Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 2

F

rom the Headmaster

Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends
of Thornton Academy,
This issue of Postscripts devotes itself to the idea
of “legacy.” A popular adage holds that we stand
on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.
Everywhere on Thornton Academy’s campus I see
buildings and programs that show me this is true.
When I walk to my office in the Main Building every
day, I see the determination of citizens who banded
together in the 1880s and rebuilt their school after a
devastating fire.

Headmaster Menard traverses
campus every day from the
Headmaster’s House, where
he lives with his family, to
Administrative Offices in
Thornton Academy’s Main
Building.

When I attend an event in the library or walk through
the art exhibits in our gallery, I think of the generosity
of Mary Weymouth Hyde, Class of 1910, and Edward
O’Neill, Class of 1928, generous supporters of
Thornton Academy who made these spaces possible.
And when I return home each day to the Headmaster’s
House on campus, I think of a story that Ray Shorey,
Class of 1949 told me. Most of us have relatives who
joke that they walked miles through rain, sleet, and
snow to school “back in their day.” Well, Ray Shorey
really did. When Ray attended Thornton Academy,
he found himself having to walk 14 miles to return
home from school each day. To Ray’s good fortune,
Headmaster Porter C. Greene noticed. Ray explained
to me, “If Headmaster Greene had not brought me to
live with his family at the Headmaster’s House, I would
never have been able to stay in school” (see Ray’s full
story on p. 18).
That experience shaped Ray such that he has become
a member of the 1811 Society, a group of alumni,
parents, and friends who have included Thornton
Academy in their estate and plan to leave a legacy
behind them.

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Mindful of students today facing similar obstacles to staying
in school, my classmates from the Class of 1988—in a gesture
that touched me in its expression of care for young people in
need— established a Headmaster’s Fund. This Headmaster’s
Fund supports students who, because of family situations, must
move out of Saco part way through their education, but wish to
continue as a Thornton Academy student.
So, as you read through the stories that follow, and hear how
alumni feel about standing on the shoulders of those who came
before them, or how they are making sure that they leave a
legacy behind them, ask yourself: what legacy would you like to
leave?

Rene M. Menard ’88, Headmaster