Athenia Williams has vivid childhood memories of several white-haired, white-bearded men in her grandmother’s Perimeter Mall hair salon.
Williams, at the time, was too young to understand that her grandmother, Joyce Beisel, was the go-to stylist for men of a certain seasonal occupation.
“She always had a story for why there was more than one Santa,” said a grown-up Williams, of Douglasville. “She’d say that one was Santa’s helper, and another was hired to take pictures because Santa was busy; the story always changed, but I used to wonder why there were so many Santas.”
For nearly 35 years, Beisel groomed and coached Santas from across the country, and one or two from other countries, said Sharon Franklin, her sister and fellow Santa stylist.
“She was the queen of Santas,” Franklin said of her sister. “She taught them more than how to maintain and care for their hair, she taught them how to act and behave, because being Santa is more than just hair and a suit, it is a lifestyle.”
Joyce Morris Jackson Beisel, of Marietta, styled and counseled the Santas, and her other regular clients, as long as she could, but a long-standing smoking habit led to a diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — or COPD — her sister said. Beisel, 66, was not able to work much after Christmas 2011. She died Tuesday, from complications of the lung disease.
A funeral is planned for 2 p.m. Friday at Northside Chapel Funeral Directors, which is also in charge of arrangements. Burial at Green Lawn Cemetery will follow the service.
Beisel, an Atlanta native and 1964 graduate of the former Roosevelt High School, discovered her talent for styling hair at an early age, he sister said.
“The question wasn’t were we going to do hair, but were we going to get paid for doing hair,” Franklin said. “After I graduated from high school, we went to beauty school, and we never looked back.”
Beisel, the older sister by three years, worked at several salons in the Buckhead area before opening her own place, Hair Force, in Perimeter Mall. It was there the sisters unintentionally got into the Santa-grooming business.
“We did the hair for the Santa in Perimeter every day, thinking women who wanted to be platinum blonde would come and see us, but lo and behold, we kept getting calls from Santas,”said Franklin, of Roswell.
Bob Reeves, the Perimeter Mall Santa for the past two Christmas seasons, said Beisel’s coaching ranged from what to expect during your first year, to contract negotiations, clothing choices and, of course, hair care.
“In six years, I never went to anybody else,” he said. “And I’m glad the tradition will be carried on by her sister.”
Franklin said Christmas 2012 was a tough one, because her styling buddy was too sick to work. The two worked together at various salons, and styled hundreds of Santas, since 1978.
“These Santas loved her, and she loved them,” said Franklin, who worked with Beisel at Golden Scissors in Alpharetta for the past three years. “In 34 years, it turned into a lot more than hair.”
In addition to her sister and granddaughter, Beisel is survived by her daughter, Dannett Gipson of Marietta; a grandson; and five great-grandchildren.
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