Claire M. Babcock

Claire M. Babcock, R.N., was a Billerica school nurse and for more than thirty years a voice in town government from Precinct 3 in Pinehurst. She first appears in the town report for 1972, both on the School Department's list of school nurses, with Rita P. Freeman, Blanche V. Collins and Martha C. Farmer, and among the Town Meeting members elected that year from Pinehurst Avenue. In the same 1972 election she ran town-wide, without success, for the Board of Health.

The school staff list for 1979, when the nurses worked under Ellen Knowles as supervisor, notes her as "Terminated 8/28/79," but she returned to the schools: the School Department's list of retirements for 1998-99 credits Claire Babcock, R.N., with 27 years of service.

She sat in Town Meeting almost continuously from 1972 into the 2000s, served as clerk and later chairman of the Precinct 3 members, and the town meeting minutes often record her moving the question to end debate. In 2004 the town presented her with a plaque for twenty-five years as a Town Meeting member. She was twice appointed to the Finance Committee, serving in the early 1980s and again from September 1988 until she resigned in March 1991. In April 2000 she ran for the School Committee and received 1,468 votes, losing to Robert W. Keough.

Claire M. Babcock died on March 28, 2009, and the town memoriam for that year remembered her as Town Meeting member, Finance Committee member and school nurse.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1972: School Department officers (School Nurses: Claire M. Babcock, R.N., with Rita P. Freeman and others)
2. Billerica Town Report 1972: annual election, Town Meeting Members (Claire M. Babcock, Pinehurst Avenue, elected)
3. Billerica Town Report 1979: School Department officers (Claire M. Babcock, R.N., terminated 8/28/79)
4. Billerica Town Report 1982: Finance Committee members (Claire M. Babcock, term to 6/30/83)
5. Billerica Town Report 1988: Finance Committee (Claire M. Babcock, appointed Sept. 1988)
6. Billerica Town Report 1991: Finance Committee (Claire M. Babcock, resigned 3/20/91)
7. Billerica Town Report 1999: School Department retirements 1998-99 (Claire Babcock, R.N., 27 years)
8. Billerica Town Report 2000: annual town election, School Committee (Claire M. Babcock 1,468 votes)
9. Billerica Town Report 2004: town meeting (plaque for twenty-five years as a Town Meeting Member)
10. Billerica Town Report 2009: memoriams (Claire M. Babcock died March 28, 2009; Town Meeting Member, Finance Committee, School Nurse)