Anthony L. Clay
Carolina Friends School

Anthony returned to Carolina Friends in August 2009 as the first Director of Advancement, responsible for alumni, parent, and grandparent relations; development; communications; community partnerships and outreach; and other aspects of the School’s external relations. In 2016-2017, he transitioned to the new Director of Extended Learning role, supporting after-hours, summer, and other enrichment programs for students, adults, and families. An Arkansas native, he earned baccalaureate degrees magna cum laude in International Relations and History and an Asian Studies Certificate at American University and then completed an M.A. in History and received Phi Beta Kappa honors at Emory University. Anthony has worked as a teacher--in subjects including U.S. history, government and politics, debate, and economics--and as a college counselor at four schools (including Carolina Friends from 2002-2005). He's grateful that his own children, Isak and Emerson, have been nurtured by Quaker values and dedicated teachers at CFS.

Lynn Pickles
Carolina Friends School

Lynn has always been passionate about teaching math, writing, and cultural geography, and feels very much at home at CFS as she was born in Nelson, Lancashire, in the shadows of Pendle Hill, a cornerstone place in the history of the Quaker movement. She and her husband John have a son, Leon, and they enjoy traveling whenever the opportunity presents itself. If neither John or Leon are able to travel with her, Lynn has been known to take her Scottish Terrier, Lewis, with her to Europe given that he is the proud owner of a European Union Pet Passport!

Lynn grew up working in her parents’ fish, fruit, and vegetable shop in the 1950s in the days when British money was not based on the decimal system, and calculators had not been invented. She has always maintained that those experiences shaped her world-view and trained her to think mathematically. Her formal post-secondary education took place at St Martin’s College in Lancaster, England, and she then taught in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa for four years. She and her husband came to the U.S., to State College, Pennsylvania, in 1978 where Lynn worked as a Special Education Teacher and as a Young Adult and Children’s Librarian for the County. She undertook a second Education / Math degree and a Masters Degree in International Affairs and Linguistics at Ohio University, prior to moving to Morgantown, West Virginia. There, a group of parents asked her to start an alternative elementary school, and to create and oversee its growth from an initial KG class to a Pre-K through 6th-grade program. Lynn later moved to The Lexington School, in Lexington, Kentucky, and then to the Duke School in Durham before beginning work in the Forest Class at Carolina Friends School. She has come full circle.

Nikki served on the planning committee for the 2013 Quaker Journey and is enthusiastic about joining as a trip leader for the 2018 Journey to "1652 Country." Since 1985, Nikki has been active in the Durham Friends Meeting where she has served in various capacities, including clerk of the Meeting. Currently she is clerk of the South Region Executive Committee of the American Friends Service Committee. Nikki is also a member of the Carolina Friends School Board of Trustees and parent of three alums. Since 1999, she has worked as the Associate Director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine at Duke University.