You'll have to excuse Rosalie Stokes if she's not used to standing ovations. The senior account clerk and member of the Kingston Education Support Professionals, led by Joan White, typically doesn't hear thunderous applause when she processes an invoice. The last time she filled out a purchase order, the office staff didn't chant her name.

So you'll have to forgive Stokes as she struggles with the mini-celebrity she has become in Ulster County as she celebrates her 47th year with the Kingston school district.

Stokes recently received an Award of Excellence from the Mid-Hudson School Study Council — she was honored with a standing ovation at the event — and a write-up in her local paper, the Daily Freeman, for a distinguished career that has now crossed six decades.

"It's a good feeling and a shock," Stokes said. "I just love doing what I'm doing."

Stokes, a Kingston native, started her career as a district School-Related Professional in July 1959, one month after she graduated from high school. She was, quite literally, a student one day and behind the administrative curtain the next.

"I don't recall it being strange," she said, "but that was a long time ago."

Stokes discovered that she loved office work. In the late 1960s, she became senior account clerk, a position she has held ever since — much to the taxpayers' and district's benefit.

"I want to find the last penny," Stokes said. "People here say I can't go for another five or seven years, when they retire."

The biggest challenge for Stokes has been the changing technology in her position. Work that was once done on typewriters and bookkeeping machines is now computerized. But staying current on computer technology keeps Stokes' job interesting and helps her relate to the younger business office clerks.

Stokes admits it's been hard watching some good work friends retire over the years, and in a way she's the last of a breed. Even her husband has retired.

But the affable Stokes has had no trouble making fast friends with new employees as they start with the district. Her positive attitude is likely to keep her on the job for some time to come.

"I like all the people I work with," she said. "Retirement is just not in my cards right now."

— Kevin Hart