Teresa retires after 41 years
A Cambuslang woman has ended her time at a college where she spent more than 41 years.
Teresa McKechnie, has retired from her position at New College Lanarkshire’s Coatbridge campus where she started as a temporary clerkess/typist on April 1, 1975.
In her time at the educational institution she married colleague Jim and was a highly popular customer service assistant.
Her only break in service was from 1986 to 1993 to raise her two children with her husband whom she met at the campus in 1983.
The family lived for 26 years in Chryston, North Lanarkshire, where Jim was born, but moved to Cambuslang in 2009.
Now the couple plan to spend more time at their beloved caravan in Ayrshire.
Teresa said: “The college has been a wonderful and friendly place to work. I can’t believe how kind people have been to me for my retirement and I’ll miss them very much.”
An army of well-wishers turned up to the farewell presentation for Teresa, who worked in various roles in administration before moving to the reception team at Coatbridge seven years ago. Her husband Jim, an audio-visual technician, has even longer associations with Coatbridge campus. He was a student there in 1969/1970 and then worked at the college from 1971-1974, returning to Coatbridge in 1975.
He spent the rest of his career there until his own retirement in January 2014 – bringing the couple’s combined service at Coatbridge to a grand total of 76 years.
College principal Martin McGuire wished Teresa a long and happy retirement and thanked her for her contribution over the decades.
He said she had been “a wonderful ambassador for the college” in her frequent role as first point of contact for many visitors.
The principal also presented Jim with a rebound-version of a book painstakingly collated by Jim to commemorate the details of more than 100 of Coatbridge College’s staff and students who sacrificed their lives in World War One.