Remembering The Sweetest Lady On St. Paul's East Side
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- They say if you love your work, it's not work at all.
That must have been the case for a St. Paul woman who worked until she was 84 years old.
Jeannine Glancey's most recent job was at the Target store on St. Paul's east side, where she worked for 29 years.
You could find her near the fitting rooms, putting clothes away or chatting up customers and co-workers.
"There was actually one co-worker there whose husband would come in, and he would first go to see my mom and he called her his girlfriend," said Jeannine's daughter, Theresa Kohner. "They would chat, and then my mom would say, 'I suppose you're here to see your wife.'"
Jeannine's other daughter, Kathy Alm, says her mother was the sweetest person she knew.
"She just always was so interested in people. She was fortunate, she didn't have to work, but she enjoyed it and she enjoyed the people," Kathy said.
Jeannine always worked outside the home, even in the 1950s when society frowned on it.
"She was an underwriter for State Farm. Back then she couldn't sign her full name because she was a woman underwriting, and that was usually a man's job," Kathy said.
Jeannine went to work for St. Paul Public Schools in the mid-1970s, in a role that was a great fit for her outgoing and warm personality.
"She enrolled students that came from Vietnam," Theresa said. "She helped the parents get them enrolled."
Her playful side seemed to come out every year around March.
"She was an Irish wannabe. She loved everything about St. Patrick's Day," Theresa said.
She was of Swedish and German descent, but a big fan of the Irish. For Mother's Day last year, Jeannine's daughter helped her take a DNA test -- and the results tickled her green.
"I got it back and it turned out that she was 6-percent Irish!" Theresa said.
They say their mom's spirit makes her a tough act to follow.
"I just hope to be half of a wonderful person as she was," Kathy said.
Jeannine Glancey was 88 years old when she died on Aug. 13.
"She just had this warmth that radiated from her, and it just made you feel better," Theresa said.
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