Reader Response Peter Mackie ’59

I first learned the name Norman Sprinthall ’54, ’59 AM on my senior year financial aid letter, which he signed off on (“Obituaries, September-October ’22). The $1,200 award was most welcome for sure and enabled me to graduate debt-free. A few years later I encountered Norm again, this time in a more personal way, when I was a student at Harvard Graduate School of Education. As I was contemplating a career path, I was considering becoming an admissions officer at Brown. Norm gently opened my eyes to the fact that such a role would be inconsistent with my desire to have long-term working relationships with students. Fortunately, I wound up in the Newton Public Schools, where I spent nearly four decades working as a counselor at Newton High (later Newton North). Several years later we met again, when Norm and his colleague Ralph Mosher were doing groundbreaking work in counseling psychology and moral development. I became a colleague in that seminal work, and later Ralph became my doctoral advisor at Boston University. Life is full of serendipities. I will never forget Norm’s academic brilliance and gentle kindness. I was so fortunate that he was part of my life at pivotal times.