Remember this kind of desk at Fuller School? This is an image I found in Pinterest, but it is close enough, right? Remember how we could swing the chair around? Both chair and desk were bolted to the floor. A wise move, no doubt.
For 90 years Fuller School was the first education experience for most children in the Village.
Now it lives only in our memories. It was destroyed in 1969 with barely a whisper, just a sigh.
The demolition made way for more business area for Abreu oil which was right behind it.
A few facts are due here. Fact: between 1895 and 1900, there were no Portuguese graduates of elementary or high school in Taunton. In 1917, there was one high school graduate and between 1915 and 1929, there was an average of four Portuguese high school graduates with more women than men.
Between 1890 and 1917 there were only three known Portuguese professionals in Taunton: a physician, Emmanuel Dutra who practiced near St. Anthony's for three years then left, and Manuel S. Silva the first Portuguese graduate from Taunton High School to become a civil engineer. Sophia Dupont may have been the third. Born around 1890, Miss Dupont, (as we knew her) would have been in her 20's when she attended Bridgewater State Teacher's College around 1911. No mean feat for a
young woman at that time. Of course, we never knew all that. We just knew her as the Principal of Fuller School and our 5th grade teacher. Miss Dupont died in 1975. She was the first Portuguese teacher in Taunton to attain the position of Principal.
Memories of Miss Sophia Dupont: a rich lovely contralto voice and laugh, rings on her fingers which were tipped with red nail polish ( we were not used to that...), kindness and gentleness in her demeanor.
More on the next post about our days at Fuller School: until then anyone out there have a photograph of Miss Dupont???? As always feel free to send in your own memories to augment mine.
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