The Archon Fall 2020/Winter 2021

A M AGA Z I NE PUBLI S HED BY T H E GO VER N O R ’ S AC AD E M Y

NOW OPEN! Newly renovated and reimagined Peter Marshall French Student Center is open

FAL L 2 0 2 0/W I NT E R 2 0 2 1

THE GOVERNOR’S FUND Cathy Burgess ’91 credits her experience at Govs for shaping her future and realizing her personal and professional potential. While at Govs she was a proctor, competitive varsity athlete, active in performing arts, and the first female to join the (formerly) all-boys varsity golf team. Cathy was the 1991 Morse Flag recipient, which she still humbly describes as a “shock,” and cites the award as a defining moment in her life—a moment that shaped her future.

“My family loved the school, my mom volunteered her time and talent for years, and when we needed financial aid for my senior year, the school was there to support us. I recognize and understand the importance of financial aid, so I honor that with a portion of my support to The Governor’s Fund.

“It’s also important that faculty and staff feel valued and are supported. They are the Governor’s experience. The relationships I had with the adults in the community while at Govs created the cradle of compassion and encouragement for me to find my inner leadership, confidence, knowledge, and strength that was necessary to navigate the world and life that lay ahead. I’m grateful for the chance to pay tribute to those who supported me in so many ways when I was a student.”

Today, Cathy runs a wealth management practice within Wells Fargo Advisors and says that her career “is the ultimate combination of my love of education and my passion for finance; Govs was the foundation for my future and it is truly a gift to give back.”

“My family loved the school ... when we needed financial aid for my senior year, the school was there to support us.”

–Cathy Burgess ’91

Dr. Michael O’Leary ’70

Contents Message from the Head of School

2

Trustees and Alumni Council

2

Calling Us into a New Tomorrow

4

PUBLISHER

Silver Linings Playbook

7

Peter H. Quimby, Ph.D. ’85, P’14 Head of School

Dr. Michael O’Leary ‘70 A Physician Guided by the Golden Rule

EDITORS

8

Lindsay McPherson Batastini Director of Marketing & Communications

DEI Curriculum Audit

11

Ola Russell P’21, ’23 Acting Director of Marketing & Communications

Dr. Palmer’s Vision for a Diverse Faculty

12

Caley S. Lynch Assistant Director of Communications

Wentworth Cheswell, Class of 1767

14

DESIGN

Graphic Details, Inc.

With True Courage, The Campaign for Governor’s 16

ACADEMY ARCHIVIST

Back in Byfield

PHOTOGRAPHERS

EVENTS

19

MAKING A PICTURE WITH DAVID OXTON

22

BERT ’S BEE PROJECT

24

DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION WINS AWARD

26

CHAT: BEJUNIOR FALLON ’21

28

Sharon Slater P’16, ’20, ’23

30

Colin Bourque ’21 Kindra Clineff Alison Ebacher Porter Gifford Carly Gillis Jackson Hurd-Messom ’22 Leo Lin ’21 David Oxton P’03, ’08 Paul Rutherford William Tangorra

EVENTS

32

DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

35

Leslie Dickey

Alumni in Action

ALUMNA OF THE YEAR CLASS NOTES

In Memoriam

71

Faculty Profile: Jeff Wotton

73

DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI & PARENT ENGAGEMENT

Amy R. Swiniarski P’17, ’19

ABOUT THE COVER Since its reopening this past fall, Govs students and faculty have enjoyed connecting in the new and expanded common spaces in the renovated Peter Marshall French Student Center.

Photo by Kindra Clineff

The Archon is published two times a year by The Governor’s Academy.

Letters are welcome from alumni, parents, and friends of the Academy.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

1

TRUSTEES OF THE GOVERNOR’S ACADEMY James M. Pierce ’72, P’08, President James L. Rudolph ’68, P’05, ’12, Vice President Francesca DeMeo ’02, Secretary Steven G. Shapiro ’74, P’09, Treasurer William L. Alfond ’67 William H. Brine, III ’80, P’09, ’14 Byung Soo Baik P’18 Frank Cousins P’20 Colin Cross ’74 Rob DeLena ’87, P’21, Alumni Council President Jonathan J. Doyle P’08, ’09, ’19 Elizabeth Tuthill Farrell ’84, P’14,’17,’18,’22 Milan Gary ’12, Alumna Trustee Phillip S. Gillespie P’22 Bruce Ginsberg P’18 Stephanie Ginsberg ’85, P’20 Stephen G. Kasnet ’62, P’95 Mitzi Lawlor P’19, ’21 David R. Masse P’21 Karen Ruth McAlmon, MD, FAAP P’13 Thomas M. Mercer, Jr. ’61 Jen Migliore ’10, Alumna Trustee Michael K. Mulligan ’71 Paul Nardone ’86, P’19 Brian Patrican P’21 Maria C. Polcari ’73 Spencer L. Purinton ’75, P’13, ’14, ’20 Peter H. Quimby ’85, P’14, ex officio Archie Seale ’93 Peter Starosta ’81, P’18 Mark B. Whiston P’21

Alumni Council Rob DeLena ’87, P’21, President Laura Sullivan ’07, 1st Vice President Saundra Watson ’93, 2nd Vice President Jon Bird ’10 Naomi Fink ’99 Carol Ann Goldberg ’76 Daria Grayer ’00 John Heald ’64 Vinay Metlapalli ’19, Collegiate Representative Jen Migliore ’10 Andy Ramirez ’98 Jason Rivera ’96 Peter Sherin ’59 Pam Toner ’74 Moira Talbot Walsh ’04 Alison Williams ’89 Scotch Wilson ’20, Collegiate Representative Jennifer Wong ’04 Kavy Yesair ’96, P’20 Angela Van Arsdale ’03, ex officio

Message from Head of School Leading a boarding school is an adventure even in the best of times. I am not sure I will ever publish the tales that have punctuated my first ten years at the Academy, but if I did, the events of the last year would require their own separate volume. The heartbreaking effects of a global pandemic, our nation’s awakening to the stark realities of racial injustice, and the deep divisions that have strained the foundations of our democracy have made the already complicated work of educating young people even more challenging.

And yet, despite the weight of these topics, we are finding our way and discovering new ways of doing things. The silver linings are plentiful and they keep us moving forward with hope, gratitude, and humility. I am grateful for the privilege of educating students, even amid seismic shifts in what and how we teach students. As educators, our role (quoting from our Seven Essential Skills) is to “prepare students to be life-long learners, responsible citizens, successful college students, and productive adults.” Our work is to ensure that students graduate from Governor’s with the ability to think critically, to collaborate and appreciate diverse perspectives, to analyze information and understand themselves as members of a larger community, and act within a moral and ethical framework.

Even in the midst of reimagining almost every aspect of school life, we have remained dedicated to the fundamental principles of education that have guided us for years.

Developing these skills in our students in a hybrid learning environment has been challenging, as so much of what defines the experience of Govs is rooted in our togetherness—in being physically present with one another. Everyone is working incredibly hard to engage and connect in this hybrid world—an experience that has helped us to appreciate even more deeply the connections that make Govs so special.

At Govs, being together matters. Relationships matter.

In this issue of The Archon, you will find ample evidence of the power of the Govs community: our efforts to hire the best and brightest educators from diverse backgrounds and cultures; the generosity of our alumni and parents who supported financial aid to ensure that every student could return to campus this fall despite the financial hardships brought upon families by the pandemic; the impact of those whose support made it possible to complete the Peter Marshall French Student Center renovation project in time for our students to enjoy this fall. No other building on campus showcases the strength of our community better than this beautiful new space.

I hope you enjoy reading about the people in our Governor’s community, past and present, who breathe life into our school’s great legacy, and their tireless dedication to keeping our community strong.

With best wishes for good health,

Peter H. Quimby, Ph.D. ’85, P’14 Head of School

Students enjoy the new terrace and landscaped walkways alongside the renovated Peter Marshall French Student Center.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

3

CALLING US INTO A NEW TOMORROW A Chapel Talk and Reflection on Giving Thanks by Bill Quigley With great reluctance, my family—like many of yours—yielded the field to COVID-19 for our Thanksgiving gathering this year.

Discretion, in this case, was the better part of valor—so that we, and our loved ones, might all be at the table next year. But I missed our traditional gathering.

I missed my daughters, their partners, and my two grandchildren. I missed the ever-changing medley of relatives and friends who have always made Thanksgiving. After all, what is Thanksgiving but our blessing upon the families and friends who sustain us, who provide bountiful love and joy, and without whom our lives would be greatly diminished. Thank God for FaceTime and Zoom!

We made the best of it, but our virtual Thanksgiving left me wanting. I wanted not for more food; my wife and I enjoyed plenty of roast turkey, all the fixings, and pumpkin pie. Neither did we feel alone; we Zoomed together with many in our extended family—and my two-and-a-half-year-old grandchild and I spent fun times together watching holiday shows, each of us dressed up for the first of our Zoom dates as one of the Schuyler sisters. (Dagny loves Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton.”

They’re especially fascinated with Eliza, though after our date to watch “The Grinch,” they immediately changed into their green dinosaur onesie, impersonating the Grinch.) All in all, then, the holiday filled me with food, family, and fun—so what was it that I wanted?

It came to me as a bit of a surprise, but here it is: I missed the friction that’s almost always present, more or less, around our Thanksgiving table. One Thanksgiving in the late 1960s, my mother provoked an after-dinner dis­ cussion, over coffee and pie, with her dear friend, the pastor of our Catholic church. Mom challenged the Church’s objection, at that time, to artificial methods of birth control. Father Filip politely defended the papal encyclical, one that pronounced artificial birth control “intrinsically wrong.” He sugges­ted that they must defer to the authority of the Holy See—to which

4

THE ARCHON

|

my mother blurted, “Oh, to hell with the Pope!” That was a memorable Thanksgiving.

But isn’t that sort of tension inseparable from our Thanksgiving gatherings?

The admonition is proverbial: Don’t talk politics or religion around the Thanksgiving table. But we do! Don’t we? It’s as traditional, perhaps, as breaking the turkey’s wishbone. I missed picking bones last Thursday with my politically conservative brother-in-law. I miss debating with my conservative father—who, by the way, practically slid under the table at my mother’s blasphemous outburst.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

There’s something quintessentially American about our familial Thanksgiving debates and disagreements.

Americans have always debated with one another—always: from the time of Hamilton’s differences with Jefferson to our present-day clash of Red and Blue.

The more we gather together, the more we widen our circle and make for more diverse gatherings, we’re of course inviting even more differences. What’s great about America are the ways through which this nation has worked to normalize our differences and to work out our disagreements. We don’t always get it right. We make mistakes.

We misstep. We backslide and squander gains. Progress has never come easily.

Change is hard. It takes pushing and pulling—persistence in the face of resistance. But isn’t that the story of America? Isn’t that the American way?

That’s what I came to feel deeply grateful for this Thanksgiving season, and I rued its absence—our tradition for coming together and working out our differences, as best we can, in a spirit of gratitude and goodwill for everyone at the table.

That little spat between Fr. Filip and my mother didn’t devolve into animosity or even a parting of ways. So strong was their trust in each other’s generosity and integrity, so real was their friendship, that it withstood their disagreement on a matter of serious concern to each of them—a matter of morality that vexed American Catholics as it divided the two

of them. Mom and Fr. Filip could disagree and argue and still be friends. For years, now, I’ve rued the diminishment of that civil tradition.

For us to continue to move the needle closer to a more perfect union, we need to come back to the table in the spirit of Thanksgiving. We need to engage our differences. We don’t always know who’s right, or what’s right, in every matter. But we almost always know what’s wrong.

It’s wrong to exclude and otherwise discriminate against others because of who they are—because of their sex, skin color, ethnicity, creed, class, and gender identity. It’s wrong to call others names, to demean and vilify them because we disagree with their views—even if their views seem, to us, abhorrent. Hard conversations, for sure—and heated, though it’s a hard-hearted zealot who would turn the rivalry of Red and Blue into a reprise of the Blue and Gray.

For almost 160 years, the president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation.

Americans used to pay more attention to such proclamations than we do now.

Perhaps we would do well to reprise that tradition. In November 1864, in the midst of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued this Thanksgiving Proclamation:

Now, therefore, I, … [as] President of the United States, … do … recommend to my fellow-citizens … that on [Thanksgiving Day] they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land… .

Bill Quigley, History teacher and Director of the Writing Center at Govs

Lincoln had just been re-elected to the presidency—in an election, by the way, that many people in his party vehemently opposed as foolish and calamitous in the midst of a civil war.

Lincoln, though, insisted on holding that election. Even though he risked losing.

Even though six presidents before him, in a row, had served just one term!

Even though the fate of the United States hinged on his re-election! Even though his opponent’s electoral victory would have resulted in a negotiated peace with the Southern states, leaving slavery intact—and perhaps yielding to the secession of eleven states from the American Union! It’s astounding— isn’t it?! And that the first Republican president of the United States insisted that Union soldiers, far from their homes, be allowed to vote—by mail!— even though most soldiers could be

expected to vote for Lincoln’s opponent, the candidate who vowed to end the terrible war by negotiation, the soldiers’ beloved former commander Gen. George McClellan.

Great was Lincoln’s trust in the American people. He didn’t foolishly gamble with the American Union. He waged bloody war to hold on to it.

But he trusted, too, in the will of the majority—or at least that most Northern Americans, including most Union soldiers, would willingly accept and endure terrible costs and sacrifices for the cause of a more perfect Union and “a new birth of freedom,” without racial slavery. When all the mail-in ballots were counted, by the way, Union soldiers—78% of them!—voted for Lincoln, even though those men knew that their votes might cost them their lives.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

5

Greatest of all was Lincoln’s Thanksgiving invocation of a spirit of humble atonement in the wake of an election that had angrily divided Americans on the same side in the Civil War—the side of the Union. Lincoln addressed all Americans, North and South, when he asked his “fellow-citizens … [to] reverently humble themselves … and offer up penitent prayers … for a return of … peace, union, and harmony.” His Thanksgiving Proclamation anticipated the spirit of his immortal second inaugural address about three months later: “With malice toward none.” He would then go on to say,

with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right; let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; … to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Isn’t that exactly America’s calling? Our calling?

It’s not the sumptuous feast that makes for Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving with the Wampanoag might be a mythic idyll, but without the Native Americans it’s just the gluttonous feasting of a marauder.

Lincoln might have made a victory banquet of Thanksgiving in 1864. He might have beat his chest, reveled at his electoral win, and invited feasting over the rebels’ impending defeat. Instead, he invited the rebels—and seething Northern Democrats, so-called Copperheads—back to the table.

6

THE ARCHON

|

Lincoln made Thanksgiving a great American holiday. Before his presidency, in fact, Thanksgiving had been celebrated on different dates in different states. Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving in November 1863. He did so with the explicit hope that warring Americans would someday come to celebrate Thanksgiving all together. And his Thanksgiving proclamations in 1863 and 1864 served notice that new table leaves were being fashioned to make room for yet more people! In 1864, he thanked God for “the augmentation of our population by emancipation and immigration.”

To build vibrant, inclusive, and sustain­ able communities, as we strive to do at Govs, we know that we must work together. We know that we need to en­ courage ourselves and others to find our voices, to speak our truths, and to stand firmly for what we believe to be right.

We need, also—each of us—to accept that we’re human, which means that we’re fallible. That’s reason enough for me to remind myself to listen to others, respectfully—especially those with whom I disagree—with malice toward none and charity for all—trying to find some common ground. This way of living can be messy, argumentative, frustrating, and vexing—and it’s the only way, I believe, to sustain the kind of communities—the kind of nation— we desire.

Change is coming Can you feel it?

Calling us into a new tomorrow This verse in the Sugarland song* [At this point during his Chapel Talk, Bill Quigley played a song with the following

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

words:] comes with this refrain:

Won’t you stand up?

Won’t you stand up, you girls and boys?

Won’t you stand up, and use your voice?

You are the change! We are. We all are.

Together.

This vibrant old American school has never been greater than we are making it: black men and white men; Jews and Gentiles; Protestants and Catholics—and now more: women; black, white, and brown men and women; transgender, non-binary, and queer persons; gay and straight people; Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and atheists; leftists and rightists; people from Red states and people from Blue states.

We are all here! Together. We’re living the dream—the true American dream.

It’s a dream we realize not in any perfect finish. A perfect world can never be real­ized, and history shows that utopian prom­ises deliver only disappointments or disasters. No, we realize the dream in the progress that we, together, make of the fraught, dynamic, and never-ending work of building a community that’s better today than it was yesterday and better tomorrow than it is today—not a perfect union but a more perfect union, day by day.

I am grateful to live and work in a community that strives to do right day after day, year after year, atoning for our errors, waving in ever more people, and coming together, again and again, always trying to do better—to be better.

“Go Govs!”

*Lyrics from the song “Stand Up” by Sugarland

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK Crisis Fosters Curricular Innovations “To be honest, the early days were about survival. We were trying to complete the term while also paying close attention to the emotional impact of COVID-19 on our campus community.” At the same time, administrators were preparing for the future. In the late spring, White assembled a task force of some twentyfive faculty who met weekly to design a schedule, designate a learning management system (LMS), figure out policies and procedures, and provide professional development for the fall.

Academic Dean and Assistant Head of School Elaine White P’16, ’21

Governor’s Academic Dean and Assistant Head of School Elaine White P’16, ’21 has good news: The disrupted learning environment brought on by the pandemic has tested the Govs education model (and its faculty) to the extreme.

Yet White believes we will emerge stronger than ever. “The Seven essential skills we seek to instill in every Academy graduate are real, and they have been front and center throughout this process,” she says. “We are using every one of them to develop and support the educational program that we believe is crucial to our students’ success.

“From the time the pandemic broke last spring, we’ve been clear on our mission,” says White. “Keeping our community safe while maintaining a stimulating and challenging academic program.

The task force settled on a hybrid learning model that accommodates both in-person and online learning.

“We were mindful of the fact that we not only needed to consider students’ academic needs, but also their social and emotional needs,” White continues.

Given the disruptions to the school year, there was the added challenge of determining where incoming students were at in their academic journey and a keen desire to acknowledge the trauma of the situation.

To meet the challenge, administrators invested in the best learning technologies and faculty quickly adapted to this new environment by spending weeks over the summer engaging in workshops on hybrid learning, teaching, and designing classes.

Faculty have responded in spades.

“We’ve witnessed lots of remarkable collaboration,” says White. “It’s inspiring to see how faculty are supporting and teaching one another. They have been very intentional in designing courses to

meet students’ needs.”

For example, science teachers Emily Allen and Jamie Brandt have teamed up to reform the way that physics is taught. “Two summers ago, we began working to completely restructure the framework of the course to focus on active learning,” explains Allen.

“Physics and science don’t live in textbooks, they’re in the world around us, so Jamie and I decided to break our own habits in the traditional teaching of the subject—which builds around content—and instead, build our classes around skill development. We want students experiencing concepts, rather than just listening.” The approach has translated well into the distance learning situation, says Allen. “We found that students we had been teaching via the skills-based framework had an easier time transitioning to learning in a home environment.”

Asked to characterize the Academy’s overall response to the situation, Dean White doesn’t hesitate. “#WeGotThis’— that’s become our mantra. This whole crisis changes daily, but one thing remains constant, and that’s our commitment to responding to and supporting students’ needs,” she says proudly. “It’s been a steep learning curve for our faculty, but everyone has embraced the process because we know that learning matters.”

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

7

DR. MICHAEL O’LEARY ’70 A Physician Guided by the Golden Rule As a urologic surgeon, clinical researcher, and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Michael O’Leary typically focuses on diseases like benign prostatic hyperplasia, male infertility, and male sexual dysfunction. But since early February of 2020, O’Leary—like so many other physicians—has been wrestling with a singular disease of global import: COVID-19.

O’Leary is confronting this novel coronavirus on two fronts: as a senior surgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, and as president of the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), host of the world-renowned Boston Marathon. Dealing with the widespread implications of the pandemic has proved challenging, but it has also offered ample opportunity for O’Leary to give back to his community, a philosophy bolstered during his years as an Academy student and one that has guided him throughout his life.

O’Leary hails from a long line of Academy graduates, including brothers John, Richard and Bill—the latter two of whom have served on the Academy’s board—and sister Kathryn. The Governor’s experience was a seminal one for all the O’Leary siblings, Michael observes. “The Academy is an extraordinary place with a keen sense of how to motivate and nurture young men and women.”

O’Leary carried many lessons away from his time at Governor’s, perhaps none more lasting than the satisfaction gleaned from caring for others, a calling this veteran physician embraces as a matter of course. “It irritates me to hear people describe doctors as heroes,” he observes. “Many of us are doing a different kind of healthcare than we’re used to these days, but in my opinion, we’re still just doing our jobs.”

“Many of us are doing a different kind of healthcare than we’re used to these days, but in my opinion, we’re still just doing our jobs.”

O’Leary admits that he never envisioned caring for patients amidst a global pandemic.

Yet this is not the first time that he has faced a novel disease with no immediate cure. After graduating from George Washington Medical Center, O’Leary completed a urology residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and New England Medical Center, then set off to complete a fellowship in California, a move that brought him face-to-face with the burgeoning AIDS crisis. “I was a fellow at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine from 1987 to 1989 and did my training

8

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Michael O’Leary, MD, MPH ’70

at San Francisco General Hospital,” he explains. “I witnessed the catastrophic effects of the disease firsthand—I saw a lot of young men dying and we had no idea how to cure them. It wasn’t a pandemic per se, but it was a pretty dire situation.”

Today, O’Leary finds himself dealing with a health threat of a different nature. COVID-19 has impacted the society at large, requiring fundamental changes to our way of life and testing the conventions of our healthcare system. “The changes around the hospital in the past several months have frankly been pretty dramatic,” he observes. “For a month or so, all elective surgeries—and even some that were

not entirely elective—were cancelled or postponed indefinitely. We’re slowly getting back to normal, but I also think we’re going to see significant changes in the way that medicine is practiced going forward.”

O’Leary cites the rise of virtual office visits as a prime example. “Brigham and Women’s embraced telemedicine about five years ago, but not to this scale,” he explains. “Before the virus, I would typically do one or two virtual office calls a week. Now, I’m doing twentyfive or more per day.” Fortunately, says O’Leary, most patients have responded positively to the change. “Virtual visits are not applicable to every situation, obviously, but for those instances when they are appropriate, they work quite well. They’re convenient and allow patients to speak with me from the safety of their own home, which they appreciate.”

The pandemic has also provided O’Leary with an opportunity to expand his skill set as a physician. In the early days of the pandemic, he was tapped to serve on one of the state’s ‘Crisis Standard of Care’ teams, cohorts of physicians and senior nurses selected from the staff of every hospital in Massachusetts to receive specialized training in pulmonary medicine and serve as triage officers to decide which patients would be placed on ventilators should intensive care units be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.

“The ‘Crisis Standards of Care’ for COVID-19 were formulated by the state government based on the characteristics of this virus and the estimated number of patients,” says O’Leary. “Our hospitals had never experienced such a potential long-term volume of really sick people and we wanted to be prepared if a crisis is declared.”

For example, at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, the 162-bed facility in Jamaica Plain where O’Leary is based, most of the operating rooms were repurposed into an intensive care unit (ICU). “Each morning, our team of ten would go through the list of potential ICU patients—patients from the ER, COVID-19 patients, regular patients who looked like they might need to be transferred to the ICU—and assign each person a Sequential Organ Failure Assessment or SOFA score, essentially a mortality predictor,” he explains. “We calculated this score by evaluating a number of different measures—age, kidney function, etc.—and based on that score, we determined whether the patient would be placed on a ventilator.” It was grim work, O’Leary admits, but fortunately the team has not been forced to implement crisis measures to date.

Calculating ICU capacity isn’t the only reason that O’Leary has been keeping a keen eye on COVID-19 infection rates.

As president of the B.A.A., O’Leary is a member of the leadership team charged with making another call: whether to

“We’re slowly getting back to normal, but I think we’re going to see significant changes in the way that medicine is practiced going forward.”

hold the 124th Boston Marathon, one of the city’s most celebrated annual events.

“In early February 2020, it started to become apparent that the new coronavirus was a worldwide issue and the marathon—a mass participation event with many individuals in close proximity—is exactly the type of event you don’t want to be holding with a highly contagious virus circulating,” says O’Leary. Realizing that the race could not safely be held on the originally scheduled date of April 20—a time that coincided closely with the estimated peak for COVID-19 infections in Massachusetts—race officials began to formulate a Plan B. “In late February, I met with B.A.A. CEO Tom Grilk and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to discuss our options,” recalls O’Leary. The decision on whether to proceed ultimately rests with state and local authorities, he notes, but as a physician and someone who has been involved with the race for more than twenty years, O’Leary had strong feelings on the matter. “I met multiple times with Mayor Walsh and members of Governor Baker’s staff to explore our options.” Both men have done a laudable job of handling this public health crisis, asserts O’Leary, and were open to ideas. “Initially, we postponed the race until September 14, but by mid-May, it was clear that date wasn’t feasible either, so on May 29, we announced that the race would be held as a virtual event from September 7–14,” says O’Leary. Interestingly, he notes, the marathon was cancelled once before in 1918, the year of the influenza pandemic. The race was cancelled primarily because the country was at the height of the first World War, he says, but that year’s pandemic was also a factor.

— Dr. Michael O’Leary ’70 FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

9

“Surprisingly, our charity runners— approximately 6,000 individuals who compete on behalf of a charity of their choice—were the most vocal about the cancellation,” he continues. Last year’s charity runners raised some $38 million for their cherished causes, so O’Leary appreciates their disappointment.

O’Leary remains grateful for the opportunity to care for patients at Brigham and Women’s and help the B.A.A. plan for a safe and successful marathon in 2021. For now, he remains guided by the famed Golden Rule, quod tibi non vis fieri, alteri ne feceris—“Do not to another what you would not want done to you,” as well as Governor’s motto Non Sibi Sed Aliis—“Not for self but for others.”

“My time at Governor’s was seminal for my development as a person in all sorts of ways and, in my opinion, the school motto is about the best that it could be,” observes O’Leary. “I was raised by parents who lived by this creed and Governor’s reinforced it.”

O’Leary credits Governor’s for refining his leadership skills; during his time at the Academy he served as chairman of the study hall proctors and captain of

the indoor and outdoor track teams. “In order to succeed in these positions, I had to learn how to earn people’s respect,” he explains. Val Wilkie, John Ogden, Bill Sperry, and Buster Navins all stand out in O’Leary’s memory as powerful role models. “If I had to characterize my leadership style, I’d say I’m a consensus builder, but as a surgeon, I make a decision and then act,” he observes. “I do not spend a lot of time second guessing.

I’ve had my share of failures, but I have few regrets.”

The Framingham native is perhaps most grateful, however, for the outstanding education he received during his years at the Academy. “When I entered college, I was way ahead of many of my classmates,” he asserts. “By that point, I had been studying Latin since the 6th grade, so I went straight into graduate school courses for my entire four years at Harvard.”

His most important Academy takeaways, O’Leary continues, were an ability to write well and read critically, skills that he continues to draw upon today. “While at the Academy, I served on the editorial board of the school newspaper, The

“I encourage today’s students ... to adopt the Governor’s motto as their own. It will serve you well throughout your life.”

— Dr. Michael O’Leary ’70

10

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Governor, and enjoyed it very much,” he says. O’Leary has continued to do editorial work throughout his career and currently serves as an editor for UpToDate®, an electronic medical text utilized by nearly two million clinicians in 190+ countries to access the most recent medical information and evidence-based recommendations in their respective specialties. “It’s an invaluable resource for physicians all over the world,” he notes. “The information provided is rigorously vetted by a team of renowned physician authors, editors, and reviewers and is literally updated daily.”

O’Leary remains deeply grateful for his time at Governor’s. “It’s an extraordinary place and I have never regretted my years there.” As a boarder from age 14 on, O’Leary says he not only established a solid educational foundation but also learned valuable lessons about navigating life’s challenges. “While I’ve never felt particularly courageous, I definitely learned the importance of integrity from Governor’s,” he asserts. “As a newly arrived freshman, I remember lying to my Dorm Master E. Webster Dann about something trivial.

I felt terrible about it and couldn’t sleep that night, so the next day I sought out Mr. Dann to correct the wrong. The revelation was quite liberating and a lasting lesson.

“I encourage today’s students to avail themselves of every opportunity to learn during their time at the Academy and to adopt the Governor’s motto as their own,” he concludes. “It will serve you well throughout your life.”

MAKING EVERY VOICE HEARD Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curriculum Audit In June 2020, Head of School Peter H. Quimby, Ph.D. ’85, P’14 announced Governor’s intention to build an anti-racist school community and actively engage in opposing racism. As part of that initiative, Quimby and the Board of Trustees asked Dean of Multicultural Education Eddie Carson to lead a schoolwide diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) audit and pursue innovative curricular changes that highlight social justice.

Carson embraced the directive. “This audit has been on my radar since I arrived at Govs two years ago,” he said. “It will allow us to rethink the process of teaching and learning here.

Our curriculum is currently whitewashed—it’s dominated by an inherent white, male cultural reference and that needs to change. Individual faculty have been trying to address the matter, but we need to approach the issue collectively and do a deep-dive into our curriculum and examine it through a DEI lens.” The goal, says Carson, is to have the audit completed by April 2021 so that faculty can focus on designing new courses.

“We’ve been talking about this for a while—now we need to get it done,” he asserts.

Carson began by enlisting department chairs to survey their faculty on the courses they teach, intentionality, and comfort level with DEI issues. He is also bringing faculty together in biweekly meetings to discuss their concerns about addressing DEI topics. “People are often afraid to talk about these issues, but it must be done.” And an interdisciplinary approach, he says, is key.

“We need to break out of our siloes and find common ground in both content and approach when it comes to DEI.”

“We need to break out of our siloes and find common ground in both content and approach when it comes to DEI.” Faculty are responding. English teacher Steven Suomi is eager to welcome students to his new course, Social Justice Literature.

“Throughout history, literature has often served as both the catalyst and the support system for major social movements,” he says. “We will look at how certain works have reframed

Dean of Multicultural Education Eddie Carson

our national conversations about race, gender, sexuality, environmental policy, and socioeconomics, among other issues.”

English Department Chair Karen Gold is equally enthusiastic about DEI initiatives. “I’ve been at Govs for twenty-five years, and I’m always working to keep our offerings current. We need twenty-first century voices. We have the white canon covered; we also need to ensure we explore the voices of African American, Latinx, Asian, gay, and transgender authors.”

Carson admits that maintaining the new DEI curriculum will take work. “We live in a market-driven, transactional world,” he observes. “Students and their families are looking at what courses need to be on their transcripts to make them competitive applicants for colleges like Harvard and Yale, and that world emphasizes Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which compete with DEI courses.” Yet Carson maintains the latter are equally important for a well-rounded education. “We need to encourage and educate our students on a variety of diverse topics that may be of interest to them.”

Carson remains determined. “We are wholly committed to making sure that every student on campus can see him/her/ themselves in the curriculum. We must offer students courses that reflect the breadth and depth of the twenty-first century environment in which they live—it’s got to happen.”

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

11

EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE Dr. Palmer’s Vision for a Diverse Faculty

Govs triple threat Dean of Faculty Dr. Monica Palmer P’21 teaches fine arts, directs plays, and serves on the administrative team.

Dr. Palmer arrived at the Academy in 2017 on the heels of distinguished tenures at Illinois’s Lake Forest Academy and Virginia’s Madeira School. She holds a BA in dramatic arts and law & society from the University of California, Santa Barbara; an MFA in theater from Columbia University; an MEd in educational leadership from Teachers College Klingenstein Center for Independent Schools at Columbia University; and an EdD in educational and organizational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

An important component of Dr. Palmer’s responsibilities is helping the Academy achieve its strategic goal of greater diversity of the student body, faculty, and staff. With that in mind, The Archon asked Dr. Palmer to share her perspective on the opportunities and ongoing challenges of attracting and retaining a faculty that more accurately reflects the world in which we live.

How do you define diversity?

The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) defines diversity as “the representation and full engagement of individuals within our communities whose differences include—but are not limited to—age, ethnicity, family makeup, gender identity and expression, learning ability, physical ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.” But I think that typically, when people hear the word diversity, they think of Black and white, which seems very divisive.

LEFT: Dean of Faculty Dr. Monica Palmer P’21

12

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

For me, diversity is not just race and ethnicity, it’s also diversity of ability and thought and includes language, religion, socioeconomic, and cultural, etc. At Governor’s, we speak of diversity in a broader sense as well and we are working hard to create a community that is equitable and inclusive; one that mirrors our increasingly diverse student body.

What changes have you made to the Academy’s recruitment and hiring practices to foster increased diversity within the faculty?

When I arrived at Govs in 2017, we had just six employees of color. I invited Warren Reid, CEO of Nemnet Minority Recruitment & Consulting Group, to come and do a hiring workshop with all the department heads and senior administrative leadership. That year, we had twelve new hires at the Academy and in every search but one, we had at least one diverse candidate as a finalist.

I’m always working to cultivate my pipeline for new hires—if you want to succeed in creating a more diverse faculty, you have to move aggressively. I’m constantly connecting with historically Black colleges and universities to let them know about available positions here at the Academy.

I have also aligned myself with diversity organizations, including Strategenius, Independent Trust, and Diversity Directions, all of which are helping us to build our pipeline. You need to meet candidates where they are.

My job, however, doesn’t stop there.

Hiring is about getting people in the door, but you must also make sure that they feel comfortable enough to stay, which is sometimes easier said than done.

With that in mind, I’ve worked hard to ensure that our orientation program is very inclusive. My philosophy is to treat everyone in a way that they know they’re cared for and valued for what they bring

“Hiring is about getting people in the door, but you must also make sure that they feel comfortable enough to stay …” to the fabric of our community—it’s the way I was raised.

When preparing our orientation programs, I looked back to those moments when I started teaching and thought about the “hidden curriculum” areas that surprised me and thus might also be foreign to new faculty.

I make it a point to set clear expectations as well. For example, at boarding schools, the expectation is that faculty will always go above and beyond and be available 24/7, yet that expectation is not always explicitly stated—it’s idiosyncratic of boarding school culture. So, if I expect faculty to attend a meeting, I tell them that straight out.

Pre-COVID-19, I also attended numerous hiring fairs as Governor’s representative. I can speak to candidates about being a person of color and a woman at an independent school. I can give them an honest assessment of the inherent opportunities and challenges and tell them, “There’s work to do and I need your help to do it.”

You’ve indicated that Governor’s is making important progress in increasing faculty diversity, but work remains to be done. In your opinion, what should be done to encourage greater progress?

We must make sure that all faculty and staff—not just department heads— receive implicit bias training, and we must also educate people on how to dismantle the implicit racism that exists in our society.

we have consistency across the hiring process. We need to make sure that no matter the position, we are asking the same questions so that we cover a cross-section of expectations for every new teacher. Otherwise, the process is haphazard and doesn’t serve our goals.

What message would you like readers to take away regarding the attraction and retention of diverse faculty at Governor’s?

The call to action for hiring a diverse faculty must be intentional. We must ensure a process of equity and inclusion that enjoys the structural and systemic support of the entire institution, from the moment the candidate sees the job description to hiring and beyond. We must continue to diversify our faculty, staff, and student body because that will enable us to create an inclusive environment where everyone has a voice. And we must look at every aspect of the hiring process, from housing to leadership growth, so that when candidates ask themselves, “Is this a place where I can live, grow, raise my family, and be successful?’” the answer is “yes.”

To do this work, I need white allies— members of our community who are committed to learning about injustices and gaining an understanding of what they can do to dismantle the structures that are keeping great faculty of color from being employed at Governor’s. I understand that it can be difficult to have courageous conversations around race, but I also believe that leaning into discomfort will push us to where we need to be.

It’s also my responsibility to see to it that our questions, structure, and protocol for interviews are standardized so that FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

13

Archives Wentworth Cheswell, Class of 1767 Dummer’s First Black Alumnus Governor Dummer Academy’s earliest student of color graduated in 1767, a time before the American Revolution, when slavery still existed in Massachusetts. Brief online references to the student, Wentworth Cheswell, include facts that emphasize the exceptional nature of Cheswell’s life. Many note that his grandfather, Richard Cheswell, was a slave who purchased his own freedom, married a white woman, and became the first Black man to own land in New Hampshire.

Wentworth Cheswell’s father, Hopestill, was a well-known housewright in coastal New Hampshire and was responsible for the construction of the John Paul Jones House, which still stands in Portsmouth and is home to the New Hampshire Historical Society.

Hopestill, like both his father Richard and his son Wentworth, was a landowner during a time in which this was a crucial requirement for economic and political power. Cheswell’s story, as a descendent of a slave, shows a man breaking barriers and excelling beyond expectations at that time. His story, however, is not as simple as a tale of individual excellence. The tale of Cheswell also challenges our narratives around race during the colonial era, and in doing so, defies the notion of continual progress on the issue of race in America.

Cheswell’s arrival to the Dummer School in many ways fit with William Dummer’s vision for the school, whose mission was to teach young men Latin and Greek, including boys from rural areas where access to education was limited. Coming from the small town of Newmarket, New Hampshire, Cheswell was likely educated at home by his parents prior to his arrival in Byfield. He experienced academic success while here, causing Master Samuel Moody to choose him, along with five other students, to present for admission to Harvard College in 1767. Cheswell and his classmates were all granted admission, yet Cheswell chose not to matriculate. Instead, he returned to his hometown of Newmarket and quickly established himself as a leader in the community, holding his first elected office in 1768.

When tensions between the colonists and the British government increased in the 1770s, Cheswell sided with pro-Revolutionary forces, becoming a member of Exeter’s Committee of Safety, one of many extra-legal shadow governments formed

14

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

by Patriots during the Revolutionary Era. Cheswell made a midnight ride to warn the coastal New Hampshire towns at the same time that Paul Revere made his ride warning towns outside of Boston. Later in the war, Cheswell joined a New Hampshire militia that fought in the crucial Battle of Saratoga, where the Patriot victory prevented the British from separating the troublesome New England colonies from the more complacent ones to the south.

After the war, Cheswell helped organize a committee to assist in the creation of the New Hampshire state constitution. Within his hometown of Newmarket, his contributions were practically limitless. His positions in the town included: first school master, first state archaeologist, founder of the town library, constable, auditor, town moderator, and Justice of the Peace.

Cheswell was the first Black man in the United States to hold any elected position. Black or white, Cheswell’s contributions to New Hampshire are significant and noteworthy.

Biographies of Cheswell mention his many positions of leadership and the fact that his prominence led to a mention of him in the congressional debate surrounding the Missouri Compromise by Senator David Morril from New Hampshire, who argued against the inclusion of a rule forbidding free Blacks from entering Missouri. On the floor of Congress, Morril critiqued the rule, declaring: “In New Hampshire there was a man by the name of Cheswell, who … held some of the first offices in the town in which he resided [and] was appointed justice of the peace for the county .... But this family are

[sic] forbidden to enter and live in Missouri.” The story that emerges from these anecdotes is a fairly straightforward tale of overcoming obstacles to success.

Contemporary notions of race and racial progress have reinforced this narrative in a way that may not be accurate. Cheswell’s family origins are more complicated than the often told story and may exaggerate the obstacles faced by Wentworth Cheswell.

Grandfather Richard Cheswell was a Black man from New Hampshire who was bound in service to a white family. While today, many make the assumption that Richard Cheswell was a slave, evidence does not necessarily support that theory. New Hampshire did not legally sanction slavery, which raises questions regarding the nature of Richard Cheswell’s service. In the absence of more details, we are left with scant facts regarding Richard: He was a Black servant, became free of his servitude, purchased land in New Hampshire, and married a white woman.

His marriage to a white woman is something Richard had in common with his son and grandson. The story of these interracial marriages during the 1700s seems shocking, if not impossible. It was a twentieth century case made famous by a recent box office hit, Loving v. Virginia, that declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, leading many to believe that these laws had always existed prior to the twentieth century. Anti-miscegenation laws, which were always state laws, never existed in New Hampshire. Some historians have speculated that the small Black population in New Hampshire enabled Blacks there to face fewer social, political, and economic restrictions than Blacks in other states. In other words, a Black man marrying a white woman in New Hampshire likely did not carry as much of a taboo as it would have in other states or in later times. The absence of these laws suggests that the ostracism faced by biracial people was likely not what it would later be. Even in Southern states, the children of slaves and free whites were not necessarily slaves prior to the nineteenth century.

While we know, based on his speech before Congress three years after Cheswell’s death, that New Hampshire Senator David Morril considered Cheswell to be non-white, Cheswell’s racial identity during his lifetime is less clear. While no contemporary portraits of Cheswell exist, the fact that both his mother and grandmother were white makes it likely that Cheswell was fairly light skinned. In census records from 1790 and 1800, all of the members of Wentworth Cheswell’s household were identified as white. A Harvard student who hosted Cheswell when he came to take his examination for admission, described an evening out with Cheswell and other applicants from Dummer in which they “watched 3 Negroes handle a Squaw.” No mention is made of Cheswell’s race. Did Cheswell’s contemporaries view him as Black, white, or mixed race? This answer is not clear.

In the twenty-first century, many embrace the notion of continual racial progress from the early colonial years to the present day. Cheswell’s story challenges this assumption. Instead of being viewed as an inferior Black man, Cheswell was elected to leadership positions in state government. Was this a result of his biracial status? Was it a reflection of the minimal threat that Blacks in New Hampshire posed to the overwhelming white majority in that state? Could Cheswell have achieved these positions had he been born fifty years later? These questions remind us that our concepts of race and its historical definitions may not be accurate.

Wentworth Cheswell is among the many highly accomplished alumni from the early years of the Dummer School. As a Revolutionary War hero and a political leader during the early years of the republic, Cheswell made significant contributions. In a present-day society in which racial identity is sometimes viewed as a defining characteristic, Cheswell’s identity is lost to history.

While today we recognize him as the first Black alumnus, his contemporaries likely did not view his accomplishments within the context of race, but rather within the context of educated, landowning men of the time.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

15

PETER MARSHALL FRENCH STUDENT CENTER: NOW OPEN!

16

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Reimagined and Expanded, the Peter Marshall French Student Center Opens for the 2020−21 School Year The arrival of the new school year also marked the opening of the newly renovated and expanded Peter Marshall French Student Center. The completion of the $6.8 million project marks a milestone for The Governor’s Academy's With True Courage campaign, and it could not have come at a better time for our school community.

The student center now boasts 16,000 square feet of improved space, which includes an added second story wing with four classrooms for the Humanities department. On the first floor, the now-enclosed courtyard features a two-story vaulted ceiling and a large fixed skylight, allowing natural light to flood the interior spaces. The adjacent full service café/grill offers students a variety of additional food options and has proved to be a hit with hungry students looking to grab a treat between classes. Other enhancements include the centrally located day student lockers, a yoga and wellness studio, and several new offices for school administrators who work closely with students. The redesign also embraces an open concept floor plan for large events and incorporates added flexibility to divide spaces into smaller areas, allowing for a host of multiple events or programs to take place simultaneously.

“It looks like something you would see on a college campus; the overall design is polished, modern, and esthetically pleasing, and the size is incredible! The new lockers are spacious too— everything just looks really nice and there is a fresh and more energized atmosphere in here now,” says Senior Class Social Head, Arlo Winokur ’21.

community with just minor modifications and limited expansion throughout the years. The French family continues to be involved with the Academy and provided the lead gift that launched fundraising efforts for the project. Shirley French commented on her desire to be involved in the project, sharing that, “it was with enthusiasm that our family decided on the gift to help expand our memorial building, and we are very pleased that it fully supplies the needs of day students true to its original purpose.”

In addition to meeting the unique needs of day students, the student center is the perfect space for all students to connect and socialize with each other in an open and comfortable setting. Dean of Students Jed Wartman shared that for now, one of the main functions of the first floor spaces will be a place for seniors to gather and meet with their pods each morning, and also as a primary space for the class to have breaks throughout the day. “The fact that the building came online this fall was instrumental in bringing students back to campus safely. although we didn’t anticipate needing the space in this capacity, we feel even more fortunate that the project is complete at this moment in time. Each weekend we are maximizing the interior spaces for activities that are open for all students who are able to attend,” said Wartman. “The diversity of function and flexibility that this building provides has been put to immediate use this year. The timing could not have been better.”

Dedicated in 1978 by Trustee Emeritus Shirley French and her husband Robert P’76, GP’09 in memory of their late son Peter Marshall French, the center had long served the Governor’s LEFT: Lead donors, and founders, of the Peter Marshall French Student Center L to R: Steve French ’76, P’09 and his mother, Shirley French P’76, GP’09, Trustee Emerita; accompanied by Head of School Dr. Peter H. Quimby ’85, P’14

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

17

The Emergency Financial Aid Fund Meets Goal to Support Crisis-Related Financial Aid Needs This spring, the Emergency Financial Aid Fund was established to address the sudden need for additional financial aid for our families who had been fiscally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quickly addressing this need, Head of School Peter H. Quimby, Ph.D. ’85, P’14 and his wife Dr. Laurie Quimby, took action with an initial lead gift to establish the fund. The Academy’s

Board of Trustees followed by committing full board participation and contributing further to the fund.

A broader appeal was then put forth to many in the alumni and parent community with a challenge to match these initial gifts. Thanks to those who supported this fund, all of our families who faced financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 crisis received

What Inspired You? Reflections from some who supported the Emergency Financial Aid Fund

new or additional financial aid awards that made it possible for them to return to school this year.

The Emergency Financial Aid Fund speaks directly to the supportive and generous community that truly is Governor’s, and is an authentic example of the connection that spans generations of alumni and families.

“When I was a student, I remember my mom saying that someone had to leave school because their family’s financial circumstances had changed.

At the time, she shared that if she ever had the money to create a financial scholarship, that she would want to help that family. When Jane Piatelli from the Office of Advancement called me about supporting this current effort, that memory came flooding back, and I was happy for the opportunity to help.”

“Paula and I had mailed our 2020 donations when Peter Quimby’s May 11, 2020 ‘Greetings from Byfield’ letter arrived.

Knowing that we had already ‘written the check,’ I read it anyway.

More than the expected request for financial assistance, it included an earnestly written, very moving, and brave letter from a student whose family had been so financially devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic that they would be unable to pay for their child to continue and graduate from The Governor’s Academy.

—Cathay Scerbo ’84, P’12,’14,’16 This student’s love for the school, its faculty, and fellow students was palpable, so palpable that Paula and I wanted to do more than we had planned. Although “I have had very fortunate financial support my whole life, Paula and I knew that there were many worthy which has provided opportunities such as attending Govs. causes due to the pandemic, we felt that this I grew in many ways at Govs and it helped me get started child and others in the same position deserved on the path I am currently enjoying. I cannot imagine being a student who, through no fault of their own, is now at risk of losing whatever help we could muster.”

—Bob Rimer ’60

that opportunity that they have earned and worked for.”

—Lily Bailey ’16

Back in Byfield Celebrating the Class of 2020 257th Commencement of The Governor’s Academy Class of 2020 Held Virtually Over Memorial Day Weekend While this was not the Commencement that anyone could have imagined before the fateful spring of 2020, we still managed to find creative ways to give our graduates a special send-off.

From a car parade through campus to a virtual Senior Awards Ceremony with Head of School Dr. Peter H. Quimby ’85, P’14, who drove to award recipients’ homes to present awards in person or via Zoom, the Class of 2020 gracefully adapted to and enjoyed these celebrations. Plans are underway to celebrate the Class of 2020 with a virtual reunion this June.

Class of 2020 is all smiles on the annual fall senior trip to Brantwood.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2020!

Tianyu Morgan Fang ’20 of Beijing, China was awarded the Morse Flag, which is presented each year to “a senior whose record in all respects meets the highest approval of the faculty.”

Wushuo Alexander Ding ’20 of Boston, MA was awarded The Thorndike Hilton Cup for his achievement as “the highest ranking scholar of the graduating class.”

Adeliza RosarioVasquez ’20 of Lawrence, MA was awarded The Academy Prize for being that "senior whose unselfishness and sportsmanship have best exemplified the spirit of the school.”

Louisa Goodrich Purinton ’20 of New­ buryport, MA was the recipient of the Peter W. Bragdon Head of School Cup, which is given to “that senior who, in the judgment of the Head of School, has best served the mission of the school.”

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

19

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

COLLEGE DESTINATIONS FOR THE CLASS OF 2020 The George Washington University Georgetown University Hobart William Smith Colleges Institute of Technology, Carlow (Ireland) Marist College Mercer University Middlebury College New York University Northeastern University The Ohio State University Oxford College at Emory University Purdue University Saint Anselm College Saint Joseph’s University School of the Art Institute of Chicago Skidmore College

Babson College Bates College Bentley University Boston College Boston University Bowdoin College Brandeis University Bucknell University Chapman University Clark University Colby College College of the Holy Cross Connecticut College Dartmouth College Denison University Dickinson College Drexel University Elon University Emmanuel College

Smith College Southern Methodist University Springfield College St. Lawrence University Stanford University Stevens Institute of Technology Stonehill College Stony Brook University, State University of New York Suffolk University Syracuse University Trinity College Tufts University Union College United States Coast Guard Academy University of California— Los Angeles University of Chicago

University of Colorado Boulder University of Denver University of Massachusetts— Amherst University of New Hampshire University of Notre Dame University of Richmond University of Southern California University of Vermont University of Washington— Seattle Vassar College Virginia Tech Washington University in St. Louis Wellesley College Wesleyan University Williams College

New Board Members Betsy Tuthill Farrell ’84, P’14,’17,’18,’22 Betsy founded and runs a freelance editing business which provides developmental editing and production services for academic and professional book publishers, including Pearson Publishing and Wolters Kluwer.

She began her career in Washington, DC after graduating from Georgetown University, working for a higher education association, which sparked her interest in higher education policy.

She went on to earn an EdM from Harvard University while working in Institutional Research at Lesley

University. Betsy worked at the MA Department of Higher Education until she was selected to work in the Office of the President of the University of Massachusetts. She held several roles during her tenure at UMass including senior vice president, NCAA liaison, and corporate secretary to the board of trustees. After resigning her role at UMass, Betsy worked as a senior consultant at UMass Boston, working on high-level recruitment searches for vice president-and provost-level positions.

Betsy ventured into a variety of small business ideas before founding her current editorial business. She has Betsy Tuthill Farrell ’84, P’14,’17,’18,’22

20

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

Michael K. Mulligan ’71 Michael received his BA from Middlebury College and his MA from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Michael served as head of school at the Thacher School starting in 1993, and retiring in June of 2018. Prior to 1993, Michael served Thacher as assistant head of school, dean of administration, English teacher and soccer coach. Michael was also a member of the faculty and a coach at The Governor’s Academy from 1977–1986.

Michael K. Mulligan ’71

served in her community as a member of the Anna Jaques Hospital Corporate Foundation Board and the Anna Jaques Aid Association and has chaired several fundraisers for the hospital. She is currently a member of the advisory board at the Immaculate Conception School in Newburyport.

As an alumna of Govs, Betsy has been involved in various ways, including phone-a-thons, Alumni Council, reunion committees, seminars, and Head of School councils. She and her husband Tom recently co-chaired the Moonves Fall Golf Classic and have sent their four children to Govs.

Michael’s professional leadership in the world of independent schools is extensive. He served both on the board and as chair of the Association of Boarding School (TABS), and on the board and as an officer of the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS); he has led multiple CAIS and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation teams.

During annual conferences of these associations, he has been a principal speaker and workshop leader. Michael is also a lifetime member of the Headmasters Association. Through case study discussion at Columbia’s Teachers College, he has mentored aspiring school leaders. He has also been a contributor to the Huffington Post on topics of teen health, welfare, education, and development. Presently, Michael is in partnership with the Thacher School and Nordhoff High School in Ojai, California, developing a leadership program aimed at training teens to become thoughtful citizens and dynamic, effective leaders.

Michael is currently the executive director of Cross Creek Consulting, a firm formed to help schools become strong, vibrant, and in demand.

Maria C. Polcari ’73

Maria C. Polcari ’73 Maria is a member of the Academy’s Class of 1973. After graduating, Maria attended Boston University’s College of Liberal Arts where she received her BA in history, cum laude. Maria went on to receive her Teaching Certification in Secondary Education from Boston College and spent time teaching in the Boston area.

After leaving education, Maria joined Boston Five Cent Savings Bank and worked in mortgage origination and investment banking. She transitioned her career after training in legal work, became a legal assistant, and then a paralegal before retiring to care for family and to pursue her teaching and business interests through volunteer work.

Maria’s volunteer work has included tutoring English as a Second Language, and work for a church providing office support, fundraising event organization, and assisting in the organization’s thrift shop operations. In 2019, Maria became a member of The Governor’s Academy Alumni Council and is an avid supporter of cultural arts, particularly in her home city of Salem, Massachusetts.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

21

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

Making a Picture with David Oxton P’03, ’08 For David Oxton, award-winning photographer and beloved Govs teacher, it’s not just about the trains in “Trackside,” his latest project, which was recently profiled in Marblehead Magazine. “The thing I’m interested in is celebrating these people,” says Oxton.

For Oxton, the trains are background to the real subject of his work—the normal things people do in their backyards as trains scream past: play, garden, work, watch the sunset. “I first wondered who lived so close to the tracks, what their lives were like. I wanted unscripted performances, a celebration of the people, not the trains, a semblance of ordinariness.”

The images are magnificent—crosssections of lives in shadows and light, juxtapositions of daily existence feet away from the rush of metal.

To create them, Oxton drove through trackside towns, gathered addresses, and wrote letters asking strangers to help him “make a picture.”

“I don’t get it,” he laughs, “I’m slightly shy, but I’ve always taken pictures this way, celebrating people, asking strangers to help.”

Thirty years ago as a freelance commercial photographer, he captured portraits of VIPs of banks and hospitals and other “people of position.”

“I used all my tricks to flatter them and make them look just right.”

While he enjoyed the work, he wanted to show people differently. “I wanted to capture people doing regular things,” he says. “I’d approach strangers on the street and ask to ‘borrow’ them. I’d say, ‘Would you help me make this portrait?’

And they’d perform their own portrait. It was wonderful and endearing.”

22

THE ARCHON

|

Govs photography teacher David Oxton P’03, ’08, self portrait

Oxton makes art by connecting with people. For every photograph he takes, there’s a story. When shooting “Trackside,” he met a man who insisted on buying a house next to the train, as its sound and regularity brought him comfort.

He applies the same philosophy to his students at the Academy—one of narrative and connection. “Kids fall in love with photography,” he says. “All the pictures they take tell stories.”

The key to teaching photography to students, according to Oxton, is to let students tell the stories they want to tell.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

“Often, they don’t even know what stories they want to tell. So I start with a question: Do you want to photograph people or landscapes?

We take it from there.”

Oxton chuckles as he recalls a student who walked into class having no idea what he wanted to do and left at the end feeling confident and excited about shooting empty, wet city streets at dawn.

He wants his students to follow their curiosity, to learn what draws them in.

“They all enjoy it,” he says, “even the more reluctant ones. I give them

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

cameras, some of them use their phones. We have a darkroom. I offer the opportunity to learn the more technical parts of photography, but I don’t always focus on it.”

That’s a lesson he learned early in his career from some of his best students.

“I’m self taught. When I started in the classroom twenty-eight years ago, I was ill equipped to teach, so I focused on technical things: f-stops, shutter speeds, lighting. All those things are important, sure, but the kids who did the best on the tests didn’t always take the best pictures.”

One of his best photography students tested poorly because she stressed too much about the technical pieces. “She knew what pictures she wanted to take, though,” says Oxton. At Govs, she made pictures that earned her two Scholastic Art Awards.

Another, who went to the Yale Graduate School of Photography, understood the technical pieces perfectly, but chose to focus only on timing and framing, so he could take active shots.

These experiences stayed with Oxton.

He doesn’t let the technical parts of photography bog students down and often teaches the timing and framing concepts first. It’s proven not only an effective teaching strategy, but an exemplary one.

“When I first started teaching here, Govs was not known for the arts. As more students took fine arts classes, we established a bit of a name for ourselves. For twenty years, we won a lot of Scholastic Art Awards and other national photography awards. We had a ten-year stretch (still in it, actually) when we consistently won more awards than any other independent high school in Massachusetts. Lots of famous

21 Clearview Ave.

photographers have spoken to my students,” he says.

He rattles off a list of big names in the field, including Pulitzer Prize winners, Guggenheim Fellowship winners, and prolific authors.

Last year, Oxton says he “lucked out” when Pete Souza, President Obama’s White House photographer, and Matt Eich agreed to Zoom with his students.

“They really got a sense of what these high-profile photographers do, which is something that not many high school students have the opportunity to hear about firsthand,” he says.

Even during the pandemic, Oxton has already contacted several acclaimed photographers to speak to his classes this year, one a Govs grad who has published work in The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Oxton remains committed to encouraging his students “to produce good, honest, bold work, regardless of the devices they use or the way their images are presented to the world.” He’ll likely stick with digital photography until it’s safe to get

students into the darkroom again.

He also has another personal project in the works: chapels in cemeteries. “I started visiting cemeteries and noticed these little structures,” he says. “They’re fascinating.” He smiles.

“These projects—‘Trackside,’ the cemeteries—they keep me fresh. I love the teaching. I love having my own thing. I like to explain to my students that we’re all doing the same thing here, we’re all just trying to help each other create work that we can respond to.”

He shares a story of a recent student critique. “The student’s photo went up on the screen and the air went out of the room. You could feel the brief jealousy, which happens when classmates see work that they really admire. And then they lavished praise. That one went ‘Bang!’ It made a noise,” he says.

“I love that. We all live for those moments, in photography, in the classroom and in life, the ‘oh wow, would you look at that!’ moments. We feel things from images, we want to do that, to feel that, to move others.”

Oxton certainly does.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

23

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

Bert’s Bee Project From Byfield to the USDA Donning rubber gloves, a group of students in an Advanced Placement environmental science class mixes pollen and sugar in large buckets.

Around the lab table, they pick up vials and add distilled water to rehydrate freeze-dried probiotic bacterium found in the gut of honey bees (along with placebo samples). But this isn’t a typical high school science lesson. The “Bee Project,” brought to Govs by biology teacher Roberta (Bert) McLain P’07 ’09, is a federally funded study to explore ways to boost honey bee health.

“Around 2006, a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder started capturing the attention of beekeepers around the world,” explains McLain, who manages the Academy’s apiary of four honey bee hives, along with two personal hives. Colony Collapse Disorder is a phenomenon in which bees mysteriously disappear, sometimes leaving the queen behind, with just a few worker bees remaining in the hive— not enough to sustain the remaining colony. “There are a number of different theories as to what causes it, but among the top contenders are parasitic Varroa mites and Nosema fungi that attack the bees’ immune system.”

Why does honey bee health matter? The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) reports that “about one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination.” The worker bees from the Govs apiary, for example, help pollinate the Academy’s community garden, which provides a harvest used to prepare meals served in the dining hall.

24

THE ARCHON

|

Students perform hive inspections with faculty Bert McLain.

McLain says that honey bees with an enhanced immune system are better equipped to fight off and ultimately not succumb to Nosema Disease. Govs is partnering with the USDA ARS on a research project to explore ways to help do that.

“Researchers know there is a probiotic parasaccharibacter apium bacterium found in the gut of most honey bees that is effective in helping control the Nosema fungus,” McLain explains. “The USDA is hoping to supply the bacteria in a form that farmers and beekeepers can easily feed to bees in order to boost the bees’ immune system. I wanted Govs students to be able to participate in that important work.”

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Protecting Our Pollinators “Bert’s Bees” may be a play on words based on the popular Burt’s Bees beauty brand, but for McLain, it’s serious business. After taking over the management of the Academy’s apiary in 2016, she became a passionate honey bee enthusiast with an interest in the plight of the honey bees. And since she always makes a point to find hands-on educational opportunities for her students, she explored research opportunities and eventually connected with the USDA. It made sense that AP environmental science teacher Lisa Borgatti would be McLain’s faculty partner for the project.

Borgatti manages the Academy’s community garden located next to the apiary, and the teachers often collaborate on how the bees and plants

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

could best thrive and support each other: the plants providing nectar and pollen to feed the bee colony and the bees spreading the pollen from flower to flower to help the plants reproduce.

When McLain first proposed the Bee Project as part of the AP environmental science curriculum, Borgatti says she was “over the moon” at the possibilities for students, for honey bees, and for agriculture. “It is incredibly related to what I teach because we do a significant amount of learning on agriculture, food supply, and the ecosystem, including the role of pollination. That’s where I bring in Bert as the bee expert to speak to my students.”

For students to carry out a scientific exper­ i­ment firsthand versus reading about it in a textbook, Borgatti adds, “is huge.”

“I want to go into the environmental sciences in college and I’m very passionate about the conservation of our ecosystems, so this was right up my alley,” Rori Nugent ’21 says of first hearing about the project during class.

“The issues surrounding bees had concerned me prior to this project, but I had felt a bit helpless. One of the main reasons why I got so excited about this project was because it felt like I was finally able to help in an impactful and meaningful way—way beyond what I was doing beforehand.”

Nugent and Chloe Therrien ’21 were among the first student cohort to work on the project in fall 2019.

“I was so excited to learn last year that my class would contribute to preparing the bee pollen patties for the hives,” Therrien says. “It was so amazing for me to be a part of a USDA project. I cannot believe my class could contribute to bees and beekeepers everywhere and potentially help stop the plight of bees.”

The students had plans to feed inoculated patties to the bees the following spring; but unfortunately the

COVID-19 pandemic shut down campus before that happened. A second student cohort continued the experiment in fall 2020. After perfecting the patty-making process, they will feed the pollen patties to the bees in the spring and later remove larva samples from the hives to spin in a centrifuge to determine the amount of bacterial growth.

“Our hypothesis is that the digestive tract of the larva from two of the hive samples will have produced more p. apium than the other two,” McLain says. “That would mean that the probiotic survived the freeze-drying and reconstituting process, which will provide an easy way for beekeepers to introduce healthy bacteria to their hives and, most importantly, protect the honey bee population.”

The USDA project is a double-blind study; the experimenters do not know which hives will receive the medicated pollen patties, which makes it all the more exciting for Borgatti, McLain, and the students. “I have students who graduated last spring who are calling to ask me for updates about the study and the health of our hives. As a teacher, I couldn’t ask for anything more than knowing that what I teach in the classroom is a life lesson versus something that ends when they take a test or leave Govs. Every single student involved in the Bee Project has had an ‘aha’ moment.”

Creating a Buzz It was 2016 when McLain was approached by Govs student Sophia Duplin ’16, who was interested in starting a Bee Club to support a professionally managed hive on campus. The student organization needed a faculty advisor, and would the biology teacher be willing?

“I wasn’t particularly passionate about bees, but I said ‘yes’ and got sucked right in,” recalls McLain, whose scholarly

interest focuses on zoology. “I went to bee school and ended up purchasing my own hive to learn about beekeeping before taking over the school’s apiary.”

Today, McLain is at home among the Govs bee colony; more so if she has students by her side in the apiary or can connect some learning aspect in the classroom. The USDA project was a big opportunity to do both.

“This isn’t your average biology lab; students are actively engaged in federal research,” McLain says. “In addition to learning a number of really important scientific techniques, they recognize that they are doing something that could potentially be impactful in nature.

That’s so meaningful.”

COVID-19 also presented a lesson, McLain adds. “The fact that the experiment got cut short due to the pandemic taught students that scientific research doesn’t always go the way you want it to go.”

Borgatti reiterates that the Bee Project was a huge teaching moment in regard to the big picture. “My students really see the reality of climate change and pollution, including the fact that we just can’t afford to lose honey bees. They get it.”

“My biggest takeaway from working on this project, even though it was cut short, is that there are solutions to every problem,” says Nugent, who is still curious as to how the research will turn out. “And regardless of whether or not individuals feel as though they can make an impact, putting in the effort is always the first step towards success at any level.”

It also boosted Nugent’s optimism about the future of the Earth’s ecosystems.

“It’s a really rewarding feeling to know you’re part of something bigger than yourself; and for me to be part of a USDA project that has the potential to help the bees is beyond anything I’ve been able to be a part of before.”

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

25

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

Director of Admission Wins Prestigious Everett E. Gourley Award In September of 2020, Govs Director of Admission Mike Kinnealey received the prestigious Everett E. Gourley Award for excellence in enrollment management at the 2020 Enrollment Management Association (EMA) Annual Conference. The Gourley Award, named for Everett Gourley, the former director of admission and assistant headmaster of the Asheville School, is given each year to that educator whose interest in students and concern for colleagues is an inspiration to those who serve in admission.

Nominated by Kinnealey’s peers, the Gourley Award is one of two major leadership awards given by EMA, an organization representing over 1,300 independent schools, and represents the highest honor in the profession in any given year. This is the first time that a Govs faculty member has received the Gourley Award.

“If you have met Mike, you would see it was an easy choice,” said Colby Morgan, Assistant Director at EMA. “It is unusual to see someone in his position continue to be an advisor while also building a strong admissions office.

Mike has consistently demonstrated a commitment to the broader admissions community, his school, the students, and their families. He is respected and well networked in the profession, while also acting as a trusted and sought-after advisor for students; all while managing an admissions team that, in a typical year, is in all corners of the globe. For these reasons, Mike epitomizes the Gourley Award.”

“The competitiveness of the independent school admissions landscape and the pressure on

26

THE ARCHON

|

admissions offices to meet the bottomline needs of schools can cause people to lose sight of what really matters,” said Dr. Peter H. Quimby, Head of School at Governor’s, who nominated Mike for the Gourley Award. “For Mike, it’s always about what’s good for the students and what’s good for the profession.”

In a speech accepting the award, Mike spoke about Mr. Gourley’s legacy and what our students need in our current complicated society, stating, “What I personally need to do is to be the teacher and the coach, but also the mentor and the role model. Being ‘good’ at our schools is looking at the opportunities of bringing in voices from around the world and from all sorts of backgrounds; then allow our students, in small classrooms, to become intellectually nimble and culturally fluent, so they can go out and be leaders in society.”

“Mike’s approach to admissions work," Dr. Quimby states, "is grounded in authenticity, in doing the best job he can to help our families know who we are so that they can decide whether Governor’s is the right fit for them. And as a result, families come away from the admission process feeling valued, cared for, and respected. In an office that sees over 1,000 applications a year, that’s saying something. Mike’s deep investment in our applicants builds enormous trust and good will.”

Mike has been at The Governor’s Academy for twelve years. In addition to his role as director of admission, Mike is the assistant coach of the varsity baseball team, after being head coach for many years. In roles that are both internally and externally facing, Mike engages with prospective students and families,

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Director of Admission Mike Kinnealey

matriculated students, as well as faculty, on a daily basis. He truly understands the importance of family at Govs and serves a critical role in the community.

Prior to his time at Govs, Mike worked at Milton Academy, where former Director of Admission Chris Baker stated she was most impressed by Mike’s “ability to capture his interviews with students in writing in ways that made the students come to life for other readers. [Mike’s] ability to understand the essence of young people is unparalleled. And it is that passion for bringing his work back to students that has inspired his career, and all those around him.”

Congratulations to Mike on this prestigious award and thank you for all that you do for the Govs family!

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

Govs Goes Big on Helping Others Ozzie’s Kids In the midst of a most unusual fall semester, Govs students still got in the spirit of the season of giving and donated presents to more than 100 local area children for Ozzie’s Kids this year. The program, for which Govs has become a key donor over the past decade, was established thirty years ago by a longtime Haverhill police officer, the late Osmond “Ozzie” Hardy, who began organizing many local businesses, schools, and church groups to hold toy collection drives around the holidays for children in need.

“I am so impressed to see the Govs community come together like this,” said Govs student leader Aleem ’22. “We began outreach to students and families in the fall, so when we received 80 names, and we had more sponsors than names, we asked Ozzie’s Kids for more and ended up with 109 kids.

We were able to give even more to those kids,” he added.

“To know that faculty, staff, students, and parents could make that kind of an impact on these kids’ lives, well, that’s overwhelming.”

This endeavor is fueled by student leaders who volunteer each year to organize this huge undertaking. Last year, Olivia ’22 and several other students participated in a Govs entrepreneurial seminar where they were given seed money to start a business. Their business was so successful, they found themselves with over $1,000 profit, which they chose to donate to Ozzie’s Kids to continue Govs annual tradition of making the holidays a reality for these kids.

“Being involved means that I can give the children the holiday that they deserve and put smiles on their faces, even if most of us aren’t there to see it,” said Eric ’22.

To learn more about Ozzie’s Kids, visit Facebook.com/ozzies.kids.

STARS in Their Eyes As the terrible impacts of COVID-19 spread relentlessly through some of our most vulnerable populations, three Govs students knew they had to do something to help their communities. Eliana ’22, Jessica ’22, and Olivia ’22 started a project called Supplies to Aid Retired Seniors (STARS), which distributes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and notes of encouragement to nursing home residents. Early in the pandemic, when all students were remote learners, the group began talking about how to best use their time to help others, all while collaborating between continents. “We talked about how elderly people in nursing homes, who are likely to be isolated when they could no longer have visitors and see their

loved ones, would inevitably get lonely,” said Eliana. “That’s how we started the STARS Project.”

The students raised over $6,000 and have delivered nearly 800 surgical masks, 300 handmade masks, 7,000 gloves, and 1,261 cards to more than forty nursing homes in the US, China, and South Korea.

“Our motto is, STARS shine brighter together,” said Jessica.

“We believe that it’s the little efforts that we do that can add up and make a huge impact in our communities, and I am really thankful that we can be a part of that.”

“We believe that it’s the little efforts that we do that can add up and make a huge impact in our communities, and I am really thankful that we can be a part of that.”

—Jessica ’22 FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

27

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

A Chat with Bejunior Fallon ’21 Where are you from? How did you learn about Govs?

What activities/programs/sports are you involved with at Govs?

I’m originally from Haiti. My mom was a graduate of the Class of 1996, so Govs has always been a household name.

I’m part of the fall theatre production, I’m a wrestling captain, a proctor, and a member of Student Council.

What will you miss about Govs when you graduate in the spring?

What was a favorite class at Govs?

I will definitely miss the faculty. Their devotion to my success and to creating an inviting space in and out of class is invaluable.

Both AP English and AP US History were my favorite classes at Govs.

How did Govs encourage you to explore new interests?

If I could talk to myself as a new student, I would tell myself not to be afraid to ask for help and to use all the resources that are offered at Govs. I definitely use all the resources that are offered now, but I wish that I had taken advantage of them earlier.

Seeing students around me who were multi-dimensioned was the biggest encouragement for me to explore new interests and continue to pursue my current interests. What I mean by multi-dimensioned is that at Govs, you can find students who are not strictly athletes, or artists, or academics.

Finding out that the community would not place me in a box was freeing.

Can you describe a faculty member or coach who you look up to?

What was a moment of courage you had during your time at Govs?

You could ask me this question ten different times and I would have ten different answers. One of the many faculty members I look up to is Dean of Faculty Dr. Palmer P’21. Her commitment and patience during every theatre production is unmatched.

She has taught me so much about theatre and life, and I’m upset that this is my last year, and my last production with her.

A moment of courage I had at Govs was taking part in the communitywide conversation around race after the modern day lynching of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. My courage continued with my subsequent defense of the Black@Govs page. Some students saw Black@Govs as a form of cyberbullying, when in actuality it was a space where the silent minority felt they had a voice and could share their painful experiences. I hope I am not self-delusional when I trust that Govs will face the systemic changes that Black@Govs so painfully cried out for.

What advice would you give to yourself as a new student?

What do you think you want to study in college?

I think I would like to study creative writing, acting, and directing.

28

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

“[The faculty’s] devotion to my success and their devotion to creating an inviting space in and out of class is invaluable.”

—Bejunior Fallon ’21

B A C K I N BY F I E L D

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

29

Alumni in Action Meredith Lazo McPherron ’85 Alumna of the Year 2019−2020 The Alumnus/a of the Year award is presented annually to a graduate who has been steadfast in their loyalty to the school, and who has shown an unwavering commitment to the place that meant so much to them. The inscription on the award reads: For Loyalty, Dedication, and Service to The Governor’s Academy.

This year’s recipient, Meredith Lazo McPherron, is a graduate of the class of 1985. From the day she jumped the wall, Meredith has been an enthusiastic connector for those in her class and surrounding classes, and a steadfast champion of the Academy’s mission. Over the past thirty-five years, Meredith has continued to give back to the Academy in many capacities as an alumna volunteer, lending her talent, insight, and knowledge as a guest speaker, reunion committee volunteer, Governor’s Fund advocate, and now as trustee emerita.

Meredith joined the board of trustees in 2013, serving a seven-year term that concluded in May of 2020. During her tenure as a board member, Meredith served on the Communications and Marketing Committee, providing leadership and expertise for the Academy’s re-branding initiatives and website redesign. Most significantly, in her recent role as Campaign Steering Committee co-chair, Meredith has helped develop the inspirational marketing strategy for the Academy’s current $75M campaign, With True Courage, The Campaign for Governor’s, the most ambitious campaign in our school’s history, which successfully launched in 2017.

Meredith served as a panelist during our 250th Founders Day Celebration in 2013, and volunteered as a conversation facilitator during the 2015 Boston Business Leaders Luncheon, personally inviting leaders in the Boston entrepreneurship industry to share their expertise with our community. She spoke at the 2018 Boston Holiday Gathering, where she provided updates on the historic progress of the With True Courage campaign to alumni and guests, and shared how the impact of her personal Governor's experience had prepared her for future successes. Meredith most recently served as a facilitator of the Academy’s COVID-19 Town Hall, featuring Board President Jim Pierce ’72, P’08 and her classmate and Head of School, Dr. Peter H. Quimby ’85, P’14. Today, Meredith continues to lead her class as a key member of the Class of 1985 35th Reunion Committee and remains an overall advocate and champion for the Academy.

30

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

ALUMNI IN ACTION

Alumni Council Leadership

PRESIDENT Rob DeLena ’87, P’21, Trustee Rob has been a member of the Alumni Council since 2014, and is beginning his second term as Alumni Council President. During his time at the Academy, Rob was the student body president and two-year captain of the varsity baseball team. After graduating from Governor’s, Rob attended Trinity College, where he received a BS in political science. He went on to receive his JD from Northeastern University School of Law. Rob was a practicing lawyer in the corporate department for Testa, Hurwitz and Thibeault, LLP as well as Peabody and Arnold, LLP. He left corporate law for recruiting in 1998, when he started Legal Staffing Solutions.

Legal Staffing Solutions focuses on associate and partner recruiting for law firms in Boston, as well as greater New England. Rob also serves as “Boston Market Series Expert” for top law schools. Rob was named Alumnus of the Year in 2018, and is the proud father of Abigail ’21.

1st VICE PRESIDENT

2nd VICE PRESIDENT

Laura Sullivan ’07

Saundra Watson ’93

Laura joined the Alumni Council in 2016 and served as secretary from 2018–2020. Laura graduated from Saint Anselm College with a BA in financial economics in 2011, and currently works as a go-to-market project manager for Globalization Partners, a rapidly growing company specializing in international expansion. She recently completed her MBA at Suffolk University, concentrating in strategic management.

Saundra joined the Alumni Council in 2018. During her time at the Academy, Saundra played field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse and was co-chair of the Special Olympics Committee. After graduating, she received a BA in human services from Lesley University. Saundra went on to receive an MA in special education from Wheelock College and an MA in language & literacy from Simmons College. Before entering the field of education, Saundra was the assistant director of a residential treatment facility for children. As an administrator in a public school, she is responsible for training special education teachers and teaching assistants, guiding families through the special education process, and overseeing the implementation of Individualized Education Plans. Saundra currently serves as an assistant principal for Newton Public Schools.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

31

ALUMNI IN ACTION

Alumni Engagement Goes Virtual!

As the world adapted to our new “virtual reality,” the alumni community harnessed the power of Zoom and gathered together for a variety of virtual engagement events over the past several months. The virtual nature of these gatherings allowed for classmates, faculty, and friends living across the country and the globe to stay connected.

Some of our events included:

irtual painting and drawing classes hosted by visual arts V teacher Belle Struck ’94 ireside Chats with Head of School Peter H. Quimby, Ph.D. F ’85, P’14 moderated by alumna Meredith McPherron ’85, Trustee, and Francesca DeMeo ’02, Trustee Oktoberfest beer tastings and conversations with craft brewers Michael Oxton ’03, co-founder of Night Shift Brewing, and Jake Rogers ’04 and Gary Rogers P’04, ’07 Trustee Emeritus, co-owners of True North Ales

conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion A initiatives at the Academy hosted by Milan Gary ’12, Trustee, and the Academy’s Dean of Multicultural Education, Eddie Carson Professional Networking Meet-ups to provide alumni with the opportunity to meet and make connections with others in specific industries or professions nd as 2020 came to a close, our young alumni participated in A a pre-Thanksgiving virtual Govs Trivia Night, and alumni of all ages gathered to celebrate the new year together by joining our virtual Coast to Coast Toast, hosted by our Alumni Council President Rob DeLena ’87, P’21.

32

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

GovsConnect PROFESSIONAL INDUSTRY MEET-UPS These networking events are held virtually throughout the year. We want to hear from you—let us know if you have suggestions for a specific industry meet-up by emailing Director of Alumni & Parent Engagement Amy Swiniarski at aswiniarski@govsacademy.org.

LINKEDIN ALUMNI GROUP Join The Governor’s Academy/GDA Alumni + Friends Group and connect with over 1,000 Academy alumni.

A look back: Boston Business Leaders Luncheon 2019

THE GOVERNOR’S ACADEMY ALUMNI DIRECTORY Access the power of The Governor’s Academy from the palm of your hand. Download our alumni directory app today by searching for Graduway Community in the App Store® or Google Play, and then select “The Governor’s Academy” in the dropdown menu. Once in the directory, you will be able to search for classmates, filter by professional industries, and offer to be a mentor to fellow alumni.

Class of 2020 bonded during their trip to Brantwood in the Fall of 2019.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

33

ALUMNI IN ACTION

34

THE ARCHON

The Govs Boys Varsity team is thrilled to be back on the ISL | Fcourt A L Lwith 2 0fellow 20/W I Nplayers.

TER 2021

Class Notes CLASS OF 1946 Bill Silver billsilver@comcast.net It is a scary time. But there is some good news. My wife Marcia and I have been married 68 years this year—and still together, through thick and thin! We are very fortunate to get to see our large family which now consists of three sons, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren with one more on the way. The only problem now is that we may not get to see them in person with this terrible virus in our way! We continue to Zoom with family and friends but that is so weak compared to a real hug. I am still working at the Miami Medical Examiner Department and in between cases I will walk a mile just for the exercise. Don’t forget, MASKIT OR CASKET!

CLASS OF 1949 Manson Hall kenneyhall@hotmail.com In July, I had e-mail news from Rick Tyler who I reached at his summer home in Maine.

He had journeyed there with wife, Ann, from Salt Lake back in mid-June. We both seem to be keeping safe by social distancing at home etc., as I am sure you are doing as well. Talking about books, Rick mentioned that he had read Dan Silva’s book “The Order,” someone I had just discovered as well. We both had read John Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened” but did not venture into politics beyond that. Rick plays champion level tennis twice a week along with the occasional golf game. I called Len Johnson who I think I found at home in Catonsville, Maryland. Len mentioned that his wife was enjoying opera, but he was remembering Miles Davis of years past. We discussed books read recently and Len was very enthused about Simon Winchester’s book “Pacific.” Knowing that Len had a long and glorious career as an oceanographer with over 200 articles and books, I wondered why and what he enjoyed about the book. He mentioned that “Pacific” is a mixture of recent history, largely from 1950 on, of geography, of accounts of various communities along and among the many islands and of man’s use and misuse of this vast sea. Len does not

know but the next day I found and bought “Pacific.” I have started but hardly have finished it. Very good read! I suggested a recent book on Revolutionary America called “The British Are Coming” by Rick Atkinson, which is a very fresh and clear look at the early stages of that war. This is the first in a trilogy he is writing on the Revolution. Tom Otis called me yesterday, now in August, feeling a bit guilty he said for not contributing to my note effort. Naturally, we discussed the COVID-19 situation and how we were coping. Tom is receiving much support from the family. A bit about family, so we were able to discover we both had a grandchild attending Beaver Country Day School. Tom is still his athletic self, playing both tennis and golf but otherwise is fully free of all lawyerly and business obligations. When we talked about activity, we discussed books, of course. Tom had just read Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” and I had just read Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd”. Was that first read for a GDA English class? We couldn’t remember. Bud Frame from Rochester, NY sent the following: “The good news is that Bud Frame at 88 is happy and healthy!

My biggest problem is I lost Peggy after 64 great years and three sons, all of whom are happily married and living in Rochester (with no help from Peggy or me!) and a total of 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren!

Not bad for Planned Parenthood! Since Peg passed quietly, I have moved into a terrific senior living complex where I know at least 50% of the inmates...along with very good food!” Bud continued to mention that he had read “With All Due Respect” by Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and United Nations representative. He suggested she would make a great president some day after “we get rid of the present idiot! Best wishes to you and our other living friends from GDA!” Bill Judson called today, somewhat out of the blue, from his “escapefrom-the-city” home in Southampton.

Bill seems to be largely out of his various businesses, which are now run by his son(s).

Real estate is down but producing materials for packing art is up. Bill mentioned a fall he had which was aggravated picking up a case of wine, leaving him on a cane with a serious hip issue. He aims to be back on the tennis court in due time. Meanwhile, we talked of books and politics—John Bolton’s recent book and our hope to get rid of the present

presidential incumbent. I recommended “The Future Is History” by a transgender journalist Masha Gessen. A very fascinating and critical look at Russia today. Your secretary, and wife Ann, are back from our retirement home in Naples, FL and enjoying Chatham on Cape Cod. Our children are able to come down to stay near us along with our numerous grandchildren. As with you all, we try our best to social distance etc. I spend time on Zoom in order to sing with my barbershop chorus down in Naples and then a little tennis each week and a good deal of reading time— many more books than normal. Best regards to all of you. This may well be my last set of notes unless I hear from some of you.

CLASS OF 1951 classnotes@govsacademy.org George McGregor writes next year will be the 70th since we filed around the ancient milestone, and you might wonder how we got an education without all the facilities that exist today. While not as dramatic as those on the main campus, let’s begin with changes to the southwest side of campus.

In our day the only reason to cross Elm Street was to smoke a cigarette in the “Butt Room” basement of Ingham, or to get to your room if you lived in Ingham, or play hockey on the “Make-Do” rink created by Mac Murphy with a garden hose. Since our commencement, there is a new dormitory, Eames, next to Ingham. On Old Road, which runs up next to Ingham from Elm Street in a horseshoe shaped loop back down to Elm Street—and ends just beyond the house that was occupied by the Dunning Family—there are now nine single family homes and two duplexes for faculty families. The last house on that road is the retirement home originally built for the Navins Family. Finally, the purchase of the land and house, now known as Atwell House, through the generosity of our classmate Bill Atwell, at the SOUTHWEST corner of the main entrance to campus at Elm Street and Old Road must have appealed to a SOUTHWESTERNER from Texas like Bill. You may recall it had been an old tavern which had been made into a house with a larger piece of land. Bill Atwell paid to buy the land, restore the house, and create an endowment to maintain it. Following a recent

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

35

historic restoration and updating, Atwell House is now occupied by the Assistant Head of School, Elaine White, and her family. For years what has become the Atwell House property had been a concern of the trustees in that it would be sold to someone other than the Academy for an objectionable use given its crucial location, and Bill’s gift ensured that did not happen. The “Butt Room” is gone; we now have the French Student Center where students gather. The “Make-Do” Mac Murphy hockey rink has been replaced by the “do is made” Whiston-Bragdon Ice Arena. More to come when we visit the new facilities in the last 70 years on the main campus in the spring issue of the Archon.

CLASS OF 1955

after that will be heading to Avalon on the Jersey Shore and staying until November.

CLASS OF 1956 Jim Dean covecottage10@gmail.com Jim reports that he has been spending time keeping in close touch with his classmates as per usual and that he and the Class of 1956 continue to follow and stand by the difficult decisions the Academy has needed to make during this trying time. They are always ready to help in any way!

CLASS OF 1957

George Gardner george.gardner3@gmail.com

Lyman Cousens lymancousens@comcast.net

Before the pandemic, Phil and Rosie Angell visited Bobette and Rick Sears at their new “digs” at Longboat Key, FL and had a great time. Peter Scott is living in a retirement community for military officers. Due to an illness, he was restricted to his quarters for months. Meals, mail, etc. were delivered to his quarters. He is feeling better and is now playing golf again. Phil and Peter both hope we will have a 66th reunion next June. Jack Pallotta says his “exotic” travel is limited to trips to the grocery store. He and his wife have remained in Florida through July, but

As we might expect, my classmates and I have been very much confined the last six months.

I actually received three responses to my recent email stating, in essence, “I am alive.” I guess, actually I am sure, that is good news!

COVID did not stop our #1 foreign exchange student Johnny Wichers from sailing from Chichester (England) to the Isle of Wight, “about eight miles and is virtually, for a small boat anyway, a foreign cruise”. Not an easy task for a fellow octogenarian! My buddy Mel Blake sent along a great note describing the difficult decisions the virus has brought to bear on his four college-aged grandchildren.

I do not think Mel’s problem is unique to our classmates, and we should be grateful our children, not us, are bearing the burden.

Importantly, Mel says “My major decisions

have been what to have for lunch each day and whether I took my medications this morning.” In my case, Doris and I argue over who gets the mail!

Ned Stone reports construction is complete and he and his wife Lydia have moved to their new quarters in Sandy Spring, Maryland. Our #1 “short timer,” Howie Zucker, aka Zack Norman, reports “After three decades and just in time for the 2020 Presidential election, indie film ‘Chief Zabu’ was finally released this month to Vudu, Amazon, Google and Apple iTunes.” Congratulations Howie and our very best wishes for your success and a big donation to G(D)A!

CLASS OF 1958 classnotes@govsacademy.org James Main writes in: We in the class of ’58 have all reached or are near our 80th year, and what a year it is turning out to be.

Between the global pandemic, and social upheaval, we will remember 2020, for some more vividly than others. For me, what is unique this year is that I haven’t been on a cruise. I now understand the old line, “home is where I hang my hat.” I think I understand it anyway. Stay well and strong, my fellow octogenarians.

CLASS OF 1959 Randy Light clight@twcny.rr.com Reflecting no doubt the thought of many classmates during these uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Marsh offered the following verse from England: “It might seem very easy To write a Class Note, say, As we hide from Coronavirus, Every single day.

The problem is, what news is there, As we wonder every day When will we all get out of this, In London — or in USA.”

LEFT: Johnny Wichers ’57 at the helm of the Moth; RIGHT: Jeff ’57 and Sandy Fitts with Doris and Lyman

Cousens ’57 celebrating indoor dining at the local 99

36

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Bob Pouch said that he and his wife “just beat the Coronavirus outbreak” upon the conclusion of their 77 day “circumnavigation of South America in March.” Bob sent me

and perhaps other classmates a video which touches upon some of the beautiful scenery and other highlights that they experienced on their voyage. As a retired officer of the NYNM/USNR, Bob had to be in his element as he and his wife sailed on board a cruise ship around South America. At the completion of their trip, the Pouches elected “sheltering…[at their vacation condo] in Bonita Springs, FL” before heading home to New York. While in Florida, the Pouches had the opportunity to speak to Roy Nash and his wife, who reside in Naples, Florida.

Walt Cannon reported: The coronavirus has essentially brought my usual activities to a halt. My wife and I are hunkered down in our house…No visiting our grandkids scattered around the country.” As a retired physician, Walt no doubt is more attuned to the harmful spread of the COVID-19 virus and its possible imminent eradication than most of us.

From his perspective, though, he states: “I cannot say I am very happy with all that is happening to us these days. The number of deaths that have occurred and the number that will probably occur is beyond belief.

My physician friends are depressed and at times overwhelmed by this pandemic. The leadership in Washington certainly does not provide any believable reassurance. I hope

Pete Bostwick ’59 and Bob Dietz ’59 in Mexico City in 1968

that we GDA grads are taking appropriate precautions and will do well…I am sure that the GDA staff is wondering what to do about boarding students and classroom teaching.

Hopefully life in this country will improve sometime soon. We need to think positively.

Good health to all of us.”

Ferg Jansen wrote in: “By coincidence, two freshman GDA roommates [of the Class of 1959] are both currently involved in Art/ Sculpture projects in…[their] hometowns.

Fred Huntress in Meredith N.H. and me in Simsbury, CT. (37 Seward Johnson [works of art currently make up the Simsbury Art Trail]…). All well here in spite of the world…with seven grandchildren, our three daughters and their husbands still able to work from home. I am still working and the last six months have obviously been trying for restaurant clients. My focus has been on PPP applications, unemployment claims, and now shifting into loan forgiveness. Nasty stuff and many restaurants will not survive at 50% occupancy. Outdoor dining in NE will soon go away. Praying for drastic change for USA in November. The Greatest Generation would not believe it! On a personal note, my new right knee is a wonder. Glad I made the decision to do it.”

Alan Stone wrote in: “I may have mentioned that in 2013 my wife and I moved back to Eastern Massachusetts from Manhattan after thirty-three years. I have only seen one classmate, Peter Sherin, who visited a few years ago. I should repeat that the long hiatus between graduation in 1959 and now does make communication very difficult. I knew nothing about art at GDA and now this is the life I share with my wife. I do love studying art, the commerce in it and collecting, but I cannot think of anything more difficult to communicate to non-art people other than possibly mathematical theory. But still if you have any interest in Art (sorry, only art by those long dead) you’re welcome to ask.”

Alan’s invitation for a question spurred me [Randy] to ask what had motivated him to become an art dealer. His response: “My life in art, came about rather by accident; I spent 1963–64 in London teaching English in secondary school. I discovered the National Gallery and…when I returned [to the U.S.,] I finished almost all of my PhD work and taught Art History at Hunter, Columbia, Rutgers and Middlebury before starting in

trade in 1973. My wife and I work together; we deal in works on paper from the fifteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Our clients are chiefly American and European museums and specialized private collectors.” Alan further added, “The firm is Hill-Stone, Inc. Happily we have achieved a certain eminence in our world. We travel, or at least had traveled a great deal to Europe on business.

We feel keenly the loss of that part of our life, as a fair number of our close friends are stuck in France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, and we are stuck in the United States.” Alan views himself and his wife as Antiquarians, with a capital “A,” a term that Alan described as encompassing art dealers and others who are engaged in fostering the preservation and the expansion of “the taste for the art of the past.”

Ken Wolf, who has had an ophthalmology practice for many years in Maine, has retired to Florida. His retirement, however, has not lessened his love of flying airplanes. Ken said that 56 years ago, he “started flying after medical school for the Civil Air Patrol.

Free flying for official stuff and three dollars per hour for personal use of an old rag tag tail wheel airplane when the CAP wasn’t in need of it. Been at it ever since.” Ken sold his Citation jet, but he currently owns a “piston powered, pressurized, turbocharged prop plane,” which he flies to Maine frequently to see family and friends. In addition to his flying he is working on lowering his golf handicap from 14 to a single digit. As I mentioned to Ken, I am envious, as I am sure that others are, both of his flying airplanes and of having a 14 golf handicap.

Peter Bostwick passed away unexpectedly due to heart failure this past July. Bob Dietz sent in the accompanying photograph of the two of them in Mexico City in 1968. In explanation of the photo, Bob said: “We took a road trip in the fall of that year from El Paso to Oaxaca. An itinerant photographer with camera, tripod, and a black hood asked to take our picture. We were 27, skinny, and wearing our pants a bit on the high side.

We stayed in touch over the years and not surprisingly, Pete and wife, Pik, decided to settle in the Southwest. The Western lifestyle suited Pete perfectly. He’d have been a cowboy if the Army hadn’t gotten to him first. Pik reminded me how Pete loved to ski and how he managed to talk himself on to

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

37

the Taos Valley Ski Patrol over many seasons.

Inevitably, winters spent skiing and summers punching cows led to Pete calling himself ‘the skiing cowboy.’ Our junior year we shared a room on the second floor of Commons. Pete liked having military paraphernalia within reach. Among such items were a grenade, a bayonet, and a helmet. These items, harbingers of an adventurous life to come, were displayed on the mantle of our unused fireplace for the entire year.” After GDA, Peter, among his other accomplishments, graduated from Dartmouth, served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, rising to the rank of Captain and becoming a general’s Aide-deCamp; learned to speak fluently the Korean and Thai languages, and later spent 25 years working mostly with an intelligence branch of the Department of Defense. See Peter’s obituary, which is expected to appear in the in memoriam section of this issue of The Archon on the school’s website. Peter— another member of the Class of 1959 who will be greatly missed.

CLASS OF 1960 John Elwell johnelwell@verizon.net Greetings Classmates, Didn’t get a lot of responses this time around. Hopefully will get more next time. I hope all are well and surviving the pandemic as best as we can.

—John Elwell John Silver is keeping busy and active also.

I hope he does get back up to Rangeley next summer. Would like to stop by and visit him wherever he stays. We go to the classic Rangeley Inn for snowmobiling in the winter.

Great location and the folks are friendly.

Glad your family is doing well. We have hunkered down for the most part, doing curbside pickup grocery shopping and meals from our favorite restaurants. We recently sold our summer camp in Rangeley—a bittersweet experience, as we had been going there since 1973, but with no family backup or interest in keeping it, we decided to rent in Rangeley when it makes sense to return, hopefully next summer. We planned to rent this year but are staying in Florida. Just to keep it lively here, we are upgrading our condo with floor tile, new bath vanities and a new kitchen; and there is painting and adding

38

THE ARCHON

|

ceiling fans involved as well. I still enjoy doing some of the work, but not as much as years earlier. Zoom meetings are great, but are no substitute for face-to-face.

Peter Stonebraker shared that the spring 2020 months have not been kind to the Illinois Stonebrakers. On March 25, Eva had a very nasty fall. Most of her chest cavity was broken and collapsed, her right lung was punctured, and there were several fractures of her leg, back, and neck bones.

Miraculously, intensive care unit doctors were able to patch her up, and she went to a long-term care unit, then a nursing home facility. However, she has not been able to wean herself from the ventilator. After 4 ½ months on the ventilator, and because I am unable to have personal contact with her due to COVID, some indications are emerging that her preexisting mild dementia may have notably advanced. On May 23, I received a tentative diagnosis of stage 0 urothelial cancer. The urothelial cells surround all parts of the renal system (kidneys, renal tubes, bladder, and urethra).

Stage 0 means that the disease had not progressed to the renal system proper. After further tests, surgery, scheduled for August 4, was successful. At this point, things are day-to-day; I am making every effort to stay COVID-safe.

Editor's note: Eva Stonebraker passed away in October 2020.

Don Alexander may be retired, but he sure is keeping busy and active. His wife, Barbara, is just as active. Sure hope we can get together sometime soon rather than later.

Carl Youngman ’60 with his son, Andrew, grandsons Trevor and Nolan, and daughter-inlaw Heather

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

As always, thanks for all your work to keep us aware of what our classmates are doing. For me, I retired a month before the COVID-19 restrictions began, so much of what I had planned to do in retirement has been put on hold. As of this writing (mid-August), Maine is one of the best states for low infection rates from the virus, but my wife and I are still being careful, home a lot, getting comfortable with Zoom, and avoiding large groups.

For activity, I am working on materials for a history of the Maine Judiciary, helping out, remotely, with a process for pretrial resolution of some medical malpractice cases, and cutting and stacking firewood. My wife Barbara is busy with work as a member of the Winthrop (Maine) Town Council and her consulting work on consumer protection in public utility ratemaking has been quite active. Looking forward to when it will be easier to get together with people, but not sure when that will be. Sure doesn’t look like any time in 2020, though, we are tentatively planning to visit our daughter’s family in Montana for Christmas. To you, your family, and our classmates, stay safe, stay healthy, best wishes.

It was great to hear from Carl Youngman.

Sounds like Carl and his family are keeping well connected and active. The picture of Carl had me confused as I thought Carl was his son. Carl turning 79 does look great in the picture. Way to go! And I like his humor about our 60th reunion.

Hi Ho John, I hope all is well with you and the family. We have moved to Cape Cod for the summer and are staying physically distant from others, but that is not the case all over the Cape. There are lots of parties still going on with attendees not wearing masks. That is not good news! July is birthday month for the Youngman family! My daughter is on the 4th, my granddaughter on the 8th and mine on the 11th. The family came to Harwich to celebrate. The weather has been great but climate change is obvious. The water temperature this year is clearly 2–5 degrees warmer than it has ever been. The fish come earlier in the season and leave earlier. Something is going on! I sent you a picture catapulting me into my 79th year by a separate email. In the meantime, being with my grandchildren every day on the beach is a blessing! They have already told me that if they go back to in-class schooling in the fall,

I won’t be able to see them… protecting me, I guess. I have not eaten out at a restaurant since early March and probably will not for the foreseeable future. Zoom, Ring Central, Team, Amazon, Amazon Prime, Whole Foods, Instacart, Netflix, Acorn, WhatsApp, Alexa, Echo Show, PPE, DocuSign, etc. occupy my thoughts. And what would the Old Guard (Dave Williams, Bill Sperry, Tom “good night,” Roy Orhn, etc.) think of these “revolting developments”? To say nothing of Daniel Ellsberg, Grace Slick, Dr. Timothy Leary, Alice’s Restaurant, etc. Blueberries and strawberries will come up the same time every year…nothing different, but life in these times is different and will likely be different for a long, long time. It is just not the same and it won’t be! We will need to learn how to live with it. Talk soon. Congratulations on our 60th Reunion…it was a great party … really enjoyed it! Shall we do a Zoom reunion in the fall?

That’s the Class of ’60 notes. Yours truly has been busy at the Farm and finally getting a little time at the camps in Norway, Maine.

Have been able to visit grandchildren carefully. Had our 52nd Wedding Anniversary at the Farm and all 19 were able to attend. Everyone be socially present and physically distant! —John Elwell

CLASS OF 1961 Tom Mercer tmercer@cerescap.net Under the leadership of Tony Garland and the able management of Pete Boynton, a group of the members of GDA class of 1961, including John Carroll, Geoff Robinson, Tom Woodruff, Stan Thomas, Dave Stringer, Mike Stonebraker, Fred Bissell, and me have been participating in a monthly Zoom call, starting with a call in mid-May. Everyone seems in pretty good spirits but feeling pretty confined.

CLASS OF 1962

collection” featured in the National Review.

Peter and his wife Lynda also have three grown children.

Tom Tobey ttobey13@gmail.com During the past six months our country has presented us with a challenge like no other in our lifetime. We have been asked to make significant alterations in our daily routines, habits and lifestyles. Most of us have changed the way we conduct many things we do. All conveniences such as restaurants, entertainment and public transportation systems have been shut down or altered for the foreseeable future. Everything that we used to expect in the way of daily routine has come to a halt. We all wonder what will life be like when this pandemic is over.

Let’s take some time to think about such things as “Where have you been lately, what major changes have been made in your lives and what are you looking forward to in the foreseeable future?” I generally look to Peter Butler for what his plans are, since he is way ahead of many when it comes to making plans. Yes, soon enough I learned that Peter and Marie were off on two separate Rhodes Scholar events in the Southeast. I know that Mardi Gras in New Orleans was a significant destination, just as the pandemic was beginning. Fortunately, they returned home to Marblehead before much of the country was shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

I am not sure if the old adage “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is apt, but it seemed to be as I reconnected with Peter Buck a short time ago. One of my fondest memories from our GDA class came to mind in recalling when Peter, Steve Blair and Andy Whittemore played as a musical trio, The Three Fifths! Steve passed away many years ago, way too early in our lives. As for Peter, for many years he has been the Director of Foundations and Grants with Prison Fellowships Ministry in Virginia. He moved from Landsdone, VA to Leesburg, VA and is now working for a museum connected with the same organization. The museum “has artifacts and manuscripts over 3000 years old from around the world,” but the museum itself is only two and a half years old. He reports that “you may have seen some things in the news recently about the fake Dead Sea Scroll fragments that the museum had in its

Bob MacLaughlin has relocated in the past year to Hermon, ME. For those of you who may not be familiar with Maine geography, Hermon is a suburb of Bangor. Bob’s featured activity during retirement is running. To give you a snapshot of Bob’s running regimen, his first goal for the year is to run 76 miles in official road races. His overall goal is to run 1200 miles total in 2020! Bob and his wife Renée are both running zealots and active members of the running club known as the Running Fossils. With the current running schedule on hold for the season, Bob is left to his own devices. Good chance is that Bob will just keep on running. Maybe he is our modern-day Forrest Gump! I will leave you with an update of Bob’s garden.

It is magnificent. With Bob’s special “hoops and plastic cover,” he is able to fool Father Winter and keep vegetables growing in the greenhouse during Maine’s snowy months!

I have been recently reminiscing about some classmates who are no longer with us, and Frank Bond came to mind. Frank and I first met on the lacrosse field in 1959. It has been close to seven years since Frank passed away in 2013. He was a straight shooter, if I ever knew one. His life-time passion from his first days at Colorado College was falconry.

Frank eventually became the president of the International Association for Conservation of Birds of Prey. I will never forget the thrill and rare privilege early one morning in the mountains outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, watching Frank fly his pet falcon. It was at this time that he shared with me that he had named his bird Tobey. That thought still brings a lump to my throat. He was a dear friend and I miss him. Frank shared this passion with us during our 40th reunion.

T. Burke Leahey passed away of Parkinson’s disease on January 21, 2020. I have special memories of “Burkey,” as his wife Barbara would sometimes affectionately call him. He was a mainstay of the class of 1962. Burke was recognized at graduation in 1962 with a Special Prize “as a senior who has carried large responsibilities in many areas of school life. A fine student, vice president of the class, editor of the Milestone, a three-sport athlete and dormitory proctor, he contributed

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

39

heavily indeed to the success of this school year.” It was no surprise that Burke went on to Harvard University and also received an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. I could go on but will end by saying that Burke was a loyal classmate and friend who added life to any party or gathering. He will be missed by us all.

We have also lost our classmate, Pete Kelly, who passed away on July 20, 2020. He was dedicated to the Kelly Family Businesses up until the end days of his life. He loved the Greater Newburyport Community. Pete was a long-standing member of the Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club and also served on many boards including Anna Jaques Hospital, Institution for Savings and The Firehouse Center for the Arts. It was great to reconnect with him at our 50th Reunion back in 2012.

Word came my way that some classmates are still out there fighting the good fight and going to work every day! Jim Gordon, who is still working, may be hanging up his spikes in the near future. Time for the younger generation to take over! I also know that Tim McNally is still heading to his office each day at BCS Inc. in Pomfret, CT.

that I was informed by Burke that I had just been elected Class Secretary. I have enjoyed producing the notes ever since.

Stay in touch — and stay safe.

Tom Tobey (650) 868-6230

CLASS OF 1963 classnotes@govsacademy.org News from Randolph Langenbach: I have recently had an art-photography book ROME WAS! The Eternal City from Piranesi to the Present published by ORO EDITIONS publishers. This book follows my making of a short film entitled Rome Was! Ruins Eternal. Inspired by the extraordinary engravings of the ruins of Ancient Rome by Giambattista Piranesi, I use modern-day digital photography to document the same views that Piranesi captured over a quarter of a millennium ago, displaying some of the most iconic ruins of an ancient civilization on the planet. Please visit www.piranesian.com and www.conservationtech.com for more information on the film and book and to see what else I have been up to.

Ted Moore manages to spend as much time as he can hiking the trails near his home north of Anchorage, AK, especially now that things are starting to thaw. One of Ted’s and Ginny’s favorite activities when the weather cooperates is to venture out to their cottage in Seldovia, southwest of Anchorage near Homer, AK. Ted and Ginny love to get away from it all with their boat in Kachemak Bay State Park. If you have not been to Alaska, it is a wonderland: a not to-be-forgotten piece of heaven.

CLASS OF 1964 Don Balser d.balser1970@gmail.com Don Balser: As for me, still living in Marblehead with Linda (52nd anniversary in June), and looking forward to a few more!

Doing some projects in the house and also out in the yard, and when the weather is right, I’m putting around the North Shore in a ’79 MGB that I acquired. Also, we’re looking forward to visiting with our son in Vermont this fall, and hopefully seeing some great foliage color.

Terry Golden: Thank you, Don, for putting the “’64” after your name in your request for news. It never mattered before, but it’s become a quite helpful reminder of what class I was in at G(D)A! It helps to repeat it, too!

John Heald: I had the good fortune to attend our 55th Reunion over a year ago and visit with more than a dozen of our classmates.

In addition to catching up, I experienced and learned about a number of enhancements to and through Gov’s programming. One of the most notable is GovsPLUS: https://www. thegovernorsacademy.org/about/diversityequity-inclusion/govsplus. GovsPLUS (Powerful Learners Unlocking Success) is a tuition-free academic enrichment program that partners GDA with motivated middle school students from Lawrence, MA. The goal of GovsPLUS is to help these kids (rising 8th and 9th grade students) reach their potential in and out of the classroom.

Each year, about 40 students participate in GovsPLUS to strengthen their academic skills, build their self-confidence, and engage in community service and experiential learning opportunities. The program begins with a five-week summer experience and continues

With the help of Ham Agnew, I have been able to locate Tay Vaughn. Tay lives in Fort Republic, MD with wife Marcia. Marcia has stepped back from an extensive career in toxicology that includes years with difficult regulatory issues in both the United States and other countries. Tay has continued with his life-long love of woodworking.

I have been writing these alumni notes for the Great Class of 1962 for over 40 years. It was at our 15th reunion that I was late to the class meeting held in the Cobb Room. It was there

40

THE ARCHON

|

LEFT: Poster for a film by Ralph Langenbach ’63; RIGHT: ’79 MGB belonging to Don Balser ’64

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

throughout the school year with monthly opportunities to connect. Three recent GovsPLUS graduates will be first year students at our Academy this fall and the 2019–2020 Student Academy President is also a GovsPLUS alumnus. As a donor to the program and at the invitation of the Director of GovsPLUS, Michelle de la Guardia, I had the chance to “sit in,” through Zoom, on several classes and join the Closing Ceremonies this year. These GovsPLUS scholars are all amazing kids! I am so excited about and proud of the work that our school is doing through this program. If interested in learning more I encourage you to reach out to Daryl Robicsek at drobicsek@ govsacademy.org in the Office of Advancement at the school.

CLASS OF 1965 Ken Linberg ken.linberg@gmail.com Craig Johnson: I read your message today, August 12, my 73rd birthday. I wish that all of the Class of ’65 had accompanied me as I circled this milestone (the milestones now mark each year rather than each decade). So sorry to hear that Deep had passed. I never knew him well back then nor since, as you did. However, as I’ve stated before, the Class of ’65 is a nearly indelible signature on my youth that fades a little with the passing of any one of us.

The memories that you and the rest of our class inhabit have never been dearer to me than they are now. When we walked around the Milestone and then sprinted over the wall, the momentum towards the future accelerated. In the light speed of forward movement to the life ahead of me, it was hard to look back long enough to fully consider the importance of that which we shared. With that future into which I thrust myself mostly behind me now, forward motion is more of a stagger-step, a slow, quiet, reflective walk. I cherish the memories that every class of ’65 “Govie” contributed to (despite grammatical blasphemy that dishonors the memory of every GDA English master that instructed me otherwise, it sounds better to me than “…memories to which every Class of ’65 “Govie” contributed.”). Thank you Ken! Thank you All! I am really looking forward to the postponed reunion.

Bill Major: Ken, Your kindly reminder of our maturity has prompted me to do what I have never managed before, which is to write a bit for the Archon notes that you have kept so faithfully for all these years….and I must confess I always look eagerly to see what others have submitted. So here goes... After spending most of my early years in rural areas like South Byfield, I ended up in New York teaching history for most of my working years.

A great place to learn a lot in all sorts of ways and I am very glad to have gotten a job there... the only offer I received, by the way. I must say, however, that I would never have made it there without what I learned at Governor Dummer in the classroom and from some wonderful classmates. It is interesting how much of my three years at GDA have stuck with me. Anyway, thanks to all in the Class of ’65 for the good times we had. Am now retired on the Eastern Shore in Maryland…back to the country for space to bicycle, play with my dogs, and read mysteries. Ken, hope all is good with you, and thanks again for being the eternal class secretary.

CLASS OF 1966 Jim Connolly jim@connolly.legal As you may have heard, Malcom Gourlie passed away on June 8, 2020 surrounded by his family at his lifelong home in Pleasure Beach, Waterford, CT. He was always well liked by everyone. Tim Keeney, Barry Sullivan, and David Stevens all wrote to express their sadness at his passing.

so this seemed a good time to call it quits.

Since we cannot travel at the moment, we got more chickens, built them a safer living space than their earlier peers, and soon will be enjoying many eggs! Yard projects are getting done, visits from grandchildren in Arlington (2 years old) and Brooklyn (5 years old) have occurred but the Minneapolis twins (nearing two years) are just FaceTime visitors at the moment. The Berkshires are relatively quiet this summer as Tanglewood and all the great theatres are largely closed.

Len Johnson writes: “We are safe and sound in Amesbury, and looking forward to a trip to Portugal, which is now a prepaid event!

Details in 2021!”

Dave Stonebraker writes: “Life here in Maine continues without anything special to report. The one thing that is true is that I have stopped at Hebron after 44 years.”

Tim Keeney will be attending his 50th Reunion for Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training this November in Coronado, CA this is a picture taken during our Hell Week. I am in front on left.

As for me, I am still practicing law in Newburyport and keeping up with the news by watching my daughter on NBC Boston. One of my other daughters is leaving California to teach at the University

John Howard writes that he “was saddened to hear of Malcolm’s passing and he was one of the really good guys. Thought I would try retirement but my golf sucks and gym only takes a couple hours so have been working as of counsel with a good friend about 30 hours a week and as judge pro tem several times a month. Had my first grandchild June Elizabeth Howard in December but COVID doesn’t allow me as much direct contact as I would like. I hope we eventually get back to some normality.

Bob Vaughan retired on April 1 for the third time, this time as a consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. With COVID, visits to schools were not going to happen

Tim Keeney ’66 during SEAL training Hell Week

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

41

of Connecticut, which will leave me with only one daughter still somewhere West of Worcester in California.

CLASS OF 1967 Ben Beach benhbeach@gmail.com From British Columbia, Anne-Marie Laverty reported: “I don’t suppose I’ll ever build a live-steam model locomotive, but I wish I’d had Cap Purinton on hand for some expert supervision when a local historical society asked me to build a scale model of a steam skidder for their logging display.

They wanted a live-steam engine, but as those have a lamentable tendency to explode when designed and built by clueless people, I had to substitute an electric motor hidden in the vertical boiler. Still, it was a great social-distancing project, and a fine excuse for putting off all the work that needs doing around the garden.”

Jeff Wood makes a living by planning big events, mainly conventions. That’s a challenge in the best of times—so right now it verges on the impossible. “It’s nuts,” he reported during the summer. “We are about to put on a virtual event for 800 speakers and 250 sessions...pray for me.”

Fred Burchsted is “still working happily” at Harvard’s Widener Library. “I talked last week with a retirement/financial planning advisor who asked me when I thought I would retire. I said ‘pencil in 90.’ I’m working from home on Zoom and email, preparing for fall classes. Enjoy being home and miss being there at the same time.”

hosting a number of our classmates up here in Vermont in September. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we had to postpone but plan to reschedule it for next year. Stay tuned for dates. I hope all 67ers and their families are healthy and safe.”

“I have been spending a lot of time with my wonderful grandchildren in San Diego,” Scott Cameron wrote. “I also enjoy being flown around by my pilot son, Beau.

Colorado is even more beautiful from up high! I’m the healthiest I have ever been, exercising daily, eating right and absolutely no drinking or prescription anything. I have no bad habits and my weight is perfect. Life is grand!”

he wrote. “The beach is uncrowded and beautiful, and the trip down was uneventful.”

“In my mostly retirement,” Stanley Greenberg said, “I have had more time to explore the marvels of Apple Music to do a deep dive into a musical genre that I loved in college: Chicago Blues, old and older. Now love that Pinetop Perkins and Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith. Now where did I put that Marine Band G harmonica? But I make time for more serious pursuits, like Manu Chao’s ‘Bongo Bong.’ Infectious (but not fatal). Please let me hear from all you Class of ’67 Pickleballers.

And yeah, cancel Yale.”

David Marsh reported that he has “decided to be quietly grateful, the sad national season notwithstanding. For family, education, training, friends, work, trials, and retirement. For my country, its philosophical underpinnings, its rule of law, and its progress—in just my lifetime—to right wrongs. For anyone demonstrating wisdom, courage, justice, and/or moderation (but I don’t expect it because we are fallen). For the holy Bible, which illuminates the path to gratefulness. (Just finished teaching ‘Paradise Lost’ so I cannot not be reflective. :) )”

Speaking of Mainers, our Pine Tree State roster has just hit three, as Roger Block explained: “Over the past several years we have thought about moving to the Maine coast, and we now have. In August, after almost 25 years in Newburyport, we moved to Stonington and are now right in the middle of some of our favorite cruising areas. With our boat in London, we had planned this past summer to sail to Norway and cruise its Atlantic coast. COVID cancelled our plans and, like many other U.S. sailors, we had our boat shipped back to Baltimore, and she is now at her mooring in Stonington. It’s been a busy year.”

Another guy who made those long winter treks in from Ambrose, Mick Doolittle, managed to get to the beach last summer.

“We’re actually social distancing with the whole extended family at Fripp Island, SC,”

Ted Dix heads up to Maine most summers but did not make it in 2020. “I’m being obsessively careful about staying home,” he wrote from Austin. “I’m doing a lot of reading, watching more baseball than

Melanie and Joe Schwarzer celebrated their 50th anniversary on August 22. That’s not a typo. “We realize how lucky we have been to always have each other,” Joe wrote from Chapel Hill. “We can still make each other laugh. We probably won’t retire for a few more years, but the world is changing rapidly, and nothing is certain. I continue to work a ridiculous schedule even during the pandemic. Fortunately, I have a remarkable staff. Our museums have not been open to the public since March.”

While in Burlington in August, Chuck Davis wrote, “I was really looking forward to

42

THE ARCHON

|

Mac Barnes’s ’67 three children organized a surprise 70th birthday party for him at the French Consulate in New York City. With Mac are son Remy, wife Anne, son-in-law Greg Bronner, and daughter Nellie Bronner.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

usual, and praying for leadership and levels of cooperation that will get this pandemic under control with a minimum of suffering. Our daughter Emily is finishing her dissertation and preparing to get a university job in a year when no one is hiring.”

At Guidewire Technologies, “work has slowed,” said CEO Doug Curtis, “with many orders postponed for non-essential procedure products, offset by a few emergency COVID-related orders. When hospitals return to normal, we anticipate an explosion due to the backlog of postponed procedures. I am using a PPP loan to produce some excess product for inventory, in anticipation.” But Doug’s gardens “are doing great, and I am shifting to more perennials as the annuals just take more of my time, and my joints, etc. are older.”

“The need to become a hermit has not been a problem for me, as I have been drifting toward that lifestyle for many years,” Rick Jensen emailed from Bristow, Oklahoma.

“Leaving 850 country club members behind in West Palm Beach was a good first step. I wear a medical mask and my bandana. I even got to wear this get-up walking into a bank last week. Got that ‘look’ the James Gang must have seen often!”

Jeff Harris checked in while “floating around in the backyard pool reviewing emails. I have a second round of turkeys wandering through to munch on the birdseed splashed off the feeders; about 40 come by daily. The chicks are almost grown.

Have been working from home since early March but am going in for a day this week— will likely stop supporting the Navy in October after 40+ years. Mixed feelings, but am considering giving full retirement a go.

Have been making some progress updating my 1927 Old Town 16’ square-end sponson canoe with a few minor repairs and new varnish/paint. I should have it out of dry dock by summer’s end. Subject to pandemic restrictions, I plan to take my 13-year-old granddaughter to Universal for a Harry Potter binge—may make it a road trip. Thth-that’s all folks—good health to all.”

“I’m bored and very tired of it,” Joe Story said in August, with months still to go, presumably. “Went in to the Cask and

Flagon today. It’s a disaster. There were 17 people walking through Kenmore Square.

The encouraging thing is that almost all the people walking through Boston were wearing face coverings.”

“Gardner Mattress has been very fortunate thus far,” Gardner Sisk reported during the Dog Days. “There has been a demand for mattresses, and we are fulfilling the need. We just developed a fabulous organic innerspring hybrid that fits in a FedEx box. Suze and I will attempt to move to Manchester next year, but the bucket list is on hold. I know my priorities are skewed when I look forward to listening to an animated dog (Pluto) for his worldly advice.”

Don Gay sent an email as he headed off from Detroit to Reno to visit one of his sons for a week. “He already has one girl and will have another in the next week,” said our Motor City man. “I will have four grandkids—all girls. I still sing in church every two weeks but am not refereeing this year. Other than that, I basically stay home.

I hope the virus stays away and that we can meet next year.”

“Mary and I remain happy as clams in retirement…umm, at least I am,” said Sid Bird. “She, a sub teacher, is still wondering about working and how it will happen. Maybe not at all if it’s totally remote. We recently took our motor home to Jefferson, NH, for two days of mountain biking on the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail. Most of this summer we have stayed in Maine at our family’s summer home—waterskiing, air chairing, canoeing, biking, swimming, and eating lobster with gathered family—not a tough quarantine! We still return to NH once a week to babysit our four-year-old grandson.

I’ve been riding my street bike in NH and my trail bike in Maine—so warm I haven’t enjoyed motorcycle riding so much EVER, I think!! Retirement is amazing.”

“Our family is healthy and well,” Bill Alfond emailed in August. “Joni and I have been socially distancing in Boston and Maine, and summer in Maine was pretty close to normal because the state has been among national leaders in controlling COVID-19. One positive consequence of the national shutdown was that I have played more golf this year than since my days at

Ould Newbury. I’ve been on more Zoom calls than I can count, but enjoyed two great calls with classmates.”

“I had been assimilating into my new community,” Andy Creed reported from Hillsborough, NH, “but COVID has put a stop to that. If I didn’t have my workshop and gardens, I would be going crazier than normal.” His second grandchild, now a year old, is named Lilith Maeve. “No political statement there! I completed restoration on my first project in June and have started a new project on a very damaged Old Town from 1938. It will surely test my skills.”

Reid Pugh had “a delightful July in West Virginia, biking the hills in the cool mornings, going to the pool in the afternoons, beer with friends and family (socially distanced and masked) in the evenings. Listening to lots of diverse music, most of which reminds me of R.E.M.. Back to St. Augustine for August and another visit from the grandkids while always carefully avoiding crowds. Always trying to stay safe and healthy in today’s treacherous world. Looking forward to gathering with classmates again in 2021.”

Reid may be hearing from Bill Dougherty. A beach club in Putneyville, NY, has tapped him to run a fundraising campaign for a small construction project. “I haven’t had much experience at shaking people down, but I know that’s Reid’s specialty.”

“Living on a Florida barrier island, Perdido Key, during the COVID-19 pandemic is interesting, to say the least,” Jay Marsh wrote. “On one hand there are old retired residents like me, who wear triple-layer masks, socially distance, and venture out only for groceries. On the other hand, there are young visitors, who never wear masks, who attend large beach parties, who have never heard of Dr. Fauci, and who think COVID-19 is just another word for the common cold.

Mediating between these two groups is the local government, which is watching its tourism-based economy shrink faster than a Greenland glacier during global warming.

To help the economy while practicing social distancing, Tommie and I increased sales tax collections by buying a new 25-foot trickedout tritoon boat. A new boat combined with watching traffic pass by our balcony on the Intracoastal Waterway has made for a good

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

43

summer. And, assuming no hurricanes, this fall, when most of the visitors are gone, will also be good. However, things would be great if we saw our kids and grandkids more often.”

husband Preston drove 19 hours straight from St. Louis to spend most of July with us in Marion. It was great to be able to have so much time with them.”

Also enjoying the views in the Sunshine State was Bill Barnes: “With the virus and social distancing I really haven’t been doing much, just seeing a lot of sunrises as I walk the beach before too many people get out there.”

“With the pandemic,” Phil Congdon reported from Colorado, “my social life is seeing doctors and calling friends. I’ve been asking my doctors if ‘abinormal’ means anything to them, and only one has said yes. My retirement has been an ongoing and unsuccessful attempt to stay healthy, hence the aforementioned doctor visits. When I was getting bored, undergoing treatment for four-and-a-half hours once a week, it gave me the opportunity to reread James Bond. Fortunately, I tested negative for Coronavirus, but I had to stay in one of the special rooms for a couple of days before the results came back. It made me appreciate even more what the doctors and nurses in a hospital have to go through to stay safe.

At the other end of the spectrum is Trump’s lack of leadership and misinformation during this pandemic.”

“I find myself fully occupied and not at all bored by the COVID quarantine, which we take seriously,” Lew Rumford reported from the nation’s capital. “Except for a couple of excursions to see our new granddaughter in NC, we have been right here in our apartment for months. I have plenty of old projects to tackle (finally), and I have used any spare time to work harder on my photography and video editing skills. I also signed up for online training to demystify the incredibly powerful software I have long under-used.

The city has been asleep for months and my car never moves, but I have enjoyed discovering DC as a pedestrian. There is a lot to like here. Of course, the politics of the day are beyond depressing. I was near Lafayette Park on June 1 observing the incredibly peaceful young protesters. I missed being caught up in the presidential charge of the goon brigade because I had to get home for dinner. I have voted mostly for Republicans, but Trump and his pals are awful, and I am delighted to support his opponents. I cannot wait to see him gone.”

Our other Maryland native, Alan Rothfeld, also commented on the pandemic’s upsides. “My usual 40-minute drive is now 18 minutes,” he reported from Southern California. “My classes are all online and recorded so I can address questions there, and there are no excused absences. And it’s the longest I’ve gone without wearing a tie since 1964—when I was refused admittance to breakfast until I learned to tie it right.”

Seven hours down I-25, in Albuquerque, Edwin Beatty reported that he signed up to help with the 2020 census “since New Mexico was way undercounted in 2010.

I’m swimming (outside only!) almost every day, a delightful way to begin the day. I swim within sight of the Sandia Mountains, under a very reliably clear blue, generally cloudless sky. Bike and hike some and meet friends for picnics at a safe distance in the parks. Doing a lot of reading: Hillary Mantel, Bringing up the Bodies; David McCullough, The Pioneers; James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain and more. Made some home improvements: refinished the deck, new carpeting/flooring and a great 1920’s Kazakh—a very lucky find.

Also having a great time with the patio, adding plants, renewing pots, and, most major undertaking, a second water feature, pebbles at deck level with hidden catch basin below and center rock with water bubbling up through the middle… looks great and sounds even better.”

“It is pretty hard to report much of interest,” Dan Morgan wrote in mid-August. “I made the coffee this morning at 7:55 instead of 7:45 (sleeping in) and had scrambled eggs instead of fried eggs. Beyond that, my daughter Mayo ’97 and her children, Annie and Abbie, and

Paul Hemmerich has been “sheltering at our hillside ski retreat just over the ridge from Calvin Coolidge’s birth and final resting place in Plymouth, Vermont. With daughter #2’s family, we have seven people under our roof. Daughter #1’s family is 200 yards up the

44

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

hill. Daughter #3 just moved back here from Colorado. So life is like a Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving dinner every Sunday, and like the Simpsons every other day. We are in charge of supervising the kids while they Zoom-learn, read, and do projects during the morning. Yes, it’s mostly Bart (a former educator). Then we get out of the way while they and the neighbor’s kids take over the place in the afternoon. I have read every book on my list, finished every crossword puzzle, and done every home project I can think of.

I have never been that efficient. And I just saw the perfect Vermont road sign: “Masks, They’re Not Just for Winter Anymore.”

“On the bright side of the pandemic,” Ray Huard said, “I have had the opportunity to spend more time with my sons and grandchildren. They’re helping me cross off some items on the bucket list like learning to juggle and making the perfect throw of a boomerang. I’ve successfully resisted their attempts to add dancing the floss to the list.”

During the summer, Win Burt was thinking back to a day in Speech class: “Art Sager demonstrated what he called a ‘speech of introduction.’ His example was Benjamin Franklin, and he quoted Franklin’s legendary response to a woman in the crowd who asked what kind of government the founders had established: ‘A republic, madam...if you can keep it.’ I think of that because I hear it repeated often these days.”

“Our retirement has been put on hold,” said Rich Brayton. “We don’t even have the joy of seeing our grandchildren (of which we have two now) enter this crazy world.

Nevertheless, we are blessed in so many ways compared to so many others.”

Our other soccer co-captain, Harper Follansbee, quoted from Bob Dylan’s song “Everything Is Broken”: “Ain’t no use jivin’, Ain’t no use jokin’, Everything is broken.”

CLASS OF 1968 Ted Nahil tednahil@gmail.com It’s certainly a different world from the one we had at the beginning of 2020. One of the best things about our class is the fact that we have maintained some very close relationships over the years. As we moved from normal to not-so-normal in midFebruary into mid-March, there were some spirited discussions between a good number of us. One of the benefits of this was that we heard from a lot of folks who normally don’t participate, and that’s a good thing! Among those trading thoughts were Paul Gares, Dan Look, Roger Smith, Winsor White, Hale Smith, Ross Raymond, Jay Shay, Jon Williams, Kevin Huban, Ben Brewster, Dave Mitchell, Elliott O’Reilly, Charles Johnson, and Art Veasey. CF Spang and Chris Page brought us back to normal by spending a day at Attitash skiing.

The birthday celebrations tend to bring us together as well. Josh Burns hit the 7–0 mark in mid-March. Congratulations poured in from Marc Tucker, Dan, Elliott, Winsor, Peter Barkin, Jay Worthen, Harry Kangis, Ross, Steve Robinson, Wayne Barbaro, Paul, Jon, Mitch and Veas, who dug up a photo of him and Josh. Grande thought he looked less serious back then and Josh replied “That’s definitely not me. I was never that serious. LOL And if I ever was, it wasn’t at GDA—not by a long shot. Maybe the sun was in my eyes (or maybe I was thinking about our 1–16 season—that might explain it?). “ Bubba made a comment about being ‘tickled pink’ that Josh was joining the 70 club, and this lead Grande to say, “The image of Bubba ‘tickled pink’ is going to haunt me until I start having my rum and tonics! Oh wait, I already am drinking! I feel better already.” Grande brought us back to the new reality: “It is fun to be burning time on these emails as we are social distanced from each other.” Mitch asked how it felt to turn 70 and Josh shut it all down magnificently: “You ask, ‘How does it feel?’ Not sure whether you’re asking about old age, the Coronavirus, a Bob Dylan song or my sex drive? My response is ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘yes,’ and ‘who can remember?’ In that order.

Is that clear? Happy to be 70 (at that age, you take what you get and you’re thankful for it).

The one thing I don’t understand is how you suddenly became younger than me? Hell, I thought you were in your 30’s while at GDA?’” Billy Degen had his day the very next day, so another round of birthday wishes flooded the internet machine. Tuck’s comment summed it up pretty nicely: “Billy D. Happy birthday from me, the class of ’68 (yes, I’m taking a little liberty), and the ’69 New York Mets!!

We all remember your dedication and kindness to all of us, and we could never have achieved what we did back in the day without your unwavering support and encouragement. So, on this your birthday, we salute you, our dear friend.” Dan included a photo of Elliott, Rob and Billy from our 50th— see below! Elliott said he’s convinced that he’s “…not getting older. I just morphed from juvenile to senile delinquent!”

Winsor had a bike injury in the middle of February, and by Billy’s birthday, he reported that “The ribs are much better. Still some aches when I wake up and get out of bed, but I’ve started bike riding again. Not bad for an old coot.” And, in the only COVID-related picture (I promise), Winsor also included the photo of the “Geezer Line” at his local King Soopers grocery store, with this comment: “Today King Soopers started letting 60+ folks in the grocery store at 7:00am, an hour before the general public get in at 8:00am. I got there and in line at about 6:40AM. Grey hair as far as the eye could see. A wellbehaved mob. Fortunately, our local mega sized liquor store takes orders online and delivers.” Redd Dogg showed us his reality from Kodiak, sending along a photo with this comment: “Trumpeters line up at Lake Rose Tead this morning for groceries, resting, and comparing notes, Kodiak.” Elliott sent a photo of some nice-looking lobster rolls he made using some of his sister’s Christmas gift, and remarked, “Out here in the Midwest we avoid the geezer line by using corncobs in the outhouse and eating Mississippi River lobsters! Soon we will have dandelions, purslane and polk for salads. Eating good in the neighborhood! Wishing health for all!”

LEFT: Members of the Class of 1968 on monthly Zoom calls; MIDDLE: Anna and Don Hayes ’68 in Egypt; RIGHT: ’68ers: Elliott O’Reilly, Rob Lord, and Billy Degan at their 50th reunion in 2018

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

45

Veas challenged us all in late March to think of a memory “…until this COVID-19 thing is done.” His was, “On November 9, 1965 I was in the shower at Farmhouse when the great blackout struck around 5:30 p.m. I remember calling out “OK wise guys turn the lights back on!” I thought for sure it was Shay with another prank.” This triggered all of these other memories. Jon Williams: “A basket full of water through my side window in Ingham.

(I had the end room!) It must have been 1AM. The Raw Marauder?” Grande (with a picture from school mixer: “Or Shay just looking for something to chew on…” Elliott: “One of my favorite moments was a bunch of us pushing Tom Bond’s Corvair up the hill behind Ingham, taking a picture of Ogden’s young son standing behind it looking like he was pushing it up the hill and taping the picture on Bond’s door!” Chris Page: “Torching rooms in Perkins and stuffing rooms with wadded up newspapers in Ingham. Too much free time on our hands!” Rob Lord (edited for television, as the expression goes): “This memory might be X-rated for some eyes, be forewarned. Sophomore year in Commons second floor, Winsor was reading Marquis De Sade. One dull Saturday, Winsor conducted a …design contest. First, he had to describe what [the toy] was to me and perhaps other sheltered 15 year year-olds. Winsor’s design included an…attachment. Steve Parker’s design, as you’d expect, involved a piece of sports equipment.” Winsor replied: “Rob, I had forgot that, but I did have a taste for the Classics. If memory serves, Terry Southern’s… classic “Candy” was also making the rounds.

That triggered another memory. Not sure which year it was, but the first ever “computer dating” service was launched out of Boston.

For a fee they sent you a questionnaire that you filled out and returned and then they sent you a list of good matches. Several of us tried it. I can’t remember if any of it resulted in an actual contact with a girl, but I do remember that some of us got the same names and matches, despite being very different guys.” Grande’s comment in this: “70-year old minds and memories of 16 year-olds’ thoughts, fantasies and delusions.

Dangerous turf. Renting out the couch in The Governor’s office during mixers. Should have taped.” Veas remembered the dating service: “Yikes Winsor I suddenly but absolutely remember that computer dating service—I filled out the questionnaire—lying about myself like crazy and receive zero matches!”

46

THE ARCHON

|

And Grande noted: “Ahhhh...Veas…but I bet the lies were magnificent and erudite.”

All this nostalgia led Veas to initiate a Zoom call at the end of March. As an afterthought, he included yours truly and Grande saying, “I have added our class scribe (and my Farmhouse roomie) Ted to the group and also Grande for fear that he would haunt me forever if he were left out.” Dan commented: “Thank you for the afterthought invite. I am most graced. Be assured, I will haunt you anyway. It is just sport.” It was a great call, the first of three, and thanks go to Veas for taking the initiative! It included Veas, Chris, Tuck, Jim Rudolph, Jay, CF, Grande, and Rob. More birthdays followed. Ted Brooks was next. Again, Veas strikes with a pic of Ted and Rick Kaye-Schiess from our 50th! Chuck Johnson wrote: “What a coincidence! While staying home, I’ve been purging old files and came across the attached email. So think of it as a birthday memory.” The text to which he referred was written by CF in 2003 after our reunion! “I can remember the music (The Rascals and The Lovin’ Spoonful) emanating from John Wannop’s room during junior year at Perkins. In the interests of perpetual nostalgia would you e-mail any songs of the 60’s that fixate to time and place at GDA. Example (Take the Last Train to Clarksville by the Monkees). Make it relevant and top 40 in character as opposed to heavy albums of the college era. Great reunion very meaningful congrats to organizers.” Additional memories came from Elliott — “Oh, and to reminisce about Ted request 17 years ago, as Nervo, I was listening to the Stones—19th Nervous Breakdown! Not unfitting for current times either.” And Rob Stewart jumped in as well

(great to hear from you!), along with Winsor, Grande, Mitch, Peter, Charles, Bubba, Billy D, Jim, and Rob Lord. This prompted Rob to go digging for old photos and he came up with three doozies! They are from our 5th reunion, black and white, and will bring back some really good memories!

Two more Zoom calls followed, one in April, one in May. The April call was on the 20th and prompted some obvious but nevertheless funny comments. Elliott: “Zooming on 4/20 does sound about right!” Tuck commented to Elliott, “And let’s hope we don’t see you in The Whirl,” and then, after multiple “What is the Whirl?” questions, had to clarify that, “It’s a St. Louis crime tabloid known for lurid and sensational reporting. The email was mostly aimed to get a rise from Elliott. I thought he’d be surprised to know anyone in this neck of the woods would know about it.”

Elliott clarified that “It’s actually the St. Louis Evening Whirl. Luckily I was never in it as my only offense was a misdemeanor bust for one bud of pot in 1978 for which I received six month suspended imposition of sentence and subsequent expungement.” He finished by relating how that one issue caught up with him 30 years later when he applied for a permit. He called it “Sort of my own version of Alice’s Restaurant. Just no 8x10” color photographs.” OK, then! Bubba made a harsh but accurate analysis of the photo: “Missed

LEFT: Winsor White ’68 in the “Geezer Line”; RIGHT TOP: CF Spang ’68 and Chris Page ’68 at Attitash; RIGHT BOTTOM: Elliott O’Reilly ’68 made some Lobsta Rolls

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

you guys. But some of you looked soooooo serious. Must have been early in the program.

Jim, great beard going on, and looks like Jay is trying to get something off the bottom of that glass? It’s so funny how your personalities come thru this photo…sly Arthur, serious Ted, dreaming of the sea Dan, etc. Looks like CF thinks he is on the wrong call. I’d better be careful about Ross, he seems way too mellow. You all look great…” Ross replied: “What can I say? Despite our current surreal circumstances I can confirm that life in North Carolina is agreeing with me.”

every day. I can only count my blessings that after working for 11 years in the same hospital I retired. God bless all of America’s nurses and other healthcare workers at this time. I was in New Zealand and Australia visiting relatives when the COVID-19 started. I was swabbed for the Coronavirus by the TSA in Auckland airport New Zealand before I was allowed to return to the USA. Stay well and safe Ted including your family and wishing you health, happiness and prosperity in the future. Wish all 68ers a healthy year ahead. From the Limey, proud to be GDA class of 1968.”

Tuck also wrote quite the piece on Earth Day as it approached; Veas sent some photos of him and his Rotary Club volunteers doing some clean-up in the Haverhill area; and Elliott sent around some photos of his welllandscaped yard, prompting Steve Robinson to say that he was jealous of it! My birthday came next and, despite the COVID-19 mess, it was pleasant enough. Many well-wishes from a lot of you guys, including Simon McCulloch, too! Much appreciated as always.

And my daughter and wife arranged a Zoom call with people I haven’t seen in years, so it was a gentle glide into the I’m now 70 club!

Simon’s message was touching and I wanted to include it: “Happy Birthday Ted from your fellow Florida resident just to the south of you in Boca Raton. I wish to mention to you and other 68ers that my wife and daughter are in the thick of the fight against COVID-19 at our local hospital, West Boca Medical Center, where my wife is the employee health nurse. She is currently involved in the care of approximately 25 employees diagnosed with the Coronavirus and many more are at risk

The May GDA Zoom call included our first look at Red Dogg in a long time! Following the call, he sent along a shot of an article in the Kodiak Daily Mirror, saying that he had been selected to participate in a national artist exhibition, the Northwest Watercolor Society’s Annual Membership Exhibition.

And CF sent an article from the Gundalow Company’s (Portsmouth, NH) newsletter on Rick Kaye-Schiess and the work he does for the corporation. I’m sure you can find it on their website, gundalow.org. He wrote back to say, “Aw shucks to the article. Hardly work... and no work for now. Hope to be back on board in July.”

LEFT: Jay Shay ’68 and Paweena; RIGHT TOP: Swans in Kodiak, AK by Dan Ogg ’68; RIGHT BOTTOM: Elliott O’Reilly’s ’68 litter of Papillons

Despite the pandemic and its disruptive effect on our lives, some normalcy prevailed.

Jon Williams sent in this update: “Having migrated from laconic Boulder County to Denver, to be near our grandchildren, the onset of the coronavirus was most distressing! After months of waving at the kids through the window, we’ve thrown caution to the wind and have finally had a couple sleep overs and walks in the park. I was in the process of trying some different demo skis and boots when the governor called off the season. In fact, my industry group was holding our annual Ski Bus and Barbeque at the “Beach” at Arapahoe Basin the day they called it all off. (I guess we are lucky no one died!) I am looking forward to next season with my newly acquired “Senior” ski pass. What a deal! Mary and I were booked to Naples, this spring, and again to Syracuse for our nephew’s graduation.

We now have a bunch of United credit we may never get to use. Anyway, I hope we can get back to travel and communing with friends and family soon. We are a short detour off the road from DIA to Denver for any sojourning Govies. Stop on by!” Charles Johnson sent in this update: “I’ll pitch in although there very little to share. We’ve not gone to the Waynesville unit very much but I did complete a couple of successful trout trips to the Cherokee reservation with a fair amount of success. We caught mostly rainbow plus a couple of brown and brook trout. Laura had to stay home in order to help her parents, ages 91 and 85, for doctor’s office visits and general help. We’ve had to limit our exposure to the outside world, so as not to risk exposing them to Coronavirus. Spencer continues his courses at Ivy Tech towards an Associates degree and then on to IU to work towards his Bachelor’s and then, depending on the economy, either a job or starting on a Master’s. His planned area of focus is the medical field. My plan is to continue getting older and embarrassing my grandchildren.

My oldest grandson has volunteered for the Army and has been accepted for armor training, like his grandfather. That’s about all the news that’s fit to print. Good luck, health and fun living to my Class of 68 brothers.”

Elliott sent the wonderful photo of his Papillons and this update: “I’m just sitting inside to avoid COVID-19 and the St. Louis heat while babysitting our five kids. Just before the lockdown my wife took our female Papillon outside Pittsburgh to breed her. Our pups are now about 12 weeks old and moping

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

47

around today after a round of shots this morning. Their grandfather was a Papillon breed winner at Westminster! Now I can yell at my wife “who let the dogs out?” I hope you and the rest of our classmates are doing well!”

It was wonderful to hear from John Sowles, too! He wrote: “I’ve been both a lurker and a shirker. Sorry everyone. I do look forward to learning about all our classmates, yet…I don’t contribute. Deadbeat. So, what’s with me? I think the Class Memory Book Harry K. and others put together describes things pretty well. I continue with my international work, though this spring it all shut down because of COVID. So now I’m Skyping at 3 or 4 AM because of time zones and the day begins. And past colleagues keep calling me to do special jobs for them so I have several contracts. I pick only the interesting ones, won’t work with whiners, and pretty much dictate my schedule. I do see a few of you guys. Rob Lord leads highly irregular meetings with some of our childhood friends.

We discuss silly, no, stupid, stuff, like why, when the temperature here drops to minus 20, don’t we see little bird toes lying around under trees? Surely, they snap off when they are frozen stiff like that. But we have a good time. Rick Kaye-Schiess supplies me with my reads. The current one, Dogstars, is about a guy in a survivalist situation where he gets to fly his old plane on free gasoline left behind after most everyone died in a pandemic. Written 2013. Hoping maybe we might see CF on the water this summer.

Once this isolation thing is over, we’ll make it happen. Sylvia and I have no grandkids yet. Daughter married, living in Montana following my career as aquatic scientist and son living in a 17’ travel trailer with his fiancé and cat in the Upper Peninsula as chief pilot for Isle Royale Seaplanes. I actually find this COVID isolation great for solitary endeavors and I’m taking advantage by improving my Kiswahili, puttering with a bunch of old cars and airplanes, lots of reading, hiking, outdoor landscape and construction and on and on.

At any rate, that’s it for me. I look forward to reading about the rest of you. Thanks, Ted, for your dedication and work to keep us together.” Thanks for the wonderful update, John. Deadbeat no more!

Jay Shay says he’s still “…Living in Thailand for the foreseeable future. Pretty safe here re: Coronavirus and I’m in a high-risk category.

Life is good playing golf and chillin’. Hope all

48

THE ARCHON

|

well with you.” And Dave Mitchell sent in this great update: “Hard to believe it’s that time again. And so much has happened!

This ‘unusualness,’ as I call it, is causing us all some pain and inconvenience. Our second grandchild, age 25, got COVID-19 from his girlfriend, who got it from a doctor she works for in WDC. They quarantined for two weeks and, fortunately, were essentially asymptomatic and are fine now. At Columbus State we are working to figure out a ‘safe’ way to have the students back this fall.

Interestingly, applications are up significantly (over 2.5%). We think it’s due to the lack of jobs. People frequently go back to school when unemployed. The GA university system and the Governor, Jack Kemp, finally agreed that we could require masks on campus for everyone, though he is in a battle with mayors around the state about requiring masks. He believes that everyone will ‘do

the right thing’ on their own. That’s a little like believing that Washington’s executive and legislative branches will lead us out of the pandemic. As of this writing, nice job so far. Our kids threw me a surprise 70th party during the July 4 weekend. They all showed up at our house for three days (only four were expected, the rest crashed). While early regarding my actual birthday, it was the only time they could all assemble in Columbus, GA. Had all three kids, wives/husbands, and five of the six grandchildren (one had to work) plus girl and boy friends. It was wonderful having everyone together, which happens all too infrequently these days. The weather cooperated nicely, which was good of it. The pool was just the right temp, so everyone was in it most of the time. Three 30-packs of Bud Light, a few cases of wine, a fair amount of tequila and vodka, and some fabulous scotch

LEFT: Throwback pictures of Class of 1968 5th Reunion in 1973; RIGHT TOP: Jay Worthen ’68 retired at the helm of Forever Young; RIGHT BOTTOM: Art Veasey ’68 sporting his new “The Grandfather” shirt

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

were liquidated that weekend. They tell me I had a good time! A college buddy who lives in Atlanta and knows Grande well, sent me a photo of a T-shirt he received for his 70th, which applies to most of us this year or last.

It read: I survived the ’60s—TWICE! Best to all and I hope any brushes with the virus are minor as ours was.” Sounds like the birthday party was a resounding success!

Veas became a grandfather for the first time on July 27! He wrote: “I became a first-time grandfather when Virginia Veasey Murphy arrived in our world on July 27—a welcome joy to our lives in this crazy and turbulent year.

Moreover, not even a week later I received a UPS package addressed to Arthur “Red Dog” Veasey, the contents of which are displayed in the attached photo. Although there was no return address it didn’t take my keen 68er mind very long to focus my suspicions on a certain Newburyport alum who also recently welcomed—I think a third grandchild—to his world and who offered me much moral support along the way to grandparenthood.

Thanks Tuck.” Congratulations to him, Susan, and of course, the proud parents, Helen and Owen Murphy! Pablo did a birthday as well in July. The usual suspects jumped in to wish him well, and were joined by Harold Levine, too! Paul replied, “You guys are the best… thank you so much for all your good wishes…

Can’t believe we are all hitting 70 this year… some earlier than others. You don’t know how much I remember back to all the good old days in Byfield… And all of you have been involved in one way or another… Looking forward to our 55th…. Love you guys…. Beers and wines will be consumed in your honor!”

Elliott’s birthday followed with more wellwishes all around. Winsor pointed out that a benefit of turning 70 is the yearly ski pass cost at A-Basin in Colorado. Chris Page added, “A-Basin is awesome, especially at that price!”

Ross Raymond sent in this update: “Happily settled into my new apartment in Durham, NC since returning from MA in February. I mention the apartment because it is actually brand new with twice the space for half the cost compared to MA. Have only been able to see my boys face-to-face three times since arriving because of COVID. They aren’t far away, but very realistic and cautious about the virus and protective of their ‘old man.’ So that’s been a little disappointing considering how excited I was to reconnect with them and yes it’s getting tiresome living and eating every meal alone. However, my job continues to be enjoyable and challenging. My current FDA submission project is huge and critical to the company and will keep me focused at least 10 hours a day through November.

For balance I have my daily eight mile bike route, guitar practice, and programming a 1984 TRS M100 computer I found on eBay. Also, occasional trips to the pool and Zoom meetings with family and friends and of course Netflix and HBO with Google Fiber...

Hope everyone stays healthy and safe in these surreal circumstances.” More birthdays happened (this is a never-ending thing…) with Charles Johnson up next. Rob said, “Happy birthday to my man-down defense partner on Heb’s 1968 lacrosse team!” Jay Worthen reminded me, “You know—this is going to happen, on average, every 5.3 days, right?”

Don Hayes checked in with an update, too: “Instead of sending you stories of our quarantine and pictures of our living room, I offer you a report of our trip to Egypt in March. Of course, we scheduled the tour ahead of time but, as we arrived in Cairo, found that the majority of our fellow tourists

LEFT: Throwback picture of Art Veasey ’68 and Josh Burns ’68; RIGHT: Ted Brooks ’68 and Rick Kaye-Scheiss ’68 at their 50th Reunion in 2008

had cancelled, and we were in a small group with a heavily modified itinerary: no cruise boats but bus travel through the villages in the country side, and local visits to village markets as we go. Nevertheless, the tour went well, with very few other tourists at the hot spots. As a matter of fact, business was so light that a couple of hotels closed their doors as we left. Similarly, when we flew out of Cairo at 10:00 a.m., they closed the whole airport at noon. Passing through NYC airport was similarly barren. So, I offer an attached picture for proof—Abu Simbel. I decided to save you from the trauma of choosing from the hundreds of other photos I’m still sorting. On a separate issue, I came upon a couple of CDs from a classmate containing a selection of 60’s and 70’s hits, distributed soon after our graduation. Do you know who made them? Thanks, if so! And thank you for your continued involvement and leadership as class documentarian. You do good.” Aw shucks, thanks, Don! If anyone knows who did the CDs he mentions, please let him know.

All the songs have a file date of December 31, 1994. Jim Rudolph sent in the photo of Jay at the helm of Jim’s Forever Young, and this update: “I made our last tuition payment earlier this year, after a total of 56 years of private school education. Our daughter Katie ’12 graduated last May from the Physician’s Assistant program at the University of New England and is now a PA in local orthopedic office. Our sons Billy and Bobby ’05 are both attorneys. Due to COVID, I have been working mostly from my law firm’s Marblehead office, which has allowed me to sail more and play a lot of golf this summer.”

Dan Look sent this update: “Well I am not really sure where to begin. I am probably at the same point where the rest of our class is given the events of this year. It is the classic Groundhog Day. Not much to report as not much has happened. We had one of our sons from New York with us for 10 weeks. David came down from Queens the end of March and worked remotely from our house. Having that time with one of our boys is probably one of the highlights and surprise benefits of this entire year. The impact on the field of senior living with which I have engaged for the past 45 years has been profound and will be evolving. We are I feel by no means ‘out of the woods.’ I have moved my Marshall Catboat to Branford, Connecticut. We have joined the Branford Yacht Club where Windshadow

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

49

is docked. We are planning on being in New England for most of the summers. I am looking forward to re-exploring parts of the coast that I have not seen in 55 years. I hope that this finds all our classmates and their families safe, healthy and well.

Finally, in light of all that’s gone on since the beginning of the year, I’d like to thank everyone for staying in touch and sharing updates. As for yours truly, we’re doing well. By the time you read this we will have downsized and moved to a smaller home in Port Saint Lucie. We’re looking forward to that next step which will allow us a little more freedom to travel with little notice, once all this COVID-19 mess is gone. Like many of you, I’m guessing, we’ve bingewatched our share of shows, played a lot of games, done a lot of family-related Zoom calls, and, admittedly, gained a few pounds in the process. But thankfully, we’ve been untouched directly by all this, just inconvenienced, so we really can’t complain.

Please, stay in touch. Just a quick note to me with an update or flash of news helps keep all of us up to date. Take care, stay safe, have a great fall and a wonderful holiday season!

CLASS OF 1969

gathering at the Connecticut shore for the first time in eons. We will miss their stopover here in Ohio. His growing family (first grandchild!) is doing well.

Jim Bayley sends his regrets for missing last year’s Reunion. He had been deployed to Afghanistan on short notice. Thank you, Jim, for your service. We missed you!

Art Schultz has gotten out on the golf course and is looking for that magic again. He has also pledged to get into better physical shape at the same time. Good for you! Hit ‘em straight, Art! I had a nice chat with Peter Borneman. He is happily ensconced in California these days.

Ned Lattime writes that he checked in on the virtual Town Hall presentation hosted

by Head of School, Peter Quimby ’85, and others. “Very impressed,” says Ned. He continues his work at Rutgers University where his research emphasis has shifted toward COVID. Thanks for your work, Ned. Wil Durham comments that the wide open spaces of Wyoming have mitigated the effects of COVID. He and his family are staying safe.

Bob Amsler continues to help search for “lost” classmates as he continues his community work.

Billy Clyde coachbclyde@gmail.com Thanks to all of you who wrote in to share observations of our current national and global situation. How fortunate we were to celebrate our 50th Reunion when we did.

And, how sad for those who had their plans scuttled so unceremoniously. Hopefully, you and yours are safe and sound. From what I hear, many of you have reconnected with old friends, discovered new hobbies and/or maxed out your Netflix subscription. Others continue to work safely. Will these really be the good old days?!

I received a very nice Easter greeting from Bill Strider. Bill sends best wishes from California.

Ralf O’Leary sends his regards and hopes all are safe and sound.

Brian Pfeiffer welcomes the fact that he is currently residing in Maine...far away from the rancor and the unsettling current events.

Like many of us, he looks forward to a more peaceful time.

Tim Tenney notes the difficulty in keeping staff safe during COVID times. He is justly proud that he has been able to avoid any layoffs in an area of the country with high risk.

Josh Miner remarks that he is taken by the generosity of others during these trying times. The challenge has brought out so much good in his community. It is heartening to see that. I am guessing that Josh is heavily involved in relief efforts.

Nat Follansbee offers that classes at Loomis Chaffee are completely on-line. The shift has worked as well as can be expected. Nat is quick to recognize the work that teachers and staff are doing to make this happen. He also emphasizes that there is no substitute for person-to-person interaction. Well said.

Jeff Gordon writes that his family has added a new Springer puppy, the fifth in a long line that stretches back to “Tinker.” Many of you will remember Tinker quietly nestled in the corner of Heb Evan’s math class. Nice story.

Time with his grandchildren is precious.

Peter Dorsey has always been the person I could count on for clarity and counsel. Even Peter admits that our current climate has him

I received word from Swift Barnes that his grandchildren challenged him to learn to snow ski. Not to worry. It is all downhill, Swift!

Jon Williams continues to stay active on the slopes as well and is involved with the art community in Colorado.

Jack Connelly writes that he and his extended family are missing their annual

50

THE ARCHON

|

LEFT: Rick French ’69 and his P-51 Mustang; RIGHT: Wil Durham ’69 at the 2019 British Open in

Northern Ireland

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

dazed and confused! How can one look for balance when there are so many new norms?

You are not alone, my friend. His good news is that daughter Eliza ’14 is working remotely while living at home. She is a great cook! Son George ’08 FaceTimes from Singapore often.

Peter wishes everyone well.

As for me, Billy, I lament lost time with friends, not seeing grandchildren frequently enough, and postponing that “trip of a lifetime.” The silver lining comes from seeing the many ways that folks are stepping up to ease the burden of others. Many creative ideas have come from this. We are well here in Wooster, Ohio while remembering to bring our masks with us. (Note: Make sure to check out the photo of Billy and his nephew, Ian Clyde ’98, with the Class of 1998 notes!)

CLASS OF 1970 Terry Nolan nolan_t_e@hotmail.com Hello Classmates, This Archon article has been a difficult piece to put together. While planning for our 50th reunion, so much has happened in the first half of 2020. January started with a crisis in the Persian Gulf between Iran and the USA which ultimately wound up with the downing of a commercial Aircraft by Iranian military forces.

Impeachment trial of the President. Kobe Bryant killed in helicopter crash. Many voting issues from the Democratic caucus in Iowa to various state primaries. The cruise ship Diamond Princess is quarantined in Japan due to the Coronavirus, signaling the beginning of the shutdown of the cruise lines and ultimately the shutdown of major economies worldwide as the pandemic worsens. February 29th marks the first death in the US due to the Coronavirus. Primary politics heats up. March convenes with politics and Coronavirus, stock market drops on Black Monday and then again on Black Friday, losing 9.5% in one day, and again on March 16th the Dow Jones falls by −2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second largest percentage drop ever at −12.93%, an even greater crash than the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Followed by New York shutting down, high unemployment rates and a two trillion dollar bail out. And it’s not even April yet. April and May continues with pandemic, tornadoes, earthquakes, and

politics, culminating in the death of George Floyd and consequent civil unrest across the globe. Not much different in June and July as the pace of social unrest, pandemic surprises and voting mishaps continue. Whew, and the midst of all of this, we rescheduled our 50th reunion to June 2021 (hopefully). In lieu of a gathering of old geezers in June, we were able to hold a couple of successful Zoom sessions, with 30 or so classmates attending. We heard a lot of good news and some sobering news during the course of the Zoom meetings, updating each other on the whatfors and whynows of the past 50 years. Age has creeped up on us with reports of shoulder repairs, hip replacements, diagnosis of Parkinson’s and other afflictions. Good news of weddings, grandkids and lifetime awards also abound.

The Zoom conferences were incredible. Online conversations with about 30 of us at a time.

They say “curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.” In this case, a pandemic may have killed the reunion, but the technology of Zoom brought curiosity and some satisfaction back. Attending (I may have missed a few) Jeb Bradley, Barkley Simpson, Chris Morse, John Neuman, Peter Blakney, Mac Smith, Frederick Brace, Jeff Brown, Randy Whitney, Mike Franchot, Nat Williams, Michael O’Leary, Bob Jaffe, Stilman Davis, Thomas Turner, Morocoo Flowers, Jeff Brown, Christopher Wyle, Tom Price, Jonathan Imber, Guy Swenson, Richard Welch, Henry Eaton, Bill Murray, Terry Nolan, and William Tobey.

The sessions were hosted by the Governor’s very own Tom Trafton. Let’s do it again.

Received the following updates from classmates:

Henry Eaton writes: I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Lou des Cognets, my roommate during our freshman year in Moody House. We shared the third floor “Throne Room,” private bathroom and all.

Dan Morgan and Lew Rumford, our Class of ’67 dorm proctors, would attest to the fact that we were low maintenance, good tenants who abided by all the unwritten rules. Lou was a quiet, compassionate and very intelligent fellow, with an infectious smile and a great sense of humor. We had lost touch with each other over the intervening years. But the sadness of loss is tempered by the knowledge that Lou had led a happy and productive life; that he had the love and respect of his family and many friends.

The news came at a time when we, as a class, would have been gathered at Byfield in celebration of our 50th Reunion. We could not do that, but we will do so in 2021.

Our great friend and classmate Louis des Cognets IV will most certainly be there with us in spirit. Rest In Peace my friend. In early March, I had the pleasure of a pre-COVID visit with Bob Wilkie and wife Tonya, son and daughter-in-law of our iconic Head of School Emeritus, the late Val Wilkie. Bob and Tonya have a home in Pelican Bay, Naples, Florida.

My wife Cathy and I have a place nearby and were pleasantly surprised to encounter the Wilkies down on the beach. We had a lot of fun together! As fate would have it, Bob’s lovely daughter Heather has been married for many years now to my nephew Darren Huff. They have three beautiful children.

Val Wilkie always felt like family to me.

Now the Wilkies really are family. I am very happy about that. I look forward to seeing as many of my Classmates as can make it to our delayed 50th in June 2021.

Richard Welch has retired from the bench.

He had served as an Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court for 23 years. He still teaches law at New England Law | Boston.

His novel What Carries You was recently published and is available on Amazon.

Bob Wilkie and Henry Eaton ’70, P’03,’08, Trustee Emeritus

Thomas Turner posted in an email after our April Zoom, “Just after I got off the conference call Monday, tried again to get a hold of John Newman. I was successful and John and I caught up for about 30 minutes. Having included a picture of Adam Levin, you may have figured out that he has passed away.

John and he were pretty tight and John had

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

51

his final conversation with Adam Tuesday March 31st. It wasn’t virus related, I don’t think, generally very poor health (I have no details). Adam did tell John that this would be the last phone call between them. John informed the school and I gave Terry a heads up. John and I wholeheartedly agreed that Adam was a Gentle Man to those around him.

Please take care and give your loved ones an extra air kiss on Zoom!

Ron Latham also emailed and posted the news in regards to Louis Des Cognets passing.

Chris Morse Terry, just saw thus email...too late of course…Not that there is much news.

Oddly my life has not changed all that much.

Although, dating has surely changed! Courier work is deemed essential services and I am on the road—a lot; quarantined in my van while doing medical and other stat deliveries; wearing an N95 and hand sanitizing like my life depends on it. As far as art…not as many gallery shows…almost all online exhibits.

I have managed to sell two properties: my vacation home near Sugarloaf and a two-unit in Auburn, ME. One more property to sell to leave me with just my home in Cumberland Center. Ironically, the plan was to trim real estate responsibilities and courier work down to a minimum; enabling me to travel in order to explore, photograph, fly fish and visit friends…but that seems to be a bit iffy with the C-bug around. At least photographing and fly fishing are still pretty safe activities.

Hope you are well and staying safe.

Guy Swenson wrote: Since I’m mostly retired and what part-time work I do is from home, I have not been overly impacted by COVID-19.

Unfortunately, my wife and I have not been able to continue our love of traveling both overseas and in the US. This year we had to postpone (till whenever) trips to the British Isles, Canada, California, and Massachusetts (the last two to visit my children). Otherwise for us life in upstate New York is functioning fairly well. We have local nature areas for hikes and lots of lakes and rivers for kayaking.

I am still doing a little part-time work as a consulting environmental hydro-geologist, on a few boards of local organizations, and enjoying life. Hope to be able to attend an inperson reunion in 2021.

Terry Nolan writes: As for myself, Ruby and I are very empty nesters with our sons serving

52

THE ARCHON

|

overseas with their families (our grandkids numbering six and soon 7) in Bahrain and South Korea. We were planning a busy spring and summer of traveling. We made it to February where we were celebrating our 45th anniversary on our cruise to Hawaii and all heck broke loose with the pandemic and the Princess line of cruise ships. Fortunately our cruise ended successfully on March 12th but was frighteningly close to being quarantined.

Made it home only to self-quarantine for the flu (thought it was coronavirus but antigen turned out negative.) So not much traveling for us, except to Ingles and the Dollar Store.

Hoping for better days soon. Save June 2021 for a trip back to Byfield.

In Memorium to classmates that have passed from us: Howard Comis, Louis Des Cognets, Alonzo Gay, Peter Halsband, Adam Levin, Roger Porosky, Kimbal Staples, and James (Alles) Winslow.

CLASS OF 1971 James Fleming jamesfleming817@gmail.com From Stephen Salloway there is some very exciting news. He writes: “Hello Class of ’71. Diane and I have been working toward breakthroughs for Alzheimer’s disease in our memory and aging program at Brown for more than 25 years. This work may be of greater interest to our class as we approach our 50th reunion. I had some great recognition for our Alzheimer’s research last year receiving an endowed chair from Brown, being inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame and being named the Rhode Island Man of the Year. However, those accolades feel long ago and far away, seemingly engulfed by the pandemic.

Our program has managed to stay open throughout, thanks to the dedication of amazing study participants and staff. We actually have the first drug for Alzheimer’s, which removes plaques from the brain, under review by the FDA in 17 years. We are also helping to develop new blood tests and brain scans to detect Alzheimer’s changes years before dementia. Last month we launched a major lifestyle intervention study combining exercise, diet, brain training and heart health to prevent memory loss in people ages 69–79, at risk for Alzheimer’s. Diane and I have five children together and we are expecting

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

our fourth grandchild in the fall. We have been riding out the pandemic on the banks of the Providence River across from the Port of Providence and looking forward to better days ahead. I am still playing golf and enjoying it very much. Classmates stop by for a round. Please see https://www.brown. edu/carney/news/2020/01/02/sallowaynamed-rhode-island’s-man-year-2019 and http://www.riheritagehalloffame.com.” This is so great to see our classmate Stephen’s accomplishments and deserved recognition.

As you can see from photos taken at GDA, the future doctor Salloway was thinking and acting to make the world a better place 50 years ago and he’s still at it.

From Plymouth, MA Ellis Withington advises: “I have changed a couple of jobs. I did what many think is foolish, I bought a restaurant in June. Please come to the Rye Tavern in Plymouth and contribute to my madness. I still work at Patriot Properties (since 1985) and also am a director of the Henry Hornblower Fund, a director of Forges Farm Inc., an assessor for Fairhaven, part owner of a ferry company and manage some rental property. Fam is great. My daughter is a speech pathologist and my son will be a cadet at Norwich University. My wife of 28 years, Jen, works at a garden center and helps with the restaurant. I speak to Andrew Nelson periodically (not often enough).

James Fleming ’71 volunteering at the food bank

Looking forward to the reunion! As you can see, I haven’t changed a bit.

Tom Quinn reports: My significant other, Jennifer Wolfman, died unexpectedly last year. Jennifer and I had been together for 20 happy years during which time we shared many wonderful experiences including attending GDA’s 250th anniversary celebration in 2012. Among the many people who attended her memorial last summer was our neighbor (and leading light of the Mendocino Theater Company) Steve Worthen ’69 and his wife Printha.

I also keep in fairly regular touch with my homeboy from Maryland, Steve Dunn. I continue to work as a public defender in Northern California, but plan on retiring after I turn 70.

From Sarasota, Florida Richard Guenther reports: Not to focus on the virus, we too have had many friends affected and several deaths including my husband Ward’s mother in assisted living who was infected and after testing positive was isolated and then returned to her room when negative. Days

Stephen Salloway ’71, then and now

later, on her 101st birthday, she was found on the floor, with her ice cream, dead, and with a smile on her face. She had been ready for years! Positives of the pandemic include decent sourdough bread, 20 pounds weight loss, and robust walking, as the gym, which was important in my weight loss, does not seem safe at this time. Life is good, especially with friends.

CLASS OF 1972

Your class secretary James Fleming has been hunkering down during the pandemic.

But I still get out three days per week to the food pantry where I volunteer. The number of customers has tripled since the start of the pandemic. Speaking Spanish and Portuguese has come in very handy since 90 per cent of the customers are from Spanish America or Brazil. In the photo I am delivering a load of canned food, purchased with donations.

The pandemic has changed all of us and our world. At the end of March 2020, as the lockdowns were literally hitting home, we began a series of correspondence among ourselves, via email. For several months on a weekly basis, and then more sporadically, we exchanged thoughts on our own circumstance, surviving in place, and of family, and how to keep up spirits.

Humorous, whimsical, as well as practical and timely updates on our activities are exchanged, growing us closer together in the midst of crisis. Happy to relate, in the course of this we heard from long lost brethren: Joth Davis, Pete Follansbee, Cam “Tunk” Hosmer, Bruce Rindler, Rob Yaffe, Tim Straus, Tim Traver, and David Rogers joined in after long silence. As ever, our happy band of stalwarts came through: Jim Pierce, Geoff Durham, Bill Connolly, Kevin Kearney, Peter Conway, Paul Commito, Peter Franklin, Charles Bouchard, Peter Phippen, Jim Tikellis, Hal Curtis, Rich Hackel, Chris “Swede” Swenson, Brian Lenane, Andy Lappin, Bill Watts, Sarah Ewell Smith, Rob Martin, and Jim Irving.

We marveled at “the Lattice of Coincidence”.

So many connections and chance meetings, 40 plus years later. We are still, out of the blue, running into our classmates, from

George Freimarck gfreimarck@gmail.com “All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.”

Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats Dear fellow classmates,

Ellis Withington ’71, then and now

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

53

Chebeague Island, ME, to a niece’s graduation in Vermont; reconnecting at surprise birthday parties, long ago roommates and, uhh, those girls at Walnut Hill! We conjured the mighty-mighty Etaoin Shrdlu “sure fire essay formula” (although some of us inexplicably had no recall!); “Mac” Murphy’s AP English and the discipline of the sonnet: Buster Navins, his Latin class and Navins ”isms”; the first use of the school motto (still a mystery). Guy and the Greasers made yet another appearance, and promised more, as we tried to remember exactly how it was we became a coed class. In the present we compared notes on children, their partners and us all living under one roof; the raised garden and the garlic plant; the irony of legalized pot; Angela Davis; and discovered the hidden genius of Kevin Kearney’s droll keyboard interpretations. Our transnationals: Rob Martin in Bordeaux with grandkids in Hannover, Germany; Dave Rogers, in London and Paris, trying to keep an eye on his grandkids; Rob Yaffe, in Little Compton, RI, and separated by COVID-19 from wife in Munich; yours truly (GF) in Munich until mid-July. Close encounters: Bill Connolly reconnecting with Bob Jaffe ’70 (Rob Yaffe’s first cousin) and Bill’s mentor in the theater program, at a Westchester going away party, and then with Rich Hackel’s guitar playing buddy on the aforementioned isle in Maine; Bruce Rindler and Andy Lappin, (out of the blue!) at relatives’ graduation in Vermont.

Charles Bouchard and Tim Travers reconnecting via phone and discovering their

shared passions for raised gardens, the garlic plant and the kids back under the roof during the pandemic. Speaking of working the land, and the sea, stewardship, and the Lattice of Coincidence, we knew that J. Dicken Crane is in farm and tree management in the Berkshires, and learned anew that “Tunk” Hosmer is a winegrower and vintner in the Finger Lakes, Tim Travers with a career in wildlife and land management, Joth Davis a sustainable oyster and kelp farmer in the Seattle region, Peter Phippen was the MA State Hydrogeologist, also working on salt marsh resiliency and now involved in developing curriculum for the Academy’s new marine science program and building on the Parker River, and Rob Martin working on the design and implementation of an international fund to support programs in sanitation and hygiene in developing countries. Friends, as I’ve reviewed and tried to synthesize all our emails since late March, I confess to not being able to adequately capture all our topics or curious, fun, or profound moments, but I am energized by the diversity of our experiences. I encourage all of to think and plan for the 50th reunion in June 2022, and reach out to classmates to encourage them to come along too. As I write these lines in early August, Gratia and I are safely hunkered down in Marblehead, returned about a month now from Munich. I am getting back to the boat moored in Salem Harbor, rowing a single again on the Charles, and dealing with the challenge of the next phase. I leave you with items from my last

LEFT: George Freimarck ’72, and wife Gratia with daughters Olivia and Averyl at the beach; RIGHT: Paul Commito, Jim Irving, Peter Franklin fishing on the Delaware, August 2020

54

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

request for information. Kevin Kearney welcomed me home with traded verses of the Marblehead anthem, Marblehead Forever, which you can hear live at the aforementioned re-union. Our own Wyoming cowboy, Geoff Durham, sent a missive. Rich Hackel and his panoramic photography and new word for it, Chris Swenson with a suggestion for the outside world about our class, a photo of three amigos fishing on the Delaware River in early August: Paul Commito, Jim Irving, and Pete Franklin, and a reunion photo of the Freimarck family at Goldthwait Beach, Marblehead.

Geoff Durham: After four months of sheltering in place and all volunteer duties having been suspended indefinitely, I drove 3207 miles round trip to Charleston, UT for the annual family reunion. Stopped in Casper, WY (the old homestead) on the way out and on the way back to spend some extra time with my two brothers who live there. Brother Wil ’69 is now retired, too. Unfortunately, the California contingent of the family was unable to attend so we had just four of the five families assembled. After two weeks, everyone reported they had no health issues so we successfully, and thankfully, missed the virus throughout our collective travels and adventures…It appears doubtful the fall will be filled with the normal Northwestern football events. Just my luck, as last year was the first year I decided to buy season tickets for football. Basketball is definitely out for me, regardless if they play. The idea of being, hours, in an already stuffy arena within spitting distance of the band surrounded by college aged and twenty-somethings that have no regard for the virus screaming their lungs out just does not have a lot of appeal to me right now. If they play, the games will be on TV and that will work just fine for this year. I can wait for the vaccine! The family is all healthy and my daughter, Andrea, is able to work from home during this ordeal. We get together with her every two weeks, or so, for lunch or dinner. During the peak of the shut-down, when restaurants were only open for carry-out, we would meet half way and set up lawn chairs in the restaurant parking lot, since they could not provide outdoor seating.

Drastic times call for drastic measures. In the realm of non sibi...we spent our stimulus checks on Girl Scout cookies (we bought up the extra inventory area troops had left over due to their cancelled site sales) and delivered cases to the fire houses, police stations, ICU staff, ER staff, Abbott Lab workers, Jewel cashiers, and the food pantry.

Richard Hackel (our newly minted enologist!): As part of a fundraiser on Chebeague this summer on September 4, I will install a 240 foot long photograph of the entire perimeter of the island. Printed on vinyl and zip-tied to the fence around a tennis court, it is a montage of over 300 photographs, taken in sequence as I boated along the shoreline. I call it a “panalateral”, to describe a landscape photograph that shows a long, lateral viewpoint. (Sorry I don’t have photos of the installation since it hasn’t been installed yet.) Googled, the word “panalateral” has only references to articles in the Boston Globe and Cambridge Arts Council’s news reports, about a similar project I did for the Cambridge Arts Council in 2017. For them I made a panalateral of the Charles River as it runs along Cambridge for five miles. This became a 500 foot long photograph that was used as a barrier fence for a new public school under construction.

Jim Irving, budding mystery writer notes: A while back, I wrote a detective novel.

An agent picked it up and has sold it to a publisher in Florida. The book — titled Friends Like These — was acquired as the first in a three book series. Phew! I have a lot of work to do. Anyway, the book comes out this summer.

Another John Grisham in the making!

Chris Swenson: Since we’re all “caught up” perhaps you should send them something like, The entire GDA class of 1972 and their families have bought a used cruise ship and are quarantining off-shore together until June 2022….” Yours truly, Swede.

No ship o’fools are we, eh Swede?

Not for self, but for others, Be well!

CLASS OF 1973 Glen Winkel drwink@me.com

Greetings to all the members of the class of 1973 who, having survived their educational years of GDA, and are now in the midst of a worldwide pandemic caused by a tiny piece of RNA from a virus somewhere in Wuhan, China. Amazing that something so small can dramatically affect lives all over the world. Also amazing that those of us who graduated from a tiny school in Byfield heard my pleas for class notes and 12 (that’s over 10% folks) came to my rescue with highlights from their lives.

It takes a pandemic to bring out the best in all of us.

Anthony Hall, leads off our group, with this brief bio: “who has been writing professionally for nearly forever, is finishing his first novel The Clock of Saint Calpicius, which should flutter into some phantasmal emanation in the near future. It is already guaranteed a perch on Amazon’s list of Most Ignored Novels of the Year as a very noteworthy ‘meh’ or something like that.

Anyway, it’s been fun to write in part because being a novelist is the only occupation in the world that has ‘take the dog for long walks at least five times a week’ on its job description.

That said, the dog in question (Bailey, aka Scooby Nuisance, aka Honey Bee) thinks writing a novel is great fun, especially if it involves water sports. The next novel (I know this is shameless, but I trod on) is also on the way, a few months behind schedule. This one (Who’s On First ...A Baseball Thriller) has already made some coin because publishers, it turns out, are humorous and unpredictable people who sometimes misplace your resume.

(Fear not: It’s all good, enthusiasm-wise.) So that’s the news from Pandora’s Kitchen except for Glen thanks for, well, a lot of things; Scott hello; Rich, keep the faith, Ian hang tough and Mom, Dad, your grandkids are intact, smart, sturdy and strong and the clouds above are still shaped like dreams.”

Speaking of dreams, perhaps you didn’t know that one of mine was to become an astronaut and ironic that Mark Hoffman writes in, “Many former classmates think of me as the guy who toured with J. Geils and Tom Petty as lighting designer and roadie.

That was 40 years ago. I couldn’t last one day on the road today! Even with Medicare coverage! After that, I was the Project Lead and Principal Engineer of the program that designed, tested and built the PICA-X Heat

Shield for NASA (for the Orion Space capsule).

The PICA-X Heat Shield, used by SpaceX (under license from NASA), was part of the Crew Dragon Spaceship that safely returned two astronauts from the International Space Station back to Earth on Monday, 3 August 2020. Years ago, I received an award from NASA for my work and design. I thank my lucky stars that it worked! The PICA-X Heat Shield will be used for additional trips to the International Space Station as well as the Moon and Mars in the years to come. But I still get nervous every time there is a launch.

I’m glad I paid attention in science class!

For my next job, I worked for Heartware, a company that designed, built and implanted artificial hearts. During my tenure there, we successfully implanted 2,600 artificial hearts.

These patients would have had only a couple days to live before we implanted an artificial one. I also designed a smaller artificial heart that can be implanted in children (which is in FDA clinical trials). For the past three years, I have worked for Bio-Techne Corp. as Principal Engineer and Project Manager of R&D. We just launched an FDA-approved COVID-19 test that returns results in one day. I also am leading a team that has created a patient-at-home sample collection kit for cancer tests (especially important when many physician’s offices are closed).

Craig Dowley and I have been hanging out together for the past 25 years or so, in Ireland, Boston and at Reunions. Craig was my math tutor back in ’73 and he really tried hard to help me pass Geometry (I barely passed!). And I really enjoyed seeing everyone at Tony Hall’s graduation party in Salem last year! Best party ever! I want to wish everyone to be well and safe in these challenging times.

So, to continue the astronaut story line, I was planning to join the NASA science project team, which eventually became the Columbia shuttle mission which launched Jan 16th 2003. As you know the crew never made it back, due to a failure of the heat-resistant tiles, damaged from a foam insulation strike on launch. So I get it when Mark gets nervous with each space launch. Mark, that’s fascinating stuff and glad the SpaceX crew made it back safely! Keep up the great work!

Doug Doty sends an update from NIH (aka National Institutes of Health), “last October my wife and I celebrated our 21st anniversary

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

55

in Palm Springs. Then, in January 2020, before the COVID craziness careened at us all, we spent a couple of weeks in London, where I attended a Russian literary translators’ workshop for several days. Otherwise, I keep working (see link below), learning Portuguese to be able to retire there, playing rock-jazzblues finger-style guitar and arranging songs. (https://www.nihlibrary.nih.gov/about-us/ staff-directory/douglas-doty)” And Doug Pope also celebrates a milestone, as well: “In a little over 30 days, Carla and I will have been married for 42 years, we have three sons, three amazing daughters-in-law and eight grandkids. I married up. All my sons are smarter than I am. Everyone is a skier and we will have three grandkids on the slopes this winter. We have spent years riding our tandem bike and enjoyed it very much.

My folks are doing well and still ski with my 88-year old father, Dave ’51. My siblings, all Gov alums, Deb ’74, Greg ’75, and Scott ’78 are all doing well with grandkids all around.

While I remain a design-build and finance commercial modular structures contractor, I spend most of my time as a utility scale solar developer with no plans on retiring any time soon. All the Best.”

As our 50th reunion is just around the corner, references to Room C abound (it’s still there, if you can find it). Jay Martus sends greetings from DC, “I hope everyone is well and coping with the stress of COVID-19. We are living in Washington, DC which is usually an

interesting place, but this year has been way past insane. Politics are ugly all around. I was an executive at a large physical company for twenty-five years and left in 2014 after we were sold. I have enjoyed working less and was content. My old company grew much larger and has had challenges. They called me and asked me if I would come back and help. So, a few months after enrolling in Medicare, I am starting on Monday as the Chief Revenue Officer at Envision Healthcare.

I will be spending time in Nashville and Denver so anyone nearby shout out please. I think fondly about Room C for those of you who remember. I am still a devoted Deadhead (as are my daughters). The 50th anniversary Workingman’s Dead is amazing. I attached my GDA class photo and a recent shot so you can all see what 47 years can do to someone.

Life is an adventure.”

Geoffrey White writes, “Wow! Can you actually believe it’s coming to 50 years since we weathered the cold to line up to Room C (cough)??!! As for me, I have been playing banjo and teaching that craft for over 10 years, playing in a band down at Circular Quay in Sydney, witnessed the birth of three daughters (the eldest turns 37 tomorrow!) and now have two grandchildren. I miss all the fun of the years at the Gov and miss you all too. One day Guy and the Greasers might re-form and wouldn’t THAT be cool...eh, wid a buncha ferries lookin’ on! See ya!”

THE ARCHON

|

Traveling the world in spite of the coronavirus is Craig Dowley, “I took three transatlantic flights between March 19 and June 19. First one had 85 people (over 300 seats), the next two had 12 and 14 respectively. Instead of three flights a day Dublin-Boston, it is now around three flights a week. Freight is what is keeping them in the air. They are now flying small single aisle planes which climb faster and fly faster cutting 70 minutes off the flight.

The airports were empty and on the last trip the only car outside the terminal was my prearranged ‘taxi.’ All a bit eerie. Sadly this is the end of the 747, the Queen of the Skies. However, having lived through the dot com bubble, foot and mouth, SARS, London bombings, 2008 crash and 9/11, all were end of the world stuff, so hopefully this will be the same. Have a friend whose father flew PB 40 off aircraft carriers in the Pacific in WWII. His father stated in his later years, ‘we never expected to return from our missions.’ He earned a ‘Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal’ and never talked about it his entire life! I am still on the water, as boating/yachting can be conducted ‘safely.’ Grateful Dead and JJ Cale still on the music play list. Stay safe and looking forward to next reunion!”

With more on the coronavirus thread, Mike McDowell adds, “Like so many of us, the year started out as usual. Visited my daughter and her family in North Carolina in January and pledged to go there to visit at least three or four times a year. In spite of shelter in place, the construction work that I was doing was deemed essential by the health department and building inspection department. We modified the way work was performed on the job, drastically

Jay Martus ’73, then and now

56

And that got me thinking, perhaps Guy and the Greasers could make a comeback appearance at our 50th? Following the room C thread, Jaike Williams writes, “Reading these emails/updates, one aspect shines out; seems like we are a fairly accomplished class with interesting pursuits and world-wide views. And majority Dead Heads. Pretty cool.

Room C reference made me laugh out loud. I retired end of 2018. Did basically nothing on purpose except become proficient at archery for a year or so and now more of the same but not on purpose, dang COVID. Hanging out in Hillsborough, NC.”

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

limiting the numbers of people who could be on site at one time. In May, I started volunteering with the Alameda County Health Department, doing novo coronavirus testing. In July I started volunteering with the State of California assisting with logistics at a field hospital, officially known as an Alternative Care Site (ACS) and then was hired as the Safety Officer at the site.

There is a good sized staff that supports the medical staff and the days are 12 to 15 hours long, seven days a week. Some people have been at it since March, with only a couple of days off, total. The work is rewarding but tiring. I hope to continue but only two weeks at a time with two to four weeks off in order to take care of the business and be with family. Logistics encompasses many tasks, including looking after the facility. One day there was a stopped up toilet and sink. For that day, I became ‘Mike the Plumber.’

Rick Atwood shares: I drove across country with my brother John, from NE, NW, SW and SE, then back home. Definitely a bucket list check off. Had to do it before I couldn’t.

Everything else is great.

Pam Toner notes: I am busy selling real estate to New Yorkers who are fleeing to the suburbs from the City. This is the silver lining during the pandemic. One of my daughters moved to Missoula, Montana and my other daughter is in Brooklyn, NY.

CLASS OF 1975 Pam Pandapas pamrobfine@ms.com Pam Pandapas: During this pandemic all our plans were canceled or postponed so no concerts, sporting events, beach and other outings, dining out, etc. But I have been fortunate in that I have my vegetable garden, yard, and a large deck so I’m able to get out for fresh air and activity while staying safe. I, like the rest of the world, am eagerly awaiting an end to this chaos so that “social distancing” and masks are in our rear-view mirror.

Fortunately, we have Facebook and other forms of social media that provide us with the means to stay in touch with family and friends. So, with that I give you all the news passed along to me from the class of 1975: David Bohman: I would like to thank many members of the Class of ’75 for making my wife, Linda, feel welcome at our reunions over the years. She absolutely adored every one of us ’75-ers that she met over four reunions and she really felt like all of us were family.

As you know, Linda died in May after a brief but courageous fight with cancer but, in my sadness, I truly count my blessings that she got to meet and get to know so many of my classmates over the years. The other bit of news: I got to have lunch and catch up with Barry Miller recently. The man who lived across Ingham Dorm from me in the mid-70’s is now just about four miles away, and we plan to have regular lunches throughout the year. As for passing the time, I have this computer simulated baseball game where I use my statistics from my senior year at GDA as a 21-year old shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1977. Mike Moonves would be proud to know that I am leading the National League in stolen bases, runs scored, and named to the NL All-Star team. Keep in mind I am in the COVID capital of the world and working out of my house almost every day.

My youngest daughter is staying home from college for the fall, doing her studies online, which means I will have company.

Be well and wash your hands…a lot.

CLASS OF 1974 Pam Toner ptoner@optonline.net Dan Johnson writes in: After years in business doing everything from building passive solar houses to running the largest disco in Orlando, I became a high school social studies teacher in Florida. After 17 years at that I retired in 2010 and returned to Maine. Retirement has been quite busy. I got married again after many years. I serve on the board of a fairly large land trust, and have a nice business tying saltwater fishing flies (customsaltwaterflies.com) which I’ve been doing for 30 years. I have a son who lives in NH with his family and is a pilot for American, and two grandchildren who I consider it my responsibility to spoil. We have a summer house on Matinicus Island and our other is here on the Midcoast of Maine. We have weathered the pandemic well here, or at least as well as can be expected. My wife is the middle school librarian in our town and has serious concerns about returning to school but it is probably safer here than most places. I guess this is good for now.

Rick Atwood ’74 on a cross-country road trip with his brother, John

Pam Post: I am trying out a reverse retirement move from what is typical for our generation-moving from Florida to Maine.

I bought a beautiful 1874 era Cape on eight acres with a water view and gorgeous but long neglected gardens. We’ll see how it goes.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

57

Audrey Grant put on her Realtor hat and was really helpful. Peter Richardson gave great advice, and Wheeler Gemmer was the first classmate to visit. Life is all about taking chances and I was ready for a change.

Sometimes a global pandemic is just the nudge you need to blow up life as you know it and start a new adventure.

Rich O’Leary: Headlines here: Our 27-yearold daughter, Sarah, left NYC in mid-March, joining the pandemic exodus from the city.

She’s living and working at home with us and her parents are driving her nuts. Our 29-year-old son, Tim, was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church of Connecticut in July after graduating from Yale Divinity School and Berkeley seminary at Yale in June.

He has accepted a job as Deacon at St James Episcopal Church in West Hartford, CT and now lives there. So, we see enough of our grown children to still qualify as helicopter parents. I am working from home in year three of leading a start-up company that is helping cultural institutions and artists better manage their IP with software by providing greater transparency and access to digital assets and data. So, COVID has actually accelerated the need the art world has for what we are making. We have a long way to go to help museums transform the way they work, but it’s an exciting mission. I still see Sam Gilliland regularly and hope to get our annual summer round of golf in with Spencer Purinton on the Cape. Like all of us, I was so terribly disappointed the pandemic forced us to cancel Reunion in June. I was really looking forward to that. I’m praying for an end in sight of this terrible time and dreaming about seeing you all again back in Byfield when we get through this! Meantime, I hope everyone stays happy and healthy.

Rob Kaplan: Our COVID summer is a bit more relaxed then our COVID winter was.

We’ve spent more time outside walking, hiking, and seeing friends in very small groups (in backyards and lakeside settings), with acceptable distances. No travel that would take us out of New England. Work as a Salesforce consultant continues to keep me busy, and has always been remote, so minimal impact there. I finished reading The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by JeanYves Leloup. I’m now reading McCullough’s Mornings on Horseback. Orwell’s 1984 is on deck, though I’m not sure if reading of

58

THE ARCHON

|

dystopia will be uplifting or disheartening, in our present circumstances. Our immediate family members are all well and we sincerely hope classmates and the family members of the Class of ’75 are all well too.

Jack Swenson: My wife, Rikki, and I are both doing well, and are simply staying here at home for the months ahead. We had already been “semi-retiring” by means of scheduling fewer trips each year for the past couple of years. For 2020 we were only intending to lead two photo safaris to southern Africa, and those have both been cancelled. Frankly, I’m quite enjoying it. For my entire life since my sophomore year at GDA/GA from when I began traveling every summer to work at a ranch in Wyoming to leaving New England for college in Oregon, the dimensions of every year have been wrought by travel. It has been a nearly endless source of joy, inspiration, and also exhaustion. So being forced to “stay put” has created a long overdue respite. While this pandemic has certainly been devastating for the travel industry as a whole, and countless other businesses as well, we are fortunate to have already seen and done so many things and, importantly, to not be stuck financially without the work. Who knows what it will all bring long term but for the time being, I’m enjoying every day and feeling most thankful for what we have. My brother, Chris `72, who lives nearby, and I have been spending a lot of time helping out our aging mother who just turned 94 this July. She has slowed down considerably since she quit playing tennis at 90! (I wish I had those genes, since my tennis

game still isn’t so good, ha!). Last autumn she moved into a nice assisted-living place nearby.

We’ve since then been up to our ears trying to clean out the bigger place where she had been living in order to prepare it for putting it on the market for sale. All of this process was slowed down substantially by the stay-at-home challenges. My days continue to be busier than I think they should be just keeping up with day-to-day stuff and I dream of carving out more time for editing the miles of photos that I’ve been accumulating for the past 50+ years. In addition to reams of 35mm slides, I now—since going digital back in 2001—also have hundreds of thousands of digital images filling many TB on hard drives. I’m constantly amazed by the quality and ease of taking digital photos and I definitely love my newest camera that I bought last month. The brand?

I upgraded to an iPhone 11 Pro! In addition to taking great photos, it even makes phone calls, too, (haha), which is incredible! If I didn’t still love doing wildlife photography, I’d quit lugging around all of that big equipment that’s currently napping in our closet. Cheers to All. Peter Richardson: I don’t have much going on but I am enjoying family. Check out the picture of three generations of my guys.

Keith Esthimer: The Esthimer family is adjusting to “work at home” and I am learning to be a farm hand on a local fruit farm. Our daughter, Katelyn, married Gerry Symonds in our side yard late in May. Very nice, indeed. My brother, Steven, officiated. I hope everyone is well and stays that way.

LEFT: Peter Richardson ’75, his son, and his grandson; RIGHT: Bob and MaryAnne ’75 Polich with their 3-week old niece

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Mike Ponce: The Ponces made it up to Mount Desert Island on the backside in Seal Cove for a week. The local lobsterman’s wife set up shop just down the street and had lobster, of course. She also had steamers, mussels, oysters from Blue Hill, and since her son is a scallop diver, we had scallops, also. Isolation at its finest! Mountain climbing out on the boat to explore Bartlett’s Island with a fire every night!

Perfect. Lindsay did not join us as she was with friends “down the shore” in New Jersey.

This was a much-needed change of scenery since we have all been stuck in Wyndmoor since March 1st. All of my social media accounts got hacked. The SOB changed my Instagram account e-mail so I cannot access Mcp1955 any more so there will be no more posts here. You can find us now on lemetairieorchardcottage on Instagram!

If you care. Other than that, we have been fortunate to have work and we are minding

our P’s and Q’s. Remember to put on your MASK! Really, it is an easy task. Cheers!

From all the Ponces.

MaryAnne Polich: Bob and I just returned from a trip to Denver to visit my nonagenarian parents and our siblings.

We had a fabulous visit! We even had the pleasure of meeting our 3-week-old great niece…with our masks on! We flew Southwest and were very cautious while flying and navigating the airports and we felt that we were safe. We hope we will get back to normal soon so we can reschedule our reunion! Stay well and safe, everyone and God Bless!

Lisa Johnson: I feel that all I have to talk about is how we are doing in the time of COVID. We remain well and grateful. There are no major happenings save how we live our new lives. The slowing down and time with immediate family is wonderful. Not being able to meet in larger groups, visit with friends face to face, and missing traveling isn’t as good. We worry for all who struggle to juggle work and family when things are so uncertain. We worry for those whose jobs are deeply affected by COVID. And we worry for how to bring greater balance in the use of our resources as a nation and how to become better at appreciating, supporting, and being sure all rights are given to all citizens. We are thinking about how to teach kids. Our school, as are all schools, is constantly tweaking, creating, and re-thinking new programs which best keep kids safe and educate them.

That’s all my news. :-)

Mike Sapuppo: There is not much going on here on the Western Front. Like everybody else, I’m just hunkered down and staying local. I’ve already had two vacations to Maui cancelled this year; the first in May and the re-booking of that week in June. I thought I could outsmart the curve. Perhaps October will be the charm? The good news is I’ll be using all those United travel certificates and Southwest mileage points once we’re free to fly without masks, sanitizer, distancing, etc.

As a consolation, I’m sharing a rental house on Balboa Island in Newport Beach for the year. We have a boat, motorcycles, kayaks, paddle boards and bicycles! Not too bad. Here are a few pics from the house share I’m doing in Newport Beach. For clarity purposes, the jet isn’t mine. Lol Jamie White: The last of my children, Charlotte, graduated from Gov’s this past spring and is headed to Colorado where her brother (also a Gov’s graduate), is at college (different schools, though). The school did a great job of giving them a send-off despite the difficult restrictions from the virus, and I am going to miss attending all the sports games, concerts and teacher conferences at Gov’s that have dominated my life over these past seven years. I even got to like the excellent food in the dining hall. But it will be a strange transition with them all halfway across the country and I will have to think of new ways to focus and fill my time. The challenge of the empty-nester! I didn’t think it would get here this quickly.

Starr Gilmartin: What has transpired in the last six months? Well certainly not travel, as my planned bike trip to Portugal was canceled for April as well as a tentatively planned trip to Alaska this summer. My passport will likely expire before I get to use it again. There are far worse things to gripe about during this pandemic. But if I have to be stuck, I guess Maine is a pretty decent place to be stuck.

After a brief 6-week furlough from work in the beginning of the pandemic, emergency psychiatry is as much in demand as it has ever been and retirement is now looking more and more attractive. Hope all GDA alumni and their families are healthy both in body and mind during these unprecedented times.

Balboa Island life for Mike Sapuppo ’75

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

59

Paula Sekora McNutt: Bill and I were able to run away to New Zealand in February only to return home to Florida and ensuing lock-downs and quarantine which almost turned into Fear and Loathing in Melbourne Beach. We are fine here on the island. We don’t expect to return to Dunedin (on the south island of New Zealand) until partial retirement, in a couple of years, maybe.

Wishing good health to all.

Craig McConnell: We are staying safe, working in our gardens, volunteering at our local arboretum twice a week and, in general, keeping busy. We continue to foster Golden Retrievers for a local rescue group although right now there haven’t been any to foster. We had a week off scheduled for Lincoln, NH in late May but that got cancelled by the COVID mess. All in all, things are pretty quiet. Stay safe and be good.

Barry Miller: The pandemic has provided this road warrior the luxury of being and working from home. Karen and I became Florida residents in 2019. We live in Palm Beach Gardens and have truly enjoyed our new neighborhood. Our oldest son, Nathan, (partner at Manage-ment, an LA based literary management firm) and his fiancée, Michelle, were married in our backyard in July; an intimate and memorable family celebration! Our son, Matthew, (VP, Morgan Stanley) and his wife, Diana, live in New York.

And our daughter, Dana, (Senior Account Executive at KLG Public Relations) and her fiancé, Jordan Chudacoff, live in Chicago.

I continue marketing paper-making raw materials for Foxboro, MA based IFP. We enjoyed catching up recently with Rob Kaplan via FaceTime and reconnecting over lunch with Dave Bohman. Now, however, I can watch his investigative reporting on local WPTV, the most recent segment had Dave out in the middle of hurricane Isaias. Keep your head down, dude!

Peter Templeton: Hello class—I am writing you all from my home in Taos, NM and wishing you all the best as we all try to keep our heads up through these times. My wife, Linda, and I have been staying pretty close to Taos since March. I built Linda a couple of garden planter beds close to the house which have been flourishing. I tried a larger patch of corn and squash. Things continue to come up, but it has been an on-going battle with pocket gophers and recently a hail storm. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I have still been able to keep my woodworking shop, Tree of Life Woodworks, open and busy. I have many on-going cabinet-making and furniture projects. Earlier in the year I worked again on historic renovations at Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch in Raton, NM. We built 14 guest bedroom vanities and two vintage style quarter sawn oak guest coffee service bars. I am currently in the midst of a large furniture order for some high end condominiums at the Taos Ski Valley. Recently I was thinking about one of the aspects of my education at Governor Dummer which had the most influence on my life. I have always been interested in Native American art and

culture. I remember finding a book in the school library called Seven Arrows by Hyemeyohsts Storm. It was a somewhat fictionalized re-telling of Plains Indian mythology and philosophy. There were many beautiful photos throughout the book, many of them I later found out were by a famous photographer named Edward Curtis.

He photographed Native Americans at the turn of the century in an epic project called “The North American Indian”. He traveled all over North America photographing and documenting the lives of as many Native American tribes as possible. He created a 20-volume set of writings and accompanying portfolios of large photogravures of portraits.

This project was a huge undertaking and was supported by Teddy Roosevelt and funded by JP Morgan. Most of the 228 sets of books and photogravures that were printed ended up in museums, libraries, and in the hands of private collectors. A treasure trove of the original copper printing plates and photogravures were discovered in the basement of the Charles Lauriat Bookstore in Boston in the early 1970’s. This discovery led to somewhat of a revival of interest in Edward Curtis’s work. He had ended up virtually penniless and died in relative obscurity in the 1950’s. For those interested in learning more about the life and times of Edward Curtis, a great book worth reading is titled, The Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan. I will always remember an afternoon spent in an antique store in Aspen, Colorado in the summer of

LEFT: Paula Sekora McNutt ’75 and her husband Bill in New Zealand; MIDDLE: Peter Townsend ’75 and George Hunt Jr. at Campbell River BC, Canada; RIGHT:

Greg Pope ’75 with his granddaughter Whitney

60

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

my junior year looking at a portfolio of the actual original Edward Curtis photogravures.

I was in awe! In recent years I have started collecting the original works of Edward Curtis when I can find them. One of the prints I collected was titled, Qagyuhl Village at Ft. Rupert. Interestingly, in relation to this print, this past year I came in contact with a man named George Hunt, Jr. through social media. He is of the Kwakwaka’wakw tribe, (formerly known as Kwakiutl). He is an artist who lives on Vancouver Island. As it turns out his great grandmother was the one who originally commissioned the prominent totem pole seen in the photogravure in my collection. Last October Linda and I had an amazing visit to Vancouver Island which was punctuated by a visit with George at his home in Campbell River where we gifted him the Curtis print that was directly connected to his family history. Our contact with George led me to learning that John Graybill, Edward Curtis’s great grandson, and his wife Colleen live about four hours away from me in Buena Vista, Colorado. They are both photographers and have created something called the Curtis Legacy Foundation and the Descendants Project. They are working on meeting the descendants of the people who Curtis photographed and doing contemporary photographs of them. In a fortuitous convergence of my passions, the Graybill’s commissioned me to make ten vintage style picture frames similar to those used by Edward Curtis for their Descendants photographs. I joined them at a presentation and gallery opening at the Valley Fine Art Gallery in Aspen at the beginning of this year. I was all set to join them at another presentation of their work at the Rainier Club in Seattle (where Curtis lived for a portion of his life) last March. Just when we were about to travel there, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they were forced to postpone the event.

(You all have your stories since that time). One of the things that has really kept me going in these remaining warm days of the summer are evening trips down to the Rio Grande, which is a mile and a half from my house, for a refreshing dip in the river. I also cherish the big skies and beautiful sunsets here in Taos.

Linda, who is a fifth-grade school teacher, has been meeting the challenges of starting the school year with online teaching and the uncertainties of a possible pending hybrid education program. My three children are grown and living variously in Colorado and

Newfoundland, Canada. They are safe and doing well. Our son Trevor just graduated from Babson College and is moving to NYC to work for Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe. My greatest regret is that I was unable to write that I had enjoyed a full plate of fried clams and a lobster roll at Woodman’s in Essex, MA or that I heard the squeaking sounds of the sand as I walked along Singing Beach at Manchester-By-The-Sea. Sigh. Maybe next year I will get to return to some of my childhood summer haunts. Anyway, these are a few aspects of my on-going life and interests. That’s all for now folks—be well!

Greg Pope: Welcome Whitney Grace Fultz named for my sister, Whitney ’84, who passed 28 years ago. Looks like we will be moving from our vacation home in Carolina Beach, NC to Anacortes, WA after daughter, Liza, and husband, Nathan, (Growler pilot) re-upped for another tour. Son, Keais, has finished his MD residency at Yale and is doing a fellowship for Palliative Care at Scripts in San Diego. Our youngest daughter, Charlotte, is finding Austin, TX her new favorite living spot. Elizabeth and I have made it through COVID so far still speaking after 36 years!

And I have started a new company to roll out a new technology that prevents palms from sweating during play for athletes and recreational players. So, life is pretty amazing and fun. Be well my friends.

best pies! Repeat business is crazy good. One foodie from NYC, a high-end restauranteur, bought four more pies on his way back to NY and posted us as the best pie he’s ever had.

He has a following of many! We’re busy but having fun. Stay healthy and enjoy summer.

CLASS OF 1977 classnotes@govsacademy.org David Ham writes in: Life is good. Running a small manufacturing firm. Playing hockey, golf, fly fishing and running my 400 plus member walking, hiking and climbing group. Meditating and practicing energy healing. Living on the river in Greenland, NH; divorced, single and happy!

Joe Pietrafesa reflects: Hard to believe it was last July when I met Ted Babcock for lunch on the beach in Santa Monica when all was healthy and good. This year we are hunkered down in Florida for the summer (hot) riding this crazy time out. Hope to get to Philadelphia in August to visit my new granddaughter and enjoy a cheesesteak! My best to all.

James Goduti: First, we would like to wish health and safety for all. We are fortunate here in Maine as our numbers remain low and hope they stay that way! I am also lucky that construction is booming here around Portland and has supported my small residential building business, Goduti Building Company, Inc., pretty well. Our two boys, Nick 31, and Will 27 have remained employed as well. They both have terrific girlfriends and they are not asking for money!

Will is here in Portland and Nick is in Santa Barbara. We hope to be able to travel to see him sometime soon. My lovely bride of 36 years, Beth, has a small interior design business that has seen a drop in volume but that will return. We are looking forward to another reunion whenever that may happen.

Meantime, take care all.

Brit Babcock: We’re busy making pies up here in Maine. I’m helping my sister launch a homemade pie business with by far the

David Ham ’77

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

61

CLASS OF 1978

CLASS OF 1979

M. Philip Graham gaham175@comcast.net

Troy Dagres troydagres@aol.com

Tom Driscoll drisclaw@yahoo.com Tom Mathews: Hello, M and All­— One quick update from me is that I got bored quickly being a retiree and decided to do something that a) got me out of the house 20 hours a week, and b) played to something that has been a hobby and passion for the past 30+ years. So what did I do? I went to work in a wine shop! I teach wine classes.

I sometimes manage our tasting bar and I advise customers on wine choices (aka sell!).

If anyone visits Charlotte let me know and I’d be very happy to help select some great wine choices up and down the price scale.

Or just call if you need immediate and local help! Cheers!

M Phil Graham: Hello, Classmates. M here.

Like many people I have been working from home since the early part of the year. It’s focused for me, and I am enjoying it overall.

Lots of reading time for sure. I was asked to serve as class secretary with Tom Driscoll­­— began Aug 1. Tom is easy to relate to, and I am enjoying getting started with him on this new adventure. Being secretary gives us a defined role to help our class network and maintain friendships. Look forward to visiting on campus as the school opens up and generally connecting more with the broader community. Be well, everyone!

Lisa Law writes: COVID is keeping me busy providing therapy, still working out with Beachbody programs, still training clients as a part-time personal trainer, loving summertime by the pool, and cooking out with all my besties.

Randy Tye O’Brien says: Bill and I are well.

As president of a small temple keeping folks engaged and connecting online is where we are. I do worry about when we actually will be physically together. Keeping my eye on what Peter Hey is doing at his church for inspiration. Molly who is an actor (now 26) like so many of her friends are really in a tough place with the stimulus shutting down now. Our very independent lady, decided to become an EMT in light of the dim future of the arts. She has always been one to help so this is right up her alley. Conor (24), so proud of him with receiving a Masters in Sports Administration at BC in May. Very challenging time for all but particularly if your interest is a career involving anything but preferably in the college sports arena.

They will land on their feet. I continue to learn from them both. On another note enjoy seeing what my GDA friends are up to through FB.

Steve Sterman reports: I continue to work at the investment office at the University of California and my two boys are now also on the west coast. One living/working in San Diego and the other in San Francisco. I was going into the office every day for a couple of months, however, when it got closer to summer and there was no sign of the office actually reopening, my wife and I packed up and drove cross-country to spend the summer in New England. It’s been a long time since I was able to spend extended time here, so that is one plus of COVID. My best to all and hope all are healthy.

Andy Linn is defying the aging process as he writes “Same ole same ole. With The Home Depot in field sales...and stuck at home watching fake news. Daughter graduated from UGA with honors in Biology. Tracking toward becoming a PA. Unfortunately graduation day was canceled. Son Landon will be a high school senior this year, running back wearing #44. Runs like his dad, but stands 6’3”! As of now fall term is virtual yet they still are holding fall sports! I haven’t won the lottery yet, so Sandy and I are still at the grind but trying to enjoy our lake house as often as we can before becoming empty

Hello fellow 79’ers. I hope all is well wherever you are. Although most of us have been forced to be wherever we are for far too long.

I did, however, get to attend my nephew’s wedding in August…Chad Martin ’12. To gather some class notes for this edition of The Archon, I decided to use this this newfangled technology called Social Media. I thought it was a fad, but apparently people use it. So I got some news...

Tom Driscoll: Hi all: M and I were drafted into the co-secretary role, or whatever we are called. The odd couple if there ever was one.

Glad to see M back in the fold and he is still way smarter than me...shocker! As for my life, time flies by. I am in my twentieth year as the Clerk of Courts of the Essex County Superior Court. My other two Govs grads Thomas ’13 (Guilford ’17) and Robert ’16 (College of Wooster ’20) keep the GDA/ Governor’s spirit alive and well....I hate to tell you which name they prefer. Callie takes a look this year and we will see if we get a clean sweep of Byfield kids. P.S. Please consider donating to Govs. It would be great to start getting our percentages up!

LEFT: Troy Dagres ’79 and his partner, Linda, at his nephew’s wedding; RIGHT: Andy Linn ’79 with his English bulldogs, Millie and Mable

62

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

nesters. Our two ornery English bulldogs, Millie and Mable, keep us on our toes.

Otherwise, miss you guys and please look me up if ever in Awesome Alpharetta GA.”

CLASS OF 1980 Helen Mazarakis hmazarakis@yahoo.com The craziness that is 2020 has been a mixed blessing for our class. Our 40th (that still seems like it must be a typo) was, of course, cancelled, and while there has been some chatter about doing a make-up somewhere, somehow, nothing is set as yet. We’ll get word to everyone who has an email on file if we are able to do something, sometime. Meanwhile, the mixed part is all from Facebook, which, frankly, brings us back together in that special 2020 virtual way. If you are on Facebook and have not found us, message me and I’ll add you to our class group where you can find news about Julie Duff’s enormous puppy Agnes and tiny horse Figaro; Lisa Devine’s amazing photographs and cocktails; Elizabeth Evans’ hikes throughout New England; Sally Lee’s latest art and practical, fashionable COVID masks; Rand Pendleton’s views of the California coast (as well as his delicious breakfasts); Ashley Van Etten’s beautiful dogs and creative prints for her store, Willywaw. And (very exciting, need photos for the next Archon) Jeff Bailey’s wedding to Janet Snyder! Congrats, Jeff! Send me your news, everyone!

CLASS OF 1981 Kathryn O’Leary Shilale kathryn@shilale.net

From Tracey MacCormack: Hi! I’m continuing to work from home and still going “renovation crazy” on the nights/weekends.

Finished the last of the kitchen project by pulling out all of the recessed can lighting, putting in new fixtures and installing a new backsplash. I also updated two bathrooms, painted all the bedrooms and refinished and reupholstered all my dining room chairs.

Replacing my deck is next on the agenda.

SO happy I didn’t sell off all my tools :) I actually loved doing the electrical and tile work, but am not a fan of the plumbing jobs.

It’s definitely helped keep me sane during this crazy time. Zooming with you all was a BLAST — let’s do it again to plan for reunion — fingers crossed!

Sherman Horton here: About four years back I had a job change/search after being with Nokia for 14+ years. Microsoft bought out Nokia’s phone division, gave everyone a t-shirt and an Xbox and three months later laid most all of us off! Landed at Red Hat, a most excellent company, with my office being in Westford, MA. Shortest commute ever. I can barely listen to a song on the radio. Of course that was pre-COVID, so now it is truly a short commute. Red Hat has always been remote-worker friendly, so my work-day has not changed much. I’m a Product Manager defining our support offerings for our enterprise customers. Love being back with a stable (we’re now a part of IBM), energetic, and international company. Family-wise, I’m still married to my beautiful wife Lynn.

We celebrate 30 years of marriage and 40 of knowing each other in September. Two of our three are now graduated college and working (together, oddly) up in Vermont. Their sister is heading their way, starting as a freshman at UVM in a few short weeks. Perfect empty-

Looking forward to reunion. Please let me know your thoughts and hopes and ideas for plans. I hope we will all be together June 2021 in Byfield. Stay well. KAO’L Dave Brown and Mike Reilly got together August 2nd in Boston to have a cigar and a few drinks before Dave’s flight back to Portland, OR. Abby Locke Castle writes “Finally put my husband on a plane on August 3rd to AK. Have never seen him so happy to go fishing! Wish I were headed somewhere, but at least the STL weather is beautiful! Stay well everyone!

At a safe social distance in North Carolina: Susan Perry ’81 and Benay Todzo ’81

nest scenario–kids 3+ hours away but close to each other for support! I’m still working with the summer camp I went to and met my wife at, YMCA Camp Coniston, as their webmaster and alumni guy. They had to shut down for the summer, which is tough, but hope to be back strong in the summers to come! And I’m still skiing, having had some great trips to France, Utah, and Banff recently. A patellar tendon rupture in May may put a damper on my aspirations for next winter, but recovery is going well! I hope all is well with everyone and that we’ll all be able to see each other at Reunion!

Peter Starosta writes “Not much to report.

Theodore headed into his sophomore year at Govs. Henry headed into his junior year at Hobart with a “Writing and Rhetoric” Major.

Cyn and I living the pandemic life here in Falmouth. Here is hoping that when this goes to print the world is in a better place. All the best to you and everyone from class of ’81!

Rumor is Red is hosting the reunion party at his house….

Richard Aranosian: Hello friends and classmates. Last Summer I finally made the big move back from Florida to New England.

We are living in central CT, and I'm happy to be back near my roots. However, TS Isaias followed us up here, and we just got our electricity restored after being off for four days! We look forward to the cooler weather and scenic colors of fall. Shushanik, Baby Annabelle, and I hope to see all of you at our big 40th reunion next June. Put it on your calendar! Keep well and healthy.

And lastly a very thankful note from Gary Bostwick: Last December 17, my two sons then age 17 and 14 were involved in a very serious accident on their way to school at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School (UCT). Both were taken by ambulance to Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence where they were placed in the ICU with serious life threatening injuries. The outpouring of support from the community, including the GDA community, was overwhelming and helped my wife and I get through some dark and trying times. There were classmates that I had not seen in years or hardly knew in school who reached out to me with prayers for the boys healing. I am writing today to say that the prayers were answered and the boys have made a full

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

63

recovery. Colin, my older son, had returned to school full time before COVID-19 shut things down. He has spent the spring and summer working on a charter fishing boat out of Falmouth Harbor. This past Sunday, he graduated this with High Honors and will be attending Unity College in Unity, Maine where he has been accepted into their Conservation Law Enforcement Program.

Evan had a more significant head injury but has recovered nicely and had made it back to school part time before the shutdown.

Being schooled from home virtually, he ended his freshman year with high honors. He is spending the summer working part time as a “sanitizer” in a restaurant and playing baseball on a Babe Ruth team and a highly competitive AAU team. He will continue his sophomore year at UCT where he has been accepted into the Health Sciences Program.

Because so many classmates reached out to me and continue to reach out, I wanted to give them an update and thank them from the bottom of my heart for all their love, prayers and support. If anyone comes down to the Cape area, feel free to give me a shout.

Otherwise I look forward to seeing some familiar faces at the 40th!

CLASS OF 1984 classnotes@govsacademy.org Harry Taormina updates: I wanted to check in and let you know how I’m doing down here in VA. My company is doing well and surviving the pandemic. If you can, check out my website to see what I’m doing: www.taorminaoutdoor.com. My wife Becki and I are spending a lot of time together as a family with the kids home. Lots of pool time and movie nights. My daughter’s (Haley)

freshman softball season at George Mason University was cut short before the regular season got under way. She looks forward to whatever the fall brings. Most of her classes will be online but softball is trying to work something out so they can get on the field.

My son (Aiden) is tearing up the competitive golf circuit here in VA. He got his first eagle on a par 5 at a match a couple of weeks ago.

the way. Becoming an official has given me a whole different perspective on the game and how hard of a job it really is. The attached photo was taken in eastern British Columbia this past January. You know, before the world was turned on its head. I hope that this note finds my classmates healthy and happy and have not been too adversely affected by COVID-19.

Dr. Roechelle L. Smith recently joined an extra-institutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com. Also, in an effort to support students of color and diversity initiatives, Dr. Smith has donated to Diversity and Inclusion Fund.

CLASS OF 1990

Hank Friedman shares: Greetings from northern New Mexico! Have been living fulltime in Taos, NM since 1995! Still doing land development (most single family residential), coaching high school soccer (Go Tigers!), officiating intercollegiate lacrosse, skiing and a bunch of fun other activities.

2019 marked my 25th year as a Taos High School soccer coach! Hard to believe. Time has flown by. It is strange not to be coaching at this time, as I would be in pre-season as I write this email. They are hoping to play a shortened season starting in mid-February.

My officiating has literally taken me all over the country, from Maine to California and Florida to Montana. Have to say, after playing for Heb Evans, never saw myself officiating but it has been an amazing experience and have made a multitude of great friends along

LEFT: Harry Taormina ’84 with his family; RIGHT: Hank Friedman ’84 in eastern British Columbia before COVID-19 hit

64

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

Nikki DelliColli classnotes@govsacademy.org I hope everyone is doing as well as can be amidst this time. It’s both surreal and astounding to be alive during this worldwide pandemic. My prayers to all who have lost loved ones and colleagues to this virus.

One positive result of these times, is the seizing of the day, cherishing of moments and recalling fond memories. As these have become more prevalent in the hearts and minds of many. I thought it would be nice to start sharing old pictures and memories as a way for our class to reconnect. This is also a meaningful time to locate classmates we’ve lost touch with! Let’s check on them, be assured of their safety and assure them of their roots with us. There are many classmates from near, far and abroad who we haven’t heard from in many years and whose contact info is out of date. If that’s you, please reach out. You can email me at ndellicolli@aol.com or join the GDA Class of 1990 Facebook page. Additionally, since our Reunion was postponed due to COVID, we are considering alternatives such as Class of ’90 Zoom calls and other virtual ways of connecting in lieu of the live reunion while

Class of 1990’s Kevin O’Handley, Shannon Davenport Clifford, and Margo Doyle Dhaliwal

also prepping for next year’s anticipated reunion. If everyone would gather some fond and/or fun memories or pictures of time at GDA ahead of time and forward to me at above email that would set things off in right direction. Peace and love to all.

Margo Doyle Dhaliwal: I was so disappointed to miss our reunion this spring and look forward to finding ways to reconnect before our 35th reunion. Do reach out if you are passing through San Francisco. We changed up our work-from-home view and spent July in my hometown of Marblehead.

Our kids were able to enjoy two weeks of fishing camp, and we caught up with local friends and family in between the constant stream of Zoom calls. Kevin O’Handley, Shannon Davenport, and I enjoyed a lengthy dinner in Newburyport where we each commented that connecting with friends where we have such longevity is simply soul-boosting. (For the record, we quickly pulled down our masks and held our breaths to take this photo, then proceeded straight to the bathroom to wash our hands—WEAR YOUR MASKS FRIENDS!) Shannon and I reconvened later in July with our kids and enjoyed a fantastic beach day in Portsmouth.

My work revolves around investing across

TOP: Class of 1990 during the fall of their freshman year; BOTTOM: The youngest child of Margo Doyle Dhaliwal ’90 reeled in a 35 lb sea bass while her older sister made sure she didn’t get pulled into the water!

all industries, so this is a fascinating, albeit challenging environment. We have significant exposure to the life sciences industry, and I have enjoyed learning from the scientists and healthcare workers who are finding new ways to treat and heal patients (Kevin’s company included!). With all of the negatives and concerns of this time, I have relished in the silver linings of six months straight of family dinners, the reprieve from endless shuttling of kids to sports practices and games, and not traveling every other week. I hope that everyone is staying healthy and my heart goes to those who have struggled during this time.

Ian Clyde ’98 and his uncle, Billy Clyde ’69

CLASS OF 1991

CLASS OF 1998

classnotes@govsacademy.org Megan Price Hight shares: I’ve been meaning to write and send some positive news. My husband and I have added a wonderful addition to our family. Louie moved in May of 2018 at four years old and had been in foster care since he was 11 months. Louis Howard Hight was officially adopted June of 2019. He has completed our family. He brings such joy to our days.

He adores big brother Jamie (currently 19 and attending uOttawa), and [is] the biggest fan of big sister Emily (17 and going into her junior year). His face and smile could melt anyone’s heart but he certainly has me wrapped around his finger. We’re his forever family and he is the perfect addition! Who knows maybe Louie will be a member of the class of 2032 at Governor's!

Now that would be another dream come true. Love and hugs to my classmates of ’91, GDA student body and alums, and the amazing faculty and staff.

The children of Megan Price Hight ’91: Jaime, Louie, and Emily

Elle Escobar erickson_e@me.com Ian Clyde shares that he got to tour the Mansfield Reformatory in Ohio where Shawshank Redemption was filmed. It was easy to picture Andy Defresne and Red there.

CLASS OF 2001 Caitlin Haire caitlin.haire@outlook.com Hello, Class of 2001! My days are blending together and this is the longest I’ve gone without being on an airplane since I can remember, but I’m happy to report that things are going well. My family and I have been loving the nice weather and taking advantage of what’s right here in our own backyard with more (socially distanced) beach days than we’ve had in a long time. While I miss the general social life, I’m surprisingly really

Cait McIntosh Greenhouse ’01 with her children enjoying the Connecticut River

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

65

enjoying the slower pace, simpler days and appreciating all that we have around us.

Ben Mitchell writes from Miami that he’s doing well these, considering all things COVID-19. “I am still working for Vacheron Constantin, however I moved into a corporate role as a CRM and Project Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean. We are all working from home as Florida is a hotspot at the moment with new cases, which has its own challenges. I’m happy to say that my family is doing well and staying safe. Sending everyone my best, and hoping we get past these challenging times soon.”

Cait McIntosh Greenhouse checks in to share that COVID-19 definitely hit Connecticut pretty hard but her practice is still doing well and has been curbside only since March, “It’s been a little bit crazy to be an owner of a small business during this time.

But I’ve been very fortunate that we are doing very well and everyone thought it was a good idea to Homestead and buy calves and goats and sheep, and puppies and kittens since being home. My family’s quarantine purchase was a boat, which we’ve been enjoying on the Connecticut River as well as local lakes around our home.”

Jordan Harband shares that his family is doing well in lockdown, “My daughters are now 3.5 and 1.5 years old. I’ve recently started

at Coinbase, building an open source program and shepherding standards participation. So far, everyone’s healthy, wearing masks and whatnot. Looking forward to when we can rejoin the rest of the world.”

Ashlee (Nantoski) Lazzari has been busy during these past couple of months! “My husband and I recently moved to a new home in April with our three year old son, Logan, and newborn baby girl, Sienna.

Aside from packing, unpacking and having a baby, I’ve been busy at work, responsible for the marketing function at an investment consulting firm in Boston. I look forward to catching up with everyone at our reunion next year!”

Thinking of you, Class of 2001 – sending love, grace and hope.

CLASS OF 2002 classnotes@govsacademy.org Candice King recently joined an extrainstitutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

TOP LEFT: Lennox Amari Rowe, son of Erin House ’03 and Lin Rowe; BOTTOM LEFT: Erin House ’03 and her boyfriend, Lin Rowe; RIGHT: Erin House ’03, a friend, and Zita Agokeng ’04 at Erin’s baby shower

66

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

CLASS OF 2003 Taso Kapernekas tkap07@gmail.com Erin House shared: My boyfriend, Lin Rowe, and I bought a house and had our first baby late summer of 2019. His name is Lennox Amari Rowe and obviously I am obsessed with him lol. Zita Agokeng ’04 was with me at my baby shower.

CLASS OF 2004 Lesley Clunie lesley.clunie@gmail.com Melissa (McDonnell) Strobel shares: My husband and I were married at the Governor’s Academy chapel in 2014. We now live in Berea, Kentucky with our two children, Eliana and Quinn. I am the Director of Foundation Relations and Family Philanthropy at Berea College. Although we are a long way from Byfield, I’ve really enjoyed re-connecting with some GDA classmates virtually over the last few months of quarantine—an unexpected positive in the midst of this coronavirus challenge!

Emily Bryson recently joined an extrainstitutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of

Eliana and Quinn, children of Melissa (McDonnell) Strobel ’04

color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

CLASS OF 2005 Nicole Zografos nicolezografos@gmail.com In April, Andrew Guyton of The Guyton Group was named an Executive Club qualifier by the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America®. This is one of the highest honors awarded annually to financial professionals who demonstrate outstanding service and dedication to their clients. Andrew resides in Stratham, NH with his wife Jennifer and their three children. He works with clients on a wide range of issues including financial protection and wealth accumulation strategies, using a comprehensive planning method which coordinates all aspects of their personal economies.

Bobby Rudolph shares: Robert P. Rudolph, a litigation associate at Rudolph Friedmann LLP, is the recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s (“ADL”) prestigious Daniel R. Ginsberg National Leadership Award.

The award recognizes outstanding young professionals for their leadership in the fight against anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of hate. Rudolph was presented with the award on June 7 during the ADL’s Virtual National Leadership Summit, which nearly 500 ADL leaders from across the country attended.

Rudolph‘s involvement with the ADL dates to high school where he served as an ADL

Peer Trainer at The Governor’s Academy and as an intern at the ADL’s Boston office. After graduating from the ADL’s Glass Leadership Institute in 2013, Rudolph joined the ADL’s Associate Board, which he later co-chaired.

In 2014, he traveled to Germany to represent the ADL in its partnership with the German government’s Germany Close-Up program.

He has served on a number of the Associate Board’s working committees, co-chaired the ADL’s Young Leadership Celebration twice and received the 2015 Krupp Leadership Award from ADL New England. Rudolph currently serves on the ADL’s New England Regional Board and is a member of the Regional Board’s Nominating Committee.

A complex commercial litigation attorney, Rudolph focuses his practice in business, employment and real estate. He has been named a Rising Star by Massachusetts Super Lawyers every year since 2014. Since 1995, the ADL has conferred the Daniel R. Ginsberg Leadership Award to outstanding candidates from around the country who demonstrate knowledge of, and working commitment to the policies and activities of ADL, as well as those who have the ability to add to the League’s deliberations at the national level. The award, named in honor of the late Daniel R. Ginsberg, a former New York Regional Board Chairman and ADL National Commissioner, is generously endowed by his friends and family. ADL is one of the nation’s premier civil rights/human relations agencies fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defending democratic ideals and protecting civil rights for all.

Learn more about Rudolph Friedmann LLP at www.rflawyers.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.

CLASS OF 2006

CLASS OF 2008 Abby Shaffo abigail.shaffo@gmail.com Hey Team ’08! Before you go putting up holiday decorations and bidding adieu to 2020, please enjoy a few updates from our classmates. Our favorite class of 2008 couple, Emily and David Doggett, happily report, “Eliza Catherine was born on May 13 at the height of lockdown in London. All are happy, healthy and grateful for universal healthcare.

We’re eagerly looking forward to safely making our way back to the U.S. to meet friends and family.” Congrats Emily and David!

Sam Richards would like to let us know that he lives in Truckee, California now. I, Abby (Harris) Shaffo also moved back out west, so if anybody finds themselves in San Diego, please reach out! My husband John and I are both out here working for the Navy and I also operate a Pilates studio out of our home. We spend lots of time hiking, surfing, playing spades and propagating plants with my brother, Jack Harris ’10!

In closing, Charlotte DiMaggio has written a poem for us to enjoy: COVID-19 living the dream.

Why go back to work while I make more money kicking dirt.

Stimulus and unemployment checks just here enjoying my back deck.

COVID-19 living the dream.

Zoom meetings, weddings, and baby showers who needs pants in 2020.

Traded in happy hours for social distancing and psychology appointments.

Emme Hughes m.esther.hughes@gmail.com

Andrew Guyton ’05 of The Guyton Group

Liza Tarr recently joined an extrainstitutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective as a member of the Allies subcommittee. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com or contact Liza directly at lizatarr@gmail.com.

Emily ’08 and David Doggett ’08 and their new daughter, Eliza Catherine

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

67

Surprisingly not all that disappointed because I am living the 2020 COVID-19 dream!

Be well and stay healthy Govs class of 2008 and greater Govs family!

CLASS OF 2009 Hannah Hines hannah.b.fitzpatrick@gmail.com Amanda Correnti a.corrents@gmail.com Jimmy King jamesmking41@gmail.com Jenika Smith is dissatisfied with the Academy’s response to the murder of George Floyd and subsequent public outcry.

Jenika also recognizes the lack of attention towards addressing incidents of racism on Govs campus and is concerned about safety/ support measures for students of color at Govs. Due to their concerns about campus climate for students of color, Jenika has opted out of donating to The Governor’s Fund this year. Instead, they’ve donated to the NAACP and Black Lives Matter foundation.

Jenika recently joined an extra-institutional group called the Concerned BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

All are welcome!

CLASS OF 2010 Emily Harrold emilycharrold@gmail.com Tori Weisman recently joined an extrainstitutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

CLASS OF 2011

CLASS OF 2012

Nora Kline nora.k.kline@vanderbilt.edu

John Damianos john.damianos94@gmail.com

Katie Reilly katiemacreilly@gmail.com

Audrey Cheney audreypcheney@gmail.com

Professionally, Elsie Ennin is in her final year of medical school. She is excited to start her residency in Internal Medicine on her journey to becoming a Gastroenterologist. Personally, Elsie was disappointed with the lack of response and support from the Academy for its students, faculty and staff of color in the wake of racial injustice discussions nationwide. We listened as current students and alumni alike shared experiences of racist, sexist and naive ignorance they faced during their time at TGA past and present. As such, many BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People and Color) Alumni and I founded the Alumni BIPOC Collective to hold the Academy we hold dear accountable to its students.

With various subcommittees and large involvement from BIPOC and Allied alumni, we are committed to making the Academy a safe anti-racist institution through education, mentorship and reform. We hope you’ll lift as you climb and give back to our institution by joining the cause. All are welcome!

John Damianos: John graduated from medical school at Dartmouth in August. In May, he got married to Vungelia Glyptis, whom he met at Dartmouth as an undergrad.

They were originally planning a literal “Big Fat Greek Wedding,” but had to scale down their plans due to the pandemic. They did have a very special intimate celebration with their siblings and parents. They then moved to New Haven, CT, where John began his medical residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. He is starting one month in the ICU. In the rare times he is outside the hospital, he serves as an editor to Elsevier’s Clinical Key Medical Education platform, and as a question bank editor for TrueLearn.

Chad Martin: Chad and his fiancée Taylor are currently living in Maine as they wait out the pandemic. Taylor is currently on summer break after her first year of medical school, so he’s been enjoying all that time with her that he can get. Their wedding was pushed from June 13 to August 9, and they are now

Jill Conway got engaged to her boyfriend, Jack, in June! Their golden doodle, George, is very excited for them — and so are we.

Congrats to Jack and Jill! Claire Lilly got a new job at a skincare company, which is based in San Francisco. She plans to make the cross country move in the near future.

Chrissy Toomey is moving back to the United States this fall! She has been working as a nurse at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England for the past couple of years.

She is looking forward to being close to her family and friends again.

As for us, Nora Kline is starting her third year in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Clark University. She will begin a clinical practicum at UMass Outpatient Psychiatry this fall. And Katie Reilly is a reporter for TIME magazine in New York City.

TOP: Nick Commesso ’12 and his bride Kristen; BOTTOM: John Damianos ’12 and his bride

Vungelia Glyptis

68

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

shooting for a smaller, more intimate setting with close friends and family. The day can’t come soon enough! Aside from that, he has been spending lots of quality time with family and picking up some new hobbies like coding and yoga with all of his newfound free time.

Not much to complain about!

Nick Commesso: Nick got married August 16, 2019 in Waterville Valley NH to his wife Kristen. They are fast approaching the one year anniversary. The barn doors from their wedding pictures remind him of the Govs schoolhouse.

CLASS OF 2013 Esther Tram Esther.tram@gmail.com Jalina Suggs, Alex Ofori, Sarah Borwick, Stephen Basden, and Molly Fulton recently joined an extra-institutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome to join. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

Austen Hemlepp shares: While I have been very disappointed in Govs’ response and limited participation this summer in addressing systemic racism in the US, there is a supportive community of Govs Alumni called the BIPOC at Govs Alumni Collective and encourage everyone who wants to fight anti-racism at Govs to join!

Due to her concerns about campus climate for students of color, Ariadne Dubus has opted out of donating to The Governor’s Fund this year. Instead, she has donated to Black Lives Matter.

CLASS OF 2014 Emilie MacDonald emiliemac95@gmail.com Lucy Purinton lcpurinton@gmail.com Emilie MacDonald, Drew Trotman, Emily Willis, and Alex Curran-Cardarelli recently joined an extra-institutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

CLASS OF 2015 Katie Maina katherine.n.maina@gmail.com Abby Katz: Abby graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2019, and is now entering her second year in the M.A. in Food Studies program at NYU Steinhardt.

Her primary research interests are food policy, food history, sustainability, social justice, and equity. Abby is also a founder of BIPOC at Govs Alumni Collective, a group of passionate alumni who are committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color at Govs. If you are interested in learning more, contact bipocatgovs@gmail.com. Though she’s a few years removed from her Govs experience, Abby remains disgusted by Govs’ flagrant disregard for its Black and brown community members. She is grateful to have a community of alumni to lean on, and hopes to continue to extend that network to current students.

Kerin Grewal: I am working at Fidelity as a Software Engineer. Since March I have been working from home and going back and forth between my apartment in Boston’s North End and my mom’s house in Rye, NH. It has honestly been a treat to be able to spend so much of my summer at home by the beach

Alex Ofori ’13

and with my family. I’ve also spent a lot of time with Isa Berzansky and Namita Bhattacharya who, like me, have both fled home from Boston for the time being. Luckily work has remained steady and consistent despite the change of scenery, and I am very fortunate and grateful for that.

Katie Maina: I am working in an Alzheimer’s research lab at UCLA studying how the microtubule binding protein tau travels through the brain. When California began the “safer at home” advisory, our lab shut down for research and we all focused on writing papers and manuscripts. We are now back up and running but working in shifts so that no more than five people are in the lab at a time. During quarantine I was able to reconnect with many friends from Govs (Racquel Nassor, Kate Anderson-Song, McLean Sherrin, Wallace Douglas, Hazel Campbell, Liam McDonough) and we have been doing weekly Zoom calls playing games and watching movies together, which I have really enjoyed.

Mattea Preece: I’ve been working from home for the past 4ish months — I’m an equities trader in Manhattan, so it has been a challenging transition working in a role that no one could have ever imagined would be able to be done from home...it was a lot of trial and error at first, but we’ve managed to find a system that works for us. Still unclear how long I’ll be working from home, but nothing beats wearing sweatpants to work.

Of course, being in Manhattan in itself has been a challenge. It was the epicenter of the pandemic for a long time and at times it felt like a post-apocalyptic desert. But things have improved (still not perfect) on that front with rules being strictly enforced i.e. lockdowns and masks. And of course, Manhattan and the other boroughs have also been in the spotlight for its mobilization of the BLM movement. I am fortunate to have been able to join in on several BLM marches and stand as an ally in several rallies in Washington Square Park. The protests and rallies have been incredibly powerful and I feel lucky to have been able to be a part of them. New York has maintained momentum on this front, and I don’t see the presence of the BLM movement slowing down anytime soon. I recently joined an extra-institutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

69

students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism. All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com. I am so lucky to say that I talk to my best friends from Govs almost every day. I am hoping that I will also be able to connect with them (from a socially appropriate distance!) while I am home staying with my parents.

Racquel Nassor: I have been working as a paralegal at an intellectual property law firm in Washington D.C. but I am currently working from home due to the global pandemic. Like everyone else, it’s mostly been a lot of Zoom calls, staying indoors, and reading.

Hansika Vajayaraghavan: I’m a materials manager at Reebok, so I spend my time creating sustainable and innovative fabrics, although the past few months have been trying to describe fabrics through Microsoft Teams calls. I’m staying connected with the Govs community by helping develop an alumni mentorship program for students of color at Govs along with Felix Emiliano ’11, which is an initiative of the BIPOC at Govs collective. Otherwise I’m spending my summer continuing my work in sustainable fashion and practicing safe social distancing with Wallace on the beach!

Minnesota Freedom Fund, the Black Visions Collective, For The Gworls, and other mutual aid and bail funds and encourages everyone to donate to other Black-led organizations as well. Lastly, Scooter Liapin has recently joined an extra-institutional group called the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective. The group is committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com.

Lily Bailey is dissatisfied with the current diversity and inclusion efforts of the Academy. For too long the concerns and wellbeing of BIPOC students have not been taken seriously, creating an environment where white students and BIPOC students have vastly different experiences. She has joined the Govs BIPOC Alumni Collective, a group committed to increasing measures of safety and support provided to current students of color by holding the institution accountable to strengthening a culture of anti-racism.

All are welcome. To learn more, email bipocatgovs@gmail.com. Caring about an institution means challenging it to improve.

Nora Bradford: Nora has been working in a neuroscience lab at UPenn and will be starting a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at UC Irvine in the fall where she will use computational methods as well as neuroimaging to study consciousness and metacognition.

CLASS OF 2016 Samara Gallagher samarajgallagher@gmail.com Mitzi Wiggin mitzisnow123@gmail.com Scooter Liapin is extremely dissatisfied with the Academy’s responses to the many racist incidents caused by faculty and students, as shared by the Blackatgovs Instagram account. They are equally concerned about safety/support measures for students of color at Govs. Due to their concerns about campus climate for students of color, Scooter Liapin has opted out of donating to The Governor’s Fund this year. Instead, they’ve donated to the

70

THE ARCHON

|

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

In Memoriam In each issue of The Archon we honor those community members who have passed since the previous publication. The death date of those alumni, faculty, and staff who have passed are listed here. Full obituaries are posted on our website at thegovernorsacademy.org/inmemoriam.

1939

1949

1959

John H. Gannett

Jacob Brown

Died July 16, 2020

Died July 20, 2020

1967 Burdette E. “Pete” Bostwick, Jr.

Remington A. Clark III

Died July 13, 2020

Died April 27, 2020

Roy C. Nash

David Tucker

Died August 20, 2020

Died June 30, 2020

William H. Drake

1940

Died August 27, 2020 Edwin Sheffield Died April 25, 2020

1951

Kenneth Stein

Robert L. Wenz

Died August 1, 2020

Died April 29, 2020

1944

1952 Steven K. Kauffman

Robert C. Erb, Jr.

Died December 29, 2019

1962

Howard L. Comis

Died July 20, 2020

Died October 8, 2011 Peter A. Halsband Died July 24, 1985

Robert F. Mann

Adam L. Levin

Died April 1, 2020

1942

Died July 2, 2020

1965

David W. Goodwin

David Parker Sheppard, Jr.

1953

Died April 13, 2020

Franklin “Fritz” Freeman

Died March 26, 2020

1974 Raymond E. Brooks Died April 16, 2020

Died April 11, 2020 George Edward Dodge, Jr.

1948

Died March 19, 2020

Peter G. Kelly

1963

Died March 30, 2020 Robert Phillip Knauff

Died March 19, 2020

1970

1975

1966

William Leslie Nutter

Malcolm Gourlie ’66 Died June 8, 2020

1954

Frank Kenney

Bradford Crane

Scott B. Kay

Died July 13, 2020

Died February 28, 2020

Died August 11, 2020

Died March 12, 2020

2001

Robert B. Skeele Died May 24, 2020

Matthew Tomasetta Gardiner W. White

Died May 12, 2020

Died March 16, 2020

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21 |

THE ARCHON

71

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

35

Faculty Profile

Years at the Academy 30 years

Responsibilities/Duties Associate Athletic Director, Head Athletic Trainer, Advisor, Former dorm parent for 26 years (20 of them as Dorm Head in Evans Cottage)

Favorite Books Boys in the Boat, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Lord of the Flies, and Moby Dick

Favorite Music Bruce Springsteen

Activities and Interests

Jeff Wotton P’14, ’17 For the past thirty years, one of the most frequently heard phrases in the field house: “Have you seen Wotty? Where’s Wotty?” It is most certainly not because Jeff Wotton (Wotty to, well, everyone) is sitting behind a desk or computer somewhere or sneaking in some personal time, but because he is always on the move. While many people say it’s not possible to multitask well, Wotty is the exception that makes the rule. A remarkably quick processor, he is notably skilled at addressing a vast array of issues and concerns, whether they be athletic injury-related, equipment needs, facilities needs, or multiple other possible needs.

Wotty is always problem solving on the fly—quickly, efficiently, and with humor and a big smile on his face.

While his contributions to the Academy do not bring him into the classroom, he is a remarkably valuable contributor to the moral, physical, and ethical development of the many students with whom he regularly interacts. For multiple decades, young, anxious 14-year-old males and their equally nervous parents were greeted on day one at the entrance to

the Evans Cottage dorm by Wotty, only to be reassured and comforted that Wotty would be a major player in their transition to school and the beginning of their adult development.

While most faculty members have significant interactions with about 100 students per year (in the classroom, dorm, advising, and on the field), Wotty plays a direct role in the well-being of well over 300 students in any given season, not to mention his advisees. And that’s just the Governor’s student-athletes. Hundreds of ISL athletes have reaped the benefits of this consummate professional year in and year out, and for countless game days. Wotty addresses the inevitable mishaps and the emotional struggles that accompany the injuries of our opponents as well. After receiving an untold number of calls over his career from the parents of injured opponents, it’s become clear that Wotty is not only tremendously dedicated to our own students, but he applies his vast knowledge to the physical and emotional well-being of any studentathlete (and their parents) that he comes in contact with.

Golf, cooking, working in and out of my house on projects, watching all levels of football, spending time with my family in York, Maine; and on Sundays, watching the Patriots

Passions Cooking for my family and friends could be my favorite thing to do. I love trying new recipes, especially when they come out delicious. Ha, ha!

Education Degrees Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology/Athletic Training

Perhaps Wotty’s most endearing attribute is that he is a people person. He knows when humor will benefit or when true seriousness of purpose is what the moment best calls for. Wotty’s Emotional IQ, coupled with his vast knowledge of all things boarding school, makes him the consummate person to don the cardinal red and white. “Where’s Wotty?”

Fortunately for us and the thousands of students he’s impacted, Wotty is at Govs.

FA L L 2 0 2 0 / W I N T E R 2 0 21

|

THE ARCHON

73

T HE GOVERNOR’S ACA D EM Y BYF IELD, MA 01922

JUNE 11 – JUNE 13, 2021 A fully virtual event celebrating the Academy’s graduating classes ending in 0, 1, 5, and 6.

Reunite with classmates, faculty, and friends during a weekend filled with virtual and on-campus programs for alumni and families of all ages.

Questions? Visit our website or contact Director of Alumni & Parent Engagement Amy Swiniarski for additional information. thegovernorsacademy.org/alumni/events