Lore Elementary School was named after Francis Lore, a president of the school board who was killed in a plane crash.
By Helen Kull
We’ve come to the last of the persons for whom schools in the township are named: Francis R. Lore of Ewing Township, namesake of Lore Elementary School. And I must confess, that despite Mr. Lore being the most recent namesake of a school in Ewing, I’ve had the most difficulty in researching his life.
Francis Lore was born in the early years of the 20th century (c. 1902) in the Camden area. I have been unable to learn anything about his father, but at some point, according to the 1910 census, his mother Gertrude married David Evans, a shoemaker by trade, who became his stepfather.
Frank completed high school, but did not earn any higher degree. Frank Lore married Margaret McNulty in 1926 in Philadelphia. They moved to the Glendale section of Ewing, and by 1930 he was employed by Public Service Electric and Gas as a chief assistant clerk. The 1940 census also lists him as a “clerk” for Public Service, and shows him as the father of three children: Francis Jr., Patricia and Marjorie.
Perhaps because he had children in the school system, or perhaps because he was encouraged by others, he became a member of the Ewing Township Board of Education in February of 1941. He remained an active member of the board for 11 years, serving as the board president from 1946 through 1952. He also served as the president and chairman of the Building Committee during the planning and construction phases of the new high school in Ewing, making significant contributions to the township during a period of rapid growth.
His service to the school board and the township was ended tragically, however, when he was killed in a plane crash in August of 1952. But the school board did not forget his service and contributions to Ewing.
The rapid growth of the township continued through the 1950s, and Ewing needed yet another elementary school to accommodate all the young children. In December of 1961, voters approved the purchase of roughly 30 acres of land in the Mountain View section of the township for a new school.
In May of 1962, 10 years after his death, the board approved a recommendation from the Naming Committee to honor the former board president by naming the new school the Francis R. Lore Elementary School. The new school opened in 1963, and has been educating students now for half a century.
If any readers have additional information about Francis Lore, I would be happy to receive it and possibly include it in a future column. Please send it to ewingthenandnow@gmail.com.
So, we have briefly revisited the lives of six men, whose contributions to society in general, and the local area in particular, were sufficiently significant to be memorialized by naming institutions after them:
Judge William Lanning, Ewing-born lawyer and Trenton City judge, US Congressional Representative, and twice named by presidential appointment to federal judgeships active in civic, banking and charitable institutions.
Harvey Fisk, Trenton drygoods store clerk, bank teller, Wall Street businessman and financier, who helped finance the U.S. government through the sale of bonds, married “local girl” Louisa Green, built his summer home on the banks of the Delaware in Ewing and generously gave to a variety of local organizations and institutions.
Judge Alfred Reed, Ewing-born lawyer and Trenton City councilman, Mercer County judge, and N.J. Supreme Court justice; active in community organizations and social clubs.
William Antheil, businessman, salesman, Ewing school board member, and active in community organizations.
Dr. Gilmore Fisher, educator, coach, principal, and school superintendent, and active in community and civic organizations.
Francis Lore, clerk, school board member and president.
Their names are with us today not because they donated large sums of money for it to be so; rather, these were hard-working individuals who used their intellect and talents in pursuit of the greater good, while also giving of their personal time locally and earned the honor. We should not forget them.
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The Ewing Historical Society’s program on Elias Boudinot originally scheduled for February has been rescheduled (due to snow) for March 9 at 2 p.m. at the Benjamin Temple House.
Come hear John Maloney speak on a forgotten patriot with a Ewing connection.
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Do you have a Ewing story to tell? Email Helen at ewingthenandnow@gmail.com
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