Heritage Irises

May 12, 2024

Barnstormers,

Good morning and Happy Mother’s Day! 

As you may know, Iris Louise McPhetridge Thaden (1905-1979) was not only a great American aviator, but also a devoted mother of two. Seven years ago, Patricia Thaden Webb (1933-2021), Louise’s only living child at the time, shared with me a letter that she received from her mother holding words of encouragement during a difficult moment in her life. The poetry of the closing paragraph offers a window into our namesake’s spirit:

WHERE EVER I AM, I will be with you; -- you will hear me in the rustling of the leaves on the trees, you will feel me in the wind against your face, you can see me in the lazy drift of clouds. I will be there in the cloudless blue of sky; on the highest mountain top; in the gurgling of the brook – and in the falling rain. The hues of sunset will be a part of me, and he smell of flowers in the air. Contrails cut across God’s heavens will be the paths along which I walk; -- the drifting snowflakes my caress – the morning sun my confidence.

Shortly after Pat passed away in 2021, we planted an iris garden around McPhetridge House and dedicated it to Louise and Pat, mother and daughter. Many of these irises came to Thaden from the original site of the McPhetridge home on West Central Avenue in Bentonville where they had been growing for generations. We now present iris rhizomes to our graduates at the end of each commencement ceremony – a living symbol of their alma mater and our aspirations as a school that gives its alumni roots and wings. 

Last Friday’s commencement was especially poignant in this regard as we welcomed Louise Thaden’s granddaughter, Terry von Thaden, back to campus as our special guest speaker. An honorary member of our first graduating class, Terry shared with this year’s graduates an inspiring and deeply moving story of courageous beginnings. For the past three years, she has been caring for her son, Liam, the victim of a random act of gun violence that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Terry’s words brought to life for all of us the courage, humility, and hope that have given mother and son strength to begin anew in the face of staggering challenges.  

Beginnings matter, and we are so grateful for the legacy of motherhood that runs deep and flies high at Thaden. Today we celebrate the alma maters who nourish us with the “morning sun” of their love and confidence wherever we may go. 

Together we fly. 

Clayton K. Marsh

Founding Head of School