Lorraine Metcalf, born in Franklin, Massachusetts on July 29, 1908, graduated from Franklin High School in 1928 and was the first female inductee into the Bridgeport University Hall of Fame for her participation in four varsity sports. The last of eight generations of Metcalfs to reside in Franklin, she organized and taught swimming lessons, CPR, and first aid at the old Franklin Town Pool (now the Sculpture Park), founded the Franklin Women’s Ambulance Brigade, the first all-women ambulance service in Franklin which ran from 1942 to 1946, and is memorialized on the Town Common.

 

Metcalf served as a Franklin school teacher for forty years before retiring and moving to Wrentham, Massachusetts. She was a Town Selectman there until 1990, president of the Norfolk County Teachers Association, and chairwoman of the Wrentham Wage and Personnel Board, the Wrentham Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the Wrentham Disaster Relief Board. She fought to attain cable tv coverage of the selectmen meetings for the residents of Wrentham and was known for her motto, “You cannot sit on your apathy and let others take over.”

 

Lorraine Metcalf died in her home on February 28, 1995 and is buried in the Union Street Cemetery in Franklin.