Cyril D. Locke

Cyril D. Locke graduated from Yale in the class of 1912 and took a master's degree at Acadia University in 1913. Before coming to Billerica he taught at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania; Haverhill, Massachusetts; and Red Deer, Alberta. In 1925 he was chosen to fill the vacancy at the Howe High School, and the superintendent soon reported that the school was "doing excellent work under the leadership of Mr. Locke." He was principal of the Howe High School for 28 years, until he resigned in 1953, and he also taught mathematics.

His yearly reports tracked the school's graduates into college, and in 1949 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology invited him to recommend Howe graduates in the upper fifth of their class for entrance without examination. In the 1939 yearbook he told the seniors that "only as each individual exercises discipline over himself can all the members of the school enjoy an ordered liberty." The class of 1943 dedicated its yearbook to him: "You have given your trust that we may find the lights along the unknown roads of tomorrow."

When Superintendent Harold D. Chittim resigned on December 1, 1946, Locke was named acting superintendent until a new superintendent was installed in 1947; Chittim had himself returned in April 1946 after Eugene Vining filled in during his war service. Locke also served the town on the Board of Appeals, as an alternate member from 1945 and, after the selectmen appointed him to a vacancy in 1950, as a regular member until he resigned in 1958. He was often appointed a teller at town meetings in the late 1940s.

The town's second junior high school was named for him. A special town meeting on March 19, 1966, voted to acquire about 40 acres on the east side of Allen Road for a new junior high, and the Cyril D. Locke Junior High School was occupied, though not yet finished, in December 1968 and formally dedicated in the spring of 1969. It opened with 32 instruction areas, a language laboratory, an 80 pupil library, five physical education areas, an auditorium seating 550 and a cafeteria seating 300. By 1972 it was the Cyril D. Locke Middle School, and as the Locke Middle School at 110 Allen Road it still serves Billerica's middle grades.

References

1. Superintendent Report, 1925 (appointed Principal of Howe High School)
2. Howe High Yearbook, 1939 (Principal's message)
3. Howe High Yearbook, 1943 (dedication)
4. Superintendent Report, 1946 (Acting Superintendent)
5. Superintendent Report, 1953 (resignation)
6. Superintendent Report, 1968 (Cyril D. Locke Junior High School)
7. Permanent School Building Committee Report, 1977