Book of the Week #27

Comme D'Or: The First Fifty Years of Holy Rosary Credit Union by Michael Behrendt (Rochester, NH: HRCU, 2011)

"Holy Rosary Credit Union was founded in 1962, on a shoestring and literally in a shoebox, operating out of the church basement on Sundays after Mass. Comme D'Or chronicles the unlikely rise of this remarkable institution, and explores the broader credit union movement and the rich Franco-American experience.
Myriad stories, both charming and outlandish, are captured: the elderly lady who discretely borrowed $20 every September to play Beano at the Rochester Fair; the owner of a junkyard who had his wrecker truck hauled away for nonpayment, only to be returned by the credit union the next day, after he kvetched to everyone in town; and the redoubtable Monsignor Simard, who insinuated a severe penalty for any daring to oppose the new building. The telling is enlivened by the author's rollicking style. He arranges for cameos with Rocky Marciano, Marilyn Monroe, women in burqas, and Marvin Gaye, and riffs on permeable pavement, arachnophobia, and an unusually aggressive eggroll, all, of course, inextricable connected to the credit union." --Publisher's blurb.

This book was reviewed on the blog Credit Union History.

Michael Behrendt, the Rochester City Planner for many years, recently became the Durham City Planner. He is also the author of Architectural Jewels of Rochester, New Hampshire: A History of the Built Environment.