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Roseann Ventimiglia: Buy the Book

Roseann Ventimiglia said yes. The result is that she is the new head of the upcoming book sale sponsored by the Friends of the Chester Public Library. And there is more that is new. For the first time the sale will be held at the United Church of Chester, 29 West Main Street, Chester, rather than in the library basement. The four-day sale will take place from Friday, Jan. 18 through Monday, Jan. 21.

The library basement was always tight quarters for the sale, but increased activities have put added strain on the small space.

“We’ve thought about asking the church before, but the need and opportunity hadn’t arisen as sharply as it has this year,” noted Cary Hull, president of the Friends of the Chester Library. “Our children’s librarian, along with our library director, are offering more programs that are filling the basement, so our book sale was taking up space.”

Roseann, who moved with her husband to Chester last June, asked at the library about volunteer opportunities. It couldn’t have been a more appropriate question. Diane Lindsay, who had long headed the sale, was ready to turn it over to someone else.

“I can’t even remember how long I’ve done it, 10 or 12 years,” Lindsay said. “I thought it was time for some new blood, some fresh ideas.”

And Roseann was ready to tackle the job.

“I thought to myself, ‘I can do this,’” she recalls. “I love books, I love the library.”

The first challenge Roseann has to face is moving the books from the library to the church. She has contacted Mary Hambor, the school-to-career coordinator at Valley Regional High School, to organize student volunteers to carry the cartons across the parking lot that separates the two buildings.

Though Roseann is new to Chester, she is not new to this area. She and her husband Seth Fidel lived in Essex from 1995 to 2013. They moved away and for the last three years of their previous residence in Connecticut, he commuted weekly to a job in Cambridge, Massachusetts. With his retirement, the couple decided to return to this area. As moves go, Roseann says this one wasn’t bad.

“We’ve moved a lot, but this was an easier move, coming back to something familiar,” she explains.

In fact, her family has moved so much that Roseann is intrigued by the opposite: people who have spent their entire life in the same place.

“It gives you a sense of roots,” she says.

Roseann grew up in Rochester, New York. Science was a favorite subject, even in elementary school. Her interest, however, did not meet the approval of one of her teachers.

“She told me boys don’t like girls who are too smart,” Roseann recalls.

Roseann was not discouraged. She majored in biology in college and then worked as a laboratory technician, but realized that if she wanted to do independent research, she needed to get an advanced degree. As a result, she went back to school, earning a doctorate in pharmacology with a concentration in neurobiology from Rutgers University.

Now, her résumé has a long list of scientific publications that include her as a co-author, but her early days in graduate school were not easy.

“It was tough, very challenging and there were times I almost quit,” she recalls.

One of the things that she says helped was developing women friends in her field.

Much of Roseann’s professional career has been in the field of medical communications, including a number of positions at Pfizer, as well as Alexion Pharmaceuticals and six years as an independent biomedical writer. Before moving to Chester, she was a senior director for medical affairs and medical communication at Celldex Therapeutics, a firm in Needham, Massachusetts, which works to develop therapies for cancer.

Now, Roseann says she would no longer commute anywhere, but would work at home if there was what she calls a “perfect” project. At this point, however, she is more interested in getting involved in community activities. When she previously lived in Essex, she was on the board of Tri-Town Youth Services.

Both of Roseann’s parents immigrated to this country and she has traveled to their native Italy many times to visit with family. She says that while her parents used Italian at home, the children answered in English.

“My parents spoke dialects and I can get by [in Italian], but I wish I spoke it perfectly, she says.

She and her husband Seth walk every morning in Chester with their two dogs. But their 16-year-old West Highland white terrier, too old for vigorous exercise, makes the trip in a baby stroller that Seth has modified. The couple takes different routes, from 2 ½ to 3 ½ miles, but however they go, one thing never changes.

“It is always uphill going home,” Roseann says.

With grown children, Roseann and Seth sometimes think about downsizing, but that will not get in the way of purchasing books at the upcoming library books sale.

“We should be paring down, but I will probably buy books,” Roseann says. “You can’t have too many books.”

Book Sale sponsored by the Friends of the Chester Library will run for four days at the United Church of Chester, 29 West Main Street. Hours are from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 18, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19, 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20, and 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, Jan. 21.