Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Fall 2015 | Page 5

are paid very little money.
They have dedicated their
working lives to help the less
fortunate. But their work not
only provides services, but also
empowers their clients to reach
a new level. They’re not doing
the work for self gain. The
satisfaction comes from other
people’s accomplishments. You
don’t need the Bible or other
religious books to tell you that
this is spiritual work. It’s about
doing the right thing when you
have choices, taking the right
path. This work is about serving
people in trouble, finding
a higher purpose. It’s about
helping people find a compass.
If I didn’t believe that, then
aggravation and anxiety would
have driven me out of this work long ago.”

After Thornton Academy, Phillip went on to
graduate with a B.A. in Politics from Brandeis
Not surprisingly, the diversity of religion, language, and ethnicity
University and with an M.A.T. from Harvard
in New York City encompassed by Coalition services staggers
University’s Graduate School of Education where
the imagination. One agency in Queens, for example, serves a
he was elected to Phi Delta Kappa, the National
population that
Honorary Education
speaks 29 different
When Phillip recently received a 2015 Leadership Award Society. Although his
languages.
for Advocacy, this Class of 1964 alum was introduced first teaching job—in
Although Phillip
North Hollywood —
as “A leading force for change since arriving at The
recalls little
convinced him that
Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies” where he has
diversity in Saco,
“teaching wasn’t for
been Executive Director since 1994.
Old Orchard
me,” it started what
Beach, and
he calls a “Golden
Biddeford when he
Thread” in his life—a decades-long path of work in
was growing up, he said, “My childhood gave me a distinct sense of
community relations and non-profit service. One
what it means to be a minority or to experience the feeling of being
momentous year, he directed the Mayor’s Office
left out. There were not many Jewish kids, like me, at Thornton
of Jewish Community Affairs for Mayor David
Academy. I was one of those who had to stand up and explain
Dinkins, following a troubled time for interracial
what the Jewish holidays were and what a prayer shawl was. And,
and interreligious relations in New York City.
yet, my friends were Catholic and so I grew up quite close to that
religion and its prayers. And since I attended Hebrew school to
When Phillip traveled from his home in Brooklyn
study language, history, and religion multiple times per week, I had
back to Saco, as he did recently for his 50th class
something in common with my Greek friends, too. We both had to
reunion, he walked through one of his favorite
attend language, history, and religion schools.
places—Laurel Hill Cemetery. “It’s like walking
“I always thought I was in a special place at Thornton Academy.
Among a few others, Harriet Patrick, who taught Latin and was the
mother of my classmate, Mary Patrick, made it that way. She did
so much more than teach Latin. She ran this monthly group in her
home. It was called Junto,