Trustees and their spouses, alumni, faculty, and friends gathered on Friday, June 4 in the Humphrey Family Writing Center to honor two alumni families for their vision and generosity: Wolcott “Budd” Humphrey, Jr. ’41 and the entire Humphrey family and Trustee Chairman Thomas Millhiser ’67 and his wife, Shelly.
Since the Center’s establishment in 2008, Writing Center Director Tony Reid, Hill class of 1975 and former editor and reporter for the
Washington Post, has addressed the School’s goal of ensuring that each Hill student graduates with the ability to write clearly, concisely, accurately, and confidently. Of course, Tony’s good work would not have been possible without the wisdom and generosity of Wolcott “Bud” Humphrey, Jr. ’41 and the entire Humphrey family.
View video from Tony’s remarks. Also, view a video of comments from Headmaster David R. Dougherty, who sincerely thanked both the Humphrey and Millhiser families.
(Additional videos from Peter and Tom's remarks are below. Please note: These are Quicktime video files and take a few moments to download).
Before he passed away in 2006, Bud made a generous estate gift to establish The Humphrey Family Writing Endowment to support the writing programs of the English department and general academic programs. Bud’s legacy and loyalty to the School lives on through his son Peter, class of 1972 and Hill Trustee since 2002, and Peter’s wife, Sally; his son, John B. Humphrey, class of 1975, who is celebrating his 35th reunion; and grandson, Christopher Humphrey, Peter’s son and member of the class of 2002. The School also fondly remembers Wolcott “Jay” Humphrey III, Hill class of 1969, who passed away in 2001.
The Humphrey family demonstrated its visionary leadership in establishing The Writing Center – a place and program that reinvigorates the emphasis on an historic, revered aspect of Hill’s curriculum.
Peter spoke about how The Hill experience has been a “life-changing event” for so many members of his family.
View video from Peter's remarks.
Similarly, Trustee Chairman Thomas Millhiser and his wife, Shelly, have helped to dramatically address another vital element of Hill’s excellence: the residential aspect of our school community. Tom and Shelly made an exceptionally generous leadership gift toward enhancing the housing options for our treasured faculty.
The Millhisers’ gift – the first capital gift toward construction of the Green Street Faculty Village – has set the stage for future gifts for this project to support and secure Hill’s distinctive 159-year-old reputation as The Family Boarding School. Tom spoke with deep affection for Hill teachers, noting that he and Shelly made their gift to honor the 24-hour-a-day commitment of Hill’s quality teachers. View video from Tom's remarks.
We look forward to further celebrating Tom and Shelly’s role when we break ground for this village of “living and learning spaces” within faculty homes.
The Hill School community is tremendously grateful to both of these families for their loyalty and significant, meaningful support.