Chance to hone skills aided Haley's career, civic interests
Mary Moreau
Losing one�s employment�can greatly affect�the�expected course�of a�career, sometimes for the better,�sometimes not. It had a positive effect in the case of Janet Haley,�who took advantage of the situation to reinforce her strong organization and clerical skills�in preparation for future employment, volunteer involvement and everyday life. Janet grew up in Gardner,�graduating from high school in 1978. She began her work career as a clerk typist in the office of City Clerk Genia Pacocha at City Hall for two years before becoming a secretary at the former Simplex Time Recorder Co. It was during a layoff from Simplex in 1984 that she�availed herself�of opportunities offered for�enrollment in courses at Mount Wachusett Community College. She�eventually became a clerk typist with Montachusett Home Care Corp., or MHCC. �I became the first computer person there from 1985 to 1990. At the time that we had only one computer,� she said. When the secretary to�former Executive Director Eleanor Gilmartin passed away, Janet assisted with those duties, then successfully applied for that�position. She�continues as secretary to Gregory Giuliano, the new executive director.� Now with�MHCC for 25 years, she has been clerical supervisor for 20 years. �I just love office work,� she said. �I think I get that from my mother. I�m pretty organized and�take on a lot.� She took seven years to�earn her associate degree in business administration and creative writing�at the Mount, continuing while holding part-time and full-time jobs simultaneously. During this time, Janet also was a correspondent for The Gardner News from 1988 to 2004, covering Templeton, Hubbardston and the Athol School Committee. �Working for the newspaper�got�me out into the town, got me to know everyone and involved in the town. I loved that job,� she recalled, describing herself as painfully shy previously. She calls on that experience as she helps�prepare press releases, newsletters and�brochures to bring higher�visibility to MHCC. �I enjoy it because it is creative and I like the organization itself,� she said.� She explained that�MHCC has nurses and case managers who assess an elder�s situation to determine what services are needed and the appropriate agencies to contract. It has a volunteer department, ombudsman and money management programs, volunteer companions and volunteer escorts, among many other services. �I like the whole agency mission, to keep elders at home,� she said, adding that�being the daughter of aging parents, any information she acquires she passes on to them. One of her major responsibilities in the past 11 years�is to help organize the Annual Golf Classic. She does the data entry and tournament�mailings, spending the day in other tasks at Oak Hill Country Club each year for the fundraiser which benefits the volunteer programs. She has been a member of the Narragansett Historical Society since 1990, joining when she received a life membership as a wedding gift. She was president for two years and now is a director, crediting members Brian Tanguay, Harry Aldrich and Joyce Provencher�with�providing the help she needed to accomplish the programs�and secure the grants during her tenure. She noted each director has a different area of interest. She started the�society quarterly newsletter this year and is on the publicity committee. At the time the historical society roof needed repair, she read that grant money was available. She called state Rep. Ann Gobi, who referred her to the Massachusetts Office of Tourism and Travel, resulting in the society receiving a grant for $10,000.�� Through a grant provided under the Community Preservation Act, the society secured $37,000 from the town, with the society�s commitment being $2,925, to be used to�begin renovation of the Templeton Grange Hall. They are now seeking a contractor. Janet believes that it is important for people�to know the history of the town they live in and being a member of a historical society is a way to participate. She said she loves Templeton as a small town. She is a former member of the Templeton Cultural Council and�its chairman for several years, involved in providing programs on the Common and Civil War reenactments for children in the historical society garden. It was while Janet was attending Mount Wachusett that she met her husband, Jonathan. Both are interested in town history as well as their family�history. The couple bought Jon�s grandfather�s house in Baldwinville � which dates circa�1785-1820 � with her husband being the seventh-generation owner.�Jon does the construction while�both are�doing�research,�with the goal of restoring it to it�s former likeness. They love visiting Nova Scotia at least annually, especially since discovering that ancestors of both came from there. Janet continues to research via the Internet. For three years during the 1990s, they�sailed�on weekends in Buzzards Bay, learning as they went along. With no children of their own, Janet spends�much of her time�with her nine nieces and nephews and visits her parents weekly. She bicycles and walks her dog, Montgomery, for exercise and�loves to people watch. The eldest of six children, she credits her parents for�her work ethic and having either a full-time job�while�attending�school nights or a part-time job in addition to�a full-time job to the example of her parents, James and Evelyn Aylward.�Several of her siblings also follow their lead with full-time jobs and�serving on boards or otherwise�involved in their children�s sports activities or other civic interests. �My mother is the reason I have such a good work ethic, and it is due to my father such that I have always had two things going,� she said. �They both really showed me once you get involved in something, you do it wholeheartedly. For 25 years, I had something going both days and nights. Without my husband�s support, I would never have been able to do what�I�ve done.� Proud of all her accomplishments in the workplace and for the town, she said he was most proud that�she�succeeded in becoming�a writer, one of the things she wanted to be since childhood. (Mary L. Moreau, a former editorial staff member, is a frequent contributor to The Gardner News. She may be contacted via e-mail at marylmor@metrocast.net.)