1990 Inductees
LEONARD F. DeLUCA
A graduate of Cranston High School West in 1970, Leonard F. DeLuca has distinguished himself as a lawyer and as an executive for CBS Sports.
While he was at Cranston West, Len was a sports editor of the West Wind, the organizer of the radio show "The Sound of Sports," a co-captain of the tennis team, a member of the basketball team, and a performer in the band. He graduated 7th in a class of 302.
Leonard enhanced his academic excellence when he was graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston College in 1974, with a double major in Political Science and Economics. During those college years, he was a program director for WZBC FM as well as an announcer. He was also a sports editor and columnist for The Heights. In addition, he co-created a radio network for Boston College basketball and hockey.
After his undergraduate years, he became a news assistant and reporter for the CBS Radio Division in Boston. Later, in 1977, he earned a law degree at Boston College Law School and became an associate with White, Inker, and Aronson, a prominent Boston law firm.
During the 1980s, Leonard was responsible for the Nielsen research area of CBS Sports as well as for CBS Sports' administration of the NCAA Championship and regular-season basketball schedule.
In 1982 and 1983, he was responsible for CBS Sports planning strategy and administration of the NCAA Football series. He was also a member of the successful negotiation team to extend the CBS Sports/NCAA agreement exclusively through 1990.
In March 1987, he became responsible for CBS Sports scheduling and planning of the NCAA Final Four and the NBA Finals. In the fall of 1987 and of 1988, he established the new CFA series of "CBS Sports Seminars" at a dozen campuses nationally.
As Vice President of Program Planning for CBS Sports, Len has responsibility for expanded acquisitions in NCAA basketball, including exclusive network packages with Big East (1991-95), Big Ten (1992-95), and primary ACC package (1991). It is clear that he has helped to bring many happy moments to sports fans throughout the United States.
For his fine achievements in the field of law and in the coverage of sports, the Cranston Hall of Fame proudly installs Leonard F. DeLuca.
JOHN A. FERRIS, MD
A graduate of Cranston High School in 1938, John A. Ferris has achieved distinction as a physician and as an educator.
After John was graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 1942, he went on to rigorous studies at the Boston University Medical School, where he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1945. After an internship at Rhode Island Hospital, he served as a captain in the United States of America Medical Corps. From 1946 to 1948 he was stationed in Korea.
From 1948 to 1952, he served a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Then, on Labor Day in 1952, he began a practice in Warwick, eventually becoming the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Kent County Memorial Hospital.
In 1964, Dr. Ferris served as an obstetrician and gynecologist with CARE-MEDICO in Vietnam. On that assignment he was joined by his wife Alpha Smith Ferris, who contributed her skills as a registered nurse. She had graduated from Pawtucket Memorial Hospital in 1943.
All through his career, Dr. Ferris has been an innovative leader in achieving painless childbirth with saddleblock anesthesia. Since 1964, he has been an advocate of the Lamaze method of childbirth, which involves psychological and physical preparation by the mother in order to suppress pain and facilitate delivery without drugs. He has also urged fathers to be with their wives in the delivery room for both normal obstetrics and Caesarean surgery.
John Ferris has been the attending physician at more than four thousand births. He has also made strong contributions to the Rotary Club of Warwick, to the family life program of the Warwick public schools, to the Warwick community action clinic, and to the sex education program for Rhode Island teachers.
In 1970, he worked with SHIP HOPE in Tunisia, and once again Mrs. Ferris served as his nurse. Their daughter Judith also serves humankind through her work at the Providence Health Center.
For his extraordinary achievements as a Doctor of Medicine and as an ardently altruistic member of the community, the Cranston Hall of Fame proudly installs John A. Ferris.
EDITH JANSON HATCH
A graduate of Cranston High School in 1930, Edith Janson Hatch has achieved distinction as a school administrator and a civic-minded individual.
After she was graduated with honors in Mathematics from Pembroke College in Brown University, Edith worked with Dr. Jasper as a researcher in psychology at Bradley Hospital.
In 1937, she began an exemplary career in the field of education. When she started, she taught seven years in Latin and Special Education and also served as a guidance counselor. Later, she did excellent work as the Dean of Students at Activities at Cranston East High School.
Edith has been the President of the Cranston Teachers' Association, the President of the Rhode Island State Education Association, and a tour leader of a European trip that included twenty-four Rhode Island teachers. She helped organize the first Cranston School Administrators' Association and has done much to advance the interests of students and the wider community in the excellence of Brown University.
In addition to these accomplishments, Edith is the quintessential civic-oriented individual. She has been an active member of the Cranston Veterans' Memorial Fund, a consultant with the Department of Children and Their Families, and a leader in a door-to-door fundraising for both Cranston high schools. Recently, she became the recipient of the National Community Service Award from the American Association of Retired Persons because of her work for the patients of the Scandinavian Home for the Aged, her activities at the Pilgrim Lutheran Church, and her assistance at the Cranston Senior Center.
Edith is the mother of Paul Janson Hatch, a retired Strategic Air Command Officer, and a grandmother, as well as a great-grandmother. Edith's life truly reflects the AARP motto: "To Serve, Not To Be Served."
For her outstanding achievements in education and in the community, the Cranston Hall of Fame proudly installs Edith Janson Hatch.
FRANK J. WILLIAMS
A graduate of Cranston High School in 1958, Frank J. Williams has distinguished himself as a lawyer and as a military officer.
After he earned his A.B. in Government and History from Boston University in 1962, he served for five years in the United States Army. His service included active duty in Vietnam, where he advanced in the rank of Captain, and such decorations as the Bronze Star, three air medals, and the Silver Star of Valor from the Republic of Vietnam.
Later, having completed his military service, Frank earned a law degree from Boston University Law School in 1970 and began his practice in Providence. He also earned a Master's Degree in Taxation from Bryant College in 1986.
In his long career in public service, Frank has served as both Judge of Probate and Solicitor for the Rhode Island towns of Hopkinton and West Greenwich and was an elected delegate to the 1986 Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. Listed in Who's Who in American Law, in "Community Leaders of the World," and in "The Directory of Distinguished Americans," Frank exemplifies the solid professional man. He has lectured on business and legal practices at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association.
For years, he has also served as the President of the Abraham Lincoln Association and as the President of The Lincoln Group of Boston. In addition, he writes the annual review of Lincolniana for the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association and lectures widely, recently at the "Lincoln Family" symposium in Vermont. For his contribution to the symposium "Lincoln and the American Political Tradition" at Brown University, he won a special BARONDESS Award.
As an avid and important collector, Frank owns one of the largest, privately-held Lincoln Libraries in the country.
Married to Virginia Elizabeth, he makes his home in Hope Valley.
For his outstanding achievements as a lawyer and civic leader, a valorous military officer, and a Lincoln Scholar, the Cranston Hall of Fame installs Frank J. Williams.
MARION I. WRIGHT
A graduate of Cranston High School in 1940, Marion I. Wright has distinguished herself as a teacher of geography and anthropology and as a research scholar.
Indeed, Marion Wright enhances the meaning of the words "teacher" and "scholar." She has devoted her life to learning about our world and to helping her students.
She earned her Bachelor's degree at Rhode Island College in 1944 and her M.A. at Clark University in 1946, and she completed a Doctoral program at Syracuse University in 1955. Later, she participated in the Smith College Summer Program in Africa in 1961 and an Adult Summer School in Language and Culture at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She taught at Rhode Island College for forty-one years.
Beginning in 1946, Marion embarked on a program of travel to gain field experience in each of the major world areas and, in this way, to validate empirically her knowledge of geography and anthropology. Through the years she has visited ninety-six nations, including twenty-two in Africa and ten in Latin America; all the nations of Europe with the exception of Albania; the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union; as well as India, Mongolia, China, Burma, Thailand, and Japan in Asia. She has also visited Australia, New Zealand, Zaire, and Mexico.
Marion is the author of many geographic publications, including a section on Africa in a high school text and material on Rhode Island for four reference works: Encyclopaedia Britannica, The World Book, Grolier Encyclopedia, and a multi-volumed Dutch publication in English entitled Worldmark. She is also the co-author of The Rhode Island Atlas of 1983. After the publication of the atlas, Marion was invited to speak at seventeen historical societies in Rhode Island. Throughout her professional life, Marion has brought her knowledge and her enthusiasm to civic, cultural, historical, education, and church groups, including the Scituate Historical and Preservation Society, the Rhode Island Hmong Community Elders, and the North Foster Baptist Church. In fact, there is a concentric design in her career, for, apart from her teaching at Rhode Island College, she gave her first and her closing lectures to the Rhode Island Social Studies Association.
She has been the recipient of numerous honors and grants, including a Distinguished Faculty Service Award in the Rhode Island College Faculty of Arts and Sciences (1980-81), the Service Award from the New England Geographical Society (1983), and the First President Award of Distinction at Rhode Island College (1987).
For her outstanding accomplishments as a teacher and a scholar and as an altruistic human being, the Cranston Hall of Fame proudly installs Marion I. Wright.
