THE GLOBAL CITIZEN - Wilbraham & Monson Academy

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John V. Colleton Jr. ’35M A remembrance by his grandson, Bicentennial Scholar Ian Carlin ’08, from an essay written when he was in the 9th grade In the waning days of the summer of 2004 I was given an opportunity that would change my life, although I did not know it then. I was asked to work at my grandparents’ house every morning for two weeks to rebuild a stone wall. My grandfather had been meaning to fix a part of the wall that had collapsed, due to erosion and human use, but he was not able to do it by himself, so he needed my help. I would be paid five dollars an hour; however, by the end of the job the money did not matter to me. It was a great experience, and I learned many things about myself. My grandfather is an eighty-six-year-old cancer survivor. He is tall and athletic. I always picture him dressed in his pants, button-down long-sleeve shirt, and suspenders. He likes crosscountry skiing, bike riding, painting, and doing carpentry between his many doctors’ appointments. I always remember him as one of the most hardworking people I have ever met. When I would get to his house at six thirty every morning, he would always be outside waiting for me. If one word were to describe my grandfather’s life, it would be dedication. Everything he starts, he finishes. My grandfather is also a Homeresque story-teller. Whenever I am with him, I always hear a new and interesting story about life at Monson Academy, a war story, or an amazing sports story. It took the whole first day to remove a couple of tree stumps that would prevent the wall from being built. At the end of the day, I exclaimed, “We did it!” Passages John Colleton, here with his grandson Ian. The photo was taken at about the same time that they built the wall together. WMA 30 · FALL 2006 · THE ACADEMY WORLD “Thanks, son,” my grandfather responded. “It felt good to take down those stumps.” “I couldn’t have done it without you.” The next day we began to work on the wall. First he showed me how to mix cement. I went over to the sand pile and took enough sand to start the base. Then my grandfather showed me how much dry cement to put in. After the cement was put in I began to mix it with water. Little did I know that mixing cement was no easy feat! I had no idea how to mix the cement or how much water to put in. Luckily, my grandfather was an expert at mixing cement. He showed me the proper techniques and how to fix mistakes. Mixing cement was boring and time consuming but it was essential to building the stonewall. In the process of mixing the cement, my hands would get very dirty and I would have to make numerous trips over to the sandpit. However, in the long run, I realized that the cement made our job much easier and it kept the wall together. When the first batch of cement was mixed we started working on the wall. Most of the rocks we had did not fit into the spaces that we needed them to work into. That meant that we had to dig up other rocks and carve them to fit. The easiest part of building the stone wall was putting the large bottom rocks into place. The most overlooked part of a stonewall is the work that is put into the inside of the wall. My grandfather showed me how to fill in large holes in the wall that are unseen from the outside. My first choice would have been to fill it full of cement and wait for it to dry. However, my grandfather showed me the proper way to do it. Finally, the hardest job was finding the rocks to finish off the wall. Smooth, flat rocks need to be on the top. They have to be able to withstand the elements as well as people walking on the wall. These rocks had to fit together like a puzzle so as little cement as possible was used for it to be appealing to the eye. Although it took a long time, by the end of the process, I was making the top of the wall look just like my grandfather’s sections. My grandfather built the house that he still lives in and all the stonework around it. Four generations have worked on the walls – my great-grandfather, my grandfather, my uncle, and me. The wall supports his house and adds to the beauty of the land. After working on the wall for two weeks and completing seventy-five feet of wall, I gained a sense of pride that I had worked on the same wall that my grandfather worked on, and I had worked just as hard.
Howard F. Fairweather ’48M Howard F. Fairweather ’48M was born July 21, 1926, in Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Manchester High School, Howard served in the United States Army as a tech. sergeant in the 81st Infantry Division. He was part of the Philippine Liberation and head of finance at General MacArthur’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Honorably discharged from the army in 1947, he graduated from Monson Academy in 1948. Howard worked in the roofing industry his entire professional life. He started out in his family’s business, Southern New England Roofing in Hartford before working for Eagle Sheet Metal of Connecticut and Dynamit Nobel in New Jersey. After Howard retired from Hill’s in 1992, he ran his own business, Fairweather Enterprises, and he worked part time for Columbia Ford. Howard died in Hartford on April 4, 2006, after a long illness. John G. “Jack” Hoyt ’48M An excerpt from a memorial written by Virginia Lucier “Luce” Hoyt As I sat the past few days and watched Jack pass away, I often asked myself, “How may people knew the real John G. Hoyt?” Some people saw him as an ultra-conservative individual who wouldn’t spend a dime unless he got a hundred dollars worth of value. Some knew him as a man who would never throw anything away because he wouldn’t spend the money to replace it. Others saw him as the number-one person who took advantage of every sale and senior citizen rate. Some knew him as a person who liked to give his two-cents worth of advice. The above were only the things you saw on the outside. Look into the true John G. Hoyt, and you find the most sharing, kind, and giving person in the world. Jack was never generous to himself; why, he wouldn’t pay more than ten bucks for a pair of shoes, and he was proud to say that in the year 2001, when Jack and I were married, he wore a suit that had been purchased in 1974. However, his generosity and his knack for giving to his family, friends, and to thousands of young people who needed financial help for college was unprecedented. For the hundreds of young children who received free tickets to the Shrine Circus, Jack was there to help financially. By his generous contributions to the Shrine Children’s Hospital, he helped meet sick children’s needs. The Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and hundreds of other volunteer groups also saw his generosity at work. Jack believed everybody came before his own personal needs. Even on his deathbed, he made sure that contributions to colleges and other organizations, including Passages THE ACADEMY WORLD · FALL 2006 · WMA 31 Wilbraham & Monson Academy, would go on perpetually. Jack’s legacy was to give many young kids a chance to go on to college. As for giving a piece of advice, he would just say he was sharing the knowledge he had gained over the years. Jack was very proud of his country. He felt it a privilege to serve in the Navy during World War II. Even though he was seasick while aboard ship for most of the time, he often said, “I wished I had turned 17 sooner so I could have served my country longer during the war.” Jack spent 37 happy and productive years as an electrical engineer at General Electric. If you didn’t have GE appliances or GE light bulbs, you got a five-minute lecture and a gift of GE bulbs. With his second wife Luce, Jack enjoyed traveling about the country in his much loved Roadtrek RV. They loved visiting relatives and friends all over the United States, having Saturday coffee with the neighbors, sharing meals at restaurants, He enjoyed his new family of relatives and soon found a spot in their hearts. When Jack found out he had pancreatic cancer, he faced it with courage and determination and never felt sorry for himself. He proudly accepted being involved in a chemical trial to promote cancer care research. Luce and Jack Hoyt on a visit to the Academy, here with former Director of Alumni & Parent Relations Marjorie Weeks.
Page 1 and 2: EDITOR Rita D. Carey COMMENCEMENT A
Page 3 and 4: Latin students with their guide on
Page 5 and 6: SOCCER NOTES When the Boys’ Varsi
Page 7 and 8: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW BAZARIAN
Page 9 and 10: CEGS IN SUPPORT OF GLOBAL CITIZENSH
Page 11 and 12: ADMISSION DEPARTMENT PROFILE Brian
Page 13 and 14: Above: Marc, Symin, and Mr. Bloomfi
Page 15 and 16: Commencement Prizes Harriet Jones N
Page 17 and 18: Prize Day Awards Cum Laude Society
Page 19 and 20: Monson Academy graduates Cliff Symi
Page 21 and 22: At right: Trustee Ned Symes ’64W
Page 23 and 24: Boys’ Lacrosse Back: James Hsiao,
Page 25 and 26: DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT PROFILE Glen
Page 27 and 28: 0511 Rodney LaBrecque, Richard Krug
Page 29: Francis Michael Casey English Teach

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