Obituary: Emma Cappelluzzo, Professor Emerita of Education

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Emma M. Cappelluzzo, 85, professor emerita of education and a leader in bicultural education, died Sept. 5.

Born July 10, 1933 in Boston, she was a first-generation Italian American who spoke no English when she entered school in East Boston. She attended Everett Public Schools and graduated from Boston University, Sargent College in 1955.

Her early work was in outdoor education, with many summers spent as a counselor at Camp Merestead in Camden, Maine. She taught in public schools in Jackson, Michigan, and while pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she received her doctorate in 1955.

She then taught at the University of Arizona and worked to begin the first Operation Head Start in Southern Arizona. From Casa Grande to the Mexican border, she helped communities in the deserts develop local programs for preschool indigenous and migrant children. Her photographs and oral history from that time are archived in the Tohono O’odham Cultural Center Museum, Sells, Arizona.

In 1966, she returned to her home state with a joint appointment in anthropology and education at UMass Amherst, expanding off-campus education programs, notably with Mohawk Secondary Education in Canada and elementary school internships in the Northern Pueblos of New Mexico.

At the university, she had one of the first and longest internship programs in the country that combined academic and on-site placement with requests made by Native American communities. She retired in 1991.

She was published, wrote poetry, painted, enjoyed gardening and had many interests beyond academia.

She was the first woman elected town moderator in Wendell, where she served for 12 years.

From 1987 to 1995, she restored and operated an award-winning country inn on Prince Edward Island, Canada with her partner, Linda Anderson. Their retirement was divided between homes in Sarasota, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; and Launching, Prince Edward Island.

Still telling stories on her last morning, Emma recounted to doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital how, at age 11, she sold Italian lemon slush for a nickel in front of her godfather’s bakery in Boston’s North End.

She is survived by her spouse Linda Anderson and godson Bruno Freeman.

A private service was held at San Xavier Mission in Tucson.