Small Business, Great People: 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. 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 the “big town” of Gaspé, getting room and board in Wakeham for $1/day.
She had heard that Joyce Patterson, already in business at her salon in Baker’s Hotel, needed a shampoo girl. Each day, Joyce’s dad picked her up and drove her and Joyce to Gaspé. Heather really enjoyed the work, as she liked the customers and the busy atmosphere. She also remembers her birthday party, her 16th, a bonfire at Haldimand Beach organized by new friends. By then, she was boarding in Gaspé.
Realizing she and this type of work were a good match, Heather decided in the fall of 1964 to become professionally qualified. She applied for a $500 loan from the TD bank to cover the cost of the course and, on January 3, 1965, travelled to Montreal where she stayed with family, learning more than hairdressing. This was the 18-year-old’s first trip to Montreal.
On her first and second day, the city bus trips between Sherbrooke and her sibling’s apartment were daunting. Returning one dark, cold January afternoon, Heather noticed that she was the last person on the bus. She asked the driver, “Have you passed Chemin Sweet and Verdon yet?”
“Yes,” he replied kindly, adding, “But I’ll take you back.”
Encouragement came not only from strangers, but more solidly from the daily letters she received from her boyfriend, Dean Patterson. A foursome had gone out the evening of May 23, 1963, the first night after the tragedy at Beaver Dam Bridge on the road between Gaspé and Murdochville. Dean was one of four survivors. “A great calm came over me during it all.” 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 helped shorten the sense of distance between Montreal and home.
On January 29, 1965, Heather received her certification as a hairdresser. The on-the-job experience she had already acquired meant that Mary Hue determined only the one-month refresher course was needed.
Back home, Heather returned to work with Joyce Patterson, now as a full hairdresser. Her first client, Marguerite Palmer, stayed with her for 58 years, until getting out became a problem.
In the spring of 1966, Heather went to work with Gerald Gagnon, who had just opened a salon on rue de la Reine. One of three hairdressers, this was her first time in a French-speaking workplace. Gerald spoke no English and Heather no French. How ever, Doris Pye worked in the same building and she was bilingual. She helped Heather integrates.
The big jump
Other changes were afoot. In June 1966, Heather and Dean married. Two years later, Heather, now pregnant with her first child, decided it was time to take the big step on her own and open an independent salon. She moved into what had been Johnny Stewart’s barbershop, next to Ascah’s radio and record shop, across from the Ash Inn. She hired her first employees, four young women.
Now responsible for staff, ordering, and bookkeeping, Heather had a lot to learn. She meticulously kept daily records, paying for the financial services of payroll and year-end accounts. Taking off only ten days in August that first 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. Ten days later she was back to her Saturday-to-Tuesday workweek, 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 occupants in Gaspé’s first shopping centre.
By 1983, the once-new building was showing its age and would require renovations. Heather decided it was time to sell. Working for two years with incoming owner Yvette Couture as part of their transaction, Heather remained open to change, possibilities and new challenges.
Finishing at the salon at 2:30 p.m., she began her second job at 3 p.m. as the instructor of a new Adult Education certified hairdressing program offered at the Polyvalente. Over two years, she taught 22 students, with 14 graduating.
On February 1, 1985, Heather officially opened her salon in Sunnybank, where 40 years later it is still located. The new salon represented a significant financial investment, but this time the investment was in her own building, not someone else’s.
Heather’s first assistant shampoo girl was her daughter, Stephanie. Years later, daughter Chelsea worked with her grandmother. Over all her years of work, 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 a top-up on part-time work, a pension or some income instead of none.
Heart on hand
Requests came from aging, long-time and new clients now resident at the Pavillon Ross to receive her hairdressing services there. Between 1985 and 1990, Heather provided shut-ins with cuts, sets and perms. In 1998, she opened a salon at the Manoir des Augustins where she worked each Wednesday for 10 years, appreciating the experience with different clients while maintaining her busy operation in Sunnybank.
Her commitment to people included giving a perm to someone who was hospitalized, providing services for a year and a half to someone terminally ill at home 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 the time also to sew or knit over the years 58 quilts and afghans, all gifts, to those experiencing challenges and those 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’s events.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic. 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 to Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and even to France, postage at their own cost.
These details of the life of a rural woman still owning and operating her own business in Sunnybank (Gaspé) are available 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 tried to write daily, at the same dining table where we now sit.
Heather says 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 velvety black sky — 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