Terry Beattie remembered as kind and humble
The Lennoxville community is mourning following the news that longtime volunteer firefighter and community barber Terry Beattie has died. A familiar face behind the grill on Friendship Day or serving up pie in one of the bays of the Lennoxville fire station at the annual Harvest Festival, Beattie was a consummate Lennoxville personality and a key player in the local community.
“Terry was a wonderful guy,” said George Martel, who fought fires alongside Beattie for decades. “He was always a real helping hand for the association,” the retired firefighter added, speaking of the Lennoxville Volunteer Firefighters’ Association and the work they continue to do in the community.
Martel said that he and Beattie spent a lot of time together through their work on the fire department, but shared that their friendship also included time spent in the barber’s chair.
Former Lennoxville Mayor David Price called the local fire department Beattie’s “second family” and, like Martel, praised Beattie’s work on local events.
“He was involved in everything,” said Price, noting that the former firefighter was a humble helper. “Terry never liked to be in the spotlight,” he added.
Price remembered Beattie as a lifelong friend and said that it had been hard to know that his health was failing.
“We went to school together,” the former mayor said, “I’ve known him all my life.”
Beattie retired from his firefighting duties in the summer of 2011 and stepped back from the barber’s chair in the summer of 2015. Later that same year he was immortalized by local painter Denis Palmer, who painted him into a mural commemorating the Beattie barbers of Lennoxville as a part of a local mural festival. That artwork has been on display since that time on the side of 111 Queen Street.
In response to a post on Facebook Monday night about Beattie’s death by local production company Firehouse Productions, people from all parts of the community have shared memories and thoughts of a man who was kind, caring, appreciated by all who knew him, and who will clearly be missed.