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CELEBRATING A95-YEAR LEGACYOF SCHOLARSHIPAND FRIENDSHIP

95 YEARS OF HISTORYTTHIS YEAR, AS WE CELEBRATE THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF NORTHAMPTONSCHOOL FOR GIRLS, it’s hard not to marvel at the bold visionof Sarah Whitaker and Dorothy Bement. Not only did they havethe foresight to found a school at a critical moment in women’seducation (see school history, at right), but they also had the fortitude to stay true to their mission of academic excellence for nearly40 years, and this despite challenges that ranged from campusfloods to massive stock market crashes. I like to think that if theywere here to celebrate with us today, they would be pleased to seehow the merged school continues to have academic excellenceand community at its core. I also think they would be amazed tosee what, for them, would be an unimaginable concentration ofyoung women walking the campus grounds.Today’s female students—and indeed all our students—striveto embody the qualities that the founders imagined. Each year atCommencement, I am privileged to award the Sarah B. WhitakerPrize—also known as the White Blazer Award—which originallydates back to the 1920s at Northampton School for Girls. Givento the young woman who distinguishes herself with the greatestcontributions to the academic, athletic, and community life of theschool, while exhibiting exemplary leadership and integrity, thisaward is a top prize for our female students, but its recipient doesnot stand alone. Indeed, I am proud that the school supports allour young women in academics, the arts, athletics, and studentleadership. Following in the footsteps of their NorthamptonSchool for Girls predecessors, young women who graduatefrom the Williston Northampton School today go on to do greatthings—becoming top scholars, Division I athletes, artists,physicians, engineers, journalists, political activists, volunteers,and more.Fittingly for this celebratory year, the Williston NorthamptonSchool’s history is inseparable from strong, visionary women:Sarah Whitaker and Dorothy Bement, as well as Emily Williston.In 1841 when Samuel and Emily Williston founded their schoolin Easthampton, it was coeducational and all the richer for becoming so once again in 1971. As I have met with NorthamptonSchool alumnae across the country for the past nine years, theyhave shared their memories of time spent in a small school bythe river in Northampton, and how their lives were so powerfullyshaped by that experience. Indeed, many alumnae have retainedor renewed their connection to the school, ensuring that thoseseeds of change, planted 95 years ago by two intrepid women, willlive on in the lives of generations to come. On behalf of our wholecommunity, I join all Northampton School for Girls alumnae inremembering its legacy. As the Alma Mater goes, “We hold theein our hearts forever.”Robert W. Hill III, Head of Schoolo understand the legacy of Northampton School forGirls, you must first understand women’s educationin the early 20th century. At that time, girls couldnot make assumptions about education. If a womanattended college at all, she might go to a state “normalschool,” and prepare for a career as a schoolteacher.An ambitious young woman might attend one of the fine Seven Sisterscolleges, whose mission was to provide an education equal in rigor tothat offered to men, although there was certainly no guarantee, or evenencouragement, that she could continue a professional life after college.By the 1920s, this was beginning to change. More than half a century ofwomen’s rights activism was having an effect, with women finally winningthe right to vote in 1920. The women’s colleges were determined to provethat they were the equal of their male counterparts. Thus their entrancerequirements were stringent.Enter Sarah Whitaker and Dorothy Bement. Distinguished teachersand veterans of the Capen School, a feeder for Smith College, Whitakerand Bement conceived Northampton School for Girls shortly after Smithsubsumed the Capen campus in 1920. They envisioned a school offeringan education that would prepare young women for college entranceexams. The new place would be built on a bedrock of teaching, and, like itsfounders, it would operate with grace and pluck. The women bought property on Pomeroy Terrace in Northampton, and in 1924 welcomed theirfirst students. The school quickly established a reputation for academicexcellence in an environment that emphasized simplicity and community.On the surface, one wouldn’t have thought the founders compatible.Sarah Whitaker was a woman of great warmth and patience, beloved byall her students. Dorothy Bement — well, if you were planning to get intotrouble, it was best to be caught by Miss Whitaker. Whitaker and Bementretired in 1962. They would remain together until Sarah’s death in 1976. Itwas a friendship and working partnership that lasted more than 70 years.For nearly half a century, the school operated with verve, indeliblystamping the lives of women who passed through its doors and acrossits elegant lawns. By the 1930s, Northampton School was offering jointdancing classes with nearby Williston Academy, which had stopped admitting girls in 1864. Musical and theatrical collaborations followed, and theschools eventually shared academics as well—Northampton girls traveledto Williston for physics and German, advanced Williston boys came toNorthampton for math classes. When the coeducation movement radically reshaped the boarding school landscape in the 1970s (Loomis mergedwith Chaffee in ’70, Northfield with Mt. Hermon in ’71, Choate withRosemary Hall in ’72), the two academies naturally looked to each other.The union was completed in 1971, and with it Williston came full circle,returning via Northampton to its roots as a co-educational institution.Today, 95 years later, the legacy of Northampton School for Girls liveson, reflected in a shared mission of a community where great teachersturn challenges into opportunities for learning, and where young womenare encouraged confidently to set out and forge their own paths of individual expression. —Rick Teller ’70, School Archivist (adapted from a longerhistory at -girls-and-after/)NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL FOR GIRLS TIMELINE192419261929Sarah B. Whitaker and Dorothy M. Bement, seeking to fill a need left by the closing of Northampton’s Capen School, found the NorthamptonSchool for Girls on Pomeroy Terrace, with aprogram emphasizing academic excellence andsocial simplicity.A devastating spring flood inundates theNorthampton School campus, leaving muchof it underwater (which happens again in 1936and 1938). Undaunted, the school shovels outthe mud, and begins a tradition of celebratingthe worst flood’s anniversary with a picnic onthe riverbank.The stock market crash plunges the countryinto the worst economic Depression in history. Sarah Whitaker quietly waives tuition foran unknown, but substantial number of students. For some years she and Dorothy Bementaccept no salary.1

CAMPUS LIFE193519401961196219641971Coordinated activity begins between Northampton School and Williston, including dances. Bythe end of the decade, combined theater andmusic performances are an established part ofthe culture.During the years 1940-1945, several British girls,refugees from the Blitz, enroll at Northampton.Northampton students provide relief to the townof Montcel, France, and volunteer for local agricultural work.Construction begins on the Whitaker-BementBuilding, NSFG’s only new building, which contains a gymnasium, spacious science laboratories, and recreational facilities.Sarah Whitaker and Dorothy Bement retire toSarasota, Florida, where they would remaintogether for the rest of their lives. They are succeeded by Doris N. Anderson, who is Headmistress until 1964.Alan B. McMillen serves as NSFG Headmasteruntil 1968, followed by Nathan A. Fuller,who becomes Headmaster from 1968 to 1971(and then Associate Head at the WillistonNorthampton School, 1971-1972).An agreement to merge the two schools is signedin April. The following September, the WillistonNorthampton School opens as a fully coeducational single entity.23

REMEMBERINGCAMPUSNORTHAMPTON SCHOOL FOR GIRLS NOTABLESHow to choose? Though we could not include all the ’Hamp heroes (Ruth Dunham,Beryl Wilbur, Angelo Tonet, Lorainne Teller, to name a few!), here’s our short list ofschool luminaries.Dorothy M. BementIvan GorokhoffA founding co-Principal, Sarah Whitakertaught religion and much more to NSFG girls.She is still fondly remembered for her specialresources of warmth and empathy, and herindomitable spirit.As NSFG’s other founder and co-Principal,Dorothy Bement taught French and wasknown for her exacting standards. Likeher lifelong colleague, Sarah Whitaker,she was also an indefatigable advocate forthe school.A choral director at Smith, Ivan Gorokhoffestablished a singing tradition that lastedthroughout NSFG’s history, carried on byluminaries such as Mildred Bidwell, AnnCoon, Ruth Duncan, and Jean Diekoff.Alice LoganHelen WallisAnna KowalskiThe first teacher to join the faculty, “Wally”headed Hathaway House, advised seniors,and taught physical education. Accordingto Sarah Whitaker, Wally epitomized “goodmanners, hard work, and fair play.”Anna Kowalski was a chef extraordinaire,as well as mother-confessor to generationsof girls. Her simple meals—and oh, thosewonderful desserts— remain memorableto many.Sarah B. Whitaker1924-1962Northampton School’sAngelus is rung todayfor important schoolevents.1924-1953Bookkeeper, secretary, and irrepressibleprovider of perspective, Alice Logan was theprincipals’ confidante, administrator-without-portfolio, and trusted friend.41924-19621924-19491925-19471927-19695

NORTHAMPTON SCHOOL FOR GIRLS NOTABLESViola HusseyNelly BukerGrace Carlson1956-19691955-1966“With Miss Hussey, learning how to writeone paragraph took months of practice overand over and over and over,” says Holly Alderman ’67. While she was tough, manyalumnae credit her with truly teachingthem to write well.Nelly Buker brought rigor to NSFG’s scienceand advanced mathematics curriculum.Contrary to the cliché of the times concerning women and science, her chemistryand physics students often came away witha love for the subjects.By all accounts formidable in her approach,Grace Carlson taught English and was anAcademic and Senior Class Dean. Of allher many skills, she is best known for herextraordinary ability as a classroom teacher.Marianne Brauch KehrliMargaret EmersonHélène CantarellaAs a teacher of art and French, MarianneKehrli was utterly committed to both subjects and to the craft of instructing students.Her love of the arts inspired a number ofstudents to pursue them professionally.Teaching both mathematics and Latin, Margaret Emerson was known by her studentsas an instructor of infinite patience. Toher, there was no such thing as a girl “whocouldn’t do math.”Intense and demanding, Hélène Cantarella set seemingly impossible standards.Inspired (and a little terrified), her studentsrose to them. “I never felt so alive as in herclasses,” wrote Polly Eskenasy ’65.1956-196761957-1968SPORTS ANDACTIVITIES1953-19711958-19697