Ann Roche celebrates 50 years as Goshen librarian

By Geri Corey
GOSHEN — 2018 is the year for anniversaries at the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society.
Established in 1918, the library is currently celebrating its 100th year of sharing great books and all types and levels of reading material, including local history; offering special events for adults and children; and now providing the latest in technology.
However, there’s a second important anniversary. Ann Roche, a well-recognized face at the library, is celebrating her 50th year of employment there.
“In 1968, I decided to get a job, and here I am 50 years later,” said Roche, simply.
There was an opening, and she applied. She began working with Maise Conroy, the first director she assisted.
“It was just the two of us,” she said. “We opened at 10 a.m., closed at noon, re-opened at 2 p.m., and closed at 5 for the day.”
At that time, the library building housed the Goshen Welcome Center, a museum, and Goshen Chamber of Commerce offices.
Roche began her career processing materials and sending overdue notices. But through the years she learned to fill all positions.
“I did payroll, helped select books, was circulation supervisor at the front desk, shoveled snow, checked the furnace," she said. "I did everything. You name it; I did it, even acting as director for six months when we didn’t have one."
It was Pauline Kehoe, the library director in 1992, who asked Roche if she wanted to take charge of the local history room, formally called the Elizabeth Sharts Local History Room.
“It’s the best job yet,” said Roche. “I love meeting people from all over the world."
Then she added, with a quip: “I look up dead people who don’t give me a hard time!”
Saying she keeps “very busy” with the genealogy section of the history room.
“I get a lot of requests — emails, phone messages and letters — from people wanting to know about past persons, some family members or not," she said. "One professor was here doing research on Horace Pippin, the artist who once lived in Goshen.”
Roche noted that she’s gotten requests for information from as far away as Australia and England.
She’s happy to inform the public that, with the help of volunteers, all obituary notices from 1820 to the present are indexed in hard binders in the history room and posted online for genealogical research.
“There’s nothing better than obit notices for genealogy and getting information,” said Roche.
Also under Roche’s care are important American history documents starting from the early 1700s and into the 1800s. Included in the numerous documents are:
An early American Indian deed
Letters from Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, both lawyers for the Wawayanda-Cheesecocks Patent, who were requesting pay for their services
A letter from Henry Wisner asserting that Noah Webster had worked in Goshen and giving him a recommendation
Reports from Brigadier General Henry Burnett, a lawyer at the trial of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. A gem of a document is Burnett’s original hand-typed 49-page report titled “The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Assassination” that recounts the events leading to the arrests of John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators. Burnett lived on Old Chester Road in Goshen.
Other, rare physical artifacts of the historical society include:
President Ulysses S. Grant’s embossed walking stick
Goshen resident Captain H.S. Murray’s sword from the Civil War
A locally made rocking chair
A piece of O’Connor glass
An 1852 edition of a Webster’s dictionary
Many historical artifacts in storage, but with limited space in the current library, they can’t be displayed. Said Roche, “When we get the new library, I’m hoping to display artifacts for people to see and appreciate.”
Happy to helpRoche was born in Middletown, still lives there today. In fact, she’s living in the house where she grew up. With the exception of spending four years in Albany accompanying her husband while he attended Sienna College, she’s lived in Middletown all of her life.
“When I was growing up, we had a neighborhood," she recalled. "We played outside and we had block parties. Everything was so convenient."
Roche said grocery stores, bakeries, butchers, and other shops were close by.
“It was safe," she said. "Our parents never worried about us playing outside on the street.”
She still gets together regularly with grammar school friends.
“We talk about old times,” Roche said with a smile.
Roche went to local schools and began her working career in Middletown, first in a clothing store and then in a bank. In 1956, she married Gerard Roche, from Chester. They had one daughter and two sons together.
It was when her youngest son went to school that Roche reached out to the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society for a position, and thus began her long association with the library.
“I love being here," said Roche. "I’ve worked with several library directors. I’ve seen changes to the building, too, like the addition in the rear in 1974. I was here in 1984 when this became the school district library. I’ve seen a lot of kids grow up. I never thought I’d be here for 50 years, but I’m doing what I love — helping people. If I can help people, that makes me happy. Now that the obituaries are up-to-date, I’ve started working on recording marriages. This will help researchers and keep me busy well into the future.”