The April 23, 1935 edition of the Avon Weekly News-letter, put together by friends while Pete Seeger was recuperating from whooping cough, lists those who had made the honor lists for the third quarter. Reed Estabrook, future Chairman of the Board, made the Dean's List, while Tom Custer, "Pete" Hart, Pete Seeger, and Alice Sperry made the "Avon List." Wait...Alice Sperry?!
Alice was the daughter of science teacher Holland Sperry, and it seems she at least was allowed to attended Avon - presumably as a day student. I have seen Alice's transcript, but I have yet to come across evidence of any other girls among the Men of Avon. It would have been limited, one assumes, to the daughters of faculty members - perhaps to the exclusion of one little girl who offended TPR by announcing that she liked to "play Mrs. Riddle."
The same issue of the News-letter contains a notice about "Police" Court. It seems Police Court was a separate entity from Summary Court, in that "minor offenders can be brought before it by an officer of the Village who has 'police' powers." On the prior Friday evening, Judge Wickes heard eight cases, six of them involving "walking on the lawns contrary to the regulations of the Commissioner of Grounds, who is empowered by the ordinance of the Council to make such rules." The six miscreants were all convicted and sentenced to between two and four hours of hard labor. The other two offenders were charged with failure to be in bed after ten, one of them having "played his radio." The News-letter did not report their sentences, if any.
I say in this post that I have seen Alice Sperry's transcript, but it occurs to me that it may have belonged to Alice's sister Mary Lou. Years ago, Enis Farrell showed me a transcript she had come across while looking for someone else's. She saw that it had a girl's name and asked if I knew anything about girls attending AOF. I didn't, but I recognized the name Sperry because they have been our neighbors in Maine. Mary Lou's children still visit their summer place on Islesboro. That Mary Lou also attended Avon would stand to reason, if Alice did, so there are probably at least two women who have done so.
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