Celebrating the Women of Northwood – 50 Years
In recognition of Northwood School's 50th anniversary of coeducation, the school will present a yearlong comprehensive program to highlight the numerous ways women have enriched the Northwood experience.
Over the next nine months, the school will offer news articles and podcasts showcasing the accomplishments of notable alumnae. We will also bring together a Women's Leadership Circle - a diverse group of graduates who will work to enrich experiences and opportunities for girls at Northwood in the 21st century. The program will culminate with a celebratory dinner during the Reunion in June 2022.
We hope these efforts will inspire our next generation of women leaders and highlight the many accomplishments of their Northwood predecessors.
Feature story on Linda Friedlander
When our first female students joined us in 1971, almost all males were the instructors that greeted them. The exception -- Linda Friedlander – a graduate of Mount Holyoke and a talented, witty teacher of French. Linda had joined our faculty in 1965 when she and her husband, John (who began as our admissions director but soon became Headmaster) began thirty-one years of service to Northwood. Linda was no stranger to the school; her father, Donald Ogilvy, and his brothers, Stan and Steve, had attended in previous decades. Linda and her siblings (she had two sisters as well) would visit between Christmas and New Year’s when the school opened for alumni and family. They all stayed at the Lake Placid Club and skied at Whitney. Linda still loves the snow and the cozy, historical feel of the campus. At first, she and John lived in the New Dorm, now called Bergamini, but in 1969, after having two daughters, Trish ’84 and Diana ‘86, they moved to the house nearby, now occupied by the Broderick family.
Although she had graduated from Mount Holyoke, a single-sex college, Linda was pleased by Northwood’s decision to become a co-educational institution. She feels that the school did its best to serve that first-year group, all of whom attended as day students; some were locals, and others boarded at either the home of teacher Ellsworth Jackstadt and his wife, Ginny or at McKellen’s Pine Lodge. She notes, “Perhaps having a female counselor and female coaches might have been a good idea. The school nurse, Dixie Fountain, was probably the sounding board for girls.”
Linda’s vitality is evident in everything she does. She was an excellent teacher -- no English was spoken in her French class; charades and writing on the board made it possible. She managed to keep the guys in line. Her tireless work as an advisor to The Mirror in the time of paper editions helped it win recognition from the Columbia School of Journalism in the high school category. She believes that the paper’s becoming a co-ed activity made the activity more natural and fun.
Linda is still a well-known figure in the broader Lake Placid community; she has served as the executive secretary of the Shore Owners Association, a member of Lake Placid’s Zoning Board of Appeals, and a president and major contributor to the village’s Garden Club. A regular-season pass holder at Whiteface, she is a talented skier. Between the ages of 50 and 75, she participated in National Senior Women’s tournaments, ranking as high as four in doubles and twelve in singles nationwide. In 2014, she competed in Austria against European teams of contemporaries. One year in Houston, she won a national sportsmanship award based on “court conduct, friendliness, and overall contribution to women’s tennis.”
Over my five-plus decades here, I have much enjoyed my friendship with the Friedlander family. Even before they became students here, Trish and Diana were popular members of the Northwood community, and John was my friend, mentor, and admired, if sometimes irascible, boss. Linda was the gracious complement to John’s mostly feigned brusqueness and more than a match for his wit. She modeled strength, charm, and dignity for our young women for 31 years.
Written by Stephen Reed