Kelly Moortele has spent 40 years of her life cutting hair.
She said being a barber feels like she is doing arts and crafts and making people happy all day long.
The owner of Kelly’s Barber Shop in Williams Lake, Moortele went to hairdressing school right after high school graduation.
It was a nine-month course and she was able to live with her grandma while taking the course in Vancouver.
When asked if she enjoyed cutting hair as a younger person, she laughed and she would cut her horses’ tails.
On her 18th birthday she started her first apprenticeship at a barber shop in Boitanio Mall in Williams Lake and stayed for six years before going on to work for other salons, eventually opening her own shop.
Aside from Williams Lake she worked in Comox at the air force base barber shop, 100 Mile House, Kamloops and Prince George.
“I’ve got lots of stories,” she said.
Three-and-a-half years ago, her friends Bill and Cheryl Brown purchased Cariboo Water.
They called her up and asked if she would like to set up shop next to the water business and she decided it was time to move back to Williams Lake permanently. She has been at 199A First North Ave. ever since where she transformed the spot where Ron Anderson had an office into a barber shop.
It was March 2, 2020 when she opened up there and within a few weeks the pandemic shut things down.
Once hairdressers were permitted to be open she was busy and really only closed for two months. She thinks that she did not end up being isolated as much as some people were.
“I am truly blessed,” she said about her job. “ I’ve known all these guys for 40 years. Mostly my barbering has been here. All these kids have grown up and I’m still cutting their hair.”
Moortele was born in New Westminster and moved to Rose Lake with her parents Pat and Dwain Moortele and sister Erin in 1980.
She was 15-years-old at the time and recalls loving her new life in the Cariboo and having horses.
Before Williams Lake she was attending an all-girls Catholic School with nuns.
“It was a bit of a culture shock going to regular high school, but I loved it here.”
Moortele’s father worked as a building contractor for many years. He helped build the Miocene fire hall, houses in town and worked in Horsefly for different ranches.
“He was the go-to-guy I think for building and contracting stuff,” she recalled, adding he died 16 years ago. “He was a pretty awesome guy. We miss him.”
Her mom worked as a supervisor at the Columneetza School dorm for about 20 years and before that drove the school bus in Horsefly. She still lives at Rose Lake where the family moved to in 1980.
Pat was a longtime leader with the Rose Lake/Miocene 4-H Club, starting at first with her daughters and then grandchildren.
Whenever she is working, Moortele is accompanied by her two little dogs, who she said go everywhere with her.
She lives in town and loves to camp on the weekends with her boyfriend.
“We used to ride Harleys a lot and have lots of friends in Prince George that do. We’d go on toy runs and raise money for cancer. It was awesome. Most of my biker friends are up there in Prince George and since I came back here I haven’t been doing that.”
During COVID she started taking appointments only and said her customers like it rather than sitting around waiting in the shop with a bunch of other people.
Taking appointments also gives her more time to spend with her mom at Rose Lake.
They don’t have horses anymore at the Rose Lake property but her mom has a pasture and there are some horses that use it. Her sister Erin lives in Alberta and has some horses though.
Knowing where the lakes and camping sites are is one of the things she loves most about the Cariboo.
“It’s a central spot. I have a son with two grandkids down in Kamloops and he comes here and we can hang out at the lake. My other son is a diamond driller in the mountains near Smithers and he comes home too. It’s amazing. We can all get together here.”
She also loves the people in the Cariboo.
“It’s like running into friends every single day.”
READ MORE: OUR HOMETOWN: Embracing life is Tiffany Jorgensen’s secret to happiness in Williams Lake
READ MORE: OUR HOMETOWN: Williams Lake’s Nathan Kendrick happy to make the tough calls
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on X
