Progress the Magazine for Alumni of The Winchendon School - February 2020

STOPPING BY AND BEING NEIGHBORLY Dan Shattuck and The Art of The Farm

Current and former faculty Sam Johnson, Alex Magay, and Elliot Harvey recently hiked Mount Monadnock and then on the way home stopped at long time Winchendon School faculty member Dan Shattuck's house. Dan was enthusiastic to see everyone, but, being Dan, he was on his way out to load 25 hay bales into his truck and deliver them to a customer. For a few minutes, Travis (Dan's wife) and Dan chatted with their visitors in his home under the beautiful oil painting of Mount Monadnock that hangs in his rustic living room. He told the crew about how he was hired at The Winchendon School. In 1965, Travis and Dan had just returned from the Peace Corps in South America, and he was looking for a job. He ran into a Winchendon School teacher named Dan Johnson, who told him that they had an opening and connected him to Headmaster Robert Marr. Dan went for an interview, got the job, and, after he began teaching at Winchendon, he bought the farm in Jaffrey where he has lived and worked ever since (almost 60 years!). Amazingly, the same teacher who connected Dan Shattuck to The Winchendon School is the grandfather of a current Winchendon student, Amelia Johnson ‘21!

Dan spoke fondly of his years farming and of Mount Monadnock.

He still regularly "hays" 300 acres and sells the hay for feed and other purposes. He also raises ducks and chickens. Outside, Dan pointed out that you could hear the mountain "roar" all the way into the center of Jaffrey (the "roar of the mountain" being the sound of the wind blowing over the top and through the spruce trees). Dan also remembered fondly his days making maple syrup at The Winchendon School.

After they spoke, they went to Dan's large barn and helped him load 25 bales of hay into his white pickup truck. Almost 86 years old, he still slings the hay around with ease!

Photos by Elliot Harvey