GORHAM – After nearly three decades of duty in the Gorham Town Hall, Connie Loughran, 66, is retiring.

Loughran’s last day will be Friday, Aug. 30.

“I’m still healthy, the time is right,” she said about retiring. “I’ll miss the people.”

Town clerk for the past two years, she also has been clerk for the Town Council.

“I have appreciated Connie’s service as Gorham’s town clerk, especially with this year as I served as chairman of the Town Council,” Philip Gagnon said. “Connie has served the town for many years in the clerk’s office, and the town will definitely feel the absence of her presence.”

The Town Council recently appointed Jennifer Elliott as acting town clerk effective Saturday, Sept. 7. Elliott has served 14 years as a deputy town clerk.

The clerk’s myriad duties include overseeing elections, vehicle registrations, tax collections and licenses for dogs, hunting and fishing. The clerk also maintains a variety of town records.

“We go from birth to death and everything in between,” Loughran said.

In retirement, Loughran plans to research her own family records. So far, she’s traced her ancestry back to 1850.

“I’m going to seriously get into my genealogy,” Loughran said Tuesday in her office at Gorham Municipal Center. “I like to find the back stories that go with people.”

Loughran has five children and six grandchildren, who will undoubtedly keep her busy. The oldest grandchild is 13, the youngest, 3.

One of her retirement goals, she said, is to “be more active in my grandkids’ lives.”

Her grandchildren all live in Gorham. She praised Gorham for its school system and said the town has plentiful activities for kids.

Loughran grew up in Milton, Mass., a town near Boston, and relocated to Maine in 1973.

She moved in 1974 to Gorham, which was then considered a rural community. The year marked the opening of the town’s new municipal center at 270 Main St., and she lived nearby on Donna Street.

She said the fire whistle “blasted” every day at noon. Accustomed to city life, Loughran found the daily blast as her reality check to rural life.

Loughran landed a job with the town in 1986. Loughran began work in the town clerk’s office as a deputy for Brenda Caldwell. The two handled all the office duties, but now the staff has grown to six employees.

Caldwell retired as town clerk in 2004 after 28 years. “She could write a book,” Loughran said.

Loughran could write one of her own. In 2011 following 25 years as a deputy town clerk, Loughran was promoted to town clerk when Christina Silberman resigned.

In town celebrations, Loughran has been on hand for two Gorham milestones, the 275th anniversary in 2011 and before, at its 250th in 1986 when the town was featured on national TV.

“I was on Fort Hill with everyone else with ‘Good Morning America,’” she recalled. ”Everyone was in period costumes.”

Loughran is well acquainted with Gorham history and its townspeople.

“Gorham has had its fair share of characters,” Loughran said. “It’s been fun getting to know the people of Gorham.”

She described Gorham as a caring town where people still look out for others. As an example, Loughran, who has served as superintendent for several cemeteries in town, cited a historical case. Gorham people buried and even placed a marker on the grave of a circus performer, who had died in Gorham.

“People still care about their neighbors,” Loughran said.

Something that has changed is the population, which has swelled in recent decades – growing from 7,839 in 1970 to 16,381 in 2010.

“It’s been a fast-growing community,” she said. “You can get anything you need in Gorham.”

But, she said Gorham has a “small town” feel, like bumping into friends at the post office.

Loughran’s retirement closes out a lengthy career of caring for citizens.

“I wish her nothing but the best as she enjoys retirement.” Gagnon said.

Gorham’s Connie Loughran retires this month after serving in town hall 27 years, the past two years as town clerk.