Eva Vazelle Stancil Batts Jessup
|
|
| Vazelle's children with William Henry Batts Sr. |
|---|
| William Henry Batts Jr. |
| James Ralph Batts |
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive |
|
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive |
Eva Vazelle Stancil, the seventh child of George Ira and Eva Mercer Stancil, was born on September 5, 1915. Her father, George Ira, named her Vazelle after a favorite nurse. Known by various nicknames throughout her life, including "Rezelle" by her Uncle Harvey, "Stee," and later "Steve," she developed a strong sense of personal style from a young age.
Vazelle had a vibrant social life, hosting a neighborhood party in January 1930. She was a flower girl at her Uncle Henry Stancil's funeral in March 1933 and received a class ring from her brother Ralph upon graduating from Glendale High School. Often described as effortlessly beautiful, with one observer noting, "Vazelle was so pretty she could put on a sack and you'd think it was velvet."
In 1933, Vazelle moved to Norfolk, Virginia, to attend Southern Beauty School, boarding with her Aunt Lula and Uncle Osco Kennedy. After completing her course in March 1934, she worked in beauty shops in Elizabeth City and New Bern, North Carolina.
Courtesy Stancil Reunion Archive |
She then moved to Wilson, North Carolina, and worked in a beauty shop, where her roommate, Estelle Shoe, introduced her to Bill Batts. Bill, who worked at Oedinger’s Department Store, borrowed $25 for their wedding, and Vazelle and Bill were married on Sunday, July 21, 1935, at the First Christian Church of Wilson. They honeymooned in New York before moving in with Bill's sister.
Vazelle stopped working before the birth of her first son, William Henry Batts Jr., on July 3, 1937. Their second son, James Ralph Batts, arrived on January 30, 1940. In February 1940, Vazelle opened "Steve's Beauty Shop" in Wilson, using one of her childhood nicknames.
Family was important to Vazelle. In July 1941, her niece, Pauline Edwards, lived with her. She and her sister Mamie treated their mother, Eva Mercer Stancil, to a trip to Carolina Beach, which her mother thoroughly enjoyed. Her brother Harold Lloyd nicknamed her son Bill "The Annapolis Kid," a playful prediction of his future Naval career.
In 1947, Vazelle furthered her skills by attending the Kree Institute of Electrology in New York, becoming one of the first licensed Electrologists in North Carolina. In the summer of 1951, when her brother Ralph's daughters, Georgeanne and Renn, came to live with Mamie in North Carolina. They were in an automobile accident in Allandale, South Carolina, on their way home. Ethel was eventually taken back to Ocala and remained in the hospital. Doctors hoped she would be able to go home in the fall of 1951.
When Mamie took Georgeanne and Renn shopping for school clothes Vazelle went with them. They went to Raleigh. Two stores they shopped in were Belk-Hudson and Ives. The farm girls were impressed by the elevator.
In 1953, Vazelle purchased a new two-tone green 1953 Chevy.
Vazelle divorced Bill Sr. after their son Bill Jr. graduated from high school. She later met Francis "Frank" Nixon Jessup through Eddie Carraway. Frank, born March 19, 1919, was the son of Sidney Phillips Jessup and Cornelia Nixon. After a brief courtship and selling "Steve’s Beauty Shop" in Wilson, Vazelle and her son Jim moved to Hertford, North Carolina, in June 1956. Vazelle and Frank married on November 19, 1956. Though happiness initially eluded her in Hertford, Vazelle made the best of the situation and opened "Jessup’s Beauty Shop" in her home in 1957. Frank passed away on December 11, 1961.
In 1966, Vazelle earned her teaching license and continued to operate Jessup’s Beauty Shop until 1969. That year, she was instrumental in establishing and directing the cosmetology program at Roanoke Chowan Technical Institute in Ahoskie, North Carolina. In January 1971, she moved to the College of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, where she founded and ran the cosmetology department until her retirement in March 1981.
In 1982, after 47 and a half years as a beautician, Vazelle was honored and inducted into the National Hairdressers of North Carolina Hall of Fame in Winston Salem, NC. Vazelle was presented with an engraved Silver Urn by Kay Gunter, president of the National Hairdressers and Cosmetologist Association of NC. She was accompanied by her sister Hilda Stancil Hales Stover.
"It’s a wonderful way to end a career,” said Vazelle. “This was quite a surprise and I feel very appreciative and very proud. At the same time very humbled. It’s something I never hoped to achieve.”
Her sons, Bill and Jim, visited her often throughout her life. Towards the end of her life, as she bravely battled emphysema and heart failure, she spoke of seeing her sister Effie and her mother.
Eva Vazelle Stancil passed away on December 10, 1997, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is buried in Holly Springs Cemetery, Kenly, North Carolina.
