Faculty Farewells
Dean of Faculty Eimer Page delivers tributes to instructors retiring with the distinction of emeritae
Dale Braile
Instructor in Mathematics
Dale first joined the math faculty at Exeter in 1987 before moving to St. Thomas Aquinas High School. On her return to Exeter in 1998, a colleague wrote that “her true vocation [is] that of a boarding school teacher, interested and ready to be engaged in every facet of a residential school. … Dale is a very special person.” Those of us who have shared this boarding school life with Dale would wholeheartedly agree.
Prior to Exeter, Dale worked as an intern at Choate and St. Paul’s, and taught math at The Stony Brook School and Andover. The math chair at Andover wrote, with perhaps a modicum of resentment: “I would have been pleased to offer her a permanent job if we had one to offer. … She is professional, caring and thorough.” She actually spent a term teaching at both schools. I’m delighted to report that she has said, “Exeter’s pedagogy won, hands down.” Dale received her bachelor’s degree from Williams College and her master’s degree in liberal studies from Dartmouth.
Dale has been involved with the Exeter Math Institute for many years. A colleague who has worked with her at various EMIs told me that all teachers comment on her endless patience and positivity, adding, “She has made a profound impact on school districts around the U.S. through her work with teachers who teach mathematics at all levels.”
Dale has served on the Math Placement Committee and as coordinator for the American Mathematics competitions. She’s been a member of the Orientation Committee, the Advising Committee, the Agenda and Faculty Affairs Committees, the Curriculum Committee, the Community Connections Group, and the Schedule and Calendar Working Group. She has been a mainstay as an admissions reader and assistant girls varsity cross-country coach for over two decades. She has been a supportive mentor to new faculty and also served as a class adviser.
A colleague says, “Students trust and confide in her, knowing she is a caring and supportive adult. She is perceptive and generous with her time and talents.”
Dale’s dorm assignments tell an unusual story. She spent most of her service in Hoyt and Bancroft, and in the latter she served as dorm head. But Dale has also lived in Ewald, Main Street, Peabody, Wheelwright and Williams. This came about because of her willingness to move in for a term to allow colleagues to lead off-campus programs or to cover leaves. Her flexibility contributed greatly to the professional growth and goals of colleagues across campus.
A former chair of the Math Department says: “What has always set Dale apart from other faculty has been her willingness to volunteer and do any job needed to help the school, our department and ultimately the students … While being a ‘triple threat’ was not rare for someone starting their boarding school career in the ’80s, sustaining it for their entire career of 40-plus years is indeed rare. Dale has always understood that classroom teaching, residential life and coaching are the cornerstones of schools like Exeter, and she has done this with success and her ever-present smile.”
Dale received a Brown Award in 2007 and again in 2020, and a Radford Award in 2013.
Thank you, Dale, for the ways in which you brought to our attention the needs of our students, looked out for your colleagues, enhanced our curriculum and proved to be a wonderful colleague.
Kitty Fair
Instructor in Modern Languages
Kitty Fair joined the faculty in 1984 as a French teacher after completing her Ph.D in French at the University of Michigan, making her the longest-serving instructor in our Modern Languages Department. She has instilled a love of French language, culture and landscape in the many students she has taught and the many students she has chaperoned on their term-abroad travels in France. An organized, conscientious, caring, energetic and skilled instructor, Kitty represents the best in our teaching of language and culture.
Kitty’s philosophy of teaching includes an empathetic and supportive attitude toward students for whom the study of a second language is a struggle. Her belief in growth and potential has led her to say, “It’s not necessarily students who show capacity right off the bat who become most fluent in a language.” As a colleague says: “One of her lasting contributions was her firm advocacy for the lower-enrollment languages in our department during her time as department head. She made sure that these programs were protected, valued and given a space to thrive.”
My own impressions of Kitty really formed when I moved into the role of Director of Global Initiatives. Colleagues often asked me what I most enjoyed about moving into an administrative role, and I found myself saying again and again how impacted I had been by the relationships I formed with colleagues from outside my home department. Kitty was the person I always pictured as I said this. We talked at length during those years when she led the term abroad in France, under significant stress at times, at odd hours for one or the other of us due to the time difference, and always with the student experience at the forefront of our thinking. She’s an extraordinary colleague and I feel so fortunate to have forged that relationship with her.
An endurance athlete, Kitty has completed dozens of marathons, an Ironman Triathlon, and served as Exeter’s assistant girls cross-country coach, along with coaching running, cycling, fitness and track. A colleague who coached girls cross-country with Kitty for many years, says: “She was an inspiration, running workouts with the team as she trained for the Boston Marathons that she ran. One year after a long bus ride to Interschols, one of the girls realized that she had forgotten to pack her running shoes. So, she ran the championship race in Kitty’s shoes — literally.”
She completed dorm service in Main Street and Ewald and occasionally stepped back into dorm life to allow her residential colleagues in Modern Languages to lead off campus programs with our students. She has been involved in EJC, ESSO and the Francophonie Society, as well as serving on the Community Conduct and former Discipline committees, and the Admissions, Agenda and Curriculum Committee. She also served more than one term as the department chair in Modern Languages.
Kitty was awarded the Steyer Distinguished Professorship in 2011. She used the support afforded by this professorship to continue her own growth as an instructor, and an impactful trip to Martinique and Guadeloupe led to the creation of a wonderful trip for students to Martinique in 2019. Kitty has continued to read widely and diversify her curriculum, bringing guest writers such as Kim Thuy to meet with her classes over Zoom.
Kitty, you have been such a steady, constant and caring presence in the lives of our students since you joined the Exeter community. Countless colleagues have benefited from your banana bread, your mentorship, your example, your “thoughtful approach to instructional practices” and your kindness. In keeping with your patience with the slow and reluctant French learner, I offer “meilleurs voeux pour votre retraite et merci pour votre gentillesse.”
These citations were delivered by Dean of Faculty Eimer Page at faculty meeting in June.
These citations were originally published in the summer 2025 edition of The Exeter Bulletin.