As many Whitehorse residents were making their way into work this morning, one woman was noticeably absent from her job at city hall.

Jeanette Bringsli was instead nestled in her bed, sipping on a cup of coffee with Bailey's Irish cream liqueur in it.

She is usually the first smiling face one sees when entering city hall, but after serving 22 years as city hall's receptionist, Bringsli retired on Friday afternoon.

'I felt the need to spend time with my grandchildren,' she said in an interview this morning.

She has four grandchildren between the ages of two and eight, by her own two children. Before working at city hall, Brinsgli worked part-time for the Yukon government and was a stay-at-home mom.

She said she will miss her visitors the most, who would travel to Whitehorse from all around the world. Her favourite visitor, however, was of the plush variety.

'My favourite was the time we had a visit from the teddy bear, Mr. Patterson,' she said.

Mr. Patterson was a bear mailed to spend the summer in the Yukon by a young boy named Andrew Kemble from Chatham, Ont. Under the tenure of former mayor Ernie Bourassa in 2001, Mr. Patterson saw many Yukon sites with the help of city staff, before the Kemble family came to visit.

'That bear went everywhere,' said Bringsli.

City staff held a reception for Bringsli Friday afternoon, officially seeing her off into retirement.