I found these photos in an album tucked away in a closet of my Great Aunt Emily and Great Aunt Daisy. I didn’t think about it until I was older, but these two women were entrepreneurs back when not too many women ran businesses.

Emily, who was deaf since age 5, ran a hairdressing shop out of her home. I’ve talked about her cooking before. And how she was the first professional to style my hair. As the owner of three poodles and a cat, she also was an animal lover. Her dog Fred was the sweetest and my favorite. He shared the same name as her boyfriend Fred. Her brothers nicknamed her “Thing.”

Daisy ran a neighborhood laundromat/dry cleaning shop. She also was a good cook. I remember her as bubbly and fun-loving. She worked a lot so we didn’t get to spend as much time with her as we did her sister. She was a mother of one son and, as the baby of the family, her brother’s nicknamed her “It.” Brothers. Sigh.

Growing up with five older brothers in the rural segregated south was probably what gave them the strength and determination to be independent and raise their families in Brooklyn, New York.

Both lived long lives. Now gone, they are very much missed.

Keep remembering at The Daily Post.