Hello, I'm...at Reunion Weekend

When they opened the floor up for discussion, one woman stood to talk about her favorite math teacher. Sally Curtis, the woman said, had made a difficult subject interesting. Shani and Rodgers nodded their heads. Then an elderly woman in a middle row got to her feet.

 

“I’m Sally Curtis,” she said, to murmurs of astonishment and a smattering of applause. “I taught at the school for 39 years.”

 

Chance meetings between old friends and mentors were common when nearly a thousand people gathered for the annual Reunion Weekend. Alumni spanned the ages, from those celebrating anniversaries of 70-plus years—S. Prestley Blake '34, Alden Carter ‘36, Barbara Beattie Cogswell '38, and Barbara Sweet Kahrman '37 (great grandmother of Wylie Earp '12) — to Allison Kren ’07. To celebrate his 60th reunion, Bruce Muller '51 brought his daughter, Brita Muller Boer '86, and his granddaughter, Danielle Kratter '06. 

 

During the Alumni College Seminars, presenters repeatedly paused to acknowledge great teachers or to greet old friends. Marshall Horwitz ’71 kicked off his lecture — on providing dental care in remote parts of Mongolia — with a nod to his former workjob supervisor, who was in the audience.

 

“If there was one person who taught me about the value of hard work and ethics, and always doing your best in whatever you do, it’s Joe Kordena,” said Horwitz. “I don’t remember any calculus…but I certainly remember the lessons that Mr. Kordena taught me.”

 

During their lecture in Social Hall, Shanti and Rodger said that the deep connections formed at NMH were the inevitable product of a rich academic environment. Students from every decade, they said, were encouraged to live consciously, respect their work and one another, and recognize power of the head, heart, and hand.

 

“All of us considered the experience life-changing,” Rodgers said of her family. “The education we received prepared us for the future.”