It is always great to hear from our alumni. We would like to thank you, Veronica, for keeping the school in your memories and sharing this all with us. Congratulations! We hope to see you soon here in Rio.
“Dear Adriana, My name was Veronica Tarbutt, and TBS has stayed with me over the many years. Whether it was some Irish ditty learned in Music Class; an Assembly performance on-stage, guitar in hand; Scottish reels under the command of the immaculate Mr. Gordon, our headmaster; Festa de São João (all those dangerous fireworks!); swimming for PE…and the list goes on. I learned about this site from a young alumnus on a cruise a few months back! Congratulations on the nice content and “gossipy” newsletters. I left Escola Notre Dame in 61-62 to attend TBS at the insistence of my father, a Brit, who wanted me to learn “proper, Protestant English”. After he passed away in 1966, my mother (Brasileira) remarried in 1969 to Rev. Derwent Suthers who worked for Rev. Wilcocheson at Christ Church! In fact, he confirmed me there… Thereafter (after one term at the Escola Americana to get a bit of U.S. flavour), we went to live in the U.S., in Marin County, California, to be exact. A beautiful place, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I attended Tamalpais High School, followed by Golden Gate University (BS Marketing) and started post-graduate work at Cornell University, Ithaca in the early 1990s but did not finish due to a divorce. My career was in advertising and so I spent most of my life working for multinational ad agencies in the SF Bay Area, Seattle and Chicago. Since 1996 I have run my own marketing consultancy, VIVA Marketing Strategies (www.vivams.com) specializing in food, especially produced. I now live in Scottsdale and Nogales, Arizona (along the southern border, where the Mexican produce comes in) with my third(!) husband (had no children) and three dogs. Life is good, and now we are contemplating retirement in Brasil, and will be there toward the end of the year to look for a second and/or retirement home. Perhaps then I can also be more involved in helping the school… I can honestly say that were it not for the strong foundation I had at TBS, I might not be where I am today. The strict standards, combined with the “healthy” classes of PE, dancing, performing, field trips, were all part of a great, well-rounded education. (At that time, the roster was at least 90% foreign and only a few Brasileiros, so different than now.) Although never an “A” student, I did plod along, but the true impact of what I had learned, I learned later, had been made. I trust most of your students feel the same way and are proud of what TBS was, became and still is. I would enjoy getting back in touch with some of my old classmates and teachers (if they are still around). Thank you for your interest, and continue the good work!
Cheers,
Veronica”
If you would like to contact Veronica, please let us know, and we will put you in touch!