Not many people are lucky enough to do something they love for 50 years and also call it a job.
Jeannie McLennan is one of those lucky people. She has been cutting, colouring, curling and styling hair for her whole working life and, while she still loves her job, she says it’s time to retire.
“I just thought I had the best job in the world,” Jeannie said during her last week of work. “It was just fun. It was fun all the time.”
Jeannie says if it weren’t for the pain in her shoulders and back she wouldn’t be giving it up, even now.
Jeannie’s secret to enjoying every day was to surround herself with people she wanted to spend time with. “All the people I worked with were awesome. I had the absolute best clients in the world. I honestly feel like I have done everything that has made me happy my whole life. It’s just a great job.”
Jeannie and Rick Vail enjoy a margarita on Jeannie’s last day of work.
Jeannie says what she is going to miss the most, by far, are the people. “I’ve been really lucky to work with awesome, awesome people. I mean my goodness you couldn’t get better than Pamela (Corrigan) and Wendy (McConnell) and did we have fun. The stuff Wendy and I did. We would have water fights, with whole buckets of water. You name it, we’ve done it. It was a little over the top with Wendy and I. I worked with Charlene Pratt who was awesome. I was lucky enough to work with Karen (Rogers) twice. It doesn’t get better than that. She is fun, fun, fun all the time.”
-
- Wendy McConnell and Jeannie McLennan
-
- Wendy McConnell and Jeannie McLennan
.
What Jeannie isn’t going to miss is getting up early and the winter driving. She says retirement will look like ‘whatever the heck’ she wants. “I am just looking forward to not getting up in the morning. I am not a morning person and I have always had to be. Now I stay up late and I can sleep in.”
Jeannie is also looking forward to spending more time with her husband Brian and her family and friends.
“I feel really lucky that I have my family and my husband and the friends that I have because for 25 years I was working all week and gone on weekends and that had to be awful for them. But that is just what I did and I didn’t think about it,” she says.
“Brian has always been really supportive. Whatever I want, he is happy with. I think we got lucky. We were really young when we met. I was 15 when I started going out with him. And I think we were just really lucky because I think people, when they are that young, you are not fully developed yet and you grow apart or you grow together and we were just lucky to grow together. He’s fun and he makes me laugh still, every day.”
-
- Jeannie with Michelle Wright
-
- Jeannie on Halloween
-
- Jeannie and Charlene Pratt on Halloween
-
- Jeannie and Ann Dahl on Halloween
.
As Jeannie would say, This is It! It’s time for her to stay up late, sleep in, decorate Christmas trees, enjoy the sun and the pontoon boat and continue to have a whole lot of fun, each and every day. Happy retirement, Jeannie!
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Wow Jeannie !! Love the Pics !!
First time seeing this!!
Always felt there was something that should be done for you!! I just felt kind of flat..or empty???? when found out you were retiring. Wanted to help you moving out, or at least something, but sadly for us everything was all looked after.. You and your family have been so much a part of the community forever..your hair salon and daily presence, I am sure, missed by so many, many people… far too many to count!!
I am sure you are enjoying yourself and I am so happy for you that you and Brian have always fit so well together!! So Vibrant and Full of Life!! I often think of you and wonder how you guys are making out…
As always !!
– Have Fun-!! Stay Safe and Warm !!
Sure Miss you guys!!
Clint & Janie MacKay
So, I’m in trouble; no more Jeannie snipping through my hair making every strand lie in its proper place until the next cut. Jeannie has that incredible gift of expert cutting. She’s missed already, but so many great memories from sitting in her chair. Enjoy your retirement to the fullest Jeannie, and make sure you now buy a few more bathing suits to keep you better supplied for your numerous dips in the Lake now that you have more time. You’ll be keeping just as busy as you introduce yourself to all the activities you wish to explore.
Cheers!!
Jeannie, I hope the ‘sleeping in’ is going well! Pam, I will miss your cheerie smile! Enjoy wherever life takes you both from now on. Thanks for taking a newbie to Huntsville under your wings and keeping me looking presentable. Hugs to you both and hundreds of thanks!!!
I remember your first location which was very small and I think had the water piped through the wall from another business. My life long friend, Donna Sinclair, and I spent our summers at old, seasonal cottages on the Sprinsyde shore of Penlake and loved coming in for lots of laughter, cuts and perms before heading home at the end of summer. I followed you to at least 1 more location before losing track of you.
You certainly have way more stamina than me. Enjoy your retirement.
Nancy
Hi Jeannie,
Many thanks for 24 yrs of you making me look good. Take care and the best to you and Brian, Your customers are the losers because you are a hard act to follow.
Thanks millions.
Thank you Pam for looking after me during my COPD.
Ellen Duncan
Jeannie, we looked forward to appointments with you, planned our activities and travel around them and were usually forgiven if we missed one! We can’t let you retire without mention of the many thousands of dollars you and your clients contributed to local charitable causes, with you Hiking for Hospice and Paddling for Fairvern. Thank you! Happy wishes for you and Brian as you enter this new stage of life!
Cliff and Mary Edmonstone
Oh, Jeannie, you are a force of nature. I know you will continue to spread your good cheer widely and I wish you very happy retirement years. luvnhugs from cousin Marg
Happy well-deserved retirement, Jeannie, and welcome to the club!!
Very best wishes,
Christine and family
Jeannie, this is such a well-deserved retirement!! You looked after me so well, for many, many years. You even came to my house to do my hair when I broke my hip!! I will miss seeing you but now it could be for lunch instead of a cut! ? I wish you and Brian much happiness in the future….. travelling, boating and just sleeping in!
Love,
Sonja
Happy retirement Jeannie…and thanks for all the help you and Brian and your sister Helen and Wilf (Fuzzy Face) made to help the Huntsville Hawks Booster Club when Ken Van Haaster and I were involved with the Junior Hawks. Your help made such a huge difference to the success of our organisation. BTW…I still remember the after hours party on the Big East River…before Hwy 11 was a four lane…LOL
Jeannie,
I cannot believe you are possibly old enough to retire !!
You have the energy of a 20 year old, probably more.
You have so many interests and so many friends, I am sure you’ll just be busy in different ways. Especially as the days are getting shorter, how nice to sleep in.
Yeah !! And to not have to drive back and forth into Huntsville on snowy, icy days and nights. What a
relief !
Enjoy Brian, your family and friends. And take time to smell the roses. Now go back to bed !
Jeannie, you are among the most special people I have ever known. Bless you my Tasso Lake pal ?
Love, Tammy ???
Jeannie you are an awesome person and hair stylist. Fifty years ago when you started doing my hair , I knew I was in it for the long hall! For the first time ever , I didn’t come away from an appointment wanting to cry or take the comb and do it over myself! You were a good listener, knowledgeable and aimed to please your customers. Thank you. You will be missed and your shoes will be hard to fill! Congrats you deserve a wonderful retirement.
With love and gratitude…..Marj.