thediaspora potrezebie Alumni Newsletter of the American Community School Beirut Volume XXXXIII Number 1 Our 43rd year of publication March 2021 A Message From The President In This Issue I am most excited about this issue of the Pot which is dedicated to our parents. It was A Message From The President 1 so nice to read everyone’s stories about their parents who were such an influence on Alumni Notes all of us in Beirut. I hope you too enjoy this issue as much as I did. I want to thank Linda 3 Handschin-Sheppard ‘68 for all the editing that we required. In Memoriam 4 NEW EDITOR Parent Dedications 6 We are very grateful and excited to announce Alice Ludvigsen ‘70 has volunteered How to Stay Connected to serve as editor of the Pot, continuing a 43 year volunteer effort. Watch for Alice’s first 23 issue this summer. I encourage alums to support Alice’s efforts by sending in a few lines for Alumni Notes telling what you are doing or who you’re in touch with. Photos are appreciated too. Contact Alice: [email protected]. VOLUNTEER Speaking of the Pot, WE NEED A VOLUNTEER: the final person we must add the Pot staff is someone willing to let us use their street address as the return address on the Pot. If details are your thing, and you would be willing to send about 200 lines of address changes and “Deceased” notifications in a preformatted Excel spreadsheet to ACS quarterly, we’d love to hear from you. You might spend two hours’ time after each Pot issue is mailed. Call Linda Handschin-Sheppard 425.883.6197 for more details. FUNDRAISING The fundraising drive for the Malcolm Kerr Endowment was a success! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this cause. Greg Soghikian ‘77 donated $10,000 towards a matching fund. We more than matched it, and I’m still getting donations. Thanks to Greg, as well as Cynthia Soghikian-Wolfe ‘72 for their generous contributions. We ended up raising about $24,000. Our goal was to match the $10,000. Thanks again. NEW HEAD OF SCHOOL As you all know, the school has been searching for a new Head of School, and that search was complete with the appointment of Thomas N. Cangiano, effective July 1, 2021. Taking Continued on page 2 Page 1 | The Diaspora Potrezebie | March 2021 The Diaspora Potrezebie President’s Message Continued Editor Jay Bruder ’74 (since 2020) words from Nina’s announcement: Phone: 703-765-1215 (Eastern Time) Email: [email protected] “Tom is a veteran educational leader, with over 30 years’ experience. A Head of School since 2007 in both US independent schools and at one Past Editors of the oldest US educational institution abroad, the American College of Peter G Gibson (Fac), Founding Editor, 1978-1986 [RIP June 6, 2009] Constance Scott-Walker-Lindstrom ’76, Editor, 1986-1990 Sofia in Bulgaria, Tom offers the knowledge of an American approach Jonathan G Stacey ’61, Editor 1990-2012 [RIP December 7, 2012] to education as well as the administrative skill sets learned by a vast Linda Handschin-Sheppard ’68, Editor 2013-2020 experience working in challenging situations.“ Contributing Staff On behalf of the Alumni Council, and the alumni community at Lina Safa, Director of Research & Development Services large, we thank Karim Abu Haidar Fac for stepping in as Interim Office of Development & Alumni Relations Faten Hayek, Assistant to the Office of Development & Alumni Relations Head of School while the search was conducted. He brought compassion and competency during a really challenging time that Executive Committee and Representatives no one could have been prepared for. He was the right person President, Gina Kano ’73, [email protected] Vice President, Yasmin Agha ’04, [email protected] to guide us through those tough times. He will be reinstated as Treasurer, Leonard Smith ’67, [email protected] Deputy Head of School and work with Tom to ensure a smooth Secretary, Donna Harms-Hansen ’74, [email protected] transition. Representatives of the Association I remain grateful to everyone for the privilege of serving this Marwa Bader ’97 Margaret “Mug” Kelberer ’73 community and school. Ramsey Barghout ’12 Jeanie Mullen ’73 Jay Bruder ’74 Tamara Rasamny ‘12 My best Linda Handschin-Sheppard ’68 Zeyd Tabbara ’11 Jeffrey Hutchins ‘65 Elizabeth “Betsy” van den Berg ’74 Honorary Representatives Karim Abu Haydar, Interim Head of School Nina Joukowsky-Köprülü ’79, Chair, ACS Board of Trustees Gina Kano ’73 Ex-Officio Representative President AA/ACS Rosie Ann Muhanna, ACS Director of Development & Alumni Relations Websites ACS at Beirut: www.acs.edu.lb ACS Matters: www.acs.edu.lb/page.cfm?p=1326 Al Mashriq The Levantine Cultural Riches from the Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Follow us on … https://almashriq.hiof.no Webmaster: The late Børre Ludvigsen ‘64 The Diaspora Potrezebie is published quarterly as a nonprofit activity ACS Knights ACS Beirut of the Alumni Association of the American Community School Beirut Subscriptions are provided free to all members of the alumni association Please make tax deductible donation checks payable to the Alumni Association of ACS (AA/ACS) All correspondence should be sent to AA/ACS, 1922 Rollins Drive, ACS Beirut ACS Beirut Alexandria, VA 22307 Our legal address is: 3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 8th Floor, New York NY 10017-2303 The Alumni Association of the American Community School Beirut. (AA/ACS) does not take positions on religious, political, social topics, or issues and does not endorse the positions or opinions given from time to time by contributors to this newsletter. © 1990–2021 Alumni Association of the American Community School Beirut All Rights Reserved Page 2 | The Diaspora Potrezebie | March 2021 Alumni Notes Annabel Shanklin-Perlik ’45 remembers he respected - although never a student for 34 years and he left Beirut in 1986. We very fondly her 11 years at ACS, and recalls there. He used to see ACS play productions moved to Athens with our mother, when that she and the late Ruth Wharton and frequent the library when he could. He our parents divorced, but spent every ‘45 were the only two members of the was a full-time instructor in the AUB English single Christmas and summer vacation graduating class that year, due to the Department, beloved of his students and with Dad in Beirut on campus. So our World War II evacuations of many school fellow instructors, at the time of his passing, connection to ACS was constant, through families. Annabel has stayed in touch with the result of a failed medical treatment. our childhood ACS friends. I remember Mrs. another classmate, Alice Alter-Watkins About myself, it is true I retired after 52 Rose Churchill Fac and other teachers ’45, of California. Alice’s family left Lebanon years teaching theater and art at AUB and whose names I have since unfortunately for India prior to her graduation. About I am glad to be back in contact with the forgotten. I was wondering how/if one can 10 years ago, Annabel moved from her Pot. And I wish to greet warmly all ACS find class group photos of kindergarten long-time home to an active senior students and staff I ever knew, wishing and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd elementary grades community in northern Virginia. Growing you all the best possible 2021under these of those days (1958-1961). We must be in up in Lebanon was just the beginning of highly interesting and even adventuresome some of them; it would be a joy to have her immersion in and love of world cultures circumstances.” them. Might you know? and history. She continued international travel, visiting Syria, Jordan, Japan, Italy, Neil Dale ‘68 Geologist, musician, and Terry Thomas ‘74 wrote from Lee’s Morocco, China, and Iran in recent years. author, has published a new book entitled Summit, MO stating, “I would like to register Still active at age 93, she continues to be Who Is Earth. The narrative is a distillation of as attending ACS from ‘64-’67 for the 3rd, th in good health and enjoys art, reading, and his journey over the last 20 years, “through 4 , and 5th grades before evacuating her family. an odyssey of scattered scientific studies, because of the 6-day war. My teachers searching for glimpses of the greater were Mrs. Hands Fac, Ms. Richards David Kurani ‘62 wrote to say he was systems that we inhabit.” The book is easily Fac, and Mr. Frank Ford Fac. I would be happy to reconnect with The Potrezebie. referenced on the web. interested in names of any classmates. My David kindly corrected two points from brother and sister also attended ACS at the our note in the last issue: “1. I was in the Daphne Issidorides ‘72 wrote with same time. Russell ’70 lives in Creswell, class of ‘62, not ‘61 (We always kept hearing remembrances of ACS and the little stores OR and my sister Leslie’72 is deceased. how great that class was from teachers in the neighborhood. Her sister Diana I would like to be in contact with any facing us at school year beginnings.) 2. ‘70 lives in Amsterdam. Daphne stated, classmates. (Please contact the editor to My son who passed away in 2018 was “My sister Diana and I were at ACS only in be put in touch with Terry. He specifically named Amin-John, generally known as kindergarten and the elementary grades, remembered the Churchill family.) Amin, rather than John. I would like to up until 1960 and 1961. We grew up on mention his connection with ACS which the AUB campus; our parents were both teaching at AUB since 1952.