Retired professor Humble earns induction into Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame
April 19, 2022
Retired Community College of Rhode Island English Professor Roberta Mudge Humble of
Warwick is one of nine inductees in the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame Class of
2022.
Established in 1965, the Heritage Hall of Fame exists to honor and recognize, and
to extol and publicize the achievements of those Rhode Island men and women who have,
in the words of the Hall of Fame induction citation, "made significant contributions
to their community, state, and/or nation." With nearly 800 members, the Heritage Hall
of Fame tells the story of Rhode Island history via interactive technology using the
biographies of its inductees while noting their collective impact upon every phase
of Rhode Island's development.
Humble, who is also an author and the Founding President of Westerly Armory Restorations,
Inc., joins an elite list of Rhode Island royalty in the Heritage Hall of Fame, including
Rhode Island’s founder, Roger Williams; former U.S. Senator John O. Pastore; Governor
Theodore Francis Green; legendary broadcaster Salty Brine; and J. Arthur Trudeau,
a pioneer in the support of those with intellectual disabilities in Rhode Island and
across the nation.
“It’s a great honor to be sandwiched between Roger Williams and Salty Brine,” Humble
said. “This is the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, and Rhode Island has the deepest
heritage of any state in the nation.”
The Class of 2022 also includes: restaurateur, boxing referee, international judge,
and promoter Jimmy Burchfield Sr.; founder of the Independence Trail Educational Foundation
Robert I. Burke; businessman and developer Arnold Buffum Chace Jr.; former Speaker
of the House John B. Harwood; former Board of Trustees of Rhode Island Hospital chair
Dr. Edward A. Iannuccilli; Providence Journal reporter Mark Patinkin; civic leader and philanthropist Stanley Weiss; and former
professional boxer Wilfred W. Greene.
This year’s 57th annual induction ceremony will be held Sunday, May 1 at the Crowne
Plaza Hotel in Warwick beginning at 5 pm. Tickets can be purchased online at riheritagehalloffame.com or by phone at 401-273-1787.
Born in Westerly, RI, Humble earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English
from the University of Rhode Island and taught Technical Writing and Oral Communications
at CCRI from 1970–2017. She also earned an additional 45 credits beyond her master’s
at Oxford and Edinburgh universities and both the U.S. Army and U.S. Air War Colleges.
In addition to developing textbooks for each course, Humble has also written and developed
18 books and games on Rhode Island history and culture, including The Historic Armories of Rhode Island, a children’s book entitledRhode Island’s Friendly Faces, The RIght to Crow: A Look at RI’s Firsts, Bests, &
Uniques, and Rhode Island for the Native and the Naïve.
In 1992, Humble formed a nonprofit, the Westerly Armory Restoration, Inc., to restore
and maintain the historic Westerly Armory for ongoing use by the community. The Armory
is a museum of both community and local military memorabilia as well as home to America's
oldest active community band, The Westerly Band. Eight years later, Humble co-authored
her first book, The Historic Armories of Rhode Island, with the late Howard F. Brown, a pictorial of the state’s 18 armories.
Humble has also served on the Board of Directors of the Warwick Historical Society
since 2017 and holds numerous awards and honors, among them the Feinstein Merit Award
for Outstanding Community Service by the RI Foundation in 2003, the Rhode Island Historical
Preservation & Heritage Commission’s 2001 Education & Advocacy Award, and the Silver
Good Citizenship Medal from National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
in 2018.
At CCRI, Humble taught Technical Writing and Oral Communications to a variety of students,
including firefighters, engineers, nurses, and even dental assistants. She is proud
of her impeccable attendance for more than four decades and her correspondence with
past students who remain grateful for the lessons learned inside the classroom.
“That, among everything, makes you feel the most accomplished,” Humble said. “Technical
writing in particular is a very useful skill, and I’ve always enjoyed teaching it.
I’m proud of the students who go on to achieve great things and take a moment to let
us know how they’re doing.
“CCRI is one of the best resources our state has to offer. Many will graduate and
go on to do great things, but the one thing it will provide for every student is an
opportunity, and that’s all you can hope for.”
Humble enjoys antiques and refinishing, history, writing, college basketball, American
automobiles, armory restoration, and her six domestic birds; her interest in the latter
led to her membership in the Rhode Island Audubon Society, the National Audubon Society,
and the Cornell Ornithological Society. She is also Past Commander of the Military
Order of Foreign Wars and a member of the Providence Marine Corps of Artillery and
the Naval War College Foundation.
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