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Schools & Program
Visits - Jul, 1999 Issue #59
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The Last Tuttle/Gundry Tour
April 17-23, 1999
Visit Report from Jodi Tuttle, Roving Correspondent
(435) 656-1251
jodit@redrock.net
Yes, it’s true! This Pennsylvania Tour was the last Tuttle/Gundry Tour. Carol
Gundry decided to retire. Somehow, Carol has come to believe that the three “G’s” should take precedence in her life—gardening, golf
and grandchildren. I didn’t ask and didn’t want to know Carol’s order of preference here. Anyway, Carol and I both would like to take
this opportunity to thank all the schools, programs and consultants who have participated in our past tours. All those tour memories
will remain close to our hearts forever.
The next question, “Will Jodi continue the tours?” Yes, however they will
not be conducted with the same order and fashion as before. The reason is that Jodi is not as detailed and orderly as Carol, who did
the past tour planning. Future tours will be conducted as Apen Educational Services, Rustic Roll Tours. This means they might be conducted
in any fashion and could possibly have my sheepcamp wagon towing along behind. I would like to say I definitely will miss Carol as
I move forward with my tours. Carol was a wonderful business partner and will continue to remain a great friend.
Let’s move on to Pennsylvania. The group of consultants who shared this last
tour included Paula Feldman, CA; Leslie Goldberg, MA; Michele Gorman, CT; Anne Lewis, CA; and Lynn Luckenback, MI. We gathered in
Philadelphia for our venture and headed for Mercersberg to visit Mercersberg Academy, who was kind enough to allow us to come visit
on a Sunday. It turned out to be a great visit since they had a wonderful choral event going in the afternoon. The evening brought
us back to the wonderful Amish country in Intercourse, PA., where many families were returning home from worship meetings in their
horse drawn buggies.
Monday, it was off to see Lynn McDowell at Linden Hall School, Vicky Kocis
at Kid’s Peace, and Gregory Buckles and Kim Marburger at The Hill School. At Linden Hall School, we were treated to breakfast in the
headmaster’s early American restored home. Kid’s Peace was gracious enough to allow us to visit even though they were headlong into
their JACHO Accreditation renewal that kept everyone extremely busy. This was our first trip to The Hill School since they became
a coed school. The evening ended with a great storytelling episode in the living room of the Hill Guest House.
Tuesday, it was on to visit Carol Dougherty at Perkiomen School and Louise
Robertson at Pathway School. Of course, it was raining as it has on nearly every trip we have made to Perkiomen School over the years.
We got up in the morning and said, “It’s raining, it must be Perkiomen today.” Meanwhile, Carol Dougherty got up and said, “It’s raining,
it must be the Tuttle/Gundry Tour.” After Pathway, we managed to get lost in the work-hour traffic trying to find the hotel. Then,
we discovered a glitch in the hotel arrangements and had to move to another hotel. Since it was close to a large shopping mall, nobody
seemed to mind the adjustment.
The next day found us at Solebury School with Karl Welsh and West Nottingham
Academy with Ken Michelsen. We enjoyed a poetry reading session at Solebury and a visit to their new dormitory. At West Nottingham,
they were devoting the day to clean-up and building new things on the campus, with a picnic and contests in the afternoon. They also
boasted a new dormitory. Upon arriving at our hotel that night, we learned that the water was off, to be turned on by the time we
returned from dinner. Well, it wasn’t, thus necessitating a move to a new motel at nine o’clock in the evening. After this, we were
afraid to arrive at any more motels!
We were up early to have breakfast with Jim Spiro at Phelps School, before
heading to see Ken Roberts at Valley Forge Military Academy, and Sarah Goebel at Westtown School. The highlight of our trip to Valley
Forge was a noon parade with some students receiving awards. This visit gave many consultants a new impression of military schools.
Valley Forge certainly isn’t what the old, rigid military schools used to be. They did, though, provide good solid structure. It was
a wonderful to be on the park-like campus of Westtown, feeling nature again after traveling so long. We also enjoyed their art gallery.
We ended our trip with Barbara Ecstein at George School, and Diane Monteleone
at Pennington School. George School also has a beautiful wooded campus where walking was a joy. The art studios at George caught our
attention. They had some great work going on. Pennington was showing their new admission house and office. At the end of the day,
it was back to the airport to say goodbye to a wonderful group of consultants who had provided much rollicking entertainment during
the van trips and storytelling time. No, I won’t repeat some of the stories.
Copyright © 1999, Woodbury Reports, Inc. (This article may be reproduced
without prior approval if the copyright notice and proper publication and author attribution accompanies the copy.)
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