A Newsletter from the Abbot@Andover Committee

Summer 2025 Edition

Editors: Peggy Bliss ’74, Anne Allen McGrath ’73

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

A Note from the Co-Editors

Both of your A@A Newsletter co-editors were recently on campus for Alumni Council weekend and visited the June Leaf exhibit at the Addison. Wow. Talk about an embodiment of the Abbot Spirit in all its vibrancy, vitality, and multi-dimensions. If you haven’t been, we encourage you to go before the end of July, when the Addison exhibit comes down and begins its national tour. 

Co-editor Peggy Bliss ’74, chatting with Jane Cashin Demers ’73, at the “June Leaf: Shooting from the Heart” exhibit at the Addison Gallery.

While June Leaf didn’t attend Abbot, we can’t imagine anyone who better embodies the Abbot Spirit.  At a time when we’re trying to better define what the Abbot Spirit is, we are inspired to feature June Leaf in this newsletter.

The Abbot Spirit Survey Update:
It's Not Too Late to Participate

So far, we’ve received 55  awesome responses (the survey went to about 1200 Abbot alumnae, plus a few more recent grads).  

Just for fun, we asked Google AI to summarize the findings from a transcript of some survey responses. Here’s what we got:

Google AI response:

Ultimately, the essence of Abbot 
lies in its values of connection, creativity, 
and the pursuit of knowledge, 
fostering an enduring legacy of 
care and respect for women.

Not bad! But we want to balance that with one of our favorite human survey responses to the question: what does the Abbot Spirit mean to you?

…the fierce alchemy of independence, intellect, friendship, and mischief. Abbot taught us to think for ourselves, laugh hard, care deeply, and speak up...even when we weren’t sure we had the right words. 

It was a place where you could be deeply earnest one moment and delightfully irreverent the next. What stays with me are the lifelong friendships, others ephemeral but profound. I remember the sound of laughter in dorm halls. I remember the thrill of testing boundaries (social, intellectual, sartorial). 

I remember the unexpected freedom of a small school where the faculty truly knew us and where we could try on versions of ourselves until one started to fit. We came of age just as the world shifted, and Abbot gave us room to shift, too.

Take a moment to think about whether you agree with the responses above, and why.  Then, if you haven’t already, take a moment to share your thoughts, using the link below to take the survey.

While we will be offering a more formal analysis and report on the survey results within the coming months, we plan to keep the survey open… maybe forever.  We want to continue to learn what everyone in the Andover community thinks the Abbot Spirit means and assess how that changes over time.  In our view, the Abbot Spirit is a living thing, energized by all. 

A few reminders.

Click here to take “The Abbot Spirit” survey.

June Leaf:  Shooting from the Heart 

Though not an Abbot girl, June Leaf certainly expresses a lot of what people have told us was special about Abbot before it merged with Andover in 1973 and what the Abbot legacy added to Phillips Andover.  

The merger was controversial, but Abbot added its own values and perspective, which together grew into the “Knowledge and Goodness,” “Youth from Every Quarter,” “Academic Excellence,” and other values that the unified institution works hard to embody to this day.  Those that especially come to mind as embodied by June Leaf: creativity, intellect, tenacity, curiosity, and good taste in partners. (She married the photographer Robert Frank.)

Here are three pieces of her amazing art that seem especially connected to the Abbot Spirit, along with her comments and our commentary.

Click here to learn more about the June Leaf exhibit at the Addison Gallery through July 31, 2025. 

Click here to view the tour of the exhibit featuring the Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper Director of the Addison Gallery, Allison Kemmerer and the Robert M. Walker Curator of American Art, Gordon Wilkins.

Let’s Celebrate… a Fabulous Faux Wedding
Made Possible by an Abbot Academy Fund Grant

Photo by Kelvin Ma/The Phillipian

What’s more fun than a mock wedding for students to experience African culture through vibrant flavors, lively music, and dazzling garments? While the original on-campus event took place in February, alumnae attending the recent Abbot Day in McKeen Hall got a taste of the music, dancing, and costumes. They also learned about the event’s inspiration and all the planning, organizing, and publicity involved. 

Hosted by the African Students’ Association (ASA) and funded by the Abbot Academy Fund, the event aimed to challenge stereotypes, celebrate African joy and passion, and foster a shared cultural experience. 

The “Faux-Ever Yours” mock wedding featured a full wedding party and plenty of playful drama, including a bride secretly flirting and a parent who disapproves of the groom.  Despite staged objections, the wedding concluded harmoniously.  More than 100 students participated in the event, many sharing aspects of their own cultural backgrounds.

The event immersed attendees in culture through dancing, music, and regional foods. It also highlighted students’ organizational, leadership and  communication skills. Student organizers needed to find a DJ and restaurants for authentic catering, and sourced outfits from Nigeria and other African countries. They choreographed and performed diverse music and dance routines. They secured decorations reflecting East and West African traditions and then made videos to engage the student body and publicize the event. 

One student shared on Abbot Day that her confidence in planning, understanding, and communicating across so-called barriers grew significantly from this experience. As with any good merger, uniting diverse cultural traditions created lasting joy and impact. 

Abbot Trivia: Take a Peek Under Your Abbot Plate!

Cindy Sorensen ’63 recalls a charming tradition among her classmates: turning over their plates at meals with the hope of uncovering a secret message.  If the underside of the plate showed no sign of the “Indian” figure, then the day would pass uneventfully: no letters, no packages.  But discovering the “Indian” in one color meant a letter was on its way, and finding him painted more colorfully promised a package.  

Two versions of what you might find on the underside of your Abbot plate, if it was manufactured before the early 1960s by Shenango China.  The Abbot insignia was printed on the plate’s front.

By the following decade, classmates had another option for mail: daily correspondence to and from P.A., requiring only a name and no stamp.  

Adds Cindy:  “The Abbot plates were a sort of low-tech communication system.  In the days of just one telephone closet in Draper, we looked forward to mail, wonderful mail!  The plates were one of our low-tech magical resources to predict the day’s fortunes or a likely stroke of luck.  All mail was special.  A missive from anyone promised a day with added excitement.”

To read more about Shenango China, a company that also made plates for the White House in various eras, click here.  

The Maple Walk Goes Lilac

“Maple walk (and other trees) in the fall; flowering trees in the spring; the feeling of the Chapel when everyone was singing the hymns.”  –Anonymous Response to The Abbot Spirit Survey.

It’s hard to imagine anyone who attended Abbot Academy who doesn’t remember the sights and smells of the Maple Walk. But if you are fortunate enough to revisit during early May, take a big inhale and enjoy the lilacs.  

Lilacs are often associated with wisdom, purity, love, and new beginnings. Their heady fragrance evokes vivid memories and a sense of nostalgia. In Russian folklore, believers held lilacs over newborns to impart wisdom and nurture intellectual development. In American folklore, lilacs ward off evil. Orthodox Christians brought them on the Mayflower to ensure safe passage into the New World.  Everywhere they are connected to renewal, fresh starts, and spring’s promise of warmth and growth. 

More than anything, the lilacs remind us that our time at Abbot and/or Andover was a time of deep personal reflection and spiritual growth. 

Wherever you are when you next sniff their mystical fragrance, take time to remember and enjoy the power you still hold from the last time you walked the Maple Walk, whether it was fall or spring.

Where Is It?

One of two installations by artist Jennifer Cecere ’69 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the merger of Abbot Academy with Phillips Andover.

Maybe you recognize this bold, distinctive bench and know its location?  Maybe not (although the iconic Abbot Hall steps are a clear give-away).

Last year, Jennifer Cecere ’69 created two installations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy merger. One was a large, reflective doily on the Addison Gallery façade.  The other is a signature doily bench in the Abbot Circle.  Needless to say, both designs embody and celebrate–well, women and circles.

Jennifer’s work typically reimagines domestic crafts like doilies to showcase "women’s work" in public spaces. Dynamically linking both campuses, Cecere’s bold and outsized designs encourage reconsideration of the often-overlooked contributions of women artists and, by extension, the often-underappreciated yet lasting impact of Abbot Academy on the culture and traditions of Phillips Academy.  Her work was supported by another Abbot Academy Fund grant.

Abbot Edibles 
Remember Those Decadent 3-Layer Cookies from the Abbot Bazaar?

Photo by Karen Awad Tyler ’72

Anyone who attended Abbot in the early 1970s will remember the most-coveted treats to be had at the annual Abbot Bazaar.  There was one table that was sold-out by noon, and it was for Karen Awad’s renowned 3-layer cookies.  Enthusiasts rushed to get one before they melted.

Said Karen recently, after being begged to submit the recipe:
"I have to admit that revisiting this once coveted recipe did not serve my memory well. By my today standard they are a far cry from what I would call a decadent delight.... more along the lines of our old tuna casserole made with Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup!!  I guess that's progress!! :)  The recipe makes 64 1-inch squares. Honestly, I can't remember where we made them; we must have borrowed someone’s nearby kitchen.  I definitely can't remember the price....say back then...around 25 cents each?

My "grown-up palate" thinks they are too sweet. I would make a much thinner chocolate layer on top. Also, to stay away from "highly processed," I would leave out the pudding mix and add, instead, two to three teaspoons vanilla paste and substitute the milk with heavy cream in order to thin out to the desired consistency.

As a professional baker with my own custom cake business, I couldn’t help suggesting a few improvements. Enjoy."

Click here for the Abbot 3-Layer Cookies recipe. 

Click here for a link to Karen’s website and see what else she creates. Her cakes are celebrated today as Addison-worthy.  

Click here for a link to the complete From the Abbot Kitchens, a community cookbook published by the Abbot Alumni Council in 1970.

Upcoming Events

The events calendar for the year will launch shortly. You will hear from the school. Stay tuned!

Reach Out to Us

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, we encourage you to reach out to us.  Please share what you know or would like to know.

Click here to contact us.  

Abbot@Andover Committee

Co-Chairs: Faith Barnes ’74 & Lynne A. Langlois Hunter ’90

Committee Members
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, Lori Goodman Seegers ’73, P’05, Cynthia I. Sorensen ’63, Holly Robertson Taylor ’59, Pamela A. Yameen ’75