Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PIERCETON - As Betty Rose Stahl washes, sets and combs Betty Burnworth's hair, the two women chat companionably in Stahl's Elm Street beauty shop.
There isn't any discussion about how Burnworth's hair will be cut or styled. Stahl has worked her way around Burnworth's head for more than six decades.
Instead, the standing weekly appointment's conversation consists of family news, health issues, town events and their shared history.
The women raised their children together, have buried loved ones and helped each other during the occasional crisis.
"Years ago, when my daughter was in the Columbia City hospital having a baby, Betty had an appointment," Stahl said. "My daughter called and said they were moving her to Fort Wayne and could I come right away? I asked Mary (another beautician in town) to come over and comb Betty out."
Burnworth rarely misses an appointment. Her husband, Carl, brings her to the shop and then leaves to have coffee downtown to discuss and solve the problems of the world with colleagues.
Once, when the long-time client was recovering from surgery, Carl insisted his wife of 60 years make the long-standing appointment. "He didn't know what else to do to make her feel better," Stahl said.
Stahl, widow of Claude Stahl, began her career in a cousin's shop in Pierceton where she was born and raised. That's where the two Bettys met. Sixty one years ago she charged 50 or 75 cents for a styling.
When her father operated a grocery store she moved into a room on the second floor of that building.
The Betty Rose Beauty Shop on Elm Street was established in the Stahl's residence on the enclosed porch 40 years ago.
Today she charges $8 for a style and tells some clients not to worry if they can't pay.
A display case holds 60 years of beautifying implements and potions. There is an atomizer used to apply lacquer, an assortment of metal hair rollers, a cool-air hair blower, combs and product glass bottles.
She recently came across tins of chemical used in the cold wave, a permanent wave process, to add to the exhibit.
Stahl, 79, considers herself semi-retired and doesn't work everyday.
She also offers her services at the funeral home, dressing the hair of deceased clients for the last time.
"I've done it for 51 years. It's the last thing I can do for them," Stahl said. "I know how they'd want too look."
"And they can't tell you it's wrong either," said Burnworth to lighten the subject.
Stahl attended Wayne University in Fort Wayne for training.
"Its been a lot of fun," the master cosmetologist said. "I wouldn't know what else to do."
