For nearly 25 years, Katherine Dalton was a mentor to many young people in Pittsburgh, paving a way for self-sufficiency and vocational training for a generation of beauticians. As the proprietor of Dalton’s Beauty Salon in Wilkinsburg, she made sure her operators and customers put their best foot forward. After a long illness, God came and took her home Nov. 3. She was 82.
She was born in Pittsburgh’s West End to the late Robert H. and Katie Lee Nelson Feb. 21, 1927. She attended public schools and graduated from Westinghouse High School.
In 1973 when she bought a building on Laketon Road in Wilkinsburg and opened Dalton’s Beauty Salon, a dream was achieved. She managed and operated her business, serving some of the finest women in Pittsburgh. She employed, trained and encouraged many young women in this profession. In 1987 she suffered a stroke and became incapacitated, ending this successful career.
The family was told that she would not live, and if by chance she survived the stroke, she would not walk. Dalton proved them wrong. After spending a period of time in rehabilitation she got the strength to walk again with a cane. She was very determined and would walk every morning around Homewood Park because she was not going to be told she couldn’t walk.
She loved the Lord and was a member of Homewood AMEZ Church. Memories of her will be cherished by her loving family: daughter, Karolyn Williams’ five grandchildren, Pamela Enty-Pinkerton, Rosalyn Pratt, Barbara Lee, Karena (Kelly) Pratt-Wilkins and Eugene Hutchison; great grandchildren, Lorenzo Parrott, Jamera Hutchison, Jayneba Lee and Laila Lee; sisters Shirlee Carter, Gwendolyn Johnson and Yvonne Smith and brothers Paul Nelson, Horace Nelson and Edward Nelson and a host of other relatives and friends.
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