The NSFG 90th Celebration, held on October 18-19, was a big success, with 34 alumnae, seven guests and four former faculty in attendance (plus 6-8 staff). Carole Fickert told me later, “Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Saturday. It was wonderful to see people after, dare I say it, 60 years. It is also nice that you remember Northampton in the manner you did.”
The alumnae ranged from the Class of 1954 up to the Class of 1974. People had flown in from as far away as California. They had name tags with their senior photos from the yearbook, which were a big hit as it allowed people to recognize others. Ellis Baker loved that we not only gave him a blue ID in honor of Williston Academy but that we gave him a different Williston wineglass (the ladies all got stemless NSFG wineglasses). Joe Mesics pulled me aside on the way to the memorial service to say, “Boy, you guys really do things right here! Everything from the sit-down meal at lunch to the glasses and the alma mater by the singing group was just first class! I can’t believe more women didn’t want to come back for this!”
Ellie Rothman delivered a great welcoming speech, touching on the importance of education and single-sex education as well as her experience at NSFG and Williston Northampton. Maisy Glick ’15 spoke up to say she didn’t see any disparity between the boys and girls and that she felt girls held just as many leadership roles as boys on campus.
Following Ellie’s talk, we moved into roundtable discussions. Penny Molyneux ’74 spoke on the neurology of the brain and sleep patterns. She said that the use of an iPad in the early morning if you can’t sleep is a bad idea since it tells the brain it is time to stop producing sleep-inducing chemicals in the body.
Kristina Madsen ’72 was the next to speak. Kristina is a high-end furniture maker who lives in Southampton and hand-carves her furniture in a Fiji manner. Her work is very intricate and amazing. Some of her pieces reside in the Smithsonian.
The final speaker was Betsy Wills ’69. Betsy’s topic was public speaking and “Finding Your Voice”. Betsy is a 28-year member of Toastmasters and talked about Eleanor Roosevelt and Toastmaster history.
Prior to lunch, Joshua Harper and the Widdigers regaled us with the NSFG hymn, the NSFG Alma Mater (which all the alums stood for and sang along with) and one song that they were working on for their fall concert. The ladies were very impressed with the singing. We also arranged for Cameron Hill ’15 and Tina Zhang ’15 to each play a piece on the piano and cello, respectively. They both did an outstanding job.
Sage knocked it out of the park with a nice simple light lunch and Mississippi Mud (accompanied by cheers when it was announced). The women loved that we gave away the NSFG cook’s recipe book at registration. I asked the alumnae to fill out a short questionnaire over coffee and many of them did. Brittany and I will compile the responses and share them.
After lunch, they all walked over to the library to look over a display that Rick Teller had put together, complete with old NSFG uniforms. Rick did a great job on his talk and you could see his passion and enthusiasm. As the talk was wrapping up, it started to rain which put a bit of a damper on the desire to go tour the former campus. Brittany, Sharon and Marc ended up taking four people over where I gather they had a lovely time. Many of the others opted to partake in Lynn Magovern’s “Starting Your Memoirs” seminar, which was a rousing success!
Dinner was excellent as well. Following dinner, the weather had cleared enough so that I was able to light the bonfire (with the help of a full bottle of lighter fluid!) and a good number of the women gathered around the fire and sang old NSFG songs, led by Judith Miller Conlin ’72, who has a beautiful voice! By about 7:30 p.m. or so, I brought out the hose and doused the flames. I thought Phys Plant (Dan Curylo) did a great job building that fire. Once it caught, it was impressive!
On Sunday we had breakfast and then walked out to the Angelus Terrace for the memorial service. Head of School Bob Hill read the first prayer (“Prayer of Remembrance for Women”) which several women asked for afterwards, then Linda Salmon rang the Angelus Bell during a moment of silence and finally, I read the last prayer. Here are some more comments I heard afterward:
“For those of you who missed this NSFG celebration—we missed you! It was a great few days. It was very heartwarming to see those who were there. The school did a great job. Even though we don’t go back to our campus, there remains a special bond among us “Hamp” girls – even though I don’t care for the term.” –Marcia Booth Drinkard
“What a wonderful time at the celebration—group hug whether you were there or not ( but we missed you!). I loved having so many different perspectives, and memories, and bits of information shared. I felt a part of something so much bigger, a legacy of wise, strong women that started with the fledgling school in 1924, and persisted through thick and thin.” –Penny Dods Molyneux