Anne Kane McGuire ’52 Award for Distinguished Service

Honoring those who demonstrate the highest standards of dedication, integrity, and service to the School

Recent Honorees

About the Award

The Anne Kane McGuire Award for Distinguished Service was established by Foxcroft’s Board of Trustees in 1984 to honor a member of the Class of 1952 who had led the Board, and the School, through some particularly difficult times in the previous decade. The award is the highest honor given by the trustees and is reserved for those who demonstrate the highest standards of dedication, integrity, and service to the School.

News

Award Recipients

List of 36 items.

  • 2022: Ellen MacNeille Charles ’55

    Devoted Leader and Steward

    For her steady leadership, unfailing devotion, exceptional stewardship, and dedicated service to Foxcroft School, the Board of Trustees and Head of School Cathy McGehee honored Ellen MacNeille Charles ’55 by presenting her with Foxcroft’s highest award, the Anne Kane McGuire ’52 Distinguished Service Award, at a special luncheon on April 22 during Reunion Weekend.
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  • 2021: Regina "Reggie" Groves ’76

    Talented, insightful, competitive, driven, Regina E. Groves, or Reggie as we know her, arrived for her junior year at Foxcroft in 1974 from Miami, Florida. A field hockey and basketball player, a CAP, a member of the Riding Officers Club and the Cum Laude Society, a winner of the Math award and the Haythe Science Award and a Soggie Cheerio, this determined Fox took full advantage of every opportunity as a student. Her two years at Foxcroft should have been an indicator to all who knew her, of her life of impact to follow. 
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  • 2019: William “Bill” H. Weeks

    What do real estate, horses, insurance, cranberries, and Foxcroft have in common? William Howard Weeks, or Bill, as he is known to all of us. For the past 18 years, Foxcroft has been blessed to have Bill on its team. From that fortuitous day when his daughter Alexa came to visit the School — and Bill, rightly thinking the focus would be on her, yet came away feeling that he was actually the one being interviewed — to the successful completion of Foxcroft’s Centennial Campaign, Bill’s work, wisdom, and leadership have had a powerful impact on this School and its future.
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  • 2018: Virginia Cretella Mars

    For nine years, Virginia Cretella Mars sat in Foxcroft Board meetings, quietly doing her needlepoint with her dog, Dolce, on her lap—and never missing a beat. A mother, grandmother, trustee, philanthropist, and loyal Fox, she and Foxcroft met in the spring of 1970 as her family was preparing to move back to the United States from France, and Ginnie, as she is known, was looking for schools for her daughters. Having only attended Dutch and French schools, Ginnie's eldest daughter, Victoria, spoke limited English—something not all Washington-area schools were prepared to support. Enter Foxcroft. Now our relationship with Ginnie and her family has spanned more than 45 years, through the graduation of daughters Victoria, in 1974, and Pamela, in 1978; niece Christa, in 1992; and granddaughters Bernadette and Charlotte, in 2003 and 2012, respectively.
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  • 2017: Marco "Mick" W. Hellman

    Marco W. Hellman, or Mick, as we know him, began his Foxcroft journey nervously waiting in the Head of School's office. As we say in Morning Meeting, "No, he was not in trouble!"; he was there for his parent interview for his daughter Olivia's potential admission to Foxcroft as a member of the Class of 2005.
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  • 2015: Ruth Thomas Bedford '32

    By chance, Ruth Thomas Bedford was born the year that Foxcroft School was founded. By design, she embraced and reflected the characteristics and values of the School from which she graduated in 1932. And by choice, she forever changed her alma mater with an act of love and generosity unmatched in the history of girls’ schools.
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  • 2012: Pickett Davis Randolph '56

    Coming from Baltimore with her legendary wide smile and her embracing manner, Pickett and Foxcroft began, in 1953, a lifetime relationship of shared values, hard work, joyous humor, and mutual respect.
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  • 2011: Ellen "Nelly" Sheehan

    Service without ego, caring with no agenda, team play with enthusiasm, injury with “I’ll be back,” heart with an even playing field as its guide — all are retrospective images of a long and honorable tenure.
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  • 2011: Rebecca B. Gilmore

    A North Carolina girl born and bred, a daughter whose parents embraced service professions — teaching and nursing — a scholar worthy of both Duke University and of the University of Virginia, a wife who met her partner through crew and is still “rowing in tandem” more than a quarter of a century later, a mother with unconditional love and clear expectations, an educator with renaissance qualities, a skilled facilitator with an even, open mind, an ambassador par excellence, a colleague, and a friend to so many — all characterize Becky Gilmore. Yet her essence, her core, is, indeed, greater than the sum of her parts.
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  • 2010: Thomas D. Lane

    A Foxcroft Board Member for the past twelve years, a loving husband, father, grandfather, and honorary “Fox,” Thomas D. Lane was educated at the St. James School and Roanoke College. He married Susan Mastin, a Foxcroft graduate (Class of 1973), in 1978. They settled in Easton, Maryland, to raise their daughters Ali (Class of 1997) and Elizabeth (Class of 2000).
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  • 2010: Beatty Page Cramer '66

    A Foxcroft Board member for the past eleven years, a teacher, a mediator, a lawyer, a problem-solver, a volunteer, this New York girl came to Foxcroft in 1962, cheerful, outgoing, full of zip, and eager for action. During the ensuing four decades of shared history, Beatty Page Cramer’s lifetime commitment, sense of responsibility, and leadership skills have combined to create an amazing force on behalf of this school.
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  • 2009: Alix "Axie" Clark Diana '60

    A seasoned school professional, a paramedic, a volunteer par excellence, a leader of leaders, and a family woman, our New York-born “Clark” attended Chapin School. As a freshman, she matriculated at Foxcroft.
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  • 2008: Mary Louise Leipheimer

    Teaching is the highest form of understanding. – Aristotle

    In 1967, a country girl from Western Pennsylvania arrived at Foxcroft School to teach English. Mary Louise Leipheimer was new to girls’ schools and to boarding schools — and not sure about either. Expecting to stay two years, she has given Foxcroft, instead, more than 35 years of service, 20 (so far) as Head of School. 
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  • 2007: Paul K. Bergan

    In May 1953, two men became the first in history to climb to the top of Mt. Everest: Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand beekeeper and explorer, and his Sherpa guide from Nepal, Tenzing Norgay. They reached the summit together and attained instant international fame.
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  • 2007: Celeste P. Bergan

    Good teachers, really good teachers are rare; master teachers are few at best, a phenomenal teacher is a gift. Celeste Bergan is a treasure!
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  • 2006: Gary R. Welke

  • 2006: Stacey Morse Ahner '73

    Because of her passion for the school, her work ethic, her sense of organization, her team building, her team play, her savvy with systems and cultures, her attention to detail, and her sixth sense, she has not only raised Foxcroft's fundraising bar but also challenged the "conventional wisdom" of the development world at large.
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  • 2004: Keith Malcolm McBride

  • 2003: Sally Bartholomay Downey '78

  • 2003: Dorothy "Dotty" Reynolds Brotherton '70

  • 2001: Jean Ellen duPont Shehan

  • 2000: Ann P. Leibrick

  • 1999: Suzanne "Sukie" Kuser '49

  • 1998: Mae Cadwalader Hollenback '41

  • 1996: Nancy Redmond Manierre '41

  • 1995: Elizabeth K. Lamond

  • 1994: Carl L. Yeckel

  • 1993: Thomas J. Carroll

  • 1992: Elizabeth "Kiku" Millard Hanes '46

  • 1991: Henry Gerry

  • 1989: Duncan Read

  • 1988: Mary Chalmers Hemmenway

  • 1987: Eleanor Schley Todd '29

  • 1986: Mary Custis Lee deButts '18

  • 1985: Barbara Childs Lawrence '30

  • 1984: Anne Kane McGuire '52

    Whereas: Anne McGuire has served Foxcroft School with loyalty and distinction for seven years as a Trustee and for six years as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and, whereas:

    Her term as Chairman spanned a period of extraordinary difficulties for the school, its faculty and its students, including the resignation of two headmasters, the tenure of one interim headmaster, the creation and inspiration of two search committees and the successful selection of the present headmaster; and, whereas:

    This period of grave disruption of the normal leadership of the school could well have resulted in an irreparable erosion of the morale with a resultant loss of the reputation of the school, loss of the faculty and loss of the high quality of the student body, but did not do so largely because of her tireless leadership and dedication; and, whereas:

    During this period, she brought an unusual curiosity and imagination to every task however large, however tedious and showed herself to be an available and responsive listener, and a superb spokeswoman; and, whereas:

    Her approach to issues was always sensitive to and understanding of the delicate web of human interrelationships in the fragile environment as a girls boarding school; and, whereas:

    Anne McGuire has demonstrated to her colleagues, to the students and to the external world of Foxcroft the finest qualities of what her school stands for; Now, therefore be it

    Resolved that the Trustees of Foxcroft School hereby express to Anne McGuire the respect, the gratitude and the high commendation of her Alma Mater for a job well and faithfully done; be it further

    Resolved that there be, and hereby is, created the Anne Kane McGuire Distinguished Service Award to be granted only to those persons who, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, have shown equal dedication and brought the same high standards of service and integrity, to the task of furthering the ideas and ideals of Foxcroft as has Anne McGuire; and, be it further

    Resolved that, in order to assure the objective maintenance of the highest standards for the award, no person shall be eligible to be nominated to receive it until the passage of three years following the end of that person’s service to the school; and, be it further Resolved that, Anne McGuire shall be, and she hereby is, designated

    Exemplar of the Anne Kane McGuire Distinguished Service Award

    June 23rd, 1984
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An all-girls boarding and day school in Northern Virginia, Foxcroft prepares young women in grades 9-12 for success in college and in life. Our outstanding academic program offers challenging courses, including Advanced Placement classes and an innovative STEM program. Our premiere equestrian program is nationally recognized, and our athletic teams have won conference and state championships. Experience the best in girls' boarding schools: visit Foxcroft.