CHESHIRE
STORIES
A Multifaceted Look at Cheshire’s Lore and Legacy
With more than 230 years of history, Cheshire Academy has a wealth of stories. From personal anecdotes to monumental speeches to points of pride that show how our faculty, staff, students, and whole community have shaped – and been shaped by – the world around us.
During his 37-year teaching career, Robert “Chip” Boyd P’98,’10 has held CA’s history dear. Now, as alumni engagement associate, Boyd shares these “Cheshire Stories,” memories and musings from alumni, faculty, and friends. Some are pulled from the history books and news accounts, while others stem from casual conversations. No matter the source, they all speak to Cheshire’s lasting legacy.
1936 Commencement: How the Roxbury School Became Cheshire Academy
December 17, 2025
One of the many interesting aspects of my 37-year career at Cheshire Academy is thinking about the 232-year history of the school and my place in it. I wrote 4,500 words about the school’s history over two issues of 1794 Magazine seven years ago. (The full article is available on the school website.) It was fascinating digging into the archives and thinking about the ties between the earlier years of the school and the present time. This experience is one impetus among many to include stories from CA’s complex past in the monthly alumni and friends newsletter. It is a source of wonder and meaning for me – and I hope for you – to be part of such a venerable and enduring American institution. Over our recent break, I watched Ken Burns’ documentary masterwork on the American Revolution, a story of terrible violence, political passion and fervent, indomitable belief. Throughout my viewing experience, I thought about the beginning of Cheshire Academy in 1794, just a decade after the terrible violence and upheavals of the war had ended. Cheshire Academy, founded as The Episcopal Academy, was an extraordinary, critical part of a new nation struggling to define itself and grow. I hope as an alumnus you feel the power and intellectual thrill of this and feel a responsibility to help the school carry on its amazing legacy.
The story this month is focused on the Commencement Address of 1936, an eloquent speech delivered by 1883 CA graduate Reverend Dr. William A. Beardsley. He begins by stating that he had spoken as a student at the Commencement of 1883 and was now on a CA Commencement stage again, 53 years later. In the mid 1930s the school was in transition from being named The Roxbury School to becoming Cheshire Academy, which Dr. Beardsley identifies as an inflection point in the school’s history.
As a student of history, I know we can’t understand the present clearly without insight into the past. It is important to interpret the historical context of the speech in 1936. Dr. Beardsley’s speech shines with the cautious optimism of a country that was slowly emerging from a crippling depression. A wildly popular FDR had been elected for a second term, and a once-stagnant nation was moving forward again.
Early in his speech, Dr. Beardsley expressed his fascination with the long history of our school. The Episcopal Academy (the first name of the school) had “opened its doors” 142 years earlier, and, despite a “checkered and checked” history, the school, in Reverend Beardsley’s account, had maintained a core identity from 1794 to 1936. The second change of the school’s name, he assured his listeners, was not to be understood as a change in this core identity.
“However, in the light of what is going on here in the school, in the light of the splendid effort being made not to resurrect an old school but to restore the connections to the past, to pick up the old traditions so far as it may be desirable and possible to do so, to link the new Cheshire with the old……”
Dr. Beardsley continues:
“After all there is a certain prestige in age. We shall have to admit that even in this garishly new day. We go abroad and wander through the grounds and buildings of some ancient educational foundation and we feel the charm of its antiquity, of the concentrated glory if its years…”
Continuing to meditate on the value and cultural importance of Cheshire’s long history, Dr. Beardsley writes:
“…The Cheshire Academy, with all the spirit and enthusiasm of youth, actuated and guided by the educational methods of the new day, indeed a modern school, may yet have the charm and glory of antiquity, because the stage is set for that very thing, because it has fallen heir to academic traditions which reach back into the remote past. That is not a legacy that falls to many schools establishing themselves today. But it has fallen to this school, and those in authority are laying claim to it, very wisely, I think.”
I can imagine how pleased he would have been to know that his words would someday echo so strongly in 2025, after many more years had become part of our “concentrated glory.” Our school has been in existence since the institutional beginning of the United States, and we are, despite a “checkered and checked” history, still shining brightly today. Those of us who have been here for decades see clearly how much renewal has occurred in recent years and how much attention is being paid to modern educational methodology. In fact, this year’s opening faculty meetings included significant time spent with an author of several books on brain science and learning. The faculty spoke highly of this experience, even though much of it was familiar to many teachers. One can only wonder exactly what Dr. Beardsley was referencing when he speaks of the “educational methods of the new day” in 1936, which, no doubt, would seem somewhat primitive to us today.
Dr. Beardsley concludes,
“This bit of preachment grew out of the thought of the restoration of the connections of the new Cheshire with the old Cheshire Academy, and through it all rings the note of loyalty, loyalty to the ideals of the past and loyalty to the men who made these ideals effective.”
We should all be proud of the effort, imagination, and endurance that have allowed CA to move forward so confidently into the 21st century. We are all part of this story. Two threads connect all eras of Cheshire Academy. One is the hopefulness issuing from our passionate dedication to exploring the best potentials of humanity. The other is genuine dedication to the individual student. Independent schools are evaluated every 10 years by committees comprised of visitors from peer schools who spend several days on campus. Our last evaluation, about five years ago, led to several “major commendations.” The first one on that great list was the following: “Faculty members at CA know their students very well.”
After enduring through the turbulent 1960s, the school hit one of its “checkered” periods, which had consequences for many years to follow. But we have moved on from that time with distinction. We have grown in every way, but, like any school, we are “checked” to some degree when our alumni are not connected to the present life of the school. We are wise today, as Dr. Beardsley noted in his own time, to lay claim to the extraordinary legacy of Cheshire Academy. Dr. Beardsley asks for loyalty to the past and to the men who had given the school the character and value it possessed. We make the same appeal to you today: we ask you to join us in celebrating the legacy of the men and women who have helped CA persevere and flourish, and we ask for your loyalty and commitment to the school’s future. What will people say about us 100 years from now? Will we do our part to usher CA into an ever more exciting and amazing future? We all have it within us to help make this happen. It’s going to take teamwork.
If you haven’t been back to campus in recent years, think about attending alumni weekend or some other event on campus. Like Dr. Beardsley, you may experience something of the “concentrated glory” of our 232-year-old school and feel how wonderful it is to be part of it.
The Gardiner Story
November 20, 2025
In conversation with Phil Gardiner ’81
It was the summer of 1979. In the fall, I would start my year as a junior at CA. Then English Department Chair Bob Gardiner was, unbeknownst to me at the time, “sweating bullets.” He was scheduled to teach Honors English to juniors in the fall, for which I had somehow qualified. Apparently, having his son in class made him very nervous.
Lo and behold, the stars aligned in the form of a young English teacher looking for work. With an eclectic taste in literature, a penchant for photography, and a black belt in Karate, he was the antithesis of a traditional prep-school English teacher. What possessed my father to hire this man was probably both desperation and a belief, or better yet an intuitive “knowing,” that what this man had to offer would be good for me, for him, and possibly the school.
Of course, a standard prep school curriculum was out of the question. Let’s see if I remember what we read in no particular order: Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Ken Kesey, No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Essays included “On Self-Respect” by Joan Didion in her anthology Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Erik Erickson’s “Identity, Youth and Crisis,” and Harry Stack Sullivan’s “Interpersonal Relationships and the Family.” I’m sure there were others. (Editor’s Note: How many readers recall even 20% of their freshman year reading?)
Unbeknownst to me at the start of the year, he would become the best teacher I ever had. His curiosity about the human condition combined with an indomitable belief in his students’ capabilities, forged an enduring relationship with me and others in and out of the classroom. His name is Bill Laven. He and his wife, Christine, own and run Potrero Nuevo Farm in Northern CA.
1932 Roxbury Review: Cheshire Academy Student Reflects on FDR
October 22, 2025
Our “CA story” this month is derived from a student editorial written for the school newspaper, The Roxbury Review, on November 18, 1932. It is interesting and perhaps sobering to read it in our inflamed and difficult political period.
The young editorial writer, not yet a voter, laments that he had recently heard President Herbert Hoover booed when his image was displayed on the screen in a movie theater. He writes, “Although he may have made a few mistakes while president, he did not make those mistakes to wreck this country. Far from it, he had the best intentions at heart.” He then reflects on President-elect Franklin Roosevelt: “He is bound to make some mistakes, but the American people should get down to business and help him solve our difficulties. That was the spirit of the country in 1777 and that must be the spirit of the country before we get out of this depression.”
The writer, who had no byline, goes on to complain about the negativity of most politicians and then asks a critical question: “I would like to know what these men, who are supposed to be the most representative of the United States, cherish most: their country, their party or themselves? If it is the last of these, why do they disgust the younger generation, who will soon be voters, by their actions? Why do they make them think the government is run by a lot of selfish men?”
We can see naiveté here but also the hopefulness and commitment to a better country that is essential to any democracy. We are also reminded that democracy is an experiment requiring the goodwill and engagement of informed citizens. What editorial might one of our students write today that could be read almost 100 years from now? Will we be proud of what we have bequeathed to future generations?
The Act of Courage and Kindness That Gave O’Connor House Its Name
September 23, 2025
Nearly all readers know the name David Markin. David’s name is attached to several major structures on campus. Few readers, however, know about his role in assigning the name “O’Connor” to our Head of School residence.
David arrived at CA in 1947 at a time when, to their discredit, many schools did not admit Jewish students. Also attending CA at that time was a young man named George O’Connor, one of 350 World War II veterans who would attend CA between 1947 and 1950, making use the GI Bill.
One day on campus George noticed a group of boys harassing another boy. It was David. Given the distorted spirit of the times, this harassment may have had something to do with David’s Jewish identity, but that is not certain. He approached the group and told them that they would cease their bullying or would have to deal with him personally in a way they would not enjoy. I will leave to the reader’s imagination exactly what language he may have used. George was not a physically imposing figure, but he had survived combat missions in the war and was clearly not intimidated by some high school bullies.
That very moment was the start of a lifelong friendship between David and George. Many years later, upon the occasion of a major contribution to the construction of the Head’s residence, David insisted that the house be named after George O’Connor.
I have shared this story with current students to illuminate the idea that a moment of courage, support, and kindness towards another student in need of help can be transformative in unexpected ways. I will add that George helped the group of bullies, too.
Want to contribute?
Do you have a CA story that illuminates the nature of our great school? If so, please email something in the range of 200-300 words to chip.boyd@cheshireacademy.org.
