Bill Reeves: Leaving a Legacy of Grace and Goodness
Bill Reeves loves to tell this story on himself.
While visiting his son William and his family at their home in London this past Christmas, he went grocery shopping with his six-year-old granddaughter Eliana.
“Papère,” she said as she pointed to a can on the market shelf, “always be careful to check the ‘sell-by date.’ After that, it becomes icky.”
Bill was immediately taken by the wisdom of youth, considered the sage advice, and began thinking in earnest about his future.
“I am aware,” he said with that familiar twinkle in his eye, “of my own ‘sell-by date.’” Translated, Bill has made the decision to retire in June after an illustrious three-decade tenure at Collegiate.
While visiting his son William and his family at their home in London this past Christmas, he went grocery shopping with his six-year-old granddaughter Eliana.
“Papère,” she said as she pointed to a can on the market shelf, “always be careful to check the ‘sell-by date.’ After that, it becomes icky.”
Bill was immediately taken by the wisdom of youth, considered the sage advice, and began thinking in earnest about his future.
“I am aware,” he said with that familiar twinkle in his eye, “of my own ‘sell-by date.’” Translated, Bill has made the decision to retire in June after an illustrious three-decade tenure at Collegiate.
“What a great loss for the school,” said Connie Tuttle, a colleague for
many years, “but what a blessing it’s been to have him with us for so
long.”
Search the Collegiate community, talk to any of the host of friends whose lives Bill has touched in his humble, gentle, deferential way, and you’ll find no one – I repeat, no one – who would disagree.
From the day he stepped on campus in the fall of 1976 as head of the Boys School with his credo, “academic excellence with compassion,” he’s served as a master teacher, administrator, mentor, confidant, spiritual leader, and guardian angel.
In times of success, he’s been there, albeit usually in the background, to share our joys. In times of sorrow, he’s been there as well, offering just the right words, the steadying hand, and the thoughtful guidance to make trying days bearable.
“Bill Reeves is the consummate gentleman,” said Alex Smith, Collegiate’s vice-president-development. I will always remember him for his constant kindness towards everyone.”
Bill has a diploma from Andover and degrees from Yale and Harvard. He taught refugees from mainland China at New Asia College in Hong Kong, served as college counselor (among a myriad other duties) at Iolani School in Honolulu, and headed Chatham Hall.
He’s an ordained Episcopal priest who has served several local churches and performed more marriage ceremonies and baptized more children among the Collegiate family than he can count.
He’s an eloquent speaker, well-read scholar, world traveler, life-long learner, and, dating to his days as a prep and college quarter miler, an avid sports fan.
When Collegiate’s structure changed in 1986, Bill became the first head of the Middle School. It was a difficult, often painful transition as he re-examined his own perception of education and learning, then assembled a team of teachers and administrators with strongly held values and convictions to take the vision and design and implement the new paradigm.
There were schedules to make, traditions to continue or discard, changes to explain, feelings to assuage. With Bill as the linchpin (though he’d deflect the credit), we persevered and moved forward, and when he left for sabbatical in 1991, then returned a year later as an Upper School ethics teacher, our mission was clear and our faculty long since united.
“My concept of a school,” he said in a moment of reflection, “is to hire strong, creative faculty who provide the synergy that results in excellence.
“It’s exciting to see the professional growth of our faculty who in their own pursuit of excellence have challenged their students to reach for excellence.”
So what will this young-at-heart 72-year-old do in retirement?
He’ll putter around the house. That’s for sure. Remember, he’s the guy who once fixed a Coke machine with the spring from a ball-point pen. He’ll continue his active ministry as an associate at St. Paul’s Church. He’ll indulge his passion for sailing on the Rappahannock River and in the Chesapeake Bay and for reading, traveling, and writing.
There’ll be more time with family, of course. He’ll hang out with Jane, his wife of 44 years. She recently retired as Baccalaureate Program Director for the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. They’ll help William and his wife Debbie and Eliana and her sister Kiara, who’s 3, as they move later this year from London to Hawaii. They won’t have to work school schedules around visits with their daughters Hannah, who’s in Cambridge, MA, and Molly, who lives in Richmond. And, hey, Bill lives only a measured mile up the road. He says he won’t be a stranger on campus. We’ll hold him to that promise.
If his plans are somewhat open-ended, his legacy is much more certain.
“Throughout the years,” said Head of School Keith Evans, “Bill has gently prodded and generously nurtured the spirit of Collegiate. He has provided a personal example of grace and care that binds a community together.
“He has always searched out the goodness that can be found in any circumstance and, in doing so, has encouraged us all to see a better way.”—Weldon Bradshaw
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Search the Collegiate community, talk to any of the host of friends whose lives Bill has touched in his humble, gentle, deferential way, and you’ll find no one – I repeat, no one – who would disagree.
From the day he stepped on campus in the fall of 1976 as head of the Boys School with his credo, “academic excellence with compassion,” he’s served as a master teacher, administrator, mentor, confidant, spiritual leader, and guardian angel.
In times of success, he’s been there, albeit usually in the background, to share our joys. In times of sorrow, he’s been there as well, offering just the right words, the steadying hand, and the thoughtful guidance to make trying days bearable.
“Bill Reeves is the consummate gentleman,” said Alex Smith, Collegiate’s vice-president-development. I will always remember him for his constant kindness towards everyone.”
Bill has a diploma from Andover and degrees from Yale and Harvard. He taught refugees from mainland China at New Asia College in Hong Kong, served as college counselor (among a myriad other duties) at Iolani School in Honolulu, and headed Chatham Hall.
He’s an ordained Episcopal priest who has served several local churches and performed more marriage ceremonies and baptized more children among the Collegiate family than he can count.
He’s an eloquent speaker, well-read scholar, world traveler, life-long learner, and, dating to his days as a prep and college quarter miler, an avid sports fan.
When Collegiate’s structure changed in 1986, Bill became the first head of the Middle School. It was a difficult, often painful transition as he re-examined his own perception of education and learning, then assembled a team of teachers and administrators with strongly held values and convictions to take the vision and design and implement the new paradigm.
There were schedules to make, traditions to continue or discard, changes to explain, feelings to assuage. With Bill as the linchpin (though he’d deflect the credit), we persevered and moved forward, and when he left for sabbatical in 1991, then returned a year later as an Upper School ethics teacher, our mission was clear and our faculty long since united.
“My concept of a school,” he said in a moment of reflection, “is to hire strong, creative faculty who provide the synergy that results in excellence.
“It’s exciting to see the professional growth of our faculty who in their own pursuit of excellence have challenged their students to reach for excellence.”
So what will this young-at-heart 72-year-old do in retirement?
He’ll putter around the house. That’s for sure. Remember, he’s the guy who once fixed a Coke machine with the spring from a ball-point pen. He’ll continue his active ministry as an associate at St. Paul’s Church. He’ll indulge his passion for sailing on the Rappahannock River and in the Chesapeake Bay and for reading, traveling, and writing.
There’ll be more time with family, of course. He’ll hang out with Jane, his wife of 44 years. She recently retired as Baccalaureate Program Director for the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. They’ll help William and his wife Debbie and Eliana and her sister Kiara, who’s 3, as they move later this year from London to Hawaii. They won’t have to work school schedules around visits with their daughters Hannah, who’s in Cambridge, MA, and Molly, who lives in Richmond. And, hey, Bill lives only a measured mile up the road. He says he won’t be a stranger on campus. We’ll hold him to that promise.
If his plans are somewhat open-ended, his legacy is much more certain.
“Throughout the years,” said Head of School Keith Evans, “Bill has gently prodded and generously nurtured the spirit of Collegiate. He has provided a personal example of grace and care that binds a community together.
“He has always searched out the goodness that can be found in any circumstance and, in doing so, has encouraged us all to see a better way.”—Weldon Bradshaw
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