TafT`S higheST honor

Transcription

Taft’s
highest
Honor
Monsieur
Denyer
retires
Team Gov
A graduation
secret
Summer 2012
h Dechen Gyatotsang, Caitlin
Kennedy, Connie Cheung,
Yadira Ochoa, Sarah Nyquist,
Zephaniarh Jacob, Cathy Chen,
Mayra Arroyo and Clair Beltran
celebrate on graduation day.
Robert Falcetti
in this issue
Summer 2012
26
A Recipe for Success
122nd Commencement Remarks
By Katherine G. Windsor
30
A Life of Quiet Dedication
Brian Denyer, the absolute team player, retires.
By Bonnie Blackburn Penhollow ’84
36
For the Good Days
When Todd McGovern ’92 and Amanda Costanzo ’93
got married, life threw them a curve ball.
By David McKay Wilson
Departments
40
Alumni Weekend
Reunion memories in
photographs
By Robert Falcetti
2 From the Editor
3Letters
3 Taft Trivia
4 Alumni Spotlight
12 Around the Pond
20Sport
23 Annual Fund Report
46 Tales of a Taftie: Geoffrey T. Hellman ’24
47 From the Archives: Potter’s Hidden Clues
from the EDITOR
When the Taft Annual came out this
spring, on a page of reflections, my son
Alex answered the question “Why did you
come to Taft?” with: “Because it’s frowned
upon to leave babies at the hospital.” Of
my 24 years at Taft, these last four have
been particularly memorable, watching
him navigate the school in his own way.
I have a newfound appreciation for my
colleagues as they took him under their
wings or inspired new interests. He was
especially lucky to have experienced Latin
class with Dick Cobb, to study jazz from
T.J. Thompson for all four years, to have
a devoted adviser in Ted Jewell for three
years, and yes, to study math with his
father, Al Reiff ’80 (which went far better
than I expected). He had so many great
teachers; my only regret is that there are so
many others here he had yet to see in action. Four years did not feel long enough.
Alex and classmate Eliza Davis
(daughter of Rusty Davis and Linda
Saarnijoki) were voted the seniors “most
likely to leave last.” Indeed, both (and
many other “fac brats” before them) have
spent their whole lives here. I wonder
how different campus will feel for me this
fall, not just as an empty-nester (I adopted a puppy as a preventive measure) but
also without that current parent lens. I
suppose what I will gain is a greater sense
of the young alumni perspective.
That’s the thing about the Taft
community. We may wear different labels—parent, alum, teacher, grandparent,
volunteer—and often several at a time,
but what rarely changes is our love of this
school and the people who make it.
What teachers inspired you at Taft? As
always, I want to hear your stories.
—Julie Reiff
Monsieur
Denyer
retires
Team Gov
A graduation
secret
Summer 2012
Our apologies to English teacher
Jennifer Zaccara, whose name was
cut off from the list of Taft Faculty
who grade Advanced Placement
exams for the College Board
(“Test Makers, Test Graders,”
spring 2012). Jennifer reads for the
English Literature exam.
Tom Goodale ’55 corrected the
hockey record on page 76 of the
spring issue (“Mays Rink: Taft’s
D-I-Y Project”). The team also
won the Housatonic League in the
1952–53 season, for a total of seven
Taft titles. Thanks, Tom.
WWW
Taft on the Web
Find a friend’s address or look
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at www.taftalumni.com
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What happened at this
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Visit www.taftsports.com
Don’t forget you can shop
online at www.taftstore.com
800-995-8238 or 860-945-7736
Look up your classmates
on the go! x
On the Cover
Taft’s
highest
Honor
Corrections
v Headmaster
Willy MacMullen
’78 congratulates
board chairman Rod
Moorhead ’62, who
was honored with
the Horace D. Taft
Alumni Medal on
Alumni Weekend in
May (see page 7).
Robert Falcetti
2 Taft Bulletin SUMMER 2012
Please recycle this Bulletin.
Summer 2012
Volume 82, Number 4
Bulletin Staff
Director of Development:
Chris Latham
Editor: Julie Reiff
Alumni Notes: Linda Beyus
Design: Good Design, LLC
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Proofreader: Nina Maynard
Mail letters to:
Julie Reiff, Editor
Taft Bulletin
The Taft School
Watertown, CT 06795-2100 U.S.A.
[email protected]
Send alumni news to:
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Alumni Office
The Taft School
[email protected]
Deadlines for Alumni Notes:
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Summer–May 15
Send address corrections to:
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The Taft Bulletin (ISSN 0148-0855)
is published quarterly, in February,
May, August and November, by The
Taft School, 110 Woodbury Road,
Watertown, CT 06795-2100, and is
distributed free of charge to alumni,
parents, grandparents and friends of
the school. All rights reserved.
Letters
Bravo for Bayes
I was enthralled to read—in the spring
edition of the Bulletin—of the interests and accomplishments of my
friend Chris Bayes ’80, who played
Rosencrantz to my Guildenstern (or was
it his Guildenstern to my Rosencrantz?)
in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are
Dead my senior year at Taft.
As an actor, teacher and director, Chris
is known and esteemed all across the country. It has been my own great good fortune
to have seen his joyously inventive work as
director of movement in The 39 Steps on
Broadway and to track him as a venerated
teacher at the Juilliard Drama Division,
where I still have friends nearly 25 years
after my own graduation from that wonderfully challenging theater school.
Chris was an inspired and inspiring
actor when we were at Taft, a kid who
somehow took the craft as seriously as
an adult but who could also still invent
and play with the creative abandon of
a little boy in a playroom. The theaters
where he has worked—among them
the Guthrie in Minneapolis and the
Shakespeare Theater in Washington,
D.C.—are among the best in the world,
and the fact that he has taught at the Yale
School of Drama, New York University
and Juilliard tells you all you need to
know about his abiding talent and skills.
It’s great news for the American theater, today and tomorrow, that Chris has
kept up his ingenious, lively, animating
commitment to it as a performer, director and teacher. I admire him in many
ways—including the fact that, more than
30 years after we graduated from Taft,
he can still grow his hair that long, that
thick and that dark!
—Tom Dunlop ’79
Theater Then
As a former head of drama at Taft, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how the program
has grown and expanded to include
international exposure for the school.
In my time, during the ’60s, I had to go
into town to find women to play roles
in what the Bulletin later referred to as
“The Thinking Man’s Theater.” My first
???
Taft Trivia
How many Taft alumni and Taft faculty have gone on to become headmasters, or more reasonably, how many have we
identified to date? We’ll even put your name in the prize drawing twice if you can add a name to our list! (Hint: we’ve added
to the list since it appeared in the Bulletin, but you can find it on our website.)
Send an email with your guess to [email protected]. Congratulations to
Mark H. Herrlinger ’84, who correctly identified Mrs. Robert Black as the person
who rented the original Taft School buildings to Horace Taft.
production was The Miracle Worker, and
I cast a local seventh grader as Helen
Keller, and she got to meet Ms. Keller
to learn how to do the alphabet in her
hands. At the time, we even had designers from Yale come to do sets for a few
plays and several of my tech crew went
into the field professionally. —Richard Geldard
I write to praise your fine work. I love the
Bulletin! It is inspiring to read of the fine
work of the school and of alumni. I am
particularly interested and moved by the
myriad ways you connect with the big
world outside of Taft, Connecticut and
the USA. As we become ever more global
in business, religion, art and friendships,
the learning and achievements of Taft
alumni become ever more important.
—Steve Chinlund ’51
Rink Memories
In response to your “From the Archives”
article about Mays Rink I have the following recollection. As a new mid in the
autumn of 1955 I arrived with a broken
arm and was unable to participate in
sports that season. When we returned
from Thanksgiving vacation, my cast was
off and I was raring to go. One Saturday
evening we were given the option of
watching a movie in the auditorium or
going up to the rink to play hockey. I
chose the latter.
Having only modest skating skills I
said I would play in goal. Big mistake! I
was totally unaware of Taft’s prowess in
hockey. Once I had the pads on I got in
goal, only to see my life flash before my
eyes. Pucks were flying all around me and
I soon headed for the “storm cellar.” That
was my last visit to Mays Rink other than
as a spectator.
Never in my life have I ever seen a
group of players during that period that
appeared to be so above their opponents
in talent. Old-timers will remember
the names of Rusty Ingersoll, Roger
Hartley, Chuck Voss, Bob Blanchard,
Archie Salyards, Burt Lippa, John Beebe
and so many, many others. Having the
first artificial rink in the New England
area gave Len Sargent a wonderful recruiting tool, and he did a marvelous job
of mining talent in Duluth, Boston and
Eastern Canada to produce a team with
extraordinary skill.
It was a joy to watch those very talented Taft players of the mid 1950s,
many of whom were there because of
Mays Rink and Len Sargent. —Jack Bulkley ’58
Love it? Hate it?
Read it? Tell us!
We’d love to hear what you think
about the stories in this Bulletin.
We may edit your letters for length,
clarity and content, but please write!
Julie Reiff, editor
Taft Bulletin
110 Woodbury Road
Watertown, CT 06795-2100
or [email protected]
Taft Bulletin SUMMER 2012 3
alumni Spotlight
By Julie Reiff
v In “Pavo,” choreographed by
Tara Lee ’93, a dancer spreads paint
onto her partner as they move—
an offering of herself, literally and
figuratively. Charlie McCullers
, Dancer and choreographer Tara
Lee has been with Atlanta Ballet for
16 seasons. Jonah Hooper
Pavo
A dancer enters; she is covered in blue
paint and represents the peacock in its
fully realized form. She begins to spread
the color onto her partner as they dance.
It’s an act of love that transmutes the
cycle of poisons in which the man is
trapped. It’s an offering of herself, literally and figuratively. She shows him the
way, but it’s his choice in the end.
So begins “Pavo,” a new work for
Atlanta Ballet choreographed by Tara Lee
’93, a principal dancer with the company,
that had its world premiere on the stage of
the Alliance Theatre as part of the mixed
program New Choreographic Voices.
Pavo is Latin for peacock. Lee says
she chose that name for its spiritual
symbolism. The bird, while beautiful,
with its surprising ability to digest poisonous snakes, serves as a metaphor for
triumph over poisonous tendencies like
anger or greed, a central theme of the
performance. Peacocks are also known
for their mad, agitated dancing before
rainstorms. In “Pavo,” dancers move restlessly in anticipation of a major change.
As peacocks mate for life, the powerful
simplicity of a pas de deux reflects the
focused love of the couple
Lee also performed in the show as
part of choreographer Helen Pickett’s
“Prayer of Touch.”
“I love the work, and I knew that I
could do both pieces,” Lee told the Atlanta
Journal Constitution. “I knew that if I made
myself frantic or frenzied, then it was
Reporting with Rather
Caroline Noel Cooper ’92 traveled
to Afghanistan last year as a producer
with Dan Rather Reports, a weekly news magazine that airs on cable
channel HDNet. She joined the show
in 2007 after three years as an associate producer for 60 Minutes.
“It was an opportunity to produce
my own pieces,” says Cooper, “and in
theory, I was going to travel less by
focusing on Capitol Hill stories, although that never happened! Dan will
be 81 in October but is showing no
signs of slowing down.”
Most recently, she and Dan traveled to the Middle East, where their
team spent three days onboard the
aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson as it
transited the Strait of Hormuz between
the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
“It was right when Iran threatened
to retaliate against the oil boycott
by closing down the Strait, and the
United States was eager to show off
its naval capabilities and its commitment to keeping the Strait open for the
global traffic of oil and other exports.”
On the way home, the team spent
two days in Bahrain, where the U.S.
Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based.
“Bahrain is a safe haven in a turbulent area because the tiny kingdom
going to be too much. I could choose to
approach it in a stressed-out way or I could
choose to approach it in a joyful way.
“I wanted to give back more to others,” she added. “But I wanted to stay
in this world—to create, to perform,
to work at the highest levels of artistry.
Choreographing was a natural inclination for me and that was the ideal.”
Lee also created characters Lootie and
Goblin Queen in Twyla Tharp’s world
premiere of The Princess and the Goblin last
h Caroline Noel
Cooper ’92 with
women training
to be officers in
the new Afghan
Air Force.
allows the U.S. to keep its navy fleet
there,” Cooper explains. “But it’s an
uneasy relationship because the Sunnis
in power have been cracking down on
the Shia majority, who have taken to
the streets in ever-increasing numbers
to push for more freedoms. Some of the
protestors spoke to us at great personal
risk to themselves, all of them wondering why the U.S. wasn’t doing more
to help them. It made for a thoughtprovoking hour on how the U.S. is torn
between its democratic ideals and geopolitical realities.” You can watch the
report, “A Dire Strait,” on iTunes. At Dan Rather Reports, producers
February. “Pavo” is Lee’s first main stage
work for the Atlanta Ballet in eight years.
Lee has choreographed two other
pieces for Atlanta Ballet: Poem, 16 String
in 2003. After making its world premiere
with Atlanta Ballet, Poem was also performed by New Orleans Ballet Theatre.
Subsequent works include two commissions for Emory Dance Company;
a Margaret Mitchell-inspired duet for
Georgia Public Broadcasting; and an ensemble piece, Akara, which she created
are all responsible for pitching their
own stories.
“Dan pushes us to find investigative stories and underreported issues
that make for good long form stories,”
Cooper says. “It’s really nice to be
doing journalism where our subjects
aren’t reduced to short sound bites.”
Cooper studied undergrad at
University of Virginia and earned a
master’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri.
After that, she spent five years at
ABC News in Washington, working
for 20/20, This Week with George
Stephanopoulos and Nightline.
with Jesse Tyler for Wabi Sabi, Atlanta
Ballet’s experimental troupe.
“Best known as a principal dancer in
her 16th season with Atlanta Ballet, Lee
has proven that she is a multi-dimensional and exciting emerging choreographer,”
ArtsATL. “Her work bridges the worlds
of classical and contemporary dance,
resulting in “a pleasurable marriage of
traditional and trendy styles. Bursting
with raw emotion and cinematic in nature, Lee’s choreography captivates.”
h Molly
Davidson ’05
poses in front
of Team USA’s
Car 10 before
the 2012 Rhino
Charge.
Rhino Charge 2012
Picture yourself driving up the side of a
mountain with no roads or trails to reach
a checkpoint at the top and then racing
down the other side—over cliffs and
through riverbeds—to reach the next.
Now picture all those trees as 17-foottall bushes with 3-inch thorns and
imagine the ground is entirely sand.
Such was the challenge Molly
Davidson ’05 faced in Kenya in Rhino
Charge 2012.
“It was so hot and so challenging,” says
Davidson, “but it was such a rewarding
When I’m 64
Michael McCabe ’07 made it through
rookie camp in May with the Green
Bay Packers and Organized Training
Activities (OTAs). A minicamp and
rookie training followed in June.
At Holy Cross, McCabe, 23, was
a first-team All-Patriot League selection and a first-team All-New England
choice in 2011, the third straight season he earned all-conference honors
and the second straight he was named
all-region. He started all 11 games
at left tackle as a senior, helping the
Crusaders average 400.9 yards of offense per game. McCabe played in 47
career games with 36 starts along the
offensive line, including a streak of 34
straight to end his college career. He
signed a three-year free-agent contract
with the Packers in April.
experience. Out of the 65 competitors,
14 cars made it to all 13 checkpoints
within the allotted 10 hours. We completed 9 checkpoints—placing us in the
middle of the pack. We were slightly disappointed at first that we didn’t finish all
13 controls, but then we heard tale after
tale of catastrophes from the event.”
Eight cars rolled at least once, teams
reached the edges of cliffs and were
forced to retire early, cars broke down
or were totaled during the event, and
people were hurt.
“We began to realize that the 2012
course was an exceptionally tough one
for everyone,” says Davidson, “and we
gained solace in the fact that we were
safe, our car made it around the course,
and we had a great time.”
The best news came on Sunday
at Prize Giving when her team received an award for the third highest
cash donations raised for the Rhino
Ark Charitable Trust—about 4.2 million
Kenyan shillings ($52,000) to help to
protect the African rhino.
Rhino Charge raises funds to protect
the wildlife in the Aberdare National
Park, located within the mysterious and
majestic Aberdare Mountain Range
in central Kenya. The park contains a
broad range of climates and landscapes,
from dense jungle to alpine tundra.
This climate diversity allows the area to
support a unique wildlife community,
including the critically endangered
black rhino. The Rhino Ark Charitable
Trust was founded to protect this delicate mountain habitat.
h Mike McCabe ’07
with Packers offensive
line coach James
Campen. Jim Biever/
Green Bay Packers
Alumni who played football for
Mike’s dad at Taft, likely know that
Steve McCabe was drafted by the
Redskins out of Bowdoin. What few
may know is that the Packers later
invited him to try out. At that point
though, Steve had already decided to
pursue a different path. Those lucky
enough to have either Steve or Susan
at the blackboard must be glad he did.
www.packers.com/team/players.html
Horace D. Taft Alumni Medal
Rodman W.
Moorhead III
’62 received the
Horace D. Taft
Alumni Medal, formerly known as the Citation of Merit,
on Alumni Weekend. The medal is the
school’s highest alumni honor and is given each year to a person whose lifework
best exemplifies the school motto: Not
to be ministered unto but to minister.
Moorhead first established himself
as a dedicated member of the Taft community when he arrived as a student
more than 50 years ago. During his
three years at Taft Rod was a monitor,
corridor monitor and a member of the
class committee. He was also a member
of the Glee Club and Church Choir,
was Alpha Club president, chairman
of the Chapel Committee, a member
of the Switchboard Committee and
Community Chest Committee. He
played varsity football, basketball and
track, earning varsity letters all three
years. Rod continues his service to Taft
today as chairman of the school’s Board
of Trustees.
Earning both undergraduate and
graduate degrees from Harvard College,
Moorhead, MBA in hand, moved to New
York, where he spent more than 30 years
with the private equity group Warburg
Pincus. As head of healthcare investment
activities, he helped grow the company’s
assets under management from approximately $40 million to $15 billion.
A staunch supporter of a broad range
of education initiatives, he has been
a valued and contributing member
of many corporate boards. He is currently a director at Proximity Learning,
which provides language learning
programs for K–12 students, and at
the Scientific Learning Corporation, a
computer-based special education training company. Rod also sits on the Board
of Directors of Imagine Schools, Inc.,
which operates public charter schools.
Beyond the field of education,
Moorhead serves on the ElderTrust
Board of Trustees. ElderTrust operates
as a real estate investment trust (REIT)
that invests principally in senior housing
and other healthcare facilities, primarily skilled nursing facilities, assisted and
independent living facilities, and medical offices and other buildings. He is a
member of the Harvard Medical School
Board of Fellows, a former member of
Harvard’s Board of Overseers, a trustee
of the Jackson Hole Land Trust and cochair of the Board of Directors, Stroud
Water Research Center, Inc.
Moorhead’s dedication to both
education and to Taft is in evidence in
the academic facility here that bears
his name. At the dedication of the
Moorhead Learning Wing in 2004
Headmaster Willy MacMullen said,
“Rod Moorhead is one of the school’s
most remarkable, generous and committed graduates. In addition to being a
longtime trustee, he has supported the
school in every way imaginable, and his
unique commitment to student learning
has changed this place. Without his intellectual curiosity, this center would never
have happened. This is clear: We will
meet the school’s mission of educating
the whole student even better now.”
First elected to the school’s board
in 1991 as an alumni trustee, he stayed
on after the completion of his four-year
term, becoming a corporate trustee
and eventually the treasurer. He succeeded Will Miller ’74 as board chair in
2006. Rod is a current member of the
Admissions Committee, the Committee
on School Life, the Development
Committee, the Finance and Investment
Committee, chair of the Governance
Committee, a member of the Audit
and Financial Risk Committee and the
Campus Planning Committee.
Rod and his wife, Alice, split their time
between their homes in Wyoming, New
York City and Pennsylvania. In his free
time he enjoys fly-fishing, fox hunting,
golf, traveling, biking in France and Italy,
and fishing in South America, Alaska,
New Zealand and the American West.
The Horace D. Taft Alumni Medal
is awarded each year to a Taftie whose
actions demonstrate something humanitarian and has gone above the ordinary
demands of life or occupation. The
award is a reminder of Taft’s commitment to serve others.
For more information, or to see
the list of previous recipients, visit
www.taftschool.org/alumni/merit.
v Horace D. Taft Alumni Medal recipient Rod
Moorhead ’62 with wife Alice and sons Clay ’98
and Rod ’97 and wife Brooke. Robert Falcetti
alumni Spotlight
Skill of Persuasion
n Will Sealy ’05 with Senate candidate
Elizabeth Warren.
Each day, Will Sealy ’05 speaks with
members of the Massachusetts business
community for U.S. Senate candidate
Elizabeth Warren.
“At Taft, I never imagined that I’d
wind up working in politics,” Sealy says.
However, courses with Jon Willson ’82
and Greg Hawes ’85 at Taft got him
hooked on history and current events,
and in his role as a school monitor, he was
intrigued by the process of engaging people for the betterment of a community.
At William and Mary, he became
concerned with the issue of drinking
and driving on campus. Frustrated by
the lack of response from the student
government and administration, he realized he needed to step up and help make
a change, creating a safe-ride program,
SteerClearWM, that now includes a nonprofit wing to educate students about
the dangers of drinking and driving.
“As a government major, I was more
interested in political discourse than in
the day-to-day bureaucracy of government,” says Sealy. “I focused my studies
on the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and
it deeply frustrated me. Later on, when
Barack Obama announced his campaign,
I thought, ‘He’s different. He’s my guy.’”
Sealy still did not see politics as a
long-term career, but he got a summer
job street canvassing for the Democratic
National Committee.
“New Yorkers are the fastest walkers in
the world. It’s amazing how quickly you
learn when you’re all that stands between a
New Yorker and his lunch. Each day, I had
40 to 50 conversations with well-informed
people. My team once convinced a hedgefund manager to donate the maximum
amount of $28,500 and he handed over
his credit card right there on the street.”
Sealy then moved to California as a
community organizer with U.S. PIRG,
where he worked 90- to 100-hour weeks.
He was exhausted by year’s end, but it was
great training. Shifting gears, he became
interested in effecting change through
social entrepreneurship and worked with
Taft classmate Camden Flath on a more
affordable textbook model that would
help students tap into new technologies
and social media to help them learn. But
in the midst of shopping their idea around
Google, Sealy got an invitation to visit the
White House and he was hooked.
A few weeks later he was an intern on
Pennsylvania Avenue. He has bowled in
the White House, spent the holidays with
Santa in the West Wing and dressed as
President William Howard Taft for the
Halloween office party. The best memory
Sealy has from his time there is when
he helped set up a press event about the
American Opportunity Tax Credit, which
featured classmate Sean O’Mealia and the
O’Mealia family standing with President
Obama in the Rose Garden.
While there, Sealy worked with
Elizabeth Vale, executive director of the
White House Business Council. He later
transitioned to the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau for the launch of the
new agency. It was there that he met
Elizabeth Warren. In January 2012, she
invited Sealy to join her U.S. Senate campaign as a special assistant and deputy
business outreach coordinator.
“She essentially asks if we want to be
a country that says ‘I’ve got mine and
the rest of you are on your own,’” says
Sealy. “‘Or are we a country that believes,
all the way down, in celebrating success
and working to invest in each other?’ I
admire that.”
Ocean House
n Architect Jefferson Riley ’64. Derek Hayn
Jefferson B. Riley ’64 recently received
several awards for his design of the
new Ocean House resort hotel in
Rhode Island, including an interiors
award from Contact Magazine and
a design award from the American
Institute of Architects of Rhode Island.
A founding partner of Centerbrook
Architects, Riley is currently designing a new medical and graduate
campus for Quinnipiac University,
an academic and laboratory science
building for Southern Connecticut
State University, the Nantucket
Science Center that will include an
aquarium and planetarium, a new
Mission House for the Port-au-Prince
campus of the Diocese of Norwich
Outreach to Haiti, a biomass heating
plant for the Hotchkiss School, where
he also designed the Esther Eastman
Music Center.
In Print
Wherever There Is
Mia Borders ’05
Mia Borders has captured the attention of both local
and national audiences with her energetic blend
of funk, soul and contemporary songwriting. USA
Today named her one of the 2010 New Orleans Jazz
& Heritage Festival’s “hidden surprises.” Citing Bill Withers and Etta James as the biggest
musical inspirations in her life, Borders wrote and
composed all but one song on this album.
“Although all my work is personal, this new
album and new material represent my first solo
effort from conception to release,” Borders told the
Times-Picayune. “I find myself much more like a
nervous and excited parent than ever before. I’m in
a completely different—hopefully more mature—
place personally and professionally, and I’d like my
newest baby to convey that.”
Listen at www.blaxicanrecords.com.
Zero to $30 Million: The Business
Lessons I learned Mostly the Hard Way
Stan Donnelly ’71
Zero to $30 Million consists of 50 short battle-tested
lessons that are a breeze to read and saturated with
a great sense of humor often lacking in books of this
nature. Containing hard-fought personal experiences
and common sense tips that aren’t always obvious,
Donnelly is not afraid to tell you about his mistakes,
political philosophies and business lessons learned.
His can-do attitude is infectious.
Readers called the book “honest, humorous at
times. Stories of his maturing as a manager and business owner are straight from the heart. Better yet,
they are practical, value-added lessons every business
owner can benefit from.”
Another wrote, “A quick read packed with useful
business tips anyone can adopt on the fly. Full of
humor and self-deprecating anecdotes, Donnelly
shares the good, the bad and the ugly, but most of all
the excitement of growing your own business.”
Available only on Kindle.
Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did
On Our Summer Vacation)
Counting Crows [Adam Duritz ’82]
Underwater Sunshine is the sixth studio album by
American rock band Counting Crows, released in
April. The album is composed of cover songs, with
vocalist Adam Duritz stating, “Sometimes it’s great
to play someone else’s music and try to make it your
own. Sometimes it’s great just because it’s fun.”
Produced by both the band and Shawn Dealy,
the album features tracks from the 1960s through to
the 2010s, and includes songs written by band’s early
contemporaries, Tender Mercies and Sordid Humor,
both of which included members of Counting Crows
before the formation of the band.
The Chappy Ferry Book: Back and Forth
between Two Worlds—527 Feet Apart
Tom Dunlop ’79
For 37 years, the ferry was owned and skippered by
a blind man. A seaplane has hit it, a hurricane has
splintered it, and a fire has consumed it. The ferry
served as the setting for a pivotal scene in Jaws (as
well as a principal camera boat) and played a role in
a car accident that changed not only the undiscovered island of Chappaquiddick forever, but possibly
American history too. These events—and many more—have all
happened on the stone’s-throw route between the
islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Chappaquiddick.
Dunlop’s The Chappy Ferry Book tells the amazing,
lively, myth-busting, 200-year-old story of the
Chappaquiddick ferry for the very first time.
Generously illustrated with historic, previously
unseen pictures as well as contemporary photographs
by acclaimed Vineyard photographer Alison Shaw,
the book also includes a complementary DVD,
The Chappy Ferry Movie, a 15-minute film hosted
by Chappy summer resident Dick Ebersol, former
chairman of NBC Sports, which weaves together
interviews with owners and captains, as well as clips
of the ferry at work going back to World War II.
Tom Dunlop is also the author of the awardwinning Morning Glory Farm and the Family that
Feeds an Island (2009) and Schooner: Building a
Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard (2010). For more
information, visit www.vineyardstories.com
In Print
The Lost Prince
Selden Edwards, former faculty
The author of the beloved New York Times bestselling novel The Little Book returns with a sequel
about a love that is capable of bridging unfathomable distances.
Recently returned from the experience of a
lifetime in fin de siècle Vienna, where she met and
tragically lost the first great love of her life, Eleanor
Burden has no choice but to settle into her expected
place in society, marry the man she is supposed to
marry and wait for life to come to her. As the 20th
century approaches, hers is a story not unlike that of
the other young women she grew up with in 1890s
Boston—a privileged upbringing punctuated by a
period of youthful adventure and followed by the
inevitable acknowledgment of real life—except for
one small difference: Eleanor possesses an unshakable belief that she has advance knowledge of every
major historical event to come during her lifetime.
But soon the script of events she has written
in her mind—a script described by no less than
Sigmund Freud as the invented delusions of a
hysteric—begins to unravel. Eleanor Burden, at
once fragile and powerful, must find the courage
of her deepest convictions, discover the difference
between predetermination and free will, secure her
belief in her own sanity, and decide whether she will
allow history to unfold come what may—or use her
extraordinary gifts to bend history to her will and
deliver the life she knows she is meant to have.
The Rock Star in Seat 3A
Jill Kopelman Kargman ’92
It’s Hazel’s 30th birthday and she has everything she’s
ever wanted: a kickass job, a dream apartment in New
York City, and the perfect boyfriend—who’s just days
away from proposing. Hazel thinks she’s happy but
isn’t quite ready to settle down. So when her most
far-fetched fantasy enters the realm of the possible,
shouldn’t she drop everything to see it through?
The morning after her birthday, Hazel boards
a flight to L.A. only to get the surprise of her life.
When she’s bumped up to first class, extra legroom
and free drinks are forgotten as soon as she catches
sight of her seatmate: her all-time biggest celebrity
crush, rock star Finn Schiller!
A lively novel about a down-to-earth New York
City girl who suddenly finds herself in a rock ’n’
roll Cinderella fantasy, The Rock Star in Seat 3A
is seasoned with Jill Kargman’s signature wit and
hilarious dialogue. This is a fairy-tale romance
with a twist.
Kargman is the New York Times bestselling
author of nine books, including The Right Address,
Wolves in Chic Clothing, Momzillas and The Ex-Mrs.
Hedgfund. Her last effort is a nationally bestselling
book of essays, Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut. She is also
a featured writer for Vogue, Harper’s, Town & Country
and Elle, and a copywriter for her greeting card
company, Jill Kargman Etceteras.
Evolution of the PORSCHE 911
in Competition 1965–2010
Michael Keyser ’66 and Bill Oursler
The Porsche 911 has the unique distinction of
having the longest life of any sports car in automotive
history; its production began in September of 1964
with the first examples arriving on U.S. shores early
the following year. Today, in thoroughly modernized
form, it still bears the hallmark design features that
brought it such attention for nearly a half century.
Evolution of the PORSCHE 911 traces the long
racing lineage of this iconic car from its inaugural
appearance at the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally, where it
scored an amazing class victory, to its 2010 class win
at Le Mans and an American Le Mans championship season where it successfully battled the might of
Ferrari and Corvette.
Since the 911’s first days in competition, its
versatility not only produced a long string of
successes in rallies, but also wins at some of the
world’s great road circuits, including Daytona,
Sebring, the Targa Florio, the Nürburgring and
Le Mans. With 54 black and white and 299 color
photographs, many never previously published, this
book brings that history to life.
Spy Mom: The Adventures of Sally Sin
Beth McMullen ’87
Meet Sally Sin. Wife. Mother. Retired Spy. Or so
she thinks.
Just when she’s starting to settle into retirement,
her old Agency boss shows up to recruit her for one
more job. It seems illegal arms dealer Ian Blackford is
on the move and no one can stop him but Sally Sin.
Can she make it to preschool pick-up, get dinner on
the table and foil Blackford’s nefarious plot?
And just when you think the thrills are over, you’ll
be ready To Sin Again.
When the agency director is taken hostage, Sally
is once again called into action. A rescue operation? Easy. That is until Sally learns of a connection
between the kidnapping and her own mysterious
childhood, which complicates everything, even
Theo’s kindergarten applications. Being a mom is
hard enough without having to save the world.
Funny, fast-paced and compulsively readable, Spy Mom offers two adventures for mothers and
spies, and anyone who has ever dreamed about
being either.
By Invitation Only
Alexis Maybank ’93 and
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
For years, sample sales have lured fashion insiders
to makeshift storefronts in anonymous locations,
offering dramatic, fleeting bargains on coveted
designer brands. For those lucky enough to make an
exclusive e-mail list, a Marc Jacobs or Hermès sample
sale is a drop-everything-and-run event.
Harvard MBAs Alexis Maybank and Alexandra
Wilkis Wilson, best friends and dedicated sample
sale shoppers, saw the industry-changing potential of taking sample sales onto the Internet. In
November 2007, they launched their members-only
website to a select national group of 13,000 young,
high-end shoppers. They offered 50–70 percent
off luxury brands like John Varvatos and Valentino,
in “flash” sales lasting just 36 hours. It became an
immediate viral hit as members rapidly invited
friends to join. In four short years, Gilt Groupe
has spawned dozens of imitators and grown to five
million members and has a valuation of $1 billion.
Maybank and Wilson explain how they
launched a simple yet groundbreaking business
that catered to their passions. They provide straight
talk on how to build a start-up and negotiate the
conundrums that still face women in business.
For Gilt customers interested in an inside view of
the fashion industry, they also provide a revealing
portrait of key players like Zac Posen, Christian
Louboutin and Valentino.
The Godfather Effect: Changing
Hollywood, America, and Me Tom Santopietro ’72
Forty years and one billion dollars in gross box-office
receipts after its initial release, Francis Ford Coppola’s
masterful trilogy continues to enthrall viewers old
and new. The Godfather Effect skillfully analyzes the
reasons behind this ongoing global phenomenon.
Including behind-the-scenes anecdotes from
all three Godfather films, Santopietro explores the
historical origins of the mob and why it thrived in
America, the manner in which Italian-Americans are
portrayed in the media, and how a saga of murderous
gangsters captivated audiences around the globe.
Laced with stories about Brando, Pacino and
Sinatra, and interwoven with a funny and poignant
memoir about the author’s own experiences growing
up with an Italian name in an Anglo world of private
schools and country clubs, The Godfather Effect is a
book for film lovers, observers of American life and
Italians of all nationalities.
The Hollywood Reporter called it “a beautiful narrative of the way pop culture shapes our self-image.”
The book is also a natural outgrowth of
Santopietro’s continuing work on Broadway shows
as well as performing around the country in a salute
to Frank Sinatra (the subject of his previous book,
Sinatra in Hollywood).
Santopietro is also the author of Considering Doris
Day and The Importance of Being Barbra. For more
information, visit www.tomsantopietro.com.
When Billy Went Bald
Julie C. Morse ’75
All the other kindergartners think he looks weird
because he has no hair. But there’s a special reason
that Billy is bald—he has cancer. Billy’s doctor thinks
he will be fine, but he has to have an operation to
take the cancer out. He has to have chemotherapy,
and that medicine is what makes him lose his hair.
It’s not fun but he needs it to get better.
Billy’s teacher helps the other children understand that just because on the outside he is bald it
doesn’t mean that on the inside he is any different.
Soon Billy is playing soccer and running from the
girls on the playground. Billy is better!
Julie Morse, a journalist and investigative
reporter, is also the author of Out of the Box. She was
inspired to write When Billy Went Bald after her son,
Greg—with whom she co-authored the book—was
diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“We have been blessed in so
many ways,” says Morse, “as he
is now 29, happily married and
If you would like a copy
healthy and we felt it was time to
of your work added to
give back with this book.”
the Hulbert Taft Library’s
Alumni Authors Collection
and listed in this column,
please send a copy to:
Taft Bulletin
The Taft School
110 Woodbury Road
For the latest news
on campus events,
please visit
www.taftschool.org.
, Headmaster Willy
MacMullen ’78
greets Bill and Jane
Donaldson and sons
Matt ’88 and Adam
’08 at the dedication
of the pavilion in May.
around the Pond
By Debra Meyers
Phil Dutton
Courtly Pavilion
“Thanks to the Donaldsons, we surely have
the most beautiful tennis facility in New
England,” says boys’ varsity coach Peter
Frew ’75. All 12 outdoor courts were rebuilt this year and two new pavilions were
installed—one on the hill that provides a
place for fans to watch, and a second alongside court one for players to assemble.
“Our five teams are inspired every day
by this setting, and spectators are treated
to fantastic viewing angles.”
The courts were completely
reconstructed of three inches of compacted asphalt with four coats of acrylic
tennis court surfacing with a silica sand
finish to control ball speed and spin.
The pavilions are made of brick,
thermal bluestone floors and walkways
and Ipe wood pergolas with climbing
wisteria to provide shade. There is teak
furniture for spectators.
The projects innovative features
include automated LED lighting in the
pergola and along the McCullough
field house, says facilities director Jim
Shepard. The landscape architect also
designed the plantings to control bank
erosion along the steep slope. Water
fountains, improved drainage and irrigation also enhance this project.
“Bill and Jane Donaldson are such
great friends of Taft,” said Headmaster
Willy MacMullen ’78. “Matt and Adam
were great kids, and it was simply wonderful having the whole family here to
dedicate an incredible facility.”
Bring on the Brass
Naval War College, completed a fellowship with the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and was honored with
a Naval War College Distinguished
Graduate Leadership Award.
Unique among Marines,
Cartwright served as commander,
U.S. Strategic Command, before being nominated and appointed as the
eighth vice chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s secondhighest military officer. During his
four-year tenure as vice chairman,
across two presidential administrations, Cartwright became widely
recognized for his technical acumen,
vision of future national security
concepts and keen ability to integrate
Former Vice Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff General James
Cartwright came to Taft this spring
under the auspices of the Rear Admiral
Raymond. F. DuBois Fellowship in
Inernational Affairs.
Cartwright was both a naval flight
officer and naval aviator. In 1983,
he was named Outstanding Carrier
Aviator of the Year and went on to
command Marine Aviation Logistics
Squadron 12, Marine Fighter Attack
Squadron 232, Marine Aircraft Group
31, and 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.
Cartwright graduated with distinction from the Air Command and Staff
College, received an MA in national
security and strategic studies from the
n General James Cartwright was this year’s
DuBois speaker. U.S. Air Force photo/Melanie
Rodgers Cox
systems, organizations and people in
ways that encourage creativity and
spark innovation in the areas of strategic deterrence, nuclear proliferation,
missile defense, cyber security and
adaptive acquisition processes.
Treehouse leads to Birches
When the Independent Studies
Program awards were announced this
year, a huge cry went out for Oliver Salk
’13 and his film Birches [see the trailer
at tiny.cc/birchesisp].
“I have been making short films at
Taft every year,” says Oliver, “and my
connection with Mr. Doyle and the
Treehouse grew [in the course of the
ISP] along with my skill as a filmmaker.”
In addition to his work in the
Treehouse, Taft’s video editing studio,
Oliver had worked with acting/video
teacher Rick Doyle on summer film trips
to Montana in 2010 and Maine in 2011,
where Oliver also produced a short film
of his own.
“This year I decided to step up my
game,” adds Oliver. “I wanted to write,
direct, and edit a feature length ‘big-budget’ movie at Taft made by and starring
Taft students.” It is the story of a boy
who attempts to find himself amidst the
chaotic and overwhelming environment
of a New England boarding school.
Embarking on the project through
the Independent Studies Program gave
Oliver some time off from sports and allowed him to focus his time on the film.
“The result was astounding,” says
Oliver. “Because I was able to give my
project lots of energy, many other actors and crew started to volunteer their
time to help and support me. By the
end of the project I had producers, extra writers, supporting actors, assistant
directors and more by my side helping
produce this film.”
“It is amazing the kind of support
Oliver was able to solicit from his
peers,” says Doyle. “The kids really
wanted to see him succeed. He’s
amazingly talented, and they see that.”
“Most of what I learned was very
technical and related to film theory,” says
Oliver, “but I also believe my skill as a
friend and as a student at Taft improved
as well. As a director, communication is
your number-one skill set.”
Other recipients this year of the
David Edward Goldberg Memorial
Awards for outstanding independent
work were Christopher Browner ’12
for his project “Learning the Art of
Theatrical Direction and Design”;
Everett Brownstein ’12 for his “Gallery
Show and Installation”; and Jacky
Zheng ’13 for his work on “The
Pathophysiology of Human Disease,”
which also won him second place at the
Connecticut State Science Fair.
around the POND
In a Good Light
Taft continues to rack up the design
awards! The Moorhead Wing project received an Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award
for Interior Lighting, Regional Award of
Merit, from the Illuminating Engineering
Society of North America (IES).
After winning the regional award, the
project was advanced for international
judging. International awards will be announced in November.
n Halo Award nominees Chris Hylwa ’14, Christopher Browner ’12, Will O’Meara ’12,
teacher Rick Doyle, Max Flath ’13, Jillian Wipfler ’13, Blake Joblin ’13 and Emily Nelson ’12
at the Palace Theater in Waterbury.
Fearless Theater
It was a tremendous year for the arts at Taft, with students winning accolades
in galleries, concert halls and on stage. It was an especially grand year for theater, with extraordinary performances of the classic shows Beauty and the Beast
and Harvey, and the original play Roomies (see page 18). All three were recognized this spring with Halo Award nominations.
Now in their ninth year, the Halo Awards recognize excellence in high
school theater. More than 30 area schools compete for the honors. Taft was
nominated in 17 categories, and took home three awards. The full list of nominees is posted at www.taftschool.org/news.
q Best Comic Male
Performance in a Musical: Max Flath ’13 as Gaston,
Beauty and the Beast (tie)
q Best Standout
Performance by a Male Actor
in an Ensemble Production: Chris Hylwa ’14 as Julian,
Roomies q Fearless Award (Play) –
Language and subject:
Roomies Other Arts Recognition
Earned During the spring term:
Alicia Wang ’15, first place
(tie), Schubert Club Awards
Natalie Tam ’14, second
place, 2012 Hudson
Philharmonic Orchestra
Piano Concerto
Tae Young Woo ’12,
concertmaster, Irvine
Young Concert Artists
Caitlin Morton ’12, first
prize – student category,
32nd Annual Photography
Exhibition, New Canaan
Society of Art
Robert Falcetti
In the Gallery
The Mark W. Potter ’48 Gallery hosted a special show for the 50th
Reunion class: John Foltz ’62 exhibited an eye-catching collection of
his photography, and Kit Youngs ’62 shared a number of paintings.
“Both man and nature provide a lot for us to observe,” says
Foltz, who seeks out the often overlooked beauty all around. “I
tend to see things on a smaller scale; thus I’m seeing small areas of
beauty within a larger scene. Abstracts come out of the many ways
nature paints and forms abstract shapes, as well as from architecture and sculpture.”
For a complete list of gallery shows for the 2012–13 school year,
visit www.taftschool.org/pottergallery/markpotter.aspx.
n Sand and Rock Composition, Fotos by Foltz
FBLA Speaker
n Fast Company co-founder Bill Taylor ’77.
Robert Falcetti
In the second installment of the student
Future Business Leaders of America
workshop series, on Alumni Weekend,
Bill Taylor ’77 told his audience that success doesn’t often follow a business plan.
What’s important, he said, is that it follows your vision.
“There will be a lot of people telling
you the right way to do something, but
Netscape, Google and others have shown
us that, today, knowing when to create your
own path can be even more rewarding.”
Taylor is co-founder and founding
editor of Fast Company, a magazine that
won countless awards, earned a passionate following among executives and
entrepreneurs around the world and
became a legendary business success. In
less than six years, an enterprise that took
shape in some borrowed office space in
Harvard Square sold for $340 million.
He has helped to shape the global
conversation about the best ways to
compete, innovate and succeed. His
latest project, Practically Radical: Not-SoCrazy Ways to Transform Your Company,
Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge
Yourself, is based on in-depth access to
25 organizations that are making major
organizational changes under difficult
circumstances. He is also the author
of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most
Original Minds in Business Win and an
adjunct lecturer at Babson College.
Taft Running Club
Club
They say when one
door closes, another
Spotlight opens. For seniors
Eric Metcalf and
Charlie Garcia, leaving behind their
baseball and tennis careers opened
many doors, not just for them but for
the entire Taft community.
As juniors, Eric and Charlie joined
the track team, though somewhat
reluctantly; both had been cut from
other sports teams. They had run
cross-country previously, so track
seemed like a reasonable option.
“During senior winter, I started to
think that I needed to stay in shape for
spring track, but lacked the motivation
to keep running,” Charlie said. “I went
to Eric and said, ‘I have an idea: I need
motivation to run and think I can get it
from the Taft community.’ ”
That set the wheels in motion for
Taft’s new running club. Six students
attended the club’s first meeting on
January 8. The next weekend, 13
showed up. The club continued to
grow throughout the spring, meeting
h The Running Club at White
Memorial. Josie Danziger ’14
twelve times in all for Sunday runs in
Litchfield’s White’s woods. Eric lead the
“fast group” through a six-mile course.
Charlie and the “slower” runners averaged four to four and a half miles.
For their senior project, Eric and
Charlie organized two running events
on Alumni Weekend to benefit Seas
It, a nonprofit organization started
by alums Todd ’92 and Amanda
McGovern ’93; both were a huge
success. Eric and Charlie hope both
the running club and “Sweat for
Sweets” will continue now that they
have graduated.
“We really hope both will continue
for years to come,” Eric said. “We really started this to spread the love of
running, to help people develop a lifelong passion for running and to build
community. The club is not exclusive,
it is about relationship building.”
around the POND
Opens for Natalie Cole
education and care for Niemann-Pick
Type C disease, a genetic metabolic
disorder in which harmful quantities
of cholesterol and other fatty substances accumulate in the cells of the
body. Dana Marella, Phil and Andrea’s
daughter, was diagnosed with the disease in 2002 when she was eight years
old; her brother was diagnosed two
years later.
Bailey first heard about DART
through her friend and manager,
Janice Roeg.
“After hearing about the charity
from Janice, I did some reading to
learn more,” Bailey said. “I thought it
was a great cause and decided to hold
a DART benefit at Taft. The idea of a
concert fit perfectly with my ISP.”
In May, Bailey performed one of
her ISP pieces at a major fund-raiser
in Stamford, Connecticut. Hosted
h Bailey
performs at
Dana’s Angels
Research
Trust benefit.
Lindsay
Niegelberg,
The Stamford
Advocate
For her ISP, senior Bailey Outerbridge
planned to write five original songs.
She performed those pieces at Taft in
April. And that was just the beginning.
The Taft concert was not only a
part of Bailey’s ISP, it was a fund-raiser
for Dana’s Angels Research Trust
(DART). DART is a nonprofit organization founded by Phil and Andrea
Marella to fund medical research,
Living the Arts: Taft in Italy
This summer a select group of Taft
singers were Living the Arts in Italy.
“Collegium embarked on an unprecedented residency in Faicchio,
Italy,” explained music teacher and
Collegium director Bruce Fifer. “The
two-week program encompassed more
than just singing.”
The Taft Collegium Musicum is a
group of 50 vocalists who sing a repertoire that represents every major
period of music history. They have also
sung new music and commissioned
several compositions. Collegium has
had master classes with a distinguished
group of conductors and vocalists, and
has toured Australia, Canada, China,
France, Great Britain and Spain. This
was the group’s third trip to Italy.
Faicchio is in the Campania region
of Italy, northeast of Naples and northwest of Benevento and the hometown
of librarian and archivist emerita Anne
Romano, who helped make the arrangements. Taft travelers were welcomed
to Faicchio by Mayor Mario Borrelli.
During their stay, Tafties attended
classes at the Castello di Faicchio,
performed at masses and festivals
throughout the region and soaked up
the beauty and culture of Italy. They
visited the Amalfi Coast, the Royal
Palace in Caserta and Rome, to name
just a few of the stops on their tour.
The trip culminated with Collegium
performing during mass at the high altar
in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, on
June 19. Saint Peter’s Basilica has the
largest interior of any Christian church
in the world.
x Taft Collegium spends two weeks
celebrating the arts in Italy. Peter Frew ’75
by celebrities Frank and Kathie Lee
Gifford, the DART Gala Benefit and
Concert featured headlining artist
and nine-time Grammy-winning
singer Natalie Cole. Opening for
Cole, Bailey debuted her song “Smile,”
which was dedicated and inspired by
Dana’s battle with her disease.
“In writing the song, I talked to
Dana’s mom a lot and looked at her
pictures and I was really struck by
her smile,” Bailey told the press. “Her
smile is really one of the only ways
she can interact with people, but she
has this really rich smile that is really
very touching.”
The Independent Studies Program
was created at Taft in 1964. Taft remains the only school of its kind to
offer this non-credit, yearlong opportunity in a formal program supervised
by faculty volunteers.
The Psychology of Sport
h Sports
psychologist Bob
Rotella with the
varsity girls’ team
on the links. Rita
Catherine O’Shea ’14
Renowned sports psychologist, author
and golfing guru Dr. Bob Rotella spent a
day at Taft this spring. He dined with the
golf team, inspired students and coaches
during an evening presentation and even
shared tips and insights on the links at
the Watertown Golf Club.
Widely recognized as one of the
world’s top sports psychologists, Rotella
has worked as a personnel consultant for
the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball,
NASCAR, PGA Tour, LPGA Tour,
Senior Tour, U.S. Olympic Ski Team
and the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team,
as well as the New York Yankees, San
Francisco 49ers, New Jersey Nets, and
Texas Rangers. And now—thanks to
Kristine and Tom Gordon, parents of
Heather Gordon ’14—Taft School.
Rotella spoke to Tafties about visualization, self-confidence and the power
of mental preparation. And a part of
that preparation, Rotella says, is developing a meaningful routine. In the end,
however, the most powerful message
was not about stroke mechanics, chip
shots, or where the ball lies, but about
what lies within.
“The idea that resonated most with me
was about not being fearful and having
confidence,” said girls’ golf team cocaptain Ali Eleey ’12. “From now when
I’m on the course I am going to trust myself and know that I have worked hard and
practiced my game a lot, so there is no
reason to be scared. I learned a lot from
what Mr. Rotella said and it motivated me
to continue working on my game.”
New Head Monitors
Betsy Sednaoui and Andrew
Cadienhead will serve as co-head
monitors for the Class of 2013.
“I am more than humbled to
have been elected to the head mon
position,” Betsy said. “We have a wonderful group of school mons for next
year; we work well together and are always looking for new ways to improve
the ways in which we lead. And I’m so
excited to be working with Andrew.
We are a cohesive duo and are both
proud to be leaders of our class. I look
forward to enhancing the community
in any way I can, and continuing to
uphold the pride and tradition that
makes Taft what it is today”
During her time at Taft, Betsy
has played soccer and golf. She was
co-captain of the JV tennis team this
spring, and will be co-captain of the
girls’ hockey team this winter. She has
been a dorm monitor, a member of
Improv and a peer tutor.
Andrew is a varsity squash player
and two-year team captain. He has
served on the Class Committee
of 2013 since freshman year, is a
member of the Admissions Council,
and recently joined the Butterfly
Catching Club.
“I’m very honored to have been
elected as one of the head monitors
of the school. Next year, I plan on
working diligently to better the Taft
community. The head mon position
is very challenging,” said Andrew,
“but I know that Betsy and I will push
ourselves to be the best head mons we
possibly can be. I’m very pleased that
n Head monitors Andrew Cadienhead and
Betsy Sednaoui ’13. Peter Frew ’75
Betsy is my co-head mon. I think she’s
great, and I’m looking forward to serving with her for our final year at Taft.”
around the POND
The Other
Wes
Moore
The Summer
Reading
Committee announced that this
year’s all-school
read is The Other Wes Moore: One
Name, Two Fates, by Wes Moore.
This fascinating nonfiction work tells the story of two
boys growing up in inner-city
Baltimore, two boys living only a
few blocks from each other, each
coincidentally with the same
name, but two boys who end up
living very different lives—one
very successful, one ending in life
imprisonment. When the author
discovered the existence of his
alter ego, he decided to try to learn
why their lives were so different.
His book is the result of several
conversations with “the other Wes
Moore” and his research among
neighbors, friends and family.
What makes the difference in how
a life turns out? This book offers
some thought-provoking answers. Author Wes Moore will
visit campus in the fall as the
Paley Lecturer.
In addition to The Other Wes
Moore, students are reading a second book selected from a list of
faculty recommendations. (Check
out the list at www.taftschool.org/
students/readinglist.aspx.) “Of course, we hope that
students will read several more
than just these two books,” says
Chaplain Bob Ganung, a member
of the committee, “because reading expands one’s perspective on
life, besides being entertaining.
And we hope the list of facultysponsored books will provide
many options and ideas and create
an opportunity for many discussions in school and beyond.”
n Visiting poet Taylor Mali gives a reading in
Laube Dining Hall. Peter Frew ’75
Visiting Poet Taylor Mali
Well-known poet and YouTube sensation Taylor Mali was this year’s visiting
poet, bringing his craft and wit to campus in May.
One of the best-known authors and
performers to emerge from the poetry
slam movement, Taylor Mali has published two books, The Last Time As We
Are and What Learning Leaves; he has
also recorded four spoken-word CDs.
His life, words and mission speak of inclusion, not exclusion, which makes him
an unexpected force among dissimilar
wordsmiths. He claims to be one of the
few people in the world to have no other
job than that of poet.
Mali is a vocal advocate of teachers
and the nobility of teaching, and spent
nine years in the classroom teaching
everything from English and history
to math and SAT preparation. He has
performed and lectured for teachers
all over the world, and his New Teacher
Project is working to attract 1,000 prospective teachers to the education field
through his personal “poetry, persuasion and perseverance.”
In 2001, Taylor Mali received a New
York Foundation for the Arts grant to
develop Teacher! Teacher! a one-man
show about poetry, teaching and math;
the show won the jury prize for best
solo performance at the 2001 Comedy
Arts Festival.
Roomies
The spring production of Roomies:
One Year at a Time brought current social issues to the forefront in
Taft’s Woodward Black Box Theater
this spring.
An original play written and
directed by Taft theater and film
teacher Rick Doyle, Roomies “is
about compassion, redemption, forgiveness, tolerance and acceptance,”
says Doyle, “even more than it is
about gay and lesbian students at a
boarding school. It’s about love and
being ‘human’ to one another.”
Based on real events, the play
captures the humor and drama that
play out for the featured characters
during the opening month of a
new school year through a series of
topical vignettes.
Roomies was recognized with
two Halo Awards and five Halo
Award nominations. (See “Fearless
Theater,” page 14)
n Sam Stamas ’14, as Carl, and Tristan
Smith ’14, as Eli, navigate the challenging
waters of dorm life in the original play
Roomies. Rick Doyle
Summer Fellowships
Kilbourne Summer Enrichment Fund in the Arts
Patrick Neil
Alexandra Hildreth ’15. ........................................................................................ SOCAPA Dance Intensive
Elif Korkmaz ’14.................................................................... London Central College of Art and Design
Jake Merrell ’13. ............................................. Juniper Young Writers, University of Massachusetts
Carlande Nicolas ’14............................................................................................................... NY Film Institute
Na Yung Park ’13............................................................................................................................ Pratt Institute
Carrie Shin ’13..................................................................... UCLA Sitcom Writing and Producing Camp
Jillian Wipfler ’13. .................................................................................................................. Stagedoor Manor
College Bound
Meg Page ’74 Fellowships
Amy Feda ’13. ......................................................................................... Georgetown Medical Conference
Fernando Fernandez ’14. ............................ National Youth Leadership Federation on Medicine
Katie Harpin ’13............................................... National Youth Leadership Federation on Medicine
Nicole Lu ’13...................................................................................................... Chinese Academy of Science
Betsy Sednaoui ’13........................................................... Reiki with Libby Barnett, Emerson Hospital
Linh Tang ’14...........................China California Heart Watch and the Sri Ram Orphanage, India
(partially funded with William W. Hatfield ’32 Grant)
This year, Taft seniors chose to matriculate at
the following schools in the highest number:
Amherst College............................................................. 5
Bucknell University. ...................................................... 3
Colby College. .................................................................. 4
Duke University............................................................... 3
Franklin & Marshall College...................................... 4
The George Washington University.................... 5
Georgetown University............................................... 7
Gettysburg College........................................................ 4
Lehigh University. .......................................................... 3
Middlebury College. ..................................................... 6
Princeton University..................................................... 5
Rollins College. ................................................................ 3
Southern Methodist University. ............................. 3
Trinity College.................................................................. 5
Tufts University............................................................... 3
University of St. Andrews (Scotland)....................3
University of Virginia.................................................... 4
Wesleyan University..................................................... 5
Yale University................................................................. 4
Robert K. Poole Fellowships
Rozalie Czesana ’14............................................................................ Volunteering Solutions, Costa Rica
Laura Feidelson ’14.......................................................................................... Helping Hands, Cuzco, Peru
Judith Hsieh ’14........................................................................................................................ CARE, Costa Rica
Joo Sung Kim ’14...................................................................Bement Alumni trip, Dominican Republic
Jordan Maia ’14.......................................................... Adventures Cross-Country, California
Katie McLaughlin ’13.................................................................................................... Habitat for Humanity
Shelby Meckstroth ’13. .......................................................................... Fútbol sin Fronteras, Nicaragua
Maggie O’Neil ’13...................................................................................................................... Rustic Pathways
Rosey Oppenheim ’14. ................................................................................... Helping Hands, Cuzco, Peru
Kasey Pietro ’13................................................................................................ Rustic Pathways, La Fortuna
Carl Sangree ’14. ....................................................................................................... High Mountain Institute
Iliana Smith ’15............................................ Global Works Summer Service Adventure, Costa Rica
Ina Kosova ’12 was named a Morehead-Cain
Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Faculty News
Honors
• Chris Torino, Abramowitz Award
Retired
• Brian Denyer, French (see page 30)
Sabbatical
• Suzanne and Bob Campbell ’76
Promoted
• Jonathan Bender, lowermid class dean
• Dick Cobb, Classics Department head
• Diane Fountas, director of the Martin
Health Center
• Greg Hawes ’85, History Department head
• Jamella Lee, dean of global and diversity
education
• Rachael Ryan, assistant director,
Taft Educational Center
• Will Shotwell, Global Studies
Department head
Hired
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Isabel Aguirre-Kelly, English fellow
Dan Calore, math/physics
Erin Duffy, classics
Phillip Koshi, Spanish
Lindsay Leal, math fellow
Rob Madden ’03, admissions
Emma McBurney, history fellow
Hannah O’Brien, history fellow
Will Richardson, admissions
Courtney Vris, French fellow
Tyler Whitley ’04, admissions
Departed
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rohan Arjun, global studies fellow
James Duval, math
Brianne Foley, history
Ellen Hinman, classics
Gary Kan ’03, Chinese, physics
Lisa Keys, health center
Shaadi Khoury, history
Matthew LaBrie, English fellow
Peter Saltsman, science
Claire Sheldon, admissions, mathematics
Panos Voulgaris, history
Walt Warner, science
Chamby Zepeda, Spanish
For more on the
spring season,
please visit
www.taftsports.com.
spring SPORT wrap-up
By steve Palmer
Girls’ Golf 19–0
New England Champions
Founders League Champions
After sweeping league rivals Hotchkiss,
Choate and Loomis during the season,
Taft earned its second New England
championship by winning the 27th
Pippy O’Connor Independent School
Girls Golf Classic held at Watertown
Golf Club. Captain Ali Eleey ’12 was
the individual medalist out of the 55
girls in the 18-hole division, shooting a 73, and her teammates Nikki
Yatsenick ’12 (87), Jackie Eleey ’14
(82), and Lagare Augenstein ’14 (86)
combined for the lowest team score
of 328 to defeat a strong Greenwich
Academy team. Pen Naviroj ’15 shot a
92. Taft has won the 18-hole team division for four years now. Faye Leithner
’14 and Courtney Chatjaval ’15 played
in the 9-hole division. The Rhinos
were also crowned Founders League
Champions a week later, this time
with the Eleey sisters as co-medalists
(37), and Yatsenick, Augenstein and
Margaret O’Neill ’14 leading the way
for the team score. For the 5th straight
season the girls’ annual Sadie Hawkins
Golf Tournament has raised more
than $200 in donations to the Daniel
J. Wilcox Memorial Fund to help children affected by domestic violence to
attend summer camps. Morgan Manz
’13 and Nicole Lu ’13 rounded off the
undefeated team’s line-up. Since the
inaugural girls’ golf team six years ago,
the Rhinos have compiled one of the
most impressive school athletic records
at 90–6–3.
n Ali Eleey ’12 shoots a 73 to defend her
New England championship title at the Pippy
O’Connor Independent School Girls’ Golf
Classic. Nicole Lu ’13
n Softball captain Taylor McGee ’12 behind
Boys Golf 13–3
Softball 15–0
This young but talented team, with four
middlers in the line-up every match,
posted a 381 against Kingswood and Kent
in April, setting a new match scoring record at the Watertown Golf Club. Taft also
avenged one of its few losses of the season
when it defeated a very strong Brunswick
team at home (4.5–2.5) behind wins by
Jack Dayton ’14 and Bob Meng ’15 at #6
and #7. The Rhinos also placed 2nd at
the Andover Invitational in Newport and
3rd at the Founders League championship, but their best day as a team came
at the final Kingswood Invitational with
another 386 score to place 2nd out of the
23 teams. Matt Schimenti ’14 won the
individual title at the Andover Invitational
Tournament with a 73, while Jack Porcelli
’14 and Julien Papadopoulo ’14 were 2nd
and 3rd at the K.I.T. with a 71 and 72
respectively. Perhaps most impressive was
the overall team scoring average, a 390.8, a
new Taft season record.
Taft started out the season with a 12–0
win over NMH and never looked back in
putting together a 15-game undefeated
streak that ended in the Western New
England title. Two of the best games
came against Greenwich Academy (4–2)
and defending champs Westminster
(5–4), with Taft coming from behind to
claim victories over both teams. Taft’s
spotless record earned them the #1
seed for the New England tournament,
defeating Greenwich Academy soundly
in the first round, 7–1. Taft took on
Westminster in the championship game
the following day, fittingly the most
exciting and challenging game of the
season. Coming from behind once again,
Taft tied the score in the bottom of the
seventh to send the game into extra innings, and then won 6–5 in the bottom
the plate during a 17–2 victory over Deerfield.
Phil Dutton/www.PhotoTrophies.com
Western New England
Champions
Founders League Champions
of the 8th to earn the school’s first
softball championship. Throughout the
season, Rhydian Glass ’12 led the way
on the mound, earning six shutouts in
15 games and driving in the tying run in
the championship game. New England
honors went to Taylor McGee ’12, Katie
McLaughlin ’13 and Cassie Ruscz ’13,
the team’s most powerful hitter.
will play at Trinity College next year)
was also named a Founders League AllStar and recipient of the Stone Baseball
Award by leading the team with strong
character, anchoring the team’s defense
at short, and leading in almost all offensive categories (.386 BA, .493 OBA, 22
H, 16 R, 7 2B, 3 HR, 9 SB & 23 RBI).
Uppermid Rob Kiska ’13 will return to
captain next year’s team that will include
15 other returners.
Girls Tennis 6–6
n Anthony Gaffney had a fantastic season,
breaking the long-standing long jump record
of Peter Guernsey ’40. Phil Dutton/
www.PhotoTrophies.com
Baseball 9–11
Come-from-behind wins over
Westminster (10–9), Kent (8–7) and
Hotchkiss (10–9) served as highlights
for this young but gritty team’s 3rd-place
finish in the Founders League. Hadley
Stone ’14 emerged as a leading contributor and Founders League All-Star with
great pitching performances (6 wins)
and solid offensive production (.308
BA, .440 OBA). Jake Jordan ’12 (who
This experienced team included seven
seniors who have largely played together
for the last few years. The Rhinos got off to
a slow start at 0–2 but went on a six game
winning streak that included wins over
Founders League rivals Loomis Chaffee
(7–2), Kent (5–2) and Westminster
(4–3). In perhaps their best match of the
season, Taft upset highly regarded Sacred
Heart (4–3) by sweeping the doubles
points and gaining the win with uppermid
Jacky Susskind’s 4–6, 6–3, 6–2 singles victory. Throughout the season Taft’s strength
was its doubles play, led by co-captain
Katie Knowlton ’12 and Maddie Rollings
’12, who formed what may be Taft’s bestever doubles team. Co-captain Maddie
James ’12 also had a great season at doubles and was named a Founders League
All-Star. Despite losing singles players
Eleanor Hough ’12 and Wallis Kinney
’12, the team will be strong with returning
#1 singles Courtney Jones ’12, #3 singles
player Susskind and Bella Ordway ’14.
SPRING 2012—SPECIAL ATHLETIC AWARD WINNERS
The Softball Award............................................................................... Rhydian W. Glass ’12
The Crew Award....................................................................................... David F. Hanke ’12
The Crew Award................................................................................. Hanna H. Dethlefs ’12
The Wandelt Lacrosse Award....................... Erin Jordan McCarthy ’12, Laurel H. Pascal ’12
The Odden Lacrosse Award........................................................ Maximilian F. Feidelson ’12
The George D. Gould Tennis Award.............................................. Katharine P. Knowlton ’12
The Alrick H. Man, Jr. Award..................................................................Jagger W. Riefler ’13
The Galeski Golf Award.........................................................................Henry F. Wesson ’13
The Seymour Willis Beardsley Track Award............................................Ellen M. Kalnins ’12
Zachary B. Karlan ’12
The Stone Baseball Award....................................................................... Jacob S. Jordan ’12
The Girls’ Golf Award................................................................................ Alison E. Eleey ’12
Boys Tennis 7–9
This young, enthusiastic team (three
lower-middlers and no seniors in the
line-up) opened the season with a win at
home over Avon (5–2) to begin play at
the beautiful new courts of the Donaldson
Family Pavilion (see page 12). Following
a win over Kent (6–0), the Rhinos would
then drop three matches by the score of
3–4, a rough streak. Perhaps the highlight
of the season came in the next match
against Westminster, when Griffin Conner
’15 pulled out the #5 singles match 7–6,
7–5, to earn the much-needed 4–3 win.
Throughout the season captain Jagger
Riefler ’13 played well in the #1 singles spot
and teamed up with Michael Mulroy ’15
for the top doubles team. Eric Delapenha
’13 was a solid #2 singles player and won
some crucial matches with partner Tucker
Killian ’14 as the second doubles team.
Boys Crew 7–3
This year’s team was deep in talent and
highly competitive. At the Founders
Day Regatta on Lake Waramaug, all four
varsity boats qualified for the afternoon
finals, with the First boat winning the
Petite Finals. A week later, the First
boat won the prestigious du Pont Cup
for the first time since 2004 defeating
strong teams from BB&N, Pomfret and
St. Mark’s. By the end of the season, all
four varsity boats had qualified for the
New England championship races in
Worcester, with the Fourth boat finishing
2nd in the morning heat and then 6th
overall in New England. The First boat
finished 3rd in its morning heat, missing
the Grand Finals by .079 seconds, and
then 10th overall in New England. With
three middlers and two uppermids—Alli
Elkman ’13 (coxswain), Liam Carty ’14
(stroke), Hayden Pascal ’13 (3 seat), Carl
Sangree ’14 (2 seat), Will Kirsten ’14
(bow)—this young boat has a great future ahead of it, and the entire team looks
very deep again for next year.
spring SPORT
(49.74), and Erich Marcks ’12 took 3rd in
the 800m (2:01.17). To end the season,
Robertson and Marcks would team up
with Karlan and John MacMullen ’14 to
smash the school record in the 4x400m
relay (3:25.17).
Boys Lacrosse 10–7
n Headmaster Willy MacMullen ’78 congratulates Boys’ Varsity Tennis Coach Peter Frew
’75 on his more than 25 years of service to the team. Phil Dutton/www.PhotoTrophies.com
Girls Crew 6–4
This was a relatively deep and balanced
team, indicated by the strong 3rd-place
finish at the Founders Day Regatta of
the Third boat of Ellie Park ’13, Kelley
Gaston ’12, Liz Demmon ’13, Caroline
Leopold ’15 and Tiffany Li ’14. Taft
had perhaps its best day near the end
of the season in sweeping Berkshire,
Canterbury and Hopkins, ensuring that
all four Taft boats qualified for the New
England championships (NEIRA). At the
NEIRAs, the Third boat again rowed extremely well, making the Grand Finals for
a 6th place finish. Throughout the spring,
captain Hanna Dethlefs ’12 teamed
up with Anne Tewksbury ’12, Alanna
Fogarty ’12, Josie Danziger ’14 and cox
RC O’Shea ’14 to power a very competitive First boat.
Girls Track 6–4
Again this year Taft was dominant in the
weight events and scored big points in
the jumps. Early wins over Deerfield and
Berkshire made for the winning season,
but the Rhinos had their best meet at the
New England championships, where they
edged out Choate by one point to place
6th. At that meet, the 400-meter relay
team of Lexi Rogers ’12, Candice Dyce
’13, Shana Joseph ’14 and Alex Lewis ’12
set a new school record in 50.68. Katie
Harpin won the shot put by less than
an inch with a throw of 36'2", while tricaptain Ellen Kalnins ’12 placed 2nd in
the javelin. Dyce placed in the long jump
but also shattered her own school record
in the triple jump by winning the event
with an impressive 37'7" leap.
Boys Track 8–4
Taft earned regular-season wins over
Avon, Berkshire and, for the first time
ever, Andover, due to its strength in the
jumps, throws and middle distance. At the
Founders League meet, senior Anthony
Gaffney ’12 won the long jump with a final
leap of 22'11.5" to break the long-standing
record of Peter Guernsey ’40 [22'7"].
Gaffney also anchored the 4x100m relay
team of Demetrius Russell ’12, Zach
Karlan ’12 and Adam Parker ’13, to set
another new school record (43.72) and
a 3rd-place finish. At the New England
championships, the Rhinos had their best
day, with Shane Hardie ’13 winning the
high jump (6'0") and Kevin Trotman ’12
winning the discus (151'10"). Andrew
Robertson ’12 placed 4th in the 400m
Taft lacrosse ended the season with a 10–7
record and placed 4th in Western New
England. Taft was led by All-Western New
England and Colorado College-bound
goalie Chase Murphy ’12 with a 66 save
percentage in net. Virginia-bound Jeff
Kratky ’13 was All-Western New England
for the second straight year and won 67%
of his face offs and ended with 28 points.
Virginia-bound Tyler Breen ’14 led the
team with 24 goals, and Chas South ’13
and Eric Smith ’14 showed why they are
some of the best defenders in the nation
helping the defense hold opponents to
6.57 goals per game. Taft’s big win this
year was a 14–10 win over nationally
ranked Hotchkiss on Alumni Day.
Girls Lacrosse 13–2
This fast team had real offensive punch
and defensive tenacity, playing well
together all season. Convincing wins
over Deerfield (17–8) and Westminster
(14–6) set up a showdown with Andover
at home; in a back-and-forth contest,
Taft prevailed 7–5 behind senior Laurel
Pascal’s two unassisted goals. In the final
week, the Rhinos fought for two exciting
wins, defeating Hotchkiss in overtime
(13–12) for the third straight year, and
then Choate 14–13. Throughout the season All-Americans Pascal and defender
Jordan McCarthy ’12 led the team in
scoring, while Charlotte O’Leary ’12 and
Caroline Queally ’14 were crucial to the
team’s offense. Goalie Lexi Dwyer ’12
and fellow seniors Story Viebranz, Jackie
Michnoff and Caitlin Majewski anchored
the defense.
Annual Fund Report 2011–12
Thank you for each and every piece that helped
complete the Taft picture this year.
Annual Fund Report 2011–12
This has been a superb year for the Taft Annual Fund, and I could not be more proud of the
thousands of Taft alumni/ae, parents, grandparents and friends whose generosity carried
us to our $3.7 million goal. Those dollars equate to almost $6,500 per student and
provide critical operating support for the school. Key to reaching this year’s fundraising
goal was the Class of 1962 which, in celebration of its 50th Reunion, deservedly won both
the Snyder Award and the Chairman of the Board Award by, respectively, contributing
more dollars than any other reunion-year class and by achieving the highest level of
donor participation among classes 50 or fewer years out. Alumni giving also got a
magnificent boost from an anonymous donor, whose matching challenge raised more
than $377,912 for the school. While class giving tends to increase during its reunion
years, the year-to-year success of our Annual Fund rests solidly on the broad and deep
support from all corners of our Taft community. I offer my most sincere thanks and
congratulations to all Taft donors for their selfless generosity and loyalty in this great
achievement, and I hope that others are inspired by your example.
For the first time in many years, overall alumni participation reached 40%, reflecting a
significant increase over last year’s level of 38%. We should congratulate ourselves on this
result, as it comes in the midst of continued economic uncertainty, but I am optimistic that
our fantastic alumni will drive us well beyond that level of support in years to come. This
growth in participation is largely attributable to the outstanding efforts of our class agents
and volunteers, who work very hard to advocate on behalf of the Annual Fund and who
build and sustain vibrant connections between Taft and our alumni body. Few of us enjoy
being solicited for donations, and fewer still prize the responsibility to conduct that work.
It requires discipline, fortitude, time and enthusiasm to make “the ask,” and hundreds of
Taft alumni and student volunteers have taken on this role in the true spirit of service. This
year’s performance, and the consistent contributions of our corps of volunteers, bodes very
well for next year’s campaign and for Taft’s future.
Extending its remarkable fundraising streak, the Taft Parents’ Fund completed another
amazing year (see page 25). Our Parents’ Fund continues to set the standard among all
such funds at the nation’s best independent schools. This phenomenal success is the result
of the continued largesse of our current parents, the exemplary leadership of the Parents’
Fund chairs—Don and Maris Pascal, and the determination and toil of the Parents’
Committee. They have earned our unreserved gratitude.
As chair of the Annual Fund, I am fortunate and honored to work with many talented
and dedicated volunteers and staff in service to Taft and its future. The Taft Annual Fund
continues to generate financial resources that are critical to providing the best possible
learning environment for our students, and the engagement of the larger Taft community
is fundamental to that undertaking. Thank you for your partnership and generosity in
support of Taft.
With warm regards,
Dylan Simonds ’89
Annual Fund Chair
2012 Class
Agent Awards*
Snyder Award
Largest amount contributed
by a reunion class
Class of 1962: $1,244,221
(includes Annual Fund and capital)
Class Agent: Fred Nagle
Gift Committee Chair:
Rod Moorhead
Chairman of the Board Award
Highest percent participation
from a class 50 years out or less
Class of 1962: 63%
Class Agent: Fred Nagle
Gift Committee Chair: Rod Moorhead
We would like to express our appreciation
to all Taft families who contributed to the 2011–12 Taft Parents’ Fund.
We also wish to express a special thanks to the Taft Parents’ Committee who
worked so hard to connect with parents about the importance of participation.
Contributions totaled $1,458,685 and participation reached 92% for the year.
Thanks so much to those who participated and we hope to see everyone
participating next year!
Sincerely,
Don and Maris Pascal
Parents of Laurel ’12 and Hayden ’13
McCabe Award
by a non-reunion class
Class of 1974: $117,215
Class Agent: Brian Lincoln
2011–12 Parents’ Fund
Class of 1920 Award
Chairs
Greatest increase in dollars
from a non-reunion class
Class of 1974: increase of $21,815
Class Agent: Brian Lincoln
The Romano Award
Greatest increase in participation from a
non-reunion class less than 50 years out
Class of 1999: 41% from 25%
Class Agent: Lindsay Tarasuk Aroesty
Young Alumni Dollars Award
from a class 10 years out or less
Class of 2002: $8,780
Class Agent: Peter Hafner
Young Alumni
Participation Award
Highest participation from
a class 10 years out or less
Class of 2011: 44%
Class Agents: Nick Auer and Sara
Guernsey
The Spencer Award
Largest number of gifts from classmates
who have not given in the last five years
Class of 1987: 9
Class Agent: Cinda Goulard Lord
Gift Committee Chair: George Moore
*Awards determined by gifts and pledges
raised as of June 30, 2012
Maris and Don Pascal
Committee
Jan and Eric Albert ’77
Michelle Andrews
Heidi and Andrew Arthur ’81
Rachel and William Brannan
Anne and Toby Brown
Constance and Michael Carroll
Lynn and Ed Cassady
Sheilah and Tom Chatjaval
Irene and Albert Cheng
Louisa and Edward Cheng
Stasha and Mark Cohen
Jane and Jack Cooney
Lilo and Tom Cunningham
Kathy and Brian Daigle
John Davidge III and Deborah Lott
Laura Delaney-Taft and John Taft ’72
Jacqueline and Christian Erdman
Doone and George Estey
Linn ’82 and Robert Feidelson ’82
Melissa and Trevor Fetter
Libby and Terry Fitzgerald
Kristine and Peter Glazer
Colleen and Peter Grant
Nicky and Jamie Grant
Anne and Randy Harrell
Jean Marie and Douglas Jamieson
Barbara and David Knowlton
Val and John Kratky
Kathryn and John Kuhns
Juliette and James Lee
Lisa and Joe Lovering
Alice and Albert Ma
Christiana and Ferdy Masucci
Lisa and Jay McDermott
Sawnie and Jim McGee
Rose and Paul McGowan
Laura and Frank Michnoff
Wendy and John Motulsky ’74
Regina and Dennis Olmstead
Nan and Tim O’Neill
Ellen and Bill Oppenheim
Jacqueline and Harry Pierandri
Madeleine and Frank Porcelli
Lee and Michael Profenius
Elizabeth and Frank Queally
Kim Gassett-Schiller and Philip Schiller
Staley and Carter Sednaoui
Karen and Rick Shea
Gigi and John Sheldon
Chris and James Smith
Patty and Bill Snyder
Claudia and Allen M. Sperry
Mimi and Marc Tabah
Denise and John Trevenen
Kimberly and Michael Tucci
Sarah and Bob Underhill
Cissy and Curt Viebranz
Beverly and Mark Wawer
Rod Westmoreland
Diane Blanchard Whiting
Susan and John Wilson
Elizabeth and John Woods
Won Hi Yoo and Kyung Ae Song
Peter and Jo Ziesing ’78
122nd
Commencement Exercises
A Recipe for
Success
Katherine G. Windsor, Ed.D., P’12
Wallis
Kinney
Katherine G.
Windsor, Ed.D.,
P’12
.
Headmaster
Willy MacMullen
presents Eliza Davis
with the Joseph I.
Cunningham
Award.
m
Jordan Stone is
called up to receive
the Lawrence Hunter
Stone Award, which he
shared with Anthony
Gaffney.
These remarks are excerpted from Dr. Windor’s Commencement address
on May 27. To read her entire speech, or listen to those by Headmaster
Willy MacMullen ’78, class speaker Lindsay Karcher ’12, or head monitors
Will O’Meara and Story Viebranz ’12, visit www.taftschool.org/graduation.
My first introduction to The Taft School came in the fall
of 2007 when Jack and I pulled into the circle, parked, and made our way
to the Harley Roberts Room. We headed off on our tour and were instantly
introduced to what I call the “prep school birthday prank.” Every time we
rounded a corner, someone called out to the tour guide, “Happy Birthday!”
It was not his birthday but we, of course, fell for the punch line. We knew
better by the time we arrived at the second, third and fourth school and,
while the prank persisted, the energy and sense of community we experienced at Taft that morning was singular.
I should also mention that it was twin day, so as we stood outside the
door to Mr. Frew’s office watching classes pass, Main Hall was filled with
laughter and warm exchanges among faculty and students alike. At Taft, the
people truly make the place.
Many things at Taft have been the same for generations, including the
school’s motto—not to be served but to serve—and an undefeated swim
team. There are, however, several things about the Class of 2012’s experience that have been unique. You arrived in Watertown as construction began
on what is now a magnificent dining hall. Your transcripts include the transition between a six-point and a 100-point grading scale. And you are the first
class to have co-head monitors—what wonderful leaders they have been.
c
Headmons Will
O’Meara and Story
Viebranz place the
class stone into the
wall of Centennial
You have all been on the crest of the social networking phenomenon. As parents we
thought it was great that we could reach you easily on your cell phones rather than a shared line
in your dorm rooms. But we also quickly understood that we needed to learn how to Skype and
text if we really wanted to get your attention…
and forget using email.
Though I am a Taft parent, I am also the head
of Miss Porter’s School; I am the competition,
the enemy on the playing field. But then again, we
have a lot in common:
I look forward to a good win over Hotchkiss.
I understand why seniors are thrilled that they
can skip sit-down.
And I know how it is possible to love this place
with every bone in your body and also feel like
your skin is crawling because you want to get
this over with so badly!
I am going to share with you the truth about what
it takes to be a professional and also a parent, and
I am going to share with you a secret—a secret
Piping the
seniors into
the quad for the
ceremony
c
b
Ina Kosova,
Mai Nguyen, Dima
Yankova and Thuy
Tran
m
Valedictorian
Kristen
Shaker
I have been asked to reveal many times over the
course of the past four years here at Taft.
Let me begin with the truth. I graduated from
a day school in Baltimore whose motto is palma
non sine pulvere or, “reward is not without work.”
When I delivered remarks to my own classmates
I was very focused on success. I challenged my
class to continue to push themselves, to be bold,
to work hard, and save the world. I had not
thought about the concept I’m asking you to consider today—how to begin to construct a life that
is fulfilling and purposeful and not simply about
chasing other people’s definitions of success.
My parents are both educators and while I
have always loved school and have an enormous
respect for educators, I did not imagine that I
would have a career in education. I took a job
teaching history, coaching lacrosse and running
a dorm right out of college because I wanted to
give back before I moved on to “bigger and better
things.” As you know now, I never left. Perhaps I
had unwittingly, and luckily, embraced the idea
that it is better to serve than be served.
In many ways things are more difficult for you
than they were for me. There is more pressure to
Associate Dean of
Faculty Jennifer Zaccara
inducts this year’s Cum
Laude Society members,
including class speaker
Lindsay Karcher.
be really great (or even exceptional) at absolutely everything you do. And
heaven knows, each time you filled out a college application this year you
were faced with the reality that it was not simply good enough to distinguish
yourself as a student. So I know you know pressure. And at times I bet this
enormous pressure caused you to doubt yourself.
I do not intend to stand before you today and present a message of doom
and gloom. Rather I would like to present another way of approaching life.
One where you make choices first and foremost that open doors, rather than
close doors. That you do not try to do it all or have it all, but rather that you
figure out the few things that matter most in your life and focus on making
them happen. The challenge should not be about mastering many things,
but rather about mastering the things that matter.
The real challenge is to construct your individual definition of success.
What actually makes you happy? What if we were to dispense with the word
success and instead seek a life that was purposeful and fulfilling? I think that
Horace Taft was hoping to inspire this way of thinking when he wrote: “A
great advantage of boarding school is that it gives opportunities for students
to get out of themselves. They must work for others.” For me personally,
Horace Taft’s words have rung true.
So now we get to the secret part and how knowing what matters and
doing it well pays off. My guess is that more members of the class of 2012
know me as the mom who shows up with the “brookies” than as the mom
who is head of Miss Porter’s.
For those of you who have not had a brookie, they are a little piece of
brownie/cookie heaven. These treats are my way of connecting with Jack
c
Aurelian
Award winner
Christopher
Browner
.
Kwadwo
Asamoah-Duodu,
Anthony Gaffney
and Jackson
McGonagle
Red and blue
are popular colors
for the day.
and his friends. It is my way of saying thank you to the coaches and teachers
for taking care of my son. They are my way of being a mother when my son
is away at boarding school.
Brookies are not complicated and they don’t really take a lot of time.
They are so easy that Jack’s dad is willing to be the baker more often than I
am. But let’s face it, because I am the woman, I get the credit. This is the perfect example of how being really good at one thing works. It also illustrates
how a simple gesture can create and strengthen the connections between
people. I just needed to perfect a single recipe and repeat it. And in doing so
I’ve been able to connect with many of you.
Now the last game has been played and Jack has moved out of the dorm,
we will take our brookies to a new campus and leave the recipe with you.
And here it is, the little bit of magic: one bag of sugar cookie mix and a box
of brownie mix. It is simple, it is sweet, and it is complete.
So what is your recipe, I ask?
It does not need to be complicated, in fact the simpler the better. But
it does need to be complete and the proportions matter. Remember the
ingredients that have been so masterfully delivered to you here. They begin
with Horace Taft’s expectation that graduates be prepared to serve rather
than be served. They include the bonds you have developed with each other
over the course of the past four years. It is not only the people who make the
place, I would argue, but also the people who ultimately make your life. j
Read or listen to all of the remarks, or view Commencement Day photos,
at www.taftschool.org/graduation.
“The challenge
should not be
about mastering
many things,
but rather about
mastering the
things that matter.”
Walter Yoo
bubbles over
with enthusiasm
for the day.
A life of Quiet Dedication:
Brian Denyer,
the absolute team player, retires.
By Bonnie Blackburn Penhollow ’84
Meilleurs Voeux
Le meilleur professeur
de français! Il m’a fait
comprendre le subjunctif.
Il m’a rendu employable
par le service linguistique
de l ’ONU. Vous êtes le
meilleur!!!
—Susan Isko ’03
One of the greats.
The beret made class feel
authentic. 33 years of
teaching teens French—wow.
Bonne chance, Monsieur!
—Cameron Dauler ’90
Great teacher, great
human being. Toujours
enthousiaste, toujours
juste. Que tous les profs
soient comme lui!
—Andy Winchell ’86
Photos from the Leslie D. Manning Archives
I may have been the worst
French student to pass
through those doors in
the last 33 years. But
Monsieur Denyer never
treated me or any other
student with anything less
than the utmost respect,
patience and kindness.
—Chris Pollock ’93
the image one may have of Brian Denyer, the retiring French teacher, coach and
mentor, may be one of a serious, somewhat balding man, with big black eyeglasses,
head bent studiously as he gently corrects a student’s awkward French phrasing.
Or perhaps the image is of Denyer, his remaining hair flying behind him as he
races down a field, whistle dangling around his neck, calling plays or fouls on the
soccer and lacrosse fields. Or perhaps he was knocking on a dorm room door,
giving a customary “one-one thousand” pause before opening said door to ensure
no mischief was at hand.
Or perhaps you’ve seen the artistic side of Brian Denyer, one that creates perfect
rhymes in colloquial French or paints lush landscapes in oils and watercolors.
All these and more make up Denyer, who retired at the end of the spring term
2012 after more than three decades at Taft. Charismatic, warm, inviting, gracious,
tenacious—these are the accolades that poured forth from former students and colleagues when asked to describe their views of Denyer.
And they are all accolades he would probably shrug off, being as he is a selfeffacing man who has never sought the limelight.
“There is just an innate goodness and gentleness and caring in him,” said
Headmaster Willy MacMullen ’78. “This is a school that values men and women who
commit to serve the school. I’d be hard-pressed to think of someone who has done so
more generously and with less fanfare and no interest in accolades than Brian Denyer.
It’s not just that he’s been an incredibly dedicated French teacher who is absolutely
committed to the classroom. Not only did he do whatever was asked, he volunteered
to take things on outside the classroom.
“He is the absolute team player.”
Denyer was born in Shawford, England, and grew up in Scotland, spending time
in Carnoustie and Edinburgh before moving to the United States to attend Amherst
College. Though his emigration was many decades ago, he still carries a hint of a
Scottish lilt in his voice. He and his wife, Valerie, came to Taft in 1979 after spending
nine years at King School in Stamford, Connecticut.
Retired French teacher Gerard LeTendre recalled hiring Denyer after being
impressed with Denyer’s command of the language.
“For someone originally from Scotland, his spoken French was devoid of a
Scottish accent,” LeTendre remembered. “Brian has done an excellent job as a
teacher of French.”
Meilleurs Voeux
Taft was a perfect place for the Denyer family, which grew to include three daughters: Karen ’88, Heather ’96, Emily ’99. The family lived on CPT 3. MacMullen lived
just down the hall from them when he was a rookie faculty member.
“He was one of the very first people I met when I came to Taft. I ended up living
on his floor and we were both soccer coaches. I was a bachelor who didn’t know
how to cook, so I was always in their apartment. He and Val could not have been
more gracious, warm and inviting,” MacMullen said. “I probably hung around like
a puppy at their door.”
The Denyers spent eight years in CPT before moving to their home on North
Street, not far from the soccer fields. During that time, Brian moved from coaching
varsity soccer to developing the less-experienced players on the junior varsity soccer
team, coaching and molding players just as he did in the classroom.
“Brian was the assistance coach my first year on boys’ varsity soccer (fall of 1980)
and also the head of my dorm (CPT 3) my uppermid and senior year,” recalled Jon
Willson ’82, who is now dean of academic affairs for the school as well as a history
teacher. “What I remember most clearly about him from my days as a student and
an athlete here are the same qualities which I have valued in him as a colleague for
the past 16 years: his warmth, caring and kindness. Thirty years ago, he was a highenergy, ever-smiling and encouraging, long-haired (despite a bald spot on top!) and
dark frame glasses-wearing benevolent presence on the soccer pitch and on corridor.
I remember him warming me up for practices (I was goalkeeper) and offering the
gentlest of constructive criticism as he did.”
“Brian was one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” recalled Rob Madden ’03. “He
had the light, fun-at-heart style that was indicative of his personality. Practice was the
bright spot in all of our days. Coach Denyer demanded a lot of us as a team and as
individuals. He would not stand for players carrying their bad days to the pitch and
would often pull kids aside during a drill because they weren’t playing with respect
for teammates or as hard as possible. This authority and being able to stand up for
what he believed was the way soccer should be played and earned him the respect of
all who took the field for him.”
Madden, who later worked alongside Denyer in the language department as a
Spanish teacher, said Denyer’s mentoring was invaluable.
warmth caring kindness
~
~
I remember Brian when
HE was new to Taft—a
deeply courteous, warm
and cheerful colleague and
fellow corridor master
in CPT. Retirement is
great, Brian. Perhaps our
paths will cross again.
—Roger F. Stacey,
former faculty
I have enjoyed so very
much the pleasure of your
company and wise counsel
as your Summer School
colleague these past
several years. Enjoy your
retirement, Brian, but
do hang around Summer
School for a while longer.
—Jack Hill ’61
Je me souviens d’un Mid
Year examen oral pour le
livre Les Voleurs, lorsque
M. Denyer me regarda,
secoua la tête et dit: “
Votre accent est merveilleux,
mais votre grammaire?
Quel dommage!”
Je n’oublierai jamais
ça! Merci d’être un
merveilleux professeur,
M. Denyer!
—Brett Valenstein ’92
“Chez Renoir” en surveillant le tableau, Petite fille à un arrosoir
La petite fille à un arrosoir
M’invite à voir les fleurs de Renoir ;
Je découvre ses yeux bleus et suppliants,
Et veux, vais lui tenir la main.
Ma guide, en bleu brodé de dentelle
Vers son rosier m’amène-t-elle ;
Je renifle ces bourgeons sous ma vue,
Un sourire arrive au visage.
Nous faisons le tour le long du sentier
Pour voir son oeuvre jardinier ;
Elle arrose la soif, perçoit que moi,
J’admire son ruban en vol.
Elle descend son pot, elle prend la fuite,
Son papillon rouge en poursuite ;
Je la chasse pour saisir le regard,
Mais des nuages en or s’y coulent.
La petite fille à un arrosoir
M’invite à voir la joie de Renoir ;
Je redécouvre les yeux: bleus, suppliants,
Et lui offre la main d’amour.
Brian is one of the most
gracious, kind individuals
I have ever met. The
same qualities that have
endeared him to his
students over the years,
are what endeared him to
me when I was a newbie
teacher at Taft. Brian was
always willing to listen to
my concerns and to share
his pearls of wisdom about
life at Taft, whether
about life in the classroom,
on the field, or on dorm.
—Debra McKenna Faye,
former faculty
Je me souviens toujours
du poème, “Sur Le Pont
Mirabeau.” Monsieur
Denyer est le meilleur prof
de français que j’aie
jamais eu... Félicitations!
—Eliza Whetzel ’06
{translation}
lines written upon viewing Renoir’s
Girl with a watering can
A little girl with a watering can
Invited me to see her flowers;
I met her pleading eyes just once
And knew I had to take her hand.
My guide—in blue and trimmed with lace,
Toward her rose bush led me then;
She turned and saw me sniff those buds,
Approved and smiled with all her face.
Along the path we toured all things,
Stopping to watch her garden grow;
She watered blooms, then caught my eye
Admiring the flapping ribbon’s wings.
She dropped her pot and took to flight –
Trying to hold her butterfly;
I chased to see that smile again
But clouds of gold were all I’d sight.
A little girl with a watering can
Invited me to see her flowers;
I met her pleading eyes once more
And offered her, with love, my hand.
—Brian Denyer
“I cannot express how grateful I am and have been for his friendship and mentoring
at some of the most important stages of my life,” he said. “He influenced me, both as a
teacher and coach, in ways that are profound and are lasting. I am sure Brian will miss
being at Taft after so many years dedicated to the school, but Taft and all Taft’s future
students will miss not having Coach Denyer in soccer or Mr. Denyer in the classroom
more than can ever be realized. He is one of those men whose dedication and enthusiasm
are sensed from the first conversation. He is one of those men that I will never forget.”
Former students and players are quick with stories of how he mentored them through
rough patches and challenged their understanding of French literature and language.
Javier Garcia ’05 is one such student who thrived under Denyer’s tutelage.
“‘Bien, zéro!’ These are the words I remember most vividly from my three years as
a French student at Taft under Brian Denyer. They marked the completion of a common ritual in his classroom,” Garcia recalled. “It would all begin so innocently.
Mr. Denyer would ask the class a trick question with his lips slightly curled into a
smile of expectation. Then a hush of unknowing would descend upon his unsuspecting prey. His students, whether foolhardy, genuinely brave, or simply oblivious to
the trap set before them would answer incorrectly. Perfectly according to plan, Mr.
Denyer would immediately roar in triumph, ‘Bien, zéro!’ The ritual would end here,
and we would all tremble in fear before the colossal power of French grammar to
dupe us again and again. In that process of breaking us, the grammatical principle
being taught would be indelibly ingrained onto our minds.”
Denyer taught both French literature and grammar, finding ways to instill a love
of learning a foreign language in students who came to him without any prior experience in French.
“Perhaps this is where Mr. Denyer’s secret lay,” Garcia added. “He understood that
the service of teaching is intrinsically and pervasively formative. While teaching me
French, Mr. Denyer was actually teaching me so much more. In the small victories of
colleague neighbor friend
~
~
Meilleurs Voeux
How thankful I am to have
been on his wing in CPT
when I first came to Taft,
he really looked out for me.
Thank you, Mr. Denyer.
—Lanny Baker ’85
grammar and vocab, Mr. Denyer was granting me confidence and courage as a young
man. Mr. Denyer was showing me through literature the complexities of the human
condition and its strange beauty.”
Susan Isko ’03 said her love of the language—inspired by Denyer’s teaching—
helped her prepare for her current career in freelance translation for the United
Nations. And it helps in her daily life, as she is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
“I depend on French every day of my life, both for communication in the city
where I live and for my professional livelihood. (I interpret from French and
Russian into English.)” she said. “I would not be able to live as I do had I not studied with him. Looking back over the past 15 years of French study, it is hard to
think of any teacher that has been more influential in fostering my passion for the
language than Mr. Brian Denyer. What was special about him was his way of teaching, his enthusiasm and dedication, his willingness to give extra time and attention,
to make French seem useful even in Smalltown, Connecticut. This is what made
the language come alive for so many of us.”
Faculty members shared their memories of Denyer as well. Spanish teacher and
language lab director Kevin Conroy described him as “a colleague, neighbor and
friend. On several occasions, he has invited me over for un peu de vin rouge so we
could share, vent, visit or attempt to solve the problems of the world. With timely
compassion he tightens the reins of friendship, especially when you find yourself in
need of a friend willing to listen. We have shared successes and hardships, trips to
art museums, mini road trips for a quick break from the bubble, countless ideas for
teaching language, and above all else a sincere and lasting friendship. So quietly he
does so much; his absence will be felt by all of us.”
Retired faculty member Jol Everett described Denyer as “one of those people
who have made Taft into the wonderful school that it is. Brian has always worked
hard as a teacher, coach, and, in my last years at Taft, as a lacrosse referee who made
alumni lacrosse games possible and enjoyable. He did all of this and much more in a
quiet way, never seeking the limelight, but always doing what was best for the whole
Taft community.”
morning noon night
~
~
Brian Denyer, who taught
my older brother, had
already become a household
name with the Garcias
before I attended Taft.
One Parents’ Day,
I joined my parents in a
meeting with Mr. Denyer
and became acquainted with
his gentle, charismatic
and good-hearted nature.
Once a student I found it
particularly special how
personable and encouraging
he was. He took his
teaching well beyond its
requirements, becoming a
mentor and a real friend.
The Taft community
has been bettered with
his tenure.
—Daniela Garcia ’09
Mr. Denyer is a fantastic
teacher whose enthusiasm
for his subject inspired
me and all his students.
His classes were a
highlight of my four
years at Taft, and his
infectious love of French
language and literature
has remained with me
since and always will.
—Katharine “Kit” Thayer ’07
Brian and his family were
an integral part of my
Taft experience. Living
on the same hall in CPT,
I was one of their regular
babysitters. The Denyers
became like family to me
and we spent a great deal
of time together. Brian is
a warm and charismatic
individual who dedicated
himself to the school and
his students. Whether
in the classroom or on
the field, I never heard
anything less than
praise for his spirit and
professionalism.
—Randy Schwartz ’80
I had the good fortune of
playing one year of soccer
under his leadership. We
were sort of a middle of
the road team that year,
but Coach Denyer was a
very steady and upbeat
coach to play for. He
struck the delicate balance
between establishing
appropriate levels of work
ethic, stick-to-itiveness
and fun. He definitely
loved soccer. I can
remember him scrimmaging
with us and having a
blast, despite his body’s
aerobic misgivings. Class,
positivity and above all,
a genuine concern for
his players’ well-being
were the fundamental
components of Coach
Denyer’s playbook.
—Mike Whittier ’85
Beyond Taft
Denyer’s love of language and of travel led him to take over the running of Taft’s
Senior Year Abroad program in the 1980s. Since then, more than 150 students have
spent a year living with families in France, Spain, Italy and China.
“Most of the kids here have traveled with their families, but this gives them a very
different look at the country,” Denyer said. “Living with a family in a foreign country
not only changes your habits or your way of thinking, but it also, I think, is great for
Taft kids who for the most part have a pretty privileged life. It gives them a better understanding of people in other countries.”
Another love of Denyer’s is poetry. During a sabbatical at St. Andrews University
in Scotland, he “played around,” as he described it, with translating poetry from
French into English.
“There are certain poets I’ve loved. I tried to render their poems in English. I guess
[it is] the personal expression into a rhythmic form, and to try to convey what I see in
their imagination, it’s the ambiguity or duplicity of meaning that draws me,” he said.
In other creative pursuits, Denyer also oversaw the development of Taft’s Global
Journal and represented the school in the local Alliance Française. He is also an accomplished painter, and said he’ll be painting more in retirement.
And despite a serious illness in the past several years that forced a reduction in
his teaching load, he remained committed to driving students to their volunteer
work in the region.
Denyer was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer, in December
2006. He said that while he’ll never be fully cured of the cancer, he is taking daily
chemotherapy that keeps the disease at bay. Despite the toll the chemotherapy takes
on him, he has continued to teach, coach and oversee extracurricular activities.
“When others might have cut back on extracurricular commitments, Brian took
on more tasks,” said Baba Frew, Taft’s director of community service and head of the
Modern Language Department. “He drove for the volunteering program for the past
two years—twice a week, all year long, and he did so without a word of complaint.”
Frew said Denyer’s passion for French culture “goes beyond the realm of the traditional classroom and his students always look forward to the day when he makes
crepes for his classes.
“Brian’s top priority at Taft has always been the students in the classroom, the dorm or the field,” she said.
“He is the quintessential schoolmaster who is there for
his kids morning, noon and night, and the students know
his interest in them is unfeigned. Brian is a man of inestimable courage, patience and love,” she added. Denyer is
“an inspiration to all.” j
Bonnie Blackburn Penhollow ’84 is a writer living in Fort
Wayne, Indiana, with her husband and two children.
courage patience love
~
~
For the Good Days
When Todd McGovern ’92 and Amanda Costanzo ’93 got married, life threw them a curve ball.
By David McKay Wilson
“I figure I have about 60 really bad days a year.
That leaves 305 good days,
And it’s what you do with those good days
that make your life.”
Todd is fueled
by his belief
that recreation
is key to helping
battle cancer
Taft seniors Charlie Garcia and Eric Metcalf ’12
present Todd and Amanda with the results
of their fun run for Seas It.
In 2004, Todd McGovern ’92 was living his dream.
The competitive spirit that brought him stardom in hockey
and baseball proved a boon in the business world, where he
found great success placing executives in top corporate jobs.
Love had found him too. He’d reconnected two years earlier in
a Jersey Shore bar with Taft classmate Amanda Costanzo ’93,
they’d fallen deeply in love, and were married that May.
But six weeks after returning from their Caribbean
honeymoon, McGovern’s dream lurched dispiritingly off
course when he was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.
That meant the cancer had moved to a second organ and was
on the march to kill him. An oncologist told the 30-year-old,
known by his friends as Gov, that he had six months to live.
McGovern, now 38, understood the reality of mortality:
we all die someday. What infuriated him that fateful day in July
was the fact that his life would end far too soon. His life with
Amanda, and all that it promised, had just begun.
“I got angry that I had an expiration date,” he says.
McGovern’s cancer changed his life. It changed Amanda’s
too. A fifth-grade teacher at the French American School in
North Cambridge, Massachusetts, when they were married,
she quit the job to support Todd after his diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations.
A year later, she founded a nonprofit called Seas It to help
young adults with cancer, and their families who care for them.
The name comes from the comfort that the Atlantic Ocean has
provided during the McGoverns’ journey, and their belief that
adults with cancer need to seize the day, for it could well be their
last. The nonprofit has provided grants to 50 caretakers and
cancer patients looking for opportunities to get healthy, think
positive, and take control of their lives. Seas It provides grants of
$400 to take golf lessons, buy a bike, learn yoga or go camping.
McGovern, who played soccer, hockey and baseball at Taft,
finds movement and recreation to be restorative— for both
his body and mind. He turned to running during his bout with
cancer, mustering up the energy to run four marathons in a
relay team with Amanda in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
Working with two Taft students, Seas It raised more than
$8,000 through a series of fund-raising events on campus,
including two separate 5k runs on Alumni Weekend. This will
fund more than 20 grants to cancer patients and caretakers.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than telling someone we’ve
given them a grant,” says McGovern. “You’d think we’d given
them a million dollars. I like talking with them. At times, there’s
no one to talk to. Having cancer can be the loneliest experience,
ever. I like to deliver the good news. For too many people with
cancer, all they hear about are the statistics of death.”
Eight years after his doctor gave him six months to live,
McGovern continues to defy the odds. In 2010, his oncologist
told him there was nothing left in their medical toolkit to halt
the abdominal tumors that refused to stop growing, despite
four surgeries, and scores of rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Once more Todd McGovern was told that his days were
short, very short.
v Summer 2004, the battle begins
In Watch Hill, Rhode
Island, for Ian and
Lindsay Stanley
McConnel ’93’s
daughter’s baptism
At Taft, circa
1992, where
it all began.
Yet again, McGovern survived. He did so with the help of
a new medical regimen, undying support from his wife and
friends and a healthy dose of optimism, fueled by his belief that
recreation, as well as the new chemotherapeutic concoction,
would win the do-or-die battle with the tumors that relentlessly returned to the center of his being, in his gut.
“When you feel good, you forget how bad it was,” says
McGovern with the smile friends remember in its fullness
from the days when he’d lift his hands upwards after scoring a
goal. “I figure I have about 60 really bad days a year. That leaves
305 good days, and it’s what you do with those good days that
make your life.”
Their Taft family of friends has gathered round for both the
bad days and the good days. Tina Jennings, the mother of Sara
Sutton Fell ’92, opened her home to Amanda and Todd during
his three months of treatment and recuperation in Pittsburgh in
2005. Amanda’s brother, Eric ’92, a critical care pulmonologist,
has been their sounding board on medical issues. Lindsay Stanley
McConnel ’93 has supported Amanda through Todd’s illness and
serves on the board of Seas It, the nonprofit founded by Amanda
to support cancer recovery through recreation. And John Kennedy
’92 has shown up regularly to be at his Taft roommate’s side.
McGovern was best man in Kennedy’s June wedding in Florida.
Kennedy says McGovern’s refusal to accept his diagnosis was
the latest manifestation of the irreverent spirit his friends know
quite well. It’s the irreverence that McGovern displayed at Taft
when he refused to accept the conventional wisdom that he
Todd and Amanda at
the Seas It 5k in 2009,
Allenhurst, New Jersey.
was too small to play Division III hockey and baseball at Colby
College. He played both and captained Colby’s hockey team.
“Todd was an undersized guy, and that’s part of what motivated him,” says Kennedy. “Now the cancer is trying to kill, and
he won’t let it. He’s fighting to stay alive, every hour of every day.”
Todd and Amanda welcomed a visitor one foggy Friday morning in late May to their Corlies Avenue home, a block from the
Atlantic Ocean in Allenhurst, New Jersey. Todd came downstairs
with a special pillow for his wife, who was eight months pregnant
with their twin boys and had a day off from her job in Manhattan
at Cartier, the French jeweler and watch company, where she
commutes 60 miles each way to serve as a client services manager.
He had just completed his 135th round of chemotherapy,
and #136 was scheduled for Tuesday. He smiled when reporting that he felt stronger.
It wasn’t the strength that he once knew—that explosive leg
power that sent him streaking past the blue line at Cruikshank
with the puck on his stick, or helped him flag down a long fly
ball in centerfield.
But in Todd McGovern’s world, a two-mile walk along
Ocean Avenue with his black Lab, Kingsley, was a definite win.
A week earlier, he couldn’t climb the stairs at their home. He’d
just returned after a month in the hospital, after his gastrointestinal tract shut down.
It hurts when your gastro-intestinal tract shuts down.
“It’s like getting stabbed in the side for ten seconds, and
then someone takes barbed wire and drags it through where
Remission trip
take 2, Italy 2007
Amanda with
William Todd and
Andrew Todd
“I hope our boys
take after
Daddy Gov, equipped
with “diaper dude” bag
and chemo fanny pack,
takes boys to their first
doctor’s appointment.
you’ve been stabbed,” says McGovern. “You lie in a fetal position, counting the seconds between the convulsions. And
through it all, you’re vomiting.”
At one point, McGovern’s doctor told him there was
nothing else to do but hook him up to a device that pumped
nutrients through a port that was inserted into his bicep, which
meant he’d be walking around with a 20-pound backpack, always worried about infection, for the rest of his life.
But here he was in late May, without the TPN device.
He’d been drinking smoothies chock-full of tofu and bananas
that Amanda whipped up. She found the recipe used by the
Japanese national Sumo team to bulk up its wrestlers. Todd
had gained two pounds since leaving the hospital—he’s up to
128 pounds—which gave him a reprieve from the TPN device.
“I’m not working up a sweat out there, but I’m moving,” he
says. “Exercise has been such a part of my recovery. The body
wants to heal, and if you give it time, it will. Sometimes you
have to listen to your body more than your mind. Amanda
pushes me too. She wants me to remain active.”
The impending birth of their twins has added a new twist to
the McGoverns’ lives. While dating, they talked about having
a family, and after they were married, assumed that children
would be coming soon. But Todd’s diagnosis put that dream on
hold. In 2005, Todd was in remission, and they explored invitro fertilization. But the time didn’t seem right.
Six years later, Todd’s health was on the rise. Amanda
had turned 36.
their father.”
“We were walking on the beach one day, when Todd was
feeling good,” Amanda recalls. “Todd had a hang-up about
his mortality, and didn’t want to leave children behind, but he
has come to terms with that. One of my hang-ups was that I
couldn’t imagine raising children on my own, without Todd.
But it is what it is. It was now or never.”
She got pregnant, and now, the tables are turned. On June
16, Amanda gave birth to their twins, Andrew Todd and
William Todd McGovern, just in time for Father’s Day. Todd
has become the caregiver to Amanda and the twins. She’s taking a three-month leave from Cartier, but will return to work,
as she is the family’s breadwinner, and holder of the all-important family insurance policy.
Todd will be a stay-at-home Dad, sharing child-care duties
with friends and family while he shuttles back and forth for
his chemotherapy treatments. The McGoverns are embracing
their new life—with babies offering the promise of the family
Todd and Amanda dreamed of in 2004.
“We’ll live for today, we embrace the present,” he says.
“We’ll get through it.”
Amanda shares the optimism that has brought them this far,
on a journey neither imagined.
Says Amanda: “I hope our boys take after their father.” j
David McKay Wilson, a columnist at The Journal News in
White Plains, New York, writes regularly for alumni magazines
around the country.
alumni weekend 2012
Photographs by Robert Falcetti,
Additional photographs by Phil Dutton and Peter Frew ’75
That was then…
year
1937
years ago
1
At the 30th Reunion
celebration, host
Jon Willson,
Joy Rosenberg
Horstmann,
Jill Bermingham Isenhart
and Max Feidelson
2
At the Old Guard
Luncheon on Friday in
the Choral Room
3
Lawn games entertain
the family at the
Headmaster’s Supper on
Saturday.
75
president
velt
Franklin D. Roose
average costs
$4,100 home
$762 car
$.10 gas
events
Amelia Earhart
burg
disappears; Hinden
te
Ga
n
burns; Golde
;
ens
op
e
Bridg
Disney release
the
Snow White and
Seven Dwarfs
#1 song
mp” by
“One O’Clock Ju
Count Basie
head
Paul Cruikshank
It was a beautiful weekend for reunion.
From the 50th Reunion Dinner on Thursday night to the Seas It fun run on Sunday morning,
the campus was a festive place to be. Of course time with friends meant a little reminiscing, too.
We remembered those no longer with us, but we remembered the good times, too. Here are
some photos to remember the weekend by, and a few trivia tidbits to take you back in the day.
1
3
2
4
5
6
8
7
9
10
11
12
13
4
Golfers Dave Hinman ’87,
Omer Jilani ’87, Headmaster
Emeritus Lance Odden,
and Colin Read ’02 make a
foursome on Friday.
5
Cinda Goulard Lord, Beth
Long and Kurt Hupe at the
25th Reunion celebration at
the Litchfield Country Club
on Friday evening
6
Headmaster Willy
MacMullen ’78 and Fred
Nagle ’62 gather 50th
reunion class for the Alumni
Parade on Saturday.
7
Chaplain Bob Ganung gives
the blessing after the Service
of Remembrance on Friday.
8
1992 classmates Scott Willard
and Lexi Brownell Reese
9
Members of the Class of ’67 at
the Headmaster’s Supper
10
Jacki Snow, Andi Orben,
Chris Snow ’97 and Will
Orben ’92 at the combined
reunion gathering at the
Heritage on Saturday night
11
1992 Classmates Greta
Brogna, Alison Wandelt,
Demi Quinn Isenstadt, her
son Quinn, and Kristen
Hartnett Jones
12
Ellie, daughter of Betsy
Jacks ’87, does her part for
the parade.
13
Pam Bermingham, widow of
Wooly ’43, and her daughter
Jill Bermingham Isenhart ’82
at the Old Guard Dinner
14
A photo booth at the
Heritage party on
Saturday night proved to
be loads of fun.
That was then…
year
1962
years ago
50
president
John F. Kennedy
average costs
$12,500 home
$3,100 car
$.28 gas
events
John Glenn
orbits earth;
isis;
Cuban Missile Cr
ts
hos
Johnny Carson
ow
Sh
Tonight
#1 song
er”
“Return to Send
ey
esl
by Elvis Pr
head
Paul Cruikshank
14
15
15
Mary Murphy Conlin ’82
and goddaughter Greta
(Heath Kern Gibson ’82)
march in the
Alumni Parade.
16
1992 classmates Libby
Seibert, Timoney O’Brien
Dunlap, Sarah Frechette
Potts, Todd McGovern,
Amanda Costanzo
McGovern ’93, Jen Holmes
Pinney, Justin Bette with
wife Rachel and son Alex
17
Three generations of
the Offutt family: Jane
Scott Offutt Hodges ’87,
Bill Offutt ’57 and Talley
Hodges ’15
18
25th Reunion classmates
Rob Boardman, Alison
Jahncke and Amy Wilson
Jensen—Alison traveled
from Hong Kong for
the occasion.
19
That was then…
year
1987
years ago
25
president
Ronald Reagan
average costs
$92,000 home
$9,312 car
$.89 gas
events
fair;
Iran-Contra Af
ay;
nd
Mo
k
ac
Bl
Prozac released
#1 song
“La Bamba”
by Los Lobos
head
Lance Odden
That was then…
year
2012
years ago
Today
president
Barack Obama
average costs
$171,250 home
$30,000 car
$3.85 gas
events
Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee
#1 song
“Sexy and I Know It”
by LMFAO
head
Willy MacMullen ’78
Paul Ehrlich ’62 listens
to a panel of current
students talk about their
experiences at Taft today.
20
Alumni and their families
help dedicate the girls’
varsity soccer field in
memory of Katie Jackson
Morrison ’92 with a
friendly game.
21
Peter Frew ’75 greets
reunion chair Sarah
Bedford ’92.
22
Loren Wright Luddy ’92
and husband Jeff check
out old yearbooks at
the combined reunion
celebration on Saturday.
23
Kicking off the Seas It 5K
on Saturday afternoon
17
16
18
20
19
21
22
23
tales of a TAFTIE
By Julie Reiff
Geoffrey T. Hellman, Class of 1924
Longtime New Yorker Columnist
Geoffrey Hellman was “one of the most diverse,
stylish, accurate, inquisitive, softhearted, multifriended, pretense-puncturing, droll, high-tone
contributors that The New Yorker has ever had.
He was also by all account most prolific—even
torrential. No one wrote more for this magazine,
and it seems safe to say that no one ever will,”
wrote editor Gardner Botsford.
A wonderful example of Hellman’s pretense
puncturing is his 1950 column, “Does Muskrat
Call For a Claret or Sauterne?”:
Members of the Sports Afield Club have their
choice of Ecuador Swordfish steak, Australian
Jack Rabbit, African White Guinea Hen….
Is the Australian Jack Rabbit any tastier than
his domestic cousin? Is the Ukrainian Grouse
any more pleasing to the palate than the
Sands Pointe Grouse? [Some of their offerings] sound like the sort of thing the people
of Paris ate during the siege of 1870, in the
Franco-Prussian War, when they consumed
the contents of the Paris Zoo, but of course
they thought they were roughing it… Wildlife
conservationists have a new foe on their hands.
I recommend that Mr. Fairfield Osborn, president of the New York Zoological Society, take
a sharp look at his cages and moated enclosures before he goes home for the night.
Hellman wrote for The New Yorker for 47
years and in that time produced 74 “Profiles”
of the city’s most prominent denizens (Louis
Auchincloss, Frank Lloyd Wright, Tom Stoppard,
Frank Capra, Victor Borge, Alfred Knopf,
Dorothy Schiff, Igor Sikorsky) and hundreds and
hundreds of articles for “Talk of the Town.”
Hellman wrote extensively about New York
institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, the Metropolitan Opera, the Museum
of Modern Art, the Museum of Natural History
and the Pierpont Morgan Library. He was also
the magazine’s connection to New York society,
reporting on parties, local clubs and societies
such as the Grolier Club, the Explorers’ Club and
the American Geographical Society, as well as
exclusive restaurants, from which he collected an
impressive number of menus.
“He was fascinated by the upper reaches
of society—not as a snob but as an explorer, a
chronicler of how it all worked. It was a world he
moved in easily,” added Botsford.
Born in New York City in 1907, he was the
son of writer George Hellman. Young Hellman
cut his teeth as an editor of Taft’s literary magazine, The Oracle, and later at the Yale Daily News,
Yale Record and Yale Literary Magazine.
He wrote briefly for the New York Herald
Tribune’s Sunday book supplement thanks to a
recommendation by Thornton Wilder. Then, as
Hellman tells it:
“I joined the staff of The New Yorker in
March, 1929, when the magazine was barely
four and I was barely twenty-two. I had offered
my services, as a book reviewer, in the mail,
enclosing samples of my work…. I was given
an interview with the managing editor, Ralph
McAllister Ingersoll…. He pointed out that The
New Yorker already had a book reviewer, Dorothy
Parker, but he hired me.”
Some “Talk of the Town” pieces are signed
collectively as The New Yorkers. Occasionally
Hellman’s snippets shared a byline with James
Thurber or E.B. White, as in this 1931 “Comment”:
Hourly spreads the fame of our magazine. We
are six years old this issue, and a trifling incident happened during the week illustrating the
fruits of hard work and intelligent effort. We
were riding uptown on the bus, holding in our
lap a large envelope bearing The New Yorker’s
imprint. Gradually we became aware that the
conductor was staring at the envelope; seeing
him thus, we experienced a pardonable feeling
of pride. “A reader!” we thought to ourself.
Then the conductor summoned his courage
and spoke. “Is it still hard to get seats for that
show?” he asked.
Alistair Cooke took the opportunity to have a
little fun with Hellman in a 1959 “Department
of Amplification” column, in which he parodied
the writer and his style. “Hellman is a man of
wide culture and discerning professional habits,”
writes Cooke. “He rarely takes an assignment
that does not include a dinner of five courses,
two wines, and free Upmanns No. 30…. He
weighs 208 pounds in the summer, when professional dinner engagements are hard to come by,
and 218 at the height of the journalistic season.”
From 1936–1938, Hellman was associate
editor of Life Magazine, “long enough to realize
that I was foolish,” he once commented. During
World War II, Hellman wrote for the Office of
Inter-American Affairs, the War Department and
helped to write a top-secret history of the OSS.
His books include: How to Disappear for an
Hour and Mrs. DePeyster’s Parties, which were
primarily composed of New Yorker pieces, and
Bankers, Bones, and Beetles and The Octopus on
the Mall. In addition to his pursuits as a writer,
Hellman was also an enthusiastic butterfly collector. He died in 1977 at the age of 70.
Perhaps this writer shouldn’t be so kind to
Mr. Hellman, who twice wrote about the Taft
Bulletin, and not in the most favorable terms.
Having some fun with the list of “Lost Alumni”
printed periodically, he wrote a piece for The New
Yorker called “Mother Taft’s Chickens” in 1940,
with a sequel in 1955. His familiarity with the Social
Register and New York society came in handy as he
located 14 lost Tafties in as many minutes.
“Comparatively few Taft men come from New
York,” he writes with not a little irony, “and perhaps
for this reason a number of alumni have managed
to conceal themselves right on Park Avenue.”
I wish we could say there were no lost alumni
today, but at least we did learn a few things from
our savvy New Yorker. We know better than to
publish the list. j
NB: Hellman married twice—in 1941 to Daphne
van Beuren Bayne and in 1960 to Katherine Drexel
Henry—and had a daughter from each marriage:
Daisy and Katharine. His stepson Matthew Cowles
married actress Christine Baranski, and their daughters
graduated from Taft: Isabel ’02 and Lily Cowles ’05.
Sources:www.newyorker.com/archive; Gardner Botsford, Obituary, The New Yorker, October 10, 1977;
Alden Whitman, “Geoffrey T. Hellman Dies at 70; Versatile Writer for New Yorker.” New York
Times, September 28, 1977; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University
Libraries; www.En.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_T._Hellman
Photo: Leslie D. Manning Archives
What successful Taftie, no longer
living, would you like to see profiled in
this space? Send your suggestions to
[email protected]
from the
ARCHIVES
Eleven of
Potter’s brilliant
watercolor
studies are on
view in the
Hulbert Taft Jr.
Library until
October 15.
Potter’s Hidden Clues
When Armstrong Dining Room opened in
1959, the windows were adorned with stained
glass panels designed by art teacher Mark
Potter ’48, who taught at Taft for over 40 years.
In the recent rebuilding of our dining
facilities, the glass panels were carefully saved
and are now incorporated in the windows of
Laube Dining Hall and the East Dining Hall.
They carry on the school’s tradition of
art glass begun in 1930 with the windows
of the Choral and Faculty rooms in Charles
Phelps Taft Hall, and continued in 1978 with
the fused glass panels by local artist Priscilla
Porter (cousin to Leslie “Beezer” Manning
after whom the archives are named) hanging
in the library windows.
The athletic panels in the lower dining room,
now in Laube, were a gift from the Class of 1960.
Potter also designed the stained glass
depicting different extracurricular activities
and school clubs that are now part of the East
Dining Hall.
All of the Potter designs were executed by
the J. and R. Lamb Company, one of the oldest and foremost stained glass studios in the
country. Several members of the Lamb family
attended Taft.
In some of his pieces, Potter paid tribute to
a few of Taft’s revered coaches and athletes.
The name Fitch on the tennis racquet
refers to Headmaster Paul Cruikshank’s
wife Edith née Fitch, whose father was of
the famous Abercrombie & Fitch sporting
goods store, and the chevron—or sergeant’s
stripes—on the can of balls is a nod to then
varsity tennis coach Len Sargent.
The track sprinter sports a German T,
acknowledging longtime coach John Small,
who taught German.
“Patrick” on the golf ball is a nod to
Livingston Carroll ’37, who coached golf and
was known as Pat.
In the football window, 24 is the number
Bob Poole ’50 wore as a Yale football star.
Longtime basketball coach Jim Logan is remembered with initials on the opponent’s bib.
—Alison Gilchrist, Leslie D. Manning Archives
Taft Bulletin
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Change Service Requested
Coming Events
Friday &
Saturday,
October 19–20
Fall Parents’
Weekend
Wednesday,
October 31
Grandparents’
Day
Saturday,
November 10
Taft-Hotchkiss
Day
For more events, visit www.TaftSchool.org/events
Wednesday,
December 5
Holiday Party,
New York, NY

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