Los Angeles County
Biographies
Mrs. Aleen Purdy
Mrs. Aleen Purdy, president of the State Board of Cosmetology, to which she was appointed by the late Governor Rolph of California, was born in the southern part of Indiana, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Crawford) Shearer. Her father, a native of Virginia, was for many years an owner and operator of steamboats. The mother died when Mrs. Purdy was but six years old.
Aleen (Shearer) Purdy acquired her education in the schools of her native state and subsequently became a traveling representative of Seligman & Latz, concessionaires of beauty salons, with headquarters in New York City. The year 1919 witnessed her arrival in California, where she resumed her business. The following article is reprinted from one of the hairdressing trade journals: ‘Mrs. Aleen Purdy, president of the State Board of Cosmetology in California, whose offices are in the State Building Annex, San Francisco, has wide experience in her career. In the old days, when she was an operator at the Richard Binder Company of Philadelphia, she gave beauty services to the wives of presidents, senators and ambassadors. She also traveled with a well-known theatrical company and worked for Seligman & Latz as manager and supervisor of several stores. Besides having been a demonstrator for one of the prominent hair dye manufacturing companies, she operated beauty shops in Los Angeles. Aleen Purdy’s Beauty salon on the mezzanine floor of the Rosslyn Hotel Annex at 110 West Fifth street, Los Angeles, is considered the finest shop in California. Women from all parts of the United States and also from foreign countries always return to Aleen Purdy’s Beauty Salon when in Los Angeles.’ Here the modern woman may find every equipment expressing the most advanced and scientific phases of beauty culture, with expert operators at all times ready to serve her needs. Mrs. Purdy’s coworkers on the State Board of Cosmetology, which is composed of the cream of the profession in California, are Miss Madeline Mang, Mrs. Edith Taylor, Mrs. Clara Forbes and Miss Corday Brown, all from different parts of the state and all striving very earnestly for higher standards, discharging their important duties as board members with the utmost faithfulness and efficiency. The appointment of Mrs. Aleen Purdy as a member of the State Board of Cosmetology came in merited recognition of her ability in her chosen field. She is justly proud of the fact that in January, 1935, her coworkers elected her president of the board. Mrs. Purdy has done much to win for the board the cooperation of cosmetologists throughout the state and is proving a most able executive.
It was in June, 1900, in Indianapolis, Indiana, that Aleen Shearer became the wife of Floyd Purdy, a native of South Haven, Michigan, who is identified with the newspaper publishing business. By this union there is a son, Roy Clarence Purdy, a civil engineer by profession, who married Irma Sisson and has one son, Vernon Purdy. Possessed of considerable literary ability, Mrs. Purdy has contributed numerous articles to the Trades Magazine. She is a member of the Professional Women’s Club, the California Women of the Golden West and the Friday Morning Club. Her true appreciation of friendship is manifest in the following lines from her pen:
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TO MY FRIENDS It is my joy in life to find, At every turning of the road, Friends help me onward with my load, And since I have no gold to give, And love alone must make amends, My only prayer is: While I live God make me worthy of my friends. With friends I am not afraid; The future shall find me ready – undismayed; I hope my only fear may be Afraid to be afraid. |
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Transcribed by K.V. Bunker.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V,
by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 637-638,
Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 K.V. Bunker.
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BIOGRAPHIES