RE Log Spring 2018

2 Ransom Everglades LOG SPRING 2018 From the Pagoda Ransom Everglades’ long history is preserved in the grainy photos, weathered tomes and faded letters that populate the school’s extensive archives. Despite the age of those materials and the inevitable decay they face, the stories they convey remain vivid and alive, and the values they memorialize continue to guide our students and faculty. Those enduring values provide the real value added – or, more precisely, values added – of a Ransom Everglades education. Our school was built on values handed down by founder Paul Ransom, who firmly believed that no one could be an adequate individual or citizen unless he or she was well read, well informed and determined to make the world better. He was conscious of the part that the discipline of learning played in the development of character, and he was convinced that good manners, thoughtfulness, generosity, decency and courage were some of the permanent values necessary to maintain an intelligent, just and free society. As we march forward with the REinventing Excellence capital campaign that we launched last fall, we hold tightly to our history and the values passed down to us, and recognize and celebrate the people who advanced and preserved them. Schools may be constructed from bricks and cement blocks, but they are built around people, and we feature a few of the finest in this edition of the Ransom Everglades Log . Harry Anderson ’38 will soon celebrate his 80th reunion, a breathtaking milestone that captures the remarkable length of his connection to RE, but doesn’t begin to illustrate the depth of his engagement with our school that continues to this day. Harry’s contributions to Ransom Everglades over seven decades are so extensive we couldn’t possibly catalog them, but we tried to capture the magnitude of his influence in a story that begins on page six. As former RE board chair Eric Buermann ’69 told us: “Whenever the school needs him, he is there.” We also celebrate the career of Robert “Doc” Crabtree, who is finishing the last of 36 stellar years in the classroom at Ransom Everglades. Doc, best known for his biology and anatomy/physiology classes and leadership of the girls’ cross country team, brings the passion and work ethic of the most respected educators. He excites students with his enthusiasm A values-added education