Message from the President August 2023

2023 Lenox School Reunion Is Upon Us!

October 13 and 14, 2023

If you’re going to live, leave a legacy, make a mark on the world that can’t be erased.” - Maya Angelou

The Legacy Fund.

I know that the Masters who taught English and English composition would admonish me for this cryptic non-sentence. I’ve been writing these president’s messages for years now and I always find inspiration on what to write by thinking about our shared Lenox experience and what is ahead of us for reunion time. Yet as we approach this next reunion (and what looks like a finish line of sorts in 2026) I must admit to hitting a bit of a writer’s block.

I recently had a conversation with Randy Harris regarding this dilemma and he reminded me of something that Rev Curry Wrote in 1967 titled “The Case for Lenox School” (which was an appeal by him for support for the school) as well as what David Wood wrote to the Berkshire Eagle in 1988 titled “Lenox School Never Died”. Here are excerpts of those writings: David Wood in the letter to the Berkshire Eagle - “… by admitting “all sorts of conditions of men” an interesting and often exiting community was created, and even today when alumni get together, there is a feeling that Lenox School was as much a cause as a school. Its motto still seems the noblest of them all: “Non ministrari sed ministrare” or “Not to be served but to serve”... “But in a very real sense for me, Lenox School never died.” …”Over time, however, I came to believe that in a very real sense the school lived as long as its alumni served to exemplify its ideals in their lives.”….” Its sons were always out there: lobstering off the Maine coast, doing missionary work in Haiti, pumping gas in the Bronx, teaching in schools, ministering in a thousand ways and, yes, even confined, in one case, to state prison. I well remember my first interview with Headmaster Robert L. Curry. … “I don’t really have much to offer you,” he said, “except hard work and maybe a chance to be
part of building something really worthwhile.” Rev Curry in his letter to parents titled “The Case for Lenox School”. In this, he provided four responses to the question of “Why should people contribute to Lenox School?” Here is a distillation of his four answers from that writing:

2
 “First, Lenox is a simple school. This is not an age of simplicity and yet our nation has been built be simple people” . … “We live simply”. … “

“The second answer is that we are a solid school. Our national heritage has been built on solid people --- men and women who unsung and without fanfare stuck to their last and built a great inheritance which is ours but which is a trust which we are called upon to hand on better than we received it; and much of education today does not tech this.

“The third answer is that ours is a school of sweat” … There is nothing in this fund drive or anything out beyond it in our projected needs of the future which asks that you and other give us something so we can have it easier… no we are only asking enough help so that we can do more effectively for more boys what we are now doing…”

“The fourth answer is soul…” “This is Lenox School. It is simple. It is solid. It is a place where men and boys sweat to find the answers to life and it is a community with a soul.”

Writers block over. It descended on me that with the Legacy Fund, we’re really carrying on what Mr. Wood and rev Curry wrote about. It is creating another starting point for everything that has been done since 1926. What we’re doing will serve to prevent the Lenox School story of simplicity, hard work, sweat, outreach, etc. from erasure. Let me explain. That starting point is represented by the Legacy Fund that gives new life to the story of our little school and the new website that captures for posterity the magic that the dedicated Masters, faculty, staff and families created for us. Aside from the reconnecting, fellowship and joy we get from embracing our classmates
and the faculty and family that attend, this coming reunion and the few that follow are all focused on making good on the mission we have accepted to secure the funds necessary to share the much-needed lessons, history and legacy of what the Lenox School masters, faculty, staff and families selflessly provided for us. Some have asked why we’re doing
this and to what end.

If ever there was a time when the example and lessons from what a truly a dedicated and selfless faculty can do with meager resources and a flinty determination to serve and succeed (such as we were privileged to experience at Lenox School), that time is glaringly now. The preponderance of the reporting on the status of education in the US today seems more like an urgent alarm bell that has yet to be responded to; and in my mind, what Lenox School achieved serves as a lesson learned for today’s academic problems.

So, what does the legacy fund have to do with this?

3
The fund will continue to provide scholarships grants and donations to deserving students and organizations in the name of Lenox School, while concurrently retelling the recipients the Lenox School story, such that perhaps they can carry this forward as an example and lesson of what can be achieved. Every fire starts with a spark.

2023 Miss Hall's Pickett Scholarship

In addition, the fund supports in perpetuity a new website that will contain the history of the school, access to all the yearbooks (and thus the story all of you) and the lessons of how this little school managed for decades to produce so much with so little. Perhaps, having access to this website and learning about the Lenox School lessons and model, it may influence others in the future to re-look at and adopt the lessons from what Lenox School achieved.

Our board members are right now looking at expanding the impact of our donations and scholarships to organizations that have a national reach. We’re looking at outreach to the native American organizations to support their efforts to further the academic achievements on behalf of their population. We’re also looking at supporting students in trade schools that currently provide the absolutely essential craft that makes our country run. through our scholarships and donations in Lenox School’s name.

4

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
- Benjamin Franklin

We’re not going to let the incredible story and lessons of Lenox School for future posterity (nor each of you) be forgotten. Think about that one Master that made a significant difference in helping to shape or influence your life. For some, it might be Nol Putnam who recently passed; for others it might be Jim Fawcett, Jim Paterson, David Wood or Mansfield Pickett. Perhaps Rev Curry or Doc Blanchard. Whomever the individual or event was, Lenox School was the foundation and launching pad for all of us. We owe them and the school the recognition of what they provided; and their lessons are relevant for future generations. Thus, the Legacy Fund has everything to do with carrying on past our time and sharing the lessons, legacy, history and activities that Lenox School provided. We’re going to do something through the Legacy Fund that future generations will find not only worth reading about, but perhaps learning from and writing about.

Yes, we’re going to have another memorabilia  auction!

In homage (and a nod) to David Wood:

 Everyone knows that auctions speak louder than words - that's because of
the auction-ears.
 Auctions are the one place where you can get something for nodding.
 Though, of course, you do have to stay ‘til the bidder end.

As we did last year, we’ll hold an auction of memorabilia, yearbooks, ephemera, etc. so
bring your checkbook! And, if you have memorabilia hanging around, bring it and
well auction it off as well! Proceeds will go to the Legacy Fund and to help defray
LSAA operating costs.

5- This year we have exciting news and a surprise regarding the LSAA Hall of Fame
Inductees

From 1961 through 1963 there was a sitcom on TV called “Car 54 Where are you?”

As this is the 55th reunion for the class of ’68, I have to ask:
Class of 1968 … Where are you!??!?!

And once again, we have arranged for a terrific catering operation to supply all of the meals right at the S&Co’s Bernstein Theatre.
We remain deeply grateful to Shakespeare & Co for affording us the opportunity to hold our reunions right at the campus as well as for all of the incredible support they have provided through the years.

13-14 October 2023 - Save the Date.

Don’t miss this one; or we’ll put you on work squad for

the rest!