$11,000 Goldberg fund donated to school library
Published: September 11, 2003
When retired local pharmacist Arnold Goldberg’s wife died, friends contributed to a memorial fund in her honor. For two years, Goldberg, 80, had pondered how the funds should be used.
“I watched a story about child literacy one day, and that gave me the idea,” he recalls.
On Tuesday, Williamstown Public Schools Superintendent Rose Ellis announced the Goldbergs had donated $11,000 to the school’s annual fund directed to the elementary school library.
“I wanted to do so something productive, and also local, and the idea of promoting reading by young children just seemed to make sense,” Goldberg said. Solicitations received for national charities had left him unconvinced that most of the money would go to direct services.
For Goldberg, a 50-year town resident who owned Dox Drugs on Main Street before retirement, educational involvement is nothing new. He recalls driving to the old Southworth School with the couple’s children to construct wooden shelving for that building’s first-ever library.
As their four children progressed through the elementary school, Goldberg served as chairman of the elementary school Parent-Teacher Organization and later as a member of the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee.
His wife, Dianne T. Golberg, was active in pre-school in town and in the League of Women Voters. He also served as a member of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals for many years.
With the Goldberg’s money, school librarian Susan Hyde will dedicate a section of the library to reflect Mrs. Goldberg’s interest in the education of young children, Ellis said.
More than 200 books purchased last spring will support the “Accelerated Reader” effort — a managed, self-paced reading program for primary grades.
This year, said Ellis, the librarian plans to expand the collection with the Goldberg gift to include literature for upper-elementary students.
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