Mimi Gardner Gates ’60 Excerpts from Reunion Chapel Address, May 15, 2010
REUNION 2010
Reunion Chapel Speaker Mimi Gardner Gates ’60 recalled how she arrived at Walker’s less prepared for a rigorous education than many of her classmates. Yet that same rigorous education, combined with Walker’s trademark individualized attention gave her the tools and selfconfidence to succeed. “Without the quality of education I received at The Ethel Walker School…I doubt I would have experienced success.” Speaking directly to the Class of 2010, Ms. Gates held out some guidelines for success: • Always be open to unexpected possibilities; be flexible. • Follow your passions — go for it! • Work hard and use your best judgment and don’t let anything dampen your passion. • Be a risk taker. Overcome fear. Take calculated risks. Ms. Gates captured the admiration of the entire Reunion Chapel audience. Her encouragement to find meaning in one’s actions, and to find and follow passion, rang true to Ethel Walker’s original mission for the School, one that still resounds today in its hallways.
MIMI GATES: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY Mary ‘Mimi’ Gardner Gates is Director Emeritus of the Seattle Art Museum. She served as head of the museum starting in 1994, and during her tenure, added over 2500 works to its collections, including many Asian art treasures and works by Van Dyck, Albert Bierstadt, Richard Serra and Alexander Calder, and a nine-acre sculpture park. Prior to coming to Seattle, she was curator of Asian art and then director of the Yale University Art Gallery. Dr. Gates has co-authored Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe and Biblical Art and the Asian Imagination. In 2007, Dr. Gates was elected by Yale alumni to serve a six year term on the Yale Corporation, Yale University’s governing body.
Class of 1995. Back row: Marsha Nadia Hughes, Dwana Parkes Agosto, Leander Altifois Dolphin, Carol Marie Santiago, Jennifer Donnellan Friedlander, Nicole “Nicky” Lewensen Shargel, Jari Thompson, Taylor Kopec, Sara Berg, Jacqueline Jayson Middle Row: Shayna Whyte, Alexandra Townsend, Jessica Bartolini Buggeln, Pamela Bennett Skinner, Julie Marr Monroe Front Row, sitting: Stacey St. Peter, Sejal Patel Mitra
Class of 2005. Charlotte Weidlein, Lindsay Flynn, Naima Askew, Katherine Rodriguez, Jennifer Ho Class of 2000. We missed the opportunity to take a group photo of the Class of 2000. In attendance were Bonnie Ewald, Piper Huntington, Kara Lucht, Kimberly Patterson, Allison Quigley, Elizabeth Ross, Jamiah Tappin
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