Mrs. June Simms, business entrepreneur

 From the early 1950s to 2017, June Simms operated June’s Beauty Shoppe on Center Street in the Village of Geneseo, making her the sole woman proprietor of one of the longest-lived continually operated businesses in Livingston County. June’s widely successful hair salon catered to dozens of local residents in addition to clientele from across the country. 

June Simms was born into a large family in Virginia in the 1920s. Both her parents died relatively young and as the eighth of nine children, June was taken in by foster parents, Thomas and Beatrice Robinson. She eventually came north with the Robinsons and like many other women, worked at the Birds Eye-Snider canning factory during WWII.

After the war, June enrolled in the prestigious Harper Method Beauty School in Rochester, established by the famous inventor and entrepreneur Martha Matilda Harper. Here June studied hair dressing and skin care as well as skills necessary to operate a small business. 

Upon graduation, June worked at Sibley’s hair salon in Rochester and quickly gained a reputation as a talented hair stylist.  In 1951, June married Thomas Simms and soon decided to open a salon in Geneseo.  Customers flocked to her newly opened shop, benefiting from June’s expertise and welcoming personality. June also helped form the first Livingston County Hairdressers’ Association and served as an officer of the group for several years. 

For decades June’s Beauty Shoppe remained a Geneseo downtown institution. Balancing long days on her feet at the busy salon with four children at home, June relied on family and hired older women in the community to help with the kids. “I just worked hard every day and did whatever needed to be done,” she said recently.

June Simms is proud of her Black heritage, but also refers to herself simply as “American,” as her family is comprised of many ethnicities.  In a recent interview, when asked if she, as a woman of color, was the target of discrimination, June replied no. She stated, however, that the subject of race frequently came up in conversation at the salon over the years, especially as customers grappled with changing times in the civil rights era. June often set them straight by explaining that the color of a person’s skin does not reflect who they are inside. 

She attributes her toughness and endurance to her childhood and contracting tuberculosis at only six years old. Her long confinement at the Piedmont Sanatorium in Burkesville, Virginia inspired her to be helpful and cheer up others, qualities that likely played a key role in June Simms’ success and longevity in the business world.

(By Amie Alden, County Historian)

Tech. Sgt. Mary E. Phillips Hedman (1921-1975)

  In January of 1943, Miss Mary E. Phillips of East Avon made historic news as the first African-American woman from Livingston County to enlist in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). A daughter of John E. and Annie E. Carpenter Phillips, she was working as a maid for a family, having graduated from Avon Central School and the Wisconsin Vocational School. As she prepared for her departure  for service, her siblings threw a surprise farewell party and it was reportedly"very patriotic." The room was decorated with an American flag, and large, dangling letters spelled "VICTORY."

  When she left on the train to Des Moines, IA from Rochester in March 1943, she was part of a small contingent of Black women from the region. After training, she entered the Medical Corps and was promoted to Technical Sergeant in July 1943, serving in a hospital in Fort Dix for the duration of her service. She returned to civilian life by December 1943 and later married Leslie Hedman of Rochester. 

  According to her family, Mary continued in the medical profession, working as an LPN at the Rochester Psychiatric Hospital for a number of years. Her encouragement and influence led one daughter to serve in the Army for 18 years, and her son to join the Navy. Another daughter became an LPN. Mary also had the opportunity to represent her Rochester neighborhood at the historic March on Washington in 1963, where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

  As the first woman of color to enlist from Livingston County, Mary demonstrated courage that exceeded the norm. We honor her for her service, and thank the Hedman family for providing additional details about her life as well as the 1943 photograph of Mary in WAC uniform.

(Research by Holly Watson, Deputy Livingston County Historian)