What's the legend of Gertrude? It meant a lot to Martin Middle School's first principal

TAUNTON — The Joseph H. Martin Middle School in East Taunton is celebrating its 50th anniversary this school year, and on Tuesday, Sept. 13, Martin School staff welcomed a special guest to fill them in about some longstanding school history during a short after-school ceremony.

Taunton resident and longtime Taunton teacher Nancy Delaney stopped by to talk to the administrative and teaching staff about her father, James T. Thomas, who was the Martin School’s first principal upon opening in 1972, and to recount the beginnings of the legend of the school’s mascot, Gertrude the Woodchuck.

Gertrude the Woodchuck has been the school’s mascot for 50 years, thanks to Thomas, and has survived at least one “underground” campaign for removal. The legend of Gertrude began in 1971, while Thomas was on site of the future campus in an advisory role during construction.

“When he went to supervise the construction of the building what happened was, during the construction, there would always be woodchucks there,” Delaney explained, “one that seemed to return all the time. So he named the woodchuck Gertrude. And that's how that came to be.”

The Legend of Gertrude

Delaney says there were community rumblings — “an underground movement,” she called it — about doing away with Gertrude as the Martin mascot shortly after Thomas retired in 1980. Parkinson’s disease had forced him to stop working, and Delaney was worried her father would be saddened to hear the news about Gertrude.

“So I said to my mother, because of course she took care of him at home, I said, ‘oh, I hate to have to tell dad that they want to rename the woodchuck.’ And she said, ‘well, you're not gonna tell him.’

“She said, ‘listen, nobody's gonna come in here and tell him that,’ because he loved and was proud of the woodchuck and they all knew it. We joke about it all the time."

Luckily, the movement never gained any steam.

“We never told him, and it never happened,” Delaney said.

And Gertrude the Woodchuck remains.

Delaney was thrilled to get a call from Jaimie Pereira, Martin's new principal, to share the story of Gertrude and her father.

“It was something that he thought would give the kids a sense of belonging to the school, if they all had something in common. And you know, when you have students you have to reach them at their own level. He felt like if he could do something like that the children would be more productive.”

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More Martin Middle history

Before the Martin Middle School, Thomas was a history teacher at Taunton High School and a principal at Taunton Vocational. Delaney says after serving in the Army her father became an educator and found it was a good fit.

Martin Middle School was another good fit.

“Well, it seemed to him to be a prestigious position. He was very happy to go over there,” Delaney said. “He had a strong affinity for the people and students in East Taunton from when he was teaching at the high school.”

Delaney said her father would often joke around with students about East Taunton being on the outskirts of town.

“So, it was kind of humorous that he landed there.”

She said Thomas was dedicated to the work and stayed busy during his tenure as Martin Middle School principal.

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“He was always at that school. He wanted to be there morning, noon and night. He had a very strong work ethic.

“My mother used to say, ‘Jim, that school is gonna be here a long time after you,’ Delaney said, in regard to the long hours.

“Well, the proof is in the pudding, the school is still here.”

Former student, now principal

Pereira, too, has been a big part of the school’s history, as a student, parent of Martin Middle School students and now principal.

She knows all about Gertrude.

“Having been a former Woodchuck myself, the legend of Gertrude is something I was familiar with, but I thought it would be great to have Nancy come in and tell the staff that story,” Pereira said.

“It is kind of an unorthodox school mascot. We looked around and there's no other woodchuck mascot, you know, we could find, in the country, in the whole United States. We are very unique, it is a very unique mascot.”

And Gertrude is sticking around, no more underground anti-Gertrude movements.

“That's not at all on our agenda. We are very proud to be Martin Middle School Woodchucks. And it has endured over 50 years, which I think is pretty remarkable. And to have Nancy here to share that story just made it that much more special.”

Pereira said Delaney also spoke about the school’s early history.

“She spoke very nostalgically about Martin and about her dad and how much this place meant to the family and still does," Pereira said. "And it was very endearing because it just really helped restore a sense of pride and nostalgia and love for this building and for how long it's been here."

Pereira spent grades K-8 at Martin in the 1980s, the days before East Taunton Elementary School. Her last year as a student at the school was 1991.

“I loved going to Martin as a student. It was a powerhouse school. It was a very competitive school in the Taunton community — athletically, academically.”

Pereira was a Woodchuck cheerleader and recalled the days when the middle schools competed in sports and were connected in a way that has changed a lot over the years.

"Back then it was the Parker Panthers, the Cohannet Chiefs, the Mulcahey Mustangs and the Martin Woodchucks," she said. "And it used to be funny, because, you know, those are some kind of menacing mascots. And then we were obviously the less menacing Woodchucks. But we always came out on top."

Pereira says she is working with other school heads in town to restore some of the fun and competitiveness among the schools.

And looking to rebuild and instill school pride at Martin.

'All things Martin'

“As a new principal I'm looking to, sort of, celebrate all things Martin,” she said.

“I'm trying to restore a sense of pride in our building and in our school colors and our mascot, things like that. So September was one of my first staff meetings, and I thought it would be a great way of kicking off the staff meeting by celebrating a birthday party, so we decided to have a birthday for Martin.

“My experiences here were great, as a student and I also sent two of my own children here, and now I am back. It's been really, really positive for me. I have a longstanding love for this building and I'm very excited to kind of come full circle now and be the principal of a building I once sat in as a child.”

Taunton Daily Gazette staff writer Jon Haglof can be reached at jhaglof@tauntongazette.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton: Martin Middle School, legend of woodchuck Gertrude turn 50