There’s no telling how many clients beautician MaryNell McConathy has seen after 70 years behind the chair. McConathy, who now works at New Image Salon in Weatherford, began her first day Aug. 15, 1974, after completing beauty school in Fort Worth.
“I was scared to death,” McConathy said, sitting down for an interview Wednesday, the day before her clients, colleagues, family and friends celebrated her career milestone. “The first lady I did was someone I’d known all my life. “We had rollers, this machine .
.. you’d roll the roller up, then put a little tube in there to dry it.
About the time I’d get it up there, it would roll off and hit the floor.” That first three months, she said, were her make-or-break period. “I kept asking every Saturday, are you still going to need me Monday?” she said.
As it turned out, McConathy would be just fine in the occupation that was clearly meant for her. “From the time I was old enough to talk, I either wanted to be a nurse or a beauty operator,” she said. “My oldest sister made a nurse and would write home telling us things, and I decided I didn’t want to be a nurse.
So that’s the reason I went to the beauty shop.” Not including a two-year stint where she moved to Irving due to her husband’s job, McConathy made her mark at various beauty shops around Weatherford before settling at New Image three years ago. She tried her hand at doing nails — she didn’t like it — as well as management — “And I ha.