Westerly College Club

This article originally appeared as an article by Martha P. Sherman in the April/May 1995 edition of Tidings Magazine “The Lois Hamilton Fontaine Scholarships / A project of the Westerly College Club”

 

“A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle.” You have helped my brothers and me keep our mother’s memory alive and her name known to many who never met her. To help you continue in your valuable endeavors, my brothers and I have given to the Lois Hamilton Fontaine Scholarship Fund $10,000. Please continue lighting candles.”

 

With these words, spoken in 1993 on behalf of Roger C. Hamilton, Richard Hamilton Fontaine, and herself, Marcia Hamilton Perrolle strengthened the giving hand of the Westerly College Club. This year the Club will be offering $5,000 in scholarships to students from the Westerly, Stonington, and Charlestown areas.

 

Since its founding in 1910 the Westerly College Club has helped over 100 students. The Hamilton gift will meaningfully help that mission and remind us all of Lois Hamilton Fontaine’s strong belief in education and its requisite hard work. Harold Hamilton graduated from Alfred University only after dropping out to work two years to finance his return, and his wife, then Lois Clark, worked her way through the University of Rochester, majoring in Latin and French and minoring in Greek.

 

Before her children were born, Lois Hamilton was a full time Latin teacher, a career she later continued as substitute in the local school.

 

After only nine years of marriage, she was left a widow with two children aged three and six. Marcia Perrolle recalled her mother’s second marriage to Armand Fontaine and the birth of Richard (whose middle name, Hamilton, was chosen by the other children). She remembers a home where manners, values, morals, the love of God, and the love of education were always pervasive. Wanting her children to avoid the strain of financial worry while trying to study, Lois Hamilton Fontaine set up a trust fund. Three Masters’ Degrees among the children attest to the success of her plan and ensure the importance attached to education by the eight grandchildren and the great grandchildren she never knew. Lois Fontaine served as President of the Westerly College Club for the three years before she died in 1955. Because she had been an outstanding leader and had the highest regard for scholarly pursuits, the club named the Scholarship Fund in her honor. ...

 

Begun as a Latin Prize of $50 to promote excellence and continuing since 1915 to encourage college attendance, the permanent endowment fund was not established until 1945. At that time Mrs. Joel Sherman contributed $100, spurring the formation of a Capital Fund. Mrs. Walter S. Price and Miss Mildred Bray, among others, served long terms as Treasurers and watched over its growth.