Emma R. Belcher

Emma Ruth Belcher, who signed herself E. Ruth Belcher and was known to generations of students as Miss Belcher, taught French at Billerica's high school for more than forty years. A graduate of Middlebury College, she had taught for two years at Northfield when she was chosen in 1927 as one of four new teachers at Howe High School, in the same group as Doris G. Sampson.

As a teacher at Howe High School she taught French and geometry, and at times economics, and she was often a class adviser. In 1929 she accompanied the class of 1929 on the Washington trip it had raised the money for, and she guided the class of 1938 through a Junior Prom whose success the yearbook credited to "Miss Belcher's untiring efforts." She was granted a leave of absence to travel in 1937 and returned the next year; on the 1945 faculty page her ambition was "To go back to Hawaii" and her favorite memory "Paris in the summertime." During the Second World War her home room had a record of 100 percent in the weekly sales of War Bonds and Stamps for every week of 1944.

For nearly twenty years she directed the senior play. Her productions included "Little Women" (1939), "Green Stockings" (1941), "Smilin' Through" (1942), "Clarence" (1946), A. A. Milne's "Mr. Pim Passes By" (1947), which the class history said "was acclaimed one of the best of the dramatic productions to be seen at Howe," Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1948), and "Our Miss Brooks" (1953). The class of 1950 dedicated its yearbook to her "in gratitude for all the time and effort you have sacrificed for the benefit of our class," and the class of 1952 included her in its dedication to four long-serving teachers with Principal Cyril D. Locke, Harriet C. Baker and Mrs. Bergner.

She moved with the high school to the new Billerica Memorial High School in 1955 and continued to teach French there. The school staff list of January 1968 still shows E. Ruth Belcher teaching French, more than forty years after she first came to Billerica.

References

1. Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1927 (Miss Emma R. Belcher, two years at Northfield, hired for the High School)
2. Report of the High School Principal, 1929 (Washington trip of the class of 1929 accompanied by class advisor Miss Emma Belcher)
3. Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1937 (Miss Belcher granted a leave of absence to travel)
4. Report of the Superintendent of Schools, 1938 (Miss Belcher returned from leave of absence)
5. Report of the High School Principal, 1944 (Miss Belcher's home room 100% in War Bond and Stamp sales)
6. Howe High School yearbook 1945, faculty page (Miss Emma Belcher: French, Geometry, Economics; ambition and favorite memory)
7. Howe High School yearbook 1947, senior play "Mr. Pim Passes By" directed by Miss E. Ruth Belcher
8. Howe High School yearbook 1950, dedication to Miss E. Ruth Belcher
9. Howe High School yearbook 1952, dedication to Mr. Locke, Mrs. Bergner, Miss Baker and Miss Belcher
10. School staff list, January 1968 (E. Ruth Belcher, French, Memorial High School)