The Chapin Tradition | St Andrew's School Rhode Island (2024)

Headmaster John D. Martin was a graduate of Northfield Mount Hermon School and Tufts University. He also held an M.Ed. from American International College and an M.Div. from Yale University. During the course of his career, he held faculty, admissions, and chaplain positions at Tabor Academy, The Peddie School, and Sewickley Academy. Under Martin's leadership, construction was completed on Adams Student Services Center, Brown Science Center, Sage Gymnasium, and Bill's and Margot's Houses, and a major renovation of Hardy Hall took place for the Middle School. Additionally, St. Andrew’s completed a major capital campaign, The Campaign to Build St. Andrew’s Future, in June of 2004. The campaign raised more than $14.25 million for building, endowment, and annual operating support. The centerpiece of the campaign was the construction of the Norman E. and Dorothy R. McCulloch Center for the Arts, a 27,000-square-foot facility featuring a 287-seat theater; classrooms for the visual arts, music, drama, and computer graphics; a small gallery; scene shop and theater production facilities; and a conference room. Other projects under the campaign umbrella included the expansion of the Library and Resource Department, growth of endowment funds, and stabilization and growth of annual giving. Martin passed away in 2019 and a fund was established in his name to support financial assistance for students.

After devoting his professional career to independent school education, first as a teacher and counselor and then as a headmaster, Dave Burnham had a self-described second career as President of the Board of the Paul Cuffee School, a charter school in Providence, RI. A widely respected educator and accomplished sailor, Burnham spent 16 of his 18 years as the Head of School at Providence’s Moses Brown School. Burnham holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Massachusetts.

"Doc" Wilson spent more than 20 years in independent education, including seven years at St. Andrew's in the 1970s. He also served as interim headmaster at Shore Country Day School and taught at Rocky Hill School in addition to serving as assistant to the headmaster.

Mr. Spink gave 22 years of faithful and devoted service to the School and its students. Formerly a teacher in the Providence Public Schools, he came to St. Andrew's at the time that the Rev. Owings Stone of St. John's Church was appointed Chaplain. It was during Mr. Spink's tenure that the School became accredited, day students were first enrolled, and the Karl P. Jones Gymnasium was built.

Rev. Evans helped to keep the School community's spirits up during the difficult years that followed the Depression and during World War II. It was during his tenure that St. Andrew's graduated its first class with a high school diploma (1940) and Chapin Chapel was built (1945).

Under Rev. Crabtree's guidance, the School doubled its plant and financial strength. During his 15 years as headmaster, Gardiner Hall, Perry Hall, the 19-acre Peterman Farm, and land and a bathhouse on the Barrington River were added, as well as an addition to Hardy Hall and the remodeling of Clark Hall.

Father Chapin was Rector of St. John's Church in Barrington when he established St. Andrew's Industrial School in a barn on Rumstick Road with "no money, no friends, and one boy." The School's first headmaster was "truly a father to all the boys and every boy knew this. He possessed an overflowing humor, a deep but unobtrusive piety, an interest in people, and above all, a feeling of sympathy and understanding." Among Father Chapin's friends were Zechariah and Mary Chafee, who gave the School its first 17 acres on Federal Road.