The Maybelline Story Inspires young Entrepenures to never give up on their dreams and for families to leave a legacy for their children

I've had a passion for my family history since I was in Jr. High School.  I have to give credit to my grandmother, Evelyn Williams, for lighting the fire in my heart for my family's history.  She told me about the birth of the Maybelline company and how my Great Auntie Mabel, mixed the ashes with Vaseline and dabbed it on her brows and lashes to make them grow.   She also told me how my great uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, a 19 year old entrepenure with a small mail-order business in 1915, brought mascara into the world and named his company Maybelline after his sister, who gave him the idea. My grandmother, suggested I tell the Maybelline Story for my speech class.  I did and got an “A.”  The little Maybelline story won me popularity overnight and from that moment on, I wanted to uncover the secrets about the people who shaped the company and my life. 

I spent time with all my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, collecting stories, photographs and vintage Maybelline ads for years and years.  Then, in 1978, when my grandmother, Evelyn,  was killed in an arson related fire, I was determined not to let her memory die.  I vowed to write her story.  So, for the last the next 20 years, I practiced intensive journal keeping, using the Ira Progoff system, until found my writer's voice.  

When a fire took my own home in 1993 and all my family heirlooms with it, I turned to my father, Bill Williams, for support, to help me recall my family's history.  We'd get together every week, while rebuilding my home for over two and a half years and eventually I finished a 963 page manuscript about the Maybelline family and Maybelline's history.

After three years of working with a publisher, my manuscript was edited a dozen times, and  The Maybelline Story was born.  I hope it  inspires, entertains and will leave a legacy for the people I love who have passed on and encourage young entrepreneurs to never give up on their dreams.  If my grandmother hadn't ignite my passion to tell my story, I believe a piece of America's history would have been lost forever.  I ask that other people would research their roots and leave their priceless for their children and grandchildren.  

Bill Williams, Evelyn Williams, Tom Lyle Williams, Emery Shaver, 1934

Family History is the greatest gift one can pass on.  Connecting with your background is a priceless gift, according to my grandmother Evelyn, because... it 's the one thing that can never be taken away from you.

In Loving Memory of Joyce May Hewes Dennehy one of the last Original Maybelline Cousins

Joyce May Hewes Dennehy 1934 - 2013

Obituary 

In her 20s Joyce moved to DC and worked at the Pentagon as an administrative assistant where she met her husband Rod. She went on a couple of safaris in Africa and took several Earthwatch trips where she worked with wolves, helped newly hatched turtles into the ocean before they were gobbled by predators, and went on a dolphin watch. In Florida Joyce volunteered at a women's crisis center where she handled phone calls and made referrals... She completed her college degree in her 50s. She became very involved in animal welfare and established a charitable foundation after she came back to Illinois. She donated to many causes and liked to contribute to particular projects like a van for a dalmation rescue (dubbed the Lulumobile after her dog Lulu) and a specially built whirlpool for a paralyzed kangaroo later named Joycearoo. 

Joyce was very close to her brother Tom and hoped he was the first person she saw after she passed.  She also loved my uncle Tony. Joyce, Tom and Tony liked to pal around together when he stayed with the Hewes family. 

Joyce Hewes with her uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Company, on one of her trips to California.

Joyce with Arnold Anderson, one of the three men living at at her uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, estate in Bel Air California.

Please click on the little box to the right to enlarge page..This beautiful card was made by Joyce's niece's Donna and Linda

An email from Joyce to me

Sharrie I was lucky enough to visit uncle Lyle in Ca. four times. One time our whole family drove out. I remember Tom had just gotten his driver's license and wanted to drive constantly - much to my mother's horror. So I must have been about twelve. We all had such a great time.

Then for some reason when I was in my early 20's my best friend Joan and I flew out for a visit.  This was during the Arnold days. The thing that seemed to most impress Joan was not the lovely house or grounds or view, but the fact that in a household of three men someone thought to provide sanitary napkins in our bathroom. Pretty funny!

Another time I had been on a visit to Hawaii and stopped to visit Uncle Ile in Bel Air for a few days on my way back.. Also in my latter 20's, I was living in Washington DC and two girlfriends and I decided to drive cross country. It was quite an adventure and perhaps the high point was our visit with Unk Ile at the apex of our long journey. We had many adventures.

And of course Uncle Ile returned to Chicago periodically and visited all the families. I was a very shy child but I adored him and he made me very comfortable. He always for the rest of his life called me by my childhood nickname Doikey long after everyone else had forgotten it.

Anyway, Sharrie, I guess I am just trying to make the point that although you lived there and got to see him often, we here knew and loved him dearly.

I have now actually read your book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were some discrepancies which I tried to overlook, but otherwise reading the story of my family written with such love was an excellent experience. Good job.

Joyce

Joyce in the center in blue at the Maybelline family reunion - Virginia, 1990.

Joyce seated between her sister Shirley and her brother Tommy's wife Mary..1995

I was privileged to get to know Joyce the last year of her life through e-mails and Facebook conversations.  We discussed movies, TV show, books and food. She also gave me her opinion on whether she approved of my blog posts or not.  I grew to respect and care about her very much and I'm sad I never was able to meet her in person.  Joyce was only one year old when my dad moved from Chicago to California in 1935, so they never got to each other, however, my dad's half brother Tony lived with Joyce and her family in the early 1940's and she loved him very much.  Last year she was instrumental in finally placing a grave marker on Tony's unmarked grave.  I'm sure he and her brother Tommy were there to welcome her into heaven when she arrived last Christmas.

Here is the post I did about Tony's grave marker.

A forgotten member of the Maybelline Family can at last Rest in Peace. http://www.maybellinebook.com/2012/11/a-forgotten-member-of-maybelline-family.html

In Honor of Joyce, a child in the original Maybelline family

Baby Joyce, in her mother, Maybelline's namesake, Mabel Williams-Hewes arms, her father Chet Hewes and her sister Shirley and brother Tommy...1934

Maybelline cousins...right to left....Tom Lyle Jr. holding Baby Joyce Williams-Hewes, Helen and Annette Williams, my father, Bill Williams, Allen Williams, June Williams-Haines, Shirley Williams-Hewes, Marilyn Williams-Haines, Tommy Williams-Hewes, Dick Williams,
 Bobby Williams-Haines

Rest in Peace Dear Joyce.  Please leave a comment for 
Joyce's sister Shirley and her nieces... Janet, Donna and Linda.