John Agnew Earle

FAVORITE MEMORIES OF WILLIAMS

Don Gifford
Whit Stoddard
Sheafe Satterthwaite
Bob Gaudino

WILLIAMS CLUBS / ACTIVITIES

Soccer, Outing Club, Junior Advisor

CURRENT INTERESTS, PASSIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONS

The Taylor School – a Montessori preschool started by my wife and me six years ago; currently CFO and gardener/ handyman
Photography – my career and avocation
Fly-fishing – something I have done all my life badly
Guitar – ditto
My family

LIFE SINCE GRADUATION

In 2013, Marni and I passed an 18th-century farmhouse on 2.5 acres in Boxborough, Mass., with a FOR SALE sign. Marni said, “That’s going to be my school.” “With what?” I retorted. Two years later we had purchased the real estate and renovated the first floor with money I received from an inheritance. Build it and they will come . . . sort of. We opened the Taylor School, a Montessori preschool, with one other teacher and two students in the fall of 2016. Five years later, we have renovated both floors, expanded the school’s footprint to include an office and main entrance, and currently have 40 students and a long waiting list. Six years and one pandemic later; we are stable and profitable.

All things follow Marni’s lead at the Taylor School. I am her scaffolding; counting, mowing, clearing, assembling, repairing. It gives me great pleasure to be a part of this process and her vision. There is much left to do.

The Taylor School matters. It has a simple but enduring effect on the lives of the families we serve. Marni and her staff (currently eight teachers, one administrator) are planting precious seeds in every child they teach.

And the previous 50 years? Leaving for an assignment a few years back, I said to Marni, “It’s not about the photography, it’s about the lifestyle.” It took me a long time to really understand the drivers in my life. Photography has been a passport into many strange and curious places. It is a medium well suited to my particular anomalies. It also served up a template for a way of being that accommodated something I now know is serious ADD. This fact explains much about my tenure at Williams, my career choice, and the myriad spreadsheets that enable me to attain some semblance of order in my life. It has been both a blessing and a curse. Who knew?

I expect to pull back a bit in the coming year or so. I want to open up space for the “retirement” thing. For me that is about exploration both geographically and artistically, being in the moment with my kids (four) and grandkids (two), and learning to do a few more things well enough (fly-fishing, gardening, and guitar).

Hope springs eternal. My dad died at 76. Should I go sooner rather than later, it will be with a smile and gratitude for all life has given me.