Founders Day 2010

The following are my opening remarks to this year's Founders Day. I will never forget
extraordinary singing from our concert choir at the end of the program. Andrew Cox '10
rearranged "Sing Out for Derryfield" and the entire auditorium discovered the song all
again - it was exceptional.

I have the honor of Welcoming everyone to Founders Day. My name is Craig Sellers,
I am the Head of School of The Derryfield School, and we all have the honor of being
in the same room with some very, very important people today. Welcome to faculty,
staff, students, parents and alumni – I think we will have an inspiring morning together.

On behalf of the entire Derryfield School, I want to extend a warm, grateful and
genuine welcome to those who are the Founders of our School. We look forward to
thanking you, to applauding your presence, but before we do that the History teacher
in me says that first I should briefly create some context:

In the early 1960's some local parents started meeting in Manchester and Bedford homes, talking about the dream of starting an independent college preparatory, day school. They had a vision, and that was a desire to have an extraordinary education for their children, and still have their children come home at night to have dinner, talk about the day, and go to sleep under one roof. This timeless idea led to convincing 39 families to contribute $1000 each (a lot of money then) so that the Head of the Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul's School, Philip Hugny, could be hired and set up in a tiny office to plan a school. During that time, 1963 & 1964, the Founders recruited students, rented buildings, talked with parents, and a myriad of other details that became the future of our school.


The school opened in 1965 with 108 students and 11 faculty. The basic building on River Road was built and opened in 1967.


Our Founders – our Jeffersons, our Franklins, our amongst us today. Each had an integral role – take one away in those early days, and we might not be here. Change one significant decision, and we may have gone off in a different direction. Each had a determination to work against the odds for something timeless, something inspiring, something that ultimately became the Derryfield School.

I look forward to this day in part because the Founders remind us about the power of a
great idea. The vision of combining profoundly talented faculty, eager students and a
culture of respect – all while having our children home for dinner at night – well, that
is simply a timeless and powerful. As much as the world has changed since the
early 1960s, as much as the pace of change is likely to do nothing but accelerate, our
school was conceived with timeless ideals in mind.

One of the many habits that I admire about our school is that we set this day aside each year
to remind us of that eternal vision, and to let us express our gratitude to you.

I would like the following Founders to stand at this time so that we can applaud you and thank you

· Ann Feins
· Hilda Fleisher
· Ellie Freedman
· David Stahl
· Dick and Fran Winneg