SPRING ’14 SusanOLYMPIAN Dunklee ’04 Full Circle Ten Years Later THE MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF ST. JOHNSBURY ACADEMY, ST. JOHNSBURY TRADE SCHOOL & MOUNT ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Samuel E. Bain Jr. ’64 John T. Benoit ’80 Gregory E. Boardman ’75 Bruce E. Buxton Peter F. Crosby ’68 Marcia D. DeRosia ’69 Robert M. Fairbanks ’12H Nancy Usher Goodrich Susan O’Neil Grayson ’67 Lee P. Hackett ’5 7, President John S. Hall ’66 James H. Impey ’64 Alex P.M. Ko Bernier L. Mayo ’56 Garth B. Moulton ’88 Kimberly A. Silloway ’82 Ronald W. Steen Dale R. Wells ’64T Jay O. Wright ’87 Edward R. Zuccaro TRUSTEES EMERITI Ernest A. Begin ’63 Gordon V. DeWitt ’56 John M. Farmer Robert C. Fuehrer John P. Garey ’57 Allan D. Gilmour Kenneth F. Hammer ’85H William A. Julian ’45 Jean McGregor Rogers ’56 Roderic B. Vitty ’51 ADVANCEMENT OFFICE Tammi Sullivan Cady ’88 Director of Development and Alumni Relations [email protected] Alan Ruggles ’84 Associate Director of Alumni Relations [email protected] Wendy Robertson Prospect Research and TERM EXPIRES IN 2014 Leilani Provencal ’04 Development Assistant Cindy Hayes Robillard ’83 [email protected] ALUMNI COUNCIL Brent W. Beck ’62 Paul Scavitto ’96 President Bonnie Jenks EX-OFFICIO Cynthia Fortier Wheeler ’73 Development and Alumni Pam Burns Kocher ’64 Thomas Lovett Assistant Terry Powers ’70 TERM EXPIRES IN 2016 [email protected] Headmaster Erin Quatrini Hill ’97 Robert Begin ’87 Jack Cummings James H. Impey ’64 Troy D. Ruggles ’84 Vice President Associate Headmaster, Trustee Representative Cynthia Hoyt Stanton ’73 Timothy Clouatre ’86 Advancement and Admission Bernier L. Mayo ’56 Dan Thurston ’50 Past President [email protected] Trustee Representative Laurence LeBlanc ’14 Patti Albee Coburn ’67 Diego Melendez Tammi Sullivan Cady ’88 Assistant Director, Student Government President Gertrude Sylvain Dussault ’61M Alumni Director Marketing and Communications James Hutchins ’82 Alan Ruggles ’84 TERM EXPIRES IN 2015 [email protected] Crystal Chandler Prevost ’78 Associate Director of Alumni Dale Deblois ’51T Brandon Heanssler Gerard Prevost ’77 Joyce Atherton Dumas ’49 Leigh B. Larocque ’52T Media Integration Specialist Bruce Scott ’57 [email protected] Lifetime Member Jake Lavely ’97 26 12 SPRING ’14 FEATURES COMING HOME TO THE KINGDOM 12 BY MARTHA CAVANAUGH ’91 BRANTVIEW’S ENDURING LEGACY 17 BY SEAN E. SAWYER PhD ’84 HOME GROWN 26 BY PHOEBE CAVANAUGH COBB ’90 DEPARTMENTS 2 MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER 3 TOP OF THE NEWS 11 ADVANCEMENT REPORT 14 LOOKING BACK 26 CLASS NEWS 35 MARRIAGES 38 BIRTHS 17 43 IN MEMORIAM Volume LVII Number 2, Spring 2014 Staff The Hilltopper magazine is published in the Art Director/Designer autumn and spring by the Office of Alumni Diego Melendez and Development for alumni and friends of Designer St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury Trade Brandon Heanssler School and Mount St. Joseph Academy. Writer/Editor of the Alumni and Photography Courtesy Phoebe Cavanaugh Development Office, Marketing and Cobb ’90 Communications, J. Harper Photography, Jenks Studio, Matthew Payeur, Denise Printer Scavitto, Craig Harrison, Lance Jiang, NBC/ Queen City Printers, Inc. USOC, St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. Burlington, VT Please forward Address Changes to: Contributing Writers Office of Alumni and Development Peggy Pearl ’64 St. Johnsbury Academy Martha Cavanaugh ’91 PO Box 906 Sean E. Sawyer ’84 St. Johnsbury, VT 05819 802.751.2011 Cover Image 3 [email protected] Susan Dunklee ’04 by or visit www.stjacademy.org/alumni NBC/USOC Message from the hen I heard that Susan Dunklee ‘04 and Jessica Thornton Sherman ‘87 were heading W to the Olympics, I felt a degree of pride, which on reflection, was wholly undeserved. Sure, I taught Jessica in English, I was Susan’s headmaster, and I cheered both of them on from track-side, but I really had no claim to their success. Nevertheless, I felt buoyed by their rise to Olympic status. So did hundreds of others, and why not? They are part of us! This message is at the heart of this issue of the Hilltopper. youth. Gerry, Matt Stark ’96, and Buffy Fortin ’90, are part Whether cheering on Olympians, saving Brantview, collabo- of the team continuing this work in the summer through rating with the History and Heritage Center, or moving back the Summer Youth Corps, during which eighth-grade to the St. Johnsbury area to give back to one’s hometown, we graduates experience the rewards and responsibilities of members of the Academy community are constantly engaged the workplace while serving the local community. in lifting each other up. By always seeking to improve our sur- • Also this spring, we hosted students from the Kaijo roundings—and ourselves—we find inspirations and aspira- Gakuen school in Tokyo for the 25th time. Our longstand- tions beyond our imaginings. We feel part of a winning team, ing partnership with Kaijo can be seen as an example part of something good, and that inspires even greater efforts. for the rest of the world: we speak different languages, This issue highlights several other topics that support this yet find ways to understand each other; we enjoy only a message: very short visit, yet establish long lasting friendships; we • In January, Vice President of the Board of Trustees, Jay have both endured tragedies, but remain a sign of hope, Wright ‘87, took the Fuller Hall stage to introduce fellow peace and understanding. All of this would not be pos- alum Phil Soucy ‘69 for a Chapel talk. Phil talked at length sible without sacrifice and trust on the part of numerous about not only his passion for aeronautics and engineer- Academy families who receive these students into their ing, but also the history of flight in the United States. He homes, and the Kaijo families’ trust in us to take good hoped that some of the students listening in the audi- care of them. This year marked the beginning of a new ence would share his passion and embark on careers in tradition as Ryuichiro “Long” Okada, a resident student aeronautics or engineering, making our country’s future from Osaka, Japan planned a cultural festival involving the in those areas even brighter. There was such a positive Kaijo students as part of his Senior Capstone. Every year I response among students that Phil will be returning to am heartened by the genuine and heartfelt good will this campus to give a second talk to a smaller group. program generates. • This February, a group of students traveled to rural India Together as a school community alums and current stu- to work among the children of Untouchables (India’s dents—alongside the teachers who inspired them—are work- lowest social caste). They were chaperoned by two alums ing to build stronger communities here and around the world. who have returned to teach at the Academy—Sarah Gar- As headmaster, I am filled with pride as I look around and see ey ‘92 and Rod Reis ‘82. Over the course of the two-week all that generations of Hilltoppers have accomplished or—like service trip, they undertook a smokeless stove project, Susan and Jessica—are accomplishing. I hope when you are worked with women in a sewing center, and kicked off a done reading this magazine, you are too. Even more powerful community gardening project at a children’s center. They than our treasured memories are the dreams they inspire. continued to build on earlier trips during which Academy faculty and students helped establish a health center and water purification system. • Throughout the spring semester, Academy faculty have taught courses to all of the eighth-grade students from the St. Johnsbury School in culinary arts, small engine repair, drafting, and woodworking through Project Redis- OUR ACADEMY covery. As a part of this effort, alums Bret Bourgeois ‘92 The Headmaster’s Weekly Message and Gerry Prevost ’77, among many others, have helped Thoughts inspired by morning Chapel reinvigorate career and technical education for local stjacademy.org/ouracademy 2 Hilltopper | Spring 2014 Celebrating 25 Years of Kaijo Tradition he Academy has welcomed a group of 30 competitively T selected students from the Kaijo Gakuen boys’ school in A New Friendship: Chaperones and students from the Kaijo Gakuen Tokyo since 1989. The boys stay with host families and follow school in Tokyo, Japan and students from St. Johnsbury Academy enjoy themselves at the annual Farewell Banquet host students through their daily schedules during the 10-day trip; they also visit tourist attractions in the Northeast Kingdom Farm, went bowling and had an opportunity to tour Boston for a and Boston. Several traditions have developed over the course day at the end of their trip. Daiki Ajiro, one of the Kaijo students, of the 25-year program: the boys participate in a Welcome expressed disappointment at having to take time away from and Farewell Chapel each year, perform for host families and his host family for activities such as bowling or the Boston trip faculty members at a Farewell Banquet, bowl, and swim at the because he wanted to talk with native English speakers and Academy’s Farmer Natatorium. continue to improve his English. He had lived in Utah for two This year marked the inception of another event that is likely years, moving back to Japan when he was in fourth grade. Five to become a tradition of the Kaijo boys’ visit. As Ryuichiro years later, after having finished ninth grade, he was pleasantly “Long” Okada, a resident student from Osaka, Japan, thought surprised at how quickly he regained his English skills. “People about his Senior Capstone project, he decided that he wanted told me that I speak unaccented English,” he said happily.