Florence M. Lalime

Florence M. Lalime trained as a teacher at the Lowell Normal School and joined the Billerica schools in 1928. The teacher list for that year places her at the Pollard School in the Center, teaching Grade III.

In 1931 she was one of the opening staff of the new school at Pinehurst, the six-room brick building later named the Ditson School. The Superintendent's report for 1931 explains that, although the building could not be occupied until December, its rooms were organized in September, with "Miss Florence Lalime, Grade Three" among teachers "of at least two years' experience." The gifts acknowledged in the 1932 report include a Victrola given by Mrs. W. A. MacLean of Lowell "through Miss Florence Lalime for the Pinehurst School." Late in 1932 she was transferred from Pinehurst back to the Pollard School, and Helen Remick took her place at Pinehurst.

By 1933 Miss Lalime was teaching Grades IV and V at the Howe School, the upper elementary school in the old Howe High School building, and she stayed there for the rest of her time in Billerica, teaching at various times Grades IV, V and VI. Her classes did notable work in spoken English: the Superintendent wrote in his report for 1938 that "most excellent results in choric speaking are being secured at the Howe School under the direction of Miss Lalime."

In 1942 the Howe School's principal, Florence E. Martin, resigned to marry, and Miss Lalime became principal while continuing to teach Grade 6; the teacher lists of 1942 and 1943 show her as "Florence M. Lalime, Prin." Despite the similar first names and overlapping years at the Howe School, the two were different women: Florence E. Martin came from the Lowell Teachers College in 1933 and taught first at the Pinehurst school, while Florence M. Lalime had been on the staff since 1928.

Miss Lalime's Billerica career ended in the summer of 1944, when, as the school report records, she was one of three teachers who "resigned during the summer to be married." In her place Mary E. Gill was made principal "for the duration" of both the Howe and Pollard Schools. Her married name and later life have not been found in the sources checked.

References

1. School teacher list, 1928 (Pollard School, Grade III; Lowell Normal; appointed 1928)
2. Superintendents report, 1931 (Grade Three at the new Pinehurst school)
3. Superintendents report, 1932 (transferred from Pinehurst to the Pollard School)
4. School report, 1932 (gift of a Victrola through Miss Lalime for the Pinehurst School)
5. School teacher list, 1933 (Howe School, Grades IV and V)
6. Superintendents report, 1938 (choric speaking at the Howe School under Miss Lalime)
7. School report, 1942 (resignation of Florence E. Martin, Old Howe School, to marry)
8. School teacher list, 1942 (Florence M. Lalime, Principal, Howe School)
9. School report, 1944 (resigned during the summer to be married; Mary E. Gill made principal)