Early Chadwick Memories LEIGH FRENCH ’40
Peter Ford ’62 (far right) managed the boys basketball team while at Chadwick School. Te boarding scene was quite
active in my day. Boys and girls were separated, unfortunately … but we had a lot of fun in Mr. Burk’s dorm, getting into trouble. Jann Wenner ’63 [founder of Rolling Stone] used to follow me around campus and called me “Big Daddy.” Of course, he worked at Te Mainsheet back then. Mr. Hamner, the art teacher, was always telling me to keep my hands above the table during class and not touch the girls. Oh, and I was the president of ASH … and I am guessing there are still a few folks out there who remember what that stands for. We claimed it was a Chadwick support group, Associated Students of the Hill, but we were a clandestine group of cigarette smokers. I also worked in the chicken farm, gathering eggs for meals and even killing an occasional chicken when John, the cook, needed some for dinner. I tried every which way you can imagine to kill those chickens. Other than that, most of my Chadwick memories were pleasant.
On finding his own path in life Aſter I graduated from Chadwick, I went to college at Lake Forest in Illinois but later dropped out to pursue a career acting and singing. I had a contract with Phillips Records … I did all the TV rock and roll shows at the time and even appeared on “American Bandstand.” Later I formed a group, Peter Ford and the Creations. We played Whiskey A Go Go in San Francisco and El Cortez in Las Vegas. I eventually decided to go back
to school and graduated from USC in 1968 with honors. If you knew me at Chadwick, you know how surprising that probably sounds. I hadn’t been very serious about school at Chadwick. But I owe my Chadwick epiphany to Mr. Holland. He saved my life and made me the man I am today.
At 90 years old, Leigh French ’40 is one of Chadwick’s earliest graduates. Originally born in New York, he later moved to California and lived with his mother on the Vanderlip estate, which is where he came to learn of Chadwick School. Tough he spent just two years at Chadwick, his memories of the school — and especially of Margaret Chadwick — are warm ones. His days were filled with playing football, riding horses, and tracking snakes in the hills. All in all, he says, it was a wonderful place to be. Like many early Chadwick graduates,
French went on to study at Stanford University, where he also played polo. Te bombing of Pearl Harbor and the resulting war interrupted his studies, and French served in the military until 1947. He eventually went on to earn his degree in mining engineering from Columbia University to spend his life working as a civil engineer. French has worked on every continent in the world, building dams in Africa, mining boxite in Australia, running a variety of international mining operations. French has been married to wife Lorli,
whom he met during his travels in Peru, nearly 50 years. Tey have six children and 11 grandchildren. He has visited Chadwick once since graduating, but it’s clear from his adventurous spirit that Mrs. Chadwick, also known for her world trav- els, had a significant influence on his life.
2010 - 11 ANNUAL REPORT 11
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