It’s May 1 and I am officially in my last month of employment in my role as HR Operations Manager at UFV! It’s weird writing this message. I’ve seen literally hundreds of employees come and go, assisted them with their resignations and retirements, and always knew my time would come too, but it still seems strange that after 37 years at FVC/UCFV/UFV, it’s my turn to retire on May 31, 2026.
This was an incredibly hard decision to make, but it’s the right time for me for many reasons. It took me awhile to think of my retirement as not the beginning of the end, but the beginning of something new. I’m getting there. I’ll be fine. I have a ton of friends and family, way too many hobbies and many more things I still want to learn in this lifetime. I won’t be bored, that’s for sure.
But leaving my “home”, the only one I’ve ever known since I was 19 years old, is pretty hard. I got married the year I started at UFV and had three children during my time here. There have been so many ups and very few downs, but I can honestly say I’ve loved coming to work (almost) every day. HR is what I know and I took great pride in helping our employees in any way I could. Whether it was supporting their health and wellness, helping them navigate their Professional Development journey, sending them safely on their merry way to parenthood on a maternity leave, or just being here, with my door open to talk, I hope you have all felt that I was there for you in some small way over the past (almost) 4 decades! I learned from the best – Barry Bompas first and foremost. I’ll be forever grateful he took a chance on an inexperienced kid in 1989 that he thought had potential. And of course my friend and second “mom”, Diane Griffiths who was always there for me; together we made a great team. I learned everything I know from them with a few wonderful tidbits added in later on of course from Marnie and Kevin! I think a huge reason I loved my job so much was because I had amazing, supportive, caring, bosses!
Maybe hardest of all will be leaving my work besties behind (those in HR and those in other areas of the University). Most of them left before me, and I’ve missed them desperately, but there are still some stragglers and they know who they are – our friendships will continue for life. You all know that we couldn’t come to work day in and day out, especially in HR, without an incredible support system and people we know always have our back. And I was blessed in that area.
Thank you to UFV for being the best employer I could have hoped for. I was privileged to work here for my entire career, exclusively in Human Resources, and it is something I will never take for granted. I feel truly blessed to have had the safety and security UFV offered me over the years. Whenever I’m asked about UFV, my loyalty rings out! I have never had a bad thing to say about it – EVER!
It’s a little easier going knowing that I’m leaving UFV with some incredible people at the helm, so although we’re in a little rough patch right now (through no fault of our own) UFV will rise bigger and better than ever before – of that I’m sure. You better, because if and when I ever have grandchildren, I’m sending them here!
for now, hopefully this isn’t goodbye, but just see you later. My husband isn’t planning to retire for at least another five years, so I would love to stick around in a part-time capacity – auxiliary, special projects, leave replacements – wherever I’m needed. I think I bring a lot of institutional knowledge to this place, and I’m just not sure it’s my time to leave completely! Hit me up if you need me! HR has my number.
Thanks everyone for the ride of a lifetime.
Love, health and happiness to every single one of you.
Nancy Scarrow (class of 1989)
P.S. My amazing HR Team is taking me out for a last drink at Old Yale Brewing in Abbotsford on Friday, May 29 at 3:00. If any of you would like to pop in for a quick “cheers” you are very welcome – that would be awesome.