99-year-old beautician is finally ready to retire after 73 years

Hair stylist tools.
(Image credit: iStock)

After 73 years of perms, haircuts, and updos, Callie Terrell of Memphis, Tennessee, is ready to put her scissors and brush down for good.

Terrell will turn 100 on Nov. 26, and she has set that as her retirement date. "I work because this is what I've enjoyed doing all my life," she told WREG. "From a little girl I always loved messing with my sisters' hair." Terrell was issued her first cosmetology license on Jan. 30, 1945, and she once owned her own busy salon; now, she rents a space and only sees longtime customers, including her daughter, Inez.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.