(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Pierre’s Air Conditioning & Heat owner Pierre Jeanfreau.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born right here in Columbia May 7, 1985.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I went to Columbia High School and Pearl River Community College.
Q: Where all have you lived?
A: I’ve lived here all my life besides two years when I lived in Slidell, La.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I’m the owner of Pierre’s Air Conditioning & Heat, and we opened up Feb. 6 of this year with efforts of trying to do better for people. A lot of people call companies, and the customers don’t know what’s wrong and have to believe what they tell them. For example, I went to a house this morning and she said a guy went out there last week and told her that her system had to be replaced. But we fixed her system today and it didn’t need to be replaced. She didn’t know; she’s just a poor old lady. So we’re just trying to help people and do better for people. I try to help the community out. A lot of people want to call people that they know, went to school with and have known their entire life. We’ve done really well since we opened up.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I never thought about doing air conditioning work when I was young. I went to school for radiology and finished, but that’s just not me. I’m an outdoor person and like to talk to people. I go to 15 different houses every day. We don’t have customers; we have friends. We sit down and eat with them, stay in contact with everybody we work with and they give us hugs when they see us. I worked for another company for about four years and loved it. The owner of the business got hurt, and I had to step up and run the whole business. I got to thinking that I could do this for myself. So I went to school, got my license and got all my certifications. Actually, I got three more certifications than anyone in the state and several that aren’t even required.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: I love interacting with people, but my favorite part of the job is working on the unit. To me, it’s like a puzzle. I’ve always been that type of person. When I was young, I would take apart the TV or bike and try to put it back together. Whenever I started working for the other company, it was just a job. It was good pay, so I decided to try it. I found out I fell in love with it. There’s just something about it. I love what I do.
Q: What was your first job?
A: Cutting grass in high school when I was like 13 or 14 years old. Tyler Dawsey and I would do it every summer all the way through high school. But my first real job was working part time at Ryan’s Steakhouse in Hattiesburg and Fred’s while I was going to school.
Q: Who is the person who has been most influential in your life?
A: Definitely my mom, Nilia. She’s probably the sweetest person you’ll ever meet in your life. Everybody that meets her says the same thing about how nice and sweet she is. She used to work in the deli at Winn-Dixie and people would go just to see her. If she wasn’t there, they wouldn’t buy their meat until she came back. She was very influential in my life. If she saw someone poor outside of a store asking for money, she would help them even if she didn’t have much money. She would give you the shirt off her back. She has an extremely good heart. I had a bad attitude growing up, and I’m nothing like that now and I see my mom coming out of me now. I have a whole list of units we’ve fixed for free because people didn’t have the money to fix it. We have scrap units that we save all year long and at the end of the year, we take all the good parts of the old ones and make new units for people that can’t afford it. We don’t just give them away; we install them. I hate to see a person go without, and I get that from her.
Q: If you could relive one day from life, what day would you choose?
A: Every holiday is special with all of the family being together. There is one day, though. My brother, Luke, graduated from one of the Air Force training schools in Texas, and that was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. To see him coming around that track was special.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: Fried pork chop plate from Southern Fried Rabbit. That’s my favorite thing.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I would probably go to France. I would just like to see some scenery over there. Maybe down south to Colombia and see the mountains, too.
Q: What hobbies/activities do you like to do in your spare time?
A: We work seven days a week from sun up to sun down, so I stay busy. If I’m not working, I’m doing something that has to do with my work.
Q: What do you enjoy most about living and working in Columbia and Marion County?
A: That I grew up here and I know everybody. I can go across the street and know 10 people. It’s because I’ve always been here.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: My father, Donald, because he just recently passed and I miss him. I didn’t get a proper goodbye. I was gone that weekend and got a phone call and was told he was gone. I didn’t make it. He was 92 and we knew it was coming because he wasn’t doing too well.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: As a person who would do anything to try and help someone. Also, as a person who tries to work with someone, a happy person and a good person. I have a lot of making up to because of my past, so I think that’s why I try to do so much to help people and help this town. One day, I want to do something or build something for this town. I don’t care if it’s a dog park or something, I want to put something here to help people and give them something to do. I don’t what it will be, but I want it to be big.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
A: There’s a lot of them. It’s really everything. It’s my life, altogether, that has made me who I am.
Q: Would you rather read a good book or watch a good movie and why?
A: I’d rather read a good book definitely because then I can visualize everything myself. You see a movie and it puts everything one way.
— Joshua Campbell
Pictured Above: Columbia native Pierre Jeanfreau began Pierre’s Air Conditioning and Heating, LLC last February. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
