Fairhaven High School Alumni Association, Fairhaven, Massachusetts 02719

Mary (Howland) Battaini ‘38 Scholarship Established

At the December 10, 2009 meeting of the Fairhaven High School Alumni Board of Directors it was unanimously voted to established a $500 Mary (Howland) Battaini Scholarship to be given annually at the Fairhaven High School graduation to “a senior who demonstrates a strong sense of school spirit and community service”. 

Mary (Howland) Battaini ‘38 passed away in November 2009 at the age of 88.  In 1980 Mary founded and and became the first president of the Fairhaven High School Alumni Association.  She possessed tremendous unconditional love for Fairhaven High School and was determined to make the FHS Alumni Association a viable part of the Fairhaven High School community.  Mary saw the need for restoration projects at FHS and she was instrumental in locating the funding and spearheading the restoration of the expansive, ornate classroom known as Room 7, as well as the Mabel Hoyle Knipe Auditorium.  She was fiercely driven by her love and respect for her alma mater to ensure that the “castle on the hill” was properly maintained and restored out of respect for tremendous gift that was given to the town by our benefactor, Henry Huttleston Rogers.  Superintendents of Schools and principals of Fairhaven High School did not know what to make of this head strong woman when they first encountered her, but they all came to respect her tenacity that was based on her love of the school and the role that it plays in the Fairhaven community.

Mary Battaini served as the President of the Fairhaven High School Alumni Association from 1980 to 1998 and worked tirelessly to make the organization a strong partner with the Fairhaven Public Schools.  She started the Light-a-Light fundraising project in 1985 and raised an amazing $22,248 in that first year.  That annual fundraising effort recently concluded its’ 25th year and has brought in donations totaling just under $300,000 from alumni and friends of Fairhaven High School from all over the nation in that time span.  All of those funds have been spent on restoration projects, scholarships and various programs and initiatives that directly benefit the students and staff of the high school.

The FHS Alumni Board of Directors believe that it is only appropriate that an annual scholarship be given in the name of Mary (Howland) Battaini to a senior who exemplifies the “sense of school spirit and community service” that was reflected by Mary, a visionary whose spirit continues to provide the direction for the organization that she founded 30 years ago.