Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60Ali Standish has been writing stories since she was a kid, but got serious about pursuing a career as a writer when she decided to undertake an MFA in Children’s Writing at Hollins University. Ali ’The Ethan I was Before’by Ali Standish ’06 Renaissance By Jane Gutsell, Retired GDS Upper School English Teacher Sue Kody Seagraves, former Upper School Art teacher, is truly a woman for all seasons. Over the years, her interests and passions in life have ranged from art and art history to architecture, cooking, Japanese maples, travel, reading, gardening, and of course, her family. With a B. S. in Art and a minor in English from Concord College in Athens, West Virginia and a M.F.A. in Art from UNCG, Sue was invited to join the GDS faculty by Jim Hendrix in 1976 to fill in for the Lower School art teacher who was on maternity leave. Jim also wanted her to teach English, but Sue suggested that he get in touch with a woman she had met when they taught together at Gillespie, and thus GDS had the good fortune to also acquire Tricia Fish as an Upper School English teacher. For a brief but important time after that, Sue shared 4th grade teaching responsibilities with Carmen Redding. “Carmen,” she says, “was very influential to me. She was my first exposure to a real teacher in a real classroom. I learned a lot from her.” Gradually, Sue moved from part-time in both Middle and Upper Schools and in 1978 became the full-time U.S. Art teacher, whose responsibilities included not just basic painting and drawing classes but also photography and ceramics and AP Art. She helped design the Art Survey course as well. Photography, which she says she knew nothing about at the time and took classes at UNCG to learn, has become one of her life’s passions. Sue retired in 2003, but until just a couple of years ago, stayed actively involved with the drama program in all three divisions, helping to paint sets for many productions. She has worked especially closely with Dana Lowell in the Upper School drama department on both fall musicals and spring dramas. Since retirement, Sue has spent a lot of time with her four children and five grandchildren. Mostly she says she just tries to keep up with them, entertain them, and lure them over for visits with her and her husband Ed with her home-cooked meals. Her son-in-law is our own Middle School Director, Barry Davis! SueKodySeagraves, In the late 1990s she and Ed started their own very labor intensive Japanese maple business and began taking horticultural classes at Forsyth Technical Community College. It took the first seven years before the small grafted trees they had purchased were ready to sell. They had at least fifty varieties and, as the business grew, somewhere between six and seven thousand trees, which they sold to garden centers, farmers markets, and the general public. They stayed busy with their trees until 2014. Another of Sue’s passions is travel. Her first adventure began with a summer enrichment grant which took her to Paris, Nice, and other cities in France. And, as she says, “that was that. I got the bug.” A subsequent grant sent her to Italy for art history classes and tours through Rome, Florence, and Venice. Later she went with the second group of Upper School students on the exchange trip to Russia. “Getting out of the country to see art just changed my life.” Since 2003 Sue has travelled to the United Kingdom and Japan where she visited beautiful gardens with her beloved Japanese maples George Sondecker ’05 with his wife, Elizabeth 2006 | Anna Hurd and James Grabmeier were married on Saturday, June 18, 2016 in Greenville, SC. The wedding party included Anna’s sister, Molly Hurd ’12. They honeymooned in Southeast Asia and reside in Greenville, SC. Anna completed her Master of Arts in International Education from the School for International Training in May 2016 and works as a College Relations Manager for IES Abroad. Anna Hurd Grabmeier ’06 with husband, James Lindsey Stuckey and Patrick Shelton were married on October 3, 2015 at the Port Royal Country Club on Hilton Head Island, SC. The wedding party included Paula Buzzi ’06 and Katy Eagle ’06. They honeymooned in Bora Bora and resides in Charlotte, NC. 2007 | Stephanie King and Robert McCabe were married on Saturday, May 21, 2016 at and shrines and temples. Then to Greece and Turkey for art, architecture, and archeology. In 2014 I joined her on a two- week trip to Belgium and Holland to learn about 17th Century Flemish and Dutch paintings, cathedrals, and much more. One lovely summer afternoon GDS alumna Corinna Scott ’95 took us boating through the canals of Amsterdam. At the end of the trip, Sue went off on her own to spend another week in Paris. All day every day, she visited as many museums as she could pack into a day and still didn’t see everything she wanted to see! One of the things Sue is most proud of is that, while she was at UNCG, she was one of the four original founders of the Green Hill Gallery. As a member of the Greensboro Artists League, she and others wanted a place to show their work and so they put their minds to purchasing an old house on the land occupied by Green Hill Cemetery and made it happen. Now she enjoys relaxing at their cottage, which she completely remodeled, on a lake in Rockingham County – kayaking, gardening, reading, entertaining friends. Last year she remodeled their Greensboro home. She has stayed in close touch with a group of GDS retirees, whose friendships she values very much. She has also returned to her first love – watercolors. She is painting almost every day and was one of nine women artists who exhibited their work at The Penn House in Reidsville this past September. The main thing Sue enjoyed about her time at the Day School was her students. It was “thrilling to work with students who loved art and to see them excel.” She is “always pleased to hear about those who have succeeded in having a career in art.” Sue Seagraves was an important mentor and role model for her many students in so many ways that it would only be fair to call her a Renaissance woman. Woman q CLASSNOTES was inspired to write The Ethan I Was Before after teaching in the Washington, D.C. public school district for four years and noticing a lack of middle grade titles that explored loss in a realistic and accessible way. She is currently at work on her second book, also a middle grade novel, which will publish with HarperCollins in 2018. About the book: Ethan had been many things. He was always ready for adventure, always up for a laugh, and always willing to accept a dare if his best friend, Kacey, was nearby. But that was before. Before the accident that took Kacey from him. Before his family moved from Boston to the small beachside town of Palm Knot, Georgia. Palm Knot may be tiny, but it’s the home of possibility and second chances. It’s also home to Coralee, a girl with a big personality and even bigger stories. Coralee may be just the friend Ethan needs, but Ethan isn’t the only one with secrets...Coralee’s are catching up with her, and what she’s hiding might be putting both their lives at risk. ‘The Ethan I was Before’ is published by HarperCollins and is for ages 8-12. It was selected by the American Booksellers Association as one of their ten Indies Introduce children’s titles for winter/spring 2017. 50 | Winter 2017 GDS Magazine | 51