Goodrich retires after 29 years of service

Date: 10/5/2009

By Natasha Clark

Assistant Managing Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW After 29 years of service to the town, Rosina Goodrich has said farewell.

On Sept. 28, Goodrich retired from her position in the Town Clerk's Office.

"I'll miss the people. It has been a pleasure working for the town," Goodrich shared a few days into her retirement.

Back in 1980, Goodrich was a single mother looking for a local job that was near enough to home that if her children needed her, she could be there quickly.

She saw an ad in The Reminder and applied at Town Hall. Nearly three decades later, Goodrich has held numerous positions including working in payroll and stints in collections and treasury.

"You just work day-to-day. There's good parts and there's bad parts. Dealing with the public can sometimes be a challenge but we usually managed to make them happy," she recalled.

Another happy person is her husband, retired East Longmeadow Fire Chief Forrest R. Goodrich.

"I'm glad to have her home," Forrest said. "There is [about] 70 years of service to the town between the two of us."

Forrest worked at the fire department for 41 years, 24 as chief. A native of the town, he also currently serves on the Emergency Planning Committee.

"My husband seems very excited," Goodrich said with a laugh. "My children, they're happy for me having time to do something I want to do."

And what is that?

"Gardening," she added. "We [Forrest and I] do some traveling. We're going down to the Cape and we just got back from Chattanooga, Tenn. But gardening, that's my passion."