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Sherman Day Thacher, a Yale-trained lawyer, moved west in 1887, intending to join his brother as an orange rancher in California's Ojai Valley. However, after accepting a request from a Yale colleague to tutor his nephew, Thacher's focus changed from cultivating oranges to cultivating young minds. His small educational enterprise eventually became The Thacher School. Combining unmatched academics with a unique horse and camping program, Thacher has prepared more than 5,000 young men and women to become contributing members of society at the local, state, and national levels since its founding in 1889. With an educational philosophy based around Sherman Thacher's precepts of "honor, fairness, kindness, and truth," The Thacher School continues to be recognized as one of the premier secondary schools in the country.
About the author
John Taylor was born at Thacher, where his father was a mathematics teacher. He graduated from the school in 1965 and went on to obtain a master's of science degree in nuclear engineering from Stanford. He served as a nuclear submarine officer and retired after 35 years as a systems analyst and manager at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. Taylor has authored or coauthored several books on New Mexico history, including Arcadia's Catholics Along the Rio Grande. This book about his alma mater contains more than 200 images that trace the history and traditions of The Thacher School from its founding to the present.
