Summer 2026 Edition
Editors: Peggy Bliss ’74, Anne Allen McGrath ’73

"...celebrating and facilitating interaction among alumnae and perpetuating Abbot's spirit within the Andover Community"

Every June, many of us think back to June 9, 1973, when Abbot’s last class—115 young women strong—graduated. This year, while sorting through the accumulated evidence of a life well lived and a house well filled, co-editor Anne Allen McGrath ’73 came across Volume IV, Number 2 of the Abbot Forum, the final issue of Abbot’s alumnae magazine, featuring the cover above. Madam Sarah Abbot certainly looks dignified and determined.

This got Anne to thinking about Madam Sarah and how her “widow’s fortune” of $1,000 keeps multiplying. To read Anne’s essay click here.

To a most fortunate generation of Abbot students in the early 1970s, she was Mrs. Ladd, the teacher who made literature matter and made young women feel that their voices mattered, too. Today, she is Francie Nolde ’54, and the life she built beyond the classroom is just as extraordinary—spanning education, co-educational leadership, corporate management, psychotherapy, bereavement counseling, and end-of-life care.

A@A Newsletter contributor Ro Nicolosi ’75 recently spent more than a few hours via phone and Zoom with Francie… and then was among those who convinced her to join our A@A Committee. We have yet to assign Francie a specific role, but suffice it to say: we’ll have fewer grammatical errors and lots of wonderful new content.

To read Ro’s thoughtful profile (co-written by Anne) of this amazing Abbot-spirited woman, click here.

The qualities highlighted in the Abbot Spirit Survey Report are qualities that were important from the beginning and are still valued today.  The current search for Andover’s new head of school highlights two important values: “Excellence” and “Joy.”  While these values have been defined in various ways over the days, weeks, months, years, and even centuries, as Andover approaches its 250th Anniversary, it is worthwhile to reflect on the activities and experiences emphasized during the school’s founding years—and to consider how we might reinterpret them for today.

Mae Concemi Bradshaw ’62 went back to take a fresh look at what we would learn from the past about the Abbot spirit.  Her primary source was the History of Abbot Academy written by the McKeen sisters themselves, Philena McKeen and Phebe F. McKeen.  In many ways, we can thank them for creating the Abbot spirit.   

To read Mae’s wonderful summary of the meaning of the Abbot spirit from a rich historical perspective, click here.

To read the full Abbot Spirit Survey report: click here.

PA Student Nathan Wu ’27 is the latest among many who reflected on the lasting value of Abbot’s telescope and more broadly on its impact on women in astronomy.  We are grateful that he shared his final OWHL [Oliver Wendall Holmes Library] Scholar’s presentation with us so we can share it with you.  

Nathan first became passionate about astronomy while visiting British Columbia, Canada. For the first time, he could see all the night sky’s stars since they were not obscured by the light pollution in his native Hong Kong. From that time, Nathan taught himself as much as he could about astronomy.  Attending PA has served magnificently to deepen that passion.

Nathan also became interested in history at PA, which led him to combine the two disciplines in his OWHL Scholar presentation on the Abbot Telescope and the connected history of women in astronomy and their contributions.

This was also a rare and fulfilling opportunity for Abbot alumnae, an Abbot teacher, and a PA alumnus to work with an inspiring current PA student. The result is a wonderfully professional–dare we say “stellar”!–illustrated presentation, which you can find here.

For generations of Abbot girls, the class ring marked a defining moment of belonging. More than a piece of jewelry, it was a visible sign of loyalty to the school, to one another, and to the traditions that shaped life on the Abbot Circle.

At graduation, after chapel, Seniors and Junior Middlers gathered in the Senior Courtyard for the Ring Ceremony, one of Abbot’s most distinctive rites of passage.  As you may recall, this central garden was completely enclosed by the three sides of Draper Hall, with the dining room wall as the fourth side.  

By tradition, Junior Mids wore their rings with the “AA” upside-down until that day; with a Senior sponsor at her side, each young woman turned her ring upright, signaling her welcome into the new Senior class of Abbot women.

At Abbot’s last graduation before the 1973 merger with Phillips Academy, the class ring carried an added layer of meaning. That year, all students who wished to do so were invited to purchase an Abbot ring, allowing more alumnae to carry forward a tangible reminder of the school and its traditions that had long bound its students to one another.

Even as Abbot entered a new chapter in 1973, the ring offered students a way to hold fast to what mattered most: the school’s values and legacy. In that sense, it became more than a graduation custom. It is a lasting emblem of a community whose spirit endures in the lives, traditions, and lasting connections among Abbot alumnae.

The Board of the Abbot Academy Fund held its Spring 2026 meeting on campus on Thursday, May 14th. Among the many awards, five stand out as indicative of the reach of the Abbot Academy Fund to enrich student life at Andover and emphasize the Abbot spirit of boldness, innovation and caring.  

One grant focused on the great sport of badminton. The photo above is from the Abbot Academy Archive, circa 1932.

To read about these five grants from the Abbot Academy Fund, click here.

Cauliflower polonaise is probably not a dish many of us readily remember relishing at Abbot. I certainly didn’t—but once I made it, the flavors of the early seventies came rushing back: rich with butter, crisp with breadcrumbs, and garnished with parsley. I prepared it as written in From the Abbot Kitchens and delighted in the memories it stirred up. 

In cooking, polonaise (or à la polonaise) refers to a classic garnish or sauce of Polish origin, popularized in French cuisine. And, as in the Bondis’ recipe, it typically consists of breadcrumbs browned in butter, and tossed with chopped hard-boiled eggs, fresh herbs (like parsley), and a touch of lemon juice.

Cauliflower Polonaise 

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small heads of cauliflower

1 cup bread or cracker crumbs

2 hard cooked eggs, chopped

¾ cup melted butter or margarine

Grated rind of one lemon

3 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1 tsp. salt

Directions

Boil cauliflower in salted water until tender. Drain. Place in buttered casserole, and top with a mixture of the rest of the ingredients. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Serves 6 to 8. 

If I were to make it again, I’d add cumin to spice it up, and I’d use less butter and more olive oil.

Join us virtually for an evening of connection and community, whether you’re hoping to make a new friend or reconnect with an old one. Breakout rooms will offer space to gather, so bring your favorite snack and drink for a relaxed “virtual tiffin” as we stroll down memory lane together.

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

7–8:30 p.m. ET 

Hosted Virtually. Registration to open in July. 

Our goal is to make this newsletter relevant and engaging to all who care about Abbot’s legacy at Andover. If you have story ideas, questions, or suggestions of any kind, please reach out to us. Please share what you know or would like to know.

Click here to contact us, including if you'd like to be added to the A@A Newsletter list of subscribers. 

Abbot@Andover Committee

Co-Chairs:  & Lynne A. Langlois Hunter ’90

Committee Members
Faith Barnes ’74, Peggy Bliss ’74, Martha Mason Denzel ’62, Betsy Bruns Eaton ’62,
Dara Donahue Hogan ’83, Audrey MacLean ’53, Priscilla A. Martel ’74,
Anne Allen McGrath ’73, Rosemary B. Nicolosi ’75, Francie Nolde ’54, Tiffany Horne Noonan ’99, Cynthia I. Sorensen ’63, Pamela A. Yameen ’75