Patricia White was dedicated to helping women feel beautiful.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Whether it be with a new hairstyle or a layer of lipstick, she would never let her clients leave her Albury hair salon unless they were polished with confidence.
Mrs White, who was known for her hairdressing skills, died in her sleep on Mother’s Day, May 10, at the age of 92.
She was farewelled at a private service at St Matthew’s Church on Thursday.
She was born in 1922 in King Island in Bass Strait and lived on a dairy farm with her mother and three sisters.
She started what would become a 50-year career in hairdressing when she was 14, taking on an apprenticeship in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell.
Mrs White opened her own business in Albury, Patt’s Beauty Salon, on the corner of Olive and Wilson streets in 1944.
The business moved to 548 Olive Street, currently Spiders Party Shop, in 1959, where she sculpted hairstyles for musicians like John Farnham, Jimmy Shand and Diana Trask.
By that time she was married to Robert White, a soldier who later studied accountancy and law.
Her family moved to a 125-acre farm where Norris Park now stands, before Mr White died from a heart attack in 1974 when he was just 52.
Mrs White moved her salon to Stanley Street a year later.
One of her apprentices, Sharyn Bartels-Waller, remembered Mrs White’s high standards.
“When you work at other places you realise just how high the quality she expected was,” she said.
“She was well trained and always used good products.
“We always had to send the people out looking really good and she said ‘make them leave feeling like a million dollars.”
When Mrs White retired in 1988, she spoke of her career to The Border Mail.
“Everyone wore their hair long and came in regularly, and some people came in every week to have their hair washed and trimmed,” she said.
“During the Depression, people had to book six weeks ahead to get a body wave because it took so long.”
Mrs White said she did not regret retirement and wanted to focus on community projects.
She became an inaugural member of the Quota Club and a member of the Probus Club and the Lutheran Aged Care Auxiliary.
Mrs White is survived by her four children, Robyn Bruce, Heather Alderman, Carol and Ian White, nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Ms Bruce described her mother as “open and kind”.
“Our mother was much loved and we will miss her,” she said.