Summer 2007 Alumni Connection - The Gordon School

G O R D O N A L U M N I C O N N E C T I O N s u m m e r 2 0 0 7

D O T T Y T H O R N L E Yreally wanted to be, more than anything else inthe world, a reader.’He wrote about how his best thinking just neverseemed to take place at school. And about howDotty changed that for him. How by the end ofsecond grade he reveled so much in the worldthat had been opened up to him through readingthat he described himself as ‘a whirlingdervish of a boy.’It’s funny the thingswe remember aboutour teachers. It’snot always the thingsyou might expect,yet their impact canbe just as profound.I wrote a story abouteating watermelonfor the first time andMs. Thornley hungit up on the wall.That was the first timeanyone made me feellike a writer. Perhapsshe saw somethingI did not because itwas several years laterthat I discovered mylove for writing andrealized I had a gift.—ALISON FRANKLIN ’91Second grade teacher, Dotty Thornley, whoseprofessional interactions with Gordon beganforty-one years ago, retired this June. She beganher full time teaching career here at Gordon in1979. Prior to that she was involved with theGordon School Summer Camp and substitutetaught for several years. With her retirement,Dotty ends this phase of her family’s wonderfullegacy that began in 1921 when her father, Johngraduated from Gordon. Her mother, Deborah(Sutton) was a member of the Class of 1928.Dotty was honored at this year’s AnnualMeeting with the following remarks by BarbaraHendrie, trustee and mother of Will ’94, John’97 and David ’02 (all of whom had Dotty asa second grade teacher):“In the fall of his senior year in high school, aspart of his college application, Dave was askedto connect some aspect of his own life to thisquotation from Eleanor Roosevelt: ‘You gainstrength and confidence by every experiencewhere you really stop to look fear in the face.You must do the thing you cannot do.’Ten years after second grade was over, thememories remained powerful. Dave chose toreflect on how he felt at the very start of thatyear, before Dotty had the chance to takehim fully under her wing. He wrote: ‘I satcross-legged on the floor, weak with anxiety.I feared that I would never become what IHe concluded this essay with a reference,fittingly, to a book—one he had just finishedreading for the pure pleasure of it, Ron Suskind’sA Hope in the Unseen. Dave was especiallydrawn to these words which evoked his secondgrade experience: “A boy, if he’s lucky, discovershis limitations across a leisurely passage… Thatway, he has plenty of time to heroically imaginehimself first.”The best part of Dotty’s longevity is found instories such as this one and in all the stories thatreside in her boys and girls, whether they arejust finishing second grade now or old enoughto have second graders of their own.Dotty Thornley has touched the lives of over 362Gordon students. Many of them sent in lettersand drawings remembering their favorite teacherwhich were bounded in a scrapbook and presentedto her at the Annual Meeting.Ms. Thornley, you are the best teacher that Iever had and I will miss seeing your friendlyface in the school halls. You have always beenmy favorite teacher for as long as I can rememberand you have been someone who I havegrown to love. I want you to come to the 8thgrade graduation next year to see me graduateand then continue to watch me grow. I hopethat you enjoy your free time. Play with yourcats, grow plants, swim with the dolphins andknit a scarf or two and make sure to look forme when you visit Gordon.—HAILEY WALKER ‘082

C A R O L C R O U TCarol Crout, second grade teacher, retired thisyear after seventeen years of teaching at theGordon School. She began teaching third gradein 1990 and moved to second grade in 1991. Atthis year’s Annual Meeting, she was honoredwith the following remarks made by one of hermany students, Andrew Stachiw ’01:“Mrs. Crout is an amazing woman, mentor,motivator, nurturer and teacher. To their credit,I have had some amazing teachers who havegiven me priceless opportunities and gifts overthe course of my education. Whenever I havebeen asked which teacher had the greatestinfluence on me my answer has never changed:Mrs. Crout. Mrs. Crout gave me the greatest giftsof all; she helped me to believe in myself, andshe guided me toward finding passion in education.Mrs. Crout embodies the spirit of Gordon;she is always learning, immersing herself intonew studies and fields as a timeless teacherdoes. Her own desire and drive to learn, neverresting on her laurels, transferred to the classroomand was reflected by so many of herstudents. To be sure, Mrs. Crout will be dearlymissed at Gordon, but the influence she has hadon so many of us will allow her passion, voice,and message to endure.”letters and drawings remembering their favoriteteacher which were bounded in a scrapbookand presented to her at the Annual Meeting.Dear Mrs. Crout,Second grade was a fun and exciting year, full of interesting new topics,including the yearlong theme of the ocean and underwater learning.From homonyms in writing to fish prices in math, your teachingand mastery of the year’s underwater theme greatly achieved its goalof being both fun and educational. Your time and work teaching atGordon still amazes me, and one can only begin to realize howindebted the school and all your students are to you. Your work hashad a positive impact on the entire Gordon community. For all thatyou have done, I want to thank you. Not only for what you did for me,my class, and my grade, but what you have done for Gordon. Thankyou for everything and know that I’ll miss you, but most importantlyGordon will miss you. —STEPHEN HALL ‘06Carol Crout has touched the lives of over 222Gordon School students. Many of them sent inP O O W H I T EGordon School also said goodbye to Poo White, a Middle Schoolacademic support teacher, who retired this June. Poo and her entire familyhave been extremely involved with Gordon. Her children, Annie ’87and Charles ’90 are both graduates and her husband, Terry, served on theBoard of Trustees from 1981-1988. Prior to assuming her teaching roleat Gordon, Poo was active within the Gordon Community Association.3

y o u n g a l u m r e u n i o nT H E T R A D I T I O N C O N T I N U E S T O G R O W !O V E R 1 0 0 A L U M N I C A M E B A C K T O G O R D O NF O R A G A T H E R I N GW I T H O L D F R I E N D S ,F A V O R I T E T E A C H E R SA N D G O O D F O O D .Tyler Devine ’06 and Richard Gladding ‘06Sam Rhodes ’06, Rachel Tauber ’06 and Lauren Securo ‘06Tavie Abell ’06 and Avery Stone ‘06Brendan Connolly ’06, Alex Unger ’03, Dylan Swen ’06 and Sharkey Weinberg ‘06Jonathan Pine ’07, Bethany Pine ’03 and Alex Carney ‘05Jazmyn Johnson ’06 and Kelisa McNeal ‘06Tiernan Barry ‘07Maggie Moran ’04 and Zoe Katzen ‘04Rachel Gibson ’05 and Nzingha Williams-Eugene ‘05Alex Patinkin ’05, Alex Ardente ’04 and Liam Miner ‘054

C A M P U S notesEmma Williams ’02, Tavie Abell ’06, MattShumate ’05 and Alix Bowman ’05 share theirthoughts at the Middle School Institute.M I D D L E S C H O O L I N S T I T U T EThis June, Gordon hosted a three day MiddleSchool Institute for 25 teachers from independentmiddle schools across the United States.As part of the Middle School Institute, severalalumni were invited back to share theirreflections on Gordon’s approach to multiculturaleducation.H E R E ’ S W H E R E S O M E O F T H E M E M B E R S O F T H EC L A S S O F 2 0 0 3 A R E H E A D E D I N S E P T E M B E RStephanie Arditte Colgate UniversityNoel BarlowHarvard UniversityEmmett Barnacle Endicott CollegeAlexandra BickiBarnard Collegeof Columbia UniversityAndrew Bourque Saint Michael’s CollegeMax BreadySchool of the Museumof Fine Arts, BostonFrancis ChengRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteWilliam ClarkCornell UniversityAlexander Cusack Villanova UniversitySarah EngleBrown UniversityAlexandra Fountoulakis University of VermontEmmanuel Fountoulakis Bennington CollegeMatthew GerntWarren Wilson CollegeKyle GlassWheaton CollegeNathan GoldinFairfield UniversityNolan HartleySkidmore CollegeKatherine JalbertVillanova UniversityJustin KahnHampshire CollegeWhitney KasleGeorge Washington UniversityEmily KerwinStonehill CollegeEmma Kirkpatrick Boston UniversityBritton KroesslerSuffolk UniversityHeather LiuColby CollegeJames Macdonald University of DenverCarlin O’Donnell Fairfield UniversityBethany PineWheaton CollegeMax PotterWorcester Polytechnic InstituteAllegra ScharffBates CollegeKonstantin Sheftelevich UMass AmherstJonathan Shumate Johnson and Wales UniversityJustin StrausBard CollegeAlexander Unger Brown UniversityAllison ZiinoUniversity of DelawareThe Institute was led by a team of facultyheaded by Humanities teacher Lynn Bowman.The team drew inspiration from MiltonAcademy’s Cultural Diversity Institute, whereGordon administrators served as faculty andpresenters each year.Ariel Lambe ’95 returned to Gordon this Mayas a featured speaker for the eighth grade communityservice learning program. Ariel spokeabout her own community service experiences(most recently at College Visions in Providence)and encouraged the students to pursueactivism. She was also excited to report that shewill begin a PhD in History at ColumbiaUniversity in New York this fall.5

199Os Alumni ReunionT H I S P A S T A P R I L , G O R D O N W A S F I L L E D W I T H A L U M S F R O M T H E 1 9 9 0 SA S T H E Y R E M I N I S C E D A B O U T T H E G R E A T T I M E S T H E Y H A D A T T H E S C H O O L .I T W A S A W O N D E R F U L E V E N I N G F I L L E D W I T H R E C O N N E C T I O N S A N DS H A R E D M E M O R I E S .Michael Floriani ’96 andToni DumvilleDavid Hoffer and EmilyBresnahan-McRae ’97Nola Riedel Kopfer ’91 and Stephanie Greenbaum ’91Franklin Liao ’96 and Sarah WhineryCon Hopkins Simon ’94 and Christine Isidoro ’946

Andrea Weisman ’97 andEmily Bresnahan-McRae ’97Julia McCann ’97, Sareh Rajaee ’97 and Kristen Hopkins ’97Noah Davis ’97 and Karl Dunkelman ’97Ray Brierly ’93 andAnna StaniszewskiRichard Daniels, Merebea Danforth ’98 and Andrea Weisman ’97Ted Trafton ’94 and Nola Riedel Kopfer ’91Georgi Vogel Rosen ’94 and Michael Glancy ’947

classnotesEthan Ruby ’89 returned toGordon in June as this year’sCommencement speaker.20sJacqueline Briggs Morrisson ’21 passedaway at the St. Elizabeth Manor inBristol, RI on June 17, 2007. Jacquelinewas a commercial photographer, specializingin portraiture and helped to set upthe first in-house photography departmentfor Rhode Island Hospital. Today a collectionof her photographs taken in thelate 1930s documenting life and architecturein Haiti has been accepted intothe New York Public Library’s SchomburgCenter for Research in Black Culture.Jacqueline is survived by her daughter,Michele Morrisson ’65 and son-in-law,David J. Bernstein of Setauket, NY;two grandchildren, Michael MorrissonBernstein and Emily Rose MorrissonBernstein both of Setauket; and manynieces, nephews, grandneices andgrandnephews.30sMary Francis Lyon Vaughn ’36 and herhusband will be in Jamestown, RI for thesummer. She would love to hear fromsome of her old classmates.70sJohn Ravenal ’73 has been the modernand contemporary art curator at theVirginia Museum of Fine Art, for nineyears and lives in Richmond with wifeVirginia Pye, daughter Eva (14) and sonDaniel (10). He recently published a252-page catalog of the collection.Sarah Goff Raslowsky ’77 returned tothe classroom, teaching seventh andeleventh grade math at the HudsonSchool in Hoboken, NJ. Sarah has alsobeen devoting agood deal of time to the local zoningboard, battling overdevelopment in herneighborhood. All the while she managesthe entire Raslowsky clan, John (11),Christian (9), Rebecca (7), and Rachel (5).Aubrey Atwater ’78 writes, “We’vebeen quiet about this project that ourson, filmmaker Uriah Donnelly, has beenworking on for a year and a half. Butnow that it is time for the first publicscreening, we are bursting with excitementand very proud of Uriah’s talentsas a filmmaker. His film is a documentaryabout his parents’ lives and musiccareers. We are deeply honored with histhorough research and distillation ofalmost twenty years’ worth of material.The first screening of Uriah’s documentarywas held on May 29th at SnookersPool Lounge in Providence.”Jennifer Paros ’79 first illustratedchildren’s chapter book, Violet Bing andThe Grand House was the featuredreview in the June issue of The Bulletinof the Center for Children’s Books.80sIna Anderson ’82 is beginning a Mastersprogram in historic preservation at TuftsUniversity. Her son, Toby, attends theHigh Mowing School, a Waldorf boardingand day school in Wilton, NH. Herdaughter, Roze, will be attending NorthfieldMount Herman Summer School.Melissa Maynard-Leger ’83 is currentlythe Associate Director of Career Servicesat Stanford Law School. She has beenmarried since 1999 and has two children,Sam (4) and Madeleine (5 months).Cyd Anderson McKenna ’83 hascompleted her first year at MassachusettsInstitute of Technology for a Masters inurban planning.Maura Davis ’88 writes, “In Februarymy husband Mark and I welcomed ason, Aidan Myles. He joins his big sisterCiara, who adores her little brother. I justreturned to work as corporate counsel toStream International, a global businessto-businesssoftware services provider.Hello, to all alums from the class of 1988.”90sKorey Cornell Hampton ’90 writes,“I have a Masters degree from theUniversity of Miami and currently runthe Sports Medicine Department at theUniversity of North Carolina at Asheville.I am married and living in the beautifulmountains of Western North Carolina.I spend all my free time assisting myfamily in running our whitewater raftingcompany on the French Broad River.”Michael McGrath ’90 is working as asoftware architect at EMC2 in Boston. Heis living in Cambridge with his fiancee,Sarah. They are looking forward to theirsummer wedding.Lex Sadasivan ’90 is currently a PromoProducer at SiTV, where he writes, directsand edits a broad spectrum of spots forthe network’s image, shows and marketing.In 2005, Lex won four PROMAXawards for his directing work. Lex hasa B.A. in film studies from WesleyanUniversity and has directed several shortfilms. He currently resides in Los Angelesand is looking forward to his weddingin Santa Barbara this August.8

RDG O R D O N A L U M N I C O N N E C T I O NSarah Karns ’91 is an attorney at herfamily’s law firm, Karns Law Group inCO. She coaches triathletes, mountainbikers, road racers, marathoners and fit-Thomas Goddard ’96 has enrolled in theInternational Yacht Restoration School inMiddletown, RI.Kyla McKay ’91 just got married and isnow teaching criminal justice and psychologyclasses at Bristol CommunityCollege.ness enthusiasts. She also has experiencewith coaching parathletes and ablebodied athletes and has assisted withNASCAR racers and riders from theDiscover team. Along with her coaching,Abby has also published articles inInside Triathlon, Triathlete Magazine andNewport, RI and is training to become acertified shipwright.Emily Taneil Jennings ’96 received herMasters in social work from Rhode IslandCollege in 2006. She is presently workingat a community mental health centerCara Camacho ’93 graduated this MayActive.com and is finishing her PhD at as a mental health therapist.from Brown University with a Mastersthe University of Iowa.degree in public policy. This summerEmily Bresnahan-McRae ’97 is teachingshe is volunteering in Liberia, Costa Rica,with a program called Global Learning.Cara will be the Team Leader of ten volunteersteaching at a small communityMichael Glancy, Jr. ’94 works at ReebokInternational as a footwear designer foronfield (cleated) athletics.ESL, business writing and internet lifeskills at the Rhode Island CollegeOutreach program. She is also workingon her MAT in elementary education atschool.Philip DiRuggiero ’93 is a real estateChristine Isidoro ’94 was promoted tomanager at KPMG, LLP in Providence, RI.Rhode Island College.Robin Glancy ’97 writes, “In Novemberagent in Washington, DC. He lives withhis girlfriend of two years, Maria Colbergand they have a one-year-old “labradoodle”named Carlos.Dylan Jones ’93 writes, “I am living inHollywood, CA and working at a filmmarketing company where I have beenfor almost six years now. I am a broadcastvideo editor and have finishedthousands of advertisements for hundredsof major movie campaigns. I am hopingto open my own finishing company overthe next year.”Timothy Hurley ’95 writes, “I am workingfor VOX Entertainment, an entertainmentmarketing and event productioncompany out of Los Angeles. I have producedevents including the Paris HiltonFragrance Launch, The Boost Mobile Villaat the Versace Mansion during the MTVVideo Music Awards and the US WeeklyHot Hollywood Awards afterparty in2005. I was in Cancun this spring,producing several elements for MTVSpring Break.”Rachel Karns ’95 is finishing up her lawdegree at Roger Williams College.of 2006, I took a position as a personalbank and small business specialist withBank of America in Boston, MA. Myoffice is in Beacon Hill and I am enjoingliving on the Charles River in EastCambridge, MA.”Sareh Rajaee ’97 graduated from URIin 2006 with a BA in engineering andGerman. She is now attending medicalschool at Brown University.Alistair Reader ’97 works for the SenateCommittee on Homeland Security andGovernmental Affairs (Democratic side).Abby Ruby ’93 (pictured above with hermom, Terry) competed in the BostonMarathon this April and made a visitto Gordon the day after the race. Abbyis a training coach at the CarmichaelTraining Systems in Colorado Springs,Miguel Teixeira ’95 will be gettingmarried to Karen Stamm on July 28th inKingston, RI.Benjamin Black ’96 has been living inPhiladelphia and working for a familybusiness, Gemini Bakery Equipment.Gemini Bakery Equipment imports largebakery equipment for bakeries throughoutNorth America.Nicholas Foley ’96 is studying atHarvard Law School.Andrea Weisman ’97 graduated fromSimmons College School of Social Workin May with a Masters degree in socialwork. She is working as a therapist inan outpatient mental health clinic.Kathryn Kenney ’98 graduated withher BA in architecture in May 2007. Sheis a full time architectural intern withNew England Medical Design, Inc. inRumford, RI and resides in Providence.9

NOS U M M E R 2 0 0 7Todd Buffum ’99 graduated this Junefrom Union College with a BA insociology.Cyrus Woolard ’99 spent his springsemester in Australia. He graduated fromCornell University in May.00sEthan Wolston ’01 is working inWyoming again this summer for theShoshone National Forest. He will becleaning trails and packing mules. Ethan,John Harwood ’01, Ash Wall ‘01 andEric Lichatin ‘01 (pictured above) visiteda friend at Carleton College this May.They had a nice little 1,400 mile roadtrip together and have been reminiscinga lot.Alexandra Bicki ’03 writes, “I am currentlyworking at EpiVax Bioinformatics,a bio-tech company in Providence as mysummer job doing business development.I will be attending Barnard Collegeof Columbia University in the fall. SarahEngle ’03 and I were part of the CumLaude Society at Moses Brown.”Sarah Engle ’03 was honored with aCox Rhode Island Sports Award for fieldhockey. This award recognizes the besthigh school scholar athletes for eachsport for every season.Bethany Pine ’03 received the ThomasJefferson Award for Excellence in UnitedStates History. She also completed hersecond season as the starting goalie forthe Wheeler Varsity lacrosse team andwas featured as the Providence JournalPlayers of the Day after a 14-10 victoryover Portsmouth Abbey.Hannah Fine ’04, a junior at MosesBrown, recently won a $1,000 collegescholarship for writing the best essayfrom Rhode Island in this year’s NationalPeace Essay Contest, sponsored by theUnited States Institute of Peace.Hannah’s essay entry was titled Rwandaand Israel: Different Cases of ChildSoldier Usage with Different Implicationsfor the Futures of their Youth. Essays werejudged by an independent panel of educatorson the content of the student’sideas, the analysis of researched factsand opinions, and the clarity and organizationof their expression.Hannah was invited to join other statewinners on an all expenses paid trip toWashington, DC, to participate in aweeklong education program focusingon international conflict resolution andcompete for national scholarship awardsof up to $10,000. However, she won’t beable to attend this conference as she willbe in Ghana, building teacher housingin the Upper Volta region as part of anAmerican Jewish World Service program.selected annually from the sixth form tolead the student body and to representthe student voice in leadership of theschool community as a whole.Stephanie Perez ‘04 scored her 100thcareer goal as a lacrosse player atPortsmouth Abbey. She was namedan Academic All-American and All-American Honorable Mention for highschool girl’s lacrosse. She was alsoselected on the Southeast New England1st Team All-League Lacrosse Teamand selected to participate in the NewEngland Prep School Women’s LacrosseAssociation All-Star Game along withEmily Kerwin ‘03.Allison Krollman ’05 was the runner upin her age category (ages 10-17) in the2007 Rochambeau Library LimerickContest.Tavie Abell ’06 was recognized as theonly girl at Philips Academy, Andover tocompete at the varsity level all three seasonsthis year; cross country, indoor trackand track.Michael DeStefano ’06 enjoyed his firstyear at Bishop Hendricken. He is a memberof the Italian Club, starts as the centerfor the freshman football team and playsthe middle on the JV lacrosse team.Avery Stone ’06 was awarded the WellsPrize at Philips Academy, Andover whichis awarded to a student who has displayedthe outstanding qualities of loyalty,perseverance, and sterling characterwhich characterized the person in whosememory this prize is given.Emily Kerwin ’03 a graduating senior atPortsmouth Abbey was selected to participatein the New England Prep SchoolWomen’s Lacrosse Association All-Stargame.Abbott Gilbane ’04 was selected as amonitor from the sixth form at St. Mark’sSchool. Seven to eight monitors are1 0

N O T E S F R O M T H E A L U M N I O F F I C ECongratulations to the Class of 2007!On Wednesday, June 6, 2007 the 41members of the Class of 2007 becameour newest alumni after a wonderfulcommencement ceremony withremarks by alumni speaker, EthanRuby ’89. We wish them well ontheir next adventures and hope theywill stay in touch!Class of 1999!Congratulations to you on your recentgraduations from college. Please letus know where you are headed and/orwhat you are up to this year. Sendalong your news and updated contactinformation to Siobhan Sheerar atssheerar@gordonschool.org.P A T R I C I A E M M E TPat Emmet, a beloved former Gordon faculty member and parent passedaway at her home in Newport on May 27th after a long battle with cancer.She is survived by her husband, William, and her two children, Nicholas ’92and Susanna ’95.She began as a preschool teacher at Gordon in 1986 and then became amuch loved first grade teacher. She was a fierce advocate for children andworked to advance the art of teaching. In addition, she threw herself intoall facets of institutional work at Gordon, serving a three year term on theBoard of Trustees and leading the Faculty and Staff Personnel Committee.She and her husband eventually moved to Washington, DC in 1999, wherePat taught first grade at the Maret School, retiring due to illness before theschool year began in fall 2006.A memorial service was held on June 2, 2007 at her family’s home inMiddletown, RI. Contributions in Pat’s name can be made to the NormanBird Sanctuary, 583 Third Beach Road, Middletown, RI 02842.1 1

T H E G O R D O N S C H O O L45 Maxfield Avenue East Providence RI 02914 www.gordonschool.orgNon-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDPermit #365Providence, RIRETURN SERVICE REQUESTEDT h a n k st o y o uW E ’ V E D O N E I T !Gordon’s Annual Fundexceeded its goal this year,and alumni and their familiescontributed 20% of the total!We are so grateful for yoursupport. By giving to theAnnual Fund, you celebratethe teachers, friendships,memories and lifelong lessonsthat made your Gordoneducation so special.