Spring 2010
Sh
Sh
i
he
he
LLearning
ea
arning C
urve
Curve
• New Funds for
Teacher Education
• Alumni Service
Learning in Guatemala
• Programs, Policy Talks &
Community Dialogues
Wheelock Students
Score High on
Sense of Well-Being,
Civic Mindedness,
and Engagement
W
difference in students’ sense of well-being and
their civic mindedness and engagement during their very first year on campus.
The Wabash study is a large-scale, longitudinal study investigating critical factors that
affect the outcomes of liberal arts education.
The first outcome measures of the study, in
the area of psychological well-being, show that
among students at 31 small institutions in the
study, Wheelock students grew over their first
year in college more than any others in their
“Self-Acceptance” score and in their “Purpose
in Life” score, and they score exceptionally
high on growth in “Consciousness of Self”
and “Commitment.” Similarly, they ranked
near the top in growth in “Positive Relations
with Others” and sense of “Environmental
Mastery.” They rank first out of 47 institutions, small and large, in positive change on
the scores of “Citizenship” and “Collabora-
tion,” and they ranked very high in growth on
the Socially Responsible Leadership scale.
Dr. Julie Wollman, vice president for
academic affairs, who led the Wheelock
team that won Wheelock a place in the
study, attributes the high scores of its students to the College’s mission. “Because of
Wheelock’s unique mission and focus on
preparing students for careers in which civic
engagement is at the core of their personal
and professional identities, the College has
never made a distinction between its responsibility to foster students’ intellectual growth
and their full development as individuals,
including their psychosocial well-being and
sense of civic purpose,” she says. “As experts
in the field of human development, we
understand that the whole student grows
through the integration of cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and civic development.”
heelock has always strived
to provide a learning experience that transforms students, and alumni often tell
us that their experience as
undergraduates laid the foundation for much
of what they accomplish in their personal as
well as professional lives. Now the Wabash
National Study of Liberal Arts Education, in
which Wheelock is participating along with
41 institutions nationally, is showing that the
transformation process begins early at Wheelock, with the College making a significant
Reading at Wheelock
and Across America
T
he National Education
Association’s (NEA) Read
Across America is an annual
reading motivation and
awareness program that
calls for every child in every community to
celebrate reading on March 2, the birthday of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss.
The program also provides NEA members,
parents, and caregivers, with the resources
and activities they need to keep reading
with children throughout the year. At
Wheelock, staff and students gathered
children in the CCSR for Seuss readings
on the big day. Oh, the things that they
know and the places they’ll go!
““The
T em
Th
more
ore
re th
tthat
at yyou
ou re
rread,
eea
ad,
d,
more
will
Thee m
more
tthee m
th
ore
re th
tthings
iin
nggss yyou
ng
ou w
iilll
ll kknow.
now.
w Th
T
ore
re th
tthat
at
more
places
go.”
yyou
ou le
llearn,
eea
arn,
n, th
tthee m
ore
re p
pla
laceess yyou’ll
la
ou’l
’ll
ll ggo
o.”
Dr.
Seuss
—D
r Se
r.
S
eus
uss
s
ss
Spring 2010
Dear Alumni and Friends,
TABLE
OF
CONTENTS
2
4
12
18
News Nuggets
On Campus
Alumni
Class Notes
Editor
Christine Dall
Production Editor
Lori Ann Saslav
Design
Leslie Hartwell
Photography
Christine Dall
Kin Lloyd
Len Rubenstein
Don West
Wheelock Magazine
Spring 2010
Volume XXX, Issue 2
Wheelock Magazine invites manuscripts
and photographs from our readers,
although we do not guarantee their
publication, and we reserve the right
to edit them as needed.
For Class Notes information, contact
Lori Ann Saslav at (617) 879-2123 or
lsaslav@wheelock.edu.
Send letters to the editor to:
Wheelock Magazine, Office for Institutional
Advancement, Wheelock College,
200 The Riverway, Boston, MA 02215-4176,
or e-mail them to cdall@wheelock.edu.
I
am delighted to announce that new
federal funding totaling $2.5 million has
been awarded to Wheelock teacher preparation programs, a very welcome investment that affirms our national reputation
for leadership in teacher education and supports
our ongoing initiatives to improve the quality of
teaching and learning in our schools.
In remarking on the most recent of these
awards, a $1.6 million Teacher Quality Grant,
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry stated, “When
you invest in teachers, you are investing in students, and every educator I meet with stresses
the importance of preparation. That’s why these
federal dollars go a long way.” I couldn’t agree
more! These awards to Wheelock recognize the
quality of our faculty and our graduates, who
work so hard and are passionate about making
our schools work for all children, despite the
enormous challenges of the profession. Congratulations and thank you to all of our alumni who
are devoted to education and have contributed
mightily to Wheelock’s reputation as a leader in
teacher preparation.
The Winter Olympics this year were inspirational and exciting, providing us all with a wonderful opportunity to witness the power of hard
work and commitment and prompting me to
think about the values Wheelock shares with these
historic games. The Olympic ideals that encourage individuals to develop their physical, moral,
intellectual, cultural, and artistic qualities in
harmony are incorporated into all aspects of the
College’s Athletics Department programs — an
initiative reported on in this issue of Wheelock
Magazine. This philosophy of Olympism also very
closely matches what Wheelock seeks to accomplish as a higher education institution dedicated
to the full development of individual students
— intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Wheelock’s commitment to the whole student is one of
its core strengths and contributes enormous value
to the educations our students receive and to the
accomplishments they achieve as graduates.
I believe it is because of Wheelock’s attention to developing students as whole people that
the earliest results from the Wabash National
Study of Liberal Arts Education at small colleges
show our students scoring very high — first — in
several indicators that contribute to successful
student outcomes. Compared with students at
other colleges in the study, Wheelock students
in their critical first year of college scored excep-
tionally high in growth in consciousness of self,
positive relations with others, collaboration,
citizenship, self-acceptance, purpose in life, and
commitment. These are especially welcome signs
of healthy development in a time of high stress
for students generally. It is more evidence of the
value of Wheelock’s fundamental emphasis on
understanding and promoting individual growth
and development in our students.
On May 21, Wheelock’s 122nd Commencement exercises will honor and celebrate Call to
Service. Service is another one of Wheelock’s
core values established by Lucy Wheelock and
uniquely reflected in the lives and meaningful
work of our alumni. Whether our graduates
become teachers, social workers, and child life
specialists, or develop their liberal arts educations into careers as lawyers, artists, and business entrepreneurs, they are imprinted with the
desire to give back and serve a purpose larger
than themselves — to “do amazing things,” as
one 2009 graduate put it: “Wheelock has given
me so much more than an education. It has
helped me to define myself as a person and
to strengthen the goals I would like to accomplish in my lifetime. With the education I have
received, I feel ready to enter the ‘real world’
and do amazing things.”
With this theme in mind, I send a special
thank-you to those alumni who participated
in Wheelock World Service Day on April 17,
and I invite all alumni to take advantage of a
new service learning opportunity we will offer
early next year through Safe Passage, the lifesaving program for children in Guatemala City
established by Hanley Denning ’96MS. Look
for information about this opportunity in the
magazine and join us!
I wish you all a wonderful summer “doing
amazing things.”
J J-S
President
Wheelock Magazine 1
NEWS
N
EWS N
NU
U G
GETS
ETS
FFifth
ifth A
Annual
nnual D
Dialogue
ialogue o
on
n
E
ar
—
Ear
M
a 5
Ma
W
e’re very excited to have worked with
multiple partners for five years sponsoring annual dialogues on early education
and care, each one a unique opportunity
for legislators, policymakers, advocates,
funders, interdisciplinary practitioners, and diverse community leaders to discuss important early childhood policy and
current issues and research in the field. More than 150 participants attend the Community Dialogues each year and report
back that it is one of the very best statewide forums where
they can meet and work with others across disciplines and
domains of the field, gain new information, and collaborate
to take action on early childhood policies in Massachusetts
and beyond. Planning Committee co-chairs, Wheelock’s Professor in Early Childhood Dr. David Fernie and Executive
Vice President of ABCD Ms. Sharon Scott-Chandler, have
the Fifth Annual Dialogue on Early Education and Care on
Wheelock’s calendar for May 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Come, contribute, and learn.
President Jenkins-Scott
Co-Chairs Massachusetts
Women’s Conference
W
omen from all over the world gathered at the
United Nations Headquarters in New York City
in March for the 54th annual Commission on
the Status of Women conference, which evaluates
progress on gender equity and promotes women’s
rights in political, economic, civil, social, and educational fields. A
month later, on April 17, President Jenkins-Scott co-chaired the Massachusetts Women’s Summit at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill,
bringing together women and girls of all backgrounds to continue the
dialogue around issues relevant to gender equity in the Massachusetts
economy and government.
Accelerated Program for
Mental Health Counseling
M
ental health counseling is a growing professional field
and one of increasing interest to students attracted
to Wheelock’s mission. That’s why the College has
begun a new educational partnership with the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP)
that will fast-track students who want to prepare to enter the field.
Wheelock students may now complete their undergraduate educations
at the College in an accelerated format, within three years and two
summers, and then earn a two-year master’s degree from MSPP.
G
M
W
heelock encourages the aspirations of urban
children and families — the fastest-growing
segment of the population — in a variety of
ways, including through our strengthened
partnerships with the public schools and
community organizations, our successful Juvenile Justice and Youth
Advocacy program, and our new Teacher Bound and Aspire programs.
Last fall, Wheelock partnered with the Boston Public Schools (BPS)
and the Gates Foundation to promote the Gates Millennium Scholars
Program (GMS) in Boston. The goal of the collaboration is to increase
the number of BPS students receiving the prestigious and, potentially,
life-changing GMS scholarships, which provide up to 10 years of
funding for undergraduate through Ph.D. studies.
One hundred sixty-two Senior Scholars (who had the required
minimum 3.3 GPA) from 19 Boston schools attended the Wheelock-hosted event at which they learned how to apply to the program.GMS’s Russell Peek called Wheelock’s Boston launch of the
program “outstanding.”
2 Spring 2010
NEWS NUGGETS
DOE Funds $400,000 for
Energy Efficiency at Wheelock
As everyone has become acutely aware, being
more efficient with energy can make a big difference in conserving financial as well as natural
resources. When Wheelock designed the master
plan for the construction and renovation projects
that are currently transforming our campus, we
made sure to include the most up-to-date LEED-certified technologies in the plan. LEED stands for the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design rating systems created by the U.S. Green
Building Council and accepted internationally as benchmarks for
the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green
buildings. In January, Wheelock received $400,000 in funding from
the U.S. Department of Energy to incorporate new LEED systems
and technologies that will make campus life more energy efficient.
Being a good citizen of the world has its benefits — Wheelock will
save on energy costs while conserving natural resources and helping
the environment.
$800,000 NASA Funds for Better
Math and Science Teaching
T
hree years ago, with support from the Massachusetts
Technology Collaborative, Wheelock’s Math and Science
Education Initiative (MSEI) opened the Math and Science
Education Center at Wheelock to improve math and science education teaching and learning at the College and to work with other
local colleges specifically in the area of developing strong science
education through environmental studies. Since then, MSEI has provided math and science in-service preparation for preschool to grade
6 teachers as well as better education of pre-service teachers in math
and science instruction. Now Wheelock has received $800,000 in
funds from NASA to develop a Math and Science Learning Community that will allow the College to expand this work, more deeply
engaging community-based preschools and out-of-school-time providers in addition to the Boston-area schools in the program.
Childhood Higher Education Access
at Wheelock Receives $100,000
T
he current federal and state emphasis on moving early childhood educators to degree attainment demonstrates a welcome
awakening to the importance of higher education for providers
of early education and care. Wheelock is well-known for its leadership in this area, and now its Childhood Higher Education Access
project, a partnership with other institutions and organizations in
Boston to create a pipeline for early childhood educators to access
bachelor’s degree completion programs, has received $100,000 from
the federal government through its Fund for the Improvement of
Postsecondary Education. Wheelock plans to use the funds to develop
a pilot project with community colleges in Boston.
$1.6 Million to Wheelock for
Partnership in Boston Teacher
Residency Master’s Program
A
$1.6 million Teacher Quality Grant from the U.S. Department of
Education will fund Wheelock’s participation in Boston Teacher
Residency (BTR), a master’s program in education that recruits
talented college graduates, career changers, and community members and
prepares them to make an immediate positive impact in Boston Public
Schools (BPS) classrooms. The grant originates in Recovery Act funding aimed at raising student achievement in Massachusetts by improving
instruction in the schools. The BTR Partnership with Wheelock and
the University of Massachusetts will meet a significant portion of BPS
needs for teachers of special education, English language learners, and
math and science, in addition to early childhood teachers and teachers of
color. Teacher Residents in the program will spend a full academic year
in a BPS classroom teaching alongside an experienced mentor and applying theory to practice through rigorous coursework. Their commitment
earns them a master’s degree in education, a Massachusetts Initial Teacher
License, and credit toward a dual license in Special Education or ESL.
Boston Globe Editorial Lauds
Wheelock’s Diversity and Preparation
of Leaders for the 21st Century
I
n a recent survey investigating the diversity of tenured and tenuretrack faculty at Boston-area colleges and universities, The Boston
Globe found that Wheelock, by far, had the most diverse faculty when
compared with all other institutions. An editorial in the Globe titled One
College Gains True Diversity lauded the College, “renowned for producing
teachers and professional child and family advocates,” for being without
peer in diversity of faculty and said that it “proves that neither rocket science nor an undiscovered Dead Sea scroll is necessary to find the formula
to achieve diversity.”
The Globe also pointed out increasing student diversity at the College
and urged other colleges to follow Wheelock’s lead, saying the issue of
diversity in higher education is “essential for any school pretending to
prepare leaders for a multi-cultural and global 21st century.”
Wheelock Magazine 3
ON CAMPUS
BAKALAR ART ON CAMPUS
Making Art Present in Everyday Life
The Dance
We!
T
eachers value art classes because they’re one of the few
places where children have the opportunity to manipulate
materials, to experiment with expressing ideas visually, and
to solve problems with multiple potential solutions — in
other words, to think creatively. If art isn’t often a part of
our everyday lives as adults, it is a loss.
That’s one big reason why we are so excited about the latest change that’s
come to Wheelock’s campus, this time in the form of three abstract outdoor
sculptures generously donated by David Bakalar, a Brookline resident and
nationally known sculpture artist. Bakalar’s work has been displayed across
the country, including on the campuses of Columbia University, Brandeis
University, Mount Ida College, and the Longy School of Music.
The Wheelock sculptures are all abstract but created from a variety of
materials and quite different. The Dance is a giant standing figure with
flat black and gray steel surfaces, some of which mirror passers-by, and is
installed next to the Wheelock Family Theatre. We! is a trio of aluminum
figures in front of the new Campus Center and Student Residence that
changes shape and color depending upon your viewpoint. From one vantage, the group appears to be strolling down the Riverway. Life Force IV is
an abstract figure with round surfaces sculpted from granite, a more traditional material, and is located near the rear entrance to 43 Hawes Street
on the Brookline campus.
“Wheelock is fortunate to have the Towne Art Gallery with its rotating exhibits and some artwork exhibited inside of our buildings, but
we never have had permanent exterior art as part of our environment,”
says Associate Professor of Art History Marjorie Hall. “These sculptures
enhance the campus and make a statement about the importance of art to
the College, to education, and to our lives. We are hoping this is the first
step in establishing more permanent art on campus.”
Next time you’re in Boston (Reunion, perhaps?), make sure to seek out
these wonderful gifts and make them a part of your Wheelock experience.
OF INTEREST
Theater Arts Foster Empathy
L
Life Force IV
ast year, Thalia Goldstein, a Ph.D. candidate at Boston College,
completed a study of 8- to 10-year-olds taking 10 months
of theater arts classes at Wheelock Family Theatre and came
up with some interesting results. The process of role-playing
and acting reduced children’s suppression of emotion while it
also increased their ability to express and regulate emotion. While empathy
was not specifically taught as part of the classes, the process of assuming
a character and thinking about other characters’ thinking, feelings, and
motivations also increased levels of empathy, defined in this case as “the
ability to match another person’s emotions.” Goldstein compared these
students with other children taking music and visual arts classes but found
the changes in emotional regulation and empathic abilities only in those
participating in theater arts.
ON
O
N C
CAMPPUS
AMPPUS
POLICY TALK
Community Dialogue Launches
Early Childhood Policy Coalition
O
ne of the expectations underlying Wheelock’s annual Community Dialogues is that when people come together to
focus their collective experience and knowledge on an issue
of common concern, they can generate great ideas and the
momentum needed to put them into action. Marta Rosa,
Wheelock’s senior director of government relations and civic engagement,
proved the point last fall when she announced the launch of a new initiative
that emerged from the 2008 Annual Community Dialogue on Early Education and Care in Massachusetts.
Out of that dialogue, the
Early Childhood Policy Coalition (ECPC) has formed to
address the lack of diverse and
representative leadership in
Massachusetts early childhood
policy arenas. “At a time when
financial resources that support
those most in need in our society
are diminishing, it is important
to ensure that racially, ethnically,
and linguistically diverse communities, as well as geographically isolated and economically disadvantaged
groups, are actively engaged in shaping policy and allocating resources,”
Rosa says. While young children from highly diverse backgrounds attend
early childhood programs where multiple languages, traditions, and cultures converge, this diversity is rarely visible at the leadership level, she
notes. More often than not, communities of color, linguistically diverse
groups, immigrants, and regions of the state farthest from Boston are absent
from policy discussions and decision-making tables.
Wheelock is a partner in the Coalition with Hampshire Educational
Collaborative (HEC), located in Western Massachusetts, and Community
Advocates for Young Learners (the CAYL Institute), an organization whose
goal is to develop leadership in the early childhood field. HEC provides educational services for at-risk learners at all age levels through its early childhood, out-of-school-time, special education, professional development, and
adult education programs. The CAYL Institute’s mission is to create positive
change for all children in the Commonwealth through policy change and
leadership development.
The Coalition partners have begun work in neighborhoods across
Western Massachusetts and the city of Worcester, building connections and
developing leadership skills among those in the early education and care
community and change agents who have been effective within the communities at large. In January, Wheelock Instructor in Early Childhood Patty
Hnatiuk ’93MS taught a leadership in policy course in Springfield, and this
spring an organizing effort is under way in Worcester to increase the area’s
capacity for influencing policy.
Thanks to funding from the Schott Foundation and the Nellie Mae
Foundation, the Coalition is already walking the talk, putting dialogue into
action. Alumni interested in getting involved with the work of the Coalition
should contact Marta Rosa at mrosa@wheelock.edu.
Third Annual Youth
Communityy Leadership Summit
SPARK the Truth Keeps on Growing
W
heelock has always been a good-citizen institution, collaborating with neighboring colleges and
universities, engaging in issues affecting the city,
and benefiting Boston’s schools and community organizations
through student practica placements that have numbered in the
thousands over the years since Lucy Wheelock initiated them.
Wheelock’s Annual Youth Community Leadership Summit,
which offers academic and leadership skill-building opportunities for Boston-area college and pre-college student leaders —
in addition to Wheelock students — continues this tradition.
Wheelock convened the first Summit in 2007 as a follow-up
to the Bridges to Hope and Understanding: Exploring Truth
and Reconciliation Youth Symposium with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. SPARK the Truth, a youth-led social justice and
community action initiative that engages students from local
colleges and Boston Public Schools in fostering positive change
in school and community environments, was founded by
Wheelock as a direct result of that symposium’s success. Since
then, Boston College, Harvard University, and Emmanuel College have joined Wheelock — organizing chapters of SPARK
the Truth on their campuses, collaborating to work on oncampus issues as well as off-campus community problems, and
participating in the Summits.
The Third Annual Summit, for which SPARK the Truth
collaborated with Wheelock’s Office of Pre-Collegiate and
College Access Programs and its Juvenile Justice and Youth
Advocacy program, brought together more than 100 students
from colleges, schools, and youth organizations to talk about
issues currently affecting their communities and to work
toward solutions.
The Boston Public Schools that are now involved are Boston Arts Academy, Boston Community Leadership Academy,
Boston Latin Academy, Kennedy Academy for Health Careers,
Madison Park Technical Vocational School, New Mission High
School, and Muriel S. Snowden International High School.
Participating community organizations are College Bound
Dorchester, College For Every Student, Sociedad Latina, St.
Stephen’s Place of Opportunity for Teens, and Upward Bound
Teacher Bound at Wheelock College.
Wheelock Magazine 5
ON
O
N C
CAMPUS
AMPUS
SStudents
tudents
Wheelock Scoops Awards at 2009
NECC Field Hockey Championship
SPORTS WRAP-UP
Women’s Basketball Highlights
Wins over Southern Vermont College and Bay Path led the memorable moments in this year’s women’s basketball. Senior Sarah Brown
became the fourth women’s basketball player to hit the 1,000-point
mark, doing so in a game against Becker College in January. Brown
also received All-Conference Honorable Mention.
Men’s Basketball Posts Winning Season
The men’s basketball team posted a winning record of 16-11 in
only their third season of play under Head Coach John Preziosa.
The highlight of regular season conference play was a dramatic overtime win against Elms College, whose team is nationally ranked
in Division III. The Wildcats advanced to the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Final Four, where they fell to Elms, the
eventual champions, 66-62. Sherard Robbins ’10 became the first
men’s player to reach the 1,000-point plateau, doing so in front of a
packed home crowd against Southern Vermont College. Robbins was
also named First Team All-Conference, while Dan Main ’11 and
Max Kaim ’12 both received All-Conference Honorable Mention.
Coach Kyoungho Koh, who
led the Wildcats to a 7-1 overall record and second-place
finish in the New England
Collegiate Conference (NECC)
championship — the Wildcats’
first-ever trip to the title match
— was named the 2009 NECC
Field Hockey Coach of the
Year. Four Wheelock players
were named to the All-NECC
First Team: forward Milbrey
Hendrix ’11, midfielders
Chelsey Ballard ’13 and Julie
Kilcoyne ’11, and defender
Coach Kyoungho Koh named
Michaela Ross ’11. Goalkeep2009 NECC Field Hockey
er Meredith Race ’11 received
Coach of the Year
an honorable mention.
Additionally, men’s soccer was honored with the 2009 NECC Team
Sportsmanship Award in their inaugural season. Goalkeeper Victor
Kashouh ’12 received an All-Conference honorable mention for his performance leading the conference in saves with 164 in 11 games in what
was his first season playing the sport.
Softball Team Looks to Build on
Last Year’s Success
Having lost only one starter from the 2009 squad, the Wheelock
softball team is looking to build on last year’s success and make a
run at the 2010 New England Collegiate Conference title. In early
March the Wildcats had a successful trip to Florida, where they
competed in the Gene Cusic Softball Classic, and they began conference action on March 29, when they hosted Lesley University.
Top Tennis Singles
The New England Collegiate Conference tennis season was scheduled
at press time to start for Wheelock on March 27 with a home match
vs. Lesley University. “We really worked hard in the pre-season,” says
first-year head coach of men’s tennis Sean Duke-Crocker. “I love the
way the team has come together.” Co-captain and #1 singles player
Wilson Chang ’11 leads the men’s team. Senior co-captain Kate
Needham and sophomore Bobby Venning round out the top three
singles players for the College.
6 Spring 2010
Get Current . . .
Wildcats on the Web
K
eep tabs on how your favorite Wheelock
teams and players are doing on the College’s
website. You’ll find the scoreboards of games played,
schedules of upcoming games to go to, statistics on the teams and
players, and a gallery of photos from this year’s games.
Social Entrepreneurship Update
at W
heelock
at
Wheelock
ess
e
O
verzealous parents losing
tempers, shouting violently at
their kids to “kill” the opponent, or getting into a physical fight with umpires over
a call gone wrong are all too common experiences on today’s athletic fields, even where
Diana Cutaia,
the youngest of children are playing. It was
Director of Athletics
watching such an event 10 years ago that made
and Sport-Based
Diana Cutaia, Wheelock’s director of athletics
Initiatives
and sport-based initiatives, start to think about
what is missing from the hypercompetitive world of sports that is causing 12-year-olds
to burn out and quit. Words like “empathy” and “collaboration” came to mind.
Empathy? Yes, if you are Cutaia or among a like-minded group of coaches who are
out to put the original Olympic orientation to athletics back in the game — a mindset
that, among other benefits, allows you to feel for your opponent if they lose the game
because you know what it is like to be a worthy competitor and not win.
Wa
W
a
O
ur students make the complex process of grant-getting look so easy!
Two more M.S.W. students have
succeeded marvelously in their first attempt
at applying what they learned in Dr. Hope
Haslam Straughan’s organizational leadership class. Courtney Gomez and Sarah
Thoensen won a $5,000 grant for therapeutic supplies to be used at the Italian
Home for Children (IHC), where they are
interning. The IHC congratulated Courtney
and Sarah, saying, “Their hard work is
going to benefit the agency tremendously.
We appreciate it SO MUCH.”
lympia
lympia
Cutaia notes that the war themes and violent vernacular in sports today are outdated
remnants from ancient times when athletic games were used to train warriors. “They
are still so pervasive that today’s players and watchers have become desensitized to the
violence involved and are missing the opportunity to gain more from sports,” she says.
The “more” is embedded in the equally ancient Olympian ideals that focused on
preparing individual athletes for life by developing them to be the best human beings
they could possibly be, says Cutaia, as defined in the Olympic charter: Olympism is
a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body,
will, and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create
a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of a good example, and
respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
The approach involves mentally reframing the competitiveness in sports to be at
once more internal and more collaborative. “Instead of working to brutally crush your
opponent, you set personal goals to be the best you can be as an individual competitor;
you work to meet these goals and set new ones,” Cutaia explains. “This leads to genuine
growth and self-confidence and becoming an even better athlete.”
Learning to think collaboratively, she says, goes beyond developing teamwork skills:
“You want your opponent to be good, to be a strong competitor, because it makes you
stretch to be the best you can be. You are in the game together; you don’t have to hurt
each other to succeed. This is a kind of sportsmanship we take seriously at Wheelock.
Wheelock coaches are evaluated on whether or not student athletes learn and have a
positive experience. Even losing a game has its positive side. “If you have an undefeated
season, you never learn anything,” says Cutaia. “I don’t remember the scores or very many
of the wins or losses in games I played as a student, but I remember the lessons learned
from coaches, the relationships built with teammates, and the feelings of accomplishment.
That’s what’s meaningful.” You might say it’s the Wildcat way of going for the gold.
Resource: Cutaia recommends Season of Life: a football star, a boy, a journey to
manhood by Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Marx, the story of a retired football pro who
changes lives by teaching boys to become men of substance and impact through focusing on a cause beyond themselves. Olympic champion Carl Lewis says it “should be
required reading for every high school student in America and every parent as well.”
NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott promises that “by sharing Season of Life with others, you
will be helping to make this a better world.”
StudentSnapshot
Name: Jessica Reyes, Policy Fellow
Year of Graduation: 2010
Major: American Studies, Human Development Focus
in Psychology, Juvenile Justice and Youth Advocacy
Some interests & hobbies: Love reading, salsa
dancing, going out to eat, and spending quality time
with those important people in my life.
What got you interested in the area of policy:
I understand that policy influences much of our lives and,
very importantly, those same people I hope to advocate
for, whether in education, health care, or juvenile justice.
All is interconnected. If I do not become more aware,
informed, and involved in the public policy arena, I will
not be able to efficiently advocate for those who need a
voice in government.
What have you gained from this year as a
Policy Fellow: Learning and understanding more of the
process of public policy so that I can better navigate the
system to become a better advocate and a more involved
citizen of our Commonwealth.
Wheelock Magazine 7
ON CAMPUS
Faculty
Social Work Department Honors —
Kathleen Kirk Bishop
W
heelock celebrates Social Work Month in March
every year with a dinner that recognizes the vital
work that the College prepares its students to do.
This year, the event was special because it was the
perfect occasion to honor the contributions of
Dr. Kathleen Kirk Bishop, who is retiring after a decade of leadership at Wheelock. Dr. Bishop served as dean of the School of Social
Work and Family Studies from 1999 until 2009, directing Wheelock’s
B.S.W. program, spearheading the development of its M.S.W. program,
and supporting the College’s development of several new programs,
including the Sport-Based Youth Development and Juvenile Justice
and Youth Advocacy programs.
Dr. Bishop’s exceptional career beyond the Wheelock campus has
included leadership appointments on several other university faculties,
at schools of medicine and hospitals, and at federal agencies. Her contributions as a social work educator, scholar, researcher, consultant, agency
adviser, advocate, coalition builder, program developer, and direct service provider were described by more than one celebrant at the event as
quite simply “amazing.”
Students at the gathering expressed their personal thanks for her
inspired teaching and mentoring.
Michelle McWilliams ’08MSW, coordinator of social work for
the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Boston Medical Center,
said that it was under Dr. Bishop that she became a believer in social
justice, change, and the practice of social work. “Dr. Bishop — or
Kathleen, as her students call her — personifies the ideals, mores, and
definition of social work,” she said. “She practiced what she preached.”
She noted Kathleen’s outstanding ability to make students feel empowered; her sophisticated understanding of the intersection and dynamics
of individual, familial, and community forces that influence the goals,
practices, values, and ethics of social service practice; and her ethic
of practicing what she preached. “There are far too few practitioners
working with underserved communities who possess such an understanding,” she said. “I am lucky to have been trained by one.”
LaTanya Steele ’05BSW, social work supervisor at the Needham
Council on Aging, attended Wheelock as a full-time student
I
W
i
lV
Vii i i
p
heelock’s Center for
International Education,
Leadership, and Innovation
hosted three Presidential International
Visiting Scholars from Germany, Ghana,
and Israel during the spring semester.
8 Spring 2010
and working single parent raising two teenage daughters. Addressing Dr. Bishop, she said, “Challenges were set before me, but they
were diminished by the support that you provided. Mae West said,
‘You only live once — but if you do it correctly, once is more than
enough.’ You do only live once, and your profession is no exception.
And if you do it right, one working life is more than enough. Dr.
Bishop, you did it correctly. Thank you.”
Kathleen appreciated the many heartfelt accolades but preferred
to focus attention on Wheelock, her students and colleagues, and, of
course, social work.
“I am pleased to report that social work B.S.W. and M.S.W.
programs are alive and well and thriving at Wheelock,” she informed
everyone. “This year, in May 2010, we will graduate the largest class
of M.S.W. students — 48 — and a large B.S.W. class of 31.” If we
add all of the students we have graduated from both programs, it is
roughly 500 students.
“This night is about family — yours, mine, and all of our collective
dedication to improving the lives of children and families — not just
in our own families, our neighborhood, city, state, and country, but in
the whole world,” Dr. Bishop continued. “I think that the most recent
event in Haiti has made it abundantly clear that we are all family.”
In her talk, Dr. Bishop demonstrated what Assistant Professor
of Social Work Deborah Beck compared to pioneer social worker
Jane Addams’ “unswerving faith in the potential of all human beings.”
Beck said, “I think we can all see that there are direct similarities
here. A giant in the social work profession. An advocate of human
rights and social justice for all. A woman who believes in the immutable, universal existence and power of human strength. And a person
who ends all of her e-mails with the simple word ‘peace.’ This is also
you, Kathleen. And for all of us, I say the simple word — THANKS.”
Dr. Joachim Broecher, professor of children’s development, education, and socialization at the University
of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany,
directs the Applied Childhood Studies program at
Magdeburg-Stendal, from which Wheelock College welcomed two exchange students this semester. Dr. Broecher lectured on the ways in which art can help children
to heal and was hosted at Wheelock by Dr. Petra Hesse,
associate professor of human development.
Dr. Martin Okyere Owusu of the University of
Ghana’s Legon School of Performing Arts is a professor, filmmaker, playwright, and director who is a
powerful presence in West African theater. Lecturing
on “Ananse, The Spider Revisited: The Educational and
Spiritual Significance of Storytelling in West African
Tradition,” Dr. Owusu was hosted by Dr. Joyce Hope
Scott, associate professor of American studies.
Dr. Rachel Tal, head of English Studies and Educational Projects at the Amal Network of secondary
schools in Israel, presented a forum on “The English
Classroom as a Platform for Peace-Building with
Jewish and Arab Students in Israel.” Dr. Tal was
hosted by Dr. Suzanne Pasch, director of the Center
for Scholarship and Research.
IN CLASS
OMG! Texting Is Science! LOL!
T
he cell phone — that tiny, plastic flip box almost all of us
rely on for instant communication — has come a long way
since Martin Cooper invented its amazing technology in 1973.
Eighty-nine percent of U.S. residents use cell phones, and
texting is now mainstream technology, with more than 75
billion messages sent every month. How can we possibly punch a few buttons
and zap our voices or written text anywhere in the world in just seconds? How
does it work? Assistant Professor of Physical Science Dr. “Chuck” Fidler
had the answers to these questions and more at a recent evening drop-in class
on the science of cell texting.
In brief, it’s all about energy and speed. Your cell phone draws electrical
energy when you plug it into your wall outlet to charge its battery, and it can
transform that energy into invisible low-energy radio waves, which it emits
into the air. These radio waves carry descriptive code identifying your particular
phone and its current location wherever you happen to be with it.
Cell towers all around the world are connected to
power grids from which they also take electrical energy and transform it into radio
waves. The waves emanate in spheres
within a wireless cell specific to each
tower, which are all connected to
each other. When you make a call,
the tower nearest your phone picks
up the code it is sending in its radio
waves, searches through millions
of other descriptive codes to locate
the exact destination of the phone you
are calling to, and zaps a call connection
across myriad other cell towers, all linked by cells
of radio waves at — here’s the amazing part — roughly the speed of light. That’s
around the globe eight times in one second! We won’t go into how radio waves
turn into actual letters on a screen, but there’s a clue in the word “photon.”
Dr. Fidler’s class offered a sampling of other interesting texting information to contemplate. The typical text service can handle only 160 characters of
text; thus a shorthand language of acronyms was invented by users (OMG!).
Every text message is saved somewhere and can be retrieved. And if you are
tempted to text while driving? In 2008, almost 6,000 people were killed and
more than 500,000 were injured in distracted driving crashes. Text wisely.
ADDENDUM: Dr. Fidler’s article “Visualizing the Earth and Moon Relationship via Scaled Drawings” appeared in the December 2009 issue of Science
Scope, a National Science Teachers Association journal for middle school science education.
Dr. William H. Smith
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Funds National Center for
Race Amity at Wheelock
T
he Association of American Colleges and Universities’ 2008 research report “Making Diversity
Work on Campus” recommends that students can
best prepare for their increasing engagement in a
diverse society and world by studying four topics
within the context of race and ethnicity: experience, identity,
aspiration, and United States pluralism and the pursuit of justice. The report also recommends that colleges encourage crossracial dialogue among students by providing a structured format
in which they can regularly participate and learn how to engage
positively in such conversations.
Last semester, Wheelock introduced a new initiative led by
Dr. William H. Smith “Smitty” that is designed to follow these
recommendations. Dr. Smith joined the College through support
from a $400,000 W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant to establish the
National Center for Race Amity (NCRA) at Wheelock College,
which will build on his previous work of the last 10 years. Initially
as a senior fellow and later as a trustee of the Phelps Stokes Fund,
Dr. Smith developed a case study- and dialogue-based approach to
racial understanding and amity which is being used by a growing
number of educational institutions that are part of the Campus
Conversations on Race College Network (CCORCN).
The CCORCN offers a structured program intended to educate students so they can have positive relationships with diverse
people throughout their life experiences and includes Harvard
University, Skidmore College, Emerson College, Pace University,
Tufts University, Boston College, Florida International University, the University of Rochester, Berklee College of Music,
Colby College, Massachusetts College of Art, and Westchester
Community College.
One of the goals of the new center at Wheelock is to expand
the network of participating colleges, increasing the number to
65 in the first two years and to 135 in three years. The NCRA
will also collaborate with the Department of Education to
develop a new curriculum on The Human Being. A third area of
center activity will involve collaborating with Wheelock Family
Theatre and the Department of Education to create theater-based
race amity and education programs for middle school students.
Wheelock Magazine 9
ALUMNI
Join an
Online Social
Networking
Group!
A
year ago, 540 alumni
were members of
a Wheelock alumni
social networking group on
Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Since then, the number has
tripled! To locate a Wheelock
group and join the fun, just
type “Wheelock Alumni” in
each site’s search bar.
Calling All
Bermuda Alumni
D
id you graduate from a
Wheelock College program in Bermuda? Are you
currently living in Bermuda and looking to further
your education? The Wheelock College
Center for International Education,
Leadership, and Innovation is launching
a new Master of Science degree program
on the island with courses focused on
Elementary Education and Literacy.
Wheelock delivered Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Professional
Development Programs in Bermuda from
1996 to 2006, and now there is a strong
call for the College to again offer its
tailored, culturally relevant, and state-ofthe-art programs there for primary school
teachers looking to upgrade their skills.
If you or someone you know is interested and would like more information,
contact the Center by phone at (617)
879-2227 or by e-mail at cieli@wheelock.
edu. And don’t forget to continue to keep
your contact information updated and
share your news for the Alumni Office’s
Class Notes by visiting http://www.wheelock.edu/alum/alumupdates.asp. We
look forward to hearing from you!
10 Spring 2010
R
e
ent
nt G
Grr
FFAA S h
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p
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oonn
heelock offers this excellent opportunity to provide direct service to children
and youth and to work on special projects while gaining the experience
and mentoring needed for successful careers in youth development and
educational fields. The FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellowship program is a twoyear fellowship for recent college graduates designed to prepare them as leaders in the
fields of education and youth development and to strengthen high-quality youth-serving
organizations. Fellows work within established organizations providing direct service,
and initiating new projects, research, or programs that may involve public policy, organizational replication or sustainability efforts, or other new initiatives to strengthen the
host organization. For more information, contact Kelly Essman, faculty assistant, at
kessman@wheelock.edu or Ann Tobey, associate professor and director, Juvenile Justice
& Youth Advocacy, at atobey@wheelock.edu.
April Is Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary —
Go Green Every Day Online
T
he Alumni Relations Office is doing its best to be responsibly green by
relying more on e-mail and our website to communicate with alumni. If
you do not yet receive the monthly Alumni E-Newsletter, it’s probably
because we don’t have your address! Ditto for all alumni who graduated in
or after the year 1990. Class Notes for these alumni are now delivered online
— much to the delight of many who have written or called to say how easy and
convenient it is. To stay connected, pass your e-mail address along to lsaslav@
wheelock.edu in the Alumni Relations Office.
Recognizing
R
ecognizing tthe
he V
Value
alue o
off T
Teachers
eachers
S
ecretary of Education Arne
Duncan is advocating for legislation that respects the status
of educators as skilled professionals,
recognizes how much they contribute to society, and compensates
them accordingly. Diane Gould
Thompson ’76, who has taught
kindergarten at Oakland Terrace
Elementary School in Silver Spring,
MD, for 12 years, participated with
50 other teachers from the Washington, D.C., area in a nationally
televised town hall meeting with the
secretary. The discussion focused on
ways to reform education, improve
the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act, and advance methods for recruiting, preparing, and
rewarding teachers.
Diane Gould
Thompson ’76 and
Secretary of
Education Arne
Duncan
Child Life Specialists
Caroline Hargrave ’09MS,
Lisa Granger ’09MS, and
Danielle Surprenant ’04
Meaningful Work in Cape Town, South Africa
W
hen a doctor at the Red Cross War Memorial
Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) in Cape Town,
South Africa, decided she needed to incorporate
child life interventions into her care protocol,
she contacted Connect-123 Internship & Volunteer Programs, an organization that works with students and
professionals from all over the globe who want to apply their skills
to benefit nonprofit organizations, schools, research institutes, and
health care facilities in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Cape Town,
South Africa. Connect-123 contacted Wheelock’s Chair of Child
Life and Family Studies Paul Thayer, and within months, by February 2009, Caroline Hargrave ’09MS was in Cape Town beginning
to pilot a child life services program that the hospital needed.
The only tertiary referral hospital of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa,
the RCWMCH annually treats 250,000 children who need specialized medical care. While there are therapeutic programs available to
children in the hospital, South Africa has no official academic training
for child life or hospital play specialties; this is the first child life pilot
program to take place at any government hospital in the country.
The Wheelock Team Goes to Work
Two more Wheelock alumni soon joined Caroline on the child life
team she was building: Lisa Granger ’09MS, a volunteer for eight
weeks, and Danielle Surprenant ’04, who is now the Connect-123
Child Life Program director for 2010.
Much of the work in the pilot program is on the Burn Rehabilitation and Oncology wards, with additional service in the areas of
“Our collaboration and support of one another
has brought about a sense of solidarity reminiscent
of what I felt during my studies at Wheelock, and
working together in this multicultural environment has
been an incredible extension of our education.”
— Caroline Hargrave ’09MS
ICU, Trauma, Short Stay, General Pediatrics, Surgical Wards, Medical Specialty, and Operating Room as well as in outpatient clinics.
Each of the three Wheelock alumni speaks of how deeply meaningful the work is. “I consistently feel a ‘fullness’ working here as
the interventions we provide have such a profound impact on these
children and families that can be physically felt and seen,” Caroline
says. “I had one mother look at me while I helped calm her child
following a challenging dressing change on the burn ward and say,
‘Now that right there is the medicine.’ Watching parents ‘get it’ and
realize what a difference it can make to play or communicate with
their child in this setting has been very meaningful.”
Danielle thinks the impact of her work, some of the “simple
gestures” of child life care, bridges the gap between language, culture,
and misunderstanding and gives meaning to her Wheelock education.
She feels that the three alumni are pioneers. “We are the first ones to
do work like this here, and that brings profound appreciation,” she
continued on page 16
Wheelock Magazine 11
ALUMNI
A
LUMNI
Marjorie Wolf Memorial
Grant Recipients
and eating fresh, delicious lunch ingredients. On behalf of Appleton Village School, I want to thank you for supporting our efforts and granting
our proposal. Our ‘Appleton Roots’ garden had a successful first season,
and we look forward to many more!”
ach year, Wheelock alumni prove over again
just how creative they are when they propose to the Marjorie Wolf Memorial Grant
program projects that will produce a pretty
big bang for not a lot of money ($750 to be
exact). This year’s recipients developed projects that will
have a continuing influence on communities of children
and teachers they work with — one local, the other halfway
around the world — long after the grants are spent.
Marianne O’Grady ’94MS
E
Buffy Burns Ludwick ’99
Buffy Burns Ludwick ’99 used her grant to develop an agricultural
project for the children and teachers at the Appleton Village School in
Appleton, ME, that harvested a bushel of learning about ecology, plant
life, nutrition, and health, not to
mention the individual growth
and community-building produced by the process of collaboration. Together they planned,
planted, and nurtured the
school’s Appleton Roots garden
into its first months of harvest.
“As planned, each grade (K-8)
planted and tended its own garden bed during last year’s growing season,” Buffy reported to the
Alumni Association. “Students
are learning and appreciating the
process of recycling, composting,
building fertile soil, planting the
seed, harvesting healthy crops,
Marianne O’Grady ’94MS has started School Is Open, a nonprofit that
supports teachers and students in Afghanistan by providing the educational tools they need for schools (www.schoolisopen.org). Last summer, as she has done for
several years, Marianne
traveled to Afghanistan
to conduct teachertraining workshops in
science education and
child development. Marianne used her Marjorie
Wolf Memorial Grant
to purchase 20 life-size
X-ray sets, which she
incorporated into lectures
she gave on anatomy
and then donated to 40
teachers representing six
schools from the Sherastan district of Daikundi
Province. “A goal for this grant was
to distribute the X-ray sets to teachers in rural and unsupported areas of
Afghanistan where hundreds of children are now arriving at school each
day,” Marianne told us. “Wheelock
College is supporting education well
beyond its doors in Boston. The mission of improving the lives of children
and families is occurring as far away as
the middle of Afghanistan.”
12 Spring 2010
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
Award Winner
Dr. Angela Paige Cook ’73MS
Founder and Director of Paige Academy
E
ducation, strong teaching, and
independent schools that nurture
achievement in black children
have always been at the center
of Dr. Angela Paige Cook’s
life. From her earliest years growing up in
Washington, D.C., where her mother was
principal of an inner-city school, to her own
experience opening one of the first Freedom
Schools for young black children during the
Civil Rights Movement and, later, sending
all four of her own children to historically
black colleges, this year’s winner of Wheelock’s Elizabeth Palmer Peabody Award has
always believed that teaching pride in culture
and leadership skills makes a positive, and
necessary, difference in black children’s educational achievement.
Angela is well known as a leader in Boston,
where, after receiving her master’s degree from
Wheelock, she founded Paige Academy as
an independent school alternative to the
local public schools, where African-American
boys and girls were routinely failing because
of what she believes was and is a lack of
understanding of how black children learn
and excel. Thirty-five years later, while
the achievement gap in the public schools
remains, Paige Academy continues to provide
a successful alternative, setting high academic
standards and providing a “cultural resonance”
that over the years has helped thousands of
black and Latino students develop a positive
sense of self and the confidence to overcome
obstacles to achievement in school.
Surrounded by Black Achievement
“I grew up in the South in a family with
educated relatives, and I attended schools for
black children where we had good teachers
and where we did well,” Angela says. “We
all did our work and learned and achieved.
When I moved up to Boston in 1970, I
worked as a substitute teacher and I didn’t
see that. I saw black children falling behind,
so many being separated out for learning disabilities and sitting in the basement getting
special education. From my experience in the
South, I knew this wasn’t right, that black
children could achieve, and so I started Paige
Academy to provide what I had benefited
from as a child.”
Angela started small, with her own child
and seven children of friends in an Episcopal
parish hall in Roxbury that charged no rent.
After the first week, word spread and there
were 25 children in the hall. By the third
week they were up to 35. Over the years the
school grew, moving into larger and larger
spaces provided by a group of three Victorian houses and a playground in its current
location not far from Roxbury Community
College.
continued on page 17
The Woman Behind the Award
E
lizabeth Palmer Peabody is best known as a teacher and educational reformer, and more
specifically as the mother of kindergarten in America. Inspired by the work and philosophies
of Friedrich Froebel, she established the first kindergarten in Boston in 1860. Ms. Peabody
was also a popular instructor in training courses for kindergarten teachers, and it was she who
encouraged a young Lucy Wheelock to enroll in one of those training courses. Miss Wheelock was
always very proud that Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s signature was on her diploma, certifying her to
teach young children.
To honor Lucy Wheelock’s mentor, a woman whose values and commitment to education
are so well reflected at Wheelock, the Alumni Association presents the Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
Award each year to an alumna/us of the College’s graduate program. The award recognizes
professional or volunteer work that exemplifies the mission of the College and demonstrates
Peabody’s commitment to finding unity in all types of diversity.
Wheelock Magazine 13
ALUMNI
A
LUMNI
GUATEMALA
All
A
W
, 2011
2011
heelock alumni, join us on the journey as our students and
faculty return to Guatemala City and Antigua Guatemala next
February for seven days of learning and service. The College
has a long-standing relationship with Safe Passage, the U.S.based, non profit humanitarian organization founded by the
late Hanley Denning ’96MS to bring education and hope to the country’s poorest,
most marginalized children and youth who live in the Guatemala City garbage
dump community. We are excited to offer alumni the chance to join in the efforts
of the hundreds of teachers, staff, and volunteers who travel to Safe Passage from
all over the world each year to contribute their service and to help fulfill Hanley’s
passionate desire to make a difference. Along the way, you will learn about Safe
Passage and about Guatemalan culture, and you are sure to share another
Wheelock experience that is meaningful and memorable.
Trip Highlights
• Walking tour of Antigua (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Tour of Safe Passage, Guatemala City, including the Guardería
(Early Childhood Education Center)
• Volunteer activities with the children of Safe Passage
• Film and documentary viewings with local scholars
• Participation in the 8th International Literacy Conference in Guatemala City
at
879
2286
orr a
((617)
617) 8
79 2
286 o
alumnirelations@wheelock.edu.
lumniirre
rella
ati
tio
ions@wh
w eello
ock
ck.
k ed
du.
Summer 2010 Professional
Development Institutes
W
heelock graduates are lifelong learners who advance in
their professions and make meaningful contributions
to their fields. This summer, Professional & Continuing Education at the College will offer institutes examining current trends in theory and practice that can
readily be applied to professions as diverse as teaching, public policy, social
work, counseling, community outreach, and law. Advance your career by
coming back to campus for more learning and networking.
Graduate credits, PDPs, and CEUs are offered for these courses:
• Organizing and Leading Parent Groups
• Psychopathology of Children and Adolescents
• Medical Ethics
• Media Madness: The Impact of Sex, Violence, & Commercial
Culture on Adults, Children, & Society
• Bullying and Cyber-bullying
• Theory and Practice of Stress Reduction
• Teaching Astronomy in the Elementary Classroom
• Assistive Technology
• Teaching Literacy to English Language Learners/Multisensory
Approaches to Reading
• A Framework for Relating to Autism as an ASSET
For current information and to register, visit the Wheelock
website at www.wheelock.edu or contact Matt Pellish at
mpellish@wheelock.edu or (617) 879-2269.
ALUMNI
Resources
Reading and AV Resources for
Understanding Autism
I
n Wheelock’s Autism across the Spectrum special topics course,
taught by Dr. Amy L. Phillips-Losso, students are learning how
recent science and literature have vastly improved our understanding of autism, a complex developmental disability that affects a person’s
ability to communicate and interact with others. Wrongly attributed
to detached parenting for many years, autism is defined by a set of certain behaviors that affect individuals differently and to varying degrees
across a spectrum. Students in the course are learning about the compelling research that shows how autism emerged as a pervasive developmental disorder and reading several extraordinary memoirs by persons
with autism and by family members of those with the disorder.
The Seige: A Family’s Journey into
the World of an Autistic Child
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s
Life with Autism
Reading resources include two books by Clara Parks, the first person
to write about life with a child with autism. Parks wrote The Seige: A
Family’s Journey into the World of an Autistic Child three decades ago,
when mothers like her were being blamed for causing their children’s
autism by being too cold (“refrigerator mothers”). “As Clara was a loving and involved mother to her very special daughter, and had three
other typical children, her memoir was successful in changing this
explanation for the cause of autism,” explains Phillips-Losso. “Because
of The Siege, many people came to understand that autism was a
developmental disorder and not a disorder of attachment.” Parks’
Exiting Nirvana: A Daughter’s Life with Autism was written 32 years
later and portrays her daughter’s experience with autism throughout
her life span.
Rage for Order Documentary
Also recommended is the documentary Rage for Order (view online at
www.video.google.com), one segment in the four-part PBS series The Mind
Traveler by Rosetta Pictures. Narrated by Oliver Sacks, the video includes
readings from many memoirs in addition to current writings by persons
with autism and members of their families.
Policy Connection Website
Talking to Kids about Events in the News
P
olicy Connection is a regular feature on Wheelock’s website and
the College’s link between the government and our students,
administrators, and faculty. You can make it yours too. Be it from
Beacon Hill or Capitol Hill, Policy Connection keeps us informed of the
legislation and policies that matter and/or resources that can be useful in
your daily life.
A recent posting gave resources for helping children deal with the
tragedy in Haiti. When such overwhelming events that are felt across
the world happen, children especially have lots of questions: Can this
happen here? Why are the babies crying? Is my house going to fall like
that? How can we help? Understanding how the news on television,
on the radio, in print, or on the Internet impacts children and taking
time to talk with children about their fears, emotions, and perceptions
of the news are extremely important.
Two of the website’s resources that are recommended for talking
with children when tragedy happens are:
• Talking with Kids About News at the PBS website www.PBS.org/
parents/. There, you’ll also find lots of information about child development, education, children’s health, activities, and parenting advice.
• CHILD CARING, Parenting News & Advice at www.boston.
com/community/moms/, where you’ll find Resources for Talking
with Children When Tragedy Happens, among other helpful articles
related to children.
Walk for Autism
Left to right: Carrie Lagasse Yespy ’00, Associate
Director of Alumni Relations Jane Sanders Wuestkamp ’99, and Rachael Thames ’07/’08MS from
the Community Service and Advocacy Committee
of the Alumni Association joined students from the
Autism Awareness Club in a fundraising walk to
benefit Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism
science and advocacy organization (www.autismspeaks.org). Autism Speaks is dedicated to increasing
awareness of autism spectrum disorders; advocating
for the needs of individuals with autism and their
families; and funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and a cure.
Wheelock Magazine 15
A
Cape Town, South Africa
continued from page 11
“It is so evident here that a little goes a long way and seemingly
insignificant interactions can make all the difference in the
experience of a child or family that otherwise may not have their
feelings validated or feel comforted and supported.”
— Lisa Granger ’09MS
says. “The people whose lives we are affecting remember the days
when child life wasn’t available, and they can see the difference it is
now making.”
Lisa agrees, noting the rewards of being recognized by the staff as
a positive and supportive influence on the ward. “Just the other day
I had a visiting doctor ask me for advice about making the procedure
rooms at his hospital in Uganda more child-friendly because he had
noticed the changes I am making in the procedure rooms here.”
Still, even as she appreciates the impact she is having, Lisa knows it’s
a two-way street. “I can honestly say that I am unsure as to who is
gaining more from this experience — the children, families, and staff
or myself,” she says.
“While South Africa is a well-developed country, there is still so
much needed here,” Danielle says. “In a hospital where resources for
pain management and care are limited, a seemingly simple alternative can make a notable difference. Sometimes, our efforts can often
seem fruitless because so many children appear unreachable. But
when a nurse commented on our absence one morning, I learned
otherwise. Her words were, ‘It looks like all you are doing is playing,
but it’s so much more than that. I see that now.’”
Spreading Child Life Throughout the World
As a graduate student in Wheelock’s Child Life program, Caroline
had the opportunity to study abroad in the Hospitalized Child in
England program, where she was able to closely observe British
health care professionals and learn about international health care.
“This was valuable practice for what it would be like as an outsider
from another culture and country,” she says.
“Wheelock gave me the courage to pursue my career abroad in
South Africa, and each day I learn something new about adapting
and applying child life services in a multicultural setting. I continue
to develop my appreciation and respect for the imperative role that
child life has played and must continue to play in international settings that would otherwise not have access to such support.”
The hospital’s child life program grew quickly during the first year,
as did Caroline’s management responsibilities. Connect-123 brought
on 22 volunteers and interns who are child life students and practicing
specialists. “It is amazing to have the volunteer students and professionals
who are seeking cross-cultural exposure join us,” Caroline says. “Sharing
ideas and input with specialists from around the globe helps keep interventions innovative and the team thinking creatively with the resources
“The best thing anyone can do with the gifts and privileges
they have been granted is to share them. I find it very fulfilling
and it gives me purpose every day. I live a very simple life here
in Cape Town. And yet, even with very little, I feel as though I
have it all. This is to have succeeded.”
— Danielle Surprenant ’04
they have.” Now the program is creating volunteer positions for child life
assistants who will be aiding in fundraising, program development, and
community outreach efforts — all benefiting children in need.
When we last heard from Caroline, she was leaving for one week
of service in Rwanda to help other children in need through the
Operation Smile program. “To me, there is nothing more meaningful
than knowing that with the effort we contribute, we can change the
experience that a child will carry with them forever,” she says.
Note: Caroline recommends that alumni who want to know more
about volunteer or internship placements abroad visit the Connect123 website at www.connect-123.com.
tthe
he
ttss
I
n 2008, U.S. News & World Report named Child Life one
of the “11 Best-Kept Secret Careers,” but the rewards of
the profession were never a secret at Wheelock, where
academic preparation for the field was pioneered decades ago.
• Wheelock was the first college to design an academic
program specifically for Child Life students, establishing
the undergraduate program in 1972 and the graduate
program soon after.
• Wheelock offers the only international in-the-field
Child Life course, the Hospitalized Child in England,
established in 1978.
16 Spring 2010
ALUMNI
Dr. Angela Paige Cook ’73MS
continued from page 13
The rooms in the Academy — the infants and toddlers rooms,
classrooms, art and music rooms, library, pottery studio, and computer lab — are large and bright or cozy-comfortable, painted with soft
warm colors. Some children are off on field trips; others are in small
group circles or classes, depending on age. There is a special emphasis
on math and science, and children are working on computers everywhere. Nutritious breakfasts, lunches, and snacks are provided, and
there are after-school and summer programs that bring more children
into the school. Despite the broken economy that Angela says is
stressing the families and thus the children, the students are friendly,
calm, and confident.
“I have always wanted to have a positive impact on children’s
learning,” says Angela. “Right now, the school has 115 children from
the local community and from suburbs and towns as far away as
Brockton. About 50 of these are in the 6-to-12 age group. Most of
the children’s families have low incomes and receive assistance to pay
the school fees through kindergarten.” After kindergarten, children go
on to public school or find the money to continue at Paige.
Though it is a daunting and constant struggle, especially in the
current economy, Angela has somehow managed to keep tuition at
$5,000, compared with the $20,000 and up that most independent
schools charge. “About 99 percent of our kids graduate from high
school, and 97 percent of those go on to college. It’s an effective model
and it could be replicated,” Angela notes. There is no achievement gap.
From Schools of Benevolence to Freedom Schools
to Paige Academy
While establishing Paige Academy, Angela continued her professional
education as an Urban Studies Fellow at M.I.T. and as a research
associate at the Trotter Institute. She earned her doctorate in education in the Leadership in Urban Education program at the University
of Massachusetts, writing her dissertation on the importance and
effectiveness of a culturally resonant curriculum in African-American
communities: A Case Study of a Black Independent School: Reflections
on Cultural Resonance in an Elementary and Pre-School Setting.
Viewed historically, Paige Academy is part of the black independent school movement that began when African-Americans, brought
to this country to work as slaves, were faced with the task of educating their children in an oppressive environment. Angela named Paige
Academy in memory of her great, great aunt Lucy Paige Williams
(1876-1965), who was known by all in her Richmond, VA, community as an extraordinary educator. During the Reconstruction era,
Williams opened her home to teach her adult neighbors and their
children the basic educational and life skills needed to survive. Her
“schools of benevolence” inspired members of her family and others
to recognize the value of well-trained, dedicated teachers and the lasting gifts these teachers can give to the children and adults with whom
they come in contact.
Angela’s active involvement as an educational leader in the black
independent school movement began in the 1960s, when she participated in the Civil Rights Movement during her undergraduate years
at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, TN. There,
while pursuing her bachelor’s in elementary education and theater arts,
she and a group of other students opened one of the first Freedom
Schools to teach young black children who lived in the inner city.
Freedom Schools were alternative free schools for African-American
children primarily in the South during the civil rights era. Despite
Brown v. Board of Education striking down segregated schools in 1954,
by the mid-1960s some states still maintained separate and unequal
white and “colored” school systems, with black children receiving little
or substandard education and local school boards restricting their school
curricula. Freedom School education provided traditional academic
studies and was student-centered, while also emphasizing leadership
development and social change. Establishing the schools wasn’t easy. “I
remember the police breaking the windows and smashing the school up,
the sounds of the glass breaking and screaming racial epithets — doing
it just because they could,” Angela says.
Today, Paige Academy teaches some of the subjects taught in the
Freedom Schools, including African and African-American history
to help children develop knowledge of their history and culture and
an appreciation for the contributions of their ancestors, “still so often
absent from public education curricula,” as Angela notes. The excellent, mostly black and Hispanic teachers provide models of achievement for the children. Monthly family meetings at the school and a
supportive, collaborative approach make the children, families, and
faculty a community within a community.
Paige Academy’s place in the history of black independent schools
is an important part of its success story. But there is more. “This is
my life’s work — all the families we have touched and who are so
appreciative of education,” Angela says. “I would do it all again. It’s
the love. I love them all.”
The Star Thrower
D
uring her interview, Angela Paige Cook ’73MS, told
the story of The Star Thrower originated by scientist and
poet Loren Eiseley. It goes like this. A man was walking
along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off
in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between
the surf’s edge and the beach. Back and forth this person went.
As the man drew closer, he could see that there were
hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the
natural action of the tide, and the person was throwing them,
one by one, back into the sea. He was struck by the apparent
futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of
them were sure to perish.
As he came up to the person, the man said, “What
do you think you are accomplishing? There are
thousands of miles of beach
covered with starfish. You can’t
possibly make a difference.” The
person looked at the man and then stooped
down and picked up one more starfish and
threw it back into the ocean. He turned
back to the man and said, “It sure
made a difference to that one.”
Wheelock Magazine 17
CLASS NOTES
You don’t need to wait for
your Reunion to catch up
with classmates. Write to
your class scribe and share
your news in Class Notes.
This Wheelock Magazine includes Class Notes
news that was received before Feb. 19, 2010.
1934
“All is well because we need to make it that
way,” Corinne Martin Bryan wrote. “After
67 years of a happy marriage, I have a lot to
remember with gratitude.” She lives alone in
the home in Waterbury Center, VT, that she
and her husband built 20 years ago after leaving San Marino, CA. Elizabeth Drowne Nash
says hello from Melrose, MA, and is sorry she
missed the 75th Reunion last year. “Wheelock
means a lot to me,” she wrote. She is enjoying
being near her family, including her 23 greatgrandchildren.
1935
R 
June 4-6
1937
Ellen Moak Lloyd’s daughter, Elizabeth Lloyd
Clement, notified Wheelock in late 2009 that
Ellen passed away on Oct. 7. “She always spoke
so well about Wheelock College,” Elizabeth
wrote. The obituary that Elizabeth enclosed
did indeed show “what a full and productive
life [Ellen] had.” She put her Master of Library
Science degree from Syracuse University to
good use working at the New Berlin (NY)
Central School library for 41 years, retiring
18 Spring 2010
in 2000 as head librarian; continued working
as a volunteer at what is now Unadilla Valley
Central School and as New Berlin’s historian;
and was a dedicated volunteer at the New
Berlin Library for 50 years.
1940
R 
June 4-6
1941
Lucy Parton Miller
When Ruth Andelman Danburg wrote last
August, she was “back in the saddle” after
December 2008 cataract surgery that had
gone badly. She was happy to be again enjoying driving, writing a business newsletter for
her son’s business park tenants, volunteering
at the Boys and Girls Club and Kiwanis, and
quilting and embroidering. “For someone
who formerly thought that she was permanently losing the sight in her right eye,” she
wrote, “I can now thread a fine sewing needle
with black thread at night. Is that a miracle,
or what? The downside is that I didn’t realize I
had so many wrinkles!”
although not swimming anymore. Her children, who are her drivers now that she has
given up driving, keep her in touch with the
world. Betty feels lucky to have them nearby
and “generous with their attention.”
From McKees Rocks, PA, Marjorie
Brainerd Floyd wrote that she was hoping to
make it to her 90th birthday on Feb. 16 of this
year. She’s feeling fine and celebrating a new
great-grandson in Denmark. Betty Crooks
Morris in Fort Myers, FL, celebrated her
90th birthday last December with a surprise
party at her summer home in Inlet, NY, where
her children and grandchildren from Alaska,
Oregon, New York, and Massachusetts came.
Betty is fine, although slower, and spends half
the year in Florida with one daughter and half
in the Adirondacks with the other. She has 10
great-grandchildren. Barbara Bragdon Motas
of Kailua, HI, was head of two preschools
in Massachusetts, then started a boutique
in Hawaii, then ran the religious education
program at St. Andrews Cathedral there, and
then was principal of a school. She retired to
become top car saleswoman at Honolulu Ford,
retiring from that job after another 10 years.
“Now,” she wrote, “we attend the UH games
1942-’43
Stevie Roberts Thomas
Gertrude Gerenbeck Coady of Cranston, RI,
wrote that “Russ passed away in June after 64
wonderful years together” and after he had
been on kidney dialysis for four years. They
traveled often, Becky has two daughters and
four precious grandchildren, and now Becky
feels comforted by her supportive family and
friends, having “much to be thankful for.”
She sends her best wishes to all. Elizabeth
Newman Dubois is still in her old house in
Marshfield, MA, and is still walking regularly,
Betty Volk Paris ’42-’43 with great-granddaughters Taylor,
11, and Madison, 9, after an “art class” at her home
CLASS NOTES
Write Home!
— football, volleyball, and basketball. What
next?” Elizabeth Volk Paris of Westwood,
MA, notes that the holidays are a good time
to remember how different and simpler our
world was when we were Wheelock students.
Betty realizes how lucky she and Lou are, to be
in their 80s and still have each other and their
extended family, including five great-grandchildren. “We have wonderful friends, and life has
been kind,” she wrote.
After struggling with shingles and its aftermath, I (Stevie) am back to teaching tai chi
again, although, because I’m 89, this may be
my last year. My joyful news is that my youngest daughter, Katherine, who has spent 30 years
in California, is back here, working to assist in
reorganization at the University of Delaware
as it enlarges. It is a real treat to have a family
member nearby, both of us enjoying life to the
full. My very best wishes to all of our class, and
many, many thanks to those who were able to
send notes for us to share!
1945
R 
June 4-6
Jean Reilly Cushing
1947
Barbara Bolinger Crabtree’s holiday 2009
letter (poem) spoke of how much she missed
Glenn but also of how much she is enjoying
Friendship Church activities, exercise, travel,
and her dogs. She and daughter Cecily went
on a cruise in the summer of 2009, and she’d
also recently been to northern Arizona and on
a church retreat. Carol Sisson Freeman is still
singing with Sweet Adelines, which she has
been doing for 25 years, and she attended their
International Competition in Nashville, TN,
last October. She wrote, “I was able to take part
in the Guinness Book of Records for singing in the
largest singing lesson ever: 5,561 women were
involved, and it was a great experience!” Carol
has been retired for 18 years and finds that hard
to believe since she didn’t retire until she was
66! She and Bill still go to the gym three times
a week. Edith Goddard Pangaro and husband Larry still divide their time between New
Hampshire and Florida. Edith is well in her
86th year, still playing tennis and counting her
many blessings each day.
“Things are nice here in Scottsdale [AZ],”
Ann Gilbert Putnam wrote in December. “The
flowers are blooming, and there’s no snow!”
She was saddened to learn of the death of Janet
Brown Coleman. “Posie Van Zandt Simson
called me from Florida, and we had a delightful
conversation about our days at Wheelock,” Ann
wrote. “We loved everything about the College
and the city of Boston.”
New address? Job? Degree?
Baby? Whether it’s big news or an update
to keep your classmates and faculty and
staff at Wheelock in the loop, we want
to hear from you. Write to your class
scribe or to Lori Ann Saslav in Alumni
Relations at Wheelock College, 200 The
Riverway, Boston, MA 02215 or via e-mail
at lsaslav@wheelock.edu.
1948
Carol Moore
Bobbie Fitzgerald Davis and husband Walter are
once again downsizing and moving into a retirement home. Sadly, their daughter Margaret passed
away last April after battling leukemia for more
than two years. Thankfully, Walter is cancer-free,
a fortunate person. Bobbie still continues to keep
busy with opera and ballet and enjoys working
with such talented people. She also volunteers
with the Association for Catholic Children, where
she sees more and more children in need of education, along with homes and parents.
The Alumni Office was sorry to hear from
Ysabel Brown Dulken in January about husband
John’s death in April 2009. Your classmates are
thinking about you, Ysabel. Polly Horr Foster’s
husband passed away Sept. 6, 2009. They had
celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June.
Polly was planning to be in Florida for the winter.
Elizabeth “Sis” McHenry was unable to
attend our 60th Reunion due to an automobile
accident a few years ago which left her with a few
problems. She says it is sometimes very difficult
to get someone who is VERY BRAVE to take her
out. Edith Hall Huck lost her husband, Rod, in
September. She feels it is time to sell the house
in Longmeadow and keep the Sandwich house,
which they both loved. Deedie is clearing out the
Longmeadow house, which they bought in 1950,
and moved into a condo near her daughter for the
winter months. Her daughter and son have been
a big help in the downsizing process. The new
condo is an over-55 community with interesting, active people and a clubhouse for activities.
Deedie is hosting the Cape Cod Alumni Picnic on
July 15, 2010, and would love to see anyone visiting the Cape as well as regular members.
Jean Thompson (Dibden) Lawton wrote:
“When I was widowed in 1969 by Arthur
Dibden’s death (he was president of Johnson
State College in Vermont), I managed to see two
children through college and ordinations. Then
in 2005 I married a widowed Keith Lawton
from Alaska and came here to live, but telephoning my two children every Sunday. I love being
83 now, as I trust the Lord more and more.”
Jean still corresponds with some friends made
at Wheelock but decided she wanted to teach
high schoolers and did so. She published God at
Supping Time, a devotional by Christian Services
Network in California.
Marylin Quint-Rose shared a wonderful
story: “In 1944, I was walking along Pilgrim
Road when I noticed a frail woman walking
briskly. I kept wondering, Why would such an
elderly person be in the vicinity of our building?
The visual memory has lasted all these years. Of
course I soon realized that this frail elderly soul
was the namesake of the college I soon would
be spending my four years at, during formative
years. How fortunate!” Marylin also wrote of her
productive professional life (www.quint-rose.com).
“The old expression still remains from Wheelock
days — ‘We learn by doing’ — and I’m still ‘doing’
at 83!” she wrote. In the past year or so, she has
given a fun workshop on collages to 16 local
women in Tenants Harbor, ME; lectured at the
Rockland Library; and given lectures and classes
to Pakistani art students in the cities of Lahore
and Karachi. “The group seemed quite interested
in my tales (fortunately), and of course I brought
Wheelock into my lecture!” she wrote. She credits
Wheelock with having taught her how to communicate comfortably with groups. She planned
to address middle schoolers about Three Cups of
Tea in early 2010. She also does shows at Mars
Hall Gallery in St. George, ME, during summers,
and she finds winter a great time to work on
sculptures and new collages. Last Thanksgiving
she traveled to North Carolina to visit with her
two daughters and her grandsons. Marylin shuddered to hear from Barb Sturgis ’48/’62MS
about the deaths of Gwen Price and Jill Walsh.
She closed with “Keep well, busy, and active!”
I (Carol) am still cleaning out, passing my
treasures on to others, throwing out, and saving
very little! But I must say I am not as enthusiastic as I was when I first started lugging boxes
down from the attic. But I am persevering.
While my cousin and I visited Deedie on the
Cape last fall, Martha McLeod Parmenter ’47,
her daughter Bonnie, and Anne Mulholland
Heger ’49 joined us for a lunchtime visit.
Later, Deedie, my cousin, and I visited Nancy
Williams Sevin ’49, who spent only her freshman year at Wheelock and is now in a retirement home in Tiverton, RI. It is always special
visiting with “old” friends from so many years
ago. Blessings galore to each of you!
1949
Anne Mulholland Heger
Mickey Mitchell Schwarz was one of the small
number who attended the 2009 Reunion. She
wrote that the few who did attend had a great
time catching up with each other. All were
impressed with the new building as the dorms
are so different from the ones in our days.
After the Reunion, she and her husband went
Wheelock Magazine 19
CLASS NOTES
to Maine to visit her sister. Her sister lives in
Friendship, as does Enid Stockbridge Holly’s
sister and Sue Small Shanahan’s cousin. When
Mickey went back in October, she saw Stocky.
Mickey and her husband traveled back to
Finland and Norway, going farther north and
cruising the fjords. Alice Roberts Gow wrote
that her husband was in the hospital for 10 days
at one point but in late December was recuperating at home and doing well.
As for your scribe (Anne), somehow my days
are busy. I am in good health, which I attribute
to my daily walks with my black Labrador named
Sam. I had a granddaughter married in October,
which was a fun day. I was on a cruise in January
with my daughter and daughters-in-law. In March
my family and I spent time in the Virgin Islands.
1950
R 
June 4-6
Edith “Anne” Runk Wright
1952
Ann Sibley Conway
Elaine Barnes Downing enjoys a variety of
activities at the skilled nursing health center in
Bakersfield, CA, where she lives. She was very
ill in the hospital for seven weeks in the spring
of 2009 but has been slowly recovering and is
learning to use her walker for short periods. Her
partner, Bob, “is in pretty good condition for 85
years” and lives near her in the health center, so
they eat meals together and enjoy visitors together. Elaine enjoys being invited to holiday gatherings put on by son-in-law Todd’s family each year.
1954
Ginger Mercer Bates
Elizabeth Bassett Wolf
Brian and Ginger Mercer Bates keep very
involved with their family as well as those of the
academic world of graduate students. Their house
always seems to be full of students. Barbara
McCarthy Brennan is recovering from a herniated disk. Volney Forsyth Dawson mentioned the
small book that she and her Wheelock roommate,
Neilie Heffernan Odell, put together for their
families and friends for Christmas. The book has
Neilie’s paintings and Volney’s poetry in it. She
said it was so nice to have something in print as a
result of their long friendship.
Jim and Sylvia Tailby Earl received the
Arts Patron Award (called the “Annie”) for
Anne Arundel County (Maryland). It’s been a
wonderful honor in support of the arts around
Annapolis. They’re enjoying their three little
grandsons in the area. Peggy Clifford Goode is
enjoying life by the sea with her family. She has
20 Spring 2010
Elaine Barnes Downing ’52 (seated) with son Kent (behind Elaine to her right), daughter Debbie (behind Elaine to her left),
and their significant others
started volunteering in the first grade of her local
school system and absolutely loves it. Life is good.
Bill and Ruth McKinley Herridge mentioned
that they celebrated daughter Elizabeth’s 50th
birthday with family and friends in September.
Elizabeth’s husband, Roy Barry, died suddenly
a week later at home. They are all grieving. It
will take time to heal. Their five grandchildren
are thriving. Peter, now in pre-kindergarten, had
a 20 percent liver transplant from his mother,
Catherine, at age 6 months and is growing and
developing well. At present, Ruth is serving in
a pastoral care ministry. Michael and Nancy
Shapiro Hurwitz were in Naples, FL, for the
winter. Nancy plays golf and bridge and is
involved in Brandeis University activities when
she’s in Massachusetts. Their six grandchildren
are in the Boston area and Palo Alto, CA. Fran
Tedesco Lathrop feels very fortunate to have
her two children living close by. She sees one of
her grandchildren for dinner once a week. What
could be better?
Paige and Nicky Wheeler L’Hommedieu
recalled the perfect weather that made our 55th
Reunion so special. We celebrated in the rooftop
garden of the new hallmark Campus Center and
Student Residence (CCSR) building and stunning adjacent dining room. This environmentally
friendly garden is dedicated to Margaret Helena
Earl, Sylvia Earl’s mother-in-law.
Ralph and Persis Luke Loveys have 18
grandchildren. Everyone is well and happy. Persis
reported that Elsa Weyer Williams is doing fine
and caring for husband Don. They were not able
to go to Florida this year but would appreciate hearing from classmates. Harriet Knapp
McCauley e-mailed that she and Mac have
moved to a patio home in Orchard Park, NY. Fox
Run is a full life-care facility with skilled nursing,
etc., should they need it. She leads a water aero-
bics class two mornings a week and is as active as
she was before the move. They spend summers
in Canada and were to leave for Amelia Island,
FL, in March. Mary Jeffords Mills’ sister-in-law
Shirley reported to Wheelock back in June 2009
about the deaths of Mary and husband Brooks,
but she also wanted to make sure Mary’s classmates knew the “real success story” of Mary’s son
John’s oldest child, Erin (also the niece of Hope
Mills Keleher ’90). Erin was the valedictorian
of her class at Brewer, ME, High School last
spring; is a terrific athlete; got a full scholarship to
Princeton; and was named one of 140 Presidential
Scholars who went to Washington shortly after
graduation to receive a medallion.
“Life is good at the Pines in Plymouth, MA,”
according to Irwin and Lois Barnett Mirsky.
There are other Wheelock graduates at the
Pines, too, but not from our class. Lois enjoys
her interests in writing literacy, taking courses,
and being with her four local grandchildren.
Bob and Jo West Norton went on a fascinating
Elderhostel trip to Glacier National Park last
summer. Due to a tremendous avalanche in the
winter of ’08, they couldn’t go on the “Going-tothe-Sun Road” so instead experienced part of the
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation initiative.
Go to http://www.y2y.net if you want to see a
spectacular part of our country. It has been and
will continue to be a huge effort to complete and
still leave a corridor for the wildlife to roam free.
Penny Power Odiorne spent a whole month
in her favorite Maine spot of Ogunquit last
summer. She loves her home in Vero Beach and
playing bridge. Penny even went on a “Bridge
Cruise” in December!
We are sorry to learn of Pattie Andrews
Richmond’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
She has had to have half her thyroid removed.
Bob has been especially helpful. An e-mail to
CLASS NOTES
Pattie would be most welcome (Pattiewc54@
verizon.net). Hugh and Fran Levine Rogovin
were in Florida for the winter, enjoying the sun
and the lack of ice and snow. They receive much
pleasure from mentoring the college students
and are grateful for all their e-mails. They both
continue to stay well. Joan Kemp Seeber spent
the holidays with her family. She is very proud
of her children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments. Nancy Pennypacker Temple ’54/’80MS
is continuing her involvement in Therapy Dogs
Inc., which she has done for about 12 years. She
arranges for eight to 10 dogs and handlers to
work with children from the local elementary
school to practice oral reading in the library.
Nancy and “Nikki” also visit patients weekly at
Cape Coral Hospital. The highlight of the year
was our 55th Class Reunion.
2008 was a hard year for Suzanne
Hamburger Thurston. Unfortunately, her double
knee replacement, though successful, did involve
some complications. She continues to teach ESL,
tutor students, and volunteer taking blood pressures at the health center. Her seven grandchildren are well and she feels blessed.
News from Jerry and Rhoda Uram
Wasserman indicated they both are doing well.
Rhoda is still working and is happy to be near
her two daughters. Dick and Ginny Thomas
Williams are constantly on the go and always full
of energy. With so many grandsons, there seems
to be one graduating from college or becoming
an Eagle Scout every year. Ginny is as organized
as ever and keeps their lives running smoothly.
Kathy Clark Williams mentioned that her one
great-granddaughter, Lily Henson, lives only an
hour away. She is a sheer delight and a special
blessing to her family. Kathy sends her best wishes
to all her classmates.
I (“Chippy”) am enormously grateful for the
speedy classmates who made this Class Notes
column possible. For those who didn’t send something this time, send us your e-mail address so we
can read about you next time. My life is happily
busy helping those in the nonprofit world. My
and Ginger’s e-mails are elizabeth@thewolfs.info
and gingerbates@cox.net.
1955
R 
June 4-6
Nancy Cerruti Humphreys
Penny Kickham Reilly
1957
Joan Patterson Brown
We did it! I (Joan) am so proud the Class of 1957
came through with Flying Colors! We had more
responses than any other class this time around!
Let’s Keep It Going!
Sallie Farrel Brown wrote of her trip to Jay,
VT. It was a sad/sweet time — the focus of the
trip was to spread Paul’s ashes with a view of his
kingdom . . . The Old Sonnenhof Inn. Sally did
a lot of traveling in the past year—including to
Montreal, Vermont, Disney World, Colorado,
Nova Scotia, and California—and would go back
to San Francisco in a minute! “I hope you are all
as healthy and happy as I am,” she wrote. Gail
Angleman Brusch and Don are still happy to
be living in their retirement village, Ann’s Choice.
She loves to hear news from Wheelock friends!
Every few months she has lunch with Nancy
Merry Bergere ’55 — it is a great treat! Sue Terry
Covell and Tom are still living in Casa Grande,
AZ, most of the year, heading north to Colorado
and their three children and back to Arizona in
October. Tom and Sue love retiring among folks
of similar ages who are out walking, enjoying life,
comparing stories of their travels, and forgetting
the aches and pains of aging! Sue would love
to know if there are any “Wheelockers” in the
Phoenix area where Casa Grande is!
Our sympathy goes to Ginny Plumer Crook
(P.O. Box 293, Scituate, MA 02066-0293),
who lost her husband of 52 years on Nov. 1,
2009. He had not been well for three years and
died peacefully in his sleep. Ginny wrote that
her “children” are scattered all over the world
— Hong Kong; Orono, ME; Wilder, VT; and
Tampa, FL. Between them, they have produced
10 sons! Ginny has been retired for 10 years and
is LOVING IT! Bernadette Bruer deGutierrezMahoney wrote: “We had a great Thanksgiving
here in Laurel with kids and grands — three girls
are in college (Mt. Holyoke, Holy Cross, and
Fairfield). The twins are taking over the place
— 10 months old and they are as cute as a pair
of buttons!” Janice Wright Freelove (jwfre@
comcast.net) sold her condo in Magnolia, MA.
She has moved to Reading, MA, which puts her
close to her daughter. She misses the ocean view
but loves being near everything! Her address is 3
Summit Drive #315, Reading, MA 01867.
Mary Bloomer Gulick wrote: “Bob and I are
both well. We are enjoying all Rochester has to
offer, traveling to many places (New Zealand and
Egypt in the past two years), and staying in touch
with six grandchildren. I am thrilled our daughter
Jane Gulick Fellows ’07MS, a Union College
graduate and a teacher in Concord, NH, received
her master’s degree from Wheelock. She was able
to attend the satellite program in Concord. I like
to think my high regard for Wheelock influenced
her decision to choose this program.” Anne
Wingle Howard (awhowardsav@aol.com) wrote:
“Jim and I are bouncing back and forth between
Savannah and Maine and loving both! We had a
great tour of the new building at Wheelock. It is
wonderful and it pulls the campus together beautifully. For the past few years I’ve had fun making
Nantucket baskets with friends. We cover the dining room table and get together until the weather
is too good to stay inside!”
Barbara Stagis Kelliher is still vying for
the honor of the oldest graduate still employed!
“Every time I think of retiring, I imagine myself
hanging out with old people, and it propels me
back to my desk at AAA in Nashua, NH,” she
wrote. “I decided, 24 years ago, I wanted to see
the world. I have only a few places left on the
list! Sooooo call me. I would be happy to tell
you Where to Go!” Sara Sibley Lenhart wrote:
“It took a blizzard to get me to stay home long
enough to catch up on some long-overdue correspondence. My husband, Mark, has retired
at long last. It is great to have him home, after
years of his being away. We are fortunate enough
to see our children and grands frequently. From
time to time Mark and I see Barbara Knowles
Jacobsen with husband Ray walking on the
boardwalk we all enjoy. Earlier this fall I had
the pleasure to join [Class of 1958 members]
Maggie Weinheimer Sherwin, Judy Littlefield
Bateman, Marcia Potter Crocker, Sandra
MacDonald Ingmanson, and Nancy Alexander
Anderson for their mini reunion in Mystic. I
am actually the only one who lives in this area;
it is a central meeting place for them. It was nice
of them to include me! Life is good!” Carolyn
Berryman Reidy has had health issues, including
a stroke, since Jim passed. She continues to do
better each day and has a Positive Attitude!
Sally Curran Smith wrote from “down
under”: “I am spending a month with son Eric
and family. We will be at the beach in Port Fairy
for the week before to include Christmas —
different from the snowy Christmases in Vermont!
In November my two ponies and two ‘new’
miniature horses and I moved to Aiken, SC, for
the winter. As long as I have the house in Aiken,
I decided to see if it will fit into my winter plans.
BUT I am also planning to return to Vermont for
the month of February for some skiing! My ‘new’
knees will be four years old, and it’s time they got
back on SKIS! P.S. If you are planning to be in or
near either Greensboro, VT, or Aiken, SC, please
give me a call (VT 802-533-2537 / SC 803-6438708)! The welcome mat is always out!”
Mac and I (Joan) flew to Shanghai on April
29! The following day we watched Chinese carpet-making and design. We joined a Shanghai
family for a Home-Hosted lunch, which was
wonderful, and then took a train to Suzhou, the
center of the Chinese silk industry. On to Xi-an,
known for the 2,200-year-old Terra Cotta Army
— 6,400 figures accidentally discovered in 1974!
Awesome! We visited fifth-graders at the Shao
Ping Dian Primary School, where they read and
spoke English to us! The following day we were
at the Great Wall, 2,000 miles long and packed
with Chinese people on holiday. A 30-something,
Wheelock Magazine 21
CLASS NOTES
well-dressed Chinese man approached me and
asked if he could take a picture of me with his
mother. I told him it would be fine as long as I
could give her a hug. He translated, she had a big
smile, we hugged, and he took the picture! This
happened several times in China. They see very
few blondes! Three weeks went very fast. What a
wonderful, fantastic, enlightening experience!
B.J. Woodward Mack ’59 and husband John
1958
Margaret “Maggie” Weinheimer Sherwin
Carol Yudis Stein wins the prize for being the
first to respond. I think she walked from the
mailbox to the computer. Carol has left her volunteer job in a third grade and now volunteers in
a local hospital — an extra pair of hands wherever
they are needed. All three of her children were to
be in Florida during November, saving Carol and
Jim a trip to New Jersey. She had cataract surgery
and can now see her wrinkles more clearly. She’s
still involved in lots of leisure activities — when
there is time. When Jane Bowler Pickering
wrote, she was recovering from back surgery and
planning to go to Florida for the winter. She and
Dick are busy with volunteer activities and their
seven grandchildren. Jane says that growing old is
not for the faint of heart.
Sally Beckwith Novak is a traveler — trips
to Arizona, Kansas, and Alaska in 2009. When
not traveling, Sally keeps busy with book clubs,
teaching swimming, church activities, Ridgewood
Choral Society, and her watercolor painting. One
of her paintings has been turned into note paper
that is sold to help restore a local colonial home.
Sally would love to hear from other classmates
who may share her interest in watercolors.
Charlotte Pomeroy Hatfield and Jim have
bought a new home in Topsham, ME. They did
all their own packing, and their belongings were
taken to the mainland by barge. She still keeps
in touch with Julie Russell, Gail Wheeler, and
Mardy Moody O’Neil.
Pat Morrissey Goglia and Charles celebrated
their 51st wedding anniversary last July. Pat still
works in the bookstore at Mass. Bay Community
College. Mannie Cook Houston is having fun
with her 14-month-old grandson and even gets to
help in his day care center. She hoped to see Sybil
Magid Woodhouse in the near future.
Laura Lehrman wrote: “Our country has been
through a lot of late, and we therefore are quite
struggling to keep up with the world chaos, and
all the electronics and the implications for societal
changes are just huge. I’m well — still living in the
heart of Manhattan and loving it.” She happened
to write on the day of the Yankees’ ticker-tape
parade up Broadway but was herself off to an even
more special occasion: her grandson Jonathan’s
bar mitzvah. She was “a bit frazzled with all the
arrangements” but thrilled about his accomplish22 Spring 2010
ment. She added: “My art projects keep multiplying, and I’m getting ready to ‘put it out there,’ as
they say. A big step for me. To claim my artistic
nature as not folly but substantive. Will keep all
posted as I move along with it.” Laura welcomes
anyone “in town” to be in touch with her.
Off the Lost Souls List is Doris Hood
Cameron. She has seven grandchildren — one
for each day of the week. They all descend on
Sundays to help cook dinner while Grandpa John
plays golf. Dosie taught hyperactive kids for many
years and now tutors inner-city kids. Her daughter received her M.S. at Wheelock several years
ago and works with Down syndrome students.
Glad to have you back, Dosie.
Our mini Class of ’58 reunion in Mystic,
CT, in September was such fun! Marcia Potter
Crocker, Nancy Alexander Anderson, Sandy
MacDonald Ingmanson, Judy Littlefield
Bateman, Sara Sibley Lenhart ’57, and I
(Maggie) talked nonstop for hours. We had invited Margot Moore Greener ’59 to join us, but
she is still teaching and had some sort of parentteacher event at night so was not able to join us,
but she wants to be kept in the loop for another
year. The weather was beautiful. We shopped, ate,
shared grandkid pictures, and kept the desk clerk
at the Best Western amused. We plan to extend
the event next year.
1959
Sally Schwabacher Hottle
Maddy Gatchell Corson wrote from her home
in Falmouth, ME, that in the fall of 2009 she
went to Florida to attend the beautiful memorial
service for Janet Watt Swanson’s husband, Ted.
It was an honor for Maddy to be there and to
get to know and love the Swanson gang. Emmy
Groeneveld Crosby wrote from Hastings-onHudson, NY, that she is active in church and Girl
Scouts, singing in the choir, and trying to keep
up with her three granddaughters.
Helen Doughty Lester’s next book, Tacky’s
Christmas, will be out in September and will
include a CD with five Tacky Tacky carols (“Deck
the Iceberg” and “O, Tackytree How Lovely
Are Thy Feathers,” for example). She continues
visiting schools to encourage children to write.
Doutsie wishes we could have our 50th every
year — it was great fun to be with so many dear
friends. Virginia Ludwig McLaughlin says all
is well in Houlton, ME. Ginny, daughter Lee,
and grandchildren had a reunion in August with
Yvonne Emmons Duvall at Yvonne’s charming
summer cottage on Squirrel Island, ME.
As for me (Sally), I was so happy to see so
many friends at our 50th. What a great time!
It was particularly exciting that 62 percent
of you contributed to our class gift, enabling
us to win the Beulah Angell Wetherbee Prize,
and 34 percent of you attended the class luncheon, enabling us to win the Gertrude Abbihl
Prize. And one more honor for our class: Alice
Thompson Brew was one of the two recipients of
the “Making a Difference” Award.
I’m looking forward to hearing from more of
you the next time I ask for news.
1960
R 
June 4-6
1963
Jane Kuehn Kittredge
Muffy McDowell celebrated the first anniversary of her marriage last Dec. 27. Her son and
daughter-in-law had a baby during the winter,
and her daughter and son-in-law are expecting
in August. “That’s enough excitement for one
year,” she wrote. Boots Kane Tolsdorf and Dick
are still spending winters in Florida and summers
on Nantucket — “and in between at my home in
West Chester, PA, where sons and three grandchildren live,” she wrote. She has been very active
in and passionate about spreading information
about Lyme disease after battling it for two and a
half years. Now she feels great again and is back to
golf and tennis. Boots loves community theater in
Florida and enjoys acting, singing (she sings with
a Barbershopper group), and dancing. “I am on
Facebook, so sign up and say hi to me!” she wrote.
1964
Phyllis Forbes Kerr
Roberta Gilbert Marianella
News came from four of our classmates who for
the last six years have been celebrating their own
Wheelock Reunion (and always include Muffy
McDowell ’63). They pick one of their homes
and spend a weekend together. Sometimes they go
to a museum or an event, but mostly they spend
time walking and talking. They catch up on the
last year and then discuss politics, religion, and
current events. This is what they had to say. . . .
Joan Pushee Gatto and Kenny live in Newton,
MA, and are busy with their grandchildren in
Natick, MA, and Portland, ME. They spend the
summer in rural New Hampshire enjoying their
cottage and the life they live there. Patricia Stern
CLASS NOTES
Hersh and Raymond live in Florida. They are
excited that daughter Heather and son-in-law
Yale have moved closer now that Yale is at the
University of Pennsylvania Medical School doing
research. Son Brian and Raymond work together
in an investment business. Patricia volunteers
at a cancer center and baby-sits for a 1-year-old
while she waits for grandchildren. Joan Steele
Light and Randy moved to Cazenovia, NY. Both
daughters and grandchildren are nearby. Randy
and Joan are busy with community events, family activities, household improvements, and some
traveling. Lynn Biskup McCarthy is living in
Chicago baby-sitting the grandtwins three days
a week. She teaches an Introduction to Teaching
course at Loyola University. Lynn has been traveling to see the remains of ancient civilizations since
retirement four years ago.
Unfortunately a very bad knee prevented Noni
Noble Linton from attending our 45th. Both she
and her husband are thoroughly enjoying their
“perpetual cruise” at the Overlook in Charlton,
MA — retirement living at its best! Noni is very
active serving on a couple of committees, taking art lessons (finding the fun in watercolor and
pastel painting), reading books she never had time
for, joining PEO to work on behalf of women who
need help financing their college educations, and
much more. Grandkids number seven, and thanks
to Skype’s help, they are able to keep in touch.
Noni welcomes anyone in the Charlton/Sturbridge
area to visit and she’ll give you a tour.
This year Priscilla Harper Porter completed
two curriculum guides for the Palm Springs Air
Museum and collaborated on two curriculum
guides for the We the People books published
by the Center for Civic Education. Priscilla
also completed a series of curriculum guides for
third- and fourth-grade teachers in San Diego,
where she and husband Chuck enjoyed extended
trips for research and teacher training. Kathleen
O’Keeffe Capo had a great visit with her roommate, Patricia Burke, in November — two days of
nonstop talking! “We reminisced about our crosscountry car trip in 1963,” Kathleen wrote. “Fergus
and Tony got to do sport activities, and we could
just keep chatting. Nothing has changed.”
“John and I had a delightful time seeing
everyone and enjoying the festivities at the 45th,”
wrote Sandy Gewinner Perry. “Wheelock looks
great with the new Brookline campus and its new
sophisticated glass building. Our oldest granddaughter, who is almost 12, had a role in Honk
in the Wheelock Family Theatre production in
February. We are spending time in Florida this
winter on Hutchinson Island.”
Two brave classmates reported moving to new
areas on their own. The first, Jessi Ruth MacLeod
’64/’92MS of Woolwich, ME, is off to Alexandria,
VA, where she will be able to enjoy her daughter’s
family and the warm weather. The second is Susie
Nivison Gwin, who has moved from Orlando,
FL, to Ukiah, CA, to be near son Rob and his
wife and children and nearer to Vale, where son
Sam lives with his family. She loves seeing her
four grandchildren — all toddlers. Susie enjoys the
beautiful mountain views and the cooler weather.
“It has been a great move!” she exclaimed.
We have three classmates who wrote in about
their amazing voyages: Janet Larsen Weyenberg
with husband Eric traveled to Botswana from
Hawaii and fell madly in love with it. “An elephant walked by one morning as we were eating
breakfast,” she wrote. That was just one of many
magnificent animals she saw, plus more than 120
birds that were new to her. They spent a month
in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Everyone is healthy.
Her dad is 91 and still living in his own house;
her still frisky cairn terrier, Gus, is 13. Janet
continues her work as a docent at the (incredibly
lovely) Contemporary Museum in Honolulu.
And then there is Ann Fleming Fiske, who last
year went to Dubai where her son, his wife, and
two granddaughters live; England, where she rented a house in Kent; the Isle of Guernsey, where
she did research for her book club; and Hawaii,
where she celebrated her son-in-law’s recovery
from lymphoma. Harold and Ann also bought a
cottage in Bar Harbor, ME, where they will spend
much of their summers. While not traveling, Ann
keeps busy singing in two choirs, attending art
history classes, and doing some volunteer work.
Ann looks forward to catching up with Ginny
Pratt Agar, who lives on Mount Desert Island,
ME. Ginny is a busy traveler, too, often taking
the plane to Arizona, where her newly married
daughter lives, or to California, where her son
lives with her granddaughter. Carter, her oldest
son, has just returned from many years of working in China to live and work in California, so
she will not be flying to the Far East anymore.
Ginny enjoys taking German lessons and often
travels to Germany with her German friend
Helmet. She, too, has enjoyed visiting Patricia
Burke on recent trips to New York.
After 15 years working as the education
coordinator for two heritage organizations,
Barb Russell Williams has retired. Now she is
a volunteer for the Eastside Heritage Center in
Washington state. She continues her work for the
Bellevue Botanical Garden Society, managing botany-based school trips and a Living Lab Program.
She wrote that this work enables her to use many
Wheelock skills and she loves the job. Her two
small grandchildren live in Scottsdale, AZ.
I (Phyllis) continue to lunch with Ann
Brown Omohundro nearly once a week. Dick
has recently retired, and they now are the proud
grandparents of Paul’s daughter, Kayley, 6,
and a new baby, Jack. The family lives outside
Chicago. Ann has become very active studying
shock treatment and works with Kitty Dukakis
to help remove the stigma of this very effective
treatment for depression. She recently endured a
knee operation but reports that she is doing well.
Rachel Ripley Roach made it all the way to our
Reunion from California. We all enjoyed seeing
her after so long. She is now a first-time grandmother of a little boy whom she tries to see every
other week. Her home time is spent working on
the literacy problem. She tutors weekly and runs
workshops monthly. She also works with the
Retired Teachers Association in California. The
group is very active politically and socially, trying
to preserve and protect their pension.
In October I had the pleasure of spending
time with Judy Reutter Blanton at our husbands’
45th Reunion from the Harvard Business School.
Since we both met our husbands on the same
night at a mixer there, it was fitting to meet there
again. Judy still lives in New York City, and after
years of being the director of admissions for the
Episcopal Nursery School, she is now the director.
Congratulations!
Shortly after the Reunion, in August, my sister
Lee died at the age of 68. This was a very sad
time and a shock to us all. Ginny and Ann O.
both came to the funeral, which was a great comfort to me. But life goes on, and I am busy with
our three grandchildren, art classes at the MFA,
life drawing, and sketching at local coffeehouses.
I continue on the board of the Forbes House
Museum, and I’m excited about the launching of
the China Trade Trail. Our cherished grant will
allow us to link up all the house museums and
facilities in a colorful brochure. This will aid visitors and scholars of the Trade to get a complete
viewing of the rich wonders Massachusetts has
to offer in this field. A kickoff day of talks by
Chinese scholars is scheduled for April 24 at the
Boston Athenaeum.
Thanks for all who took the time to write.
You are the best!
1965
R 
June 4-6
Mary Barnard O’Connell
Mary Dominick Connors
1966
Margery Conley Mars
The Alumni Office was sorry to hear in January
of the death of Joyce Nothacker Robinson. Joyce
was a loving wife, mother, and grandmother;
an inspiring teacher; and an amazing friend.
Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the first week
of August, she died two months later, on Oct. 3,
2009, her 65th birthday.
Connie Muther loves being retired and in
sunny San Diego. She has moved into a new
condo and is volunteering at a zoo, at a natural
history museum, and on whale touring boats.
Wheelock Magazine 23
CLASS NOTES
Patricia Wild wants classmates to know that
www.patriciawild.net now has an interactive
menu for middle and high school students and
their teachers who want to learn more about her
book Way Opens: A Spiritual Journey. Her website
also features a blog: “Every week I discuss my
growing awareness of race, the criminal justice
system, and how what nudged me to write Way
Opens continues to inform my life,” she wrote.
“I am eager for people to read these entries . . .
and to add comments.”
1967
Betsy Simmonds Pollock
Greetings from your Class of 1967 scribe! Our
classmates continue to be involved with grown
children’s and grandchildren’s lives. Several have
retired and report travels to exciting and interesting places and volunteering to keep connected.
Not all that responded to information requests are
retired; some continue productive careers.
Susan Mitchell Cronk says both daughters
got married — Michelle on Feb. 14 and Bonnie
on Sept. 19. Peggy Ann Benisch Anderson
’53 attended both weddings. “The weather was
great and it was nice to see Peggy,” Susan wrote.
Donna Pulk Elliott continues to advocate and
care for her husband full time. She still participates in various groups such as . . . Sewing,
Support, Women’s Club, Bridge, and Symphony
League. One of the highlights of Donna’s year
was seeing her college roommate after 40 years:
Ruth Rupkey Bell was east this summer and
came by for the day. “It was great. We had a
wonderful time,” Donna wrote. Ruth has retired
from teaching and keeps connected by volunteering in the school. She says that it is the best
of both worlds.
Peg Smith Smith is still living in Stowe,
VT, where she has owned a Coldwell Banker
Carlson Real Estate business for 35 years. “This
fall, I went back to Penland School of Craft for
two months to take a sculpture course, and I
will have a show in August,” she wrote. “I love
living in Stowe and have all my children and
grandchildren close by. I went to Tracey Ober
Anderson’s retirement party from teaching in
Marblehead, MA, and reconnected with Pam
Chesley Dennett ’66, one of my other roommates. We had not seen each other for over 40
years. That was great fun.” Carolyn Wright
Unger reported: “This has been a year of reflection since I retired in June from my primary
gifted ed. teaching position.” For 11 years
Carolyn taught problem-solving, logic, creative,
and analytical lessons to 700 kids a year in K-3.
In the most recent experience, she developed
lessons to bring children outdoors. At the end
of the school year, the entire school gathered to
wish her well in retirement by dedicating the
24 Spring 2010
Thanks to
Wheelock
from ’67
“This has been a year of reflection since I retired
in June from my primary gifted ed. teaching position. Thirty years of teaching has certainly given
me many memories to reflect on, my teacher
stories. I must say that every time I walked into a
classroom or met with a group of kids, I thanked
Wheelock for such a sound background.”
— Carolyn Wright Unger ’67
“I keep Wheelock close in many memories. My
education there has definitely contributed over
my lifetime to achieving many goals, and I have
thought back on those days with gratitude for
the philosophies learned and the values that
were taught.”
— Linda Moritz Katz ’67
outdoor classroom to her. “It was such an unexpected honor!” Carolyn wrote. “Thirty years of
teaching has certainly given me many memories
to reflect on, my teacher stories. I must say that
every time I walked into a classroom or met with
a group of kids, I thanked Wheelock for such a
sound background.”
Ingrid Hasskarl Chalufour retired from the
Educational Development Center in Newton,
MA. During her 20 years at EDC, Ingrid worked
on early childhood projects with national impact.
Ingrid wrote, “I have especially enjoyed getting
involved in early childhood science work with
two Wheelock faculty, Karen Worth and Jeff
Winokur.” She plans on continuing to do some
work for EDC and spending part of the year with
her husband at their house in Maine. Ellie Jacobs
Garrett is retired. Retirement allows them the
opportunity to focus on their four grandchildren,
spending time with each family, which is challenging and fun.
Linda Moritz Katz lives in Cleveland, OH.
She is a social worker for the Cleveland Heights
Office of Aging, two days a week. She and her
husband also are fortunate to have children and
four grandchildren in the area, whom they often
see. Linda wrote: “I keep Wheelock close in
many memories. My education there has definitely contributed over my lifetime to achieving
many goals, and I have thought back on those
days with gratitude for the philosophies learned
and the values that were taught.” Barbara
Taylor Posner still does educational consulting
for special needs students and young adults. She
travels across the country looking at schools and
programs. It is rewarding work. She sees Bev
Boden Rogers twice a year at Sanibel Island
and a Chamber Music Festival in Newport, RI.
In the summer, she enjoys swimming across the
lake her house is on.
I (Betsy) have a very part-time job as a merchandiser for American Greetings Card Co. I
am recording secretary for our newly organized
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)
group. My husband and I still travel to the
East Coast to visit family as time allows. I’ve
become interested in genealogy and have visited
some locations where my great-grandparents
lived between 1874 and the 1880s. It’s fun,
but I have a long way to go before the family
tree is complete!
1968
Marilyn Rupinski Rotondo
Cynthia Carpenter Sheehan
Lee McLellan Collins and her husband both
retired in June ’03 and are busy traveling and
enjoying visits from family and friends. A new
grandson arrived in October ’09, and they look
forward to caring for him one day a week when
their daughter returns to work. “What a wonderful life!” Lee wrote. Catherine Scheid Evans
and husband Art are settled in Cincinnati, OH.
Art is chairman of Obstetrics at University of
Cincinnati. Their annual travels include visiting
their oldest son and family in Quito, Ecuador (he
is a public affairs officer at the U.N. Embassy);
visiting their son in New York City; and visiting
their daughter and family in Atlanta.
Carol Hamel Long is still in the publishing business — going on 27 years now. She is in
Executive Acquisitions for Technology Books for
Wiley Publishing. “Programming and computer
security do seem a bit of a stretch from early
childhood education, but I’m sure there is a link
there somewhere,” she wrote. Oldest son Matt is
a diplomat with the U.S. State Department and
is posted in Rabat, Morocco, right now. Carol’s
middle son, Nathan, died in August ’07 after a
brave 20-month battle with brain cancer. “We
try to live now as he lived — fully and with joy
— but it is a very hard road, when you have lost
a child,” she wrote. Carol and husband Wayne’s
plans are to move back to her hometown of
Southborough, MA, where her mother’s family
has lived for 12 generations. Sue Ordway Lyons
is into her sixth year of retirement following a
wonderful teaching career. She and husband Tom
just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary,
and they have two grown sons. Sue has learned to
machine quilt, has time to spend with family and
friends, has caught up on reading, and enjoys
time with her 94-year-old mother. Sue keeps in
touch with Susan Castleton Ryan ’68/’73MS
and Nonie Gignoux Spevacek.
Sue Webb Tregay is “still an artist painting away and had a breakthrough [last] spring,”
she wrote. “I can’t wait to get to the studio each
morning.” Sue has a wonderful grandson “who is
about to be displaced from his throne by baby #2
in June. I’m too old to be a grandmother of toddlers,” she wrote.
CLASS NOTES
2009 ITCA Regional Parent Leadership Award
Sally Clark Sloop ’68
G
ayle Ziegler Vonasek ’72/’78MS wrote to
make sure we knew that Sally Clark Sloop
’68 was presented with an award at the
National Early Childhood Conference in Washington,
D.C., in December. The IDEA Infant and Toddler
Coordinators Association chose Sally as the winner of
the 2009 ITCA Regional Parent Leadership Award,
“given annually to acknowledge outstanding state parent leadership on behalf of the Part C program for
infants and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities and their families,” according to a press release
about the award. The award recognizes leadership in
the areas of family support, recruiting and/or training
families, serving on committees, and developing legislative initiatives, among others.
Letters of support submitted on Sally’s behalf spoke
of her work to “advocate for the critical importance of
understanding the family perspective and providing needed support” in addition to the
way she “has devoted her career to enhancing the availability of both [caring professionals and effective parent-to-parent support].” Gayle, who was Sally’s student teacher
in Newton, MA, in 1971, wrote, “I know firsthand of her talent in teaching young
children,” and talked about Sally’s “intelligence, commitment, compassion, and creativity” — gifts that she knows Wheelock nurtured.
Recently retired from family support work for the state of North Carolina, Sally is
currently mentoring Head Start teachers.
1969
Linda Bullock Owens
Tasha Lowell Allan
November of 2009 was a terrific month for Tasha
Lowell Allan ’69/’91MS. First, the Lowell family was honored for its many years of dedication
to education at the Wheelock Passion for Action
celebration. Tasha said that she has “never been so
proud to be associated with Wheelock” and was
truly inspired by the event’s speakers as well as by
the stories of the current scholarship recipients
who are supported by this program. The month
was capped by the birth of Shea Abraham Allan,
Tasha’s third grandchild, who lives close enough
for frequent visits from her home in Hull, MA, to
his in Center Conway, NH.
Having retired from teaching four years ago,
Carol Henderson Amaral is working part time
at a yarn store in Falmouth, MA. She wrote that
she is a very busy member of the “sandwich generation,” visiting her parents in a nearby nursing
home and keeping in touch with her daughter,
Tazeena, who lives in Los Angeles.
If anyone will be traveling to Colorado during
the summer months, look for Cheri Breeman
on Fridays at the Dillon farmers’ market, where
she sells her jewelry and pottery. When the snow
flies, on the weekends she can be found driving
a shuttle bus at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, which
earns her free skiing at almost every ski resort in
the state.
On the East Coast, Nance Kulin Liebgott
divides her time between living in New York
City and the warmer climate of Sarasota, FL.
Between keeping up with one daughter in Prague
and another in Pennsylvania, Nance finds time
for periodic visits from several of our classmates
as well. Liz Henderson Lufkin is working in
Wareham, MA, with students who have “social,
emotional, and behavioral exceptionalities” while
living in the cozy former home of her grandmother in nearby Marion. Her four sons and two
granddaughters love to join her there in warm
weather water and beach activities.
I (Linda) recently caught up with Marge
Miner, who is well on her way to recovery from
knee replacement surgery, which she had soon
after attending our Reunion last year. She manages to squeeze Pilates, swimming, and walking
rehab regimens into her hectic life with husband
Tom and two teenage daughters. In Panama, Rita
Sladen Sosa continues her work as a secondary
principal at Balboa Academy, finding time to
mentor her assistant principal, who has just finished getting her credentials. Rita wrote that she
and Alex celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in November of last year.
1970
R 
June 4-6
1974
Laura Keyes Jaynes
What a busy time in our lives! Thank you to the
four classmates who took the time to write back.
I wish that we could all try to double or triple
our communication efforts, especially with the
convenience of the Internet. If you didn’t get a
chance to write for the Spring 2010 issue of the
Wheelock Magazine, perhaps you can e-mail me at
mrsjay22@hotmail.com. We have four more years
to work on getting together in 2014! Our 40th
Reunion! Imagine!
I am doing well at this time in my life. I
continue to enjoy teaching fourth grade in
Merrimack, NH, and my husband of 36 years,
Steve, is a sales manager at a Subaru dealership
in Natick, MA. We just returned from a fabulous
holiday vacation in Hawaii, where both of our
kids live, work, and go to school.
Jackie Schulte has been teaching preschool
at the John Winthrop School, in Back Bay, for
35 years, ever since she student-taught there in
1974. She continues to treasure her wonderful relationships with each precious child and
loved ones.
Paula Davison wrote that she has become
chairperson of the Alumni Association
Endowment Fund Committee: “The Wheelock
Alumni Association is unique in having its own
endowment fund. The committee oversees its
financial management and makes grants to support Alumni projects. We have very creative
alums and want to support as many as we can.”
Paula also helped coordinate a Wheelock World
Service Day (April 17) project for Cape Codarea alumnae.
Rita Abrams Draper’s family is doing well,
and she is enjoying her two grandchildren. They
continue to spend most of the winter in Costa
Rica, which is great after a busy season. She was
so sorry to miss the 35th Reunion. She had too
many catering functions that weekend. She sends
her regards to all! Naomi Resnick Schwartz
has been living in Providence, RI, for the past
30 years, and she is teaching third grade in an
inner-city public school. She wrote: “I’m loving
my class, the people I work with, and the extracurricular activities that go on in my school. (I
have no thoughts of retiring yet.) Providence is
a wonderful little city, with a symphony, good
restaurants, lots of ‘art,’ proximity to the ocean,
and a good number of loyal friends. It was a good
place to raise kids and is a good place for empty
nesters.” Naomi and husband Stan have three
grown children. She is looking for information on
Nancy Blumenthal.
Wheelock Magazine 25
Last June, Alice Strachan Barr ’78 (standing, fourth from left) invited some Wheelock friends to her parents’ home in
Kennebunkport, ME, for a mini reunion. Back row, left to right: Judy Birofka Brown ’77, Lynn Freedman Byrnes ’77,
Jill Schoenfeld Ikens ’77, Alice, Francesca Wright ’77, Sue LaRese Vivian ’77, Andree Howard ’77, and Lita Kochakian
Zuchero ’77. Seated on the floor, left to right: Lisa Brookover Moore ’77, Elsa “Hillje” Whitmore Morse ’77, Sarah
Zartman ’78, and Margaret Smith Lee ’77
Please, 1974 classmates, let’s hear from you!
Don’t hesitate to e-mail me anytime. 2014 will be
here before you know it! It is sooo much fun to
see what everyone is doing. Best wishes to all!
1975
R 
June 4-6
Leslie Hayter Maxfield
1976
Angela Barresi Yakovleff
Last October, Maryanne Galvin was invited to
Denver, CO, to show her film Interrogate This
at the International Association of Chiefs of
Police Convention. She participated in a panel
discussion, “Negotiating Ethical Dilemmas for
Psychologists in the Interrogation of Terror
Suspects,” and then in a Q&A. Among many
words of praise for her film, the president of a
Florida chapter of the ACLU, a nonpsychologist,
found that Maryanne’s “balanced presentation,
using a variety of media techniques, brought to
the forefront a component of the war on terror
that is not broadly known,” and he commended
her for “taking on such a challenging subject and
presenting it in an engaging manner.”
1977
Margaret Smith Lee
Lisa Brookover Moore
Debbie Warren Block is living in Atlanta, GA,
and teaching kindergarten at The Davis AcademyAtlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School. She and husband Mitch have celebrated 25 years of marriage,
and they have one daughter who is a graduate of
the University of Wisconsin and one daughter
who is a student at the University of Virginia.
Ellen Broderick is enjoying her work at the
Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA, a center
that specializes in psychotherapeutic treatment of
psychiatric disorders. Hollis Brooks wrote from
26 Spring 2010
snowy Boulder, CO: “I’m in my fourth busy year
of working for a global event management company, where clients include Adobe, Time, Inc.,
Cisco, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
New Yorker Cathy Aliapoulios Kraut ’78 and
I chat on the phone almost daily, and I also stay
in touch with Lynn O’Brien ’78, who’s based in
Florida. I keep my connection to teaching alive
with volunteer work as a reading coach.”
Lynn Freedman Byrnes is finishing up
her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study
in Special Education Administration while her
husband is beginning work on his doctorate.
Daughter Allie is a teacher in Beverly, MA; son
Ryan is finishing his senior year at Endicott
College; and daughter Lindsay is planning her
wedding. In August, Lynn attended the opening of the new Riverway House with former
dorm-mates Louise Close, Jill Schoenfeld Ikens,
Andree Howard, and Nancy Pike Tooker.
Louise Close wrote that she and husband Joel
are “leaving New England’s harsh winter behind
and are heading for Florida and the Carolinas . . .
only to surface again in the spring.” Empty nesters now, with one daughter working in Singapore
and a son at the University of Wisconsin in
Madison, Louise is enjoying her work on
Wheelock’s Board of Trustees.
Andree Howard and wife Liza have finished
work on their house and are now concentrating
on their five grandchildren, who all live within
a hundred miles of them. Andree is teaching
at the Feinstein Child Development Center in
Providence, RI, which is a lab school for the
University of Rhode Island, giving her the opportunity to teach both preschoolers and college
students. Tracy Weinberg continues to work as
associate director of the Texas Association for
the Gifted and Talented. He runs professional
development conferences for up to 3,000 people,
does a good deal of advocacy and lobbying, and
administers scholarship programs. In his spare
time, he performs regularly with his band, Three
Way Street, in the central Texas area.
Audrey Zabin is a geriatric care manager at
Audrey Zabin and Associates in Boston. Lita
Kochakian Zuchero is keeping busy with her job
as a fifth-grade special education teacher, as well as
tutoring after school. Daughter Victoria is a sophomore at Assumption College, and son Alexander
is a freshman in high school. She and husband
Glenn recently celebrated their 22nd anniversary.
I (Lisa) am is a PADI-certified open water
scuba instructor teaching PADI scuba courses in
Crystal Lake, IL. Daughter Kristin was married in
March 2009, and son Tim is a 2008 graduate of
Wheelock College. I attended a mini Wheelock
reunion in June 2009 hosted by Alice Strachan
Barr ’78. As evidenced in the picture, some of us
are wearing our “lobstah” bibs in anticipation of
the coming lobster feast. It was a wonderful weekend of renewing old friendships!
1978
Pat Mucci Tayco
Sarah Baldwin-Weissman is living in Chicago
and keeping busy with her two children, ages 15
and 12. She is involved in freelance marketing
projects and working on her illustration business. Sarah’s website is www.sarahbaldwindesigns.
com. Laurie Rockett Lupton is in her 16th year
of teaching kindergarten for the Detroit Public
Schools. Laurie reported that she has had the
opportunity to share her Wheelock education
with her colleagues as they undergo massive
reforms. Her three children are now graduated,
and she and her husband look forward to visiting
them in their new cities.
Beth Perry Nee is taking on more and more
leadership roles at Sacopee Valley High School
in Hiram, ME, since receiving her M.S. in
Educational Leadership in ’08. Her daughter,
Jessica Williamson, will complete her M.S.W. at
Wheelock this spring, and FAFSAs have been
filed for her twins, Liam and Logan, who are
high school seniors. Her children inspire her and
continuously place her in awe. Beth has also been
enjoying catching up with Wheelock classmates
on Facebook. Nancy Bissinger Timm is a clinical
social worker in a group practice in New Orleans
with three psychiatrists, three psychologists, and
two social workers. Since Hurricane Katrina, they
have been steadily busy. Her practice is primarily
made up of children, adolescents, and their families. Nancy says her undergraduate degree from
Wheelock provided her with a child development
foundation that has been invaluable. She has
three children — 25, 23, and 19 — and is married
to Steve Timm.
I (Pat) am continuing to use my wonderful
Wheelock education as I enter my fourth year
of directing a Bright Horizons program — the
Booz Allen Hamilton Family Center in McLean,
VA. I am very proud that Bright Horizons has
CLASS NOTES
Knitted Together Through Wool Power
Sheri Gardner Von Urff ’79
S
heri started a nonprofit organization four years ago called Wool
Power, Inc. with the goal of
keeping the craft of knitting alive and
well and developing it as a resource
through creative collaborations with
others. “I have been working with 150
knitters in a small village in Wote,
Kenya, who are using knitting as a
form of economic development,” Sheri
writes. “Last year, I sent by cargo 280
pairs of knitting needles and about
1,500 balls of donated yarn, and
now the women are knitting to sell
their finished items. [See the colorful
animal pillows on Sheri’s website, www.woolpower.org.] The woman on the left in the
photo I sent is Lucy, who works in the U.S. but also helps the Akamba people to grow
their own cotton and spin it into yarn. My collaboration with the knitters in Wote
began through Lucy, who asked me to knit with the yarn that the Akamba knitters had
spun in order to evaluate its workability. The photo shows us looking at the first shipment of their yarn to the U.S.”
Sheri, who lives west of Philadelphia with her husband of 14 years and their 11-yearold daughter, is also working through Wool Power, Inc. and a unique alliance with
a local school district in Chester County, PA, to launch the first knitting recycling
program. And she is starting a book of yarn stories from women (and men) about
how they got started knitting and about items they have made. She invites Wheelock
alumni to pass on their anecdotes. Wool Power!
won Fortune Magazine’s “Top 100 Best Places to
Work” again for 2010 and my program was listed
in Northern Virginia Magazine’s “Top 100 Best
Day Care Programs” for 2010 for the first time.
1979
Barbara Dalbeck Piccirillo continues to work
at Regional School Unit 75 in Topsham, ME,
as a school occupational therapist. She’s been
in that district, at various schools, for 17 years.
Currently she works with students in kindergarten through grade 12 but spends most of her
time at Woodside School with K-5 children. “My
background in teaching has helped as I am participating more in first- and third-grade writing
groups as well as in art,” she wrote. “I also run
weekly fine motor groups in all of our kindergarten classrooms.” Last summer, Kim Morse Roell
’80, Letitia Moore, and Anne Lang Mrozowski
’78 visited Barbara, and she had a great time
reconnecting with them.
1980
R 
Elizabeth Corning DeMille
Kathy Formica Harris
June 4-6
1981
Colleen Miller Rumsey
Ted DeMille ’81/’86MS has written Making
Believe on Paper. He credits his Wheelock experience with having helped him write the book,
especially Florence Rossman.
1983
Carol Rubin Fishman
“I can’t believe that I have a job that I like so
well,” Susan Marr wrote about her assistant
director position at Phoebe Hearst Preschool
in San Francisco, where she celebrated her
15th anniversary in February. She had three
semesters of a master’s program in Elementary
Education (at San Francisco State University)
under her belt as of December and was planning to focus on her California credential
in 2010. She also planned to come east this
spring to see family and Riverway buddies.
Susan shared the sad news of her brother
John’s sudden death last June, making 2009
a tough year. Congratulations to Karen
Sullivan, who married Scott Arseneault on
July 5, 2009.
1984
Kathryn Welsh Wilcox
Thank you to all of the members of the Class of
1984 who sent us lots of exciting information
about their lives! Check out the latest!
Nancy Rogers Belisle, now living in
Ohio, wrote of meeting up with Karen Mello
Diamond ’83 and Melanie Levesque Madden
at Mel’s Diner (owned by Melanie and husband
Jack) in East Providence back in January. “We
had not all been together in years,” Nancy
wrote, “and we had a great time catching up.”
Later that day, Nancy and Karen had another
fun time catching up with Lil McCarthy
Holbrook and Nancy Frame Mealey ’86 when
they and some of their kids and spouses got
together for dinner at Granite Links Golf Club
in Quincy, MA.
Christina Moulton Eckert shared that she is
a published author. Her book series is going to
be coming out this spring. Her son is graduating from film school this May and is heading
out to Los Angeles. Her daughter is attending
Northern Arizona University in the fall. Her 10year-old son keeps growing up too fast! If there
are any alumni in the Phoenix or Scottsdale,
AZ, areas, please contact her! Cyndi Weyne
Ryan is enjoying her third year as the coordinator for special education early intervention
services for infants and toddlers in Los Angeles
County. She and husband Tom celebrated their
22nd anniversary in April. She also shared
that her first grandchild from her stepdaughter Lindsay and husband Scott was born in
September 2008, and then his sister was born
last August. Stepson Matt continues to do well
in the California oil refinery business. Daughter
Kasey is engaged to Mark Madonna Newman
of the U.S. Navy this summer. Youngest son
Zachary is in boot camp in the U.S. Marine
Corps in San Diego. “We are blessed to have
a life that is full and rich with family,” Cyndi
wrote. “I would love to hear more from and
about my Wheelock sisters.”
All is well in Cecilia Tatem Small’s household. She continues to work at the elementary
school in Maynard, MA, as the counselor/social
worker for the school of 500 students. She also
still coordinates the Social Worker Weekend
On Call Team for Emerson Hospital. Having a
“house of teenagers” means she and her husband
stay busy. In January, she wrote, “I am excited to
join Martha McNulty and Patty Dowell Merrill
as we head north for a weekend visit with Monica
Trussell Belkin!”
As for me (Kathryn), my life is very busy. I
continue to teach first grade here in Murrieta, CA,
as well as taking on the responsibility of being the
PTSA president at my son’s high school! It does
not leave me very much free time, but I manage
Wheelock Magazine 27
Left to right: Nancy Frame Mealey ’86, Karen Mello Diamond ’83, Mitch Belisle (Cornell ’07), Lil McCarthy Holbrook
’84, and Nancy Rogers Belisle ’84 at (Nancy’s son) Mitch’s
lacrosse game at the Boston Garden on Jan. 9. Mitch plays
for the National Lacrosse League’s Boston Blazers.
to get to water polo games and swim matches each
week. My oldest son, Steven, started his freshman
year at Chapman University in Orange, CA. He is
planning on majoring in business. It is so exciting
to see him enjoy the college experience. It brings
back wonderful memories of my days at Wheelock
and living in Colchester House! My youngest son,
Andrew, is a junior at our local high school. He is
enjoying having his oldest brother gone so now he
is big man on campus.
1985
R 
June 4-6
Linda Edwards Beal
1987
Kathleen Hurley DeVarennes
Allison Small Annand still enjoys teaching in the
Hollis, NH, integrated preschool but has plans to
move from Hollis to Nashua. All is well with her
family; both daughters are in high school. Pam
Lackey Cawley, husband Mark, and their two
sons live in Franklin, MA. Pam works part time
as a retail merchandiser for Hallmark and has a
small party planning business that she is trying
to expand (www.PerfectPartiesbyPam.com). Son
David became a bar mitzvah in June 2009, and
she was very proud of him.
1988
Carol Ann McCusker Petruccelli
Shirley Bourque Fruguglietti’s 7-year-old
daughter keeps her very busy. Her family continues to be actively involved with the deaf
community as Lily straddles two worlds. They
have met so many wonderful deaf friends that
they would not have met without Lily. Shirley
is also a proud grandmother of a 2-year-old.
She feels very blessed. Chris Schuman Kenny
has been really lucky to reconnect with a lot of
Wheelock friends. She has been busy with PTA
and volunteering in preschool since all the kids
are in school. She is glad to be back in the classroom. She has traveled to St. Louis for a mini
family reunion and also went to Disney. Julie
Shea is working for Boston Public Schools as an
28 Spring 2010
evaluation team facilitator, and her oldest son,
Glenn, is a Marine and is being deployed to
Afghanistan. The children in her school are all
set to send him care packages while he is over
there. Denise Williamson has enjoyed her trips
to Austria, Italy, and Ireland. She is still busy
with Autocross.
As for me (Carol Ann), I am keeping very
busy with work and my two young boys. I had
the opportunity to skate Fenway Park with
them back in January. It was a great experience.
1989
Susan Kelly Myers
What a wonderful Reunion! It was so enjoyable
to catch up with so many of you, see the new
campus buildings, and enjoy the city of Boston.
It was like old times to sit and talk with everyone. It sure brought back a lot of memories to
stay in a dorm room on campus! Thank you to
all who attended.
Lisa Cantore is truly living out the College’s
mission. “The end of 2009 was quite eventful for
me,” she wrote. “A documentary aired on the local
Rhode Island PBS station about the day camp I
created for young children with cancer and their
siblings. Please look for it on your station, as it
may air nationally!” Lisa also moved back to her
home state of Connecticut, where she is now
a child life specialist at Connecticut Children’s
Medical Center (Hartford). She is excited about
this big change but says she misses “the RI child
life/Wheelock crew.” (Congratulations, Lisa, on
making a difference in the lives of young children
and their families.) Kim Del Greco Stephens
relocated to Seguin, TX, in July 2009. She is
hoping to continue her work in the child life
field and stays very busy with husband Bob and
two children, Nick and Katharine. “We are very
close to San Antonio and would love to have
visitors if anyone heads out our way,” she wrote.
Vickie Williams was ordained an elder in the
Pentecostal Church in June 2005. As an elder, she
traveled to New Orleans to serve the families who
were impacted by the destruction of Hurricane
Katrina. She is now serving on the ministerial staff
at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church,
in Boston, and is busy raising two delightful sons
(ages 10 and 8).
I (Sue) have had a busy and wonderful year.
I traveled to Paris in April for my free incentive
trip with Pampered Chef. I went on a Mexican
Riviera Cruise with my family (plus 35 friends
from around the country), and I am back in
the classroom as a substitute teacher. My four
children (ages 13, 12, 8, and 7) think it’s great as
long as I’m not their teacher for a day.
Please keep in touch and let me know if you
ever find yourself in the Denver area.
Young
Alumni
Online Class Notes
WOW — What a Success!
Many of our more recent grads who like to
communicate online have asked to be able to
see their Class Notes on Wheelock’s website.
We thought it was a great idea, especially
when we realized we could update Class Notes
and Reunion information more frequently
(quarterly for Class Notes), upload more photos
of special occasions, and keep news extra current. So we did it!
Since last fall, alumni have been able to
find news of those who graduated in or after
1990 by browsing the Undergraduate Class
Notes and Graduate Class Notes links on our
website at: www.wheelock.edu/classnotes.
The move to online Class Notes for more recent
classes is getting raves from alumni. We’re so
glad you like it!
Master’s Degrees
Sandra Heidemann ’81MS has co-written a
book, Play: The Pathway from Theory to Practice
(2010). She is currently working as the Words
Work! classroom coordinator for the Saint Paul
Foundation in St. Paul, MN, implementing early
literacy professional development strategies for
Head Start teachers. In 2006, she was presented
with the Evelyn House Award by MnAEYC in
appreciation of time and effort given to young
children in Minnesota.
Deaths
28
34
34
34
37
37
41
41
44
44
44
47
48
53
56
57
66
74AS
74
76MS
77
87MS
90MS
97/97MS
Sylvia Littlehales Nichols
Betty Marvin Anderson
Ruth Swanson Hallowell
Virginia Clayton Thorne
Ellen Moak Lloyd
Florence Woodman Smith
Jeannette Stevenson Thurman
Barbara Shaw Zajonc
Laura Kelly Peters
Jane Sponnoble Timm
Jane Cooper Wyman
Florrie Baybutt Smith
Miriam “Topsie” Seipp Christensen
Mary Ditmore Mathews
Inge Buechling Nichols
Marilyn “Lyn” Hunziker Palmer
Joyce Nothacker Robinson
Rosella Jones
Sally Malloy Sanford
Holly Horton
Naomi White
Michael Pearl
Donna White
Kathy Morris
Welcome to the
“New” Library
E
xciting changes occurred in the Wheelock Library during
winter break. A quick look around the first-floor area
reveals many improvements that go far beyond fresh
paint. The space is now wide open and bright (new lighting
complements the natural, outdoor light flowing in from the
glass doors facing The Riverway), and accommodates a combined
service and reference desk, many new computers, quick-service
computer kiosks, study tables, and lots of comfortable seating for
reading. A new group study room on floor 3M also has technology updates, and the College Archives (now on the Library’s
lower level) has a new display case for rotating exhibits that
are bringing Wheelock’s history and traditions into full public
view. It all makes the Library an inviting place to spend time
researching, prepping papers, or otherwise focusing the mind.
Charles and Irene Frail Hamm ’60
Endowed Scholarship Challenge
Continues to Inspire
I
n 2007, Charles and Irene Frail Hamm ’60 created an Endowed
Scholarship Challenge in the amount of $1 million to provide
scholarships for future urban teachers and to encourage others to
establish endowments for the same purpose.
Those who contribute to urban teaching scholarships demonstrate
a strategic, forward-looking approach to giving that makes it possible
for Wheelock to prepare students who will serve one of the fastest
growing yet most underserved segments of our society — urban children
and families. To join the Hamms in educating more and better teachers
for our city schools, contact Linda Welter, Vice President for Advancement, at (617) 879-2233 or lwelter@wheelock.edu.
Reunion 2010 Roundup for
Classes Ending in 0 and 5
I
t’s happened again. Five years have flown by since your
last Reunion! In 2005, Toby Congleton Milner ’70
and Shawana Thomas Daniels ’95 won “Making a Difference” Service Awards, the Class of 1955 won all four class
prizes, the Class of 1960 sailed off on a Charles River adventure, everyone “quacked up” on the Duck Tour, and, as Mary
Barnard O’Connell ’65 declared, “Laughter filled the air!”
What will happen this year? Which classes will win the prizes?
What’s the most amazing change on campus since 2005?
That’s hard — there’ve been so many! What we do know is that
there are plenty of plans afoot to make Reunion 2010 the best
ever. Come and find out what’s going on, call your classmates,
and let the fun begin!
200 The Riverway
Boston, MA
02215-4176
(617) 879-2123
Bookmark Your
Reunion Website
Reunion Weekend 2010
June 4-6, 2010
Celebrating the Classes of 1925, 1930, 1935,
1940, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1975,
1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, & 2005!
Reunion plans are in the works. Bookmark the
Reunion page on the Wheelock website for updates
on who has registered. See you there!
Gracias!
World Service Day Volunteers
T
ons of thanks to alumni who participated in Wheelock’s first
annual World Service Day on April 17. Those who organized and
joined Wheelock volunteer projects in Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Cape Cod, Boston, southern New Hampshire, Sarasota, Singapore, and
Portland demonstrated, once again and with energy, how Wheelock
College alumni live its mission. And they did a great job launching a
new service tradition that pays back in the chance to see old friends,
meet new ones, be useful, and have fun. See you next year!
Alumni
Events
Cape Cod Club
Annual Spring Luncheon
May 13 • 12 p.m.
Hyannis Yacht Club
RSVP (617) 879-2261
Greater Portland Alumni Club
Annual Meeting and Dinner
May 19 • 6 p.m.
The Purpoodock Club
Cape Elizabeth, ME
RSVP (207) 878-2356
Boston Young Alumni Reception
for all graduates 1995-2010
June 5 • 7 p.m.
Beer Works
61 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA
Don’t Miss New
Art on Campus, p. 4