Librarian closes book on 34-year career

Former librarian Peggy DeMarco

Hudson - For 34 years, the Hudson Public Library has been a place of  both employment and inspiration for Peggy DeMarco, the assistant children’s librarian.

    This past January, however, she retired - from a job she never planned to have.

    DeMarco’s previous jobs were in the unrelated field of electronics. Prior to her position at the library, she worked at H.H. Scott, an engineering testing facility based in Maynard and Chase-Walton Elastomers, which manufactures silicone and synthetic rubber products, in Hudson.

    DeMarco began working part-time at the Hudson Public Library as a page. Her duties included stocking shelves and checking patrons in and out. It was doing the page job that made her realize that she enjoyed working with people and literature.

    In the late 1980s, she became a full-time worker and found her place in the Children’s Department.

    And it’s the children she’ll miss the most in her retirement.

    “I’ll miss working with children and new books,” she said, “but mainly it’s working with the kids.”

    She added that she hopes to leave the residents of Hudson with a “warming feeling.”

    DeMarco, who lives in Leominster and is a former long-time resident of Hudson, said that was not going to be too hard to keep busy. Her future plans are to help her mother, who is in assisted living, and to spend more time with her husband.

    “I know I’m going to be busy,” she said.

    She praised the residents and patrons of Hudson and their continuing support of the library.

    “I think people in Hudson are awesome about the way they support the library,” DeMarco said. “It’s appreciated.”

    She said she will always remember the library patrons and her co-workers to whom she became close.

     “I’m happy with the [Hudson] families I’ve met over the years,” she said.