Much-loved educator Lorraine Fubler, who taught generations of Bermudian schoolchildren to read, has died at the age of 98.

Ms Fubler’s more than 40 years of teaching began at Central School, now Victor Scott Primary, where she trained before moving to Elliott Primary School.

After her retirement Ms Fubler offered her services at the Adult Education Centre while continuing to serve in schools as a volunteer.

“While her approach to strict discipline was well known, some may have not been aware of her commitment to assisting students who had special challenges in their family life,” her son Glenn Fubler told The Royal Gazette.

“This matched her religious commitment at Heard Chapel and teaching Sunday School at St Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“She was part of the Missionary Society and lived that ministry. She personally helped families whose children had limited clothing, even when her family budget was stretched.”

Ms Fubler was born on January 11, 1916. Stories from her Flatts childhood, ranging from swimming lessons at Gibbons Bay, or a Christmas gift of a tin baby carriage, were chronicled in the children’s book Lorraine, written by fellow educator Ellen Kelly.

The grocery shop of her grandfather Clarence Darrell, a hub for the Flatts community, lay below the family home. The family later moved to Crawl, Hamilton Parish. Mr Fubler said a “spirit of self-help permeated the family”.

With black people denied under segregation to access facilities such as tennis courts, the family created their own on Crawl Hill.

Ms Fubler attended Excelsior Secondary School on North Shore, later moving to the Berkeley Institute when Excelsior was closed.

She initially trained as a beautician in New York, and worked at the hairdressing parlour of her Aunt Ida before opting to become a teacher.

During the Second World War she married William Fubler, from Somerset, and had two sons, Darrell and Vaughn, before moving to North Village where the couple’s third son Glenn was born.

Travelling to work by bicycle, Ms Fubler initially taught the Third Standard class at Elliott under the direction of Rosy Pearman-Smith, and “worked with colleagues who were committed to the student’s development, no matter the circumstance”, Mr Fubler said. She also coached netball.

After several years as a classroom teacher Ms Fubler trained as a specialist reading teacher over summers at Dalhousie University.

She served as Elliott Primary’s reading teacher until her retirement, then continued to volunteer at Elliott Primary and Victor Scott Primary as well as the Adult Education School, devoting her free time to church and missionary work.

According to Mr Fubler, his mother maintained her ministry until “the mid-2000s, when her disabilities kicked in”.

“She lived at home for many years with support of caregivers, until she required the comprehensive support of the Sylvia Richardson Home for the last few.”