April 27, 2026

Adding Friends Education to our Community
Annette Breiling

This talk will focus on the process and product of bringing Friends education to Frederick County. (Quaker is the colloquial name for the Friends religion.)

We will hear what it takes to found private Quaker-oriented schools including Friends Meeting School in Frederick County which Annette founded. She will explain why Friends schools create learning environments focusing on peace and honoring all people locally and internationally and why foreign language classes and a diverse
inclusive culture are fixtures at all grade levels in Friends teaching.

Annette will also tell us of her post-retirement promotion of Martin
Luther King’s vision for Beloved Community and will address his triple
giant evils of racism, materialism, and militarism.

Presenter

Club member Annette has had a long and very distinguished career as a Quaker educator. She taught in public schools until 1985 when she founded the first of three Quaker schools in Maryland, most recently the Friends Meeting School in Ijamsville, Frederick County, a non-profit, independent, college preparatory school for grades through high school. When Annette retired as Head of School, the campus's largest building was renamed Breiling Hall. 

In retirement, Annette has kept very busy with Quaker organizations, civic clubs, County commissions and task forces, and local politics. By various local entities she has been named Woman of the Year, Person of the Year, Rotarian of the Year, and Peace Crafter among other honors.

Annette has three daughters and three grandchildren. She took her bachelor's degree in sociology at Earlham College, a Quaker school, and her master's at the
University of Iowa in child development.