Joy.

It’s a feeling that permeates Hair Designers and swirls around Denniece Trimble as she blow-dries a customer’s hair.

They talk as if they are old friends, in easy conversation, rather than stylist and customer, which is no surprise. They probably are friends.

“At this point, my clients are my friends,” Trimble said. “Initially, I was going to keep it professional. It didn’t work.”

For nearly 50 years, Trimble has worked in this kind of climate, but now she is finally stepping away from the chair and into retirement.

“She makes life easier, she makes me laugh,” said co-owner and close friend Sara Shaw. “She’s somebody who wants to listen to you.”

Trimble began her career by keeping her feet on the ground — literally.

“I was too tall to be a flight attendant,” she states with a smile as she thought back to her first career choice.

In 1969, Trimble was certified as a stylist after going to school in Fairmont, Minnesota. As time marched on she progressed from her first stop, Margaret’s Beauty Shop to Michael’s, a fixture on Main Street.

From there, along with three others, Trimble  moved on to Hair Designers which sprung out of Michaels.

Hair styling allowed her to be around not only a career she liked, but people she liked both in the chair and those working as co-workers.

“It says a lot about the people you work with,” Trimble said. “But, I just decided to quit.”

Not for any kind of tumultuous reason of course, only that it was time. However, in this last year, it wasn’t an easy time.

In January, Trimble tripped over a puppy playing at her feet. The ensuing fall resulted in a broken neck and left Trimble with no movement except in her right hand.

And yet, here she is, after an amazing recovery, back behind the chair, laughing and joking with Shaw, the rest of her co-workers and her customers.

“My doctor doesn’t even address me by my name anymore. Just calls me Lucky,” Trimble said. “He will walk in and say, “hey there Lucky.”

It’s not surprising then that as part of therapy, Trimble returned to her job, one of the most comfortable places she knows.

“…I thought I was done,” Trimble said. “This was therapy initially and then I thought, ‘what the heck.’”

However, Trimble is pulling up early. Initially her plan was to stay until June, but decided that paying for just six months of recertification probably wasn’t worth it. Besides, the Emerald Isles were calling.

“I’m going to Ireland as a retirement present to me,” she said.

Today is her last day and Shaw isn’t pretending it’s going to be easy seeing her friend go.

“We’ve taken trips, had cocktails together … she’s probably more like a sister,” Shaw said. “It’s kind of sad and I’ve kind of refused to talk about it for quite some time.”

“I’ll miss her. It will be interesting without her around.”