Nurtured in Nottingham
Ten Luther students forged a tight bond nearly two decades ago as participants in Luther’s Nottingham study-abroad program. Annual reunions with their program directors over the past four years have made that bond unbreakable.
Ten Luther students forged a tight bond nearly two decades ago as participants in Luther’s Nottingham study-abroad program. Annual reunions with their program directors over the past four years have made that bond unbreakable.
It would be easy enough to walk past the well-kept redbrick house on Fifth Avenue in Decorah were it not for the long, tall, straight line of striking Japanese barberry shrubs that provide natural fencing for its front yard.
On this particular day in early June, however, it’s not the shrubs that cause pause but the laughter and cheerful voices that emanate from behind them.
The house belongs to Erin ’97 and Storm Bailey (Luther professor emeritus of philosophy), directors of the 2007–08 Luther Nottingham program. And the voices are those of a tightknit group of Luther alumni, all 2009 graduates, who took part in the Nottingham program under the guidance of the couple some 18 years ago.
Since 2023, the group has gathered with their spouses and children for a weekend in Decorah to reconnect, relax, and help plant and maintain the Baileys’ English-style garden. On this particular Saturday morning, as Kia Burreson, Erin Makela, Siri (Carlson) and Alex McDowell, Andrea Schiefelbein, Kate (Klacan) Schilling, and Carrie (Harris) Schmitz clear spent flowers from four identical beds made of clipped boxwood hedges, Storm asks the enthusiastic helpers a simple question: What flower, if planted soon, will bloom by late July (when the garden will be part of a tour organized by the Decorah Town and Country Garden Club)?
When the Nottingham group reunites, they spend a day helping the Baileys plant their garden.
After a bit of back and forth, the group delivers a solid answer: zinnias.
The zinnia—quick to bloom and remarkably resilient—may be the perfect symbol for the friendships formed by this Nottingham cohort, which also includes Katie (Sackett) Stadheim, Abbi (LaCarte) Strobbe, and Joy Waughtal, who were unable to make this year’s gathering.
As Kia recounts it, the group bonded through movie nights (featuring films like the animated Robin Hood) even before boarding the plane to England. A nearly four-hour bus trip to Hadrian’s Wall within a day or two of landing on British soil solidified that bond. “Storm immediately threw us into a shared experience,” she recalls of that excursion, “and we definitely grew closer as a result.”
Their friendships continued to grow over the following months, as the 10 young adults shared living space, cooking duties, and cleaning responsibilities while taking classes, studying, and exploring England and other European countries. “We had fun just hanging out at the flat, trying to figure out how to live in a different culture together,” Carrie says. “That year was very much a formative experience.”
The Nottingham alumni with the Baileys pose for a photo after a day of gardening.
As the then-students, says Kate, “took a crash course in learning how to be responsible adults and good global citizens,” the Baileys offered steady guidance, always there if needed yet cognizant that a large part of the study-abroad experience for their young charges was gaining independence.
Kia recalls a story that illustrates the couple’s hands-off yet accessible approach: “One morning, we all took the train from Nottingham to London, and when we arrived in London, Storm handed us our Oyster cards [for riding the Tube] and said, ‘I’ll see you at 5 p.m. for dinner.’”
Several group members also vividly recall Storm leading a trip to a grocery store, a long list of fruits and vegetables in hand. “We were in charge of making all the meals in our flat, and he wanted to make sure we didn’t get scurvy,” Kate explains as her onetime professor, seated just a few feet away, flashes a grin.
It’s clear that the Baileys were, as Kia puts it, “surrogate parents” to the Nottingham participants during their time across the pond. And that’s one reason why she and all nine of her fellow Nottingham flatmates returned to Decorah to celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary at Homecoming 2022.
The group had stayed in touch since graduation—attending weddings, chatting on Skype, and texting regularly—but during that celebration, they made a pledge to reunite in Decorah every summer to help Erin Bailey, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, realize her dream of creating an English-style garden. “It was a way for us to be there for Storm and Erin in Decorah like they were there for us in Nottingham,” Kia says.
The gesture has deeply touched their Nottingham mentors.
“They are family, and their families are family. Each one has expanded my world immeasurably,” Storm says. “The year we spent together in Nottingham was my favorite year as a Luther faculty member.”
The Nottingham reunion group from 2023 to 2026
“It’s been wonderful, just wonderful to have them return to Decorah each summer and help us with our garden,” Erin adds. “From the moment I read The Secret Garden as a child, I’ve dreamed of creating a special English garden, and they have helped us do that.”
The date for the group’s 2027 reunion in Decorah has already been set—but there’s a possibility that 2028 may bring a change of location.
On the summer solstice of 2008, the day before they left England, the group took a farewell photo on the steps of the Nottingham Council House. “We vowed we would all meet again on those steps in exactly 20 years,” Kia says. “If we’re all there, it’s going to be magical.”