On Saturday, June 6, the second day of Reunion Weekend, Chaffee graduates attended a breakfast at the Sill House, eating in the same room where they dined as students, then walked across the street to their former school.   

“Being in this room, and hearing everyone singing grace,” responded Kathy Duke Roby ’69 when asked what came to her mind first when she thought about the room. “It’s different, but it’s not. You can still see the tables as they were and Mrs. Erickson with her pitch pipe [signaling the start of singing grace).”   

Then Kathy said, “We’re the instigators. Last year and the year before we started singing grace and everybody started following along.” This year was no different.    

The 100th anniversary of The Chaffee School is being celebrated during the 2026–27 school year.   

Franci Vinal Farnsworth ’69 said what keeps her coming back to the breakfast and Reunion Weekend are “the friends. And to honor the school because it provided me such a great education.” And a bit of fun, too.   

Franci recalled freshman initiation and a classmate dressed as a banana. “Remember the banana?” she said to her table mates. The theme of the initiation had been dressing as a fruit or a vegetable. Kathy had dressed as the Jolly Green Giant. “Considering I’m 5-foot-nothing,” she said and let out a laugh.    

Amy Silliman Avedisian '69 said Chaffee taught her how to study and develop a love for education. She went on to graduate from nursing school at the University of Connecticut. “I was very aware of the great education I had at Chaffee and did not struggle at all [at UConn]. I had a great career.”    

Jane Sobuta Rath '66 and Sally Perrin Gibbs ’66 grew up together in West Hartford, Conn. They rode the bus to Chaffee together.   

“Chaffee gave me very good guidance on how to live your life, what is important in life,” Sally said. And memories of the dining hall? “I remember sitting at the French table, which was a bit scary because you had to speak French,” she said. “I remember students serving, some work chores, washing and drying dishes.”    

Jane remembers her experience as being defined by a “sisterhood and scholarship.” She recalled a lecture by a local architect during her senior year. “He described what he did, and I thought, ‘I want to do that.’”   

And she did that. Jane has been a principal at SMP Architects in Philadelphia for nearly 40 years. The firm has done a lot of work for schools in the Philadelphia area, including the University of Pennsylvania. SMP also has worked on environmental and visitor centers.   

“I enjoy collecting a lot of data, understanding how people use space, how they want to use space, what their needs are, what the demands of the site are, and somehow pulling it all together into something that, hopefully, is inspirational and helps make lives better,” Jane said.   

After breakfast, the attendees had a group photo taken, then walked to what had been the main school building. The door opened, unlocking all those memories from 50, 60 years ago. Now a Montessori school and daycare center, this was their school — The Chaffee School. Eva Stevens Clark ’54 recalled as she was walking to the school that her class was small enough that she could remember all their names, and she started reciting them.   

Inside the building, the memories came out one after another as did the names of teachers. Miss Lowengard. Miss Butterworth. Miss Fuller. One of the Chaffee alumnae remembered that Miss Fuller had students spell judgment over and over again.  Maybe not back then, but now she could appreciate it. “I’m so glad because everybody misspells it except for us.”   

As a group of graduates stood in the gym, they talked about the morning gatherings held there. Sitting alphabetically for roll call. Morning chapel. There were plays, dances, sports. The center of their daily lives. Memories of a lifetime.   

Back on the Loomis Chaffee campus, Reunion Weekend continued with various activities. Eva led the Parade of Classes as 1954 was the earliest class year represented in the parade this year. Later on Saturday, Evie Smith, who died in January, was remembered. Evie ’50 spent 34 years as a teacher and administrator at Chaffee and Loomis Chaffee. Chaffee grads shared their memories of Evie, both orally and in Post-it notes on easels.    

Each Post-it note had a smiley face on it, a signature of Evie. “If you received a hand-written note from her,” said history teacher and school archivist Kaen Parsons, “they were usually signed with her name and a smiley face. So in planning this event, we began to think of that as spirit of the smiley face, the can-do attitude, the positiveness, the sort of get-real-and-get-on wisdom she gave all of us.”     

One Post-it note on an easel read, “Miss Smith made me feel seen and let me know I could do anything I put my mind to. She was a great advisor.” Another was about Evie’s view of advising students. “Keep the triangle open” was Evie’s advice. That triangle consists of advisor, student, and parents. Yet another described Evie as “always positive, full of fun, dedicated, a lover of travel, a mentor, a friend.” And here’s one that might fit into the get-real-and-get-on category: “You need a belt on that dress or you’re one step toward a Deep Six!  I made a belt out of rope. ...” The ellipses ran right into the smiley face.   

At the conclusion of the event for Evie, packages of smiley-face notes were available as parting gifts for all who attended.