For 50 years, along with the usual squirt of shampoo and dollop of mousse, Kathy Wufsus has been dispensing pearls of wisdom, prayers of support and words of encouragement from her beauty shop in Park Place.

Her dad died when she was 6, but one of her earliest memories is of waiting for him to come home from his job at a department store. In the evenings, after supper, she loved to brush his hair. One year, for Christmas, she got a Toni doll, and she spent hours braiding, washing, drying and styling the little doll's hair.She graduated from Mahanoy High School in 1963. Students were receiving a mixed message from their families' television sets, where they could watch the peace and morality of shows like Andy Griffith or Dick Van Dyke, or stare in shock at reports of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and mounting troubles in Vietnam. America's youth, no matter where they lived, seemed to share a general restlessness."I still remember the day that representatives from Empire Beauty School (Pottsville) came to school to recruit," she recalled. "I don't know why, but I always knew that was what I wanted to do."She kept the Toni doll, which sits observantly on a drying chair, still with her original blue-and-white striped dress and red bib, her expression perpetually pert. Wufsus said that from the beginning she always enjoyed that moment when she could turn the customers in their chair to witness their transformations in the mirror.Yet customers often left with much more than the usual wash and set."God touches us through our friends," reads one of the salon's wall hangings. Another contains a quote from Mother Teresa, "Peace begins with a smile."For 50 years, her involvement in the lives of her customers, and in her hometown and surrounding area, was unrestrained and seemingly tireless. Was a park being dedicated? Count on her to show up, bring her guitar, and lead the crowd in song. For years, she has brought cheer to nursing homes and shut-in people, strumming her guitar and singing religious, patriotic or holiday songs as the occasion warrants.She works full time as the sole proprietor of her business, which is attached to her house. She raised two daughters and loves to watch her grandchildren after school. Her husband, Francis, died in 1985.She served on the Mahanoy Area School District school board and volunteers for the Mahanoy City Historical Society, library and various fire companies. The Mahanoy City Elks recognized her as Woman of the Year in 2013. Devout, she is very involved in church life and doesn't shy from spreading the word in her shop."It's easy to tell if someone is going through a hard time or feeling low," she said. "I love it if I can turn someone's day around, and they leave here feeling that they look good, and also feel good inside."Fifty years ago, Wufsus could have taken any road. The times, they were a-changin', and she could have shaken the high school dust from her shoes and gone anywhere.She never wanted to do that; instead she wanted to make things better for people in the area she's always loved. For 50 years, operating a single chair in a cozy beauty salon in her house on High Road, she has always taken the high road.And along the way, generations of customers say, she pulled an always-expanding extended family to travel with her."I love this area, you could travel and travel and never find a place better," she said. "And what better job to wake up every day and get to see my buddies."