Who Was Alice M. Waddington?

The namesake of one of East Providence's eight elementary schools was a former teacher who became a self-appointed historian for the district.

taught at when the building was located on Taunton Avenue. She was a foreign language instructor who taught Latin and German and other subjects from the 1930s to the 1950s, according to Bob Rodericks, a longtime school system employee who recently retired.

She also took it upon herself to become the district's historian, Edward Daft, Assistant Superintendent of East Providence schools, said.

"She independently attended various town meetings and events in order to stay abreast of town events, activities and concerns, and she documented early town hall and school committee meeting minutes in longhand," he said.

Because of Waddington's long teaching career and her diligence and devotion to the town of East Providence, the city named an elementary school in Riverside after her when it was built in the 1960s.

She also took a special interest in each student who passed through the halls of East Providence High School—and documented their lives as well.

"She kept records of students, and maintained a 3x5 card file on all EPHS graduates from the early '70s on—where graduates were living, some who died or got married, etc.," Rodericks said.

That file remains in a wooden file cabinet in Daft's office and remains a cherished piece of East Providence's history.