The Alvin Sun (Alvin, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 24, Ed. 1 Monday, March 25, 2002 Page: 16 of 28
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Brazoria County Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Alvin Community College.
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by SHERYL SMITH-RODGERS
Dorothy Miller is a second-generation customer for Ona Mae Payne.
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Sheryl Smith-Rodgers. a freelance writeriphotographer. lives in Blanco, Texas.
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Back in the forties, Pepsi-Cola started
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famous Ford Pick-Up truck not only deliv- "
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FOR Generations
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No sign, not even an “Open” card propped in
a window, marks the gold-painted portable building with brown trim in Lakeview,
Texas (pop. 152). Still, most folks know that's where Ona Mae Payne cuts hair
and gives permanents. For as long as they can remember, the 90-year-old woman
has been a beautician.
“When I started 67 years ago, we didn’t even know what a bobby pin was," recalls
the petite, white-haired woman. "I had to carry water from a cistern to do my
shampoos. Well ...” she pauses to think a moment, “we did have electricity.”
Her original shop was on Main Street, where she hauled water and worked along-
side her husband, Herbert, for more than four decades. In 1983, she moved into the
portable building, located behind her red brick house, a block down Main Street.
Despite the loss of her husband of 51 years in 1978, Payne kept the shop going.
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Not the type to give up easily, she has survived plenty of hard times.
“We got in debt pretty much after we married in ’27,” says Payne, whose first
son, .Garland, was born the following year (son David arrived in 1943). “When the
Depression hit, it hit hard. We owed the grocery store $80 for a year and couldn’t pay
it. So I ironed and washed for a bachelor in town to work off our debt.”
Meanwhile, Herbert hung onto his job as a barber. "He used to say he’d rather
work on women than men ’cause they were easier to please,” Payne tells. It wasn’t
long before she decided she’d like to do hair, too. "I guess I was afraid of him
flirtin’,” she adds with a grin.
With her toddler in tow, Payne started working in Herbert’s shop around 1932.
“I had lots of women to practice on,” she remembers. “I wouldn’t charge a thing,
but sometimes they'd give me a nickel or a dime. I never went to beauty school. We
didn't have to. I learned by watching my husband and going to conventions."
As her experience increased, she gained mote customers. Many drove 10 miles
from nearby Memphis, Texas, just to have their hair done at Herbert’s Barber and
Beauty Shop. "Back in the ’60s, the school superintendent came from Memphis
every morning to have me comb her hair out for 35 cents," Payne says. “She did
that for 12 years.”
Many of Payne’s regular customers have died, but a few, like 80-year-old
Darleen Fowler, still have standing appointments.
“Ona Mae started doing my hair in ’36," Fowler says. “She’s done six gener-
ations of my family—my grandmother, mother, daughter, granddaughter, and
now my great-grandson.”
Dorothy Miller, 76, waited a long time for a slot on Payne’s appointment
calendar. “My mother had an appointment with Ona every week,” Miller says.
"When she died in ’92, Ona did her hair for the funeral."
Nelda Bray has kept her Friday afternoon appointment since she retired from
a local telephone company in 1989. “I have an aunt who's 92, and she comes
here every three months for a permanent," says Bray, 71. "Ona gives the best
permanents in the world!”
"We love Ona, and that’s why we keep coming,” Bray says. “We love the way
she fixes hair. But she’s not only our beauty operator—she's a wonderful friend, too."
Payne gave 99-year-old Artie Martin her first permanent—and each one since.
Elizabeth Denny, 101, is another devoted customer.
Payne has considered retiring completely, but her son, David, convinced her
to get a license again this year.
“These people here and their visits—they keep me going. I’m not making any
money. I’m even going into the hole. But I don’t care. This is my life.”
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f
ered Pepsi soda... but its catchy advertising as mUN
well! The truck’s doors were emblazoned with the Pepsi "
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a welcome sight when it made its deliveries! Die cast in 1:24 scale, this faithful replica fea-
tures all the fancy details that make this 1940 Ford Pick-Up such a nostalgic treasure:
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If you’d like to mail in your order, send your name, address, zip code and check to: Rogers 4
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Note: FREE 1930’s Pepsi Delivery Thick Bonus is available only to customers who order by phone.
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Officially licensed by Ford Motor Company and Pepsi Co.
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Schwind, Jim & Holton, Kathleen. The Alvin Sun (Alvin, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 24, Ed. 1 Monday, March 25, 2002, newspaper, March 25, 2002; Alvin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1602800/m1/16/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Alvin Community College.