The first in our series of “meet the people behind Mountain Colors” is Eileen Coughlin Bradshaw. Eileen is a Montana girl who grew up in a big Irish family in the very small town of Helmville, MT. Her grandparents homesteaded there after emigrating from Ireland. She married her high school sweetheart and they moved to Corvallis, MT where Dave is every kid’s favorite teacher at the junior high and the coach of the high school basketball team. Many of our kids as well as their own two sons and daughter were coached by Dave. Eileen has three sweet kids Shea – 27, Shanda – 25 and Riley – 18. Riley will start college next year and play basketball on scholarship for Utah State. Eileen has made it clear that she is not looking forward to being an empty nester. We think she and Dave will be spending some weekends in Utah.
Eileen is officially in charge of the office and the orders from the time they come in until they ship out. She is also unofficially the confidante, ally and friend to everyone at Mountain Colors. She is the go-to person if you can’t find something or have a question. A common phrase at Mountain Colors is “go ask Eileen”.
Eileen is one of our earliest employees. She started by working from home in 1993 and remembers bringing her work to us and getting more during kindergarten pickups. In 1997 she moved into the office and the dye room. As we started to get busier she spent more and more time in the office until we wouldn’t let her leave the office to dye anymore. She said she has some great memories that usually involve laughing and jokes with the crews. Her favorite years were the summers when all of our kids worked in the dye room. She said whatever their conversation, challenge or argument for the day, she started giggling. She has a special appreciation for Patrick McKay who each summer renegotiated a raise all around.
Eileen learned her handcraft skills from “Mom”. Her mother, Adele, is rarely seen without her crocheting or knitting. Eileen prefers knitting socks, scarves, mittens, baby things and other small projects. Her other talents are many but include making great margaritas for knit nights and caramel corn every Christmas.
Eileen says that her job suits her because she likes talking with, meeting and helping people. She especially enjoys meeting our customers at the trade shows. She appreciates that her job allowed her to be flexible when it came to her kid’s schedules.
Eileen’s favorite colorways are Ruby River, Harmony Plum and now discontinued Obsidian and Moondance.
Thanks Eileen for all your hard work. We would all be lost without you.
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