School Song Creates Sibling Bond

Emblazoned with the Green and Gold.  We'll keep our faith in all that's good. Those two lines of the Hamden Hall School Song have kept our school in the hearts of two alumni siblings from the 1950s. And recently, thanks to a reconnection with our Lower School, the two siblings sang the entire song together, proving that a good singalong is exactly what the doctor ordered! The story goes that Katharine Hovland Walvick arrived at Hamden Hall in 1947 as a kindergartner and left after sixth grade. Her brother, David Hovland, who is 18 months older than Katharine, started at Hamden Hall in 1946 in kindergarten and also left after grade six. Katharine explained that their father, Carl Iver Hovland, was a highly respected professor at Yale until his untimely death in 1961. The family lived near the campus on Kildeer Road. Fast-forward to 75 years later, and David had a stroke. “Music is an important element of David’s enjoyment,” Katharine explained. “And throughout the years, every now and then, we would spontaneously sing Emblazoned with the Green and Gold.  We'll keep our faith in all that's good. We would laugh and reminisce, as those were the only lines of the Hamden Hall song we really knew.” In Katharine’s efforts to acquire the words to the entire song, she reached out to Rachael Jungkeit, our Lower School music teacher. Katharine wanted to share the lyrics of the school song with her brother who, after a hospital stay in Troy, N.Y., was in a rehabilitation facility in Pittsfield, Mass. “Fortunately for me and David, when I called, I was able to speak to Rachael, who graciously sent me the words," Katharine said. “Rachael also had the inspiration to take a photo on her cell phone of the handwritten sheet music and send that to me so I'd know the melody for all the other phrases!” But Rachael’s efforts didn’t end there. She enlisted our music aficionado Matt Harrison to record a Lower School class actually singing the song, and they connected via audio to David and Katharine. As Katharine and David listened, the siblings also sang along. “As I reported in an email to Rachael after my visit with David, I was thrilled at how well David and I did at singing that song together,” Katharine said. “We did especially well on the last line, perhaps because the melody is so simple.  I think David felt good about it too.” Thanks to Katharine for giving Rachael a call!  We hope you’ll visit us one day soon and meet Rachael, Matt, and the Lower Schoolers who brought the School Song “back home” to David and you!