Bill Farrell ’77 (Inbox, Jan. 8) mentions that Pete Conrad ’53 had a learning disability and after he was expelled from his first prep school, Pete “attended a special school for dyslexics.” Darrow School, in New Lebanon, N.Y., was (and is) nothing of the sort. The headmaster who founded Darrow was C. Lambert Heyniger 1916, a legendary Princeton alumnus. His philosophy was that any boy could succeed academically in the right environment. Darrow provided close, individualized instruction and offered many boys who had struggled elsewhere (for a variety of reasons) a chance to find themselves, with a remarkable success rate. But it was not a “special needs” school; it was like many other small, independent New England college-preparatory schools of that day. 

Pete Conrad (Darrow ’49) is but one of several dozen Darrow alumni who went on to Princeton (including me, Darrow ’62). Darrow, all boys when Pete and I went there, is coed now and still thriving with the same mission. 

Edward Groth III ’66
Boston, Mass.