Milton Magazine - Milton Academy

Retiring in 2008Jane H. BrewerJoined the faculty in 1981a couple of extra hours preparingfor the next day’s classes,lest your students question theaward’s validity. In 1990 youwere named Master Teacher, andthis past January your colleaguesin the modern languages departmenthonored you and yourdevotion to Milton by renamingyour room on the language floorThe George H. Fernald Classroom.And since you yourself taughtSpanish in our department, Iknow you won’t hold it against usif this room ultimately becomesa Spanish classroom.Your colleagues, present andformer, all note that you havebeen someone whom the Schoolhas called upon, particularly indifficult circumstances. You havebeen a steady rudder. You alwaysrose to the task requested of you.That is how you began your workon the Discipline Committee.Your legacy as secretary ofthe D.C. is among your mostimpressive and lasting contributionsto this School. For fourdecades, you have guided youngmen and women who made mistakesin their young lives, helpingthem develop sound moralcharacter. With your thoughtfulquestions and careful listening,you have been a model for bothstudents and faculty serving onthe committee.A Milton Paper article this yearquoted your sage advice tonew faculty “to find a mentor…someone with whom you havean affinity and somebody thatyou can trust, confide in.” Manyof your colleagues, includingmyself, found that mentor inyou. We turned to you countlesstimes for advice; you providedwisdom, perspective, andunderstanding. In the words ofa colleague: George has “seenit all, heard it all, taught it all.George has persuaded us andtaught us, his colleagues, byexample mostly, or through kindadvice. Just George’s presence,with his profound knowledge ofthe classics, the history of theSchool, and of human nature—and his willingness to impart afew words of good sense—hasbeen enormously reassuringand comforting.” We will missthat reassurance, that comfort,but most of all we will miss you,George. Your service and loyaltyto Milton are inspiring and standas a lasting example for all of us.From the bottom of our hearts,we thank you for making somany great memories. We wishyou the best as you retire to NewHampshire in the company ofyour trusty canine, Dickens.Au revoir et bonne chance!James RyanChair, Modern LanguagesDepartmentSince the day Archer Harmanreturned from the Pacific tomeet his first child, Jane Brewerhas never been far away from acampus. Westminster, St. Paul’s,Peck, St. George’s, Milton—schools are so thoroughly inJane’s blood that full retirementwas never a possibility. Instead,Jane will hunker down this winterwith a cup of tea and a stackof folders from the Tufts admissionsoffice, happy in the knowledgethat she is helping to shapeyet another school community.After several years as a stay-athomemother, Jane began to getrestless in a way that signaled theneed to get out of the house, soI said to her, “Jane, you shouldcome work in admissions.”Milton Academy has never beenthe same since, and it will neverbe the same now that Jane isleaving—and for two reasons.First, no one loves life more thanJane. She gets up in the morning,convinced that any number ofgreat things could happen beforerecess. In the days before answeringmachines, I always hung upafter one ring at Jane’s housebecause she could pick up thatquickly from the shower. She wasso afraid she’d miss somethingfun or exciting.The greater reason, though, isthat Jane has a heart as big as theworld, and children have alwaysfelt embraced by it. She wasMiss Harman, the second-gradeteacher, before she married Ned,and, even though she had threechildren of her own, she neededa bigger audience. She found oneat the New England Home forLittle Wanderers, where she wasa trustee for years, at DedhamCountry Day School, where shealso served on the board, andmost importantly at Milton. Forthe old-timers on the faculty,Jane’s reappearance was “déjàvu all over again,” as Mr. Berrawould have said.Jane BrewerIn the admissions office, Janewas always the most excitedabout a student she was interviewing.Charlie Flood, father ofCaperton ’95 and Lucy ’97, stilltells the story of Jane’s emergingfrom her office with Lucy in towand saying, “She’s great—butyou knew that.” The first yearshe went back to coaching, shewas wearing an ISL champion’sjacket at the end of the season.As a class advisor, “Dean Brew,”as I called her, she always had thestudents’ love and respect, evenwhen she had to take them totask over a disciplinary incident.They knew she was invested inthem for the long haul and in allof them. Jane learned from herparents, who became leading figuresin the world of independenteducation, that schools such asMilton were for everyone, notmerely the privileged, and shehas made that a cornerstone ofher work here.Usually, someone who hasknown a person for 30 years saysa few words about weatheringlife’s ups and downs together,but, with Jane, there are neverany downs. Like Auntie Mame,who taught her nephew “Life’sa banquet!” or Maude, who told76 Milton Magazine