Linda Shea, NECC Director of Library Services and 35-year employee, was given a retirement party by her colleagues.

After 35 years as a Northern Essex Community College employee, Linda Shea, was sent off into the world of retirement, with an afternoon tea attended by faculty and staff.

As colleagues noshed on chocolate covered strawberries, petit fours, and delicate cupcakes decorated with an outline of an open book, Linda shared her immediate and distant plans.

“I plan on doing everything I haven’t been able to do for the last 35 years,” said the NECC director of library services who was accompanied by her sons, Brendan and Ian, and her husband Brian.

Those plans include tending her sizable garden, volunteering one weekend a month weeding a shared community garden, taking an occasional class at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley, and eventually – after her husband retires in September – hiking the Pacific Crest trail.

There was an array of desserts for staff and faculty to snack on during Linda Shea’s retirement party.

After some kind words from NECC President Lane Glenn and Bill Heineman, vice president of academic and student affairs, she was presented with, among other things, a Lance Hidy print titled “Grove Street, Merrimac”.

A cake designed as a stack of three books with titles depicting a few of her favorite things – author Margaret Atwood, rescue dogs, and hiking, was presented as well.