Joseph & Germaine Fabiano Scholarship Fund

Joseph Fabiano, born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1924, and Germaine Methot Fabiano, born in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1923, were the children of immigrants who came to the United States for a better life. Joseph’s parents immigrated from Italy and his father began a business selling Italian foods in Boston. Germaine’s parents were French Canadian and immigrated from Canada. Germaine grew up in a French-speaking home and her father worked in a textile mill in Fall River. Both Germaine and Joseph lost their fathers before they were eighteen. Germaine had to leave high school and go to work to support herself; Joe had to work full-time after high-school in order to support his mother. In their twenties, Joe and Germaine met while attending evening college classes.

Joseph and Germaine were married at St. Joseph’s Church in 1953. One year later, they bought a home in Wakefield where they lived for almost sixty years. Joseph and Germaine had five daughters: Suzanne, Francine, Lisa, Janine, and Selene. In 1963, Joseph went into business for himself by opening the Wakefield Insurance agency. Joseph was active as a layperson in St. Joseph’s Church, serving on the finance committee and as a eucharistic minister. Germaine was a homemaker and became a very knowledgeable self-taught antiques collector. Joseph and Germaine, who worked hard to provide their daughters with educational opportunities that hadn’t been available to them, were very proud that all of their daughters graduated from college.

Joseph and Germaine Fabiano believed strongly in the value of education and the pursuit of knowledge. They were lifelong learners who kept abreast of current events and enlarged their understanding of the world by reading several daily newspapers and watching public television.

Joseph and Germaine lived into their mid-eighties. In 2012 their daughters started the Joseph and Germaine Fabiano scholarship fund as a way to honor their parents’ belief in education and to help young people continue their education after high school.