Alumna Celebrates 50th Reunion

As Etta Lappen Davis, Class of 1969, celebrates her 50th Hamden Hall reunion this year, she recalled her days under the pines. When she first enrolled in eighth grade there was no organized instrumental music offered at the school. Etta had been playing violin since she was 5 years old. She recalled that Charlie Shepard, Class of 1972, a cellist, created a chamber group and that she and Charlie worked on piano trio with Lola Weisstub, the Lower School music teacher. In 1969, Etta elected to present a violin recital for her Senior Project. Etta still plays the violin in Symphony Pro Musica, a community orchestra in Hudson, Mass., where she served on the board of directors for many years. Her group rehearses once a week from September through May, and holds four to five concerts each year. Back to her Hamden Hall days, Etta said that her father died when she was just a junior. Thus, when it came time to choose a college, she wanted to stay close to home. Etta graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in psychology. While an undergraduate at Brandeis, she began a three-year internship with a music therapist, and that experience sealed her career. She spent 13 years in that field, and she was instrumental in developing the first national certification exam for music therapists. She went on to work as a state licensing specialist for foster care, adoption, and residential programs for children and youth. She now owns a consulting firm and also works part time as a clinical and practice manager at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. Etta has one daughter, Sarah. Sarah and her husband, Nate, live in Philadelphia. The couple has one daughter, Oona. Etta says that nothing can really prepare you for the joy one gets from being a grandparent. Etta’s two sisters also attended Hamden Hall. Alyssa Lappen, Class of 1970, is married to her Hamden Hall classmate, Tarrant Smith. Abby Lappen attended Hamden Hall for several years, but graduated from Branford High in 1973. Etta attributes her involvement in clubs and student government at Hamden Hall for her keen interest today in volunteering for causes and also for her leadership skills. Since 2013 she has been the coordinator of Access Massachusetts, a grassroots organization dedicated to passing legislation that will grant all adoptees born in Massachusetts access to their own original birth certificates.