Beaver Reflections:
I graduated in 1958. I was at Beaver for five years. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m not a strong student, I never have been, probably being a little bit lazy, but they were very patient with me. In 8th grade, we had half a year of typing, and Mrs. Pilkrantzs was so patient with us. I can now sit down at a keyboard and know where everything is. Senior year, I also took a practical math course, and it really prepared me for the world out there. Banking, stock markets, and that kind of thing. I learned an awful lot in school and all of a sudden it seemed to fit into place after I graduated. One teacher that was a favorite of mine was a physical education teacher, Theadora Rooney, O’Conner was her married name or Pippy O’Conner as I knew her. She kept saying, “Kitty, sports aren’t going to get you through life. You gotta zero in on your studies.” That was very good for me to hear not coming from Mother and Daddy, but hearing it from someone who was a step away from the family. It gave me a lot of motivation. I didn’t get A’s or B’s, but I got the motivation, so I would have to say Pippy was my favorite teacher. She was a friend of mine until the day she died.

What is #happeningnow in your life:
What am I up to now? I got the dog sitting in my lap and I am patting her. I went to Briarcliff for two years and graduated from there and got married right away and we were fortunate that we had children while we were young, but I had a deal with my dad that if I mowed the lawn, and we had several acres of land to be mowed, I could play all the golf I wanted to, but I had to pay for my own golf balls. Golf has always been with me. But I also volunteered at least 15 hours a week at the Lion Inn, which became part of Brigham and Women’s. By the time they were merging, I went to work full-time, which I hadn’t planned to, in a tax department at a law firm in Boston. I’ve always liked numbers. Presently I am the chairman of the elder housing committee here in the town of Sherborn. We manage twenty-four apartments for anyone who is 62 or older.

“I always get chills when I come up the drive and look up and see the cupola. That to me is very special.”

– Kitty Sturgis ’58

Advice to current Beaver Students:
My advice would be the administration enables you to be exposed to many many different areas of life in studies or in different organizations. Take advantage of it. Even if it’s just a sprinkle of it. You’ll be amazed as the years go it will come back and you’ll think, “Oh I learned something about that 40 years ago.”