Small Business, Big Person: Heather Maloney
Small businesses made up much of the commercial presence in Gaspe for decades. Adams Restaurant and motels, McCallum’s Les Breuvages Gaspe, Cassidy Photo, White’s Bar and Motels, Madame Allard’s fabric store, Madame Chretien’s women’s clothing store are only a few examples.
Cynthia Patterson
Heather Maloney’s client and resident of Barachois
29 January 2002. Heather Maloney marked 37 years of hairdressing and said in a Spec newspaper interview, “I’m definitely trying for my 40th!”.
December 2024. Heather surveys the surface of the dining table, covered with rolls of home-made bristol board posters, recording with coloured marker text and photos many significant anniversaries of her business life. 10 notebooks are fanned out. Heather celebrated that 40th anniversary 20 years ago. While she is not sure about holding a small event, she is determined to accomplish her 60th year in 2025 as a businesswoman.
The beginning of an adventure
Heather was born in Douglastown in 1946, the third child and first girl of 13 children. In 1962, not long before her 16th birthday, Heather put her clothes in a box and left home, a practical decision not uncommon at the time. She moved up to Wakeham (outside Gaspe), first getting room and board for $1/day, later living right in Gaspe town. She had heard that Joyce Patterson, already in business at her salon in Baker’s Hotel, needed a shampoo girl. Heather really enjoyed that summer. She liked the work, the pay, the tips and her surroundings. New friends organized a birthday party, her first, with a bonfire at Haldimand Beach.
By the fall of 1964, Heather was determined to get professional qualifications as a hairdresser. She applied for a $500 loan from the TD bank to cover the cost of the course and on 3 Jan. 1965, travelled to Montreal. This was the 18-yr old’s first trip to the city. Bus routes were daunting in the beginning and everything was new. Family members she stayed with encouraged her as did daily letters from her boyfriend, Dean Patterson. They had gone out as a four-some the evening of 23 May 1963, the first night after the tragedy at Beaver Dam Bridge, on the road between Gaspe and Murdochville. Dean was one of four survivors. Six of his co-workers from Gaspe Copper Mines drowned. When you almost die, especially at a young age, you do not let the grass grow under your feet. Dean and Heather began dating the following day. His letters made home feel less far away.
Because of the significant on-the-job experience she had already acquired, the Mary Hue Training School determined Heather only needed the month-long course. On 29 January 1965, Heather was certified and returned home to join Joyce Patterson as a full hairdresser. A hair set cost $1.25, a cut and set $3.25 and a perm $10. Her first client stayed with her for 58 years.
In the spring of 1966 Heather went to work with Gerald Gagnon where he had just opened a salon on rue de la Reine. One of three hair-dressers, this was her first time in a French-speaking workplace. Gerald spoke no English and Heather no French. But his bilingual wife worked nearby and helped Heather integrate.
The big jump
Other changes were afoot. In June 1966 Heather and Dean married. Two years later Heather, pregnant with her first child, decided it was time to take the big step and on 6 June 1968 opened her own, independent salon in Gaspe. She hired her first employees, four young women. One shampoo assistant would stay on for 18 years. Now responsible for staff, ordering, finances, etc. Heather learned as she went, meticulously keeping daily records, and paying for the services of payroll and year-end accounts. Taking off only 10 days in August that summer for the birth of Stephanie, her first child, Heather steadily grew her business.
In the spring of 1971, Heather’s second child, Craig, was born. 10 days later she was back to her Sat. to Tues., work week, bringing home bags of towels to wash at night. Always quick to recognize opportunity, Heather strategically applied in advance for space in the large, new building being constructed downtown. She planned the financing, decorating and equipment for her new salon and in 1972 was among the earliest businesses in Gaspe’s first shopping centre. The days were long and full, starting at 8 and winding down at 4, 5 or 6 p.m. Around Christmas, weddings and graduations, she started at 6:30 a.m. This was the era of spray-on gold glitter!
By 1983, the once new building was showing wear and renovations would soon be needed. Heather decided it was time to sell. Working for two years with incoming owner Yvette Couture as part of their transaction, Heather remained alert to change, possibilities and new challenges. Finishing at the Salon at 2:30 p.m, she began her second job at 3 p.m., becoming the teacher of a new Adult Ed certified program in hairdressing being provided through Manpower at the Polyvalente. Over two years she taught 22 students, with 14 graduating.
On 1 Feb. 1985, Heather officially opened Salon Heather in Sunnybank (outside Gaspe) which 40 years later she still runs. The new salon required a significant financial outlay to add a section with a separate entrance onto the family home. But this time the investment was in her own building, not someone else’s. Heather’s first assistant shampooer was her daughter, Stephanie. Years later, Stephanie’s daughter, Chelsea, worked with her grandmother during part of summer vacation.
Heart on hand
Between 1985 and 1990, Heather responded to requests from residents, providing cuts, sets and perms at Monseigneur Ross. In 1998 she opened a salon at the Manoir des Augustins where she worked each Wed. for 10 years, appreciating the experience with different clients while maintaining her busy operation in Sunnybank. Commitment to people included giving a perm to someone who was hospitalized, taking her services to people living at home with significant health problems and, having promised, doing a long loyal client’s hair in her casket.
Family and community were always part of Heather’s full schedule. Inviting people in and going out, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries and simply getting together, she somehow found time also to sew or knit over the years 58 quilts and afghans, all as gifts, to those experiencing challenges or marking special moments in their lives. She volunteered for 10 years as Spec’s community correspondent for the area, spoke at a Women’s Day event in Chandler and often put on a Santa Claus costume to play the role for children and adult parties.
In March 2020, Heather shut down temporarily her business, as did millions of people world over, because of the Covid 19 virus. Thinking about how to respond to an important need when no government-issued masks were yet available, Heather applied her sewing skills to fabrics on hand, turning out lined masks instead of quilts. She and Dean, her husband, made 1,378 masks, mailing them widely in Quebec and Ontario, even to France, postage at their cost.
Over her years as a businesswoman Heather served English and French clients from a radius of at least 60 km. Summer residents return annually. Heather has employed a total of 37 women as shampoo assistants or hairdressers. Whatever the number of hours, this work was important to the women who did it, whether as top-up to another part-time job or a pension, or as their only independent income.
These details of the life of a strong rural woman still owning and operating her own business in Sunnybank are available to us because years ago, a client gave Heather a blank book with a flowered cover. The book soon began to fill up as Heather was inspired to write. She tries to write daily, at the same dining table where we now sit, catching up when she falls behind. The pages reveal energy, determination, perseverance, self-discipline, effective time management, the ability to recognize opportunity and to respond with alacrity. They also reveal, rooted in faith, love of family, friends, clients and community.
Heather tells me that one summer evening, guided by an inner feeling, she went outside to stand alone and look at the stars. Brilliant points of light against a black blanket of sky. Did she see a celestial quilt of sorts? Heather said that was one of the best experiences of her life. “I don’t want to run out of time,” she concludes.
Photos (in order)
Heather Maloney poses in her boarding house room before her first train ride to Montreal for training, 1965. Note the classic outfit of the period with the hat and white gloves.
Collection Heather Maloney
Heather Maloney’s diploma from the Art Institute of Hairdressing in Montreal, 1965.
Collection Heather Maloney
Hairdresser and hairdressers at work in the Salon Heather at Place Jacques-Cartier in Gaspé, 1972. Heather Maloney is on the right.
Collection Heather Maloney
Heather Maloney and Dean Patterson in the hair salon in Sunny Bank, early 1980s.
Collection Heather Maloney
Heather Maloney celebrates 60 years at her hair salon, 2025.
Collection Heather Maloney