Upon entering UBC, Ann Thibault thought she had it all figured out – she would study sciences before switching over to the home-economics program in her second year.

Then she saw the young woman with the lemon.

Thibault came across her in the university library – a student she recognized from high school – sitting at a table with the yellow fruit.

When the student explained she was making lemon extract for her pharmacy program, Thibault was intrigued and asked to hear more.

“Her program sounded so definite, with a definite end and a definite employment opportunity,” she recalled, more than 50 years later.

“I delved into it a little bit further.”

Thibault visited a pharmacy near her Vancouver home, where the pharmacist, “a jolly, old gentleman,” showed her around. It was all she needed to be convinced pharmaceutics was the career path for her.

Thibault didn’t tell anyone, not even her mother, that she had applied for the UBC program.

“I was so afraid of not getting in, and then everyone would know I was a failure.”

Her worries, however, were unnecessary.

“I got in, no problem.”

At the time, females receiving pharmacy degrees were a minority.

“It was quite a different thing for a girl to get into,” Thibault noted.

Choosing a tougher, condensed three-year program over the four-year option, Thibault graduated in 1961 at age 21.

She was the youngest graduate the program had ever seen.

Thibault started her first pharmacy job soon after – a position previously held by the young woman with the lemon – beginning a career in the industry that would span nearly 50 years.

Her work led to the Semiahmoo Peninsula, where Thibault served residents for close to two decades at what is now PriceSmart Foods, before retiring last month.

It was the only position she had to apply for.

“I’ve never had to look for a job. Jobs always found me.”

Thibault had worked at a small store in Richmond – as well as Woodward’s in the Downtown Eastside – before being hired at a pharmacy in Central Plaza, where she stayed for 11 years.

Having moved to White Rock in 1962 after marrying, the job was close to home.

But it was the position at Overwaitea in Semiahmoo Shopping Centre that Thibault really worked hard for.

She had her resume – the first one she had ever made – professionally assembled, and she drove through two-feet of snow to get to the interview.

After three weeks went by, her phone finally rang; she got the job.

Thibault was there as Overwaitea became Save-On-Foods, and Save-On became PriceSmart.

Throughout that time, the mother of five witnessed her co-workers’ children grow from youngsters to college graduates, and got to know customers, many of whom she knew by name.

“Some people, I remember their birthdays and they’re just blown away.”

While there were tough times at work – colleagues losing loved ones – there have been many good experiences, such as co-workers bringing in their babies.

“That was my second family, really,” Thibault said of the staff.

And they didn’t let her retirement go by unnoticed.

On her final day, Oct. 16, they strung a pink boa around her neck, spray-dyed her hair bright blue, wound ‘Caution: Retirement scene’ tape around her body and pushed her in a wheelchair around the store and mall.

But retirement doesn’t mean Thibault will put her pharmaceutical skills to rest.

She is now looking forward to volunteering for the 2010 Games in Vancouver, where she will work in a polyclinic located in the Olympic Village.

Open 24 hours, it will include a pharmacy that carries emergency items.

Armed with an itch to travel and Air Miles that she has been accumulating since the program began, Thibault is also excited about exploring new places with husband Rollin.

“We’ve always wanted to go to Australia.”

Until then, the couple is sure to be kept busy with four of their grandchildren – they have 14 in total, with another on the way – whom they have been raising the last 10 years.

“Raising a second family is way easier than the first,” she said, noting the youngest is 13 years old and the oldest is 20.

“You know the shortcuts. You know what your involvement has to be,” she said. “I’ve had all that experience.”

Being a parent is the biggest joy of her life.

“They’re such good kids,” she said. “They keep us young.”