a workroom and the teachers .. . made streamers of greens a hundred feet long." 30 The art students made stained-glass windows out of colored cellophane, sewed cloth tapestries, and transformed the gym into a manor hall. Other students made wreaths of greens and fruit. Long tables were set with garlands and candles.

The Lord and Lady-chosen from among the parents-led a procession of parents and honored guests to the banquet, where they were served roast beef, a wassail bowl, and plum pudding.

Every student, from oldest to youngest, participated in period dress

31

32

THE BUSH SCHOOL

as heralds or servants or performers. The evening included traditional carols, a Nativity play, old English games, and dances. Midge Bowman recalls her first Christmas banquet in 1945: "I can remember my little costume and the choir in the balcony and all the candles ... . It was like participating in a religious ritual. It was so powerful." 31 Sadly, many of the banquet decorations were destroyed by fire in 1949, and the pageant was discontinued.

Another annual event was the smorgasbord dinner in late January, a lavish banquet of traditional Swedish food prepared by school cook Elsa Johnson. At the dinner, new student body officers were inducted, and student committees reported on their work.

Then each class presented a humorous skit, and the evening ended with the highlight: the faculty skits. Mary Rolfe Will recalls a hilarious send-up of Gone with the Wind, with Virginia Chessex as Scarlett O'Hara and Marjorie Livengood as Ashley Wilkes. Another time, the faculty presented the story of Ferdinand the Bull, with Virginia Pratt as the bull and Marjorie Livengood as the matador. 32 This early photo of a Helen Bush School commencement shows the graduating seniors descending the steps from the balcony to the lawn below.

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

The most important annual event- senior graduation- was first held on the lawn of Taylor Hall, with the graduates coming down from the balcony. By the 1940s, the tradition of an outdoor ceremony in the courtyard was firmly established. The junior class carried a syringa chain, woven the night before from flowers taken surreptitiously from the nearby Arboretum. The seniors filed in wearing powder blue robes and carrying bouquets of pink poppies.

Three seniors were chosen to speak on the school's ideals. The glee club sang "Panis Angelicus," with one or several seniors taking the solo part. The senior gift to the school was presented, and after all the music and speeches, "the diplomas are given to the seniors, who totter down the platform steps in their spectator pumps and hand their class rings to the tearful juniors." 33 Another annual tradition was the Senior Sneak, an unscheduled day off in spring, before graduation. Only Mrs. Bush knew when the seniors would leave, and no one knew where they wentalthough the juniors often tried to find them.

At Parkside, the Lower School, traditions featured the miniature Boston bulldog, Cuddleboots, owned by Parkside director Faith Vorhees King. Every morning the primary children would begin the day by reading the "Cuddleboots Daily," a bulletin written on the blackboard. If a child was hurt, he or she could go to the back of the room and be comforted by Cuddleboots . In spring, Cuddleboots shared his birthday with all of the boarders who had summer birthdays, and Elsa Johnson made a huge cake for the whole Lower School.

33

34

THE BUSH SCHOOL

THERE WERE FEW OPPORTUNITIES for foreign exchanges during the early years, although a few English children came to the school during World War II. There was, however, one memorable trip abroad.

During the summer of 1939, Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Livengood escorted a group of girls to Europe. The plan was for Mrs. Livengood to drive the girls across the United States and for Mrs. Bush to join them in New York for the trip to Europe. The car broke down in Oregon, and when she heard the news, Mrs. Bush said with characteristic aplomb, "Well, Marjorie Livengood, I guess you have to get another."

In Europe, the group settled into

pensions in Paris, where the girls toured and studied French and Mrs. Livengood was able to study with famed music teacher Nadia Boulanger. However, as political tensions mounted, it became necessary to Mrs. B11sh accompanies Pamela Harrah '42 on a school trip to E11rope in the smmner of 1939.

hustle the girls home just before the outbreak of World War II. They drove all night to the French port of Le Havre. According to Mrs. Livengood, "while waiting to get on the ship, they stayed in a place the exact nature of which none present has ever admitted but where there was a great deal of business in the corridors in the evenings." 34 Their ship for the trans-Atlantic crossing was crowded with refugees and tense with rumors of submarine attacks, but ultimately they arrived safely back in New York.

Mrs. Bush also believed in the value of outdoor and wilderness education, long before these became fashionable. In 1933 she bought property in the Cascade Mountains at Snoqualmie Pass,

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

35

some fifty miles east of Seattle, and had a ski lodge built. Seattle architect Carl F. Gould , whose daughter Anne was a student at the school, drew plans for a simple A-frame with a sleeping loft and a common room .

Classes took turns having weekend ski parties at the lodge, with parents or faculty as chaperones. Accommodations were primitive but comfortable. There were no tow ropes; each skier hiked up the hill in front of the lodge and skied back down. Mrs. Bush herself was an enthusiastic skier until her sixties . The lodge was sold during World War II because it was too costly to maintain and too difficult, with gas rationing, to use regularly. The building was removed when the highway over Snoqualmie Pass was widened in the 1950s.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT began under Mrs . Bush and evolved into a more formal system in the 1940s. Officers were changed midyear to give as many students as possible the experience of leadership. The first student constitution was developed in the early 1940s , with much of the work carried out by student Jean Osborne '43 . Teacher Pierce Haight, who was a lawyer, helped with the legal language.

Student government consisted of two branches, a council and a court. The council drafted school bylaws and advised the administration on programs and activities. The court ruled on minor infractions of the code of conduct, including gum chewing, writing personal notes during study periods, and improper dress . The Student Handbook, first developed by students in 1943-44 under the

This ski lodge, designed by Bush School father Carl F. Gould, was built in r933 before there were any tow-ropes on the mountain.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

guidance of Marjorie Livengood, laid out school regulations, appropriate dress and grooming, and expected behavior at assemblies and in the dining room.

By 1943-44 a variety of student committees were helping to direct school activities. The lineup included committees for the fine arts, sports, social events, school assemblies, and the library. The Publication Committee was responsible for the school paper and the yearbook, while the Social Service Committee organized community service on behalf of the school. Each committee was chaired by a senior and staffed by representatives from other grades.

From the beginning, the Upper School required a uniformwelcomed by most parents and grudgingly tolerated by the girls.

Mrs. Bush believed that a uniform would minimize the economic differences among the girls. The first classes wore blue pleated skirts, white middy blouses with colored ties, and white shoes.

The seventh- and eighth-grade girls wore blue ties. At their eighthgrade graduation ceremony, they were given red ties for the high school.3 5 This outfit was replaced in 1938 by a simple but serviceable blue wool suit. The design was slightly modified in 1947- the jacket lengthened and pockets added. Thereafter, hemlines rose and fell with the fashions, but the Bush uniform remained essentially the same until it was abolished in 1970. It was durable and inexpensive-a single suit could last for several years-but it was never stylish. Any Bush grad from those years can easily call to mind the faint smell of damp wool on a rainy afternoon.

Helen Taylot· Bush and the Creation of a School

A DORMITORY WAS PART OF THE PROPERTY acquired from Lakeside School, and this enabled Bush to accept boarders from as far away as Montana and Alaska. Local students also used the dormitory when their parents traveled out of town. During World War II, at least one student, Barbara Edenholm, boarded during the week because gas rationing made it impractical for daily travel from her family 's home in the Magnolia district of Seattle.36 The original dormitory stood on the site of the present Middle School and served as the residence of fifteen children aged six to twelve. The dormitory was eventually named Dorothy Allen Hall, after a popular housemother of the early 1930s. Ruth Haight, housemother from 1937 to 1941, later recalled, "It was quite a scramble to get fifteen boys and girls all cleaned up and ready for dinner-especially with one big bathroom." 37 Upper School boarders lived for a time in the lovely Ostrander home on Lake Washington, which had been loaned to the school. As a student residence, the home was called Rosemary Hall, after Rosemary Ostrander Ballinger, a member of the original 1935 graduating class. In 1937 the school purchased a large house closer to the school, on Thirty-seventh Avenue. Named Taylor Hall, this became the new residence hall for Upper School girls .

Regarding the dorm staff, the 1934- 35 catalog said that "women of competence and culture look after the well-being, the social activities, and intellectual interests of those in residence."38 Boarding students were escorted to church on Sunday and encouraged to attend concerts and plays. Mrs. Livengood relates how a group was taken to see the great conductor Arturo Toscanini: "One girl, whose family lived on a farm in the Yakima Valley, was adamant that she would not go at all . But they prevailed upon her and afterwards she said, decisively, 'You know, the little fellow was pretty good.' "39

37

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Barbara Small Keever '3 7 tells about being delivered to social events by Mr. Bush:

I remember the many times Mr. Bush would drive us in the old bus to the Lakeside dances, the formals at the Olympic (Hotel), and stage shows. We used to hate to file out of the Bush bus right in front of the Olympic, all dressed in our formals. So some of ttS asked Mr. Bush to let us out on a corner so we wouldn't look like we came from a boarding school. He was great. He would sit in that crazy bus on the corner and wait to see that we were all safely inside before he drove away. 40

THE SCHOOL THAT BEGAN in the Bush family home and then expanded to the former Lakeside School property continued to change and to grow. In 1936 the classrooms along Harrison Street were opened to the southern exposure with a wall of windows. The renovation was praised in a local newspaper for "making the classrooms as nearly out-of-doors as possible." 41 A gymnasium built at that time served as the assembly hall for school events. During World War II the tall gym windows had to be blacked out with heavy screens for security from possible air raids .

On several occasions, Mrs. Bush and the trustees considered moving the school to a more spacious location. Hamilton Rolfe, board president in the 1940s, related that shortly after the war, "We looked at a farm between Kenmore and Bothell [near Seattle}.

After careful examination we decided to stay where we were."42 The trustees agreed that the best plan was to develop the current site and hope to buy additional properties in the neighborhood.

Helen Taylor B11sh and the Creation of a School

39

The school acquired a valuable piece of property in 1944 when the historic mansion Gracemont was offered to Mrs. Bush at a bargain price. Gracemont had been the home of the Heffernan family, and it was the wish of Grace Heffernan Arnold- for whom Gracemont was named- that the school have the property after her death. The purchase included not only the house, but also the carriage house and the magnificent grounds. Gracemont became the residence of the seventh- through tenth-grade boarders . The preschool took over the basement, while the kindergarten met in the carriage house.

In 1947 the Lower School gymnasium was completed with a

generous donation from the estate of Frank Reed . It was named Reed Hall in honor of the three Reed boys, all Parkside students, who died with their parents in a tragic fire. In 1948, Mrs. Bush announced plans to remodel the Upper School and to build a new library and dining room. She even had hopes for a swimming pool in the central courtyard. But it fell to someone else to carry forward her vision for the school.

Gracemont became part of The Bush School in 1944 through the generosity of Grace Heffernan Arnold.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

BY THE l 940s, MARJORIE LIVENGOOD was both music teacher and vice-principal f?r the Upper School. She observed later that she and Mrs. Bush made a good team: "I was the disciplinarian and she had the vision."43 Mrs. Livengood was respected by the girls, who appreciated her wit and humor even as they struggled to meet her high standards.

In 1944, with the country at war, she came to a difficult decision. Approaching her friend and mentor, she said, "Mrs. Bush, I feel I must go to war." Although dismayed, Mrs. Bush replied, "Well, Marjorie Livengood, you must do what you feel you must."

(It is a measure of the formality of the time that these two women

who were close friends and coworkers for twelve years addressed one another as "Mrs. Bush" and "Marjorie Livengood.")44 Marjorie Livengood joined the Red Cross and served in the Pacific for one year. She rose to the rank of captain and was on her way to Japan when she received an appeal from Dr. Thomas Pelly on behalf of the Board of Trustees, asking her to return to the school. Mrs. Bush had learned that she had cancer and had named Marjorie Livengood as her successor. Mrs. Livengood honored the request and, while Mrs. Bush continued to lead the school, attended Columbia Teacher's College in New York City to earn a master's degree in school administration.

By 1947, Mrs. Livengood was directing the school, although Helen Bush and her husband, John, who was business manager, did not formally resign until June 1948. Graduation day that year was gray and rainy, and the ceremony was moved indoors to the gym.

Members of the class of' 48 complained because they couldn't hold commencement in the courtyard, until their adviser, Sis Haight (Pease), admonished them, "It means that Mrs. Bush can come to this graduation." Mrs. Bush was carried into the gym and placed on a chaise lounge at the side of the stage. Sis Pease recalls:

Helen Taylor Bush and the Creation of a School

She came in flat on her back, but stood up and, without notes, delivered the most beauti-

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ful speech . ... It was one of those grand

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moments. Marjorie would have preferred a

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planned speech, but this was spontaneous.

This poured out of her. It was her vision of teaching and education . . .. I just remember being inspired. 45

Many of those present realized that she was saying farewell to the school she had founded .

The Bushes had planned to retire in

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California, but Helen Taylor Bush did not live to realize that dream. She died on September 22, 1948, at the age of sixty-nine. One of the graduating seniors in 1948, Meg Greenfield, wrote to Mrs. Livengood from college, "When the girls at Bush live up to her principles of fairness, understanding, and magnanimity of spirit, they will be sustaining her life in their own. "46 Helen Taylor Bush was a visionary who had a rare ability to translate her vision into practice. She was a leader who inspired teachers and parents to trust in the process of learning. Hamilton Rolfe, board president during her final years, later remarked that his association with the school was "one of the outstanding experiences of my life. Mrs. Bush was one of the most understanding and energetic persons I have ever known ."47

This letter expresses condolences from Meg Greenfield, one of Bush's most illustrious alumnae who went on to become a Pulitzer Prize winning editor of The Washing ton Post editorial page and a Newsweek columnist.

It was one of the f ew documents to s1wvive the April, I 94 9 fire at the Bush School.

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Chapter Two

The Marjorie Livengood Years.·

1948-1967 Under the direction of Marjorie Livengood, the Helen BushParkside School grew steadily, enlarged its physical plant, and earned a solid reputation for academic excellence. In her own way, she carried forward the spirit of the school. In a more conservative era, academic structures became formalized . Midge Bowman later commented that at this time, "much of the innovative philosophy which had been the foundation of the school had become institutionalized, i.e. we didn't talk about it much." ' Many people have remarked on the differences in character and style of the school's first two administrators. Mrs. Bush is described as the "grande dame"-an old-fashioned lady with a casual, almost absent-minded style. Although deeply concerned with the quality of the educational experience of her students, she was sometimes inattentive to administrative details. She believed that things would work out for the best, and generally they did.

Mrs. Livengood, on the other hand, was the drill sergeant who made things happen. In speech class, she would order the girls to "Suck in your gut!" In an assembly, she might briskly run her finger down the spine of a slumping student in the back row. While Mrs. Bush was casual about her appearance-hair awry, slip sometimes showing- Mrs. Livengood was always erect, energetic, and immaculately groomed. Sadly, after she became principal, she felt it was inappropriate to be too familiar with students and reserved her Marjorie Chandler Livengood.

famous humor for the faculty. By the 1960s, many students knew her only as a disciplinarian.

43

44

THE B USH SCHOOL

MARJORIE LIVENGOOD MET H ER FIRST SERIOUS CHALLENGE as principal on April 18, 1949, when, in the early hours of the morning, the Upper School caught fire. It was the first school day after spring vacation, but no one was yet in the building.

Next door in Dorothy Allen Hall, housemother Norah Whiton quickly roused her fifteen young charges and evacuated them in their pajamas. 2 The fire department soon arrived and had the blaze under control within twenty minutes. However, the administrative offices were destroyed, along with all school The automatic alarm system roused Bush School senior,jane Hipke, 17, who promptly woke up homemother Norah Whiton so she could lead the children to safety. Photo courtesy of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer archive at MOHAI.

records . The gym was a complete loss, and so were the chemistry lab and several other Upper School classrooms; the library sustained severe damage. The newly completed Lower School was saved by a huge metal fire door that was drawn across the hall each night.

When senior Anne Rolfe Kellogg arrived at the school that morning, the sight was "heartbreaking." She remembers that "everyone pulled together stacking and drying books." 3 Students helped to clear away the rubble and lay down planks to classrooms that were spared. The lost records included term papers for Mrs. Livengood's "Introduction to Current Problems" class (known as "IckPea"); she was forced to guess what their grades would have been.

Cause of the fire was never determined, but it may have resulted from damage to furnace connectors from an earthquake some days before. Somehow the school made do for the rest of the

These boys were among the students who left their blazing dormitory and found refuge in Mn Lillian Moody's home across the street. They are (from left) David Arnett, 10, J ohn Mattinger, 11 , Barrie Arnett, 1 3, and J ohn Throne, 9. Photo courtesy of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer archive at MOHAI.

The Marjorie Livengood Years: 1948-1967

45

school year and began construction of a new

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facility in the summer. That fall, newly

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hired teacher Meta Johnson (O'Crotty) had to teach English in the chemistry shack in the courtyard. "I remember wondering where to put my papers," she said, "because my desk was the sink with a great faucet in the middle. "4 As luck would have it, the Board of Trustees had increased the school's fire insurance the previous fall from $11,000 to $45,000. The money paid for a new building, completed by December 1949, that was described in The Rambler as "an architect's dream of how a school should look in this day and age . The rooms are spacious, with much window space and nice wide doorways. The library has one whole wall of windows with a high, high ceiling. "5 At the annual meeting in February 1950, trustee George Powell reported that "actually we are better off now than before the fire, as now we have a fine working plant as an example of what we have to offer to students and parents." The insurance settlement did not cover the cost of a new gymnasium, however. Believing this to be "an absolute necessity," the trustees began a capital campaign to raise $31,000. 6 Mrs. Livengood ran the school with the help of only a business manager, a part-time Lower School director, and a secretary. She handled admissions, college advising, fund-raising, and development. She directed maintenance, and if no one else was available, she cleaned the bathrooms. This was a period of getting by on inadequate school income.

The B11sh School makes page I of The Seattle Daily Times on Tttesday, April r9, r949, as its administrative offices and gymnasittm go up in flames . The three-alarm fire started at 4:40 a.m. on the first day of the spring term in the first year of Marjorie Livengood's direction. Flames shot fifty feet in the air and could be seen for miles around.

Copyright r949 The Seattle Times Company

THE BUSH SCHOOL

In 1956 the trustees approved the first significant tuition increases in twenty years, resulting in tuition of up to $400 a year for the primary grades and up to $650 for the high school. At the same time, Mrs. Livengood secured salary increases for the faculty.

Nevertheless, salaries remained low relative to the public schools.

Meta O'Crotty recalled that her first contract with the school, for the academic year 1949-50, was for $1,200. "And when I think of the simple things we used to do on $1,200 a year, we really didn't think we were deprived," she said. "We didn't have cars, and we made a point of living close to the school. "7

IN HER ADDRESS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING of the School Corporation in November 1960, Mrs. Livengood shared her vision of the Bush-educated individual. She maintained that college preparation was only part of their mission: "I believe our end product is an enriched, motivated , self-disciplined student." She reviewed the progress of eight girls from the previous three graduating classes who had all attended the school for twelve years: "During their years here at Bush, these girls were contributors, responsible citizens , givers not takers. "8 The program at the Lower School, Parkside, also remained true to Mrs . Bush's vision. Classes were small and flexible. Science was based on nature study. Freedom of expression was encouraged through art and music. Always seeking new methods of teaching, Mrs. Livengood enthusiastically embraced the Initial Teaching Alphabet system for the primary grades in 1964. The ITA system uses forty-four phonetic symbols to help children master the inconsistencies of written English. Once children can read and write, toward the end of first grade, they are eased into the standard alphabet of twenty-six letters.

The M arjorie Livengood Years: 1948-1967

47

After three years with the system, first-grade teacher Ruth Nordeng reported, "With ITA, children have built-in confidence.

Reading and writing become pleasurable experiences ." 9 However, several more years revealed that the children were not making as smooth a transition as was hoped. "Nobody could spell," Mrs. Livengood frankly admitted, so the ITA system was quietly abandoned. 10 There was very little interaction between the two divisions of the school: Parkside went through the sixth grade and was coeducational; Helen Bush School included grades seven through twelve and was for girls only. The Upper School was a college preparatory institution. Its curriculum, less flexible than in the Lower School, reflected the accepted standards for liberal arts education: four years of English, four years of history, two years each of math, science, and foreign language. There were very few choices or electives . One could take art classes or sing in the glee club. Advanced math, but not calculus, was offered as an elective.

Even here, Mrs. Livengood encouraged innovation. A "new math" curriculum was introduced in 1959. National concerns about science education during the Cold War prompted a new requirement in 1966 for a third year of lab science. Science teacher Lucy Pryde developed a two-year combined physics-chemistry course for juniors and seniors.

Lucy Pryde (right) assiJtJ students Uyn A dalist '68 (left ) and Kathleen Callison '68 in her laboratory in I 966.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

"ONLY ONE TEACHER IN A H UNDRED is truly great," Marjorie Livengood often remarked, "but we have more than our share. " 11 Like Mrs. Bush she was inclined to trust her instincts about people and encourage those she thought had potential.

One fortuitous discovery was Meta Johnson (O'Crotty). Meta was visiting a friend in Seattle the summer after her graduation from college in 1949, and as the two women were out walking, they met Marjorie Livengood on the steps of the school. After a brief conversation about schools and literature, Mrs. Livengood asked Meta if she had ever considered teaching . According to Meta, "I told her I never once in my life considered teaching school, and she said, 'Well, try it.' " This photo shows Meta O'Crotty in her classroom in her early years at Bush.

Initially hired as an English teacher by Mrs. Livengood in 1949, she became one of Bush's longest term faculty members.

Mrs. Livengood needed an English teacher, was evidently impressed, and hired her on the spot. Meta taught for two years, then took time off when she married and started her family. She returned to Bush in 1960 and taught there until her death in 1994.

She often joked that Mrs. Livengood had "taken her off the street," adding with appreciation, "What a life-teaching school. I can't imagine a better one." 12 Meta O'Crotty was, by any standard, an extraordinary teacher.

She loved language, loved word play: "I used to say, 'Education, thy name is Livengood.' Of course, the purpose of education is living well or living good-we used to have fun with that. " 13 In the 1960s she decided that television was undermining the practice of reading, so she began the custom of reading aloud to her high school

The Marjorie Livengood Yean: 1948-1967

49

classes. She revealed the layers of meaning in such children's classics as Charlotte's Web and The Sword in the Stone with dramatic pauses and meaningful glances.

Mrs. Livengood continued the practice of hiring Bush alumnae to the faculty. People would ask, "How do you cope with these novices, so inexperienced in teaching methods?" And she would reply, "Easily, as they are so well trained in the Bush tradition, its integrity and appreciation of each individual." ' 4 In 1947-48, the faculty included four alumnae: Sis Haight '41, teaching history and Spanish; Mary Rolfe '43, fourth grade and Lower School music; Lesley Hampton '3 8, seventh- and eighth-grade art and music; and Jane Julian Miskimen '39, kindergarten.' ) The following year Jean Osborne '43 joined the staff as drama teacher. Alumna Midge McPhee Bowman '51 returned to Seattle in 19 58 and was hired to teach music. In 1960 she left to raise her children but remained close to the school until, in 1967, she returned to teach dance and music.

When Windsor Utley left the school to pursue painting fulltime, Emily Morse was hired as art teacher. She tended to give the children free rein. Mrs. Livengood recalled that one year the fourth graders got quite carried away with pouring and blotting paint, "thinking they were being devilish, but the results were so effective that she had all the kids do it, and then had the Upper School girls do it, too. " That same year, the Helen Bush-Parkside School made an impressive showing at the citywide art show "because of the excellent plastic effect they achieved."' 6 Margaret McCall had been a high school principal before she came to Bush in 1943.

She began by working part-time in the

Teachers such as Amelia McCuskey keep students' rapt attention.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Parkside gym, stepped in when the third-g rade teacher quit, and quickly demonstrated her ability to inspire students of all ages.

Over the next twenty-seven years, she taught English, science, mathematics, current events, and the school's first study of atomic energy. However, she is remembered by most as the Latin teacher. 17 Latin study began in the seventh and eighth grades as the basis for foreign language study. With Mrs. McCall, Latin was no dead subject. A committed pacifist, she drew parallels between Julius Caesar and the atrocities of World War II. Students sang Latin Christmas carols and celebrated the Ides of March.

Dorothy Miller's career at Bush typifies the fluidity of assignments under Marjorie Livengood. She came to the school as a receptionist in 1952 , already in her sixties and looking for something interesting to do . Within a year, she was vice-principal.

She later persuaded Mrs. Livengood to allow her to establish and direct the Drama Department. She was a t iny woman with a big voice and grand gestures. The lack of male performers did not deter Mrs. Miller from such serious dramas as Our Town and full -dress Shakespeare. When she retired Another multi-talented faculty member was Dorothy Miller, shown here in r 968. She began her career as a secretary and later became the drama coach and speech instrnctor for the whole school. She briefly served as viceprincipal as well.

after eighteen years, she left a collection of more than a thousand costumes, many of her own design. 18

IN THE Mrn-1950s, Mrs. Livengood reported to the Board of Trustees that the school was filled to capacity with 120 students in Parkside (grades one through six), 120 students in Helen Bush School (grades seven through twelve), and 60 to 70 children aged

The Marjorie Livengood Years: 1948- 1967

two to five in the preschool. This fact created a new situation in the history of the school: the need for competitive admissions.

In the early years, Mrs. Bush had generally accepted all applicants. "We were very casual in those days," she once said. "We never asked anyone to come to school, we just received those who appeared." 19 She believed that every child could learn, given the right stimulation. Teachers recall her frequently asking, "How can we meet this child's needs 1"20 As the school expanded and gained wider recognition, it became more a question of "Whose needs do we best meet' " As Bush became identified as a college preparatory school, admissions became more selective. Mrs. Livengood herself decided whom to admit on the basis of a test and an interview. She felt strongly that to accept a student who was not likely to succeed showed a lack of integrity. 21 Mrs. Bush had frequently allowed individual students to attend on a full or partial scholarship, but there was no formal system for maintaining the scholarships or accounting for them. After her death in 1948, the Alumnae Association established the Helen Taylor Bush Scholarship but took several years to raise money to fund it. As late as 1952 , Mrs. Livengood reported to the Board of Trustees that "there are currently some grants in aid, but no straight scholarships. "22 One of the significant achievements of this administration was the creation of a stable source of scholarship funding through the combined efforts of the Alumnae Association and the Mothers ' Club.

By 1953 there was enough money for a competitive scholarship open to high school freshmen in the Seattle area. In 1961, the selec-

52

THE BUSH SCHOOL

tion committee considered sixty applications, interviewed five candidates, and awarded two full-time scholarships and one half-time scholarship. 23 By 1967 the scholarship endowment totaled $15,000, with an annual award of $4,350 divided among seven students.24 The Mothers' Club sponsored fund-raising events, most notably a three-day annual fall rummage sale called the Bush Basket. In the 1960s the Mothers' Club sponsored the showing of a first -run film every year to raise money to send one Bush student abroad for a school year. Films included judgment at Nuremberg, My Fair Lady, and Dr. Zhivago. The club also provided money to pay for landscaping, a copy machine, a new physics lab, recreational equipment, and library books.

This antiqttated kitchen in Dorothy Allen Hall became the focal point of a I 95 6 capital campaign to replace the hall with a new academic bttilding. The campaign was mccessfid and a mttlti-pttrpose bttilding was constructed which later became the Middle School.

The Marjorie Livengood Yean: 1948-1967

53

A NEW PHASE OF SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION got under way in the mid-1950s. Mrs. Livengood and the Board of Trustees recommended ending the Lower School boarding program, tearing down Dorothy Allen Hall, and replacing it with an academic building. At the 1956 annual meeting of the school corporation, members approved the plan after viewing a slide presentation of the antiquated kitchen facilities in Dorothy Allen Hall. 25 Construction began the next summer. The new building-present home of the Middle School-housed a kitchen and dining room, science lab, art and music rooms, and a conference room .

A decline in the Upper School boarding program prompted further changes. The original Taylor Hall was sold in 1961 and a smaller, Spanish-stucco house opposite the school entrance was purchased for Upper School boarders. This house, also known as Taylor Hall, later held an infirmary on the ground floor and Mrs. Livengood 's residence upstairs. It is now referred to as the Head of School's House.

By the mid-1960s the need for additional classroom space was apparent, especially for the expanding science program. In 1966, the Building Committee of the Board of Trustees approved construction of a new building at the far end of the inner courtyard.

Originally built for music and art classes and conference rooms, it later became the Marjorie C. Livengood Learning Center, then the Marjorie C. Livengood Library.

Originally purchased in 1961 as a dormitory for Upper School boarders, the second Taylor Hall later became the school's infirmary and Mrs. Livengood's residence (upstairs).

It is now the Head of School's House.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

54

STUDENT LIFE IN THE 19 5Os reflected the prevailing conservatism of the time. Girls were expected to attend a half-dozen cultural events before they graduated. Each girl was also required to speak before the entire school in some kind of public forum by delivering a speech, reading a poem, or introducing a guest speaker.

Attendance at chapel every Wednesday morning was required, and girls could also fulfill their public speaking requirement by leading a service. Mrs. Livengood was scrupulously nonsectarian and invited speakers from churches and synagogues all over the city to address the Upper School.

The structure of student government remained essentially unchanged, with a student council, a student court, and various committees . The 1954 Student Handbook was more formalized and detailed than the one drafted by students in 1943. Senior privileges Upper School l11nch contin11ed as a tradition at Bush thro11gh the I 960s.

The dining room pict11red here later was incorporated into the Middle School.

were itemized , and uniform infractions clearly defined. Lipstick might be worn after the ninth grade, and colorless nail polish; no other makeup was allowed. It was customary to rise whenever adults or members of the senior class entered the room.

Upper School lunch was a formal , sitdown meal with assigned seating. A senior or teacher served as hostess at each table.

Lunch began at 12:35 p.m. At 12:50 the chimes were rung , all eating and conversation ceased, and grace was sung or spoken.

Then, after any announcements were made, a student would clear the serving dishes, and the table could be excused.

In the 1950s, an all-school program that included music, dancing, and drama marked the Christmas holidays. Other annual events included the late-January smorgasbord dinner, Dad's Night,

The Marjorie Livengood Years: 1948-1967

55

and the Spring Fine Arts Festival. As always, there were memorable theatrical productions, often three or four a year. In 1948, alumnae Mary Rolfe and Jean Osborne directed a lively, if abbreviated, Lower School production of HMS Pinafore. In 1966, the junior class produced The Sound of

Music with an all-school cast. Music teacher Barbara Gould, who had toured with the Trapp Family Singers in her teens, played the part of Maria. As in all Upper School productions, girls gamely took the male leads. The school's first literary magazine, Flight, supervised by English teacher Meta Johnson (O'Crotty), began publication in the 1950-51 school year.

The sports calendar was simple: volleyball in the fall, basketball in winter, and badminton or baseball in spring. At intramural competitions, the Student Handbook stated, "100% participation [was} equally important as playing the game. "26 Varsity and junior varsity teams were chosen in volleyball and basketball for games against St. Nicholas, another Seattle girls ' school.

Graduation continued to follow the Bush tradition, with one addition that was pure Livengood: marching practice. A sure sign of spring was the entire Upper School student body marching around the courtyard and across the playing field to the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance." Not only did the students have to drill in time to the music, but they also were arranged according to height. From the shortest to the tallest, students in grades seven through ten marched in and took their seats before the g raduation ceremony. The juniors, also arranged by height and carrying the flower chain, followed them. Finally the seniors came down the aisle in caps and gowns, marching at a stately half-time.

T he Lower School production of HMS Pinafore used students to build and move all the sets of this production.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

WHEN BUSH GIRLS WENT OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY, they were reminded: "Remember who you are and what you represent."

Appearances were very important to Mrs. Livengood. Boarders had to wear clean white gloves to the theater. To be seen anywhere smoking in a Bush uniform was a serious offense because it reflected poorly on the image of the school.

But Marjorie Livengood was not concerned with appearances for their own sake. She believed that self-discipline was essential to character development. She cared deeply for each student, especially the Upper School girls whom she knew so well. On one occasion, she admonished a notorious underachiever: "What are you saving yourself for, my dea6'" 27 Sis Pease later remarked, "I think the girls often didn't understand-as children in a family don't understand-that when you are being disciplined or questioned, you're cared for. "28 It was now the mid-1960s, a time of dramatic change in American culture. The formal conventions of the '50s were giving way to the heady individualism of the '60s. The free-speech movement emboldened students across the country to demand-often rudely-more choices, more personal freedom, and a more flexible and relevant curriculum. At Bush, for some students, regulations that had seemed perfectly reasonable in the '40s and '50s now seemed unbearably rigid and outmoded.

In the fall of 1966, Marjorie Livengood announced her intention to resign at the end of the school year-both she and the Board agreeing it was time for a new administration to lead the school through important decisions in an era of change. According to those who knew her well, Mrs. Livengood understood and accepted this, but nevertheless found it very difficult to leave.

The Marjorie Livengood Years: 1948-1967

When she retired, Marjorie Livengood had worked for forty years in education-thirty of those years at the Bush School, including nineteen years as principal. In April 1967, she was honored by The Seattle Times with its Woman of Achievement Award, which noted that "she has come to symbolize quality and imagination in education and her influence and example have reached far beyond the local scene .... ". 29 She was also honored at a luncheon by the Mothers' Club, which announced plans for a Marjorie C. Livengood Scholarship.

She spent a year traveling and visiting Bush friends and alumnae, then took a position at a California school for five years before retiring altogether. After her death in 1980, a memorial service was held at Gracemont. Many spoke of the profound impact that she had had on their lives, among them Sis Pease:

Marjorie was a person who exemplified what we mean by the word "character." She had real character, discipline, love, commitment, and joy-rare commodities these days, and we respected her and loved her and tried to emulate those values . ... Restless, vibrant, ebullient, creative, and always interested in people, ideas, progress, and the arts, she was unique, and I feel privileged to have been guided by her. . . .30

57

Chapter Three

The John Grant Years.·

1967-1972 After a lengthy search, the Board of Trustees announced the hiring of John Grant as first headmaster of the Helen Bush-Parkside School, effective with the 1967-68 school year. Grant had a background in art history and experience in school administration, although he had never headed a school. He was in his early thirties , and the trustees expected him to provide vigorous leadership at a difficult time.

The challenges facing the school in 1967 were real and serious.

Although it had a solid academic reputation and excellent staff, the financial picture was not good. The school had no long-range plan, and operated with a budget deficit. Facilities were cramped, with little space for new programs, and badly in need of repairs. Faculty salaries were deplorably low-between $5,200 and $6,000 in 1967-68-and included no health benefits. Fund-raising efforcs were largely directed to covering operating expenses .' The curriculum was academically sound but dated.

In addition, student morale was low. Many girls questioned the

uniforms, the strict code of behavior, even the idea of single-sex education. In December 1968, in an editorial in The Rambler, sophomore Jane Fleischbein '71 submitted a blistering attack on the school, irreverently titled "hellon bush. "2 Speaking of her "imprisonment" of four years, she criticized the curriculum, the pressure for grades, the rigidity of the rules. In the same issue an

John Grant.

59

60

THE BUSH SCHOOL

anonymous article titled "Horror Hall" attacked "the rigid, medieval rules" prohibiting smoking and requiring church attendance for boarding students. 3 Over the next five years, the leadership of the school addressed many of these issues. Much credit goes to the Board of Trustees, whose members donated considerable time, creative energy, and financial These r96os boarders in uniform exemplify the rigid status quo the students began to question.

Standing, from left: Lila Mutter, Jan Figenshow, Ellyn Cunningham, Carolina Oehninger, Homemother Mrs. Margit Fritsche, Vicki Kaiser, Kathy Rolett, and Roberta Shafer. Sitting from left: Margo Eytinge, Edna Ruby, Cindy Carpenter, and Mary Anne Carpenter.

support to the task of guiding the school through this difficult period. Headmaster John Grant, along with faculty, parents, and many students, shared in this exciting but demanding work.

The two most urgent and far-reaching questions before the trustees were, first, "Should the Upper School admit boys?" and, second, "Should the school remain in the city or move to the suburbs?" There were strong opinions on both sides of each question.

The trustees recognized that whatever course they took, the school needed to expand in order to survive financially.

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY OF ADMITTING BOYS as early as 1964. The Helen Bush School had not become an all-girls' school by choice. Mrs. Bush had wanted to admit boys to the upper grades but felt bound by her pledge to Lakeside School that she would admit only girls- a condition set

by Lakeside before it would turn its old school facility over to Bush. By the mid-'60s some of the trustees thought it might be worth reconsidering that agreement.

The minures of the Long Range Planning Committee in the spring of 1968 reveal a discussion about the value of single-sex

Thejohn Grant Years: 1967-1972

education. "Children are growing up differently these days," the minutes note, "[and} the role of women continues to change." 4 In the 1940s and 1950s, young women were educated for lives of service, citizenship, and motherhood, but not necessarily for careers. A strong case could be made in those years for creating a place where girls could learn and grow without the social pressures and competition that boys often generated. But by the 1960s, many students and parents took the opposite position: that girls would benefit from the intellectual stimulation of learning with boys, especially if they planned to enter the job market. Perhaps the best course for bright young women was not isolation from young men, but interaction with them as equals .

At a Board retreat at Rosario on Orcas Island in October 1969, the Long-Range Planning Committee urged that the Board develop a plan for coeducation. The trustees held a meeting in January 1970 to set the question before parents and teachers. Although there were strong views on both sides, a majority favored coeducation. Financial considerations also figured in the decision.

Historically, men tended to support their alma maters to a greater degree than women, and parents were inclined to pay more to educate their sons.

Also in 1969, Lakeside School (all boys) and St. Nicholas School (all girls) initiated talks about merging into a single coeducational, independent school. The Bush trustees were approached about participating in this combined school, perhaps as the Middle School campus. After some deliberation, the trustees declined, deciding that the K- 12 continuity at Bush was central to the character of the school.

6r

THE BUSH SCHOOL

The Lakeside-St. Nicholas merger proceeded in the fall of 1971. In this way, Lakeside School achieved an immediate balance between boys and girls, while Bush found it necessary to bring in boys gradually. The new arrangements made Lakeside a serious competitor for students and forced the Bush trustees to speed up their plans for coeducation. 5 6 The decision to bring boys into the Upper School was announced in the fall of 1970. Shortly afterward, the name of the school was formally changed to The Bush School, dropping both "Helen" and "Parkside." The trustees felt that a less feminine name would be more attractive to young men. In the fall of 1971, a fully coeducational sixth grade in the Lower School advanced to the seventh grade in the Upper School, a small number of boys were admitted to the eighth grade, and several brave young men entered the Upper School.

The school was hard hit by the decision of thirty Upper School girls to transfer to Lakeside in the fall of 1971 . Reporting to the trustees, John Grant suggested that the girls were restless and eager for change and that they believed they would have more choices and more academic freedom at Lakeside. 7 The trustees had just approved a long-overdue 10 percent salary increase for the faculty, based on a projected Upper School enrollment of 180. Contracts for the following year had already been issued. The sudden loss of more than 15 percent of the high school's students created a budget crisis.

Trustees met with the faculty at an emergency meeting. Board President Peter Eising assured the faculty that the Board was committed to increased salaries . But if the increases were paid in the coming year, he continued, the school would face a severe crisis, possibly even closure of the high school. He asked the faculty to

Thejoh n Grant Years: 1967-1972

consider rolling salaries back to 1970-71 levels. The faculty decided that "each teacher will have the right to voluntarily reduce the previously agreed upon salary to any percentage between 0% and 10%. "8 In the end, 95 percent of the faculty agreed to the rollback.

THE ISSUE OF THE SCHOOL'S LOCATION

raised a very different set of questions, involving the relationship of the school to the community. In 1967, concerned about the school's cramped quarters, several

,.. .t .

trustees purchased eighty acres of undeveloped land near Lake Sammamish as a potential future campus. Some parents expressed concern about the safety of the school at its urban location, especially after some violent incidents following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in the spring of 1968. 9 These concerns were not unfounded: That summer, forty windows at the school were broken, several buses were vandalized, and on two occasions unexploded Molotov cocktails were found at the entrance of the school. 10 Advocates of the rural campus argued that the space was needed for expanding programs, particularly physical education activities for boys. They cited the 1969 evaluation by the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools that had criticized the school's facilities and the limited play area for the lower grades.

On a more spacious campus, the school could increase enrollment and become financially more efficient.

The existing location had strong advocates as well. There were close ties between the school and many families in the neighborhood. The city offered broader cultural resources and more opportunities for independent learning. Civic leaders urged the Board to

This typed draft entitled "ALTERNATIVE PLANS FOR BUSH SCHOOLS"

lists all the options available to the administration incl11ding "staying where we are, developing a town site, or moving to a co11ntry site and developing a Co11ntry Day and Boarding School for girls away from the city."

THE BUSH SCHOOL

stem the movement of independent schools to the suburbs.

Advocates of the urban campus agreed that sports would be problematic- Bush probably would not be able to offer football at its present location. But they argued for more creative use of the neighborhood facilities to add such activities as tennis, crew, and sailing.

Architect (and Bush parent) John M. Scott was hired to conduct a site evaluation, and he determined that the existing school needed a new gymnasium, a new library, and extensive remodeling throughout. Scott estimated it would take approximately $2.5 million to upgrade the current site, and considerably more to build a new campus from scratch.

After a meeting with parents and faculty, the trustees adopted a long-range plan for expansion at the existing location-and, at the same time, for significant long-range capital fund-raising. In March 1971, Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman sent Headmaster John Grant a letter of appreciation for "the vote of confidence which you gave Seattle by last week's announcement of your intention to continue operation within the city." The mayor applauded the school's decision not "to desert the city for the supposed safety and tranquillity of suburbia." 11 The school retained the Eastside land near Lake Sammamish through the economic recession of the mid-1970s and then sold it at a handsome profit.

As THE SCHOOL GREW, the need for a more specialized administration became apparent. In 1967, Sis Pease, who had returned to Bush as history teacher the previous year, became the first dean of students for the Upper School, a position that later became the director of the Upper School. She was one of the leading voices for institutional change. Looking back some years later, she said that

T he j ohn G rant Years: 1967-1972

These fim loving members of the class of r 968 head out of town for Senior Sneak Day.

"much of the relaxed and liberal atmosphere at Bush began when I was head of the Upper School and despite much parental opposition. I've always believed that more choice, not less, should be given to students." 12 From 1966 until her retirement in 1991, Sis Pease offered a rigorous course of study in U .S. history to seniors, none of whom will ever forget the Missouri Compromise. The class of '68 was so fond of her that they "kidnapped" her to accompany their Senior Sneak.

A need for greater leadership in the lower grades was cited in the 1969 evaluation of the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools. 13 As a result, Midge Bowman became fulltime director of the Lower School in the fall of 1969. She brought to the position her experience in music , passion for the arts in general, and strong instincts about early childhood education. Over the next few years and continuing into the administration of Les Larsen, changes in the Lower School came fast and furious. The facility was extensively remodeled to accommodate larger, more flexible classes. The sixth grade moved up to the Middle School,

66

THE BUSH SCHOOL

and the kindergarten joined the Lower School, becoming the first all-day kindergarten in Seattle.14 In 1971, the trustees had approved creation of the Middle School as a separate administrative unit for grades six through eight. It was argued that the Middle School years constitute a crucial, formative period This photo of eleventhgrader Katrina \Vootton and I nstmctor John Pollack taken in I9 72 shows one of the first expeditions of the new Wilderness Program which was created to enhance the experiential learning component of both the Middle School and the Upper School.

and should have faculty and programs dedicated to the needs of this age. Mike Douglas, the first director of the Middle School, encouraged such innovations as the Wilderness Program in order to foster a separate identity for the Middle School children.

In 1970, several long-term faculty retired. Latin teacher Margaret McCall had been at Bush for twenty-seven years, including six years under Mrs. Bush, when she decided it was time to say

"Vale." Speech and drama teacher Dorothy Miller also retired, after eighteen years. The two friends celebrated their retirement by taking a European cruise together. ' 5

THE MOST VISIBLE CHANGE IN STUDENT LIFE at this time was the decision to end school uniforms . The current Bush uniform had not changed significantly since it was adopted in the late 1930s: a serviceable blue wool suit, simple white blouse, and saddle shoes. Mrs. Bush had favored a school uniform as an "economic leveler." Many Bush students came from wealthy families, while others came from more modest backgrounds. With everyone wearing the same clothes, economic differences were minimized.

The j ohn G rant Yean: 1967-1972

By the late 1960s, however, the uniform had come to mean the opposite of Mrs. Bush's intentions. The girls who spoke out against uniform dress no longer wanted to be so visibly associated with a private girls' school, arguing that this set them apart from the community. Moreover, as fashions changed, the uniform itself became more and more distasteful. Never stylish, it seemed hopelessly dowdy in an era of bright colors and miniskirts. In the mid-l 960s the regulation length was two inches above the knee, measured with the student kneeling on the ground. In the spring of 1968, the Mothers ' Club offered an optional spring uniform, a simple cotton shift in three pastel colors. This compromise did little to soften student resentment of uniforms.

As director of the Upper School, Sis Pease was obligated to enforce the dress code, although she was in sympathy with the girls. "A group of girls came to me and said, 'Mrs. Pease, all we're doing in Student Court is deciding whether girls can wear three hair ribbons or three rings or not.'

They thought it was silly, and I felt it was silly for me, too .'' 16 Late in 1969, John Grant alerted the Mothers' Club that the juniors, the class of '71, were "rumbling" about the uniforms. In his opinion, this was not an educational issue, but rather a "household pocketbook" matter, which he deferred to the Mothers ' Club.

The students were planning a formal proposal; he urged the mothers to be open-minded. 17 In March 1970, a student referendum on free dress won 77 percent of the vote. A committee of representatives from all grades, led by Council President Sharon Stephens '7 0 and faculty adviser Barbara Shorrock, delivered their petition to the Mothers ' Club on May 6, 1970. The Free Dress Proposal stated:

The Jtiff, hot uniformJ of the 1960J mddenly gave way to thiJ camal drm of the 1970J Jhown here in the library on Laurie Moffett Padden '74 and Anne BurrowJ '74 .

68

THE BUSH SCHOOL

If Helen Bush {School} is going to help people become individuals, then each person should have the right to wear what she wants, when she wants to. The matter of dress is peripheral to the important learning experience, and we feel that too much time is spent on petty things like uniform infringements. . . . 18

Evidently the mothers present were impressed by these arguments and by the "positive democratic way" in which the issue had been presented. 19 They decided to eliminate the uniform for the following school year on a trial basis. At a stroke, all the old rules about dress, jewelry, makeup, and other adornment were abolished.

Students also demanded more freedom during the lunch hour, a request that eventually led to the open campus.

The class of 1971 further broke with tradition at graduation when, instead of the customary Baccalaureate service at Epiphany Church, they decided to share some of their creative gifts with one another, parents, and friends. Long afterward, faculty recall the luminous dance performed that year by Jeri Lee Cunningham '71 in the courtyard. From that date on, Baccalaureate has been an opportunity for members of the senior class to showcase their talents .

THE UPPER SCHOOL CURRICULUM had changed very little under Marjorie Livengood: a basic course of study in English, history, science, and math, with electives in foreign languages and the arts.

The school prided itself on small classes, usually about fifteen students, and excellent teachers. The facul ty, although not highly paid, valued the stimulation of lively young minds, seminar-style teaching, and interesting colleagues .

Thej ohn Grant Years: 1967-1972

By the late 1960s, however, there were student complaints about the rigidity of the program, with too few electives and too much emphasis on grades . The student protests of the '60s were as much about loosening educational structures as about politics, so these complaints were hardly surprising.

The first innovation at this time was the Independent Study program, an opportunity for self-directed learning that began in the spring of 1968. Six seniors were excused from class one day a week in order to pursue an impressive range of topics. Leslie Hall prepared a flute recital; Kathy Helsell volunteered in Central Area youth programs ; Wendy Schrock worked for the Municipal League; Caty Strong worked with the developmentally disabled; Alice Erwin took a computer class at the university; and Llyn Adalist explored contemporary fiction.

Several new electives were added in 1968, including an art history class taught by Headmaster Grant.20 The faculty experimented with a Friday afternoon activity period- shortening the academic periods fifteen minutes each, thus creating a two-hour block of time for such activities as photography, drama, basketball, or creative writing. In another move designed to maximize resources , This woman's basketball game was one of the many activities that Bush students could participate in during the two-hour Friday afternoon activity period. Shown here is Phelps Gym with the upper viewing gallery, now converted to office space for the adjacent Lower School.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

the trustees increased the teaching load of Upper School faculty from four to five classes, while at the same time approving a substantial salary increase.

THE BOARDIN G PROGRAM WAS PHASED OUT, beginning in 1968. In the early years ,

a dormitory had been necessary to maintain enrollment. Mrs. Livengood had actively recruited girls from all over the Northwest and as far away as Alaska. By the 1960s, however, the boarders demanded greater freedom, and their parents expected more A pmdent purchase in 1968 paved the way for the mrrent A rnold A rt Building, shown here under construction.

support services than the school could provide. The trustees decided that Gracemont, badly in need of repairs, could better serve as classroom space. 21 The last boarders moved out of Gracemont in June 1970.

The preschool program that had been in the basement of Gracemont was phased out by June 1972, and the kindergarten was shifted from the carriage house of Gracemont down to the Lower School. The way was now clear to remodel Gracemont for Upper School classes .

Also in 1968, the Board purchased the Phelps Fisher house across Thirty-sixth Avenue from the main entrance to the school.

Intended as a dance studio, it later became the basis for the Arnold Art Building. The trustees began negotiations with the city to vacate Thirty-sixth Avenue in front of the school, creating a courtyard between the main entrance and the new dance studio. In 1969, the school purchased three lots on East Republican Street that eventually became the site of Schuchart Gymnasium.

Thej ohn Grant Years: 196 7-1972

71

Over the summer of 1971, Reed Hall was divided into two floors. Interior partitions were installed upstairs to create classroom space, a library, and learning centers for a new integrated first- and second-grade program. The lower floor remained undivided for an inside recreation and assembly area. The renovation helped ease crowding in the Lower School, but still left all three divisions of the school with only one gymnasium plus Reed Hall for PE classes, assemblies, plays, concerts, dances, and other gatherings . A new gymnasium was urgently needed.

FROM THE BEGINNING, the Helen Bush School tried to foster a sense of social responsibility. Mrs. Livengood established the Social Service Committee in the 1940s to provide an outlet for volunteer activities. Throughout the 1960s, this committee raised money for various worthy causes. In the spring of 1968, the school offered a program of music lessons for children from Harrison Elementary School. The program matched Bush students and music facilities with children at the public school for piano lessons and supervised practice after school.

The activities of the Social Service Committee in 1968-69 reflect the urge for relevance and direct action so typical of the time. Elaine Daly, a senior who chaired the committee that year, declared, "I hate charity, and the rich school thinking itself so good and so liberal just because it gives away money." Under her leadership, Bush students volunteered as teachers' aides within the community, at Harrison Elementary and at the Fircrest School for Retarded Children.22

Shown here is B11sh School student J ohn Fiore (at piano) and Henry Siegl, Seattle Symphony Concert Master in the 1970s. J ohn Fi ore later went on to international f ame as a mmician and cond11ctor.

72

THE BUSH SCHOOL

The school's total scholarship endowment in 1966-67 was $15,000, which provided $4,350 a year in assistance. When Marjorie Livengood retired in 1967, a second scholarship was established, this one in her name. But scholarship funds still were too limited to offer significant aid to underrepresented groups.

Consequently the student population was almost exclusively white and middle class.

In the fall of 1970, John Grant recommended the goal of an

enrollment in which 10 percent to 20 percent of the students were receiving financial support. Both the Board and the Mothers' Club supported expanding scholarships, with the result that by 1972, the endowment had increased to $202,000. 23 In 1971-72, a total of twenty-seven minority students were enrolled-an increase in diversity that was due in part to expanded financial aid and to a new focus on recruiting. 24

PREDICTABLY, THE DRAMATIC CHANGES of the late '60s and early '70s were not universally welcome. Although the Board spent several years deliberating such issues as coeducat ion, curriculum reform, and student regulations, the changes seemed sudden and unexpected to those outside the process. Student outbursts in The Rambler, in particular, were offensive to many alumnae. Some

cut their ties to the school altogether. In 1970, Andrea Vogel Gilbert '63 told John Grant in a letter of her "fond memories of the stuffy old traditions and the demanding attitude of the faculty and Mrs. Livengood .. .. I believe in supporting my school. But the Helen Bush of today certainly is not my school." 25

Thej ohn Grant Years: 1967-1972

Periods of change can be invigorating but also traumatic. The old Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times " alludes to the pain of change. These were enormously productive years, but also stressful for many involved. In January 1972, John Grant announced he would be resigning at the end of the school year. His five-year tenure was difficult, at times contentious. He did not always agree with faculty or trustees on the best course of action for the school. Nevertheless he presided over one of the most critical periods in the history of the school, and its transformation was due in part to his leadership.

Reflecting back on those years, Board President Peter Eising remarked that the crisis precipitated by the coeducation of Lakeside and the loss of many Upper School girls "forced us to consider just who we were."26 The school had to redefine itself in light of the changing times. By 1972 this identity was becoming clear: an urban school, a K-12 community, with an emphasis on individual achievement and experiential learning. Sis Pease believes that this was entirely consistent with the philosophy of Mrs . Bush: "There was a shift towards conservatism in the 1950s, but we've come back to the spirit of Bush as exemplified in the beginning." 27

73

'

" . :.·'.:]-?:

'\. :~ :! ,~ ~

.• •.,1·

Chapter Fo11r

The Les Larsen Years:

1972-1987 An alumna visiting The Bush School in the mid-'70s might well have been startled by the transformation of the school. The changes were considerable: a student body of boys and girls; a faculty of men and women; an open campus for upperclassmen; casual dress, shaggy hair, and informal relations. The differences are particularly striking if one compares the 1974 student handbook with earlier vers10ns.

For years the school rules were published in a pamphlet titled What's What at Helen Bush, successor of the old Student Handbook.

The 1968 edition of What's What represents the final vision of Marjorie Livengood and states as the first rule of conduct: "Students of the Helen Bush School should conform to the standards of good breeding set up by the school and approved by the student body."'

Students are expected to take responsibility for, in this order, their learning, their appearance, and the welfare of others. 2 The publication describes appropriate behavior at assemblies (applause, but not too much) and at the lunch table (talk in low voices). Students are expected to rise whenever an adult or a member of the senior class enters the room. Senior privileges include coffee and tea at lunch, exclusive use of the senior lounge and the senior courtyard, use of the Lower School corridor to get to the gym, and standing up at assemblies. 3 The student government in 1968 still consists of a council and Les Larsen and his wife, N ancy.

a court. Cheating is "the greatest possible offense against the academic standards of the school." 4 Smoking is forbidden anywhere at

75

THE BUSH SCHOOL

any time by girls in a Bush uniform. The most common infractions to come before the court are speaking or writing notes in the library, wearing makeup or jewelry, and being out of uniform .

The 1974- 75 publication, again simply titled Student

Handbook, represents a very different spirit. Written two years after the arrival of the new headmaster, Les Larsen, it is less formal and more egalitarian. The core values of the school are now "a commitment to politeness when defined as kindness, respect and consideration; to honesty as related to oneself, one's work and one's classmates." 5 The two cardinal rules are no drugs or alcohol at any school function, and no smoking on campus. Students enjoy much more personal freedom in 1974 than previously. Regarding dress, the Handbook says "clothes should be neat and clean and shoes must be worn at all times." 6 Students may speak quietly in the library and, if they sign out, may leave campus when they are not in class.

There are no senior privileges.

The two-chambered student government established in the early 1940s was replaced in 1972 by a schoolwide Town Meeting.

The 1974 Handbook describes the Town Meeting as "a time when the student body and faculty come together to share the joys and solve the problems of school life together.''' Likewise, the Mothers ' Club was replaced by a broader entity, the Parent-Faculty-Student Association.

It might almost seem that two different schools are being described. Yet many of these changes are in form rather than in substance. What one generation considers "good breeding," a less formal era calls "kindness, respect and consideration. " Many qualities link The Bush School of the 1970s with the Helen Bush School founded fifty years before. Veteran faculty members such as Sis Pease, Meta O'Crotty, and Midge Bowman provided a bridge between the vision of Mrs. Bush and the new directions the school

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

77

was taking. There is continuity, too, in the philosophy of the school : a commitment to individual potential, to educational excellence, and to experiential learning.

Marjorie Livengood affirmed this continuity when she returned in November 1973 for the dedication of the Marjorie C. Livengood Learning Center: The Livengood Learning Center, dedicated in 197 3, is now known as the Livengood Library. Note the Wavy T-Sq1tare at the front of the building. It was designed by art teacher Bill Baber to be an interactive sculpture, and it beckons to students of all ages to climb it.

How pleased Mrs. Bush would be with the state of affairs at her school! She always said that school was not play but should be fun-and it is! The joy on the faces of actually everyone I passed . . . was in direct contrast to the picture you see in most schools.

There are changes, of course, but anything that stands still slips back, not forward, and this is especially true of the educational world. To the graduates and their parents some of these changes may appear startling but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, and take my word for it, please, the results are nourishing, attractive, and beautifully prepared! 8

Privately Mrs. Livengood remarked that Les Larsen reminded her of Mrs. Bush. 9

THE BUSH SCHOOL

THE CHANGING N ATURE OF THE SCHOOL was particularly apparent in the expansion of the school administration. Up to 1967, Marjorie Livengood ran the school with one secretary, a part-time Lower School director, and a business manager. By 1975 eight people were doing essentially the same work: the headmaster, three division directors, a college counselor, an executive secretary, and directors of personnel and institutional development.

Les Larsen was responsible for much of the new growth and achievement of the school. An ordained Presbyterian minister raised by deaf parents, he was highly intuitive and, perhaps because of that, deeply committed to experiential learning. According to Midge Bowman, he brought the school full circle, back to the ideas of Helen Bush: "Somehow he captured the essence of her teaching philosophy and recast it in terms of the educational issues of the '70s." ' 0 The faculty credits Les Larsen with creating an atmosphere that supported innovation and experimentation. Drama and kindergarten teacher Sally Pritchard recalls, "If you were passionate about something, he'd say, 'Yes! Do it!' " 11 The 1986 report on Bush by the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools said the school "is built upon idealism, run by an inspiring Headmaster who is loved and admired, and whose personality has pervaded the community." 12 An excellent fund-raiser, he guided the school through a dramatic program of expansion. And he insisted that teachers be well paid for their efforts.

Les Larsen was notorious for making grand, and sometimes conflicting, commitments. He might, for example, promise use of

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

79

the same facility to two different people at the same time. His administrative assistant, Anita Ostling, is credited by many with keeping him "grounded. " Teacher Rob Corkran recalls,

Anita was a marvel of brisk efficiency, the most businesslike person I have ever encountered in education. The contrast between Anita's formal courtesy and the somewhat sloppy informal air of the '70s was stark, but she was unflappable, even extraordinary, in her competence. There was a special ceremony in the Urban Courtyard where Les presented Anita with something and pretty much admitted that his administration would have collapsed without her presence. ' 3

The school was very fortunate in its division directors. Midge Bowman remained director of the Lower School from 1969 until 1980. Under her leadership, the Lower School implemented team teaching, expanded the arts curriculum, and revitalized experiential learning in math and science. The Lower School doubled in size.

"The enrollment went from 100 to 200," she said "as fast as we could tear down walls." 14 When Midge stepped down in 1980, David Douglas succeeded her, and served as Lower School director until 1994.

Mike Douglas, first director of the Middle School when it became a separate division in 1971, hired many of the faculty, developed the Wilderness Program, and introduced more choices in the curriculum.

When he resigned in 1978 to become the school's first full -time admissions director, Middle School English teacher Gary Emslie succeeded him as division director, a position he still held as the 1990s came to an end.

Mike Douglas (left), head of The Bush School's \Vilderness Program, is shown here with his students on an early expedition in 197 I to Shi Shi Beach on the Washington Coast.

Bo

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Sis Pease directed the Upper School from 1967 to 1976. She established the Independent Study program and was a key player in the decisions to admit boys and to keep the school in the city. In 1976 she resigned as division director and took over college advising along with her U.S. history Middle School Director Gary Emslie relates to his students as well as the neighborhood in his recent role as president of the Greater Madison Valley Comm1mity Council.

classes. Four different people served as Upper School director between 1976 and 1986, including Midge Bowman for a year and a half. Biology teacher Tom Duffield became Upper School director in 1986 and held the position until 1994.

THE BUSH SCHOOL EMBARKED on a period of significant development beginning in the early '70s. The Board launched an ambitious five-year capital fund-raising campaign. Innovative programs were added, including the Wilderness Program and an impressive selection of foreign travel opportunities. Total K-12 enrollment increased from about 300 to 500 students.

In June 1977, the school celebrated successful completion of the five-year effort to raise $1.2 million. The money went toward such projects as renovation of Gracemont, creation of the Commons, development of the all-school library, renovations to the gym, and a faculty endowment. Without these basic changes the school could not have accommodated the 500 students necessary for it to stay in business.

The hiring of a development director was critical to the success of fund-raising efforts. In 1972, Carolyn Scott was hired part-time to help with fund-raising. The position was expanded, and in 1973 former Board member William Hoppin became the school's first full-time director of development. Former banker H . DeForest

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

8r

"Cork" Hardinge held this vital position from 1976 through 1981.

He was succeeded by Heidi Jensen Rabel '5 7, who directed fundraising through the 1983-84 school year.

The Development Office made a clear distinction between the Annual Giving funds-monies designated for operating expensesand the capital funds needed for major projects. Annual Giving was supported by individual donations solicited by volunteers through letters and a phonathon. In the 1960s the Mothers' Club had raised money through a giant rummage sale, the Bush Basket.

In 1980, the school held a raffle that evolved into a major auction

put rogether by students, faculty, and volunteers. In 1986, the auction was held in the Seattle Trade Center and raised more than $ 100,000.

The sawdust had barely been swept away from the first round of construction before Les Larsen and the trustees began to look beyond immediate needs and envision the kind of facilities that would distinguish the school. In 1979, the Board of Trustees unveiled its master plan of major projects, totaling $3.3 million.

By 1986, the Development Office and trustees had raised most of this amount , and the school had a new gymnasium, an art building, a performing arts center, an urban courtyard, administrative offices, and new classrooms at Gracemont.

In addition to Annual Giving and capital fund-raising programs, several new endowments were established in these years.

The George W. Taylor Faculty Endowment Fund, established with a grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, provided money for sabbaticals . The Sally Abbott Kitchell Memorial Fund established Following pages: This photo in Phelps Gym shows how cramped the older facility was and highlights the need for the new Schuchart Gymnasium.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

an annual lecture in arts and literature in memory of Sally Kitchell '68. The Ellis Education Endowment and the Larry Woods Endowment created enduring sources of support. The Tanya Stasuk Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 1979 in memory of a fourth-grade girl who died of leukemia. Other scholarships-the Rebecca Connell Memorial Fund, the Goldmark Memorial Fund, the Phelps Fund, and the Larry Galvin Scholarship Fund- attest to the commitment of many families to The Bush School.

A N EW GENERATION OF YOUNG, IDEALISTIC TEACHERS joined the

faculty in the 1970s and brought on board their energy and ideas.

Indeed, Les Larsen hired the core of the faculty for the next twenty years . The composition of the faculty changed considerably, most notably with the addition of men to a faculty that had been composed almost exclusively of women. This important step toward full coeducation was made possible by significant increases in faculty salaries and benefits.

When Les Larsen arrived in 1972, the faculty received no George Taylor, the legendary head of the English department and dean of the /amity, inspired both /amity and students at The Bush School.

retirement or health benefits, 15 and the median salary was $8,000.

By 1980-81, the average salary had risen to $15,574, 16 and there was a small endowment to support professional development.

With funds raised by the Parent-Faculty-Student Association, Les Larsen began awarding small grants to faculty for individual summer projects.

The Bush School has been blessed with many superb teachers, a fact exemplified in the 1970s by George Taylor, who came to the school in 1972. A poet in his own

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

right, a student of Robert Frost at Harvard, he is best remembered for the probing questions and exciting connections in his REAL (Religion, Ethics, Art, and Literature) class. As head of the English department and dean of the faculty, he was, said Midge Bowman, "constantly reminding the Head and the Board that teachers are the heart of the school." 17 Corrie Duryee Moore '77 recalls him vigorously conducting a recording of Bach's B-Minor Mass for bemused students. 18 Meta O'Crotty described him as "an endlessly entertaining man" who "cared about the quality of Bush teachers ' lives on and off the campus ." 19 His death in the summer of 1976 at the age of 56 was a great shock to the Bush community.

With the permission of the Edward E. Ford Foundation, a $50,000 matching grant from the foundation for purposes of faculty development was renamed the George W. Taylor Faculty Endowment Fund. In 1978, English teacher James May of the Upper School was awarded the first George W. Taylor Sabbatical Grant. Since 1982, the George Taylor Dinner has become an annual occasion to honor the faculty.

LES LARSEN BEGAN Hrs FIRST YEAR, in September 1972, with an all-school Convocation, a tradition that has continued to the present. Searching for a common message appropriate for students from ages five to eighteen, he quoted Jonathan Livingston Seagull: "We can lift ourselves out of ignorance. We find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. "20

86

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Other annual traditions also began in the 1970s. The first allschool Thanksgiving Celebration, in 1976, featured an original third-grade play. The school celebrated its first Grandparents Day in 1977, an annual spring event now known as Grandparents and Special Friends Day. Baccalaureate continued to be an informal program conducted by the seniors on the eve of graduation. Presentations included rock bands, folk dance, jazz ensembles, parodies, and dramatic sketches.

An open mike was added, where graduates often expressed their gratitude and hopes for the future. The graduation ceremony remained fairly traditional, although without the formal marching: caps and gowns for the seniors; a daisy chain carried by the juniors, male and female. The class could choose their own music, which was invariably popular and not "Pomp and Circumstance." 21 In 1973 the school began a tradition of recognizing, at the graduation ceremonies, people who had made a significant contribution to the quality of the school, conferring on them the title of Bush Sustainer. The first Sustainers were math teacher Mary Campbell, alumna Anne Gould Hauberg '35, and former Board presidents John Hauberg and Dr. Sandy Bill. 22 In 1975, Les Larsen and former Board president Brooks Ragen were named Sustainers.

Over the next seven years other Susrainers were Sharlee and Peter Eising, Barbara and Thomas White, George Schuchart Sr., and retired maintenance director Edward Simpson. At graduation 1977, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Meg Greenfield '48 received the first Distinguished Alumna Award . Other Distinguished Alumna Awards were given during these years to Dee Squire Dickinson '45 and Midge McPhee Bowman '51.

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

THE CURRICULUM BECAME MORE FLEXIBLE during the 1970s, at all levels. After 1971, modular scheduling in the Upper School made it possible to offer classes in different formats . Graduation requirements were redrawn to give students more choices.

Upper School students still took English every year, but seniors could choose from a variety of electives in literature, journalism, and writing. The mathematics program, which had not gone beyond trigonometry when Bush was a girls' school, added precalculus, calculus, and several electives. The science program also expanded. In the 1960s, the only options were the full-year, required courses in biology, chemistry, and physics. By the mid1980s, students were taking a minimum of six trimesters, choosing among such courses as microbiology, botany, astronomy, and Puget Sound biology.

Freshmen were still required to study world history, and seniors to learn U.S. history. In addition, the History Department offered courses in the history of art, music, Japan, South Africa, Islam, and World War II. Students in the Middle School were exposed to an impressive range of disciplines as well: geography, anthropology, linguistics, foreign language, computers, and human relations. Latin was eventually dropped and Spanish added. Music, art, and drama were part of the regular curriculum and could also be pursued in depth as elective activities. Many physical and outdoor activities-team sports, rock climbing, weight training-were offered through the regular PE program and the Wilderness Program.

Peggy Skinner, a teacher for over 2 5 years, exemplifies excellence in science at The Bush School.

88

THE BUSH SCHOOL

The Lower School arts program grew considerably under Midge Bowman's direction. She taught Lower School music and introduced the Orff-Schulwerk method of music instruction. The children learned to play percussion instruments and specially designed xylophones and, in this way, could enjoy an ensemble experience without playing classical instruments .' 3 Art teacher Polly Peterson designed activities to reinforce learning across the curriculum. For example, following a science lesson about dinosaurs, children would go to art class and create enameled dinosaurs and prehistoric habitats.24 Students play the xylophone using the Orff-Schttlwerk method of music instritction, which was introduced to the Lower School by Midge Bowman.

ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT INNOVATIONS was the Action Module Program (AMP) announced in the spring of 1977. The idea originated with Les Larsen and had to be sold to a skeptical faculty. 25 The program took shape as three hours a week set aside from the regular Upper School curriculum for alternative learning experiences. The subjects had to be experiential, have a stated goal, and involve some kind of group learning. The courses changed each trimester. An AMP could be offered by a teacher or co-taught by a teacher and student. Many were generated by students.

The program was not entirely successful at first. Midge Bowman recalls resistance from some teachers and complaints that AMPs were wasting time. In 1979 the faculty approved a modified Action Module Program ("Son of AMP") in which teachers who

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

taught additional academic programs or sponsored an activity were exempt from AMP. 26 At the students' request, the spring AMP was changed to a solid week, making more off-campus activities possible.

As both faculty and students discovered the exciting possibilities of such a program, their enthusiasm grew. Midge Bowman credits Upper School history teacher Gardiner Vinnedge with giving the program credibility with several innovative social action projects. 27 Students worked at the local food bank, on political campaigns, and as volunteers in a number of agencies. Some worked as tutors either in the Lower School or in the public schools. Meta O'Crotty offered a knitting AMP one year: First she taught a group of high school students how to knit, then they went down to the fourth grade and taught groups of younger students. 28 The experiential component required that the students be actively engaged in their learning. Advanced arts students prepared shows of their work. Drama students took their productions on the road. The week-long spring AMP often included some kind of wilderness or outdoor experience.

Faculty also began to develop more active learning experiences suitable for the restless Middle School years. Middle School students now had regular electives three times a week in such fields as PE, art, music, or drama. In addition, students participated twice a week in what were called M-Groups-small student groups of mixed ages engaged in such pursuits as sailing, sign language, or Shakespearean drama. An M-Group under the charge of Gary Emslie interviewed people at the Columbia Senior Center for an oral history project.

History teacher Gardiner Vinnedge organized several social action projects in food banks, political campaigns, and non-profit organizations.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Each M-Group activity lasted for a period of only six weeks, giving students many opportunities to try new activities and work with different people. And it offered something for teachers, too.

Middle School French teacher Jean Pa11l Gagnon works with Mark Revere '78 in a lang11age lab me of an early computer. Note that the modem is in the comp11ter at the right and holds the handset of a nearby telephone for data transmission.

"It gave you an opportunity to take something you felt passionate about and offer it as a course," says Sally Pritchard.29

BUSH EMBRACED THE COMPUTER AGE early and with enthusiasm.

As early as 1973, math teacher Jerry Johnson established a timesharing arrangement with Seattle Pacific University and offered a course in BASIC programming. The time-share arrangement proved costly and inefficient, but demonstrated the value of computers in the school at a very early date. In 1976 several grants made it possible to purchase the school's first computer. By 1980 there was a computer room for each of the three divisions of the school.

The school pioneered computer-assisted instruction across the curriculum. In the summer of 1980, the Bush Institute, under the direction of Midge Bowman, offered a five-day summer workshop for elementaryschool teachers on computer literacy. 30 By 1982, Les Larsen reported to the alumni that computers were used in mathematics, science, foreign languages, history, and English, and that the library and administrative offices were fully computerized. 3 ' The school's PNAIS Self-Evaluation of 1986 states, "By graduation we expect a

student to feel comfortable using the computer for a variety of tasks." 32

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

91

THE ARRIVAL OF BOYS in the Upper School changed the student culture in many ways. The transition was not entirely seamless. The school had not been built to withstand the energy of adolescent boys, and the change required more than the obvious additions of lockers and bathrooms.

Sis Pease, then the director of the Upper School, says,

"I remember watching boys run down the corridor and jump and punch the ceiling. We'd never had girls do that! And there were all these holes in the ceiling. "33 "Many of the chairs in the library broke," recalls librarian Shirley Loper. "Boys are constitutionally unable to sit flat in a chair. " 34 Sis Pease also remembers the social adjustment required by the girls and the faculty:

When the boys first came, the girls would come in, especially seniors, and say, 'I'm not so sure I like this. 1 • • • Suddenly they didn't feel as free. They were a little embarrassed; they didn't know how to act. Some of them felt that we were being too easy on the boys; we weren't asking the same standards of them . ...

It was in behavior where I think we were a little indulgent. 1135

The gradttating class of 1974 had fottr male gradttates, J ohn Coppers, Daniel Rivera, Peter Hauser, and J oel Hawthorne. By 1977, the graduating class had equalized at half boys and half girls.

A midyear transfer student, Mohamed Souaiaia, in 1972 became the first male to graduate from the Upper School. There were three boys in the graduating class of 1973 and four the next year. For the 1973-74 school year, there were only 28 boys out of a

92

THE BUSH SCHOOL

total of 199 students in the Upper School. The first fully balanced class was the class of 1977, a group that had gone all the way through the Lower School together.

Many first generation Upper School boys came to the school because they felt they would have more chances to participate in spom. Of the twenty-eight boys in the Upper School in the fall of 1973, fifteen turned out for the soccer team.36 About this time, the Wilderness Program got under way, and planning for a roundthe-world bicycle trip began. As word spread of the nontraditional sports program, the Wilderness Program, and foreign travel opportunities, more and more boys applied to Bush.

During this period, student life became considerably more relaxed and informal than in previous eras. Many of the old rules and customs changed. Many students now addressed faculty members by first names, a radical departure from the formal usage of Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Livengood.

In September 1972 the new headmaster, Les Larsen, was presented with a petition signed by every senior, requesting the privilege of an open campus- that is, that they could come and go on campus during the school day. With the approval of both the faculty and senior parents, it was agreed that seniors could leave campus when they were not in class, with the proviso that they "must come to school every morning for the 8:20 roll." 37 The next year the privilege was extended to juniors, and in 1974 freshmen and sophomores were allowed to sign off campus for one hour between 11 :00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Parents and teachers indicated their hope that this would encourage individual responsibility, but expressed concerns that smokers might abuse the privilege. 38

TheLesLarsen Years: 1972-1987

93

THE CONCEPT OF FOREIGN TRAVEL as a learning experience was pioneered at The Bush School. "We sent kids abroad, not as tourists," Midge Bowman recalls "but as people respectful of another culture who had come to learn." 39 A trip in the mid-'70s proved that Bush students take their world travel very seriously.

On June 14, 1975, the Bush Bicycle Club, eight students led by French teacher Bob Ellis, set off on a remarkable odyssey: a bicycle trip around the world. Their departure was the culmination of nearly two years of preparation, including classes in Eastern history and religions and anthropology. The preparation was also very practical, with bike classes and first-aid instruction. Students did independent projects on diseases or photography. 40 The bicyclists began by crossing the United States in two KOMO TV's Bill Brubaker (left) interviews Mark Boyar '75. Fellow Bush Biker R. Borgan Anderson '77 is behind

months, covering an average of sixty miles a day. Then they flew to Portugal and cycled through North Africa, Southern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and on across South Asia. U.S. Senator

M,n:J>..flv.Jhuiqgt ..

way, and only Iraq and Burma denied the group access . Of the original nine cyclists, four made the entire circuit. On September 1, 197 6, Bob Ellis, his brother Steve Ellis, Mark Boyar '75, and Matt Rice '75 cycled back into Seattle after flying in from Japan, having covered fifteen thousand miles and twenty-two countries in fifteen months.

Bob Ellis, Bush School French teacher, led a bicycle trip around the world.

94

THE BUSH SCHOOL

They were the first group to cycle around the world since 1898.

Back in Seattle, they were welcomed by a brass band and local dignitaries as Mayor Wes Uhlman proclaimed it "Bush Bikers Day."41

THE WORLD BIKE TRIP was followed by a series of three-month cycling tours of France and other French-speaking countries that became known as the SeaCliste program (SeaCliste being a play on the French word for cyclist). Between 1978 and 1995, fourteen different groups, sometimes two in a single school year, combined an intensive cycling and camping experience with immersion in French language and culture. A typical group included ten to twelve students and a faculty leader (after 1988 a second adult was added to ensure safety). The trip itself took most of the spring trimester, and students received full academic credit. The program was available to juniors and seniors who had completed three years of French. SeaCliste groups traveled through France, Belgium, Switzerland, and North Africa. Because each group set its own itinerary, no two trips were the same.

The SeaC/iste Handbook, written by Bob Ellis, is a detailed manual on the responsibilities of student travelers and a testament to the kind of real-life learning available to Bush students through foreign travel. Each SeaCliste group functioned as a democratic community in which the faculty leader had only one vote. The group researched the areas they would be visiting, set the itinerary, and bought equipment and airline tickets. Responsibility for daily decisions (when to stop, where to camp) rotated among students on a daily basis. In addition, each student was assigned a job for the duration of the trip. The jobs were real and important: treasurer, secretary, fund-raiser, medic, mechanic, and photographer.

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

Throughout the planning and execution of the trip, everyone was subject to the Cardinal Rule: speak only in French. Students who could not conduct all their discussions in French were excused from the trip. 42 "They are given three warnings only," Bob Ellis explained. "They use quite a lot of sign language at first, but they speak no English. They know if they do, I will put them on the next plane for home. By the time they come back they're proficient in French." 43 Not all significant learning experiences are comfortable. For the SeaCliste travelers there were wet, cold nights, equipment failures, and interpersonal conflicts. Megan Bowman '78 participated in the first SeaCliste trip in 1977 "I remember some knock-down, drag-out fights at some crossroads about where we were going." 44 Kris Chick '84 learned that "the bad experiences hold one of the most important lessons: resiliency. You are waterproof. You are washable. You can bounce back, physically and emotionally." 45

THE SEACLISTE TRIPS WERE So SUCCESSFUL that other group travel experiences followed. In the 1980-81 school year, nine students went to Costa Rica under the direction of Genia Wheelwright.

Meta O'Crotty traveled to Greece with eight students, and the following year she enthusiastically led a group on a tour of Renaissance Italy. In 1982-83, Bush sent two SeaCliste groups to France and a third group, directed by Dr. Alberto Rabago, to Mexico. 46 In 1986, Larry Muir led eight students on a cycling tour of New Zealand, where they studied geology and traced the path of Halley 's Comet.47 The Mexican trip was the first of four in a series called Caminante, from the Spanish word for "traveler." Modeled after SeaCliste, Caminante was available to juniors and seniors who had

95

THE BUSH SCHOOL

completed three years of Spanish. Not a cycling program, Caminante combined family home-stays with travel throughout Mexico. The most ambitious of the four trips was led by Tom Duffield in the spring of 1984. Eleven students spent three weeks living with families and attending school near Mexico City. Then, in small groups, they were assigned to work/service projects for a couple of weeks. One group worked on a family farm and gave lessons in English. Another group worked on a cattle ranch on the Baja Peninsula. A third group lived in dormitories in Oaxaca and assisted on an anthropology project. 48 Bush was committed not only to sending students abroad to study, but also to welcoming foreign students to the school. For several years in the 1970s, Bush exchanged students with the Shoin School in Kobe, Japan. Renee Mock '73 was the first Bush student to travel to Japan as an exchange student. At the same time Bush continued to host a visiting American Field Service student from a different country every year.

THE WILDERNESS PROGRAM began in 1972 through the combined efforts and inspiration of Mike Douglas, director of the Middle School, and Rob Corkran, a new Middle School social studies- math teacher. The Middle School was a new division, and had just taken on boys. Douglas believed that outdoor activities would help the Middle School establish its identity. Together Douglas and Corkran developed a series of overnight hiking and camping trips in the winter and spring of 1973 .

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

These trips were so successful that Corkran proposed that the Wilderness Program become part of his teaching assignment.49 Presenting the idea to the Board of Trustees, Les Larsen argued that "a strong effort was justified to offset the lack of physical education facilities. "50 The second year, Rob Corkran taught social studies half time and took kids out for a total of seventy-two days on weekends . Trips for the winter and spring of 1974 included day ski tours, overnight ski camping, a four-day trip up Mount St. Helens (this was before the cataclysmic 1980 eruption), and a weeklong raft trip of the John Day River in Oregon. 5 1 The school purchased a twelve-passenger van in 197 4 , a larger one in 1977, and several more after 1980.

A typical trip in the mid-'70s might include a dozen or more students and perhaps three faculty. In the fall and spring, trips included camping, hiking , and rock or mountain climbing . Groups climbed Mount Hood , Mount Adam s, and Mount St. Helens.

In winter the emphasis was on snow camping and cross-country skiing. The school's highly successful competitive cross-country ski program grew out of the Wilderness Program.

97

In I 97 9, these Bush st11dents set 11p camp on Mt. Hood. Photo co11rtesy of Pa11l Harpe,:

THE BUSH S CHOOL

Corrie Duryee Moore '77 says slower trekkers were often placed at the head of the line so they would not be left behind.

For that reason, she was leading a group of hikers through the Olympics when she was in the eighth grade and, rounding a corner, came face-to-face with a bear. She whipped

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J

j

out her camera for a picture, and the bear took off. 52 Bears notwithstanding, the program directors stressed safety in all phases of the program. Rob Corkran described himself as "not a great climber, but a careful one."53 Many trips were canceled or altered because of safety concerns.

From the beginning , the program included both Middle and Upper School

Members of The Bush School Wilderness Program.

Photo courtesy of Pau! Harpei:

students, with some trips for mixed ages and some limited to one level or the other. The mixed trips provided an occasion for kids of different ages to work together outside of school. Although there was some discussion about making wilderness experience a requirement for graduation, the program remained voluntary and extracurricular. Still, it was extremely popular, with high attendance throughout the 1970s.54 The earliest activities concentrated on rock climbing and skiing, with other sports added later. Tom Duffield and Larry Muir introduced river rafting and other white-water spores; Chris Johnson led bicycle tours; Manvel Schauffler offered sailing. After 1978 faculty leaders were paid stipends for leading groups.55

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

Matt Huston '79 was one of the students who saw great benefits in the Wilderness Program:

When I was here, a great thing about Bush was that if you were not a stellar student, then the school provided other opportunities for you to shine. If you're lifted up in one area to feel really good about yourself, other parts will fall into place. For some kids, the wilderness trips are the best part of Bush. They helped me and others to be more confident and to do better in school. 56

During the 1980s, participation in wilderness activities declined. The Wilderness Program had to compete with other popular school activities, such as foreign travel, team sports, and theater, and it became more difficult to attract students for weekend trips . Ultimately the Action Module Program aided the Wilderness Program in the Upper School by offering academic credit for off-campus experiences. Students who might otherwise be unlikely to give up a weekend could enroll in a river-rafting AMP, spend the trimester training, and then take off for the river trip during the AMP week in the spring.

Another significant change was the separation of the crosscountry skiing program from the Wilderness Program in 1985.

Rob Corkran continued to coach the skiers, and Chuck Luckmann became the new Wilderness Program director. As with the foreign travel program, the most valuable learning sometimes came in adversity. Luckmann recalls:

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

One of my most memorable events was in February 1984 when {Tom} Duffield and I skied with 10 students across the Yellowstone Plateau from Old Faithful to West Yellowstone in minus 30° F weather. We ran out of food and force-skied the last day into night, arriving at West Yellowstone at 1 a.m. where we found an all-night truck stop and consumed vast quantities of food. (One student ate five hamburgers, I remember.)5'

In the same spirit as the Wilderness Program was the tradition of off-campus retreats that began in the mid-'70s. These occasions were important for community building and for addressing campus-wide problems. In 1975-76 alone, the sixth grade held a retreat at Cape Alava on the Olympic Peninsula, the eighth grade held a winter retreat in the mountains, and the Upper School gathered at Camp Nor'wester on Lopez Island. 58 59

A REDEDICATION To THE PERFORMING ARTS evolved at Bush during the 1970s and 1980s. Les Larsen provided for varied, highquality student performances by hiring drama staff at all levels.

Midge Bowman as Peter Pan in the 1976 school play. For at least two years after that, all of Midge's students tho11ght she could fly.

Sally Pritchard was hired in 1972 to teach kindergarten half time and Middle School drama half time. Third-grade teacher Mark Hale directed several Upper School plays in the late '70s. Mark Jenkins, Huntley Beyer, and Jena May were among others who boosted the Bush theatrical scene. As of 1999, Sally Pritchard had been directing plays at Bush for twenty-seven years.

The result was an outpouring of talent and activity. In 1972-73, two major plays were produced. There were two plays the following year, five plays in 1974-75, and eight dramatic productions the year after

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

IOI

that. In a memorable Lower School production of Peter Pan in 1976, Midge Bowman took the title role and "flew" across the stage in the gymnasium, while Lower School teachers Marilyn Warber-Gibbs and David Douglas were Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Mark Hale played Captain Hook. The 1977-78 production of Bye

Bye Birdie involved nearly a hundred Middle and Upper School performers. Midge Bowman remembers how Joegil Lundquist, who directed plays in the Lower and Upper Schools, "believed in the excitement of a full theatrical production with costumes and sets and sound effects, so that the kids would see that theater wasn't just acting or improvising, but a discipline." 60 Parent volunteer Alexis Huff choreographed several musicals.

These productions were occasions where students and faculty could collaborate outside of class. In a 1975 Christmas production of Benjamin Britten's The Little Sweep, sophomore John Fiore '78, now a renowned orchestral conductor, played the piano and Les Larsen took the part of the coachman. In an all-school production of The King and I in 1978, librarian Shirley Loper took the part of Madame Thien, while many third- and fourth-graders played the king's children.

The production of Oedipus Rex created and directed by drama teacher Mark Jenkins in 1985 is widely remembered as a creative high point. Set in a postapocalyptic future , the play was staged outside in November. The set, designed by art teacher Dennis Evans, incorporated the roof and balcony of the Arnold Art Building and included allusions to classical mythology: an Apollo spaceship, a Zeus rocket. The audience sat on bleachers, wrapped in sleeping bags and nervously eyeing the November sky. For three nights the

Oedipus Rex was originally scheduled for the halfcompleted Benaroya Center for the Performing Arts.

When the builders objected, they moved out into the courtyard and risked the rains of November.

Shown here are student cast members Deb Fialkow '87 as Tiresias and Bryan Cohen '88 as Oedipm.

10 2

THE BUSH SCHOOL

rain held off. Then, as the play's run ended and crews began to disassemble the set, more typical Seattle weather set in, and it poured.61 Major performances were held in Phelps Gymnasium (as the old gym had been named), with smaller productions in Reed Hall or Cunningham House. Space had to be negotiated with other activities, and the maintenance staff would hang up the lights and remove the basketball hoops.

In February 1986, the school got a new The Benaroya Perfo rming Arts Center opened in Febr11ary I 986 and set the tone for even more ambitio11s theatrical prod11ctions at The B11sh School.

theater when the Benaroya Performing Arts and Teaching Center opened with a production of Grease, directed by Sally Pritchard, with an eighty-person cast. In March, stage and film actor Karl Malden, Les Larsen's cousin, visited the school and conducted scene studies with students. Benaroya offers flexible staging and allows students to perform longer runs to smaller audiences , instead of rehearsing for weeks and performing only two or three times in a crowded gym. Students get the more authentic experience of reaching an audience in an intimate space. In Benaroya, there are more staging options, permanent lights, and no basketball hoops.

TEAM SPORTS PRESENTED a philosophical challenge to The Bush School. Mrs. Bush had encouraged individual achievement and personal growth, rather than competition, a tradition that Mrs. Livengood continued.

The 1943 Student Handbook stated: "Emphasis is placed on play for play's sake, improvement and enjoyment of the activity .. . with 100% participation being equally important as playing the game. "62

The cast of Grease in the very first performance at Benaroya Performing A rts Center honors Becky Benaroya.

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103

The admission of boys to the Upper School called for immediate changes to the sports program. It was clear that the school lacked the space and the numbers for football. Instead there was an effort to cultivate individual skills such as cross-country skiing, bicycling, hiking, and rock climbing through both PE and the Wilderness Program. Bubba Morton was hired as coach in 197 3, and soon there were boys' and girls' soccer teams and boys' and girls' basketball teams. Other sports in this period included tennis, crew, wrestling, softball, and crack and field . Under Rob Corkran's direction, the cross-country ski team excelled, sending two girls to Junior Nationals in 1977 and three girls the next year. Marsha Hoem '79 and Lisa Ragen '80 together won silver medals in relay in 1978.

In keeping with the school philosophy, no one was ever cut from the squad in any sport. If there were enough students, a junior varsity team was created. This policy seemed to work. Just as the Wilderness Program showed that anyone could climb a mountain, the Bush sports program demonstrated that a good coach could build a strong team without turning anyone away.

Will Bascus was hired in 1981 to coach the basketball teams, and the Bush Blazers became a force to be reckoned with. In 1985-86, the boys' basketball team was undefeated for the season, won the regional tournament, and nearly took the state "B" tournament in Spokane. 63 The Rambler reported with pride in 1985 that "In the past two years the Bush athletic teams have earned three league championships, three second places in the league, and have appeared in both regional and state playoffs." 64

Thm memberJ of the girlJ' crew team are (from left to right): Carolyn Klebanoff '74, Deborah H ofer '75, Zirmnie Caner '73, and Carol Foxworth '73 .

THE B USH SCHOOL

ro4

In 1988 The Seattle Times reported on the Bush phenomenon, noting with some surprise that "At Bush, the school play gets equal billing with basketball. "65 In that year, 7 5 percent of the Upper School students participated in some kind of interscholastic sport. Athletics was clearly seen as one among several important activities.

The 11ndefeated boys' basketball team, the Blazers, shown here in r985 . Coach Will BamtS deserves m11ch credit for creating a winning team.

Bush st11dents (shown in white uniforms) from left to right are Paul Uhlir '89, Chip McCollum '87, Rich Albrecht '86, and Jon Burke '87.

At the same time, there were some complaints that boys' athletics got more attention than girls' did , with prime-time scheduling and higher attendance at games. 66

FOR ELEVEN SUMMERS, from 1977 through 1987, art teacher Bill Baber directed a summer work program on the Bush campus.

His program provided an authentic work experience for as many as twenty students each summer, working between four and eight hours a day. Like regular construction workers, they did manual labor, earned an hourly wage, and, if they failed in their duties , could even be fired.

During the first summer, the crews framed and poured a sixty-foot concrete walkway, built a triangular cedar bench around the sequoia tree in the Urban Courtyard, and created the Wavy T-Square structure outside the library near the Lower School.

Designed by Baber, the Wavy T-Square is a gigantic, undulating carpenter's square and favorite climbing spot for younger students-a splendid example of interactive art.

Also over the summer of 1977, the front entrance to the school was relandscaped, and a patio was created with handmade tiles donated by the class of 1977. Art teacher Dennis Evans created a

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

sculptural grouping of three large basalt rocks from the Columbia River. He supervised a crew of twelve students who shaped the rocks with chisels until they were properly tuned to produce certain tones when struck by rainwater. The rocks were christened "Waugh stones" after Evans's art alias , Ubu Waugh.67 Art teacher Dennis Evans, aka Ubu Waugh, created this project so that the stones in f ront of the Commons would produce certain tones when stmck by falling raindrops.

In 1980, students working with Bill Baber built a roofed pottery shed behind the art building, and an outside deck. The next summer, they constructed an elaborate series of stairs and concrete walkways connecting the Upper and Lower campuses, plus a landscaped rock garden with decks and benches . Other summer projects included the back stairway at Gracemont, the ceramics room, the Lower School entry, and a remodeling of the art building. In 1984, they erected six freestanding concrete walls with student designs on the exposed faces . Most of the outside benches, decks , and walkways on campus were built by students under Baber's direction.68 And what did the working students get out of it? Jay Sesnon '81 speaks of "the empowerment you achieve by learning how to hammer a nail properly or finish off a project. I'm in landscaping

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

design now [because Bill Baber} taught me how to finish a project. " 69 Andy Dahlstrom '85 worked for three summers and recalls, "I built my own house because Bill Baber taught me how to build things. "70 Baber says students left something of themselves, literally, in each project-perhaps a handprint, a scratched initial, or an object embedded within the cement.

A number of student art projects directed by Baber can also be

found around the campus. For several years, the third grade worked on creating a fourteen-foot, red cedar Haida totem pole as part of their Northwest Native American studies. It was completed in 1986 and dedicated to the memory of the Goldmark family, victims of a shocking attack in their home. Derek and Colin Goldmark, who were students at the Lower School, and their parents Charles and Annie Goldmark were murdered by an intruder the previous Christmas Eve. Derek's class had started the totem pole in third grade and finished it as a memorial to their classmate when they were in sixth grade.

Over the years the school has acquired significant works of original art . Art catalogued by students in an AMP directed by Upper School English teacher Carmine "Chick" Chickadel included several major works by Northwest artists. In honor of the school's fiftieth anniversary, John and Anne Hauberg donated a painting, Dream of the White Sea, by Northwest artist Guy Anderson, and

Jayme Clise Curley '61 donated an original sculpture.71 Bush parent Bess Temple carved a lovely stone sculpture of a rabbit in memory of Tanya Stasuk. The entry to the Benaroya Performing Arts Center was designated the Parkside Gallery, a place to showcase student art, the work of the faculty, and visiting shows.

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107

THE PHYSICAL GROWTH OF THE SCHOOL in the 1970s and 1980s was impressive. When the trustees decided in 1971 that Bush would remain at the original Seattle location, they gambled on being able to expand within that neighborhood. This proved to be a wise strategy. The school was able to buy up properties, one by one, between the main campus and Gracemont, until it had consolidated the entire block.

With declining public-school enrollment in the early 1970s, there was even some discussion of purchasing Harrison Elementary School (now Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School) from the Seattle School District. 72 Nothing came of those talks except to raise concerns by Central Area residents. One of Les Larsen's first acts as headmaster in 1972 was to reassure the Central Area Community Council that the school had no plans to "take over Harrison. "73 The five -year fund-raising campaign launched by the Board of Trustees in 1971 made it possible to refit and expand the school for a larger, coeducational student body. An extensive remodeling program began in the summer of 1972 and was completed over the summer of 1976. Among projects during this period, the former library became the dining room, the former dining room becam e Middle School classrooms, the music building became the library for all three divisions, and the Carriage House at Gracemont became the music and drama center.

On March 28, 1973, the former Carriage House was formally renamed Cunningham House in memory of Jeri Lee Cunningham '71, who had been killed in a climbing accident the year before. A memorial fund established in her name helped

The Carriage Ho11se next to Gracemont was officially named C11nningham Home in 1973 after J eri Lee C11nningham '7 l who was killed in a climbing accident. Meta O'Crotty tended its window boxes faithf11lly 11ntil her death. In J une 1999, this building was demolished to make way for the new Science and Technology Center.

I08

THE BUSH SCHOOL

convert the ground floor to a music and drama studio, only fitting to honor a promising young ice skater and dancer. A garden was established in the courtyard between Gracemont and Cunningham House in memory of Lorraine A. Lundin, a longtime friend of the Cunningham family. ' 4 In November 1973, the Middle and Lower School library

installed in the former music building was dedicated as the Marjorie C. Livengood Learning Center. In 1976, the Learning Center was expanded and incorporated the Upper School library into a single all-school facility, now called the Marjorie C. Livengood Library. 75 The old library, located in what is now the Commons, had functioned as a study hall more than a research library, with students forbidden to talk or write notes. The new facility was designed for use by students in all classes from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

By eliminating the inside corridor and knocking out interior walls, all Lower School classrooms were enlarged to facilitate larger classes and team teaching. Midge Bowman remembers "trustees and faculty helping the maintenance crew paint the beams in what was then the second-grade room when we faced deadlines in the opening of school." 76 The old gymnasium got a facelift in 1974 and was named Phelps Gymnasium after trustee Sheffield Phelps. The gym was upgraded with central heating, new flooring, shades for the windows, and-most important-a boys' locker room. Additional basketball hoops were added to create a half court, so that gym classes would not be completely shut down by a drama production in

The Les Larsen Years: 1972-1987

ro9

progress. However useful these changes, they did not solve the basic problem: that the three divisions of the school still had only one gymnasium-one that could not host a regulation basketball game and could barely contain the entire student body.

This first phase of remodeling was concluded in the summer of 1976 when the lunchroom was enlarged and a commons was created near the front entrance to the school.

The Board of Trustees followed this ambitious round of work with adoption of the 1979 Master Plan that called for $3.3 million in fund-rai sing. The plan envisioned major new facilities: a gymnasium, an art building, a performing arts center, an urban courtyard, and classrooms at Gracemont.

After serving as a residence hall for nearly thirty years, Gracemont was converted into Upper School classrooms . The work actually began in 1974, continued for several years, and was completed by the fall of 1980 as a component of the 1979 Master Plan.

Every effort was made to preserve the architectural integrity of the old mansion, while improving access , halls, stairs, and fire escapes. Eventually, Gracemont held all Upper School history, English, and language classes, and came to be identified as the Upper School campus.

The Urban Courtyard was developed in front of the school's main entrance, on the section of Thirty-sixth Avenue vacated by the city. The courtyard was completed through a gift from the Patty, Price, and Kitchell families. At the dedication on November 9, 1982, Virginia Price Patty cut the ceremonial ribbon . Her children-Andrew Price, Barbara Price, and Virginia "Ginny" Price Kitchell '43-had been among the first

The Inner Cottrtyard featttres many plants, benches, and sc11lpt11re in a qttiet oasis.

IIO

THE BUSH S CHOOL

students at Mrs. Bush's school; her granddaughters Deborah Price and Sally Kitchell had graduated in 1968; and both Ginny and Frank Kitchell served on the Board of Trustees. The Urban Courtyard, with its benches, sculpture, and gardens of Northwest plants, is a central gathering place for the entire school.

Another significant addition was the Arnold Art Building. The original structure was a small residence, purchased in 1968 and remodeled for art studios. 77 In 1982 it was renovated and expanded under the Master Plan to provide art studios, a wood shop, and A 1983 aerial view shows the construction of the Schuchart Gymnasium, at lower right, which was completed in I 984.

ceramics studios. The new complex was dedicated in 1983 as the Robert M. Arnold Fine Am Building. Bob Arnold, a 1940 graduate of Parkside, was the son of Grace Heffernan Arnold, for whom Gracemont was named.

Of all the projects in the 1979 Master Plan, the most ambitious and costly was the new gym. Completed in 1984, the Schuchart Gymnasium was named after former trustee George Schuchart Sr. The gym can be divided into two exercise spaces when the folding bleachers are up. In addition to sports activities, it has been used for all-school assemblies and for the occasional rainy-day graduation. After school and on weekends, community groups use it as well.

The final piece of the Master Plan was a performing arts center.

At Bush, of course, the show will go on, with or without a proper facility.78 Major plays were produced in the gym or the lunchroom , with smaller productions in Reed Hall or Cunningham House.

"We were like troubadours," Sally Pritchard says. "People were very good about sharing space." 79 The core of the new arts center was a residence near the corner of Thirty-sixth and Harrison that was

TheLesLarsen Years: 1972-1987

III

donated to the school by former trustee Sheffield Phelps and his wife, Patricia, in 1979. The Phelps House was remodeled to become the Brechemin Family Music Building, and the new performing arts center was attached to it. The completed structure, dedicated in 1986, was named the Benaroya Performing Arts and Teaching Center. Larry Benaroya, a trustee with two children at Bush, wished to name the building in honor of his parents, Jack and Becky Benaroya.

Another project during this period was conversion of the house beside the performing arts center, acquired in the 1970s, into office space for the business and development staff. The building became known as the Presidents' House to recognize the contributions of past presidents of the Board of Trustees.

All the parts of the 1979 master plan were completed by 1986, although a balance of $800,000 had to be financed. Albert Bumgardner, master architect for the projects, is said to have described the Bush campus as "an Italian hill town, where one comes upon surprising vistas and courtyards behind residential facades. "80 At his death in 1987, he left a major bequest to the school for ongoing renovation and repair of campus buildings.

WITH THE COMPLETION of the performing arts center, Les Larsen

announced his intention to retire as headmaster at the end of the 1986-87 school year. His fifteen-year administration had been a period of dramatic expansion and program development. In appreciation for the contributions of both Les and his wife, Nancy, to the Bush community, the trustees established the Larsen Fund for Excellence to provide income for student financial aid.

R ibbon cutting at the r 986 dedication of the Benaroya Performing Arts and Teaching Center features, from left to right, Gabriel Valencia '91, Phillip Person '87, Mina Brechemin Person '64 , Bush grandparents Jack and Becky Benaroya, H eadmaster Les Larsen, and D an McCollum '92.

Chapter Five

The Fred Dust Years:

1987-1996 Different times call for different styles of leadership. The administration of Les Larsen had been one of growth and innovation, relaxed procedures, and flexible scheduling. But the late 1980s had different concerns. College admissions became increasingly competitive. The cost of running the school had jumped dramatically and so had the tuition. The completion of the Master Plan had been expensive, and there was a lingering debt that was serviced in part from the operating budget. Increasing enrollment to 5 30 students in 1986 covered some of these costs. However, this was the maximum that the campus could comfortably accommodate.

At a retreat for Board members, faculty, and staff in January 1985, participants struggled with one of the central issues facing independent schools: how to maintain quality of instruction and plan for future growth without raising tuition so high as to exclude middle-class families. 1 Both the trustees and the faculty expressed concern that Bush might be perceived as "too loose" academically.

Even before the new headmaster arrived, the faculty revised the daily schedule and tightened up procedures for independent study.

Headmaster Fred Dust came to Bush in 1987 from the Francis Parker School in Chicago. Under his leadership over the next nine years, the school wrestled with the issues of academic standards, cultural diversity, student discipline, and institutional assessment.

Fred Dust.

II 4

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Fred Dust was aided by able division directors: David Douglas in the Lower School, Gary Emslie in the Middle School, and Tom Duffield in the Upper School. In 1994, when Douglas and Duffield returned to full -time classroom teaching, Elaine Aoki took over as director of the Lower School and Fred Mednick became director Fred Mednick, director of Bush's Upper School since 1994, converses with a student.

of the Upper School. As the century drew to a close, Aoki, Emslie, and Mednick continued to direct their respective divisions, providing stability through several administrations .

CONSIDERABLE FACULTY TURNOVER occurred between 1987 and 1996. Many Lower and Middle School teachers retired, although there remained a core of teachers who had been at the school for more than twenty-five years.

Excellence in teaching is exemplified by Upper School science teacher Peggy O'Neill Skinner, who came to Bush in 1971. Since 1981, she has served as an adviser to the College Board testing service, helping to develop questions and standards for the advanced-placement biology test. Because of her connections to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, several Bush students participated in the Human Genome Project, helping to map human DNA. She received a Tandy Technology Scholar Award in 1994 for excellence in science.2 In 1996 she received the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Washington state, and in 1999 the Mayor's Office recognized her with a Siemen's Award.

Sis Pease retired in 1991 after a Bush career as Upper School director, history teacher, and college adviser. Mrs. Bush herself had hired her, right out of college, in 1946. Sis Pease was the last direct link to the school's origins, a reminder of the school's traditions.

The Fred Dust Years: 1987-1996

At the 1991 commencement, fifty years after her own graduation from the Helen Bush School, she received the Distinguished Alumna Award. She has remained involved in alumni activities and serves on the Board of Trustees.

A great loss to the school came with the sudden death of Meta O 'Crotty in January 1994. A superb English teacher, Meta was passionate about ideas and language and stories. Many graduates recall the pleasure of being read to in high school from The Once and Future King and other classics. Within hours of the news of her

death, the school was stunned and grieving. The memorial service filled Schuchart Gym as hundreds came to pay their respects and to testify to the impact she had on their lives. Midge Bowman, who had known Meta both as a student and as a fellow teacher, wrote:

Thank you for your love, your wisdom, your humor, your commitment to your students. Teaching is an act of faith. One never knows the real impact of what happens in a classroom, but I can bear witness to your positive influence. 3

AN IMPORTANT CHANGE in this period was the expansion of academic counseling services . Academic assistance was not new to Bush but had not been extensive. In 1976, Les Larsen wrote: "We are not a remedial school. We are committed to the individual, however.

Therefore, there may be a few with academic gaps in need of some remedial work. "4 In 1986, the school had one part-time learning specialist for all 5 30 students. Efforts were concentrated in the Lower and Middle Schools and usually consisted of one-on-one tutoring. By 1994 there were three part-time counselors, one for each division. Rather than pull students out of class, the counselors offered support to classroom teachers, directing small groups and suggesting alternative strategies for students who learn differently.

II5

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

The need for counseling reflects, in part, changes in admissions. By the 1980s, many Bush students started in kindergarten and went all the way through high school. A number of new students joined the Middle School in the sixth grade; a smaller group entered the Upper School in ninth grade. Few new students came at other times, because space was generally not available. The admissions director reviewed applications for admission to Bush, and a committee of faculty and administrators made the final selection.

Trying to decide which children among a pool of five-year-olds will be able to eventually meet the academic standards of the Upper School is difficult, to say the least. As Sis Pease remarked in 1988, "We look for interesting kids .. . not just the most academically competitive." 5 Those "interesting kids" usually thrive at Bush, but some need help with one or more subjects in the Upper School.

Overall, Bush students have been very competitive in college applications. In 1997 and 1998, the University of Washington formally recognized that graduates of The Bush School had the state's highest correspondence between high school and college grades.

That is, their university grades tended to stay up near their high school grades.

ONE OF THE GREAT CHALLENGES to American education in the twentieth century has been the need to honor and encourage diversity. At The Bush School this has been reflected in efforts to support the enrollment of a diverse student body through financial aid for students from underrepresented populations, to promote crosscultural sensitivity, and to support differences in learning styles.

However, the number of minority students at the school has remained relatively small.

The Fred Dust Years: 1987-1996

The 1994 evaluation of Bush by the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) warned of "a perception that the school's commitment (to diversity} continues to be vague and unfocused." 6 To address this concern, the administration formed its Diversity Implementation Program in 1994 to increase minority representation and to broaden the curriculum to represent more diverse perspectives. 7 At a Forum in April 1994, Upper School students debated the issue of diversity. Some students expressed uncertainty as to what diversity meant and why it was important. One student said minority students did not always feel "comfortable" at the school.

Another replied, "Do we want diversity or comfort, because they are in conflict with one another." 8 A year later, a headline in The

Rambler declared: "Students at Bush are Frustrated with Diversity." 9 The article described another forum debate, this time about the best way to achieve diversity in hiring. Many students objected to affirmative action but had no other suggestions for achieving greater diversity.

The Bush School-represented by Upper School Director Fred Mednick-joined forces in 1996 with other Northwest independent schools in the National Multicultural Alliance. The objective of the alliance and its member schools was "to recruit, train, and support intern teachers of color." 10 Prospective teachers were placed in the classroom, where they worked closely with teacher-mentors.

The alliance helped with teaching credentials and job placement.

Mednick was chosen chairman of the Pacific Northwest Alliance, which was housed for a time in Gracemont.

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

FACULTY FROM ALL DISCIPLINES and all thirteen grades met with trustees and administrators in 1993 to reevaluate the school's mission. The effort was in preparation for the 1994 PNAIS evaluation.

Instead of stating their goals in terms of measurable outcomes, such as test scores or facts and skills mastered, they set about to identify the ideal qualities of a successful Bush graduate.

Through these discussions, they defined six core values of The Bush School. Termed the "Six Qualities of a Bush-Educated Child," they were identified as:

• Expressiveness • Ability to interrelate/integrate • Sense of self • Capacity for change • Inquiry/curiosity • Awareness and responsibility

These qualities are not new and, indeed, are consistent with the vision of Mrs. Bush and the long tradition of the school. As articulated, the six qualities offer a measure by which programs could be evaluated. The 1994 PNAIS visiting team commended the work of articulating these central values and urged that the school determine how the six qualities were integrated into the curriculum.''

THE ACTION MODULE PROGRAM (AMP) continued to be a vital part of the Bush experience. According to the 1994 PNAIS evaluation of Bush, "This fine program is a wonderful example of the unique educational opportunity of The Bush School-it highlights the creativity and potential for expression. " 12 In any given term, there have

The Fred Dust Years: 1987-1996

been as many as thirty AMPs offered on topics in the performing arts, applied technologies, social action, and political campaigns.

However, concerns were expressed from time to time about the cost of the program and the additional work for faculty.

In 1988, one AMP group directed by Gardiner Vinnedge succeeded in introducing an initiative to change Washington state from a caucus to a primary electoral system. In the fall of 1991, a group led by Chick Chickadel worked with Habitat for Humanity on a housing project. That same term, Gardiner Vinnedge offered an AMP in medieval technology, described as follows :

The rules are you're illiterate, but you can talk to people. Your task is to invent a printing press, paper, and ink, and then take a passage of ten words or more and print it ten times in 30 minutes.

Evidently the press and ink were fairly simple, but inventing paper proved difficult. After weeks of trying various concoctions, the students developed a paper made of gelatin and flower petals and then printed the opening lines of the Book of Genesis. ' 3 In the Middle School, the M-Group learning activities were discontinued in response to faculty concerns that the student groups were involved in so many different activities that faculty had too little time to meet with them individually. Instead, the new schedule offered periods called Conference DEAR, or Drop Everything And Read. Students would meet for supervised, individual reading three times a week. This provided a time for

II9

THE BUSH SCHOOL

[20

one-on-one conferences, student-led activities, and individual study-in a sense a return to the old study hall, but with more flexibility. 14 Another new offering was the Bush Evening Course Program, an all-volunteer, community-education fund-raiser that started in the fall of 1993. Alumni, parents, and other Bush supporters offered short courses to adults in the community. The prices were reasonable and proceeds went to the scholarship fund . Topics included gardening, cooking, business, finance, and the arts . In the winter of 1994, the program offered sixty courses to more than three hundred students. 15 The program never succeeded as a fund raiser and was eventually discontinued after 1996, but according to Fred Mednick it was an excellent "friend-raiser, " bringing volunteers and community members into the school. 16

THE BUSH SCHOOL MAINTAINED ITS COMMITMENT to computer literacy. In the 1980s students were expected to be proficient at the computer. In 1990 computer literacy became a graduation requirement. Two full-time instructors offered computer classes and technical support. Computer-assisted instruction began in kindergarten, with formal keyboarding skills taught in fourth grade . Two computer labs were established, one on the main campus and the other in Basemont (as the basement of Gracemont came to be called). There were several computers in the library, two computers in each Lower School classroom, two in the Middle School, and a number of others that traveled to different classes.

The Fred D11st Years: 1987-1996

I2I

In 1992 the school had full Internet access both in the library and in Basemont.

In 1993, Bush senior Elias Alvord was chosen to join a team of computer experts invited to Russia to evaluate Russian computer systems. Elias had impressed the head of the team, an American computer consultant who had hooked up the Internet at Bush. According to Fred Dust, Elias "wasn't selected because he's a student; he was selected because he's GOOD." While traveling in Russia, Elias regularly e-mailed his classmates about his activities. 17

STUDENT LIFE IN THE LATE 1980s was lively, hectic, and sometimes contentious. After 1987, a number of school policies and procedures were tightened. In the fall of 1987, the faculty introduced a new schedule in the Upper School, increasing the time spent in each class. Students protested both the loss of free time and the loss of flexibility in scheduling.

A contingent of seven seniors attended a faculty meeting in February 1988 to voice objections to the "conservative trend" of the school. Specific complaints included the new schedule, required attendance at morning advisory groups, and the proposed cancellation of the traditional Senior Sneak and the Upper School picnic.

Faculty acknowledged that the new schedule was intended to correct a public perception of Bush as "too laid-back." 18 Further protests were prompted by changes in procedures for senior projects. No longer could seniors submit a simple description of a project at the last minute. They now had to prepare a detailed

Librarian Kate Trent works with st11dents Ethan Emerson, J ordi Viladas, and Molly Rose Fis her, all from the class of '09 on a comp11ter in the library.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

122

proposal eight weeks in advance. Other rules were added to ensure accountability: a daily calendar of activities, an outside consultant, and a final presentation to the school. Several teachers complained that some projects in the past had not been ambitious enough to take a full four weeks. Seniors considered the changes unfair and needlessly complex. Jeff Reitan '88, quoted in The Rambler, said, "It should be simpler. They should have faith in us." 19

FROM THE BEGINNING, Fred Dust had expressed concerns about student discipline and student responsibility, particularly in the Upper School. A Discipline Committee was formed in 1987-88 to "provide due process for serious disciplinary cases" 20 such as vandalism or a general disrespect for school property. Students could face "a jury of their peers," who could make recommendations for disciplinary action. Headmaster Dust proposed a system in which students who disturb the school community were required to pay the school back through some form of service, often on Saturday.21 In September 1989, a meeting of parents and students addressed the issue of alcohol at student parties . Many students said they saw no problem- that an informal system of designated drivers was working fine, and that the question should be left to individual families . Some parents joined Upper School counselor John Ganz in expressing alarm at such an attitude, questioning the students' perception that they could take care of themselves when they were drinking .22

The Fred Dust Years: 1987-1996

An Upper School retreat the following month "encouraged the process of dealing with issues that affect the Bush community," according to Tom Duffield, Upper School director. The school honor system was a major topic at the three-day camping retreat at Moran State Park on Orcas Island.

In subsequent meetings, faculty recognized the need to define and discipline cheating, stealing, and vandalism. To "borrow" someone else's work is cheating; faculty should not overlook such offenses. In a letter to The Rambler, Upper School coach Theo Coxe faulted the faculty for not being more firm with students:

It was clearly revealed at {the} Moran {retreat}, as it has been around school, that we as a faculty have to a large extent opted out of responsibility to provide leadership for the student body by demonstrating and insisting on appropriate behavior. 23

At an Upper School retreat the next fall, fifteen students were caught drinking alcohol. As reported in The Rambler, several faculty members were quoted as saying that they would not sponsor future social events "because of the nasty role they force teachers to play. "' 4 One lively and controversial student project at this time was the Bush School D ictionary. The dictionary evolved from an Action Module Program on "Bush-speak"-words and phrases peculiar to the school-into a publication edited in 1987 by student Eric Carnell '88 and revised in 1988 and 1989. The dictionary included definitions of slang, nicknames, in-jokes, and school traditionssome definitely more acceptable than others.

12 3

THE BUSH SCHOOL

124

Just a taste of the dictionary:

ADVISORY n. 1. A mandatory 8: 15 a.m. school meeting. 2. A student-teacher group the purpose of which is to inform through daily readings of the bulletin. (Orig. Bush administration.) 3. Synonymous for most students and some faculty with a waste of time.

ATTENDANCE n. l. A tedious process of accounting for the students present, used only by substitute teachers.

JANICE TEST n. 1. A test g iven by Upper School math teacher Janice Osaka. 2. The most difficult test anyone will ever take in his/her life. 3. A test designed so that forty out of a possible hundred seven is the high score.

A SIGNIFICANT NEW ACTIVITY introduced by Fred Dust was the weekly Forum, which began in September 1988. Every Wednesday morning , the entire Upper School gathered at Benaroya Theater to discuss important issues before the school. Certain rules governed the discourse: Students were not to clap or interrupt or talk among themselves. The Forum was intended to be a safe place where students could share their ideas and concerns. A committee of students with faculty adviser Mark Jenkins scheduled topics and developed the rules.

In the fall of 1990 came an additional rule: The policy of open seating was abandoned, and students were required to sit with their mixed-age advisory group. The faculty had expressed concerns about booing, clapping, and other rowdy behavior. Some students were not happy with this new arrangement, which also made it

The Fred Dust Years: 1987-1996

125

more difficult to skip the Forum. An article in The Rambler acknowledged that at the Forum "people often cut others down."

Fred Dust offered a reminder that "Forum is a place where people should feel comfortable speaking. When you have that safe environment, you often get enlightenment and great ideas. "25 The Forum also brought provocative or inspiring guest speakers to the Upper School. Local politicians and representatives of national political campaigns came. Other visitors included several of the pioneer black pilots of World War II known as the Tuskegee Airmen. In November 1995, renowned Nazi resister Miep Gies came to the school. Cera Runyan '97 later wrote: "Miep Gies taught me and others the meaning of compassion, of hope, and of love." 26

THE TRADITION OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

begun by Mrs. Bush was carried on in many ways. Through AMPs and mixed-age advi sory groups, the school provided opportunities for students to become involved in the larger community and to give something of themselves. At Christmas many students delivered canned goods to food banks and missions. In December 1988, the eighth grade sponsored a daylong fast to raise money for victims of an Armenian earthquake.27 In 1989, second-grader Zane Behnke received a Young Philanthropist Award for his campaign that raised $700 for AIDS research. 28 On February 1, 1990, each advisory spent the entire day volunteering at various agencies around the city, an annual activity that continues to this day.

Students Ellen Ferrin '03 (left) and Esther Gomez 'o 3 join their science teacher Don Rigler in a community service project on Tiger Mountain to replant trees.

I26

THE BUSH SCHOOL

In 1990, the school began an extended-day program for Lower School children that was also opened to other children in the neighborhood. From 2:30 to 6:00 p.m., children could enjoy supervised play and recreation or supervised study time. The open nature of the program gave some Bush kids a chance to get to know their neighbors at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. This connection led to several cooperative projects between the two schools, ' 9 and King School eventually developed a similar after-school program. 30 During the 1993- 94 school year, art teachers Bill Baber and Laurie Hall developed a project to enliven the concrete retaining wall that separates the Bush and King Schools. Called the Community Friendship Wall, it was decorated with ceramic tiles created by students at both schools . In 1994, Bush donated a modem and Internet access to King School, and Bush students and teachers helped train King teachers in their use . Fred Dust remarked, "You can connect to people all over the world ....

You shouldn't forget to connect to your neighbors ."31 The Commttnity Friendship Wall was a joint project between the art department at The B11sh School and the st11dents of Martin L11ther King Elementary School.

One challenge to good relations between Bush and the neighborhood stems from limited parking space. By the 1980s, Bush had become a commuter school. Few students lived close enough to walk. A joint busing program with Lakeside School ended in 1984 because there were too few paying customers. Most kids drove or were driven, competing with faculty, staff, and local residents for parking. Complaints from neighbors resulted in a 1990 plan to limit student parking to designated areas, with fines for violators.

In 1994 a three-strikes-and-you're-out policy was added for repeat offenders. The school administration recognizes the importance of remaining on good terms with the neighborhood.32

The Fred Dust Years: 1987-1996

FOREIGN TRAVEL REMAIN ED A SIGNATURE B USH E XPERIENCE.

Between 1987 and 1995, six SeaCliste groups cycled through France and North Africa. The school sent a group of cyclists to Zimbabwe (1993) and noncycling groups to Indonesia (1995) and Costa Rica (1996). Chuck Luckmann took students to the American Southwest in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1992.

No group trips were scheduled in 1992- 93 while some problems were addressed. Over the years, fewer teachers were willing to lead long road trips. The program was restructured, procedures and funding sources were clarified, and stricter guidelines for student behavior were established. Students had to apply for trips well in advance, and group size was limited to ten to twelve students.

Much of the original vision of Bob Ellis remained, however, with each group setting its own goals and managing itself.

The trips to the Southwest provided cross-cultural experience with an indigenous American culture. In the 1987-88 school year, Chuck Luckmann offered a yearlong course in anthropology, culmi nating in an eight-week trip to Arizona. Four weeks were spent hiking and camping, followed by four weeks of living in traditional Navajo communities .

Student Campie Drobnack '89 wrote that the trip was "unquestionably the best two months of my life," but that it was not always a comfortable experience. She felt awkward on the reservation, unsure how to relate to the Navajo students . She concluded, "It is by no means easy to step into another culture and understand it and be accepted by it."33 All the students were deeply impressed

by Navajo elder Roberta Blackgoat, with whom they lived for a week. According to Luckmann, "They learned to distinguish between material poverty and spiritual poverty." 34

12 7

I28

THE BUSH SCHOOL

To prepare for the second Southwest trip, the group studied the Navajo language at the University of Washington. Before the 1990 and 1992 trips, Luckmann taught Navajo at Bush. 35 Group travel was not the only cross-cultural option at Bush. In homesrays, individual students could spend a term or a full year in a foreign home. In spring 1988, for instance, there were two Bush juniors in Japan, two seniors in Mexico, and one junior in ltaly.36 Bush also welcomed many foreign students. On one memorable occasion, two sisters from Tashkent-still a part of the Soviet Union-visited for a week in the spring of 1988. They were welcomed at an all-school assembly that featured an exchange of gifts and several performances, including Little Red Riding Hood by the third grade in a mix of English and Russian. The Tashkent girls sang a song, and the teacher who accompanied them on their visit spoke of hopes for world peace. Following the assembly, the entire school adjourned to release more than five hundred helium balloons, each bearing a message of peace- a ceremony many found very moving. 37 The program of teaching-interns at Bush was an outgrowth of both the SeaCliste and Caminante foreign travel programs. Bush families who sent students on homestays abroad were obligated to host visiting students. During the 1985-86 school year, five Mexican student-tutors came to Bush on an intercambio (exchange).

The following year, three Mexican and two French tutors spent the school year at Bush.38 These first tutors had an ambiguous status: Although of high school age, they were not really high school students since they did not take a full academic load and were expected to help in the language classes. The school later shifted to college-age interns.

The Fred Dmt Years: 1987-1996

129

Despite some challenges in placing the interns in meaningful work, the school remains committed to the program. One of the benefits, says Tom Duffield, is that "you can walk down the hall and hear conversations in French and in Spanish between students and interns ." 39

THE BUSH T RADITION OF FINE THEATER

remained alive and well, with regular productions at Benaroya Performing Arts Center. The list of musicals alone is impressive: Damn Yankees (1988), South Pacific (1990), You're a Good Man, This program is from the original production of Trees, Trolls, and Trailerparks, directed by Mark J enkins and written by st11dents Peter Flynn, Ben Weber, Hiromi Hasegawa, and Ellen C11llom.

Charlie Brown (1991), Guys and Dolls (1992), Annie (1992), Oliver (1993), and Little Shop of Horrors (1995).

Some of the more elaborate productions resulted from the combined efforts of Mark Jenkins (drama), Dennis Evans (art), and Huntley Beyer (music). 40 English teacher Emily Warn joined Jenkins, Evans, and Beyer to create the 1987 production of Daedalus. Students in the fall AMP devel-

oped the script in a collaborative process described in the program notes as "chaotic, exhilarating, nerve wracking and tedious."

The 1989 original production Trees, Trolls, and Trailer Parks was based on four fairy

tales written by Upper School students.

Again, the cast and crew collaborated in defining, rewriting, and staging the show.

A scene from the m11sical Anything Goes, feat11res Rachel Meyer '86, Albert H11ghes '86, Heidi Godt '84 , and Tiffany Cook '84 .

1 30

THE BUSH SCHOOL

In sports, the Bush Blazers continued to play well. The boys' basketball team played in the state tournament every year but one between 1986 and 1993. The first year the boys went to the state tournament, faculty and staff were so enthusiastic that classes were canceled so students could attend. Later, cooler heads determined that this precedent was unfair to other, equally competitive athletics. Tennis, soccer, and cross-country skiing continued to be highly competitive as well. The 1994 PNAIS evaluation commended Bush on the high level of student participation in athletics and the high standards of sportsmanship.

SPECIAL EVENTS IN THESE YEARS included the annual third-grade Thanksgiving play, an original production that often emerged from StudentJ Jhow off the Jcarecrow that they deJigned for the Fall FeJtival in an activity that encouraged JtttdentJ of all ageJ to work together.

the students' social studies. In 1988, the play was E.TT or ExtraTerrestrial Turkey, about turkeys from another planet who have to

learn earthly table manners. For Thanksgiving 1989, the third grade presented From Sea to Shining Sea, about migrating salmon and U.S. geography. Teacher Marilyn Warber-Gibbs was the inspiration for these Thanksgiving shows, and they came to an end with her retirement in 1994.

The all-school Fall Festival was a new event. In October 1989, The Rambler reported, "the entire school came together for a festive scarecrow-building and pumpkin-decorating Halloween-type activity. "4 1

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131

A group of Middle and Upper School students re-created the legendary rock group KISS out of pumpkins! The Fall Festival in 1991 was inspired by Spanish teacher Joel Dure and organized by the ninth grade. 42 Each class participated, with such features as the kindergarten Play-Doh activity and the ninth-grade Moon Walk. There were games, a haunted house, a pony ride, and several plays. The festival , held on a Friday afternoon, was followed by a dance. 43 The practice of honoring people during graduation ceremonies who have been important to the school continued during the Dust administration. In 1988, architect Albert Bumgardner was posthumously named a Bush Sustainer, and Admissions Director Merrily Hauser Chick '61 was honored as a Distinguished Alumna.

In 1989, trustee Donald Rosen was named a Bush Sustainer.

EXPANSION OF THE SCHOOL FACILITY was not as dramatic after 1986 as in the previous decade, although significant improvements were made. In January 1988, Virginia Price Kitchell '43 was alarmed to see that student Dylan Young had to take his wheelchair out onto Lake Washington Boulevard in order to reach a crosswalk.

She raised money to develop a wide path along the boulevard below Gracemont as a gift to the school and the neighborhood. 44 Also in 1988, Gracemont received a new boiler, roof, windows, and

Trttstee and Board President Don Rosen was named a Sustainer for his enthusiastic involvement with plans for the Benaroya Performing Arts Center shown behind him.

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THE BUSH SCHOOL

casements. The basement of Gracemont (thereafter known as the Basemont) was transformed into a combined computer lab and Upper School student lounge.

In December 1988, Fred Dust unveiled plans to remodel the Commons and the main school entrance. The Commons student lounge, only four years old, was eliminated. The administration concluded that Dylan Young '88, shown here constructing a fence, inspired Ginny Kitchell to raise funds for a new path on the boulevard below Gracemont.

"the lounge cannot exist without strict rules and supervision."

Students participated in the new design through an AMP that spring.45 And in April, a group of students helped the maintenance crew rip out the walls of the lounge, opening up the Commons. 46 The remodeled Commons had room for a spacious, wellequipped kitchen. The next fall, The Rambler was enthusiastic about the "new and improved" lunchroom in the Commons. 47 Instead of simple soup and sandwiches, complete meals were now served.

Neen Duggin, director of food services, created the Uncommon Cafe, featuring fresh-baked goods, plus ethnic and gourmet foodsa far cry from the "mystery meat" of the 1950s! Increasingly students chose to stay on campus for lunch , reducing the "breakneck-speed auto exodus at lunchtime." 48 In 1993 The Seattle Times reported that many Bush families enjoyed breakfast there: "For some, with hectic work and activity schedules, it's the only weekday meal they can share." 49

The Fred DttJt Years: 1987- 1996

1 33

The remodeled Commons gave birth to the Uncommon Cafe under the leadership of Neen Duggin, director of food services.

The food was so good that its breakfasts received coverage in the Seattle Tim es in 1993 .

IN THE SPRING O F 1996, Fred Dust announced his intention to resign at the end of the school year. The Tykoe staff acknowledged his leadership: "With this dedication, we express our g ratitude for his energy and vision. During his time at Bush, he has strengthened our school as a community. "50 The Board of Trustees established the Fred Dust Technology Fund in recognition of his contributions in that area. Its income supports technology projects.

Chapter Six

New Directions.· 1996 and Beyond Midge Bowman, former head of the Lower School, accepted the position of interim head of the entire school in July 1996 during the extensive search for a permanent successor to Fred Dust. Her tenure brought closure to her career at Bush: student, teacher, parent, Lower School head, assistant head, and finally head of school.

As an interim leader, she did not undertake major changes.

However, she said she was distressed to return to the school and find so little "institutional memory," partly because of high staff turnover. In her opening address to the faculty, she wove from her memories a narrative of the history of the school, including the original vision of Helen Bush. Rob Corkran recalls that the speech had "a galvanizing effect on the faculty." 1 Midge Bowman dedicated herself to reestablishing ties with alumni and gathering documentary material for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the school's founding.

IN THE SUMMER OF 1997 Dr. Timothy Burns became the head of the school. He came to Bush with a long history of successful teaching and educational leadership and had worked as an interim head and troubleshooter at several independent schools. Hired on a three-year contract, he was charged by the Board to complete the design for a new Science and Technology Center, secure funding for that project, and develop along with the Board a detailed Long Range Plan for the school. In all three assignments his efforts have Midge Bowman '51.

met with success. Tim Burns has worked to improve alumni

1 35

THE B USH S CHOOL

relations and to strengthen the Board of Trustees. He also has been actively involved in the school at all levels, even directing the kindergarten performance of "Old MacDonald" for Grandparents and Special Friends Day in May 1999.

In spite of continued growth and expansion at Bush, it had been many years Dr. Timothy Burns came to The Bush School in I 99 7 as the sixth Head of School.

since the Board of Trustees had promulgated a systematic strategic plan. Trustee Dale Nienow, a Bush parent, led the Long Range Planning Committee in a series of discussions to clarify the school's mission and identity and to set priorities for growth. Described as "a plan for action ... intended to inform future decisions," the Long-Range Plan was completed in April 1999 and implemented in the fall of 1999. It addresses such difficult issues as school governance, future growth, financing, and diversity.

Trustee Sis Pease notes that "the successful completion of this plan was due both to Dale's able leadership and to the energy and expertise poured into it by Tim Burns." 2 The principal focus of development in recent years has been the Science and Technology Center. First proposed by Fred Dust in the early 1990s, the idea earned both Board approval and Board support as trustees pledged the first million dollars as individuals. In January 1998, a major challenge grant was announced; an anonymous donor would give a million dollars toward the building if a matching amount could be raised by May of that year. 3 The challenge was met within one hundred days.

An aggressive capital campaign-spearheaded by campaign co-chairs Janet True and Chap Alvord-has been very successful.

New Directions: 1996 and Beyond

r37

Construction began in June 1999, with plans to move into the Science and Technology Center in the year 2000 during celebration of the school's seventy-fifth anniversary.

The new building is designed to showcase the Upper School's strong math, science, and technology programs. Plans include separate labs for chemistry, physics, biology, and special projects, plus additional classrooms. The rooms are designed to permit all classes to use computers for on-line research and interactive learning. This project will create an integrated Upper School campus while at the same time freeing facilities in the Middle School formerly used for Upper School science.

To create space for the new building on the Upper School campus, it became necessary to remove Cunningham House, the former carriage house of Gracemont that held dance studios, offices, and classrooms. In May 1998, the Bush community gathered to pay tribute to the old building and all that it represented. Tim Burns explained to younger students some of the history of the building. Friends and family of Jeri Lee Cunningham '71, namesake of the building, returned and shared their memories of her brief but vivid life.

English teacher Carmine "Chick" Chickadel, a longtime denizen of the building, noted,

Through Cunningham's windows, I've seen a lot of what happens at Bush: actors gathering for sixth-grade plays; masks on Lower School students in Halloween parades; Wilderness Program participants loading vans for the john Day River trip or Yellowstone ski expeditions; and students packing up food for the Chicken Soup Brigade. 4

Shown here is the east elevation of the Science and Technology Center which will replace Cunningham House.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

THE CONTINUITY O F THE THREE DIVISION DIRECTORS at Bush helped ensure stability during the transition in administrations durring the late 1990s. Elaine Aoki, a nationally recognized authority on literature-based approaches to reading and writing, became head of the Lower School in Elaine A oki assumed command of the Lower School in r 994 and invigorated cttrriculum planning.

1994. She and her staff have worked to strengthen the continuity of the curriculum from grade to grade. Meeting once a month for marathon Curriculum Nights, they have developed a more fully articulated program with clear benchmarks, or expectations, for each grade.

Gary Emslie has been Middle School director since 1978. Many long-standing aspects of the program remain intact, such as broad elective activities and wilderness opportunities, while others have been modified to meet the needs and energies of Middle School students. Gary notes that "Bush doesn't get too maudlin about things evolving." One significant change is the organization of teachers by grade rather than by department which allows for greater attention to the needs of the whole child within each grade.

Fred Mednick came to the Upper School in 1994. As its director, he has worked to promote the school throughout the Northwest and to increase enrollment. During his second year at Bush he wrote the book Rebel without a Car, a guide for parents and teachers of adolescents. He has been one of the driving forces behind development of the new Science and Technology Center.

Two significant additions to the school administration in 1997 were Lucy Leitzell, as development director, and Mandi Counter, as director of admissions. In addition to fund -raising and promotional

New Directions: 1996 and Beyond

duties, Lucy Leitzell worked with trustee Alden Garrett '73 on preparing the year-long celebration of the school's seventy-fifth anniversary that began in the fall of 1999.

Mandi deserves credit for tightening admissions procedures and working closely with the faculty to identify which children have the best chance for success at Bush. The school receives more than 300 applications a year and admits about 120 new students. Bush is continuing efforts to make the school accessible to students from a wide variety of backgrounds, and 15 percent of the student body in 1997 -98 receive some kind of financial aid based upon need. 5 One significant change in recent years is the practice of readmission between eighth and ninth grade, a policy introduced by Midge Bowman and Fred Mednick in 1997. Each student completing the eighth grade is encouraged to look at other high schools and decide if Bush is really the right place for him or her. Each student must submit a statement of intent for the Upper School.

At the same time, the school may encourage a student to transfer to a school where that student's needs might be better served. The results show less attrition between the Middle and Upper School as well as a freshman class that sees Bush as a positive choice.

THE BUSH CALENDAR reflects both the continuity and change of Bush traditions. The year begins with Convocation, which brings students from all three divisions together in the inner courtyard.

Since 1996, a student from each division has addressed the school and reflected on their common educational purpose.

After Convocation, the Upper School grades take off a day or more for outdoor team-building activities at sites around Puget Sound. Each Middle School grade goes on a retreat of several days later in the fall. In 1996, the theme of the seventh-grade retreat on

1 39

THE BUSH SCHOOL

I40

Vashon Island was the concept of respect. After two days of activities, one student reported that "we all left knowing a lot more about ourselves and each other." 6 The Fall Festival brings all three divisions of the school together for a carnival in October. Each class presents a different activity that is always different, fresh and lively. The Halloween Masque, a parade of Lower School children wearing dramatic masks of their own design, is one of the highlights of Halloween.

In February, the Middle School hosts a weeklong Fine Arts Festival, of music and drama performances, open-mike improvisation, art activities, and trips to local studios. 7 On Community Service Day, Middle and Upper School students volunteer to help various local agencies.

The Upper School continues to meet in a weekly Forum, while the Middle and Lower Schools have Monday Morning Meetings. In an effort to strengthen ties between the older and younger students, all-school assemblies-such as the tribute to Cunningham Househave been called more often. Other assemblies are more playful: On one occasion, players on the boys' high school basketball team were blindfolded while first-grade students directed them where to throw the ball.

Graduation at Bush strikes a balance between tradition and the current interests of the graduating seniors. The junior class still makes and carries a daisy chain. Seniors wear blue robes while faculty and trustees wear academic robes. The seniors march to music of their own choice, and their program includes student speakers and performances as well as the traditional address. In 1999 the guest speaker was David Douglas who retired from the Lower School after twenty-six years.

New D irections: 1996 and Beyond

Sports remain strong at Bush without dominating student life .

Students are encouraged to try out for any activity for the pleasure of the experience. Without emphasizing competition, the Bush Blazers are still competitive. In 1998, the Upper School boys' tennis team won the state championship for the fourth consecutive year. Chris Lewis '98 was State Tennis Champion for all four years he was in the Upper School. In 1997, the Upper School girls ' soccer team won the Division III Championship. The next year, Bush soccer was bumped up from Division III to Division II. Even with tougher competition, the girls again won the division championship . In both years, Coach Carolyn Davis was named Division Coach of the Year. 8 The theater program has experimented in recent years with productions that involve a high degree of collaboration between faculty and students. Rather than trying out for a finished script and simply being told where to stand and what to say, students participate in the process of creating a show from the very beginning.

In 1996-97, English teacher Lois Fein asked her students to write

stories about a Holocaust victim, and these pieces became the basis for the production of The Promise. Local playwright Chris Jeffries wrote the script for The Beastie Book in 1998 around the talents of the cast and crew. In May 1999, family and friends of Sally Ryan, a dedicated parent volunteer, "a devoted worker," and a "force" (in the words of Sally Pritchard), gathered to dedicate the stage in Benaroya Performing Arts Center to her memory.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

THE GEORGE TAYLOR DINNER continues to be a major annual event honoring Bush faculty. The George W. Taylor Faculty Endowment Fund allows a member of the faculty each year to take a well-earned sabbatical. The 1997 dinner honored six teachers for their twenty-five years of service: Rob Corkran, Bev Ernst, Tom Highsmith, Sally Pritchard, Peggy Skinner, and Judy Thomas .

At the r998 George Taylor Dinner, David Dederer '82 introduces Wilderness Program founder Rob Corkran.

The 1998 dinner celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Wilderness Program. The Commons was "transformed into a mountain lodge with outdoor equipment, red-checked tablecloths, blue enamel tin cups, and evergreen boughs." Fortunately the dinner itself was more elegant than camp food .9 Honored guests included people instrumental in the success of the Wilderness Program: founders Rob Corkran and Mike Douglas, Middle School math teacher Tom Stanlick, Upper School science teacher Tom Duffield, and former Upper School English teacher Chuck Luckmann. A large group of wilderness veterans gathered to share memories of outdoor triumphs and adventures.

In 1999, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Foreign Travel Program was the occasion for another celebration at the George Taylor Dinner. Program founder Bob Ellis, who had left the school in 1994, returned as guest of honor. Other guests were foreign travel volunteer Sharon Clarno, Tom Duffield, Chuck Luckmann, Upper School science teacher Larry Muir, and Upper School history teacher Phil Rohrbaugh. Mark Boyar '75 and Matt Rice '75, both members of the round-the-world bicycle tour, were present, along with many former SeaCliste travelers.

New Directions: 1996 and Beyond

l43

Back in the early days of the school, founder Helen Bush wrote: "The most important factor in any school is the TEACHER." The George Taylor Dinner honors the tradition of teaching excellence at The Bush School. In 1974, George Taylor wrote some thoughtful words about teaching that are read each year at the dinner in his memory:

Too many students tend to learn by rote; to memorize; to take notes that are merely echo; to recite "There's nothing good or bad, But thinking makes it so" without thinking about Shakespeare's thought. ... But what profits a sophomore if he gain an A and loses his understanding? .. Let the student go to the lab, gape at the model of a molecule, and realize that it is not a molecule at all! Flabbergast him with concepts. The challenging teacher challenges . ... The intellect is man's peculiar gift. Let's honor it. 10

George Taylor's words resonate in the intense concentration of Michael Hwang '09.

1 44

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Heads of School

1924-1948 Helen Taylor Bush

1948-1 967 Marjorie Chandler Livengood

1967-1972 John B. Grant, Jr.

1972-1987 Leslie I. Larsen, Jr.

1987-1996 Fred A. Dust

1996-1997 Elsa "Midge" McPhee Bowman '51 (interim appointment)

1997Timothy M. Burns, Ph.D.

Appendices

Presidents of the Board of Trustees

1929-1 935

Lenore McGrath Ostrander

1936-1939

James 0 . Gallagher

1940- 194 1

Kenelm Winslow, Jr.

1942-1949

H amilton C. Rolfe

1949-1955

H arry Henke, Jr.

1955-1959

John H . Hauberg

1959-1962

Willard J . Wright

1962-1964

Thomas H. Youell

1964-1967

E. Peter Garrett

1967-1970

Alexander H . Bill

1970-1973

Peter W. Eising

197 3-1976

Brooks G. Ragen

1976-1980

P. Cameron DeVore

1980-1981

Phoebe Haffner Andrew

1981-1984

Donald G . Rosen

1984-1988

Merrily H auser Chick '61

1988-1990

Stanley D. Savage

1990-1993

Christopher T. Bayley

1993-1996

Gary Carpenter

1996-1999

Douglas L. True

1999-

Dale Nienow

1 45

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Student Government Presidents

Student presidents at The Bush School were chosen each year from 1935 through 197 2, when the concept of the Town Meeting largely replaced the traditional student government. After chat time the pattern varied from year co year in the number of students elected and che names of the offices they held.

In all cases except chose noted, each listed student held che cicle of student president and was a member of the senior class. For each school year, the first president listed held office for the first half of the year (fall) and the second person listed held office for the second half (spring).

1935 -1936 Rose Ellen Dudgeon Harriet Paine

1941-1942 Elizabeth Smith Elizabeth Cunningham

1948-1949 Anne Rolfe Paula Herb

1936-1937 Florence Spinner Dorothy Lewis

1942-1943 Virginia Poole Leslie Denman

1949-1950 Sally Lanser Carol McDermott

1937-1938 Lesley Hampton Sally Paine

1943 -1944 Patricia Pope

1950-1951 Patricia Gilbert

Jana Prate

Gretchen Harms

1944-1945 Joan Southwick Alexandra Harrah

1951-1952 Nina Stedman Lee Fraser

1945 -1946 Virginia King Martha Holloway

1952 -1953 Alica Davis Maryjane Ganey

1946-1947 Susan Bean Patricia Sherrer

1953-1954 Diana Matthews Susie Schoenfeld

1938-1939 No record 1939-1940 Sally Hovey Bette Studebaker 1940-1941 Nancy Earling Mary Haight

1947-1948 Ann Fraser Janec Lister

Appendices

1954-1955 Joan Holloway Nancy Schaefer

1963-1964 Holly Amberg Lynn Black

1955-1956 Julie DuBois Joyce McDonald

1964-1965 Sandra Lake Sandra Banks

1956-1957 Linda Halverson Susan Richards

1965 -1966 Cordy Jenkins Betsy Bill

1957-1958 Carolyn Bourns Ellen Worthington

1966-1967 Elsa Parrington Debra Hansen

1958-1959 Barbara Davidson Susan Wright

1967-1968 Deborah Gayle

1959-1960 Lynn Jerome Claudia Miller

1968-1969 Anne Croco Laurel Harmon

1960-1961 Connie Flatboe Sally Wright

1969-1970 Sharon Stephens

1961-1962 Cynthia Karr Priscilla Jones 1962-1963 Patricia Danz Marcia Miller

Deborah Price

1970-1971 Jeri Lee Cunningham Patti Lucker 1971 - 1972 Ann Thomas Ginny Farrell '74 1972- 1973 Heidi Rooks '73

1 47

1973-1974 Town Meeting officers Carolyn Crooks Joel Hawthorn Laura Treadgold Leslie Cobb '76 1974-1975 Helen Anderson Deborah La Zerce 1975-1976 Carrie Hawthorn R. Borgan Anderson '77 1976-1977 School Government officers R. Borgan Anderson MuffEising '78 Frances Koo '78 John Malcman '78 Emily Rice '78 1977-1978 John Leander 1978-1979 Dan Rabinowitz Polly Close '80

Information on this list was verified from school records. Thank you for reporting any errors to the Development Office.

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Senior Award Winners The Plaque

Each recipient of this award was a member of the senior class who was recognized as making the greatest contribution to The Bush School and best exemplifying the words of Alexander Pope, "In action faithful, and in honor clear. " The award was presented annually through 1970, and occasionally si nce then. A runner-up (R) also was named for several years.

1942-1943 Sylvia Clise 1943-1 944 Janne Pratt 1944-1 945 Joan Frayn 1945 -1 946 Beverly Connelly 1946-1 947 Ruch Helsell 1947-1948 Diane Kendall 1948-1949 Paula Herb 1949-1950 Arlayne Hedderly-Smith 1950-1951 Midge McPhee 1951 - 1952 Nina Stedman 1952-1953 Mary Leavitt 195 3-1 954 Diana Matthews 195 4-1955 Joan Holloway 1955 -1 956 Julie DuBois 1956-1 957 Janice Gustafson 1957-1958 Eloise Jensen 1958-1959 Janet Spalding 1959-1960 Anne Ricker Susan Rutherford (R) 1960-1 961 Jayme Clise 1961-1 962 Lucy Moore Amy Johnston (R) 1962-1963 Christine Norrie Patricia Danz (R) 1963 -1 964 Diana Sheehan Elizabeth Blackford (R)

1964-1965 Mattie Robbins Sandra Lake (R) 1965 -1 966 Cordy Jenkins Elizabeth Mitchell (R) 1966-1 967 Elsa Parrington Ann Mitchell (R) 1967-1968 Susan Bill Katherine Burns (R) 1968-1969 Elaine Daly Anne Croco (R) 1969-1970 Sharon Stephens Pam Bekins (R) 1973-1 974 Laura Treadgold 1974-1 975 Helen Anderson 1974-1 975 Mark Boyar 1975 -1976 Carri e Hawthorn 1976-1977 R. Borgan Anderson 1977-1978 John Maltman 1983-1984 Deborah Person 1989- 1990 Peter Flynn 1994- 1995 Noa Gimelli 1994-1 995 Adeola Enigbokan

Information on this list was verified from school records. Thank you for reporting any errors to the Development Office.

Appendices

Footnotes

CHAPTER 1

"Graduate 's Record , University of Illinois," August 31, 1905; also undated notes

1

2

UI Alumnae Association.

Susan P. Egnor and Helen 1. Runstein , Fifty Years: The B11sh School (Seattle: The Bush School, 1974), p. 3; also Virginia Gall Morrow, interview by John Corkran,

June 7, 1987 . ' Virginia Price Patty, interview by Liza Benedict, 1988.

4 Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 4 . ' Kenyon Bush, letter to Bush student Caroline Senecal, February 4, 1956, p. 2.

6 Eleanor Bush Drew, interview, April 8, 1975.

7 Kenyon Bush letter, p. 2. ' Bush to Senecal, p. 2.

9 The Helen B11sh School for Boarding and Day St11dents Catalog, 1934/35 .

10 Ibid.

11

Sis Pease, focus group meeting, September 17, 1998.

Catalog, 1934/3 5.

13 Mary Rolfe Will, interview by author, March 8, 1999.

14 Barbara Edenholm, interview by Liza Benedict, April 20, 1988.

1 ' Dee Squire Dickinson, interview by Liza Benedict, May 10, 1988.

12

1

' Ibid.

Marjorie Livengood, interview, February 27, 1975, p . 7.

18 Dickinson, interview.

17

19

Midge Bowman, focus group meeting, September 17, 1998.

Dickinson, interview.

21 Polly Kenefick, "Mary Haight Pease Retires," Al11mni Bulletin, Spring/ Summer 20

1991 , p. 4 . " Sis Pease, interview by Liza Benedict, 1988. " Livengood , interview, p. 1.

24 Dickinson, interview. " Will, interview.

Al11mni Magazine, W inter 1998, p. 11.

Morrow, interview.

28 "H arrah and Hanson Elected 1" Rambler, J anuary 25, 194 5, p. 1.

29 "Metamorphosis of the Rambler," Rambler, Apri l 8, 1949, p . 7 .

26 27

r49

THE BUSH SCHOOL

150

Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 28.

Midge Bowman, interview by author, February 1, 1999.

32 "Do you Remember?" R ambler, March 16, 1948, p. 4.

33 "Twenty-five traditions," Rambler, April 8, 1949, p . 8.

34 Livengood, interview. " Morrow, interview.

36 Edenholm, interview.

37 Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 27.

38 Catalog, 1934/35.

39 Livengood, interview, p. 2.

0 ' Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 25.

41 Unidentified newpaper clipping, May 10, 1936, on file in Bush Development Office. " Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 49.

43 Ibid., p. 41. " Livengood, interview, p. 2. " Pease, interview.

30 31

46 47

Quoted in Fifty Years, p . 42.

Ibid., p. 41.

CHAPTER 2

Midge Bowman, "Opening Address to the Faculty," August 1996, p. 2. ' Livengood, interview, p. 4.

1

Anne Rolfe Kellogg , interview by author, September 6, 1998.

Meta O'Crotty, interview by Liza Benedict, January 9, 1988. ' Quoted in Fifty Years, p . 17.

6 Board of Trustees Annual Meeting Minutes, February 7, 1950.

7 O'Crotty, interview.

• Marjorie Livengood, Annual Corporation Meeting, November 16, 1960, p. 2.

9 Alumnae Bulletin, Summer 1967, p . 7.

10 Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 7.

11 Sis Pease, conversation with author, September 8, 1998.

12 O 'Crotty, interview.

1 ' Ibid .

14 Marjorie Livengood , "Message from Mrs. Livengood," Rambler, April 8, 1949, p. 1.

1 ' "Now It's Their Turn," Rambler, March 16, 1948, p. 2.

16 Livengood, interview, p. 8.

17 Mary Van Arsdel, "Vale, Mrs. McCall," Rambler, June 1970.

18 Laura MacColl, "Mrs. Miller Takes Final Bow," Rambler, June 1970.

19 Helen Bush, "Reminiscing," Rambler, April 8, 1949, pp. 1-2 .

3

4

'° Livengood, interview, p . 3.

21 Ibid., p. 1.

Appendices

" Board of Trustees Minutes, December 9, 1952.

23 Mothers' Club Minutes, May 9, 1961.

24 Cited in Fifty Years, p. 20. " Ibid. , p. 18.

26 St11dent Handbook, 1943/44. " Quoted in Fifty Years, p . 36.

28 Pease, interview.

29 Quoted in Fifty Years, p. 46 .

30 "Marjorie Livengood Remembered," B11sh School Al11mni B11lletin, March 1980, p. 3.

CHAPTER 3

' C. Spencer Clark, letter to Peter Eising, March 11 , 1970.

Jane Fleischbein, "hellon bush," Rambler, December 1968, p. 2. ' "Horror Hall," Rambler, December 1968, pp. 1, 4 . ' Long Range Planning Committee Minutes, March 6, 1968. ' Board of Trustees Minutes, December 1970.

6 Accounts differ as to whether or not Bush decided to go coed before or after Lakeside School. However, the Minutes of the Board of Trustees indicate that the trustees were well aware of Lakeside's intentions before their final decision.

7 Board of Trustees Minutes, May 6, 1971.

8 Faculty Meeting, July 15 , 197 1.

9 Long Range Planning Committee Minutes, April 15, 1968.

0 ' Board of Trustees Minutes, September 19, 1968; also Sis Pease notes to the author, May 1999.

11 Wes Uhlman, letter to John Grant, March 2, 1971.

12 Kellee Brown, "Legendary Sis," B11sh School Al11mni Magazine, May 1985 , p. 12.

13 Board of Trustees Minutes, May 15, 1969.

14 Bowman, interview.

1 ' Laura MacColl, "Mrs. Miller Takes Final Bow," Rambler, June 1970, p. 2.

16 Pease, interview.

17 Mothers' Club Minutes, December 2, 1969.

18 Cissy Wolf, "Uniform Disappears for 70- 71," Rambler, p. 1.

19 Mothers' Club Minutes, May 6, 1970 .

20 Board of Trustees Minutes, March 28, 1968.

21 Ibid.

22 Al11mnae B11lletin, Fall 1969.

23 Fifty Years, p. 20. " John Grant, letter to Peter Eising, April 3, 1972. " Andrea Vogel Gilbert, letter to John Grant, June 16, 1970.

26 Peter Eising, interview by author, Ocrober 17, 1998. " Brown, "Legendary Sis," p. 12.

2

151

THE BUSH SCHOOL

152

CHAPTER 4

' \Vhat's What at Helen Bush, p. 20.

' Ibid.

3 Ibid., p. 11. ' Ibid., p 24. ' Student Handbook, 1974/75, p. 1.

6 lbid., p. 5. ' lbid.,p. 7. ' Quoted in The Bush School Bulletin, 1973/74, p. 42.

9 Sis Pease, conversation with author, September 1998. " Bowman, "Opening Address," p. 3.

11 Sally Pritchard, focus group meeting, Ocrober 24, 1998.

12 PNAIS Evaluation, 1986. ' 3 Rob Corkran, notes to the author, April 9, 1999. " Bowman, interview. " Board of Trustees Minutes, September 7, 1972.

6 ' Famlty Handbook, 1980/8 1, p. 59.

17 Bowman, "Opening Address," p. 4. " Corrie Duryee Moore, interview by author, January 10, 1999. ''Josh Uhlir, "George Taylor," Rambler, February 23, 1990, p. 3.

20

Rambler, October 9, 1972.

21

Pease, interview.

22

The Bush Newsletter, June 1975 , p. 1.

23

Bowman, interview.

24

Ibid. " Sis Pease, conversation with author, January 10, 1999.

26 PNAIS Self-Evaluation, Apri l 1986, p. 262.

27 Bowman, interview.

28 O'Crotty, interview.

29 Pritchard, focus group.

30 "Computer Literacy : Survival in the 80s," The Bush School Bulletin, Spring 1981, p . 3.

Les Larsen, "Computers in Context," The Bush School Bulletin, Autumn 1982.

32 PNAIS Self-Evaluation, April 1986, p. 162.

33 Pease, interview.

34 Shirley Loper, focus group meeting, September 17, 1998. " Pam Murphey, "Sex Change," Rambler, March 16, 1979, p . 3.

36 John Haigh, "The Boys at Bush," Seattle Times Magazine, 3'

December 9, 1973, p. 12. " Laura Treadgold, "Open Campus Begins for Seniors," Rambler, 38

October 9, 1972, p. 1.

Mimi Grey, "Open Campus at Bush," Rambler, October 11, 1974.

39

Midge Bowman, focus group meeting, September 17, 1998.

0

Tykoe 75, p. 9.

'

Appendices

41

Paul O 'Connor, "Seattle Cyclists Pedal Around the World," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 2, 1976.

42

Bob Ellis, The SeaCliste Handbook, pp. 6, 40.

43 "Bush SeaClistes: An Experience in International Travel," T he Bush School

Bulletin, Spring 1981, p. 3.

Megan Bowman, interview with author, Ocrober 23, 1998. " Kris Chick, "An '84 Graduate Reflects on Experiential Education," unpublished paper.

44

46

Tykoe, 1981-1 987.

" The Bush School Alumni Magazine, Spring 1986, p . 5.

" Tom Duffield, conversation with author, January 9, 1999.

49 Rob Corkran, focus g roup meeting, October 24, 1998.

0 ' Board of Trustees Minutes, March 28, 1973.

1 ' "The Wilderness Program , Winter-Early Spring," unpublished paper, 1974. " Moore, interview. " "Wilderness Program Thrives," Bush Bulletin, June 1976, p . 5. " Rob Corkran, conversation with author, January 10, 1999. " Rob Corkran, "The Bush School Wilderness Prog ram, " unpublished paper, 1987.

6 ' Leanne Skooglund Hofford, "Profile: Matt Huston ," Bush Alumni Magazine, Spring 1994, p. 10. " Chuck Luckmann , letter to author, October 1998. " Tykoe, 1975/76 .

,. Ibid., 1977178 .

6o

Bowman, interview.

61

Tom Duffield, focus group meeting, October 24, 1998.

62 Student Handbook, 1943.

63 The Bush School Alumni Magazine, Spring 1986, p. 4 .

64 Paul Uhlir, "Bush Athletics on the Rise ," Rambler, 1985, p. l.

6

Craig Smith, "Tough Act to Follow, Seattle Times, February 27, 1990, pp. Fl , F2.

Cited by Gardiner Vinnedge, letter to the author, May 1999.

67 Sally Ormsby, "Bush Rock Group in Tune," Rambler, July 29, 1977, p. l.

6 ' Bill Baber, "Summer Work," memo, undated. '

66

69

Jay Sesnon, focus group meeting, October 14, 1998.

Andy Dahlstrom, focus group meeting, October 24, 1998.

71 The Bush Newsletter, September 1974, p. 3. " John Grant, Memo to Long-Range Planning Committee,July 25, 1968. " Board of Trustees Minutes , September 7, 1972.

74 The Bush Newsletter, June 1975, p. 3. " "Livengood Library Opens ," Bush Bulletin, November 1976, p . 2.

76 Bowman, "Opening Address," p. 5.

70

" Board of Trustees Minutes , January 25, 1968.

78 The Bush School Master Plan.

79 Sally Pritchard , focus group meeting, October 24, 1998.

80 Bowman, "Opening Address," p. 6.

r53

THE BUSH SCHOOL

1 54

CHAPTER 5

' Board/Faculty/Staff Retreat Minutes, January 26, 1985 , in PNAIS SelfEvaluation, 1986, p. 56. ' Leanne Skooglund Hofford, "Skinner Named One of Top Science Teachers in U.S.," Bush Alumni Magazine, Spring 1994, pp. 23-24.

3 "Meta O'Crotty: A Dedication," Alumni Magazine, Spring 1994, p . 21. ' Les Larsen, "The Headmaster's White Paper on Diversity," 1976. ' Pease, interview.

6 PNAIS Evaluation, April 1994, p. 5.

7 Douglas Blair, "Diversity at Bush," Rambler, February 1, 1993, p. 2. ' Ben Humphrey, "In Case You Weren't at Forum," Rambler, April 14, 1994, p.l.

9 Ben Humphrey, "Students at Bush are Frustrated with Diversity," Rambler, April 28, 1995 ,p. 1.

"National Multicultural Alliance Makes Bush Its Home," Alumni Magazine,

10

Winter 1996, p . 10.

PNAIS Evaluation, April 1994, p. 10. " Ibid., p. 50. " Leanne Skooglund Hofford, "AMPie Experience," Bush Alumni Magazine, December 1991 , p. 11. " Gary Emslie, interview by author, March 2, 1999. " Leanne Skooglund Hofford, "Bush Evening Course Program," Bush Alumni Magazine, Spring 1994, p. 25.

16 Fred Mednick, conversation with author, February 21, 1999.

17 Annie Robinson, "Elias Called to Russia, " Rambler, February 1993, p. 1. " Elina Erlendsson, "Seniors Reject Conservative Trend," Rambler, February 11, 1988,p. 11.

19 Francesca Tussing, "DisMAY Project," Rambler, March 17, 1988, p. 1.

20 Todd Smith, "Discipline Committee," Rambler, November 10, 1988, pp. 1-2.

21 Ben Johns, "Discipline: A Student's View," Rambler, March 8, 1989, p. 2. " Letters to the Editor, Rambler, October 20, 1989, pp. 3-6. " Theo Coxe, Letter to the Editor, Rambler, October 20, 1989, p. 17.

24 Allison Dehn, "Teachers, Not Cops," Rambler, October 21, 1990, p. 1. " Tony Perez, "The Forum Reformed ," Rambler, October 27, 1990, p. 1.

26 Cera Runyan, Tykoe 1996, p. 3. " Todd Smith, "Fasting For Dollars," Rambler, December 16, 1988, p. 1. " Unidentified newspaper clipping, 1989, on file in Bush Development Office.

29 "Bush and MLK," Bush Bulletin, Spring 1995, p. 5.

30 PNAIS Evaluation, April, 1994, p. 50.

31 Leanne Skooglund Hofford, "Did You Know?" Bmh Alumni Magazine, Spring 1994, p. 24.

32 H. S. Rekhi , "Parking at Bush," Rambler, October 94, pp. 3-5. " Campie Drobnack, "Southwest I: A Personal Narrative," SWI Speaks, May 1988.

11

Appendices

34 Chuck Luckmann, "Cross-cultural Learning with the Navaho," in Experiential

Learning in the Commttnity, Environment, and Cross-mltttral Settings, 1990, p . 198. " Chuck Luckmann, personal correspondence, undated , fall 1998.

36 Michael Poole, "Global Travel," Rambler, April 28, 1988, pp. 4-5.

37

Dylan Young, "Tashkent Sisters Visit Bush," Rambler, April 28, 1988, p. 1.

38

Tykoe, 1985/86 and 1986/87.

Tom Duffield, conversation with author, January 9, 1999.

Sally Pritchard, conversation with author, January 18, 1999.

1 ' Carl (Peter) Flynn, "This Week at Bush," Rambler, October 27, 1989, p. 2. " Gardiner Vinnedge, letter to the author, May 1999.

43 Paul Salama, "A Tradition Begins," Rambler, October 22, 1991 , pp. 1, 4.

44 Irene Svete, "Bush Neighbors Restore Path," Madison Park Times, 39 0

'

January 1988, p. 3.

Jeff Ryan, "Commons to be Remodeled," Rambler, December 22, 1988, p. 1.

46 Mike Crisera, "This Week," Rambler, April 28, 1989, p. 1.

47 Elizabeth Wurts, "This Week at Bush," Rambler, October 20, 1989, p. 1.

48 Gardiner Vinnedge, letter to author. " Larry Brown, "Not Your Typical School Cafeteria," Seattle Times, 1993. Clipping on file in Development Office.

45

'

0

Tykoe, 1996/97, p . 2.

CHAPTER 6 1 2

Rob Corkran, focus group meeting, October 24, 1998.

Sis Pease, letter ro author.

Carole Witbeck, "Science and Technology Update," Bulletin, May 1998, p. 1.

Carole Witbeck, "A Tribute to Cunningham House," Alttmni Magazine, Summer 1998, p. 5. ' Mandi Counter, conversation with author,June 2, 1999.

6 SandraJaksic, "The Value of Retreats," Bttlletin, December 1996, p. 6. ' "Fine Arts Festival Enhances MS Perspective," Bttlletin, March 1999, p. 5.

8 "Campus News," Alttmni Magazine, Winter 1998, p. 8.

9 "George Taylor Dinner Celebrates Wilderness Program," Bulletin, March 1998, p. 1.

10 "1997 George Taylor Dinner," B11lletin, March 1997 , p. 1.

3

4

I55

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Index

Italics indicate pages with photographs

A academic counseling,

115- 16 Action Module Program (AMP), 88-90, 99, 118-19, 129 activities, 30-31, 54- 55, 124- 25 Adalist, Llyn, 47, 69 Adams, Robert, 23 administration , 64-66, 78-80, 114, 138-39 admissions, 51, 116, 139 Albrecht, Rich, 104 "Alternative Plans for Bush School," 63 Alumnae Association, 51 Alvord, Chap, 13 7 Alvord, Elias, 121 Always Flat Singing Society, 30 AMP. See Action Module Program Anderson , R. Borgan, 93 Aoki, Elaine, 114, 138, 138 Arnett, Barrie, 44 Arnett, David, 44 Arnold, Bob , 110 Arnold, Grace Heffernan, 39, 110 Arnold Art Building, 70, 110 See also Robert M. Arnold Fine Arts Building arc classes, 25, 26-27, 49,88 See also summer work program

art collection, 106 assembl ies, 140 auction, 81 awards, 22-23, 86, 11 5,131

B Baber, Bill, 30, 77, 104-06, 126 Baccalaureate, 68, 86 Ballinger, Rosemary Ostrander, 3 7 banquets Christmas, 31-32 smorgasbord, 32 Barometer, 31 Bascus, Will, 103 Basemonc, 120-2 1, 132 basketball, 69, 103, 104, 130 Beecher, Ward , 18 behavior code, 56, 59-60, 75-77, 92 Behnke, Zane, 12 5 Benaroya, Becky, 111 Benaroya, J ack, 111 Benaroya, Larry, 111 Benaroya Performing Arcs Center, 102 , 102, 106, 111, 111 , 131, 141 Beyer, Huntley, 100, 129 bicycle crip(s) around the world (1975-1976), 93, 93-94 French, 94-95 See also SeaCliste program Bill, Sandy (Dr.), 86

Board of Trustees, 20, 38,45--46, 50, 51, 53, 59,60-62,64,66, 70, 72, 80, 8 1, 107, 109, 111 , 11 3, 13 3, 135-36 board ing program , 37, 53, 60 ended in Lower School, 53 p hased out in Upper School, 70-71 Bowman, Elsa "Midge" McPhee, 26, 32, 43, 49, 65, 76, 78, 79,80,85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 93, JOO, 101,108, 115,134 as interim head of Bush School (1996-1997), 135 , 139 Bowman, Megan , 95 Boyar, Mark, 93, 93, 142 Brechemin Family Music Building, 111 Brubacker, Bill, 93 Bumgardner, Albert , 111 ,13 1 Burke, John, 104 Burns , Timothy (Dr.), 136, 137 Bush School u nder (1997- ), 135--43 Burrows, Anne, 67 Bush , Eleanor, 16, 17, 18 Bush, H elen Taylor, 7, 8, 14, 16, 17, 34, 43 and early growth of school, 17-20 and European ttip (1939), 34 Bush School founded by, 17-19 Bush School under (1924-1948), 17--4 1 early life of, 15- 17 ed ucational principles and philosophy of, 20-22

final days and death of, 40--41 as a reacher, 24 teachers hired by, 26-28 See also Helen Taylor Bush Scholarship Bush,John K., 16-17, 38 Bush, Kenyon, 16, 18, 19, 20 Bush Basket, 52, 81 Bush Bicycle Club, 93 Bush Bugle, The, 31 Bush Evening Course Program, 120 Bush Institute, 90 Bush News, 31 Bush School, The administration , 64-66, 78-80, 138-39 admissions, 116, 139 Bowman, Midge, as head of (1996-97), 135 Burns, Timothy (Dr.), as head of (1997- ), 13 5--43 Bush, Helen, as head of (1924-1948), 15--41 changed to coeducational, 60-63,91-92

found ing of, 17-19 Grant, John, as head of (1967-1972), 59-73 identity of, 73 and Lakeside School, 19, 60, 61, 62, 126 Larsen, Les, as head of (1972-1987), 75-111 Livengood, Marjorie, as head of, (1948-67), 43-57 and Marcin Luther K ing Jr. (Harrison) Elementary School, 71, 107, 126 minority enrollment in ,

72, 116-17 name changed, 62 relocation of considered , 38, 63-64 See also Helen Bush School for Girls; Lower School; Middle School; Mrs. Bush's School; Parkside; Upper School Bmh School Dictionary, 123-24 Bush Sustainers, 86, 131 busing program , 126

"conservati ve trend" of,

121-22 core values of, 20-22, 76, 11 8 Dust, Fred, as head of (1987-1996), 11 3-33 early years, 19--41 expansion, remodels, and

improvements, 38-39, 64, 70-71 , 8 1, 102, 107-11, 131-32, 135-37

C Callison, Kathleen, 47 Caminante, 95-96 Campbell , Mary, 86 Caner, Zimmie, 103 Carnell, Eric, 123 Carpenter, Cindy, 60 Carpenter, Mary Anne, 60 Carriage House, 107, 107-08 See also Cunningham Home chapel , 54 Chessex, Virginia, 27, 32 Chick, Kris, 95 Chick, Merrily Hauser, 13 1

Index

Chickadel, Carmine "Chick", 106, 119,137 Ch ickadel , Chris, 30 Christmas banquet, 31-32 Clarno, Sharon, 142 classes. See entries for individual mbjects Clemmer, Adell, 29 coed ucation , 60- 63, 91-92 committees, studen t, 36 Commons, 132, 133 Community Friendship Wall , 126, 126 community service. See social responsibility Community Service Day,

140

D Dahlsrrom , Andy, 106 Daly, Elaine, 71 Davis, Carolyn, 141 Dederer, David , 142 Dewey, John , 15- 16 Di ckinson, Dee Squire,

17, 18 dormitories, 37

Dorothy Allen H all , 37, 52, 53

Douglas, David , 79, 101 ,

Conference DEAR (Drop Everything And Read),

Doug las, Mike, 66, 79, 79,

119-20 construction. See Bush School: expansion, remodels , and improvements

Convocation, 85, 139 Cook, Ti ffany, 129 Coppers, John , 91 cote values , 20-22, 46 ,

76, 11 8 Corkran, Rob, 79, 96-99,

135, 142, 142 counselors , 11 5-16 Counter, Mandi , 138-39 Coxe, Theo, 12 3 crew, 103 cross-count ry skiing program, 97, 99, 103 Cuddleboots, 33 Cunningham, Ellyn, 60 Cunningham, J eri Lee ,

68, 107-08, 137 Cunni ngham H ouse, 107, 107-08, 137 Curley, Jayme Clise, 106 curriculum , 18, 23-25, 47,

68-70,87-88, 138

127, 142 Ellis, Steve, 93 Ellis Education Endowment, 84 Emerson, Ethan, 121 Emsl ie, Gary, 79, 80, 89,

25,26,29,86 Discipline Committee, 122 Disting uished Al umna Award, 86, 115 , 131 Diversi ty Implementation Progra m, 11 7 Dorffe l Drive house, 16,

computer program, 90, 120-21, 121

constitution , student, 35

Ellis, Bob , 93, 93, 94-95,

114, 140, 142 96, 142 drama classes, 50, 100 See also theater productions dress code, 76 See also uniforms drinking , 122, 123 Drobnack, Campie, 127 Dudgeon, Ellen, 31 Duffield , To m, 80, 96, 98,

11 4, 138 endowments, 81-84, 133,

142.

See also scholarships enrollment, 30, 50-5 1, 80, 113 minority, 72, 11 6-17 Ernst, Bev, 142 Erwin, Ali ce, 69 Evans, Betty, 29, 30 Evans, Dennis, 101, 104-0 5, 129 exchange students, 96, 128- 29 experiential learning, 21,

23-25 ,88-89 extended -day program, 126 Eytinge, Margo, 60

facu lty. See teachers Fall Festival, 130, 130-31,

140

res ignation of, 13 3 See also Fred Dust Technology Fund

E

fo reign travel, 93-96,

Bush School under

(1987-1996), 11 3-33

128-29 Edenholm , Barbara, 23, 37 educational principles and phi losophy, 20-22, 76,

118 Edward E. Ford Foundation, 81, 85 Eising, Peter, 62, 73, 86 Eising , Sharlee, 86 elections , 30

Forum , 124-25 , 140 Foxworth, Carol, 103 Fred Dust Technology Fund, 133 Free Dress Proposal, 67-68 Friday afternoon activity period , 69 Fritsche, Margit , 60 fund-raising, 52 , 80-84,

109, 120, 136

G Gagnon , J ean Paul, 90 Gall , Li z, 29, 30 Ganz, J ohn, 122 Garrett, Alden, 139 George Taylor Dinner, 85, 142, 142-43

George W. Taylor Endowment Fund , 81,

85 , 142 Gilbert, Andrea Vogel, 72 glee club, 28 Goldmark fa mily, 106 Goldmark Memorial Fund,

84

F

Fein, Lois, 14 1 Ferrin , Ellen, 125 Figenshow, J an, 60 Fine Arts Festival, 140 Fiore, John , 71, 101 Fi rcrest School for Retarded Children, 71 fire, 44-45, 45 Fisher, Molly Rose, 121 Fleischbein , J ane, 59 Flight, 31, 55 fore ig n students, 96,

100,114, 12 3,129,142 Duggi n, Neen, 132 Dure, J oel, 131 Duryee, Sylvia Clise, 23 Dust, Fred, 112, 11 3-14, 12 1, 122, 124, 125 , 126

1 57

127-29, 142 bicycle tri ps, 93-95 European trip (19 39), 34 Mex ico, 95- 96

Gomez, Esther, 125 Godt, H eid i, 129 Gould , Barbara, 5 5 Gould , Carl F., 35

H Haight , Pierce , 27, 35 Haig ht, Ruth , 27, 37 Haight, Warren, 27 Hale, Mark, 100, 101 Hall , Laurie, 126 H all , Leslie, 69 Halloween Masque, 140 H ampton , Les ley, 29, 49 Hanson , Nancy Lee, 30 Hardinge, H. DeForest "Cork", 80 Harrah, Pamela, 30 Harrison Elementary School, 71, 107 See also Marcin Luther King Jr. Elementary School H auberg , Anne Gould , 35,

86, 106 Hauberg, J ohn, 86, 106 Hauser, Peter, 91 Hawthorne, Joel, 91 H eadmaster's House, 53 H elen Bush School for Girls admissions policy, 51 beginning of, 19 Bush, Helen, as head of

(1 924-1948), 19-41

government, student ,

becomes coeducational ,

35-36, 54, 75-76 Gracemont, 39, 39, 70, 80, 81, 109, 131-32 graduation, 32, 33, 55 , 68, 86, 91 , 131, 140

60-63

Grandparents and Special Friends Day, 86 Grant , John, 58, 67, 69, 72 Bush School under,

59-73 hiring of, 59 resignation of, 7 3 Greenfield, Meg, 4 1, 41,

86 gymnasium(s) Phelps Gymnasiu m , 69,

108 Reed Hall, 39 Schuchart Gymnasium,

70, 82-83, 110, 110

core values, 46 curriculum , 47 earl y years of, 19-41 enrollment , 50-51 financial challenges, 59 fire, 44-45, 45 Livengood, Marjorie, as head of (1948-1967),

43-57 school song , 29 student morale, 59-60 three ideals of, 29-30,30 H elen Taylor Bush Scholarship, 51 "hellon bush ," 59 H elsell , Kath y, 69

THE BUSH SCHOOL

Highsmith, Tom, 142 Hipke, Jane, 44 history classes, 24-25, 65,87 Hoem, Marsha, 103 Hofer, Deborah, 103 honor system , 123 Hoppin, William, 80 "Horror Hall ," 60 Huff, Alexis, 101 Hughes, Albert, 129 Huston , Matt, 99 Hwang, Michael, 143

I ideals, three, 29-30, 30 Independent Study program, 69, 80 Initial Teaching Alphabet system (ITA), 46-47 Inner Courtyard, 109 "Introduction ro Current Pro blems" class, 44 Isaacs, Mi ldred , 27 ITA. See Initial Teaching Alphabet system

] Jeffries, Chris , 141 J enkins, Mark, 100, 101 , 124,129 Johnson , Chris , 98 Johnson, Elsa, 32, 33 Johnson , J erry, 90 Jonathan Livingston Seagull, 85

K Kaiser, Vicki, 60 Keever, Barbara Small, 38 Kellogg , Anne Rolfe, 44 Kelly, J ean, 29 K ing, Eleanor, 26 King, Faith Voorhees, 33 Kitchell, Fran k, 110 K itchell , Sally Abbott, 81, 84,110 See also Sally Abbott Kitchell Memorial Fund Kitchell, Virginia "G inny" Price, 109- 10, 131 Klebanoff, Carolyn, 103

L LaGrille, W illiam, 26 Lake Sammamish property, 63,64 Lakeside School, 19, 60, 61-62, 126 Larry Galvin Scholarship Fund,84 Larry Woods Endowment, 84 Larsen, Les, 74, 77, 78-79, 85,86, 88,90,92, 97, 101,107, 115 Bush School under (1972-1987), 75-111 retirement of, 111 teachers hired by, 84 See also Larsen Fund for Excellence Larsen, Nancy, 74 Larsen Fund for Excellence, 111 Larin classes, 50 Leirzell, Lucy, 138- 39 Lewis, Chris, 141 Lewis, Pamela Harris, 34 library Marjorie C. Li vengood Learning Center/Library, 53, 77, 77, 108 literature classes, 24-25 Livengood, Marj orie Chandler, 32, 36, 37, 42, 43, 77 chosen to succeed Helen Bush, 40-4 1 death of, 57 and European trip (1939), 34 as head of Bush School for Girls (1948-1967), 43-57 hiring of, 28-29 resignation of, 56-5 7 teachers hired by, 48- 50 wartime experiences of,

40

See also Marjorie C. Livengood Learni ng Center/Library; Marjorie C. Livengood Scholarship Long Range Plan (1999), 13 5.

See also Master Plan (1979) Long Range Planning Committee, 60-61 , 136 Loper, Shirley, 91, 101 Lower School administration , 79, 114, 138 buildings, 71 changes in, 65-66 curriculum, 88, 138 direcror, 65 early years as Parkside School, 19, 22, 23-24, 46-47 extended-day program, 126 rradi rions, 140 See also Parkside (Lower School) Luckmann , Chuck, 99-100, 127-28, 142 lunch, Upper School, 54 lunchroom , 132 Lundin, Lorraine A., 108 Lundquist , J oegil , 101

M Malden , Karl, 102 marching, 5 5 Marjorie C. Livengood Learning Center/Library, 53, 77, 77, 108 Marjorie C. Livengood Scholarship, 57, 72 Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, 107, 126.

See also Harrison Elementary School Master Plan (1979), 109-11.

See also Long Range Plan (1999) math classes, 24, 47, 87 Matthews, Bern iece, 31

Mattinger, John , 44 May, J ames, 85

May, J ena, 100 McCall , Margaret, 49-50,66 McCollum, Chip, 104 McCuskey, Amelia, 49 Medni ck, Fred, 11 4, 114, 11 7, 120,1 38,139 Meyer, Rachel , 129 M-Groups, 89-90, 119 Middle School administration, 114, 138 building, 53 creation of, 66 curriculum, 87 M-Groups, 119, 89-90 traditions, 140 Miller, Dorothy, 50, 50, 66 minority students, 116-17 enrollment of, 7 2 Miskimen , J ane Julian, 49 Mock, Renee, 96 Moody, Li llian, 44 Moore, Corrie Duryee,

85,98 Morrow, Virginia Gall, 30 Morse, Emily, 49 Morron , Bubba, 103 Mothers' Club, 51 , 52 , 57, 67, 72, 76, 81 Mrs. Bush 's School, 17-19 Muir, Larry, 95, 98, 142 mural, 25th-anniversary,

27, 27 music classes, 28-29, 7 1, 71 , 88, 88 Mutter, Lila, 60

N name change, 62 National Multicultural Alliance, 11 7 newspapers, school, 30-31 See also Rambler, The Nienow, Dale, 136 Nordeng, Ruth , 47

0 O'Crorry, Mera J ohnson, 45, 46, 48, 48, 55 , 76, 85, 89, 95, 115 Oeh inger, Carolina, 60 open campus, 92 Osaka, J anice, 124 Osborne, J ean, 35, 49, 55 Ostling, Anira, 79 Ostrander, Lenore McGrath , 20 Ostrander, Rosemary, 20

p Pacific Norrhwest Association of

Independent Schools (PNAIS), 23 evaluations, 63, 65, 78 , 90, 11 7, 118, 130 Padden, Laurie Moffett, 67 pageants, 24 See also theater productions Paine, Sally, 29 Parent-Faculty-Student Association, 76, 84 parking , 126 Parkside (Lower School), 19,22, 23-24,46-47 enrollment, 50 mural , 27 , 27 name dropped, 62 program, 46 theater productions, 55,55 traditions, 33 See also Lower School Parkside Gallery, 106 Patty, Virginia Price, 17, 109 Pease, Mary "Sis'' Haig ht, 22,22, 27-28,40-41, 49, 56, 57,64-65,66, 73, 76, 80, 91, 114-15, 116, 131, 136 Pelly, Thomas (Dr.), 40 Peterson , Polly, 88 Phelps, Patricia, 111 Phelps, Sheffield, 108-09, 110- 11 Phelps (Fisher) House, 70, 111

Index

Phelps Fund , 84 Phelps G ymnasium , 69, 108 plays. See theater productions PNAIS. See Pacific Northwest Association of Independenr Schools Pollack, John , 66 pottery, making from scrarch, 25 Powell , George, 45 Prart, Virginia, 23, 27, 32 Presidenrs ' H ouse, 111 Price, Andrew, 109 Price, Barbara, 109 Price, Deborah, 110 Pritchard, Sall y, 78, 90 , 100, 102 , 110, 142 Pryde, Lucy, 47, 47 Publi cation Committee, 36

R Rabago, Alberto (Dr.), 95 Rabel, Heidi J ensen, 80 Ragen, Brooks, 86 Ragen, Lisa, 103 Rambler, The, 30-31 , 45 , 59-60, 103, 117 , 122, 12 3, 125, 130, 132 Rarrray, Phyllis , 30 REAL (Relig ion, Ethics, Arr , and Lirerarure) class, 85 Rebecca Connell Memorial Fund,84 Reed, Frank, 39 Reed Hall , 39, 7 1 Reitan, Jeff, 122 retrears, 100, 123, 139-40 Revere, Mark , 90 Rice , Matt, 93, 142 Rig ler, Don , 125 Rivera, Daniel , 91

Robert M. Arnold Fine Arrs Buildi ng, 11 0 See also Arnold Art Building Rohrbaugh , Phil , 142 Roletr, Karhy, 60 Rolfe, H am ilron , 38, 41 Rolfe, Mary, 49, 55 Rooks, H eidi , 147 Rosemary H all , 37 Rosen, Donald , 131, 131 Ross, Phyllis, 20 Ruby, Edna, 60 rummage sale, 52 Runyan, Cera, 125 Ryan, Sally, 14 1

s Sr. Nicholas, 61-62 Sally Abbott Kitchell Memorial Fund, 8 1, 84 Schauffler, Manvel, 98 scholarshi ps, 51-52, 57, 72 , 84 , 111 Schrock, Wendy, 69 Schuchart, George Sr. , 86, 110 Schuchart Gymnasium , 70, 82-83, 110, 110 Science and Technology Cenrer, 135-37 , 137 science classes, 4 7, 87 , 114 Scarr, Carolyn, 80 Scott, John M. , 64 SeaCliste Handbook, 94 SeaCliste program , 94-95, 127 sen ior privileges, 75, 76 senior projects, 121-22 Sen ior Sneak, 33, 65 Sesnon , J ay, !05-06 Shafer, Roberta, 60 Shorrock, Barbara, 67 Sieg!, H enry, 71 Simpson, Edward , 86 ski lodge, 34-3 5,35 Skinner, Peggy O 'Nei ll , 87, 114, 142 smoking , 56, 60, 75-76 soccer, 141 social responsibility, 71-72, 89, 125, 125 -26 , 140

Social Service Committee, 36, 71-72 song, 29 Souaiaia, Mohamed, 9 1 Southwest trips, 127-28 "Speech and Deporrmenr " classes, 28-29 spelling classes, 46-47 sports, 55, 69, 92 , 102-04, 130, 141 See also entries for individual sports

Stanlick, Tom , 142 Srasuk, Tanya, 84, 106 See also Tanya Srasuk Memorial Scholarship Fund Stephens, Sharon , 67 Strong, Caty, 69 studenr committees, 36 student conscirucion, 35

student government ,

35-36, 54, 75-76 Student Handbook, The,

35-36, 54, 55, 75, 76, 102 See also What's What at Helen Bush summer work program,

104-06

T Tanya Stasuk Memorial Scholarship Fund , 84 Taylor, George W., 8 1, 84, 84-85, 143 See also George Taylor Dinner; George W. Taylor Endowment Fund Taylor Hall , 37, 53, 53

1 59

teachers diversity in hiring, 117 hired by Bush, Helen , 26-28 hired by Dust, Fred , 114-15 hired by Larsen, Les, 84 hired by Livengood , Marjorie , 48-50 honoring , 142-43 salaries, 46, 59, 6 2-63, 70,84 reaching load, 70 See also entries fo r individual teachers

teaching-inrerns, 128-29 Temple, Bess, 106 tenni s, 141 Thanksgiving Celebration/play, 86, 130 rhearer productions, 30, 50, 55, 55, 100, 101, 100-02, 128, 129, 129, 130, 141 Thirty-sixth Avenue property, l 9 Thomas, Judy, 142 Throne, John , 44 rotem pole, 106 Town Meeting, 76 traditions, 30-33, 54-5 5, 85-86, 139-40 travel. See foreig n travel; SeaClisre program; Southwest trips Trenr, Kare, 121 True, Janet , 137 ruition, 20 , 46, 11 3 Tykoe, 31, 133 Tyler, Wil, 27

u Uh lir, Paul, 104 U hlman, Wes (Mayor), 64 Uncommon Cafe, 132 uniforms , 36, 66-68 Upper School, 47 Action Module Program , 88-90 ad ministration, 64 , 80, 11 4, 138 changed ro coeducational , 60- 63,91 - 92 class schedule, l 21

curriculum, 68-70, 87 fire, 44-45, 45 Forum, 124-2 5 lu nch, 54 traditions, 140 uniforms, 36, 66-68 U rban Courtyard, 104, 109-10 Utley, Windsor, 27, 27, 49

V Viladas , Jordi, 121 Vinnedge , Gardiner, 89, 89, 11 9

w Warber-Gibbs, Marilyn, 101, 130 Warn, Emily, 129 Waugh, Ubu. See Evans, Dennis "Waugh srones," 105 Wavy T-Sq uare, 77, 104 What's W hat at Helen Bmh,

75 See also Student Handbook Wheelwrighr, Genia, 95 Whire, Barbara, 86 White, Thomas, 86 Wh iton, Norah, 44 Wilderness Program , 66, 66, 79, 79, 80, 87 , 92, 96-100, 97, 98, 142 W ill, Mary Rolfe , 24-25, 32 Wootton , Katrina, 66

y yearbook, 31, 133 Young, Dylan, 131, 132

THE B USH SCHOOL

160

Photo Credits

All photographs NOT referenced here are the property of The Bush School.

Page Number Elsa "Midge" Bowman '51

100

Suzie Fitzhugh

125, 143

Paul Harper

97, 98

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection at MOHAI

24, 44

The Seattle Times

45

Lara Swimmer '87

53, 77, 102, 105, 109, 133

University of Illinois archives

7, 8