A Match Made in Maybelline Heaven. Jean and Noel Williams Love Story

It was a freezing cold February morning in Chicago when the Bride arrived at the church soon to be wed to Maybelline Company's Vice President Noel James Williams son Noel Allen.  Jean Kilroy and Allen met in High School and now 7 years later the wedding of the year was finally taking place in 1949.

                 
    The Bride assisted by her her parents. 

200 guests waited patiently for the Bride to make her appearance as the Groom watched with quiet excitement next to his brother, and Best Man, Dick Williams.

Jean was a stunning Bride and it proved to be worth the wait to see the beautiful gown she chose to wear. 

This was a true love match and Jean and Noel remained married until his death in 1994.

             Noel Allen and Jean on the way to their reception.

The Bride and Groom with their parents and bridesmaids.

Nine months later on November 23, their first child, Charles Allen Williams was born. Chuck aka BB1, to all who knew him. Followed by Nancy Jean and James Noel Williams.

Noel and Jean never wavered in their loyalty to their vow's and Jean remained a widow devoted to her family until her death in 2006.

Now this is a Love Story

Four Generations of Beautiful Maybelline Brides

Maybelline featured a Bride and Groom, in this charming 1943 World War ll ad. Here is a gallery of four generations of Maybelline weddings in the Noel J. Williams line of the family

Mr. and Mrs. John B, Clark, (Kelly Brown) recently married in Colorado.  They  carry on the tradition of beautiful weddings set nearly 100 years ago.

John's mother, Nancy Williams Clark, at her wedding in California, 1976, carried the elegance set by her mother in the 1940's.

John's grandparents, Mr. and Mr. Noel Allen Williams at their wedding in Chicago, 1949. Noel and Jean were married for  over 45 years.

 

John's great grandparents, Noel James Williams and Frances Allen married in 1916, in Morganfield Kentucky.

Noel was one of the original founders of the Maybelline Company, along with his brother Tom Lyle Williams and their sister and namesake Mabel Williams in 1915.

Read more about the Williams family in "The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It"

In Memory of Maybelline Heiress, Jean Williams, on what would have been her 89th Birthday

                      Jean Kilroy Williams  1927 - 2006

It was a freezing cold February morning in Chicago when the Bride arrived at the church soon to be wed to Maybelline Company's Vice President Noel James Williams son Noel Allen.  Jean Kilroy and Allen met in High School and now 7 years later the wedding of the year was finally taking place

                 The Bride assisted by her her parents.  

200 guests waited patiently for the Bride to make her appearance as the Groom watched with quiet excitement next to his brother, and Best Man, Dick Williams.

Jean was a stunning Bride and it proved to be worth the wait to see the beautiful gown she chose to wear. 

This was a true love match and Jean and Noel Allen remained married until his death in 1994. 

Read more details about the never before told story of the family behind the Maybelline Company and about Noel Allen and Jean's life together in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

             Noel Allen and Jean on the way to their reception

The Bride and Groom with their parents and bridesmaids. 

Jean and Noel Williams were the parents of Chuck, Nancy and Jim Williams and the grandparents of John, Darren, Steven and Matthew Williams-Clark

Happy Birthday aunt Jean,  I will hold your memory in my heart forever. Jean and I may have clashed when I was a teenager, because she didn't approve of my bleached blond hair and short skirts, but over the years I matured and she mellowed to the point of admitted I was a good kid.  I was with the family at her death and was deeply touched when she kissed me goodbye and said I love you.  She was a stickler on Etiquette and will always be remembered for her quick wit and the undying love for her husband Noel A Williams and her family.

A tribute to Noel James Williams, and his monumental contribution to Maybelline's success, between 1915 and 1950.

Noel was the second son born to TJ and Susan Williams and he like the rest of the Williams kids had plans of his own that didn't include working a farm.  He fell in love with his childhood sweetheart Frances Allen and planned to earn the money to marry her while she was in her first year of college.  There was no way to earn money in Morganfield Kentucky so he moved to Chicago where he found employment with the railroads as a bookkeeper.

You'll have to read The Maybelline Story for the whole story but in a nutshell his younger brother Tom Lyle also joined him in Chicago, followed by sister Mabel and the three of them helped build Tom Lyle's budding mail order business.   If you've been following my blog you have an idea of the magnitude this major event meant to the Williams family and eventually the world.  However when Tom Lyle needed the money to launch Maybelline, he turned to his brother Noel who had saved $500 to marry Frances.  The rest is history, but to honor Noel for believing him him Tom Lyle made his older brother Vice President of the Maybelline Company, a position he held for the rest of his life. 

Tom Lyle paid  the $500 back one year later and on Nov 8th 1916 Noel and Frances were married.  Here is a picture of Noel and Frances soon after the wedding standing in front of Tom Lyle's convertible Page in Chicago's heavy snow. 

Noel and Frances moved into an apartment down the street from the Maybelline warehouse while the rest of the Williams family lived together in the apartment above it.  Noel and Tom Lyle were the driving force behind the little budding cosmetic company and together they made an unbeatable team.

 Here is the whole Williams Clan in Chicago after Noel and Frances first baby, Helen Frances was born May 31, 1918.  

Right to Left we see Proud Papa Noel looking at Frances in awe with his father TJ behind, holding baby Helen.  Next in the picture is Mabel, Preston in a Navel uniform,  Susan (their mother,) with her arm around Eva.  (not sure who the girl with the long curls is.)  

By 1935 Noel and Frances had four children.   In this picture we see left to right, Annette, Helen, Noel, Dick, Frances and Noel Allen.  Family came first for Noel Williams followed by Maybelline, in fact it was hard to separate the two because Maybelline was  family and family was  Maybelline.   Noel represented stability, responsibility and propriety to the the highest level.  With him at the helm of Maybelline's ship Tom Lyle concentrated on what he did best Advertising and since he spent most of his time at the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills, he depended on Noel's ability to run a tight ship at the Maybelline Company in Chicago.

After 30 years living in a brownstone not far from the Maybelline Company in Chicago, Noel and his family moved to the suburbs into a large custom home fit for an executive.  He was 55 years old and the little company he believed in and supported with his wedding money proved to be one of America's biggest success stories - and still is today after almost 100 years.  In this picture left to right, we see Ches Haines, Eva's husband head of transportation for the company, (not sure who second man is,) than Noel's youngest son Dick, his son Noel Allen, Noel, and Rags Ragland the marketing genius Tom Lyle hired in 1933 and the only person outside the family to work for the Maybelline company.

Noel and Frances' son Noel Allen's wedding Feb 12, 1949. Left to right, mother of the bride Alberta Kilroy, Noel and Frances, Father of the bride, Charles Thomas Kilroy, Jean (Kilroy) Williams, Noel Allen and Jean's girlfriends as maid of honor and bridesmaids. On November 23, 1949, Charles Allen Williams, (Chuck,) was born while Noel Allen and Jean were living in one of the apartments in the  Maybelline building.

This picture of Noel outside the Maybelline Building at 900 Ridge and Clark in Chicago shows a man meticulous in every way.  He's such a stunning example of the quintessential executive with his overcoat, hat and briefcase under his are, that the man walking down the street had to do a double take.  Noel never took a day off from work in the 36 years he ran the Maybelline Company. It was only after a heart attack shortly after his sons wedding, that Tom Lyle insisted he take time off and visit him at his new estate in Bel Air California.  

Here is one of the last pictures of Noel and Frances - at Tom Lyle's ultra modern stone and glass estate in Bel Air -before Noels death the following year in 1951.

Tom Lyle Williams with his older brother Noel, founded the Maybelline Company, and at Noel's death it was said the Noel was the Maybelline Company.  We sure know that without him there certainly wouldn't have been a Maybelline Company.  

Tom Lyle had a great idea, given to him by his sister Mabel, but without the capitol to launch it, and the devotion to run it, Maybelline might have remained just a good Idea.

Read more about Noel and the building of an empire in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Behind It.

My Great uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, shared the Maybelline company's Pot of Gold, with his entire famlly

This picture of Tom Lyle with his niece, Neppy Williams-Corbett and his nephew, Noel A. Williams wife, Jean, was taken in Tom Lyle's home in Bel Air in 1968, right after the Maybelline company was sold to Plough Inc.  Notice the 24K gold plated beams between the plate glass window.  

Shortly after the family inherited their money from the sale of the Maybellne Co, Tom Lyle's niece Annette Williams Corbett, called her uncle to ask if she and her husband George, could come by and visit while they were in California from Chicago.  Milford, the Butler said "yes he'd love to see you, but could you come by at 2:00 am in the morning, when TL was awake and at his best." Annette, George along with her brother, Noel Allen Williams and his wife Jean, were there at 2:00 am and stayed until the sun came up, when TL went to bed. They said it was the best visit they ever had.

Here is a story about Tom Lyle's generosity, given to me by his great niece and Mabel and Chet's granddaughter, Linda Hughes. 

When Maybelline was sold, each employee was given $1,000 for each year they worked for the company. Even those who hadn't been there a full year got $1,000. Tom Lyle's secretary Dorothy (aka Ducky) ended up with  $35,000 as did another secretary called Jimmie.  Jimmie called Mabel, to ask her to relay to TL how grateful she was that she could retire after she got her $30,000 check. At the time my parents had a bookstore and a former employee came in and told them he was bowled over to receive $8,000.  ( Dorothy also received one million dollars from her percentage in stock as well.)

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams, a secret American Icon and the great things he accomplished during his lifetime, in The Maybelline Story.

A cute story about Emery Shaver, Tom Lyle's lifetime partner of 50 years, given to me by his niece, Joyce Dennehy, (Mabel and Chet's, daughter.)

When my family drove from Chicago, to California, to visit Uncle Lyle, when we were kids:  One day it was rainy and my brother Tom was grumbling a bit about having nothing to do. He said to Emery, "don't you have an indoor swimming pool?"   Emery's response was "no but I have an ingrown toenail."

Be sure to visit my Hillarious 1964 High School Blog called Saffrons Rule Blog at saffronsrule.com

Maybelline heir comments on the Maybelline Story

My Cousin, Charles Allen Williams (aka Chuck, BB1,) was a child in "The Maybelline Story."  When Tom Lyle Williams needed to borrow $500 to launch the Maybelline Company, it was Chuck's grandfather Noel who postponed his wedding for a year and gave the money to his brother, Tom Lyle.   From the family's point of view, the Maybelline Company would not have gotten off the ground if it wasn't for Noel and his devotion to his family.  Read more about Chuck, his grandfather Noel, a co-founder of the company and Tom Lyle Williams in my book The Maybelline Story.