Remembering Teacher and Coach Wally Rowe H’57 P’77 ’79

Wallace Rowe_black and white image contributed by family

Wallace H. Rowe III H’57 P’77 ’79, a beloved member of the faculty from 1956 to 1979, passed away on September 21, 2024, in New Hampshire. “Wally” taught English, served as English Department Chair, coached wrestling, football, and JV tennis, and served as a house parent and advisor. Through his passion, warmth, and characteristic good humor, he had an enormous influence on many of his students. Four decades later, the school continues to honor him through The Wallace H. Rowe III Chair in Critical Expression established in his name, and the Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery, dedicated by Thomas Perakos ’69 and the Class of 1969 in celebration of their 50th reunion.
 

According to his obituary, Rowe was born in Pittsburgh on August 27, 1931, and later moved with his family to Pasadena, California. He attended the Fountain Valley School, located on 1,100 acres at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs. “His four happy years there, with pack trips on the one hand and Gilbert & Sullivan productions on the other, all under the guidance of an extraordinary set of teachers, determined his own future career,” his obituary said.

Rowe went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Princeton, and a master’s from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he met his future wife, Carol Hawkins P’77 ’79, and served in the U.S. Army prior to arriving at The Gunnery in 1956. He and James Haddick H’82, Dave Renkert ’52, and Ned Swigart P’82 were among the seven new faculty members introduced that fall by then-Head of School Ogden D. Miller H’69 P’50 ’54 ’55 GP’84 at a School Meeting held in McCutcheon Lounge, according to The Gunnery News.

In his first year, Rowe taught English, coached wrestling, the thirds and fourths football teams, and JV tennis, served as faculty advisor to The Red and Gray and Music Club, and was a house parent in Memorial. By 1960, he was the English Department Chair and coached JV and varsity football, varsity wrestling, and served as faculty advisor to numerous clubs. In their 23 years on campus, the Rowes also lived in Hurlburt and Gibson. They were among the first faculty to live in Bourne after the school acquired it in 1958, and raised three children here, Waddy ’77, Heidi ’79, and Marshall.

“He was one of those rare teachers that made learning seem easy because you knew he loved what he was doing and you wanted to share in that excitement of discovery,” John Howell ’60 wrote in an article published in the Warwick Beacon and reprinted in the Bulletin in 2002. “No matter the play or novel, weather Macbeth or Catcher in the Rye, Mr. Rowe fired up the class, provoking such hot debate that you hated for the class to end and you couldn’t wait to read the next act or chapter. Fortunately, many of us had one or more teachers like Mr. Rowe, teachers that you know made a difference.”

The Class of 1961 dedicated The Red and Gray to Rowe, writing: “Ever since he has come to The Gunnery, he has been respected and liked by all, not because he has sought status from the students, but because he has been himself at all times to faculty and students alike … In the classroom he taught us to be aware of our potentialities and to be prepared for later life as well as college, rather than just teaching us a senior English course to fulfill our credits. His frankness in all his actions, his fairness, his abundant good humor, and his sincere interest in our work — all add to our high opinion of him.”

"Wally will  be fondly remembered for his institution of the legendary theme conference system. Hundreds of students over the years sat with Wally and the other English teachers for one-on-one tutorials about their writing, as often as once a week. Equally dreaded and loved, these conferences were instrumental in the development of writing skills across the entire student body," former Head of School Michael Eanes H’90 P’90 GP’20 ’23 ’25 reflected upon hearing of Rowe's passing. "Upon Wally's hiring, Headmaster Ogden Miller told him he would be coaching wrestling. Protesting that he knew nothing about wrestling, Wally was handed a book by the headmaster on 'How to Coach Wrestling,' and was told he had a whole term to read it before the winter wrestling season started. Wally went on to have many years of successful wrestling teams. In short, Wally was the epitome of the traditional boarding school triple threat, leading his fellow faculty members by example and support."

"I think I can safely claim I followed an English major at Penn because of him," Larry Herrick '69 said via email, noting that he went on to teach and became the English Department Chair at Fountain Valley School, learning later that Rowe was an alumnus. "He came out to an alumni event at FVS and I think that was the last time I saw him. A fine man and a great loss." 

In 2013, on the occasion of the Class of 1963’s 50th reunion, Rowe recalled that he was granted a sabbatical, which allowed him to teach from 1966-1967 at the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon. “There our car blew up, we lost all our money in a bank crash, suffered every intestinal ailment known to man, and ended the year being evacuated to Istanbul at the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. We learned a lot. But not enough to prevent us taking a Fulbright Teaching Exchange [via a second sabbatical] in 1972 that landed us in Kent, 30 miles south of London. There it was the miners' strike, gas rationing, the three-day week, and the first National Day of Prayer since the evacuation of Dunkirk. But it was also a year rich in culture and friendships that have lured us back to England almost every year.”

The Rowes left Washington in 1979, when Wally took a job teaching at Governor Dummer Academy, near Newburyport, Massachusetts. The 1979 Red and Gray featured a dual dedication to him and History Department Chair Ron Whittle P’80 ’82, one of his closest friends, who left at the same time to become department chair at Choate Rosemary Hall. “It was very hard leaving Gunnery behind,” Rowe wrote in 2013, “but GDA is a very good place, the oldest boarding school in the country, and we loved being near Boston and Carol's family in Rockport.”

When Whittle passed away in 2021, Rowe recalled that they had taught and coached each other’s children at Gunn, traveled together, on their own or with their wives and families, and even co-taught a class. In 2019, when the school offered an opportunity to name a seat in the Tisch Family Auditorium, Rowe purchased two — one for himself, and one for Whittle. “I got him a seat next to me,” Rowe recalled. Whittle wrote to thank him, saying “You're kind of like the brother I never had.” It was a sentiment Rowe was happy to return. 

In 2001, Former Trustee and Board President Roy Walzer ’65 P’86 and his wife, Carol, established The Wallace H. Rowe III Chair in Critical Expression in honor of Rowe, “who, in his years at The Gunnery, and in partnership with his wife, Carol, embodied the philosophy of personal and continuous education envisioned by Frederick and Abigail Gunn. In and out of the classroom, Wally Rowe strove with honor, grace, understanding, and humor to instill in his students the love of honesty and precision and the skill of clear thought and expression."

The chair is presented “with gratitude and admiration on behalf of all Gunnery students thus guided” every three years at Convocation to a faculty member “who teaches with a kind and rigorous intellectual discipline that promotes in students clarity of thought and expression.”

Also in 2001, to mark the occasion of Rowe’s 70th birthday, his daughter, Heidi, sent out an appeal to former students, asking them to contribute anecdotes and reminiscences that were compiled in a book and presented to him at Alumni Weekend. “The more than 100 letters she received in response were amazing in their variety, brightened Wally’s final days as I re-read them aloud to him, and delighted me as well,” Carol Rowe said. 

Among the contributors was Former Trustee Jack Reynolds ’68, who called Rowe “absolutely among the best and most important teachers that I had at Gunnery — or ever … He encouraged me to read, he challenged me to think, he provoked me to talk, and he let me laugh … Wally inspired generations of kids to read, think, speak, and laugh. He didn’t drive them — he didn’t need to. Your dad truly connected with kids — lots of them. That is why so many of them remember him, and care about him, decades after leaving his classroom.”

Bob Brush ’64 recalled the positive influence Rowe had on him as his wrestling coach, helping him develop from a 93-pound sophomore who lost all of his matches (0-13) to becoming an alternate at the state championships the following year. “You made every day of practice one I looked forward to. My senior year, I went almost undefeated. I was seated third in the state … You meant everything to me and taught me more about sportsmanship, competition, and mental and physical toughness than anyone ever has.”

Betsy (Lemcke) DeVries ’78 recalled that in English class, Rowe “would encourage me to use my own voice in writing; this in an era when girls were just beginning to express their opinions, feelings, thoughts, and ideas. To make sure all voices are heard has become a model in my own classroom.”

“He was a really cool guy who had no idea he was cool, and he was the grownup we all aspired some day to become, but were pretty sure we never quite would,” wrote Alexander Auerbach ’61, who remembered Rowe as his favorite teacher and wrestling coach. “He worked us hard, but I don’t remember ever resenting the workload, or even not enjoying it. In part it was because he clearly loved what he was teaching, and wanted us to love it, too. And in part it was because as kids, we just loved Wally. He was the teacher that every student hopes to get, and that every teacher hopes to be.”

In addition to returning for Alumni Weekends, Rowe was on campus in April 2022 with Carol and their three children to celebrate the opening of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center. The Perakos Family Cares Art Gallery, established in Rowe’s honor, is located just inside the main entrance. Speaking at a luncheon that day, Tom Perakos ’69 reflected: “I loved my experience here, particularly the combination of the education I got through people like Wally Rowe, and I loved the athletics. Wally Rowe was also my coach in wrestling, and my coach in tennis. He was a brilliant instructor. He reminded me later on of Professor Keating in the film, ‘Dead Poets Society,’ which blew me away when I saw it. When I sat with Wally Rowe, he brought out the best in my maturation process, and I do believe the years between ages 14 and 18 are probably as significant as any in your life.”

Following his retirement, Rowe became a Boston Symphony Orchestra docent, volunteer teacher, and served on the the boards of the Rockport Public Library and Rockport Music-Shalin Liu Performance Center in Massachusetts. He and Carol continued traveling. “He loved sailing his little catboat around Conomo Point, Essex, the family’s anchorage for nearly 50 years,” his obituary said.

A Memorial Service will be held on November 9, 2024, at 11 a.m. in All Saints Church, Peterborough, New Hampshire. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be sent to: The Frederick Gunn School Development Office, 99 Green Hill Road, Washington, CT 06793 (or online at gogunn.org/give).
 

Additional Images

Wally in his first year at Gunn with his famous pipe; from The Red and Gray, 1957

Wally in his first year at Gunn with his famous pipe; from The Red and Gray, 1957

Ron Whittle and Wally Rowe at Prize Night, 1979

Ron Whittle and Wally Rowe at their last Prize Night in 1979 before going on to their new positions at Choate Rosemary Hall and Governor Dummer Academy, respectively; from The Paula and George Krimsky Archives and Special Collections

Roy Walzer and Wally Rowe, 2001

Former Trustee and Board President Roy Walzer ’65 P’86 and Wally Rowe at the inaugural presentation of The Wallace H. Rowe III Chair in Critical Expression in 2001

Tom Perakos and Wally Rowe, April 23, 2022

Thomas Perakos '69 with Wally Rowe at the opening celebration of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center on April 23, 2022

Jon Tisch '72 with Wally Rowe at luncheon April 23, 2022

Trustee Emeritus Jonathan Tisch '72 greeting Wally Rowe at the luncheon that followed the opening celebration of the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center on April 23, 2022

Wally at Alumni Weekend in 2019

Alumni Weekend 2019

Carol and Wally Rowe on their travels

Carol and Wally Rowe on their travels