berkshire bulletin spring/summer 2015

B U L L E T I N Spring/Summer 2015

B E R K S H I R E

SPOTLIGHT ON

Sustainability

/ Opening Shot /

A common ritual from my youth was my mother each spring, declaring with obvious and infectious glee from the driver’s seat of our family truckster, “Look, kids! The forsythia is out!” My brothers and I would look obligingly out the window to spot the first branches of bright yellow bending over the winding road we grew up on. Her yearly declaration was as dependable and as inevitable as the coming of spring each year. Another spin ’round the sun and,

Like Clockwork

After a particularly long winter, eventually spring arrived at Berkshire this year, as it does. The sun shone, buds ventured forth from branches and the daffodils—even, and perhaps especially, Twiggs’s planted along the crest of the hill at his house—the daffodils bloomed.

“Look, kids! The forsythia is out!” Like clockwork.

So this spring, when the daffodils and the forsythia bloomed, as they do, I thought not only of my mother who passed away in 2008, but also of teacher and coach Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 whom we lost last summer, and Wil Smith, Berkshire’s beloved Dean of Community and Multicultural Affairs, who passed away in February. (See page 64 for a remembrance.) I am reminded

of their legacies. I think of Twiggs’s famous, “Jog; don’t walk,” and Wil’s mantra, “Keep working.” So in honor of those whom we’ve lost, we must continue our own work. Keep jogging, keep working, and the forsythia will keep coming out, again and again.

This issue of the Bulletin introduces Berkshire’s 2015 All-School Read, Oil & Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist, by one of the nation’s leading environmentalists, Bill McKibben. We are thrilled to announce that Mr. McKibben will spend two days at Berkshire in September and will be joined by alumni in sustainability fields, Ned Sullivan ’72 and Lindsey Fielder Cook ’81, for a panel discussion on climate change. You can read more about these alumni and others who are working towards a more sustainable planet, in the pages that follow.

We hope the entire extended community will join students, faculty and staff in reading Oil & Honey, a book whose themes are central to Berkshire’s mission to foster a dedication to environmental stewardship.

Lucia Q. Mulder Editor

The view of South Pinnacle from Twiggs’s lawn, daffodils and forsythia in full bloom this spring

On the cover: Poet’s Walk Park, in Red Hook, New York, is one of a network of free public parks along the Hudson River made possible and protected by the nonprofit organization Scenic Hudson, run by Ned Sullivan ‘72. Photo: Robert Rodriguez, Jr. • www.robertrodriguezjr.com

Spring/Summer 2015

/ Reflection /

Spring/Summer 2015

Our Mission

Rooted in an inspiring natural

setting, Berkshire School

instills the highest standards of

character and citizenship and

a commitment to academic,

artistic, and athletic excellence.

Our community fosters diversity,

a dedication to environmental

stewardship, and an enduring

love for learning.

Features

31 Spotlight on Sustainability 31 All-School Read 2015

32 Ned Sullivan ’72

35 Lindsey Fielder Cook ’81

38 Young Alumni in Sustainability

40 Commencement 2015

Departments

2 Seen Around

4 Reflection

6 Campus News

19 Alumni News

22 Bears at Play

45 Class Notes

61 In Memoriam

Closing Conundrum

Alice Ehrenclou Cole ’76 CHAIR, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Pieter M. MulderHEAD OF SCHOOL

Rob Schur DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT

Carol VisnapuuDIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Bulletin Editor: Lucia Q. MulderASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Class Notes Editor: Kristina Thaute Miller ’97 DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

Design: Hammill Design

Printing: Quality Printing Company

Photography: Gregory Cherin, Michael Hayes, Highpoint Pictures, Lucia Mulder, Britt Plante, Risley Sports Photography, Carol Visnapuu, Virginia Watkins, the Berkshire Archives

Class notes: [email protected]

All other alumni matters: [email protected]

Published by Berkshire School’s Communications and Marketing Office & Advancement Office for alumni, parents and friends of the School.

Berkshire School admits students of any race, color, religious affiliation, national and ethnic origin and qualified handicapped students to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students. We do not discriminate in violation of any law or statute in the administration of our educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.

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40

24

2 Berkshire Bulletin

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21

3Spring/Summer 2015

SEEN AROUND

1. Kurt Schleunes’s Multivariable Calculus class cheers on its energy-efficient (though not so speedy), solar-powered go-kart during a test run. 2. Bellas/Dixon sported a rainbow of colors this spring on GLSEN’s national Day of Silence that calls attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. 3. Sam Gatsos ’17 at the helm of a 1940 Stearman Kaydet, owned by co-pilot John Amundsen, at Tailwheels Flight School in Lakeland, Florida, during the Pro Vita aviation science trip. 4. The cast of Grease was born to hand jive, baby.

Photos by Gregory Cherin, Michael Hayes and Britt Plante

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/ Reflection /

He began singing the Berkshire Hymn, and everyone joined in. When the crowd finished the line, “May thy fair standards, be ours for life,” he stopped them. “Fair stan-dards,” he said. He continued, “For life.”

He said that the standard for the Berk-shire athlete is easy. It’s one word, and that word is: Perfection. “Every athlete on every team at this school,” he said, “can reach per-fection.” Mr. Gulotta said Berkshire athletes can be perfect if they lose every game. They can be perfect if they win half their games. They might not be perfect if they’re

pitcher from Mount Everett High School in Sheffield who was set to join Berkshire in the fall of 1984, the year Mr. Gulotta became head softball coach.

When Mary Ellen saw Mr. Gulotta at registration that fall, she walked over to him with a major limp and said, “Coach Gulotta, I can’t wait to pitch for you!” Then her mother told him the terrible news. Tragically, that summer Mary Ellen was diagnosed with cancer. Her right leg had to be amputated, and she now wore a prosthesis.

Mary Ellen worked all fall, pitching with her father every day. She could pitch – not very fast, but very accurately. In January, however, the cancer came back. She had surgery, chemo and radiation. In the middle of February, Mary Ellen was back in school. Her long, blonde hair was now gone, and she was bald. She wore a red bandana. She told Mr. Gulotta, “I can’t wait to pitch, Coach!”

During spring break, she spent all but one day with her coach, pitching for an hour a day. She started with 15 pitches. By the end of that March she could throw 50. “Pretty slow,” Mr. Gulotta remembers, “but they were right at me,” he said.

Mr. Gulotta kept Mary Ellen on the varsity team that spring. In the last game of the season, the Bears’ record was 6-7, but a win would mean a lot for the opposing team—a championship finish instead of being named co-champs. The game was going pretty well, “and then what happened,” said Mr. Gulotta, “was a foul ball down the first baseline.” When Mary Ellen went to get it, the opposing team noticed her significant limp. They called a time out. The next batter bunted. The ball rolled in between Mary Ellen’s feet, and there was nothing she could do. Runner on first. The next batter bunted, right at her again. The

During a pep rally in Allen Theater during Spirit Week, Mr. Gulotta drove his Vespa onto the stage (“Don’t laugh boys, this is a chick magnet.”) and proceeded to rally the troops as only Bill Gulotta can.

The Perfect Game: Remembering Mary Ellen

undefeated New England champions. His definition? “Perfection is when every single person on a team does everything they can at every practice and at every meet, match or game, for their team, not for themselves.”

Mr. Gulotta shared a story he hoped all students in the audience would carry with them, well beyond graduation. “In my 77 seasons of coaching at Berkshire School,” he said, “I have seen pure perfection only once.” He then went on to tell the amazing story of Mary Ellen Welch ’85, a hot shot

From left, Mary Ellen Welch ’85, Ruthie Lynn ’87 and co-captain Jen Hayes Johns ’86

5Spring/Summer 2015

/ Reflection /

third batter? Same thing. It was Berkshire’s turn for a time out.

When Coach got to the mound, Mary Ellen burst into tears. She then went to the bench to get some water, turned around and yelled, “Come on, Bears! We can win!” “She became the best cheerleader you ever saw,” said Mr. Gulotta. In between innings Mary Ellen told her coach, “I knew you weren’t taking me out of the game. I knew you were taking me out of the last athletic event I’ll ever take part in. I’m really glad you gave me the chance.”

The Bears came back to win that game. “You know how when you win a game you’re not supposed to, people rush over to the pitcher? Not this time,” said Mr. Gulotta. He explained, “That team went to the bench, and they picked up Mary Ellen, and they thanked her for the greatest season of their lives.”

Mary Ellen finished Springfield College in three years by taking classes during the summers. Four weeks later, she passed away. According to Mr. Gulotta, “Mary Ellen Welch spent her entire year at Berkshire School in athletic perfection.”

Bill Gulotta, who founded the Western New England Softball Association, served as head coach of Berkshire’s varsity softball team from 1987-2008. During his 21-year tenure, his players compiled a record of 160 wins and 88 losses. His 1987 team stepped up from Division II to win the Division I New England Championship.

Mary Ellen’s senior year photo in the 1985 Trail. In the Mail

“I know the Bulletin has chronicled the story of noted alum Lincoln Kirstein ’26 – co-founder of the NYC Ballet, man of the arts, etc. [in the Fall 2007 issue]. What I didn’t know is that he was also a Monuments Man.

As it turns out, the character played by actor Bob Balaban [in the 2014 movie “Monuments Men,” directed by George Clooney] is loosely based on the World War II experiences of Kirstein. Most notably, Kirstein and his Army compatriots found the Ghent Altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers, which was hidden by the Nazis in the Altaussee salt mines.”

Thanks to Rex Morgan ’73 for this lesser-known fact about one of Berkshire’s most renowned alumni. For more information about Private First Class Lincoln Kirstein and his Army years, visit www.monumentsmenfoundation.org.

The 1923-24 staff of The Dome, with contributing editor Lincoln Kirstein third from left

Juyoung Lee ’15 won a 2015 Scholastic Art National Silver Medal for her painting The Life of Bearbricks, above. Out of this year’s 175,000 total submissions, only 2,250 (or 1.3%) were selected for national recognition.

Silver Medalist


/ Campus News /

Congrats Class of 2015!

Bates CollegeBentley UniversityBoston College (3)Bowdoin CollegeBrandeis UniversityBucknell University (2) Carnegie Mellon University Case Western Reserve UniversityClarkson UniversityColby College (2)Colgate UniversityUniversity of Colorado at Boulder (2)Colorado CollegeConnecticut College (2)University of ConnecticutCornell University (2)Curry CollegeDartmouth College (2)Davidson CollegeUniversity of Denver (2) Dickinson College (2)

Drew UniversityUniversity of EdinburghElon University (5)Emory University – Oxford College (2)Endicott CollegeFairfield UniversityFranklin and Marshall CollegeGettysburg CollegeHamilton College (2)Howard UniversityJohn Carroll UniversityKenyon College (2)Lafayette CollegeLehigh University (2)Loyola University MarylandMassachusetts College of Art and DesignMcGill UniversityUniversity of Michigan (2)Middlebury College (2)Montana State University

New York University (2)Northeastern UniversityUniversity of Notre Dame (Gateway Program)Occidental CollegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaProvidence CollegeQuinnipiac University (3)Rhodes College University of RichmondRoanoke CollegeRochester Institute of Technology (2)Rollins College (3)Sacred Heart UniversitySaint Anselm CollegeSaint John’s UniversitySaint Joseph’s UniversitySkidmore College Southern Methodist University (2)St. Lawrence University (6)Stanford University Stetson University

Suffolk UniversitySUNY College ESF Syracuse UniversityTexas Christian University (2)The University of Texas, AustinTrinity College (4)Union College (2)United States Military AcademyUrsinus CollegeUniversity of VirginiaWake Forest UniversityWashington University in St. LouisWesleyan University (2)Williams College (2)The College of WoosterYale University

Sixth formers donned their college gear on National Deposit Day.Here’s where they’re headed...

7Spring/Summer 2015

/ Campus News /

TAKE A HIKE!

RKMP Director Mike Dalton revived the Mountain Passport program this year to celebrate the arrival of spring and encourage the community to enjoy the Mountain and beyond. Points were available for hiking to different destinations (Mt. Everett: 400) or enjoying outdoor activities (canoeing the Housatonic: 300; clearing the Ski Trail: 200), and prizes were awarded in three categories: students, faculty and staff, and families. The ticket to tallying up points? Sending selfies, left, as proof of completing each task.

1. The Perkins family hiked to the “blowdown” on the Telephone Trail.

2. Black Rock in the rain? Not a problem for this crew.

3. Brooks Hamilton ’16 captured the view from South Pinnacle.

4. This group of intrepid seniors didn’t let a little rain get in the way of their last Mountain Day!

5. Cooper Tuckerman ’18 (right), who won first prize in the student category, paddles the Housatonic with Miles de Loayza ’18.

6. The top of Mount Everett: one of Mr. Nielsen and Ms. Middleton’s many mountain conquests!

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3 4

5 6


/ Campus News /

Dr. Christoph Jost, the head of Hildegardis Schule, a school in Hagen, Germany, had a life-changing experience as a high school exchange student in San Francisco. The experience was so transformative that, as a head of school, he was determined to offer the same kind of experience to his own students. The exchange with Berkshire grew naturally from a conversation he had with Berkshire parent and board member, Jane Kreke, who lives in Hagen.

During Pro Vita 2014, faculty members Martina Moodey and Andrew D’Ambrosio led a group of Berkshire students to Germany, where they stayed with host families, attended classes, and went on day-trips to fully experience German culture. Their visit happened to land during Carnivale, making for an extra special two days in Berlin. While our students were nervous at first, Moodey loved watching them discover that their

growth. Teenagers, who often underestimate themselves, need real-life experiences to see that they can do things on their own, far outside their comfort zones. They get a chance to use their English with native speakers while melding the two cultures. In the end, he says, the best part is watching the students’ growing self-confidence.

The plan for next year is already in motion. According to Kreke, Berkshire students will return to Hildegardis and travel to the beautiful region of Bavaria, which will include visits to Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle. The goal of creating an ongoing cultural collaboration, intermingling students from different cultures, appears to be realized. In the process, it has become clear that the gap between us really is quite small.

– Virginia Watkins

Hosting German Students for Pro Vita

TRADING PLACES

similarities to their German hosts far outweighed any differences. In the end, last year’s guests were very excited to turn the tables and play host at Berkshire this year.

Dr. Jost and Annette Boehmer, also from Hildegardis, accompanied the original 17 German host students to Berkshire this winter, where they took Pro Vita classes and lived in the dorms. This visit, too, was fully immersive, leaving the German students most impressed by the way students and faculty live on campus together and the bonds that are formed because of it.

Campus life provoked the most conversations, with one student likening the dorms to “a big family in a little house on this big campus.” Their visit to campus was bookended by a trip to Boston and then a final visit to New York City in a snowstorm before departing for home.

As Dr. Jost put it, the exchange experience is one of accelerated

A cultural exchange program with a school in Hagen, Germany was realized by Hildegardis Schule Head Dr. Christoph Jost (rear center) and Berkshire parent Jane Kreke (far right).

9Spring/Summer 2015

/ Campus News /

Laxers Take the Plunge for a Good Cause

Berkshire’s boys and girls lacrosse teams jumped right into their seasons this chilly April by participating in the “Spring Splash” (or “Polar Plunge!”) in support of the Jane Lloyd Fund. Jane Lloyd ’81, was a Berkshire alumna and a former Bears lacrosse player whose cancer diagnosis at age 34 tragically took her life.

Jane grew up in nearby Salisbury, Conn. While at Berkshire, she played field hockey, squash and lacrosse, enjoyed cross country skiing and was a member of The Trail yearbook committee. After college, she eventually moved back home to Salisbury where she started her own gardening business. In 1997, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. When Jane became too sick to work, friends, family and community members paid her household bills so that she could remain in her home.

The Jane Lloyd Fund was created to thank the community and to continue the cycle of generosity that allowed Jane to remain at home during her battle with cancer. The fund helps cancer patients in need in the community with daily expenses and continues to help the family give back to the community that was so invaluable at the Lloyds’ time of need.

Caroline Kenny Burchfield, one of the fund’s three directors, reports that the organizers have been looking for new ways to increase fundraising because the demand in the area is so high. Burchfield, whose husband, Chris Burchfield, is the head coach of the boys varsity lacrosse team at Hotchkiss, thought inviting local athletic teams to the Spring Splash might provide just the boost they were looking for.

“Participants gather a few sponsors for the challenge of dipping into the frigid lake!” Burchfield explained when she invited Berkshire’s lacrosse teams to participate. She continued, “The event reflects the spirit and camaraderie inherent in athletic teams and provides a compelling and simple opportunity to contribute to an important cause while honoring the memory of a former Berkshire laxer.”

About 25 Berkshire lacrosse players took the plunge and raised nearly $1,000 in support of their fellow Bear Jane Lloyd’s memory and legacy. “We are so happy to have been a part of the Spring Splash,” said Girls Varsity Lacrosse Coach Jean Woodward Maher. “It was such a fun afternoon! This is a great new tradition for Berkshire lacrosse.”

“The Berkshire lax teams transformed the Spring Splash,” said Burchfield. “Their numbers, enthusiasm and spirit created a contagious energy and joy that animated the event. What’s a little cold (icy!) water amidst a boisterous pack of warm hearts?”

To learn more about the Jane Lloyd Fund, visit www.thejanelloydfund.org.

Above: Members of Berkshire’s lacrosse teams joined teams from Hotchkiss and Housatonic Valley Regional High School for a dip in the icy April waters of Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville, Conn. to support the Jane Lloyd Fund.

Left: Jane Lloyd ’81 as pictured in her senior year photo from The Trail.


/ Campus News /

Peter R. Kellogg ’61 retired from Berkshire’s Board of Trustees this May after an extraordinary 34 years of service. Mr. Kellogg’s philanthropic leadership has inspired those around him for decades, and his generosity has touched every aspect of the school.

In thanks for his loyalty, service and astounding kindness to Berkshire, the entire school community gathered on Schappert Field outside the morning’s board meeting in Bourne Common Room to surprise Mr. Kellogg with a serenade of the Berkshire Hymn followed by a hearty rendition of “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow!” In closing, students presented Mr. Kellogg with a handcrafted, skin-on-frame Kevlar canoe made by RKMP Director Mike Dalton, longtime former English department chair and boat builder Hilary Russell and students in the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program.

Thank you, Mr. Kellogg

Peter Kellogg (front and center) with Head of School Pieter Mulder and Berkshire School’s Board of Trustees on the morning of his retirement from the board after a combined 34 years of service

Students in the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program presented Peter Kellogg with a skin-on-frame canoe at his last meeting of Berkshire’s Board of Trustees.

11Spring/Summer 2015

/ Campus News /

Board of Trustees: New Members 2014-2015

Cary Weil Barnett ’76A native of New York City, Cary is

a resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland and has worked in Washington, D.C. for

35 years in politics and senior levels of government. She has held administrative and

policy positions and political appointments at the White House, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Cary is a second-generation Berkshire graduate and one of seven family members to attend the School; her father, the late Lee Weil ’44C, served on Berkshire’s board for over 30 years. Cary majored in political science at the University of Vermont, and attended School Year Abroad in Barcelona, Spain and the University of Salzburg, Austria.

Currently engaged in philanthropic and volunteer activities in the community and local schools, Cary is also a former competitive cyclist, a lifelong skier and a daily practitioner of Bikram yoga. Cary and her husband, Rick, of Casper, Wyoming, have two children, Jackson and Victoria ’18, who will be a Berkshire Bear in the fall.

David Morse David is the Managing Director

and Equity Partner at Neuberger Berman. As the Global Co-Head of the

Co-Investment Group of NB Alternatives Advisors, he manages three private equity

funds with committed capital of $4.5 billion. A 1983 graduate of Hamilton College, where he majored in economics, he went on to earn his MBA at the Tuck School at Dartmouth in 1989. His prior professional experiences include positions at Lehman Brothers, Private Equity Partners, GE Capital and Chemical Bank.

David currently serves on numerous corporate boards including Behavioral Health Group, Salient Federal Solutions, Gabriel Brothers’ Stores, Taylor Precision Instruments and Extraction Oil & Gas. He is a member of the Alumni Council of Hamilton College and the MBA Advisory Board at Tuck and is currently on the Tuck Annual Giving Executive Committee.

David’s wife, Kimberly, is a 1988 graduate of Lafayette and serves on several school and hospital boards in the Bronxville area. They have three children, the youngest of whom attends Berkshire (Tyler ’17). Both David and Kimberly enjoy tennis, paddle and skiing.

Berkshire’s Advisory Board is a group of alumni and parents, co-chaired by Jed Scala ’85 and Bob Thomas ’79, who provide counsel and serve as advocates for the school. The board convened in April for its annual spring meeting on campus.

“We had a terrific and productive weekend under the Mountain,” said Thomas. “We are all looking forward to engaging fellow classmates and the alumni community through several initiatives including: social media, regional events/networking and student internships/career mentorship. There is nothing like being back in the Berkshires and on campus. It is as beautiful as your fondest memory of it.”

Front row, from left: Rob Funderburg ’80, P’15, Lisa Carlton-Wilson P’15, Jim Sheldon-Dean ’69, P’06, Billy Grace ’82, Dylan Mattes ’96, Director of Alumni Relations Kristina Miller ’97 Back row, from left: Jay Overbye ’82, Jeremy Miller ’96, Bob Thomas ’79, Jon Nicolazzo ’90, Anthony Addison ’82, Nina Bradley Clark ’90, Head of School Pieter Mulder, David Locke ’79, Kathy Rines P’02, ’06

On Board With the Advisory Board


/ Campus News /

During Pro Vita, Berkshire was lucky enough to meet Japanese potter Hiroshige Kato. Hiro San came to Berkshire after hosting ceramics teacher Brandi Dahari last summer at his studio in Seto, Japan. Dahari was the 2014 recipient of a grant from the Jonathan W. Strom ’64 Program for Asian Studies, which is designed to promote a wider understanding of Asian cultures and languages among the faculty, and therefore, students.

Dahari traveled to Japan to learn traditional pottery from a master. Fortunately for all of us, the master she trained with was Hiro San who, beyond his clear skill in working with clay, has a great desire to spread the word about Japanese handcrafts to the world.

Dahari credits her time in Japan, and especially her time with Hiro San, with making her much more proficient in wheel-throwing and with developing a mindfulness about material waste. She became more comfortable and confident about teaching the Japanese style of pottery.

Descended from a long line of ceramic masters, Hiro San taught both a course in clay and a second course, focused on preparing Japanese comfort food. For him, it all boils down to what it means to take care and create something precious.

Dahari says that her experience in Japan was like going back to kindergarten all over again. She started from scratch and frequently found herself stopping her work to watch Hiro San work. “With clay,” she notes, “one of the best ways to get better is

MASTER CLASS

Master potter Hiroshige Kato from Seto, Japan, taught both a pottery class and a Japanese cooking course during Pro Vita 2015.


/ Campus News /

to fail many times.” Repetition, she explains, creates body memory, and she learned over time how to fix her mistakes, one problem at a time.

It was a mutually beneficial experience, with Dahari returning able to communicate what she learned to her students, and Hiro San having shown another student the lasting beauty of Japanese handcrafts. When Dahari invited Hiro San to Berkshire, he immediately accepted.

After arriving on campus, Hiro San was initially surprised to find that the students were truly interested in him, his life and his language. He hadn’t expected that and really enjoyed sharing his culture. “Every day,” he admitted, “it feels more like my school.” In fact, Hiro San has invited students to Seto to see the real Japan, just as he experienced the real America.

For their part, the students were mesmerized by both the man and his work. In the clay class, they watched, transfixed, as he showed them how to throw pots his way. And over the course of the week, their work began to reflect his tutelage. In the cooking class, every day was something new, including one day in which students learned the tea ceremony and more about Hiro San’s culture.

Thanks to the Strom grant and Pro Vita, both Mrs. Dahari and our community have benefitted from a generational knowledge base and a very real love of passing that knowledge on. Not only did Mrs. Dahari get a chance to learn from a master, but we did, too. And it wasn’t all about pottery or food.

– Virginia Watkins

All in the FamilyOnce again, Berkshire saw more siblings and children of graduates enroll than ever before: 71 and counting!

Front row, from left: Pedro Escobar ’15 (brother Juan ’13), Margaret Butler ’16 (sister Liz ’13) Second row: Samone DeFreese ’16 (sister Samantha ’12), Mariana Echeverria Escobar ’15 (brother Luis ’13), Gerry Gimenez-Valdes ’15 (brother Andres ’13), Dillon Cunningham ’15 (father Sutton Cunningham ’80), Jay Allen ’15 (brother Michael ’13), Ivey Mueller ’16 (mother Hilary Mueller ’93), Caroline Slyer ’16 (sister Julia ’14), Katherine Frick ’16 (brother George ’14), Jared Renzi ’16 (brother Matt ’13) Third row: Jay Bolton ’16 (sister Haley ’13), Kevin Xu ’16 (sister Catherine ’14), T.J. Stewart ’16 (father Titus Stewart ’89), James Funderburg ’15 (father Rob Funderburg ’80), Peter Giordano ’15 (brother Alex ’11), Georgia McLanahan ’16 (mother Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86), Paige Raab ’16 (sister Kyla ’13), Lindsy Dario ’16 (mother Lara Gutsch Dario ’86), Chris Cooke ’16 (sister Hannah ’14), Jake McLanahan ’16 (mother Lara Schefler McLanahan ’86), Corey Wieczorek ’16 (mother Lynette Prescott ’81, brother Matty ’14) Fourth row: Jamie Ernst ’15 (brother Tim ’13), Mary Corcoran ’15 (brothers Henry ’12, Charlie ’14), Melody Barros ’15 (sister Ashley Glenn ’09), Brendan Moloy ’15 (brother Dan ’12), Henry Manley ’15 (father Henry Manley ’85), Olivia Jansing ’16, Another Kushaina ’15 (brother User ’10), Jim Streett ’16 (mother Carolyn Balch Streett ’83) Fifth row: Ben Harff ’15 (sister Kayla ’11), Dan Driscoll ’16 (sister Anna ’13), Bryce Laigle ’15 (sister Chloe ’12), Christopher Kreke ’15 (sisters Katharina ’12, Karolin ’13), Jackson Aldam ’15 (brother Will ’14), Jordan Greco ’15 (brother Nick ’13), Matt Licata ’15 (brothers Michael ’12, Chris ’13), Hunter Borwick ’16 (father John Borwick ’81, mother Ingrid van Zon Borwick ’83, brother Jackson ’13)

Front row, from left: Daly Banevicius ’17 (sister Merit Glover ’14), Charlotte MacKenzie ’18 (brother Nate ’14), Nele Janssen ’18 (brother Felix ’12), Jack Grace ’17 (sister Ally ’12), Jackson Brex ’18 (moth-er Samantha Cooper ’89), Abbey Turner ’17 (brother Cody ’13), Kendall Pollart ’17 (brother Quintin ’14) Second row: Isabelle Maher ’18 (brother Sam ’12, sister Maddy ’13), Sophia McCarthy ’18 (sister Maureen ’14), Kathryn Driscoll ’18 (sister Anna ’13), Jade Shatkin ’17 (sister Juliet ’12, brother Jared ’13), Andie McGraw ’17 (father Robin McGraw ’70, sister Maddie ’07), Madison Biasin ’17 (sister Camryn ’14), Neeka Daemi ’17 (sisters Arianna ’10, Roya ’12), Alea Laigle ’17 (sister Chloe ’12), Hanna Graebner ’17 (sister Emmi ’14) Third row: Luke Streett ’17 (mother Carolyn Balch Streett ’83), Kenny Sperl ’17 (sisters Suzanne ’06, Cyndi ’10), Jack Scarafoni ’17 (father Matt Scarafoni ’89), Jack Weeden ’17 (father Donald Weeden ’70), Tanner Boyle ’17 (mother Megan McDonnell Boyle ’86), Liam Bullock ’17 (mother Bebe Clark Bullock ’86, sister Addie ’14), Luke Scarafoni ’18 (father Matt Scarafoni ’89), Gavin Bigall ’17 (mother Jodi Behr Bigall ’80), Mark Driscoll ’17 (sister Anna ’13), Will Perekslis ’17 (sister Sophie ’14), Ian Heissenbuttel ’17 (sister Anna ’13)

FIFTH & SIXTH

FORMERS

THIRD & FOURTH

FORMERS


/ Campus News /

GOING ELECTRIC During the fall semester, students in Rob Lloyd’s Sustainability class were charged with researching the logistics of installing an electric car charging station on campus. A Berkshire board member originally raised the idea, and Mr. Lloyd and his students were excited to take on the challenge.

himself referring company reps directly to the students to answer questions about the School’s needs. They did not disappoint.

Scott Lloyd ’15 recalled that, by the end of one salesperson’s pitch, they were “ridiculously educated” about charging stations and what they can do. Overall, the research and development phase taught each of them things that they never would have learned otherwise.

Four students – Lloyd along with John Leasure ’15, Katherine Frick ’16 and Evan Liddy ’16 – continued to work on the project in the second semester when others moved on to different initiatives.

As part of their second semester work, students applied for a grant from the Massachusetts Electric Vehicle Incentive Program, part of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. They worked around the clock to submit their application quickly, as funding is limited. In April,

Since the closest public charging station is in Lakeville, Conn., approximately 15 miles away, and since the number of Berkshire families and parents who drive electric cars is on the rise, the station would fill a need on campus. Students also hoped that the charger’s presence would remind faculty, staff and visitors that electric is a viable option when looking to purchase a car.

Students in the class did the bulk of the research during the fall semester. Though initially daunted by the challenge of figuring out where to start, they began by gathering information about companies that would be able to provide maintenance in the area and the general feasibility of the project. They then conducted interviews and selected a company to supply the charger.

Mr. Lloyd acted primarily as a guide throughout, giving students agency in the process and trusting them to do their due diligence. He even found


/ Campus News /

Above: A mock-up of the proposed site of Berkshire’s car charging station, the upper parking lot of the Stewart Athletic Center. Right: The 2014-2015 Sustainability class whose hard work brought a car charging station to campus

Director of Sustainability Rob Lloyd joined Berkshire from the Island School in Eleuthera, Bahamas, where he led the human ecology department and served as dean of students. Rob holds a B.S. in earth science and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction, both from Montana State University. He has led month-long sailing expeditions, telemark skiing trips and numerous trips through NOLS, including a backcountry ski excursion in the Teton Valley during Pro Vita 2015.

Rob teaches biology in addition to Berkshire’s signature Sustainability course. He also coaches cross country and leads the winter RKMP program. Rob lives in Eipper with his wife, Nadine, who teaches studio and digital art, and their daughter, Brooke.

Rob Lloyd pictured below with Captain Sustainability, aka Jonny Kenyon ’16

they received $3,500 from the state, which covers about half the cost of the charger itself. Plans moved ahead quickly thereafter, and the charger was installed over the summer.

Two of the four students, Liddy and Frick, will be on campus next year to do follow-up and monitor the charger’s use. The standard Level Two charger will take the average electric car about two-to-three hours to receive a significant charge. According to Frick, “that means that a parent could arrive for a game or a concert, drop off their car and come back afterwards to find it all charged.”

Liddy reported that the coolest part of this project has been “learning how far and how quickly this technology

has progressed.” He hopes that more Berkshire car owners will be inspired to go electric.

Leasure sees this as a game changer in his educational career, so far. “This wasn’t just a project on paper,” he explained. “This is a real-life project that has the potential to cause exponential change. There’s nothing cooler than that.”

Mr. Lloyd concurs. “It’s cool,” he said, “because it’s real. This is the type of project that makes me excited to work at Berkshire. It is rewarding to see students facing real challenges, overcoming them and accomplishing their goals.”


/ Campus News /

Berkshire is pleased to announce that Rob Schur joined the community as our Director of Advancement on July 6th. Most recently, Rob served as Associate Director of Advancement at Pingry School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, where he oversaw the school’s advancement operations, communications, development systems, and prospect research and reporting, and also served as an assistant coach for Pingry’s varsity football team.

Rob Schur with his son Robbie (8), wife Jane and younger son, Chet (6)

Rob’s background is in both institutional fundraising and corporate management. He held front-line fundraising roles at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., as they successfully executed a $425 million campaign. In the private sector, Rob was an executive within the Federated Group, Inc. in Arlington Heights, Ill., where he served as director of their supply chain and logistics subsidiary and their international sales and brokerage team.

The Berk-Schur YearsIntroducing Our New Director of Advancement

Before entering the advancement field, Rob coached football at the collegiate level for nine years at Amherst and Ithaca College.

“From my time at Amherst, I always admired Berkshire from afar,” said Schur. “The idyllic campus with a mountain backdrop seemed like the perfect place to live, work, study and grow. When I visited this winter, I found a community that was so proud of ‘their own’ Berkshire. The energy on campus, in the community, and embodied by school leadership is contagious. Seeing a tremendous institution so uniquely poised and prepared to take its next steps was truly something I couldn’t wait to be a part of. I’m really looking forward to working together with the team to ensure that current and future students can experience Berkshire at its best.”

A West Milford, New Jersey native, Rob graduated from Amherst College in 1998 with a B.A. in political science, and received his M.Ed. in secondary education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2002. Rob’s wife, Jane, attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she majored in elementary education and later earned her Massachusetts teaching credentials and master’s degree in education. The Schurs have two sons, Robbie (8) and Chet (6), and will live on campus in Weil House.

Welcome, Schurs!


/ Campus News /

AMSR Alumni in Print eLife is a scientific journal that publishes research in the

life sciences and biomedicine from the “most fundamental and theoretical work, through to translational, applied and clinical research.” It has a 213-member Board of Reviewing Editors, all highly accomplished scientists. They usually don’t cover the research of high school students. Except for certain occasions when they do.

The work of Edeline Loh ’14 and Nathaniel MacKenzie ’14, both two-year members of the Advanced Math/Science Research (AMSR) program, was published in eLife on April 28. Loh and MacKenzie (now studying at Duke and Davidson, respectively) isolated, sequenced and annotated viral genomes from bacteriophages isolated on campus last year. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect, and replicate in, bacteria and are the next frontier in antimicrobial therapies for multi-drug resistant bacteria such as Mycobacterium. Improving scientists’ understanding of bacteriophages helps them gather information about the genetic makeup of viruses and the more that are isolated, sequenced and analyzed, the better their understanding. Loh and MacKenzie were up for the challenge.

Genetic material was harvested from the viruses and that material was sent for high-throughput Ion Torrent sequencing at the University of Pennsylvania. Sequence information was returned to the students and additional analyses were performed to determine the genetic organization and relatedness to recently isolated viruses.

The study the AMSR alumni contributed to is noteworthy in the field for its scientific contributions, and also because it was authored by a staggering 2,863 people, the second largest collaborative group of researchers, most of whom were college undergraduates. And two of whom were Berkshire students.

—Dr. April Burch, Director of the AMSR program

Insta-Green Insta-Gray Instagram

instagram.com/berkshireschool

Sam Shapiro ’08, founder of custom jewelry

company Nava New York, designed a signature ring

for Berkshire with the help of this year’s graduating

class. When we posted this photo by Lexi Merison ’15

on Instagram, inquiries from alumni came pouring in

faster than you can say “new tradition.”

To order your Berkshire ring, email [email protected].

Nava New York will generously donate a portion of proceeds

from sales of all Berkshire rings to the School’s Annual Fund.


/ Campus News /

William Standish Knowles ’34 arrived at Berkshire when he was just twelve. The son of George B. Knowles ’09, one of founder Seaver Buck’s “old boys,” as Mr. Buck referred to Berkshire’s first few classes of graduates, and the brother of Jim Knowles ’33, Dr. Knowles went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001.

Berkshire honored its Nobel Laureate this spring with an all-school assembly during which Head of School Pieter Mulder painted a picture of Knowles’ time at Berkshire and AP chemistry teacher Mandy Morgan explained the significance (and translated the chemistry) of Dr. Knowles’ research.

At Berkshire, Billy Knowles was an academic standout who, upon acceptance to Harvard, was deemed too young for college. Mr. Mulder read from Knowles’ college application, completed by Mr. Buck himself, which reported that Knowles was “unusually capable in all subjects except English, in which he is only fair,” giving students in the audience great hope and a good chuckle. At Mr. Buck’s suggestion, Knowles took a PG year at Andover before continuing on at college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard in 1939 and a doctoral degree from Columbia in 1942, and soon after began a long career in industry and research.

William Standish Knowles, from the 1934 Trail

Honoring A Nobel Laureate

Dr. Knowles was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in chiral chemistry, sharing it with Ryoji Noyori of Nagoya University in Japan and K. Barry Sharpless of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. Knowles’ research identified a breakthrough process in the development of a drug that has prolonged and improved the quality of life of millions of people

living with Parkinson’s disease. Immediately following the school

assembly, where Dr. Knowles’ son Peter announced a Mountain Day (something that young Billy surely would have approved of!), the chemistry classroom and lab in Bellas/Dixon was officially dedicated in memory of William S. Knowles, Nobel Laureate and son of an original Berkshire “old boy.”

Chemistry teacher Mandy Morgan, Science Department Chair Anita Loose-Brown, Mary Gao ’15 and Pedro Escobar ’15, with the Knowles family: daughter Elizabeth Knowles, Andrew McIntire, daughter Lesley Knowles McIntire, son Peter Knowles, and Head of School Pieter Mulder

From the Desk of Mr. Buck: At right is a 1933 letter from Seaver Buck to William’s father, George Knowles ’09, thanking him for supporting Berkshire during the Depression, a time when, “All over the country our boys are waking up to the importance of putting their shoulders to the wheel.”


/ Alumni News /

Scan here to see the alumni profile archives.

Alumni SnapshotsThousands of Berkshire Bears (and Wildcats, Berkshire’s earlier mascot) are scattered around the world doing lots of interesting things. We’ve been highlighting their efforts, passions and pursuits on our website each month. Below is a sampling from the archives. Check your monthly eNews for new profiles, and please email [email protected] to nominate a fellow Bear!

Shawn Ingram ’85 Nonprofit Administrator

Twenty five years giving back in various ways through a career in philanthropy spanning the arts, social services, LGBT issues, HIV, social justice and education.

Kevin Jones ’76 Writer

Boat captain. Certified diver. Former teacher. Information technologist. Author of Due Unto, an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist.

Jenna Pollock ’89 Tesla Motors Engineer

Scientist and environmentalist who grew up on campus. Author. Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Thayer School at Dartmouth. Holder of a U.S. patent.

Phil Sandick ’01 (left) Attorney, Photographer

JD/LLM in international human rights. Lived and worked in Botswana where he exhibited his artwork. Master’s in Oral History. Clerk for a federal judge in Atlanta.

Jen Stafford ’09 Red Bull Media Marketer

VP of Emerson College’s Sports Network and anchor for their talk show. NESN intern who interviewed the likes of Rob Gronkowski, A-Rod and other athletes.

Alexa Saxton Thomas ’97 Painter

Majored in painting at Rhode Island School of Design. Studied in Italy and worked in France. Has exhibited work in Boston, the Berkshires, New York and Paris.

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/ Alumni News /

Attorney/writer Harry MacLean is probably best known for his New York Times bestseller In Broad Daylight, which has sold over 2 million copies. The book, which came out in 1989, was made into a movie in 1990 and earned MacLean an Edgar Award for Best True Crime. He subsequently wrote two more true crime books: the New York Times Notable Book Once Upon a Time: A True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law, the tale of a man on trial for murder based on his daughter’s repressed memory and The Past is Never Dead: The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi’s Search for Redemption.

MacLean’s new book, The Joy of Killing, just out in July from Counterpoint Press, is the author’s fiction debut. Touted by industry bible Publisher’s Weekly as a “brilliant first novel” and a “philosophical thriller,” it has already been compared to American Psycho for being “unnerving” and “compulsively readable.” The Bulletin caught up with Mr. MacLean about his switch over to fiction writing, exploring one’s dark side and a cross-country train ride from Sheffield, Massachusetts to Lincoln, Nebraska that ties the whole book together.

Berkshire Bulletin (BB): What was your inspiration for switching genres?

Harry MacLean (HM): All writers deep down think they have a novel in them, whether they are a nonfiction writer, a poet or a historian. The time came in my life where I wanted to see if it was true.

The book came about when my wife Julya and I decided to travel for a year. I wanted to pop in odd little cities around the country to see what skeletons were in the closet. To see what strange little crimes we would

ALUMNI AUTHORS

Harry N. MacLean ’60

“ MacLean skillfully takes readers along as the narrator spins and stumbles through a tangle of disturbing meditations on innocence and guilt.” – Publisher’s Weekly, starred review


/ Alumni News /

find for an anthology of maybe 10 stories. As I was explaining the trip to a friend from law school, he looked at me and said, “You’ve already done that. Why don’t you try telling a story from inside your own head?” So that stopped me short. And the next day I said, “Where do I get started with this?”

BB: How is fiction writing different than nonfiction?

HM: In nonfiction, you’re on the outside, and you’re looking for facts. I think it’s a little more creative and subjective than most people think, but still, you can’t get away from the facts. You can spin it different ways, but you’re locked into the actualities of what happened. In fiction, it’s the imagination that is the driving force. It’s the creative pulse inside you that’s going to drive the story.

The problem is, of course, that you have no structure. The imagination as it runs loose is basically insane. It’s not coherent. Putting a structure on the imagination and bringing it back in so there are consistencies that readers need, so that there is a compelling drive, so that certain things are revealed at the right point, so that your characters pull readers in whether they like them or not, really doesn’t have much to do with the imagination. It’s actually more left-brain thinking, in a way.

BB: Did you have a story in mind when you started?

HM: I had no idea where the story was leading when I started it. I just wanted to see if I could find a voice that was vivid enough, and had a mixture of reality, but freedom too. Once I found that voice, it basically unfolded. That creative process does not exist in nonfiction. You get little bits of it, but nothing like where it just takes over your consciousness

and starts to unravel. Since [Julya and I] were on the

road that year, we were just bouncing around. Wherever we wanted to go is where we went. Every place was new. Almost every day was different. We were at motels; we were at this ocean; we were at those mountains; we were at the lake in Maine. I was stimulated constantly, and I think my brain kind of opened up a little bit.

Interestingly enough, what came to mind was my first train trip from Berkshire back to Lincoln, Nebraska when I was 14 years old. I took a train, I believe from Sheffield, to New York City, New York to Chicago, and Chicago to Lincoln, changing trains in all those places. That train ride was two nights and a day. Almost 2 days! The book opens with that trip, and it’s a thread that weaves throughout the story and through which a lot of other things are held together. Of course, traveling through the night, I encounter a girl who is also from an Eastern prep school who is going back to Chicago… I was a Midwestern kid who went away to an Eastern prep school and so is this character. He is from a town in Iowa similar to Lincoln, where I’m from.

BB: The Joy of Killing has been compared to American Psycho. I’m assuming it’s pretty dark?!

HM: (Laughs) Yes! Obviously I’m drawn to the human personality and the darker aspects of it, the pathologies of it. You’re looking at characters that are interesting to me because of the darkness in them. In the switch over [to fiction], the question becomes, Where is that inside of you? If you write about

that stuff, it’s got to come from somewhere inside of you. I found that exploration to be pretty interesting. And a little scary too.

BB: What was your experience like as a student at Berkshire in the 1950’s?

HM: I left after two years, and it wasn’t a natural fit for me. I was the only kid in my class from the Midwest, as far as I can remember. There was one guy from Detroit and everybody else was from the East Coast back in those days. What it really did was open the world up to me. Just to come into that environment and see stuff like soccer—they didn’t play soccer in Lincoln, Nebraska. And the sports and the dress and the emphasis on studying and academics and small class sizes. All of that had a big impact on me. When I went on to another school, I had a better approach to the courses than did most of the other students there.

BB: How did you find Berkshire from Lincoln, Nebraska?

HM: Walt Henrion [’57] is from Lincoln and my parents were friends with his parents. The Henrions said “Go to Berkshire. Walt’s having a good time there.”

BB: You’ve written an unpublished memoir about going undercover as a prison guard. Will that be coming out after The Joy of Killing?

HM: Since moving into the fiction realm and developing that voice, I may turn it into a novel. I’m keeping that idea open in my mind. At 60 years old, I was a prison guard. It was quite an experience. Stay tuned.

“ The imagination as it runs loose is basically insane.” – the author on fiction writing

To learn more about Harry MacLean, visit www.harrymaclean.com.


/ Bears at Play /

New England Champs!Girls Skiing Races to First-Place Finish in Class A

By John Borwick ’81

Berkshire established an all-girls varsity ski program in 2013, and in just two short years, found success at the highest level. The talent and hard work of a young team propelled them to the apex of prep school ski racing, the New England Championships. For a young program, represented by a young team (there was only one sixth former on the 12-person roster), teamwork proved to be the key factor in their remarkable season.

“As coaches, we stress the word ‘team’ as much as possible,” said Assistant Coach Cency Middleton. She continued, “It can be easy to become individualized, but in order to win a New England title, you have to ski like a team and that’s exactly what this group of girls did so well throughout the season.”

The Bears were invited to compete in the championship hosted by Holderness School on February 11th at Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire. The race field included the top prep racers hailing from 27 teams, including such ski powerhouses as Deerfield, Gould Academy, Holderness, Kimball Union, Middlesex, Nobles, Northfield Mount Hermon, Proctor and St. Paul’s.

Though the Bears’ squad was young, it featured four returning New England athletes. In the morning giant slalom races, our skiers experienced various challenges from falls to disqualifications to tactical problems. Standouts from the morning events included a 2nd place finish for Annette Key ’16 (New York, NY), 11th place for Molly Coleman ’16 (New York, NY) and 21st for Caroline Slyer ’16 (Averill Park, NY). Eva Clough ’18 (Buffalo,

NY) posted a top-15 result in the first run, but succumbed to a deteriorating course and fell. The same fate befell Katherine Frick ’16 (Longmeadow, Mass.), yet both skiers exhibited grit and resilience and hiked back into the course to continue the run for the good of the team.

“We never doubted ourselves,” explained Clough of the team’s tough morning. She said, “Our juniors and seniors set a high level of commitment and enthusiasm and made the whole team push themselves even further.”

Frick recalled the previous week’s Brigham Ski League Slalom Championships when she took a pole to the chest during her first run, and her teammates cautioned her about the afternoon race. “The team was worried about me rather than worried

Captain Annette Key ’16 takes on the Giant Slalom at the New England Championship race where she skied to a 1st place finish overall.

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/ Bears at Play /

about how we would do overall,” said Frick. She explained, “I made the decision to ski my second run, but it was reassuring to know that the team would back me no matter what.”

The Bears entered the afternoon contest with a mission to come together through personal-best performances. The girls drew on each other for strength and really dropped the hammer in the afternoon slaloms. “During our lunch break, we regained focus by realizing how important the day was to all of us,” explained Coleman. “We didn’t want to leave feeling like we could have done better.”

“There were some tough conditions and exhausting courses at the championship race,” said Captain Annette Key, who finished first overall in New England to earn a spot on the NEPSAC All-New England Class A Team. She continued, “Each one of us skied for our school and our team, and not for ourselves. In my three years at Berkshire, I have seen many fabulous and strong skiers. But this year, I saw a fabulous, strong and united team.”

In leading the team that afternoon, Key suffered two challenging and difficult runs, yet powered on through her will and training to land in 4th overall on the day. Frick skied two tactical and strong runs to land in 11th, and was followed by a little over two tenths of a second later by Coleman.

The strength of the program and the athletes’ performances depended on their ability to overcome a challenging predicament, and as a group, ski towards their potentials with style, strength and humility. When the snow settled, the Bears found themselves atop the podium, the 2015 New England Class A Champions!

“The hard work that each of the girls put in this year has strengthened an already solid foundation,” said Assistant Coach Patrick Donovan. “Future Bears and future Berkshire ski teams will continue to benefit and build off of the efforts of this team.” And Coach Middleton agrees, “It will be a challenge to keep the momentum going, but with their leadership and strength of culture, the Bears will continue to be a force.”

John Borwick is the head coach of Berkshire’s varsity ski program. He and his wife, Ingrid vanZon Borwick ’83, are the parents of Jackson ’13 and Hunter ’16. Coach Borwick is a USSA certified Alpine Coach and Official.

Boys Ski to Second Place

The boys team skied to an amazing, undefeated season, earning them the Brigham Ski League Championship (named for longtime Berkshire ski coach Bob Brigham) for the fifth year in a row. Their record now stands at 74-0 over the past five years of Brigham Ski League regular season races. In that time, they also earned two New England Championship team titles, along with four New England Individual Discipline and Overall Championships. This year, the Bears finished 2nd in the New England Class A Championships, just three points out of 1st place.

After losing the No. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8th-ranked skiers to graduation, this year’s Bears were young with big prospects. Skiing in his first New England championship, Lyons Brown ’18 (Telluride, Col.) put on a show. In races that are usually decided by tenths of a second, Lyons and the eventual race winner from Suffield, distanced the field by over three seconds. In the end, Lyons grabbed 2nd overall, followed by a 4th place finish by Tyler Smith ’16 (West Hartford, Conn.) and a 13th place finish by Sam Bannett ’17 (Barcelona, Spain).

All of the boys felt that they left everything on the race hill, and we’re very proud of their performances and accomplishments.

Lyons Brown ’18 on his way to 2nd place in the Boys’ Slalom at the 2015 New England Class A Championships

The New England competitors after the races—big smiles for a job well done!


/ Bears at Play /

“BE LIKE JACK”

Jack Harrison ’15 was named the 2014-2015 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year this May. Former Major League Soccer MVP turned-ESPN analyst Taylor Twellman presented Harrison with the award in a surprise ceremony on campus.

“I’m pretty speechless right now,” Harrison said before thanking his teammates, coaches and his family. “There are a lot of people who go unrecognized behind this award. It’s not just about me. It’s about you guys as well.”

The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field.

“I was shocked, and I’m a little overwhelmed,” said Harrison, who will play soccer at Wake Forest in the fall. “It’s an incredible honor. I’m so appreciative and none of this would have happened without my teammates, my mom, my coach and this school.”

Jack Harrison with the hardware at the on-campus press conference held by Gatorade

Gatorade Selects Harrison for Player of the Year


/ Bears at Play /

“This is the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time,” said Twellman, a two-time Gatorade Missouri Player of the Year himself who said it was a privilege to come to, “What seems to be heaven. Also known as Berkshire School.” He continued, “This is what memories are made of. It’s not the goals and the trophies. When I saw the smiles on his teammates’ faces, I knew the trophy went to the right guy.”

Harrison was chosen from more than 400,000 high school boys soccer players nationwide. As one of 12 National Players of the Year, in July he attended a special ceremony in Los Angeles prior to the ESPY Awards announcing the Gatorade Male and Female High School Athletes of the Year.

A two-time Massachusetts Gatorade Boys Soccer Player of the Year (2013-2014, 2014-2015), the midfielder from Lancashire, England helped lead the Bears to a third-straight NEPSAC Class A Championship this fall.

“I think of how lucky Berkshire is to have had such a remarkable young man for the past four years,” said Coach Jon Moodey. “We are a better school today because of Jack Harrison and all that he’s brought to our community.”

Taylor Twellman couldn’t resist tweeting the news!

Harrison, an honor student at Berkshire, served as a school ambassador, tour guide and volunteered locally as a youth soccer coach. He also contributed to many community service initiatives through Berkshire’s Helping Hands organization.

“He is humble, purposeful, engaging and sincere,” said Athletic Director Dan Driscoll. “His willingness to do what is best for his team, class or the school has made our community a better place, one where students celebrate each other’s commitments and each other’s successes.”

Head of School Pieter Mulder said Harrison’s ability to make others around him immediately better might be his greatest quality.

“Perhaps the highest accolade that I can share about Jack is that he is universally respected and admired by everyone at Berkshire,” Mulder said. “By all of our students, by our faculty and staff, by parents and alumni, by the younger student-athletes and the legions of faculty kids on campus who spend much of their day simply wanting to ‘be like Jack.’”

Jack, surrounded by teammates past and present and Taylor Twellman (on his left), former Major League Soccer MVP who presented the award

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/ Bears at Play /

For more information on all our teams, go to www.berkshireschool.org/athletics and don’t forget to follow @BerkshireBears on Twitter for up-to-the minute news and highlights as they happen. #GoBears!

WINTER 2014-15Boys Alpine Skiing / Winners of the Brigham Ski League Championship for the fifth year in a row, with another undefeated season (74-0). Finished 2nd Overall in New England Class A Championships, just 3 points out of 1st place. NEPSAC All-New England Class A Team: Lyons Brown ’18, Rawson Clough ’17, Tyler Smith ’16 MVS: Rawson Clough ’17

Girls Alpine Skiing / NEPSAC Class A Team Champions. Brigham Ski League: 1st Place in girls’ team competition. Annette Key ’16 finished first overall in New England to earn a spot on the NEPSAC All-New England Class A Team. MVS: Annette Key ’16 See page 22 for more on the team’s championship season.

Boys Basketball / The wins and losses of the 14-15 squad did not reflect its hard work and dedication. The growth of the boys over the course of the year was apparent to all who followed them, and the close games played towards the end of the season signal a team on its way to playoff contention again. MVP: Chris Cooke ’16

Girls Basketball / New England Championship Semifinalists. Winners of the New England Girls’ Basketball Invitational Championship, during which Kristalyn Baisden ’15 scored her 1,000th point as a Bear. A tremendous season in which the Bears tallied a 20-4 record. New England Prep School All-Stars: Kristalyn Baisden ’15, Samone DeFreese ’16, Autumn Truesdale ’17. MVP: Samone DeFreese ’16 See page 64 for a remembrance of Coach Wil Smith.

01 The Boys Varsity Hockey team hosted a clinic this winter for the local youth hockey program, the Berkshire Rattlers.

02 The Bears won the New England Girls’ Basketball Invitational Championship at Pomfret School in December, during which Kristalyn Baisden ’15 (front row, far right) scored her 1,000th point as a Bear.

03 Freestyler Vici Buehler ’17 gets some air at Butternut.

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Freestyle Skiing / Founded in December 2013 by Austin Brandt ’14, this winter marked the first year Berkshire competed as a team (9 boys, 8 girls) in freestyle. Derrick Burt ’16 and Jack Martin ’18 competed at a Rail Jam at Jiminy Peak where Burt earned an honorable mention for being the only competitor on telemark skis.

Boys Hockey / This season marked the 8th consecutive trip to the New England tournament, where the Bears bowed out in the quarterfinals to Belmont Hill. For the 2nd year, former Bears won the NCAA Frozen Four. Trevor Mingoia ’11, Kevin Rooney ’12 and the Providence Friars beat BU for their first national championship. Last year Kevin Sullivan ’10 led Union College to the title. MVP: Barclay Gammill ’16

Girls Hockey / Winners of the Watkins Invitational Tournament at Cushing Academy. The Bears earned a trip to the championship game with an exciting OT win over New Hampton which ended with the teams playing 3 vs. 3. MVP: Jamie Ernst ’15 and MacKenzie Lancaster ’15

04 Coach Dave Olson with the Smith Cup-winning members of the 1st crew boat: Pedro Escobar ’15, Ivan Kulchitsky ’16, John Leasure ’15, Jared Renzi ’16 and Xander Amero ’17.

05 Generous crew team parents named the new racing shell they purchased, the Jean Woodward Maher. “It’s hard to think of a more deserving person,” said Coach Olson. “Or of someone who better exemplifies the hard work and dedication that it takes to succeed in a sport like rowing.” The new shell was christened at a surprise ceremony by the actual Jean Woodward Maher this spring.

06 The 2015 New England Division II 4x100m Relay Champions are the supremely fast Another

Kushaina ’15, Ahria Simons ’18, Justin Donawa ’15, and Cole Venner ’17.

07 Captain Sandra Stephan ’15, who led the Bears to victories over tough opponents like Deerfield, Taft and Westminster, will play lacrosse at Stetson next year.

Girls Crew / The 1st Boat of Arwen Neski ’15, Renee Dreher ’15, Olivia Good ’15, Annette Key ’16 and Molly O’Neill ’17 won their morning heat on Founder’s Day over Choate, GA and Gunnery, and finished 4th in the Grand Final. MVR: Arwen Neski ’15, who also earned an invitation to the 2015 Junior Women’s National Team Selection Camp this summer.

Boys Crew / The 1st boat of Pedro Escobar ’15, Ivan Kulchitsky ’16, John Leasure ’15, Jared Renzi ’16 and Xander Amero ’17, won the Smith Cup for the first time since 1999, set a course record on Lake Lillinonah by over 2 seconds, and concluded the season finishing 8th overall in New England, the highest finish in program history. MVR: John Leasure ’15

Golf / It was a building year for the golf team which saw strong individual play by Henry Manley ’15, a medalist in several matches. His 72 at Wyantenuck was the best score for a Berkshire golfer in years. MVP: Henry Manley ’15

Boys Squash / Noah Wilson ’15 earned six individual wins in the Class B New Englands, with the team finishing 12th in the league. The Bears avenged a close early loss to Salisbury (3-4) with a 6-1 win in the final match-up. MVP: Jack Harrison ’15

Girls Squash / Lucy Hollister ’15 and Olivia Silverman ’15 led the team to dominating outings against Williston, Canterbury, Pomfret and Kent and tight matches against Miss Porter’s, Kingswood and Millbrook. MVP: Olivia Silverman ’15

SPRING 2015Baseball / Jackson Aldam ’15 and Jack Lambrecht ’15 were named to the first team for the WNEPBL all-star team. Brenden Cournoyer ’17, Brian Rodriguez ’16, Matt Koopman ’17 and Jack Scarafoni ’17 represented Berkshire and the Young Division at the underclassman all-star game. MVP: Jackson Aldam ’15

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/ Bears at Play /

n Zeiko Lewis ’13 and Justin Donawa ’15 were selected to play on the Bermuda National Team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. n Jeanne Morin ’13 played for Team France, bronze medal winner in the IIHF Division 1 Group A Women’s World Championships. n Jack Harrison ’15 was selected as the Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year. See page 24. n Antonia Matzka ’17 helped Team Austria earn silver, their best-ever finish, in the IIHF Division 1 Group A Women’s World Championships.

Girls Lacrosse / The Bears finished the season 8-8 with notable wins against tough competitors like Taft, Deerfield and Westminster. MVP: Sandra Stephan ’15

Boys Lacrosse / The Bears beat Gunnery 10-4 to retain the McKee Cup. MVP’s Charlie Erdmann ’16 and Connor Waldron ’16 were named to the New England West Division I All-League team and will serve as captains next year. Softball / Jamie Ernst ’15 represented Berkshire at the all-star game. MVP: Jamie Ernst ’15

Girls Tennis / New England Class B Semifinalists. The Bears entered the tourney as the 3rd seed and bowed out in the semis to #2 Kingswood Oxford. MVP: Taylor Wray ’15

Boys Tennis / New England Class B Quarterfinalists for the third year in a row. The Bears took third place in the SNETL conference championship. MVP: Quentin van der Lee ’17

Girls Track & Field / Olivia Silverman ’15 broke the school record in high jump with a jump of 5’2” on April 15. NEPSTA Division II Championship results: Paige Rabb ’16, 2nd in the 300m hurdles & 4th in the 400m. Genesis Paulino ’17, 2nd in the discus. Sarah Kinney ’15, 3rd in the 1500m & 4th in the 3000m. Madison Biasin ’17, 5th in javelin. Livi Oliviel-Robinson ’15, 6th in pole vault. MVP: Paige Rabb ’16

Boys Track & Field / NEPSTA Division II Championship results: Another Kushaina ’15 placed 1st in the 400m, setting a New England and a school record with a time of 48.6 seconds. Justin Donawa ’15 placed 1st in the triple jump, breaking his own New England and former school records with a jump of 49’6.5”. He placed 3rd in the 100m. Ahria Simons ’18, Kushaina, Cole Venner ’17 and Donawa took 1st place in the 4x100m relay. Ifunanyachi Achara ’16, Terryl Wilson ’16, Jack Harrison ’15 and Kushaina, 2nd in the 4x400m relay. Bryce Laigle ’15, 3rd in pole vault. Achara, 4th in 800m. Wilson, 6th in 400m. Hunter Borwick ’16, 6th in 110m hurdles. MVP: Another Kushaina ’15

Bears in the News

Kendall Coyne ’11 and Kacey Bellamy ’05 helped Team USA win gold in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) Women’s World Championship.

Trevor Mingoia ’11 and Kevin Rooney ’12 helped Providence College capture the 2015 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, the first national championship for the Friars.

UNDEFEATED! Boys JV Tennis went 16-0 this season. Congrats, Bears!


/ Bears at Play /

SquashPete Kearney ’01, Matt Sposito ’02,

and Coley Parry ’02 were joined at the courts by fellow New Yorker John Diebold ’07. From New Jersey came Diebold’s co-competitor in last year’s championship round, James Butler ’04. Jose Rivera ’07 and Will Hearty ’10 ventured out from Boston.

In three spirited rounds, the players gave it everything they had. Hearty took down Rivera for the gold medal; Coach A.J. Kohlhepp (a late sub for scratched alums) edged by Butler for the bronze; and Diebold claimed the consolation plate. Coach Bill Bullock, in emcee mode, helped spread the joie de squash prior to his JV team’s match against Suffield.

BasketballPlayer/coaches Ken Coard ’85 and

Jim Haskel ’86 picked their teams prior to tip-off of what will now become the Troy A. Robinson ’85 Alumni Basketball Game. It was nip and tuck for most of the game as a few former greats like Bob Moran ’87 and Roney Eford ’91 showed their skill.

In the end it was the strength and more flexible wheels of the younger alums that prevailed: Robert Jacobs ’04, Jarrett Mathis ’04, Misha Hyman ’09 and Klayton Johnson ’10 to name a few. Everyone played hard, had fun and talked a lot of trash. It should be noted that Ken Coard had two blocks, Jim Haskel drained a nice jumper and Javier Winnik ’96 made a few impressive drives. The bottom line: everyone still bleeds Green.

Front row, from left: Kevan Bowler, Jay Cronze ’09, J.J. Jemison ’09, Jim Haskel ’86 Back row: Bobby Moran ’87, Jarrett Mathis ’04, Clay Splawn, Misha Hyman ’09, Klayton Johnson ’09, Ken Coard ’85, Roney Eford ’91, Rob Jacobs ’04, Peter Kinne, Javier Winnik ’96, Chris Allen, Les Clifford

Winter Alumni Games

James Butler ’04 (left) and Will Hearty ’10 spar on the road to the championship bracket.

Over 100 alumni from all eras returned to the Mountain for some friendly rivalry at the annual Winter Alumni Games Day. It was an action-packed event, coinciding with Trustees’ Weekend and Winter Carnival, which meant big crowds for all three athletic contests.

Coach Gulotta’s Amazing Run *

BY THE NUMBERS:

16 years as Assistant to C. Twiggs Myers (’79 - ’94) 18 years as Head Coach (’95 - ’12)

1995-2012:162-63-1: Dual meet record 4 Varsity D2 New England Championships 3 JV D2 New England Championships 4 Canterbury Invitational D2 Championships 1 Canterbury Invitational D1 Championship 6 Undefeated regular seasons 35 All-New England male cross-country runners 73- meet consecutive win streak

* With thanks to Debbie Gulotta for the title

“Beat the hell out of ’em, but be nice to them afterwards. If you lose, say nothing and maybe no one will notice; if you win, there’s no need to say anything because they already know.”

– Coach Gulotta


/ Bears at Play /

Cary Weil Barnett ’76, Ed Hunt ’61, Ross Hawkins, Bob Brigham

John Diebold ’07, Nic Emery ’01, Pete Kearney ’01, Matt Sposito ’02

Seth Beamer ’02 and family

Margaret Turrentine ’08 and Abby Tufts ’08

Front row, from left: Peter Carner ’94, Chris Reichart ’98, Jeff Pietrasiak ’02, Seth Beamer ’02, Chris Buonomo ’08, Tim Murphy ’98, Alex Watts ’02, Jon Averill ’86 Back row: Brad Hunt ’95, Tim Locke ’82, Rick Ferroni ’02, John Shaker ’71, Matt Spurling ’09, Chris Carboneau ’98, Casey Larkins ’07, Duke Blackburn ’72, Mike Mullany ’03, Steve DeFelice ’83, Robin McGraw ’70

HockeyIt was a fast-paced and competitive

outing with several former D1 and D3 players showing they still possess the skills and speed. Players from four decades participated with thanks to longtime event organizer Robin McGraw ’70.

The Green Team edged the White Team 16-10. Notables for the Green were former West Point captain, Seth Beamer ’02 and teammate Tim Murphy ’98. The dynamic duo of Jeff Pietrasiak ’02 and Alex Watts ’02 put up serious numbers with the help of Chris Buonomo ’08.

On the White Team, Rick Ferroni ’02, Matt Spurling ’09, Steve DeFelice ’83 and Chris Carboneau ’98 fought hard. Two outstanding JV goalies, Andrew Koudjis ’16 and Joel Mayo ’15, stepped up and did a great job between the pipes.


ASR 2015people marched

on Washington on President’s

Day in 2013 to bring climate awareness to the front

door of the White House. In September of 2014, 400,000

people marched in New York City (the world’s largest

demonstration) and in 150 other countries for climate

awareness. Earlier this year, President Obama vetoed a

bill allowing for the Keystone XL oil pipeline to be built

across the United States. Behind all these events were a

teacher, his students and a class project.

That teacher is Bill McKibben, one of the nation’s leading

environmentalists and a professor at Middlebury College

whose book, Oil & Honey: The Education of an Unlikely

Activist, is Berkshire’s next All-School Read (ASR). Oil &

Honey is McKibben’s story, and the story of the students

in his environmental science class who, as part of a class

project, created the now global organization 350.org, the

first planet-wide grassroots climate change movement.

The book will provide an opportunity for community-wide

conversations about leadership, activism and sustainability.

And as importantly, it illustrates the impact one person can

have on a global scale.

To launch the 2015 All-School Read program,

McKibben will spend two days at Berkshire in September.

He will be joined by alumni Ned Sullivan ’72 and

Lindsey Fielder Cook ’81 for a panel discussion about

climate change. You can read more about the work of

Sullivan, the president of Scenic Hudson, a nonprofit

organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the

Hudson River in nearby New York State, and Cook, a

representative on climate change for the Quaker United

Nations Office, in the following pages.

On behalf of the All-School Read Committee and the

entire Berkshire community, we hope you will join us by

reading Oil & Honey and tuning into the live webstream

of Bill McKibben’s talk on September 24th. It is sure to be

an engaging and relevant discussion of a topic central to

Berkshire’s mission.

– Stuart Miller ’97, All-School Read Committee Chair

35,000

Advanced Economics: Divesting

Advanced Math/Science Research: Colony Collapse Disorder Virus

AP Government: Lobbyists and the Federal Government

AP Language and Composition: McKibben’s Rhetoric and Climate Change

Biology: Bee Ecology

Chemistry: Chemistry of Fossil Fuels

Fifth-Form English: Thoreau and Climate Change

Sustainability: Oil Heat in Buildings & Bringing Bees to Campus

ASR IN THE CLASSROOM 2015-2016

SPOTLIGHT ON

Sustainability


RIVERKEEPER

By Megan Tady

Every day, barges on the Hudson River use the water as a highway, transporting nearly 12 million gallons of crude oil down the river. Ned Sullivan ’72, the executive director of the environmental non-profit group Scenic Hudson, can’t see the ships from his office in the center of Poughkeepsie, New York, but he knows they’re out there.

He cringes. One mistake, one spill, could be catastrophic for the river and the region. Ned Sullivan Answers the Call

“This is the greatest threat to the

Hudson that I’ve experienced in my entire

career,” Sullivan said in a five-minute

documentary published online by The

New York Times.

Sullivan has been at the helm of

Scenic Hudson since 1999, and the threat

verges on the personal. He’s dedicated to

protecting and restoring the river and the

surrounding landscape because he loves

it. His favorite days are spent paddling in a

kayak, in awe of the splendor around him.

“The breathtaking beauty is often a

surprise, whether it’s the Hudson highlands

or a view of the Catskills or the serenity

of being right on the river in a kayak and

seeing a bald eagle, or on some days,

many bald eagles, soaring around,” he says.

The Hudson River Valley is also a

fascinating intersection of culture and

history. Many battles of the Revolutionary

War were fought on its rolling hills.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt grew up

there and drew inspiration from its beauty

SPOTLIGHT ON

Sustainability


While the Hudson River Corridor has long

been used to transport petroleum products,

shipping crude oil began in 2011.

“This has occurred in a very short time

frame, this dramatic ramp up, without any

of the safeguards in place to ensure that

the crude oil will be transported safely,”

Sullivan said. “Fortunately, we haven’t had

any spills, but these are occurring all over

the country with disastrous impacts.”

Different than other petroleum, crude

oil is difficult to clean up because the tar-

like oil sinks rather than floats. A crude oil

spill in the Hudson River could decimate

the fragile ecosystem, kill or endanger the

habitat and pollute drinking water.

during the Great Depression. “There are

many places that weave together that

fabric of nature, culture and history in

ways that are inspiring and astonishing,”

Sullivan says.

It’s no wonder, then, that Sullivan

is giving everything he has to stop a

disastrous oil spill.

And the threat isn’t just on the river;

trains carrying highly explosive Bakken

crude oil from North Dakota skirt the

river for 50 miles, weaving in and out of

towns that line the waterway. The rail

cars have been criticized as unfit to carry

such flammable oil, with advocacy groups

calling them “rolling bombs.”

Along with partners in the area,

Sullivan is leading the charge for tougher

regulations and better spill response plans.

Scenic Hudson, both an environmental

advocacy organization and a land trust, has

deployed its 25,000 members to pressure

lawmakers. It’s working.

Recently, the U.S. Department of

Transportation released new regulations

that offer a step toward better rail car

safety. New York State Governor Andrew

Cuomo has also increased inspections of

railroads and railcars, and he’s increased

the oil spill response fund in New York

State from $25 to $40 million.

“We’re making progress, but the risk still

remains,” Sullivan says.

Sullivan has been gearing up for this

fight for decades. In fact, the seed may

have even been planted at Berkshire,

where he spent the first Earth Day cleaning

up trash heaps on the Mountain alongside

his classmates. “It was a formative

experience,” he says. “It was a great

experience of coming together with other

students to restore the land in the spirit of

a national movement.”

At Berkshire, it was easy to fall in

love with nature. But Sullivan took that

adoration a step further.

“I think I recognized both at Berkshire

and later at college, that stewardship is

an important responsibility,” he says. “It’s

one thing to enjoy the great outdoors

but another to ensure it’s there for future

generations.”

Sullivan recalls that this sense of

responsibility was passed down to him

from his family during impassioned dinner

conversations. “My father and mother said

to me, ’When the call to public service

comes, you say yes.’”

This call to service first came to Sullivan

when, as vice president at the Bank of

Boston, he was invited to become the

deputy commissioner of the New York

State Department of Environmental

Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan stands on Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park just before a ceremony for placing the last of the concrete decking on the elevated pedestrian park.

Photo: Scenic Hudson/Jay Burgess


Conservation. “That voice came through at

the dinner table,” he says.

And that call to service would

keep coming. He also served as the

environmental commissioner of Maine

before joining Scenic Hudson. In 2011,

Governor Cuomo appointed him as the

only environmental representative on his

economic development council.

This background in the public and

private sectors has helped Sullivan

understand how to effectively approach

lawmakers and move an agenda forward.

He understands the regulatory framework.

He knows budgeting cycles. And he’s able

to knit together public-private partnerships

that have shared environmental goals.

The Yale School of Forestry and

Environmental Studies, where Sullivan

earned a master’s degree, awarded him

the Distinguished Service Award in 2012 in

recognition of his “dedication and willingness

to build the necessary bridges, battle

through the bureaucratic red tape and

address financial and technical challenges.”

While Scenic Hudson has cleaned up

brownfields, preserved acres and acres

of critical open space and farmland, and

worked to create green jobs in the area, one

of Sullivan’s favorite victories to date has been

“daylighting” the Saw Mill River in Yonkers.

In 1920, the river was paved over and

diverted into a large underground pipe.

In the early 2000’s, at the request of then-

Governor George Pataki, Sullivan and his staff

devised a plan to unearth a section of the

river that bisects downtown Yonkers, giving

residents access to the waterway on the

banks of a two-acre park. The project created

jobs, increased the water quality, and created

a new streambed for eel and herring.

For Sullivan, who was born in Yonkers,

this project is also close to his heart. “This

is a project that my dad would be really

proud of because it restored a river, but it’s

also catalyzing downtown development in

a city where he grew up, too,” he says.

And if he and his staff can uncover

one river, perhaps they can save another

one from an oil spill. Reflecting on Scenic

Left: An avid kayaker, Sullivan always enjoys a chance

to experience the Hudson through a good paddle.

Right: The “daylighting” of the Saw Mill River in Yonkers,

which was uncovered and transformed into a public park

Photo: Robert Rodriguez, Jr. Photo: Scenic Hudson/Seth Martel

And if he and his staff can uncover one river, perhaps they can save another one from an oil spill. Reflecting

on Scenic Hudson’s track record, Sullivan is hopeful: “You just look at the landscape to see our impact.”

Hudson’s track record, Sullivan is hopeful:

“You just look at the landscape to see

our impact.”

Still, this winter delivered a sobering

moment. The U.S. Coast Guard invited

Sullivan and other staff members and

supporters for a ride on an ice cutter—a

boat that chops up ice blocks in the

Hudson River. It was a cold, but beautiful

day, and a dozen bald eagles hunted

alongside the cutter, which Sullivan says

were “inspiring and enthralling everybody

on board.”

At the same time, the Coast Guard

shared their oil spill response plan with

Sullivan, acknowledging that they don’t

have a single oil spill response vessel north

of New York Harbor, leaving 150 miles

of the Hudson River exposed. If a tanker

spills or a train goes off track and into the

river, the damage could be long lasting or

irrevocable.

As the eagles glided in the air and

the cutter chipped through slabs of ice,

Sullivan increased his resolve. “It was a

poignant moment that left us all enthralled

with the beauty of the river and more

determined than ever to ensure a safer

river,” he says.

Megan Tady is a freelance writer from Easthampton, Mass. Read her work at www.word.lift.com.


ANDJUSTICEFOR ALL

Sustainability as a Civil Right

By Megan Tady

At the end of her speech, Cook made a suggestion: “If you

want, you can invite me, and I’ll come talk to your parents

about climate change.”

While chatting with students about animals facing extinction

and islands being swallowed by the ocean is important, Cook

wants to reach the adults. “Often the kids know more than their

parents about what’s going on,” she says.

And what’s going on is that the planet is warming up at a

rate faster than humans and other species can adapt. Global

mean surface temperature has already warmed .85°C since

1880, and the climate system is on track for temperature

increases in 2100 from 3.7°C to 4.8°C compared to pre-

industrial levels (range of 2.5°C to 7.8°C when including climate

uncertainty.)1 Our ecosystems could not adapt successfully to

such a fast rate of temperature increase, thus risking the long-

term survival of existing species, including human beings.

“We’re all busy, and we’re all rushing around trying to do

things for our children, but actually one of the most critical

When Lindsey Fielder Cook ’81, a representative on climate change for the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO), spoke with a fifth grade class about the dire problems facing the planet, she was most interested in talking with each student’s parents.

SPOTLIGHT ON

Sustainability


things we can do is make sure we live in

a way so that our children can continue

to thrive on this planet, and there isn’t

a lot of time,” Cook says. “The time gap

is critical.”

Cook has made a career out of

imploring the adults—from parents to

world leaders—to act on anthropogenic

(human-made) climate change. At

QUNO, she brings together climate

change negotiators from nations

all over the world for off-the-record

conversations. At this point, most

countries agree on the science, but

there is fierce debate on how to act.

“Nobody in the climate change

negotiations is saying this isn’t

happening; everybody knows it’s

happening,” she says. “The question is:

Are we going to do anything about it?”

For Cook, this question is deeply

tethered to those fifth graders. “I am

driven by a desire to look my children

in the eye and say, ‘When we knew, we

cared and we acted,’” she says. “I think

the hardest thing for this generation is

they’re aware that things are changing,

but they’re not the decision makers.”

Hence her appeal to those in charge.

“The younger generation needs the

adults to be the heroes,” she says.

1 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report, Working Group III Summary for Policy Makers, p. 8, http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf

The Cook family opts for two wheels rather than four: Lindsey (left) with Anna (13), her husband Robin, and Gabriel (15), beside the church next to their house in Bonn, Germany.

A light bulb moment When Cook herself was a child, she

was innately curious about the world.

She loved reading and tagged along with

her father, who was a filmmaker, when

he made films abroad. And she’s always

been intrigued by a sense of justice. “Since

childhood, I’ve always felt this, at times,

inexplicable draw to what is fair, what is

just,” she says.

At the age of nine, her mother moved

their family from Manhattan to a log house

on a mountainside in Massachusetts.

The change sparked a new love of

the outdoors, which followed Cook to

Berkshire School.

“The seasons became very strong for

me from age ten on,” she says. “At Berkshire,

I have very strong memories of what

autumn was like and the lights on the

fields and soccer, and very strong images

of winter and snow and getting to school.”

Cook says her experience at Berkshire

instilled a deep confidence. “My years

there, especially as a boarder, opened my

world and helped me believe in myself.”

While Cook reveled in nature, she wasn’t

always a climate change crusader. But that

early draw to fairness and justice threaded

into her career. For years, she worked as a

writer and/or United Nations humanitarian

officer in conflict areas, including Northern

Ireland, Palestine, Somalia and the Former

Yugoslavia. Then she hit the pause button

to raise her two children. It was during this

time, while she was doing a lot of reading

and researching about climate change,

that she had a “light bulb” moment.

“I realized that climate change was not

only an environmental concern, it was also

a peace concern,” Cook says. “People are

already experiencing stresses on natural

resources. I had lived in failed states; I could

imagine what our lives would be like if

we enabled global mean temperatures to

continue increasing.”

The conclusion led her to a bold

statement: “The more I learned, the more I

came to the conclusion that anthropogenic

climate change was one of the greatest

challenges facing humanity,” she says.

Emboldened, she went back to graduate

school to study climate change and

sustainable development. And then she

and the QUNO director helped to steer

the QUNO to see climate change, and

environmental crises, as critical to their

peace and justice work. Now, she says,

“they embrace it as a given.”

“Climate change is a justice concern

because the people who are least

responsible for anthropogenic climate

change—the poorest, the young and all

future generations—are the ones who will

be most affected by it,” she says.

For example, people living in island

states, such as in the Pacific and the

Caribbean, are under constant threat of

flooding. These little nations, with their small

environmental footprint compared to the


U.S. or China, have the unwanted role of the

canary in the coal mine—being the first to

experience catastrophic climate change.

“They are effectively trying to figure out

how they are going to survive,” she says.

“If we don’t act urgently, their islands are

going to go under.”

As islanders watch the tides lengthen

and the water inch near their homes, Cook

says climate change is a human rights

issue because people have a right to life.

A call to consciousness At the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change in Bonn,

climate change negotiations have hit

stumbling block after stumbling block.

While developed countries pledged to

cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and

provide climate finance, many have not

kept their promises. At the same time,

developing countries are being asked

to make significant GHG cuts to their

own energy use and fear a risk to their

economic growth. Negotiating climate

change rules that appease every country is

mind-bogglingly difficult.

“Right now the negotiations are facing

significant challenges,” Cook says. “There’s

a lot of mistrust. Developing countries are

saying, ‘Well, if you haven’t done everything

you possibly can, then why should we?’”

Enter the QUNO. The non-governmental

organization has launched what they call a

“quiet diplomacy” effort to gather a small,

highly diverse group of delegates together

during the negotiations to talk more

openly in an off-the-record environment.

Away from the politics, delegates tend to

be more reflective and inclusive.

“Because of that safe space, we enable

people to speak at a more in-depth level,”

Cook says. Their approach has been

effective in the past. The 1997 Mine Ban

Treaty to ban landmines started from talks

held in QUNO’s Geneva office.

“We offer delegates a space to hear each

other talk about how these negotiations

are often so difficult,” she says. “How do we

negotiate for humanity? What is it that we

could be doing better, and what are the

pressures we are finding at home?”

An arm’s length away from all the usual

bluster, these meetings also give delegates

an opportunity to bring up the elephant

in the room: The way we live is entirely

unsustainable. Fossil fuel dependency,

massive consumption, material wealth—

all the things that make a country

“successful”—are hurting the planet.

Countries, en masse, have to make a shift

in how they approach material economic

growth, and citizens have to learn to live

more sustainably.

But no country wants to be the first

domino, even though in the long term, it

makes economic sense to shift. Yet this shift

is starting to happen on moral grounds.

“We are witnessing a profound narrative

shift—of climate change as a moral rather

than purely an economic concern.” Cook

pulls from history, examining the abolition

of the slave trade. The needle only began

to move when the world understood

slavery as a moral issue—that it was an

affront to human rights and justice.

“I think there are parallels with facing

climate change because we are saying the

economic system based on fossil fuels is

a moral call to conscience,” she says. “It is

actually destroying our ability in the long

run to live on this planet.”

What started as a political and economic

question ultimately ends up as a spiritual

one: How, then, will we live justly? Is your

comfort worth more than the life and health

of someone else? Can you turn a blind eye?

“This answer has to come deep from

within that you care enough about how

the most vulnerable are being affected,”

she says. “If I care, there is a spiritual

commitment.”

Finding the will How, then, will the Cook family live? It’s

a question Cook, her husband and her two

children, 15 and 13, have been facing.

“Anything that’s fossil fuel-related,

what can we do without?” she says. The

family lives in Bonn, Germany, and when

their last car died, they didn’t buy a new

one. They bike everywhere, take public

transportation or they rent a car for longer

journeys. Four years ago, they all committed

to a vegetarian diet because the meat

industry requires heavy fossil fuels, and

land and water use. Cook divested of stocks

connected to fossil fuels and invested in

alternative energy. And the family buys fair

trade products as often as possible.

“If we are the problem, then we can

be the solution,” she says. “It’s pretty

straightforward. And it’s not asking a

huge amount of our daily lives if you think

about it.”

Cook’s decision is again connected to

those fifth graders. She says the greatest

gift that adults can give to the next

generation is “that you stood up, and you

cared, and you did something.”

After all, it’s not the planet she’s worried

about. “Planet Earth will continue with

its long life,” she says. “But most existing

species, including human beings, will

struggle to survive if we fail to act urgently

to create sustainable lifestyles, based

on renewable energy resources. Global

catastrophic climate change does not

have to happen if we act urgently and

effectively now. We have the knowledge,

the technology, and if we care, we have

the will.”

“Everybody knows it’s happening. The question is: Are we going to do anything about it?”


MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Is your career in sustainability? We’d love to know about it. Please email [email protected].

NILE CORSO ’03 Enertiv, energy monitoring / New York

Nile Corso has been involved in energy investment banking for over

seven years. “Renewable energy has always intrigued me as a viable substitute for traditional energy companies due to advances in technology,” he said.

A graduate of Franklin & Marshall, Corso did post-graduate work

at Columbia and earned his MBA from Johns Hopkins. He is currently

Investment Banking Vice President at a middle-market firm in New York

with a focus on advisory assignments related to energy companies.

Corso serves on the board of Enertiv, where he is able to put his

business background to work for the nascent company. Founded in

2011, Enertiv designs and manufactures energy meters and sensors that

provide recommendations on reducing energy consumption. “Enertiv

helps the existing grid monitor energy use to optimize commercial/

residential real estate’s ’carbon footprint,’” Corso explained. The combined

software and hardware system provides users with actionable insights to

save energy and money and attain sustainability goals.

As the company’s financial advisor, Corso has assisted in a variety of

budgeting, investment and consulting endeavors. “My enjoyment comes

from helping grow a business and advising management,” said Corso. “It’s

an area of business I’m very passionate about and has been one of the

more enjoyable experiences of my professional career.”

To learn more about Enertiv, visit www.enertiv.com.

Young Alumni in Sustainability

SPOTLIGHT ON

Sustainability


ABBY WATSON ’04

Gamesa Wind / Philadelphia

Abby Watson knew she was interested in the environment

from an early age. Before coming to Berkshire, she spent the

summer working on a membership and fundraising campaign for an

environmental activist group called the Maine People’s Alliance.

Her interest landed her in Peter Kinne’s AP Environmental Science

class. “His passion for the subject really ignited a feeling of responsibility in me to use the advantages I had to make a positive difference in the environment,” she explained. She even

revised her college application to include environmental studies as one

of her intended majors after a class about the effects of climate change

on developing nations.

Watson has held several positions in the industry, including sales and

marketing operations manager at Broadlands Financial Group where

she was responsible for targeting new opportunities to work with

renewable energy projects.

Now Watson is part of the aftersales team for Gamesa Wind, a leading

company in the wind power industry. Gamesa’s scope includes the

wind turbine design, installation, operations and maintenance services.

Watson manages the sale of spare parts and components to the entire

North American wind energy marketplace. “My job is to establish market

pricing for our replacement components, implement repair programs,

and meet an annual budget for spare parts sales by driving sales

initiatives with all of our major customers.”

CHLOE GUSS ’03Thread & Silk Design / Paris

Chloe Guss is the founder and principal of

Thread & Silk, a mission-based small business that

“repurposes vintage clothing and couture remnants

to communicate a new vision of the way we design,

produce, consume and waste.” The focus of Guss’s

company is in sustainability and ethically produced

goods.

Founded in 2013, Thread & Silk creates one-of-a-

kind luxury vintage shirts in Paris using 100% recycled

fabrics. “Through this process,” said Guss, “we hope

to inspire you to rethink the way we, as a society,

consume and the way we waste, but most of all to

think of the new possibilities that we can recreate

from what already exists.”

Guss grew up in New York City and graduated from

Tufts University in 2007 with a degree in American

studies and communications. A New Yorker at heart,

Guss considers herself a global citizen, having traveled

to 25 countries and lived in four. She moved to Paris

in 2011 where she found the inspiration for her

company.

“Deeply inspired by Parisian style, the materials

I work with are all vintage, and I source all of the

materials myself,” she explained. “This concept embodies my dedication to creating both a brand and a world where we consume in a new way and where we are inspired to think of new ways of reinventing the past.” To learn more, visit

chloe-guss.squarespace.com.


JOY HAS TRIUMPHEDCommencement 2015

On a gorgeous day in May, Berkshire bid a fond farewell to its 108th graduating class. Bill Gulotta, the Leon J. and Mabel Weil Endowed Chair of History, delivered the commencement address on the occasion of his retirement after 36 years of service to Berkshire. As Head of School Pieter Mulder remarked, “We are concluding a tremendous school year at Berkshire, and joy has triumphed.” With these words, Mr. Mulder reminded us all that what is greatest about this place is each other.

CONGRATULATIONS, CLASS OF 2015!

CLASS2015

of

For Prize Night and Commencement award winners, scan this QR code.

Richard Riegel and his mom

2015-16 All-School President Peter Bahr and Head Prefects Samone DeFreese and Derrick Burt

Logan Bell and her family

James Funderburgstops for a selfie.Noah Wilson and his sister


Aaron Fang and Rad Savage

The Berkshire Chorus sings Pharrell Williams’s “Happy,” in honor of Mr. Smith.


Pedro Escobar with his family, including brother Juan ’13

Commencement Address to the Class of 2015

By William F. Gulotta

Greetings to the Board of Trustees, the administration, my fellow faculty and staff members, parents and friends of Berkshire School, underformers, and most importantly, to the awesome young men and women who we honor today as members of the Class of 2015.

Since Mr. Mulder asked me to be your graduation speaker on April 4, I have been nervous. Usually when I have been called to the Head of School’s office over the course of my somewhat controversial career, I feel like the 10-year-old boy who has been called to the principal’s office to be chastised for doing something foolish. I was glad it was good news this time, but the butterflies have been churning in my stomach for two solid months in anticipation of this moment, for it is a great honor to have the privilege of addressing you on this significant occasion. But as I stand here and look at your class today, the butterflies have departed. They are replaced by pride, affection and joy, because the Class of 2015 is made up of fantastic kids who represent all that is great in life. Your faces give me comfort and confidence, and for this you have my everlasting gratitude. I am no longer nervous.

Before commencing with the rest of this talk, I wish to remind all present of the significance of Memorial Day which is upon us. I just recently walked the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery which I consider to be America’s greatest memorial. It is the most famous resting place of the patriots who have secured our safety while jeopardizing their own. God bless the men and women who have served, are serving, and will serve in the United States military, for we owe the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Air Force, the Army and the Marines our freedom and a nation’s gratitude. Thank you every active member and veteran of our military who is here today.


Livi Oliviel-Robinson receives her diploma.

Anna S. Barrasch Prize winner MacKenzie Lancaster and Jack Lambrecht

Peter Lance Anderson Award winner Mary Gao and her parents

Jeffrey Erazo, Hayden Graham, Jake Diamond, Katie Soper (center), Sami Walkingshaw, Kay Humes

I remember well the blow that our school community withstood when C. Twiggs Myers passed away last summer after spending from the fall of 1953 to the summer of 2014 in service here under the Mountain. His memorial service was moving, but it was our students who comforted us upon their arrival back on campus last fall. Mr. Myers was a great friend, a great teacher and a great coach, and I find it quite remarkable that in the last conversation I had with him he predicted that I was going to have a fantastic last year of teaching because, as he put it, “We have the best student body in the United States.” How right he was!

Then we were all tested again when we lost the incredible Wil Smith. At his memorial service, the students of Berkshire School were magnificently sincere and you proved that you had learned the lessons of humility,

tolerance and strength of character that Mr. Smith taught us all every day.

Upon my request, the College Office gave me a list of our seniors and reading it surprised me, for of the 117 names on the list, I have taught, coached or transported to the hospital, 94 of you. This is one of the remarkable aspects of boarding schools—we really do get to know each other. The students at Berkshire today are blessed by being here at a fabulous time. This is not just a beautiful place; it is an awe-inspiring educational institution of learning. Our present administration is leading this school to the top of the private school world, and they are doing it because their only motivation is to do everything within their power to help the students and adults of this community. I have been here long enough to have witnessed this school become the great place that it is today.

We have shared extraordinary experiences under the Mountain this year, and we have progressed through this time successfully in large part because of the grace that the Class of 2015’s dignity has provided.


An example of the close and trusting community spirit that has been reborn over the last four decades can be seen by reviewing one annual night of craziness on campus for the last 30 years. We call it Trivia Night, and I have orchestrated it for 28 years. About 15 years ago, 50 kids and a handful of teachers participated in the evening’s follies, so I considered not continuing the activity the following year for it seemed like too much work for that amount of participation. We continued, however, and this past year over 300 people ran through the snow, dressed up in costumes to sing, tracked down scavenger items, and had a blast doing impossible tasks from 7:00 to 11:30 p.m. on a night when the temperature was 10 degrees. We trust each other, and therefore we are willing to step out of our comfort zones and enjoy life with each other.

When I came to Berkshire in 1979, the school was struggling to find an identity and indeed struggling to survive. To raise the money to keep the school going, Head of School Jim Moore increased the size of the school to a high of 435 students and used the extra tuition revenue to increase our endowment which stood just under $200,000. It seemed in the past that we always compared ourselves to other schools and wished we could be more like them. This year, best-selling author Wes Moore started his presentation to the school by thanking us for the invitation to speak, and I quote, “at one of America’s finest schools.” Under Mr. Mulder’s and Ms. Maher’s guidance, Berkshire is not resting on its laurels. On the contrary: Their strategic planning is unveiling the programs that are needed to keep Berkshire on the cutting edge for the rest of the 21st century. On the first day after spring break, I spent two hours addressing the faculty of Avon Old Farms who asked question after question about our program because they were going to implement one

like ours. We are now in the position of being a school that other schools wish to emulate. How cool is that?!

Parents in the audience: You gave us the opportunity to spend time with the world’s greatest assets: your children. These young people are our future, and our future is bright. They have won championships, achieved impressive college admissions, produced outstanding art and dazzled us with academic achievement, but more importantly, they have learned when they do their best to reach their true potential, they can hold their heads high with pride. Your kids moved me incredibly at the end of Berkshire’s special week that we refer to as “Pro Vita.” As I got to the last slide on the last day of my last Pro Vita course, I began to tear up. (And I admit that this scene happened a few more times as the semester progressed.) I apologized for the emotional display, but their response was to clap for me, shake my hand and offer me their support. When the last students left my room, I wondered if they had become the adults and I the child. Berkshire students are special young people who are ready to make this a better world.

Class of 2015: This is now your school. Wherever we travel, the memories of this place will remain strong within our minds and within our hearts. We have shared an intense, yet wonderful time together, and we will be Bears forever. What we have experienced together has forged a bond that cannot be severed by time. Remember the plays you watched, in awe at the talent of your classmates. Remember the first snowfall that framed our mountain in a magical white blanket. Remember the teacher who spent time with you to help you pass a test. Remember your first dance, and your first kiss. Remember the laughter late at night, whether you were in or out of bounds. Remember school breaks with fellow students, and remember the best friends you will

ever make. Come back to the Mountain and renew your spirit from time to time, and you will find inspiration. As the song says, “Still true to Berkshire, parted though we be. We fight life’s battles with strength from thee.”

Berkshire School has been my life’s work. And because of this special, special place, I have had a great life. My two children spent the first 18 years of their lives here, and I spent 36 years with my wonderful wife Debbie amongst students and colleagues who I will forever cherish.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to live with all of you under the Mountain. Class of 2015, I love you. Good luck.

Although we can never repay Berkshire for everything it has given us, we must leave content with who we have become over the course of our journey, and who we will be somewhere else because of our time here.”

Weil Prize winner Liza Jane Branch had this to share with her classmates in her commencement address,

“

/ Class Notes /


45Philip W. Goodspeed

46Gerald B. O’[email protected]

48George Church III

49Robert W. Doyle, Sr. [email protected]

50Charles K. Elliott, [email protected]

Ann and Charlie Elliott continue their double lives, with Mt. Pleasant, SC their official residence and Madison, CT providing breezy relief and moderate weather during the summer months. While in Madison, they see their younger daughter, Lisa Kronauer ’81, and her children. They would welcome seeing Berkshire graduates in either locale.

51John B. Hull III(413) 528-1528

53John G. [email protected]

Jim McCurrach continues his tutoring schedule working with elementary and high school students. This, after having retired from 15 years of full-time teaching a year and a half ago.

Tony Austin is still running his own commercial fishing boat at the age of 80. His youngest daughter, Sharon, age 23, graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in December and now works for Northrup/Grumman in Huntsville, AL—she started her career with a higher salary than either her mother or father ever received. His oldest daughter, Valerie, age 53, is a professor at UNC Pembroke and his middle daughter, Lisa, teaches special education in West Virginia.

54David W. [email protected]

55Stephen V. R. Spaulding [email protected]

56Last year Dan Crabbe co-authored a

book with Gary Jobson, an international sailor and sports expert. Dan writes: “It took us about two years to gather all the data and write the articles. The 200-page book was commissioned by the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association to mark its 100th anniversary in 2014. The Association is made up of 14 yacht clubs. My father, Daniel McEwen Crabbe ’24, uncle, Edward Luis Crabbe ’20, and son Daniel McEwen Crabbe ’81 all graduates from Berkshire, are mentioned in the book.” For more information visit http://www.bbyra100th.org.

57Walter S. [email protected]

Brooks Odell, grandson of Mac Odell ’57, born this past winter.

Mac Odell writes: “The big news is that my two granddaughters have been joined by a grandson, born to my son Jamie and his wife, Lauren, in New York City. Other news is that I’ve just joined a UC Davis project—one that I’ve been planning and designing for over a decade, for the next three years with the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Beginning with a one-year assignment over there to help create a Center of Advanced Studies in Agriculture and paving the way for

the next Green Revolution. Hopefully, a small step toward rebuilding United States and Pakistan relations that have soured over the past decade.”

Charlie Fatum bought a cabin in the Sierra foothills so his wife, Gina, can see snow. Charlie writes: “I remember what snow looks like (lived in Kingston, NY as a kid) and at 75, shoveling isn’t on my bucket list. For Christmas last year, I gave Gina a snow shovel. Trouble is the drought here in California isn’t cooperating with her wishes and she hasn’t been able to christen it. In March, our granddaughter added twin girls to her family. She already had two girls, ages 3 and 6, so the noise level is going to be picking up. Berkshire crosses my mind so often, even at 75. Glad I can still remember it.”

Walt Henrion recently spoke to Bruce Benson and asked him when he was going to retire as President of the University of Colorado. He said that he had planned on retiring this year, but the trustees came to him and said he could not retire until all the massive changes he had engineered were fully implemented, and that could take another 5 years.

Paul Tompkins writes: “Life is good in southern California. Gail and I have had a busy, but fun-filled year traveling and enjoying being with our children and grandchildren, all of which live near us. We look forward to my 60th Berkshire Reunion. It seems like it was just a few years ago that Mr. Godman let us graduate. I guess it is true that time flies by when you’re having fun. Then again, maybe time goes by faster as you grow older. See you in 2017!”

59Richard H. [email protected]

REUNION 2016 will take place June 10-12, welcoming back ‘1s and ‘6s!

70th

65th

60th

/ Class Notes /


60H. Todd [email protected]

Stephen P. [email protected]

Bill Mayher is working as a sculptor with pieces in a half dozen galleries in Maine. A lifelong teacher, counselor and consultant, Bill is still involved with schools, lately in London, and most recently at The King’s Academy in Jordan. A year ago he and four others launched the classic boat website, www.offcenterharbor.com. He and his wife Caroline, a potter, have been around Maine’s Blue Hill Peninsula since the late 1960’s. Between 1979 and 1980 they designed and built their own house in Brooklin where they work in their own shops and keep an eye on the comings and goings of the tide.

“Bluefish on Aubry Allen’s Skiff c. 1948” by Bill Mayher ’60. The 44” x 14” piece is made from salt water driftwood and galvanized roof tin and is one of the Maine-based sculptor’s recent works.

Joe Salembier recently wrote a collection of poetry: Scales, A Collection of Tuna Haikus. Joe writes: “I wrote the tuna fish haikus in 2001 after a long illness that left me weak and unable to eat, except for, strangely, tuna fish. My sister-in-law encouraged me to document my experiences using the

Japanese Haiku format. Eventually, I recovered and stored the Haikus where they sat unnoticed for over 10 years. When I rediscovered them, I decided to pair them with illustrations. I turned to the Herberger Design School and began working with Tevin King, an ASU graduate student interested in building his digital portfolio. Scales shows how this ancient art form can evolve into contemporary communication, with a strictly American take on it. We think our work respects history while convey-ing its own emotion and humor.”

61Peter R. [email protected]

Bill Duschatko writes: “I was fortunate enough to win a seat on the Bedford, NH Town Council, for a three-year term. I also serve as a Commissioner for the Southern NH Regional Planning Commission. Other than that, I am enjoying a rather placid life in NH.”

Stuart Marsh was on campus in March to teach a Pro Vita course. He graduated from Hamilton in 1966 and afterwards joined the US Marine Corps. He subsequently went into banking starting at Bank of New York and continued at European-American Bank, Barclays Bank, Bank of America and others–all in international trade and project finance. In 2002, he went back to school at University of Connecticut where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Education. He has spent the past nine years teaching world history, global studies, and advanced placement economics to high school students in Connecticut.

Albert Crane celebrated a special birthday in September by learning that his two children received a promotion on that same day.

From www.today.com in August: “When Garry Morfit starts planning his annual summer vacation, he reach-es out to his friends at Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, just as he has every summer since 2007. That’s when he first invited two wounded warriors aboard “Hot Ruddered Bum,” his 42-

foot fishing boat, for a 10-day fly-fishing excursion. ‘As a Vietnam vet, we didn’t get a whole lot of respect when we returned to the States,’ said Morfit, of Hilton Head, SC. ‘Reaching out to the wounded soldiers seemed to be a great way to say thank you for their service and sacrifices.’”

62Andrew S. [email protected]

David Hemelright is Chairman of the Oak Ridge, TN Site Specific Advisory Board, a federal board of citizens to advise the Department of Energy, Environmental Management on the clean-up of legacy nuclear waste remaining from the Manhattan Project and Cold War.

63Ray H. [email protected]

John Magee writes: “Other than one or two sightings of Ed Grant and a correspondence or two with Bill Goodridge, I am amazed that I have really not seen any of my classmates since June of 1963. After a ten-year stint teaching at Lawrenceville right out of Dartmouth, I went to work on Wall Street, ultimately buying and selling bonds with central banks around the world. We lived in New York and London. In 2005 I decided to go back to teaching English, and I have been at Taft ever since and love it.”

Burdett “Bird” Loomis writes: “I’m about to go to phased retirement over the next two years, which means less teaching, but not much less work. I’ve got two books coming out this summer, the 9th edition of Interest Group Politics and the 6th edition of The Contemporary Congress. I’m not quite dead yet.”

64John R. [email protected]

John Hendrie writes: “Your north of Boston classmates Bob Beaumont, Alden “Cappy” Anderson, Dave

55th

/ Class Notes /


Lanman and this author have finished a most tiresome winter—snow records, blizzards, bracing cold temperatures, and the like. Even now, the brown earth looks like Eden’s gate! We have been delivered.”

Geoffrey Bray was on campus in March teaching a Pro Vita course. After graduating from Berkshire, Geoffrey, a principal in the architecture firm Bray and Associates, graduated from the Notre Dame School of Architecture. Bray first gained industry acclaim with his design for the then budding ESPN Network’s headquarters in Bristol. He has since spread his influence up and down the Atlantic Coast from South Carolina to Maine. Geoffrey’s residential work has been featured in Traditional Home and the Wall Street Journal Mansion section. Additionally, he has been a community advocate most of his life: he is involved in education, both private and public, numerous non-profit organizations, and historic preservation and urban planning.

65James T. [email protected]

Ted Dunne writes: “Sadly, I was unable to attend our 50th reunion. The only classmate I have had contact with in the past 20 years is Phil Deely, and that is only because we are connected through Facebook. As

you can see, I am still alive, married with children, the oldest of whom is nearly 40 and working in New York City in a promotions company doing quite well. My youngest is 37 and on a quest to find himself somewhere near Asheville, NC. I am still practicing law in New Jersey where I have been a prosecutor and judge and now focus on mediation of disputes, land development transactions, etc. My wife, Evie, and I live in northwest New Jersey where we have a small farm to keep us busy. Retirement, once a near goal, since the down turn disaster, now seems a bit elusive.

Fond memories of my time at Berkshire persist. Even some sad ones as Bill Spalding and I lowered the flag as the assassination of JFK was broadcast. Bad ones, if any, are mostly gone from the memory banks. Mountain Day surprise holiday, blind dates with visiting girls’ boarding school on dance nights, getting out of study hall, Saturday night movies, sneaking cigarettes on the church bus and smoking in Allen IV, packing the slopes, risky rope tow with C. Twiggs Myers Hon. ’57 manning the motor, Dixon, Chaffee, Stewart, Leeds, Putnam, Brunt...hoping you and they are well and happy.”

Bill Spalding writes: “I had another wonderful year of coaching varsity volleyball at Berkshire this fall. The team had a very successful year! I enjoyed seeing many of you under the Mountain at our 50th reunion in June.”

Jack Kennedy writes: “I recently returned from two months of village

level work in Indonesia, heading up Health Access Sumbawa L.P., a social project I started with Berkshire roommate Pete Skinner, one of the project funders. Happy to report we placed 340 treated bed nets in 130 homes this winter, protecting over 400 people in our first-year effort to eliminate malaria in three isolated villages on the island. Over the next three years, we will provide all residents with treated bed nets, send two medical staff for W.H.O. certification training in malaria and build them a lab so they can diagnose and treat all cases. These off-the-grid villages had no access to health services before we started. Very rewarding stuff, a big adventure, and a huge challenge for a couple of old Berkshire boys who still work every day.”

Walt Rose has recently moved to the San Francisco area and has connected with Jim McKinley, Chris Ames and

Rob Fisher ’64, Bebe Bullock ’86 and Sarah Fisher ’06 randomly met up at the Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in March. Rob became friends with the owners of the Inn, Eric and Belinda Morrow, parents of Olivia Morrow ’12 and Eloise Morrow ’14, as they are all from the Northwest Connecticut area.

Above: “Swinging Parrots” painted by Geoff Stack ’65. Right: Cover photo of Class of ’65’s Geoff Stack’s first CD “Minstrel.” Geoff also has a second CD “Turn it Up;” he is the lead vocal on both.

Jack Kennedy ’65 in Indonesia, where he led Health Access Sumbawa L.P., a project started with former roomate Peter Skinner ’65.

From left: Dan MacMillan ’65, Bob Lovejoy ’65 and Dan Barnes ’65 got together in Asheville, NC where Bob was playing bass guitar in a band called Jangling Sparrow.

/ Class Notes /


Murray Lewis. Walt writes: “We all had a lot to catch up on since our last meetings a half century ago! After living in Los Angeles for 40 years, a career in consulting/private equity and chairing the Board of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, I am now living in Marin County and working with a health care start-up that is developing technology solutions for mental health issues.”

66Harlan J. [email protected]

Ed Woodyard was on campus in March to teach Pro Vita. Ed has more than 35 years of experience in marketing and corporate communications. An award-winning journalist and former screenwriter, he has worked in publishing, promotion, public relations and new product introduction in New York City, representing dozens of clients from industrial and consumer products to professional and personal services. After graduating from Berkshire, Ed earned a bachelor’s of journalism from the University of Missouri and a graduate degree in film/video from California Institute of the Arts. He wrote movie scripts on spec in Los Angeles and New York and wrote TV scripts for thirtysomething, Law and Order, Friends and other TV pilots. He put all that aside some 20 years ago to become a college admissions counselor, which he finds much more rewarding. His book Getting Into the Best College for You was just published.

Vernon Taylor was on campus in April as a judge for the 2015 Sabin Entrepreneurial Prize, awarded to the group from Berkshire’s Advanced Eco-nomics class with the best business plan.

67F. Woodson Hancock [email protected]

David Lee Todd writes: “We were happy to welcome our first grandchild into the world last October, a healthy and happy little boy. Rachel and I still live and work in Los Angeles, CA. I published my first book a few

months ago, The One Minute Prepper, an introduction to survival and emergency preparedness, which is available on Amazon.”

68L. Keith [email protected]

Rob Hessler is recently retired from Boeing after 34 years in aerospace and defense. He just started coaching a high school-age rugby team, the Temecula Mountain Lions, in Southern California.

George Lanman is happily retired in Sebastian, FL. George writes “Fun, sun, boating, beaching and a relaxing lifestyle with my girlfriend Ilene. I am blessed with three wonderful kids: Nick, 25, Jeff, 23, and Emma, 18. Nick is working with a marketing company, Jeff is in graduate school, a doctorate program in physical therapy, and Emma is going to Quinnipiac University this fall. I am looking forward to the 50th reunion in 2018 to catch up with the gang of ’68.”

69Kent S. [email protected]

Ed Chase ’69 and Seamus McKeon ’69 helping Mike Dalton, Supervisor of the Arthur C. Chase Sugar House and Director of the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program, boil sap over March break.

In April, K.C. Clow had lunch with Jim Hooper in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts. K.C. writes: “Not the place our classmates would think we would get together at, I’m sure. I was there for the

Frozen Four and watched two Berkshire alumni, Trevor Mingoia ’11 and Kevin Rooney ’12, win the National Championship for Providence College. Two years in a row that alumni have been on the winning team!”

70Robert L. W. [email protected]

Tom Bolmer writes: “I’m still at The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a technician in the geology and geophysics department. Agonizing about when to retire. But, I’m still enjoying the odd projects that come up. I recently had a cruise for the Japanese surveying Maganese nodule regions (see rare earths and cell phones). I’m also doing a good deal of data reduction and display of the project’s data on and near the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.”

71Kevin Bruemmer was on campus

in March to teach a Pro Vita course. He graduated from the University of Hartford with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in mathematics/computer science. He also earned a Master’s of Science degree in electrical engineering from RPI and a certificate in intellectual property law from NYU. He has 34 years of experience in electronic product design, system engineering, technology licensing, and business development in the data communications, satellite modem, and cellular wireless industries.

Kevin served in the United States Coast Guard and has deployed wireless backhaul optimization solutions for major wireless operators in Latin America, Central Asia, the Indian Sub-Continent, and Africa. He is co-inventor on four U.S. patents and co-author of several IEEE conference papers. He is a trustee of the JP Bruemmer Charitable Lead Trust, a member of the Angel Capital Association, and consultant to several start-up companies.

45th

50th

/ Class Notes /


72John Y. G. Walker [email protected]

Peter Brown ’72 is living in Olympia, WA and for the past 20 years has been traveling to Mexico to learn from the Huichol and Nahua people about their heal-ing ways. This photo of Peter is at his second initiation as a Marakame (shaman) in the Huichol tradition on the shores of Santa Maria del Oro in Mexico.

Nick Johnson was on campus in March to teach a Pro Vita course. He is a professor and director of dance at Wichita State University and earned his MFA degree in dance/drama at the University of Arizona. Nick trained in New York City and has dedicated his professional career to the fusion of mime and dance in artistic production and training. He is a founding mem-ber of the School for Mime Theatre, a summer residency program based at Kenyon College, where he taught for 25 years. He has worked with and created choreography for Marcel Marceau and continues to create both mime and dance doing freelance choreography, directing, teaching and performing. He annually creates original multidis-ciplinary children’s physical theatre productions for the artist-in-residence

program at the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center, Cave Creek, Arizona. He is the Artistic Director for the Alithea Mime Theatre, a professional company in residence at Wichita State Universi-ty, and also an Artistic Director for the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre, the student touring company from the WSU Dance Program.

73Leon J. Weil [email protected]

Will Morrison and Joanne Marino got married on April 10th in Nashville, TN. They will continue to live in

Middletown, NY. Both say it was well worth the wait!

Jamie Bartholomay Niemie writes: “This has been a year filled with many great changes. Two of my daughters married and I was blessed with my first grandchild, a little girl, Crawford Francis, born in April by my daughter Bailey Duffy ’05. Another daughter is

The Class of ’73 shared some holiday cheer at Berkshire’s reception in New York City. From left: Tom Mullany, former faculty Hilary Russell, Rex Morgan, Monty Reis ’71, Kevin Bruemmer ’71, John Shaker ’71, Bill Drake, Chris Groves, Mark Richardson and Jerry Weil.

Nick Johnson ’72 dining with Ross and Joyce Hawkins, former faculty, at the Old Mill in Egremont, MA when Nick was visiting campus in March to teach a Pro Vita course.

No lying on the beach for her. Resident adventurer Paula Pevzner ’73 spent her March vacation trekking in Death Valley with a group of hardy hikers. No surprise to hear that fellow hiker, a female West Point Army captain and former special ops member, admitted that even she had trouble keeping up with the mighty Paula!

Michele Robins ’73 and Rex Morgan ’73 had 42 years of catching up to do at Berkshire’s reception in Philadelphia last March. Michele is a psychologist at Bryn Mawr College with a practice in New York City. Rex is currently working on training projects for the drug maker Astra Zeneca.

/ Class Notes /


expecting in August. My husband Russ and I are living in Palm Beach, FL and are also going to be living in New York City for his work. I am so excited to be closer to Berkshire again.”

Doug Hitchcock ’73 is Marketing Manager, Total Energy Motive Power Division at Exide Technologies/GNB Industrial. He lives in Naperville, IL with his wife Gayle. He reports that he’s “very proud of Gayle who is an 8+ year survivor of ovarian cancer.”

Stowe Shoemaker is Dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at University of Las Vegas. When he’s not busy shepherding his students and professors, Dean Stowe calls upon his “inner Twiggs” and his old Berkshire cross country experience to compete in races and half marathons, raising money for children with cancer.

While on a business trip to Brussels, Belgium in April, Bill Drake ’73 and wife Lisa enjoyed dinner with former faculty member Marianne Hubert Stein. Bill was pleased to show Marianne a picture of the plaque and photo outside the Language Lab recently dedicated by the Class of 1973 to honor Marianne and fellow teachers Nancy Duryee-Aas and W. Ross Hawkins.

Brent Sweet writes: “I am living in Alexandria Bay, NY and am an avid duck hunter and golfer. I own and operate two businesses in northern New York and have two boys finishing college.”

74Louise A. [email protected]

75Joseph M. [email protected]

Joe Fusco and the Class of 1975 had a great time reconnecting at Reunion Weekend for their 40th reunion in June, and were thrilled to be under the Mountain together again.

76Stephen H. [email protected]

77David W. C. [email protected]

78Birney B. [email protected]

Andrew Baseman ’78 completed work on Season 1 of the TV series Gotham and returned for Season 2 at the end of May. The photo is of Wayne Manor, a set built on stage at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, NY. Andrew reported long hours and lots of last minute schedule changes, typical in TV and film, but he finds the work rewarding. He was nominated for an Art Directors Guild Award for his set decoration.

79Robert D. [email protected]

Steve Conney writes: “I am still working at Masimo full-time, selling lifesaving monitoring equipment to fire departments in the West. I am still chasing powder in the winter with Powderchasers.com. Please like my Powderchasers page on Facebook.”

80Steven P. [email protected]

After 25 years as the head football coach at Susquehanna University, Steve Briggs stepped down to become an advancement officer in the division of university relations at the school, where he has been employed since 1988. He was hired as a defensive assistant coach and became head coach in 1990. Steven had a 127-126 record as a head coach at Susquehanna. He led his team to the Liberty League championship in 2009 and was one of five finalists for the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year award that season. Prior to his time at Susquehanna, Steven coached at Bowdoin, Springfield, Lehigh and Richmond.

Steve Veronesi was especially excited about this year’s Reunion Weekend, which was his 35th and his son Keith Veronesi’s 5th, so they were able to get to enjoy the weekend together. Steve writes: “Ironically, my four years and Keith’s four years at Berkshire resulted in almost identical athletic accomplishments. We were both multi-sport captains in the same sports to which we both were awarded some of the same individual awards. The coolest event was when Keith scored the very first goal in the brand new Jackman L. Stewart Athletic Center rink on the day it was dedicated to the late Coach Jack Stewart. This was special to me because Coach Stewart was in fact my coach 30 years earlier and was an enormous part of my life at Berkshire. Although Coach Stewart had passed a few years before the dedication, Mrs. Stewart was present, and we both found the goal to be a perfect stamp on the history of this day and the relationship that I had with Coach Stewart.”

40th

/ Class Notes /


81Sue Ann [email protected]

Annie R. [email protected]

Tonia Lovejoy writes: “My son, Malik, spent a semester at Wagner College on an academic scholarship. However, he has since joined the U.S. Marines - Semper Fidelis! He will be going to basic training soon.”

Allen Maxwell writes: “After being laid off my job of almost 18 years last August, I took a position as the CTO of a real estate brokerage firm in the San Francisco Bay area. It’s been different transitioning from working at home to traveling every other week, but the job has been a great challenge, and I’m hoping good things come of it. My daughter just moved into her own apartment, and my son finished up sophomore year at the University of Utah. My other son just moved back to Utah and took on another programming job. Skiing was really lame this year as we had the lowest snowfall on record, but I still got out a dozen times. I hope all the Berkshire-ites are doing great!”

Tony Scheinman writes: “My voice-over and acting career is progressing very well. I have four audiobooks narrated by me and they are currently available for purchase on Amazon, Audible and iTunes. The most recent being The Idiot Government Reviews by Pete Sortwell, and I have been congratulated by some Berkshire alumni upon my appearance on a recent episode of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Other recent work has included my being the voice of Nikola Tesla in the documentary film Tower to the People, the voice of a doctor in a series of medical learning modules and second-hand mortuary monument dealer “Ted” in the independent film Jasper and the Sea Queen. Every now and then I still get recognized as “Sex Offender #1” whenever the episode of Law and Order: SVU that I appeared in is re-run on television.”

Marty Berger writes: “I am moving from the little town of Hilo,

HI, my home for the last 14 years, to Honolulu. All are welcome to visit; I have extra surfboards.”

Gary Smith Anderson writes: “I’ve just reached the halfway point in a 30-year project and am trying to decide whether I’m semi-retired or just on sabbatical. My daughter Tayler is now 19 years old and tentatively on her own. I’ve just opened a bed and breakfast in Lisbon, Portugal, and it’s a lot like my time being a single dad. I also helped found an artistic association here where we focus on language exchange and all types of arts. I’m busy; I teach a cyberskills workshop and get to go fishing once in a while as well. I’d like to collaborate and communicate with any of you that are interested in doing so. Let’s get in touch, catch up on each other’s lives, and explore how and what we can do for one another as well as for Berkshire. I hope to hear from you soon!”

82Thomas B. [email protected]

Anthony P. [email protected]

Anthony Addison sees Terry Gregory regularly, when he comes to New York City for business. Terry’s design business is based in Boston. Several members of the class will be putting a group dinner together soon in New York City, and the more the merrier. Contact Anthony Addison if you would like to join!

Blake Addison is wrapping up another season on the set of Scandal, where he designs and builds sets. Blake is hoping to spend a couple of weeks in New York this summer.

Rosemary Fitzgerald was on campus in April as a judge for the 2015 Sabin Entrepreneurial Prize, awarded to the group from Berkshire’s Advanced Economics class with the best business plan.

83Karen Schnurr [email protected]

Elizabeth Rutledge writes: “I live in a suburb of Atlanta where I focus my time volunteering as a child life specialist. Human rights, animal rescue, mentoring, Operation Soap (see CNN Heroes), and my HOA keep me busy. My faith in Jesus has only grown stronger through struggles—I survived a brain tumor and have been diagnosed with depression, which began as early as high school, and it has been a great joy for me to be able to reconnect with Berkshire School classmates at reunions and on Facebook. My family has a house in the Berkshires, and I stop by the school a couple times a year just to see what’s what. If you are ever in Atlanta, feel free to look me up [email protected].”

MaryKate Gangemi-Bronder lives in Andover, MA with her husband,

Class of 1982 friends Alex Sumner, Anthony Addison, and George Rioseco reunite this past spring at a Billy and The Kids concert (Bill Kreutzman from the Grate-ful Dead) at the Capitol Theater. They tend to go to quite a few Grateful Dead-based shows together, which is reminiscent of the Class of 1982 senior trip!

Former faculty Tom and Susan Young visited with Steve DeFelice ’83 on their return trip this spring from Washington to Sheffield.

35th

/ Class Notes /


Michael, daughters Morrissey, age 16, and Madeline, age 14. MaryKate is a massage therapist of 22 years and owns Andover Massage Therapy.

84Kelly Finley Comerford writes: “It’s

hard to believe it’s been 31 years since graduation - wow! My husband and I live in Daphne, AL, which is along the Gulf Coast, approximately 11 miles east of Mobile. We have 5 children; Adriana, Justin, Harrison, James Robert and Chandler. Our daughter will be 21 in July. She attends the University of South Alabama and is studying to be a nurse practitioner. Justin will be transferring to the University of South Alabama to study mechanical engineering. Harrison is a sophomore in high school, James Robert is an 8th grader and Chandler is a 5th grader. I work full-time as an office manager for a financial services/security provider company in Daphne. My husband is a licensed private client/wealth manager for a large retail bank. I love living near the beach, but miss those Berkshires, too.”

Eric Mellinger writes: “I received a formal invitation and participated in the opening ceremony of UNESCO’s International Year of Light (IYOL) in Paris, France, where my photography was exhibited along with other members of the Light Painting World Alliance, an international guild of light painting artists where I am a member of the Advisory Board. The International Year of Light is UNESCO’s global initiative to highlight to the citizens of the world the importance of light and optical technologies in their lives, for their futures, and for the development of society. I was honored to have received the invitation, participate and share my photography at such a prestigious event. My photography will continue to be exhibited at many UNESCO IYOL events throughout the year, and was recently shown in Washington, DC and in Stuttgart, Germany. I had a great time in Paris and met other talented artists who are really pushing the boundaries of light painting and light art technologies.”

85Lionel A. [email protected]

Daniel Griffin writes: “Although my classmates may remember me as the one they selected for ‘worst case of senioritis’ and ‘tries to get away with the most,’ I was actually able to continue forward in the academic arena. After a little too much fun at University of Miami and some more out time at University of Colorado in Boulder, I did end up attending medical school at NYU School of Medicine and then getting a PhD in Molecular Medicine after that. I am currently doing gene therapy research at Columbia University, providing care for AIDs patients and doing a bit of teaching. I am one of the cohosts of the podcast This Week in Parasitism, available on iTunes.”

Andrew Maloy writes: “While I am still with the Department of State, the last couple of years have been interesting to say the least. I spent 2.5 years in Yemen, and then went on to Tripoli, and I am now living and working in Amman, Jordan.”

Peter Scott was on campus in March to give a presentation for Pro Vita week on his career. Peter has been with Turner Broadcasting since 1989. He first started in the video journalist

program at CNN, becoming an editor and cameraman for CNN News. He traveled the world for six years covering wars in Bosnia, the US invasion of Haiti, presidential campaigns, earthquakes in Los Angeles and other events. In 1996, Peter moved to Turner Sports where he became a senior production manager, coordinating logistics for the NBA, NFL, and MLB telecasts on TNT and TBS. In 2000, he moved to Los Angeles to become

Eric Mellinger ’84 with LPWA members having fun at Palais de Tokyo.

Daniel Griffin ’85 visiting England in spring for a cou-ple of weeks with his wife, Jessica, and their three children; Daisy, 14, Eloise, 12, and Barnaby, 9. The family resides in Port Washington, NY.

/ Class Notes /


senior video producer for FoxSports.com. There he was responsible for producing and directing the first live college football game streamed over the Internet. Currently, Peter is Vice President of Emerging Media with an expanded role of overseeing new technologies and data intelligence across the Turner Sports portfolio; Bleacher Report, NBA Digital, NCAA, NASCAR and the PGA of America.

86Rhonda M. [email protected]

Lara Schefler [email protected]

Warner Brown writes: “My wife McCall and I live on a farm near Crest-wood, KY and are growing organic horse hay. We sell the hay locally to race horses and pleasure horses. We are in the process of organic certification right now, so this will be the first year as organic. After a period as a general contractor, rebuilding old log cabins and timber frame barns as houses, I am now selling reclaimed wood and floor-ing. I have been a pilot since 1986 and have ATP rating and CFII and seaplane rating. During study hall in my room in Memorial, I would get interference on my radio. From time to time the music would fade and transmissions from the Great Barrington Airport would come through. Having wanted to fly forever, I attribute these transmissions to my final-ly learning to fly. I started flying during the summer following graduation.

When Mike Maher came to Kentucky to explain Berkshire’s aviation program, I was naturally enthused. What a great way to teach physics, trigonometry and calculus without telling students that is what they are learning. I initially attend-ed Centre College and had about a D average. At Christmas of my second year, I transferred to Embry Riddle Aeronau-tical University in Daytona Beach, FL. I was then on the Dean’s list and made almost straight A’s. McCall and I have three children ages 20, 18, and 15. My oldest child, Warner, is at Columbia and my younger two, Ballard and Mary

Mack, are at Deerfield Academy. They all looked at Berkshire, but I was not convincing enough. Their loss.”

87

Children of Annalisa Hinckley Savin ’87: Ingrid, 11, and George, 14

88Scott M. [email protected]

Ellie Glaccum Debenham writes: “I had my first real aging experience at the end of last year. After being knocked over by one of my father’s horses in June, I had an ache between my shoulder blade and spine that wouldn’t go away. Long and short of it was I had two blown disks and a spot on my spinal cord the size of a quarter. The nerve pain was indescribable. On October 7, I received a Synthes Pro-Disc C implant in between my C6-C7. An incredible work of engineering. I can’t tell it’s there, and I probably have a better range of motion than before. I haven’t had any nerve pain since I woke up from the operation and can even run again. I’ll never take my back for granted again. I guess the years of riding, field hockey, ice hockey, lax, trampolines, etc. caught up with me.”

Pieter Ruig’s public relations firm, C&R Communications (www.discovercrc.com), is celebrating six years in July. Pieter writes: “We are based in Santa Monica, CA and run campaigns for individual hotels and brands, including: Auberge Resorts, InterContinental, Kimpton, Ritz Carlton, Rosewood, Park Hyatt, etc. My father recently purchased a home

in Lenox, MA and I look forward to finally getting back to campus after so many years.”

89David H. [email protected]

Andrew D. [email protected]

Todd Thomas writes: “I am one of the co-founders of a great new non-profit manufacturing business incubator and commercial makerspace in Bristol, RI. I want to get the word out to Berkshire alumni who might be in the Metro Boston—Rhode Island area. If any alumni would be interested in helping us out (non-profit and all) or if you would like to volunteer or mentor new and small businesses, I can be contacted at [email protected] or at 413-441-7608.”

90Natalie [email protected]

Nina Bradley [email protected]

Amanda Hill writes: “My news is that I am the same Amanda I was at Berkshire made richer by two kids, a husband, travels, running, winding career path and my best friend and roommate from Berkshire, Leci Guequierre McCrillis!”

Deirdre McGaffey Schwein writes: “Chad, Dee, and Pirate (cat) settled into a new place in Hayward, CA late in 2014, and we adopted Sasha (cat) at the end of March 2015. Chad and Dee continue to watch and play ice hockey. We’re looking forward to watching the new AHL Barracuda in San Jose this fall! Watching the Sharks and Kings at the first-ever Stadium Series at Levi was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Our co-ed team, the Redshirts, lives up to its name, though we did manage to survive once this past season. We both continue to act as back-up goalies for the NCWHL, and Dee joined her first tournament

30th

/ Class Notes /


team; the Stormtroopers. They had their first game in Las Vegas, NV in January. Dee began working at HIP Legal LLP in late 2014 for one of the partners in our hockey league. HIP is a patent law firm that specializes in high-tech products. If you’re looking for a patent lawyer, feel free to drop me a line. Chad continues in tech support for teleNetwork, and is still enjoying the perks of working on the Google campus. We were so happy to be on campus for Reunion Weekend in June. It was Chad’s first visit to Berkshire!”

Deirdre McGaffey Schwein ’90 and her husband, Chad, with friends watching the Sharks and Kings at the first-ever Stadium Series at Levi.

EA Weymuller writes: “My wife and I have lived in Winthrop, Washington for 13 years with our daughters, ages 12 and 15. I started a photography business (www.weymullerphotography.com) a few years back, and it has flourished in our small destination town. That said, I’m excited to be joining LiveStories, a Seattle, WA based start-up company as Director of Client Engagement. Our clients are public sector and non-profit groups who have large data sets that need to be expressed in an intuitive, powerful fashion. Think; data visual-ization made simple. It was great to be back on campus for our 25th Reunion!”

EA Weymuller ’90 and his wife, Rachelle, and daughters Hannah and Eva on New Year’s Day 2015 in Seattle, WA.

91John K. [email protected]

Charlie Brown taught a Pro Vita course to Berkshire students in March. After graduating from RPI, where Char-lie received his bachelor’s degree and MBA, he started work at a firm which eventually became Hugh Johnson Advi-sors, a small investment firm in Albany, NY where he is an equity analyst and portfolio manager. In his free time, Brown is dedicated to the sport of curl-ing. A hockey goaltender at Berkshire, Brown traded in his hockey stick for a curling broom and worked with our Pro Vita class on the history of curling at the Schenectady Curling Club.

92Abram W. Duryee [email protected]

93Tenley E. [email protected]

Hilary A. [email protected]

Macy Allatt McGinness and her family are leaving San Francisco after many great years to go to Santa Barbara. Please contact her if you find yourself passing through California’s central coast.

94Francis A. [email protected]

Chris Lee writes: “Sorry I missed you all at reunion last year. My mom won a trip to St. Lucia, and despite how much I love you, my wife of 14 years, Adele, and my two daughters, Bella, 10, and Lydia, 7, thought the trip was too good to pass up. We live in Egremont, MA just around the corner from Berkshire and love it. My dad, Michael Lee, current faculty, has been teaching aviation science (yes, this means they are learning how to fly) at Berkshire for the last few years,

and my sister Shannon will be a third former this coming fall. Our family is very close with alumni Sarah Gottlieb; has a 2 year old daughter and is a local clothing store tycoon, Steffen Root; has a 6 month old baby and is a local bike shop tycoon; Evan Hardcastle ’95; has a new dog, which according to him is the same as a kid! We also see the likes of Jen Harvey; has a 14 year old daughter and new baby, Oscar. Emily Ivey Williams; has two daughters; Otis Lougheed ’95; has no babies and is undomesticated. On occasion I see Noah Fischel, well, that is until he moved to Miami, FL; witness protection program, I think. Oh, and we party with Jed Scala ’85 when he is up from the city. He throws the best parties! So, life here is pretty good. I get back to campus now and then to catch some games and take the kids skating at the amazing hockeytorium. If you’re in the area, don’t hesitate to look us up.”

95Bradley P. [email protected]

Class of 1995 Jennifer Melis, Toure Folkes and Zara Fernandes (behind the camera) had brunch together in April for a mini-reunion before their 20th in June.

Matt Naylor recently returned to the United States from Wiesbaden, Germany, where he has been stationed for four years with the Air Force as a linguist. Brad Hunt visited Matt in his new location in Key West, FL to help him find his new home.

25th

/ Class Notes /


96Katherine C. [email protected]

Julie A. [email protected]

Tatum E. [email protected]

Javier Winnik writes: “Last Octo-ber I proposed to my girlfriend after debuting my graphic novel A Reason to Smile! at the New York Comic Con. You know you have a perfect partner when you help each other grow and be better than you were, and my success is in part due to the love and support I receive from my lady. That weekend, I sold 44 copies of my book, which was funded through Kickstarter, and in six months’ time I’m at it again with volume 2! I sold out of all 500 copies of my first book and hope to bring A Reason to Smile! to you and your family! Please check out my Kickstarter and help me continue to self-publish this wonderful series of books.”

In June, Nakia Howell graduated from the Leaders in Educational Apprenticeship Program, which is a highly selective program through the New York City Department of Education. She will be credentialed to be an administrator in the fall.

In March, Lauren Hynek sold the script she co-wrote, a live action retelling of Mulan, to Disney.

97Gordon B. [email protected]

Chaumanix Dutton writes: “This fall, I will be starting a PhD program in mar-keting at the University of Southern Cal-ifornia, Marshall School of Business. I am very excited to start the program and begin the transition to an academic research career (even though this does cause a bit of a football problem)! I’ll be in Los Angeles this summer, and I’d love to connect with alumni in the area or traveling through. My e-mail is [email protected].”

Ryan Kravetz has opened an ice rink, Daytona Ice Arena, in Daytona, FL.

98Jason C. [email protected]

Malinda L. [email protected]

Lauren A. [email protected]

In October, Jason Rano changed jobs and joined the National Park Foundation as director of government relations just in time for the centennial of the National Park Service.

Lauren Levin is recently engaged to Jeffrey Leichenger.

Marguerite Saint-Preux is in school to be a physical therapist.

99Michael D. [email protected]

George S. [email protected]

Molly Ferguson has been living in the Rhineland Pfalz area of Germany since August. Her family will be there for several years with her husband, John, who is in the Air Force. The Ferguson family enjoys traveling in Europe as much as they can while stationed in Germany.

Gabe Seifter ’97 married Melissa Sprague on September 20, 2014 in Old Forge, NY in the Adirondack Mountains. The newlyweds reside in Gabe’s hometown of Syracuse, surrounded by their families and old friends.

John Harker ’97 wed Jessica Eisner of Tybee Island, GA on August 9, 2014 in Orleans, MA. The couple met while John was serving on the Coast Guard in Cape Cod, MA, where they reside. John is the officer in charge of Coast Guard Station Provincetown.

Kiran Waldbaum ’97 and John Stephenson had a baby boy, John Eric, on December 28, 2014.

Gordon Kellam ’97 and Jeremy Greenstein ’97 got together in Gordon’s home state of Florida in February when Jeremy’s family was visiting from Ireland.

Michael Gutenplan ’99 recently had the chance to catch up with Theo Adley ’01 at his fantastic restau-rant The Squeaky Bean in Denver, CO.

20th

/ Class Notes /


00Brooke T. [email protected]

Bryan Houseman writes: “I finished my orthopaedic surgery residency in June and will begin an orthopaedic trauma fellowship in Louisville, KY until August of 2016. Our two year old son Grayson is growing up very fast and my wife Jess and I are trying to keep up with him. We wish we could have made it to Reunion Weekend, but I had my graduation ceremony at the same time. I hope everyone from the Class of 2000 is doing well. Go Bears!”

Budisatrio Djiwandono writes: “Things have been exciting for me in Indonesia. I’m living in Jakarta and taking care of my family’s various businesses around the country. Besides business, my family is also involved in politics, so I am actually running a political party in Indonesia. We formed our party in 2008, and after seven years, our party is now the third largest political party in Indonesia. I’ve actually been involved in two presidential and two legislative elections. I will be overseeing over 250 local and regional elections this coming December. We want to win in the next general election, which will be in 2019.”

01Shannon M. [email protected]

Alex Barrett and his wife Whitney have recently moved to Brattleboro, VT. In March, their second son, Alder, was born. The newest little Barrett is doing well. On the job front, after working for 2.5 years as the manager of the Yale School Forests, Alex has moved over to the private sector and is now working as forester with a company called Long View Forest, based in Westminster, VT. He spends as much time as possible in the woods, but puts in a fair amount of office time as well.

Aka Lauenstein writes: “I live in Denver, CO now and work on my business Kada Imports (www.

kadaimports.com) as well as working at an inner city charter school as the athletic director. I travel back to the Himalayas almost every summer to help out my family and the school my people started, the Taktse International School (www.taktse.org).

Phil Sandick writes: “After college, I moved to Botswana for a few years. I worked at a private high school, Maruapula, running an IT renovation, coaching girls’ soccer, teaching southern African history, and writing the history of the school. I also made a lot of art, some of which is in the permanent collection of the Botswana National Gallery. It was an amazing time. I went back to Columbia to get an MA in oral history in 2008. Met my wife, we went back to Botswana together, traveled around southern and east Africa for a few months, then moved to Chicago. I got a JD and an LLM in international human rights from Northwestern, and then we moved to Atlanta so I could clerk with a federal judge. It’s been a phenomenal experience. I finish up with the judge in October 2016, at

which point I’ll join the environmental and land use practice group of a large law firm headquartered in Atlanta. My wife is a social worker, but right now she’s staying home with our two kids, Penelope, age 2.5, and Bennett, 2 months.”

Justin Dvorkin and his partners bought a 12,000-square-foot brewing facility in Clifton Park, Baltimore, MD, which will be the new headquarters of Oliver Brewing Company, which also launched a complete rebrand to coincide with the opening in June.

02Matthew P. [email protected]

Former faculty members, Devon O’Rourke ’02 and his wife, Jackie, welcomed a daughter to the world, Finnoula “Finny” Rose O’Rourke on March 11.

Bryan Mornaghi is recently engaged. He has also combined his passions for unicycles and the outdoors into Bryan’s Bikes, an off-road unicycle company.

Scott Davidson writes: “I am working in management consulting for the aviation and aerospace industries. It is very interesting work, but the travel is a killer. We are a small firm of 75 people and have a very global client base, which means we are always on the road.”

Pete Doss ’01 and Laura Scheiderer were married on June 14, 2014. After graduating from the University of Idaho, Pete went on to The Country Club of The Rock-ies in Colorado as an assistant PGA golf pro. He is now affiliated with Dye and Doss, Inc. in Urbana, OH. Laura, a graduate of Otterbein College, is a newborn intensive care nurse at Dayton Children’s Hospital in Dayton, OH. The newlyweds reside in Urbana.

15th

/ Class Notes /


Jeff Pietrasiak was recently engaged to Meagan Bowley.

Jaclyn Brander Marshall and her husband, Steve, welcomed a baby boy, Joel, in February.

03Jane Walker [email protected]

Jen DeLorenzo and her husband Don are excited to share the news that they just bought their first house in Ardmore, PA. They love the neighborhood, which is just west of

Philadelphia. Jen and Don are having fun taking on some projects around the house to make it their own.

04William C. [email protected]

Kraig D. [email protected]

Andrew Shebelut writes: “After seven years in the Army in Anchorage, AK, I crossed into the Air Force as a tactical air control party officer (TACP/JTAC) stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY with the 19 ASOS.”

05Matthew G. [email protected]

Ryan [email protected]

Becky Zavisza has accepted a job at Berkshire School working as an associate director of admission and girls’ varsity hockey coach and looks forward to rejoining the Berkshire community.

Johanna Becker ’05 and Jeffrey Kiley welcomed a daughter, Evelyn Constance, on December 1, 2014.

Shane Knapp ’05 wed college sweetheart Allie Mandel in December in Cohasset, MA. Pictured from left are: Tara Albury ’05, Shane Knapp ’05, his wife Allie, and Jill Bowron ’04.

Shane Knapp writes: “I married Allie Mandel in December. The wedding was attended by Berkshire alumni Tara Albury, who traveled from Portland,

Justin Lynch married Julia Hansen Lynch ’02 in June 2014 in Newport, RI. Above: Berkshire alumni in attendance included, from left, Julia Hansen Lynch ’02, Jill Meyer Miller ’02, Andrea Caicedo ’02, Mac Barrett ’03, Jaclyn Brander Marshall ’02 and Libby Murfey ’02. Justin and Julia are expecting their first baby together in mid-September.

Courtney Pierce Philippou ’02 gave birth to her second baby boy, Charles James Philippou, on October 27, 2014. He was 10 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. Charles is pictured here with proud big brother John.

Faye Klein ’04 and her husband Evan wel-comed their first child, a daughter, Reese Olivia Klein, on March 5, 2015.

/ Class Notes /


OR to be there for the big day, and has remained in touch with me since grad-uation. More recently, Jill Bowron ’04 and I were reunited when after Allie worked together for a month with Jill, as pediatric nurses, she mentioned Berkshire to Allie and Allie replied that her husband had attended Berkshire, and it clicked that the Shane Allie had mentioned was the same guy Jill knew at Berkshire! Jill and I are both very happy to be reunited. I am working at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA for International Forest Products. Allie and I live in Hingham, MA.”

Kacey Bellamy and Kendall Coyne ’11, of the USA Women’s Hockey Team, brought home another gold medal from the IIHF Women’s World Championship in March.

Tyler Murphy originally went to college to study finance when he realized his passion for cooking was more than a hobby. He transferred to Johnson and Wales University, and after a year of culinary school, he started working in the restaurant business. At this time, there was a new and revolutionary course being held at Harvard University; the course material investigated the raw science that occurs in the art of cooking. The course changed how Tyler thought about cooking. Since then, he has worked at restaurants around the country such

as Grants in Connecticut, Jose Andres’ Mini Bar in Washington, DC, as well as Jean Gorges in the Trump Towers of Manhattan. Currently, Tyler is the Executive Chef at the Holiday Inn in East Hartford, CT. He was on campus in March to teach a Pro Vita course to Berkshire students.

06Emily K. [email protected]

Courtney J. [email protected]

Stephen W. [email protected]

Jacqueline Cloud is happy to announce her wedding to Collin Easton on September 12, 2015, which will take place in New Hampshire. Jacqueline recently graduated with her PhD in applied chemistry from Colorado School of Mines on December 12, 2014. She is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Connecticut.

07Allison A. [email protected]

Casey A. [email protected]

Crawford Hamilton writes: “I am currently living in Philadelphia and work for a company called BarVision. Our patented ‘smart spouts’ record liquor and beer pours in real time, in which we then integrate the BarVision pour data with our clients’ POS data in our dashboard, BarVision HeadQuarters. BarVision is headquartered in Kennett Square, PA and I am very happy to be working in the Philadelphia region.”

Lauren Flury is engaged to Travis Colahan and they had a baby girl, Olivia Grace Colahan, on June 1. She was born at 10:15 am, weighed 7 lbs., 6 oz. and measured 19 3/4 inches long.

08Erica [email protected]

Melissa M. [email protected]

Christopher J. [email protected]

Abigail I. [email protected]

Mary Pace is working in public relations and marketing at Nava New York, a custom jewelry line handmade in New York and designed for today’s sorority sister, which is Sam Shapiro’s company.

Katie Cahill became engaged to Andrew Newhouse on December 1, 2014. The couple met when they were 10 years old summering in Nantucket together and have been best friends ever since. They will be getting married on October 10, 2015 on the beach at Andrew’s grandfather’s house on Nantucket.

After teaching English in Thailand for a year with SINE Education Services, Margaret Turrentine moved to New York City in December to work as assistant to the tri-state president for Cushman and Wakefield, a privately held real estate services firm in midtown Manhattan, NY.

Abigail Tufts is entering her fifth season working in Major League Baseball. During spring training, she left the Mets and moved to our nation’s capital to join the 2014 NL East Champions Washington Nationals in their baseball communications department.

09Gregory T. [email protected]

Molly L. [email protected]

JJ Jemison writes: “Since graduating from Kenyon College in 2013, I have been back under the Mountain working at my alma mater, Berkshire School, where I have many roles to fulfill.

10th

The McGraw women take to the ice: Berkshire’s JV girls’ hockey team faced off against the Salisbury Stingers Women’s Hockey Club in January. The JV squad, led by high-scorer Andie McGraw ‘17 (center), was beaten 4-1. Stingers Captain Buzz McGraw (left), former faculty, had one goal and Maddie McGraw ‘07 had two for the Stingers.

/ Class Notes /

59

Although they pay for grad school, rent/utilities, food and other professional development, they certainly make you earn it. I am a dorm parent in Allen, which is the same dorm I lived in as a student. I am an advisor and currently have 6 advisees. I am the Director of Multicultural Recruitment in the Admission Office. I coach soccer, basketball and track. Most importantly, I get to be a role model and surrogate parent to some of the most amazing kids in the world. I love giving back and representing this school which has done so much for me. Go Bears!”

Ansley Flanagan was on campus in March to teach a Pro Vita course. After earning her undergraduate degree in 2013 from Bates College, where she studied psychology and ran track and field, Ansley accepted a job at MIT. She currently lives in Watertown, MA and works at the computer science and artificial intelligence lab at MIT.

On January 8, 2015 Nicole Picotte ’09 became engaged to her boyfriend, Kyle Smith, while they were in Jamaica. Classmates celebrating the engagement in Florida in March were, from left: Chelsea Fizell, Shannon Kerr, Kelly Wallace, Nicole Picotte, Molly Ryan, Alena Luciani, Whitney Mackay and Allie Hibbs.

10Shannon E. [email protected]

Christopher B. [email protected]

Chris Lee ’94 writes that his brother, Jack Lee, is doing an internship at High Mountain Institute in Colorado. He is learning how to lead backpacking trips and other outdoor adventures.

Amanda Lees writes: “I graduated from Bard College with a degree in Studio Arts last May and have since been living on a sailing ship with my fiancé, Byron Hell, who owns

and captains the boat. Together, we have been meandering through the Caribbean Islands and compiling a record of local life on the islands before those cultures fade due to overfishing and other pressures of global capitalism and industrialization.”

5th

BACK TO BERKSHIRE

From left: T.J. Adams ‘14, Joel Danisi ‘11, Chelsea Preston ‘12, Jesse Hahn ‘13, Katherine Sweeney ‘12 (and Mr. Quilty).

This winter Berkshire welcomed back five recent alumni as they presented a panel titled “The College Connection” for an audience of sixth formers. The presentation served as a forum for students to ask recent alumni candid questions about life after Berkshire. It was a pleasure to have our recent grads back!

News?Send a note to

[email protected]

Spring/Summer 2015

11Mary K. [email protected]

Kristy M. [email protected]

Katie Kernodle writes: “I graduated from Tulane University in May with a B.A. in homeland security studies and am moving to Washington, D.C. to start a graduate program in counter-terrorism at the Institute of World Politics, a small graduate school for international security.”

Musings?Mail a missive to [email protected]

/ Class Notes /


theS AV ED AT E

Kendall Coyne and Kacey Bellamy ’05, of the USA Women’s Hockey Team, brought home another gold medal from the IIHF Women’s World Championship in March.

Billy Sullivan joined the Berkshire aviation trip to Florida for Pro Vita week in March. Billy recently became a flight instructor and will soon graduate from the University of North Dakota as a full-fledged commercial pilot and in-structor. In 2013, Billy placed 1st in the US National Aerobatic Championships in Texas as a representative for the Uni-versity of North Dakota. Billy started his study of aviation at Berkshire as one of the first students in the aviation pro-gram since the 1940’s.

12Juliet E. [email protected]

Barclay Talbot ’12, brother of Dudley Talbot ’08, suffered a severe skiing acci-dent in February, just outside Syracuse, NY. Barclay sustained an injury to his neck and lower spine and now suffers from paralysis from the waist down. Thankfully, there was no injury to his brain and he still has full upper mobility. A fundraiser has been established to help offset the costs associated with the care Barclay will require moving for-ward. Please visit Barclay’s fundraising webpage at www.youcaring.com/barclay for details on how to donate.

13Charles G. [email protected]

Steven H. [email protected]

Steven Halperin ran for vice presi-dent of the student body at the Univer-sity of Michigan, and won the election for that position in March.

Britt Brown was recently awarded the William R. Kenan Endowment Fund of the Academical Village to pursue her first at-length historical research paper this summer, which will allow her to get published.

14Samuel G. [email protected]

Emily M. [email protected]

Jacob A. [email protected]

Jake Elowitz got a job at The Cliffs rock climbing gym in New York City and is very excited for the opportunity to work there, as it allows him to do something he loves.

Michaelann Denton writes: “My first year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges has been great! I have two jobs, one as an employee of Sodexo, which involves food preparation and serving, and the other as a student photographer in the communications office. I am also on both the William Smith squash and tennis teams. This season in squash: notched a 14-5 record on the year and tied for the most wins this season on the team. The squash team finished in second place at the 2015 Epps Cup at the College Squash Association National Championship at Harvard. In tennis, I led the team with a 9-2 record and was named to the Liberty League Women’s Tennis Honor

Roll and was also named William Smith Athlete of the Week. I was selected to be a Resident Assistant (RA) my sophomore year. RA’s are student leaders and paid employees of the office of residential education.”

Emmett Clarke plays for Fordham University’s men’s varsity soccer team and this past fall the team won their conference championship for the first time since the early ’90s.

Former Faculty

Former English faculty Colin McNamara and Ashley Smith welcomed Charlie Joseph McNamara into the world on July 18, 2014 and became engaged on April 19, 2015.

Bart Elsbach had Berkshire students on site at the Great Barrington Fairgrounds again this year in May helping with spring clean-up. The fairgrounds now offer timber framing workshops to teach people the inspiring craft while they help rebuild the historic pavilion. The work continues to revitalize the fairgrounds and bring people together around it.

Bears Forever. Reunion Weekend 2016 June 10-12

/ In Memoriam /


The Berkshire School community extends its heartfelt condolences to the families of the below alumni, former faculty and friends of the school. To send obituaries or remembrances of classmates or family members, please email [email protected].

Henry M. Goodyear, Jr. ’46 April 18, 2015Hank Goodyear received an A.B. from Trinity College and a B.S. from Cornell. He was a licensed real estate broker who founded Plantation Services, Inc. and served as president for 30 years. He later founded Goodyear and Goodyear along with his son. He was a member of Doublegate and Stonebridge country clubs and the Albany Kiwanis Club.

Timothy F. Beard ’49 February 13, 2015Tim Beard, one of the nation’s foremost genealogists, graduated from Williams College and served in the U.S. Air Force. Tim went on to Columbia where he graduated with a master’s in library science. He subsequently joined the New York Public Library’s local history and genealogy division where he spent 21 years. Tim was serious about raising money for historic houses, museums and research projects.

Joseph A. Esquirol, Jr. ’50 April 13, 2015The Honorable Joseph A. Esquirol of Mattituck, New York, was a longtime family court judge in Kings County (Brooklyn), New York.

Alfred C. Clapp, Jr. ’51 December 28, 2014Al Clapp was educated at Hamilton and Colby Colleges, and then NYU for graduate studies. He worked in finance as well as various charitable and professional organizations. He then moved to Clinton, NY, teaching at Colgate, Hartwick, Hobart and Pace, before returning to New York City to start his own company, Financial Strategies and Services, where he served his clients and the elderly community.

Steven J. Schwartz ’96 June 9, 2015

Former Faculty & Staff

Judith Rafter Ervin December 28, 2014A nurse at Berkshire and Miss Hall’s, Judith also taught nursing at Berkshire Community College, and worked as a psychiatric nurse at both Austin Riggs in Stockbridge and Berkshire Medical Center. She enjoyed tennis, kayaking, traveling, painting and knitting. She is survived by husband and former faculty member James Ervin.

Jonathan J. Lanman ’71 April 19, 2015

Jon grew up in Bellport, NY. He graduated from Brown University in 1975 and from Pace University School of Law magna cum laude in 2004.

Upon leaving Brown, Jon worked for several years as an English teacher and

soccer coach at Berkshire. He then went on to pursue his love of the English language and literature with Frederick S. Warne Publishing Company as a children’s book editor culminating as VP/Editorial Director of Atheneum Books for Young Readers, a division of Simon & Schuster.

At the ripe old age of 50, Jon’s mid-life crisis became a desire to change career paths, and he chose the legal profession. In his inimitable style, he pursued the education with “vigah” and graduated third in his class. He practiced for over ten years with several law firms, most recently Walsh & Amicucci, LLP in Purchase, NY.

He officially retired in 2014. He loved cooking and experimenting with exotic recipes; he diligently and successfully worked the weekly New York Times crossword puzzles (in pen). He wrote poetry, and enjoyed bicycling, hiking, and yoga, among a multitude of other interests. At the time of his death, he was living the life of leisure and devoting more time to his beloved sons. Jon was predeceased by his wife Shelley Eudene Lanman. He is survived by his three children Adam, Ben and Nate, and his brothers George Lanman ’68 and David Lanman ’64.


Harold F. Clayton ’73 May 26, 2015

Harold Fooshee Clayton carved a public legacy in stone during his nearly 40 years as a Dallas artist. His work includes four sets of massive marble cows, which grace parks in Dallas, Irving, Austin and Milwaukee. He also sculpted The Leaf on Turtle Creek Boulevard and The Family at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. Clayton, 61, died Tuesday of lung cancer at his Dallas home.

While Clayton is best known for his massive cows, his passion was in detail, said his brother Jay Clayton, an English professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “He loved the fine detail,” his brother said. “Even though some of these are big pieces, the parts he loved most were the small refinements of polishing one surface against another rough surface.”

Four days before he died, Clayton visited his Fair Park-area studio to detail work started by his assistant. “He was out there perfecting the tiniest details,” his brother said.

Clayton was born in Dallas, where he began selling drawings and sketches as a junior high student in Highland Park. He attended Highland Park High School and graduated from Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass.

“He was completely committed to art,” his brother said. Clayton studied for a summer at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. He received a bachelor’s degree from what is now the University of North Texas, graduating cum laude in 1977. His collegiate focus was drawing and painting.

After college, Clayton supported himself as a Dallas artist. In the early 1980s, while visiting European museums, he decided to study Old World carving techniques and restoration under Sem Gelardini at his studio in Pietrasanta, Italy.

In 1982, Dallas developer Trammell Crow commissioned Clayton to sculpt the marble cattle. Clayton sculpted his cows in Pietrasanta, an artists’ colony about 3 kilometers from Michelangelo’s source Carrera marble.

“He drew them from life, from cattle on our farm in Greenville, Texas,” Dr. Clayton said. “In those days, we raised purebred Black Angus.”

Clayton created 20 cattle, which are herded into groups of five in four locations. He returned to Dallas, where he sculpted works, public and private.

He led the collective of artists who put art at DART light-rail stations, his brother said. Clayton created the art for the Walnut Hill/Denton station, using Oklahoma fieldstone and limestone.

Reprinted with permission from The Dallas Morning News

Dallas Artist Harold Fooshee Clayton Dies at 61

By Joe Simnacher

Dallas sculptor Harold F. Clayton (left, with arms raised) direct-ed the proceedings as a crane operator lowered one of the artist’s marble cows into place 30 years ago.

/ In Memoriam /

Photo Credit: David Woo, Dallas Morning News


/ In Memoriam /

Former Faculty & Staff

Mark Henry Jander January 15, 2015Mark was born March 31, 1934, in Mt. Kisco, NY, to Henry Bernard Jander and Ann Jane Hughes. Jander was the youngest of four children. He lived in Westport, Conn., until 1944, when his family moved to Tangier Island, Va., a small island in Chesapeake Bay. Mark fell in love with the island like a true Tangier waterman. In 1946, he went to Northfield Mount Hermon School,

Mount Hermon, Mass., graduating in 1950. He attended the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, graduating with a bachelor of science in 1954 and a bachelor of mechanical engineering in 1961. He also earned a master of science in physics from Morgan State University.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1954-57 as a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne, and was stationed in Munich, Germany. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves, retiring in 1994.

After graduating from the University of Virginia, he worked as engineer in industry including Snyder’s Pretzels –a family favorite to this day. In 1969, Mark began a second career as a physics teacher. He taught at Patapsco High School in Baltimore, Md., and at Berkshire. He returned to Northfield Mount Hermon School as a teacher in 1978. He ended his teaching career at Charles Wright Academy, Tacoma, Wash. While teaching, he also coached soccer, swimming and lacrosse.

A lifelong learner, Mark read widely in science and politics and was active in many political and social concerns. Mark loved the outdoors and traveling. How many people can say they have been to the Khyber Pass?! Vivacious and charming, he could engage anyone in a spirited conversation. He loved to sing and dance, and appreciated good food and fine wines. Athletic and fit throughout his life, he loved sports, particularly soccer and lacrosse. Mark had a great zest for life, a passion for young people and an enormous heart. His daughter, Holly Jander Williams, is a member of Berkshire’s Class of 1976.

Laura Roberts Morgan March 15, 2015Laura Roberts Morgan was an active member of the Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm Community in Peterborough, NH. She had been a bookkeeper, a 6th grade teacher, and ultimately a partner in a software company started in Keene for 20 years. Very active in her communities, she had volunteered for The

Samaritans, at The Colonial Theatre and most recently, for an AARP IRS-sponsored tax aide.

Charlotte Beebe Heartt, Trustee April 24, 2015

Charlotte Beebe Heartt grew up in New Rochelle, New York, and graduated from Rye Country Day School and Wellesley College. She was passionate about excellence in

education, including study abroad. Charlotte promoted these ideals not only as a mother, but also as Director of International Programs at Brandeis University and later as Director of Development at Smith College.

Charlotte served on Berkshire’s Board of Trustees and as a trustee emeritus. She founded Berkshire’s planned giving program and was a charter donor to the Bill Duryee Minority Scholarship Fund and the Richard and Joy Unsworth Endowment for Professional Development. Charlotte earned the Kellogg Volunteer of the Year award in 2001 for her loyalty and service to Berkshire.

Dean of Community & Multicultural Affairs Wil

Smith passed away on February 22, 2015. Even

as the community knew Wil was in the final

stages of a battle against cancer, his loss left

us stunned, and remembering a man who left

an indelible legacy of kindness, inclusion and

community at Berkshire.

On March 1, students, faculty, alumni and parents gathered together to remember Wil with a traditional Service of Remembrance modeled after the one held each year at Reunion Weekend, in which community members are invited to share their thoughts in an open forum. Reflections took the form of poems, memories and songs (Bill Gulotta and Caroline Skinner ’16 sang a moving rendition of “Amazing Grace”) from students, colleagues and friends. The service closed with the singing of “Eternal Father,” the Navy hymn, in honor of Wil’s service to his country. The below is excerpted from Pieter Mulder’s letter to the community:

“Wil and his daughter Olivia, Class of 2014, came to Berkshire in 2010 when Wil joined us as our first Dean of Community & Multicultural Affairs. Wil instantly became a fixture in the community, a powerful role model and mentor for students and adults alike, making Berkshire stronger every day he was with us. By his presence and his principles, Wil impacted the lives of everyone at Berkshire. He served as our collective conscience, encouraging us to ask questions of ourselves and each other and to anticipate and embrace the perspectives of those from different backgrounds and experiences.

Wil balanced a gentle, stoic manner with a fierce competitive fire and an unshakable “Keep Working” 1969-2015

“ May we all live our lives with such power, purpose and grace.” – Head of School Pieter Mulder

Wil and his daughter, Olivia Smith ’14

commitment to the highest standards of citizenship for all members of our community. As the director of our new student orientation program, Wil worked each September with our returning student leaders and our new incoming students, providing them with the initial welcome to the values and expectations that define Berkshire’s school culture. As the varsity girls basketball coach, he demanded so much of his players and yet received even more in return. He led the team to some of its most successful seasons in recent years and ushered in a culture of teamwork, sacrifice, and passion that every coach aspires to achieve. “Keep working” was his message to his teams and to our school, urging everyone, regardless of circumstances, to make effort the truest measure of success.”

While Wil’s time with us was short, he had a powerful impact on our community. In response to alumni, parents, faculty and friends who had asked what they could do to honor Wil’s legacy, Berkshire established The Wilbur Smith, Jr. Scholarship in his memory. This endowed scholarship will support tuition and expenses for a diverse student of need in perpetuity. Nearly $20,000 has already been raised (as of June 30), and the Class of 2015 has directed their class gift toward this fund. To give to the Wilbur Smith, Jr. Scholarship, please contact Myra Riiska at 413.229.1225 or [email protected].


/ In Memoriam /

Wilbur Smith, Jr.Faculty, Mentor, Friend

To solve the Closing Conundrum or submit a photo (all will be returned), email: [email protected] or write to: Closing Conundrum, Berkshire School, 245 North Undermountain Road, Sheffield, MA 01257.

Congratulations to a slew of alumni who wrote in with the correct identification of the last Myers Mystery photo. The quickest off the mark was Dean Hall ’78 who correctly named his classmates, John Cinkala and Ludlow North. Nicholas Jones ’78 remembered that the two were cross country co-captains, and Ludlow North himself provided a little backstory: “I think John and I were receiving the co-MVP. I would win on Wednesdays and he would win on Saturdays. (Might have had something to do with Friday nights... I don’t know.)” It wasn’t a challenge for Hilary Famolare ’78 who remembered her classmates well. She explained, “Both great cross country runners. One was my prom date and the other was my boyfriend...” And Bruce Kessler ’79, another cross country runner, also got the names right, adding, “Twiggs made Berkshire what it was during my four years—my favorite teacher, coach and advisor. It was amazing how far he could get you to run for a grape sourball at the end of practice.”

/ Closing Conundrum /

Bears in the AirWhile Twiggs is no longer with us, his legacy will live on in our memories and in the Bulletin, through Berkshire’s archives. We will continue to run a mystery photo in this Closing Conundrum column, and invite you to submit your own photos from back in the day as well. In this issue, identify these Bears (at left) and what they might be doing. Extra points if you can name the photographer!

245 North Undermountain RoadSheffield, Massachusetts 01257-9672

Address Service Requested

For Parents of Alumni: If this magazine is addressed to a son or daughter who no longer lives at home, kindly

call us with the correct address: 413-229-1225

This magazine was made with reusable energy, using soy-based inks printed on recycled stock.

Bill Gulotta, Berkshire history teacher, coach, advisor, mentor and friend, walks a gauntlet of grateful students, faculty and staff after teaching the last class of his 36-year career.See page 42.

Farewell

berkshire bulletin spring/summer 2015

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