F G. Colgate

F. Gertrude Colgate (Flora Gertrude Colgate) served Billerica on the Finance Committee in the early 1930s, on the School Committee from 1933 to 1936 and on the Planning Board in the early 1940s. She was the wife of Ellis F. Colgate, the Boston and Maine Railroad's station agent at Billerica Centre and for many years a member of the town's Board of Health. The 1919 directory lists them on Concord Road opposite Charnstaffe Lane, with Ellis as station master and American Express agent, and two teachers, one from the Pollard School and one from Howe High School, boarding in their household; in 1931 two more teachers boarded with them.

In November 1924 the Land Court lot that held the old Shedd Family Homestead at 38 Concord Road passed in her name from Frank R. and Emma M. Holden, and the Colgates lived in the house until 1952, when she sold it to George H. and Josephine L. Boynton. During their ownership three house lots were cut off from the property. In May 1929 the Howe High School paper, The Torch, reported a bridge party "at the home of Mrs. Ellis Colgate" to raise money for the senior class.

She first ran for the School Committee in March 1930, receiving 594 votes for the three-year seat won by Charles E. Fairbrother Jr. with 756. In 1932 the moderator appointed her to the Finance Committee. In March 1933 she was elected to the School Committee with 674 votes, second to Fairbrother's 944, and joined a board chaired by Dr. Maurice A. Buck. She stood for re-election in March 1936 but finished third, with 609 votes behind Fairbrother (1,005) and Edward W. Cousins (733). In March 1940 she was elected to the Planning Board for three years, leading the field with 1,441 votes, and she served on that board with Lucy B. Collier, Frederick H. Gould Jr. and Egbert Hans through the war years.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1930, annual election: School Committee (3 years), Charles E. Fairbrother Jr. 756, Gertrude Colgate 594
2. Billerica Town Reports 1930-1934: 1932 moderator appoints F. Gertrude Colgate to the Finance Committee; Finance Committee and School Committee lists 1932-1934
3. Billerica Town Report 1933, annual election: School Committee, Charles E. Fairbrother Jr. 944, F. Gertrude Colgate 674
4. Billerica Town Report 1936, annual election: School Committee (3 years), Fairbrother 1,005, Cousins 733, F. Gertrude Colgate 609
5. Billerica Town Reports 1940-1944: 1940 election, Planning Board (3 years), F. Gertrude Colgate 1,441; Planning Board lists 1941-1943