One of Bermuda's greatest educators was honoured yesterday as the school which she led for more than three decades was renamed after her.

Southampton Glebe Primary School became the Dalton E. Tucker Primary School thanks to a proposal from the class of 1969 to pay tribute to her.

Former headmistress Mrs. Tucker, 91, wasn't able to make the ceremony due to a fall but her daughter, Adele Thomas, was there to see the new school sign on Middle Road unveiled by Education Minister Randy Horton.

He told students, teachers and parents: "Today is a very, very special day. I'm here this morning filled with pride, representing the Government and a country that has selected one of our finest educators as the recipient of one of Bermuda's highest honours."

The Minister said Mrs. Tucker, who became Southampton Glebe principal in 1942 and remained there until she took early retirement in 1974, had shown tremendous love for her pupils.

"In particular, she had great interest in seeing that the young boys grew up doing what they needed to be doing," he said.

Mrs. Tucker began her teaching career in 1934 at St. Mary's Primary School, a tiny building on Middle Road, Southampton.

She later did teacher training in Jamaica and began at Southampton Glebe after graduation. In the 1950s, she decided to start teaching the Island's prisoners, something she does to this day, as well as holding bible classes for rest home residents.

After leaving Southampton Glebe, she taught at the Robert Crawford School, where she served up homemade soup to students, telling them the recipe ingredients were "L.O.V.E".

The mother-of-two and grandmother-of-four has an MBE (member of the British Empire) and a Queen's Certificate of Honour for her work in education. Mrs. Tucker's daughter said her mother was deeply touched at the decision to rename the school. "It's a great honour. I'm just so proud of her because of all the people she's helped. She was very happy about this and she wished she could have been here, unfortunately she's in hospital."