House Reading Clerk Paul Hays isn’t the only longtime employee in the Clerk’s office retiring this week.

Deputy Clerk Marjorie Kelaher, who first arrived on Capitol Hill in 1978 as a college intern for then-Rep. Silvio Conte (R-Mass.), will clock out for the final time Tuesday.

Her boss, House Clerk Lorraine Miller, praised Kelaher as an “institutionalist. … She’s great people.”

Kelaher, whose job entails floor operations and planning, said she was leaving “to help rehabilitate” her “special needs brother,” who recently shattered his femur, and to spend time with her 90-year-old mother, both of whom reside in Massachusetts. Kelaher is one of two deputy clerks, along with Jorge Sorensen.

But the 49-year-old Kelaher, who will split her time between Washington, D.C., and the Bay State, said she “won’t close any doors” about the possibility of returning to the Hill at some point.

After graduating from Villanova University, Kelaher joined Conte’s staff full time in 1980 and stayed with his office until his death 11 years later. After a stint with the White House Conference on Aging, Kelaher spent two years with former Rep. Peter Blute (R-Mass.) before coming to the Clerk’s office in 1995 as chief of legislative operations. In 2004, she was promoted to Assistant Clerk, a position she served in until last year.

Miller said Deborah Spriggs, assistant to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) chief of staff, John Lawrence, is expected to replace Kelaher.