On Friday, October 1, we had the privilege and pleasure of a visit from ASM’s founders, Mary and Bill Peck! Mr. and Mrs. Peck had not visited campus in five years, and we were delighted to provide them with a socially distanced, masked tour of the building and present them with ASM swag to bring back to Colorado with them.
Mary Peck was an elementary public school teacher in Belmont for ten years. When she and Bill started a family, she began to research early childhood education. She discovered Dr. Montessori’s writings, dug deeper, and decided Montessori education was what she wanted for her own children.
At the time, the closest Montessori school was in Lexington, too far to commute with a young child in tow. She decided to start a Montessori school in Andover, and invited the founder of the American Montessori Society, Nancy Rambusch, to provide informational sessions at the Andover Public Library. In 1975, the Pecks, along with Doctors Ken and Egle Pedini, opened the Andover School of Montessori, and things continued to grow from there!
Although Mary and Bill moved to Connecticut soon after opening ASM, they have always supported the school that they founded. Recently, the Pecks generously established the Founders’ Fund for Teaching Excellence, an endowment that will further enhance the high quality teaching provided by our faculty.
Many thanks to our Board President, Esin Dibirdi, the ASM Leadership Team, our amazing faculty, and the Middle School students for welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Peck back to their beautiful legacy project.
