Aggie O'Neil, 1945-1961

Aggie O'Neil's creative, vibrant spirit lives on in the school she founded more than 57 years ago. Daughter of a Presbyterian minister, teacher in a missionary school in India, and friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Agnes Inglis O'Neil guided Georgetown Day School from its opening in 1945 to her retirement in 1961. Magical with children, Aggie could take humdrum tasks and surround them with glitter. Whether she was helping resettle refuge children in the 1940s or trekking across America each summer in the 1950s with dozens of adolescents in tow, Aggie lived life with great energy, courage, and conviction.

Edith Nash, 1961-1975

Edith Nash and her husband, Philleo, were among the founding parents of Georgetown Day School. Edith assisted Aggie in the early years while Philleo served as the School's first Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Edith returned to Washington in 1961, after a sojourn in Wisconsin, to become the second Director of Georgetown Day School. Her energy, vision, and abiding faith in the essential values of the School made her the perfect choice to succeed Aggie. The School grew dramatically with Edith at the helm but she never lost sight of the founding principles. As she wrote, "I felt my role was to preserve the School's value system, encourage learning at many levels, promote high academic standards, and, when, need be, respect some disorder in the service of learning."

Gladys Stern, 1975-1995

Gladys Stern came to Georgetown Day School in 1954, when she enrolled her son in the school. It was the beginning of an extraordinary forty-year association as parent, associate director, principal of the high school, and, finally, Director of School. She shepherded GDS though various moves, growth spurts, and societal changes. Throughout it all she kept the Georgetown Day School community focused on a "commitment to substance over form, an honest evaluation of its successes and failures, and a willingness to stand up for what is right."

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