SPRING 2013

Cranbrook and the World Leading Schools Organization

A BIGGER ROLE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

THE ROMNEYS ON LIFE, LEADERSHIP, & CRANBROOK SCHOOLS

FALL 2012: DO YOU REMEMBER?

Editor’s Note: Bill McGraw, ’69, writes, “Awww…that’s too easy. Probably because I bought that photo from Harvey Croze. Not because I was in it, but because it was a great shot of my first girlfriend on earth. After 44 years, I can still put my hand on the pic in my house in 5 minutes. But I don’t think it was 1968, maybe 1967, fall formal. Front row, L-R, The lovely and amazing Carol Lerchen, Julie Martin, Michelle?, Beth Quay and Julie Coulter. Back row, L-R, Bill McGraw (me), Rob Northwood, Michael Hawkins, Bob Varley and Tom Brenneke.”

Ellen Katzer, Kitsy Hanson Abbott, Beth Quay Andrews, Margo Goodale and Rod Fonda (all class of ’69) also wrote in with the answer.

READING A SCRIPT, 1955

Try your hand at identifying this photo. Should you discover classmates you can identify, contact:

Margi Brown // PO Box 801, Bloomfield Hills, MI // 48303-0801 // 248.645.3132 // mbrown@cranbrook.edu

DO YOU REMEMBER?

Tradition is published twice a year by the Cranbrook Schools Office of Advancement.

Write us at:Tradition, Cranbrook SchoolsPO Box 801Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-0801

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EDITORIAL BOARDClay Matthews Director of Communications, SchoolsEmily Liu Editing and Project ManagementMargi Brown Editorial AssistantAnn Merseles Reed ’55 Volunteer AssistantKathy Discenna Volunteer Assistant

DESIGNCover PhotographyCourtesy of Cranbrook Schools

Due to the wide range of photographic sources used to produce Tradition, the reader may experience some inconsistency in photographic quality. While every effort has been made to ensure the best quality images throughout the magazine, high-end printing technology may reveal the limits of the source material.

PaperTradition is committed to advancing Cranbrook’s strategic goal of increasing its environmental responsibility. The magazine is printed on Amerigloss, which is American-made and contains 10% post-consumer waste, is manufactured with an elemental chlorine-free bleaching process, and promotes responsible forest-management practices.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2 President’s Point of View3 Director’s School of Thought4 Admissions of Excellence5 Alumni Association Presidents

ABOUT ALUMNI

6 Focus: Cranbrook Kingswood10 A Bigger Role on the Global Stage13 Mitt and Ann Romney17 Distinguished Alumni19 Memoirs of a Cranbrook Faculty Brat21 Bill Moran: A Memoir23 Remembering Margaret Spencer25 Alumni Moments27 Class Notes

WOULD YOU PREFER TO READ THE ONLINE VERSION OF TRADITION?To opt out of receiving the paper magazine, please let us know by emailing mbrown@cranbrook.edu.

TRADITION PRINTS CORRECTIONS TO ANY ERRORS ON OUR PART THAT APPEAR IN THE MAGAZINE.

From Fall 2012:

• The leadership lists on page 85 (inside back cover) did not include Stacy Klein, Schools Development Committee Chair.

• The graduation year for Peter Hatch on page 16 of the Alumni Stories article was incorrect. He graduated in ’67, not ’57.

Tradition regrets these errors. Please contact cmatthews@cranbrook.edu with any such concerns.

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For Cranbrook Schools, Reunion Weekend has become much more than just a social gathering held each June. Reunion represents an important tradition that both measures and preserves the history of Cranbrook. Our alumni represent the living legacy of Cranbrook Schools and the values it has stood for throughout the years. No matter how long ago a student graduated, it is still his or her campus. The class members who come back each year are doing far more than marking the passage of time since their own graduation. I believe that, by returning to Cranbrook, they are representing the profound sense of connectedness that so many of our alumni feel—a connectedness which will secure the future of Cranbrook Schools for generations to come. And, yes, it is a lot of fun! It is something I look forward to with great excitement.

Connectedness—and the spirit of outreach—are powerful realities at Cranbrook Schools. Through membership in the World Leading Schools Association and Global Online Academy, the Schools are partnering with other exemplary educational institutions to shape the direction of education in both virtual and real classroom settings around the globe. To that end, this is an exciting time at Cranbrook Educational Community. Collaboration between Cranbrook Schools, Cranbrook Institute of Science, and Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum is expanding into groundbreaking, cross-programmatic opportunities. It is also an exciting

time because, like Cranbrook Schools itself, the broader Community is engaged in some of the most innovative and important outreach initiatives in its history.

Cranbrook has been transforming science learning among students within Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac public schools through a programmatic outreach that is the focus of three partnerships launched with grant support from the Bosch Community Fund, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. Cranbrook Institute of Science will use this support to offer students, families, and instructional staff in-depth, hands-on exposure to science and technology with an emphasis on closing the education gap among urban students. These collaborations offer free, private field trips to the Institute for students, professional development opportunities for dozens of public school teachers, and free Institute memberships.

Art and Science on the Go! is a four-year pilot program co-presented by Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum and Cranbrook Institute of Science to provide turn-key instruction in culturally underserved Michigan school districts in the northern half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The program is designed to excite students about the connections between art and science. Cranbrook Art and Science on the Go! educators present two programs to each participating school and class using objects from, or related to Cranbrook’s collections at the Art Museum and Institute of Science, to illustrate topics at the intersection of art and science. In June and July, the Cranbrook Art and Science on the Go! educators deliver programming at Cranbrook for K-12 teachers from the coverage area in three four-day sessions on the general topic of teaching art and science.

It is a source of real pride for me to be associated with Cranbrook during such a significant period in its long history. I look forward to sharing more great news with you in the future as our collaborative and outreach efforts continue to evolve, and I hope that you plan to come back and visit Cranbrook soon.

Sincerely,

DOM DiMARCOPresident

PRESIDENT’SPOINT OF VIEW

SPRING 2013 / 2

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One of the most important exercises Cranbrook Schools has conducted in recent years was the development of our strategic plan. A highly valuable process, the result was a document that provides both a course and a “starting point” for the institution and all its efforts as it moves forward. One result of the strategic planning process was a guiding vision for the school:

“Cranbrook Schools will be recognized nationally and internationally as a top-tier independent school with a growing global presence.”

I believe that it has become evident that we are truly moving toward achieving that vision.

Cranbrook Schools has always enjoyed a strong national and international boarding program that has become increasingly diverse over the decades. Students from 19 countries and 15 states now walk the halls of our dorms. Drawing from this kind of global population not only creates stronger programs and a more singular experience for all of our students, it also helps expand Cranbrook’s reputation around the world. Many international student organizations have come into being on campus, including the Indian Club and Korean Club, that help secure the bonds between international students and their American peers in addition to helping make all of our students more worldly.

More recently, we have begun to see exciting progress in special initiatives that are helping to secure Cranbrook Schools as a school of real international significance. Relationships with institutions from as far away as Turkey and Burkina Faso continue to evolve and enrich both Cranbrook and its overseas partners. As I have mentioned in the past, Cranbrook is a founding member of the Global Online Academy (GOA). The GOA is a highly select consortium of independent schools working toward the goal of developing (and delivering) web-based curriculum that meets the standards of a first-class preparatory education. Cranbrook is also a member of the World Leading Schools Association, another group of top-tier schools working to shape the future of global curricular development while sharing best practices among some of the finest schools in the world.

Many other wonderful opportunities have been materializing recently, as well as an increase in interest in Cranbrook from parties around the world, that validate the progress we are making toward achieving our strategic vision. I look forward to sharing more about them with you as they come to fruition.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Cranbrook Educational Community Trustee Jeffrey A. Harris, ’73, at this time. Jeff has provided important leadership for the Asian studies initiative at Cranbrook Schools. I offer my personal thanks to Jeff and to all who have acted on their belief in the school by helping to make that vision a reality.

With all that is happening here as the school moves into a more prominent role both nationally and internationally, it is an exciting time to be a part of Cranbrook Schools. The truth is that each one of you reading this is a part of Cranbrook Schools. Our alumni make the differences we see here every day, from the increase of our international reputation to the preservation of our historic campus. Thank you all for remaining a part of Cranbrook, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as I can at Reunion this June.

Sincerely,

ARLYCE M. SEIBERTDirector of Cranbrook Schools

DIRECTOR’SSCHOOL OF THOUGHT

ADMISSIONS OF EXCELLENCEThis school year I traveled to ten countries to present our boarding program to students, parents, principals, and educational consultants. Upon my return home, many people wanted to hear about my adventures. The most common question I was asked was some variation of “What did you find most unusual during your travels?” Some people assumed that I would respond with a story about some exotic food that I had to politely choke down in Asia, but in fact I found the food to be delicious. Others expected that I would talk about feeling unsafe in places such as Saudi Arabia, but actually the people that I met there had more concerns about visiting a school close to Detroit than I had about being there.

Although it sounds mundane, what struck me as being the most unusual was the incredible determination of families to provide the best possible education for their children. Certainly, parents in America want their children to receive good educations, but what I observed overseas was truly extraordinary. Are their school choices in their home countries so poor that they absolutely need to take what many consider the drastic measure of educating their children abroad? In some rare cases, yes, but in most areas, their local options are at least equivalent to good American suburban schools. Yet they truly want to give their children any advantage that they can and are willing to sacrifice to do so. Their sacrifices include going to great extremes to afford

a Cranbrook education, as well as not being able to see their children very often during the school year, but they value education so much that they are willing to do these things.

I interviewed 92 students during my few days in China. I was amazed that, despite the notorious Beijing and Shanghai traffic, not one of these students was late to meet me for an interview. Every one of these students was exceedingly well prepared to present him or herself and had questions specific to Cranbrook to ask me. Their eyes widened when I showed them pictures of our campus and told them about our extracurricular activities. They were ready to seize the opportunity and to work as hard as necessary to earn a place at Cranbrook.

I must say that I returned home with a new respect for our international applicants, for their educational ambitions, and for their determination to improve their lives through hard work and study.

Sincerely,

DREW MILLERDirector of Admission

SPRING 2013 / 4

Dear Fellow Alumni:

As we write this, the Cranbrook Kingswood campus remains snow-covered, but we are looking forward with anticipation to the coming of spring and, of course, Reunion. We hope to see many of you back on campus for the festivities June 7-9, 2013.

We are pleased to report once again that the financial position of your Alumni Association is strong and that our newly-introduced Lifetime Membership has been very popular. We are grateful for your support through annual dues at any level, which allows us to support worthy endeavors such as the Robotics Team.

It has been a year of mixed emotions, as we said goodbye to John Winter, our Director of Alumni Relations and newest Honorary Alum, who retired in February. However, as we reflect on John’s tenure as Director of Alumni Relations, there is no doubt that he gave us a road map for the future by showing us the importance of involving our youngest alums in the Alumni Association through events such as the Young Alumni Reunion in November, and encouraging us to work with the CK 100 Club to ensure a seamless transition for new graduates into the ranks of the alumni. These efforts will strengthen the CK Alumni Association, as we renew our focus on establishing the Association as a powerful networking resource for alums at all stages of their lives and careers. Be sure to check out and follow our LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

As the year ends, we would like to thank and acknowledge all of our Board members and in particular our retiring members, all of whom have served with distinction and brought enthusiasm and perspective to our meetings. John Albrecht, ’47, Lisa Ferris, ’80, Jason Hegedus, ’89, Ned Schneider, ’44, Anne Carney Strickland, ’03, and Scott Strickland, ’01, will all be leaving the Board this June. If you are interested in becoming a Board member or becoming involved in a CRAN regional network, please contact us. This is your Alumni Association, and we value your participation, whether it is through CRAN events or local metro Detroit area events. Please mark your calendars to attend our Annual Dinner on May 14, 2013 at Cranbrook House. We hope to see you back on campus at Reunion!

Sincerely,

KRISTEN BAIARDI, ’02President, Cranbrook Kingswood Alumni Association

DAVID RUNYON, ’97President-Elect, Cranbrook Kingswood Alumni Association

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENTS

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Aiming High, Going Forth to ServeJunior Alec Chapman has exemplified the school’s motto of aiming high and going forth to serve. He was recently featured in the Observer & Eccentric as well as Channel 20 News for the nonprofit company that he created called Headhunter for a Cause. The company’s goal is to pair potential employees with local companies. What sets Headhunter for a Cause apart from other search firms is that they offer their services to applicants and companies for free. In return, they ask that the hiring company make a donation of at least 50 hours of the new employee’s wages to a charity in lieu of paying a commission to Alec. To date, he has raised over $6,000 for charities.

Athletic DepartmentMichigan High School Football Hall of Fame member Joseph (Joe) D’Angelo joined Cranbrook Schools as head varsity football coach this winter. He began his career in education and athletics in 1966, and has since held positions in both public and private schools that include classroom teacher, coach, athletic director, and divisional director (or principal). D’Angelo was named Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1985, Michigan High School

Coach of the Year in 1986, and was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Hall of Fame in 1990. He has served as a member of the Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS) Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, as well as a clinic moderator for the Nike Football Coach of the Year Clinic. D’Angelo holds a Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Detroit and a Master’s in Guidance and Counseling from Wayne State University.

The Division III Boys Swim & Dive Championships were held March 8-9 at Eastern Michigan University and Cranbrook swimmers took second place. Thirty-four teams participated in this year’s contest. Cranbrook had swimmers in the Top 16 of almost all final contests, which included the 200Y Medley Relay, the 200Y Free, the 200Y IM, the 100Y Fly, the 100Y Free, the 500Y Free, the 200Y Free Relay, the 100Y Backstroke, and the 100Y Breast. To win the meet, Cranbrook needed to take first place in the 400Y Free Relay. The team came in just about a second over Div III record time with a 3:12.99.

FOCUS:CRANBROOK KINGSWOOD

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March 9 was also a great day for Cranbrook Kingswood hockey. The boys hockey team won its 16th state championship with a 4-2 victory over Sault Ste. Marie High School. Two hours later, the girls hockey team won its third state championship with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over Grosse Pointe South. Both teams previously won state titles in 2010.

Bridge the DivideIn early March, the spring leadership retreat, sponsored by Bridge the Divide, brought together approximately 40 students, day and boarding, who were joined by facilitators from the University of Michigan. Participants from previous leadership retreats assisted in various roles. The U-M School of Social Work has collaborated with Cranbrook for the past four years in the design and planning of our leadership programs.

Computer DepartmentIn February, sophomores Il Jae Lee and Joseph St. Germain attended MHacks 2013 at the University of Michigan. The “hackathon” event was sponsored by Facebook and Raytheon, along with Google, Barracuda Networks, and many others. The name “hackathon” does not refer to the negative connotation of the word, but rather that the project being done must be “hacked”—another way of saying it was developed under adverse working conditions and shortened time constraints. Of the 120-plus projects submitted, Il Jae and Joe’s project was judged to be among the top ten. Further, they were the only high school-aged competitors; all other contestants were college and graduate students from across the country.

Crane-Clarion The Crane-Clarion has received another Gold Medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, at Columbia University, based on a judge’s critique of issues from the 2011-12 school year. It is the ninth Gold Medal in a row that the Crane has earned from the prestigious student journalism organization.

Subscriptions cost $20 (USA delivery) or $30 (international delivery). Please make checks out to the Cranbrook Educational Community and send with postal coordinates to Karen Hagenlocker, 688 Hamilton Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301.

Fine ArtsGary Kulak, Head of the Fine Arts Department, exhibited Alert at Art Basel Miami with N’Namdi Contemporary Miami in December. This work is a continuation of his high chair series.

The Kingswood Lower Gallery exhibited the beautiful paintings of Nancy Mitchnick in December and January. She is a renowned Detroit painter and has moved back to the city after teaching painting at Harvard for 15 years. She gave a lively artist lecture to the morning art classes. From mid-January through early February, the gallery exhibited works from the Cranbrook Academy of Art’s Metalsmithing Department. The show was called “Nothing New” and juxtaposed new works and the older objects that inspired them. The following exhibition at the Kingswood Lower Gallery ran through the end of March and featured the Art Academy’s Fiber Department.

The CK Upper School Fine Arts Department had a record-breaking year with 41 medals from the Southeastern Michigan Regional Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, including junior Maxwell Li’s photograph, titled “Trees,” which was taken during winter break at Yellowstone National Park. This photograph is one of 15 Gold Keys Cranbrook students received at the Awards.

“Tangency” by Will Erwin7 \ SPRING 2013

Furthermore, three Cranbrook students (Elizabeth Pattyn, William Erwin, and Will Sun) have been awarded national Gold Medals by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for their work in the visual arts. It is highly unusual, even for a high school with a historically strong fine arts program like Cranbrook, for even a single student to receive recognition at this level. Congratulations to the students and to the entire department for their outstanding achievement.

Math DepartmentIn early December, 38 Cranbrook Kingswood students qualified to take Part II of the 56th Michigan Math Prize Competition, placing these students among the Top 1,000 in the State of Michigan. In January, Cranbrook Kingswood was notified that eight of our students placed among the Top 100 in the State of Michigan—Xin Chen, Chia Dai, Ching-Hao Hu, Yi-Chieh Huang, Il Jae Lee, Wanjing Tang, Yossathorn Tawabutr, and Haizhou Zhao. We are very proud of these young men and women.

Model UNTwenty-seven members of Cranbrook’s Model United Nations team attended the University of Chicago Model UN conference for three days in February. Over 2,600 students from 125 high schools across the globe were in attendance at this premiere national meet at the beautiful Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago. Cranbrook represented the country of Mexico on most committees, and debated issues ranging from water rights to cyber security, and drug trafficking to urban agriculture.

Outstanding delegate awards were earned by Karen Santana-Garces on the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Zaahid Khan and Michael Avi-Yonah on the Legal Committee, and Sophia Chen and Cris Lee on the UN Human Rights Council. An honorable mention was awarded to Ruilin Fan for her role as Count von der Schulenberg in a historic committee enacting the events of the 1944 German resistance movement. Verbal commendations went to Ben Hamati, who represented the Chief Legal Counsel on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Hannah Buonomo and Shera Avi-Yonah on the Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee; and Romina Nemaei and Patrick Barclay on the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The faculty advisors for Model UN are Joanne Parker and Mark Karinen.

Performing ArtsCongratulations to all of our music students from Madrigals, Orchestra, Concert and Symphony Band on

their medalist ratings at the District 4 Solo and Ensemble Festivals. Students are adjudicated by professional educators and musicians who listen critically to each student for tone quality, intonation, rhythmic accuracy, technique, and interpretation. Students who received a first division rating in instrumental music and those in vocal music receiving a superior or excellent rating are eligible to participate in the State Solo and Ensemble Festivals.

Results for the Instrumental Festival in February included 41 soloists with first division meals, 14 ensembles with first division medals, 29 soloists with second division medals, and 8 ensembles with second division medals. The results from the Vocal Festival held in January were 1 soloist with superior rating, 1 ensemble (Madrigals) with superior rating, 7 soloists with excellent rating, and 5 soloists with a good rating.

Junior Linda Zhou participated in this year’s Music-Fest Rising Talents Festival, the Grand Prix of which was an opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall. She auditioned by sending a video recording of her performance and was one of a few young artists selected from applicants across the nation to play the piano in Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall during the Schools’ spring break.

The Upper School Musical Legally Blonde opened in late February to a nearly sold-out crowd, despite the snowstorm that closed school on opening night. A 38-member cast, a large behind the scenes crew, a full pit orchestra, and one 4-pound chihuahua took to the Performing Arts Center stage for the all-singing, all-dancing romantic comedy. The show follows the exploits of Elle Woods and friends like Vivian Kensington, originally played in the film by alumna Selma Blair Beitner, ’90.

Kay Rediers, Director of Dance, has been awarded the Michigan Youth Arts Touchstone Award (youtharts.org/festival/touchstone-awards) for Excellence in Arts Education. She was chosen by a unanimous vote by the Michigan Dance Council after being nominated by a dance colleague. Kay, along with other arts discipline Touchstone Awardees, was honored at the Michigan Youth Arts Festival in May, at Western Michigan University, and was recognized as the Michigan Dance Teacher of the Year.

Residential LifeHappy Chinese New Year! In February, we all welcomed the Year of the Snake—the water snake, to be more precise—and were treated to some wonderful festivities by the Cranbrook Kingswood Sino Club, which included

SPRING 2013 / 8

singing, dancing, music, and wonderful food. Sino Night came on the heels of hosting eleven (six young men and five young women) students from China through the World Leading Schools Association East to West Student Exchange. During their two-week stay with us in our dorms, our students learned and shared a great deal with our guests.

RoboticsThe Robotics VEX teams were busy competing in regional events through the winter and early spring. Five of seven teams qualified for the World Finals in Anaheim in April. When this report went to press, results were pending on the outcomes of qualifications for State Finals, Nationals, and the World Finals.

The Middle School teams also spent their winter gearing up for another Robofest season. This year they added a category for Kinetic Robotic Art. The students found this concept very appealing and were working on some exciting projects.

Robotics also added some after-school programs at Brookside, including WeDo robotics for grades 1-3, and SUMO (Lego Mindstorms) for grades 4 and 5. A competitive team for grades 4 and 5 was also preparing for the Robofest game. The Robotics program is being run through Summer and Special Programs, as is Cranbrook’s Robotics Camp, which is entering its third summer this year.

World Affairs SeminarOn February 22, more than 75 students and professional presenters led twenty-plus workshop sessions for the World Affairs Seminar topic, “The Globals.” Acclaimed film #ReGENERATION kicked off the event. Students, alumni (including Arash Babaoff, ’84, Jeff Imerman, ’92, Scott Strickland, ’01, Anne Carney Strickland, ’03, and Jordan Broder, ’05), and professional speakers drawn from many different professional domains explored the phenomenon of growing up among our adolescents. World Affairs Seminar has been a signature Cranbrook event for more than four decades. World Affairs is a largely student-run, student-presented day, which is the culmination of weeks of preparation. Selected presentations move on to Middle School audiences.

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As quickly as the world seems to shrink each day, the opportunities for a global education grow. Tomorrow’s graduates and students of the future will be expected to compete on a global stage, living and working beyond simple geographic limits.

The World Leading Schools Association (WLSA) was founded to help build connections between educators, students, and administrators in China and their counterparts in European, North American, and Australian schools. Last year, Cranbrook received sponsorship into WLSA and joined an exclusive roster of some of the world’s best schools in helping shape the future direction of this growing organization.

The stated mission of WLSA is to “promote educational exchange and cooperation between leading secondary schools in China and the rest of the world” by “bridging cultural differences and promoting further understanding between secondary schools, through striving to improve collaboration between leading schools and institutions of higher education.” The group also aims to reform curricula

“to better prepare students for global secondary and higher education.”

Cranbrook joins such prestigious schools as England’s Eton College, Australia’s Geelong Grammar School, Groton and Deerfield Academy in the United States, and high-profile secondary schools in Beijing and Shanghai, China.

With students from Shanghai continuing to rank number one globally in reading, math, and science, and independent schools continuing to draw thousands of international students to their unique blend of academic rigor and creative thinking, the opportunities for collaboration between East and West are significant.

“Cranbrook will have special opportunities for students and teachers through exchanges, internships, conferences, and partnerships,” says Arlyce Seibert, Director of Cranbrook Schools. “This organization brings together highly-regarded schools for special programming. It allows Cranbrook to have a strong global presence, something which will only benefit our students and faculty.”

A BIGGER ROLE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE:CRANBROOK AND THE WORLD LEADING SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION

Chinese exchange students worked with Brooksiders during a WLSA-sponsored visit

in February of 2013.

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Seibert and Dean of Faculty Claudia Schuette spent time at a WLSA Conference in Shanghai this past summer, working alongside administrators from other member schools to shape new initiatives and move forward the WLSA mission. “Although this has been in the planning stages for five years or so, this is really the launching point,” says Schuette.

For Chinese schools, the interest in partnering with Western schools is strong. “Chinese schools are very interested in the creative and critical thinking skills that many Western students display,” says Schuette. “They want to be able to develop that in their own students. They are not looking at throwing out their current process; they would like to add to it. They have students who do very well in testing, but then find that they are not as successful in a Western classroom in the UK, US, or Canada.”

For Cranbrook and other Western schools, the opportunity to expose their students to a global environment is key.

Membership in WLSA opens the doors to the possibilities of future student exchanges, internships in business, and conferences in Shanghai, Beijing, and other parts of China. With a number of universities also participating in WLSA, there is also an opportunity for faculty and administrators to explore curriculum enrichment and the successful transition of secondary school students to college.

“This is a very important opportunity for us as a school, for our students and for our faculty,” says Schuette, “especially with regard to curriculum and admissions.” The experience, she adds, provides a greater understanding of the different ways that curriculum, programs, and other educational efforts take shape and are implemented in different parts of the world.

“Given the small world that this has become, you must prepare your students for the eventualities of acting in a global environment,” Schuette says. The initiatives

Exchange students met over breakfast with Upper School Head Charles Shaw in the Kingswood dining hall.

Middle School girls and WLSA exchange students engaged in an open question-and-

answer session at the Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls—Kingswood.

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that arise from the WLSA program will help “make our students more broad-based and more comfortable in that global role. We’re meeting our mission by taking advantage of a strong opportunity that engages Cranbrook in world citizenship. It also expands upon Cranbrook’s commitment to diversity and is a further extension of that commitment.”

This past January and February, Cranbrook hosted 11 students and two faculty members from schools in Beijing and Shanghai for a two-week visit. Organized by Cranbrook faculty members Holly Arida and Katherine Apsey, the students visited classrooms, made presentations, were hosted by Cranbrook Institute of Science, Academy of Art, and Art Museum, visited with families, and took part in off-campus visits to the University of Michigan, Oakland University, the GM Tech Center, and Ford’s River Rouge plant. “They were fully immersed in American culture, education, industry, even entertainment,” says Schuette.

An exceptional experience for the visiting students, the exchange also allowed Cranbrook to put its best foot forward as a WLSA host site. Dr. Jack Jia, executive secretary of WLSA, was on campus during the visit and “was very impressed by all of our teachers, by the beauty of the campus, and by the high level of the curriculum,”

says Schuette. “It was a great opportunity for the exchange students to see how our classrooms operate and to see and meet our students.”

As WLSA continues to grow and evolve, more concrete opportunities for participation by Cranbrook students, faculty, and administrators will take shape with an eye toward this summer or next fall for initial involvement in global activities. In the meantime, it is important to keep in mind that WLSA is not just about East and West trying to figure out what the other is doing. “It’s about WLSA trying to figure out how to create strong partnerships,” says Schuette, the results of which should benefit thousands of students worldwide.

“This is an extraordinary and exciting opportunity,” says Seibert. For a school such as Cranbrook that has long enjoyed a strong, successful presence in China and other Eastern countries, involvement in WLSA offers a chance to broaden that presence. At the same time, it provides an unparalleled opportunity for Cranbrook students, faculty, administrators, and families to benefit from a better understanding and deeper connections with a global educational and economic leader.

An exchange student helps a Brooksider tie her shoe.

A Brookside student and an exchange student work together on math problems.

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It seems that many preparatory schools can boast of that one famous alumnus or alumna who is their claim to fame. Conversely, it might be said of Cranbrook Schools that its claim to fame is, in fact, its alumni. The vigor with which the school’s graduates have, as a whole population, embraced the challenge to “Aim High” and “Go Forth to Serve” has done much to forge the school’s reputation as a true leader among leaders in education. Cranbrook’s alumni, as it has been said, are shaping the world. In almost every industry, discipline, and pursuit, some member of Cranbrook’s alumni community is making a meaningful, or even historic, contribution.

This includes politics.

To be a Cranbrook Schools alumni and not know that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, ’65, ran as the Republican nominee in last fall’s 2012 presidential election would be unlikely at best. Not to know that his wife, Ann Davies Romney, ’67, is also a graduate is almost equally unlikely. During the year leading up to the election, Cranbrook fielded a terrific number of inquiries from the media concerning the Romneys’ time at the school. A webpage, built specifically to field the most common media questions and share what archival materials were available, became one of the most popular pages on the school’s website—a website that receives nearly 6 million page views a year.

Such is the coverage of politics at the national level. Because of that coverage, the story of the 2012 election and much of the Romneys’ personal history are already very well known. But no matter what the outcome of the 2012 election was to be, and no matter where one falls on the political spectrum, it is undeniable that Mitt and Ann Romney have had remarkable success in life, and that Mitt Romney’s candidacy for president brought new national and international attention to Cranbrook Schools as an institution that produces leaders.

After having run for the highest office in the land, what, one might wonder, would someone remember about their old school? And what lessons in leadership have been learned—or might be passed on?

With the protracted frenzy of the election behind them, Tradition magazine was able to catch up with the Romneys and speak with them about the idea of leadership and the legacy of Cranbrook Schools in their lives.

What, for instance, are their lasting memories of Cranbrook and Kingswood?

“My English teacher, Mrs. Bennett,” answers Ann Romney, first off. “I remember the small classes, wonderful relationships with friends and teachers, a feeling of decency

MITT & ANNROMNEY ON LIFE, LEADERSHIP, & THE LEGACY OF CRANBROOK SCHOOLS

Photo courtesy of Romney for President

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and respect. Integrity, excellence, and very solid values were taught. It was such an extraordinary opportunity. I believe we never appreciate it enough while we’re here as students, but it was a treasured time in my life: a beautiful place with outstanding teachers. It had a huge impact on my life.

“Mrs. Goodale was the headmistress then. She was strict but compassionate, and she expected integrity. I remember my years at Kingswood with fondness, I especially loved extracurricular activities, and the art program had a huge impact on me. I had many friends in high school. Pam Hayes (’67), Sue Brethen (’67), Lynn Moon (’67), and Cindy White (’67) are friends I think of 40 years on—and we are still friends.”

Mitt’s immediate recollections were of teachers as well.

“There are a number of faculty members who stand out in my memory, but I particularly acknowledge the English department. I learned to read critically and write well. Those were probably the two most helpful skills during my college work and graduate work thereafter. My success in law school and business are due to learning very early on how to be a careful reader and writer,” he says.

“Ben Snyder and Carl Wonnberger pushed students deeper and deeper into reading, and we were expected to extract certain things. Mr. Wonnberger insisted on his students writing a paper every weekend with a specific theme, which made me a better and better writer.

“I remember Mr. Garlik helped me understand that scientific knowledge is always evolving. Even after I entered college, many science classes taught the rules of science presuming they would never change. Mr. Garlik taught us that things in science are always changing. In the math department, Mr. David and Mr. Heavenrich were extraordinary teachers who expected exactness and precision—teaching that small errors lead to large mistakes. Mr. Bates taught Glee Club with enthusiasm and passion; his energy was infectious. I participated in the Christmas Pageant with Mr. Bates conducting—it was a great experience. The song ‘40 Years On’ has lived with me all these years; I can still recite the verses.”

MEDIA INTERESTThroughout the course of the election, Cranbrook Schools was contacted by literally dozens of media outlets. Inquiries about the Romneys and Cranbrook came from as far away as Ireland and Colombia.

The school hosted numerous reporters and camera crews on campus, including reporters from national newspapers and magazines in Sweden and France, and worked with journalists and producers from MSNBC, National Public Radio, PBS’s Frontline, ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, and more.

WEB TRAFFICThe course of the campaign season saw strong public interest in Mitt Romney’s relationship to Cranbrook Schools.

The proof? The “Romney” page on the Schools website, developed to help answer basic questions and share what archival materials were available, was viewed nearly 13,000 times in the months leading up to the election.

Some of the frequently asked questions on the webpage include:

• Does Mitt Romney ever visit campus?• May we broadcast from your campus?• Can Cranbrook Schools provide access to

yearbooks?

For the school’s responses to these questions, Mitt Romney’s 1995 Commencement speech, and more, please visit www.schools.cranbrook.edu/Romney. This page was created in 2011 for use by media outlets covering the presidential election.

SPRING 2013 / 14

CRANBROOK SCHOOLS’ POSITIONSome common questions from the media were initially a surprise (“Which room did Mitt live in as a boarder?”). Others were easier to prepare for. From the earliest days of the primaries, Cranbrook shared its basic position, which never changed, with every media and private inquiry:

“It would certainly be a sense of enormous pride to have one of our alumni elected to the highest office in the land. However, as a matter of policy, Cranbrook Schools does not and will not endorse any political ideology, party, or candidate.

“Cranbrook Schools is an inclusive learning community which strives to value diversity in ideas, points of view, and beliefs. Students at every level are taught critical and creative thinking and are encouraged to question. These are all values that we believe are integral to success in any field.

“Cranbrook Schools congratulates Mitt and Ann Romney on their considerable achievements and successes and wishes them, like we wish all our alumni, the very best in all their endeavors.”

SO, WHO ELSE IS SHAPING THE WORLD?Cranbrook Schools’ alumni are active in nearly every conceivable walk of life. You can learn about some of them—as well see a short list of some of the school’s more notable alumni, at www.schools.cranbrook.edu/AlumniStories.

Do you know someone who should be added? Nominate them today! To do so, email nominatealumni@cranbrook.edu.

Although Mitt Romney has long been a recognized leader both in the private and public sectors, he claims that he was not a leader when he arrived at Cranbrook.

“In my first years at Cranbrook, I don’t think I had decided what kind of person I would be. I tested out different ‘models’ of people, acting out in different ways. I experienced a big change in my senior year. I met Ann and fell in love. Suddenly, I found myself becoming very serious about the direction of my life.”

“On learning leadership, I have to recognize Ben Snyder. Ben embodied the spirit of the school, and he carried it from headmaster to headmaster. His commitment to character was in some respects an essential part of the Cranbrook experience. Individuals such as Jim Bailey (’65), Dick Moon (’65), John French (’66), and Graham McDonald (’65), and many others played a role in my deciding who I would become.”

Leadership and public service, both longstanding tenets of the Cranbrook Kingswood philosophy, are a natural topic for the Romneys.

Says Mitt, “In many respects, students learned leadership by observing examples of leadership in faculty and students. Mr. Wonnberger’s care for the English language, for reading and writing, led him to create an English program that was among the best in the country. I watched Ben Snyder, who had an unusual passion for inclusiveness, and for drawing to Cranbrook people of various backgrounds, allowing students

Photo courtesy of the Romney family

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to learn from one another. As track program coach, Mr. Snyder’s concern was not just with the time of a runner’s performance, but also with character of the runner’s interaction with teammates and opponents. Mr. Snyder was a leader because he was building young men. Jim Bailey, who was the senior prefect, was not only tall physically and athletically, he was tall interpersonally as well. Jim exhibited a maturity for his age, especially with his attention and care for the feelings of everyone in the student body—he was a friend to everyone. He didn’t play favorites, didn’t hang out in a clique, he tried to reach out and across social groups in school and always showed concern for others. These were examples of leadership that I got to see as a kid in school. I looked up to the prefects and my classmates. Rick Williams (’59) and Tod Williams (’61) were individuals that had a quality of character and a strength of personality that set them apart. In time, I had opportunities to lead on my own, and in carrying out those modest opportunities I learned some lessons as well,” he says.

As for the advice they would pass on to the leaders of tomorrow—that is, the Cranbrook Schools students of today—Ann says, “You have to live in a way that is consistent with your personal values. You have to find your inner core, and live consistently with that.

“Life throws you curveballs, and the way the world sees success is not necessarily where you will find happiness. You should try not to worry about how the world sees you, but rather try to find your independent strength. As a mother, I believe it is important to instill in children that they need to be confident in where they are going. They need to carry lasting values of integrity and honesty, and seek achievement in areas they care about. That is what I try to teach as a mother—which all came from a great education at Kingswood.”

According to Mitt, “A life of fulfillment and emotional abundance is driven by fully embracing every dimension of living. The more involved you are in all aspects of life, the more likely you’ll have something to offer others.

“Sources of happiness in my life have been my marriage to Ann, my children, and my grandchildren. Nothing compares. Faith and involvement in my church bring great satisfaction. The political world opened up new avenues of friendship, interest, and opportunities to serve. Involvement in the private sector of American life led me to recognize opportunities there. The further you reach out and the more avenues you become familiar with—all will create capabilities that allow us to serve others.

“Leadership is service. Jim Bailey, Ben Snyder, and Carl Wonnberger demonstrated unselfish concern for others

and a desire to live beyond themselves. And that is the core of leadership: a desire to serve others. Not a desire to be recognized, but to serve,” says Mitt.

So what does it mean to a couple who have run for the White House to be a part of the Cranbrook Schools alumni community?

According to Ann, “Being an alumna means having friendships that last through the years. A lot of alumni live in the Boston area and we see them and participate in their lives. It is a great joy to know we have those friendships.”

Mitt adds, “A number of people stayed connected over years, but Lynn Moon was Ann’s best friend in school. She and her husband are very close in Boston and have helped in a number of political areas and with issues of common concern. We see them frequently and share a depth of understanding and rapport associated with our common Cranbrook roots. Jim Bailey visits Boston from time to time. I spoke at an event and saw Jim’s head above the others in the audience, and it touched me very deeply to see someone from high school applauding my effort. Dick Moon came to support us at critical times. John French has been a loyal friend and has stood by my side in good times and bad. Tom Pfaff (’65), who was my closest friend at Cranbrook, stays in touch, and we share a series of common experiences from our Cranbrook years.

“I measure the wealth of a life by the depth of the friendships one enjoys. What I have gained from Cranbrook faculty and alumni, from friendships, associations, and acquaintances, continues to provide abundant feelings in my own life.”

As for the Romneys, Cranbrook will continue to watch with pride, as it does with all its alumni, to see where their lives take them next.

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JULIE FISHER CUMMINGS, ’73

Julie Fisher Cummings is nothing if not an optimist. It’s a trait that’s guided her through a seemingly endless list of philanthropic projects, and continues to motivate her as she shows no sign of slowing down.

“I believe that people are good, and they want to help,” she says. “They often just don’t know how.”

That’s where she comes in. Through her projects, she doesn’t just help those in need, she facilitates relationships that make her projects sustainable while educating her peers about the difficulties faced by others.

It’s a trait she learned at Kingswood, a place she says “made you feel like you were a part of a greater good.” She may be one of the best examples of the influence the Schools can have on a student, having first walked through the doors of Brookside at the age of four.

She was so influenced by her time as a student that, after getting married and moving to Florida, she packed up her children and moved them back so they could attend Cranbrook as well.

Thousands in the greater Detroit area have benefited from that decision. Not long after she returned, she began the Lovelight Foundation with fellow graduate Susan (Stoner) Kleinpell, ’73, and Cranbrook parent Denise Ilitch. “I got involved on the grassroots level because I wanted to educate our peer group about the issues below Eight Mile,” she says. “I knew that if we educated our peer group, they would help.”

As an advocate for children, Cummings works to create programs that solve problems and envisions policies that will ensure systemic change. Her work with Lovelight comprised not only fundraising for programs but also educating others about the plight of the disadvantaged.

Lovelight’s projects have included stocking libraries with books, turning abandoned lots into playgrounds, and hosting events for homeless families. Cummings’s policy work has included educating policy makers, funders, and the private sector about the impact of necessary policy change to create greater impact.

“In order to make an impact and create change, you have to work in collaboration with others,” she says. “I wanted foundation, corporate, and community support. That way you knew the community would embrace the project and take care of it.”

Over time, she began to grow frustrated with inefficient public systems. When her father, Max M. Fisher, passed away, he endowed a family foundation where Cummings is currently a vice chair. She began to realize that if she really wanted to have an impact, she was going to have to understand policy change. So she enrolled in Columbia, got a master’s degree from the School of Social Work, and headed to Capitol Hill for an internship.

“I was the oldest intern in the program, but it was an eye-opening experience,” she says. She also served as a President Bush-appointee of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Reenergized, Cummings decided to rebrand Lovelight as a women’s fund and involve the women in her family. “Rather than start a whole new fund, Sue and Denise stepped aside, and I reconstituted Lovelight as a family foundation with my daughter and daughter-in-law,” she says.

It is part of a campaign known as Women Moving Millions. They fund programs where they live, in New York and Florida, but also Detroit. Because even though Cummings lives in Florida again, “I’ll always consider myself a Detroiter.”

She feels the same way about Cranbrook. “I always say, you may leave Cranbrook, but it never leaves you.” She and her husband Peter demonstrated their appreciation with a leadership gift to build the new Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls – Kingswood. “Kingswood gave me the belief that I could make a difference and I must make a difference in the world,” she says. “And it gave me the tools to do so.”

DISTINGUISHEDALUMNI

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R. JAMISON WILLIAMS, JR., ’59

When Rick Williams joins an organization, he’s not content to sit on the sidelines. As head prefect at Cranbrook, president of his class at Princeton, president of the Cranbrook alumni council, or chairman of the board of the Michigan Opera Theatre, Williams has yet to meet a challenge he couldn’t tackle head-on.

He says being a leader has always been in his DNA, but Cranbrook helped cultivate his drive. “Cranbrook provided the support and self-worth to be a leader, and encouraged you to try and be a leader in every endeavor,” he says.

Named a Detroiter of the Year by HOUR Magazine, Williams used his unique skill set and business acumen to help restructure (and ultimately save) the Michigan Opera Theatre. After the economic downturn in 2008, the group was struggling to stay afloat. The company is housed in the Detroit Opera House, one of only four companies in the United States that owns their own building. Williams restructured

their bond debt and helped them save $13 million. But more importantly, he put them on a path to sustainability.

“I agreed to serve as chairman, not because I consider myself an expert in opera,” says Williams, “but I feel it is important to keep Detroit’s cultural institutions intact.” His passion for the city and Cranbrook was reignited when he returned to Michigan in 1972, after living in New York for several years. Former Cranbrook teacher and track coach Ben Snyder had recently launched the Horizons-Upward Bound (HUB) program, and when Williams returned to the area, “he snagged me after I had been back for about 10 minutes.” Williams served on HUB’s advisory board for years.

When Williams married his wife Karen in 2008, the two exchanged vows under Cranbrook Art Museum’s outdoor peristyle, and in lieu of wedding gifts, asked guests to make donations to HUB. In one day, they raised $30,000 for the organization—a wonderful tribute to the program and to Snyder, whom Williams credits with having a great influence on his life. “He was a great motivator and team builder; for those of us on the track team, Ben focused on discipline in training and goal-setting, turning those of us who were journeymen student athletes into winners,” he says.

Williams still practices law at Williams, Williams, Rattner & Plunkett, the law firm he founded with two fellow Cranbrook graduates 40 years ago. He is the last of the original four partners still with the firm.

He continues to hold his position as chairman of the board of the Michigan Opera Theatre and sits on the board of directors at Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Yet despite his legal and philanthropic work, Williams has also found time to launch five companies.

“I love building businesses,” he says. Several of the companies, such as Nexlink Communications, which remanufactures wireless devices, were started from a single sheet of paper and now employ hundreds of people in Michigan and surrounding states.

With his wife Karen, he also devotes time to Grace Centers of Hope and is involved with the Center for Hearing Disorders at the University of Michigan.

He credits Cranbrook with not only encouraging his strong work ethic, but also instilling an appreciation for beauty in nature and art. “The grounds of Cranbrook are a constant treasure—a place to find serenity and wonder from standing beneath the Mother Tree, to pressing the spitting fountain, to climbing the Ramp of the Chinese Dog. I was lucky to be a student and remain dedicated to all that makes the fantastic place that is Cranbrook.”

DISTINGUISHEDALUMNI

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MEMOIRS OF A CRANBROOK FACULTY BRATELIZABETH (MILLER) BATTIN, ’02, AND JENNIFER (MILLER) HEATH, ’00

Home at CranbrookHow do you remember your first home? You may remember living in a house or an apartment in a neighborhood or a city. Perhaps you remember riding your bike around the block or playing in your backyard. Our first memories of home are of Cranbrook, the place we have known for our entire lives.

Around the BlockWhile some might remember entering boarding school at age fourteen, we entered the Cranbrook dormitory as babies. Our first home was in the Marquis dormitory and our first neighbors were fifty sophomore boys. “Riding around the block” meant driving our Big Wheels up and down the hall. When bedtime came and our student neighbors had to quiet down for study hall, we would park our vehicles in “parking spaces” the boys had marked on the floor using masking tape. In the early eighties, the television show M*A*S*H was in its final years and we would watch episodes each week with our dad and the boys in the lounge next to our apartment. With kids and faculty streaming in and out of our door, the Cranbrook world seemed like an extension of our family.

When we moved from the dorms to Valley Way, our block expanded ten-fold. We acquired next door neighbors that were close to our age—a new concept for us. It was as if Valley Way’s white houses were an extension of the dorm; we were free to move in and out of each other’s homes just

as the boarding boys had done in our dormitory home. Rainy days were spent playing with legos in each other’s basements and the rest of the time we spent outside together, exploring the lower fields, visiting the Senior Cabin, or climbing the year-round mound of snow behind Wallace Ice Arena.

In the NeighborhoodFrom an early age, walking was the principal means of getting to school. Mom would walk us to Brookside when we were in the afternoon junior kindergarten. Our daily commute along beautiful Pine Way was the beginning of our relationship to the physical place of Cranbrook. One of our favorite seasons was spring because we loved to frolic among the gardens, especially Daffodil Hill. We were often tempted to pick flowers for our keeping but Mom and Dad would remind us that if we picked them, no one else would be able to enjoy their beauty. We had learned to share our campus, so we lingered in their temptation and sweet fragrance before running along.

Living on campus during the summer had its own surprises that revealed the true magic of this place. As soon as our boarding brothers packed up and went home, we would strap on our tool belts and roller skate through the hallways stashing coins that were left in their wake. We explored the campus by bicycle and would pretend that the drinking fountain in the Quad was a drive-thru McDonald’s. We felt free and independent, like explorers discovering an unknown world.

By the time we were in middle school, there were few areas of campus unknown to us. We embraced all of Cranbrook’s treasures—Zeus Fountain, the chestnut trees along the Triton Pools, and the views from Heaven at Kingswood. We had found the campus statues that welcomed our hugs the most: Marshall Fredericks’ Thinker and Carl Milles’ Running Dogs. We knew that the science building offered some of the creepiest collections a Brooksider would ever wish to view—sheep eyeballs, skeletons, and dissected cats. And we had discovered the best hiding spots for spying on Prom.

Cranbrook FamilyLiving in the dormitory provided us with a large “extended family.” Mom ran the Student Center in the dorm basement (the same space that decades before had been a rifle range), and we looked up to the students who helped her. Watching Mom look after ill or homesick students, we learned the importance of taking care of others and that our mother’s heart will never reach capacity.

We grew extremely fond of the other faculty living in the dorms. John and Brenda Winter were a huge part of those memories. They lived in the coolest dorm apartment that spanned the Friendship Arch; they also had so many

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refrigerator magnets that anyone with a pacemaker was not permitted in their kitchen. We developed lifelong traditions with John and Brenda. To this day, making gingerbread houses at Christmas reminds us of their kitchen, and churning ice cream in the summer takes us back to days in their “secret garden.” Our relationship was so close with the Winters that we would often call Mr. Winter “Uncle John,” and we loved Brenda like an aunt. It seemed that our family could never be too large.

On birthdays, our parents let us choose our favorite restaurant for our celebratory dinners, and even though we got older, the destination never changed: the dining hall. After all, with an endless supply of chocolate milk, outstanding chefs Betty and Ethel, and all of our fac-brat friends to play with, no restaurant could compete.

While school buses and carpools are the way most kids might start their day and travel to school, we basked in the personalized attention that JoAnne, Violet, and Harry provided. Violet would pick us up from Brookside in the light blue Cranbrook station wagon, and once we were older, JoAnne and Harry would stop their buses in front of our house to take us to Cranbrook or Kingswood campus as they began their daily shuttles. The conversations that took place on these rides helped us grow out of our shy shells.

Cranbrook TeachersSome might find having a parent as a teacher to be a horribly embarrassing experience, but aren’t all parents teachers in some capacity? The hour we spent with Dad in the classroom was pretty synonymous with the hours spent outside. It didn’t matter if we were learning how to measure the acceleration of a car or drive a manual one, he was the same person with the same sense of humor. Because Dad is an exceptional teacher and an approachable mentor, he was quite popular with our friends. After his class they would tell us in the hallway, “You are never going to believe what your dad said today!”—it was typically some geeky science humor or ridiculous story from our childhood. We would always smile and feel really lucky to be able to “share” our dad in that way; we were proud of him and liked showing him off.

We grew up tagging along with Mom to watch Dad’s Cross Country and Track meets, cheering for the runners by name. When it was finally our turn to run on Dad’s teams, we were thrilled to be included in the training and camaraderie that made these groups successful. Dad coached us to set goals that were both personal and team-oriented, and we still benefit from the life lessons gained from running.

Returning HomeSummers home from college meant summer jobs. Outgrowing bookstore work, we held jobs in the Admission Office and Archives. Through those summers, and the inevitability that we were becoming adults, our relationship with Cranbrook underwent further change as our teachers became our friends.

Post-college found us both boomeranging back to campus and reentering the day-to-day rhythms of campus life. Whether working on campus or off, we returned home at the end of each day to have dinner in the dining hall with colleagues and friends. Because Cranbrook is a place that draws people back, we always look forward to reuniting with neighbors, classmates, and teammates to relive the many memories we shared.

Not only is there life at Cranbrook, but Cranbrook itself is a living place. Growing up on Cranbrook’s world-renowned campus is an experience we would never hope to change. People often ask if we feel as though our childhood was “normal.” To be honest, no, we didn’t have a normal childhood—it was extraordinary.

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Bill Moran, an important member of the Cranbrook and Kingswood communities from 1966 to 1979, died at his home in New Hampshire on November 25, 2012. He was 69. Bill graduated from Yale in 1965; taught at Cranbrook from 1966-72; was Dean of Students at Cranbrook in the early 1970s, then was Dean of Students at Kingswood from 1972-79 under Headmaster Bill Hemmer; and was Headmaster of The Purnell School, an independent girls’ school in Pottersville, New Jersey, from 1979-99. He retired from Purnell in 1999 and moved to Alstead, New Hampshire, where he served three years as a Selectman. Bill is survived by his wife Judy and their two sons, Trevor and Todd, their two daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren. Trevor and Todd were both born at Beaumont Hospital during the Morans’ Cranbrook years, and Trevor was old enough to attend Brookside for a couple of years before the family moved off to New Jersey.

Bill arrived at Cranbrook in September 1966 to begin his rookie year as a teacher. To put that year into its historical context, two months into the fall trimester, Governor Romney (the original) was re-elected and became the early favorite for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination. Such a prospect had an important potential impact on the Cranbrook campus because it was assumed that the new President would take along his long-time barber to D.C. Besides, Ev (a.k.a. Everett Arthurs) had been seeing his business decrease as the length of students’ hair increased. Bill Moran was undoubtedly a steady customer as his hairstyle in no way resembled The Beatles.

In January of Bill’s first year at Cranbrook, the AFL-NFL Championship Game was played, an event which eventually became known as Super Bowl I. History is like that; only in retrospect do things became obvious.

Bill had been hired sight unseen by Headmaster Robert Sandoe. After graduating from Yale, Bill spent an additional year on a fellowship at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, when that city was considered “The Paris of the Middle East,” before it was torn apart by wars in the 1970s. His first taste of teaching in Beirut prompted him to think that education might be the right career, a decision that proved to be a good one for him and a great one for students at Cranbrook, then Kingswood, then Purnell.

His first year at Cranbrook, he taught English under the leadership of the legendary Templin Licklider and he lived on the first floor of Page under (one floor down) the legendary Page Housemaster Bob Hoffman. His second year at Cranbrook brought two important changes: he succeeded yet another Cranbrook legend, Art Palmer, as coach of the varsity tennis team, and he brought a new wife to Cranbrook, having married Judy during the summer of 1967. Being married meant he merited larger living quarters in Page,

BILL MORAN (1943-2012), A MEMOIRby Rod Fonda, ’69

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and in the days of family style sit-down meals in the Dining Hall with assigned seating, Cranbrook students got to know Judy too. Part of the Cranbrook student’s overall experience was getting to know faculty members outside of class and athletics; your author never had Bill as a teacher or a coach, but he was a profound influence nevertheless.

Bill’s third year brought two more significant changes. Cranbrook ended the practice of offering boarding for Lower School (7th and 8th grade) students on the 3rd floor of Page and used that space as the nucleus for a new dorm, Coulter Hall. Bill was the first Housemaster of Coulter, and he brought with him from Page (and from the tennis team) Mark Eaton as Coulter’s first Senior Prefect. The second big change of the 1968-69 school year was the offering of a film class as an English elective.

Bill and another young English teacher, John Geoghegan, created and taught the film class. The change in the offerings of the Cranbrook English department was nothing short of revolutionary. By 1968 the practice of writing “a theme a week” had faded somewhat, so that on Sunday nights in the dorms the sound of a typewriter from every room was no longer the dominant feature, but traditional English classes persisted. In the fall of 1968, seniors (and maybe juniors?) suddenly could choose from an array of electives. Many of the electives were similar to traditional English classes—but another elective was the film class. For the film class, Cranbrook students not only learned about classic movies, they also ran around campus with 8-millimeter “Super 8” cameras, making their own movies. Students shot all their own scenes and performed their own editing and splicing, and in those prehistoric (pre-computer) days, had to use good old-fashioned film equipment. Many of these productions included the astounding technological advance of incorporating music—at the same time! One of the members of the initial class, Dave Berry, ’69, used it as a springboard for his career. Having made his first homemade movies at Cranbrook, Dave made some more in college at Denison. He remembers sending one of the college movies to John Geoghegan at Cranbrook and getting a wonderful letter in return, praising the film. Dave later moved up from his Super 8 camera to join the movie industry, eventually mastering something called an “Optical Printer.” Dave was the operator of that device for a few movies of note, including Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Without the Cranbrook film class, which wouldn’t have happened but for Bill Moran and John Geoghegan, without the nudging of his helpful teachers, and from a professor at Denison—who knows? A lot more guys enjoyed the experience even if it didn’t have such earth-shattering effects on their lives. Chip Letts, ’69, remembers making a film called “The Riot” for the film class. Chip started with bucolic shots in the Birmingham/Bloomfield Hills area,

then moved downtown, eventually taking shots of the sites in Detroit where the 1967 riots had occurred, and overlaid his grittier shots with a copy of a 1913 Keystone Cops film, all set to the soundtrack of one of the ubiquitous anthems of our day, “Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers (which had to be played separately, so the projector and the stereo had to be cued in sync). Without any other means of creating a double exposure, Chip actually taped the clips on top of the spliced footage. “Fragile” doesn’t begin to describe the project; just about every time Chip showed it, he had to repair it from its previous viewing. During his freshman year in college, Chip received a call from his parents, telling him they had received a check of $50.00 for him from the Detroit Free Press. Unbeknownst to Chip, Bill Moran and/or John Geoghegan had entered his film in a Free Press contest.

Even for guys who didn’t end up with careers in the movies, or winning contests from the local paper, the Cranbrook film class offered a remarkable chance to explore individual creativity in a new way, and in a way that most would never have an opportunity to do again. And, also in Cranbrook fashion, those of us who didn’t have the good sense to take the film class benefitted by watching some of the results.

Bill Moran was the ultimate nice guy—a positive, intelligent, and witty person at all times. He was a born diplomat, always smiling, but someone who could nevertheless zero in on the critical point of the task at hand in a very direct fashion. Even without having any memory of being personally subjected to his discipline (obviously a key role for any Dean of Students), it is easy to imagine that he would have been very good at making sure a student understood the gravity of his or her offense while the consequence of the infraction was being contemplated by both sides. As a teacher, he spurred curiosity and tried to broaden the thinking of his students, in and out of the classroom. When he saw a change which he thought would help the school, he dove right in to make the new idea a reality.

Reverend Robert Darwall was the Chaplain at Cranbrook from 1964 to 1975. At Commencement, part of his Invocation always included a poignant reference to those who were departing, which I remember to be something along the lines of: “Cranbrook is a better place for their having been here, and a lesser place for their leaving.” Cranbrook—and the world—were absolutely better places because Bill Moran was here.

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and the Ontario College of Education, she taught at the Walkerville Collegiate Institute, a military school for boys. She lives in Orchard Lake with her husband, Carleton, a color and trim materials consultant, and their children, Jay, ten, and Alayne Brooke, eight. . . . When she has time after her many duties, she likes golf, the theater, and especially people.”

When History Department curricular assignments changed, Margaret began teaching seventh-grade British History and eighth-grade U.S. Civics. A historian at heart, she soon recognized the singular role George and Ellen Booth had played in establishing Brookside, Cranbrook, Kingswood, and other community institutions. Margaret also realized, with dismay, that her students had minimal knowledge of and interest in the founders and their significant gifts. To rectify this shortcoming, she introduced in the fall of 1970, Cranbrook History (later renamed Cranbrook Discovery), an eighth-grade (later seventh-grade) course she created with the support of and in collaboration with Kingswood Headmistress Frances Donohue Hanson.

According to Marcie Goldstein in the December 1970 Clarion, the purposes of the required, twice-weekly classes were to help students “understand,” to “be aware of what is here and why,” and to learn more about George Booth and “what made him tick.” Regarding the Kingswood building, “The requirement is simply looking at the school through new eyes. The theme is appreciation. For anyone who attends Kingswood, it is almost unthinkable not to know what an unusual background our school has.”

At the beginning, Margaret established several course guidelines. Most notably, she insisted that the girls walk with her to every location. (Only inclement weather could force her to request a Cranbrook bus.) She also expected students to read her carefully hand-printed study/work sheets and complete them prior to or while at certain locations. The information was wide-ranging: a brief genealogical overview of the Booth family, details about the Booth and Saarinen families, drawings of the six basic motifs Eliel Saarinen incorporated at Kingswood (triangle, wedding cake, telescoped, flared, layered, and scalloped), and vocabulary words specific to architectural and interior design. Not only did the girls tour the three schools, but they also visited Cranbrook House and Gardens, the Greek Theater, Christ Church Cranbrook, Cranbrook Academy of Art, and the Institute of Science. As the groups viewed particular sculptures and tapestries, Margaret pointed out certain aspects of each work of art and discussed the creators of such beauty. During her tours and classroom sessions, she always encouraged students to listen, to think, and to ask questions. Of course, Margaret—forever the educator—devised throughout the year her own test questions for every class.

REMEMBERING

MARGARETSPENCERby Elizabeth C. Clark

Following the custom of introducing new Kingswood faculty members, the October 13, 1961 Clarion reported, “Mrs. Margaret Spencer came to Kingswood this year to teach ancient history, geography, and United States government. She was born and raised in Windsor. After graduating from the University of Western Ontario . . .

23 \ SPRING 2013

At the outset of Cranbrook History, Ellen and George’s youngest son, Henry Scripps Booth, enthusiastically supported Margaret’s endeavor. Still living at Thornlea on Cranbrook Road, he frequently sent notes with worthwhile suggestions and initiated scintillating conversations recounting special memories, family anecdotes, and fascinating details of past people and events of the community. Margaret gladly shared this information with her students. The Booth/Spencer collaboration soon fostered mutual respect and genuine friendship.

Not until May 1984 at Cranbrook House were Margaret’s extraordinary efforts celebrated. During the Founders Day ceremony, Henry S. Booth, in his position as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cranbrook Foundation, recognized her outstanding service to Cranbrook’s purposes and ideals. With great pleasure, he made the following statement:

Kingswood’s faithful historian and docent,

Margaret L. Spencer initiated Cranbrook

History 12 years ago and has successfully

taught it to a wide range of students. Through

these experiences with Margaret, hundreds of

girls have learned to appreciate the wonders

of Kingswood and Cranbrook. She knows the

story behind every beautiful detail of our

buildings and grounds.

SPRING 2013 / 24

A teacher for over 20 years at Kingswood

School, Margaret L. Spencer has served on the

Admissions Committee, on Faculty Council, as

class adviser, and in numerous roles in support

of the students and the school. Kingswood

alumnae have honored her spirit and dedication

by giving her an Alumna Appreciation Award.

A strong advocate for the Cranbrook

community, a resident Kingswood historian,

guide to countless tours for parents, alumnae,

and visitors, Margaret’s intelligence, loyalty,

dedication, and sense of humor are appreciated

by all who know her.

Booth then presented to Margaret her Founders Day Medal, the community’s highest award of achievement and excellence.

Margaret continued fulfilling the various duties of her Kingswood position until retirement on June 30, 1990. She remained in the area for several years until failing health necessitated her moving to an assisted living facility in Saline to be nearer her daughter in Ann Arbor.

On November 5, 2012, the remarkable Margaret Lawton Spencer died at the remarkable age of 94.

OUR MISSIONCranbrook Schools are independent day and boarding schools that provide students with a challenging and comprehensive college preparatory education. We motivate students from diverse backgrounds to strive for intellectual, creative, and physical excellence, to develop a deep appreciation for the arts and different cultures, and to employ the technological tools of our modern age. Our schools seek to instill in students a strong sense of personal and social responsibility, the ability to think critically, and the competence to communicate and contribute in an increasingly global community.

Cranbrook Schools include: the Vlasic Early Childhood Center, Brookside Lower School, Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls, Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Boys, and Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School (coed). Cranbrook Schools employs more than 250 faculty and staff and supports more than 1,600 pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students from 19 countries and 15 states. Visit Cranbrook Schools online at schools.cranbrook.edu.

CRANBROOK BOARD OF TRUSTEES: 2012-2013

ChairBruce D. Peterson

Vice ChairsJeffrey A. Harris ’73Arnold JacobStephen R. Polk

MembersAdele AchesonMichael H. Acheson ’80Frederick L. Blackmon ’69Jonathan BorensteinLynda CharfoosDenise A. DavidJohn M. ErbJamison Williams Faliski ’86Susan D. FeitenVirginia B. Fox ’52Maxine FrankelErica Ward GersonLinda H. GillumWilliam K. M. Goldsmith ’71Edward HagenlockerJames KellyBrock R. Landry ’65H. Roger Mali ’93Lisa PayneLloyd E. ReussMark L. Reuss ’82Warren E. RoseAllan RothfederRobert S. Taubman ’72James J. VlasicRichard E. WarrenTod Williams ’61

SENIOR TRUSTEES

Maggie AlleseeLinda Wasserman Aviv ’73Paul J. ChiapparoneJeffrey K. ClarkJulie Fisher Cummings ’73Patricia C. Hartmann ’48Ira J. JaffeWayne B. Lyon ’50Eugene A. Miller

CRANBROOK SCHOOLS BOARD OF GOVERNORS2012-2013

Officers*Adele Acheson, Chair*Jonathan Borenstein, Vice Chair*Linda H. Gillum, SecretaryMichael E. Berger ’82, Treasurer

MembersGina Pistorio-AikensKristen L. Baiardi ’02Karen Lutomski Biddulph ’87Ryan Bradley ’91Steven R. BriggsJeffrey J. Etterbeek ’75Leslie Lewiston Etterbeek ’83*Jamison Williams Faliski ’86*Susan D. FeitenElyse FoltynJohn A. Giampetroni ’84*William K. M. Goldsmith ’71Brian Hermelin ’83Kenneth Jamerson, M.D.Stacy May Klein ’85Leslie Li*H. Roger Mali ’93Robert Mardigian ’97Susan Aikens Post ’78Mary Pat RosenDavid J. Runyon ’97Geoffrey C. Schiciano ’89Sidhdharth D. ShethGary ShortKelly ShuertSandra A. SmithLori ThelenMatthew H. Trunsky ’84

*Schools representative to the CEC Board of Trustees

CRANBROOK KINGSWOOD ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD

PresidentKristen L. Baiardi ’02

President-ElectDavid J. Runyon ’97

SecretaryBeth Egner Stacy ’72

TreasurersLisa Ferris ’80Scott Strickland ’01

MembersJohn Albrecht ’47Mary Baker Berry ’48Donald Barnes III ’01Lynne Carpenter ’68 Mark Frankel ’77Lynn Gillow ’80Jason Hegedus ’89Ken Kernen ’85Lauren Kerr ’01Jonathan Kottler ’75Corey Kroneman ’97

ALUMNI RELATIONS COMMITTEE

Administrative LiaisonSusan Strickland Muskovitz ’97

ChairJamison Williams Faliski ’86

MembersKristen L. Baiardi ’02Karen Lutomski Biddulph ’87Ryan Bradley ’91Leslie Lewiston Etterbeek ’83H. Roger Mali ’93Mary Pat RosenDavid J. Runyon ’97Geoffrey C. Schiciano ’89Matthew H. Trunsky ’84

SCHOOLS DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

ChairStacy May Klein ’85

Adele AchesonGina Pistorio-AikensKristen Baiardi ’02Lisa and John BlakeKaren BorensteinRyan Bradley ’91Steven R. BriggsLeslie Lewiston Etterbeek ’83Jamison Williams Faliski ’86Claudia V. GeschwindHoward GourwitzChar Reuss Grandelius ’78Patsy HartmannBrian Hermelin ’83Denise Elson Parker ’86David J. Runyon ’97Lipsa ShethKelly ShuertSusan SmithJeanette SuiAmy TattrieLori Thelen

StaffDom DiMarcoArlyce SeibertJulie A. HeinSusan Strickland Muskovitz ’97Cindy CarneyMary Beth HearnesDebra DeBoseKristen Cometto

Rob Mardigian ’97Susan Gunderson McCreadie ’90C. Wade Mezey ’76Kristin Campagne Riga ’05Jan Mittenthal Rosen ’83Ned Schneider ’44Anne Carney Strickland ’03Nancy Varbedian ’79Carrie Wallace ’97

Ex-officioJeffrey J. Etterbeek ’75

COMMITTEE OF REGIONAL ALUMNI NETWORKS (CRAN)

Chris Acker ’95 and Jill Arvai Acker ’95 Pacific Northwest

Kristen L. Baiardi ’02CK Alumni Board

Mark Baker ’90 and Jennifer Middleton ’92Washington, D.C.

Jonathan Beninson ’97Colorado

Lesley Beznos ’93East Coast of Florida

Ryan Bradley ’91Southern California

David Chen ’93 and Seran Kim Chen ’94Northern California

Ferdinand Hauslein, Jr. ’61Texas

John Matter ’93Louisville/Cincinnati

Kristin Moul Driscoll ’02 and John Schwab ’89New England

Blake Rockwell ’85New York

Geoffrey C. Schiciano ’89Chicago

Sarah Yi ’06 and Hyunjong Na ’05Korea

Wendi (Max) He ’09China

DON’T MISS REUNION 2013Cranbrook Kingswood Reunion Weekend June 7-9, 2013

For reunion updates and to register online:schools.cranbrook.edu/reunion

Cranbrook Educational CommunityP.O. Box 801Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-0801

Nonprofit OrganizationUS PostagePAIDPermit NO. 429Royal Oak, MI