Swanton woman established beauty shop inside her home

1/16/2006

SWANTON Leona Elizabeth Hagerman, a beautician and former owner of The Haven beauty shop here, died of complications from kidney failure yesterday in the Swanton Health Care Center. She was 92.

Mrs. Hagerman put her family first and always made her home inviting, so much so that she converted her bedroom into a beauty shop. It was after raising her children that she attended beauty school and decided to start her own business.

I didn t know anybody else did hair, joked her daughter Bonnie Markley. It was hard to tell when she retired because she kept doing hair for family and friends.

But there was one rule at The Haven beauty salon: no gossiping.

What she never let the ladies do was gossip in her beauty shop, Mrs. Markley said.

Besides the customers, the Hagerman home was always bustling with family visitors, whom Mrs. Hagerman made feel welcome.

She was one of the most compassionate persons in my life. She always made herself available to help someone in need, Mrs. Markley said. There always seemed to be somebody else living with us.

Music was another thing that was always in their home. Mrs. Hagerman played the piano and organ, and her husband, Howard Ned Hagerman, who preceded her in death in 1979, played the trumpet.

Mrs. Hagerman was the pianist, organist, and choir director for the former Sharples Church.

Her sister, Alice Carrano, said Mrs. Hagerman was a quiet, gentle woman who was a great friend. The two of them played cards and ice skated together when they were younger, and after Mrs. Carrano moved to New Jersey, they stayed in touch with vacation trips.

Mrs. Carrano said she always got a kick out of how much people said they looked alike.

We look so much alike that even in the nursing home someone was shocked when they saw me walking in because they thought it was Leona, she said. Whenever we would go to the stores, if I were separated from her, they would come up and talk to me like I was Leona. And many times people would ask her if we were twins.

Mrs. Hagerman was a 60-year member of the Pythian Sisters Temple 312 in Whitehouse, where she developed close friendships through the social and charitable organization, Mrs. Markley said.

She served as a Lucas County 4-H adviser and with the Lucas County Board of Elections.

Mrs. Hagerman was an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, Pistons, and Tigers.

She was a talented crocheter and seamstress who often gave away what she made.

Surviving are her daughters, Anita Ellerbrock, Mrs. Markley, and Linda Doyle; son, Nelson; sister, Mrs. Carrano; nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Weigel Funeral Home, Swanton. Services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the funeral home. The family suggests tributes to Hospice of Northwest Ohio or the Swanton Health Care Center.