Lu Ann Smith Polk 
 
I've just just read all of the '62 bios on this site and am reeling 
from the number of experiences and the amount of life that we have 
each known. I'm also a little intimidated by the variety of paths, 
the range of accomplishments and the number of grandchildren we as a 
group (and not everyone responded!) have engendered. 
This reunion will be my first trip back to Earlham since graduation. 
This fact alone still surprises me since my Earlham experience opened 
up my life in many ways, and I am still grateful for the ways in 
which it broadened my horizons. 
Life since Earlham has been full. I went from there to Union 
Theological Seminary in New York City, another amazing place. In the 
60's, the civil rights movement , the boycott of South African 
banks, contact with neighboring Harlem as well as with international 
scholars and the beginnings of protest against the Viet Nam war made 
for interesting times. In '66 I earned my M.Div. with a special 
interest in psychology and religion and after graduation married a 
classmate, Bill Polk. We moved to Larwrenceville School in 
Larwrenceville, N.J. where we lived for 12 years. We had two 
daughters, and I worked part time as a counselor in several venues 
while Bill taught, couched, advised,etc., at the School. 
In 1978 we moved to Groton School in Groton, Ma. where Bill was 
Headmaster for 25 years. Here I learned how to balance my role at 
Head's Spouse with my own professional interests and returned to 
school to get a MSW at Boston University. For a number of years I 
worked as a therapist at Harvard University's Mental Health Service 
and loved the contact with a wide range of people struggling with 
life as it unfolded for them. 
I am now retired from Harvard, and we have retired from Groton. Big 
leavings but the beginning of a great new chapter. 
After having been happily "institutionalized" for 37 years in 
secondary boarding school communities, we are now living on a real 
street in Cambridge, Ma. with take-out food, movies, music, book 
stores and theater all near by. I now volunteer at a Hospice near by 
and am finding my time there to be a real privilege. Having and 
taking more time for family is also a gift. 
The older I get, the more grateful I am to have had this much time to 
learn the difference between a maze and a labyrinth and to learn to 
enjoy the walk. 
If I don't get lost driving from the Dayton airport, I'll see those 
of you who can get to campus next week, and I can't wait. 
Thank goodness for name tags!