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Huron women waited weeks for an appointment with Hazel Mahone, whose family arrived in Huron in the early 1900s.
Huron women waited weeks for an appointment with Hazel Mahone, whose family arrived in Huron in the early 1900s.
Mahone was 46 when she married William Mahone. They traveled the world and embarked upon many humanitarian projects.
Mahone was 46 when she married William Mahone. They traveled the world and embarked upon many humanitarian projects.

Huron's Humanitarian

Feb 18, 2014

February is Black History Month. Every Tuesday this month, we’ll introduce you to black pioneers and leaders who helped shape South Dakota. Today we feature Hazel Mahone, a Huron businesswoman and humanitarian.

Hazel Mahone lived nearly every one of her 100 years in Huron. She had been a successful businesswoman in the Beadle County seat, but when she died in 2010 she hoped friends and neighbors would remember her for her “love and concern for people. Buildings, cathedrals, palaces, ruins all were important, but of primary importance are the people who occupied the buildings. All I want to do is be nice to people.”

Perhaps that was a lesson that trickled down her family tree from her grandfather, a slave on a Mississippi plantation. One evening his master told him to expect 100 lashes in the morning, punishment for some unknown violation. Mahone’s grandfather was determined that no one would touch him again. He packed a knapsack and ran away in the middle of the night. Thirty days later he arrived in St. Louis, where he joined the Union Army and fought in the Civil War. He was so grateful for his newfound freedom that he never again drank a full cup of water drawn from a well. He always sprinkled some on the ground in thanks.

Mahone’s family moved to Huron in the early 1900s. The men worked on farms or the railroad, while Mahone’s mother served as a maid. Hazel was born in 1910. She excelled at Huron High School, especially in music. When she was a sophomore, her music teacher asked if she would stay after school and try singing two pieces. Her rendition of “Deep River” was so moving that the teacher entered her in a local contest. Mahone ended up winning the state’s alto division that year.

After graduating in 1928 Mahone completed two years at Huron College. She applied and was accepted at Tuskegee Institute, but financial constraints wouldn’t allow her to go. Then Mary Roselle, who operated a beauty parlor in the Masonic Temple, told Mahone to enroll in a short course at the California School of Beauty Culture in Sioux Falls. She applied and studied under Louise Mitchell, another prominent black businesswoman sometimes called the Mary McLeod Bethune of South Dakota.

Mitchell and her husband arrived in South Dakota in 1906 and she immediately secured a job as a beautician. Eventually she opened the school and helped dozens of young black women, especially from the Deep South, to learn the trade and find jobs in parlors around the Upper Midwest.

Mahone completed the short course and secured a position in Roselle’s beauty parlor in 1932. She was soon in high demand. Clients — all of whom were white — waited weeks for an appointment with her. Still, Mahone dreamed of pursuing a career in singing. In 1949 she moved to San Francisco and studied voice at the Conservatory of Music. After two years, however, she realized she felt more at home at Roselle’s beauty parlor in Huron.

When Roselle died, Mahone was surprised to discover that Roselle had willed the business to her. But the will had to be probated, and Mahone was tasked with finding $250 so the business could be transferred. She didn’t have the money, so her fellow tenants in the Masonic Temple raised the sum and Mahone took ownership.

At age 46 she married William Mahone, a retired inspector and waiter-in-charge on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. They traveled the world and became involved in countless humanitarian projects. In September 1967 the Mahones embarked on a tour of Africa. "We want to meet the people, not just see the scenery, animals and airports," Mahone said. "Really we are going as ambassadors of our country and as ambassadors of Christ.”

When they returned, the Mahones raised money to purchase 10 barrels of supplies. They went back to Africa to personally oversee their distribution.

William Mahone died in 1972, but Hazel continued traveling, visiting more than 80 countries and compiling over 100 travel logs, many of which are housed today at the South Dakota State Historical Society in Pierre. In her travels, she experienced conditions far different than what existed in Huron. “We never experienced any racism, no segregation or anything,” she said of growing up and living in South Dakota. “We were accepted everywhere. Our family was well educated, we had music and books. I was happy and stayed in this little town.”

In 2007 Mahone was given a Human Rights Award from Christian Women United. “The sum total of human rights means so much,” she said. “Everybody has a chance. It’s what you make of it, you take advantage of it.”

Comments

06:07 pm - Sat, July 26 2014
Nancy Carolyn Oviatt said:
I am overjoyed to read this article of Hazel Mahone. My heart aches to be in Huron, after all of these years living in Colorado. I grew up there, and I married my Yankton College sweetheart, a black man from Long Island, NY. I treasure this life story. Nancy C. Oviatt, from Huron, South Dakota, now in Louisville, Colorado
10:19 am - Mon, August 25 2014
Bruce Tucker said:
What a great article about Hazel Mahone's experiences living in Huron.

In 7th and 8th grade; Nancy Oviatt might recall that I was at their house, virtually, every day, with her brother, Rob, on the way to & from the Huron Junior High School, and most weekends for trips to Stahley's farm.

I left South Dakota, for the Marine Corps, right after graduating from Northern State, and marrying the prettiest NSC freshman, from Lake Preston.

We just returned from a family trip to the Black Hills, with 3 daughters, spouses & to grandchildren. I wanted them all to appreciate how special South Dakota is, to us.
Bruce Tucker,
Hubertus, WI
06:19 am - Wed, January 20 2016
Nancy Wallenstein said:
WOW! I live in Huron and had never heard of this inspiring woman.
12:13 pm - Wed, January 20 2016
Margaret Graham said:
Hazel was and is an icon. I knew her as a mentor, friend, and professionally as her nurse for many years. She was so gentle and so strong at the same time. She had such a grounding and sense of who she was and her history. She dressed, spoke and kept her home and her intelligence at such an immaculate level. There will not be another Hazel..
05:35 pm - Wed, January 20 2016
SDslim said:
Where did she live in Huron? I got here in 1964, and don't ever remember seeing the woman. Did she live just west of the fairgrounds?
04:42 pm - Thu, January 21 2016
shawn mager said:
Love this story. Hazel was a great friend of my grandmother and a family friend. She was an amazing woman. I had the pleasure of hearing about her travels and seeing all the items she collected throughout her travels. Hazel was a class act. Love her. I remember her saying she wanted to live to 100 to get a letter from the president and she did.
07:19 am - Fri, January 22 2016
Linda Ball said:
We were so privileged to know Hazel. Our children & grandchildren knew what a true lady she was. We welcomed her to our home on many occasions. She was one of the most interesting persons we have known.
07:47 pm - Fri, July 15 2016
Susan Rogers Yakus said:
I remember that Hazel and her husband opened their home to people in Huron to come and watch the Audubon Society movies. It was my first introduction to the world beyond. My aunt was also a hairdresser in Huron and ran the salon at the Tams hotel. I am sure she knew Hazel. What an amazing woman and what a wonderful article.
12:51 pm - Thu, January 12 2017
Bruce A. Williams said:
Hazel and Billy were great friends of our family! The first time I met Hazel,
I was four or five. I remember rubbing my hand on her arm and the great
laugh she and my grandmother, Lurline Horton had.
Hazel and Billy went on many fishing trips to Minnesota and Canada with
my parents (Ted and Frances Williams) and grandparents (Karl "Dutch"
Horton and Lurline. I remember Hazel filing down the ailse singing "Holy,
Holy, Holy at the Methodist church. I remember her strong voice and
smile. She would wink at me when she past our pew.
When I go to Heaven, I pray Hazel and Billy are at the gate smiling together for
eternity.
Miss them very much
08:23 am - Sun, January 22 2017
Renae Polidori said:
This a great a memory for, I grew up in Huron and attended Church with Mrs. Malone. It was always a joy to see her, I hope she would enjoy the peaceful Women's March. Thank you.
07:31 pm - Sun, January 22 2017
Dawn Jensen said:
I remember more stories from my parents about Hazel than I have myself. Mom was in the nursing home recuperating from pneumonia a few months before Hazel passed away and they shared the same table for meals. She was still very proud of her appearance and was still a very upstanding lady.
06:34 pm - Mon, January 23 2017
Mary Helen Flanery said:
Hazel was one of our family's good friends. She and my aunt/Helen Habicht traveled to China and the Amazon together. Bill did so much in the Methodist church and Hazel had a wonderful voice and sang in the choir. I am many happy memories of Hazel and Bill.
07:11 am - Tue, January 24 2017
Rev. Darwin Kopfmann said:
I had only minimal knowledge about Hazel's love of travel and did not get to know her husband since he had died one year before our move to Huron. I was privileged to sit directly behind Hazel each Wednesday evening and on Sunday's as part of the United Methodist Choir. She had a way of making a person feel as if they were more than twice as gifted as they actually were. She admired my wife and children and was so encouraging as I made my transition from being a musical instrument repair technician/salesman to being an ordained minister. Having really not known another black person at the time, Hazel introduced me, and so many others, toward the notion of the need to judge a person's heart rather than the color of one's skin!
02:57 pm - Sat, September 23 2017
Living in Idaho and newly experiencing widowhood and a sixth or maybe 7th career, I had lost track of the black history work I had done in South Dakota during the years we lived there, and after the publication of my book, "Forgotten Lives: African Americans in South Dakota," published by the South Dakota HIstorical Society Press. I was delighted to find that Hazel is finally getting her due - for certainly she is one of South Dakota's finest citizens who made many contributions to her state - and to the people whose lives she touched. In her life she built many bridges; and many were also blessed by her music - she had a fine, trained contralto voice and frequently was soloist in the town's Messiah performances. Growing up in Huron in the late 1940's, she was my role model; my ideal, although I was too shy to get acquainted. I worked on her biography for the book from the public recordbecause I was writing in Idaho. I was thrilled in 2009 when Bonnie Williams and I met her and lunched with her in Huron. A wonderful, remarkable woman - thank you for reminding people! Betti VanEpps-Taylor
04:26 pm - Mon, February 1 2021
Mikel Paulson said:
I would sure like to find out about a wonderful black man we all called 'Snowball.' I think he was the elevator man and shoe shine guy at the Marvin Hughit (sp?) when I was a kid back in the 50's. Anyone know anything about him. He was the nicest man with a great smile - always walking home on 3rd and Colorado corner right past Skeezus Grocery store when I would see him and talk with him.

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