WESTBOROUGH – The first Annie E. Fales Elementary School opened on Eli Whitney Street on Dec. 2, 1963.
Closed in Oct. 2021, a newly constructed, environmentally progressive Fales School reopened on Nov. 15, 2021 with 381 students from kindergarten through third grade.
Both schools honored Annie Fales, a celebrated Westborough teacher who began her teaching career in Westborough spanning five decades in 1892.
Annie Elizabeth Fales was born in Walpole on July 17, 1867, and moved to Westborough at age seven. She was an 1885 graduate of Westborough High School and went on to earn her teaching credentials at Worcester Normal School, which is now Worcester State.
After graduating in 1887, she taught in Upton, then returned to Westborough. Her first hometown assignment was teaching in the one-room District 8 School House near Lake Chauncy.
Fales taught fifth through eighth grade. When the Eli Whitney School opened on Grove Street in 1902, she was named principal.
A lifelong love of music motivated her to take voice lessons in Boston and learn to play several instruments. Fales was a soloist in the Unitarian Church choir, as well as the organist. Many special events at the high school were enlivened by Fales’ piano accompaniment.
Fales lived most of her life at 58 West Main Street across from the library. Her home was filled with the aroma of homemade baked beans, which she shared with neighbors. Active in the community, Fales was a member of the Women’s Club, Garden Club, Historical Society and the Round Table.
She retired in 1937 and lived to be 104. Over the span of her career, Fales molded the lives of more than 1,000 Westborough students.
At age 95, she shared her philosophy of teaching: “Patience, a sense of humor, and a real love of children — that makes a good teacher.”
Fales died on March 3, 1972, and her memory is honored in the elementary school that bears her name.
