Elgin's first Black History Month business award a surprise for Mama Bea

Walking into the Elgin City Council meeting Wednesday, 74-year-old Beatrice Williams Thompson was ready to make the city back off from closing her downtown hair salon.

Instead, she was the surprised recipient of a proclamation as a respected and successful black business owner.

"I was worried," said Thompson, who owns Bea's Touch of Styles. "I was asking, 'They're going to close down my shop, for what? What did I do?'"

Her relatives, friends, landlord and Councilwoman Tish Powell were in on the ruse with some imaginary code compliance problem at the business Thompson has owned for 27 years.

Thompson said that just before she walked to the podium to accept her award, a city staff member whom she knew as a customer unwittingly clued her in by congratulating her on her award.

"I said, 'Award for what?' And he looked at me and he said, 'I'll be right back,'" she recounted, laughing. "And I knew a little bit then."

The council plans to make honoring a black business owner an annual tradition during Black History Month.

Known as "Miss Bea," "Mama Bea" or simply "Mama," Thompson started doing hair at 12 and went to beauty college in her native Arkansas. She came to Elgin in 1971, at age 28, to join her parents and three sisters, and she worked factory jobs at Motorola and Sears.

When her son started barber school, she decided it was time to reclaim her passion. She got a new beautician's license in 1990 and worked for a few months at a hair salon in Elgin. Then a friend of hers encouraged her to open her own business at 10 N. State St. She moved to her current space at 69 S. Riverside Drive in 1999.

Four barbers work there, including her 52-year-old son, Rodney Hunter, who recently prompted the purchase of new chairs and a 65-inch flat screen TV.

"My thing is, as long as people come here and like what we do, I'm happy about it," Thompson said. "I like to see everybody happy. The guys, when they come in ... I like the camaraderie of us laughing and talking about what's going on in the world."

It's especially rewarding to see her barbers go on to open their own shops, she said. Her son said she runs the place with a soft touch. "As a boss, she's understanding. She's sweet. She runs her business with kindness," he said.

Thompson's husband, Herman, is a former customer who enjoys hanging out at the salon, where his wife used to hold boxing and holiday parties. Both widowed, they married in 2014 and live in Carpentersville.

Doing hair is about making people feel good, Thompson said.

"I love the people," she said. "I love the after of what happens when I get through cutting their hair and styling it, and they like it. I like how they react to what I have done."

She's had her share of blunders, like the time she put in the wrong product and a customer who wanted relaxed hair ended up with "Jheri curls." Fortunately, the customer took it with humor, she said.

Customer Kim Bingham of Elgin said she enjoys the easygoing vibe of the salon.

"(Williams Thompson) always lets me change my appointments, and everyone is very respectful here," Bingham said.

Of course they are, Thompson said.

"They don't do anything they are not supposed to do. They don't say anything they are not supposed to say," she said. "At least when I'm here!" she added with a laugh.