After retiring from 38 years in education, Peter Wonson ’64 wrote a memoir about his salad days in the New England rock music scene—and got the band back together for a 10-year run. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Lee, and their four-leggeds, devoting time and energy to nonprofits, reading too much and indulging in music every day.
What teacher inspired you the most? How?
Russ Hilliard, who taught me Spanish for four years at Blake. He instilled in me a lifelong love of language, and in the short span of five minutes my senior year gifted me a lesson I’ve never forgotten. Norm “Dodger” Newhall and I were the only two students in Spanish 4. There’s no back row with only two students. The night before those five minutes, Blake had a big hockey game—Dodger playing and me cheering. Neither one of us got around to our Spanish homework. Class began and we were quickly unmasked. Our composed, focused professor lost it and bellowed, “Get out of this room, and don’t ever come back without having done your homework!” Lesson learned: always come prepared.
What did you want to be when you were small?
A professional baseball player like my dad, Chief Wonson, a Blake teacher and coach from 1940 to 1974. Like so many of the faculty at Blake, Chief inspired several generations of Blake boys with his mixture of firm discipline, imparting values, and caring deeply about the welfare and progress of his young charges. When my baseball dreams dissolved, I followed Chief into education. Unlike him, the majority of my career was spent as an independent school assistant head, a public-school assistant principal and a public-school principal.
Who is your hero?
In addition to my dad, Frederick Douglass. These two men are #1 and #2 in my pantheon of heroes. Also on the list are: Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ralph Ellison and John McCain. Courageous, fearless individuals all.
What is the best gift you have been given?
The love of my wife. We were both separated and in the process of divorce in 1992 when we met by sheer happenstance at a concert by the Band, one of my two favorite rock groups along with Steve Winwood’s Traffic. Karma? Lee saved my life.
What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?
On January 15, 1971, the James Gang, featuring Joe Walsh of Eagles fame, played sold out 7pm and 9pm shows at Dartmouth in a 900-seat concert hall. My band, Tracks, opened both shows for Joe and the boys. After our 9pm set—which earned us an extended standing ovation and exuberant calls for an encore, which we did—I was headed down the stairs behind the stage to the dressing rooms. Joe Walsh was coming up the stairs for their second set. As we passed in the stairwell he said, in his classic stoner voice, “Nice set, man.”
What day in your life would you like to relive?
I am a life member of the NAACP. Between 2005 and 2023 I was a member of the Roanoke (Virginia) Branch. During my 19 years with the branch, I was the chair of the Education Committee, chair of the Political Action Committee and second vice president. In 2009, as a voting delegate at the annual Virginia State Conference NAACP meeting, I had an exhilarating, life-affirming experience. On the first morning I walked into the opening plenary session of voting delegates and took note of the fact that I was the only white face in a room of 200 people. I was unfazed, as were the new friends I made that day with whom I had lunch after the session. I have often thought that every white American should have the same experience at least once, thereby to know what our Black sisters and brothers have known for centuries.
Aside from necessities, what is one thing could you not go a day without?
It’s a three-way tie between my daily exercise routine, a good book and music. Growing up with two athletic parents, working out is ingrained in my DNA. Same for reading—my mother had a book in her hand every day. As for music, my many Upper School seasons on the Blake athletic fields and my four desultory years in the Blake Glee Club gave no hint that in my 20s I’d be able to sing the hell out of rock and blues songs.
Name five things that make you happy.
Service to others during my career and in my nonprofit work; music—listening, performing, studying; six grandkids spread across the country from the East Coast to the Left Coast; watching women’s basketball with my wife, especially cheering on Hopkins’ own Paige Bueckers; and our multitudinous fur babies.
What is your proudest achievement?
I’m most proud of helping countless high school students across four decades survive the vicissitudes of their teenage years and become responsible, successful adults.
If you could live in a different country for a year, which country would you choose?
Spain, specifically Barcelona. Though Lee and I are not ardent travelers, the idea of spending a year on the Mediterranean coast in a city with such a remarkable history and culture is pretty tantalizing.