By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

AKRON — Shirley Bickel has always enjoyed hairstyling.

The Akron woman’s nearly 50-year career doing hair is what made her one of the grand marshals of this year’s Akron Fourth of July parade.

Bickel, 85, will join fellow hairstylist Ruby Bowers in riding at the front of the event, which starts at 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 4, and runs down Rochester and Mishawaka Streets.

Shirley Bickel

Bickel said she was surprised to receive the designation, the first time she’s had it.

She and Bowers had merely decided to ride together in the parade to commemorate both of their longtime careers.

“One of my grandkids called (later) and said, ‘Grandma, you’re going to be (a) grand marshal,'” she said. “I said, ‘No, we’re not. I think we’re just going to ride on a convertible.’ And they said, ‘I don’t think so.'”

Akron Fourth festival organizers decided to go with the theme “Take Me Back to the ’70s” to coordinate with Bickel’s and Bowers’ careers spanning back to 1973.

The two will ride together on a float, which will incorporate some hairstyling-themed elements. Bickel’s grandchildren are helping with it.

Bickel has lived in Akron since her family moved back to the area from Griffith in time for her to begin fourth grade. She was born in Fulton County.

Bickel attended Akron School. She didn’t study to be a hairdresser until her youngest child entered kindergarten.

“It was something I always liked to do,” she said of styling hair.

Following her graduation from Rudae Beauty School in Logansport, which Bowers also attended, Bickel worked under another hairdresser before starting her own shop, Shirley’s Beauty Boutique, in the basement of her home on Rochester Street.

“I thought if I … open(ed) the shop (there) I could be (there) if the kids needed something,” she said.

Bickel operated the shop there until her retirement in 2022, though she still gives perms to a few people she knows.

“I really enjoyed the people,” she said of her time doing hair. “They weren’t only my clients: they were all my friends too.”

Bickel is married to Jim Bickel. They have three children: Fred Bickel, Jennifer Adams and Jeff Bickel; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

The family enjoys watching the Akron Fourth parade every year from the Bickels’ home.

“I just love it here, always have,” she said of Akron. “I’ve always said this is God’s country. This is the center of the earth … I just think Akron is a great town.”

Bickel is shown in her graduation photo from Rudae Beauty School in Logansport. Photo provided.

Bickel, in the back of the photo, is shown with her client, Mary Mae Henderson, in 1992 in her shop, Shirley’s Beauty Boutique, located in the basement of her Akron home. Photo provided.