Wildwood School librarian retires after 34 years of service

Denise Rossmo-Wiegers remembers when photocopy machines didn’t exist in schools.

“It was called an offset duplicator made by A.B. Dick Company, which we had to make a stencil to get all the copies for the students,” she said. “Now it takes seconds and it’s all digital.”

A lot has changed in schools over her 34-year teaching career, but the 55-year-old isn’t hanging around to see any more changes.

“My Dad passed away recently at 90 and I want to spend more time with my Mother,” the emotional Rossmo-Wiegers said.

The teacher-librarian at Wildwood School has swiped her last few library cards and will retire on Friday.

“I’ll miss it a lot because you walk into a school and you’re joined by a community of people who really care about you,” Rossmo-Wiegers said.

However, she won’t be completely gone from being a bookworm, as she will be taking a part-time tutoring job with the Leveled Literacy Intervention program, that helps kids who struggle with reading and writing.

“I love instilling the love of reading and the importance of it into students,” Rossmo Wiegers said.

Countless students still visit her classrooms, something she says she’ll miss a lot.

“One little fella, I taught him back in 1986 and he still comes to my classroom to say ‘hi how are you’.”

-with files from Céline Grimard