Paula C. Johnson, longtime owner of 55th Street beauty salon, dies at 68 | Evening Digest

Paula Christine Johnson, a Hyde Park fixture and the longtime proprietor of Divine Creators Magnificence Salon alongside fifty fifth Avenue, died on April 18 on the age of 68. 

David Johnson, her youthful brother, stated the trigger was lung most cancers. 

Paula was born on August 26, 1953, to Elbert and Dolores Johnson in Robbins, Illinois. One in all 11 siblings, she attended St. Benedict Elementary College in Blue Island and Calumet Excessive College in Auburn Gresham.

She was a practising Catholic, first at St. Peter Claver Church in Robbins after which at Saint Sabina, 1210 W. 78th Place, the place she remained a member for greater than 50 years. 

As a younger grownup, throughout a interval when lots of her associates had been being laid off, Paula grew to become set on working her personal enterprise. She began magnificence college in 1977, working her means via salons on the South Facet earlier than touchdown a job as a beautician at Stylist Magnificence Salon, 1637 E. fifty fifth St., in 1987.

She took over the enterprise in 1991 and renamed it Divine Creators “as a result of she needed to pay homage to God,” in line with a word from her household.

 “The placement was essential to me, and Hyde Park has at all times been a group surroundings the place the folks help the group,” she told the Herald in January, days after she closed her doorways. “They supported the companies and, you already know, they simply needed small companies to make it.” 

Paula was happy with the truth that she grew to become the primary Black individual to personal a enterprise between Cornell Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard. She cast shut relationships with the salon’s clientele — she was additionally keen on the fifty fifth Avenue pedestrians, who would usually cease and wave to her via the storefront window. 

To point out her appreciation, Paula hosted an annual picnic in Harold Washington Park for her prospects and the remainder of the neighborhood. “I might provide all the edges and so they might carry their very own meat, and I had folks to cook dinner it for them,” she stated in January. “We performed every kind of old school video games. And I additionally fed the homeless. Anyone who needed some meals, they had been capable of eat.”

She lived for some time within the South Loop, and liked Lake Michigan, Navy Pier and using her bike alongside the lakefront path. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, she started taking laptop courses. 

David Johnson, her brother, described her as a heat, beneficiant individual. (In January, Paula recalled the tradition shock she felt when she first moved to Chicago as a 13-year-old in 1966. “After I got here to the town, folks had been so chilly.”) 

“She was a candy individual, at all times giving meals to homeless folks,” he stated. “She took all my outdated garments after I misplaced lots of weight and gave them to homeless folks on Lawrence.

“Even close to her passing, we might take meals over there and she or he’d say ‘Share the meals, everyone pattern everyone’s dishes.’”

David Johnson stated that Paula saved her sickness a secret. When she retired, she informed others, together with the Herald, that it was as a result of her rheumatoid arthritis had worsened. 

“We had been sort of suspecting one thing was improper, however we didn’t probe,” he stated. “Even her finest pal, she waited, as a result of she didn’t need her to be heartbroken and cry over it.” 

“She at all times had an unbelievable quantity of religion, and it was simply unbelievable,” he stated. “Folks walked previous her window and waved. Folks will stroll by and discover out she now not owns it and be shocked.” 

Paula Johnson is survived by her son, Turan; two sisters, Victoria and Marva; 5 brothers and three sisters-in-law, Kenneth (Sabrina), Elbert (Verna), Paul (Valerie), Harold, and David; pricey associates — Yvonne Jeffries, Eve Boston, Norma Jean Berry, and Zenobia Brandy — and a bunch of devoted nieces, nephews and cousins.

She is preceded in dying by her mother and father and her siblings Marie, Regina and Stephen. 

A viewing will happen on Thursday, April 28, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. on the Travis Funeral Dwelling, 14338 S. Indiana Ave. 

The visitation shall be Friday, April 29, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. at Saint Sabina, 1210 W. 78th Place, with a service to observe from 11 a.m. – midday.