When Peggy Byers Wood ’49 stopped by Head of School Alixe Callen ’88’s office this month, she didn’t just bring stories, she brought history itself. In her hands was a remarkable photograph from Milton Academy Girls’ School’s 1949 Graduation, showing Peggy and her girls’ school classmates with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, that year’s speaker.

Peggy, a Milton “lifer” and former Trustee, filled the room with memories of her time in the girls’ school—from singing hymns in the chapel to connections with beloved classmates, leaders who served in student government, athletics, and school publications. She also shared a touching story about her lifelong friend Lucy “Chips” Withington, whose family name still graces the Withington Room next to Forbes Dining Hall. Peggy’s family ties to Milton ran deep: her father, Randolph K. Byers, served as the school doctor.

“Veterans Day is a good day to consider those who have gone before us from these same dorms, halls, paths, and fields to the far corners of the world, fighting for a cause in which they believed,” said U.S. Navy veteran Jonas P. Akins ’97 when he returned to Milton this month to serve as the 2025 Veterans’ Day speaker. 

Now a history teacher and football and golf coach at Choate Rosemary Hall, Akins previously served as a naval intelligence officer, with deployments abroad on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier and a year in Baghdad. Speaking to students, faculty, and his mother, Caroline (Bonnet) Akins ‘59, whom he warmly acknowledged during his remarks,  Akins invited the community to think about the many forms that meaningful service can take. “I hope that by sharing a few of my experiences, I might convince you to at least consider a term of service to others, to pursue something more than your own happiness. Something bigger than yourself,” he said.