With love, always

The first love of Cookie's life, Leatrice, who was hired to care for me a couple days a week after I was born.  She stayed for the next nine years, surrounding me with love, structure, expectations, and confidence.  And when she was done for the day with us, she went to her own family and did even more for them.   Both of her children excelled in the world far greater than Cookie.

This isn't how I remember her best.  In this image, she is all glammed up.  But her hair was always impeccable, and the creation of her stylists at Andre Duval Salon at Severance Center.

She died when I was nine. Unexpectedly. It was my first real loss that hurt my heart, my life, and future.

So this Mother's Day, Cookie acknowledges the first love of my life, my true north, Leatrice Thomas.

If you still can - hug your mother, real or chosen. Remember that feeling.  It can be taken in an instant.

The first love of my life

The woman styling in this image from the late 1960s is Cookie's first love of his life.  Her name was Leatrice and she was a structure in my rudderless childhood life.  I adored her - I loved her either as much as my mother, or more so. Leatrice was in our employ, and I think she stayed with us through thick and thin because she was truly worried for my safety at the hands of my maniac father.  When she died when I was nine, it left a hole in my life that took years.

I think she deserves a place in the HHoF because her hair, which she took great pride in was always done at Andre Duval Salon, at Severance Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Leatrice worked for other families as well, and I am quite sure that she was as beloved by them as she was and still loved by me.  She was the type of person who's heart was expansive, and didn't suffer fools gladly.

We've had some posts featuring some Burlesqueish hair, but Leatrice deserves to join our Bouffant and Fashionable League here at the Hair Hall of Fame.