Women of Main Street: Ethel Lemon

Posted
EDITOR’S NOTE: Ethel Lemon, owner of Ethel's Beauty-a-Rama, is one of nearly 100 local businesswomen who will be recognized Sept. 23 during Main Street Manning’s annual meeting. The Manning Times will be featuring a few of these women each week throughout September in The Manning Times, and posting stories daily on manninglive.com. Ethel Lemon started doing hair when she was just 10 years old. “My daddy fixed hair in the house, and at 11, I started doing people outside of our home,” she said. “I started with him, and then I would go to school and do all my teachers’ hair.” Lemon charged just 25 cents per client. After graduating high school, she went to Area Trade School in Denmark. The Clarendon County native was placed on a job in Orangeburg after completing school, and she was away from home and not liking it. “I had to get back here, so I came home and worked in two different shops in Manning,” she said. “I got married in 1964, and our cousin, Charlie, sold us the property here for $5.” She and her husband, Wilbert, have operated their businesses side-by-side since April 1964, shortly after the couple got married. Wilbert Lemon owns a TV repair shop. “I enjoy what I do every day,” Ethel Lemon said. “It’s really more like a hobby than a job. I enjoy helping other people, too, and I’ve mentored 12 other stylists in my career.” Lemon provides haircuts, coloring, styling and other hair services, she said.