Irwin Francis Sentilles III – 50th Reunion Essay

Irwin Francis Sentilles III

4439 Shady Hill Drive

Dallas, Texas 75229

irwin3@sentilles.com

214-728 8381

Spouse(s): Ann Sherwood (1971)

Child(ren): Sarah Y. Sentilles (1973), Emily A. Sentilles (1976), Irwin F. Sentilles (1980), Della G. Sentilles (1984)

Grandchild(ren): Sam W. Sentilles (2010); Elwood Q. Sentilles (2011); Henry J. Wilson, (2014); Seth Y. Wilson (2018)

Education: Yale College, BA 1969; Yale Law School, JD 1972; Oxford University, PGDip 2012

National Service:

Career: Lawyer—Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (corporate and securities, retired 2009); adjunct lecturer in securities law (SMU through 2013)

Avocations: Enjoy writing, hiking, travel and golf.

College: Jonathan Edwards

My essay for the 25th Reunion ended with a search for balance. The essay made clear I found my meaning in the family life my wife Ann and I created. It described, in particular, the joy we found in our four children. Family life was supported by professional life. But career seemed to draw more than its share of attention and energy.

Balance arrived, not through personal effort, but with the passage of time. The kids left home for college and graduate/professional schools. They are now into their adult lives, some with children of their own. I retired from law practice. And retirement has been one of the best times of my life.

After retiring, I tried to give something back to the profession that financed the opportunities Ann and I passed on to the children. I taught as an adjunct in law school for a few years; I tried to share lessons it took me a career to learn. And I found intellectual challenge in returning to the interest I pursued in college. As a philosophy major, I hoped to address the great questions of human existence. As time began to accelerate in middle age, I returned to those questions, though with little discipline. But after retirement, I got to address them under academic direction studying western theological traditions during a year at Oxford. Now, with some humbling training and a lifetime of reading lists, and the ease of hitting the “checkout” button on Amazon, I continue to study, write, and marvel at the mystery of it all.

Who have I become in the balance that arrived in retirement? I’d like to think I am just a better version of my younger self. When I retired, the kids highlighted some continuity. They presented me with t-shirts from every school my career paid for. Education was a central value in our house. For my 70th birthday, the kids organized my gifts by adding other aspects of our lives together, including “famaly” (as spelled by a grandson), social justice and spirituality, along with a common connection, “top of the line.” (Apparently, I tell them to go for the best a lot.)

How much of this can be attributed to Yale? I must confess that my identity is colored more in blue than I am willing to admit in public. The college was transformative for me. It expanded my worldview, even if in trying to play catch up from my high school days I remained pretty traditional as the world changed radically around us. And the law school, I am sure, helped make possible a rewarding career and now an enjoyable retirement. But it was only after Yale that I found real meaning—in a family life that now reaches two generations beyond us and in the love Ann and I share in new and exciting ways to this day.