Daily Hampshire Gazette
Annex named after educator
by, Ryan Davis
Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
NORTHAMPTON - Former Leeds School Principal Kathleen Sheehan is recalled fondly by generations of school-children who know her as "Miss Sheehan" during her 23 years at Leeds.
On Thursday, Sheehan, who served a total of 35 years in city schools, will be honored with a building named after her on New South Street.
Emerald City Partners and Rockwell Management of Westfield, the companies that are developing two former city schools at the Old School Commons complex, have decided to name one part of the project after Sheehan.
The D.A. Sullivan School annex will officially be renamed the Sheehan building at a ceremony Thursday at 3 p.m. The annex, which once housed the school's basketball court, has never had an official name. The Sullivan School building itself will retain its current name.
"I'm surprised," said Sheehan, who retired from Leeds School in 1992 and lives in Florence. "When they told me, I was really very moved. I feel that I'm representing all the female educators who have taught inthe public schools in Northampton."
Among those educators are Sheehan's mother, who taught girls' physical education at the Sullivan School when it served as the city's high school. Sheehan's aunt taught at the Hawley Grammar School next door, and several other family members taught throughout the area.
"We were looking for an educator, somebody who had made a contribution as a citizen ... and worked to make Northampton a better town," said J. Rockwell Allen of Rockwell Management.
The company convened a committee of local people to come up with someone to honor. A plaque with Sheehan's name will be unveiled Thursday.
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