Page 5 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 93, No. 4 Summer 2013

“It gives me a sense of hope that we will stay together,”
he said. “But it’s still scary because I am not going to wake
up and have my best buddy right there.”
The Form of 1968 provided a strong example of the
melting of years. The authors of the famous Sixth Form
Letter of 1968 wore matching hats and as much madras
clothing as possible in an attempt to mirror the style of
their Third Form class photo.
“I am surprised at how close we are,” said Will Whetzel ’68,
a member of the 1968 Student Council who helped then-
President Rick King write the letter, which appealed to
the Rector to alter the monastic existence of St. Paul’s.
“I have been to the last three reunions and I find the con-
versations we have to still be meaningful.”
Whetzel’s formmates, career military men Chip
Waters ’68 (Army) and George Marvin ’68 (Navy) spoke
of how much the School had evolved since their gradu-
ation, with Marvin noting that the uniformity parodied by
the form’s madras attire at Anniversary was one of the
grievances that pushed members to pen the 1968 letter.
“After that there was a lot more individualism,” he
said. “A little bit of that came as the result of our letter.
A lot was going to happen anyway, but maybe it happened
sooner because of the letter.”
Marvin, a retired U.S. Navy captain, credited the School
with “helping me become who I am [today]. The older I
get and the further removed from St. Paul’s, the more I
realize what an important experience it was.”
Waters, an Army colonel, described himself as a “big fan
of SPS,” who sent his two children, Kate ’02 and Charles ’05,
to the School. He and the 33 members of the Form of
lessons from here”
1968 who attended Anniversary gathered on June 1 in
the Chapel of St. Paul, where David Tait ’68 led a service
that celebrated the lives of the seven classmates who
have died in the intervening years.
“We had a classmate who died, a really wonderful guy
named Doug Morin, a year before our 35th, and that really
affected me because I realized I would give anything to
sit down and talk to him,” said Marvin. “I realized I don’t
want that to happen with other classmates, so that is
why I have come back every five years for our reunion.”
The sense of community gained at St. Paul’s is hard to
duplicate, shared Sophie Hollingsworth ’08, in Concord
for the first, five-year reunion of the Form of 2008. And
standing nearby with formmate and former faculty brat
Nora Tracy Phillips ’78, John Tweedy ’78, a documentary
filmmaker from Colorado, spoke of the “enormous sense
of place” he feels when he returns to St. Paul’s.
“I don’t think that’s the goal, to recreate what St. Paul’s
was,” said Xavier Williams ’08. “We move on, we take our
best lessons from here, our great friendships, and keep
them going. But I think, to Sophie’s point, you do have
that sense of community and you can appreciate that
so you value your friendships and recognize those can
carry you through life.”
Watching alumni reconnect with one another was a
powerful experience for Miriam Eickhoff ’15, who was in
awe after coming off Turkey Pond with the winning first
Shattuck girls crew.
“While it’s great to be a part of it now,” said Eickhoff,
“I feel like it will be even better when I come back later
as an alum and look back at my time here.”
JANA F. BROWN
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