By Sarah Mills '01

It would be difficult to spend any time at Deerfield Academy and not see Peter Hindle leading the School Sing, Robert and Vicky Hammond announcing Mr. Dickinson's Disco at school meeting, or John O'Brien guiding his English classes into the swamp to observe nature. They have been here for many years, making their mark in the dorms, the classrooms, and the fields. After this year, however, the Deerfield community will no longer have these four teachers in our midst, because they are retiring.

Though the four of them have extremely different plans for retirement, they all have one common claim: they won't be bored.

Mr. Hindle: Golf anyone?
Peter Hindle, known to most Deerfield residents as Czar, has taught at Deerfield for forty-four years. Mr. Hindle has decided that his time here is done, but he expressed no regrets about his life at Deerfield. He leaves with a mixture of anticipation, sadness, and gratitude.

Interviewer Sara Mills: "What will you miss most about Deerfield once you've left?"
Czar: "I think it's going to hit me on Labor Day. Until then the summer will be pretty much like any other summer. There's no question that I'll miss the students more than anything. I give thanks every day that I found a job that I really enjoy doing, and I get paid for it."
Mills: "What do you plan to do in retirement?"
Czar: "Well, I was born and brought up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and I have a house there. In a way it's like going home. I might do some private tutoring at Tabor Academy, and eventually I'd like to get into community service."
Mills: "It sounds like you'll be pretty busy. Are there any other things you'd like to do with your new free time?"
Czar: "I expect to play a lot of golf. I'd like to go to Scotland and play. I went over there fifteen years ago and really enjoyed those famous courses. I'd like to try some of the ones I haven't played on yet, as well as some that I have. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii too. Never been there. I have no definite plans, but those are the sorts of things that are brewing in the back of my mind. The other thing I want to do before I pass away is see an indoor baseball game. I can't conceive of baseball being played indoors."
Mills: "Is there anything that's worrying you about leaving Deerfield?"
Czar: "I have some concerns about leaving a place with six hundred students and one hundred faculty around all the time to starting the life of a bachelor."
Mills: "Do you have any other general thoughts on your experience here at Deerfield?"
Czar: "It's a good life - a wonderful life as long as you don't mind having six hundred teenagers around you twenty-four hours a day."

Mr. Hindle's own students will especially miss him. As Grier Potter '01, one of his FST students, explained, "I personally am really disappointed that he's leaving, because he makes math so understandable. He's a great teacher. I'm just glad that I got to be in class with him for the time that I did."

This is the legacy that Mr. Hindle will leave behind him when he departs from Deerfield in search of relaxation and more time to golf: satisfied students who will carry around with them a new understanding of math and the memory of a kind, funny teacher named Czar.

Mr. O'Brien: Building his own Thoreau Cabin
English teacher John O'Brien has been a member of the Deerfield community ever since Mr. Boyden hired him thirty-two years ago. He was, in fact, the last teacher hired by Mr. Boyden, and he has remained here through the many changes that have shaped Deerfield throughout the years. When he retires, the school will lose one of its most avid naturalists and a popular English teacher who brings a unique, outdoor perspective to his classes. Fortunately, D.A.'s loss is his gain; by retiring, Mr. Brien will have time to pursue a longtime dream.

Mills: "What is it that you will miss most about DA once you've retired?"
Mr. O'Brien: "My colleagues and the kids. It's simple.
Mills: "What are you planning on doing after leaving"
Mr. O'Brien: I'm going to Waterford, Maine, to build Thoreau's cabin. I've always wanted to do it; it's time to practice what I preach."
Mills: "You're building it yourself?"
Mr. O'Brien: "We're talking out a ten by fifteen room here. I'm sure I'm going to build it at least twice anyway."
Mills: "What are you going to do after you've built the cabin?"
Mr O'Brien: "I'm going to write in my journals I've been keeping for the past twenty-five years. I've always had it in mind to have a place where I can do my reading, writing, and thinking. I want to practice what Thoreau preaches, about living deliberately."
Mills: "So you don't think you'll get bored being out there in the woods?"
Mr. O'Brien: "Bored? Heavens, no; I can't imagine being bored. That's one of the vicissitudes of the sabbatical program: it showed a lot of us that there's a very interesting world out there."
Mills: "Do you have any other plans right now for later on?"
Mr. O'Brien: "A year from now I'm going to call up several schools and offer myself as a temporary replacement. I still love teaching a lot. I'm going to practice itinerant schoolmastering. I'm going to be a parapatetic pedagogue."

Replicating Thoreau's cabin and spending time ruminating out in the woods seems to be a perfect choice for someone as interested in nature as Mr. O'Brien. His students can attest to the remarkable joie de vivre he displays when talking about man's role in nature, or another subject that greatly interests him.

Lindsey Burnett comments on the energy he manages to get across while teaching: "Mr. O'Brien has been a really inspiring teacher for me, because you can really tell how passionate he is about what he does, and you can hear that in his voice when he teaches. It really makes his class interesting.

Mr. and Mrs. Hammond: Heading south
The Hammonds are well-known I figures in the math department. Mr. Hammond has been teaching here for thirty-six years, while Mrs. Hammond has been here for twenty-six. Between them they have taught numerous Deerfield students the basics of algebra, geometry, algebra II, and other math courses, as well as devoting countless hours of their personal time to helping those students who need help. These are not their only contributions to the community; They headed the year book for a number of years. Mr. Hammond also coaches recreational squash and makes exciting "trash" announcements that will be missed greatly at school meeting.

Mills: "What is it about Deerfield that you will miss most when you are gone?"
Mrs. Hammond: "I'll miss the student contact, and the scenic location, the Rock, and the view across the valley.
Mr. Hammond: "Chaperoning Mr. Dickinson's discos."
Mrs. Hammond: "That's kind of a running joke between them."
Mr. Hammond: "Certainly the classroom contact with students."
Mills: "And what are your plans for the future?"
Mr. Hammond: "Our immediate plans are to continue to get our house ready in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. We also have a house in Rhode Island on a lake, so we'll move back and forth between the two. And we'd like to do some travelling."
Mills: "Is there anything in particular that you are planning on doing'?"
Mr. Hammond: "We do not have a definite agenda at this point. We figure we'll have enough to keep us busy."
Mrs. Hammond: "I'd like to take some art classes again."
Mills: "Do you have any other thoughts on what leaving Deerfield will be like for you'?"
Mr. Hammond: "We'll miss it. It sounds like a cliché, but we're leaving with mixed feelings."
Mrs. Hammond: "I've been teaching for forty years, and I think that's enough time in the classroom. There are some other things I'd like to try, like an art course for example. Here is more than an eight-hour job; it's more like a twenty-four hour commitment. There's always a lot of pressure to meet deadlines. It's time to slow down."

Students, of course, will remember the Hammonds primarily as math teachers, and they receive very positive reviews on that front. Doyle Flaherty '01, recalling his Algebra II Accel. class, remarked, "Mr. Hammond was a really strict and difficult teacher, but in the end all the effort has really paid off. He's a really nice guy." Mrs. Hammond, according to Polly Bresnick '03, is "really caring and helpful." It is these qualities that the students will remember about the Hammonds after they have gone.