Service Award: Lynne Brick and Marge Dawson Help Maintain Bonds with Former Faculty and Staff

Retired Lower and Middle School Quaker Educator Lynne Brick and retired Second Grade Teacher Marge Dawson jointly received the Alumni Association Service Award for their dedicated, continuing contributions to maintaining relationships with former faculty and staff members and the school. They were presented with the award on Alumni Weekend by Lower/Middle School Computers Teacher and Assistant to the Director of Technology Lisa Thomas Martin ’84.

Lynne and Marge (along with the late former math teacher Neil Hartman) came up with the idea of adding a Former Faculty/Staff Reunion to the Alumni Weekend program in 2014. It has become one of the most beloved Alumni Weekend features, for both returning former faculty, staff, and administrators, and for alumni who greatly enjoy reconnecting with their teachers. They have also been generous with their time in signing letters and writing personal notes to their colleagues inviting them to come back – and each year the attendance has grown. The program even continued in 2021 with a Zoom gathering on the Virtual Alumni Weekend in the midst of the pandemic.

Both members of the Consecutive Years Giving Society, Lynne and Marge have unhesitatingly agreed to write solicitation letters for the Annual Fund adding a personal, peer-to-peer touch which inspires many former colleagues to continue to give to the school they know so well.

Lynne served as a Quaker educator from 1994 to 2013, helping to instill Quaker values to a wide age-range of children, from three-year-old preschoolers to sixth graders. She is remembered for introducing students to the idea of sitting together in silent worship, and for stressing the importance of kindness with her story-telling skills and the I-Care-Cat. She also played a leading role in the development of the 2004 Strategic Plan’s Examined Life Program, part of the school’s commitment to being more  intentional about its Quaker dimension.

Marge joined the Lower School in 1988, and retired in 2009. Along with fellow Second Grade Teacher Hazel Edwards, she helped to introduce the Second Grade’s Violin Program. Marge was also known for the Quaker Studies unit she developed, which included visits to local Meeting Houses.

Lynne and Marge together have strengthened the tradition of departed teachers and staff staying more closely connected to each other and to the school community, which is a lasting gift.

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