Power couple receives joint Founders’ Day Award at assembly
Russell and Jackie Weatherspoon share gratitude for a life spent at Exeter.
Over nearly 40 years, Russell Weatherspoon ’01, ’03, ’08, ’11 (Hon.); P’92, P’95, P’97, P’01 and Jackie Weatherspoon P’92, P’95, P’97, P’01 left an enduring mark on Exeter’s campus and community. In honor of their lifetime of service to the Academy, Sam Brown ’92, president of the General Alumni Association, presented the Weatherspoons with the 2025 Founders’ Day Award in an Assembly Hall packed beyond capacity with excited students, faculty, alumni and Trustees.
“In the classroom, in the dorm, in the dining halls or along the paths, your warmth, wisdom and generosity have earned you the enduring respect and affection of your colleagues and the devotion and gratitude of generations of students,” Brown said while reading from the award citation for the Weatherspoons.
Established by the Trustees in 1976, the Founders’ Day Award is given annually in recognition of longtime service to the Academy. It was renamed in 2019 to honor Elizabeth Phillips’ role in forming the Academy alongside her husband, John Phillips. Several past winners of the award sat on the stage with Brown, Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 and Exeter’s current Trustees during the award presentation, including:
- Rich Aaronian ’76, ’78, ’97 (Hon.); P’94, P’97
- Peter Aldrich ’62; P’99, P’03
- Tucker Andersen ’59
- David Bohn ’57; P’81, ’84, ’90; GP’11,’28
- Julie Dunfey ’76; P’08
- Jack Herney ’46, ’69, ’71, ’72, ’74, ’92, ’95 (Hon.)
- Susan Herney ’69, ’74, ’83 (Hon.)
- Sue Hollingsworth (Hunt) ’75
- Linda Luca ’74 (Hon.)
- Rick Mahoney ’61; ’74, ’95 (Hon.)
- Kathy Nekton P’85, P’98
- Kendra Stearns O’Donnell ’31, ’47, ’63,’91, ’97 (Hon.); P’00
- Rick Smith ’66.
A lifetime of service
Russell and Jackie Weatherspoon arrived at Exeter in 1987 with their young children, all future Exonians: Ben ’92, Rachel ’95, Clarke ’97 and Rebekah ’01. In addition to teaching religion, English and drama, Russell Weatherspoon took on many important administrative roles during his time at the Academy, including dean of residential life, dean of multicultural affairs, director of Exeter Summer and — from 2020 to his retirement in 2024 — dean of students.
“With your fair-minded, steady presence — and a seeming ability to be everywhere on campus at once — you assured students that wherever they were, and whatever was going on in their lives, someone was looking out for them,” Brown said.
Jackie Weatherspoon expanded greatly on the role of faculty spouse and dorm parent for more than a decade in Cilley Hall. “From ensuring that Black hair care products were stocked at local drugstores to helping students shop for dresses and style their hair for prom, you were a source of steadfast advocacy and support for Black girls and women on campus,” Brown said.
She later took on official roles at the Academy, serving as associate dean of Exeter Summer and holding positions in Admissions, the Lamont Gallery, the Class of 1945 Library, among others. Off campus, she built an impressive career in public service and human rights advocacy that took her from the New Hampshire House of Representatives to the U.S. State Department and beyond. Jackie brought that experience to her role as longtime adviser to students in the Democratic “Dem” Club, encouraging them to engage in political life at the campus, local, state and national levels.
Words of wisdom and gratitude
“This is a magical place,” Jackie Weatherspoon said while accepting the Founders’ Day Award. Arriving at the school as the mother of young children, she said she felt welcomed into the community (and honing her cooking skills) thanks to the other faculty wives who had come before her.
Being dorm parents in Cilley Hall “was a commitment that we had made not only to the school, but how we saw life,” Jackie Weatherspoon said. “We felt life was if you were a teenager, you needed adults to be with you.” Speaking of her career in public service and advocacy, she spoke of working “to make Exeter a better place, the town a better place, our state, and our world.” Many students have walked with her on that journey over the years, she said, including at least two “who someday will be president of the United States.”
“I want to thank you so very much for allowing two teenagers from Brooklyn who wanted to serve people to be a part of your journey,” she said.
After his wife received a standing ovation from the crowd — one of several during the assembly — Russell Weatherspoon took to the podium. “One of the great blessings of having been asked to have a variety of roles is that it multiplied for me over the years my understanding, appreciation and gratitude for that wide range of people who are doing so much, so much of the time, so much of it unseen,” he said.
Of two all-important decisions in life — work and marriage — he said he had been lucky in both. “You will spend most of your life in the work of love and with the hope that you’ll love the work that you do,” he advised the audience. “So you want to choose as carefully as you can. We are grateful because we got the chance to do a work life with you.”
Near the end of his remarks, Russell Weatherspoon recalled a moment last spring, not long before he retired after 37 years of service to the Academy. “I woke up to the fact that this is where we had spent the majority of our adult lives, and that we had spent them among people who had the capacity to make us better people,” he said. “Other people shape you. We are grateful for the opportunity to be shaped by this place and, specifically, by you.”