Patricia Cadoret is on a mission. The 75-year-old Saugus native is trying to preserve a piece of the town’s history, one that is also interwoven with her own family’s history. The focus of her endeavors is a plaque that was on display at what was then called Belmonte Junior High School — now Belmonte STEAM Academy — in Saugus, where Cadoret’s father, Donald Tibbetts, taught business from 1979 to 1981. That plaque may have been lost during the 2013 renovation of the school, Cadoret suspects.
“I feel all consumed in this,” Cadoret said. “I feel as I’m getting older, I just felt the need to push forward and let someone that could help hear my voice.”
Now, Cadoret may finally get what she has been looking for. At the Board of Selectmen’s meeting earlier this month, Cadoret addressed the gathered group about her father’s story and the need for the plaque. “For over seven years, I have faced numerous roadblocks and delays just trying to get this plaque reproduced and replaced back to where it belonged,” Cadoret told the Board.
Selectman Michael Serino, who had Tibbetts as a teacher, said the Board raised the issue with Town Manager Scott Crabtree after Cadoret spoke at the meeting. Crabtree will need to contact the School Committee to rededicate the plaque because the School Committee handles dedications on school buildings; the selectmen do not have that jurisdiction. A new plaque could be in place as early as spring 2027, he said.
“It should be a quick fix,” Serino said.
The plaque was originally created in Tibbetts’ honor by former Belmonte Principal Anthony Struzziero. Cadoret has letters from Struzziero addressed to her late mother, confirming the creation of a living memorial honoring Tibbetts’ dedication to the school.
“In these letters, he explicitly confirms the official dedication of the grass and rock garden area at the school to my father. Forty-four-plus years ago, Saugus made a promise to my family to honor my father’s legacy,” Cadoret said.
Cadoret said she can recall attending the original dedication ceremony with her mother and brother. The plaque was placed in a rock garden at the entrance of the school, an area that Tibbetts had worked to restore.
“He was so excited about teaching,” Cadoret said. “I remember a conversation that I had with him, telling me how enthusiastic and how great the kids are, and so eager to learn and listen.”
Cadoret, who grew up in Saugus, said she discovered the plaque and garden were removed when she returned to Saugus from New Hampshire with her mother in 2013. Her mother had early-onset Alzheimer’s and wanted to visit the school where Tibbetts taught. Tibbetts, who had lived in Saugus for 22 years and served as pastor of the First Congregational Church in Saugus for 11 of them, died from a sudden heart attack in 1980 at age 56, when he was still working at Belmonte.
“We went up to the front door, and there was no plaque,” Cadoret said. “It was gone.”
Cadoret then began asking friends and family for help restoring the symbol of her father’s legacy. In 2019, a friend connected her with Saugus Selectman Anthony Cogliano, who went to Belmonte and recalled seeing Tibbetts at the school. Tibbetts, Cogliano said, was “always smiling.”
Cogliano kept in touch with Cadoret over Facebook. Progress on restoring the plaque was stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, when shuttered schools and reshuffled priorities pushed Cadoret’s to the bottom of those people she sought out for help.
In 2021, Cogliano spoke with the Saugus facilities department, which searched through remnants from the original Belmonte saved back in storage units. The plaque was nowhere to be found. Cogliano said he contacted the School Committee and Crabtree about the plaque when he first heard about the issue, but no action followed.
The Saugus School Committee and Scott Crabtree’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
At that time, Cogliano and Cadoret also discussed putting a new plaque up in the courtyard at the Belmonte STEAM Academy. However, the courtyard was under construction from 2021 to 2023, further halting the process, Cogliano said.
In 2024, Cadoret turned to the broader Saugus community for help, posting on Facebook and soliciting comments from those who may have known her father. Dozens of comments poured in, some with suggestions on how she could get the town’s attention and others with remembrances. One such comment was from Sandy Pierce-Connington, a Saugus native who now lives in Florida. “Your father was an amazing teacher. He was my favorite ever. He was so kind and patient.”
When Cadoret also approached Selectman Serino for help in October this year, he was eager to do his part as a former student of her father’s. “To me, he seemed more like a student, a friend, than he did a teacher,” Serino said.
Even with the progress from this month’s meeting, Cogliano said he plans to discuss the rededication of the plaque at the Nov. 4 Board of Selectmen meeting. He said it should not be hard to replace this plaque for her. “It’s long overdue, and the town should act and get this done for the Tibbetts family,” Cogliano said.
Cadoret said restoring the plaque means the world to her. “I would love to see … his legacy continued somewhere in solid letters, where other people could say, ‘Oh yeah, you know, he was great. We loved him,’” Cadoret said.