Profiles
Sue Perrin and Ware Academy go way back – in fact, all the way back to the school’s beginning in1949, when Gloucester County Day School was founded by Sue’s parents, Wes and Diddy Morck, with four other founding families, and Sue became one of thirteen original students. Sue remembers, “Back then, the founding families took part in running the school: my mother, who had taught in New York City, took care of accreditation; Connie Ingles, a concert pianist and harpist, was the music teacher; George Mackubin arose earliest in order to light the stove every morning to heat the building; and Elizabeth Brown was the bookkeeper; her husband, Dr. Raymond Brown, lined us up and gave us our required polio shots.” Sue jokes that you couldn’t afford to fight with anyone: “There were so few of us and we were all close friends…we had to be…and, after almost 70 years, we still are!” Latin, grammar, the reading of the classics and school plays featured prominently in the curriculum. “There was a role for each of us in every play, whether to star, to direct, to sing, to pull the curtain open, or to quietly prompt actors from a stool at the bathroom window. We each excelled in our own way.”
Today, Sue lives with her husband Bill at Belle Terre, their home on the North River for the past eighteen years, having lived away from Gloucester in the intervening years. Upon her return, Sue reconnected with Ware Academy, eventually becoming a Trustee in 2008. Sue is in the unique position of having experienced the
school as it has grown from three teachers to twenty-three today, moving from a small space on the Courthouse circle, to the Edgehill House, from there to the American Legion Hall, and eventually to our current spot on the hill. “What pleases me most is to see how the school has progressed over the years...It's gratifying to see all the opportunities the school is providing."
Sue isn't just talking about replacing the wood stove with central heat. She is particularly pleased to see how the school has become culturally and ethnically diverse, believing that diversity is increasingly important in developing an understanding of different perspectives and an ability to function in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment.
Sue is also pleased to see that some things don't change. The core values that were so important at Ware Academy's founding, the development of character, honor, and self-responsibility, are just as important in today's cutting edge education. "Small classroom size is so very important" in this respect. It also contributes to lifelong friendships. Sue is in regular contact with her Ware Academy classmates, and those in the classes above and below hers, to this day. The small school environment "is where you find hidden talent. Early talents develop and last when nurtured."
Sue's interests these days center on historic preservation, currently in the effort to preserve and reopen the T.C. Walker House on Main Street; landscape design, which she practiced professionally in Connecticut, and which she continues to enjoy on a volunteer basis. Her influence can be seen in the design of Gloucester's Pocahontas Garden and at Ware Academy, where she designed a bulb garden and planted 2,000 bulbs (with the help of many volunteers from the Garden Club of Gloucester). If there is one thing she would like to see us do at Ware Academy, it is to "Put on more plays!"
Ware in the World is Rachel Kittrell?
Alumna Profile
Rachel Kittrell (née Hurley) has had a busy year. She set up her brand new law practice in Urbanna, built a new home, and married her longtime friend and sweetheart, Robert – twice (blame that on Hurricane Florence, which scuttled her original wedding plans). Rachel takes it all in stride with grace and good humor.
Rachel attended Ware with her two siblings, Sarah Grace and Trip, and was graduated in 2006. She is a graduate of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. In 2017 she received her Juris Doctorate from Campbell University School of Law, subsequently passing the Bar exam.
The Hurley family has strong ties with Ware. Rachel’s late mother, Ruth Ellen, was on the Board of Trustees that hired current Head of School, Tom Thomas, and was deeply invested in the success of the school. Her late father, Walt, who owned the Bethpage and Grey’s Point Campgrounds, was a dedicated business partner and donor to the school. Now Rachel continues the family tradition, coming onto the Board of Trustees herself this year.
Rachel says that as an attorney, she is reminded frequently of how lucky she is to have experienced the advantages of a Ware education. “I see troubled kids whose parents don’t work with the teachers that are shaping the minds of their children.” This she says is where Ware Academy stands apart. “Ware parents are involved, making for a stronger community, a better education.” This parental involvement does not come at the expense of the development of self-responsibility and hard work, qualities that Rachel acknowledges set her up well for the independent life she would lead at Episcopal High School.
Looking back at her time at Ware, Rachel admits to being “a trouble child for Mrs. Fleet in third grade. I had a bit of an attitude and Dawn worked hard to make me the better person she knew I was." She recalls being in McKann Payne’s first fifth grade class. These many years later McKann gave a reading at Rachel's wedding and McKann's son Colin was an usher. The small community that is Ware Academy contributes to tight bonds like these, whether they are student-to-student or student-to-teacher, which survive well beyond school. Rachel values these lifelong
and enriching friendships. Her fellow alumni, Rachel O’Brien (née Finney), Susan Heyman, Regan Murphy, and Libbie Randolph continue to be dear friends and were greeters for her wedding. Also, she utilized the skills of Vaughan Crittenden, a fellow classmate, for her videography.
Rachel says her Ware Academy experience “prepared me both academically, and in terms of managing life, for Episcopal and Virginia Tech.” Ware taught her to “become involved with school, to do extracurricular activities, and to manage time wisely.” She credits Coach Morgan for instilling in her the team spirit and competitive drive that sustained her through Varsity lacrosse at Episcopal, recalling her experiences on Ware’s first volleyball team and scoring the first ever match goal in girls’ lacrosse against Fredericksburg Academy (trouncing Fredericksburg 14-1). She donated a pair of crutches to the school after she turned her ankle in basketball and had to be taken away by ambulance. She speculates that the crutches are still here.
Returning here to set up her practice and start a new phase in life seems the most natural outcome for Rachel. She feels drawn back by the small community atmosphere and a strong connection to the water, which she shares with her husband Robert. When asked what prompted her to accept a position on the Board of Trustees, Rachel identified the desire to continue in the family tradition of giving back and investing in Ware’s future.
Student Destinations
Destinations: Class of 2018
