Introduced By: Representatives Reilly, Menard, Iwuc and Farrell
Date Introduced : May 6, 1998
Referred To: Read and Passed
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
WHEREAS, John J. Smith, Jr. is the son of the late John J. Smith, Sr. and Anna Veronica (Keefe) Smith with whom he resides in Lincoln. He graduated from Sacred Heart School and St. Raphael Academy in Pawtucket and Rhode Island College with a degree in Elementary Education in 1963. Both he and his mother, a retired mathematics teacher at Cumberland High School, received their Masters degrees together from Rhode Island College in 1967; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Smith began his teaching in Cumberland at Central Grammar School where he taught the fourth grade until being named teaching principal of Berkeley School in the Spring of 1969. Following a year as principal of the Mendon Road and Edgemere Schools he was appointed principal of B.F. Norton School in 1970 and was also assigned to administer St. Patrick's School in 1983. After thirteen years at the helm of the Norton School, he was named principal of Community School in August of 1983 where he remained for eleven years until assuming the principalship of Cumberland Hill School and the Cumberland Hill School Annex located at St. Joan's. The combined enrollment of this principalship is 690 pupils; and
WHEREAS, He served as secretary of the Central Grammar School PTO and as Cumberland Council PTO President; and
WHEREAS, Certified as a teacher of Adult Basic Education, John taught in the Cumberland Adult Education program for twenty years; and
WHEREAS, Named as a future educational leader in the state, John was a member of a select group of educators selected to participate in the Rhode Island - Carnegie Study and served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor involved in student teaching; and
WHEREAS, The retiring principal followed his mother into the field of education. Anna Veronica Smith taught in Cumberland at Mendon Road, Garvin, Central Grammar, and Cumberland High School retiring in 1976. She will be 87 in June. Many of the students she taught in high school found themselves with children attending school where her son was principal. They fondly recalled her kindness, compassion, competence, and creativity both in the classroom and as an advisor to the Future Nurses Club at Cumberland High School; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Smith was active in sports in the late fifties and early sixties as the Secretary of the Central Falls Little League, scorer, publicist, and Manager of the Central Falls Lions Championship Baseball teams. He was a co-founder of the Central Falls Minor League and managed the Red Sox to league titles. In addition he coached Sacred Heart CYO Basketball teams; and
WHEREAS, He is a member of St. Joseph's Church in Ashton and has worked for over thirty years as a buyer and sales representative at Bryan Furniture Company in Central Falls. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cumberland Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union. He also is a member of the Providence Performing Arts usher staff; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, That this House of Representative of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby congratulates John J. Smith, Jr. on his 35 years of teaching and wishes him many more years of health and success; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he is hereby authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to John J. Smith, Jr.
