A Fruitful Life

On a wall outside the main office of the Dominick F. Burns School in Hartford, Conn., there is a tablet giving the names and dates of those who had designed and dedicated the building. At the bottom it says: "Edwin Black Judd - First Principal." And to many of the 50,000 youngsters who have, over the years, passed through the schools under his tutelage, Edwin Black Judd '11 will always be among the first, and foremost, educators they have ever known.

On the occasion of his retirement last June, teachers, parents, alumni and friends overrode his traditional dislike of being in the spotlight and feted him at a round of parties, honoring his service to the community and to the myriads of students his dedicated efforts started off in life a little better prepared. For 47 years, 43 of them as principal, Edwin Judd was an example and inspiration to both the teachers and the learners in his schools. The buildings where he served have changed through the years as new ones were built, culminating in the modern "community plan" Burns School, which he headed for nearly twenty years, but the integrity which permeated them all under his leadership was never diminished.

As one lawyer, a former pupil of his in Hartford's Lawrence Street School, put it, "He had a sort of reserved enthusiasm the kids understood. ... Now looking back on it, I realize he was one of the big reasons most of us grew up right."