CSW Celebrates the Life and Legacy of Alorie Parkhill
On Saturday, September 16 over 80 members of the CSW community came together to celebrate the life of Alorie Parkhill P’85, ’87, GP’17. Alorie joined CSW in 1963 and served as teacher, dorm parent, academic dean, and assistant head of school over her 44 years here. When she retired in 2007, the school and her family established the “Alorie Parkhill Fund for Teaching and Mentoring” to honor and build upon Alorie’s legacy as a deeply devoted mentor, colleague, and friend.
On Saturday, September 16 over 80 members of the CSW community came together to celebrate the life of Alorie Parkhill P’85, ’87, GP’17. Alorie joined CSW in 1963 and served as teacher, dorm parent, academic dean, and assistant head of school over her 44 years here. When she retired in 2007, the school and her family established the “Alorie Parkhill Fund for Teaching and Mentoring” to honor and build upon Alorie’s legacy as a deeply devoted mentor, colleague, and friend.
The Celebration of Life began with a welcome from Head of School Jane Moulding. Jane opened by sharing a verse from Joyce Johnson Rouse’s “Standing on the Shoulders,” a song the musician wrote in honor of the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, the amendment that granted voting rights to women in the United States. “We are all standing on Alorie’s shoulders today,” said Jane, who went on to reflect upon Alorie’s devotion as a feminist and women’s rights advocate. “I could not be the head of school I am today without Alorie’s tutelage, patience and guidance,” she continued. “I could discuss anything with Alorie and she in turn shared her hopes and vision for the school.”
Following Jane’s remarks, family members, colleagues, alumni/ae, and friends came to the podium to offer remembrances and reflections. Former CSW faculty member Steve Cohen kicked things off by recounting several memories of Alorie, perhaps most notably her critical role (and eye!) in setting up English department courses, ensuring that the boarding program was meeting the residential students’ needs, and lending her voice to many a class and choral group. Steve recounted, “In so many classes, she brought song. I can hear her singing I’m Gonna Be An Engineer in my memory. In fact, I thought she had written it.” Steve concluded by saying “But most powerfully, Alorie knew kids. In the classroom and faculty meetings, she advocated for her students and advisees and helped all of us see ways in which we could help them through adolescence. Because of Alorie, we all understood each other a little bit better.”
Heather Reed ’66 read poems by Rumi and Mary Oliver, and told of her experience as a student living in the Trapelo Dorm with Craig and Alorie as her dorm parents. “Alorie was only 22 years old, a sister’s age,” she began, “yet to me from the beginning she was my second mother, the mother that wasn’t afraid to hug me and who helped me believe I was unique unto myself and worthy of love and affection. There was no judging from Alorie, just unconditional acceptance.”
Jane Reynolds, CSW English teacher and director of residential life, talked about her experience meeting Alorie for the first time at a job fair in Boston. While Alorie wasn’t inclined to offer Jane a full-time job as she had limited teaching experience, she saw enough potential in her to share the name of the English department chair so that Jane could take on an internship at CSW, where she has served as a member of the faculty ever since.
It turns out that the parallels between the two women’s lives is astonishing. “Did you know that Alorie and I were both Chairs of the English Department early on in our careers here at CSW?” Jane asked. “And that while I was on maternity leave, Alorie taught one of the classes which she had inspired me to create? That Alorie was a Dorm Parent with her husband Craig in Trapelo Dorm where I am now a Dorm Parent with my husband? And that they lived in the same apartment that my husband and I lived in until last year?”
Former CSW faculty member Martha Gray spoke next, tapping into what she described as her file of “Things to Treasure and Inspire” as a means of conveying what Alorie meant to her. The first poem she shared was Marge Percy’s “To Be of Use,” a piece expressing love and appreciation for those who “dive in head first.” “It would be impossible to outline every single thing that Alorie organized and implemented at CSW in addition to teaching and advising,” Martha said. The second poem Martha presented was “An Observation,” by May Sarton, a poem Martha deemed reflective of Alorie’s “unstinting devotion, integrity, and toughness in caring for her beloved students and advisees.”
The final speaker on the program was Craig Parkhill, Alorie’s husband, who shared snippets from Alorie’s life starting from age eight, when she used to write and perform plays with her dolls, and continuing on through her teenage years when she worked in summer theater, to her tenure as a writer and director in college, up to her time at CSW and beyond. “Alorie adored teaching,” Craig explained. “There are people who do not like teenagers, but Alorie (who in some ways always was a teenager in spirit) adored them and loved guiding them on their path.”
Craig noted that upon arriving at this year’s alumni/ae reunion in May, Alorie questioned her decision to attend, certain that no one would remember her. Of course, she was immediately proven wrong when an excited former student approached her before she had a chance to take more than fifteen steps on campus. At the end of the evening “it took a half hour for Alorie to leave the tent due to the number of people who had a word, or three, for her, before we could go home,” said Craig. “She knew everybody, and everybody knew her.”
The event concluded with Jane welcoming audience members to approach the podium to share their own remembrances of Alorie and a dozen people did just that, most of them former CSW students and colleagues. It was a rich and fitting way to end an afternoon of touching tributes to one of CSW’s most important and influential figures.
Our hearts go out to Craig, his and Alorie’s children, Paul Parkhill ’87 and Rebecca Parkhill ’85, and the entire extended Parkhill, Boyle and Hickler families.
Gifts in memory of Alorie may be made to:
The Alorie Parkhill Fund for Teaching and Mentoring
The Cambridge School of Weston
45 Georgian Road
Weston, MA 02493
45 Georgian Road
Weston, MA 02493
The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.