AMENIA — A variety of paths will lead the 45 members of the graduating class of 2025 in vastly different directions. To mark the milestone, they assembled with family and friends for their Commencement ceremony at Webutuck High School on Saturday, June 21.
Pride in school and individual achievement was a clear theme as well as the joys of the moment. The weather was sunny and mild for the event held under a huge tent filled to capacity. The view of the far-off hills was silently symbolic.
“Our future is in really, really good hands,” said Webutuck Superintendent Raymond Castellani during welcoming remarks.
Reflecting on the words of martial arts star Bruce Lee, Castellani advised the students to “be like water,” citing the properties of flexibility and adaptation.
“Embrace change,” was Castellani’s advice to the rapt graduating class.
“My commitment is absolute,” proclaimed co-Principal Matthew Pascale who has served alongside Principal Robert Knuschke for this year, ready to assume full responsibilities as Principal in the coming school year.
Modeling her decked-out tasseled cap and celebrating her newly-awarded diploma, Alexis Winters of Amenia paused for a photo in the moments following the 71st annual Commencement at Webutuck High School on Saturday, June 21. Her sister, Haley, who was a member of the class of 2023, shared in marking the milestone occasion.Photo by Leila Hawken
Pascale highlighted qualities of the graduating class, including compassion, potential and intellect, urging them toward a lifetime of service.
“Service enriches the lives of others, as well as your own,” Pascale said.
Invited to present the commencement address, Aaron Howard, now completing his first year on the Webutuck teaching staff, specializing in technology, noted that he had been a member of the graduating class of 1999.
In the ensuing years, Howard has served as a volunteer firefighter and Chief of the Amenia Fire Company, and as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Members of the graduating class of 2025 received their diplomas from Superintendent Raymond Castellani at the 71st annual Commencement ceremony under a tent at Webutuck High School on Saturday, June 21.Photo by Leila Hawken
Howard praised the 2025 class, telling them that their school experience was out of the ordinary, due to adjustment to the pandemic.
“You are stronger and more resilient,” Howard said.
Advice included to “serve before you’re ready, treat people well, define success for yourself, and be part of something bigger than yourself.”
“Be bold, be kind,” Howard concluded.
Recognizing the significance of her graduation, salutatorian Gissel Oros spoke of the sacrifices made by her family, noting that she will be the first generation in her family to attend college.
The 71st annual Commencement at Webutuck High School on Saturday, June 21, brought family and friends together to celebrate the Class of 2025. Pausing for a photo was Troy Brazee of Millerton, flanked by proud parents Tricia and Ernest Brazee.Photo by Leila Hawken
“Never give up,” Oros told her classmates. “Keep moving forward.”
“We start a new chapter,” Oros said, eliciting loud cheers from her audience.
Next to the podium was valedictorian Olivia Wickwire whose first move was to adjust the microphone to a proper angle, indicating ease in a public speaking setting.
Wickwire shared remembrances with her classmates and particularly described the solid influence of her family, conveying a sense of profound gratitude to her grandmother who provided her with an unfailing, foundational role model.
“Be the person you want people to know you as,” Wickwire told her classmates.
The Stone Round Barn at Hancock Shaker Village.
My husband Tom, our friend Jim Jasper and I spent the day at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. A cold, blustery wind shook the limbs of an ancient apple tree still clinging to golden fruit. Spitting sleet drove us inside for warmth, and the lusty smells of manure from the goats, sheep, pigs and chickens in the Stone Round Barn filled our senses. We traveled back in time down sparse hallways lined with endless peg racks. The winter light was slightly crooked through the panes of old glass. The quiet life of the Shakers is preserved simply.
Shakers referred to their farm as the City of Peace.Jennifer Almquist
Originally founded in England, the Shakers brought their communal religious society to the New World 250 years ago. They sought the perfection of heaven on earth through their values of equality and pacifism. They followed strict protocols of behavior and belief. They were celibate and never married, yet they loved singing and ecstatic dancing, or “shaking,” and often adopted orphans. To achieve their millennialist goal of transcendental rapture, we learned, even their bedclothes had to conform: One must sleep in a bed painted deep green with blue and white coverings.
Shakers believed in gender and racial equality and anointed their visionary founding leader, Mother Ann Lee, an illiterate yet wise woman, as the Second Coming. They embraced sustainability and created practical designs of great utility and beauty, such as the mail-order seed packet, the wood stove, the circular saw, the metal pen, the flat broom and wooden clothespins.
Jennifer Almquist
Blacksmith Peter Kergaravat at work.
Burning coal smelled acrid as the blacksmith fired up his stove to heat the metal rod he was transforming into a hook. Hammer on anvil is an ancient sound. My husband has blacksmithing skills and once made the strap hinges and thumb latches for a friend’s home.
Shaker chairs and rockers are still made today in the woodworker’s shop. They are well made and functional, with woven cloth or rush seats. In the communal living space, or Brick Dwelling, chairs hang from the Shaker pegs that run the length of the hallways, which once housed more than 100 Shakers.
A Shaker chair.Jennifer Almquist
In 1826, the 95-foot Round Stone Barn was built of limestone quarried from the land of the 3,000-acre Hancock Shaker Village. Its unique design allowed a continuous workflow. Fifty cows could stand in a circle facing one another and be fed more easily. Manure could be shoveled into a pit below and removed by wagon and there was more light and better ventilation.
Shakers called us the “people of the world” and referred to their farm as the City of Peace. We take lessons away with us, yearning somehow for their simplicity and close relationship to nature. One Shaker said, “There’s as much reverence in pulling an onion as there is in singing hallelujah.”
A sense of calm came over me as I looked across the fields to the hills in the distance. A woman like me once stood between these long rows of herbs — summer savory, sage, sweet marjoram and thyme — leaned on her shovel brushing her hair back from her eyes, watching gray snow clouds roll down the Berkshires.
More information at hancockshakervillage.org
The Shakers embraced practical designs of great utility and beauty.Jennifer Almquist
Exterior of Lakeville Books & Stationery in Great Barrington.
The second Lakeville Books & Stationery is slightly larger than the first store. It offers more than 10,000 books and follows the same model: a general-interest store with a curated mix of current bestsellers, children’s and young readers’ sections; and robust collections for adults ranging from arts and architecture, cooking and gardening, and home design to literature and memoirs. Anne reads more than 150 new titles every year (as many as a Booker Prize judge) and is a great resource to help customers find the perfect pick.
A real-time inventory system helps the store track what’s on hand, and staff can order items that aren’t currently available. There is also a selection of writing and paper goods, including notecards, journals, pens and notebooks, as well as art supplies, board games, jigsaw puzzles and more. The owners scour the stationery trade shows twice a year and, Darryl says, “like to tailor what we offer to suit the interest of our customers in each market.”
The Pecks know what it takes to run a successful local enterprise. Darryl has a 53-year background in retail and has launched several successful businesses. He and Anne owned and operated a bookstore on St. Simons Island, Georgia, from 2019 to 2025. They are tapping into their local roots with both stores. They raised their family in Sharon, and their daughter Alice, a native of the Northwest Corner, manages the Lakeville store.
Interior of Lakeville Books & Stationery.Provided
The family values the role that a retail store plays as a supporting partner in the community, and they prioritize great management in both locations, hiring and training talent from local communities. Their 10 team members across both stores are from the area, and two of the Great Barrington employees previously worked at Bookloft.
Darryl and Anne’s attention to customer service is everywhere apparent and adds to the enjoyable and irreplaceable in-store shopping experience. The books are in pristine condition, eliminating the risk of damage that sometimes occurs during shipping. This is especially important for books that will live on people’s shelves and coffee tables for years.
Darryl says, “People love the in-store discovery — you find books you didn’t know existed, which is very difficult to do on a website. Also, many customers depend on our recommendations when visiting. There is a saying about bookstores versus online ordering: We may not have exactly what you were looking for, but we have what you want.”
Lakeville Books & Stationery’s Great Barrington store is open 7 days a week, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parking is available in the lot behind the building and in the parking lot behind the firehouse. The entrance to the store is accessible from the store parking lot.
For more information, go to lakevillebooks.com., and sign-up for the Lakeville Books newsletter.
Richard Feiner and Annette Stover have worked and taught in the arts, communications, and philanthropy in Berlin, Paris, Tokyo and New York. Passionate supporters of the arts, they live in Salisbury and Greenwich Village.
