Wheelock Magazine - Spring 2010 - Wheelock College
Wheelock Magazine - Spring 2010 - Wheelock College
Wheelock Magazine - Spring 2010 - Wheelock College
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<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
Sh i he<br />
Learning n<br />
Curve<br />
• New Funds for<br />
Teacher Education<br />
• Alumni Service<br />
Learning in Guatemala<br />
• Programs, Policy Talks &<br />
Community Dialogues
<strong>Wheelock</strong> Students<br />
Score High on<br />
Sense of Well-Being,<br />
Civic Mindedness,<br />
and Engagement<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> has always strived<br />
to provide a learning experience<br />
that transforms students,<br />
and alumni often tell<br />
us that their experience as<br />
undergraduates laid the foundation for much<br />
of what they accomplish in their personal as<br />
well as professional lives. Now the Wabash<br />
National Study of Liberal Arts Education, in<br />
which <strong>Wheelock</strong> is participating along with<br />
41 institutions nationally, is showing that the<br />
transformation process begins early at <strong>Wheelock</strong>,<br />
with the <strong>College</strong> making a significant<br />
difference in students’ sense of well-being and<br />
their civic mindedness and engagement during<br />
their very first year on campus.<br />
The Wabash study is a large-scale, longitudinal<br />
study investigating critical factors that<br />
affect the outcomes of liberal arts education.<br />
The first outcome measures of the study, in<br />
the area of psychological well-being, show that<br />
among students at 31 small institutions in the<br />
study, <strong>Wheelock</strong> students grew over their first<br />
year in college more than any others in their<br />
“Self-Acceptance” score and in their “Purpose<br />
in Life” score, and they score exceptionally<br />
high on growth in “Consciousness of Self”<br />
and “Commitment.” Similarly, they ranked<br />
near the top in growth in “Positive Relations<br />
with Others” and sense of “Environmental<br />
Mastery.” They rank first out of 47 institutions,<br />
small and large, in positive change on<br />
the scores of “Citizenship” and “Collaboration,”<br />
and they ranked very high in growth on<br />
the Socially Responsible Leadership scale.<br />
Dr. Julie Wollman, vice president for<br />
academic affairs, who led the <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
team that won <strong>Wheelock</strong> a place in the<br />
study, attributes the high scores of its students<br />
to the <strong>College</strong>’s mission. “Because of<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s unique mission and focus on<br />
preparing students for careers in which civic<br />
engagement is at the core of their personal<br />
and professional identities, the <strong>College</strong> has<br />
never made a distinction between its responsibility<br />
to foster students’ intellectual growth<br />
and their full development as individuals,<br />
including their psychosocial well-being and<br />
sense of civic purpose,” she says. “As experts<br />
in the field of human development, we<br />
understand that the whole student grows<br />
through the integration of cognitive, emotional,<br />
behavioral, and civic development.”<br />
Reading at <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
and Across America<br />
The National Education<br />
Association’s (NEA) Read<br />
Across America is an annual<br />
reading motivation and<br />
awareness program that<br />
calls for every child in every community to<br />
celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday<br />
of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.<br />
The program also provides NEA members,<br />
parents, and caregivers, with the resources<br />
and activities they need to keep reading<br />
with children throughout the year. At<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>, staff and students gathered<br />
children in the CCSR for Seuss readings<br />
on the big day. Oh, the things that they<br />
know and the places they’ll go!<br />
“The more that t you read,<br />
the more things you will l<br />
know. The more that<br />
t<br />
you learn, the more places you’ll go.”<br />
— Dr. Seuss
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
TABLE<br />
OF<br />
CONTENTS<br />
2 News Nuggets<br />
4 On Campus<br />
12 Alumni<br />
18 Class Notes<br />
Editor<br />
Christine Dall<br />
Production Editor<br />
Lori Ann Saslav<br />
Design<br />
Leslie Hartwell<br />
Photography<br />
Christine Dall<br />
Kin Lloyd<br />
Len Rubenstein<br />
Don West<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
<strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
Volume XXX, Issue 2<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> invites manuscripts<br />
and photographs from our readers,<br />
although we do not guarantee their<br />
publication, and we reserve the right<br />
to edit them as needed.<br />
For Class Notes information, contact<br />
Lori Ann Saslav at (617) 879-2123 or<br />
lsaslav@wheelock.edu.<br />
Send letters to the editor to:<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, Office for Institutional<br />
Advancement, <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong>,<br />
200 The Riverway, Boston, MA 02215-4176,<br />
or e-mail them to cdall@wheelock.edu.<br />
Dear Alumni and Friends,<br />
Iam delighted to announce that new<br />
federal funding totaling $2.5 million has<br />
been awarded to <strong>Wheelock</strong> teacher preparation<br />
programs, a very welcome investment<br />
that affirms our national reputation<br />
for leadership in teacher education and supports<br />
our ongoing initiatives to improve the quality of<br />
teaching and learning in our schools.<br />
In remarking on the most recent of these<br />
awards, a $1.6 million Teacher Quality Grant,<br />
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry stated, “When<br />
you invest in teachers, you are investing in students,<br />
and every educator I meet with stresses<br />
the importance of preparation. That’s why these<br />
federal dollars go a long way.” I couldn’t agree<br />
more! These awards to <strong>Wheelock</strong> recognize the<br />
quality of our faculty and our graduates, who<br />
work so hard and are passionate about making<br />
our schools work for all children, despite the<br />
enormous challenges of the profession. Congratulations<br />
and thank you to all of our alumni who<br />
are devoted to education and have contributed<br />
mightily to <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s reputation as a leader in<br />
teacher preparation.<br />
The Winter Olympics this year were inspirational<br />
and exciting, providing us all with a wonderful<br />
opportunity to witness the power of hard<br />
work and commitment and prompting me to<br />
think about the values <strong>Wheelock</strong> shares with these<br />
historic games. The Olympic ideals that encourage<br />
individuals to develop their physical, moral,<br />
intellectual, cultural, and artistic qualities in<br />
harmony are incorporated into all aspects of the<br />
<strong>College</strong>’s Athletics Department programs — an<br />
initiative reported on in this issue of <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
<strong>Magazine</strong>. This philosophy of Olympism also very<br />
closely matches what <strong>Wheelock</strong> seeks to accomplish<br />
as a higher education institution dedicated<br />
to the full development of individual students<br />
— intellectually, emotionally, and socially. <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s<br />
commitment to the whole student is one of<br />
its core strengths and contributes enormous value<br />
to the educations our students receive and to the<br />
accomplishments they achieve as graduates.<br />
I believe it is because of <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s attention<br />
to developing students as whole people that<br />
the earliest results from the Wabash National<br />
Study of Liberal Arts Education at small colleges<br />
show our students scoring very high — first — in<br />
several indicators that contribute to successful<br />
student outcomes. Compared with students at<br />
other colleges in the study, <strong>Wheelock</strong> students<br />
in their critical first year of college scored exceptionally<br />
high in growth in consciousness of self,<br />
positive relations with others, collaboration,<br />
citizenship, self-acceptance, purpose in life, and<br />
commitment. These are especially welcome signs<br />
of healthy development in a time of high stress<br />
for students generally. It is more evidence of the<br />
value of <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s fundamental emphasis on<br />
understanding and promoting individual growth<br />
and development in our students.<br />
On May 21, <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s 122nd Commencement<br />
exercises will honor and celebrate Call to<br />
Service. Service is another one of <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s<br />
core values established by Lucy <strong>Wheelock</strong> and<br />
uniquely reflected in the lives and meaningful<br />
work of our alumni. Whether our graduates<br />
become teachers, social workers, and child life<br />
specialists, or develop their liberal arts educations<br />
into careers as lawyers, artists, and business<br />
entrepreneurs, they are imprinted with the<br />
desire to give back and serve a purpose larger<br />
than themselves — to “do amazing things,” as<br />
one 2009 graduate put it: “<strong>Wheelock</strong> has given<br />
me so much more than an education. It has<br />
helped me to define myself as a person and<br />
to strengthen the goals I would like to accomplish<br />
in my lifetime. With the education I have<br />
received, I feel ready to enter the ‘real world’<br />
and do amazing things.”<br />
With this theme in mind, I send a special<br />
thank-you to those alumni who participated<br />
in <strong>Wheelock</strong> World Service Day on April 17,<br />
and I invite all alumni to take advantage of a<br />
new service learning opportunity we will offer<br />
early next year through Safe Passage, the lifesaving<br />
program for children in Guatemala City<br />
established by Hanley Denning ’96MS. Look<br />
for information about this opportunity in the<br />
magazine and join us!<br />
I wish you all a wonderful summer “doing<br />
amazing things.”<br />
JACKIE JENKINS-SCOTT<br />
President<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 1
NEWS NU<br />
GETS<br />
2 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
Fifth Annual Dialogue on<br />
Ear —<br />
Ma<br />
5<br />
W<br />
We’re very excited to have worked with<br />
multiple partners for five years sponsoring<br />
annual dialogues on early education<br />
and care, each one a unique opportunity<br />
for legislators, policymakers, advocates,<br />
funders, interdisciplinary practitioners, and diverse community<br />
leaders to discuss important early childhood policy and<br />
current issues and research in the field. More than 150 participants<br />
attend the Community Dialogues each year and report<br />
back that it is one of the very best statewide forums where<br />
they can meet and work with others across disciplines and<br />
domains of the field, gain new information, and collaborate<br />
to take action on early childhood policies in Massachusetts<br />
and beyond. Planning Committee co-chairs, <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Professor<br />
in Early Childhood Dr. David Fernie and Executive<br />
Vice President of ABCD Ms. Sharon Scott-Chandler, have<br />
the Fifth Annual Dialogue on Early Education and Care on<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s calendar for May 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.<br />
Come, contribute, and learn.<br />
President Jenkins-Scott<br />
Co-Chairs Massachusetts<br />
Women’s Conference<br />
Women from all over the world gathered at the<br />
United Nations Headquarters in New York City<br />
in March for the 54th annual Commission on<br />
the Status of Women conference, which evaluates<br />
progress on gender equity and promotes women’s<br />
rights in political, economic, civil, social, and educational fields. A<br />
month later, on April 17, President Jenkins-Scott co-chaired the Massachusetts<br />
Women’s Summit at Pine Manor <strong>College</strong> in Chestnut Hill,<br />
bringing together women and girls of all backgrounds to continue the<br />
dialogue around issues relevant to gender equity in the Massachusetts<br />
economy and government.<br />
Accelerated Program for<br />
Mental Health Counseling<br />
Mental health counseling is a growing professional field<br />
and one of increasing interest to students attracted<br />
to <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s mission. That’s why the <strong>College</strong> has<br />
begun a new educational partnership with the Massachusetts<br />
School of Professional Psychology (MSPP)<br />
that will fast-track students who want to prepare to enter the field.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> students may now complete their undergraduate educations<br />
at the <strong>College</strong> in an accelerated format, within three years and two<br />
summers, and then earn a two-year master’s degree from MSPP.<br />
G<br />
M<br />
M<strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
W<br />
encourages the aspirations of urban<br />
children and families — the fastest-growing<br />
segment of the population — in a variety of<br />
ways, including through our strengthened<br />
partnerships with the public schools and<br />
community organizations, our successful Juvenile Justice and Youth<br />
Advocacy program, and our new Teacher Bound and Aspire programs.<br />
Last fall, <strong>Wheelock</strong> partnered with the Boston Public Schools (BPS)<br />
and the Gates Foundation to promote the Gates Millennium Scholars<br />
Program (GMS) in Boston. The goal of the collaboration is to increase<br />
the number of BPS students receiving the prestigious and, potentially,<br />
life-changing GMS scholarships, which provide up to 10 years of<br />
funding for undergraduate through Ph.D. studies.<br />
One hundred sixty-two Senior Scholars (who had the required<br />
minimum 3.3 GPA) from 19 Boston schools attended the <strong>Wheelock</strong>-hosted<br />
event at which they learned how to apply to the program.GMS’s<br />
Russell Peek called <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Boston launch of the<br />
program “outstanding.”
NEWS NUGGETS<br />
DOE Funds $400,000 for<br />
Energy Efficiency at <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
As everyone has become acutely aware, being<br />
more efficient with energy can make a big difference<br />
in conserving financial as well as natural<br />
resources. When <strong>Wheelock</strong> designed the master<br />
plan for the construction and renovation projects<br />
that are currently transforming our campus, we<br />
made sure to include the most up-to-date LEED-certified technologies<br />
in the plan. LEED stands for the Leadership in Energy and<br />
Environmental Design rating systems created by the U.S. Green<br />
Building Council and accepted internationally as benchmarks for<br />
the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green<br />
buildings. In January, <strong>Wheelock</strong> received $400,000 in funding from<br />
the U.S. Department of Energy to incorporate new LEED systems<br />
and technologies that will make campus life more energy efficient.<br />
Being a good citizen of the world has its benefits — <strong>Wheelock</strong> will<br />
save on energy costs while conserving natural resources and helping<br />
the environment.<br />
$800,000 NASA Funds for Better<br />
Math and Science Teaching<br />
Three years ago, with support from the Massachusetts<br />
Technology Collaborative, <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Math and Science<br />
Education Initiative (MSEI) opened the Math and Science<br />
Education Center at <strong>Wheelock</strong> to improve math and science education<br />
teaching and learning at the <strong>College</strong> and to work with other<br />
local colleges specifically in the area of developing strong science<br />
education through environmental studies. Since then, MSEI has provided<br />
math and science in-service preparation for preschool to grade<br />
6 teachers as well as better education of pre-service teachers in math<br />
and science instruction. Now <strong>Wheelock</strong> has received $800,000 in<br />
funds from NASA to develop a Math and Science Learning Community<br />
that will allow the <strong>College</strong> to expand this work, more deeply<br />
engaging community-based preschools and out-of-school-time providers<br />
in addition to the Boston-area schools in the program.<br />
Childhood Higher Education Access<br />
at <strong>Wheelock</strong> Receives $100,000<br />
The current federal and state emphasis on moving early childhood<br />
educators to degree attainment demonstrates a welcome<br />
awakening to the importance of higher education for providers<br />
of early education and care. <strong>Wheelock</strong> is well-known for its leadership<br />
in this area, and now its Childhood Higher Education Access<br />
project, a partnership with other institutions and organizations in<br />
Boston to create a pipeline for early childhood educators to access<br />
bachelor’s degree completion programs, has received $100,000 from<br />
the federal government through its Fund for the Improvement of<br />
Postsecondary Education. <strong>Wheelock</strong> plans to use the funds to develop<br />
a pilot project with community colleges in Boston.<br />
$1.6 Million to <strong>Wheelock</strong> for<br />
Partnership in Boston Teacher<br />
Residency Master’s Program<br />
A$1.6 million Teacher Quality Grant from the U.S. Department of<br />
Education will fund <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s participation in Boston Teacher<br />
Residency (BTR), a master’s program in education that recruits<br />
talented college graduates, career changers, and community members and<br />
prepares them to make an immediate positive impact in Boston Public<br />
Schools (BPS) classrooms. The grant originates in Recovery Act funding<br />
aimed at raising student achievement in Massachusetts by improving<br />
instruction in the schools. The BTR Partnership with <strong>Wheelock</strong> and<br />
the University of Massachusetts will meet a significant portion of BPS<br />
needs for teachers of special education, English language learners, and<br />
math and science, in addition to early childhood teachers and teachers of<br />
color. Teacher Residents in the program will spend a full academic year<br />
in a BPS classroom teaching alongside an experienced mentor and applying<br />
theory to practice through rigorous coursework. Their commitment<br />
earns them a master’s degree in education, a Massachusetts Initial Teacher<br />
License, and credit toward a dual license in Special Education or ESL.<br />
Boston Globe Editorial Lauds<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Diversity and Preparation<br />
of Leaders for the 21st Century<br />
In a recent survey investigating the diversity of tenured and tenuretrack<br />
faculty at Boston-area colleges and universities, The Boston<br />
Globe found that <strong>Wheelock</strong>, by far, had the most diverse faculty when<br />
compared with all other institutions. An editorial in the Globe titled One<br />
<strong>College</strong> Gains True Diversity lauded the <strong>College</strong>, “renowned for producing<br />
teachers and professional child and family advocates,” for being without<br />
peer in diversity of faculty and said that it “proves that neither rocket science<br />
nor an undiscovered Dead Sea scroll is necessary to find the formula<br />
to achieve diversity.”<br />
The Globe also pointed out increasing student diversity at the <strong>College</strong><br />
and urged other colleges to follow <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s lead, saying the issue of<br />
diversity in higher education is “essential for any school pretending to<br />
prepare leaders for a multi-cultural and global 21st century.”<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 3
ON CAMPUS<br />
The Dance<br />
We!<br />
BAKALAR ART ON CAMPUS<br />
Making Art Present in Everyday Life<br />
Teachers value art classes because they’re one of the few<br />
places where children have the opportunity to manipulate<br />
materials, to experiment with expressing ideas visually, and<br />
to solve problems with multiple potential solutions — in<br />
other words, to think creatively. If art isn’t often a part of<br />
our everyday lives as adults, it is a loss.<br />
That’s one big reason why we are so excited about the latest change that’s<br />
come to <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s campus, this time in the form of three abstract outdoor<br />
sculptures generously donated by David Bakalar, a Brookline resident and<br />
nationally known sculpture artist. Bakalar’s work has been displayed across<br />
the country, including on the campuses of Columbia University, Brandeis<br />
University, Mount Ida <strong>College</strong>, and the Longy School of Music.<br />
The <strong>Wheelock</strong> sculptures are all abstract but created from a variety of<br />
materials and quite different. The Dance is a giant standing figure with<br />
flat black and gray steel surfaces, some of which mirror passers-by, and is<br />
installed next to the <strong>Wheelock</strong> Family Theatre. We! is a trio of aluminum<br />
figures in front of the new Campus Center and Student Residence that<br />
changes shape and color depending upon your viewpoint. From one vantage,<br />
the group appears to be strolling down the Riverway. Life Force IV is<br />
an abstract figure with round surfaces sculpted from granite, a more traditional<br />
material, and is located near the rear entrance to 43 Hawes Street<br />
on the Brookline campus.<br />
“<strong>Wheelock</strong> is fortunate to have the Towne Art Gallery with its rotating<br />
exhibits and some artwork exhibited inside of our buildings, but<br />
we never have had permanent exterior art as part of our environment,”<br />
says Associate Professor of Art History Marjorie Hall. “These sculptures<br />
enhance the campus and make a statement about the importance of art to<br />
the <strong>College</strong>, to education, and to our lives. We are hoping this is the first<br />
step in establishing more permanent art on campus.”<br />
Next time you’re in Boston (Reunion, perhaps?), make sure to seek out<br />
these wonderful gifts and make them a part of your <strong>Wheelock</strong> experience.<br />
OF INTEREST<br />
Theater Arts Foster Empathy<br />
Life Force IV<br />
Last year, Thalia Goldstein, a Ph.D. candidate at Boston <strong>College</strong>,<br />
completed a study of 8- to 10-year-olds taking 10 months<br />
of theater arts classes at <strong>Wheelock</strong> Family Theatre and came<br />
up with some interesting results. The process of role-playing<br />
and acting reduced children’s suppression of emotion while it<br />
also increased their ability to express and regulate emotion. While empathy<br />
was not specifically taught as part of the classes, the process of assuming<br />
a character and thinking about other characters’ thinking, feelings, and<br />
motivations also increased levels of empathy, defined in this case as “the<br />
ability to match another person’s emotions.” Goldstein compared these<br />
students with other children taking music and visual arts classes but found<br />
the changes in emotional regulation and empathic abilities only in those<br />
participating in theater arts.
ON CAMPPUS<br />
P<br />
POLICY TALK<br />
Community Dialogue Launches<br />
Early Childhood Policy Coalition<br />
One of the expectations underlying <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s annual Community<br />
Dialogues is that when people come together to<br />
focus their collective experience and knowledge on an issue<br />
of common concern, they can generate great ideas and the<br />
momentum needed to put them into action. Marta Rosa,<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s senior director of government relations and civic engagement,<br />
proved the point last fall when she announced the launch of a new initiative<br />
that emerged from the 2008 Annual Community Dialogue on Early Education<br />
and Care in Massachusetts.<br />
Out of that dialogue, the<br />
Early Childhood Policy Coalition<br />
(ECPC) has formed to<br />
address the lack of diverse and<br />
representative leadership in<br />
Massachusetts early childhood<br />
policy arenas. “At a time when<br />
financial resources that support<br />
those most in need in our society<br />
are diminishing, it is important<br />
to ensure that racially, ethnically,<br />
and linguistically diverse communities,<br />
as well as geographically isolated and economically disadvantaged<br />
groups, are actively engaged in shaping policy and allocating resources,”<br />
Rosa says. While young children from highly diverse backgrounds attend<br />
early childhood programs where multiple languages, traditions, and cultures<br />
converge, this diversity is rarely visible at the leadership level, she<br />
notes. More often than not, communities of color, linguistically diverse<br />
groups, immigrants, and regions of the state farthest from Boston are absent<br />
from policy discussions and decision-making tables.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> is a partner in the Coalition with Hampshire Educational<br />
Collaborative (HEC), located in Western Massachusetts, and Community<br />
Advocates for Young Learners (the CAYL Institute), an organization whose<br />
goal is to develop leadership in the early childhood field. HEC provides educational<br />
services for at-risk learners at all age levels through its early childhood,<br />
out-of-school-time, special education, professional development, and<br />
adult education programs. The CAYL Institute’s mission is to create positive<br />
change for all children in the Commonwealth through policy change and<br />
leadership development.<br />
The Coalition partners have begun work in neighborhoods across<br />
Western Massachusetts and the city of Worcester, building connections and<br />
developing leadership skills among those in the early education and care<br />
community and change agents who have been effective within the communities<br />
at large. In January, <strong>Wheelock</strong> Instructor in Early Childhood Patty<br />
Hnatiuk ’93MS taught a leadership in policy course in <strong>Spring</strong>field, and this<br />
spring an organizing effort is under way in Worcester to increase the area’s<br />
capacity for influencing policy.<br />
Thanks to funding from the Schott Foundation and the Nellie Mae<br />
Foundation, the Coalition is already walking the talk, putting dialogue into<br />
action. Alumni interested in getting involved with the work of the Coalition<br />
should contact Marta Rosa at mrosa@wheelock.edu.<br />
Third Annual Youth<br />
Community Leadership Summit<br />
SPARK the Truth Keeps on Growing<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> has always been a good-citizen institution,<br />
collaborating with neighboring colleges and<br />
universities, engaging in issues affecting the city,<br />
and benefiting Boston’s schools and community organizations<br />
through student practica placements that have numbered in the<br />
thousands over the years since Lucy <strong>Wheelock</strong> initiated them.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Annual Youth Community Leadership Summit,<br />
which offers academic and leadership skill-building opportunities<br />
for Boston-area college and pre-college student leaders —<br />
in addition to <strong>Wheelock</strong> students — continues this tradition.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> convened the first Summit in 2007 as a follow-up<br />
to the Bridges to Hope and Understanding: Exploring Truth<br />
and Reconciliation Youth Symposium with Archbishop Desmond<br />
Tutu. SPARK the Truth, a youth-led social justice and<br />
community action initiative that engages students from local<br />
colleges and Boston Public Schools in fostering positive change<br />
in school and community environments, was founded by<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> as a direct result of that symposium’s success. Since<br />
then, Boston <strong>College</strong>, Harvard University, and Emmanuel <strong>College</strong><br />
have joined <strong>Wheelock</strong> — organizing chapters of SPARK<br />
the Truth on their campuses, collaborating to work on oncampus<br />
issues as well as off-campus community problems, and<br />
participating in the Summits.<br />
The Third Annual Summit, for which SPARK the Truth<br />
collaborated with <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Office of Pre-Collegiate and<br />
<strong>College</strong> Access Programs and its Juvenile Justice and Youth<br />
Advocacy program, brought together more than 100 students<br />
from colleges, schools, and youth organizations to talk about<br />
issues currently affecting their communities and to work<br />
toward solutions.<br />
The Boston Public Schools that are now involved are Boston<br />
Arts Academy, Boston Community Leadership Academy,<br />
Boston Latin Academy, Kennedy Academy for Health Careers,<br />
Madison Park Technical Vocational School, New Mission High<br />
School, and Muriel S. Snowden International High School.<br />
Participating community organizations are <strong>College</strong> Bound<br />
Dorchester, <strong>College</strong> For Every Student, Sociedad Latina, St.<br />
Stephen’s Place of Opportunity for Teens, and Upward Bound<br />
Teacher Bound at <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong>.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 5
ON CAMPUS<br />
Students<br />
t<br />
SPORTS WRAP-UP<br />
Women’s Basketball Highlights<br />
Wins over Southern Vermont <strong>College</strong> and Bay Path led the memorable<br />
moments in this year’s women’s basketball. Senior Sarah Brown<br />
became the fourth women’s basketball player to hit the 1,000-point<br />
mark, doing so in a game against Becker <strong>College</strong> in January. Brown<br />
also received All-Conference Honorable Mention.<br />
Men’s Basketball Posts Winning Season<br />
The men’s basketball team posted a winning record of 16-11 in<br />
only their third season of play under Head Coach John Preziosa.<br />
The highlight of regular season conference play was a dramatic overtime<br />
win against Elms <strong>College</strong>, whose team is nationally ranked<br />
in Division III. The Wildcats advanced to the New England Collegiate<br />
Conference (NECC) Final Four, where they fell to Elms, the<br />
eventual champions, 66-62. Sherard Robbins ’10 became the first<br />
men’s player to reach the 1,000-point plateau, doing so in front of a<br />
packed home crowd against Southern Vermont <strong>College</strong>. Robbins was<br />
also named First Team All-Conference, while Dan Main ’11 and<br />
Max Kaim ’12 both received All-Conference Honorable Mention.<br />
Softball Team Looks to Build on<br />
Last Year’s Success<br />
Having lost only one starter from the 2009 squad, the <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
softball team is looking to build on last year’s success and make a<br />
run at the <strong>2010</strong> New England Collegiate Conference title. In early<br />
March the Wildcats had a successful trip to Florida, where they<br />
competed in the Gene Cusic Softball Classic, and they began conference<br />
action on March 29, when they hosted Lesley University.<br />
Top Tennis Singles<br />
The New England Collegiate Conference tennis season was scheduled<br />
at press time to start for <strong>Wheelock</strong> on March 27 with a home match<br />
vs. Lesley University. “We really worked hard in the pre-season,” says<br />
first-year head coach of men’s tennis Sean Duke-Crocker. “I love the<br />
way the team has come together.” Co-captain and #1 singles player<br />
Wilson Chang ’11 leads the men’s team. Senior co-captain Kate<br />
Needham and sophomore Bobby Venning round out the top three<br />
singles players for the <strong>College</strong>.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> Scoops Awards at 2009<br />
NECC Field Hockey Championship<br />
Coach Kyoungho Koh, who<br />
led the Wildcats to a 7-1 overall<br />
record and second-place<br />
finish in the New England<br />
Collegiate Conference (NECC)<br />
championship — the Wildcats’<br />
first-ever trip to the title match<br />
— was named the 2009 NECC<br />
Field Hockey Coach of the<br />
Year. Four <strong>Wheelock</strong> players<br />
were named to the All-NECC<br />
First Team: forward Milbrey<br />
Hendrix ’11, midfielders<br />
Chelsey Ballard ’13 and Julie<br />
Kilcoyne ’11, and defender<br />
Coach Kyoungho Koh named<br />
2009 NECC Field Hockey<br />
Michaela Ross ’11. Goalkeeper<br />
Meredith Race ’11 received<br />
Coach of the Year<br />
an honorable mention.<br />
Additionally, men’s soccer was honored with the 2009 NECC Team<br />
Sportsmanship Award in their inaugural season. Goalkeeper Victor<br />
Kashouh ’12 received an All-Conference honorable mention for his performance<br />
leading the conference in saves with 164 in 11 games in what<br />
was his first season playing the sport.<br />
Get Current . . .<br />
Wildcats on the Web<br />
Keep tabs on how your favorite <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
teams and players are doing on the <strong>College</strong>’s<br />
website. You’ll find the scoreboards of games played,<br />
schedules of upcoming games to go to, statistics on the teams and<br />
players, and a gallery of photos from this year’s games.<br />
6 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
Diana Cutaia,<br />
Director of Athletics<br />
and Sport-Based<br />
Initiatives<br />
at <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
e<br />
O<br />
es<br />
Overzealous parents losing<br />
tempers, shouting violently at<br />
their kids to “kill” the opponent,<br />
or getting into a physical<br />
fight with umpires over<br />
a call gone wrong are all too common experiences<br />
on today’s athletic fields, even where<br />
the youngest of children are playing. It was<br />
watching such an event 10 years ago that made<br />
Diana Cutaia, <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s director of athletics<br />
and sport-based initiatives, start to think about<br />
what is missing from the hypercompetitive world of sports that is causing 12-year-olds<br />
to burn out and quit. Words like “empathy” and “collaboration” came to mind.<br />
Empathy? Yes, if you are Cutaia or among a like-minded group of coaches who are<br />
out to put the original Olympic orientation to athletics back in the game — a mindset<br />
that, among other benefits, allows you to feel for your opponent if they lose the game<br />
because you know what it is like to be a worthy competitor and not win.<br />
Wa<br />
lympia<br />
Cutaia notes that the war themes and violent vernacular in sports today are outdated<br />
remnants from ancient times when athletic games were used to train warriors. “They<br />
are still so pervasive that today’s players and watchers have become desensitized to the<br />
violence involved and are missing the opportunity to gain more from sports,” she says.<br />
The “more” is embedded in the equally ancient Olympian ideals that focused on<br />
preparing individual athletes for life by developing them to be the best human beings<br />
they could possibly be, says Cutaia, as defined in the Olympic charter: Olympism is<br />
a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body,<br />
will, and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create<br />
a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of a good example, and<br />
respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.<br />
The approach involves mentally reframing the competitiveness in sports to be at<br />
once more internal and more collaborative. “Instead of working to brutally crush your<br />
opponent, you set personal goals to be the best you can be as an individual competitor;<br />
you work to meet these goals and set new ones,” Cutaia explains. “This leads to genuine<br />
growth and self-confidence and becoming an even better athlete.”<br />
Learning to think collaboratively, she says, goes beyond developing teamwork skills:<br />
“You want your opponent to be good, to be a strong competitor, because it makes you<br />
stretch to be the best you can be. You are in the game together; you don’t have to hurt<br />
each other to succeed. This is a kind of sportsmanship we take seriously at <strong>Wheelock</strong>.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> coaches are evaluated on whether or not student athletes learn and have a<br />
positive experience. Even losing a game has its positive side. “If you have an undefeated<br />
season, you never learn anything,” says Cutaia. “I don’t remember the scores or very many<br />
of the wins or losses in games I played as a student, but I remember the lessons learned<br />
from coaches, the relationships built with teammates, and the feelings of accomplishment.<br />
That’s what’s meaningful.” You might say it’s the Wildcat way of going for the gold.<br />
Resource: Cutaia recommends Season of Life: a football star, a boy, a journey to<br />
manhood by Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Marx, the story of a retired football pro who<br />
changes lives by teaching boys to become men of substance and impact through focusing<br />
on a cause beyond themselves. Olympic champion Carl Lewis says it “should be<br />
required reading for every high school student in America and every parent as well.”<br />
NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott promises that “by sharing Season of Life with others, you<br />
will be helping to make this a better world.”<br />
Social Entrepreneurship Update<br />
Our students make the complex process<br />
of grant-getting look so easy!<br />
Two more M.S.W. students have<br />
succeeded marvelously in their first attempt<br />
at applying what they learned in Dr. Hope<br />
Haslam Straughan’s organizational leadership<br />
class. Courtney Gomez and Sarah<br />
Thoensen won a $5,000 grant for therapeutic<br />
supplies to be used at the Italian<br />
Home for Children (IHC), where they are<br />
interning. The IHC congratulated Courtney<br />
and Sarah, saying, “Their hard work is<br />
going to benefit the agency tremendously.<br />
We appreciate it SO MUCH.”<br />
StudentSnapshot<br />
Name: Jessica Reyes, Policy Fellow<br />
Year of Graduation: <strong>2010</strong><br />
Major: American Studies, Human Development Focus<br />
in Psychology, Juvenile Justice and Youth Advocacy<br />
Some interests & hobbies: Love reading, salsa<br />
dancing, going out to eat, and spending quality time<br />
with those important people in my life.<br />
What got you interested in the area of policy:<br />
I understand that policy influences much of our lives and,<br />
very importantly, those same people I hope to advocate<br />
for, whether in education, health care, or juvenile justice.<br />
All is interconnected. If I do not become more aware,<br />
informed, and involved in the public policy arena, I will<br />
not be able to efficiently advocate for those who need a<br />
voice in government.<br />
What have you gained from this year as a<br />
Policy Fellow: Learning and understanding more of the<br />
process of public policy so that I can better navigate the<br />
system to become a better advocate and a more involved<br />
citizen of our Commonwealth.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 7
ON CAMPUS<br />
Faculty<br />
Social Work Department Honors —<br />
Kathleen Kirk Bishop<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> celebrates Social Work Month in March<br />
every year with a dinner that recognizes the vital<br />
work that the <strong>College</strong> prepares its students to do.<br />
This year, the event was special because it was the<br />
perfect occasion to honor the contributions of<br />
Dr. Kathleen Kirk Bishop, who is retiring after a decade of leadership<br />
at <strong>Wheelock</strong>. Dr. Bishop served as dean of the School of Social<br />
Work and Family Studies from 1999 until 2009, directing <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s<br />
B.S.W. program, spearheading the development of its M.S.W. program,<br />
and supporting the <strong>College</strong>’s development of several new programs,<br />
including the Sport-Based Youth Development and Juvenile Justice<br />
and Youth Advocacy programs.<br />
Dr. Bishop’s exceptional career beyond the <strong>Wheelock</strong> campus has<br />
included leadership appointments on several other university faculties,<br />
at schools of medicine and hospitals, and at federal agencies. Her contributions<br />
as a social work educator, scholar, researcher, consultant, agency<br />
adviser, advocate, coalition builder, program developer, and direct service<br />
provider were described by more than one celebrant at the event as<br />
quite simply “amazing.”<br />
Students at the gathering expressed their personal thanks for her<br />
inspired teaching and mentoring.<br />
Michelle McWilliams ’08MSW, coordinator of social work for<br />
the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Boston Medical Center,<br />
said that it was under Dr. Bishop that she became a believer in social<br />
justice, change, and the practice of social work. “Dr. Bishop — or<br />
Kathleen, as her students call her — personifies the ideals, mores, and<br />
definition of social work,” she said. “She practiced what she preached.”<br />
She noted Kathleen’s outstanding ability to make students feel empowered;<br />
her sophisticated understanding of the intersection and dynamics<br />
of individual, familial, and community forces that influence the goals,<br />
practices, values, and ethics of social service practice; and her ethic<br />
of practicing what she preached. “There are far too few practitioners<br />
working with underserved communities who possess such an understanding,”<br />
she said. “I am lucky to have been trained by one.”<br />
LaTanya Steele ’05BSW, social work supervisor at the Needham<br />
Council on Aging, attended <strong>Wheelock</strong> as a full-time student<br />
and working single parent raising two teenage daughters. Addressing<br />
Dr. Bishop, she said, “Challenges were set before me, but they<br />
were diminished by the support that you provided. Mae West said,<br />
‘You only live once — but if you do it correctly, once is more than<br />
enough.’ You do only live once, and your profession is no exception.<br />
And if you do it right, one working life is more than enough. Dr.<br />
Bishop, you did it correctly. Thank you.”<br />
Kathleen appreciated the many heartfelt accolades but preferred<br />
to focus attention on <strong>Wheelock</strong>, her students and colleagues, and, of<br />
course, social work.<br />
“I am pleased to report that social work B.S.W. and M.S.W.<br />
programs are alive and well and thriving at <strong>Wheelock</strong>,” she informed<br />
everyone. “This year, in May <strong>2010</strong>, we will graduate the largest class<br />
of M.S.W. students — 48 — and a large B.S.W. class of 31.” If we<br />
add all of the students we have graduated from both programs, it is<br />
roughly 500 students.<br />
“This night is about family — yours, mine, and all of our collective<br />
dedication to improving the lives of children and families — not just<br />
in our own families, our neighborhood, city, state, and country, but in<br />
the whole world,” Dr. Bishop continued. “I think that the most recent<br />
event in Haiti has made it abundantly clear that we are all family.”<br />
In her talk, Dr. Bishop demonstrated what Assistant Professor<br />
of Social Work Deborah Beck compared to pioneer social worker<br />
Jane Addams’ “unswerving faith in the potential of all human beings.”<br />
Beck said, “I think we can all see that there are direct similarities<br />
here. A giant in the social work profession. An advocate of human<br />
rights and social justice for all. A woman who believes in the immutable,<br />
universal existence and power of human strength. And a person<br />
who ends all of her e-mails with the simple word ‘peace.’ This is also<br />
you, Kathleen. And for all of us, I say the simple word — THANKS.”<br />
I i<br />
l<br />
Vi i<br />
i<br />
p<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s<br />
W<br />
Center for<br />
International Education,<br />
Leadership, and Innovation<br />
hosted three Presidential International<br />
Visiting Scholars from Germany, Ghana,<br />
and Israel during the spring semester.<br />
Dr. Joachim Broecher, professor of children’s development,<br />
education, and socialization at the University<br />
of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany,<br />
directs the Applied Childhood Studies program at<br />
Magdeburg-Stendal, from which <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong> welcomed<br />
two exchange students this semester. Dr. Broecher<br />
lectured on the ways in which art can help children<br />
to heal and was hosted at <strong>Wheelock</strong> by Dr. Petra Hesse,<br />
associate professor of human development.<br />
Dr. Martin Okyere Owusu of the University of<br />
Ghana’s Legon School of Performing Arts is a professor,<br />
filmmaker, playwright, and director who is a<br />
powerful presence in West African theater. Lecturing<br />
on “Ananse, The Spider Revisited: The Educational and<br />
Spiritual Significance of Storytelling in West African<br />
Tradition,” Dr. Owusu was hosted by Dr. Joyce Hope<br />
Scott, associate professor of American studies.<br />
Dr. Rachel Tal, head of English Studies and Educational<br />
Projects at the Amal Network of secondary<br />
schools in Israel, presented a forum on “The English<br />
Classroom as a Platform for Peace-Building with<br />
Jewish and Arab Students in Israel.” Dr. Tal was<br />
hosted by Dr. Suzanne Pasch, director of the Center<br />
for Scholarship and Research.<br />
8 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
IN CLASS<br />
OMG! Texting Is Science! LOL!<br />
The cell phone — that tiny, plastic flip box almost all of us<br />
rely on for instant communication — has come a long way<br />
since Martin Cooper invented its amazing technology in 1973.<br />
Eighty-nine percent of U.S. residents use cell phones, and<br />
texting is now mainstream technology, with more than 75<br />
billion messages sent every month. How can we possibly punch a few buttons<br />
and zap our voices or written text anywhere in the world in just seconds? How<br />
does it work? Assistant Professor of Physical Science Dr. “Chuck” Fidler<br />
had the answers to these questions and more at a recent evening drop-in class<br />
on the science of cell texting.<br />
In brief, it’s all about energy and speed. Your cell phone draws electrical<br />
energy when you plug it into your wall outlet to charge its battery, and it can<br />
transform that energy into invisible low-energy radio waves, which it emits<br />
into the air. These radio waves carry descriptive code identifying your particular<br />
phone and its current location wherever you happen to be with it.<br />
Cell towers all around the world are connected to<br />
power grids from which they also take electrical<br />
energy and transform it into radio<br />
waves. The waves emanate in spheres<br />
within a wireless cell specific to each<br />
tower, which are all connected to<br />
each other. When you make a call,<br />
the tower nearest your phone picks<br />
up the code it is sending in its radio<br />
waves, searches through millions<br />
of other descriptive codes to locate<br />
the exact destination of the phone you<br />
are calling to, and zaps a call connection<br />
across myriad other cell towers, all linked by cells<br />
of radio waves at — here’s the amazing part — roughly the speed of light. That’s<br />
around the globe eight times in one second! We won’t go into how radio waves<br />
turn into actual letters on a screen, but there’s a clue in the word “photon.”<br />
Dr. Fidler’s class offered a sampling of other interesting texting information<br />
to contemplate. The typical text service can handle only 160 characters of<br />
text; thus a shorthand language of acronyms was invented by users (OMG!).<br />
Every text message is saved somewhere and can be retrieved. And if you are<br />
tempted to text while driving? In 2008, almost 6,000 people were killed and<br />
more than 500,000 were injured in distracted driving crashes. Text wisely.<br />
ADDENDUM: Dr. Fidler’s article “Visualizing the Earth and Moon Relationship<br />
via Scaled Drawings” appeared in the December 2009 issue of Science<br />
Scope, a National Science Teachers Association journal for middle school science<br />
education.<br />
Dr. William H. Smith<br />
W.K. Kellogg Foundation<br />
Funds National Center for<br />
Race Amity at <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
The Association of American <strong>College</strong>s and Universities’<br />
2008 research report “Making Diversity<br />
Work on Campus” recommends that students can<br />
best prepare for their increasing engagement in a<br />
diverse society and world by studying four topics<br />
within the context of race and ethnicity: experience, identity,<br />
aspiration, and United States pluralism and the pursuit of justice.<br />
The report also recommends that colleges encourage crossracial<br />
dialogue among students by providing a structured format<br />
in which they can regularly participate and learn how to engage<br />
positively in such conversations.<br />
Last semester, <strong>Wheelock</strong> introduced a new initiative led by<br />
Dr. William H. Smith “Smitty” that is designed to follow these<br />
recommendations. Dr. Smith joined the <strong>College</strong> through support<br />
from a $400,000 W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant to establish the<br />
National Center for Race Amity (NCRA) at <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong>,<br />
which will build on his previous work of the last 10 years. Initially<br />
as a senior fellow and later as a trustee of the Phelps Stokes Fund,<br />
Dr. Smith developed a case study- and dialogue-based approach to<br />
racial understanding and amity which is being used by a growing<br />
number of educational institutions that are part of the Campus<br />
Conversations on Race <strong>College</strong> Network (CCORCN).<br />
The CCORCN offers a structured program intended to educate<br />
students so they can have positive relationships with diverse<br />
people throughout their life experiences and includes Harvard<br />
University, Skidmore <strong>College</strong>, Emerson <strong>College</strong>, Pace University,<br />
Tufts University, Boston <strong>College</strong>, Florida International University,<br />
the University of Rochester, Berklee <strong>College</strong> of Music,<br />
Colby <strong>College</strong>, Massachusetts <strong>College</strong> of Art, and Westchester<br />
Community <strong>College</strong>.<br />
One of the goals of the new center at <strong>Wheelock</strong> is to expand<br />
the network of participating colleges, increasing the number to<br />
65 in the first two years and to 135 in three years. The NCRA<br />
will also collaborate with the Department of Education to<br />
develop a new curriculum on The Human Being. A third area of<br />
center activity will involve collaborating with <strong>Wheelock</strong> Family<br />
Theatre and the Department of Education to create theater-based<br />
race amity and education programs for middle school students.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 9
ALUMNI<br />
Join an<br />
Online Social<br />
Networking<br />
Group!<br />
Ayear ago, 540 alumni<br />
were members of<br />
a <strong>Wheelock</strong> alumni<br />
social networking group on<br />
Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.<br />
Since then, the number has<br />
tripled! To locate a <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
group and join the fun, just<br />
type “<strong>Wheelock</strong> Alumni” in<br />
each site’s search bar.<br />
Calling All<br />
Bermuda Alumni<br />
Did you graduate from a<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong> program<br />
in Bermuda? Are you<br />
currently living in Bermuda<br />
and looking to further<br />
your education? The <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
Center for International Education,<br />
Leadership, and Innovation is launching<br />
a new Master of Science degree program<br />
on the island with courses focused on<br />
Elementary Education and Literacy.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> delivered Bachelor of Science,<br />
Master of Science, and Professional<br />
Development Programs in Bermuda from<br />
1996 to 2006, and now there is a strong<br />
call for the <strong>College</strong> to again offer its<br />
tailored, culturally relevant, and state-ofthe-art<br />
programs there for primary school<br />
teachers looking to upgrade their skills.<br />
If you or someone you know is interested<br />
and would like more information,<br />
contact the Center by phone at (617)<br />
879-2227 or by e-mail at cieli@wheelock.<br />
edu. And don’t forget to continue to keep<br />
your contact information updated and<br />
share your news for the Alumni Office’s<br />
Class Notes by visiting http://www.wheelock.edu/alum/alumupdates.asp.<br />
We<br />
look forward to hearing from you!<br />
R<br />
ent Gr !<br />
FA<br />
S h<br />
F<br />
on<br />
p<br />
g<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
W<br />
offers this excellent opportunity to provide direct service to children<br />
and youth and to work on special projects while gaining the experience<br />
and mentoring needed for successful careers in youth development and<br />
educational fields. The FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellowship program is a twoyear<br />
fellowship for recent college graduates designed to prepare them as leaders in the<br />
fields of education and youth development and to strengthen high-quality youth-serving<br />
organizations. Fellows work within established organizations providing direct service,<br />
and initiating new projects, research, or programs that may involve public policy, organizational<br />
replication or sustainability efforts, or other new initiatives to strengthen the<br />
host organization. For more information, contact Kelly Essman, faculty assistant, at<br />
kessman@wheelock.edu or Ann Tobey, associate professor and director, Juvenile Justice<br />
& Youth Advocacy, at atobey@wheelock.edu.<br />
April Is Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary —<br />
Go Green Every Day Online<br />
The Alumni Relations Office is doing its best to be responsibly green by<br />
relying more on e-mail and our website to communicate with alumni. If<br />
you do not yet receive the monthly Alumni E-Newsletter, it’s probably<br />
because we don’t have your address! Ditto for all alumni who graduated in<br />
or after the year 1990. Class Notes for these alumni are now delivered online<br />
— much to the delight of many who have written or called to say how easy and<br />
convenient it is. To stay connected, pass your e-mail address along to lsaslav@<br />
wheelock.edu in the Alumni Relations Office.<br />
Recognizing in<br />
g<br />
the Value of Teachers<br />
er<br />
Secretary<br />
S<br />
of Education Arne<br />
Duncan is advocating for legislation<br />
that respects the status<br />
of educators as skilled professionals,<br />
recognizes how much they contribute<br />
to society, and compensates<br />
them accordingly. Diane Gould<br />
Thompson ’76, who has taught<br />
kindergarten at Oakland Terrace<br />
Elementary School in Silver <strong>Spring</strong>,<br />
MD, for 12 years, participated with<br />
50 other teachers from the Washington,<br />
D.C., area in a nationally<br />
televised town hall meeting with the<br />
secretary. The discussion focused on<br />
ways to reform education, improve<br />
the Elementary and Secondary<br />
Education Act, and advance methods<br />
for recruiting, preparing, and<br />
rewarding teachers.<br />
Diane Gould<br />
Thompson ’76 and<br />
Secretary of<br />
Education Arne<br />
Duncan<br />
10 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
Child Life Specialists<br />
Caroline Hargrave ’09MS,<br />
Lisa Granger ’09MS, and<br />
Danielle Surprenant ’04<br />
Meaningful Work in Cape Town, South Africa<br />
When a doctor at the Red Cross War Memorial<br />
Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) in Cape Town,<br />
South Africa, decided she needed to incorporate<br />
child life interventions into her care protocol,<br />
she contacted Connect-123 Internship & Volunteer<br />
Programs, an organization that works with students and<br />
professionals from all over the globe who want to apply their skills<br />
to benefit nonprofit organizations, schools, research institutes, and<br />
health care facilities in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Cape Town,<br />
South Africa. Connect-123 contacted <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Chair of Child<br />
Life and Family Studies Paul Thayer, and within months, by February<br />
2009, Caroline Hargrave ’09MS was in Cape Town beginning<br />
to pilot a child life services program that the hospital needed.<br />
The only tertiary referral hospital of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa,<br />
the RCWMCH annually treats 250,000 children who need specialized<br />
medical care. While there are therapeutic programs available to<br />
children in the hospital, South Africa has no official academic training<br />
for child life or hospital play specialties; this is the first child life pilot<br />
program to take place at any government hospital in the country.<br />
The <strong>Wheelock</strong> Team Goes to Work<br />
Two more <strong>Wheelock</strong> alumni soon joined Caroline on the child life<br />
team she was building: Lisa Granger ’09MS, a volunteer for eight<br />
weeks, and Danielle Surprenant ’04, who is now the Connect-123<br />
Child Life Program director for <strong>2010</strong>.<br />
Much of the work in the pilot program is on the Burn Rehabilitation<br />
and Oncology wards, with additional service in the areas of<br />
“Our collaboration and support of one another<br />
has brought about a sense of solidarity reminiscent<br />
of what I felt during my studies at <strong>Wheelock</strong>, and<br />
working together in this multicultural environment has<br />
been an incredible extension of our education.”<br />
— Caroline Hargrave ’09MS<br />
ICU, Trauma, Short Stay, General Pediatrics, Surgical Wards, Medical<br />
Specialty, and Operating Room as well as in outpatient clinics.<br />
Each of the three <strong>Wheelock</strong> alumni speaks of how deeply meaningful<br />
the work is. “I consistently feel a ‘fullness’ working here as<br />
the interventions we provide have such a profound impact on these<br />
children and families that can be physically felt and seen,” Caroline<br />
says. “I had one mother look at me while I helped calm her child<br />
following a challenging dressing change on the burn ward and say,<br />
‘Now that right there is the medicine.’ Watching parents ‘get it’ and<br />
realize what a difference it can make to play or communicate with<br />
their child in this setting has been very meaningful.”<br />
Danielle thinks the impact of her work, some of the “simple<br />
gestures” of child life care, bridges the gap between language, culture,<br />
and misunderstanding and gives meaning to her <strong>Wheelock</strong> education.<br />
She feels that the three alumni are pioneers. “We are the first ones to<br />
do work like this here, and that brings profound appreciation,” she<br />
continued on page 16<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 11
ALUMNI<br />
Marjorie Wolf Memorial<br />
Grant Recipients<br />
Each year, <strong>Wheelock</strong> alumni prove over again<br />
just how creative they are when they propose<br />
to the Marjorie Wolf Memorial Grant<br />
program projects that will produce a pretty<br />
big bang for not a lot of money ($750 to be<br />
exact). This year’s recipients developed projects that will<br />
have a continuing influence on communities of children<br />
and teachers they work with — one local, the other halfway<br />
around the world — long after the grants are spent.<br />
Buffy Burns Ludwick ’99<br />
Buffy Burns Ludwick ’99 used her grant to develop an agricultural<br />
project for the children and teachers at the Appleton Village School in<br />
Appleton, ME, that harvested a bushel of learning about ecology, plant<br />
life, nutrition, and health, not to<br />
mention the individual growth<br />
and community-building produced<br />
by the process of collaboration.<br />
Together they planned,<br />
planted, and nurtured the<br />
school’s Appleton Roots garden<br />
into its first months of harvest.<br />
“As planned, each grade (K-8)<br />
planted and tended its own garden<br />
bed during last year’s growing<br />
season,” Buffy reported to the<br />
Alumni Association. “Students<br />
are learning and appreciating the<br />
process of recycling, composting,<br />
building fertile soil, planting the<br />
seed, harvesting healthy crops,<br />
and eating fresh, delicious lunch ingredients. On behalf of Appleton Village<br />
School, I want to thank you for supporting our efforts and granting<br />
our proposal. Our ‘Appleton Roots’ garden had a successful first season,<br />
and we look forward to many more!”<br />
Marianne O’Grady ’94MS<br />
Marianne O’Grady ’94MS has started School Is Open, a nonprofit that<br />
supports teachers and students in Afghanistan by providing the educational<br />
tools they need for schools (www.schoolisopen.org). Last summer,<br />
as she has done for<br />
several years, Marianne<br />
traveled to Afghanistan<br />
to conduct teachertraining<br />
workshops in<br />
science education and<br />
child development. Marianne<br />
used her Marjorie<br />
Wolf Memorial Grant<br />
to purchase 20 life-size<br />
X-ray sets, which she<br />
incorporated into lectures<br />
she gave on anatomy<br />
and then donated to 40<br />
teachers representing six<br />
schools from the Sherastan<br />
district of Daikundi<br />
Province. “A goal for this grant was<br />
to distribute the X-ray sets to teachers<br />
in rural and unsupported areas of<br />
Afghanistan where hundreds of children<br />
are now arriving at school each<br />
day,” Marianne told us. “<strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
<strong>College</strong> is supporting education well<br />
beyond its doors in Boston. The mission<br />
of improving the lives of children<br />
and families is occurring as far away as<br />
the middle of Afghanistan.”<br />
12 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody<br />
Award Winner<br />
Dr. Angela Paige Cook ’73MS<br />
Founder and Director of Paige Academy<br />
Education, strong teaching, and<br />
independent schools that nurture<br />
achievement in black children<br />
have always been at the center<br />
of Dr. Angela Paige Cook’s<br />
life. From her earliest years growing up in<br />
Washington, D.C., where her mother was<br />
principal of an inner-city school, to her own<br />
experience opening one of the first Freedom<br />
Schools for young black children during the<br />
Civil Rights Movement and, later, sending<br />
all four of her own children to historically<br />
black colleges, this year’s winner of <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s<br />
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Award has<br />
always believed that teaching pride in culture<br />
and leadership skills makes a positive, and<br />
necessary, difference in black children’s educational<br />
achievement.<br />
Angela is well known as a leader in Boston,<br />
where, after receiving her master’s degree from<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>, she founded Paige Academy as<br />
an independent school alternative to the<br />
local public schools, where African-American<br />
boys and girls were routinely failing because<br />
of what she believes was and is a lack of<br />
understanding of how black children learn<br />
and excel. Thirty-five years later, while<br />
the achievement gap in the public schools<br />
remains, Paige Academy continues to provide<br />
a successful alternative, setting high academic<br />
standards and providing a “cultural resonance”<br />
that over the years has helped thousands of<br />
black and Latino students develop a positive<br />
sense of self and the confidence to overcome<br />
obstacles to achievement in school.<br />
Surrounded by Black Achievement<br />
“I grew up in the South in a family with<br />
educated relatives, and I attended schools for<br />
black children where we had good teachers<br />
and where we did well,” Angela says. “We<br />
all did our work and learned and achieved.<br />
When I moved up to Boston in 1970, I<br />
worked as a substitute teacher and I didn’t<br />
see that. I saw black children falling behind,<br />
so many being separated out for learning disabilities<br />
and sitting in the basement getting<br />
special education. From my experience in the<br />
South, I knew this wasn’t right, that black<br />
children could achieve, and so I started Paige<br />
Academy to provide what I had benefited<br />
from as a child.”<br />
Angela started small, with her own child<br />
and seven children of friends in an Episcopal<br />
parish hall in Roxbury that charged no rent.<br />
After the first week, word spread and there<br />
were 25 children in the hall. By the third<br />
The Woman Behind the Award<br />
week they were up to 35. Over the years the<br />
school grew, moving into larger and larger<br />
spaces provided by a group of three Victorian<br />
houses and a playground in its current<br />
location not far from Roxbury Community<br />
<strong>College</strong>.<br />
continued on page 17<br />
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody is best known as a teacher and educational reformer, and more<br />
specifically as the mother of kindergarten in America. Inspired by the work and philosophies<br />
of Friedrich Froebel, she established the first kindergarten in Boston in 1860. Ms. Peabody<br />
was also a popular instructor in training courses for kindergarten teachers, and it was she who<br />
encouraged a young Lucy <strong>Wheelock</strong> to enroll in one of those training courses. Miss <strong>Wheelock</strong> was<br />
always very proud that Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s signature was on her diploma, certifying her to<br />
teach young children.<br />
To honor Lucy <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s mentor, a woman whose values and commitment to education<br />
are so well reflected at <strong>Wheelock</strong>, the Alumni Association presents the Elizabeth Palmer Peabody<br />
Award each year to an alumna/us of the <strong>College</strong>’s graduate program. The award recognizes<br />
professional or volunteer work that exemplifies the mission of the <strong>College</strong> and demonstrates<br />
Peabody’s commitment to finding unity in all types of diversity.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 13
ALUMNI<br />
GUATEMALA<br />
Al , 2011<br />
1<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> alumni, join us on the journey as our students and<br />
faculty return to Guatemala City and Antigua Guatemala next<br />
February for seven days of learning and service. The <strong>College</strong><br />
has a long-standing relationship with Safe Passage, the U.S.-<br />
based, non profit humanitarian organization founded by the<br />
late Hanley Denning ’96MS to bring education and hope to the country’s poorest,<br />
most marginalized children and youth who live in the Guatemala City garbage<br />
dump community. We are excited to offer alumni the chance to join in the efforts<br />
of the hundreds of teachers, staff, and volunteers who travel to Safe Passage from<br />
all over the world each year to contribute their service and to help fulfill Hanley’s<br />
passionate desire to make a difference. Along the way, you will learn about Safe<br />
Passage and about Guatemalan culture, and you are sure to share another<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> experience that is meaningful and memorable.<br />
Trip Highlights<br />
• Walking tour of Antigua (UNESCO World Heritage Site)<br />
• Tour of Safe Passage, Guatemala City, including the Guardería<br />
(Early Childhood Education Center)<br />
• Volunteer activities with the children of Safe Passage<br />
• Film and documentary viewings with local scholars<br />
• Participation in the 8th International Literacy Conference in Guatemala City<br />
at<br />
(617) 879 2286 or alumnirelations@wheelock.edu.<br />
la<br />
io<br />
n<br />
ee<br />
lo<br />
e<br />
.<br />
Summer <strong>2010</strong> Professional<br />
Development Institutes<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> graduates are lifelong learners who advance in<br />
their professions and make meaningful contributions<br />
to their fields. This summer, Professional & Continuing<br />
Education at the <strong>College</strong> will offer institutes examining<br />
current trends in theory and practice that can<br />
readily be applied to professions as diverse as teaching, public policy, social<br />
work, counseling, community outreach, and law. Advance your career by<br />
coming back to campus for more learning and networking.<br />
Graduate credits, PDPs, and CEUs are offered for these courses:<br />
•<br />
Organizing and Leading Parent Groups<br />
•<br />
Psychopathology of Children and Adolescents<br />
•<br />
Medical Ethics<br />
•<br />
Media Madness: The Impact of Sex, Violence, & Commercial<br />
Culture on Adults, Children, & Society<br />
•<br />
Bullying and Cyber-bullying<br />
•<br />
Theory and Practice of Stress Reduction<br />
•<br />
Teaching Astronomy in the Elementary Classroom<br />
•<br />
Assistive Technology<br />
•<br />
Teaching Literacy to English Language Learners/Multisensory<br />
Approaches to Reading<br />
•<br />
A Framework for Relating to Autism as an ASSET<br />
For current information and to register, visit the <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
website at www.wheelock.edu or contact Matt Pellish at<br />
mpellish@wheelock.edu or (617) 879-2269.
ALUMNI<br />
Resources<br />
Reading and AV Resources for<br />
Understanding Autism<br />
In <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Autism across the Spectrum special topics course,<br />
taught by Dr. Amy L. Phillips-Losso, students are learning how<br />
recent science and literature have vastly improved our understanding<br />
of autism, a complex developmental disability that affects a person’s<br />
ability to communicate and interact with others. Wrongly attributed<br />
to detached parenting for many years, autism is defined by a set of certain<br />
behaviors that affect individuals differently and to varying degrees<br />
across a spectrum. Students in the course are learning about the compelling<br />
research that shows how autism emerged as a pervasive developmental<br />
disorder and reading several extraordinary memoirs by persons<br />
with autism and by family members of those with the disorder.<br />
The Seige: A Family’s Journey into<br />
the World of an Autistic Child<br />
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s<br />
Life with Autism<br />
Reading resources include two books by Clara Parks, the first person<br />
to write about life with a child with autism. Parks wrote The Seige: A<br />
Family’s Journey into the World of an Autistic Child three decades ago,<br />
when mothers like her were being blamed for causing their children’s<br />
autism by being too cold (“refrigerator mothers”). “As Clara was a loving<br />
and involved mother to her very special daughter, and had three<br />
other typical children, her memoir was successful in changing this<br />
explanation for the cause of autism,” explains Phillips-Losso. “Because<br />
of The Siege, many people came to understand that autism was a<br />
developmental disorder and not a disorder of attachment.” Parks’<br />
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism was written 32 years<br />
later and portrays her daughter’s experience with autism throughout<br />
her life span.<br />
Rage for Order Documentary<br />
Also recommended is the documentary Rage for Order (view online at<br />
www.video.google.com), one segment in the four-part PBS series The Mind<br />
Traveler by Rosetta Pictures. Narrated by Oliver Sacks, the video includes<br />
readings from many memoirs in addition to current writings by persons<br />
with autism and members of their families.<br />
Policy Connection Website<br />
Talking to Kids about Events in the News<br />
Policy Connection is a regular feature on <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s website and<br />
the <strong>College</strong>’s link between the government and our students,<br />
administrators, and faculty. You can make it yours too. Be it from<br />
Beacon Hill or Capitol Hill, Policy Connection keeps us informed of the<br />
legislation and policies that matter and/or resources that can be useful in<br />
your daily life.<br />
A recent posting gave resources for helping children deal with the<br />
tragedy in Haiti. When such overwhelming events that are felt across<br />
the world happen, children especially have lots of questions: Can this<br />
happen here? Why are the babies crying? Is my house going to fall like<br />
that? How can we help? Understanding how the news on television,<br />
on the radio, in print, or on the Internet impacts children and taking<br />
time to talk with children about their fears, emotions, and perceptions<br />
of the news are extremely important.<br />
Two of the website’s resources that are recommended for talking<br />
with children when tragedy happens are:<br />
• Talking with Kids About News at the PBS website www.PBS.org/<br />
parents/. There, you’ll also find lots of information about child development,<br />
education, children’s health, activities, and parenting advice.<br />
• CHILD CARING, Parenting News & Advice at www.boston.<br />
com/community/moms/, where you’ll find Resources for Talking<br />
with Children When Tragedy Happens, among other helpful articles<br />
related to children.<br />
Walk for Autism<br />
Left to right: Carrie Lagasse Yespy ’00, Associate<br />
Director of Alumni Relations Jane Sanders Wuestkamp<br />
’99, and Rachael Thames ’07/’08MS from<br />
the Community Service and Advocacy Committee<br />
of the Alumni Association joined students from the<br />
Autism Awareness Club in a fundraising walk to<br />
benefit Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism<br />
science and advocacy organization (www.autismspeaks.org).<br />
Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing<br />
awareness of autism spectrum disorders; advocating<br />
for the needs of individuals with autism and their<br />
families; and funding research into the causes, prevention,<br />
treatments, and a cure.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 15
A<br />
Cape Town, South Africa<br />
continued from page 11<br />
“It is so evident here that a little goes a long way and seemingly<br />
insignificant interactions can make all the difference in the<br />
experience of a child or family that otherwise may not have their<br />
feelings validated or feel comforted and supported.”<br />
— Lisa Granger ’09MS<br />
says. “The people whose lives we are affecting remember the days<br />
when child life wasn’t available, and they can see the difference it is<br />
now making.”<br />
Lisa agrees, noting the rewards of being recognized by the staff as<br />
a positive and supportive influence on the ward. “Just the other day<br />
I had a visiting doctor ask me for advice about making the procedure<br />
rooms at his hospital in Uganda more child-friendly because he had<br />
noticed the changes I am making in the procedure rooms here.”<br />
Still, even as she appreciates the impact she is having, Lisa knows it’s<br />
a two-way street. “I can honestly say that I am unsure as to who is<br />
gaining more from this experience — the children, families, and staff<br />
or myself,” she says.<br />
“While South Africa is a well-developed country, there is still so<br />
much needed here,” Danielle says. “In a hospital where resources for<br />
pain management and care are limited, a seemingly simple alternative<br />
can make a notable difference. Sometimes, our efforts can often<br />
seem fruitless because so many children appear unreachable. But<br />
when a nurse commented on our absence one morning, I learned<br />
otherwise. Her words were, ‘It looks like all you are doing is playing,<br />
but it’s so much more than that. I see that now.’”<br />
Spreading Child Life Throughout the World<br />
As a graduate student in <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Child Life program, Caroline<br />
had the opportunity to study abroad in the Hospitalized Child in<br />
England program, where she was able to closely observe British<br />
health care professionals and learn about international health care.<br />
“This was valuable practice for what it would be like as an outsider<br />
from another culture and country,” she says.<br />
“<strong>Wheelock</strong> gave me the courage to pursue my career abroad in<br />
South Africa, and each day I learn something new about adapting<br />
and applying child life services in a multicultural setting. I continue<br />
to develop my appreciation and respect for the imperative role that<br />
child life has played and must continue to play in international settings<br />
that would otherwise not have access to such support.”<br />
The hospital’s child life program grew quickly during the first year,<br />
as did Caroline’s management responsibilities. Connect-123 brought<br />
on 22 volunteers and interns who are child life students and practicing<br />
specialists. “It is amazing to have the volunteer students and professionals<br />
who are seeking cross-cultural exposure join us,” Caroline says. “Sharing<br />
ideas and input with specialists from around the globe helps keep interventions<br />
innovative and the team thinking creatively with the resources<br />
“The best thing anyone can do with the gifts and privileges<br />
they have been granted is to share them. I find it very fulfilling<br />
and it gives me purpose every day. I live a very simple life here<br />
in Cape Town. And yet, even with very little, I feel as though I<br />
have it all. This is to have succeeded.”<br />
— Danielle Surprenant ’04<br />
they have.” Now the program is creating volunteer positions for child life<br />
assistants who will be aiding in fundraising, program development, and<br />
community outreach efforts — all benefiting children in need.<br />
When we last heard from Caroline, she was leaving for one week<br />
of service in Rwanda to help other children in need through the<br />
Operation Smile program. “To me, there is nothing more meaningful<br />
than knowing that with the effort we contribute, we can change the<br />
experience that a child will carry with them forever,” she says.<br />
Note: Caroline recommends that alumni who want to know more<br />
about volunteer or internship placements abroad visit the Connect-<br />
123 website at www.connect-123.com.<br />
the<br />
ts<br />
In<br />
I<br />
2008, U.S. News & World Report named Child Life one<br />
of the “11 Best-Kept Secret Careers,” but the rewards of<br />
the profession were never a secret at <strong>Wheelock</strong>, where<br />
academic preparation for the field was pioneered decades ago.<br />
• <strong>Wheelock</strong> was the first college to design an academic<br />
program specifically for Child Life students, establishing<br />
the undergraduate program in 1972 and the graduate<br />
program soon after.<br />
• <strong>Wheelock</strong> offers the only international in-the-field<br />
Child Life course, the Hospitalized Child in England,<br />
established in 1978.<br />
16 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
ALUMNI<br />
Dr. Angela Paige Cook ’73MS<br />
continued from page 13<br />
The rooms in the Academy — the infants and toddlers rooms,<br />
classrooms, art and music rooms, library, pottery studio, and computer<br />
lab — are large and bright or cozy-comfortable, painted with soft<br />
warm colors. Some children are off on field trips; others are in small<br />
group circles or classes, depending on age. There is a special emphasis<br />
on math and science, and children are working on computers everywhere.<br />
Nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks are provided, and<br />
there are after-school and summer programs that bring more children<br />
into the school. Despite the broken economy that Angela says is<br />
stressing the families and thus the children, the students are friendly,<br />
calm, and confident.<br />
“I have always wanted to have a positive impact on children’s<br />
learning,” says Angela. “Right now, the school has 115 children from<br />
the local community and from suburbs and towns as far away as<br />
Brockton. About 50 of these are in the 6-to-12 age group. Most of<br />
the children’s families have low incomes and receive assistance to pay<br />
the school fees through kindergarten.” After kindergarten, children go<br />
on to public school or find the money to continue at Paige.<br />
Though it is a daunting and constant struggle, especially in the<br />
current economy, Angela has somehow managed to keep tuition at<br />
$5,000, compared with the $20,000 and up that most independent<br />
schools charge. “About 99 percent of our kids graduate from high<br />
school, and 97 percent of those go on to college. It’s an effective model<br />
and it could be replicated,” Angela notes. There is no achievement gap.<br />
From Schools of Benevolence to Freedom Schools<br />
to Paige Academy<br />
While establishing Paige Academy, Angela continued her professional<br />
education as an Urban Studies Fellow at M.I.T. and as a research<br />
associate at the Trotter Institute. She earned her doctorate in education<br />
in the Leadership in Urban Education program at the University<br />
of Massachusetts, writing her dissertation on the importance and<br />
effectiveness of a culturally resonant curriculum in African-American<br />
communities: A Case Study of a Black Independent School: Reflections<br />
on Cultural Resonance in an Elementary and Pre-School Setting.<br />
Viewed historically, Paige Academy is part of the black independent<br />
school movement that began when African-Americans, brought<br />
to this country to work as slaves, were faced with the task of educating<br />
their children in an oppressive environment. Angela named Paige<br />
Academy in memory of her great, great aunt Lucy Paige Williams<br />
(1876-1965), who was known by all in her Richmond, VA, community<br />
as an extraordinary educator. During the Reconstruction era,<br />
Williams opened her home to teach her adult neighbors and their<br />
children the basic educational and life skills needed to survive. Her<br />
“schools of benevolence” inspired members of her family and others<br />
to recognize the value of well-trained, dedicated teachers and the lasting<br />
gifts these teachers can give to the children and adults with whom<br />
they come in contact.<br />
Angela’s active involvement as an educational leader in the black<br />
independent school movement began in the 1960s, when she participated<br />
in the Civil Rights Movement during her undergraduate years<br />
at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, TN. There,<br />
while pursuing her bachelor’s in elementary education and theater arts,<br />
she and a group of other students opened one of the first Freedom<br />
Schools to teach young black children who lived in the inner city.<br />
Freedom Schools were alternative free schools for African-American<br />
children primarily in the South during the civil rights era. Despite<br />
Brown v. Board of Education striking down segregated schools in 1954,<br />
by the mid-1960s some states still maintained separate and unequal<br />
white and “colored” school systems, with black children receiving little<br />
or substandard education and local school boards restricting their school<br />
curricula. Freedom School education provided traditional academic<br />
studies and was student-centered, while also emphasizing leadership<br />
development and social change. Establishing the schools wasn’t easy. “I<br />
remember the police breaking the windows and smashing the school up,<br />
the sounds of the glass breaking and screaming racial epithets — doing<br />
it just because they could,” Angela says.<br />
Today, Paige Academy teaches some of the subjects taught in the<br />
Freedom Schools, including African and African-American history<br />
to help children develop knowledge of their history and culture and<br />
an appreciation for the contributions of their ancestors, “still so often<br />
absent from public education curricula,” as Angela notes. The excellent,<br />
mostly black and Hispanic teachers provide models of achievement<br />
for the children. Monthly family meetings at the school and a<br />
supportive, collaborative approach make the children, families, and<br />
faculty a community within a community.<br />
Paige Academy’s place in the history of black independent schools<br />
is an important part of its success story. But there is more. “This is<br />
my life’s work — all the families we have touched and who are so<br />
appreciative of education,” Angela says. “I would do it all again. It’s<br />
the love. I love them all.”<br />
The Star Thrower<br />
During her interview, Angela Paige Cook ’73MS, told<br />
the story of The Star Thrower originated by scientist and<br />
poet Loren Eiseley. It goes like this. A man was walking<br />
along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off<br />
in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between<br />
the surf’s edge and the beach. Back and forth this person went.<br />
As the man drew closer, he could see that there were<br />
hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the<br />
natural action of the tide, and the person was throwing them,<br />
one by one, back into the sea. He was struck by the apparent<br />
futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of<br />
them were sure to perish.<br />
As he came up to the person, the man said, “What<br />
do you think you are accomplishing? There are<br />
thousands of miles of beach<br />
covered with starfish. You can’t<br />
possibly make a difference.” The<br />
person looked at the man and then stooped<br />
down and picked up one more starfish and<br />
threw it back into the ocean. He turned<br />
back to the man and said, “It sure<br />
made a difference to that one.”<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 17
CLASS NOTES<br />
You don’t need to wait for<br />
your Reunion to catch up<br />
with classmates. Write to<br />
your class scribe and share<br />
your news in Class Notes.<br />
This <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> includes Class Notes<br />
news that was received before Feb. 19, <strong>2010</strong>.<br />
1934<br />
“All is well because we need to make it that<br />
way,” Corinne Martin Bryan wrote. “After<br />
67 years of a happy marriage, I have a lot to<br />
remember with gratitude.” She lives alone in<br />
the home in Waterbury Center, VT, that she<br />
and her husband built 20 years ago after leaving<br />
San Marino, CA. Elizabeth Drowne Nash<br />
says hello from Melrose, MA, and is sorry she<br />
missed the 75th Reunion last year. “<strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
means a lot to me,” she wrote. She is enjoying<br />
being near her family, including her 23 greatgrandchildren.<br />
1935<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1937<br />
Ellen Moak Lloyd’s daughter, Elizabeth Lloyd<br />
Clement, notified <strong>Wheelock</strong> in late 2009 that<br />
Ellen passed away on Oct. 7. “She always spoke<br />
so well about <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong>,” Elizabeth<br />
wrote. The obituary that Elizabeth enclosed<br />
did indeed show “what a full and productive<br />
life [Ellen] had.” She put her Master of Library<br />
Science degree from Syracuse University to<br />
good use working at the New Berlin (NY)<br />
Central School library for 41 years, retiring<br />
in 2000 as head librarian; continued working<br />
as a volunteer at what is now Unadilla Valley<br />
Central School and as New Berlin’s historian;<br />
and was a dedicated volunteer at the New<br />
Berlin Library for 50 years.<br />
1940<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1941<br />
Lucy Parton Miller<br />
When Ruth Andelman Danburg wrote last<br />
August, she was “back in the saddle” after<br />
December 2008 cataract surgery that had<br />
gone badly. She was happy to be again enjoying<br />
driving, writing a business newsletter for<br />
her son’s business park tenants, volunteering<br />
at the Boys and Girls Club and Kiwanis, and<br />
quilting and embroidering. “For someone<br />
who formerly thought that she was permanently<br />
losing the sight in her right eye,” she<br />
wrote, “I can now thread a fine sewing needle<br />
with black thread at night. Is that a miracle,<br />
or what? The downside is that I didn’t realize I<br />
had so many wrinkles!”<br />
1942-’43<br />
Stevie Roberts Thomas<br />
Gertrude Gerenbeck Coady of Cranston, RI,<br />
wrote that “Russ passed away in June after 64<br />
wonderful years together” and after he had<br />
been on kidney dialysis for four years. They<br />
traveled often, Becky has two daughters and<br />
four precious grandchildren, and now Becky<br />
feels comforted by her supportive family and<br />
friends, having “much to be thankful for.”<br />
She sends her best wishes to all. Elizabeth<br />
Newman Dubois is still in her old house in<br />
Marshfield, MA, and is still walking regularly,<br />
although not swimming anymore. Her children,<br />
who are her drivers now that she has<br />
given up driving, keep her in touch with the<br />
world. Betty feels lucky to have them nearby<br />
and “generous with their attention.”<br />
From McKees Rocks, PA, Marjorie<br />
Brainerd Floyd wrote that she was hoping to<br />
make it to her 90th birthday on Feb. 16 of this<br />
year. She’s feeling fine and celebrating a new<br />
great-grandson in Denmark. Betty Crooks<br />
Morris in Fort Myers, FL, celebrated her<br />
90th birthday last December with a surprise<br />
party at her summer home in Inlet, NY, where<br />
her children and grandchildren from Alaska,<br />
Oregon, New York, and Massachusetts came.<br />
Betty is fine, although slower, and spends half<br />
the year in Florida with one daughter and half<br />
in the Adirondacks with the other. She has 10<br />
great-grandchildren. Barbara Bragdon Motas<br />
of Kailua, HI, was head of two preschools<br />
in Massachusetts, then started a boutique<br />
in Hawaii, then ran the religious education<br />
program at St. Andrews Cathedral there, and<br />
then was principal of a school. She retired to<br />
become top car saleswoman at Honolulu Ford,<br />
retiring from that job after another 10 years.<br />
“Now,” she wrote, “we attend the UH games<br />
Betty Volk Paris ’42-’43 with great-granddaughters Taylor,<br />
11, and Madison, 9, after an “art class” at her home<br />
18 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
— football, volleyball, and basketball. What<br />
next?” Elizabeth Volk Paris of Westwood,<br />
MA, notes that the holidays are a good time<br />
to remember how different and simpler our<br />
world was when we were <strong>Wheelock</strong> students.<br />
Betty realizes how lucky she and Lou are, to be<br />
in their 80s and still have each other and their<br />
extended family, including five great-grandchildren.<br />
“We have wonderful friends, and life has<br />
been kind,” she wrote.<br />
After struggling with shingles and its aftermath,<br />
I (Stevie) am back to teaching tai chi<br />
again, although, because I’m 89, this may be<br />
my last year. My joyful news is that my youngest<br />
daughter, Katherine, who has spent 30 years<br />
in California, is back here, working to assist in<br />
reorganization at the University of Delaware<br />
as it enlarges. It is a real treat to have a family<br />
member nearby, both of us enjoying life to the<br />
full. My very best wishes to all of our class, and<br />
many, many thanks to those who were able to<br />
send notes for us to share!<br />
1945<br />
Jean Reilly Cushing<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1947<br />
Barbara Bolinger Crabtree’s holiday 2009<br />
letter (poem) spoke of how much she missed<br />
Glenn but also of how much she is enjoying<br />
Friendship Church activities, exercise, travel,<br />
and her dogs. She and daughter Cecily went<br />
on a cruise in the summer of 2009, and she’d<br />
also recently been to northern Arizona and on<br />
a church retreat. Carol Sisson Freeman is still<br />
singing with Sweet Adelines, which she has<br />
been doing for 25 years, and she attended their<br />
International Competition in Nashville, TN,<br />
last October. She wrote, “I was able to take part<br />
in the Guinness Book of Records for singing in the<br />
largest singing lesson ever: 5,561 women were<br />
involved, and it was a great experience!” Carol<br />
has been retired for 18 years and finds that hard<br />
to believe since she didn’t retire until she was<br />
66! She and Bill still go to the gym three times<br />
a week. Edith Goddard Pangaro and husband<br />
Larry still divide their time between New<br />
Hampshire and Florida. Edith is well in her<br />
86th year, still playing tennis and counting her<br />
many blessings each day.<br />
“Things are nice here in Scottsdale [AZ],”<br />
Ann Gilbert Putnam wrote in December. “The<br />
flowers are blooming, and there’s no snow!”<br />
She was saddened to learn of the death of Janet<br />
Brown Coleman. “Posie Van Zandt Simson<br />
called me from Florida, and we had a delightful<br />
conversation about our days at <strong>Wheelock</strong>,” Ann<br />
wrote. “We loved everything about the <strong>College</strong><br />
and the city of Boston.”<br />
Write Home!<br />
New address? Job? Degree?<br />
Baby? Whether it’s big news or an update<br />
to keep your classmates and faculty and<br />
staff at <strong>Wheelock</strong> in the loop, we want<br />
to hear from you. Write to your class<br />
scribe or to Lori Ann Saslav in Alumni<br />
Relations at <strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong>, 200 The<br />
Riverway, Boston, MA 02215 or via e-mail<br />
at lsaslav@wheelock.edu.<br />
1948<br />
Carol Moore<br />
Bobbie Fitzgerald Davis and husband Walter are<br />
once again downsizing and moving into a retirement<br />
home. Sadly, their daughter Margaret passed<br />
away last April after battling leukemia for more<br />
than two years. Thankfully, Walter is cancer-free,<br />
a fortunate person. Bobbie still continues to keep<br />
busy with opera and ballet and enjoys working<br />
with such talented people. She also volunteers<br />
with the Association for Catholic Children, where<br />
she sees more and more children in need of education,<br />
along with homes and parents.<br />
The Alumni Office was sorry to hear from<br />
Ysabel Brown Dulken in January about husband<br />
John’s death in April 2009. Your classmates are<br />
thinking about you, Ysabel. Polly Horr Foster’s<br />
husband passed away Sept. 6, 2009. They had<br />
celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June.<br />
Polly was planning to be in Florida for the winter.<br />
Elizabeth “Sis” McHenry was unable to<br />
attend our 60th Reunion due to an automobile<br />
accident a few years ago which left her with a few<br />
problems. She says it is sometimes very difficult<br />
to get someone who is VERY BRAVE to take her<br />
out. Edith Hall Huck lost her husband, Rod, in<br />
September. She feels it is time to sell the house<br />
in Longmeadow and keep the Sandwich house,<br />
which they both loved. Deedie is clearing out the<br />
Longmeadow house, which they bought in 1950,<br />
and moved into a condo near her daughter for the<br />
winter months. Her daughter and son have been<br />
a big help in the downsizing process. The new<br />
condo is an over-55 community with interesting,<br />
active people and a clubhouse for activities.<br />
Deedie is hosting the Cape Cod Alumni Picnic on<br />
July 15, <strong>2010</strong>, and would love to see anyone visiting<br />
the Cape as well as regular members.<br />
Jean Thompson (Dibden) Lawton wrote:<br />
“When I was widowed in 1969 by Arthur<br />
Dibden’s death (he was president of Johnson<br />
State <strong>College</strong> in Vermont), I managed to see two<br />
children through college and ordinations. Then<br />
in 2005 I married a widowed Keith Lawton<br />
from Alaska and came here to live, but telephoning<br />
my two children every Sunday. I love being<br />
83 now, as I trust the Lord more and more.”<br />
Jean still corresponds with some friends made<br />
at <strong>Wheelock</strong> but decided she wanted to teach<br />
high schoolers and did so. She published God at<br />
CLASS NOTES<br />
Supping Time, a devotional by Christian Services<br />
Network in California.<br />
Marylin Quint-Rose shared a wonderful<br />
story: “In 1944, I was walking along Pilgrim<br />
Road when I noticed a frail woman walking<br />
briskly. I kept wondering, Why would such an<br />
elderly person be in the vicinity of our building?<br />
The visual memory has lasted all these years. Of<br />
course I soon realized that this frail elderly soul<br />
was the namesake of the college I soon would<br />
be spending my four years at, during formative<br />
years. How fortunate!” Marylin also wrote of her<br />
productive professional life (www.quint-rose.com).<br />
“The old expression still remains from <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
days — ‘We learn by doing’ — and I’m still ‘doing’<br />
at 83!” she wrote. In the past year or so, she has<br />
given a fun workshop on collages to 16 local<br />
women in Tenants Harbor, ME; lectured at the<br />
Rockland Library; and given lectures and classes<br />
to Pakistani art students in the cities of Lahore<br />
and Karachi. “The group seemed quite interested<br />
in my tales (fortunately), and of course I brought<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> into my lecture!” she wrote. She credits<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> with having taught her how to communicate<br />
comfortably with groups. She planned<br />
to address middle schoolers about Three Cups of<br />
Tea in early <strong>2010</strong>. She also does shows at Mars<br />
Hall Gallery in St. George, ME, during summers,<br />
and she finds winter a great time to work on<br />
sculptures and new collages. Last Thanksgiving<br />
she traveled to North Carolina to visit with her<br />
two daughters and her grandsons. Marylin shuddered<br />
to hear from Barb Sturgis ’48/’62MS<br />
about the deaths of Gwen Price and Jill Walsh.<br />
She closed with “Keep well, busy, and active!”<br />
I (Carol) am still cleaning out, passing my<br />
treasures on to others, throwing out, and saving<br />
very little! But I must say I am not as enthusiastic<br />
as I was when I first started lugging boxes<br />
down from the attic. But I am persevering.<br />
While my cousin and I visited Deedie on the<br />
Cape last fall, Martha McLeod Parmenter ’47,<br />
her daughter Bonnie, and Anne Mulholland<br />
Heger ’49 joined us for a lunchtime visit.<br />
Later, Deedie, my cousin, and I visited Nancy<br />
Williams Sevin ’49, who spent only her freshman<br />
year at <strong>Wheelock</strong> and is now in a retirement<br />
home in Tiverton, RI. It is always special<br />
visiting with “old” friends from so many years<br />
ago. Blessings galore to each of you!<br />
1949<br />
Anne Mulholland Heger<br />
Mickey Mitchell Schwarz was one of the small<br />
number who attended the 2009 Reunion. She<br />
wrote that the few who did attend had a great<br />
time catching up with each other. All were<br />
impressed with the new building as the dorms<br />
are so different from the ones in our days.<br />
After the Reunion, she and her husband went<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 19
CLASS NOTES<br />
to Maine to visit her sister. Her sister lives in<br />
Friendship, as does Enid Stockbridge Holly’s<br />
sister and Sue Small Shanahan’s cousin. When<br />
Mickey went back in October, she saw Stocky.<br />
Mickey and her husband traveled back to<br />
Finland and Norway, going farther north and<br />
cruising the fjords. Alice Roberts Gow wrote<br />
that her husband was in the hospital for 10 days<br />
at one point but in late December was recuperating<br />
at home and doing well.<br />
As for your scribe (Anne), somehow my days<br />
are busy. I am in good health, which I attribute<br />
to my daily walks with my black Labrador named<br />
Sam. I had a granddaughter married in October,<br />
which was a fun day. I was on a cruise in January<br />
with my daughter and daughters-in-law. In March<br />
my family and I spent time in the Virgin Islands.<br />
1950<br />
Edith “Anne” Runk Wright<br />
1952<br />
Ann Sibley Conway<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
Elaine Barnes Downing enjoys a variety of<br />
activities at the skilled nursing health center in<br />
Bakersfield, CA, where she lives. She was very<br />
ill in the hospital for seven weeks in the spring<br />
of 2009 but has been slowly recovering and is<br />
learning to use her walker for short periods. Her<br />
partner, Bob, “is in pretty good condition for 85<br />
years” and lives near her in the health center, so<br />
they eat meals together and enjoy visitors together.<br />
Elaine enjoys being invited to holiday gatherings<br />
put on by son-in-law Todd’s family each year.<br />
1954<br />
Ginger Mercer Bates<br />
Elizabeth Bassett Wolf<br />
Brian and Ginger Mercer Bates keep very<br />
involved with their family as well as those of the<br />
academic world of graduate students. Their house<br />
always seems to be full of students. Barbara<br />
McCarthy Brennan is recovering from a herniated<br />
disk. Volney Forsyth Dawson mentioned the<br />
small book that she and her <strong>Wheelock</strong> roommate,<br />
Neilie Heffernan Odell, put together for their<br />
families and friends for Christmas. The book has<br />
Neilie’s paintings and Volney’s poetry in it. She<br />
said it was so nice to have something in print as a<br />
result of their long friendship.<br />
Jim and Sylvia Tailby Earl received the<br />
Arts Patron Award (called the “Annie”) for<br />
Anne Arundel County (Maryland). It’s been a<br />
wonderful honor in support of the arts around<br />
Annapolis. They’re enjoying their three little<br />
grandsons in the area. Peggy Clifford Goode is<br />
enjoying life by the sea with her family. She has<br />
Elaine Barnes Downing ’52 (seated) with son Kent (behind Elaine to her right), daughter Debbie (behind Elaine to her left),<br />
and their significant others<br />
started volunteering in the first grade of her local<br />
school system and absolutely loves it. Life is good.<br />
Bill and Ruth McKinley Herridge mentioned<br />
that they celebrated daughter Elizabeth’s 50th<br />
birthday with family and friends in September.<br />
Elizabeth’s husband, Roy Barry, died suddenly<br />
a week later at home. They are all grieving. It<br />
will take time to heal. Their five grandchildren<br />
are thriving. Peter, now in pre-kindergarten, had<br />
a 20 percent liver transplant from his mother,<br />
Catherine, at age 6 months and is growing and<br />
developing well. At present, Ruth is serving in<br />
a pastoral care ministry. Michael and Nancy<br />
Shapiro Hurwitz were in Naples, FL, for the<br />
winter. Nancy plays golf and bridge and is<br />
involved in Brandeis University activities when<br />
she’s in Massachusetts. Their six grandchildren<br />
are in the Boston area and Palo Alto, CA. Fran<br />
Tedesco Lathrop feels very fortunate to have<br />
her two children living close by. She sees one of<br />
her grandchildren for dinner once a week. What<br />
could be better?<br />
Paige and Nicky Wheeler L’Hommedieu<br />
recalled the perfect weather that made our 55th<br />
Reunion so special. We celebrated in the rooftop<br />
garden of the new hallmark Campus Center and<br />
Student Residence (CCSR) building and stunning<br />
adjacent dining room. This environmentally<br />
friendly garden is dedicated to Margaret Helena<br />
Earl, Sylvia Earl’s mother-in-law.<br />
Ralph and Persis Luke Loveys have 18<br />
grandchildren. Everyone is well and happy. Persis<br />
reported that Elsa Weyer Williams is doing fine<br />
and caring for husband Don. They were not able<br />
to go to Florida this year but would appreciate<br />
hearing from classmates. Harriet Knapp<br />
McCauley e-mailed that she and Mac have<br />
moved to a patio home in Orchard Park, NY. Fox<br />
Run is a full life-care facility with skilled nursing,<br />
etc., should they need it. She leads a water aerobics<br />
class two mornings a week and is as active as<br />
she was before the move. They spend summers<br />
in Canada and were to leave for Amelia Island,<br />
FL, in March. Mary Jeffords Mills’ sister-in-law<br />
Shirley reported to <strong>Wheelock</strong> back in June 2009<br />
about the deaths of Mary and husband Brooks,<br />
but she also wanted to make sure Mary’s classmates<br />
knew the “real success story” of Mary’s son<br />
John’s oldest child, Erin (also the niece of Hope<br />
Mills Keleher ’90). Erin was the valedictorian<br />
of her class at Brewer, ME, High School last<br />
spring; is a terrific athlete; got a full scholarship to<br />
Princeton; and was named one of 140 Presidential<br />
Scholars who went to Washington shortly after<br />
graduation to receive a medallion.<br />
“Life is good at the Pines in Plymouth, MA,”<br />
according to Irwin and Lois Barnett Mirsky.<br />
There are other <strong>Wheelock</strong> graduates at the<br />
Pines, too, but not from our class. Lois enjoys<br />
her interests in writing literacy, taking courses,<br />
and being with her four local grandchildren.<br />
Bob and Jo West Norton went on a fascinating<br />
Elderhostel trip to Glacier National Park last<br />
summer. Due to a tremendous avalanche in the<br />
winter of ’08, they couldn’t go on the “Going-tothe-Sun<br />
Road” so instead experienced part of the<br />
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation initiative.<br />
Go to http://www.y2y.net if you want to see a<br />
spectacular part of our country. It has been and<br />
will continue to be a huge effort to complete and<br />
still leave a corridor for the wildlife to roam free.<br />
Penny Power Odiorne spent a whole month<br />
in her favorite Maine spot of Ogunquit last<br />
summer. She loves her home in Vero Beach and<br />
playing bridge. Penny even went on a “Bridge<br />
Cruise” in December!<br />
We are sorry to learn of Pattie Andrews<br />
Richmond’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.<br />
She has had to have half her thyroid removed.<br />
Bob has been especially helpful. An e-mail to<br />
20 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
CLASS NOTES<br />
Pattie would be most welcome (Pattiewc54@<br />
verizon.net). Hugh and Fran Levine Rogovin<br />
were in Florida for the winter, enjoying the sun<br />
and the lack of ice and snow. They receive much<br />
pleasure from mentoring the college students<br />
and are grateful for all their e-mails. They both<br />
continue to stay well. Joan Kemp Seeber spent<br />
the holidays with her family. She is very proud<br />
of her children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments.<br />
Nancy Pennypacker Temple ’54/’80MS<br />
is continuing her involvement in Therapy Dogs<br />
Inc., which she has done for about 12 years. She<br />
arranges for eight to 10 dogs and handlers to<br />
work with children from the local elementary<br />
school to practice oral reading in the library.<br />
Nancy and “Nikki” also visit patients weekly at<br />
Cape Coral Hospital. The highlight of the year<br />
was our 55th Class Reunion.<br />
2008 was a hard year for Suzanne<br />
Hamburger Thurston. Unfortunately, her double<br />
knee replacement, though successful, did involve<br />
some complications. She continues to teach ESL,<br />
tutor students, and volunteer taking blood pressures<br />
at the health center. Her seven grandchildren<br />
are well and she feels blessed.<br />
News from Jerry and Rhoda Uram<br />
Wasserman indicated they both are doing well.<br />
Rhoda is still working and is happy to be near<br />
her two daughters. Dick and Ginny Thomas<br />
Williams are constantly on the go and always full<br />
of energy. With so many grandsons, there seems<br />
to be one graduating from college or becoming<br />
an Eagle Scout every year. Ginny is as organized<br />
as ever and keeps their lives running smoothly.<br />
Kathy Clark Williams mentioned that her one<br />
great-granddaughter, Lily Henson, lives only an<br />
hour away. She is a sheer delight and a special<br />
blessing to her family. Kathy sends her best wishes<br />
to all her classmates.<br />
I (“Chippy”) am enormously grateful for the<br />
speedy classmates who made this Class Notes<br />
column possible. For those who didn’t send something<br />
this time, send us your e-mail address so we<br />
can read about you next time. My life is happily<br />
busy helping those in the nonprofit world. My<br />
and Ginger’s e-mails are elizabeth@thewolfs.info<br />
and gingerbates@cox.net.<br />
1955<br />
Nancy Cerruti Humphreys<br />
Penny Kickham Reilly<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1957<br />
Joan Patterson Brown<br />
We did it! I (Joan) am so proud the Class of 1957<br />
came through with Flying Colors! We had more<br />
responses than any other class this time around!<br />
Let’s Keep It Going!<br />
Sallie Farrel Brown wrote of her trip to Jay,<br />
VT. It was a sad/sweet time — the focus of the<br />
trip was to spread Paul’s ashes with a view of his<br />
kingdom . . . The Old Sonnenhof Inn. Sally did<br />
a lot of traveling in the past year—including to<br />
Montreal, Vermont, Disney World, Colorado,<br />
Nova Scotia, and California—and would go back<br />
to San Francisco in a minute! “I hope you are all<br />
as healthy and happy as I am,” she wrote. Gail<br />
Angleman Brusch and Don are still happy to<br />
be living in their retirement village, Ann’s Choice.<br />
She loves to hear news from <strong>Wheelock</strong> friends!<br />
Every few months she has lunch with Nancy<br />
Merry Bergere ’55 — it is a great treat! Sue Terry<br />
Covell and Tom are still living in Casa Grande,<br />
AZ, most of the year, heading north to Colorado<br />
and their three children and back to Arizona in<br />
October. Tom and Sue love retiring among folks<br />
of similar ages who are out walking, enjoying life,<br />
comparing stories of their travels, and forgetting<br />
the aches and pains of aging! Sue would love<br />
to know if there are any “<strong>Wheelock</strong>ers” in the<br />
Phoenix area where Casa Grande is!<br />
Our sympathy goes to Ginny Plumer Crook<br />
(P.O. Box 293, Scituate, MA 02066-0293),<br />
who lost her husband of 52 years on Nov. 1,<br />
2009. He had not been well for three years and<br />
died peacefully in his sleep. Ginny wrote that<br />
her “children” are scattered all over the world<br />
— Hong Kong; Orono, ME; Wilder, VT; and<br />
Tampa, FL. Between them, they have produced<br />
10 sons! Ginny has been retired for 10 years and<br />
is LOVING IT! Bernadette Bruer deGutierrez-<br />
Mahoney wrote: “We had a great Thanksgiving<br />
here in Laurel with kids and grands — three girls<br />
are in college (Mt. Holyoke, Holy Cross, and<br />
Fairfield). The twins are taking over the place<br />
— 10 months old and they are as cute as a pair<br />
of buttons!” Janice Wright Freelove (jwfre@<br />
comcast.net) sold her condo in Magnolia, MA.<br />
She has moved to Reading, MA, which puts her<br />
close to her daughter. She misses the ocean view<br />
but loves being near everything! Her address is 3<br />
Summit Drive #315, Reading, MA 01867.<br />
Mary Bloomer Gulick wrote: “Bob and I are<br />
both well. We are enjoying all Rochester has to<br />
offer, traveling to many places (New Zealand and<br />
Egypt in the past two years), and staying in touch<br />
with six grandchildren. I am thrilled our daughter<br />
Jane Gulick Fellows ’07MS, a Union <strong>College</strong><br />
graduate and a teacher in Concord, NH, received<br />
her master’s degree from <strong>Wheelock</strong>. She was able<br />
to attend the satellite program in Concord. I like<br />
to think my high regard for <strong>Wheelock</strong> influenced<br />
her decision to choose this program.” Anne<br />
Wingle Howard (awhowardsav@aol.com) wrote:<br />
“Jim and I are bouncing back and forth between<br />
Savannah and Maine and loving both! We had a<br />
great tour of the new building at <strong>Wheelock</strong>. It is<br />
wonderful and it pulls the campus together beautifully.<br />
For the past few years I’ve had fun making<br />
Nantucket baskets with friends. We cover the dining<br />
room table and get together until the weather<br />
is too good to stay inside!”<br />
Barbara Stagis Kelliher is still vying for<br />
the honor of the oldest graduate still employed!<br />
“Every time I think of retiring, I imagine myself<br />
hanging out with old people, and it propels me<br />
back to my desk at AAA in Nashua, NH,” she<br />
wrote. “I decided, 24 years ago, I wanted to see<br />
the world. I have only a few places left on the<br />
list! Sooooo call me. I would be happy to tell<br />
you Where to Go!” Sara Sibley Lenhart wrote:<br />
“It took a blizzard to get me to stay home long<br />
enough to catch up on some long-overdue correspondence.<br />
My husband, Mark, has retired<br />
at long last. It is great to have him home, after<br />
years of his being away. We are fortunate enough<br />
to see our children and grands frequently. From<br />
time to time Mark and I see Barbara Knowles<br />
Jacobsen with husband Ray walking on the<br />
boardwalk we all enjoy. Earlier this fall I had<br />
the pleasure to join [Class of 1958 members]<br />
Maggie Weinheimer Sherwin, Judy Littlefield<br />
Bateman, Marcia Potter Crocker, Sandra<br />
MacDonald Ingmanson, and Nancy Alexander<br />
Anderson for their mini reunion in Mystic. I<br />
am actually the only one who lives in this area;<br />
it is a central meeting place for them. It was nice<br />
of them to include me! Life is good!” Carolyn<br />
Berryman Reidy has had health issues, including<br />
a stroke, since Jim passed. She continues to do<br />
better each day and has a Positive Attitude!<br />
Sally Curran Smith wrote from “down<br />
under”: “I am spending a month with son Eric<br />
and family. We will be at the beach in Port Fairy<br />
for the week before to include Christmas —<br />
different from the snowy Christmases in Vermont!<br />
In November my two ponies and two ‘new’<br />
miniature horses and I moved to Aiken, SC, for<br />
the winter. As long as I have the house in Aiken,<br />
I decided to see if it will fit into my winter plans.<br />
BUT I am also planning to return to Vermont for<br />
the month of February for some skiing! My ‘new’<br />
knees will be four years old, and it’s time they got<br />
back on SKIS! P.S. If you are planning to be in or<br />
near either Greensboro, VT, or Aiken, SC, please<br />
give me a call (VT 802-533-2537 / SC 803-643-<br />
8708)! The welcome mat is always out!”<br />
Mac and I (Joan) flew to Shanghai on April<br />
29! The following day we watched Chinese carpet-making<br />
and design. We joined a Shanghai<br />
family for a Home-Hosted lunch, which was<br />
wonderful, and then took a train to Suzhou, the<br />
center of the Chinese silk industry. On to Xi-an,<br />
known for the 2,200-year-old Terra Cotta Army<br />
— 6,400 figures accidentally discovered in 1974!<br />
Awesome! We visited fifth-graders at the Shao<br />
Ping Dian Primary School, where they read and<br />
spoke English to us! The following day we were<br />
at the Great Wall, 2,000 miles long and packed<br />
with Chinese people on holiday. A 30-something,<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 21
CLASS NOTES<br />
well-dressed Chinese man approached me and<br />
asked if he could take a picture of me with his<br />
mother. I told him it would be fine as long as I<br />
could give her a hug. He translated, she had a big<br />
smile, we hugged, and he took the picture! This<br />
happened several times in China. They see very<br />
few blondes! Three weeks went very fast. What a<br />
wonderful, fantastic, enlightening experience!<br />
22 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
B.J. Woodward Mack ’59 and husband John<br />
1958<br />
Margaret “Maggie” Weinheimer Sherwin<br />
Carol Yudis Stein wins the prize for being the<br />
first to respond. I think she walked from the<br />
mailbox to the computer. Carol has left her volunteer<br />
job in a third grade and now volunteers in<br />
a local hospital — an extra pair of hands wherever<br />
they are needed. All three of her children were to<br />
be in Florida during November, saving Carol and<br />
Jim a trip to New Jersey. She had cataract surgery<br />
and can now see her wrinkles more clearly. She’s<br />
still involved in lots of leisure activities — when<br />
there is time. When Jane Bowler Pickering<br />
wrote, she was recovering from back surgery and<br />
planning to go to Florida for the winter. She and<br />
Dick are busy with volunteer activities and their<br />
seven grandchildren. Jane says that growing old is<br />
not for the faint of heart.<br />
Sally Beckwith Novak is a traveler — trips<br />
to Arizona, Kansas, and Alaska in 2009. When<br />
not traveling, Sally keeps busy with book clubs,<br />
teaching swimming, church activities, Ridgewood<br />
Choral Society, and her watercolor painting. One<br />
of her paintings has been turned into note paper<br />
that is sold to help restore a local colonial home.<br />
Sally would love to hear from other classmates<br />
who may share her interest in watercolors.<br />
Charlotte Pomeroy Hatfield and Jim have<br />
bought a new home in Topsham, ME. They did<br />
all their own packing, and their belongings were<br />
taken to the mainland by barge. She still keeps<br />
in touch with Julie Russell, Gail Wheeler, and<br />
Mardy Moody O’Neil.<br />
Pat Morrissey Goglia and Charles celebrated<br />
their 51st wedding anniversary last July. Pat still<br />
works in the bookstore at Mass. Bay Community<br />
<strong>College</strong>. Mannie Cook Houston is having fun<br />
with her 14-month-old grandson and even gets to<br />
help in his day care center. She hoped to see Sybil<br />
Magid Woodhouse in the near future.<br />
Laura Lehrman wrote: “Our country has been<br />
through a lot of late, and we therefore are quite<br />
struggling to keep up with the world chaos, and<br />
all the electronics and the implications for societal<br />
changes are just huge. I’m well — still living in the<br />
heart of Manhattan and loving it.” She happened<br />
to write on the day of the Yankees’ ticker-tape<br />
parade up Broadway but was herself off to an even<br />
more special occasion: her grandson Jonathan’s<br />
bar mitzvah. She was “a bit frazzled with all the<br />
arrangements” but thrilled about his accomplishment.<br />
She added: “My art projects keep multiplying,<br />
and I’m getting ready to ‘put it out there,’ as<br />
they say. A big step for me. To claim my artistic<br />
nature as not folly but substantive. Will keep all<br />
posted as I move along with it.” Laura welcomes<br />
anyone “in town” to be in touch with her.<br />
Off the Lost Souls List is Doris Hood<br />
Cameron. She has seven grandchildren — one<br />
for each day of the week. They all descend on<br />
Sundays to help cook dinner while Grandpa John<br />
plays golf. Dosie taught hyperactive kids for many<br />
years and now tutors inner-city kids. Her daughter<br />
received her M.S. at <strong>Wheelock</strong> several years<br />
ago and works with Down syndrome students.<br />
Glad to have you back, Dosie.<br />
Our mini Class of ’58 reunion in Mystic,<br />
CT, in September was such fun! Marcia Potter<br />
Crocker, Nancy Alexander Anderson, Sandy<br />
MacDonald Ingmanson, Judy Littlefield<br />
Bateman, Sara Sibley Lenhart ’57, and I<br />
(Maggie) talked nonstop for hours. We had invited<br />
Margot Moore Greener ’59 to join us, but<br />
she is still teaching and had some sort of parentteacher<br />
event at night so was not able to join us,<br />
but she wants to be kept in the loop for another<br />
year. The weather was beautiful. We shopped, ate,<br />
shared grandkid pictures, and kept the desk clerk<br />
at the Best Western amused. We plan to extend<br />
the event next year.<br />
1959<br />
Sally Schwabacher Hottle<br />
Maddy Gatchell Corson wrote from her home<br />
in Falmouth, ME, that in the fall of 2009 she<br />
went to Florida to attend the beautiful memorial<br />
service for Janet Watt Swanson’s husband, Ted.<br />
It was an honor for Maddy to be there and to<br />
get to know and love the Swanson gang. Emmy<br />
Groeneveld Crosby wrote from Hastings-on-<br />
Hudson, NY, that she is active in church and Girl<br />
Scouts, singing in the choir, and trying to keep<br />
up with her three granddaughters.<br />
Helen Doughty Lester’s next book, Tacky’s<br />
Christmas, will be out in September and will<br />
include a CD with five Tacky Tacky carols (“Deck<br />
the Iceberg” and “O, Tackytree How Lovely<br />
Are Thy Feathers,” for example). She continues<br />
visiting schools to encourage children to write.<br />
Doutsie wishes we could have our 50th every<br />
year — it was great fun to be with so many dear<br />
friends. Virginia Ludwig McLaughlin says all<br />
is well in Houlton, ME. Ginny, daughter Lee,<br />
and grandchildren had a reunion in August with<br />
Yvonne Emmons Duvall at Yvonne’s charming<br />
summer cottage on Squirrel Island, ME.<br />
As for me (Sally), I was so happy to see so<br />
many friends at our 50th. What a great time!<br />
It was particularly exciting that 62 percent<br />
of you contributed to our class gift, enabling<br />
us to win the Beulah Angell Wetherbee Prize,<br />
and 34 percent of you attended the class luncheon,<br />
enabling us to win the Gertrude Abbihl<br />
Prize. And one more honor for our class: Alice<br />
Thompson Brew was one of the two recipients of<br />
the “Making a Difference” Award.<br />
I’m looking forward to hearing from more of<br />
you the next time I ask for news.<br />
1960<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1963<br />
Jane Kuehn Kittredge<br />
Muffy McDowell celebrated the first anniversary<br />
of her marriage last Dec. 27. Her son and<br />
daughter-in-law had a baby during the winter,<br />
and her daughter and son-in-law are expecting<br />
in August. “That’s enough excitement for one<br />
year,” she wrote. Boots Kane Tolsdorf and Dick<br />
are still spending winters in Florida and summers<br />
on Nantucket — “and in between at my home in<br />
West Chester, PA, where sons and three grandchildren<br />
live,” she wrote. She has been very active<br />
in and passionate about spreading information<br />
about Lyme disease after battling it for two and a<br />
half years. Now she feels great again and is back to<br />
golf and tennis. Boots loves community theater in<br />
Florida and enjoys acting, singing (she sings with<br />
a Barbershopper group), and dancing. “I am on<br />
Facebook, so sign up and say hi to me!” she wrote.<br />
1964<br />
Phyllis Forbes Kerr<br />
Roberta Gilbert Marianella<br />
News came from four of our classmates who for<br />
the last six years have been celebrating their own<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> Reunion (and always include Muffy<br />
McDowell ’63). They pick one of their homes<br />
and spend a weekend together. Sometimes they go<br />
to a museum or an event, but mostly they spend<br />
time walking and talking. They catch up on the<br />
last year and then discuss politics, religion, and<br />
current events. This is what they had to say. . . .<br />
Joan Pushee Gatto and Kenny live in Newton,<br />
MA, and are busy with their grandchildren in<br />
Natick, MA, and Portland, ME. They spend the<br />
summer in rural New Hampshire enjoying their<br />
cottage and the life they live there. Patricia Stern
CLASS NOTES<br />
Hersh and Raymond live in Florida. They are<br />
excited that daughter Heather and son-in-law<br />
Yale have moved closer now that Yale is at the<br />
University of Pennsylvania Medical School doing<br />
research. Son Brian and Raymond work together<br />
in an investment business. Patricia volunteers<br />
at a cancer center and baby-sits for a 1-year-old<br />
while she waits for grandchildren. Joan Steele<br />
Light and Randy moved to Cazenovia, NY. Both<br />
daughters and grandchildren are nearby. Randy<br />
and Joan are busy with community events, family<br />
activities, household improvements, and some<br />
traveling. Lynn Biskup McCarthy is living in<br />
Chicago baby-sitting the grandtwins three days<br />
a week. She teaches an Introduction to Teaching<br />
course at Loyola University. Lynn has been traveling<br />
to see the remains of ancient civilizations since<br />
retirement four years ago.<br />
Unfortunately a very bad knee prevented Noni<br />
Noble Linton from attending our 45th. Both she<br />
and her husband are thoroughly enjoying their<br />
“perpetual cruise” at the Overlook in Charlton,<br />
MA — retirement living at its best! Noni is very<br />
active serving on a couple of committees, taking<br />
art lessons (finding the fun in watercolor and<br />
pastel painting), reading books she never had time<br />
for, joining PEO to work on behalf of women who<br />
need help financing their college educations, and<br />
much more. Grandkids number seven, and thanks<br />
to Skype’s help, they are able to keep in touch.<br />
Noni welcomes anyone in the Charlton/Sturbridge<br />
area to visit and she’ll give you a tour.<br />
This year Priscilla Harper Porter completed<br />
two curriculum guides for the Palm <strong>Spring</strong>s Air<br />
Museum and collaborated on two curriculum<br />
guides for the We the People books published<br />
by the Center for Civic Education. Priscilla<br />
also completed a series of curriculum guides for<br />
third- and fourth-grade teachers in San Diego,<br />
where she and husband Chuck enjoyed extended<br />
trips for research and teacher training. Kathleen<br />
O’Keeffe Capo had a great visit with her roommate,<br />
Patricia Burke, in November — two days of<br />
nonstop talking! “We reminisced about our crosscountry<br />
car trip in 1963,” Kathleen wrote. “Fergus<br />
and Tony got to do sport activities, and we could<br />
just keep chatting. Nothing has changed.”<br />
“John and I had a delightful time seeing<br />
everyone and enjoying the festivities at the 45th,”<br />
wrote Sandy Gewinner Perry. “<strong>Wheelock</strong> looks<br />
great with the new Brookline campus and its new<br />
sophisticated glass building. Our oldest granddaughter,<br />
who is almost 12, had a role in Honk<br />
in the <strong>Wheelock</strong> Family Theatre production in<br />
February. We are spending time in Florida this<br />
winter on Hutchinson Island.”<br />
Two brave classmates reported moving to new<br />
areas on their own. The first, Jessi Ruth MacLeod<br />
’64/’92MS of Woolwich, ME, is off to Alexandria,<br />
VA, where she will be able to enjoy her daughter’s<br />
family and the warm weather. The second is Susie<br />
Nivison Gwin, who has moved from Orlando,<br />
FL, to Ukiah, CA, to be near son Rob and his<br />
wife and children and nearer to Vale, where son<br />
Sam lives with his family. She loves seeing her<br />
four grandchildren — all toddlers. Susie enjoys the<br />
beautiful mountain views and the cooler weather.<br />
“It has been a great move!” she exclaimed.<br />
We have three classmates who wrote in about<br />
their amazing voyages: Janet Larsen Weyenberg<br />
with husband Eric traveled to Botswana from<br />
Hawaii and fell madly in love with it. “An elephant<br />
walked by one morning as we were eating<br />
breakfast,” she wrote. That was just one of many<br />
magnificent animals she saw, plus more than 120<br />
birds that were new to her. They spent a month<br />
in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Everyone is healthy.<br />
Her dad is 91 and still living in his own house;<br />
her still frisky cairn terrier, Gus, is 13. Janet<br />
continues her work as a docent at the (incredibly<br />
lovely) Contemporary Museum in Honolulu.<br />
And then there is Ann Fleming Fiske, who last<br />
year went to Dubai where her son, his wife, and<br />
two granddaughters live; England, where she rented<br />
a house in Kent; the Isle of Guernsey, where<br />
she did research for her book club; and Hawaii,<br />
where she celebrated her son-in-law’s recovery<br />
from lymphoma. Harold and Ann also bought a<br />
cottage in Bar Harbor, ME, where they will spend<br />
much of their summers. While not traveling, Ann<br />
keeps busy singing in two choirs, attending art<br />
history classes, and doing some volunteer work.<br />
Ann looks forward to catching up with Ginny<br />
Pratt Agar, who lives on Mount Desert Island,<br />
ME. Ginny is a busy traveler, too, often taking<br />
the plane to Arizona, where her newly married<br />
daughter lives, or to California, where her son<br />
lives with her granddaughter. Carter, her oldest<br />
son, has just returned from many years of working<br />
in China to live and work in California, so<br />
she will not be flying to the Far East anymore.<br />
Ginny enjoys taking German lessons and often<br />
travels to Germany with her German friend<br />
Helmet. She, too, has enjoyed visiting Patricia<br />
Burke on recent trips to New York.<br />
After 15 years working as the education<br />
coordinator for two heritage organizations,<br />
Barb Russell Williams has retired. Now she is<br />
a volunteer for the Eastside Heritage Center in<br />
Washington state. She continues her work for the<br />
Bellevue Botanical Garden Society, managing botany-based<br />
school trips and a Living Lab Program.<br />
She wrote that this work enables her to use many<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> skills and she loves the job. Her two<br />
small grandchildren live in Scottsdale, AZ.<br />
I (Phyllis) continue to lunch with Ann<br />
Brown Omohundro nearly once a week. Dick<br />
has recently retired, and they now are the proud<br />
grandparents of Paul’s daughter, Kayley, 6,<br />
and a new baby, Jack. The family lives outside<br />
Chicago. Ann has become very active studying<br />
shock treatment and works with Kitty Dukakis<br />
to help remove the stigma of this very effective<br />
treatment for depression. She recently endured a<br />
knee operation but reports that she is doing well.<br />
Rachel Ripley Roach made it all the way to our<br />
Reunion from California. We all enjoyed seeing<br />
her after so long. She is now a first-time grandmother<br />
of a little boy whom she tries to see every<br />
other week. Her home time is spent working on<br />
the literacy problem. She tutors weekly and runs<br />
workshops monthly. She also works with the<br />
Retired Teachers Association in California. The<br />
group is very active politically and socially, trying<br />
to preserve and protect their pension.<br />
In October I had the pleasure of spending<br />
time with Judy Reutter Blanton at our husbands’<br />
45th Reunion from the Harvard Business School.<br />
Since we both met our husbands on the same<br />
night at a mixer there, it was fitting to meet there<br />
again. Judy still lives in New York City, and after<br />
years of being the director of admissions for the<br />
Episcopal Nursery School, she is now the director.<br />
Congratulations!<br />
Shortly after the Reunion, in August, my sister<br />
Lee died at the age of 68. This was a very sad<br />
time and a shock to us all. Ginny and Ann O.<br />
both came to the funeral, which was a great comfort<br />
to me. But life goes on, and I am busy with<br />
our three grandchildren, art classes at the MFA,<br />
life drawing, and sketching at local coffeehouses.<br />
I continue on the board of the Forbes House<br />
Museum, and I’m excited about the launching of<br />
the China Trade Trail. Our cherished grant will<br />
allow us to link up all the house museums and<br />
facilities in a colorful brochure. This will aid visitors<br />
and scholars of the Trade to get a complete<br />
viewing of the rich wonders Massachusetts has<br />
to offer in this field. A kickoff day of talks by<br />
Chinese scholars is scheduled for April 24 at the<br />
Boston Athenaeum.<br />
Thanks for all who took the time to write.<br />
You are the best!<br />
1965<br />
Mary Barnard O’Connell<br />
Mary Dominick Connors<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1966<br />
Margery Conley Mars<br />
The Alumni Office was sorry to hear in January<br />
of the death of Joyce Nothacker Robinson. Joyce<br />
was a loving wife, mother, and grandmother;<br />
an inspiring teacher; and an amazing friend.<br />
Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the first week<br />
of August, she died two months later, on Oct. 3,<br />
2009, her 65th birthday.<br />
Connie Muther loves being retired and in<br />
sunny San Diego. She has moved into a new<br />
condo and is volunteering at a zoo, at a natural<br />
history museum, and on whale touring boats.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 23
CLASS NOTES<br />
Patricia Wild wants classmates to know that<br />
www.patriciawild.net now has an interactive<br />
menu for middle and high school students and<br />
their teachers who want to learn more about her<br />
book Way Opens: A Spiritual Journey. Her website<br />
also features a blog: “Every week I discuss my<br />
growing awareness of race, the criminal justice<br />
system, and how what nudged me to write Way<br />
Opens continues to inform my life,” she wrote.<br />
“I am eager for people to read these entries . . .<br />
and to add comments.”<br />
1967<br />
Betsy Simmonds Pollock<br />
Greetings from your Class of 1967 scribe! Our<br />
classmates continue to be involved with grown<br />
children’s and grandchildren’s lives. Several have<br />
retired and report travels to exciting and interesting<br />
places and volunteering to keep connected.<br />
Not all that responded to information requests are<br />
retired; some continue productive careers.<br />
Susan Mitchell Cronk says both daughters<br />
got married — Michelle on Feb. 14 and Bonnie<br />
on Sept. 19. Peggy Ann Benisch Anderson<br />
’53 attended both weddings. “The weather was<br />
great and it was nice to see Peggy,” Susan wrote.<br />
Donna Pulk Elliott continues to advocate and<br />
care for her husband full time. She still participates<br />
in various groups such as . . . Sewing,<br />
Support, Women’s Club, Bridge, and Symphony<br />
League. One of the highlights of Donna’s year<br />
was seeing her college roommate after 40 years:<br />
Ruth Rupkey Bell was east this summer and<br />
came by for the day. “It was great. We had a<br />
wonderful time,” Donna wrote. Ruth has retired<br />
from teaching and keeps connected by volunteering<br />
in the school. She says that it is the best<br />
of both worlds.<br />
Peg Smith Smith is still living in Stowe,<br />
VT, where she has owned a Coldwell Banker<br />
Carlson Real Estate business for 35 years. “This<br />
fall, I went back to Penland School of Craft for<br />
two months to take a sculpture course, and I<br />
will have a show in August,” she wrote. “I love<br />
living in Stowe and have all my children and<br />
grandchildren close by. I went to Tracey Ober<br />
Anderson’s retirement party from teaching in<br />
Marblehead, MA, and reconnected with Pam<br />
Chesley Dennett ’66, one of my other roommates.<br />
We had not seen each other for over 40<br />
years. That was great fun.” Carolyn Wright<br />
Unger reported: “This has been a year of reflection<br />
since I retired in June from my primary<br />
gifted ed. teaching position.” For 11 years<br />
Carolyn taught problem-solving, logic, creative,<br />
and analytical lessons to 700 kids a year in K-3.<br />
In the most recent experience, she developed<br />
lessons to bring children outdoors. At the end<br />
of the school year, the entire school gathered to<br />
wish her well in retirement by dedicating the<br />
24 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong><br />
Thanks to<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
from ’67<br />
“This has been a year of reflection since I retired<br />
in June from my primary gifted ed. teaching position.<br />
Thirty years of teaching has certainly given<br />
me many memories to reflect on, my teacher<br />
stories. I must say that every time I walked into a<br />
classroom or met with a group of kids, I thanked<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> for such a sound background.”<br />
— Carolyn Wright Unger ’67<br />
“I keep <strong>Wheelock</strong> close in many memories. My<br />
education there has definitely contributed over<br />
my lifetime to achieving many goals, and I have<br />
thought back on those days with gratitude for<br />
the philosophies learned and the values that<br />
were taught.” — Linda Moritz Katz ’67<br />
outdoor classroom to her. “It was such an unexpected<br />
honor!” Carolyn wrote. “Thirty years of<br />
teaching has certainly given me many memories<br />
to reflect on, my teacher stories. I must say that<br />
every time I walked into a classroom or met with<br />
a group of kids, I thanked <strong>Wheelock</strong> for such a<br />
sound background.”<br />
Ingrid Hasskarl Chalufour retired from the<br />
Educational Development Center in Newton,<br />
MA. During her 20 years at EDC, Ingrid worked<br />
on early childhood projects with national impact.<br />
Ingrid wrote, “I have especially enjoyed getting<br />
involved in early childhood science work with<br />
two <strong>Wheelock</strong> faculty, Karen Worth and Jeff<br />
Winokur.” She plans on continuing to do some<br />
work for EDC and spending part of the year with<br />
her husband at their house in Maine. Ellie Jacobs<br />
Garrett is retired. Retirement allows them the<br />
opportunity to focus on their four grandchildren,<br />
spending time with each family, which is challenging<br />
and fun.<br />
Linda Moritz Katz lives in Cleveland, OH.<br />
She is a social worker for the Cleveland Heights<br />
Office of Aging, two days a week. She and her<br />
husband also are fortunate to have children and<br />
four grandchildren in the area, whom they often<br />
see. Linda wrote: “I keep <strong>Wheelock</strong> close in<br />
many memories. My education there has definitely<br />
contributed over my lifetime to achieving<br />
many goals, and I have thought back on those<br />
days with gratitude for the philosophies learned<br />
and the values that were taught.” Barbara<br />
Taylor Posner still does educational consulting<br />
for special needs students and young adults. She<br />
travels across the country looking at schools and<br />
programs. It is rewarding work. She sees Bev<br />
Boden Rogers twice a year at Sanibel Island<br />
and a Chamber Music Festival in Newport, RI.<br />
In the summer, she enjoys swimming across the<br />
lake her house is on.<br />
I (Betsy) have a very part-time job as a merchandiser<br />
for American Greetings Card Co. I<br />
am recording secretary for our newly organized<br />
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)<br />
group. My husband and I still travel to the<br />
East Coast to visit family as time allows. I’ve<br />
become interested in genealogy and have visited<br />
some locations where my great-grandparents<br />
lived between 1874 and the 1880s. It’s fun,<br />
but I have a long way to go before the family<br />
tree is complete!<br />
1968<br />
Marilyn Rupinski Rotondo<br />
Cynthia Carpenter Sheehan<br />
Lee McLellan Collins and her husband both<br />
retired in June ’03 and are busy traveling and<br />
enjoying visits from family and friends. A new<br />
grandson arrived in October ’09, and they look<br />
forward to caring for him one day a week when<br />
their daughter returns to work. “What a wonderful<br />
life!” Lee wrote. Catherine Scheid Evans<br />
and husband Art are settled in Cincinnati, OH.<br />
Art is chairman of Obstetrics at University of<br />
Cincinnati. Their annual travels include visiting<br />
their oldest son and family in Quito, Ecuador (he<br />
is a public affairs officer at the U.N. Embassy);<br />
visiting their son in New York City; and visiting<br />
their daughter and family in Atlanta.<br />
Carol Hamel Long is still in the publishing<br />
business — going on 27 years now. She is in<br />
Executive Acquisitions for Technology Books for<br />
Wiley Publishing. “Programming and computer<br />
security do seem a bit of a stretch from early<br />
childhood education, but I’m sure there is a link<br />
there somewhere,” she wrote. Oldest son Matt is<br />
a diplomat with the U.S. State Department and<br />
is posted in Rabat, Morocco, right now. Carol’s<br />
middle son, Nathan, died in August ’07 after a<br />
brave 20-month battle with brain cancer. “We<br />
try to live now as he lived — fully and with joy<br />
— but it is a very hard road, when you have lost<br />
a child,” she wrote. Carol and husband Wayne’s<br />
plans are to move back to her hometown of<br />
Southborough, MA, where her mother’s family<br />
has lived for 12 generations. Sue Ordway Lyons<br />
is into her sixth year of retirement following a<br />
wonderful teaching career. She and husband Tom<br />
just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary,<br />
and they have two grown sons. Sue has learned to<br />
machine quilt, has time to spend with family and<br />
friends, has caught up on reading, and enjoys<br />
time with her 94-year-old mother. Sue keeps in<br />
touch with Susan Castleton Ryan ’68/’73MS<br />
and Nonie Gignoux Spevacek.<br />
Sue Webb Tregay is “still an artist painting<br />
away and had a breakthrough [last] spring,”<br />
she wrote. “I can’t wait to get to the studio each<br />
morning.” Sue has a wonderful grandson “who is<br />
about to be displaced from his throne by baby #2<br />
in June. I’m too old to be a grandmother of toddlers,”<br />
she wrote.
CLASS NOTES<br />
2009 ITCA Regional Parent Leadership Award<br />
Sally Clark Sloop ’68Gayle Ziegler Vonasek ’72/’78MS wrote to<br />
make sure we knew that Sally Clark Sloop<br />
’68 was presented with an award at the<br />
National Early Childhood Conference in Washington,<br />
D.C., in December. The IDEA Infant and Toddler<br />
Coordinators Association chose Sally as the winner of<br />
the 2009 ITCA Regional Parent Leadership Award,<br />
“given annually to acknowledge outstanding state parent<br />
leadership on behalf of the Part C program for<br />
infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities<br />
and their families,” according to a press release<br />
about the award. The award recognizes leadership in<br />
the areas of family support, recruiting and/or training<br />
families, serving on committees, and developing legislative<br />
initiatives, among others.<br />
Letters of support submitted on Sally’s behalf spoke<br />
of her work to “advocate for the critical importance of<br />
understanding the family perspective and providing needed support” in addition to the<br />
way she “has devoted her career to enhancing the availability of both [caring professionals<br />
and effective parent-to-parent support].” Gayle, who was Sally’s student teacher<br />
in Newton, MA, in 1971, wrote, “I know firsthand of her talent in teaching young<br />
children,” and talked about Sally’s “intelligence, commitment, compassion, and creativity”<br />
— gifts that she knows <strong>Wheelock</strong> nurtured.<br />
Recently retired from family support work for the state of North Carolina, Sally is<br />
currently mentoring Head Start teachers.<br />
1969<br />
Linda Bullock Owens<br />
Tasha Lowell Allan<br />
November of 2009 was a terrific month for Tasha<br />
Lowell Allan ’69/’91MS. First, the Lowell family<br />
was honored for its many years of dedication<br />
to education at the <strong>Wheelock</strong> Passion for Action<br />
celebration. Tasha said that she has “never been so<br />
proud to be associated with <strong>Wheelock</strong>” and was<br />
truly inspired by the event’s speakers as well as by<br />
the stories of the current scholarship recipients<br />
who are supported by this program. The month<br />
was capped by the birth of Shea Abraham Allan,<br />
Tasha’s third grandchild, who lives close enough<br />
for frequent visits from her home in Hull, MA, to<br />
his in Center Conway, NH.<br />
Having retired from teaching four years ago,<br />
Carol Henderson Amaral is working part time<br />
at a yarn store in Falmouth, MA. She wrote that<br />
she is a very busy member of the “sandwich generation,”<br />
visiting her parents in a nearby nursing<br />
home and keeping in touch with her daughter,<br />
Tazeena, who lives in Los Angeles.<br />
If anyone will be traveling to Colorado during<br />
the summer months, look for Cheri Breeman<br />
on Fridays at the Dillon farmers’ market, where<br />
she sells her jewelry and pottery. When the snow<br />
flies, on the weekends she can be found driving<br />
a shuttle bus at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, which<br />
earns her free skiing at almost every ski resort in<br />
the state.<br />
On the East Coast, Nance Kulin Liebgott<br />
divides her time between living in New York<br />
City and the warmer climate of Sarasota, FL.<br />
Between keeping up with one daughter in Prague<br />
and another in Pennsylvania, Nance finds time<br />
for periodic visits from several of our classmates<br />
as well. Liz Henderson Lufkin is working in<br />
Wareham, MA, with students who have “social,<br />
emotional, and behavioral exceptionalities” while<br />
living in the cozy former home of her grandmother<br />
in nearby Marion. Her four sons and two<br />
granddaughters love to join her there in warm<br />
weather water and beach activities.<br />
I (Linda) recently caught up with Marge<br />
Miner, who is well on her way to recovery from<br />
knee replacement surgery, which she had soon<br />
after attending our Reunion last year. She manages<br />
to squeeze Pilates, swimming, and walking<br />
rehab regimens into her hectic life with husband<br />
Tom and two teenage daughters. In Panama, Rita<br />
Sladen Sosa continues her work as a secondary<br />
principal at Balboa Academy, finding time to<br />
mentor her assistant principal, who has just finished<br />
getting her credentials. Rita wrote that she<br />
and Alex celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary<br />
in November of last year.<br />
1970<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1974<br />
Laura Keyes Jaynes<br />
What a busy time in our lives! Thank you to the<br />
four classmates who took the time to write back.<br />
I wish that we could all try to double or triple<br />
our communication efforts, especially with the<br />
convenience of the Internet. If you didn’t get a<br />
chance to write for the <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong> issue of the<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, perhaps you can e-mail me at<br />
mrsjay22@hotmail.com. We have four more years<br />
to work on getting together in 2014! Our 40th<br />
Reunion! Imagine!<br />
I am doing well at this time in my life. I<br />
continue to enjoy teaching fourth grade in<br />
Merrimack, NH, and my husband of 36 years,<br />
Steve, is a sales manager at a Subaru dealership<br />
in Natick, MA. We just returned from a fabulous<br />
holiday vacation in Hawaii, where both of our<br />
kids live, work, and go to school.<br />
Jackie Schulte has been teaching preschool<br />
at the John Winthrop School, in Back Bay, for<br />
35 years, ever since she student-taught there in<br />
1974. She continues to treasure her wonderful<br />
relationships with each precious child and<br />
loved ones.<br />
Paula Davison wrote that she has become<br />
chairperson of the Alumni Association<br />
Endowment Fund Committee: “The <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
Alumni Association is unique in having its own<br />
endowment fund. The committee oversees its<br />
financial management and makes grants to support<br />
Alumni projects. We have very creative<br />
alums and want to support as many as we can.”<br />
Paula also helped coordinate a <strong>Wheelock</strong> World<br />
Service Day (April 17) project for Cape Codarea<br />
alumnae.<br />
Rita Abrams Draper’s family is doing well,<br />
and she is enjoying her two grandchildren. They<br />
continue to spend most of the winter in Costa<br />
Rica, which is great after a busy season. She was<br />
so sorry to miss the 35th Reunion. She had too<br />
many catering functions that weekend. She sends<br />
her regards to all! Naomi Resnick Schwartz<br />
has been living in Providence, RI, for the past<br />
30 years, and she is teaching third grade in an<br />
inner-city public school. She wrote: “I’m loving<br />
my class, the people I work with, and the extracurricular<br />
activities that go on in my school. (I<br />
have no thoughts of retiring yet.) Providence is<br />
a wonderful little city, with a symphony, good<br />
restaurants, lots of ‘art,’ proximity to the ocean,<br />
and a good number of loyal friends. It was a good<br />
place to raise kids and is a good place for empty<br />
nesters.” Naomi and husband Stan have three<br />
grown children. She is looking for information on<br />
Nancy Blumenthal.<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 25
Last June, Alice Strachan Barr ’78 (standing, fourth from left) invited some <strong>Wheelock</strong> friends to her parents’ home in<br />
Kennebunkport, ME, for a mini reunion. Back row, left to right: Judy Birofka Brown ’77, Lynn Freedman Byrnes ’77,<br />
Jill Schoenfeld Ikens ’77, Alice, Francesca Wright ’77, Sue LaRese Vivian ’77, Andree Howard ’77, and Lita Kochakian<br />
Zuchero ’77. Seated on the floor, left to right: Lisa Brookover Moore ’77, Elsa “Hillje” Whitmore Morse ’77, Sarah<br />
Zartman ’78, and Margaret Smith Lee ’77<br />
Please, 1974 classmates, let’s hear from you!<br />
Don’t hesitate to e-mail me anytime. 2014 will be<br />
here before you know it! It is sooo much fun to<br />
see what everyone is doing. Best wishes to all!<br />
1975<br />
Leslie Hayter Maxfield<br />
1976<br />
Angela Barresi Yakovleff<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
Last October, Maryanne Galvin was invited to<br />
Denver, CO, to show her film Interrogate This<br />
at the International Association of Chiefs of<br />
Police Convention. She participated in a panel<br />
discussion, “Negotiating Ethical Dilemmas for<br />
Psychologists in the Interrogation of Terror<br />
Suspects,” and then in a Q&A. Among many<br />
words of praise for her film, the president of a<br />
Florida chapter of the ACLU, a nonpsychologist,<br />
found that Maryanne’s “balanced presentation,<br />
using a variety of media techniques, brought to<br />
the forefront a component of the war on terror<br />
that is not broadly known,” and he commended<br />
her for “taking on such a challenging subject and<br />
presenting it in an engaging manner.”<br />
1977<br />
Margaret Smith Lee<br />
Lisa Brookover Moore<br />
Debbie Warren Block is living in Atlanta, GA,<br />
and teaching kindergarten at The Davis Academy-<br />
Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School. She and husband<br />
Mitch have celebrated 25 years of marriage,<br />
and they have one daughter who is a graduate of<br />
the University of Wisconsin and one daughter<br />
who is a student at the University of Virginia.<br />
Ellen Broderick is enjoying her work at the<br />
Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA, a center<br />
that specializes in psychotherapeutic treatment of<br />
psychiatric disorders. Hollis Brooks wrote from<br />
snowy Boulder, CO: “I’m in my fourth busy year<br />
of working for a global event management company,<br />
where clients include Adobe, Time, Inc.,<br />
Cisco, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.<br />
New Yorker Cathy Aliapoulios Kraut ’78 and<br />
I chat on the phone almost daily, and I also stay<br />
in touch with Lynn O’Brien ’78, who’s based in<br />
Florida. I keep my connection to teaching alive<br />
with volunteer work as a reading coach.”<br />
Lynn Freedman Byrnes is finishing up<br />
her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study<br />
in Special Education Administration while her<br />
husband is beginning work on his doctorate.<br />
Daughter Allie is a teacher in Beverly, MA; son<br />
Ryan is finishing his senior year at Endicott<br />
<strong>College</strong>; and daughter Lindsay is planning her<br />
wedding. In August, Lynn attended the opening<br />
of the new Riverway House with former<br />
dorm-mates Louise Close, Jill Schoenfeld Ikens,<br />
Andree Howard, and Nancy Pike Tooker.<br />
Louise Close wrote that she and husband Joel<br />
are “leaving New England’s harsh winter behind<br />
and are heading for Florida and the Carolinas . . .<br />
only to surface again in the spring.” Empty nesters<br />
now, with one daughter working in Singapore<br />
and a son at the University of Wisconsin in<br />
Madison, Louise is enjoying her work on<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong>’s Board of Trustees.<br />
Andree Howard and wife Liza have finished<br />
work on their house and are now concentrating<br />
on their five grandchildren, who all live within<br />
a hundred miles of them. Andree is teaching<br />
at the Feinstein Child Development Center in<br />
Providence, RI, which is a lab school for the<br />
University of Rhode Island, giving her the opportunity<br />
to teach both preschoolers and college<br />
students. Tracy Weinberg continues to work as<br />
associate director of the Texas Association for<br />
the Gifted and Talented. He runs professional<br />
development conferences for up to 3,000 people,<br />
does a good deal of advocacy and lobbying, and<br />
administers scholarship programs. In his spare<br />
time, he performs regularly with his band, Three<br />
Way Street, in the central Texas area.<br />
Audrey Zabin is a geriatric care manager at<br />
Audrey Zabin and Associates in Boston. Lita<br />
Kochakian Zuchero is keeping busy with her job<br />
as a fifth-grade special education teacher, as well as<br />
tutoring after school. Daughter Victoria is a sophomore<br />
at Assumption <strong>College</strong>, and son Alexander<br />
is a freshman in high school. She and husband<br />
Glenn recently celebrated their 22nd anniversary.<br />
I (Lisa) am is a PADI-certified open water<br />
scuba instructor teaching PADI scuba courses in<br />
Crystal Lake, IL. Daughter Kristin was married in<br />
March 2009, and son Tim is a 2008 graduate of<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>College</strong>. I attended a mini <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
reunion in June 2009 hosted by Alice Strachan<br />
Barr ’78. As evidenced in the picture, some of us<br />
are wearing our “lobstah” bibs in anticipation of<br />
the coming lobster feast. It was a wonderful weekend<br />
of renewing old friendships!<br />
1978<br />
Pat Mucci Tayco<br />
Sarah Baldwin-Weissman is living in Chicago<br />
and keeping busy with her two children, ages 15<br />
and 12. She is involved in freelance marketing<br />
projects and working on her illustration business.<br />
Sarah’s website is www.sarahbaldwindesigns.<br />
com. Laurie Rockett Lupton is in her 16th year<br />
of teaching kindergarten for the Detroit Public<br />
Schools. Laurie reported that she has had the<br />
opportunity to share her <strong>Wheelock</strong> education<br />
with her colleagues as they undergo massive<br />
reforms. Her three children are now graduated,<br />
and she and her husband look forward to visiting<br />
them in their new cities.<br />
Beth Perry Nee is taking on more and more<br />
leadership roles at Sacopee Valley High School<br />
in Hiram, ME, since receiving her M.S. in<br />
Educational Leadership in ’08. Her daughter,<br />
Jessica Williamson, will complete her M.S.W. at<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> this spring, and FAFSAs have been<br />
filed for her twins, Liam and Logan, who are<br />
high school seniors. Her children inspire her and<br />
continuously place her in awe. Beth has also been<br />
enjoying catching up with <strong>Wheelock</strong> classmates<br />
on Facebook. Nancy Bissinger Timm is a clinical<br />
social worker in a group practice in New Orleans<br />
with three psychiatrists, three psychologists, and<br />
two social workers. Since Hurricane Katrina, they<br />
have been steadily busy. Her practice is primarily<br />
made up of children, adolescents, and their families.<br />
Nancy says her undergraduate degree from<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> provided her with a child development<br />
foundation that has been invaluable. She has<br />
three children — 25, 23, and 19 — and is married<br />
to Steve Timm.<br />
I (Pat) am continuing to use my wonderful<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> education as I enter my fourth year<br />
of directing a Bright Horizons program — the<br />
Booz Allen Hamilton Family Center in McLean,<br />
VA. I am very proud that Bright Horizons has<br />
26 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
CLASS NOTES<br />
Knitted Together Through Wool Power<br />
Sheri Gardner Von Urff ’79<br />
Sheri started a nonprofit organization<br />
four years ago called Wool<br />
Power, Inc. with the goal of<br />
keeping the craft of knitting alive and<br />
well and developing it as a resource<br />
through creative collaborations with<br />
others. “I have been working with 150<br />
knitters in a small village in Wote,<br />
Kenya, who are using knitting as a<br />
form of economic development,” Sheri<br />
writes. “Last year, I sent by cargo 280<br />
pairs of knitting needles and about<br />
1,500 balls of donated yarn, and<br />
now the women are knitting to sell<br />
their finished items. [See the colorful<br />
animal pillows on Sheri’s website, www.woolpower.org.] The woman on the left in the<br />
photo I sent is Lucy, who works in the U.S. but also helps the Akamba people to grow<br />
their own cotton and spin it into yarn. My collaboration with the knitters in Wote<br />
began through Lucy, who asked me to knit with the yarn that the Akamba knitters had<br />
spun in order to evaluate its workability. The photo shows us looking at the first shipment<br />
of their yarn to the U.S.”<br />
Sheri, who lives west of Philadelphia with her husband of 14 years and their 11-yearold<br />
daughter, is also working through Wool Power, Inc. and a unique alliance with<br />
a local school district in Chester County, PA, to launch the first knitting recycling<br />
program. And she is starting a book of yarn stories from women (and men) about<br />
how they got started knitting and about items they have made. She invites <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
alumni to pass on their anecdotes. Wool Power!<br />
won Fortune <strong>Magazine</strong>’s “Top 100 Best Places to<br />
Work” again for <strong>2010</strong> and my program was listed<br />
in Northern Virginia <strong>Magazine</strong>’s “Top 100 Best<br />
Day Care Programs” for <strong>2010</strong> for the first time.<br />
1979<br />
Barbara Dalbeck Piccirillo continues to work<br />
at Regional School Unit 75 in Topsham, ME,<br />
as a school occupational therapist. She’s been<br />
in that district, at various schools, for 17 years.<br />
Currently she works with students in kindergarten<br />
through grade 12 but spends most of her<br />
time at Woodside School with K-5 children. “My<br />
background in teaching has helped as I am participating<br />
more in first- and third-grade writing<br />
groups as well as in art,” she wrote. “I also run<br />
weekly fine motor groups in all of our kindergarten<br />
classrooms.” Last summer, Kim Morse Roell<br />
’80, Letitia Moore, and Anne Lang Mrozowski<br />
’78 visited Barbara, and she had a great time<br />
reconnecting with them.<br />
1980<br />
Elizabeth Corning DeMille<br />
Kathy Formica Harris<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1981<br />
Colleen Miller Rumsey<br />
Ted DeMille ’81/’86MS has written Making<br />
Believe on Paper. He credits his <strong>Wheelock</strong> experience<br />
with having helped him write the book,<br />
especially Florence Rossman.<br />
1983<br />
Carol Rubin Fishman<br />
“I can’t believe that I have a job that I like so<br />
well,” Susan Marr wrote about her assistant<br />
director position at Phoebe Hearst Preschool<br />
in San Francisco, where she celebrated her<br />
15th anniversary in February. She had three<br />
semesters of a master’s program in Elementary<br />
Education (at San Francisco State University)<br />
under her belt as of December and was planning<br />
to focus on her California credential<br />
in <strong>2010</strong>. She also planned to come east this<br />
spring to see family and Riverway buddies.<br />
Susan shared the sad news of her brother<br />
John’s sudden death last June, making 2009<br />
a tough year. Congratulations to Karen<br />
Sullivan, who married Scott Arseneault on<br />
July 5, 2009.<br />
1984<br />
Kathryn Welsh Wilcox<br />
Thank you to all of the members of the Class of<br />
1984 who sent us lots of exciting information<br />
about their lives! Check out the latest!<br />
Nancy Rogers Belisle, now living in<br />
Ohio, wrote of meeting up with Karen Mello<br />
Diamond ’83 and Melanie Levesque Madden<br />
at Mel’s Diner (owned by Melanie and husband<br />
Jack) in East Providence back in January. “We<br />
had not all been together in years,” Nancy<br />
wrote, “and we had a great time catching up.”<br />
Later that day, Nancy and Karen had another<br />
fun time catching up with Lil McCarthy<br />
Holbrook and Nancy Frame Mealey ’86 when<br />
they and some of their kids and spouses got<br />
together for dinner at Granite Links Golf Club<br />
in Quincy, MA.<br />
Christina Moulton Eckert shared that she is<br />
a published author. Her book series is going to<br />
be coming out this spring. Her son is graduating<br />
from film school this May and is heading<br />
out to Los Angeles. Her daughter is attending<br />
Northern Arizona University in the fall. Her 10-<br />
year-old son keeps growing up too fast! If there<br />
are any alumni in the Phoenix or Scottsdale,<br />
AZ, areas, please contact her! Cyndi Weyne<br />
Ryan is enjoying her third year as the coordinator<br />
for special education early intervention<br />
services for infants and toddlers in Los Angeles<br />
County. She and husband Tom celebrated their<br />
22nd anniversary in April. She also shared<br />
that her first grandchild from her stepdaughter<br />
Lindsay and husband Scott was born in<br />
September 2008, and then his sister was born<br />
last August. Stepson Matt continues to do well<br />
in the California oil refinery business. Daughter<br />
Kasey is engaged to Mark Madonna Newman<br />
of the U.S. Navy this summer. Youngest son<br />
Zachary is in boot camp in the U.S. Marine<br />
Corps in San Diego. “We are blessed to have<br />
a life that is full and rich with family,” Cyndi<br />
wrote. “I would love to hear more from and<br />
about my <strong>Wheelock</strong> sisters.”<br />
All is well in Cecilia Tatem Small’s household.<br />
She continues to work at the elementary<br />
school in Maynard, MA, as the counselor/social<br />
worker for the school of 500 students. She also<br />
still coordinates the Social Worker Weekend<br />
On Call Team for Emerson Hospital. Having a<br />
“house of teenagers” means she and her husband<br />
stay busy. In January, she wrote, “I am excited to<br />
join Martha McNulty and Patty Dowell Merrill<br />
as we head north for a weekend visit with Monica<br />
Trussell Belkin!”<br />
As for me (Kathryn), my life is very busy. I<br />
continue to teach first grade here in Murrieta, CA,<br />
as well as taking on the responsibility of being the<br />
PTSA president at my son’s high school! It does<br />
not leave me very much free time, but I manage<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> 27
Left to right: Nancy Frame Mealey ’86, Karen Mello Diamond<br />
’83, Mitch Belisle (Cornell ’07), Lil McCarthy Holbrook<br />
’84, and Nancy Rogers Belisle ’84 at (Nancy’s son) Mitch’s<br />
lacrosse game at the Boston Garden on Jan. 9. Mitch plays<br />
for the National Lacrosse League’s Boston Blazers.<br />
to get to water polo games and swim matches each<br />
week. My oldest son, Steven, started his freshman<br />
year at Chapman University in Orange, CA. He is<br />
planning on majoring in business. It is so exciting<br />
to see him enjoy the college experience. It brings<br />
back wonderful memories of my days at <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
and living in Colchester House! My youngest son,<br />
Andrew, is a junior at our local high school. He is<br />
enjoying having his oldest brother gone so now he<br />
is big man on campus.<br />
1985<br />
Linda Edwards Beal<br />
REUNION <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6<br />
1987<br />
Kathleen Hurley DeVarennes<br />
Allison Small Annand still enjoys teaching in the<br />
Hollis, NH, integrated preschool but has plans to<br />
move from Hollis to Nashua. All is well with her<br />
family; both daughters are in high school. Pam<br />
Lackey Cawley, husband Mark, and their two<br />
sons live in Franklin, MA. Pam works part time<br />
as a retail merchandiser for Hallmark and has a<br />
small party planning business that she is trying<br />
to expand (www.PerfectPartiesbyPam.com). Son<br />
David became a bar mitzvah in June 2009, and<br />
she was very proud of him.<br />
1988<br />
Carol Ann McCusker Petruccelli<br />
Shirley Bourque Fruguglietti’s 7-year-old<br />
daughter keeps her very busy. Her family continues<br />
to be actively involved with the deaf<br />
community as Lily straddles two worlds. They<br />
have met so many wonderful deaf friends that<br />
they would not have met without Lily. Shirley<br />
is also a proud grandmother of a 2-year-old.<br />
She feels very blessed. Chris Schuman Kenny<br />
has been really lucky to reconnect with a lot of<br />
<strong>Wheelock</strong> friends. She has been busy with PTA<br />
and volunteering in preschool since all the kids<br />
are in school. She is glad to be back in the classroom.<br />
She has traveled to St. Louis for a mini<br />
family reunion and also went to Disney. Julie<br />
Shea is working for Boston Public Schools as an<br />
evaluation team facilitator, and her oldest son,<br />
Glenn, is a Marine and is being deployed to<br />
Afghanistan. The children in her school are all<br />
set to send him care packages while he is over<br />
there. Denise Williamson has enjoyed her trips<br />
to Austria, Italy, and Ireland. She is still busy<br />
with Autocross.<br />
As for me (Carol Ann), I am keeping very<br />
busy with work and my two young boys. I had<br />
the opportunity to skate Fenway Park with<br />
them back in January. It was a great experience.<br />
1989<br />
Susan Kelly Myers<br />
What a wonderful Reunion! It was so enjoyable<br />
to catch up with so many of you, see the new<br />
campus buildings, and enjoy the city of Boston.<br />
It was like old times to sit and talk with everyone.<br />
It sure brought back a lot of memories to<br />
stay in a dorm room on campus! Thank you to<br />
all who attended.<br />
Lisa Cantore is truly living out the <strong>College</strong>’s<br />
mission. “The end of 2009 was quite eventful for<br />
me,” she wrote. “A documentary aired on the local<br />
Rhode Island PBS station about the day camp I<br />
created for young children with cancer and their<br />
siblings. Please look for it on your station, as it<br />
may air nationally!” Lisa also moved back to her<br />
home state of Connecticut, where she is now<br />
a child life specialist at Connecticut Children’s<br />
Medical Center (Hartford). She is excited about<br />
this big change but says she misses “the RI child<br />
life/<strong>Wheelock</strong> crew.” (Congratulations, Lisa, on<br />
making a difference in the lives of young children<br />
and their families.) Kim Del Greco Stephens<br />
relocated to Seguin, TX, in July 2009. She is<br />
hoping to continue her work in the child life<br />
field and stays very busy with husband Bob and<br />
two children, Nick and Katharine. “We are very<br />
close to San Antonio and would love to have<br />
visitors if anyone heads out our way,” she wrote.<br />
Vickie Williams was ordained an elder in the<br />
Pentecostal Church in June 2005. As an elder, she<br />
traveled to New Orleans to serve the families who<br />
were impacted by the destruction of Hurricane<br />
Katrina. She is now serving on the ministerial staff<br />
at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church,<br />
in Boston, and is busy raising two delightful sons<br />
(ages 10 and 8).<br />
I (Sue) have had a busy and wonderful year.<br />
I traveled to Paris in April for my free incentive<br />
trip with Pampered Chef. I went on a Mexican<br />
Riviera Cruise with my family (plus 35 friends<br />
from around the country), and I am back in<br />
the classroom as a substitute teacher. My four<br />
children (ages 13, 12, 8, and 7) think it’s great as<br />
long as I’m not their teacher for a day.<br />
Please keep in touch and let me know if you<br />
ever find yourself in the Denver area.<br />
Young<br />
Alumni<br />
Online Class Notes<br />
WOW — What a Success!<br />
Many of our more recent grads who like to<br />
communicate online have asked to be able to<br />
see their Class Notes on <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s website.<br />
We thought it was a great idea, especially<br />
when we realized we could update Class Notes<br />
and Reunion information more frequently<br />
(quarterly for Class Notes), upload more photos<br />
of special occasions, and keep news extra current.<br />
So we did it!<br />
Since last fall, alumni have been able to<br />
find news of those who graduated in or after<br />
1990 by browsing the Undergraduate Class<br />
Notes and Graduate Class Notes links on our<br />
website at: www.wheelock.edu/classnotes.<br />
The move to online Class Notes for more recent<br />
classes is getting raves from alumni. We’re so<br />
glad you like it!<br />
Master’s Degrees<br />
Sandra Heidemann ’81MS has co-written a<br />
book, Play: The Pathway from Theory to Practice<br />
(<strong>2010</strong>). She is currently working as the Words<br />
Work! classroom coordinator for the Saint Paul<br />
Foundation in St. Paul, MN, implementing early<br />
literacy professional development strategies for<br />
Head Start teachers. In 2006, she was presented<br />
with the Evelyn House Award by MnAEYC in<br />
appreciation of time and effort given to young<br />
children in Minnesota.<br />
Deaths<br />
28 Sylvia Littlehales Nichols<br />
34 Betty Marvin Anderson<br />
34 Ruth Swanson Hallowell<br />
34 Virginia Clayton Thorne<br />
37 Ellen Moak Lloyd<br />
37 Florence Woodman Smith<br />
41 Jeannette Stevenson Thurman<br />
41 Barbara Shaw Zajonc<br />
44 Laura Kelly Peters<br />
44 Jane Sponnoble Timm<br />
44 Jane Cooper Wyman<br />
47 Florrie Baybutt Smith<br />
48 Miriam “Topsie” Seipp Christensen<br />
53 Mary Ditmore Mathews<br />
56 Inge Buechling Nichols<br />
57 Marilyn “Lyn” Hunziker Palmer<br />
66 Joyce Nothacker Robinson<br />
74AS Rosella Jones<br />
74 Sally Malloy Sanford<br />
76MS Holly Horton<br />
77 Naomi White<br />
87MS Michael Pearl<br />
90MS Donna White<br />
97/97MS Kathy Morris<br />
28 <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
Welcome to the<br />
“New” Library<br />
Exciting changes occurred in the <strong>Wheelock</strong> Library during<br />
winter break. A quick look around the first-floor area<br />
reveals many improvements that go far beyond fresh<br />
paint. The space is now wide open and bright (new lighting<br />
complements the natural, outdoor light flowing in from the<br />
glass doors facing The Riverway), and accommodates a combined<br />
service and reference desk, many new computers, quick-service<br />
computer kiosks, study tables, and lots of comfortable seating for<br />
reading. A new group study room on floor 3M also has technology<br />
updates, and the <strong>College</strong> Archives (now on the Library’s<br />
lower level) has a new display case for rotating exhibits that<br />
are bringing <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s history and traditions into full public<br />
view. It all makes the Library an inviting place to spend time<br />
researching, prepping papers, or otherwise focusing the mind.<br />
Charles and Irene Frail Hamm ’60<br />
Endowed Scholarship Challenge<br />
Continues to Inspire<br />
In 2007, Charles and Irene Frail Hamm ’60 created an Endowed<br />
Scholarship Challenge in the amount of $1 million to provide<br />
scholarships for future urban teachers and to encourage others to<br />
establish endowments for the same purpose.<br />
Those who contribute to urban teaching scholarships demonstrate<br />
a strategic, forward-looking approach to giving that makes it possible<br />
for <strong>Wheelock</strong> to prepare students who will serve one of the fastest<br />
growing yet most underserved segments of our society — urban children<br />
and families. To join the Hamms in educating more and better teachers<br />
for our city schools, contact Linda Welter, Vice President for Advancement,<br />
at (617) 879-2233 or lwelter@wheelock.edu.<br />
Reunion <strong>2010</strong> Roundup for<br />
Classes Ending in 0 and 5<br />
It’s happened again. Five years have flown by since your<br />
last Reunion! In 2005, Toby Congleton Milner ’70<br />
and Shawana Thomas Daniels ’95 won “Making a Difference”<br />
Service Awards, the Class of 1955 won all four class<br />
prizes, the Class of 1960 sailed off on a Charles River adventure,<br />
everyone “quacked up” on the Duck Tour, and, as Mary<br />
Barnard O’Connell ’65 declared, “Laughter filled the air!”<br />
What will happen this year? Which classes will win the prizes?<br />
What’s the most amazing change on campus since 2005?<br />
That’s hard — there’ve been so many! What we do know is that<br />
there are plenty of plans afoot to make Reunion <strong>2010</strong> the best<br />
ever. Come and find out what’s going on, call your classmates,<br />
and let the fun begin!
200 The Riverway<br />
Boston, MA<br />
02215-4176<br />
(617) 879-2123<br />
Bookmark Your<br />
Reunion Website<br />
Reunion Weekend <strong>2010</strong><br />
June 4-6, <strong>2010</strong><br />
Celebrating the Classes of 1925, 1930, 1935,<br />
1940, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975,<br />
1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, & 2005!<br />
Reunion plans are in the works. Bookmark the<br />
Reunion page on the <strong>Wheelock</strong> website for updates<br />
on who has registered. See you there!<br />
Gracias!<br />
World Service Day Volunteers<br />
Tons of thanks to alumni who participated in <strong>Wheelock</strong>’s first<br />
annual World Service Day on April 17. Those who organized and<br />
joined <strong>Wheelock</strong> volunteer projects in Los Angeles, San Francisco,<br />
Cape Cod, Boston, southern New Hampshire, Sarasota, Singapore, and<br />
Portland demonstrated, once again and with energy, how <strong>Wheelock</strong><br />
<strong>College</strong> alumni live its mission. And they did a great job launching a<br />
new service tradition that pays back in the chance to see old friends,<br />
meet new ones, be useful, and have fun. See you next year!<br />
Alumni<br />
Events<br />
Cape Cod Club<br />
Annual <strong>Spring</strong> Luncheon<br />
May 13 • 12 p.m.<br />
Hyannis Yacht Club<br />
RSVP (617) 879-2261<br />
Don’t Miss New<br />
Art on Campus, p. 4<br />
Greater Portland Alumni Club<br />
Annual Meeting and Dinner<br />
May 19 • 6 p.m.<br />
The Purpoodock Club<br />
Cape Elizabeth, ME<br />
RSVP (207) 878-2356<br />
Boston Young Alumni Reception<br />
for all graduates 1995-<strong>2010</strong><br />
June 5 • 7 p.m.<br />
Beer Works<br />
61 Brookline Avenue<br />
Boston, MA