Maybelline Love Story Week continues with the Bob and Jackie Haines sixty years + romance

There once was a little boy named Robert (Williams) Haines, who was so adored, it seemed nearly impossible, he'd ever find a bride acceptable to his doting family

After two adorable daughters, named, June and Marilyn,  Eva and Ches Haines, rang the bells with delight,  announcing the birth of their baby boy.  Bobby was as close to a cherub as any child ever born, and with his curly brown hair, sparkling blue eyes and a sweet disposition,  like no other. 

Little Bobby, though having two doting sisters, was all-boy, growing up loving fast cars, cowboys and pretty girls.  Bobby's parents encouraged his adventurous nature, knowing someday he'd grow up to be a man they'd be proud of.

And yes, Bobby did grow to be a fine young man, devoted to God, Country and Family, wanting nothing more than to someday find the perfect girl, settle down and raise a family.

Bob, with his sister's June and Marilyn.

So it wasn't that unexpected, when he fell in love with a beautiful young girls named Jackie, four years his junior. Bob knew, she was the one!  Jackie was the new girl in school from Arizona, a cowgirl now living in Chicago. 

She was Independent and adventurous, with beautiful blue eyes and a stunning figure.  However, when her family returned to Arizona in her senior year, Bob wanted to follow her, but his parents said absolutely no!

"Not so fast - she's too young, you're making a mistake." his mother Eva, said.  But, he'd been raised  to be his own man and Jackie was the woman he wanted.  He followed his sweet 16 year old girlfriend out West and and stayed until she turned seventeen.

As soon as she graduated from High School in 1953, she and Bob married at the Church in Prescott Arizona, Bob and Jackie were so in love, nothing could stop them.

Jackie and Bob Haines, of the left, followed by Dick and Marilyn Haines-Westhouse, John and June Haines-Gary, Eva Williams-Haines.  Below is David and Jerry Westhouse and June and John's little girl Kathy.

Soon the Jackie was part of the Williams-Haines family and she and Bob had their first son, Steve Haines.  Eventually 5 more handsome sons came along and all grew up to be fine young men, just like their dad.  

Now that's a Love Story.

Jackie lost her beloved Bob a couple years ago but is surrounded by her big family and is loved by all.

looking 35 at 18 didn't get me a Maybelline model contract. But the Maybelline Story was born.

Nana, my dad Bill, me with dyed black hair and my dad's uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Company.

I hoped to be a Maybelline model after I graduated high school. My grandmother convinced me to dress up for Christmas in a black cocktail dress, heals and of course my Chicken of the Sea hair-do to impress Unk Ile.  He took one look at me he said, "My god, Sharrie, you look like a 35 year old woman, not a teenage girl.

Was that a good or bad thing?  I wasn't sure, but it wasn't what he was looking for in a Maybelline model. He was targeting the teenage market in 1966.  In fact, Unk Ile, wanted just the opposite of my exotic look. Maybelline was going for a softer, more natural look.  So my hopes of becoming the next teen Maybelline model were smashed. 

Nana watched me mope around a while, then said, "Sharrie, Darling, why don't you go back to Chicago next summer and stay with your Great aunts and uncles, meet your cousins and and get to know the Chicago branch of the family.

My spirits lifted and I was on my way.  Here I am, Queen of the super rollers, with my sister, Donna and her pin straight surfer girl hair.  she was happy to see me go for the summer, envisioning driving my 57, blue and white Chevy, to the beach everyday and surf.  I was excited to take my first plane ride back to where the story all began. 

Exotic and over dressed for every occasion in Chicago.

Nana encouraged me to take notes to document my trip in a letter to Unk Ile, when I got back.  I did, and those notes became part of the book I'd  publish 45 years later. 

 When my house burned down in 1993 most of my pictures of my trip to Chicago were lost.  this picture of auntie Eva and uncle Ches at their home on Mercer Lake survived. It was here, as well as with Auntie Mabel and uncle Chet, Aunt Verona and Aunt Bunny, that the Maybelline Story, began to unfold.  They loved showing me pictures, letters, and sharing stories about the early days of Maybelline.  With their help I pieced together a memoir, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 

Memories of Mabel and Chet on their Wedding Day,  Tom Lyle Williams, aka Unk Ile to us,  Maybelline eye shadow in the 1930's and an original Maybelline ad from 1925.

After two wonderful months of getting to know my aunts, uncles and cousins, I returned to California, (as you can see I don't look very happy about it.)  I wanted to stay in Chicago and start college, but my parents insisted I come home.  So here I am at the airport, with my mother, Pauline, My dad, Bill, Nana and little Preston and Billee.

 I did keep a diary of my trip to Chicago and wrote a 25 page letter to Unk Ile.  He was quite impressed with my writing and said, "Sharrie, you certainly have a way with words, I think you'd make a great copy writer. He didn't offer a modeling contract, but he did tell me that if I got a degree in advertising, he'd open every door for me. He also said, I really don't want my story told, but if you do someday write it, I don't want to be remembered as the man who invented mascara, I want to be remembered as the "King of Advertising." 

Read more of my book, The Maybelline Story.  I guarantee you, you won't be able to put it down.

Maybelline might have been named Evaline rather than Maybelline

People have asked me why I didn't put more pictures in my book so they could see the different family members as they went from children to old age.  Well I was only allowed 13 pictures and it was a hard choice as you can imagine.

 So I'm doing a picture-bio of the main characters - starting with Tom Lyle's youngest sister Eva.  Here she is with her brother Preston, my grandfather, on their Morganfield Farm in in 1908, dressed for church I bet.  Don't you love the big bow in her hair and the posing?   Eva and Preston were very close playmates all their lives and she once told me how they loved to roam the woods around the old homestead, exploring and seeking adventure.  When young Preston got in trouble and their father Sheriff TJ locked him in jail to teach him a lesson, it was Eva who snuck in dime novels to keep him busy while he learned his big lesson.

When the family moved off the farm and into their first little warehouse/office in Chicago -with an apartment upstairs - they all helped Tom Lyle get his little Maybelline company off the ground.  Fifteen year old Eva's job was to be the "go-for" girl. When anyone needed something it was Eva who ran down the block to get it.

She once told me how when the family wanted a milk shake she gladly took a quarter for 5 drinks and ran down the street to the soda fountain, where she quickly drank her shake before slowly making her way back home so the shakes wouldn't spill.  Sometimes the walk home took so long she got thirsty and sipped a little from each siplings drink.  By the time she returned, you can just hear the flack she got from her brothers and sister, however Eva was a spitfire with a sharp wit and had a darn good reason for sipping those drinks I'm sure.

I  love this picture of my grandfather Preston and auntie E, as my dad called her.  She and Preston remained devoted even when mmgrandmother was at her wits end with his endless trouble making.  When my grandmother kicked him out of the house Eva gladly welcomed him into hers and there was nothing I mean nothing she wouldn't do for her darling brother.

Look at those beautiful Maybelline eyes with a twinkle like no others.  This picture was taken in 1924 for her sweetheart Ches Haines whom she married Oct 11th of that year.  Auntie E once told me that it could have easily been her who concocted the ingredients that gave her brother Tom Lyle the idea for Maybelline.  She was serious when she said it made her a little jealous that her sister Mabel got the credit, but then laughed at the idea of Maybelline being called Evaline.  Not quite the impact Tom Lyle was going for I'm sure.

Here is my glamorous Auntie E at her daughter June's wedding in the late 1940's.  She seemed to get more gorgeous the older she got and that quick wit made her a star in the family.  Don't you just love that feather in her hat?

 Uncle Ches the father of the bride, on the left next to June and her new husband John Gary.

 Here is a picture of Eva with her daughter Marilyn, (Ditty) taken in 1966 at Tom Lyle's estate in Bel Air California.  Eva is 65 in this picture, a beautiful, elegant lady with all the style and glamour of anyone of Maybelline's models.  Tom Lyle is sitting on the floor with Miss Snoop E. Williams and Sparkie.  He once told me chuckling, that the E in Snoop's name stood for his sister Eva.  I wonder what he meant? 

Eva is a colorful character in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  I think you will fall in love with her just like I did.  She was one of a kind.

 I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with my cousin Jerry Westhouse, Eva's grandson, while he was in California, visiting from Chicago. The love my grandfather, Preston had for his sister Eva, and my father had for Jerry's mother Marilyn, is still is alive and well in our generation. Maybe it's our history or Maybe it's Maybelline, but, no matter what we plan to keep the magic of the family story going as long as we're alive.



 Meet Jerry Westhouse

My Daredevil Maybelline Cousin, Jerry Westhouse...a real ...

I like to brag about my Maybelline family, when ever I get the chance... as you can see from the Blog Posts I've done featuring my cousin Jerry Westhouse, below. Jerry is an accomplished race car driver, who is still connected ...

clipped from Google - 10/2015

Maybelline Heir - RACE CAR DRIVER - Jerry Westhouse

Eva and Ches Haines, with their first grandchild, Jerry Westhouse, in the 1970's. Ches continued his love for beautiful automobiles until the end of his life and passed on his legacy to his grandson, Jerry. After the Maybelline ...

For 100 years, "Maybelline" has been synonymous with "eye cosmetics"-- yet little is known about how a tiny company offering a single product by mail order managed to grow into an international institution.

The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It,  aims to change that.  It could only be written by someone with insider knowledge. Sharrie Williams is the great-niece of Tom Lyle Williams, the charming and creative, yet remarkably secretive man who founded Maybelline along with his tight knit family, including his brothers and sisters -Noel, Preston, Mabel and Eva - catapulting a little mail order business in 1915 into the most successful and famous eye cosmetic company in the world.   

By digging through family documents, her own memories and the memories of the few remaining people intimately familiar with the founders of Maybelline, Sharrie slipped beneath the public facade of the company to reveal the amazing personalities at its heart. This is an exciting and thoughtful book, part memoir, part history, part family saga, that reveals the triumphs and tragedies behind the beautiful public face of Maybelline.

Chet and Mabel (Willliams) Hewes, and Ches and Eva (Williams) Haines, Hollywood, 1938.

Tom Lyle Williams with Mabel, Chet, Ches and Eva at The Villa Valentino - Hollywood, 1938.

Catalina California 1938 - left to right, My father Bill, great uncle, Tom Lyle, my Grandmother Evelyn and my auntie Eva, auntie Mabel and uncle Chet.

Read more about the founding of The Maybelline Company from 1915 to 1968 and beyond in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Buy a signed copy from Sharrie Williams 

Read more about the founding of The Maybelline Company ...1915 to 1968 and beyond

For nearly a century, "Maybelline" has been synonymous with "eye cosmetics"-- yet little is known about how a tiny company offering a single product by mail order managed to grow into an international institution.

The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It,  aims to change that.  It could only be written by someone with insider knowledge. Sharrie Williams is the great-niece of Tom Lyle Williams, the charming and creative, yet remarkably secretive man who founded Maybelline along with his tight knit family, including his brothers and sisters -Noel, Preston, Mabel and Eva - catapulting a little mail order business in 1915 into the most successful and famous eye cosmetic company in the world.   

By digging through family documents, her own memories and the memories of the few remaining people intimately familiar with the founders of Maybelline, Sharrie slipped beneath the public facade of the company to reveal the amazing personalities at its heart. This is an exciting and thoughtful book, part memoir, part history, part family saga, that reveals the triumphs and tragedies behind the beautiful public face of Maybelline.

Chet and Mabel (Willliams) Hewes, and Ches and Eva (Williams) Haines, Hollywood, 1938.

Tom Lyle Williams with Mabel, Chet, Ches and Eva at The Villa Valentino - Hollywood, 1938.

Catalina California 1938 - left to right, My father Bill,
 great uncle Tom Lyle, my Grandmother Evelyn and my auntie Eva, auntie Mabel and uncle Chet.

Come Visit me at my Hilarious 1964 High School Blogcalled Saffrons Rule at, http://saffronsrule.com/

.

Maybelline Heir, Jerry Westhouse, Reunites With Top Fuel Dragster he Raced 40 Years Ago.

This is pretty cool. In 1973 I was working at Traylor Engineering in Palatine. My mentor Bill Traylor was building a streamline Top Fuel dragster. He had parted ways with his driver from the year before and asked me if I wanted to drive his race car. Of course I said yes. We raced the car in the ‘73 season on the UDRA circuit. After Bill passed away in 1976 I lost track of the car. Jump ahead to 1993. A friend told me that the streamline body was in an auto body shop in Prairie View, IL. That’s when I met Tony Zizzo. 

Tony got a call a couple of weeks ago from a guy that wanted to sell him a dragster. He told Tony he thinks that he was a previously owner. Low and behold it’s the original chassis that Bill built in 1973. Tony is going to restore the dragster and run it in some nostalgia races. 

Here are some pictures, one from the day we rolled the dragster out of the trailer (April, 1973) and two from today. It’s unbelievable that I may be able to drive my old dragster again after 41 years.

Jerry Westhouse's Grandmother, Eva Williams Haines was Maybelline founder, Tom Lyle Williams sister.  Here are some great Posts I wrote about him and his family.

Maybelline Heir - RACE CAR DRIVER - Jerry Westhouse and the Indy 500  click to view

 Like Grandfather like Grandson!  Jerry Westhouse loves anything with wheels.

Eva Williams Haines, put the SPARK, in SPARKLE!.

Eva Kay Williams was the youngest of the Williams clan - Always a glamour girl, with a heart for family.

Our Darling "Diddy" rests in the arms of the Angels.

              Marilyn Frances Williams - Haines 
                                 1927 - 2012

Maybelline Men and their obsession with style.

Part of the American Dream was owning a beautiful Automobile and for some that became a life long affection.  

Tom Lyle Williams, recording, Penthouse Serenade.

Vintage recording of Maybelline commercial, done by the TL Williams and his family, just having fun at a party.

Be sure to visit my Hilarious 1964 High School Blog, Saffrons Rule at 

http://saffronsrule.com/

The Man Behind the Curtain... Triumphs and Tragedies Behind the Beautiful Public Face of Maybelline

For nearly a century, "Maybelline" has been synonymous with "eye cosmetics"-- But little is known about how a tiny company offering a single product by mail order managed to grow into an international institution.

The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It,  aims to change that.  It could only be written by someone with insider knowledge. Sharrie Williams is the great-niece of Tom Lyle Williams, the charming and creative, yet remarkably secretive man who founded Maybelline along with his tight knit family, including his brothers and sisters -Noel, Preston, Mabel and Eva - catapulting a little mail order business in 1915 into the most successful and famous eye cosmetic company in the world. 

By digging through family documents, her own memories and the memories of the few remaining people intimately familiar with the founders of Maybelline, Sharrie slipped beneath the public facade of the company to reveal the amazing personalities at its heart. This is an exciting and thoughtful book, part memoir, part history, part family saga, that reveals the triumphs and tragedies behind the beautiful public face of Maybelline.

Chet and Mabel (Willliams) Hewes, and Ches and Eva (Williams) Haines, Hollywood, 1938.

Tom Lyle Williams with Mabel, Chet, Ches and Eva at The Villa Valentino - Hollywood, 1938.

Catalina California 1938 - left to right, My father Bill, great uncleTom Lyle, my Grandmother Evelyn and my auntie Eva, auntie Mabel and uncle Chet.

Read more about the founding of The Maybelline Company from 1915 to 1968 and beyond in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.