Oak Leaves Winter 2019-2020
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Nonprofit Org. US POSTAGE PAID Winter 2019-2020 Permit No. 259 Newburgh, NY Address Service Requested ONEWSLETTER FROMa OAKWOODk FRIENDS SCHOOL • CELEBRATINLG OVER e220 YEARS OaF FRIENDS EveDUCATION IN THE HUDSOsN VALLEY We have completed several important proj- 2020 Spring School Calendar Michael J. Steinberg to Present: ects impacting academics, athletics and resi- dential life. We have transformed the student living spaces with new bathrooms, kitchens, April 21 Breakfast with the Head Dash Davis Gleiter Lecture on Social Justice common spaces and patios. The Main Build- Earthshare Day education and debate at the school and in the ing renovation projects upgraded electri- cal and HVAC and provided spacious and May 15 Dash Davis Gleiter Lecture community, Oakwood became the first high school in the country to declare itself a “nuclear well-lit arts, media, ceramics, studio, and Michael Steinberg free zone.” He also remembers driving vans of classroom spaces. Renovations to Lane Au- May 15-17 Alumni Weekend students to Washington D.C. for demonstrations ditorium’s three-story west entrance have May 16 Spring Production and leading a student trip to the Soviet Union. transformed storage spaces into a modern music classroom, a practice space and a gra- May 20 Spring Concert Upon accepting his current job at Michigan Law, Mike told us: “I loved teaching at Oakwood cious theater lobby entrance. Even the gym June 10 Middle School Moving Up in the 80s so much that I’ve decided to return and locker rooms received much needed June 11 Senior Dinner to my teaching roots. I will join the faculty at upgrades to lighting, plumbing and layout. June 12 Commencement Michigan Law where I will teach a civil rights litigation course and start a civil rights clinic.” Now we are turning our attention to the interior performance space of Lane Theater. Housed Oakwood is honored to welcome Michael Steinberg within the very first building constructed for back to campus to present "Working for Civil Rights Oakwood’s campus in 1921, this space has Visit us at www.oakwoodfriends.org and Civil Liberties in 2020." All are welcome. hosted countless student plays and presen- tations, and appearances by Pete Seeger, El- eanor Roosevelt, Poet Laureate Mark Strand ’52, Bonnie Raitt ’67, and Juan Williams ’72. Former Oakwood history teacher and coach, Mi- Work is underway to transform this important 16 Winter 2012019-20206-17 NEWSLETTER FOR ALUMNI AND MEMBERS OF THE OAKWOOD FRIENDS COMMUNITY chael J. Steinberg, will open Alumni Weekend space into a modern, energy-efficient theater, 2020 on Friday afternoon, May 15th, with the Lighting the Way useable year-round. Upgrades will include presentation of the Caroline “Dash” Davis Gleiter new seating, enhancements to the lighting Lecture on Social Justice. Now in its 16th year, and sound systems and booths, a new scene Sledding this lecture series was established by classmates Matching Gift shop and set-design workspace, new heat- in memory of Dash Davis Gleiter ’51 in recogni- ing, ventilation and air conditioning systems tion of her work in civil rights and her lifetime Opportunity to overlap with our green campus initiative. of volunteer activities to promote social justice. Lighting the Way, Oakwood’s comprehen- We are excited to announce an opportunity After 22 years as the legal director of the Ameri- sive fundraising campaign, has been se- to broaden participation in Lighting the Way. can Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Michael curing financial support for our historic Rob Blackman ’61 has joined with board has joined the faculty of the University of Michi- campus’s long-term revitalization. Now in president Don Spencer to create a match- gan Law School as the Director of the Civil Rights 2020, our 100th anniversary year in Pough- ing gift fund up to a total of $100,000. This Litigation Initiative where he will teach civil keepsie, we’re on our way to completing means gifts and pledges made to Lighting rights litigation and mentor the next generation the campaign’s capstone project, the reno- the Way by June 30, 2020 will be matched of public interest lawyers. At the ACLU, Michael vation of Lane Auditorium. We are deeply 2 to 1! We invite all members of the Oak- litigated dozens of high-impact, high-profile cas- grateful to a select group of lead donors wood family to help advance our School’s es on a wide range of civil rights issues including: who have made this work possible through mission with a gift at any level. We’re on our racial justice, LGBT rights, police misconduct, their vision and generous philanthropy. way! With your generous contribution, we’ll freedom of speech and expression, immigrant make it over the finish line! Thank you. rights, voting rights, women’s rights, post 9/11 issues, reproductive freedom, criminal justice reform, religious freedom, right to counsel, en- vironmental justice, prisoner rights, economic justice, and disability rights. Six cases on which he worked have reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael earned his B.A. with honors from Wes- leyan University in 1983 and graduated cum laude from Wayne State Law School in 1989. Michael’s first job after college was at Oakwood where his father, Fred Steinberg, was also on the faculty. In addition to teaching history and coaching, Mike was active in student activities and served as advisor to Oakwood’s “Disarma- Oakwood campus circa 1965 ment Committee.” He recalls that after much Seniors Willow Bennison and Malcolm Condon in "These Shining Lives" 2 Winter 2012019-20206-17 NEWSLETTER FOR ALUMNI AND MEMBERS OF THE OAKWOOD FRIENDS COMMUNITY CELEBRATING OVER 220 YEARS OF FRIENDS EDUCATION IN THE HUDSON VALLEY WinterWinter 2019-2020 2016-17 15 IN MEMORY Connections My Brother – Deionte Davis Gloria Garlick Bogle ’43 By: Chad Cianfrani, Head of School Timothy A. Wohlforth 5/18/96 – 10/27/19 December 30, 2019 Jane K. Ecker ’46 Several years April 2019 ago, a science Class of 1951 Oakwood mourns the loss of our young historian, James By Eric Wohlforth ’50 alumnus Deionte Davis, class of 2015, Margaret "Peggy" Mertz ’49 Burke, wrote a who died suddenly on October 27, 2019 in September 13, 2019 series of pieces Eric shared this Atlanta, Georgia. We are holding his fam- on connections. message at his ily in the Light. He will be sorely missed. Herbert Day ’50 Seemingly dis- brother’s fu- March 22, 2019 neral at South parate thoughts, Lew Resseguie ’50 inventions, and M o u n t a i n June 30, 2019 ideas build upon Friends Meet- each other, con- ing in Ashland, Mary Berry Bowron ’51 necting across Oregon. Tim September 17, 2017 time and expe- passed away on rience. Within August 23, 2019. Tim Wohlforth ’51 our Oakwood August 23, 2019 community, I see these connections inform It is hard to believe that Tim and I knew David Harkness ’55 and strengthen our program from the ar- each other as brothers for all of 83 years. October 2, 2019 rival of the newest 6th graders through Ages 3 to 17 were the most intense part of graduation and the decades beyond. that brotherly relationship. We lived with John Ross ’55 our writer parents in a 200-year-old house January 18, 2011 During a recent phone conversation with an Meeting for Worship in Lane in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Until we went to alumnus from the early 1960s, I was struck Oakwood School, a Friends Boarding School Richard K. Wood '55 by a lasting connection he made between home in 1920, Lane embodies the mission of when I was 14, and Tim was 13, we shared November 1, 2019 his brief experiences on the Oakwood stage Oakwood, supporting the spirit, the scholar, Powell Fund a bedroom and talked long into the night. and a career spanning over five decades in the artist, and the athlete. Under the trussed Bain Davis ’58 November 24, 2019 medicine. Shy by nature and adverse to pub- beams and slate roof of Lane, students who Tim’s independent political proclivi- Lights up the Courts ties emerged when he was 15 in 1948 lic speaking, he pointed to the support and drew spiritual connections through wor- Barbara Hannum Herrmann ’58 encouragement he received at Oakwood to ship on Sunday mornings also gained social at Oakwood. That was the presidential May 27, 2015 reach beyond his comfort zone. Skills gained connection while on skates Friday nights. The Powell Endowment Fund, established election year when Henry Wallace was memorizing lines and performing before his with an inspirational gift from Richard M. a strong, left-wing candidate with Dew- David Thomson ’58 peers helped build confidence and hone his This September we will celebrate Oak- Powell ’68 in 2010, continues to positively ey and President Truman on the ballot. September 13, 2019 focus. He fondly looks back on these ex- wood’s 100th year on the Poughkeepsie impact the daily experience of both students periences as ones that helped prepare him campus, and our 224th year of Friends Edu- and faculty. The Fund at a current value Tim at Oakwood that election year of 1948 Edward Brown Reid ’61 navigate medical school, ultimately trading cation. Over the decades there have been of over $700,000 strengthens Oakwood’s was an outspoken leader of the pro-Henry October 5, 2019 theater scripts for those more medical in nature. several visible and impactful transformations finances for the future while it provides Wallace camp, beginning then a lifetime Jeanne Overman Trankle ’64 made to the physical space: new dorms, annual income for special projects. of political activism. This political activ- January 7, 2020 Another unlikely connection involves the re- new buildings, technology, solar energy.