Class of 1970 Faculty News

From The Peg Board, Fall 1999:

Richard "Dick" Nunley, Darrow English teach from 1957 to 1970 and current Board of Trustee member, retired from Berkshire Community College in May 1999. He taught English at that school for 29 years.

Dick attended Dartmouth College and Cambridge University in England, where he met his wife Sue. Darrow School was Dick's first place of employment after a "one year, eleven month, and eighteen day" tour in the U.S. Army.

While at Darrow, Dick says he fell in love with the site and purchased a home on Shaker Road. His involvement with the School has been very rewarding, as a teacher, Director of Studies, and now as a board member. He says of Darrow, "It is a grand institution, and there's no place on Earth like it."

Dick continues to write a column for the Berkshire Eagle, entitled Our Berkshires. Gardening and other activities keep his days fully occupied.

From The Peg Board, Spring 1999:

John F. Joline III and Marjorie Baird were married December 28, 1998. John was the Headmaster at Darrow from 1961 until 1975. Marjorie, another Darrow family member, is the mother of John Baird, who taught science at Darrow from January 1976 to June 1981.

 

From The Peg Board, Spring 1998:

Although not a faculty member, Jean Stebbins Joline, wife of former Headmaster John Forsyth Joline III, died peacefully on February 10 at home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Born in Philadelphia in May of 1919, she grew up in Ithan, a Philadelphia suburb. After college at Southern Seminary in Virginia, she worked for the Psychology Department of Bryn Mawr College. During World War II she did volunteer work with wounded veterans for the Navy League Service.

Jean was married to John soon after the war and maintained a very active life pursuing a variety of interests, but those who were close to her through the years knew that what she cared about most were the people in her life. Jean was devoted to her family, which, in addition to her husband John, included her son John ("Joe") F. Joline IV of Hanover, New Hampshire, and Helen ("Bitsy") S. Ingalls of Barre, Vermont, as well as her two grandsons and two stepgrandsons. Beyond her family, Jean helped shape the lives of generations of students at Darrow from 1961 to 1975, the years that she and John were at the School. She worked hard to maintain contact with many of the students of this era, following their lives with genuine interest.

The memorial service for Jean took place on March 8 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Duxbury, Massachusetts. In attendance from Darrow, both past and present, were, among others, Larry and Margaret Van Meter, Rev. Parkman Howe, Phyllis and Alison Howard, Paul Johnson, Harry Savage '59, Scott Milnor '81 and his parents, John Gratiot '68, Larry ('47) and Polly Joline, Oliver Wood '47, Bill Anthony '62 and Horton and Shirley Durfee. The service, in which all of her immediate family spoke, included a familiar collection of music that seemed wonderfully appropriate as everyone sat and reflected on Jean's life. It was clear that she approached her final days with the same strong and accepting spirit in which she approached her whole life.

I personally knew Jean for more than thirty years. Through the last half of the '60s and much of the '70s my family summered in a small cottage near the Jolines in Duxbury. It was a great neighborhood with lots of kids and plenty of summer activity on and around Duxbury Bay. "Capture the Flag" was a popular game in the early evenings on the site of Miles Standish's summer cottage, which long ago sat on a plot of land that still exists between the Jolines' house and the beach. After the "Capture the Flag" games, all the kids who played were often invited to the Jolines to have milk and cookies. Jean always seemed thrilled to have all of us at their house and a little sad when the evening was over. Her warm welcoming way always made you feel as though you were genuinely important to her. These are among my best childhood memories.

After my family and I considered boarding schools in the early '70s, the Jolines were a big influence. The only school I looked at was Darrow. I had four wonderful years at Darrow as a student and another twelve rewarding years as a Board member. At the memorial service, John Gratiot, a current Board member and member of the class of 1968, and I reflected on the important role Jean played in our lives as students. We agreed that she had a subtle motherly influence on us. She never had a negative word to say about anyone and taught by example that you could find some good in almost everything and everyone. To her, there was no sense in focusing on the negatives when it was always possible to build on the positives. Her warmth and caring nature made us feel as though it was important to her that we do well at school and in life.

Jean was the untiring advocate of Darrow and everyone in the Darrow family. She will be deeply missed.

-- Earl A. ("Trip") Samson III, '76

From The Peg Board, Fall 1997:

Although not a faculty member, Lucretia R. Koepp died on June 2, 1997. A resident of Lebanon Springs, Lucretia was the Headmaster's secretary at Darrow from 1962 to 1975. She was predeceased by her husband, C. Edward Koepp of Stephentown, in 1994. Survivors include three children, John, Robert, and Barbara Fahrenkrug, three grandsons, and many nieces and nephews. John Koep and his wife Terrianne have cared for generations of Darrow faculty children at Rainbow's End day care in Lebanon Springs.

From The Peg Board, Spring 1997:

Charles D. Brodhead was featured in an article in the August 8, 1996 issue of the Brattleboro Reformer which chronicled his recent physical challenges and how he overcame them. Five years ago, when Brodhead began to lose his vision and suffered from pain in his arms, legs, and back, a specialist told him he must get more exercise and stay healthy. Acting on the specialist's suggestions, Brodhead began walking daily ... but early in 1996 his situation changed. "That was fine until my vision got worse and I got disoriented," he said. After neighbors realized that his vision was beginning to jeopardize his daily walks, the situation was discussed and a solution found. With surveyor's stakes and rolls of twine, a walkway was constructed, complete with resting areas, around Brodhead's property, allowing him to "feel" his way to the end and back. As a result of his experience, he is urging others to consider providing similar means for persons with impaired vision to enjoy outdoor exercises, perhaps as a community project, in such places as nursing homes or retirement communities.