Studio gives new purpose, prominence to longtime hairdresser’s mirror

By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 17 October 2023 at 9:18 am

Artist paints mementos on mirror to celebrate Betty Menz

Photos by Ginny Kropf: Betty Menz gets a hug from her nephew Dan Fuller, who found the mirror at his home and asked Darlene Witte if she would like to display it.

MEDINA – Betty Menz shared some highlights of her 55 years as a hairdresser in a surprise presentation Monday at Vision 2000 beauty salon on Salt Works Road.

It was July when Vision 2000 owner Darlene Witte got a call from Dan Fuller of Ridgeway, Menz’ nephew.

Betty Menz of Medina, a hairdresser for 55 years, stares at the mirror which hung in the studio at her home and which was painted with mementoes from her past. It now hangs in Darlene Witte’s Vision 2000 studio on Salt Works Road.

“He told me he was cleaning out a building to get rid of stuff and found this mirror that used to hang in his aunt’s studio at her home on Furness Parkway,” Witte said. “He wondered if I’d like it. I didn’t know what I’d do with it, but I told him if he brought it to me, I promised not to throw it away. I would find something to do with it.”

A few days later Fuller delivered the mirror and Witte hung it in a waiting area of her studio at 3930 Salt Works Rd.

“As the day went on, a strange thing happened,” Witte said. “I began to feel a connection to this mirror and a person I’d never met before. I realized some of my customers used to be Betty’s or relatives of her customers. An idea started coming to me and I called my husband Bruce, who refinishes antique furniture.”

Her first thought was to hang it on the wall and make it look like a window.

“Then it hit me,” Witte said. “We need to make it about Betty, and I reached out to artist Brandi Zavitz.”

Lo and behold, Witte’s first customer of the day was Menz’ neighbor, Barb Fox.

“I told her about my idea to make the mirror about Betty, but I knew nothing about Betty,” Witte said. “Then Barb started telling stories about her. There was the tree that was taken down in their yard and she kept it and made it into a sanctuary for birds and flowers, her late husband Bill’s dedication to veterans, her love of cats, the lilacs in her yard, the time her son brought home a baby pig from Dunham’s farm and she raised it, her bird houses, and love of the Bills.”

Then Witte shared these things with Zavitz, who began to paint those memories on the mirror. The project took her about three weeks. The finished product has them all – the pig named Arnold; a flag signifying Bill’s connection to veterans; Betty’s cats and parakeet; and up in the corner with her scissors, her writing with a black marker.

Menz was speechless at first when daughter Lynne Menz brought her through the door. There to share in her surprise was daughter Tammy and twin brother Tim, along with Zavitz, Fuller and Fox.

Those involved in Betty Menz, second from left, being reunited with the mirror which hung in the beauty parlor at her home are, from left, neighbor Barb Fox, who provided bits of information to be painted on the mirror; artist Brandi Zavitz who painted the mirror; and Vision 2000 owner Darlene Witte, who agreed to hang the mirror in her studio on Salt Works Road.

Betty couldn’t take her eyes off the mirror. She started talking about how she started working in a beauty parlor in Lockport shampooing hair while she was still in school. After graduation, she attended the Doyle Beauty School in Buffalo. She worked for several beauticians, but when family and friends knew she did hair, they started coming to her house and asking her to cut or curl their hair.

“I had no intention of opening a beauty parlor in my home,” Menz said. “But I couldn’t turn them away, and I was afraid I would get into trouble, so I got the necessary license and Bill built me a little studio in the laundry room. “

“I remember Mom would be giving a perm and she’d stop and go put supper in the oven,” Tammy said.

Menz had four children to care for, in addition to serving her customers.

“I was lucky to have the customers I did,” Menz said. “They were good people and they were good to me. A hairdresser is more than a beautician. She is a therapist and a friend. When you do someone’s hair week after week, they are not customers. They become family.”

Menz, who will be 91 next month, retired at the age of 70.

“My customers didn’t want me to,” she said. “They made me feel like I couldn’t be replaced. If someone couldn’t afford a haircut, I couldn’t turn them away, I’d do it anyway.”

“It was a good ride,” Tammy said.

Family and friends who gathered to share in Betty Menz’ surprise at seeing a long forgotten mirror which hung in her beauty parlor are, from left, nephew Dan Fuller, who had the mirror stored at his house; daughter Tammy; Menz; daughter Lynne Menz; son, Tim Menz; and sister Dottie Hellwig.