Julia McArthur Whitney may quite possibly hold the record for being the parent with the most Oakwood students attending the school at one time! Her children Ruth (’70), Philip (’71), Andrew (‘74), and Sarah (’75) McArthur all attended Oakwood, as did her stepdaughters Leslie (’75) and Katherine, who left after tenth grade. (Another stepson, Josh, did not attend Oakwood.) Her second husband, Dwight Whitney, was a bureau chief at TV Guide magazine, and there are some people who feel that his blended family was the model for the TV sitcoms, Eight is Enough and The Brady Bunch.

All of the children started Oakwood at the secondary school. Ruth, the family historian, recalls that her mother was very impressed with the headmaster Hamilton “Ham” Smith, as were her children who grew to be very fond of him. Julia Whitney was always interested in education and was very progressive in her thinking. Ruth feels that one of her mother’s greatest contributions to Oakwood was in “supporting the ideals of Ham and the other parents in terms of having a school that was open to listening to the kids, and encouraging them in self expression, as the arts are equally important to academics in education.” She strongly promoted the ideals of the Oakwood philosophy. She supported the academic programs, and being an artist who had worked as an illustrator as a young woman, she felt strongly about the inclusion of arts in the curriculum.

Julia believed in being involved in her children’s school, knowing that parental involvement was important to both the student and the school. And she enjoyed the sense of inclusion in their daily activities that she received as a result of her involvement. Having so many children at Oakwood, Julia knew that being involved at school would have an impact on all their lives. Leslie recalls that Julia “worked in the school library all the time” and for a time taught a home economics class at the home of another Oakwood family.

The first few years of the secondary school was an intense emotional time as the school and the parent body was small, and there was a lot at stake. They were forging a new educational path and facing many uncertainties, including the turbulent political times of the world. Julia Whitney felt that Ham was taking the school in the right direction and she was his staunch supporter. After her children graduated, she opened an art studio with some other Oakwood mothers, and eventually returned to school to become a psychologist.

Julia was president of the Parent Organization in 1968. She held additional positions during her time at Oakwood. Julia Whitney passed away in 1998, and is being honored posthumously as a past president. We are grateful for her many contributions. Her children and grandchildren are currently residing in various states.

Peg Leavitt came to Oakwood when her twin daughters Susan and Jane (’69) started in ninth grade. They were in Oakwood’s second graduating class. Because Susan and Jane were unhappy in their previous school, the family decided to try a more progressive approach for her daughters’ education, based upon Peg’s experience years ago at the Walden School in New York. The twins loved Oakwood and their parents felt that they became “thinking students” as a result of their years here.

Peg became involved right away on the Board of Directors of the high school. When it first opened, there was no parent association at the secondary school. When it was formed in 1967, Peg became the first president. Peg strongly felt from her previous years of school involvement that it was important to have a parent association, and she was instrumental in its development. The new school was faced with a myriad of pressing issues: settling into the Magnolia Boulevard location, deciding teacher salaries and resolving curriculum questions. Student recruitment encouraged the development of a diverse student body in keeping with the school philosophy. Family involvement was encouraged, and working with the Board and the Parent Organization, Peg describes herself as “a participator.” She felt that in order to be part of the school, you had to work with it.

She recalls that the students in her daughters’ class of 1969 all got into the colleges of their choice and she felt that that was a good indicator that they had been well taught. She said this class was a “rag-tag” group, as it was the time of the hippies and the Viet Nam war, and some of the kids did not want to have a graduation ceremony. Peg told them that it was an important rite of passage and they did ultimately decide to have a ceremony, which turned out to be a very emotional affair with “a lot of hugs.” (No one can ever say that the Oakwood graduation follows traditional models.)

Peg Leavitt feels that her biggest contribution to Oakwood was her participation on the Board, which dealt with the important issues of policy, faculty, arts and the nature of the school. This incredibly vivacious woman lives with her husband of fifty-eight years, Dr. Mike Leavitt, a psychiatrist and an analyst in private practice. Peg is a sculptor, a poet, and a child development specialist. She closed her art studio and retired, though she currently volunteers at UCLA hospital on the pediatric ward, writes poetry and visits her children and grandchildren often. In addition to their twin daughters Peg and Mike have two sons, Richard and Andrew, as well as six grandchildren.

Both the Whitneys and the Leavitts leave us a rich legacy of parental involvement in the Oakwood community that still exists today.