It’s hard to overestimate the significance of education in the lives of Esther C. Raffone, ’38, and her husband, Alexander M. Raffone, ’43. Together, they spent more than 75 years in the field of education and touched the lives of thousands of children.

“They just loved to talk school,” recalls their daughter, Pamela Raffone D’Agostino, who is also a teacher. “My mother taught first and second grades for years, and every night she would regale my father with all the cute things her kids had said that day. My father was a superintendent and administrator, so he discussed the political aspects, taking the broader view.”

In 1997, the Raffones established the Esther and Alexander Raffone Scholarship Fund at Southern, further demonstrating the importance the couple placed on education. The scholarship is given to a senior of high academic standing who is majoring in both elementary education and mathematics. If there is no student applicant with the specified double major, the scholarship is awarded to an elementary education major.

Both Esther and Al Raffone were delighted to establish a scholarship fund; every year they were thrilled to attend the university’s scholarship award ceremonies and meet the students who benefited from their generosity.

Knowing how important education was to her parents, and how highly they esteemed the institution they always referred to as “the college,” D’Agostino decided to make a major gift of over $80,000 to the scholarship fund. “I wanted to do something in their names that would live on indefinitely,” says D’Agostino. “I also wanted the fund to provide a full-tuition scholarship so that even in death their names and their memories would be associated with what they did best—helping others. I hope this gift will inspire students to be the kind of educators my parents were—caring, committed, and thoroughly professional.”

With an endowed scholarship, the SCSU Foundation invests the principal and interest, retaining a portion of the earnings for the scholarship award — ensuring that the Raffone family’s generosity will benefit Southern students long into the future.

While making the gift was D’Agostino’s decision, she was enthusiastically supported by her husband and four children. “My kids were devastated when we lost ‘Nonni and Poppi,’” D’Agostino recalls. “We still miss them terribly, but knowing that their memories are being honored through this scholarship is something my children are very proud of.”

Endowing a scholarship fund had particular significance to Esther and Al Raffone, who struggled financially to attend Southern, which was then known as New Haven State Teachers College. The daughter of immigrants, Mrs. Raffone was the first of 10 children to attend college. “They were extremely poor, yet proud,” says D’Agostino. “Mom’s four older sisters had to enter the work force as soon as possible to help support the family. My mom worked in Southern’s library and also worked summers to pay the cost of tuition.”

Later in her career, Mrs. Raffone taught English to Italian immigrants in the Hamden Public Schools. Today, her approach is known as teaching English as a Second Language or ESL. “She didn’t speak English until she started school. That’s what made her very effective as an ESL teacher,” says D’Agostino. “She was a natural. She became involved in these peoples’ lives. She’d make home visits in the community on her own time. She was vital to their acclimation.”

Mr. Raffone graduated later than his wife, although he was a year older. One of 18 children (12 of whom survived into adulthood), he was also the son of Italian immigrant parents. “He took courses only when he had the money,” explains D’Agostino. In addition, World War II interrupted his education; he worked in intelligence for the United States Army in the South Pacific.

In 1950 Mr. Raffone earned a master’s degree from Yale University and, later, a sixth year degree from Columbia University. He began his career as a teacher, but soon shifted to administration, serving as principal in the New Haven, Bethany, and Woodbridge public school systems in Connecticut. In 1960, he became superintendent of schools in Woodbridge. After his retirement in January 1979, he began

a second career as executive director of the Elementary and Middle School Principals Association of Connecticut, retiring again in 1987.

His connection to Southern remained strong throughout the years. Mr. Raffone was active in the Southern Connecticut State University Alumni Association, serving for 18 years on the Board of Directors, including tenures as president, vice president, and treasurer. In recognition of his contributions to Southern and the Alumni Association, he received the Alumni Service Award in 1992.

Although both Mr. and Mrs. Raffone attended Southern, they didn’t meet until years after graduating, when they were working in New Haven. “She was teaching and he was a principal,” says D’Agostino. “She needed a ride to a conference, and someone suggested that my father take her.” Wed in 1951, they had two children, D’Agostino and her younger sister, Mary-Jo, now of Phoenix, Ariz. They had been married for 54 years at the time of their deaths. Mrs. Raffone passed away on Feb. 5, 2005; Mr. Raffone on Feb. 9, four days later. They were buried together on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. “It was poetic,” says D’Agostino. “They were such a close couple. They were each other’s best friends.”

Contributions to the Esther and Alexander Raffone Scholarship Fund may be made by mailing your gift, made payable to the SCSU Foundation, in the envelope enclosed in the magazine. It also may be mailed to SCSU, Development Office, P.O. Box 8658, New Haven, CT 06531-0658. (If you would like to support the Raffone Scholarship, please write “Raffone” in the note section of the check.) Gifts also may be made by credit card by calling (203) 392-5014 or online at www.giving.SouthernCT.edu.