The Gazette Nov/Dec: Profiles: Harnish

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CLASS OF '93

Something Wick’d This Way Comes

For those who want to be prepared for any contingency on New Year's Day 2000, the Millennium Candle—which burns for up to 800 hours—should fit nicely into your stockpile. It’s made by West Virginia-based Whistler Candle Co., co-owned by Wall Street trader Lynda Harnish WG’93 and her sister, Susan McCall.
    Harnish, the company’s chief financial officer, says the candles were a hit when she displayed them at a gift show in Washington about a year ago. "There was an ice storm and a power outage, so everybody wanted to buy them."
    Y2K-compliant wicks aren’t the company’s only specialty. Whistler offers candles in a multitude of scents and shapes at the retail and Christmas shops it operates in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. The company also sells to wholesalers throughout the United States and parts of Canada.
    Harnish, who lives in New Jersey, purchased the candle factory in Beckley, W.Va., in 1996 and convinced her sister to start the business; she joined her a year later.
    And what should customers do with their hefty Millennium Candles if 2000 starts without a hitch? "You can light it to mark your wedding anniversary," Harnish suggests. "If you burn it on every anniversary, it would last 100 years."

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