Class News

The True The Beautiful The Good

We are saddened to have lost four classmates thus far this year.

Pat Weiss Marpet died in January. Pat lived in Eugene, Oregon. Lynda Rosenthal, Pat’s close friend since childhood, wrote that Pat had a massive heart attack and never regained consciousness. There was no obituary. Pat is survived by her husband Charles and three daughters.

Allan Cease and Bob Dealaman died in Late April and Bill Sordoni in May. Allan and Bob had both intended to be at our reunion and both died within one day of each other just days before our

gathering at Sem.

Allan’s story of personal conversion from Methodism to Catholicism is fascinating. Here’s the link.

(Copy and paste in your browser.) http://thesplendorofthechurch.com/2016/04/13/dr-allan-j-cease-the-conversion-of-a-methodist-pastor/

Bob’s story is one of service, primarily to the Boy Scouts of America. Here’s the link to his obituary.

(Copy and paste in your browser.) https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pressconnects/obituary.aspx?pid=188860229

Bill died suddenly on May 23. He was undergoing open heart surgery.

(Copy and paste in your browser.) http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/citizensvoice/obituary.aspx?pid=189101738

February 2018 Letter from Sem's Director of Residential Life re our Class Gift

Allie Maxwell is Director of Residential Life at Sem. She attended the Residential Life Leadership Workshop sponsored by The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) at Boca Raton, FL, Jan 31 – Feb 2, 2018.

July 2017 Letter from three Sem language teachers re our Class Gift

Jill and Toni teach Spanish. Elaine teaches French.

July 2017 Letter from Jay Harvey, Sem's Dean, re our Class Gift

Tertia Gale

It is with sadness that we share the news of the loss of our classmate and friend Tertia Gale. Tertia was with us from nursery school through her freshman year. She spent two years at the Putney School (Vermont) and returned to Sem as a senior.

Biographical Highlights written by Tertia's husband Elan Liebner.

Tertia Gale

Born 10/31/1945 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, an anthracite coal region. The mines were still operative when she was born, and a real feature of the geography were the mine fires and frequent land subsidences.

She was the third child (hence “Tertia” which was suggested by her sister Joan) coming rather late to her parents. There was the aforementioned older sister Joan, 18, and a brother Peter, 9. Joan was in her final year of high school. Tertia’s father, Eureka, was a general agent for Mass Mutual Insurance Company, and her mother, Gladys, was a homemaker.

During Tertia’s first year, her parents purchased a house at Bear Lake in the Poconos, twenty miles from their home, and that house was to play a central role in her life and consciousness until she was 18. It was a large Victorian house with balconies and numerous rooms, and the lake was a short distance down the lawn. The family would relocate to the lake house every summer, and while the father commuted to work every morning, Tertia’s entire summers were spent there. It was a small community with numerous children about her age, and their group formed life-long friendships. With the exception of a twelve-year interval after her father sold the house, Tertia spent time at the lake every summer of her life.

When Tertia was five or six, she suffered a sunstroke while playing outside on a particularly hot day, and fell unconscious. As an antidote she was placed in a dark room for several days, and she always felt that the experience was significant somehow.

She attended a private day school in Wilkes-Barre, and friendships from that school also continued throughout her life. Her brother Peter was away in boarding school, and her sister Joan had already finished college and was living away from home. Hence festivals were important times for the young girl, since it was only during those times that her siblings were home. Joan was an especially large figure in her life, and Tertia adored her “like a goddess.”

The family attended the local Presbyterian Church, and Tertia was quite devoted to it. She was, in fact, the reason that the family began attending church, and this was a significant change from the way her siblings had been raised. She was the only one to be baptized and confirmed, though after confirmation she only attended the church a few times, primarily as a member of the youth group. Contrary to the intention of confirmation, she felt that with that ritual the role that the church had to play in her life was complete.

A second impetus of great importance that Tertia gave to her own life was the decision to go the Putney School in Vermont. She found out about Putney from a book she saw at home, and convinced her parents to let her go there despite the fact

that the informal setting there was not at all what her father had in mind when contemplating a boarding school. She spent two years (tenth and eleventh grades) at Putney, and forged a third set of life-long friendships. Those two years, while also marked by loneliness and homesickness, greatly broadened her perspective on life and enhanced especially her appreciation of the arts. It was also the first time that she engaged in practical work, and that engagement became a source of pride in a job well done and of joy in the camaraderie that practical work generates. She also continued her field hockey “career” that began in the ninth grade in Wilkes-Barre, and one of her fondest memories was arriving at competing schools on Putney’s manure truck, with a deep growl for a group cheer. It fed her competitive spirit and her rebellious nature.

But Putney proved too lonely for her, and she decided to return home for senior year. This decision, coming against the advice of both teachers and parents, took almost as much gumption as the decision to attend Putney in the first place.

Senior year was back at Wyoming Seminary and while the schooling did not leave deep impressions on the young woman, driving her father’s Porsche certainly did. Clandestine afternoon trips to Bear Lake, often in a friend’s vehicle, became another favorite activity and a fond memory.

For college, Tertia decided to attend Sarah Lawrence. She spent just one year there, feeling that the coursework was not answering her life questions. The presence of many Putney friends in nearby New York City was also quite a distraction. At the end of that year, Tertia traveled to Europe with the Sarah Lawrence choir, but decided to move to the city upon returning. This was another decision that caused consternation at home, but the stubborn young woman would not be told otherwise. She got a job and an apartment in NYC, and proceeded to support herself.

During the following year (1964-65), her parents decided to sell the house at Bear Lake. This decision, taken without consultation with the children, was cataclysmic for her. She spent her last visit at the family house crying for an entire weekend. The lake was the center of her universe, and she felt a gaping hole at the thought of its absence. But from that crisis a seed was planted in her: she would need to find something to replace the lake, and that something would need to be even stronger for her; she felt an odd certainty that she would find that thing, though she had no idea what it would be.

Back in New York, a young man that she had first met at Sarah Lawrence through a mutual friend became a special friend. His name was Eugene, and before long they were living together, a fact that they hid from both sets of parents. Tertia was taking classes at City College, and appreciated both the literature classes and the college’s excellent choir.

During the spring of 1966, the young couple was surrounded by friends who were active in the protest movement against the Vietnam War, but they remained on the periphery, waiting for a calling that would engage them more fully. In the fall of that year, they went knocking on the doors of superintendents on the Upper West Side,

looking for an apartment. In one of those buildings, the super was out, but his young son came to the gate. He said that, “he had been waiting for them,” that there were no apartments available, but there was something he wanted to show them. In his apartment were huge paintings of his, and bookshelves full of books that they had never seen before. All of those books were by an author named Rudolf Steiner. The young man, Angelo, was of Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage. He was a deeply spiritual man, and also heavily involved in drugs, and had just been released from prison. A few days later, Tertia went back to his apartment and burrowed a few books. She instantly recognized that Steiner’s work was the new center that she had been seeking.

There followed a few years during which Tertia and Eugene tried to figure how their relationship to anthroposophy would grow beyond Angelo’s influence. They were married in 1968, and moved to Colorado where Eugene could continue his MA studies. After Colorado they joined a back-to-the-land commune in St. Francis, Maine, and there, after a harrowing winter in a log cabin without electricity or running water, Noah Benjamin was born (May 1971).

When Noah was six weeks old, the young family decided to travel to British Colombia in order to join friends from the Maine commune. But conditions there were even more primitive than in Maine, and the Mountees were aware that Americans were present without proper documentation. After a few months, a visiting friend convinced Tertia and Eugene to return to the East Coast and get more involved in anthroposophical work. They made their way back, and in December of 1971 joined Paul and Ann Scharff who were starting a community to care for the elderly in Spring Valley, NY. Thus began a whole new chapter in Tertia’s education: medical care, cooking for a large crowd, gardening, and intense community life. They remained at the Fellowship Community for ten years, the most memorable parts of which were the arrival of a second son, Lucas Anthony, and caring for her mother and grandmother at their passing. She worked at the medical office and learned a great deal about anthroposphical remedies and therapies. The small but intense circle of co-workers formed yet a fourth cohort of people with whom enduring friendship formed. Intensive studies in anthroposophy were also a strong characteristic of these years.

In 1981 Eugene took a job as a class teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School, and Tertia fulfilled a long-held wish by entering eurythmy school. There followed four years of “the agony and the ecstasy” as most former eurythmy students would surely agree. Eurythmy school included classes in poetry, recitation, music theory, and anthroposophy, and felt like a natural progression of many threads that had interested Tertia up to that point.

During the fourth year of eurythmy school, she was approached by Caroline Phinney to join a new Waldorf school opening in Princeton, NJ, as a eurythmy teacher. Despite some hesitation, Tertia accepted the invitation, and thus began a twenty-three year career of teaching eurythmy at the Waldorf School of Princeton. During

those years Tertia also served in many leadership roles, including faculty chair, College of Teachers chair, and Board member. Since she was well connected in Waldorf circles, particularly in the Spring Valley area, one of her specialties was teacher recruitment. It was in that capacity that she contacted a young Israeli trainee named Elan during the spring of 1990, urging him to apply for the first grade position at the Princeton school.

Her personal life was strained during those years. The marriage was under stress, and she was commuting back and forth between Spring Valley and Princeton. She was even teaching in both schools during the 1989-1990 school year, as well as performing with other eurythmists. So it was that what began as a collegial friendship between her and the young recruit became the seed of a second marriage. Tertia moved in with Elan in June of 1991, and they were married at her beloved Bear Lake in July of 1998. They lived in the same house in Hopewell, NJ for the duration of the following twenty-five years, excepting a one-year stint at Emerson College, UK. Their collaboration on plays was a source of particular satisfaction for both of them. Elan would write them for his class, and Tertia was intimately involved in most aspects of the productions. The highlight of that collaboration was a play, The Death of Baldur written specifically for eurythmy, and performed with a fourth grade in the spring of 2002 following the tragic events of the previous September.

In the fall of 2002 she was first diagnosed with a relatively rare cancer. She underwent two major surgeries in 2003, and additional ones in 2012 and 2015. The effects of the surgeries restricted her movement somewhat, and she decided in 2008 to retire from the teaching of children. She continued to teach adults, however, right until the last year of her life.

In 2000, the first of what would ultimately number seven grandchildren was born to Lucas and his partner, Kiran. Lucia was joined, in time, by a brother, Theo, and a sister, Annabelle. Noah and his wife Bonnie started a little later, but caught up and passed Lucas and Kiran, bringing four wonderful children of their own: Noah Jr., Finn, Katie, and Lila. These seven grandchildren were central in Tertia’s consciousness. She thought and spoke of them often, and delighted in every occasion to visit or just use modern technology to see and speak with them.

Tertia final days were marked by a remarkable series of conversations and encounters among those who were closest to her. A mood of serene and peaceful acceptance pervaded the home as Noah, Lucas, Elan, brother Peter, and a small group of other family members and friends surrounded her, cared for her, and met one another in the most redemptive and freeing process imaginable. It was a period of grace that most befitted the elegance and grace with which she lived her life.

Tom Trembley

It is with sadness that we share the news of the loss of our classmate Thomas Trembley. From Bethlehem,PA, Tom was with us only for our senior year. Our "Wyoming" has him listed as an Alexandrian with membership in the Christian Association, Seminary Singers, and Drama Club. The following is from the Spring 2016 issue of the "Wyoming Seminary Journal."

THOMAS TREMBLEY, Bethlehem, August 22, 2015. Born in Pittsburgh, he was a son of the late Francis and Isabelle Trembley. He was a graduate of Kutztown University and later received a master’s degree from Lehigh University. He worked for several years as an aid to the disabled and in his later years worked in security with Securitas Security Services USA, a multi-purpose security firm. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem. He is survived by his wife and best friend, Mary Jane Trembley; sister Suzanne Trembley, brother-in-law, Carl Merwine and beloved dogs, Dillinger and Sapphire.

Burt Lauderbaugh

It is with sadness that we share the news of the loss of our classmate and friend Burt ("Pete") Lauderbaugh. Burt died on August 3, 2015 from complications stemming from COPD. He lived in Titusville, Florida. Burt came to Sem as a sixth grader at Day School and returned to Dallas Senior High for his junior and senior years. We extend our sincerest condolences to all in Burt's family and to all his friends. He will always continue to live in our hearts and memories.

Edie Townend

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of our classmate and friend Edith Townend Yinkey. Edie died on January 27,2014, following a difficult struggle with ovarian cancer. At Sem, Edie was our class representative on the Honor Court for all four of our high school years. In her Junior and Senior years she served on the photography and art boards of the Opinator and Wyoming. From Sem she went on to Elmira College and then to a career in art education, both as teacher and mentor. Edie taught art to junior high school students for 30-plus years, and even after she retired took advantage of opportunities to teach where she saw openings. Throughout her illness, she remained positive, enjoying nature and her cats, and visits from family and friends when she had the energy.

She is survived by her husband, Pat, and her sisters, Platt and Meg. Condolences may be sent to her husband, Pat Yinkey, 5300 42nd Ave, Hyattsville, MD, 20718-1933.

This obituary was published in The Washington Post on February 12.

Edith Townend Yinkey

Much beloved wife of Pat Yinkey died peacefully in her sleep on January 27, 2014. She was born in Kingston, PA on February 8, 1945 and spent practically all of her life as a teacher, professionally with Montgomery County Public Schools; but also for her husband of 45 years and too many friends to count. Edie helped found the Hyattsville (MD) Preservation Association in 1980, and was a tireless volunteer for animal rescue. A true lover of nature's gifts, her extraordinary kindness, courage and humor will be sorely missed, not only by her husband and surviving sisters, Meg Tillapaugh of Cooperstown, NY and Platt Arnold of East Lyme, CT; but also by so many of those she reached out to in life. Requiescat in Pace.

A memorial celebration is to be held in the Spring, when trees first leaf out, as she wished.

Roberta Vullo

Artist and teacher, a long-time resident of Phoenix, Arizona, Roberta was born in Wilkes-Barre and attended both the Day School and Sem. During her summers she pursued her love for art by attending the Moore College Art Institute in Philadelphia. She received her BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art and worked as a special education teacher in the Philadelphia area. She later did graduate work as well as taught in the undergraduate program at Tulane University in New Orleans. Following a short time living in San Francisco, Roberta moved to Phoenix and received a Master’s Degree in Education from Arizona State University. Certified in both special education and art, she taught at the Arizona Juvenile Correction Department’s Adobe Mountain School and later in the early childhood development program at the Lincoln Learning Center’s Desert Mission. She leaves behind many friends who will miss her terribly. She is survived by her brother Joe. Roberta’s life is exemplified by her art. In the words of one of her friends, it was “filled with color, energy, spiritual love and freedom.”